596. EPH 2:11; EPH 2:12. THE RECOLLECTION OF THE MISERIES OF A PAGAN CONDITION, A MOTIVE TO …
Eph_2:11; Eph_2:12. The Recollection Of The Miseries Of A Pagan Condition, A Motive To Zeal In The Missionary Cause.
By Rev. George Clayton.
"Wherefore remember,’97that at that time ye were without Christ."’97Eph_2:11, Eph_2:12.
Assembled as we are from all parts of the British empire, and indeed from all quarters of the globe; drawn together by one common object, and that the grandest which man can propose, or Deity achieve; urged forward by an impulse which, I trust, without presumption, may be pronounced similar, in some humble measure, to that which brought Jesus from the skies, and apostles and martyrs to the stake; it will be salutary to remember what we ourselves once were, in order that our motives may be invigorated, our resolutions confirmed, and our compassions awakened, in favor of those who are still "without God, and without hope in the world;" and whom we are determined, by the assistance and blessing of the Most High, to place on an equal footing with ourselves, in all the light and liberty and joy of which Christianity is the parent and the source.
Let us consider,
I. The affecting condition which the text describes: "At that time ye were without Christ."
II. The duty of cherishing a distinct and constant remembrance of it.
III. The practical effects which ought to flow from such remembrance.
I. The affecting condition described: "At that time ye were without Christ."
It is quite clear that the reference in the text is to a state of unenlightened, unregenerated paganism, in which the Ephesians had been long immersed, and from which they had recently been delivered by the free and sovereign love of God, quickening them from a moral and spiritual death, and raising them "to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." In allusion to this period of heathenish darkness, the apostle says, "Remember, that at that time ye were without Christ;" and this short, but comprehensive delineation, contains in itself a finished picture of human wretchedness. We can conceive of no worse predicament for a rational, immortal, sinful, perishing being, than to be without Christ. Let us, then, trace the bearing and influence of this mournful deficiency upon the nature of man.
1. Upon his understanding.
And truly, my brethren, I know of nothing more deeply affecting than to contemplate the human intellect left to itself, and toiling, in its entangled march, through all the trackless labyrinths of speculative uncertainty; to behold a mind once adorned with the likeness of God, but now void of knowledge, spending its strength, wasting its energies, and wearing out its courage, in the anxious pursuit of that which satisfieth not; in spite of all that is intense in application, and profound in investigation, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," 2Ti_3:7; panting towards the goal, but never reaching it; bewildered, deceived, disappointed, and "in endless mazes lost;" this is, and must, ever be the case, so long as men are without Christ.
2. Consider this subject as it affects the conscience.
"The whole world is guilty before God," Rom_3:19. Guilt is the parent of uneasiness; and though the cause may not be generally understood, the effect is manifest and undeniable. The apostle Paul expressly asserts the operation of conscience, even in minds unenlightened by Christian revelation: "their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another," Rom_2:15. You have, in these words, a representation of the mental process which is the true cause of that inward disquietude which racks and convulses the moral world. Oh, there is a deep and festering wound in the conscience of every sinner, which no balm can reach, but the Balm of Gilead; no hand can heal, but that of the Physician who is there.
3. As it affects the character.
Where Christ is not, morality sheds but a dim, a feeble, and often a delusive ray. The fact, in its application to this part of the subject, is so fully established, and so perfectly ascertained, as to form an argument altogether irresistible. What were the Ephesians, the Corinthians, the Romans, the Cretans, so long as they were without Christ? "Earthly, sensual, devilish," Jam_3:15. "Serving divers lusts and pleasures’97hateful and hating one another"’97"always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies," Tit_3:3; Tit_1:12. What is now the state of morals in unenlightened Africa? in unregenerated India? Why, blood toucheth blood; rapine and cruelty, oppression and violence, injustice and deceit, and all the hideous brood of unnatural abominations, exist and triumph.
4. As it relates to the happiness of man in the present life.
Without Christ, you leave man as a sufferer under all the unmitigated weight of trouble; you leave him to grapple, unaided and unsustained, with the fierce and uncontrollable calamities of life, destitute of any alternative but a morbid sullenness of resentment, or an irritability which goads and chafes itself to death.
5. We must, in justice to our subject, trace its operation on the civil and religious institutions of human society.
All countries have found it expedient to form laws and governments for the safe and beneficial regulations of social intercourse; but, without that benign and salutary influence of Christianity, when has this object been secured?
Nor are the religious institutions of unenlightened nations in any degree better than their civil ordinances. The whole system of idolatrous worship, intended as it is to placate an offended Deity, only serves to offend him the more highly, and to leave the conscience really more heavily burdened, and more foully stained, instead of affording it relief. The various modes of propitiation resorted to, are alike impious and vain. The ablutions and the penances’97the blood of bulls and goats’97the immolation of human victims,’97all proclaim the truth of the statement I have made; while they confess their own inadequacy to take away sin, or to satisfy the conscience.
6. We must consider the relation of our subject to the immortal destiny of man.
To live without Christ is dreadful; but, oh! what must it be to die without him? There is so much of overpowering solemnity in this view of the subject, that one is at a loss how to approach it. To all men "it if appointed once to die;" and all men need consolation (if ever) in a dying hour. But, alas! if, when the veil of the flesh is rent asunder, the mind can see no brightness beyond it, no solid ground of hope, no certain assurance of blessedness, the gloomy veil will be covered with a tenfold obscurity, and darkened with irremediable sadness.
II. The duty of cherishing a distinct and. constant remembrance of this condition.
1. The light of reason, and the custom of mankind, are sufficient to show that we should cherish the grateful remembrance of eminent deliverances.
All men have agreed in preserving the memory of the founders of stages, the benefactors of their country, the heroes of the age. Hence pillars, statues, temples, trophies, and monuments, have been reared, as so many commemorative ensigns.
2. The express direction of Holy Scripture.
On the Jewish church such recollection was frequently and solemnly inculcated. Exo_13:3, "And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you from this place." See also Deu_5:15.
3. We may appeal to the impulse of good feeling in every mind that is rightly, by which I mean religiously constituted.
It will be found consonant to every dictate of ingenuous sensibility, that we should keep in abiding recollection the state of degradation and misery from which Divine grace has rescued us, whether individually, in our religious connections, or in our national character. That man is chargeable with a brutish negligence, and must carry a heart of adamant in his bosom, who can erase from his mind the recollection of so great a benefit.
III. The practical effects which should flow from this remembrance.
1. This recollection should be productive of deep humiliation and self-abasement.
What pride studies to forget, humility delights to remember; whenever we are tempted to grow vain of our high distinctions, let us check the risings of self-esteem, and self-admiration, by considering what we once were’97untutored barbarians, savage idolators, fast bound in the fetters of a mental and moral slavery; yet, with maniac infatuation, dancing in our chains.
2. This recollection should excite sentiments of the liveliest gratitude, for the happy change which has taken place in our condition.
3. This recollection should endear to us our native land, which the religion of Jesus has hallowed and blessed.
From what a depth of abasement has Jesus Christ raised us!
"I would not change my native land,
For rich Peru and all her gold:
A nobler prize lies in my hand
Than East or Western Indies hold."
The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage!
4. This recollection should engage us to demean ourselves in a manner answerable to the great change which, through the favor of God, has taken place in our moral situation.
"The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth," 1Jn_2:8. As the "children of the light, and of the day," much is expected of us; let us, then, labor to profit to the utmost by the privileges we enjoy. In a word, let us cultivate personal piety, family religion, and social usefulness.
5. This recollection should excite in our bosoms the tenderest compassion for those nations who are yet without Christ, deeply plunged in all the miseries of which we have been hearing. It should generate pity for human souls, immortal souls, laboring under the infelicities of an unchristianized state.
Finally, This recollection will supply the amplest justification of missionary efforts, and urge us forward in the prosecution of missionary labors.
There is no objection brought against this species of active benevolence, which the case before us does not refute and annihilate. The attempt to convert the heathen is rational, scriptural, and must by God’s blessing be effectual. "Go ye, into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," Mar_16:15. Go, reveal "the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith," Rom_16:25, Rom_16:26.
Autor: JABEZ BURNS