Chapter II: Part 2

[2] The consequences of sin are meant to warn from sin. The
penalty annexed to it is, in the first instance,
corrective, not penal. Fire burns the child, to teach it
one of the truths of this universe--the property of fire to
burn. The first time it cuts its hand with a sharp knife,
it has gained a lesson which it will never forget. Now, in
the case of pain, this experience is seldom, if ever, in
vain. There is little chance of a child forgetting that
fire will burn, and that sharp steel will cut; but the
moral lessons contained in the penalties annexed to
wrong-doing are just as truly intended to deter men from
evil, though they are by no means so unerring in enforcing
their application. The fever, in the veins and the headache
which succeed intoxication are meant to warn against
excess. On the first occasion they are simply corrective;
in every succeeding one they assume more and more a penal
character, in proportion as the conscience carries with
them the sense of ill-desert.--_F. W. Robertson,_ 1816-1853.

[3] If a sheep stray from his fellows, the shepherd sets his
dog after it, not to devour it, but to bring it again: even
so our Heavenly Shepherd, if any of us, His sheep, disobey
Him, sets His dog of affliction after us, not to hurt us,
but to bring us home to consideration of our duty towards
Him.--_Cowdray._

As the child, fearing nothing, is so fond of his play that
he strays and wanders from his mother, not so much as
thinking of her; but if he be scared or frighted with the
sight or apprehension of some apparent or approaching
danger, presently runs to her, casts himself into her arms,
and cries out to be saved and shielded by her: so we,
securely enjoying the childish sports of worldly
prosperity, do so fondly dote on them that we scarce think
of our Heavenly Father; but when perils and dangers
approach, and are ready to seize upon us, then we flee to
Him, and cast ourselves into the arms of His protection and
providence, crying and calling to Him by earnest prayer for
help and deliverance in this our extremity and
distress.--_Downame,_ 1644.

THOUGHTLESSNESS.

i.3. _The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib: but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider._

It is clear from this chapter that the Lord views the sin of mankind with intense regret. Israel in this case is not so much a type of believers as a representative of sinners in general. The greatest difficulty in the world is to make men think. Consider--

+I. The common but serious fault here condemned.+ Men are most inconsiderate--1. Towards God;[1] 2. towards their own best interests;[2] 3. towards the claims of justice and gratitude.[3]

+II. Some things that make the commonness of this fault surprising.+ 1. Men live without consideration upon a matter in regard to which nothing but consideration will avail. Nothing can stand in lieu of thoughtfulness in religion. In regard to other matters we can employ others to think for us. But in this matter we must think for ourselves. Religion is a spiritual business, and if a man lives and dies refusing to consider, he has put away from him all hope of being saved; for grace comes not into us by mechanical process, but the Holy Spirit works upon the mind and soul. 2. This inconsideration is practised in regard to a subject the consideration of which would be abundantly remunerative, and would lead to the happiest results.[4]

+III. Some of the aggravations which attend it.+ 1. It is fallen into by those of whom better things might reasonably have been expected. "_Israel_ doth not know, _my people_ doth not consider." It is not the heathen who act more stupidly than the brutes, but those whom God has called to Himself, on whom He has conferred light and knowledge, &c. 2. They have had their attention earnestly directed to the topics which they still neglect. 3. They have also been chastised, in the gracious endeavour to arouse them from their thoughtlessness. 4. Many of them are very zealous in regard to outward religion, as were those whom the prophet rebuked. 5. They have been most earnestly and affectionately invited to turn to God by gracious promises (such as ver. 18). 6. They have ability enough to consider other things.

+IV. Some of the secret causes of this widespread fault.+ 1. In the case of many thoughtless persons we must lay the blame to the sheer _frivolity of their nature_. 2. In every case the bottom reason is _opposition to God Himself_. 3. Upon some minds the tendency to _delay_ operates fearfully. 4. Some make an excuse for themselves for not considering eternity, because _they are such eminently practical men_. They are living for realities of the nature of hard case, and will not be induced to indulge in fancies and notions.[5] 5. Many are _prejudiced,_ because some Christian professor has not lived up to his profession, or they have heard something which is said to be the doctrine of the gospel of which they cannot approve. 6. In most cases men _do not like to trouble themselves,_ and they have an uncomfortable suspicion that if they were to look too narrowly into their affairs, they would find things far from healthy.[6]--_C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ vol. xviii. pp. 373-384.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] One would pardon them if they forgot many minor things, and
neglected many inferior persons; but to be inconsiderate to
their Creator, to their Preserver, to Him in whose hand
their everlasting destiny is placed, this is a strange
folly as well as a great sin. Whoever a courtier may
neglect, he is sure to consider his king. Men when they
start their sons in business will bid them mind the main
chance, and attend to the principal point, and especially
take care to stand well with such a man who has the power
to help or to ruin them. Men, as a general rule, are far
too ready to seek the assistance of those who are in power,
and this makes it all the more strange that the
all-powerful God, who lifteth up and casteth down, should
be altogether forgotten, or, when remembered, should still
be dishonoured by mankind. If it were only because He is
great, and we are so dependent upon Him, one would have
thought that a rational man would have acquainted himself
with God, and been at peace; but when we reflect that God
is supremely good, kind, tender, and gracious, as well as
great, the marvel of man's thoughtlessness is much
increased. Every good man desires to be on good terms with
the good; unusual goodness wins admiration, and an
invitation to associate with the eminently excellent is
usually accepted with pleasure; yet in the case of the
thrice holy God, whose name is Love, it is not so. All
attractions are in the character of God, and yet man shuns
his Maker. If God were a demon, man could hardly be more
cold towards Him.--_Spurgeon._

[2] When we ask men to attend to matters which do not concern
them, we are not astonished if they plead that they have no
time, and little thought to spare. If I were to address you
upon a matter which affected the interests of the dwellers
in the Dog-star, or had some relation to the inhabitants of
the moon, I should not marvel if you were to say, "Go to
those whom it may concern, and talk to them; but as for us,
the matter is so remote, that we take no interest in it."
But how shall we account for it that man will not know
about himself, and wilt not consider about his own soul?
Any trifle will attract him, but he will not consider his
own immortality, or meditate upon the joy or the misery
that must be his portion. It is in very truth a miracle of
human depravity--what if I say insanity--that man should be
unmindful of his best self.--_Spurgeon._

[3] I have known men who have said, "Let the heavens fall, but
let justice be done:" and they have scorned in their
dealings with their fellow-men to take any unrighteous
advantage, even though it were as little as the turning of
a hair. I have known some also who, if they were called
ungrateful, would indignantly spurn the charge. They would
count themselves utterly loathsome if they did not return
good to those who have done them good; and yet it may be
these very same persons have been throughout life unjust
towards God, and ungrateful towards Him to whom they owe
their being, and all that makes it endurable. The service,
the thankfulness, the love which are due to Him, they have
withheld.--_Spurgeon._

[4] We should not marvel at men if they would not think upon
topics which made them unhappy; but albeit there are some
who have suffered frightful depression of spirits in
connection with true religion, yet its general and ultimate
fruit has ever been peace and joy through believing in
Christ Jesus, and even the exceptions could be easily
accounted for. In some melancholy spirits their godliness
is too shallow to make them happy; they breathe so little
of the heavenly air that they are distressed for want of
more. In others the sorrow occasioned by gracious
reflection is but a preliminary and passing stage of grace;
there must be a ploughing before there can be a harvest;
there must be medicine for the disease before health
returns, and the newly-awakened are just in the stage and
the condition of drinking bitter medicine. This will soon
be over, and the results will be most admirable. A great
cloud of witnesses, among whom we joyfully take our place,
bear witness to the fact that the ways of the Lord are ways
of pleasantness. Our deepest joy lies now in knowing God,
and considering Him.--_Spurgeon._

[5] I only wish that those who profess to be practical were
more nearly so, for a practical man will always take more
care of his body than of his coat, certainly; then should
he not take more care of his soul than of the body, which
is but the garment of it? If he were a truly practical man,
he would do that. A practical man will always consider
matters in due proportion; he will not give all his mind to
a cricket-match and neglect his business. And yet how often
your practical man still more greatly errs; he devotes all
his time to money-making, and not a minute to the salvation
of his soul, and its preparation for eternity! Is this
practical? Why, sir, Bedlam itself is guilty of no worse
madness than that! There is not in all your wards a single
maniac who commits a more manifest act of insanity than a
man who spends all his force upon this fleeting life, and
lets the eternal future go by the board.--_Spurgeon._

[6] They are like the bankrupt before the court the other day
who did not keep books. Not he. He did not know how his
affairs stood, and, moreover, he did not want to know; he
did not like his books, and his books did not like him. He
was going to the bad, and he therefore tried to forget it.
They say of the silly ostrich that when she hides her head
in the sand, and does not see her pursuers, she thinks she
is safe; that is the policy of many men. They spread their
sails, and get up the steam, and go with double speed
straight ahead. What, not look at the chart! No, they do
not want to know whether there are rocks and breakers
ahead. Arrest that captain, put him in irons, and find a
sane man to take charge of the vessel. Oh for grace to
arrest that folly which is the captain of your bark, and
put sound sense in command, or else a spiritual shipwreck
is certain.--_Spurgeon._

INCONSIDERATENESS.

i. 3. _My people doth not consider._

+I. Inconsiderateness is one of the commonest of all human characteristics.+[1] +II. While apparently a comparatively harmless thing, it is the source of nearly all the evils by which man is afflicted, and of the sins by which God is grieved and made angry.+--1. "Presumptuous sins" are comparatively rare. 2. Look at some of the evils to which a want of consideration leads in the various spheres of life: educational, domestic, social, commercial, political, religious.[2]

APPLICATION.--1. _Cultivate the habit of considering the issues of various courses of conduct._ We should regard our thoughts, words, and actions as the farmer regards his seeds--as the germs of a future harvest; and we should remember that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." This will lead to a wise caution in regard to the seeds we sow. 2. _Consider the relations in which you now stand to Almighty God._ You _must_ be either a rebel, exposed to His vengeance, or a pardoned child, shielded by His love. Which is it?

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Silly man is like the foolish chickens, though the kite
comes and takes away many of their fellows, yet the rest
continue pecking the ground, never heeding their owner,
never minding their shelter. Death comes and snatches away
one man here, a second there; one before them, another
behind them, and they are killed by death, undone for ever;
yet they who survive take no warning, but persist in their
wicked, ungodly ways (Job. iv. 20, 21).--_Swinnock,_ 1673.

A plough is coming from the far end of a long field, and a
daisy stands nodding, and full of dew-dimples. That furrow
is sure to strike the daisy. It casts its shadow as gaily,
and exhales its gentle breath as freely, and stands as
simple and radiant and expectant as ever; and yet that
crushing furrow, which is turning and turning others in its
course, is drawing near, and in a moment it whirls the
heedless flower with sudden reversal under the sod! And as
is the daisy, with no power of thought, so are ten thousand
thinking sentient flowers of life, blossoming in places of
peril, and yet thinking that no furrow of disaster is
running in toward them--that no iron plough of trouble is
about to overturn them. Sometimes it dimly dawns upon us,
when we see other men's mischiefs and wrongs, that we are
in the same category with them, and that perhaps the storms
which have overtaken them will overtake us also. But it is
only for a moment, for we are artful to cover the ear, and
not listen to the voice that warns us of danger.--_Beecher._

[2] The wounds I might have healed!
The human sorrow and smart!
And yet it never was in my soul
To play so ill a part:
But _evil is wrought by want of thought,
As well as want of heart!_--_Hood._

THINGS TO BE CONSIDERED.

i. 3. _My people doth not consider._

The universe is regulated by fixed laws, by which God preserves and governs all things. Man is endowed with rational powers, intellectual faculties, capable of apprehending these laws, whether they become known to him by revelation or by his own discoveries, and of using them as his guides. His well-being depends upon his harmony with them, and his dignity and bliss on the right application of his mental powers. One of Satan's main stratagems is to endeavour to hinder him from using them aright; to induce him to act without forethought or reflection, and to incite him to act merely on impulse, feeling, or passion.[1] As a result of these artifices, the great mass of mankind live without thought, and are borne in stupid insensibility to the eternal world. Thus God complains of the infatuation of Israel, "My people doth not consider." To consider is to think deliberately, to reflect maturely. There are many subjects to which our consideration should be attentively and diligently given. We should consider--+I. The character and will of God.+ His _words_ should lead us to this. If you see a beautiful picture, or piece of sculpture or mechanism, you naturally direct your thoughts to the artist or mechanist who has produced it. The grandeur of the divine works surrounds you, and ought you not to consider the wondrous Architect of the whole? His _relationship to you_ should induce it. Your existence is derived from Him, and He fashioned you, and bestowed on you all your endowments. He is your Father, your bountiful Preserver. Besides, you are ever in His hand, ever before His eyes, He surrounds you. And He is great, wise, powerful, holy, and just. His love and favour are heaven; His anger and frowns are hell. +II. Ourselves.+ What are we? What our powers? our capabilities? our end and destination? the claims of God? our duties to others? the improvement we should make of the present? the preparation we should make for the future? Are we answering the end of our being? &c. +III. Our spiritual state before God.+ Is it one of ignorance, or of knowledge? folly, or wisdom? guilt, or pardon? condemnation or acceptance? alienation, or sonship and adoption? safety, or imminent peril? Are we heirs of wrath or perdition, or of God and salvation? +IV. The importance of life.+ Life is the seedtime for eternity, the period of probation, the only opportunity of securing eternal blessedness. How short it is, how fragile, how uncertain! How criminal to waste it, to pervert it! &c. +V. The solemnities of death+ (Deut. xxxii. 29). Consider its certainty, its probable nearness, its truly awful character. Try to realise it. Consider if you were now dying, &c.[2] +VI. The great concerns of eternity.+ The judgment-day. Heaven, with its eternal glories; hell, with its everlasting horrors. Eternity itself, how solemn, how overwhelming! How blissful to the saint! how terrific to the sinner! ETERNITY! +VII. That salvation which will fit us for living, dying, and for eternity.+ Provided by the mercy of God, obtained by the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed in the gospel, offered to every sinner, received by simple faith, and which delivers from guilt, pollution, fear, and everlasting wrath. +VIII. Our present duty and interest.+ Men are supposed to care naturally for these. But their care usually relates merely to the body, and the things of time. Consider whether it is not your _duty_ to obey and serve God; whether it is not your _interest_ (1 Tim. iv. 8). +IX. That there is no substitute for religion+ (Jer. ii. 13).

_Application._--Urge consideration upon all present. 1. _Some have never considered._ Now begin. Retire and reflect; weigh and consider these things. 2. _Some have considered occasionally_--in church, or when sick, in the house of bereavement, &c. Cultivate the _habit_ of consideration,[3] and carry into effect the conclusions to which you will inevitably come. 3. _There is hope for all who will consider._ 4. _They are hopeless who will not consider._[4]--_Jabez Burns, D.D., Pulpit Cyclopædia,_ vol. ii. pp. 34-37.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Satan doth his utmost, that sinners may not have any
serious thoughts of the miserable state they are in while
they are under his rule, or hear of anything from others
which might the least unsettle their minds from his
service. Consideration, he knows, is the first step to
repentance. He that doth not consider his ways what they
are, and whither they lead him, is not likely to change
them in haste. Israel stirred not until Moses came, and had
some discourse with them about their woful slavery and the
gracious thoughts of God towards them, and then they begin
to desire to be gone. Pharaoh soon bethought him what
consequence might follow upon him, and cunningly labours to
prevent it by doubling their task. "Ye are idle, ye are
idle, therefore ye say, Let us go, and do sacrifice unto
the Lord. Go therefore and work." Thus Satan is very
jealous of the sinner, afraid every Christian that speaks
to him, or ordinance that he hears, will inveigle him. By
his good-will he should come at neither; no, nor have a
thought of heaven or hell from one end of the week to the
other, and that he may have as few as may be, he keeps him
full-handed with work. The sinner grinds, and he is filling
the hopper that the mill may not stand still. Ah, poor
wretch! was ever slave so looked to? As long as the devil
can keep thee thus, thou art his own sure enough. The
prodigal "came to himself" before he came to his father. He
considered with himself what a starving condition he was
in; his husks were poor meat, and yet he had not enough of
them; and how easily he might mend his commons if he had
but grace to go home and humble himself to his father! Now,
and not till now, he goes.--_Gurnall,_ 1616-1679.

[2] The sand of life
Ebbs fastly to its finish. Yet a little,
And the last fleeting particle will fall
Silent, unseen, unnoticed, unlamented.
Come, then, sad thought, and let us meditate,
While meditate we may. We have now
But a small portion of what men call time
To hold communion.--_H. K. White._

[3] He sat within a silent cave, apart
From men, upon a chair of diamond stone;
Words he had not, companions he had none,
But steadfastly pursued his thoughtful art;
And as he mused he pulled a slender string
Which evermore within his hand he held;
And the dim curtain rose which had concealed
His thoughts, the city of the immortal king:
There, pictured in its solemn pomp, it lay
A glorious country stretching round about,
And through its golden gates passed in and out
Men of all nations, on their heavenly way.
On this he mused, and mused the whole day long,
Feeding his feeble faith till it grew strong.
--_George Craly._

[4] No man is in so much danger as he who thinks there is no
danger. Why, when the bell rings, when the watchman rends
the air with cries of "Fire! _Fire!_ FIRE!" when in every
direction there is the pattering of feet on the sidewalk,
and when the engines come rattling up to the burning house,
one after another the inmates are awakened, and they rush
out; and they are safest that are most terrified, and that
suffer most from a sense of danger. One only remains
behind. He hears the tumult, but it weaves itself into the
shape of dreams, and he seems to be listening to some
parade, and soon the sounds begin to be indistinct in his
ear, and at length they cease to make any impression upon
him. During all this time he is inhaling the deadly gas
with which his apartment has become filled, gradually his
senses are benumbed, and finally he is rendered unconscious
by suffocation. And, in the midst of peril, and the thunder
of excitement, that man who is the least awake, and the
least frightened, is the very man that is most likely to be
burned up.--_Beecher._

RELIGIOUS CONSIDERATION.

i. 3. _My people doth not consider._

In a former discourse we noticed that one of Satan's chief devices was to keep men from consideration, and we referred to a variety of subjects upon which it is important that we should reflect. We now call your attention to _the true character of religious consideration._

+I. It should be serious and earnest.+ The subjects are too solemn and weighty to be hastily dismissed. It must not be a mere cursory survey, a rapid glance at these great concerns, but a careful, deliberate contemplation of them; just as a prisoner about to be tried for a capital offence would consider his defence, or a wrecked mariner how he shall escape a watery grave, or a traveller how to accomplish some momentous journey or voyage. If it be done lightly and hastily, it will not profit us or please God. +II. It should be prayerful.+ The exercise will be irksome to the natural heart. We shall be disposed to give it up, or do it slightingly. The grace of God alone can give the spirit necessary for the right discharge of it. Therefore begin, continue, and follow it out with prayer. +III. It should be pursued in connection with a diligent use of the public means of grace.+ Hearken to the Divine Word as it is read in the sanctuary, and to the preaching of the gospel, Christian conversation, &c. Consideration will not profit us if God's means and ordinances are neglected. All are needful to the soul, as wind, sun, rain, and dew are all needful to the ripening of fruit. +IV. It should be continued and persevering.+ Not too much to devote a portion of every day to it. The first and last moments would be thus profitably exercised,[1] _and it must be followed out._[2]

In conclusion, notice +some reasons why you should consider.+ 1. _Because you have powers to do so._ God made you for this end, that you should consider. In neglecting this, you despise your own souls, you sink to below the level of the brute creation. They do answer the end of their existence, and obey their several instincts. "The ox knoweth his owner." Nearly every creature disposes of its time and means wisely; but an inconsiderate man defaces the faculties within him. 2. _Because it is your duty._ God enjoins it--He urges, expostulates. To neglect it is, therefore, to despise God and rebel against Him. 3. _It is essential to the possession of true religion._ Various are the ways in which God brings man to Himself; by a variety of instruments and means, but none without consideration. Manasseh in prison--Jonah in the belly of the whale--the prodigal in his misery, &c. It is the first great step towards saving religion. 4. _By prudent men, it is never neglected in worldly things._ In entering upon any contract, in buying and selling, in all business engagements, in all secular pursuits. We consider, in reference to the body, our houses, food, and raiment, our families, &c. Are the soul's eternal concerns the only things not deserving of it? 5. _God may compel you to consider._ By bereaving you of the dearest objects of your hearts, by afflicting your bodies, by embittering all earthly good. Is it not better to avoid these corrections, sorrows, and griefs? 6. _You may consider when it is too late._ Perhaps on the verge of eternity, if not in eternity itself. The foolish virgins considered when the cry was heard: the rich man considered too late; the wicked will consider in the great day of Christ's wrath, when they cry to the rocks and hills, &c. The consideration of the lost in eternity will be in vain--will be bitter beyond description--will be everlasting, and as horrible as it is durable. Therefore, consider _now,_ while consideration may yet profit you.--_Jabez Burns, D.D., Pulpit Cyclopædia,_ vol. ii. pp. 37-39.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters
stand between God and your souls (Ps. lxxvii. 6). Often
reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your
heart as you do with your watch--wind it up every morning
by prayer, and at night examine whether it has gone true
all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have
moved swiftly toward heaven. Oh call yourself often to
account; keep your reckonings even, and that is the way to
keep your peace.--_Waters,_ 1696.

[2] The end of all arts and sciences is the practice of them.
And as this is to be confessed in all other arts, so it
cannot be denied in divinity and religion, the practice
whereof doth in excellency surmount the knowledge and
theory, as being the main end whereunto it tends. For to
what purpose do men spend their spirits and tire their wits
in discerning the light of truth, if they do not use the
benefit of it to direct them in all their ways? (Ps.
cxix. 59.)--_Downame,_ 1642.

INIQUITY A BURDEN.

i. 4. _A people laden with iniquity._

_A very surprising description:_ "A people laden with _iniquity._" On account of their punctilious and costly observance of the Mosaic ritual (see vers. 11-15), the Jews imagined that they deserved the commendation of Heaven; but God pronounced them to be "a people laden with iniquity." _Men_ often form very different estimates of the same thing; _e.g.,_ buyer and seller (Prov. xx. 14). There is often as marked a difference between the divine and human estimates of character (Luke xviii. 11; Rev. iii. 17). This is so because God and men judge by different standards; men take into account only their occasional good actions; God judges by that feature of their character which is predominant.[1] So judging, He condemned these most "religious" Jews. What is His estimate of _us?_

_A very instructive description:_ "A people _laden_ with iniquity." The conception is that of a nation that has gone on adding sin to sin, as a man gathering sticks in the forest adds fagot to fagot, until he staggers beneath the load; that which was eagerly sought after becomes an oppressive burden. How true this is! There are many national burdens; despotism, an incapable government, excessive taxation, &c., but the worst and most oppressive of all is a nation's iniquities.

The iniquities of a nation constitute a burden that impede it--1. _In its pursuit of material prosperity._ With what desperate intensity this English nation toils! and for what end? Chiefly that it may accumulate wealth. How greatly it is impeded in this pursuit by its costly government! But how much more by its costly vices! On strong drink alone this nation expends a larger sum than the whole amount both of imperial and local taxation--more than one hundred millions annually! Other vices that are nameless, how much they cost, and what a hindrance they are to the nation in its pursuit of wealth! 2. _In its pursuit of social happiness._ What a crushing burden of sorrow the nation's iniquities impose upon it! 3. _In its pursuit of moral and intellectual improvement._ According to a monkish legend, the church of St. Brannock's, in Braunton, Devon, could not be erected on its original site, because as fast as the builders reared up the walls by day, by night the stones were carried away by invisible hands. A like contest goes on in our own land. The nation's virtues are toiling to elevate the national character morally and intellectually, using as their instruments the school, the church, the press; but as fast as the virtues build, the vices pull down. In all these respects the nation's iniquities constitute its heaviest burden.

_Consequently,_ 1. To give a legal sanction to vices, or to connive at what promotes them, for the sake of certain additions to the national revenues, is suicidal folly of the grossest kind. 2. Those are the truest national benefactors who do most to abate the national iniquities. The palm for truest patriotism must be awarded, not to "active politicians," but to faithful preachers, Sunday-school teachers, temperance reformers, &c. 3. Vices of all kinds should be branded, not only as sins against God, but as treasons against society; and all good men should, in self-defence, as well as in a spirit of enlightened patriotism, band themselves together for their overthrow. That is a mistaken spirituality which leads some good men to leave imperial and local affairs in the hands of the worldly and the vicious. We are bound to labour as well as to pray that God's will may be done "on earth as it is in heaven," and that "His kingdom" may come in our own land.[2]

That which is true of nations is true also of individuals; the heaviest burdens which men can take upon themselves are vices. Vices lay upon men a burden--1. _Of expense._ Even so-called "indulgences" are costly; many professing Christians spend more annually on tobacco than they give to the cause of missions. Vices keep millions poor all their lives.[3] 2. _Of discredit._ 3. _Of sorrow,_ clouding all the present. 4. _Of fear,_ darkening all the future.

There is this terrific feature about the burden of iniquity--there is none so hard to be got rid of. It is hard to inspire a nation or a man with the desire to get rid of it. How nations and men hug their vices, notwithstanding the miseries they entail! It is still harder to accomplish the desire! Society is full of men who stagger and groan under this burden, from which they strive in vain to free themselves. In them the fable of Sinbad, unable to rid himself of the old man who he has taken upon his shoulders, has a melancholy realisation. These men feel themselves to be helpless, and their case would indeed be hopeless were it not that God has laid help for us on One who is mighty to save. Cry to Him, ye burdened ones, and obtain release!

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Men are to be estimated, as Johnson says, by the mass of
character. A block of tin may have a grain of silver, but
still it is tin; and a block of silver may have an alloy of
tin, but still it is silver. The mass of Elijah's character
was excellence; yet he was not without the alloy. The mass
of Jehu's character was base; yet he had a portion of zeal
which was directed by God to great ends.--_Cecil._

[2] As Christians are to think of living for awhile in the
world, it is not unreasonable for them to be affected with
its occurrences and changes. Some plead for a kind of
abstracted and sublimated devotion, which the circumstances
they are placed in by their Creator render equally
impractical and absurd. They are never to notice the
affairs of government, or the measures of administration;
war, or peace; liberty, or slavery; plenty, or
scarcity,--all is to be equally indifferent to them; they
are to leave these carnal and worldly things to others. But
have they not bodies? Have they not families? Is religion
founded on the ruins of humanity? When a man becomes a
Christian, does he cease to be a member of civil society?
Allowing that he be not the owner of the ship, but only a
passenger in it, has he nothing to awaken his concern in
the voyage? If he be only a traveller towards a better
country, is he to be told that because he is at an inn
which he is soon to leave, it should not excite any emotion
in him whether it be invaded by robbers or consumed by
flames before the morning? In the peace thereof ye shall
have peace; and are not Christians to provide things honest
in the sight of all men? Are they to detach themselves
while here from the interests of their fellow-creatures; or
to rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that
weep? Is our religion various affected by public
transactions? Can a Christian, for instance, be indifferent
to the cause of freedom, even on a pious principle? Does
not civil liberty necessarily include religion? and is it
not necessary to the exertions of ministers, and the
spreading of the gospel?--_Jay._

[3] "What are you going to take that for?" said an old labourer
to a young one who was about to drink a glass of ale. "To
make me work," was the reply. "Yes," answered the old man,
"you are right; that is just what it will do for a
certainty: I began to drink ale when I was about your age,
and it has made me work until now!"

TRANSMITTED DEPRAVITY.

i.4. _A seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters._

Transmitted depravity is--+I. A doctrine of Scripture. II. A fact in human life.+[1] _Application_--1. God will not fail to make allowance for it in dealing with us. 2. We should make allowance for it in judging our fellow-men. Our censures should be mingled with compassion. 3. By self-restraint and a life of virtue we should endeavour as far as it is possible to cut off from our children this and entail. A bias towards good may be transmitted as a bias towards evil.[2] 4. In the _education_ of our children, we should be especially solicitous to check and prevent the development of the faults we have transmitted to them, that so, though they are "a seed of evil-doers," they may not themselves be "corrupters."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As colour and favour, and proportion of hair and face and
lineament, and as disease and infirmities of the body, so,
commonly, the liabilities and dispositions and tempers of
the mind and affections become hereditary, and run in the
blood. An evil bird hatches an evil egg, and one viper will
breed a generation of vipers. Most sins pass along from the
father to the son, and so downward, by a kind of lineal
descent, from predecessors to posterity, and that for the
most part with advantage and increase, whole families being
tainted with the special vices of their stock. John the
Baptist speaks of "a generation of vipers;" and if we
should but observe the condition of some families in a long
line of succession, might we not espy here and there even
whole generations of drunkards, and generations of
swearers, and generations of idolaters, and generations of
worldlings, and generations of seditious, and of envious,
and of riotous, and of haughty, and of unclean persons, and
of sinners in other kinds.--_Sanderson,_ 1587-1662.

Original or birth sin is not merely a doctrine in religion,
it is a fact in man's world acknowledged by all, whether
religious or not. Let a man be providing for an unborn
child: in case of distribution of worldly property, he will
take care to bind him by conditions and covenants which
shall guard against his fraudulently helping himself to
that which he is to hold for or to apportion to another. He
never saw that child; he does not know but that child may
be the most pure and perfect of men; but he knows it will
not be safe to put temptation in his way, because he knows
he will be born in sin, and liable to sin, and sure to
commit sin.--_Alford,_ 1810-1871.

[2] While children are the children of Christian parents, as
_they_ were children of Christian parents, the presumptions
are that they will turn out right; not without parental
training, but, that being implied, the presumptions are
that they will, by the force of natural law, tend in that
direction. All the presumptions are that the children of
moral and sensible parents will become moral and sensible.
Only the grossest neglect and the most culpable exposure to
temptation will overrule the presumption and likelihood
that the children of good parents will be good. There may
be opposing influences; there may be temptations and
perversions that shall interrupt the natural course of
things; but this does not invalidate the truth that there
is a great law by which like produces like. And I say that
under this law the Christian parent has a right to this
comforting presumption--"My children have all the chances
in their favour by reason of the moral constitution which
they have inherited."

I know multitudes of families in which the moral element is
hereditary; and it is not surprising that the children of
these families are moral. Moral qualities are as
transmissible as mental traits or physical traits. The same
principle applies to every part of the human constitution.
And where families have been from generation to generation
God-fearing, passion-restraining, truth-telling, and
conscience-obeying, the chances are ninety-nine in every
hundred in favour of the children.--_Beecher._

FORSAKING THE LORD.

i. 4. _They have forsaken the Lord._

How many souls are guilty of forsaking the Lord? They forsake Him by yielding to what are called "little sins."[1] Then they are further removed from Him by habitual wickedness.

+I. This conduct is surprising.+ Is it not most surprising that men should forsake the great God, their Creator and Benefactor? He is all-powerful. He is all-wise. He is all-loving. The soul cannot have a better helper in difficulty, or a truer and wiser friend in sorrow. From the Godward aspect of the case nothing is more surprising than that men should forsake God; but from the manward aspect of things this is not surprising, for man is carnal, and the carnal mind is enmity against God. Satan draws the soul from God. It chases a phantom into the great darkness, and finds in the end that it has wandered from the Infinite Being.

+II. This conduct is criminal.+ We should esteem it criminal to forsake a parent, to forsake a benefactor, to forsake a master. But this offence is small compared to that of the soul when it wanders from the Lord. It exhibits _insubordination._ It rejects the Supreme Moral Ruler of the universe. It exhibits _ingratitude._ It forsakes its Redeemer. It exhibits _folly,_ for away from Christ the soul cannot obtain true rest.

+III. This conduct is inexcusable.+ The soul can give no true reason, or valid excuse, for such unholy conduct. The Lord has dealt bountifully with it, and therefore it has no ground of complaint. He is attractive in character. He is winning in disposition. He is kindly in the discipline of life. He gives holy influences to draw the soul to Himself. Hence man has no excuse for forsaking God.

+IV. This conduct is common.+ The world of humanity has forsaken God. One by one souls are returning, and are being welcomed to Christ and to heaven. Many agencies are at work for the return of souls to the heavenly kingdom. Let us seek to make them efficient. Let us pray that they may be successful. Have you forsaken God?--_J. S. Exell._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There is many a man who evinces, for a time, a steadfast
attention to religion, walking with all care in the path of
God's commandments, &c., but who, after awhile, declines
from spirituality, and is dead, though he may yet have a
name to life. But how does it commonly happen that such a
man falls away from the struggle for salvation? Is it
ordinarily through some one powerful and undisguised
assault that he is turned from the faith, or over one huge
obstacle that he falls not to rise again? Not so. It is
almost invariably through little things. He fails to take
notice of little things, and they accumulate into great. He
allows himself in little things, and thus forms a strong
habit. He relaxes in little things, and thus in time
loosens every bond. Because it is a little thing, he counts
it of little moment, utterly forgetting that millions are
made up of units, that immensity is constituted of atoms.
Because it is only a stone, a pebble, against which his
foot strikes, he makes light of the hindrance; not caring
that he is contracting a habit of stumbling, or of
observing that whenever he trips there must be some
diminution in the speed with which he runs the way of God's
commandments, and that, however slowly, these diminutions
are certainly bringing him to a stand.

The astronomer tells us, that, because they move in a
resisting medium, which perhaps in a million of years
destroys the millionth part of their velocity, the heavenly
bodies will at length cease from their mighty march. May
not, then, the theologian assure us that little roughnesses
in the way, each retarding us, though in an imperceptible
degree, will eventually destroy the onward movement,
however vigorous and direct it may at one time have seemed?
Would to God that we could persuade you of the peril of
little offences! We are not half as much afraid of your
hurting the head against a rock, as of your hurting the
foot against a stone. There is a sort of continued
attrition, resulting from our necessary intercourse with
the world, which of itself deadens the movements of the
soul; there is, moreover, a continued temptation to yield
in little points, under the notion of conciliating; to
indulge in little things, to forego little strictnesses, to
omit little duties; and all with the idea that what looks
so light cannot be of real moment. And by these littles,
thousands, tens of thousands, perish. If they do not come
actually and openly to a stand, they stumble and stumble
on, getting more and more careless, nearer and nearer to
indifference, lowering the Christian standards, suffering
religion to be peeled away by inches, persuading themselves
that they can spare without injury such inconsiderable
bits, and not perceiving that in stripping the bark they
stop the sap.--_Melvill._

MORAL OBDURACY.

i. 5. _Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt
more and more._

+I. The danger of despising the Divine chastisements.+ Heedlessness destroys the very power of taking heed. +II. The terribleness of the peace which is often the portion of the wicked.+ Like the cessation of pain in a sick man, which indicates that mortification has set in, it may be only a sign that God has given them up as irreclaimable (Hos. iv. 17).[1] +III. The folly of expecting sanctification as the inevitable result of suffering.+ Contrary to the expectation of the Universalists, the sufferings of the lost may only confirm them in their impenitence (Rev. ii. 9, 11, 21).[2]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] While God visits us at all, it is a sign He thinks of us.
The present life is not the time for punishment devoid of
mercy. While the debtor is on his way to prison, he may
agree with his adversary, and escape the messenger's hands.
While the sick man feels pain, there is vitality and
activity in his constitution, and he may recover. And
therefore I think it must be a terrible thing to have one's
perdition sealed; to have the process already closed; both
depositions and sentence, and laid up in God's chancery, as
an irreversible doom, and so him who is its object troubled
no further, but allowed the full choice of his
pleasures,--as one permits a man, between sentence and
execution, his choice of viands, in full certainty that
when his hour hath tolled the terrible law will take its
course. How smoothly glides along the boat upon the wide,
unruffled, though most rapid stream that hurries it onward
to the precipice, over which its waters break in thunder!
How calm, and undisturbed by the smallest ripple, slumbers
its unreflecting steersman! Or for one rock in the midst of
its too smooth channel, against which it may be dashed and
whirled about, to shake him from this infatuated sleep! It
is the only hope that remains for him. Woe to him if to the
end his course be pleasant! That end will pay it
all!--_Wiseman._

[2] Afflictions leave the wicked worse, more impenitent,
hardened in sin, and outrageous in their wicked practices.
Every plague on Egypt added to the plague of hardness on
Pharaoh's heart; he that for some while could beg prayers
of Moses for himself, at last comes to that pass that he
threatens to kill him if he come to him any more. Or, what
a prodigious height do we see some come to in sin after
some great sickness or other judgment! Oh, how grossly and
ravenous are they after their prey, when once they got off
their clog and chain from their heels! When physic works
not kindly, it doth not only leave the disease uncured, but
the poison of the physic stays in the body also. Many
appear thus poisoned by their afflictions.--_Gurnall,_
1617-1679.

Trust not in any unsanctified afflictions, as if these
could permanently and really change the condition of your
heart. I have seen the characters of the writing which the
flames had turned into a film of buoyant coal; I have seen
the thread which has been passed through the fire retain,
in its cold grey ashes, the twist it had got in spinning; I
have found every shivered splinter of the flint as hard as
the unbroken stone: and let trials come, in Providence,
sharp as the fire and ponderous as the crushing hammer,
unless a gracious God send along with these something else
than these, bruised, broken, bleeding as thy heart may be,
its nature remains the same.--_Guthrie._

NEEDLESS STRIPES.

i. 9. _Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt
more and more._

That sin should not go unpunished is a law of our own hearts, and it is a law of God. Punishment is intended to be remedial;[1] but remedies that are intended to cure sometimes irritate, and God's remedies may act in two ways--they may make a man better, or they may make him worse.[2] There are those who "kick against the pricks," and as the result of afflictions which their own sins have brought upon them, become desperate. Chastisement is then of no further use, and like a father weary of correcting the child who has proved irreformable, God may say, "Why should," &c. (Hos. iv. 17). Terrible meaning, then, may lurk in these words: they may speak of that state in the sinner's career when his moral malady has become incurable, when the Good Physician feels that His severest and most searching remedies are of no avail, when God withholds His hand, and says, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still."[3] So some here understood these words.

But a more gracious meaning may be contained in them; they may be the first note of that tender Divine invitation which is fully expressed in ver. 18. For mark, God begins here to reason with men,--bids them look at themselves, their situation, the fatal folly of sinning when sin brings its own sure punishment. What need of these disasters? Note: the first aim of the Gospel is to make the sinner understand that sin and its torments are alike of his own seeking; repentance cannot come until he feels this.

These words may then be regarded as implying--+I. That there is no inherent necessity that sinners should continue to be stricken.+ 1. There is no reason _in the nature of God_ (Ezek. xviii. 23). God is love. Love may ordain laws for the general security and safety, the breaking of which may be attended with terrible consequences; but yet God has no delight when these consequences overwhelm the transgressor. He pities even while He punishes, and is on the outlook for the very first beginnings of penitence, that He may stay His hand.[4] 2. There is no reason _in the nature of man._ As man is not impelled by any inherent necessity to sin, but in every sin acts by deliberate choice, so neither is he compelled to repeat his transgressions. Even when he has done wrong, his consciousness testifies that he might have done right, and it is precisely on this account that his conscience condemns him! +II. That a way of avoiding the merited punishment is open.+ We know what that way is. The prophet saw it afar off, and rejoiced (ver. 18; ch. liii. 5, 6). "Why should ye be stricken any more," when Christ has been stricken for you? The way of reconciliation is open: avail yourselves of it with patience, with thankful joy!--But if men despise the offered grace, let them know that when the doom from which they _would not_ be delivered comes crashing down upon them, they will neither have nor merit any pity. Even the Angel of Mercy will answer them, "Ye have destroyed yourselves!"--_W. Baxendale._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] When Almighty God, for the merits of His Son, not of any
ireful mind, but of a loving heart towards us, doth correct
and punish us, He may be likened unto a father; as the
natural father first teacheth his dear beloved child, and
afterwards giveth him warning, and then correcteth him at
last, even so the Eternal God assayeth all manner of ways
with us. First He teacheth us His will through the
preaching of His Word, and giveth us warning. Now if so be
that we will not follow Him, then He beateth us a little
with a rod, with poverty, sickness, or with other
afflictions, which should be esteemed as nothing else but
children's rods, or the wands of correction. If such a rod
will not do any good, and his son waxeth stubborn, then
taketh the father a whip or a stick, and beateth him till
his bones crack; even so, when we wax obstinate, and care
neither for words nor stripes, then sendeth God unto us
more heavy and universal plagues. All this He doth to drive
us unto repentance and amendment of our lives. Now truth it
is, that it is against the father's will to strike his
child; he would much rather do him all the good that ever
he could. Even so certainly, when God sendeth affliction
upon our necks, there lieth hidden under that rod a
fatherly affection. For the peculiar and natural property
of God is to be loving and friendly, to heal, to help, and
to do good to His children, mankind.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.