Suppose not, that this is a scene pourtrayed for the mere purpose of a momentary excitement or present effect; it is a true description of what has too frequently occurred; and it falls indeed, as every representation must fall, infinitely short of the terrible reality. Readily can we imagine the sufferings and sorrow and distress of the people, who were drowning, with the ark before their eyes; and must we not conclude, that the impenitent sinner under the gospel, when he comes to die, will behold, with even deeper feelings of anguish, the ark of righteousness into which he has never sought to enter; when he finds or fears, that the overflowings of ungodliness are sinking his soul to ruin, can any description exaggerate, can any description equal, the wretchedness of his condition?
The very idea and contemplation of these things may well lead us, with all sincerity and fervour, to implore the grace of God, while it is so freely offered, and to “seek Him while He may be found;” and O that it may lead us gladly and unfeignedly to embrace the covenant of safety, which is graciously propounded to us in the gospel; and to “give all diligence” to fulfil every condition which that covenant contains. We shall not, if we value our eternal welfare, think it sufficient not to “deny the Lord that bought us,” not to despise the means which He has provided for our preservation and deliverance; we shall turn to Him with all our heart, grateful for the means of salvation, and anxious to employ them all. “Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?” [50a] “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth;” [50b] this is the language that befits a sinner, who has no hope but in God’s covenanted mercy.
“Our time is in the Lord’s hands;” we know not, if little or much remain: Arise, defer not a day. His spirit is now striving within us; to purify our affections, to change our corrupt nature, to form the christian principle and temper in our souls; let us then, without doubt or delay, humbly and thankfully concur with His holy operations, and strive with Him, while we may: not lingering and loitering about the ark with thoughtless indifference, as if our minds were not made up, whether it be worth while to enter; but, in the full and perfect and abiding persuasion, that it is the only refuge for man, let us secure, as far as it is possible, our rest and habitation there; and then we need not fear the overwhelming of the waters, come they ever so suddenly or ever so soon; we shall be raised above them all, unhurt and undismayed; we shall ride safely and triumphantly over the foaming billows; and settle at last upon the heavenly Ararat, the “mountain of the Lord of Hosts,” the everlasting abode of tranquillity and bliss.
But of this happy termination we shall have occasion to speak more at large, in another discourse; when we come to treat of the character of Noah, and the circumstances of his wonderful preservation. In the mean time, let us observe, that the deluge is a subject of most awful consideration; not merely in itself, as sweeping away into perdition almost all the human race, and changing the very form and structure of the globe; but also as being a resemblance and emblem of other visitations of an offended and avenging God:—in the first place, of the overthrow of Jerusalem, and the miserable and general destruction of its rebellious people. “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be;” [53a] so unlooked for, so amazing, so disastrous to His enemies.
This stupendous event may also be regarded as typical of another period, infinitely surpassing all the rest in terror and in awe;—the coming of Christ to judge the world, to execute His final vengeance upon those who would not be reclaimed by His mercy. The face of nature will then be destroyed by another process; by a direful and universal conflagration. “By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” [53b] “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, (a new state) wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” [54a] All that have ever lived shall be summoned again into existence; the righteous to be separated, and “caught up to meet the Lord in the air,” [54b] and to be conveyed into the regions of eternal blessedness; the wicked, to perish, to die, not a bodily but a spiritual death; to be consigned together to a place of banishment and wretchedness and horror and despair. The miserable unbelievers and the obstinate transgressors, in the days of Noah, shall then return to the earth from which they were swept away; not to enjoy again their revelry and licentiousness; not to be favoured with another day of grace; but to receive, with all their companions in evil, with all that have ever “followed their pernicious ways,” the full and eternal recompence of their deeds. This will indeed be a day of desolation, “of lamentation and mourning and woe,” of “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth;” of which awful day no words, no example, no past event, nor even imagination itself, can afford an adequate representation.
God Almighty grant, that we may never know its terrors; that we may profit from the warnings and experience, which are mercifully vouchsafed unto us; may embrace, with all our hearts, the covenant of salvation into which we have professedly entered; and, amidst the wreck and ruin of the world, may be delivered with an everlasting deliverance, for the sake, and through the merits, of that omnipotent Saviour, who was with Noah in the ark; who has guarded, and will continue to guard, the ark of His Church in all ages; whose mercy and truth are pledged for the final preservation of His faithful people: God Almighty grant this blessing unto us all, through the aid and operation of that “Holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption.” [55]
SERMON IV.
THE PRESERVATION FROM THE FLOOD.
Genesis vi. 8.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
In a former discourse, your attention was called to the execution of divine vengeance upon the sinful race of man, by the tremendous visitation of a universal deluge; I would now direct your contemplation to another point of view; to a fulfilment of the gracious promises of God made to a distinguished believer and a faithful servant; to his preservation from the general ruin; to the covenants of mercy established with him; to the blessings and deliverances thus proclaimed and typified to the Church of God in all ages.
Noah, be it first observed, was possessed of that principle, which is the sure and only foundation of true righteousness; and to which the Almighty has, in every age, manifested His especial favour—the principle of faith; of a settled, vital, influential belief in the sovereignty, the providence, and the word of God: he doubted not the truth either of a threatening or a promise, and withheld not the obedience, which his belief implied or required. Of this St. Paul assures us; “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith;” [57] he condemned the world, inasmuch as his example, his preaching, and his deliverance furnished matter of accusation against them; he pointed out and led the way to a place of safety; he escaped destruction, and the rest of the people might have escaped also; and thus he proved, that they justly perished in the unbelief and obstinacy of their hearts. Hence he became the heir of those promises and that happiness, to which the righteous believer, by God’s mercy, is entitled; he was blessed, not merely with that temporal preservation, which the ark afforded him in the flood; but also with that spiritual and heavenly salvation, of which the ark was an emblem and a sign.