1.—JEREMIAH iii. 5. Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things 2.-2 CHRON.Vii. 14. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, 3.—JEREMIAH ix. 5. They weary themselves to commit iniquity, 4. LUKE X. 11.—Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the king- dom of God is come nigh unto you, 5.-EZEKIEL Xviii. 31. Why will ye die? 6.—PSALM L. 21. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order 7.-JEREMIAH viii. 22. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no phy- trils; for wherein is he to be accounted of? 9.-HEBREWS X. 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of 10.-GALATIANS iv. 15. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? 11.-PSALM xlv. 10, 11. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father's house: 12.-JERENIAH iii. 15. I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding, 13.-1 PETER iv. 18. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where 14.-GENESIS Xxviii. 20-22. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: And this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that thou shalt give me, I will sure- 15.-MATTHEW xxii. 36, 37, 38. Master, which is the great com- mandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, this is the first and great commandment, 16.-PSALM cii. 1. Hear my Prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come un- 17.-LUKE Xviii. 13. God be merciful to me, a sinner, 18.-JOHN iii. 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- ness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 19.-MATTHEW xxv. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, 20.-MATTHEW viii. 34. And when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts, 21.-PROVERBS iv. 18. But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, 22.—GENESIS xxvii. 22. The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are 23.-ECCLESIASTES viii. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men 26.-Acts xvii. 30.-And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, 27.-JEREMIAH xvii. 5-6. Thus saith the Lord; cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord; for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land 28.-2 CORINTHIANS Vi. 2. Behold now is the accepted time; behold hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusa- 30.-JOHN Xvii. 4. I have finished the work which thou gavest me 365 366 Continuing instant in prayer, 33.-1 CORINTHIANS xvi. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, 34.-PSALM li. 14. Deliver me from blood gultiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy right- 384 SERMONS. SERMON XLII. THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH MADE TO PROMOTE HER INTERESTS. ISAIAH X. 5-12. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus ? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. We sometimes discover, in a scrap of sacred story, a rich and lucid comment upon the essential doctrines of revelation. The simple statements of facts, dissipates the darkness that obscured the ways of God, and removes the cloud behind which rolls the wheels of Providence. Let us only read of what God, by his immediate agency, or by the agency of others, has done, and we shall find very little mystery in all he has said. The doctrines are nothing more than the general principles of the Divine administration. The moment men put themselves in the attitude of quarrel with what God has said, they invariably tax themselves with the necessity of denying what he has done. The father who returns to his house, and finds his beloved child a corpse, and still denies the sovereignty of God, proves himself a pitiable reasoner. A doctrine so pointedly illustrated, can no longer be matter of doubt, unless he choose to believe a lie. The history of the Assyrian invasion, foreseen and described by the prophet in the text and context, is one of those expository Scriptures, which illustrate and confirm, what are erroneously termed the hard doctrines of revelation. God is here seen in the attitude of administering correction to his people, and using wicked men as the staff, destined like any other rod to be committed to the fire, when the children are reduced to obedience. If instead of intending to bless the people of God, they mean not so, mean no service to their Maker, but their own elevation, intend to injure whom they hate, all this does not disqualify them to be the sword of the Lord. There is something fearfully interesting in the Divine sovereignty, thus illustrated by the very finger of God himself. We must either believe what God has spoken on this subject, or deny what he has done, and what he is doing daily before our very eyes. I must detain you a few moments, on the historical facts in the case, and then notice more largely the doctrines they inculcate. I. We attend to the historical facts. God had a church in the family of Abraham, but they were so wicked, that he styles them in the text a hypocritical nation. He would correct them for their sins, and would employ for this purpose Sennacherib the king of Assyria, the very staff they had leaned on. But that prince would intend no such good to the covenant people of God; his object would be devastation and plunder. It was in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. He boasted, and heaven knew his impudence, that his power was great, his victories numerous and splendid, his princes, monarchs, and the gods all too weak to resist him. And the worst is yet to be spoken, he threatened that he would do to Jerusalem's God as he had done to the deities around him. How contemptible must he have appeared to him who sitteth in the heavens. Thus the axe boasted itself against him that hewed with it, the saw against him that shook it, and the rod threatened him who lifted it up. God now resolved that when he had chastised Israel for their idolatry, and their waywardness, he would curse the Assyrian for his pride. He might live till he had performed all the Divine will upon Mount Zion, and upon Jerusalem, then God would punish the fruit of his stout heart, and bring down the glory of his high looks. God would make him know that he was a mere worm, that an Almighty arm, and not his own, had gotten him his victories, and. |