(No. VII.) SUBJECT:-The Needlessness of Man's Ruin. "Why will ye die?"-Ezekiel xviii. 31. Analysis of Homily the Three Hundred and Twenty-third. THE needlessness of man's ruin, is the subject which I deduce from this Question for our present discussion. There are, however, other important ideas manifestly implied in this divine utterance, which we may usefully set forth as a suitable preface to our general theme. The question implies : First: That man is made to act from reason. His Maker here appeals to his reasoning faculty, and demands a reason for his ruinous conduct. He has made some creatures to act from instinct, but man from reason. It is true that man has in common with all irrational existences certain corporeal impulses which prompt him to action. These, in natures of certain temperaments, and under certain circumstances, become exceedingly potent, tend to overbear intellect, and break down the boundaries of reason. But as in no case is their power necessarily resistless, in no case is their reign justifiable. The engine may be full of steam, but reason as the regulator should make it serve the use of the intelligent moral man. Strong gales and billows of impulse may rise, but reason, as the helmsman, should so adjust the barque as to make these blind forces do its work. The steed may be full of Arabian fire, but reason, as the rider, should hold the reins and direct its lightning speed. Some men plead the power of their impulses as a justification for their wicked and reckless deeds. Such pleas are inadmissible. For wisely and kindly has our blessed Maker proportioned in our constitution the measure of reason to impulse. The man of strongest impulse has generally the strongest intellect. Men of weak impulses are generally weak in everything;-weak tradesmen, weak mechanics, weak thinkers, weak writers, weak speakers, weak saints. Complain not therefore of your strong natural impulses ;-thank God for them, for He has given you a sufficient amount of reason to manage and master all their operations. When they become too dormant, let reason muse until their fires kindle, and when they grow too furiously hot, let reason muse until the flames expire. Never act from them, but always by them ;-let them be your servant not your sovereign. The question implies : Secondly: That man is amenable to his Maker for the reasons that influence him. "Why will ye die?" He demands a reason, and He has an unquestionable right to do so. The reason or motive of an act is in His view the act. The muscular effort is not the act, it is but its contingent form. The theatre of human actions is the soul, and that is hidden from all but God. Man's deeds before his Maker are completed before a limb or muscle moves. Thefts, adulteries, and murders, are committed when the body has never performed one dishonest, lascivious, or cruel act. We shall "have to give an account of all the deeds done in the body," as well as the deeds done by the body. The latter are nothing in their nature or number as compared with the former. When these are revealed, as revealed they must be, "the hidden things of darkness will be brought to light." Thou art accountable to God, my brother, for the use of thy reason. The question implies: Thirdly: That notwithstanding man's rational and responsible nature, he is pursuing a course of self-destruction. "Why will ye die?" "The wages of sin is death." What is this death? We can more readily tell you what it is not than what it is. It is not the death of the body. Men do not generally will this, on the contrary they are supremely anxious to avoid it. But this is impossible. No ingenuity, influence, or power, can ward off the stroke of death. "There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that warfare." Nor does Vol. VIII. E it mean the extinction of the spirit? Man may kill his body, he has done so, but he cannot kill his spirit. The soul is an inextinguishable spark from the Eternal Source of Life, it must flame on for ever. No power but the power of omnipotence can put it out. "It smiles at the drawn dagger and defies the point." Nor does it mean the destruction of personal consciousness. We can conceive of the spirit existing, and yet its personality destroyed. Like a branch, it may be so engrafted on some other existence as to lose its own individual attributes in the connexion; like a drop it may fall into the ocean, and though it still exists, its individuality is lost. But this will never be the case with the soul. Souls, unlike material elements, can never amalgamate. Each must remain a distinct existent for ever. Personality is essential to soul. Still more, we can conceive of personality existing, and yet consciousness be dormant. The butterfly exists in the chrysalis. May not spirits pass into such a state, exist, but exist without consciousness? We do not pronounce such a state impossible; but we say, instead of there being any reason to believe that it will ever be the case with man, there is every reason to believe the contrary. Man can no more kill the personality and consciousness of his spirit than he can kill itself. What does it mean then? Dissolution of the ties of moral obligation? The chain that binds us to moral government is one that cannot be broken. To be honest, truthful, generous, devout, godly,-What can possibly terminate our obligation to be all this? Nothing. To be all this is as much the duty of fallen angels now, as it was when they sang and served in heaven. What is this death then to which the wicked expose themselves? Or, in other words,-Why is the ruin to which they expose themselves represented as "death"? There is some analogy. For example, in corporeal death there is utter deprivation. You see the dead body laid out. The material organization appears complete; but the principle which warmed that frame, moved those limbs, looked out through those eyes, heard through those ears, and beautified that form, is gone. The house is there but the tenant has left. There is utter hideousness. Now the point is that man need not meet with this ruin, he need not die; there is no necessity for it. I. THE DECREES OF GOD DO NOT RENDER YOUR RUIN NECESSARY. That the Infinitely wise Maker and Monarch of the universe has a decree, purpose, or plan, by which His operations are determined cannot but be admitted. But that He has any decree or plan against any man's salvation, or for any man's ruin, is an idea repugnant alike to our reason, our intuitions, and our Bible. I am not ignorant of that theology, if I may desecrate the word, which teaches the blasphemous doctrine of reprobation, that represents innocent infants consigned to hell by the decrees of God. This theology is, I rejoice to know, not the theology of nature, which teaches that, God is good to all, and that "His tender mercies are over all the works of His hand;" nor the theology of the Bible, which teaches that "He has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but rather that he should return unto Him and live." It is the dream of that class of morbid, morose, and sour-hearted, men who are ever more ready to rejoice in the sufferings of others than in their bliss. But does not Paul teach that God makes vessels for dishonor as well as vessels for honor? No. All that he avers is, that He could do so. And it is to the glory of God's benevolence to assert, that whilst He could make and organize creatures for misery, He has never done so. Let the naturalist search through all the endless species of animal life, let him take the microscope, and let him find one single creature amongst the smallest, and say, This little creature was evidently made to suffer, was organized for misery-is a vessel built for dishonor. No, God could, but He does not. There is no Divine decree which requires your ruin,-you are not predestinated to damnation. If you are lost, it is because you act against, not with, the Divine plan. DOES NOT RENDER YOUR II. YOUR SINFUL CONDITION RUIN NECESSARY. You are sinners. Conscience, society, and the Bible, unite in the declaration of the dark fact in your history. You sometimes feel your sins as a millstone on your heart, as a dark thunder cloud in your sky. Your sins deserve your ruin, demand your ruin, and if you continue in them, will realize your ruin; but as yet they do not render your ruin necessary. Why is this? Because the gospel makes provision for you in your present state. There lies a man on the bed of suffering. A malignant and painful disease has done its work on his constitution; in a few hours unless some remedy come he must breathe his last. A skilful physician enters the room, he has in his hand a little medicine, which if taken will inevitably restore him. It is offered to him, pressed on him, and he has yet power to take |
