A Sermon

BY THE LATE REV. JOHN KENNEDY, D.D., DINGWALL.

“The Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.”—MICAH vi. 2.

(Concluded from page 93.)

III.—Let us now call your attention to some of the many grounds of the Lord’s controversy with us.

1. First and greatest of all the sins that can be charged against us is our abuse of the Gospel. The rejection of Christ is the great sin of our land. He is despised and rejected by an unbelieving and hard-hearted generation, and were there no other cause of controversy this would suffice to justify all the dealings of judgment with which we could be visited. But not only is the Son of God contemned by the most of Gospel-hearers, as has ever been the case—this is now done by a generation that inherited costly privileges, in the abuse of which it has acquired an easy habit of rejecting the “unspeakable gift” of God. The most of us sleep profoundly under the power and guilt of unbelief—yea, to many the sound of the Gospel seems to be requisite only to keep them at their ease. How awful is it to think of how easy the habit of rejecting Christ has become to many! How hardened many are by their very familiarity with the Gospel! And although the Lord has been intimating to us that the candlestick may soon be entirely removed by taking away one after another of the godly ministers of our land, the carnal ease of the multitude still continues to increase. The true Gospel has become, too, a wearisome thing to many in this guilty generation, as the manna was to Israel, and, like these rebels in the wilderness, they seek a substitute. In judgment the Lord is giving them also the desire of their heart.

As a generation that inherited Gospel privileges—that were ever wantonly abusing them—that grew in hardness while our privileges were continued—that now find it an easy thing to reject Christ and His salvation—that provoked the removal of many precious ministers of the Gospel, and that, instead of profiting by this rebuke, continue still to despise “the sincere milk of the Word”—that, though once and again violently shaken by rousing providences and awakening strivings of the Spirit of God, have sunk again into a deeper sleep than before—oh, how guilty are we before God! Is it a strange thing that the Lord hath a controversy with us?

How is the Gospel abused by many who profess to preach it? By some of these it is treated as if all that was desirable about it were the profits of the trade of preaching it. They seek this work not because they believe the efficacy of the remedy which the

Gospel provides, but, like the street criers of quack drugs, that they may be paid for proclaiming it. Alas! by many who profess to preach Him, Jesus is treated as if He were but an imposter. By some others the Gospel is superseded by a worthless substitute, and the lives of many who profess to recommend it are a practical denial of its efficacy.

By many who profess to believe the Gospel Christ is dishonoured and unbelievers hardened in sin. These profess Christ because it is in fashion, not because they respect and love Himself. If they do not openly despise Him as if He were only “the carpenter’s son,” they seek but the honour of His name as “the son of David;” they know Him not, nor love Him as “the Son of God.” And their conduct tends to confirm unbelievers in their contempt of Christ, since by it they tell these that, though Christ may deserve the homage of the lips, or rather that it is convenient to give Him this, He deserves no more, and that all besides may be given to the world.

And oh, my dear friends, how little sorrow of heart do any of us feel for “the hurt of the daughter of our people,” and especially for the dishonour cast upon the Son of God! How easy it is for us to endure to see thousands around us rushing onwards to everlasting misery as they pass in contempt by the Cross of Christ! Oh, how little do any of us value and profit by the Gospel! Our barrenness, what a shame! Our carnal ease, what a reproach. Our selfishness, how guilty! Our prayerlessness, what a sure sign of deadness!

As we think of these things, what a scene is before us! An unbelieving generation busy banishing the Spirit of the Lord from among them, while the remnant of the faithful that are left are not stirred up to constrain Him to abide. Let each of us look to our contribution to this generation-guilt; and let the following questions be solemnly pondered by us all:—Have I received Christ on the terms of the Gospel? Have I ever experienced the power of the Gospel in my own soul? What conformity have I to the doctrine that teacheth me that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, I should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world?” What am I doing to promote the spread and success of the Gospel? And am I lamenting after the Lord who has been provoked to withdraw His presence, and to withhold His blessing from the preaching of the Gospel? If we only pondered over these things in secret and in faithfulness, we would soon find abundant reasons in our own hearts and ways why “the Lord hath a controversy with his people.”

1. The countenance given to Popery in our land. In the face of God’s declared abhorrence of Anti-Christ, and of His awful threats of judgment against those who partake of its sins—after all He has graciously done to free us as a nation from its power—notwithstanding of our experience of the many benefits resulting from this liberty—although again and again have we been taught

that to concede is to multiply its demands—with an island just lying beside us on which its abominations and its miseries are spread out before us—surrounded by proofs that its spirit is unchanged, though its policy may be shifting—and in breach of solemn professions and engagements—Popery is countenanced and supported in our land. Since Papists were admitted to a seat in the Legislature—though they are the sworn subjects of a prince who hates our nation, and to whom they owe their first allegiance—in how many ways has Anti-Christ been receiving encouragement and aid? The College of Maynooth is endowed as a nursery of priests, who are trained to be deceivers of souls, and who prove pests of society, and disturbers of the peace, when planted in the dark districts of Ireland. Jesuits are permitted to land on our shores, and to mature their plots in the midst of us. A Popish Cardinal is allowed to sport his titles, and to employ his influence, at the very seat of government. Convents are being erected, and they are not only tolerated, but will not even be inspected. Popish chaplains are admitted to our garrisons and our jails, and are to be paid for their services. Our Government permits the oppression of our countrymen in Popish lands, or but feebly protests against it. In the Colonies Popery is openly supported by our Government, and has so grown in power in some of them, as to have almost the ascendancy in influence and in numbers. And all this has been done in support of Anti-Christ, while nothing has been directly done by us, in our national capacity, for the rescue of its poor victims in Ireland. They have been left to perish in their ignorance, yea, their destroyer has been helped to ruin them. Oh, surely the Ruler of the nations will not wink at these things. And since these sins are marked in the record of the Lord, and are produced as charges in His controversy with our nation, need we wonder at tokens of his anger? Have we not acted as if our care was to establish a claim to a share of the plagues of Anti-Christ? Verily this shall be given us when the day of vengeance shall have come.

Let us not, my dear friends, lightly conclude that we have no share in the guilt of these national sins. Have we endured these things without all possible protest against them, and without all legitimate resistance? Have we not provoked the Lord to curse us with rulers that love not the truth, and are ashamed to defend it? Are we mourning in secret as we ought over their doings? Have we raised before God in secret our protest against them, as well as in public before men? Though we may have been petitioning Parliament, have we not neglected to plead with God? Have not applications to men for redress been too often substituted for importunity at the throne of grace? And although at present there is considerable bustle in the ranks of Protestants, although meetings are held, associations formed, information circulated, and minor differences merged, with a view to a united and vigorous resistance to the aggressions of Popery, how great is the tendency

to rely on what is done by ourselves, and not on what can only be done by the Lord!

1. The national denial of Christ as King of Zion. “The Claim of Rights,” presented by the Church of Scotland before the Government of this country, was a demand in the name of Christ as King of Zion and King of nations. It asked that He should be acknowledged as supreme and only Ruler in His own house, and that the rights and liberties granted by Him should not be interfered with nor fettered by man. This claim was rejected with contempt. From union to a State that thus treated their King and His claims, and that would only support His Church on condition of her owning no king but Cæsar, the true subjects of Christ were compelled to remove. In their stead was owned and supported as the Church of Scotland a body of men whose principles are, “We have no king but Cæsar.” This is the Church that claims to be the Church of Scotland, and a Church of Christ! While thinking with pity of the men, it is not a forbidden indignation we feel excited by their pretensions, who have so openly made choice of the world rather than of Christ. It becomes us all to be on our guard against wearying or being ashamed of our Church’s testimony, or losing sight of our nation’s sin in denying Christ, to mourn more over it in secret, and to tremble more before the anger which that sin has provoked.

2. The growing desecration of the Sabbath. There are three ways in which the progress of Sabbath profanation may be marked:—(1) By the prevalence of loose views regarding the binding obligation of the Fourth Commandment. By such views the Sabbath is profaned, however outwardly correct may be the conduct of those who hold them; and they indicate an advancing preparedness of the public mind for breaking through all the restraints that guard the sacredness of the day. (2) By systematic traffic on the day of the Lord. The extent of such traffic has fearfully increased of late. It is permitted and countenanced by the Government of our country, and the guilt connected with it is in consequence a national sin. (3) By the growing disregard of Sabbath sanctity, and neglect of Sabbath duties, by the body of the people. How common are Sabbath excursions of pleasure become! By how many thousands in our land is the house of God forsaken for the pleasures of sin on the Lord’s own day? But not to pass over ourselves. By some of you is the Sabbath profaned by excuseless absence from the means of grace—by others in walks of amusement—by others in visits to friends and relations—by others in idle conversation on their way to and from the house of God—by many in abuse of precious Sabbath privileges—by the majority in the neglect of God’s word and prayer in secret—by others who use not their influence for God and His day with children, servants, and neighbours—and by all of us in not mourning as we ought over the many grievous desecrations of the Sabbath by ourselves and others. If the Sabbath is now, as it

was of old, “a sign” between God and “his people,” and between “his people” and Him—if the continued observance of that day is a token of His goodwill to them, and of their loyalty to Him—what does its desecration teach us but that they are departing from their allegiance to Him, and that He therefore and justly hath a controversy with them?

1. Growing forgetfulness of God amidst the bustle of worldly business. This is especially true at present when trade is prosperous, new channels of commerce opening up, and the utmost efforts put forth to take advantage of them. It is always true that “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word” in the minds of men, and lead them further and further away from God. But who can estimate the effects on a country of the cares of business—on a country like ours which is the modern Tyre of the world, and especially in a season of unusual bustle and prosperity. We were struck lately with observing, in one of the streets of a great commercial city, a tide of busy men pouring on to their various pursuits and employments. We were reminded by the sight of “the course of this world,” and saw, in the hasty movements of that crowd, a representation of the race for riches in which our country is going fast away from God. But the jealous eye of God is on the worshippers of Mammon, and a time to plead with them for their forgetfulness of Him shall surely come. Our country may soon be arrested in its course of advancing commercial prosperity, and it were no wonder that, with the fame and spirit of Tyre, we should yet experience her doom.

2. Growing boldness in ungodliness and sin. Of this, alas! we have too many proofs. It indicates an awful hardness of heart towards God contracted in the wilful abuse of precious privileges. There is, too, a bold spirit of lawlessness arising, making men unashamed to sin before those who ought to be a check and a terror to them. Alas! there is guilt on both sides. The few who should be a “terror to evil doers” have lived down the authority of their position, and while those whose lives were a rebuke to the ungodly around them are removed, the witnesses for God who survive are too much conformed to the mass. And if the drunkard, the Sabbath breaker, the unclean, and the profane have learned to sin with a high hand, and show before God and man a forehead that refuseth shame, have we not before our eyes a proof of our ripeness for judgment? Is this added to all the other causes of controversy? Verily, the time is drawing very nigh when the Lord will plead with our land.

IV.—Let us now, in conclusion, and in a few words, call your attention to the position in which we are placed, and the exercises to which we are called, by the announcement of the text.

1. It is an intimation to us of a breathing time in the controversy. The Lord has not yet arisen in the full vengeance of judgment. He tells us that a time to plead is coming; “the day of vengeance is” yet in His “heart,” but it is surely coming. Till it comes

there is an opportunity of peace. How solemn, then, is our position during that interval. How much depends on our knowing this time of visitation. How awful the result of its being abused!

1. We are called by the text to be silent, and to tremble before the Lord. Shall this announcement be heard with indifference? Is the Lord’s anger a thing to be made light of? Is a controversy with the Almighty a small matter to weak worms of the dust? Shall men go on in their various pursuits of business and pleasure, as if the summons of the King eternal were a thing to be despised? Alas! my dear friends, there is but little true trembling of heart before God this day amongst us, or in the assembled congregations of our land; and when the services of the day are past there is much cause to fear that the multitude will go down “the course of this world” as before, utterly forgetful of God, and with all the impressions of His word blotted from their minds.

2. But if we are called to observe the tokens of wrath, and to tremble before the anger which they indicate, we are called also to search for the causes of controversy. Our sins have provoked the Lord. It is our duty to search for these, and it is our mercy that we are yet called to do so. Are we willing to find them? Are we ready to entertain the light that would reveal them? Can we honestly apply to the Lord for His teaching to enable us truly to know and to feel them? Oh, what if the “Spirit of grace and supplications” be not poured out on us ere this interval of mercy pass! Oh, what if, instead of that “mourning apart” which is the fruit of His coming, we care not to search for the causes of controversy, or if, professing to do so, we look only to others! What if, instead of realising the anger of God, and discovering the sins which deserve it, we shall seek to gratify an unholy anxiety to anticipate the details of the judgment that cometh!

3. But if we are called to discover and acknowledge our offence, it is that we may feel our need of being turned to the Lord. An opportunity of a gracious settlement of the controversy is yet given us by the Lord. He “waits that he may be gracious” when we as guilty sinners return to seek Him on His mercy-seat. Though “He will be exalted” in having mercy, mercy He is yet willing to bestow. Oh then, that the cry were heard by Him from our land—”Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger towards us to cease. Wilt thou be angry for ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.” Would that we were led thus to plead with God, that families and individuals might yet be turned unto Him, that the opportunity of peace be not lost by our land, and lest the controversy terminate in the full execution of judgment.

But, in conclusion, let me remind each of you, my dear fellow-sinners, who are yet unconverted and Christless, that the Lord hath a controversy with you individually; that all must be wrong

with you till it be graciously settled; that there is but one way in which peace can be obtained, even by Christ, and through His precious blood; that the peace which God hath made through the blood of the cross is yet in your offer, for Christ Himself is yet to you free; and in Him the guiltiest sinner who receives Him finds “redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Oh flee to Christ, the only refuge from “the wrath to come,” while yet in the Gospel you are called to do so, and run not, by wilfully rejecting Him, the sure and awful risk of an eternal war with God.