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our first mistake is about ourselves? All this may be prevented by a single text from St. Paul, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God." Till we shall obtain that praise, let us forbear to depend upon our own, which will only render us suspected by those who know how to distinguish. In the mean time we may know with absolute certainty that no election will save us, but that which teaches us to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." Poor self-condemning mourners, who lament their own sins, and those of the church to which they belong,* are in a much safer way, than those who are confident and self-witnessed: and they have a blessing on their side; "Blessed are they that mourn (especially for sin), for they shall be comforted."

If, after all I have said, there should still remain in any man a desire to be assured, whether God hath actually adopted him for one of his own children, I will satisfy him as soon as I can.

It is a rule in Scripture, to which I believe there never was, nor will be, any exception, that "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth; and that if we are without chastisement, then are we bastards, and not sons." He who can see the hand of God, through the course of his life, correcting him for his soul's health, and leading him into crosses, sufferings, and persecutions from the world; that man has the best of all evidence that he is the child of God, and that he is intended to be an heir of salvation. The man who sees and knows this will be thankful for his troubles, and would not be withour them for all the world. When God was pleased to choose the blessed Paul, He did not tell him what inward testimonies of his own election he should feel, nor did he teach him any of the heavenly uses of false doctrine; his

* See Ezekiel ix. 4.

promise runs in a different strain; "He is a chosen vessel unto me, for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." name's sake." And the same must be the rule with all other Christians; the best proof they can have in this world of their final election to glory, is their suffering upon earth for the truth's sake. What could support the Martyrs of the Christian Church, but this one consideration, that if God called upon them to suffer, he called upon them to be saved, according to that faithful saying, that "if we suffer, we shall also reign with him?" But that a man, with blood-guiltiness upon his head, and that of the worst sort, unrepented of, should be an heir of salvation, and find himself in the sure way to heaven, is a dream fit only for a deluded Christian of the last days to believe; if there ever was one person so deluded, the case would make us for ever afraid of this doctrine; whereas history assures us there have been many, and that in this kingdom.

Upon the whole, Christianity is a religion which does not busy itself about decrees never to be known nor understood; but which believes promises, rejoices in hope, acts

By the adversaries of the Church of England, who take Calvin for their guide, it has been boasted that the 17th article is calvinistical: but this our best divines never allowed; they say the times required that the article should be neutral. So the fact appears to be; and the article may be retained, as far as it goes; for it teaches us to receive the promises of God, and to act according to his will, as it is expressly declared. His will we do know; and his promises we know; his decrees relating to particular persons, we do not know; and therefore we cannot set up his decrees against his promises. The article tells us, the elect are taken out of mankind; this we allow but the spurious predestinarian holds, that Christians are elected out of Christians: which doctrine is to be found neither in the Scripture nor in the article; though, we apprehend, less than this will not come up to the wishes of the Calvinists. They preach to us, that the unknown decrees of God, and the use they make of them, are necessary to be admitted by all true Christians; warning us, that we are under strong temptation not to admit them, because they humble our pride; and is there not enough to do it without them? and wishing that all may perish who do not admit them. But how then does it happen, that neither St. Peter nor any of the Apostles ever published this doctrine as a foundation for Christians to build upon? When the new converts on the day of Pentecost asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles what they should do, he does not bid them believe the all-sufficient doctrine of predestination for the remission of sins: but commands them to "repent and be baptized, every one of them, for the remission of sins, and they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

St. Paul, having a knowledge of the secret decrees of God by revelation, argues from them to reconcile the Jews to the election of heathens; but never makes them articles

with charity, and suffers with patience. It does not send a man to heaven by the short soft way of sweet meditation and self-complacency; but it sends him first to Calvary to carry a cross after Jesus Christ; to bear some trifling affliction, some burden of sorrow, which God lays upon him: he may then think himself a true child of God, and in the right way to make his calling and election sure.

SERMON XXVII.

AND AS JESUS PASSED BY, HE SAW A MAN WHICH WAS BLIND FROM HIS BIRTH.-John ix. 1.

TH

HESE words are introductory to an history so curious in the subject of it, and so remarkable in all its circumstances, that there is nothing of the kind, which can be more worthy of our meditation.

We have here the story of a man blind from his birth; on whose case a question is raised; how and for what reason Providence had ordered such a thing?

Next we have the cure of this man, with the manner of it, and the moral of it: the explanation of which would, of itself, furnish matter enough for a sermon.

After this we have a particular account of the effect wrought upon the Pharisees; where we see how truth operates upon those that will not receive it.

Then there is the condition and disposition of those that do receive it: which we see in the account of the man himself.

And last of all, the Judgment of Jesus Christ upon both of faith, or principles of action: and from the great stress laid upon them in these latter days, a snake in the grass is to be feared; and he that knows the history of predestination must have discovered, that this doctrine hath been and is the strong hold of schism; therefore I take St. Peter's old doctrine rather than this new; and I would advise all Christians to do the same. If it should be said, that baptism is not now what it was in St. Peter's time, what is it but to tell us, that we have lost the promises of God, and have now no Church? This will be a pleasant hearing to the Roman Catholics, who have been telling us the same thing ever since the Reformation.

parties" For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might be made blind."

These things let us examine in their order: and first, the case; which, it seems, had occasioned some speculation among the disciples. They had reasoned thus: "As the misery of man is punishment, and as all punishment is for some offence, where could the offence be, of which a man brought the punishment into the world with him?" so they asked their Master, "Who did sin, the man or his parents?" They inquire curiously about the cause or beginning of the fact; but our Saviour answers in a few words with respect to the end of it: they speak of the evil that was in it; he of the good that would come out of it; that the thing was not designed as a punishment for the sin of any person, but as a case that would afford an opportunity for the works of God to be made manifest: the man was born blind, that Jesus Christ might give him sight. What wisdom is here, in giving such a turn to the subject! How many vain, tedious, and fruitless questions about causes and beginnings might be avoided, if we did but consider ends and effects, and the good which there is in every thing which is easy to be seen, and is worth all the How does the rain fall, says the Philosopher? is it by its own weight, or by the state of the Heavens? Is the cause in the water itself, or is it in the air, or in something else? What an opening is here for disquisition! Whereas the answer of Truth and Wisdom is exactly like what we have heard already: "It falls, that the fruits of the earth may grow; that man may be fed, and may be thankful to the Giver of all good." That is enough for us; this is the best part of the subject; and here we are in no danger of being mistaken. The best way then to answer the great question about the origin of Evil, is to consider what is the end of it; what good comes out of it; this makes the subject at once plain and useful. Why was the man born

rest.

blind? That the works of God might appear, and Christ might cure him. Why did man fall? That God might save him. Why is evil permitted in the world? That God may be glorified in removing it. Why does the body of man die? That God may raise it up again. When we philosophize in this manner we find light, and certainty, and comfort: we have a memorable example of it in the case before us; and I humbly think, this is the use we ought to make of it.

Next in order is the cure of the blind man; concerning which, we are first taught the manner of it, and then the moral of it: the manner of it is very instructive; but the moral is more so. The power of God being invisible in its operation, is always attended with some outward form, as a visible sign of it. In the present case, Jesus anoints the eyes of the patient with clay, and bids him go and wash it off with water, in the Pool of Siloam: in consequence of which, when the water should wash away the clay, the Divine Power would take away the blindness. Now, if this man had been a modern Philosopher, he would have put a question or two: he would have said, "Clay! What can that do? it will make my eyes worse instead of better. And as to the water that is to wash it away, when did that make a blind man see? And why the waters of Siloam? What are they more than others?" Thus does human wisdom stand questioning and expecting to have a reason for every thing; and this, in cases where, perhaps, a reason cannot be given; the will of God being the only reason, and the best of all; but it is such as human reason never yet submitted to: nothing but faith can submit to the will of God: and as nothing but the will and pleasure of God can save lost mankind, nothing but faith, which submits to that will, can be saved. Man asks, how can an effect follow from that which is no cause of it? But faith answers, It will be a cause, if God shall please to make it so therefore I will take it as a cause, and trust to him for

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