Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight which He hath made crooked?
The power of God, and the duty of man
I. What we are to understand by “the work of God.” This is an expression often used in the Scriptures, and has different significations. In one place it refers to the two tables of stone, containing the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God and given to Moses. In another to the reception of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith (John 6:29-30). In a third to the progress of the Gospel, and to the influence of the Holy Spirit in the heart, by which a radical change is effected, and holy tempers produced (Romans 14:20). In the text it is evidently used to point out to us the infinitely wise arrangement of all the situations and circumstances of the sons of men: that the bounds of their habitation are marked out by Him to whom all things in earth and heaven owe their existence.
II. The impossibility of altering or defeating the purposes of god. To prove this, might I not refer to the experience and observation of all people? Our fields may be cultivated with all imaginable care--we may sow the best corn that can be procured--but if the will of the Lord be so, we can reap nothing but disappointment. If He designs to chastise a guilty people by sending a famine upon them, lie can make a worm, or a dew, hail, storm, or lightning, to blast man’s hope in a moment, and to teach him that except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; and that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain (Psalms 127:1). If it be His will to fill a sinner with remorse of conscience, He can make him cry out with Cain, My punishment is greater than I can bear--or with Joseph’s brethren, when they imagined that vengeance was about to overtake them, We are verily guilty concerning our brother--or with Judas, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. All hearts are in His hand; His power rules over all; none can stay that hand or resist successfully that power.
III. The duty incumbent on man to be satisfied with his lot. A sinner by nature and practice, man deserves no blessing from his Maker--he can lay no claim to a continuance of present mercies, nor has he in himself any ground to hope for fresh ones--of course everything he enjoys is unmerited. Is it for such a being as this to be dissatisfied with what he possesses, because others possess more? Is it for him to think that he is hardly dealt with, while oppressed by pain, sickness; hunger or thirst--when a moment’s reflection ought to convince him that anything short of hell is a blessing? The heart must be changed by the grace of God before it can rejoice in tribulation--and testify that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and it is through the belief of the Gospel that this change is effected.
IV. Consideration is an important and plainly enjoined duty--and when we take into account the character of man, and the distractions produced in his mind by visible things, its necessity is quite apparent. Let us then consider that we are not called upon to account for the Lord’s dealings, or to make the vain attempt of reconciling the seeming contrarieties in the Divine administration. If clouds and darkness are round about Him, we may yet be sure that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. His servants will one day understand, as far as is necessary, everything which now appears dark and perplexing, and in the mean season they are called to live by faith--to “take no thought for the morrow”--to “commit their ways unto Him,” and to be satisfied with the assurance that “the Judge of all the earth does right.” (P. Roe, M. A.)
The crook in the lot
A just view of afflicting incidents is altogether necessary to a Christian deportment under them: and that view is to be obtained only by faith, not by sense. For it is the light of the Word alone that represents them justly, discovering in them the work of God, and consequently designs becoming the Divine perfections. These perceived by the eye of faith, and duly considered, one has a just view of afflicting incidents, fitted to quell the turbulent motions of corrupt affections under dismal outward appearances.
I. Whatsoever crook is in one’s lot, it is of God’s making.
1. As to the crook itself, the crook in the lot, for the better understanding thereof these few things following are premised.
(1) There is a certain train or course of events, by the providence of God, falling to every one of us during our life in this world: and that is our lot, as being allotted to us by the sovereign God, our Creator and Governor, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways.
(2) In that train or course of events, some fall out cross to us, and against the grain; and these make the crook in our lot.
(3) Everybody’s lot in this world hath some crook in it. Complainers are apt to make odious comparisons: they look about, and taking a distant view of the condition of others, can discern nothing in it but what is straight, and just to one’s wish; so they pronounce their neighbour’s lot wholly straight. But that is a false verdict: there is no perfection here, no lot out of heaven without a crook.
(4) The crook in the lot came into the world by sin: it is owing to the fall (Romans 5:12).
2. Having seen the crook itself, we are, in the next place, to consider of God’s making it.
(1) That the crook in the lot, whatever it is, is of God’s making, appears from these three considerations. It cannot be questioned, but the crook in the lot, considered as the crook, is a penal evil, whatever it is for the matter thereof: that is, whether the thing in itself, its immediate cause and occasion be sinful or not, it is certainly a punishment or affliction. Now, as it may be, as such holily and justly brought on us, by our sovereign Lord and Judge, so He expressly claims the doing or making of it (Amos 3:6). It is evident from the Scripture-doctrine of Divine providence that God brings about every man’s lot and all the parts thereof.
(2) That we may see how the crook in the lot is of God’s making, we must distinguish between pure sinless crooks and impure sinful ones. There are pure and sinless crooks: the which are mere afflictions, cleanly crosses; grievous indeed, but not defiling. Such were Lazarus’ poverty, Rachel’s barrenness, Leah’s tender eyes, the blindness of the man who had been so from his birth (John 9:1). Such crooks in the lot are of God’s making, in the most ample sense, and in their full comprehension, being the direct effects of His agency, as well as the heavens and the earth are. There are impure sinful crooks, which, in their own nature, are sins as well as afflictions, defiling as well as grievous. Such was the crook made in David’s lot, through his family disorders, the defiling of Tamar, the murder of Amnon, the rebellion of Absalom, all of them unnatural. Now, the crooks of this kind are not of God’s making, in the same latitude as those of the former; for He neither puts evil in the hearts of any, nor stirreth up to it (James 1:13). But they are of His making, by His holy permission of them, powerful bounding of them, and wise over-ruling of them to some good end.
(3) It remains to inquire why God makes a crook in one’s lot. And this is to be cleared by discovering the design of that dispensation: a matter which it concerns every one to know, and carefully to notice, in order to a Christian improvement of the crook in their lot. The design thereof seems to be, chiefly, seven-fold. The trial of one’s state--whether one is in the state of grace, or not? Whether a sincere Christian, or a hypocrite? Excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world. Conviction of sin. As when one, walking heedlessly, is suddenly taken ill of a lameness; his going halting the rest of his way convinceth him of having made a wrong step; and every new painful steep brings it afresh to his mind: So God makes a crook in one’s lot, to convince him of some false step he hath made, or course he hath taken. Correction or punishment for sin. In nothing more than in the crook of the lot is that word verified (Jeremiah 2:19). Preventing of sin (Hosea 2:6). Many are obliged to the crook in their lot, that they go not to these excesses, which their vain minds and corrupt affections would with full sail carry them to: and they would from their hearts bless God for making it, if they did but calmly consider what would most likely be the issue of the removal thereof. Discovery of latent corruption, whether in saints or sinners. The exercise of grace in the children of God. The crook in the lot gives rise unto many acts of faith, hope, love, self-denial, resignation, and other graces; to many heavenly breathings, pantings, longings, and groanings, which otherwise would not be brought forth.
II. What crook God makes in our lot, we will not be able to even.
1. Show God’s marring and making a crook in one’s lot, as He sees meet.
(1) God keeps the choice of every one’s crook to Himself: and therein he exerts His sovereignty (Matthew 20:15).
(2) He sees and observes the bias of every one’s will and inclination how it lies, and wherein it specially bends away from Himself, and consequently wherein it needs the special bow.
(3) By the conduct of His providence, or a touch of His hand, He gives that part of one’s lot a bow the contrary way; so that henceforth it lies quite contrary to that bias of the party’s will (Ezekiel 24:25).
(4) He wills that crook in the lot to remain while He sees meet, for longer or shorter time, just according to His own holy ends He designs it for (2 Samuel 12:10; Hosea 5:15).
2. Consider man’s attempting to mend or even that crook in their lot. This, in a word, lies in their making efforts to bring their lot in that point to their own will, that they may both go one way; so it imports three things.
(1) A certain uneasiness under the crook in the lot; it is a yoke which is hard for the party to bear, till his spirit be tamed and subdued (Jeremiah 31:18).
(2) A strong desire to have the cross removed, and to have matters in that part going according to our inclinations.
(3) An earnest use of means for that end. This natively follows on that desire. And if the means used be lawful, and not relied upon, but followed with an eye to God in them, the attempt is not sinful either, whether he succeed in the use of them or not.
3. In what sense it is to be understood, that we will not be able to mend or even the crook in our lot?
(1) It is not to be understood as if the case were absolutely hopeless, and that there is no remedy for the crock in the lot. For there is no case so desperate but God may right it (Genesis 18:14).
(2) We will never be able to mend it by ourselves; ii the Lord Himself take it not in hand to remove it, it will stand before us immovable, like the mountain of brass, though, perhaps, it may be in itself a thing that might easily be removed. We take it up in these three things. It will never do by the mere force of our hand (1 Samuel 2:9). The use of all allowable means, for it will be suecessless unless the Lord bless them for that end (Lamentations 3:3). It will never do in our time, but in God’s time, which seldom is so early as ours (John 7:6).
4. Reasons of the point.
(1) Because of the absolute dependence we have upon God (Acts 17:28).
(2) Because His will is irresistible (Isaiah 46:10).
Inference
1. There is a necessity of yielding and submitting under the crook in our lot; for we may as well think to remove the rocks and mountains, which God has settled, as to make that part of cur lot straight which He hath crooked.
2. The evening of the crook in our lot, by main force of our own, is but a cheat we put on ourselves, and will not last, but, like a stick by main force made straight, it will quickly return to the bow again.
3. The only effectual way of getting the crook evened is to apply to God for it.
Exhortation
1. Let us then apply to God for removing any crook in our lot, that in the settled order of things may be removed.
2. What crook there is, that, in the settled order of things, cannot be got removed or evened in this world, let us apply to God for suitable relief under it.
3. Let us then set ourselves rightly to bear and carry under the crock in our lot, while God sees meet to continue it. What we cannot mend, let us bear Christianity, and not fight against God. So let us bear it--
(1) Patiently, without firing and fretting, or murmuring (James 5:7; Psalms 37:7).
(2) With Christian fortitude, without sinking under discouragements--“nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him” (Hebrews 12:5).
(3) Profitably, so as we may gain some advantage thereby (Psalms 119:71).
Motives to press this exhortation.
1. There will be no evening of it while God sees meet to continue it.
2. An awkward carriage under it notably increases the pain of it.
3. The crook in thy lot is the special trial God has chosen for thee to take thy measure by (1 Peter 1:6-7). Think, then, with thyself under it. Now, here the trial of my state turns; I must, by this be proven either sincere or a hypocrite. For--
(1) Can any be a cordial subject of Christ without being able to submit his lot to Him? Do not all who sincerely come to Christ put a blank in His hand? (Acts 9:6; Psalms 47:4). And does He not tell us that without that disposition we are not His disciples? (Luke 14:26).
(2) Where is the Christian self-denial and taking up of the cross without submitting to the crook? This is the first lesson Christ puts in, the hands of His disciples (Matthew 16:24).
(3) Where is our conformity to Christ, while we cannot submit to the crook?
(4) How will we prove ourselves the genuine kindly children of God, if still warring with the crook?
4. The trial by the crook here will not last long (1 Corinthians 7:31).
5. If ye would, in a Christian manner, set yourselves to bear the crook, ye would find it easier than ye imagine (Matthew 11:29-30).
6. If ye carry Christianly under your crook here, ye will not lose your labour, but get a full reward of grace in the other world, through Christ (2 Timothy 2:12; 1 Corinthians 15:58).
7. If ye do not carry Christianly under it, ye will lose your souls in the other world (Jude 1:15-16).
III. Considering the crook in the lot as the work of God is a proper means to bring one to carry rightly under it.
1. What it is to consider the crook as the work of God.
(1) An inquiry into the spring whence it riseth (Genesis 25:22).
(2) A perceiving of the hand of God in it.
(3) A representing it to ourselves as the work of God, which He hath wrought against us for holy and wise ends, becoming the Divine perfections. This is to take it by the right handle, to represent it to ourselves under a right notion, from whence a right management under it may spring.
(4) A continuing of the thought of it as such. It is not a simple glance of the eye, but a contemplating and leisurely viewing of it as His work that is the proper mean.
(5) A considering it for the end for which it is proposed to us, viz. to bring to a dutiful carriage under it.
2. How is it to be understood to be a proper means to bring one to carry rightly under the crook?
(1) Negatively; not as if it were sufficient of itself, and as it stands alone, to produce that effect. But
(2) Positively; as it is used in faith, in the faith of the Gospel: that is to say, a sinner’s bare considering the crook in his lot as the work of God, without any saving relation to him, will never be a way to carry rightly under it: but having believed in Jesus Christ, and so taking God for his God, the considering of the crook as the work of God, his God, is the proper means to bring him to that desirable temper and behaviour.
3. I shall confirm that it is a proper mean to bring one to carry rightly under it.
(1) It is of great use to divert from the considering and dwelling on these things about the crook, which serve to irritate our corruption.
(2) It has a moral aptitude for producing the good effect. Though our cure is not compassed by the mere force of reason; yet it is carried on, not by a brutal movement, but in a rational way (Ephesians 5:14). This consideration has a moral efficacy on our reason, is fit to awe us into submission, and ministers much argument for it, moving to carry Christianly under our crook.
(3) It hath a Divine appointment for that end, which is to be believed (Proverbs 3:6).
(4) The Spirit may be expected to work by it, and does work by it in them that believe, and look to Him for it, forasmuch as it is a mean of His own appointment. (T. Boston, D. D.)
Crooked things
(with Isaiah 40:4):--These two passages contain a question and the answer to it. We are taught therefrom that God, and God alone, can make that straight which He has permitted to be made crooked--that He alone can make that plain which He has allowed to become rough.
I. The inequalities, or crookedness, of temporal things.
1. We must first of all grant that crooked things are not necessarily evil things. Many of them are very beautiful--many very useful. If all the limbs of a tree were straight, how curious would be our surroundings! If all the fields were flat, how monotonous the landscape, and how unhealthy the situation! It is when crookedness takes the place of that which ought to be straight that the crookedness becomes an evil.
2. We must, secondly, bear in mind that these crooked things are made so by God--“that which God hath made crooked.” There are many reasons why He has done so, but He has not revealed all those reasons to us. Some, however, are so evident that we cannot but see them.
(1) He would not make this world too comfortable for us, or else we should never desire a better one.
(2) He could not leave us without temptations, or else we should never be proved.
(3) He could not obliterate the consequences of sin until sin is done away. Man brought these consequences on himself at the fall, and they must remain as long as sin remains.
3. Let us now glance at some of these crooked things.
(1) See them in nature. There are extremes of heat and cold. No part of the world is without its drawbacks. In no country are all advantages combined. A warm land has venomous serpents, and insect-plagues infest the inhabitants. In northern countries the cold absorbs half the pleasure of human life. Tornadoes, tempests, storms destroy the verdure of spring, and spread terror and dismay. Mountains and oceans and language separate nations. The very change of seasons introduces an element of uncertainty and crookedness.
(2) See it in life. Pain racks the limbs, fear, anxiety, dread, sorrow, bereavement, trial, the bitter struggle of existence, the cry of cruel want, poverty, and improvidence; the strange distribution of wealth and power, the inequalities of ability. All these things stand out prominently and in lurid brightness, among the crooked things.
(3) See it in social relationships. We meet with crooked characters, and crooked dispositions in others, and are not without crooked tempers in our own breasts. There are contrary people around us, conceited people, thoughtless people, with whom we come in contact. There are changeable people, irritating people, cross-grained people, vexatious acts and foolish repartees, until, disheartened and crushed, we feel as if it were a very crooked world indeed.
(4) See it in spiritual things. No sooner do we begin to try to serve and love God than these roughnesses crop up. Watch the door of your lips and see how much irreverence, how many vain and foolish words come forth. Watch your tempers, and something surely comes to put them out of gear.
II. No human power can put these things straight. How could we expect anything different? How can man contravene the purposes of an almighty God? No more can we expect to rectify things in this world than we could expect to create the world itself.
III. The grand consummation referred to in our second text--“The crooked shall be made straight.” Yes; but this is by God Himself, and not by man. God shall put things straight by going down to the cause of their disorder. He will not attack the details like man would when he finds a medicine to cure a pain; but He will set the springs right, and then all the wheels will run with smoothness and regularity. (Homilist.)
The crooked in life
I. What is here implied. It is something crooked. What is this? It is not the same in all, but it may easily be found.
1. It is sometimes found in the mind. One complains of the slowness of his apprehension; another of a narrow capacity; another of a treacherous memory.
2. It is sometimes found in the body. Some are defective in their limbs. Some are the subjects of indisposition and infirmity.
3. It is sometimes found in our connections. Perhaps it is a bad wife. Perhaps it is a brother. Perhaps it is a servant. Perhaps it is a treacherous or a frail friend.
4. It is sometimes found in our calling or business. Bad times. Untoward events. Dear purchases and cheap sales. Bad debts.
5. Sometimes it is found in our condition considered at large. Is the man wealthy? In the midst of his sufficiency he is afraid of poverty. Has he been crowned with success? There is some circumstance that tarnishes the lustre, or mars the joy. Has he honour? This bringeth along with it defamation. Has be exquisite pleasure? It soon cloys, and the repetition of the scene becomes insipid.
II. What is expressed--namely, that God is the author of this. There is no such thing as chance in our world. Nothing can befall us without the permission and appointment of the all-disposing providence of our Heavenly Father. Now, how rational this is. Why, surely it is not beneath God to govern what it was not beneath Him to create!
III. What is enjoined. It is to “consider.”
1. So consider the work of God as to be led to acknowledge that resistance to it is useless.
2. See and acknowledge the propriety of acquiescence.
(1) Remember, in order to produce this acquiescence, that your case is not peculiar.
(2) remember that all is not crookedness.
(3) There is wisdom in the appropriating of your crook.
(4) There is goodness in your crook.
3. So consider the work of God as to improve it and turn it to advantage.
(1) Let it embitter sin.
(2) You are to improve it by turning from the creature to the Creator.
(3) You are to improve it, by its leading you from earth to heaven. (W. Jay.)
In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.
Prosperity and adversity
The life of man is made up of prosperity and adversity, of pleasure and pain, which succeed one another here below in an eternal rotation, like day and night, summer and winter. Prosperity and adversity usually walk hand in hand. The Divine providence hath joined them, and I shall not put them asunder, but offer some remarks upon them both.
I. I begin with the latter part of the sentence; in the day of adversity consider. In the day of adversity we should consider whether we can free ourselves from it. For it happens sometimes that whilst we complain, we have the remedy in our own hands, if we had heart and the sense to make use of it; and then we cannot expect that men or that God should assist us, if we are wanting to ourselves. But most commonly adversity is of that nature, that it is not in our power to remove it; and then we should consider how to lessen it, or how to bear it in the best manner we can. We should consider that adversity, as well as prosperity, is permitted or appointed by Divine providence. God hath so ordered the course of things that there should be a mixture and a rotation of both in this world, and, therefore, we ought to acquiesce in it, and to be contented that God’s will be done. Submission, patience and resignation are of a calm and quiet nature, and afford some relief, composure and peace of mind; but repining and reluctance only irritate the pain, and add one evil to another. To tell an afflicted person that it must be so, may be thought a rough and an overbearing argument, rather fit to silence than to satisfy a man. Therefore we should add this consideration, not only that adversity is proper because God permits it, but that God permits it because it is proper. Perhaps we have brought the adversity upon ourselves, by our own imprudence and misconduct. If so, it is just that God should suffer things to take their course, and not interpose to relieve us, and we ought to submit to it, as to a state which we deserve. Nature, indeed, will dispose us in such a case to discontent and to remorse; but religion will teach us to make a good use of the calamity. God may suffer us to fall into adversity by way of correction for our sins. If so, sorrowful we should be for the cause, and sorrowful we may be for the effect; but we have many motives to patience, resignation and gratitude. It is much better that we should receive our punishment here than hereafter; and if it produce any amendment in us, it serves to the best of purposes, and ends in peace and joy and happiness. God may visit us with adversity, by way of trial, and for our greater improvement, that we may correct some frailties and faults into which prosperity hath led us, or of which it could never cure us, that we may look upon the transitory vanities of the present world with more coldness and indifference, and set our affections on things above, that we may be humble and modest, and know ourselves, that we may learn affability, humanity and compassion for those who suffer, and likewise that we may have a truer taste for prosperity when it comes, and enjoy it with wisdom and moderation. Upon all these accounts adversity is suitable to us, and tends to our profit.
II. One of the ends of adversity is to make us better disposed and qualified to receive the favours of God, when they come, with prudence and gratitude, and, as Solomon directs us in the other part of the text, to rejoice in the days of prosperity.
1. We ought to be in such a temper as to be easily contented, and to account our state prosperous whenever it is tolerable.
2. We ought to remember that prosperity is a dangerous thing, that it is a state which often perverts the judgment, and spoils the understanding, and corrupts the heart, that it is never sincere and unmixed, that it is also of a precarious nature, and may leave us in an instant. By being sober and sedate, it will be more easily preserved, and the less liable to pass away, and to be turned into sadness. The truest joy is an even cheerfulness, pleased with the present, and not solicitous about the future.
3. We ought to consider what Solomon, who exhorts us to rejoice in prosperity, hath represented as the most important point: Let us hear, says he, the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this concerns us all. This is what every man may do, and this is what every man must do, and whosoever neglects it cannot be happy.
4. If we would rejoice in prosperity, we must acquire and preserve, cherish and improve a love towards our neighbour, an universally benevolent and charitable disposition, by which we shall be enabled to take delight not only in our own prosperity, but in that of others; and this will give us several occasions of satisfaction, which selfish persons never regard or entertain.
III. This subject which we have been discussing is considered in a very different manner in the old testament and in the new. Solomon, as a wise man, recommends it to his nation to be cheerful in prosperity and considerate in adversity. Further than this the wisdom and religion of his times could not conduct a man. But St. Paul, when he treats the subject, exhorts Christians to rejoice evermore, and consequently in adversity as well as in prosperity; our Saviour commands His disciples to rejoice and to be exceeding glad when they should be ill used for His sake; and it is said of the first believers, that they were sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, and that they had in all circumstances an inward serenity, of which nothing could deprive them.
1. Christianity represents God as a God of love and goodness, and removes all gloomy and superstitious apprehensions of Him.
2. It represents Him, indeed, as a God of perfect purity, holiness and justice, which must raise in mortal minds a dread proportionable to their imperfections and offences, that is, to those imperfections which are indulged, and to those offences which are wilful; but by the gracious doctrine of forgiveness to the penitent it allays all tormenting terrors and excludes despondence and despair.
3. It gives us rules of behaviour, which, ii carefully observed, have a natural and necessary tendency to secure us from many sorrows, and enliven our minds, and to set before us happy prospects and pleasing expectations.
4. It promises a Divine assistance under pressures and dangers, and losses and afflictions, which shall raise the mind above itself and above all outward and earthly things.
5. It promises an eternal recompense of well-doing, which whosoever believes and expects must be happy, or at least contented in all times and states: and without question, to a want of a lively faith, and of a reasonable hope in this great point, and to a certain degree, more or less, of doubt and diffidence, is to be principally ascribed the want of resignation and of composure.
6. When to these Christian considerations are also added reflections on the days of our abode here below, which are few, and on the world which passeth away, a sedateness and evenness of temper will ensue, which as it is patient and resigned under changes for the worse, so it is pleased with prosperity, accepts it as a Divine blessing, and uses it soberly and discreetly. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
Considerations
in adversity:--
I. The design of the visitation. It includes--
1. Correction.
2. Prevention.
3. Trial or testing of character.
4. Instruction in righteousness.
5. Increased usefulness.
II. The relief which God is ready to bestow.
1. Your afflictions are not peculiar. It is not “a strange thing that has happened unto you.”
2. They happen not by chance. God’s wisdom plans, and His love executes, them all.
3. They are not unmixed evil. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”
4. They are not to endure always. Only for “a moment,” and then heaven!
5. We are not asked to bear these afflictions alone. (Homiletic Review.)
Compensations for a poor harvest
More than one person has said to me, in relation to the services we hold to-day, “There is no harvest worth being thankful for this year.” We are like children, ready enough to find fault with their parents’ arrangements, but not so ready to be thankful for the daily care and love around them in the home. These they take for granted. There is, if we have only eyes to discern it, a wonderful law of compensation running through all things. It may be discerned even in the recent harvest, failure though it seems to be. We may see this if we remember that what is usually called the harvest is, after all, only a part of the harvest of the year. The autumn is not the only harvest time, though that may be specially the time of ingathering. All the year is, in greater or less degree, productive. And this year, though a poor one in respect of the harvest of hay and corn, is, if I mistake not, an exceptionally good one in respect of grass and roots on which the cattle so largely depend for sustenance. There is another aspect of the present year’s weather which should not be overlooked. We have grumbled at the continuous downpour of rain; but let us not forget that the rain which frustrated so many plans and caused so much anxiety, has replenished the springs which, through the drought of last year, had become so low that more than one English city came very near to a famine of water. And this leads me to say that very often weather which is good for one part of tile country, and for one kind of crop, is anything but good for another part and for another kind of crop. And sometimes we must be content to suffer that others may prosper, whilst when we prosper others must be content to suffer. We can’t have it always our own way. Unbroken prosperity is not good for us men who are so disposed to settle on our lees, and to cry, “I shall never be moved.” For let us not forget that the Divine arrangements in the lower and material world have reference to man’s higher nature. They are intended to be a means of moral and spiritual discipline. And if it be so, and that it is, few who have carefully observed life, will deny; then harvest disappointment will be often counterbalanced by a more enduring spiritual gain. Ii earthly loss force us to lift our eyes to the hills from whence cometh our help, then the gain is greater than the loss. But this principle of compensation--that one thing is set over against another--has wider applications. It seems to run through all the Divine arrangements. It applies to the different positions and callings among men--e.g. the rich seem to be the people to be envied; their lot seems to have no drawbacks; they seem to have everything that heart can wish. But riches do not ensure happiness; indeed, they too often lead men and women to so purposeless a life, to such a neglect of work, that life becomes a burden, and time hangs heavy on their hands. The poor man’s condition, on the other hand, seems to be without any compensations--one utterly to be pitied. But, as a matter of fact, except in extreme cases, the very necessity for labour brings with it no small measure of happiness, for work has more of pleasure in it than idleness. The happiest people are those who work, whether such work be compulsory or voluntary. Nor is it otherwise with the different callings of life. Those in which men have to work with the brain seem the easiest and pleasantest, and those in which men have to work with their hands the least to be desired. But work with the brain has its drawbacks. It develops the nerves at the expense of the muscles. It brings a weariness of its own. Whilst, on the other hand, work with the hand develops the muscles at the expense of the nerves, and has its own kind of weariness. Then, too, the same remark applies to the various ages. Youth longs for manhood, that it may escape restraint; but when the restraint goes, responsibility begins. Manhood longs for rest from toil; but when the time for rest comes, the vigour of life usually wanes. In each season one thing must be set over against another--the youth’s freedom from responsibility against the restraint under which he lives; the vigour of manhood over against its toil; the rest of old age over against its feebleness. There are very few conditions of life which have not their compensations; and no estimate can be fair which does not take them into account. Plato, in his “Gorgias,” says to Callieles, “I exhort you also to take part in the grave combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.” And if it is to be that, it would not do for life to be without drawbacks, disappointments, trials, changes. A life sheltered from all these would be a poor affair. But though these abound, yet there are always, or nearly always, compensations, which show a gracious design even in the midst of the discipline;that it is the order of One “who doth not afflict willingly, or grieve the children of men.” The laws under which we live look stern and hard; but in the heart of them is a loving purpose. (W. G. Herder.)
Hard times
“Hard times!” That is the cry we hear, all the week long, wherever we go. And this, strange to say, in face of crops of unparalleled abundance!
1. We ask ourselves, what is the cause of these hard times? “Over-production,” say some; others, “under-consumption.” One party blames a “high tariff”: the other, “free trade.” I will not attempt to discues here the purely political or economical aspects of the case. But there is a moral cause at work, which it is the province of the pulpit to point out. At this moment, while commerce and manufactures are nearly stagnant, the money market is glutted with funds that cannot be used! Why? One answer is, for want of confidence. Monstrous frauds, disgraceful failures, outright robberies, and numberless rascalities, small and great, have paralyzed credit, and made sensitive capital shrink into itself. We want more plodding and patient industry, more incorruptible honesty. No man can revolutionize a community. But every good man has a certain power, more, perhaps, than he thinks. It is the honest men who keep society from going to pieces altogether.
2. Under cover of the proverb, “Desperate diseases require desperate remedies,” certain wild proposals are put forward by professed “friends of the working man,” who are really his worst enemies, whether they mean it or not. Take, for example, the Socialist idea of abolishing private property in land or anything else, making the State the universal proprietor and the universal employer, and all men’s conditions equal. It is only under the maddening pressure of hunger that just and reasonable men can entertain such schemes. In dragging down “bloated monopolists,” we bury the day-labourer in the common ruin. It is like setting fire to the house to get rid of the rats!
3. What a light is east by our present condition on the Bible sayings, “We are members one of another”: “No man liveth unto himself!” We live in a vast system of cooperation and interdependence. And this, whether we wish it or not. The ends of the earth are ransacked to furnish food and clothing. Sailors cross the seas, miners delve in the earth, woodmen hew down the forests, farmers sow and reap, mechanics ply their tools, merchants buy and sell, physicians study diseases and remedies, teachers instruct, authors write, musicians sing, legislators make, judges administer and governors execute laws--all for your benefit and mine. God has bound us up together, so many wheels in a vast machine, different members of one body. You cannot break away from it. It is as foolish as it is wicked to try to live apart, for ourselves alone, to take and not to give, to expect good only, and to complain of suffering through those around us.
4. That is a good time to “consider” what use we have made of past times of “prosperity” in preparing for days of “adversity.” We must learn the old-fashioned virtues of saving and “going without.” And these hard times are sent, among other things, to drive that lesson home. Those who came from the old and crowded lands of Europe are showing us examples in this that we should be wise to follow.
5. We do well to ask ourselves at this time how far the words of God by Malachi apply to our case: “Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me.”.. . “Wherein? In tithes and offerings.”
6. Not all of us feel the full pressure of hard times. If you are not thrown out of employment, if your pay is not reduced, if your investments yield as much income, if your business is nearly or quite as profitable, what special duties devolve upon you? First, great thankfulness to God. By the sharp sorrows of your less fortunate neighbours learn how good He has been to you. Do not think that if is because of your superior worth. One duly is to see that His cause of the Gospel does not suffer--to give double because others can only give one-half. Another is, to relieve the wants of deserving sufferers.
7. May I say a brotherly word to those who do feel the pressure of the times? If is a hard discipline you are passing through, very hard. But “your Father knoweth.” Money and goods are not everything. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he poseesseth.” Your character, your soul, is more to you than your earthly condition. That is what God is training, and the wide sweep of this providential dispensation, affecting whole nations, also includes your individual case. Receive the chastening. Submit without murmuring. Exercise your heart in the strong virtues of patience and fortitude. “Hope thou in God.” “Walk by faith, not by sight.” (F. H. Marling.)
Sunshine and shadow
I. First, concerning this twofold word of exhortation. “In the day of prosperity be joyful.” Prosperity then is not in itself an evil thing. Undue prosperity is not to be coveted. “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.” But prosperity which is obtained in honest fashion, accepted with a thankful heart, and employed for the glory of God, is surely one of the best boons that Heaven itself can send. Further, gladsomeness is by no means to be prohibited. Alas! for those who would stop our laughter. God Himself is glad, His Gospel is glad; it is the Gospel of the glory of the happy God. Christ Himself is joyous. Let your hearts have their sacred outpourings; let your souls rejoice before the Lord in the land of the living. “Be joyful in the Lord.” Spiritual prosperity is best of all. Be thankful and bless His name. But the other part of the exhortation is not less necessary, and is, perhaps, more appropriate to the most of my hearers. “In the day of adversity consider.” What are we to consider? Not the adversity only. “Consider the work of God.” So this adversity is the work of God. He may have employed agencies, but He is at the back of them. Even the devil works in chains, and can do nought apart from permission from the throne. “Consider the work of God.” Look away to first causes, trace the stream to its source. When you think of this adversity as being the work of God you come to the conclusion that it is all right, that it is the best thing that could happen. It is better than prosperity if it is the work of God.
II. Now we turn to the second point, As observation. “God hath even made the one side by side with the other.” Oh, what mercy there is here. If you had prosperity all the days of your life it would be the ruin of you. He has woven our web of time with mercy and with judgment. He has paved our path of life with mingled colours, so that it is a mosaic, curiously wrought; sunshine and shadow have been our lot almost from babyhood till now, and April weather has greeted us from the cradle, and will be with us till the tomb. If this is true in daily life, it is true also of religious experience. You must not be surprised that your way is up and down. So far as we are responsible for it it should not be so. Spiritual experience is of the switchback order after all, up towards heaven and down into the deep, but it matters little if we are going onward all the time, and upward to the glorious end. The Lord sets the one beside the other.
III. This word of explanation as we end. Why has God allowed it thus to be? Why does He give us joy to-day and grief to-morrow? It is that we may realize that His way is not of a set pattern; that He works according to a programme of His own choosing; that though He is a God of order, that order may be very different from our order; that we may come to no conclusion as to the probabilities of our experiences to-morrow, that we may make no plans too far ahead; that we may not peer behind the curtain of obscurity and futurity. (Thomas Spurgeon.)