at it rightly, David’s being punished was the
very sign that God had forgiven him. Oh, believe
that, my friends; face it; thank God for it.
I at least do, when I look back upon my past life,
and see that for every wrong I have ever done, I have
been punished: not punished a tenth part as
much as I deserve; but still punished, more or less,
and made to smart for my own folly, and to learn,
by hard unmistakable experience, that it will not pay
me, or any man, to break the least of God’s
laws; and I thank God for it. I tell you to thank
God also, whensoever you are punished for your sins.
It is a sign that God cares for you, that God loves
you, that God is training and educating you, that
God is your Father, and He is dealing with you as
with His sons. For what son is there whom His
Father does not chastise? It is a bitter lesson,
no doubt; but we have deserved it: then let
us bear it like men. No doubt it is bitter:
but there is a blessing in it. No chastisement
at first seems pleasant, says the Apostle, but rather
grievous: yet afterwards it yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised
thereby. Be exercised by it, then. Let
God teach you in His own way, even if it seem a harsh
and painful way. We have had earthly fathers,
says the Apostle, who corrected us, and we gave them
reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection
to God, the Father of Spirits, and live? For
suffering and punishment is the way to Eternal Life—to
that true Eternal Life which is knowing God and God’s
love, and becoming like God. As the Apostle
says, God chastens us only for our profit, that we
may be partakers of His holiness. And as king
Hezekiah says of affliction, ’Lord, by
these
things,’ by sorrow and chastisement, ’men
live; and in all these things is the life of the spirit.’
May God give to you, and me, and all mankind, as often
as we do wrong, honest and good hearts to confess
our sins thoroughly, and take our punishment meekly,
and trust in God’s boundless mercy, in order
that if we humble ourselves under His rod, and learn
His lessons faithfully in this life, we may not need
a worse punishment in the life to come, but be accepted
in the last great Day for the sake of Jesus Christ,
our blessed Lord and Saviour.
SERMON XX. THE TRUE GENTLEMAN
1 Cor. xii. 31; xiii. 1. Covet earnestly the
best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent
way. Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
My friends, let me say a few plain words this morning
to young and old, rich and poor, upon this text.