cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease;" and there is but very little reason to expect, that these seasons will be much altered in the time of the millennium. For if summer and winter, cold and heat, should be much varied, seed-time and harvest would probably cease, which would involve the world in distress, if not in ruin. It is mere fancy that leads many to suppose, that all the natural evils of life will be removed, and perfect prosperity, ease, and affluence will universally prevail. If men will not then be perfectly holy, they will need natural evils to try and purify their hearts. For imperfectly holy creatures cannot bear perfect prosperity and happiness. But mankind will be sufficiently happy in the present state, when liberty, peace, and harmony, shall flow from universal piety. Pure and universal religion will be the supreme glory and felicity of the peaceful reign of the Prince of Peace. All men both good and bad appear greatly pleased with the prospect of a thousand happy years; but all the unholy will be as much disappointed at Christ's coming in his glorious kingdom, as the Jews were at his coming in the flesh. 3. If God will remove the obstacles which still lie in the way of the latter-day glory of Christ in the manner that has been mentioned, then good men have a great deal to do, to promote this great and good design. Their work will probably become more and more difficult and dangerous, as the event draws nearer and nearer. For as the nature of it will be better and better understood, opposition to it will become stronger and stronger. How many of the Jews were highly pleased with Christ as the promised Messiah, before they understood his holy and benevolent purpose in coming into the world! but as soon as they understood it, they turned into bitter and mortal enemies to him. So notwithstanding the great zeal that all denominations of men and of christians are manifesting in favor of the universal spread of the gospel, as preparing the way for the glorious millennium, it is to be expected, by and by, they will have juster notions of that great event, and realize that it will be death to all their selfish and worldly hopes; and when they realize this, they will naturally oppose it with all their hearts. And when the tyrannical and idolatrous kingdoms of the world see their darling objects at stake, they will not be so ready to admit the heralds of the gospel among them, and it will not be so safe for them to go. And when the ene mies of Christ, who now join with his friends in promoting his cause, leave them and oppose them, they will have greater and more formidable difficulties and dangers to surmount, which will call for more courage, more resolution, more zeal, and more laborious exertions. It is but a small thing to afford pecuniary aid to the cause of Christ, in comparison with other things which they will have to do, in order to promote it. But, 4. It appears from what has been said, that christians have great encouragement to exert themselves vigorously and wisely, in preparing the way for the glorious reign of Christ. God will be with them, while they are with him. He has pledged his faithfulness to remove all obstacles out of the way, and he is faithful and powerful, who has promised. And he will make the kingdom as great, and glorious, and happy, as any can anticipate. Let his friends, then, be vigorous, and prepare to meet and overcome all opposition. But let them not lean to their own understanding in choosing the means of promoting his cause. Here christians have greatly failed. They have sincerely, but unwisely, adopted measures which have proved injurious to the cause they meant to promote. Christians early formed larger and larger unions, in order to give them more courage and strength to oppose the enemies of Christ, and in that way to promote his cause; and persisted in such measures till they were all united under one bishop or universal head, whom they styled their father, or pope. But their self-created union proved a source of the greatest evils to the church which it ever suffered. And notwithstanding this alarming example before their eyes, some of the most pious, most learned, and most influential ministers and christians, are at this day forming plans to bring about the same unscriptural and unwise union in all the churches in New England. And they are professedly doing it to promote the spread of the gospel, and the prosperity and enlargement of the kingdom of Christ. This makes me say, that christians should not lean to their own understanding in adopting measures to hasten the latter-day glory of the church. Such ecclesiastical combinations are one of the great obstacle's in the way of Christ's coming in his glory, and must be removed to prepare the way for him. But christians cannot do too much, by their property, by their orthodoxy, by their contending earnestly for the faith, by their spreading truth, by their opposing error, and by their prayers for the prosperity of the church and the coming of Christ in his millennial glory. 5. This subject calls upon all to rejoice in what God has done and is doing, by the instrumentality of man, to fill the earth with his glory, under the reign of the Prince of Peace. He has been governing the world from the beginning to this day, in favor of Christ and his cause. He has awakened an extraordinary attention to, and zeal for the spread of the gospel, and the removal of the great obstacles which oppose these most desirable objects. If we have cause to be thankful for our lives, for our health, for our prosperity, for our liberty, for our religious advantages, for the increase of our nation, for the success of the gospel at home and abroad, and for the general peace and harmony among the nations of the earth, the principal reason is, that all these public and private, civil and religious blessings, enable us to employ them in the service of God, and for the promotion of Christ's kingdom. In this view, our obligations of gratitude and praise to God are extremely strong. And unless our gratitude and praise flow from these motives, they will be offensive to God. "I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." SERMON XXII. GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO IMPROVE THEIR PRIVILEGES. ANNUAL THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 23, 1820. FOR unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have THESE words are immediately connected with the preceding parable of the talents, in which our Saviour represents a man who was about travelling into a far country, as calling his servants to him and giving them the charge of his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. He that received five talents employed them in his master's service and doubled them; and he that received two talents was equally faithful and successful; but he that received only one talent went and digged in the earth and buried it. After a long time the lord of those servants returned, and called them to an account. The first, giving account of doubling his five talents, was approved and rewarded; and the second, giving account of doubling his two talents, was likewise approved and rewarded; but after the third had confessed his hiding and neglecting his talent, and the motives of his conduct, his lord said, "Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him who hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." This parable applies to all men, who are the servants of God, who receive all their blessings from him, and who are accountable to him for his favors. The meaning of the parable is very plain and obvious. By every one that hath, is meant every one that faithfully improves his talents; and by every one that hath not, is meant every one that hides or abuses his talents; and by the general assertion is meant, that God will increase or diminish his favors, accordingly as men improve or abuse them. The truth which now falls under our consideration is, That if men faithfully improve the blessings which they have received from God, they have reason to expect farther tokens of his favor. I shall, I. Consider what is implied in men's faithfully improving divine blessings. And, II. Show that if they do faithfully improve them, they may reasonably expect to receive farther tokens of divine favor. I. Let us consider what is implied in men's faithfully improving divine blessings. 1. This implies their acknowledging that all their favors come from God. The faithful servants acknowledged that they had received all their talents from the hand of their master. And men, who are the creatures of God, ought to acknowledge that they have received all their blessings from his hand. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Men enjoy no favor but what they have received from their Maker. The apostle James says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He is the source of all the good diffused through the universe. But mankind in general are far from realizing and acknowledging the hand which supplies their wants and daily loads them with benefits. They often feel and express a spirit of independence, and act as though they were not indebted to God for any of their common and special enjoyments. Hence the apostle demands of the stupid and self-sufficient, "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" Men will certainly abuse every blessing which they do not consider and acknowledge as a divine favor; and therefore they must acknowledge that all their blessings come from God, in order to improve them faithfully. God employs so many secondary causes in bestowing blessings upon mankind, that they are extremely apt to overlook the primary and supreme Cause from whence they flow. But so long as they disregard the hand of the Giver, they will certainly despise and abuse his gifts. If they would faithfully improve the bounties of Heaven, they must realize and acknowledge God to be the VOL. II. 40 |