SERMON II.

CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATION OF DIVINE JUSTICE.

LORD, thou art righteous, and all thy judgments are just! Before thee, O most holy, and before thine all-searching look, the veil of dissimulation and hypocrisy, which human prudence so often throws over profligacy and crime, immediately drops; but oppressed and suffering virtue also, which, misunderstood and despised, is yet never weary of doing good, is encouraged in thy sight to the hope of a better world. Therefore the thought of thee, thou eternal and supreme Judge of the world of spirits, seizes at last the heedless and secure sinner, and fills him with horror and trembling, because of the futurity which awaits him; but, therefore also, the conviction of thy perfect justice rewards thy children with contentment and peace of mind, when they suffer wrong and persecution at the hands of men.

Father of all! let the importance of this consideration be ever present to us, that we also may be just towards our brethren; that we may learn willingly 24to endure wrong and suffering, because thou directest them to our benefit; that we may all, as thy children, look forward with joy in the hour of death to thy sentence, thou, who art the Judge of all the world!

It is a peculiar feature of the unperverted nature of man, my beloved, that it seeks to preserve the most exact and perfect balance between guilt and punishment, between merit and reward. We detest the judge with all our heart, who sells his judgment for gifts, who gives sentence for the vicious man, but is deaf to the voice of innocence defending itself in vain. On the contrary, we cannot deny our respect and high esteem to the man, who with upright and candid mind reprobates vice in the palace and in the cottage with equal impartiality, who entertains an equal regard for the moral worth of the rich and the poor. So unbounded, my friends, is our respect for a virtue, the conscientious practice of which must form the most exalted dignity and the fairest distinction of humanity. But, alas! the limitation of our powers, ignorance, covetousness, and insensibility, are the dangerous rocks, on which it is so often wrecked on this earth. We all, therefore, expect our sentence and the determination of our fate with silent submission from a superior Judge, whose all-scrutinizing view none of our most hidden virtues, none of our most secret 25faults can escape, and who penetrates with infinite knowledge into the inmost secrets of our hearts. The more we labour to become familiar with the legislation of the mightiest and wisest of all Judges, the more firmly we are persuaded, that he lets no virtue go unrewarded, no wickedness unpunished; the more correct our knowledge of the nature of his rewards and punishments is, so much the more unshaken will be our trust in him, so much the more ardent, disinterested, and pure our virtue, so much the more informed and fearless our mind, and so much the more lasting the happiness and contentment of our life.

No part of Scripture is better suited to instruct us with clearness and decision on this point than the text.

ROMANS ii. 6-12.

Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God.

THIS important instruction of the Apostle will give us occasion to meditate on its true signification, 26and will employ us for the present hour in a Christian contemplation of divine justice. This contemplation is of two parts. First, God has connected essentially unalterable happiness with virtue, unalterable misery with vice. Secondly, God so guides the destinies of men, that the most perfect balance is preserved between their moral conduct and their real welfare.

1. There is no stronger and more expressive proof of our resemblance to God, and of the high destiny of our immortal spirit, than this, that the Eternal has given us a judge in our own conscience, which loudly condemns our misdeeds, and applauds only our righteous and honourable sentiments and actions. If this cannot by any means be corrupted, nor bribed by any flattery of a foolish self-conceit; then must the favour of the highest of all Judges be the most unchangeable and invariable, and we must, in the first place, take this view of his justice, that he has connected unfailing blessedness with virtue. Do we not ask, beloved, wherein this blessedness, inseparable from the real worth of our actions, consists? Where is there an earthly felicity to be compared with the satisfaction which the silent applause of our own hearts imparts to us after the conscientious performance of our duties? Speak yourselves, my brethren! ye, who with clean and guiltless hearts have borne all the toils of a laborious day with unwearied. zeal; ye, who have 27distributed to deserving indigence the superfluity which Providence gave you; ye, who have scattered the seeds of truth with intrepidity and prudence; and ye, who have improved your minds by sciences and arts to your own happiness and the good of your brethren, say, has ever a joyous gratification, has ever any voluptuous delight, equalled the purity and fulness of that heavenly pleasure, which penetrated your hearts at the thought of having fulfilled your duties to the utmost? In this contentment with ourselves, and in the consciousness that we have exercised and applied our powers in the most rational manner, lies an inexpressible reward of virtue. This high satisfaction in the soul of the virtuous is enhanced by the love and esteem, which are surely entertained for him in the hearts of all generous and good men.

Nothing, indeed, is more common, my beloved, than for the greatest part of mankind, (who, being themselves weak and deficient in moral worth, would gladly obtain some merit by pronouncing decisive judgments on others) to depreciate the most meritorious and most blameless actions, to defame the purest integrity, and to seek to expose it, under the most odious names, to misconception and calumny. But how much is the true friend of Christian virtue recompensed for these uncharitable judgments by the unfeigned approbation of generous and worthy men, who, after much experience, and affliction 28of various kinds, have learnt to value earthly goods according to their real worth, and who now fraternally share their heart and their affection with every true friend of religion and virtue! Thus, great is the reward of the pious,—to be esteemed by wise and sensible persons; but a superior, an unutterable felicity still awaits him,—the applause of his wise Creator and Father. To feel persuaded that one has fulfilled the commands of the Most Holy, to whom we owe our existence, our reason, our faculties, and our whole happiness; to know, that by disinterested, great, and noble actions we are brought nearer to his infinite holiness; that we, have become worthy of his grace, love, and fatherly care; and that we may now lay claim, through Jesus, to all the benefits to which his children are heirs; where is the mortal and the Christian, who must not find the supreme and most perfect good of his life in this conviction? Oh, my brethren, that every one amongst us possessed this glad sense in full efficiency; that every one of us could look up to his Father with filial confidence; that this blissful approbation of the most exalted and mightiest Judge were present to us all, and strengthened us to do good and not be weary, that we might reap without ceasing!

But the thoughts and aims of the human heart are sensual and evil from youth up; we are, therefore, 2dly, made sensible of the divine justice 29in another point of view, where it has connected unalterable misery with vice. Nothing has at all times, so long as men sought their highest enjoyments in sensual delights and earthly treasures, occasioned stronger objections and more unjust doubts of the guidance of Divine Providence, than the apparent prosperity of the wicked upon earth. Full of dejection and despondency, the innocent but suffering Job exclaims, “When I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.” And yet, my beloved, nothing is easier for the attentive observer, than to see the hand of Divine justice punishing vice even in the lap of riches and abundance. Cast a glance into the soul of the miser, who with insatiable covetousness scorns no means, by which he can increase his wealth and his treasures, who, inexorable and unfeeling, repels every suffering and necessitous man, banishes every sentiment of philanthropy from his breast, and inflicts pain upon himself, merely in order to feed his greedy eye on his prosperity; how is he harassed by a thousand cares, racked by unbridled desires, and tossed about by constant uneasiness! If we observe the voluptuous spendthrift, who invokes every thing which can gratify the senses and procure him the greatest variety of enjoyments; 30who leaves nothing untried in order to acquire power and consequence by means of a brilliant exterior; who willingly sacrifices his time and his property to intoxicating joys and the most varied diversions, in order to drink full draughts from the stream of pleasure; how wretched is he in those moments, when joy deserts him, when reason awakes from her dream, and when the mutability of his happiness appears in all its emptiness and nakedness! He may never want flatterers, companions of his pleasures, and mean persons, who from self- interest cringe before his greatness and splendour; he may always see himself surrounded by purchased eulogists; but the true and noble friend of virtue must shun him, must despise him, and openly manifest his displeasure and disgust. Therefore, “there is no peace to the wicked;” therefore do they hurry, unsteady and changeable, from one purpose to another, from one gratification, from one dissipation to another; therefore is their heart incessantly tormented by the pains of disappointed hopes, by the pangs of consuming passions, and by the reproaches of an offended conscience. And when the profligate, in this disturbed state, this insecurity of mind, begins to think of the Judge, who will one day demand an account of every, even the least of our actions, who will bring all our deeds to trial, and give sentence according to the holiest laws; then shame and remorse seize him, then he curses the fugitive joys, which he at other times had so eagerly sought for; 31then he languishes on the brink of despair for rest, and finds it not. He would gladly hide himself from the judgment of the Most Holy, who views every impurity of his heart with the eye of omniscience; but he is forced to cry out with David, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike to thee⁶⁶   Psalm cxxxix..” So infallible is the misery which follows the steps of vice, and so invariable is the blessing and the felicity, which naturally flows from pure Christian virtue. But Divine justice, moreover, guides the destinies of men in such a manner, that the most perfect balance prevails between their moral goodness and their real welfare, in the examination of which point we will employ the Second Part of our meditation.

If we raise our ideas, my beloved, from man, whose life is a breath, up to the Eternal, we find that his unbounded holiness must be identified with 32the most unutterable blessedness, because his supreme intelligence cannot design or imagine any law, with which the infinite effects of the most sovereign power would not at once correspond. Were it possible that human virtue also could be so thoroughly perfected, so pure and spotless, then would the good man be sufficient of himself for his happiness, he would scorn every external benefit as a foreign reward, and would feel himself invariably blest in the consciousness of his own perfection; but so exalted and pure a virtue is not the lot of the finite rational world; and man, who, notwithstanding the most conscientious endeavours after holiness and goodness of heart, is so often depressed by the most distressing sensation of his infirmities and defects, must, when thinking of God, feel but too deeply, that we are all sinners who are not yet worthy of the full favour of God. Now, in order that human virtue, which has to struggle in its weakness with so many and wearisome impediments, may not want outward encouragement to press on with increasing spirit in the path of duty, Divine justice ordains; first, that in regard to the worthy worshipper of God and Christ, the thought of his inward goodness and his real moral worth shall be supported on this earth by rewards of sense: think not, my friends, of such rewards and prizes, as are appropriated to distinguished actions by legislators and princes, rewards which an indefatigable 33and restless ambition so often carries off, instead of silent and modest merit. Is not the whole wide earth full of God’s good things, and is not every thing. reward which we enjoy from his bounty? If but a pure and guiltless heart beats within our breast, if the applause of the inward judge but gives us a real satisfaction with ourselves, O, then, no good thing is so small, no enjoyment so poor and simple, that it may not exhilarate us, and fill us with the purest pleasure; then the indigent inhabitant of a lowly, but is happier than the possessor of a splendid palace who is loaded with sins. For this reason the sincere friend of virtue rejoices in a sound and vigorous state of health, vouchsafed him by his heavenly Father, enjoys it gratefully as a gift from his hand, and feels happy in this valuable reward of his integrity. For this reason he welcomes the blessing of Providence, when, by worldly possessions and prosperity, consequently by outward agreeable sensations, it reminds him of this goodness of heart, which now heightens every pleasure, and converts every permitted enjoyment of sense into the purest and highest gratification. For this reason he thankfully blesses the period when outward dignities and posts of honour are allotted to him, because he can now act with greater freedom, do good more extensively, and promote, with less hindrance, truth, order, and tranquillity amongst his brethren. Thus delightful 34and unfailing are the rewards which Divine justice has appointed for the good man while yet on earth, because the exact proportion of happiness and well-being to virtue is the sublime object to which all finite spirits should aspire; Providence, therefore, guides the destinies of men in such a manner, that, secondly, the vicious man’s thoughts on his immorality are also kept up by outward unpleasant sensations. The wicked have no peace, but even their prosperity is unstable and mutable. So true is that which a wise man says in the book of Job: “The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens; and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever. They which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream and shall not be found, yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.”

If the generous and honest friend of virtue acknowledges the hand of Providence in all the events and occurrences of this life, which bestows more or fewer benefits on mortals, as their deserts and their destination for eternity may require; in like manner the vicious man sees in every trouble that falls on him, and in every distress he meets with, the wrath of an avenging Deity. The same. unsteadiness of his principles, the same restlessness in his mind, which formerly abandoned him to the 35wild gratification of intoxicating pleasures, now sinks him, under the least adversity, into dejected lamentation and desponding anxiety. Does fate hurl him down from the pinnacle of honour, fame, and prosperity, to which he had elevated himself by the depression of real merit, by intrigues and artifices? O, then his humiliation becomes an intolerable anguish to him, then he is too weak to meet the contempt of his adversaries with courage and fortitude, then the tortures of a deeply wounded pride, and the unsatisfied demands of a boundless self-love, embitter every moment of his disquieted existence. Does the rich villain, who knows no greater good than his dishonestly acquired treasures, experience, like others, the vicissitudes of worldly fortune; do rapid floods, or raging flames, or sudden public calamity lay waste his magnificent dwelling? at the loss of his possessions, his heart also fails him, and, full of agony and terror, he trembles under the deeply piercing strokes of misfortune. But the retributive justice of God appears on no occasion more awful and alarming to the wicked, than at the thought of the approach of unexpected death. The hopes of a secure life and undecaying health, to which self-love could formerly fix no limits, now give way; now the building of earthly happiness, in which the sinner promised himself so long a residence, falls in; now comfort and rest are no where to be found, but in 36the consciousness of a clean and virtuous heart. And in this poverty and nakedness of his mind shall he, at the period, when his body, near its dissolution, must fight the hard fight of death, enter into thoughts on futurity, from which he has to expect the sentence of an eternal and righteous Judge on all his actions? Who amongst us all, my beloved, does not discern in this indescribable agony and fear of the dying sinner, the irrevocable judgement of divine holiness on the iniquity of vice? We think not in this Case of trust in Divine mercy and goodness, and of the merits of our Redeemer, who died for the good of mankind, by averting from them apprehended punishments. These blissful doctrines are full of refreshing consolation for all those, who, having their attention drawn by the religion of Jesus to the destructive nature of vice, have returned to the path of virtue, and now find comfort respecting the offences of past days in the death of our Divine Teacher and Friend. But the sinner already does unspeakable penance in this, that, according to the same principles which he has hitherto followed in his actions, lie dreads his Creator and Father as a severe and passionate Judge; that he considers all the sorrows and disasters which come upon him, as the immediate punishments of God; and that, like a child which disobeys the commands of a wise and affectionate father, he enjoys his favours under the loud reproaches 37of his conscience, and with a mortifying sense of his unworthiness. This dejection and fear of the just chastisements of God will never entirely leave the most abandoned and sensual offender, even in the utmost apparent prosperity; and could it even leave him, Divine justice, thirdly, so directs the destinies of men, that the apparent worldly success of the wicked, and the undeserved afflictions of the virtuous, become a beneficial source of the firmest conviction of a blessed immortality, a source, therefore, of the most exhilarating hope for the Christian sufferer. Nothing is more common, my friends, than that, when a successful profligate raises himself above his weaker brethren, or a guiltless Job sinks under the weight of his sorrows, we wrong Divine justice, and frequently break out into loud murmurs against Providence, for the unequal distribution of human destinies. “Is it justice,” the censurer of Providence exclaims, “when whole nations groan under the tyranny of profligate rulers; when violence and iniquity heap crime upon crime; when extensive devastations and wars expose the virtuous as well as the wicked to the utmost misery; and when flattery and frivolity so often wear the crown, of which active and modest merit is deprived?” So unreasonable are the doubts and complaints, in which the finite being indulges, respecting the wisdom and holiness of the Infinite; as if he knew whether the virtue which externally 38 shines so brightly, is internally also pure and spot, less; and whether the vice, which he so unconditionally condemns, has not some unobserved moral qualities by its side. But supposing, beloved, that the censurer of Providence judged correctly in this case, and that he had seen vice really happy, and virtue really unhappy; are not the sufferings of the good man, whatever he loses on this earth, rewards for eternity? Let merit be always approved here below; let every wickedness be immediately followed by deserved punishment; let the most perfect balance be ever held between the moral goodness and the welfare of men; where would then, O mortal, be the endless object of thy destination! where thy hope of immortality, and of a better and blissful futurity? where the strength and elasticity of thy mind, with which thou overcamest the greatest obstacles and adversities? It is only the trials and troubles of this life, which form a great and good man, who has the firmness, even in death, to forgive those who have injured him; it is only silent meditations on the decay of this world’s goods, which elevate the mind to the exhilarating prospect of a better world; it is only through calamities and sorrows that the hope of a blessed immortality is matured in our hearts into that cheering conviction, which to sensual fools is an unknown jewel.

Let, therefore, all directing Providence be praised for all the unexpected events and misfortunes, which 39with wise and gracious hand it has interwoven with human destinies; we discern, therefore, even in its incomprehensible dispensations, the tie with which it binds us and our hopes to a superior world; let then no doubt and no selfish weakness rob us of this consolatory truth, “Lord thou art righteous, and all thy judgments are just.”

O that these considerations might avail, my friends, in leading us to just notions of the nature of Divine rewards and punishments, and in filling all our hearts with filial reverence for the Most Holy, the Almighty Lawgiver and Judge! May the testimony of an unpolluted conscience be able to deliver us all from that anxious fear of Divine vengeance, which is an inseparable companion of sin and vice; for “Fear,” says St. John, “hath torment, and he that feareth is not made perfect in love;” but love which is perfected by Christian virtue, knoweth no fear, but rejoices, through Jesus and the merits of his teaching and his death, in the mercy of a holy and all-bountiful Father. What a great and enlivening thought, beloved! Thus then we languish no more under the burden of a hard and terrifying law, which resented every transgression with severe and tormenting punishments; thus we shudder no more at the terrors of death; thus we feel blest in the freedom of our 40immortal spirit, through that religion which brings us unto salvation by faith, hope, and love; thus the voice of our heart calls upon us all to “live soberly, righteously, and godly,” that we may be the children of God. Let the sinner then awake from the giddiness of error and passion, which despoiled him of his dignity, bound his mind in fetters, and exposed him to the contempt of his heart and perpetual uneasiness. Let, therefore, the pious and good man unweariedly seek the attainment of his grand aim, and find peace with himself, the favour of his Divine Father and Friend, and the enduring and richest reward of persevering virtue. May a heart full of love and zeal for Christian perfection, entitle us all to the delightful hope, that we and all, who rejoice in immortal life, through Jesus, may hereafter be adorned with the crown of virtue, which God the righteous Judge shall give us at that day.