A 
 
 
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 JC SOUTHERN REGIONAL 
 
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 LIBRARY F 
 
 
 N WA R D
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
 156. BEDELL, G. T. (of Fayetteville, 
 N. C), The Valley of Bones. Phila., 
 1833. $4.50 
 
 157. Sermon by. N. Y., 1828. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 158. Fellow Workers. Two Ser- 
 mons. N. Y., 1859. $2.00 
 
 159. Tyng, S. H., Memoir of 
 
 Gregory T. Bedell. Portrait. Phila., 
 1836. $3.00 
 
 Life in Fayetteville, N. C.
 
 
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 ONWARD
 
 ONWARD; 
 
 CHRISTIAN PROGRESSION, 
 
 GREGORY T. BEDELL, D. D. 
 
 PIIILADELPniA: 
 
 HENRY PERKINS, 134 CHESTNUT ST. 
 
 PERKINS & MARVIN, BOSTON. 
 
 If? 3 6.
 
 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
 1836, by Henry Perkins, in the Office of the Clerk of 
 the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 WILLIAM STATELY, PRISTEH, 
 
 No. 12 Pear Street.
 
 < 
 
 DA 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 {];; This little work was prepared for the 
 
 CO 
 
 j^ publisher by the lamented author, a lit- 
 
 -c tie before his departure from the world. 
 
 ^ It is now printed as found among his pa- 
 pers arranged for this purpose. It is pre- 
 
 '*" sumed that none can read it now, but 
 in 
 
 ^ with increased interest, and it is present- 
 
 o . 
 
 ^ ed to the public in the hope that it will be 
 
 . made, by God's Holy Spirit, an instru- 
 
 ^ ment of good. 
 
 > Philadelphia, June, 18.36, 
 J.-1 
 
 a2 
 
 461 808
 
 ONWARD; 
 
 OR 
 
 CHRISTIAN PROGRESSION. 
 
 " Speak to the childres^ of Iskael that they 
 
 GO FOR-WAEB." ExoduS xlv. 15. 
 
 There are few, if any, among the readers of 
 this little book, who are ignorant of that por- 
 tion of the history of the children of Israel to 
 which the passage I have placed at the head 
 of this little work particularly belongs. On 
 the occasion to which it refers, their emer- 
 gency was great, — their situation one of ex- 
 traordinary difficulty. They had come out
 
 8 ON W A R D. 
 
 from the "land of Egypt and the liouse of 
 bondage ;" and God liad led ihcm into 
 a situation from which they as well as 
 their cncmicp, supposed there was no escape. 
 In their rear, they had the Egyptian array in 
 the hot pursuit, led on by their king in per- 
 son, infuriated as he was by having lost their 
 profitable services, and panting for revenge 
 in consequence of having been so often baf- 
 fled. In their front was the Red Sea, to try 
 which M'ould have been madness, as they 
 might naturally have supposed. In this dis- 
 astrous position of their afl'airs, in which 
 there appeared no alternative between the 
 fearful choice of perishing in the waves; and 
 of being carried back into an ignominious 
 and cruel slavery, they cried, though not 
 with child-like confidence, unto the Lord, 
 and superadded murmuring against their lead- 
 er and benefactor, Moses. They seem soon 
 to have forgotten the hand which had been
 
 ONWARD. » 
 
 outstretched, mighty for their deliverance 
 thus far ; and strange as it may be, they seem 
 even to have distrusted that power whose 
 presence had all along been visible, in the 
 guiding pillar of the cloud and fire which 
 went before the camp. But shut up as they 
 were by the land, with their foes in the rear, 
 and apparent inevitable death in front, with 
 what astonishment must they have received 
 the singular command thus given by God to 
 Moses, " Speak to the children of Israel, 
 that they go forward." 
 
 "Go forward" — What! madly rush to 
 death amidst the waves of the sea ? — Suffer 
 me here to interpose a remark, which I look 
 upon as containing one of the most important 
 positions relative to the matter of religion — 
 a command from God, can never in its own 
 nature be impracticable ; — such a command 
 seems in some way connected with a pro- 
 raise on the part of God ; and it is this which
 
 10 ONWARD. 
 
 makes llie way of duty not only peremptory, 
 but on the whole practicable and easy. — 
 Could the Israelites suppose, that Cod had 
 commanded them to go forward, and perish ? 
 No ! They received the order and they 
 obeyed it, and the power of God appeared 
 greatly in their behalf. They went forward, 
 and the sea, obedient to the command of 
 God, stood as a " wall unto them on the 
 right hand, and on the left." The chosen 
 people passed over " dfy shod through the 
 midst of the sea." Their enemies pursued, 
 but at the same command of God, the " sea 
 came into its place again," when the order 
 which for a while had suspended the opera- 
 tion of the usual laws of nature was recalled ; 
 and the Egyptians perished in the mighty 
 waters — the greatest deliverance on the one 
 hand, and the gi-catest overthrow on the 
 other, which stand on the records of his- 
 torv.
 
 ONWARD. 11 
 
 Now I have not introduced these facts to 
 your attention for the purpose of entering 
 into any remarks, relating particularly to 
 the Israelitish history. Taken as a mere in- 
 sulated direction, tlie command contains mat- 
 ter of most important instruction, and is every 
 way adapted to the purposes of most valuable 
 practical remarks. It is a direction suited 
 in a very special manner to the condition of 
 all professing Christians ; and is meant to 
 be applied with a peculiar emphasis to any 
 who Have recently taken on themselves a 
 public profession of the rehgion of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In this view of the subject it will be my 
 purpose to consider the words of the text at 
 the head of this little book. 
 
 I. As implying a setting out m the way of 
 religion.
 
 12 O N W A R D, 
 
 II. As opposed to standing still in reli- 
 gion. 
 
 III. As opposed to a retrograde move- 
 ment. 
 
 IV. As demanding advancement. 
 
 These are the points to whicli, in this little 
 work, the attention of my readers will be di- 
 rected. 
 
 I. Then the words before us imply that 
 you have actually set out in the way of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 If the Israelites had continued in the land 
 of Egypt, this command would never have 
 been given. It only became proper, as they 
 had actually left the land of their captivity. 
 If they had been disposed to remain in their 
 bondage, the only language which would 
 have been appropriate is such as this — " Up 
 — get you out of this land." So in refer- 
 ence to ourselves, a command of this kind
 
 ONWARD. 13 
 
 implies, that ^ve have entered upon the 
 march of religion. It is inappropriate to 
 those who are in a state of carelessness and 
 unconcern : and the only language which is 
 suitable to them is such as fell from the an- 
 gel's lips when commissioned to destroy the 
 cities of the plain, he said to Lot, " Escape 
 for thy life, look not behind thee, neither 
 stay thou in all the plain, lest thou be con- 
 sumed." I limit the exhortation then to 
 those who may be said to have actually set 
 out in the way of religion ; and to these the 
 Lord says — " Speak, that they go forward." 
 But how are we to ascertain these, and how 
 are we to describe and point them out ? and 
 how are any to know whether they are par- 
 ticularly addressed ? This is a point of de- 
 licate determination ; but as we are command- 
 ed in the Scriptures not to despise the day 
 of small things, I wish to bring this matter 
 down so as to make it embrace as large a 
 
 B
 
 14 O N W A R D. 
 
 number as may be consistent wiili Gospel 
 faithfulness. I do not think that the indivi- 
 dual who has merely some occasional and 
 momentary thought on the subject of reli- 
 gion can be said to have set out from the 
 land of his captivity ; for I suppose that there 
 are very few, even of tlie most careless and 
 unconcerned, who do not sometimes think on 
 the subject. Through many an one's ima- 
 gination it flits, just as the shadow of a cloud 
 skims rapidly over the earth and leaves not 
 a trace behind; and though many clouds, 
 chasing each other through the vault of hea- 
 ven when the sun is high, may cause their 
 shadows to pass as swiftly before us, yet 
 none of them singly, nor do all of them 
 combined, leave any permanent impression. 
 You cannot tell, search you how much 
 you please — you cannot tell M-here they 
 have been. So vague thoughts pass through 
 the mind on the subject of religion. —
 
 ONWARD. 15 
 
 All mere occasional thoughts have proved as 
 the early cloud and the morning dew which 
 pass speedily away. The very least of the 
 circumstances which may be allowed to in- 
 dicate that an individual has even turned his 
 attention to religion, is — that he or she has 
 been induced to think most seriously on the 
 dismal nature of their alienation from God 
 by sin, to search with an awakened interest 
 the pages of God's book for the means and 
 methods of deliverance, and is constrained to 
 pray earnestly and perseveringly that the 
 chains of this wretched captivity may be 
 broken. If persons come short of these pre- 
 liminary requirements, I believe that they 
 are not to be considered as having taken even 
 one step in the way of religion. They are 
 yet in the very land of Egypt, and they can- 
 not with any reasonable propriety be exhort- 
 ed to go forward, on the plain and melan- 
 choly principle, that they have not yet set
 
 16 ONWARD. 
 
 out at all. I have looked at this subject 
 again and airain, fearful lest 1 should by any 
 means be mistaken, and after a verj' full and 
 prudent examination, I am fully persuaded 
 that only those who have been led by the 
 Spirit of God, so seriously to think on the 
 subject of religion, as to feci tlicir own sin- 
 fulness and condemnation, their need of a 
 Saviour and his sanctifying grace, and who 
 have boldly determined that let others pur- 
 sue what course they please, as for them 
 they will serve the Lord, forsake sin, and 
 live unto holiness ; it is only these who in 
 the very lowest sense of the expression 
 may be said to have left the land of Egj'pt, 
 to try the dangers and the difficulties of the 
 wilderness on their onward way to Canaan ; 
 and of consequence, to none short of such are 
 we authorized to consider the exhortation — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward ;" for progression in religion
 
 ONWARD. 17 
 
 were impossible until its first step be taken. 
 Are there any of my readers then, who can 
 really and conscientiously believe that reli- 
 gion is becoming a matter of exceeding great 
 and overpowering interest ? Do any of them 
 begin to think that the salvation of their 
 souls is of supreme importance, and are they 
 pushing on the vital investigation of the Gos- 
 pel, " What shall we do to be saved ?" — 
 Have they any profitable conception of their 
 sinfulness, and of the alienation of their 
 hearts from God ? Do they begin to take de- 
 light in searching the word of God ? Do 
 they feel that they are absolutely constrained 
 to prayer for pardon, for grace, and for salva- 
 tion ? Have they experienced sorrow for 
 sin and a genuine repentance ? Have they 
 felt the need of a Saviour, and are they rest- 
 ing upon him by faith ? Do they desire to 
 have their souls in all their powers and fa- 
 culties entirely conformed to God ? If they 
 b2
 
 18 ONWARD. 
 
 do — and I desire them to be honest and faith- 
 ful in this thing — if they do, there is with 
 certainty a step taken in the way to Canaan, 
 and the Lord speaks to them individually, 
 and says — " Go forward." 
 
 But this subject suffers a remarkable adap- 
 tation to the interesting circumstances of 
 tliose who have lately, in the sight of a heart- 
 searching God, and in the presence of his 
 Church, taken upon themselves the solemn 
 obligations of the baptismal covenant, or 
 those who have reiterated the same in tlie 
 rite of confirmation, or those who have 
 sought to seal all their vows by an humble 
 participation of the symbols of the broken 
 body and blood of their Master and ordy Sa- 
 viour, Jesus Christ. By these acts, open and 
 public to the observation of men on earth, 
 and angels in heaven, all such have professed 
 to enter into the way of religion, and to leave 
 tlie land and the slavery of Egypt. I can-
 
 ONWARD. 19 
 
 not, neither would I were I able, judge the 
 motives by which any have been actuated. 
 I have taken it for granted, all beyond is a 
 matter for God to know, and for him and 
 themselves to determine ; I have taken it 
 for granted that they have looked at this 
 thing with understanding hearts and enlight- 
 ened consciences. If they have, these things 
 constitute their attestation, in the sight of 
 God and men, that they have deliberately 
 chosen the path of devotion to the love and 
 service of their Saviour. These steps in 
 their religious course are taken. It remains 
 but that they give heed to the exhortation 
 before us — " Speak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." 
 
 But those who have lately made a profes- 
 sion of religion, embrace but a small num- 
 ber of those whom I would fain consider as 
 having left the land of Egypt and the house 
 of bondage. There are among my readers.
 
 20 O N W A U P. 
 
 many wlio liavc been long professors of re- 
 ligion ; and while I have neither the courage 
 nor the failli to believe that all such are spi- 
 ritual in heart, and holy in conversation, and 
 consistent in life ; a profession of religion is 
 the only outward criterion by M'hich we are 
 to form our judgment. It is truly a melan- 
 choly declaration, that all are not Israel who 
 are of Israel ; and that we may be loud in 
 the declaration — " The temple of the Lord — 
 the temple of the Lord — the temple of the 
 Lord are these," and yet have no part or 
 lot in the matter, because our hearts are not 
 right in the sight of God. But to the eye 
 of mortal there is no visible line of demarka- 
 tion but that which is drawn to separate be- 
 tween those who do, and those who do not 
 make an open profession of religion. In 
 these remarks, then, I conclude in my posi- 
 tion all who have outwardly professed reli- 
 gion ; and I will in the progress of my ad-
 
 ONWARD. 21 
 
 dress to them, give some marks by which we 
 may form a judgment of their spiritual condi- 
 tion, while I also repeat to them the exhor- 
 tation of the Lord by the mouth of his ser- 
 vant Moses — " Speak to the children of Is- 
 rael that they go forward. 
 
 Having thus sought to settle the prelimi- 
 nary question, I am at liberty to take up my 
 
 lid. division, and to declare that these 
 words are opposed to standing still in reli- 
 gion. 
 
 Unfortunately for our religious progression, 
 the conscience is by far too easily satisfied ; 
 and many an individual having advanced a 
 certain small distance, seems contented with 
 that advancement, and disposed to stop short 
 in the course. This is nearly as bad a si- 
 tuation, and will eventually, if not urged on- 
 ward, prove as ruinous a situation as not to 
 have set out. The Israelites had left Egypt,
 
 22 O N W A K D. 
 
 and they had reached the borders of the Red 
 Sea. But suppose that the camp had there 
 become stationary ; suppose they had refused 
 to move onward, and obstinately determined 
 to stay where they then were, is it reasona- 
 ble to suppose that the Lord would have in- 
 terposed between them and their enemies ? 
 No. The Egyptian army would unques- 
 tionably have overtaken them, and the con- 
 sequence would have been either their return 
 to captivity, or their total destruction on the 
 spot where they halted. So in the matter of 
 personal religion. If we are the least dis- 
 posed to stop in our religious course, we 
 shall be overtaken by the enemy, for in no 
 part of the Christian life are his steps far be- 
 hind us. And if we either think that we 
 have gone far enough, or if we gi'ow tired, 
 and careless, and indifferent, and lukewarm, 
 he Mill assuredly overtake us, and lead us 
 back into the captivity from which for a few
 
 ONWARD. 23 
 
 moments we had vainly imagined that we 
 had escaped. Then will the chains of our 
 slavery be tenfold more difficult to break, 
 and our bondage infinitely more hopeless. 
 There must, there can be no standing still in 
 religion ; it is, by the necessity of the case, 
 progressive or retrograde. 
 
 In relation to all those who have so lately 
 taken upon themselves, both in confirmation ' 
 and the Lord's supper, the solemn obliga- 
 tions of a covenant with God, I have as- 
 sumed it as a principle that they have actually 
 set out in the path of religion. I tell them, 
 and I tell at the same time every professing 
 Christian who has any part or lot in the 
 matter, that for you there is now no stopping 
 place this side eternity. You must press 
 forward, or you have lost all your previous 
 pains, and will lose your souls. The mes- 
 sage which I bear from God to your souls 
 is — no halting; one lingering step is akin
 
 24 ONWARD, 
 
 to ruin — " Spoak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." 
 
 III. Indissohibly connected with the last 
 idea, I remark, tliat the command of the text 
 is opposed to a retrograde movement. 
 
 It is declared in Scripture, and it is con- 
 firmed by our experience, that the heart is 
 deceitful above all things and desperately 
 wicked ; and on no subject is this self-de- 
 ception practised more ruinously than on the 
 great and paramount subject of religion. 
 Many begin to raise a superstructure before 
 the foundation is well laid ; and consequent- 
 ly, they need not wonder why the building 
 totters and falls. This is nothing more tlian 
 might have been anticipated. Many persons, 
 carried away by the mere impulse of awa- 
 kened sensibility, are really disposed to 
 think that they have taken a decided stand 
 on the Lord's side ; and under this impulse,
 
 ONWARD. 35 
 
 especially if it is strong, and in persons of 
 ardent temperament, they may nm, to all ap- 
 pearance, well for a season. But defection 
 sooner or later comes, and destroys all the 
 favourable opinions which others had enter- 
 tained. Their religion, if it may be called 
 so with any thing like propriety, is compared 
 by our Saviour to seed sown on rocky places, 
 where the ground was light and the soil had 
 no depth ; and as the roots could not strike 
 deep, as soon as the sun was up, and poured 
 down some of the fierceness of his beams, 
 the goodly-appearing plant withered away, 
 because it had no deepness of earth. There 
 are many who are not careful enough in 
 seeing that the foundation be well laid — there 
 are many who do not count the cost of the 
 undertaking, and so, when difficulties ap- 
 proach, when temptations or persecutions 
 arise for the word's sake, presently they are 
 offended, and turn back. There were many 
 c
 
 26 N w A R n. 
 
 ■vvho for a time followed our Saviour in the 
 days of his flesh ; but in consequence of a 
 plain, and doctrinal, and spiritual discourse 
 which he delivered, pointing out some mat- 
 ters which they had not duly considered, it 
 is said, from that time many of his disciples 
 went back and walked no more with him. 
 It is against a disposition to draw off from 
 the service of God, that I would direct the 
 strong language of the text ; and I desire to be 
 considered as speaking to every individual 
 who has ever, in anyway, or among any deno- 
 mination of Christians, made a profession of 
 religion. Let me warn you of the awful dan- 
 ger of defection, or backsliding. The parti- 
 cular portion of the Israelitish history which 
 is before us, as well as the whole tenor of 
 the Gospel, shows the tremendous predica- 
 ment of danger in which that individual is 
 placed, who goes back from the love and the 
 service of God. Just carry back your ima"
 
 ONWARD. 27 
 
 ginations to that period which this history- 
 contemplates. What would have been the 
 consequence to the Israelites, had they turn- 
 ed back ? You will remember, that they 
 had on their right hand and on their left an 
 untracked desert and impassable mountains — 
 they had the Red Sea in the front, it is true, 
 appalling enough ; but they had in the rear 
 their implacable enemies, thirsting for their 
 blood, and panting for vengeance. Had they 
 gone back, they would have thrown them- 
 selves on the very spears of the Egyptians, 
 or with a most dastardly spirit, have invited 
 those chains of slavery, the links of which 
 they had once been enabled violently to 
 burst asunder. Now the case of real Chris- 
 tians is similar. They have obstacles in 
 front, and they have mountains of difficulty 
 on either side. I shall speak of these at 
 large in my succeeding remarks. But though 
 they have these, they have the enemy be-
 
 28 N W A R I). 
 
 hind ; and if they will go back, all that they 
 accomplish is, that they throw themselves 
 into his arms, and, as heretofore, will be led 
 away captive at his will. They gain nothing 
 by their defection from God, but the certainty 
 of earthly slavery to sin, and ruin to their 
 souls in the world to come ; for thus saitli 
 the Lord — " "Whosoever puttcth his hand to 
 the plough, and looketh back, he is not fit 
 for the kingdom of God." And again — " If 
 any man draw back, my soul shall have no 
 pleasure in him." And again, speaking of 
 faithful Christians, the Apostle says — " But 
 we are not of such as draw back unto perdi- 
 tion, but of such as believe to the saving of 
 the soul." To every individual, then, in the 
 Christian profession, there is a caution here 
 against going back. And I caution you to 
 be alarmed the very moment when you be- 
 gin to feel yourselves growing weary in the 
 performance of your duties, or in exercising
 
 ONWARD, 29 
 
 the graces and virtues of the Christian life, 
 or in mortifying those fleshly lusts which 
 war against the soul. BeAvare, lest though 
 you may maintain an observance of public 
 duties, you should grow remiss in those 
 which are private. Be alarmed when your 
 delight in the Scripture languishes, and when 
 your meditations are tedious, and you grow 
 cold and formal. Beware when your faith 
 and love operate with less vital energy. Be- 
 ware when your besetting sins begin to re- 
 gain their strength, and to resume their as- 
 cendency. In a case like this, you are in 
 danger the most imminent ; and are likely to 
 fall into the hands of an adversary who is 
 constantly going about seeking whom he may 
 devour. Your only safe course is to rouse 
 to a sense of the danger. Look about you 
 with an awakened interest, and when there is 
 before you the least intimation that you may 
 be losing the interest you have felt in eternal 
 c2
 
 30 ONWARD. 
 
 and spiritual things, shake ofT, by an imme- 
 diate efibrt, all the solicitations of sloth — lis- 
 ten to the word of Clod, and obey it instant- 
 ly — " Speak to the children of Israel that 
 they go forward." 
 
 In adapting this part of my subject parti- 
 cularly to the case of those among my readers 
 who have lately taken on themselves the obli- 
 gations of the baptismal covenant, and have 
 assumed the gready responsible situation of 
 the open and avowed disciples of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, I would with the deepest and 
 most anxious solicitude caution them against 
 the danger of declension in religion. It is a 
 rock on which faith and a good conscience 
 are more likely to be shipwrecked, because 
 that rock at present lies more concealed from 
 their view. I know that they are hardly 
 willing to suppose that there is danger of 
 their forsaking God. But it is a matter 
 founded on the melancholy recollections o
 
 ONWARD. 31 
 
 experience, that there is always danger, so 
 deceitful is the heart, and so alluring is the 
 world. Let the case of Demas, mentioned 
 by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Timo- 
 thy, ever be in your minds. This disciple 
 had run well for a time, and is mentioned in 
 several places of the Apostolic Epistles with 
 distinguished commendation ; but here, in 
 the Epistle to Timothy, we have the brief 
 record of his defection, and its melancholy 
 cause. " Demas hath forsaken me, having 
 loved the present world." To you there is 
 incalculable danger of falling into supineness 
 and indifference, into worldliness, then licen- 
 tiousness, then backsliding, and then per- 
 haps apostacy — the crucifying of the Son of 
 God afresh, and putting him to an open 
 shame. There is danger not only of thus 
 ruining your own souls, but of giving the 
 enemies of your Master occasion to blaspheme, 
 and thus bringing the contempt of the un-
 
 32 ONWARD. 
 
 godly on a cause which sliould be as dear 
 to you as your own souls. Should you ever 
 decline from the seriousness and the holiness 
 now apparent in your solemn profession, the 
 difficulty of again arresting your attention to 
 serious things would be almost infinitely en- 
 hanced. You will be likely to wander fur- 
 ther and further from God, and if you should 
 ever again — which is in the highest degree 
 improbable — if you should ever again be re- 
 newed to repentance, it would be through 
 paths of difficulty, and through bitterness of 
 sorrows, of which you now have no possible 
 conception. "What I have said, then, to all 
 professors of religion to whom this little 
 work may come, I desire to say to you with 
 emphasis — beware that you go not back. 
 Take you one backward step, and your spi- 
 ritual foe, like the blood-thirsty host of 
 Egypt, will seize you, and then the captivity 
 of sin will ho vour lot on earth — the wasres of
 
 ONWARD. 33 
 
 sin, which is eternal death, your portion in 
 the world to come. Your eternal welfare is 
 jeopardized the moment you turn back. 
 Your only safety lies in your ready and in- 
 stant and unvarying obedience to the order — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they go 
 forward." 
 
 I come now to take up my 
 
 IVth. general division, and consider as a 
 consequence from the preceding observa- 
 tions, that the terms of this exhortation im- 
 peratively demand advancement — " Speak 
 to the children of Israel that they go for- 
 ward." 
 
 I have said that these words are opposed 
 to standing still in religion. But to speak 
 more correctly, I might have said, that in re- 
 ligion there is no such thing as standing still. 
 It is progression, or it is retrogradation ; for 
 if we are not advancing in the love and ser-
 
 34 ONWARD. 
 
 vice of God, we are daily and hourly the 
 losers ; wc shall at last make shipwreck of 
 faith and a good conscience, and at the 
 bottom of the hill find ourselves outcasts 
 from God. That religion which is a grace- 
 implanted principle, is invariably represented 
 as of a progressive character. I care not 
 what may be the measure of our attainment, 
 great or small, they must be forgotten in a 
 comparative sense ; and the constant desire 
 of our souls must be for more grace, more 
 knowledge, more faith, more love, more hu- 
 mility, more holiness, more complete con- 
 formity to the will and the ways of God. 
 The only religion which is worth the name 
 of religion, which can bring peace to the 
 soul in the hour of alHiction and the day of 
 death, and which can bear the fiery trial of 
 the day of judgment, is a growing religion, — 
 a religion which deepens day by day within 
 our bosoms our exercise of repentance and
 
 ONWARD. 35 
 
 of faith, our views of the exceeding sinful- 
 ness of sin, and adds in the same propoition 
 to our perception of the grace and mercy 
 which have rescued us from ruin ; — a religion 
 which makes the fire of devotion burn with 
 a purer and a brighter flame, the longer it 
 remains on the altar of our hearts, and fixes 
 the soul more and more closely on its God 
 and Saviour. I am aware that through the 
 force of temptation and the deceitfulness of 
 the heart, there may be occasional declen- 
 sions where faith and hope may not wholly 
 be shipwrecked. I am aware that the indi- 
 vidual may not always be able to enjoy a 
 comfortable persuasion of his progress, even 
 when he is actually going onward ; but not- 
 withstanding this, we have the authority of 
 Scripture to conclude, that where religion is 
 genuine, it is habitually going on to perfec- 
 tion. Timid disciples are sometimes apt to 
 be discouraged, when they do not appear to
 
 36 O N W A R P. 
 
 make the progress they desire ; but tlie very 
 fact of earnest desire and cfTort is proof of 
 advancement, and their case forms no real 
 exception to the rule laid down. True reli- 
 gion is like a healthy plant, which will strike 
 its roots deeper and deeper in the soil, and 
 send its branches more highly and exten- 
 sively abroad, and bring forth in its season 
 more and more fruit, till it be removed to the 
 paradise of God. The religion which does 
 not grow, is like a plant at whose roots some 
 devouring worm is carrying on his ravages. 
 You see the deadly effects in the deteriorated 
 quality, and in the diminished quantity of the 
 fruits produced — by and bye even its leaves 
 begin to wither and to drop away — the vital 
 sap ceases to flow — and it becomes a lifeless 
 and useless trunk, fit only for the flames. 
 Of every professor of religion I ask that 
 this matter be seriously considered. Oh 
 never, never rest satisfied with any present
 
 ONWARD. 37 
 
 attainment ; God tells you in mercy to your 
 souls, as he did to his ancient people in my 
 text — " Go forward." 
 
 In adapting this part of my subject to any 
 who have recently professed themselves dis- 
 ciples of the Lord, I must in affection and 
 fidelity guard them against the temptation of 
 supposing, that progression is not so impera- 
 tive as I have represented. To have come 
 before the Lord, and to have avowed them- 
 selves to be his, they have considered as a 
 bounden duty. In this they have done well, 
 but remember that the path of religion is 
 yet before you, and all its graces and virtues 
 remain to be exhibited in the living and 
 speaking influence of your lives and conver- 
 sation. Will your consciences remain sa- 
 tisfied and at ease, because one portion of 
 your obligation is accomplished? If this 
 were your feeling, I would venture to say, 
 that you were already going backward, and 
 
 D 
 
 461808
 
 38 ONWARD. 
 
 were rapidly travelling towards the land of 
 your previous captivity. I will hope and 
 pray that you may be induced to press on- 
 ward ; that you may ever shudder at the 
 danger of a retrograde movement, and never 
 rest satisfied without that growth in grace 
 which makes the Christian's path "as the 
 shining light, which shineth more and more 
 unto the perfect day." For your serious me- 
 ditation, the words of the Lord arc specially 
 intended — "Speak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." If I am asked whe- 
 ther there may not be a class of persons who 
 without being actually professors of religion, 
 may still be exhorted to move onward, I 
 will answer, that there is one such class ; I 
 mean those who are at the present moment 
 under deep anxiety of mind as to their eter- 
 nal concerns ; who arc struggling with difTi- 
 culties from within and from without ; who 
 have not yet heard the peace-speaking voice
 
 O X W A R D. 39 
 
 of the Spirit witnessing that they are the 
 children of God ; who have not yet laid hold 
 on the promises, and are not yet willing to 
 trust their all unto the hands of their com- 
 passionate Redeemer. Why do you not 
 burst your bonds at once, and in the instant 
 surrender of your hearts to God, break from 
 your dismal captivity and taste the sweets of 
 the glorious liberty of the children of God ? 
 Though I cannot address you as having set 
 out in the way of religion, still from the land 
 of darkness and of captivity lift up your 
 eyes, and catch a momentary encouragement 
 from the exhortation, as it dies away upon 
 the distant air — " Speak to the children of 
 Israel that they go forward." 
 
 In the foregoing remarks, I have purposely 
 omitted the mention of the difficulties which 
 are in the way of progression, and my ob- 
 ject has been to bring them all into one con- 
 densed view. On this part of my subject
 
 40 O N W A R D. 
 
 we derive immense advantage from the his- 
 tory with which this text is connected.— 
 Viewed Avilhout respect to the miraculous 
 agency of God, there never was an order 
 more singular or more impracticable than 
 the one which was given to the Israelites. 
 It is said that the place at which they cross- 
 ed the Red Sea was twelve miles in width ; 
 and yet while its waves were unbroken, 
 they were commanded to move onAvard. But 
 when the command went forth from God, 
 his power was before them, and as the rod 
 of Moses was stretched out over the sea, the 
 sea, obedient to its Maker's command, rose 
 a protecting wall on either side of the chosen 
 people. You here perceive that God him- 
 self removed the obstacle to their advance- 
 ment. To the way of your progress in the 
 Christian life, there are obstacles as many 
 and as formidable as those which obstructed 
 the way of Israel to the land of Canaan. It
 
 ONWARD. 41 
 
 would be the height of unfaithfulness for me 
 to say, and it would be folly unparalleled for 
 you to suppose that the way was smooth 
 and easy. To be a real, faithful servant of 
 the Lord, is a matter of the most difficult ac- 
 complishment, and I do not hesitate to re- 
 present these difficulties to you under figura- 
 tive expressions of the most emphatic 
 description. There is a wilderness to pass 
 through in which there are lions in the way ; 
 wild beasts, and poisonous creeping things ; 
 pitfalls and snares innumerable; and thou- 
 sands of foes of inveterate malignancy. 
 These are the devices of the adversary, the 
 oppositions of ungodly men, the persecution 
 of mistaken relatives, the temptations of the 
 world, and the unspeakable evils of a cor- 
 rupted nature. And yet in the very teeth of 
 all this opposition, the language of the text 
 is — " Speak to the children of Israel that 
 they go forward ;" for in the advance is the 
 d2
 
 42 O N W A R D, 
 
 only prospect of salvation. This is the dark 
 side of this picture, but it is drawn with 
 gospel fidelity. Let us look, however, on 
 some brighter exhibitions. If there was no 
 strength for us but our own, and if there wag 
 no agency concerned in this business but 
 that which belonged to ourselves, we should 
 indeed fail, and perish in the wilderness. 
 But here let me lead you to an idea which 
 appears to me of vital importance. Impossi- 
 ble as would be salvation, by our own un- 
 assisted and ill-directed efforts, yet if this is 
 the object of our intense desires and deter- 
 mined pursuit, when God gives the com- 
 mand to go forward, he, as it were, promises 
 to afford the necessary strength to over- 
 come the obstacles which are in the path ; 
 and if we will but look to him for strength, 
 and draw our supplies from the fountain of 
 all grace, we will find that our real strength 
 is just in proportion to our felt and acknow-
 
 ONWARD. 43 
 
 ledged weakness. And if any of you will 
 make the difficulties of religion your excuse 
 for not pressing forward, let me tell you that 
 you are deceiving your souls to your eternal 
 ruin. Look ye to the Lord, for he has never 
 required that at your hands which he is not 
 able and willing to give you power to per- 
 form. And to this effect is the whole analo- 
 gy of Scripture instances. I remember one 
 beautiful instance. When Christ commanded 
 the man with the withered hand to stretch it 
 forth, he knew and beheld the inability. 
 The hand hung lifeless at the side of the 
 paralytic, and to have raised it in a natural 
 eflbrt was impossible. Did the paralytic 
 stop to reason about the practicability of 
 obedience? Did he stay to speculate upon the 
 singularity of such an order ? Did he hesi- 
 tate an instant to comply ? No ! Christ 
 gave the command ; with the command there 
 went forth some mysterious energy, and the
 
 44 ONWARD. 
 
 man whose hand hung powerless and dead, 
 stretched it forth at a word. I care not for 
 all the Avire-drawn speculations of minute 
 theologians ; a fact of this kind from the 
 Scriptures is sufficient to put to flight all 
 mere metaphysical subtleties which might 
 bewilder and distract the mind. God's com- 
 mands are to be obeyed ; in the performance, 
 there cannot therefore be any impossibility, 
 and thus on his own head, if he perishes, 
 comes the sinner's condemnation. It is well 
 remarked, that the same all-powerful voice 
 which calls us to go forward, commanded 
 the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the 
 lame to take up liis bed and walk. The ex- 
 hortation of the Apostle is of similar im- 
 port — " xVwake thou that sleepest, and arise 
 from the dead, and Christ shall give tliee 
 light." The command itself will neither 
 quicken the dead, nor arouse the sleeper, 
 yet the power which accompanies it, is suf-
 
 ONWARD. 45 
 
 ficient for these purposes, and the Lord de- 
 lights to make his strength perfect in our 
 weakness, that the power and glory of Christ 
 may rest upon us. He giveth power to the 
 faint, and to them that have no might he in- 
 creaseth strength. Whatever difhculties, 
 therefore, may obstruct your progress in the 
 way to heaven, you must still go forward, 
 and be pressing on to eternal life. Let no- 
 thing deter you in the pursuit, but say to 
 every opposition, I will go in the strength of 
 the Lord God. If this is your determina- 
 tion, and you are faithful, God will bear you 
 through as on eagles' wings. The waters of 
 the sea shall part before you, your enemies 
 shall flee and be discomfited. " Every val- 
 ley shall be exalted, and every mountain 
 and hill shall be made low ; the crooked 
 shall be made straight, and the rough places 
 plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall be re- 
 vealed, for the mouth of the Lord hath spo-
 
 46 O X W A R I). 
 
 ken it." You cannot have an obstacle mo- 
 rally more forniicla1)le to you, than was the 
 Red Sea, physically, to the Israelites ; you 
 have the same God to command all the un- 
 ruly elements of opposition, as they had to 
 command the waters ; and to you his voice 
 comes with the same authority as to them — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward." 
 
 Of all the transactions in which an immor- 
 tal being can be engaged, there is none so 
 important as the dedication of himself to 
 God, and whether that dedication is out- 
 wardly manifested in adult baptism, in con- 
 firmation, or in the Lord's supper, it is alike 
 most deeply interesting. In fact, what can 
 there be more important, what more solemn, 
 than to come publicly before the Lord, and 
 take the vows of an ever-binding covenant 
 upon us ? Oh I beseech you, my friends, 
 and especially those among you who are
 
 ONWARD. 47 
 
 young, let the solemnities of these transac- 
 tions never depart from your minds. Reflect, 
 I beseech you, upon the weighty obligations 
 which you have so voluntarily assumed — 
 think of your weakness, and exposure to 
 temptation, and flee to a throne of grace for 
 spiritual health and strength. You have 
 given up yourselves to God in the bonds of 
 an everlasting covenant never to be forgot- 
 ten. Now — now, most emphatically, you are 
 not your own, for you are not only like 
 others, bought with a price, even with the 
 precious blood of the Son of God, and there- 
 fore bound to glorify him in your bodies and 
 in your spirits which are his, but you are 
 his by a peculiar self-dedication, and bound 
 to present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable to him, which is your reasonable 
 service and your most imperative duty. You 
 must, if you are faithful, you must cease to 
 be conformed to this world; you must be
 
 48 O N W A K D. 
 
 transformed by the renewing of your minds, 
 that you may prove to yourselves, to the 
 world, and to God, M'hat is the holy, per- 
 fect and acceptable will of God. By this 
 deed of self-dedication, you are the servants, 
 and the peculiar property of God, and your 
 crime will be nothing short of sacrilege, if 
 you give either your persons or your talents 
 to the service of his enemies ; you must be- 
 long entirely to God. By a profession of re- 
 ligion, if you are not hypocrites, you have 
 become dead to the world, and crucified to 
 the flesh, and it is a robbery of God, and a 
 fraud on your own souls, should you devote 
 the time which to your own souls and to 
 God should be consecrated, to those vain 
 and idle amusements, those gaudy and glit- 
 tering trifles, and tliose sinful pomps and 
 vanities, those worldly connexions and asso- 
 ciations which all true professors of the reli- 
 gion of the Lord Jesus Christ do most so-
 
 ONWARD. 49 
 
 lemnly and heartily renounce. Let your 
 faces, I beseech you, be determmately hea- 
 venward ; seek more and more the influ- 
 ences of the Spirit ; rest not till transformed 
 more and more into the image of God, you 
 are enabled to shine as lights in the world, 
 and adorn by your conduct and conversation, 
 the doctrine of God your Saviour. I trust 
 that the solemn surrender of himself to God 
 which an individual makes, either in baptism, 
 in confirmation, or in the more matured pro- 
 fession of religion in the holy communion, 
 has staid your choice permanently on God. 
 I trust that these various and repeated bonds 
 into which you have entered, have now seal- 
 ed your vows to him who merits all your 
 love. I trust that the transactions in which 
 you have borne so conspicuous a part, have 
 now made you his for time and for eternity. 
 But remember, that the waves of the sea, 
 and the frightful wilderness with all its trials 
 
 E
 
 50 ONWARD. 
 
 and temptations, and the Jordan of death, are 
 all yet to be passed before it will be your lot 
 to reach the heavenly Canaan, the land of 
 the believer's promised inheritance. Forward 
 — forward in the love and service of God 
 you must go, with unhesitating and un- 
 shrinking fidelity, or never will you reach 
 the rest which remainelh only for the people 
 of God. In the solemn exhortation now be- 
 fore us, God has not only given you a com- 
 mand, but he has furnished you with motives 
 and will furnish you with strength, only be 
 ye faitlfful, and press forward. The wilder- 
 ness is before you, but you must persevere 
 unto the end, if you would be saved. Some 
 of you may be called away by death before 
 you have travelled very far on this compara- 
 tively difficult journey of the Christian life. 
 Some of you may be permitted to travel yet 
 many a year through the wilderness, some- 
 times cheered by the smiles, and sometimes
 
 ONWARD. 51 
 
 dismayed by the clouds of heaven ; yet in 
 all, says God, fear not, I am with you ; be 
 not dismayed, I am your God; " when thou 
 walkest through the fire I will be with thee, 
 and through the waters they shall not over- 
 flow thee." The issues of life and death are 
 in the hands of God, and of him alone ; and 
 who among you may be spared, or who 
 among you may come to an early tomb, is a 
 matter, dark and purposely hidden among 
 those secret things which belong alone to 
 God. But there is one thing certain, all 
 must die ; and when that fearful time comes, 
 nothing will afford one moment's satisfaction 
 or comfort, if Christ be not at hand to be our 
 helper, all our hope, and all our desire. Oh 
 seek his favour, which is life ; and his loving 
 kindness, which is better than life. Let the 
 empire of the world be rooted from your 
 hearts. Let God be the supreme object of 
 your best affections : salvation, the one pa-
 
 52 O N W A R D. 
 
 vamount concern of your souls. Build — as 
 sinners ever must — build on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ alone, as your wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and hope of salvation ; and on 
 that sure foundation raise the goodly, the con- 
 sistent, the beautiful edifice of the Christian 
 character complete in him. In the strength 
 of the Lord, and in the power of his might, 
 set at defiance the world in its allure- 
 ments, the flesh m its suggestions, the ad- 
 versary in all his open or specious attempts ; 
 strive against your own evil heart of unbe- 
 lief in its continued and unhallowed battle for 
 the mastery, for you can do all things through 
 Christ who strengtheneth you. With your 
 faces dcterminately*set towards Zion, urge 
 your way onward. The everlasting welfare 
 of your souls depends on your fidelity to 
 every covenanted engagement ; and it is only 
 when through the wilderness of this world 
 you have travelled, that you will descry the 
 land of promise free from the mists which
 
 ONWARD. 53 
 
 now obscure your vision. " Be thou faith- 
 ful unto death, and I will give thee a crown 
 of life." When tempted to halt in your 
 Christian course, think of the command — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward." When in danger of backslid- 
 ing, think of your inveterate foes in the rear, 
 and of Egyptian slavery again ; and listen to 
 the order — " Speak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." When appalled by 
 obstacles, go to the Lord to make your way 
 plain ; remember Israel at the sea, and let 
 the command to them be a command to you. 
 In all your circumstances, in all your experi- 
 ences, in all your trials, in all your difficul- 
 ties, hear the word of the Lord, and take 
 courage. Onward — onward. Faith and hope 
 are in the van, ruin and everlasting misery 
 are in the rear. It is God who says — 
 •' Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward." 
 
 E 2
 
 54 ONWARD. 
 
 We will now take a far more extended 
 and comprehensive view of the subject of 
 progression in religion, though my remarks 
 will appear to be confined to one single 
 point, the absolute necessity of this progres- 
 sion. Under this general head I hope to 
 present you with such views as may be car- 
 ried home to your hearts with a solemn and 
 practical effect. " Speak to the children of 
 Israel that they may go forward," is the so- 
 lemn and imperative command of God, and I 
 argue the absolute necessity of progression 
 in the Christian course, from the following 
 w^eighty considerations : 
 
 I. Progression is a test of our sincerity. 
 
 II. It is only in progression that we can 
 experience the present comforts of religion. 
 
 III. It is only in progression that we can 
 hope for future uninterrupted happiness. 
 
 IV. Progression is necessary, because, let 
 our attainments be -what they may, they will
 
 ONWARD. 55 
 
 fall lamentably short of what we ought to 
 iiave attained. 
 
 After havmg spoken on these topics, I 
 shall, God willing, consider the glorious en- 
 couragements which are given to progression, 
 and conclude the whole with an appeal, faith- 
 ful, and close, and personal. 
 
 I. Progression in religion is a test of our 
 sincerity. 
 
 When an individual sets out in the path of 
 religion, if his desires are not to love and 
 serve God, and to devote himself to God a 
 living sacrifice, it is to be feared that he has 
 set out under some fatal delusion. The very 
 first step he has taken has been in a measure 
 wrong, and he will travel on so blindly, that 
 he will stumble and fall by the way. Love 
 is essential to the perfection of the Christian 
 character ; and without that, whatever else 
 we possess, we are but as sounding brass
 
 56 ONWARD. 
 
 and a tinklinj^ cymbal. Love is the charac- 
 teristic feature of the Deity, and in tliis every 
 one of his children must strive to resemble 
 him. By this mark we are made known to 
 others as the disciples of Christ, and by this 
 we are ourselves assured tliat we have passed 
 from death unto life. A sincere profession 
 of religion pre-supposes an ardent desire to 
 love and serve God, and a fixed and stead- 
 fast determination to follow after an increased 
 conformity to the holiness which our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ requires. As the 
 path of the just is as a shining light, which 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect day, 
 so the Christian profession, which has about 
 it the marks of a godly sincerity, will be cha- 
 racterized by a continual growth in know- 
 ledge and in holiness. And for this plain 
 reason, that no matter how much a person 
 may deceive himself, he cannot truly love 
 that which he does not earnestly desire to
 
 ONWARD. 57 
 
 attain, and after which he does not ardently 
 and perseveringly strive. As the aim of a 
 real Christian must in all things be to glorify 
 God in his body and his spirit, which are 
 God's, so he will never rest satisfied in any 
 course which stops short of this. If we take 
 advantage of the analogy which is afforded 
 us by the various pursuits of literature and 
 science, we cannot fail to be convinced that 
 at least one test of our sincerity is the pro- 
 gi'ess which we make. For no one will be- 
 lieve that man sincerely desirous of having 
 the capacities of his mind enlarged, and the 
 boundaries of his intellectual and scientific 
 attainments extended, who sits himself 
 quietly down with the limited advance he 
 may already have made. It is true, that 
 there may be intellectual and physical impe- 
 diments in the way of progression in litera- 
 ture and science. But even if these exist, 
 yet where the individual has become sincere-
 
 58 O N W A R D. 
 
 ly desirous of advancement, they liave been 
 overcome as by some migbty effort, and 
 many a man, both at the bar and in tlie pul- 
 pit, and in all the walks of literature and 
 science, has attained to eminence, over whose 
 earlier c (Torts the gloom of despondency had 
 well nigh been cast. 
 
 But when we turn to the subject of reli- 
 gion, we meet quite another state of things ; 
 here there are no physical or intellectual im- 
 pediments which may hinder our progress. 
 It is one of those internal evidences of the 
 truth of our holy religion, which cannot be 
 got rid of, that it adapts itself to the capaci- 
 ties of all. It is suftable alike to the child 
 and the philosopher ; for while it has parts 
 which defy the grasp of the mightiest intel- 
 lect, its grand, essential, vital, saving truths, 
 are level to the comprehension of the poorest 
 and most unlettered child of Adam — and in 
 those essential truths, and in the practical re-
 
 ONWARD. 59 
 
 suits which flow from those truths, one test 
 of sincerity, in both child and philosopher, is 
 the progress which they make. I know that 
 there are many who call themselves Chris- 
 tians, who have no claim whatever, save in 
 their own arrogant estimation, to that sacred 
 character. I know that there are many who, 
 with just so much of a religious impression 
 as to make them mere speculative believers, 
 there rest upon their oars, supposing that 
 they may then float rapidly enough with the 
 mere force of the current ; and I know that 
 there are many, very, very many, who are 
 disposed to be satisfied with what is a mere 
 cold discharge of what they think duty to 
 God ; but as to growing in grace and in the 
 knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, it enters not within the narrow limits 
 of their relaxed and circumscribed theology. 
 But, my friends, be not deceived, God is not 
 mocked — " the path of the just is as the shin-
 
 60 ONWARD. 
 
 ing light which shineth more and more unto 
 the perfect clay," Are you sincere in the 
 matter of religion ? Are you really desir- 
 ous of the inestimable blessings which it 
 offers ? If you are, you are abounding more 
 and more in knowledge, and in all judgment 
 you are daily becoming more and more able 
 to approve the things which are excellent, 
 and arc progressively filled with the fruits of 
 righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to 
 the praise and glory of God. Are you sincere, 
 you will listen to the voice of God, and you 
 will comprehend the import of the language 
 in which that voice addresses you — " Speak 
 to the children of Israel that they go for- 
 ward." Aye — that they go forward — not that 
 they linger satisfied with Avhatever poor at- 
 tainments they may have made. I do not 
 doubt the sincerity of that man, or that wo- 
 man who, in deep humility of soul, seems 
 not to make that attainment which he or she
 
 ONWARD. 61 
 
 may really desire, for the very feeling of this 
 humility, when it is deeply entertained, is a 
 proof of advancement by no means low or 
 questionable. But I do, and must doubt the 
 sincerity of that man or woman, who will 
 one instant rest completely satisfied, while 
 there is room to improve in holy conformity 
 to God. " Speak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward," is the authoritative 
 call of God ; and if this is not done, there is 
 amazing danger that God, who reads the 
 heart, will read on it the deep-marked traces 
 of deceit and insincerity. 
 
 II. It is only in progression that we can 
 experience the present comforts of religion. 
 
 I trust that I need not say to readers of 
 common reflection, that it is a principle, not 
 only of religion, but in the philosophy of the 
 human mind, that enjoyment and advance- 
 ment are coincident. An inactive, or ener-
 
 G2 ONWARD. 
 
 vated state of mind is inimical to all real en- 
 joyment. It is the stretch of thought — it is 
 the expansion of desire — and it is the pro- 
 gressive accomplishment of those desires, 
 which constitute the very essence of intellec- 
 tual bliss. Indeed, the stretch after new at- 
 tainments — the restless anxiety of the mind 
 after something which is yet unknown, is 
 one of those natural arguments which goes 
 far to establish the presumption, at least, of 
 the immortality of the soul — that presump- 
 tion which the revelation of God settles so 
 definitively down into a principle not suscep- 
 tible of doubt. If, then, advance in know- 
 ledge is that which, in a very great degree, 
 constitutes intellectual bliss, and if the capa- 
 city of advancement is that which serves to 
 stimulate to unceasing effort, how sublimely 
 does this same principle adapt itself to the 
 infinitely more important circumstances of 
 religion. I hesitate not to affirm, that a reli-
 
 ONWARD. 63 
 
 gion in which there is no advancement made, 
 is not in the nature of the case, and cannot be 
 a reUgion susceptible of enjoyment ; and it 
 is this simple principle, combined with other 
 causes not appropriate to my present object 
 to mention, which serves to account for the 
 small measure of spiritual enjoyment which 
 appears to be the lot of many of whom there 
 can be little doubt but that in the main they 
 are Christians. But they have not a very 
 exalted idea of what their religion is capable 
 of doing for them — they do not seem to take 
 in the extraordinary fact, that the present en- 
 joyment which religion affords, depends 
 very much on the advancement which is 
 made towards the perfection required by its 
 Author, and their Master. Do any of you, 
 my friends, professors of religion, do you 
 wish to enjoy its solid comforts ? Ascertain 
 first, whether your successful effort has been 
 made to get out from the land of Egypt and
 
 64 O N W A U D. 
 
 the house of bondage. Ascertain whether 
 you have actually found the way into the 
 path of that true and unfeigned religion 
 which takes its merit from the cross of the 
 Saviour, and which takes its measure from 
 the impulse of his grace — and then you must 
 go forward. Let the important tiuth then 
 be impressed upon your minds, that your pre- 
 sent comfortable experience of religion de- 
 pends in a great measure on your progress, 
 and the more you advance, the more will 
 you be sure to find your peace and joy in 
 believing. For, though over all the path of 
 your pilgrimage clouds may occasionally flit, 
 and rain sometimes fall, even in torrents fall, 
 yet there will be no cloud so dense, but tliat 
 Bome bright beam shall be able to pierce it, 
 and no rain so heavy, but that it shall sooner 
 or later cease, and show you the resplendent 
 bow of promise on the bosom of the retreat- 
 ing storm. If you would be happy here,
 
 ONWARD. 65 
 
 even amid the agitations of the. world — if you 
 would rise to the standard of the gospel, and 
 seek for that tranquillity of soul, that peace 
 which passeth understanding, why then "go 
 forward" — grow in grace and knowledge of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Press 
 towards the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus, While you 
 make no attainments in holiness, it is not to 
 be expected that you should make any in 
 happiness. By some eternal, in-eversible de- 
 cree of God, they seem inseparably linked 
 together, and he who would enjoy the largest 
 measure of spiritual blessedness, while he 
 pursues his journey to the land of promise 
 through this wilderness of sin, of sorrow, 
 and of tears, must seize it as it invites him 
 onward — " Speak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." 
 
 III. It is only in progression that we can 
 F 2
 
 66 ONWARD. 
 
 hope for the future happiness of the eternal 
 world. 
 
 It lias before been observed, that it is im- 
 possible for minds constituted as ours are to 
 continue stationary. This would seem to 
 violate a law of our being. Our minds are 
 of so subtle and active a quality, that they 
 are always in the advance while in a healthy 
 and natural state — or otherwise, being in an 
 unhealthy state, they are making a retrograde 
 movement. If we are not aspiring after 
 higher attainments in holiness, it is a melan- 
 choly proof of spiritual declension — it is evi- 
 dence of a heart divided between God and 
 the world, and of which the world possesses 
 the preponderating part. If we make no pro- 
 gress, we must, by the very necessity of the 
 case, fall short ; for the prize of our high call- 
 ing being iu the advance, to attain it, we 
 must forget the things which are behind, and 
 press toward the mark. Besides all this, tlie
 
 O N W A R D. 67 
 
 measure of enjoyment which will be vouch- 
 safed in heaven, will depend on the attain- 
 ments in holiness which are made during our 
 probationary state. And it is one of the most 
 sublime conceptions which ever exercised 
 the mind of man, that all happiness is pro- 
 gressive. If, as I most truly believe, the 
 happiness of heaven is the enjoyment of 
 God begun on earth, stretching out through 
 ceaseless ages, then he who makes no con- 
 stant advances here, disqualifies himself for a 
 happiness which is, and will ever be, pro- 
 gressive. I know that if a man is a Chris- 
 tian, relying on the merits of Christ, and of 
 a truly converted heart, and God sees fit to 
 cut him off from the land of the living before 
 he has had opportunity of making any great 
 advances, he is safe, because he is in Christ, 
 united to him by a living faith ; but I also 
 know, that while a Christian lives, he is 
 bound to advance in holiness, and that the
 
 68 ONWARD. 
 
 measure of his future glory depends mucli 
 upon it. If you, my brethren, would attain 
 to great measures of happiness hereafter, 
 •* go forward." The delightful fields of the 
 earthly Canaan, were far, very far, from the 
 spot where the Israelites were encamped, 
 when they heard the direction of my text — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward ;" and they had much to travel, 
 and much to do, before they could possibly 
 eat the new corn, and drink the new wine of 
 that land of promise. Much have you to do, 
 my friends — great progress have you to 
 make before you can reach those heavenly 
 fields, of which the earthly Canaan was but 
 an imperfect figure. Stand still in religion, 
 and you are lost. Stand still, did I say ? This 
 were now impossible with you. It is for- 
 ward or backward with you all. If you 
 would indulge even one faint hope of ever 
 entering into glory — much more, if you would
 
 ONWARD. 69 
 
 have the very highest enjoyment of a state 
 of glory, every year, every day, every hour 
 of your lives, you must hear, and you must 
 obey the command of God, which says — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward." 
 
 IV. I argue the necessity of progression, 
 because, in the case of every individual, be 
 his spiritual attainments what they may, 
 tliere is yet abundant room for improvement. 
 
 When the Apostle Paul was addressing 
 himself to the Corinthians, in that noble 
 chapter in which he so conclusively proves 
 the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, 
 he breaks out in a kind of parenthetical ex- 
 pression — " But some have not the know- 
 ledge of God ; I speak this to your shame." 
 And when we, my friends, take into serious 
 consideration the standard of piety and holi- 
 ness which is set before us in the gospel,
 
 70 X W A R D. 
 
 and then contrast with tliis tlic limited ad- 
 vancement which wc make, it should not 
 only fill us with fear, lest, having a promise 
 left of entering into rest, any of us should 
 seem to come short of it; but it should also 
 fill us with shame and with the deepest 
 self-abasement, that so little is accomplished 
 where so much is required, and so much can 
 be attained. But this is not all. Not only 
 do we fall most lamentably short, when we 
 compare ourselves with that exalted standard 
 which is placed before us in the gospel ; but 
 we cannot bear the most distant comparison 
 with those of primitive times, whose elevated 
 piety and ardent devotedness to God was 
 marked by continual advancement. There 
 is apt to be a faintness, a languor in every 
 class of our devotions and our duties, and a 
 lassitude and a weariness in all our services, 
 to which they of primitive times appear to 
 have been utter strangers. St. Paul, whose
 
 ONWARD. 71 
 
 experience is so amply detailed in his history 
 and writings, was found indeed to lament 
 that he had not yet attained, neither was he as 
 yet altogether perfect; but his conduct show- 
 ed forth the habit and the disposition of his 
 soul. He pressed forward through hosts of 
 difficulties which would now appal the stout- 
 est hearts, and he rested not even when on 
 the borders of the promised land; he could 
 say, " I have fought a good fight ; I have 
 finished my course ; I have kept the faith — 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, will give me at that day." Compared 
 with what they ought, how little do the mat- 
 ters of religion actually affect our hearts, and 
 how wretched is the progress which is made 
 even by the most among those who call them- 
 selves Christians. When the great work of 
 redemption by the blood of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ is placed before us in all its grand pe-
 
 72 O N W A R D. 
 
 culiarities, how little, comparatively, does it 
 interest or impress our hearts. Viewed un- 
 der all its circumstances, how cold and negli- 
 gent is our love towards him, and often how 
 difficult is it to persuade ourselves that we 
 have any real love to the Saviour ; and how 
 defective must that principle be, which re- 
 quires so diligent an examination, and often 
 through sighs and tears, before it can be dis- 
 covered. I do not wonder that the language 
 of the hymn is so often, and so peculiarly 
 appropriate to the condition of many of the 
 professed and even real friends of the Lord 
 Jesus : 
 
 When I turn mine eyes within, 
 
 O how dark and vain and wild. 
 Prone to unbelief and sin. 
 
 Can I deem myself thy child ? 
 Lord my God, I long to know, 
 
 Oft it causes anxious thought. 
 Do I love thco, Lord, or no, 
 
 Am I thine, or am I not ?
 
 ONWARD. 73 
 
 Where is that professor of religion to be 
 found — no matter how long or how short the 
 time since he gave his heart to God — where 
 is that one to be found in whose religious 
 character there is no room for improvement ? 
 Who is there that ought not to love the 
 Lord with more intensity, and serve him 
 with a purer zeal ? Who is there that ought 
 not to feel the import of the sentiment : 
 
 Saviour let me love Thee more. 
 
 If I love at all I pray, 
 If I have not loved before 
 
 Help me to begin to-day. 
 
 How melancholy are these considerations, 
 and they are not alone. How faint is our 
 gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ for the 
 unexampled love which he has manifested to 
 us, in pouring out his soul, even unto death, 
 for us men and for our salvation. To us He 
 should be inestimably precious. Our love 
 towards him ought to rise into one continued
 
 74 ONWARD. 
 
 flame of devotion. It ought to bear us above 
 the world, and fix our affections upon the 
 realities of eternity. IIow faint are the 
 traces of heavenly mindedness which exist 
 in the characters of the generality of those 
 who call themselves by the name of Christ. 
 How little genuine humility is experienced, 
 and how seldom are we found prostrate before 
 the throne of all grace and goodness in the 
 deepest humility and self-abasement for the 
 little progress we have made, compared with 
 that which should have been experienced. 
 A great and evident change must take place 
 in aU the professed people of God in rela- 
 tion to this one matter at least ; for while 
 some continue satisfied with a dull and al- 
 most heartless religion, and while others con- 
 tinue satisfied with but poor and feeble and 
 sickly measures of advancement, in the one 
 case there is no mcctncss to be partakers of 
 the inheritance of the saints in light, and iu
 
 ONWARD. 75 
 
 the other a condition very little beyond re- 
 jection. In all, let their attainments be what 
 they may, there is room for improvement, 
 for every fibre of corruption must be severed 
 from our nature ; every particle of pride de- 
 stroyed ; every thing brought into subjection 
 to f^the obedience of Christ, and a complete 
 transformation of the soul be effected, before 
 we can be fitted to dwell with God in glory 
 and happiness eternal. While there is any 
 thing yet to be attained, the language is — 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward." 
 
 These remarks are of course appropriate 
 to all who arc professors of religion. They 
 bear with a peculiar emphasis on those who 
 have lately taken on themselves the vows 
 and obligations of the Christian covenant. 
 To their serious meditation, particularly, are 
 these solemn things commended. 
 
 But when I think how many there may be
 
 76 N w A n D. 
 
 among my readers, who have no claims 
 whatever to religion, who arc living upon 
 hopes the most falsely founded, and conse- 
 quently fatal, there is room for the very 
 warmest exhortation — " Escape for your 
 lives ; flee to the mountain, lest ye be con- 
 sumed." When I think how many there 
 are who call themselves Christians, ^nd have 
 satisfied their consciences with a sickly pro- 
 fession of religion which has no animating 
 principle, I am constrained to say — " Be not 
 deceived. God is not mocked ; whatsoever 
 a man sowcth that shall he also reap." But 
 when I consider how many there are who 
 actually appear to have left the land of Egj'pt, 
 and yet who linger by the way ; who take 
 little pains to improve in their Christian 
 graces ; who have little love, Uttle gratitude, 
 little heavenly-mindedness, little disposition 
 to grow in grace and knowledge, I am con- 
 strained to say — Look about you, let him
 
 ONWARD. 77 
 
 that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he 
 fall ; the enemy is in tlie rear, there is room 
 for your improvement. God calls you in 
 terms which you will be lost for ever if you 
 disobey — " Speak to the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." 
 
 I desire now, in bringing the subject to a 
 close, to take up the glorious encourage- 
 ments which are given towards progression 
 in religion, and to make an appeal faithful, 
 close and personal to all. 
 
 On the subject of encouragement, two 
 points are offered to our attention : 
 
 1st. The gracious assistances which are 
 provided; and 
 
 2d. The glorious consequences resulting 
 from progression — " Speak to the children 
 of Israel that they go forward." 
 
 1st. Then, as to the gracious assistances 
 
 wliich encourage us to progression. 
 02
 
 78 N w A n p. 
 
 When I place before my readers the de- 
 mands of religion ; and especially when these 
 demands arc of the kind contained in the 
 preceding observations, setting a very ele- 
 vated standard of piety, I may be misunder- 
 stood on the supposition that I ask that, the 
 performance of which, by some inexplicable 
 and some invincible necessity, is placed be- 
 yond the reach of men. And persons are 
 very apt to excuse themselves against the 
 necessity of great advancement in hohness, 
 by the deceptive plea of the difficulty of its 
 demands. It is unquestionably true that 
 God requires a high order of human piety. 
 But is there any man so impious as to avow 
 the opinion, that God demands that, the dis- 
 charge of which is impossible ? Can any 
 man suppose that God places in his way 
 any insuperable difficulty? Is there any 
 physical reason why the demands of reUgion 
 may not be met ? Is there any necessary
 
 ONWARD. 79 
 
 moral impediment which may not be over- 
 leaped ? What then are the real difficulties 
 in the way of religion, and whence come 
 the impediments which oppose themselves to 
 progression ? Has the God of all grace and 
 mercy hedged up your way with thorns, and 
 filled your path with stones of stumbling, 
 and rocks of offence ? No. There is no 
 difficulty, but the want of a disposition to be 
 greatly and devotedly religious. I see the 
 same features spread over the face of the 
 present generation which the Apostle saw on 
 the face of the generation which is past — 
 "light is come into the world, but men love 
 darkness rather than light, because their 
 deeds are evil" — and therefoi-e the difficulties 
 with which men first invest religion are 
 made the ready excuse for its total neglect 
 or a dull and lifeless pursuit. But these dif- 
 ficulties are all of your own creation, and 
 besides that your eyes are shut as to the fa-
 
 80 
 
 ONWARD. 
 
 cilities which are attached to this all-impor- 
 tant business. God docs not expect, and 
 God docs not ask it of you, by your own 
 independent and worthless efforts, to meet 
 the demands of religion. This would be in- 
 consistent with the purposes of his grace, 
 and inconsistent with the revealed plans of 
 his mercy. If by an independent effort you 
 could accomplish this, you would have 
 whereof to glory, and salvation would at 
 once lose the freeness of its offer, and the 
 freeness of its accomplishment. But while 
 God makes the demands which I have an- 
 nounced, he has set before you the methods 
 in which that demand is to be met, and leaves 
 you without excuse when those methods are 
 not adopted. Have I called upon you this 
 day in the language of the leader of Israel, 
 to " go forward?" — I have only called upon 
 you to do that which God demands, and 
 which God can surely enable you to per-
 
 ONWARD. 81 
 
 form. Says an Apostle, " I can do all things 
 through Christ who strengtheneth me," and 
 it may not be too much to assert, that in a 
 moral point of view, there is nothing impos- 
 sible to the man who puts his trust in the 
 Lord, and stays himself upon his God. Be- 
 fore you make any excuse, can you answer 
 it to your own consciences whether your de- 
 pendence is upon the Lord ? Do you Icnow 
 and feel the force of the declarations — " If 
 any man among you lack wisdom, let him 
 ask of God who giveth to all men liberally 
 and upbraideth not, and it shall be given — 
 but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." 
 And again : " Ask and ye shall have, seek 
 and ye shall find, knock and it shall be 
 opened unto you." — " Seek ye the Lord 
 while he may be found, call ye upon him 
 while he is near : let the wicked forsake his 
 "way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 
 and let him return unto the Lord, and he
 
 82 ONWARD. 
 
 will have mercy upon him, and to our God 
 for he will abundantly pardon him." Before 
 one excuse can be urged for a neglect of re- 
 ligion, and before a shadow of apology can 
 be made for a want of progress in religion, 
 you must be well assured that nothing hath 
 been neglected on your part. It is here I 
 am afraid that the generality make a fatal 
 error. God never fails in a solitary promise 
 which He has seen fit to make. He has 
 promised to faith all the help which is essen- 
 tial to the accomplishment of his demands. 
 Over your heads, as over the heads of tlie 
 children of Israel in the wilderness, is the 
 guiding pillar of the cloud, and if you do not 
 chose to follow it, whose is the fault ? It 
 leads on the way to Canaan ; if you prefer 
 to Ungcr by the way till its light and its 
 shadow are lost, then if you perish in the 
 wilderness, you perish because you heeded 
 not the offered assistance, and turned a deaf
 
 ONWARD. 83 
 
 ear to the voice in which God himself ad- 
 dressed you, when he said, " Speak to the 
 children of Israel that they go forward." 
 
 2d. But not only do we receive encour- 
 agement to progression, from the Divine as- 
 sistances which are offered, but from the re- 
 vealed consequences which result from that 
 progression. The end of our faith, says the 
 Apostle, is the salvation of our souls. 
 
 When the children of Israel stood a de- 
 fenceless band, on the borders of the Red 
 Sea, they had no adequate conception of the 
 delights of the land of Canaan. It is true, 
 they had some faint conceptions that it was 
 a good land and a pleasant, and a land which 
 had long been promised to the seed of Abra- 
 ham. Alas ! that so few of them ever realiz- 
 ed its joys. But they knew, that between 
 them and Canaan rolled the angry sea, and 
 spread out the great and terrible wilderness. 
 Still what was to be done ? The sea must
 
 84 ONWARD. 
 
 be passed and the wilderness must be trod- 
 den, ere Canaan could be entered. Upon 
 their progress then, in a certain sense, de- 
 pended their enjoyment of the promised 
 laud ; and its verdant fields, its rallies thick 
 with corn, and its hills crowned with lofty 
 cedars, were the inducements, under the 
 high commands and authority of God, to 
 persevere in their dreary and perilous wan- 
 derings. Oh, how rapturous must have been 
 the pleasure of the tribes, when their feet 
 once came up from the Jordan, and stood on 
 the solid earth, the land of their long-pro- 
 mised, long-sighed for inheritance. They 
 found it indeed to be a land of promise — a 
 good land and a pleasant, a land flowing with 
 milk and honey, a land in which they could 
 eat bread without scarceness, and in which 
 they lacked no manner of thing that was 
 good. But why do I speak of the eartldy 
 Canaan, that land of promise once so blessed, 
 once so prosperous and happy.
 
 ONWARD. 85 
 
 Judeanow sits 'neath her vvitli'ring palm 
 
 Wilh desolation round ; 
 And Gilead'ssclf can yield no baliu 
 
 To heal her cureless wound. 
 Her kands upheld to heav'n in vain 
 Are compassed by the victor's chain. 
 
 And Salem's might is fuU'n now, 
 
 The Temple razed and strewn, 
 And e'en what peace had left laid low. 
 
 Its ruins overthrown. 
 Her warriors slain on battle day, 
 Her daughters captur'd far away. 
 
 The fire is burning in her heart, 
 
 Tho' quench'd within her eye, 
 And tho' she weeps, those tears impart 
 
 No joys to agony. 
 Those tears are like the streams which How 
 From tracts of lurking fire below. 
 
 She sits beneath her with'ring palm 
 
 In solitary state — 
 With scarce a hope to cheer, or calnj 
 
 The horrors of her fate. 
 And He who once illum'd her path. 
 Hath now withdrawn his face in wrath. 
 H
 
 86 O N W A R D. 
 
 I desire to call your attention, my friends, 
 to a far better country — a country on which 
 there can come none of these reverses. — 
 Earthly Canaan, once so happy, was a type 
 of the Canaan whose sweet fields arc above, 
 and to you the enjoyment of a promised bliss 
 eternal in duration is held out as an encour- 
 agement to go forward ; for without progres- 
 sion in holiness, it never, never can be re- 
 alized. I may not describe that celestial Ca- 
 naan. All that is delightful in an earthly 
 paradise would here be utterly inadequate. 
 To those, who sustained through the perils of 
 the wilderness, shall have reached that happy 
 country, oh how rapturous will be the scene, 
 and oh how extatic will be the experience ; 
 and while the prospect of this is held out as 
 an encouragement, it awaits none but those 
 who press towards the mark. And is not 
 the encouragement one which is competent 
 to excite you, who have professed to have
 
 O N W A R D. 87 
 
 laid hold on Christ, and devoted yourselves 
 to him? Is it not something incalculably 
 sublime to have the prospect, when once de- 
 livered from the ruins of the present mortal 
 condition, and all that is painful in the pre- 
 sent state, of entering upon a life of perfect 
 holiness, of full and eternal bliss ? Is it not 
 stimulating in the highest degree, when that 
 land is set before us, whose sun shall no 
 more go down, and whose moon shall no 
 more withdraw itself, where the Lord God 
 is an everlasting light, and the days of mor- 
 tal pilgrimage are ended ? With this faith, 
 and this prospect, and that hope which en- 
 tereth in within the veil, these delights have 
 a pleasant subsistence in the soul, and by 
 their constraining power, the real Christian 
 must, and he will " go forward" — for on no 
 other terms, let it be distinctly and impres- 
 sively understood, on no other terms can 
 this bliss be realized. By all the glorious
 
 88 o N' w A n n. 
 
 promises of tho j^ospel, by all the joys un- 
 speakable and full of glory, by all those pe- 
 culiar delights of whose true nature and cha- 
 racter " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
 neither hath it entered into the heart of man 
 to conceive ; by the distance which you may 
 have yet to travel, and by the perils and ene- 
 mies of the way, you are exhorted as from 
 the very mouth of the Eternal — " Speak to 
 the children of Israel that they go forward." 
 If you stumble and fall by the w^ay, if you 
 refuse to press onward, with a constant de- 
 pendence upon God, and yet with a zeal and 
 effort commensurate with the object, you 
 can never realize the glories of the heavenly 
 Canaan ; for its ceaseless and untiring de- 
 lights, the full fruition of its everlasting bliss, 
 is only for those who through faith and pa- 
 tience inherit the promises, and who, in the 
 day of their probation, have with a daily ac- 
 cumulating vigour, and a daily increasing in-
 
 jO N W A R D. 89 
 
 tensity of desire, pressed towards the mark 
 for the prize of their high calling in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. The word ever will be— 
 " Speak to the children of Israel that they 
 go forward." 
 
 I have now stated the necessity of progres- 
 sion, and have laid out before my readers the 
 encouragements. It only remains that I en- 
 deavour to bring this whole subject to a close, 
 by a faithful, and close, and personal appeal. 
 
 To every individual who calls himself or 
 herself a Christian, to every professed dis- 
 ciple of the Lord Jesus, let me put the so- 
 lemn question, — Are you obeying the com- 
 mand of God, which says — " Speak to the 
 children of Israel that they go forward ?" 
 If not, what manner of excuse can you pos- 
 sibly offer ? Every excuse which you may 
 presume to offer, dishonours God, and con- 
 demns yourself. It dishonours God, be- 
 cause it as much as charges upon him the 
 h2
 
 90 O N W A R D. 
 
 failure ; it consequently condemns yourself, 
 because it ploinly cleclares thut you did not 
 believe the testimony of CJod ; neitlier did 
 you reach out to tlie profTered salvation with 
 all its aboimding grace. You have not per- 
 mitted the importance of religion, and the 
 commands of God, and the glorious encour- 
 agements of the future, to make a deep and 
 lasting impression on your hearts. And 
 what, my friends, must be the end of all 
 this defective view of things ? No matter 
 though you are professors of religion, will it 
 be with you, as with those who have pur- 
 sued a different i^ourse ? Shall you ever be 
 permitted to overtake the man who in the 
 zeal and energy of his Christian endeavour 
 has run with patience the race what was set 
 before him ? No ! It is his progression in 
 knowledge, in holiness, and in love, and in 
 sanctified obedience, which stamp the charac- 
 ter of the real Clu'istian ; and where no
 
 ONWARD. 91 
 
 progress is made, there may be the Chris- 
 tian's counterfeit, but there will be nothing 
 which shall stand in that day when the re- 
 finer's fire shall try the purity of every 
 Christian profession. It is not in reference 
 to this world, my friends, that I am much 
 solicitous about you. But when I consider 
 that short is the period of your probation, 
 and that soon, in the silence of the grave, all 
 your opportunities of improvement will be 
 shut out, I look towards the future with fear 
 and trembling as to the eternal results in 
 which you will then be involved. Now is 
 the only time in which you can grow in 
 grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ ; for there is no know- 
 ledge, or wisdom, or device, or work in the 
 grave whither you are going. If you would 
 attain to glory, you must work while it is 
 called to-day, for the night cometh when pre- 
 paration and when progression will be be-
 
 92 ONWARD. 
 
 yond your reach. Are you this instant fit 
 for heaven ? Has there as yet passed upon 
 you that great moral change than which tliere 
 is none other moral fitness for a state of pu- 
 rity and holiness ? Should the heavens now 
 burst asunder, and the last revealed elemen- 
 tal fire now commence its ravages — should 
 the trumpet now sound which is to wake the 
 dead, and to summon them with the living 
 to the judgment-seat of Christ, have you, 
 my beloved brethren, professing Christians, 
 made that progress in religion which you 
 know is demanded, and without which you 
 can have no qualification for the presence of 
 that God whom you should have served ? 
 My friends, be not deceived — called as you 
 are by the name of Christ — professedly as 
 you are his disciples, you may fall short of 
 the kingdom. You may be satisfied with 
 weak and sickly efforts, and the necessity of 
 continual progi'ession in holiness may never
 
 ONWARD, 93 
 
 enter into your imaginations or stimulate you 
 to powerful and unrelaxed exertion ; but then 
 you can no more reach the heavenly Ca- 
 naan, than could the snail, Avhose pace you 
 emulate, compass, in his small span of life, 
 the boundaries of this green earth. Christ 
 hath not purchased salvation for you, and 
 yet left you at liberty to disobey his com- 
 mands ; and if your path of life is not as 
 the shining light, which shineth more and 
 more unto the perfect day ; if you neglect 
 that necessary growth in grace which is to 
 bring you to the full stature of a man in 
 Christ, you have not a solitary hope on 
 which you may build. If God's word is 
 true — and there is no rule of judgment but 
 that unerring standard — if God's word is 
 true, you are lost beyond the possibility of 
 recovery. The calls and the opportunities 
 of God cannot be neglected with impunity ; 
 and if, when in the fulness of his com-
 
 94 ONWARD. 
 
 passion as well as in the majesty of his 
 power, he calls — " Speak to the cliildren of 
 Israel that they go forward ;" and you stop by 
 the way, or linger, Canaan never, never, ne- 
 ver can be yours. I leave it with you, you who 
 have made a profession of religion. Look 
 to it well. But if impressed by these truths, 
 you determine, in the strength of the Lord, 
 and in the power of his might, to press for- 
 ward, to be watchful, to be persevering unto 
 the end ; then, and only then, can you hope, 
 can you be assured, that you shall reach that 
 rest which remaineth for the people of God, 
 and in the land of your promised inheri- 
 tance feed in green pastures, drink of its 
 chrystal streams, and be with God while 
 eternity endures. 
 
 I presume that it cannot have escaped the 
 observation of my readers, that during this 
 whole course of observations, I have had lit- 
 tle or nothing to say to those who did not
 
 ONWARD. 95 
 
 come under the description either of profess- 
 ing Christians, or as under deep and serious 
 exercise of mind. It is a fact, and a melan- 
 choly fact, that with the majority of those 
 who have this exhortation in their view, the 
 subject has no concern — they have not been 
 addressed, and how could they be ? Upon a 
 subject like this, to the careless, the uncon- 
 cerned, and the impenitent, I could have 
 nothing to say. As to them, the subject 
 sealed my lips. Could I ask you, my dear 
 friends who are yet careless, to go forward ? 
 To go forward — where ? You are now walk- 
 ing in the broad road which leads to the 
 chambers of everlasting death, and to urge 
 you to go forward would be but to urge you 
 to accelerate your eternal ruin. Fast enough, 
 aye, too fast, are you going already ; and in 
 relation to you, my first and most impressive 
 duty is, that I seek to arrest you in your 
 downward path to hell. It is here that my
 
 06 O N W A R D. 
 
 duty toward you is evidently concentrated ; 
 and if I cannot succeed in this, all other ef- 
 forts arc absolutely wasted. The message 
 which God sounds in your ears is, Up — get 
 you out of the land of darkness and of death, 
 in which you are sporting on the brink of the 
 awful precipice of ruin. The message to 
 your souls is — repent and be converted, that 
 your sins may be blotted out. The message 
 to your souls is — Flee from the wrath to 
 come, and seek the shelter of the cross of 
 Christ. Believe and be saved — for he that 
 believeth shall be saved, and he that bclieveth 
 not shall be damned. Go forward ? No, my 
 friends, rather start back with horror from 
 the position on which you already stand ! 
 "Where you are, there is no possible security 
 — the eai-th beneath you is crumbling, and 
 the heavens aboA'^e you are gathering thick 
 widi clouds — not one glorious ray can I dis- 
 cover beaming on your path. It is without
 
 ONWARD. 97 
 
 liglit and without hope. Go forward ! My 
 soul shudders at the possibility, at the awful 
 probability that you ^vill go forward. 
 
 " Broad is the road which leads to death, 
 And many walk together there." 
 
 " Go forward !" No — the same voice which 
 addressed its command to Moses, " Speak to 
 the children of Israel that they go forward," 
 turns in infinite compassion upon you, and 
 beseeches you, by the Avoes and the tears, by 
 the agony and the bloody sweat, by the cross 
 and passion of Him who died to redeem your 
 souls — that voice beseeches you " to flee 
 from the wrath to come," and to find a hid- 
 ing place from the storm, and a covert from 
 the tempest in the free salvation of the Sa- 
 viour of sinners. While you are resting on 
 some false foundation, or while careless and 
 unconcerned, you are madly rushing on to 
 destruction, from these heights of Zion we 
 can only say, " Why will ye die?" FoUow- 
 I
 
 08 o N w A n D. 
 
 ing out the testimony of Scripture, I ask, 
 Avith a solicitude more deep than you will be 
 disposed to credit — 
 
 " Sinner, O why so thoughtless grown ; 
 
 Why in such dreadful haste to die ? 
 Daring to leap to worlds unknown, 
 
 Heedless against thy God to fly. 
 Wilt thou despise eternal death, 
 
 Wag'd on by sin's fantastic dream; 
 Madly attempt the infernal gate. 
 
 And force thy passage to the flame ?" 
 
 Can I urge you to go forward and be lost 
 for ever ? No. 
 
 " Stay sinners — on the gospel plains 
 
 Behold the love of God unfold 
 The glory of his dying pains — 
 
 For ever telling — yet untold." 
 
 Oh that I might be the means of inducing, 
 if it were only one, now careless sinner, to
 
 O N W A K D. 99 
 
 venture on the Lord Jesus Christ, to humble 
 himself in the dust, and there to lay hold on 
 eternal life. Then, while there would be 
 joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, 
 there Avould be joy among the children of 
 God on earth. Then would there be another 
 added to the number of those to whom, having 
 set out on the way of religion, I could ad- 
 dress the language of my text, and pointing 
 you to Canaan's sweet and lovely fields be- 
 yond the swelling flood, could say, " Speak 
 to the children of Israel that they go for- 
 ward." Oh, careless sinners, why will you 
 not permit the God of all grace and goodness 
 to address you in the language of encourage- 
 ment ? Why will you force him to declare 
 in his wrath, that ye shall not enter into his 
 rest ? I beseech you, by the mercies of God, 
 that you no no longer trifle with your souls-r 
 that you no longer slight the richel o%'J^. 
 deeming grace. What a pang does it cost
 
 100 ONWARD. 
 
 the bosom to be compelled to leave you with- 
 out one hope — yet I dare not, in faithfulness 
 to your own souls, as well as in fidelity to 
 God — I dare not leave with you one word of 
 encouragement. I can hear nothing but Si- 
 nai's appalling thunder, I can see nothing 
 but Sinai's terrific lightning. The voice 
 which can call to the children of God " go 
 forward," can only call on you " turn ye, 
 turn ye, for why will ye die." Jesus, your 
 neglected, your despised, yet your still com- 
 passionate Redeemer, once more asks you to 
 have mercy on your own souls — once more 
 places the gospel salvation within your 
 reach — once more pleads with you to em- 
 brace his merciful provision — once more, in 
 agony and tears, asks you to attend to the 
 things which make for your everlasting peace 
 before they are for ever hidden from your 
 eyes. What more can he do for you than 
 he has already done ? While, then, I still
 
 ONWARD. 101 
 
 say to the children of God " go forward," I 
 testify against the ncglecters of the great sal- 
 vation — Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed thy- 
 self. And the only prayer which can come 
 appropriately from the heart for you is, that 
 God would snatch you as brands from the 
 everlasting burning. Oh, Avhat a distinction 
 is there here on earth among the privileged 
 hearers of the gospel ! Shall this distinc- 
 tion go onward to eternity? My dying 
 readers, why will ye so long hold out 
 against the love of God ? Why will ye not 
 seize his offered mercy, and be holy and 
 happy now and to eternity, in the full accep- 
 tance of a Saviour, and in going forward in his 
 holy service for ever ? May He mercifully 
 bless this little book, to the good of your pre- 
 cious souls, for his own sake. 
 
 Amen. 
 
 I 2
 
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