Here he applieth the similitude, again enforcing patience;
it is a lesson that needeth much pressing.
Stablish your hearts,
stèrixate tais kardias humoon - The Septuagint use the word
stèrixai, for the bolstering or holding up of Moses' hands, Exod. xvii.
12. And here it noteth an immovableness in the faith and hope of Christianity,
notwithstanding the many oppressions they had met with. In short, it implieth
two things - firmness of faith and constancy in grace. (1.) Firmness of faith,
when, out of the encouragement of a sure trust, we can sit down under God's
will and good pleasure. (2) Constancy in grace, when we are not so bowed with
our troubles and sorrows as to depart from our innocency. Observe: -
Obs. That it is the duty of God's children in time of their troubles to
establish their hearts, and to put on a holy courage and magnanimity. It is
said of a good man, Ps. cxii 8, 'That his heart is established; he shall not be
afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies;' that is, neither discouraged
in regard of trust and hope, nor miscarrying in regard of constancy and
perseverance. Oh! that we would labour for this establishment. We lose our
hope, and therefore we lose our patience; we are of a soft and easy heart, and
so soon overborne: there is a holy obstinacy and hardness of heart, which is
nothing but a firmness in our Christian purposes and resolutions. We have need
of it in these times: there are persecutions and troubles; soft and delicate
spirits are soon tired: errors and delusions; wanton and vain spirits are soon
seduced: scandals and offences, by the miscarriages of false brethren; weak and
easy hearers are soon discouraged; as in Nehemiah's time, there were troubles
without, delusions from the Samaritans, Tobiah, &c, oppression, and working
on the necessities of the people by false brethren, Neh. v. To fortify you
against all these, consider, those that draw back the Lord hateth: the crab is
reckoned among the unclean creatures, Lev. xi. 10. The four prophetical beasts
went every one straight forward, Ezek. i. 9. If you know not how to get this
holy hardness or strength of spirit, go to God for it; man's strength is but
small, and soon overborne: Ps. xxvii. 14, 'Wait on the Lord, and be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart;' so 1 Peter v. 10, 'Now the Lord
Jesus make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you after ye have
suffered awhile.' Desire him to give you courage, and to strengthen and settle
it against all temptations and dangers.
For the coming of the Lord
draweth nigh - Either, first, to them by a particular judgment; for there were
but a few years, and then all was lost; and probably that may be it which the
apostles mean when they speak so often of the nearness of Christ's coming,
Phil. iv. 5, Heb. x. 25, eschatè hoora, 1 John ii. 18. But you will say,
How could this be propounded as an argument of patience to the godly Hebrews,
that Christ would come and destroy the temple and city?
I answer - (1.)
The time of Christ's solemn judiciary process against the Jews was the time
when he did acquit himself with honour upon his adversaries, and the scandal
and reproach of his death was rolled away. (2.) The approach of his general
judgment ended the persecution; and when the godly were provided for at Pella,
the unbelievers perished by the Roman sword. Secondly, It may be meant of the
day of general judgment, which, because of the certainty of it, and the
uncertainty of its particular approach, hath been always represented to the
church as at hand; or else, in regard of eternity, all that efflux of time
between Christ's ascension and his second coming seemeth nothing. Whence the
note is: -
Obs. That the world's duration, in regard of eternity, is
but short: 2 Peter iii. 8, 'One day with the Lord is but as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.' Men count time long, because they measure it
by the terms of their own duration; but God comprehending all ages in the
indivisible point of his own eternity, all is as nothing to him, as a moment,
as a 'watch in the night,' Ps. xc. 3. So Ps. liv. 7, 'For a small moment have I
forsaken thee,' &c. Though there was more than a space of two thousand
between the first separation and the calling of the Gentiles; yet God saith,
'For a small moment have I forsaken thee.' The word judgeth not according to
sense and appearance. We, being impatient of delays, reckon minutes and count
moments long; but God doth not judge of these things, 'as men count slackness,'
2 Peter iii. 9; that is, as flesh conceiveth. To short-lived creatures a few
years may seem an age; but scripture, in its computations measuring all things
by the existence of God, reckoneth otherwise. Human reason sticketh altogether
in the outward sense and feeling, and therefore, as man measureth his happiness
by temporal accidents, so his duration by temporal existences. Oh! when shall
we look within the veil, and learn to measure things by faith, and not by
sense! We count moments long, and God, that is of an eternal duration, counteth
thousands of years a small moment. All outward accidents have their periods,
beyond which they cannot pass; but eternity is a day that is never overcast
with the shadows of a night. Certainly all space of time should be small to
them that know the greatness of eternity. As in permanent quantity, so it is in
successive. The whole globe of the earth is but as a middle point to the vast
circumference of the heavens. So is this life but a moment to eternity. If we
did value all things according to the computation and valuation of the word, it
would not be so irksome to us to wait for Christ's coming. It is too much
softness that cannot brook a little delay.
Back to Contents of Chapter 5
Home | Sermons | Biography | Writings | Links