Page images
PDF
EPUB

that the internal worth.p of the foul is the thing intended by the lifting up of the hands. And in every act of worship, faith, which is the hand of the foul, is the leading and principal part, infomuch that, "without faith, it is impoffible to pleafe God."

2dly. We have the object of this worship, or to whom the hand is to be lifted up: it is unto God; to " God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trefpaffes unto them." An abfolute God cannot be the object of a finner's faith, hope, truft, and confidence, but, on the contrary, the object of his terror and amazement. Hence, like our fa ther Adam, before the revelation of the promised feed, we fly from him, and do not love to retain the knowledge of him in our thoughts; as it is faid of the heathen world, Rom. i. 28. who want the knowledge of Chrift.

3dly, In the words we may notice, who they are that ftretch out their bands unto God; Ethiopia, which may be under ftood either literally or figuratively. If we take it figurative ly, it is to be understood of the Gentile nations in general, a part being put for the whole. God the Father had faid to the Son, Pfal. ii. "Afk of me, ad I fhall give thee the hea then tor thine inheritance, and the uttermoft parts of the earth for thy poffeffion." And accordingly, upon his refurrection and afcenfion, the gofpel came to be preached to the Gentiles, according to the commiffion given to the apottles, Mark xvi. 15. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature" under heaven, that is, unto all nations of the world, without diftinction. And thereupon Ethiopia, with the rest of the Gentile nations, did receive the word of the gofpel, and did obeifance unto the Son of God. And how the raven of the gofpel came to be spread unto Ethiopia, in particular, we have fome account, Acts viii. 27. to the clofe, where we are told of the converfion of the Ethiopian eunuch, by the ministry of Philip, who, after a profeflion of his faith in Chrift, being baptized in his name, went on his way to wards his own country, rejoicing; and, no doubt, would fpread the glad tidings of falvation through Chrift in his own country, fome of the fruits whereof are faid to remain among the Abyffines of Inner Ethiopia unto this day

4thly, We have the ready and cheerful obedience that is given by Ethiopia, or the Gentile nations, unto the call of the gofpel; they foon ftretch out their hands unto God, that is, they will do it without delay, and with readiness of mind; a literal accomplishment of which you will fee, Acts xiii 40. 47. 48. where, when the Jews rejected the gospel, the apostle telis them, that feeing they put the word of God from them,

lo, we turn to the Gentiles, for fo hath the Lord commanded us, faying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou fhouldst be for falvation to all the ends of the earth." And then it is added, "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord," that is, they entertained it with a ready mind.

5thly, We have the certainty of the event, they fhall stretch out their hands unto God: As if he had faid, Howev r firmly they were rooted in their ignorance and idolatry, and other wickedneffes, for many ages and generations, yet such shall be the effi acy of the gofpel, and the victorious power of grace efficacy accompanying it, that they fhall give up with their idols, and ftretch out their hands in a way of worship and obedience unto the only living and true God. Much to this purpose is that word, Pfal. cx. 3. "The Lord fhall fend the rod of thy ftrength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people thall be willing in the day of thy power; or (orig.) in the day of thy armies."

From the words thus briefly opened, I offer the following doctrine.

OBSERVE, "That when the gofpel is the power of God among a people, they foon ftretch forth their hands unto a God in Chrift, as their God."

This text, as I told you, is a prediction of the fuccess of the gospel amongst the idolatrous Ethiopians, and other Gentile nations, who had, for many generations, been stretching out their hands unto ftrange gods, dunghill deities; yet, whenever the gofpel light comes among them, with the power of the Spirit, they turn to the true and living God, and stretch forth the hand unto him. Ethiopia fhall foon ftretch out her bands unto God.

In difcourfing this doctrine, I fhall, through divine affiftance, obferve the following method.

I. I would take a view of the condition of finners without the gofpel, or before the grace and power of the gofpel reach their hearts.

II. I would speak of the power of the gospel, whereby they

are made to ftretch out their hands unto God

III. Of that hand that is ftretched out unto God, when they are converted unto him.

IV. Why, or for what end, the hand is ftretched out to God. V. I would inquire whence it is, that the hand is foon ftretch. d out unto God, when the heart is effectually touched by the power of gospel grace,

VI Make it evident, that, when the heart is touched by the power of the gofpel, the hand is foon, or without delay, ftretched our to God.

Vii. And, laftly, Apply.

I. The first thing is, to take a view of the condition of finers without the gofpel, or before gofpel grace hath reach

ed their hearts.

To lear this I refer you to that defcription of the ftate of the Gentile nations, before the gofpel came among them, given by the apofile Paul, Eph ii. 1. 2. 3. 11. 12. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trefpaffes and fins; wherein in time paft ye walked according to the courfe of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the fpirit that now worketh in the children of difobedience. Among whom alfo we all had our converfation in times paft, in the lufts of our flesh, fulfilling the defire of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Ver. 11. "Wherefore remember, that ye in times paft being Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncir cumcifion, by that which is called circumcifion in the flesh made by hands," ver. 12. "That at that time ye were with out Chrift, being aliens from the commonwealth of Ifrael, ftrangers from the covenant of promife, having no hope, and without God in the world." From which it appears, that Ethiopia, Scotland, and all the Gentile nations, and every individual among them, is, by nature, in a most dismal and deplerable condition, without Ged, the chief good, without Christ, the only Saviour, without hope of falvation, without the true church, where life and immortality alone is brought to light; without God's covenant of promife, which is the only charter of falvation; under the power of fin and Satan, the great enemy of their falvation; and, confequently, in a ftate of hoftility against God, But thefe things I cannot now stand upon, and therefore proceed to

II. The fecond thing, which was, to fpeak of the power of gofpel grace, whereby finners, like the Ethiopians, are made

to ftretch out their hands unto God.

There are only thefe few things I offer upon this head.

ft, The preaching of the everlafling gofpel is the great means, of divine inftitution, for the converfion and falvation of finners, Rom. i. 16. "The gofpel is the power of God to falvation. It hath pleafed God, by the foolthnefs of preaching, to fave them that believe."

2dly, This power of God, in and by the gofpel, is an exceeding

eeeding great and mighty power, Eph. i. 18-20. hence called the revelation of his arm, If. liii. 1. while the creation of the world is but the work of his fingers.

3dly, The way of exerting this power, in and by the gofpel, upon the hearts of men, is very deep and myfterious. There is a glorious mystery in the contrivance, a mystery in the purchase, and as great a mystery in the application of our redemption. Hence it is compared unto the motion of the wind about us, which we cannot fee, John iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it lifteth, thou heareft the found thereof, but cant not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."

4thly, It is wholly fupernatural. However Arminians and others may boaft of their natural powers, yet he who knows what is in man better than man himself, declares, “That it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God who fheweth mercy," Rom. ix. 16. "No man (f‹ys Chrift, John iv. 44.) can come to me, except the Father, which hath fent me, draw him.”

5thly, This power is irrefiftible, nothing can ftand against

it. When God works, who can let or hinder him? All the power of corruption muft give way before this power; the darknefs of the mind, the obitinacy of the will, the carnality of the affections, the gates of brafs and bars of iron, give way at the prefence of the Lord, 2 Cor. x. 4. 5. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God," &c. 6thly, Though it be irrefiftible, yet there is no violence done to the natural powers of the foul. It is true, there is violence done to the ftrong man of fin and corruption, when a ftronger than he binds him, and fpoils him of his goods; but no violence is done, to the natural powers of the foul by the power of gofpel grace: What violence is done to the understanding, to fill it with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God? What violence is done to the will, to restore it to liberty? What violence is done to the affections of the foul, to have them turned away from vanity, to center upon a God in Chrift, who is the proper object of love?

7thly, The power of God, in the gospel, effectuates an univerfal change upon the foul, without any noife or din. Hence the kingdom of God is faid to come without much obfervation. Conquests among men are with the confused noise of the warrior, and garments rolled in blood; but it is otherwife in God's conqueft of finners, it is in a fecret and filent way that his work is done; hence it is compared to the falling of the dew, or to the fpreading of leaven in a measure of meal, or the outgoings of the light of the morning, or the growth of the corn and grafs, all which are the works of Infinite Power,

and

and done with the greatest filence, and yet all very vifible and difcernible in their effects and fruits. But I pafs this, and go on to the third thing in the method.

III. The third thing was, to inquire a little into the import of the phrase, stretching out the hand to God, when the heart is touched by the power of golpel grace.

Now, the ftretching out the hand of faith unto the true and living God, it fuppofes or implies the fe things following.

ft, A revelation of God, and of his mind and will unto the children of men, through Jefus Chrift. Whatever difcoveries God may make of himfelf in the works of creation and providence, yet, without a revelation of him, through Chrift in the golpel glafs, they will never engage a finner to stretch out the hand of faith unto him, as we fee in the case of the heathens, who, though they knew God, even his eternal power and Godhead, in the things that were made, yet they glorified him not as God. It is only the gospel that is the power of God un o falvation. It is upon the preaching of the gospel, which is th rod of the Mediator's ftrength. That Princes come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia stretches out her hands unto Gode 2dly, It implies an internal illumination of the heart and mind with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jefus Chrift. This is the very fpring of a faving converfion unto the true God. Hence Paul, deferibing his own conver fion, gives it in one word, Gal. i. 16. "When it pleafed God to reveal his Son in me," immediately his hand that was ftretched out against the Lord, in a way of perfecution is fr tched forth for the advancement of the kingdom of Chrift. 2 Cor. iv. 6. "God, who commanded the light to fhine out of darkness, hath fhined in our hearts," &c. This is the radical act of faith; hence faith is expreffed by it, If. liii. "By his knowledge fhall my righteous Servant justify many." So John xvii. 3. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jefus Chrift whom thou haft fent."

3dly, The ftretching out of the hand of faith unto God im plies an affent of the foul unto the record of God concerning Chria. The affent of the mind unto any thing is frequently expreffed by the motion of the hand; fo here, Ethiopia fall ftretch out the hand to God, it implies a fetting to his feal that God is true, in the teftimony or record that God gives Chrift in the word of the gofpel; they (upon the matter) ay with Paul, 1 Tim. i. 15. "This is a faithful faying, and wor thy of all acceptation, that Chrift Jefus came into the world to fave ficners." As the queen of Sheba faid, fo will the soul Kay, when it beholds the glory of the true King Solomon,

anto

« EelmineJätka »