The Imminent Danger (Pt 16)

Aug26

Let us not trust in outward privileges, nor rest in a form of godliness destitute of the power. It will be in vain to say, “The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these” (Jer 7:4), if the Lord of the temple should depart from us. When the Israelites were afraid of the Philistines, they carried the ark of the Lord with them to battle (1Sa 4:3). But God disappointed their vain confidence. He delivered the ark of His glory into the hands of their enemies to teach them, and to teach us, that formal hypocritical worshippers have no good ground to hope for His protection.

Alas, then, who can tell? Appearances are very dark at present. Besides what we may expect or fear from the rage and madness of our foreign enemies, we have much to apprehend at home. A spirit of discord has gone forth. Jeshurun has waxed fat, and kicked (Deu 32:15). Many seem weary of liberty, peace, and order. Our happy constitution, our mild government, our many privileges, admired by other nations, are despised and depreciated among ourselves—not only by the thoughtless and licentious, and those who, having little to lose, may promise themselves a possibility of gain in a time of disturbance and confusion, but they are abetted and instigated by persons of sense, character, and even of religion. I should be quite at a loss to account for this, if I did not consider it as a token of the Lord’s displeasure. When He withdraws His blessing, no union can long subsist!

John Newton:
The Imminent Danger and Only Sure Resource of Our Nation

from: http://www.chapellibrary.org/

The Imminent Danger (Pt 15)

Aug24

Can it be justly said of us, that our faith and love are everywhere spoken of (Rom 1:8; 1Th 1:7), and that we are examples to all that believe? That our works and service and faith and patience are known and the last to be more than the first (Rev 2:19)? Or rather, may it not be said of too many, that while they profess to believe in God, in works they deny Him (Ti 1:16)? That they are neither hot nor cold, that they have a name to live, and are dead, that they have at least forgotten their first love (Rev 3:15-16; 2:4)? When these defects and declensions began to prevail in the first churches, the Lord admonished and warned them; but instead of watching and repenting, they gradually became more remiss. At length their glory departed, and their candlesticks were removed out of their places (Rev 2:5). Many regions which once rejoiced in the light of the Gospel have been long overspread with Islamic darkness.

John Newton:
The Imminent Danger and Only Sure Resource of Our Nation

from: http://www.chapellibrary.org/

The Imminent Danger (Pt 14)

Aug20

Where are now the mighty empires, which were once thought rooted and established as the everlasting mountains? They have disappeared like the mists upon the mountaintops. Nothing of them remains but their names. They perished and their memorials have almost perished with them. The patience of God bore with them for a time, until the purposes for which He raised them up were answered; but when the measure of their iniquity was full, they passed away and were dispersed, like foam upon the waters. What security have we from such a catastrophe? Or what could we answer if God should put that question to us, “Shall I not visit for these things…and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this” (Jer 5:9)?

Where are now the churches which once flourished in Greece and Asia Minor? When the Apostle Paul wrote to the former, and when our Lord indicted his epistles to the latter, most of them were in a prosperous state. If there ever was a time when the commendations given to them were applicable to professors of the Gospel in our land, I fear we can hardly claim them at present.

John Newton:
The Imminent Danger and Only Sure Resource of Our Nation

from: http://www.chapellibrary.org/

The Imminent Danger (Pt 12)

Aug17

Wisdom is indeed justified by all her children (Luk 7:35). The Gospel is the power of God to the salvation of them that believe (Rom 1:16). It recalls them from error, from wickedness, and from misery; guides their feet into the ways of peace; and teaches them to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world. But in the number of those who profess to receive it, there are too many who confirm and increase the prejudices of those who speak against what they knew not. Alas! What extravagant opinions, what fierce dissensions, what loose conversations, what open offences, may be found among many who would be thought professors of that Gospel which only breathes the spirit of holiness, love, and peace!

What then must be the state of those who avowedly live without God in the world? I need not enlarge upon this painful subject, which forces itself upon the mind if we only walk the streets or look into the newspaper. It is not necessary to inform you that infidelity, licentiousness, perjury, profaneness, and the neglect and contempt of God’s Sabbaths and worship abound. The laws of God, and the laws of the land, so far as their object is to enforce the observance of His commands, are openly and customarily violated in every rank of life. In a day when the Lord of hosts calls to weeping and mourning, thoughtless security, dissipation, and riot are characteristics of our national spirit. The loss of public spirit and that impatience of subordination, so generally observable, so widely diffused, which are the consequences of our sins against God, are, in themselves, moral causes sufficient to ruin the nation, unless His mercy interposes in our behalf.