heaven in his heart; hath love stronger than death. Death to a believer has lost its sting; "therefore will he not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." (Psal. xlvi. 2.) For he knows in whom he has believed; and that neither life nor death shall be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus his Lord. Dost thou so believe? Prove thy own self by the infallible Word of God. If thou hast not the fruits, effects, or inseparable properties of faith, thou hast not faith. Come, then, to the Author and Finisher of Faith, confessing thy sins, and the root of all, thy unbelief, till he forgive thee thy sins, and cleanse thee from all unrighteousness. Come to the Friend of sinners, weary and heavy laden, and he will give thee pardon! Cast thy poor desperate soul on his dying love! Enter into the Rock, the Ark, the City of Refuge! Ask, and thou shalt receive faith and forgiveness together. He waited to be gracious. He hath spared thee for this very thing; that thine eyes might see his salvation. Whatever judgments come in these latter days, yet whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord Jesus shall be delivered. Call upon Him now, O sinner! and continue instant in prayer, till he answer thee in peace and power! Wrestle for the blessing! Thy life, thy soul is at stake! Cry mightily unto Him,-" Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!" "God be merciful unto me a sinner!" Lord, help me! Help my unbelief! Save, or I perish! Sprinkle my troubled heart! Wash me thoroughly in the fountain of thy blood: Guide me by thy Spirit: Sanctify mẹ throughout, and receive me up into Glory! Now to God the Father, &e. SERMON CXXXIX. NATIONAL SINS AND MISERIES. Preached at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, on Sunday, November 12, 1775, for the benefit of the Widows and Orphans of the Soldiers who lately fell, near Boston, in New-England. Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done?"-2 SAMUEL xxiv. 17. THE chapter begins, "And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." Again; it had been kindled against them but a few years before; in consequence of which "there had been a famine in the land three years," year after year, (chap. xxi. 1.) till David inquired of the Lord, and was taught the way of ap peasing it. We are not informed, in what particular manner Israel had now offended God: by what particular cause his anger was kindled; but barely with the effect. "He moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." He,-not God! Beware how you impute this to the Fountain of Loye and Holiness! It was not God, but Satan who thus moved David. So the parallel Scripture expressly declares: "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." (1 Chron. xxi, 1.) Satan stood before God, to accuse David and Israel, and to beg God's permission to tempt David. Standing is properly the accuser's posture before the tribunals of men; and therefore the Scripture, which uses to speak of the things of God after the manner of men, represents Satan as appearing in this posture before the tribunal of God. "And David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it." (Ver. 2.) 2. It does not clearly appear wherein the sin of thus numbering the people consisted. There is no express prohibition of it in any of the Scriptures which were then extant. Yet we read, "The king's word was abominable to Joab," (ver. 6,) who was not a man of the tenderest conscience, so that he expostulated with David before he obeyed. "Joab answered, Why doth my lord require this thing?" "Why will he be a cause of trespass,"—of punishment or calamity,-"to Israel?" God frequently punishes a people for the sins of their rulers; because they are generally partakers of their sins, in one kind or other. And the righteous Judge takes this occasion of punishing them for all their sins. In this, Joab was right; for after they were numbered, it is said, "And God was displeased with this thing." Yea, "David's heart smote him, and he said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant." (2 Sam. xxiv. 10.) Did not the sin lie in the motive on which the thing was done? Did he not do it in the pride of his heart? Probably out of a principle of vanity and ostentation: glorying not in God, but in the number of his people. 3. In the sequel we find, that even Joab was for once a true prophet: David was a cause of trespass, of punishment, to Israel. His sin, added to all the sins of the people, filled up the measure of their iniquities. So "the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning," wherein Gad the Prophet gave David his choice, of war, famine, or pestilence, "unto the evening of the third day. And there died of the people, from Dan unto Beersheba, seventy thousand men." (Ver. 15.) "And when David saw the angel that smote the people," who appeared in the form of a man with a drawn sword in his hand, to convince him the more fully, that this plague was immediately from God," he said, Lo, I have sinned, I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done?" 4. Is there not, in several respects, a remarkable resemblance between the case of Israel and our own?-General wickedness then occasioned a general visitation: and does not the same cause now produce the same effect? We likewise have sinned, and we are punished: and perhaps these are only the beginning of sorrows. Perhaps the angel is now stretching out his hand over England to destroy it. O that the Lord would at length say to him that destroyeth, "It is enough: stay now thine hand!" 5. That vice is the parent of misery, few deny: it is confirmed by the general suffrage of all ages. But we seldom bring this home to ourselves: when we speak of sin as the cause of misery, we usually mean, the sin of other people, and suppose we suffer, because they sin. But need we go so far? Are not our own vices sufficient to account for all our sufferings? Let us fairly and impartially consider this let us examine our own hearts and lives. We all suffer: and we have all sinned. But will it not be most profitable for us, to consider every one his own sins, as bringing sufferings both on himself and others: to say, "Lo, I have sinned, I have done wickedly but these sheep, what have they done?" I. 1. Let us inquire, First, what they suffer? And, afterwards, what is the Cause of these sufferings? That the people suffer, none can deny ;-that they are afflicted in a more than ordinary manner. Thousands and tens of thousands are at this day deeply afflicted through want of business. It is true, that this want is in some measure removed in some large and opulent towns. But it is also true, that this is far, very far, from being the general case of the kingdom. Nothing is more sure, than that thousands of people in the west of England, throughout Cornwall in particular, in the north, and even in the midland counties, are totally unemployed. Hence those who formerly wanted nothing, are now in want of all things. They are so far from the plenty they once enjoyed, that they are in the most deplorable distress, deprived not only of the conveniences, but most of the necessaries of life. I have seen not a few of these wretched creatures, within little more than a hundred miles of London, standing in the streets, with pale looks, hollow eyes, and meagre limbs; or creeping up and down like walking shadows. I have known families, who a few years ago lived in an easy, genteel manner, reduced to just as much raiment as they had on, and as much food as they could gather in the field. To this one or other of them repaired once a day, to pick up the turnips which the cattle had left; which they boiled if they could get a few sticks, or otherwise ate them raw. Such is the want of food to which many of our countrymen are at this day reduced by want of business. 2. Grievous enough is this calamity, which multitudes every day suffer. But I do not know whether many more do not labour under a still more grievous calamity. It is a great affliction to be deprived of bread; but it is a still greater, to be deprived of our senses. And this is the case with thousands upon thousands of our countrymen at this day. Wide-spread poverty (though not in so high a degree,) I have seen several years ago. But so wide-spread a lunacy I never saw, nor I believe the oldest man alive. Thousands of plain, honest people, throughout the land, are driven utterly out of their senses, by means of the poison which is so diligently spread, through every city and town in the kingdom. They are screaming out for liberty, while they have it in their hands, while they actually possess it; and to so great an extent, that the like is not known in any other nation under heaven; whether we mean Civil Liberty, a liberty of enjoying all our legal property,-or Religious Liberty, a liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. Therefore all those who are either passionately or dolefully crying out, Bondage! Slavery!' while there is no more danger of any such thing, than there is of the sky falling upon their head, are utterly distracted; their reason is gone; their intellects are quite confounded. Indeed many of these have lately recovered their senses : yet are there multitudes still remaining, who are in this respect as perfectly mad as any of the inhabitants of Bedlam, 6 3. Let not, any one think, this is but a small calamity which has fallen upon our land. If you saw, as I have seen, in every county, city, town, men who were once of a calm, mild, friendly temper, mad with party zeal, foaming with rage against their quiet neighbours, ready to tear out one another's throats, and to plunge their swords into each other's bowels; if you had heard men, who once feared God and honoured the King, now breathing out the bitterest invectives against him, and just ripe, should any occasion offer, for treason and rebellion,-you would not then judge this to be a little evil, a matter of small moment,-but one of the heaviest judgments which God can permit to fall upon a guilty land. 4. Such is the condition of Englishmen at home. And is it any better abroad? I fear not. From those who are now upon the spot I learn, that in our Colonies also, many are causing the people to drink largely of the same deadly wine; thousands of whom are thereby inflamed more and more, till their heads are utterly turned, and they are mad to all intents and purposes. Reason is lost in rage: its small still voice is drowned by popular clamour. Wisdom is fallen in the streets. And where is the place of understanding? It is hardly to be found in these Provinces. Here is slavery, real slavery indeed, most properly so called. For the regular, legal, constitutional form of government is no more. Here is real, not imaginary, bondage:-not the shadow of English Liberty is left. Not only no liberty of the press is allowed; none dare print a page or a line, unless it be exactly conformable to the sentiments of our Lords, the people; but no liberty of speech. Their tongue is not their own. None must dare to utter one word, either in favour of King George, or in disfavour of the idol they have set up; the new, illegal, unconstitutional government, utterly unknown to us and to our forefathers. Here is no religious liberty; no liberty of conscience, for them that honour the King; and whom, consequently, a sense of duty prompts them to defend from the vile calumnies continually vented against him. Here is no civil liberty; no enjoying the fruit of their labour, any further than the populace pleases. A man has no security for his trade, his house, his property, unless he will swim with the stream. Nay, he has no security for his life, if his popular neighbour has a mind to cut his throat. For there is no law; no legal magistrate to take cognizance of offences. There is the gulf of tyranny,-of arbitrary power on one hand, and of anarchy on the other. And, as if all this were not misery enough, see likewise the fell monster War! But who can describe the complicated misery which is contained in this? Hark! The cannon's roar! A pitchy cloud covers the face of the sky. Noise, confusion, terror, reign over all! Dying groans are on every side. The bodies of men are pierced, torn, hewed in pieces: their blood is poured on the earth like water! Their souls take their flight into the eternal world; perhaps into everlasting misery. The ministers of grace turn away from the horrid scene; the ministers of vengeance triumph. Such already has been the face of things in that once happy land, where peace and plenty, even while banished from great part of Europe, smiled for near a hundred years. 5. And what is it which drags on these poor victims into the field of blood? It is a great phantom, which stalks before them, which they are taught to call Liberty! It is this "Which breathes into their hearts stern love of war, And thirst of vengeance, and contempt of death." Real liberty, meantime, is trampled underfoot, and is lost in anarchy and confusion. 6. But which of these warriors all the while considered the wife of his youth, that is now left a disconsolate widow,-perhaps with none that careth for her; perhaps deprived of her only comfort and support, and not having where to lay her head? Who considered his helpless children, now desolate orphans; it may be, crying for bread; while their mother has nothing left to give them, but her sorrows and her tears? II. 1. And yet "these sheep, what have they done," although all this is come upon them? "Suppose ye that they are sinners above other men, because they suffer such things? I tell you nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." It therefore behooves us to consider our own sins;-the cause of all our sufferings. behooves each of us to say, "Lo, I have sinned: I have done wickedly." It 2. The time would fail should I attempt to enumerate all the ways wherein we have sinned: but, in general, this is certain, "The rich, the poor, the high, the low, And deluge all the guilty land: And Tophet yawns to take them in." Who How innumerable are the violations of Justice among us? does not adopt the old maxim, Si possis, recte; si non, quocunque modo rem: "If you can get money honestly, do; but however, get money." Where is Mercy to be found, if it would stand in opposition to Interest? How few will scruple, for a valuable consideration, to oppress the widow or fatherless? And where shall we find Truth? Deceit and fraud go not out of our streets. Who is it that speaks truth from his heart? Whose words are the picture of his thoughts? |