RELIGION A WEARINESS TO TIIE IATUIIAL MAN.
"" He hath no form nor comeliness; and wen cee shall sec Him., lere is no beautj tlat we sould desire l-llm.'"
"_.ELIGION is a weariness;" such is the judgment commonly passed, offert avowcd, coneerning the greatest of blessings which Ahnighty God has bestowed upon us. And when Goal gave the blessing,, Ite af the saine rime foretold that such would be the judgment of the world upon it, even as manif'estcd in the gracious Person of IIim whom IIe sent to give if fo us. '" He ha.th no %rm nor comeliness," says the Prophet, speaking of our Lord and Saviour, "'aud when we shall sec Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." He deelared beforehand, that fo man His religion would be uninteresting and distastefitl. Not. that this prediction excuses our deadness fo if; this dislike of the religion given us bv God Himself, seen as if is on all sides of us,—of religion in all ifs parts, whether ifs doctrines, precepts, its polity, ifs worship, i¢s social influence, —this distaste for ifs very naine, must obviously be an iusult fo the Giver. But the text speaks of it as a fact, without commenfing on the guilt involved in it; and as such I wish you to consider it, as far as this nEay be donc in rcverence and seriousness. Pu¢ting aside for an instant the ¢houg4t of the ingratitude and the sin which indifference to Christianify ilnplies, let us, as ihr as we date, view it merely as a lnatter of fitct, aftcr the lnanner of thc tex, and form a judgment on the probable consequences of if. Let us take the state of the case as it is found, and survey it dispassionately, as evcn an unbeliever might survey it, without at fixe moment considering whether if is sinful or hot; as a misfortune, if we will, or a strane accident, or a necessary condition of our nature, —one of the phenomena, as it may be called, of the present world. Let roc then review human lire in some of ifs sfages and couditions, in order o impress upon you the fact of this contrariefy between ourselves and our Maker: He having one will, we another He declaring one thing fo be good for us, and we fancying other objects fo be out good. 1. "Religion is a weariness" alas! so feel even children before fhey can well express theh" meaning. Exceptions of course now and then oceur and of course children are always more open to religious impressions and visitations than grown persons. They havc many good thoughts and good des;res, of' wh;ch, iii af'ter lire, the multitnde of' mon seem incapable. Yet who, after all, can have a doubt that, in spire of' the more intimate prcsence of' God's grace with those who bave hot yet learned fo res;st it, still, on thc wholc, religion is a weariness to childrcn? Consider thcir amusemcnts, their cnjoyments,—what they h.l)C, what thcy devise, vhat thcy schcme, and what thcy drcaan about thcmselvcs in time future, whcn they grow and say what place religion holds in their hcarts. Watch the reluctance with wh;ch thcy turn to rclig'ious dut;es, to saying thcir praycrs, or reading the Bible; and then judge. Observe, as they get oldcr, the influence wh;ch the fcar of the ridicule of' their companions bas in dcterring them cven ri'oto spcaking of' religion, or seeming to be religions. Nov thë dread of' ridicule, indeed, is natural euough; bnt why should relion inspire ridicule? What is there al)surd iii thinking of God? Why should wc be ashamed of vorshipping Him? It is unaccountable, but it is natural. We may call it an accident, or what we vill; still it is an undeniable fact, and that is what I;us;st upon. I ara hot forg'etful of' the peculiar character of children's minds: sensible objects first meet their observation; if is not wonderful that they should at first be inclined to limit their thoug'hts to things of' sense. A distinct profession of' faith and a conseious maintenance of prineiple, may imply a strength and consistency of thought to which they are as 3-et unequal. Again, childhood is capricious, ardent, lighL-hearted; iL cannot think deeply or long" on any subjeet.. YeL ail this is hot enough fo accourir for the ficL in qucstion—why they should feel this distaste for the very subjecL of religion. Why should they be ashamed of payin reverence fo an unseen, all-l>owerfid God, whose existence they do hot disbelieve? YeL they do feel ashamed of if. Is if that they are ashamed of themseh'es, hot of their religion; feeling" the ineonsistency of professing" what they cannot fiflly practise? This refinement does hot materially alter the view of the case; for iL is merely their own acknowledmenL thaL they do noL love religion as ranch as they oug'ht. No; we seem eonapelled fo the conclusion, that there is by nature some strange discordance between wha we love and wha God loves. So much, then, on the state of boyhood. o " Religion is a weanness. I will next take the case of young persons when they flrs enter into life. IIere I may appeal fo some perhaps who non" hear me. Alas! my brethren, is it hot so? Is hot religion assoeiated in your nainds with gloom, melaneholy, and weariness? I ana hot at prescrit g'oing" so far as to reprove you ft, r it, th,ug'h I mig'ht well do so; if I did, perhaps you might af once turn away, and I wish you ealmly fo think the rnatter over, and bear me witness tlmt I state the {het eorrcetlv. If is so; you eannot deny it. The very terres "rcligmn, "devotion," "piety," "conscicntiousncss," "mortification," and the like, you final to be inexprcssibly dull and chccrless: you cannot find fiult with them, indccd, you would if you could; and whencvcr thc words are explained in particulars and realized, thcn you do find oeeasiou fi»r exception and objeetimt. But thougq you cannot deny the claires of relig'ion used as a vague and gcncral terre, yct hoxv irksome, cold, uninteresting, uninvitin, does if at best appear fo you! how severc ifs volte! how tbrbidding ifs aspect! lVith what animation, on the contrary, do you enter into the mere pursuits of timc and the world! Vhat bright anticipations of joy and happiness flit bet'ore your cyes! How)-ou arc struek and dazzled at the view f thc prizes of this lire, as they are ealled! I[ow you admire the eleg'ancies o art, the brilliance of wealth, or the brce of intellect! Accordin to your opportunities you mix in the world, you mect and converse with persons of various cond;tions and pursuits, and are engaged in the numberless occurrences of dai]y liçe. You are full o[" news;)ou know what this or that person is doing, and what has befitllen him; what has hot happened, which was near happening, what may happen. You ara full of ideas and fecling's Ul)O all that goes on around)'ou. But, ri'oto some cause or other, religîon has no part, n, sensible influence, in [vl c
8 Reli,o'ion a ll/'cariness your judgment of men and thins. If is out of your way. Perhaps you bave your pleasure parties; you readily take your share in them rime ai'ter rime; you pass eontinuous hours in soeiety where you know that if is quite impossible even to mention the naine of religion. Your heart is in seenes and places when conversation on serious subjeets is strietly forbidden by the rules of the world's propriety. I do hot say we should discourse on religious su}.jects, wherever we gv; I do hot sny we should mal¢e an effort fo discourse on them af any rime, nor that we are to refrain ff'oto social meetings in wlfich religion does hot lie on the surçaee of tbe eouversation: but I do say, that when men find their pleasure and satisfaction to lie in soeiety whieh proscribes religion, and when they deliberately and habitually prefcr those amusements whieh have neeessarily nothing fo do with religion, sueh persons cannot view religion as God views if. And this is the point: that the feelins of out bearts on the subjeet of religion are different ff'oto the deelared judglnent of God that we lmve a natmd distaste for that whieh He has said is out chier good. 3. Now let us pass fo the more active occupations of lire. Here, to% religion is eonfessedly felt fo be wearisome, if is out of place. OEhe transactions of worldly business, speenlations in trade, ambitious bopes, the pursuit of know]edge, the publicoccurrences of the day, these find a wy direet]y fo the heart; they rouse, they ta t/e JVatural 3[an. 19 influence. I is superfluous to go abou fo prove this immte power over us of things of rime aud sense, to make us think and ae. The naine of religion, on the other hand, is weak and impoten; i eonains no spell fo kindle the feelings of man, fo make he hear bea wih anxiety, and o produee aetivity and perseveranee. The reason is no merely tha men are in w,n of leisure, and are susained in, disressing eon(inuanee of exertion, by heir duies owards those dependen on them. Thcy bave their seasons of rela.xation, hey urn for 8 rime flore their ordiuary pursuits; still reliFion does hOt atrae them, hey find nohing of eomfort or satisfaction in if. For rime hey allow themselves to be idle. They want an object to employ their minds upon; they pace fo and fi'o in very want of an object; yet their duties fo God, their future hopes in another state of being, the revelation of God's mercy and will, as contained in Scripture, the news of redemption, the gift of regeneration, the sanctifies, the devotional heights, the noblcness and perfection which Christ works in His elect, do hot suggest themselves as fit subjects to dispel their weariness. Why? cause religion makes them melancholy, sa.y they, and they wish to relax. Religion is a labour, if is greaterweariness than the doing nothing af all. "Wherefore," says Solomon, "is there fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart fo if ?" Prov. xvii. 16. co
4. But flfis natural contrariety between man and his Maker is still more strikingly shown by fle confessions of men of the world who bave given some thought fo the subjeet, and lmve 'iewed soeiety with somewhat of a philosophieal spirit. Sueh men treat the demands of relig'ion with disresl)ect and negligenee, on the ground of their being unnatural. They say, "It is natural for men fo love the world for its own sake; fo be engrossed in ifs pursuits, and fo set their hearts on the rewards of industry, on the eomtbrts, luxuries, and pleasures of this lire. ]Ian would hot be man if he eould be ruade otherwise; he would hot be what he was evidently intended for by lis Maker." Let us pass by the obvious answer that might be given fo this objection; if is enough for my purpose that it is co»»wd# ««ryed, reeognizing as if does the faet of file disagreement existing between the claires of God's word, and the inelinations and natural eapaeities of man. Iany, indeed, of flmse unhappy men who have denied the Christian thith, treat the religious prineiple altogether as a mere unnatural, eeeentrie state of mind, a peeuliar untoward condition of the aflhetions fo whieh weakness will reduee a man, whether it bas been brought on by anxiet,b oppressive sorrow, bodily disease, exeess of imagination or fle like, and temporary or permanent, aeeording fo the eireumstanees of the disposing" cause; a state fo whieh we all are liable, as we are liable fo any other mental injury, but umnanly and unworthy of out dignity as rational being's. Here a.gain itis enongh for our purpose, that if is allowed by these persons that the love of religion is unnatural and inconsistent with the original condition of our minds. The same remarl may be ronde upon the notions which seerctly prevail in certain quarters af the prescrit day, eoncerning the unsuitableness of Christianity fo an enlightened age. [en there are who look npon the inspired word oi God with a sort of indulgence,,s if if had ifs use, and had donc service in ifs day; that in rimes of ignorance if awed and controlled tierce barbarians, whom nothing else could bave subdued; but that from ifs very claire fo be divine and infidlible, and ifs conscqucnt unaltcrablcness, if is au obstacle fo thc improvcmcnt of the human race beyond a. certain point, and Inust ultimately fitll before the gradual advancement of Inan]ind in knowledge and virtue. In other words, the literature of the day is weary of I¢cvealed Religion. 5. Once more; that religion is in itself a weariness is seen cven in tbe conduet of the bctter sort of persons, who really on the whole are under the influence of ifs spirit. So dull and uninviting is calm and practical religion, that religious pcrsons are ever expoeed to the tcmptation of looki out for excitcments of one sort or other, fo malc if pleasuraMc to them. The spirlt of thc Gospel is a. recelé, humble, gentle, unobtrusive spirit. If doth not ery nor lift. up ifs voice in the streets, unless called upon by duty so fo do, and then if docs it with pain. Display, pretension, conflict, are unpleasmt fo if.
What then is tobe thought of persons who are ever on the search after novelties fo make religion interesting fo them; who seem fo find that Christian activity cannot be kept up without unchristian party-spirit, or Christian conversation without unchristian censoriousness? Why, this; that religion is to them as to others, taken by itself, a weariness, and requircs something foreign to ifs own nature fo mke it palatble. Truly if is a weariness fo the natural man to serve God humbly and in obscurity; if is very wearisome, and very monotonous, fo go on day after day watching all we do and think, detecting out secret fiùlings, denying ourselves, creat/ng within us, under God's grace, those parts of the Christian character in vhieh we are deficient; wearisome fo learn modesty, love of insignificance, willingness fo be thought little of, backwardness to clear ourselves when slandered, and readiness fo confess when we are wrong; fo leaïn to have no eares for this world, neither fo hope nor fo fear, but fo be resigned and contented! I may close these remarks, by appealing fo the consciences of all who have ever set about the work of rcligion in good earnest, whoever t.hey may be, whether they bave ruade less, or greater progress in their noble toil, whether they are nmtured saints, or feeble strugglers against the world and the flesh. They have ever confessed how great efforts were necessary fo keel» close fo the commandments of God; in spire of their knowledge of the truth, and thcir faith, in spire of the aids and consolations they receive ri'oto al»ove, still how oftcn do their corrupt hearts betray them! Even their privileges are often burdensone to them, even to pray Ibr tlle grace which in Christ is pledgcd fo them is an irksome task. They know that God's service is peribct freedoln, and they are eonvinced, both in their reason and from their own expericnce of it, that. if is truc haplfincss; still they conïcss withal the strang'c reluctance of' thcir nature fo love their 2Iaker and Ilis Service. And this is the point in question; hot only thc mass of' mankind, but evcn the eoufirlned servants of Christ, witness fo the opposition which cxists between their own nature and the dcmands of' rclig'ion. This then is tlle remarkable fiwt which I proposed fo show. Can we doubt that nmn's will runs contrary fo (kod's will—that the view which the inspired word takes of' our present life, and of our destiny, does not satisf) us, as if rightly oug'ht fo do? that Crist hath no form nor comeliness in our eycs; and though we sec IIim, we sec no desirablê beautv in Itim? That holy, mercifil, and meek Saviour, the Ecrnal, the Only-begotten Son of God, our friend and infinite benefhctor—Ite who lef the glory of IIis Father and dicd fbr us, who bas promised us the overftowing" riches of' tIis g'race both here and hereafter, tic is a lig'ht shinino" in a dark place, and "the darkuess com1:rehendeth if hot." " Light is corne into the world, and lncn love darkness rather than light." The nature of' man is flesh, and that
4 Rcli«iot a lVcariuess whieh is born of the flesh is flesh,.and ever must so remain; iL never ean diseern, love, aeeep, tire holy doetrines of the Gospel. I will oeeupy itself in various ways, iL will take interes in thins of sense and rime, but it ean never be relig'ious. I is a enmity wiLh God. And uow we see what lUUSt a[ once follow ri-oto wha has been said. If out hearts are by naful set on the worhl lbr its own sakc, and the world is one day fo pass away, what arc they fo be set on, what fo delight in, then? Say, how will thc soul feel when, stripped of ifs prcsent attire, whieh the world bestows, it stands naked and shudderin before thc pure, tranquil, and serez, uwOesty of the LoM ifs God, ifs most meiful, yet dishonoured Maker and Saviour? AVhat are fo be the pleasures of the soul in another lire? Can they be the saine as they a here? They canuot; Scriptm tells us they eammt; the world passeth.awaynow what is there lcft fo love and enjoy through a long etcrnity? AVhat a dark, forlorn, miscrable eternity that will be! Itis then plain enouh, though Seripture said hot a word on the suect, that if we would be happy in the world fo corne, we must make us new hearts, and beg'in fo love the thin's we naturally do hot love. Yiewin if as a praetical point, thc end of the whole marrer is this, wc must be ehaned; for we eannot, we camlot expect the system of the universe fo corne over fo us; the inhabitants of heaven, the numberless creations of Angels, the glorious eompany of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, file noble army of [artyrs, the holy Chureh universal, the Vill and Attributes of God, these are fixed. We must go over to them. In out Saviour's own authoritative words: "' Verily, verily, exeept a naan be born again, he eannot sec the kingdom of God'." If is a plain marrer of selfinterest, to turn out thoughts fo the means of changing out hearts, putting" out of the question out duty towards God and Christ, out Saviour and Redeemer. "tic hath no form nor comeliness, and when we sec Ilim, there is no beaut.y that we should desire ttim." If is n«t tlis loss tiret we love Him hot, if is out loss. He is All-blessed, whatever becomes of us. IIe is hot less blessed beeause we are far from tlim. If is we who are hot blessed, exeept as we approach Him, except as ve are like Ilim, exeept as we love Him. Woe unto us, if in the day in which Ite cornes ff'ont Heaven we sec nothing desirable or gracions in Ilis wounds; but instead, bave ruade for ourselves an ideal blessedness, different ff'oto that which will be manifested to us in Him. Woe nnto us, if we have ruade pride, or sellïshness, or the carlml,mind, out standard of perfection and truth; if out eyes have grown dira, and out hearts gross, as regards the truc lig'ht of men, and the glo D- of the Eternal Father. May He Himse]f save us from our self-delusions, wha.tever they are, and enable us fo give up this world, that we ma.y gain the next;—and fo rejoiee in Him, who had no home of His own, no plee fo lay Ilis head, who n-as poor and lowly, and dcspiscd and rejectcd, and tormented and slain!