see not every thing as springing from the sovereign grace of God, and given to Christ for us, and received from Christ through the exercise of faith: verily, so miserably defective are the most of us in the knowledge of these things, that the Samaritans themselves had almost as good a discernment of them as we.] 3. It has the work of redemption for its great influential motive— ["Ye shall fear the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched-out arm." Throughout all the Old Testament, the deliverance. from Egypt is urged as the chief incentive to serve and glorify God. Yet what was that, in comparison of the redemption vouchfased to us through the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? This is the substance, of which the redemption from Egypt was the mere shadow. And it is from the consideration of this stupendous work that we are exhorted to "yield up ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord." It is "because Christ has bought us with a price, that we are called to glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his." See the saints in heaven: even there are they actuated in all their services by a sense of redeeming lovet: much more are we on earth induced by this wonderful mystery to "live to Him, who died for us, and rose again"!"] 4. It has holiness, real and universal holiness, for its end [Not even the salvation of men from perdition is so much the end of all religion as the saving of them from sin. It was in the latter view, rather than the former, that the very name of Jesus was given to our blessed Lord. He came to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." This also, like all the foregoing characters of true religion, is specified in the passage before us: "The statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore." And to this agrees the testimony of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us- -that, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, we might serve him q ver. 36. s 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 1 Pet. i. 17—19. u Rom. xiv. 7-9. y Tit. ii. 14. r Rom. xii. 1. t Rev. v. 9, 10. x Matt. i. 21. z ver. 37. without fear, in righteousness and holiness before him, all the days of our life." Now, from hence we may see how far we are possessed of true religion: for, if we desire not holiness as our chief aim, and as that which alone can render heaven itself desirable, we have yet to learn what are the first principles of true religion. Satan himself would gladly be restored to his original happiness in heaven: but he has no desire to be "renewed in the spirit of his mind, and to be created anew, after the divine image, in righteousness and true holiness"." These are exclusively the desires of a Christian mind; and in every regenerate soul under heaven are they paramount and predominant. There is not a Christian in the universe who does not desire to become "holy, as God himself is holy," and "perfect, even as his Father which is in heaven is perfect."] And now, by way of IMPROVEMENT, 1. I will call you to humiliation— [Methinks the Prophet Isaiah furnishes me with the most appropriate address that can possibly be delivered to you: "Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness!" Here your Christian profession is acknowledged: and here, alas! is your Christian practice described. For who amongst us has devoted himself to God with that entireness of heart and life which the very name of Christian implies? I must indeed warn you, that "ye cannot serve two masters, who are so opposed to each other as God and the world are. Το whichever of them you adhere, you must, of necessity, despise the other: ye cannot serve God and mammond." This is not the warning of an enthusiast who is carried to excess by an heated imagination, but the warning of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who will confirm it by his judgment at the last day. And if this be true, what have you been, but despisers of God, whilst you have been professing to reverence and serve him? Let a sense of this humble you in the dust: and remember, that, if ever you would serve God acceptably, every rival must be put away, and HE alone must reign in your heart.] 2. I call you to decision [What is the determination which I would wish you all to form? It is that which the Prophet Micah so well inculcates: "All people will walk every one in the name of his a Luke i. 67-69, 74, 75. b Eph. iv. 23, 24. d Matt. vi. 24. God; and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God, for ever and ever." Yes; "walk in the name of your incarnate God," whose name you bear: and let it be seen "whose you are, and whom you serve." Do this at all events, without compromising the matter, or "halting between two opinions." "If Baal be God, follow him: but if the Lord be God, then follow him." Yes, and "follow him fully too:" and if you are called to bear a cross for him, stay not till it is laid upon you by necessity; but "take it up willingly, and follow him":" "follow him without the camp, bearing his reproach;" and, whatever be the cross laid upon you, rejoice, and "glory in it, for his sake." This is the Bible standard. Attempt not to lower it. Aspire after a full conformity to it. Your Lord well deserves this at your hands. It was not by measure that he expressed love to you. There was nothing which he did not forego for you; nothing which he did not sustain for you. Walk ye, then, in his steps; and have no other standard than this, to "love him as he has loved you," and to serve him as he has served you. Whatever he did for your salvation, that be ye ready to do for his honour. And whatever attainments ye have made, still endeavour to advance, "walking on" with ever-increasing zeal, "forgetting what is behind, and pressing forward to that which is before, till the prize of your high calling is awarded to you'," and you rest for ever in the bosom of your God.] HEZEKIAH DESTROYS THE BRASEN SERPENT. 2 Kings xviii. 4. He brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. WE too often see the children of godly parents turning aside from the principles in which they have been educated, and deserting the paths which parental piety has marked out for them. Here we behold a youth, whose father was branded with a special mark of infamy on account of his numerous and aggravated impieties, shining with a brighter lustre a 2 Chron. xxviii. than any other of the kings of Judah'. No sooner did he come to the throne of his father than he set himself to counteract all the evil which his father had done. At the early age of twenty-five he commenced a reformation, which, for the time at least, was attended with the happiest effects. "He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made." It seems that the veneration in which that memorial of God's mercy had been held, had degenerated into the grossest superstition. Where the brasen serpent had been preserved for so long a period, we are not informed. Had it been placed within the sanctuary, with the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, being concealed from the view both of the people and the priests, it would not have become an object of idolatrous regard. But it is not to be wondered at, that, when idols of every kind were multiplied in the land, this, which as a memorial of God's mercy was really entitled to most affectionate respect, should have divine honours paid to it. The use which was made of it by the Jewish people naturally leads me to shew, How prone men are to superstition: whilst the zeal of Hezekiah in destroying it, will properly afford me an occasion yet further to shew, How earnestly we ought, all of us according to our ability, to counteract the superstition that is around us. Observe then, I. How prone men are to superstition Superstition, I am aware, may exist, without being carried to the extent in which it prevailed amongst the Jews at this time. But the same ingredients are found in it, whatever be the degree in which it prevails. In the instance before us its component parts are manifest. The Jews carried their veneration of the brasen serpent to a very culpable excess: they assigned to it a sanctity, which it did not possessthey ascribed to it a glory, which it did not merit-they b ver. 5, 6. expected from it a benefit, which it could not confer. Now, whether our superstition have respect to a visible creature, or only to a figment of the brain, its essential qualities are the same; and man in his fallen state is prone to it. It obtained, and still obtains, universally amongst the heathen [What were, or are, the Deities of the heathen, but men, who on account of some exploits in former days have been canonized, or mere creatures of the imagination invested with divine attributes? The philosophers of Greece and Rome knew of no other gods than these; and in that respect were scarcely more rational than any other of the heathen, whether in ancient or modern times.] Amongst the Jews also it ever did, and still does, prevail to an awful extent [Scarcely had they been brought out of Egypt before they made a golden calf, and worshipped it as their god. Through their whole abode in the wilderness they bowed down to Moloch and Remphan, the gods of the heathen that were around them. After their settlement in Canaan they evinced the same propensity continually. The greatest mercies which God vouchsafed to them were abused to this end. Was the law given them from Mount Sinai? they rested in it for justification, instead of using it as "a ministration of condemnation," and a rule of life. Was the temple of God among them? in that they trusted as a security against their enemies, saying, as Micah did when he had secured a Levite for his priest, "Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." Had they the badge of circumcision? they thought that would suffice, though they knew nothing of the true circumcision of the heart. To this present hour the dispersed of Israel have no juster views of God and of religion than those had in former days; of whom it is said, that, trusting in their own righteousness, they would not submit to the righteousness of God. Even the doctrines of man's invention had, and still have, a greater authority over them than the commands of God -] And what is Popery but a mass of superstition altogether? [What is the worship of the Virgin Mary, and of saints, and relics? What are all the masses, the pilgrimages, and the c Acts vii. 41. d Acts vii. 42, 43. Jer. vii. 4. |