SERMON IV. Prov. xxiv. 11, 12.-If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain: If thou sayest, behold, we knew it not: Doth not he that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? THE interviews of the ministers of Christ will always be plea sant, in proportion to the degree, in which they are animated by divine grace to think, and act, worthy of their honourable relation to him, and to each other. We in these parts have great reason for thankfulness, that we have so long known, by happy experience, How good and how pleasant a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity. And it is with peculiar joy that I reflect, we are met this day, not only to express and cultivate our mutual affection; but also, by our united counsels, to strengthen each others hands in the work of our God, and to concert measures for the more effectual revival of religion, in the several places where providence has especially assigned it to our stated care. As Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man often sharpens the countenance of his friend +. Most gladly would I, this day, since I am called to address you on so solemn and important an occasion, contribute my utmost to whet your spirits and my own; and to awaken us all to that zeal for the service of our common master, which will render the various duties of our office abundantly delightful, and our reward in heaven proportionably great. Oh that what I have now to say might be Like goads, to penetrate all our minds, and like nails, securely fastened in our memories and our hearts, given forth from the one great Shepherd! May all the instruments, with which he is furnishing us in our pastoral work, be wisely and faithfully employed; and may the master of assemblies this day be excited to use them, with greater skill, and diligence, in his service! And as for you, my brethren, in more private stations of life, I persuade myself you will hear me patiently and candidly : *Psal. cxxxiii, 1. Prov. xxvii. 17, Eccles. xii, 11. for though but little of my discourse will be immediately addressed to you, it is your cause I shall be pleading in the whole of it. You will, therefore, I hope, be often lifting up your hearts to God for the success of it; and will also be considering, what intimations of your own duty you may collect, from what I am to address to those of a more public character. For though the words of my text may, with peculiar propriety, be applied to the ministers of the gospel, they were at first spoken with a much more general view; nor is there one soul in the assembly who may not consider them as directed by God to him, as truly as if his own name were prefixed to them. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, or, as it might be rendered, though thou mayest say, Behold we knew it not: Doth not he that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth he not know it? And will not he render to every man according to his works? For the explication of which words, with all becoming de ference to the superior judgment of some before whom I speak, I would offer these three plain and obvious remarks. 1. That the omission, which is here charged as so displeasing to God, though immediately referring to men's natural lives, must surely imply, that the neglect of their souls is much more criminal. The text strongly implies, that we shall be exposed to guilt and condemnation before God, by forbearing to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain. This must directly refer to innocent persons, brought into visible and extreme danger by some oppressive enemy, either by the sudden assault of a private person, or by some unjust prosecution under forms of law; and may particularly extend to cases, where we have reason to believe, a capital sentence has been passed in consequence of false witness, detected before execution is done +: when cases of one sort or the other *It is well known, that the particle ›》 often signifies although. Thus our translators very justly render it in several places: See Exod. xiii. 17. Josh. xvii. 18. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Ezek. xi. 16. Heb. iii. 17. And if they had done so in several others, they would have expressed the sense and connection of the original much more plainly. Compare Gen. viii. 21. Psal. xiv. 6. xxv. 11. Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19. + It was allowed among the Jews, that if any person could offer any thing in favour of a prisoner, after sentence was passed, he might be heard before execution was done: and therefore it was usual, as the Mischna shews, that when a man was led to execution, a cryer went before him and proclaimed, "This man is now going to be executed for such a crime, and such and such are witnesses against him; whoever knows him to be innocent, let him come forth, and make it appear." .y robu xa, niat is Lib. de Ord. Damnorum, Tractat. de Synedris, cap. vi. §. 1. apud Surenhus. Tom. iv. page 233. occur, we may consider Solomon as requiring, just as his father David had done, that we should by such interpositions, as suit the case in question, and that station in which providence has fixed us Defend the poor and the fatherless, or those who are oppressed, as orphans often are; that we should do justice to the afflicted and the needy; and should endeavour to deliver the poor and the needy, and to rid them out of the hand of the wicked *. And though this may expose us to popular clamours, we should adopt the heroic resolution of Job, not Fearing a great multitude, nor permitting the reproach of families to terrify us, so as to keep silence, and not go out of the door +. One would hope, such attacks as these seldom happened under the peaceful and equitable reign of Solomon: but as violence and fraud are in some degree the product of all climates and ages, he had, no doubt, in some instances observed them ‡ ; and had remarked a culpable negligence in those, who ought to have interposed to have delivered the victims from such an undeserved stroke; on which account, he judged it necessary to enter his solemn protest against an indolence and cowardice, so detrimental to society, and so offensive to God, the great guardian of it. Now you will please to observe, that delivering persons reduced to such extreme danger in the circumstance I have described, would generally be an act of charity attended with great danger, or with great trouble. And if the neglect of that be, as you see it is, represented as highly criminal, it must be a much greater offence to suffer any to perish, for want of either food, shelter, or harbour, in circumstances where a person is able, by a little trouble, expence, or care, to preserve their lives. And we may argue, by a consequence yet stronger than this, that it must be a much more heinous crime than either, by any neglect of ours, to permit the ruin of men's souls, without endeavouring their recovery, when they are, as it were, drawn away to the extremest danger of eternal death, and are ready to be slain by the sword of divine justice. For if temporal life should *Psal. lxxxii. 3, 4. † Job xxxi. 34. It appears by several hints in Solomon's writings, that the gay, expensive, and luxurious manner of living, which, though directly contrary to the genius of the Jewish religion, was introduced in his days, had its natural effect in producing frequent thefts, perjuries, robberies, and murders, and, which was worst of all, abominable corruption among magistrates, and great iniquity in judicial affairs. Compare Prov. i. 10-19. iii. 29. iv. 16, 17. vi. 12-14. xii. 5, 6. xvii. 15. xviii. 5. xxi. 7, 28. xxii. 22, 23. xxiii, 10, 11, 20, 21. xxiv. 15, 23. xxviii. 15, 17, 20, 21. xxix, 4, 10. Eccles. iii. 16, 17. iv. 1, 2, v. 8. be thus tenderly regarded, and expence or danger should be cheerfully met in the defence of it, judge you, Sirs, as in the sight of God, how much more Precious the redemption of the soul is, which will soon cease, even for ever *. Nay, I might go yet farther, and draw an inference, if it were necessary, from that humane and charitable precept of the jewish legislator+: If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again: If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, wilt thou forbear, or, as it might be rendered, wouldst thou refrain, to help him? or couldst thou be so cruel as to harbour a thought of it? No, Thou shalt surely help with him ; i. e. thou shalt go, if it be necessary, and join thy strength with that of thine enemy, to raise the beast from the ground. Now if God not only regards the natural life of a man, but if he thus appears to care for oxen, and for asses, how much more must he require us to reduce wandering souls, and to do what we can to raise them, when pressed under the burden of sin, and in danger of being crushed into eternal misery? 2. The text seems to suppose, that men would be ready to excuse themselves for this neglect. It is true indeed, that at the first sight of a miserable object, we naturally find a strong impulse to endeavour to relieve it. Our hearts do, as it were, spring in our bosoms, and urge us forward to exert ourselves on such an occasion; which seems to be intimated by that word, which we render forbear, which often signifies to check, restrain, and hold back a person from what he is eager on doing . But the wise man intimates, there may be danger of suppressing these generous sallies of the soul on the first view of the object; of suffering our charity to cool, and then of searching out apologies for our inactivity. You may be ready to say, Behold, we knew it not. "I did not particularly see the danger; I did not however, apprehend it to be so extreme: or, I did not know the innocence of the person in danger; or if I did believe it, I knew not how to deliver him. I did not think the interposition of such a person as I, could be of any importance in such an affair. I was sorry to see innocence overborne, and weakness oppressed; but I was *Psal. xlix. 8. + Exod. xxiii. 4, 5. It is in the original n, and the same word is used to express the restraint put on the passion of Abimelech for Sarah, Gen. xx. 6. on the revenge of David, when insulted by Nabal, 1 Sam. xxv. 34, 39. and on the martial fury of David's party, when pursuing the rebels under Absalom, 2 Sam. xviii. 16. Compare Job xvi. 6. Prov. xi. 26. myself too weak to contend with the mightier oppressor; too poor, too ignorant, or too busy, to meddle in an affair, where those who were much my superiors were concerned, and had determined the case. I had no obligations to the person in danger; I had no concern with him, nor any thing to do to embarrass myself with his affairs." If these excuses be just, it is well. God requires impossibilities from no man; nor does he expect, that persons should rashly throw themselves upon difficulties and dangers, when there is no such rational prospect of doing good, as may balance the hazard. Nevertheless the text supposes, 3. That these excuses might often be over-ruled, by an appeal to men's consciences as in the sight of God. Doth not he that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? As if he should have said, "It is an easy thing to excuse omissions, so that a fellowcreature shall have nothing to reply; but whoever thou art that readest these words, I charge thee to remember, that It is comparatively a very little matter to be judged of man's judgment; he that judgeth thee is the Lord*: and he pondereth the heart: he weighs, in a most accurate balance, all its most secret sentiments. I therefore cut off all chicane and trifling debate at once, by placing thee in his presence, and laying open thy conscience there. Thou canst answer me : but canst thou answer the heart-searching God? Does not he, the great Father of Spirits, see, in every instance, how inferior spirits conduct themselves? Does he not precisely know the situation, in which thy heart was at the very moment in question? Thou sayest, thou knewest it not: but he is witness, whether thou indeed didst, or didst not know it. And he also sees all the opportunities and advantages, which thou hadst for knowing it; all the hints, which might have been traced out, to open a more explicit and particular knowledge; every glimpse which thou hadst, when thou wast, like the priest, when he spied at a distance the wounded traveller Passing by on the other side †, and perhaps affecting to look the contrary way." Nor was it in vain, that the wise man renewed his expostulation in a different form. He that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? As if he had said, " consider God, as keeping thine own soul; as Holding it in life‡; as Preserving thy spirit * 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. † Luke x. 31. Psal. Ixvi. 9. |
