SERMON XII.* THE MACEDONIAN PHANTOM. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them."-ACTS XVI. 9, 10. procuring a meal. Would not the energy, which sufficed for so many and greater wonders, have availed to the obtaining, without all this drudgery, the supply of every-day wants? But God, we may believe, in order to keep his servant dependent on himself, would not allow him to exercise, on his own behalf, the powers which were 80 mighty in subjugating the world; but, whilst He enabled him to shake the vast fabric of heathenism, and placed, in a certain sense, all the elements of nature under his control, obliged him to be industrious, in order to the warding off starvation, and required from him all that diligent and faithful use of instituted means, which is required from the lowest and weakest of his people. The Apostles, and first preachers of Christianity, differed greatly from ourselves, in that they were endowed with extraordinary gifts, and miraculous powers. But it is distinctly to be observed, that they were not, on this account, exempt from the necessity of exercising faith. It might have been thought, that, possessed as they were of superhuman might, and privileged with immediate revelations of the will of God, there would have been, in their case, but little opportunity or demand for that trust, or dependence, which is among the chief things required from ourselves. But God so ordered his dealings with them, that, notwithstanding their wondrous endowments, they appear to have had the same life to lead as any one of us, who, always in weakness, and often Then, again, it is true that Apostles in darkness, must labor at duty, and had the gift of prophecy, and that, privsubmit to trial. That the Apostles were ileged with immediate revelation, they able to work miracles, did not secure knew far more than common men of to them the supply even of their daily the will and purposes of the Almighty. wants. St. Paul, in reckoning up to But it is very observable, that this their the Corinthians his multiplied enduran- insight into futurity was no more allow ces in the cause of the Gospel, enumer-ed than their power of working miracles, ates "hunger, and thirst, and fastings;" and you will all remember how this Apostle, anxious to prevent his being burdensome to the churches which he had planted, wrought at the business of a tentmaker, and thus earned what was necessary for his subsistence. It was a strange, but an instructive, spectacle, that of a man who could heal the sick, and raise the dead, obliged to labor, like a common artizan, in order to the * Preached at York on behalf of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge VOL. II. 45 to destroy, or even to diminish, the necessity for the exertion of faith in regard of themselves. You might have thought that men, gifted with the faculty of anticipating events, and determining long beforehand what God had appointed to take place, would never have been at any loss with regard to their own plans, but would have been saved all that doubt and perplexity in which we ourselves are necessarily involved, from not knowing what a day may bring forth. Yet this was far from being the case. The Apostles appear to have had just our trials of faith; they were called | go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered upon for the same patient waiting on them not." Still, you see, they are God, the same watching the leadings of only as men feeling their way: it seemed his Providence, the same studying the to them, that Asia being closed, Bithynia minute indications of his will. Able to presented the most desirable field of pierce futurity, and discern "the man labor, and accordingly they took meaof sin," opposing and exalting himself sures for entering that province. But above all that is called God, St. Paul again they were proved wrong: it was was nevertheless unable to make ar- not to Bithynia that God meant them rangements for a journey, with any cer- to turn; and they are still in doubt as tainty that he should be allowed to to what course to pursue. At last, accomplish it. Hear how he speaks to there is granted unto Paul the vision the Thessalonians : "Therefore we recorded in our text, from which he is would have come unto you, even I Paul, enabled assuredly to gather that the once and again; but Satan hindered Lord designed him to preach in Maceus." He had often, you see, desired donia. Yet, what a roundabout method and planned a visit to Thessalonica; this seems of communicating informabut, as often, some obstacle had arisen, tion: what delay, what loss of time! which had been as completely unfore- Why was not the Apostle, in the first seen by him as though the gift of proph- instance, explicitly told what the will ecy had in no degree been possessed. of God was, in place of being left to Thus, as with the gift of miracles, so make useless plans as to Asia and Bithywith that of prophecy, God allowed nia? and why, at last, was he only nothing to interfere with simple, prayer- taught through the medium of a vision, ful, dependence upon Himself. He which might have admitted of diverse brought it to pass that those whom He interpretations, and in regard of which enabled to marshal before them the there might even have been doubt august and awful occurrences of distant whether it was indeed to be received centuries, should, in their private capa- as a communication from God? We city, be as thoroughly obliged to the will not say that such questions can be "walking by faith, not by sight," as satisfactorily answered; we will not any one of ourselves from whom the even say that they can with propriety future veils all its secrets, except those be put. But at least we may gather a which prophets have been commissioned lesson for ourselves from what is thus recorded of St. Paul. We see that even St. Paul was thrown upon his faith; that he had to find out the will of God by successive experiments; that the leadings of God's providence, in regard even of this his favored and exemplary servant, were obscure and circuitous; and that, so far from the Apostle being allowed to ascertain long beforehand how to shape his course, he had to grope his way step by step, doubtful whether he was to turn to the north or to the south, and obliged to make the attempt, in order to the determining whether it were what God approved. Shall we then wonder, or shall we repine, if God demand from us the exercise of faith, if He show us not, at once, and by any unquestionable manifestation, what his will concerning us may be, but require from us the patient. waiting upon Him, and exercise us by the frequent frustration of our plans? to announce. If you look at the verses which immediately precede our text, you will find abundant evidence that St. Paul and his companions were required, like ourselves, to go forward in faith, uninformed as to the precise course which God would have them take, but acting on the assurance that He directs the steps of all such as commit themselves to his guidance. In the sixth verse you read, "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia." Their intention had evidently been " to preach the word in Asia;" but they were not allowed to carry their intention into effect; God interfered to prevent it: St. Paul had, no doubt, prayed to be directed aright; but to keep faith in exercise, he was permitted, in the first instance, to determine wrong. Then in the next verse you read, "After they were come to Mysia they assayed to We hear much of the leadings of God's providence; and it is our busi The case of St. Paul is not indeed peculiar; for you must all remember how common it was, in earlier days, for God to communicate with his servants as they lay asleep; what frequent use was made of dreams and visions, when intimations were to be given of the Divine will and purposes. We cannot but think that there is something to be learnt from this which is generally overlooked; and we will therefore engage your attention for a while with a few remarks, and inferences, which may not perhaps have occurred to yourselves. ness, as Christians, to be always on the watch for these leadings; assured that, as God taught his people of old, by the cloud upon the tabernacle, when they were to rest, and when to set forward, He will not fail now to vouchsafe guidance to those, who, in all their ways, acknowledge Him, and lean not to their own understandings. But we are not to expect that the leadings of providence will be always, or even often, very marked and distinct. This would be to change the character of the dispensation beneath which we live; for if the pillar of fire and of cloud went There is not one of you who does not visibly before us, it would be by sight, consider that sleep is a sort of image of and no longer by faith, that Christians death. There is so evident a resemwere required to walk. Let us not blance between the sleeping and the hastily conclude that God's providence dead-sleep, like death, withdrawing marks out for us this or that course; and us from the visible world, suspending let us be specially circumspect, when our faculties, closing our senses, and inthe path, which appears thus prescribed, capacitating us for taking part in what happens to be one which agrees with is passing around-that the dullest our own wishes. It is the easiest thing in the world to imagine the leadings of providence, where we have already got the leadings of inclination. And we may learn from the instance of St. Paul, that, even where there is prayerfulness, and the meek wish of entire submission, it may be only by dark intimations, and after many frustrations, that God's providence will mark out our course. Oh, who shall marvel that he has not direct and immediate answers to prayer, that faith is kept in exercise by the scantiness, so to speak, of the guidance vouchsafed, that he is often able only to conjecture God's will, and must take a step in doubt as to the rightness of the course who, we say, shall marvel at this, if he duly remember that even St. Paul, when engaged in the high work of evangelizing the earth, was suffered to plan the going into Asia, but prevented by God, and then to essay the going into Bithynia, but once more prevented; and that, at last, he was only guided into Macedonia, by seeing a dim figure at his bedside, in the stillness of night, which pronounced the dubious words, "Come over, and help us?" But we would now lead you along a wholly different train of thought: we will simply suppose that information is given to St. Paul in and through a vision of the night, when sleep had fallen upon him; and we will see whether this fact is not fraught with instruction. were imagination might invent the simile for presents to us the act of dying; the waking again represents to us our rising from the dead. But let us further see whether our condition, whilst asleep, may not furnish notices of our condition whilst we lie amongst the dead. This would only seem consistent with the character of the metaphor: if the falling asleep figure to us our dying, and the waking our rising, it is but natural to suppose that the intermediate state, the state between the falling asleep and the waking, must bear some resemblance to that wherein we shall remain between our dying and our rising from the dead. Let us see whether there use of the metaphor, and what truths may be thereby illustrated or confirmed. In sleep, as we all know, "it is not the whole man, it is only the earthly part, that falleth asleep." The bodily senses and faculties are suspended from their usual exercise; but the mind is more than commonly active. What hereby meant to fix their thoughts, not only on their dying, but on their rising from the dead. Why, when every morning calls us from our beds, strung with new energy, and, as it were, freshened into a new life-why are we to speak of sleep, as though it imaged our death, but not also our resurrection? The metaphor is evidently as accurate in the one respect as in the other. And I can hardly doubt, that, as there are many processes in nature which suggest to the thoughtful inquirer the great change which is to pass over us, and our reappearance on a higher stage of being, so was the rising of the sun, which seems, every morning, to repeo-be not warrant for making this further ple the solitudes, to call all nature from the sepulchre of night, and crowd once more the earth with animated being, intended to impress on the most cursory observer that the sleep of death is not to be perpetual, but shall terminate with the dawning of a day, when "all that are in the graves" shall hear a heavenly voice, and start forth from their resting-flights will the soul take during sleep: places. I cannot think, that the doctrine of a resurrection was not taught, whilst, though there might have been no immediate revelation on so sublime a point, men lay down at night to take their rest, and awoke in the morning reinvigorated and renewed. Whilst sleep imaged death with such accuracy, that scarcely any one, as he gazed on a slumbering fellow-creature, could fail to be reminded of a colder and a longer repose, every one, had he but fairly followed out the showings of the metaphor, might at least have conjectured, if he could not have proved, that the dead shall yet stir in their narrow beds, and be roused again to consciousness and activity. But, whatever the degree in which the truth of a resurrection might have been inferred from the phenomena of sleeping and waking, there can be no debate that the figure, or metaphor, holds good in every particular, so that sleep is an accurate image of death, not only whilst it lasts, but also when it terminates. And when we find the image so commonly adopted in Scripture, we may safely conclude that God designed to fix our attention on the phenomena of sleep, that we might learn from them something of the mys teries of death. The falling asleep re how will it travel to the very ends of the earth, the very limits of creation: what conversations will it hold with known or unknown beings-nay, occasionally, as though the soul gained vigor through being temporarily emancipated from the shackles of the body, men find themselves, in their dreams, reasoning with greater clearness, understanding more thoroughly, and compos ing more freely, than they have been used to in their waking hours. It may be well doubted whether the soul is ever inactive: we do not always remember our dreams; but, probably, we always dream: we remember our dreams, when our sleep has been disturbed, and we have passed what we call a restless night; but it may not be our restlessness which has made us dream-we might have equally dreamt, had our sleep been profound-our restlessness may only have caused that our dreams are remembered, whilst a deeper, a less broken, sleep would have prevented their leaving any legible impression. And what ought we to gather from this activity of the soul during sleep? Surely, that the soul shall be active, whilst the body lies dead. This is only keeping up the metaphor. The * Jones of Nayland. once more amongst the cold realities of earth. And thus our very dreams might teach us, that we shall be experiencing either misery or happiness, whilst the soul is separated from the body; that the separation shall not take from us the power, whether of enjoying good or enduring evil; and that allotments. of the one or of the other shall be apportioned to us between death and the resurrection. representation has been most accurate | happiness, and enjoy what we have hitherto the falling asleep correspond-long sought; and it is actually grief to ing to dying, the waking up to rising us when the dream passes, and we are again, and the suspension of the bodily organs and senses from their accustomed exercises being much the same, except as to duration, in the slumbering and the dead. Why then should we not give completeness to the imagery, by supposing that the condition of the soul during the continuance of sleep, corresponds to that during the continuance of death? I really seem hardly to need the profound arguments of the metaphysician, or the theologian, in order to the being convinced that the soul is not in a state of torpor whilst the body is in the grave: I have evidence enough in my very dreams. You know that it has often been a debated point, whether the soul will not be insensible, when separated from the body; whether the interval, from death to the resurrection, will not be one of utter unconsciousness, our immortal part, like our mortal, undergoing the complete suspension of every faculty and power. There is good testimony from the nature of the case, and still better from Scripture, that the soul shall not be thus unconscious, but, immediately on leaving the body, shall enter on a state of happiness or misery. Yet, take from me all this testimony, and I say again, that my very dreams might persuade me of the fact. That my soul is not inactive, and unconscious, whilst my body is asleep, seems to witness to me, so as to place beyond doubt, that my soul shall not be inactive and unconscious whilst my body lies dead. The state of sleep is the standing image of the state of death: and, taking the metaphor as every way accurate, I infer, from the soul's not sleeping with the body, the soul's not dying with the body. I know that dreams are wild and wandering things -but they betoken the soul's activity; and, yet more, they prove the soul susceptible of pleasure and pain, whilst the body lies insensible. What anguish we sometimes undergo in our dreams: what terrible scenes we pass through: what thorough wretchedness is experienced what relief it is to wake, and find it but a dream! On the other hand, what bright visions sometimes visit us: what gladness takes possession of us! we have reached the summit of Neither is this all that may be said in regard of the illustration of our state in death, which may be derived from that in sleep. There is to be added what may be learnt from such passages of Scripture as our text, which teach us, that, whilst the body is asleep, the soul may be receiving instruction. It is every way observable, as we have already remarked, that God should have made such frequent use of visions or dreams, in the communicating intimations of his will. He might have given these intimations through many other modes; ought we not then to conclude that there was some special design in the selecting a method, which, to say the least, seems wanting in the clearness and convincingness which might have been obtained by a different course? We consider that nothing can be more vague or uncertain, than a dream: yet God gave instruction by and through dreams-and that too more especially before life and immortality had been brought to light by the Gospel; for it was in the earlier ages of the world, when but little Revelation had as yet been vouchsafed, that dreams were more commonly made the vehicle of instruction. And it may have been, that, in the thus frequently employing dreams, and employing them more frequently whilst there was less distinct information as to man's state after death, God's purpose was to direct attention to the capacity of the soul for receiving instruction, yet not,through the organs of the body, but whilst those organs might be closed, and unable to discharge their ordinary offices. At all events, this is practically the result of the frequent use of dreams, that we are taught, beyond the power of controversy, that the soul, when loosened from the body, |