Alexander Henderson’s Sermons

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Conclusion after the Communion

Beloved, only a word or two now, and so we shall close. I was speaking to you of the fall of the walls of Jericho, at the end of Joshua 6, to shew that the ruin of that city was notable and singular in a [ ] manner. Joshua there, by warrant from the Lord, pronounces a curse upon him that shall rise up to build the walls of that city Jericho again; and it was a very severe curse: and not only was it pronounced in general to be severe, but even in particular it was strait and severe. For he says, he that presumes to build this city he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, that is, his eldest son shall die presently; and if so be that he go forward, and takes not a lesson by this, (how many sons he had who did it we know not, or if the rest should die), “then, at the setting up the gates thereof, his youngest son shall die.” This was a very strict and peremptory curse that was pronounced against the builder of this city. There were many reasons for the peremptoriness of it, but this seems to be the chief one. Because that which God casts down by his own hand immediately, and he employs not the help or power of man to the doing thereof, man is too arrogant to try to set it up again, let alone accomplish it: when anything is cast down by man, man may build that up again, but not that which is directly and immediately cast down by God himself.

Application: God with his own hand and immediate power did cast down Jericho into this land, and did build up the walls of Jerusalem; and therefore it is not possible that a curse can go past those who presume to build up Jericho here again: whatever temporal curse come upon them here, yet they shall not miss an everlasting curse, if they leave not off down the walls of spiritual Jericho into your soul, take heed that you go not to build them up again; for if you begin to do it, the Lord shall kill your first-born, even that wherein you delight most; and if you go on into that course, he shall not leave one that may be any comfort to you. And yet, for all this, for as sore and peremptory as the curse was, there was a man found who took the deed in hand; he was a man of Bethel where there was idolatry; and it was in Ahab’s days, who was a silly king, enticed to idolatry by his wicked wife Jezebel. At that time Hiel presumed to build it;1 he could not be ignorant of the threatening, and albeit it was a pleasant part of the country, yet for the space of five hundred years there was not one found who dared to put his hand to it; yet this unhappy man makes to work, and it may be that he did it to please the king, and he says, “If no man will take this turn in hand, I will take it, for I have wit enough to get it done, and I have strength also.”

It seems there have been three things that moved him to this. First, Unbelief. He believed not that Joshua’s threatening was still in effect; he thought, it is long since this threatening was pronounced, and it is forgotten now. So he apprehended not that the threatenings of God’s word were everlasting, and that made him that he would do it. Secondly, It was a piece of fine fertile ground, and it lay in a pleasant part of the country, and you hear he had children; and so avarice made him to assay it, that so he might get an estate made up for them.2 Thirdly, What was it that made him to go on after his first-born was dead; what made him that he would not leave off till the gates thereof were say up, and so to lose his youngest son also? No question it was the pride of his heart that did that, that even albeit his conscience told him that he was wrong, and the success of his business also, yet he thought, what, will I open the mouths of the world about me to think that I have remorse for anything that I have done? I will not do that, but I will go on in my intended course, though all should go to all.3 This indeed is the very thing that makes men go on into an ill course. 1. They think not the judgments of God in his word to be true and everlasting. 2. Avarice; evermore seeking the world, and knowing not how to get it; and before his house is built in the world, he will do what he can to ruin God’s, that he may get his own built. 3. Pride. Oh! He scorns to have a name of cowardice; but who are you to strive with your Maker? If they have begun with threatenings and thunderings, they think they cannot with their credit desist again till they get the matter to a point.4 And therefore it would be a happy thing for us to keep ourselves from these, and to keep faith in a good conscience; and labor to have our minds set upon heaven, and not upon the earth; and labor to have humble hearts, free, so far as may be, from haughtiness and pride. Thus you shall be kept from attempting such a course, and so shall live blessed here, and all you have, and shall at last be brought to everlasting happiness hereafter, through Jesus Christ. To whom, etc.

  1. The allusions here, and in what follows, to the Queen and Laud are too plain and pointed to be mistaken, though they may have fallen harmless on the audience. “It may be that he did it to please the king,” would hardly have occurred to Henderson, but for what he knew of Laud and his doings at court at this time.
  2. This remark was no doubt intended to apply to the bishops, whose known motives in seeking and accepting bishoprics were, in many instances, as here described. Vide Supra, p. 82, note.
  3. A proverbial form of expression, not very common now, meaning “though the worst should happen.” The same occurs in Baillie ii. 187, “Let the House of Commons and the city do what they would, if all should have gone to all, the House of Lords was peremptor.”
  4. This applies to the king in particular, whose honor and credit were always urged by the creatures of the court as considerations paramount to all others, for which the subject was bound to sacrifice his dearest interests. Hamilton professed no less throughout the tedious negotiations of the following summer.