ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

THE GREAT ASSIZE.

JOHN WESLEY.

How beautiful are the feet of those who are sent by the wise and gracious providence of God, to execute justice on earth, to defend the injured and punish the wrong-doer! Are they not the ministers of God to us for good, the grand supporters of the public tranquillity, the patrons of innocence and virtue, the security of all our temporal blessings? And does not every one of these represent not only an earthly prince, but the Judge of the earth? Him, whose "name is written upon His thigh; King of kings, and Lord of lords?" Oh that all these sons of the right hand of the Most High, may be holy as He is holy! Wise with the wisdom that sitteth by His throne: like Him who is the eternal Wisdom of the Father! No respecter of persons, as He is none; but rendering to every man according to his works: like Him inflexibly, inexorably just, though pitiful and of tender-mercy! So shall they be terrible, indeed, to them that do evil, as not bearing the sword in vain. So shall the laws of our land have their full use and due honor, and the throne of our King be still established in righteousness.

Ye truly honorable men whom God and the king have commissioned, in a lower degree, to administer justice, may not ye be compared to those ministering spirits who will attend the Judge coming in the clouds? May you not like them burn with love to God and man? May you not love righteousness and hate iniquity? May ye all minister in your several spheres (such honor hath God given you also!) to them that shall be heirs of salvation, and to the glory of your great Sovereign! May ye remain the establishers of peace, the blessing and ornaments of your country, the protectors of a guilty land, the guardian angels of all that are round about you!

MODERN INFIDELITY.

ROBERT HALL.

IN those conjunctures which tempt avarice or inflame ambition, when a crime flatters with the prospect of impunity, and the certainty of immense advantage, what is to restrain an atheist from its commis. sion? To say that remorse will deter him is absurd; for remorse, as distinguished from pity, is the sole offspring of religious belief, the extinction of which is the great purpose of the infidel philosophy.

The dread of punishment or infamy from his fellow-creatures will be an equally ineffectual barrier; because crimes are only committed under such circumstances as suggest the hope of concealment; not to say that crimes themselves will soon lose their infamy and their horror under the influence of that system which destroys the sanctity of virtue,

by converting it into a low calculation of worldly interest. Here the sense of an ever-present Ruler, and of an avenging Judge, is of the most awful and indispensable necessity; as it is that alone which impresses on all crimes the character of folly, shows that duty and interest in every instance coincide, and that the most prosperous career of vice, the most brilliant successes of criminality, are but an accumulation of wrath against the day of wrath.

The efforts of infidels to diffuse the principles of infidelity among the common people is another alarming symptom peculiar to the present time. Hume, Bolingbroke, and Gibbon, addressed themselves solely to the more polished classes of the community, and would have thought their refined speculations debased by an attempt to enlist disciples from among the populace. Infidelity has lately grown condescending; bred in the speculations of a daring philosophy, immured at first in the cloisters of the learned, and afterward nursed in the lap of voluptuousness and of courts; having at length reached its full maturity, it boldly ventures to challenge the suffrages of the people, solicits the acquaintance of peasants and mechanics, and seeks to draw whole nations to its standard.

It is not difficult to account for this new state of things. While infidelity was rare, it was employed as the instrument of literary vanity; its wide diffusion having disqualified it for answering that purpose, it is now adopted as the organ of political convulsion. Literary distinction is conferred by the approbation of a few; but the total subversion and overthrow of society demands the concurrence of millions.

THE MINISTRY OF THE SCIENCES.

W. B. STEVENS, D. D.

Ir is pleasant to know that the more perfect a science becomes the more it accords with the Bible. In the youth of every science there is a period when, like the prodigal in the parable, it leaves its father's house, and goes into a far country and wastes its substance in sceptical babbling; but ere long it tires of its husks and its exile, and growing wiser and more reflective, it comes back and asks to be received "as a hired servant" of the God of knowledge; and the God of knowledge, honoring a science which honors him, puts upon it the tokens of a father's love, and permits it to minister before him. And though a surly scepticism, like an "elder son," shall become angry, and refuse to go into the house of wisdom, yet neither the taunts of infidelity nor the scoffs of the profane shall hush one note of that song of gladness which religion shall yet sing over every returning science as it comes

back to its father's house :was lost and is found."

·

"This my son was dead and is alive again

And what a beautiful ministry will that be, when the great sciences of earth shall come like the twelve Apostles of nature, to worship and kneel before him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!" For come they assuredly will. Nothing is more clearly discerned by the observant eye than the fact that, every step which science takes in advance, is a step towards revelation; and this must of necessity be so; for as science is but knowledge, as all human knowledge is confined to God's works, so must a deeper knowledge of God's works become more accordant with God's words, for they have one author, the God of truth. It is only a shallow science, that babbles because it is shallow, that talks with braggart tongue against the Bible. It is only a vain philosophy, puffed up with its own windiness, that rails at the religion of Jesus. It is only the would-be wise men, with a smattering of scientific terms upon their lips, and real ignorance in their minds, who lift up their vaunting voice in the exclamation of a heathen king, Who is the Lord that I should serve him; I know not the Lord, neither will I obey his voice."

[ocr errors]

From "Sermon on the Religious Teachings of Medical Science.”

MAN JUSTIFIED.

MARTIN LUTHER.

HERE again comes forth reason, our reverend mistress, seeming to be marvellously wise, but who indeed is unwise and blind, gainsaying her God, and reproving Him of lying; being furnished with her follies and feeble honor, to wit, the light of nature, free will, the strength of nature; also with the books of the heathen and the doctrines of men, contending that the works of a man not justified, are good works, and not like those of Cain, yea, and so good that he that worketh them is justified by them; that God will have respect, first to the works, then to the worker. Such doctrine now bears the sway everywhere in schools, colleges, monasteries wherein no other saints than Cain was, have rule and authority. Now from this error comes another: they which attribute so much to works, and do not accordingly esteem the worker, and sound justification, go so far that they ascribe all merit and righteousness to works done before justification, making no account of faith, alleging that which James saith, that without works faith is dead. This sentence of the Apostle they do not rightly understand; making but little account of faith, they always stick to works, whereby they think to merit exceedingly, and are persuaded that for their work's sake they shall obtain the favor of God: by this means they continually

disagree with God, showing themselves to be the posterity of Cain. God hath respect unto man, these unto the works of man; God alloweth the work for the sake of him that worketh, these require that for the work's sake the worker may be crowned.

SAFETY OF GOD'S CHILDREN.

MELANCTHON.

OUR pains are best assuaged when something good and beneficial, especially some help toward a happy issue, presents itself. All other topics of consolation, such as men borrow from the unavoidableness of suffering, and the examples of others, bring us no great alleviation. But the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us and raised again, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, offers us help and deliverance, and has manifested this disposition in many declarations. I will now speak of the words, "No man shall pluck My sheep out of My hands." This expression has often raised me up out of the deepest sorrow, and drawn me, as it were, out of hell.

The wisest men in all times have bewailed the great amount of human misery which we see with our eyes before we pass into eternity -diseases, death, want, our own errors by which we bring harm and punishment on ourselves, hostile men, unfaithfulness on the part of those with whom we are closely connected, banishment, abuse, desertion, miserable children, public and domestic strife, wars, murder, and devastation. And since such things appear to befall good and bad without distinction, many wise men have inquired whether there were any Providence, or whether accident brings everything to pass independently of a Divine purpose. But we in the Church know that the first and principal cause of human woe is this, that on account of sin man is made subject to death and other calamity, which is so much more vehement in the Church, because the devil, from hatred toward God, makes fearful assaults on the Church and strives to destroy it utterly. Therefore it is written, "I will put enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman." And Peter says, “Your adversary, the devil, goeth about as a roaring lion and seeketh whom he may devour."

HEAVENLY GLORY.

SPEAK, ye thrones of this world, tell us the glory of Is it comparable to that of the meanest saint in heaven?

A. CARSON.

your dignity.

Speak ye of

being born of the mighty of many generations? No more; the Christian is a son and heir of God. Boast ye of your vast dominions and the power of your empires? Be silent; the Christian is to reign with Christ over all worlds.

Ye conquerors, come forward with all your dazzling glories, that we may view your honors in contrast with those of the Christian. You have triumphed, and now inherit a deathless name. The history of the nations is the record of your exploits; the children of all countries are familiar with your names; learning, and genius, and power unite in raising your temples, and burning incense on your altars. And what can the imagination conceive more glorious on earth? Thrones and kingdoms could not purchase the glory of Wellington. Illustrious man! When we speak of worldly glory, thou standest at the head of the human race. Compared with thine, the glory of kings is but a vulgar glory. Who would not rather enjoy the glories of thy name than sway the most powerful sceptre in the world? Every age produces a multitude of kings; but ages pass away without conferring thy fame on an individual of the human race. Yet all this honor is fading; the glory of the most obscure of the children of God is infinitely to be preferred. The Christian conqueror is to sit down on the throne of Christ, as He has conquered and sat down upon the throne of His Father.

THE FEW CHOSEN.

JOHN BAPTIST MASSILLON.

FOLLOW, from age to age, the history of the just; and see if Lot conformed himself to the habits of Sodom, or if nothing distinguished him from the other inhabitants; if Abraham lived like the rest of his age; if Job resembled the other princes of his nation; if Esther conducted herself, in the court of Ahasuerus, like the other women of that prince; if many widows in Israel resembled Judith; if, among the children of the captivity, it is not said of Tobias alone that he copied not the conduct of his brethren, and that he even fled from the danger of their commerce and society. See, if in those happy ages, when Christians were all saints, they did not shine like stars in the midst of the corrupted nations; and if they served not as a spectacle to angels and men, by the singularity of their lives and manners. If the pagans did not reproach them for their retirement, and shunning of all public theatres, places, and pleasures. If they did not complain that the Christians affected to distinguish themselves in everything from their fellow-citizens; to form a separate people in the midst of the people; to have their particular laws and customs; and if a man from their

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »