Part 12 (1/2)
Among the blessings of this happy period, shall be that of a universal and everlasting peace. There shall be no more contention and bloodshed upon earth. ”Nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The a.r.s.enals shall empty their contents into the foundries and blacksmith-shops, and the weapons of war shall be converted into scythes and plowshares. O, glorious day! when heaven shall be seen upon earth, and earth itself shall seem like heaven!
Behold the ferocious wolf dwelling with the gentle lamb; the furious leopard lying down with the innocent kid; the cow and the bear feeding in the same pasture; the infant leading the lion by the mane, and playing upon the den of the adder and the asp; and no disposition to hurt or destroy. These are the scriptural emblems of that blessed peace.
Holiness and happiness, more united than David and Jonathan, more inseparable than Ruth and Naomi, hand in hand, two heavenly twins, shall go singing over the world. All envy and jealousy and hostility, whether of nations, of churches, or of individuals, shall perish before Messiah's kingdom, as perished the image in the vision before that wondrous stone.
_Thirdly_. The duration of the kingdom. This is the crowning circ.u.mstance of its glory. It ”shall not be destroyed, nor left to other people.” Its enemies, however numerous and mighty, cannot overthrow it; and it ”shall stand for ever.” Where now are the ill.u.s.trious empires of Babylon, and Persia, and Greece, and Rome? Where are the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, the Alexanders, the Caesars, the Napoleons, whose voice terrified nations, and whose tread shook the world? Where-with all their power and splendor, their iron sceptres and golden crowns? Gone; mouldering in the dust; and their magnificence nourishes the worm. They are utterly demolished, and shall rise no more. But the King of Zion liveth through all time, and is himself ”the Father of Eternity,” ”the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last.”
”His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his dominion there shall be no end.”
III. Let us consider the nearness of its approach. The language of prophecy, viewed in connection with the signs of the times, will lead us to the conclusion that it is nigh at hand, even at the door.
Many learned divines are of opinion that Popery and Mohammedism, the Antichrists of the east and the west, must fall about the year 1866.
This notion is founded on the following words: ”From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and threescore days-Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” {148} Different writers on the prophecies, however, differ in opinion concerning the times of their fulfilment. All these speculations are very uncertain, if not utterly unprofitable. What matters it, if our watches do not exactly agree? We all know that the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, and the magnitude and importance of our duty requires prompt and earnest attention.
Five men were determined to rise early in the morning, to engage in a great work, upon which depended their future fortunes. The first was up before the morning star; and though uncertain as to the hour, immediately prepared for business. The second, when he rose, saw the star just above the horizon, and hastened to his work with animation and joy. The third slept a little too long, and awoke in great confusion and alarm; but hurrying through the day as well as he could, though with a heavy heart and many a blunder, he made out partially to redeem his delinquency. The fourth heard the c.o.c.k crowing, but thought there was no need of being in a hurry, and composed himself to sleep again; and when his neighbors called him, turned in his bed, and answered-”A little more slumber;” and awaking about nine of the clock, found the day too far advanced, and abandoned his purpose in despair. The fifth, disturbed by the bustle of the others before daylight, got up and looked out of the window; and finding it as dark as it was at midnight, was very angry, called his neighbors a set of fools, and declared he would have nothing to do with the enterprise; and while all the others made themselves rich, he lived and died in deserved poverty; and some pitied him for his misfortune, and others ridiculed him for his folly. Mark the wise man, and follow his example.
The kingdom of Antichrist has of late been greatly weakened in many parts of the world. Providence is pouring the vials of wrath upon the Beast and the False Prophet. The idols and altars of Paganism fall before the advancing ark of G.o.d. The church, with its train of benevolent inst.i.tutions-like the bride, with her attendant virgins, going forth to meet the royal bridegroom-proclaims the coming of the Prince of Peace.
The Bible, Missionary, Sabbath-school, and Tract societies, are four heralds, running before Messiah's chariot; rather, the four wheels of that chariot in which he rides victoriously.
The rise and progress of the British and Foreign Bible Society remind me of the stream in Ezekiel's vision. This great river had its source in one of the mountains of Wales. In the year 1802, the Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala, an ordained minister of the established church, officiating in connection with the Calvinistic Methodists, deeply impressed with the preciousness of the Bible, and aware of the scarcity of copies throughout the princ.i.p.ality, felt that some measures ought to be adopted to furnish it at a reduced price, and circulate it gratuitously among the poor. He wrote concerning it to his countryman, the Rev. Mr. Owen, an Episcopal clergyman in London. The subject was subsequently introduced to a circle of Christian gentlemen, who had met to transact other business. It elicited much conversation, and excited a lively interest. The Rev.
Joseph Hughes, a Welshman, and Baptist minister at Battersea, near London, suggested that Wales was not the only part of the world that felt a want of the Bread of Life; and that it was desirable to awaken, if possible, a more extensive interest on the subject among Christians of every name; and stir them up to the adoption of some measure, which might lead to a general circulation of the Scriptures. The suggestion was heartily entertained, and warmly supported by the rest of the company; and its discussion led to those incipient efforts, which, in 1804, issued in the organization of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The little spring of Bala soon became a stream large enough for a man to swim in; and now it widens and deepens into a great river, on which float the merchandise of Zion, and the navies of G.o.d.
Welshmen! it is your privilege and honor, as well as your duty, to sustain this excellent inst.i.tution. It is a native of Wales, born in your northern mountains. It is your own child, and you are bound to protect and support it to the extent of your ability. I call upon you as Welshmen, to aid an inst.i.tution originating in Welsh philanthropy. I call upon you as Welsh Baptists, to help forward an enterprise which sprang from the heart of a Welsh Baptist minister. I appeal to you in the language of another:-
”The cause in which we are engaged is the cause of G.o.d, and must succeed.
Divine goodness has inspired, divine wisdom and power will sustain it.
The Bible will be carried throughout the habitable globe. Nor deserts-nor oceans-nor Alpine solitudes-nor Himalayan heights, will obstruct its progress. It will go through polar ice and equatorial fire, wherever a soul may possibly be saved. It will go on victorious, like the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, carrying every thing before it.
Error and delusion must vanish as the mists of the morning before the rising splendor of the sun. The powers of darkness must recede like spectres before the bursting of the day-spring from on high. False G.o.ds and their altars must fall together in the dust. The followers of Confucius and Zoroaster will take up their cross and follow Christ. The wandering Arab will sit and sing at Messiah's feet; and the deluded disciples of Mohammed, instead of going in painful pilgrimage to Mecca, will turn their penitent eyes to Calvary. The dark places of the earth will be enlightened, and the habitations of cruelty will become the abodes of love. Rivers will no longer roll with human blood, nor sacrificial fires be fed with human victims. Mothers will no longer destroy their innocent children, nor aged parents be immolated by their inhuman offspring. Marriage will be inst.i.tuted in places where it is now unknown, and savage practices be supplanted by the virtuous inst.i.tutions of the gospel. The Cannibal of New Zealand will be humanized, and the Caffre and the Hottentot clothed and in their right minds. The descendants of Abraham must be gathered from the four quarters of the earth; Jerusalem arise and s.h.i.+ne; and the dejected Jordan roll his streams with joy. Barren climes will teem with life-dreary deserts blossom as the rose. Rivers of salvation will run down the hills, and fertilize the plains. The Saviour will ride forth in the chariot of the everlasting gospel, conquering and to conquer. Nations will fall down before him, and mountains melt at his approach. And thus nation after nation will be converted, and empire upon empire will be conquered; and Christianity will spread from clime to clime, and from pole to pole; until the final arrival of the blessed day, when the knowledge of the Lord shall literally cover the earth as the waters cover the deep-when there shall be but one people and one G.o.d-when the millennial day shall burst upon the earth, like a flood of glory from on high-when the trump of Jubilee shall sound, and countless millions of the redeemed shall sing, Hallelujah! the Lord G.o.d omnipotent reigneth!”
Such, brethren, is the approaching triumph of Emmanuel. The mighty angel, having found an old copy of the everlasting gospel, which the Pope had kept locked up in his bureau for many centuries, is flying in the midst of heaven, in sight of all the world. His progress is rapid as the wings of the wind, and his sweet strong voice is publis.h.i.+ng the glad tidings to all people. But we look for greater things than these.
Following, comes another mighty angel, casting a great millstone into the sea, and saying-”Thus shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and found no more at all.” Another follows, crying with a loud voice-”Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” Another descends with the key and the chain, and binds the dragon in the bottomless pit. Then appears one ”like unto the Son of Man,” sitting upon a white cloud, and wearing a golden crown. He thrusts in his sharp sickle, and reaps the harvest of the earth, and gathers the wheat into his garner, the church. Again the sickle falls, and the vintage of wickedness is gathered, and cast into the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty G.o.d. Then comes the voice of a great mult.i.tude, as of many waters and mighty thunderings-the blended minstrelsy of earth and heaven-ascribing salvation and dominion and glory to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
The Prince of Darkness, with all his infernal hosts, and all his allies upon earth, is fearfully agitated, as he witnesses the preparation for the great decisive battle. ”Why so much benevolence? Why so many societies? Why such extraordinary schemes and efforts?” Nothing disturbs them so much as the sight of Emmanuel's troops, with their faces toward the field of Armageddon, led on by the Captain of their Salvation, on his white horse, with his vesture dipped in blood. They know that this is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; and the redness of his apparel, reminding them of their defeat when he bruised their heads on Calvary, shoots consternation and anguish through all their ranks; and the gates of h.e.l.l tremble at the shaking of the iron rod in his hand, which shall dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel. But the saints are rejoicing in his train; for they know that not one of the faithful shall perish-that not one of them shall be wounded-that each shall be more than conqueror, and all shall appear with songs of everlasting joy at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And now, my brethren, children of my heavenly Father, of every name and order, loved with the same love, redeemed with the same blood, called by the same Spirit, clothed with the same garment, fed on the same manna, engaged in the same cause-the great Missionary enterprise-as you love the Savior, as you appreciate his salvation, as you desire the introduction of his millennial kingdom, we beseech you to give us a liberal contribution!
We are now ready to receive your money for Missionary purposes; and while you are casting it into the treasury, let me remind you that your gold and your silver are beautiful birds plumed for flight, that Christian liberality is the scissors with which you may clip their wings, and a short winged bird is better than none. May we all act to-day as stewards of the Lord, in the immediate presence of our Master, before whom we must soon appear to account for the use made of our talents; and when the time of reckoning shall come, may each receive the gracious plaudit-”Well done, good and faithful servant! thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” Amen.
SERMON VIII.
THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.
”_Who_, _his own self_, _bore our sins_, _in his own body_, _on the tree_; _that we_, _being dead to sins_, _should live unto righteousness_; _by whose stripes ye were healed_.”-I Peter ii. 24.
WHAT great encouragement to patience and fort.i.tude is afforded the followers of Jesus, by the apostle's contrast of the light and transient afflictions of the present time, with the eternal weight of glory reserved for them in heaven! How forcible the argument which he draws from the approaching scenes of another world, to urge Christians in this to a life of holiness and self-denial! How vivid and terrible his picture of the dissolution of nature by the great conflagration! Imagine the heavens wrapped in dissolving flames, and the elements melting to the centre of the globe. The victorious and inextinguishable fire towers to the empyrean; the magnificent palace of creation is lost in the smoke of its own burning; and the ear is stunned, and the soul is horrified, by the crash of its final fall. ”Seeing then, that all these things must be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and G.o.dliness; looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of G.o.d;” ”using all diligence to make your calling and election sure;” ”that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless;” that ”so an abundant entrance may be ministered unto you, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!”
Such, substantially, is the argument. But the apostle employs another; the Christian's obligation to imitate Christ, suffering for him as he suffered for us, with the same fort.i.tude and resignation, though not to the same extent, nor for the same purpose. It is in this connection he uses the language of the text:-”Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward G.o.d endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with G.o.d. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” We are to suffer for Christ as his disciples and confessors; he suffered for us as our subst.i.tute, our atoning sacrifice and Saviour. Let us attend, first, to this description of his sufferings; and then to the end for which he endured them.
I. The text describes Christ in his vicarious sufferings, as _bearing our sins_; bearing our sins, _his own self_; bearing our sins, his own self, _in his own body_; and bearing our sins, his own self, in his own body, _on the tree_,
1. _He bore our sins_. To get a correct understanding of this expression, we must turn to the record of the ordinance to which it alludes, which is as follows:-”And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat, and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and shall send him away, by the hand of a fit man, into the wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” But this part of the ceremony was preceded by another, of very solemn import. A goat was selected for a sin-offering.