Part 18
I confess, under the Old Testament, in the cxxxix. Psalm, ver. 21, 22. David appeals to God, _do not I hate them, that hate thee?_ and adds, _I hate them with a perfect hatred_. But this need not be construed to signify any malice in his heart against them, as a private person; but his design to fight against them, and suppress them, as a soldier, and a king, because they appeared publicly against God; for he adds, I am grieved at those that rise up against thee, I count them mine enemies. Besides, these persons were of so abandoned a character, that they seem to have had nothing good in them; and he might justly hate them, considered merely as sinners, in the same sense that we must hate ourselves, so far as we are sinful. I might add to all this, that they were cruel and bloody with regard to men, and they spoke wickedly against God, and were God’s professed enemies, ver. 19. and 20. After all, it was much more allowable in David the Jew in the heat of his zeal, to talk thus, than it can be for us, christians; while we read the words of our Saviour, Mat. v. 43, 44, 45. We _have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust_: While we consider also in what a divine manner our Lord Jesus has exemplified his own precept, and has loved many of his enemies, so as to die for them; and manifested so much natural affection, even for the young sinner in my text, because there were some good qualities found in him.
I will not say therefore within myself concerning any man, “I hate him utterly, and abhor him in all respects, because he has not true holiness:” but I will look upon him, and consider whether there may not be some accomplishment in him, some moral virtue, some valuable talent, some natural or acquired excellency; and I will not neglect to pay due esteem to every deserving quality, wheresoever I find it. It is a piece of honour due to God our Creator, to observe the various signatures of his wisdom, that he has impressed upon his creatures, and the overflowing treasures of his goodness, which he has distributed among the works of his hands.
Thus I may very justly love a man, for whom, in the vulgar sense, I have no charity; that is, such a one as I believe to be in a state of sin and death, and have no present hope of his salvation. How could holy parents fulfil their duties of affection to their wicked children? or pious children pay due respect to sinful parents? How could a believer fulfil the law of love to an unbelieving brother, or a dearer relative, if we ought to admit of no love to persons that are in a state of enmity to God? How can we be followers of God as dear children, if we are not kind to the unthankful, and to the evil; Luke vi. 37. To those who have nothing of serious religion in them; Gal. vi. 10. “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.”
As God has a peculiar love for his own children, for those who are renewed, and sanctified, and formed into his likeness; so ought we to love all the saints with a peculiar kind of affection, and take special delight in them, we should express a love of intimate fellowship unto them; a love of divine friendship, of spiritual pleasure, and hearty communion; rejoicing together with them in God our common Father, in Christ Jesus our common Head, and in the hope of our common Salvation; and we should ever be ready, in the first place, to assist and support them, and supply their wants according to the calls of providence. But sinners also must have some share in our love.
3d Remark. How different is the special love of God, from the natural love of man! God seeth not as man seeth; he appoints not persons to eternal life, because of some agreeable accomplishments which they possess in this life. Jesus Christ himself, considered as God, did not bestow his special and saving love upon that young Israelite, whom, as man, he could not help loving. So Samuel was sent to chuse a king for the Jews, among the sons of Jesse; 1 Sam. xvi. 6. When he saw Eliab appear, he looked on him, and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him; but the Lord said to Samuel, ver. 7. Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.” Old Jesse, it may be, was ready to look upon his eldest son too, being pleased with his tall and comely figure, and to say within himself, “It is a pity that Eliab was not made a king.” But David was God’s beloved.
If the question were put to us, Who are the persons that are fit to stand in the court of God above, to be the inhabitants and ornaments of heaven? We should be ready to say, the beautiful and the ingenious, the souls of a sweet disposition, and the persons of graceful behaviour. We are tempted to think that the well-born, the wise, the affable, and the well-accomplished, should all be made saints, and the favourites of God; but he sees with other eyes, he determines his special love by other principles, and makes another sort of distinction by his sovereign saving grace, unguided and unallured by the merit of man. 1 Cor. i. 26, 27, 28, 29. “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen: yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.”
What would become of the morose, the rough natural tempers, if God loved none but such as were lovely in our eyes? What would become of all the deformed and the most uncomely pieces of human nature; the clownish, and the weak, and base things of this world, if God should chuse none but the fair, and the well-bred, the well-figured, and the honourable? If this were the rule of his conduct, what dismal distinction would light upon thousands, and some good men too, who must wear in their faces, in this world, the dreadful sentence of their damnation in the next? But the great and sovereign God acts by other measures; he lays down to himself divine rules, that are to us unknown, and must be for ever unsearchable.
Some, who are endowed with native excellencies, he adorns with heavenly graces, and they shine as jewels set in rings of gold: Others, who have scarce any thing in them amiable by nature, are the objects of divine love, and made vessels of grace; though these do never make so charming an appearance among men. Moses the meek and obliging, Jonah the rough and the peevish, were both beloved of God; for he made saints and prophets of them. Abraham the rich, and Sarah the beautiful; Peter the poor fisherman, and Paul the man of mean aspect, and contemptible figure; were all beloved of God, and made heirs of eternal Life. The conduct of the great God, in this matter, is so various, and his reasons so sublime and impenetrable, that it is in vain for us to attempt to trace out his rules of action.
Sometimes he chuses a man of great intellectual powers, and sets an invisible mark of divine love upon him: At another time he takes pleasure to pour contempt on all the pride of human reason, by chusing a foolish man, and making him an humble believer. Sometimes he exalts the man of natural virtue into a saint; and again, he spreads shame and confusion over all our own pretended righteousnesses and vain confidence, by culling out, here and there, a profane wretch, and converting him to faith and holiness, and in the mean time he leaves some that are sober, and have many human virtues, and good appearances, to perish with the Pharisee and the hypocrite for ever, in their pride and self-righteousness. Jesus, the Man, looked upon this pretty youth that was well-born, sober, and virtuous, and he loved him; but the eternal God chose him not for a saint, for he suffered him to run madding after his many possessions, and to despise heaven. Here it becomes us to be silent and adore. O the depths of divine counsel! O the awful and glorious sovereignty of the grace of God, that could pass by so desirable a person, whom the man Jesus could not look upon without pity and love! _How unsearchable are his ways, and his judgments past finding out_; Rom. xi. 33.
Now though this be a very painful and tremendous meditation, yet there is an excellent use to be made of it. No man should despair of salvation, and the love of God, how mean and despicable soever his appearance be among men, or how remote soever from all that we call lovely. Let him forsake all sin and be happy for ever. Nor should the most amiable of creatures, in the natural or civil world, flatter themselves that they are upon that account beloved of God, and shall certainly be partakers of eternal blessings in the world of glory. Let them follow Christ, and be saved.
But I would dwell upon this last thought a little, and therefore I shall propose my fourth remark in this manner.
4th Remark. Many lovely accomplishments, joined together, will not carry a natural man to heaven. The finest composition of beauty and youth, strength and riches, and all this embellished with many forms of godliness, and some shining outward virtues, will not obtain eternal life. The man that is thus qualified and adorned, if he prefers earth to heaven, and loves the possessions of this world, above spiritual treasures, abides in a state of condemnation and death. Grace is not a flower that grows in the field of nature, nor is it made by the heart of man: it is a divine seed; it is planted in our hearts by the Spirit of God; John i. 13. The saints _are born not of blood_; that is, by natural generation; _nor of the will of the flesh_, that is, by our own powers of nature; _nor of the will of man_; that is, by the influence that others have over us; _but of God_.
A man may set himself to work awhile for the good of his soul, and yet may miss of salvation: _Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it_; Mat. vii. 14. And _many which seek to enter in, shall not be able_; Luke xiii. 24, They seek, but not with all their might: they are not willing to forsake all for heaven, and therefore they obtain it not: they seek, perhaps, with diligence for a season, and give out before they have attained; they tire, and grow weary, and lose the prize: they seek, but not in God’s appointed way, and according to the rules of the gospel; and no wonder if their labour be vain; for _he that striveth is not crowned, except he strive lawfully_; 2 Tim. ii. 5. And this was the case of the rich young man; he sought eternal life, but not with all his soul, for he could not take up his cross and follow Christ; he sought the kingdom of God for a season; but when he came to the hard work of self-denial, he would not venture into that thorny path, but turned back, and _went away sorrowful_. He sought justification and peace with God, but not in a right way; for being _ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish his own, he fell short of the righteousness of God_, and attained it not; Rom. x. 3. He loved heaven well, but he loved this earth better: he chose his portion and happiness in this world, and lost his soul.
The eye of God, our Judge, is sharp and severe; he sees the hidden vices of the mind, through all the fairest veils of nature, and the brightest dress of outward virtue. We may cheat others with the disguises of religion, and allure the love of the best of christians: we may cheat ourselves by these fair appearances, and entertain a fond opinion of our own saintship; but the great God can never be imposed upon at this rate. He knows well what is lovely and excellent in his creatures; but when he seats himself upon his throne of judgment, all their shining ornaments of body and mind are blemished, are darkened, are lost in his eyes, if he discovers a secret love to sin in the heart. Where the love of this world prevails, it over-balances all other good qualities, though ever so valuable in themselves, and though they may create love in every beholder, yet the love of God is not to be purchased, nor persuaded, contrary to his own settled and eternal rules of judgment. _If any man love this world, the love of the Father is not in him_; 1 John ii. 15. nor does the Father love him. The prince of devils has many noble endowments, and intellectual glories; the natural powers of an angel remained still with him; but his inward enmity to God, confines him for ever to hell: and in the sense of the apostle James, _Whosoever will be a friend to the world, is the enemy of God_; James iv. 4, though in many other excellencies he might be a fellow for angels.
Wise and happy is that soul who fears to build his hopes of heaven upon the sand, upon a shining but feeble foundation. Wise and happy is he who does not mistake the glories of nature for divine grace; who does not satisfy himself to seek a little after heaven, but resolves to find it, and parts with all for the knowledge and the love of Christ. While others, who pretend to much wisdom, raise their vain expectations of happiness, upon a few natural accomplishments, and devout wishes, this man pursues the work upon diviner principles, and brings it to perfection: and when others, at the great day of decision, meet with shame and terrible disappointment, he shall be applauded, in the face of angels, as the only wise man, and shall find himself for ever happy.
The 5th, and last remark, is this; how dangerous a snare is great riches! They become a sore temptation (even to persons well-inclined) to tie their souls fast to this world, and persuade them to neglect God, and Christ, and heaven. This was the case of the young man in my text; _he went away_ from our Lord melancholy and grieved, that he could not join Christ and the world together: he _had great possessions_, and therefore he refused to be a follower of Christ, under the poor and mean circumstances of his appearance among men; see verses 22, 23. And our Lord himself makes this same remark, _How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?_ that is, as he explains it in the following verse, because it is so hard, for those who possess great riches, not to love them too well, and to trust in them as their chief good.
How many lovely qualities are here spoiled at once, by the love of this world! and a man that was not far from the kingdom of God, divided from Christ, and driven to a fatal distance from heaven, by this dangerous interposing snare! A wretched chain, though it was a golden one, that withheld his soul from the embraces of his Saviour. He was young, he was modest and humble, he had a desire to be saved, and he went far in the outward forms of godliness; _all these commands_, said he, _have I kept from my youth_, or childhood; and he had a mind to follow Christ too: But Jesus was poor, and his followers must take up their cross, and share in his poverty. This was the parting point; this was the bar to his salvation; he was _almost a christian_, but his riches prevented him from being _altogether so_. O fatal wealth, and foolish possessor!
It became our blessed Lord, the heir of all things to divest himself of wealth and grandeur, and to renounce all the pomp and glittering equipage of this world, when he came to introduce a religion so spiritual and so refined, as the gospel was: and it became him to put such a test as this to such as pretended to be his disciples; whether they durst venture to exchange the present world, and the visible enjoyments of it, for glories future and invisible? It was proper he should try whether they could deny themselves, and become poor for his sake, who made himself poor for their sakes, and promised them unknown treasures in heaven. But the test proved too severe, and the gate too strait for this young man, with all the bulk of his estate to enter in at it.
Well might the apostle teach Timothy, the young preacher, to _charge them that are rich in this world, not to trust in uncertain riches, but to do good_ to the poor, to _distribute_, to the needy, that they _might lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come_; 1 Tim. vi. 17, &c. because men are so ready to think that a store of gold is a good foundation to trust in for happiness here, and forget hereafter. Well might he admonish them _to lay hold on eternal life_, because they are so ready to hold their money fast, though they let eternal life go. They that have much, are often greedy of more, and thereby _fall into temptations and snares, into many foolish and hurtful lusts, that drown men in perdition: for the love of money is the root of all evil; which, while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith_, have forsaken Christ, _and pierced themselves through with many sorrows_; ver. 9, 10.
Shall I take occasion here to put the rich in mind of their danger, and intreat them to watch against the shining allurement that besets them around? Have a care lest your eyes be dazzled with this glittering world, and blinded to the gospel of Christ: and shall I comfort the poor, by telling them their privilege, how much more free they are from this golden snare? You have been used to meanness and poverty, therefore we may hope that the plainness and simplicity of the gospel will not offend you: that the doctrine of the cross, and the poverty of the Man of Nazareth, who hung upon it for your sakes, will not be a scandal to your thoughts, nor a bar to your faith. In the days of Christ, the _poor received the gospel; and not many rich, and not many mighty_, have in any age been the followers of a despised Jesus.
O may the rich in this assembly be led by divine grace to break through all their temptations, and attend their Saviour, though his name, and his disciples here on earth be surrounded with all the forms of contempt and poverty! And may the meaner hearers improve their advantage, and take up their cross, and follow their Lord, till they are all joined to the glorious assembly above, and made possessors of everlasting riches! _Amen._
HYMN FOR SERMON VII. _A Hopeful Youth falling short of Heaven._
Must all the charms of nature then, So hopeless to salvation prove? Can hell demand, can heaven condemn The man whom Jesus deigns to love?
The man, who sought the ways of truth, Paid friends and neighbours all their due A modest, sober, lovely youth, And thought he wanted nothing now?
But mark the change: thus spake the Lord Come part with earth for heaven to-day: The youth astonished at the word, In silent sadness went his way.
Poor virtues, that be boasted so, This test unable to endure, Let Christ, and grace, and glory go, To make his land and money sure!
Ah foolish choice of treasurer here! Ah fatal love of tempting gold! Must this base world be bought so dear! And life and heaven so cheaply sold?
In vain the charms of nature shine, If this vile passion governs me: Transform my soul, O love divine! And make me part with all for thee.
SERMON VIII. _A Hopeful Youth falling Short of Heaven._ MARK x. 21.—Then Jesus beholding him, loved him. THE SECOND PART.
When our Saviour dwelt upon earth, he found a young man in the coasts of Judea, that preferred the riches of this world to all the treasures of heaven; and yet Jesus cast an eye of love upon him.
In the foregoing discourse upon these words, it has been considered what sort of love Christ could shew to a man, whose soul was so vain and carnal; and what good qualities appeared in this youth, that could engage the love of our Saviour, notwithstanding the guilt of his covetousness; and some remarks were made upon a man so lovely, and so beloved of Christ.
_First_, The love which our Saviour manifested to this person, was not properly a divine love, for that would have changed his nature, and refined his carnal desires, and conferred grace and salvation upon him: We must understand it therefore only in this sense, that the affections of his human nature were drawn out towards something that was valuable and excellent in this young Israelite: He approved of those accomplishments which he beheld in him, and felt a sort of complacency in his person and character. He had an innocent and human desire of his welfare, he gave him divine instructions for this end, and pitied him heartily that he was so far gone in the love of the world, as to neglect the offer of heaven.