as to glory in their shame, and openly avow themselves the disgrace of humanity. In their public concerns (notwithstanding their specious pretences) they were "covenant-breakers, implacable, unmerciful," and "unjust." Guilty of the severest oppression, while they boasted highly of equity and moderation ;* as was particularly manifested on the destruction of Carthage and Corinth two memorable instances of the spirit of a government, so undeservedly admired in aftertimes. And as the Roman power, so the Grecian eloquence was perverted to the worst purposes; to palliate crimes, to consecrate folly, and to recommend falsehood under the guise and semblance of truth. Such was the character of the people, reputed the wisest and the best of the heathens: and particularly so at the birth of Christ, when the Roman empire was at the summit of authority and splendour. A long experience had shown the general depravity to be not only inveterate, but incurable. For, during several preceding ages, a reformation had been desired and attempted. The principal leaders in this commendable design were called plilosophers, and many of their writings are still extant. It must be acknowledged, that some of them had a faint view of several important truths; but, as they neither knew the cause and extent of the disorder, nor the only effectual remedy, they : * See Acts, xxvii. 42. The soldiers would have killed all the prisoners, right or wrong, rather than one of them should have a possibility of escaping and in this, without doubt, they consulted their own safety, and the spirit of their laws. Why, then, were the Romans so much admired? Could there be a greater proof of cruelty and injustice found amongst the most barbarous nations, than to leave prisoners, who possibly might be innocent, exposed to the wanton caprice of their keepers? met with little success. Their schemes were various, inconsistent, and even opposite; and each party more successful in opposing the fallacy of other sects, than in maintaining their own. Those who came nearest the truth, and were in earnest to promote it, were very few. Even these were ignorant of some things absolutely necessary to the attainment of the desired end. The best of them were restrained by the fear of men, and a regard to established customs. What they could and did propound, they had not sufficient authority, or influence, to impress upon the consciences of men. And if, in a few instances, they seemed to succeed, the advantage was only imaginary. Where they prevailed on any to relinquish intemperance, they made them full amends, by gratifying their pride. The business passed from hand to hand, from sect to sect, but all to no purpose. After innumerable disputations, and volumes, concerning the supreme good, the beauty of virtue, the fitness of things, and other high-sounding topics, they left matters as bad or worse than they found them. They could not effectually inculcate their doctrine upon a single village or family. Nay, they were but half persuaded themselves, and could not act up to their own principles, when they most needed their support.* A still more affecting view of the degeneracy of human nature we have in the history of the Israelites, whom God was pleased to set apart from the rest of mankind, for several important purposes. He revealed himself to this people when they were groaning under a heavy bondage in Egypt, from which they had neither spirit nor power to deliver * Witness the prevarication of Socrates, and the irresolution of Cicero, towards the close of their lives. themselves. He freed them from their captivity by a series of illustrious miracles. He led them through the sea and the desert. He honoured them with the symbols of his immediate presence; was a wall of fire round about them, and a glory in the midst of them. He spoke to them with an audible voice, and fed them with manna from heaven. He put them in possession of a good land, and fought against all their enemies. Might it not have been expected that a people so highly favoured and honoured should have been obedient and thankful? Some of them were so. His grace always preserved a spiritual people amongst them, whose faith in the Messiah taught them the true meaning of the Levitical law, and inspired them with zeal and sincerity in the service of God. But the bulk of the nation was always refractory and disobedient. While in the wilderness, they murmured against the Lord upon every new difficulty. Within a few days after the law had been delivered in flames and thunder from the top of Sinai, they formed a molten calf to worship, and would have made a captain who might lead them back into Egypt. They despised the good land; therefore their carcases* fell in the wilderness. Their posterity retained the same spirit. They learned the ways of the heathen, whom the Lord * 1 Cor. x. 5. They were overthrown in the wilderness. KaTEOTρwOnσay, they fell in heaps, like grass before the sithe; and this, after all the great things they had seen and been partakers of. Of the many hundred thousands, who were above twenty years old, when they were delivered from Egypt, only two persons were spared to enter the promised land: a striking admonition to us, not to rest in the participation of external privileges of any kind. For these people had seen the Lord's wonders at the Red Sea, had rejoiced in the destruction of the Egyptians, and been fed with manna from heaven, cast out before them. They adopted every idolatrous practice, they transgressed every divine command. During a long succession of warnings, chastisements, and deliverances, they became worse and worse; so that, in Jeremiah's time, they equalled, or exceeded, the heathens around them in ignorance and wickedness. They mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and misused his prophets, till his wrath arose against them, and there was no remedy. At length their land was laid waste, Jerusalem burnt, the greater part of the people destroyed, and the remainder carried captives into Chaldea. Upon their return from captivity, they seemed, for a little while, to retain a sense of their duty, and of the judgements they had suffered. But all was soon forgot. Their wickedness now put on a new form, and discovered the evil of the heart of man in a new point of view. They were no longer prone to idolatry. They avoided the most distant appearance of it with scrupulous exactness; and professed the highest attachment to God. They boasted themselves in his law; and from a presumption that they were his peculiar people, they despised and hated the rest of mankind. It is not our present concern, closely to follow their history. Let it suffice to say, that, by substituting a regard to the letter of the law, in the place of spiritual obedience, and by presuming to multiply their own inventions and traditions,* and to hold them no less binding than the positive commands of God; they, * See one instance, Matt. xv. 5. The expression is rather obscure; but the sense is, "What you might expect from me for "your support, I have put out of my own power; it is devoted "to the service of God and the temple." And teachers allowed this to be a legal exemption. Any man who would pay handsomely to the priests and the temple might treat his parents as by degrees, attained to a pitch of impiety unknown to former times; and which was so much the more offensive and abominable, as it was covered with the mask of religion, and accompanied with a claim to superior sanctity. Pride, hypocrisy, and interest, divided them into sects; and the contests of each party for superiority, threw the state into frequent commotions. Their intrigues at length brought upon them the Roman power. The city was taken by Pompey; and, though they afterwards retained a shadow of liberty, their government was determined, from that time, by the will of the conquerors. At length Herod, a foreigner, obtained it. In his reign Christ was born. Thus the state of mankind, before the coming of Christ, proved, with the fullest evidence, the necessity of his interposition. And, in the mean time, the world had not been left utterly helpless and hopeless. His future advent had been revealed from the beginning; and, by faith in that revelation, a remnant had subsisted in every age, who had triumphed over the general evil, and maintained the cause of God and truth. It was not necessary to the salvation of these that he should have been manifested sooner; for they beheld his day afar off, and rejoiced in his name. With respect to others, destitute of divine faith, his incarnation would have had the same effect at any period, as it had on multitudes who actually saw him in the flesh, but, offended with the meanness of his he pleased. Thus they set aside the express command of God, by their own authority, and for their own advantage. The same dispensing, commuting, engrossing spirit has too often appeared in the Christian church. |