This is a just ground of glorying to all who pos sess it 1. It is free from all the defects which are found in the foregoing grounds [They render the mind low and grovelling; This elevates and ennobles it They never satisfy the soul; This affords it perfect satisfaction They may become sources of craft, tyranny, and avarice; This always changes us into God's image They end with our present existence; This is perfected at death-] 2. It transcends all the excellencies that are in the foregoing grounds— It imparts more excellent wisdom [It rectifies our judgments about more important objects— It teaches us to seek the best ends by the fittest meansIt endues us with more excellent might— [It renders us mighty to mortify our lusts and passions_ It qualifies us to conflict with all the powers of darkness--] It conveys to us more excellent riches [It puts into our hands "the unsearchable riches of Christ" It makes us rich in possession, and in reversion too] 3. It comprehends all the foregoing grounds in the highest degree: Wisdom [This knowledge of God unfolds the deepest mysteriesTM. It shews how sin may be punished, and yet the sinner savedIt shews how mercy is exalted in punishing, and justice in rewarding-] Might [The salvation of a ruined world is a marvellous display of power Hence Christ is called "the Wisdom of God, and the Power of God" We have no idea of almighty power, till we know a redeeming God-] [Infinite are the riches of divine grace In the glorious mystery of redemption they are all contained The knowledge of God exhibits them all to our view"] In this we cannot possibly glory too much [We cannot possibly set too high a value on this knowledge We cannot pursue it with too much earnestness- Let us therefore seek to know God as He is revealed in the Gospel Let us take encouragement from that declaration of our Lord P Let the fixed purpose of our hearts resemble that of the Apostle n Eph. ii. 7. • 1 Cor. ii. 2. P John xvii. 3. 9 Gal. vi. 14. MXLVII. THE CONTEMPT WITH WHICH GOD'S RICHEST MERCIES ARE TREATED. Jer. xiii. 11. As the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear. IT pleased God in former times frequently to instruct his people by signs, as being more calculated to awaken the attention of those who were but, as children, slow to understand the plainest declarations of his word. Sometimes those signs were represented to the prophets in visions: as when Ezekiel was taken up by the hair of his head, and carried to the north gate of the temple to see all the wickedness that was transacted in the sanctuary; the thing was done only in a vision. At other times the prophets actually did the things which were to be signs to the people; as when Ezekiel, for the space of three hundred and ninety days, reclined on his right side, with a representation of Jerusalem before him, to figure to the a Ezek. viii. 3. Jews the siege that should assuredly be formed against it by the Chaldeans". Whether the sign which Jeremiah was here directed to use was in a vision only, or in reality, commentators are not agreed. Certainly the going repeatedly several hundred miles only to carry a girdle to the Euphrates and bring it back again, seems a labour unlikely to be imposed upon him: but on the other hand, that very labour might tend the more powerfully to awaken the attention of the Jews to the subject which was thus emblematically represented to them and it is safer, on the whole, to take literally the Scripture account in all cases where reason and common sense do not necessitate us to understand it figuratively. The sign here used by the prophet was this. He took a girdle, and, after wearing it some time, carried it to the river Euphrates, and hid it there in the hole of a rock; and then, after a considerable lapse of time, he went and fetched it back again, and exhibited it to the people in its decayed state; declaring that they, notwithstanding their present strength and power, should ere long be reduced to the lowest ebb of misery by the Chaldeans; because when God had formed them for himself, they had refused to adhere to him, or to regard his overtures of love and mercy. Such is the explanation given us by God himself in in the words of our text; which, whilst they elucidate the emblem used by the prophet, will naturally lead me to shew you, I. The honour which God has designed for his people The primary use of a girdle is to bind up the gar ments around the loins [In conformity with this idea, God had caused his people to cleave to him, that they might be, as it were, in continual contact with him. This he had caused them to do, when he brought them out of Egypt, and made them altogether dependent on himself for direction, preservation, and support. In b Ezek. iv. 1-17. A most surprising account altogether! See also Ezek. xii. 2-12. and xxiv. 15-24. e Such an instance occurs, Jer. xxv. 27. like manner he may be said to have caused us also to cleave to him, having in our very birth imposed on us a necessity to depend upon him for life, and breath, and all things; for "in him we live, and move, and have our being." Our proper state is that of a little infant clinging to its mother, or, as our text expresses it, "a girdle cleaving to the loins of a man." We should at all times be "taking hold of God by prayer," and by faith uniting ourselves to him, so as to be one with him, and he with us. If this was the duty and privilege of the Jews, much more is it ours; because our God and Saviour has actually assumed our nature, and become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh: nay more, by the fuller communication of his Spirit he dwells in us," and lives in us, and is "our very life" so that they who are joined unto him by faith are one Spirit with him." This then, I say, is the honour which God designs for us: he would have us all renouncing every kind. and degree of creature dependence, and to live as nigh to him and cleave as close to him, as a girdle to the loins of a man; yea, in spite of every opposition and discouragement, he would have us 66 cleave unto him with full purpose of hearts."] But a girdle is also of use for ornament [And to this our text has especial respect. The girdle of the high-priest was, as it is repeatedly called, "a curious girdle," given him "for glory and for beautyh." and our great HighPriest desires that we should be to him what that curious girdle was to Aaron. Vile and worthless as we are in ourselves, he would form and fashion us anew, interweaving in our nature all the graces of his Spirit, and transforming us into the very image of our God in righteousness and true holiness. Surrounded by us, he would esteem himself more richly adorned than with the brightest jewels, and more enriched than with all the treasures of the universe. It appears almost impious to say, that such ornaments would be a glory to our God and Saviour; yet we will venture to affirm that they would be regarded so by our Lord himself, who says, "All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them1." What a royal diadem is to an earthly monarch, that are we designed to be to the King of kings and Lord of lordsm. As Christ was "the image of the invisible God," because God who is invisible in his own nature was visible in him", so are we according to the measure of grace given unto us: we are to d Isai. Ixiv. 7. g Acts xi. 23. i Mal. iii. 17. e Col iii. 4. f 1 Cor. vi. 17. h Exod. xxviii. 4, 8, 40. k Exod. xix. 5, 6. with 1 Pet. ii. 9. 1 John xvii. 10. See also John xv. 8. and Isai. lxi. 3. m Isai. lxii. 3. n Col. i. 15. "shine as lights in the world, holding forth" in our whole deportment "the word of life";" we are made his on purpose that we may "shew forth his virtuesP;" we are to be "epistles of Christ, known and read of all men;" and shewing in the whole of our spirit and temper what the will of the Lord is: we are to "have the same mind as was in him," and to "be changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." This will surely become our state, if once we cleave, like a girdle, unto him: and all who see us shall be constrained to " glorify our Father who is in heaven."] Who would conceive, that when such honour is offered unto man, there should be found a creature in the universe unwilling to accept it? Yet the sequel of our text leads us to shew, II. The way in which this honour is contemned The melancholy testimony that was almost invariably borne against the Jews was, that "they would not hear" [See how they conducted themselves in relation to the very offer before us! "they refused to hear God's words, and walked in the imagination of their own hearts, and worshipped and served other gods."] And what can be a more just description of ourselves? 66 [Unspeakable as the honour is which God desires to confer upon us, we will not seek it at his hands: we are, like those who were invited to the wedding-feast, all with one consent making excuses, and pleading the urgency of our worldly affairs as a reason for neglecting our spiritual concerns. If we bow not down to stocks and stones, we worship and serve the creature more than the Creator"." We have idols in our hearts; and to those we dedicate all our powers and faculties, whether of soul or body. We are justly characterized as "walking after the imagination of our own hearts":" each serves the god that suits him best. One follows all his vicious propensities, and seeks his happiness in sensual indulgence: another grasps after riches; another aspires after honour; another affects rather the more refined pleasures of science and • Phil. ii. 15, 16. q 2 Cor. iii. 3. t Matt. v. 16. x ver. 10. z Rom. i. 25. P 1 Pet. ii. 9. See the marginal reading. a See Isai. liii. 6. |
