The Crisis
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THE CRISIS—or, HOPE AND FEAR BALANCED, IN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY
A sermon, preached in Ebenezer Chapel, Birmingham, on
Sunday Morning, Nov. 28, 1819, by John Angell James.
"Who can tell if God will repent and turn away from
his fierce anger—that we perish not." Jonah 3:9
"The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him—in
those who hope in His mercy." Psalm 147:11
Every manifestation which God has made of his nature, contains much that is solemn, and much that is amiable; and it is the glory of Deity to be at once both infinitely great and infinitely good. This union of the grand and the lovely is to be seen on the face of nature, and in the administration of Providence; but is most clearly discovered in the pages of that inspired volume which was written to inform us, in some measure, what God is. There it is said—that God is love, and that he is a consuming fire; that vengeance belongs unto him, and that he delights in mercy; that he rides on the heavens, and yet is the father of the fatherless, and a judge for the widows; that he is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, and dwells in the holy place, and at the same time makes his abode with the man who is of an humble and a contrite spirit; that he is seen against us in the purity and equity of the sentences of his law, and yet with us in the person and work of his Son.
And as the essence of religion consists in the exercise of suitable dispositions towards this great and blessed God, and no dispositions can be suitable but such as correspond to the entire revelation which he has made of his nature, the spirit of true piety is equally removed from unhallowed presumption on the one hand, and slavish despair on the other, and appears in its true character only when seen in the union of holy dread and humble confidence. Our reasons for fear are incalculably increased by the consciousness of our guilt, and can leave no room for any hope but that which rests exclusively upon the promise of mercy through Christ Jesus. Yet has God been graciously pleased to declare that he takes delight in those who fear him and hope in his mercy, that is, they are the objects of his peculiar and infinite regard. These pious dispositions should be constantly exercised in relation to our spiritual interests. We should keep up a holy reverence for God's majesty, and all humble delight in his mercy; a trembling dread of displeasure against sin, and a cheerful hope of pardon through the mediation of Christ—a salutary fear lest we should fall into temptation, and a lively confidence in God's grace to deliver us from it; a deep solicitude lest we should come short of eternal glory, attended with a tranquil expectation that we shall be 'kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation!'
'Our country' is a term of wide and most endearing import. Poetry has sung its charms, patriotism has been inspired by them, and piety has consecrated them. "If I forget you, O Jerusalem," said this trio, when they had hung their harps on the willows, and sat weeping by Babylon's river, "let my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." The love of our country is not a mere chivalrous and romantic passion, but one of the noblest feelings that can do honor to man as a member of civil society. It is in the rational community what the great law of attraction is in the world of nature. As that causes the parts of individual bodies to cohere together, and at the same time balances and regulates in their places and motions the orbs forming the universe; so does this generous feeling preserve the identity of particular kingdoms, and prevent the elements of society from sinking into the restless confusion of a general chaos, or being scattered as by a centrifugal force in every possible direction. It is the foundation of the public virtues, and a chief source of public prosperity.
The love of our country will make us tremblingly alive to her welfare; will produce a deep solicitude when that welfare is in danger or suspense; will make us anxious to know the reasons which exist for hope and fear respecting her, that, if possible, we may multiply those of the former kind, and diminish the latter. The design of the following discourse is to show what ground there is forfear as to the intention of Divine Providence concerning us, and what are the grounds of hope.
I. I shall faithfully exhibit what appear to me to be sufficient grounds to apprehend that God may yet visit this nation with his righteous displeasure. It would ill become us, even in holier and more prosperous times than those on which we have fallen, to adopt the congratulatory language of Babylon in the day of her prosperity, and the height of her grandeur, "I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief." Expectations of undisturbed tranquility, and uninterrupted prosperity, in such a world as this, resting, as they must do, on ignorance or pride, are often the prelude to a melancholy reverse, the deceptive calm before the tempest. Much less are we warranted to indulge, in our present circumstances, the hope of exemption from national calamity. It is true, we are not engaged in doubtful war with any foreign foe; no alarms of invasion are circulating through the land, and pestilence and famine are at a distance. But are these the only evils which the power of God can employ to scourge a guilty nation? Can he not find within our own shores ingredients of our curse, and replenishing with them the vials of his wrath, pour them out upon us in a time of external tranquility? Is not every mind now agitated by fear, and does not every eye seem to view the balance of our destiny trembling in the hand of Omnipotence? And are there not just grounds for such fears?
1. Consider the sovereignty which God exercises in disposing the fortunes both of states and individuals. "He does his will among the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth. His kingdom rules over all. He takes up kings, and puts them down, as it pleases him, and gives the kingdom to whoever he will." The crowns of the earth, as well as its shields, belong unto the Lord. Impressive and humiliating was his language to ancient Israel, "O house of Israel, cannot I do you with you as the potter, says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in mine hand, O house of Israel." We depend for everything that constitutes national greatness, prosperity, and happiness, entirely upon the will of God, and (which is still more impressive) we depend for all upon his mercy. We are debtors for all we possess. He can cast us down without injustice, and while the groans of our humiliation were ascending, ten thousand impartial witnesses would exclaim, "Just and righteous are your judgments, Lord God Almighty!" There is not a single article that we possess over which we can exercise a power so unlimited, as that of God over us. Surely such a view of our dependence upon a Being whose power we cannot resist, and whose purposes concerning us are utterly unknown, should excite in us, at all times, a disposition very remote from fearless security.
2. Our national transgressions are sufficient to produce very painful apprehensions. I am aware that declamations against the vices of the times, have been at once practiced and despised in every age. It is lamentable that such a topic should be necessary, and still more lamentable that it should be disregarded when it is necessary. It is the last stage in the hardening process of iniquity, when the transgressor either rejects with contempt, or receives with indifference the words of the faithful reprover. May this symptom of a seared conscience be never seen in the case of my countrymen! In speaking of the sins of the nation, I am not going to institute a comparison between the present and any past age of its history, much less between its own moral condition and that of surrounding countries. Comparisons of this kind are seldom resorted to but for the purpose of collecting fuel for our pride, or excuses for our sins. Besides a decision in such cases, where the operation of motive, the measure of light, and the degree of assistance—must be all taken into the account, is a work too difficult for any mind but that which is omniscient. Take the case abstractedly, and say if we are not "a people laden with iniquity, children that are corrupt, a seed of evil doers." "The overflowings of iniquity may well make us afraid." Where shall the eye of the Christian observer rest, and there find no cause for confession, grief, and reformation?
Are there no sins written by the very pen of the legislature amidst the records of our laws, upon which the eye of God looks down with displeasure? Is not gambling legalized in the system of lotteries? Is not the sacred institution of the Lord's Supper abused, degraded, profaned, in being converted by the laws into a qualification for secular offices? Is not the solemnity of an oath converted into a species of profane swearing, by its repetition on the most trivial occasions, through all the departments of the revenue? Is there nothing in our penal code which needs revision and correction, to render our jurisprudence effective in the prevention as well as punishment of crime? When will the voice of reason and revelation be heard, and the legislature have that "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord," which shall move them with holy indignation to expunge these blots from the statute book?
The sins of the people, and such alone are national sins, require more particular attention. "To consider national sins as merely comprehending the vices of rulers, or the iniquities tolerated by law," says a most eloquent writer,* "is to place the duties of such a season as this in a very adverse and very inadequate light. It is to render them harmful—for upon this principle it is our chief business on such occasions to single out for attack those whom we are commanded to obey, to descant on public abuses, and to hold up to detestation and abhorrence the supposed delinquencies of the government under which we are placed. How far such a conduct tends to promote that broken and contrite heart, which is heaven's best sacrifice, requires no great sagacity to discover. It is, moreover, to exhibit a very inadequate view of the duties of this season, as it confines humiliation and confession to a mere scantling of the sins which pollute a nation."
- See Mr. Hall's Sermon, entitled "Sentiments proper to the present crisis," preached October 19, 1803, which, in addition to the transcendent eloquence of the peroration, contains so much that is appropriate to the time and circumstances in which we live, that its perusal and circulation cannot be too warmly promoted by every lover of his country.
To the neglect of piety we must add the prevalence of IMMORALITY. How general is drunkenness, that beastly vice which enslaves the mind to the body, while it consumes the body as in liquid fire! How solemn is the thought that the bounties of divine providence should thus be converted into the means of transgressing against their Author, and that the products of nature should be converted into instruments of rebellion against their Creator!
Shockingly common is profane swearing! A dreadful taint of impiety runs through the daily conversation of myriads both of the rich and the poor. It has been frequently said, that in no nation under heaven is the profanation of sacred terms so common as in England. This sin has not even the flimsy excuse of sensual gratification to plead on its behalf, and seems invented for no other purpose than to give expression and effect to the fiend-like passions of enmity, malice, and revenge. It is an impious, though impotent attempt to purloin the fire of incensed justice, to grasp and hurl those thunderbolts of divine vengeance, which ought never to be contemplated but with dread and trembling.
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