Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

contempt of God. his Maker, and not be crushed in the struggle? Hear then, and believe, and obey the gospel. Cast your perishing souls upon the mercies of your God and Saviour! Repent and be saved! The blood of Christ can yet atone for your sin, and his Spirit yet rescue you from its power! But time presses. Death sweeps away his weekly victims; and ere another sabbath dawns, may stretch you among their number!

Can a man contend with

66

Now then is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." Now "let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon !"

70

SERMON V.

THE VALUE OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.

PROVERBS VI. 20-23.

"MY SON, KEEP THY FATHER'S COMMANDMENT, AND FORSAKE NOT THE LAW OF THY MOTHER: BIND THEM CONTINUALLY UPON THINE HEART, AND TIE THEM ABOUT THY NECK; WHEN THOU GOEST, IT SHALL LEAD THEE; WHEN THOU SLEEPEST, IT SHALL KEEP THEE; AND WHEN THOU AWAKEST, IT SHALL TALK WITH THEE. FOR THE COMMANDMENT IS A LAMP, AND THE LAW IS LIGHT; AND REPROOFS OF INSTRUCTION ARE THE WAY OF LIFE."

66

THERE is no spectacle more melancholy than that of ignorance. 'My people perish for lack of knowledge." Inferior creatures attain by instinct the skill and the wisdom needful to exercise all their faculties, and to secure the attainment of all the good which they are capacitated to receive; but man attains this wisdom by slow and painful degrees. Sin has shed a blight alike over his understanding and his heart. Beneath this curse, that which is baneful and deadly grows without effort; that which is healthful and nutritious, is the result of incessant culture and of heavenly interference. The world is at this moment keenly

susceptible of the value of knowledge in reference to the relations of social life. The thirst for knowledge has become general. Philosophy, and law, and political economy, are become subjects of ardent inquiry to thousands, who have hitherto been contented to live amidst their practical results. The mind of man is formed for knowledge, and "that the soul be without knowledge, is not good." I rejoice in its progress and culture. But in our natural condition, we are prone to abuse our best blessings. It was said, I think, by Bishop Newton, of the sceptical Lord Bolingbroke, "that while God had given him rare talents, the devil had directed their application." If knowledge be not consecrated to God, it may but enlarge the capacity for mischief and ruin; it may inflate pride, and not augment humility; it may aggravate selfishness, and not enlarge charity; it may multiply the elements of anarchy, and not give vigour to the ties which are intended to link us to God and to our fellow-creatures. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding." When knowledge connects itself with God, it is then to the soul as a light from heaven, which guides us to the highest end of our existence, and prepares us for endless glory. When it limits its efforts to the relations of this world, it proves but as a meteor flame, which dazzles and mis

leads even to destruction.

Science without

Christianity is a vain and feverish struggle with evils, which aggravate as we advance. The wisdom which is derived from revelation, is the unfolding of high and effective succours, which enable us successfully to grapple with the most tremendous calamities by which we can possibly be assailed. "I know," said one of its earliest and inspired promulgators, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." "Those things which were gain to me, those I count loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."

The knowledge to which the apostle refers, I conceive to be the same knowledge with that to which the text refers. The man who uttered these proverbs, has emphatically taught us, that the result of all other knowledge, of all knowledge which conducts away from God, is vanity and vexation of spirit. "Rejoice, O young man,” he says, "in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." If knowledge prepare not for this judgment, it misapplies all its power. Man is a dependent creature, and

hastening to a higher world; and any wisdom which hides this dependence and this responsibility, may retard, but cannot advance him towards the point of felicity. The commandment and the law, which illuminate and save, came then from heaven, and conduct to heaven. "These reproofs of instruction" are to the children of God "the way of life."

I desire from the words of the text to direct more especially your attention to the three following particulars :

I. THE NATURE OF THE COMMANDMENT

TO WHICH THE WISE MAN REFERS.

II. THE METHOD IN WHICH HE DIRECTS US TO KEEP IT. And,

III. THE CERTAIN

BLESSINGS WHICH IT

WILL THEN CONFER. May the Spirit of truth and love guide us effectually to their everlasting attainment!

I. Let us first consider briefly THE NATURE OF THE COMMANDMENT to which the wise man here alludes. "My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother." "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light." This is evidently the same law which David his father had before

contemplated. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening

« VorigeDoorgaan »