SERMON I. GOD CREATED YOU. COME YE CHILDREN, HEARKEN UNTO ME. I WILL TEACH YOU Ir my children will look in their Bibles for the thirty-fourth Psalm, and the eleventh verse, they will find there the words of the text. In the language of scripture, I call upon you to listen to me, while with affectionate concern for your improvement and happiness, I endeavor to teach you the principles of religion, or, which is the same thing, the fear of the Lord. I mean to do this in some sermons, which I shall write on purpose for you, and which I shall try to make so plain, that you cannot help understanding them if you will only listen. And yet, though I shall try to make them plain, they will have the same things in them which I preach to grown up people. And these things are very important. Indeed they are the most important things which can be told, either to men and women, or to children. My first sermon will be about the first and most important thing to be known, which is, that you, and I, and all people, and all creatures and things, were made by one Being, or Mind, whom we call God. You remember that the first question in your catechism is, "Can you tell me, child, who made you?" And the answer is, " God made me, and all things.” The question is a natural one, and the answer is perfectly true. And how do we know that it is true? You may say, That is a good reason. very often. The first words in the Bible are, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." And afterwards, in that same chapter it is said, "So God created man." And in the fourth commandment it says, "The Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." There are a great many other places in which God is spoken of as the Maker of all things, and the Maker of all men. And so you would be right in saying that the Bible tells you, that the answer in the cate because the Bible tells us so. The Bible does tell us so chism is true. ing its truth. to you. But there is another But there is another way of showHearken to me, and I will explain it There is our church organ, with its rows of gilt pipes, and its case of carved oak. Would you not say, that a person who should look at it, and insist that it was not made at all, was ignorant, or stupid, or perverse to a remarkable degree? The work and arrangement which you perceive even on the outside of it, convince you that it was made by art. And when you hear the fine music which may be brought out of it, and are shown that this effect is produced by means of wind, which is blown through a multitude of pipes within the case, you are still more convinced that it was made, and did not come there and breathe such rich and regular melody by chance. You know that it must have been made, on purpose to produce music. You see that it could not make itself; and that it must have been made by some ingenious workman. Well; but who made the workman? Did he come by chance, or make himself? Consider this matter. Look at any man, or any child. His eyes, and his mouth, and his whole body are as regular, and as much like workmanship, as the outside of that organ, and they are much nicer workmanship. And his voice can produce much more wonderful music than the organ can; because it can speak of a great many different things; and I dare say, that the voice of a good child is sweeter music to his parents, than any they ever heard from the organ. Then, if you were to inquire of learned men, who have examined what is in the inside of the human frame, they would assure you that the workmanship there is much superior to the inside of an organ. They would assure you that even the hand which builds an organ, or plays upon it after it is built, is a much more curious instrument than the organ itself. Its muscles, and joints, and nerves, and blood-vessels are much more ingeniously contrived and put together, than the pipes of an organ. Then you see that men must be made, as well as organs. But who made men? Can a man make himself? No. Every man knows that he did not make himself, and could not make himself. Indeed, there are very few men who know how curious and wonderful the workmanship is, which composes the human body. How can a man make a machine, when he is ignorant of the parts which compose it, and of the manner in which they are fitted to each other? Ask the best physicians, and they will tell you, though by long study and examination, they have that gained some knowledge of the human frame, there is a great deal about it which they do not understand. How, then, can men make a human frame, or body, when even the most learned do not know all the parts of it, and all the motions of it? If an organ gets out of tune, the man who made it, or any man who knows how organs are made, can look into it, and see what pipes are out of order, and then he can go to work and mend them. And this is because he is acquainted with every part of the organ, and can see exactly what he must do to it when it is out of tune. But it very often happens, that a little child gets out of order, and is very sick, and pines away, and its father and mother do not know what is the matter with it, and they send for the physician, and he does not know what is the matter, though he is a good physician, and frequently cures people; and no medicine is of any service to the child, and at last it grows cold, and dies, and its voice, which used to make such sweet music for its father and mother, is hushed, and never sings again on this earth. And so you see, that they who did not know what was the matter with it, and could not cure it, could not have made it. Who, then, did make it? It must have been a Maker, who is much wiser than the wisest of men. God made it; and he made us all. |