Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

was, lest any should abandon the christian character, and become so wicked as to incur future punishment. And although an inspired apostle, he manifests his sense of the danger, even in regard to himself; for he has written this passage: "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away."m A few other passages might be adduced, to prove that the practical Christian has nothing to fear but sin; but enough has been said to establish the truth of the third proposition.

4. I am, fourthly, to prove that divine pardon can be obtained only by the formation of a christian character. And what is divine pardon? Nothing more nor less than deliverance from the power and punishment of sin; and the possession and enjoyment of holiness. And can the sinner secure this without reformation and improvement? Look once more to the law and the testimony. What are the words of Isaiah? "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." This is perfectly plain. If the depraved man forsakes his depravity, he escapes its punishment. What are the words of Jeremiah? "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return, every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."o This is equally plain. The house of Judah could obtain forgiveness only by forsaking their iniquities. And what was our Saviour's commission to his apostles? "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name."p And what is repentance, but forsaking wickedness and acquiring holiness? And what is remission of sins, but deliverance from their power and punishment? And what was the exhortation of Peter? "Repent and be converted." Why? "That your sins may be blotted out."q You perceive that pardon and reformation are inseparable. Whoever forsakes any sin, that sin is immediately pardoned; and until a sin is forsaken it cannot be forgiven. This is the current language of m 1 Cor. IX. 27. n Isai. LV. 7. o Jer. XXXVI. 3. p Luke xxiv. 47. q Acts II, 19.

revelation. A host of texts might be produced in proof of this assertion; but sufficient have been quoted to prove the truth of the fourth proposition.

But I will not confine myself to scriptural evidence alone. I appeal to your observation. Take the man of intemperance. You perceive that his unlawful indulgence causes immediate pain, and not unfrequently sickness. The seeds of various diseases soon take deep root, and undermine the constitution; the balance of temper is destroyed; the tender sympathies of the soul are perverted; the benevolent affections of the heart are brutalized; the moral powers are rendered insensible to good impres sions; the intellectual faculties are enervated and shattered; property is dissipated; family and friends are disgraced; and the order of social life is disturbed. Add to all this, his distressing reflections on the past; his inefficient and broken resolutions of the present; his dismal forebodings of the future; and what earthly punishment more severe need be imagined? And how is he to obtain pardon for this sin? Suppose God should audibly pronounce his forgiveness from heaven; would this ensure his happiness, so long as he continued intemperate? No. It would be

of no service whatever for him to know that he was pardoned in the mind of his heavenly Father, so long as his punishment was not removed. He can secure enjoyment only by reformation.

So it is with every sin of heart and life. We may pray for forgiveness, and appeal to the divine mercy; but unless we endeavour to forsake our iniquities, we only prove ourselves hypocrites. The husbandman may as well expect an harvest, without any cultivation of the soil. No. All such expectations are irrational and unscriptural. God is indeed sufficiently merciful. He is infinite Love. He is a perfect Father to all his children. But no change takes place in his character when our sins are pardoned. The reformation must be in ourselves. And although we were already pardoned in his mind, we could not escape from the punishment of a single sin, until it was forsaken. Consequently, we can obtain the divine pardon only by forming a christian character.

But will not the punishment frequently continue after the sin is forsaken? Will reformation restore to the man

of intemperance, his impaired constitution, his wasted estate, his lost confidence, and his self-approbation? Surely not. The consequences of sin must remain long after it is forsaken. And for this there can be no immediate pardon; because so long as we remain the same persons, whether in time or eternity, our memories must remind us of our past transgressions. Do you suppose Judas can ever forget that he betrayed his master? And whenever this base act of treachery occurs to his mind, must it not fill his soul with the most excruciating anguish? Yes. Sin is the same to the soul that poison is to the body. Take poison, and you injure or destroy your health. Commit sin, and you injure or destroy your soul's happiness. Expel the poison, and you regain your health; although your constitution will be injured in proportion to the quantity taken, and the time it is retained in the system. Forsake sin, and you regain your happiness; although your soul will be injured in proportion to the degree and duration of your depravity. Until you expel the poison, you cannot regain your health. Until you forsake your sin, you cannot escape its punishment, nor experience divine pardon, nor obtain christian salvation. I must conclude, therefore, that the four propositions are proved true from reason, observation and scrip

ture.

II. By whom are we saved-?By our heavenly Fa ther. He is the original Fountain of all our salvation. He saves us from temporal inconveniences and calamities, inasmuch as he provides the means for our daily support and enjoyment. He saves us from sin and its consequences, inasmuch as he furnishes the means of our moral and religious improvement and happiness.Consequently, he is our supreme Saviour. The truth of this proposition I will now prove from reason and scripture.

1. Reason teaches us that our heavenly Father is our supreme Saviour. How so? Because he is the original Author of our lives, and of all things in existence. And for what purpose has he given us being? To increase his own felicity? Surely not. For he is the perfect, independent Creator; and consequently, his happiness could neither be increased nor diminished. He must, therefore, have created us solely for our own enjoyment,

because he is infinite Love. This is also evident from our very constitution and unnumbered blessings. Now if this be the fact; and if he has implanted within us an unceasing craving for some higher good; and if he has furnished us with various capacities for sensitive and rational happiness; and if he has placed us in a scene of constant danger and want; does it not follow from the very attributes of his nature, that he will furnish the necessary means for the gratification of our innocent desires, and for our protection from the various evils to which we are exposed? Not only so. If he has subjected us to continual temptation; and if he has encouraged our insatiable longing for future existence; is it not clear from the very perfections of his character, that he will provide the means of escape from iniquity, and open before us the portals of immortality, and furnish us with opportunities for the perfection of our spiritual nature? Should an earthly parent leave his dependant child to perish, either by accident, or cruelty, or starvation, should you not pronounce him an inhuman monster? How infinitely moro cruel and unnatural would it be for the perfect, supreme Creator of the universe to forsake the children of his affection, and neglect to make provision for their animal and spiritual wants? But this is impossible. For a perfect God must necessarily be unchangeable in his charAnd if love prompted him to create intelligent offspring, that same affection must ever dispose him to regard them with tenderness; and to be their eternal Benefactor, Preserver, Father and Saviour. And universal experience has thus far declared, that the Lord is good to all, and that his tender mercies are over all the works of his hands; and consequently, he must remain the universal and supreme Saviour.

acter.

2. Revelation also teaches us that our heavenly Fa ther is our supreme Saviour. Turn to the scriptures, and you will perceive that he is represented as the original Source of all temporal salvation. You will find this decisive testimony in the book of Isaiah. "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour." find a similar expression in the book of Hosea. am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt,

You may "Yet I and thou

r Is. XLIII. 11.

shalt know no God but me; for there is no Saviour besides me."s Notwithstanding these positive assertions, you learn that this only Saviour employs agents to effect the various purposes of temporal protection and preservation. Look again to the writings of Isaiah. "For they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them."t And in Nehemiah you find this passage. "In the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and, according to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies."u Now these texts prove most satisfactorily, that although there is no saviour besides Jehovah, yet that he frequently raised up and qualified other saviours, to redeem his chosen people from temporal calamities. The same kindness he continues to manifest towards us. For he is now, as ever, the original Source of all our means of support, comfort and improvement. By the various gifts of his providence, he now saves us from hunger and nakedness, from war and pestilence, from ignorance and crime, from sickness and death. And he freely gives us, through a variety of second causes, all our talents, privileges, blessings and hopes. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things; and in him we all live and move and have our being.

3. Revelation likewise instructs us that our heavenly Father is our supreme Saviour in spiritual concerns. You find this declaration in Paul's first epistle to Timothy. "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Now this refers to the salvation of the soul from sin and wretchedness; and expresses very clearly the desire of our Father to have all his children embrace the gospel and reap its rich rewards. In the same epistle, you find another passage equally explicit. "We trust in the living God, who is the saviour of all men, specially of those that believe."w This needs no explanation. Not only so. The beloved disciple thus affirms. "God so loved the world, that he s Hos. XIII. 4. t Is. xix. 20. u Neh. IX. 27. v 1 Tim. 11. 3-4.

w 1 Tim. IV. 10.

« PoprzedniaDalej »