Page images
PDF
EPUB

the earth will exhibit the sad effects of their impiety, the indelible records of their shame.

And where can we turn our eyes without seeing memorials of human folly, and evidences, that all creature-confidences are vain? Ask the aged, and they will testify; inquire even of the young, and they will confess; that the creature, however fair its appearance or promising its aspect, is only "a broken cistern which can hold no water." All of them, both rich and poor, "have gone to it with their vessels, and come away ashamed." They renew indeed their applications from time to time; but only to experience repeated disappointments. There are but few who have not found their cup, notwithstanding its occasional sweets, so distasteful on the whole, that they are almost weary of the world by the time that they have half completed their destined course. And the more eager they have been in their pursuit of earthly good, the more painfully have they been made to feel, that it was all "vanity and vexation of spirit."

If we look into the eternal world, what monuments shall we there find of disappointed ambition! What multitudes are there, who once said, I aspire after happiness; I shall find it in the attainment of wealth, and in the gratifications of sense!' They passed their time in dreaming of happiness which they never realized; and knew not that they had been dreaming, till "they awoke to shame and everlasting contempt." And though, while in this world they justified their choice, they themselves will to all eternity be witnesses for God, acknowledging the folly of their former conduct, and the justice of their present doom.]

We cannot conclude without OBSERVING,

1. How awfully do we at this moment suffer under the curse inflicted on them!

[Difference of language has not only placed obstacles in the way of commercial intercourse, but has given occasion to contiguous or distant nations to consider each other as enemies. Moreover, it has been the means of excluding the greater part of the world from all the advantages of revelation. And if a benevolent person, desirous of diffusing the knowledge of Christ among the heathen, engage in the arduous undertaking, he must first lose several years before he can attain a competent knowledge of the languages in which he is to address them: even then he labours under the greatest disadvantages in speaking to them; and, after all, he must limit his exertions to two or three nations at the uttermost. Multitudes

e Jer. xiv. 3.

there are who would gladly encounter labour and fatigue in the service of their fellow-creatures; but they are discouraged by these difficulties, and are compelled to restrain their benevolent wishes through a conscious incapacity to carry them into effect. Nor is this all: for the unlearned of our own nation sustain incalculable loss through the introduction of foreign words, and foreign idioms, into our own language; insomuch that, if they hear a discourse that has been penned for the edification of the learned, the preacher is, in fact," a barbarian to them," almost as much as if he spoke in another language. Suffering thus as we do for the transgression of those builders, we ought at least to shun a repetition of their sins, and to humble ourselves before God for all the pride and worldliness of our hearts.]

2. How graciously has God blended mercy with judgment !

[When the plan of salvation was perfected, and the time for the more extensive propagation of the Gospel was arrived, God inspired holy men, without any previous instruction, to speak all manner of languages, and to diffuse the knowledge of the truth through all nations; that as by the division of tongues he had dispersed men through the earth, so by the gift of tongues "he might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." The end of that gift having been in a measure attained, and the gift itself withdrawn, he stirred up men of learning and piety in different countries to translate the Scriptures into their respective languages, so that the unlearned might read them in the language which they understood. What do we of this nation owe to God, and, under God, to our Reformers, for giving us the Bible in our own tongue! If the volume of inspiration were locked up in the languages in which it was first written, how deplorable would be our state! Oh, never, never can we be sufficiently thankful that the fountains of divine knowledge are open and accessible to all!

Moreover, though the languages of men are still different, there is a language in which all the children of God throughout the earth agree, the language of the heart. As far as respects the work of God upon their souls, they all speak precisely the same thing. Sighs and groans and tears are universally the expressions of their sorrow on account of sin. They all agree in exalting Christ as "their wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification, and their complete redemption." They glory in Him, and in him alone. They are indeed Barbarians to the ignorant ungodly world, who

f Acts ii. 3-6. with John xi. 52.

are ready to say of them as the Jews did of the Apostles, "These men are full of new wine," they are foolish, they are mad. But they understand each other: though brought from the most distant parts of the earth, there will be found such an agreement between them, as will unite their hearts to each other in the closest bonds of love. What was said of them before their dispersions, may be said of them now again, "They are all one, and they have all one language." Though Egyptians by nature, they have learned the language of Canaan", and are again united in building an edifice that shall last for

ever.

Let us then bless our God for these rich mercies; and from being "strangers and foreigners, let us seek to become fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."]

[blocks in formation]

Gen. xii. 1-4. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.

[ocr errors]

OUR God has been pleased to teach us, no less by example than by precept: and the instruction to be gathered from the life and conduct of his saints, commends itself to us with peculiar force, as being less open to the evasions of criticism, or the objections of prejudice. Doubtless we must exercise a sober judgment in determining how far we are to follow the Patriarchs, Prophets, or Apostles; for there were many things in their conduct which were peculiar to their situation and circumstances. But we can never materially err, if we attend to the spirit of their actions: here they were patterns to us: and as far as relates to this, we are to be "followers of them who through faith and patience now inherit the promises." We are bidden particularly to "walk in the steps of our

father Abraham :" one of the most remarkable of which is that which is mentioned in our text.

We shall endeavour to observe that sobriety of interpretation, while we consider,

I. The Call of Abram

The command given to him was most extraordinary

[The world had speedily relapsed into idolatry. Abram was brought up, it should seem, in the common superstition. But it pleased God to separate him from the idolatrous world, in order that he might be a living witness for Jehovah, and preserve in his family the knowledge of the true God. For this end God appeared to him, and commanded him to leave his country and friends, and to go into a land which should afterwards be shewn him.]

But however strange this may appear, a similar command is given to every one of us—

[We are not indeed called to leave our country and connexions: but to withdraw our affections from earthly things, and to fix them upon things above, we are calleda. The whole world around us lies in wickedness: and we are expressly forbidden to be of the world, any more than Christ himself was of the world. We are not to love it, or any thing that is in itd. We are not to be conformed to it, or to seek its friendship: we are rather to come out from it, and be altogether crucified to it. We are to regard it as a wilderness through which we are passing to our Father's house; and in our passage through it to consider ourselves only as strangers and pilgrims'. If we meet with good accommodation and kind treatment, we are to be thankful: if we meet with briers and thorns in our way, we must console ourselves with the thought, that it is our appointed way, and that every step will bring us nearer home. Nothing good is to detain us; nothing evil to divert us from our path. We are to be looking forward to our journey's end, and to be proceeding towards it, whatever be the weather, or whatever the road'. The direction given to the church, is the same in every age; "Hearken, O daughter, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father's house; so shall the King have pleasure in thy beautym." There is no exemption, no dispensation granted to any, no difference allowed.

a Col. iii. 1, 2.
d 1 John ii. 15, 16.
* 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.
k Acts xiv. 22.
VOL. I.

b 1 John v. 19.
e Rom. xii. 2.

h Gal. vi. 14.

1 Heb. xi. 14-16.

H

c John xvii. 14, 16.

f Jam. iv. 4.

i Heb. xi. 13.

m Ps. xlv. 10, 11.

Some from their occupations in society must be more conversant with the world than others: but in heart and affection all must be withdrawn from it; "not partaking of its sins, lest they should receive also of its plagues"."]

There will not appear to be any thing harsh in the command given to Abram, if we consider,

II. The inducements offered him

These were far more than equivalent to any sacrifice he could make

[He was to be blessed in himself, and a blessing to others. In respect of temporal things, he was blessed in a very signal manner to the latest hour of his life". He was loaded also with spiritual and eternal benefits, being justified and accounted righteous before God, and being exalted after death to the highest seat in his Father's house. He was also a blessing to many: for his children and household were governed by him in a way most conducive to their best interests. The people amongst whom he sojourned could not but be edified by his instructions and conduct: and to this day the whole of his life affords a stimulus to the church to serve God after his example. But most of all was he a blessing in being the Progenitor of the Messiah, "in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed":" and every person will be blessed or cursed according as he accepts or rejects that promised Seed.] Similar inducements are offered to us also

[Every one who, for Christ's sake, will renounce the world, shall be blessed. He may not possess opulence and honour; but "the little that he hath, shall be better to him than all the riches of the ungodly." In his soul he shall be truly blessed. View him in the state least enviable according to human apprehension; see him weeping and mourning for his sins; yet then is he truly blessed': he shall have pardon and acceptance with his God: he shall experience the renewing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit: he shall have "joys and consolations which the stranger intermeddleth not with:" and in due time "he shall be blessed with faithful Abraham," in the eternal fruition of his God.

He shall be a blessing too to all around him. View him in his family connexions; view him as a husband, a parent, a master, a friend; who so kind, so benevolent, so anxious to promote the happiness of those connected with him? View him in the church, or in the state; what blessings does he communicate by the light of his example! what evils does he avert

n Rev. xviii. 4.

P Acts iii. 25. and Gal. iii. 8, 16.

• Gen. xxiv. 1, 35.
¶ ver. 3.

r Matt. v. 3, 4.

« PreviousContinue »