Let none be discouraged by the difficulties which lie in their way, or faint under the hardships of the cross. If God calls us to trials he will support us under them—yea, if we make him our hope, and are not needlessly wanting to ourselves, he will make us more than conquerors; he will make us triumphers in Christ. But if we fear to enter the lists against our spiritual enemies or to endure ought to which we are called in the way of duty, whether it be contempt, sufferings, or loss, we shall bring greater sorrows on ourselves by shrinking back in the day of trial, than by pressing forward, and bearing all which duty requires.
Our sorrows, if we abide faithful, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, will be only temporary; and under the pressure of them, we shall be supported by Omnipotence; but if we draw back, and refuse to deny ourselves, fainting in the day of trial, our sorrows and sufferings will be eternal, and as such as Omnipotence can only inflict!
SERMON XXI.
"And did not he make one? Ye had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed.—"
"And did not he make one? Ye had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed.—"
Toward the close of the Babylonish captivity, religion revived among the Jews. Several zealous and able reformers were raised up and advanced to power, whose influence was blessed to call back that people from their declensions, and prepare them for mercy. But the effect of their labors was only temporary. When they were gone off the stage, the people again apostatized, neglected the worship and ordinances of God, and became vicious and corrupt. This prophet, who lived several ages after their return to Canaan, was sent to reprove their irreligion and the immoralities, which abounded among them and had infected every order of men.
One of the sins then rife in Israel, was a family sin. Family contentions, which frequently terminated in divorces, were become common.
Divorces were permitted to the Hebrews, "for the hardness of their hearts, but it was not so from the beginning."
Larger communities are all made up of families. Evils therefore which affect the latter, cannot but affect the former. Were all the families which compose an empire divided and unhappy, the empire would be so.
It is also worthy of notice, that the first rudiments of character, which render good or bad, and cause people to be blessings or curses in society, are commonly begun in those nurseries of our race. The bias there given, seldom wholly wears off; it is generally carried, in degree, through life. Probably many of the evils which afflicted the Jews in the days of this prophet, had their origin in the cradles of the nation. He was therefore directed to strike at the root of evils, and by endeavoring to reform the smaller societies of which the larger were composed, to reform the whole. With this view he led back the minds of those among whom he ministered, to the origin of families, and declared the merciful design of the Most High, in their institution—That he might seek a godly see.