Selected from: The Scottish Pulpit: A Series of Sermons by the Most Eminent Divines of the Scottish Church, Vol. II (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1845), 322–324. A Sermon Preached in the Original Seceders’ Chapel, Richmond Street, Edinburgh.
“Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments.”—Jeremiah 12:1
The circumstances of the prophet when he uttered these words were of a very distressing kind. He had long witnessed with the most painful feelings, the irreligious and wicked conduct of his countrymen. In the necessary discharge of the divine commission with which he was intrusted, he had declared the judgments of God against them on account of their sins and their impenitence, and he had the mortification to find that, instead of reclaiming them, or preventing their ruin, or delaying the calamities that were approaching, he had only awakened their resentment against himself and inflamed their guilty and criminal passions. They persecuted him as an enemy to the state, and reviled him as one who took a delight in the prospect of the disgrace and of the overthrow of his country. Their animosity against him was greatly aggravated by the representations of the false prophets, who took advantage of the merciful delay of the divine judgments, and flattered the people with long and uninterrupted peace, so that his own friends and the inhabitants of his native town joined in the conspiracy and threatened him with death, if he did not desist from prophesying in the name of Jehovah. Now any one of these trials in itself would have been sufficiently painful; but meeting all of them together, as he actually did, they proved an accumulated load of grief which was to him quite overwhelming. In these circumstances, we find Jeremiah having recourse to the presence of his divine Master, pouring out his complaint before him, and begging of him permission to disburden his oppressed heart, by dwelling a little on those dispensations which were of a dark and perplexing kind. The saints of God are often found in circumstances which bear a great resemblance to those of the prophet, and accordingly, his example is appropriate, and the due considerations of it must be useful under the blessing of God, for extricating their minds from some of those distressing feelings, by which they are at times ready to be overwhelmed. Let me then, here suggest to you a few general reflections.
In the first place, it is lawful for the saints to enter into the mystery of divine providence. We are not to pry into futurity, except in so far as God has been pleased to unveil it by means of prophecy; and even the revelations of prophecy are so partial that we are generally apt to err in interpreting them, so that it is generally safest to wait until the proper meaning and application of them have been ascertained by the event. But the past and the present form a legitimate subject for devout and careful inquiry. Providence is the work of God. In its movement, we may discern the actings of the Almighty, and if we are properly attentive to it, we may trace the marks of his power, wisdom, faithfulness, goodness, and holiness. The works of God in providence call for our praise and our prayers, for our adoration, humiliation, and gratitude. But how is it possible that we can be affected with them in this manner, and as we ought to be, unless by meditation, by a careful comparing of them with the Scriptures, and by prayer, we ascertain their character, and endeavour to interpret their language? A great part of practical religion lies in the observance of the operations of Providence; and it is owing to our neglecting these, or cultivating this branch of religion in a careless and superficial manner, that our minds often fall into a state of darkness or distress about the workings of the Almighty, as to others or ourselves. “The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name; hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.” On the one hand, a severe threatening is, in the Word of God, uttered against those who observe not the works of the Lord, and regard not the operations of his hands; and on the other hand, a due and devout observance of God’s operations and holy providence, is mentioned as a mark of true wisdom, and a means of safety. “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things, prudent and he shall know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them.” “Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.” Accordingly, we find that good and wise men in all ages have made this an important part of their study.
In the second place, I would have you to observe, my friends, that the saints are permitted to use familiarity with God in these inquiries. He permits them to be free, and even bold, in talking with him upon this subject. They are not only allowed to commune with their own hearts upon their beds, they are not only allowed to commune one with another, and to ease their smart by imparting mutually their sorrows and their counsel, but they are allowed to commune with their God in direct addresses to his throne. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.” He does not merely permit them to talk on the subject of his judgments, but is willing that they should lay aside reserve and restraint, and talk freely with himself about them. Nor is this all. He permits them to state their objections, and to make replies to his answers, to plead with him, in the language of our text. “Let us plead together,” says he, “put me in remembrance,” state your objections to any part of my conduct, “declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” Wonderful condescension! A terrible challenge which the Almighty thus, as it were, puts into the hands of his people! And yet, it is a challenge, my friends, that many a one of them has accepted, and in the contest has had power with God, and prevailed. What a striking example have you of this in the case of the friend of God immediately before the destruction of Sodom, the city of the plain, where Abraham talks with God about his judgments, just as one man would do with another. When God imparted to him his intentions, Abraham reasons thus with him: “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from thee, Lord, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” But it is necessary to warn you that this familiarity with God about his judgments should always be tempered with deep reverence and humility. God permits his saints to use familiarity in such inquiries, but this implies that they do not enter upon them of their own accord, and without leave asked and obtained from his holy word. He is not bound to give an account of his matters. The Most High is not under an obligation to listen to the complaints of his creatures, and to answer and remove all those objections, often very unreasonable and very slightly founded, that may arise in their minds, and give them uneasiness. But then the prophet says, “Let me talk with thee of thy judgments.” Now, what we say by sufferance, we should say with great modesty. We should always remember, both when speaking to God in prayer, and also when inquiring in our own meditation, or in discourse into the ways of the Almighty, that he is in heaven and that we are on earth, and therefore our words should be few. We should beware of pushing too far, either our complaints respecting our trials, or our demands into the reasons of the divine procedure. We should remember that our mind is too weak to fathom the judgments of God, which are “a great deep,” and to follow “Him whose way is in the sky, whose path is in the deep waters, and whose footsteps are not known.” How was Abraham tempered with deep reverence and godly humility, when he was interceding for Sodom. “Behold now,” says he, “I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Oh! let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Oh! let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once.”
Again, it is of the first importance in the inquiries into the dispensations of providence that we retain on our spirits an abiding sense of the essential moral attributes of the Disposer of events. When he meets with difficulties and with trials, even the saint himself is sometimes in danger of razing the foundations of religion, of calling in question the providence of God, and of falling into a state of not un-impious despair. He is ready to ask, “How doth God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?” And to say, “Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence.” “It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?” Now in these circumstances, it is of great importance that the inquirer keep before his eye and have deeply impressed upon his mind, what I would call here the first principles of religion—that there is a God, and that this God is holy, and wise, and good in all the dispensations of his providence. The due conviction of these truths serves just like a polar star to guide the Christian in the night of trouble, or it may be compared to the anchor, sure and steadfast, to keep the soul amid the storm of adversity. The conduct of Asaph while he threw angry eyes upon the prosperity of wicked men, and indulged envy to his fellow men, was very much akin to impiety against God. When he cast his eyes upon the prosperity of the wicked, his steps began to slip, and he found himself going, when all at once he staid himself by planting his foot upon the unchangeable love of God to his people; and therefore, he begins the 73rd Psalm, which consists of a view of God’s dispensations to the righteous and the wicked, by laying down this leading principle, “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” He does not accordingly in what follows, blame God, but only enters into the reasons of his conduct, that by the answers he obtains he may be able to reconcile God’s goodness with the afflictions that he is pleased to send. Now, my brethren, it is permitted the people of God to inquire into the mystery of divine providence, and into the reasons why God deals so hardly with those that are his own children. It is even lawful for them to use familiarity in these inquiries, but this familiarity must always be restrained by reverence, and tempered by deep humility. And it is of the first importance in entering on such inquiries, that we should keep in our minds, and have deeply impressed on them, the essential moral attributes of the Almighty. “Righteous art thou, O Lord,” is the first word that our prophet says when he is pleading with God, and begging liberty to talk with him with respect to his judgments.
