Page images
PDF
EPUB

will be rewarded exactly according to their works. It becomes every impenitent sinner to ask himself, what reward he ought to expect for a life, spent wholly in rebellion of thought, word, and action; with no account of voluntary obedience, and millions of accounts of gross disobedience against his Maker?

It is plainly a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. In his hand, and within his knowledge and power, are all the avenues to wo, all the ingredients of misery. He is equally able to pierce the soul, and to agonize the body. There is no escape from his power; no concealment from his eye. What then, will become of hardened sinners? How will the justice of God overwhelm them in consternation and horror at the great day!

3dly. We see here the great reason, why the Scriptures are opposed, and denied, by wicked men.

All the difficulty, which men find in admitting the Scriptures to be the word of God, exists in this attribute. I do not remember, that I ever heard, or read, of a single objection to the Scriptural God, except what was pointed against his justice. All men are usually willing to acknowledge his power, wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, truth, and mercy; but few beside good men, are ready to acknowledge his justice.

Whence this objection? Is not Justice a glorious and eminently divine perfection? Can an unjust ruler be the object of approbation? Is not injustice the ground of perpetual complaint against earthly rulers? The secret lies wholly in this fact. We are willing, nay, desirous, that rulers should be just, when justice does not endanger ourselves, and our happiness; but no character is so dreaded, so hated, when justice is considered as inconsistent with our safety, peace, and hopes. But can this be right? A just ruler must punish wicked and unjust men. We choose, that other wicked and unjust men should be punished; and hesitate not to say, that the common good indispensably requires it. But we make another law for ourselves; and would rather that the ruler should prove unjust, than either reform ourselves, or be punished.

The justice of God holds out to us, and to all others, certain and dreadful punishment as the proper reward of our sins. If God be just, we cannot, without repentance, faith, and reformation of life, possibly escape. Between reformation and punishment there is no alternative. Reform we will not; be punished we cannot. Hence we believe that God is not just, because we wish this not to be his character. Of course, we deny the Scriptures to be his word, to free ourselves from the terror of his justice. What wretched reasoning is this! How foolish, how fatal! How foolish, because it cannot possibly help, or save us; since God will plainly pursue his own counsels, and accomplish his own purposes, whether we believe his justice, or not. How foolish, because the whole purpose, for which such reasoning is adopted, is to enable us to continue peacefully in sin; a miserable character, and plainly exposed alway to a miserable end!

How fatal is such reasoning, because it will actually induce us to continue peacefully in sin, and prevent us from repentance and salvation!

On what is it grounded? On mere wishes. Who form, and indulge them? Wicked men only. Can God be such, as wicked men wish him to be? Can they suppose it? What kind of a ruler do wicked men wish to have rule? A vile one. What God do wicked men wish to have rule the universe? A vile one. Why? Because such a God only can be supposed to favour them. No good man, no Angel, ever regretted, that God was just. It is impossible, that a virtuous being should not rejoice in the justice of God. The instinctive voice of all the virtuous universe is the voice of Angels, and of the Spirits of Just Men made perfect, in the heavens, crying, Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, be unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are his Judgments. Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints!

VOL. I.

26

SERMON XI.

THE TRUTH OF GOD.

PSALM CXVII. 2.—And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.

IN my last discourse, I considered briefly the Justice of God I shall now proceed to make some observations concerning His Truth, which in the text is asserted to be an eternal, and therefore an inseparable, attribute of Jehovah.

As a prelude to these observations, it will be useful to take a concise notice of the several significations of this term. The word, Truth, denotes,

1st. A Proposition, conformed to the real state of things. Thus St. Paul says, I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not. Rom. ix. 1. 2dly. All such propositions, generally considered.

Thus Pilate asked Christ, What is truth? John xviii. 38. 3dly. That collection of such propositions, which is contained in the Gospel, and is commonly called Evangelical truth:

Thus says our Saviour, The Spirit of truth shall guide you into all THE TRUTH. John xiv. 13. Thus also St. Paul observes, Love rejoiceth in THE TRUTH. 1 Cor. xiii. 8. In both these instances, the Truth mentioned is Evangelical Truth.

4thly. Reality, in opposition to that, which is fancied, or vi sionary.

Thus the True God denotes the real God, in opposition to the imaginary gods of the Heathen.

5thly. The Substance, in opposition to types.

Thus Christ calls himself the Truth; as being the great Antitype of all the types in the Old Testament.

6thly. Veracity, that is, a disposition always to declare Truth, or to speak according to the real state of things.

7thly. Faithfulness, that is, a disposition always to fulfil covenants, trusts, and promises.

In these two last senses, I shall consider the Truth of God as declared in the text. Veracity and Faithfulness are attributes so nearly allied, as to be considered together, with great advantage. The former is speaking, and, as the case may be, acting according to a state of things, seen, or supposed, to exist. The latter is declaring a future state of our own conduct, and afterwards acting so, that that conduct shall be conformed to the declaration. No moral attributes are more perfectly of a kindred nature; nor can we conceive of him, who possesses one of them, as in any less degree possessed of the other. There is no reason, therefore, for

making them separate subjects of examination in this series of discourses.

It will be obvious to those who hear me, that, as the works of Creation and Providence, consisting of beings and events merely, furnish us with no declarations made by God; and as every such declaration must in its nature be a revelation; so in these works there can be no proper specimen of his Truth, or Faithfulness. To every direct display of these attributes, declarations are indispensably necessary. The only way, in which the works of God exhibit, by themselves, any manifestation of these attributes, seems to be this. In the regular succession of causes and effects, a state of things is formed, and continued, on which we usually, and safely, rely; and, so far as this is concerned, enter upon our various kinds of business with security from disappointment. This state of things may be justly considered as manifesting a disposition on the part of Him, by whom it is established, not to deceive his creatures; but to exhibit to them that conduct, on which they may place a safe reliance. Thus we confide in the regular succession of seasons; the return of day and night; the productiveness of the earth; the efficacy of rain and sunshine; and, generally, in the nature, qualities, and effects, of the various things, by which we are surrounded.

But, notwithstanding this want of declarations in Creation and Providence, the proofs, by which the Truth of God is capable of being evinced by Reason, independently of Revelation, are, I think, satisfactory and sufficient.

I. The Truth of God, (by which I intend throughout this discourse both his Veracity and Faithfulness) is completely evident from his Benevolence.

In a preceding discourse, I flatter myself, I have proved the Benevolence of God from the light of nature. From this attribute, his truth is easily, and unanswerably, inferred. The happiness of Intelligent beings is derived in a great measure from society; nor is it possible, that they should be equally happy in the solitary, as in the social, state. But no society can exist without confidence ; and no confidence without Truth. Truth, therefore, is the basis, on which society rests. Even thieves and robbers are obliged to speak Truth to each other, in order to maintain their own dreadful society.

Confidence, also, is one of the most important ingredients of happiness; so important, that no rational being can be happy without it. But without Truth, this happiness can never be enjoyed. On the contrary, distrust would create in the mind a dreadful state of suspense; another name for misery. All enjoyments would be seen to hang in doubt before the eyes; and safety and quiet could never be attained.

Again, Falsehood, as an attribute, renders a moral character supremely debased and despicable. So far as we are able to judge from our experience, fixed, absolute falsehood in any mind infers

absolute depravity. No vice in man is probably so universally, and perfectly, despised, as deceit. But such depravity is utterly inconsistent with any happiness whatever.

All these evils would attend the want of Truth in Rational creatures. A general character of deceit in them would utterly destroy, or prevent, the whole of their happiness. But a deceitful character in the Creator would far more effectually destroy it. On His character, all their happiness is ultimately founded; and, were He capable of deceiving them, would be destroyed. The very sense, in them, of such depravity in Him would also completely prevent them from being happy. If, then, He wishes their happiness; or, in other words, is benevolent; it is impossible, that He should not be sincere. His benevolence, like that of creatures as described by St. Paul, rejoiceth in the Truth.

II. As God contrived, and executes, all things according to his will, throughout eternity, it is inconceivable, that he should not speak of them exactly as they are; because the state, in which they are, is exactly agreeable to his pleasure.

Truth, as I have already remarked, is, in the original sense, made up of declarations, exactly conformed to the real state of things. But that state of things is in every respect such, as God has choDeclarations, therefore, conformed to the real state of things, are also conformed to his pleasure; while those, which are not conformed to the real state of things, are in the same degree not agreeable to his pleasure. It seems, of course, a contradiction in the nature of the case, that he should not utter declarations of the former kind; or that he should utter declarations of the latter kind in other words, that he should not always speak that, which is exactly true.

III. The Independence, and Immutability, of God, involve, by an absolute moral necessity, his veracity and faithfulness.

On

The independence of God places him above all possible temptation to vary at all from his own original purposes. These purposes were all at first perfectly pleasing to him. As his character is absolutely immutable, they will for ever be thus pleasing. On the one hand, therefore, he can have no possible motive to make declarations, unaccordant with these purposes; because no being, and no event, can make it in any sense necessary, or advantageous, to him, to make such declarations, or disadvantageous to make those of a contrary nature; or to declare that which is true. the other hand, sustaining alway exactly the same character, which he originally sustained, and choosing alway the same things, he cannot but be alway pleased with the state of things itself, and with such declarations as express it. Truth, according to what has been here said, must be infinitery advantageous to the furtherance of his designs; as being the only medium, by which his Rational creatures can understand them. If they do not understand them, it is plainly impossible that they should voluntarily coincide

« PreviousContinue »