PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Horae Homileticae — Volume 9 of 21
Simeon, Charles, 1759-1836 · 243,747 words · 533 reading sections
The Conversion Of The Jews Our Duty To Promote It.
[" Fear not, fear not, fear not." It is God's delight to " bind up the broken-hearted, and to comfort all that mourn ;" and thrice does he renew to you the exhortation, " Fear not." Only seek to have his presence with you, and you need fear nothing. Remember the disciples in the storm. Could they sink whilst Jesus…
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found them, have devoured them : and their adver- saries said, We offend not ; because they have sinned against the Lorda." But was his anger any reason for theirs ? Was man justified in despising them, because they were under the chastisement of their offended God? Assuredly not : for God himself complains of th…
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lated < nevertheless' e{] Nevertheless, all that devour thee shall be devoured ; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity ; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil : and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey : for / will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy …
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term " Jezv" would afford us ample scope for the exercise of our malignity. Let it suffice to say, that even in this land, which, in respect of civil and religious liberty, stands unrivalled amongst the na- tions of the world, and where toleration is carried to its utmost extent, there has been, within the memory …
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e See on Zech. xiv. 7. o 2 beheld it with any marked disapprobation ; much less have we made it a ground for humiliation before God, and implored grace from Him to change and amend our ways. Such, then, having been our conduct, let me pro- ceed to set before you, as I proposed, under the second head of my disco…
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his " great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart" arise, but from the conviction of his mind, that, whilst they continued to reject the Saviour, they were under the wrath of God ? And whence arose his unabated efforts in their behalf, " that by any means he might save some," if he did not consider them all as i…
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And are the Jews of this day less neighbours to us, than those in our Lord's day were to the Samaritans ? Yet have we seen the perishing condition of that whole nation, without any suitable emotions, or any efforts made by us in their behalf. We may extenuate our fault as we will ; but, in the sight both of God a…
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to us for their use, we are guilty of the grossest injus- tice. Suppose, in a time of dearth, a person of opu- lence should commit to his steward a sum of money for the relief of persons who were specifically described ; and that, on inquiry, he should find that his steward had altogether withheld relief from thos…
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might but be employed as instruments to " turn us from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Most remarkable is that declara- tion of St. Paul, to this effect, to his Gentile converts at Philippi : " If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all …
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us by pious Jews of former ages lay us under no obligation to those who are ungodly in the present day," I would reply, that no one of us would argue thus in matters of mere temporal concern ; but that, on the contrary, we should rather feel the claims of such persons augmented by their very necessities. Suppose,…
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and rose again1 ?" This, methinks, is the least that we can do. To love him, to serve him, to glorify him in every possible way, is surely no more than " our reasonable service." Now, when he would instruct the Apostle Peter, how to evince his love, and how to render him the most acceptable service, what direc- t…
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towards the recovery of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We might, at least, have felt towards them as the Apostle did, when he said, " My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they may be savedy :" yea, like our blessed Saviour, we might have " wept " over their desolate condition z ; and wi…
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may say, as our Lord did to the Jews, " If we had never been addressed upon the subject, we might have had no sin : but now we shall have no cloak for our sin." If I should attempt to trace this neglect of our Jewish Brethren to what I conceive to be its true cause, I must impute it, in a very considerable degree…
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sad indifference even about their own souls. Too many amongst us have never truly sought salvation for themselves : how then could they seek the wel- fare of others ? If they have never " looked on Him whom by their sins they have pierced/' and never mourned for their own iniquities, how should they weep over the…
383 wordsSECTION 195206 Jeremiah, Xxx. 21. [1067.
of the daughter of my people : mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not,, without any intermission, till the Lord look down upon them, and behold from heaveng." This is the frame of mind which becomes us : and sure I am, that, if any measure of it be found in us, we shall neglect them no longer. We shall consider…
259 wordsSECTION 1961067.1 G0Ds Regard To Those Who Wait On Him. 207
god's regard for those who approach unto him. Jer. xxx. 21. Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me ? saith the Lord. THE history of the Jews is deserving of attention, not merely as unfolding to our view the gradual in- troduction of Christianity, but as shadowing forth all the most important part…
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faith." They approach him in the public ordinances and in their private chambers. They " have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus:" they come even to the throne of God : they " stir up themselves to lay hold on him," and " will not let him go, until he bless them." In this work they " engage t…
694 wordsSECTION 198Gracious Influences The Fruit Of Electing Love.
Application — [Are there any amongst you that can answer to the in- quiry, ' Lord, it is I : I find my need of thee : I have engaged my heart in thy service ; and am determined, through thy grace, that I will never go back V Let me congratulate you, my brethren : for " blessed is the man whom God chooses, and cau…
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making them to act contrary to their will, but by making them " willing in the day of his power V] 2. That their connexion with him is altogether owing to his influence — [If the most express declarations of Scripture can deter- mine any thing, the point in hand is established beyond a doubt : for our blessed Lor…
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enjoying the light of revelation, are objects of his sovereign choice, when we see far the greater part of mankind involved in midnight darkness : and yet we cannot endure the doctrine, when applied to the more immediate communication of God's mercy to our souls. But to God's everlasting love is our salvation ascr…
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clear, than that the doctrine of Divine influences pervades the Holy Scriptures, and that these influences are constantly represented as imparted to men according to God's sovereign will and pleasure : yet the generality of men reject those doc- trines merely because they cannot explain all the difficulties involv…
486 wordsSECTION 202214 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 7—9. [1069.
imagine that the doctrines of grace are subversive of morality, and that the honour which you give to God is only a cloak for idleness and sin. For this end alone are the drawings of God's Spirit desirable, namely, to make you more holy, more spiri- tual, more heavenly than any person without those influences can …
375 wordsSECTION 2031069.1 The Restoration Of The Jews. 215
Jer. xxxi. 7 — 9. Thus saith the Lord ; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations : publish ye, praise ye, and say, 0 Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind an…
459 wordsSECTION 204216 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 7—9. [1069.
[It is a great reproach to the Christian world, that, from the close of the apostolic age, they have shewn very little attention to the Jews. Indeed, they have overlooked the pro- phecies relating to them; and thought little more, either of God's interest in them, or theirs in him, than if not a word had been spok…
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bring them home to himself and, however discouraging their circumstances, will work effectually for them. View them when they came out of Egypt : nothing could exceed their weakness : yet he brought them out safely, with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. So now, though they be blind, and lame, and in a state …
447 wordsSECTION 206The Christian Pilgrims.
whether you have come to the Lord Jesus with weeping and supplication" and are walking steadily and uniformly in his holy ways This is as necessary for your salva- tion, as for theirs — — — ] 2. Endeavour to help forward the restoration of your Jewish Brethren — [You have seen that God enjoins you to interest you…
351 wordsSECTION 2071070. J The Christian Pilgrims. 219
If we should select those who were of all others most incapable of undertaking a journey of many hundred miles through a trackless desert, we should certainly fix on those mentioned in the text : yet those are the persons specified by God as chosen by him for that very purpose. We cannot doubt but that something …
429 wordsSECTION 208220 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 8, 9. [1070.
the poor and ignorant and vile in preference to others1, and by converting them to himself through the instrumentality of the weakest means k. Apparent discouragements therefore may rather operate to increase our expectations of more effectual aid ; since the weaker we are in ourselves, the more will Christ's stre…
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themp. None can be in so distressed a state, but they shall have " rivers" of consolation at hand for their refreshment01. Is their path peculiarly intricate and slippery? God will " make their way plain before their face:" " the rough places shall be plain, and the crooked paths straight." In seasons of difficult…
474 wordsSECTION 210World.
or what, is against you. Only " encourage yourselves in the Lord your God :" " in the mount of difficulty the Lord will be seeny;" though you are no better armed than Gideon's band with their lamps and pitchers, you shall put to flight all that oppose your progress z : and though you are as unfit for exer- tion as…
391 wordsSECTION 2111071.1 Blessings From A Preached Gospel. 223
considered in one connected view, would be lost. It is an exceedingly beautiful portion of Holy Writ ; in elucidating which I shall be led to set before you, I. The event which we are here commanded to pro- claim— You perceive that all " the nations " of the earth, are called upon to " hear " from God, and to " p…
399 wordsSECTION 212224 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 10—14. [1071.
in fact, the chief articles which were presented unto God in sacrifice ; and consequently they designate those services which conduced at the same time to the honour of God, and to the refreshment of man. Under these are comprehended the word and ordinances of Jehovah, and especially those great and precious promi…
455 wordsSECTION 2131071.] Blessings From A Preached Gospel. 225
1. As it respects the Jews — [The Christian world has been strangely inattentive to their duty in this respect, from the apostolic age even to the times in which we live. In reference to the heathen world, some little interest has been felt: but the Jewish nation has been almost wholly overlooked ; and the promise…
497 wordsSECTION 214Inquire,
" gathered, and kept by the Good Shepherd," even by him who " ransomed us" with a price, and " laid down his life for the sheep" - — We too, in coming to Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, may expect a full enjoyment of all the same bene- fits ; all of us, as "a royal priesthood," being partakers of God's altar, and li…
476 wordsSECTION 2151072.1 The Reflections Of A Penitent. 227
goods, and have need of nothing" in their own estimation, and unconscious that " they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked e:" and whilst they continue so uncon- scious of their need of a Redeemer, it is not to be wondered at that they are so little affected with the tidings of redemption. O…
380 wordsSECTION 216228 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 18—20. [1072.
Jer. xxxi. 18 — 20. / have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus ; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke : turn thou me, and I shall be turned ; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that / was turned, I repented ; and after that I teas instructed, I smote up…
409 wordsSECTION 2171072.] The Reflections Of A Penitent. 229
[He feels the necessity of divine grace to change his heart c. He therefore cries to God, " Turn thou me." He ventures like the prodigal to address God as his God. He urges this relation as a plea to enforce his request.] We next see the state of his mind in the progress of his repentance — He reflects upon the p…
358 wordsSECTION 218230 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 30. [1073.
we are his children11. God appeals, as it were, to our con- trition, in proof that we are his.] He further expresses his compassionate regard for him — [The eludings and rebukes of God are all in love1. But the afflicted penitent is apt to complain with Zion of oldk — God however never feels for us more than when…
303 wordsSECTION 2191073.1 The Sure Consequences Of Sin. 231
Jer. xxxi. 30. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. POPULAR sentiments, even when they become so general as to be reduced to a standing proverb, are not therefore to be received as true : they must be tried, exactly as if they were the suggestions of any solitary individual ; sinc…
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" The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." But besides this, God, in his dealings with his own peculiar people, had, on many occasions, caused the children to suffer for the iniquities of their parents. At the general deluge, and at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, the n…
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punished in his children, where is there, on the face of the whole earth, a person who has not merited all that has ever come upon him? and who has not reason to acknowledge that " God has punished him far less than his iniquities have deservedk?" Whatever may have been the primary occasion of our troubles, there …
429 wordsSECTION 222234 . Jeremiah, Xxxi. 30. [1073.
But, not to confine ourselves to the licentious profligate, let us ask of the man who, whilst externally moral, is yet under the influence of evil tempers, Who ever harboured envy in his bosom, and did not find it " as rottenness in his bonesp"? Or, who ever gave way to anger, malice, revenge, and did not experien…
484 wordsSECTION 2231073.1 The Sure Consequences Of Sin. 235
but to those who are contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evily."] To all of you then I say — 1. Contemplate, not so much the immediate, as the more remote, consequences of sin — [Sinful indulgences no doub…
647 wordsSECTION 224The New Covenant.
Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the house ofJudah : not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; (which my covenant they brak…
258 wordsSECTION 2251074.1 The New Covenant. 237
establishment of the other, are foretold. But before we enter on the comparison between the two, it will be necessary to observe, that there are, properly speaking, only two great covenants ; under the one or other of which all the world are living : the one is the Adamic covenant, which was made with Adam in Par…
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for himself: but, though they might write it on parchment, they could not inscribe it on their own hearts. This however God engages to do for all who embrace the new covenant. He will make all the laws which he has revealed, agreeable to us : he will discover to us the excellency of them ; and " cause us to deligh…
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shall be taught of himd," " the least as well as the greatest," yea, the least often in preference to the greatest e. And in proof that this promise is really fulfilled to all who receive the Gospel, St. John declares it to be a known acknowledged fact: " We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an u…
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It is worthy of observation, that the Apostle, mentioning this grant of the new covenant, particularly specifies, that God, "finding fault with" the Jews for their violations of the old covenant, says, " I will make a new covenant'." Had he said, ** Commending them for their observation of the inferior cove- nant,…
485 wordsSECTION 2291074.] The New Covenant. 241
instruction of every kind, except the blessed book of God, are often so richly taught by the Spirit of God, as to put to shame those who enjoy the greatest external advantages"1. The forgiveness of sins which was vouchsafed under the old covenant, was not such as to bring peace into the conscience of the offender:…
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in these words, " the Holy Ghost is a witness to us;" for that, in promising first, that " the law should be written in our hearts," and then, that " our sins and iniquities should be remembered no more," he had attested fully the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice, and given ample assurance, that those who relied …
527 wordsSECTION 231The Churchs Security.
Jer. xxxi. 35 — 37. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar ; The Lord of Hosts is his name : If those ordinances depart from me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel al…
291 wordsSECTION 232244 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 35—37. [1075.
Certainly they refer, 1. To God's ancient people, the Jews — [To them he here promises, that, whatever they may suffer, they shall not be lost, as other nations have been, amongst their conquerors ; but shall be preserved a distinct people, even to the end ; and shall, notwithstanding all that they have done to p…
740 wordsSECTION 233246 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 35—37. [1075.
But to enter fully into these promises, we should consider also, II. The use which is to be made of them by indivi- dual Believers — They certainly may be applied by believers to themselves, for the comfort of their own souls. The promise that was made, in the first instance, to Is- rael, relative to the possess…
650 wordsSECTION 234246 Jeremiah, Xxxi. 35—37. [1075.
attended to, we shall both raise in ourselves the most unwar- rantable expectations, and subject God himself to the imputa- tion of violating his own word.] 3. As to the use that is to be made of them when so applied — [Doubtless they are intended to comfort and encourage the Lord's people, under all their trials…
462 wordsSECTION 235248 Jeremiah, Xxxii. 37—42. [1076.
and to plead them before God in faith and prayer : and, pro- vided only you embrace them as unworthy, and regard them as made to you only in Christ, and for Christ's sake, you can never place too strong an affiance in them : " the stronger you are in faith, the more will you give glory to Godn." But that against w…
410 wordsSECTION 2361076.1 The Future Conversion Of The Jews. 249
Jer. xxxii. 37 — 42. Behold, I will gather them out of all coun- tries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to divell in safety : and they shall be my people, and I ivill be their God : and I will give them…
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expiration of seventy years, according to the predictions of the prophet respecting it. But the terms in which this is declared almost necessarily lead our minds to a restoration yet future; because it was from Babylon alone that the first deliverance was vouchsafed, whereas the promise relates to a deliverance " …
470 wordsSECTION 2381076.] The Future Conversion Of The Jews. 251
behalf, and renew to them all the wonderful interpositions which he vouchsafed to them in former days. At least ten times is this promise in our text repeated to them by the prophets, that " they shall again be God's people, and he their God;" or, as it is very emphatically said, " a God unto themf." Nor can any l…
501 wordsSECTION 239252 Jeremiah, Xxxii. 37—42. [1076.
not be so in that day : for, like Abraham of old, the parents will " command their children, and their households after them, to fear the Lord ; " and the whole nation, for many suc- cessive generations, will be " an holy people unto the Lord." Here it will be proper to observe, that this diffusion of piety will n…
442 wordsSECTION 2401076. J The Future Conversion Of The Jews. 253
call your attention to the way in which he undertakes to keep them : it is not through the medium of a bold, presump- tuous unhallowed confidence, such as you see in many profes- sors of religion, and such as betrays itself in rash, unscriptui'al assertions : it is by " putting his fear into their hearts," and cau…
516 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical edition (1832-33); scan/OCR from Internet Archive.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.