Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

he addressed a letter, and from each of whom, I believe, he obtained a favourable reply, of which a copy, or extract, is published in a supplementary volume. After much trouble, he obtained the approbation of the pope; but his undertaking was extremely unpopular in Rome. Having completed his version, he submitted it to the archbishop of Toledo, and to the inquisitorgeneral; and then, by command of the archbishop, it was examined by persons appointed for that purpose, said to be learned in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic languages. Their censorship was tedious, and certainly could not have tended to the improvement of the work. Finally, all parties propitiated, the first edition was published in 1823, by virtue of a license, in which its publication is said to be the more seasonable, as being calculated to obviate the mischief done by the Bible Society of London. When printed, it was laid before the Congregation of the Index in Rome, who transmitted to the bishop, by their nuncio in Madrid, a communication by no means favourable. In the second edition, he did not give more notes, as they desired; but he so far yielded, as to maintain, in his preface to the Old Testament, that the reading of the Scriptures is not necessary for salvation. Doubtless, Amat is well able to translate the Scriptures; but it is lamentable to see a man, whose talents and philanthropy would have adorned a minister of a purer Church, laying his work under the censorship of interested men, and allowing it to come into the world under their bias. It cannot, therefore, be the basis of evangelical comment, nor be used as a standard for citation and reference. The well-known version of Veis also, being made from the Vulgate, is altogether inadequate to the use of a sound Christian ministry in the Spanish language.

It is, therefore, most important that a version of the holy Scriptures be made immediately from the originals, and executed with most scrupulous exactness;

and, of course, with all due regard to the proprieties of style. You are aware that a version, designed to answer to this description, begins to be in progress, together with a commentary designed to meet the case of the ignorant and superstitious Romanist, of the degraded infidel, and of any whose minds may be awakened and opened to the reception of vital truth. This may, perhaps, be published at first in small parts; and eventually, should the version be approved, it may go forth without note or comment. Yet, in the absence of preachers, a stirring commentary might arouse popular attention, and excite a thirst for the

word of God itself.

WORKS DONE FOR CHRIST, THE LAW
OF JUDGMENT:
A Sermon,*

BY THE REV. ROBERT EDEN, M.A. Late Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

MATT. XXV. 37-40.

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed

thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

THE word of God teaches us one truth

eth on the outward appearance, God looketh on the heart. The state of the heart in his sight is that which determines the character of the man. It is this consideration which stamps with folly all the services of the formalist before God: for though those services may keep up, before men, a semblance of piety, and though they may even satisfy the standard with which a worldly heart is contented to measure the amount of required duty; yet he who offers them, if he has any just notions at all of God, as a God who searcheth the heart, can never cheat himself into the belief that such services, when weighed in the balance of God's sanctuary, will not be found fatally wanting. Throughout his word, therefore, lest any man should deceive himself in this matter, God has laid emphatic force upon the truth, that motive alone is valuable in his sight. And, indeed, how could it be otherwise? The benefit of our deeds can never reach unto God: he is removed to such a distance from his creatures, that neither their good deeds nor their evil can add to, or detract from, his complacency. His happiness arises from himself; he is complacent in his own completeness: and he must remain, therefore, for ever unaffected by the deeds, whether good or evil, of the sons of men: it is the quality of actions which he can alone regard, because this quality of the action decides what measure of resemblance there is in the agent to his own moral excellence. The passage before us contains a remarkable union of action and motive and occurring, as it does, in that memorable place where Christ himself describes the procedure of the great day of account, it furnishes us with a remarkable proof, that neither works disjoined from faith, nor faith from works, however they may be dissevered in the systems of man's invention, will find any recognition in the measures of the judgment-seat of Christ. The more comprehensive our acquaintance with the word of God, the more extended our view of the principles it contains, the more convinced shall we be, that the distinctions of man have no place in the system of truth, and that religious knowledge is made up of a full-orbed contemplation of every part of the declared will of God. And one of the effects produced by this enlargement of our view will be, that we shall rectify our notions of good works. Undoubtedly, the natural tendency of man is to rest in his own performances, to smile upon his own good deeds, and to persuade himself that God shall smile upon them too:

throughout, and that is, that while man look- nay, he goes so far, until he is untaught, as

Preached at St. Paul's Church, Ball's Pond, Islington, on Sunday evening, 28th August, 1836, in behalf of the INFANT ORPHAN ASYLUM; and published at the request of the Committee of that Institution.

to justify himself by his works. All this is evil-most evil; and, whether it be a notion held as the doctrine of any Church, or an idea

the teacher to dwell upon, and for the hearers to receive; and, in their results, tend to the diffusion of blessings among men-a decisive test of the excellence of the principle that produces such fruit.

cherished within the folds of our heart, it is
alike to be abhorred. But if it be untrue to
hold that good works have any power to jus-
tify or even to recommend us unto God, it is
also possible that they may be very inju-
riously displaced from our individual creed.
We should listen, with equal respect, to every
one of the revelations of God; with no con-
scious bias in favour of any one part; and
then alone may we hope to " grow up to
a perfect man-to the measure of the stature
of the fulness of Christ." Minds of a humble
cast (the minds, for the most part, of those
who are conscious that they have been "for-
given much,") will dwell with an almost ex-gether to speak of
clusive interest upon those parts of Scripture
which exalt the grace of God; and the men-
tion of good works, even when nothing more
is meant than to describe the quality of such
deeds, as distinguished from evil ones, will
produce a sensation bordering on distress. But
the healthy condition of the mind is different
from this the most truly pious will desire to
have no will but God's in doctrine, any more
than in deed. Their prayer will be, Lead
me, O Lord, in thy truth; make thy way
plain before my face."

66

We need not be more scrupulous than the Scripture itself has been in the admission of any truth the Scripture condemns only that statement of good works which would assign to them any expiatory value. Short of this -of attaching to them any inherent and atoning efficacy-not only may they be taught scripturally, but they must be taught constantly.

St. Paul is remarkably urgent on this point. In an epistle written to a bishop of the early church, and the express object of which is to tell him what should be the topics of his ministry, and which he should, in his turn, impress on those ministers whom he should ordain ;-in this epistle, when he is reckoning up, not the occasional, but the permanent subjects of ministerial teaching, he insists upon the necessity of good works, introducing his injunction to Titus on this head with a form of words found only in one or two other places of his writings, and evidently reserved as the preface to some truth of unusual importance: "This is a faithful saying," in the truth and necessity of which we may place the fullest confidence; " and these things I will that thou affirm constantly;" insist upon this truth with immovable zeal, and at all times, "that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works:" that they who profess to have made good the point of faith, be equally anxious to cherish a habit of good works. "These things are good, and profitable unto men:" such lessons as these are sound subjects for

And, not only must the doctrine of good works be taught as an integral part of the system of Christian truth, provided no meritorious or propitiatory quality be assigned to them, but the reward, too, of good works (within the same limits) is as "constantly to be affirmed." It can never be perilous to declare fearlessly what the Scripture has taught expressly and if we shun altogether to speak of "reward," we must neglect many plain statements of the word of God. The reward which the Gospel promises, is not the payment of a debt, but the recognition of allegiance; not the price of benefit, but the acknowledgment of service. The prospect of such reward, not of debt, but of grace, is one of the many arguments which God in his wisdom has employed to stir up our sinking energies,--to animate our flagging zeal. Love to God shall be met by the return of his love to us. "Them that honour me I will honour." Distinguishing regard to Christ shall receive like distinction from him. "Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”

66

The doctrine of a judgment according to works is to be interpreted on the same principles: it does not, in the slightest degree, derogate from the freeness of that " grace of God which bringeth salvation;" it casts not one grain of incense upon the altar of human merit." It is, in fact, the uniform doctrine of the word of God, meeting us there at all points; taught alike by prophets, by Christ, and by his apostles; and taught by them so unequivocally, that he who does not instantly bear us witness that it is so, when we make the assertion, argues not us, but himself, of a very shortened acquaintance with the principles of Divine truth. "Truth (it has been well said) is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out:" and shall not this be pre-eminently claimed for the truth of God? Every distortion of truth's features proves only that she has a face divine, whose beauty has been calumniated; and they who are jealous of her honour will not conceal her countenance as though it were ugly, but, drawing it in its perfect symmetry, will display her as she is. And it is not because the Romanist (who corrupts the whole body of religion, from the crown even to the sole of the foot,) teaches, as one among many monstrous things, the merit of works; it is not because among those who profess a different creed

from the Romanist, the unsubdued heart, | results. Why, we ask again, upon six obgoing about to establish its own righteous-vious workings of Christian kindness, is the ness, cannot brook submission to the righte-entrance into, or exclusion from, God's kingousness of God by faith, that, therefore, we dom of glory made to depend? Because, are to shun to declare the truth of a judg- though only fruits, they are pledges that the ment according to our works. It is retribu- "root of the matter" is there: they contain tion which the Scriptures teach; retribution, the elements of a renewed nature; they are which is the law of the universe,-the law of the growth of a seed which the hand of God God. It is in the eternal necessity of things could alone have sown; the denial of self, that good should produce good; and evil, love to our brethren, and both from regard evil: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; to Christ. And such expressions of our love whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also to himself, Christ requires of us; they are reap he that soweth to his flesh, shall, of not only the natural and necessary, but the the flesh, reap"-that which the flesh is required tribute of our esteem. To" abound in every good work" is to keep the com

66

[ocr errors]

corruption" and he that soweth to the Spirit, shall, of the Spirit, reap (in like analogy) life everlasting." As certainly as the seed sown in the earth springs up, and bears its own fruit, so certainly shall goodness lead to good, and wickedness unto evil. The doings of any one of his rational creatures assist not the judgment of God in forming an estimate of his character; for his eyes are continually resting upon the springs of action but the doings of the life, if good, producing to the doer good, and if evil, evil, shall "vindicate the ways of God to man:" shall cause him to be "justified in his saying, and clear when he is judged." Retribution, a payment in kind, as like produces like, according to that unchangeable order of cause and effect whereby God governs his moral creation; this, we apprehend, is the explanation of the principle of a judgment according to works. As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death." "The wicked worketh a deceitful work; but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward."

This law of retribution, if we bear it in mind, will be the key for understanding the process of Christ's final judgment, spoken of in our text. In the splendid and awful description which is there given by Him who shall "judge the quick and dead at his appearing," he declares that the sentence of acceptance or rejection from his lips shall hinge upon certain deeds of charity performed or neglected a most remarkable announcement, when we remember the mighty stress that is laid, in the later revelations of the apostles, upon faith in the atonement, as the main hinge of salvation. Upon six charities of practical beneficence is suspended the sentence which shall consign one portion of an assembled world to "everlasting punishment,” and introduce the other to "life eternal." And why is this? It is simply resolvable into a "faith which worketh by love;" the same principle which Paul afterwards preached, in its source as well as its results, though Christ dwells chiefly on the

66

mandments" of our Lord: the truths of his

word, and the promises of his Gospel, may be received by us, but they may lie inert in the mind: not so, however, with deeds of mercy shewn to the suffering members of Christ's body for the sake of the Head; these, in their very nature, cannot be passive; they at once prove and enlarge the love from which they sprung; " inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

I am sure that these latter words, “the least of these my brethren," must strike every mind here present as peculiarly fitting in with the occasion for which I address you. He who used them as descriptive of the judg ment, and who shall again use them when that awful occasion is no longer, as it then was, a matter of description, but actually present, he meant (it is probable) by that expression, "the least of these my brethren," all those who, from whatever cause, and in whatever point of view, were mean, and little esteemed in the eyes of men. But, surely, it is of literal application, and describes most strictly the objects of that excellent charity which is now commended to your liberal support.

I would hope that this assembly are present here to-night, not to acquire an interest in this institution, but that they have been drawn hither by an interest already created : that they have come prepared to shew that they are true followers of a Saviour, who, while he taught the truths he had received from God, realised and consummated every part of that heavenly knowledge which he taught, in perfect charity; who, whilst he appeared as the well-spring of uncreated wisdom, manifested himself to be the fountain of everlasting love; "who gave himself for us," and who could, therefore, with singular force, lay it down as an axiom in the philosophy of the Gospel, that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." trust that the benefits, which this charity shall reap from your presence here this even

We

ing will shew that your hearts have long ago been prepared and disposed towards the good work to which we invite you. In this hope we would rejoice to think that much of the task is already done to our hands. But, for any part of it that remains to be done, we need not shrink from it as arduous.

The cause of the orphan is one which needs not the skill of rhetoric, nor the force of oratory, to set it forth. It is a simple tale of sorrow; and, when exhibited in this its native simplicity, will be most efficacious. It is a state so distressing, so comfortless, so lonely, that it seems, by the bare mention of it, to plead its own cause. The eye of Heaven seems to drop a tear of pity over this class of sufferers: God frequently represents himself, as it were, overcome by their cries, and taking them under his protection in a way that he takes no other. The same God, who is described in the Psalm as gloriously "riding upon the heavens," appears, in the next verse, as "a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widow." The case of the fatherless has been thus allegorised by Bishop Horne: "The poor afflicted orphan, thrown upon the wide world, there to wander without house or home, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in pain and sickness; craving of those who pass by the way, regardless of his complaints, and not at leisure to be troubled with his pitiable story, one morsel of bread for the love of Jesus,-what is he but a picture of fallen man, cast out of Paradise, and doomed to wander, a stranger and a sojourner upon the earth; hungering and thirsting after something that might satisfy his empty soul; incessantly beat upon by cares and sorrows; imploring, for the love of the same Jesus, his daily bread; entreating forgiveness of his sins, and deliverance from evil. But, thanks be to God, the importunity of a petitioner is never complained of by Him with whom we have to do. No angry frown bids the sinner be gone from the gate of heaven. There let him relate, at length, the story of his woes. It is as music to Him who first 'prepareth the heart of the penitent for prayer, and then his ear hearkeneth thereto.' The Church, considered in that state in which she was left by the fall and death of the first Adam, is frequently represented in Scripture as a widow, surrounded by fatherless child

ren.

In this condition the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, saw her, and had compassion on her. She became the spouse of the King of heaven, and her children were made the sons of God. In him the father

[blocks in formation]

whom I am now an advocate have a claim to your compassionate regard, upon this consideration, which was once the only plea of all the children of Adam at the throne of grace-" We are orphans and fatherless, and our mothers as widows."

But the charity for which we are now pleading is not merely an asylum for orphans. Were it, indeed, only one of those many institutions of this nature that have so long existed, and with which we are familiar, it would have a claim to our support: were it either Christ's Hospital (that noble foundation of the pious King Edward): or the London Orphan Asylum (an institution, which, though it had not a royal founder, had a kingly spirit in those who devised it, and, not less, in those who now support and conduct it): or were it the Clergy Orphan School, where the children of deceased ministers of God are educated or the Orphan Working School, where destitute children, for the nourishment they receive, give their own exertions in return: or were it the Westminster Asylum for female objects of this kind, where the sex of the sufferers is added to the plea of orphanage, and presents a case of peculiar interest: or the school of Bancroft, where children of parents in the middle class are liberally supported and taught: or St. Ann's School (an institution rich in the advantages it bestows): or were it, finally, the British Orphan Asylum (which, for several years, was fixed very near this spot-an institution which, from its excellent benefits as a school, and from the religious and affectionate guardianship of its governors, deserves to be much more widely known and assisted): were it any one of these admirable charities for which we had to plead, we should urgently recommend it to your care. But we have a special cause now in hand. It is not an orphan asylum merely, but an INFANT Orphan Asylum, that we now hold up to your notice. This establishment, situated a short distance from this place, was instituted nine years ago. It has, indeed, very many supporters, but it is not yet extensively known: it is known to exist, but the public do not generally know what it is that distinguishes this from other similar charities. None of these open their doors to the fatherless until they have reached the age of seven years. This limitation has been most wisely made, as the term from seven to fourteen years embraces a distinct period of human life, and a period of such importance and magnitude, as to be amply sufficient for their undivided care. But before this institution was provided, there was no receptacle for the fatherless babe; nor is there now any other in the land but this. The institution, therefore, at Dalston, might be called the

"National Infant Orphan Asylum." Consider, now, with yourselves, before you decide upon the amount of your gift to-night, what it is that craves your help. Say not, This is one of the many orphan appeals which have begged for and have shared my liberality, and it can only now receive its proportion; but say, This cause stands apart from all that are like it, and demands from me a separate consideration. You are asked to supply a shelter to the orphan in its most helpless condition. The child which has lost both or either of its parents, if it has reached the age of seven years, has already passed through one distinct period of its life, and is drawing nearer, at least, every day, to that age when it will become conscious of its bereaved state, and led to make suitable exertions for itself. But an infant orphan, what shall become of it? Full of wants which it can neither express, nor, if it express, can find relief for them these wants, too, not only pressing upon it now, but certain to continue for many years: encompassed with necessities of which it is unconscious, but which are not, on that account, the less pressing-necessities to which it has no means of administering—and which, even could it administer to them, would recur daily and hourly, and that for years to come. Take the two cases of orphanage, and you will see that either of them calls aloud to you for sympathy. How desolate the situation of a poor widow with one or several infant children! the human hand which fed her and them feeds them no longer : her earnings will hardly support herself, but her children they cannot support; the burden is felt too heavy, and she sinks beneath it. Or, suppose the case of deeper woe, where both parents are removed what is to save the destitute infant, if the hand of Christian pity is not promptly stretched out to it? Such a hand this Infant Asylum holds forth it asks you to give nerve to its exertions. It holds out both its arms to the orphan babe it asks you to stay them up. Measure your gifts, we repeat, not by placing this among the many like charities; but as it stands alone in its nature, so let it meet in you a singular support.

:

Surely it was a tender and touching sense of human destitution that moved the hearts of those who first formed the plan of this Infant Asylum: surely they knew how to realise human woe in one of its keenest forms. Shew them that you appreciate their charity. Every fresh gift to this good cause not only increases the funds of the institution, and enables it to do much more good than it could before do; but it is a new argument in favour of the cause itself. You thereby record your testimony of the merits of the

cause itself: many, who shall hear that the infant orphan's cry has gained a number of new listeners, will be awakened by that cry themselves, and will take to themselves a share' in the performance of this good work. Think, before you fix the amount of your contribution, how far the aims of this charity reach. It not only nurtures those destitute babes for the first seven years of their life, but it does this that it may hand them over with greater effect to those other asylums which receive the orphan after that age. Viewed, then, as an avenue to those many other institutions that exist for the older orphan, it fairly and naturally asks for the assistance of all those who commend those other charities; and it is not too much to affirm, that they who have at heart the prosperity and the full efficiency of the several orphan asylums to which we have referred, cannot do less than support this Infant institution if it is an avenue to the others, can you do less than widen and lengthen that avenue, that it may contain all who would press into it? Think, again, that it takes the orphan at a most important moment of its life. Do you feel that your own children at that age are objects of special interest, and are you extremely careful that their very earliest associations should be kept from all that is evil, and connected with all that is good? Bestow this solicitude which you give to your own child upon the child of your less wealthy brother, whose need of moral protection is the same as that of your own child, with this affecting difference in his case, that he has none to cast around him that moral shelter which you are so anxious your own child should, and which he does possess; a protection the effects of which, possessed or denied, may reach out to the infinite duration of that child's existence.

Think (once more) that this institution appeals peculiarly to this congregation and neighbourhood, from its locality amongst us. I mean not to say, that it has on this ground any claim its objects are public, and by the public, therefore, it claims to be maintained. But, I would say that it is for the honour of our Christian profession, that a charity that is planted so very near our own dwellings, that is rearing its head almost in our very sight, should receive a conspicuous degree of support from those who live near it and I may say, too (without the suspicion of an unworthy compliment), that this congregation have a character to maintain in this respect; for full well do I know that there are not a few of this church who are forward to every good work, and who might be held up as patterns of the most zealous and unwearied co-operation with their mi

:

« ПредишнаНапред »