Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

that the work must be done, and he engages in it in a humble dependence on his God: and he looks to the future judgment, as the period when all his labours shall be compensated, and his hopes fulfilled. Now, I would ask, would every one that sees you, know you by these marks? The husbandman, without intending to attract notice, discovers to all, his views, his occupations, his desires. Are yours also in like manner apparent to all who behold your life and conversation! Doubtless your daily calls of duty are not so visible to every observer: but upon the whole, the great scope and end of your life is not a whit less visible to all who are round about you. Here then you may easily ascertain your own character. If eternity be not ever in your view; if all you do have not a reference to it; if you be not willing both to do and suffer every thing that may conduce to your future welfare; and if you be not "looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of Christ," as to the period for the completion of all your wishes, you do not belong to this holy family: you may call yourselves Christians; but you are not Christians indeed. We read of those who "said that they were Jews, and did lie:" so you say that you are Christians; but your whole conduct gives the lie to your profession. If you are Christians in deed and in truth, "your works of faith, and labours of love, and patience of hope, are known to all;" and they vouch for you, that "you are the elect," the children of the living God'.]

2. How to anticipate your certain end—

[All imagine that they are going to heaven; and will not be persuaded to the contrary. But, if you have ears to hear, and hearts to understand, you shall know this day whether you are going to heaven or to hell. Ask yonder husbandman: Have you been ploughing and sowing your ground this year?' 'No; I have had other things to do. And do you expect a harvest?' Yes, I shall have as good a crop as any of my neighbours. But do you think that you shall obtain the end without the means?' 'Tell me not about means and end: others give themselves a great deal of unnecessary trouble: and I shall have as good a crop as my neighbours: nor shall any one persuade me to the contrary.'

Now what, suppose you, will be the issue? Will the event accord with this man's expectations? Will he not, when the time of harvest comes, find that his confidence has been delusive; and that his barns are empty, whilst the granaries of others are filled with store? Then I agree that you shall be your own judges. If you can form a doubt about the issue of that man's confidence, especially when it is repeated for many

f 1 Thess. i. 3, 4.

years together, then I will be content that you shall buoy up yourselves with the hopes of heaven, though you never use any means to obtain it. But if you have no doubt about that man's folly, then see in it a just picture of your own.

Behold then, I declare to all of you, that the means must be used in order to the end. You must repent, " ploughing up your fallow ground," and "sowing in tears" of deep contrition. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only Saviour of sinners; and must look to him for " the former and the latter rain," whereby alone the seed of the word can live and grow in your souls. Lastly, you must make it the one labour of your life to prepare for his second coming, that you may give up your account to him with joy and not with grief. If you thus "go on your way weeping, bearing precious seed, you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you :" but if you act not thus, know that you shall reap according to what you sow. "He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; whilst he who soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting"."]

8 Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6.

h Gal. vi. 7, 8.

MMCCCLXXV.

NEARNESS OF JUDGMENT.

Jam. v. 9. Behold! the Judge standeth before the door.

OF the Day of Judgment there is frequent mention in the New Testament: and so strongly was the idea of it realized in the minds of the inspired writers, that they conveyed to the Church, unintentionally on their parts, an expectation of its speedy arrival. This arose indeed, in part, from our blessed Lord himself having blended his description of it with a prediction of the judgments which impended over Jerusalem, and which were to be inflicted upon it before that generation should have passed awaya. Yet, when there was no reference to the destruction of the Jewish polity, the language used respecting it was often exceeding strong. St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, thus expresses himself: "This we say unto you by the word of the Lord,

a Matt. xxiv. 29—35.

that we who are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we who are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord"." We wonder not that some should mistake his meaning, as we find they did, insomuch that, in his next epistle, he was constrained to rectify their misapprehension of his words, and to bring to their recollection, that he had before told them of many important events, which would occur previous to the arrival of that day. St. James speaks of that period in terms of similar aspect with those of the Apostle Paul: "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh" and again, "The Judge standeth before the door." Whether, in these passages, St. James had any reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, I cannot exactly say: it is possible he might; because it would be some consolation to the suffering Christians to know that their oppressors would soon be disarmed of their power: but, beyond a doubt, he chiefly refers to the time appointed for the future judgment; when all the inequalities of this present state will be done away, and every person receive a suitable recompence, according to the injuries he has either inflicted or sustained. In this view, the Apostle says, "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned:" that is, vent not your indignation against an oppressor, no, not even in an inarticulate sound", lest the same judgment come on you which you would be ready to inflict on him but leave the matter to your Almighty Judge, who standeth before the door," ready to

66

c 2 Thess. ii. 1—5.

b 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. d ver. 8. e The word means 66 groan." There is a certain vehement, though inarticulate sound, resembling a groan, by which we are apt to express an angry and indignant feeling against one whom we are unable to punish. This is the feeling forbidden in the text.

"award tribulation to those who trouble you; but to you, who are troubled, rest."

Let us consider,

I. The truth that is here suggested

To enter into the full meaning of this awful truth, we must distinctly notice its two leading parts:

1. Death is at hand, to carry us before our Judge

In

[This is an undoubted truth. The experience of every day attests it. Death lurks within us; and finds, in the disordered state of our bodies, ten thousand means of accomplishing our destruction. He lies in ambush, too, in every thing around us. There is not any thing which may not prove an instrument in his hands to bring us down. Nor is it by disease or accident alone that he can effect his purpose. instances without number he inflicts the fatal stroke, without so much as employing any visible or acknowledged agent. only he receive his commission from God, he is able to work either by means or without means. It need only be said, "This night shall thy soul be required of thee;" and with irresistible power he executes the decree; and transmits us, prepared or unprepared, into the immediate presence of our God.]

If

2. Our Judge is at hand, to pronounce our deserved doom—

[He is not afar off, that he must be sought after: nor is he so occupied with the cases of others, as not to be at liberty to consider ours. The instant we are brought before him, he is ready to pronounce his sentence. Of this, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a striking illustration. "All is naked and open before him," at one view; and in one instant of time he can so present every thing before our minds, that we also may discern the equity of his sentence. If at night we wished to see a variety of objects, we must take a light, and view them in succession, one at a time: but if the sun be risen upon the earth, we can see ten thousand objects at once. Thus can the Judge of quick and dead, in one instant of time, present to our view the records of our whole life, to serve as a foundation of the sentence that he shall pass upon us. Some notion of this we may form from the account given us of the Samaritan woman. She had had some conversation with our Lord, who had made known to her one particular circumstance of her life and with such power was that particular truth

f 2 Thess. i. 6, 7.

accompanied to her soul, that she went home and said, "Come, see a man who has told me all that ever I did." Now this omniscient Judge is at the door, ready to pass sentence on us, the very instant we are brought before him: and, if our eyes were opened, as those of Elisha's servant were, we might see the throne of judgment already set; the Judge himself seated upon it; the books opened before him; the list of the prisoners, according as they are in succession to be brought before him; and the officers ready, both to summon them in their turn, and to execute on all the sentence awarded to them.]

To impress this solemn truth upon your minds, let me proceed to shew,

II. The attention it demands

"Behold! the Judge standeth before the door :" mark it; contemplate it; act upon it. Surely the consideration of this awful truth should prevail upon

us,

1. To seek without delay the pardon of our past sins

[If we "die in our sins," woe be to us! "it had been better for us never to have been born." But through repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ all our past sins may be forgiven: they may all "be blotted out, as a morning cloud;" yea, though they may have been of a "scarlet or crimson dye, they may be made white as snow." Should we, then, defer a moment to seek this inestimable blessing? When we know not but that the very next hour we may be summoned into the presence of our Judge, should we endanger the everlasting welfare of our souls by waiting for a more convenient season? Oh! "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him; lest the adversary deliver you to the Judge, and the Judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Verily, you shall not come out thence, till you have paid the utmost farthingi."]

2. To guard with all diligence against the incursion of fresh sin

[Remember, that whatever be the state of our souls at the moment of death, that will continue to be our state to all eternity. It may be said, "I have repented long since, and sought for mercy through Christ, and attained to a considerable measure of righteousness." Be it so. Yet must I declare unto you, that "if you relapse into sin, your past righteousness g John iv. 29. h2 Kings vi. 17. i Matt. v. 25, 26.

« ForrigeFortsæt »