“‘1. Our duty to God.
“‘Come, let us return unto the Lord;’ and, ‘If we follow on to know the Lord.’ Here is the whole duty of man, as clearly described as any crystal could make it. Repent, believe, and obey, are clearly inculcated. What better words could an orator make use of, to excite the minds of men to noble deeds of daring than are here used by the prophet? ‘Come’—he invites—‘let us’—he will go with them—‘return.’ Ah! what a word—return! Traveler, have you ever wandered far from home, in a cold, unfeeling world, among strangers, among robbers, enemies, thieves, and hard-hearted worldlings? Have you been sick and weak, wounded and torn, spoiled and robbed, smitten and cheated, hated and reviled, and this, too, for days, months, or years? Have you at last ‘returned’ to your family, your friends, your native land? Do you remember those familiar objects, as you returned—the way, the mountain, the hill, the valley, and the plain; the grove, the turn, the house, and the brook? Do you remember the tree, the rock, the barberry-bush, the gate and the post, the door-way and latch? “Oh, yes,” say you; “I remember, too, my beating and palpitating heart, and the falling tear which I stopped to wipe away from my blanched cheek, while my hand was on the latch. I remember how I listened to hear the loved ones breathe, although it was then in the dark watches of the night.”
“Thus tells the wanderer the tale of his ‘return;’ and in like manner could all the wandering sons of Zion speak of their ‘return.’ You, then, who have experienced these things, can realize the value of the word ‘return.’ And from my soul I pity the wanderer that never has returned ‘unto the Lord;’ to Him that loved us, to Him who died for us; more, vastly more, than mortal friends could ever do—he died. And so, say you, can fathers die for children, and mothers for their sons; children can give their lives, though rare the gift, to save the life of parents; husbands, and wives, and friends have fallen, to save each other from death. All this is true. But here is love greater than these; ‘for while we were enemies Christ died for us.’ Yea, more: he left his Father’s presence, his glory, and that Heaven where angels dwell; where he, the brightest star in all the upper world, stood highest; where seraphim and cherubim in glory cast down their crowns, and worshiped at his feet. ‘He became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.’ Again: he bore our shame, and by his stripes we are healed. He was buffeted for our offenses, and despised by mortals, for whom he suffered in the flesh. He rose from death for our justification, and ascended on high, to intercede for sinners, and has sent down his Spirit to bring us wanderers home.
“‘For he hath torn.’ True, he suffers our sins to tear us, and those earthly powers, in whom we trust, to break our proud hearts, and, therefore, tears away our vain supports. He tears our affections from earthly things, that he may place them on a more enduring substance. He tears our hearts from idol gods, that he may place them on God supreme. He tears our soul from the body, that we may no longer live in the flesh to sin, but depart in the spirit, and be with Christ.
“‘And he will heal us.’ Yes, he will heal us from all our backslidings, and love us freely for his own name’s sake. He will heal us from sin, by showing us its deadly nature. He will heal us from worldly affections, by placing our affections in Heaven. He will heal our hearts of idolatry, by the taking possession of them himself. He will heal us from death, by the resurrection from the grave.
“‘He hath smitten.’ God has so ordered, in his providence, that his children cannot have intercourse and association with men of the world, and with the kingdoms of this earth, but that persecution, or loss of Christian character, is sure to follow. The prophet is showing the present state of the church, while the tares and wheat are growing together. The children of God shall be smitten—meaning they shall be chastised, persecuted, ruled over. See the Roman power, from the days of their connection with the Jews until the present time, ruling over, persecuting, and trampling under foot the church of God. Our text is not only showing us our duty to God, but it teaches us the sufferings of the church, the dealings of God with her, and her final redemption; the first and second coming of her Lord; her final deliverance from death and all enemies, and her glorified reign.
“‘And he will bind us up:’ which is a promise of God, that, although the church should be torn and smitten, yet he would heal them, and bind them up. In due time he would gather them into one fold; he would bind up all their wounds, and heal them of all their maladies. He would visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes; but his loving kindness he would not take from them.
“An extract from his lecture on the parable of the ‘ten virgins,’ will close these specimens. He thus gives his understanding of what is denoted by their ‘trimming’ their lamps:—
“‘The world, for a number of years, have been trimming their lamps, and the wise and foolish have been engaged in translating the word of God into almost every language known to us upon the earth. Mr. Judson tells us that it has been translated into one hundred and fifty languages within thirty years; that is three times the number of all the translations known to us before. Then fourfold light has been shed among the nations, within the short period of the time above specified; and we are informed that a part, if not all, of the word of God is now given to all nations in their own language. This, surely, is setting the word of life in a conspicuous situation, that it may give light to all in the world. This has not been done by the exertions of Christians or professors only, but by the aid of all classes and societies of men. Kings have opened their coffers and favored those engaged in the work; nobles have used their influence, and have cast into the treasury of the Lord of their abundance; rich men have bestowed of their riches; and, in many cases, the miser has forgotten his parsimony, the poor have replenished the funds of the Lord’s house, and the widow has cast in her mite. How easy to work the work of the Lord when the hearts of men are made willing by his power!