Divine balustrades, and other sermons

Preface

It will be noticed that some of the sermons in this volume are textual, some are topical, and some combine both these methods ; while others are expository, others what are generally known as Bible readings, and still others were propared in the atmosphere of recent biblical criticism. They are sent forth with the hope and prayer that .they may contribute something to the honor of the Word of God, to the salvation of men, and to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Calvary Baptist Study, New York City.

Contents

PAGE

I.— Divine Balustrades, 9

Part II. Deut. xxii. 8. III.— Knowing and Trusting God, . . . .34

Psalm ix. 10.

IV.— God's Answer by Fire, 50

1 Kings xviii. 22-40.

V.— Obedience and Love, 66

John xiv. 15.

VI.— The Blble and Criticism, 79

1 Thess. v. 21.

VII.— The "With Christs," .96

Gal. ii. 20; Rev. xx. 4.

VIII. —Doing All to the Glory of God, . . .109

IX.— Marital Piety, 120

Luke i. 6.

X.— Four Great Things, 134

Judges ii. 1-5.

8 CONTENTS.

PAGE

XI.— The Old Testament Unfolded in the New, . 151

Luke xxi v. 27.

XII.— No More Sea, 169

Rev. xxi. 1.

XIII. — The Christian's Certain Comfort, .- . . 180

Eccles. viii. 12.

XIV. — Seeking and Beceiving, 191

Matt. vi. 33.

XV. — Anticipatory Blessings, 203

Psalm xxi. 3.

XVI.— Watching Him There, . . . . .216

Matt, xxvii. 36.

XVII.— The Dead and the Living Christ, . . 234

XVIII.— Intercessory Prayer and Beatific Vision, . 250

Jchn xvii. 24.

(part I.)

" When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house if any man fall from thence." — Deut. xxii. 8.

YOU will observe that in this immediate connection we have a series of laws taking cognizance of many details of daily life. Cattle that had strayed were to be brought back ; lost goods to be restored ; fallen cattle to be helped ; the distinction between the sexes, as indicated by their apparel, to be maintained ; and in taking a bird's nest the mother-bird was to have her liberty. Our Saviour probably had this law in mind when he made his tender and beautiful allusion to God's notice of the sparrow's fall. God thus commends the spirit of kindness and mercy toward all his creatures. The man who is guilty of cruelty toward a sparrow would in favorable circumstances show a like cruelty to his brother men.

Then comes instruction in regard to the roofs of houses ; care must be taken to make them safe. We are familiar with the fact that houses in the East were built with flat roofs. To a considerable degree the family lived on the roof ; there they walked to enjoy the fresh air ; there they met for social converse ; there they often slept ; there, too, they went at certain times for meditation and prayer. So it was of the utmost importance that roofs be protected, and we learn from this law that they were to be surrounded with a battlement or balustrade to make them safe. If it were not built and any one fell off, the owner by his neglect brought blood upon his house. If it were built, and one through his own carelessness fell, his blood must be on his own head, and the owner would be free from all blame. The spirit of this law, we are told, was extended to wells, bridges, and indeed to everything which might endanger life. Life is thus seen to be precious in God's sight.

We are all builders ; and it is of the greatest moment that we build aright. Care must be taken with the foundation ; a defect in its lowest stone may reveal itself in a crack in the highest tower. Care must be taken with the material and manner of the structure ; the apostle reminds us that every man must take heed how he builds even on the sure foundation. When the house is roofed, the roof itself is to be made safe. Builders of character, builders of families, builders of society, I urge you to put balustrades on the roof of the structures you are erecting. You ought to live much on the roof ; it will give you broad and heavenward views. There God's breezes will refresh you; there God's sunlight will kiss you. The roof may be the most attractive, and it may also be the most dangerous place. Guard it well. There are four balustrades to which I wish especially to call your attention, one for each side of your house.

The Sabbath Balustrade.

1 . Throw around it the balustrade of the Christian Sabbath. I use this combination of the words designedly. A reference to the meaning of the word Sabbath, and its relation to our dispensation, will justify this use of the terms.

This balustrade is a very old one. Kingdoms have risen and fallen ; empires have bloomed and withered ; republics "have danced into light, and died into the shade," but the Sabbath has remained. Before the days of Rome and Athens, before Babylon and Mneveh, before the royal tombs of Thebes and the mighty pyramids of Egypt, the Sabbath was. And after the gnawing tooth of time shall have crumbled them to dust, the Sabbath shall be. In the very dawn of time's morning this balustrade was erected by the mighty and gentle hand of God. Two institutions of to-day have come down to us beautiful with the innocence and radiant with the glory of Eden — the Sabbath and marriage. They withstood the Fall and all its sad consequences ; they have outlived all the upheavals of society, and all the cataclysms of time. They are absolutely essential to the highest good of the race ; on the Sabbath stands the glorious structure of the religious life, and on marriage the security and happiness of social life. Any theory of social life which lifts a rude and unholy hand against the sanctity and glory of marriage is to be received with the utmost detestation. You can usually judge the spirit and tendencies of any social theory by its attitude toward the marriage relation. This is often one of the best tests to be applied ; it is of tenest at this point that some of the modern social theories reveal their wicked animus. Not less true is it of any system of opposition to the Sabbath. The man who strikes at either, strikes at much that is holiest in the best men and women, and also at much that is dearest to God. Palsied be the hand that would tear down this old balustrade — the Sabbath of God !

This is a balustrade which has received in marvellous ways the sanction of God. Its observance is enforced in the general Mosaic code, and afterward with all the solemnities of the decalogue. We find the first reference to the Sabbath in the second chapter of Genesis, in connection with the close of the record of creation. In some respect the reference is the more impressive because the Sabbath is not there mentioned by name. On that day God rested ; he took pleasure in the work of his hand ; that day he blessed, sanctified and consecrated. Are not they right who hold that its institution is as ancient, and its obligation as universal, as the race? When we go to the sixteenth chapter of Exodus we find that the observance of the Sabbath is one of the recognized institutions of the time ; on that day no manna fell. There is nothing in this connection to intimate that the Sabbath was now first given; it is uniformly spoken of as something well known. Thus there was a recognition of the Sabbath not only before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, but also, it seems, before Israel came out of Egypt. If this were the first mention of the day, how could Moses have understood God, and how could the people so readily have understood Moses? Already the keeping of the Sabbath was the "good old way." Soon after this it was re-enacted, written by the finger of God as the fourth commandment on the tables of stone, amid all the solemnities of the giving of the law. The injunction in the fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day," indicates its previous observance.

There are several other hints as to its pre- Mosaic origin ; but, of course, I cannot this morning go at length into the discussion. It is sufficient to remember that the fourth commandment formed a part of the decalogue, and that the decalogue had an authority peculiarly its own; that the New Testament does not repeal it ; and that it was not for Jews alone, but is needful to and is binding on all men in all ages and climes. As Dr. Adam Clarke has said, " Thus we find, that when God finished his creation, he instituted the Sabbath ; that when he brought the people out of Egypt he insisted on the strict observance of it; and that when he gave the law he made it a tenth part of the whole ; such importance has this institution in the eyes of the Supreme Being!" As time progressed, the Sabbath was held by the devout not in less, but in greater, reverence. Isaiah utters his solemn protest against profaning it ; and he also pronounces many blessings on the proper observance of the day. Thus he speaks, 58th chap., 13th and 14th verses: "If thou turn away . thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." These are fitting words for to-day. The Sabbathbreakers of to-day ought to hear and heed them. Their special form of Sabbath-breaking is in turning their feet away from God's house, doing their own ways, speaking their own words and finding their own pleasure. God will not hold them guiltless who profane his holy day. Ezekiel also makes the profanation of the day foremost among the sins of the Jews during their time of declension. Their return to God's favor, and the revival of national prosperity, were always marked by a regard for the Sabbath. Has the fourth commandment been abrogated? If so, by whom? If so, where? Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. True, in fulfilling it he defined it ; but he made it the more binding. Who dare blot out^ the command which the finger of God has written in the imperishable stone! The old promise is still true — the nations which observe the Sabbath shall ride upon the high places of the earth. England and America, as nations, are Sabbath-keepers. England and America side by side march up the heights of national greatness. In the noblest elements of the highest civilization they lead the world. " Woe worth the day," if it shall ever come, when the Sabbath-breaking element in these nations shall triumph! Then their glory will be departed indeed, and the banner of their splendor will be trailed in the dust ; but in the strength of our God we believe that day will never dawn.

The Sabbath with its respite from labor is an unspeakable boon to men. The law of God in the human body is in harmony with the law of God in the divine book. It has been abundantly proved by many actual tests, that man and beast will accomplish more in a year by working six days than seven. Mindful of this, some heathen nations set apart a seventh part of the time, and even called it a holy day. I look with sorrow on the tendencies to secularize the day amongst us. All of us are more careless than once we were in regard to this balustrade ; we permit and do things which once would have shocked us. It may be true, as things now are, that more Sunday work is done on the Monday than on the Sunday paper ; birt if there were no Sunday paper the Sunday work on the Monday paper would not be necessary. But that is not the only point : the reading of the paper on that day secularizes the day. It considerably defeats the divine thought of the day. Sabbath-day means rest-day, pause-day, cease-day. God lifts up his voice and says, Stop! Kest! Business men, you need rest, and you ought to obey God. Your mind should have a chance to get out of the ruts. Let the market quotations alone. To-day dismiss the world. Remember that you belong to another country, even an heavenly. You are candidates for eternity. A newsman has often told me that he cannot attend church, because he has to supply so many church-members with Sunday papers. Instead of being lifted by the day, you drag it down to j'our level. Body, mind and soul cry out for the Sabbath. Workingmen have rights; they are crying for rest. Be not deaf to these manifold voices. If you must walk on Sunday with your children, take them into the Sunday-school and come yourself into the Bible classes. I would have Sunday for you and your children " the happiest time of all the glad New Year."

Happy is that land and blessed is that family where the Sabbath is kept holy, and where God is loved and served ! A week without Sunday is like a country without the fragrance of flowers or the music of birds. It is like a year without summer, nothing but bleak, barren, frozen winter. It is like a night without a morning, nothing but sorrow, darkness, death. Sunday is God's benediction on a troubled world. He speaks his "Peace" and the voice of trade and strife ceases, and God's hush alone is heard, while every heart is uplifted in holy song, or bowed in humble prayer. Such is God's idea of Sunday : such should be ours. Has this balustrade at any point been broken? Repair the breach ; keep the balustrade intact. Then shall America ride upon the high places of the earth, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

The Balustrade of Family Prayer.

II. On the roof erect also the balustrade of Family Prayer. God hath set the solitary in families. He has instituted the family relation ; and the relation carries with it the duty of instruction and worship. This is the oldest institution, and family worship is of ancient and divine origin. Behold the family altar builded by Noah ! Remember that when Abraham built a tent for himself he built an altar for his God. "We never read that Lot built an altar; no wonder that he looks toward Sodom, and then is soon found in Sodom. When Isaac and his servants pitch their tent and dig a well, they build their altar. Listen to the grand resolution of Joshua, " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord !" Oh for more Joshuas and Hannahs as heads of families ! The New Testament and the early history of the Church contain many similar examples. I cannot in this connection go at length into the duty and the advantages of family prayer and religion ; but many of these advantages suggest themselves at once to you. You have observed that family life is often the best test of genuine piety. Bunyan's Christian makes Talkative a saint abroad and a devil at home; he tells us that Talkative 's " house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savor." It is on record that when Mr. Whitefield was asked whether some one was a Christian, his reply was, " How can I tell? I have never lived with him. " It is to be feared that in the rush and bustle of our modern life the old-fashioned methods of family instruction and pra} r er, when all the family and servants were called together, are now much neglected.

The Jewish law made the father a prophet and priest in his own f amily ; at the paschal feast he slew the lamb, and he sprinkled the blood on the lintels of the door ; he also taught the statutes of the Lord to his children and servants. Philip Henry, in his family circle expounding to them the Word of God, reminds us of one of these grand men of the olden time ; it was in this atmosphere that Matthew Henry grew up to be the best expositor of the mind of the Spirit which the Church has yet produced. The notes taken of his father's expositions at family prayers were the foundation of his wonderful " Commentary." Much to be pitied is that home where the voice of prayer is never heard. It is a roof without a balustrade, exposed to danger and death; it is a house without a roof, into which the storms of temptation fall, and on which the sun of trial will beat with scorching ray. John Randolph said that men charged him with being a French infidel ; he denied the charge, but confessed that he would have been one if he had not been taught to bow at his mother's knee and say, "Our Father." Every day should begin with prayer. Let us talk to God before we talk much to men ; let us begin every duty, and decide every question with prayer. It is said that Pericles, the great Athenian statesman, would not address an audience until he had prayed to the gods, and that Scipio, the Roman general, would not undertake any affair of importance until he had passed some time alone in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The examples of Paul and Christ are still more in point. Remember how earnestly Jesus prayed before entering on his great undertakings! Read the gospels with that thought in mind. Where else do you find such an example of prolonged, fervent and trusting prayer? Remember Paul's requests for prayer ; remember also his own references to his habit of prayer. Do you say you have no time? Excuse me, you have. What is time for, but to serve God here and to enjoy him hereafter? David found time amid his manifold cares and great responsibilities to pray three times a day ; Daniel found time when he was prime minister in Babylon to pray three times a day ; Luther used to say, when his gigantic toils pressed upon him, that he could not get on with less than three hours of prayer; General Havelock rose, it is said, at four, when the hour of marching was six, rather than lose the period of prayer and communion with

God. No time ! Do not say that. You know you have.

Do you say you cannot pray? Stop a little; you can. What is prayer? Eloquence is not needed; the publican's prayer sent him down to his house justified. It is the pastor's duty to press home this neglected privilege. I have read that when Richard Baxter went to Kidderminster, there were whole streets in which there were only two or three praying families; and that, when he left, there were whole streets in which there were only two or three families that were not praying families. His influence pervaded the town ; he canvassed its houses ; family altars were built, and the voice of prayer and praise girdled the town and went up acceptably into the ear of God.

Make the hour of family worship the most joyous of the day. Regard it not so much a duty as a privilege. Husbands and fathers, let nothing rob you of the privilege and glory of being the highpriests in your own families. The children will never forget this hour, even if they are scattered to the ends of the earth. When the great Dr. Nott lay dying they bent over him to catch his whispers, and they heard him murmur, " Now I lay me down to sleep." The only thing we can never forget is what is learned in childhood. When you are building the soul-houses of your children, put ai'ound them the balustrade of prayer. Is there a family represented here in whose home the family altar has been torn down? Go home and rebuild it. Is there one in which it never has been erected? Go home to establish it, I beseech you. Ask a blessing at your table; gather your children about you, and around them and yourselves throw the balustrade of family prayer. To-day think of these two blessed balustrades — the Holy Sabbath and Family Prayer, and may God help us to erect and maintain both !

II. 2>h>ine Balustrabes*

(PART II.)

" When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.' 1 '' — Deut. xxii. 8.

LAST Sunday while discussing this text attention was called to the two important balustrades — Observance of the Sabbath, and the Practice of Family Prayer. There are still other balustrades to be placed upon frhe roof of our soul-house and family home. We are exposed to danger from many quarters; we ought to fortify our roof at every point. Our roof is to be a place both of defensive and offensive warfare. The inspired writer tells us to be watchful against our besetting sin; but it is often equally necessary to be on our guard concerning sins that are not besetting, as we suppose. We flatter ourselves that we are safe as to them, and the enemy takes advantage of our indifference to danger and

our neglect to provide the munitions for defence.

There are, therefore, other balustrades to be erected and to be kept constantly in position.

Eeverence for the Bible.

III. Permit me to mention as one of these — Reverence for jbhe Bible. This is a day of the making and reading of many books. Every age produces its supply. Solomon said three thousand years ago, " Of making many books there is no end ;" were he living now he would write that sentence in great capitals. But the majority of books die with the age which gives them birth. Many of these books ought to die ; they are bad and that continually. But others are like " the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." A good book is a wonderful product of brain and heart. Milton uttered a great truth when he said ; " Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a progeny of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are ; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." These words are especially applicable to the Bible, which by pre-eminence is called " The Book. " No book that has ever been written has exercised so vast an influence, and has so stimulated to noble achievements as the Book of God. Some men think it is smart to speak sneeringly of the Bible. Such men are taking quite unnecessary pains to advertise their own ignorance. They are usually those who have never read the Bible, nor, for that matter, much of any other good literature.

They have picked up at secondhand some objections to the Bible — objections which were exploded hundreds of years before these men were born — and parade them as if they had made a great discovery. Men of learning and thought know better, even though they may not themselves be Christians. To the Bible we owe what is noblest in literature, most enduring in art and sweetest in song. Not to speak just now of its higher merits, I claim for it the first place because of its literary worth. As history the Bible should be studied ; it is the oldest history, and it records the oldest events. It illustrates the best elements of historical writing; and every page gives proof that its writers wrote in the conscious presence of the living God. Its biographies are matchless ; this difficult species of writing is here seen to perfection. Truth dominates every part; infirmities and excellences are faithfully portrayed: this fact is an evidence of its inspiration; uninspired writers would have denied or concealed the sins, and would have magnified or created the virtues of their heroes. Its influence on language is wonderf ul ; it has fixed the form of many languages ; and it ennobles and exalts every language into which it is translated. Think of its influence on music, painting and sculpture. Without the Bible Milton's poetic genius had never so loftily soared and sung. He had to go to the Bible for his high theme, and the music of "Siloa's brook that flowed fast by the oracle of God" gives its charm to his lofty verse. The Bible gave Kaphael his inspiration. He ascended " the holy mount " and gazed on the transfigured Christ, else the world had never seen his immortal "Transfiguration." A passage from the Bible gave Handel his text for a great oratorio as he was about to leave England for Ireland. On that scripture he composed his immortal work, known at the first as the "Sacred Oratorio," and now as the "Messiah." But for the Bible Spenser's "Faerie Queene," Pope's "Messiah," Cowper's "Task," Wordsworth's "Ode on Immortality," and Bryant's " Thanatopsis " had never been written. Rapt prophets and inspired apostles gave these writers their themes, thoughts, and poetic fervor. Let the names of Michael Angelo, Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tasso, and a score more, suggest further to you how to them all, and to others working along the different lines of their own inherent genius, the Bible furnished themes and inspiration.

Think of its poetry. True, it has no great epic poems; but it has dramatic elements in several books, although perhaps no great drama. But of didactic poetry it has noble specimens ; its pastoral poetry is unsurpassed; and its lyrics, inspired by God, lift the heart up to him. Milton declares that the Greek and Roman classics are unworthy to be compared with Zion's songs. Sir Daniel Sandford, a critic of marked ability, as quoted by William Walters in his " Claims of the Bible," says that, " In lyric flow and fire, in crushing force, in majesty that seems still to echo the awful sounds once heard beneath the thunder- clouds of Mount Sinai, the poetry of the ancient Scriptures is the most superb that ever burned within the breast of man." Carlyle, in speaking of the book of Job, says, that apart from all theories about it, it is one of the grandest things ever written with pen: "Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation ; oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind ; so soft and great as the summer midnight, as the world with its seas and stars ! There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible, or out of it, of equal literary merit." Its influence on legislation is great. Egypt and Phoenicia borrowed from its light ; so indirectly did Greece ; Rome borrowed from Greece, and the laws of Rome have exercised a great influence on the codes of Europe and America. A distinguished French jurist, himself an atheist, in comparing the laws of Moses with those of other great lawgivers says: "Lycurgus wrote, not for the people, but for an army ; it was a barrack he erected, not a commonwealth ; and sacrificing everything to the military spirit, he mutilated human nature to crush it into armor. Solon could not resist the effeminate and relaxing influence of Athens. In Moses alone do we find a morality distinct from policy, and for all times and peoples. The trumpet of Sinai still finds an echo in the conscience of mankind — the decalogue still binds us all." Disraeli says in his "Tancred," "The life and prosperity of England are protected by the laws of Sinai. The hard-working people of England are secured a day of rest in every week by the laws of Sinai." Friends, it was a matchless code, and it was given with indescribable majesty.

" The terrors of that awful day, though past, Have on the tide of time some glory, cast. "

Could we trace the secret sources of the greatness of all the heathen nations, it would be seen that their only valuable lights, in all departments of human genius, were kindled on God's altars: and that their loftiest strains of poetry were but echoes of Hebrew song. Blessed Bible! It is the flower of all the world's books; it is the softest pillow for the aching head ; it is the best balm for the broken heart ; it brings heaven down to earth; it lifts earth up to heaven. Hear Disraeli again : " In times of sorrow we fly not to Byron, Wordsworth or Shakespeare, but to David. The most popular poet in England is the sweet singer of Israel, and by no other race except his own have his odes been so often sung. It was the sword of the Lord and of Gideon that won for England her boasted liberties; and the Scotch achieved their religious freedom chanting upon their hillsides the same canticles which cheered the hearts of Judah amid their glens."