ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

by giving them the command both of the purses and consciences of the people; and how entirely it suits and flatters the licentious appetites and passions of mankind at farge, by allowing them every vicious indulgence here, and yet assuring them, on very easy conditions, of final absolution and blessedness, we may readily see the reason why so great a part of the world, especially in the dark ages, were induced to believe and hold fast so pleasing a delusion. At the same time we doubt not that many individuals in popish countries, of the best hearts and morals, have by the force of education and example, and the want of better means of information, been led to believe and to sacredly observe the peculiarities of that apostate church. We might easily account, in a similar manner, for the prevalence of certain dangerous errors in the Protestant world. For instance, how gratifying must it be to those, who are devoted to vicious pleasures and pursuits, and who have long practically defied the threatenings of future punishment, how gratifying to such persons to hear that these threatenings will never be executed, that they have already spent their force upon Jesus Christ, as the head and surety of mankind; in consequence of which the most abandoned sinners are placed on as fair ground, and have the same unconditional promise of everlasting life, with the most exemplary saints. How pleasing to proud and carnal hypocrites is the doctrine, which teaches them to regard certain transient internal feelings, joined with an orthodox belief, as a sure evidence of saving faith, conversion, and fellowship with God; while they are led to view a life of strict virtue and holiness as a comparatively low and needless attainment? How pleasing also to the depraved heart is the opposite idea, that exterior civility, morality, or devotion, without a corresponding sanctified temper of mind, will recommend us to the

final acceptance of Heaven! These and similar schemes of religious falsehood naturally engage the approbation and warm attachment of those, who hate strict practical godliness, because they lend effectual aid to that great effort of our degenerate nature, which aims to reconcile conscience and lust, or the hope of future happiness with the present indulgence of sin. On the whole, it would be easy to show, if time permitted, that all the fashionable errors of the present day are the natural growth as well, as just punishment of its licentious taste and manners. Let us then be humble under a sense of those sottish and dreadful delusions, at which human nature is capable of arriving; let us bless that divine goodness, which has preserved us so far from these evils; let us constantly watch and pray against them, let us beware of that giddy spirit, those itching ears, that extreme liberality and freedom of inquiry, which have ensnared so many; let us prize and search the Scripture, receive its truths into an honest, unbiassed heart, and practise them in a holy, obedient life: this only will keep us stedfast to the end.

N

Naaman the Leper.

2 KINGS V. 10-14.

And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servant came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith unto thee, wash and be clean? Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Fordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

THIS chapter, with a beautiful simplicity peculiar to the sacred writings, relates the story of Naaman the leper. As this man was a favourite of the king of Syria, and possessed high rank and authority under him; his master hearing that there was a prophet in the land of Israel, by whom leprosies were cured, sent Naaman thither to be healed. Accordingly this great General having presented himself in his chariot at the door of Elisha's house, the prophet sent out a messenger to him, direct

ing him to wash seven times in Jordan, and assuring him in this way of immediate recovery! But this mode of proceeding not suiting the pride and preconceived notions of Naaman, he spurned the message, and rode away from the house in great indignation. But the servants, who attended him, more wise in this instance than their master, respectfully expostulated with him on the impropriety of rejecting so simple and easy a prescrip tion. Naaman, not possessing that foolish haughtiness, which disdains the wholesome advice of an inferior, was persuaded to follow the prophet's directions. The consequence was his perfect recovery.

The proud spirit and reasonings, which at first led this man to reject the message of Elisha, influence many at this day to oppose religion, especially the doctrines and prescriptions of the gospel; while his ultimate obedience to the prophet and its salutary effect fitly represent the wisdom and happiness of those, who, in spite of their conceited, but perverted reason, and preconceived prejudices, submit to the merciful directions of Chris tianity,

If we trace the spirit and reasonings of modern atheists and infidels, we find them strikingly correspondent with those of Naaman in the text. What leads many proud philosophists to reject the common belief of a God, or of a great first cause, possessing infinite wisdom and goodness? It is this; they first determine in their own minds what plan of conduct ought to be pursued by a Being perfectly wise, just, and benevolent. By this standard of ideal perfection they try the works of nature and providence; and finding many appearances in both falling short of this standard, and directly condemned by it, they conclude that perfect intelligence and goodness have either no existence, or no concern in the formation and government of the world, or that their in.

fluence is defeated by some malignant principle of equal or superior force. Thus all religion is laid prostrate by human vanity, assuming the right of dictating to infinite wisdom. But how preposterous is this! We all condemn the proud folly of the Syrian Captain in determining beforehand the manner, which the prophet of JEHOVAH ought to observe in curing his leprosy, and in refusing the important blessing offered him, because the mode of conveying it did not answer to his previous expectations. And is not that pride still more foolish and presumptuous, which settles beforehand a system of operation for the Deity; which decides by abstract human reasoning how he ought to have made and to govern the universe; and which concludes that there is no God, or no perfect moral governor, and so no sure foundation for piety and virtue, merely because a few detached appearances do not accord with its own blind but boasted theory? Shall the insect, whose sphere of vision is bounded by a circumference of one or two inches, lay out the plan of a magnificent palace, or censure the skill of the architect on account of some apparent speck or roughness in that part of the building, which he is able to survey? Yet the greatest human or even created mind is far less than such an insect, when compared with the infinite Being, or with the immensity of his works and designs. In short, we are wholly incompetent to decide, by mere speculation, what kind of a world, or what scheme of administration was most worthy of boundless intelligence and goodness.

We may indeed reasonably conclude, that the production of the greatest sum of virtue and happiness must have been intended by an all perfect Creator; but what means would be necessary and best fitted to this end, can be known to us only by fact and experience. Now experience and analogy teach us that many things,

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »