Parochial and Plain Sermons

"' Thus saith the Lord, Stand ge in the watjs, and sec, and aslc for the old paths, where is he good watd, and wallc the.rein, and ge shall find test for jour souls.'"

D EVERENCE for the old paths is a chier Christian -[ duty. "We look fo the future indecd with hope; yet this need not sîand in thc way of out dwelling on the Î)ast days of the Church with affection and déference. This is thc feeling of out own Church, as continually expressed in thc Praycr Book;mnot to slight what bas gone before, not fo seek aftcr some new thing-, hot to attempt discoveries in religion, but to keep what has once for all been committed to her keeping, and h» be at rest. Now it may be asked, "Why should we for ever b« looking baek at past îines? were men perfeet îhen? is it not possible fo improve on the knowledge then possessed?" Let us examine this question. In what respect should we follow old rimes? Now

4 Sted«stncss;z the OM here there is Ofis obvious mxhnwhaç God lins given us ff-oto heaven e«tnnoç be improved, what man discovers foc himself does admi of iml,rovemenç: we follow old rimes then,o./àr as (od hns spoken in them; bu lu those respeets in whieh (od bas noL spoken in them, we are hot bOulad to fi»llow thelu. 'ow what is the kuowlede which God has ,o/thoug'hf fit to reveal us? b»ozel«dge eom,,'e/ed mert'[ff w;[h [big ¢»'e«ent world. All this we have beeu left fo acquire for ourselves. Whatever mav have been tohl fo Ad:ma in paradise, or to 'oah, abouç whieh we know nothing, still a¢ least sinee thaf rime no divine]r atflhentieated direet.ions (if would appear) have been R'ivtn fo the world af large, on suhjeets relafing merelv to this out temporal state of being. I[ow we may till out lands and inerease our erops; how we mav lmild our bouses, and buv and sell. and g'e¢ gain; how we nmy el'os the sea lu shps; how we may make "fine linen for the nerelmnt," or, like ïubal-Cain, be artifieers in brass and iron: as fo these objeets of t.his world, necessarv indeed tbr the tilne, hot. everlastingly important, God bas given us no elear inst.ruetion. IIe has no¢ seç IIis anetion here upon anv rules of art., and tohl us wlmt is best. Thev bave been tbuud ouç by man (as fin" os we know), und ilnproved by man; and the firsç essuss, as mig.hç be expected, vere the rudesç and leas suceessfifi, tIere then we have no need fo follow the old wavs. Besides, in manv 6f these arts and pursuits, there is really neither right

çt«drstncss in /e Old ]«ts. 45 nor wron a ail; bu le ood vm'ies with rimes and places. Eaeh country has its own way, whieh is bes tbr it.selç, md bad çor oflers. Again, God has 'iveu us no ufloriy in questions of science. The heavens al»ove, and the earth under our feet, are full of wonders, and lmve within them their own vast historv. ]htt the knowledge of the secrets lhey eOlltain, lhe talc of lhcir past revolut.ions, is hot 'ivcn us f'om Divine revclafi(,n; but lcf't fo ruait to attain 1W himselL Xlld here ag'ain, sinee diseover 3" is dilculL the old knowledffe is g'enerally lcss sure and coml,lete than the modcrn knowlede. If we wish fo boast abou little matters, we know more about thc motions of the heaw,nly b.dics than A1)rahaln, whose 'eed was in number as the stars; we tan measurc the eartJb and fitthom the sea, and weigh the air, more aecurately than Moses, le iuspired historian of the creation; and we Call discuss the varied inhabitants of flfis g'lobc beter than Solonlon, though " he spake of trces, ri-oto the eedar thaL is in Lebanon, even uno the hyssop that springeth ou of the wall.... and of bcasts, and of tbwl, and of creeping things, and of" fishesL" The world is more learned in these things than of old, probably will learn more still; a vas prospec is open fo if, and an intoxieatinff one. Like the children of Cain, belote the flood came and destroved them ail, men may increase and abound in such curious or merely useful  1 Kings iv. 33.

"46 £lcdfaslncss in the Old Paths. knowlede; nay, there is no limi fo tle progress of the human ndnd here; we may build us a eitv and a tower, whose top may reaeh ahnos fo the very heavens. 8ueh is the knowledge whieh rime lins wrfeeted, and in whieh the old pat.hs are eommonly the l«as direct:tnd sfe. But let us turn fo that knowledge whieh tod has given, and whieh therefore does hot adroit of improvemcnt by lai»se of rime; this is religiou« /«dg«. IIere, whether a man might or mig'ht not have lbund out the truth for himselq or how far he was al»le withou Divine assistance, waiving this question, whieh is nothin fo the purl,OSe, as a the i has been ff-oto the lwginning given him by revelaion. God tauh Adam how fo please IIim, and Noah, and Abraham, and Job. lle bas aught every nation all over the earth suffieiently tbr Lhe moral training of eve3  individual. In all these t'ases, the world's ])arL of the work lins been fo pervert the truLh, hot fo disengage it ri'oto obseurity. çhe new ways are the erooked ones. the rime of Adam, or Noah, or Abraham, or Job, the purer lig'ht of trufli we gain; as we reeede from it we lnee with supersfitions, Gnatieal exeesses, idolatries, nd immornlities. So again in the case of the Jewish Chureh, sinee God expressly gave flae Jêws n preeise law, iL is elear lnan eould no improve upon it; he eould but add tlae " trMifions of men." Nofliing wns fo be looked for from the eultivafion of the human mind. "To the law and fo the tesimony" was the appeM

çtcdfsDe«s in the Old Iaths. 47 and any deviation from i was, no  sign of ineresin illumination, bu "beeause here was no ligh" in the authors of innowtion. stly, in the Christian Chureh, we eannot add or take away, as regards the doctrines ihat are containcd in the inspired vohlme, as regards flc tifith once dclivered to the saints. "Othcr çoundation tan no man lay than that is laid, which is Jes,s Christ ." But if may bc said that, though t.hc word of God is an infallible rnlc of faith, yet it rcquires intcrpreting5 and why, as tilne goes on, should we hot discover in it more than we af psënt know on the subject of religion and morals? But this is haMly a question of practical importance fo us as individuals; For in truth a very little knowledge is enough for tcaching a man his duty: and, since Scripture is intendcd to teach us our duty, surely it was never intended as a storehouse of mere knowlcdge. 1)iscoveries then in the dctails of morals and religion, by means of the inspired volume, whether possible or hot, must hot be looked out ço5 as the expectation may nnsettle the mind, and take if off ri'oto matters of duty. Certainly all curious questions at least are forbidden us by Scripture, even though Scripture may be round adequate fo answer them. This should be insisted on. Do we think to become bctter men by knowing more? Little knowledge is 1 1 Cor. iii. 11.

OE48 Stcdf asllzess in the Ohl Palhs. required for relig'ious obedienee, q'he poor and rieh, the 1.el'Ued and unlearned, are here on tt level. We have ail of us the me:tns of doin¢ out duty; we have hot the «oill, and this no knowledbe ean g'ive. We have need fo sui)due out own minds, and this no otber person eau. do for us. 'lhe case is differen in matters of learniug" and seieuee. There others eau aud do labour fi)r us; me ea.u make use of their labours; we beg'iu where they ended; thus t.hings pl'og'ress, and eac'h successive age knows more than the preeeding'. But in religon eaeh mus beg'in,,,go on, and end, tbr hilnselt: The l'elig'ious history ol ' each iudividual is as s«,litary and eolnplete as the history of the world. Eaeh mau wil], of course, ain more kuowledg'e as he sudies Sel'ipture more, and pr,-ays and meditates more; but he e:mno make anoher man wise or holy by his own adwmee iu wisdom or holiness. Vhen ehildren eease to be boru ehildren, beeause ¢hey are born liste in the world's history, when we ean reekon the world's pas¢ eenturies for the age of this eneration, then only ean he world inerease lu real excellence a.nd truth as it grows older. ïhe eharaeter will always require forming, evil will ever need footing out or' eaeh llear[.; he g'raee o g'o belote;/nd t;o aid us in our moral discipline mus ever eome fi'esh and immediate fi-om the IIoly Spirite. So the world ever remains in ifs infimey,,'as regards the eultivation of moral truth; for the knowledg'e required for praetiee is little, and admits of little inerease, exeept in the case of indivi-

Slcdf«stlzcss hz lhc Oht Palhs. -49 duals, and then fo them alone; and if emmot be handed on fo another. "As i was in the beg'innin, is now, and ever shall be," sueh is the general history of man's noral discipline, ruunin parallel fo the unchaning. g-oi T of tlm All-Perfee God, who is ifs Author and Finisher. Praetieal religions knowledge, then, is a personal gift, and, firther, a git fl'Oll (od; and, therefore, as exl;efiente has hitherto shown, more likely to be obscured than advanced by the lai»se of tilne. Bu tltrther, we know of the existence of an evil principle in the world, ('orruptin and resisting the truth in its measure, aeeording to the truth's elearness and lmrity. Yhether it be from the sinihlness of out nature, or ri'oto the nalignity of Satan, striving with peeuliar enmity against Divine truth, certain it is that fle best gifts of God htve been the lnost woefidly eorrupted. It was prophesied ri'oto the beg.inning, tlmt the serpent should bise the heel of IIim who was ultimately to triumph over him; and so it has ever been. Out Saviour, who was the Truth itself, was the most spitet)lly entreated of all by the world. It has been the case with Ilis tbllowers too. He was erueified wiIh thieves; lhey have been united and blended against their will ith the worst and basest of mankind. The purer and more preeious the gift whieh God bestows on us, far from this being a seeurity for its abiding and inereasing, rather the more grievously bas that g'ift been abuse&

St. John even seems to make the greater wickedness the world the elear eonsequeuee and evidenee of out Lord's having made Ilis appearilg. " Little ehildren, itis the last rime" (i. e. the rime of the Christian Dispelsation): " and as ye have heard that Antiehrist shall eome, even lmW are there many Antiehrists,,«,ereby ].'o,o th:tt it is the last time L" St. Paul drew the saine pieture. So far froln antieipating brighter rimes in store for thc Chureh before the end, he portends evil only. " This kuow" (he savs to Timothy), "' that in lhe last days perilous rimes will eome..... Evil men nnd seducers shall wa.x worse and worse, deeeiving and being deeeived'." In these and other passages surely there is no eneouragement to look out for a more enlightened, peaeeful, ald pure state of the Chureh tlmn it enjoys af present: rather, there is, eall on us fo eonsider the old and original wav as the best, and deviations from il,, though they seem fo promise an easier, sa.fer, and shorter rond, yet as really either tendiug another way, or leading fo the right objeet wifl lnueh hazard and mauy obstaeles. 8ueh is the en.se as regards the knowledge of our duty,that kind of knowledge whieh alone is really worth earnest seeking. And there is an important reason why we should acquiesce in if;beeause the conviction that thiugs are so has no slight inltuenee in tbrming our minds into tht perfection of the religious  I John il. 18. = o Tim. iii. 13.

«'haraeter, af whieh it is our duty over to be aiming. Vhile we think it possible to make some great and important improvcments in the sub.iect of religion, we shall be unsettled, restless, iml>aticnt; we shall be drawn from the consideration of improving ourselves, and from using the day while it is given us, by the visions of a deceitfitl hope, which promises fo make rich l,ut tcndeth to penury. On the other hand, if we feel that the way is altog'ether eloscd ag'ainst diseoveries in religion, as being neither praetieable nor desirable, if is likely we shall be drawn more entirely and seriously fo our own personal advaneement in holiiess; out eyes, l»eing withdrawn ri'oto external prospeets, will look more af home. We shall think less of eireumstanees, and more of our duties under them, whatever they are. proportion as we eease fo be thcorists we shall become practical mon; we shall have less of self-confidence and arrogance, more of inward humility and diflidence; we shall be less likely fo despise others, and shall think of our own intellectual powers with less complacency. It is one great peculiarity of the Christian charaeter to be dependent. Mon of the world, indeed, in proportion as they are active and enterprising, boast of their independence, and are proud of having obligations to no ¢ne.:But it is the Christian's excellence to be diligent and watchful, to work and persevere, and yet to be in spirit depe«lent; fo be willing to serve, and to rejoice in the permission to do so; to be content to view himself in a

5 z S'lcdfrstlzcss ilz the Old Palhs. subordinate place; fo love fo sit in the dust. Thou in the Chureh  son of God, he takes pleasure in eonsidering • himself Christ's " servant" and " slaves" he feels gad whenever he ean put hilnself to shame. So it is the natural bent of his lnind fl'eely and affeeti«mately fo visit and trace thc tbotsteps of the saints, to sound the praises of the g'rcat lncn oç old who have wrought wonders in thc Chureh and whose words still lire  bcing jealous of their hon,,m',;md t['e]ing" it to be even too great a privilege fiw sut'h as he is fo be put. in trust with the fifith once dclivered to them, and following thcm strictly in the narrow way, even as they have çollowed Christ. To the ears of sueh persons the words of the text are as sveet lnusic: " Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the vays, and sec, and ask for the old paths, where is fle good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find test for your souls." The histmw of the Old Dispensation affords us a remm'kable confirmation of what I have been arg'uing from these words; for in the tilne of the Law there was an inerease of religious knowledge by fl'esh revelations. From the rime of Samuel espeeially fo fle tilne of Malacbi, the Chureh was bid look forward tLr a growing illumination, which, thoug.h hot necessary for religious obedienee, subserved the establishment of religious comfort. Now, I wish you fo observe how eareflfi the inspired prophets of Israel are to prevent any kind of disrespeet being shom to the memory of forlner rimes,

Slcdfastncss iz thc OM Paths. on aeeount, of tlm inerease of reliious knowledge wiLh whieh the later ags were favoured; and if sueh reverence for the past were  duLy alnong the Jews when thc Sa.viour was st.iii to corne, much more is if the duty of Christians, who expect no new revelation, nnd who, though thev look forward in hope, yet see the fiture onlv in thc mirror of tilnes and persons past, who thc Angcl's words) "wait fiw that saine Jcsus:.... so fo corne in likc manner as they saw IIim go into heavc n. ow, as to the revereuce enjoiued and taught the Jcws towards persons and limes past, we may notice tirst thc commandment given them fo honour and obey thcir parents and cldcrs. This, indced, is a natural law. But that very eirculnstance surely gives force fo the express and repcated injunctions iven them fo observe if, sanctioncd too (as it was) with a. spccial promise. Natural affcction might have tmght it; but if was rested by he Law on a. highcr sanction. Ncxt, this duty of revcrently rcgarding past timcs was taught by such general injunctions (more or less express) as the text. It is rema.rkable, too, when Micah would tell the Jcws that the legal sacrifices appointed in rime past were infcrior to thc moral duties, he stacs it not as a new truth, but refers fo its almouncemcnt by a prophet in Moses' age,to the answer of Balaam fo Balak, king of Moab. ut, further, fo blnd them fo the observance of this

"54 Sted./'«st¢ess i the Old dut.y, the ps was ruade the pled of the fiture, hope was romded upon memory i all prayer Nf favour sent hem baek to he old mereies of God. « The Lord ee mindfid of us, Ile vill bless us '' this was form of their hmnble expeetation. The favour vouehsafed fo Abraham and Israc, and the deliverance from lypt., were the ot,jeets on whieh hope dwelt, and were nmdc the types of blcssinffs in prospect. For instance, out of thc many passagcs whieh mig'ht be cited, Isa.iah says, "Awake... O arm of the Lord, as  lhe ancie»t daffs, i» the generalions " old. '' Micah, " Feed thy people with thy rod, the Ilock of thine herita, which dwell solitary in the wo«,d, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gdead, a. i» the da2s aceording fo the days of thy comiug out of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things. '' q'he Psalms abound with like references fo pas mercies, as pledges and t.ypes of future. Prophesying of the reign Christ, Davld says, " The Lord said, I will bring sgain fi-om Bashan, I will bring My people again from tl:e depths of the sea," and Moses toe, speaking fo the Israelites—" Re»e»ber the das  old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee ." Accordingly, while a coming Saviour was predicted, still the claims of past rimes on Jewish piety were nmintained,  Ps. cxv. 12.  Isa. li. 9. a licah vil. 14, 15.  Dcut. xxxii. 7

Stcdfastlzess iz the OIcl Paths. "5 5 by Ilis being represented by the prophets nnder the naine and character of David, or in the dress,qnd office of Aaron; so that, the clearer the revelation of the gqory in prospect, in the same deree ffreater honour was pul: upon the former Jewish saints who typified it. lu like manner the blessins promised fo the Christian Church are ranted fo il: in the character of Israel, or of Jerusalem, or of Sion. Lastly, as Moses direcl:ed the eycs of his people towards the line of prophets whieh l:he Lord their God was to raise up from amon them, edin,g" in the Messiah, they in turn dutifidly exall: Moses, whose system t.hey were supersedin. Samuel, David, I.aiah, ]licah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, eaeh in succession, bear tesIimony to Ioses. lIalachi, the lasl: of the prophets, while predieting the comin.g" of Jolm the Baptisl:, still g'ives this ehar,q'e, "Re»e»ber fie the law of _l[o«e«, 3Iy servant, which I commanded unto him in I[oreb for all Israel, with l:he statures and judgments ï' In like manner in the New OEestamenl: the las of the prophets and apostles describes the saints as singin, " l:he song of Moses, the servanl: of God" (l:his is his honourable title, as elsewhere), "and the son of the LambL" Above all, out blessed Lord Himself sums up l:lle whole subjecl: we bave been reviewing, bolh l:he doctrine and Jewish illustration of it, in t[is own authoril:al:ive words," If they hear nol: ]Ioses and the  Mal. iv.,.  Rev. xv. 3.

prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose ri'oto the dead .'" After this sanction, if is needless to refer to the reverencc with which St. Paul reffards the law of ]loses, and fo the commemoration he has ruade oF the Old Testament, saints in the eleventh chapter oF his Epistle to the llebrews. Oh t,hat we had duly druuk iuto this spirit of reverente aud godly fear! Doubtless we are far al»ove tht. Jews in out p'iviles; we are favoured with the news of redemption; we know doctrines, which righteous men oF old rime earnestly desired fo be told, and were ne»t. To us is revealed the Eternal Son, the Onlrbeg'otten of the 1;ather, fidl of.raee and truth, a, Ve are br:uches oF the Truc Vine, which is sprun.g out.oF the ea-th and spread abroad. We lmve been granted Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, pastors, and teaehers. We eelebrate those truc Festivals whieh the Jews possessed only in shadow. For us Christ has died; on us the Spirit has descended. In these respeets we are honoured and privileed, oh hoxx - far above ail ages before tic came! Ye out honours are our shame, when we contrast the glory given us with out love ot" the world, out fear of meu, out ligqtuess of mind, out sensuality, out gloomy tempers. What need have we to look with wonder and reverence at those saints of the Old Coveriant, who with less advmatages yet so far surpassed us; and still more at those of the Christian Chureh, who  Luke xvi. 31.

both had higher gifts of grace and profited by them! What need bave we to humble ourselves; to pray God hot to leave us, though we have leçt Him; to pray Him to give us back what we have lost, fo receive a repentant people, fo renew in us a right heart and give us a religious will, and fo enable us to follow Him perseveringly in His narrow a.nd humbling way.