I. The special cause that we have for increased thankfulness to God.
1. We ought to be thankful for any event which tends to secure the blessings of peace to our country.
2. A state of peace, as it is most conducive to the temporal interests of a nation, so too it is essential to the interests of true religion.
II. The duty of praying constantly and earnestly for those who are lawfully set over us. (H. W. Sulivan, M. A.)
Civil governments and their subjects
In this chapter is the figure of speech known as prosopoeia, or personification, in which any eminent quality or distinct attribute is invested with personal powers and properties, and is said to hear, to speak, to govern, to suffer, or to enjoy, and indeed, whatever else a person amongst us is capable of doing. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the personal and essential Wisdom of God. Here one of His prerogatives is alarmed--He has supreme control and authoritative influence over the great ones of the earth. The administration of all things in the natural and providential, as well as in the spiritual kingdom, is confided into His hands.
I. Civil government is of Divine institution; it is an ordinance of God. It is not the creature of chance; nor founded in the social compact; or by a sort of conventionality understood between the governed and the governors; but is based on the will of God.
1. Prove this by appeal to reason. God formed mankind with a view to happiness, and civil government is necessary to happiness. There can be no happiness without order, security, freedom. It never has been known that human beings, in any large numbers, have existed for any considerable time without the intervention of governments.
2. Prove this by appeal to Scripture (Rom_13:1-3; 1Pe_2:13). God is not the author of any specific form or mode of government in His Holy Word. In the case of Israel God dictated the special system of political government known as the Theocracy. But in other cases the mode of government is left to the suggestions of human wisdom, the improvements of time, and the claims and requirements of experience and of circumstances.
II. The duties which subjects owe to their civil government.
1. Reverence and respect, for conscience’ sake, and for the Lord’s sake. The language of censure never becomes asubject towards his ruler but under the four following restrictions--
(1) That this censure be founded in truth.
(2) That we have a good motive in uttering it.
(3) That we have a right end.
(4) That we preserve due candour, moderation, and allowance.
2. Obedience to the laws. Disobedience to the laws is a sin against the public, and a virtual attack upon the social character of man.
3. Our proportion of contribution to the exigencies of the State.
4. We owe to our rulers to defend and support them in the lawful exercise of their authority.
5. And earnest prayer to God for His blessing upon them. This is the dictate of common benevolence, and is sanctioned and enjoined by a regard to the public welfare. It is the official character of the civil governor that is the ground upon which prayer is claimed for him. The direction of the faculties and talents and influence of the individual must materially interfere with the safety and happiness of the community. We may, therefore, wisely implore God to assist in their counsels those whom, in His providence, He has exalted. (G. Clayton, M. A.)
The connection of our Lord Christ with earthly sovereignty
I. The gifts which our Lord Christ has received for us.
1. The speaker. Wisdom personified. Wisdom in itself is perfect only in God. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is called “the Word,” which is wisdom manifested in utterance, and issuing in streams of blessings.
2. The gifts. Counsel, or practical wisdom. Sound wisdom, or inward principles. Understanding, shown in refusing the evil and choosing the good. Strength, the gift necessary to complete the other gifts.
3. For whom has the Redeemer these gifts? Generally, for the human race. Specially for kings, and all that are in authority.
II. The connection of our Lord with the sovereignty of the earth. The true sovereignty of the whole earth belongs to our Lord Christ. All other power is simply derived from Him. (E. Bickersteth.)
Thanksgiving to Almighty God
The origin of kings may be traced as far back as authentic history extends. The kings engaged in the Persian wars appear to be among the first of whom any regular historical connection may be relied upon; indeed, we must have recourse to the sacred writings of the Jews for the earliest historical information. The Jewish historians frequently impute their national calamities to the vices of their monarchs. The words of this text imply--
1. A delegated authority, given by God Himself, in the appointment of kings and rulers.
2. That all earthly crowns must perish--that all earthly sovereigns are mortal. It is incumbent on all sincere Christians on special national occasions to acknowledge with gratitude the hand of Almighty God, and to adorn the Divine providence which superintends all worldly affairs; and let us rest assured that the exercise of almighty power and infinite goodness is combined with that mercy which is so strikingly exhibited throughout the vast range of creation, and which will be abundantly manifested in the realms of unfading glory. (N. Meeres, B. D.)
Good government
1. Magistrates cannot rule well without wisdom. They need wisdom in consultation and in execution.
2. Men cannot make good laws without wisdom. In regard of matter or manner.
3. Princes cannot rule well without just laws. Bless God that we live under laws, and are not left to the mere will of men. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The wisdom behind civil government
Ifgood laws against ill manners be, as sure they are, decrees of justice, these kings and princes, with inferior magistrates, will be the governing societies, here on earth, for public reformation. Civil rulers should be considered as subordinate to that ever-blessed society of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit above, the one God who, through the one Mediator between God and man, hath graciously vouchsafed to concern Himself for the reformation of a degenerate world, that iniquity might not be, at least so speedily or universally, its ruin.
I. The tendency of civil government to public reformation, in which common safety and happiness is so manifestly concerned. The very decreeing of justice, or the justice in good and wholesome laws decreed, has a natural and evident tendency to public reformation, with all its implied and consequent advantages. Ill manners have given the occasion to many good laws, which, though they serve to direct and confirm the good, yet are principally designed to correct and reform the bad. It is wrong and weakness to attempt government by mere compulsion. All fit methods of dealing with men must take hold of some principles, allowed or presumed, if not confessed. The great business of good laws will be more effectually to repress the overt acts of those vicious inclinations which so often lead men, in particular cases, contrary to the general dictums of their own deliberate judgment and conscience. See the matter and measure of some of the principal decrees of justice; as--
1. To God; that He be not openly affronted by the denial of His being, neglect of evident duty, and daring commission of notorious sin.
2. To the community; that private interests give way to that of the public.
3. To the magistrate; that all needful defence be provided, with a power sufficient for the asserting of his just authority.
4. To subjects more generally considered. The saving and securing to them those rights andliberties which are due, whether by common reason or the particular reason and fundamental contract.
5. To the poor; that the disabled and destitute be maintained; that the able and willing want not work, nor the idle a spur to labour.
6. To offenders themselves; that the justly obnoxious go not unpunished, nor yet their punishment outweigh the offence.
7. To persons of merit. Honour and other rewards are surely a point of justice due to such. Surely such decrees of justice are a public testimony for virtuous actions, and against the contrary vices. Whilst the preceptive part of such decrees recommends virtuous actions to the understanding, their sanctions of reward and punishment most fitly serve to press them on the will, as powerfully moving those two great springs of human action--hope and fear. The execution of just decrees gives a standing and open confirmation to them, as being the abiding sense of our rulers. They have evidently been well weighed and wisely resolved.
II. The Son of God, the reforming, saving wisdom, on whom government depends. The term “son” is taken from amongst men, and though it cannot exactly agree to Him who is theSon of God, yet certainly intends to lead us to some such apprehensions about Him as may be allowed to our weakness, and will be sufficient for our purpose. The salvation of men is everywhere in Sacred Writ represented as the great design and business of this Wisdom, which well knows that pride, arrogancy, and the evil way will never comport with the peace and welfare of men either in their single or social capacity. The government of the Son as Mediator is to be founded in redemption, and exercised in a way of reformation. Religion in a degenerate world is but another name for reformation: especially the Christian religion, which was to correct not only the irreligion but also the superstitions of the world. It has been the care of our gracious Redeemer to recover the declining reformation under the happy influence of present governments.
III. The more immediate dependence of civil government on the Son of God. True it is that our Saviour’s kingdom is not of a secular but spiritual nature: but His subjects are embodied spirits, and have their temporal as well as eternal concernments. Civil government decrees justice--
1. By our Saviour’s purchase and procurement.
2. Providential disposal.
3. Counsel and aid.
4. Appointment and authority. (Joshua Oldfield.)
The Divine right of kings
I. The authority or right by which kings reign. Monarchs and their authority have an acknowledged cause, and that cause external to themselves. All is derived from some other person. The person who speaks in this passage could be no other than the eternal Son of God. When St. John beheld our Lord in the Apocalypse, he saw Him as the fount and origin of government, with many crowns upon His head. Meet it was that the kings of the several quarters of the world should have their being by Him who is King of all the world; that all crowns, both the crown of glory in heaven and the crown of highest glory on earth, should be held of Him. By Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the Son of God, monarchs hold their rule and kingdoms are governed. They reign not by His mere leave, but by His express commission. They reign in Him and by Him. He reigns in them and by them; He in them as His deputies, they in Him as their authoriser; He by their persons, they by His power.
II. The act of reigning. Consider it in three different ways. That they reign at all; that they reign long; that they reign well. Each of these is alike the gift of God. By Him, His co-eternal Word and Wisdom, as by a door, they enter on their reign. By Him, as by a line which He stretches over every government, be it longer or shorter, they hold its continuance. Finally, by Him, as by a rule, they reign; they walk before the Lord their God; consider whom they represent, whose ministers and vicegerents they are. It is duration that constitutes a reign. Now, without any question, this depends on God. When they have begun they may end quickly, if He who create do not also preserve. And so that right reigning, upon which only a continuance of reign is promised. Can we believe that the complicated machinery of government can be preserved if religion be neglected? But our business now is with subjects, not kings. What has been said imposes duty on them. And even as, if princes considered by whom they reign, they would reign better, so also, if subjects remembered the same truth, they would obey better. For it from Him comes the authority, to Him is the duty of allegiance; and we are bound to be subject, not for wrath only, but also for conscience sake. Remember who it is that speaks. He is Christ, and he is called Wisdom. If Christ speaks, disloyalty and disaffection are anti-Christian. If Wisdom speaks, they are folly. Folly in itself, and folly in its consequences. Let Wisdom, then, be still justified in her children. (G. S. Cornish, M. A.)
Per me reges regnant
Howdo men claim to be kings? how do they hold their sovereign authority? by whose grant? Of the four words of the motto, the twolatter (reges andregnant) be two as great matters as any be in the world. One, thepersons themselves, as they be kings. The other, the act of their reigning, or bearing rule over nations. These two latter words depend on the two former--per me. By and through Him kings were first settled in their reigns. By and through Him ever since upholden in their reigns. By and through Him vouchsafed many miraculous preservations in their reigns.
I. Kings and kingdoms have their “per.” They are no casualties. There is a cause of a king’s reigning. That cause is a person. “By Me”--that is, not man or angel, but God only; God manifest. By Him--
1. Because He was man.
2. Because He is wisdom.
3. Because on Him theFather hath conferred all the kingdoms of the earth.
III. Kings reign. Consider this reigning three ways.
1. As it hath a beginning.
2. As it hath continuance.
3. As it hath rectitude or obliquity incident to every act.
These three areduly set on every king’s head through all the story of the Bible. Such a king is said to have been so many years old when he began to reign. He reigned in Jerusalem, or Samaria, so many years. And he reigned well or ill. (Bp. Lancelot Andrewes.)
The authority of Divine Wisdom
Wisdom here speaks of herself as thequeen of the world. Wisdom, in the exercise of her authority--
I. Determines the destiny of rulers.
1. It inspires all the good actions of kings.
2. It controls all the bad actions of kings.
II. Has a special regard for the good. Divine wisdom has heart as well as intellect; it glows with sympathies as well as radiates with counsels.
III. Has the distribution of the choicest blessings for mankind. (David Thomas, D. D.)
Verses 17. I love them that love Me.
Emotion and evidence
The mind must reach religion’s creed by help of the heart. Reason is not to be set aside, but, with the value of the rational faculty exalted to its highest honour, the affections of the heart must constantly aid the rational faculty if it is expected to accomplish much inthe realm of moral truth. There must be an attuning of the two instruments, the objective truth and the subjective man, such that the music of the former may not be rejected as a discord or lost because inaudible. Wisdom has always distributed her truth to those who love her. Those special ideas called “religion” will become truths or doctrines only by help of the heart’s friendship. Unless men can reach some wish in their favour, some partiality for them, it is hardly to be supposed that mere logic will ever force them upon individual or public practices. The power of the mind to reject conclusions not welcome to the feelings is enormous. It is possible that the poverty of evidence, confessed in this world to exist as to vast moral propositions, comes from the fact that earth was made, not for a wicked but for a virtuous race. Sin may have destroyed evidence by destroying the sentiments that made it visible. The exact sciences proclaim their ideas to all, and ask no favour of any kind. The evidences of Christianity must be weighed by a mind not averse to virtue, not averse to the being and presence of a just God, but full of tender sympathy with man. By a soul capable of sadness and of hope. (David Swing.)
The characters whom Christ loves
The love which Christ entertains for His people is an affection the nature and extent of which can be learned only from a consideration of the causes which produce it.
I. The foundation of that love was laid in eternity.
II. Christ loves those who love Him because He has done and suffered so much for their salvation. He purchased them with His blood. From the birth to the death of His people He watches over them with unremitting attention. He forgives their sins, alleviates their sorrows, sympathises in their trials, heals their backslidings, wipes away their tears, listens to their prayers, intercedes for them with His Father, enables them to persevere, and accompanies them through the valley of the shadow of death. All this care and attention naturally tends to increase His love for them.
III. Christ loves those who love Him because they are united to Him by strong and indissoluble ties. The union between Christ and His people is presented under various figures--bride-groom and bride, vine and branches, head and members, soul and body. The bond of this union on our part is faith, but the union itself is formed by the appointment of God.
IV. Christ loves those who love Him because they possess His spirit and bear His image. Similarity of character always tends to produce affection, and hence every being in the universe loves his own image whenever he discovers it. Christ loves His own image in His creatures because itessentially consists in holiness, which is of all things most pleasing to His Father and Himself.
V. Christ loves those who love Him because they rejoice in and return His affection. It is the natural tendency of love to produce andincrease love. Even those whom we have long loved on account either of their relation to us or of their amiable qualities become incomparably more dear to us when they begin to prize our love and return it. Improvement:
1. This subject may enable every one to answer the important question, Does Christ love me?
2. If Christ loves those who love Him, then He will love those most who are most ready to return His affection, to do all things, and to suffer all things for His sake.
3. How happy are they who love! What happiness, then, must they enjoy wholove and are beloved by the infinite fountain of love, God’s eternal Son!
4. These truths afford most powerful motives to induce sinners to love Christ. (E. Payson, D. D.)
To whom will Wisdom give her good things
On them that love her she will bestow love again. On them that seek her aright she will bestow herself. There is great use of Wisdom, and she hath great store of wealth to bestow. How shall we obtain this Wisdom? Love her and get her. Love is the best Master of Arts, the surest teacher. As the good fruit of the study of Wisdom is very great, so the labour of them that respect her is not in vain. They shall enjoy both her love and herself.
I. Wisdom loves such as love her.
II. Wisdom must be sought for early and diligently.
III. Such as seek for wisdom diligently shall Find her. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The love of wisdom necessary to the attaining of it
I. Explain the love of wisdom, and show the sentiments and dispositions that are imported in it. The affections and passions of the human nature are the moving springs which set our active powers at work. Various are the methods by which the objects of affection are introduced into the mind. Some wholly by the senses, some by reflection, inquiry, comparing things, and forming general notions of them. What is imported in the love of wisdom is--
1. A high esteem of its superior excellency as the result of mature consideration.
2. That we should desire it above all things. This Solomon proposeth as a qualification and means of attaining wisdom.
3. Love naturally showeth itself in the complacency which the mind taketh in the enjoyment of, or even in meditating upon, the beloved objects.
II. How it contributeth to our obtaining wisdom.
1. In ordinary human affairs we see that desire putteth men upon that labour and diligence which are the ordinary means of success.
2. The love of wisdom is a disposition highly pleasing to God, and to it He hath made gracious promises. We must conceive of the Supreme Being as a lover of virtue and goodness, of everything which is truly amiable on the account of moral excellence; and if it be so, He hath complacency in those of mankind whose affections are placed on the same thing which is His delight. We have, therefore, the greatest encouragements and advantages for attaining to wisdom, and we ought to use all diligence in humble and affectionate concurrence with Him who worketh in us. (J. Abernethy, M. A.)
God loves those that love Him
I.What kind of love God exercises towards them that love Him. There is the love of benevolence and the love of complacency. These two kinds of love are of the same nature, but distinguished by the objects upon which they terminate. The love of benevolence terminates upon percipient being, and extends to all sensitive natures, whether rational or irrational, whether they have a good, or bad, or no moral character. God desires and regards the good of all His creatures, from the highest angel to the lowest insect. The love of complacency is wholly confined to moral beings who are possessed of moral excellence. Nothing but virtue, or goodness, or real holiness is the object of God’s complacence.
II. What is implied in men’s loving God?
1. Some true knowledge of His moral character.
2. True love to God implies esteem as well as knowledge. Esteem always arises from a conviction of moral excellence in the person or being esteemed. All men have a moral discernment of moral objects. Sinners cannot contemplate the infinite greatness and goodness of God without discerning His infinite worthiness to be loved.
3. Their loving God truly implies a supreme complacency in His moral character. In the exercise of true love to any object there is a pleasure taken in the object itself. When men truly love God they take pleasure in every part of His moral character.
III. Why does God only love such as first love Him? Before they first love Him they are not lovely. Their hearts are full of evil, and entirely opposed to all that is good. They are under the dominion of selfishness, which is total enmity to all holiness. But thereis something in God which renders Him lovely and glorious before He loves sinners; and therefore they can love Him before He loves them. Improvement:
1. If God does not love sinners before they first love Him, then it is a point of more importance in preaching the gospel to make them sensible that He hates them than that He loves them.
2. Then the first exercise of love to Him must be before they know that He loves them.
3. Then they must love Him, while they know that He hates them, and is disposed to punish them for ever.
4. Then sinners are naturally as unwilling to embrace the gospel as to obey the law.
5. If God love those who first love Him, then He is willing to receive them into His favour upon the most gracious and condescending terms.
6. If God does not love sinners before they love Him, then they have no right to desire or pray that He would become reconciled to them while they continue to hate and oppose Him.
7. If God loves sinners as soon as they love Him, then, if they properly seek Him, they shall certainly find Him. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Love returned
These words do not set forth either--
1. That Christ’s love is produced by ours. Its source is Himself.
2. Or that Christ’s love is since ours. It is eternal.
3. Or that Christ’s love is dependent on ours. Unchangeable.
4. Or that Christ’s love is only for those who love Him. He gave the greatest proof of it while we were enemies.
I. Those who return Christ’s love have the evidence of His love to them.
II. Those who return Christ’s love receive special manifestations of grace from Him. Answered prayers, the Spirit’s comfort, success in labour, joys of communion.
III. Those who return Christ’s love have the position and title of His loved ones. Brethren, friends, sons of God.
IV. Those who return Christ’s love give Him special gladness. (R. A. Griffin.)
And those that seek Me early shall find Me.--
Diligence in seeking wisdom always successful
The enjoyments of life are dispensed by the indiscriminating hand of Providence, and often in as large a measure to the unthankful and evil as to the good and virtuous. But wisdom is of a peculiar nature, and it doth not prevent any qualifying dispositions and endeavours in those who obtain it. The foundation of it is laid in the faculties of the mind. Nothing can sufficiently prove the sincerity of our professed affection to wisdom but that seeking it early which is recommended in this text.
I. Explain seeking wisdom early. It means this, that it has the chief room in our cares and application. That which is highest in our esteem, most earnestly desired and delighted in, will naturally engage our first concern and endeavours, while matters of an inferior consideration are justly postponed.
1. If we would seek wisdom it must be by the constant use of the proper means in order to our obtaining it.
2. Diligence, or “seeking early,” importeth using the best means frequently, and with spirit and vigour.
II. Show the advantage of it. We have assurance of success. The text contains an express promise in the name of wisdom.
1. Diligence importeth such dispositions of mind as must please the Supreme Being.
2. Diligence in seeking wisdom or religion is really practising it. Commend the importance of seeking wisdom and religion in the beginning of every day, and in youth-time, which is the morning of life. (J. Abernethy, M. A.)
Early seekers of Christ directed and encouraged
I. What it is to seek Christ early. The expression is sometimes used for the duty of prayer, sometimes for the whole of religion. To seek Christ is to seek the true knowledge of Christ, and a saving interest in Him. It is to seek that He may be all that to us, and that we may be all that to Him, for which He is made known and proposed in the gospel. To seek early signifies carefully, earnestly, diligently.
1. We are to seek early with respect to the time of life, or in the younger part of our days. The greatest and most important, concern of all others is not to be put off to the busy time of life, that is incumbered with the cares and hurries of this world; nor to old age, that is enfeebled by decays and loaded with infirmities. It is never too soon to seek after Christ, but it may be too late.
2. We are to seek Him early with respect to the day of grace, or to our opportunities of seeking Him. Whenever God calls us by His Word or providence, we should be early and speedy in attending to those calls.
3. It is to seek Him early with respect to all other things, or above and before all thing else. This relates to the earnestness and fervour with which He is to be sought in the younger part of our days. It is to seek Him with the whole heart.
II. What peculiar encouragements there are to such as seek
christ early.
1. Early seeking is most pleasing to Him.
2. It is the ordinary course of Divine grace to be found of early seekers.
3. Such have fewer obstructions in seeking.
4. There are peculiar promises to such. (J. Guyse, D. D.)
The holy quest
The legend of the “Holy Grail” tells us that Joseph of Arimathea came into possession of the dish from which the Saviour ate, or, according to another version, the cup from which He drank, when He celebrated the last Passover in the upper room with His apostles. When Joseph stood at the Cross, some of the blood which came from the wounds of Christ fell into this vessel, and Joseph ever afterwards carried about this relic with him in all his wanderings, until at length he came to England. The very presence of this sacred vessel had a mystic influence: miraculous cures were effected by it. But at length, in consequence of the wickedness of the land, this sacred vessel was no longer permitted to remain visible amongst men. What could be a worthier task of Christian knighthood than to go in search of it? Man is, by the very constitution of his nature, a seeker. For wise and good reasons God has made us creatures of desire. It is of the utmost importance that this seeking instinct of our nature should be wisely directed. This Book of Proverbs speaks to you of a treasure which is worthy of your pursuit, and which is the most valuable of all treasures.
I. This wisdom is a hidden treasure. Never be led astray by that lie of the devil, that those things which can be seen are the most real and substantial. It is a delusion which is the parent of all ignoble life. The existence of God is the greatest reality of all, and yet your eye cannot see God. You cannot see your mother’s love.
II. This wisdom is a sacred treasure. The grail was called the holy grail because it had sacred associations. God’s own wisdom is that which we are invited to share. By wisdom is not meant mere knowledge, but that heavenly yet practical wisdom which has to do with the most sacred region of our being--the conscience, the affections, the will--and which enables a man to walk through life in a right and wise direction, and in a spirit sympathetic with the mind of God. No man can be said to live wisely who is living out of harmony with God’s own purpose concerning him. True wisdom enables us to make a wise use of all earthly knowledge, but it is itself a heavenly and sacred treasure.
III. This wisdom is a priceless treasure. Wisdom may sometimes put a man in the way of obtaining wealth; but no amount of wealth can ever buy wisdom. The true wisdom will lead you into the paths of duty, honour, and integrity. No amount of wealth can by any possibility be a compensation for the lack of the priceless treasure.
IV. This wisdom is a life-giving treasure.
1. It is a healing influence.
2. A nourishing influence.
3. A life-renewing influence.
V. This wisdom is a treasure which may be found by every earnest seeker. In the way of--
1. Reverence.
2. Prayer.
3. Courage.
4. Purity.
I have said that man is born a seeker. It is also true that the elements of heroism lie embedded in the very constitution of our nature. There is plenty of room for Christian knighthood yet--for true chivalry of heart and life. Christ is the Divine Wisdom incarnate--the Word of God in human nature. Then seek Christ. (T. Campbell Finlayson.)
Advantages of seeking God early
The favour of the Almighty has always been bestowed upon such as remember Him in the days of their youth. See the cases of Joseph, Samuel, Solomon, Josiah, Hannah, Ruth, Timothy, etc.
1. There is an incalculable advantage in beginning in season a work which we know to be long and difficult.
2. Another advantage is the defence which is thus set up against the encroachments of vice. Youth is the season of warm and generous affections: the time when inexperience entices into a thousand snares; the season for active exertion. In youth, we say, the future hinges on the present. If the thoughts and feelings are pure, the soul will be bright with happiness.
3. Another advantage is the promotion of happiness in the family circle, and thebeneficent influence thus exerted upon companions and friends.
4. Another advantage is the indescribable satisfaction which is afforded to parents and friends.
5. Another advantage is the ready access which it affords to the throne of grace.
6. Another is that we are thus prepared to meet with a smile the dark frowns of adversity.
7. There is every encouragement for seeking early after God, because we are thus enabled to await, with calm and holy resignation, the coming of death. (John N. Norton.)
Seeking God early
The Hebrew word used denotes seeking at the dawn or beginning of a day. From the words “I love them that love Me” it might be inferred that man must love God as a preliminary or condition to God’s loving man. The truth, however, is, that God’s love of man must in every case precede man’s love to God, and be its chief producing cause. “We love Him because He first loved us.” There is no natural power in men of loving God. No one of us will love God because everything around proves that God loves him. Our love to God is nothing else but the reflection of God’s love to us. What produces love to God? You cannot make yourselves love God. It is God alone who can make you love God. When we answer to His love, becoming new creatures through the motions of His Spirit, then, as though He had not loved us before, so endearing is the relationship into which we are brought, that He says “I love them that love Me.” If we cannot make our selves love God, we may think over the proofs of His love, we may look at His picture, read over His letters, and so put ourselves in the way of receiving those influences which can alone change the heart. From the words “Those that seek Me early shall find Me” we need not argue that if He has not been sought early it is in vain to seek Him late. What are the motives which should conspire to urge the young to an immediate attention to the things which belong unto their peace?
1. The life of the young is as uncertain as that of the old. Health and strength are no security against the speedy approaches of death. Now is the only moment of which you are sure.
2. They will have much greater difficulty in their seeking who fail to seek early. Many suppose that one time will be as fitting as another, late as early, for seeking the Lord. They think that, if they live, repentance will be as much within their power twenty or thirty years hence as it is now. Butthis is a supposition for which there is no warrant. An old writer says, “God has, indeed, promised that He will at all times give pardon to the penitent, but I do not find that He has promised that He will, at all times, give penitence to the sinful.” By continuing in sin habits are formed which will strengthen into taskmasters, and which, when men grow old, will be well-nigh irresistible. Very small is the likelihood of producing any moral impression on those who have grown old in forgetfulness of God. We know no so unpromising a subject of moral attack as an aged sinner, always supposing him to have heard the gospel in his youth. Then give God the prime of your strength, the flower of your days, the vigour of your intellect, the ardency of your affections. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
On the advantage of early piety
That the religion of Christ is, beyond all others, calculated to produce private and public felicity no man who is acquainted with that religion can doubt.
1. Those who enjoy the singular benefit of a pious education have the greatest probability of success and perseverance in their course. Of two travellers who have the same journey to go, he is much more likely to accomplish it who, rising betimes in the morning, sets out in all the liveliness and vigour of his strength than he who drowsily sleeps till noon and in the heat and toil of the day can scarce drag his feeble feet along. Good principles and habits, early imbibed and formed, are of such power that they will scarcely permit a wide deviation from right.
2. As no good either is or can be perfected in the human mind without almighty grace, so we have the most solid assurance of that Divine assistance when, in our early days, we carefully cherish the influences of God’s Holy Spirit. Our text is not only a promise, it is the most condescending call from the Lord of wisdom, inviting us to His love. Love begets love. Our love to Him shall be repaid by His love to us.
3. Hence arise many striking advantages. The first tincture is thus given to the mind, the first bias to the affections; thereby right habits and right principles get the first possession and preserve the inclination and practice from those warping and destructive customs and opinions which it is difficult to bend again and reduce to their original and necessary straightness. We all know how strong are the prepossessions and prejudices of education--ill prepossessions and unhappy prejudices--and we may be perfectly satisfied that good prepossessions and prejudices are equally prevalent and powerful. “The cask long retains the smell of the liquor with which it was first seasoned” (Horace). How difficult it is to gain the superiority over habits and customs, even in the most trifling matters, no man is ignorant; but to subdue habits which have long lived with us, and gained our approbation--habits of vice, to which sensual affections have annexed pleasure in the gratification; totally to alter our conduct, to pluck outthe right eye of a darling lust, to cut off the right hand of a profitable sin--oh, how arduous, how painful! Here, then, we discern the unspeakable advantage of early good habits and principles, which, preserving us in the road of duty, secure us from this most difficult, if not, in some cases, impossible task, of correcting vicious habits, and amending corrupted customs and notions, which, through long possession, become intimate to men almost as themselves. And the early dedication of ourselves to God will be found not less comfortable than advantageous. It will teach you content in every station, will enable you to sail through life with as much ease and serenity as the unavoidable difficulties of this transitory state will permit; will give to your mind the purest pleasures and most satisfactory enjoyments; will make you a comfort to yourself, a blessing to your friends, and an ornament to society. (W. Dodd, LL. D.)
Early piety
1. Men have souls and minds capable of being very good or very bad, of enjoying much and suffering much. It is important that a right direction be given early in life to man’s whole nature. This can be secured in no way butby living, hearty piety.
2. Early piety will have a good effect in directing us to aright calling in life, and to a choice of suitable companions and associates.
3. Early piety alone can surely protect us from dashing on those rocks where so many have made shipwreck, both for this world and the next.
4. If we do not become pious in youth it is very uncertain whether we ever shall become so at all. When men grow old their hearts become harder, their wills more stubborn, and their sound conversion less probable. And a large number of the human race die before the period of youth has passed.
5. Should you live through youth, how can you bear the heavy burdens of middle life without the grace of God? If one comes to old age, with all its infirmities, and has not the grace of God in him, how sad his condition, how cheerless his prospects!
Application:
1. Are you young? Be not wise in your own conceit. Live by faith on the Son of God.
2. Are you middle-aged? Is the burden of cares heavy? Cast it upon the Lord. Trust in the Lord and do good. Glorify Christ in your body and spirit, which are His.
3. Are you aged? Give yourself much to devotion. Set an example of sweet submission to the will of God. The nearer you draw to heaven, the more let its light and peace shine in your face, cheer your heart, and make your life a blessing to others. (W. S. Plumer, D. D.)
Seeking Christ early
I. Consider what it is to seek Christ early. To seek Christ is to seek the true knowledge of Him, and a saving interest in Him. As it relates to the act of seeking Him, it is to attend upon all the means of grace with seriousness, faith, hope, love, and delight. We are to seek early. With respect to all other things, or before and above all things else. This relates to the earnestness and fervour with which He is to be sought. We are to seek Him with the whole heart.
II. Consider what secular encouragements there are to such as seek Christ early that they shall find Him.
1. Early seeking is most pleasing to Him.
2. It is the ordinary course of Divine grace to be found of early seekers.
3. Early seekers have fewer obstructions to their seeking and finding Christ than others have.
4. There are peculiar promises made to early seekers. (T. Hannam.)
Seeking the Lord
Inseeking the Lord--
I. Keep two things perpetually in view--His truth and the influences of His Holy Spirit. Without His truth we can have no rule, and without the influences of His Holy Spirit we can have no disposition to prize the right rule: both are absolutely necessary.
II. Under the influence of the Divine Spirit we shall invariably seek God as a God of mercy.
III. As a God of peace.
IV. As a king.
V. As a guide.
VI. As a portion. Now let me apply my subject.
1. There are some of you who do not seek the Lord--you can live without Him perfectly well.
2. There are others who seek the Lord, and perhaps you wonder why you do not find Him. Now, examine yourselves; is there not a great deal of hypocrisy, of deceit, in you?
3. There are others who seek Him, and seek Him honestly, and who think they do not find Him, when in reality they do find Him. They do not find Him in the consolation which they seem to need; but they find Him in principle--they find Him in driving guilt from the conscience, they find Him in enabling them to triumph over the tyranny of sin.
4. There are others who rejoice in the God of their salvation, who can say, “I know that I have sought and found the Lord; my Saviour is in me the hope of glory. I cannot but rejoice in Him at the present moment.” Rejoice with trembling. Remember, you have many and mighty enemies within and without. (W. Howels.)
Early seeking of Christ encouraged
I. What is implied in seeking the Lord Jesus?
1. A decided conviction of the utter insufficiency of every other object for our happiness and salvation.
2. A decided persuasion that in Christ Jesus every blessing that the soul requires is to be found.
3. A strong desire to obtain an interest in Christ.
4. Persevering efforts in the use of all appointed means to obtain this object.
II. What it is to find Christ, and the happiness that results from it.
1. The expression, finding Christ--
(1) Is figurative, and may be considered as intimating their obtaining a saving discovery of His character.
(2) May intimate also their forming a saving connection with Christ.
(3) Suggests their obtaining all the blessings of salvation.
2. The happiness that finding Christ yields.
(1) They that find Christ obtain deliverance from the worst evils--horror of conscience, burden of guilt, dread of Jehovah’s wrath, tyranny of evil passions, thraldom of Satan.
(2) They obtain the most valuable advantages. They obtain an interest in the favour of that God who has every blessing at His disposal; the graces which beautify the character, and give peace and joy to the soul in their exercise; an illumination which solves their doubts, scatters their fears, and opens before them scenes glowing with the splendour of eternal day. The heart now finds an object which can gratify its amplest wishes, and may rejoice that these advantages perish notin the using, and lie secure beyond the reach of accident.
(3) They cherish the most blessed hopes with regard to the future.
III. Those that seek Christ early have the strongest reason to expect success.
1. The Redeemer takes peculiar delight in the movements of early piety. These, in an especial manner, honour His supreme excellence.
2. The young are likely to seek Him with undivided hearts, and from affectionate choice.
3. The young have peculiar reason to expect the aids of the Spirit in seeking Christ.
4. The language of the text suggests that those who do not seek the Lord Jesus in their youth have much reason to fear that they shall never find Him.
Conclusion:
1. Let me beseech the young to seek the Lord while He may be found.
2. I exhort those who have sought the Saviour early to maintain their earnestness in religion.
3. Let those who are in advanced life consider their ways and be wise. (H. Belfrage.)
Seekers who do not seek in vain
All the people in the world are seekers, only some people spend their time in seeking for silly and useless things. A king that I have heard of, instead of ruling his people properly, neglected his duties, and spent his time in going from kingdom to kingdom seeking for a mouse with pink eyes. What a waste of time for such a man! Those who are really learned have gathered their wisdom by being ready to learn.
I. Those who begin to seek God early have longer time in which to learn about Him. People who study music after they have grown up seldom become good players or singers; nor do I believe that any one ever really masters grammar who does not begin to study it thoroughly at an early age. Begin therefore at once to learn, for you have lost already more time than you can well spare.
II. Begin early, because you will have less to unlearn. Socrates, a wise man, charged one of his disciples double fees because, he said, he not only hadto teach him how to speak, but also how to hold his tongue. A blacksmith could never become a painter, at least not very readily, for he would have to unlearn so much. If you fill your mind with foolish ideas, a vast amount of time will be required to get rid of these follies before you can be instructed in wisdom.
III. I think, too, that you will be more ardent and eager in the pursuit of wisdom if you begin young, and you will find that history confirms the truth of my opinion. You will not be so readily discouraged, and will more easily master your difficulties thanolder people can. Little children-students, we are here assured, shall not seek in vain, but they will be required to take pains. Columbus somehow got the idea that America existed, and he went to find the great unknown land. Day after day he sailed on without seeing it, but he one day spied some seaweed of a kind different to that known in Europe. This encouraged him to continue his search. So you, too, will sometimes feel inclined to give up in despair, but keep on; it is worth all the trouble you can ever expend upon it to become wise. And what joy it will impart to you when at length you see what you desire! (N. Wiseman.)
Seek Jesus early
Our business is to seek Jesus early in life. Happy are the young whose morning is spent with Jesus! It is never too soon to seek the Lord Jesus. Early seekers make certain finders. We should seek Him early by diligence. Thriving tradesmen are early risers, and thriving saints seek Jesus eagerly. Those who find Jesus to their enrichment give their hearts to seeking Him. We must seek Him first, and thus earliest. Above all things Jesus. Jesus first, and nothing else even as a bad second. The blessing is, that He will be found. He reveals Himself more and more clearly to our search. He gives Himself up more fully to our fellowship. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Seeking Christ in the dawn of life
The word “early”is not in the original. The passage therefore might be read thus--“And those that seek Me Shall find Me.” Yet we cannot altogether throw out the word “early”; it seems to complete the rhythm. The word “seek” as originally employed is a word which involves the meaning of seeking in the dawn--just as the east is whitening a little, just as the day is being born. Thus we have some claim to the word early. There are men who do not wait until midday in order to resume their journey after they have been benighted; they have, indeed, succumbed to circumstances, saying, “The darkness has overtaken us, and here we must lie”; but the moment there is a streak in the east up they start, the staff is resumed, and the journey is prosecuted with renewed energy. This is the image of the text: “they that seek Me in the dawn shall find Me; they that seek Me at daybreak; they that come after Me ere the dew be risen shall find Me, and we shall have a long morning talk together: when the soul is young, when the life is free, when the heart is unsophisticated, they that seek Me in the dawn shall find Me, for I have been waiting for them, yea, standing by them whilst they were sleeping, and half-hoping that the moment they open their eyes they would see Me, and exclaim, “Blessed Spirit, take charge of my poor, young, little, frail life all the day, and tell me what I ought to do.” Fool is he who begins the day prayerlessly, who takes hisown life into his own hand: verily in doing so he puts his money into bags with holes in them, and at night he shall have nothing. (J. Parker, D. D.)
