I need not attempt to go further; certainly none of us will deny the unsearchableness of the riches of Christ. Certainly every one of us is ready to exclaim, O that I may be partaker of them; all this world, nay, a thousand worlds are nothing in comparison. These riches are now offered to you: they are waiting your acceptance; receive them with all your heart, and they are yours; you do not expect them to be forced upon you; you do not expect this happy portion without choosing it, without prayer and without striving for it; ask earnestly, seek diligently, and it shall be yours; your inexhaustible treasure, in time and to eternity.
SERMON III.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FLOOD.
Genesis vi. 6. 7.
It repented the Lord, that He had made man upon the earth and it grieved Him at His heart; and the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.
The expression in the former clause of the text has, to some persons, afforded matter of surprise; and certainly the language is remarkable; representing the Almighty as repenting of the work of creation, and grieved at the heart, not merely on account of the wickedness of man, but that he was ever made. Yet the language, when properly considered, is no more remarkable, than that of numberless other passages in Holy Writ; it is stronger perhaps; it may carry the customary mode of speech somewhat further; but that is all. We are perfectly aware, that the Godhead is incapable of being affected and changed by contrary passions, as we are; the purpose of Jehovah is fixed, upon the basis of infinite wisdom, from everlasting to everlasting; nothing can occur, of which He was previously ignorant; nothing to afford any grief or uneasiness; “known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world;” [39] and it is impossible for us to interpret the text, or any similar phrase, according to the sense in which we understated such words, when applied to creatures like ourselves.
It was absolutely necessary for the inspired writers, in describing the nature and dealings and dispensations of God, to have recourse to such terms, as we are in the habit of using towards one another. His constant observance of us is represented by saying, that the eye of God is upon all our ways; His gracious readiness to answer our prayers, is represented by saying, that His ear is ever open: but who ever supposes that eye or ear, or any bodily parts, are possessed by the Godhead? So neither are we to impute to God, who is a pure spirit, any bodily passions; though He is said to love and to hate, to be angry and to be pleased. Of course it only means, that the effect of any particular conduct or transaction of His creatures upon Him, is similar to what it would be upon us, when under the influence of our natural passions; that He rewardeth good, as we do, when we love or are pleased; and punisheth evil, as we do, when we hate or are angry. The text merely intimates the measure, which the Almighty was determined to adopt, in consequence of the great and universal wickedness of mankind; of their having so far fallen from the noble end of their creation.
Having tried many gracious methods of indulgence with them, and sought to reclaim them by every probable and possible means, and having found that His goodness and forbearance, instead of “leading them to repentance,” only hardened them in guilt, He now saw fit to change His overtures of mercy into the sentence of condemnation; and to send a deluge for the destruction of that people, who would not “turn and live:” and this is all that can be intended by God’s repentance and grief.
But it happened in those days, as it has too frequently happened with the sinful and rebellious ever since, that the people believed not the threatenings denounced against them; whether they doubted the power of God to inflict so extraordinary a punishment; or whether they built their hopes upon the vain expectation of His mercy; or whether the wickedness of their hearts and lives led them entirely to cast off the belief of God and His word, and to plunge unheeding into the gratifications and pollutions of vice; whatever were the operating motive, “they would not turn and seek after God.” Yet these infatuated people were not lost for want of further instruction and admonition. God mercifully thinks of His creatures, though they are forgetful of Him. He had raised unto them preachers of righteousness; and sent His Holy Spirit to work upon their consciences, to convert them from the delusions of evil, to teach them the knowledge of His ways, and persuade them to desist from their work of self-destruction. But there is a day, to nations as well as to individuals, beyond which the goodness and patience of God will no longer forbear: “My spirit,” says He, in the chapter before us, “shall not always strive with man.” It had been working in the human heart, ever since the fall; inspiring His servants to point out the way of salvation; and struggling with the wayward inclinations, the perverse opposition of His creatures; to mortify the power of sin, and lead them to recover the favour and happiness, which their first parents by transgression had lost. But it shall not always strive; and the approaching termination of their trial was thus graciously declared to this “disobedient and gainsaying people.” God spake thus by the mouth of Noah: “The days of man (the time which I will allow, to see if ‘haply he will repent and seek after Me,’) shall be a hundred and twenty years.” [43a] All this period was to elapse between the denunciation of the divine vengeance and its execution; and to this St. Peter alludes, when speaking of “the long-suffering of God, that waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing;” [43b] while Noah himself, the great “preacher of righteousness,” warned all around him of the certainty and the terror of this impending calamity. All entreaties, however, and warnings, and threatenings; all present mercies and past experiences, were vain. They despised the faith and rejected the preaching of the patriarch, and ridiculed his preparation of the ark; but they could not “make the word of God of none effect;” His judgment overtook them in the midst of their rebellious career; the flood came at the appointed time; desolation was spread over the face of the earth; and all its inhabitants, with the exception of one family, were indiscriminately involved in the wide-wasting ruin.
Let us pause for a moment, to apply the consideration of this part of the history to ourselves. To all who are wilfully walking in the ways of sin, the good and gracious God is continually addressing His warning and expostulating voice; by His holy word, abounding with the most awakening admonitions and awful examples; by His appointed ministers, superadding their feeble endeavours to inculcate the doctrines and set forth the terrors of that word “by line upon line and precept upon precept;” by various occurrences in life, by reverses and privations and afflictions and sickness and death; by the strivings of the Holy Spirit, and the alarms of conscience; by flashing at intervals, in vivid colours, the conviction of an hereafter upon the mind and heart; and compelling the sinner to see, whether he will heed it or not, the peril and the dreadfulness of his situation. Of all who hear me there cannot be one, but has experienced, more or less, these manifestations of mercy and of terror: Are there not some by whom they have been disregarded? We have all of us been instructed and reminded and admonished, in a great variety of ways; have we “profited withal?” Have we been awakened from the dreams of sensual pleasures, from the stupor and infatuation of sin? Can we now lift up our hearts in sincerity to God, and thank Him that we have been brought, by this or that warning, into nearer and holier communion with Him; to serve Him in righteousness and truth, and to seek, in right earnest, the salvation of our souls? If it be otherwise with us, if we have neglected the seasons of grace, or if we have returned, after a temporary humiliation and conviction to the vanity of our former habits and pursuits, let us, if we believe the word of God, lay seriously to heart the solemn declarations on this head, with which that word abounds—that there is a limit prescribed even for the divine compassion and forbearance; a period marked out, beyond which God will not manifest His favour, “though it be sought with tears;” beyond which, “His spirit will not strive with man;” and whenever that spirit shall be withdrawn, the conscience will become hardened, the understanding benighted, and the sinner “given over to a reprobate mind.” God allows, indeed He has already allowed, to every one of us, abundant space and opportunity for repentance, as He did of old to the ante-diluvian race; and if we, like them, are negligent of His merciful admonitions, we must expect, like them, to go on from one degree of wickedness to another, till the “measure of our iniquity be filled;” till we are hurried into everlasting perdition.
No doubt, when the threatenings of the Almighty began to be executed; when the mighty waters were descending from above, and rising in billows from the deep below; when these people saw the ark, whose building and preparation they had despised, floating in security upon the surface of the waters, gladly would they have been admitted: no longer did they question the power of God, or the truth of His word; or hold in contempt the preaching of His prophets; earnest then, no doubt, was their supplication for mercy; and they must have wished, in the bitterness of their hearts, that they had listened to the declarations and instructions of that holy minister of God, who was provided with a refuge; who was escaping unhurt amidst the rolling of the waves, which threatened them with immediate and inevitable destruction. But their conviction came too late; the days of reconciliation were ended; the door of the ark was shut; never to be opened again, till the flood had wrought its vengeance, and exterminated the sinners from the earth.
Has not the like, the parallel of this dreadful case, been frequently discovered by ourselves? Have we not seen, or at least heard of persons, who have held out impenitently all their lives long against every means of grace and reclaim, by which they have been visited, and then at last, when suddenly overtaken by a sickness unto death, have distressfully desired that comfort and refuge, which they have never appeared to find? Their attention has been called, their eye directed to the ark of salvation, the gospel of the blessed Jesus; but having taken no interest in it before, having discarded and rejected it, they have seemed to behold it only in dismay and despair. Man, it is true, is not an adequate judge in such a case; he could not possibly decide, whether they were saved or not; but there was fear all around; their friends were denied the consolation of persuading themselves, that the door of mercy was opened; the sinner cried in agony, but there was no visible sign, that the cry was heard; no respite to the afflicted conscience; and no repose upon the countenance, that betokened the blessedness of peace.