Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Are they anxious that all their trials and sufferings should be over-ruled for their real and everlasting good? how comprehensive is the promise which assures them that divine wisdom will fulfil their desire that all things shall work together for good to them that love God!

ness.

How remarkably in every age have the people of God enjoyed his wisdom to guide, to counsel, and to work out deliverance for them! This divine wisdom has been constantly working for them in providence, by turning the devices of their enemies into foolish What plans could be more prudently laid than those of Ahithophel; what subtilty could be deeper than that of Herod; what human skill could surpass that of the artful and accomplished Julian; what extent of metaphysical acumen, expressed in the most mellifluous language, could exceed that of Hume; what designs of man could be better adapted for gaining their purpose than were those of Voltaire and Gibbon; and yet how easily has that wisdom which is from above brought them to nought! Does not the whole of providence furnish an impressive illustration of those words of Scripture; "there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Man may plot, and may form the wisest human plan for overwhelming the people of God in destruction; but that wisdom that never sleeps makes use even of a trivial circumstance to bring the ruin which he meditated for others on himself. Of how little avail is all

the policy of man, even when directed by the full force of his enmity against God, to frustrate or to retard the plans of infinite wisdom and goodness!

How rich is the comfort conveyed by this doctrine! What settled peace may we not derive from it in difficulties, and in distresses, and in death! Let us not lose this consolation by the thought that we have enemies artful and powerful engaged against us. Thus was David troubled, when one told him, saying, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom; and David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." How often are we perplexed by allowing our own reason to dictate, and to say how can such a thing be! When, if we looked to the wisdom of God, we should believe that all things that are within the limits of the promise are possible. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; he is their strength in the time of trouble." Let this consideration animate our faith when the answers to our prayers are delayed. He will surely give us grace and glory; but, then, his wisdom must prescribe the time and the way in which these great blessings are bestowed.

II. We learn from this subject the infinite suitableness and excellency of the Gospel. Its Author and itself are pre-eminently styled the wisdom of God. It is the harmony of all his attributes conveying a free salvation to man. His glory is reflected by the display of his wisdom in all his works; but the highest glory of his wisdom is exhibited in the person, and offices, and work of Christ. It must, therefore, be a scheme perfectly adapted to the fallen, and helpless,

66

and guilty condition of man; suited to his wants, and capable of giving him the blessings which he needs. And, accordingly, it is announced to us as " glad tidings of great joy, declaring that God has so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life-that God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, and not imputing unto men their trespasses." Its statements have been verified, in the delightful experience, and in the salvation of thou'sands. They have found in the Gospel a Saviour from sin, from guilt, from death, and from ruin. They have put the truth and faithfulness of the saying to the test, that "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief;" for they found in it, that which all the knowledge of man cannot communicate, an assurance of peace and reconciliation with God, and the earnest and the hope of everlasting blessedness. It still continues widely to convey the same blessings, and to produce the same effects. To them that are called of every kindred, and of every condition, its great and wondrous theme, Christ crucified, is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. If in many cases it fails in producing these effects, the cause is not in it, but in the unbelief, the impenitence, and pride of the heart. For, if our Gospel, in its unspeakable glory, in its transforming grace and power, be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them.

III. We learn from this subject the extreme depravity of man. This depravity is shewn in the effort,

so constantly and universally exerted, to oppose the wisdom of God. What murmurings and rebellions are there on the part of sinful man against the arrangements of this wisdom in providence? Do those who acknowledge so readily that God does all things well, and who profess to believe in their own case, that he makes all things work together for their good,-do they cheerfully and thankfully, without complainings, resign themselves to his disposal. Do they acquiesce in the dispensations that are painful, as well as in those that are pleasing? Do they practically, when reason is disposed to offer its discouraging interpretation, confide in the wisdom of God, and believe that he will make light to arise for them out of obscurity, and that in the end they will find that all his ways are mercy and truth towards them that fear him? How awfully is the corruption of man exhibited in the rejection of the Gospel! What must be the blindness, the unbelief, the insensibility of the heart, that shuts out from it the light of the wisdom of God, mysteriously displayed in the cross of our Lord Jesus! And, yet, how natural is this blindness, this unbelief, to us all, and how clearly and fatally are they shewn in those who are yet unregenerate, and who have no relish for the word of life, and no interest in its blessings! Consider, that the end of this neglect of a great salvation will be an everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power*.

* 2 Thes. i. 9.

e

206

CHAPTER VII.

THE TRUTH AND FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.

THE truth of God signifies the entire conformity of his word to his will, of his declaration concerning what either is or shall be, and reality. As he is the only living and true God in opposition to the imaginary gods of the heathen, so is he essentially and necessarily the God of truth, whether this term be understood as signifying reality, in opposition to that which is fancied or visionary; veracity, or a disposition to speak according to the actual state of things; faithfulness, or a disposition to fulfil promises and engagements. Truth, in these significations, or in whatever other meaning it can be applicable to a being of perfection, must belong to God to an infinite extent. These, in reality, are but different manifestations of the same attribute.

The truth and faithfulness of God may be fully proved from his character and attributes,-from his word, contained in divine revelation-and from his works, in the different departments of his government.

I. Let us consider his character and attributes, as they furnish proofs of the truth of God. It may be alleged that this source of evidence is liable to objection, since it is nothing more than presuming on the existence of an excellency from our knowledge of the existence of certain other excellencies in the character. It is by a similar induction, however, that we often

« ForrigeFortsæt »