Images de page
PDF
ePub

and judgment. There is such a disposition to overlook and disregard this at present, as is utterly without warrant in Scripture, and contrary to the spirit which pervades nearly every page of the inspired record of the past, and also of the prophetic books, in regard to God's dealings with nations and empires. We were confounded to find in the leading article of the American National Anti-Slavery Standard, of 11th October, 1862, the following statement :-" We never urged this action (that of abolition) upon the Government on the ground of its being sanctioned by justice and humanity. We knew that in a sense (what sense?) the Government had no business with either the one or the other in its governing capacity." (!!)

2. That, with all disposition to acknowledge the excellence of many individuals in public and private stations in the Church of England, and among English Christians, we are not without fears that England, as a nation, is still a horn of the beast. Farther, holding, as we do, the principle of the continued identity of nations from age to age, and contemplating in the pages of history the doings of that nation, in ancient and in modern times, we cannot but see it lying under a tremendous load of guilt, and dread the approach of a season of awful divine retribution. No doubt the Judge of all the earth, who cannot but do right in executing judgment, will in some way testify due respect to what England, and especially many of her tanly Christian subjects, have nobly done, and continue to do. He that would have spared the cities of the plain from utter destruction, had there been ten righteous persons in them, will not fail in some way to show His respect to righteousness in the day of His anger. But we must not expect that the English nation shall escape with impunity, any more than Judah did in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, when some of her best sons went in chains as captives to Babylon, and her capital and temple were laid in ruins. It will easily be seen that there would be a very limited execution of the threatenings against the antichristian kingdoms could a number of good persons existing there prevent this. There are scarcely any of these nations in which there is not a number of the excellent of the earth. Even in France there are very many such. All the true Christians in the United States-and they are not few nor of small attainments,—and all that was and is being nobly done by churches and associations in these States, have not prevented the infliction of terrible retribution for atrocious crimes sanctioned by the laws of these States, and in the perpetration of which the individual States, and individuals in them, have had the protection and countenance of the highest power and authorities in the United Republic.

3. That it is on what Scotland did, and became nationally, that our hope of her escape from the doom of antichristian kingdoms chiefly

rests.

4. That in whatever degree Scotland is laid under obligation to England in regard to temporal prosperity, she is the reverse of lying under obligation to that kingdom in relation to the momentous interests of true religion. In this respect her connection with England from first to last has been a snare. This drew her first to Rome; and, after her heroic and thorough revolt from the dominion of the Man of Sin,

this has again brought her, directly or indirectly, into dangerous contact with the Papacy, when all nations, who have respect to their safety, should be as earnest in keeping at a distance from it, as men would seek to be from the crater of a volcano when the ominous sounds are being heard, and the quaking of the earth felt, which announce the near approach of a desolating eruption.

The anomalous history of Ireland renders it exceedingly difficult to say what is to be expected as its approaching future; but we fondly hope that Protestant and Presbyterian Ulster will in some way share with Scotland, to which she has been so long in no small degree assimilated.

SERMONS, OR NO SERMONS.

SUCH is the question being once more raised, even in Scotland. We felt assured that the craving after Popish relics, postures, liturgies, and artistic music, would soon be followed by other innovations, better suited to the sensuous worshipper than the discussion of scriptural truths, and approaching the throne of mercy with scriptural exercises of devotion. Strange though it may appear, at the very time when the debased condition of the lapsed masses is exciting the attention of the Christian community, and while home missionaries and Christian philanthropists are vying with each other in bringing the neglected multitude under the preaching of the gospel, there is another class who would wish to banish the ordinary preaching of the word altogether a class of sentimental gospel-loathers, who would deprive humanity of the bread of life, because, forsooth, they are regardless of the authority of God, and "desire not the knowledge of His ways."

Concealing this primary feeling or motive, a general attack is made upon sermonising, chiefly directed against the quality of pulpit instructions usually furnished, but really against all preaching, as part of public worship. Indeed, there is little effort to conceal enmity to the pulpit, with a high profession of regard for the devotional exercises.. Until that class of persons, who seem so anxious to subvert the pulpit, shows somewhat more of a devotional spirit, in attending meetings for prayer and Christian fellowship, we shall take leave to doubt whether they could not dispense with the whole Sabbath service as easily as with the obnoxious sermon.

We would not have been surprised to meet with opposition to sermonising among the writers of the Puseyite school in England; but we were scarcely prepared to find this type of Popery fully set forth in any Scottish periodical. But these are strange times, or rather times when nothing in the shape of departure from truth or scriptural practice is strange, because so common. In the August number of Blackwood's Magazine there is a lengthy article on sermons, the burden of which is to prove that they are a public nuisance, which ought to be swept out of the services of the Church, except on very special occasions and by very special persons. In order to show that

we are not exaggerating the views of the writer, we shall let him speak for himself,

"Very much more than half of our countrymen consider the hearing of a sermon as a religious act and meritorious duty; and but a small proportion of those who neglect this weekly observance are good for much. Notwithstanding all this, ominous grumbles begin to breathe across the surface of society. A few people venture so far as to write letters to the papers explaining their endless dissatisfaction and discontent-hosts more, who do not write, to display all the symptoms of uneasiness and fatigue whenever the subject is mentioned. Except in the case of some lucky people in some favoured localities, most men tacitly or otherwise admit to themselves, that an hour or half-an-hour's tedious listening is the necessary penalty which they must pay for the privilege of worshipping God with their fellows, and remaining devout members of their mother church. There are who bear the yoke with patience, and a blessed faculty of self-abstraction-there are who accept it meekly, and swallow the unpalatable morsel as a duty-there are who chafe, and worry, and afflict themselves to no purpose. Whatever one does, here remains unchangeable the Sunday necessity. Protestantism and

reformation, and English use and wont, hardened down upon us by a few centuries, have, however, saddled this privilege [worshipping God] with its burden. Sermonhearing is the dark side of duty which hovers by the side of the celestial right. We must pay this toll to the Church for the privilege of worship, just as one must pay taxes in this favoured island as a needful balance to the privileges of liberty."

This is plain enough, and brings out distinctly the place which this writer, and the devout (?) class whom he represents, assign to the gospel, as usually presented in sermons. There is of course no conception here of the preaching of the gospel as a divinely-appointed, divinely-commanded means of grace. There is no idea of the historical fact, that both the Old and New Testament dispensations, especially the latter, are characterized by the preaching of the word. The writer seems to forget (if he has ever read the divine record) that the Christian dispensation was introduced by the means which he condemns. Did not John the Baptist come preaching repentance to a guilty people? Did not Jesus himself preach the gospel of the kingdom? Did He not commission the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples to preach the gospel throughout all the villages and cities of the land of Israel? Did He not leave the world in the very act of issuing His great commission-"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature?" Does this writer not know that one of the ends of Christ's ascension was to procure a gospel ministry to the Church? "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Has he forgotten the command of Paul to Timothy-"I charge thee, therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; PREACH the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." If the Bible is recognized as any authority in this matter, there can be no doubt, either from the

[ocr errors]

1

institution of preaching, or the example of the apostles, that the ex-
hibition of the gospel was designed to be a perpetual and universal
means of grace, and a special part of that stated worship which the
King and Head of the Church has appointed to be observed in the
assemblies of His people. It is consequently worse than a blunder to
charge the habit of stated preaching upon "Protestantism, reformation,
and English use and wont." The primitive Church was specially
distinguished by the preaching of the gospel, accompanied by prayer,
praise, and the presentation of offerings to the Lord; and it was only
during the rise of the great apostacy, and when the pulpit was cor-
rupted by false doctrine, that preaching fell into desuetude, and sensuous
devotional rites and observances usurped its place. With the decay
of the pulpit there came also the neglect of the Bible, until it was
literally shut up from the community, and not even known by many
of the Popish priests prior to the Reformation. The writer already
He would have found
quoted seems to have been born out of due time.
everything that he desires during the medieval ages, and might yet
find them, were he to reside among "the lucky people in some favoured
localities," such as the south of Ireland, or the capital of sunny Italy.
I presume that, if a resident in the capital of Scotland, he might even
be gratified, to the full extent of his taste, in the vicinity of the Cow-
gate, beneath the benign auspices of Father Marshall. We will not
promise that there will be no "taxes" levied for the privilege of
worshipping with his fellowmen, but we do venture to predict that he
will not be troubled with anything worthy of the name of a sermon.

But the objections to sermons in toto is not a discovery of this en-
lightened age-not even a corruscation of intellect struck out by the
"ominous grumbles which begin to breathe across the surface of
society" against the weekly "penalty" of a pulpit discourse. It is
nothing more than what the Spirit foresaw and foretold when the
primitive heralds of the cross were sent forth. At that period the Jew
represented the hardness of the human heart, and the learned Greek
the pride of the human intellect. The preaching of Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto
even by an apostle, was
the Greeks foolishness," while "unto them which were called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the wisdom of God, and the power of God."
There is no lack of the same pride of heart and of intellect in modern
times; and to such may be directly traced the attempt to overthrow
God's ordinance of preaching the word. It was with the prospect of
such persons resisting the gospel that Paul gave the solemn charge to
Timothy, already cited, as is evident from the reason assigned-"For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and
shall be turned unto fables." This prophetic record prospectively ex-
plains what our author states, speaking of the Reformation, when he
says "The Roman Catholic Church, with that rare perception of the
wants of human nature which characterizes her, had made the largest
provision for all the needs of piety." If he had just said--for all the
cravings of depraved humanity, he would have spoken the truth. But

this incidental reference shows at what he is aiming, and where he would naturally find his "Mother Church." "Fables" instead of gospel sermons, and masses instead of Christian devotion, would save the "penalty" of hearing God's word, and the possible reproofs of a troubled conscience.

Having seen, at the outset, the views which this public representative of current impiety assigns to the sermon as a necessary "tax," or a "penalty," it is unnecessary to enter at length into a consideration of his description of sermons both north and south of the Tweed. Any strictures of such a writer upon their quality is of little value, when they are considered only as a "penalty" to be endured for the privilege of worshipping. As he seems to have no acquaintance with the "first principles of the oracles of God," though assuming the place of a learned pulpit critic, his judgment is barely worth recording, save as a specimen of cool presumption and Jesuitical sophistry. While speaking of the necessity of hearing a sermon as a "toll to the church for the privilege of worship," he says

"It is, however, when one looks at it, sufficiently strange that this should be. A Christian man must worship, or he cannot continue a Christian; and the Church must worship in common, or it is no longer a Church, and forfeits its claim to be called the household of faith, which is one of its dearest titles; but the institution of teaching is entirely distinct from this primitive necessity of a godly life."

True, the institution of teaching is distinct from the individual godly life, or even the individual act of worship; but it is not distinct from the living or permanent obligations of the Church in her collective capacity. Her commission to preach-yea to "preach the gospel to every creature"-is the command of her exalted Lord; and not only so, but a command, as given to the Church, accompanied by the most solemn obligation to receive and obey the gospel. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark, xvi. 16). If to "every creature," none can plead exemption from hearing but at their peril; and, as congregations are continually changing, hence the necessity of preaching it every Sabbath. If there are many among the intellectual classes who know so little of the origin of the practice or the design of preaching, it is quite apparent that even every diet of public worship is not too much to meet the necessities of their case. If the writer admits that he is a creature, then to him the gospel ought to be preached.

In order to give plausibility to the general opposition to sermons, the writer attempts to show the utter inefficiency of most preachers.

"The faculty of instructing their fellow-creatures is given to comparatively few men of any place or class. To expect from some thousand men, of all classes and descriptions, that they shall each emerge from the work-day week on every Sunday morning with something worthy of being presented, by way of spiritual nutriment, to the many thousands who must listen to them, is an utterly inhuman and inconceivable fallacy. Nor is the hearer the only victim. Every class of the community gives up a portion of its sons to be trained to this hard life, over which the shadow of the weekly sermon hangs like a feverish cloud."

We fully admit the truth of what the writer here states regarding

« PrécédentContinuer »