Deuteronomy 5:28-29

The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me: “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

In our preceding discourses on this text, we first entered distinctly and fully into its true import, and then applied it, in an accommodated sense, to the Liturgy of our Established Church. The utility of a Liturgy being doubted by many, we endeavored to vindicate the use of it, as lawful in itself, expedient for us, and acceptable to God. But it is not a mere vindication only which such a composition merits at our hands; the labor bestowed upon it has been exceeding great; our first Reformers omitted nothing that could conduce to the improvement of it; they consulted the most pious and learned of foreign divines, and submitted it to them for their correction; and, since their time, there have been frequent revisions of it, in order that every expression which could be made a subject of cavil, might be amended; by which means, it has been brought to such a state of perfection, as no human composition of equal size and variety can pretend to.

To display its excellence, is the task, which, agreeably to the plan before proposed, is now assigned us; and we enter upon it with pleasure; in the hope, that those who have never yet studied the Liturgy, will learn to appreciate its value; and that all of us may be led to a more thankful and profitable use of it in future.

To judge of the Liturgy aright, we should contemplate:

Its spirituality and purity.

Its fullness and suitableness.

Its moderation and candor.

I. Its spirituality and purity

It is well known that the services of the Church of Rome, from whose communion we separated, were full of superstition and error; they taught the people to rest in carnal ordinances, without either stimulating them to real piety, or establishing them on the foundation which God has laid. They contained, it is true, much that was good; but they were at the same time so filled with ceremonies of man’s invention, and with doctrines repugnant to the Gospel, that they tended only to deceive and ruin all who adhered to them!

In direct opposition to those services, we affirm, that the whole scope and tendency of our Liturgy is to raise our minds to a holy and heavenly state, and to build us up upon the Lord Jesus Christ as the only foundation of a sinner’s hope.

Let us look at the stated services of our Church; let us call to mind all that we have heard or uttered, from the Introductory Sentences which were to prepare our minds, to the Dismissal Prayer which closes the whole; there is nothing for show, but all for edification and spiritual improvement.

Is humility the foundation of true piety? What deep humiliation is expressed in the General Confession, and throughout the Litany; as also in supplicating forgiveness, after every one of the Commandments, for our innumerable violations of them all!

Is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the way appointed for our reconciliation with God? we ask for every blessing solely in his name and for his sake; and with the holy vehemence of importunity, we urge with him the consideration of all that he has done and suffered for us, as our plea for mercy; and, at the Lord’s supper, we mark so fully our affiance in his atoning blood, that it is impossible for anyone to use those prayers aright, without seeing and feeling that “there is no other name under Heaven but his, whereby we can be saved.”

The same we may observe respecting the Occasional Services of our Church. From our very birth even to the grave, our Church omits nothing that can tend to the edification of its members. At our first introduction into the Church, with what solemnity are we dedicated to God in our Baptismal Service! What pledges does our Church require of our Sponsors, that we shall be brought up in the true faith and fear of God; and how earnestly does she lead us to pray for a progressive, total, and permanent renovation of our souls! No sooner are we capable of receiving instruction, than she provides for us, and expressly requires that we be well instructed in a Catechism, so short that it burdens the memory of none, and so comprehensive that it contains all that is necessary for our information at that early period of our life.

When once we are taught, by that, to know the nature and extent of our baptismal vows, the Church calls upon us to renew in our own person the vows that were formerly made for us in our name; and, in a service specially prepared for that purpose, leads us to consecrate ourselves to God; thus endeavoring to confirm us in our holy resolutions, and to establish us in the faith of Christ.

Not content with having thus initiated, instructed, and confirmed her members in the religion of Christ, the Church embraces every occasion of instilling into our minds the knowledge and love of his ways. If we change our condition in life, we are required to come to the altar of our God, and there devote ourselves afresh to him, and implore his blessing, from which alone all true happiness proceeds.

Are mercies and deliverances given to any, especially that great mercy of preservation from the pangs and perils of childbirth? the Church appoints a public acknowledgment to be made to Almighty God in the presence of the whole congregation, and provides a suitable service for that end. In like manner, for every public mercy, or in time of any public calamity, particular prayers and thanksgivings are provided for our use. In a time of sickness there is also very particular provision made for our instruction and consolation; and even after death, when she can no more benefit the deceased, the Church labors to promote the benefit of her surviving members, by a service the most solemn and impressive that ever was formed. Thus attentive is she to supply in every thing, as far as human endeavors can avail, our spiritual wants; being decent in her forms, but not superstitious; and strong in her expressions, but not erroneous. In short, it is not possible to read the Liturgy with candor, and not to see that the welfare of our souls is the one object of the whole; and that the compilers of it had nothing in view, but that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in God, we should glorify his holy name.

II. The excellencies of our Liturgy will yet further appear, while we notice, next, its fullness and suitableness.

Astonishing is the wisdom with which the Liturgy is adapted to the edification of every member of the Church. There is no case that is overlooked, no sin that is not deplored, no want that is not specified, no blessing that is not asked; yet, while every particular is entered into so far that every individual person may find his own case adverted to, and his own wishes expressed, the whole is so carefully worded, that no person is led to express more than he ought to feel, or to deliver opinions in which he may not join with his whole heart. Indeed there is a minuteness in the petitions that is rarely found even in men’s private devotions; and those very particularities are founded in the deepest knowledge of the human heart, and the completest view of men’s spiritual necessities; for instance, We pray to God to deliver us, not only in all time of our tribulation, but in all time of our wealth also; because we are quite as much in danger of being drawn from God by prosperity, as by adversity; and need his aid as much in the one as in the other.

In the intercessory part of our devotions also, our sympathy is called forth in behalf of all orders and degrees of men, under every name and every character that can be conceived. We pray to him, to strengthen such as do stand, to comfort and help the weak-hearted, and to raise up them that fall, and finally, to beat down Satan under our feet. We entreat him also to support, help, and comfort all that are in danger, necessity, and tribulation. We further supplicate him in behalf of all that travel, whether by land or by water, all women laboring of child, all sick people, and young children, and particularly entreat him to have pity upon all prisoners and captives. Still further, we plead with him to defend and provide for the fatherless children, and widows, and all that are desolate and oppressed; and, lest any should have been omitted, we beg him “to have mercy upon all men,” generally, and more particularly, “to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts.” In what other prayers, whether extemporaneous or written, shall we ever find such diffusive benevolence as this?

In a word, there is no possible situation in which we can be placed, but the prayers are precisely suited to us; nor can we be in any frame of mind, wherein they will not express our feelings as strongly and forcibly, as any person could express them even in his secret chamber. Take a broken-hearted penitent; where can he ever find words, wherein to supplicate the mercy of his God, more congenial with his feelings than in the Litany, where he renews his application to each Person of the Sacred Trinity for mercy, under the character of a miserable sinner? Hear him when kneeling before the altar of his God, “Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against your Divine Majesty, provoking most justly your wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father! For your Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, forgive us all that is past, and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please you in newness of life, to the honor and glory of your Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” I may venture to say that no finite wisdom could suggest words more suited to the feelings or necessities of a penitent, than these.

Take, next, a person full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; and if he were the devoutest of all the human race, he could never find words, wherein to give scope to all the exercises of his mind, more suitable than in the Te Deum, “We praise you, O God; we acknowledge you to be the Lord. All the earth does worship you, the Father everlasting. To you all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens, and all the Powers therein; To you Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of your Glory.” Hear him also at the table of the Lord, “It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto you, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God; Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of Heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious Name; evermore praising you, and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Heaven and earth are full of your glory; Glory be to you, O Lord most High.”

Even where there are no particular exercises of the mind, the Liturgy is calculated to produce the greatest possible good; for the gravity and sobriety of the whole service are fitted to impress the most careless sinner; while the various portions of Scripture that are read out of the Old and New Testament, not only for the Lessons of the day, but from the Psalms also, and from the Epistles and Gospels, are well adapted to arrest the attention of the thoughtless, and to convey instruction to the most ignorant. Indeed I consider it as one of the highest excellencies of our Liturgy, that it is calculated to make us wise, intelligent, and sober Christians; it marks a golden mean; it affects and inspires a meek, humble, modest, sober piety, equally remote from the unmeaning coldness of a formalist, the self-importance of a systematic dogmatist, and the unhallowed fervor of a wild enthusiast. A tender seriousness, a meek devotion, and a humble joy, are the qualities which it was intended, and is calculated, to produce in all her members.

III. It remains that we yet further trace the excellence of our Liturgy, in its moderation and candor.

The whole Christian world has from time to time been agitated with controversies of different kinds; and human passions have grievously debased the characters and actions even of good men in every age. But it should seem that the compilers of our Liturgy were inspired with a wisdom and moderation peculiar to themselves. They kept back no truth whatever, through fear of giving offence; yet were careful so to state every truth, as to leave those inexcusable who should recede from the Church on account of any opinions which she maintained. In this, they imitated the inspired penmen; who do not dwell on doctrines after the manner of human systems, but introduce them incidentally, as it were, as occasion suggests, and bring them forward always in connection with practical duties. The various perfections of God are all stated in different parts; but all in such a way, as, without affording any occasion for dispute, tends effectually to encourage us in our addresses to him. The Godhead of Christ is constantly asserted, and different prayers are expressly addressed to him; but nothing is said in a way of contentious disputation. The influences of the Holy Spirit, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed, are stated; and “the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is sought, in order that we may perfectly love God, and worthily magnify his holy Name;” but all is conveyed in a way of humble devotion, without reflections upon others, or even a word that can lead the thoughts to controversy of any kind. Even the deepest doctrines of our holy religion are occasionally brought forth in a practical view (in which view alone they ought to be regarded;) that, while we contemplate them as truths, we may experience their sanctifying efficacy on our hearts. The truth, the whole truth, is brought forward, without fear; but it is brought forward also without offence; all is temperate; all is candid; all is practical; all is peaceful; and every word is spoken in love. This is an excellency that deserves particular notice, because it is so contrary to what is found in the worship of those whose addresses to the Most High God depend on the immediate views and feelings of an individual person, which may be, and frequently are, tinctured in a lamentable degree by party views and unhallowed passions. And we shall do well to bear in mind this excellency, in order that we may imitate it; and that we may show to all, that the moderation which so eminently characterizes the Offices of our Church. is no less visible in all her members.

Sorry should I be, when speaking on this amiable virtue, to transgress it even in the smallest degree; but I appeal to all who hear me, whether there be not a lack of this virtue in the temper of the present times; and whether if our Reformers themselves were to rise again and live among us, their pious opinions and holy lives would not be, with many, an occasion of offence? I need not repeat the terms which are used to stigmatize those who labor to walk in their paths; nor will I speak of the jealousies which are entertained against those, who live only to inculcate what our Reformers taught. You need not be told that even the moderate opinions of our Reformers are at this day condemned by many as dangerous errors; and the very exertions, whereby alone the knowledge of them can be communicated unto men, are imputed to vanity, and loaded with blame. But, though I thus speak, I must acknowledge, to the glory of God, that in no place have moderation and candor shone more conspicuous, than in this distinguished seat of literature and science; and I pray God, that the exercise of these virtues may be richly recompensed from the Lord into every bosom, and be followed with all the other graces that accompany salvation.

From this view of our subject it will be naturally asked, Do I then consider the Liturgy as altogether perfect? I answer, No; it is a human composition; and there is nothing human that can claim so high a title as that of absolute perfection. There are certainly some few expressions which might be altered for the better, and which in all probability would have been altered at the Conference which was appointed for the last revision of it, if the unreasonable scrupulosity of some, and the unbending pertinacity of others, had not defeated the object of that assembly. I have before mentioned two, which, though capable of being vindicated, might admit of some improvement. And, as I have been speaking strongly of the moderation and candor of the Liturgy, I will here bring forward the only exception to it that I am aware of; and that is found in the Athanasian Creed. The damnatory clauses contained in that Creed, do certainly breathe a very different spirit from that which pervades every other part of our Liturgy. As to the doctrine of the Creed, it is perfectly sound, and such as ought to be universally received. But it is matter of regret that any should be led to pronounce a sentence of damnation against their fellow-creatures, in any case where God himself has not clearly and certainly pronounced it. Yet while I say this, permit me to add, that I think this Creed does not express, nor ever was intended to express, so much as is generally supposed. The part principally objected to, is that whole statement, which is contained between the first assertion of the doctrine of the Trinity, and the other articles of our faith; and the objection is, that the damnatory clauses which would be justifiable, if confined to the general assertion respecting the doctrine of the Trinity, become unjustifiable, when extended to the whole of that which is annexed to it. But, if we suppose that this intermediate part was intended as an explanation of the doctrine in question, we still, I think, ought not to be understood as affirming respecting that explanation all that we affirm respecting the doctrine itself. If anyone will read the Athanasian Creed with attention, he will find three damnatory clauses; one at the beginning, which is confined to the general doctrine of the Trinity; another at the close of what, for argument sake, we call the explanation of that doctrine; and another at the end, relating to the other articles of the Creed, such as the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, and his coming at the last day to judge the world. Now, whoever will compare the three clauses, will find a marked difference between them; those which relate to the general doctrine of the Trinity, and to the other articles of the Creed, are strong; asserting positively that the points must be believed, and that too on pain of everlasting damnation; but that which is annexed to the explanation of the doctrine, asserts only, that a man who is in earnest about his salvation ought to think thus of the Trinity. The words in the original are, Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Trinitate sentiat; and this shows in what sense we are to understand the more ambiguous language of our translation, “He therefore that will be saved, (I. e. is willing or desirous to be saved,) must thus think (let him thus think) of the Trinity.” Thus it appears that the things contained in the beginning and end of the Creed are spoken of as matters of faith; but this, which is inserted in the midst, as a matter of opinion only; in reference to the first and last parts the certainty of damnation is asserted; but in reference to the intermediate part, nothing is asserted, except that such are the views which we ought to entertain of the point in question. Now I would ask, was this difference the effect of chance? or rather, was it not actually intended, in order to guard against the very objection that is here adduced?

This, then, is the answer which we give, on the supposition that the part which appears so objectionable, is to be considered as an explanation of the doctrine in question. But what, if it was never intended as an explanation? What, if it contains only a proof of that doctrine, and an appeal to our reason, that that doctrine is true? Yet, if we examine the Creed, we shall find this to he the real fact. Let us in few words point out the steps of the argument.

The Creed says, “The Catholic faith is this, That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the people, nor dividing the substance;” and then it proceeds, “For there is one person of the Father,” and so on; and then, after proving the distinct personality of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and their unity in the Godhead, it adds, “SO that in all things as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshiped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.” Here are all the distinct parts of an argument. The position affirmed. the proofs adduced. the deduction made. and the conclusion drawn in reference to the importance of receiving and acknowledging that doctrine.

From hence, then, I infer, that the damnatory clauses should be understood only in reference to the doctrine affirmed, and not be extended to the parts which are adduced only in confirmation of it; and, if we believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is a fundamental article of the Christian faith, we may without any breach of charity apply to that doctrine what our Lord spoke of the Gospel at large, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who believes not shall be damned.”

Thus, in either view, the use of the Creed may be vindicated; for, if we consider the liable part as an explanation, the terms requiring it to be received are intentionally softened; and if we consider it as a proof, it is to the doctrines proved, and not to the proof annexed, that the damnatory clauses are fairly applicable.

Still, after all, I confess, that if the same candor and moderation that are observable in all other parts of the Liturgy had been preserved here, it would have been better. For though I do truly believe, that those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity are in a fatal error, and will find themselves so at the day of judgment, I would rather deplore the curse that awaits them, than denounce it; and rather weep over them in my secret chamber, than utter anathemas against them in the house of God.

I hope I have now met the question of our Liturgy fairly. I have not confined myself to general assertions, but have set forth the difficulties which are supposed to exist against it, and have given such a solution of them as I think is sufficient to satisfy any conscientious mind; though it is still matter of regret that any labored explanation of them should be necessary.

Now then, acknowledging that our Liturgy is not absolutely perfect, and that those who most admire it would be glad if these few blemishes were removed; have we not still abundant reason to be thankful for it? Let its excellencies be fairly weighed, and its blemishes will sink into nothing; let its excellencies be duly appreciated, and every person in the kingdom will acknowledge himself deeply indebted to those, who with so much care and piety compiled it.

But these blemishes alone are seen by multitudes; and its excellencies are altogether forgotten; yes, moreover, frequent occasion is taken from these blemishes to persuade men to renounce their communion with the Established Church, in the hopes of finding a purer worship elsewhere. With what justice such arguments are urged, will best appear by a comparison between the prayers that are offered elsewhere, and those that are offered in the Established Church. There are about eleven thousand places of worship in the Established Church, and about as many out of it. Now take the prayers that are offered on any Sabbath in all places out of the Establishment; have them all written down, and every expression sifted and scrutinized as our Liturgy has been; then compare them with the prayers that have been offered in all the churches of the kingdom; and see what comparison the extemporaneous effusions will bear with our pre-composed forms. Having done this for one Sabbath, proceed to do it for a year; and then, after a similar examination, compare them again; were this done, (and done it ought to be in order to form a correct judgment on the case,) methinks there is scarcely a man in the kingdom that would not fall down on his knees, and bless God for the Liturgy of the Established Church.

All that is wanting is, a heart suited to the Liturgy, and cast as it were into that mold. It may with truth be said of us, “They have well said all that they have spoken; O that there were in them such a heart!” Let us only suppose that on any particular occasion there were in all of us such a state of mind as the Liturgy is suited to express; what glorious worship would ours be! and how certainly would God delight to hear and bless us! We will not say that he would come down and fill the house with his visible glory, as he did in the days of Moses and of Solomon; but we will say, that he would come down and fill our souls with such a sense of his presence and love, as would transform us into his blessed image, and constitute a very Heaven upon earth. Let each of us, then, adopt the wish in our text, and say, “O that there may be in me such a heart!” Let us cultivate the moderation and candor which are there exhibited; divesting ourselves of all prejudice against religion, and receiving with impartial readiness the whole counsel of our God. More particularly, whenever we come up to the house of God, let us seek those very dispositions in the use of the Liturgy, which our Reformers exercised in the framing of it. Let us bring with us into the presence of our God that spirituality of mind that shall fit us for communion with him, and that purity of heart which is the commencement of the divine image on the soul. Let us study, whenever we join in the different parts of this Liturgy, to get our hearts suitably impressed with the work in which we are engaged; that our confessions may be humble, our petitions fervent, our thanksgivings devout, and our whole souls obedient to the word we hear. In a word, let us not be satisfied with any attainments, but labor to be holy as God himself is holy, and perfect even as our Father who is in Heaven is perfect.

If now a doubt remains on the mind of any individual respecting the transcendent excellence of the Liturgy, let him only take the Litany, and go through every petition of it attentively, and at the close of every petition ask himself, What sort of a person should I be, if this petition were so answered to me, that I lived henceforth according to it? and what kind of a world would this be, if all the people that were in it experienced the same answer, and walked according to the same model? If, for instance, we were all from this hour delivered “from all blindness of heart; from pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness;” if we were delivered also “from all other deadly sin, and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil;” what happiness should we not possess? How happy would the Church be, if it should “please God to illuminate all bishops, priests, and deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of his Word, so that both by their preaching and living they set it forth and show it accordingly!” How blessed also would the whole nation be, if it pleased God to “endue the lords of the council, and all the nobility, with grace, wisdom and understanding; and to bless and keep the magistrates, giving them grace to execute justice and to maintain truth; and further to bless all his people throughout the land!” Yes, what a world would this be, if from this moment God should “give to all nations, unity, peace, and concord!” Were these prayers once answered, we should hear no more complaints of our Liturgy, nor ever wish for anything in public, better than that which is provided for us. May God hasten forward that happy day, when all the assemblies of his people throughout the land shall enter fully into the spirit of these prayers, and be answered in the desire of their hearts; receiving from him an “increase of grace, to hear meekly his Word, to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit!” And to us in particular may he give, even to every individual among us, “true repentance; and forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and endue us with the grace of his Holy Spirit, that we may amend our lives according to his holy word.” Amen and Amen.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 5:28-29

The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me: “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

Wherever the Word of God admits of a literal interpretation, its primary sense ought to be clearly stated, before any spiritual or mystical application is made of it. But when its literal meaning is ascertained, we must proceed to investigate its hidden import, which is frequently the more important. This has been done in relation to the passage before us; which primarily expresses an approbation of the request made by the Jews, that God would speak to them by the mediation of Moses, and not any longer by the terrific thunders of Mount Sinai; but covertly it conveyed an intimation, that we should all seek deliverance from the curse of the Law through the mediation of that great Prophet, whom God raised up like unto Moses, even his Son Jesus Christ!

The further use which we propose to make of this passage, is only in a way of accommodation; which however is abundantly sanctioned by the example of the Apostles; who frequently adopt the language of the Old Testament to convey their own ideas, even when it has no necessary connection with their subject.

Of course, the Liturgy of our Church was never in the contemplation of the sacred historian; yet, as in that we constantly address ourselves to God, and as it is a composition of unrivaled excellence, and needs only the exercise of our devout affections to render it a most acceptable service before God, we may well apply to it the commendation in our text, “Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

As in the course of the month two other occasions of prosecuting our subject will occur, we shall arrange our observations on the Liturgy, so as to vindicate its use, display its excellence, and commend to your attention one particular part, which we conceive to be eminently deserving notice in this place.

In the present discourse we shall confine ourselves to the vindication of the Anglican Liturgy:

first, Generally, as a service proper to be used;

then, Particularly, in reference to some objections which are urged against it.

Perhaps there never was any human composition more caviled at, or less deserving such treatment, than our Liturgy. Nothing has been deemed too harsh to say of it. In order therefore to a general vindication of it, we propose to show that the use of it is:

lawful in itself,

expedient for us,

and acceptable to God.

It is lawful in itself.

The use of a form of prayer cannot be in itself wrong; for, if it had been, God would not have prescribed the use of forms to the Jewish nation. But God did prescribe them on several occasions.

The words which the priest was to utter in blessing the people of Israel, are thus specified, “Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, in this way you shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace, Numbers 6:23-26.”

In like manner, when a man that had been slain was found, inquisition was to be made for his blood; and the elders of the city that was nearest to the body, were to make a solemn affirmation before God, that they knew not who the murderer was, and at the same time in a set form of prayer to deprecate the divine displeasure, Deuteronomy 21:7-8.

At the offering of the first-fruits, both at the beginning and end of the service, there were forms of very considerable length, which every offerer was to utter before the Lord, Deuteronomy 26:3; Deuteronomy 26:5-10; Deuteronomy 26:13-15.

When David brought up the ark from the house of Obed-edom to the tent which he had pitched for it in Jerusalem, he composed a form of prayer and thanksgiving for the occasion, selected out of four different Psalms. Compare 1 Chronicles 16:7-36 with Psalm 105:1-15; Psalm 96:1-13; Psalm 136:1; Psalm 106:47-48. And he put it into the hand of Asaph and his brethren for the use of the whole congregation. In all following ages, the Psalms were used as forms of devotion; Hezekiah appointed them for that purpose when he restored the worship of God, which had been suspended and superseded in the days of Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 29:30; as did Ezra also at the laying of the foundation of the second temple, Ezra 3:10-11. Nay, the hymn which our blessed Lord sang with his disciples immediately after he had instituted his supper as the memorial of his death, Matthew 26:30, was either taken from the Psalms, from 113th to 118th inclusive, or else was a particular form composed for that occasion. All this sufficiently shows that forms of devotion are not evil in themselves.

But some think, that though they were not evil under the Jewish dispensation, which consisted altogether of rites and carnal ordinances, they are evil under the more spiritual dispensation of the Gospel. This however cannot be; because our blessed Lord taught his disciples a form of prayer, and not only told them to pray after that manner, as one Evangelist mentions, but to use the very words, as another Evangelist declares. Indeed the word ï ôùò, by which Matthew expresses it, is not of necessity to be confined to manner, Matthew 6:9; it might be taken as referring to the very words. But, granting that he speaks of the manner only, and prescribes it as a model; yet Luke certainly requires us to use it as a form, “Jesus said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father in Heaven, Luke 11:2.”

Accordingly we find, from the testimonies of some of the earliest and most eminent Fathers of the Church Tertullian, Cyprian, Cyril, Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, Gregory—that it was constantly regarded and used in the Church as a form from the very times of the Apostles. As for the objection, that we do not read in the New Testament that it was so used, it is of no weight at all; for we are not told that the Apostles ever baptized people in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; but can we therefore doubt whether they did use this form of baptism? Assuredly not; and therefore the circumstance of such a use of the Lord’s Prayer not being recorded, especially in so short a history as that of the Apostles, is no argument at all that it was not so used.

Nor was this the only form used in the apostolic age. Lucian, speaking of the first Christians, says, “They spend whole nights in singing of Psalms;” and Pliny, in his famous Letter to Trajan, which was written not much above ten years after the death of John the Evangelist, says of them, “It is their manner to sing by turns a hymn to Christ as God.” This latter, it should seem, was not a Psalm of David, but a hymn composed for the purpose; and it proves indisputably, that even in the apostolic age, forms of devotion were in use.

If we come down to the times subsequent to the Apostles, we shall find Liturgies composed for the service of the different Churches. The Liturgies of Peter, Mark, and James, though they were corrupted in later ages, are certainly of high antiquity; that of James was of great authority in the Church, in the days of Cyril, who, in his younger years, at the end of the third or beginning of the fourth century, wrote a Commentary upon it. And it were easy to trace the use of them from that time even to the present day.

Shall it be said, then, that the use of a pre-composed form of prayer is not lawful? Would God have given so many forms under the Jewish dispensation, and would our blessed Lord have given a form for the use of his Church and people, if it had not been lawful to use a form? But it is worthy of observation, that those who most loudly decry the use of forms, do themselves use forms, whenever they unite in public worship. What are hymns, but forms of prayer and praise? Ad if it is lawful to worship God in forms of verse, is it not equally so in forms of prose? We may say therefore, our adversaries themselves being judges, that the use of a form of prayer is lawful.

As for those passages of Scripture which are supposed to hold forth an expectation that under the Gospel we should have ability to pray without a form; for instance, that “God would give us a spirit of grace and of supplication,” and that “the Spirit should help our infirmities, and teach us what to pray for as we ought;” they do not warrant us to expect, that we shall be enabled to speak by inspiration, as the Apostles did, but that our hearts should be disposed for prayer, and be enabled to enjoy near and intimate communion with God in that holy exercise; but they may be fulfilled to us as much in the use of a pre-composed form, as in any extemporaneous effusions of our own; and it is certain, that people may be very fluent in the expressions of prayer without the smallest spiritual influence upon their minds; and that they may, on the other hand, be very fervent in prayer, though the expressions be already provided to their hand; and consequently, the promised assistance of the Spirit is perfectly consistent with the use of prayers that have been pre-composed.

But the lawfulness of forms of prayer is in this day pretty generally conceded. Many however still question their expediency. We proceed therefore to show next, that the use of the Liturgy is expedient for us.

Here let it not be supposed that I am about to condemn those who differ from us in judgment or in practice. If any think themselves more edified by extempore prayer, we rejoice that their souls are benefitted, though it be not precisely in our way; but still we cannot be insensible to the advantages which we enjoy; and much less can we concede to any, that the use of a prescribed form of prayer is the smallest disadvantage.

We say, then, that the Liturgy was of great use at the time it was made. At the commencement of the Reformation, the most lamentable ignorance prevailed throughout the land; and even those who from their office ought to have been well instructed in the Holy Scriptures, themselves needed to be taught what were the first principles of the oracles of God. If then the pious and venerable Reformers of our Church had not provided a suitable form of prayer, the people would still in many thousands of parishes have remained in utter darkness; but by the diffusion of this sacred light throughout the land, every part of the kingdom became in a good measure irradiated with scriptural knowledge, and with saving truth. The few who were enlightened, might indeed have scattered some partial rays around them; but their light would have been only as a meteor, that passes away and leaves no permanent effect. Moreover, if their zeal and knowledge and piety had been allowed to die with them, we would have in vain sought for compositions of equal excellence from any set of governors, from that day to the present hour; but by conveying to posterity the impress of their own piety in stated forms of prayer, they have in them transmitted a measure of their own spirit, which, like Elijah’s mantle, has descended on multitudes who have succeeded them in their high office.

It is not possible to form a correct estimate of the benefit which we at this day derive from having such a standard of piety in our hands; but we do not speak too strongly if we say, that the most enlightened among us, of whatever denomination they may be, owe much to the existence of our Liturgy; which has been, as it were, the pillar and ground of the truth in this kingdom, and has served as fuel to perpetuate the flame, which the Lord himself, at the time of the Reformation, kindled upon our altars.

But we must go further, and say, that the use of the Liturgy is equally expedient still. Of course, we must not be understood as speaking of private prayer in the closet; where, though a young and inexperienced person may get help from written forms, it is desirable that every one should learn to express his own needs in his own language; because no written prayer can enter so minutely into his wants and feelings as he himself may do; but, in public, we maintain that the use of such a form as ours is still as expedient as ever.

To lead the devotions of a congregation in extempore prayer is a work for which but few are qualified. An extensive knowledge of the Scriptures must be combined with fervent piety, in order to fit a person for such an undertaking; and I greatly mistake, if there be found a humble person in the world, who, after engaging often in that arduous work, does not wish at times that he had a suitable form prepared for him.

That the constant repetition of the same form does not so forcibly arrest the attention as new opinions and expressions would do, must be confessed; but, on the other hand, the use of a well-composed form secures us against the dry, dull, tedious repetitions which are but too frequently the fruits of extemporaneous devotions. Only let any person be in a devout frame, and he will be far more likely to have his soul elevated to Heaven by the Liturgy of the Established Church, than he will by the generality of prayers which he would hear in other places of worship; and, if anyone complains that he cannot enter into the spirit of them, let him only examine his frame of mind when engaged in extemporaneous prayers, whether in public, or in his own family; and he will find, that his formality is not confined to the service of the Church, but is the sad fruit and consequence of his own weakness and corruption.

Here it may not be amiss to rectify the notions which are frequently entertained of spiritual edification. Many, if their imaginations are pleased, and their spirits elevated, are ready to think, that they have been greatly edified; and this error is at the root of that preference which they give to extempore prayer, and the indifference which they manifest towards the prayers of the Established Church.

But real edification consists in humility of mind, and in being led to a more holy and consistent walk with God; and one atom of such a spirit is more valuable than all the animal fervor that ever was excited. It is with solid truths, and not with fluent words, that we are to be impressed; and if we can desire from our hearts the things which we pray for in our public forms, we need never regret, that our imagination was not gratified, or our animal spirits raised, by the delusive charms of novelty.

In what we have spoken on this subject, it must be remembered that we have spoken only in a way of vindication; the true, the exalted, and the proper ground for a member and minister of the Established Church, we have left for the present untouched, lest we should encroach upon that which we hope to occupy on a future occasion. But it remains for us yet further to remark, that the use of our Liturgy is acceptable to God.

The words of our text are sufficient to show us that God does not look at fine words and fluent expressions, but at the heart. The Israelites had “well said all that they had spoken;” but while God acknowledged that, he added, “O that there were such a heart in them!” If there are humility and contrition in our supplications, it will make no difference with God, whether they be extemporaneous or pre-composed. Can anyone doubt whether, it we were to address our heavenly Father in the words which Christ himself has taught us, we should be accepted by him, provided we uttered the different petitions from our hearts? As little doubt then is there that in the use of the Liturgy also we shall be accepted, if only we draw near to God with our hearts as well as with our lips. The prayer of faith, whether with or without a form, shall never go forth in vain. And there are thousands at this day who can attest from their own experience, that they have often found God as present with them in the use of the public services of our Church, as ever they have in their secret chambers.

Thus we have endeavored to vindicate the use of our Liturgy generally.

We now come to vindicate it in reference to some particular objections that have been urged against it.

The objections may be comprised under two heads:

1. That there are exceptionable expressions in the Liturgy.

To notice all the expressions which captious men have caviled at, would be a waste of time. But there are one or two, which, with tender minds, have considerable weight, and have not only prevented many worthy men from entering into the Church, but do at this hour press upon the consciences of many, who in all other things approve and admire the public formularies of our Church. A great portion of this present assembly are educating with a view to the ministry in the Established Church; and, if I may be able in any little measure to satisfy their minds, or to remove a stumbling-block out of their way, I shall think that I have made a good use of the opportunity which is thus afforded me.

A more essential service I can scarcely render unto any of my younger brethren, or indeed to the Establishment itself, than by meeting fairly the difficulties which occur to their minds, and which are too often successfully urged by the enemies of our Church, to the embarrassing of conscientious minds, and to the drawing away of many, who might have labored comfortably and successfully in this part of our Lord’s vineyard.

There is one circumstance in the formation of our Liturgy, which is not sufficiently adverted to. The people who composed it were men of a truly apostolic spirit; unfettered by party prejudices, they endeavored to speak in all things precisely as the Scriptures speak; they did not indulge in speculations and metaphysical reasonings; nor did they presume to be wise above what is written; they labored to speak the truth, the whole truth, in love; and they cultivated in the highest degree that candor, that simplicity, and that charity, which so eminently characterize all the apostolic writings.

Permit me to call your attention particularly to this point, because it will satisfactorily account for those expressions which seem most objectionable; and will show precisely in what view we may most conscientiously repeat the language they have used.

In our Burial Service, we thank God for delivering our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world, and express a sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, together with a hope also that our departed brother rests in Christ. Of course, it often happens, that we are called to use these expressions over people who, there is reason to fear, have died in their sins; and then the question is: How can we with propriety use them? I answer, that, even according to the letter of the words, the use of them may be justified; because we speak not of his, but of the, resurrection to eternal life; and because, where we do not absolutely know that God has not pardoned a person, we may entertain some measure of hope that he has.

But, taking the expressions more according to the spirit of them, they precisely accord with what we continually read in the epistles of Paul. In the First Epistle to the Corinthian Church, he says of them, “I thank my God always on your behalf, that in everything you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet, does he instantly begin to condemn the same people, for their divisions and contentions; and afterwards tells them, “that they were carnal, and walked, not as saints, but as men,” that is, as unconverted and ungodly men, 1 Corinthians 1:4-7; 1 Corinthians 3:3.

In like manner, in his Epistle to the Philippians, after saying, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” he adds, “Even as it is fit for me to think this of you all, Philippians 1:3-7.” Yet does he afterwards caution these very people against strife, and vain-glory, and self-love; and tell them, that he will send Timothy to them shortly, in order to make inquiries into their state, and to give him information respecting them; and he even mentions two by name, Euodias and Syntyche, whose notorious disagreements he was desirous to heal.

A multitude of other passages might be cited to the same effect; to show that the Apostles, in a spirit of candor and of love, spoke in terms of commendation respecting all, when in strictness of speech they should have made some particular exceptions.

And, if we at this day were called to use the same language under the very same circumstances, it is probable that many would feel scruples respecting it, and especially, in thanking God for things, which, if pressed to the utmost meaning of the words, might not be strictly true.

But surely, if the Apostles in a spirit of love and charity used such language, we may safely and properly do the same; and knowing in what manner, and with what views, they spoke, we need not hesitate to deliver ourselves with the same spirit, and in the same latitude, as they.

To guard against a misapprehension of his meaning, the author wishes these words to be distinctly noticed; because they contain the whole drift of his argument. He does not mean to say, that the Apostles ascribed salvation to the opus operatum, the outward act of baptism; or, that they intended to assert distinctly the salvation of every individual who had been baptized; but only that, in reference to these subjects, they did use a language very similar to that in our Liturgy, and that therefore our Reformers were justified, as we also are, in using the same.

In the Baptismal Service, we thank God for having regenerated the baptized infant by his Holy Spirit. Now from hence it appears that, in the opinion of our Reformers, regeneration and remission of sins did accompany baptism. But in what sense did they hold this sentiment? Did they maintain that there was no need for the seed then sown in the heart of the baptized person to grow up, and to bring forth fruit; or that he could be saved in any other way than by a progressive renovation of his soul after the divine image? Had they asserted or countenanced any such doctrine as that, it would have been impossible for any enlightened person to concur with them.

But nothing can be conceived more repugnant to their opinions than such an idea as this; so far from harboring such a thought, they have, and that too in this very prayer, taught us to look unto God for that total change both of heart and life, which, long since their days, has begun to be expressed by the term Regeneration.

After thanking God for regenerating the infant by his Holy Spirit, we are taught to pray, “that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin;” and then declaring that total change to be the necessary means of his obtaining salvation, we add, “So that finally, with the residue of your holy Church, he may be an inheritor of your everlasting kingdom.” Is there, I would ask, any person that can require more than this? or does God in his Word require more?

There are two things to be noticed in reference to this subject; the term, Regeneration, and the thing. The term occurs but twice in the Scriptures; in one place it refers to baptism, and is distinguished from the renewing of the Holy Spirit; which however is represented as attendant on it; and in the other place it has a totally distinct meaning unconnected with the subject. Now the term they use, as the Scripture uses it; and the thing they require, as strongly as any person can require it. They do not give us any reason to imagine that an adult person can be saved without experiencing all that modern divines have included in the term Regeneration; on the contrary, they do, both there and throughout the whole Liturgy, insist upon the necessity of a radical change both of heart and life. Here, then, the only question is, not, whether a baptized person can be saved by that ordinance without sanctification; but, whether God does always accompany the sign with the thing signified?

Here is certainly room for difference of opinion; but it cannot be positively decided in the negative; because we cannot know, or even judge, respecting it, in any instance whatever, except by the fruits that follow; and therefore in all fairness it may be considered only as a doubtful point; and, if we appeal, as we ought to do, to the Holy Scriptures, they certainly do in a very remarkable way accord with the expressions in our Liturgy. Paul says, “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit;” and this he says of all the visible members of Christ’s body 1 Corinthians 12:13-27.

Again, speaking of the whole nation of Israel, infants as well as adults, he says, “They were all baptized unto Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4.” Yet behold, in the very next verse he tells us, that “with many of them God was displeased, and overthrew them in the wilderness.”

In another place he speaks yet more strongly still, “As many of you,” says he, “as are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, Galatians 3:27.” Here we see what is meant by the expression “baptized into Christ;” it is precisely the same expression as that before mentioned, of the Israelites being “baptized unto Moses;” (the preposition å ò is used in both places;) it includes all that had been initiated into his religion by the rite of baptism; and of them universally does the Apostle say, “They have put on Christ.” Now I ask, Have not the people who scruple the use of that prayer in the Baptismal Service, equal reason to scruple the use of these different expressions?

Again, Peter says, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38-39;” and in another place, “Baptism does now save us, 1 Peter 3:21.” And speaking elsewhere of baptized people who were unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, he says, “He has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins, 2 Peter 1:9.” Does not this very strongly countenance the idea which our Reformers entertained, That the remission of our sins, as well as the regeneration of our souls, is an attendant on the baptismal rite? Perhaps it will be said, that the inspired writers spoke of people who had been baptized at an adult age. But, if they did so in some places, they certainly did not in others; and, where they did not, they must be understood as comprehending all, whether infants or adults; and therefore the language of our Liturgy, which is not a whit stronger than theirs, may be both subscribed and used without any just occasion of offence.

Let me then speak the truth before God. Though I am no Arminian, I do think that the refinements of Calvin have done great harm in the Church; they have driven multitudes from the plain and popular way of speaking used by the inspired writers, and have made them unreasonably and unscripturally squeamish in their modes of expression; and I conceive that, the less addicted any person is to systematic accuracy, the more he will accord with the inspired writers, and the more he will approve of the views of our Reformers. I do not mean however to say, that a slight alteration in two or three instances would not be an improvement; since it would take off a burden from many minds, and supersede the necessity of labored explanations; but I do mean to say, that there is no such objection to these expressions as to deter any conscientious person from giving his sincere assent and consent to the Liturgy altogether, or from using the particular expressions which we have been endeavoring to explain.

2. The other objection is, That the use of a Liturgy necessarily generates formality.

We have before acknowledged that the repetition of a form is less likely to arrest the attention, than that which is novel; but we by no means concede that it necessarily generates formality; on the contrary, we affirm that if any person comes to the service of the Church with a truly spiritual mind, he will find in our Liturgy what is calculated to call forth the devoutest exercises of his mind, far more than in any of the extemporaneous prayers which he would hear in other places.

We forbear to enter into a fuller elucidation of this point at present, because we should detain you too long; and we shall have a better opportunity of doing it in our next discourse. But we would here entreat you all so far to bear this objection in your minds, as to cut off all occasion for it as much as possible, and, by the devout manner of your attendance on the services of the Church, to show, that though you worship God with a form, you also worship him in spirit and in truth.

Dissenters themselves know that the repetition of favorite hymns does not generate formality; and they may from thence learn, that the repetition of our excellent Liturgy is not really open to that objection. But they will judge from what they see among us; if they see that the prayers are read among us without any devotion, and that those who hear them are inattentive and irreverent during the service, they will not impute these evils to the true and proper cause, but to the Liturgy itself; and it is a fact, that they do from this very circumstance derive great advantage for the weakening of men’s attachment to the Established Church, and for the augmenting of their own societies.

Surely then it befits us, who are annually sending forth so many ministers into every quarter of the land, to pay particular attention to this point. I am well aware, that where such multitudes of young men are, it is not possible so to control the inconsiderateness of youth, as to suppress all levity, or to maintain that complete order that might be wished; but I know also, that the ingenuousness of youth is open to conviction upon a subject like this, and that even the strictest discipline upon a point so interwoven with the honor of the Establishment and the eternal interests of their own souls, would, in a little time, meet with a more cordial concurrence than is generally imagined; it would commend itself to their consciences, and call forth, not only their present approbation, but their lasting gratitude. If those who are in authority among us would lay this matter to heart, and devise means for the carrying it into full effect, more would be done for the upholding of the Establishment, than by ten thousand discourses in vindication of it; and truly, if but the smallest progress should be made in it, I would think that I had “not labored in vain, or run in vain.”

But let us not so think of the Establishment as to forget our own souls; for, after all, the great question for the consideration of us all is, Whether we ourselves are accepted in the use of these prayers? And here, it is not outward reverence and decorum that will suffice; the heart must be engaged, as well as the lips. It will be to little purpose that God should say, respecting us, “They have well said all that they have spoken,” unless he sees his own wish also accomplished, “O that there were in them such a heart!” Indeed our prayers will be no more than a solemn mockery, if there be not a correspondence between the words of our lips and the feeling of our own souls; and his answer to us will be, like that to the Jews of old, “You hypocrites, in vain do you worship me.” Let all of us then bring our devotions to this test, and look well to it, that, with “the form, we have also the power of godliness.” We are too apt to rush into the divine presence without any consciousness of the importance of the work in which we are going to be engaged, or any fear of His majesty, whom we are going to address. If we would prevent formality in the house of God, we should endeavor to carry there a devout spirit along with us, and guard against the very first incursion of vain thoughts and foolish imaginations. Let us then labor to attain such a sense of our own necessities, and of God’s unbounded goodness, as shall produce a fixedness of mind, whenever we draw near to God in prayer; and for this end, let us ask of God the gift of his Holy Spirit to help our infirmities; and let us never think that we have used the Liturgy to any good purpose, unless it brings into our bosoms an inward witness of its utility, and a reasonable evidence of our acceptance with God in the use of it.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 5:28-29

The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me: “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

[This and the following sermons on the same subject were preached before the University of Cambridge.]

The historical parts of the Old Testament are more worthy of our attention than men generally imagine. A multitude of facts recorded in them are replete with spiritual instruction, being intended by God to serve as emblems of those deep mysteries which were afterwards to be revealed.

For instance, what is related of our first parent, his creation, his marriage, his sabbatic rest—was emblematic of that new creation which God will produce in us, and of that union with Christ whereby it shall be effected, and of the glorious rest to which it shall introduce us, as well in this world as in the world to come.

In like manner the promises made to Adam, to Abraham, and to David, whatever reference they might have to the particular circumstances of those illustrious individuals, had a further and more important accomplishment in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the second Adam, the Promised Seed, the King of Israel.

The whole of the Mosaic dispensation was altogether figurative, as we see from the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which the figures themselves are illustrated and explained. But there are some facts which appear too trifling to afford any instruction of this kind. We might expect indeed that so remarkable a fact as the promulgation of the Law from Mount Sinai should have in it something mysterious; but that the fears of the people on that occasion, and the request dictated by those fears, should be intended by God to convey any particular instruction—we would not have readily supposed; yet by these did God intend to shadow forth the whole mystery of Redemption!

We are sure that there was somewhat remarkable in the people’s speech, by the commendation which God himself bestowed upon it; still however, unless we have turned our minds particularly to the subject, we shall scarcely conceive how much is contained in it.

The point for our consideration is: The request which the Israelites made in consequence of the terror with which the display of the Divine Majesty had inspired them. The explanation and improvement of that point is all that properly belongs to the passage before us. But we have a further view in taking this text; we propose, after considering it in its true and proper sense, to take it in an improper and accommodated sense; and, after making some observations upon it in reference to the request which the Israelites then offered, to notice it in reference to the requests which we from time to time make unto God in the Liturgy of our Established Church.

The former view of the text is that which we propose for our present consideration; the latter will be reserved for future discussion.

The Israelites made a pledge request to God; and God expressed his approbation of it in the words which we have just recited, “Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always!”

From hence we are naturally led to set before you The opinions and dispositions which God approves.

The opinions, “Everything they said was good.”

The dispositions, “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always!”

I. The opinions which God approves.

“Everything they said was good.”

Here it will be necessary to analyze, as it were, or at least to get a clear and distinct apprehension of, the speech which God commends. It is recorded in the preceding context from

Deuteronomy 5:23-28. “When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.” The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good.”

Now in this speech are contained the following things:

An acknowledgment that they could not stand before the Divine Majesty.

A desire that God would appoint someone to mediate between him and them.

And lastly, an engagement to regard every word that should be delivered to them through a Mediator, with the same obediential reverence, as they would if it were spoken to them by God himself.

These are the opinions, on which the commendation in our text was unreservedly bestowed.

The first thing then to be noticed is: Their acknowledgment that they could not stand before the Divine Majesty.

Many things had now occurred to produce an extraordinary degree of terror upon their minds. There was a blackness and darkness in the sky, such as they never before beheld. This darkness was rendered more visible by the whole adjacent mountain blazing with fire, and by vivid lightnings flashing all around in quick succession. The roaring peals of thunder added a solemn solemnity to the scene. The trumpet sounding with a long and increasingly tremendous blast, accompanied as it was by the mountain shaking to its center—appalled the trembling multitude. And Jehovah’s voice, uttering with inconceivable majesty his authoritative commands, caused even Moses himself to say, “I exceedingly fear and quake! Compare Exodus 19:16-19 with Hebrews 12:18-21.” In consequence of this terrific scene, we are told that the people “left and stood afar off, Exodus 20:18-19,” lest the fire should consume them, or the voice of God strike them dead upon the spot, Exodus 20:21.

Now though this was in them a mere slavish fear, and the request founded upon it had respect only to their temporal safety—yet the sentiment itself was good, and worthy of universal adoption.

God being hidden from our senses, so that we neither see nor hear him, we are ready to think lightly of him, and even to rush into his more immediate presence without any holy awe upon our minds; but when he speaks to us in thunder or by an earthquake, the most hardened rebel is made to feel that “with God is solemn majesty,” and that “he is to be had in reverence by all that are round about him.”

This is a lesson which God has abundantly taught us by his dealings with the Jews. Among the men of Bethshemesh, a great multitude were slain for their irreverent curiosity in looking into the ark as Uzzah also afterwards was for his well-meant but erroneous zeal in presuming to touch it. The reason of such acts of severity is told to us in the history of Nadab and Abihu, who were struck dead for offering strange fire on the altar of their God; they are designed to teach us, “that God will be sanctified in all who come near unto him, and before all the people he will be glorified Leviticus 10:1-3.”

The second thing to be noticed is: Their desire to have some person appointed who should act as a Mediator between God and them. They probably had respect only to the present occasion; but God interpreted their words as general, and as importing a request that he would send them a permanent Mediator, who should transact all their business, as it were, with God, making known to him their needs, and communicating from him the knowledge of his will.

That God did construe their words in this extended sense, we are informed by Moses in a subsequent chapter of this book. In Deuteronomy 18:15 and following verses, this explanation of the matter is given, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account!”

Who this Prophet was, we are at no loss to declare; for the Apostle Peter, endeavoring to convince the Jews from their own Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, and that Moses himself had required them to believe in him, cites these very words as referring to Christ, and calls upon them to regard him as that very Mediator, whom God had sent in answer to the petitions which had been offered by their forefathers at Mount Horeb, Acts 3:22-23.

Here it should be remembered that we are speaking, not from conjecture, but from infallible authority; and that the construction we are putting on the text is not a fanciful interpretation of our own, but God’s own exposition of his own words.

Behold then the sentiment expressed in our text, and the commendation given to it by God himself. It is a sentiment, which is the very sum and substance of the whole Gospel. It is a sentiment, which whoever embraces truly, and acts upon it faithfully, can never perish, but shall have eternal life.

The preceding sentiment that we are incapable of standing before a holy God, is good, as introductory to this; but this is the crown of all; this consciousness that we cannot come to God, and that God will not come to us, but through Christ! This acquiescence in him as the divinely appointed Mediator; this acceptance of him as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life;” this sentiment, I say, God did, and will, approve, wherever it may be found. The Lord grant that we may all embrace this sentiment as we ought; and that, having tasted its sweetness and felt its efficacy, we may attain by means of it all the blessings which a due reception of it will ensure!

The third thing to be noticed is, Their engagement to yield unqualified obedience to everything that should be spoken to them by the Mediator. This, if viewed only as a general promise of obedience, was good, and highly acceptable to God; since the obedience of his creatures is the very end of all his dispensations towards them. It is to bring them to obedience, that he alarms them by the denunciations of his wrath, and encourages them by the promises of his Gospel. When once they are brought to love his law, and obey his commandments, all the designs of his love and mercy are accomplished; and nothing remains but that they attain that measure of sanctification, that shall fit them for the glory which he has prepared for them.

But there is far more in this part of our subject than appears at first sight. We will endeavor to enter into it somewhat more minutely, in order to explain what we conceive to be contained in it.

The moral law was never given with a view to men’s obtaining salvation by their obedience to it; for it was not possible that they who had transgressed it in any one particular, should afterwards be justified by it. Paul says, “If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness should have been by the law, Galatians 3:21.” But the law could not give life to fallen man; and therefore that way of obtaining righteousness is forever closed.

With what view then was the law given? I answer:

to show the existence of sin,

to show the lost state of man by reason of sin,

and to shut him up to that way of obtaining mercy, which God has revealed in his Gospel.

I need not multiply passages in proof of this; two will suffice to establish it beyond a doubt: “As many as are under the law, are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Again, “The law is our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith! Galatians 3:10; Galatians 3:24.”

But when the law has answered this end, then it has a further use, namely, to make known to us the way in which we should walk. In the first instance we are to flee from it as a covenant, and to seek for mercy through the Mediator; but when we have obtained mercy through the Mediator, then we are to receive the law at his hands as a rule of life, and to render a willing obedience to it.

Now all this was shadowed forth in the history before us. God gave Israel his law immediately from his own mouth; and, so given, it terrified them beyond measure, and caused them to desire a Mediator. At the same time they did not express any wish to be liberated from obedience to it; on the contrary, they engaged that whatever God should speak to them by the Mediator, they would listen to it readily, and obey it unreservedly. This was right; and God both approved of it in them, and will approve of it in every man.

We are afraid of perplexing the subject, if we dwell any longer on this branch of it because it would divert your attention from the main body of the discourse. We will therefore content ourselves with citing one passage, wherein the whole is set forth in the precise point of view in which we have endeavored to place it.

We have shown that the transactions at Mount Sinai were intended to shadow forth the nature of the two dispensations, (that of the law and that of the gospel,) in a contrasted view; that the terrific nature of the one made the Israelites desirous to obtain an interest in the other; and that the appointment of Moses to be their Mediator, and to communicate to them the further knowledge of his will with a view to their future obedience, was altogether illustrative of the gospel; which, while it teaches us to flee to Christ from the curses of the broken law, requires us afterwards to obey that law. In a word, we have shown, that though, as Paul expresses it, we are “without law” (considered as a Covenant) we are nevertheless “not without law to God, but under the law to Christ (1 Corinthians (9:21).” And all this is set forth in the 12th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in the following words: “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, (Hebrews 12:18-24).”

I would only observe, in order to prevent any misconception of my meaning, that I do not suppose the Israelites to have had a distinct view of these things, such as we have at present; but that they spoke like Caiaphas the high-priest, when he said, “It was expedient for one man to die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish, (John 11:49).” They did not understand the full import of their own words; but God overruled their present feelings so that they spoke what was proper to shadow forth the mysteries of his gospel; and he then interpreted their words according to the full and comprehensive sense in which he intended they should be understood.

We could gladly have added somewhat more in confirmation of the opinions which have been set before you, and particularly as founded on the passage we are considering; but your time forbids it; and therefore we pass on to notice,

II. The dispositions which God approves.

“Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always!”

These must be noticed with a direct reference to the opinions already considered; for God, having said, “They have well said all that they have spoken,” adds, “O that there were such a heart in them!”

It is but too common for those desires which arise in the mind under some peculiarly alarming circumstances, to prove only transient, and to yield in a very little time to the rooted inclination of the heart. This, it is to be feared, was the case with Israel at that time; and God himself intimated, that the seed which thus hastily sprang up, would soon perish for lack of a sufficient root. But the information which we derive from hence is wholly independent of them; whether they cultivated these dispositions or not, we see what dispositions God approves. It is his wish to find in all of us:

A reverential fear of God.

A love to Jesus as our Mediator.

A sincere delight in his commands.

First, he desires to find in us, a reverential fear of God.

That ease, that indifference, that security, which men in general indulge, is most displeasing to him. Behold, how he addresses men of this description by the Prophet Jeremiah, “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God!

Jeremiah 5:21-24.”

Hear too what he says by the Prophet Zephaniah, “I will search Jerusalem with candles, and will punish the men that are settled on their lees! Zephaniah 1:12.”

It is thought by many, that if they commit no flagrant enormity, they have no cause to fear; but even a heathen, when brought to a right mind, saw the folly and impiety of such a conceit, and issued a decree to all the subjects of his realm, that they would all “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, who is the living God, and steadfast forever, Daniel 6:26.” Such a state of mind is dreaded, from an idea that it must of necessity be destructive of all happiness.

This however is not true; on the contrary, the more of holy fear we have in our hearts, the happier we shall be. If indeed our fear is only of a slavish kind, it will make us unhappy; but, in proportion as it partakes of filial regard, and has respect to God as a Father, it will become a source of unspeakable peace and joy. The testimony of Solomon is, “Happy is the man that fears always, Proverbs 28:14.”

Nor should we shun even the slavish fear, since it is generally the prelude to that which is truly filial; the spirit of bondage is intended to lead us to a spirit of adoption, whereby we may cry: Abba, Father! Romans 8:15.

Another ground on which men endeavor to put away the fear of God is, that it argues weakness of understanding and baseness of spirit; but we are told on infallible authority, that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do his commandments; his praise endures forever! Psalm 111:10.”

Permit me then to recommend to you this holy disposition. Learn to “fear that glorious and fearful name, the Lord your God! Deuteronomy 28:58.” Stand in awe of his Divine Majesty; and dread his displeasure more than death itself.

How you shall appear before him in the day of judgment. Settle it in your minds, whether you will think as lightly of him when you are standing at his tribunal, with all his solemn majesty displayed before your eyes, as you are accustomed to do now that he is hidden from your sight. Examine carefully whether you are prepared to meet him, and to receive your final doom at his hands.

I well know that such thoughts are not welcome to the carnal mind; but I know also that they are beneficial, yes, and indispensably necessary too for every man. I would therefore adopt the language of the angel who flew in the midst of Heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, even to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; and like him I would say with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come! Revelation 14:6-7.” It is come already in the divine purpose; and it will speedily come to every individual among us, and will fix us in an eternity of bliss or woe.

The next disposition which God would have us cultivate, is a love to Jesus as our Mediator. In proportion as we fear God, we shall love the Lord Jesus Christ, who has condescended to mediate between God and us. Were it only that he, like Moses, had revealed to us the will of God in a less terrific way, we ought to love him. But he has done infinitely more for us than Moses could possibly do; he has not only stood between God and us, but has placed himself in our stead, and borne the wrath of God for us. He has not only silenced the thunders of Mount Sinai, but “has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being himself made a curse for us! Galatians 3:13.” In a word, “He has made reconciliation for us by the blood of his cross;” so that we may now come to God as our Father and our Friend; and may expect at his hands all the blessings of grace and glory! “Through him we have access to God,” even to his throne of grace; and by faith in him we may even now receive the remission of our sins, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Shall we not then love him? Shall we not honor him? Shall we not employ him in his high office as our Advocate and Mediator? Shall we not glory in him, and “cleave unto him with full purpose of heart?” It was said by the Prophet Isaiah, “They will say of me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.'” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult! Isaiah 45:24-25.” O that this prophecy may be fulfilled in us; and that there may henceforth “be in every individual among us such a heart!”

Lastly, God would behold in us a sincere delight in his commandments. This will be the fruit, and must be the evidence, of our love to Christ, “If you love me,” says our Lord, “keep my commandments, John 14:15;” and again, “He who has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me, John 14:21.” Indeed without this, all our opinions or professions are of no avail, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God! 1 Corinthians 7:19.”

When people hear of our being “delivered from the law,” and “dead to the law,” they feel a jealousy upon the subject of morality, and begin to fear that we open to men the flood-gates of licentiousness. But their fears are both unnecessary and unscriptural; for the very circumstance of our being delivered from the law as a covenant of works, is that which most forcibly constrains us to take it as a rule of life.

Hear how Paul speaks on this subject, “I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God, Galatians 2:19;” and again, “My brethren, you have become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God, Romans 7:4.”

You perceive then that the liberty to which we are brought by Jesus Christ, has the most friendly aspect imaginable upon the practice of good works; yes, rather, that it absolutely secures the performance of them. While therefore we would urge with all possible earnestness a simple affiance in Christ as your Mediator, we would also entreat you to receive the commandments at his hands, and to observe them with your whole hearts.

Take our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, for instance; study with care and diligence the full import of every precept in it. Do not endeavor to bring down those precepts to your practice, or to the practice of the world around you; but rather strive to elevate your practice to the standard which he has given you.

In like manner, take all the precepts contained in the epistles, and all the holy dispositions which were exercised by the Apostles; and endeavor to emulate the examples of the most distinguished saints. You are cautioned not to be righteous over-much; but remember, that you have at least equal need of caution to be righteous enough. If only you walk in the steps of our Lord and his Apostles, you need not be afraid of excess. It is an erroneous kind of righteousness, against which Solomon would guard you, and not against an excessive degree of true holiness; for in true holiness there can be no excess. In this we may vie with each other, and strive with all our might.

Paul says, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly, that they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain (or, as the word imports, to excel in) good works.” By these we shall evince the sincerity of our love to Christ; and by these we shall be judged in the last day.

I would therefore recommend to every one to ask himself:

What is there which I have left undone?

What is there which I have done defectively?

What is there which I have done amiss?

What is there that I may do more earnestly for the honor of God, for the good of mankind, and for the benefit of my own soul?

O that such a pious zeal pervaded this whole assembly; and “that there were in all of us such a heart!”

To those among us in whom any good measure of this grace is found, we would say in the language of Paul, “We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more! 1 Thessalonians 4:1.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 4:7-9

“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Practical religion, however approved in theory, is not always admired when exhibited to our view. Not but that it has a beauty in it which commends itself to those who have a spiritual discernment; but it forms too strong a contrast with the ways of the world to gain its favor; the men of this world “love darkness rather than light;” and therefore agree to reprobate as visionary and gloomy, whatever opposes their evil habits. Nevertheless “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding;” and, wherever any people are enabled to maintain a uniform and consistent conduct, there their very enemies must honor them in their hearts, and confess them to be “a wise and understanding people.” This at least was the opinion of Moses, who from that very consideration urged the Jews to contemplate their high privileges, and to walk worthy of them, verses 5, 6 with the text. To advance the same blessed end in you, we shall state:

I. The peculiar privileges of the Jewish nation.

They were certainly advanced above all the nations upon earth; as in other respects, so particularly:

1. In their nearness to God.

Moses had enjoyed such access to God as no man had ever done before; and “conversed with him face to face, even as a man converses with his friend, Exodus 33:11.” That generation to whom he ministered, had seen on many occasions the efficacy of his intercessions, and therefore could appreciate the force of that observation in the text, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”

Nor was this privilege to be confined to Moses; the high-priest was furnished with an ephod and a breastplate, by means of which he was to inquire of God in every difficulty, and to obtain answers from him. This was used from time to time, even until the Jews were carried captive to Babylon; and the great privilege of having such means of communion with God may be sufficiently seen in the advantage which David repeatedly derived from it, to learn the intentions of his enemies, and to gain direction respecting his own conduct. See 1 Samuel 23:9-12; 1 Samuel 30:7-8.

The heathen indeed had their oracles which they consulted; but from which they could derive no certain information. The ambiguity of the answers given by them, left room for opposite constructions, and proved that no dependence whatever could be placed upon them. Those heathen oracles were a compound of lying priestcraft, and diabolic influence; and were no more to be compared with the oracle of God, than the light of a deceitful vapor with that of the meridian sun.

2. In the excellence of the dispensation under which they lived.

“The statutes and judgments” which Moses had delivered to them were altogether “righteous” and good.

The judicial law, which was given for the regulation of their civil polity, was founded in perfect equity, and conducive in every point to the happiness of the community.

The moral law was a transcript of the mind and will of God; it was in every respect “holy, and just, and good,” and, if followed in every part, would assimilate the people to God himself.

The ceremonial law also, notwithstanding it was burdensome in many respects, afforded peace and comfort to all who were bowed down with a sense of sin, and desirous of finding acceptance with an offended God.

As for the heathen world, they had none of these advantages; they had no such light for the government of their states, no such instruction for the regulation of their conduct, no such consolations under the convictions of guilt or the dread of punishment. They had no better guide than their own weak unassisted reason; and though by means of that they were able to frame laws for the public good, they never could devise a system whereby the soul should be restored to holiness or peace. In these respects the Jews were elevated above all the world. The excellence and authority of their laws were undisputed; and every one was made happy by his observance of them.

But still the Jews themselves had little to boast of in comparison of,

II. The superior privileges which we enjoy.

Our access to God is much nearer than theirs.

They had, it is true, in some respects the advantage. No person now can hope for such special directions as were imparted by the Urim and Thummim. But it must be remembered that this mode of ascertaining the mind of God was of necessity confined to few; it was not possible for every person to go to the high-priest, and to obtain his mediation with the Deity on every subject that might require light; this liberty could be used by few, and only on occasions of great public importance.

But our access to God is unlimited; every person, at all times, in every place, on every occasion, may come to God, without the intervention of a fellow-creature. In this respect every child of God is on a par with the high-priest himself, or rather, is elevated to a state far above him, in proportion as a spiritual approach is nearer than that which is bodily, and an immediate access is nearer than that which is through the medium of an ephod and a breastplate.

Indeed the liberty given to us is unbounded! “In everything we may make our requests known unto God;” and we may “ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us.” Though therefore the Jews were privileged beyond the Gentiles, whose gods of wood and stone could not attend to their supplications—yet we are no less privileged above them, and can adopt a language unknown to them, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Our dispensation too is more excellent than theirs.

We need not to disparage the Jewish dispensation in any respect, in order to raise in our estimation that under which we live. We may give to that all the honor it deserves, and yet not be afraid that ours will suffer anything in the comparison. Their dispensation, as excellent as it was, was only a shadow, of which our dispensation is the substance. Whatever good their dispensation had, is retained and perfected in ours; whatever it had that was weak and burdensome, is done away. The peace which that afforded to the guilty conscience was temporary; the very means of forgiveness were only so many fresh remembrances of unforgiven sin! But the peace obtained by us “surpasses all understanding;” and the joy we taste is “unspeakable and full of glory.”

The blood of bulls and of goats afforded a very weak ground for hope, in comparison with the blood of God’s only-begotten Son that “cleanses from all sin,” and “perfects forever them that are sanctified.”

Again, the law of the ten commandments denounced a curse for one single violation of them, however small; and afforded no assistance to those who desired to fulfill it. But the precepts of the Gospel, though as holy and as perfect as the Law itself, are accompanied with promises of grace and offers of mercy to all who endeavor to obey them. God undertakes to write them on our hearts, so as to make a compliance with them both easy and delightful.

In a word, the Jewish law was a yoke of bondage, productive only of slavish fears, and ineffectual efforts. Whereas our Christian law, the law of faith, begets a filial spirit, and transforms us “into the image of our God in righteousness and true holiness.” Compare the two dispensations, and we shall see in a moment our superior advantages; for while they were only slaves under the lash, we have the happiness of being “sons and heirs!”

If such be our distinguished privileges, it befits us to consider,

III. Our duty in reference to our superior privileges.

This was a point which Moses was extremely anxious to impress on the mind of every individual, “Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently.” In like manner would we urge you in relation to the privileges you enjoy:

1. To keep up the remembrance of them in your own hearts.

It is scarcely necessary to observe how apt we are to forget the mercies which God has given unto us. The mere facts indeed may easily be retained in our heads; but a due sense of the kindness expressed in them, and of the obligations conferred by them, is not easily preserved upon the soul. The smallest trifle is sufficient to draw us from heavenly contemplations, and to engage those affections, which should be exclusively fixed on God. Hence Moses bade the people “take heed, lest the things which they had seen should depart from their heart! See also Hebrews 2:1.”

What then must we do? We must avoid the things which would weaken our sense of God’s mercies to us; and abound in those exercises which will keep alive the sense of them upon our hearts. Worldly cares, worldly pleasures, and worldly company, should all be regarded by us with a godly fear and jealousy, lest they “choke the seed” which is springing up in our hearts, and prevent us from “bringing forth fruit unto perfection.”

On the other hand, our meditation on the Christian’s privileges should be frequent; we should muse on them, until the fire kindles in our hearts, and we are constrained to speak of them with our tongues. It is thus that we must trim the lamps of our sanctuary; it is thus that we must be keeping up the fire on the altar of our hearts. In a word, if we will improve our privileges—then we shall have them augmented and confirmed. If, on the other hand, we slumber over them—then we shall give advantage to our enemy to despoil us of them, Matthew 13:12.

2. To transmit the memory of them to posterity.

The Jews were made the depositories of divine knowledge for the good of the Christian Church; and it is in the same light that we are to consider the Scriptures which are committed to us; they are not for our personal benefit merely, but for the use of the Church in all future ages. Hence then we are bound to “teach them to our sons, and our sons’ sons.”

It is greatly to be lamented indeed that so little attention is paid to the sacred oracles in the public seminaries of learning. Something of a form indeed may be observed; a form, from which the very people who enforce it neither expect nor desire any practical effect. But if one half the pains were taken to make us understand and feel the exalted privileges of Christianity, as are bestowed on elucidating the beauties of classic writers, or exploring the depths of science and philosophy—then we should see religion and morals in a very different state among us.

It was for the instructing of their children in righteousness that the solemn transactions that took place at Mount Horeb were required to be more particularly impressed on all succeeding generations, verse 10; and if the law from Mount Sinai was to be so carefully communicated to the children of Jews—then ought not “the law that came forth from Mount Zion, Isaiah 2:3,” even “the law of faith,” to be proclaimed to our children?

If they were to remember Horeb, shall not we remember Bethlehem, where the Son of God was born into the world; and Calvary, where he shed his blood; and Olivet, from whence he ascended up to Heaven, and led captive all the powers of darkness? Yes surely, these great transactions should be dwelt upon, not as mere historical facts, but as truths whereon are founded all the hopes and expectations of sinful man; and we cannot but regard it as a blessing to the Christian world, that days are set apart for the special remembrance of those great events; so that not one of them may be overlooked, but that all in succession may be presented to the view of every Christian in the land. Let us then habituate ourselves to dwell upon them as the most delightful of all subjects, Deuteronomy 11:18-20, and “account both our time and money well spent in promoting the knowledge of them in the world.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 3:27-28

“Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.”

In reading the records of God’s dealings with the Jews, we are sometimes tempted to bring him to the bar of human reason, and to arraign his character as severe. Such hasty judgment, however, would be impious in the extreme; since we are wholly incompetent to decide upon matters which are so far beyond our understanding. There may be, and doubtless are, ten thousand legitimate reasons to justify his conduct, where our slender capacities cannot find any. Such light has been cast upon his procedure, in many instances, by the Gospel, as may fully evince the necessity of shutting our mouths, and of giving him credit for perfect equity, even where his dispensations most oppose our natural feelings.

We may instance this in the exclusion of Moses from the promised land. He had brought the people out of Egypt, and, with most unparalleled meekness, had endured their perverseness forty years in the wilderness. Yet, when he had led them to the very borders of Canaan, he was not allowed to go in with them; but, on account of one single offence, Moses was obliged to devolve on Joshua his office, his authority, his honors; yes, he was forbidden even to pray for an admission into that good land, verse 23-27. As dark as this dispensation must have appeared at the time, we are enabled to discern a propriety and excellency in it. It was altogether of a typical nature; for while Moses represented the law; Joshua, his successor, was a very eminent type of Christ.

The text naturally leads us to show this; and we shall,

I. Trace the resemblance which exists between Joshua and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Joshua resembles Christ in his name.

The name of Joshua was intended to designate his work and office. His name originally was Hoshea, but was altered by Moses to Joshua, Numbers 13:16. This, doubtless, was of God’s appointment, that he might be thereby rendered a more remarkable type of Jesus. This name imported, that he should be a divine Savior. Jah, which was prefixed to his name, is the name of God; and though, in the strictest and fullest sense, it could not properly belong to him; yet, as he was to be such a distinguished representative of Jesus, it was very properly given to him.

The name of Jesus still more fitly characterized the work that was to be performed by him. This name is precisely the same with Joshua in the Greek language; and repeatedly do we, in the New Testament, translate it, “Jesus,” when it might have been translated, “Joshua, Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8.” It was given to our Lord by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb, Matthew 1:21; and the express reason of it was assigned, namely, that “he should save his people from their sins.” To him it is applicable in the fullest extent, because he is “God manifest in the flesh,” “Emmanuel, God with us;” and because he is the author, not of a typical and temporary, but of a real and eternal salvation to all his followers! Hebrews 5:9.

This striking coincidence, with respect to the name, may prepare us for fuller discoveries of a resemblance,

2. Joshua resembles Christ in his office.

Joshua was appointed to lead the Israelites into the promised land. Moses was not permitted to do this. He was destined to represent the law, which was admirably calculated to lead men through the wilderness, but could never bring them into the land of Canaan; one offence against it destroyed all hope of salvation by it Galatians 3:10; it made no provision for mercy; its terms were simply, Do this and live! Romans 10:5. For an example of its inexorable rigor, Moses himself was, for one unadvised word, excluded from the land of promise.

The office of saving men must belong to another; and, for this reason, it was transferred to Joshua, who had been both appointed to it, and thoroughly qualified by God for the discharge of it, Deuteronomy 34:9.

Jesus also was commissioned to bring his followers into the Canaan that is above. He, probably in reference to Joshua, is called the Captain of our salvation, Hebrews 2:10; and he appeared to Joshua himself in this very character, proclaiming himself to be the Captain of the Lord’s army, Joshua 5:13-15. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,” the Lord Jesus Christ came to effect, Romans 8:3. He has been divinely qualified for the work; and, like Joshua, was “encouraged to it, and strengthened in it,” by an assurance of God’s continual presence and support, Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 42:6. Jesus leads his people on from grace to grace, from strength to strength, from victory to victory, Psalm 84:7; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Revelation 6:2. Nor will he ever desist from his work, until he shall have subdued his enemies, and established his people in their promised inheritance!

Happily for us the resemblance may be likewise traced,

3. Joshua resembles Christ in his success.

Nothing could oppose any effectual bar to Joshua’s progress. Though Jordan had overflowed its banks, its waters were divided to open a path on dry land for him, Joshua 3:17. The impregnable walls of Jericho, merely at the sound of rams’ horns, were made to fall, Joshua 6:20. Confederate kings fled before him, Joshua 10:16. City after city, kingdom after kingdom, were subjected to his all-conquering army; and almost the whole accursed race of Canaanites were extirpated, and destroyed, Joshua 12:7. The promised land was divided by him among his followers, Joshua 11:23; Joshua 18:10; and he appealed to them with his dying breath, that not so much as one, of all the promises that God had given them, had ever failed, Joshua 23:14.

And shall less be said respecting our adorable Emmanuel? He “triumphed over all the principalities and powers” of Hell; and causes his followers to trample on the necks of their mightiest foes, Romans 16:20 with Joshua 10:24. He leads them safely through the swellings of Jordan, when they come to the border of the promised land, Isaiah 43:2; and having given them the victory, he divides among them the heavenly inheritance, Matthew 25:34. Thus will all of them be put into possession of “that rest, which remains for the people of God, Hebrews 4:1; Hebrews 4:9; Hebrews 4:11,” in the hope and expectation of which they endured the labors of travel, and the fatigues of war.

Having traced the resemblance between Joshua and Christ, I will,

II. Take occasion to suggest from it some beneficial advice.

1. To those who desire to possess the promised land.

I am grieved to say that many desire that good land—yet never attain unto it.

First, because they do not seek it with sufficient earnestness.

Secondly, because they do not seek it in God’s appointed way.

Respecting the former of these our blessed Lord says, “Agonize to enter in at the strait gate; for many shall seek to enter in, and not be able, Luke 13:24.”

And of the latter, the Apostle Paul, speaking of the great mass of the Jewish people, says, that, though they “followed after the law of righteousness, they did not attain to the law of righteousness; because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Romans 9:30-33.” He bore them record that they had a zeal of God; but it was not according to knowledge; for, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believed. “But they, instead of believing in him for salvation, stumbled at him as a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence;” and thus they perished, while the Gentiles by believing in him were saved! Romans 10:2-4.

Now, my brethren, I cannot too earnestly impress upon your minds the necessity of abandoning altogether the law of Moses as a ground of hope before God, and of trusting entirely in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation! If Moses himself was not allowed to lead his followers into the earthly Canaan, or even to go in there himself—then much less can he lead you into the heavenly Canaan. As a guide through the wilderness, Moses is excellent; but as a Savior, he will be of no use. Joshua alone can give you the possession of the promised land; that is, Jesus alone can effect your complete salvation!

If you read the epistles of Paul to the Romans and Galatians, you will find the main scope of both is to establish and enforce this truth. Bear in remembrance then that you must “die to the law,” and seek salvation by Christ alone; for “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

2. To those who are fighting for the possession of the promised land.

Though Canaan was promised to the Israelites—yet they must fight for it. And you must also fight for the promised inheritance of Heaven. Remember however, that you are not to fight in your own strength. You must “be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,” if you would gain the victory over your spiritual enemies. And this is your great encouragement; for through Him the weakest shall be strong; yes, shall prove “more than conqueror” over all his enemies.”

What took place in the contest of Israel with the Midianites shall be accomplished in God’s Israel throughout all the world. Against the numerous hosts of Midian only twelve thousand armed Israelites (a thousand from each tribe) were sent to fight; and when the whole Midianite army was destroyed, it was found, on investigation, that not a single Israelite was slain! Numbers 31:49.

So shall it prove with you, my brethren, in your spiritual warfare. Only fight manfully in the Savior’s strength; and what he said to his heavenly Father in reference to his disciples while he was yet upon earth, he will repeat before the whole assembled universe in the day of judgment, “Of those whom you have given me, not one is lost! John 17:12.” True, there are Anakim of gigantic stature to contend with, and cities walled up to Heaven to besiege; but “greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world;” and all your enemies, with Satan at their head, “shall be bruised under your feet shortly! Romans 16:20.” “You shall devour them! Numbers 14:9,” and not one shall ever be able to stand before you.

3. To those who yet retain their hostility to the Lord Jesus.

You have seen what was the outcome of the contest between Joshua, and all the kingdoms of Canaan. No less than thirty-one kings fell before him, Joshua 12:24. And Le sure that you also must perish, if you continue to fight against our adorable Lord and Savior. I would earnestly recommend to you the example of the Gibeonites. They felt assured that they could not withstand Joshua; and therefore, pretending to belong to a nation remote from Canaan, they came, and entreated him to make a league with them. There needs no such collusion on your part. You may come to Jesus, and he will enter into covenant with you to spare you, Joshua 9:15. And, if your submission to him provokes the hostility of the world against you, he will come to your support, and will save you by a great deliverance! Joshua 10:4; and will make you eternal monuments of his power and grace.

Let me also recommend to you the example of Rahab. She cast herself and all her family on the mercy of Joshua; and bound the cord with which she had let down the spies from the walls of Jericho, about her window, as the sign of her affiance in the pledge that had been given her. For this faith of hers, and for her works consequent upon it, was she commended both by Paul, and James, Joshua 6:22; Joshua 6:25 with Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25.

If you also with similar faith cast yourselves upon the Lord Jesus, and, like her, evince also by your conduct the sincerity of your faith, you “shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation,” and have a portion accorded to you among the Israel of God forever and ever!

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 3:23-28

At that time I pleaded with the LORD: “O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.” But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.”

The character of Moses, in whatever point of view it is considered, is worthy of admiration:

his zeal and industry,

his patience and meekness,

his fidelity and love,

were never surpassed by any man!

As an intercessor for the Lord’s people, he stands unrivaled. Many were the occasions whereon he prevailed on God to spare that rebellious nation that had been committed to his charge. But behold, this eminent saint, who had so often succeeded in his applications for others, was now refused when praying for himself. And, though it might appear humiliating, and might lower him in the estimation of all future generations, he gives a faithful account of the whole matter, recording both the prayer that he offered, and the answer he received.

The points to which we would call your attention are:

I. God’s rejection of the prayer of Moses.

Nothing could be more proper than this prayer of Moses.

He requested that he might be permitted to “go over Jordan, and see the promised land.” It was with a view to the enjoyment of this land that he had labored incessantly for forty years. He had held up the possession of it as the great inducement to the whole nation to come forth from Egypt, and to endure all the hardships of journeying in the wilderness, and the perils of protracted warfare against the inhabitants of the land. He knew that Canaan was “the glory of all lands.” And now that the period for the full possession of it had arrived; yes, and God had given them a pledge of it in the subjugation of the kingdoms on the east of Jordan, who can wonder that Moses should be anxious to participate the promised happiness?

The manner in which he sought it was most becoming. He did not complain of the sentence of exclusion that had been passed upon him; but only prayed that it might be reversed. Often had he urged similar petitions for others with success; and therefore he had reason to hope, that he might not plead in vain for himself. He did not certainly know that God’s decree with respect to him differed from the threatenings that had been denounced against others; there might be a secret reserve of mercy in the one case as well as in the other; and therefore he was emboldened to offer his requests, but with a meekness and modesty peculiarly suited to the occasion.

But God saw fit to reject his petition.

The refusal which God gave him on this occasion was most peremptory. When he had rejected his prayer for the offending nation, be said, “Let me alone!” and in that very expression intimated the irresistible efficacy of prayer. But on this occasion he forbade him to “speak to him any more of that matter;” yes, he “swore to Moses, that he should not go over Jordan, Deuteronomy 4:21.”

In this refusal there was a solemn manifestation of the divine displeasure. It was intended as a punishment both for his sin, and for the people’s sin; for God was “angry with him for their sakes,” as well as for Moses’ sake. To him the punishment was great, as being a painful privation, a heavy disappointment; to the people also it was a severe rebuke, inasmuch as they were deprived of:

a loving spiritual father,

a powerful intercessor,

an experienced governor,

and under whom they had succeeded hitherto beyond their most optimistic expectations.

We forbear to notice the typical intent of this dispensation, because we have mentioned it in a former part of this history, see discourse on Numbers 20:12.

It is in a practical aspect only that we now consider it; and therefore we confine ourselves to such observations as arise from it in that view.

This refusal however, though absolute, was not unmixed with kindness; as will appear from considering:

II. The mercy with which this judgment was tempered.

As God in later ages withheld from Paul, and even from his only dear Son, the blessings which they asked, but gave them what was more expedient under their circumstances, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9; Luke 22:42-43 with Hebrews 5:7; so now, while he denied to Moses an entrance into Canaan, God granted to him:

1. A sight of the whole land.

He commanded Moses to go up on Mount Pisgah to view the land; and from that eminence he showed him the whole extent of the country from east to west, and from north to south. The sight, we apprehend, was miraculous; because, however great the elevation of the mountain might be, we do not conceive that the places which he saw could be within the visible horizon, Deuteronomy 34:1-4. However this might be, we have no doubt but that the sight must have been most gratifying to his mind, because it would be regarded as a pledge of God’s fidelity, and a taste at least of those blessings which Israel was about to enjoy in all their fullness.

But we are persuaded that Moses, notwithstanding he spoke so little about the heavenly world, knew the typical nature of the promised land, and beheld in Canaan a figurative representation of that better kingdom, to which he was about to be translated. “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible! Hebrews 11:24-27.”

2. An assurance that his place would be successfully filled by Joshua.

To him was committed the office of instructing, encouraging, and strengthening Joshua for the arduous work which lay before him. And what could be a richer comfort to an aged minister, than to see that God had already raised up one to occupy his post, and to carry on the work which he had begun? Methinks, the preparing of Joshua’s mind for his high office was a task in which Moses would take peculiar delight; and the certainty of Israel’s ultimate success would cheer him under the pains of his own personal disappointment.

The practical observations arising out of this history, will bring the subject home to our own business and bosoms.

We learn from it,

1. To guard against sin.

We might profitably dwell on this thought, if we considered only the exclusion of Moses from the promised land for one single transgression. But as other occasions must arise whereon such an observation may be grounded, we would call your attention rather to the injury which both ministers and people may sustain by means of each other’s transgressions. Repeatedly does Moses say, “God was angry with me for your sakes;” from whence we are assured, that their sins were punished in him. And we know also that his sin was punished in them; they suffered no less by the loss of him, than he did by the loss of Canaan.

Such a participation in each other’s crimes and punishments is common in the world; children are affected by their parents’ faults; and parents by the faults of their children.

In the ministerial relation, this happens as frequently as in any. If a minister seeks his own glory instead of God’s, or is remiss in the duties of the closet—then his people will suffer as well as he; the ordinances from whence they should derive nutriment will be to them “as dry breasts or a miscarrying womb.”

If the people slight the ministry of a faithful man—then what wonder is it if God removes the lampstand from those who will not avail themselves of the light?

If, on the other hand, they idolize their minister, and put him, as it were, in the place of God—then what wonder is it if God, who is a jealous God, leaves him to fall, that they may see the folly of their idolatry; or take him from them, that they may learn where alone their dependence should be?

Let the death of Moses, and the bereavement of the Israelites, be a warning to us all, that we do not provoke God by our rebellions to withhold from us the blessings we desire, or to inflict upon us the punishments we deserve.

2. To submit with humility to God’s afflictive dispensations.

When once Moses was informed of the decided purpose of God, he forbore to ask for any alteration of it; nor did he utter one murmuring or discontented word concerning it. God had bidden him to be satisfied with the mercies which he was about to receive; and he was satisfied with them.

Now it may be that God has denied us many things which we could have wished to possess, or taken from us things which we have possessed. But if he has given us grace, and mercy, and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ—then what reason can we have to complain?

We have prayed to him perhaps under our trials, and they have not been removed; or we have deprecated them, and they have still been inflicted. But God has said to us, “Let it suffice you” that I have made you a partaker of my grace; “let it suffice you” that I have given you prospects of the promised land; “let it suffice you” that you have a portion in a better world.

And shall not these things be sufficient for us, though we be destitute of everything else? Shall any of the concerns of time or sense be of much importance in our eyes, when we are so highly privileged, so greatly enriched?

Ah! check the first risings of a murmuring thought, all you who are ready to complain of your afflictions! Think whether you would exchange one Pisgah view of Heaven for all that this earth can give; and, if you would not, then think, how richly Heaven itself will compensate for all your light and momentary afflictions. Instead of indulging any anxiety about the things of this world, let the prayer of David be the continual language both of your hearts and lips, Psalm 106:4-5.

3. To serve God with increasing activity to the end of life.

The last month of Moses’ continuance on earth was as fully occupied with the work of God as any month of his life. Though he knew that he must die within a few days, he did not intermit his labors in the least, but rather addressed himself to them with increasing energy and fidelity. This was the effect of very abundant grace; and it was an example but rarely copied.

How many towards the close of life, when they know, not from revelation indeed, but from their own feelings, that they must shortly die, become:

cold in their affections,

slothful in their habits,

contrary in their tempers,

and remiss in their duties!

Instead of taking occasion from the shortness of their time, to labor with increased diligence, how many yield to their infirmities, and make their weakness an excuse for willful indolence!

May the Lord grant, that no such declensions may take place in any of us; but that rather “our last days may he our best days;” and that our Lord, finding us both watchful and active, may applaud us as good and faithful servants, prepared and fitted for his heavenly kingdom!

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 2:7

“The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”

Whoever would enter fully into the doctrine of divine providence, should study the history of the Israelites in the wilderness. We at this day are ready to imagine that, however God may superintend the affairs of the universe sufficiently to keep them in order, and to subserve his own purposes—he yet leaves smaller matters to a kind of chance; and that to expect his interposition in our own behalf, especially in things of daily occurrence, would be the height of mere presumption. In a word, we draw lines of distinction between a general and a particular providence; and feel ourselves at liberty to acknowledge the one, while we deny the other.

But in the Scriptures there will not, I apprehend, be found any ground for such a distinction. We cannot conceive any thing of less importance than a sparrow falling to the ground, or a hair of our head perishing; yet these things are expressly declared to be within the bounds of God’s peculiar care. The truth is that God is the same as ever he was; and that his attention to the affairs of men is still the same; the only difference is, that for special ends he made his interpositions visible in former days; whereas, now he would have us to “walk by faith, and not by sight.”

Of his people in the wilderness, he was the visible Leader, Protector, Nourisher; and so constant had been his attention to their every need, that, at the close of their pilgrimage, Moses could appeal to the whole nation, “These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”

That we may see that God’s care has not been exclusively confined to them, I will show:

I. What mercies have been given to us during the whole period of our sojourning in this wilderness.

Surprising, indeed, was God’s attention to his ancient people.

They were in a wilderness where there was literally nothing for their sustenance. Neither food nor water could be found there; but of both did God afford them a daily and miraculous supply; causing bread to descend from Heaven for them, and the waters of the rock to follow them.

But from where would they obtain clothing? None could be fabricated; none be found. But God superseded the need of any fresh supply, by causing that “their clothes, for the whole space of forty years, should never wear out;” and that, notwithstanding all their traveling. “During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet! Deuteronomy 29:5.”

Nor would he allow their strength to fail; for, “as their clothing waxed not old upon them, so neither did their feet swell for forty years, Deuteronomy 8:4.”

With these physical blessings, God imparted to them no less richly for their souls. He gave them his Word; he continued to them his ministers, “he sent to them, also, his Holy Spirit to instruct them, Nehemiah 9:20.”

Now in all this we may see what God, in his mercy, has done for us also, during the whole of our sojourning in this wilderness world:

1. In relation to our temporal concerns.

We also, has God supplied with all the necessities of life; but because, in providing these things, the agency of man is required, we overlook His hand; whereas, in fact, he is as much the author and giver of these blessings to us, as he was of the mercies given to Israel. What can we do to secure fruitful seasons? Who among us could make so much as a blade of grass to grow? Who could prevent the fruits of the earth from being devoured by locusts and caterpillars, or from being destroyed by blasting and mildew? Who has kept from our borders the desolating scourge of war? Who has preserved us from the more terrific calamities of civil war? To whom are we indebted, that we have not been reduced to the lowest ebb of misery by some destructive conflagration? Men, it is true, are actively employed in providing for themselves; but what are men? they are nothing but agents, (unconscious agents, I had almost said,) accomplishing the will of another; for, while they are universally seeking their own personal advantage, they are, in reality, God’s instruments, employed by him for the benefit of the world.

Thousands of people are employed, daily and hourly, to supply our needs. Little do we think of this. Were we placed for any length of time in a country uninhabited except by ourselves and our own family, we should soon feel how deeply we are indebted to God for innumerable comforts, which, through his good providence, we enjoy; and which, through a stimulus imparted by him, other people are engaged in procuring for us. What their motives may be, is no concern of ours; it is sufficient for us to know, that, as God directed and overruled the ambition of Sennacherib to correct and chasten his people Israel, Isaiah 10:5-7—so he directs and overrules the selfish dispositions of mankind to administer to the needs of each other, and to provide for the comfort of the whole world. And the poorest person among us has thousands of people at this very time engaged for him, to provide him with the comforts and conveniences of life.

2. In relation to the concerns of our souls.

Has not God preserved to us also, his Word and ordinances; dispensed, too, by the same ministry for forty years. (In the year 1822, the Author had ministered at Trinity Church the precise time that Moses and Aaron had to Israel.) And may we not say, also, that God has, during the whole of that period, “sent his Spirit to instruct you?” Yes, God has borne testimony to the word of his grace, and caused it to “come to you not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, 1 Thessalonians 1:5.” I would not willingly speak of anything relating to myself; that is the last subject that should ever be brought before you; but, having fulfilled the term that Moses and Aaron did before me; and being able to call to witness that, during the whole of that time, I have lived for you, and labored for you, and “declared unto you faithfully the whole counsel of God;” I cannot but remind you of God’s dealings with you in that particular, and make my appeal to you in the words of my text, “These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing! The example of Paul, in his address to the Elders of Ephesus (Acts 20:17-27; Acts 20:31,) must be the Author’s apology for the foregoing observations; which, after forty years of labor in the same church, may well be allowed.”

Whatever the value of these mercies are, it will be greatly heightened by considering,

II. Under what circumstances they have been continued to us.

If we look at Israel, they will serve as a mirror to reflect our image to the very life.

1. In viewing Israel, we may see how great our provocations to God have been.

Grievously neglectful of their duties were the Israelites, during the whole of their sojourning in the wilderness. Though commanded to circumcise their children, they never administered that rite in all that time, Joshua 5:5-7. Never but once had they held a Passover; and that was in the very first year after they had come out of Egypt, Numbers 9:5. And during the whole forty years they offered no sacrifice to God; but, on the contrary, paid their devotions to senseless gods, and graven images, Acts 7:41-43. Such was their conduct in the wilderness.

And what has been our conduct?

Have not our most solemn duties been neglected, or performed only in such a way as to show that our heart was not in them?

Have we attained the true circumcision, even “the circumcision of the heart, which is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit; whose praise is not of men, but of God, Romans 2:29.”

Have we fed upon the Paschal Lamb, even on “Christ our Passover, who has been sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5:7.” Have “we presented ourselves as living sacrifices to God, which has been our reasonable service, Romans 12:1.”

Have we not rather “set up idols in our hearts, Ezekiel 14:3,” even every heathenish abomination, and in ten thousand instances “loved and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore! Romans 1:25.”

And do we “find these things by secret search, Jeremiah 2:34.”

No! your whole lives proclaim it.

Must we go back to the Apostles’ days to find that “covetousness which is idolatry,” or the people “whose god is their belly,” and who have no delight in anything but the gratification of their sensual appetites? Let us look back through the whole time of our sojourning in this wilderness world, and we shall find our whole lives to have been one continued series of provocations, as if we had determined to “weary out our God, Isaiah 43:24,” and “grieve his very Spirit with our whorish heart, Ezekiel 6:9.” Yes, “this has been our manner from our youth, Jeremiah 22:21.” God “has known this to be our walking through this great wilderness;” and our consciences also attest that these accusations are true!

2. In viewing Israel, we may see how entirely we have been under the influence of unbelief.

Notwithstanding all that God did for Israel—yet they would “never believe his Word, Psalm 78:22; Psalm 78:32; Psalm 106:24.” And it was this very thing which most of all provoked him to “swear that they would never enter into his rest, Hebrews 3:18.”

And what has been our state in this respect? We have had God’s promises and threatenings set before us with all fidelity; but neither the one nor the other have been regarded; they have all appeared to us but as idle tales; and have had no more influence upon us, than if they had been unworthy of the smallest belief. Every earthly vanity has been able to excite a hope or fear—but God’s Word has been altogether despised.

Say, brethren, whether this be not true? Say whether the terrors of Hell have been sufficient to keep you from sin, or whether the glories of Heaven sufficient to stimulate you to a surrender of yourselves to God? With the exception of a few instances, wherein divine grace has wrought successfully upon this or that particular individual, the whole mass of us have lived as “without God in the world,” preferring our own will before his, and the gratification of ourselves before the honor of our God!

Such have been the circumstances under which our God has continued to load us with his benefits! “We have lacked nothing” that was conducive to our comfort; but God has lacked everything that should promote his glory!

See then, here.

1. What reason we have to admire the patience of our God.

He complains, “Behold, I am weighted down beneath you as a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves, Amos 2:13;” yet has he borne with us even to the present hour, “many a time turning his anger away, and not stirring up all his wrath,” to punish us, as we deserved! Psalm 78:38. Can you look back upon no season, brethren, when God might well have cut you off; and have “got honor to himself” in executing upon you the most signal vengeance! Exodus 14:17. I call upon you, then, to ‘glorify his name; and to acknowledge from your inmost souls, that “it is of his mercies that you have not been consumed long ago, even because his compassions never fail! Lamentations 3:22.”

2. What need we have to humble ourselves before him.

God’s patience will come to an end. “His Spirit will not always strive with man, Genesis 6:3.” He waits to be gracious unto us; but it is to the sincere penitent alone that he will impart the full blessings of salvation. His determination is, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy! Proverbs 28:13.” Contend, then, with God no longer; but let “his goodness and patience and forbearance lead you to repentance! Romans 2:4.”

3. What need do mere professors of religion, in particular, have to fear and tremble.

The whole people of Israel had been brought out of Egypt, and been both blessed and honored by God as his peculiar people; and yet they perished in the wilderness. And this is recorded as an admonition to us, 1 Corinthians 10:1-12. Jude, also, particularly labors to impress this warning on our minds, Jude verse 5. Let it sink then, into all our hearts, Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 4:1; for the very bounty of our God, in the bestowment of temporal and spiritual blessings upon us, will only aggravate our condemnation, if we do not make a suitable improvement of them.

We may have “lacked nothing for forty years,” and yet “lack a drop of water” to cool our tormented tongues to all eternity! I beg you, brethren, see to it, that your “hearts be right with God;” and that the blessings bestowed on you in this life, be the means of preparing you for richer blessings in the world to come.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 1:21

“See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

The journeyings of the Israelites in the wilderness afford an inexhaustible fund of instruction to us. The history of their deliverance from Egypt, their trials and supports, and their final entrance into the land of Canaan—so exactly corresponds with the experience of believers in their journey heaven-ward, that we are never at a loss for an illustration of spiritual truths, from that which actually took place among God’s ancient people.

The Israelites, after one year spent in the wilderness, were now arrived on the very confines of Canaan; and the exhortation which I have now read to you, was part of the address of Moses to them, encouraging them to go up and take possession of the land. And, assuming (what I need not now state to prove) the justness of the parallel between their state and ours, the words before us contain,

I. The command given to us in reference to the promised land.

There is for us, as there was for Israel, “a rest” prepared, Hebrews 4:8-9. This passage sufficiently proves the parallel that is here assumed.

1. We are here bidden to take possession of the promised land by right, as the gift of God.

Canaan was given to Abraham and his seed by God himself; and the grant was confirmed with an oath, that the possession of it should infallibly be secured to them, verse 8. God had a right to bestow it upon whoever he would; and they to whom he should assign it had a perfect right to occupy it. The former possessors were no more than tenants at will; and, if God saw fit to dispossess them, and to let it out to other gardeners, no injury was done to them, either on the part of the Great Proprietor, or on the part of those whom he appointed to succeed to the inheritance. This I say, in order to satisfy the minds of those who, through ignorance of the tenure on which the land was held, feel a repugnance to the transfer, and to the mode in which the transfer of the land was effected.

In relation, however, to the land which we are called to possess, no such feeling can exist. Heaven is the free gift of God to Abraham’s spiritual seed, as Canaan was to Abraham’s natural descendants. It is given to them in Christ Jesus; yes, it was given to them even before the worlds were made! Titus 1:2 and 2 Timothy 1:9. And, as a person receiving a grant of land from an earthly monarch would go up without hesitation to take possession of it, so should every person who believes in Christ regard the heavenly land, and go up, not to make it his own, but to take possession of it as his own. No thought of purchasing it must for one moment enter into his mind. If he is united unto Christ by faith, that is a sufficient title; and from that moment he may claim it as his own.

This command then do we give, in the name of Almighty God, to every one of you who believes in Christ, “Go up and possess the land,” which the Sovereign of the universe, of his own love and mercy, has given to you!

2. We are here bidden to take possession of the promised land by conflict, as the fruit of victory.

Though the land was given them—yet were they to gain it by the sword. And we also have enemies without number to encounter. The world, the flesh, and the devil—all obstruct our way; and must be vanquished, before we can sit down in the full enjoyment of the promised inheritance. Nor let it be thought that Heaven is the less a gift on this account; for though we fight, it is not our own sword that gets us the victory. It was “God himself who drove out the inhabitants” of the earthly Canaan; and it is through God alone that our weapons produce any effect in subduing our enemies before us, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.

How compatible the two are, will appear from what our blessed Lord has said, “Labor not for the food that perishes, but for that which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give unto you, John 6:27.” You must fight; and you must conquer; but, after all, you must say, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name be the praise! Psalm 115:1.”

Together with this command, we are taught,

II. The way in which we should address ourselves to the performance of it.

The command of God to us is positive, as that to them also was; and,

1. Our obedience to God should be prompt.

I am persuaded they would have done well, if they had never thought of sending spies to search out the land, and to tell them against what cities they should direct their first efforts. It was a carnal expedient, as the event proved. True it is, that “Moses was well pleased” with the proposal, verse 23; but he would not have been well pleased, if he had clearly seen from whence it issued, and what would be the result of it. He conceived it to be expressive only of a determination to go up, the very instant they should be directed where to go. And, supposing that there was no mixture of unbelief in it, it might be laudable enough. But what need had they of men to “search out the land,” and to direct their efforts? Had not Almighty God himself, for the space of a whole year, “gone before them to search out places from day to day where they should fix their tents? verse 33.” Had he done this “by a pillar of fire by night, and by a cloud by day,” and was he not both able and willing to show them “by which way to go up” to the land, and what cities to attack? I say again, it was a carnal expedient, as the outcome proved; and it was the source of all the calamities that they endured for the space of forty years. Had they said to Moses, ‘Pray to God for us, to direct us; and we are ready to go;’ they would have done well; but, by trusting to an arm of flesh, they fell.

In like manner, we should obey the divine mandate without delay. We should “not confer with flesh and blood, Galatians 1:16;” we should not be consulting how we may avoid the trials which God has taught us to expect; but should look simply to the Captain of our salvation, and follow implicitly his commands; regarding no word in comparison with his, nor ever dreaming of a more convenient season than the present. What He calls us to do, we should “do” instantly, and “with all our might.”

2. Our confidence in God should be entire.

They were bidden “not to fear, or be discouraged.” So neither should we “fear” any dangers that may threaten us, or “be discouraged” under any trials we may be called to sustain. As for “Anakim,” or cities “walled up to Heaven,” what are they to us? “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world! 1 John 4:4” If Jehovah be on our side, what have we to fear? We may say of all our enemies, as Joshua did of those he was called to encounter, “They are bread for us! Numbers 14:8-9;” and shall not only be devoured as easily as a morsel of bread, but they, and all that they have, shall be our very support, invigorating our souls by the energies they call forth, and augmenting the happiness which they labor to destroy. Whatever may occur, we should never stagger at the promise through unbelief; but “be strong in faith, giving glory to God, Romans 4:20.” We should go forward in the spirit of the holy Apostle, “If God is for us, then who can be against us! Romans 8:31.”

Hear then, believers, and follow my advice.

1. Survey the land!

See whether it be not the glory of all lands, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Come up to Pisgah, and look down upon it; or rather, I would say, Come up to Zion, and behold its length and breadth. See already, and taste the fruits of it. Take into your hands “the grapes of Eshcol,” and tell me whether the whole world besides affords such fruit.

Methinks, some of you at least have already partaken of them; yes, I doubt not, but that in “the light of God’s countenance lifted up upon you,” and in “his love shed abroad in your hearts”—you have already found a pledge and a foretaste of your heavenly inheritance.

But still, I say: Survey the land. “Not one of its inhabitants ever says, I am sick, Isaiah 33:24.” “No sorrow is there, no sighing, no pain, no death! Revelation 21:4.” “Nor is there any night there; it needs neither the sun nor moon to lighten it; for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is the light thereof! Revelation 21:23.”

Tell me, then, is it not worth the conflict? Is anything too much to do, or too severe to suffer, in order to obtain it, Romans 8:18. Only keep that glorious object in view, and you will never sheathe your sword, until you have gained the victory.

2. Perform your duty.

Gird on your swords. Go forward against the enemy. Make no account of any obstacles. Think neither of the strength or number of your enemies. Say not, “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the LORD says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save! Isaiah 49:24-25.”

Neither be discouraged from a sense of your own weakness; for “God will perfect his own strength in your weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.” Go on simply depending on your God. Rest on that word of his, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness! Isaiah 41:10.” With confidence do I address you thus; for the Lord Jesus Christ himself has said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom! Luke 12:32.” Only “fight the good fight of faith;” and you shall be “more than conquerors, through Him who loved you!”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

DEUTERONOMY 1:11

“May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!”

To decline any measure of exertion in behalf of people committed to our care, may appear to argue a lack of love to them. But there are certain bounds beyond which a man cannot go; his physical strength will fail; and his attempts to persevere beyond his capacity of performance will defeat the very object he has in view, and prove an injury to the people whose welfare he is laboring to consult.

The care of all the people of Israel, two million in number, had devolved on Moses; and he endeavored, as their chief magistrate, to dispense justice to them all, by hearing and determining every subject of litigation that was brought before him. This occupied him from morning to night, and was obviously impairing his bodily health; the labor was too great for him; and he would soon have sunk under it. By the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law, he appointed people, chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to hear all the causes which were of inferior consequence, and reserved to himself the determination of those only which were of a more difficult nature, and which required a more especial reference to God himself.

Moses was now arrived at the borders of Jordan, and at the last month of his life; and was directed of God to record, and leave behind him in writing, a brief memorial of the principal events which had taken place, and the principal laws which had been promulgated during their sojourning in the wilderness; so that the generation which had arisen in the wilderness might, by a special recapitulation of those events, have them the more deeply impressed on their minds, and be stirred up by the remembrance of them to serve their God with more fidelity than their fathers had done.

The appointment of these inferior judges was one of the first acts which took place in the wilderness; and, as it originated from Jethro, his father-in-law, and not from God—Moses was fearful that it might be open to an unfavorable construction, and that he might appear, if not to have neglected his duty towards the people, at least to have been defective in love towards them; and therefore, in relating the fact, he tells them how anxiously he had at the very time manifested his zeal in their service; since, while issuing his order for the appointment of these men, instead of grudging that they were so numerous as to render the minute attention which he had hitherto paid to their concerns impracticable, he had expressed the most ardent desire for their further increase, saying, “May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!”

This benevolent wish of his, will lead me to consider the prosperity of God’s Israel:

I. Let us consider the prosperity of spiritual Israel as a matter of promise.

To the promises of God relating to this subject Moses refers, “May the Lord bless you, as he has promised you!”

Now God has promised innumerable blessings to those who are of Israel according to the flesh.

He had assured Abraham that his seed should be numerous “as the stars of Heaven, and countless as the sands upon the sea-shore, Genesis 15:5.” They had already multiplied greatly; (they were about thirty thousand times as many as they had been two hundred and fifty years before,) and they should yet multiply to a far greater extent, as they did in succeeding ages; and as they shall do in ages yet to come. For though at present they are brought low and are very few in number, God has expressly declared, by his prophet, that “he will multiply them above their fathers, Jeremiah 33:22; Deuteronomy 30:5.”

His blessings, too, shall be richly poured out upon them, not only as they were in Canaan, in the days of David and Solomon, but in a measure that can scarcely be conceived. Even in a temporal view, I apprehend, the magnificent descriptions of the prophets will be realized, Amos 9:11-15; Zechariah 8:3-8; but in a spiritual view I am perfectly sure of it; for they shall be restored to their God, and be as great monuments of God’s love and mercy in the world, as ever they have been of his wrath and indignation, Zechariah 8:13; Zechariah 8:18-23. Yes, the time is now fast approaching, when “from them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be disdained, Jeremiah 30:19.” “This is what the LORD says: Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ Jeremiah 31:7.”

God promised innumerable blessings to his spiritual Israel also.

That these are included in the wish of Moses, there can be no doubt; for, in the promise which be more immediately refers to, where it is said, “In blessing I will bless you, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore;” it is added, “And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed! Genesis 22:17-18.”

Here, beyond all doubt, is reference to the whole Gentile world, who shall in due season be converted to the Lord, and together with Israel become “one fold under one Shepherd.” That these were included in the promise made to Abraham, Paul expressly declares, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In you shall all nations be blessed. So, then, they which be of faith” (whether Jews or Gentiles, the same are the children of Abraham, and) “are blessed with faithful Abraham Galatians 3:7-9.” He further declares, that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, Galatians 3:13-14.” Here, then, we have a fuller insight into the wish of Moses, as expressed in the text; a wish in which every pious person under Heaven must concur.

II. Let us consider the prosperity of spiritual Israel as an object of desire.

“O that the Lord God of our fathers would multiply his people a thousand-fold, and bless them, as he has promised them!” If any of you need a stimulus to concur in this wish, reflect on,

1. The benefit that will accrue to every converted soul.

Were we to contemplate a soul actually taken out of Hell, and translated to a throne of glory in Heaven—we would say, indeed, that such a one had reason to rejoice. Yet, what is it less than this that is done for every child of God? Are we not doomed to perdition? Is there any child of man that is not “by nature a child of wrath? Ephesians 2:3.” Consequently, if delivered from condemnation, “is he not a brand plucked out of the fire? Zechariah 3:2.” Is he not, at the very time that he is “turned from darkness to light, turned also from the power of Satan unto God? Acts 26:18.” Does he not actually “pass from death unto life 1 John 3:14.” and is he not “delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son? Colossians 1:13.”

Reflect then on this, as done for only one soul; and there is reason, abundant reason, for every person in the universe to pant for it. But consider it as extended to thousands, and millions, yes, millions of millions, and who should not pant and pray for that? See what a commotion is produced in Heaven even by the conversion of one soul; for “there is joy among the angels, in the very presence of God, over one sinner who repents;” and what must we be, who feel so indifferent about the conversion and salvation of others? Truly, we have need to blush and be confounded before God, for the coldness with which we contemplate his promised blessings.

2. The honor that will redound to God.

Behold our fallen race! Who is there among them that bears any measure of resemblance to the image in which man was first created? Who regards God? Who does not practically “say to God: Depart from me; I desire not the knowledge of your ways Job 21:14.”

But let a soul be apprehended by divine grace, and converted to faith in Christ, and what a different aspect does he then bear! Truly, the whole works of creation do not so brightly exhibit the glory of God, as does this new-created being. Brilliant as are the rays of the noonday sun, they do not display even the natural perfections, and still less the moral perfections, of the Deity, as he; who, from the image of “his father the devil,” is “transformed into the image of God himself, in righteousness and true holiness.”

Now, too, he begins to live unto his God, and by every possible means to exalt his glory in the world, acknowledging him in all things, serving him in all things, glorifying him in all things.

Is there a man that is in any respect sensible of his obligations to God, and not desirous that such converts should be multiplied? Did David “shed rivers of tears for those who kept not God’s law;” and shall not we weep and pray that such people may be converted to God, and made monuments of his saving grace. But conceive of this whole world that is in rebellion against God, converted thus, and God’s will done on earth as it is done in Heaven; and shall this be to us no object of desire? Truly, we should take no rest to ourselves, nor give any rest to God, until he accomplish this blessed work, Isaiah 62:6-7, and until “all the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of Christ! Revelation 2:15.”

3. The happiness that will arise to the world.

Every soul that is converted to God becomes “a light” to those around him; and as “salt,” to keep, as it were, from utter putrefaction, the neighborhood in which he dwells. In proportion, then, as these are multiplied, the very world itself assumes a different aspect; instead of the brier, there grows up the fir-tree, and “instead of the thorn, there grows up the myrtle-tree;” until, at last, “the whole wilderness shall blossom as the rose,” and this “desert become as the garden of the Lord!” I need not say more.

The wish of Moses is, methinks, the wish of every one among you; and you are all saying with David, “Blessed be God’s glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen! Psalm 72:19.”

You will ask, then, What shall we do to accelerate this glorious event?

God works by means. He did so in the apostolic age; and he will do so still; and if we have any love either for God or man, we should use all the means within our power for the increase of the Church and the salvation of the world. Yet may we learn a very important lesson from the conduct of Moses, in the appointment of people to labor with him. He had sustained the burden, himself alone, and doubtless thought that he was rendering an acceptable service both to God and man. But his father-in-law said to him, and said with truth, “The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear away, both you, and the people that are with you; for this thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it yourself alone. Hearken now unto my voice; I will give you counsel, and God shall be with you.” And then he proceeds to advise, that he should provide, out of all the people, a number of pious and able men to co-operate with him in the work wherein he was engaged, Exodus 18:17-23. Moses did well in following the advice; for if he had not, his indiscreet zeal would have soon worn him out, and deprived the whole nation of the benefit of his labors for forty years.

It were well if pious ministers would attend to this hint. There is scarcely a man who has any zeal for God or love for souls, who does not so multiply his labors, as to reduce his strength in a few months or years; when true wisdom would teach him so to regulate his exertions, that he may hope to continue them unimpaired to nearly the end of life.

I do not mean to dampen the zeal of ministers, but only to direct it. It is impossible to be too zealous for the Lord; but it is possible enough, and too common also, to exercise zeal in so indiscreet a way, as greatly to injure the Church which we profess to serve.

Let the zeal of our people be called forth; let them be invited to labor with us, to visit the sick, to instruct the rising generation, and to engage in everything which may benefit our fellow-creatures and exalt the honor of our God. With all the aid that can be afforded us, there will be work enough for us to do; and we should endeavor to perform our duties with spirituality and zeal, rather than to abound in mere bodily exercise, which, after all, will profit but little for the salvation of souls.

Are there then, among you, any that know the value of your own souls? I call on you to help your minister in all those parts of his office which you can with propriety perform. And I trust, that if we will all exert ourselves according to our several abilities, the work of God will rapidly advance among us, and our “Jerusalem soon become a praise in the earth.”

When all, both male and female, concurred in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, every one working in front of his own door, the whole was completed in the incredibly short space of two-and-fifty days, Nehemiah 2:12; Nehemiah 2:20; Nehemiah 3:6; Nehemiah 6:15-16. And what effects would we see, if all were unanimous and earnest in advancing, each according to his ability, the work of God among us? Methinks, our numbers would be greatly multiplied, and “showers of blessings” would be poured out among us!

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Numbers 35:24-28

“the assembly must judge between him and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send him back to the city of refuge to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. “‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he has fled and the avenger of blood finds him outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. The accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may he return to his own property.”

[This was an Assize Sermon, preached at Cambridge, July, 1803.]

The impartial administration of justice is one of the richest blessings that result from civilization and good government. It counteracts the evil which might otherwise arise from inequality of rank and fortune, and, without leveling the distinctions which are necessary for the well-being of society, prevents the abuse of them. It keeps every member of the community in his proper place and station; it protects the rich from the rapacity of the envious, and the poor from the oppression of the proud; and, while it imposes on all a beneficial restraint, it gives to all personal security and mutual confidence.

Supposing therefore that the inspired volume had made no provision for the administration of justice; it would have been expedient to establish such an order of things as should maintain the rights of men inviolate, or inflict fitting punishment on the aggressors.

But God has graciously admitted this subject into the code which he has given us; he has put honor upon those who are appointed to preside in judgment; he has declared them to be his own representatives and viceregents upon earth; he has required the utmost deference to be paid them, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake; and has on some occasions ratified their decisions by extraordinary dispensations of his providence In the destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

The protecting of the innocent, and the punishing of the guilty, were objects of especial care in the government which he himself established upon earth. This appears, as from a variety of other ordinances, so particularly from the appointment of cities of refuge, where people, who had accidentally or willfully taken away the life of a fellow creature, might flee for safety until the matter should be examined, and the judgment of the congregation declared respecting it.

This enactment, which is to be the subject of the present discourse, may be considered in a two-fold view; namely, as a civil ordinance, and as a typical institution.

I. First, let us consider the appointment of cities of refuge as a civil ordinance. For the sake of clarity we will begin with explaining the nature and intent of the ordinance, and then make such remarks upon it as our peculiar circumstances require.

The ordinance was simply this.

There were to be six cities separated at convenient distances, three on either side of the Jordan River, that any people who had occasioned the death of a fellow-creature might flee to one or other of them for safety, until the circumstances of the case should be investigated, and his guilt or innocence be ascertained. The person next of kin to him who was killed, was permitted to avenge the blood of his relation in case he overtook the slayer before he reached the place of refuge; but, when the slayer had got within the gates of the city, he was safe. Nevertheless the magistrates were to carry him back to the town or village where the transaction had taken place; and to institute an inquiry into his conduct. Then, if it appeared that he had struck the deceased person in wrath or malice, (whether with any kind of weapon, or without one,) he was adjudged to be a murderer, and was delivered up to justice; and the near relative of the murdered person was to be his executioner. If, on the contrary, it was found that he had been unwittingly and unintentionally accessory to the person’s death, he was restored to the city where he had fled, and was protected there from any further apprehensions of the avenger’s wrath.

Nevertheless he was, as it were, a prisoner at large in that city; he was on no account to go out of it; if the avenger should at any time find him outside the borders of the city, he was at liberty to kill him. This imprisonment continued during the life of the high-priest; but at his death it ceased; and the slayer was at liberty to return to his family and friends. This part of the ordinance was probably intended to put honor upon the high-priest, whose death was to be considered as a public calamity, in the lamenting of which all private resentments were to be swallowed up. Such was the ordinance itself. We now come to the intention of it.

The intention of the ordinance.

The shedding of human blood has ever been regarded by God with the utmost abhorrence. The first murderer indeed was spared in consequence of a divine mandate; but not from mercy, but rather, that he might be to the newly-created world a living monument of God’s wrath and indignation.

The edict given to Noah says expressly, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” But, as there must of course be different degrees of guilt, according to the circumstances under which any person might be killed, God appointed this method of securing protection to the innocent, and punishment to the guilty. The accomplishing of these two objects was, I say, the direct end which God proposed. Provision was thus made that unselfish and experienced judges should have the cause brought before them, and determine it according to evidence.

If the man were guilty, and declared to be so on the evidence of two witnesses, he must die; whatever were his rank in life, he must die; no commutation of punishment could possibly be admitted.

If the man were innocent, or were not convicted by the testimony of two witnesses, (for no man was to be put to death on the testimony of one witness only,) the whole congregation was bound to secure him from the effects of animosity and vindictive wrath.

Yet even in the protection thus afforded to the man-slayer, there were many circumstances which were intended to mark God’s abhorrence of murder; for though no blame attached to the man who had unwittingly slain his neighbor—yet he must leave all that was dear to him, and flee in danger of his life to the city of refuge, and continue there a prisoner, perhaps as long as he lived, and certainly to the death of the high-priest; nor could his confinement there be dispensed with; there was no more commutation of sentence allowed for him, than for the murderer himself.

The injunctions of God relative to this deserve particular notice, “You shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death; but he shall be surely put to death. And you shall take no satisfaction for him who is fled to the city of his refuge; that he should come again and dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So you shall not pollute the land wherein you are; for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.”

In the remarks that we shall have occasion to make on this ordinance, we must of necessity be more particular than we could wish; but in all that we may say upon this most interesting subject, we beg to be understood, not as presuming to incriminate any individual, but as declaring in general terms what we believe to be agreeable to the mind of God, and what we are bound in conscience to declare with all faithfulness.

That there is an ardent wish in all our legislators, and in all who superintend the execution of the laws, to maintain the strictest equity, none can doubt; a conviction of it is rooted in the mind of every Briton; and the bitterest enemies of our country are compelled to acknowledge it. But in some respects there is in our laws an awful departure from the laws of God; I should rather say, a direct opposition to them.

Adultery, by the law of God, was punished with death, with the death of both the offenders. But by our laws the penalties attach only, or principally, when the crime is committed by the wife, and then only on her paramour. That the penalties have on some occasions been heavy, we confess; but never once too heavy. Yet it happens that the very penalty itself may in some cases contribute to the evil which it is intended to repress; to repress I say, rather than to punish; for, if public report may be credited, the penalty recently adjudged was expressly said to be, not a punishment inflicted on the offender, but a compensation to the injured party. In this view the crime is never punished as a crime, when no less a punishment than death was by God’s law to be awarded to it. I allude to the murders that are committed in duels, and which have greatly, and increasingly defiled our land. It has been said, and with too much reason, that our laws are harsh. They doubtless are so in many instances; but on the subject of duelling, whether from the laws themselves, or from the influence of those who administer them, or from the connivance of those who are sworn to give a verdict according to them, they are criminally lax. On this account, as well as for the cruelties of the slave trade, God has a controversy with us. I know that political expediency is urged in support of both these evils; but what have we to do with expediency in express opposition to the commands of God?

Let me recall to your minds that declaration of God already cited, that “blood defiles the land, and that the blood that is shed therein cannot be cleansed but by the blood of him who shed it;” and let me turn your attention to another passage, which I would to God that every senator might hear, yes that it might reach the ears of majesty itself, forasmuch as it would reflect no inconsiderable light on the circumstances in which we are involved.

You will find it written in 2 Kings 24:2-4. “The Lord sent against him (the king of Judah) bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it …Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed, (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood,) which the Lord would not pardon.”

The Jews probably ascribed the invasion of their country to the avarice or anger of the Babylonish monarch; and we also may trace our present dangers to the insatiable ambition of a tyrant; but in our case, as well as theirs, it is certain, that “at the commandment of the Lord all this has come upon us;” and the same reason also may be assigned, “Our land is defiled with blood,” with the blood of thousands of our fellow-creatures in Africa, and with the blood of murderous duelists in our own land; with “blood (I say) which the Lord will not pardon.”

Moreover, these iniquities must be considered as sanctioned by the legislature, because they who alone have the power, adopt no measures to cleanse the land from these horrible defilements. God therefore has taken the matter into his own hands, and has stirred up once more our inveterate enemies to avenge his quarrel. The time is come when he is about to “make inquisition for blood,” and when he will require at our hands both the innocent blood that we have shed, and the guilty blood which we have forborne to shed. O that we might take warning before it be too late; and put away the evils which are likely to involve us in utter ruin!

Thus it appears that the ordinance before us is by no means uninstructive, or irrelevant to the present occasion, when God’s representatives in judgment are about to investigate causes, and to execute the laws. And we hope that in delivering our opinions on such momentous concerns we shall not be thought to have exceeded our province, or to have transgressed the rules which modesty, combined with faithfulness, would prescribe.

But we are to consider the appointment of these cities of refuge in another view also; namely,

II. As a typical institution.

The whole of the Mosaic economy was “a shadow of good things to come;” and the typical import of it is illustrated at large in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Of course it cannot be expected that every particular part of it should be opened to us with the same precision. What was most essential to the understanding of Christianity, was explained to us fully, and the parallel drawn by an infallible hand. What was less necessary, was merely referred to, without any express delineation of its import; its signification being clearly to be gathered from the light reflected on other parts, and from the analogy of faith.

There is not much said respecting the typical import of the cities of refuge; yet there are plain and manifest allusions to it. The prophet says, “Turn to your stronghold, you prisoners of hope;” in which words he marks the precise state of those who had fled to the cities, as “prisoners of hope.” Paul speaks of Christians as “fleeing for refuge to the hope set before them;” wherein he alludes not only to the cities themselves, but to the care taken to keep the roads leading to them in good repair, Deuteronomy 19:3, and by direction-posts to point it out to those, who, if retarded by obstacles, or detained by inquiries, might lose their lives.

Again, alluding to the danger of those who should be found out of the borders of the city, he expresses his earnest desire to “be found in Christ.” But in explaining images of this kind there is need of much caution and sobriety, lest, while we endeavor to illustrate Scripture, we give occasion to the adversary to regard it as fanciful and absurd. We are however in no danger of exceeding the limits of sober interpretation, if we say that the cities of refuge were intended to teach us three things:

That we are all sinners and liable unto death.

That there is one only way for our escape.

That those who flee to the appointed refuge are safe forever.

That we are all sinners and liable unto death, is plain to every one that acknowledges the authority of Scripture. We all are sinners; as sinners, we are condemned by the holy law of God; which says, “Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” We are therefore in the situation of the man-slayer, pursued by him whose right it is to avenge himself on us for our transgressions. Whether our transgressions have been more or less heinous, his right is the same, and our danger is the same, if we are overtaken by his avenging arm. We may urge many pleas in extenuation of our guilt; but they will be of no avail. We may not have been so bad as others; but we “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God:”, “every mouth therefore must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” The very calling of Christ by the name, Savior, is a plain confession, that in ourselves we are lost; for “he came to save only those who are lost.”

Further proof of this being unnecessary, we proceed to observe next,

That there is but one way for our escape.

There were many cities in Canaan; but none afforded protection to the man-slayer, except those which had been separated for that express purpose. We too may think that there are many refuges for us; but all, except one, will be found “refuges of lies, which will be swept away with the broom of destruction.”

Repentances, reformations, alms-deeds, are all good and proper in their place; but none of them, nor all together, can ward off the sword of divine vengeance, or afford security to our souls. Christ is the only refuge! His blood alone can expiate our guilt, “his name is the tower to which we are to run for safety;” “neither is there any other name given under Heaven whereby we can be saved.”

The man-slayer might perhaps escape the vigilance of the avenger, or, if overtaken, might successfully withstand him. But who can elude the search of Almighty God, or resist his power? The hope is vain. We must flee to Christ, or perish forever!

The urgency of the case is methinks a sufficient reason for our fleeing to Christ with all expedition. But if we need any further stimulus, let us reflect on the next hint suggested by the text; namely,

That those who flee to the appointed refuge are safe forever.

The man-slayer might stand within the gates of the city, and defy the threats of his adversary; for the whole city was pledged for his security. And may not the sinner, who has taken refuge in Christ, behold without alarm the threatenings of the law, secured as he is by the promise and oath of Jehovah? From the city of refuge indeed those who had committed willful murder were brought forth for execution. But was ever one cast out who came to Christ? Was ever one taken from that sanctuary in order that he might suffer the sentence of the law? It is possible that through the remissness of the magistrates the rights of those privileged cities might be violated; but who shall violate the engagements of Jehovah? Who shall break in to destroy a sinner lodged in the bosom of his Lord? God himself assures us that “there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

There is however a striking and beneficial intimation given us, respecting the necessity not only of fleeing to Christ, but of abiding in him. If the man-slayer for one moment ventured beyond the bounds of the city, he lost his privilege, and became exposed to the wrath of the avenger. Thus, if after we have escaped, as we think, from the vengeance of our God, we grow insensible of our guilt and danger, and do not carefully, by renewed applications to the Savior, abide in him—we expose ourselves to the most imminent peril. For, as “we cannot escape if we neglect so great salvation,” so neither can we, “if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth; there will remain nothing for us then but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume us.” Our situation will even be worse than ever; and “our latter end be worse than the beginning; for it would have been better never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after we have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us.”

Permit me then to address you all as in the situation before described, for none of us will presume to deny that we are sinners, or that, as sinners, we are liable to divine displeasure. Let me entreat you all to flee from the wrath to come. Let these principles be universally acknowledged among us, and deeply rooted in our hearts:

That there is no refuge but in Christ!

That all self-righteous methods of obtaining mercy will prove fallacious.

That every one must feel his guilt and danger, and, like the man-slayer when pursued by the avenger, flee as for his life, renouncing all things whatever that may impede his flight and endanger his soul. Pleasures, interests, friends—must all give way to this great concern; and all regard for them must be swallowed up in this, the one thing needful. To obtain a saving interest in Christ must be our great, our only care. We must “count all things but loss that we may win Christ and be found in him.”

The city of refuge was open day and night, and to a heathen sojourner as well as to the native Jew. In the same manner also is Christ accessible to us at all times, and his mercy shall be extended to all who flee unto him.

The cities of refuge were so situated, that any one at the remotest corner of the land might reach one of them in less than half a day. Just so, is not Jesus also “near to all that call upon him?” Yes, all, whether in this land, or in the most distant quarter of the globe, may come to him in one single hour, or, if I may so speak, in one single moment; for the soul that sincerely relies on him for pardon and acceptance, is enclosed by him as in an impregnable fortress, and shall be “saved by him with an everlasting salvation.”

Yet it is not sufficient to flee to him once; we must be daily and hourly fleeing to him in the habit of our minds; in other words, we must “abide in him,” by the continual exercise of faith, even to the last hour of our lives; then shall the death of our great High-Priest be available for our discharge, and we shall be restored to the complete and everlasting enjoyment of our friends, our liberty, and our inheritance.

Hitherto we have enforced the subject from topics suited to all people in all ages of the world. But we cannot conclude without adding a few considerations, which arise out of existing circumstances, and are peculiarly worthy of our attention.

That our enemies are Jehovah’s sword, and that he is come forth against us as an avenger, cannot but be confessed; but whether it be for our chastisement only, or for our utter destruction, none can tell. One thing however is sure; that the best possible method of pacifying divine anger, and averting the impending judgments, is to flee unto the Savior, and to seek mercy through him.

If once we were stirred up, as a nation, to take refuge in him, He who spared repenting Nineveh, would spare us, and either avert the gathering storm, or deliver us from its dreadful ravages. This is the direction uniformly given us by God himself. Thus he says by the prophet Zephaniah, “Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger! Zephaniah 2:1-3.” Again he says by Isaiah, “Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast; for, behold, the Lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the land for their iniquity.” Could we but be prevailed upon to follow this advice, we doubt not but that it would be more effectual for our preservation than all the navies that can be built, or all the armies that can be mustered; for if God were for us, then none could successfully fight against us. If we were even already vanquished, yes, and led into captivity, still we “should take those captive whose captives we were, and should rule over our oppressors.” Let me not however be understood as disregarding the proper means of self-defense; for God saves by means; and to expect his interposition without using our utmost efforts in our own behalf, would be presumption.

Though therefore we would exhort all in the first place to flee for refuge to the hope set before them, we would also exhort them to stand forth manfully against the enemy; to regard neither time, nor labor, nor property, no, nor life itself—so that they may but help forward to the uttermost their country’s cause. And though the occupation of a warrior is the last perhaps that a man of piety would choose—yet on the present occasion conscience requires, rather than forbids, that all of us should unite with heart and hand to repel the foe, and to sacrifice our lives, if need be, in defense of our religion and liberties, our property and friends, our king and country.

Still however we must recur to our former observation; and urge in the first place the necessity of turning to our stronghold. Would to God that none of us might delay, or loiter, or slacken our pace, or yield to weariness, or regard anything that we leave behind; but that all might flee, as Lot out of Sodom, to our adorable Savior! Then, whether we live or die, we must be safe. The enemy may destroy our bodies, but our great adversary can never hurt our souls. Our immortal part will be placed beyond the reach of harm; and when empires fall, yes, and the whole earth shall be dissolved by fire, we shall dwell in mansions that are inaccessible to evil, and enjoy a bliss that shall never end!

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)