WEAK MEANS***


Transcribed from the 1822 R. Thomas edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

                   [Picture: Public domain book cover]





                                   THE
                             _GLORY OF GRACE_


                         Effected by weak Means:

                          BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF

                                A SERMON,

                             PREACHED ON THE

                         DEATH OF SAMUEL CHURCH,

                           _Aged Twelve Years_.

                    On SUNDAY Evening, APRIL 14, 1822,

                              BY J. CHURCH,

                        At the Surrey Tabernacle.

                                * * * * *

    And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the Child.—1 _Sam._ iii,
    8.

    And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy Children
    shall come
    again to their own Border.—_Jeremiah_ xxxi, 17.

                                * * * * *

                                SOUTHWARK,
             PRINTED BY R. THOMAS, RED LION STREET, BOROUGH.

                                  1822.

                                * * * * *




_A SERMON_, _&c._


    Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength,
    because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the
    avenger.  _Psalm_ viii, 2.

WHEN David had his mind most divinely elevated and filled with holy
thoughts of the person, work, and glory of the dear Redeemer, he burst
forth in holy admiration, joy, and praise, in this adoring language: I
will extol thee, my God, O king!  I will bless thy name for ever and
ever!  One generation shall praise thy works unto another, and shall
declare thy mighty acts: and surely the most wonderful and astonishing
act, is the everlasting salvation of lost, ruined, guilty man.  This is a
greater act than the formation of worlds, either heaven or earth.  The
salvation of one poor sinner is a more marvellous display of God, than
the creation, with all its wonders.  This salvation we are to speak of to
others, both ministers and people; and in proportion as we see our
interest in it, so are we to declare its greatness, because it is the
highest act of God, as the God of all grace, and

    Why should the wonders he has wrought
    Be lost in silence and forgot?

But babes, men, and children, let them praise the name of the Lord.

I could wish this task, on this solemn, and to me, painful occasion, had
devolved on one suitable, but supported by the Lord’s presence, upheld by
his power, and cheered with his approbation in my mind, I humbly attempt
to rehearse the wonders of his love, the riches of his grace, and the
displays of his mercy to me, and mine, and attempt, in my poor way, to
prove the glorious truth in the text: Out of the mouths of babes God has
ordained his own glory, the glory of his _love_, his _grace_, his
_mercy_, his _truth_, his _power_, his _faithfulness_, and infinite
_condescension_.  It is true that I can do no justice to the important
words, by way of a Sermon.  They contain a vast store of rich truth and
precious experience.  I must therefore merely glance at the meaning, and
shew, in as concise a manner as I can, to whom they belong, and to whom
they will, with scriptural propriety, apply.

The title of this psalm is to the chief musician upon Gittith, a psalm of
David.—Various are the conjectures of learned men on this title.  Some
think the word Gittith signifies the wine press, and the title means, To
the conqueror over the trodden wine press, wrath; and if so, we are not
at a loss to know to whom it belongs.  A psalm of, or concerning the
beloved one, to whom be glory.  Amen.

The ever blessed Redeemer is the subject of this psalm.  Hence we find it
quoted in the New Testament, and twice applied to him.  It is a
revelation of Christ, as God-man, in his headship, his empire, dominion,
and excellent name, his royalties, majesty, and glory, with his union,
relation, and interest in his people.  It is addressed to him as Jehovah,
the covenant God of the church; as one of the glorious and divine
persons, subsisting in the divine essence, with the Father and the holy
Spirit, the incomprehensible God, the most high God, blessed for
evermore; the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the first and the last.
If the first, there were none before him, and if the last, there can be
none after him.  He is the Almighty, himself has declared it; the true
God and eternal life, possessing every divine and glorious perfection,
the maker of heaven and earth, the centre, the foundation, the glory, the
beauty, and ornament of creation; and the whole is sustained by him—he is
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, unchangeable—the adorable I
am, that I am!—and as God in covenant, as well as absolute deity, he is
called our God, your God, their God, my Lord, and my God, the most
mighty, the great God, the living God; and must not that person have
diabolical effrontery to deny the essential and eternal Godhead of the
Lord Jesus Christ?  Such conduct clearly demonstrates that such persons
are in nature’s thickest gloom, nor can those characters give the church
or the world any scriptural account of the holy Spirit’s work upon their
hearts.  We, therefore, can never allow such unconverted persons to be
proper judges of any one truth in divine revelation.  When persons are
called by divine grace, they are brought to feel their need of just such
a saviour as Christ is, and are led to prize the infinite value of his
blood, the merit of his obedience, the power of his arm, and the love of
his heart.  But amidst the host of enemies to the person and dignity of
Christ, we humbly and gratefully unite with the Psalmist: Oh Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, thy perfections, and
thy gospel, wherever it has been carried.  And how glorious it will be in
the new heavens and earth, during the millennium, his thousand years
personal reign with his people.  There _he_ has set his glory above the
heavens, his everlasting love, his holy humanity; and his church, as
considered in himself, are exalted above the ærial or starry heavens.
This is his glory, the joy of the redeemed, the wonder of elect angels,
and the envy of devils.

The Psalmist, having been led to adore Jehovah Jesus, as God in covenant,
and as God-man, the brightness of the Father’s glory, is sweetly brought
on to view him in his humiliation, final victory, and exaltation; and
while considering the heavenly bodies, their glory and greatness, with
his own insufficiency to celebrate his power, he yet adores him for that
knowledge with which his mind was favored, and exclaims, What is man that
thou art mindful of him?  This passage is quoted by the apostle, and the
whole of it is applied to Christ, as the mediator, as the Son of man,
admiring that grace which conferred so great an honor upon him, as to
choose his individual nature, his humanity, as to unite it with the
Godhead, that he should prepare it in the covenant, anoint it with the
oil of gladness above his fellows, delight in it, exalt it, and take such
providential care of it; support it under his direful sorrows, raise it,
and give it glory.  Thus the sacred Messiah is represented, as filled
with holy and admiring thoughts of the subject, and in extacy asks, What
is man? the human nature made a little lower than God, but next unto him,
and in personal union with the Son of God; a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, but crowned with glory and honor, as the
whole election of grace, and as the mediator of reconciliation.  Christ
by delegation, hath universal dominion over all things, visible and
invisible, nature, providence, grace, glory, earth, and hell; and this
will ever form a subject for the admiration of God’s people.  O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! for as thou hast formed
thy people for thy praise, thou hast ordained the wonders of thy grace
shall be celebrated by them in time and eternity.  Out of the mouths of
babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength, because of thine
enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

We may consider these words as justly applicable to 1. David.  2, David’s
Lord.—3, The children of the temple.  4, The apostles in their
minority.—5, The experience of believers.—6, The salvation of children.
This good man was chosen and ordained for the glory of God, and for the
benefit of his people; eternally chosen in Christ to salvation; he