STUDIES IN RELIGION
 
 L. B. SEELEY, WESTON-GKEEN, TIIAMES-DJTTON.
 
 STUDIES IN RELIGION 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX 
 ON UNIFORMITY. 
 
 BY THE REV. D. COPSEY, 
 
 OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " ESSAYS ON MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS 
 " MANUAL OF PRAYER;" ETC. ETC. 
 
 Tavra 
 
 PUBLISHED BY L. B. SEELEY AND SON, 
 
 FLEET STREET, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXXVI.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Knowledge of God 1 
 
 Confidence in God 19 
 
 The Fear of God 40 
 
 Divine Agency 57 
 
 Humility 74 
 
 The Christian Temper under Affliction 93 
 
 Test of Spiritual Character 113 
 
 The Atonement 134 
 
 Justification 150 
 
 Faith 167 
 
 Knowledge and Hope of the Gospel 189 
 
 Danger of Hardened Impenitence 208 
 
 Self-Deception 229 
 
 Source and Duty of Christian Joy 256 
 
 The Repentant Backslider 275 
 
 Passion of Christ 295 
 
 The Power and Glory of Christ 311 
 
 Equity of the Divine Government 329 
 
 The Christian's View of Death 363 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Christian Uniformity 383 
 
 2067443
 
 To THF. RIGHT REVEREND FATHER, IN GOD, 
 
 HENRY, 
 LORD BISHOP OF NORWICH; 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 (WITH PERMISSION) 
 GRATEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBES 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES ; 
 
 GLADLY AVAILING HIMSELF 
 
 OF THE OPPORTUNITY OF DECLARING 
 
 HIS MOST WILLING RECEPTION, 
 
 OF THE ANTIEKT AND SCRIPTURAL DISCIPLINE, 
 
 OF VARIOUS DEGREES AND ORDERS 
 
 IN THE CHURCH OF GOD ; 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS HIGH VENERATION FOR, 
 AND SINCERE ATTACHMENT TO 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 PRESERVED BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 
 
 DURING SUCCESSIVE AGES, 
 
 IN UNITY OF DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE, 
 AS THE BEST FRIEND AND ALLY 
 
 OF THE STATE, 
 
 AND 
 AS THE STRONGEST BULWARK 
 
 OF TRUE RELIGION.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE only advantage, perhaps, which results from 
 a multiplicity of religious opinions in the world, 
 is the opportunity which is thereby offered for the 
 exercise of Christian charity and candour. 
 
 But while a feeling of common infirmity, should 
 incline us to be tender of the consciences of 
 others ; we ought never to be led into indifference, 
 whether the fundamental doctrines of the Bible 
 be received or rejected. If, among the various 
 conflicting sentiments of professed Christians, 
 there be " old wives' fables," which are to be re- 
 fused ; there is also a " form of sound words," 
 which is to be held fast : and if there be " foolish 
 questions," which are to be avoided ; there are 
 also " damnable heresies " which will bring on 
 their promoters " swift destruction." 
 
 Of the different subjects which are discussed 
 in the following pages, some are of common
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 agreement among all classes of Christians ; while 
 others are unhappily the causes of much conten- 
 tion. The object of the writer has been, not so 
 much to defend the tenets of any one particular 
 party, as to state, what he believes to be, a 
 Scriptural view bf some of the most important 
 doctrines of the Gospel. He is an honest inquirer 
 after truth, and has no favourite system to uphold ; 
 nor would he ever willingly sacrifice truth to pre- 
 judice. 
 
 While his own mind is at rest, with respect to 
 all the points herein treated of, he is not vain 
 enough to imagine, that he has attained perfect 
 knowledge of them all : nor is he so bigoted as to 
 deny to others, who differ from him in many 
 branches of doctrine, and of Church discipline, 
 the common name of Christians, or a participation 
 in the common privileges and blessings of Chris- 
 tianity. He has long since learned, that the 
 Gospel knows of no party. Paul and Apollos can 
 only be subservient to a knowledge of, and a 
 union with Christ. " God is no respecter of per- 
 sons : but in every nation he that feareth him 
 and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." 
 (Acts x. 34, 35.) Nevertheless, there are many
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 points which, though of comparatively inferior 
 importance, when set in contrast with faith and 
 obedience, are yet of important service as helps 
 to edification, and as promoting the consistent 
 and orderly observance of the worship of God. 
 In maintaining these points, we should aim at 
 being consistent, without undue partiality ; firm, 
 without obstinacy ; and attached, without bigotry. 
 As a member and a minister of the Established 
 Church, the author speaks the sentiments of his 
 heart, when he commends her as fairer than the 
 rival parties which have seceded from her com- 
 munion. Having long delighted to unite in her 
 formulary of worship, he can but recommend it 
 cordially to others ; arid he conscientiously avows 
 the belief, that whoever attends in a right spirit 
 on her public service, will find it always new, 
 always impressive. Its solemn services of adora- 
 tion speak the language of the devout soul, 
 deeply engaged in the spiritual and reverential 
 worship of God. In its petitions, some will be 
 found that express the present desires of the heart 
 some that accord with present feelings. Its 
 offices of praise, also, will well express the gra- 
 titude of a thankful heart. So long as Christians
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 find it pleasing and edifying, to utter their praises 
 in language of warm but rational devotion, so 
 long will the thanksgivings of the Liturgy be re- 
 peated with delight and profit, by the sincere and 
 humble worshipper. 
 
 If the writer be called upon to offer an apology 
 for sending the following pieces into the world, 
 he would reply that if he did not think them cal- 
 culated to do some good, he would not have 
 written them ; if he did not hope that they would 
 do some good, he would not have published them.
 
 STUDIES IN RELIGION. 
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 IF we examine the works of God, we shall find 
 infinite wisdom most conspicuously marked on all. 
 Ought we not, then, to conclude that equal wisdom 
 was displayed in the original condition of man on 
 the earth ? And yet, if we look only at the cir- 
 cumstances of his present condition, and inquire 
 not, by the aid of Revelation, into the causes which 
 have produced them, the evidences of divine 
 wisdom in this particular instance will be greatly 
 obscured. If we attempt, by the mere power of 
 human reason, to account for the natural and moral 
 condition of man, as a sufferer and an heir of 
 mortality, as sinful and exposed to everlasting 
 misery, we shall certainly fall into very many 
 erroneous opinions ; because, in consequence of 
 our fallen state, reason itself is debilitated, and 
 Revelation is made absolutely necessary to give us 
 
 B
 
 2 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 correct information respecting the cause of our 
 degradation, and the means of recovery. All 
 reflection on the wisdom and goodness of the 
 Deity, would lead us to infer that man must have 
 been originally in very different circumstances, 
 from those in which we now find him placed ; but 
 how he has become debased, the possibility of a 
 restoration, and the means whereby it may be 
 effected, must all be derived from a revelation 
 from God. It must be important for us to be 
 informed of the relation which we sustain towards 
 our Creator ; hence the Bible in which this know- 
 ledge is contained, becomes a most valuable gift; 
 and by a diligent study of this book, we shall be 
 able fully to acquaint ourselves with God. A 
 knowledge of the nature of God of his essential 
 being, is not, indeed, imparted in the Bible ; but 
 all necessary knowledge of his character, so far 
 as it may be influential on our conduct, and sen- 
 timents, and happiness, is communicated to us. 
 
 The word of God contains ample means to 
 enable us to obey wholly the command, " Acquaint 
 now thyself with him." But these means are to 
 be used in a proper manner ; there is only one 
 way whereby we can become savingly acquainted 
 with the true meaning of Scripture, and that is 
 by divine teaching, imparted to us by the influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit. The natural pride of 
 man leads him to neglect and undervalue this 
 influence, and to lean upon the resources of his
 
 THEJCNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 3 
 
 own wisdom upon the efforts of his own reason ; 
 and thus he necessarily becomes involved in the 
 entanglements of a web woven by his own mis- 
 taken labours. Men set themselves to read the 
 Bible with a full persuasion of their own compe- 
 tency to understand and receive all that it reveals, 
 without the aid of divine illumination, and thus 
 they fall into difficulties, and doubts, and unbe- 
 lief. Reasoning on spiritual things in a carnal 
 manner, the plain path of duty, as marked out in 
 Scripture, becomes to them an intricate labyrinth ; 
 "(overlooking the great design of the doctrines of 
 the Bible, to make men humble, holy, and con- 
 formed to the character of God, they miss 
 altogether the chief end of Revelation ; and are 
 lost in the mazes of disputation on points which 
 are merely revealed in Scripture, as connected 
 with the great object of faith and knowledge, 
 and not as that object itself. They mistake the 
 nature of faith, and the true attainments of 
 knowledge, and receive the doctrines of Holy 
 Writ as subjects to be explained, instead of prin- 
 ciples that are to regulate the affections, to rectify 
 the temper, and to guide and influence the whole 
 conversation of a man. The Bible is not given so 
 much to inform us of the particulars of our 
 original condition, as to instruct us in the means 
 of being delivered from the dreadful consequences 
 of our degraded state. We are not thereby made 
 wise on points above the reach of unassisted 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 human capacity, for the mere purpose of exercis- 
 ing our reasoning powers on speculative know- 
 ledge. The end of revealed religion is far more 
 noble and beneficial ; it is the gift of a merciful 
 and gracious God to his ignorant and rebellious 
 creatures, it proposes to make us happy, by 
 showing us the means of becoming holy, it 
 informs us that acceptance with God is already pro- 
 cured for us by a Mediator, that we possess an 
 interest in this acceptance by embracing the gra- 
 cious offer of pardon by faith, and that we become 
 righteous by the imputation of the complete 
 obedience of a Saviour, performed in our stead 
 and on our behalf. These are subjects, how much 
 soever they may be contemned or slighted by the 
 generality of men, on which our future destiny 
 depends, and with which it should be our chief 
 desire to become fully acquainted. Let us then 
 inquire in what points the true knowledge of God 
 is important, as to the benefits which will result 
 therefrom. 
 
 The knowledge of God is necessary to true faith* 
 We cannot exercise faith in an " Unknown God ;" 
 the object of faith must be understood, before the 
 grace of faith can be exercised. The very first 
 step in approaching God, or rather previously to 
 approaching him with acceptance, is faith in him ; 
 " for he that cometh to God, must believe that 
 he is." (Heb. xi. 6.) But this acceptable faith is 
 not merely a belief in the existence of God, it
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 5 
 
 comprehends also a knowledge of his perfections ; 
 for without this., faith would only be a vague con- 
 ception, unprofitable and uninfluential. The 
 light of nature may make a man desirous of 
 knowing the character of God, but if he has no 
 other guide in his researches, he will make the 
 most absurd conclusions in forming his notions 
 of the Deity ; hence the multitude of gods which 
 the heathen have worshipped. And in our own 
 land, where the fountain of truth, the Bible, 
 sends forth its streams of living water freely and 
 abundantly, there are many fatal errors main- 
 tained respecting the true God, because men 
 neglect to derive all their opinions of the Deity 
 from the true source. 
 
 The means whereby the redemption of man is 
 effected, which is the grand subject of Revelation, 
 are so intimately connected with the perfections 
 of the Deity, that any mistake (and what unhap- 
 pily is more common) respecting these means, 
 necessarily involves also a mistake in regard to 
 the perfections and character of God. Every one 
 must be convinced that what emanates from God, 
 must be in perfect consistency with all his attri- 
 butes ; and therefore the framers of the different 
 systems of religion, which have been built on 
 mistaken interpretations or hasty perusal of 
 Scripture, by changing the conditions of salvation, 
 make also a corresponding change in the charac- 
 ter under which they represent the Deity. Men
 
 6 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 are apt to reason on the conduct of their Maker, 
 as they do on human actions ; and self-love, 
 making them partial to their own failings, creates 
 also a partial Deity, exercising only such perfec- 
 tions as they desire, and in a manner suited to 
 their supposed necessities. But this is not the 
 God of the Scriptures. There is a harmony per- 
 fectly united and concordant, between all the 
 means of human redemption, and all the perfections 
 of God ; therefore the true knowledge of both 
 is most important ; and the one cannot be rightly 
 received, while the other is misunderstood. In 
 the character of sinners, if we judge rightly of 
 God, we shall not look for pardon in any way 
 inconsistent with his holiness, and justice, and 
 truth ; we shall not expect a restoration to the 
 favour of God, in a way that shall compromise 
 any of the attributes of God. The holiness of 
 God is in direct opposition to the sinfulness of 
 man, and it is this holiness which makes man 
 fear the condemnation which it has threatened 
 against all sin ; and therefore he willingly leaves 
 it out, in the notions that he forms of the char- 
 acter of God. But when he acquaints himself 
 with God, he finds that holiness is a divine per- 
 fection, as necessary to the security of his salva- 
 tion, as the divine mercy; because there must 
 ever be a perfect agreement and consistency in 
 all the divine perfections, and in all the divine 
 character.
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 7 
 
 If we look into the Bible, (where alone we ought 
 to look for all religious information,) we shall 
 find that the justice of God, which demands the 
 punishment of the sinner, and yet assents fully 
 to the plea of mercy which seeks his pardon, has 
 received a satisfaction which preserves that attri- 
 bute uninjured ; and that the mercy which is so 
 freely offered to man, is dispensed on conditions 
 which offer no violence to the truth and holiness 
 of the giver, and which effectually secure the 
 obedience and sanctification of the recipient. He 
 "who has not equal regard to all the perfections 
 of God, has not the right knowledge of God ; he 
 that excludes faith in the holiness and justice of 
 the Deity, cannot exercise true faith in his mercy, 
 because all these perfections are united in bestow- 
 ing every blessing of redemption on mankind. 
 A partial faith in some of the perfections of God, 
 is grounded on ignorance of our true character 
 and condition, on imperfect acquaintance with 
 the evil of sin, and a low standard of holiness. 
 
 The true knowledge of God, as derived from 
 his Word, will make us acquainted with our own 
 character and condition. A mistake here must 
 be attended with the most dangerous conse- 
 quences ; because the pardon of the Gospel is 
 provided only for persons whose condition the 
 Bible describes, and is offered only to such char- 
 acters ; and the promises of the Gospel are made 
 only to characters which are particularized, in
 
 8 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 order that the promises may neither be misunder- 
 stood nor abused. Now if we do not truly 
 understand our own condition, we can neither 
 rightly receive the offered pardon, nor well apply 
 the gracious promises. But a scriptural know- 
 ledge of God will lead us to the most exalted 
 notions of the holiness and justice of God, as well 
 as to the most humble and lowly opinion of our- 
 selves as sinners. And this is the feeling which 
 the Word of God is calculated to produce, by 
 showing us that the representation which exalts 
 the divine mercy and love, enhances the divine 
 justice and holiness ; so that sinners may rejoice, 
 but with trembling. Sin pardoned by a God of 
 inflexible holiness and justice, becomes hateful 
 in the eyes of the pardoned sinner : receiving his 
 pardon from such hands, and in such a way as 
 the Gospel makes known, he can never look on 
 the smallest deviation from the will of God, as a 
 trifling consideration. He perceives that the 
 allegiance to which he is bound by his condition, 
 as a creature produced from the earth by the mere 
 good pleasure of the Creator, and placed in the way 
 of rising to a more exalted state of being to perfect 
 bliss and purity, demands from him an obedience 
 in which even an obliquity of the will is a contrac- 
 tion of guilt, even failings of infirmity call for 
 shame and sorrow; and in which wilful trans- 
 gressions would place him beyond the reach of 
 pardon, and out of the limits of hope, unless a
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 9 
 
 revelation from heaven discovered the means and 
 conditions of forgiveness, and pointed out the 
 solid grounds of hope. The conviction that these 
 failings abound in his life, and that these wilful 
 sins stain all his conduct, prepares him to receive 
 with admiring thankfulness, with deep humility, 
 with lively faith, all the representations of divine 
 grace, as unfolded in the Gospel. The more he 
 knows of his own character and condition, the 
 more correct are his notions of the Deity ; the 
 deeper he sinks in abasement as a sinner, the 
 more ennobled are his apprehensions of the divine 
 purity and truth, as well as the more ardent his 
 gratitude for the divine grace and salvation. 
 
 There is such a connection between the know- 
 ledge of God and of ourselves, that they recipro- 
 cally promote each other; that which expands 
 our minds in contemplating the character of the 
 Deity, enlarges our acquaintance with our own 
 hearts ; the clearer our ideas of the holiness of 
 God, the deeper will be our conviction of the de- 
 filing nature of sin ; the more enlarged our per 
 ceptions of the justice of God, the more readily 
 shall we acknowledge our state of condemnation 
 as sinners ; the more confirmed our apprehensions 
 of the truth of God, the more shall we dread his 
 just judgments, and desire his compassion; the 
 wider our view of the mercy and grace of God, 
 the more humble, the more thankful, the more 
 holy shall we become ; the deeper our sense of
 
 10 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 obligation to the love of God, the more circum- 
 spect will be our conduct, the more diligent our 
 obedience, and the more productive our faith ; 
 the more settled our expectations of the promised 
 presence of God, the more spiritually-minded 
 shall we be, the more ardent in our aspirations 
 after a meetness for the heavenly glory. Thus 
 will our sanctified knowledge bear a growing 
 resemblance to that " path of the just," which is 
 as the shining light that shineth more and more 
 unto the perfect day. (Prov. iv. 18.) 
 
 The true knowledge of God will show us the 
 bearing and extent of the relation, which we 
 sustain towards Him. As the work of his hands, 
 we must be subject to all the laws which he has 
 been pleased to establish ; as mortal, we must be 
 intirely dependent on Him. But it has pleased 
 God to exalt the children of the dust to a far 
 higher relation, than mere creatures subject to 
 his dominion and authority, and depending on 
 him for every thing which makes existence a 
 blessing. He has, with the gift of reason, con- 
 ferred also an immortal principle, a soul capable 
 of enjoying the pure happiness of an endless ex- 
 istence in the presence of its Maker. By this 
 benefit, which distinguishes and ennobles us 
 above all other works of his hands, we are in 
 some degree assimilated to himself: it was in this 
 moral feature that our chief resemblance to God 
 consisted at our first creation, when the Almighty
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 11 
 
 said, " Let us make man in our image, after 
 our likeness." (Gen. i. 26.) The bestowment of 
 such gifts on man, evinces in the most striking 
 manner the goodness of God ; but we shall be 
 much more interested, if we contemplate that 
 affecting display of his love, which has restored 
 to his favour that guilty race which perverted 
 these gifts, and cast away this moral resemblance, 
 and denied their dependence on Him, and re- 
 belled against a subjection to his laws. By this 
 latter dispensation, revealed in the Gospel, we 
 stand in a new relation to our Maker. By our 
 creation we were dependent and accountable ; by 
 sin we became guilty, and obnoxious to his just 
 anger ; but by grace -we become pardoned crea- 
 tures, and adopted children. It is here that the 
 true knowledge of God becomes of infinite im- 
 portance to us ; because our original condition has 
 passed away, and we do not stand in the same 
 relation to God that our first father Adam did, 
 when he was made in the image of God, and 
 placed in the garden of Eden. God was the 
 Maker, and Preserver, and Judge of Adam : He 
 was also his Father by creation and providence. 
 He is our Maker, and Preserver, and Judge also ; 
 but he offers himself in his word in a new cha- 
 racter, as our Redeemer, our Father by adoption 
 and grace. 
 
 Our hope here, and our happiness in a future 
 state of being, depend on the right knowledge of
 
 12 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 God in the above delightful characters ; because 
 as our pardon and salvation can proceed from no 
 other source than himself, so also the graces and 
 qualifications which he requires in us, as sustain- 
 ing such exalted relations to Him, cannot ^ be at- 
 tained to, independent of the true knowledge of 
 God. If we know God aright, our own con- 
 dition cannot be misunderstood ; and an ac- 
 quaintance with our condition and necessities, 
 will lead us to seek of God those supplies which 
 are indispensable to our acceptance with him ; 
 and the more we know of the character of God, 
 as revealed in his word, and applied to the heart 
 by his Spirit, the more earnestly shall we desire 
 that regeneration, which will restore us from a 
 death in sin, to a life of holiness, (Rom. viii. 10.) 
 that strength which will enable us to walk worthy 
 of our high calling to be the children of God, 
 that sanctification which will prepare us for his 
 presence, that heavenly wisdom which will teach 
 us the divine will, and that grace, daily imparted 
 to those that ask it, which will help us to obey 
 that will. As children we are called upon for a 
 higher principle of obedience, than merely as de- 
 pendent creatures. Obedience is now sanctioned 
 by infinite obligations, as well as by imperative 
 duty. We love God, because he first loved us ; 
 and we must serve God, because we love him. 
 We are to be subject to him as our Maker, fear 
 him as our Judge, and be thankful to him as our
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 13 
 
 Preserver ; but we are to love him as our Father 
 in Christ. We have all favours bestowed upon 
 us as the creatures of his hand, and the objects 
 of his care ; but we have far more exalted pri- 
 vileges as his children, as heirs of blessedness and 
 immortality. 
 
 The knowledge of God must be practical ; that 
 is, it must have an influence on the affections, 
 (which form by their bias the characters of men,) 
 and manifest itself in the life and conversation. 
 The mere knowledge of God by itself will not 
 be of any avail to us, unless it be influential 
 and practical. Our notions of God, of his cha- 
 racter and perfections, and of the extent and na- 
 ture of our relation towards him, may be quite 
 correct and scriptural, according to the letter of 
 revelation ; but if our only object be the mere 
 attainment of this correct knowledge, we have 
 made no right progress in a saving acquaintance 
 with divine things. Our desires must have a 
 more noble object, and must not rest in the ac- 
 quirement of clear perceptions and scriptural 
 sentiments ; but our aim should be that by these 
 perceptions and sentiments we may be directed 
 to a right understanding of our duty, and to a 
 diligent and conscientious discharge of it when 
 known. It is a possible case, that a man may 
 spend all his life in speculative inquiries in theo- 
 logy, and yet remain without any personal benefit 
 from all his attainments, because they have not
 
 14 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 been conducted with the aim and design which 
 should characterize all Christian pursuits ; and 
 because he has not embraced with lively faith, 
 the facts of that revelation which he has been 
 investigating, nor the doctrines which he has been 
 examining. We may be so well-grounded in 
 the nature of the evidence, by which the ge- 
 nuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures are 
 proved, as to meet all the cavils of the sceptic 
 with unanswerable argument and demonstration ; 
 but this is not the saving knowledge of the Word 
 of God : we must know the Bible as sinners, as 
 well as in the character of reasonable beings ; we 
 must feel our necessity of a Saviour, as well as be 
 able to show that he has appeared in the fulness 
 of time, and accomplished the work of human 
 redemption ; we must practise the morality of 
 the Bible, as well as prove the moral tendency of 
 the doctrines of the Bible ; we must live under 
 the holy influence of its doctrines, as well as 
 show their consistency with the character of God, 
 and their suitableness to the condition of man. 
 In short, we must have faith as well as know- 
 ledge ; for although the holy Scriptures are able 
 to make us " wise unto salvation," it is only 
 by means of " faith which is in Christ Jesus." 
 (2 Tim. iii. 15.) It is not enough to prove by 
 sound argument that " all Scripture is given by 
 inspiration of God ;" (1 Tim. iii. 16.) but we must 
 also evince by our subdued tempers, by our re-
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 15 
 
 newed life, by our holy conversation and godli- 
 ness," (2 Pet. iii. 11.) that they are " profitable" 
 to us " for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
 for instruction in righteousness," that we " may 
 be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works." (2 Tim. iii. 17.) 
 
 Many persons contentedly remain ignorant of 
 God, because they are conscious that their actions 
 are opposed to the will of God. These are they 
 who fear and hate the light, " because their deeds 
 are evil." (John iii. 10.) They will not acquaint 
 themselves with God, because this knowledge 
 brings light with it, to manifest and to reprove 
 all evil works. If divine revelation be the best 
 gift of God to man, and if the Gospel be an intire 
 dispensation of mercy, then must every part of 
 the design of God, in that gift, and in that dis- 
 pensation, be beneficial to the best interests of 
 man, and promotive of his true happiness. The 
 light which the knowledge of God brings with it, 
 is designed to convince men of their sins, that 
 they may forsake them, to show them their 
 danger, that they may escape from it, to discover 
 to them the path to endless happiness, that they 
 may walk in it. All these are so many acts of 
 mercy ; and he that opposes them by choosing 
 ignorance rather than knowledge, by loving 
 " darkness rather than light," (John iii. 19.) sins 
 against the most engaging display of mercy that 
 could be exhibited, rejects the best benefits that
 
 16 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 could be offered, and justly falls under the grie- 
 vous and heavy " condemnation," which shall 
 take from him for ever the means of obtaining 
 those blessings of peace, which he refused and 
 hated, because they opposed the sins which he 
 loved ; and which shall bring to a final close, that 
 single opportunity which was afforded in this life, 
 to believe and be saved. " How oft is the candle 
 of the wicked put out, and how oft cometh their 
 destruction upon them i God distributeth sorrows 
 in his anger!" (Job xxi. 17.) 
 
 Ignorance of God is cherished by some as a 
 means of diminishing their guilt. They desire 
 not the knowledge of the Most High, from a vain 
 persuasion that their accountableness will be in 
 the exact ratio of their religious knowledge. They 
 wish to circumscribe their knowledge within the 
 narrowest limits, forgetful that guilt is imputed 
 where ignorance is wilful. If the knowledge of duty 
 involves an obligation to perform that duty, so 
 also the means of obtaining this knowledge, if 
 placed within our reach, imply an obligation to 
 make a diligent use of them ; and sin is chargeable 
 upon those who wilfully neglect the means. The 
 divine declaration that, " unto whomsoever much 
 is given, of him shall be much required," (Luke 
 xii. 48,) is equally true of knowledge already 
 attained, and of that necessary knowledge which 
 it is in our power to acquire. The " many stripes," 
 which shall be inflicted on that servant, who knew
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, 17 
 
 his Lord's will and did not according to it, shall 
 be awarded also to that equally guilty servant, 
 who cared not what the will of his Lord might be, 
 and whose ignorance proceeded not from a lack 
 of the means of knowledge, but from a disregard 
 of them. 
 
 Every gift of God is a talent placed in our 
 hands, for the improvement of which we are ac- 
 countable to the giver ; and every talent that is 
 bestowed, implies the power in us of using it to 
 advantage, therefore the gift and the duty are 
 inseparable. The divine command, " Acquaint 
 now thyself with him," supposes that the means 
 of attaining this knowledge are in our possession ; 
 and therefore guilt must be incurred where the 
 means are enjoyed, but the end for which they 
 were given is not fulfilled. The word of God 
 repeatedly condemns this criminal ignorance. 
 " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great 
 salvation?" (Heb. ii. 3.) " The Lord Jesus shall 
 be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, 
 in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that 
 know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. i. 8.) Know- 
 ledge and obedience are inseparable ; the posses- 
 sion of the former, imposes the necessity of 
 discharging the latter. Ignorance and disobedi- 
 ence are necessary attendants ; and when one is 
 wilful, the punishment denounced against the 
 other will fall equally and justly on both.
 
 18 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 A true knowledge of God will certainly lead to 
 a desire of pleasing him, of being made like unto 
 him, and of re-union with him. We naturally 
 desire good; and if we rightly understand the 
 nature and character of God, we must desire his 
 favour, and a union with him in everlasting happi- 
 ness, as the Supreme Good. 
 
 God is the fountain of light and happiness ; there- 
 fore the higher we advance in the true knowledge 
 of God, the more shall we be transformed into 
 the Divine image ; and the more deeply the holy 
 lineaments of righteousness are stamped on our 
 souls, the nearer shall we approach to pure felicity. 
 The presence of God must be fulness of joy ; but 
 wilful ignorance will debar us from his presence. 
 But mere deprivation of happiness is not the only 
 evil which will result from this ignorance, whether 
 it proceed from the love of sin, or from a mistaken 
 notion of evading duty, and escaping guilt, by 
 continuing intentionally uninformed ; it will also 
 be accompanied hy the infliction of sprrow and 
 interminable suffering. " Acquaint," then, " now 
 thyself with him ;" and " besides this, giving all 
 diligence, add to your knowledge temperance, 
 patience, faith, virtue, godliness, brotherly kind- 
 ness, charity. For if these things be in you and 
 abound, they make you that ye neither shall be 
 barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. i. 58.)
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 THE weak and dependent condition of man re- 
 quires for him not only a superior power, by 
 whom he may be preserved and supported, but 
 also with whom he should be made acquainted 
 as an object of unlimited confidence. The power 
 and goodness of God are visible in the works of 
 his hands, and a knowledge of these perfections 
 is therefore common to every human being ; but 
 the designs of mercy which God has purposed 
 towards the human race, must be the especial 
 object of revelation. A right knowledge of God, 
 as the God of salvation, cannot be obtained but 
 by divine communication, and this knowledge is 
 absolutely necessary to the comfort and happiness 
 of every rational being. We find ourselves, 
 moreover, so much dependent on circumstances 
 for our present well-being, and most of these 
 circumstances so intirely above our control or 
 direction, that the knowledge of God, as the God 
 of Providence, is also essential to our peace and 
 enjoyment. If we knew God only as our Creator 
 and Judge, we might justly conclude that he 
 would deal with us in his anger, as sinners 
 against his righteous commands, and rebels 
 
 C 2
 
 20 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 against his authority : but when we regard those 
 wondrous declarations of grace and love which 
 God has repeatedly given us in his word, we may 
 very properly infer, as man is a rational, account- 
 able, and immortal creature, as he is capable of 
 understanding the will of his Maker, and of 
 yielding obedience to his commands, that He 
 who made him such, and gave him these capa- 
 cities, and placed him in such relations, would also 
 furnish him with all necessary knowledge of those 
 things which relate to his proper conduct here, 
 and his expectations hereafter. Accordingly we 
 find ourselves in possession of a revelation from 
 heaven, not indeed full and perfect at the time of 
 its first communication, but imparted at different 
 ages of the world, as God saw fit gradually to de- 
 velope the plan of his divine Providence ; and 
 each successive dispensation has either more fully 
 explained, or partially superseded that which im- 
 mediately preceded it. And all these distinct re- 
 velations combined, show us a Deity worthy of 
 our intire love and service, and one on whom 
 may be placed our unreserved and unhesitating 
 confidence. 
 
 True dependence on God must be founded on 
 a right knowledge of his character and perfec- 
 tions ; and as the divine Being is eternally the 
 same, without " variableness" or " shadow of 
 turning," (Jam. i. 17.) our confidence in him 
 ought to be firm and unyielding. There is every
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 21 
 
 foundation for a confidence of this kind, whether 
 we regard the power, or the wisdom, or the good- 
 ness and love of God. 
 
 1. True confidence in God has regard to his 
 power. 
 
 There is a very great variety in those troubles 
 which oppress us during our earthly pilgrimage, 
 arising either from the nature of the affliction, 
 from our condition in the world, or from the state 
 of mind in which they find us. Some afflictions 
 are of such a character as to call rather for the 
 exercise of fortitude and patience, then for the aid 
 of a deliverer ; such are those losses which affect 
 our property from the common causes of com- 
 mercial fluctuation, from unexpected changes in 
 the affairs of nations, or from the rigour of un 
 genial seasons, without reducing us to actual dif- 
 ficulties, or exposure to want and penury. Others 
 are of a kind in which the helping hand of a 
 friend is most desirable and valuable, and in which 
 such assistance will often prove ample and suffi- 
 cient to remove every difficulty. But in very 
 many cases the trouble is of that nature which 
 mocks all human aid, which causes a man to re- 
 tire within himself, and to feel that the hand of 
 God is upon him, and that the power of God 
 alone can uphold him under the pressure of over- 
 whelming calamity, calamity which it is contrary 
 to the order, of nature and the course of divine 
 Providence, to be removed ; and which the hand
 
 22 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 of time and the consolation of religion can alone 
 alleviate. The weight of affliction is also much 
 increased, or greatly lessened, by our condition in 
 the world. Many occurrences are painful to the 
 wealthy, which would be passed over as trifling 
 by the poor man, whom privations have rendered 
 callous to minor troubles, and whom poverty has 
 taught to esteem as comparative enjoyment, what 
 the rich and affluent repine at as afflictive and 
 distressing. Those who are exalted in rank and 
 station are struck by many calamities, which 
 pass harmlessly over the head of the more humble 
 and dependent. The obviousness of this fact has 
 afforded many profitable reflections to the moralist, 
 and given rise to many beautiful similies in the 
 works of the poet. 
 
 Our state of mind has also a great share, either 
 in increasing or diminishing our load of sorrow. 
 Pride exposes one man to many wounds, against 
 which humility forms a protecting shield in an- 
 other. A proud spirit adds force to the stroke and 
 keenness to the edge of the sword of adversity, 
 which humility both blunts and repels. And 
 unavoidable troubles weigh down to the very 
 dust, the heart of him who indulges in melan- 
 choly forebodings and fretful repinings, while the 
 elastic spirits of the cheerful and contented mind, 
 shake off the affliction, or rise superior to its in- 
 jurious pressure. 
 
 A right confidence in the power of God will
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 23 
 
 effectually preserve a man from presumption, as 
 well as from despair. He knows that the might 
 of the Lord is irresistible and unchangeable ; but 
 the knowledge which he has also of the divine 
 purposes and conduct in the government of the 
 world, keeps him back from unnecessarily thrust- 
 ing himself into difficulties, and calling down dan- 
 ger over his head, in a presumptuous dependence 
 on the power of God to extricate him ; as well as 
 preserves him from despondency, by an unshaken 
 reliance on the all-sufficiency of God. His con- 
 fidence in the Almighty saves him from either 
 leaning to his own understanding, or making 
 flesh his arm in the time of trouble. Whether 
 this trouble be such in which God alone can give 
 assistance, or such as may be removed by the aid 
 of friends, or alleviated by the kind and soothing 
 voice of sympathy, " in all time of tribulation*' 
 he flees to God for succour, and discerns and ac- 
 knowledges the divine power in every blessing 
 that he receives. 
 
 True confidence in the power of God enables 
 a man to meet trouble with becoming firmness, 
 and to bear up under it with patience, and even 
 with comfort ; under every trial however great, 
 exposed to whatever danger, threatened by what- 
 ever calamity, his faith never lets go its hold on 
 the divine power, and he still is encouraged to 
 say, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in 
 him." (Job. xiii. 15.) While the heart that is
 
 24 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 destitute 8 of this heavenly principle, that has 
 no support but what is earthly, no refuge but 
 what partakes of the feeble and transitory nature 
 of the world, finds that its best support and its 
 chief stay have been but as a broken reed 
 " whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand 
 and pierce it ;" (Isa. xxxvi. 6.) " he shall lean 
 upon" it, " but it shall not stand ; he shall hold it 
 fast, but it shall not endure :" (Job viii. 15.) 
 
 " On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires." 
 
 The power of God may very properly be relied 
 on with confidence, while our ways are guided 
 by his holy word, and while we are looking for 
 the interference of his might to deliver us, in 
 the way in which his word declares it will be 
 manifested. But we are not vainly to suppose 
 that the order of nature is to be interrupted by 
 miracles, or the course of providence to be 
 changed for our sakes. The deliverance which 
 we need, and which God may design to bestow 
 in due time, may not include in it any of those 
 things which we ignorantly esteem indispensable 
 to our safety and happiness. Our duty is plain ; 
 we are to cleave to God at all times ; and if we 
 truly seek, and humbly rely on him, he will ever 
 be found of us, and our hope shall never be dis- 
 appointed. " The Lord is good, a strong hold in 
 the day of trouble : and he knoweth them that 
 trust in Him." (Nahum i. 7.)
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 25 
 
 2. True confidence in God has respect to his 
 wisdom. 
 
 A right knowledge of our own weakness, and of 
 the very limited extent within which the facul- 
 ties of our mind are circumscribed on earth, will 
 lead us to admit with humility, that it is far be- 
 yond the province of our reason to fathom the 
 depths of infinite intelligence. The Christian has 
 an assured faith in God, as governing the universe 
 by wise laws. He knows that the divine counsels 
 and purposes in the kingdom of Providence, 
 are as sure and immutable as those of the 
 kingdom of Grace ; and that it must be an 
 essential part of the true happiness of man, to 
 submit without repining to every part of the 
 divine government. The providential admi- 
 nistration of the world, embraces all events from 
 the commencement to the end of time ; it is this 
 fact which is the ground of our confidence in 
 God, and which constitutes the chief part of the 
 obligation under which we lie, to bow with quiet 
 submission to all the divine dispensations, and to 
 acknowledge God in all our ways. The duty of 
 submission to God, has its first sanction in the 
 relation which we sustain towards him as the work 
 of his hands ; but the divine wisdom in the con- 
 duct of the world, adds greatly to the obligation 
 of duty, by showing us how closely our happiness 
 is connected with intire resignation to our Maker, 
 and acquiescence in all his will concerning us. A
 
 26 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 man may acknowledge the wisdom of God in 
 general terms, and at the same time not feel a 
 quiet submission to all the acts of that wisdom, as 
 affecting his own particular situation and circum- 
 stances. Merely to allow the justice of the divine 
 proceedings, is very different from that faith and 
 reliance on the divine wisdom which enable us to 
 esteem them as right, and best, and most fitted to 
 our own individual case. It is a mark of humility 
 when a man can say with the prophet, " O Lord, 
 I know that the way of man is not in himself ; it 
 is not in man that walketh to direct his steps ;" 
 (Jerem. x. 23.) but it is an evidence of strong 
 faith joined with deep humility, when under the 
 weight of personal suffering, a man is enabled to 
 say, " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, be- 
 cause thou didst it ;" (Ps. xxxix. 9.) " shall we 
 receive good at the hand of God, and shall we 
 not receive evil ? " (Job ii. 10.) " The Lord gave, 
 and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name 
 of the Lord." (Job i. 2.) 
 
 The passage of man, as a sinner, through a 
 world, into which trouble and disorder have been 
 introduced by his own disobedience, must neces- 
 sarily be attended with constant exposure to in- 
 convenience and suffering, and with frequent 
 endurance of trials and sorrows. Sin, as it were, 
 maintains a conflict with the divine administra- 
 tion, by the disorder which it has brought into 
 the present state of things. " God is not the
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 27 
 
 author of confusion, but of peace ;" (I Cor. xix. 
 33.) and this order must therefore be necessarily 
 infused into all his works ; but sin is the parent 
 of confusion, and disorders, where it gains ad- 
 mittance, all that was peaceful and harmonious. 
 Yet amidst all the strife and disorder which sin 
 has introduced, the wisdom of God may be dis- 
 tinctly traced in overruling the course of events, 
 and disposing them so as to promote the designs 
 of grace towards the sons of men, and in per- 
 mitting only such afflictions and in a certain 
 and prescribed degree, to fall on the Christian, as 
 shall best further his spiritual advantage, and 
 call him off from undue attachment to present 
 things, and prepare and discipline him for the 
 enjoyment of the world of light and glory. A 
 deep conviction of the wisdom of God, as per- 
 vading eveiy occurrence, and regulating all the 
 circumstances of his life, will preserve the 
 Christian from many heavy hours of perplexing 
 anxiety and unbelieving fears. The true and 
 intire character of a man being hidden all his 
 life from himself, he should rest in the as- 
 surance that the divine wisdom has marked out 
 all the parts of his dispensation, as best suited 
 to his individual condition, and most efficient to 
 promote his real interest and welfare. The 
 Christian's duty in the time of trouble, is to wait 
 and endure with patience. He is not to repine 
 and fret against the Lord, nor to seek unlawful
 
 28 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 means of deliverance. " Set thy heart aright, 
 and constantly endure, and make not haste in 
 time of trouble ;" (Eccles. ii. 2.) that is, do not be 
 impatient, and endeavour perversely to shake off 
 the yoke which God has laid upon thee. The 
 ways of God must in very many cases be hidden 
 from us as to their particular cause, but the design 
 of them all is the immortal benefit of those that 
 trust in him. The present conduct of the divine 
 Providence towards us, proves this to be the case . 
 for although we may require more severe disci- 
 pline than we can account for, or are willing to 
 bear, yet when did God lay more on us than he 
 first enabled us to endure ? Have not all his paths 
 been mercy, as well as truth unto us r (Ps. xxv. 10.) 
 Has he not supported as well as humbled us, 
 comforted as well as afflicted, delivered as well 
 as sent trouble, and caused us to rejoice and be 
 glad, as well as to weep and mourn ? The experi- 
 ence of every Christian proves that wisdom directs 
 the hand of God in every afflictive event, and that 
 mercy tempers the stroke. 
 
 " Why should I shrink at thy command, 
 
 Whose love forbids my fears ? 
 Or tremble at the gracious hand, 
 
 That wipes away my tears?" COWPER. 
 
 3. True confidence in God has a constant refer- 
 ence to his goodness and love. 
 
 It is a high attainment in the Christian course, 
 when a man can receive both good and evil, both
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 29 
 
 adversity and prosperity at the hand of God ; and 
 yet maintain, in every circumstance, the same 
 unshaken reliance on his providence, and the same 
 belief of his Fatherly care and loving-kindness. 
 Long-continued affliction in those that fear God, 
 calls in a remarkable manner for the exercise of 
 faith in the Lord as a Father. As God, he has 
 all means at his disposal ; and we are assured that 
 his mercy is everlasting towards those that love 
 him -, and yet he is pleased in the mystery of his 
 will to prepare his people, in many cases, for the 
 heavenly glory by long and severe suffering. 
 Where we are ready to think that the sweet and 
 persuasive convictions of the Holy Spirit, might 
 be effectually employed to correct, to instruct, to 
 reprove, and to maintain the soul in a right pos- 
 ture (if we may so speak) towards God, he is 
 pleased to employ the yoke of constraint, and to 
 suppress our rebellion by strokes, instead of sub- 
 duing it by unmingled mercies. 
 
 It is no easy matter to suffer reproach and 
 calumny, to bear afflictions of body, and loss of 
 estate, and desertion of friends, and yet to hold fast 
 confidence in God ; and, under the fullest assur- 
 ance that he never relinquishes the government 
 of the world, and that every part of his administra- 
 tion is regulated according to infinite wisdom and 
 boundless love and goodness, to look even death 
 in the face and say, " Though he slay me, yet 
 will I trust in him." And yet this is not only the
 
 30 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 duty, but the privilege of a Christian. Our 
 murmuring under the dispensations of heaven, 
 proceeds from our ignorance of the connection 
 between causes and events. We desire the enjoy- 
 ment of the presence of God in heaven 3 but we 
 know not what course of discipline with respect 
 to ourselves, is absolutely necessary, not only to 
 prepare us for this enjoyment, but even to keep 
 alive the desire of it in our hearts. 
 
 The natural fruit of error is suffering ; and as 
 nothing brings a man into more serious reflection 
 on his ways than the suffering which he feels to be 
 the just consequence of his guilt, can we wonder 
 that God, in his government of rational creatures, 
 should permit them to reap in a certain degree 
 the fruit of their own ways, and be filled with their 
 own doings ? The conviction that sin is the parent 
 of sorrow, is so natural to the human heart, that 
 a case of extreme affliction is often regarded as a 
 mark of the divine displeasure for some enormous 
 transgression. Under the Mosaic dispensation, 
 the government of the Jews, as a body politic, 
 was maintained by temporal rewards and punish- 
 ments, not as some have imagined, to the total 
 exclusion of all knowledge and expectation of a 
 future state, but arising from the peculiar situa- 
 tion and circumstances of the people, who, after 
 being held in unjust and cruel bondage for a long 
 period, were miraculously delivered, and exalted 
 into a mighty nation, and put in lawful possession
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 31 
 
 of the patrimony which had been so long withheld 
 from them. It is not to be wondered at, there- 
 fore, that the Jews should be ever most disposed to 
 look on prosperity and adversity, as respective 
 proofs of the approbation or displeasure of heaven. 
 Thus their great stumbling-block against acknow- 
 ledging Jesus as the Messiah, was the state of 
 humiliation and affliction in which he appeared on 
 the earth. And they made his deliverance from 
 the death of the cross a test of his Messiah ship, 
 saying, " He trusted in God, let him deliver him 
 now, if he will have him ; for he said, I am the 
 Son of God. If he be the king of Israel, let him 
 now come down from the cross, and we will be- 
 lieve him.'* (Matt. xxv. 42, 43.) ^And even his 
 own disciples were influenced by a similar feeling, 
 when at the sight of a man blind from his birth, 
 they asked him saying, te Master, who did sin, 
 this man or his parents, that he was born blind ?" 
 (John ix. 2.) And, in fact, many sins do neces- 
 sarily carry their own punishment with them : 
 they go " before to judgment ;" (1 Tim. v. 24.) 
 and happy is it for that man who is awakened by 
 the painful consequences of his guilt, to sincere 
 repentance and amendment. But the general 
 condition of the righteous and the wicked in the 
 world, strongly supports the Scriptual doctrine of 
 final retribution at the day of judgment. How 
 often do we see wickedness in prosperity, while 
 the just man that fears God, is struggling against
 
 32 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 the united force of adverse events and bodily 
 affliction. 
 
 It has been a temptation to the people of God, 
 in all ages of the world, to repine when they 
 compare the prosperous condition of the wicked 
 and their own state of affliction and trial. David 
 confessed and lamented this sin ; " I was envious 
 at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the 
 wicked. For there are no bands in their death, 
 but their strength is firm. They are not in 
 trouble as other men, neither are they plagued 
 like other men. Behold these are the ungodly, 
 who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. 
 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and 
 washed my hands in innocency. For all the day 
 long have I been plagued, and chastened every 
 morning." (Ps. Ixxiii. 3 14.) It was under the 
 erroneous impression that Job had provoked God 
 to anger by secret and aggravated sins, that his 
 friends brought the heavy charge of hypocrisy 
 against him, and endeavoured to prove that the 
 severe afflictions which had befallen him, were 
 the just consequences of his hidden faults. Both 
 Job and his friends were sincerely disposed to 
 justify the ways of God, but he alone rightly un- 
 derstood the nature of the divine government ; 
 and while he groaned under the rod of affliction, 
 and was betrayed into many intemperate expres- 
 sions of sorrow, wrung from him by the severity 
 of his sufferings, and the preverse reasoning and
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 33 
 
 groundless accusation of his friends, he yet held 
 fast his confidence in the justice, and wisdom, 
 and goodness, and love of God. His knowledge 
 of God assured him that He could not err in the 
 administration of human affairs, and his faith in 
 God maintained in him the abiding persuasion, 
 that however dark and mysterious were the ways 
 of Providence, the designs of mercy and goodness 
 to them that fear God, were at no time at variance 
 with the infinite wisdom which directed and exe- 
 cuted them. 
 
 The confidence which Job reposed in the pro- 
 vidence and grace of God, was of the highest 
 character. Although assailed by temptations of 
 unusual force and continuance temptations 
 extraordinary in their nature, and strong in the 
 manner in which they were presented, he never- 
 theless retained his faith, and held fast his confi- 
 dence in God. We see him deprived at once of 
 all that constituted the honour and comfort of his 
 worldly condition ; reduced from affluence to the 
 most abject poverty ; from being a prince in 
 substance and magnificence of abode, he becomes 
 houseless and destitute ; made at a stroke childless 
 and a beggar ; suffering under excruciating agony 
 of bodily pain ; falsely accused and cruelly taunted 
 by his friends, who added to their reproaches the 
 endeavour to prove, that the peculiar curses of 
 heaven denounced against the impious and the 
 hypocrite, were all inflicted on Job ; and in enu- 
 
 D
 
 34 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 merating the evils consequent on hardened 
 wickedness, they aimed at pourtraying the exact 
 condition of the afflicted patriarch ; rebuked and 
 deserted by the wife of his bosom ; ridiculed and 
 insulted by his former servants and dependents ; 
 with no comfort left except the testimony of a good 
 conscience no stay except his reliance on God 
 no prospect of relief except what his unshaken 
 hope in the faithfulness and mercy of God sug- 
 gested ; yet amidst ail this unparalleled load 
 of sorrow and suffering this weight of mental 
 and bodily anguish these domestic calamities 
 and relative afflictions, we hear him justifying his 
 sincerity, appealing with a good conscience to 
 the Searcher of hearts, " Behold my witness is in 
 heaven, and my record is on high ;" (Job. xvi. 
 19.) and yet in the main, acknowledging the justice 
 of God towards him, because his faith in the 
 divine wisdom and goodness and truth, enabled 
 him to wait for the day when God would bear tes- 
 timony to the integrity of his servant: " He 
 knoweth the way that I take ; when he hath tried 
 me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job xxiii. 10.) 
 " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 
 
 Although it is natural for us to desire a justifi- 
 cation of our integrity in the sight of man, yet 
 if we are called to be under the cloud of affliction 
 all our days, and thereby to incur the unkind and 
 unjust censures of thoughtless men, as if we 
 were the marked objects of divine displeasure on
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 35 
 
 account of iniquity, we should not suffer our 
 faith to decline ; but wait in joyful anticipation of 
 the " crown of righteousness," at the great day 
 of decision; " knowing that the trying of " our 
 " faith worketh patience," (James i. 3.) " and 
 patience experience, and experience hope ;" 
 (Rom. v. 4.) so that we may say with emphatical 
 Christian confidence, " Though he slay me, yet 
 will I trust in him." 
 
 Confidence in God must be attended with con- 
 tentment in every condition of life. We are told 
 that " godliness with contentment is great gain ;" 
 (1. Tim. vi. 6.) and in fact there can be no 
 true contentment without godliness. The only 
 grounds for real contentment are a knowledge of 
 God, a consciousness that we desire to please 
 him, and a hope that he is our friend. A sullen 
 indifference to the events of life, may be the 
 result of our despairing to alter the course and 
 nature of those events ; but this feeling is very 
 remote from the resignation of the Christian, who 
 not only bows with submission to all the will of 
 God, but cheerfully acquiesces in every part of that 
 will. We do not intend, however, to affirm that 
 every Christian enjoys this delightful contentment 
 in the same degree, or that it is possessed by 
 any single individual always to the same extent. 
 There are many varieties of Christian character 
 and attainment, and much uncertainty in the 
 operation of Christian principles, on account of 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 that depravity which is common to all, and which 
 remains partially unsubdued even in the Christian 
 of highest attainments. It is more to be regret- 
 ted, that a spirit of dissatisfaction and envious 
 discontent is so much yielded to by many that 
 name the name of Christ, and are in the main 
 consistent with their profession ; than to be won- 
 dered at, that such a spirit should exist in the 
 heart of the believer. Undue attachment to 
 worldly objects, a false estimate of earthly 
 good, a forgetfulness of the crown of glory, are 
 the chief causes of repining and discontent. If 
 we considered that every station of life has its 
 peculiar trials inseparable from it, that no man 
 " knoweth what is good for man in this life,'* 
 (Eccles. vi. 12.) and that the true end of our 
 existence is the glory of God and the enjoyment 
 of his presence, we should not fall so often into 
 those impatient and sinful murmurings against 
 the Providence of God. 
 
 Besides, we ought to look more at the govern- 
 ment of God, 'as superintending our own indi- 
 vidual circumstances, and not spend all our faith 
 in the power, and wisdom, and goodness, which 
 are apparent in the administration of the universe. 
 It is comparatively easy to acknowledge God in 
 the superintendence of the world ; but we are 
 bound also at all times, and under all events to 
 say with respect to our own individual case, 
 " Thy wifl be done ! " When darkness envelopes
 
 CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 37 
 
 the designs of Providence, and all things are 
 advancing in a direction contrary to our expecta- 
 tions and our desires, and we seem ready to be 
 overwhelmed with distress, when our afflictions 
 are many, and we are tried, " troubled on every 
 side, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down," 
 (2. Cor. iv. 8, 9.) we still have every reason, 
 strong and unimpaired, and every obligation of 
 duty to put our trust and confidence in God, and 
 to exclaim with humble, yet firm faith, " Though 
 he slay me, yet will I trust in him." God is all- 
 sufficient, and able to deliver us ; he is faithful, 
 and will not forsake us ; and although we pass the 
 time of our sojourning here in much sorrow and 
 many trials, yet as gold is purified by the fur- 
 nace, so shall our Christian graces be more pure 
 and vigorous, and our Christian character be 
 more fully established and confirmed ; and in the 
 end our hope shall not be disappointed, " for 
 the Lord is a God of judgment ; blessed are all 
 they that wait for him." (Isa. xxx. 18.)
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 THE relation which man sustains towards God is 
 one of dependence and obligation. A merely 
 partial consideration of the condition of man on 
 the earth, whether in regard to his temporal or 
 his spiritual welfare, will show it to be a reason- 
 able service that we should yield to God the best 
 affections of our hearts. The character of God, 
 as revealed to us in the Scriptures, calls for the 
 devoted exercise of every faculty of the mind in 
 his worship. The perfections of the Deity are so 
 blended in his several capacities, as our Creator, 
 Preserver, Saviour, and Judge, that they unitedly 
 engage in his service our faith, hope, love, joy, 
 and fear. The repeated commands in the Scrip- 
 tures to exercise these powers of the mind 
 towards God, are not sanctioned merely by 
 the authority of our Maker as Supreme by the 
 eternal right which he possesses of requiring im- 
 plicit obedience from us as his creatures, but they 
 are also grounded on the wonderful displays of 
 mercy and love which God has manifested to- 
 wards us as sinners. The greatness and majesty 
 of God, calculated to impress our souls with awe 
 and dread ; and the justice and holiness of God,
 
 FEAR OF GOD 39 
 
 fitted to inspire our minds with trembling ap- 
 prehension, are so tempered by the discoveries of 
 loving-kindness, and mercy, and pity for the 
 human race, as to awaken also our love, and hope, 
 and filial fear. 
 
 There is so vast a distance between God and 
 man, with respect only to creation, that the pre- 
 dominant sentiment excited in the human mind, 
 when contemplating God as a Creator, must be 
 reverential awe ; but when we reflect that to our 
 character as creatures, is added that of sinners, 
 the prevailing feeling, when we think of God, 
 must be fear fear of the dreadful, effects of his 
 just displeasure, When this fear reigns in the 
 human mind, unmingled with any kindlier emo- 
 tion, God is regarded only as an angry judge, 
 about to inflict a sentence of condemnation. Such 
 a fear will by itself lead only to despair, and 
 hatred of God ; it is the fear which the fallen 
 angels hold and tremble. It is not this kind of 
 fear which we now design to investigate and 
 enforce, but one which is blended with love, 
 one which is accompanied by faith, one which is 
 ever attended by hope. 
 
 1 . To be in " the fear of God all the day long," 
 (Prov. xxiii. 17.) is a Scriptural character of a 
 good man. This fear does not regard God 
 as a hard master, who can and will assuredly 
 punish every deviation from the line of duty ; but 
 as a gracious Father, whom the heart of the re-
 
 40 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 newed man is grieved to offend because of his 
 mercy and love, and whom his spirit fears to 
 offend because of his greatness. The Christian 
 is not bound to his religious service by the galling 
 chain of the slave ; but the love of God, shed 
 abroad in his heart, forms the sweet bond which 
 keeps him steady in his obedience to the end. 
 The fear of God leads a man to hate sin, as well 
 as to shun it. " The fear of the Lord is to hate 
 evil," (Prov. viii. 13.) says the wise man ; and 
 " By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." 
 (Prov. xvi. 6.) These are the natural effects of 
 the love of God ; where this divine principle is 
 received into the heart, men avoid sin because it 
 is destructive to the soul ; but they hate it 
 chiefly because it is hateful in the sight of God. 
 In the common relations of life we see how the 
 feelings of love and fear are combined, as pro- 
 ducing a desire to please, and an anxiety to re- 
 frain from what would give offence, and how they 
 reciprocally strengthen and confirm each other. 
 In the relation which we sustain towards God, 
 as the children of his grace, the same feelings 
 are united, but sanctified to a higher end ; they 
 form, as they advance, the character of the Chris- 
 tian, and, by producing in him a moral resem- 
 blance to the Deity, prepare him for the exalted 
 purity and happiness of heaven where love will be 
 perfected and everlasting. 
 
 We are informed by the beloved apostle that
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 41 
 
 " perfect love casteth out fear/' and that " there 
 is no fear in love;" (1 John iv. 18.) but he is 
 speaking of the fear that " hath torment," and 
 not of the " fear of the Lord " which " is the be- 
 ginning of wisdom" (Prov. i. 7.) not the fear 
 which is enjoined throughout the Word of God, 
 and shown to be an indispensable part of the 
 Christian character. Instead, therefore, of there 
 being any contradiction in these parts of the 
 Bible, they serve to explain and corroborate each 
 other. Two different and opposite kinds of fear 
 are spoken of ; and they are distinguished by the 
 fruits which they produce. There is a fear in 
 sinners when they approach that hour, which 
 will remove them from the present state, and 
 place them before the tribunal of God ; but this 
 is a fear that " hath torment," and is wholly un- 
 attended by either love or hope. The whole life 
 of the Christian, on the contrary, is spent in the 
 fear of God, and he finds that it " tendeth to life." 
 (Prov. xix. 23.) His experience shows the happy 
 benefits resulting from this fear, and therefore he 
 cherishes the principle in his heart, and finds it 
 perfectly compatible with love to God, the object 
 of his fear. The " life" to which this fear 
 "tendeth," is not only the everlasting felicity of 
 the soul in a future state, which is emphatically 
 termed " life " in the Scriptures, but also the 
 spiritual health, vigour, and joy of the soul 
 in the present probationary state. The moral
 
 42 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 health, and consequently, the life of the soul, 
 depend on the degree in which our relation 
 towards God is known and acted upon ; and the 
 fear of God tends to discover this relation more 
 fully to us, and at the same time cherishes every 
 hallowed feeling which results from that know- 
 ledge ; and prompts to the faithful discharge of 
 every duty, which springs out of that relation 
 and becomes obligatory in consequence of it. 
 
 The Christian is commanded to love God ; and 
 this duty embraces in it every other particular of 
 Christian obligation. Love to God unveils to the 
 believer the whole Christian life, marks out 
 every path of duty, and points to every obligation ; 
 and with this discovery, it affords the most power- 
 ful inducement to the purest and most faithful 
 discharge of every known duty. To spiritual 
 knowledge, love superadds spiritual strength ; and 
 the fear of God exercises the most salutary influ- 
 ence over both the knowledge and the power, lead- 
 ing the former to increase the activity of the latter, 
 and making the latter conscientiously act in intire 
 unison with the former. But although the fear of 
 God is quite compatible with love to God, and both 
 principles are blended in the heart of the Christian ; 
 yet they are not found in all in equal degrees. 
 Christianity is adapted to the moral condition of 
 every man, but it docs not alter the individual 
 character of those who receive it, so as to leave no 
 traces of their natural dispositions and prevailing
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 43 
 
 inclinations. On the contrary, it acts with these 
 dispositions and inclinations, and guides and 
 sanctifies them, and furnishes graces of heavenly 
 origin to suit in degree and quality the natural 
 temperament and constitution of men. Hence 
 it is that the fear of God varies in its degree and 
 evidence in different persons. Some require a 
 fear which seems almost to exclude love, a fear 
 which is as a chain to keep them by restraint from 
 sin. 
 
 The positive command of God compels some 
 persons to attend to the worship of God, while at 
 the same time they find but a small portion of 
 real pleasure in it, and would often omit it, were 
 not their consciences too tender to allow of the 
 neglect. But with this want of delight and en- 
 joyment in the worship of God, there is not a 
 satisfactory regard of the deficiency ; they really 
 wish it were otherwise, and strive against it ; but 
 the love of the world ever rises to put down the 
 nascent principle of the love of God ; and they 
 proceed on the journey of life, possessing too 
 much religious feeling to be happy in the intire 
 neglect of religious services, and too much 
 worldly mindedness to renounce all for Christ. 
 
 How different is this struggle between the 
 depraved inclination and the enlightened consci- 
 ence between the fear of God and the love of the 
 world, from the unreserved surrender of the 
 heart and life of him in whom the fear of God
 
 44 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 is blended with love to God. Represent to your- 
 selves a Christian toiling all the day in the pursuits 
 of his worldly calling, suffering under all the 
 vanity and vexation of life, conflicting in secret 
 with the lusts of his own heart, and openly with 
 the snares of the world and the wiles of Satan. 
 See him resolutely going forward amid all these 
 oppositions : he is cheerful, because he believes 
 God to be his Father, and looks for heaven as 
 his home. See him anticipating the return of 
 those hours, which are to be devoted to the pub- 
 lic or the private worship of God : he longs for 
 the silent calm of retirement in the closet, or he 
 thirsts for the cheering services of the sanctuary, 
 -he loves to enter its well-known gates, the 
 worship of God is his rest, his delight, his privi- 
 lege, his refreshment. Then turn to the man 
 who is constrained by slavish fear to the observ- 
 ancethe formal observance of religious duties. 
 What an affecting contrast ! The appointed time 
 for private devotion arrives unlocked for, un- 
 desired; it is regularly observed, because his 
 conscience is scrupulous and has a loud voice of 
 terror. The day which God especially blessed, 
 returns ; the services of that day are looked upon 
 as tasks that must be performed, as burdens 
 which must be borne ; he bears with the worship 
 of God ; it is an effort of patience with him. At 
 the close he says to his conscience which exacts 
 the minutiae of formal attendance, ' I have been
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 45 
 
 to the House of God, I have prayed, I have 
 heard the Law and Testimony :' But this is all ; 
 his heart was not engaged ; he found no delight ; 
 his conscience made him afraid and ashamed of 
 claiming the promises of God to the contrite and 
 broken heart ; he could only deprecate the anger 
 of God, and yet not find in his heart to seek 
 the mercy of God in the only way in which it is 
 to be found. He spends the Sabbath in a sort of 
 negative goodness ; if his body and mind are not 
 actively sinning, he is satisfied. 
 
 Would to God that every individual, who finds 
 this unhappy case the counterpart of his own cha- 
 racter, might be led truly to fear that God, at 
 whose terrible justice he now trembles, but on 
 whose mercy he places no reliance, to fear him, 
 without that tormenting apprehension, which 
 excludes love, and faith, and hope, because it is 
 unaccompanied with any desire to please God, 
 because it slights the mercy of God, if so be he 
 may only escape his anger ; arid because, while 
 it desires heaven as an exemption from deserved 
 suffering, it holds in light estimation the sanctifi- 
 cation of that Spirit, which can alone prepare him 
 for the joys and purity of the heavenly state ! 
 
 2. The true fear of God is inconsistent with 
 the indulgence of suspicious fears and hard 
 thoughts of God. When we think of the power 
 and justice of God, and fear Him, we should also 
 remember his love and mercy, that we may have
 
 46 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 faith in him. The Scriptural command is, " Ye 
 that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord." (Ps. cxv. 
 11.) Fear, joined with faith, makes the Christian 
 calm and peaceful. Ask him what principle it is 
 that thus preserves him in perfect peace, and he 
 will reply : ' I am in covenant with him who 
 sends health and sickness, life and death, as seem- 
 eth good to his wisdom. I must not inquire un- 
 wisely of his Providence, as if I doubted his 
 faithfulness. He will never cancel his promises, 
 or violate the terms of his own covenant, I am 
 at peace, because he pledges his word to guide 
 me by a right way. He seeth the end from the 
 beginning, therefore I cheerfully commit all my 
 concerns into his hands, and leave them to his 
 disposal.' 
 
 The fear of God must lead to this faith in his 
 Providence, because distrust of his goodness and 
 care excites his just displeasure ; and this is what 
 the fear of God teaches us to avoid. A due sense 
 of the majesty of God in the heart, includes a 
 regard to all his perfections ; to his mercy, as 
 well as to his power ; to his loving-kindness, as 
 well as to his justice ; to his wisdom, as well as 
 to his infinite purity. There is a fear which is 
 attended with discontent and repining, because it 
 has a regard only to the power of God as marking 
 out and assigning an irreversible lot to men ; and 
 a guilty conscience suggests only hard terms, 
 from a Being whose power is as resistless as his
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 47 
 
 justice is inflexible. But the fear of God, which 
 is joined with faith in him faith, not in God 
 absolutely and irrespective of a Mediator, but 
 faith in God manifested in the flesh, displaying 
 his character to us in the mediation of Jesus 
 Christ leads a man both to " hope and quietly 
 wait for the salvation of the Lord." (Lam. iii. 26.) 
 Here the Christian finds firm support for his faith, 
 and rest from all his anxiety and fears. 
 
 The fear of God must also lead to faith in his 
 grace, because unbelief refuses to give God the 
 glory of his salvation ; and the withholding of 
 this glory is especially opposed by the fear of God, 
 which is jealous for the divine honour in all things, 
 and peculiarly so in the redemption of man. When 
 faith is not in due exercise with fear, the latter fills 
 the mind with gloomy doubts, arising from a con- 
 sideration of our guilt and unworthiness, uncon- 
 nected with a regard to the mediation of Christ. 
 We forget that God gives salvation to the un- 
 worthy, and that the Gospel is sent to the un- 
 worthy and guilty, and that the blood of Christ 
 can cleanse from all sin. If we reflect on God 
 simply as our Maker and our Judge, we must 
 tremble with all the apprehensions which a guilty 
 conscience can produce, and our fear of God will 
 be accompanied with aversion, because it is inse- 
 parable from distrust. But if our faith have for 
 its object " God in Christ, reconciling the world 
 unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
 
 48 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 them," (2 Cor. v. 19.) our fear then assumes a 
 different character : we fear to weary that " long- 
 suffering" which " is salvation," (2 Pet. iii. 15.) 
 to grieve that Spirit which strives with our rebel- 
 lious hearts, or to contemn that grace which is 
 the foundation of our faith, and the source of our 
 hope. Thus fear is nourished and promoted by 
 faith, and not destroyed. True confidence in 
 God never casts off a reverential awe of his 
 majesty, and holiness, and truth, " for (even) l 
 our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. xii. 29.) 
 That faith (so called) which approaches the dread 
 God with familiarity and unhallowed boldness, 
 may well be suspected of deficiency in the genuine 
 properties of true faith. The confirmed Christian, 
 who has attained, through grace, to the spirit of 
 adoption, and calls God " Father," is cautioned 
 to " pass the time of sojourning here in fear." 
 (1 Pet. i. 17.) The assurance of pardon, which 
 the Gospel affords, does not weaken in his mind 
 the principle of religious fear ; on the contrary, 
 the recollection of his guilt, of his desert, and of 
 the unmerited favour which he has received, 
 cherishes deep humility in his heart, and true 
 humility is the parent of religious fear. A rightly 
 constituted mind continues to fear that Being, 
 whom mercy and grace have taught him to love. 
 3. A scriptural fear of God is attended by hope. 
 
 1 Ka< -yap, &c. So it should be translated.
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 49 
 
 When David contemplated the nature and demerit 
 of sin, he exclaimed, " If thou Lord, shouldest 
 mark iniquities ; O Lord, who shall stand ?" (Ps. 
 cxxx. 3.) But when he remembered the gracious 
 declarations which God had given, that he would 
 pardon iniquity, transgression, and sin, he rested 
 with gladness on the divine promise, and his 
 painful apprehension became a filial fear, attended 
 by hope. " There is forgiveness with thee, that 
 thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my 
 soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope." (Ps. 
 cxxx. 4,5.) It is the assured belief in the forgive- 
 ness of sins, through a Mediator, that produces a 
 filial fear of God in the heart of the Christian. 
 There is a Scriptural declaration, calculated to 
 fill the human heart with terror or with joy, with 
 fear or with hope, with dismay or with peace, 
 the pledge of the sinner's destruction, and the 
 basis of the believer's salvation : It is, that " God 
 spared not his own Son" If he spared not his 
 only Son, when he appeared in the form of sinful 
 man, as a substitute for the sinner, how shall 
 mortal sinners, unprotected by Christ's mediation, 
 escape ! If also, he spared not his only Son, 
 how shall he not with him freely give his children 
 all things. 
 
 The fear which trembles before the Majesty, 
 and Power, and Holiness, and Justice of God, as 
 opposed to sin, must tend to excite the brightest 
 hope in the mind, when all these perfections are 
 
 B
 
 50 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 known to be engaged to bless and save the soul 
 whose sins are forgiven. Hope especially counter- 
 acts the fear which " hath torment" ; for while 
 the latter apprehends only the dreaded conse- 
 quences of guilt, the former turns with cheering 
 expectation to the brighter prospects which the 
 Gospel discloses. There is no painful apprehension 
 that fear can excite, which is not met by a pleasing 
 expectation which hope produces. And therefore 
 hope well accords with the maintenance of true 
 Scriptural fear in the soul ; hope might degenerate 
 into presumption and carelessness, but being 
 chastised by fear, it is preserved bright and un- 
 sullied ; and fear might be overcharged with 
 anxiety, which hope tends to dispel. When the 
 fear of God is duly exercised in the degree of 
 Scriptural requirement, the sweet solace of Chris- 
 tian hope is unimpaired ; but when the latter is 
 weakened by the failure of the former, fear as- 
 sumes a painful character, and thus what injures 
 the one, redounds also to the hurt of the other. 
 They either mutually strengthen or debilitate ; 
 there is a community of interests between them, 
 which does not allow of a partial benefit or dis- 
 advantage resulting to either, without an equal 
 participation by both. " When Ephraim spake 
 trembling, he exalted himself in Israel ; but when 
 Ae offended in Baal, he died." (Hos. xiii. 1.) So 
 long as the fear of God preserved his humility, 
 he was honoured with the divine approbation, and
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 51 
 
 was " exalted" in that hope which raised him to 
 a high advancement in the divine life ; but when 
 he cast off this fear, and turned after vain idols, 
 his glory was lost, his hope was extinguished ; 
 he died as to all the purposes and duties and en- 
 joyments and expectations of the divine life. 
 
 A regard to our present peace, as well as to 
 the hope of everlasting happiness, should incite 
 us to be in the " fear of God all the day long ;" 
 for how can we rightly enjoy those mercies, which 
 we feel not assured to receive as marks of divine 
 favour and love ; or how can we be animated in 
 our Christian course by the offers of divine grace, 
 which we cannot embrace, because our con- 
 sciences testify that our fear of the divine 
 displeasure is unaccompanied by an earnest desire 
 to obtain the divine approval, and that our hope 
 is thereby debased into a selfish wish to escape 
 punishment, instead of being a heavenly principle 
 which longs for a growing resemblance to the 
 divine character, as well as for the enjoyment of 
 the divine glory ? The fear of God will also be 
 the best preservative against a tormenting fear of 
 death. This fear may indeed arise so much from 
 constitutional character, as never to be intirely 
 obliterated ; but it may be diminished in a great 
 degree, and much of its painful nature removed. 
 Death ought ever to be regarded as a mark of the 
 divine displeasure, originally denounced against 
 sin ; but the hope of the Gospel mitigates this 
 
 E 2
 
 52 F^AR OF GOD. 
 
 dread, and assures us that the issue shall be glori- 
 ous, although the circumstances be appalling, 
 that the end shall be happy, although the way be 
 gloomy and distressing. The fear of death some- 
 times keeps the Christian in bondage all his life- 
 time. He finds it harder to die by faith, (as has 
 been well observed,) than to live by faith. And 
 when his hope is very low through this fear, he 
 sometimes attempts to quiet his apprehensions 
 and allay his dread, by reflecting that he is only 
 exposed to that lot of humanity which is common 
 to the species, that all others are mortal as well 
 as himself, that as death is inevitable, his fears 
 are unreasonable and useless. But this " philo- 
 sophy and vain deceit," which is " after the 
 rudiments of the world, and not after Christ," 
 (Colos. ii. 8.) only defers the trouble for a time, 
 and then it returns with unabated force ; because 
 his reasoning has only confirmed the certainty of 
 his suffering what he can but regard with fearful 
 apprehension. It is only when he rightly under, 
 stands and receives the Gospel, and believes that 
 God has thoughts of love towards him, that the 
 Saviour has appeared on earth and has completed 
 the work of human redemption, and that he will, 
 as an essential part of this redemption, restore 
 his followers from the corruption and dishonour 
 of the grave, and give them an inheritance in 
 that land whither he is gone to prepare a place 
 for them, and where he appears as their forerun-
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 53 
 
 ner and advocate, it is only when these consola- 
 tory truths are embraced by lively faith, that this 
 tormenting dread of death vanishes. By faith 
 he perceives how unreasonable his fears are, and 
 hope takes the place of despondency in his mind. 
 The Gospel furnishes the only remedy against 
 this tormenting dread, by directing the trembling 
 penitent to that Mediator, who partook of our 
 flesh and blood, that " through death," he might 
 " deliver them who through the fear of death, 
 were all their life-time subject to bondage." 
 (Heb. ii. 14, 15.) The fear of the Lord does not 
 include in itself this dread of death, for where 
 God is rightly feared there is also hope in his 
 forgiving mercy ; and this hope is directly opposed 
 in its nature to the tormenting fear of death. 
 " The fear of the Lord tendeth to life," to the 
 ardent desire of life, to the humble expectation 
 of life, as well as to the best preparation for it. 
 
 But where this dread proceeds from a con- 
 sciousness of a withheld heart of a partial 
 surrender of the affections to God, the cure must 
 be sought in repentance, in the renewing opera- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit, in renouncing the world 
 and its vanities, the flesh and its lusts, and 
 resisting the devil and his wiles. Death was at 
 first denounced as a punishment against sin, and 
 the Gospel shows us how this punishment may 
 be changed in its nature, and become a blessing 
 instead of a curse. But where the terms of the
 
 54 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 Gospel offer are not complied with, the nature 
 of death remains unchanged, and consequently 
 is still an object of great terror and alarm, and 
 justly so. The man who always regards death as 
 the expiration of his hope, as the final close of 
 enjoyment, as the prelude to endless misery, 
 cannot fear God as a Father, but must tremble 
 before him as an angry and inflexible Judge. 
 The unrenewed heart, although it fears the con- 
 sequences of sin, desires to have the nature and 
 perfections of God changed, rather than itself. 
 The Gospel cannot convey comfort to such a 
 mind, while it continues so averse to the designs 
 of the Gospel, because the grace of God does not 
 declare impunity to those who live in sin, but 
 offers pardon to those only who renounce sin. The 
 sting of death is sin ; and this sting cannot be 
 extracted while that remains in vigour which 
 gives it all its keenness and virulence. He who 
 would be healed of the wounds of sin, must 
 repair to the " tree of life" whose leaves are i for 
 the healing of the nations ;" (Rev. xxii. 2.) but 
 this tree grows on heavenly, and therefore on 
 holy ground ; and " any thing that defileth," or 
 " whatsoever worketh abomination," (Rev. xxi. 
 27.) quenches in the soul all desire of the fruit 
 of this tree, and unnerves the arm that it can- 
 not pluck, and eat, and live : only " they that do 
 his commandments, have right to the tree of 
 life." (Rev. xxii. 14.) The " vine of Sodom"
 
 FEAR OF GOD. 55 
 
 (Deut. xxxii. 32.) may present an appearance 
 pleasing to the eye, and resembling the tree of 
 life, but he that gathers of its fruit, shall find 
 that its " grapes are grapes of gall," and that its 
 " clusters are bitter." (Deut. xxxii. 32.) He 
 who would overcome the fear of death, must 
 look to him who has vanquished the great enemy, 
 who has said to the king of terrors, " O Death, 
 I will be thy plagues ; O grave, I will be thy 
 destruction." (Hos. xiii. 14.) 
 
 The defective character of our fear of God, is 
 often seen in the small improvement which we 
 make of religious instructions and devotional 
 exercises. How often have we attended on public 
 worship, or other means of grace, and found 
 our hearts apparently deeply interested, and our 
 minds much impressed with the importance of 
 divine things, and we have carried with us from 
 the holy service some savour of heavenly affec- 
 tions, some of that seed of the Word which pro- 
 mised to abide and bring forth fruit ; but we have 
 afterwards fallen before the first temptation. The 
 first snare of Satan, or lust of our own hearts, 
 hath drawn us away from God, and we have ex- 
 changed the hope of an interest in his love for 
 some lying vanity, for some empty pleasure, for 
 a nothing ! If we feared always, if this principle 
 directed our walk and conversation continually, 
 we should not only be devoted to God while ac- 
 tively engaged in his service, but should ever live
 
 56 FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 conformably to an intire surrender of ourselves 
 to Him, we should not only believe in God, but 
 should hope that he is our God, and should enjoy 
 the comfort of such an expectation ; spiritual 
 life would be vigorous in us, and our souls would 
 prosper and be in health. 
 
 God grant that his fear, which is said to be 
 " the beginning of wisdom," (Ps. cxi. 10.) may 
 illuminate our minds and understandings, be 
 both the teacher and the lesson to us, and make 
 us wise unto salvation ! May that " fear of the 
 Lord," which is " clean," (Ps. xix. 9.) purify our 
 hearts from evil thoughts, and preserve our life 
 from ill-conduct, that we may share in all the 
 exceedingly great and precious promises which 
 God has made to them that t( fear before him ;" 
 that it may " be well " with us ; that God may 
 teach us in the way that we should choose, and 
 we may have " strong confidence" in life, and 
 find at the hour of death " a place of refuge !" 
 (Prov. xiv. 26.) Amen.
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 A UNIVERSE in which beauty and order and de- 
 sign are every-where apparent, in which every 
 animal is exactly adapted to the element where 
 it finds its abode, its defence, and its main- 
 tenance, a universe so constituted, and at the 
 same time the production of mere lawless chance, 
 and under the rule of blind fate, involves a con- 
 tradiction too gross, one would imagine, to be for 
 a moment received by any rank of intelligence. 
 Such a notion has, perhaps, never been enter- 
 tained by the darkest minds of heathenism : al- 
 though uninformed by supernatural communica- 
 tions, of the origin of all things, of the nature and 
 design of the operations of the Great Creator, 
 yet they have remained in the grossness of their 
 ignorance, without adding to it the violence which 
 the impious absurdity of the doctrines of blind 
 fate and undirected chance, must ever offer to the 
 faculty of reason. Some wise men of this world, 
 however, some who have pretended to more than 
 ordinary distinction as intelligent beings, have 
 in the presumptuous daring of their proud phi- 
 losophy, concerted schemes and systems which 
 were designed to account for the existence, and
 
 58 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 order, and condition of all things, without the 
 intervention or superintendence of a Great First 
 Cause. In endeavouring to exalt their reason 
 above the sphere appointed for it by God, they 
 have pushed it beyond its due range of action, 
 and thus exposed its feebleness and imbecility. 
 
 The perverseness and pride attendant on the 
 depraved state of man, are, perhaps, in nothing 
 more visible than in his wholly overlooking, and 
 even, in some instances, denying the providential 
 administration of God. The smallest reflection 
 on his present condition, would show a man that 
 he is placed in a system, where universal depend- 
 ence is the rule or law, by which the whole visible 
 order of beings subsists. There is no created 
 being whatever in a state of insulated independ- 
 ence ; external resources, of some kind or other, 
 are the basis of the support of all animated exist- 
 ence : from the mean, and apparently unprofitable 
 reptile, which makes its lonesome way in the 
 earth, below the light of the cheering orb of day, 
 to man the Lord of the creation, we are presented 
 with an unbroken chain of mutual dependence. 
 And if we observe the numerous striking and 
 wonderful changes of circumstances, produced in 
 the condition of man, by the unexpected turns, 
 which this dependence, in its endless ramifica- 
 tions and contingencies, produces, we must come 
 to the conclusion that all these apparent chances, 
 are under the cognizance and actual superintend-
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 59 
 
 ence of a GREAT FIRST CAUSE, to whom nothing 
 is contingent, nothing is accidental. All our 
 measure of happiness or of misery on earth, de- 
 pends, not absolutely, but under the will and 
 hand of God, on the aspect which external events, 
 produced by persons or things, bear to us as 
 members of one common family and parts of one 
 organised system of subordination. Our relation, 
 in either of these respects, is subject to continual 
 change, and every alteration may bring in its train 
 consequences of the utmost importance to us, 
 affecting our peace, our health, our every enjoy- 
 ment. This is undeniably the condition in which 
 every man finds himself : no one is disposed to 
 controvert the fact, that any given moment may 
 introduce such a change in his mental or bodily 
 faculties and powers, or in his outward estate, or 
 in his relative capacity as sustaining some of 
 the dearest and most intimate relations in life, as 
 to increase his happiness, and add to his enjoy- 
 ments, or to destroy his expectations, to baffle 
 all his plans, and to blight every source of grati- 
 fication. It is the persuasion of being in such a 
 condition, that leads all men to propose various 
 plans and methods, to guide themselves in their 
 intercourse with society, and to devise probable 
 means of success in their undertakings. This 
 belief is the very spring of all the activity visible 
 among men, so valuable and4iseful, when devoted 
 to good and laudable objects and aims.
 
 60 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 The divine superintendence in all the events of 
 life, does not in any way tend to annul our moral 
 accountableness. Man is placed in such a rela- 
 tion towards his Maker, that the will of God is to 
 be taken for his constant rule of action ; good and 
 evil are plainly defined for his guidance, both by 
 the force and light of natural conscience, and to 
 many, by the superadded light of the revelation 
 of the Holy Scriptures. In consequence, man 
 becomes an accountable being ; and that this re- 
 sponsibility may not be weakened, he is also a 
 free agent, acting in every case of good or evil 
 conduct, voluntarily, and after the choice of his 
 own mind. The consent of the will must be ne- 
 cessary to render an action either good or bad ; 
 this principle is admitted in all human legislature ; 
 only idiots and madmen are held incapable of 
 committing criminal actions meriting punishment, 
 because they act from impulses, not under the 
 guidance of reason, or of their right wills. 
 
 With respect to the providential administration 
 of the world, we universally find that men act 
 without a constant and direct reference to this 
 administration ; and although they believe that 
 the divine foreknowledge of all events whatever, 
 from the beginning of time to the consummation 
 of all things, necessarily ensures the occurrence 
 of these events, yet they act (as free agents ever 
 must) as if they were placed where contingency 
 was the rule of their being, and that events might
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 61 
 
 or might not be affected by personal exertion and 
 endeavour. And this is right and proper ; for 
 although we acknowlege the hand of God in. all 
 events, and have constant faith in his providen- 
 tial administration of the world, yet we cannot 
 penetrate his counsels, or discern his hand as it 
 moves over the earth, and gives direction to every 
 event. To God there can be nothing contingent ; 
 to us every thing is dependent ; and the series of 
 events in which we are destined to occupy during 
 our continuance on the earth is to be preserved 
 unbroken, as appointed by God, by our due and 
 proper exertions and endeavours. The fore- 
 knowledge of God has not effect on the human 
 will, to make it merely the passive recipient of 
 external impressions, and to cause it to act with 
 the mere name of a will, without the essential 
 properties of volition. God, our Creator, not 
 only foresaw from all eternity the whole order 
 and succession of events, but also all the remote 
 causes and dependencies of such events, as pro- 
 ceeding from the operation and constitution of 
 men and things which he purposed to create. 
 Therefore, the foreknowing of these events, 
 though it secured their certain occurrence, 
 left the agents, so far as they were rational, free, 
 and consequently individually accountable to Him 
 for all their conduct. Surely there is nothing 
 difficult in conceiving of a divine government, 
 foreknown in all its bearings and occurrences,
 
 62 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 and an order of beings under that government, 
 subservient to all its purposes and designs, and 
 yet acting from a consciousness of moral freedom 
 and voluntary operation. Let not, then, any one 
 seek to shelter himself from his responsibility to 
 his Creator, under the notion that all his con- 
 duct was foreknown, and therefore foreordained 
 by God, and that he is only a passive object 
 moving in the scheme of things, as he is con- 
 trolled by a superior and irresistible decree. The 
 feelings of which he is conscious in every de- 
 liberate action, and the calculations which he 
 makes on the comparative probability of some 
 events, and on the possibility of others, and his 
 constantly acting under the influence of these 
 calculations, give a positive and unanswerable 
 contradiction to his pretence of holding himself 
 free from all responsibility, under the notion of 
 resistless fate and necessity. 
 
 <f A man's heart," then, " deviseth his way ; 
 but the Lord directeth his steps." (Prov. xvi. 9.) 
 Man is conscious of moral freedom in what he 
 purposes to execute in what he " deviseth," and 
 yet nothing can be brought to pass that is con- 
 trary to the plan of divine Providence. God 
 permits the evil which he foresaw, and brings to 
 pass the good which he designed. Man purposes 
 and performs as an accountable agent, and the 
 divine government is not thereby at all infringed 
 on ; God directeth the steps of man agreeably to
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 63 
 
 the counsels of his own will, and the freewill of 
 man is not thereby impaired. 
 
 The government and superintendence of God 
 extend to the minutest concerns and events ; for 
 we cannot suppose a perfect plan of Providence, 
 without embracing the order and certain occur- 
 rence of every event in that plan ; nor can we 
 form any idea of a divinely connected series 
 of events, that must not also be secure from 
 accident and free from contingency. If the 
 mighty whole be an object worthy of the divine 
 regard, the parts of which it is constituted cannot 
 be too mean for divine notice ; if the grand result 
 be according to divine appointment, the means 
 by which it is produced, must be under the divine 
 direction. A firm and enlightened belief in the 
 doctrine of a particular Providence, will tend to 
 produce in the human mind the peace which 
 passeth all understanding, and an habitual resig- 
 nation to the will of God. 
 
 1. It will produce peace in the mind. We find 
 in the Word of God that a belief in the Providence 
 of God, and a continual reliance on his Fatherly 
 care and protection, are immediately connected 
 with peace. " Be careful for nothing ; but in 
 every thing by prayer and supplication with 
 thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
 unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth 
 all understanding, shall keep your hearts and 
 minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. iv. 6, 7.) If
 
 64 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 we reflect on our dependent condition and our 
 frail mortality, irrespective of the divine superin- 
 tendence., we may naturally be filled with much 
 anxious care, and many desponding fears ; for 
 our very existence depends on a due supply of 
 food and clothing, and our comfort rests in a great 
 measure on the continuance of many things, 
 which early and long habits have made essential 
 to our convenience and enjoyments ; and all these 
 sources are exposed to so many vicissitudes, and 
 are liable to be affected by so many causes, over 
 which we have no control, that unless we have 
 a higher resource than our own active endeavours 
 and watchful prudence, and a more sure basis 
 for reliance than our own forethought and dili- 
 gence, we cannot exclude corroding care and 
 anxious apprehension. How full of consolation, 
 then, is the assured belief, that in dangers which 
 we can neither foresee nor prevent, an ever- 
 watchful and almighty Providence is at hand to be 
 our defence, and to compass us about with his 
 favour " as with a shield;" (Ps. v. 12.) that in 
 weakness which is unable to resist calamity, the 
 divine strength is prepared for us, and will be 
 graciously and wisely imparted, according to our 
 wants and necessities ; that in the hour of 
 sorrow, when our spirits unsupported would sink 
 into hopelessness and despair, the consolatory 
 influence of the divine Spirit is ready to raise our 
 fainting minds, and cheer our drooping spirits',
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. .65 
 
 and to pour the balm of effectual and abiding 
 comfort into our wounded hearts ! How cheering 
 and animating is the lively confidence of faith, 
 that in a season of want, when our most strenu- 
 ous efforts would be unavailing, the divine bounty, 
 unwearied and inexhaustible, is at hand to confer 
 seasonable and necessary supplies ; that in the 
 time of distracting perplexity, arising from a 
 dubious state of events, or from the dread of im- 
 pending troubles, the divine control and guidance 
 are in constant exercise to mark out the boundary 
 of every event, and to point out the exact time of 
 its occurrence, and of its duration, and to limit and 
 restrain its effects ; that in affliction of body, 
 which at once cuts off all supplies arising from 
 our own exertions, and renders us dependent on 
 the kindness and care of others, the divine hand 
 which sent the affliction, is near to uphold us 
 with its might, and open to communicate a need- 
 ful supply for our every want ; that He, at whose 
 disposal are both sickness and health, can either 
 render the trial and suffering subservient to our 
 spiritual welfare, and the health of our souls, or 
 rebuke the disorder, and impart to us renovated 
 strength, and the enjoyment of renewed health 
 and vigour ; that in the hour of mortality, when 
 flesh and heart are about to fail us, God will be 
 the strength of our heart, and our portion for 
 ever ; (Ps. Ixxiii. 26.) that He will cheer with 
 his enlivening grace our departing spirit, and
 
 66 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 when the scenes and pleasures of this mortal life 
 are ending, and closing upon our eyes for ever, 
 he will show us by the spiritual vision of faith, 
 the glorious and boundless prospects of an eternal 
 world of glory ; that he who has " the keys of 
 hell, (of the invisible world,) and of death," (Rev. 
 i. 18.) will watch over our crumbling and decay- 
 ing bodies, will receive our departed spirits, 
 will, in the day of God, raise us again from the 
 dust, and dishonour, and corruption of the grave, 
 and give us spiritual and glorious bodies, exalt 
 us to the honour of the sons of God, bestow upon 
 us unspeakable happiness and felicity, and estab- 
 lish us for ever and ever in the secure possession 
 ard full enjoyment of bliss unspeakable, and glory 
 unfading and eternal ! 
 
 2. This belief in the divine government of all 
 things, will inspire us with habitual resignation 
 to the will of God. 
 
 The true spirit of resignation is very different 
 from that hardihood of spirit, and that insen- 
 sible indifference, which result from a notion 
 that all events are under the unalterable decree of 
 a blind fate. A notion of this kind may lead men 
 to regard all occurrences, whether joyous or 
 grievous, with a stoical apathy of spirit, with a 
 sort of obstinate resolution not to bend under 
 calamity, nor to be much elated by prosperity ; 
 but all this is violence done to the heart ; it is 
 contrary to our natural feelings ; it tends to keep
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 67 
 
 down, if not to quench, some of the best and 
 finest sensibilities of our nature ; and after all, it 
 neither raises a man above his troubles, nor well 
 supports him under them ; but, in fact, gives him 
 up to one of their most bitter consequences. For 
 the natural tendency of suffering is to lead us to 
 look beyond ourselves for assistance, from an expe- 
 rience which shows us that no man is independent, 
 and that in most cases of suffering, the individual 
 on whom calamity has fallen is unable to extricate 
 himself, without the aiding hand of another, and 
 to endure his sorrow without the kind sympathy, 
 which induces others to join in bearing his burden. 
 The unyielding spirit of the man of pretended 
 indifference, affects to find in itself a sufficiency of 
 resolution to meet any difficulty, and of fortitude 
 to bear up under the pressure of any misfortune ; 
 but in truth, there is a secret murmuring and 
 fretting within him, which is subversive of all 
 his boasted independence and individual mental 
 resources, and which wounds his heart the more, 
 because it is joined with that hopelessness of being 
 able to overcome his difficulties, which is the 
 natural consequence of his unhappy belief in in- 
 sensate fate. Such a faith is, in fact, nothing 
 more than a belief in a fixed law without a 
 governor, control without wisdom, supreme 
 power without feeling, resistless force without 
 pity or kindness, a scheme of events without 
 regard to consequences, or provision for con- 
 
 F 2
 
 68 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 tingencies. Such is the miserable creed of the 
 fatalist. 
 
 How different is all this from the spirit of true 
 and calm resignation, which fills the breast of the 
 Christian ! In every circumstance and condition 
 he has a steady regard to the will of a wise, and 
 just, and merciful God, whose superintendence 
 controls all occurrences, and directs all events. 
 He bears continually in mind, that although the 
 divine power secures the accomplishment of every 
 thing, as foreseen by the divine prescience, yet 
 that in the original scheme of divine government, 
 there was a gracious provision made for the con- 
 dition of man ; and that in the execution of this 
 government, there is ever a wise and kind regard 
 to everything which can directly or relatively affect 
 the welfare of man. When he considers that man 
 is the chief work of God, that all things in this 
 lower world were created with a reference to the 
 convenience and comfort of mankind, that the 
 whole plan of redemption, as made known in the 
 Gospel, has relation only to the benefit of man, 
 and that every thing is under the control of that 
 Being, who can make all things subservient to 
 his own will and purpose, and who will regulate 
 and direct them so as to promote and fulfil all 
 his purposes of grace to the sons of men ; when 
 the Christian reflects on all these things, and re- 
 ceives them as undoubted truths, he must not 
 only be quiet and resigned under every part of his
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 69 
 
 dispensation, but also prepared to meet in a proper 
 spirit every event that may befal him. He feels 
 himself strong in the omnipotence of God ; in- 
 structed in the divine wisdom ; safe in the divine 
 power and protection ; rich in the dh ine munifi- 
 cence and bounty ; secure in the divine faithful- 
 ness and truth ; because all these perfections are 
 engaged to bring to pass the divine decrees, and 
 all these decrees have a regard to the present 
 well-being, and the future happiness of all whose 
 dependence is on God, whose faith is centered in 
 the Redeemer, and whose spiritual knowledge 
 and strength are the result of the influence and 
 teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The Christian is at all times resigned to the will 
 of God, leaving all his concerns in the hands of 
 a wise and merciful Father. He feels assured that 
 nothing which relates to his condition or welfare, 
 is beneath the divine notice ; because every event, 
 however small, or comparatively insignificant, is 
 indissolubly connected with the procedure of the 
 whole plan of Providence, and has some influ- 
 ence on the result of that plan, and therefore 
 cannot, as part of the whole, be unworthy of the 
 notice which directs the whole, and which was 
 pleased to make it one necessary constituent part 
 in the arrangement of the intire scheme. Those 
 who deny the divine superintendence of our mean 
 affairs, degrade our condition below its real 
 state ; and yet the same persons are in the habit
 
 70 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 of exalting our reason, as the guide of our affairs, 
 above its proper sphere. They take from God, 
 what he has been pleased to retain as part of his 
 divine prerogative, and assign to man's wisdom 
 and guidance, what is far above his proper direc- 
 tion, or efficient control. Their notion of 
 magnifying the divine greatness, as being far 
 above the regard of earthly affairs, does in fact 
 rob God of his true glory ; they impair by their 
 error the divine wisdom, as if it had created a 
 world, and placed an order of beings in such 
 circumstances, as were too mean for superintend- 
 ence ; and, consequently, unworthy of the 
 production of infinite wisdom, and goodness, and 
 power. 
 
 They seem willing to admit that the hand of 
 God is visible in great and miraculous events ; 
 but that in what is called the order of nature, all 
 things were at first appointed to one common 
 course, and are left to this course, without any 
 further interference or control from the Great 
 First Cause. But with respect to what is called 
 the order of nature, we may fall into a great 
 error by supposing that the general course of 
 things which we discern in the world, is the 
 prescribed order or law, so established as never 
 to be departed from on any occasion. This would 
 in fact exclude the possibility of what are termed 
 miracles, or extraordinary deviations from the 
 general course of nature. But so far from a
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 71 
 
 miracle being of its very nature incredible and 
 inadmissible, we may reasonably suppose that the 
 order of the universe from the beginning, was 
 so ordained as to allow of miracles ; and that 
 these extraordinary appearances and events are 
 parts of the divine purpose, their time and man- 
 ner, and the occasion of them, being all equally 
 ordained and settled, together with the usual, and 
 therefore unobserved, course of ordinary events. 
 Undoubtedly, and as we may infer from reason, 
 and are instructed by Revelation, all events, 
 whether of magnitude or of inferior consequence, 
 whether relating to high or low, rich or poor, 
 whether affecting our temporal welfare, or rising 
 higher so as to have an influence on our future 
 condition, are equally under the divine guidance, 
 and fall under the continual control of his power, 
 and the ordering of his wisdom, 
 
 As a firm belief in the divine providence, does 
 not exclude diligent endeavours on the part of 
 men, so also it is not incompatible with the exer- 
 cise of constant prayer. Accordingly, the apostolic 
 exhortation to lay aside all corroding and anxious 
 cares respecting the supply of our wants, is con- 
 nected with a command to persevere in prayer, 
 and in " every thing, by prayer and supplication, 
 with thanksgiving," to let our requests be made 
 known unto God." (Phil. iv. 6.) The assurance 
 that all things are ordered immutably according 
 to the divine counsel, does not set aside, or in
 
 72 DIVINE AGENCY. 
 
 any way weaken the obligation to attend to so 
 apparent, so reasonable, as well as Scriptural a 
 duty as prayer ; because it has pleased God to 
 appoint the means as well as the end, to prescribe 
 to us the way in which blessings are to be ob- 
 tained, as well as promise to bestow those bless- 
 ings upon us. God has promised to answer 
 prayer ; and this he does not in the way of al- 
 tering the course of events which he had fore- 
 known, but by accomplishing those things, whe- 
 ther relating to the preservation, subsistence, or 
 prosperity of man, which were connected in the 
 divine plan of government with the prayer and 
 the necessity of the individual. The one was at 
 first designed to be subservient to the other ; and 
 therefore prayer, and an expectation of answer to 
 prayer, are reasonably united in our minds, to- 
 gether with an unshaken faith in the divine pre- 
 science and superintending power. Neither the 
 will, nor the plan of God is changed, by receiving 
 the prayer of man, because God grants only ac- 
 cording to his own will and wisdom. " A man's 
 heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his 
 steps." Man prays according to the desires of 
 his heart, and the judgment which he is able to 
 form of his necessities ; but God sends those 
 things only which are consistent with his govern- 
 ment of the world, and truly conducive to the 
 welfare of man. 
 
 The assurance that such is the way in which
 
 DIVINE AGENCY. 73 
 
 God hears prayer, tends to produce in the mind 
 of the Christian, both peace and resignation ; 
 peace, when he reflects that all events are at the 
 divine disposal, and that God careth for his crea- 
 tures ; resignation, when he considers that the 
 divine wisdom, and power, and goodness, and 
 faithfulness are all engaged to bestow every thing 
 that is needful for him. The permission to cast 
 all our care on God, (1 Pet. v. 7.) is exactly and 
 wisely adapted to our frail and dependent con- 
 dition, and greatly exalts and magnifies the divine 
 goodness and abounding mercy ; man is benefited 
 by it, and God is glorified. 
 
 The Christian, then, may ever put his trust in 
 the Lord ; he may avail himself of the high pri- 
 vilege, of spreading all his wants before the throne 
 of grace in prayer, and of relying on the infinite 
 wisdom, fatherly care, and boundless grace and 
 compassion of his God ; using all Christian dili- 
 gence in his vocation, because the power of God 
 is without limit, and all events are at his disposal ; 
 and resting in peace and quiet resignation in his 
 will, because the mercy of God endureth for ever, 
 and his hand " directeth " our " steps."
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 AN acknowledgment that we are sinners, and 
 subject to mortality, is readily made by all ; we 
 do not find any disposed to controvert so obvious 
 a truth as the latter, nor any so unacquainted 
 with their own feelings and infirmities, as to deny 
 the former. Death having reigned universally, 
 has compelled all men to expect one day to fall 
 beneath its fatal shafts, how negligent soever they 
 may be in making wise and due preparation for 
 so solemn an event. And the customs of the most 
 antient nations prove a general knowledge of sin 
 and a conviction of guilt ; inasmuch as sacrifices, 
 which have been a religious rite in all ages and 
 among all nations, show, by the taking away of 
 the life of the victim, that they are performed 
 more in the nature of an atonement, than an act 
 of thanksgiving. But though a conviction of 
 guilt and an acknowledgment of mortality be so 
 general, yet we find comparatively few persons, 
 whose temper and disposition of mind correspond 
 with their spiritual condition, or whose conduct 
 is in accordance with their professed religious 
 belief. There is a tendency in the human mind 
 towards earthly, rather than heavenly objects;
 
 HUMILITY. 75 
 
 men arc prone to neglect their spiritual concerns, 
 and to pay an undue regard to temporal affairs. 
 The heart feels a dislike for those pursuits and 
 those inquiries which relate to eternity, and per- 
 versely clings to the perishing scenes of the pre- 
 sent life. All acknowledge themselves mortal, 
 but how few live as those who would be prepared 
 for the hour of death ! All confess themselves 
 to be sinners, but few seek diligently and in ear- 
 nest to know and embrace the means of escaping 
 the punishment due to sin. All profess to ex- 
 pect a future and immortal life, but few make 
 any provision beyond the present transitory state. 
 The view of man being bounded by the visible 
 heavens and earth, he limits his cares and atten- 
 tion to terrestrial things, and habitually neglects, 
 and often intirely forgets his destinies in the 
 world which is to come. Every thinking man is 
 conscious of the prevalence of this worldly-mind- 
 edness in his own bosom ; and a careful observa- 
 tion of the objects which engross the busy atten- 
 tion and anxious care of the major part of man- 
 kind, will show that this depraved attachment to 
 the world is general, is universal. 
 
 But we must not stop at the establishment of 
 the fact ; it behoves us to endeavour to ascertain 
 the cause, and to search for the origin of the 
 evil. It requires no argument to prove that the 
 soul is infinitely more valuable than the body, 
 that the interests of eternity surpass beyond com-
 
 76 HUMILITY. 
 
 parison those of time, and that the best and most 
 extensive possessions in this world, are out- 
 weighed in an unspeakable degree, by the " far 
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 
 (2 Cor. iv. 17.) which remains for the people of 
 God in the kingdom of heaven. The lowest de- 
 gree of spiritual knowledge, constrains men to 
 give their assent to these truths. But the evil of 
 neglect, indifference, and aversion for the prac- 
 tice which the acknowledgment of these truths 
 ought ever to produce, remains in undiminished 
 operation. It cannot proceed from any natural 
 disregard, which men have for their safety and 
 comfort ; the principle of self-love would lead 
 them to be diligent in securing every thing which 
 would promote their enjoyment. It cannot pro- 
 ceed from any defect in the original constitution 
 of their nature ; for " God created man in his own 
 image," and " blessed them," and pronounced 
 concerning " every thing that he had made," that 
 " it was very good." (Gen. i. 27 31.) The moral 
 condition of mankind, is a state of degradation 
 from an originally perfect condition. The purity 
 and innocence of our first parents, constituted 
 their perfection ; and as it is of the very nature 
 of innocence, to be intirdy free from moral 
 stain, the contraction of guilt must necessarily 
 destroy this innocence, and with it the perfection 
 which it constituted ; and consequently intro- 
 duce a tendency to evil, and a corresponding
 
 HUMILITY. 77 
 
 dislike of what is good and holy. A mind ori- 
 ginally formed without any taint of evil, when 
 once it has yielded to temptation, becomes 
 from that time indisposed to mental purity, and 
 strongly biassed towards what is evil. The ori- 
 ginal state of man, was one of intire resemblance 
 to the Creator, in righteousness and holiness, 
 that is, such a moral resemblance as a finite crea- 
 ture can bear to a Being of infinite perfections ; 
 it was not at all deteriorated by any innate ten- 
 dency to sin ; it was not at all blended with any 
 love for the forbidden fruit. The freedom of 
 man's primitive state, required that he should be 
 capable of choosing between retaining the present 
 good which he enjoyed, and venturing on the 
 future evil which was unknown. He might be 
 tempted to evil, but was not placed under a ne- 
 cessity of yielding to temptation. A tendency 
 to evil might be produced in his mind, by sacri- 
 ficing his moral rectitude his spotless innocency ; 
 a love for what was forbidden, might be blended 
 in his heart with the delight which he felt in 
 walking in holy obedience ; but it was at the 
 risk of that evil principle predominating, when 
 once admitted. We are not to suppose that the 
 knowledge of Adam in his state of purity, was 
 confined to the consequences of guilt as merely 
 incurring the divine displeasure, and the fearful 
 sentence of death which was denounced against
 
 78 HUMILITY. 
 
 transgression. The moral debasement which 
 sin has brought on the mind, is too great an evil 
 to have been concealed from Adam, as one of 
 the consequences of disobedience. The will of 
 God was doubtless fully known to our first parent, 
 by immediate communication, so far as it related 
 to his condition of innocence, and the wilful 
 abandonment of that condition, and the dreadful 
 consequences which would ensue to himself and to 
 all his posterity. When Adam put forth his hand to 
 " exalt" himself, in obedience to the pride which 
 a sinful acquiescence in evil suggestions had 
 generated in his mind, he deliberately and wil- 
 fully sunk from the high rank in which he was 
 placed by creation, and which he maintained by 
 rectitude, to the low degradation in which we 
 now find all his descendants plunged. He lost 
 not only his innocence, but his preference for 
 good ; he not only contracted guilt, but acquired 
 also a disposition to evil. Then the moral beauty 
 of the soul conformity to the will of God, was 
 converted into the deformity of vice ; then purity 
 man's chief delight in the state of innocence, 
 was laid aside for the pollution of sin ; then the 
 " perfect freedom" of God's service, was ex- 
 changed for the hard slavery of Satan ; then all 
 the honourable, and pure, and peaceful affections 
 of the heart, were supplanted by the baneful and 
 tormenting passions, the offspring of darkness
 
 HUMILITY. 79 
 
 and of hell ; then love, and joy, and peace, and 
 meekness, and humility, and justice, yielded to 
 envy, and hatred, and malice, and anger, and strife, 
 and pride, and fraud, and rapacity, and every evil 
 work ; and then Eden, the garden of the Lord, 
 was blasted by the envy of Satan and the crimes 
 of man, and the earth converted into a compara- 
 tive wilderness. 
 
 A man may make a general acknowledgment 
 of sin, without feeling, or even being willing to 
 allow, all the evils which sin has introduced into 
 the world, so far as relates to the moral degrada- 
 tion of mankind ; and consequently without any 
 right understanding of the provision, which God 
 has made for their recovery in the Gospel. There 
 is a spurious religion, which does not enumerate 
 humility in the catalogue of its virtues. That 
 there is a God, that we are dependent on him for 
 all things, that we are sinners, but that God is 
 merciful, form the main articles of its creed. The 
 duties which result from our relation to God, the 
 dispositions which should predominate in our 
 minds as sinners, the assurance that God is just, 
 as well as merciful, and that our moral condition 
 is such as to require the influence of the Holy 
 Spirit to deliver us from our natural blindness 
 and obduracy and corruption, and the arm of 
 God to raise up for us a Saviour, who should be 
 unto us both " wisdom, and righteousness, and 
 sanctification, and redemption;" (1 Cor. i. 30.)
 
 80 HUMILITY. 
 
 these are points which enter not into such a re- 
 ligious system ; and therefore, instead of incul- 
 cating humility, because of the universal corrup- 
 tion of mankind, we often hear of encouragement 
 to pride by dissertations on the dignity of human 
 nature. 
 
 Pride was the first ruin of man. It was from 
 the beginning directly opposed to the right feel- 
 ing, which a sense of his real condition would 
 have inspired. It was not made for man. The 
 condition of man was ever one which called for 
 humility ; not only as most becoming his state of 
 dependence on God for existence, and for all the 
 means of preserving that existence, and rendering 
 it happy, but also as the best and surest safe-guard 
 in that state. While Adam continued in humility, 
 while he " spake trembling," he was safe, he 
 exalted himself in the favour and protection of 
 God ; but when he aspired to raise himself above 
 the state in which God had placed him, and to 
 reach, as he thought, a kind of equality with his 
 Maker, he sunk below his original dignity, and 
 found only degradation and ruin, where he had 
 expected glory and honour. 
 
 True humility is, then, a striking characteristic 
 of the true Christian. It can proceed only from a 
 thorough acquaintance with our real condition as 
 sinners, from a consciousness of the universal 
 corruption of our nature ; it is grounded on a deep 
 and lively sense of our intire dependence on God,
 
 HUMILITY. 81 
 
 of our guilt and desert, and of our infinite obliga- 
 tion to divine goodness and grace. 
 
 To produce true humility in the heart, and to 
 maintain it in lively exercise, a man must be 
 acquainted with his real condition upon the earth. 
 He must know the degradation of his nature from 
 its original state by creation ; he must have a 
 knowledge of God, of his justice, his purity, and 
 the immutability of his Word ; he must have a 
 clear understanding of the desert of sin, of his 
 intire dependence on God, and of the destinies 
 which await him in another world, and which are 
 so essentially connected with his conduct in the 
 present life. While men are ignorant of these 
 things, or while they live in forgetfulness of them, 
 they are prone to indulge in proud feelings, so 
 incompatible with their condition, and so inimical 
 to their true interests. Without the salutary 
 checks to pride, which the foregoing knowledge 
 is calculated to produce, men are apt to live in a 
 great degree in an imagined independence of 
 God. So far from acknowledging him in all their 
 ways, as their Creator, and Preserver, and Judge, 
 they form their plans, and engage in the active 
 prosecution of those endeavours which are most 
 likely to accomplish their designs, without any 
 reference to the guidance and blessing of God, 
 without any profitable and influential conviction 
 that unless agreeable to the divine will, and 
 directed by divine guidance, and prospered by
 
 82 HUMILITY. 
 
 the divine blessing, their wisest schemes will be 
 frustrated, and their most laborious efforts un- 
 availing. 
 
 Repeated disappointments, and the breaking 
 up of the best concerted purposes, may lead men 
 to some reflection on the uncertainty of earthly 
 things, and on the limited powers of earthly 
 wisdom, but they are not sufficient of themselves 
 to excite deep humility in the mind ; they some- 
 times lead men to indifference, or even to despair; 
 and at best can only rouse them to renewed and 
 more vigorous exertions in the same pursuits, 
 and with the same motive and design. The con- 
 viction of the impotence of mortal man, which 
 should have led to a feeling of the necessity of 
 divine help, and to an earnest desire of obtaining 
 that help, and to a diligent seeking of it in a right 
 way, is too soon obliterated by the prevalence of 
 earthly cares ; and the impression made on the 
 mind, so far as it was salutary, is gradually 
 effaced by the collision of worldly occupations 
 and engagements, and the mere fact of the past 
 recurrence of unpleasant reverses, is preserved in 
 the memory, without benefiting the heart, with- 
 out exalting the soul to the pursuit of heavenly 
 objects. The spirit may be broken by trouble, 
 but not humbled. The sorrows and trials which 
 proceed from man's degeneracy, have a natural 
 tendency only to sour the disposition, to quench 
 the best affections of the heart, and to increase a
 
 HUMILITY. 83 
 
 worldly-minded spirit ; but when they are accom- 
 panied by humility, proceeding from a conscious- 
 ness of guilt, and a willing acknowledgment that 
 where the just demerit of sin would have involved 
 us in temporal and eternal ruin, there the 
 abounding mercy and grace of God have dis- 
 pensed blessings instead of inflicting punishment, 
 then the nature of trouble is changed, and that 
 which of itself would have hardened the heart, 
 and perverted the powers of the mind, and divert- 
 ed the active exertions to a wrong end, now tends 
 to soften and ameliorate every untoward passion, 
 to sanctify every unhallowed desire, and to prompt 
 every energy to a noble object. 
 
 A consciousness of the infirmities and wants of 
 our nature, so favourable to the nurture of an 
 humble spirit, is the first step towards a deliver, 
 ance from the ill consequences of our weakness 
 and necessity. While men rely on an imaginary 
 fund of strength in themselves, and suppose that 
 their own resources can furnish all necessary aid, 
 according to the exigencies of every untoward 
 occurrence, they are indisposed to make a proper 
 application to the great Fountain of Strength. 
 They may, indeed, express in a formal manner, 
 their inability to overcome difficulties, to avoid 
 dangers, or to ensure success, without the divine 
 aid and blessing, and they may join in the general 
 acknowledgment of these truths, and in the sup- 
 plications which are founded on them in the 
 
 G 2
 
 84 HUMILITY. 
 
 services of the Church ; but they do not feel their 
 individual feebleness, nor see how totally they 
 are despoiled of original strength and power, so 
 as to render them intirely dependent on the help 
 and blessing of God. They are offended at the 
 enforcement of those humiliating doctrines of 
 Scripture, which state the destitution of spiritual 
 strength and ability, as making part of that moral 
 degradation to which the Fall has reduced all 
 mankind, and consequently they cannot avail 
 themselves of those means of obtaining heavenly 
 assistance, which the same Scriptures make 
 known to us. 
 
 The humble confession of the prophet, teaches 
 us that " it is not in man that walketh, to direct 
 his steps ;" (Jerem. x. 23.) but how can he who 
 does not feel that he lacks wisdom, ask it of God, 
 " that giveth to all men liberally ?" (Jam. i. 5.) 
 The sense of our infirmities must precede the 
 application by faith to the throne of grace, for 
 divine aid and succour. He that knows not his 
 weakness and deficiencies, " knoweth nothing 
 yet as he ought to know," (1 Cor. viii. 2.) either 
 with respect to a just estimate of himself, or a 
 proper understanding of the true and only source 
 of effective help and direction. The declaration, 
 that, " we are not sufficient of ourselves, to think 
 any thing as of ourselves," (2 Cor. iii. 5.) is una- 
 vailing as a direction to the only and ever-benign 
 Giver of needful strength, to that man who has
 
 HUMILITY. 85 
 
 no lively sense that " our sufficiency is of God," 
 (2 Cor. 3. 5.) and that " it is God that worketh in 
 us, both to will and to do, of his good plea- 
 sure." (Phil. ii. 13.) The depravity of man, as 
 well as his deficiency of good-will to make a right 
 application of his understanding to spiritual things, 
 must be known and acknowledged, before he will 
 join in sincerity with the penitent Psalmist, and 
 say, " Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and 
 renew a right spirit within me." (Ps. li. 10.) 
 
 When men rightly perceive the nature and 
 extent of their infirmities and wants, they humbly 
 acknowledge them before God, and earnestly seek 
 for divine assistance. Thus humility is found to 
 be favourable to faith, and a friend to prayer. It 
 leads us to renounce all dependence on ourselves, 
 and to look for help from God. It disposes us to 
 pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and to 
 acknowledge that he is the author as well as the 
 maintainer of spiritual life in us, that to him we 
 must be indebted for inclining our perverse will 
 to choose good rather than evil ; for enlightening 
 our beclouded understanding, and imparting to 
 us the true knowledge of God ; for diverting our 
 corrupt affections from a misplaced attachment 
 to earthly vanities, and sanctifying them, and 
 disposing them to a just exercise on proper ob- 
 jects ; for exalting our grovelling desires, and 
 raising them to their proper pursuit the attain- 
 ment of heavenly possessions. The glory which
 
 6 HUMILITY. 
 
 humility thus ascribes to God, as the Giver of 
 " every good and every perfect gift," does in some 
 sort redound to the exaltation of man ; for what 
 greater honour can a mortal receive, than to be 
 clothed and adorned with graces of heavenly 
 origin, and to have all his necessities supplied 
 from the Fountain of eternal Goodness. 
 
 When we are called by the Providence of God 
 to endure affliction, a humble spirit, by inclining 
 us to " hear the rod, and who hath appointed 
 it," (Mic. vi. 9.) removes half the grievousness of 
 the trial. A proud spirit induces us to lift our 
 heads against the Providence of God, and to 
 endeavour to shake the yoke from our necks, 
 and thus we are the more galled by its weight, 
 and it proves a mill-stone unto us to sink us yet 
 deeper in calamity. But humility teaches us to 
 bear up with a patient spirit under the load, and 
 thus half its pressure is removed; as by the 
 skilful poising of a burden, a great part of its 
 weight is unfelt. Humility cheers the heart under 
 the faintness of " hope deferred ;" it blunts the 
 edge of disappointment ; sweetens the bitter cup 
 of sorrow ; unfolds bright prospects to blighted 
 expectations, and obtains the succour of almighty 
 aid, where human strength and exertion would 
 be fruitless and unavailing. 
 
 The Scriptures are given us to be our guide 
 and our solace throughout the journey of life ; 
 but the humiliating statements which they con-
 
 HUMILITY. 87 
 
 tain of the degeneracy of mankind, and the 
 straitness of the path which they mark out as 
 leading to life, are very offensive to human 
 pride ; and thus the direction becomes useless, 
 and the comfort is rejected. Humility is the 
 only true preparation of the heart for reading 
 the Holy Scriptures. The Bible contains so much 
 that tends to fill man with shame and confusion, 
 rather than with high notions of himself; its 
 doctrines also are so contrary to the pride of 
 reason, and to the wisdom of this world, so 
 opposed to the " understanding of the prudent," 
 (1 Cor. i. 19.) that unless the heart of the reader 
 be embued with true humility, he will be in 
 danger, with the world, of contemning the " base 
 things and despised," which " God hath chosen," 
 (1 Cor. i. 28.) and of making that a " stumbling- 
 block," which was designed for a help and a 
 guide ; and of converting into a " rock of offence," 
 that which was ordained for a " sanctuary," (Isa. 
 viii. 14.) and a sure place of refuge and defence. 
 The declarations of the Bible, which give offence 
 to the carnal mind, teach the humble man to 
 search more deeply into his own heart, to weigh 
 his spirit, to examine his motives, and to scrutinize 
 all his actions. The Bible is given to the humble, 
 to the penitent, to the lowly, and to sinners to 
 sinners who, far from disclaiming and cloaking 
 their guilt, confess it with sincere abhorrence, 
 and with a desire of obedience.
 
 88 HUMILITY. 
 
 The declarations made in the Scriptures, are 
 in fact addressed to all, and intended for all ; but 
 they may be said in a particular manner to be 
 given to the humble and lowly ; because to such 
 they are acceptable ; they find in them all that is 
 necessary to their condition. The promises of 
 God are addressed only to those, who possess the 
 dispositions of mind named in each promise ; and 
 humility, as the foundation of every Christian 
 grace, is studiously to be sought as the best title 
 to the promises, and the best qualification for the 
 enjoyment of them. The promises of pardon to 
 the penitent, can only be embraced by the 
 humble ; because there can be no true repent- 
 ance without humility, without an humble 
 acknowledgment of guilt, and a deep sense of 
 the nature and demerit of sin. The gracious as- 
 surance of Christ, that he came " to seek and to 
 save that which was lost," (Luke xix. 10.) can 
 convey comfort and hope only to the humble 
 mind ; because where the pride of reason hardens 
 men in the denial of the lost and ruined state of 
 mankind, on account of original sin and the cor- 
 ruption and depravity of the whole human race, 
 and puffs them up with high and vain notions of 
 the dignity of human nature, they will reject the 
 terms of salvation , and will not stand on the 
 same ground as those who are addressed in the 
 Gospel as labouring, and being " heavy laden," 
 as sitting in mental " darkness," and under the
 
 HUMILITY. 89 
 
 " power of Satan," (Acts xxvi. 18.) as " dead in 
 trespasses and sins." (Eph. ii. 1.) To open the 
 Bible with an unhumbled spirit, is to read with a 
 blinded mind with a veil upon the heart, (2 Cor. 
 iii. 4 15.) and to such persons the Bible is as a 
 sealed book ; the true meaning of its contents is 
 hidden from them : that which should carry con- 
 viction to their minds, only confirms their pre- 
 judices ; that which should make them shed the 
 tear of penitence, gives offence to their proud 
 spirit. But when humility gives a new character 
 to the heart, the understanding becomes enlight- 
 ened, and the " spirit of wisdom and revelation" 
 (Eph. i. 17, 18.) is imparted, and men cease to 
 walk " according to the flesh ;" then the weapons 
 employed in the spiritual warfare are no longer 
 carnal, " but mighty through God, casting down 
 imaginations, and every high thing that exalte th 
 itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing 
 into captivity every thought to the obedience of 
 Christ." (2 Cor. x. 25.) 
 
 The advantages of an humble spirit, extend to 
 both temporal and spiritual concerns. Humility 
 is the surest defence in life, and the best prepa- 
 ration for death. It will save us from many sor- 
 rows and troubles in this world, and qualify us 
 for the enjoyment of all the blessings and happi- 
 ness of the world which is to come. A proud 
 spirit adds weight to unavoidable calamity ; and, 
 by unduly exalting itself, becomes exposed to
 
 90 HUMILITY. 
 
 many afflictions, which might have been avoided 
 by a contrary disposition of mind. In a world of 
 men actuated by the same principles of self-love 
 and self-preservation, there must be many con- 
 flicting interests, and he who has not learnt to 
 yield, and on many occasions to withdraw his 
 claims, and to suffer partial loss and inconveni- 
 ence, will be constantly liable to the vexation of 
 being compelled to submit to the more powerful 
 influence of opponents, and to be continually ir- 
 ritated at the frustration of his plans by the un- 
 intentional opposition of some, and by the de- 
 signed resistance of others. There will be no 
 day in which pride will not either undergo a 
 mortification, or find an imaginary source of re- 
 pining and discontent. But all these real and 
 fancied evils, all this created trouble or unavoid- 
 able calamity, an humble mind either escapes, or 
 bears so as to diminish the weight of the suffering. 
 The evils from which it cannot flee, it alleviates 
 by patience ; and effaces by a yielding temper and 
 a conciliatory disposition, many troubles from the 
 catalogue of human misery. From how many 
 hours of fretfulness, of wounded and harassed 
 feelings, of hatred and enmity, of anxious and 
 painful solicitude, of heart-consuming care, does 
 humility exempt a man ! It is a grace to be 
 earnestly desired, not only for the positive bless- 
 ings which it brings with it, and for the loveli- 
 ness of its intire character, but also for the ex-
 
 HUMILITY. 91 
 
 emption from very many troubles and vexations 
 which it confers. 
 
 Its chief excellency, however, consists in the 
 high character which it bears in the sight of God, 
 and in the many and great blessings which are 
 annexed to it in the Word of God. The favour 
 of God must be the desired object of rational 
 creatures ; and this favour is promised to certain 
 dispositions of the heart, but to none more fre- 
 quently or more fully, than to the grace of humi- 
 lity. Do we possess this humble spirit r We are 
 then entitled to expect assistance when in difficul- 
 ties, consolation in the time of suffering, de- 
 liverance in the hour of danger, strength against 
 a time of temptation, and a blessing on all our 
 undertakings. Do our trials press heavily on us, 
 and urge us to cry mightily unto God in prayer ? 
 The Bible assures us that " he forgetteth not the 
 cry of the humble/' (Ps. ix. 12.) Are we weighed 
 down with sorrows ? God descends to the " con- 
 trite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the 
 humble." (Isaiah Ivii. 15.) Are we threatened by 
 jmpending and alarming dangers ? " He shall save 
 the humble person." (Job. xxii. 29.) Do temptations 
 increase and assail us on every side, and place our 
 faith and virtue in jeopardy ? " He giveth more 
 grace ; " He " resisteth the proud, but giveth 
 grace unto the humble." (Jam. iv. 0.) Do we 
 feel our intire dependence on God, and therefore 
 desire his aid and blessing in all our ways ? " By
 
 92 HUMILITY. 
 
 humility and the fear of the Lard, are riches, and 
 honour, and life." (Prov. xxii. 4.) In fine ; this 
 grace of the Holy Spirit is one of the most 
 striking evidences of our adoption into " the 
 household of God," and of our title to all the 
 privileges of the sons of God. It is the source of 
 contentment not to be broken up even by the 
 hand of adversity ; of peace not to be ruffled by 
 the untoward events of this life; and of intire 
 submission to the will of God. It bears its own 
 peculiar blessings with it in this life, and it has a 
 rich inheritance reserved for it in the world which 
 is to come.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 THAT infinite goodness and mercy should ever 
 accompany the infinite power and wisdom of the 
 Deity, is quite agreeable to reason, and is the di- 
 rect testimony of Scripture. What we know of 
 God by the operations of his hands, in the various 
 works of creation, bears its testimony to the ex- 
 istence and joint exercise of these perfections ; and 
 the Word of God in all its declarations, corrobo- 
 rates this testimony, and establishes it in the fullest 
 and most satisfactory manner. That every variety 
 of inanimate objects in nature, should in their 
 forms, and properties, and arrangement, combine 
 to produce grandeur of appearance, and sublimity 
 of effect, and in their harmony and fitness display 
 all the beauty of the most skilful design and be- 
 neficent purpose, and that happiness should 
 reign throughout every order of animated being, 
 rational and irrational, placed each in its own 
 peculiar sphere of action, and calculated for dif- 
 ferent modes of enjoyment, seems to be a con- 
 clusion perfectly compatible with right notions of 
 the Supreme Being, and such as the right exercise 
 of reason would lead us to entertain. It evidently
 
 94 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 involves a striking contradiction, to suppose 
 that a God of perfect wisdom, should create a 
 system in which disorder should predominate, 
 that a God of infinite power, should be the author 
 of a universe, in which there is the grand and 
 capital defect of a want of harmony, that a God 
 of boundless goodness and love, should give ex- 
 istence to beings, who should be the prey of un- 
 happiness, of suffering, of misery ! As the work 
 of a God of wisdom, the creation must be perfect 
 in its design ; as the production of a God of 
 power, it must be complete in its execution ; and 
 as the result of goodness and love, it must be 
 happy in its nature and condition. These seem 
 to be inferences unavoidable from the contem- 
 plation of the character of the Deity, either as 
 known from the operation of his hands, or from 
 the revelation which he has been pleased to give 
 of himself. We cannot conceive of imperfection 
 in the works of God, or of failure in his purposes. 
 In the original constitution of the world which 
 we inhabit, there must have been, as we have 
 before stated, uninterrupted harmony, perfect 
 order and agreement, exact adaptation of persons, 
 places, and things, the most accordant union, and 
 umningled happiness and peace. The nature and 
 perfections of God require this. An all-powerful 
 Being, who is also infinitely wise and good, must 
 ever act in perfect accordance with himself ; all 
 the works of his hands must be the result of the
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 95 
 
 harmony and union of all his perfections ; and 
 that such was the case at the origin of the present 
 system of things, in which we are called to live 
 and act, is fully established by the declaration of 
 God himself in his holy Word. 
 
 Does the condition of the world accord with 
 these conclusions ? Do we find ourselves placed 
 in a state of things where peace, and harmony, 
 and uninterrupted enjoyment prevail ? Do we 
 behold a world of undisturbed order and of 
 universal happiness ? Certainly not : the furthest 
 from it possible. We see beauty, and a display 
 of divine power and goodness in the earth and in 
 the heavens ; but if we are exempt from sorrow 
 ourselves, we can look in no direction without 
 witnessing human suffering ; in short, " the 
 whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
 together." (Rom. viii. 22.) If we look into the 
 world at large, we shall find great inequality in 
 the condition of nations, whether we have regard 
 to -natural advantages, or the benefits resulting 
 from mild and beneficent institutions of society 
 and government. And if we look more minutely 
 into the state of every country, we shall find a 
 great diversity of condition among men. Some 
 are in health, others in misery and affliction. 
 Some are exposed to the keenest mental anguish, 
 arising from their narrow and precarious means 
 of subsistence. Some are actually perishing 
 from hunger, and the want of the very necessa-
 
 96 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 ries of life ; whilst others are rolling in plenty, 
 and rioting in luxury and extravagance. Some 
 are hoarding up to no useful or rational purpose, 
 that wealth which would gladden the hearts of 
 thousands, and save many from utter destitution 
 and ruin, if wisely dispersed abroad. Some live 
 under the most valuable religious advantages, 
 which they neglect or despise ; while others are 
 bowing down in the ignorance and blindness of 
 benighted heathenism, before stocks and stones, 
 the works of their own hands. All this inequality 
 does not result, as the infidel would affirm, from 
 the unjust distribution of the things of this life 
 by a blind chance, without any interference of a 
 divine Providence. No : we must seek some 
 other solution of the question. With an humble 
 acknowledgment of all the divine perfections, we 
 shall discover a far better and more rational method 
 of removing the difficulty. We see that disorder 
 has entered the creation ; we feel that all are 
 exposed to the dreadful consequences of this 
 disorder ; we know that none are exempt from 
 death the consummation of the curses inflicted 
 on the human race. These evils cannot have 
 proceeded from the Creator, in the mere exercise 
 of his power ; they must have been introduced 
 by incurring the heavy penalties, which he had 
 denounced against the violation of some pre- 
 scribed law and rule of conduct. By attending 
 to the voice of inspiration, we find this to be
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 97 
 
 the case. All evil results from the disorder which 
 sin originally brought into the world, and which 
 the continuance of sin still maintains in the 
 world. The want of happiness among men, does 
 not arise from any defect in the divine goodness, 
 but from depravity in the creature. Man was 
 guilty before he knew what sorrow was ; in his 
 original condition he was not allied to suffering 
 of any kind ; it is of his fallen condition that 
 the Scripture speaks when it affirms that " man 
 is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.*' 
 (Job. v. 7.) The truth and faithfulness of God 
 secured the perfect happiness of man, so long as 
 he continued in a state of innocence and 
 obedience ; and the same truth and faithfulness 
 place him, on his disobedience, in an exposure to 
 all the sufferings denounced against rebellion ; 
 for the threatenings of God must be put in exe- 
 cution, as well as his promises be accomplished. 
 The same word which assured our first parents of 
 the continuance of perfect, unmingled enjoyment, 
 while they remained uncontaminated with sin, 
 was also as secure a pledge that the loss of 
 happiness, and the incurring of punishment, 
 should inevitably attend the transgression of the 
 divine law. 
 
 "Man is," then, " born unto trouble:" as 
 naturally as the flame ascends " as the sparks 
 fly upward," so assured are his sorrows, so inevit- 
 able his sufferings. It will, therefore, be a wise 
 
 H
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 and profitable inquiry, how afflictions may be 
 borne, and how they may be improved. 
 
 Trouble of some kind or other, in greater or 
 less degree, is the lot of every one ; the propor- 
 tion varies in the experience of different 
 individuals, being regulated by that infinite 
 wisdom, which best knows how to adapt every 
 circumstance of a man's dispensation to his par- 
 ticular character. An abiding conviction that 
 the measure of suffering is allotted and propor- 
 tioned by the divine hand, will form the best aid 
 to enable us to bear afflictions with a becoming 
 spirit. If the burden be light, it calls for thankful- 
 ness with humility, for rejoicing with trembling ; 
 if the trial be heavy, we should not faint under 
 it, but look up to God for assistance, who hath 
 said, " As thy days, so shall thy strength be." 
 (Deut. xxxiii. 25.) All afflictions proceed from 
 sin, and therefore must be regarded in the light 
 of punishment as marks in general of the 
 divine displeasure ; but although such be the 
 origin of suffering to all, yet we are not to judge 
 of the particular case of individuals, in regard to 
 their acceptance with God, by the measure of 
 suffering which may be assigned to them in this 
 world. We have an assurance that " whom the 
 Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
 son whom he receiveth ;" and the end of this 
 chastisement is " our profit, that we might be 
 partakers of his holiness." (Heb. xii. 6 10.)
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 99 
 
 The infliction of pain and distress of any kind, 
 is not merely an act of divine power and 
 sovereignty, but a part of the divine govern- 
 ment ; and is continued even under the dispen- 
 sation of the gospel. " He doth not afflict 
 willingly > nor grieve the children of men ;" 
 (Lam. iii. 33.) therefore when " the Lord killeth, 
 and maketh alive," when " he bringeth down to 
 the grave, and bringeth up," (1 Sam. iii. 6.) 
 when he bends his bow, and causes the arrows 
 of his quiver to enter into the reins, when he 
 fills the spirit with bitterness, and removes the 
 soul far off from peace, (Lam. iii. 12. 17,) it is 
 with the merciful design of bringing back the 
 rebellious spirit of man to a right sense of his 
 condition, his duties, and his prospects. 
 
 Every mind possesses those particular disposi- 
 tions, propensities, and feelings, which constitute 
 its individuality of character ; and the diversity of 
 this character requires for each a particular kind 
 and degree of moral discipline. Some minds are 
 so impressible, so timid, so yielding, that in their 
 moral culture, but a small portion of restraint is 
 necessary ; they are humbled and subdued by a 
 light affliction ; a gentle reproof recals them from 
 error : while others are either so prone to fall into 
 evils of the heart, of the speech, or of the life, or 
 so unbending, so stubborn in their rebellion, so 
 impenetrable, as to call for a sterner mode of 
 tutelage, a heavier rod of calamity, a keener curb
 
 100 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 of restraint. Some hearts are to be beneficially 
 influenced only by the constant excitement of 
 terror ; others are to be bowed to submission only 
 by the continual infliction of severe pain and suf- 
 fering. The characters of some are so apparent, 
 that the design of God in their chastisement, can- 
 not well be misunderstood or misinterpreted ; but 
 that of very many others is so imperfectly known, 
 either by themselves or others, that the allot- 
 ments of heaven, in their case, are always myste- 
 rious and impenetrable. The absence of deep de- 
 pravity, or of violent opposition to the commanded 
 will of God, in some persons, may be produced by 
 the very afflictions for which we are unable to 
 account ; and the disposition of the mind may be 
 held in constant check and restraint, so as not to 
 discover all the evil that really lurks in the heart, 
 and which is known only by the All- seeing God. 
 The perpetual thwarting and disappointment 
 which some persons meet with in all their under- 
 takings, may be the obstacle (merciful in its de- 
 sign, though afflictive in its nature,) which keeps 
 them back from scenes, and situations, and re- 
 lations, which would call forth the hidden evil of 
 the heart, and expose them to suffering here, and 
 to endless perdition hereafter. It is, therefore, of 
 great importance to ascertain, as far as possible, 
 our own true character. Much will ever remain 
 unknown to us, because " the heart is deceitful 
 above all things, and desperately wicked, who
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 101 
 
 can know it;" (Jerem. xvii. 9.) and one of the 
 evils of our degraded nature, is a blind self-love 
 which flatters and deceives us, and cloaks and dis- 
 sembles our failings, making us partial to our 
 faults, and leading us even to miscal them by the 
 name of virtues. But a diligent watchfulness 
 over our spirits, and a careful, impartial, sincere 
 examination of ourselves by the Word of God, 
 will open to us so much of our real character in 
 the sight of God, as will tend to detect some of 
 that foolishness of man, which perverteth his 
 way, and to check in us the propensity, natural 
 to the human heart, to fret against the Lord. 
 (Prov. xix. 3.) 
 
 Afflictions, when sanctified, become blessings ; 
 that is, when they are borne with a subdued spirit, 
 with resignation, when the hand of God is dis- 
 cerned in them, and acknowledged, when they 
 are received as the kind chastisements of a 
 Heavenly Father, and when all murmuring and 
 repining is suppressed by that faith, which holds 
 fast its confidence, under every trial, in the faith- 
 fulness, and wisdom, and loving-kindness, and 
 compassion of God, when diligent inquiry is 
 made in the heart, why we are afflicted, when 
 we say to the Lord, " Show me wherefore thou 
 contendest with me," (Job. x. 2.) with a sincere 
 desire to understand the dispensation, and to de 
 rive from it all the spiritual advantage which it is 
 intended to produce in us, by leading us to self-
 
 102 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 examination, to repentance, to watchfulness, to 
 humility, to heavenly-mindedness, to prayer. 
 These are the " fruits of righteousness," which 
 are yielded by sanctified afflictions. (Heb. xii. 11.) 
 When the gracious design of God has been an- 
 swered, and the affliction removed, the mind is 
 enlightened to perceive, and the heart chastened 
 to the acknowledgment that " it is good that a 
 man should both hope, and quietly wait for the 
 salvation of the Lord," that " it is good for a 
 man that he bear the yoke in his youth." (Lam. 
 iii. 26, 27.) Sanctified afflictions are like the 
 angel's hand, which drew Lot out of Sodom ; 
 they withdraw us from the world ; (God being 
 merciful unto us ;) and if we linger, the force of 
 the visitation will be proportioned to the re- 
 sistance which we make. If we carefully examine 
 the state of our hearts, and the habitual tendency 
 of our minds, previously to the chastening of the 
 Lord, we shall find that we wilfully resisted the 
 " still, small voice " of gentle reproof, which the 
 mercy of God addressed to us once or twice; 
 then we resisted the mild stroke of his rod, till at 
 length we were brought to consider our ways, to 
 hear the rod, and who had appointed it, (Mic. vii. 
 6.) and to cry to Him, " Remove thy stroke 
 away from me ; I am consumed by the blow of 
 thine hand." (Ps. xxxix. 10.) 
 
 Afflictions tend to discover the firmness and 
 stability of the foundation, on which the Chris-
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 103 
 
 tian rests his hopes. The world deserts a man in 
 distress, it fails him when he leans on it for 
 support ; but the more severe the affliction which 
 cometh from God, the greater grace does he 
 manifest in upholding the soul, that it faint not 
 because of tribulation. Where strength is needed, 
 it is liberally bestowed; where consolation is 
 required, it is plentifully supplied. The disciples 
 in the storm had all an equal share in the 
 love of Jesus, but to sinking Peter he stretched 
 out his arm, and revived his dying faith. When 
 John was in the desert isle, he was ravished in 
 spirit, and rapt in heavenly visions; and David 
 experienced at no time sweeter communion with 
 God, or more cheering times of refreshment, 
 than when he was in the wilderness. Thus 
 afflictions strengthen faith, and perfect patience. 
 Thus they help us to glorify God, by casting all 
 our care upon him, and by looking to him for 
 succour and deliverance, when all earthly aid is 
 useless, and all human efforts are unavailing. 
 
 Afflictions are also a means in the hand of 
 God, of calling us back to him when we have 
 backslidden. The world beguiles us of the simpli- 
 city which should distinguish us as Christians, and 
 we become unstable in our ways ; spiritual 
 declension, by insensible, but gradual degrees, 
 undermines the health of the soul, and impover- 
 ishes its prosperity ; we leave our first love ; we 
 retain a name to live, but are spiritually dead ;
 
 104 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 we forget how we have received and heard, and 
 the things which remain in us are ready to die ; 
 we conform to the world in some point which 
 requires the previous weakening of Christian 
 principle, the previous sacrifice of Christian 
 integrity ; and we say of the sinful departure of 
 heart and conduct, " Is it not a little one?" 
 ( ,> . (feaia. xix. 20.) Why should we be righteous over- 
 much ? Thus we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 
 and quench those inward checks which he causes 
 us to feel from time to time : We sleep as on the 
 crumbling edge of a precipice, till God in the 
 faithfulness and steadfastness of his covenant of 
 peace, puts forth the rod of his displeasure, and 
 visits us with temporal afflictions, till we " know 
 that the most High ruleth," (Dan. iv. 25.) and 
 return to him with the language of true repent- 
 ance, " Behold we come unto thee ; for thou art 
 the Lord our God. We lie down in our shame, 
 and our confusion eovereth us ; for we have sin- 
 ned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers 
 from our youth, even unto this day," (Jerem. iii. 
 22 25.) " Therefore we will go and return unto 
 our first husband ; for then was it better with us 
 than now." (Hos. ii. 7.) 
 
 God " doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the 
 children of men." He sends not affliction unless 
 he sees it to be necessary ; and he removes it 
 when it has accomplished in us his purpose of 
 grace. Who among us can say that his strength
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 105 
 
 has not been proportioned to his day ? Have we 
 not even been disposed to choose our afflictions, 
 and to love the will of God that sent them, and 
 the hand of God that inflicted them ? Has he 
 not in sickness suppressed our murmurings and 
 repinings at the health and vigour of others 
 around us, by the reflection that the health of 
 the soul far outweighs the life of the body, that 
 while natural strength shall decay and utterly 
 perish, spiritual strength shall be renewed, and 
 be vigorous for ever ? Has he not put a song of 
 praise into our lips, and peaceful resignation into 
 our hearts Can we not say with the pious, the 
 afflicted David, "I remembered thy judgments 
 of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself?" 
 (Psalm cxix. 52.) Let us then set up our " way- 
 marks," erect our " stones of help," and record 
 on them the mercies of divine grace ; that by 
 looking back on these memorials of past deliver- 
 ances, we may be encouraged to "say of the 
 Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress, my 
 God ; in him will I trust." (Psalm xci. 2.) 
 
 There is great diversity in the circumstances of 
 Christians, but they all agree in one point of 
 resemblance, they are all tried, they all suffer 
 tribulation in some degree. Under the first 
 covenant, temporal mercies were promised to the 
 obedient ; and so long as the Israelites were 
 steadfast in their allegiance, and continued to 
 serve God, they lacked no earthly enjoyment.
 
 106 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 Under the new covenant, the promises to the 
 church, among other things are tribulation and 
 persecution to all who will live godly in Christ 
 Jesus, together with grace to support their trials. 
 When our Lord addressed a new disciple, it was 
 as to one entering on a course of self-denial, on 
 a state of discipline and trial ; " Come take up the 
 cross, and follow me ;" " If any man will come 
 after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
 cross daily, and follow me." (Mark x. 21 Luke 
 ix. 23.) 
 
 Another branch of the Christian temper, in 
 bearing and improving afflictions, is the consider- 
 ation that we are thereby likened to Christ, who, 
 in the assumption of our nature, became subject 
 to all our sufferings. The apostle Paul urges us 
 to rejoice, inasmuch as we are " partakers of 
 Christ's sufferings ;" (1. Pet. iv. 13.) and he him- 
 self desired earnestly to know " the fellowship of 
 his sufferings," (Phil. iii. 10.) and to " fill up that 
 which is behind of the afflictions of Christ." (CoL 
 i. 24.) If he, who was without sin, was exposed 
 to sorrow and trial for our sakes, shall we repine 
 because a small portion of the bitter fruit of iniquity 
 is assigned to us, because a few drops of the cup 
 of God's anger against sin, are presented to us ! 
 Shall not gratitude to Him, who stood a spectacle 
 to men and angels, a patient substitute for a guilty 
 world, to receive on his guiltless head the wrath 
 of omnipotent justice, to endure in his soul
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 107 
 
 the unknown agony of a spirit forsaken by the 
 Father of spirits, in order that our souls might 
 again receive the impress of the divine image, 
 and again be restored to happy communion with 
 God ; shall not these considerations awaken such 
 gratitude in our hearts to the Redeemer, as shall 
 suppress all repining and fretting against the 
 hand of the Lord, and cause us, instead of faint- 
 ing and being weary, to rejoice, and " to count 
 it all joy," when we fall into afflictions and trials, 
 because we then share in an especial manner in 
 the sympathy of the Saviour ; and because " it is a 
 faithful saying" " if we suffer, we shall also 
 reign with him, if we be dead with him, we shall 
 also live with him." (2 Tim. ii. 11, 12,) Our 
 conformity to Christ, if we are his faithful and 
 true disciples, will embrace not only a fellowship 
 of suffering, but of temper and of spirit under 
 that suffering, and of the enjoyment of endless 
 and perfect glory. As he was our representative 
 when he became an offering for us, and the stroke 
 of justice descended on him, so also he is our 
 representative in heaven, whither all his followers 
 shall go, and where also they shall be like him, 
 for they shall see him as he is. (1 John iii. 2.) 
 
 And this expectation of heavenly felicity is 
 another motive for the patient suffering of afflic- 
 tion, which has the sanction of the Word of God. 
 " I reckon," saith St. Paul, " that the sufferings 
 of this present time, are not worthy to be com-
 
 108 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 pared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." 
 (Rom. viiL 18.) The assurance that the trials 
 of this mortal life shall cease with the cessation 
 of that life, and not be renewed and prolonged in 
 the unknown state of existence, might produce 
 patience in us, without the contrast of the pro- 
 mised happiness, even if faith were not invited to 
 look for the " far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory," (2 Cor. iv. 17.) which God has 
 prepared for all them that love the appearing of 
 Christ. When our spirits are glorified in heavenly 
 felicity, the remembrance of all earthly trials and 
 sorrows will be obliterated, save only in-so-far as 
 it may tend to heighten our enjoyment, and to 
 discover more of the love, and wisdom, and faith- 
 fulness of that fatherly hand, which led us in all 
 our earthly pilgrimage, and appointed for our 
 benefit every part of our lot in this state of pro- 
 bation. Sweet was the rest of Canaan to the 
 Israelites, after the perils of the " waste and 
 howling wilderness ;" sweeter far will be the 
 rest of the heavenly Canaan, which remaineth 
 " to the people of God," (Heb. iv. 9.) where 
 troubles cease for ever, where those who come 
 " out of great tribulation, are before the throne of 
 God, and serve him day and night in his temple ;" 
 Avhere " they shall hunger no more, neither thirst 
 any more, for the Lamb, which is in the midst 
 of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them 
 unto living fountains of waters, and God shall
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 109 
 
 wipe away all tears from their eyes ;" (Rev. viii. 
 14 17.) and there shall be no more death, neither 
 sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there he any 
 more pain ; for the former things are passed 
 away." (Rev. xxi. 4.) 
 
 But afflictions are not always thus sanctified ; 
 they do not yield f( the peaceable fruits of righte- 
 ousness" to all that are exercised with them. 
 
 There is in the human heart a disposition to 
 strive against God, to resist his dispensations, 
 whenever they thwart our own desires and inclin- 
 ations. Some persons regard afflictions as the 
 common lot of humanity, as trials to which all 
 are equally exposed, although some escape more 
 than others, and therefore they look no further 
 into them, and are indifferent to the fruits and 
 consequences of them. They regard them merely 
 as inevitable evils, under which it is the interest 
 of men to bear up with fortitude. Others think 
 themselves unjustly singled out by the hand of 
 God, and therefore they murmur and speak evil 
 of the ways of God. Instead of inquiring, " Is 
 there not a cause ? " with respect to their affliction, 
 they compare their situation with that of others 
 who are exempt from present affliction, and then 
 they refuse to humble themselves before the Lord. 
 They harden their hearts against reproof, and 
 fear not to utter imprecations against the Most 
 High. Extreme sufferings do not always soften 
 or subdue the human heart ; we read of some
 
 110 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 who when they felt the severe strokes of the 
 Almighty, " blasphemed the God of heaven, be- 
 cause of their pains, and repented not of their 
 deeds." (Rev. xvi. 11.) The most part of men, 
 however, are driven by their sufferings and fears 
 to acknowledge God. While under chastisement, 
 and the terrors of a future state, they readily bow 
 beneath the authority of their Maker, because 
 they apprehend that they must soon stand before 
 him as their Judge. They feel deep conviction of 
 the extent and malignity of their sins, and tremble 
 under the impending sentence of the law of God. 
 Their repentance is apparently genuine and " after 
 a godly manner ; (2 Cor. vii. 9.) but it is a feeling 
 which proceeds more from the dread of punish- 
 ment, than from a true hatred of iniquity. Their 
 resolutions of amendment, bear some of the fea- 
 tures of the renewed man ; but they are made 
 more in the spirit of offering a bribe to heaven, 
 to purchase their recovery to health, than from a 
 sincere love of holiness. They are more aware of 
 their actual transgressions, than of their depravity 
 of nature, of the evil of their ways, than of the 
 corruption of their hearts ; they are more sensible 
 of their obligations of duty, than of the weakness 
 and insufficiency of their own efforts. Thus on 
 the removal of their trial, they show what 
 a small insight they have had into their own 
 character ; they quickly forget their fears and 
 convictions, their vows and promises, and return
 
 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. Ill 
 
 to all their former evil habits with a love for the 
 " lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the 
 pride of life," (1 John ii. 16.) quickened by the 
 abstinence which sickness compelled them to 
 practise for a time ; and thus they become more 
 confirmed in evil, by the renewed relish with 
 which they enter on its pursuit. Their late appre- 
 hended nearness to the invisible world, loosened 
 their earthly bonds ; but when they are restored 
 to the present scene, to take an active part again 
 in their former pleasures and occupations, their 
 connection with a future state is again forgotten ; 
 they live as if because God was not in all their 
 thoughts, therefore he did not see nor observe 
 their ways ; their attachment to perishing vanities 
 revives, and supersedes the renunciation of every 
 thing incompatible with the Christian life and 
 conversation, to which they so recently gave 
 their willing assent. 
 
 A state of affliction is that condition in which 
 God places men, that they may receive spiritual 
 benefit, and instruction in divine things. We 
 should remember, then, that if we have been 
 afflicted, God has placed us in that school of in- 
 struction, where he imparts the most important 
 and beneficial lessons ; and if we have failed to 
 improve the teaching, if we have received no 
 benefit, we are accountable for the additional 
 advantage offered in the chastisement of our 
 Heavenly Father, and for the rejection of it. Let
 
 112 CHRISTIAN TEMPER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 
 us examine ourselves, then, on this important 
 subject. God has called us to that condition, in 
 which many obtain the most valuable blessings, 
 have we received them? Before we were 
 afflicted, we went astray, do we now keep 
 God's word ? Has it been good for us that we 
 have been afflicted, that we might learn his 
 statutes? (Ps. cxix. 67 71.) Let us pray that 
 our sufferings and trials may be all so sanctified, 
 that it may not only be said of us with respect to 
 the common lot of mortality in which we partici- 
 pate, " Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks 
 fly upward ;" but also that with regard to our 
 spiritual renovation, and the spiritual good 
 derived from our sorrows, we may be able to 
 join in the triumphant language of the Apostle, 
 and say, tf Our light affliction, which is but for 
 a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceed- 
 ing, and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. iv. 17.)
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 A TRUE test of character must be of great value in 
 forming a judgment of our own powers, and of the 
 expectations which we should entertain of other 
 men. The manner in which society is established, 
 and the difficulty of acquiring those things which 
 are in the greatest estimation in the world, are 
 powerful inducements to men to conceal their real 
 characters from each other, and to endeavour by 
 the resemblance of those qualities necessary to 
 attain their purpose, to appear in a light which shall 
 command the approval, and ensure the favour of 
 those with whom they are connected. Natural 
 conscience and instruction, however limited, are 
 sufficient to enable a man to form a correct esti- 
 mate of his worldly character. He cannot be 
 ignorant whether he is a friend to temperance, 
 or the slave of excess, whether he is dishonest, 
 or an observer of strict justice, whether he is 
 deceitful, or a lover and maintainer of truth, 
 whether he is over-reaching and covetous, or a 
 man of uprightness and integrity. The great 
 difficulty is to ascertain the character of others, 
 there being no test of universal application, and
 
 114 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 no possibility of investigating the secrets veiled 
 in every man's breast. This difficulty extends 
 also to spiritual concerns, to the Christianity of 
 men. The hypocrite and the Christian are so 
 nearly alike in the mere externals of reli- 
 gion, and the heart, the only true seat of 
 religion, is so totally concealed from human 
 observation, that no man is competent to pro- 
 nounce on the spiritual condition of another in 
 the sight of God that is, where the appearance 
 of devotion is maintained ; for in cases of open 
 profligacy and vice, the sinner bears about with 
 him the broad stamp of the service of Satan. 
 But, indeed, the opinion of others with respect 
 to our spiritual state, is of small moment when 
 compared with the conclusion on this point to 
 which the Word of God brings us, when we set 
 about a serious and solemn estimate of our own 
 character, according to the decisions^ of that 
 unerring standard. 
 
 Uncertainty is at all times painful, and in most 
 cases disadvantageous ; but total uncertainty, 
 even so far as to exclude the Christian hope, res- 
 pecting our state and character before God, must 
 proceed from inattention to the plain tests which 
 the Bible affords us. In so momentous an affair, 
 as the decision of our eternal condition by the con- 
 duct which we pursue and the sentiments which 
 we adopt on earth, it behoves every one to make 
 a diligent inquiry how far the Scriptures, which
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 115 
 
 are man's only guide to the unseen world, will 
 help him to ascertain his true, spiritual charac- 
 ter. The Bible abounds with helps in pursuing 
 so interesting an inquiry, and furnishes us with 
 an excellent ground-work for such an investiga- 
 tion. Let us examine one of these Scriptural 
 tests of character : " If any man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." (Rom. viii. 
 9.) Who is this Spirit,- what constitutes the 
 necessity of his operations, and in what way 
 do they prove that we are Christ's r 
 
 The Spirit is the name by which one of the 
 persons in the adorable Trinity is known in the 
 Scriptures. He is called the Spirit of God and 
 of Christ. (Matt. iii. 16 Rom. viii. 9.) He is 
 called the " Spirit of God," as being one with 
 the Father, and because of his manifesting in 
 his effects the visible operation of divine agency. 
 He is called the " Spirit of Christ," as being the 
 especial gift of Christ, according to the terms of 
 the New Covenant, or the Covenant of grace. 
 Under the former dispensation of the law, and 
 indeed from the introduction of sin into the 
 world, the great promise to mankind, and that 
 which all nations desired, was the Christ, the 
 Saviour. Under the dispensation of the Gospel, 
 the great promise is the gift of the Spirit. When 
 the Saviour was about to leave the world, and to 
 be offered up as a sacrifice for sin, he comforted 
 his disciples with the assurance that after his 
 
 I 2
 
 116 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 departure, he would send the " Spirit of truth" 
 unto them, from the Father, who should teach 
 them, and abide with them for ever. (John xiv. 
 16 xv. 26.) 
 
 What, then, constitutes the necessity of the 
 divine operations of the " Spirit of Christ ?" We 
 find in the Scriptures, that the Spirit is both a 
 Teacher and a Comforter ; therefore the condition 
 of man, who is a recipient of his holy influences, 
 and for whom they are provided, must be one 
 which stands in the utmost need of instruction 
 and of consolation. God did not create man 
 ignorant or unhappy ; he became so by sin. God 
 did not create men with a natural disposition to 
 evil, for God is holy, and therefore hates all 
 sin ; he is also good and merciful, and loves his 
 creatures ; but sin tends to make them miserable, 
 and must lead to punishment. Man, therefore, 
 acquired by disobedience that moral taint which 
 disposes him to choose evil rather than good. 
 His sin has introduced that change into his 
 disposition, which renders him ignorant of 
 spiritual things, without divine teaching ; prone 
 to wander in the paths of error and danger, 
 without divine guidance ; depraved in his heart 
 and affections, without divine sanctification ; and 
 the unhappy slave of Satan, without divine 
 redemption. Man, in his original condition of 
 uprightness, possessed, by the endowment of his 
 Maker, a free will and a disposition to good ; there
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 117 
 
 was no mixture of evil in his heart ; he was also 
 placed under an obligation to make the will of 
 God his rule of action, and this will was clearly 
 revealed, and manifested by the appointment of 
 mild and beneficial laws. After the disobedience 
 of man had destroyed that harmony, which 
 reigned in all his powers while exercised in unde- 
 viating and willing observance of all the divine 
 will, and had deprived him for ever of his inno- 
 cence and his uprightness, his moral obligations 
 were not thereby cancelled ; his duty was the 
 same, although the original power of performing 
 it was lost ; his free will remained, but it was un- 
 availing to perfect obedience, because his affections 
 had received an evil bias ; his obligation to good 
 was in undiminished force, but his mind had 
 become disposed to evil. Hence arises the 
 necessity of the influences of the Holy Spirit. 
 God requires nothing of his creatures but what 
 they have ability to perform, either natural or 
 imparted. The native strength of fallen man is 
 insufficient to the duties of his condition ; his 
 understanding has become dim and darkened, 
 so that he cannot discern the importance of 
 heavenly things, but gives himself to the pursuit 
 of earthly objects ; the eternal world, in which 
 his immortal existence must be either happy or 
 wretched, is forgotten or disregarded in his eager 
 attention to the interests of the present world, in 
 which he spends but the dawn of his being ; the
 
 118 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 will of God is but a secondary consideration in 
 regulating his conduct, his primary object being 
 the gratification of his own inclinations and 
 desires ; human laws and human opinions influ- 
 ence his thoughts, words, and actions, while the 
 fear of God exercises but a feeble control over 
 him. 
 
 If we look at this picture of the moral condition 
 of mankind, confirmed as it is by experience and 
 observation, and sanctioned by the Word of God, 
 must we not perceive and allow the absolute ne- 
 cessity of some agent in human redemption, 
 whose office it shall be to teach, to guide, to 
 strengthen, to sanctify, to restrain, to stablish, 
 according to the peculiar circumstances of every 
 individual ? With respect to a knowledge of his 
 Creator, man is naturally more ignorant than the 
 irrational animals. " The ox knoweth his owner, 
 and the ass his master's crib," (Isa. i. 3.) but men 
 do not " know the judgment of the Lord ; " there- 
 fore " what wisdom is in them r " ( Jerem. viii. 7, 
 9.) Into what absurd and degrading notions of 
 a Deity, have not the nations of the earth fallen ! 
 What attributes the disgrace, the shame, the 
 curse of corrupt nature have they not ascribed 
 to their gods ! What perverse ideas of the divine 
 will have they not entertained ; and what foolish, 
 and cruel, and revolting services have they not 
 offered as acceptable to God! But it is not 
 merely among the nations of the earth generally.
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 119 
 
 whether civilized and informed, or ignorant and 
 barbarous, that we must look for proofs of the 
 necessity of divine teaching with respect to a true 
 knowledge of the Creator, for even the most 
 favoured people, with the highest religious ad- 
 vantages, have been found wonderfully erroneous 
 in their religious opinions. When the Messiah 
 appeared on earth, the Jews, who might be ex- 
 pected to understand the nature and design of 
 his ministry, obstinately rejected him ; they did 
 not know the testimony of their own Scriptures 
 respecting him ; he was the " Desire of all na- 
 tions," (Hag. ii. 7.) but when " he was in the 
 world, the world knew him not." (John i. 10.) 
 Among the Jews he had been long foretold, even 
 for many ages, as a Deliverer, as a Prophet to 
 whom all were to listen ; but when " he came 
 unto his own, his own received him not." (John 
 i. 11.) Even his disciples, who were favoured with 
 his continual presence and teaching, who heard 
 all his public instructions, and listened to his 
 private admonitions, were surprisingly ignorant 
 of his true character, nature and offices, and the 
 design of his mission. After his death, they dis- 
 believed the report of those who affirmed that he 
 was risen, " for as yet they knew not the Scrip- 
 ture, that he must rise again from the dead." 
 (John xx. 9.) It was not till after they had re- 
 ceived the Holy Spirit of promise, and were en- 
 dued with power from on high, that their under-
 
 120 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 standings were opened, and they believed the 
 Scriptures, and preached the Gospel according to 
 the will and design of God. 
 
 And after men have arrived by divine teaching, 
 at the true knowledge of God and their own con- 
 dition on the earth, who is there that knows the 
 " plague of his own heart," (1 Kings viii. 38.) who 
 is not ready to acknowledge his insufficiency to 
 maintain, by his own strength and wisdom, a 
 conduct and conversation worthy of his high 
 calling ? What Christian is not disposed at all 
 times to cry unto God, from a feeling of daily in- 
 firmities and corruptions, " Renew a right spirit 
 within me;" (Ps. li. 10.) " Guide me with thy 
 counsel ; " (Ps. Ixiii. 24.) " Strengthen thou me 
 according unto thy word;" (Ps. cxix. 28.) 
 tc Cleanse thou me from secret faults ; keep back 
 thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them 
 not have dominion over me," (Ps. xix. 12, 13.) 
 ' Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon 
 us ; and establish thou the work of our hands 
 upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou 
 it." (Ps. xc. 17.) 
 
 It is not sufficient that the letter of the Gospel 
 be made known to us/ A its spiritual import must 
 be also communicated by divine teaching. The 
 grace of God bestows salvation upon us, and the 
 same grace imparts both the knowledge of the 
 blessing, and the ability to avail ourselves of it ; 
 for Christians are said to have received the Spirit
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 121 
 
 which is of God, that they " might know the 
 things that are freely given to us of God." (1 Cor. 
 ii. 12.) It is this which proves the extent and the 
 depth of man's depravity; just as the rich pro- 
 vision made for our redemption, proves the extent 
 of human guilt and the depth of human misery. 
 It is in vain that a Saviour is provided for us, 
 unless we receive also that teaching of the divine 
 Spirit, which will convince us both of the necessity 
 of our condition as sinners, and of the sufficiency 
 there is in Christ to meet our every want. The 
 disciples of the Redeemer knew him not in that 
 character, till they had received the Holy Ghost. 
 The balm that is in Gilead, and the Physician that 
 is there, (Jerem, viii. 22.) are alike unknown and 
 neglected, till divine influence shows us that 
 " the whole head is sick, and the whole heart 
 faint." (Isa. i. 5.) In vain is the bread of life 
 placed before us, in vain for us does the water 
 of life flow in a plenteous stream, till the Spirit of 
 God imparts to us a spiritual appetite, and causes 
 us to " hunger and thirst after righteousness." 
 (Matt. v. 6. In short, we cannot discern spiritual 
 things without spiritual illumination, nor seek 
 heavenly things without heavenly-mindedness ; 
 " for what man knoweth the things of a man, save 
 the spirit of man which is in him ? even so the 
 things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of 
 God;" and " the natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish-
 
 122, TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 ness unto him ; neither can he know them, be- 
 cause they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 
 11 14.) Thus is the necessity of divine influ- 
 ence established, both on account of the inability 
 and the depravity of man ; by the one he cannot 
 know divine things while in his natural state, and 
 by the other he will not receive them. 
 
 We are next to inquire in what way the influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit do prove that we are 
 Christ's. " If any man have not the Spirit of 
 Christ, he is none of his." The operations of the 
 Holy Spirit on the mind of man, in enlightening 
 his understanding, sanctifying his heart, and 
 spiritualizing his affections, are known by the 
 term conversion, which shows us also the extent 
 of these operations. Although this term conversion 
 cannot apply to us in its original acceptation a 
 renunciation of idolatry, and an embracing of 
 the religion of Jesus Christ ; yet in its fullest 
 signification of a total change a turning of the 
 back on former pursuits, (so far as they are op- 
 posed to the Gospel,) and a steadfast directing of 
 the countenance towards new objects, it very 
 fitly expresses the change which takes place in 
 every man's mind who breaks off his sins by 
 righteousness, (Dan. iv. 27.) and exchanges the 
 love of the world for the single and supreme love 
 of God. If conversion implied no more than a 
 change of profession Christianity for heathenism 
 we should not find it expressed in Scripture by
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 123 
 
 such strong language, or described by such striking 
 figures, when manifest reference is made to a 
 change which must take place in all, both Jew 
 and Gentile. It is called a new creation ; " If any 
 man be in Christ, he is a new creature ;" (2 Cor. 
 v. 17.) " In Christ Jesus neither circumcision 
 availeth any thing nor uncircumcision, but a new 
 creature ; " (Gal. vi. 15.) " Put on the new man, 
 which after God is created in righteousness and 
 true holiness." (Eph. iv. 24.) It is termed a re- 
 surrection from death unto life ; " Yield your- 
 selves unto God, as those that are alive from the 
 dead." (Rom. vi. 13.) 
 
 Now although some of these passages may apply 
 primarily to the character and condition of those 
 persons, who were converted from heathenism to 
 the worship of the only true God and our Saviour 
 Christ, yet the connexion in which they stand, 
 and the similarity of expression throughout the 
 Scriptures, when describing those who are taught 
 of God, and thereby become true and acceptable 
 worshippers of God, prove that they refer also 
 to that inward and spiritual change which takes 
 place in every man who receives the offered influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit, and by that teaching 
 becomes wise unto salvation. 
 
 Those who have the Spirit of Christ, possess a 
 principle of which the world (using the term in a 
 Scriptural sense) has no conception. The Chris- 
 tian's " life is hid with Christ in God ; " (Colos.
 
 124 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 iii. 3.) it is hid from the world as to its nature, 
 properties, and privileges. " A stranger doth not 
 intermeddle with his joy." (Prov. xiv. 10.) The 
 worldly man knows nothing of the Christian's 
 hopes and fears, his desires, his motives, his aims, 
 and his prayers. At a loss to account for his con- 
 duct, his renunciation of the things of this world 
 as the chief good, and his steadfast refusal to 
 " run with them to the same excess of riot," 
 (1 Pet. iv. 4.) the men of the world account his 
 life to be madness. It is an undoubted fact, that 
 if a man lives and acts as one who has received 
 on his heart the full impression of the solemnities 
 of eternity, if he lives and acts as one who ac- 
 knowledges the divine authority which said 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; " (Luke 
 xiii. 24.) " Seek ye Jirst the kingdom of God ; " 
 (Matt. vi. 33.) We say it is an undoubted fact, that 
 he subjects himself to reproach, to misrepresenta- 
 tion, if not to direct acts of persecution for righte- 
 ousness sake. Whence can this proceed ? Not 
 from dislike to the man : he was, perhaps, be- 
 fore that change in heart and conduct which 
 marks him as one of the devoted servants of 
 Christ, the bosom friend of those who now are 
 ready to disclaim him, and to charge his zeal for 
 godliness as a breach of some of the laws of human 
 intercourse, and his love of God as hatred of man- 
 kind. This enmity must proceed from the cor- 
 ruption of the human heart, which rejects the
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 125 
 
 reproofs of the Gospel, and leads men to dislike 
 those whose holy life furnishes a standing reproof 
 of their own unholy conduct. Hence it is that a 
 man may be ingenious in discovering new vices, 
 or in inventing new modes of perpetrating 
 common ones ; he may be a leader in folly 
 and excess, and yet he may preserve the friend- 
 ship of the world, and have the character of being 
 a good sort of a man, a man with a good heart. 
 But let him forsake these sins, renounce his as- 
 sociates in folly and transgression, and pronounce 
 the words Christ and Grace with a serious air and 
 a solemnity of mind, as one who builds on them 
 his hope of everlasting life and happiness, and he 
 will be shunned almost as one possessed by an 
 evil spirit. His conduct will now be rigidly 
 watched, not for the commendable purpose of 
 imitation, but in the secret and wicked desire 
 of witnessing some inconsistency, of beholding 
 some fall from the eminence of holiness which 
 he is endeavouring to ascend ; and he, who, 
 while he lived in iniquity and hated the fear of 
 God, was pronounced to be a man with a good 
 heart, is suddenly discovered to be a weak enthu- 
 siast, a misanthropical fanatic, a base hypocrite ! 
 This enmity proves, that even among those who 
 are called Christians, there is a conversion requi- 
 site which implants the love of God, and rectifies 
 the love of our neighbour. This enmity is natural 
 to the human heart, that is, it is the effect
 
 126 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 of original sin ; it has existed in all ages of the 
 world ; " Mine heritage," saith the Lord, " is 
 unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about 
 her are against her." (Jerem. xii. 9.) " The flesh 
 lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against 
 the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the 
 other." (Gal. v. 17.) 
 
 The true test of being Christ's, that is, of being 
 an inheritor of his salvation, is the possessing of 
 his Spirit. The evidence of possessing this Spirit, 
 will be internally known to the Christian by a 
 consciousness of true repentance, and of lively 
 faith, and of supreme love to God ; and it will be 
 externally shown to others by a holy walk and 
 conversation. Religion is properly the inter- 
 course that takes place between God and the 
 soul of man ; it is the determination of the heart, 
 and the disposition of the spirit towards God; 
 but it should manifest itself in all our transactions 
 with each other in the world. That is a vain re- 
 ligion which consists only of formal devotional 
 services, or of pretended extraordinary communion 
 with God in prayer, or of enthusiastic notions of 
 the certainty of salvation on the ground of what 
 is called eternal election irrespective of the 
 moral conduct of its objects, while the heart is 
 manifestly uninfluenced, and the life and conver- 
 sation are vicious and immoral. Where there is a 
 divine intercourse with God, and with spiritual 
 subjects, the heart cannot remain uninfluenced
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 127 
 
 by such solemnities, by such interesting though 
 unseen realities as Revelation discloses ; and the 
 conduct must also be under the guidance and 
 direction of that hallowed spirit which true re- 
 ligion diffuses and maintains in the soul. The 
 Spirit of Christ is not a mere notion ; it is not a 
 strong persuasion of individual safety and destined 
 happiness, grounded on some vague and indefi- 
 nable conceits of the imagination, on dreams and 
 pretended revelations, on passages of Scripture 
 suddenly and strongly impressed on the mind 
 without reasonable design or order. It is a prin- 
 ciple that is sober, rational, serious, and, above 
 all, exercising a moral influence over the heart 
 and conduct. It does not so much impart to 
 men a strong persuasion of their salvation, as 
 prepare them for the enjoyment of it. It does 
 not fill them with visionary notions of superiority, 
 merely on the account of their religious creed, 
 but clothes them with humility, and makes them 
 compassionate, kind, diligent, honest, useful. Its 
 influence is not merely felt in the mind, it is seen 
 in the life ; it is not a solitary, selfish principle, it 
 is social, diffusing universal good -will. It is not 
 a morose, sectarian spirit, which says to others, 
 " Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou," 
 (Isa. Ixv. 5.) and denounces all who do not come 
 within its pale, as haters of God and godliness, and 
 friends of the world ; but it loves all who love our 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; (Ephes. vi. 24.) it has imbibed
 
 128 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 the spirit of that Scriptural saying, which testifies 
 that " God is no respecter of persons ;" (Acts x. 
 34.) and it therefore regards as brethren, all who 
 in everyplace fear God and work righteousness. 
 In a word, it is the giver of faith to man, but it 
 also invariably produces all the good works of 
 holy obedience, which are the sole evidence of 
 genuine faith. 
 
 The religion which is the offspring of the Spirit 
 of Christ, is a religion of the heart and conduct, 
 and not merely of the tongue and profession. It 
 will be of no avail to us to have the subject of 
 religion continually on our lips, unless our life 
 be also under its predominance and guidance. 
 " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
 shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he 
 that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
 heaven." (Matt. vii. 21.) " What doth it profit, my 
 brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and 
 have not works ? Can (this l ) faith save him ? " 
 (James ii. 14.) Religious knowledge is indis- 
 pensable to the forming of right notions of God, 
 and of our condition on the earth ; but know- 
 ledge is not the whole of religion ; it is an essen- 
 tial part in a certain degree ; but as it is of very 
 various attainments, we cannot make it by itself, 
 a test of Christian character. A holy practice, the 
 result of true religious knowledge, and a pious 
 
 f. This seems an important improvement in the 
 translation of this passage, as suggested by some critics.
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 129 
 
 zeal, proportionate to the degree of knowledge 
 attained, form the best evidence of a Christian 
 character. " If ye know these things," said our 
 Lord, " happy are ye if ye do them." (John xiii. 
 17.) " Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers 
 only, deceiving your ownselves." (James i. 22.) 
 Knowledge imposes the obligation to practice ; 
 for to this end it is given to us by God : " there- 
 fore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth 
 it not, to him it is sin." (James iv. 17.) God has 
 provided a Deliverer to effect men's salvation; 
 but he says to us with the gift, '.Live worthy of 
 this redemption.' He has told us what he wishes 
 us to be and to do, and he loves obedience to his 
 will, and he assuredly will reward it. 
 
 Another, and an important fruit of the Spirit 
 of Christ, is a due and proper estimation of the 
 world, so as not to be attached to it in a degree 
 hurtful to our spiritual prosperity, not to have 
 our hearts and affections set on it as our portion, 
 as an abiding good. An early writer,* describing 
 the primitive Christians, says, c they were dead to 
 all ideas of worldly honour and dignity ; nothing 
 was more foreign to them than political concerns ; 
 the whole world was their republic.' We ought 
 to imitate them in the spirit, although we are not 
 called upon to follow them in the very letter of 
 their conduct. The state of society in which 
 
 * Tertullian. 
 
 K
 
 130 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 they lived, was a main cause of that abstraction 
 from the world, which marked their character. 
 To be wholly separate from idolatory, as Christi- 
 anity demanded, they were of necessity cut off 
 from all participation in civil authority ; for to 
 sacrifice to false gods, and to swear in an idola- 
 trous manner by the emperor, were the tests of 
 loyalty and good citizenship in those days. 
 Nevertheless, as they drank at the fountain-head 
 of the waters of life, we shall do well to imbibe as 
 much of their spirit, and imitate as much of their 
 conduct, as is consistent with our present obliga- 
 tions, and practicable in our present circumstances. 
 As this world was our original destination, at 
 least, the seat of unmixed happiness, the love of 
 it is deeply rooted in our hearts. We are too 
 often induced by its cares and its pleasures, to 
 forget and neglect our spiritual welfare. Our 
 hopes and fears are too much regulated and 
 influenced by the events of the present life ; so 
 much so, that our service of God often takes its 
 character of cheerfulness or of depression from 
 the state of our worldly circumstances. When 
 prosperity smiles on us, we forget that it proceeds 
 from God, and should therefore lead us to 
 him in devout and thankful acknowledgment. 
 And when matters bear a dull aspect, and the 
 lowering clouds of Providence threaten a heavy 
 storm, we are too apt to forget that it will be the 
 storm of Providence, that all events are in the
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 131 
 
 hands of our Heavenly Father, and that it is a 
 privilege to discern his hand in every event. We 
 often think that a little more of this or that thing, 
 would be a little better for us ; but what know 
 we ? Even the little that we do possess, has often 
 power to exclude a care for the interests of eternity. 
 What is wholly unconnected with these interests, 
 is transitory, and should not painfully awaken 
 our anxieties, or unduly attract our affections. 
 We might well repine under scanty supplies of 
 earthly riches, if we were also to be poor in eter- 
 nity because poverty had been our lot here. We 
 might well murmur with impatience under pain, 
 or disease, or reproaches here, if these evils could 
 pursue us beyond the grave. But they will all 
 end with life ; they cannot so much as touch the 
 threshold of the golden gates, much less walk in 
 the streets of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of love and of 
 peace. Its recipients are endowed with meek- 
 ness, patience, and forbearance ; they observe 
 their temper and conduct, and watch over their 
 motives and intentions rather than their frames 
 of mind. The conduct of the early Christians 
 towards each other, was regulated by the law of 
 Christ, (John xiii. 34.) so that their enemies said 
 of them, f see how these Christians love one 
 another.' Were any of their brethren in distress ? 
 They were prompt to bear one another's burdens. 
 The same accusers and enemies who charged them 
 
 K 2
 
 132 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 
 
 \vith madness, and with hatred to all mankind, 
 were compelled to acknowledge that they used 
 incredible despatch in affording relief to the dis- 
 tressed ; and that their lives were holy and 
 blameless. 
 
 Self-denial is also a fruit of this Spirit of 
 Christ. This grace was divinely exemplified in 
 Christ himself. " He was rich as Lord and Crea- 
 tor of all things, but for our sakes he became 
 poor." His command to us is, ?e If any man 
 will come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross, and follow me." (Matt. xvi. 
 24.) It has been well remarked that, ' many in 
 their own will resolve to be martyrs, who cannot 
 bear so much as only a contradiction.'* 
 
 This Spirit is called the " Spirit of Christ,"' not 
 only because he is the example and pattern of 
 every grace, but also because he is the Author 
 and Bestower of them all. They that partake of 
 this Spirit, will aim at following the example of 
 Christ, because his Spirit must inspire the love of 
 those things which are acceptable to God. What 
 flows from the Spirit of Christ, must be con- 
 formable to the pattern of Christ. The depravity 
 and ignorance of rnan are the cause of the neces- 
 sity of the influence of the Spirit of Christ ; and 
 the Scriptural declaration that unless we partake 
 of this Spirit we are none of Christ's, establishes 
 
 * Maaon.
 
 TEST OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. 133 
 
 the importance of his influence. That unhappy 
 necessity in the condition of man, which renders 
 the teaching and strength of the Holy Spirit in- 
 dispensable to him, is met by the divine mercy 
 which offers this Spirit freely to all. None pass 
 through the trials and temptations of this life* 
 without the offered aid of divine influence nay, 
 all receive this influence, but many, very many 
 " do always resist the Holy Ghost." (Acts vii. 51.) 
 They must first quench this Spirit, before they 
 can give themselves up to the deeds of darkness, 
 for this is " the true light which lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world." (John i. [9.) 
 Let us, then, " covet earnestly " the gifts of the 
 Spirit, according to their " diversities of opera- 
 tions," (1 Cor. xii. 4.) as suited to our individual 
 necessities and conditions ; that we may obtain 
 both the teaching, and help, and sanctification, 
 and comfort of this Spirit. May the " God of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," 
 give unto us " the Spirit of wisdom and revela- 
 tion," (Eph. i. 17.) and grant that " according 
 to the riches of his glory," we may be " strength- 
 ened with might by his Spirit in the inner man," 
 (Eph. iii. 16.) and may manifest in our lives all 
 its holy fruits of " love, joy, peace, long-suffer- 
 ing, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
 perance," (Gal. v. 22, 23.) that we may " abound 
 in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." 
 (Rom. xv. 13.)
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 IF we reflect on the brief existence which man 
 enjoys in this lower world, and on the unseen 
 wonders of a future state, we shall find that our 
 attention can scarcely be occupied by a more im- 
 portant or more interesting subject than an in- 
 quiry into the true state and condition of man 
 upon the earth, and the prospects held out to him 
 in another and future state of being. Every thing 
 proves that mankind are placed under the moral 
 government of their Creator. That men are ra- 
 tional beings, is a sufficient proof that they are 
 accountable for their conduct ; because it is evi- 
 dently absurd to suppose that God should endow 
 his creatures with knowledge to regulate their 
 lives, with judgment to discern between good 
 and evil, with freedom of will to choose and adopt 
 their own course of action, and yet subject them 
 to no control of divine authority no rule of 
 divine government no accountableness to a di- 
 vine tribunal. Natural religion, without the aid 
 of revelation, teaches us that God is an observer 
 of right and wrong, that our conduct is not in- 
 different to him, and that he is the rewarder of 
 goodness, and the avenger of transgression.
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 135 
 
 Human laws for the regulation of society are 
 founded on the presumption that there is a divine 
 kw, and that this law sanctions their establish- 
 ment. Civilized society, is, indeed, so constituted 
 as to make a vast variety of shades in the conduct 
 of men, as complying with or departing from its 
 manifold regulations ; but the broad distinction 
 between right and wrong is deeply impressed on 
 the natural conscience of every individual. There 
 is a moral rectitude which commends itself to 
 every man's bosom ; and there is a turpitude 
 of conduct which every heart must condemn. 
 The deceitfulness of sin is very subtle, and im- 
 poses on us under a thousand forms and by a 
 great variety of modes of attack. It sometimes 
 warps and perverts the judgment, without in any 
 great degree corrupting the heart and the will ; 
 and at other times it depraves the affections, and 
 through them debases and enslaves the judgment. 
 But in no case can it so degrade, so corrupt, so 
 mislead, as to rid a man intirely of conviction : 
 no one is so blinded and hardened as to imagine 
 himself altogether without transgression wholly 
 free from sin. The degree of our knowledge of 
 evil depends upon the information which we pos- 
 sess, respecting the purity and extent of the law 
 under which we are placed, and the justice and 
 truth of the law-giver. 
 
 There is a natural law common to all mankind ; 
 and there is a written law communicated by re-
 
 136 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 relation to certain portions of the human race. 
 The great body of men, called in Scripture the 
 Gentiles, had originally so much of the law of 
 God written in their hearts, as might form a law 
 unto themselves, whereby to regulate their con- 
 duct, their conscience bearing witness to their 
 actions whether they were good or evil, and ac- 
 cordingly accusing or excusing them. (Rom. ii. 
 14, 15.) And the moral law contained in the 
 Ten Commandments, and in the various expla- 
 nations and comments on them in different parts 
 of Scripture, gave to the Jews, and through them 
 to us, a more enlarged view of the duty of man, 
 and of the guilt incurred by the violation of com- 
 mands, that were "to be interpreted not merely 
 according to the letter, but according to an ex- 
 tended spiritual sense and application. It is by 
 this law that we arrive at the true knowledge of 
 sin, and consequently of our true condition on the 
 earth. Because, man being both rational and 
 accountable, his present circumstances must be 
 in a very great measure influenced by his inno- 
 cence or his guilt, by his obedience or his rebel- 
 lion : and his future state must depend altogether 
 on these, that is, as viewed in connexion with 
 the terms on which the Gospel is preached to 
 man. 
 
 The condition of man here, is that of a being 
 placed under the power of a law which he has 
 violated ; and consequently he is exposed to all
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 137 
 
 the evils of that violation, whether affecting his 
 body or the faculties of his soul, whether subject- 
 ing him to sorrow, pain, and death, or to igno- 
 rance, depravity, and destitution of spiritual 
 strength. The actual and present fruits of sin are 
 suffered by all mankind, in a greater or less de- 
 gree, and they are in danger of the threatened 
 and future evils. If we look into the world, in 
 how many alarming forms do sorrow and suffering 
 appear; how long is the grievous catalogue of 
 human woe ! And the whole is the consequence 
 of sin ; although many of the inferior parts may be 
 the more immediate and natural result of the 
 particular imprudence and misconduct of indivi- 
 duals. Sin, taking the term in its most compre- 
 hensive sense, sin is chargeable with the entire 
 mass of human suffering. God has placed us 
 from the beginning under a law, the violation of 
 which, (and all have broken it, from Adam to the 
 present generation of men,) subjects us to the 
 penalties denounced against all transgressors. 
 It is this relation in which we stand towards God 
 as our moral Governor, which constitutes the 
 chief and most important feature in our condition. 
 The generality of men, in considering the circum- 
 stances of their condition, do not take into the 
 number the relation in which they stand towards 
 God their Creator, their Preserver, and their 
 Judge. They leave out too much the considera- 
 tion of their guilty condition as transgressors of
 
 13* THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 God's holy law, and their helpless condition as 
 sinners who have lost their original uprightness 
 and spiritual strength. And, in fact, this ignor- 
 ance of our true condition, is a part of our depra- 
 vity, and that which especially renders a revelation 
 from heaven necessary for us. 
 
 The natural evils of sin, as affecting the body 
 and outward circumstances, are acknowledged by 
 all, because they are felt by all in some measure ; 
 and all are conscious that they are exposed to them 
 in the greatest degree. But the spiritual evils 
 resulting from the fall of man, although universal^ 
 are not so readily allowed ; because men are un- 
 willing to make the humiliating concessions whicb 
 are inseparable from the admission of these evil 
 in their full extent ; and because they do not wish 
 to resign all hope of future happiness, as grounded 
 in some degree on their own personal merits. 
 But he who rightly receives the Holy Scriptures, 
 must receive all that they declare concerning the 
 spiritual necessities and the moral degradation of 
 mankind ; and he will find that deep as is the 
 misery there represented, dark and strong as are 
 the features of human depravity there drawn, and 
 helpless and ruined as is the condition there de- 
 scribed, yet the same revelation supplies the 
 knowledge of a deliverance from our wretched- 
 ness, places before us a bright prospect of restora- 
 tion, and plainly points out the way of complete 
 redemption. Such is the extent of man's depravity,
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 139 
 
 that he dislikes those who faithfully declare to him 
 all the circumstances of his condition. And how, 
 indeed, can it be otherwise, when he naturally 
 dislikes God his Maker ! When we say naturally, 
 we do not mean according to the original con- 
 stitution of his nature, but in consequence of the 
 depravation of that nature, which is so great that 
 sin is as it were natural to man. It may seem a 
 very harsh expression to say that man hates his 
 Maker ; but facts warrant the use of it. We 
 read in Scripture of those who hate God ; (Rom . 
 i. 30.) and this not merely as an extraordinary 
 degree of malignity in evil, but as a part of de- 
 pravity common to all. And wherefore do they 
 hate God ? They are ready to acknowledge his 
 goodness and mercy, of which they daily partake. 
 They know themselves to be the work of his 
 hands, and the objects of his care. They profess 
 to believe in his mercy, and to look forward to a 
 participation in it, even to everlasting life. All 
 this they know and profess ; but they love their 
 sins, and God has denounced punishment against 
 the sinner, and therefore they love him not ; that 
 is, they love their sins more than God, and this 
 is called in Scripture being " haters of God." 
 Men habitually forget the God that made them, 
 and desire not the knowledge of his ways or of his 
 will. The guilty conscience fears, and therefore 
 hates God : it dislikes the restraint of the law, 
 and therefore cannot love the law-giver. The
 
 140 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 thought of God is a trouble to men to unrenewed 
 men, because it necessarily brings with it to their 
 minds the thought of their own guilt, and conse- 
 quently of the anger of God. 
 
 If such be the wretched condition such the 
 circumstances of man, what are the consequences 
 which must result to the whole world, if there be 
 no Deliverer found? What are the inferences 
 which must be drawn, laying aside the light 
 which revelation affords us? We must either 
 infer (1) that all men will sink into hopeless and 
 interminable misery : but this is contrary to all 
 true notions of the divine compassion and good- 
 ness, and to what we must suppose to have been 
 the original design of God in the creation of man. 
 We cannot reconcile the dominion of evil to 
 such an extent as this, with the government of a 
 Supreme Being of infinite love and wisdom and 
 mercy. Or, we must infer (2) that God will 
 annihilate mankind, as beings who have rendered 
 themselves utterly unworthy of his notice and 
 favour : but we have no proof of this having ever 
 been done in any part of God's creation ; nor is the 
 supposition reconcilable with the true knowledge 
 of the works of God, which must all be perfect 
 either in original formation, or eventual design. 
 There is nothing in the past experience of the 
 world to countenance such an expectation, and 
 certainly nothing of the kind can be properly 
 inferred from what we see and know of the
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 141 
 
 divine government. Or, we must conclude (3) 
 that God will alter the nature, and terms, and 
 requirements of his law ; but this would seem to 
 argue mistake in the first enunciation of the law, or 
 injustice in the conditions which it imposes, or vari- 
 ableness in the law-giver, who has, nevertheless, 
 declared that " it is easier for heaven and earth to 
 pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." (Lukexvi. 7.) 
 Our Law-giver, who was also our Creator, could 
 not possibly make any mistake, in what ought to 
 be the terms and requirements of the law under 
 which he intended to place us, either as befitting 
 his own authority, holiness, justice, or other 
 perfections, or as suited to cur condition as the 
 work of his hands, and endowed at first with 
 righteousness and true holiness, and afterwards 
 the subjects of depravity and destitute of spiritual 
 ability. Laws which are unjust or deficient in 
 any of their terms, must proceed from a fallible 
 source, and so partake of the frailty inherent in 
 him who framed them. But the law under which 
 we find ourselves situated, is the work of God 
 himself; it emanates from the fountain of un- 
 spotted purity and eternal truth. It is holy, just, 
 and good, as its Great Author is holy, just, and 
 good ; being as it were a transcript of his divine 
 perfections, and declaring to us the measure in 
 which we are commanded to imitate Supreme 
 Goodness. This law cannot then be repealed, 
 unless we can suppose weakness in infinite power,
 
 142 THE ATONEMENT 
 
 mistake in infinite knowledge, deficiency in infi- 
 nite perfection, error in infinite truth, unless 
 we despoil God of his perfections or dethrone him 
 from his government and dominion. We must 
 infer then (4) that God will by some means 
 pardon the sinner, without repealing his law ; 
 and restore him to his favour, without infringing 
 on the demands of his justice and truth. And 
 this is the point to which we are brought, in the 
 consideration of the meaning of those words 
 uttered by the expiring Redeemer ; " It is finish- 
 ed." (John xiv. 30.) The means of pardon are 
 found in the death and obedience of Christ ; his 
 mediation is the ground of the sinner's restoration 
 to divine favour. When our Lord pronounced 
 these words, he declared that he had perfected 
 all that he came into the world to accomplish, 
 that he had fulfilled what was spoken in antient 
 prophecy, and had made an end of sin, had made 
 reconciliation for iniquity, and had brought in 
 everlasting righteousness. 
 
 We have already seen the necessity of an 
 atonement, in the condition of man, and the 
 requirements of -God's law : we must now consi- 
 der the nature of this atonement, as made by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. The atonement of which 
 man stood in need, was one which should in 
 every way be a substitute for himself, and which 
 should make full satisfaction to divine justice. 
 We must be assured that such an atonement has
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 143 
 
 indeed been made, or we shall hesitate to place 
 that reliance upon it which will secure peace to a 
 conscience tenderly alive to the deserts of sin. 
 We need an atonement that will not only open a 
 way of safe access to God, but that can also ease 
 the conscience, and make it pleasant and delight- 
 ful to us to think of God to pray to him as to 
 a Father to trust in him as a friend. The fears 
 of man, suggested by a guilty conscience, render 
 it necessary to his peace, that the nature of the 
 atonement made for him, should be fully displayed 
 in its perfection and suitableness. This atone- 
 ment is found alone in the mediation of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; and it is fully displayed to us in the 
 Word of God. 
 
 Prophecy described the Saviour in such glowing 
 terms, as to excite the hopes of the children of 
 men from the most antient times, and to cause 
 the Redeemer to be earnestly looked for as the 
 "desire of all nations." (Haggai. ii 7.) The Gos- 
 pel shows the fulfilment of all the expectations 
 which prophecy raised, in the life, death, and 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ is now made 
 to us all that we stand in need of as sinners. He 
 is " wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
 and redemption." (1 . Cor. i. 30.) All men feel 
 the necessity of some atonement to be made on 
 account of universal guilt ; and pride, natural to 
 the mind of fallen man, leads him in his ignorance 
 to endeavour to offer one of his own procuring
 
 144 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 and purchase to God, as a ground whereon to 
 build the hope of pardon and eternal life, if not 
 as a plea whereby he may claim these inestimable 
 benefits. Hence it is that we find in heathen 
 nations the prevailing notion of a sacrifice, the 
 universal idea of the necessity of interposing 
 something by way of reconciliation between an 
 offended Deity and his guilty creatures. And 
 hence it is that in Christian lands we find so 
 many trusting to their own righteousness, and 
 leaning on the supposed merit of their own per- 
 formances to recommend them to God, to make 
 their peace with him, and to procure a title to 
 heaven. 
 
 But the only true atonement for sin has already 
 been made by Christ, and accepted by God. 
 The guilt of sin cannot be put away by any 
 other blood than the blood of Christ ; nor is it 
 necessary that any other should be sought after, 
 since the " blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from 
 all sin." (1 John i. 7.) Moreover, what have we 
 of our own performance that we can offer to God, 
 as worthy of his acceptance, much less as a plea 
 on which to ground a claim to the reward of 
 eternal life? Are we not sinners ? Where, then, 
 is our righteousness ? One transgresssion is 
 sufficient to render null and void, as a ground of 
 justification, whole years of constant obedience ; 
 if, indeed that man could be" found whose life 
 would bear the scrutiny of God's judgment, and
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 145 
 
 the trial of his law, not for years, but for a single 
 day. We may well ask with the Patriarch Job, 
 " How should man be just with God ? If he 
 will contend with him, he cannot answer him one 
 of a thousand." (Job ix. 2, 3.) Salvation is but 
 a small benefit, if it could have been procured by 
 the efforts of falkn man, without the mediation 
 of Christ. Why was that wonderful provision 
 made for us in the death of the Son of God, 
 why was the amazing expense of his precious 
 blood incurred, if redemption could have been 
 obtained by any other means, if it could have 
 been procured by the deficient obedience, the 
 feeble efforts of sinful man ! It does not become 
 man to justify his conduct before God, or to 
 attempt to prove himself worthy of eternal life, 
 but his duty is to confess his sins, that he may 
 find mercy; to cry to the Redeemer, " Lord, 
 save me ;" and to " count all things but loss for 
 the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus," 
 that he may " win Christ, and be found in him, 
 not having" his own " righteousness which is of 
 the law, but that which is through the faith of 
 Christ, the righteousness which is of God by 
 faith." (Phil. iii. 8, 9.) 
 
 The nature of the atonement which Christ has 
 offered, constitutes its exact suitableness to our 
 condition. It is a satisfaction for sin for the 
 violation of God's holy and just law ; and it is 
 the only proper ground and efficient plea for our
 
 146 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 redemption. In order to make satisfaction for 
 sin, the offering made must be of infinite value, 
 and the offerer himself a divine Being ; inas- 
 much as no other could supply the necessary 
 offering. If we rightly regard the purity and im- 
 mutable truth of God, we cannot suppose that 
 his anger against sin can be appeased, or his 
 threatenings against the sinner averted, or the 
 dignity of his law maintained, by any thing 
 which human effort could supply in the place of 
 intire and undeviating obedience. Only the atone- 
 ment which Christ has made, possesses in itself 
 every necessary qualification for being substituted 
 in the room of a guilty world. On him as man 
 the penalty was inflicted ; by him the suffering 
 was endured ; his Deity stamped an infinite value 
 on these sufferings, and made the penalty an 
 amends to the law, and rendered his obedience 
 perfect. Aware of his insufficiency, and consci- 
 ous of his guilt, man, under the deep conviction 
 of the perils of his condition, would fall into 
 utter hopelessness and despair, if he had no 
 other resource than his own strength. But the 
 knowledge and full reception of the atonement 
 of Jesus Christ, not merely excites hope in his 
 breast, but offers a ground for assured confidence. 
 Nothing which the mis-directed invention of 
 man has substituted as a mediator between God 
 and himself, could ever give peace to his mind, 
 or intirely rid him of apprehension. Even the
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 147 
 
 sacrifices under the Mosaic law, though of divine 
 appointment, did not of themselves give rest to 
 the troubled conscience ; for the law being but a 
 " shadow of good things to come," could not by 
 its sacrifices " make the comers thereunto per- 
 fect ; " otherwise, the worshippers being once 
 cleansed would have been henceforth without the 
 " conscience of sins ;" (Heb. x. 1, 2.) that is, 
 free from the dread of the condemning power of sin 
 hereafter. The design of these sacrifices was not 
 to " take away sins," but to lead the worshippers 
 to the great atonement which was to be made in 
 the " fulness of time," and to which their faith 
 was ever to be directed, and on which their 
 reliance for pardon was to be placed. The 
 insufficiency of these offerings of " the blood of 
 bulls and of goats," was seen in the constant 
 repetition of them : but the perfection of Christ's 
 atonement rendered its repetition unnecessary ; 
 for " by one offering he hath perfected for ever 
 them that are sanctified." (Heb. x. 14.) 
 
 Here, then, is our strong-hold ; while we 
 remain in it we are sheltered from the storm of 
 divine wrath, we are safe from the denunciations 
 of a broken law. If we quit this sanctuary, the 
 avenger may overtake us at any moment, and 
 our guilty souls may be offered in eternal perdi- 
 tion as a just payment to the demands of God's 
 holy law. If we spend our days in vainly endea- 
 vouring to atone for sin by our own efforts, the 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 frail shelter which we erect, and under which we* 
 hope to be safe, will only hide from us the im- 
 pending danger, and thus lull us into deceitful 
 repose till " sudden destruction" come upon us. 
 O, let us, then, look unto him who alone bringeth 
 salvation ; let us attend to the important meaning 
 of that solemn declaration which he uttered on 
 the cross. This declaration is full of peace and 
 consolation to every soul, that is convinced of 
 the evil of sin, and feels its own helpless and 
 dangerous condition. When Christ exclaimed 
 " It is finished," what did the words imply? 
 They implied that the work which an Almighty 
 arm alone could execute, was completed, that 
 God had become the Saviour of men unable to 
 save themselves, that a divine arm had inter- 
 posed, where the force of men and angels was 
 powerless, that what divine wisdom alone had 
 planned and devised, divine power alone had 
 performed, that sin, as to the punishment of 
 it, was abolished, that God was reconciled, 
 that man was pardoned, that the wiles of Satan 
 were confounded, and his malignity counteracted, 
 that the grave was vanquished, that death 
 was beneath the feet of the conqueror, that 
 hell, or the place of departed spirits, was no 
 longer the hopeless prison of the dead ; and that 
 heaven, with its wide and glorious portals, was 
 open to admit the repentant and redeemed chil- 
 dren of men !
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 14$ 
 
 Many are the delusions which keep men back 
 from seeking the knowledge of this atonement. 
 They rest satisfied with the mere knowledge that 
 Christ hath uttered the words, " It is finished," 
 and that he is called The Saviour, and that 
 through him God is merciful. They stop here, 
 and pass not the bare knowledge of the fact ; they 
 make no inquiry whether they are seeking an 
 interest in it, in the right, and true, and Scrip- 
 tural way whether their lives and hearts are in 
 conformity, or at variance, with the terms on 
 which the benefits of this atonement are offered 
 to them. They magnify the importance of earthly 
 duties and relative obligations, and convert them 
 into excuses for neglecting the most important of 
 all concerns the safety of the soul. They forget 
 that the offer of pardon and reconciliation is 
 limited to a certain period, which period will 
 terminate with their lives ; and that this termina- 
 tion may be sudden, may be much earlier than 
 they expect, may find them in a state of aliena- 
 tion from God ! And then, awful consideration ! 
 the words, " It is finished," will seal their con- 
 demnation ! May we now flee for refuge to the 
 hope set before us, that these words may be the 
 source of our present peace, the ground of our 
 reliance at the hour of death, and the security of 
 our everlasting happiness !
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 THERE are various orders and degrees of intel- 
 lect among men, and consequently various de- 
 grees of impression on their minds as to the 
 peculiarity of their situation and condition. Some 
 are affected by fear, while others in the same 
 circumstances look on with indifference, and even 
 with levity and carelessness. The knowledge of 
 danger does not always make men anxious to 
 know by what means it may be averted ; but often, 
 on the contrary, induces a hardness which sets 
 impending evil at defiance, or which seeks to 
 lose the remembrance of it in the unbridled in- 
 dulgence of depraved passions, and the gratifica- 
 tion of unruly and unholy desires. The same 
 events which lead some persons to serious re- 
 flection, to sorrow, to repentance, to a change 
 of sentiments and conduct, excite in others none 
 of these feelings, produce none of these happy 
 effects ; but, on the contrary, often furnish matter 
 for jest and ridicule, and confirm them in their 
 errors. And even in the same person, circum- 
 stances which yesterday had a strong and decided 
 effect on his mind, to-day pass unnoticed and 
 without any influence ; and the condition of to-
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 151 
 
 day, which he now heeds not nor regards, to- 
 morrow shall affect him with the liveliest sensa- 
 tions, and be productive of the most important 
 results. Such are the varieties often found in the 
 history of the human mind ; such are its contra- 
 dictions, its aberrations, its unaccountable fickle- 
 ness and perversity. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this contrariety and 
 opposition of character in various minds, and 
 even in the same person at different times ; none, 
 we may suppose, are to be found, who have not 
 at some one time felt some degree of concern 
 and anxiety respecting the safety and welfare of 
 their souls. That Divine Spirit which is given 
 to all men, and " which lighteth every man 
 that cometh into the world," (John i. 9.) sug- 
 gests at one time or another, and in a greater 
 or less degree, according to the peculiarity of the 
 individual, some serious inquiry some concern 
 respecting his spiritual welfare. It is to the 
 resistance which is offered to this Spirit, that we 
 are to attribute the too-prevalent disregard of 
 those things which belong to man's everlasting 
 peace, and the too-general indifference with regard 
 to the important inquiry what our present char- 
 acter is in the sight of God, and how we shall 
 appear before him, when summoned to judgment. 
 There is much anxiety felt, and much concern 
 exhibited respecting the estimation of the world, 
 and the opinions entertained by men of their
 
 152 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 fellow-creatures ; but how few are willing to 
 experience more than a momentary solicitude 
 concerning the judgment which their Maker 
 will pass on them ! It is indeed of great value 
 to have a good reputation, and it is a matter of 
 no small moment to stand fair in the opinions of 
 men ; because, for the most part, such reputation 
 must be earned by good conduct, at least by an 
 outward regard to the decencies and proprieties 
 of life. And much of the good which a man is 
 able to do, depends on the character which he 
 maintains in society. But the evil lies in making 
 this worldly reputation the chief end of our en- 
 deavoursthe great object of our desires, and 
 forgetting that we are accountable to God, and 
 must either stand or fall and that finally and 
 eternally according to the divine judgment and 
 decision on our spiritual character. 
 
 With the man who reflects on his character as 
 a sinner, and on the certainty of his appearing in 
 judgment before that Being who " weigheth the 
 spirits," (Prov. xvi. 2.) the question, " Where- 
 with shall I come before God," (Mic. vi. 6.) is a 
 very natural one ; it is an inquiry into which he 
 is disposed to enter with the greatest solemnity 
 and earnestness, and with the most ardent desire 
 to arrive at a right and safe conclusion. The 
 guilty conscience testifies that some plea is 
 wanted, which may be effectual when offered to 
 God, as a ground of pardon and acceptance ; and
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 153 
 
 hence arises a very natural anxiety to know 
 wherewith we shall come before God. Many are 
 the answers which have been given to this most 
 important question, and various are the methods 
 which men have pursued in seeking a way of safe 
 access to God. A melancholy catalogue might 
 be drawn up of the many absurd, and the many 
 cruel inventions, which have been substituted for 
 the spiritual and acceptable service of God. Such 
 a catalogue would embrace the numerous victims 
 sacrificed in the fires lighted up by the fierce and 
 unrelenting rites of the Druids, the pains, 
 and mortifications, and self-inflicted tortures of 
 the Hindoo, the antient bloody offerings to 
 Moloch, the numberless ceremonies and vain 
 offerings of the Greeks and Romans, and all the 
 horrid rites and foolish ceremonials of Pagan 
 mythology. None of these systems afforded any 
 true peace to the votaries ; and if they had con- 
 scientiously discharged all the minute duties 
 enjoined, and had inflicted on themselves all the 
 tortures of fire and sword of hunger and thirst, 
 which were supposed to be efficacious in putting 
 away sin ; yet reason, if suffered to speak, must 
 have told them that these things, so contrary to 
 the nature of man to the laws of his being, and 
 to the evident design of his existence, cannot 
 be acceptable to God, or procure for them future 
 happiness. 
 
 Men of reflection, who have considered the
 
 154 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 mode of seeking the favour x>f the Deity by self- 
 inflicted tortures, have exclaimed against so 
 foolish and barbarous a method. Seneca observes, 
 that fanaticism has led many persons to endea- 
 vour to appease the gods by methods which men 
 would not even pursue in taking revenge ; and 
 adds that gods who desire to be worshipped after 
 such a manner, deserve not to have any worship 
 paid to them ; for the most cruel of tyrants, who 
 have mangled and tortured those who fell into 
 their power, have never commanded any to tor- 
 ture themselves.* Therefore those who describe 
 the Deity as pleased with these wilful lacerations 
 and sufferings, do represent him in a worse light 
 than a wicked tyrant ; and yet the votaries of 
 such fanaticism are not confined to the followers 
 of a Pagan mythology. There is a church, calling 
 itself holy, and arrogating the title of the sole 
 church of Christ, which represents the God of 
 the New Covenant as well pleased with painful 
 pilgrimages, with violence .offered to the best 
 natural feelings, with abstinence from the most 
 endearing social ties, with the endurance of the 
 extremes of hunger and thirst, and with the in- 
 fliction of severe lacerations of the body ! How 
 pleasant it is to turn from these irrational systems, 
 
 * " Tantus est perturbatae mentis furor, ut sic Dii placentur, 
 quemadmodum ne homines quidem sseviunt. Dii autem nullo 
 debentcoli genere, si et hoc volunt. Teterrimi tyranni lacera- 
 verunt aliquoruru membra ; neminem lacerare jusserunt."
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 155 
 
 to a method of justification which is more reason- 
 able, as well as Scriptural ; a method which 
 promotes our present happiness and peace, as 
 well as secures our future safety ; a method not 
 at variance with any of the divine perfections, 
 and yet exactly suited to our necessities, and 
 adapted to our conditions ; a method in which 
 the true interests of man are eminently consulted, 
 and in which the wisdom and power of God are 
 conspicuously manifested. 
 
 The question " Wherewith shall I come before 
 God ? " is no other than an inquiry how we shall 
 obtain justification in the sight of God our Judge. 
 Justification is a judicial declaration that a 
 man is either found guiltless of charges adduced 
 against him, or that in consequence of reparation 
 made, or penalty endured, he is pronounced to be 
 completely absolved from, all condemnation, and 
 is placed, in the eyes of the law, in the situation 
 of an innocent person. The justification of the 
 Scriptures is an act of God's grace, by which he 
 freely pardons and accounts as righteous, in con- 
 sideration of the obedience and death of Christ, 
 all those repentant sinners who believe on the 
 name of his well-beloved Son, and who declare 
 and manifest their faith by abounding in good 
 works. 
 
 To answer the question fully, " Wherewith 
 shall I come before God ? " we must consider the 
 pleas which might be offered to divine justice as
 
 166 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 grounds of justification ; in order that we may 
 detect those which in Scripture are called a " re- 
 fuge of lies," (Isa. xxxviii. 17.) and may exhibit 
 clearly God's method of justification. 
 
 If we will come to God to claim his favour as 
 of debt, we must come as those who have never 
 sinned who have observed in all points the re- 
 quirements of God's law. But it is evident that 
 we have no such righteousness as this to offer ; 
 we are born in sin, and have been guilty of in- 
 numerable actual transgressions of the divine 
 law. Ours cannot be a claim of right, because 
 we are unable to show any title on which such a 
 pretension might be grounded. Where then is 
 our refuge ? What is the resource which the 
 Gospel offers to us in this emergency ? Christ 
 has become a substitute for us. He was born 
 under the same law to -which we are amenable, 
 and which we have violated ; and he has fully 
 observed all its commands. He is indeed such a 
 high priest as we stood in need of, being " holy, 
 harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." (Heb. 
 vii. 26.) He did not come to bring us salvation 
 by abolishing the law, or abrogating what the 
 prophets had declared to be the will of God ; but 
 he came to bring salvation to us notwithstanding 
 our circumstances as subject to a law which con- 
 demned us; he came to fulfil this law, to es- 
 tablish it. It was prophesied of him that he 
 should " magnify the law and make it honour-
 
 JUSTIFICATION, 167 
 
 able," (Isa. xlii. 21.) and he himself declared 
 openly, and manifested in his life and death, that 
 he came not to " destroy the law or the prophets," 
 but " to fulfil." (Matt. v. 17.) Here, then, is a 
 refuge for us ; here we have sure ground whereon 
 to build our hope of acceptance. Our surety 
 claims in our behalf, as the reward due to his 
 perfect obedience, exemption from all condem- 
 nation, and also exaltation to endless happiness. 
 
 If we wish to approach God according to the 
 terms of the Old Covenant, that is, of a law holy, 
 just, and good, we must come prepared to meet 
 the sentence of that law ; in it no provision is 
 made for pardon to those who violate its pre- 
 cepts. Its terms are, " Cursed is every one that 
 continueth not in all things which are written in 
 the book of the law to do them ;" (Gal. iii. 10.) 
 so that to be under this law, as the rule by which 
 our condemnation or our acquittal is to be de- 
 cided, is in fact to be under the curse, inasmuch 
 as no man can be found whose life will bear the 
 scrutiny of every demand of the law. Moreover, 
 condemnation by this law a as to the efficiency of 
 the sentence, is not according to the number and 
 extent of the violations, but falls on every one 
 who has transgressed but one of its commands. 
 The doctrine of Scripture on this subject is, 
 " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet 
 offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 
 ii. 10.) Now, Christ has proclaimed a New Cove-
 
 158 JUSTIFICATION, 
 
 nant ; he has announced to us the " kingdom of 
 God/' which he himself has brought nigh unto 
 us. He came to call " sinners to repentance ;" 
 (Matt. ix. 13.) to preach the Gospel of peace ; to 
 bring glad tidings of good things. The law and 
 the prophets were until John, since that time the 
 kingdom of God is preached. (Luke xvi. 16.) " The 
 law was given by Moses," and was proclaimed with 
 the terrors of thunder, lightning, and earthquake ; 
 " but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." 
 (John i. 17.) The Gospel is a milder dispensa- 
 tion, announced by angels and a " multitude of 
 the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 good-will toward men." (Luke ii. 14.) By the 
 law, man was subject to " the spirit of bondage," 
 but by the Gospel he receives " the spirit of 
 adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father." (Rom. 
 viii. 15.) Christ has abolished the first cove- 
 nant as faulty and imperfect, (Heb. viii. 7.) and 
 has become " the mediator of a better covenant, 
 established upon better promises." (Heb. viii. 6.) 
 The commandment, that is, the law, is disannulled, 
 " for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof; 
 for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing 
 in of a better hope did ; by the which we draw 
 nigh unto God." (Heb. vii. 18, 19.) The first 
 covenant was not intended to be permanent, but 
 only an introduction to a more perfect dispensa- 
 tion under the Gospel, therefore those who cleave
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 159 
 
 to the old covenant, set themselves in opposition 
 to the designs of God's grace, and reject the way 
 of salvation which he has appointed. By the law 
 we are assured that no flesh shall be justified ; 
 (Gal. ii. 16.) therefore whoever seeks access to 
 God by the works of the law, sets himself against 
 the promises of God, and walks in the road to 
 despair and destruction. The introduction of a 
 new dispensation shows that the former was in- 
 adequate to the purpose of justification ; " for if 
 there had been a law given which could have 
 given life, verily righteousness should have been 
 by the law." (Gal. iii. 21.) The law was not 
 originally given as a means of eternal life, but to 
 convince man of sin, to show him the necessity 
 of perfect obedience, and thereby to be as it were 
 a " schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ ; " (Gal. 
 iii. 24.) in whom we might find hope, peace, 
 liberty, and -by whom we might " draw nigh unto 
 God." 
 
 Again If we will come to God on the ground 
 of our own works, and find that we must come 
 as sinners, it is necessary that we should bring 
 with us some atonement for sin, something to 
 make reparation of the law which we have broken. 
 But how can we furnish this atonement ourselves, 
 seeing perfect and unvarying obedience was al- 
 ways our duty : and no obedience, subsequent to 
 sin, can make reparation of former transgressions. 
 Our want of an atonement is the very point in the
 
 160 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 distress of our circumstances, which precludes 
 the possibility of its being furnished by ourselves. 
 The absolute poverty of human nature, can never 
 supply the inestimable sum required for our ran- 
 som. The guilty person cannot become an ob- 
 lation to put away sin, because the victim de- 
 manded by divine justice must be spotless, pure, 
 and undefiled. A sinner cannot pay the ransom 
 necessary for his acquittal, because how is he 
 first to be cleansed from his guilt, so as to be in a 
 condition to have somewhat to offer; and if 
 cleansed, there is no necessity for an offering. 
 His case, then, is desperate without external aid ; 
 but this aid is found in the conditions of the New 
 Covenant. " Christ is sacrificed for us ;" (1 Cor. 
 v. 7.) he is the " Lamb slain from the foundation 
 of the world;" (Rev. xiii. 8.) he " loved us, and 
 washed us from our sins in his own blood," (Rev. 
 i. 5.) having " given himself for us an offering 
 and a sacrifice to God." (Eph. v. 2.) The con- 
 dition of man was hopeless ; no human aid could 
 assist him ; no angelic power was appointed to 
 succour him ; but " when we were yet without 
 strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 
 (Rom. v. 6. 8.) This is the only atonement for 
 sin that can find acceptance with God, and claim 
 by its merit the pardon of a guilty world. The 
 stain of sin is too deeply entered into the soul, to 
 be effaced by any other means than the blood of
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 161 
 
 Christ. The indignity offered to God by trans- 
 gression, could only be repaired by the sacrifice 
 of Christ. The insult and contempt cast on God's 
 authority, could only be obliterated by Christ's 
 perfect obedience. The intervention of Christ on 
 our behalf, is the sole ground of acceptance with 
 God. This is the Scriptural statement respecting 
 justification ; and it is a more powerful con- 
 sideration to influence our faith and conduct, 
 than any attempt to explain how the act of justi- 
 fying sinners, can be reconciled with the holiness 
 and justice of God. 
 
 We possess the strongest assurance that the 
 mediation of Christ is accepted with God, in the 
 resurrection of our Lord from the dead. The 
 establishment of this fact, (and, if there be such 
 a thing as historical evidence, it is established to 
 the full satisfaction of every honest inquirer,) 
 forms the basis of Christian hope ; it is the most 
 important fact recorded in the New Testament, 
 inasmuch as it confirms the validity of the 
 mission of Jesus Christ, and proves the comple- 
 tion of the work of human redemption. There- 
 fore it is said that Christ has been " raised again 
 for our justification ; " (Rom. iv. 25.) to prove to 
 us that our redemption is perfected, and that we 
 are thereby " begotten again unto a lively hope." 
 (1 Pet. i. 3.) The hope of immortality which 
 Adam lost by sin, is restored to us by the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ from the dead ; and we can 
 
 M
 
 162 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 now look forward with hope " to an inheritance 
 incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not 
 away." (1 Pet. i. 4.) And we know also that 
 the work of redemption, which Christ effected so 
 many ages ago, is still beneficial to the successive 
 generations of mankind, " seeing he ever liveth 
 to make intercession for them." (Heb. vii. 25.) 
 Having fulfilled the will of his Father on earth, 
 he now sitteth at the " right hand of the Majesty 
 on high/' until the restitution of all things ; but 
 he is still our Advocate by appearing " in the 
 presence of God for us ;" (Heb. ix. 24.) not as 
 the priests of old stood " daily ministering and 
 offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which 
 can never take away sins," but by a perpetual 
 presenting on our behalf the merits of that 
 " one sacrifice for sins," by which " he hath per- 
 fected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 
 x. 1114.) 
 
 With some persons it is a question, whether 
 the righteousness of Christ be indeed imputed to 
 man ; and they assert that it is no-where said in 
 Scripture that it is so imputed. But although it 
 be not so declared in express terms, yet it is 
 affirmed in words of similar import. We know 
 that the Scriptural expression respecting faith is, 
 that it is " counted for righteousness." (Rom. iv. 
 5.) But what is this faith which is so counted ? 
 It is a belief that Christ hath interposed as 
 Mediator between God and Man ; that he hath
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 163 
 
 borne the curse for us, and hath prepared for us 
 a righteousness on the account of which alone we 
 can be justified in the sight of God. And that 
 the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, 
 is plainly set forth in many passages of Scripture, 
 where it is called " the righteousness of God 
 which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and 
 upon all them that believe ;" (Rom. iii. 22.) and 
 Christ is said to have been made " sin for us, that 
 we might be made the righteousness of God in 
 him." (2 Cor. v. 21.) St. Paul, who doubtless 
 understood the mode of justification, as well as 
 preached it, desired earnestly for himself that he 
 might " be found in" Christ, not having his own 
 righteousness, " but that which is through the 
 faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God 
 by faith." (Phil. iii. 9.) He evidently means 
 the righteousness of Christ, which is imputed 
 to us by God, being apprehended by us through 
 faith. 
 
 With others it is a question, when this justifi- 
 cation takes place, and whether it be irreversible ; 
 that is, when a man may be said to be in a justified 
 state, and whether it be possible for him to lose the 
 benefits of such a state. It is of great importance 
 that we have right notions on these points, be- 
 cause erroneous opinions here, will have an evil 
 influence on our moral conduct. If men believe 
 that their justification was positively and abso- 
 lutely decreed from the commencement of the 
 
 M 2
 
 164 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 covenant of grace, or that it takes place irrevo- 
 cably in this life on believing, they will lose a 
 strong inducement to holiness and a circumspect 
 conversation ; because no conduct on their part 
 can set aside what God has finally established. 
 But if they believe that their faith, if genuine, 
 places them in a state of justification, being ac- 
 cepted of God to that effect not of merit, but 
 of his own free grace, and if persevered in, and 
 proved to be of heavenly origin by producing 
 good works, will certainly maintain them in a 
 justified state, they will have a powerful motive 
 to examine themselves daily whether they be in 
 the faith ; to prove themselves, (2 Cor. xiii. 5.) and 
 to exercise a constant watchfulness over their 
 heart and conduct. That justification takes place 
 on believing, is evident from the case of Abra- 
 ham, of whom it is said that he " believed God, 
 and it was counted unto him for righteousness." 
 (Rom. iv. 3.) We have no ground for supposing 
 that he was in a justified state, previously to the 
 exercise of this acceptable faith. Into the secret 
 purpose of God we can make no inquiry ; our 
 duty is to attend to what he has been pleased to 
 reveal. He has assured us that by faith we may 
 apprehend all the benefits of Christ's mediation ; 
 our duty naturally follows to believe on the Son 
 of God. We know that those who hold the doc- 
 trine of what they call eternal justification, 
 inaintain also the doctrine of final perseverance,
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 165 
 
 and the impossibility of believers' falling from 
 grace once received. This latter resource, doubt- 
 less, meets the difficulty of the former point of 
 doctrine ; but this is not a sufficient ground for 
 its acceptance, for we are not to receive a doctrine 
 because it corresponds with or supports another 
 doctrine, but only because it is plainly declared in 
 Scripture. 
 
 At to the possibility of losing the benefits of 
 justification, after they have been once appre- 
 hended by faith, the many and solemn charges 
 which are given us in God's word to " hold 
 fast that which is good," (1. Thess. v. 21.) 
 to " hold fast the profession of our faith 
 without wavering;" (Heb. x. 23,) and the 
 warnings that " we are made partakers of 
 Christ, if we hold the beginning of our con- 
 fidence steadfast unto the end ; " (Heb. iii. 
 14.) and the caution that we should " fear, 
 lest, a promise being left us of entering into 
 his rest, any of us " should seem to come 
 short of it;" (Heb. iv. 1.) and the awful 
 declaration that it is impossible to " renew 
 again unto repentance those who were once 
 enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly 
 gift, and were made partakers of the Holy 
 Ghost, if they shall fall away," (Heb. vi. 
 4 6.) and that " if any man draw back," 
 God will " have no pleasure in him ; " (Heb. 
 x. 38.) All these things prove that a man may
 
 166 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 renounce his faith ; otherwise, where is the 
 benefit of these admonitions ? And if he re- 
 nounce his faith, he must fall from his justified 
 state ; otherwise, what is the meaning of those 
 declarations where the alarming consequences 
 of drawing back are pointed out? To what 
 end is caution given, if there be no danger? 
 What purpose is answered by stating the dread- 
 ful results of falling away, if faith cannot fail, 
 and if justification be indefeisible ? Instead, 
 then, of saying 'The truth of God is pledged 
 for the certain endurance of my faith, the pur- 
 pose of God assures the perpetuity of my jus- 
 tified state ; * let us rather examine ourselves, 
 seeing the Scriptures speak of a faith which is 
 dead, (Jam. iii. 17, et seq.) and of holding the 
 " truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. i. 18.) The 
 danger consists in substituting- the knowledge 
 of Scriptural doctrines, for the love and prac- 
 tice of them ; and in mistaking the soundness 
 of our belief, as to the objects of it, for the 
 vital energy, the transforming and sanctifying 
 efficacy of genuine Scriptural faith. God is the 
 " justifier of him which belie veth in Jesus ; " 
 (Rom. iii. 26.) that is, who continueth to believe 
 in him; for we are of the household of Christ, 
 " if we hold fast the confidence, and the re- 
 joicing of the hope firm unto the end ; " (Heb. 
 iii. 6.) and " he that endureth to the end shall be 
 saved." (Matt. x. 22.)
 
 FAITH. 
 
 IN religion there are some things, which tend- 
 ing to edification, are therefore desirable in 
 themselves as Christian attainments ; but they 
 are not so essential to the Christian character, 
 that without them a man cannot be saved. And, 
 again, there are some things which are explicitly 
 declared in the Word of God to be of indispen- 
 sable obligation, so that to be destitute of them, 
 is to be in a state of alienation from God, without 
 his favour or approbation, and without any well- 
 grounded hope of eternal life. Among these 
 latter must faith be classed, as we are assured by 
 the divine Word that without faith it is impossible 
 to please God, (Heb. xi. 6.) and that " he that 
 believeth shall be saved ; but he that believeth 
 not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 16.) If such 
 be the importance and indispensable necessity of 
 faith, it is an object well worthy of our most 
 serious inquiry in what true faith consists, and 
 what are the evidences of possessing it. 
 
 Why is faith stated to be so important and 
 necessary to our salvation ? Because man is 
 unable to perform a meritorious obedience in 
 order to procure pardon and justification, and to 
 purchase a title to heaven ; because salvation
 
 168 FAITH. 
 
 through faith brings all the glory to God, and is 
 the most powerful motive to holiness in man. 
 Faith is indispensable, because God requires it 
 of us, as the channel through which salvation is 
 bestowed: but the necessity of faith does not 
 proceed originally from the sovereign will of God 
 only merely because he would have it so ; but 
 from the circumstances of our lost condition, and 
 the means which God has appointed for our 
 redemption. God has fitted the means of re- 
 demption to the necessities of men, and our 
 condition of guilt and helplessness rendered faith 
 the best mode in which the blessings of salvation 
 could be embraced by us. 
 
 There must be knowledge before there can be 
 true faith. Ignorance of our true condition of 
 our guilt and necessities, is the foundation of 
 unbelief. Before we can exercise faith, the whole 
 object of faith must be laid before us ; and made 
 comprehensible to our understanding ; at least so 
 far, that nothing be proposed as an object of 
 belief which is in itself contrary to reason. But 
 mere knowledge is not sufficient, without a clear 
 and strong conviction of the importance of the 
 things proposed to our faith, their fitness and 
 suitableness to our circumstances, and their being 
 indispensably requisite to our welfare. Most 
 men will affirm that they have faith in God, faith 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith in the Scrip- 
 tures. But their faith is nothing more than a
 
 FAITH. 169 
 
 simple belief that God exists, and that he is the 
 Creator and Preserver of all things, that there 
 is a Personage called Jesus Christ the Saviour, 
 and that the Bible is an inspired book. Such a 
 belief as this is wholly unoperative. It is a mere 
 historical faith ; and has no more influence over 
 the mind and conduct than the belief of any other 
 historical facts, relating to the men and things of 
 this world. We act in all cases according to our 
 belief; and therefore we may form a just opinion 
 of a man's faith, by what we observe of his con- 
 duct. It is in vain that a man tells i|s he has 
 faith in God, while his conduct contradicts his 
 assertions while there is a variance between his 
 life and the genuine fruits of faith. Where the 
 heart truly believes the important facts recorded 
 in the Scriptures, and rightly receives the doc- 
 trines there stated, the conduct must be influenced 
 accordingly. A mere belief of words and phrases 
 is not faith. We may assent to all that the Bible 
 contains ; we may express our assent in the 
 language of the best-composed creed; and yet 
 be destitute of that deep conviction of the truth 
 and meaning of what we affirm, which is essential 
 to true faith. We may constantly use the most 
 correct words and phrases, and yet have no correct 
 idea of what they represent nothing in our hearts 
 that responds to the spirit and signification of 
 them. To say that we believe the Saviour's love, 
 and our own unworthiness and inevitable ruin,
 
 170 FAITH. 
 
 without the interposition of his love, is very 
 different from feeling the value of that love, and 
 having correct notions of the extent of our moral 
 degradation as sinners. If we believe the Savi- 
 our's love, and exercise true faith in it, it will 
 dwell much in our thoughts ; it will be an oper- 
 ative principle, softening and ameliorating the 
 heart, sweetly constraining the will to holy obe- 
 dience, sanctifying the affections, and assimilating 
 the whole man to the divine image in which we 
 were at first created. 
 
 Faith requires the combined exercise of the 
 understanding and the affections. If we under- 
 stand what the Word of God reveals to us of the 
 misery and hopelessness of our condition as sin- 
 ners, without the mercy of God ; and what it also 
 reveals to us of the mercy and love and grace of 
 God ; our affections will be excited, our judgment 
 will not only assent to the important truths, but 
 our hearts will receive them ; they will influence 
 our hopes and our gratitude. Believing that God 
 is infinite in power and in loving-kindness also, 
 we shall be disposed to love him supremely ; and 
 to put our trust in him, so as to obtain peace and 
 joy unspeakable. Our conduct will also be influ- 
 enced by our right knowledge and our true faith. 
 We shall walk so as to please God. We may not 
 in every distinct action of our lives, have a direct 
 reference to the divine will and glory ; but the 
 deep impression on our minds that such is our
 
 FAITH. 171 
 
 duty, may bring us to the same holy habit in 
 effect, although the principle be not always ob- 
 viously and palpably brought forward to notice. 
 Our moral character is formed by the habitual 
 tendency of our affections ; and this character 
 manifests itself, even when the actual movement 
 of the affections is not apparent. There is a 
 plain, and undeniable, and undoubted effect of 
 the habit, without an open display of the principle 
 on which it is founded, and by which it is pro- 
 duced and governed. 
 
 Faith stands in the place of demonstration. It 
 becomes to us an argument and proof of the 
 existence of those things which are unseen, but 
 which we hope for, and expect with full confi- 
 dence. (Heb. xi. 1. 1 Pet. i. 8.) In the present 
 state we cannot have evidence to our senses, of 
 the existence of heaven and of hell ; we cannot 
 see God and live ; (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) and " flesh 
 and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." 
 (1 Cor. xv. 50.) But we have such evidence of 
 the truth of all these objects of belief, that faith 
 in them is a rational exercise of our minds, and 
 therefore becomes a duty. A man may say, per- 
 haps, ' I cannot have faith ; I have not control 
 over my mind to believe or disbelieve what I 
 please, and to the extent that I please.' There 
 may be this inability ; but with respect to -spiritual 
 things those things which concern the salvation 
 of the soul, the inability is moral, and not na-
 
 172 FAITH. 
 
 tural ; and therefore it carries culpability with it. 
 God commands us to believe ; consequently faith 
 is a duty which cannot be neglected without in- 
 curring sin. If we have not the power of believ- 
 ing, this is our sin. We were not created under 
 a natural disability to believe, but sin has made 
 us morally indisposed to do the will of God. We 
 love evil rather than good ; and it is the indul- 
 gence of our evil propensities, that takes from us 
 the power of exercising saving faith. 
 
 Hence arise some very important considera- 
 tions: that the bias of our minds the main 
 disposition of our hearts, forms the surest criterion 
 whereby to judge of our spiritual character ; and 
 that our ability or disability to believe the Gospel, 
 when proposed to us to believe it practically 
 and savingly, depends upon the strengthening or 
 the weakening of that evil principle which is 
 natural to us, and which is only to be effectually 
 restrained, controlled, and directed to a right 
 end, by the aid of the Holy Spirit. But the 
 Spirit's influence is not forced on men, whether 
 they will or not. Men are not regarded in the 
 Gospel Dispensation as stocks and stones, as mere 
 inert bodies to be acted upon by irresistible grace. 
 The Spirit of God operates on every heart ; but 
 always agreeably to the constitution of our nature, 
 always in perfect accordance with our condition 
 as free agents. In those whose minds are much 
 employed in meditating on heavenly truths, whose
 
 FAITH. 173 
 
 faith leads them to a course of action which 
 manifests the influence of Christian principles, 
 the power of the Holy Spirit is most evidently 
 displayed in assisting them to strive ever against 
 the natural corruption of human nature. In such 
 minds the power of the Divine Spirit is never 
 vanquished, although often resisted and weaken- 
 ed. But in minds which are altogether occupied 
 with earthly cares and pursuits, which are adverse 
 to the admission and cherishing of any serious 
 reflections, which are wholly led by the natural 
 disposition of the depraved heart, and which al- 
 ways resist the influence of the Holy Spirit, there 
 is no spiritual life found; they know not the 
 Gospel, because they wish not to know it ; they 
 cannot believe, because they will not understand ; 
 they live without faith, and die without hope. 
 
 God is the author of faith, not only as the giver 
 of that revelation which discovers to us the objects 
 of faith ; (Rom. x. 17.) but also as the bestower of 
 the principle of faith. When revelation is presented 
 to the natural man, he may not reject it as unworthy 
 of belief; on the contrary he may receive it, and 
 give full credence to it, and even become a strong 
 advocate for its genuineness and authenticity ; but 
 he will not exercise saving faith in it, so as to search 
 it with the anxious inquiry, " What shall I do to 
 be saved ? " he will not make it the rule of his 
 life, the foundation of his hopes, the source of 
 his consolations, until divine power open his
 
 174 FAITH. 
 
 heart to receive it as the Word of God, and until 
 divine grace make him thereby wise unto salva- 
 tion. Faith is the channel appointed by God, 
 through which to derive all the blessings of re- 
 demption. If we seek access to God, it must be 
 by faith, which is called the " door" whereby 
 sinners enter into the family aud household of 
 God. (Acts xiv. 27.) If we desire pardon, it 
 must be by faith in Christ, " whom God hath 
 set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his 
 blood." (Rom. iii. 25.) If we look for justifica- 
 tion, it must be by faith, for " a man is not 
 justified by the works of the law, but by the faith 
 of Jesus Christ." (Gal. ii. 16.) Do we wish for 
 the peace and hope of the Gospel ? They must 
 be obtained by faith ; " being justified by faith, 
 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ : by whom also we have access by faith into 
 this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of 
 the glory of God." (Rom. v. 1, 2.) Do we strive 
 to persevere in our obedience to the Gospel of 
 God ? It must be done by faith ; " the life which 
 I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the 
 Son of God ; " (Gal. ii. 20.) " being confident of 
 this very thing, that he which hath begun a good 
 work in you, will perform it until the day of 
 Jesus Christ ; " (Phil. i. 6.) " the just shall live by 
 faith ; " (Heb. x. 38.) and believers are said to be 
 " kept by the power of God, through faith unto 
 salvation." (1 Pet. i. 5.) Finally If we are
 
 FAITH. 175 
 
 waiting for eternal life, it must be by faith ; and 
 thus we shall receive the end of our faith, even 
 the salvation of our souls. (1 Pet. i. 9.) 
 
 We read in the Scriptures of " faith in God," 
 (Mark xi. 22.) and of " faith toward our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." (Acts xx. 21 .) To have faith in 
 God, is to have faith in his being ; and this would 
 naturally lead to faith in his perfections. A know- 
 ledge of the perfections of the Deity, prevents 
 many errors into which men are apt to fall. When 
 a man is convinced of his sin, and of the ruin 
 which sin has brought on the human race, when he 
 hears of there being forgiveness with God, he is 
 naturally desirous of pardon, and begins to in- 
 dulge the hope of obtaining it. But the magni- 
 tude of the blessing which he needs, often diverts 
 him from inquiring whether he is seeking and 
 expecting it in the right way. He is fearful of 
 losing so desirable a blessing, or of having the 
 hope of it at all weakened in his breast, so that 
 having ascertained that God is merciful, he rests 
 on the exercise of that attribute only ; and either 
 cares not to make further inquiry into the other 
 perfections of God, which must necessarily harmo- 
 nize with his mercy, or fears that such an inquiry 
 will end in disturbing his peace, and clouding his 
 expectations. So that we often find persons who 
 know no more of the divine character, than that 
 God is merciful ; and resting all their dependence 
 for pardon on the exercise of this single attribute,
 
 176 FAITH. 
 
 they remain in ignorance of the grand peculiarities 
 of the Gospel dispensation. Such persons cannot 
 be said to have true faith in God. 
 
 Faith in God has respect to all his perfections ; 
 and does not exalt one to the depreciation of 
 another. We must expect salvation as the united 
 effect of all God's perfections, in the most ac- 
 cordant harmony. And we should have an en- 
 lightened and intelligent trust in the Providence, 
 as well as in the Grace of God. The latter more 
 particularly regards us as sinners ; the former as 
 dependent creatures. Faith in the Providence of 
 God is a principle, which affords the mind real 
 and abiding consolation ; and at the same time 
 operates as a powerful stimulus to diligence. We 
 do not rightly trust in God for subsistence, when 
 we neglect the means which are given us to be 
 employed with industry and perseverance. Pre- 
 sumptuous reliance on the goodness and care of 
 God cannot be acceptable to him ; because it is 
 contrary to the order which he has established on 
 earth, and to the connexion which he has ap- 
 pointed between cause and effect. Those who 
 rashly enter on danger, with the secret expecta- 
 tion that because God is almighty, his power will 
 certainly be exercised in their preservation and 
 deliverance, will often have cause to regret their 
 presumption, and in the bitterness of suffering to 
 lament their own sinful hardihood, which led them 
 to tempt God, rather than to trust in him. Pru-
 
 FAITH. 177 
 
 dence and forethought are qualities which have 
 their value in the sight of God, however they may 
 be despised by some persons ; and God will not, 
 by what may be called a disorderly interposition 
 of his Providence, show that these qualities can 
 be neglected or despised with impunity. If we 
 walk contrary to the order which God has ap- 
 pointed, we must expect to reap the fruits of our 
 folly and our sin. 
 
 Faith in God is necessary to acceptable prayer. 
 " How shall they call on him, in whom they have 
 not believed ?" (Rom. x. 14.) " He that cometh 
 to God, must believe that he is ; and that he is a 
 rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb. 
 xi. 6.) The wavering man is warned not to 
 " think that he shall receive any thing of the 
 Lord." (James i. 6, 7.) Now, if we live in the 
 practice of any known sin, we cannot approach 
 God in prayer without doubting whether our 
 prayer will be accepted ; and this prevents our 
 obtaining the blessing which we ask for. If we 
 receive not an answer to prayer, the obstacle 
 must lie with ourselves. God has promised to 
 hear prayer : his promises are founded on eternal 
 truth : he fulfils all that he has promised : thou- 
 sands receive the spiritual blessings which they 
 supplicate : if we do not receive them, it is either 
 because we ask not, or because we ask amiss. 
 (Jam. iv. 3.) It was chiefly with respect to prayer, 
 that Christ said to his disciples, " Have faith in 
 
 N
 
 178 FAITH. 
 
 God." We must believe that God is able and 
 willing to perform what we desire ; the direction 
 given by Christ on this point is, " What things 
 soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye 
 receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark xi. 
 24.) 
 
 True faith in God also includes a well-grounded 
 persuasion, that what we ask is agreeable to the 
 will of God. We must not pray to God as we 
 prefer our requests to each other, thinking that 
 we can persuade our Maker to grant what we so 
 vehemently wish : but we must ask only for such 
 things as he has promised to bestow : or, if there 
 be no express promise, we must ask in subjection 
 to the divine will. The prayer of faith always 
 partakes of that resigned spirit, so remarkable in 
 our Lord's supplication previously to his suffering, 
 " Not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. xxvi. 39.) 
 
 Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ is so con- 
 nected with true faith in God, that they cannot be 
 possessed separately and distinctly by those who 
 are called Christians; he that believes in God, 
 has respect to his justice as well as his mercy, to 
 his anger and threatenings against sin as well as 
 to his willingness to forgive, to the means of sal- 
 vation as well as to the God of salvation. There- 
 fore he must have faith in Christ ; because it is 
 only through his mediation that the justice of God 
 is satisfied, and his mercy manifested ; that the 
 divine anger is appeased, and the divine threaten-
 
 FAITH. 179 
 
 ings averted ; that salvation is bestowed on any 
 of the human race, and that men are sanctified 
 and made partakers of this salvation. The Scrip- 
 tural answer to the sinner's inquiry, what he must 
 do to be saved, is " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts xvi. 31.) 
 Faith in Christ includes a regard to all the offices 
 which he sustains as our Redeemer, and to all 
 that he has performed on our behalf. 
 
 There is a contradiction in the character of man, 
 which discovers itself in the manner in which he 
 too often receives the doctrine of salvation by a 
 Mediator. If he feels his state to be such as to 
 require the interposition of a more holy, and more 
 wise, and more powerful being than himself ; yet 
 he is disposed to look upon such an interposition 
 as necessary only in part ; to make up some de- 
 ficiencies of which he is conscious ; to modify the 
 law of God, rather than to fulfil it perfectly on 
 his account, and to establish it in all its penalties ; 
 to render his allowed imperfect obedience avail- 
 able to the purchase of eternal life. In short, he 
 desires a Saviour whose mediation is to take away 
 the heinousness of sin, and render it less hateful 
 in the sight of God ; to open a way to heaven, in 
 which man may walk in the partial indulgence of 
 his depraved appetites and passions, and yet not 
 fail to arrive at the happiness of heaven. 
 
 But this is not a true knowledge of Christ ; 
 and cannot, therefore, lead to true faith in him. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 FAITH. 
 
 Jesus Christ is a Saviour to the uttermost. The 
 right knowledge of the Gospel, and true faith in 
 Christ, lead not to slight notions of sin, but to 
 more enlarged acquaintance with its guilt and 
 exceeding vileness -, they will not induce low 
 thoughts of the holiness of God, but a more ex- 
 alted opinion respecting his purity, and justice, 
 and truth : they will not dispose us to regard 
 ourselves with complacency as but trifling offend- 
 ers, nor to call our aggravated and innumerable 
 transgressions by the soft names of failings and 
 infirmities ; but to have the most humbling views 
 of our own character, to abhor ourselves, " and 
 repent in dust and ashes." (Job xlii. 6.) 
 
 True faith in Christ reposes on the perfection 
 of his mediation. If man had continued in his 
 original uprightness, there would not have been 
 a necessity of appointing a Mediator between 
 God and him ; because access to God was ever 
 open to innocence. Before Adam knew sin, he 
 held immediate intercourse with his Maker ; his 
 soul could appear without the terror of condem- 
 nation before the holy God ; his eyes could look 
 on heavenly beings without dismay, for his purity, 
 though in a lower sphere, was spotless as theirs. 
 The throne of God had not yet become the Judg- 
 ment-seat ; nor his law a condemning sentence ; 
 nor his service a yoke and burden. But sin 
 having entered, direct access to God was cut off ; 
 it became necessary, therefore, that a Mediator
 
 FAITH. 181 
 
 should be constituted between God and man, 
 through whom God might be merciful, and man 
 might be saved ; through whom repentance might 
 be accepted, and pardon dispensed. 
 
 If the effects of sin were suffered to fall on us 
 to the utmost, we should be given up to the fury 
 of the elements, to the rage of fierce aud ravenous 
 animals, to diseases of every name and form, to 
 the full control of the depraved passions of the 
 heart, to the horrors of a guilty and tormenting 
 conscience, for all these enemies hath sin armed 
 against us. And in the world to come, death 
 would reign over us by confining our bodies to 
 the grave, and imprisoning our souls in the dark 
 abodes of despair. By sin we have renounced the 
 providence and favour of God, and have no claim 
 on his love and mercy : we have no right to life 
 itself, nor to any of its enjoyments. We must 
 come to God to receive eveiy blessing as pur- 
 chased for us by a Mediator. Grace must save 
 us. We must have an Advocate to plead our 
 cause with God, that those blessings and com- 
 forts connected with our original condition, and 
 indispensable to our well-being, may be continued 
 to us in our fallen estate ; and that the richer 
 blessings of salvation may be freely imparted to 
 us. Such an Advocate is provided for us in the 
 person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is " able to 
 save them to the uttermost, that come unto God
 
 182 FAITH. 
 
 by him ; seeing he ever liveth to make interces- 
 sion for them." (Heb. vii. 25.) 
 
 We must have faith in the intercession of Christ 
 on our behalf, as well as in the other branches of 
 his meditorial office. The intercessory office of 
 Christ seems not to be regarded with sufficient 
 notice by many Christians,, nor made an object of 
 faith so much as it ought to be. The whole medi- 
 torial work of our Lord is the ground of a sinner's 
 acceptance with God, and our faith should be 
 directed towards it as such; but we should be 
 careful at the same time not to overlook an im- 
 portant part of it the intercessory office of 
 Christ, now exercised in heaven for us. The 
 great gift to men under the Gospel is the in- 
 fluence of the Holy Spirit. This gift is be- 
 stowed upon us as the especial fruit of Christ's 
 mediation ; agreeably to the promise of our 
 Lord, " I will pray the Father, and he shall 
 give you another Comforter, that he may abide 
 with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth/' 
 " The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom 
 the Father will send in my name, he shall teach 
 you all things." (John xiv. 16, 26.) 
 
 As under the former dispensation, the incense 
 and the evening sacrifice ascended to God daily, 
 as an offering acceptable to him ; so the merits 
 of Christ's mediation are constantly brought in 
 remembrance before the throne of God, by him
 
 FAITH 183 
 
 who pleads our cause in heaven. The atonement 
 for sin, made once for all by Christ, when he shed 
 his precious blood on the cross, is constantly pre- 
 sented to God on behalf of us, and is thus made 
 efficacious to procure the pardon of our daily 
 trespasses. By the constant effusion of the Holy 
 Spirit, men are daily renewed to repentance ; 
 and by the constant intercession of Jesus, they 
 are maintained in a state of acceptance with God. 
 Thus the atonement made by Christ on earth, 
 delivered them from the state of condemnation 
 into which they had fallen through sin ; and his 
 intercessory office in heaven preserves them from 
 again falling into that state. By the former they 
 were redeemed ; by the latter they are upheld, 
 By the one they were raised to a state of accept- 
 ance with God ; and by the other they are main- 
 tained in that state. 
 
 True faith varies in degree in different persons ; 
 but not in nature and kind. There may be true 
 faith, where the principle of faith is but weak. 
 Some persons possess genuine faith, who are 
 nevertheless much subject to trouble and in- 
 quietude because of doubts and fears. Others 
 are " strong in faith, giving glory to God," (Rom. 
 iv. 20.) and attain to assurance. Many persons 
 ridicule the idea of its being possible to attain to 
 an assurance of salvation in the present state. 
 But, not to insist on the sanction which the 
 Word of God gives to such an attainment, we
 
 184 FAITH. 
 
 may ask the opponents whether they do not hold 
 it to be perfectly rational, to feel assured of that 
 of which they have good and undoubted evidence. 
 The salvation of sinners by Christ is an indis- 
 putable fact ; the evidences of being interested in 
 this salvation are distinctly stated in the Scrip- 
 tures ; and this salvation is designed to promote 
 present comfort., as well as to give a title to future 
 and everlasting enjoyment. Surely it is no small 
 portion of comfort to attain to a reasonable hope 
 that we are interested in this salvation, and shall 
 enjoy its endless blessings in heaven. Such a 
 hope is always founded on a rational and intelli- 
 gent trust in the Redeemer ; and differs widely 
 from mere presumptuous confidence. If assurance 
 were a figment of the imagination, or the mere 
 offspring of fancy, it would be deservedly classed 
 among those fanatical errors, which are grounded 
 only on unaccountable feelings and persuasions 
 of the mind. But if it proceed from a diligent 
 and impartial investigation of the state of our 
 hearts and conduct, and a careful comparison of 
 these with the requirements of God's word, and 
 if it be the result also of a calm and deliberate 
 inquiry, whether we possess the marks of being 
 in a state of justification, let us never be induced 
 to renounce it at the call of cold-hearted indiffer- 
 ence, or dull formality. True religion was de- 
 signed for the affections as well as the judgment ; 
 for the heart as well as the understanding.
 
 FAITH. 185 
 
 It is not intended to affirm that this assurance 
 is uninterrupted in any one ; it will vary accord- 
 ing to the strength of a man's faith, and according 
 to the consistency of a man's conduct. When 
 St. Peter saw his Master walking on the sea, by 
 a sudden but uncalled-for effort of faith, he said, 
 " Bid me come unto thee on the water : " but 
 when he was come down out of the ship, and 
 " saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and 
 beginning to sink, he cried, saying ; Lord, save 
 me." (Matt. xiv. 2830.) All that we wish to 
 prove respecting assurance is, that it is attainable, 
 and that it is both reasonable and Scriptural. It 
 is never rightly attained, unless there be a con- 
 versation and conduct becoming the Gospel. 
 Some persons boast of their assurance, whose life 
 shows that their hope is but presumption, and 
 their faith self-deception. They will not allow 
 faith to be true and genuine, unless it is also 
 accompanied by assurance by a full and uninter- 
 rupted assurance of salvation, irrespective of 
 self-examination, and the possession of Scriptural 
 marks and evidences of Christian character. 
 
 There must be, doubtless, some degree of as- 
 surance in true faith, or the principle of faith 
 could not be kept alive in the heart. If we 
 cannot trust in what we believe, our faith is of 
 little avail to us. As faith is an act of the mind, 
 so trust is an act of faith. If we believe in God, 
 this is faith ; if we rely on his Providence and
 
 186 FAITH. 
 
 Grace, this is trust. If we believe in Jesus Christ 
 as the Saviour, this is faith ; if we look to him 
 and depend upon him for our own salvation, this 
 is trust. We shall find on inquiry, that much 
 of the religion of many persons consists in the 
 simple exercise of faith. They have no doubt of 
 the being of God, but they have very little re- 
 liance on his Providence and Grace ; they doubt 
 not either the power or the willingness of the 
 Saviour to receive all that come unto him, but 
 they seldom act upon this belief, so as to trust in 
 him for their own personal safety so as to enjoy 
 present peace and satisfaction. Their religion 
 consists chiefly in an act of the judgment. They 
 read the Scriptures, and see how the grace of 
 God hath appeared unto all men ; they understand 
 the declaration, and are convinced of its truth, 
 that it " is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
 to save sinners ;" (1 Tim. i. 15.) but such a be- 
 lief is nearly powerless with them, as to any good 
 effects ; it exercises but small influence over their 
 tempers and conduct, to rectify and sanctify them. 
 And when sudden trouble comes, then come 
 also fear and perplexity ; their minds are so con- 
 fused as often to be unable even to contemplate 
 the way of salvation, much less to find in it a 
 place of refuge and sure defence. Their want of 
 comfort proceeds from the want of a sincere and 
 intire reception of the Gospel. They understand
 
 .FAITH. 187 
 
 it, but do not admit it to reign in their hearts ; 
 they profess it, but do not sufficiently practise it. 
 
 We hear also complaints of the want of faith 
 from many persons, of whose sincerity there can 
 be no doubt. But if we examine the grounds of 
 their doubts and fears, we shall find that by want 
 of faith they mean want of assurance want of an 
 abiding persuasion that they shall infallibly be 
 saved. They mistake the nature of assurance, 
 and are seeking a state of mind in which faith may 
 be dispensed with ; forgetful that by faith a man 
 must live, till he has finished his earthly course. 
 They do not sufficiently connect cause and effect ; 
 they either have not a correct acquaintance with 
 the Gospel, and so their doubts and fears proceed 
 from ignorance ; or their constitutional tempera- 
 ment forbids their deriving all the hope and con- 
 solation, which a sincere reception of the Gospel 
 is calculated to impart. Their religion partakes 
 largely of gloom and melancholy ; they speak of 
 God only as a Sovereign, whose will is not to be 
 disputed, who has a right to do as he pleases ; 
 and this is the only principle that keeps them from 
 murmuring, and that sustains their mind under 
 afflictions. They do not look on God so much as 
 a Father, as a Master ; and think more of his 
 power than his love. 
 
 Let not such persons unnecessarily distress their 
 minds with fears, lest they do not truly believe 
 in God, with doubts, lest they should finally fall
 
 188 FAITH. 
 
 short of the promised inheritance ; but let them 
 rather seek to understand more clearly the nature 
 of the Gospel ; let them pray earnestly to God, 
 that they may have a more intelligent faith, and 
 may rely more fully for pardon on the blood of 
 Christ; that they may find his atonement not 
 only such a title to heaven, as will fill their breasts 
 with the desire, but their minds also with the 
 comfortable expectation of it. Let them call on 
 that God, who knows how often the infirmities 
 of the body oppress and weigh down the mind, 
 that he would grant them such a divine principle, 
 as may rise superior to all injurious depressions, 
 proceeding from the weakness of their nature ; 
 that he would make their hearts right, and keep 
 their spirits steadfast in his covenant of peace ; 
 that they may be " strengthened with might by 
 his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell 
 in" their " hearts by faith," (Eph. iii. 16, 17.) 
 and they may be thereby established, strength- 
 ened, settled in the knowledge and hope of the 
 Gospel. (1 Pet. v. 10.) "Blessed are all they that 
 put their trust in him." (Psalm ii. 12.)
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 EVERY man who believes that there is a God, 
 and that himself is a sinner, and who meditates 
 with seriousness on these two truths, cannot 
 avoid being anxious to know whether the state 
 of his mind and the conduct which he is pursuing, 
 are pleasing or displeasing in the sight of God. 
 Much of our present comfort, therefore, and our 
 intire future happiness, depend upon the conclu- 
 sion to which a conscientious inquiry, aided by 
 the Word of God, may be brought in consider- 
 ing this important question. The conviction 
 that we are sinners is sufficient to fill us with 
 fear and apprehension, when we reflect on the 
 nature of God's law, as revealed to us in his 
 Word, and on the nature and perfections of God 
 himself. Under such circumstances, what sys- 
 tem of human invention, what theory of philosophy 
 can give us any consolation any hope ? Mere 
 conjecture, the remedies suggested by a terrified 
 imagination, or the rites commanded by super- 
 stition, cannot convey peace to the troubled 
 mind. A mind alive to the evil and consequences 
 of sin, is quick at discerning the poverty of all
 
 190 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 human resources, and refuses to lean on the 
 broken reed of human merit. There is a spiritu- 
 ality so essentially requisite in the means of 
 delivering man from his fallen estate, that the 
 heart which feels the extent of the degradation 
 caused by sin, and the distance to which sin has 
 banished man from God, feels a secret misgiving 
 when presented with any ground for reliance 
 which is destitute of divine authority. So evident 
 is it that God alone, from whom we have departed, 
 can devise the means of our restoration. The 
 Gospel alone can meet our case, and show us 
 how even sinners may be pardoned and saved. 
 We cannot approach God with safety as sinners, 
 without the means of pardon and reconciliation ; 
 nor can we come to him as righteous persons by 
 our own merit. We may repent of our sins 
 when we apprehend the painful consequences, as 
 is commonly the case with offenders when punish- 
 ment is at hand ; but, independent of the Gospel, 
 how do we know that our repentance will avail, 
 or be accepted as preparatory to pardon ? The 
 same uncertainty prevails with respect to any 
 internal feeling of our minds, as efficacious to 
 procure our acceptance with God, as prevails in 
 regard to any outward mode of sacrifices or of 
 penance, suggested by mere human wisdom. In a 
 case of so great moment, uncertainty takes away 
 the intire value of the means that are employed ; 
 the mind looks for a sure resting-place ; it cannot
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 191 
 
 be at ease till certainty is stamped on the mode in 
 which peace is sought. And where can certainty 
 be found but in God, and in what proceeds from 
 him? Here, then, the Gospel, which is of 
 divine origin, comes in to meet the case fully ; 
 it points to the Lamb of God as the ransom for 
 sin, to the righteousness of God as the ground of 
 our justification, and to the Spirit of God as the 
 great agent in enlightening the mind, renewing 
 the heart, sanctifying the affections, and preparing 
 the soul for the enjoyment of the heavenly felicity. 
 When St. Paul wrote that exalted sentiment of 
 a firm 'and decided mind " I am not ashamed of 
 the Gospel of Christ ; for it is the power of God 
 unto salvation, to every one that believeth" 
 (Rom. i. 16.) he had endured, in consequence of 
 his adherence to the Gospel, as much persecution, 
 and derision, and actual suffering, as would have 
 shaken the resolution of any man, whose faith was 
 not established and settled, by the deepest and 
 the best-grounded conviction of the truth of the 
 cause in which he was engaged. Those who re- 
 jected the Gospel as a " cunningly-devised fable," 
 mocked and scoffed at him as a wild enthusiast, as 
 a man destitute of understanding, who could 
 persevere in preaching a faith which not only did 
 not bring temporal wealth and ease to its followers, 
 but subjected them to much and continued suffer- 
 ing, and held out no advantage but a future and 
 unseen reward. By the Jews the disciples of
 
 i92 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL, 
 
 Christ were hated as well as insulted, because 
 they declared to the world that the Saviour and 
 Prince, whom the nation of Israel had so long 
 expected, and of whose coming they entertained 
 the highest expectations, as their appointed de- 
 liverer from temporal bondage and thraldom, and 
 who was to lead them forth as conquerors and 
 masters of the world, that this personage was 
 Jesus Christ, who had been crucified. The anger 
 of the Jews against Christ was caused by his 
 lowly appearance in the world ; they could not 
 endure that one who had been born of humble 
 parentage, who was a " man of sorrows," in 
 extreme poverty, and of mean appearance, should 
 pretend to be their Messiah ;* they were anxious 
 
 * It seems to be a point taken for granted, by most persons, 
 that the " bodily presence" of our Lord was highly majestic, 
 and that his countenance bore the striking marks of divinity 
 and humanity combined. At least this is a point which the 
 Author has never heard to be controverted ; and those painters 
 are reckoned to succeed best, who are able to express in their 
 portraitures of Jesus, a happy combination of dignity and com- 
 passion, of majestic awe and mildness. That these qualities 
 were united in the character of our Lord, when he appeared in 
 the form of man, no Christian will for a moment deny ; but 
 may we not suppose, from what may be gathered from the 
 Scripture testimony to the Messiah, that the outward personal 
 appearance of Christ was wholly devoid of what we call a 
 manly form, a noble aspect, and perfect regularity of feature ? 
 The state of the incarnate Saviour was one of humiliation and 
 lowliness, not only in the circumstances of birth and fortune,
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 13 
 
 to show to all the world that they rejected such a 
 character with shame and abhorrence ; and there- 
 fore they ardently sought his death, and that too 
 
 but also of personal comeliness. The Jews might, and proba- 
 bly did expect a Messiah of kingly appearance, of regal front, 
 as well as of imperial splendour and power : but it was prophe- 
 sied of the true Messiah, that many should be astonished at 
 him on account of his " visage" being " marred more than 
 any man, and his form more than the sons of men," 
 that he should have " no form nor comeliness no beauty that 
 we should desire him," (Isa. Hi. 14. liii. 2.) 
 
 Our Lord came not according to the wisdom of the flesh, 
 in a form which would cause men to have his person in admira- 
 tion ; it was a part of his mediatory office to be " despised and 
 rejected of men," who should hide as it were their faces from 
 him, in contempt of his outward appearance. The New Tes- 
 tament is intirely silent respecting the bodily form and feature 
 of the Redeemer. The expression in Luke ii. 52. that " Jesus 
 increased in stature," being applicable only to his childhood, 
 does not convey any meaning, from which might be inferred 
 that there was any characteristic beauty or dignified graceful- 
 ness in the person of our Lord. The literal interpretation of 
 the above prophecy of Isaiah, is sanctioned by the recorded 
 fact, that after our Lord had arisen from the dead, (and certainly 
 with the same body in which he had sojourned with his dis- 
 ciples,) and had appeared to Mary Magdalene, to whom his 
 personal appearance must have been quite familiar, so little was 
 there in his countenance or form, to distingush him eminently 
 from other men, that Mary did not at first recognise her Lord, 
 but supposed him to be the gardener." (John xx. 1 15.) It 
 may be said that the sudden and unexpected appearance of 
 Christ, whom Mary supposed to be still numbered among the 
 dead, would at first prevent her from recollecting so perfectly 
 
 o
 
 194 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 in the most ignominious mode. By the Gentiles 
 also the servants of Christ were despised, as weak 
 and credulous adherents to the doctrines of a man 
 who had perished like a slave : they entertained 
 the lowest opinion of men who could traverse 
 the earth to promulgate a religion, whose 
 founder had died on the cross. The Apostle 
 Paul states in the most forcible manner, the 
 treatment which they had to encounter, and the 
 contempt which was cast upon them. He says of 
 himself and of his fellow-labourers in preaching 
 the Gospel, " we are buffeted, reviled, perse- 
 cuted, defamed, made as the filth of the earth 
 and the off-scouring of all things." " (1 Cor. iv. 
 11 13.) But, notwithstanding all these trials, 
 he could say with confidence and with rejoicing, 
 " I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." 
 We do not honour the Gospel when we hesi- 
 
 the form and features of the Saviour, as to acknowledge at 
 once his resurrection to life ; but had there been any striking 
 grandeur of countenance, or majesty of appearance, she could 
 not have mistaken him for one in the mean situation of a ser- 
 vant. There does not seem to be any ground for supposing 
 that her " eyes were holden," as was the case with the two dis- 
 ciples with whom Jesus walked and conversed after his 
 resurrection. (Luke xxiv. 13 31.) In the latter case, ou r 
 Lord evidently designed to make trial of their faith, and there- 
 fore they were supernaturally prevented from knowing him ; 
 but not so in the case of Mary, who recognised Jesus on his 
 speaking the second time.
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 195 
 
 tate to receive it intirely in all its peculiar 
 doctrines, to rest upon it wholly as the foundation 
 of our hopes and expectations. We may be said 
 to be ashamed of the Gospel, when we seek to 
 add our own supposed merits to the provision 
 made in the Gospel for our redemption. It is a 
 peculiar feature in the Gospel, that while it sanc- 
 tions the observance of the moral law, it requires 
 as indispensable to salvation, an intire and simple 
 reliance on the mediation of Christ by faith, 
 without any regard to our own righteousness as 
 procuring for us in any degree the favour and 
 acceptance of God. Man was originally created 
 upright ; and while he so continued, his own 
 righteousness was a sufficient ground to expect a 
 continuance of God's approbation and blessing. 
 But when he became a sinner, the first ground of 
 acceptance with God was altogether lost, and he 
 became alienated, and an enemy to God in his 
 mind by wicked works. His condition was then 
 one which required some means of reconciliation, 
 and these means could not be furnished by him- 
 self; he must receive them as a free gift. 
 Accordingly the Gospel of Christ supplies a 
 remedy exactly suited to his condition ; but man 
 is not naturally disposed to submit to its terms of 
 reconciliation ; he is in some degree ashamed of 
 these terms, because they are humiliating when 
 considered in connection with his original state, 
 the remembrance of which is converted by his 
 
 o 2
 
 196 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 depravity into pride, instead of being in itself a 
 good preparative to receive with lowly thankful- 
 ness, any offer by which he. may be restored to 
 the favour of God. The Gospel is designed to 
 bring salvation to man ; but all the honour is 
 intended to redound " to the praise of the glory 
 of his grace," by whom the salvation is freely 
 given. It detracts from the glory of this grace, 
 when we act as though it were merely designed 
 to make up our deficiences, instead of being 
 appointed to recover us from utter ruin. So far 
 as we rely on our own works as meritorious, so 
 far we renounce the Gospel, and are virtually 
 ashamed of it as a sufficient ground for our whole 
 and exclusive reliance. A partial trust in the 
 Gospel excludes from all benefit in the Gospel ; 
 because its blessings are prepared only for those 
 who receive it fully, and renounce all other means 
 of being re-established in the favour of God. To 
 such hesitating disciples, who are halting 
 between two opinions, Christ declares, " whoso- 
 ever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, 
 of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, 
 when he shall come in his own glory, and in his 
 Father's, and of the Holy Angels." (Luke ix. 
 26.) 
 
 We may be said to be ashamed of the Gospel, 
 when we hesitate on proper occasions, to avow 
 a proper regard to the precepts of the Gospel ; 
 when from dread of the world's laugh, we comply
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 197 
 
 with customs and manners which are at variance 
 with the spirit of the Gospel, if not with its 
 positive commands. How conspicuously are the 
 folly and depravity of man seen in such cases ! 
 He is proud of imitating his fellow creatures, but 
 either dislikes, or feels a degree of shame to be 
 conformed to the likeness of his Maker ! He will 
 submit without a murmur to the regulations of 
 the rank in society in which he moves, although 
 such regulations are established wholly irrespective 
 of the divine will ; but he feels a repugnance to 
 conform to the conduct enjoined by his divine 
 Lord and Master ! Whose heart is intirely free 
 from a consciousness of having, in some instances, 
 yielded to the example of others, while that 
 example was known to be in opposition to what 
 we believed to be the example of Christ, which 
 alone we are bound as Christians to follow ? 
 When we see the majority acting quite contrary 
 to what the Bible approves and commands, we are 
 exposed to the temptation of feeling ashamed to 
 avow as Christians those principles, which, if 
 followed up, would lead us to a conduct totally 
 the reverse of what is passing before us, and in 
 which we are solicited to join. The command 
 " Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil," 
 (Exod. xxiii. 2.) is not without its application to 
 the conduct which we are now considering. 
 Men find a countenance in each other's society, 
 for the misconduct which is common to all ; and
 
 198 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 singularity, even in obedience to God's will, is 
 looked upon with some degree of dislike and 
 shame. But where the spirit of the Gospel is 
 admitted to reign in the heart, the conduct which 
 the Gospel enjoins, how contrary soever to the 
 opinions and maxims of the world, will be always 
 studied with carefulness and pursued with dili- 
 gence. The displeasure of God should be a more 
 powerful inducement to " walk worthy of God 
 unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good 
 work, and increasing in the knowledge of God," 
 (Col. i. 10.) than the dread of the censure or con- 
 tempt of the world should be to prevail upon us 
 to " walk after the flesh." 
 
 We are forbidden to display our religious duties 
 unnecessarily ; but this is one extreme, and being 
 ashamed of discharging them is another :- both 
 are equally opposed to the true spirit of the 
 Gospel. The sincere and spiritually-minded 
 Christian adopts the middle course ; he retires 
 to his chamber, and in secret calls upon his God, 
 being satisfied that his Maker alone should be the 
 witness of his devotions. But when properly 
 called upon to make a stand against irreligious 
 practices, he is not ashamed to declare his allegi- 
 ance to the King of heaven ; he believes that his 
 principles have Scriptural authority for their 
 sanction, and he is ever ready to act according to 
 them, and to " give an answer to eveiy man that 
 asketh a reason of the hope that is in" him.
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 199 
 
 (1 Pet. iii. 15.) But many Christians who, 
 while under the influence of that fear of man 
 which " bringeth a snare/' (Prov. xxix. 25.) 
 would blush to be discovered on their knees 
 holding communion with the Father of their 
 spirits, would feel elated on being seen to con- 
 verse familiarly with the great men of the earth. 
 Many feel a pride in being esteemed well- 
 informed in the political relations of their coun- 
 try, who would feel some degree of shame at 
 being supposed to be diligent readers of their 
 Bible. The meekness and humility of the Chris- 
 tian are despised, when contrasted with what is 
 called the becoming pride of the man of spirit 
 the man of the world, who will brook no 
 insult, nor suffer any injury to pass unrevenged. 
 The command of the Gospel to us is, " Be not 
 conformed to this world ? but be ye transformed 
 by the renewing of your mind, that ye may 
 prove what is that good, and acceptable, and 
 perfect will of God." (Rom xii. 2.) Here is a 
 command which, if strictly obeyed, would pre- 
 vent that deceit of the heart, by which we are too 
 often led to suppose that our sincerity towards 
 God may be preserved untarnished, even while 
 we comply in some unlawful things, so that we 
 do but retain correct sentiments in religion, and 
 do not give up any point of doctrine in theory, 
 although we may in practice go in a direction 
 contrary to the tendency of true doctrine.
 
 200 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL, 
 
 Again We may be said to be ashamed of the 
 Gospel, when we distrust the promises of God 
 made to us, with respect to a supply of all need- 
 ful temporal good ; when we turn to expedients 
 of our own invention in times of distress, instead 
 of waiting for the blessing of God on the known 
 path of duty. There is often a secret mixture of 
 pride in our motives, when we are hurrying from 
 one means to another in order to extricate our- 
 selves from present difficulties. We do not like 
 the way which appears to be marked out by God, 
 because it calls for some sacrifice of appearance 
 on our part, and will tend to humble us in the 
 sight of others. We wish too much for a dispen- 
 sation of Providence, that shall not thwart our 
 inclinations ; but God in the guidance of our 
 affairs, does not regulate events so much with a 
 regard to our feelings, (which are too often at 
 variance with the spirit of the Scriptures,) as to 
 what ought to be our character as Christians. 
 What we call feeling, in such cases, is generally 
 pride struggling with a principle of duty; and 
 one evident design of God's government is to 
 mortify and subdue " every high thing that exalt- 
 eth itself against the knowledge of God," and to 
 bring " into captivity every thought, to the 
 obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. ii. 5.) The Gos- 
 pel is accommodated to us as human beings, as 
 frail, sinful, dependent ; but not to our depravity 
 to afford it any encouragement, nor to our
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 201 
 
 weakness to confirm it ; it is intended to furnish 
 us with the means of resisting the one, and of 
 being delivered from the ill consequences of the 
 other. The great design of God is to bring our 
 minds to the standard, which the Gospel sets up as 
 the only true measure of spiritual attainment; 
 and not to lower the Gospel standard to our 
 estimate of what is proper to be done, or what it 
 may please us to do. 
 
 As God is the author of our being, he alone 
 knows what is best for us ; and as he is the giver 
 of eternal life, he alone knows what is most 
 adapted to promote our fitness for the enjoyment 
 of that most excellent gift. He does not call 
 men to make vows of continual poverty, or to 
 renounce the comforts of life which his goodness 
 has placed within their reach ; nor does he, on 
 the other hand, so far remove all trials and diffi- 
 culties, as to render this life no longer a state of 
 probation. His wisdom and abundant loving- 
 kindness have adapted the events of man's life, 
 to the strength imparted to man, or promised to 
 those that seek it by earnest prayer. Our duty 
 is to " seek^zrstf, the kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness," as our chief concern as the great 
 object which should engage our highest thoughts, 
 our most undivided energies, and the best affec- 
 tions of our hearts. And that we may perform 
 this duty without any distracting care and anxiety; 
 proceeding from a fear of being destitute of the
 
 202 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 things necessary to the support of this life, we 
 have the assurance that " all these things shall 
 be added " unto us ; that is, all things needful 
 and requisite for us, not according to our own 
 desires, or what we may judge necessary to our 
 comfort and subsistence, but according to what 
 God sees most fitted to conduce to our temporal 
 good, as subservient to the more important in- 
 terests of our souls. " Having food and raiment," 
 we are called upon to be " therewith content." 
 We have the faithfulness and mercy of God 
 whereon to rely : he is neither unmindful of us, 
 nor uninformed of our wants ; he careth for the 
 fowls of the air, and the grass of the field, how 
 much more then will he care for us his reasonable 
 creatures. On these accounts it was that our 
 Saviour encouraged, while he commanded his 
 disciples, saying, " Take no (anxious} thought, 
 saying, What shall we eat ? or What shall we 
 drink ? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? for 
 your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need 
 of all these things." (Matt. vi. 2632.) 
 
 We have the most sure ground for confidence 
 in the Gospel of Christ, because, " it is the power 
 of God unto salvation, to every one that be- 
 lieveth." It is the power of God, because his 
 power is eminently manifested in the plan of 
 human redemption, which the Gospel fully un- 
 folds and declares to us. Christ is said to be the 
 " Power of God ; " that is, the salvation of which
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 203 
 
 he is the author, is the most striking display of 
 divine power, that has ever been exhibited to 
 mankind. From the nature of God as revealed 
 to us in his Word, from a knowledge of his in- 
 flexible truth and justice, we may infer that the 
 redemption of the world was a greater exertion 
 of divine power, than the creation of the world. 
 In the latter instance, he commanded into ex- 
 istence matter which before had no being, and he 
 fashioned into perfect forms the unresisting ele- 
 ments ; but in the former case, he has shown him- 
 self able to reconcile the irreversible sentence of 
 justice, and the unalterable decree of truth, with 
 the exercise of unlimited mercy on those guilty 
 beings who were condemned by both. If we were 
 not informed of the Truth and Justice of God, 
 we might nevertheless very reasonably conclude 
 that the salvation of man was insuperable to any 
 created intelligence, because the arm of God alone 
 has effected it ; agreeably to what we read in the 
 prophetic books, " He saw that there was no 
 man, therefore his arm brought salvation unto 
 him." (Isa. lix. 16.) God does nothing in vain ; 
 every exercise of his power is prompted by 
 boundless mercy, and guided by infinite wisdom. 
 In the origin of the Gospel, then, as well as in 
 its nature and its application, we have the best 
 the strongest ground of confidence, and may 
 without fear adopt the declaration of the Apostle,
 
 204 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 and say, We are not ashamed of the Gospel of 
 Christ ; for it is the Power of God. 
 
 The power of God is continued to be displayed, 
 in the application of the benefits of the Gospel to 
 men. These benefits are the renewal of the 
 heart, the sanctifying of the intire man, the gifts 
 of faith, hope, and love, and the maintenance of 
 these fruits of the divine Spirit ; all which is ef- 
 fected alone by the Power of God. The enemies 
 of man are classed in Scripture under three heads, 
 the World, the Flesh, and the Devil ; these are 
 incessant hinderances in the way of man's re- 
 demption : the snares and enticements of the 
 world, the depravity and corruption of the heart, 
 and the malice of Satan are in constant operation 
 to sink men into perdition. What strength have 
 we of our own to resist these enemies ? We bear 
 about in us " an evil heart of unbelief," the 
 temptations of the world are pleasing to our na- 
 tural depravity, and we are willingly led captive 
 by the wiles of our spiritual adversary. The 
 power of God alone can help us ; and this power 
 is manifested in all those that believe. The 
 Spirit of God is given to all who do not refuse 
 and resist his holy influence ; and thus feeble and 
 sinful man is enabled to overcome every thing 
 that opposes his salvation. Through life we are 
 dependent upon this power ; were it withdrawn 
 for any period, we must fall into hopeless ruin
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 205 
 
 beneath the feet of our mighty adversaries. Its 
 operation is manifested in the renovation of the 
 heart, at the commencement of the divine life in 
 the soul of man ; it continues to be shown in the 
 good fight of faith, which the Christian warrior 
 maintains through his whole life ; and it will be 
 visible in its most conspicuous and most interest- 
 ing display, when the palm of victory and the 
 crown of glory shall be delivered to all them that 
 believe. 
 
 It is not sufficient to acknowledge the Gos- 
 pel as the power of God, we must have a prac- 
 tical acquaintance with it in that character. It 
 is only those that feel themselves to be weak 
 and depraved, who know the value of divine as- 
 sistance and influence. The Gospel is the power 
 of God to them only that believe. Faith intro- 
 duces us to the knowledge of our condition as 
 sinners, and it also shows us the complete pro- 
 vision, which is made in the Gospel to meet our 
 every want. Christians are " kept by the power 
 of God, through faith, unto salvation." (1 Pet. i. 
 5.) Without faith in the Gospel, we cannot attain 
 to the hope of the Gospel. Without faith we 
 cannot obtain any of the blessings of the Gospel ; 
 and even with it, through our infirmity, we are 
 often deprived of the strength and consolation 
 which would otherwise attend us through life. 
 We too often look to an arm of flesh ; and thus 
 when affliction comes, we are troubled and dis-
 
 206 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 mayed. The power of God is discerned in the 
 support which it gives in afflictions, to all who 
 rely upon it for assistance. When we enjoy the 
 support of this power, we are so persuaded that 
 whatever trials or sufferings come to us from 
 God are not only right and just, but also the ef- 
 fect of divine mercy and goodness to our souls, 
 that we are constrained to be quiet under the 
 hand of God, and to wait for his salvation. 
 
 But the support of the Gospel, as the Power of 
 God, is not confined to life and its trials ; it is 
 abundantly imparted to believers at the hour of 
 death. At that time of great trial, those who 
 trust in the Gospel will find it a sure support. 
 Whatever cannot bear this touchstone, whatever 
 will fail as a support when we come to examine 
 and try it in the near view of eternity, is a false 
 resting-place ; it is unworthy of any reliance. 
 The triumph of the Gospel is the full consolation 
 which it imparts to the dying believer, and the 
 strong support which it gives to his surviving 
 friends. When we stand by the bed of the de- 
 parting Christian, and see him on the verge of 
 time, just leaving this state of being, we are like 
 men on the shore of the mighty ocean, watching 
 the departure of a vessel which is fast sailing to 
 an unknown land. The observers perceive it re- 
 ceding from their view, till at length it is hidden 
 from sight by the horizon closing on the vast ex- 
 panse. They ask of the billows that follow in
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. 207 
 
 endless succession, ' What lieth beyond ? ' But 
 no answer is returned; wave succeeds to wave, 
 but no tidings arrive from the far-distant shore. 
 We ourselves must follow the track of those that 
 have gone before us ; we must see for ourselves 
 what lieth on the other side of the now iiipene- 
 trable cloud, that hangs over the secrets of eter- 
 nity. But faith looks beyond the grave : hope 
 realizes to us the glorious prospects which yet lie 
 hid in eternity : although we see not the " honour 
 and glory," which shall be manifested " at the 
 appearing of Jesus Christ ; " yet we love him, 
 and, believing, we " rejoice with joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory." (1 Pet. i. 7, 8.) If we draw 
 back from this faith, our hope must also fail, and 
 God will have no pleasure in us : but if we " con- 
 tinue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be 
 not moved away from the hope of the Gospel," 
 (Col. i. 23.) we shall receive the end of our faith, 
 " even the salvation of our souls ; " (1 Pet. i. 9.) 
 for the Gospel of Christ is " the power of God 
 unto salvation, to every one that belie veth."
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 THE human mind is so constituted, that it can 
 receive a decided bias by the force of repeated 
 impressions ; and this bias being confirmed by 
 habit, acquires at length the same efficiency as 
 the original and natural principles of the mind. 
 The force of habit has been ever understood as 
 forming a kind of second nature. Instinct is the 
 efficient cause of action in our natural passions ; 
 and desire, the result of long continued custom, 
 actuates our acquired habits. In the former case, 
 a want of power to obey the actuating principle, 
 is felt as a restraint upon our natural freedom ; in 
 the latter case it is felt as a privation. In natural 
 things, we use our faculties in obedience to a 
 secret, original impulse, attended also with 
 pleasure ; in habits, we use them as procuring 
 new pleasures, as affording a new kind of gratifi- 
 cation. In some instances the force of habit is 
 found to surpass that of nature ; men will suffer 
 bodily injury rather than the deprivation of some 
 acquired habit ; nay, examples are not wanting 
 in which they will risk the safety of their health 
 and their lives, in the gratification of their habits. 
 How many sink into utter ruin, both in regard to
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 309 
 
 the health of their bodies, and the state of their 
 property, from a depraved attachment to strong 
 liquors ! In short, every vice and every folly has 
 its votaries, who are as abandoned to these un- 
 lawful or imprudent pursuits, as if they were 
 originally created for this very purpose, and were 
 born under an irresistible decree, and a powerful 
 natural bias, to surrender all their faculties to the 
 single influence of these destructive objects. 
 How shall we account for the force of such habits 
 for such they are ! No man, certainly, is born 
 under a fatality to seek, and at length procure 
 his own ruin. One man may naturally have a 
 greater constitutional Jitness than another, for 
 any particular pursuit ; but if the pursuit be 
 unlawful or injurious, he is drawn to it only by 
 the force of temptation, heightened, indeed, by 
 the peculiarity of his natural temperament ; but 
 it is, after all, only by the force of temptation 
 that he is assailed, and he is under no destiny 
 which unavoidably impels him forward to ruin ; 
 he may., he can resist ; and if he yields, he is 
 conscious that in so doing, he acts with perfect 
 freedom ; his sin is voluntary, and this constitutes 
 his guilt ; it is perpetrated with the consent of his 
 will, and therefore he is justly exposed to the 
 consequences of his course of life. How, then, 
 shall we account for these things ? and why should 
 not the power of good habits, be at least equal 
 to that of bad habits ? It seems that the mind
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 of man is formed with a capacity to acquire new 
 rules of action, as well as new ideas ; new im- 
 pulses, as well as new sentiments. These having 
 all the freshness of novelty, as well as bringing 
 with them a new source of pleasure, do take that 
 place in the mind, which was at first occupied 
 only by purely natural impulses and rules of 
 action ; and being thus ranked among the princi- 
 ples of our nature, as to their influence in guid- 
 ing and impelling men, they bring with them also 
 those means of increasing our gratifications, which 
 add to the influence of principle that of appetite ; 
 and they are thus equal, and in some cases, su- 
 perior, in power, to those appetites and passions, 
 which are strictly natural. We find acquired evil 
 habits able to resist the strength of reason, and 
 to beat down every restraint of morality and 
 religion ; while acquired good habits are but just 
 able to maintain their ground, and do this by 
 force of constant recurrence to the sanctions of 
 religion, and by unremitted watchfulness. We 
 may account for this, perhaps, by considering 
 that, in the former case, the depraved nature of 
 man, which has lost its primitive uprightness and 
 holiness, falls in with every evil habit, and so 
 adds to its strength ; but in the latter case, the 
 very existence of the good habit is produced by 
 the power and help of God, imparting to us a 
 new, and holy principle ; and the continuance of 
 the good habit is maintained by struggling against
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 211 
 
 the evil of the heart and the force of evil example, 
 by reliance on divine assistance, and by a diligent 
 improvement of all the means which tend to 
 nourish us in godliness. 
 
 If such be the case, how important is it to ac- 
 quire good habits in early life, as well as to watch 
 against the encroachments of evil habits, because 
 the mind is not only more impressible in youth, 
 but also more retentive of the impressions which 
 it receives. And every evil habit that is admitted, 
 not only occupies the mind to a certain extent, 
 but indisposes it to the reception of good habits ; 
 for as in the body, every wound inflicted while 
 the humours are corrupted and inflamed, is not 
 only more virulent in itself, but also tends to 
 aggravate the disposition to sickness and disease ; 
 so in the mind which is naturally depraved and 
 corrupt, and without moral health, every vice 
 that is encouraged, increases the depravity, as 
 well as finds polluted nourishment for its own 
 deformed growth. As the practice of evil in- 
 creases, the love of it strengthens ; and at the 
 same time the heart is hardened against reproof, 
 and removed further and further from that state 
 which is friendly to repentance and amendment. 
 Every step taken in the forbidden paths of sin, 
 leads the soul further from God, and weakens the 
 power of returning to him ; till at length that 
 which was a resolution of reform, weak indeed, 
 and deferred from time to time, becomes only a 
 
 p 2
 
 212 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 transitory and scarcely perceptible uneasiness., and 
 in the end a total indifference. The conscience, 
 wounded by so many and oft-repeated offences, 
 becomes a feeble monitor ; and at length is seared 
 and callous. The mercy of God, so long despised 
 and contemned, is succeeded by Justice ; and the 
 impenitent sinner is delivered over to the full 
 hardness of his heart, and sins without compunc- 
 tion, and without remorse, till he sinks into that 
 gulf of perdition where remorse adds to the tor- 
 ment, and repentance is unavailing. O dreadful 
 state, to reflect then only, when the door of re- 
 turn is irrevocably shut, to begin to mourn for 
 sin, when sorrow must be endless, and suffering 
 interminable, to begin to cry for mercy, when 
 offended Justice has trampled out every spark of 
 hope, and extinguished every ray of consolation ! 
 There appears to be in man a tendency to for- 
 get God to forget the relation in which he stands 
 to Him to forget his authority, his presence, his 
 government of the world, and the future account 
 which He will require of every man. To remove this 
 forgetfulness, man is reproved both by the book 
 of nature, and the book of revelation. The works 
 of God testify of his power, and goodness, and 
 continued presence, in supporting, ruling, and 
 preserving the present order of things. Every 
 thing declares that the Providence of God is at no 
 time suspended, much less wholly withdrawn 
 from the earth. The agency of God is never
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 213 
 
 Inactive ; the life, and beauty, and fertility of the 
 creation are maintained by his omnipresent 
 power, and unwearied beneficence. Thus the 
 book of nature reproves the ingratitude and the 
 sinful forgetfulness of man. The reproof of the 
 Word of God is addressed to him in more empha- 
 tical language ; and is calculated to rouse the most 
 careless, and to attract the attention of the most 
 thoughtless. All other creatures are obedient to 
 the will of God ; they depart not from the law 
 under which they were created, either in regard 
 to their habits of life, their appointed dwelling, 
 or the provision prepared for their maintenance. 
 But man, the most noble and perfect of God's 
 creatures, is impatient of the control of his 
 Maker, although tempered with great and unde- 
 served mercy ; he renounces the divine authority, 
 and presumptuously rebels against his Creator ; 
 or he lives in habitual neglect of his commands, 
 and forgetfulness of his presence, and power, and 
 the nature of his government. He makes but 
 small account of the favour of God ; if, indeed, he 
 esteems it worth any inquiry or concern whether 
 his conduct meets with the divine approbation or 
 displeasure. The world engrosses all his thoughts, 
 all his anxiety, all his care ; and the consideration 
 of his moral accountableness, his duty to God, the 
 end of life, the future world, and a judgment to 
 come, is at all times unwelcome to him ; he 
 gladly enlbraces any employment that may rid
 
 214 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 his mind of such things, and catches at every 
 trifle to divert his thoughts from the ever-unplea- 
 sant theme of religion. So general is this hardness 
 of heart, this depravity, this perversion of man's 
 original uprightness, that a feeling of shame takes 
 possession of the breast, when a man is suspected 
 of being careful about the immortal interests of 
 his soul. He feels that Ke is departing from the 
 common course of the world, and that he shall 
 incur the ridicule of being thought to aim at 
 surpassing his fellows in wisdom and holiness. 
 He who renounces his sins, and returns to the 
 forsaken service of his God, is regarded by many 
 as an apostate from his former profession, not 
 as a penitent sorrowing for his errors and trans- 
 gressions, and returning to that course of life 
 which the Word of God prescribes, and from 
 which he had wickedly deviated. His companions 
 narrowly observe his renewed conduct, not for 
 the purpose of imitating what is reasonable, and 
 sincere, and holy ; but that they may have the 
 malignant satisfaction of discovering the failings 
 of infirmity, or detecting the obliquities of re- 
 maining depravity. While their consciences bear 
 testimony to his better conduct, and wiser choice, 
 they harden themselves in evil, and are strength- 
 ened in their wicked courses, by that companion- 
 ship, which always gives vigour and boldness in 
 any cause. Men are encouraged by union and 
 numbers ; and when this union is for unholy and
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 215 
 
 sinful purposes, they seem to act as if their 
 numbers placed them above the control and 
 government of their Maker, and as if their moral 
 responsibility decreased in proportion to the ac- 
 cession gained to their mere numerical force and 
 strength. 
 
 The tendency of sin is to harden the human 
 heart. We may trace the progress of this harden- 
 ing, till it ends in destruction. Look at a youth 
 brought up in the fear of God, and dismissed into 
 the world by his parents with the best advice. 
 He shrinks from the contact of vice. His con- 
 science is tender, and cannot endure the wounds 
 which a guilty conduct inflicts. The very pre- 
 sence of men abandoned to vicious courses, gives 
 him pain, and he seems to himself to contract 
 some moral pollution, even from their contiguity 
 to him. After a time these impressions become 
 more feeble. Constant collision, as it were, with 
 men who have cast off the fear of God, assimilates 
 him in some degree to them ; the broad distinc- 
 tion between good and evil is somewhat lessened ; 
 the hard features of sin are a little softened ; the 
 odiousness of vice loses much of its deformity ; 
 its aspect, from being long beheld, ceases to ex- 
 cite the same horror in his mind ; he can now 
 look on sin without that trembling of heart, 
 which he once experienced. At last he ventures 
 on some small violation of his rectitude, more in 
 compliance with what he sees around him, than
 
 216 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 from actual depravation of religious principle ; 
 for he first satisfies himself, (though by false 
 reasoning,) of the trifling nature of the deviation 
 which he is about to make, and with a firm reso- 
 lution, (as he thinks,) of restricting himself to a 
 defined course, a limited extent, which he is never 
 to overstep. For this small obliquity he feels 
 some checks of conscience ; he is reproved by his 
 better reflections ; but he hardens himself in a 
 short time against this reproof; he begins to call 
 his tenderness of conscience weak scrupulousness, 
 and his regard to the will of God, superstition. 
 He proceeds to farther lengths of transgression, 
 to greater violations of rectitude ; he is again re- 
 proved, and again hardens himself. At times he 
 reflects on the consequences of his pursuits, and 
 resolves on amendment ; but concludes that there 
 is yet good time, and that he needs not be too 
 singular in renouncing his companions and ac- 
 quaintance. He presumes on his youth, and 
 health, and thinks that maturer years will afford 
 leisure, and bring the inclination to attend again 
 to religious duties. He professes to be waiting 
 for this period, but defers it from day to day, 
 from month to month, from year to year ; till old 
 age finds him persisting in sin with all the obsti- 
 nacy of confirmed depravity, and the insensibility 
 of a seared conscience. 
 
 What is the catastrophe of this career of sin ? 
 Awful indeed is its termination. His heart has
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 217 
 
 remained callous to all the remonstrances of the 
 Word of God, and of the jninisters of the Gospel, 
 to all the terrors of a future world, and all the 
 threatened "denunciations of endless misery, to 
 all the invitations of mercy, and the pleadings of 
 a compassionate Saviour, and at last recovers its 
 sensibility, when the stroke is already lifted up 
 which is to render it cold and unfeeling in death. 
 His conscience, so long resisted and wounded, 
 till it ceased to reprove ceased to feel, regains 
 its dominion, when the spirit is at the very 
 threshold of eternity, and on the point of appear- 
 ing at that tribunal from which there is no appeal. 
 Repentance begins to be excited in his mind, just 
 when he is about to be consigned to endless re- 
 morse. He commences his anxious inquiry for 
 the hope of the Gospel, at the moment when 
 despair hopeless, ever-during despair is appoint- 
 ed to seize on his soul. He calls for the divine 
 mercy the long-despised and rejected mercy, 
 when the full and fierce anger of God is about to 
 fall on his head, and to seal his everlasting misery. 
 He cries for the once-offered the long-offered, 
 but ever-slighted pardon of Heaven, when con- 
 demnation to hell is the irreversible sentence 
 which is about to be pronounced upon him. 
 
 Who can tell the anguish and horror, the keen 
 pangs of remorse which fasten on the heart, and 
 agitate the troubled breast of the dying sinner ! 
 There is no order in the armies of sorrows which
 
 218 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 press upon him ; he is overwhelmed with fear, 
 and regret, and self-reproach, and bitter remem- 
 brance, and dread forebodings. The king of 
 terrors assails him ; he feels his strength depart- 
 ing ; life sinks in him ; the agonies of the last 
 struggle of expiring nature are increased by the 
 greater anguish of his spirit ; he sees the world 
 receding from his dim vision, and apprehends 
 that the gloomy gulf of perdition is opening to 
 receive him. He departs from that state of ex- 
 istence in which alone prayer is heard, repentance 
 accepted, faith is available, and pardon is granted ; 
 and enters on the unchanging, the awful scenes of 
 an eternal world ! " He that being often reproved, 
 hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, 
 and that without remedy." (Prov. xxix. 1.) 
 
 Let us consider some of those errors in sen- 
 timent, in which men harden themselves against 
 all reproof. 
 
 I. Some harden themselves in pretended 
 atheism, and professed infidelity. 
 
 We have said pretended atheism, because the 
 absolute disbelief of the existence of a God of 
 a Superior Power, seems so contrary to the 
 natural conscience of man, that an atheist, pro- 
 perly so called, from conviction, was certainly 
 never yet found on the earth. Thus, among the 
 most savage tribes that have ever been discovered, 
 some notion, however dim and obscure, has 
 been found of the existence of an invisible,
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 219 
 
 Supreme Being. They have, indeed., assigned 
 very unworthy attributes to their god, or gods ; 
 and some nations have regarded their deities 
 rather as beings, whose malignity was equal to 
 their power, than as beings disposed to aid the 
 distresses of mankind, to pity their infirmities, 
 and to pardon their sins. Even the poor 
 Greenlander, scarcely raised in intellectual 
 powers, or earthly condition, above the irrational 
 creatures on which he preys, trembles at the 
 apprehended anger of an unknown God ; and 
 fears an invisible world, of which he possesses no 
 correct information, and for his ideas of which, 
 dark, and confused, and painful, as they are, he 
 is indebted either to the gloomy and vague sug- 
 gestions of his own untutored mind, or to the 
 inventions of his more artful and knavish ange- 
 koks, or pretended sorcerers. 
 
 When we reflect on the perfections of Deity as 
 stated in the Scriptures, and regard our God as a 
 Being of infinite holiness, justice, wisdom, good- 
 ness, and truth, as altogether worthy of the best 
 affections of our hearts, and the devoted service 
 of our lives, we may reasonably and justly con- 
 clude that those persons, who affect to deny the 
 very existence of such a Being, feel a moral 
 aversion to his perfections, because they are 
 opposed to the gratification of those unruly pas- 
 sions, and unholy desires, which reign in their 
 breasts. They do not so much disbelieve the
 
 220 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 existence of a God, as wish that there was no 
 God. " The fool hath said in his heart, There 
 is no God." (Ps. xiv. 1.) He finds that the 
 existence of the God of the Scriptures necessarily 
 involves him in danger, from the hatred of God 
 to all sin, and the punishment which he has de- 
 nounced against it ; and being resolved not to 
 abandon his evil courses, he endeavours to get 
 rid of the belief that there is any God, he finds 
 it desirable that there should be none, that so he 
 may sin without restraint, and without the tor- 
 menting dread of future punishment ; and there- 
 fore he says in his heart, ' There is no God.* 
 
 It would be an almost endless task to run 
 over all the arguments and proofs that might be 
 adduced of the existence of a God ; and it is in 
 fact unnecessary in a work of this kind. For a 
 man to exercise, or rather, to pervert his 
 reason in denying the existence of an Infinite 
 Intelligence as the Creator of all things, is, in 
 fact, to furnish a contradiction to his own impi- 
 ous assertions ; for the possession and exercise 
 of reason and intelligence in man, is of itself a 
 proof of the existence of a Supreme Creator. 
 
 There are some who profess to be atheists in 
 sentiment, but their constant endeavour to affix 
 ridicule on those who hold different opinions, is 
 a proof that they are not settled in their own 
 minds, nor satisfied of the truth of the notions 
 which they have ventured to take up with ; and
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 221 
 
 so are led to a constant effort to keep down the 
 reproofs of conscience, and to exclude the con- 
 viction which is ready to break in upon them. 
 They vainly think that ridicule cast on those, who 
 hold the faith of the Scriptures, adds reason and 
 argument to uphold their own false and fatal 
 opinions. It does indeed confirm them in their 
 unbelief, but affords no confirmation to their sen- 
 timents ; it does indeed harden them against the 
 reproof and instruction of the Bible, but does 
 not weaken the mighty mass of evidence, which 
 supports the truth of the Bible. 
 
 But if it be unreasonable to deny the existence 
 of a God, how much more so to allow his exist- 
 ence, and to deny his moral government of men. 
 For a man to look on the order of the works of 
 creation, and to deny the exercise of infinite 
 intelligence in the administration of them, is 
 more likely to be the result of a presumptuous, 
 foolhardy arrogance, than the calm conclusion 
 and settled belief of a mind desirous of admitting 
 only incontrovertible truths. 
 
 Can any thing be more unreasonable, as well as 
 impious, than to maintain that God has created 
 man on the earth, as the chief work of his hands, 
 and given him a mind capable of knowing his 
 Maker, and of acquiring almost illimitable 
 attainments in knowledge ; and then left him as a 
 mere abortive intelligence, to spend a few years 
 of anxious being on the earth, and finally to sink
 
 222 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 into dust, and into non-existence ! Has man, 
 above all other animals, the faculty of knowing 
 and acknowledging his Maker, has he those 
 properties of mind, which dispose, as well as 
 capacitate him, for the exercise of trust in his 
 God, reliance on his Providence, hope in his 
 mercy, fear of his displeasure, desire of his 
 approval, anxious solicitude respecting a future 
 state of existence ; and are all his moral powers 
 schooled, and improved, and regulated by the 
 exercise of this capacity and the culture of this 
 disposition, and after all are these faculties given 
 him in vain to no end with no reference to the 
 government of God ! Has the Maker of all 
 things no care for the sole being on earth, who 
 can, and who does trust in him ; has he no 
 regard for man, who rests on the belief of his Pro- 
 vidence ; has he no pity for him, who is craving 
 his mercy ; has he no love for the creature, 
 who trembles at his apprehended frown, and 
 rejoices in the expectation of his approval ; has 
 he decreed that rational soul to annihilation, in 
 which he first implanted a capacity to conceive 
 of, and to desire a perpetuity of being ! Has 
 God indeed given man all these wonderful facul- 
 ties, produced in his mind these hopes, fears, 
 and expectations, and bestowed on him the com- 
 mencement of a progression in knowledge and 
 understanding, merely to quench these lights of 
 the soul, and the soul itself for ever ; to put an
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 223 
 
 eternal close to the progress of intellect, at the 
 very outset of its promising and pleasing course ! 
 This is indeed to deny both the wisdom and 
 goodness of the Deity ! This is indeed worse 
 than the denial of his being ! This is to allow 
 the existence of a God, and to blaspheme against 
 his perfections ! Those who thus impiously 
 assign to the Deity, just that proportion of 
 authority in the world, and that degree of cogni- 
 zance of human affairs, which shall not be any 
 check to the gratification of their depraved 
 desires, and who dare to limit those attributes, 
 which must be the essential properties of the 
 Godhead, do assume to themselves in ignorant 
 and wicked arrogance, more authority than they 
 are willing to allow to that revelation, which 
 God has been pleased to give of his character and 
 government. They reject a well-authenticated 
 document, which bears the stamp of Heaven, 
 and dare to invent for themselves a God after 
 their own hearts ; and presumptuously call on all 
 men to receive their dogmas, to admit their pre-* 
 tended infallibility, to look on them as a sort of 
 divinities, to whose oracles implicit obedience 
 is to be paid ! 
 
 But, to direct our inquiry to the consequences 
 of this presumptuous denial of the divine exist- 
 ence, and this hardened rejection of the divine 
 government ; how will he who denied the being 
 of a God, appear before Him when arrayed in the
 
 224 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 dread solemnities of the Judge of all the earth ! 
 How will he bear to look on the awful realities of 
 the invisible world, who denied a future state of 
 existence! Will not his restoration to life be 
 insufferable, who professed to believe that when 
 he departed this mortal life, he should sink into 
 non-existence, into annihilation ! How will he 
 bear the return of all his vital powers, of all those 
 senses which are either the avenues to pleasurable 
 sensation, or the inlet to agonizing misery, who 
 professed to believe that when this wonderful 
 structure of the body should return to dust in the 
 grave, its divine Architect would blot it from his 
 remembrance, and no more restore it to its former 
 symmetry and proportion ! How will he look on 
 the agency of God in judging men, and in as- 
 signing to them their final abodes of happiness or 
 of woe, who, although he admitted the being of 
 a God, once denied that he exercised any Provi- 
 dential administration in the world ! Irreparable 
 destruction, hopeless ruin await the hardened 
 impenitent. " He shall suddenly be destroyed, 
 and that without remedy." He shall be convinced 
 of the being of a God, by beholding his arm up- 
 lifted to smite him with the heaviest rod of his 
 anger, and by hearing his awful voice pronounce 
 his unchangeable doom to an eternity of suffering I 
 He shall be convinced of the agency of God, in 
 the government of his rational creatures, by be- 
 holding him in the exercise of the most solemn,
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 225 
 
 most decisive act of that administration, and by 
 Himself falling under the sentence and condemna- 
 tion of that just government, that righteous dis- 
 tribution of evil to the evil doer, and of punishment 
 to the transgressor ! 
 
 2. Others harden themselves in false notions of 
 God of his character and government. 
 
 The only true and uncorrupted source whence 
 we can derive any knowledge of the Supreme 
 Being, is to be found in the Scriptures. Mere 
 natural knowledge will not lead anyjone-to form 
 right notions of their Maker ; we must be in- 
 debted to revelation for this knowledge. But 
 with the book of God in their hands, men never- 
 theless create a Deity after their own imaginations, 
 and they proportion his attributes so as to afford 
 countenance, if not encouragement, to their 
 course of life. Hence it is that we so often hear 
 persons speaking of the mercy of God, not in 
 conjunction with their deep and true repentance, 
 but as a balm to heal slightly the wound of sin in 
 their consciences ; as a cover for iniquity, not as 
 a powerful motive to abstain from all evil. Now, 
 with respect to the character of the Deity, as 
 merciful, we cannot estimate this attribute too 
 highly ; it is not to be limited by our conceptions, 
 either as to the extent in which it can be exercised, 
 or its duration. Every thing around us attests 
 the mercy of God ; our own well-being, and our 
 very existence, declare the same thing. But we 
 
 Q
 
 226 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 find other perfections besides mercy ascribed to 
 God in the Bible ; and we discern at the same 
 time a perfect harmony in the exercise of each. 
 Mercy is never shown to the disparagement of 
 justice ; nor is justice executed to the destruction 
 of mercy ; nor are promises fulfilled to the annull- 
 ing of threatenings and denunciations. To mercy 
 which endureth for ever, are joined jealous holi- 
 ness, inflexible justice, truth which can never 
 pass away, nor fall to the ground. There is in 
 heaven justice to condemn and punish the har- 
 dened sinner, as well as mercy to spare and 
 pardon the penitent. Hath not God declared 
 that he will by no means clear the guilty, as well 
 as proclaimed himself " the Lord God, merciful 
 and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good- 
 ness and truth ?" (Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.) Is he not 
 " of purer eyes than to behold evil," (Heb. i. 13.) 
 that is, to look on it with indifference or approval, 
 as well as a God " keeping mercy for thousands, 
 forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin ? " 
 Does he promise pardon and acceptance to those 
 who confess and forsake their sins, who acknow- 
 ledge their backslidings, and return unto him 
 with weeping and with supplication ; and has he 
 not also threatened to banish for ever from his 
 presence the impenitent who die in their sins ? 
 Will not the same voice which now, in the mild, 
 persuasive accents of mercy, says, " Come unto 
 me, all ye that labour, and are heavy-laden, and
 
 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 227 
 
 I will give you rest, (Matt. xi. 28.) pronounce 
 also in wrath, the dreaded sentence, " Depart 
 from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
 pared for the Devil and his angels?" (Matt. 
 xxv. 41.) 
 
 Let not any one, then, vainly imagine that he 
 shall continue in sin with impunity, because he 
 dares in presumption to compromise the truth 
 and justice of God, or expects in ignorance that 
 all the perfections of the Godhead, will be mer- 
 ged in the exercise of the sole attribute of mercy. 
 With the Bible before us, we are without excuse 
 if we imagine any other Deity than the God of 
 the Bible. With the Scriptural account of the 
 method of salvation in our hands, we are inex- 
 cusable if we forsake it to devise a plan of our 
 own a plan that shall yield and conform itself 
 to the indulgence of our depravity, and have no 
 regard to the glory of God. We cannot fall into 
 any dangerous any fatal error, in the all-impor- 
 tant concern of religion, without coming under 
 the reproof of the Bible. If we will not try our 
 sentiments by this unerring guide, or having 
 brought them to this test, are obstinately bent 
 on following our own vain imaginations, what 
 can we expect but to reap the fruit of our own 
 ways, and to be filled with our own devices ? 
 (Prov. i. 31.) The Word of God cannot be 
 altered in its statements, to suit our pride ; in 
 its directions, to accord with our perverseness ; 
 
 Q2
 
 228 DANGER OF HARDENED IMPENITENCE. 
 
 in its doctrines, to accommodate our prejudices ; 
 in its promises, to countenance our depravity ; 
 or in its threatenings , to connive at our pre- 
 sumption. The declaration remains immutable, 
 " He that being often reproved, hardeneth 
 his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and 
 that without remedy." But if we cast down our 
 hurtful pride, our erring reason, our confirmed 
 prejudices, before the clear and plain state- 
 ment of Scripture, and receive it in all its 
 declarations, " without partiality, and without 
 hypocrisy," then shall we meet with acceptance 
 before that God, who " resisteth the proud, but 
 giveth grace unto the humble ; " (James iv. 7.) 
 who will guide the meek in judgment, and teach 
 them his way ; (Psalm xxv. 9.) and then shall 
 that Word be made profitable to us, " for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
 tion, in righteousnesss," and we shall become 
 men of God, " perfect, thoroughly furnished 
 unto all good works." (2 Timothy iii. 6. 17.)
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 THE human mind never rests satisfied in intire 
 ignorance. The most dull and inert of mankind, 
 have some degree of curiosity, which excites in 
 them a desire to attain to the knowledge of such 
 things as are presented to their observation, or 
 of which they have heard. In some minds, there 
 is an insatiable thirst for information ; they will 
 explore at great personal hazard and with much 
 painful perseverance, the secret operations of 
 nature. The bowels of the earth are ransacked 
 of their stores ; the depth of the ocean cannot 
 conceal from the eye and the grasp of man, the 
 treasures which lie beneath its mighty waves ; 
 the air is traversed beyond the region of the 
 clouds ; the sea is no longer a barrier against the 
 excursions of the mariner, he braves and over- 
 comes the winds and storms, and explores the 
 most distant lands ; with artificial aid the astro- 
 nomer calculates the magnitude and distance of 
 the stars, and discovers the laws and movements 
 of systems of starry worlds on high ; the power- 
 ful agency of fire is employed to analyze the 
 productions of nature, to pursue her into her
 
 230 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 secret recesses, and to ascertain some of the 
 wonderful changes and processes by which the 
 present order of things is supported and con- 
 nected. But amidst all this eager pursuit of 
 knowledge, this patient, and sometimes perilous 
 investigation of the laws of nature, we find but 
 small concern excited among the generality of 
 mankind, respecting their spiritual interests ; 
 very little inquiry what is the will of God ; 
 indifference with regard to their future condition 
 in the eternal world ; an extensively-prevalent 
 willingness to remain ignorant of their true cha- 
 racter. Pride and depravity combine to keep us 
 unacquainted with ourselves, and unconcerned 
 about the judgment of God. 
 
 To love the " praise of men, more than the 
 praise of God," (John xii. 43.) has ever been a 
 prevalent error among all classes of persons. 
 Those whom the world commends are generally 
 esteemed happy ; and the objects of this com- 
 mendation are led to deceive themselves, in 
 forming an estimate of their own character ; they 
 take too low a standard for self-examination, when 
 they adopt human opinion as the arbiter to decide 
 what is the chief good. All that is in the world 
 having a worldly origin is the offspring of 
 error and depravity, and cannot be a safe guide 
 in the pursuit of true happiness. The applause 
 of the world is but a poor criterion, whereby to 
 conclude who is a happy man. We may see a
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 231 
 
 man with a plentiful fortune; he has health, 
 friends, and family ; his opinions are much 
 sought after in matters of taste and the fine arts ; 
 his correct judgment is greatly admired in the 
 selection of valuable paintings and beautiful 
 sculpture, in the choice of handsome and elegant 
 furniture, in the erection and arrangement of a 
 commodious mansion, in the tasteful disposition 
 of ornamental gardens and pleasure-grounds ; 
 he is also kind and amiable, munificent in his 
 charities, and a lover and promoter of peace in 
 his neighbourhood, active in forming and exe- 
 cuting plans for the benefit of the poor, and in 
 every respect a useful and valuable member of 
 society : But here the fair lines in the picture 
 terminate ; if we examine further, and carry our 
 inquiries into the state of his heart towards God, 
 and how he fills up his duties as a being depend- 
 ent on God for all things, as a sinner hopeless 
 and exposed to everlasting ruin without the 
 intervention of Christ the Mediator, as account- 
 able to his Judge for all his conduct, and as an 
 heir of immortal existence in a future world of 
 happiness or sorrow, we find an alarming 
 deficiency ; he never thinks of the relation in 
 which he stands towards his Maker ; he has no 
 concern about another state of being ; the great 
 end for which he was at first created is unknown, 
 neglected, or forgotten ; the grand object of his 
 existence is unaccomplished.
 
 232 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 Self-deception prevails in the world to a degree, 
 at which many persons may be surprised, who 
 have not considered the depravity of the human 
 heart, and the deceitfulness of sin. Men are dis- 
 posed by self-love to think well of themselves 
 to think more highly of themselves than they 
 ought. And what is the origin of this self-love ? 
 It proceeds from pride. Men wish to be free 
 from danger ; and as their conscience accuses 
 them of many things, which expose them to the 
 anger of God, and consequently to punishment, 
 they are led from a desire of being in a state of 
 safety, and from an unwillingness to allow of the 
 full extent of their corruptions, to take up with 
 almost any ground of hope that is offered to them, 
 and to rest satisfied with very equivocal marks of 
 possessing those dispositions of mind, and of ob- 
 serving that course of conduct, which are at- 
 tendant on a state of acceptance with God. 
 
 The cases of self-deception which may be de- 
 tected in the world, are exceedingly numerous. 
 Every one flatters himself that he is free from this 
 insidious vice, and that he is pursuing real plea- 
 sure and good, and in the right way in the way 
 most promising of success. Or, if the conduct of 
 some be too grossly at variance with propriety, 
 to suffer them to call their own particular evil 
 good, yet they deceive themselves with the vain 
 expectation, that they shall one day be satiated 
 with their empty pleasures, and renounce their
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 2 33 
 
 forbidden lusts, and return to the paths of holi- 
 ness and of safety. 
 
 What a false view of life is taken by the mere 
 man of pleasure! He seems to regard the end 
 of his existence, to be the gratification of his 
 foolish or sinful desires. His life is one continued 
 course of vanity, or iniquity ; he is a mere eumber- 
 er of the ground, never forming one useful design, 
 or executing one action worthy of a rational crea- 
 ture ; and yet he presumes to ridicule or despise 
 those, who live agreeably to reason to reason 
 instructed, and corrected, and guided by the 
 Word of God. What a degrading idea of human life, 
 must be formed by such persons ! Is man created 
 merely to flutter from folly to folly, or to revel 
 in one excess after another ; to live only for him- 
 self, and only for the lowest purpose of so low an 
 object the indulgence of those passions, which 
 proceed from the debasement of his original na- 
 ture, or the possession of those frivolities which 
 are beneath the pursuit of a being endowed 
 with an immortal spirit! The life of such a 
 person is, as it were, a lie a contradiction of the 
 design of his Creator. He bears a lie in his right 
 hand. (Isa. xliv. 20.) He never attains to true 
 enjoyment ; nor can he ever find that pleasure 
 which will stand the test of time and of exami- 
 nation, or which will bear much repetition. Time 
 may at first be quickly and imperceptibly con- 
 sumed by a favourite pursuit ; but it soon palls
 
 234 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 the appetite, and disgusts by the want of novelty. 
 He knows by experience that vanity and deceit 
 are written on earthly pleasures, and yet he con- 
 tinues to weary himself in the fruitless pursuit of 
 that, which has never yielded him any true, any 
 solid, any lasting satisfaction. 
 
 How many of these frivolous beings are to be 
 found in society! They are known to exist, 
 solely by the pity or contempt which they excite 
 in the minds of observers ; their lives are useless 
 to others, and unprofitable to themselves ; their 
 name is never connected with actions that call 
 for the praise and the admiration of men ; they 
 sicken and die, and society sustains no loss in 
 their death ; no one laments that a useful station 
 is left vacant by their departure, or that any 
 valued and endeared relations of life are severed, 
 or that any purposes and plans of utility are broken 
 off. O ! who that is worthy of the name of man, 
 can be contented so to live, that when death 
 comes, he should leave the world without having 
 fulfilled one useful purpose of existence, or left 
 one honourable recollection of his memory, and 
 no one be found to shed the tear of esteem and 
 affection on his grave ! 
 
 There is another lamentable ground of self- 
 deception, which though often noticed, is un- 
 happily still too frequent to be passed without 
 notice ; and that is, the lie of infidelity. What 
 a perversion of reason, to seek comfort in a sys-
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 235 
 
 tern which tears up the root of all true consola- 
 tion ! The conscience of the infidel belies all his 
 vain professions. He is not at rest ; he does not 
 so believe what he wishes to be true, as to be 
 free from alarming fears and distressing appre- 
 hensions. A reasonable being, who understood 
 the nature of his condition on the earth, and who 
 felt how much he stands in need of guidance, and 
 assistance, and comfort, and who sought a rational 
 hope of happiness in a future state of being, 
 would gladly embrace a system which offered 
 him all these advantages, and which had supplied 
 them in inexhausted abundance to numberless 
 generations of men, in all ages of the world. 
 And what is the source of all these blessings, but 
 the Word of God! The truth of the Bible is 
 most apparent, from the single consideration of its 
 exact suitableness to the condition of man, and 
 the solid assurance which it gives to that innate 
 expectation, and that inextinguishable desire of 
 immortality, which are found in every breast. 
 The Bible is so adapted to our character and 
 condition, that it carries with it in this respect, a 
 proof of its divine original ; only He who knew the 
 heart of man, could supply a system of morals 
 adapted to man. Every command in Scripture 
 implies a disposition in man to disobedience ; and 
 respecting every sin that is forbidden, we shall 
 find on inquiry, that there is a tendency in man's 
 depravity to commit that particular sin. The
 
 236 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 infidel rejects the Scriptures, but does not pre- 
 tend to supply their place by any thing which 
 shall give a sure direction to the conduct, or an 
 abiding peace and rest to the conscience. On the 
 contrary, he affects to think that conscience itself 
 is among the inventions of human deceit ; that 
 it is the result of early impressions made on the 
 childish imagination, by false grounds of fear and 
 folly of superstition. He takes away the sun, 
 and assures you that darkness is better than light ; 
 he cuts off hope, and offers you despair as a better 
 possession ! 
 
 This deceit of infidelity adds to the evil con- 
 sequences of self-deception, the guilt of wilful 
 rejection of truth, and deliberate reception of 
 error. The unbeliever is properly so called, for 
 he discredits his own professed creed, and fears 
 lest there should be truth in that which he re- 
 nounces. A consciousness that his aim is neither 
 to make himself personally better, nor relatively 
 more useful, not to strengthen the ties of honour, 
 and rectitude, and purity, and obedience ; but to 
 rid himself of the sanctions of divine law, that he 
 may sin fearlessly ; that he may lose the terrors 
 of God's anger, in a disbelief of his notice of 
 human actions ; that the dread of a future judg- 
 ment may be obliterated by a struggle to keep 
 down the hope of immortality, and by a pretended 
 expectation of sinking after death into annihila- 
 tion. Professing to understand and exercise the
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 237 
 
 right use of reason, he first violates its most 
 distinguishing property, that of raising us above 
 the beasts of the field, by enabling us to ac- 
 knowledge our Maker. The infidel debases hu- 
 man nature, instead of ennobling it ; he classes 
 himself in the lowest grade of creation, by as- 
 serting that he was made for no object, but to 
 be the sport of accident, to grasp at the small 
 share of enjoyment which disease and disap- 
 pointment and a thousand obstacles leave for his 
 uncertain portion, to grovel in the indulgence 
 of his sensual appetites, and to pervert, in de- 
 basing pursuits, those powers and noble faculties 
 of the mind, which were given him to glorify his 
 Creator by denying all ungodliness, and preparing 
 for heaven by a due discharge of all the duties of 
 life. " A deceived heart hath turned him aside, 
 that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there 
 not a lie in my right hand ?" (Isa. xliv. 20.) 
 
 There is not a more common case of self-de- 
 ception, than in the mistaken notions which are 
 entertained by very many persons, respecting 
 the nature of religion. While all allow that it is 
 a concern of great moment, and that the know- 
 ledge of it can be derived only from the Bible, 
 few think seriously enough of it to become diligent 
 readers of their Bibles, in order to ascertain what 
 is the will of God. They make out a system of 
 religion according to their own imaginations 
 such a system as is congenial with the natural
 
 238 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 depravity of the human heart, and the frivolity of 
 the human mind. Every individual who is thus 
 blinded by self-deception, concludes that religion 
 does not oppose 'his own particular pursuits, or 
 any of his modes of seeking pleasure. Religion 
 is supposed to accommodate itself, with ready 
 compliance, to the characters, and conduct, and 
 sentiments of men, and not to effect that change 
 in erroneous sentiments, and to produce that re- 
 novation of worldly character, and to exercise 
 that influence over unholy actions, which will 
 assimilate the whole man to its own sacred and 
 heavenly likeness. 
 
 What an incorrect estimate do some persons 
 form, of the nature and requirements of true re- 
 ligion! We hear them talk much of religion's 
 not forbidding the social pleasures of life ; and by 
 making use of, or rather by abusing this unde- 
 niable truth, they think to cloak themselves from 
 punishment, while they indulge many habits 
 which are totally contrary to the spirit and com- 
 mands of the Gospel. Religion is favourable to 
 all social pleasures, which are not either sinful in 
 themselves, or which do not generally lead to sin. 
 Many things may be harmless in themselves, but 
 the general perversion of them to unlawful ends, 
 or the general use of them in a manner unworthy 
 of rational beings, and inconsistent with the true 
 profession of Christianity, renders it imperative 
 on every sincere Christian steadily to refrain from
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 239 
 
 them. It is not enough to ask, without fear of a 
 condemnatory reply, What harm is in them ? 
 The harm is not in the things themselves, but in 
 the manner in which they are generally used ; 
 and until there is a general reformation of this 
 manner, they must be renounced by every one 
 who would preserve that distinguishing mark of 
 " pure religion and undefiled," namely, " to keep 
 himself unspotted from the world." (James i. 27.) 
 
 The charge against the friends of true religion, 
 that they wish to make every one as dull and me- 
 lancholy as themselves, and to deprive people of 
 enjoyment, is scarcely worthy of a reply ; because 
 the promoters of the objection are conscious that 
 their own aim is to justify their conduct to the 
 world, and to persuade themselves that by urging 
 a charge against those who endeavour to live 
 agreeably to the Gospel, as well as to receive its 
 promises, a charge, which though without any 
 foundation in truth, has nevertheless some ap- 
 pearance of plausibleness, they shall exonerate 
 themselves from culpability. 
 
 Such persons are conscious that they do not 
 desire to live consistently with religious require- 
 ments, but to make religion agreeable, or at least 
 tolerable to themselves. They are often very 
 zealous in keeping up an attention to all the out- 
 ward services of religion, and are willing to admit 
 the importance of so solemn a transaction be- 
 tween God and man, and that it should influence
 
 240 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 people in keeping them honest and industrious, 
 in making good servants and upright tradesmen ; 
 in short, any thing except the exercise of a trans- 
 forming influence over their own jiearts and lives. 
 They will not allow religion to interfere with 
 their private life, so as to stamp its hallowed im- 
 pression on any part of it, and to restrain them 
 from every thing which has a tendency to debase 
 the affections and to turn the heart from God. 
 Religion is readily enough stated by such persons 
 as not forbidding pleasure and profit, and so they 
 do not suffer it to have any influence at all in 
 following their own pleasure, or pursuing their 
 own gains. Being too well informed to neglect 
 religion wholly, or openly to ridicule it, they are 
 satisfied with a few formal attentions to some of 
 its duties ; but never admit it to enter, much 
 less to reign in the heart. A deceived heart hath 
 turned them aside, that they cannot deliver their 
 soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in our right hand ? 
 That is, they are so much under the power of 
 self-deception, which they have willingly indulged, 
 that they are unable to detect their error and to 
 rectify it, unable to see their danger, and to flee 
 from it. 
 
 Again The self-righteous person carries a lie 
 in his right hand ; he is under the influence of a 
 fatal delusion ; the ground of his hope is false ; 
 his plea of acceptance with God will be rejected, 
 or will cover him with confusion. Many persons
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 241 
 
 disclaim self-righteousness, who are nevertheless 
 living under its influence. A man may call 
 Christ the Saviour, and profess to look for pardon 
 and eternal life through his mediation ; but at the 
 same time, his real, his habitual, his practical de- 
 pendence is on his own performances, on his own 
 merit. He thinks to establish a claim on the 
 divine favour, by his own obedience and good 
 works ; and thus, while he admits the Gospel in 
 words, he contradicts it in practice, and is in- 
 dulging and cherishing a spirit which is at direct 
 variance with the nature and design of the Gospel. 
 Our sole, our intire ground of hope, our only 
 claim to divine pardon and acceptance must be 
 founded on the Cross of Christ. We must be 
 willing we must be desirous to receive the for- 
 giveness of our sins and the promise of eternal 
 life, as benefits purchased for us wholly and in- 
 tirely by the death and obedience of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, without any the smallest portion 
 of human merit, as a procuring cause. " The 
 gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." (Rom. vi. 23.) 
 
 We may deceive ourselves in regard to our 
 motives, in religious actions. We should there- 
 Tore examine ourselves, in order to ascertain what 
 it is that influences us. No rational being acts 
 in any case of importance, without some assign- 
 able motive. We may have acquired the habit of 
 attending to religious duties, so that when we 
 
 R
 
 242 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 perform them, we are unable to name the real 
 motive ; we do them because we have been long- 
 accustomed to do them. Perhaps, also, there is 
 a secret desire in the heart, of being able to make 
 out by our performances, a secure ground of ac- 
 ceptance with God, a secret belief that his anger 
 cannot fall on us who observe the duties, which 
 are commanded in the Holy Scriptures ; although 
 at the same time, the manner in which they should 
 be discharged, and the motive which should 
 prompt to the performance, and the aim which 
 should be proposed in the duty, are unknown or 
 disregarded. A mistake as to the source of all 
 spiritual power, is at the root of this self-righteous 
 service. If a belief that God is truly the author 
 of " all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just 
 works," accompanied the conviction that the 
 service of God and a conformity to his will were 
 duties of indispensable obligation, men would not 
 fall into the two-fold error of undertaking the dis- 
 charge of these duties in their own strength, and 
 of substituting them for any part of the mediation 
 of Christ, as a ground of acceptance with God. 
 We should know, and act according to the know- 
 ledge, that the Holy Spirit is the author and 
 giver of all spiritual life in the soul of man. His 
 holy influence first enlightens the mind, opens 
 the heart to receive the message of grace, creates 
 love to God, keeps alive every right motive and 
 aim, maintains correct sentiments, helps to the
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 243 
 
 performance of every good work, leads and guides 
 in the way of truth and peace, holds us up all our 
 life-time in the way of salvation, and conducts us 
 to the realms of happiness and glory. 
 
 Many persons may be said to be religious, who 
 are not Christians. They believe in the existence 
 and superintending power of God ; they feel their 
 own weakness, and, in some degree, their own 
 guilt, and are disposed to acknowledge that their 
 help must come from God alone, and that they 
 stand in need of pardon. The,y never question 
 the propriety of religious services ; they observe 
 a form of prayer, and attend regularly on the 
 worship of God ; they profess to be looking for a 
 judgment to come, and to be endeavouring to 
 attain to the heavenly state. But amidst all these 
 important facts and pursuits, there is no genuine 
 Christianity ; the Gospel- dispensation is not un- 
 derstood ; they do not deny that Christ has eome 
 in the flesh, and that he is the Saviour, but there 
 is no practical regard to him in that character in 
 their system. The peculiar doctrines of the Gos- 
 pel are neither received nor understood ; and 
 therefore they are not humbled under a deep 
 conviction of natural depravity, and of exposure 
 to certain and endless ruin, as sinners against the 
 Most High God. They ascribe their sins to the 
 common infirmity of human nature, and not to the 
 general depravity of the human heart ; and thus 
 they look upon sin almost as much in the light of 
 
 R 2
 
 244 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 a misfortune, as a crime. Hence they see no 
 great heinousness or aggravation in its nature, 
 for man is weak ; and no great difficulty in the 
 way of its being pardoned, for God is merciful. 
 They do not feel the utter hopelessness of man's 
 condition, without the intervention of a Re- 
 deemer ; and therefore they have no true faith 
 in Christ as that Redeemer. They acknowledge 
 that the mercy of God must be the ground of 
 their hope ; but in such a way, that their own 
 works and doings are in some sort to earn that 
 mercy, or to fit them for the reception of it ; and 
 thus they miss the great and important truth, 
 that the mercy of God is imparted only in Christ 
 Jesus. They acknowledge the necessity of pardon, 
 but do not feel the want of a justifying righteous- 
 ness. They express a desire for comfort, but 
 none for sanctification. Their object (in the 
 small degree in which they pursue it,) is to 
 attain heaven, but not to seek with daily earnest- 
 ness a preparation and meetness for that holy 
 state. 
 
 We may ask such characters, with respect to 
 Christianity, What do they believe ? Do they 
 believe any thing of the peculiar doctrines which 
 it reveals ? Or is their faith only a mere admis- 
 sion of the truth of the Christian religion, without 
 any acquaintance with the great facts which it 
 states, or the important truths which it makes 
 known, or the holy dispositions and spiritual
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 245 
 
 duties which it enjoins and inculcates ? The true 
 state of hiind of many persons who are called 
 Christians, is a total ignorance of the grand 
 peculiarities of the Gospel. If a Jew be converted 
 to Christianity, or a heathen be brought to em- 
 brace the holy religion of Jesus Christ, each of 
 them receives something which he did not possess 
 before ; his mind is enlightened ; he has acquired 
 something of infinite importance, something of 
 inestimable value ; and he rejoices in the treasure, 
 he esteems it as a pearl of great price. But many 
 who are called believers of the Gospel, really 
 have no true faith at all. They have just what 
 early instruction has implanted in the mind, and 
 nothing more ; so that their religion and their 
 prejudices have the same origin, and one exercises 
 as much beneficial effect and influence on the 
 heart and conduct as the other. If God was 
 manifest in the flesh, if Christ died on the Cross, 
 there must have been an adequate cause ; and to 
 be unimpressed by the fact, is to be ignorant of 
 the cause ; and to be ignorant of the cause, is 
 not to know our condition as sinners, the exigen- 
 cies of our case, or to have a due concern about 
 an interest in the blessings of redemption. Yet, 
 it is to be feared, that such is the situation of 
 very many persons, who nevertheless think them- 
 selves very good Christians. Such a religion as 
 this cannot conduct to heaven ; it is in reality 
 built on self-righteousness a false foundation!
 
 246 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 It is a religion unconnected with a Saviour ; there 
 is a Providence in it, but no grace ; a God, but 
 no Christ ! 
 
 Some persons of good natural disposition, and 
 in easy worldly circumstances, are apt to flatter 
 themselves into very complacent notions of their 
 own character. There is nothing in their condi- 
 tion of life, or natural temperament, peculiarly 
 adapted to excite the depravity of the heart, and 
 therefore they conclude those sins to be vanquish- 
 ed, which have, in fact, never risen up in rebel- 
 lion ; they take the praise, and expect the reward 
 of the conqueror, although, in reality, they have 
 never fought the " good fight of faith," nor 
 striven for mastery in the struggle between the 
 flesh and the Spirit ; they account themselves 
 established in Christian principles, but they have 
 never yet suffered the trial and test of severe 
 temptation. 
 
 Circumstances develope character. We should 
 not, therefore, be hasty in forming opinions of 
 ourselves, or of others. We ought to examine 
 ourselves rigidly, and to condemn every thing in 
 us that is contrary to truth, as well as allow every 
 thing that is agreeable to the Word of God. We 
 may judge too hastily and severely of ourselves, 
 by comparing our own character with that of some 
 other persons, whom we exalt too highly in our 
 estimation. Perhaps if these persons were placed 
 in the same station, in which we often find our-
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 247 
 
 selves overcome by force of temptation, they 
 would not maintain the conflict with more honour 
 than we have done. The condition of a man, as 
 to his worldly calling, is often at variance with 
 his natural temper ; his occupation is a continual 
 trial to him ; it excites his depravity into daily 
 and hourly action. Whereas, when condition 
 and temper agree, all things go on smoothly ; 
 and men are apt to take much praise to them- 
 selves, (and others are inclined to give them 
 great praise,) for what is, in fact, the result of no 
 virtuous effort on their part, but only the placid 
 movements of a mind at ease in itself, and not 
 exposed to sharp trial. 
 
 The only true standard, by which to judge 
 ourselves, and to ascertain our true character, is 
 the Word of God. The distinguishing marks of 
 a true Christian are there plainly set down, so 
 that we may know whether we yet bear any of the 
 features of the renewed man. And the evidences 
 of advancement in the Christian life are also as 
 clearly described, so that we may form a correct 
 judgment whether we are growing in grace. It 
 is certain that the moral likeness to God, in 
 righteousness and true holiness, which our first 
 father lost, must be renewed in us in some mea- 
 sure, or we cannot have a Scriptural hope of seeing 
 the face of God, or of enjoying his presence for 
 ever. We may possess many qualities, really 
 estimable in themselves, and much valued among
 
 248 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 men ; but our spiritual character, and, therefore, 
 our final condition in another world, will be de- 
 cided by a judgment which differs very widely 
 from the world's opinion. Men may be amiable, 
 but they cannot be holy without the especial aid 
 of divine grace ; they may be useful in society, 
 but they cannot be meet for heaven without the 
 renovating influence of the Holy Spirit. The garb 
 of Christianity is very different from its hallowed 
 spirit. Its form and its outward profession may be 
 had and observed, while its real nature is un- 
 known, and its genuine and sacred influence and 
 power are unfelt. 
 
 How is it, that we see many persons who never 
 pray in sincerity and truth, who are yet more 
 amiable than some of those that profess to hold 
 daily communion with God ? How is it, that we 
 see many persons whose conduct is guided by the 
 purest morality, who are honest, upright, useful 
 characters, and who yet think not at all of reli- 
 gion ; it does not influence them as a motive in 
 any part of their conduct ; they never think seri- 
 ously of the relation in which they stand towards 
 God ; while others, who profess to think much of 
 these things, who seem to desire to know the will 
 of God, and to seek to please him, to meditate 
 daily on the solemnities of the grave, death, 
 eternity, and a judgment to come, manifest, 
 nevertheless, a life and conversation at variance 
 with the plainest dictates of justice, truth, and
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 249 
 
 honesty ; -or, at least, do not, in their spirit and 
 conduct, exemplify the holy doctrines of the 
 Gospel, or bring glory to God ? Such persons, 
 it is to be feared, content themselves with the 
 mere knowledge of the great truths connected 
 with man's salvation, and with being able to state 
 them at any time in a clear and plain manner. 
 And because they possess this knowledge, and 
 know that the divine Spirit is the author of all 
 right understanding in heavenly things, they 
 flatter themselves that they are the subjects of 
 divine teaching, and know the Gospel aright, 
 although they do not practise it. They deceive 
 themselves from day to day, in the vain hope that 
 it shall go well with them at last, although they 
 dishonour the Gospel daily by their evil practice. 
 Such persons do not wilfully deceive themselves ; 
 they really desire to be saved and to be saved by 
 the free grace of God, disclaiming all merit of their 
 own ; but they are so " tied and bound by the 
 chain of their sins," that they are unable to walk 
 according to the holy liberty of the children of 
 God. Where the path of duty is plain to other 
 persons, they are often in perplexity what course 
 to pursue ; because they never take the direct 
 road which honour and probity point out, but 
 ever act with some mental reservation, so that 
 they may afterwards have a by-way, whereby to 
 indulge their natural disposition for dishonest 
 evasion or mean prevarication Hence they are
 
 20 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 often raising doubts and difficulties, as though 
 their life was exposed to peculiar perplexity, and 
 they were really anxious to adopt the best line of 
 conduct, but were doubtful which to embrace. 
 But to an honest heart, there are in reality but 
 few cases of conscience, strictly so called but 
 few situations in which an upright intention and 
 an undisguised heart will be at a loss to know 
 Avhich is the path of duty. 
 
 They seem merely to attend to the plain duties 
 of religion, as indispensable obligations, not as 
 valuable privileges. They appear not to think 
 that these religious services should extend their 
 influence over the heart and life. They assume 
 the habit of devotion, but it is all outward form 
 and appearance, and none of the inward power is 
 felt. They read the Bible , but it is with less 
 self-application, than with understanding, for 
 they are really enlightened with knowledge in 
 divine things ; they pray, but feel little desire, 
 the discharge of the duty being rather their aim, 
 than the obtaining of spiritual blessings ; they 
 confess their sins, but fear prompts them to the 
 confession, rather than godly sorrow, contrition, 
 and a broken heart ; their performance of devo- 
 tional exercises is often attended with great emo- 
 tion of mind, with sighs and many tears, but 
 their subsequent conduct does not show that they 
 have been partakers of that communion with 
 God, which assimilates the soul to the divine
 
 I 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 251 
 
 image ; on the contrary, their temper retains all 
 its acerbity, their passions are untamed, their 
 tongue is unbridled. Surely, we may fear that 
 such religion is vain ! 
 
 Whether such persons will find acceptance with 
 God, in their daily repentance and confession of 
 their sins, and whether their faith, directed by 
 knowledge to the only true atonement for sin, 
 will be available to their justification, must remain 
 unknown till the great day of decision. In the 
 mean time, however, they have not the enjoy- 
 ment of a well-grounded hope ; fear, tormenting 
 fear and apprehension keep them in continual 
 bondage ; they cleave to the profession of religion, 
 as to something which they dare not renounce, 
 but from which they derive no heart-felt pleasure, 
 no calm, tranquil delight, no cheering anticipa- 
 tions. They attend punctually to religious duties, 
 join in the public services of the church, retire to 
 their closets for meditation and secret prayer to 
 God, read their Bibles, and are the subjects of the 
 deepest convictions of their guilt and helplessness ; 
 but their love to God is too feeble a principle, 
 to keep them back from sinning against him 
 daily by repeated transgressions, by reiterated 
 falls into the same besetting sins. It is not pre- 
 tended that the true Christian never falls again 
 into those sins, which he has once confessed to 
 God, and for which he has felt sincere repentance. 
 What the Scriptures condemn is, the total want
 
 252 SELF-DECEPTION, 
 
 of a change of heart, and an amendment of the 
 conduct ; so that where the hope of eternal life 
 is professed to be sought with diligence, the 
 power and dominion of sin are still triumphant in 
 the heart, and usurp that place which should be 
 occupied by the love and fear of God. Every man 
 who knows any thing of the weakness of the 
 human mind, and the depravity of human nature, 
 will feel and acknowledge that in many things 
 he daily offends, and that he has continual need 
 to apply to that fountain which is opened " for 
 sin and for uncleanness." (Zech. xiii. 1.) How 
 often does the heart 
 
 " Vow all itself to heaven, yet vow in vain, 
 " Sigh for its thoughts, yet fondly think again ! " 
 
 How often are we so disposed to resign ourselves 
 intirely to the will and service of God, that we 
 fondly hope we shall henceforth refrain from 
 every thing that would displease our Heavenly 
 Father, or that would in any degree abate our 
 devotedness to him! How often have we had 
 the clearest convictions of what were our parti- 
 cular duties and obligations, and how often have 
 we formed the best and strongest resolutions to 
 be " steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding 
 in the work of the Lord." But the first tempta- 
 tion draws us aside ; we find the snares of the 
 world too thickly and too artfully laid, for our 
 feet to escape the entanglements ; and the lusts
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 253 
 
 of the flesh convince us that we shall never be 
 entirely free from sin, till " this corruptible shall 
 have put on incormption, and this mortal shall 
 have put on immortality." (1 Cor. xv. 54.) 
 
 Their religion is the source of continual terror, 
 instead of being the foundation of peace, and the 
 director of their lives in the ways of holiness. 
 Too much enlightened to think lightly of the 
 importance of religion, they seem to mistake its 
 true nature ; and thus, that which should be the joy 
 and rejoicing of the heart, is to them a heavy 
 yoke of bondage. They are not ignorant of the 
 tendency of true religion, as conducing to lasting 
 peace of mind ; but the condemnation of heart 
 (1 John iii. 20.) which attends a conversation 
 unworthy of the Gospel, deters them from em- 
 bracing that hope towards God, which is only 
 found in the pleasant and peaceful path of celes- 
 tial wisdom. The utmost of their comfort is a 
 strong desire to find mercy with God, in the day 
 of his judgment, and an earnest endeavour to 
 persuade themselves that the exceeding riches of 
 divine grace, and the abounding merits of the 
 Redeemer will be extended to characters (among 
 whom they know themselves to be classed,) who 
 know the Gospel, although they do not live agree- 
 ably to it ; who name the name of Christ, as the 
 only Saviour, but who do not depart from iniquity. 
 
 There is a self-deception which is peculiar to 
 those, who " were once enlightened, and have
 
 254 SELF-DECEPTION. 
 
 tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made par- 
 takers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the 
 Word of God, and the powers of the world to 
 come." (Heb. vi, 4, 5.) Such persons, having 
 declined into a backsliding state, are often de- 
 ceived by the hope of pardon, even while they 
 are living in open sin. When men decline in the 
 power of religion, they are generally more tena- 
 cious than ever of the forms of religion. Being 
 conscious that they have lost the " thing sig- 
 nified " the " inward and spiritual grace," they 
 wish to retain the " outward and visible sign," 
 that they may have at least the semblance 
 of that grace, from which they have fallen. 
 It is no new thing for men to have a " form 
 of godliness," while they deny the " power 
 thereof." (2 Tim. iii. 5.) Having left the peace 
 of God, they lull themselves into a deceitful re- 
 pose, relying on their knowledge of the way of 
 salvation, instead of walking in that way ; pre- 
 suming on their former attainments, instead of 
 hastily forsaking their present evil ways. 
 
 A man in this dangerous state of mind, pro- 
 fesses to rely on the exceedingly great promises 
 of God, and talks much of the riches of free grace, 
 and of the unchangeable love of God ; but when he 
 is spoken, to of the anger of God against sin, and 
 of the curse denounced against those who draw 
 back from the paths of godliness, he listens with 
 a contemptuous smile, affecting to pity the igno-
 
 SELF-DECEPTION. 255 
 
 ranee of those, whose knowledge of the Gospel 
 leads them to conclude that " faith without works 
 is dead," and that the promises of the Gospel are 
 fulfilled only in those, who are thereby made 
 " partakers of the divine nature, having' escaped 
 the corruption that is in the world through lust," 
 (2 Pet. i. 4.) who are endeavouring to " ab- 
 stain from all appearance of evil," (1 Thess. v. 22.) 
 and are ever exercising themselves in the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel, " to have always a conscience 
 void of offence toward God and toward men." 
 (Acts xxiv. 16.) The backslider may " bless 
 himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, 
 though I walk in the imagination of mine heart ;" 
 (Deut. xxix. 19.) but " the Lord will not spare 
 him." If sorrows be not sent on an errand of 
 mercy in this life, to recal him to repentance and 
 the true knowledge of God, if he continue to 
 despise the riches of God's " goodness, and for- 
 bearance, and long-suffering," not knowing that 
 the goodness of God leadeth him to repentance, 
 there is the strongest reason to fear that he is 
 treasuring up unto himself " wrath against the 
 day of wrath," (Rom. ii. 4, 5.) and that he will 
 fall under that final and dreadful sentence of the 
 Almighty, " This shall ye have of mine hands, 
 ye shall lie down in sorrow ! " (Isa. 1. 11.)
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 THE Gospel is intirely a dispensation of mercy 
 to the human race. The origin of it is the love 
 of God, the' personage whom it announces as a 
 Deliverer, is the Lord Jesus the Saviour of the 
 world, and the tidings which it proclaims are 
 pardon, redemption, and eternal life. The bles- 
 sings of the Gospel are within the reach of every 
 human being to whom they are made known ; 
 with the publication of the Gospel is declared the 
 free offer of all its great, and glorious, and un- 
 speakable blessings. At its first annunciation to 
 the world, it was accompanied by the songs of 
 " a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, 
 and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good will toward men." These happy 
 spirits contemplated with delight, the mercy 
 which was about to be shown to a guilty and 
 miserable world ; they anticipated with pleasure 
 the joy which should be in heaven, when the in- 
 numerable company of those redeemed from the 
 earth, should enter the celestial regions with 
 songs of triumph on their lips, and palms of vic- 
 tory in their hands, and everlasting crowns of 
 glory on their heads. Let not us, then, by a
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 257 
 
 mistaken conception of the nature and terms of 
 the Gospel, represent it as the source of gloom 
 and despondency to any, or as a denunciation of 
 wrath and judgment, rather than as a message of 
 peace and reconciliation. Truly, it calls for our 
 loudest songs of praise, for our most joyous 
 thanksgiving, for our most ardent expressions of 
 gratitude. All who hear of its benefits should be 
 glad and rejoice, all who partake thereof should 
 turn their mourning into joy, and their weeping 
 into songs of praise. " Let the inhabitants of the 
 rock sing." (Isa. xlii. 2.) 
 
 Figurative language is often employed in Scrip- 
 ture to illustrate the character of the Deity, and 
 the privileges of the Church. God is often 
 compared to a ROCK, to denote his Strength, his 
 Stability, and the Refuge and Defence which he 
 affords to the weak and the destitute. 
 
 A Rock is the emblem of Strength ; and of 
 God it is said, " The Lord liveth ; and blessed 
 be my Rock ; and let the God of my salvation be 
 exalted." " Who is God, save the Lord ? Who is a 
 Rock ; save our God ?" (Ps. xviii. 46. 2 Sam. xxii. 
 32.) And to him David prayed in trouble, saying, 
 " Be thou my strong Rock, for a house of defence 
 to save me." (Ps. xxvi. 2.) Irresistible power and 
 strength belong unto God : as the Creator of all 
 things, all are subservient to his holy will ; angels 
 and archangels move with swift obedience to per- 
 form his loved commands ; he turneth the hearts
 
 258 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 of men whithersoever he will, and maketh them 
 the instruments of fulfilling his providential de- 
 signs ; and the rebellious spirits in the depths of 
 despair, with Satan their prince, the " tall arch- 
 angel " who fell " as lightning from heaven," bow 
 beneath the uncontrollable power of the Supreme 
 God ; he turneth the mighty orbs of the universe 
 with his ringer, and maintaineth them all in their 
 appointed courses by his wondrous power ; they 
 shine at his command, and at his bidding their 
 light is eclipsed by thick clouds, and the face of 
 the heaven is overspread with darkness ; " with 
 clouds he covereth the light, and commandeth it 
 not to shine." " He stretcheth out the North 
 over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon 
 nothing ; he bindeth up the waters in his thick 
 clouds ; he holdeth back the face of his throne, 
 and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath com- 
 passed the waters with bounds, until day and 
 night come to an end. The pillars of heaven 
 tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. He 
 divideth the sea with his power, and by his un- 
 derstanding he smiteth through the proud. By 
 his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens." " He 
 is wise in heart, and mighty in strength ; who 
 hath hardened himself against him, and hath 
 prospered ? Who removeth the mountains, and 
 they know not ; who overturneth them in his 
 anger ; who shaketh the earth out of her place, 
 and the pillars thereof tremble ; who commandeth
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 259 
 
 the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the 
 stars ; who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and 
 treadeth upon the waters of the sea ; who maketh 
 Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers 
 of the South ; who doeth great things past finding 
 out ; yea, and wonders without number." " Lo, 
 these are parts of his ways ; but how little a 
 portion is heard of him ? but the thunder of his 
 power who can understand?" (Job ix. 4 10. 
 xxvi. 713, 14. xxxvi. 32.) 
 
 A rock is the emblem of stability ; and in this 
 sense our God is fitly compared to a Rock, for of 
 him it is said " Thou art the same, and thy years 
 shall have no end." (Psalm cii. 27.) He is " the 
 same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever ; " 
 (Heb. xiii. 8.) with him " is no variableness, 
 neither shadow of turning." (James i. 17.) He 
 is stable with respect to his purposes, which are 
 eternal. " He is in one mind, and who can turn 
 him." (Job. xxii. 13.) " His ways are everlast- 
 ing." (Habak iii. 6.) His counsels are founded 
 on infinite wisdom and goodness, and shall all be 
 accomplished by unchanging faithfulness, and 
 boundless power. His purpose of mercy towards 
 all those of the human race, who receive the salva- 
 tion which is declared unto them, shall be fully 
 perfected in their everlasting redemption ; and at 
 the same time his dreadful threatenings against 
 impenitence, and unbelief, and sin, are secured in 
 their fulfilment by the same stability, the samefaith- 
 
 S 2
 
 260 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 fulness, the same power. The unchangeable nature 
 of God secures the perpetuity of the present order 
 of things, till all his will is fulfilled. It is to this 
 stability in his purposes, and faithfulness in the 
 execution of them, that we are indebted for our 
 preservation and continuance on the earth. The 
 sins of mankind are so grievous and enormous, 
 that they would immediately bring down the 
 judgments of God upon them, and the flames 
 which are to destroy or purify this earth, would 
 immediately break forth, were not our God un- 
 changeable. " I am the Lord, I change not ; 
 therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." 
 (Mai. iii. 6.) 
 
 God is stable in his mercy, it " endureth for 
 ever ; " it " is from everlasting to everlasting 
 upon them that fear him." (Psalm ciii. 17.) 
 Nothing shall be able to turn aside the current of 
 his love and mercy from those who trust in him. 
 He will be faithful to every declaration of grace 
 and pardon, that he has made in his holy Word, 
 notwithstanding our daily sins and provocations, 
 for his mercy extends even to them. " I will be 
 merciful," saith the Lord, " to their unrighteous- 
 ness, and their sins and their iniquities will I 
 remember no more." (Heb. viii. 12.) If this 
 purpose of mercy were founded on our necessity 
 only, and regulated by our grateful reception, 
 and diligent improvement of it, we should be in 
 continual uncertainty whether it would finally be
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 261 
 
 extended to us, and should be filled with dreadful 
 terrors, lest it should be withdrawn in anger, 
 and be " clean gone for ever." But having for 
 its origin the divine love, for its security the 
 divine immutability, and for its meritorious and 
 procuring cause the perfect mediation of Christ ; 
 instead of uttering the language of despondency 
 and doubt, and saying, " Will the Lord cast off 
 for ever ? and will he be favourable no more ? 
 Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ? " 
 (Psalm Ixxvii. 7 9.) We may exclaim with the 
 animation of hope, and the confidence of faith, 
 " The Lord will not cast off for ever ; but though 
 he cause grief, yet will he have compassion ac- 
 cording to the multitude of his mercies." (Lam. 
 iii. 31, 32.) " He will turn again ; he will have 
 compassion upon us ; he will subdue our iniquities." 
 (Mic. viii. 19.) 
 
 He is stable in his government of the world. 
 " Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and 
 thy dominion endureth throughout all genera- 
 tions." (Psalm cxlv. 13.) His kingdom of 
 Providence is stable. " While the earth remain- 
 eth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, 
 and summer and winter, and day and night shah 1 
 not cease." (Gen. viii. 22.) That wonderful 
 beauty and harmony which we every where be- 
 hold in the works of God, the subserviency of 
 all the parts to the general good of the whole, 
 the maintenance of the several orders of crea- 
 tures, the provision made for the supply of the
 
 262 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 wants both of man and beast, the rolling ocean 
 with its waves and billows, and the innumerable 
 species of the finny tribe which inhabit it, the 
 magnitude and grandeur of the celestial orbs, 
 which move in silent but majestic courses, and 
 with unvarying regularity, all attest the extent 
 of the divine government, and its immutable 
 stability. Could we for a moment suppose that 
 God, having established a certain order of things 
 at the beginning, had now left the world to a sort 
 of chance, or rather, fated accident, (to use a 
 contrariety of expression ;) we might rationally be 
 filled with uncertainty and fear, respecting the 
 continuance of that providential guidance, and 
 support, and defence, which we feel to be so 
 necessary to our well-being on the earth. And 
 if we are told by cold-hearted infidelity, that the 
 continuance of the present system of the universe, 
 is secured by the almighty Jiat pronounced at the 
 creation, although there is now no actual inter- 
 ference of divine power, or superintendence, or 
 care in mundane affairs ; our minds feel a des- 
 ponding vacancy ; we are conscious that no 
 gratitude that delightful emotion can be excited 
 in the breast of him, who considers himself at the 
 mercy of a blind fate ; no confidence, no hope 
 the sweetener of human existence can arise in 
 the heart, which believes itself and all its affairs, 
 to be impelled or guided by a mere insensible 
 mechanism ! Such is not the heartless creed of 
 the Christian. We knowth? i' " the Lordreigneth :
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 263 
 
 he is clothed with majesty ; the Lord is clothed with 
 strength, wherewith he hath girded himself ; the 
 world also is established, that it cannot be moved ;" 
 (Psalm xcii. 1.) that the divine omnipresence 
 secures all necessary interference and assistance, 
 that the divine omnipotence maintains the earth 
 on its foundations, its creatures in their allotted 
 order, its seasons in their regular return and 
 beneficial consequences, the motions of the 
 stupendous orbs of heaven, and their salutary 
 influence and extended utility ; and that the 
 divine character assures us of the stability of the 
 divine government. Hence arises our grateful 
 praise to God for his abundant and seasonable 
 mercies ; and here our confidence and our hope 
 find their sure foundation, their encouragement, 
 their continuance. 
 
 The kingdom of grace is also stable. Of this 
 we have the same assurance, the same promises, 
 the same security. His mercy is in the heavens, 
 and his faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. He 
 hath provided a salvation which is freely offered 
 to all, in all its rich extent and unspeakable 
 glories ; he hath prepared a heaven which shall 
 be enjoyed by all his people in inconceivable 
 happiness, and everlasting duration. The love 
 which devised this redemption, is the love of 
 God " which passeth knowledge ;" (Eph. iii. 19.) 
 the atonement which purchased this redemption, 
 is the mediation of Jesus Christ, " who is able ta
 
 264 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 save to the uttermost ; " (Heb. vii. 25.) the justi- 
 fication which gives a title to this redemption, is 
 the righteousness of God which is everlasting, 
 and is " by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and 
 upon all them that believe ; " (Rom. iii. 22.) and the 
 Spirit which sanctifies and prepares for the enjoy- 
 ment of this redemption, is the Spirit of God, 
 which " helpeth our infirmities," and which 
 beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
 children of God." (Rom. viii. 16, 26.) Thus we 
 find the stability of the kingdom of grace ; it is 
 founded on the perfection and perpetuity of those 
 attributes of God, in which it originated, and by 
 which it is completed and secured. If we look at 
 the love of its Author, we hear him saying, " I 
 have loved thee with an everlasting love. " ( Jerem. 
 xxxi. 3.) If we inquire of his kindness, he says 
 " with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on 
 thee." (Isa. liv. 8.) Do we desire to be informed 
 of the duration of him whose sceptre sways 
 dominion over this kingdom of grace ? He is the 
 " true God, he is the living God, and an everlast- 
 ing king." (Jerem. x. 10.) All these assurances 
 combine to establish our faith and hope, that all 
 who receive the declarations of the Gospel, shall 
 " be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salva- 
 tion." (Isa. xlv. 17.) 
 
 A rock is, further, a refuge, a place of defence 
 and security. The strong-holds of a country are 
 constructed in places which naturally arc dcfensi-
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 265 
 
 ble, and in many points inaccessible ; and a high 
 rock generally offers both these advantages. A 
 vast tower built in such a situation, is a last and 
 safe resort from a powerful enemy ; hither the 
 wearied and dispirited warriors flee, and find 
 security and rest. In allusion to all these benefits, 
 the divine protection and favour are often com- 
 pared to a rock. " Be thou my strong habitation," 
 said David, " whereunto I may continually resort ; 
 thou hast given commandment to save me, for 
 though art my rock and my fortress." " The 
 Lord is my defence ; my God is the rock of my 
 refuge." (Ps. Ixxi. 3. xciv. 22.) 
 
 The benign character of ^he Deity, is not only 
 set before us most clearly in Revelation, and 
 attested by all the works of his hands, but it is 
 in some degree written on the heart of man, and 
 makes a part of what is termed Natural Religion. 
 Men may rely in common cases of difficulty and 
 danger on their own strength and resources, on 
 their own craft and policy ; but when perils of 
 unusual magnitude, that seem at once to mock 
 all human force, are impending, their last, their 
 only resort is God. To Him the mind naturally 
 turns, with more or less degree of earnestness 
 and hope, according to the proportion of religious 
 knowledge that has been attained ; but there is a 
 general persuasion, (in many persons, indeed, of 
 a very faint character, but found in some degree 
 in all minds,) amounting to a natural principle
 
 *66 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 in our constitution, that God is every where 
 present, that all things are under his control, 
 that he exercises an invisible agency over events, 
 that he is almighty, and therefore able to succour, 
 that he is merciful, and therefore willing to 
 deliver. God has endowed us with a measure of 
 bodily strength, and mental faculty, suited to our 
 condition, and which we are diligently to use and 
 apply according to our particular situation, and 
 to the actual demand made upon these resources ; 
 but they are available only to a fixed extent, 
 beyond which the divine interference alone can be 
 effectual. And we ought ever to bear in mind 
 that it is the divine favour which bestowed every 
 power of body and soul, that the divine blessing 
 maintains them in being, that the divine energy 
 supplies them with force and activity, "for in 
 him we live, and move, and have our being ; " 
 (Acts xxii. 28.) and in every common and inferior 
 degree of difficulty and peril, we are as much, 
 though not so apparently, indebted to his defence, 
 as in circumstances of appalling danger, and 
 overwhelming calamity : he is our daily and 
 hourly " refuge and strength, a very present help 
 in trouble." (Psalm xlvii. i.) 
 
 By the prophet Isaiah it was foretold of the 
 Saviour, that he should be " as the shadow of a 
 great rock in a weary land." (xxxii. 2.) The full 
 force of this figure can only be understood, by 
 considering the condition of travellers, in the hot,
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 2(57 
 
 parched soil of some parts of the East. " In some 
 tracts," says a late traveller, " not a tree is to be 
 seen ; nor a rock which can offer a shelter or shade. 
 A transparent atmosphere, an intense sun darting 
 its beams upon our heads, a ground almost white, 
 and commonly of a concave form, like a burning- 
 glass, slight breezes scorching like flame." To 
 men in such circumstances, how grateful, how 
 reviving to be led to a rock that is higher than 
 they ! But this rock can afford them only a tem- 
 porary shelter and relief; they must again en- 
 counter the intense heat of the sun, and again 
 with painful steps pursue their wearisome course 
 over the burning sand of the desert ; the rock 
 does not accompany them. Not so the refuge 
 which the Christian finds in his God ; here he has 
 a rock which follows him throughout his pilgrim- 
 age ; (1 Cor. x. 4.) the sure defence which it 
 yields can never fail, the refreshing shade which 
 it imparts can never be removed ; for " he that 
 dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, 
 shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." 
 (Psalm xci. 1.) 
 
 " God is known for a refuge ; " (Ps. xlviii. 3.) 
 a refuge from every trouble, from whatever cause 
 it may arise. In troubles from the world) he is a 
 " refuge for us." He will defend his servants 
 from " envy, hatred, and malice," from the 
 " strife of tongues," arid from the machinations 
 of evil men ; for " when a man's way's please the
 
 268 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace 
 with him." (Prov. xiii. 7.) In troubles from the 
 flesh, he is the rock of our strength. When our 
 condition in the world is closely connected with 
 circumstances, which naturally tend to excite our 
 evil passions ; or when the force of unexpected 
 occurrences, calls forth our corrupt affections in 
 all their strength and depravity, God alone is our 
 rock and our salvation. And in all assaults from 
 our spiritual adversary, he only is our defence. 
 The wiles, and cunning, and power of the malig- 
 nant spirit, would be sufficient to overcome us in 
 every conflict, if we were left to wage the war 
 unaided, and had no other than natural strength 
 for the fight, and no weapons but those which are 
 " carnal." But when the divine strength is made 
 perfect in our weakness, and we are harnessed 
 with " the whole armour of God," we are made 
 " able to withstand in the evil day ; " and the 
 " weapons of our warfare are mighty through 
 God," and we become able to contend " against 
 principalities, against powers, against the rulers 
 of the darkness of this world, against spiritual 
 wickedness in high places." (Eph. vi. 11 13.) 
 
 If such, then, be the privileges of " the inhabi- 
 tants of the Rock," we shall do well in endeavour- 
 ing to point out who are these " inhabitants," and 
 to enforce their duties and obligations ; that we 
 may ascertain whether God hath set our feet on 
 this Rock, and established our goings. (Ps. xl. 2.)
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 269 
 
 They who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 " shall dwell on high;" their "place of defence 
 shall be the munition of rocks." (Isa. xxxiii. 16.) 
 They have felt their danger as sinners, and having 
 beheld the " avenger of blood" the penalties of 
 a broken law pursuing them, have fled for their 
 lives to the refuge of the " Rock of ages." They 
 feel their weakness and infirmities, and come for 
 strength to the Rock of stability. They are op- 
 pressed with the burden of indwelling sin, an 
 ensnaring world, and a subtle, spiritual enemy, 
 they are ready to faint because of the " heat 
 and burden of the day," and therefore they flee to 
 the shadow of this great Rock. They have re- 
 nounced all pretensions to innate or self-acquired 
 power to do any thing that is acceptable to God, 
 and therefore from Him who is emphatically 
 styled " The Rock," (Deut. xxxii. 4.) they have 
 received a heart and will to begin the spiritual 
 course, and to him they humbly approach for 
 strength and ability daily imparted, to persevere 
 in the same to their lives' end. 
 
 What, then, is the duty of such persons ? " Let 
 the inhabitants of the Rock sing : " let them al- 
 ways be joyful in the God of their salvation. But 
 they do not always sing ; they are not always 
 joyful ; and whence is the cause ? It cannot arise 
 from the ground of their dependence, for that is 
 the immutable word and almighty power of the 
 Most High ; nor from their situation as inhabi-
 
 270 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 tants of the Rock of Ages, for that is everlasting, 
 unimpairable security ; nor from their experience 
 of the character of God, for that bears unvarying 
 testimony to the faithfulness of all his promises, 
 and the unspeakable riches of his grace and 
 mercy. It must result, then, from themselves^ 
 from their own folly, and sin, and unbelief. The 
 Rock on which they are placed is a " strong 
 Rock ; " the billows may dash and roar around it, 
 but the eternal basis is unshaken ; its summit 
 rises above the loftiest surges ; but through care- 
 lessness, and indifference, and worldly-minded- 
 ness, they often look off the Rock, and seeing the 
 wild waves raging and foaming, they are giddy, 
 and ready to lose their footing. Thus their hearts 
 fail because of fear however groundless; and 
 they are filled with lamentations however un- 
 reasonable and inconsistent. 
 
 It is the duty and privilege of the believer al- 
 ways to " rejoice in the Lord," to " rejoice ever- 
 more." (Phil. iv. 4. 1 Thes. v. 16.) But, alas ! 
 how many days are passed by him in sorrow 
 and heaviness ! Is the Gospel still glad tidings ? 
 or are its character and nature changed ? It 
 remains like its Divine Author, " the same yes- 
 terday, and to day, and for ever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) 
 Whence, then, is it, that among Christians of 
 the present day, we hear so many sighs and 
 groans of distress and despondency ? why do 
 we see so much dulness and gloom ? Many seem
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 271 
 
 to be made unhappy, or at least uncomfortable 
 by their religion. True religion cannot cause 
 this ; it can never be the source of uneasiness. 
 It is to be feared, that although a partial know- 
 ledge of the nature of the Gospel, and an im- 
 perfect faith in the promises of the Gospel, may 
 produce much anxiety in the weak believer, and 
 deprive him of much comfort ; yet that a con- 
 versation unbecoming the Gospel, laxity of prin- 
 ciple, and sinful conformity to the world, have a 
 large share in silencing the songs of the inhabi 
 tants of the Rock. A man may know too much 
 of true religion to be happy without it, and yet 
 act too inconsistently to enjoy its pleasures. Con- 
 science and inclination are at variance ; and thus 
 a worm as it were secretly gnaws his vitals, and a 
 fixed melancholy pervades his mind.' * 
 
 True happiness must ever consist in a confor- 
 mity to the Divine image ; and therefore outward 
 circumstances have only just so much influence 
 over our happiness and peace, as they succeed in 
 superseding the power of faith and the authority 
 of the Word of God. As to doubts and fears, 
 they proceed in most cases from a neglect of self- 
 examination, from a remissness in reading the 
 Scriptures, and from the loss of the spirit of prayer. 
 Where these three marks exhibit the proper fea- 
 tures, the soul must prosper and be in health. 
 
 * Wilson's Sermons.
 
 272 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 Are we conscious that we have given up our 
 whole heart to God ? If this be done habitually, 
 all the rest will be easy. How delightful to 
 follow where the heart leads ! And the heart is 
 the first offering, the only acceptable one in Re- 
 ligion. Many persons continue mourning a long 
 time under doubts and fears, and lay all to the 
 charge of unbelief, and cry out that they want 
 faith ; while at the same time the heart remains 
 unexplored ; and thus the hidden cause of their 
 trouble lies undiscovered. If such persons pos- 
 sessed the peace which they desire, it would not 
 be the fruit of true repentance, but of hardness 
 of heart; if they enjoyed the hope which they 
 wish for, it would be the result of presumption, 
 not of faith. It is the consciousness of not having 
 given ourselves to God, that makes us ashamed 
 of putting our trust in Him. Faith is not so weak, 
 but it is prevented in its exercise by worldly- 
 mindedness. We profess to sorrow because the 
 consolations of the Gospel are few and small to 
 us ; whereas the real cause of our concern is a 
 conviction, that no man can serve God and Mam- 
 mon. We are conscious of a divided heart, and 
 therefore we reap all the bitter fruit of such a 
 state of alienation. 
 
 If the Gospel be " glad tidings of great joy," 
 and if we understand and receive it according to 
 its true nature and design, our minds must be 
 filled with divine joy and satisfaction. It is the
 
 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 273 
 
 glory of the Gospel above all other religious sys- 
 tems, that it brings peace and rest to the mind. 
 The assurance which we possess that atonement 
 has been made for sin, that God is reconciled, 
 that he is our Friend, that the way to heaven is 
 open to all, is calculated to fill the mind at all 
 times with hope and with rejoicing. If we pos- 
 sess not this joy, the evil may be traced to our- 
 selves. Either we are pursuing the world with 
 undue ardour, and we neglect and undervalue 
 Christian joy; or we grow remiss in Christian 
 duties, and it is taken from us ; or we lose it in the 
 gratification of our corrupt and depraved desires. 
 Religion is regarded by too many persons as a 
 restraint upon pleasure ; they consider it as the 
 enemy of enjoyment. But this is to mistake 
 its true nature and design. It alone offers to us 
 a true foundation of joy, by teaching us the right 
 use of earthly pleasures ; and leading us at the 
 same time in the way to everlasting happiness. 
 It is but a mournful pleasure to seize on the 
 enjoyment of the world with hasty grasp, as so 
 much good plucked from the hand of fate, which 
 is about to close our life, and with it our happi- 
 ness. It is but a delusive madness, which leads 
 persons to say, " let us eat and drink, for to-mor- 
 row we die ; " (1 Cor. xv. 32.) as if there were no 
 pleasure in the world, but what is sinful, and no 
 hope of a better portion hereafter. The joy of the 
 Christian is of a different character. He receives
 
 274 SOURCE AND DUTY OF CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 and uses all the good things of this life, which 
 are put into his hands, as gifts from his Heavenly 
 Father ; as designed to promote his comfort upon 
 earth ; as pledges of the care and love of God ; 
 and as motives to continual thanksgiving. He 
 uses them with moderation, having found out the 
 true secret of extracting all their sweets from 
 earthly pleasures ; and as looking for a far more 
 valuable and an enduring portion in heaven. 
 Whatever be his circumstances and condition in 
 life, he can rejoice, having a source of joy which 
 the world knows not of. In poverty, he re- 
 joices in those true and abiding treasures, which 
 are laid up for him in heaven. In sickness, he 
 is cheered with the expectation of that " ex- 
 ceeding and eternal weight of glory," (2 Cor. iv. 
 17.) which shall succeed the " light affliction" of 
 this present life. In weariness and trouble, he 
 looks forward to that rest which " remaineth to 
 the people of God." (Heb. iv. 9.) In death, his 
 soul is filled with " joy unspeakable," in the ex- 
 pectation of that glory, when he shall be " caught 
 up to meet the Lord in the air, and shall ever be 
 with the Lord." (1 Thess. iv. 17.) 
 
 O God! shed abroad thy love in our hearts, 
 and help us to walk in a perfect mind in thy sta- 
 tutes ; for " great peace have they who love thy 
 law ! " Then shall we not be ashamed when we 
 have respect unto all thy commandments. (Ps. 
 cxix. 6. 165.)
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 AN acknowledgment of error is the mark of a 
 well-disciplined mind, and must be the frequent 
 result of a sincere inquiry after truth. Man being 
 born both helpless and ignorant, must depend on 
 the aid and instruction of others; and conse- 
 quently his knowledge is subject to be both er- 
 roneous and imperfect, according to the source 
 whence it is derived. His first principle of action 
 being the impulse of his will and affections, it is 
 of the greatest importance that his knowledge, 
 which is to guide and restrain this active prin- 
 ciple, should be obtained from that divine wisdom 
 which maketh men " wise unto salvation." It is 
 a great happiness to have the mind thus directed, 
 in acquiring religious notions and in forming re- 
 ligious habits ; that we may thereby be saved 
 from a multitude of errors in sentiment, and 
 much that is faulty in practice. When men de- 
 rive their principles from corrupted sources, they 
 have much trouble in after-life, if they are sincere 
 and honest inquirers after truth, to correct them 
 according to the standard of the word of God. 
 Many notions, to which they were firmly wedded, 
 are to be laid aside ; many favourite sentiments 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 are to be discarded ; many opinions, against 
 which the strongest prejudices once existed in 
 their minds, are to be received ; much is to be 
 conceded., that was once obstinately rather than 
 firmly-maintained ; and a vigorous and wholesome 
 discipline is to be exercised over their conduct, 
 restraining what is violent and headstrong, cut- 
 ting off what is unworthy, and diligently supplying 
 what is deficient. 
 
 When a man is either set right in his faith and 
 practice from the commencement of his Chris- 
 tian course, or has arrived at the true standard by 
 experience, he has the two-fold obligation of 
 cleaving to that which is right, and of advancing 
 in every thing that forms a part of the Christian 
 character. The end of all true knowledge must 
 be to promote a right practice ; and as we may 
 make daily advances in our acquaintance with 
 spiritual things, with the nature of our duties, 
 the extent of our obligations, and the riches of 
 divine grace, so we are bound by these very 
 advances, to make correspondent progress in the 
 faithful discharge of our duty, and in maintaining 
 a conversation more influenced by our obligations, 
 and more worthy of the divine grace and mercy 
 manifested unto us. To advance thus in know- 
 ledge and practice daily, is the highest attain- 
 ment of the Christian ; it cannot be done without 
 hinderance or slackness, but it should be followed 
 with that perseverance which makes head against
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 277 
 
 the corruptions of the heart, the stubbornness of 
 the will, the waywardness of the affections, the 
 enticements and snares of the world, and the 
 temptations of our spiritual adversary. In no 
 part of the Christian's life can he look back, and 
 say, ' I am perfect : I have reached the summit 
 of Christian attainment.' His condition on the 
 earth, the law of his being, the nature of religion, 
 all require progressive advancement, so long as 
 he remains in this probationary state. Steadfast- 
 ness of purpose is our only sure pledge of advance- 
 ment. If we relax in the pursuit of religion, we 
 cannot retain the ground which we have already 
 gained. We must either advance or recede. 
 The daily struggle of the Christian to " hold fast " 
 that which he has received, is in fact an advance- 
 ment in his career; for that which gives him 
 power to retain, enables him also to proceed. To 
 " stand fast " in the faith, is to receive an increase 
 of faith ; to be " steadfast," is to gain additional 
 strength ; to endure " unto the end," is to obtain 
 eternal salvation : " For we are made partakers 
 of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our con- 
 fidence steadfast unto the end." (Heb. iii. 14.) 
 
 The Christian life is a race, where the prize is 
 sure to all who strive with unremitted exertion : 
 it is a combat, where the victory is certain to all 
 who contend with firm and unyielding efforts. 
 He that ceases to run in the Christian course, 
 after having begun the career, he that lays down
 
 278 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 his spiritual weapons, after having commenced 
 the warfare, is said to be a backslider. This term 
 does not, however, apply to him who, surprised 
 by the force of sudden and powerful temptation, 
 loses sight for a moment of his obligations, and 
 thus relaxes in his duty; but to him who has 
 sunk into a state of habitual departure from holi- 
 ness, and a daily renunciation of the fear of God. 
 In one sense, indeed, we may daily accuse our- 
 selves of backsliding, for all our daily sins are 
 departures from God ; but he that is alive to the 
 evil of his transgressions, and lives "in the conti- 
 nual exercise of repentance, possesses the surest 
 pledge of being preserved from falling away into 
 perdition. The state most to be dreaded by the 
 Christian, is one of indifference and unconcern. 
 He that is careless whether he obtains the divine 
 approbation, and is regardless whether his con- 
 duct be conformed to the divine will, he that is 
 satisfied with the " form " without the " power 
 of godliness," and that offereth to God a mere 
 " bodily exercise," for a spiritual service, is on the 
 very edge of falling into open and wilful sin. 
 For the distance is very small between unconcern 
 for the will of God, and direct violation of that 
 will, between a disregard of the favour of God, 
 and an open defiance of his displeasure. 
 
 To backslide implies some degree of previous 
 religious attainment ; for if men recede from the 
 paths of God, they must have first made some
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 279 
 
 progress in those paths. Therefore the condition 
 of a backslider is more fearful than of him who 
 never knew the will of God ; inasmuch as the 
 former violates more obligations than the latter. 
 Men are commanded to acquaint themselves with 
 God, and to serve and obey him ; and after they 
 have attained to this knowledge, and begun to 
 practise this obedience, they are thereby engaged 
 not only to continue steadfast and to persevere, 
 but to " follow on to know the Lord," to advance 
 in the divine life, to " grow in grace," and to 
 " go on unto perfection." To draw back, after 
 having entered on the Christian course, is to 
 testify to our own unworthiness of being made 
 partakers of the heavenly inheritance ; for, said our 
 Lord, " No man, having put his hand to the 
 plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom 
 of God," (Luke ix. 52.) What, in fact, is the vir- 
 tual language of him who turns " from the holy 
 commandment ; " but that the ways of wisdom 
 are not ways of pleasantness, that her paths are 
 not peace, that he repents of having renounced 
 the world, the flesh, and the devil, is weary of the 
 service of God, and prefers the slavery of sin, 
 that the delight experienced by the Christian is 
 delusive, and his hope vain, and that the hollow 
 pleasures of the world are more to be desired ! 
 
 It is in the very nature of sin, to lead to con- 
 tinued and more flagrant iniquity ; and a repetition 
 of comparatively small sins, has a tendency to
 
 280 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 hide from us the distinction between good and 
 evil, and to harden our hearts in disobedience. 
 In reference to this fact, how salutary are the 
 apostolic warning and exhortation ; " Take heed, 
 brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil 
 heart of unbelief, in departing from the living 
 God. But exhort one another daily, lest any of 
 you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." 
 (Heb. iii. 12, 13.) It is on this account that we 
 should be on our ever-watchful guard against the 
 first approaches to a backsliding state. The 
 " deceitfulness of sin" either hardens our heart 
 against all conviction and humble acknowledg- 
 ment of guilt, or it blinds our minds as to the 
 real nature and extent of sin. When it operates 
 in the former way, we have just cause to fear that 
 a man is given over to judicial hardness of heart ; 
 and when it discovers its influence in the latter 
 mode, the man who is thereby deceived is fast 
 approaching to a backsliding state. A decline in 
 religious principle precedes open and wilful trans- 
 gression. Either the habitual fear of God is laid 
 aside, or the spirit of prayer decays, or the delight 
 experienced in studying the Word of God is lost, 
 previously to a careless and unholy conduct. 
 Men cease to prove and examine themselves 
 whether they continue in the faith, and thus faith 
 becomes feeble, hope is weak, and divine consola- 
 tions are at a low ebb ; and at length world-minded- 
 ness usurps the place of spirituality of affections ;
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 281 
 
 conformity to the vain and sinful desires of the 
 flesh succeeds to a conscientious observance of all 
 the divine will ; and a false delusive peace is taken 
 up, instead of a " conscience void of offence to- 
 ward God and toward men." (Acts xxiv. 16.) 
 
 The best way to keep alive religious impressions 
 in the heart, is to examine ourselves frequently 
 concerning our faith, our hope, and our practice. 
 What is the nature of our faith in God, in his 
 person, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in his 
 perfections, as holy, just, true, as well as good, 
 merciful, and patient, in his will as demanding 
 of us repentance and obedience ? What is the 
 ground of our hope of acceptance and justification 
 with God ; to what are we looking, and on what 
 are we relying, as a plea that will bear the scru- 
 tiny of God's judgment-seat ? What is our con- 
 duct as -influenced by this knowledge, this faith, 
 this hope ? Are we striving to live agreeably to 
 the relation in which we stand towards God, as 
 our Creator, Governor, Preserver, and Judge, 
 towards Christ as our Redeemer, towards the 
 Holy Spirit, as our Sanctifier and Comforter, 
 and, lastly, towards each other as brethren and 
 members of one common family ? These consi- 
 derations furnish us with a touchstone to ascertain 
 our spiritual character as Christians. They are 
 easily understood, of evident application, and 
 have a Scriptural sanction for their authority ; 
 and while our faith and conduct will bear the test
 
 282 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 of such an examination, we have the best security 
 against falling into a backsliding state. 
 
 The path of the Christian is thickly beset with 
 snares, and obstructed by difficulties. He has 
 enemies within and without to weaken his stead- 
 fastness, and to draw him aside from the path of 
 duty. He is in the world as a place of probation, 
 wherein to be prepared for the enjoyment of the 
 presence of God ; but the world estranges his 
 heart from those things, which tend to further 
 this preparation. " The lust of the flesh, and the 
 lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," secretly 
 insinuate themselves into the heart, and leave 
 only formality for God. Even the comforts of 
 life, things in themselves lawful and expedient, 
 become snares and engross those affections which 
 should be consecrated to divine things. Thus 
 we are insensibly thrown off our guard, and give 
 ourselves up to the pursuit of doubtful good, and 
 at length to actual sin. Happy for us, if while 
 thus in the path of danger, we are led to reflect 
 on the error of our way, and to " ask for the old 
 paths the good way, and walk therein." (Jerem. 
 vi. 16.) Happy for us, if our own wickedness 
 correct us, and our backslidings reprove us, and 
 we know and " see that it is an evil thing and 
 bitter," that we have forsaken the Lord our 
 God, and that his fear was not in us ! (Jerem. 
 ii. 19.) Happy for us, if, when we have found 
 that " there is no peace unto the wicked," we
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 28? 
 
 loathe our evil ways, and our departures from 
 God, and with godly sorrow exclaim, " I will go 
 and return to my first husband ; for then was it 
 better with me than now." (Hosea ii. 7.) 
 
 Presumptuous confidence is the sure forerunner 
 of laxity of conduct, if not of presumptuous sins. 
 Trusting to our own supposed strength, we follow 
 the world when its temptations, assuming an in- 
 viting form, address us as the Philistines did the 
 son of Saul, " Come up to us, and we will show 
 you a thing ; " (1 Sam. xiv. 4.) but when we have 
 gone over, we are not like him, victorious over 
 our enemies, but fall before them, We are too 
 prone to think lightly of sin, notwithstanding all 
 that the Scriptures declare of its being hateful to 
 God, and destructive to the soul. We class 
 iniquities, according to what we presume to be 
 the estimate of their heinousness or venialness ; 
 and we fondly imagine that our sins are of the 
 latter class. We are ingenious in inventing ex- 
 cuses for some pleasing iniquity, some darling 
 transgression ; and thus our depravity increases 
 the natural deceitfulness of sin. We either endea- 
 vour to still the voice of conscience, by persuading 
 ourselves that the easily-besetting sin is but a 
 small thing, or that it is of an indifferent nature, 
 scarcely, if at all, partaking of the nature of guilt. 
 Or, if our violation of duty be too glaring to be 
 thus explained away, or our conscience be too 
 sensible to allow it to pass without some alarming
 
 <fc84 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 fears some keen remorse, we are yet exposed to 
 another and more dangerous wile of Satan, that 
 of perverting the grace of God to licentiousness ; 
 and by entertaining false notions of the liberty of 
 the Gospel, of promising ourselves freedom from 
 what we call scrupulous fears and superstitious 
 bondage ; while at the same time, we are " the 
 servants of corruption," and the slaves of sin ; 
 " for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is 
 he brought in bondage." (2 Pet. ii. 19.) Alas ! 
 " there is no slavery like sin ; nor any liberty like 
 the service of God." We are deceived by the 
 outward aspect of temptations ; we grasp the 
 flower, fair in appearance and promising durabi- 
 lity ; but it perishes in our hand, and the thorn 
 only remains. We drink of the cup, which our 
 imagination represents as of unmingled sweet- 
 ness ; but we discover in the end that death is in 
 the potion. 
 
 Different situations and a change of outward 
 circumstances, often draw forth from our hearts 
 many sinful affections and passions, which we did 
 not before suspect to be there. Many, while in 
 humble stations in life, have said, and with sin- 
 cerity, " Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor 
 mine eyes lofty." (Ps. cxxxi. 1.) But when they 
 have been advanced in worldly consideration, 
 they have discovered in their lives, pride, oppres- 
 sion, arrogance. When God has accomplished 
 for us a signal deliverance from trouble, we are
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 ready to say, ( We will trust in him as long as 
 we live:' but, alas! the first recurrence of diffi- 
 culty revives our unbelief. Apprehended danger 
 and sorrow cause us to forget former mercies, 
 and we cease to " hope and quietly wait for the 
 salvation of the Lord." Have we been afflicted ? 
 While it continued we were serious and thought- 
 ful, circumspect and humble ; we put our " mouth 
 in the dust." But when it was removed, did we 
 not become trifling and full of levity ? Did not 
 the removal of danger, lead also to an abatement 
 in the fervour of our prayers, to a decrease of 
 watchfulness, to a declension in the spirit of 
 devotion, to a weakening of the habits of piety, 
 and an infringement on, if not a total breaking 
 up of our religious services r O, let us, then, go 
 and return to our first husband ; for then was it 
 better with us than now ! 
 
 Again Affliction has sometimes a contrary 
 effect, and is made an occasion of hard thoughts 
 against God ; if not of actual murmurings and 
 disobedience. When the Israelites were passing 
 through the wilderness, at every new difficulty 
 which they encountered, they spake of making 
 themselves another leader, and of returning into 
 Egypt ; but on delivery from the trouble, they 
 readily joined in singing praises to the God of 
 their salvation ; and, as readily returned to mur- 
 muring and unbelief, at the recurrence of trial. 
 Is not this a picture of our own conduct ? Have
 
 280 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 we never preferred returning to the slavery of sin 
 and Satan, instead of persevering in the service 
 of God r While we are in health, and worldly 
 prosperity shines upon us, our faith is unshaken, 
 because untried ; we can then speak of God as 
 our Shepherd, and say " In him will we trust." 
 Like David we say in our prosperity, " We shall 
 never be moved:" (Psalm xxx. 6.) but when it 
 pleases the Almighty to hide his face, then we 
 are troubled. No sooner does he try us with the 
 bitter waters of affliction, than we murmur at 
 his righteous dispensations, and are ready to call 
 in question his love to our souls ; if not his wis- 
 dom and justice. We first cast away our strength 
 by repining and fretfulness, and then complain 
 of the weakness of our faith ; and thus departures 
 from God lead to unbelief, and unbelief, if per- 
 sisted in, confirms us in our backsliding state ; 
 till at length we are in danger of falling into 
 hardened indifference, or hopeless despair. 
 
 God is willing to receive us again to his favour, 
 on our sincere repentance. We should know 
 that where sin abounds, grace does much more 
 abound ; (Rom. v. 21.) not that we should think 
 lightly of sin, or continue therein, but that we 
 may repent, and enjoy a cheering hope of for- 
 giveness. We glorify God by believing that he 
 is willing to save us, that his Gospel is a free 
 offer of pardon and salvation to the whole human 
 race to every individual of mankind, and that
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 287 
 
 the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Al- 
 though the Gospel excludes despair, yet it calls 
 to repentance, as the only way in which we can 
 return to God with acceptance. ' The Gospel 
 humbles whom it justifies, and comforts those 
 that were condemned ; it abases more than the 
 law, but without despair ; it advances more than 
 nature could, but without presumption.'* Des- 
 pair is the strong-hold of Satan. He first entices 
 men to sin, with a presumptuous reliance on the 
 great mercy of God ; and then terrifies them with 
 accusations of the flagrancy of their guilt, and 
 with dread of the impossibility of pardon and salva- 
 tion. His power is truly called, the power of dark- 
 ness. Dark and deceitful are his numerous wiles 
 and artifices ; and dark and dreadful is the state 
 of mind, into which he brings the despairing sin- 
 ner, who has given himself up resistless to his 
 suggestions and influence ! Let us, then, go to 
 the " Father of lights," whose presence Satan 
 must ever flee, and beseech him to banish dark- 
 ness from our minds, to deliver our hearts from 
 unbelief, and to cause us to say, with the language 
 and feelings of penitence and hope, " I will go 
 and return to my first husband ; for then was it 
 better with me than now." 
 
 The tendency of a backsliding state, is to har- 
 den the heart against repentance. Instead of 
 
 * Dr. Bates.
 
 288 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 inquiring whence he has fallen, and endeavouring 
 to retrace his steps into the narrow way whence 
 he has deviated, the backslider too often tries to 
 number up what evidences he can, of being yet in 
 the favour of God, and in the way of salvation. 
 He begins to calculate how much compliance with 
 the world is consistent with safety ; and how far 
 he can go in sin, without incurring the risk of 
 everlasting perdition. He takes comfort from his 
 former faith, instead of bewailing his present 
 unbelief; he looks with complacency on his fonner 
 good works, instead of forsaking his present evil 
 deeds. Conscience accuses him of having left 
 his first love, and that he no longer labours for 
 Christ's name's sake, but faints and is weary of 
 well-doing ; (Rev. ii. 4.) and to justify his declen- 
 sions, he begins to talk of being dead to the law, 
 of the electing and unchanging love of God, and 
 of the final perseverance of believers. But if he 
 rightly understood the grace of God, he would 
 find in it the strongest inducements to make his 
 calling and election sure ; not by vainly presuming 
 on the secret purposes of God, but by " denying 
 ungodliness, and worldly lusts," and living " so- 
 berly, righteously, and godly in this present 
 world." (Titus ii. 12.) " It is a mortal delusion 
 for any one to pretend that electing mercy will 
 bring them to glory, although they indulge them- 
 selves in a course of sin. There cannot be the 
 least ground of a rational, just hope in any per-
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 289 
 
 son, without holiness ; " every man that hath 
 this hope in him, purifieth himself." (1 John iii. 
 3.) By which it appears that the genuine and 
 proper use we are to make of the " exceeding 
 great and precious promises," is " that by these," 
 we " might be partakers of the divine nature," 
 and escape the " corruption that is in the world 
 through lust/'* (2 Pet. i. 4.) 
 
 The delusion of which we are now speaking, is 
 most to be dreaded of all the evils which attend 
 a state of backsliding from God ; because it 
 debases the understanding, as well as hardens 
 the heart. It perverts the Gospel, and extracts 
 poison from that which was given to be a remedy. 
 It converts the grounds of pardon into the means 
 of condemnation ; and brings down the heavy 
 sentence of perdition, from the very source of re- 
 demption and salvation. The power of God can 
 alone deliver from this delusion ; the divine Spirit 
 can alone remove this veil from the mind. And 
 when a man is again convinced by divine teach- 
 ing, that " faith without works is dead ;" that the 
 true use of the blood of Christ, is to cleanse from 
 sin ; that the love of God is the most powerful 
 inducement to hate and deny all ungodliness ; 
 and that the grace of God imparts sanctification, 
 as well as confers pardon ; when his conscience 
 hears the voice of him who is the " first and the 
 
 Dr. Bates. 
 
 u
 
 290 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 last," saying unto him, " Remember from whence 
 thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; " 
 (Rev. ii. 5.) then his heart is melted, and yields 
 to the warning voice ; he confesses his iniquity 
 with shame and sorrow ; he loathes his former 
 ways ; and, encouraged by that love which has 
 produced repentance in his heart, he turns his 
 back on his sins, and looks again towards God's 
 holy temple, (Jonah ii. 4.) saying " I will go and 
 return to my first husband ; for then was it better 
 with me than now." 
 
 There are many questionable cases connected 
 with a state of alienation from God. The way to 
 God is open by faith and repentance ; but in the 
 case of some persons, we can neither feel a good 
 hope for them ourselves, nor give them encou- 
 ragement to indulge such a hope. Suppose the 
 case of a man advanced in years, and about to 
 die ; his early life was devoted to God, but he soon 
 broke the ties of religion, and spent the remain- 
 der of his years in uninterrupted transgression, 
 living worse than an infidel. When we witness 
 the latter end of such a character, and behold the 
 force of conscience combined with the terrors of 
 death ; and hear him crying for pardon, yet not 
 daring to hope for it ; earnestly seeking consola- 
 tion, yet afraid to embrace it, lest it should prove 
 a delusion ; we are doubtful what course to pursue. 
 The difficulty of ascertaining whether a death-bed 
 repentance, is the result of a sincere, heart-felt
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 291 
 
 sorrow for sin, and grief for having offended the 
 God of all mercies ; or the mere effect of fear, 
 arising from the dreaded approach of the king of 
 terrors and the hour of judgment, prevents us 
 from offering, and him from receiving the com- 
 fort that sinking nature so much needs at that 
 awful period. 
 
 What can be said to such a character ? The 
 Gospel must be set before him in all its freeness, 
 and fulness, and suitableness to the condition of 
 mankind. But whether he rightly receives it, or 
 safely relies on it, must remain a question with 
 survivors ; and to himself also it is a subject of 
 painful doubt. Sincere repentance is never too 
 late ; but where is the evidence that late repent- 
 ance repentance deferred till the hour of mortal- 
 lity, is sincere ! Being conscious that while 
 life and strength were possessed in vigour, God 
 was forgotten^ his word was contemned, his 
 ministers were derided, and the day of grace was 
 wasted, the dying sinner feels how doubtful is 
 the acceptance with God of the brief remains of 
 an ill-spent life. He fears, and justly too, lest 
 that mercy which he slighted for many years, 
 should be denied to the earnest supplication of the 
 last hour of ebbing life ! He trembles lest that 
 divine wrath which he despised while health 
 bounded in his veins, should be ready at the 
 moment of dissolution, to fall on his guilty soul to 
 the very uttermost. It is in vain we assure him that 
 
 U 2
 
 892 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 the mercy of God endureth for ever, that his 
 grace reigns and abounds, and that Christ died to 
 save us from the wrath to come ; the knowledge 
 of these truths has been long familiar to him, 
 but instead of making them the strongest incite- 
 ments to hate and avoid evil, he perverted them 
 into encouragements to walk after the desires of 
 the flesh. And now when he should be resting 
 his everlasting well-being on these encouraging 
 and consoling doctrines of the Gospel, he fears 
 lest his former abuse of them, as it adds aggrava^- 
 tion to his sins, should also confirm the sentence 
 of his irrevocable condemnation ! 
 
 And when a contrary effect is witnessed, as 
 is sometimes the case, and we hear the man who 
 has lived without God in the world, speaking of 
 the glories of heaven as his undoubted inheritance,, 
 and expressing the strongest assurance that his 
 sins are pardoned, and his faith accepted ; we 
 have very good reason to suspect the origin of 
 such assurance. It seems to be a notion with 
 some persons, that full assurance of pardon is 
 essential to true faith, and that a death-bed, 
 without this assurance, is destitute of the best 
 evidence of our being in a state of acceptance 
 with God. It is, doubtless, very desirable to have 
 a comfortable and well-grounded expectation of 
 heaven, when we are on the point of leaving the 
 present scene : but when we hear of persons whose 
 life has been one continued violation of the laws
 
 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. % 293 
 
 of God and man, persons suffering as malefac- 
 tors the extreme sentence of the law on the 
 scaffold, who nevertheless profess to have that 
 strong faith, and to enjoy that full tide of conso- 
 lation, which are not possessed by many sincere 
 and humble Christians, whose whole life has been 
 both pious and useful ; we may, we ought to 
 suspect that such persons are under a powerful 
 and fatal delusion. 
 
 We know that the judgment of God, in such 
 cases, will be according to truth ; but we are not 
 to presume to exercise it. It is not our province 
 to limit the mercy of God, or to set bounds to 
 his grace. Christ has promised that he will in 
 no-wise cast out any that come unto him ; and it 
 is beyond our sphere, to decide who exceeds the 
 period of gracious reception. It is much more 
 delightful to have the testimony of Scripture on 
 our side, when we confidently assure those, 
 whose consciences accuse them of many depar- 
 tures from God, but who have long felt true 
 contrition, and have sincerely desired to please 
 God, that they may be encouraged to make an 
 immediate and successful application to the Throne 
 of Grace. Is there any humble, sincere, but 
 timorous Christian, who is not made so perfect 
 in love, as to rise above that slavish fear 
 which hath torment ; and who unnecessarily 
 trembles at the dreaded apprehension of being 
 rejected on account of many imperfections ? Let
 
 294 THE REPENTANT BACKSLIDER. 
 
 such a one take courage, and adopt the language 
 of the prophet, saying " When I sit in darkness, 
 the Lord shall be a light unto me." (Micah vii. 
 8.) To such a one we may apply the consolatory 
 words spoken to the church of old, " O, thou 
 afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted ;" 
 I will take out of thy hand " the cup of trembling, 
 thou shalt no more drink it again ;" " Thy sun 
 shall no more go down ; neither shall thy moon 
 withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thy ever- 
 lasting light, arid the days of thy mourning shall 
 be ended." (Isa. li. 22 liv. II Ix. 20.)
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 IT is universally admitted that religion, or the 
 care of the soul a due concern for spiritual wel- 
 fare, a proper consideration of the relation in 
 which we stand towards God, and of the duties 
 which devolve on us in consequence of that rela- 
 tion, it is admitted by all that religion ought to 
 be the chief object of man's attention arid regard ; 
 inasmuch as the soul infinitely surpasses the body 
 in value, and eternity outweighs, in an immea- 
 surable degree, the passing and transitory objects 
 of this temporal state. But do we find this uni- 
 versal admission generally acted upon ? Do we 
 find men we do not say neglecting the concerns 
 of this life, for the interests of eternity ; for reli- 
 gion neither commands nor sanctions such a 
 perversion of moral duty, but do we find men 
 living and acting as those who believe that they 
 have important duties of an earthly character to 
 discharge, and duties vastly more important of a 
 spiritual nature, which demand their best affec- 
 tions and their devoted service ; that they have 
 bodily wants to be supplied by active diligence 
 and industry, and spiritual necessities of louder 
 call, which can only be removed by the grace and 
 mercy of heaven ; that they have social interests
 
 296 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 and civil duties to be regarded and discharged 
 towards their fellow men, and at the same time, 
 duties of more imperious obligation towards God 
 their Creator, their Preserver, their Judge, and 
 interests of surpassing consequence and value in 
 the unseen world ? Do we find these happy 
 results, from an admission so generally and so 
 readily made by all ? Both candour and charity 
 authorise us to answer, No. Not only we do not 
 observe the obligations of religion submitted to as 
 of chief authority ; but we daily see a prevalent, 
 an habitual disregard of these obligations. 
 
 Religion makes but little general impression ; 
 that is, so as to manifest its influence over the 
 affections and the conduct of men. The divine 
 testimony concerning mankind, from the time of 
 the introduction of sin, is that their thoughts are 
 evil, that their heart is deceitful and desperately 
 wicked, and that they have gone out of the way 
 of holiness and obedience. It is unconcern about 
 spiritual good, which forms the most lamentable 
 feature in the character of fallen and depraved 
 man. Sin places him in danger of the judgment 
 of God, but he is regardless of the perils which 
 are only threatened and not inflicted. The mercy 
 of God has provided for him a Saviour, but he 
 feels small interest in a salvation which engages 
 to deliver him from the dominion of those sins 
 which he loves, to give him a new heart and a 
 right spirit, for which he feels no wish, and to
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 297 
 
 bestow on him a future happiness which is pure 
 and lasting, but for which, as he is conscious of 
 no earnest and longing desires, so he makes no 
 preparation. The present scene occupies his 
 chief attention, his inquiries pass not the limits of 
 this earthly globe ; here his heart seeks its plea- 
 sure, and here his affections grovel, heedless of 
 the supreme " fulness of joy," and the unspeak- 
 able glories which the long-suffering and the 
 grace of God constantly hold out to his pursuit, 
 and press upon him as his chief concern, as alone 
 worthy of his unremitted exertions. 
 
 Experience and the Bible both confirm this 
 statement of the moral condition of mankind. 
 The very provision that is made to cherish and 
 keep alive the principle of religion, proves the 
 tendency which there is in the human heart to 
 forget or neglect it. The observance of the 
 Lord's day is designed to remind men of their 
 Creator, the only true God and Lord ; the duty 
 of prayer is intended to awaken a just sense of 
 our necessities and our dependence, to preserve 
 humility, to increase faith, and to produce hope ; 
 the obligation to thanksgiving tends to maintain 
 in lively exercise a feeling of our infinite obliga- 
 tions to our Heavenly Father, and to lead us to 
 acknowledge him in all our ways ; the command 
 to " search the Scriptures," is given that we 
 might have always before us ; the condition into 
 which we are fallen as sinners, and the redemp-
 
 298 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 tion that is provided for us, in the mediation 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hard must that heart 
 be, whiclvrequires such affecting displays of mercy 
 to incline and melt it ; depraved must those 
 affections be, which need such appeals to allure 
 them ; obstinate must that will be, which calls 
 for such powerful and such constant reason and 
 argument to bow and regulate it ! But such, 
 truly, is our heart ; such are human affections j 
 such is man's will ! 
 
 The indifference and unconcern of men are not 
 confined to the salvation which regards their own 
 benefit alone, but they extend also to the Saviour 
 him who died to purchase this salvation* 
 Hence we may suppose the moving remonstrance 
 of the Saviour, anticipated in prophetic declara- 
 tion, as applicable to them. " Is it nothing to 
 you, all ye that pass by r " As if it were said, If 
 ye have no attention to be bestowed on your own 
 advantage, no regard for your chief blessings, at 
 least let your sympathy be excited in my behalf, 
 at least let your pity and love be moved on my 
 account, have some consideration for my suffer- 
 ings as personal, if not as borne for your sakes, 
 overlook not the innocence of my character, the 
 nature of my office, the dignity of my person ! 
 " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? Be- 
 hold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my 
 sorrow ! " (Lam. i. 12.) 
 
 Let us, then, instead of " passing by " as un-
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 299 
 
 concerned spectators of so wondrous a scene as 
 the suffering of the Son of God, endeavour to 
 make some inquiry respecting the nature and the 
 design of the sorrow which Christ endured in his 
 state of humiliation. 
 
 The sorrow of Christ was unlike any other hu- 
 man misery, not because of the extremity of 
 bodily suffering on the cross, for this did not ex- 
 ceed (as we may suppose,) the pain endured by 
 others, who were subjected to this mode of 
 punishment ; but his sorrow was peculiar in being 
 borne for others, in being the sorrow inflicted 
 by divine justice upon him as the sinner's Sure- 
 ty, and in partaking more of a spiritual than a 
 corporeal nature. We do not design to underrate 
 the bodily tortures which our Lord suffered, or 
 the ignominy to which he submitted in being 
 crucified. The circumstances which are related 
 in history of the mode of putting persons to 
 death, by fixing them to a cross, sufficiently 
 prove it to have been a most painful and agoniz- 
 ing manner of inflicting the sentence of death. 
 " Crucifixion was a punishment which the antients 
 inflicted only on the most notorious criminals and 
 malefactors. The cross was made of two beams, 
 cither crossing at the top at right angles, or in 
 the middle of their length like the letter X. There 
 was, besides, a piece on the centre of the trans- 
 verse beam, to which was attached the accusation, 
 or statement of the culprit's crime ; together with
 
 300 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 a piece of wood that projected from the middle, 
 on which the person sat as on a kind of saddle, 
 and by which the whole body was supported. 
 Justin Martyr gives this description ; and it is 
 worthy of note that he lived in the former part of 
 the second century of the Christian aera, before 
 the punishment of the cross was abolished." 
 " Crucifixion is one of the most cruel and 
 excruciating deaths, which the art of ingeniously 
 tormenting and extinguishing life ever devised. 
 The body of the criminal was fastened to the 
 upright beam by nailing or tying the feet to it, 
 and on the transverse beam by nailing or some- 
 times tying the hands to it. As the nerves are 
 the instruments of all sensation or feeling, 
 wounds in the parts where they most abound, 
 must be peculiarly painful ; especially when in- 
 flicted with such rude instruments as large nails, 
 forcibly driven through the exquisitely delicate 
 tendons, nerves, and bones of those parts. The 
 horror of this punishment will appear, when it is 
 considered that the person was permitted to hang 
 (the whole weight of his body being borne up by 
 his nailed hands and feet, and by the projecting 
 piece in the middle of the cross,) until he perished 
 through agony and want of food. There are 
 instances of crucified persons living in this exqui- 
 site torture several days. The wise and adorable 
 Author of our being, has framed and constituted 
 the fabric' of our bodies in such a merciful man-
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 301 
 
 ner> that nothing violent is lasting. Friendly 
 death sealed the eyes of those wretches generally 
 in two days. Hunger, thirst, and acute pain 
 dismissed them from their intolerable sufferings."* 
 
 But this was not all the torture inflicted on 
 those who were crucified. " Among the Romans, 
 scourging was always inflicted previously to cru- 
 cifixion." After they had mangled and torn the 
 body of Jesus with this customary flagellation, 
 " the Evangelist informs us that they obliged our 
 Lord to carry to the place of execution the cross 
 on which he was to be suspended. This was usual. 
 Lacerated, therefore, with the stripes and bruises 
 he had received, faint with the loss of blood, his 
 spirits exhausted by the cruel insults and blows 
 that were given him when they invested him with 
 robes of mock royalty, and oppressed with the 
 incumbent weight of the cross ; in these circum- 
 stances, our Saviour was urged along the road."-{~ 
 
 In stating the nature of Christ's sufferings, it 
 is necessary to dwell more particularly on their 
 spiritual nature, as endured for men ; because it 
 is to be feared that many persons are satisfied with 
 their feelings on this point ; because on reading 
 or hearing of the bodily anguish which Christ 
 endured on the Cross, they are moved to tears 
 and sympathizing pity. Such pity may be alto- 
 gether independent of religious feeling; it may 
 
 * Home's Introd. vol. iii. p. 150. f Ib. p. 155. et seq.
 
 302 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 be excited by any instance of human misery., and 
 yet not in any way affect or influence the conduct. 
 Many are moved to tears at the mere representa- 
 tion of feigned distress on the Stage, who have 
 no compassion, that is, no active benevolence to 
 allay or remove the actual wants and sufferings 
 of their poor and distressed neighbours. We 
 must guard against a spurious sensibility, a false 
 kind of tenderness ; we must examine our hearts 
 and affections, and see how far in relation to our 
 brethren of mankind, our compassion proves itself 
 to be of the right kind, by urging us to acts of 
 charity and deeds of benevolence. And in spirit- 
 ual things we should make diligent inquiry, how 
 far our sorrow for a suffering and dying Saviour 
 leads us to bewail the cause of his sufferings and 
 death, namely, our sins ; and how far this re- 
 pentance is succeeded by a forsaking of our evil 
 ways- the only sure evidence of godly sorrow and 
 repentance unto life. Much compassion may be 
 manifested at the recital of a tale of woe, but no 
 stretching forth of the arm to succour the dis- 
 tressed object, no opening of the hand to bestow 
 the means of assistance. Many tears may be 
 shed on hearing of the sufferings of Christ, but 
 no true repentance be felt, no lively faith be 
 exercised, no saving knowledge be acquired of 
 the true nature and the grand design of those 
 sufferings. 
 The true nature of Christ's sufferings may be
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 303 
 
 ascertained from the dignity of his person, and 
 from the causes which led to them. " Ye know 
 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though 
 he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor." 
 (2 Cor. viii. 9.) It was great condescension in 
 him to assume human nature ; how much greater 
 to accomplish by sufferings what was necessary 
 for our redemption ! Christ took not on him our 
 first and original nature, which was both free 
 from sin and exempt from sorrow of every kind. 
 Although he was pure, and spotless, and " separate 
 from sinners ; " yet he took upon him our nature 
 in all its weakness, and as exposed to every suf- 
 fering incident to mortality. The title given to 
 him in prophecy, " a man of sorrows," was not 
 without emphatical signification ; for nearly his 
 whole life was one continual suffering. He said 
 of himself that he must " suffer many things ; " 
 (Luke xvii. 25.) and accordingly he was poor and 
 houseless, his life was constantly sought for by 
 his bitter enemies, he was reviled and traduced, 
 he endured the " contradiction of sinners against 
 himself?" (Heb. xii. 3.) In the agony in the 
 garden previously to his death, his soul was ex- 
 ceedingly sorrowful and heavy, even to produce 
 the gushing forth of great drops of blood ; and 
 in his last passion he hid not his face from shame 
 and from spitting, and at length was held up on 
 the Cross as hated of man and accursed of God ! 
 If a good man could have been found one with-
 
 304 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 out sin, to endure all this for his fellow-men, it 
 would have been a noble instance of love ; if an 
 angel from heaven had descended to endure it, 
 we should have been still more struck with the 
 magnitude of the compassion felt for us ; how is 
 it, then, that we feel so little emotion, when we 
 are assured that he who was King of kings, and 
 Lord of lords, the Mighty God, took upon him 
 for our sakes the form of a servant, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross ! 
 The causes which led to the sorrow of Christ 
 also show its nature, and that no sorrow was ever 
 like his sorrow. The evil of sin and the anger of 
 God could alone be removed and appeased by the 
 suffering and death of the Son of God. On ac- 
 count of the evil of sin, the sorrow of Christ 
 surpassed our knowledge. We may readily 
 believe that sin is an infinite evil, as being com- 
 mitted against a God whose perfections are all 
 infinite ; but we cannot estimate the suffering 
 necessary to atone for sin for the sins of- the 
 whole world. If the sorrow felt for the commis- 
 sion of sin be exceedingly keen, when guilt is 
 deeply impressed on the conscience of man, what 
 must have been the sorrow of Him who became a 
 sin-offering for the transgressions of all mankind ! 
 If the mere apprehension of the wrath of God on 
 account of sin, be so dreadful to the awakened 
 sinner, what must have been the full weight of 
 that wrath, which fell upon the head of him on
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 305 
 
 whom was laid the iniquity of us all! How 
 dreadful must that anger have been, which caused 
 the Saviour, when his hour drew nigh to endure 
 it, to pray with agonizing fervour, " O my 
 Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
 me ! " (Matt. xxvi. 39.) Who can understand 
 the full meaning of those words, uttered by the 
 dying Saviour, " My God, my God, why hast 
 thou forsaken me ! " Surely, he who uttered 
 them, then bore the weight of God's just displea- 
 sure against sin ; surely, he was then deprived 
 of all sense of the favour of God, and was separated 
 from the only fountain of joy and happiness. 
 
 Let us consider the design of the sorrow which 
 Christ endured. 
 
 " Without shedding of blood is no remission ; " 
 (Heb. ix. 22.) and without remission or forgive- 
 ness of sins, there can be no salvation. Our 
 Saviour, then, " gave himself for us, that he might 
 redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto 
 himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
 (Titus ii. 14.) The design of Christ's suffering 
 was that we might be pardoned, and sanctified, 
 and prepared for the heavenly glory. Unless he 
 had intervened between God and us with his 
 perfect work of mediation, we could never have 
 seen the face of God but as an angry Judge, to 
 condemn us to endless banishment from his 
 presence. There are but two ways of appear- 
 ing before God with acceptance, either innocent, 
 
 x
 
 306 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 or as clothed with the imputed righteousness of 
 Christ. That we are intirely excluded from the 
 former mode of access, needs no proof ; ail are 
 agreed respecting the universal guilt of mankind, 
 although they may differ concerning its degree. 
 And the latter could not be obtained without the 
 humiliation and suffering of Christ to atone for 
 sin. The impassable barrier which precluded the 
 access of man to God, was sin ; this has been re- 
 moved by the Mediator, and thus we " who 
 sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the 
 blood of Christ." He hath reconciled us unto 
 God by the Cross, and " through him we have 
 access unto the Father." (Eph. ii. 13, 16, 18.) 
 If we propose any other way of approach unto God, 
 than this " new and living way," which Christ 
 hath " consecrated for us," (Heb. x. 20.) we 
 shall find ourselves at last in the situation of him 
 who intruded into the royal feast, without a gar- 
 ment appropriated to the festive occasion. Of 
 such a one will the King of kings say, " Bind 
 him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast 
 him into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. xxii. 11 13.) 
 
 If Christ died to atone for sin, then is sin most 
 to be dreaded as our greatest enemy. If the 
 wrath of God against sin caused the Saviour to 
 be " sore amazed," how shall mortal man endure 
 that wrath ! Shall we sin with careless presump- 
 tion, as those who choose to risk the endless suf-
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 307 
 
 fering of that which almost overwhelmed the Re- 
 deemer ! If innocence shrunk back at the ap- 
 prehension of the cup of God's wrath, what shall 
 guilty men do, who live in wilful sin, and die in 
 impenitence ! Can they t( dwell with devouring 
 fire?" Can they " dwell with everlasting burn- 
 ings ? " Can they (f lie down in sorrow " that 
 sorrow which drew from the Son of God the af- 
 fecting cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ! " 
 
 Sanctification, which includes a preparation for 
 the heavenly glory, is another part of the design 
 of the sorrow which Christ endured. The pardon 
 of sin implies not only that full satisfaction has 
 been made to divine justice, but also that the ob- 
 jects of this pardon are expected to live hence- 
 forth in a constant state of watchfulness and 
 prayer that they fall not into temptation, and so 
 return to habitual and wilful sin. Accordingly, 
 divine strength is offered to them, whereby they 
 may be enabled to overcome all their spiritual 
 adversaries. They are exhorted to " put on the 
 whole armour of God, that they may be able to 
 stand against the wiles of the devil," (Bph. vi. 
 11.) the wiles of him whose works Christ came 
 to destroy. It is a fatal delusion for any one to 
 suppose that the pardon of sin affords any war- 
 rant for continuing to indulge the lusts of flesh, 
 or that the grace of God, which abounds much 
 more than sin, permits us to " continue in sin, 
 
 X 2
 
 308 PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 that grace may abound." (Rom. vi. 1.) They who 
 can think or speak lightly of sin, show manifestly 
 that they have never been impressed with a know- 
 ledge of its evil nature, and have never sought 
 its pardon through the only medium of forgive- 
 ness. They who ignorantly think to magnify the 
 grace of God, by carelessly continuing in those 
 sins for which Christ died, and for which grace 
 offers pardon, do " crucify to themselves the Son 
 of God afresh," and do " despite unto the Spirit 
 of grace." (Heb. vi. 6. x. 25.) By hardened im- 
 penitence, and by obstinate perseverance in sin, 
 they set aside, as far as in them lies, the merits of 
 Christ's death, and require, as it were, a fresh 
 crucifixion, a renewal of that offering which was 
 once made, and which can never be repeated ; 
 " for by one offering he hath perfected for ever 
 them that are sanctified." (Heb. xi. 28.) " If we 
 sin wilfully," preservingly, habitually, and mali- 
 ciously, " after that we have received the truth, 
 there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." (Heb. 
 x. 14.) Let not any one, then, thus trample 
 under foot the Son of God, " for we know him 
 that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me," 
 and " it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of 
 the living God ! " (Heb. x. 2931.) 
 
 If we rightly consider the nature, and under- 
 stand the design of Christ's sufferings, how can 
 we pass by with hard indifference in a course of 
 sin, regardless of his sorrow, and of that love
 
 PASSION OF CHRIST. 309 
 
 which prompted him to bear it for our sakes! 
 Alas ! with lamentable disregard of our true wel- 
 fare, we care but little for the pardon of sin, a 
 new heart, and a right spirit, so that we can but 
 obtain the gratification of our corrupt and de- 
 praved desires. We set small value on the du- 
 rable riches of Christ's righteousness, so that we can 
 but procure worldly riches and honours. We have 
 but little desires for the joys of heaven, so that 
 we can but continue to live in this world. The 
 most prevailing inducements unite to call on men 
 to give their chief regard and attention to the 
 welfare of the soul. If the terrors of a just and 
 holy law, if the majesty of God, if the severity 
 of divine justice, cannot induce us to renounce 
 our iniquities ; at least the sufferings of him who 
 loved us even unto death, should move us to shed 
 the tears of true repentance, and to feel a perfect 
 hatred of those sins, for which Christ suffered, 
 and bled, and died ! Shall not our hearts relent, 
 when blessings are offered us, for the purchase of 
 which our Saviour endured the curse ! Shall we 
 not resolve to renounce all iniquity, seeing Christ 
 died that it might be pardoned ! Did Christ 
 leave the celestial abodes, that a way might be 
 opened from earth to heaven ; and shall we not 
 endeavour to walk in this way, and to attain to 
 endless happiness and glory ! O ! what a con- 
 trast is exhibited in the means of human redemp- 
 tion, and the objects of that redemption ! We be-
 
 310 , PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 hold guilty sinners, and a holy, spotless sacrifice ; 
 a world in rebellion, and God their Maker be- 
 seeching them to be reconciled to him ! We see 
 divine love, and human enmity ; a Spirit of grace, 
 and obstinate depravity ; long-suffering patience, 
 and determined continuance in provocations ! 
 
 Let this amazing contrast humble us to the 
 lowest self-abasement, and cover us with the shame 
 of sincere repentance ; let it prepare and incline 
 our hearts to listen to the threatenings of divine 
 justice, and the invitations of divine mercy ; and 
 above all, let it prevail on us to love with undi- 
 vided affections, and to serve with unremitted 
 obedience, that Saviour who makes^this most af- 
 fecting appeal to our hearts, " Is it nothing to 
 you, all ye that pass by ? Behold, and see if there 
 be any sorrow like unto my sorrow ! "
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 THE knowledge of salvation by a Mediator, is 
 as antient as the fall of man. In the sentence 
 which justice pronounced on the guilty inhabitants 
 of Paradise, Mercy triumphed in the gracious 
 promise which was added, that from the seed of 
 the woman should arise a Deliverer, who should 
 bruise the head of the serpent. (Gen. iii. 15.) 
 When God manifested his power in the creation 
 of mankind, he displayed also the goodness which 
 is essential to his divine nature ; every thing 
 which he made was not only good in itself, as to 
 beauty of appearance, and perfectness of forma- 
 tion, but also good in relation to its usefulness to 
 man. The glory of God and the advantage of 
 his creatures, were united in all the works of the 
 great Creator. Our first parents worshipped God, 
 as a Being of infinite wisdom, and power, and 
 goodness, and Jove ; they knew not his anger or 
 displeasure ; they had not witnessed the opera- 
 tions of his justice as displayed in the maintenance 
 of the Jionour of divine law. And after sin had 
 entered into the world, the earliest revelation 
 which we have of the character and designs of 
 our Maker, is a declaration of his mercy towards
 
 312 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 the human race. The sentence which was de- 
 nounced against Adam, would at once have driven 
 him to despair had not the promise of mercy ex- 
 cited hope in his breast. All the evils, moral and 
 natural, which would result from the Fall, must 
 have been known to God, and we cannot, there- 
 fore, avoid the inference, that the provision 
 which his tender mercy made for the restoration 
 of his guilty and wretched creatures, would even- 
 tually deliver them both from present suffering, 
 and from final condemnation. And accordingly, 
 the promise in which this provision of divine 
 mercy was made known to man, was so expressed 
 that the expectation of an almighty Deliverer, 
 who should again exalt the children of men to 
 the high dignity and favour whence they had 
 fallen through sin, was so powerfully excited, and 
 the knowledge of the nature and design of his 
 mission so clearly understood, and so generally 
 diffused, that the Redeemer was emphatically 
 called in prophecy, " The desire of all nations." 
 (Hag. ii. 7.) 
 
 However this knowledge may have declined in 
 after-ages, in consequence of the universal cor- 
 ruption of mankind, it was never intirely lost ; 
 nor was it exclusively confined to the people of 
 Israel, who were the chosen depositaries of true 
 religion. The expectation of a heavenly De- 
 liverer was found in some degree among all na- 
 tions, although much obscured and perverted by
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 313 
 
 gross idolatry and depravity. No great moral or 
 natural event, which in its consequences affects 
 the whole human race, can be altogether forgot- 
 ten, and the remembrance of it obliterated from 
 the earth. If a tradition of the deluge, a judg- 
 ment which was likely to make the strongest im- 
 pression on the minds of the few survivors, be 
 found, as is the fact, among all nations of the 
 earth ; can we suppose that the knowledge of the 
 fall, and of the promised restoration events of 
 infinitely greater importance than the destruction 
 of one intire generation of men, could be totally 
 lost from among mankind ? Some traces of an 
 acquaintance with both may be found even among 
 the most barbarous people. The universal notion 
 of the necessity and efficacy of sacrifice, can be 
 traced to no other origin. The custom of offering 
 sacrifices was of divine authority ; and we learn 
 from the Scriptures, that it was designed to keep 
 alive the expectation of a Messiah, who should 
 offer the sacrifice of himself as an atonement for 
 a guilty world, and to direct the faith of the wor- 
 shippers to him as the great propitiatory sacrifice, 
 which alone could take away sin ; and of which 
 their own offerings of obedience and faith, were 
 but types and shadows. The sacrifice of Abel 
 was of this kind, and was therefore accepted of 
 God ; while that of Cain was rejected, because in 
 it there was no type of the future Redeemer ; it 
 was an offering of disobedience, and not of faith ;
 
 314 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 it was not of the kind prescribed by divine com- 
 mand ; and it was not designed by the offerer to 
 have a propitiatory reference, but evidently as a 
 meritorious performance. 
 
 The knowledge that God had thoughts of mercy 
 towards mankind, was communicated as soon as the 
 circumstances of the case required ; that is, imme- 
 diately after the entrance of sin. But the method 
 by which redemption was to be procured, was 
 gradually developed in succeeding ages, by the 
 ministrations of the prophets. And although 
 some of their predictions respecting the Messiah, 
 were obscure, being designed to be explained 
 only by the accomplishment of the events, yet 
 the Personage who was to appear as the Deliverer, 
 the manner of his birth and manifestation to the 
 world, the lowliness of his appearance, and the 
 wonderful works which he should perform, were 
 so circumstantially described, that all who truly 
 waited for the consolation of Israel, were prepared 
 to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the promised 
 Messiah. The holy Simeon blessed God for the 
 sight of the infant Saviour ; and desired to depart 
 this life when he had beheld him, who was des- 
 tined to be a " a light to lighten the Gentiles, and 
 the glory of Israel." (Luke ii. 2932.) 
 
 It is true that the majority, even of his bre- 
 thren of Israel, were offended at the Redeemer ; 
 because they misinterpreted the prophecies, and 
 looked for temporal glories, where God designed
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 315 
 
 spiritual blessings. They knew by what names 
 of dignity the Messiah would be known ; but they 
 wilfully resisted the evidence which Christ gave in 
 proof that to him all these names belonged. 
 The Gentiles also, in the land where our Lord 
 was born, and where he sojourned, refused to 
 make any inquiry into the case ; they held both 
 the Jews and the Messiah, who was born of their 
 nation, in the greatest contempt ; and although 
 Pilate declared that he found no fault in him, yet 
 he delivered him up to death, at the request of 
 his malicious enemies. 
 
 The Jews expected that the Messiah was to be 
 their Deliverer, as a nation ; and not the general 
 Saviour of mankind. They looked for a Prince 
 with the power and glory of this world, to raise 
 their nation to an unknown height of grandeur 
 and dominion. But as God designed mercy, 
 through the Messiah, to all nations, he sent his 
 Son in that character which best declared that 
 the merits of his mediation, were intended for the 
 whole human race ; and not for any one people 
 in particular. The antient prophets who foretold 
 the coming of the Redeemer, understood that his 
 kingdom was to be a spiritual one ; and as the 
 condition of the world was one in which men 
 were exposed to everlasting ruin, they looked for 
 a Deliverer whose salvation should not be tempo- 
 ral, but eternal. If temporal deliverance only 
 had been required for the human race, this might
 
 316 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 have been effected by a human agent, vested with 
 extraordinary power from God for the occasion ; 
 but when atonement for sin was to be made, when 
 divine justice was to be satisfied divine wrath to 
 be appeased divine truth to be justified divine 
 mercy to be manifested, and eternal life bestowed, 
 the case demanded the aid of an Almighty arm, 
 the interposition of a divine Personage. Accord- 
 ingly, the promises distinctly describing this 
 Personage, ascribed to him the union of divinity 
 and humanity. He was to be born of woman, 
 as are all those whom he came to save ; he was 
 to be exposed to sorrow and grief, as are all those 
 whose cause he undertook ; he was to die, as do 
 all for whom he came to procure everlasting life. 
 But, his nature was also to be divine ; his names 
 were to be those of Deity ; his works were to be 
 such as omnipotence alone could effect ; his spi- 
 ritual kingdom was to be without end ; and his 
 exaltation was to be the glory peculiar to the 
 Eternal God alone. In all these things he was to 
 be called " Wonderful :" (Isa. ix. 6.) in his na- 
 ture his state of humiliation the display of his 
 power his love to man, even unto death the 
 final judgment of mankind, and in the everlasting 
 redemption of all who believe in him. 
 
 Jesus Christ is rightly named " Wonderful," if 
 we contemplate the dignity of his nature, in con- 
 junction with his state of humiliation on earth. 
 
 It has always been a prevalent notion among
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 317 
 
 mankind, that God might be propitiated : but the 
 glory of displaying the means by which this pro- 
 pitiation was to be effected, belonged alone to 
 God. The mercy which God designed to bestow 
 on man, was wonderful in degree ; but the means 
 by which it was to be purchased, were still more 
 wonderful. That God should send a Deliverer, 
 was made known in the first promise of mercy : 
 but that the Deliverer should be the " Mighty 
 God," and that he should appear as a frail, mortal 
 man, subject to all the sufferings incident to hu- 
 manity, surpassed the utmost expectation of man, 
 and the comprehension of created intelligence. 
 Unless this surprising truth had been most expli- 
 citly declared in the Word of God, it would 
 never have entered our minds to suppose it ; nor 
 should we have dared to believe it, if propounded 
 to us by any authority less than divine. The 
 union of the divine and human natures is the 
 great " mystery of godliness ;" we have clear 
 evidence of its existence, although the nature of 
 it must be inexplicable to our finite understanding. 
 We might suppose that such a fact would 
 always excite in our minds the liveliest feelings 
 of devout admiration, and that we should love to 
 meditate on a truth so glorious in its consequences 
 to us, and so fraught with wonders in every part 
 of its manifestation. But the fact is so often 
 stated to us, and the acknowledgment and belief 
 of it so often repeated by us, that it ceases to
 
 318 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 excite in our minds those feelings of grateful 
 adoration, which so wonderful a truth is calcu- 
 lated to produce ; and which it does produce in 
 the minds of beings of a higher order than our- 
 selves. We read that " the angels desire to look" 
 into these things. (1 Pet. i. 12.) We derive all 
 the benefits which result from them ; and we are 
 the first to suffer familiarity with them, to produce 
 indifference : and because we have always known 
 that the child born unto us, as the promised Mes- 
 siah, was the " Mighty God," we look upon so 
 wonderful a truth with little emotion. 
 
 It is a subject which demands our constant 
 grateful recollection, because it is the only sure 
 foundation for our hope of pardon. If we build 
 our reliance on a created arm, we must be event- 
 ually covered with confusion ; because the Scrip- 
 tures declare that God is our Saviour, and he 
 will not give his glory to another. Those who 
 unhappily rely on a Mediator that is but a man, 
 trust in a Saviour of their own invention, and 
 not in the Saviour of the Scriptures. If Christ 
 be not very God, then is the language of pro- 
 phecy false, for it declared that he should be 
 called " the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father." 
 (Isa. ix. 6.) If Christ be not very God, his claims 
 were profane and sacrilegious invasions of the 
 prerogatives of the Eternal, for he said " I and 
 my Father are one." (John x. 30.) If Christ be 
 not God, the faith of the Apostles was blasphemy,
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 319 
 
 for they declared that " God was manifest in the 
 flesh." (1 Tim. iii. 16.) 
 
 In his state of humiliation, connected with the 
 manifestation of his almighty power, Christ was 
 " Wonderful." He left the perfect bliss of hea- 
 ven, where he shared in the glory of the Father 
 from all eternity, and " was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us ;" (John i. 14.) " himself took 
 our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," (Matt. 
 Viii. 17.) and was in all points " tempted like as we 
 are ;" (Heb. iv. 15.) and yet he was possessed of 
 infinite power. Although equal with God, he 
 " took upon him the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men ; and being found in 
 fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 
 (Phil. ii. 6 8.) And for whom did he thus hum- 
 ble himself, for whose sake did he leave the 
 heavenly abodes, for whom did he sojourn on 
 earth " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with 
 grief," for whose sake was he " wounded," and 
 " bruised," and " oppressed," and " afflicted," and 
 finally " cut off out of the land of the living ? " 
 (Isa. liii. 3 8.) It was for guilty men ; for those 
 who despised and rejected him ; for those who 
 mocked and insulted him ; for those who with 
 wicked hands crucified and slew him ! Wonder- 
 ful love, amazing condescension, unparalleled 
 self-denial ! All power in heaven and earth was 
 his, but he exercised it not against his enemies ;
 
 320 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 legions of angels were at his command, but he 
 called them not forth to rescue himself from his 
 murderers ; he performed many miracles, but they 
 were all designed for the benefit of man. He 
 gave bread to thousands, while himself had not 
 " where to lay his head." His power was display- 
 ed in healing the sick, restoring limbs to the 
 maimed, sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, 
 and life to the dead. Surely we must acknow- 
 ledge that this union of glory and humility, of 
 riches and poverty, of power and infirmities, of 
 divinity and humanity, was the most surprising 
 display ever exhibited to mankind. Well might 
 it be declared of the Redeemer in prophetic 
 annunciation, " his name shall be called Wonder- 
 ful!" 
 
 Christ may also be called " Wonderful," in the 
 benefits of salvation which he imparts, and in 
 the manner in which he imparts them to men. 
 The provision which he made for our redemption, 
 included a full supply for every want and neces- 
 sity peculiar to our condition. He regarded us 
 in our low estate of guilt and depravity ; and 
 purchased for us by his Mediation, blessings 
 suited to our circumstances. For us as sinners, 
 he provided pardon ; for the unrighteous, justifi- 
 cation ; for the unholy and depraved, sanctification ; 
 for the ignorant, heavenly wisdom ; for the feeble, 
 strength made perfect in their weakness ; for the 
 tempted, deliverance, or ability to endure the
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 321 
 
 trial ; for the despairing, hope. In fine ; he offers 
 redemption and eternal life to those, who by the 
 slavery of Satan were held in bondage to sin ; and 
 who by the sentence of a just law, were condemned 
 to everlasting death. 
 
 Christ has not only procured salvation for men, 
 but he also imparts the present benefits of this 
 salvation, by the influence of the Holy Spirit. 
 He not only procures heaven for us, but gives us 
 the hope of it in this life. He not only provides 
 the pardon of our sins, but also subdues sin in 
 the mind by the gift of sanctification. The sancti- 
 fication of believers is a distinguishing feature in 
 the gospel of Christ, and no mean part of its 
 glory. Sanctification is a common term in reli- 
 gion, to denote the ability to serve God with 
 acceptance here, as well as the preparation for 
 heaven by daily weakening the power of sin in 
 us, and strengthening and confirming the love 
 and practice of holiness. It is a Scriptural term, 
 and is applied to those who truly believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Such are said to be " sancti- 
 fied in Christ Jesus," (1 Cor. i. 2.) " sanctified 
 by the Holy Ghost," (Rom. xv. 16.) and " sanctified 
 by God the Father." (Jude 1.) Sanctification does 
 not imply a total and intire exemption from all 
 iniquity in this life ; because such an exemption 
 is incompatible with the frailty of our nature, and 
 with our condition on the earth. The believer of 
 highest attainment does not live without sin, but 
 
 Y
 
 3'22 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 he desires to do so ; he does not observe the whole 
 and every particular of God's Word, but he desires 
 not to speak any words, nor think any thoughts, 
 nor follow any pursuits, nor allow any motives, 
 nor receive any doctrines, nor obey any precepts, 
 that are not written in, or sanctioned by that 
 Word. 
 
 Sanctification is a progressive work ; the gra- 
 dual subduing and destroying of the power of sin 
 in us. The intire removal and extirpation of sin 
 are reserved for the perfection of the heavenly 
 state. That man may be said to be sanctified, in 
 whom sin is mortified, and in whom the love of 
 holiness is advancing and daily gaining strength, 
 who is in the fear of God all the day, although 
 he does not live without offending in many things, 
 who has acquired the habit of serving God, as 
 the consequence of the love of God which is shed 
 abroad in his heart. The sanctifying influence of 
 the Holy Spirit regulates his natural disposition, 
 but does not altogether change it; it controls 
 his passions, but does not extinguish them. A 
 man of strong and quick feelings, cannot but act 
 in some measure under their influence : but they 
 do not govern him, if he is also a partaker of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 It is an error with some persons, to ridicule the 
 doctrine of sanctification, as imparted to us in 
 this life in any degree ; as if such a doctrine de- 
 tracted from the freeness and riches of salvation
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 323 
 
 by grace, and made man in part his own saviour. 
 They talk of imputed sanctification, as the only 
 doctrine of Scripture on this point ; arid thus they 
 are exposed to the dreadful and pernicious error, 
 of imagining that the moral law is not binding on 
 those, who receive their salvation as the purchase 
 of Christ's meritorious obedience and death. 
 They forget that sanctification produced in us, 
 may be as freely imparted, as justification pur- 
 chased for us, is freely imputed ; and that while 
 both are the effect of divine grace, the former is 
 communicated gradually in this life, and the latter 
 is reserved in its full manifestation, for that great 
 day, when believers in Christ shall enter on the 
 enjoyment of the happiness of heaven. As justi- 
 fication is a change of state, from guilt and con- 
 demnation to pardon and acceptance ; so sanctifi- 
 cation is a progressive renewal of nature, that is, 
 of the pursuits and inclinations, of the will and 
 affections, of the heart and conduct. 
 
 We know that the holiness of Christ is imputed 
 to us, because it forms a part of the price of our 
 redemption ; and thus we are said to be " sanctified 
 through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." 
 (Heb. x. 10.) But this does not prove that sanctifi- 
 cation is merely an imputed qualification, and not 
 an active, visible operation. It affirms only that the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit, which produces sanctifica- 
 tion in us, is purchased by the death of Christ, in 
 common with all the other benefits of redemption. 
 
 Y 2 *
 
 324 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 The design of the Gospel was to restore us to a 
 state of holiness, as the consequence of our being 
 justified ; and we can possess no evidence of 
 being placed in the latter state, unless we mani- 
 fest the progressive work of the former. 
 
 The power of Christ must be displayed in us 
 by a change of heart, in the present life, or his 
 glory will not be enjoyed by us hereafter. The 
 power of Christ is eminently displayed in pro- 
 ducing that inward change, which is called in 
 Scripture the " renewing of the mind." (Rom xii. 
 2.) That heart which naturally contemns the 
 known commands of God, which trembles not at 
 the divine anger, which refuses the divine mercy, 
 which turns a deaf ear to divine invitations, which 
 resists the call of sickness and the approach of 
 death, that heart, out of which " proceed evil 
 thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
 false witness, blasphemy," (Matt. xv. 19.) that 
 heart, Christ by his divine power renews and 
 sanctifies, and makes it " a holy temple in the 
 Lord, for an habitation of God through the 
 Spirit." (Eph.-ii. 21, 22.) 
 
 Again Christ may be called " Wonderful," if 
 we consider that secret but almighty power, 
 which he exerts in preserving to himself a church, 
 amidst all the opposition of the world, and of Satan, 
 the Prince of darkness. 
 
 For the purpose of procuring and maintaining 
 a church, his delights were, from the beginning,
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 325 
 
 ** with the sons of men." When wickedness had 
 so covered the earth, that God determined to de- 
 stroy all flesh, the church of Christ was still in 
 existence, though limited to the members of but 
 one family. In the very seat of depravity, Christ 
 had still a representative of his church, in the 
 person of just Lot ; who, in Sodom, maintained 
 his uprightness, and worshipped God in sincerity 
 and truth. When idolatry had nearly overspread 
 the whole earth, and the knowledge of the true 
 God seemed on the point of being lost, and the 
 throne of Satan of being established ; Christ had 
 then a church in the families and descendants of 
 the eminent saints Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
 This church he preserved amidst the " pleasures 
 of sin" in Egypt, and during the forty years' wan- 
 derings in the desert. In the midst of the defec- 
 tion of many of the tribes of Israel, the destruction 
 of the temple, and the subjugation of the people 
 under idolatrous powers, He, upon whose shoul- 
 der was laid the government of the church, (Isa. 
 ix. 6.) ever preserved some who bowed not the 
 knee to Baal ; some who kept their allegiance to 
 the God of heaven ; some who were of the true 
 Israel, circumcised in heart and spirit. And from 
 the day that Jesus entered on his ministry in the 
 world, and called men to be his disciples, down 
 to the present hour, he has by the power of his 
 Spirit, preserved a constant generation of be- 
 lievers to be his witnesses upon earth.
 
 326 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 Those who know the natural tendency of sin, to 
 alienate the heart intirely from God, and who know 
 that such is its infatuating influence, that the 
 human heart willingly lends itself to promote the 
 designs of Satan, although they involve its own 
 destruction, who know that the corruption of 
 the heart yields up the service of the whole man 
 to the implacable and unwearied enemy of souls, 
 will not withhold their adoration from him, who 
 is justly called " Wonderful ; " when they behold 
 his power and grace so conspicuously displayed 
 in preserving to himself a church, notwithstand- 
 ing all the opposition of Satan's malice, and man's 
 depravity. And we may look forward with con- 
 fidence, to the continual preservation and final 
 triumph of this church ; for Christ has not pro- 
 mised in vain, that the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it. He will not cease to manifest 
 the energy and power of his Spirit, till he has 
 made all things new, till he has put down all 
 principalities and powers, that exalt themselves 
 against his dominion ; and till he has finally es- 
 tablished that kingdom of holiness, and peace, 
 and happiness, of which there shall be no end. 
 
 Finally Christ will show his claim to this 
 prophetic name of " Wonderful," in the final 
 judgment which he will execute on all mankind, 
 and in the eternal happiness which he will bestow 
 on all his faithful servants. 
 
 During his state of humility on the earth, Christ
 
 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 327 
 
 himself said that he came not in the character of 
 a Judge, but of a Saviour. (John viii. 15. xii. 47.) 
 But when he shall come again according to his 
 promise, he will appear both as a Judge and a 
 Saviour. His wonderful power will then be 
 manifested, in passing sentence on impenitent 
 men, and on rebellious angels ; for all must ap- 
 pear before his Judgment-seat. 
 
 Wonderful will be the scene then to be ex- 
 hibited ! He, who, when dragged by his enemies 
 before an earthly judge, had no attendants of 
 honour no guards of defence, and who was for- 
 saken even by the small band of his disciples ; 
 He, who once stood silent before the tribunal of 
 Pilate, and heard with meekness the vehement 
 and false accusations of the Jews against his 
 spotless life, and who received the sentence of 
 condemnation from the lips of his unjust judge ; 
 He, who was led forth to execution, arrayed in 
 robes of mock royalty by the unfeeling soldiery, 
 crowned with thorns, buffeted, scourged, fainting 
 under the weight of his cross ; He, who hung 
 on the accursed tree, and died with malefactors, 
 being made a spectacle to men and angels ; HE 
 will come on the great day of his power, accom- 
 panied by " ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 and thousands of thousands " of attendant angels ; 
 (Rev. v. ii.) HE will sit on the throne of his 
 glory ; from his face heaven and earth will flee 
 away, and leave no covert to hide those guilty
 
 328 THE POWER AND GLORY OF CHRIST. 
 
 spirits, who dread to meet the eye of the Son of 
 man. (Rev. i. 7. xx. 11.) Before him shall stand 
 small and great, kings and rulers of nations, 
 princes and judges of the earth, rich and poor, 
 the old and the young. From his mouth shall 
 be heard that definitive sentence, which will at 
 once bring swift destruction on his adversaries ; 
 and also that delightful award of grace and mercy, 
 which will introduce his servants to perfect and 
 endless happiness. 
 
 The grace of Christ should, then, be sought by 
 us, while it may be obtained. We stand in con- 
 tinual need of his help and favour. Unless he 
 be our friend, the present life must be vain, as 
 well as transitory, a respite only from punish- 
 ment, instead of a preparation for happiness ; and 
 dreary and hopeless must be our prospect of 
 another state of being ! If we seek his aid, he 
 will not refuse us : he himself has said, " Ask, and 
 ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
 and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt. vii. 7.) 
 But if we neglect him, while he offers to show 
 his wonderful grace and mercy in our salvation ; 
 the day is coming, when we shall call in vain, 
 and when he will show his wonderful power in 
 our destruction. " Kiss the Son lest he be angry, 
 and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is 
 kindled but a little." (Ps. ii. 12.)
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ALL errors in religion may be traced to one 
 source improper views of the character of the 
 Deity. The systems of falsehood, of idolatry, 
 and of cruelty, which are observed by heathen 
 nations, all originate in ignorance of the character, 
 the perfections, and the will of the true God. 
 And to the same cause we must ascribe the many 
 lamentable and awful errors, into which many 
 persons fall in their religious faith, in Christian 
 countries. The antient Greeks and Romans 
 multiplied their deities into the number of all the 
 attributes, which they believed to be peculiar to 
 Divinity. They represented their gods not 
 merely as indulging in the vices of men, but as 
 practising them to a degree, which their worship- 
 pers would not be willing to tolerate in each 
 other. Being " vain in their imaginations, their 
 foolish heart was darkened. Professing them- 
 selves to be wise, they became fools, and changed 
 the truth of God into a lie ; and worshipped and 
 served the creature more than the Creator." 
 (Rom. i. 21 25.) All these dreadful mistakes 
 proceeded from ignorance of the nature of the 
 true God.
 
 330 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 And all the errors which may be observed in 
 our own land, proceed also from the absence of 
 a right knowledge of God : We possess a reve- 
 lation of the will of God, in which the character 
 of the Deity is plainly set forth ; but it is to the 
 neglect or misunderstanding of this revelation, 
 that we must impute the mistakes of men. 
 
 When we consider the nature of a revelation 
 given to us by God, we may very properly con- 
 clude that it will not contain any thing unrea- 
 sonable, that is, contrary to our right reason ; 
 because a revelation is given to us to be under- 
 stood, at least so far as it is intended to form the 
 rule of our conduct and sentiments, and to be 
 our guide through life to the happiness of a future 
 state of being ; and we have no other means of 
 interpreting it than by our reason the assistance 
 of the Holy Spirit to all honest inquirers being 
 always supposed. We are not to judge before- 
 hand, what a revelation ought or ought not to 
 contain ; because we are not competent judges 
 of the necessities of the case ; but we are ex- 
 pected to be judges of what is given in revelation, 
 that is, so far as to be able to understand it and 
 apply it. Now, when we find any particular re- 
 ligious sentiment held by many persons, and held 
 by them not because it is a sentiment pleasing 
 to human nature in general, or to them in par- 
 ticular, but because they believe it to be a doc- 
 trine revealed from heaven, when we rn^et with
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 331 
 
 this case, we ought not at once to reject the 
 sentiment as unreasonable and unscriptural, and 
 not worth our examination ; how contrary soever 
 it may be to our own private and peculiar opin- 
 ions. The circumstances in which we find it 
 maintained, and its alleged Scriptural authority, 
 demand our serious attention and investigation, 
 before we either receive or reject it. With respect 
 to any peculiar doctrine which unhappily divides 
 the Christian world, we ought not to condemn 
 those who hold it as ignorant, and enthusiastic, 
 and fanatical ; but to inquire how far the doctrine 
 in question, may seem to be supported by the 
 testimony of the Word of God. 
 
 That system of religion is to be rejected, which 
 is at variance with any part of the Scriptures ; or 
 which can be maintained only by selecting certain 
 portions of the Word of God, which, taken apart 
 from the connection in which they stand, coun- 
 tenance in some degree the peculiarities of the 
 system ; but which, when interpreted, in con- 
 junction with the train of reasoning in which they 
 are found, and the scope of the argument to which 
 they appertain, assume quite a different aspect, 
 and evidently bear quite another meaning. 
 
 The suitableness of the Bible to the condition 
 of mankind, in all its doctrines and precepts, is 
 plainly seen in this fact, that every doctrine im- 
 plies or directs to a duty, and every prescribed 
 duty promotes our temporal welfare and profit.
 
 332 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 There are many things, doubtless in the Scrip- 
 tures, which refer either wholly or more particu- 
 larly to the peculiar characters addressed, or the 
 peculiar circumstances of the persons to whom 
 they were at first written. But there must be 
 a universality of application ; or the use of the 
 Bible to us is greatly diminished ; and it becomes 
 a special rather than a general revelation. 
 Religion is in all ages of the world the same 
 thing ; the same sort of transaction between God 
 and the soul of man. We must not follow up 
 with bur reasoning and arguments, any declara- 
 tion of Scripture, as far as it may be carried. It 
 is by this means that the most opposite doctrines 
 are thought, by their respective advocates, to be 
 contained in the Scriptures. We are to receive 
 what is written, and to take it in its plain, un- 
 forced sense, always preferring a general to a 
 particular interpretation; being assured that 
 though there may be many difficulties to us, 
 there are no real contradictions in the Word 
 of God. If every thing were demonstrated to 
 us, there would be no room for faith ; but the 
 present is a state of faith, the future will be a 
 state of perfect knowledge and enjoyment. 
 
 The system of religion is one and the same, 
 both in the Old Testament, and in the New ; and 
 therefore we find so many terms in the latter, 
 borrowed from the former ; so that a knowledge 
 of the former, will of course greatly assist us in
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 333 
 
 interpreting the latter. The New Testament is 
 the completion of the canon of Scripture ; it is 
 the last part of the revelation of God's will, and 
 is therefore more clear than the preceding part ; 
 and shows us more fully the purposes and designs 
 of God, in his gracious dealings with man. 
 
 We ought, in explaining any Scriptural expres- 
 sions, to have constant care to bear in mind, as 
 our rule of, interpretation, the particular sense in 
 which they were used by the sacred writers ; 
 whether the terms employed are of general im- 
 port, or of particular application ; whether they 
 are expressions arising out of, and alone applica- 
 ble to the Gospel, or borrowed (as is most 
 frequently the case,) from terms in common use 
 among the Jews ; and conveying to them a limited 
 and definite meaning. For instance, when speak- 
 ing of the New Birth, the term was intelligible 
 to a Jew, who had been accustomed to hear 
 this expression applied to those who became 
 proselytes to the Jewish faith : it was a common 
 saying among them, that such a person was to be 
 considered as a new-born infant. In this instance, 
 we have the full meaning of our term Conversion. 
 So also with respect to the term Election ; the 
 Jews esteemed themselves, as they truly were, the 
 chosen people of God, selected by him to be 
 fully informed of his will, and to be the deposit- 
 aries of his true worship. When the Gospel 
 made known the admission of the Gentiles, to
 
 334 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 equal privileges with the Jews ; the sacred writers 
 used, with respect to the former, the terms which 
 formerly were appropriated only to the latter. 
 
 The doctrines of the Gospel are the objects of 
 faith ; and they are also the objects of reason. 
 As the objects of faith, they are to be received 
 on the ground that they proceed from God ; and 
 as the objects of reason, they must be understood ; 
 that is, so far as to be esteemed proper motives 
 to the observance of the precepts which are 
 founded on them, and which are intended to 
 influence the heart and affections. If they are 
 contrary to reason, (which is no other than the 
 divine light imparted to man, and aided by ex- 
 perience,) they cannot be received as proceeding 
 from that Being, who has addressed to our un- 
 derstanding, all the doctrines which he has 
 propounded to our faith. There is an excellent 
 rule laid down by St. Peter ; and which rule he 
 charges us to take with us in the first place, in 
 attending to the " word of prophecy," or the 
 Holy Scriptures'; namely, " that no prophecy of 
 the Scriptures is of any private interpretation ;" 
 (2 Pet. i. 20.) that is, no part of Holy Writ is to 
 be separated from the connexion in which it is 
 found, in order to be explained in favour of any 
 particular sentiments in religion ; or to be wrested 
 into a contradiction to some other parts of Scrip- 
 ture. If we abide by this rule in considering all 
 the passages which bear on our present subject,
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 335 
 
 and also some of the doctrines which have been 
 built on them, we shall be kept from many er- 
 roneous opinions ; and shall bette.r understand 
 the Gospel, as a revelation made generally to 
 mankind at large, and not designed for the bene- 
 fit merely of a small and limited number of the 
 human race. 
 
 With respect to the government of God, we 
 are assured that " all his ways are judgment." 
 (Deut. xxxii. 4.) Now if it be a question, whe- 
 ther men are under the moral government of God 
 or not, then there is no authority for stating any of 
 the relations in which we stand towards our Cre- 
 ator ; or of the motives which should influence, 
 or the rules which should govern our actions ; or 
 of our prospects in another state of being. But 
 if we allow (as we must, if we believe the Scrip- 
 tures to be a revelation from God to man,) that 
 there is a moral government exercised over men 
 by their Maker ; we are then bound to inquire 
 what is the nature of this government, by what 
 rules and to what end it is exercised. 
 
 The perfections of God are incommunicable to 
 any created being, in the same degree in which 
 they are exercised by the Creator. But the 
 knowledge of them is made known to us, in 
 language familiar and comprehensible to our 
 understanding. God is represented to us as 
 perfect, (Ps. xviii. 30. Matt. v. 48.) " a God of 
 truth, and without iniquity, just and right : "
 
 336 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 (Deut. xxxii. 4.) all which terms are understood 
 by us, and must mean the perfection of the vir- 
 tues, which are known to us under those names. 
 The government of God must be in perfect ac- 
 cordance with our notions of what is good, and 
 true, and just, and right ; because all true notions 
 of what is good, proceed from God; and were 
 originally imparted to the mind of man, when his 
 Creator " breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
 life." (Gen. ii. 7.) If the justice and wisdom and 
 goodness of God be allowed in the natural govern- 
 ment of the world, they must also be allowed in 
 his Amoral government; and especially in the 
 Gospel, the last dispensation which he has made 
 known to man. In this dispensation as well as 
 in the former, it is fully stated that all mankind 
 are sinners, that all have incurred the divine 
 displeasure, and that all have broken a law by 
 which they are sentenced to endless banishment 
 from the divine presence ; but the means of re- 
 covery from this degradation, of deliverance 
 from the curse, and restoration to the favour of 
 God, are more plainly set forth to us in the New 
 Testament, than in the Old. Now, as in the 
 natural world, it is most evident to our senses, 
 that God has made provision for the subsistence 
 of all his creatures ; so in the moral world, we 
 find from the Gospel, that he has provided a 
 scheme which embraces all mankind; he has 
 made known a redemption which meets the case
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 337 
 
 of a lost world in its full extent, and offers help 
 to every human being. Such were all the de- 
 clarations of the heavenly messengers, who an- 
 nounced the Saviour ; of Christ himself ; and of 
 all his inspired servants. The annunciation of 
 the great Deliverer, was in these words ; " Glory 
 to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- 
 will toward men." (Luke ii. 14.) Such a Saviour 
 was announced, as had for ages been the " Desire 
 of all nations ; " (Hag. ii. 7.) the Saviour of all 
 who trust in him. The words of Christ himself 
 are, " I came not to judge the world, but to save 
 the world." (John xii. 47.) The apostles declare 
 that " it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
 to save sinners ; " (1 Tim. i. 15.) tHat " the grace 
 of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to 
 all men;" (Titus ii. 11.) and that "as by one 
 man's disobedience many (that is, all) were made 
 sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many 
 (that is, all) be made righteous." (Rom. v. 18, 
 19.) By the sin of one, all fell under condemna- 
 tion ; and by the obedience of one, must all be 
 made righteous, who wish to be saved. The evils 
 of the fall are suffered by all, and all may enjoy 
 the benefits of redemption. The word many 
 means all mankind, in the clause which relates 
 to the redemption by Christ Jesus, as it does in 
 that which relates to the imputation of original 
 sin. The design of -the Gospel is as universal,
 
 338 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 as the necessity for the Gospel ; and its application 
 may be as universal as its offer ; and would be so, 
 were not many " hardened through the deceitful- 
 ness of sin." (Heb. iii. 13.) 
 
 Those who hold a different doctrine, and who 
 maintain that none will be saved, except those 
 who are elected or predestinated to eternal life, 
 by the secret purpose of God, talk much of the 
 Eternal Counsels of God, and of a covenant made 
 from all eternity between the Sacred Persons of 
 the Adorable Trinity, to save such and such 
 persons of the human race. We know not what 
 warrant of Scripture they have for such a doctrine. 
 By reasoning on the necessity of things, from an 
 assumed notion of the divine Prescience, they infer 
 the necessity of eternal Election or Predestina- 
 tion ; but if the doctrines of the Gospel, and espe- 
 cially this momentous one of election, are to be 
 inferred from a train of reasoning, and if we must 
 admit this doctrine, from a consideration of the 
 difficulties of otherwise reconciling the foreknow- 
 ledge of God and the free-will of man, we may 
 ask, why Revelation has been given us ? Also if 
 the notion of an Eternal Covenant for the purposes 
 just named, be a fact, and as they allow, the 
 foundation of the Gospel, how is it that when the 
 Gospel was promulgated, the terms were so 
 directly opposite to such a notion ! How can 
 those tidings of a Saviour be " good tidings of 
 great joy to all people," (Luke ii. 10.) which
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 339 
 
 convey the intelligence that a few only, and those 
 aneternally-preappointed number, are to be saved! 
 God created the whole human race ; and sin has 
 brought the whole into a lost and ruined condi- 
 tion ; and grace offers salvation to all ; it has 
 provided a Saviour for all ; and " God so loved 
 the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life." (John iii. 17.) Can 
 words be more explicit ? (and they are the words 
 of Christ himself.) Here are the origin of salva- 
 tion, the terms of it, the necessity of it, and the 
 design of it. Can an offer of salvation be more 
 general ? Can the terms be more easy of com- 
 prehension ? Can the design of it be more 
 universal ? Why then should we so connect them 
 with any discussion respecting 
 
 " Fix'd fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute," 
 
 as to fall under the necessity of concluding, that 
 redemption was not designed for general accept- 
 ance? 
 
 It is no argument against the universality of 
 the offer and design of the Gospel, to say that all 
 do not believe ; and therefore that they only be- 
 lieve, who are appointed to be saved. If they 
 believe not, here is a just ground for their con- 
 demnation ; and that too according to the tenour 
 of the Gospel, " He that believeth not the Son 
 shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
 
 z 2
 
 340 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 on him." (John iii. 37.) There is no necessity 
 for having recourse to the dreadful doctrine of 
 reprobation. If men trust not in the Saviour., 
 who is both able and willing to save all, they cut 
 themselves off from the benefit of his redemption, 
 without being thereto necessarily impelled by a 
 decree. We know that the Calvinists, as they 
 are called, repel with abhorrence 1 the charge of 
 averring that some men are impelled not to be- 
 lieve, that they are lost notwithstanding all their 
 desires and efforts to be saved ; and they affirm 
 that men are the cause of their own destruction, 
 by not receiving the Gospel which is offered to 
 all, but which is made effectual only to such as 
 are predestinated to eternal life. But, if some 
 are appointed to be saved, and the remainder left 
 to the effects of their own depravity, which is the 
 same thing as to be left without provision for 
 redemption, how are we to get rid of a decree 
 affecting both parties ; the one to make their sal- 
 vation certain ; and the other to render their 
 perdition a case of necessity ? 
 
 It is vain to object, that if Christ came to save 
 all, all must therefore be saved ; this is to make 
 the terms in which God offers a Saviour to man- 
 kind, subject to our rule of interpretation ; to 
 raise difficulties in the way of Omnipotence ; and 
 to affirm that the plain declarations of Scripture, 
 are at variance with the design of the Author of 
 Scripture.
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 341 
 
 It was the notion of the Jews, with respect to 
 themselves as a nation, that in consequence of 
 the promises and privileges which they enjoyed, 
 they must, as Jews, of necessity be saved ; and 
 this notion the Apostle Paul combats in the ninth 
 chapter of his Epistle to the Romans ; where he 
 proves that God's promise would not fail, even 
 should all the race of Israel, according to the 
 flesh, be unbelievers ; because God had a seed 
 by faith among the Gentiles. The promises 
 were made to all, but the condition of faith was 
 appended, by which both Jews and Gentiles 
 might partake of the benefits of redemption ; but, 
 destitute of faith, no privileges of birth, or of 
 election to privileges, could bring them within 
 the Covenant of Grace. 
 
 The object of Christ's mission is plainly stated 
 to be to save the world ; but many reject him, 
 because, as he himself said, they love " darkness 
 rather than light." (John iii. 19.) But the coun- 
 sel of God is not hereby frustrated, nor his pur- 
 pose thwarted ; he leaves his reasonable creatures 
 to act with perfect liberty, as free, and therefore 
 accountable agents. His Holy Spirit is offered 
 and given to all, or, such is the depravity of man, 
 none would be willing to be saved by grace, much 
 less desirous of salvation : but all do not obey 
 the motions of the Holy Spirit ; many do always 
 resist his holy influence, and thus exclude them- 
 selves from the blessings of redemption.
 
 342 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 There is no merit in man's co-operating with 
 the Holy Spirit ; because God is the author of all 
 spiritual strength. The evil is man's, if he per- 
 sists in unbelief; but the glory is God's, when 
 man exercises saving faith ; for faith is God's gift to 
 men. The same evidence is presented to all, but 
 v all do not receive it and act upon it ; the same 
 Spirit is given to all, but all do not co-operate 
 with it. Salvation is of grace, not of merit ; it 
 is within the reach of all, but many neglect and 
 despise it. God shows " the riches of his glory 
 on the vessels of mercy," that is, those who 
 obey the call of the Gospel ; and he also shows 
 his power on " the vessels of wrath fitted to des- 
 truction, (Rom. ix. 22, 23.) not fitted or pre- 
 pared by God for the purpose of destruction, but 
 fitted by themselves by abusing the " much long- 
 suffering " of God, till they were ripe for des- 
 truction. So in the case of Pharaoh, we are not 
 to suppose that God created him for the sole pur- 
 pose of his opposing the will of God, that God 
 might show his power in destroying him ; that is, 
 that God himself hardened his heart, and inspired 
 him with a rebellious spirit in order to punish him 
 for it. The meaning evidently is, that God left 
 him to the natural hardness of his heart, as a 
 just punishment for his obstinacy, in resisting 
 the evidence of so many miracles, which were 
 wrought to prove what was the will of God. And 
 God preserved him and his people from utter de-
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 343 
 
 struction, during the plagues which he sent on 
 the land, that his own power might be the more 
 manifest ; which is the meaning of the expres- 
 sion in Rom. ix. 17 ; "For this same purpose 
 have I raised thee up," or rather, " have pre- 
 served thee." 
 
 Many persons argue from what they think they 
 know of the divine prescience, or foreknowledge ; 
 they contend that in consequence of this prero- 
 gative of Deity, by which he foreknew all that 
 would be saved, he must have predestinated them 
 to salvation ; since what God foresees must of 
 necessity happen, which is therefore tantamount 
 to a decree to that effect. But we might as well 
 argue from what we know of the divine justice 
 and mercy, and thence infer that there could not 
 be any such thing as predestination. The fore- 
 knowledge of God is in perfect consistence with 
 the free-will of his rational creatures. It does 
 not necessarily cause the completion of every 
 event which he foresees. We are able to foresee 
 (in probability) many events ; but this does not 
 affect the issue, either to accelerate or retard it. In 
 like manner, it is not difficult to conceive that 
 God foresees (in certainty) events, as resulting 
 from the moral liberty of mankind ; but does not 
 therefore decree that they shall inevitably take 
 place. The whole responsibility lies on the free 
 agent ; he is not shackled or controlled by the 
 prescience of God.
 
 344 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The Calvinists say that unless we allow the 
 decree of God, as securing the salvation of a 
 certain number of the human race, the purpose 
 for which Christ died might be defeated ; seeing 
 it would be left in uncertainty whether, in conse- 
 quence of the total depravity of mankind, any 
 would believe on him to eternal life : here, they 
 say, lies the difficulty of the case. But if we 
 look simply at the words of revelation, and learn 
 thence the design of God in giving his Son to die 
 for us, and his own willingness to receive all that 
 return unto him, offering to all the assistance of 
 his Holy Spirit rendered indispensably neces- 
 sary in consequence of their own weakness and 
 depravity, we shall not find any difficulty 
 in the case. We have nothing to do with such 
 consequences, as the Calvinists say must ensue, 
 unless their system be adopted. The difficulties 
 which seem to them to be insuperable, may be so 
 to our weak reason, but they are difficulties of 
 their own creating, by clashing the decrees of 
 God, (hidden from us,) with his express decla- 
 rations, (revealed to us.) We are not called upon 
 to remove these difficulties, or to make out a sys- 
 tem which shall seem to remove them ; we have 
 only to take the plain message addressed to 
 us in the Word of God, calling upon us to repent, 
 and believe, and be saved, and offering to us the 
 necessary assistance to discharge these important 
 duties. The difficulty of reconciling the fore-
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 345 
 
 knowledge of God with the free-will of man is 
 not our concern. When we contemplate such 
 a subject, we may be led to ask with the dis- 
 ciples of Christ, " Who then can be saved ? " and 
 like them we must be contented with the divine 
 reply, " With men this is impossible ; but with 
 God all things are possible." (Matt. xix. 25, 26.) 
 If, (as the modern Calvinists think,) there be 
 no difficulty in supposing that the foreknow- 
 ledge of God, does not decree or cause the per- 
 dition of the ungodly, but that they are lost in 
 consequence of their own unbelief and wilful 
 continuance in sin ; why should there be sup- 
 posed an insuperable difficulty, in believing that 
 the foreknowledge of God does not decree or 
 cause the salvation of those that believe ? 
 
 Besides, if we follow up their argument drawn 
 from the divine prescience, it will prove too much ; 
 and we shall come at last to the shocking conclu- 
 sion that God is the author of all evil ! But this 
 is not the rule by which we should proceed in 
 ascertaining the mode of the divine government 
 over his creatures. " We have a more sure word 
 of prophecy," (2 Pet. i. 19.) to which we ought 
 to attend ; and by which alone we ought to be 
 guided. If we apply the rule laid down by St. 
 Peter, mentioned above, to the passages of 
 Scripture which are thought to establish the doc- 
 trine of predestination, we shall find that it is 
 owing to their being interpreted independently
 
 346 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of their due connexion and agreement with the 
 general tenour of Scripture, that so many per 
 sons have been led to think that this doctrine has 
 the sanction of the Word of God. In fact, it is 
 a doctrine rather of inference, than of plain 
 statement. Its advocates select a certain num- 
 ber of passages, and thence infer the necessity 
 of the doctrine. But we cannot suppose that so 
 momentous a subject, should be left to be infer- 
 red by argumentation, and supported by abstruse 
 reasonings on the nature of some of the divine 
 perfections : it would rather have been plainly set 
 down, as plainly as the Grace of God is declar- 
 ed, or as the mediation of Christ is set forth to 
 our view. 
 
 The Scriptures teach us that the provision 
 made in the Gospel, is commensurate with the 
 misery of the case for which it was designed ; and 
 when the terms elect and predestinate are em- 
 ployed, they refer to privileges, and not to abso- 
 lute, unconditional appointment to eternal life. 
 The great mystery which was hidden in the pur- 
 pose of God, and " which in other ages was not 
 made known unto the sons of men," (Eph. iii. 5.) 
 but which was revealed by the Gospel, was " that 
 the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs," (Eph. iii. 6.) 
 together with the Jews, of the promises of God. 
 In stating and explaining this mystery to the 
 Jews, the Apostles make use of the same terms 
 as applicable to the case of the Gentiles, which
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 347 
 
 were formerly applied solely to the Jews, when 
 they were the only true worshippers of God. 
 The prejudices of the Jews against this extension 
 of God's merciful designs, were to be overcome 
 by proving that the " eternal purpose " of God, 
 " which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," 
 (Eph. iii. 11.) always embraced the whole human 
 race ; although the manifestation of it was re- 
 served, to be " revealed unto the holy apostles 
 and prophets by the Spirit." (Eph. iii. 5.) 
 
 The peculiar opinions of the Jews are combated 
 by the Apostle Paul ; especially in the Epistle to 
 the Romans. They believed that God must 
 necessarily pardon and accept them as a 
 nation, because of the piety of their forefathers 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and because of the 
 promises which God had made to them and to 
 their seed. This notion the Apostle combats 
 chiefly, in that otherwise difficult chapter the 
 ninth to the Romans ; in which he proves that the 
 promises of God were limited to those who were 
 truly the children of Abraham, by imitating him 
 in faith. He shows that even the Israelites, to 
 whom the promises were originally made, were 
 excluded from participating in them by the ab- 
 sence of faith ; while the Gentiles were admitted, 
 by following after the righteousness which is of 
 faith. And in chap. iii. 29, 30, he shows that 
 God is the God of the Gentiles, as well as of the 
 Jews ; and that he will justify both through faith.
 
 348 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Therefore the question of predestination, as stated 
 by St. Paul, refers wholly to the admission of the 
 Gentiles to equal privileges with the Jews, and 
 not at all to personal and absolute election to 
 eternal life. 
 
 We find also, that our Lord opposed the exclu- 
 sive sentiments entertained by the Jews, as far 
 as the manifestation of the Gospel dispensation 
 then allowed; the full revelation being re- 
 served, as was shown above, to be declared by 
 the Apostles. In the sixth chapter of St. John's 
 Gospel we perceive this intention, and especially 
 in that noted verse the thirty-seventh, where he 
 evidently meant to show, that the Gentiles should 
 be admitted to the privileges of the Gospel, as 
 well as the Jews. He charges them with their 
 own destruction in the preceding verse, by de- 
 claring that they had seen him, but had not 
 believed ; and then he adds, that all whom the 
 Father had given him should come to him ; that 
 is, that as God had appointed him to be the 
 Saviour of the world, all the human race, without 
 distinction of birth or country, might come to 
 him, and that he, so far from imitating the Jews, 
 who despised all other people, and rejected them 
 as dogs and aliens from the family of God, would 
 in no-wise cast them out. 
 
 Many other instances might be adduced, in 
 which our Lord opposed the sentiments of the 
 Jews as to their national superiority ; whether
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 349 
 
 grounded on their election in Abraham, their 
 knowledge of God through his law, or the observ- 
 ance of the ceremonies of the Levitical law. 
 " Think not," said he, " to say within yourselves, 
 We have Abraham to our father, for I say unto 
 you that God is able of these stones to raise up 
 children unto Abraham ;" (Matt. iii. 9.) by which 
 was doubtless intended the design of God to ad- 
 mit the Gentiles to his Church. Again He 
 taught them that man is justified by the observ- 
 ance, not by the mere knowledge of the law 
 when he related the story of the good Samaritan, 
 whom he set in a more amiable light than the 
 hard-hearted priest, or the self-righteous Levite. 
 (Luke x. 30 37.) And, again, he more plainly 
 testified that their privileges would not exempt 
 them from punishment ; and also that the long 
 abandonment of the Gentiles, during the times 
 of their ignorance would not exclude them (on 
 their believing) from the benefits of the New 
 Covenant. " There shall be weeping and gnash- 
 ing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and 
 Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the 
 kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. 
 And they shall come from the East, and from the 
 West, and from the North, and from the South, 
 and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." 
 (Luke xiii. 28, 29.) 
 
 The bitterness of the Jews against the doctrine, 
 that the Gentiles were accepted of God as well as
 
 350 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 themselves, may be seen in their behaviour dur- 
 ing the defence of St. Paul at Jerusalem. In 
 justification of his conduct, he declared that God, 
 by an especial revelation, commanded him to be 
 " his witness unto all men," saying, " Depart ; 
 for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. 
 And they gave him audience unto this word, and 
 then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with 
 such a fellow from the earth : for it is not fit that 
 he should live." (Act xxii. 21, 22.) 
 
 Some persons admit the doctrine of election in 
 theory, without being willing to apply it in 
 practice ; they regard it merely as a matter of 
 speculation, and not as the ground of any practical 
 inference. They allow that it should not be held 
 up in a prominent light in preaching the Gospel ; 
 because of its being hard to be understood, and 
 easy to be perverted. But if it be a doctrine of 
 Scripture, it ought to be plainly and forcibly 
 brought forward in public preaching, as it in- 
 volves the most serious consequences to mankind. 
 Others, who maintain that the Gospel is not 
 preached, where this doctrine is not constantly 
 inculcated, do preach it themselves fully, and 
 introduce it into every sermon, and give it a pro- 
 minent place in every public address. But what 
 is the general result of such preaching ? Do we 
 find by experience that it tends to sanctification ? 
 Do we find such congregations remarkable for 
 Christian activity in promoting every good cause ?
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 351 
 
 Are they diligent in endeavouring to put the 
 Bible into the hands of all ? Do they give of their 
 substance to send the Gospel to distant lands? 
 Do they not aim more at proselyting, than con- 
 verting ; at bringing men over to their party, 
 and not to Christianity ? Do they not judge of 
 men by their knowledge, and not by their faith, 
 by their vocabulary, and not by their conduct ? 
 Are they not scoffers at those who care for the 
 spiritual darkness of the heathen ? Do they not 
 ridicule the idea of extending the Redeemer's 
 kingdom, by preaching the Gospel to heathen 
 nations ? And do they not refuse to preach the 
 Gospel to sinners, as such, at home ; that is, to 
 call on men to repent, and believe, and be saved ; 
 although the Word of God so expressly and 
 strongly commands this duty ? Do they not in 
 this instance disobey the command of God, in 
 order to be consistent with their peculiar tenets ? 
 And why do they act thus ? Because their no- 
 tion of predestination freezes the springs of Chris- 
 tian love, diligence, and duty, because it para- 
 lyzes the efforts of man, lest, in endeavouring to 
 further the salvation of his fellow creatures, he 
 should be found to fight against the decrees of 
 God! They are for waiting till God's time be 
 come, as they express it ; as the Jews of old did, 
 in neglecting to rebuild the temple of the Lord, 
 saying, " The time is not come." (Hag. i. 2.) 
 If we meet with any religious notions, which
 
 352 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 seem to destroy some of the finest feelings of our 
 nature, we may justly conclude that they are 
 contrary to Scripture, because they are contrary 
 to nature and reason. We are commanded to 
 prefer the glory of God to our own advantage, 
 and to choose his will rather than our own ; and 
 when religion and the world are in competition, 
 to make any sacrifice for the former. But religion 
 does not obliterate the characters of humanity. 
 When we are commanded to say, " Thy will be 
 done," we are not taught to look with indifference 
 on the moral condition of our fellow-men. The 
 wisdom of God designs the benefit of man ; and 
 his will is never at variance with his wisdom. 
 The Gospel certainly teaches us to seek earnestly 
 the salvation of all men, even of " those that op- 
 pose themselves ; if God peradventure will give 
 them repentance to the acknowledging of the 
 truth." (2 Tim. ii. 25.) 
 
 But some advocates of the doctrine of election, 
 seem to be deprived thereby of bowels of com- 
 passion for their perishing fellow-sinners ; and 
 because they believe that God has assigned some 
 men to inevitable perdition, they affect to speak 
 of so dreadful an event with composure, with 
 indifference with pleasure ! And do we not see 
 many personal and relative evils, resulting from 
 the abuse of this doctrine ? Many persons, after 
 long departure from God, look back to his decrees 
 for comfort, and take hope because they believe
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 353 
 
 themselves to be of the number of the elect ; 
 instead of attaining to those evidences in life and 
 conversation, which will show that they are called 
 to the privileges of the Gospel that they are 
 chosen or elected to the favour which was once 
 limited to the Jews, but which is now freely 
 offered to all. This would be to make their 
 " calling and election sure." (2 Pet. i. 10.) Others 
 continue in wilful and open sin without remorse, 
 on the same ground ; and many intirely neglect 
 all religious instruction in their families, as useless 
 and legal ; and say that if God has any of his 
 people in their household, they will be called in 
 his own time, and that their efforts can be of no 
 avail ! Some go still further, and are not ashamed 
 to affirm, that they never pray for the conver- 
 sion of their children, lest they should be found 
 asking God to set aside some of his eternal 
 decrees ! 
 
 But they do not only limit the mercy of God, 
 to a certain portion of the human race ; they also 
 impose another limitation in their mode of ex- 
 plaining this particular doctrine. They will ac- 
 knowledge none to be of the number of the elect, 
 who do not hold in the same sense, and to the 
 same extent, all the doctrines which they declare 
 to be revealed in the Word of God ; which doc- 
 trines are certainly necessary to the support of 
 their system, but are not necessarily contained 
 in Revelation. They banish certain words from 
 
 2 A
 
 354 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 usage, in religious instruction and conversation ; 
 they will not endure to hear of its being the duty 
 of men to believe, of free-will, virtue, good works, 
 &c. And they have a fixed vocabulary for speakr- 
 ing of all religious concerns ; from which, who- 
 ever deviates is at once set down by them as a 
 man of the world, a child of darkness, or at best 
 a mere moral man. They insist on the necessity 
 of experiencing a certain process in the mind, 
 which they call conversion : the order must be 
 great horror of future wrath ; evident conflict 
 with some powerful temptation of Satan ; sensible 
 change of mind, effected instantaneously by some 
 sermon, portion of Scripture, or unaccountable 
 internal impulse ; a sudden turning from what 
 they call the doubts and fears of unbelief, to the 
 strongest assurance of salvation. To be confident 
 of their personal election to eternal life, they es- 
 teem the very perfection of faith. With them, 
 self-examination is unworthy doubting of the 
 grace of God ; fear of God's anger against sin 
 is derogatory to the glory of the finished work 
 of Christ ; and want of assurance is unbelief. In 
 fine, knowledge is substituted for practice ; the 
 righteousness of Christ is made to supersede a 
 renewed heart and holy conversation ; boasting 
 takes the place of humility ; and an assurance 
 of heaven is accounted the best preparation for it. 
 Those who maintain the doctrine of Predesti- 
 nation, often attempt to give answers to objec-
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 355 
 
 tions against the doctrine, which objections are 
 never brought, or ought never to be brought 
 against it ; such as, Suppose God is pleased to 
 show mercy to any of his rebellious creatures, 
 it would be unjust towards the rest not to 
 show them mercy also. This objection, they 
 say, is a limiting of the Almighty, by denying 
 him the exercise of a prerogative claimed by all 
 earthly sovereigns ; who display their sovereignty, 
 by selecting from guilty persons, objects on whom 
 to exercise their benevolence, and leave others to 
 suffer the rigorous sentence of the law. The ad- 
 vocates of Election, in their zeal for the honour 
 of God, seem not to be aware that they them- 
 selves diminish his honour, by instituting a com- 
 parison between the prerogatives of the Most 
 High, and those of the rulers of this world ; and 
 especially. by claiming for the Deity, an exercise 
 of power, in a way similar to that shown by the 
 kings of the earth ; as if the conduct of the latter 
 were undoubtedly correct in this particular, and 
 were as equitable as it is free ; whereas it is often 
 the result of caprice, of misinformation, of bribery, 
 or some unworthy motive. We do not presume 
 to deny the exercise of unlimited power to the 
 Deity; but we object to imputing to him any 
 exercise of it in the way of sovereignty, which is 
 contrary to his own Word, and to what his Word 
 has taught us respecting Justice, and Mercy, and 
 Equity, and Truth. The sovereignty of God is 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 certainly exercised, for the good of his creatures. 
 We are assured that " he doth not afflict willingly, 
 nor grieve the children of men." (Lam. iii. 33.) 
 And if he do not, in the exercise of absolute 
 power, willingly grieve the erring children of 
 men, during their probation on earth, and under 
 great and wilful provocations, can we believe 
 that he eternally appointed any to endless grief, 
 before they entered on this state of trial ! 
 
 Besides, this is not the way in which the 
 question should be considered, with respect to 
 any difficulty which may belong to it ; because if 
 it be a Scriptural doctrine, we are bound to re- 
 ceive it, notwithstanding any difficulties real or 
 apparent which it may present. The question is 
 simply, What is the statement of Scripture to 
 fallen rebellious man ? Is it not an offer of mercy 
 to the whole, without any exception ? Hath not 
 God sworn in the Old Testament, that he has 
 " no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but 
 that the wicked turn from his way and live ? " 
 (Bzek. xxxiii. 11.) If the wicked die by a decree, 
 and not by their own wickedness alone, why are 
 the ministers of God so solemnly charged to warn 
 them of the evil consequences of their guilt ; and 
 assured that their blood shall be required at the 
 hands of those ministers who forbear to warn 
 them ! If the destruction of the Jewish nation 
 were appointed by an eternal decree, why did 
 the Saviour shed tears over their obstinacy and
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 357 
 
 rebellion ; and what meaning could there be in 
 his affecting expostulation, " How often would 
 I have gathered thy children together, and ye 
 would not?" (Matt, xxiii. 37.) Was then the 
 eternal purpose of Christ at variance with his re- 
 peated offers of mercy to the descendants of Israel, 
 when he would have gathered them together and 
 saved them ! 
 
 We know it is said by our opponents, that the 
 decrees of God are not irrespective of the con- 
 duct of men, but that the elect are saved as 
 redeemed and sanctified ; and the reprobate are 
 condemned as wilful and hardened impenitents. 
 But we may ask, how is it possible to conceive 
 of irreversible decrees, affecting the great result, 
 and not also affecting the circumstances which 
 lead to that result ? And how can we reconcile 
 the absolute predestination to eternal life of some 
 persons, and the absolute rejection of others, with 
 the plain and positive declarations of Scripture, in 
 which the offer of pardon and redemption is made 
 to men as free agents ? Why are men besought 
 and earnestly intreated to repent, to be converted, 
 to believe, to be reconciled to God, not to harden 
 their hearts, to choose life rather than death, to 
 flee from the wrath to come, to lay hold on eter- 
 nal life, if these duties cannot be performed, nor 
 these blessings obtained, but by those who are pre- 
 destinated thereto by the eternal purpose of God ! 
 
 Is it not plainly stated in the New Testament,
 
 358 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 that God will " have all men to be saved, and to 
 come unto the knowledge of the truth ?" (1 Tim. 
 ii. 4.) If God be love ; (1 John iv. 8.) can that 
 system of religious belief, be the true 'and Scrip- 
 tural one, which represents the Deity as unami- 
 able ? And in what other light can we view that 
 system, which represents a certain portion of 
 mankind as numbered out from all eternity, for 
 absolute, irreversible redemption ; and a certain 
 other portion for inevitable perdition ! It does 
 not alter the case to say, that God has not merely 
 appointed the salvation of the elect, but has also 
 appointed the way in which they must be saved, 
 that is, a way of holiness. We know that this is 
 the only way, in which any can behold the face 
 of the Lord ; but we think also that this is a part 
 of the way of salvation, which is so open to all, 
 that any may enter therein and be saved, without 
 being secretly impelled by an eternal decree in 
 their favour. The whole human race are called 
 according to God's purpose, but all do not love 
 him, and therefore they cannot claim the advan- 
 tage of the promise annexed that all things 
 shall work together for their good. (Rom. viii. 
 28.) Those whom God foreknew as objects of 
 his mercy, that is, all mankind, he predestinated 
 or appointed to be saved, in a way of conformity 
 to the image of his Son. (Rom. viii. 29 .) This 
 declaration merely proves that there is no varia- 
 tion in God's scheme of human redemption ; but
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 359 
 
 that as he purposed to show mercy to mankind, 
 so also he purposed to manifest it only on 
 those who should obey the call of the Gospel, and 
 attain to a justified state by faith in Christ ; and 
 being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, should be 
 thereby prepared for a state of glorification. 
 (Rom. viii. 30.) 
 
 The whole plan of human redemption, demon- 
 strates the willingness of God to save men. The 
 origin of redemption must have commenced in 
 this willingness. The secret but gracious pur- 
 pose of God, is the fountain of our recovery. 
 God is not made willing to save us, by the pro- 
 pitiatory sacrifice of Christ ; but his willingness 
 provided this way of restoration. His mercy is 
 not purchased by this sacrifice ; but the sacrifice 
 is the gift and provision of his free, unbounded 
 mercy. We should look for our title to heaven 
 in the merits of our divine Mediator, and for our 
 fitness for that holy state to the sanctifying influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit ; and not to the hidden 
 purposes and decrees of God. By pursuing a 
 contrary method, persons fall either into pre- 
 sumption or despair. Of the former, some seek 
 comfort with respect to their acceptance with 
 God, not by examining into the present state of 
 their heart and conduct, but by looking back to 
 former feelings and persuasions ; and because 
 they once believed themselves to be of the num- 
 ber of the elect, they take consolation, even in a
 
 360 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 state of departure from God ; and from the assur- 
 ance that they once exercised " repentance toward 
 God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," 
 they are confident that they cannot fall away unto 
 perdition, but shall in the end be numbered with 
 the chosen people of God. But if this kind of 
 reasoning be good, Satan himself might take 
 comfort in his chains of darkness ; for he was 
 once an angel of light.- Of the latter, many 
 sincere persons, who have once received with joy 
 and thankfulness the glad tidings of the Gospel, 
 are met by this doctrine of predestination, either 
 from the pulpit or in books ; and are filled with 
 terror lest they should not be of the number of the 
 elect. In their anxious inquiries respecting the 
 question, " Are there few that be saved ?" they 
 forget the divine command, " Strive to enter in 
 at the strait gate ;" (Luke xiii. 23, 24.) and lose 
 the comfort of the assurance, that " every one 
 that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, find- 
 eth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." 
 (Matt. vii. 8.) They lose sight of the gracious 
 promise, that God giveth wisdom to all them that 
 ask of him, and giveth " liberally, and upbraideth 
 not." (James i. 5.) 
 
 We may justly suspect the truth of any doctrine 
 that has a tendency to despair : God does not call 
 men to hopeless sorrow ; the sorrow of the Gos- 
 pel is a " godly sorrow," which " worketh repent- 
 ance to salvation, not to be repented of." (2 Cor.
 
 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 361 
 
 vii. 10.) But terrors respecting the secret decrees 
 of God, are not countenanced by any part of 
 God's word. His government, as far as it is 
 visible to us in Providence, is full of mercy and 
 love, as well as wisdom and truth. And his 
 moral government, as far as it is revealed to us 
 in the Bible, is equally guided by loving-kind- 
 ness and tender mercies. " He delighteth in 
 mercy." (Mic. vii. 18.) " The Lord taketh 
 pleasure in them that fear him ;" but he also 
 taketh pleasure in " those that hope in his mercy." 
 (Psalm cxlvii. 11.) 
 
 The government of God is exercised over men, 
 for their temporal and eternal benefit. It is a 
 mild and equitable government ; administered 
 according to the eternal principles of truth and 
 justice. God is the universal Sovereign, and 
 " doeth according to his will in the army of hea- 
 ven, and among the inhabitants of the earth : 
 none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What 
 doest thou ?" (Dan. iv. 35.) But " righteousness 
 and judgment are the habitation of his throne." 
 (Psalm xcvii. 2.) His government of mankind ori- 
 ginated in mercy, is carried on by love, and will be 
 completed to the satisfaction of divine justice and 
 to the honour of divine truth. Those who are saved 
 under this government, must ever ascribe their re- 
 demption to free grace ; for to that alone are we 
 indebted for the means of salvation, and for the free 
 manner in which it is proffered to our acceptance.
 
 362 EQUITY OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT 
 
 And those unhappy souls who are lost under this 
 government, must impute their perdition to their 
 own hardened obstinacy, which resisted and 
 grieved the Holy Spirit, whose influence was 
 ready to lead them into the path of safety ; and 
 though condemned and banished from the pre- 
 sence of God, the fountain of happinesss, they 
 must for ever acknowledge that " all his ways are 
 judgment ; a God of truth, and without ini- 
 quity, just and right is he."
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 IN the condition of man on the earth, we find 
 a mixture of sorrow and of joy, of pleasure and 
 of suffering, an unequal distribution of good and 
 evil. But although all men do not share alike in 
 the happiness of life, nor fall in the same degree 
 under the stroke of calamity, yet all die ; no 
 exception is found from this common lot of mor- 
 tality ; the grave is the last home of every one, 
 from the powerful monarch to the houseless 
 beggar. So that whatever inequality be found 
 in the circumstances of men during life, they are 
 at last reduced to the same level, and all distinc- 
 tions cease in the grave. It matters not what 
 station in life we occupy, nor in what rank we 
 move, death will take us away from every rela- 
 tion from every employment. Are the rich 
 seeking pleasure, and expending their wealth in 
 procuring luxurious gratifications ? They must 
 leave every enjoyment, and become poor in the 
 tomb. Are the children of poverty suffering in 
 their cheerless abodes, are they weary and 
 broken down with severe toil ? They shall rest 
 from their labours in the grave. Whether we 
 are at ease or in trouble, in sickness or in health,
 
 364 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 young or aged, death never ceases to approach ; 
 his arrival, though delayed to some, is certain to 
 all. We may form the tenderest connexions in 
 life ; the most endeared union may bind our 
 hearts with the sweetest ties of affection and love ; 
 remorseless death will dissolve and rend them 
 asunder. We may be deeply engaged in plans 
 of private interest, or of public utility ; we may 
 be wisely and cautiously forming the best-con^ 
 certed purposes ; invincible death will cut them 
 off, and put a final close to every design, and 
 bind down the most active individuals in immov- 
 able and lasting repose. Death is the irreversible 
 sentence which has passed on all mankind. 
 
 The dread of death is universal. It is the ab- 
 horrence of all nature. And how, indeed, can it 
 be otherwise ? It is a punishment ; it was de- 
 nounced against us at first as the taking away of 
 God's greatest blessing, as the privation of per- 
 fect earthly felicity. Therefore as long as exist- 
 ence and the enjoyment of it are accounted 
 blessings, so long will death continue to be viewed 
 as an evil. But when the sentence of death was 
 first pronounced on man, it was tempered with a 
 promise, which, although it did not repeal the 
 decree as to its actual accomplishment on all 
 mankind, yet altered the nature of death by as- 
 suring us of the coming of a Deliverer who should 
 vanquish this great enemy, and transform the 
 gloomy grave into a passage to the bright and
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 365 
 
 endless day of heavenly felicity. The nature of 
 this promise, and the gracious design of God, 
 revealed in it, were known to the fathers of old 
 time, before the coming of Christ, and the pro- 
 mulgation of the Gospel. Hence they were en- 
 abled to walk by faith, as " strangers and pilgrims 
 on the earth ; " hence they obtained witness that 
 they were righteous ; hence they were translated 
 without seeing death ; hence they were preserved 
 in the midst of judgments which overthrew the 
 world ; hence they became heirs of the promises, 
 and died in the faith and full persuasion of them. 
 (Heb. xi.) 
 
 The promise on which the fathers exercised 
 saving faith, was obscure when compared with 
 the more full light which we enjoy, in the fulfil- 
 ment of this promise. To them it was said, " O 
 death, I will be thy plague ; O grave, I will be 
 thy destruction ; " (Hos. xiii. 14.) but we have 
 seen the accomplishment of this prophetic declar- 
 ation, in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 from the dead. Before the " fulness of time," 
 the patriarchs, in the prospect of death, calmly 
 gave directions concerning the disposal of their 
 bodies ; they left the light of life with that strong 
 faith, which assured them that they should be 
 redeemed from the power of the grave ; but unto 
 us this redemption is made more " manifest, by 
 the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who 
 hath abolished death, and hath brought life and
 
 366 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 immortality to light through the Gospel." (2 Tim. 
 i. 10.) That is, the knowledge of the way of 
 salvation, and the free offer of its invaluable benefits 
 are more fully set before us, to the intent that 
 our faith might be stronger, and our hope more 
 bright and more established. 
 
 But has the knowledge of life and immortality 
 these happy effects in us ? Do we thereby live 
 more as strangers and pilgrims, having our 
 affections weaned from earthly things, and our 
 earnest and longing desires directed towards the 
 heavenly country ? Is the second coming of our 
 Lord a blessed hope unto us ? Do we pray for it, 
 do we prepare for it ? Are our hearts filled with 
 abiding joy and peace, in the delightful prospect 
 of everlasting blessedness ? Do we regard death 
 as the joyful end of our probation, as a freedom 
 from all sin, as an introduction to the presence 
 of God, and consequently to fulness of joy and 
 everlasting pleasures ? Alas I such is our ignor- 
 ance, so weak is our faith, so carnal are our minds, 
 so depraved and grovelling our affections, that we 
 live, even under the Gospel, in great terror of 
 death ; we are prone to regard it as the consum- 
 mation of calamity, as the height of suffering, as 
 a curse which sweeps away all comfort, and puts a 
 final and lasting end to all enjoyment ! Thus we 
 are too much disposed to regard the Gospel, 
 rather as something which tends to enable us to 
 tolerate the thought of death, and in some mea-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 367 
 
 sure to reconcile us to our own departure, and to 
 that of our relatives and friends, than as the 
 " good tidings" which put us in possession of the 
 assurance, that now death itself is numbered 
 among the Christian's possessions. (1 Cor. iii. 
 22.) We strive to meet death rather with forti- 
 tude, than with peaceful resignation. We bow 
 beneath the stroke rather as an unavoidable cala- 
 mity, than rejoice under it as the messenger of 
 peace and grace from our heavenly Father. 
 Whereas we should look upon death as a con- 
 quered enemy, as a foe now transformed into a 
 friend, as a curse now converted by Christ into a 
 blessing ; not as the messenger of condemnation 
 to extinguish life, and to carry us away to endless 
 darkness and misery, but as the conductor to the 
 gate of life, as the angel of peace commissioned 
 to introduce us to everlasting blessedness. 
 
 It is allowed that death the cessation of our 
 being on earth, and the commencement of an 
 unknown mode of existence in an unseen state 
 cannot but be, in some measure, a cause of alarm, 
 and an object of aversion. It was pronounced at 
 first as the sentence to be executed against sin, 
 and although sin is pardoned, yet the sentence is 
 put in force in consequence of transgression, and 
 by virtue of that condemnation which hath passed 
 on all men. It becomes us to have solemn 
 thoughts concerning death, although our appre- 
 hensions, as to future consequences, are now
 
 368 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 removed by the assurance which the Gospel gives 
 us of eternal life. It becomes us to be humble 
 under this stroke, which is the effect of God's 
 displeasure against transgression. With respect 
 to believers in Christ Jesus, death can, indeed, 
 do them no harm, farther than their removal from 
 the earth ; but as human beings, formed at first 
 for a residence in this lower world, and appointed 
 to fill certain relations in life, and qualified for 
 social enjoyment in the union of friendship and 
 the ties of affection and of kindred, death is to 
 be viewed by us as an enemy ; all its attendant 
 circumstances are painful to the hearts of mortals. 
 It is a solemn and an awful transaction, to de- 
 posit in the ground the remains of a being that 
 once was animated by an immortal spirit. O how 
 painful and heart-rending to a tender mind, to 
 hide in the gloom and corruption of the sepulchre, 
 that form, which, when alive, filled up a useful 
 station in the domestic circle, sustained one of 
 the dearest relations of life, conversed, and felt, 
 and sympathized, and aided, and consoled ! O how 
 piercing the thought, that all intercourse is at an 
 end, that intelligence is gone from the lifeless 
 clay, that we can no more hear the voice of our 
 friend ; no more look upon that countenance, 
 which was wont to be brightened up with delight 
 at seeing us mutually happy ! How could we 
 endure the separation which death causes, did we 
 not possess the hope of immortality ! Could we
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 369 
 
 bear to survive those whom we tenderly love- 
 in whose welfare our souls are bound up did we 
 not believe with an assured confidence, that the 
 departed spirit was still in existence, secure in 
 eternal happiness ; and that ourselves were fast 
 hastening to an inseparable an everlasting re- 
 union with those whom we love ! O joyful state 
 of being, when myriads of souls shall be assembled, 
 and not one sorrow be found among so vast a 
 multitude, when the mind shall be no more pre- 
 vented from enjoying to the utmost, the felicity 
 which is present, by the dread of future calamity 
 and sorrow, when there shall be no possibility 
 of again falling from happiness, because we shall 
 be incapable of offending our God, and when the 
 possession of all that our most boundless wishes 
 can desire, and of all that the riches and grace of 
 Almighty God can bestow, shall not weaken our 
 sense of enjoyment by satiety, nor our gratitude 
 by repetition ; but our measure of happiness, and 
 our capacity for pleasure, shall unitedly advance 
 and increase throughout the ages of eternity ! 
 
 The temper of mind which the apostle Paul 
 names as the prevailing disposition of his desires, 
 in respect to the present life and to the prospects 
 of futurity, is one which indicates the spirituality 
 of his affections. He was willing to sustain the 
 Christian conflict, as long as his Lord should 
 please to send him forth to the good fight of faich, 
 and he was anxious, as a good soldier of Christ 
 
 2 B
 
 370 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 Jesus, to wield the heavenly weapons with per- 
 severance and unshaken courage, while he con- 
 tinued a member of the church militant on earth ; 
 but when he considered the certainty of the 
 heavenly inheritance which was reserved for him, 
 and compared the present state of affliction with 
 the weight of glory prepared for him in the 
 presence of God, he felt a strong desire to enter 
 on his eternal rest. He was not ignorant of the 
 nature of death, nor insensible of its terrors, nor 
 hardened against the sensibilities of our common 
 nature, nor indifferent to the spiritual necessities 
 of others, as requiring his particular aid and di- 
 rection ; but when his mind meditated on the 
 glories which faith disclosed to his view, and 
 which he knew would be fully revealed after 
 death, he was " willing rather to be absent from 
 the body, and to be present with the Lord." 
 (2 Cor. v. 8.) 
 
 Let us consider some of the grounds, on which 
 we also may indulge the same desire, some of 
 the blessings which shall follow on our being 
 " absent from the body." 
 
 Man, in his first estate, was not subject to 
 mortality. His body did not contain in it the 
 seeds of natural corruption ; nor was it exposed 
 to the attacks of pain and disease. It was not 
 liable to be injured by outward accidents. It was 
 invulnerable ; inasmuch as we may suppose that 
 the will had complete command over every part
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 371 
 
 and power thereof, so that what the mind willed, 
 as the result of the principle of self-preservation, 
 the body obeyed, and thus no injury could be 
 sustained. The texture of the frame, though 
 delicately and finely wrought, even beyond the 
 investigation of unaided vision, was never dis- 
 ordered; the circulation of the vital fluids was 
 never impeded ; the nerves were never deranged, 
 nor the sinews lacerated, nor the veins torn 
 asunder. But sin has introduced a sad change 
 of circumstances. Now the most robust frame 
 is liable to mortal injury, the most muscular sym- 
 metry is subject to be destroyed by disease or 
 accident ; and a sudden disarrangement of the" 
 internal organization, produced by apparently 
 trifling causes, leads to premature and unexpected 
 death. And even if disease does not seize upon 
 us, the body is worn out in the natural use of 
 its various parts. The limbs become rigid and 
 powerless, the sight fails, the ear ceases to receive 
 or distinguish sounds, and the senses are no 
 longer the avenues to pleasurable feelings. There 
 is a term assigned to man's life ; he reaches the 
 period of his years ; his body returns, according 
 to the terms of the primeval curse, to the dust 
 whence it was taken, and his spirit " unto God 
 who gave it." 
 
 What are the grounds, then, on which we may 
 desire the approach of the mortal hour? The 
 Word of God supplies many strong reasons, why 
 
 2 B 2
 
 372 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH 
 
 the Christian may be " willing rather " to fall 
 under the stroke of death, to have the execution 
 of the sentence of mortality accelerated* When 
 man departed from God, he cast himself under 
 the dominion of the malignant spirit, called Satan, 
 who, from that time, had power over him, (yet 
 under divine permission,) to inflict both diseases 
 and death. Man was subject to the tyranny of 
 the devil. Notwithstanding, there was ever a 
 means of escape for those who were desirous of 
 returning to their true allegiance ; and in due 
 time Christ died to destroy the works of the devil. 
 Those, therefore, who return unto God by the 
 appointed way of restoration, that is, through the 
 mediation of Jesus Christ, are delivered from the 
 power of their adversary, and are brought back 
 under the mercy and grace of God. They ex- 
 change masters. A malignant, and hateful, and 
 accursed spirit is forsaken, and they become the 
 children of their heavenly Father, and enjoy the 
 "glorious liberty*' of the sons of God. Their 
 mercies are made sweeter to them, as flowing 
 from the source of grace and love ; their afflictions 
 are not the wounds of a malicious enemy, but the 
 strokes of a Father, who intends their spiritual 
 welfare ; the enmity of their hearts is gradually 
 removed, and the antipathy of their minds to 
 spiritual things taken away, and their dispositions 
 towards God are rectified, and thus they daily 
 advance in a capacity to enjoy the pleasures of
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 373 
 
 the heavenly world ; and death is, at length, the 
 kind messenger who is sent to introduce them to 
 the presence of God, there to enter on the in- 
 heritance of the saints in light= 
 
 If death be dreaded and avoided as an evil as 
 a curse ; when the evil is averted and the curse 
 changed into a blessing, it may be met with re- 
 signation with pleasure. All the spiritual evils 
 resulting from the fall of man, have been taken 
 away by our Saviour, and by faith in him we be- 
 come reinstated in the favour of God, and are 
 consequently made the heirs of everlasting hap- 
 piness. Death, the punishment of sin, and disease 
 and pain and trouble and sorrow, the fruits of 
 sin, have not been removed, although sin itself 
 has been atoned for, and " put away" by the 
 Sacrifice of Christ. The evil consequences of sin, 
 as affecting the future state of the soul, have been 
 all annihilated to believers in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who, inasmuch as he has destroyed " him 
 that had the power of death, that is, the devil," 
 (Heb. ii. 14.) and has taken away the " sting of 
 death," that is, sin, is said in the Scriptures to 
 have " abolished death," by bringing " life and 
 immortality to light by the Gospel." Thus, the 
 nature of death being changed, it may very rea- 
 sonably become as the door to immortality the 
 object of the Christian's pleasing anticipation. 
 
 But notwithstanding the light of the Gospel, 
 and the hope of immortality which it makes
 
 374 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 known, we find Christians too generally, " through 
 fear of death, all their life- time subject to bond- 
 age." (Heb. ii. 15.) Our minds are so little 
 inflamed with the desire of heaven,, that we are 
 willing to remain in this state of absence from 
 God, as long as health of body and peace of mind 
 are continued. The highest attainment of our 
 faith is, for the most part, only a state of resig- 
 nation of submission to the will of God, when 
 the course of his Providence is apparently about 
 to bring on the time of our departure. When 
 affliction stops us suddenly in the career of life, 
 we begin to cry earnestly to be spared a little 
 longer ; and when hope declines, we endeavour 
 to be resigned to the stroke of death, and, gather- 
 ing up our evidences of the divine favour, we 
 quietly wait for the voice of God to summon us 
 to his presence. Resignation to the will of God 
 is a Christian duty, how severe soever the trial 
 may be to which we are called. But this is not 
 the-state of mind in which we should be willing 
 to rest, with respect to our departure from the 
 body, as those who possess a " good hope through 
 grace." We should be resigned to the loss of 
 friends, and relatives, and earthly possessions, 
 and life, but we should be also " willing rather," to 
 leave all these things, that we maybe " present with 
 the Lord." And this desire to depart is perfectly 
 compatible with a patient endurance of all the 
 ills of life, and a cheerful readiness to bear the
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 375 
 
 burden of the day with those, to whom our con- 
 tinuance in the flesh is " more needful." (Philip, 
 i. 23, 24.) There is no selfishness in true Chris- 
 tianity ; we are not taught to shrink back from 
 the conflict, and to leave others to struggle 
 through the difficulties of the way, while we are 
 safely passed into the heavenly rest. It is our duty, 
 while we indulge the most ardent hope and most 
 longing desire of heaven, to wait all the days of 
 our appointed time, till our change come. (Job 
 xiv. 14.) 
 
 As Christians we are called upon to manifest 
 something more than mere resignation. Some of 
 the heathens of old met death with more calmness 
 and composure than many persons now do, who 
 enjoy the light of the Gospel. These heathens, 
 by the light of reason and experience, knew 
 that death passed on all men ; they regarded it as 
 an inevitable evil ; and therefore considered it to 
 be honourable to reason and consistent with the 
 duties of their philosophy, to undergo the univer- 
 sal sentence with fortitude and courage. A 
 higher principle should influence and direct us. 
 We should not regard death as an enemy against 
 whom it is in vain to contend ; but should re- 
 member that although he attacks us as an enemy, 
 yet when his triumph is complete, we are made 
 more than conquerors over him, by sharing in 
 the fruits of the victory which Christ hath ob- 
 tained for us.
 
 376 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 The pleasures of sense being known and en- 
 joyed in this life, and the happiness of the unseen 
 world being only ascertained by faith, we find it 
 a hard task to be willing to leave the joys of an 
 existence in which flesh and spirit participate, and 
 to enter on an unknown state of being, in which 
 the soul can live and act independently of a union 
 with the body. Our minds recoil at the thought 
 of forsaking the body, and we naturally loathe 
 the corruption of the grave. But why should we 
 tremble at the thought of the separation of body 
 and soul, and of the body being committed to 
 the ground ? Shall we not be raised from the 
 dishonour of the tomb, and shall not this cor- 
 ruptible put on corruption, and this mortal put 
 on immortality, and this natural body become a 
 spiritual body, and be again united inseparably to 
 the glorified spirit, and partake of the endless plea- 
 sures of God's immediate presence? (1 Cor. xv.) 
 Yes ; the anguish which now rends every nerve 
 with unabated suffering ; the disease which causes 
 every pulse to throb with acute agony, and makes 
 every sense the avenue to severe pain ; the faintness 
 which exhausts the vital spirits ; the groans and 
 cries which distress the ear and wound the heart of 
 affectionate relatives, attendant on the beds of 
 sickness, shall all cease in the grave, and cease for 
 ever ! Immortal health and vigour shall dwell in 
 the reanimated frame, at the morning of the 
 resurrection. When God shaft build again the
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 377 
 
 temple of the human body, from the ruins of the 
 grave, he shall fashion it like unto Christ's glori- 
 ous body ; (Phil. iii. 21.) it shall no more contain 
 in it the seeds of disease, nor be subject to disso- 
 lution ; for " the Lord God will wipe away tears 
 from off all faces," (Isa. xxv. 8.) " and there 
 shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry- 
 ing, neither shall there be any more pain." 
 " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
 resurrection ; on such the second death hath no 
 power." (Rev. xx. 6 xxi. 4.) 
 
 The circumstances and connexions of life tend 
 to make us dread the approach of death ; both 
 poverty and riches have their share of influence, 
 in causing our affections to take deeper root in 
 the earth. The young man who rejoices in his 
 youth, who is in " full strength, being wholly at 
 ease and quiet," (Job xxi. 23.) looks on death as 
 the blight of all his prospects, as a robber that 
 would strip him of a portion of his existence ; 
 he says, " I am deprived of the residue of my 
 years." (Isa. xxxviii. 10.) The decease of a 
 youth, in the midst of his days, appears like the 
 going down of the sun while it is yet day. The 
 man who abounds in wealth, and is secure in his 
 possessions, regards death as the invader of his 
 peace and enjoyments ; he wishes to live that he 
 may see " his sons come to honour," (Job xiv. 
 21.) and the circle of his family remaining un- 
 broken in a long succession of happy years. The 
 man whom difficulties press on every side, on
 
 378 TftE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 whose unremitted exertions the sustenance of 
 his family seems intirely to depend, and who sees a 
 dreary prospect of want and suffering 1 for his 
 young and helpless babes, should he be taken 
 from them by the stroke of death, this man 
 earnestly clings to life, that his aid and counsel 
 may be cheerfully imparted, and his strength 
 willingly spent for the benefit and support of 
 those, who are dear to him as his own soul. 
 
 But if we consider time as a portion of eternity, 
 and man as a being who is to live for ever, the 
 distinction between a long and a short life upon 
 earth seems almost obliterated. It matters not 
 whether a man dies at twenty years of age, or at 
 threescore years and ten. He does not cease to 
 live ; he loses no part of his existence ; he is only 
 removed to another state of being. And the 
 wealthy man should remember that the " durable 
 riches of eternal blessedness, infinitely outweigh 
 all that earthly riches can purchase, all that 
 worldly splendour and honour can bestow. He 
 who is translated to heaven, cannot lose any 
 thing, whatever he may leave behind on earth. 
 And the man who fears lest the iron rod of 
 poverty fall on his bereaved family, should con- 
 stantly bear in mind, that it is not earthly 
 substance bequeathed to relatives, but the bles- 
 sing of God alone that " maketh rich, and addeth 
 no sorrow with it." (Prov. x. 22.) When we 
 die, is there no Providence left? Do not the 
 children of the wealthy stand in the same need of
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 379 
 
 Providential guidance and defence as the descend- 
 ants of the poor man ? When earthly resources 
 are cut off, has God lost any means whereby to 
 work ? When all visible support is taken away, 
 are the divine riches impoverished, or is God's 
 arm weakened r Does he not continue in the 
 same plenitude of power, in the same fulness of 
 love, and grace, and compassion ? Has he not 
 said, " Leave thy fatherless children, I will pre- 
 serve them alive ; and let thy widows trust in 
 me ? " (Jerem. xlix.) O, let us rest calmly on 
 the power and grace of God ; let his faithfulness 
 banish every fear of unbelief ; and let us " both 
 hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the 
 Lord ! " (Lam. iii. 26.) 
 
 The Christian may be " willing rather" to die, 
 if he reflects that " he that is dead is freed from 
 sin." (Rom. vi. 7.) To be " absent from the body," 
 is to be delivered from temptation, to be set free 
 from the power of the " lust of the flesh, the lust 
 of the eyes, and the pride of life," to be exempt 
 from wrath, envy, malice and every evil passion 
 of the depraved heart, to cease from grieving the 
 Holy Spirit of God, and from wounding the con- 
 science, and breaking in upon that peace which 
 passeth all understanding. We often lose the 
 hope of immortality, by indulging in sin. It is 
 fit that what perverts the true end of life, should 
 also increase in us the fear of death ; that what 
 tends to obscure our evidences of being Christi- 
 ans, should also proportionably weaken in us the
 
 380 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 hope of glory ; that what makes our light of 
 holiness dim, should also cloud our prospects of 
 heaven the region of perfect purity. 
 
 Reviewing these truths, the Christian will be led 
 to unite diligence in his worldly vocation, and a 
 proper attachment to all the endeared relations of 
 life, and a due value and estimation of earthly 
 blessings, with a " desire to depart, and to be with 
 Christ, which is far better." (Phil. i. 23.) Hating 
 sin, he cannot but long for that happy period 
 when he shall no more make God angry. Re- 
 joicing in the light of God's countenance, he 
 looks forward with earnest desires for that state, 
 where no intervening clouds of sin shall ever 
 hide from his glorified vision the face of God, 
 whose glory is the light of heaven. Delighting 
 to obey the will of his heavenly Father, he anti- 
 cipates with daily pleasure the order, and holiness, 
 and peace, and felicity of the " new heavens and 
 the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ;" 
 (2 Pet. iii. 13.) and of that celestial city, in which 
 te the nations of them which are saved, shall 
 walk," and into which " shall in no-wise enter 
 any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever work- 
 eth abomination." (Rev. xxi. 24, 27.) Seeking 
 the divine glory, he continually prays, " Thy 
 kingdom come ;" and he is ever " looking for, and 
 hasting unto the coming of the day of God,'' 
 (2 Pet. iii. 12.) when he hopes to " meet the Lord 
 in the air," and so to be " ever with the Lord." 
 (1 Thess. iv. 17.)
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEW OF DEATH. 381 
 
 It is a high point of Christian attainment, to 
 " use this world, as not abusing it ; " (1 Cor. vii. 
 31.) to bear constantly in mind the circumstances 
 and the end of our condition upon the earth, so 
 as to discharge its duties without compromising 
 our Christian character and obligations ; to give 
 all careful attention to " whatsoever things are 
 true honest just pure lovely of good re- 
 port," (Phil. iv. 8.) without forfeiting our title to 
 the heavenly inheritance ; to form earthly con- 
 nexions, without dissolving our spiritual union 
 with God and Christ ; to possess worldly wealth 
 and honour, without losing the better aud dur- 
 able riches of future glory ; to be justly exalted 
 in honourable estimation among men, without 
 suffering depreciation in the all-important and 
 eternally-decisive judgment of our Maker. 
 
 May we be enabled, through divine grace, to 
 live here so as not to fall short of the gift of ever- 
 lasting life in the world to come ; and so to 
 indulge the hope of heaven, as to seek the best 
 evidence of our title to it in that faith which 
 worketh by love," (Gal. v. 6.) and maintaineth 
 " good works ; " (Titus iii. 8.) and to be ever 
 looking, through the merits of our Redeemer 
 alone, to " have right to the tree of life," (Rev. 
 xxii. 14.) that when the dusky clouds of death 
 shall be dispelled by the light of that day, which 
 the shades of night will never close, we may 
 " rise to the life immortal ! "
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 " Surely the present form of church government, which the laws of 
 this land have established, is such, as no law of God, nor reason of 
 man, hath hitherto been alleged of force sufficient to prove they do ill, 
 who to the uttermost of their power withstand the alteration thereof." 
 
 " But our trust in the Almighty is, that with us contentions are now 
 at the highest float, and that the day will come, (for what cause of 
 despair is there ?)when the passions of former enmity being allayed, we 
 shall with ten-times redoubled tokens of our unfeignedly-reconciled 
 love, show ourselves towards each other the same with Joseph, and the 
 brethren of Joseph were at the time of their interview in Egypt. Our 
 comfortable expectation and most thirsty desire whereof, what man 
 soever shall any way help to satisfy, the blessings of the God of peace, 
 both in this world and in the world to come, be upon him more than the 
 stars of the firmament in number." HOOKER. 
 
 WHEN we contemplate man, as a being capable 
 of knowing and serving his Maker, but naturally 
 ignorant both of the divine nature, and of the 
 mode of religious service which would be accept- 
 able to the Supreme Being, we may very justly 
 conclude, that a system of religion, such as Chris- 
 tianity communicated from heaven for the benefit
 
 384 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 of mankind, must be adapted to the whole human 
 race. We may make this inference, not only 
 from the consideration of the common origin of 
 mankind, the common relation which they sus- 
 tain towards God, their common prospects and 
 destinies ; but also from the unity of the divine 
 nature, purpose, and counsel. Nothing change- 
 able or contradictory can proceed from God ; his 
 dispensations may indeed vary in many circum- 
 stances so as to suit the degree of religious light 
 which he has imparted, to correspond with his 
 eternal design in the government of the world, 
 and to accord with the gradual developement of 
 
 
 
 that design ; but there will ever be found in them 
 a perfect agreement in all the parts ; a complete 
 correspondence of institutions and articles of faith, 
 with preceding appointments and communica- 
 tions ; aud an exact suitableness of the whole to 
 the condition of man. 
 
 If uniformity could be found at all in a world 
 composed of individuals, of similar natural rights, 
 each having the same principle of self-love, and 
 placed under the same law of moral obligation ; 
 we might reasonably expect to find it in articles 
 of faith, and modes of worship, both professing 
 to be derived originally from God, and to be 
 sanctioned by the authority of a written Revela- 
 tion. In matters which concern only worldly 
 interests, and which must therefore very often 
 interfere with and thwart each other, we might
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 385 
 
 conclude that where opposing interests were 
 found, there would ensue a corresponding variety 
 of sentiment, and action, and pursuit. But how 
 shall we account for the diversity, the contrariety 
 of opinions and practice, where the object is pro 
 fessedly the same ; where the source of informa 
 tion respecting the points in dispute is one ; and 
 where the final appeal is in every case, and among 
 every party, made to one common standard of 
 religious belief and conduct the Bible ! This 
 diversity in the extent to which it is carried 
 cannot be a just matter of indifference ; neither 
 can it proceed from the right exercise of our 
 mental faculties, but from the evil passions of the 
 heart, from pride and vain-glory, from a rebel- 
 lious desire to have some part and share in the 
 government of the world, and a perverse disposi- 
 tion not to receive with humility and meekness 
 the divine commands, nor to acknowledge the 
 divine authority as Supreme. 
 
 The existence and long continuance of this 
 diversity of religious belief, are not to be taken 
 as proofs of its being a point of no essential im- 
 portance in itself; much less of its being agreeable 
 to the divine will. The world seems never to 
 have been free from this kind of dissension, be- 
 cause it has never been free from sin, since the 
 transgression of our first parents. From the time 
 that Cain refused to exercise faith in a Messiah 
 that was to offer the sacrifice of himself, as an 
 
 2 C
 
 386 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 atonement for mankind ; and in consequence of 
 this unbelief, would not make the commanded 
 offering of the life of an animal, as typical of the 
 great sacrifice, that was to be offered up in the 
 latter ages of the world, from this period, there 
 has existed in some degree, a struggle between 
 the friends of truth and the advocates of error ; 
 either on the one part as worshippers of the true 
 God, and on the other as idolaters ; or as those 
 who receive and obey the plain dictates of Scrip- 
 ture, on the one side, and on the other, those 
 who profess to be in the bosom of the true Church, 
 and yet obstinately resist the authority which 
 has been delegated to that Church, by its Head 
 and Founder, and who seek their own gratifica- 
 tion, and follow their own notions, at the expense 
 of the peace of the Church. So far from this 
 disagreement, and this division, enjoying the 
 approbation of heaven, it is expressly condemned 
 in the Word of God. Uniformity both of belief 
 and practice, in the great and essential articles 
 of faith, and the duties of morality, is strictly 
 enjoined in Scripture ; while at the same time a 
 bigoted and uncharitable spirit, in relation to some 
 minor points of discipline, of rite, and of cere- 
 mony, is rebuked and forbidden. 
 
 Love, that uniting bond of brotherhood, is 
 most forcibly commanded to be cherished among 
 Christians, by the Author and Finisher of their 
 faith ; it is represented in the Word of God, as
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 387 
 
 the distinguishing evidence in Christians, of being 
 members of the true spiritual Church of Christ ; 
 and as the first and chief test of obedience to the 
 divine commands. The Apostles who heard the 
 verbal instructions of our Lord, who partook in an 
 extraordinary degree of his Spirit, and who de- 
 voted themselves to the extension and prosperity 
 of his Church, uniformly enjoin a mild and for- 
 bearing disposition of mind towards each other ; 
 together with a firm and steadfast adherence to the 
 great and fundamental doctrines of Christianity. 
 We are never commanded to sacrifice truth on 
 the altar of spurious candour and false liberality ; 
 or to compromise the immutable doctrines of our 
 holy religion, for the sake of obtaining the coun- 
 tenance and support of the world. We are 
 charged to " keep the unity of the Spirit, in the 
 bond of peace ; " (Eph. iv. 3.) but this does not 
 imply that we are to give in to all the follies and 
 fancies of superstition and enthusiasm, or to 
 sanction all the irrational acts of fanaticism. 
 This " unity of the Spirit," means a uniformity 
 in the articles of faith, an agreement in all those 
 points which are essential to the salvation of man. 
 This is evident, from the exhortation of the same 
 writer in another epistle, where he thus entreats 
 the Corinthians to " keep the unity of the Spirit ; " 
 " I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same 
 thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; 
 
 2 c 2
 
 388 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 but that ye be perfectly joined together in the 
 same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Cor. 
 i. 10.) 
 
 Such is human nature, that there will ever 
 be a diversity of opinion in matters which are not 
 demonstrable, although revealed from heaven. 
 With respect to things that are capable of de- 
 monstration to the senses, all men will judge 
 alike; but with regard to revelation, while the 
 facts are not disputed which establish its authen- 
 ticity, the precise meaning of the doctrines that 
 are propounded, will ever be a subject of con- 
 tention ; because such is the uncertainty of lan- 
 guage, that it seems impossible to convey exactly 
 the same ideas to all persons, by words which are 
 employed to express abstract truths. We cannot 
 so definitely state articles of faith, as to prevent 
 a diversity of interpretation. Some persons will 
 narrow the signification of the terms used, and 
 thereby limit the title to the benefits implied, to 
 the few who constitute the party that receive the 
 confined interpretation. And others will so ex- 
 tend the meaning of the terms, as to destroy all 
 distinction between faith and unbelief, and to 
 enrol all men among the true and acceptable 
 worshippers of the Deity, whether they bow in 
 adoration to 
 
 " Jehovah, Jove, or Lord." 
 So that we should be careful, in framing articles
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 389 
 
 of faith, not to exclude from the rank and title of 
 Christians, all who do not hold them to the same 
 extent, and in the same interpretation as our- 
 selves, as though the Word of God had come 
 exclusively to us. (1 Cor. xiv. 36.) 
 
 There may be a great diversity of merely 
 religious opinion, of notions which involve no 
 capital article of faith, but relate merely to some 
 point of discipline or church-government, some 
 minor consideration of rite and ceremony, with 
 respect to which we are charged to walk " with 
 all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, 
 forbearing one another in love." (Eph. iv. 2.) 
 But while we exercise this mutual forbearance, 
 we must also carefully avoid a counterfeit kind 
 of liberality, which leads men to look on religious 
 dissensions of all kinds with indifference ; and to 
 regard the most conflicting and opposite articles 
 of faith, and the most absurd modes of religious 
 worship, as alike acceptable to God. There are 
 plain and unalterable bounds between truth and 
 error; and a disregard to the progress of the 
 latter, will infallibly end in renunciation of the 
 former. In fact, an indifference to error implies 
 a contempt of truth. The friends of truth must 
 be the enemies of falsehood ; they cannot look on 
 it with apathy and unconcern. If there be (as 
 we are assured) " one Lord, one faith, one 
 baptism ;" (Eph. iv. 5.) then these form the car- 
 dinal articles of religious belief ; and every notion
 
 390 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 derogatory to the character and perfections of 
 this " Lord," every sentiment deviating from 
 this " faith/' every profession at variance with 
 this " baptism," is a departure from Truth ; and 
 men cannot be at liberty to alter the unity of 
 faith and practice xvhich the Bible enjoins, nor 
 can opposing creeds be alike acceptable to God. 
 Still, we must not confound the essentials of 
 religion, with those comparatively unimportant 
 additions of form and ceremony, which the 
 wisdom and piety of our ancestors judged assist- 
 ant to the beauty and order of public worship, and 
 helpful to the devotion of the worshippers. These 
 additions, though allowed to be of human appoint- 
 ment, and therefore of little moment when con- 
 trasted with the " weightier matters of law, 
 judgment, mercy, and faith," (Matt, xxiii. 23.) 
 yet are not the gaudy trappings of pride and 
 ambition, nor the mere tinsel of sanctimonious 
 hypocrisy ; but the result of the high advancements 
 in knowledge, and the eminent attainments in 
 piety of our forefathers ; and having stood the 
 test of long experience, as to their utility, they 
 are not to be left " undone," nor hastily given up 
 at the call of mere cavil and litigious scrupulosity. 
 If we as members of the Church of England, 
 are firm in maintaining the whole of the wise and 
 salutary discipline of our Church, let not those 
 who differ from us in their opinions on these 
 points, object that we wish to impose on them
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 391 
 
 those rites and ceremonies which we must allow 
 not to be of divine institution. We hold 
 them as valuable appendages to our mode of 
 worship, and to the government of the Church, 
 of which we desire to be obedient and useful 
 members ; and they are no where inhibited in 
 Scripture, either directly or by implication ; nor 
 are they in any wise at variance with Scriptural 
 commands. On the contrary, our obedience and 
 subjection to them, is sanctioned by that Scrip- 
 tural authority, which enjoins us to " know them 
 which are over" us " in the Lord, and admonish" 
 us ; " and to esteem them very highly in love for 
 their work's sake." (1 Thess. v. 12, 13.) And 
 whenever the " unity of the Spirit," is the first 
 object with Christians of the same language and 
 the same country, the " bond of peace" will 
 easily enclose all those who, " holding the head," 
 desire the peace and prosperity of the Church ; 
 nor will such esteem as a yoke of bondage, those 
 rites and ceremonies which have been, and still 
 are, the objects of unjust misrepresentation, or 
 of groundless alarm. A general agreement with 
 the commands and the spirit of Scripture, or an 
 opposition to the plain dictates of the Bible, and 
 an incongruity with the testimony of inspiration, 
 must be our guides to ascertain when we are called 
 upon to " stand fast, and hold the traditions 
 which we have been taught," (2 Thess. ii. 15.) 
 or to reject those things which " might bring us
 
 392 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 into bondage," and to give no " place" to them 
 " by subjection, no not for an hour, that the 
 truth of the Gospel " may continue with us. 
 (Gal. ii. 4, 5.) 
 
 When St. Paul says " Let every man be fully 
 persuaded in his own mind," (Rom. xiv. 5.) he 
 does not mean that the private judgment of every 
 individual is to be the rule of interpretation of 
 doctrine and of observance of discipline ; for in 
 this case, the church would present only a scene 
 of disorder. What men believe, and what they 
 practise, ought to be only what they think in their 
 hearts to be according to God's Word ; but they 
 are not to set up their own private judgment as 
 the rule of interpretation. They are to submit 
 to lawful authority to the decision of the Church, 
 so that they may " follow after the things which 
 make for peace, and things wherewith one may 
 edify another." (Rom. xiv. 19.) In all points of 
 law, and in cases which require the aid of medi- 
 cine, men consult those who have devoted their 
 time and attention to the study of these sciences ; 
 and they submit to be guided by them, as being 
 their superiors in knowledge in these points ; but 
 in religion, by falsely interpreting the command of 
 the Apostle to be fully persuaded in their own 
 minds, they refuse to yield to the decisions of 
 those, whom God has set over them as instructors ; 
 and because they feel that they stand in the same 
 need, and have the same claim on the blessings
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 393 
 
 of the Gospel, as all other men, they will not take 
 the sense of Scripture, where there is any difficulty, 
 from those who have made the Scriptures the study 
 of their lives, nor submit to be guided in matters 
 of rite and ceremony by the antient customs of the 
 Church ; but presume to dictate where they should 
 humbly ask instruction, and to innovate where 
 they ought to obey the established rule and order. 
 In so essential a point as the knowledge of God, 
 he cannot have left man to frame his own articles 
 of faith ; and in so important a duty as the worship 
 of God, he cannot have left him intirely destitute 
 of some rule and guidance ; or man would invent 
 and impose the most cruel and absurd rites, as we 
 see to have been the case in our own land, before 
 the light of divine Revelation shone upon us. 
 The Bible defines clearly every point necessary to 
 our salvation ; but as religion finds men living, 
 according to the original design of their Creator, 
 in society, and under the obligation of many 
 social duties, which cannot be separated from the 
 duties more immediately arising out of the ser- 
 vice of God, and as religion is designed for man, 
 as subject to these civil obligations, there must 
 be human interference in the management of all 
 its secular concerns. It is so closely connected 
 with all our duties as rulers and subjects, as 
 fathers and children, as masters and servants, and 
 has so powerful an influence over the due dis- 
 charge of all these relations, that the silence of
 
 394 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 the Bible is easily accounted for, with respect to 
 the specific government of the internal discipline 
 of a Church, further than denning the spiritual 
 authority of the teachers of religion, and urging 
 the willing obedience of the members to those 
 who are " over " them " in the Lord ; " and with 
 respect to the appointment of the mode and times 
 of worship, further than commanding the offering 
 up of prayers and thanksgivings, the teaching of 
 men in the knowledge of the doctrines, and in the 
 observance of the morality of the Gospel. 
 
 We have no specific directions given in the 
 Scriptures, as to any peculiar mode of Church 
 discipline, of rite and of ceremony ; because the 
 chief design of revelation is to make men wise 
 unto salvation. The great question is What is 
 the ground of our hope of salvation ? And this 
 being answered according to the faith of Jesus 
 Christ, all other things relating to the govern- 
 ment of the Church, and the order of public wor- 
 ship, are left to be regulated by the proper autho- 
 rities, according to what is most expedient, and best 
 adapted to promote edification. Modern inno- 
 vators would do well to ask themselves, how the 
 Church of God subsisted for so many ages without 
 those new articles of faith, and new modes of 
 worship, which they contend to be essential to 
 the true understanding and right reception of the 
 Gospel. Such persons seem not aware of the 
 arrogance which they exhibit, in claiming to be
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 395 
 
 wiser and more pious than all the Christians of 
 former generations. Because they fancy that 
 they have framed a more Scriptural creed, and a 
 more Scriptural discipline, they unite the cause 
 of religion with their own institutions, and sup- 
 pose that they must stand or fall together. 
 
 The Bible is given to direct our faith, and not 
 to furnish us with minute instructions for the 
 discipline and order of a Church. Where human 
 reason would avail, Revelation is silent. Much 
 is therefore left to be arranged according to par- 
 ticular circumstances. The interests of religion 
 must be promoted by a unity of practice, as well 
 as of faith, by a uniformity of discipline, as well 
 as an agreement of doctrine ; and these points 
 cannot be secured without a national establish- 
 ment, to superintend the secular government of 
 the Church, as well as to appoint and oversee 
 proper persons for the teaching and enforcement 
 of the doctrines of Christianity. A national estab- 
 lishment for these ends, may be maintained, not 
 only without infringing on any of the laws of the 
 New Testament, with regard to the unchanging 
 articles of faith, and the direct and positive ap- 
 pointments of God in the ordinances of the 
 Gospel ; but also in perfect accordance with the 
 grand and distinguishing characteristics of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 The authority of Scripture should be the basis 
 of every religious and civil institution ; that is,
 
 396 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 there should be a general agreement and consis- 
 tency with the scope and spirit of Revelation. The 
 same Word of God which furnishes us with the 
 doctrines of our religion, should also sanction in 
 its general and implied testimony, (wherever 
 there is no direct command,) every mode and 
 form which binds society. The prosperity of re- 
 ligion, and the true interests of a well-regulated 
 state, can never be at variance : on the contrary, 
 the Providence of God has made the latter de- 
 pendent on the former. We ought, therefore, to 
 rejoice that in our land, this mutual subserviency 
 is promoted by the union of church and state. 
 The maintenance of the rites and service of the 
 church, the support of its ministers, and the de- 
 fence of its privileges, are the legitimate objects 
 of the care of the State. And the perpetuity of 
 law, and the preservation of order in civil society, 
 are promoted by the influence of that holy re- 
 ligion, which the Church inculcates. We ac- 
 knowledge but one spiritual head of the Church, 
 even Christ ; but we acknowledge, with Scriptural 
 obedience, " the King as supreme." When the 
 Church of God existed only in heathen lands, 
 there was an opposition between its interests and 
 the principles of the rulers of those countries. 
 But under Christian governments, civil laws are 
 sanctioned and supported by divine laws ; and, 
 rulers being subject to the same laws, he who 
 presides over the civil power, is wisely appointed
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 397 
 
 to have also the pre-eminence in ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 The argument against a National Establish- 
 ment for uniformity of religious faith and worship, 
 grounded on the fact that, at its first introduction 
 into the world, Christianity neither sought nor 
 received the support of the existing authorities, 
 and that in the days of the apostles, there was no 
 union between the Church and the governments 
 of the countries where the gospel was introduced, 
 is rendered null and without force, from the con- 
 sideration that in those days, there were no 
 Christian governors. " The principles of the 
 doctrine of Christ," and the sentiments and prac- 
 tice of the pagan kingdoms then existing, were 
 as opposite as heaven and hell ; and the religion 
 of Jesus was to be established and supported, in 
 direct opposition to the idolatrous rites and 
 systems of the heathen world. But where Chris- 
 tianity is the religion of a country, there is a 
 natural union of the Church and the State ; the 
 latter seeking a confirmation of its authority, in 
 the holy sanctions of the Church. In our own 
 country these have been so blended, that the 
 terms Church and State are almost convertible ; 
 and the security of the latter will always be found 
 to depend on the maintenance of the former. 
 While the bond of union is preserved, by the con- 
 tinuance of our establishment for the support of 
 religion, the civil government is guaranteed ; but
 
 398 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 whenever dissension in matters of discipline, and 
 diversity in points of faith, shall become general, 
 anarchy will be let loose in all our civil institu- 
 tions. Sound reasoning would lead us to expect 
 this result ; and woful experience has shown that 
 rebellion and schism when that schism is founded 
 on litigious scrupulosity go hand in hand. The 
 altar and the throne must stand or fall together ; 
 and therefore while the latter is the object of our 
 lively solicitude, and of our warm affection, we 
 must be careful never to promote in any de- 
 gree a departure from the former, in faith or in 
 discipline ; lest it lead to an alienation of heart 
 from our lawful rulers, and a defection of duty in 
 our civil capacities. Where the religion of men 
 consists wholly, or chiefly, in hostility to the es- 
 tablished Church, there will be a correspondent 
 hatred of the rulers, and a rebellious resistance to 
 the laws of the land. 
 
 There is not a more difficult exercise of power, 
 than that which is called to take cognizance of 
 the interests of religion ; to regulate the discipline 
 of a Church, which is to receive a nation into its 
 bosom ; to state and define those articles of faith, 
 which shall evidently carry on them the stamp of 
 genuine Scriptural origin ; and to appoint those 
 modes of worship, and that order and discipline, 
 which shall possess a manifest accordance with 
 the spirit and scope of Revelation. The chief 
 difficulty in this case, arises from the fact, that
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 399 
 
 the Scriptures are addressed to all men, and are 
 consequently liable to almost as great a diversity 
 of interpretation, as there are individual possessors 
 of the Scriptures. Although the Bible is wonder- 
 fully adapted to the condition of every man, yet 
 peculiarity of temper and inclination, or neglect 
 or prejudice of education, leads to interpretations 
 as conflicting and opposed as the passions and 
 interests of men. Our duty and our happiness, 
 therefore, unite in urging us to cleave with 
 steadfastness, to that established religion in creed 
 and in order, which the labours of disinterested 
 piety and learning have founded on an interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture, which no man can justly gainsay. 
 But there is another difficulty in this case, 
 which arises from the natural rights of conscience. 
 Every man being accountable to God for his 
 faith and practice, it seems unreasonable and un- 
 just, that any one should be compelled by the 
 united force of others, to adopt a creed and a mode 
 of worship to which he feels conscientious objec- 
 tions. But in regulating a National Church, 
 compulsion is not necessarily employed towards 
 any man ; nor is any inroad made on that sacred 
 responsibility which, in matters of religion, sub- 
 sists between man and God, and not between 
 man and man ; except in-sp-far as every one is 
 accountable to society, for the proper discharge 
 of the duties devolving on him as a member of 
 the social compact. The moral character of a
 
 400 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 man will be estimated in the judgment of his 
 Maker, not merely by the religious sentiments 
 which he holds, and the conduct which those 
 sentiments sanction and produce, but also by 
 the advantages enjoyed by every individual for 
 attaining right notions in religion, and conse- 
 quently arriving at a right and holy practice. 
 There is a great difference between trenching on 
 the natural rights of conscience, and merely in- 
 sisting on the proper observance of certain insti- 
 tutions, and the maintenance of certain articles 
 of faith, which are either of divine origin, or 
 which have had the approbation of the wisest and 
 best of men. And these institutions and these 
 articles, are not attempted to be imposed on all, 
 but only on those who voluntarily continue in 
 that Church, in which they are considered to 
 promote the harmony and spiritual edification of 
 its members. 
 
 What are justly called the rights of conscience, 
 ought ever to be respected ; but then we must 
 carefully ascertain what are the due and proper 
 objects of the rights of conscience, and the proper 
 sphere of their operation. Some men call that 
 an infringement on the rights of conscience, 
 which is only the exercise by some other persons, 
 in a way which they believe to be good and pro- 
 per, of the same right to which the objectors 
 themselves lay claim. These men, in their jea- 
 lous care of their own rights, interfere with the
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 401 
 
 equally sacred rights of others ; and while most 
 unyielding in every point of discipline, and every 
 article of faith, peculiar to their own communion., 
 call those persons bigots who merely display a firm 
 adherence to what they believe to be the truth. 
 They expect others to be yielding, and ready to 
 sacrifice any point to their selfish demands, to 
 be so liberal as to suffer any change, any en- 
 croachment, which these advocates of what they 
 are pleased to call unshackled liberty of con- 
 science, may choose to make. We must be wholly 
 regardless of the interests of our own community, 
 lest they should clash with the rights of these 
 men's tender consciences ; these men, who call 
 on others to be candid and liberal, while they 
 themselves arrogate infallibility, deem every thing 
 unscriptural which is opposed to their judgment 
 and notions, and indulge the worst spirit of 
 bigotry, while they are professing to countenance 
 and exercise true Christian charity. 
 
 Uniformity in discipline is certainly productive 
 of edification ; and if it can be found in any 
 church, which receives the Bible as the ground 
 of its articles of faith, we are bound to remain in 
 the communion of that church, and not to trouble 
 its peace by schisms, generated by our own con- 
 ceit and impatience of the yoke of authority. The 
 evils of a contrary conduct are visible in the la- 
 mentable divisions of the religious parties of this 
 country. Those who are most clamorous for re- 
 
 2 D
 
 402 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 form in the Church of England, and who renounce 
 their allegiance to her dominion, have ever been, 
 and always will be far enough from agreeing 
 among themselves, as to any uniform order of 
 discipline. Among them, every teacher either 
 exercises the authority, to which he objects when 
 vested in the National Church, or he is com- 
 pelled to conform to the order which his hearers 
 choose to prescribe ; and to preach that doctrine 
 only to which they are predisposed to listen. 
 
 Where conscientious objections are felt against 
 the doctrine or discipline of the Established 
 Church ; separation from the communion of that 
 Church is neither forbidden nor prevented ; but it 
 ought to take place only after diligent inquiry, 
 and serious investigation of the motives which 
 prompt to such a step. A numerous attendance 
 of worshippers is highly desirable, for the sake of 
 peace as well as of religious advantages ; but sin- 
 cere worshippers only are desired, and not those 
 who assemble by compulsion. It is earnestly to 
 be wished that the religious service of a congre- 
 gation, should not only be uniform, but also un- 
 animous. No one who understands and respects 
 the rights of conscience, (and in this happy land, 
 they are both understood and respected to the 
 utmost degree,) will wish that any man should be 
 constrained to utter the words of a creed, to which 
 his heart cannot give full assent ; or that he 
 should be subject to a discipline, and mode of
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 403 
 
 worship, to which he cannot conform (at least 
 during his present state of information,) without 
 dping violence to his conscience. Uniformity 
 gives up its claims, when " unity of spirit " is in 
 question. The " bond of peace" has respect to 
 the conscience of individuals, as well as to the 
 mutual agreement of religious societies. But the 
 question of continuance in the bosom of the 
 United Church, or of withdrawment from her 
 communion, is too generally regarded as a mere 
 matter of opinion, as an indifferent act ; as though 
 conformity were not connected with any moral 
 obligation, and as though separation, (where the 
 voice of conscience is not the sole prompter,) in- 
 volved in it no violation of moral duty. Those 
 who dissent from the national Church solely from 
 conscientious motives, are never found to be 
 enemies and haters of that Church. Their chief 
 object is the promotion of true religion ; they act 
 on the broad principle of Christianity, and not on 
 the narrow feeling of party spirit. To see men 
 Christians, is their main purpose, and not mem- 
 bers of their communion in particular. Such a 
 separation as this, is not schism ; it does not in- 
 volve any disruption of the sacred ties of charity ; 
 nor does it place an insuperable obstacle in the 
 way of eventual reunion. 
 
 We are commanded to " keep the unity of the 
 Spirit, in the bond of peace ; " which seems to 
 imply that a uniformity of judgment and practice, 
 
 1 D 2
 
 404 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 should be maintained by the common sacrifice of 
 some individual peculiarity on the part of all, for 
 the sake of peace. There are certain great and 
 fundamental doctrines, and certain eternal prin- 
 ciples of morality, which are never to be compro- 
 mised nor deteriorated ; but there are also many 
 points of mere opinion subservient perhaps to 
 the benefit of those who hold them, but not ab- 
 solutely imperative on all which may be re- 
 tained or renounced according to circumstances, 
 and which ought always to give place when the 
 peace of the Church is thereby questioned. We 
 are bound not to cause or to join needless sepa- 
 rations from the Established Church of our coun- 
 try. Where the " unity of the Spirit " can be 
 preserved, " the bond of peace" must not be vio- 
 lated. Blind adherence to a Church, notwith- 
 standing its manifest departure from Scripture, 
 and its usurpation of Scriptural authority, while 
 its tenets are at variance with the plain language 
 of Scripture, is not required of any man. A 
 Church that cannot abide the most rigid investi- 
 gation of its capital articles of faith, according to 
 the doctrines of the Word of God, is not the true 
 Church of Christ ; and we are bound to renounce 
 communion with such a Church. We are not to 
 call any man master, who presumes to establish 
 his own dogmas as articles of faith ; but if we find 
 a Church resting on the foundation of Christ; 
 built up in the doctrines of the Apostles ; sup-
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 405 
 
 ported by the tried faith and love of holy martyrs ; 
 in which full provision is made for the dispensing 
 of all the means of grace ; venerable for its an- 
 tiquity, and for the solemnity and simplicity of 
 its ritual ; amiable for the mildness and gentle- 
 ness of its spirit, and the exercise of its authority ; 
 pure, and holy, and steadfast in its principles ; firm 
 and inflexible, but not uncharitable, in its ad- 
 herence to a Scriptural faith ; if we find a Church 
 combining in itself all these great and desirable 
 advantages and such a one is the Established 
 Church of England it is both our duty and our 
 privilege, to be true in our personal allegiance to 
 that Church. The " unity of the Spirit," which 
 Consolidates that Church, should be maintained 
 with watchful care against the encroachments of 
 designing enemies, and against the laxity and in- 
 difference of pretended friends. The " bond of 
 peace," which unites in one tie of affectionate at- 
 tachment, of doctrinal agreement, and of con- 
 sentient discipline, all the members of that Church, 
 should be so strengthened and confirmed, as to 
 resist the efforts of those who would with open 
 violence snap it asunder, or the artful and secret 
 machinations of others, who by gradually sepa- 
 rating its " threefold cord," would eventually 
 dissolve the connexion, and disperse its now 
 united brotherhood into all the thousand varied 
 and contradictory parties of sect and of schism. 
 To " keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond
 
 406 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 of peace," we must " bear the infirmities of 
 others ; (Rom. xv. 1.) we must pass by many 
 things which do not " please ourselves," but which 
 please our neighbour, and we must do this out 
 of regard to his edification. In forming a judg- 
 ment of the religious notions of others, we ought 
 carefully to investigate the motives of human ac- 
 tions. Our peculiar circumstances often make 
 us unfit judges of the conduct of other men ; be- 
 cause we cannot enter into their feelings, nor 
 understand the secret and hidden causes which 
 influence their affections, and bias their judg- 
 ments. Early associations, precept, example, 
 confirm men in habits which were not at first 
 voluntarily formed ; and which are continued 
 without any inquiry as to their nature and ten- 
 dency. Early religious impressions are not easily 
 effaced ; and all the appendages of religion, both 
 with respect to the forms of public worship, and 
 the manner of private devotion, are regarded with 
 some degree of veneration, as deriving a portion 
 of sanctity from their connexion with the service 
 of God, and their reference to his commands. 
 This may account for the peaceable disposition 
 towards each other, of many whose notions of re- 
 ligion are at variance, and for the indifference of 
 others ; they have not adopted their sentiments 
 from conviction, but have been trained up in them 
 from their infancy; their ideas have expanded 
 only in the proportion that the early shackles of
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 407 
 
 education have permitted ; their minds have been 
 fashioned by external influence, not by internal 
 meditation ; their knowledge has been imparted 
 to them by others, not acquired by their own study 
 and pursuit. Thus they rather consider them- 
 selves to be in the right, than condemn others 
 as holding erroneous sentiments ; or they look 
 on all opinions as possessing equal claims to truth, 
 and on all practice as alike acceptable to God. 
 
 But this negative sort of charity, is not a 
 Scriptural principle ; this indifference is criminal, 
 and leads to the subversion of all religion. While 
 we exercise Christian forbearance towards others, 
 and refrain from harsh censures, and arrogant 
 condemnation of all who differ from us in minor 
 points of discipline, or the lighter shades of reli- 
 gious belief, and while we allow that the 
 universal Parent loves all his creatures, and that 
 " in every nation, he that feareth him and 
 worketh righteousness, is accepted with him ;" 
 (Acts x. 35.) it is nevertheless a duty incumbent 
 on all, to endeavour to " keep the unity of the 
 Spirit, " and not to countenance strifes and need- 
 less divisions in the Church of God. A peaceful 
 brotherhood of Christians, must be pleasing in 
 the sight of God ; and that thjs brotherhood may 
 subsist, and spread, and become general, each 
 member of it must drop some claim ; give up 
 some pretension ; yield to some influence ; sacri- 
 fice some prejudice ; acknowledge some superiority
 
 408 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 of wisdom, of piety, of spiritual attainment in 
 another. The religion which proceeds from the 
 Spirit, must have the fruits of the Spirit ; and 
 one of the most eminent of these is Peace. But 
 the religion of some persons seems to have no 
 due regard to peace, either of a family or of a 
 Church. When the service of God and of the 
 world are set before us, and we must choose one 
 or the other, the path of duty is plain ; but when 
 under pretence of serving God with greater purity 
 and acceptance, we disregard the unity of a 
 family, and break through every tie of friendship 
 and of kindred, and violate the peace of the 
 Church, we are not keeping, but dissolving the 
 " unity of the Spirit." 
 
 An over-scrupulous conscience may lead us, on 
 our first serious inquiry into religion, to disapprove 
 of many things, which an increase of knowledge 
 will show to be neither hazardous to our sincerity, 
 nor dangerous to our security. We may be in- 
 duced by the narrowness of our notions, or the 
 small degree of our religious information, to with- 
 draw from a religious community ; a close and 
 endeared union with which, subsequent attain- 
 ments will prove to be not only our duty, but a 
 privilege and advantage tending to advance our 
 best interests. A just regard to the " bond of peace," 
 will be the best preservative from schismatic 
 divisions, and sectarian parties. The " unity of 
 the Spirit " will teach us to regard the religion of
 
 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 409 
 
 the Scriptures, as designed for all mankind, and 
 not confined to any one nation, or society of 
 men. 
 
 The Christian religion is properly the religion 
 of mankind ; adapted to every one of the family 
 of man. It is not a dispensation to be modelled 
 according to the manners and customs of the, 
 people where it is promulgated, but designed to 
 assimilate all to itself it does not grow old with 
 the perishing things of time, and require to be 
 renovated so as to suit the succeeding ages of the 
 world and the passing generations of men ; it is 
 one, itis the " unity of the Spirit," and is adapted to 
 every age and to all people. A sectarian spirit 
 may divide the religious world into numerous 
 parties ; and sectarian distinctions may assign a 
 peculiar characteristic to each party ; each sect 
 may claim the exclusive possession of truth, and 
 circumscribe its narrow pale as the only ground 
 of safety, but the Gospel disclaims all respect of 
 persons. " The mighty God, even the Lord, 
 hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising 
 of the Sun, unto the going down thereof : " 
 (Psalm 1. 1.) the offer of pardon and eternal life 
 is made to every individual of the human race ; 
 humanity is a sufficient claim ; misery, sin, and 
 helplessness, are the best titles to warrant an ap- 
 plication to the divine favour. The Spirit of God 
 is ready to assist the infirmities of all that suppli- 
 cate his influence. A salvation is provided by
 
 410 CHRISTIAN UNIFORMITY. 
 
 God himself, fully adequate to meet the case of 
 every wretched sinner ; the blood of Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin ; his sacrifice was an obla- 
 tion for the sins of the whole world ; it possessed 
 merit infinite, merit sufficient to atone for all 
 transgressions, and to impart its cleansing, its 
 healing, its peace-speaking efficacy to every soul 
 that applies in faith for a share in its propitiatory 
 
 virtue. ^ 
 
 May He, who gives to every member of his 
 
 Church, grace according to his own good plea- 
 sure, and who has ordained various orders in his 
 Church, " apostles, prophets, and evangelists, 
 pastors and teachers," " for the perfecting of the 
 saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
 edifying of the body of Christ," (Eph. iv. 712.) 
 May He so maintain among us that brotherly 
 love, which is at once a divine gift and the best 
 evidence of divine favour ; that laying aside all 
 " bitter envying and strife," we may grow in the 
 " wisdom that is from above, pure, peaceable, 
 gentle ;" (James iii. 14 17.) and at length may 
 " all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge of the Son of God, unto the measure 
 of the stature of the fulness of Christ. 
 
 THE END.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page. Line. 
 
 2, 16, after God, insert 
 31, 27, for Scriptual, read Scriptural. 
 
 112, 18, dele out 
 
 162, 15, for a perpetual, read perpetually. 
 
 225, 11, dele one. 
 276, 5, dele the hyphen after firmly. 
 
 310, 14, formakest, read makes. 
 
 352, 26, put a comma after indifference.
 
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