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THE INSTANCES, THE EVIL NATURE, AND THE DANGEROUS TENDENCY OF DELAY, IN THE

CONCERNS OF RELIGION.

SERMON III.

[Preached at Clipstone Ministers' Meeting, April 27, 1791] ́

HAGGAI i. 2.

Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.

WHEN the children of Judah were delivered from their captivity, and allowed, by the proclamation of Cyrus, to return to their own land, one of the principal things which attracted their attention was, the rebuilding of the house of God, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians. This was a work which Cyrus himself enjoined, and upon which the hearts of the people were fixed. It was not, however, to be accomplished at once; and, as the worship of God was a matter of immediate and indispensable concern, they set up an altar, on which to offer sacrifices and offerings, till such time as the temple should be built.

In the second year after their return, the foundation of the Lord's house was laid; but, opposition being made to it, by the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, the work ceased all the days of Cyrus, until the reign of Darius, commonly distinguished by the VOL. VII.

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name of Darius-Hystaspis. During this period, which seems to bave been about fourteen years, the people sunk into a spirit of indifference. At first they desisted, from necessity; but afterwards, their attention being turned to the building and ornamenting of houses for themselves, they seemed very well contented that the house of the Lord should lie waste. For this their temper and conduct, the land was smitten with barrenness; so that both the vintage and the harvest failed them. God also raised up Haggai and Zechariah to go and remonstrate against their supineness; and the efforts of these two prophets were the means of stirring up the people to resume the work.

The argument which the people used against building the house of God was, that the time was not come. It is possible, they waited for a counter-order from the Persian court; if so, they might have waited long enough. A work of that nature ought to have been prosecuted of their own accord ; at least, they should have tried. It did not follow, because they were hindered once, that therefore they should never succeed. Or, perhaps, they meant to plead their present weakness and poverty. Something like this seems to be implied in the 4th verse, where they are reminded, that they had strength enough to build and ornament houses for themselves. It looks as if they wished to build, and lay by, fortunes for themselves and their families, and then, at some future time, they might contribute for the building of the house of God.

There is something of this procrastinating spirit that runs. through a great part of our life, and is of great detriment to us in the work of God. We know of many things that should be done, and cannot, in conscience, directly oppose them; but still we find excuses for our inactivity. While we admit that many things should be done, which are not done, we are apt to quiet ourselves with the thought that they need not be done just now ; The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.

In discoursing to you upon the subject, brethren, I shall take notice of a few of the most remarkable cases in which this spirit is discovered; and then endeavour to show its evil nature, and dangerous tendency.

I. IN RESPECT TO THE CASÈS, OR INSTANCES, IN WHICH IT IS DISA small degree of observation on mankind, and of reflection upon the workings of our own hearts, will furnish us with many of these; and convince us of its great influence on every description of men, in almost all their religious concerns.

1. It is by this plea that a great part of mankind a e constantly deceiving themselves in respect to a serious attention to the concerns of their souls. These are, doubtless, of the last importance; and there are times in which most men not only acknowledge this truth, but, in some sort, feel the force of it. This is the case, especially, with those who have had a religious education, and have been used to attend upon the preaching of the gospel. They hear from the pulpit, that men must be born again, must be converted, and become as little children, or never enter into the kingdom of God. Or the same things are impressed upon them by some threatening affliction or alarming providence. They feel themselves, at those times, very unhappy; and it is not unusual for them to resolve upon a sacrifice of their former sins, and a serious and close attention, in future, to the affairs of their souls. They think, while under these impressions, they will consider their ways, they will enter their closets, and shut to the door, and pray to the Lord that he would have mercy upon them; but, alas, no sooner do they retire from the house of God, or recover from their affliction, than the impression begins to subside, and then matters of this sort become less welcome to the mind. They must not be utterly rejected; but are let alone for the present. As conscience becomes less alarmed, and danger is viewed at a greater distance, the sinner, by degrees, recovers himself from his fright, and dismisses his religious concern, in some such manner as Feliz did his reprover, Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season I will call for thee.

It is thus with the ardent youth: in the hour of serious reflection, he feels that religion is of importance; but his heart, still averse from what his conscience recommends, rises against the thought of sacrificing the prime of life to the gloomy duties of prayer and self-denial. He does not resolve never to attend to these things; but the time does not seem to be come. He hopes

that the Almighty will excuse him a few years, at least, and impute his excesses to youthful folly and imbecility. It is thus, with the man of business: there are times in which he is obliged to retire from the hurry of life; and, at those times, thoughts of another life may arrest his attention. Conscience, at those intervals, may smite him for his living without prayer, without reflection, without God in all his thoughts; and what is his remedy? Does he lament his sin, and implore mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ? No, nor so much as promise to forsake it immediately: but this he promises; that, when this busy time is over, and that favourite point is gained, and those intricate affairs are terminated, then it shall be otherwise. It is thus with persons in single life: they will be better when they get settled in the world. It is thus with the encumbered parent: she looks forward to the time when her family shall get off her hands. It is thus with the drunkard and the debauchee: wearied in their own way, they intend to lead a new life, as soon as they can but shake off their old connexions.

In short, it is thus with great numbers in all our towns and villages and congregations: they put off the great concern to another time, and think they may venture, at least, a little longer; till all is over with them, and a dying hour just awakens them, like the virgins in the parable, to bitter reflection on their own fatal folly.

2. This plea not only affects the unconverted, but prevents us all from undertaking any great or good work for the cause of Christ, or the good of mankind. We see many things that should be done; but there are difficulties in the way, and we wait for the removal of these difficulties. We are very apt to indulge a kind of prudent caution, (as we call it,) which foresees and magnifies difficulties beyond what they really are. It is granted, there may be such things in the way of an undertaking, as may render it impracticable; and, in that case, it is our duty, for the present, to stand still but it becomes us to beware, lest we account that impracticable which only requires such a degree of exertion as we are not inclined to give it. Perhaps the work requires expense; and Covetousness says, Wait a little longer, till I have gained so and so in trade, till I have rendered my circumstances respectable, and settled my children comforta

bly in the world. But is not this like ceiling our own houses, while the house of God lies waste? Perhaps it requires concurrence; and we wait for every body to be of a mind, which is never to be expected. He who, through a dread of opposition and reproach, desists from known duty, is in danger of being found among the fearful, the unbelieving, and the abominable.

Had Luther and his cotemporaries acted upon this principle, they had never gone about the glorious work of the Reformation. When he saw the abominations of Popery, he might have said, 'These things ought not to be; but what can I do? If the chief priests and rulers, in different nations, would but unite, something might be effected; but what can I do, an individual, and a poor man? I may render myself an object of persecution, or which is worse, of universal contempt; and what good end will be answered by it?' Had Luther reasoned thus; had he fancied, that, because princes and prelates were not the first to engage in the good work, therefore the time was not come to build the house of the Lord; the house of the Lord, for any thing he had done, might have lain waste to this day.

Instead of waiting for the removal of difficulties, we ought, in many cases, to consider them as purposely laid in our way, in order to try the sincerity of our religion. He who had all power in heaven and earth, could not only have sent forth his apostles into all the world, but have so ordered it that all the world should treat them with kindness, and aid them in their mission; but, instead of that, he told them to lay their accounts with persecution, and the loss of all things. This was, no doubt, to try their sincerity; and the difficulties laid in our way are equally designed to try

ours.

Let it be considered, whether it is not owing to this principle, that so few and so feeble efforts have been made for the propaga tion of the gospel in the world. When the Lord Jesus commissioned his apostles, he commanded them to go and teach all nations, to preach the gospel to every creature; and that, notwithstanding the difficulties and oppositions that would lie in the way. The apostles executed their commission with assiduity and fidelity; but, since their days, we seem to sit down half contented that the

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