SORROW IMPROVED. ABSTRACT SERMON. CINCINNATI. 1839. TLYAVEN 122°C My, GOD moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform ; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines, With never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his gracious will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Judge not the Lorn by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace: Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour: The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err, And sean his work in vain: Gop is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain. SORROW IMPROVED. « Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground. Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.” Jos v. 6, 7. The text, on account of its verbal arrangement, may be somewhat obscure. Divested of figure its substantial meaning appears to be this:—“Afflictions neither come by chance nor by a fatal necessity,—yet God, who wisely orders them all, has made some portion of trouble, the inevitable Jot of every human being.” We shall not discuss the text in strict order, but make a free use of it, with other passages, to establish and illustrate a few propositions,—and our first proposition is this: I. ALL sorRow IS THE FRUIT OF Sin. The connexion be- tween suffering and transgression, is an important practical truth. Fully to recognize it, is to derive cause for humiliation from those very woes, which are apt at first, to excite proud murmurings. In the mind of a christian, sin and suffering should always be associated. And although to keep up the association certainly requires faith, we hold it to be comforting to permit reason to trace the connexion where she can; by so doing, faith will more readily dispose of those occasional difficulties, which meet us in the way. Daily experience and observation teach us that sin brings sorrow; and although, to the mere eye of reason, there is much mystery in human suflering, when we mark the course of Providence we can perceive a connexion between guilt and misery. This connexion may not be invariable nor always very obvious; but it is general and distinguishable. For the tendency of vice to produce misery is as certain as the ten- dency of the dark summer cloud to send forth disastrous light- ning; and when the bolts of calamity do not strike at once, there is generally in the criminal a fearful expectation of evil, G 5 which shows his intuitive recognition of the relation between guilt and suffering. And what Providence thus teaches respecting the general tendency of vice, Revelation fully unfolds and confirms. It informs us that sorrow entered our world with the first trans- gression. In the text we read that “man is born unto trouble.” And why is he born to trouble? Because he is born in sin. “JT was born in iniquity,” saith the Psalmist, and it is else- where written, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” The fact that we are born sufferers is undeniable, and the only doctrine which sheds any light upon this fact, is that of original sin or of guilt derived from Adam. He was justly and benevolently constituted our covenant head and representa- tive: so that “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” And although the doctrine of innate guilt is not free from difficulty, it is no more inexplicable than other facts of daily occurrence. Such as the fact that children often be- come guilty and suffer through the sin of the parent, or that helpless members of the community often suffer, through the guilt or mismanagement of rulers. Whether these facts be strictly analogous to original sin or no, the wuy they are per- mitted? presents a difficulty which is quite as great. Nor can we reject the doctrine of original sin, without being driven to maintain this alternative, viz: that there is a vast amount of human woe, such as the suffering of infants and others, which is not the penal effect of sin or of any sort of guilt whatsoever. An alternative, which appears to conflict with the perfection of God’s government. For we cannot conceive of a perfect moral government which does not make all human suffering the just effect or the strict desert of sin. Hence, reason argu- ing from the perfections of God, concurs with Revelation, in ascribing every cry of infancy, as well as every sigh and tear and pang of manhood, to this one cause—Sin. Even the sorrows and sufferings of our Lord ought to be regarded as the bitter fruits of sin. Not indeed of sin in him- self, * for he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth;’’ but he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Christ having been without sin himself, must have suffered as our substitute. 6 No other doctrine is fairly reconcilable with the perfections of God or with the plain language of Holy Writ. Nor cana candid mind readily conceive, how God could have visited the sinless humanity of Christ, with such severe bodily suffering and such mysterious agony of soul, except on the ground that he suffered as our substitute. And unless sober reason should stop to consider the evasions of controversial ingenuity, we think she will march directly up to the plain scriptural doctrine, that Christ was ‘“ wounded for our transgressions.” But if Christ suffered as our surety—if he endured the penalty of the law for believers, why do christians suffer so severely as they often do? Why should they be called to endure any part of a penalty which has already been fully paid? To this we reply, that the sorrows of christians are not strictly penal, but disciplinary or corrective. For “there is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Their suf- ferings “are not penalties in the common acceptation of the “term, for a penalty is the evil of pain to which a person is “¢ subjected for a crime, and is designed to satisfy the law by ¢ a just retribution. But it is not satisfaction to justice which ‘is the object of the affliction of believers: the intention of « them is both to testify that sin is displeasing to God, and to “lead to repentance and amendment.” It will not be denied, that God had a sovereign right to prescribe, both the terms on which he would pardon his guilty subjects, and the means or instruments by which he would sanctify them. And when the covenant of grace was formed, in the councils of eternity, it would seem that many of the temporal sufferings due to be- lievers were retained; not as penalties, but as chastisements, to co-work with grace and faith, in purifying the soul and fit- ting it for Heaven. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” And in this passage we have the substance of our next proposition. I]. ‘Twat THE SORROW OF CHRISTIANS IS ONE OF THE CHIEF INSTRUMENTS WHICH GoD USES TO PROMOTE THEIR GROWTH IN GRACE AND PREPARE THEM FOR HEAVEN. ‘To enquire whether God might not have saved his people without chastisement? would be as unprofitable as to ask whether he might not have 7 given them their “rest” here? instead of hereafter. Let it Suffice to state the fact that no human being has escaped suf- fering. “ Man is born unto trouble”: and to find an individual without suffering would be as impossible as to find an open flame sending its sparks downward. Even “the path of the just,” which “shineth more and more,” is overhung here and there with dark tribulations, until it expands and becomes lost in “the perfect day.” The great multitude which St. John saw in Heaven had not only “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,”—but they had this addition to their history,—they had come “ out of great tribu- lation.” But although suffering is as inseparable from human nature as the uprising of sparks from the fire. Affliction cometh not forth of the dust.” It does not come by chance. Ou, sorrows do not come as random arrows, to fly hither and thither and strike whom or where they may. N ay, every one of them is directed by an unseen hand, and that hand never misses its aim. God has a purpose to answer, in every afflic- tion which he sends, and when believers are stricken, they should set themselves diligently to inquire what sin the Lord would destroy? or what evil habit he designs to remove ?— Not unfrequently there would be found a correspondence be- tween affliction and some besetment, sufficiently plain to in- dicate that the one was sent to correct the other. And even when the specific purposes of God in afflictions cannot be traced, we may be assured that they are wisely ordered. If not sent as remedies they may be sent as preventives. If not designed to remove some present sin, they may be intended to produce greater spiritual fruitfulness for the time to come. For believers are trees of the Lord’s own planting, and he sometimes prunes them severely, that their fruit may abound. If an individual wholly unaccustomed to the culture of trees, were to enter a large fruit garden in pruning season, he would probably be surprised at the boldness with which the expe- rienced culturist would apply the knife and the saw. He would see him lop off the branches of some tender plant with a cool severity which would make him wince. He would behold him mount some noble tree, and put the saw to its top and its 8 branches, until it appeared to be shorn of its glory and dwarfed mto comparative insignificance. And what would be the-de- sign of the culturist in all this? Would it be to destroy the trees, or to diminish their fruitfulness? We know that his object would be to make them produce more abundantly. And so, it is that God often deals with souls that are in Christ. “ For every branch in him that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Take another illustration. A child 1s in possession of something with which it is much pleased. ‘The article is precious, and there is danger if he keep it that he may spoil it,—or that it may spoil him, by diverting his attention from parental commands, which are vital to his future welfare. The judicious parent sees the danger and determines to remove it. He calmly demands the article that he may put it away; but the child refuses, and he takes it by force. The little rebel, overcome by superior strength, retires into a corner and weeps. But after a little while he becomes more calm: and his infant mind begins to reason in substance thus: “ My father loves me.—I know that he does, and although I cannot tell why he has taken away ‘the delight of my eyes,” yet I know that he loves me, and must mean well to me. 1 will go to him and tell him that I give up.” Our illustration is simple, and to some it may appear trivial—but it has this re- commendation—it is scriptural. For it is in such a paternal aspect that God exhibits himself to his afflicted and bereaved children. ‘To prove it, we might quote many passages, but let it be sufficient to call your attention to a part of the twelfth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews:—a precious portion of Scripture! which affords a sweet and comforting retreat for every wounded believing soul. “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” And surely there is, to believers, much solace in the thought, that every bitter cup which they drink is medicine presented by a Father’s hand. That every blow which wounds the heart, by striking away its beloved objects, is a paternal stroke! But then “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.” If it were not grievous it would not answer its end:—it would be no 9 chastisement. And this leads us to offer another consoling thought :—that Ill. To weep with suBMIssION Is NEITHER UNHOLY NOR UNWISE. Weeping indicates the natural channel for grief, and God has nowhere commanded it to be closed. Immoderate grief is certainly sinful. And there is such a thing as nursing sorrow, or rejecting the appropriate palliatives. They who do so, are like wilful children, who tear away the bandages from their wounds, because they are too impatient to wait the slow pro- cess of healing. But in judging what is immoderate grief in others, we should be careful not to judge hastily. “The heart knoweth its own bitterness,”’—and God only is its searcher. And let us give no countenance to that false philosophy which would proscribe all sorrowing as weak or unworthy. The pride of human nature, sometimes proposes this philosophy as a substitute for better things. But there is no danger that it will spread. Before it can become common, men must sink in natural affection below the level of the flocks and herds. For even the flocks bleat out their griefs, and the mournful lowings which come up from the herds, tell us that there are mothers there grieving for their offspring! Nor does the Bible lend any countenance to such stoicism. Revelation was not sent to unhumanize man, but to elevate and purify his present nature. And while it lifts the supreme affections to God, it elevates and refines every subordinate affection. And if high scriptural authority or precedent were wanting to prové that weeping is neither sin nor folly, it might be found in this one brief pas- sage,—* Jesus wept.” And O! it is a precious privilege for a weak, wounded disciple, to be permitted to hide his tears be- hind his weeping Lord! To seek shelter for his own sin-tainted griefs behind the sinless sorrows of Christ! “Jesus wept.” Here ye afflicted ones! isa warrant for your tears. ’Tis ‘enough for the disciple that he be as his Master.” We dare not demand of him more. But this brings us to a solemn point in our discourse :—all are not disciples,—all are not yet entitled to the full consola- tions of the Gospel. It is true indeed that “ God does not wil- lingly afflict or grieve the children of men.” Most of his severe judgments are merciful warnings, and it cannot. be 2 10 denied that afflictions have a natural tendency to produce the “hearing ear.” The voice of truth sounds pleasantly even to the children of this world, when it reaches them through the noise of troubled waters. Many have thus heard it—heeded it—and been saved from ruin. And woe! unto them that con- tinue to reject the united appeals of God’s providence and God’s word. For affliction misimproved, like the word ne- glected, may prove a “savor of death unto death.” Almost all of you have at one period or other felt the afilict- ing hand of God. And you who have not yet felt it, certainly will not escape. You cannot always expect to retain your vigorous health. And that family circle which now cheers you must be thinned out. And O! if death should suddenly come and make a chasm there, what will you do? We tell you, with an emphasis with which we have never spoken to you before, that you will need all the consolations of the Gospel. There are some heart-wounds, dear brethren, which time may soothe but which it cannot heal. Earth has no cure for them. You may have the sympathy of a large circle of friends: and such sympathy is not to be undervalued. But all human con- solations, in such a case, are like green branches spread upon tha new grave—soon withered: or still sooner driven off by returning grief sweeping as a howling wind in the night sea- son! Nay, there is no adequate consolation but the faith which can set the affections on things above. And although faith may not entirely extinguish grief, it can shew you that “ affliction cometh not forth of the dust:”—that it does not come from the senseless stony hand of chance, but froma wise paternal hand. It can teach you hew to be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” It can extract the scalding bitterness of sorrow. It can make tears flow freely as balmy rivulets, to cool and soften and soothe the burning aching feelings of woe! Aptly has inspira- tion termed it “ precious faith.” For it is a sweet which no bitterness can embitter. It is a light which shines brightest when all else is dark. Seek it with your whole heart.- It is profitable in prosperity. You will need it in trouble—and most of all, you will need it when heart and flesh shall fail and the light of the sun shall begin to fade away from your vision. HYMN 145. RISE, my soul, and stretch thy wings, Thy better portion trace, Rise, from transitory things, Toward heaven, thy destined place: Sun, and moon, and stars decay, Time shall soon this earth remove ; Rise my soul, and haste away To seats prepared above. Cease, my soul, O cease to mourn, Press onward to the prize ; Soon thy Saviour will return, To take thee to the skies; There is everlasting peace, Rest, enduring rest in heaven ; There, will sorrow ever cease, And crowns of joy be given. oe : uh . a a teint yy dees tp¥te * as Ona MO log Fess 6 Me : ! : 5 eantiad viol B ant . F F Sa s ~ “> nel enriaeh yall. mers a - j qm ad ats » ivf ¢ +, : ¢ varaitor slay asd oF ': iA 2 Aaa Ha ; A ot Hier TOrrady. ¢ ~ fe ‘ x 4 « ie . Ada