Introduction:
CONCERNING these words, I would observe three things:
I. What it was that
God commanded Noah, to which these words refer. It was the building of an ark
according to the particular direction of God, against the time when the flood of
waters should come; and the laying up of food for himself, his family, and the
other animals, which were to be preserved in the ark. We have the particular
commands which God gave him respecting this affair, from the 14th verse, "Make
thee an ark of gopher wood," &c
2. We may observe the special design of
the work which God had enjoined upon Noah: it was to save himself and his
family, when the rest of the world should be drowned. See ver. 17, 18.
We may
observe Noah's obedience. He obeyed God: thus did Noah. And his obedience was
thorough and universal: according to all that God commanded him, so did he. He
not only began, but he went through his work, which God had commanded him to
undertake for his salvation from the flood. To this obedience the apostle refers
in Heb. xi. 7, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his
house.
DOCTRINE.
We should be willing to engage in and go through
great undertakings, in order to our own salvation.
The building of the
ark, which was enjoined upon Noah, that he and his family might be saved, was a
great undertaking: the ark was a building of vast size; the length of it being
three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it
thirty cubits. A cubit, till of late, was by learned men reckoned to be equal to
a foot and a half of our measure. But lately some learned men of our nation have
travelled into Egypt, and other ancient countries, and have measured some
ancient buildings there, which are of several thousand years standing, and of
which ancient histories give us the dimensions in cubits; particularly the
pyramids of Egypt, which are standing entire at this day. By measuring these,
and by comparing the measure in feet with the ancient accounts of their measure
in cubits, a cubit is found to be almost two and twenty inches. Therefore
learned men more lately reckon a cubit much larger than they did formerly. So
that the ark, reckoned so much larger every way, will appear to be almost of
double the bulk which was formerly ascribed to it According to this computation
of the cubit, it was more than five hundred and fifty feet long, about ninety
feet broad, and about fifty feet in height.
To build such a structure, with
all those apartments and divisions in it which were necessary, and in such a
manner as to be fit to float upon the water for so long a time, was then a great
undertaking. It took Noah, with all the workmen he employed, a hundred and
twenty years, or thereabouts, to build it For so long it was, that the Spirit of
God strove, and the long-suffering God waited on the old world, as you may see
in Gen. vi. 3: "My Spirit shall I not always strive with man; yet his days shall
be a hundred and twenty years." All this while the ark was a preparing, as
appears by 1 Pet. iii. 20: "When once the long-suffering of God waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." It was a long time that Noah
constantly employed himself in this business. Men would esteem that undertaking
very great, which should keep them constantly employed even for one half of that
time. Noah must have had a great and constant care upon his mind for these one
hundred and twenty years, in superintending this work, and in seeing that all
was done exactly according to the directions which God had given him.
Not
only was Noah himself continually employed, but it required a great number of
workmen to be constantly employed, during all that time, in procuring, and
collecting, and fitting the materials, and in putting them together in due form.
How great a thing was it for Noah to undertake such a work! For beside the
continual care and labor, it was a work of vast expense. It is not probable that
any of that wicked generation would put to a finger to help forward such a work,
which doubtless they believed was merely the fruit of Noah's folly, without full
wages. Noah must needs have been very rich, to be able to bear the expense of
such a work, and to pay so many workmen for so long a time. It would have been a
very great expense for a prince; and doubtless Noah was very rich, as Abraham
and Job were afterwards. But it is probable that Noah spent all his worldly
substance in this work, thus manifesting his faith in the word of God, by
selling all he had, as believing there would surely come a flood, which would
destroy all; so that if he should keep what he had, it would be of no service to
him. Herein he has set us an example, showing us how we ought to sell all for
our salvation.
Noah's undertaking was of great difficulty, as it exposed him
to the continual reproaches of all his neighbors, for that whole one hundred and
twenty years. None of them believed what he told them of a flood which was about
to drown the world. For a man to undertake such a vast piece of work, under
notion that it should be the means of saving him when the world should be
destroyed, it made him the continual laughing-stock of the world. When he was
about to hire workmen, doubtless all laughed at him, and we may suppose, that
though the workmen consented to work for wages, yet they laughed at the folly of
him who employed them. When the ark was begun, we may suppose that every one
that passed by and saw such a huge bulk stand there, laughed at, it, calling it
Noah's folly.
In these days, men are with difficulty brought to do or submit
to that which makes them the objects of the reproach of all their neighbors.
Indeed if while some reproach them, others stand by them and honor them, this
will support them. But it is very difficult for a man to go on in a way wherein
he makes himself the laughing stock of the whole world, and wherein he can find
none who do not despise him. Where is the man that can stand the shock of such a
trial for twenty years?
But in such an undertaking as this, Noah at the
divine direction, engaged and went through it, that himself and his family might
be saved from the common destruction which was shortly about to come on the
world. He began, and also made an end: "According to all that God commanded him,
so did he." Length of time did not weary him: he did not grow weary of his vast
expense. He stood the shock of the derision of all his neighbors; and of all the
world year after year: he did not grow weary of being their laughing-stock, so
as to give over his enterprise; but persevered in it till the ark was finished.
After this, he was at the trouble and charge of procuring stores for the
maintenance of his family, and of all the various kinds of creatures, for so
long a time. Such an undertaking he engaged in and went through in order to a
temporal salvation. How great an undertaking then should men be willing to
engage in and go through in order to their eternal salvation! A salvation from
an eternal deluge; from being overwhelmed with the billows of God's wrath of
which Noah's flood was but a shadow.
I shall particularly handle this
doctrine under the three following propositions.
I. There is a work or
business which must be undertaken and accomplished by men, if they would be
saved.
II. This business is a great undertaking.
III. Men should be
willing to enter upon and go through this undertaking though it be great, seeing
it is for their own salvation.
Proposition. There is a work or business which
men must enter upon and accomplish, in order to their salvation.-Men have no
reason to expect to be saved in idleness, or to go to heaven in a way of doing
nothing. No; in order to it, there is a great work, which must be not only
begun, but finished-I shall speak upon this proposition, in answer to two
inquiries.
I. What is this work or business which must be undertaken and
accomplished in order to the salvation of men?
Answer. It is the work of
seeking salvation in a way of constant observance of all the duty to which God
directs its in his word. If we would be saved, we must seek salvation. For
although men do not obtain heaven of themselves; they do not go thither
accidentally, or without any intention or endeavors of their own. God, in his
word, hath directed men to seek their salvation as they would hope to obtain it.
There is a race that is set before them, which they must run, and in that race
come off victors, in order to their winning the prize.
The Scriptures have
told us what particular duties must be performed by us in order to our
salvation. It is not sufficient that men seek their salvation on in the
observance of some of those duties; but they must be observed universally. The
work we have to do is not an obedience only to some, but to all the commands of
God; a compliance with every institution of worship; a diligent use of all the
appointed means of grace; a doing of all duty towards God and towards man.-It is
not sufficient that men have some respect to all the commands of God, and that
they may be said to seek their salvation in some sort of observance of all the
commands; but they must be devoted to it.
They must not make this a business
by the by, or a thing in which they are negligent and careless, or which they do
with a slack hand; but it must be their great business, being attended to as
their great concern. They must not only seek, but strive; they must do what
their hand findeth to do with their might, as men thoroughly engaged in their
minds, and influenced and set forward by great desire and strong resolution.
They must act as those that see so much of the importance of religion above all
other things, that every thing else must be as an occasional affair, and nothing
must stand in competition with its duties. This must be the one thing they do;
Phil. iii. 13, "This one thing I do."-It must be the business to which they make
all other affairs give place, and to which they are ready to make other things a
sacrifice. They must be ready to part with pleasures and honor, estate and life,
and to sell all, that they may successfully accomplish this business.
It is
required of every man, that he not only do something in this business, but that
he should devote himself to it; which implies that he should give up himself to
it, all his affairs, and all his temporal enjoyments. This is the import of
taking up the cross, of taking Christ's yoke upon us, and of denying ourselves
to follow Christ. The rich young man, who came kneeling to Christ to know what
he should do to he saved, Mark x. 17, in some sense sought salvation but did not
obtain it. In some sense he kept all the commands from his youth up; but was not
cordially devoted to this business. He had not made a sacrifice to it of all his
enjoyments, as appeared when Christ came to try him; he would not part with his
estate for him.
It is not only necessary that men should seem to he very much
engaged, and appear as if they were devoted to their duty for a little while;
but there must be a constant devotedness, in a persevering way, as Noah was to
the business of the building the ark, going on with that great, difficult, and
expensive affair, till it was finished, and till the flood came. Men must not
only be diligent in the use of the means of grace, and be anxiously engaged to
escape eternal ruin, till they obtain hope and comfort; but afterwards they must
persevere in the duties of religion, till the flood come, the flood of death.
Not only must the faculties, strength, and possessions of men be devoted to this
work, but also their time and their lives; they must give up their whole lives
to it, even to the very day when God causes the storms and floods to come. This
is the work or business which men have to do in order to their
salvation.
Inquiry 2. Why is it needful that men should undertake to go
through such a work in order to their salvation?
Answer 1. Not to merit
salvation, or to recommend them to the saving mercy of God. Men are not saved on
the account of any work of theirs, and yet they are not saved without works. If
we merely consider what it is for which, or on the account of which, men are
saved, no work at all in men is necessary to their salvation. In this respect
they are saved wholly without any work of theirs: Tit. iii. 5, "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." We must indeed be
saved on the account of works; but not our own. It is on account of the works
which Christ hath done for us. Works are the fixed price of eternal life; it is
fixed by an eternal, unalterable rule of righteousness. But since the fall there
is no hope of our doing these works, without salvation offered freely without
money and without price. But,
2. Though it be not needful that we do any
thing to merit salvation, which Christ hath fully merited for all who believe in
him; yet God, for wise and holy ends, hath appointed, that we should come to
final salvation in no other way, but that of good works done by us.
God did
not save Noah on account of the labor and expense he was at in building the ark.
Noah's salvation from the flood was an instance of the free and distinguishing
mercy of God. Nor did God stand in need of Noah's care, or cost, or labor, to
build an ark. The same power which created the world, and which brought the
flood of waters upon the earth, could have made the ark in an instant, without
any care or cost to Noah, or any of the labor of those workmen who were employed
for so long a time. Yet God was pleased to appoint, that Noah should be saved in
this way. So God hath appointed that man should not be saved without his
undertaking and doing this work of which I have been speaking; and therefore we
are commanded "to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," Philip.
ii. 12.
There are many wise ends to be answered by the establishment of such
a work as prerequisite to salvation. The glory of God requires it. For although
God stand in no need of any thing that men do to recommend them to his saving
mercy, yet it would reflect much on the glory of God's wisdom and holiness, to
bestow salvation on men in such a way as tends to encourage them in sloth and
wickedness; or in any other way than that which tends to promote diligence and
holiness. Man was made capable of action, with many powers of both body and mind
fitting him for it. He was made for business and not idleness and the main
business for which he was made, was that of religion. Therefore it becomes the
wisdom of God to bestow salvation and happiness on man in such a way as tends
most to promote his end in this respect, and, to stir him up to a diligent use
of his faculties and talents.
It becomes the wisdom of God so to order it,
that things of great value and importance should not be obtained without great
labor and diligence. Much human learning and great moral accomplishments are not
to be obtained without care and labor. It is wisely so ordered, in order to
maintain in man a due sense of the value of those things which are excellent. If
great things were in common easily obtained, it would have a tendency to cause
men to slight and undervalue them. Men commonly despise those things which are
cheap, and which are obtained without difficulty.
Although the work of
obedience performed by men, be not necessary in order to merit salvation; yet it
is necessary in order to their being prepared for it. Men cannot be prepared for
salvation without seeking it in such a way as hath been described. This is
necessary in order that they have a proper sense of their own necessities, and
unworthiness; and in order that they be prepared and disposed to prize salvation
when bestowed, and be properly thankful to God for it. The requisition of so
great a work in order to our salvation is no way inconsistent with the freedom
of the offer of salvation; as after all it is both offered and bestowed without
any respect to our work, as the price or meritorious cause of our salvation, as
I have already explained. Besides, salvation bestowed in this way is better for
us, more for our advantage and happiness both in this and the future world, than
if it were given without this requisition.
II. Proposition. This work or
business, which must be done in order to the salvation of men, is a great
undertaking. It often appears so to men upon whom it is urged. Utterly to break
off from all their sins, and to give up themselves forever to the business of
religion, without making a reserve of any one lust, submitting to and complying
with every command of God, in all cases, and persevering therein, appears to
many so great a thing, that they are in vain urged to undertake it. In so doing
it seems to them, that they should give up themselves to a perpetual bondage.
The greater part of men therefore choose to put it off, and keep it at as great
a distance as they can. They cannot bear to think of entering immediately on
such a hard service, and rather than do it, they will run the risk of eternal
damnation, by putting it off to an uncertain future opportunity.
Although the
business of religion is far from really being as it appears to such men, or the
devil will be sure, if he can, to represent it in false colors to sinners, and
make it appear as black and as terrible as he can; yet it is indeed a great
business, a great undertaking, and it is fit that all who are urged to it should
count the cost beforehand, and be sensible of the difficulty attending it. For
though the devil discourages many from this undertaking, by representing it to
be more difficult than it really is; yet with others he takes a contrary course
and flatters them it is a very easy thing, a trivial business, which may be done
at any time when they please, and so emboldens them to defer it from that
consideration. But let none conceive any other notion of that business of
religion, which is absolutely necessary to their salvation, than that it is a
great undertaking. It is so on the following accounts.
1. It is a business of
great labor and care. There are many commands to be obeyed, many duties to be
done, duties to God, duties to our neighbor, and duties, to ourselves. There is
much opposition in the way of these duties from without. There is a subtle and
powerful adversary laying all manner of blocks in the way. There are innumerable
temptations of Satan to be resisted and repelled. There is great opposition from
the world, innumerable snares laid, on every side, many rocks and mountains to
be passed over, many streams to be passed through, and many flatteries and
enticements from a vain world to be resisted. There is a great opposition from
within; a dull and sluggish heart, which is exceedingly averse from that
activity in religion which is necessary; a carnal heart, which is averse from
religion and spiritual exercises, and continually drawing the contrary way; and
a proud and a deceitful heart, in which corruption will be exerting itself in
all manner of ways. So that nothing can be done to any effect without a most
strict and careful watch, great labor and strife.
2. It is a constant in
business.-In that business which requires great labor, men love now and then to
have a space of relaxation, that they may rest from their extraordinary labor.
But this is a business which must be followed every day. Luke ix. 23, " If any
man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and
follow me." We must never give ourselves any relaxation from this business; it
must be continually prosecuted day after day. If sometimes we make a great stir
and bustle concerning religion, but then lay all aside to take our ease, and do
so from time to time, it will be of no good effect; we had even as good do
nothing at all. The business of religion so followed is never like to come to
any good issue, nor is the work ever like to be accomplished to any good
purpose.
3. It is a great undertaking, as it is an undertaking of
great expense.-We must, therein sell all: we must follow this business at the
expense of all our unlawful pleasures and delights, at the expense of our carnal
ease, often at the expense of our substance, of our credit among men, the good
will of our neighbors, at the expense of all our earthly friends, and even at
the expense of life itself. Herein it is like Noah's undertaking to build the
ark, which, as hath been shown was a costly undertaking: it was expensive to his
reputation among men, exposing him to be the continual laughing-stock of all his
neighbors and of the whole world: and it was expensive to his estate, and
probably cost him all that he had.
4. Sometimes the fear, trouble, and
exercise of mind, which are undergone respecting this business, and the
salvation of the soul, are great and long continued, before any comfort is
obtained. Sometimes persons in this situation labor long in the dark, and
sometimes, as it were, in the very fire, they having great distress of
conscience, great fears, and many perplexing temptations, before they obtain
light and comfort to make their care and labor more easy to them. They sometimes
earnestly, and for a long time, seek comfort, but find it not, because they seek
it not in a right manner, nor in the right objects. God therefore hides his
face. They cry, but God doth not answer their prayers. They strive, but all
seems in vain. They seem to themselves not at all to get forward, or nearer to a
deliverance from sin: but to go backward, rather than forward. They see no
glimmerings of light: things rather appear darker and darker. Insomuch that they
are often ready to be discouraged, and to sink under the weight of their present
distress, and under the prospect of future misery. In this situation, and under
these views, some are almost driven to despair.
Many, after they have
obtained some saving comfort, are again involved in darkness and trouble. It is
with them as it was with the Christian Hebrews, Heb. x. 32, "After ye were
illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions. Some through a melancholy
habit and distemper of body, together with Satan's temptations, spend a great
part of their lives in distress and darkness, even after they have had some
saving comfort.
5. It is a business which, by reason of the many
difficulties, snares, and dangers that attend it, requires much instruction,
consideration, and counsel. There is no business wherein men stand in need of
counsel more than in this. It is a difficult undertaking, a hard matter to
proceed aright in it. There are ten thousand wrong ways, which men may take;
there are many labyrinths wherein many poor souls are entangled and never find
the way out ; there are many rocks on which thousands of souls have suffered
shipwreck, for want of, having steered aright.
Men of themselves know not how
to proceed in this business, any more than the children of Israel in the
wilderness knew where to go without the guidance, of the pillar of cloud and
fire. There is great need that they search the Scriptures, and give diligent
heed to the instructions and directions contained in them, as to a light shining
in a dark place and that they ask counsel of those skilled in these matters. And
there is no business in which men have so much need of seeking to God by prayer,
for his counsel, and that he would lead them in the right way, and show them the
strait gate. " For strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it;" yea, there are none that find it without
direction from heaven.
The building of the ark was a work of great difficulty
on this account, that Noah's wisdom was not sufficient to direct him how to make
such a building as should be a sufficient security against such a flood, and
which should be a convenient dwelling-place for himself, his family, and all the
various kinds of beasts and birds, and creeping things. Nor could he ever have
known how to construct this building, had not God directed him.
6. This
business never ends till life ends. They that undertake this laborious, careful,
expensive, self-denying business, must not expect to rest from their labors,
till death shall have put an end to them. The long continuance of the work which
Noah undertook was what especially made it a great undertaking. This also was
what made the travel of the children of Israel through the wilderness appear so
great to them, that it was continued for so long a time. Their spirits failed,
they were discouraged, and had not a heart to go through with so great an
undertaking.
But such is this business that it runs parallel with life,
whether it be longer or shorter. Although we should live to a great age, our
race and warfare will not be finished till death shall come. We must not expect
that an end will be put to our labor, and care, and strife, by any hope of a
good estate which we may obtain. Past attainments and past success will not
excuse us from what remains for the future, nor will they make future constant
labor and care unnecessary to our salvation.
III. Men should be willing to
engage in and go through this business, however great and difficult it may seem
to them, seeing it is for their own salvation. Because,
1. A deluge of wrath
will surely come. The inhabitants of the old world would not believe that there
would come such a flood of waters upon the earth as that of which Noah told
them, though he told them often; neither would they take any care to avoid the
destruction. Yet such a deluge did come; nothing of all those things of which
Noah had forewarned them, failed.
So there will surely come a more dreadful
deluge of divine wrath on this wicked world. We are often forewarned of it in
the Scriptures, and the world, as then, doth not believe any such thing. Yet the
threatening will as certainly be accomplished, as the threatening denounced
against the old world. A day of wrath is coming; it will come at its appointed
season; it will not tarry, it
shall not be delayed one moment beyond its
appointed time.
2. All such as do not seasonably undertake and go through the
great work mentioned will surely be swallowed up in this deluge. When the floods
of wrath shall come, they will universally overwhelm the wicked world: all such
as shall not have taken care to prepare an ark, will surely be swallowed up in
it; they will find no other way of escape. In vain shall salvation be expected
from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; for the flood shall be
above the tops of all the mountains. Or if they shall hide themselves in the
caves and dens of the mountains, there the waters of the flood will find them
out, and there shall they miserably perish.
As those of the old world who
were not in the ark perished, Gen. vii. 21, 23, so all who shall not have
secured to themselves a place in the spiritual ark of the gospel, shall perish
much more miserably than the old world. Doubtless the inhabitants of the old
world had many contrivances to save themselves. Some, we may suppose, ascended
to the tops of their houses, being driven out of one story to another, till at
last they perished. Others climbed to the tops of high towers; who yet were
washed thence by the boisterous waves of the rising flood. Some climbed to the
tops of trees; others to the tops of mountains, and especially of the highest
mountains. But all was in vain; the flood sooner or later swallowed them all up;
only Noah and his family, who had taken care to prepare an ark, remained
alive.
So it will doubtless be at the end of the world, when Christ shall
dome to judge the world in righteousness. Some, when they shall look up and see
him coming in the clouds of heaven, shall hide themselves in closets, and secret
places in their houses. Others flying to the caves and dens of the earth, shall
attempt to hide themselves there. Others shall call upon the rocks and mountains
to fall on them, and cover them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb.-So it will be after the sentence is pronounced,
and wicked men see that terrible fire coming, which is to burn this world
forever, and which will be a deluge of fire, and will burn the earth even to the
bottoms of the mountains, and to its very centre. Deut. xxxii. 22, "For a fire
is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell, and shall consume
the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."
I say, when the wicked shall, after the sentence, see this great fire beginning
to kindle, and to take hold of this earth; there will be many contrivances
devised by them to escape, some flying to caves and holes in the earth, some
hiding themselves in one place, and some in another. But let them hide
themselves where they will, or let them do what they will, it will be utterly in
vain. Every cave shall burn as an oven, the rocks and mountains shall melt with
fervent heat, and if they could creep down to the very centre of the earth,
still the heat would follow them, and rage with as much vehemence there, as on
the very surface.
So when wicked men, who neglect their great work in their
lifetime, who are not willing to go through the difficulty and labor of this
work, draw near to death, they sometimes do many things to escape death, and put
forth many endeavors to lengthen out their lives at least a little longer. For
this end, they send for physicians, and perhaps many are consulted, and their
prescriptions are punctually observed. They also use many endeavors to save
their souls from hell. They cry to God;. they confess their past sins; they
promise future reformation; and, Oh what would they not give for some small
addition to their lives, or some hope of future happiness! But all proves in
vain: God hath numbered their days and finished them; and as they have sinned
away the day of grace, they must even bear the consequence, and forever lie down
in sorrow.
3. The destruction, when it shall come, will be infinitely
terrible. The destruction of the old world by the flood was terrible; but that
eternal destruction which is coming on the wicked is infinitely more so. That
flood of waters was but an image of this awful flood of divine vengeance. When
the waters poured down, more like spouts or cataracts, or the fall of a great
river, than like rain; what an awful appearance was there of the wrath of God!
This however but an image of that terrible outpouring of the wrath of God which
shall be forever, yea forever and ever, on wicked men. And when the fountains of
the great deep were broken up, and the waters burst forth out of the ground
though they had issued out of the womb (Job xxxviii. 8), this was an image of
the mighty breakings forth of God's wrath, which shall be, when the flood gates
of wrath shall be drawn up. How may we suppose that the wicked of the old world
repented that they had not hearkened to the warnings which Noah had given them,
when they saw these dreadful things, and saw that they must perish! How much
more will you repent your refusing to hearken to the gracious warnings of the
gospel, when you shall see the fire of God's wrath against you, pouring down
from heaven, and bursting on all sides out of bowels of the earth!
4. Though
the work which is necessary in order to man's salvation be a great work, yet it
is not impossible. What was required of Noah, doubtless appeared a very great
and difficult undertaking. Yet he undertook it with resolution, and he was
carried through it. So if we undertake this work with the same good will and
resolution, we shall undoubtedly be successful. However difficult it be, yet
multitudes have gone through it, and have obtained salvation by the means. It is
not a work beyond the faculties of our nature, nor beyond the opportunities
which God giveth us. If men will but take warning, and hearken to counsel, if
they will but be sincere and in good earnest, be seasonable in their work, take
their opportunities, use their advantages be steadfast, and not wavering; they
shall not fail.
APPLICATION.
The use I would make of this
doctrine, is to exhort all to undertake and go through this great work, which
they have to do in order to their salvation, and this let the work seem ever so
great and difficult. If your nature be averse to it, and there seems to be very
frightful things in the way, so that your heart is ready to fail at the
prospect; yet seriously consider what has been said, and act a wise part. Seeing
it is for yourselves, for your own salvation; seeing it is for so great a
salvation, for your deliverance from eternal destruction; and seeing it is of
such absolute necessity in order to your salvation, that the deluge of divine
wrath will come, and there will be no escaping it without preparing an ark; is
it not best for you to undertake the work, engage in it with your might, and go
through it, though this cannot be done without great labor, care, and
difficulty, and expense?
I would by no means flatter you concerning this
work, or go about to make you believe, that you shall find an easy light
business of it: no, I would not have you expect any such thing. I would have you
sit down and count the cost; and if you cannot find it in your hearts to engage
in a great, hard, laborious, and expensive undertaking, and to persevere in it
to the end of life, pretend not to be religious. Indulge yourselves in your
ease; follow your pleasures; eat, drink, and be merry; even conclude to go to
hell in that way, and never make any more pretenses of seeking your salvation.
Here consider several things in particular.
1. How often you have been warned
of the approaching flood of God's wrath. How frequently you have been told of
hell, heard the threatenings of the word of God set before you, and been warned
to flee from the wrath to come. It is with you as it was with the inhabitants of
the old world. Noah warned them abundantly of the approaching flood, and
counseled them to take care for their safety, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. Noah warned
them in words; and he preached to them. He warned them also in his actions. His
building the ark, which took him so long a time, and in which he employed so
many hands, was a standing warning to them. All the blows of the hammer and axe,
during the progress of that building, were so many calls and warnings to the old
world, to take care for their preservation from the approaching destruction.
Every knock of the workmen was a knock of Jesus Christ at the door of their
hearts: but they would not hearken. All these warnings, though repeated every
day, and continued for so long a time, availed nothing.
Now, is it not much
so with you, as it was with them? How often have you been warned! How have you
heard the warning knocks of the gospel, Sabbath after Sabbath, for these many
years! Yet how have some of you no more regarded them than the inhabitants of
the old world regarded the noise of the workmen's tools in Noah's
ark!
Objection. But here possibly it may be objected by some, that though it
be true they have often been told of hell, yet they never saw any thing of it,
and therefore they cannot realize it that there is any such place. They have
often heard of hell, and are told that wicked men, when they die, go to a most
dreadful place of torment; that hereafter there will be a day of judgment, and
that the world will be consumed by fire. But how do they know that it is really
so? How do they know what becomes of those wicked men that die? None of them
come back to tell them. They have nothing to depend on but the word which they
hear. And how do they know that all is not a cunningly-devised fable?
Answer.
The sinners of the old world had the very same objection against what Noah told
them of a flood about to drown the world. Yet the bare word of God proved to be
sufficient evidence that such a thing was coming. What was the reason that none
of the many millions then upon earth believed what Noah said, but this, that it
was a strange thing, that no such thing had ever before been known? And what a
strange story must that of Noah have appeared to them, wherein he told them of a
deluge of waters above the tops of the mountains! Therefore it. is said, Heb.
xi. 7, that "Noah was warned of God of things not seen as yet." It is probable,
none could conceive how it could be that the whole world should be drowned in a
flood of waters; and all were ready to ask, where there was water enough for it;
and by what means it should be brought upon the earth. Noah did not tell them
how it should be brought to pass; he only told them that God had said that it
should be: and that proved to be enough. The event showed their folly in not
depending on the mere word of God, who was able, who knew how to bring it to
pass, and who could not lie.
In like manner the word of God will prove true,
in threatening a flood of eternal wrath to overwhelm all the wicked. You will
believe it when the event shall prove it, when it shall be too late to profit by
the belief. The word of God will never fail; nothing is so sure as that: heaven
and earth shall pass away, but the word of God shall not pass away. It is firmer
than mountains of brass. At the end, the vision will speak and not lie. The
decree shall bring forth, and all wicked men shall know that God is the Lord,
that he is a God of truth, and that they are fools who will not depend on his
word. The wicked of the old world counted Noah a fool for depending so much on
the word of God, as to put himself to all the fatigue and expense of building
the ark; but the event showed that they themselves were the fools, and that he
was wise.
2. Consider that the Spirit of God will not always strive with you;
nor will his long suffering always wait upon you. So God said concerning the
inhabitants of the old world, Gen. vi. 3 "My Spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty
years." All this while God was striving with them. It was a day of grace with
them, and God's long-suffering all this while waited upon them: 1 Peter iii. 20,
"Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." All this while they had an
opportunity to escape, if they would but hearken and believe God.
Even after
the ark was finished, which seems to have been but little before the flood came,
still there was an opportunity; the door of the ark stood open for some time.
There was some time during which Noah was employed in laying up stores in the
ark. Even then it was not too late; the door of the ark yet stood open.-About a
week before the flood came, Noah was commanded to begin to gather in the beasts
and birds. During this last week still the door of the ark stood open. But on
the very day that the flood began to come, while the rain was yet withheld, Noah
and his wife, his three sons, and their wives, went into the ark; and we are
told, Gen. vii. 16, that "God shut him in. Then the day of God's patience was
past; the door of the ark was shut; God himself, who shuts and no man opens,
shut the door. Then all hope of their escaping the flood was past; it was too
late to repent that they had not hearkened to Noah's warnings, and had not
entered into the ark while the door stood open.
After Noah and his family had
entered into the ark, and God had shut them in, after the windows of heaven were
opened, and they saw how the waters were poured down out of heaven, we may
suppose that many of those who were near came running to the door of the ark,
knocking, and crying most piteously for entrance. But it was too late; God
himself had shut the door, and Noah had no license, and probably no power, to
open it. We may suppose, they stood knocking and calling, Open to us, open to
us; O let us in; we beg that we may be let in. And probably some of them pleaded
old acquaintance with Noah; that they had always been his neighbors, and had
even helped him to build the ark. But all was in vain. There they stood till the
waters of the flood came, and without mercy swept them away from the door of the
ark.
So it will be with you, if you continue to refuse to hearken to the
warnings which are given you. Now God is striving with you; now he is warning
you of the approaching flood, and calling upon you Sabbath after Sabbath. Now
the door of the ark stands open. But God's Spirit will not always strive with
you; his long-suffering will not always wait upon you. There is an appointed day
of God's patience, which is as certainly limited as it was to the old
world.
God hath set your bounds, which you cannot pass. Though now warnings
are continued in plenty, yet there will be last knocks and last calls, the last
that ever you shall hear. When the appointed time shall be elapsed, God will
shut the door, and you shall never see it open again; for God shutteth, and no
man openeth.-If you improve not your opportunity before that time, you will cry
in vain, "Lord, Lord, open to us," Matt. xxv. 11, and Luke xiii. 25, &c.
While you shall stand at the door with your piteous cries, the flood of God's
wrath will come upon you, overwhelm you, and you shall not escape. The tempest
shall carry you away without mercy, and you shall be forever swallowed up and
lost.
3. Consider how mighty the billows of divine wrath will be when they
shall come. The waters of Noah's flood were very great. The deluge was vast; it
was very deep; the billows reached fifteen cubits above the highest mountains;
and it was an ocean which had no shore; signifying the greatness of that wrath
which is coming on wicked men in another world, which will be like a mighty
flood of waters overwhelming them, and rising vastly high over their heads, with
billows reaching to the very heavens. Those billows will be higher and heavier
than mountains on their poor souls. The wrath of God will be an ocean without
shores, as Noah's flood was: it will be misery that will have no end.
The
misery of the damned in hell can be better represented by nothing, than by a
deluge of misery, a mighty deluge of wrath, which will be ten thousand times
worse than a deluge of waters; for it will be a deluge of liquid fire, as in the
Scriptures it is called a lake of fire and brimstone.-At the end of the world
all the wicked shall be swallowed up in a vast deluge of fire, which shall be as
great and as mighty as Noah's deluge of water. See 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6, 7. After
that the wicked will have mighty billows of fire and brimstone eternally rolling
over their poor souls, and their miserable tormented bodies. Those billows may
be called vast liquid mountains of fire and brimstone. And when one billow shall
have gone over their heads, another shall follow, without intermission, giving
them no rest day nor night to all eternity.
4. This flood of wrath will
probably come upon you suddenly, when you all think little of it, and it shall
seem far from you. So the flood came upon the old world. See Matt. xxiv. 36,
&c. Probably many of them were surprised in the night by the waters bursting
suddenly in at their doors, or under the foundations of their houses, coming in
upon them in their beds. For when the fountains of the great deep were broken
up, the waters, as observed before, burst forth in mighty torrents. To such a
sudden surprise of the wicked of the old world in the night, probably that
alludes in Job xxvii. 20, "Terrors take hold on him as waters; a tempest
stealeth him away in the night."
So destruction is wont to come on wicked
men, who hear many warnings of approaching destruction, and yet will not be
influenced by them. For "he that is often reproved, and hardeneth his neck,
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy," Prov. xxix. 1. And "when
they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as
travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape," 1 Thess. v.
3.
5. If you will not hearken to the many warnings which are given you of
approaching destruction, you will be guilty of more than brutish madness. The ox
knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." They know upon whom they are
dependent, and whom they must obey, and act accordingly. But you, so long as you
neglect your own salvation, act as if you knew not God, your Creator and
Proprietor, nor your dependence upon him. The very beasts, when they see
signs of an approaching storm, will betake themselves to their dens for shelter.
Yet you, when abundantly warned of the approaching storm of divine vengeance,
will not fly to the hiding-place from the storm, and the covert from the
tempest. The sparrow, the swallow, and other birds, when they are forewarned of
approaching winter, will betake themselves to a safer climate. Yet you who have
been often forewarned of the piercing blasts of divine wrath, will not, in order
to escape them, enter into the New Jerusalem, of most mild and salubrious air,
though the gate stands wide open to receive you. The very ants will be diligent
in summer to lay up for winter: yet you will do nothing to lay up in store a
good foundation against the time to come. Balaam's ass would not run upon a
drawn sword, though his master, for the sake of gain, would expose himself to
the sword of God's wrath; and so God made the dumb ass, both in words and
actions, to rebuke the madness of the prophet, 1 Pet. ii. 16. In like manner,
you, although you have been oft warned that the sword of God's wrath is drawn
against you, and will certainly be thrust through you, if you proceed in your
present course, still proceed, regardless of the consequence.
So God made the
very beasts and birds of the old world to rebuke the madness of the men of that
day: for they, even all sorts of them, fled to the ark while the door was yet
open: which the men of that day refused to do; God hereby, thus signifying, that
their folly was greater than that of the very brute creatures.-Such folly and
madness are you guilty of; who refuse to hearken to the warnings that are given
you of the approaching flood of the wrath of God.
You have been once more
warned to-day, while the door of the ark yet stands open. You have, as it were,
once again heard the knocks of the hammer and axe in the building of the ark, to
put you in mind that a flood is approaching. Take heed therefore that you do not
still stop your ears, treat these warnings with a regardless heart, and still
neglect the great work which you have to do lest the flood of wrath suddenly
come upon you, sweep you away, and there be no remedy.
*