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244

THE GREAT SALVATION.

[SER.

y. 1^

confining the minds of their hearers to this theme of the goodness of God as the basis of their religious faith, they reason thus : " As God is infinitely good, he could not will a system which could result in that in which he has no pleasure : as he is infinitely wise, he could not adopt a system of government which might, by any means, admit of such a result : and, as he is omnipotent, he could not fail to prevent everything not in accordance with his will and pleasure, and to bring to pass all the good pleasure of his goodness." Thus they jump to the conclusion that eter- nal punishment for sin is " unjust, unmerciful, and cruel ; a penalty which a just God never did, and never can, an- nex to his law." This is plausible reasoning, which de- ceives many ; and, would they teach it as their philosophy only, there would be less inconsistency in it. But they teach it as gospel, and appeal to the Scriptures for its sup- port. And that they may render it the more effectual in deceiving the ignorant, and supplanting the doctrines of the gospel, they represent all Christian ministers who teach that God has affixed the penalty of eternal death to his law, which he will inflict upon incorrigible trans- gressors, as denying his attributes of goodness, wisdom, and power, and holding him up as a capricious, vindictive, and cruel being.

Such instruction to sinners is of the most fearful ten- dency ; and we entreat them to examine the subject with seriousness and candor, lest neglect prove their ruin. There is here but one question to settle : — Is it gospel ? Is it the doctrine of the Bible? If it be not, who, then, charges God with injustice and cruelty ? It is asserted, that a, just God never did, and never can, annex the penalty of eternal death to his law ; and therefore the doctrine of endless punishment is false. But it is a question of fact, and not of inference ; and if the Scriptures prove, as has been shown in this discourse, that he has affixed such a penalty to his law, the assertion that a just God could not do so, is a direct charge of injustice ; and, if he carry it into effect, of cruelty. One single reflection will show that this cannot be a gospel doctrine, because it uproots the very foundation of the gospel system, and renders all its terms trifling and absurd.

The whole theory proceeds upon the ground, that, be-

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XVI.]

THE GREAT SALVATION.

245

cause God is love — is infinite in goodness — he has not, never had, and never can have, a law to inflict eternal pnnishment for sin. This necessity against such a law is founded in his nature — the attribute of goodness — which is essential to his being. Now, if this be so, it always was so. God was essentially good before the atonement was provided, as perfectly and unchangeably so as since ; and man was never liable to eternal death, and was never saved from it ; for we cannot be saved from that to which we are not, and cannot, be liable. Then there is no salva- tion in it, no mercy, no deliverance. The atonement was unnecessary, and is out of the question. The happiness of all m heaven is made sure and necessary by the nature and being of God ; and all the terms of the gospel can have no place in the mighty scheme. Is this gospel sal- vation ? Be not deceived with vain words.

But we should add, that this principle excludes death, as a punishment for sin, altogether. If, because God has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, his goodness will there- fore prevent it, then it cannot be suffered in any sense. He did not say, " I have no pleasure " in the eternal death, but, simply, " in the death of the wicked." The argument, then, does not apply to the duration of the punishment, but to the punishment of death altogether. And what is the difference? He who is eternally love and goodness, is such at all times, and every point of time. And if the ex- istence of goodness will eternally prevent suffering for sin, it must also at all points of time. All suffering, then, aris- ing from moral delinquency, is demonstration that the the- ory is a delusion. Nor will anything be gained by assum- ing that such suffering is in no sense a penalty for sin ; for that would be to make God a capricious, vindictive, cruel being indeed. It hence appears most conclusively that this fundamental argument, which is made the very basis of Universalism, excludes the gospel and salvation by Christ altogether. There is no place for Christ or salva- tion in it. Natural religion teaches that God is good, and Deism concedes it. What more does this ? Let none be deceived by it. " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" We have proved that eternal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord : it cannot then be a necessary consequence of the being and attri-

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THE

METHODIST EPISCOPAL PULPIT

A COLLECTION OF

©tiginal QtxmonB

FROM

LIVING MINISTERS OF THE M. E. CHURCH,

COLLECTED AND REVISED

BY KEV. DAVIS W. CLAEK, A. M.

GEORGE PECK, EDITOR.

PUBLISHED BY LANE & TIPPETT,

FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 200 MULBERRY-STREET. JOSEPH LONGKINQ, PRINTER.

1848.

^

THE KSW Y^F.K

PUBLIC LIBRARY

LENOX AHt T«.DtN fOUNOATI&Hl.

i9oe

" Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by G. Lane & C. B. Tippett, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court, of the Southern Distiict of New-York."

PREFACE

The collection of this volume of sermons, from

living ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

was undertaken with the approval- and co-operation

of several brethren eminent for their piety and wis-

^^ dom, as well as for their official standing in the

r church. It was hoped that the enterprise, if success-

'^ ful, would result in an addition of some value to an

0 important department of our church literature. Our

[ preaching, from the origin of Methodism, having

h been for the most part extemporaneous, few preach-

^^ers have written and preserved manuscript sermons

fc enough to form a volume. Even many of our

^ most eminent divines and pulpit orators have left

^ nothing behind them except the remembrance of

their living efforts, and the results those efforts are

continuing to produce. Hence the limited number

of contributions that have been made to this branch

?** of our literature.

We refer, indeed, with just pride, to the sermons

of Wesley, Watson, and Clarke. The first distin-

> guished for simple, clear, and strong exhibition of

doctrinal and practical truth : the second for the

classic beauty of his style, the aptness of his illus-

^ trations, and the clearness with which he perceived,

PREFACE.

and the power with which he defended, gospel truth : the last for the keenness of his criticism, and the exactness of his presentation of the different features of his subject. And yet it cannot be possi- ble that within so limited a range of authors, great as may be their excellences, the various tastes of all should be suited, and the wants of all be supplied. Hence we find the shelves of not only our ministers, but also of our members, piled up with sermons that have originated without the pale of our own church, and many of them presenting and advocating doc- trines opposed to the very fundamental principles of our theology. Of the fact that our people seek books abroad, when they cannot find a reasonable supply at home, we do not complain ; but we could desire the enlargement of the home supply, that the neces- sity for going abroad may be less urgent, and then the instances of it wiH be less frequent.

This collection has the advantage of a great variety in style and mode of presenting and illus- trating truth, such as is not to be found in a volume produced by the labor of one individual. We may also add, without attempting to forestall any judg- ment upon the character of the individual sermons, that when a minister sits down to the production of one sermon for such an object, it may fairly be pre- sumed that he devotes to it more thought, more labor, and more time, than it would be possible for him to devote to each, were he writing a volume of sermons himself.

We believe we have not overrated the importance M this mode of teaching and perpetuating truth. To the preacher, well-written sermons not only impart

knowledge, but furnish models for the improvement of style, for the arrangement and illustration of sub- jects, as well as for their general discussion. We once heard a preacher boast, as though it were a thing commendable, that he never read sermons ; and an involuntary sigh escaped us, as the boast called to mind the sad corroboration it had in his pulpit performances. He that would excel in the arts, studies the productions of artists ; he that would excel in logic, logical discussions; and he that would excel in pleading, the lawyer's plea. So be that would excel as a Christian minister should plao^ before him, and profoundly study, the distinguished models of his profession.

We commend also this volume to private indi- viduals and families. We deprecate that spirit, too characteristic of the age, and, alas! too prevalent in the church, that demands continually light reading ; reading that requires no effort of mind, and only delights the fancy at the same time that it enervates the understanding. We hail with joy every indica- tion of a return of the taste and spirit of the age from this temporary aberration.

An apology is perhaps due for the tardy appear- ance of the volume. Most of the matter was in hand over a year and a half ago ; but the whole had to pass under the scrutiny of the several editors made re- sponsible by the General Conference ; and, perhaps, in that respect, the present volume has claimed and received at their hands an unusual amount of atten- tion. And again : application had been made to individuals in every conference of our connection, and various circumstances retarded our communica-

6 PREFACE.

tion ; some, who furnished sermons, were delayed by other and more imperious duties ; and others, who had promised a contribution, in the end failed to fur- nish it. To overcome all these difficulties, and to bestow upon the work the amount of labor neces- sary, required time ; but those whose sermons have been so long waiting to see the light, and the public who have had reason to expect the volume before this, may be assured that on our part there has been no unnecessary delay. Some names do not appear here that could have been desired; but all such names of course cannot be gathered into one volume, and we may be more successful in a second appli- cation, if the reception of this volume by the public should warrant the collection of another.

With these remarks we commend the volume to the favor of the church, and to the blessing of God.

D. W. Clark. New-York, October, 1847.

P. S. To the authors we were not able to furnish proofs of their respective sermons, on account of their being so widely scattered, and the delay and derange- ment that would have been occasioned in the print- ing department. Every effort has, however, been made to secure accuracy.

CONTENTS.

PAQH

Sermon I. The Influence on the Human Mind of the

Manifestation of God^s Glory. By Rev. Matthew

Simpson, D. D., of the Indiana Conference ... 13

And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said. Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and live. — Exodus xxxiii, 18-20.

Sermon II. The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. By Rev. Stephen M. Vail, A. M., of the New- Jersey Conference 33

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. — 2 Tim. iii, 16.

Sermon III. Origin, Nature, Condition, and Destina- tion of Man. By Rev. Homer J. Clarke, D. D.,

of the Pittsburgh Conference 43

What is man 1 — Psa. viii, 4.

Sermon IV. Death — the Wages of Sin. By Rev. D. W. Clark, A. M., of the New- York Conference . 56 The wages of sin is death. — Rom. vi, 23.

Sermon V. Salvation — Mysterious and Glorious. By Rev. James Floy, D. D., of the New- York Conference 72

Which things the angels desire to look into. — 1 Peter i, 12.

8 CONTENTS.

PAGE

Sermon VI. Talent. By Rev. Jesse T. Peck, D. D.,

of the Troy Conference 84

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far countiy, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several abiUty; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had re- ceived two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them, &c. — Matthew xxv, 14-30.

Sermon VII. The Duty of Submission to God. By Rev. William Hunter, of the Pittsburgh Con- ference 107

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. — James iv, 7.

Sermon Vin. Consecration to God. By Rev.

Frederick Merrick, A. M., of the Ohio

Conference 120

I beseech you therefore, brethi*en, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. — Romans xii, 1.

Sermon IX. Christian Perfection. By Rev. Noah Levings, D. D., of the New-York Conference . 137

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. — Matthew v, 48.

Sermon X. The Present and the Future State of

Believers. By Rev. Z. Paddock, D. D., of the

Oneida Conference 155

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we gx'oan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be, that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. — 2 Cor. V, 1-4.

CONTENTS. 9

PAa£ Sermon XI. Prayer — Outline of an ArgumerU for

its Institution. By Rev. Abel Stevens, A. M.,

of the Providence Conference 172

Thus saith the Lord God : I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. — Ezek. xxxvi, 37.

Sermon XII. Drawing near to God. By Rev. T. A.

Morris, D. D., one of the Bishops of the M. E.

Church 185

Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our heai-ts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. — Heb. x, 22.

Sermon XIII. Divine Providence. By Rev. Chas. K. True, A. M., of the New-England Conference 193

The angel of the Lord encampetli round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. — Psalm xxxiv, 7.

Sermon XIV. The Good and Faithful Servant. By Rev. O. C. Baker, A. M., of the New-Hampshire Conference 203

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful ser- vant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things ? enter thou into the joy of thy lord. — Matthew xxv. 21,

Sermon XV. The Divinity of Christianity demon- strated in the Conversion of St. Paid. By Rev. John H. Power, of the North Ohio Conference . 212

And he, trembling and astonished, said. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? And the Lord said unto him. Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. — Acts ix, 6.

Sermon XVI. The Great Salvation by Jesus Christ. By Rev. Samuel Luckey, D, D., of the Genesee Conference 231

Therefore we ought to give the more eanaest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every trans- gression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward ; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? — Heb, ii, 1, 2.

10 CONTENTS.

PAGE

Sermon XVII. The Conservative Power of Chris- tianity. By Rev. A. M. Osbon, of the New- York Conference • 249

Ye are the salt of the earth. — Matthew v, 13.

Sermon XVIII. Love to God and Man — Christian Union. By Rev. James V. Watson, of the Michigan Conference 265

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and*^ thy neighbor as thyself.— Luke x, 27.

Sermon XIX. Christian Discipline. By Rev. Euas

Bowen, D. D., of the Oneida Conference . . .276 Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or V three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church : but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. — Matthew xviii, 15-17.

^_^ERMON XX. Charity to the Poor. By Rev. Chas.

Adams, A. M., of the New-England Conference 292 Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : for I was an hun- gered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. — Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. — Matthew xxv, 34-36, 40.

Sermon XXI. The Existence of God. By Rev.

Nelson Rounds, A. M., of the Oneida Conference 304

For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, . even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. — Eom. i, 20.

■ Sermon XXII. The Reign of God a Source of Joy. By Rev. Joseph Cummings, A. M., of the New- England Conference 312

The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice ; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. — Psalm xcvii. i.

CONTENTS. 11

Sermon XXIII. Conscience, as an Instrument of

Punishment. By Rev. .Freeborn G. Hibbard,

A. M., of the Genesee Conference 325

And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assem- bly.—Prov. V, 11-14.

Sermon XXIV. Character and Work of a Miyiister

of Jesus Christ. By Rev. Nathan Bangs, D. D.,

of the New- York Conference . . . . . . .342

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye recon- ciled to God.— 2 Cor. V, 20.

Sermon XXV. The Office and Work of a Christian Bishop. By Rev. P. P. Sandford, of the New- York Conference 357

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation ; Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. — Heb. xiii, 7, 8.

Sermon XXVI. The Past and the Future, as sur- veyed hy a Faithful Minister of Christ, at the Hour of Dissolution. By Rev. Israel Chamberlayne, of the Genesee Conference 369

I am now ready to be oifered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight,! have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, . shall give me at that day. — 2 Tim. iv, 6-8.

Sermon XXVII. The Wesleyan Reformation. By

Rev. B. F. Tefft, A. M., of the North Indiana

Conference 393

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the ti-uth, M^hich thou hast showed unto thy servant : for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. — Gen. xxxii. 10.

12 CONTENTS.

PAGE

Sermon XXVIII. The Double Baptism — Reed

Baptism, By Rev. D. D. Whedon, D. D., of the

Michigan Conference 410

I indeed baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. — Mark i, 8.

Sermon XXIX. The Double Baptism — Symbolical

Baptism. By Rev. D. D. Whedon, D. D., of the

Michigan Conference 422

I indeed baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.— Mark i, 8.

Sermon XXX. The Resurrection. By Rev. G. G.

Hapgood, a. M., of the Black River Conference 437

0 death, where is thy sting 1 0 grave, where is thy victory 1 — 1 Cor. XV, 55.

Sermon XXXI. The Appearance of Evil. By Rev. George Peck, D. D., of the New- York Con- ference 451

Abstain from all appearance of evil. — 1 Thess. v, 22.

Sermon XXXII. The Opportunity of doing Good

unto all Men. By Rev. E. S. Janes, D. D., one

of the Bishops of the M. E. Church 469

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. — Galatians vi, 10.

Sermon XXXIII. Christ's first Sermon after his

Resurrection ; or, Christ the Theme of the Prophets.

By Rev. E. Hedding, D. D., senior Bishop of the

M. E. Church 485

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. — Luke xxiv, 27.

Sermon XXXIY. The New Birth. By Rev. T. E.

Bond, M. D., D. D., Senior Editor of the Christian

Advocate and Journal 504

Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. — John iii, 5.

SERMONS.

SERMON I.

The Influence on the Human Mind of the Manifesta- tion of God's Glory.

BY REV. MATTHEW SIMPSON, D. D.,

PRESIDENT OF INDIANA ASBURY UNIVERSITY.

" And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee j and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and live." — Exodus xxxiii, 18-20.

Correct views of the divine character lie at the found- ation of true religion. We may not indeed understand all the divine attributes, or even know their number, but with such as most directly influence human character and conduct we may become acquainted through nature and revelation. AVhere nations have acknowledged " lords many and gods many," discord and war have been, not mere casualities, but natural and almost necessary conse- quences of their theology. If Mars and Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, had conflicting interests in heaven, and if fierce contests raged among the gods, what else could be expected of their worshipers on earth ? As there were " gods of the hills and gods of the valleys," — as each nation traced its or- igin through a long line of ancestry to some one of the con- tending deities, — so it might be expected that each nation should be jealous for the honor and glory of its founder.

The unity of the Deity revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and the common origm of the human family expressly asserted, sweep away, at once and for ever, the greatest justification for hostilities, and all pretence for tyranny

14 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

and oppression. We have but one God, and we are all brethren.

The attributes with which the divine character is in- vested have also a powerful influence on the mind. If to the Deity is ascribed, as in heathen mythology, the pos- session of the animal propensities and desires, then the worship will be conformable to such desires, and licentious- ness and extravagance of every description will be mingled in the ceremonies. The rolling wheel shall crush its vic- tim, the fire consume the infant offering, or purity be sac- rificed unblu shingly at the altar of the commanding deity.

Carrying forward the s^me train of thought, we shall find that even under the full light of the system of Chris- tianity, the peculiar aspect in which the divine character is viewed will greatly modify Cliristian conduct and enjoy- ment. Notwithstanding all read the same revelation, and ascribe the same attributes to the Deity, yet perhaps each individual fixes in a different degree his estimate of the relation of these attributes to man ; and possibly, in each mind, some one of the divine attributes is more regarded, or at least more constantly a subject of thought, than any other. Thus, upon one may rest a sense of the terrible majesty of God. He may seem to hear his voice as when it spake in such awful grandeur from the top of Sinai. On another may rest a sense of awe and veneration, and the still small voice seem ever to sound in his ears, " Be still, and know that I am God." To a third is presented most vividly the idea of holiness ; and to a fourth, the idea, the triumphant thought, is, " God is love."

These various views must greatly modify our mode of approach before God. He whose mind is filled with ideas of terrible grandeur, and stern majesty, to whom every voice seems to proclaim, " Our God is a consuming fire," must, when his soul is penitent, approach even in prayer with overwhelming awe ; while another, who regards the Deity as an affectionate Father, though he come confound- ed by a sense of his guilt, and melted at the thought of the amazing condescension of an offended Ruler, yet, viewing the extended arms of mercy expanding to meet the re- turning prodigal, even dares to " come boldly to a throne of grace." ^

Many of the vounor; — and for tliem our remarks are

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 15

made — are taught, even in the nursery, to clothe the Deity with attributes of vengeance. As they grow older the idea strengthens in their mind — Religion is a fearful thought — moroseness or terror becomes most intimately associated with their notions of Christianity, and they will not think of God because the idea is one of awful dread. And per- haps few passages in the word of God have been more frequently used to strengthen this impression upon the mind, than that part of our text, " For there shall no man see me and live."

Being fully persuaded that love is the great charac- teristic of the Deity, as revealed through Christ, and that all young persons ought so to be taught, we propose to in- vestigate—

I. What Moses desired when he prayed, "I beseech thee show me thy glory."

II. How far this desire was satisfied ; and,

III. Why he could not obtain all that he desired. I. First, then, let us consider the desire of Moses. The "glory of God" is used in the sacred writings in

several distinct meanings. Sometimes it is applied to an exhibition of some grand or astonishing appearance, indi- cating supernatural power and glory — sometimes to a dis- play of the power, wisdom, and benevolence, of the Deity, in his works — sometimes to his dispensations toward man, as seen in the history of individuals — and sometimes to his purposes of mercy yet to be revealed. By further ex- amination, we may see to which one of these the desire of the leader of Israel was directed.

1. Did he desire to behold some grand and glorious man- ifestation of the Deity; some outward form or shape to represent the great Jehovah ? Why should such be his desire ? In the first place, he must have had correct views' of the Deity — he must have known that " God is a spirit," — that " no man hath seen God at any time" — that a spiritual being cannot be materially discerned : and that though a glorious light, or thick clouds and sounds of power, may accompany his revelations to man, yet that light, or those clouds or sounds, indicate his presence, but do not represent his form ; — they exhibit his power, not his per- son. We say, Moses must have known all this, because he was taught the knowledge of the true God from his

16 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

childhood — tradition from Shem to Moses passed through but few hands — and then he had been taught of God. Forty years had he wandered in sohtude ; a shepherd's life gave him time and opportunity for divine communion — for deep and holy reflection. When thus prepared, great reve- lations had been given to him, and he had conversed with God in the hallowed mount for forty days — had received the immutable law for the human family — and consequent- ly must have known much of the divine character.

Our tendency to attach form to the Deity arises from the limited nature of our faculties. We are principally in- fluenced by external qualities ; we judge by them ; and though we know a spirit has not the ordinary qualities of matter, yet we can form no distinct conception without as- sociating some of them. When we think of an angel, or the spirit of a departed one whom we loved on earth, though we give no definite form, yet there is a something which flits before the mind. It may be a small bright cloud, so greatly attenuated as to be scarcely perceptible — a thin light mist — a floating vapor — but still there is form. So in our ordinary conceptions of the Deity, though we know he hath not body and parts, yet we imagine some appearance. It may be superlative brightness or terrible majesty ; infinitely varied may be our conceptions as to magnitude, form, and locality ; still there is an appearance. And this, we may casually remark, has ever been a fruit- ful source of idolatry.

As these views arise from the imperfection of our facul- ties, or from our want of knowledge, we cannot properly attribute them to one so advanced as Moses in laiowledge, both human and divine. But, in the second place, why should he desire to behold such external displays of glory and power? He had worshiped at the burning bush; had been made the messenger of God to announce the most astonishing prodigies to the Egyptians ; at his word, the Nile had flowed in currents of blood ; darkness had in its most fearful form brooded over the kingdom ; and the mes- senger of death had made every family to send forth a long, loud, piercing wail for the first-born. The sea had divided at his approach ; the divine presence, as a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, had been his guide and pro- tection ; and, lastlv, he had stood amidst the terrific scenes

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 17

of Sinai until he exclaimed, " I do exceedingly fear and quake." What greater manifestations could he wish to behold ? Surely these had been enough, more than enough, to satisfy the most enlarged desire.

2. May he have used the expression in the sense of the Psalmist where he says, " The heavens declare the glory of God ;" desiring to understand more of creative power and skill ? There can be no doubt that he earnestly de- sired to know all that could be known in reference to the great work of creation. But probably he had, before this time, received by revelation the history of the world's pro- duction. He had stood as on some distant eminence, and beheld when " He spake and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast." He had seen the earth springing into existence, robed in innocence and loveliness, while " the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy." And having received such views, standing thus as a witness to this great fact, he could scarcely have asked for further description.

3. Is it probable that he desired to behold the glory of God, as manifested in his past government of the world ? In this he had already been instructed. He had been made the world's sole historian for near two thousand years. Before his mind had passed the history of the race, with all its mutations ; — its creation in innocence and ma- jesty ; its dreadful fall ; ejection from Paradise ; its stains of sin upon the earth, too deep to be effaced even by the rush of waters in the mighty deluge. Not only had he received Abrahamic traditions and all that Egyptian lore could fur- nish, but God himself had been his great instructor, to show to man, through him, his " glory," in the rise and fall of em- pires, the elevation or degradation of the race.

4. Since then his prayer could not refer to external ex- hibitions of the glory of the Deity, or to his creative power, or past government of the world, it only remains for us to turn toward the future. And if we view the circum- stances surrounding him, we shall see that by his prayer, " I beseech thee, show me thy glory," he desired to under- stand the merciful purposes of God toward the Israelites, and through them to the world. He anxiously wished to understand more fully the whole plan of salvation, and to see the things that should happen in the " latter days."

18 MANIFESTATION OF [SEK.

That tlie Almighty had great designs in view in reference to the Israelites, he had a right to infer, from what had al- ready been done for them. As when an architect collects in one place a vast quantity of materials, we have a right to expect the erection of some magnificent edifice ; so, from previous and vast preparation on the part of the Deity, some event of momentous importance might be inferred. Abraham had been called from his native land and from among his kindred ; had traveled over Canaan in expecta- tion that it should be his, while yet owned and inhabited by powerful nations ; his sons had been trained under pe- culiar circumstances; providentially led into Egypt, and then made a race of slaves, oppressed and shamefully treated ; then rescued amidst signs and wonders " with a high hand and an outstretched arm," while the sprinkled blood of the slaughtered lamb prefigured a higher and ho- lier deliverance of humanity from a still more accursed bondage. What connection this had with the hope of a Messiah who should wield a sceptre, and of a Prophet who should teach his people, he could not fully see : and what meant all this vast display in the wilderness ; this heavenly direction ; this manna from on high ; the tables of the law ; the tabernacle with its symbols and ceremo- nies, he could not fully comprehend, but in the earnest- ness of his soul, he prayed, " I beseech thee, show me thy glory."

Again, the circumstances through which he had just passed were of a most singular character. He had been upon the sacred mount. Israel had said, " Let not God speak with us ;" and Moses had stood as their representa- tive for forty days. But this very people who had heard the voice of God, had turned to idolatry at the foot of the mount. Their jewels had been collected and formed into a golden calf — the god of the Egyptians, from whose ser- vice they had been delivered. " They had set down to eat, and rose up to play." With what feelings must the man of God have turned from the mount ; from converse with the Deity ! But as he descended, and the sound of revelry burst upon his ear, he could restrain himself no longer ; he dashed from his hand the tables of the law, written by the finger of Omnipotence, and thej brake at the foot of the mount.

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 19

This act was censurable ; and yet it furnishes no small indication of the feelings by which he was then influenced, the views by which he was governed. He may have sup- posed that the Israelites were honored because of their faith. They were free from idolatry. And it was right that an idolatrous nation should be destroyed to furnish this pious people a place of abode. But if so, what now shall be done to the Israelites ? Bad as were the Canaanites, the Israelites were far worse. The people of Palestine had been taught idolatry ; they had seen no miracles ; no pillar of fire had guided them ; no sea had been divided before them ; they had not been fed from heaven ; and had never heard the voice of God. Their sin was in part palliated by ignorance. But this people, while eating bread from heaven, with the throne of God in their midst, sur- rounded with the clouds of his grandeur hanging in awful magnificence as curtains around the mountain's summit, while he himself was penning for them his eternal law, as if to insult him, had made a golden calf. They had clothed it with the attributes of Jehovah ; ascribed to it the miracles of the deliverance, and then, as in mockery, had cried but in the ear of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, " These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

Nor was it only the thoughtless, the ignorant, the ob- scure, that engaged in this blasphemy. Aaron — the elo- quent Aaron — the mouth of Moses, when he spake the word of God unto Pharaoh, with the elders of Israel, had joined in the impious rites. Under such circumstances, if Canaanites merited the wrath of God, seventy and seven fold should be the vengeance taken on Israel. If to the one were appointed the destroying sword, what but fire from heaven to consume, or a yawning earth to engulf, could be a fit punishment for the deeds of the other ? Is it wonder- ful, that Moses should cast from his hands a law for which this people were now unprepared, and should, in the an- guish of his heart, despair for them as to the mercy of God ?

But vengeance does not fall from heaven. The people are still spared. And, after various periods of supplication, he is even answered, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." What can this mean — the idol- atrous Canaanite cut off, the idolatrous Jew spared ? Some

20 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

great development must be in preparation, some grand display of the divine character. What can be the mea- sure of that mercy, which is preceded by the preparatory act of the pardon of two millions and a half of people ? His longing soul desires to know all the purposes of God. The act of mercy, just witnessed, kindled within him a greater love for God, a more earnest wish to fathom the depths of his goodness ; and, with the vehemence of intense desire, he cries out, " I beseech thee, show me thy glory " — grant me a full exhibition of thy mercy and thy love.

II. Let us next consider how far this desire was satis- fied.

In answer to this earnest prayer, the Deity replies, (v. 19,) " I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee ; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Again in verses 21-23, " Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock ; and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by ; and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts." And again it is said, in chap, xxxiv, 5-7, " And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and pro- claimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed. The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good- ness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving ini- quity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."

In this manifestation of the divine character to Moses, a few particulars may be noticed.

1. He proclaimed the name of the Lord before him. This probably refers to such a general view of the divine administration as exhibits the benevolence, holiness, and justice of God, intimately blended in the government of man.

2. He made all his goodness pass before him. This was probably a prophetic view of his mercy to the Israel- ites as a nation ; in which was exhibited not merely his

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 2X

sparing them on that occasion, but their settlement and continuance in the Holy Land, and the strict fulfillment of the promises made to the patriarchs in their behalf.

3. He showed him his administration as a sovereign : " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Here was ex- plained the difference of the treatment of Israel and Ca- naan. The latter had filled the measure of their iniquity as a nation, and no great benefit would be secured to the race by their national existence ; while the former, though guilty of aggravated sins, might, as a nation, be made a blessing to the world. And that, for the accomplishment of some great good to man, a nation might be made the subject of mercy and grace, as to civil existence and pros- perity, without any actual good deserts ; — thus showing the national bearmg of a passage, with which many pious individuals have been greatly perplexed. Yet the same principle may have, and doubtless often has had, applica- tion to individuals so far as temporal position is concerned, but not extending to their salvation. Yet both as to na- tions and individuals, when the day of employment shall be over, crime shall be visited with punishment ; in the in- dividual it might not be on earth, but in nations it shall be visited " upon the children, and upon the children's chil- dren, unto the third and to the fourth generation."

4. He gave him a prophetic view of the mission of Christ. This is indicated in the expression, " Thou shalt see my back parts." The Hebrew word in this place translated " back parts," refers to time as well as to positiori. And many able commentators and critics have referred this passage to the incarnation of Christ. This rendering conforms so well to the general use of the word, and to the tenor of Scripture, that there can be but little doubt of its correctness. And a free translation might be, " Thou shalt see me, as manifested in the latter days."

The revelation appears to have been given to Moses, to strengthen his own faith, and to fit him for those ardu- ous duties required of the leader of such a people. He is placed in a " cleft of the rock," and before him passes, as though spread out on an immense canvass, the repre- sentations of the future. He beholds the goodness of God to the rebellious Jew ; sees him settled in the Holy

22 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

Land ; kings and princes, wise and noble, and holy men, adorn their race, and Judea is a blessing to the world. And as the pillar of cloud, and the ark and its mercy seat, are sometimes called the glory of God ; so he beholds in the institutions of his \)GO])\e, in the influences of his law, and the messages of the prophets, the " glory of God" spread- ing among men. But a shade falls upon the canvass. The Deity hides the future in his hand. Again his hand is re- moved— the indications of some grand coming event be- come closer and closer, as rays of hallowed light emerging to a focus, until at last, as the " glory of the only begotten of the Father," he beholds " the seed of Abraham, in whom the nations of the earth sliall be blessed ;" the ■•' Shiloh " of Jacob, who grasped the departing sceptre of Judah. His soul leaps forward to meet him on the mount of transfigu- ration ; joy swells his heart, and he can hear no more. He bows his head and worships.

III. We can now inquire why his petition was not fully granted.

1. From what has been already expressed, we are pre- pared to assume that it was not because in any manifesta- tion there would be such terrific grandeur as should de- stroy human existence. For, first, Moses, we think, did not pray for external manifestations. These could be but symbols ; and, however vast and magnificent the symbols might be, they never could adequately represent the di- vine character. But, secondly, there is no intimation made, as we think, that if an exhibition were given, it would be one of terrific majesty. If the dispensations of God toward man are pre-eminently characterized by mercy, and if his love cannot be expressed in language, and could be adequately revealed only in the incarnation and passion of his only begotten Son, then, if his character could be portrayed by symbols, if his glory could thus be made known, the symbols must be those of superlative benevo- lence, of condescending grace. We are aware that the ex- pression of the apostle, " For our God is a consuming fire," is sometimes quoted to sustain the terrific view of the di- vine character ; but this refers to his judgments upon the finally impenitent, and not to any manifestations or dis- pensations toward those who are still on probation.

2. The language employed in the text, " Thou canst not

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 23

see my face ; for there shall no man see me and live," does not express any reason why man is unable to bear a view of the Deity. It simply declares the fact, that man cannot see the face of God. If, then, we inquire what is meant by the term " face," we are at once satisfied that it can have no such application to a spirit as it has to man. It must be used figuratively. And as the face is that part of the human form which remains uncovered and visible ; that part which particularly indicates to others the definite person or individual ; while other parts of the form are pro- tected by raiment — so the term is used figuratively to signify that which is fully or clearly seen : and when applied to the Deity, would be a full revelation of the divine character ; embracing all his plans of mercy and benevolence to his created intelligences.

3. The reason why man could not behold this and live, would not be because of its terror or majesty ; but because the view of the riches of His grace, his compassion and be- nevolence, would excite emotions of reverence, of admira- tion, of love, and of joy, too overwhelming for humanity to bear. Each manifestation of the benevolence of God called forth songs of joy and ascriptions of praise from those who beheld them in ancient times. They rejoiced when they be- held the " bow of promise" spanning the arch of heaven with its glorious array of colors ; when they saw the intervention of the pillar of cloud by day, and the guidance of the pillar of fire by night ; when the sea parted before them, and they saw the salvation of God ; when, for the deliveriince of Israel, the Assyrian host was smitten before the angel of the Lord ; when the divine glory descended and rested upon the tabernacle they had reared, and when, after their captivity, the second temple was erected and consecrated, amidst the tears and rejoicings of the restored captives. At these, and many other displays of benevolence and love, the ancient Jews rejoiced greatly. The spirits of the prophets rejoiced within them, when in vision they beheld the day of Christ ; and when the devout Simeon beheld even the infant Jesus brought into the temple, his joy swelled into ecstasy, and feeling all he could desire, he cried out in rapture, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Now if, in these cases, a single view had

24 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

such an effect, what would be the result, if all the mercy and compassion of God, in its unbounded immensity and inexhaustible fullness, could, at one moment, be revealed to the human mind ? Humanity could not bear the vision. No man can see " the face of God and live ;" because the sublimity of the view would produce not only "joy un- speakable and full of glory," but joy at which the soul should be unfitted for residing in the body. To support this view we may reflect, that things exciting emotions even of a pleasurable character may extend so far as to become destructive, and that emotions of joy may in them- selves destroy life. Light is pleasant, it spreads a halo of beauty and glory around the face of nature. The eye is never satisfied with the revelations which are made through its medium. Yet let that light, which thus spreads beauty around, fall upon the eye in the concentrated form of a ray from the meridian sun, and the power of vision is impaired, if not totally destroyed. What delight is communicated by means of sound ! the melody of birds — the murmur of the waterfall — the music of instruments — and the sound of that sweetest and richest of all instruments, the human voice — awaken the most pleasurable emotions. And yet, let that murmur of the waterfall be changed into the roar of the cataract, and it is deafening. Sound may be so in- tense and prolonged, that the auditory nerve shall no longer respond to its vibrations.

The same is true of mental emotion. How the mind operates upon the body we cannot tell. No anatomist has detected the fine chords which bind spirit and matter to- gether. But that the emotions of the mind do affect the body is universally admitted. Death from surprise, from fright, from terror, from all the depressing passions, has been by no means uncommon. And where death has not ensued, how many have been made maniacs for life ! Nor is excitement confined to the unpleasant emotions. Scenes of sublimity may inspire, as much as scenes of terror can alarm. Man's soul responds as quickly and as strongly to the beautiful, the lovely, the good, as to that which of- fends or disgusts. And the emotions arising from the beautiful are no more under our control, and are no more limited in strength, than those of the opposite character.

In the every-day walks of life, who has not known of a

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 25

case like this ? A beloved son has left the home of fond parents to engage in commercial pursuits, or visit some dis- tant place. By various causes his stay is prolonged, until at last the tidings reach his parents that he was wrecked off some rocky coast ; or, that he perished in a fatal epi- demic. They mourn for him as one that is lost ; and they think of him only as in the spirit world. Years pass away, and though strangely preserved, his parents are not aware of his existence. He starts for home. Already he stands upon the hill that overlooks the scenes of his boyhood ; the house, and trees, and shrubs, all stand as when he left; his heart exults at the thought of embracing his parents, and, thoughtless as to consequences, he hastily approaches. He opens the door. His mother gazes at him but a mo- ment, cries, "My son, my son," throws her arms fondly around his neck, and swoons away in his arms. And in- stances have occurred, in which, from that swoon, there has been no recovery.

Nor can it be said that such cases occur only among the weaker and more nervous portions of the human family. All are excitable. They may differ as to the objects which excite, and as to the degree of excitement produced by any definite object, but still, let the subject be one about which their minds are deeply interested, and all are suscep' tible of intense excitement. The grave and steady citizen, in times of great political discussion, when he supposes the welfare of his country is dependent on the result of an elec- tion, becomes so deeply interested, that he loses his custo- mary self-control. And vdien, at the close of a warmly con- tested canvass, his party triumphs, he tosses his cap wildly in the air, or joins in the loud exultation.

History informs us, that in the time of the great South Sea speculation in England, many, overjoyed by their suc- cess, became insane. At the restoration of Charles II., a number of the nobility were so affected by the recovery of their titles and estates, that they became diseased, and in a short time died. Leo X., one of the most renowned occupants of the Papal chair, was so rejoiced by a victory somewhat unexpectedly gained over his enemies, that he sunk beneath the excitement. The heir of Leibnitz, the celebrated mathematician, on finding that a chest, filled, as he supposed, with papers, contained a large quantity of 2

26 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

gold, became so excited by the discovery, that he was seized with a fatal disease of the heart. The celebrated Rittenhouse, Pennsylvania's earliest astronomer, was se- lected to observe the transit of Venus across the sun's disc, in order that the correctness of many of the astronomical calculations might be tested. Having made all necessary arrangements and calculations, he watched earnestly for the expected transit ; and when, at the calculated moment, he saw the dark boundary of the planet obscure the edge of the sun's disc, he was so overcome with emotion, that he swooned away, and his assistants were obliged to finish the observations. The immortal Newton, when he ap- proached toward the completion of those calculations that demonstrated his discovery of the great laws of nature, and that gave him an imperishable name, and when he saw that his conjectures were about to be verified, was so deeply affected, that he was obliged to leave to others the work of completing his calculations. Near the close of the revolutionary war, the attention of Congress, and of the whole American people, was directed toward the armies of Washington and Cornwallis, and some movement was daily expected, having a powerful bearing upon our coun- try's liberty. When the messenger arrived, bringing the joyful intelligence that Cornwallis had surrendered, the doorkeeper of Congress fell dead upon the floor of the hall. If such, then, be the influence of joyful emotions, when arising from temporal subjects, will the effect be diminished by adding the revelation of the unseen and eternal ? Can emotions excited by a view of the majesty, holiness, wis- dom, and compassion, of the eternal Jehovah, be less strong, than those excited by considering a small portion of the work of his hands ? And is it unreasonable to ex- pect that the truths of Christianity will produce deep and powerful religious emotion ? If an astronomer shall swoon, and a Newton sink overpowered by the discovery of some of the laws by which the Deity governs the material world ; if Pope Leo should sink through joy at the triumph of his army, and a patriot die at the triumph of his coun- try ; if the unexpected inheritance of a chest of gold, or the restoration of rank and estate should destroy the action of vital organs ; what shall be said of him on whose vision should burst the revelation of the laws of the Deity in the

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 27

moral world ; a full view of the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus, and of his amazing condescension and love in giving his Son to die to save a rebellious world fast sinking into destruction, and by his offers of mercy, and influences of his Spirit, raising feeble, sinful .man, to the throne of his glory, having first purified him from all ini- quity ? If natural emotion may be so intense that the soul and body cannot unitedly subsist, well may it be said of such a manifestation, '• There shall no man see me and live."

As a general inference from this subject, we may no- tice what a sublime view is thus presented of the revela- tion contained in the word of Grod.

1. It is a system of truth ; in which, directly or indirectly, each separate truth leads to the great commanding truth of the being and attributes of God. This is the substance of revelation ; God displayed in creation, in government, and in mercy to man. All other statements are but as secondaries revolving around their primary. The whole of revelation is such a view of the character of God as shall attract men to virtue, to happiness, and to glory. And as the character of God is infinite in its perfections, it can never be perfectly comprehended by finite minds. So much of the truth may be readily embraced as shall set man free from the power of other attractions, but there is still an inexhaustible remainder. The greatest minds may here be for ever engaged ; intellect may learn much ; pro- phets and kings may gaze with delight ; and even angels shall desire to look into these sublime truths ; but, like the parallel lines of the mathematician, there may be eternal approximation without perfect attainment.

2. But revelation is not merely a system of sublime truth. It is truth so presented as to affect our sensitive nature. It is not abstract speculation alone that is em- ployed ; our affections, our sympathies, are all enlisted. It is a system intended to operate upon man. It operates, first, by presenting the grand, the lofty, the majestic attri- butes of the divine character. And as the contemplation of great characters, the association with the great person- ages of earth, inspire the soul with lofty sentiments and high purposes, so the revelation of God's majesty becomes a powerful cause of elevation to man. It is fixing in an

28 MANIFESTATION OF [SER.

immovable position a fulcrum which, more than the lever of Archimedes, shall move in elevating humanity toward the throne of God. It operates, secondly, by inspiring man with what is termed, technically, the sympathetic emotion of virtue. The performance of a brave, a noble, a patriotic, or a virtuous act, makes us desire to do the same. And when God reveals himself as a God of mercy, employing his omnipotence in acts of compassion, there is a voice that whispers to the heart through every such manifestation, "Be ye merciful, even as I am merciful." As that mercy is over all his works — as his sunshine and showers fall upon all alike — as his Son suffered for all — so the compassion taught us is universal. The soul under such influences desires mercy upon all. It sends the Bible on the wings of the morning, carrying light and animation to the uttermost ends of the earth. It sends the missionary to bear the glad tidings of great joy, which warmed even angels' hearts, to those that sit in the valley and shadow of death. It opens the school and founds the college, and seeks in every possible manner to benefit the race to which we belong, and toward which God hath showed such amaz- ing mercy. It operates, thirdly, by exciting gratitude and joy for personal salvation — for pardon, for regeneration, and for adoption into the family of the Most High. The grateful soul is ready to exclaim, " What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me !" " What am I, and what is my Father's house," that I should thus be the subject of divine love ! And that gratitude and joy become vastly expanded by the reflection, that similar fa- vor is showed to all our kindred and to all our race ; that our fathers were the subjects of mercy, and our children, and our children's children, shall inherit the same salva- tion; that in every clime, tongue, kindred, and people, may be experienced the same joys of pardoning mercy. At such a view we may well exclaim with the apostle, " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and know- ledge of God !" A fourth effect of such revelation is, that the soul desires to dwell constantly as in the presence of God. In him is all fullness — the treasures of wisdom and knowledge for the intellect, of grace and mercy for the soul. He becomes the Alpha and the Omega to the be- lieving heart ; and as the Deity grants such personal com-

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 29

munlon, the soul becomes refined and purified. The world diminishes in value ; eternity, with all its spiritual blessed- ness, gradually unfolds before the moral vision ; and the limit of joy is only found in the necessity of fitness for du- ties here. There is no limit in the fullness, glory, and sublimity, of the divine character. There is no limit in the willingness of God to impart, for " He that spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things ?" There is no limit of power as to the agent, " For we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The limit is only found in the fact, that humanity can best discharge the duties imposed on us here when those manifestations are not overwhelmingly grand. Under this limitation the spirit of the Bible is a spirit of joy, crying constantly to the true Christian, " Re- joice evermore, and again I say, rejoice."

2. That such are the effects of the manifestation of God's mercy, we are further warranted in believing from the his- tory of distinguished individuals. Moses, when the name of the Lord was proclaimed before him, and his goodness passed before him, " made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped." He adored and reverenced. But in the midst of that adoration there was no such alarm as made Israel say, " Let not God speak with us ;" his soul desired still the presence of God, and his immediate prayer was, " Let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us." And such was the influence of the manifestations he re- ceived, that his face shone with such glory that the people could not look upon him unveiled ; or, in other words, the manifestations of goodness and of glory were carried to the utmost possible point at which his usefulness to the people of Israel could remain. When Daniel was showed in pro- phetic vision the return of the captive Jews, and when the succession of empire was revealed, and the things that should happen in the latter days, he says, " There remained no strength in me ;" and before he was able to hear the whole prediction, the angel touched him to strengthen him. On the mount of transfiguration the disciples were so over- whelmed that " they knew not what they said," or did not fully see the impropriety of their request, and yet were so

30 MANIFESTATION OF [SEB.

enchanted that they said, " Master, it is good for us to be here." The apostle to the Gentiles, who in the learning of his age and in strength of intellect had few if any equals, was so charmed with heavenly visions, that Avhether he was " in the body or out of the body " he could not tell ; while the exiled apostle on the Isle of Patmos fell as one that was dead.

3. What an unfailing source of comfort and joy is opened for the Christian in the revelation which God hath given ? His joy is not of this world, it is in God. The world may change, but God changeth not. God's glory never faileth — the Christian's spring of happiness never runs dry. What a beautiful figure to represent this life from God is that employed in the description of the New Jerusalem : " A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb !" Of this the pu- rified partake. The kingly and mediatorial government of God ever furnishes the just spirits with increasing ad- miration of the glory of God. And on earth true Chris- tian comfort is the same. It is of God — it is in God. Property may vanish, friends may fail, health may be de- stroyed, but God still is immutably glorious, and from his throne still- flows the pure river, clear as crystal, imparting life and joy to all that dwell upon its banks. It is a river of mercy, a river of grace, and he that drinketh of its water needs never thirst again for the turbid streams of earthly joy.

4. If then the effect of the manifestation of God's mercy and love be to elevate, to ennoble, and to rejoice the heart of man, why should not our minds dwell upon the divine character ? We may not indeed " find out the Almighty to perfection," but we learn more and more of his glory. He did not chide Moses for his enlarged prayer, nor will he chide us for seeking the utmost knowledge and enjoy- ment of his grace. Christianity alone oflTers man know- ledge and joy which can perfectly fill his expansive capa- city, and for that knowledge and that grace unceasing effort should be made, and ceaseless prayer offered to the Most High. For this we may come boldli/ to the throne of grace.

5. And if the limit of manifestation of mercy is found in the circumstances of the creature and not in God, who

I.] THE DIVINE GLORY. 31

shall attempt to say what glorious enjoyment awaits the celestial citizen ? Or who shall fix the limits to the amount of blissful manifestation which may be made to the soul when about to be released from its earthly duties and con- nections ? It was a favorite opinion of many of the Roman and Grecian philosophers and poets, that the prophetic spirit came upon man in his dying moments. Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, and even Homer, make allusions to it, and consider it in some manner connected with the soul's immortality ; and Xenophon speaks of the soul's ap- pearing godlike in its last moments with the body. What may have given rise to this view among pagan nations we know not ; but among the Jews the dying patriarchs had the spirit of prophecy, and Jacob blessed his sons, " wor- shiping and leaning upon the top of his staff." The future opened upon their vision as earth was receding, and ere its earthly departure the soul seemed as an inhabitant of another world. And is it not an increased manifestation of mercy that makes the " chamber where the good man meets his fate" seem to be " quite on the verge of heaven ?" May it not have been such manifestations that raised the martyr's spirit above the power of the flame, and enabled him, with Stephen, to look " up steadfastly into heaven, and" to see "the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God ?" Is it not this that enables the dying Christian to exclaim, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?"

6. Does it seem unreasonable that when life is about to be over, the Deity should withdraw his hand, and let such a view of his glory upon the mind, that the physical frame shall fall, and the unfettered spirit rise to the full enjoy- ment of beatific love ? Is it fanciful to suppose that this was the case with Moses ? His was a peculiar death. None but his God was with him.

Behold him, in fancy, as for the last time he addresses Israel. The elders and all the people are around him, with their wives and their little ones. He sets before them the law of their God, and exhorts them to obedience. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him, and he tells them of things that should befall them in time to come, gives them his last patriarchal blessing, and then, as if taking liis last

32 MANIFESTATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY. [SEE.

look, he cries out, " Happy art thou, O Israel ; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord ?"

He ascends Mount Nebo, toward the top of Pisgah. The veil has been taken from his face for the last time as he goes up to meet the Lord. Are his feelings those of dread or of joy ? What should he dread ? To be nearer Jehovah is his greatest joy, and he is to receive sublimer and more extensive visions of glory. Is not his prayer still, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory?" He stands upon the mountain's summit, and, as he gazes, there spreads out in all its richness and in all its beauty the promised land, even " all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naph- tali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea." He looks again, and future scenes are before him. Upon Mount Moriah rises a magnificent building — a splendid temple. Its walls are of massive structure, its columns lofty and imposing, and the riches of Ophir are displayed in its decorations. A wise king is on the throne of David, and milHons of people repose in peace and prosperity beneath his sway. Within the court of the temple are the prescribed sacrifices, and devout worshipers turn toward the place of the mercy- seat. . Again he prays, " I beseech thee, show me thy glory." And in the wilderness of Judea, and along the populous courts of Galilee, he beholds wandering " a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." At his approach the sick and infirm crowd around. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are brought to life, and the poor hear the gospel of the kingdom. He recog- nizes him as the " Hope of Israel," a prophet like unto himself in mission, but as the morning star in glory. His soul exults within him as he sees fulfilled all the tyj)es and shadows of the ceremonies instituted by him, and he wor- ships his incarnate Lord. Again he looks, and he stands by a cross; upon it is the King of the Jews. The heavens are hung with blackness, and creation sympathizes with the divine sufferer. Then the agony is over; the earth has quaked ; the sun shone forth with his brilliant beams, as the triumphant exclamation was heard, " It is finished !" The graves of the dead were opened, and the veil conceal- ing the holy of holies was rent in twain, opening up a new and living way to the mercy-seat. Again he prays, "I

II.] INSPIRATION OP THE HOLT SCRIPTURES. 33

beseecli thee, show me thy glorj." And he beholds an as- cended Saviour ; the angel flies through the midst of hea- ven proclaiming the gospel to man ; the Gentile hears as well as the Jew ; and from the north and south, from the east and west, come flowing around the cross the people of every tongue and kindred, while glorious light is shining upon the nations of the earth, and all mankind is blessed in the " seed of Abraham." Ecstasy fills his soul, but he realizes that no man can see the face of God and live. His body falls upon the summit, and "the Lord buried him ;" while his spirit, amid visions of glory on the moun- tain-top, ascends to brighter bliss and more refulgent glory in the celestial world.

If such were the scene which we have attempted to de- scribe, what bliss would there not be in such a death! And may not the dying Christian, wherever he may be, even deep in the valley of humility, have bright visions and sweet whispers of love in his expiring moments ? May not the manifestation of God's mercy soothe his sorrows, and turn his sufferings into joy ? " May I die the death of the righteous, and may my last end be like his !"

SERMON II. The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

BY REV. STEPHEN M. VAIL, A. M.,

PRINCIPAL OF THE NEW-JERSEY CONFERENCE SEMINARY.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." — 2 Tim. iii, 16. Ilacra ypa(pri ■&e6TTveviTTog.

The divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures we con- ceive to be of the utmost importance. With this doctrine the authority of the Scriptures must stand or fall. If this be given up, the Bible is of human origin and composition, and is of no more authority than other books. Indeed, it becomes a mere fabulous record whenever it deals in those

2*

^4 INSPIRATION OF [SER.

high subjects which are above human comprehension. We are then still groping in the dark in regard to the great subjects of God, man, and eternity ; and we have no well- grounded hope of heaven and eternal life.

The apostle declares that all Scripture is divinely in- spired; that is, both the sentiment and the writing — and " all " the writings, both of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, are inspired of God. Every sentence, every thought, and every word, were originally written un- der the direction and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This is what we are to understand by the inspiration of the Scriptures, both in its nature and extent.

I. In confirmation of this doctrine, we would ask atten- tion to the following considerations and arguments.

1. And, first, we would offer a short, clear, and strong argument, from Mr. Wesley. " The Bible," says he, " must be the invention either of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God."

(1.) It could not be the invention of good men or an- gels ; for they neither could nor would make a book, and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying, " Thus saith the Lord," when it was their own invention.

(2.) It could not be the invention of bad men or devils ; for they would not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their souls to hell to all eternity.

(3.) Therefore we must draw this conclusion, that the Bible must have been given by divine inspiration — that it is the work of God.

2. Our second argument is derived from prophecy. The ability to foretell future events, especially hundreds of years beforehand, belongs to God alone. None but he who is possessed of the treasures of wisdom and know- ledge, none but he who sees the end from the beginning, could have written, or caused to be written, the prophetic portions of the Holy Scriptures.

All the writers of the Old Testament were prophets. They received their words from the Lord. They also fore- told what should come to pass. Moses was a prophet, and so much of a prophet that it is written, (Deut. xxxiv, 10,) " There arose not a prophet since in Israel, ichom the Lord knew face to face."' It was customary for Christ and the

II.] THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 35

apostles to apply the term ^'prophets'' to all the writers of the Old Testament. Their habitual designation of the en- tire Scriptures was, "Moses and the prophets." Luke xxiv, 25, 27, 44 ; Matt, v, 17 ; vii, 12 ; xi, 13 ; xii, 40, &c. Hear, then, Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah, and Malachi, foretelling the coming and glories of the king- dom of Christ ; Jeremiah and Ezekiel declaring the over- throw of the cities of Babylon, of Nineveh, of Tyre and Sidon — all of which prophecies have been literally ful- filled ; though first uttered while these cities were in pros- perity, and hundreds of years before they fell.

Many of the writings of the New Testament are also prophetic. See our Saviour on the summit of the Mount of Olives with his disciples, beholding the beautiful city and the glorious temple. Hear him saying, in the language of prophecy, " For the days shall come upon thee that thine ene- mies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee around — and shall lay thee even with the ground — and they shall not leave within thee one stone upon another." In less than forty years all these things were literally fulfilled. Prophetic passages are scattered through the evangelists, the Acts and the epistles. The whole book of Revelation is a prophecy of the coming and establishment of the king- dom of God. The apostles are called prophets. Paul says to the Ephesians, " In the few words lohich I ivrote afore, ye may understand my hnoivledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages ivas not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and PROPHETS hy his Sjnrit." From this passage it is clearly manifest that Paul is called a prophet ; also that Matthew, John, Jude, Peter, and James, were prophets, who had re- ceived by the Spirit the mystery of Christ, and as prophets they wrote. If they were prophets they had the Spirit of the Lord, and if they had the Spirit of the Lord, they were inspired. We conclude, therefore, that the prophetic cha- racter of the writers, and also of the books of the New Tes- tament, clearly makes them out to have been inspired of God, as truly so as were the writings of the Old Testa- ment.

3. The declarations of the Scriptures themselves, plainly prove this doctrine. But will not this be proving inspi- ration by inspiration? It would be so indeed did we

36 INSPIRATION OF [SER.

assume the Bible in this argument to be inspired. But ROW we take it only as a book of truth, declaring true doc- trines and true history ; as such we receive it, and by itself prove its inspiration.

It is declared in 2 Pet. i, 20, 21, in reference to the Old Testament Scriptures, that " no jyrophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation ;" that is, obtained by individual means, from human sagacity or reasoning, but it is rather obtained from God : " for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Here we have an unequivocal declaration in regard to the Old Testament Scriptures, that men wrote them as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. They wrote as they were moved: as a vessel is moved by the winds, so they were impelled by the Spirit of God; that is, the writing, the very words, were the work of God, and not of man. Thus the decla- ration of the text is verified, "yl// Scripture is given hy inspiration of God.""

If we claim this high authority for the Old Testament Scriptures, much more may we for the New Testament. The Old Testament dispensation was introductory to the gospel, and preparatory to it. It was a dispensation of types and shadows of better things to come. The grace of God was bound to the Jewish people. But, under the gospel, the promises of God and the grace of God are ex- tended to all the world. Under the gospel, the glory of the Saviour is seen, and the power of the Spirit is exem- plified in the conversion and sanctification of sinners. It is the age of contest and struggle between the powers of darkness and of light. Does the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, need to be less sharp and mighty un- der the gospel than under the law ? If, then, the Old Testament Scrij^tures were inspired, much more shall we find inspiration in the New.

In Matthew x, 19, Jesus uttered to the twelve these remarkable words as he was about to send them forth to preach : " When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak : for it shall he given you in that same hour what ye shall speak ; for it is not ye that speak, hut the Spirit of your Father which speaketli in you" They are assured that the Spirit of God would speak through them,

II.] THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 37

when called to stand before kings and councils. If the in- spiration of the Holy Ghost was necessary to enable the apostles to answer before kings, how much more necessa- ry was it that it should be in the written word, which must stand for ever as God's testimony to the children of men ! If God inspired the words which the apostles should speak before synagogues and councils for their personal defense, how much more should they be guided by the Holy Spirit when the whole church of God was to be defended against the power and malice of Satan, his principalities, his thrones and dominions !

That the writings of the apostle Paul are inspired, and placed upon the same footing as those of the Old Testament Scriptures, appear clearly from 2 Pet. iii, 15, 16: "Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you ; and also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things ; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are un- learned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction."

The apostle Peter therefore recognizes all the epistles of Paul as on the same footing with " the other Scriptures" and, consequently, as divinely inspired.

Paul also asserts the fact of his own inspiration in vari- ous passages, as 1 Cor. ii, 10, 12, 13, and Gal. i, 11, 12.

The above considerations, and Scriptural arguments, seem to us to leave no room to doubt the plenary inspira- tion of what the apostles wrote. Indeed the writers of the New Testament generally, like those of the Old Testa- ment, proclaim their words by a " Thus saith the Lord."

Some writers have objected, that as Mark and Luke were not apostles, they were not inspired. But this does not seem at all probable, since these men were com- panions of the apostles for more than thirty years after the death of Christ. Mark was the companion of Peter, and Luke of Paul, in their journeys and trials. Their works too were composed at an early date and delivered to the churches. If they had not had a good and sufficient claim to inspiration, they never would nor could have been re- ceived by the church as canonical Scriptures. Though they were not apostles, yet they were sent out by our Lord in the number of the seventy, as all tradition testifies. Be-

38 INSPIRATION OF [SER.

sides, were they not endowed with miraculous gifts ? Would the apostles have traveled from place to place with these men as companions in order to communicate to others these miraculous gifts, and yet not confer them upon their be- loved and holy companions in the work of the gospel ? This cannot be supposed or believed. The early church received these writings without controversy, which could not have been the case had not their claims been valid as sacred books.

II. We pass to consider, in the second place, some ob- jections.

Various objections have been raised against the inspira- tion of the Holy Scriptures, a few of which it will be proper for us here to notice.

1. The first, and one which is frequently in the mouths of infidels, is that there are contradictions in the Scrip- tures, and therefore they cannot be inspired. A few in- stances we will give, together with their answers.

(1.) It is objected that Matthew and Luke have contra- dicted each other in relating the genealogy of our Saviour. The answer to this apparent contradiction between the two evangelists is, in brief, the following. Matthew traces the descent of Christ through the line of Joseph back to Da- vid ; and Luke traces his descent through Mary, his mother, back to David. Matthew would show the Jew that Christ was son and heir of all the kings of Judah by a legal de- scent; while Luke would show the Gentiles his natural descent. Matthew shows his lineage through Joseph to Solomon; and Luke through Mary to Nathan, another son of David. Thus one of the greatest difficulties which infidelity can bring against divine inspiration disappears at once before the touch of investigation.

(2.) It is objected again that Matthew and Luke have Matthew says that '• Judas ivent out and hung himself f^ contradicted each other in the account of the death of Judas, and in Acts i, 18, it is said that ^'falling headlong, his how- els gushed outr Here is no contradiction, as Dr. Clarke has plainly shown. There are two circumstances here related in tlie death of Judas, one of which occurred after the other. Judas hung himself; and then wliat could have been more natural, in the rocky and precipitous neighbor- hood of Jerusalem, when the traitor was cut down or fell

II.] THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. B9

down from liis place of hanging, than that his bowels should gush out ?

(3.) Again it is objected, that Matthew and Mark have contradicted each other in the account of the blind men. Matthew tells us (xx, o) that " two blind men were sitting hy the wayside" &c. ; while Mark (x, 46) speaks of only one, Bartimeus the son of Timeus. It requires no great penetration to see that here is no contradiction. Mark mentions the fact of only one blind man, while Matthew speaks of another who was in his company. Matthew only adds to what Mark declares, but an addition is cer- tainly no contradiction. Other examples might be adduced of this kind of objections, but the above may suffice as be- ing among the strongest which can be brought forwai'd.

2. Another class of objections against the plenary inspi- ration of the Scriptures is founded on the imperfect state of the text, its variations in the reading and punctuations. It is said if the original manuscript copies were inspired, still the present copies can have no such claim, for they have been transcribed, and are so much altered from their originals, that many thousands of variations are now pointed out and recorded between the diiferent manuscripts. In answer to this objection,

(1.) Let it be remembered, in the first place, that it does not apply to the original copies, which were written by the hands of the prophets and the apostles. How far it applies to our copies in present use we shall see presently.

(2.) Let it be borne in mind, also, that about three- fourths of these variations are not variations in the original text, but in the punctuations and glosses which have crept into the text. The original Hebrew was without vowel jDoints and marks of punctuation. The original Greek also was without division of chapters, verses, and words, and therefore all the variations which belong to these mat- ters are entirely irrelevant to the question of inspiration.

(3.) Let it be further remembered, that though the Old Testament has been copied for thirty-three centuries, and the New Testament for eighteen centuries, a watchful Pro- vidence has made the most careful provision to keep them entire and inviolate. It was the business of the tribe of Levi to keep and copy the sacred books ; and from very early ages every letter, every word, and every paragraph,

40 INSPIRATION OP [SER.

of the sacred books was numbe'red, and tlieir numbers re- main the same to the present day. The Jews have always watched over their sacred books with the greatest care and keenest jealousy. Every letter was marshaled into its place, and portions of the sacred text Avere daily re- viewed by some of the great college of scribes. It was therefore next to an impossibility that a letter should get out of its place or be lost without being detected. Fur- ther, if a manuscript was found to have a single mistake it was thrown aside as defiled, or committed to the flames, so that no false copies could come from it afterward.

(4.) We should remark again, that if in the course of ages, and in different countries, variations or additions did creep into the sacred text, they are mostly the substitu- tion of one letter for another which is similar in form, as a vaw for a yode, which as a general thing does not alter the sense.

(5.) Again we would remark, that though there is doubt as to the purity of some words or clauses of the sacred text, yet all sound critics are united in the sentiment that the worst copy of the Scriptures that has ever been found has not vitiated one single important doctrine or precept. The great body of the text, therefore, being pure and un- impaired, the exceptions being few and far between, the doctrine of the inspiration of the sacred text is no more affected than the everlasting truths which it contains. The body of the sacred text is preserved to us, as well as the body of sacred truth; a few human and corrupted addi- tions may have been made, but this cannot destroy the truth of God nor the sacred text. We may say to all, then, as the pious Bengel said to his pupil Reuss : " Eat the bread of the Scriptures." What though there be now and then a grain of the millstone fallen into the flour, this does not destroy the bread. Eat, then, the bread of the Scriptures, as God's own word by which we may live for ever.

3. Another objection which has been urged against ple- nary or verbal inspiration is founded on tfie individuality of the sacred ivriters. It is said that the personal pecu- liarities of the writers, and even their infirmities, are plainly evident in their writings: as, for example, the writings of Paul are deep, abstruse, and argumentative;

II.] THE HOLY SCRIPTUReI. 41

while the style of John Is simple, clear, and hortatory. The style of Matthew and John is Hebraistic, and their Greek is bad and full of orientalisms, while Luke and Paul, being educated men, are far more classic and correct. This ar- gument weighs heavily with many minds against verbal inspiration. We cannot, however, see anything so formi- dable in it as has been seen by others. The following is our answer : —

(1.) God speaks to man more humano, that is, after the manner of men ; and hence he uses human language, and, of course, human language with its imperfections. If God uses human language in communicating with men, why may he not use the peculiarities of certain men, as the se- raphic fire of Isaiah, the majesty of Ezekiel, the simplicity of John, or the logic of the apostle Paul, to communicate that which is peculiarly suited to each one to communicate ? It is indeed no more than we should expect, that God would use the individuality of such men for the more ready reception of his truth in the minds of men.

The human mind is fond of variety, and a subject which awakens thought and emotion in one man will not always do it in another. The Bible should be a book adapted to the human mind : and such a book it is, having every va- riety of subject and every variety of style, calculated to arouse, to enlighten, and elevate the human mind in all its varied conditions. If then the Holy Ghost had written in one uniform style, in the purest style of Hebrew, and in the purest and most classic Greek, it would not have ac- complished its object. And therefore individuality in the writers of the Serif) tures inspired by the Spirit is just what we might expect.

Other objections have been raised, as that the Scriptures are hard to be understood, and if the Holy Ghost had written the book it would have been easy of comprehen- sion. But may not the difficulty be in us ? We may not have used the means best calculated to accomplish this object. Others say the translations are not inspired, and therefore the doctrine of a verbal inspiration is of no prac- tical importance. We answer, if the translations are not inspired, yet the originals are, and we have the means of reading them as they were given to us by the Holy Ghost. Is it of no practical importance to an ambassador to a

42 INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. [SER.

foreign court to be able to prove his commission by origi- nal documents ? Of how much greater importance that the ambassador from God to a wicked world should be able to produce and read his instructions, not only the translation, but the original documents ?

Thus, we think, all objections to this, as we conceive, fundamentally important doctrine of our holy religion vanish at the touch of investigation. " This ivord came not of old hy 7nan, or hy the icill of man ; hut holy men of God spake as they were moved hy the Holy Ghosts

INFERENCES.

1 . If the Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired, human reason ought to he held in aheyance to their teachinys. There is a tendency in the natural mind to exalt human reason above the Holy Scriptures. It is the natural tendency of human pride and self-sutRciency. The distinguishing doc- trine of French infidelity was that reason alone should di- rect mankind, and the awful results of this doctrine in the French nation is a matter of history. Human reason is weak, capable of seeing but a short way, and the great subjects of revelation are utterly above its unaided com- prehension. Kevelation is founded on the reason and knowledge of God, and is infinitely above that of men. Human reason, therefore, must be an humble learner in divine things, and not a teacher taking the place of God.

2. If divinely inspired, they tnust teach us truth without any admixture of error. This is a most consoling truth, and one which enhances the value of the Bible infinitely above all other books. All other books are human, and of course adulterated with human weaknesses ; but this book, being divine, teaches no error, but truth alone.

o. We also infer that, if divinely inspired, they contain a sufficiency of truth for our salvation. The works of God are perfect. None of his works are imperfect, or fall short of their design. The design of God in giving us his law, is that our souls may be saved. " Let my soid live,'^ saith the Psalmist, " and let thy judgments help meP " They are profitable for doctrine, for correction, and instruction," says the apostle, and hence their entire sufficiency for our spiritual instruction is beyond a doubt.

4. We also infer the duty of yielding ourselves to the

IILj NATURE, CONDITION, AND DESTINATION OF MAN. 43

guidance of the Scriptures in all matters of faith and prac' tice. As the Scriptures have God for their author, and their design is to instruct man in spiritual knowledge and in religious duty, there must be a sufficiency revealed for our faith and practice. This is a most important result of the doctrine of the inspiration of the Holy l^criptures. Were they human compositions, or an admixture of human reasonings and sayings with divine, we could not heartily yield ourselves to them in all matters of faith and prac- tice. But they are divine, and exactly adapted by the all-wise Mind " to make the man of God perfect, and tho- roughly furnished unto all good works." Let us then re- ceive the Bible as the man of our counsel and the guide of our life, and it will assuredly lead us to a happy eternity.

SERMON III.

Nature, Condition, and Destination of Man.

BY REV. HOMER J. CLARKE, A. M.,

PRESIDENT OF ALLEGANY COLLEGE.

" What is man ?"— Psalm viii, 4.

The sentiment which dictated the text is admiration and astonishment, inspired by a view of the immensity of the works of creation. The contemplation of the nocturnal heavens is calculated to awaken in the mind conceptions of beauty and magnificence, of distance and magnitude, be- yond any other subject. From this exterior display of the wealth and splendor of the Author of the universe, the mind is led to contemplate the glories of his being. Its own faculties shrink to insignificance when thus standing in the presence of powers, vast even beyond its ability to comprehend. But contemplating human nature exclu- sively in this light might lead us to a wrong estimate of its value. For though it would seem impossible it should claim the attention, much less- the regards, of one so ex- alted as the divine Being, it is nevertheless true that it

44 NATUBE, CONDITION, AND [SEK.

does. God condescends to visit man, even in his low estate, fallen and degraded by sin.

The question in the text is one of great practical import- ance, and in its examination we shall briefly notice the following particulars : man's origin, nature, condition, and destination.

I. The nations of antiquity all pretend to some tradition- ary account respecting the origin of the human race, though these accounts are, in many of their particulars, discordant, puerile, and irrational. Men were supposed at first either to have sprung from the earth, like plants, or from some in- animate substance, or from the lower animals ; a few only, entertaining juster views of the dignity of man's nature, believed him descended from the gods.

The knowledge on this subject, possessed anciently by the Jews, and since by all Christian nations, is contained in the writings of Moses. His account is more perfect and credible than that of other ancient traditions, though in some things it agrees with them. From him we learn that the human race sprung from a single pair ; that this origi- nal pair received their being, not in the way of natural de- scent, but from the creative power of God. This doctrine of the common origin of the human race, of identity of na- ture amidst all the varieties of color and form which so strikingly characterize the inhabitants of different portions of the globe, is maintained by St. Paul, who says, God " hath made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth." He hath also " determined the times before appointed" for their dispersion into the dif- ferent countries they inhabit, and " fixed there the bounds of their habitations." This doctrine of one blood, of one race, so clearly the doctrine of the Bible, is not less clearly the doctrine of reason and philosophy, despite the pre- tended objections of infidels. All objections against the identity of the human race are founded either in ignorance or prejudice, as might be conclusively shown by a reference to facts.

The practical bearings of this doctrine are numerous and important. It has an intimate connection with the leading doctrines of the gospel, as the doctrine of inherited corruption and the atonement of Christ. If mankind uni- versally have not the same parentage, are not descended

III.] DESTINATION OF MAN. 45

from the same original pair whose history we have re- corded in the book of Genesis, who will undertake to trace the line of their descendants after the revolutions of ages have destroyed the records of nations and families ; after the operation of almost numberless causes, during a period of more than five thousand years, to amalgamate and utterly confound the different races of men ? Yet it is to their descendants only that the doctrines of the fall, of depra- vity, and of redemption, relate. Nay, it is to them only that the gospel is to be preached ; that the system of reve- lation refers, in its threatenings and promises, its require- ments and provisions. The opinion which, on account of certain complexional differences, intellectual or physical, would destroy the identity of the human race, does thus manifestly overthrow the gospel, while, as we confess, it aims merely to disfranchise a particular portion of the race ; to exclude, it may be, a single branch of the great family of man from the rights and privileges of fraternity. We repeat, the practical bearings of this doctrine are im- portant. It teaches us to regard every man as our brother ; that the American Indian, though wild and uncultivated as the savage beasts which he pursues in the chase ; the Af- rican negro, in the kraal of his native land, degraded by superstition and ignorance, or transported to more favored climes, where, reduced to hopeless and heartless servitude, he toils like a beast of burden, and like one perishes, ig- norant of his origin and destination ; the Laplander, seek- ing shelter from the frozen breath of his inhospitable cli- mate with the quadruped in his subterraneous dwelling, and, till enlightened by the labors of the Christian mission- ary, exhibiting few of the distinguishing attributes of hu- man nature ; in a word, it teaches that man, under all cir- cumstances, ignorant, degraded, and miserable, though he be, has still a claim on our sympathies and benevolent regards — is to be embraced in the arms of a universal brotherhood. We are to respect his rights, to promote his happiness ; in all things to regulate our conduct toward him by the di- vine maxim, " Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them, for this is the law and the prophets."

II. What is man in his nature ? We read that man was created from the dust of the earth, and that the inspiration

46 NATURE, CONDITION, AND [SER.

of the Almighty gave him understanding. The Scriptures uniformly represent man as a complex being ; comprising in his nature that which is material and that which is spiritual. And this agrees with the general opinion of mankind, as is evinced, not only from books professedly written on the subject, and from the sentiments of the po- ets, but from the structure of language, from terms found in all languages distinguishing the corporeal from the men- tal in man, the material from the thinking principle. Still, some have maintained the doctrine of one principle only, and that man is wholly a material being. Others, after some of the ancient pliilosophers, contend that human na- ture embraces three distinct principles, and, for authority, quote the words of St. Paul, in his prayer for the Thessa- lonians, " And I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." But this reasoning is inconclusive, as this language is unusual with the apostle, and will readily admit of a different explanation. The repetition of terms which he here uses may only express the ardor of his mind, the deep interest he felt in the w^elfare of those who had been converted through his ministry ; or, the terms spirit and soul may distinguish different properties only of the same substance.

What is the internal or essential nature of the soul, is a question difficult, or rather impossible, to be determined. The Bible does not decide it, and philosophy cannot reach it. Tlie Bible merely distinguishes between the soul and body as substances exhibiting different powers and opera- tions, but determines nothing in regard to the essential na- ture of either. Revelation was given to teach mankind practical truths, not metaphysical subtilties. The meta- physical ideas of modern philosophers, respecting the im- materiality of the soul, were not known anciently, either to the Jews or the heathen. In their estimation all moving bodies were animated by a si)irit, which, though corporeal, differed from gross matter, and was expressed by allusions to matter in its most subtil and etherealized forms.

The Bible manifestly contradicts gross materialism, which would reduce the human soul to a mere accident of matter. Such was the doctrine of the Sadducees in the time of our Lord, and such, in our own time, is the opinion

III.] DESTINATION OF MAN. 4?

of some who profess to receive their ideas from the Bible. But vain and fruitless must be every effort to establish this doctrine on the authority of the sacred writings. Materi- alism is the doctrine of infidelity, usually of infidelity in its broadest form — atheism. It has no sympathy with the gospel, which teaches the imperishable nature as well as infinite value of the soul. Materialism teaches that the soul is corruptible like the body, that they perish together in the grave ; that immortaUty, the only unfailing friend of virtue, is but a fable, invented by designing men to ope- rate upon the hopes and fears of the vulgar. It

" Hangs out death in one eternal night ! A night that glooms lis in the noontide ray, And wraps our thought, at banquets, in the shroud."

But, while the Bible is opposed to gross materialism, both in its letter and spirit, it does not, as already intimated, teach the modern doctrine respecting the nature of the soul — that matter and mind, in their essential nature, are so utterly diverse as to possess nothing in common, no re- sembling features. Now this in fact may be all true. Some great and learned men have declared it to be as de- monstrable as any mathematical proposition. This is not what we deny. We only deny that these distinctions are found in the Bible. Nor are we willing to admit that the proofs of the immortality of the soul have any necessary dependence on their truth. Yet it Avas in consequence of such a dependence having been alledged by Hobbes, and afterward by other infidel writers, tliat it was thought ne- cessary, in order to prevent the triumphs of infidelity, to build up an imaginary breach in the impregnable bulwarks of Christianity, by alledging and maintaining these distinc- tions. Just as if the perpetuity of all derived existence, whether angel or insect, whatever be its internal constitu- tion, does not depend on the will of the Creator. Had we no prospect of an existence beyond the grave but what we derive from the light reflected from such doubtful specu- lations, we might readily accord to them a higher charac- ter for importance than we do at present. But we have a more sure word of prophecy. I would give more for one plain declaration of the Bible on which to build my hopes of immortality, than for all the reasonings of all the

48 NATURE, CONDITION, AND [SER.

philosophers, who have hved and speculated since the in- vention of letters. It is not philosophy, it is not the be- wildered speculations of human reason, but the glorious gos- pel of the Son of God, which has brought life and immor- tality to light. This pours a divine illumination along the pathway of dying mortals and gilds the tomb. This de- prives death of its sting, robs the grave of its victory, and opens to the enraptured vision of Christian faith the scenes of a blessed and undying existence.

"What is man in his condition ? Man's primitive condi- tion could not have been marred by imperfections arising from external causes. He knew nothing of age and its in- firmities, of disease and its revolting and heart-rending scenes — the pain, the emaciated form, and the mortal agony. He enjoyed never-failing youth and vigor ; man- hood in the perfection of its strength and beauty. Placed in the midst of an earthly paradise —

•' With royal honor and with glory crown'd, Adam, the lord of all, majestic walk'd, With godlike countenance sublime, and form Of lofty towering strength ; and by his side Eve, fair as the morning star, with modesty AiTayxl, with virtue, grace, and perfect love : In holy marriage wed, and eloquent Of thought and comely words, to worship God And sing his praise, the gi^-er of all good : Glad, in each other glad, and glad in hope ; Rejoicing in their future happy race."

The physical and social happiness of our first parents was heightened by the influence of external causes ; the salubrity of the atmosphere, the genial nature of the cli- mate, and the harmony of outward objects with the consti- tution of the senses, rendering them an exhaustless foun- tain of delightful emotions. The earth,

'• Created first so lovely, so adorn'd With hill, and dale, and laAvn, and winding vale, Woodland, and stream, and lake, and rolling seas, Green mead, and fruitful tree, and fertile grain, And herb and flower ; so lovely, so adoru'd With numerous beasts of every kind, with fowl Of every wing and everj^ tuneful note, And widi all fish that in the multitude Of waters swam : so lovely, so adorn'd, So fit a dwelling place for man, that as

III.] DESTINATION OF MAN. ^9

She rose, complete, at the creating word. The morning stars, the sons of God, aloud Shouted for joy ; and God, beholding, saw well pleased."

The question is often asked, Would man, had he not fallen, have continued in his present " dwelling-place " for ever ? The question, it must be confessed, is one rather of doubt- ful speculation than of practical utility ; it is, therefore, the less to be regretted that the Scriptures are silent on the subject. Some suppose, however, that an exiDression of St. Paul, if attentively considered, is calculated to throw light upon this obscure question. " Behold," says he, " I show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Now it is thought, had man retained his primitive character with- out change, had he not fallen, when the world's probation- ary period had expired, he would have experienced a change analogous to that here predicted of the last genera- tion of men, whereby he would have been fitted for enter- ing into a state purely spiritual and unchanging. " For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" — that is, the kingdom which he hath prepared for his glorified saints.

It may not be impertinent here to remark, that man's first employment was agriculture, an invariable characteris- tic of a state of civilization. From which it is reasonable to infer, that this was his original condition, and that the bar- barous and savage states, the present condition of a vast majority of our race, so far from being natural, are op- posed to the manifest design of Providence in man's crea- tion, and have resulted from the long-continued operation of causes both moral and physical.

What was man's original mental character, is a question involved in obscurity. We cannot tell how far the first pair excelled their degenerate offspring in the strength of their intellectual faculties. They received, however, from the Creator, reason, as all their other faculties, not in a state of infantile weakness, but capable of immediate and efficient exercise. And, unsullied in innocence and virtue, they must have been free from those principles of evil per- taining to fallen human nature, which operate with such

50 NATURE, CONDITION, AND [SER.

energy, darkening the intellectual as well as moral vision, and retarding advancement in useful knowledge. They felt not the influence of inordinate bodily appetites, nor of prejudice and vicious habits. The slow, vegetative process, by which, at present, even the purest and brightest intel- lects acquire knowledge and strength, must, therefore, be very unlike the rapid and vigorous movements of mind in its primitive state. Besides, it should not be forgotten, that, prior to-his first disobedience, man was permitted to hold familiar converse with the Creator. " He talked with his Maker face to face, as a man would talk with his friend." A^Tiat knowledge, what elevation of the faculties, must have been the fruit of this divine intercourse ! Still, we have no direct means of comparing the intellectual charac- ter of our first parents with that of their descendants.

In regard to man's original moral state, we may speak with greater confidence than of either his physical or intel- lectual. The understanding, like an incorruptible judge, was free from all influences that might prevent its right and truthfld exercise ; conscience, like a vigilant and trusty sentinel, was quick to discern, and faithful to report, the most distant approaches of moral evil ; while the will, as a faithful executive, instantly accomplished what had been determined by the reason and moral faculty. Like inno- cent and virtuous children, our first parents found their greatest happiness in conforming to the will of their heavenly Father, whom they loved with supreme aflTection. Hence the Saviour presents for our imitation the example of little children ; their simplicity and purity of intention, their unbounded confidence, their meekness and aflection, and their ready and cheerful submission and obedience. And such is the character of the true Christian — of all who, through the gospel, have been made partakers of the divine nature.

Hitherto, in looking at human condition, we have con- sidered man only as he came from the hand of his Maker, uncontaminated, and unaltered by sin. If we would con- template man in his present condition, we must look at a different picture.

— " Short, alas, tlie song that sings our bliss ! Henceforth the liistory of man grows dark ! Shade after shade of deepening gloom descends,

III.J DESTINATION OF MAN. 51

And innocence laments her rules defiled.

Who further sings must change the pleasant tune

To heavy notes of wo."

How changed his physical condition ! Instead of a life extending from age to age, full of fruition and full of hope, looking forward to an interminable duration of growing strength and enjoyment, " man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth as the flower, and is cut down ; he fleeth also as the shadow, and continueth not." He is subject to toil, hardships, and pri- vations ; to disease, pain, and death. Nor has his physical condition alone experienced this direful change ; his intel- lectual and moral natures are not less involved in the ruin of the fall. Disarrayed of their primitive glory and per- fection, they have sunken into weakness and disorder, have lost their original supremacy, and, without divine assistance, necessarily fail to accomplish the great end of a rational nature. The reason is obscured and obstructed in its ope- rations, by the influence of the passions. The moral con- stitution fails of its design, not only through ignorance and the stormy power of the passions, l)ut sometimes through a hardened insensibility to duty; — as where obligation is clearly seen and acknowledged, but neither felt nor regarded. In this case, volition follows the inferior desires, a sacrilegious usurpation subverts the divine order of the soul, and " the temple of the living God is turned into a den of thieves !" That such is man's present intellectual and moral condition, is matter of individual and universal experience, and is, moreover, confirmed by all history and observation. This melancholy fact was conceded and deplored by the wiser and more considerate among the heathen. That it is not the result of the influence of early example and education, is manifest from this, that the mind often decides in oppo- sition to both these, when enforced by every motive of truth, duty, and interest. It is therefore false to assert, that in order to secure the will, it is only necessary to en- lighten the understanding. The language of the apostle, when describing the condition of the mind, first enhghtened by divine truth to see itself surrounded by the horrors of guilt, without power of escape, is not the language of an individual, uttering his solitary complaint, groaning over an inward misery with which others are unable to sympa-

52 NATURE, CONDITION, AND [SER.

thize, because without a similar experience ; — it is the lan- guage of fallen human nature, strugghng like a captive with his chains which he cannot break, and sighing for a deliverance wliich he sees not. Who has not felt at some period of his accountable existence — 1 care not under what favorable circumstances, in respect to instruction and train- ing, his childhood has been past — who has not felt the consciousness of that inward moral condition, that worse than Egyptian bondage, that slavery of the soul to vice, which has forced upon him the hnmihating confession, " The thing that I do, I allow not ; I find a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into cap- tivity to the law of sin and death ?" Place a hearing and an understanding ear where you please among the dwell- ings of men, civilized or savage. Christian or heathen, and it shall become a witness to this spontaneous confession of the human heart. Man, therefore, as at present found in all countries and climates, and under every allotment of Providence, is bound by a moral condition, fearful in its nature and tendency, dependent on no outward circum- stances, and from which he has no power to release himself. The language of the truly awakened heart is, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" — language betokening either flat despair, or hope looking only to the possibility of deliverance from some unknown power. Such, at least, must be the import of this language, when uttered by one entirely ignorant of the gospel. And 0 ! how joyful to the self-convicted, heart-broken, and despairing sinner, must be the apostle's answer, " Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord " — that is, that through him deliverance can be ob- tained.

Which leads us to notice the important change in man's moral condition, through the introduction of the gospel. Without the gospel there would settle down over all his prospects of the future the darkness of absolute despair. For as the eye of imagination could scan the illimitable fields of future duration, he would behold them peopled only with the formidable ministers of divine justice, pre- paring for him scenes of unending and unmitigated misery ; — a condition, reducing the proud lord of this lower ■world to the most pitiable object on the face of it, com-

III.] DESTINATION OF MAN. 5^

pared to whom the meanest reptile would become an ob- ject of envy, looking forward to a destiny infinitely to be desired. But, thanks to redeeming grace, this is not man's condition ; he has been freed from it by " one mighty to save, and strong to deliver."

" God was made flesh, And dwelt with man on earth ! the Son of God, Only begotten and dearly beloved, between Man and his Father's justice interposed ; And in their name sutfer'd, obey'd, and died, Making his soul an offering for sin."

In consequence of this divine offering for sin, man, though still guilty and condemned, has been brought within the reach of mercy and hope ; rendered capable of reco- vering his lost purity and innocence, and attaining to ever- lasting felicity. Arrayed in the righteousness of gospel faith, he may, without fear, listen to the awakened thunder of a broken law, or enter into the presence of his omnipo- tent Judge ; because he has secured the friendship of one, *who, in his stead, has fulfilled to the last tittle the demands of the law, and made it honorable.

We come now to the last particular in our discourse, namely, What is man in his destination ? This question may be considered in a twofold light, having reference to man as an inhabitant of this world, and as an expectant of the next.

The knowledge and feelings of right and wrong, found in connection with the earliest developments of reason, prove man possessed of a moral nature, in the cultivation and perfection of which consists his supreme good. It has been said, with great truth, that " the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever." But how is a creature, so limited in faculties and resources, to glorify God, a being infinitely exalted above all he has made, glo- rious in character and in external condition, whose sceptre is an everlasting sceptre, and of whose dominion there is no end ? He can add nothing to the perfections of an in- finite nature, to the grandeur of a boundless empire, or to a blessedness whose overflowings reach the extremities of the universe, and satisfy the desires of all the living. But, though he has not power to create an attribute or circum- stance, which could invest the divine nature with a higher

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54 NATURE, CONDITION, AND [SEE-

intrinsic glory, lie has power to bring it more within the sphere of his own thoughts and affections, and to increase toward it the respect, love, and veneration of others. And in doing this, he manifestly fulfills the design of his crea- tion. He honors the Creator, and, to the extent of his power, promotes the true happiness of his fellow-crea- tures. Were all inspired with similar dispositions, and to adopt similar conduct, all Avould be speedily restored to favor and communion with God, and brought to obey those laws on which their perfection and supreme happiness de- pend. So that, to know, love, and obey God, to bear his image, to be made a partaker of the divine nature, by re- sembling it in our moral character, is doubtless the chief end of man, whereby he glorifies God, and is prepared to enjoy him for ever. And here we perceive the connec- tion of the gospel with man's destination. It has removed an impassable barrier, which otherwise must have for ever prevented his return and reconciliation to God. It pro- vides for his moral renovation, without which there could be no union with God, and no moral advancement. It pro- vides for his ceaseless and illimitable growth in holiness, and commands that, leaving the first principles of the doc- trines of Christ, he go on to perfection — to this perfection of virtue, and consequently of bliss.

No one can fulfill his destination in this life who lives to himself alone. He must live chiefly for the good of others ; to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, administer consolation to the sick and the sufi'ering, and bring back the wanderer to the paths of truth, duty, and peace. This is clearly indicated by his social constitution ; and in thus fulfilling the intentions of his nature, he obeys the second great command of the gospel, " Love thy neighbor as thy- self." Nay, the gospel inspires a universal benevolence, breathing good-will, not only to man, but to every crea- ture, however low in the scale of existence, capable of de- riving benefit from its exercise.

The design of the present life, therefore, requires, as the great and paramount duty, this improvement of our ration- al nature ; that we aspire to intellectual and moral excel- lence, and in all our intercourse with our fellow-men, and in all our treatment of the inferior creatures, that we be actuated by kind and benevolent affections.

III.] DESTINATION OF MAN. 55'

Man's present and future destination do not at all differ in nature. In securing the true interests of this life, in the right use and enjoyment of its blessings, we are making the best preparation for happiness in the life to come. So, when our attention is most earnestly and exclusively di- rected to provide for the wants of our future being, we are not thereby neglecting our present happiness, but, in fact, are doing the very best we can to promote it. The prin- ciples of our constitution are arranged in view of the whole extent of its duration. And as duty and interest cannot conflict with one another, so at different periods they cannot conflict with themselves. In the present life there is no peace to the wicked ; their mind is " like the troubled sea when it cannot rest," — tossed and torn by the tempest of contending passions. Without holiness no man can see the Lord. Holiness is the great law of our nature, from the influence of which it is impossible to escape at any mo- ment of our existence, however we might desire it. Hate it as we may, eschew it as we may, it has a mastery over us which it will maintain for ever, meting out to us a just retribution —

" While life, or thought, or being lasts, Or immortality endures."

There is a necessary and unalterable connection between the happiness of the soul and its moral condition. In this respect, " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." As a life of virtue leads to eternal blessedness, so a life of sin leads to eternal misery, by a law of our nature. "Man," as one very justly remarks, "is happy, not in proportion to what he has, but what he is." Happiness, in this sense, is not a possession, but a condition. It consists not in riches, honors, or external circumstances of any kind. It is not to be sought without, but within. This is a universal truth, applicable to all intelligent natures ; and not less to man's present, than to his future, existence. Future blessedness is but the continuation and perfection of that which commences here, depending on intellectual and moral character — on elevation of mind and purity of heart. The same simple and sublime truth is beautifully and forcibly expressed in the lines of the poet : " The mind is its own place ; can make heaven of hell, or hell of heaven."

56 DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. [SER.

In conclusion, do you, my hearers, constantly live in view of your present and final destination ? Have you re- flected that to secure your well-being here and hereafter, you must conform to the will of the Creator, as made known, not only through the higher tendencies of your na- ture, but by his revealed word ? Have you further con- sidered, that the destinies of your being include a wider range than the brief history of the present world ? Stretch- ing away into infinity, far beyond our limited conceptions, they settle amid scenes of retribution, unalterable and en- during as the nature of the soul, and corresponding to its moral character. To fail in securing the end of your be- ing, does not imply merely the loss of a blessing, the de- privation of a forfeited good, but positive infliction, the in- curring absolute, infinite evil. Man's destination is that of a moral and accountable being, looking forward to a day of reckoning, and beyond it, to the final and everlast- ing issues of the judgment. If you meet and discharge your responsibilities, fulfilling the obligations of the gos- pel, by repentance and faith, and a life of holiness, your present being, fallen and degraded as it is, compassed about by manifold infirmities and sorrows, shall issue in a glorious state of perfection and bliss, such as in this world eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived. But, if you fail, there then awaits you beyond the grave, instead of a blessed immortality, " indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, which shall come on every soul of man that doeth evil."

SERMON IV.

Death — the Wages of Sin.

BY REV. DAVIS V^. CLARK, A. M.,

OF THE NEW-YORK CONFERENCE.

" The wagjes of sin is death." — Eom. vi, 23.

Sin has been defined "a voluntary transgression of the divine law ;" or, in other words, " the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty prescribed by God." And this answers to the pertinent

IV.J DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 57

and pointed definition of the evangelist John : " Sin is the transgression of the law." The law consists in require- ments and prohibitions, founded upon the inalienable pre- rogatives of the divine character, and growing out of the immutable rights secured to the Almighty from the rela- tions he sustains to us, as our Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor. His will, then, is the sufficient cause of the existence of these requirements and prohibitions ; and the proclamation of that law by the divine authority was sufficient to render it binding, in all its parts, upon all his creatures. Hence a neglect of its requirements is no less sin than a transgression of its prohibitions. And though there may be kinds of sin, as well as degrees in sinning, the neglect of the known requirements of the gospel ex- hibits no less " a want of conformity to the divine will," than does the most gross and daring disregard of its pro- hibitions.

In the text not only sin, or want of conformity to the will of God, is spoken of; but also the wages of sin — as though man was hired to commit sin, and received pay for its commission. By wages, in the common acceptation of that term, we mean that which is given or received in return for services rendered ; and frequently, the term, as in the present instance, is made to express the fruits or results of any specific course of conduct; Thus the apostle inquires, " What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ?" and immediately replies, " The end of those things is death." Man is here represented as yielding his services and receiving his pay — yielding his services to sin, and receiving death as the fruit of his toil ; or yielding them unto God, and having his fruit unto holi- ness, and his end everlasting life. " Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ?"

But a more comprehensive view of the whole nature and tendency of sin, than that which the inspired penman has here given, can hardly be conceived of: " The wages of sin is death." Mournfully solemn truth ! Earth and hell are full of its memorials ; and all time, and all eternity, shall reveal more and more of its fearful import. Yes, the "wages of sin is death !" and wherever its contaminations 3*

58 DEATH THR AVAGES OF SIN. [SER.

have reached, it has exerted the same baneful and deadly- influence. Its character and nature have ever remained the same, bearing on its very front the fearful and alarming marks of the divine displeasure. And the destructive tendency of moral corruption is as strongly characterized, and as clearly evinced, among men, and in the present age of the world, as when it robbed rebelling angels of their high estate, or man of his pri- mcAal glory.

It is necessary, however, that we guard our inquiry ; and limit it to such bounds, that the subject may not degenerate into mere impracticable speculation. "We inquire, then, not why such consequences have been attached to sin ; but our simple object is to show what its consequences really and truly are. Touching upon the reasons why God has thus instituted his system of moral government, we offer no hypothesis, no explanatory sup- position. "VYe deal only with the facts in the case ; we enforce only the truth, that " the ivages of sin is deaths

In attempting this, we shall contemplate it in its three- fold aspect, as being the cause of temporal, spiritual, and eternal death.

I. We remark, then, in the first place, that sin is the cause of temporal death.

Temporal death, in its original and natural signification, implies the loss of life ; or the separation of the soul from the body, and the consequent decay and dissolution of our physical nature. Physiologists have defined it to be "the irrecoverable cessation of all the functions which belong to a living animal." It may apply also to the destruction, or loss, of whatever is connected with, or essential to, the existence of that nature.

1. It is impossible to define what would have been the temporal condition of man, had he never sinned. It is supposed by some that he would have enjoyed the privilege of continued existence and happiness on earth. The tree of life, to which he would have had access, was at once a pledge of permanent being and happiness, and also a means of securing them. The fruit of this tree would, undoubtedly, have healed or averted every evil to which our physical nature might have been subject; and pre- served life tlirough the longest periods of duration, had not

IV. j DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 59

our iniquities barred us from its approach, and girt it around with sleepless " cherubim and a flaming sword," as an eternal guard " to keep the way of the tree of life."

Or again, there is nothing inconsistent in the supposition^ that man might have enjoyed a long life here ; and after a long series of years, when the faculties of his body and mind had acquired earthly maturity — by an easy transi- tion— he might have been transferred to a holier clime, to pass through higher scenes of bliss, in his endless pro- gression to infinite perfection and happiness. How easy might have been the change ! how glorious the transition ! What unspeakable felicities would have enraptured the soul, as every successive change brought it into nearer progression to the infinite, exhaustless Fountain of goodness and love ! But, when just created, when just planted in the garden, with the broad seal of immortality upon his brow, and with the clearest indications of his Crea- tor's goodness around him ; it was then that rebellion dire

" Brought death into the world, and all our wo."

It was then that the glories of Eden faded from his vision, and a dark cloud of wo and death passed over all his prospects : for " as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

2. This existence was not only designed to be depend- ent, but also probationary ; for no one can doubt but that man was designed, ultimately, to fill a still more exalted sphere in the scale of being, and that a brighter glory would have been revealed in his existence, had he not fallen.

Perhaps our race were designed to fill up the vacancy in the host of heaven, which had been occasioned by that disastrous rebellion that had peopled hell with angels. Can we wonder, then, that a being, a race, designed to fill up so glorious a place in the scale of existence, should first have their faith and obedience tried and tested in a pro- bationary state ? Can we wonder that such a being should be first placed in a condition in which his character should be subjected to a full and perfect ordeal?

But a probation implies a law ; inasmuch as there can be no trial, no probation, without a system of discipline

60 DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. [SER.

and government. A law also implies a prohibition and a penalty. If, then, man was designed to fill up the vacancy in heaven, occasioned by the fall of angels ; and if he was placed under a law in his probationary state, can we wonder that to a violation of that laAV was affixed the same penahy whicli the fallen angels were themselves enduring ? 'JTlius it was, that when man was created and planted in the gar- den, which was to be the scene of his probation, the divine law was given, and the fearful penalty affixed : " Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It was the violation of this command, which com- menced a course of sinning and disobedience, that has filled the earth with pain and wo, and brought death upon all our race. It is this that has blotted out the glories of our first Eden, and plunged our race from a sphere of ex- ultation and glory into one of ignominy and ruin.

3. The penalty, forewarned, of the violation of the law under which man was placed, is expressed in these words : " Thou shalt surely die ;" or more literally, " Dying, thou shalt die." This is a form of expression which has a pecu- liarly emphatic meaning ; sometimes denoting the absolute certainty of the punishment denounced ; and sometimes signifying not only the certainty, but also the extraordinary and gradual completion of it. Hence, the objection which has been, by some, interposed to the truth of the Scripture record upon this point — that the sentence of death was not executed immediately, or that man did not literally die on the day of his transgression — is of no force. For the divine sentence, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," or," Dying, thou shalt die," signifies nothing more nor less, than that in tliat day thou shalt become incurably mortal ; that thou shalt gradually but certainly die ; that all thy days thou shalt be tending to dissolution and death, without the possibility of escape or remedy. And is not this literally and emphatically true? Have not all the generations of men that have preceded us been borne down and swept away by the resistless power of death ? And are not our bodies, from our very infancy, tending to decay and death ? How inevitable the execution of that appalling sentence, " Dying, thou shalt die I"

4. This leads us to consider another objection. It is

IV.] DEATH — THE WAGES OF SIN. ftJL

said that man, as originally constituted, possessed all the elements of decay and death. And that it is, therefore, absurd to regard death as the result of his violation of the will of his Maker, however impious and daring that violation might have been.

We admit, with the physiologist, that these destructive agencies had an existence even before the fall of man ; they were the conservative principles held by the Almighty in his own hands, that he might bring to punishment the moral agents he had created, should they offend against his moral government. But, in reflecting upon the evils that might possibly have resulted from these agencies, had man not fallen, we are to consider two things : first, they were but slightly operative, compared with their present activity. Sin, while it has had the effect of weakening the vigor and retarding the activity of the principle of life, has had a powerful agency in bringing into fearful activity all the tendencies to decay and death.

Again, we should consider that man, in his innocency, had access to the tree of life, whose fruit would have ren- dered powerless, for ever, every destructive agency. Every bodily evil to which it was possible for man to be exposed in that state it would have removed, and proved, indeed, the elixir of life and immortality. But no sooner had man transgressed, than his access to the tree of life was for ever barred ; and he was left a hopeless prey to the elements of death, which then, like uncaged lions, began to rage within liim. With what appalling force must the awful denunciation of an offended God have fallen upon an of- fending race ! '' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

5. There is also another objection, which is worthy of a serious consideration; and that is, the alledged disproportion between the offense and^ the sentence pronounced by the Almighty.

We see cause and effect everywhere prevailing in the world ; the philosopher satisfies himself with the discovery of their relation, never once dreaming that it is incumbent upon him to investigate or question the propriety of the relation. To vindicate, then, the administration of the divine government, we need only observe the fact that the

62 DEATH — THE WAGES OF SIN. [SER.

eating of the forbitlden fruit, and the suffering of the penalty of death, sustain to each other the relation of cause and effect, the one naturally and necessarily growing out of the other. A man, forewarned, partakes of arsenic ; then he suffers death as the consequence of his stupid inattention to the warning, or the obstinacy of his unbelief. vSo our first parents, by one simple act of disobedience, threw off the restraining influence of the divine command, forfeited the favor of God, and brought upon themselves affliction, misery, and death. They willfully forfeited their inno- cence, and incurred guilt ; they yielded themselves to the indulgence of their appetites contrary to their knowledge and conviction of duty ; they permitted themselves to be led away by the influence and force of temptation to violate the law of God; they suffered inclination to subdue the dictates of conscience, — and the natural consequence of all this was misery and death. This was not a fortuitous or peculiar result. The consequences of sinful indulgence have been the same in all ages of the world, and of eter- nity. It dethroned angels of light ere ever the w^orld was ; and, since man has fallen, it has been ever working the same results among a sinning race. Not so obvious, in- deed, among those already tainted and polluted, for their brightness is already half obscured ; but tending, with un- erring certainty, to the same final result.

Let us not, however, be understood as palliating the actual guilt and enormity of the primeval transgression. From the intimate and glorious connections that, up to the period of their apostasy, had existed between our first parents and their Creator ; from the distinct and awful manner in which God, with his own lips, had warned them of their danger and of the consequences of disobedience ; from the clear light wdiich their own unclouded minds re- flected upon every truth and every duty ; from the incon- ceivably beautiful images of purity and goodness with which the i)rimeval cai-th was decked ; and from the awful consequences that should inhere to an unborn and unnum- bered posterity, — the crime of our first parents assumes an enormity and a magnitude, to which earth, with all its unmitigated and increasing wickedness, has not since been able to find a parallel. I know there are crimes that seem to bear a stamp of deepei- malignity and heaven-daring,—

IV.J DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 63

crimes that would indicate the utter extinction of every pure and holy feeling, of every noble and virtuous senti- ment ; but they are the paroxysms of natures already disjointed and ruined ; of minds upon which the light of hea- venly truth has long cast only a feeble and sickly radiance ; of souls that had, from long contact with evil, almost lost the very apprehension of virtue. The sin of such, only spreads another shade of darkness over the already sullied and clouded soul ; but the sin of our first parents not only extinguished the before undimmed light of heaven in their own souls, but stripped the very earth of its light and loveliness, and transmitted to every soul of man moral pesti- lence and death. As their sin was of a higher character, so its consequences were of a more fearful magnitude and extent.

How wide and universal is that dominion which death has established over our earth ! The dark insignia of his power are everywhere seen ; and wherever living man peoples the earth, there are to be found the monuments of his triumphs and victories. No individual can stay his progress or elude his search. From the midst of the popu- lous city and from the lonely glen, from the abode of luxury and from the hovel of penniless poverty, from the bustling scenes of crowded life and from the lounging ranks of ease and idleness, it calls forth its victims to their appointed doom. No one may hope to escape. From the cradle to the grave, the monster follows our footsteps with stealthy, but steady strides ; so that literally, " dying, we die."

II. In the second place, we proceed to show that sin is the cause of spiritual death.

By spiritual death, we understand not an utter extinction of our spiritual being, for spirit cannot cease to exist ; but the alienation of the heart from God, and its consequent destitution of divine or spiritual Hfe. The term, death, as applied to the soul, is used in a figurative or meta- phorical, and not in a literal, sense. But the parallelism between them is striking and impressive.

1. As in the case of natural death all the functions of the body become totally inoperative and useless ; and the body, though its elements are not annihilated, suffers cor- ruption and ruin ; so, in spiritual death, the functions of the spiritual nature become utterly inadequate to accom-

64 DEATH — THE WAGES OF SIN. [SER.

plish the objects of their creation ; and though the spirit still exists, it exists in corruption and in ruin. So far as it concerns every holy thought, affection, and work, the soul in this state is totally and irrecoverably dead. This is what is termed being " dead in trespasses and sins."

Sad as it is to see the noble frame of man reduced to corruption and death by sin— God's handy-workmanship marred by iniquity ; sad as it may be to contemplate the wretchedness and bodily suffering with which sin has filled our earth, and the disorder and desolation it has produced in every state of society and among all people ; this is not the extent, not the depth of the ruin it has wrought. It is in man's spiritual nature that sin has done its direst, foulest work. The moral purity of this inner sanctuary of our being has been defiled, its glory has been tarnished and obscured, its godlike aspirations have been trampled in the dust, and its immortal hopes have been blighted and withered.

2. As natural death breaks off its victim from his con- nection Avith the living ; so spiritual death severed the soul from the intimate and glorious relationship it sustained, in its purity, to the grand fountain of spiritual life.

Man, in his primeval state of holiness, was permitted to enjoy free and familiar intercourse with his Creator, whose presence filled his soul with rapturous joy, and in whose converse was his chief delight. He also possessed the peculiar favor of his God, as a being designed to mirror forth his glory, and exhibit the highest specimen of cre- ative skill. Like the lovely masterpiece of the divine Architect, man came from the hand of his Maker ; but sin has marred its beauty, and despoiled it of its loveliness. As the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul ; and when he withdraws, spiritual death ensues. In this sense, the curse was fulfilled upon Adam at the very moment of his transgression. That moment he became spiritually dead. He now dreaded the presence of his Maker, and sought to hide himself; and when compelled to appeal' before him, it was as a self-condemned criminal, trembling in the presence of an awful judge, from whom he had no right to hope, or reason to expect mercy.

3. This spiritual death has extended its influence through our whole nature. It has affected not only the

IV.] DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 65

moral feelings, but also the understanding. The vigor, the elasticity, and the comprehension of the intellect ; in fine, all its powers have become paralized, so that knowledge, as well as bread, can be acquired only by the " sweat of the face." The affections, the heart has also fallen under the influence of this fearful lapse. How high, how transcend- ently glorious, was the object of man's earliest and holiest affections ! But, when he had fallen, how fitly is he described as " changing the truth of God into a lie, and worshiping and serving the creature more than the Creator !" Affections withdrawn from God, now centred in himself; and envy, and malice, and all-absorbing selfishness, sprung up as the legitimate offspring of perv erted affections. The heart, just now so pure, so holy, so elevated in its aims, how has it fallen ! " How has the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed !"

Conscience and reason have also suffered in this uni- versal wreck of our spiritual nature. And as if sin would leave no sentiment, no principle, no power of our nature, uncontaminated, it has invaded the sanctuary of its free- dom and enslaved the will, so that every power and sus- ceptibility of our nature has become the servant and minister of sin. " The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." ^^ Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." " The carnal mind is enmity against God ;" it has abjured reason, conscience, and religion, and become the slave of passion and base desire. How often is it seen, in the dark catalogue of man's follies, that he wills — sternly and daringly wills — against all that is just, and pure, and virtuous, and good ; and in favor of all that is base, and dark, and ruinous as perdition itself! How often is it that the luill — the inexorable will — stands firm as the granite bulwark against all the pleading remonstrances of conscience ; against all the sublime and touching sympathies that pour themselves forth from the garden of Gethsemane, the hall of Pilate, and the cross of Calvary ; against all the terrors that are thundered from the lofty peaks of Sinai, from the majesty of eternal jus- tice, and from the sinner's final doom ! Why, against all this, does the heart remain unmoved, and the will unsub- dued, but that this spiritual death has spread through all our nature, chilling every emotion, and corrupting every faculty?

66 DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. [SER.

4. This spiritual deatli extends to, and reigns over, all men, until they are renewed by the grace of life.

The whole history of man, in every age, in every nation, so far as we have any knowledge, is but a standing and everlasting demonstration that both Jews and Gentiles are all included under sin ; that, naturally, " there is none righteous, no, not one," — " there is none that understand- eth, none that seeketh after God." " They are all gone out of the way," — '• there is no fear of God before their eyes ; destruction and misery are in their Avays ; and the way of peace have they not known." Amid the over- spreading influence of this spiritual death, wickedness has acquired rank and fearful growth, and earth itself has grown old in crime. From this deep fountain of wicked- ness in man's spiritual nature, what floods of iniquity have been poured out to blacken the fair face of creation, and cover the entire history of a sinning race with shades of moral turpitude appalling to the virtuous contemplation!

And even the church of the living God, purchased and renewed by the blood of atonement, how has her light been dimmed, and her energies paralized, by the lethargic in- fluence of this spiritual malady. And never can she stand forth in all her comeliness and beauty — "the light of the world " — till, through faith, she has obtained triumphant victory over sin, and inscribed, Holiness to the Lord, upon all her banners. How have the great enterprises of Christianity flagged beneath the waning zeal and activity of the church ! 0, would she but rend asunder the grave- clothes of her worldly-mindedness, and put on her garments of Heaven's own weaving ; how soon would the life's blood of the soul begin to course her veins with unwonted free- dom ! how soon would she come up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved ! The breezes of heaven would fill her temples ; and the dry bones, now scattered abroad, bleaching on all her plains, would rise to spiritual life; and an accumulated flood of glory would roll onward till our desert world should bud and blossom as the rose.

III. But let us approach the third and last topic of our discourse, and contemplate the wages of sin in their final and eternal results.

I approach this subject, my brethren, with the profound- est solemnity and awe. It is no subject on which to trifle,

IV.] DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 67

or use vain words ; for if there be one subject on wbicli we should deal with our fellow-beings with more scrupu- lous smcerity than another, it is that which affects their eternal hopes and condition. God forbid, that I, as a minis- ter of his word, should withhold aught of his truth, or fail to declare the whole counsel of God ; and while I am thus called to deal out the terrors of the Lord, I would do it with all plamness and godly sincerity.

1. Need I apologize, my brethren, for dwelling upon this solemn, momentous theme ? And yet, I am perfectly awai-e that the proclamation of the fearful denunciations of God does not suit the fastidious tastes of even many pro- fessing Christians. Say they, " Tell us of salvation, bring to us the messages of mercy, speak to us of the love of G^d — of the compassionate, bleeding Lamb, tell us of hea- ven, of its blessedness and glory ; but tell us not of the wrath of God, speak to us not of his anger, bring not be- fore us the horrors of an endless hell." My brethren, how inconsistent is this fastidiousness ! What is the proclama- tion of heaven to the pure in heart, but the proclamation of hell to the impure, and to all workers of iniquity ? But, has God declared a truth, and shall man presume to hide it from his perishing fellow-men, lest he should wound the false delicacy of the formalist, or shock the sensibility of the impenitent and godless ? Nay, sinner, the very love we bear to your souls, as well as our duty to our divine Master, requires us to declare the whole counsel of God. Even affection, love for the sinner, would constrain the minister of God to deal plainly with his soul. If a man is in the first stages of a lingering and fatal disease, what would you say of the wisdom, or prudence, or justice, even, of the physician Avho should withhold from him a know- ledge of his situation, if that knowledge were essential to his cure ? Would a man in his senses ask for such medi- cal treatment ? Rather, would he not claim it as his right, to be made acquainted with the real nature and danger of his case ? And would not the physician be faithless in his duty, who should withhold knowledge of such imminent importance from him ? If, then, we would not be trifled with in the disease that can only destroy the body, how can we ask to be trifled with in that spiritual malady which icill destroy both soul and body in /tell/

68 DEATH — THE WAGES OP SIN. [SER.

2. The death of which we have here spoken, is unques- tionably the special and peculiar fruit or wages of sin to which the apostle referred in our text. For the death spoken of is placed in contrast with " eternal life ;" and what, I beseech you, but eternal death can be the opposite of eternal life ? I am aware that some tell us that such a death has no existence, except in the brain of the theologian. But you must know, as well as myself, that the future state of the wicked is often represented as being different from that of the righteous — nay, the one is often placed in con- trast with the other, and the same terms used to express the duration of each. If, then, the use of these terms, in the one case, affords any ground of hope that the joys of heaven will be of eternal duration ; in the other, they afford deep and awful reason to fear that the woes of hell will be alike interminable and unceasing. You may as well tell me there is no heaven, as that there is no hell ; or that the angels and God himself are but the creatures of poetic fancy, as that Satan and fiends of darkness have no essential exist- ence. Does the Bible speak of the one, so it does of the other. Does it portray the unspeakable bliss of the saints in glory, it also speaks of the unutterable woes of the damned in hell — the horrors of the " second death."

3. But what is this second death ? what language can describe it ? What lofty conception can comprehend it in all its fullness? The mariner, with his plummet, can fathom the depth of the sea — the navigator can measure its expanse — but what line or plummet can fathom the bottomless ocean of eternal perdition ? Avhat navigator can take the aggregate of its wo ? Inspiration only can give utterance to the fullness of this eternal death. It is an eternal banishment of both soul and body from the presence of God, and from the glory of his power — an eternal sepa- ration from the favor and enjoyment of God. And, if God be withdrawn from the soul, what is left to it but the " blackness of darkness for ever ?" It is not an extinction of being, but of happiness and hope — the destruction of both body and soul in hell. It is being cast into hell, where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched. It is being cast, with all his members, into hell ; it is going into ever- lasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. To the wicked the day of judgment is a day of wrath ; for then

IV.] DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 69

shall the Lord Jesus be revealed from heaven with the mightj angels; in flaming lire, taking vengeance on them which know not God, and that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall be punished with everlast- ing destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever ; and they have no rest day nor night.

Such are the fearful and final wages of sin. Sad as is the picture of wo it exhibits, it is what the finally im- penitent shall really suffer. Say not that the picture is colored and fancy-wrought ; for the pencil that drew, and the fancy that wrought h, were those of inspiration. And if these are only the plain, solemn, and truthful announce- ments of the righteous retributions of offended Heaven, how ought the impenitent to take alarm, and escape from im- pending death !

4. Is it not the fear and apprehension of this death that clothes the hour of dissolution with such dread — that arms the "king of terrors" with such a fearful "sting?" How universal is the fear and dread of death ! By how many mortals would a life of poverty, and toil, and bodily suffering, be gladly chosen, rather than to endure what is dreaded and feared in death !

" The Aveariest and most loathed worldly life. That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment, can lay on man, Is paradise to what we fear of death."

But repulsive as may be the wasting pain, the gasping agony, the utter dissolution and rottenness of the grave ; hard as it may seem to be cut off from the society of those we love — to open our eyes upon the light of heaven no more — to be incarcerated in that gloomy cell, which is penetrated by the beams of no sun, and cheered by the murmurs of no sound; sorrowful as may be the unavailing grief of bereaved friends, the heart-rending wail of those bound to us by ties that death only could sever — it is not the anguish of friends, the gloom of the grave, nor the agony of dying, that makes us dread death, and shudder at its approach. Whence, then, this shrinking from its cold em- brace ? Why this fear and alarm at its approach ? —

70 DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. [SER.

" But that the dread of something after death, That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne No traveler returns, puzzles the will !"

Why is it, but that the truth of God is foreshadowed by the appalling apprehensions of a guilty conscience ? Why is it, but that conscience already apprehends the agony of the undying worm and the unquenchable fire ? And if the premonition, the mere foreshadowing of this eternal death, be thus appalling, what must it be, when the sinner shall experience it, in all its fullness !

5. Permit me to pause with emphasis upon this subject — O, that I could impart to it that solemn emphasis, which its importance demands ! — that I may present it with more distinctness and force to the impenitent before me.

Say not, sinner, let me earnestly and solemnly entreat you — say not that this ruin shall not come nigh thee ; for it may be that even now thou art standing upon the "very verge of everlasting wo. The merest thread of being separates between thee and the realization of all the hor- rors of the second death. " Be not deceived ; Grod is not mocked." Thou mayest hide thy sins and cloak thy fol- lies from the sight and observation of man ; but thy God is not deceived, and fearfully shall he call thee to account ; nay, thy own conscience acciiseth thee and bodes thy fear- ful doom. It raises its voice with solemn admonition and warning, and points thee to the solemn hour of Heaven's avenging retribution. And, if it thus reprove thee, notwith- standing all the influence of worldly interests, prejudices, and passions ; how will it torment thee, when all these have died away ! If the recollection of thy sin, thy dere- liction of duty to thy God and to thy own soul, be thus poignant here, what will it be hereafter 1 If impending ruin fill thee Avith dismay, and blanch thy cheek to deathly paleness, what horror shall attend ruin realized ! Though thou mayest stifle the voice of conscience here, and in folly forget thy sin, yet, presume not that it will be thus with thee hereafter. Thy soul shall be all uncovered to its sting ; and shall stand unhoused, amidst that storm of di- vine wrath, which the Almighty shall rain upon the wicked. JVIemory shall never forget ; conscience shall never die, and through the long, long ages of eternity, shall it continue to hold ever before thee the mirror of thy fol-

IV.] DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN. 71

lies and thy sins. Clearly, as if reflected in the sunbeams of eternal light, shall it upbraid thee for thy disobedience to thy God ; thy want of care for thy soul ; and the bur- den of thy lamentation shall be, that with thine own hand thou hast plucked down this fearful ruin upon thee ; that upon thyself thou hast barred and bolted the massy gates of hell's enduring dungeon ; that thou hast pointed the spear and aimed the shaft that now pierces thy soul with unending anguish. And to fill up to its very brim the cup of thy bitterness, to complete thy loathings of self, to give higher zest to the gnawings of the undying worm, thou shalt ever remember— the appalling truth shall be written in burning capitals upon the very walls of thy prison-house • — that thou hast done all this " in spite of the Grodhead slain," and while bleeding mercy wept over thee, and a compassionate Redeemer besought thy return to God.

But I must noAV close. I have endeavored to probe this moral disease, and trace it out into its final results. And now, it only remains for me to hold up the grand restora- tive ; to proclaim that " there is a halm in Gilcad, and a physician there ;" that though " the wages of sin is death," " the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

And while I turn to this glorious truth, new light from the highest heaven seems to break upon my mind. Here do I learn that the sinner may be pardoned and redeemed ; the unholy be sanctified and saved ; that death may be de- prived of its sting, and hell disappointed of its prey. Here do I learn that though sin may rage, and death de- vour, the grace of God can give victory and triumph. Wide as they may have spread their ravages, so wide is the abounding grace and mercy of God ; mighty as may be the dominion they have so long usurped, still more mighty and glorious is the dominion and power displayed m the person of Jesus Christ. O, the triumph and glory of the cross ! There is in it an omnipotence, to break off the chains and thraldom of Satan, and exalt the soul to the knowledge and glory of salvation.

" Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell How high your great Deliv'rer reigns ; Sing how he spoil'd the hosts of hell, And led the monster death in chains !

72 SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. [SEK.

Say, ' Live for ever, wondrous King !

Bom to redeem, and strong to save !' Then ask the monster, ' Wliei-e 's thy sting V

And ' Wliere 's thy victory, boasting grave V "

But what madness can prompt the sinner to the rejec- tion of this priceless gift ; the only balm that can cure his spiritual malady ; the only agency that can deliver from tlie power and dominion of sin and death ? Is it a slight thing that the soul, endowed with powers and capa- cities which ally it to angels and to heaven, the soul that shall never cease to be and to suffer, shall perish in eter- nal night ? O, " it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God r '■'■Be not deceived; God is not mocked. Whatsoever^'' — yes, "whatsoever a man soivetJi, that shall he also reap." Life is the spring-time of our being ; we go forth sowing seed ; eternity is the season when the harvest shall be reaped, the fruit gathered in. The fruit of sin is eternal death.

I pray God to deliver us from the pollution and the practice of sin, that we may not gather this fearful harvest unto our souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SERMON V.

Salvation — Mysterious and Glorious.

BY REV. JAMES FLOY, A. M.,

OF THE NEW-YORK CONFERENCE.

"Which things the angels desire to look into." — 1 Pet. i, 12.

The natural inquiry. What are the things into which angels desire to look, or, as the original implies, upon which they intently gaze, is readily answered by the con- text. They are " the salvation of souls," " the sufferings of Christ," " the preaching of the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." These are the "things" which engage the attention of the first-born sons of light ; these the " tilings" wliich constitute the subject of angelic study. Hence results the doctrine : —

V.J SALVATION MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. 73

Salvation, procured hy the sufferings of Christ, and ren- dered effectual hy the preaching of the gospel, is a subject profoundly mysterious and infinitely glorious.

Infinitely glorious, — else had their attention been ab- sorbed by some other subject in the boundless empire of the great Supreme ; profoundly mysterious, or they " who excel in strength" had long since fathomed it, and turned their attention elsewhere.

1. Mysterious, and therefore a subject of angelic study. First, from its novelty. " The thing that hath been,"

says the wise man, "it is that which shall be" — a truth which holds among the inhabitants of heaven, as well as among the dwellers upon earth. From them, equally as from us, God has hidden the future. To Him only is known what a day will bring forth ; and they, like our- selves, are enabled to infer the probability of what will be, from a knowledge of what is, and what has been. For the salvation of sinners by the sufferings of Christ, there was no prototype. It was an event totally unique in the annals of eternity ; and the anthem John heard in heaven, the burden of which was, " Glory unto the Lamb," is called there the new song.

Not only so. It was in direct contradiction to their ex- perience. There had been sin in heaven before its blight- ing influence blasted God's earthly paradise. Angels, un- der their leader Michael, had fought against their com- peers who kept not their first estate ; had seen them thrust down to the place prepared for them ; and knew that they were there reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. For them no Saviour was provided ; no gospel ever echoed through the dreary caverns of the damned, and the smoke of their torment was ascending, in increasing blackness, when an embassy of these angelic students was commissioned to announce to our world the strangely mysterious truth, that, by the suf- ferings of Christ, sinners might be pardoned, sanctified, glo- rified. Again,

2. The moral character of the race to he redeemed height- ens this mystery.

Were rebel angels greater sinners than fallen men? Of course, we presume not to answer that question ; but we may ask, and to some extent answer the inquiry : — 4

74 SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. [SER.

What had been the moral history of our world when the Redeemer's advent was announced to the wondering shep- herds of Judea ? Wliat a spectacle had it presented to the gaze of those who shouted for joy when God laid its cor- ner-stone, as one generation succeeded another, until the fullness of time had come ? They saw the first man, cre- ated (and it is not said they were thus created) in the like- ness and image of his Maker, basely yield to temptation, and coolly attempt to palliate his guilt, and to justify his conduct. They heard the dying groan of righteous Abel, as death first entered into the dominions of Jehovah ; death by violence, death by a brother's hand. Thence onward, age after age, in every part of the earth, they saw man in arms against his fellow ; carnage his delight, the shedding of a brother's blood his glory ; unto such an extent, that the history of our world is little else than a chronicle of wars, and a record of the slain. And what was man's conduct toward his Maker ? How did it appear to those who worship Him with a pure and unceasing devotion ? God had revealed himself to his earth-born creature, had made known his will, and stooped to ask the homage of his heart. Behold man as angels saw him, " disliking to re- tain God in his knowledge," bowing down to idols made by his own hands, worshiping the planets, deifying some monster of wickedness, and adoring the reptiles that crawl beneath his feet. That black cloud, which has been rising for centuries from earth to heaven, darkening the very throne of Jehovah ; what is it ? It is the incense offered by the children of men to their great Creator, their unwea- ried benefactor ; the incense of oaths, and cursings, and blasphemies. How did these things appear in the eyes of the celestial host ; and how, upon their ears, did such sounds vibrate ? Lo ! these are the subjects of this salva- tion ! But its mystery is seen still further,

3. In the manner of its accomplishment.

By the sufferings of Christ ! Instinctively our minds revert to the manger of Bethlehem, the garden of Geth- semane, the cross on Calvary. We behold the man, the man of sorrows, homeless, friendless, for he had not where to lay his head, and in his trying hour all forsook him. We remember his piercing cry : — " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death ;" his prayer for the removal of

v.] SALVATION MYSTERIOUS AND GLOKIOUS. 75

" this cup ;" and the strange mystery revealed in that verse of Luke's Gospel, where it is written : " There ap- peared an angel from heaven," — one of those who desire to look into these things, — " strengthening him." The suf- ferings of Christ ! We revert to his temptation in the wil- derness, to his fastings, and his midnight prayers ; his buf- fetings and scourgings ; his lacerated and bleeding body ; his crown of thorns, the nails, the soldier's spear, his dying exclamation, " It is finished !" What then ? We have reached merely the confines, the outer boundaries of the meaning of that language — the sufferings of Christ. Egre- gious, therefore, is the folly, to call it by no harsher name, when man, who, in his present state, sees only through a glass darkly, professes to explain this mystery 5 undertakes to gauge the depth of those sufferings ; and ventures to discuss the question : — How could He, who ever liveth — die ; and how could the fountain of all happiness — suffer ? It is the finite measuring the infinite, — the creature ana- lyzing the Creator. It is one of the ten thousand illustra- tions of that verse of the poet, which, from its universality, has passed into a proverb :

" Fools rush in where angels fear to tread !"

Thus, as happens to the eye of him who seeks to mea- sure spots upon the surface of the sun shining at noonday, the understanding is darkened ; and faith, by which only can He who is invisible be seen, becomes weak. Even of the men who have been commissioned by the Holy Ghost to take the oversight of the fiock, there are those, who affect to doubt the propriety of Paul's language when he charges them to " feed the church of God which he hath purchased with Ms own hloodP Others give the passage a fanciful and far-fetched interpretation; and yet others exult at having found, in some Arianized version, a different reading. Thus the ransom price of a world is under- valued, and at length, having at first been wounded in the house of his friends, the Redeemer is, by his enemies, stripped of his divinity, and put to an open shame. What we now know, and our knowledge rests not upon any iso- lated passage of Scripture, amounts to this : — the salva- tion of our race was effected by the sufferings of Christ, and XDhrist is the Creator and upholder of all things, the

7& SALVATION MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. [SER.

Lord God omnipotent. Hereafter, if our faith fail not, we shall " look into these things," with those who now sur- round that throne, in the midst of which they behold " a Lamb, as it had been slain ;" and the same Lamb shall in- struct us, and " lead us to living fountains of waters."

4. The mode of its promulgation heightens the mystery of this salvation.

It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe; and, — how can they hear without a preacher ? Angels were sent to announce His advent, and to proclaim the glad tidings of great joy to all the people ; they attended on him during his ministry, and witnessed his sufferings, his agony and death. But the work being accomplished, and the Redeemer having declared upon the cross, " It is finished," there remained nothing more for them to do, than to rejoice over the repenting sinner ; and to minister unto those thus constituted heirs of salvation. To the fallen race itself was the great commission given ; and men are constituted ambassadors for Christ. In the selection of these heralds too, as it has been from the be- ginning, and ever shall be, the great Head of the church displays his mysterious sovereignty. Pertinent to angels, and unanswerable is, in this respect, the inquiry, " Who hath known the mind of the Lord ; or who hath been his counselor ?" Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called ; but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Passing by the educated, the scribe, the phi- losopher, he selects and sends forth, in many instances, those whom finite creatures deem the most unlikely ; and, as it was when he of Tarsus first "preached the faith which once he destroyed," oft repeated is the question, ex- pressive of astonishment, " Is Saul among the prophets ?"

But more than this. The iimnediate context refers to the manner in which the gospel is preached as one of the things into which angels desire to look. It is " with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." Nothing else is " preaching," There may be a well-written sermon ; it may be strictly orthodox, abounding in Scriptural quota- tions, and, according to the nicest rules of the art, oratori- cally delivered. Those who hear, may admire in mute astonishment ; and this admiration may reflect upon the

v.] SALVATION MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. 77

speaker a very grateful self-complacency. He may deem himself an Apollos, — a son of consolation, or a son of thunder, as the case may be, and his hearers may indorse the opinion. But if God be not with him in the pulpit, if the Spirit touch not his lips with fire, if he speak not with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven — he does not preach. There is nothing in his performance calculated to convert the sinner, or to save the soul ; nothing there into which angels desire to look beyond what they might find in the manly declamations of the senate, or the dainty eloquence of the stage. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts ;" and while the sufferings of Christ are the grand mystery of heaven, and the only means of procuring salvation, equally essential, if not equally mysterious, is the presence of the Holy Ghost in every sermon by which those sufferings are rendered effectual. This leads me to notice another, and, perhaps, to angels, a still greater mystery in this subject of their study. I mean,

5. The manner in which the tidings of this salvation, even when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, are received hy the children of men.

(1.) By some, readily and with eagerness. Their spirits drink in the balmy sound on its first announcement. In the language of Job : " God maketh their hearts soft." With the trembling jailer they ask, " What must I do to be saved ?" — and do it. With them — and instances have been witnessed among the most abandoned, as well as among those whom the world calls moral — conviction is as the flash preceding the report which echoes through the vaulted domes of the celestial city, that another is added to the heavenly family ; the prelude to the swelling anthem, by which those who stand in the presence of God manifest greater joy than is called forth by the upright conduct of ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance.

(2.) Others, in the startling language of the first mar- tyr, " do always resist the Holy Ghost." Not once, or twice, but always ; and, to heighten this mystery, let me add, their resistance is effectual. In this sense, the insect man is more than an equal in the contest with the God who made him. Strange mystery ! We have no right to suppose, nay, we cannot conceive it possible, that angels

78 SALVATION MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. [SEB.

have this power ; but that man has it, is equally the teach- ing of the Scriptures and the dictate of experience. In childhood, in youth, in manhood, in old age ; busied with the anxious cares of life, or in pursuit of the bubble repu- tation ; in health and in sickness ; yea, upon the panting bed of death, and even down to the moment when the quivering spirit wings her flight to the judgment-seat of Christ, man has the power to resist the Holy Ghost ; and — does resist him.

(3.) Yet others, and among them the great majority of those who are in the habit of attending upon the public worship of God, partially yield to the strivings of the Spirit. They lay down some of the weapons of their re- bellion. They would give him their hearts, if it were possible, piecemeal. When they say to the Holy Ghost, " Go thy way," they are careful to add, " for this time." They have no intention of so fighting against him as to induce his final flight. They halt and hesitate. They weep over their sins to-day ; and to-morrow they will re- pent and give their hearts to God. In heaven's register are their ten thousand vows of amendment and reforma- tion recorded, and against each is written — broken. For years, ministering spirits have been about thy path, sinner, wondering at the unwearied efforts of Him who standeth at the door and knocks ; still are they waiting for the signal which shall warrant the tuning of celestial harps for joy at thy repentance. How this conduct appears to thy- self I know not. To them who view it by the same light in which God sees it, beyond a doubt it is wondrously strange, — ^unfathomably mysterious.

II. But this subject of angelic study is infinitely glo- rious. The fact declared in the text is ample proof of this position. Into the wonders of nature, the mysteries of Providence, the revolution of the planets, the creation of new, or the destruction of old worlds, it is not said they desire to look. Possibly all these things engage a share of their attention ; for, like ourselves, they are finite, and grow in wisdom and increase in knowledge. But in the sufferings of Christ and man's salvation ; in the plan of human redemption, devised by infinite wisdom and exe- cuted by infinite love, they fiiid a subject of study infinitely glorious.

V.J SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. 79

First, in its exhibition of the divine character. It re- calls, and continually shows forth, an attribute of the great Supreme, with which the universe had been otherwise unacquainted. Their own existence attests his goodness; and every successive moment of unalloyed and increasing bliss heightens that grateful feeling, which prompts the exclamation, O taste and see that the Lord is good ! They knew his power also. They were with him when he stretched the north over the empty place, and hung the earth upon nothing. They heard that voice which said, " Let there be light ; and there was light ; and they shouted for joy when the morning stars first sang together, and the Creator's last day's work was done." They knew him also as a God o{ justice, taking vengeance upon the guilty. They had seen their associates, who had revolted from their allegiance, hurled headlong into hell ; and the smoke of their torment excites, amid the celestial ranks, the exclamation, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glo- rify thy name ?" But never, until the fulfillment of the declaration, " Lo, I come to do thy will !" never, until the claims of a broken law were satisfied, and Christ had drained the dregs of the bitter cup, and ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, knew they the mercy of Him who hateth iniquity, and who cannot look on sin. Here they see his compassion, and his readiness to forgive. Here is found an answer to the otherwise eternally un- solved problem, " How can God be just, and justify the ungodly?" It is an infinitely glorious study therefore, because in it is seen, and will be seen for ever, the ful- fillment of the prophet's declaration, " Mercy and truth have met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

2. The transforming efficacy of the plan of redemption indicates its glory. It is a glorious study to trace its effects upon nations ; and well may angels desire to look into the progress of a people from savage barbarism to civilized refinement; from lust, and rapine, and blood, to a pure and spiritual devotion ; and to the triumphing and the abounding eveiy where of the fruits of the Spirit. Utterly vain have been attempts to civilize, independently of the preaching of salvation by the sufferings of Christ. Send them the gospel first ; and then, when the prophet's ques-

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tion, " Hath a nation changed their gods ?" is answered in the affirmative, the blessings of civilization and refinement follow in her train. An uncivilized Christian nation is an unheard-of anomaly ; and in the progress of God's scheme for saving our world, angels see, as man might see, did he not shut his eyes, that the time is coming when this earth shall be filled with the glory of God ; and that every trophy of the sufferings of Christ, every sinner saved by the preaching of the gospel, is at once a seal attesting the truth of the prediction, and an agent to bring about its fulfillment. In the individual convert himself is seen the wondrous transforming efficacy of the plan of salvation. The tiger is changed into the lamb ; the blood-thirsty per- secutor into the apostolic martyr ; a child of wrath, an heir of hell, becomes a son of God; a fellow-citizen of the saints, an equal with angels, (Luke xx, 36,) a co-heir with Christ himself. This leads to the remark that,

3. Its diffusive nature renders God's method of saving sinners a suitable subject for angelic study. Once they were sent on an embassy to announce his birth, and to make the first proclamation of Heaven's good-will to man. Even yet, as they shall continue to be, until commissioned to reap and gather in the harvest, are they ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. But they have no agency in diffusing the blessings of the gospel. It is left to itself. Man, redeem- ed and regenerated, is to tell the story. It is itself the leaven that is to leaven the whole lumj). True, as before remarked, independently of the Holy Spirit's aid, even the preaching of the gospel is a vain thing, and without him, learning and eloquence can do nothing ; yet is it equally true, that every disciple who pleases may have that Spirit's influence ; and the first prompting of every converted sinner's heart is to glorify God, by proclaiming how great things he hath done ; and by inviting others to participate in the same blessedness. Under a great mis- take, indeed, are multitudes of professing Christians, when they imagine their own individual happiness was the first or chief object of the Almighty in their conversion. That they might be happy ! Were that all, he might at once, and he would, have translated them away from this region of temptation and trial, to that rest which remaineth for

v.] SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. 81

the people of God. No ; his first great object was the advancement of his own glorj, by adding another to the army by whom a world is to be brought into allegiance to its Maker and its Saviour. That this is true, is seen in the fact that Christians are happy here just in proportion as they continue to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Let them, as is, alas ! the case with too many, let them wrap themselves in selfishness, and sit down, exclaiming, I have passed from death unto life, and now I'll be happy ; and soon will the light that is in them become darkness. Not into the history or the conduct of such professors do angels desire to look ; but into the re- sults of that glorious copartnership, into which the Almighty, passing by the first-born sons of light, has taken the convert- ed sinner, and enabled him, with all his redeemed brethren of the race, to exclaim, " We are laborers together with God!"

4. The glory of this study is seen further in the freeness with which the blessings of this salvation are offered to the children of men.

(1.) To all indiscriminately. It stops not to inquire into the degree of the sinner's guilt, or the extent of his iniquity. As the Saviour, when on earth he healed the lepers, unstopped the ears of the deaf, and on the sightless eyeball poured the day, asked no questions as to the viru- lence or the duration of the malady ; so, salvation by the sufferings of Christ is offered not only to the moralist, and the good citizen, but to the profligate and the abandoned ; to every wretched outcast on this side of the caverns of damnation. And this

(2.) In perfect sincerity. O what a diminution of its glory, if the doctrine had ever reached heaven, and were believed there, that the sufferings of Christ were designed for but a portion of the race, and that its blessings were limited to a few ! Or worse still, if upon angelic ears had fallen that modification of the doctrine, which could not have failed to impress on angelic hearts a doubt of God's sincerity : — Offered to all, but intended for a few !

(3.) On terms easy, and within the reach of every indi- vidual. Is it asked. Why has faith been made the condition of this salvation? The answer is — How could anything else have been made that condition ? For, admitting that

82 SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. [SER.

.some other plan had been devised, it had been essentially necessary to believe in the efficacy of that plan before the sinner could have reaped from it any benefit. Hence it is morally impossible that salvation could have been offered on any other terms, than either faith alone, or faith and something else. God chose the former ; and while therein is revealed the brightest glimpse that finite creatures can have of the riches of his goodness and his glory, man is taught, that not for his violations of the moral law he perishes, but for refusing to believe. An atonement has been made for actual transgression, and " he," and he only, " who believeth not, shall be damned." But further,

5. The perpetuity and the fullness of the blessings of this salvation evince its glory, and render it a study worthy of angelic minds. A glorious mystery is couched in that description of Him by whose sufferings this salvation was effected, when he is styled "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world !" In " looking into these things," they gaze not merely upon Gethsemane and Calvary. They date not the commencement of this glory from what we call the fullness of time. They go back beyond the father of the faithful, who rejoiced to see " his day." They beheld the slaughtered Lamb in the typical sacrifices of righteous Abel ; they heard of Christ in the enigmatical promise to our first parents. Reaching back to the origi- nal transgression, and extending in its efficacious fullness onward to the end of time, they desire to look into that fountain still unexhausted, and for ever inexhaustible, in which a world may wash away its stains — all its stains — for it cleanses " from all unrighteousness." Crimson and scarlet become like wool and snow. Even on this doomed earth, surrounded by iniquity, and exposed, now to the roaring of him who goetli about seeking whom he may devour, and now to the allurements of an apparent angel of light, a feeble worm of the dust is seen by these heavenly students able to "do all things," and "more than con- queror." It may be fairly questioned whether, in all the universe of God, is to be seen a more glorious spectacle than angels gaze upon, when, in this tainted atmosphere — tempted but triumphant — they mark the perfect man and behold the upright.

Nor does even this indicate the extent of the glory of

v.] SALVATION — MYSTERIOUS AND GLORIOUS. SS

*'the things into which angels desire to look." The beloved disciple, when in apocalyptic vision his attention was direct- ed to the inner ranks of those concentric circles of which God is the centre, was told, " These are they which came out of deep tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." They were redeemed sinners, the children of men saved by the suffer- ings of Christ, and exalted thereby to a degree of glory above that of the first-created, who knew no sin and need- ed no atonement. Well may they desire to look into the mystery and the glory of that salvation which exalts a cor- rupt nature and an actual transgressor to an eminence that angels may not reach. He whom they worship as sovereign took upon him our nature, and is not ashamed to call us brethren !

In conclusion I remark,

First. This subject cannot be made too frequently the theme of the pulpit. It is the grand central truth around which, as the lesser lights around the sun, all others revolve in glorious harmony. It is the burden of the new song — it is always 7iew I

It is not strange, I remark,

Secondly, that there are mysteries in the scheme of redemption which man cannot fathom. It will be for ever true, in heaven as well as on earth — " Great is the mys- tery of godliness." Its mystery is its glory.

Finally. I ask, what manner of man must he be who deems it beneath Ms notice ? Is he too wise to pay any attention to that into which angels desire to look ? Strange folly — miserable infatuation — madness — that he for whom the mystery and the glory of this salvation have been revealed should turn from it, and allow his attention to be engrossed by the world, by its veriest trifles, by anything, rather than that into which angels desire to look, and an acquaintance with which can alone save liim from hell, and secure his immortality !

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SERMON VI.

Talent.

BY REV. JESSE T. PECK, D. D.,

PRINCIPAL OF TROY CONFERENCE ACADEMY.

" For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, Avho called his o^^^l servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to an- other one ; to every man according to his several ability, and straight- way took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents, went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one, went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them," &c. — Matthew xxv, 14-30.

The "talent" was originally a species of coin. Meta- phorically, it was used to represent human ability, natural gift or endowment ; and this figurative, has at length be- come its literal, use. Theologically, it signifies whatever is intrusted to man by his Maker, to enable him to fulfill the high end of his creation, and is made to constitute the ground and measure of human responsibility. We use it in this latter sense ; and the substance of what we intend to say on this theme will be included in the folloAving proposi- tions : —

I. God has made a ivise distribution of talent amcng men.

II. He righteously requires the faithful improvement of the talent given.

III. He has appointed a day of reckoning for the use or abuse of talent.

I. God has made a wise distribution of talent among men.

" For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one."

1. Physical talent. This is perhaps the lowest order of talent ; but it will be found to include more, and involve higher responsibilities, than is commonly supposed. Con-

VI.] TALENT. 85

sider, for instance, the organs and functions of life, including the arrangements for nutrition and assimilation, by which the body is supported, and its wastes are mysteriously sup- plied ; the circulating system, by which the blood is carried to every part of the corporeal frame ; and the organs of resphation, by which the vital properties of atmospheric air are appropriated to the wants of the system. This wonderful power of life, so concealed and incomprehensible, must be a talent committed to us by God, and requiring the constant action of creative power for its support. It is so common that we are apt to consider it as a thing of course, or as self-productive, and therefore lose the moral effect which it ought to produce. But let man attempt to create it, or to sustain it, when God withdraws from it his vital energies, and he will be forced to feel that it is a blessing for which he is indebted to a power infinitely above himself.

Consider the physical arrangements for intelligence and enjoyment. Mind is unquestionably the subject of both ; but physical objects affect mind through physical organs. These organs are curiously wrought, and perfectly adapted to the laws of the internal and the external world. With- out the organ of smell, the odoriferous particles of matter, and the mental power to discriminate odors, would both be useless ; and, of course, man would be destitute of the guards which this sense furnishes against what is fetid and un- wholesome, and of the pleasures which now arise from the rich perfumery of nature. Without the organs of taste, we should foil to judge between wholesome and noxious food ; be destitute of the pleasures of the palate, and of the discriminations of sapid qualities. Without the organs of hearing, we should have no knowledge of simple ele- mentary sounds, no knowledge of the differences of sounds, of the position of sounding bodies, or of the meaning of sounds. We should be without the enjoyment which all this knowledge produces, and that which arises from the constitutional adaptation of the soul to the beauties of the vocal world. Without the organs of touch, we should be utterly incapable of sensation ; we should have no idea of externality, of extension and shape, of size and distance, of hardness and softness, of roughness and smoothness, or of heat and cold ; and of course be entirely destitute of

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nervous pleasure and protection. Without the organs of sight, the beauties of color, with all the pleasure and con- veniences which light affords, would be for ever unknown. And who, we ask, has formed these organs, so exquisitely wrought, and wonderfully adapted to their respective ends ? Reason and Scripture answer — God. They must, there- fore, be regarded as an important class of physical talents, involving obligations and responsibilities peculiar to them- selves.

Consider, further, the power of activity. Of what avail would have been the functions of life, and the organs of sense, if man had been destitute of adequate muscular power ? In his present state labor is his appropriate sphere. His daily bread, as well as his health and happiness, de- pends upon it. But without the poAver of motion, under the control of the will, labor would be impracticable, and all other functions of the body would be useless, or utterly destroyed. This power of locomotion and strength, under the guidance of reason, of cultivating the soil, converting the raw material into forms of convenience and beauty, and of equalizing the accommodations of the race by commercial activity, is all the wonderful gift of God. Its evident im- portance to the well-being of man should inspire us with gratitude, and excite the most anxious inquiry into the ob- ligations it involves.

This is a brief outline of man's intrinsic physical talents. Wealth is also physical, but extrinsic. Whether it is acquir- ed by possession, by inheritance, or by industry, property is the gift of God. It is true that political economy shows man to be the intelligent voluntary agent in the production of wealth. But who made the material world in its primi- tive state ? Who formed the earth with a productive soil ? Who arranged the elements, and active agencies, by which the earth is replenished, and its spent energies are restored ? Who sends the fertilizing showers? And who has fur- nished the very powers by which man has carried on all his schemes of agricultural, mechanical, and professional activity ? We call our lands our own, and value ourselves upon the sovereign control of our earthly estates, little regarding the important truth, that they are " our Lord's money," lent to us, "to every man according to his

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several ability/* for a limited period, and for definite and specified purposes.

2. Intellectual talent. This is a higher order of talent. It marks the grade of man " above the beasts that perish.'* It includes the power to know, the power to think, and the power to reason.

The power to know is, so far as we can judge, without limit. It embraces the facts of the world revealed to sensa- tion, or the primary and secondary properties of bodies ; the facts revealed to consciousness, or the state of the mind at any given time ; the facts revealed in reason, or the truths drawn from a comparison of related ideas ; and the facts revealed to faith, or the truths of history and revelation. The particulars which these generals include are to us incalculable or infinite ; hence, whatever may be the pro- gression of mind in intelligence, its objects will never be exhausted. Hoav far, then, beyond human estimate must be the value of this talent !

The power to think is a subtil and almost indefinable power. To appreciate it, we must study the nature of thought, the objects of thought, and the government of thought. In nature, it is that kind of mental activity which tests the quality, the value, and the uses, of our intelligence. It is the mind busied with what it knows. Its notice of an element of intelligence is sometinies single and momentary — sometimes various and long-continued. The objects of thought may be ideas of perception, as when the mind is busied with the mental states produced by external objects; ideas of consciousness, as when it dwells upon the truths which the mind has revealed to its observation upon itself; ideas of reason, or inferential truths ; or ideas of fiction, as those which are produced by imagination from our conceptions. Thought is governed by the laws of association. All thoughts have an intimate, though often mysterious, connection among themselves. It is believed that none are isolated or independent of those which precede them, except such as arise directly from sensation. But the laws of association produce the great- est novelty, variety, and eccentricity, in the trains of thought, so much so, that in the absence of any other governing faculty, this power would be rather a source of

88 TALENT. [SER.

amusement than instruction. The will interposes. It governs thought chiefly, by fixing the attention upon one train in preference to another, and thus the unbidden or unwelcome thought disappears for want of attention. The will is influenced in its determinations by curiosity, by passion, by interest, by authority, and by habit. This power of controlling thought — fugitive and capricious as it is — by volition, is wonderfully mysterious, but of vast importance. It reduces chaos to order, and renders the whole available as a source of improvement and happiness. And who can contemplate the restless but controlled activity of mind, revolving, analyzing, and appropriating the vast amount of its intelligence, without being impressed with the inestimable value of this exalted talent ?

The power to reason is more generally known. It is the power of drawing conclusions from a comparison of re- lated ideas, and implies the action of association, volition, attention, abstraction, comparison, and judgment. It is one of the noblest distinguishing characteristics of man. With- out it he would cease to be man. He might, indeed, have perceptions and passions like the lower animals ; but the wonders of discovery by which he is now distinguished, the high range of activity, the lofty stretch of genius, and the elevated power of pleasure, must be exchanged for mere animal exercises and enjoyments. Reason is dependent upon the power to know, and the power to think ; and, perhaps, in man, they mutually imply each other. How- ever this may be, it is certain, that if reason were de- stroyed or dethroned, intellect would be degraded, and mind lose its identity. How invaluable then the talent !

3. 3Ioral talent. This must be regarded as the highest order of talent, because it has most to do with the happi- ness of man, and the glory of God. It includes, intrinsi- cally, the power of moral discriminations, of moral impul- sions, and moral retributions.

The discriminating power of conscience is partly intui- tive in its action, as when the decisions between right and wrong are instantaneous, without the knowledge of any reason upon which they are founded ; and partly deductive, as when the mind upon deliberation, greater or less, decides a thing to be right or wrong for a recognized reason. The power of moral distinctions, whether intuitive or de-

VI.] TALENT. 89

ductive, must be regarded as of paramount importance. Let it once be annihilated, so that right and wrong, virtue and vice, are confounded, and man would be left to the uninterrupted dominion of innate corruption, and society be inevitably destroyed.

Moral impulsions, I think, are also sometimes intuitive, or, if you please, the spontaneous promptings of our high and noble moral constitution. Sometimes the sensibilities are involved, and a man is impelled by his feelings to do or not to do. Sometimes reason is involved, and then a man is impelled to do the right or not to do the wrong, by conclusions drawn from a comparison of related ideas. The power of sensibility and the power of reason may, as I suppose, act separately or conjointly. An impulse against the wrong, and in favor of the right, from either source, is undoubtedly authoritative; but when the promptings of instinct are sustained by those of feeling and of reason, they raise a most formidable barrier to the progress of vice, and afford the highest inducements to the practice of virtue. But what would be the result, if man were desti- tute of an impulsive conscience ? Would not his moral constitution be essentially defective ? He might make all the distinctions between virtue and vice, piety and im- piety ; but he would not be aware of more obligation to the one than to the other. Corrupted passion, excited curi- osity, and all the blind selfishness of his soul, would urge him on irresistibly to sin and perdition. How invaluable, then, that moral arrangement by which this seemingly in- evitable tendency to destruction is counteracted ! A mighty voice thunders from the deep recesses of the soul in re- monstrance against the meditated crime, and the secret whispers of conscience invite and allure him to the deci- sions of virtue, and the way to God and heaven.

Moral retributions are partly constitutional, and partly voluntary. It is not wholly optional with the sinner whether he will or not be lashed by conscience for his disobedience. It is a law of his moral nature to bring upon him the sad, sickening thought, that he has dishonored himself and in- sulted his Maker, his "secret faults" and "presumptuous sins." This is what haunts him by day and by night, fills his bed with coals of fire, and turns his bosom into a hell ! But voluntary reflection will give a man sorrow for rea-

90 TALENT. [SER.

sons, and make his deliberate deductions the immediate source of his torment. It is fearful to endure the reproaches of conscience, arising spontaneously from the mere fact of a corrupted heart, or a vicious life ; but a re- cognition of the holiness of God, and the purity of his law ; of the sacredness of violated relations, and the recklessness of a sinful life, gives definiteness to the guilt, and poignancy to the suffering. The same law holds true in regard to the pleasures of a mind obedient to conscience. They arise spontaneously from the mere fact of the right, or they are produced by voluntarily contemplating the right, and in either case their obvious design is to encourage obedience to the laws of our being.

These are the intrinsic moral talents committed to men ; and they include the power of indefinite moral develop- ment, of unlimited moral excellence, and of infinite increase in happiness. Besides these, in a theological sense, there are extrinsic moral talents of vast importance, with which God has favored us. Christ is a talent of priceless worth. The Holy Ghost, the revelation of God, the ministry of the word, and the prayers, exhortations, and examples of good men, are gifts of God for the most exalted purposes. Learning is talent. Genius is talent. Place, oflSce, and influence, are talents, unequally, it is true, but wisely dis- tributed, at least so far as they depend upon God. His rules of distribution, it is true, are wholly beyond the reach of our intelligence, but they have their vindication in the eternal rectitude of the Infinite Mind.

II. God righteously requires the faithful improvement of *hese talents.

1. I'his is argued from the fact of their gift. For what purpose can God have thus wonderfully endowed man ? Did he give him this physical frame, with its functions of life, its organs of intelhgence, and its power of activity, that it might lie dormant, or be degraded to the purposes of sin ? To assert this, would be a reflection upon divine wisdom and goodness. God cannot exert the creative power in vain. If man had been intended for idleness, he must have received a constitution exactly corresponding with this design. But his power of activity, capable of large improvement and wise appropriation, is proof suflSl- cient that this power was to be rendered available to its

VI.] TALENT. 9i

utmost extent, for purposes of good to the race, and glory to God.

"Would an infinitely wise and holy Being have conferred upon man the power to know, the power to think, and the<