method of answering the objections of a mankind denounced against primitive criminals, who pretends conscience is a fancy, and who to teach them that he was a just avenger of boasts of having none. sin. To display this fully there must be a resurrection and a judgment. In this manner, even supposing there were no formal passages in proof of future judgment (which we do not allow): the genius, the drift and scope of religion would be sufficient to convince us of the truth of it. Let us pass then to our third direction. It concerns the proof taken from revelation. Do not rest the arguments drawn from this source on any particular passages, which, although they may be very full and explicit, may yet be subject to some sophistical exception: but rest them on the general design and scope of religion; this method is above all objections, and free from every difficulty. If this way be adopted, it will presently appear, that the doctrine of a future judgment is contained in a manner clear and convincing, not only in the writings of the apostles and evangelists, but also in the revelations, with which God honoured the patriarchs, many ages before he gave a written law. Yea, were we to allow that we have no formal passage to produce, in which this truth was taught the ancient servants of God (which we are very far from allowing,) we might still maintain, that it was included in the genius of those revelations, which were addressed to them. Jesus Christ taught us to reason thus on the doctrine of future rewards, and we may fairly apply the same method to the doctrine of future punishments. The doctrine of future rewards is not contained in the formal terms: but in the general design of this promise, I am the God of Abraham,' Matt. xxii. 32. However splendid the condition of Abraham might have been, however abundant his riches, however numerous his servants, this promise proceeding from the mouth of God, 'I am the God of Abraham,' could not have accomplished in the temporal prosperity of a man who was dead, when the words were spoken, and whom death should retain in durance. As God declared himself the God of Abraham,' and as Abraham was dead, when he declared it, Abraham must necessarily rise again. And this is our Saviour's reasoning. God is not the God of the dead: but of the living.' Let us say the same of those punishments, which God has denounced against sin, in regard to those ancient sinners, of whom God declared himself the judge; God is not the judge of the dead: but of the living. The wicked, during this life, are often free from adversity but were they even miserable all the time of their abiding on earth, their miseries would not sufficiently express God's hatred of sin. Asaph renders to divine justice only one part of its deserved homage when he says, in order to justify it for tolerating some criminals, surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors! As a dream, when one awaketh, so, O Lord, thou shalt despise their image, Ps. lxxiii. 18-20 No! the unexpected vicissitudes that sometimes confound the devices of the wicked, the fatal catastrophes in which we sometimes see them enveloped, the signal reverses of fortune, by which they are often precipitated from the highest elevation to the deepest distress; all these are too imperfect to verify those reitcrated threatenings which the Judge of man II. What has been said shall suffice for proof of this truth, after death comes judg ment. But what shall be the destiny of this audience? What sentence will the judge of the world pronounce on us in that formidable day, when he shall judge the world in righteousness? Will it be a sentence of mercy? will he pronounce our absolution? will he say to us, 'Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels?' or will he say to us, 'Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom? Matt. xxv. 41. 34. This is a difficult question: however, it is not so difficult as some of us may imagine. St. Paul lays down a principle that casts light on the inquiry; that is, that men will be judged according to the economies under which they lived. As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law,' Rom. ii. 12; that is to say, as having lived under the Levitical economy. They who have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;' to which we may fairly add, they who have lived under the gospel, shall be judged by the gospel. Now the gospel is an economy of light, an economy of proportion an economy of mercy. These three rules, by which God will regulate our eternal destiny, should quiet the excessive fears, which an idea of future judgment excites in some pious, but timorous souls. And, at the same time, they ought to disturb the false peace of those who sleep in indolence amidst objects so proper to awake them. 1. We shall be judged as having lived under an economy of light. This proposition has a comfortable aspect on a good man. We shall be judged according to what is clear in the gospel itself: and not according to what is abstruse and impenetrable in the systems of the schools. What inducement could we possibly have to endeavour to inform ourselves, were we prepossessed with a notion, that our sentence would be regulated by our ideas on a thousand questions which some men have boldly stated, rashly decided, and barbarously enforced on others? Were it necessary to have clear and complete ideas of the arrangement of the first decrees of the first cause, of the nature of the divine essence, of the manner in which God foresees contingent events, and of many other such ques tions as obscure as useless; were it necessary, in order to receive a favourable sentence, to be able to decide some cases of conscience, which have always been indeterminable by the ablest casuists; were these necessary, who dare examine these questions? But, Christian soul! banish thy scruples. Thy God, thy Judge, is the sovereign of his creatures: but he is not their tyrant. Thou art free: not a slave. The economy according to which thou shalt be judged, is an economy of light; and whatever is impenetrable and undecided in the gospel, has no relation to that trial which thou wilt undergo. But if this truth be amiable and comfortable to good people, it is also formidable, terrifying, and desperate, to people of an opposite character. You will be judged as reasonable beings, who had it in their power to discover truth and virtue. In vain will you pretend ignorance of some articles. Your Judge will open this sacred book in my hand, in which the decision of these articles is contained; the elucidation of all the truths, of which you are wilfully ignorant. Will not your ignorance appear voluntary, when God judges you with the light of this gospel in his hand? Nothing is more common in the world, than to hear men exculpate their errors by pleading their sincerity. If I be deceived,' says one, in taking the book which you call Scripture by excellence, for a mere human compilation, I am very sincere in my error, and it does not depend on me to alter my ideas.' And why does it depend on you to change your ideas? Have you examined those evidences of the divinity of the book, which shine in every part of it? Have you once in your life thoroughly examined the sense of any prophecy, to find out whether a spirit of prophecy inspired the sacred writers? Is it a sincere mistake to deceive one's self, rather than apply to this important question that study, that time, and that examination, which it demands? 'If I be in an error,' says another, 'in adhering to a particular communion, I err very sincerely, and I cannot change my ideas.' And why cannot you change your ideas? Have you availed yourself of the light of the times, in which you live? Have you consulted those ministers, who can inform you? Have you risen from that state of indolence, ease, and prudence, which inclines people rather to take it for granted, that they were born in a true church, than to examine whether they were so? Does it require more sagacity, more genius, more labour to find out, that in our Scriptures worshipping before images of wood or stone is forbidden; that purgatory is a mere human invention; that the traffic of indulgences is a mercenary scheme; that the authority of the Roman pontiff is founded only on worldly policy? I ask, is more penetration necessary to determine these articles, than to command an army, to pursue a state intrigue, to manage a trade, or to cultivate an art or a science? In like manner, we every day see people in society, who while they boldly violate the most plain and allowed precepts of the gospel, pretend to exculpate themselves fully by saying, We do not think such a conduct sinful; what crime can there be in such and such a practice?' An obstinate gamester says, 'I think, there is no harm in gaming.' And why do you think so? Is not the gospel before your eyes? Does not the gospel tell you, it is not allow able to deceive? Does not the gospel clearly prohibit a waste of time? Does not the gospel forbid you to ruin your neighbours? Does not the gospel plainly forbid you to cheat? And you obstinate gamester! do not you deceive in gaming? Do not you waste your time? Do not you do all in your power towards the ruin of your neighbour? Do not you cheat, while you play, and defraud them who play with you, and practise a thousand other artifices which it would be improper to relate here: but which God will one day examine at his just tribunal? Thus a miser exclaims, 'O, there can be no harm in loving the world as I love it." And what makes you think so? Could you not easily undeceive yourself by casting your eyes on the gospel? Does not the gospel clearly say, The covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?' 1 Cor. vi. 10. Is it not clearly revealed in the gospel, that Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, the love of God doth not dwell in him? 1 John iii. 17. Does not the gospel plainly tell you, that God will one day say to those, who have been devoid of charity, Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire! for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat?' Matt. xxv. 41, 42. Thus a time-server says to us, 'I think, there is no sin in living where liberty of conscience is not allowed, provided I make no profession of superstition and idolatry.' And why do you think so? Does not the gospel clearly require you not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together,' Heb. x. 25; and do not you forsake our public assemblies? Does not the gospel expressly require you to come out of Babylon,' Rev xviii. 4; and do you not abide there? Are you not informed in the gospel, that he who loveth father, or mother, or son, or daughter more than Jesus Christ, is not worthy of the name of a Christian?' Matt. x. 37. And pray, do you prefer your relations before Jesus Christ? . 'I do not think,' adds one, who maintains an illicit commerce, there can be any harm in indulging those passions which arise from the fine feelings of our own hearts. And why do you not think so? Does God forbid impurity only when it is unconstitutional? In the general rule, which excludes the unclean from the kingdom of heaven, has the legislator made an exception in favour of those who follow the emotions of an irregu lar heart? 2. We shall be judged as having lived under an economy of proportion; I mean to say, the virtues which God requires of us under the gospel, are proportioned to the fa culties that he has given us to perform them. Let us not enfeeble this maxim by theological opinions, which do not belong to it. Let us not allege, that all duty is out of our power, that of ourselves we can do nothing. For when we say, the laws of God are proportioned to our weakness, we speak of persons born in the church, instructed in the truths of revelation, and who are either assisted by spiritual succours, or may be, if they seek for these blessings as they ought to be sought. In regard to these persons, we affirm, that the gospel is an economy of proportion; and this is the great consolation of a good man. I grant the perfection, to which God calls us, is infinitely beyond our natural power, and even beyond the supernatural assistance, that he imparts to us. But we shall be judged by the efforts we have made to arrive at this end. Endeavours to be perfect will be accounted perfection. This very law of proportion, which will regulate the judgment of us, will overwhelm the wicked with misery. It is always an aggravation of a misery to reflect, that we might have avoided it, and that we brought it upon ourselves. The least reproach of this kind is a deadly poison, that envenoms our sufferings; and this will constitute one of the most cruel torments of the damned. Ye devouring fires, which the justice of God has kindled in hell, I have no need of the light of your flames to discover to me the miseries of a reprobate soul! Ye chains of darkness, which weigh him down, I have no need to examine the weight of you! The criminal's own reproaches of himself are sufficient to give me an idea of his state He will remember, when he finds himself irretrievably lost, he will remember the time, when he might have prevented his loss. He will recollect how practicable those laws were, for violating which he suffers. He will recollect the mighty assisting power which he once despised Thou! thou wilt recollect the sage advice, that was given thee. Thou! this sermon, which I have been addressing to thee. Thou! thine education. Thou! the voice of the Holy Spirit, that urged thee to change thy life. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. Hos. xiii. 9. This, this is the excruciating reflection of a nominal Christian condemned by divine justice to everlasting flames. Such a Christian suffering the vengeance of eternal fire will incessantly be his own tormentor. He will say to himself, I am the author of my own destruction! I might have been saved! 1, 1 alone condemned myself to everlasting confimement in these dungeons of horror to which I am now consigned. 3. Finally, We shall be judged as having lived under an economy of mercy. What can be more capable at once, of comforting a good man against an excessive fear of judgment, and of arousing a bad man from his fatal security? homage to Almighty God, think you, by distrusting his mercy. the most lovely ray of his glory? Do you render a proper homage to God, think you, by considering him as a tyrant? Do you, think you, render homago to the Deity by doubting his most express and sacred promises? Do you believe you pay an acceptable tribute to God by professing to think, that he will take pleasure in eternally tormenting the poor creature, who used all his efforts to please him; who mourned so often over his own defects; who shed the bitterest tears over the disorders of his life; and who, for the whole world (had the whole world been at his disposal), would not have again offended a God, whose laws he always revered, even while he was so weak as to break them? But this thought that Christians shall be judged by an economy of mercy; this very thought, so full of consolation to good men, will drive the wicked to the deepest despair. The mercy of God in the gospel has certain bounds, and we ought to consider it, as it really is, connected with the other perfections of his nature. Whenever we place it in a view incongruous with the other perfections of the Supreme Being, we make it inconsistent in itself. Now this is done when it is applied to one class of sinners. I repeat it again, it is this that fills up the bad man's measure of despair. Miserable wretch how canst thou be saved, if the fountain opened to the House of David' be shut against thee if that love, which created the world, if that love which inclined the Son of God (the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person'), to clothe himself with mortal flesh, and to expire on a cross; if this love be not sufficient to save thee, if this love be slighted by thee, by what means must thou be wrought on, or in what way must thou be saved? And if the Redeemer of the world condemn thee, to what judge canst thou flee for absolution? Let us, my dear brethren, incessantly revolve in our minds these ideas of death and judgment. Let us use them to calm those excessive fears, which the necessity of dying, and being judged, sometimes excite in our souls. But excessive fear is not the usual sin of this congregation. Our usual sins are indolence, carnal security, sleeping life away on the brink of an abyss, flames above our heads, and hell beneath our feet. All the sentiments of benevolence that you can expect in an equitable judge; we say more, all the sentiments of tenderness, which you can expect in a sincere friend; we say Let us quit this miserable station. 'Hapmore still, all the sentiments of pity, compas-py is the man that feareth always! Prov. sion, and love, that can be expected in a tender parent, you will find in the person of the Judge, who will pronounce your eternal doom. Let us not elevate our passions into virtues. Fear of the judgments of God, which, carried to a certain degree is a virtue, becomes a condemnable passion, at least a frailty that ought to be opposed, when it exceeds due bounds. Do you render an acceptable xxviii. 14. Happy the man, who in every temptation by which he is annoyed, in a world where all things seem to conspire to involve us in endless destruction: happy the man, who in all his trials knows how to derive consolation from this seemingly terrible truth,It is appointed unto men once to die: but after this the judgment! To God be honour and glory for ever. Amen.. SERMON XXXIX. IIEAVEN. 1 JOHN iii. 3. We know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. ONE of the most beautiful ideas that can be formed of the gospel, is that which represents it as imparting to a Christian the attributes of God. St. Peter and St. Paul both express themselves in a manner truly sublime and emphatical on the subject. The first of these holy men says, the end of the promises of God is to make us partakers of the divine nature,' 2 Pet. i. 4. The second assures us, that all Christians' 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,' 2 Cor. iii. 18. If we believe some critics, the original terms may be rendered, we all become as mirrors. A mirror, placed over against a luminous object, reflects its rays, and returns its image. This is agreeable to Christian experience under the gospel. Good men, attentive to the divine attributes, bowing like the seraphim, towards the mystical ark, placed opposite to the Supreme Being, meet with nothing to intercept his rays; and, reflecting in their turn this light, by imitating the moral attributes of God, they become as so many mirrors, exhibiting in themselves the objects of their own contemplation. Thus God, by an effect of his adorable condescension, after having clothed himself with our flesh and blood, after having been made in the likeness of men,' Phil. ii. 7, in the establishment of the gospel, transforms this flesh and blood into a likeness of himself. Such is the sublimity and glory of the Christian religion! We are partakers of the divine nature; we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord My brethren, we have often repeated a famous maxim of the schools, and we adopt it now, grace is glory begun. One of the most beautiful ideas that we can form of that ineffable glory, which God reserves for us in heaven, is that which the sacred authors give us of Christianity. Heaven and the church, the Christian in a state of grace, and the Christian in a state of glory, differ only in degree. All the difference between the two changes is, that the first, I mean a Christian in a state of grace, retains the imperfection, which is essential to this life, whereas the other, I mean the Christian in a state of glory, is perfect in his kind, so that both are changed into the image of the Deity, as far as creatures in their conditions are capable of being so. This is the difficult, but interesting subject which we are now going to discuss. We are going to inquire into the question so famous, I dare not say so developed in the schools, concerning the beatific vision of God. We will endeavour to explain how we see God in heaven, and how this happy vision will render us like him, who will be the object of it. St. John supplies us with these images. He displays the happiness of Christians thus: Behold,' says he, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.' But while he passes encomiums on the mercy of God, he observes, that we have only yet enjoyed foretastes of it; we know,' adds he, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.' Our text has two senses; the first regards the human nature of Jesus Christ, and the second the Deity. The first of these senses is very easy and natural: when the Son of God shall appear, we shall see him as he is;' that is to say, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge mankind, we shall see his glorified body. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that is, our bodies, having acquired at the resurrection the properties of glorified bodies, like that of Jesus Christ, shall have the faculty of contemplating his body. This sense deserves examination. We have no distinct idea of what Scripture calls a glorious body,' Phil. iii. 21. The most abstruse metaphysics, the most profound erudition, and the most sublime theology cannot enable us fully to explain this remarkable passage of St. Paul; There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup tion. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.' 1 Cor. xv. 40-44. But how difficult soever this passage may be, we know by experience there are bodies to which our senses bear no proportion; and, if I may be allowed to speak in this manner, there are bodies inapprehensible by our fa culty of seeing. There is no proportion between my eyes and bodies extremely small. My faculty of seeing does not extend to a mite; a inite is a nonentity to my eye. There is no proportion between my eyes, and bodies which have not a certain degree of consistence. My seeing faculty does not extend to an aerial body; an aerial body is a mere nonentity in regard to my sight. There is very little proportion between my eyes, joy to see the greatest miracle that was ever included in the plans of the wisdom of God! What felicity to hehold in the body of Jesus Christ a right of approaching with confidence to a familiarity with God! We know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' and bodies extraordinarily rapid. My facul- hold, shall be softened to our sight in the ty of seeing does not extend to objects mov-person of Jesus Christ! What transporting ing at a certain rate; a body must move so slow as to make a kind of rest before my eye in order to be perceived by it; and, as soon as a greater force communicates a quicker motion to it, it recedes, diminishes, disappears. But were the faculties of my body proportioned to these objects; had my body qualities similar to theirs; I should then be able to see them; 'I should see them as they are, for I should be like them.' Let us apply these general reflections to our subject. There may be perhaps no proportion between our bodies in their present earthly state and what the Scripture calls glorious bodies. Our faculty of seeing perhaps may not extend to glorious bodies. Were the gross terrestrial bodies to which our souls are united, all on a sudden translated to that mansion of glory, in which the bodies of Enoch and Elias wait for the consummation of all things, probably we might not be able to see them clearly, and perhaps we might be quite blinded with the glory of them. The reasons just now mentioned may account for what we suppose; as any who have habituated themselves to reflection may easily comprehend. But when our bodies shall be changed, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,' 1 Cor. xv. 51. 54; in a word, when our bodies shall have the same faculties as the glorious body of Jesus Christ, we shall see him as he is, for we shall be like him. This is the first sense given to the words of the text, a sense that may serve to preclude a part of the difficulties which may arise; a sense entirely conformable to the analogy of faith, and to a great many other passages of holy Scripture, such as these, 'Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,' Phil. iii. 20, 21. Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory,' Col. iii. 3, 4. The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly,' 1 Cor. xv. 47, &c. But, although this may be one meaning of our apostle, yet it is neither the only sense of his words, nor does it seem to be the principal one. Should any one doubt what I now affirm; should any affirm, that when the apostle says, we shall see him as he is, ho only means to speak of the body of Jesus Christ; I would beg leave to observe, that St. John evidently intends by the vision of which he speaks, that which consummates our happiness. Now our happiness will not be consummated by only seeing the body of the Son of God, nor by the glorification of our bodies only. Another idea, therefore, must be included in the words of the text. Besides, the original does not say, When Jesus Christ shall appear, but when he shall appear we shall see him as he is;' which may be referred to God, of whom the apostle had been speaking in the preceding verses. We shall see God,' and this sight will render us like him.' I even suppose the words of my text are a kind of quotation of an opinion advanced by some ancient Jewish Rabbies. We have found, as it were by chance, and when we were not studying this text, an opinion taken from the writings of the Jews, which seems either to allude to the words of the text, or, being more ancient than the text, to be allud ed to by the apostle. A Consul of Rome required a Rabbi to explain the names of God to him. This is the answer of the Kabbi : You ask me the meaning of the name of four letters, and the name of twelve letters, and the name of forty letters. (In this manner, my brethren, the Jews speak of the terms expressive of the attributes of God.) But, I must inform you, these are mysteries altogether divine, and which ought to be con-cealed from the generality of mankind. How. ever, as I have been credibly assured, that you have rendered many good services to learned men, and as nothing ought to be concealed from such persons, it is requisite I should endeavour to answer your question to your satisfaction. I declare then, that, strictly speaking, there is no name given to God, Grandidea of heavenly felicity, my brethren! by which we can be made fully to compre<" Glorified believers shall see with their eyes hend what he is. His name is his essence, of the glorious body of Jesus Christ. Yea, these which we can form no distinct idea; for could eyes, restored to sight, and endowed with we fully comprehend the essence of God wo new powers, shall see the God-man; they should be like God. These words are full shall see that body of the Saviour of the of meaning, and, were it necessary to explain world, which once increased in favour' here them, they would open a wide field to our below, Luke ii. 52; and which is now arrived meditation. They lay down a principle of at the highest pitch of glory in heaven. They momentary use to us, that is, that we must be shall see those lips into which grace is pour-infinite in order fully to comprehend an infied, Ps. xlv. 2. They shall see that Son of man, who is fairer than all the rest of the children of men.' What joy to accomplish this object! What delight, if I may speak so, when the rays of the Deity, always too bright and confounding for mortal eyes to be nite being. We will, however, take a slight cursory view of the subject. We will examine how we shall see God,' and at the same time, how we shall be rendered like him by - Rabbi Nehemias in Epistola sanctor. ad filium suum Hacanan. |
