tft
THE ORDINARY OPERATIONS
BY
THE REV. G. S. FABER, B. D.
11ECTOP. OF LONG-NEWTON, IN THE COUNTY AND DIOCESE
OF DURHAM.
. 2 Cor. iii. 6\
OI (ragxxoj rot. Trvsuju-anxa Trpacrtreiv ou Swvavraj, oySs
oJ 7rv8w/*Txoi T <rgxxa. Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes.
SECOND EDITION.
lontion :
PRINTED BY A. J. VALPY,
TOOKE'S COURT, CHANCERY LANE,
*'OH MESSRS. F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUt's CHURCH YAKD.
1814.
TO
THE INHABITANTS
OF THE THREE PARISHES OF
STOCKTON-UPON-TEES, REDMARSHALL,
AND LONG-NEWTON;
OF WHICH, IN THE COURSE OF THE LAST SEVEN
YEARS, BY THE UNREMITTING KINDNESS OF
ONE REVERED PATRON, THE AUTHOR
HAS BEEN SUCCESSIVELY VICAR OR
RECTOR; THIS WORK is INSCRIBED
BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND AND
WELL-WISHER,
G. S. FABER.
THE Reader will perceive by the date annexed to the
Preface, that this work has been written several years.
In fact, the Author was in no haste to publish on a sub-
ject which, however important, requires some degree of
prudence in the discussion. It has been his wish to exhibit
what he believes, to the best of his judgment, to be the
doctrines andpractice taught by that pure and apostolical
Church, of which he feels it his privilege to be a minister.
In revising what he has written, though after a consider-
able period of time, he did not Jind that any alterations
were necessary beyond mere verbal corrections.
Long-Newton Rectory,
Jan.lQ, 1813.
PREFACE.
JLVERY person, who is in the least de-
gree acquainted with the corruption of the
human heart, will readily acknowledge,
that his own unassisted abilities are totally
unequal to the task of faithfully serving
God. Repeated violations of the most
solemn resolutions of amendment have
shown him his weakness ; and his numer-
ous lapses have wofully convinced him,
that he stands in need of some divine con-
ductor to lead him in safety through the
perilous journey of life. Such a guide is
promised in Scripture to every sincere
Christian.
We are not to suppose, that the ordi-
nary operations of the Holy Spirit were
confined to the apostolic age. Human
nature is much alike, at all periods, and in
all countries. Though Christianity is now
established, and though miraculous inter-
ference is no longer necessary to the well-
being of the Church ; }^et the present race
of men will never be essentially better
than their heathen predecessors, so long
as they rest satisfied with having only
outwardly embraced the religion of the
XI
Messiah. A mere hypocritical and exter-
nal profession of faith cannot be pleasing
to that God, who regards motives no less
than actions. A radical change must take
place in the heart, as well as an outward
reformation in the manners ; and this
change can only be effected by the agency
of some superior power. The heart is as
much averse now to the genuine practice
of piety, as it was in the days of the
Apostles ; and, though we have no longer
to combat the horrors of persecution, we
have still to struggle with the unwillingness
and corruption of the soul. If the whole
of religion consisted in the bare belief of
certain tenets and in the due observance
of certain ceremonies, we should find very
little difficulty in becoming thoroughly
Xll
religious characters. But, when we are
called upon to begin the work of self-
reformation : when we are required to love
God with all our heart, with all our soul,
and with all our strength ; when we are
enjoined to prefer, upon all occasions, his
will to our own, and to sacrifice our bosom
sins, our darling vices, upon the altar of
Christianity ; then commences the struggle :
the inbred venom of our nature imme-
diately shows itself; our very spirit rises
both against the law and the lawgiver ; and
we discover the utter impossibility of vork-
ing any change in our affections merely by
our own efforts. No human arguments
can persuade a man to love what he hates,
and to delight in what he detests. Sub-
mission they may perhaps teach him ; but
Xlll
it will be the sullen submission of a slave,
not the cheerful acquiescence of a son.
To produce this change is the peculiar
office of the Holy Spirit ; and, since none
but he can produce it, his ordinary influ-
ence is absolutely and universally necessary
at present, and will be equally so even to
the very end of the world.
In the following pages, I have en-
deavoured to state what appears to me
the plain doctrine of Scripture and the
Church of England. Though we are re-
peatedly assured by the word of God,
that of ourselves we can do no good thing;
yet we are never represented as mere ma-
chines, subjected to an overwhelming and
irresistible influence. The aid of the Holy
XIV
Spirit is freely offered unto all ; nor does
that blessed Person cease to strive even
with the most profligate, till they have
obstinately rejected the counsel of God
against themselves. The still small voice
of conscience, which is in effect the voice
of God, long continues to admonish them;
and the extreme difficulty, which they find
in silencing it, sufficiently shows how un-
willing the Almighty is that any should
perish. All, that will, may be saved ; for
our Lord hath expressly declared, that,
whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no
wise cast him out. Let none therefore
despair on the ground of their being
rejected by a tremendous and irreversible
decree of exclusion : for surely, if such a
decree existed, God's repeated expostula-
tions with sinners for slighting his gracious
offers, when at the same time they lay
under a fatal necessity of slighting them,
would be a solemn mockery, unworthy of
a being of infinite mercy and holiness.
In fact, the general experience of man-
kind perfectly agrees with Scripture.
There never yet was a good man who did
not find that he both required and received
divine assistance to enable him to over-
come his corruptions ; and there never yet
was a bad man, who did not perceive
somewhat within him forcibly restraining
him from the commission of sin, and warm-
ly urging him to the practice of holiness.
Half of the follies and vanities of the
world are mere contrivances to silence
XVI
this troublesome monitor. Men love dark-
ness rather than light, simply because their
deeds are evil.
May 21, 1800.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. I.
PACK
THE necessity of the ordinary operations of the
Holy Spirit shown from a view of the state of
man by nature ; his understanding, his will, and
his affections, being all depraved in conse-
quence of original sin
CHAP. II.
The illumination of the understanding through the
influence of the Holy Spirit, the first work of
grace in the human soul
CONTENTS.
CHAP. HI.
PACK
A description of two different classes of men,
whose understandings are enlightened, while
their hearts remain unaffected
CHAP. IV.
The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the will 102
CHAP. V.
The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the affec-
134
tions ....
CHAP. VI.
The Holy Spirit, a comforter, and an intercessor 165
CONTENTS. ix
CHAP. VII.
PAGE
The fruits of the Spirit contrasted with the works
of the flesh 193
CHAP. VIII.
The constant influence of the Holy Spirit neces-
sary to conduct us in safety to the end of our
pilgrimage 283
ON
THE ORDINARY OPERATIONS
OF THE
Spirit*
CHAP. I.
The necessity of the ordinary operations of the Spirit
shown from a view of the state of man by nature ; his
understanding) his will, and his affections, being alt
depraved in consequence of original sin.
IN the last solemn discourse, which' our
blessed Lord addressed to his disciples im-
mediately before his bitter sufferings upon
the cross, he promised them another Com-
forter, \vho should abide with them for
ever. Though he himself was about to be
shortly separated from them and to sit down
at the right hand of his Father, yet his
A
place should be abundantly supplied by
the effusion of the Spirit of truth. The
world indeed cannot receive this divine
Person, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him ; but it is the peculiar charac-
teristic of the true disciples of Christ, that
they do know him, jor he dwelleth with
them, and shall be in them. 1 Accordingly,
in due season, and pursuant to the decla-
ration of Christ, the Holy Ghost descended
upon the Apostles, and conferred upon
them spiritual gifts both extraordinary and
ordinary. By the reception of the former
they were specially qualified to discharge
the duties of their important office, and
were awfully and incontrovertibly accredit-
ed to every nation as the peculiar delegates
of heaven : by the reception of the latter
they were eminently endowed with all the
pure dispositions of a renewed heart, and
1 John xiv. 1 6.
were enabled to testify the reality of their
internal change by an exact holiness of life
and conversation.
Extraordinary gifts they received for the
benefit of the church : ordinary gifts they
received for their own personal benefit.
Extraordinary gifts were conferred upon a
few only : of those ordinary gifts, without
which no real sanctification can be attained,
without which a man must labour under a
physical incapacity of enjoying the kingdom
of heaven, it is the privilege of every genu-
ine Christian to be a partaker. They are
ordinary, not as inferior in point of import-
ance to the possessor (for in this respect
they are superior) ; but as gifts ordinarily
bestowed upon all the faithful, and not limit-
ed after an extraordinary manner to a few.
Since those miraculous powers, which
were conferred upon the founders of the
4
Christian church* were designed only for a
special and determinate purpose ; as that
purpose was gradually accomplished, the
powers were gradually withdrawn, until at
length they entirely ceased. The religion
of the Messiah, after the lapse of three
centuries, obtained a firm establishment;
princes became its nursing fathers ; and
they, who refused to yield to the voice of
reason and evidence, had no longer convic-
tion forced upon them by a supernatural
interference of heaven. Signs and wonders
ceased to attend the preaching of the Gos-
pel ; yet the promise, that the Holy Spirit
should abide for ever with the disciples of
Christ, remained unbroken, and we trust
will remain unbroken to the very end
of time. Neither the sight of miracles, nor
the ability of performing them, has simply
and per se any effect upon the human heart.
They may perhaps dreadfully convince the
understanding ; but God alone can convert
the soul. The state of man by nature is
precisely the same now, as it was in the
days of the Apostles : consequently, if it
were then necessary that the Holy Spirit
should reprove the world of sin, of righteous-
ness, and of judgment ; it is no less neces-
sary in the present age. The world indeed
is called Christian ; but practical infidelity
still flourishes in all its baneful luxuriancy.
It matters not what a man is denominated,
so long as his heart is alienated from God ;
and a bare assent of his understanding will
be of little avail, if his life prove him to be
the slave of Satan. On this account the
ordinary operations of the Spirit are conti-
nued, though the extraordinary ones have
long been unknown in the church of
Christ.
A state of nature is constantly opposed
in Scripture to a state of grace. The first
is the wretched inheritance bequeathed to
6
us by our common progenitor Adam : the
second is the free and unmerited gift of
God the Father, purchased for us by God
the Son, and conveyed to us by God the
Holy Ghost. The whole then of the work,
carried on in the soul of man by the third
person of the blessed Trinity, may be briefly
denned ; A gradual restoration of that image
of God, in the likeness of which Adam was
created, and the lineaments of which were
totally obliterated by sin. 1 The work is
1 " To discover wherein such image and likeness con-
sisted, what better method can we take, than to inquire
wherein consist that divine image and likeness, which, as
the Scriptures of the New Testament inform us, were
4, -^
restored in human nature, through the redemption and
grace of Christ, who was manifested for that purpose.
The image restored was the image lost ; and the image
lost was that, in which Adam was created. The expres-
sions, employed by the penmen of the New Testament,
plainly point out to us this method of proceeding Re-
newed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him Put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. The divine image then is
begun , continued, and perfected, by the
Holy Spirit. He is equally the author and
the finisher of our faith ; and without him
we can do no good thing. From the first
faint motions of spiritual life to its final
consummation in the realms of everlasting
o
happiness, all the honour and all the glory
of our growth in grace be ascribed unto
him !
When the Almighty ceased from the
work of creation, he pronounced all that he
had made to be very good. The new world
was as yet free from the inroads of sin, and
from the curse of sterility.
to be found in the understanding, and the will ; in the
understanding which knows the truth, and in the will
which loves it. This divine image is restored in human
nature by the word of Christ enlightening the understand-
ing, and the grace of Christ rectifying the will." Bp.
Home's Sermons, vol. i. p. 20, 21, 22.
8
-. Nature then
Wanton'd as in her prime, and play'd at will
Her virgin fancies
The whole creation smiled upon man,
and the golden age of the poets was realized.
Blessed with perfect health both mental and
corporeal, our heaven-born progenitor was
equally unconscious of the stings of guilt
and the pangs of disease. His understand-
ing was unclouded with the mists of vice,
ignorance, and error ; his will, though ab-
solutely free, was yet entirely devoted to the
service of God ; and his affections, warm,
vigorous, and undivided, were ardently bent
upon the great fountain of his existence.
Though vested in an earthly body, his soul
was as the soul of an angel, pure, just, and
upright. He was uncontaminated with the
smallest sin, and free from even the slight-
est taint of pollution. His passions, per-
9
fectly under the guidance of his reason,
3 T ielded a ready and cheerful obedience
to the dictates of his conscience ; an
obedience, not constrained and irksome,
but full, unreserved, and attended with
sensations of unmixed delight. Such was
man when he came forth from the hand of
his Creator, the image of God stamped
upon his soul and influencing all his
actions.
This blissful state of innocence was soon
forfeited by our first parents. In an evil
hour they yielded to the suggestions of the
tempter, and violated the express command
of God. Pride, that most deeply rooted
bane of our nature, was now, for the first
time, infused into the heart of the woman.
She vainly desired a greater share of wis-
dom, than God had been pleased to grant
unto her ; and, in order to obtain that
10
wisdom, scrupled not to disobey her Ma-
ker. The man followed her example, and
joined her in a mad rebellion against
heaven. Sin entered into the world and
death closely followed its footsteps. The
image of God was obliterated, and the
image of Satan was erected in its stead.
Mysterious as the doctrine of original
depravity may be, no man, unless he be to-
tally unacquainted with the workings of his
own heart, can possibly doubt its actual
existence. Some persons indeed are so far
blinded by the deceitfulness of sin as to de-
ny the doctrine in question ; but " I verily
believe," to use the words of the excellent
Beveridge, "that the want of such a due
sense of themselves argues as much original
corruption, as murder and whoredom do
actual pollution : and I shall ever suspect
those to be the most under the power of
11
that corruption, that labour most by argu-
ments to divest it of its power." 1
I. Examine first the understanding, and
you will find it, at least so far as relates to
spiritual things, dark and confused.
The Apostle, describing the state of the
world previous to the diffusion of Christian
knowledge, asserts, that ir.en had become
O ' '
vain in their imaginations, and that thdr fool-
ish heart was darkened; that, prof essing them-
selves to be wise, they became fools ; and,
though proud of their attainments in a subtle
philosophy, that in the sight of God they
were without understanding. 1 In a similar
manner he elsewhere declares, that the natu-
ral man rcceiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God ; for they are foolishness unto him :
neither can he know them, because they are spi-
1 Private Thoughts, Art. iv. * Rom. i. 21, 22. 31.
ritually discerned. 1 His Jmowledge of divine
matters, in consequence of his being de-
based by the fall, is as much inferior to
true heavenly wisdom, as the instinct of a
brute is to the reason of a human being.
On this account, as St. Paul scruples not
strongly to express himself, even the
wisdom of the Almighty himself is foolish-
ness to man in a state of nature. Having
no faculties capable in themselves of em-
bracing spiritual truths, he is as much un-
qualified to decide upon them, as a man
born blind is to discriminate between the
various tints of the rainbow ; for, as the
one is defective in spiritual, so is the other
in corporeal, discernment. No treatise on
light and colours, however minute and ac-
O '
curate, can give a distinct idea of their
nature to a man born blind ; nor can any
description of spiritual things, however
* 1 Cor. ii. 14.
13
just, communicate a clear conception of
them to him whose understanding is dark-
ened. The reason, which the Apostle
gives, is simply because they must be spiritu-
ally discerned ; consequently, till that spirit-
ual discernment be communicated, heaven-
ly wisdom must and will appear foolishness
in his eyes. " Let us then," as we are well
exhorted by the Church in one of her homi-
lies ; " Let us meekly call upon the boun-
tiful Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to inspire us
with his presence, that we may be able to
hear the goodness of God to our salvation.
For without his lively inspiration we can-
not so much as speak the name of the Me-
diator. No man can say, that Jesus is the
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Much less
should we be able to understand these great
mysteries, that be opened to us by Christ.
For we have received, saith St. Paul, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is
f God, for this purpose, that we may know
14
the things which are freely given to us of Goa
In the power of the Holy Ghost resteth all
ability to know God, and to please him. It
is he, that purifieth the mind by his secret
working. He enlighteneth the heart to con-
ceive worthy thoughts of Almighty God/' 1
A work of Cicero, written expressly upon
the nature of the gods, has been providen-
tially handed down to us ; and it affords the
most striking comment possible on the
scriptural doctrine of the ignorance of man.
This great philosopher has shown at large,
to the entire satisfaction of every Christian
reader, how totally blind the three most
celebrated sects of antiquity were in all
those points which are placed beyond the
cognizance of sense. With a mind alive
to all the beauties of composition, and
versed in all the researches of philosophy ;
1 Homil. for Rogat. Week. Part iii.
15
with abilities rarely equalled, perhaps
never excelled ; the Roman orator ventures
to soar beyond the bounds of the material
creation, and to scrutinize the nature of
the Omnipotent. How are the mighty fal-
len ! The grossest ignorance, and the
strangest errors, are the principal character-
istics of his celebrated treatise. Once, in-
deed, a consciousness of human inability
extorts from him a confession, that no man
ever became great without some divine in-
spiration ;' but, scarcely has this memorable
sentiment flowed from his pen, ere the doc-
trine of an universal providence is ex-
pressly denied by the advocate of one of
the contending sects.*
1 " Nemo igitur vir magnus sine aliquo adflatu divino
umquam fuit." Cicer. de Nat. Deor. 1. ii. c. 66.
* " Magna Dl curant, parva negligunt." Ibid. See
also Tusc. Quses. l.iii. iu init. Plat. Apol. Socrat. sect.
18. Plat. Phaed. sect. 35. Max. Tyr. Dissert. 22.
Stob. Excerpt, de mor. Tit. 1 .
16
Such was the wisdom of the philoso-
phers; and thus was their understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of
God through the ignorance that was in
them, became of the blindness of their
heart. 1
II. Let the will next be brought to the
test, and we shall find it no less deficient
than the understanding.
Our inclinations, resolutely bent upon
earthly and sensual enjoyments, revolt from
every thing divine and spiritual ; insomuch
that even a heathen moralist could feel and
acknowledge their depravation :
O pronae in terras animae, et coelestium inanes !
Hence though we are commanded to work
out our own salvation with fear and treml-
1 Ephes. it. 18.
ling ; yet we are informed at the same time,
that it is God that worketh in us both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. 1 God must
first give us the will, and afterwards the
power ; otherwise we shall for ever remain
in a state of spiritual insufficiency. Our
Lord himself, in perfect harmony with his
inspired Apostle, declares expressly ; No
man can come to me, except the Father,
which hath sent me, draw-him. 1 ' He speaks
of us also as being naturally in a state of
bondage, instead of enjoying the high pre-
rogative of freedom : ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free}
This plain declaration gave high offence to
the Jews ; but Christ, so far from retracting
it, asserted, that all those, who commit sin
(and what man is impeccable?) are the
servants of sin. To that blessed person
alone we must look for our emancipation :
* Philip, ii. 13. a John vi. 44. 3 John viii. .S.
B
18
If the Son shall make you free, ye shall bt
free indeed. 1
Upon these solid scriptural grounds, thfc
Church of England rightly decides, that
" the condition of man after the fall of
Adam is such, that he cannot turn and pre-
pare himself, by his own natural strength
and good works, to faith and calling upon
God : wherefore we have no power to do
good works pleasant and acceptable to
God without the grace of God by Christ
preventing us, that we may have a good
will, and working with us when we have
that good will/'* Agreeably to such prin-
ciples one of the prayers in her Liturgy is
constructed. " Though we be tied and
bound with the chain of our sins, yet let
the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose
us." And the very same doctrine is taught
in the second part of her Homily on ths
1 John viii. S6 3 Art. 10.
19
misery of man. " Thus we have heard
how evil we be of ourselves ; how of our-
selves and by ourselves we have no good-
ness, help, or salvation, but contrariwise
sin, damnation, and death everlasting :
which if we duly weigh and consider, we
shall the better understand the great mercy
of God, and how our salvation cometh
only by Christ : for in ourselves, as of our-
selves, we find nothing whereby we may be
delivered from this miserable captivity,
into the which we are cast through the envy
of the devil, by breaking of God's com-
mandment in our first parent Adam. We
are all become unclean, but we all are not
able to cleanse ourselves, nor make one
another of us clean. We are by nature
the children of God's wrath, but are not
able to make ourselves the children and in-
heritors of God's glory. We are sheep
that run astray, but we cannot of our own
power come again to the sheep-fold ; so
20
great is our imperfection and weakness."
III. We have hitherto considered the de-
pravation of the under standing and the dis-
tortion of the will, in consequence of the
fall of Adam ; let us next take a view of'the
heart and the affections.
1. The passions of love and hatred do
not appear to have been so much destroy-
ed, as perverted, at the time of the fall.
When man came pure and perfect from the
hands of his Maker, the passions were di-
rected to their proper objects. God, and
holiness, were loved ; sin, and impurity,
were hated. But, after our first parents
1 The main hinge of the ancient controversies between
Augustine and Pelagius, and between Luther and the Pa-
pists, turned upon the doctrine of human sufficiency and the
meritorious dignity of good works. An epistle of the
African council, at which Aurelius of Carthage presided, to
Innocent, Bishop of Rome, briefly states the heads of this
contested subject. See August. Epist. 90 and 4(3.
Luther. Enarrat. Fol. 6. c. Melanct. Loc. Theol.
p. 89.
21
had yielded to the temptations of Satan,
an almost total inversion of the former
affections of the heart took place. Man
then began to hate what he ought to love,
and to love what he ought to hate. The
pure and holy law of God, which thwarts
his vicious inclinations, became the object
of his fiercest aversion ; while, on the con-
trary, wickedness became his pleasure and
delight. 1 The second of these propensities is
1 " Grace cloth not pluck up by the roots and wholly
destroy the natural passions of the mind, because they are
distempered by sin ; that were an extreme remedy to cure
by killing, and heal by cutting off : no, but it corrects the
distemper in them ; it dries not up this main stream of
Jove, but purifies it from the mud it is full of in its wrong
course, or calls it to its right channel by which it may run
into happiness, and empty itself into the ocean of good-
ness. The Holy Spirit turns the love of the soul to-
wards God in Christ, for in that way only can it ap-
prehend his love: so then, Jesus Christ is the first
object of this divine love : he is medium unionis, through
whom God conveys the sense of his love to the soul, and
receives back its love to him." Archb. Leighton's Com-
ment, on 1 Peter i. 8, 9-
ever active ; the first not unfrequently ap-
pears for a season to lie dormant. This
lurking enmity towards God slumbered in
the hearts of the Jews for some ages previous
to the advent of the Messiah -^ but, when
the spirituality of his preaching roused
their consciences and showed them their
inward abominations, their enmity awoke,
strong as death and cruel as the grave.
This doctrine, however, is not unfre-
quently denied even on the ground of per-
sonal experience ; and those, who urge it,
are thought to paint human nature in much
blacker colours than she really deserves.
It may perhaps be allowed, that we have
frailties, venial frailties ; but our nature is
asserted to be in the main ever favourable
to virtue, and averse to vice.
The degree of truth, which such notions
possess, is best ascertained by simple mat-
ter of fact. In the person of our blessed
Saviour virtue itself was embodied. Per-
fectly just, and absolutely free from even
the slightest suspicion of criminality,
Christ was the bright exemplar of the doc-
trines which he preached. If the love of
virtue then be inherent in the human mind,
the Lord of life, condescending to visit the
haunts of men, must surely have been the
object of their warmest devotion and their
most affectionate adoration. Yet was he
hated, reviled, and persecuted even to
death, notwithstanding our supposed natu-
ral propensity to virtue. In a similar
manner his disciples, the labour of whose
life consisted in imitating their divine mas-
ter, were hated of all nations, as their Lord
had expressly fore told, 1 for his name's sake,
In other words, the more they approximat-
ed to perfect virtue, the greater degree of
odium they incurred. An awful instance
* Matt. xxiv. !).
of the bitter enmity of the natural man
against God and all his faithful servants is
afforded us in the account of the death of
St. Stephen. The judges, who presided in
the mock trial of the protomartyr, even
gnashed on him with their teeth ; l the violent
workings of rage in their hearts causing
them to resemble wild beasts rather than
men : nor could their animosity be quench-
ed except in the blood of their devoted
victim.
Should it be said, that these are particu-
lar instances selected only from the history
of a single nation, let us cast our eyes
around and contemplate the labours of the
great Apostle of the Gentiles. Whence was
it that bonds and afflictions awaited him in
every city ? Whence, but because the holi-
ness of his life, and the vehemence of his
eloquence, held up a mirror before the eyes
of men, which too faithfully reflected their
1 Acts vii. 54.
25
manifold iniquities ? To approach nearer to
our own times : what was it, that called
down the fury of Popery upon the martyrs
of the Protestant Church ? The same prin-
ciple, which crucified the Lord of life and
persecuted his Apostles, consigned to the
flames a Cranmer, a Latimer, and a Ridley.
Now, this repeated opposition to the truth
can only be accounted for upon the scrip-
tural doctrine, that the carnal mind is
enmity with God. 1 He, who searcheth the
very heart and the reins, hath declared,
that light is come into the zvorld, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds are evil. For every one that
doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.*
The fact is, men are apt to deceive them-
selves into a belief, that their minds are not
at enmity with God, by the common delu-
sion of performing their duty only by
1 Rom. viii. Q. * John iii. 19.
26
halves. Different persons are so differently
constituted, that duties are more or less
irksome to them, exactly in the proportion
that they more or less coincide with their
natural dispositions. Hence, each indivi-
dual selects the duty which best suits his
inclinations, and seems almost to forget that
any others are in existence. The Pharisees
preserved a very decent exterior, and were
strict observers of the literal part of the
Law. Perfectly satisfied with their imagi-
nary progress in holiness, they placidly
reclined on the pillow of self-righteousness,
and felt not the hidden malignity of their
nature. What they performed were un-
doubtedly duties; but they were duties,
which in their situation required no great
degree of self-denial. The moment an
awakened conscience forced them to ac-
knowledge that exertions of a much higher
nature were necessary to gain the favour of
heaven, the mask of sanctified hypocrisy
was dropped, their hatred to God blazed
27
out in its full fury, and a deliberate judi*
cial murder of the discloser of such dis-
agreeable truths was the result.
We are sometimes apt complacently to
thank God, that we are not like the Phari-
sees ; but, would we candidly examine our
own hearts, we might possibly find that
they contain the very same evil disposition
in embryo. To a man of an active temper,
a life full of employment is the highest
source of gratification. Hence, if he have
received some religious impressions, he feels
but little repugnance to diverting his acti-
vity into a different channel from what it
flowed in before. The same disposition
remains, though the object which engages
his attention and rouses the vigour of his
mind, be now no longer the same. In the
discharge of active religious duties, he per-
ceives not the enmity of a corrupt heart
against God, because from mere physical
reasons he feels no repugnance against
28
them. But if he be called upon to analyse
the hidden cause of his actions, and to give
up part of his time to serious meditation ;
if he be required daily to deny himself,
and no longer to participate in those vani-
ties which are usually peculiarly gratifying
to ardent and sanguine tempers : if such
requisitions as these be made, then com-
mences the struggle ; and we too frequently
behold those, who are foremost in every
active duty, shrink with disgust from the
resignation of worldly pleasure.
On the other hand, men of indolent and
phlegmatic dispositions would never per-
ceive their enmity towards God, were
Christianity a mere negative system of
quietism. Persons of this description, who
begin to feel the importance of religion,
will hear with equal complacency a warm
exhortation to the duties of the closet, and
a vehement remonstrance against dissipa-
tion. They forthwith give themselves up
29
to prayer and devout meditation ; they read
the Scriptures daily; and they steadily
resolve never more to frequent the haunts
of vanity and folly. All this they perform
without any difficulty ; and therefore con-
clude, that their inclinations are perfectly
in unison with the will of God, and that
they have arrived at a considerable degree
of eminence in the school of Christianity.
But what are their pretensions to superior
piety, if they be closely scrutinized ? They
diligently perform those duties, to which
simply from their natural constitution
they have no repugnance ; and resolutely
deny themselves all those fashionable follies,
for which they previously entertained the
most profound indifference. In such a state
of mind let a course of active duty be urged
upon them, and they will be effectually
convinced of their natural hatred to the
Law of God. Men are very ready to obey,
so far as obedience is not entirely inconsis-
tent with their inclinations : hence the opu-
30
lent will never take offence at the clergyman
who happens to preach a concio ad populum
against theft, nor the populace at him who
\
censures the vices of their superiors. 1 Bur,
if he faithfully tell both parties their faults;
if he force his reluctant congregation to
take a survey of their inward corruptions ;
and if he declare, that no man can enter
into the kingdom of heaven unless a com-
plete and radical change take place in his
heart : he will find none satisfied with him
but those, who are resolved to make the
service of God the main business of their
lives. In a similar manner, if he assure
such of his flock as make a great outward
1 I have somewhere seen a story of Doctor Johnson,
which may serve not inappositely to exemplify this remark;
though I by no means think the Doctor's implied censure
of his mother just. " I remember/' said he to one of his
ftjends, "when I was a child, that my mother, byway
of spending a Sunday evening profitably, made me read
to her a chapter from The Whole Duty of Man against
stealing : the truth of the doctrine was undeniable, but /
felt no inclination to be a thief.'"'
profession of religion, that a vehement zeal
for certain particular doctrines, a staunch
adherence to party, a never-ceasing eager-
ness to discuss theological topics, an in-
temperate thirst of hearing sermons, and
a too exclusive partiality for favourite
preachers, are no certain marks of grace ;
if he solemnly warn them, that the doers,
not the hearers of God's word, are treading
the path which leads to heaven? and if he
remind them, that the shibboleth of a sect
is by no means an evidence of real Chris-
tianity : it is far from improbable, that his
plain-dealing will be very ill received. So
long as he prophesies smooth things, and
accommodates himself to the humour of his
congregation, whatever that humour may
be, just so long they will speak well of him ;
but, let him put forth his hand, and touch
their bone and their flesh, and they will curse
him to his face.*
1 Job ii. 5.
What has been said is amply sufficient to
prove, that the carnal mind is enmity with
God. If any person still doubt it, let him but
vigorously apply himself to those allowed
duties which are most irksome to him, and
he- will quickly find an argument in his own
breast, infinitely stronger than any that
have been here adduced.
2. Closely connected with the bitter ani-
mosity which the heart entertains against
God (connected indeed with it in the way
of cause and effect), is its extreme depravity.
Theological writers have not unfrequently
1 " Quid aliud in mundo quam pugna adversus diabolmn
quotidie geritur ; quam adversus jacula ejus et tela cou-
flictationibus assiduis dimicatur .' Cum avaritia nobis, cum
impudicitia, cum ira, cum ambitione, congressio est : cum
carnalibus vitiis, cum illecebris secularibus, assidua et
molesta luctatio est. Obsessa metis hominis, et undique
diaboli infestatione vallata, vix occurrit singulis, vix resis-
tit. Si avaritia prostrata est, exsurgit libido : si libido
compressa est, succedit ambitio : si ambitio contemta est,
ira exasperat, inflat superbia, vinolentia invitat, invidia
concordiam rumpit, .amicitiam zelus abscindit." Cjrprian.
de Mortal.
been accused of exaggeration in treating of
the depravity in question : but the con-
science of every one, whose understanding
has been enlightened with self-knowledge,
will readily acquit them of the charge,
" Since the fall, the nature of man has been
blind and corrupt: his understanding
darkened, and his affections polluted.
Upon the face of the whole earth there is
no man, Jew or Gentile, that understand-
eth and seeketh after God. The natural
man, or man remaining in that state
wherein the fall left him, is so far from
being able to discover or know any reli*
o;ious truth, that he hates and flies from it
O '
when it is proposed to him : he receivcth
not the things of the Spirit of God. Man
is natural and earthly ; the things of God
are spiritual and heavenly ; and these are
contrary one to the other : therefore, as
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God, so the wisdom of God is foolishness
with the world. In a word, the sense man
C
34
is now possessed of, where God does not
restrain it, is used for evil and not for
good ; his wisdom is earthly, sensual, devi-
lish : it is the sagacity of a brute, animated
by the malignity of an evil spirit."
3. Ill addition to its enmity against God
and its utter depravity, the human heart is
likewise in a state of insensibility and stupi-
dity. The conscience, as the Apostle ex-
presses it, is past feeling, seared as with a
hot iron.'' Hence reproofs and judgments
may irritate, but can never merely by their
own influence convert. This insensibility,
though it may be increased by a habit of
sinning, is yet itself originally inherent in
the conscience : at the first, it is not so
much superinduced upon it, as it springs out
of it.
IV. Man being thus depraved in the un-
' Jones's Cathol. Doctrine of the Trinity, p. 14.
z Ephes. iv. 19. 1 Tim. iv. 2.
35
derstanding, the will, and the affections, it
is almost superfluous to observe, that he
must in consequence have lost all power of
serving God. Unable to discover his will,
hating it when it is discovered to him, and
so polluted by sin that he is utterly unable
to cleanse himself, how can he perform in
his own strength any acceptable service ?
He may indeed, in the pride of his high
speculations, imagine himself to be rich,
and to have need of' nothing ; but the word
of God will inform him, that he is wretch-
ed, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked. 1 Even those actions of the natural
man, which bear the semblance of good ;
the patriotism of a Regulus, and the mo-
rality of a Socrates ; even they are but
splendid sins :* for, as we are rightly taught
by the Church, " Works, done before the
1 Revel, iii. 1?.
* See Bp. Beveridge's Exposition of the Articles.
Art. xiii.
36
grace of Christ and the inspiration of his
spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch
as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ :
yea rather, for that they are not done as
God hath willed and commanded them to
be done, we doubt not but they have the
nature of sin."' The reason of this is ob-
vious : a polluted heart can no more bring
forth a good action, than a polluted foun-
tain can emit pure water : but all our
hearts are by nature impure : consequently
all our actions before the reception of di-
vine grace must be impure also, and as
such cannot be pleasing unto God.
In this miserable condition is every man
born. Fallen from his high estate, and
sunk in the deep sleep of presumptuous
wickedness, he refuses to listen to the voice,
1 Art. xiii. See also Bp. Hopkins's Works, p.
ao(J Bp. Beveridge's Private Thoughts, Art. viii.
37
of any human charmer, charm he ever so
wisely. God alone is able to create a clean
heart, and to renew a right spirit within
Mm ; for creation is an attribute belonging
solely to the Deity. Man must be brought
back to the image of his Maker, that image
which was lost by the fall of Adam ; or he
must for ever remain excluded from the
kingdom of heaven.
From the mercy-seat above
Prevenient grace descending must remove
The stony from his heart, and make new flesh
Regenerate grow instead .
CHAPTER II.
The illumination of the understanding through the
influence of the Holy Spirit, the Jirst work of
grace in the human soul.
WHEN the Almighty created man, he fore-
saw all the fatal consequences which would
result from his violation of the divine com-
mandment. Though justice required the
punishment of the transgressors, yet mercy
provided a wonderful remedy, by virtue of
which Adam and all his posterity might
have the means of escaping eternal perdi-
tion. The fulness of time being come, the
only begotten of the Father; " God of
God, Light of Light, very God of very
39
God ;" the Lamb virtually and typically
slain from the foundation of the world ;
this glorious personage took our nature
upon him, and was made like unto us in all
things, sin only excepted. After spending a
life of unwearied benevolence and heavenly
purity, honouring the Law more highly by
his perfect observance of it than it was ever
dishonoured by the transgressions of the
whole race of man, our Lord closed his
ministerial labours by offering himself up,
a voluntary self-devoted sacrifice, for the
sins of the world. The benefits of his death
and passion extended as widely as the
baneful effects of the fall had done ;' and
we are repeatedly told by the inspired
writers, that he suffered for the sins of all
men. 1 None are excluded from being par-
takers of these blessings. Every contrite
sinner, every soul that wishes for salvation,
1 1 Corin. xv. 22.
a Heb. ii. 9- Coloss. i. 20. 1 Tim. ii. 4. 6.
40
is freely invited to approach to the throne
of mercy, assured of a welcome reception
through the all-sufficient merits of the Re-
deemer. Ho, every one that thirsteih, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ;
come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy milk
and wine without money and without price I l
But, although the redemption of mankind
be thus unlimited and universal, and al-
though God willeth not the death of any
sinner, but rather that all should turn unto
him and repent; yet, by reason of the
obstinate folly of the wicked, the gra-
cious purposes of the Almighty fail
to produce universal salvation. All day
long, saith the Lord, have I stretched forth
my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying
people* Enter ye in, saith our Saviour, at
the strait gate ; for wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
1 Isaiah lv. 1. * Rom. x. 21.
41
and many there be which go in thereat : be*
cause strait is the gate and narrow is the way
which kadeth unto life,, and Jew there be
that find it. 1 Hence it is evident, that
many unhappy persons, whom the god of
this world hath blinded, will either ex-
pressly reject, or carelessly neglect to avail
themselves of, the benefits of Christ's death
and passion. All those, who are infatuated
with the pride of infidelity, and madly defy
the living God, exclude themselves with a
O '
high hand from the pale of the Church :
and all those, who, like the devils, believe
and tremble ; who acknowledge the divine
authority of the Gospel, but are strangers
to its influence ; who live, to use the em-
phatic words of Scripture, without God in
the world, dead in trespasses and sins ; all
these, if there be any truth in the plain de-
clarations of our Lord and his Apostles,
have no lot nor portion in the Son of God.
1 Matt, vii, is.
42
How happens it then, that some receive
the wo r d with joy, and bring forth fruit
meet for repentance ; while others either
sullenly reject it, or remain alike uninflu-
enced by its threats and its promises ? No
man, saith our blessed Lord, can come unto
me, except the Father, which hath sent me,
draw him.' But in what manner doth the
Father draw mankind unto himself, in*
order that they may not perish, but re-
ceive everlasting life? The Apostle informs
us, that no man can say thai Jesus is the
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost*
It is therefore the peculiar office of the
third person of the Trinity to bring us unto
Christ, and to induce us to accept the par-
don which is freely offered unto all. Here
we see, that none can come unto Christ
without being drawn by the gracious in-
fluence of the Spirit.
1 John vi. 44. * I Corin. xii. 3.
But many resist that influence to their
own destruction :. in a manner compelling
God to declare, that his Spirit shall not
alwfys strive with man ; l and forcing the
merciful Saviour himself to complain, ye
will not come unto me that ye may have life. 1 '
Here we learn the true reason, why so many
perish in their sins : they will not accept
*the salvation, which is offered to them in
common with all mankind. God the Spirit
draweth them indeed : but they obstinately
refuse to follow him. 3
1 Gen. vi. 3. 2 John v. 40.
3 I have endeavoured to state this difficult point in that
manner, which to myself, at least, appears the most agree-
able to Scripture. With the Calviuistic view jf the sub-
ject I am by no means satisfied : but the Pelagian view of
it is yet more exceptionable.
It is certain, that the free-will (that is, of course the
moral, not the natural, free-will) \\hich Adam possessed
in his state of. purity, was lust at the fall, when he and all
his posterity became indued to evil ; hence, as we are
instructed by ihe Church <mdilion of man after the
A considerable degree of prudence and
caution is necessary in treating of the ope-
fall of Adam is such ; that he cannot turn and prepare
himself by his own natural strength and good works to
faith and calling upon God :" nevertheless it is no-where
asserted in Scripture, that freedom of will is not equally
restored unto all men by the preaching of the Gospel.
Every expostulation of God with the wicked necessarily
supposes, that he freely gives them an opportunity of re-
pentance ; and that their eternal condemnation is the re-
sult, not of an arbitrary decree, but of their deliberately
choosing evil rather than good, and their obstinately re-
fusing the assistance of the Holy Ghost, which is equally
offered unto all men.
I am aware, that in reply a Calvinist will argue ; " If
all have free-will equally given to them by the Spirit, if
all are equally drawn by the Father, all must equally
eome unto Christ."
This, however, by no means follows, as we may suffi-
ciently learn from the fall of our first parent. Adam pos-
sessed free will by nature ; and, without having the slight-
est bias to evil, was strongly drawn or inclined by the
Spirit of God to that which is good : yet Adam fell. Why
then may not those, to whom the free-will lost by the
transgression of Adam has been restored on the offer of
rations of the Holy Ghost; and the two
extremes of enthusiasm and profaneness
should be equally avoided.
pardon by the Gospel, fall likewise ? Persons, placed
under such circumstances, and urged by the secret influ^
ence of the Holy Ghost to flee from the wrath to come,
can scarcely be thought more highly favoured than Adam
was previous to his transgression : it is not very easy there*-
fore to say, why they may not abuse free-will when re*
covered, just as much as Adam did when possessed of if
ab origine ; and why they may not neglect to use imparted
strength, just as much as Adam did the strength which he
received at his creation. If Adam had been drawn to a
due performance of his duty by an irresistible impulse of
the Spirit, it is manifest that he never could have fallen :
I am not aware that we are warranted by Scripture to sup-
pose, that the Holy Ghost acts upon our wills in any dif-
ferent manner from what he did upon Adam's. It is out
thing to believe, that no man can come unto Christ unless
he be drawn by the Father through the agency of the
Spirit ; and quite another to maintain, that every person,
who is thus drawn, must necessarily and inevitably obey
that impulse. The denial of the first of these proposi^
tious constitutes the heresy of the Pelagians ; . the asserting
46
Persons of a sanguine temperament have
not unfrequently been so far deluded by a
mischievous fanaticism, as to mistake the
workings of a heated imagination for the
immediate dictates of heaven. Hence they
have been sometimes led to undervalue
even the sacred word of God, and to fancy
that they are actually taught by inspiration
without making any use of the means which
the Almighty has been pleased to appoint.
The consequence of such crude and un-
scriptural notions is sufficiently evident :
the unhappy victims of this fatal delusion
of the second, the error of the Calvinists. Because Scrip-
ture appeals to us as free and reasonable beings, the for-
mer very rashly suppose, that we stand in no need of di-
vine grace ; because Scripture declares, that of ourselves
we can neither will nor do that which is good, the latter
too hastily conclude, that the influence of the Spirit is
absolutely irresistible. But L desist from pressing the
matter any further : the object of the present treatise is
not controversy.
47
fall from one absurdity into another, the
sport of every wind of doctrine, and the
pity of all sober-minded Christians. The
error, to which I allude, consists in mis-
taking the extraordinary for the ordinary
operations of the Spirit. We are not in the
present day to expect any new revelations :
that point has been sufficiently decided by
St. Paul. Though we or an angel from
heaven, says he, preach any other Gospel
unto you than that which we have preached
unto youi let him be accursed* The office
of the Holy Ghost is not to reveal any ad-
ditional doctrines to us ; but to enable us to
understand spiritualli/ those which have
been already revealed. Accordingly, the
Bereans are commended as being more no-
ble than the Thessalonians, not only be-
cause they readily received the word, but
because they likewise searched the Scriptures
Galat. i. 8.
48
daily whether those things were so. 1 God>
Holy Spirit doubtless both prevented and
Seconded their pious endeavours, illumina-
ting their minds, and filling them with all
heavenly wisdom ; for we are informed,
that many of them believed : but at the
same time it is signified to us, that the ex-
ternal cause was their diligent attention to
the Scriptures. 1 In a similar manner, al-
though the Church directs her children to
pray unto God for his inspiration,* it is
only that they may be enabled to think
those things that be good, and that their
hearts may be cleansed from all impurity ;
not that they may become prophets or
apostles. Long has the extraordinary influ-
* Acts xvii. 11.
* " They searched the Scriptures daily, whether
those things were so ; therefore many of them believed."
Acts xvii. 11, 12.
3 Collects for the 5th Sun. after East, and Communion
Service.
49
ence of the Spirit ceased, and we are autho-
rised by our blessed Lord himself to con-
sider all pretensions to it in these latter days
as the marks whereby we may assuredly
detect impostors. 1 One of the main artifices
of Satan is to propagate error by issuing, as
it were, base counterfeits of those scriptural
doctrines which have received the stamp of
God's own authority. As he persuades
some to sin in order that grace may abound,
miscalling the impure speculations of Anti-
uom\a.msm justification by faith; so he be-
wilders others in the mazes of enthusiasm,
puffing them up with vain conceits, and
distracting the peace of the Church, under
the pretence that the wild reveries of a mad
fanatic are the immediate inspiration of
heaven.
1 Malt. xxiv. 11. 23, 24, 2.3, 26.
D
50
Persons of an opposite description to
those, whose imagination outruns their
judgment, terrified and disgusted with the
perversion of the scriptural doctrine of
divine influence, have too hastily plunged
into the other extreme ; and, though per-
haps they may not absolutely have denied
the existence of the Holy Ghost, yet they
scarcely allow him any share in the great
work of our conversion. Our Lord indeed
compares the operations of the spirit to the
wind, and we can no more discern the one
than the other: nevertheless, if we have
received the Holy Ghost, our souls must
be as sensible of his influence by its benefi-
cial effects, as our bodies are of the impulse
of the air when in motion. Unless this be
allowed, it is not very easy to say what we
are to understand by such a comparison.
When a total change takes place in a man's
soul, a change so great that it is called in
Scripture a passage from darkness into light,
from extinction to animation* it is utterly
impossible that it should not be perceived.*
This change consists in an illumination of
the understanding, a restoration of the free-
1 1 John ii. 8. Ephes. i. 18. Ibid. ii. 1.5.
* " There must be a revolution of principle : the visible
conduct will follow the change : but there must be a re-
volution within. A change so entire, so deep, so impor-
tant, as this, I do allow to be a conversion ; and no one,
who is in the situation above described, can be saved
\vithout undergoing it ; and he must necessarily both be
sensible of it at the time, and remember it all his life af-
terwards. It is too momentous an event ever to be forgot.
A man might as easily forget his escape from a shipwreck.
Whether it was sudden, or whether it was gradual, if it
was effected (and the fruits of it will prove that), it was a
true conversion : and every such person may justly both
believe and say it himself, that he was converted at a par-
ticular assignable time. It may not be necessary to speak
of his conversion, but he will always think of it with un-
bounded thankfulness to the giver of all grace." Paley's
Sermons, Serm. vii.
52
dom of the will, and a regulation oj the af-
fections.
The first thing necessary towards our be-
coming children of God is the illumination
of the understanding. The Holy Ghost
must shine into the dark recesses of our
hearts and grant us a spiritual discernment,
or the word of God will for ever remain a
sealed book. We may indeed comprehend
the literal and grammatical construction of
the sentences, but we shall derive no more
saving knowledge from it than the Jews
did from the law when they crucified
the Lord of life. The mere exertions of
unassisted reason can never convey to our
minds any knowledge of the things of God,
because they must be spiritually discerned.
Much has already been said upon this sub-
ject, when the spiritual deficiency of our
understandings was considered. We all
know that they are not defective in com-
53
prehending the bare letter of Scripture any
more than that of Homer or Virgil : in
O '
what then are they defective, unless it be
in spiritual discernment ? This will alone
account for the language of St. Paul, when
he assures the Ephesians, that he ceases
not to offer up his prayers, that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
might give unto them the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him ; the
eyes of their understanding being enlighten-
ed ; that they might know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to US-ward who believe, according to the
working of his mighty power. 1 The Ephe-
1 In this passage, according to the usual manner of the
sacred writers, spiritual things are exhibited to our com-
prehension by their corresponding natural objects; and
54
sians doubtless possessed the faculty of
common discernment; and yet the same
Apostle prays that they might be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length, and depth and height ; and to
know the love of Christ which passeth know-
ledge, that they might bejilled i&ith the ful-
ness of God. 1 Hence it appears that the
Ephesians might read the Scripture without
that comprehension of it, which the Apos-
tle prays for on their behalf.*
the illumination of the Holy Spirit is compared to opening
the eyes of the blind.
1 Ephes. iii. 18.
ow ya
<ryvo7rra oue (ruvvojjra Tracriv strriv, s p,Y) TCO &so$ cv <ruviev<
x< 6 XgKTTog aurou. Just. Mart. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 173.
" The first creature of God in the works of the days,
was the light of the sense ; the last was the light of reason;
and his sabbath work ever since is the illumination of his
spirit. First he breathed light upon the face of the matter
55
From these remarks it is sufficiently evi-
dent, that, although Christ died for the
of chaos ; then he breathed light upon the face of man ;
and still breaketh and inspireth light into the face of his
chosen." Lord Bacon's Essay on Truth.
" Absurd is the doctrine of the Socinians and some
others, that unregenerate men, by a mere natural percep-
tion, without any divine superinfused light (they are the
words of Episcopius, and they are wicked words) may
understand the ivhole law, even all things requisite unto
faith and godliness ; foolishly confounding and impiously
deriding the spiritual and divine sense of the Holy Scrip-
tures with the grammatical construction. Against this we
shall need use no other argument than a plain syllogism
compounded out of the words of Scripture : Darkness
doth not comprehend light (John i. 5.) ; Unregenerate
men are darkness (Ephes. v. 8. iv. 17, 18. Acts xxvi. 18.
'2 Pet. i. 9-)> y ea > ne ld under the power of darkness (Col.
i. 13.); and The word of God is light (Psalm cxix. 105.
2 Cor. iv. 4.) therefore unregenerate men cannot under-
stand the zcord in that spiritual compass which it carries.
Natural men have their principles vitiated, their facul-
ties bound, that they cannot understand spiritual things,
56
sins of the whole world, yet none will ever
truly acknowledge him as their Lord ex-
cept by the influence and operation of the
blessed Spirit. Before he opens their eyes
till God have, as it were, implanted a new understanding
in them, framed the heart to attend, and set it at liberty to
see the glory of God with open face. Though the veil do
not keep out grammatical construction, jet it blindeth the
heart against the spiritual light and beauty of the word."
Bishop Reynolds's Works, p. 44.
" Spiritus Paracletus ilium longe docet rnelius, quam
universi libri ; ut absolutius intelligat scripturam, quam
cxplanari illi queat," Luther. Enarrat. Fol. 275. A.
" Secundus gradus est donatio spiritus sancti, qui novam
lucem in inente, et novos motus in voluntate et corde,
accendit; gubernat nos ; et inchoat in nobis vitam aeter-
nam." Melanc. Loc. Theol. p. 731. See also King
Edward's Catechism in Bp. Randolph's Enchiridion, vol.
i. p. 41. Noel's Catechism, Ibid. vol. ii. p. 132. Bp.
Beveridge's Private Thoughts^ Art. viii. Bp. Wilkins on
Prayer, chap. xvii. Bp. Reynolds's Works, p. 305. 463.
Dr. Barrow's Works, vol. iii. p. 529, 530, 531.
Jones's Essay on Man, chap, iii,
57
to see wonderful things out of God's Law,
they are as totally devoid of all spiritual
understanding, as a blind man is of the
faculty of discerning material objects.
These objects exist indeed ; but, from the
deficiency of his organs of vision, they are
unable to make any impression upon hi.s
mind.
Hence, as I have already observed, the
first step, which the Holy Spirit takes in
the conversion of a sinner, is to open the
e3 r es of his understanding. 1 While men
remain in a state of carnal security, the
sound of God's word passes by them as
1 t( The first work, which God puts forth upon th
soul, in order to its conversion, is, to raise up a spiritual
light within it, to clear up its apprehensions about spiritual
matters, so as to enable the soul to look upon God as the
chiefest good, and the enjoyment of him as the greatest
bliss." Bp. Beveridge's Private Thoughts, Art. viii.
58
little regarded as the wind. They hav.e no
conception of the spirituality of the Law
nor of the purity of God. Provided only a
decent exterior be preserved and the penal
statutes of the land be un violated, they
imagine that all is perfectly safe, and that
it would be equally absurd and uncharita-
ble to doubt of the certainty of their salva-
tion. In the mean time they forget that
God is a searcher of the heart, that he re-
quires truth in the inward parts, and that
he is of purer eyes than to behold the least
iniquity. Their boasted morality is for the
most part merely negative : it is rather an
absence of the overt acts of sin, than a
presence of real holiness. Though they
duly make a weekly acknowledgment of
their sinfulness in strict conformit}' with the
liturgy of the Church ; yet they repeat the
confession rather as words of course, than
as feeling the truth of it from bitter expe-
rience : and, though they punctually re-
59
ceive the sacrament " at the least three
times in the year," and avow that " the
remembrance of their misdoings is grievous
unto them and the burden of them intolera-
ble ; " jet, notwithstanding the strength of
the language which they adopt, it is much
to be questioned whether they be really
sensible of the vast weight of sin. If pres-
sed closely upon this subject, they invaria-
bly deny that depth of corruption, that
mystery of iniquity, by which every facul-
ty of the human soul, every thought and
word and deed of the very best man upon
earth, is more or less polluted and unclean.
They will probably acknowledge venial
errors, pardonable frailties, and trifling lap-
ses ; but the doctrine, that man is very far
gone from original righteousness, that of
his own nature he is inclined to evil, that
he deserveth God's wrath and damnation,
and that he is by nature a child of wrath, is
60
rejected by them with all the angry feelings
of a proud indignation. 1
1 It is no uncommon thing in the present day to hear
various orthodox doctrines stigmatized as being Cakinis-
tic, when in truth they are no more peculiar to Calvinism
than to any other doctrinal system. Such has been the
fate of the tenet of original sin. They, who deny it,
find it much more convenient to term those, who maintain
it, Cafoinists, than to abide by the plain and explicit de-
cision of the Church in her 9th Article. All Calvinists do
indeed hold it ; but it does not therefore follow, that all,
who hold it, are Calvinists, any more than that all Trini-
tarians are Papists. " Our Articles," says Bishop Hors-
ley, " affirm certain things, which we hold in common
with the Calvinists : so they affirm certain things, which
we hold in common with the Lutherans ; and some things,
which we hold in common with the Romanists. It can-
not well be otherwise ; for, as there are certain principles
which are common to all Protestants, so the essential ar-
ticles of faith are common to all Christians." Horsley's
Tracts, p. 398. Since this was written, his Lordship has
very judiciously advised those, who are eager to signalize
their prowess against the doctrinal system of the Genevan
reformer, first to learn what Calvinism is exclusively ; lest
61
From this utter ignorance of their own
corruption, they will usually be found
strongly inclined to the dangerous delusion
of self-justification. Their notion is, that
although they be frail creatures, yet they
humbly trust they are not quite so bad as
some persons would represent them. They
doubt not, but that their works will justify
them as far as they go ; that the merits of
the Redeemer will make up all deficiencies;
and that the infinite mercy of God will
throw a veil over their casual imperfections.
Upon the whole, they are inclined to hope
that their good deeds far outweigh their
occasional errors ; and, to use the language
of the poet, that they are men " more
haply, instead of assailing certain adventurous peculiari-
ties, they direct their attacks against uur common Christia-
nity itself.
Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella :
Neu pat rite validas in viscera vertit* vires.
sinned against than sinning : " at any rate,
that their hearty repentance, and the
pains and troubles which they encounter
here, will make ample atonement for all
their transgressions. Thus, while they ac-
knowledge in words the necessity of a Sa-
viour, they in reality depend much more
upon their own imaginary righteousness
than upon the merits of Christ.
The whole of this arises from spiritual
blindness ; for, if they really understood
the purport of the Law, they would never
dream that their own miserable performan-
ces could either partially or universally wien'f
the favour of God. Like the infatuated
Jews in the days of our Lord, they have
the Scriptures in their hands, and perhaps
occasionally peruse them ; but they are
totally unconscious that they are reading
their own condemnation. They slumber
over the sacred page, and perceive not that
63
their curse is there recorded. Cursed is
every one, that abideth not in all the things
of this Law. Their eyes are closed, so that
they are unable to perceive their numerous
violations of it, in thought, word, and deed.
Hence the Law is to them a dead letter ;
and they remain in a state of utter igno-
rance of its spiritual design.
" We and our whole nature," says the
illustrious Luther, " are entirely blind ;
nor is our reason more ignorant of any thing,
than of the requisitions of God's Law.
Christ conferred a double benefit upon the
Scribes and Pharisees : he first took away
their blindness, by showing them what the
Law is ; and afterwards taught them, how
far the perfect observance of it exceeds
their abilities. He took away their blind-
ness by informing them that the Law is
love ; which doctrine bare reason is equally
incapable of receiving at present, as the
64
Jews were formerly. For, if reason could
have comprehended it, the Pharisees and
the Lawyers, who at that time were the
best and wisest among the people, would
doubtless have comprehended it. But
they imagined drat the whole matter con-
sisted in performing the external works of
the Law ; and that it was of little moment,
whether they were done voluntarily or invo-
luntarily. Meanwhile their internal blind-
ness, their avarice, and their darkened
heart, passed without observation ; and
they fancied that they were accurately dis-
charging their duty. But no one is able
to keep the Law, unless he be totally re-
newed. Be assured therefore of this, that
mere reason can never either understand or
fulfil the Law, even though it may be ac-
quainted with what the Law contains.
When do you do unto others, as you would
they should do unto you ? Who ever hear-
tily loved his enemy ? Who ever died volun-
65
tarily? Who will undergo with readiness,
contumely and disgrace? Produce me only
a single man, who willingly submits to the
ignominy of a blasted character, or to the
inconveniences of poverty. Nature and
human reason abhor and shun such trials ;
and will always, if possible, avoid them.
Nor will human nature ever fulfil those
things, which God requires in the Law ;
namely, that we should make a voluntary
surrender of our will to his will; that we
should renounce our intellect, our inclina-
tions, faculties, and our powers, so com-
pletely, as to be able to say, with a hearty
assent, Thy will be done. So far from this,
you will never find a man, who loves God and
his neighbour equally with himself. It is
mere hypocrisy to say, I do love God , he is
my Father. So long indeed as he refrains
from crossing our inclinations, we can
readily use such language ; but, in the
dav of trouble and calamitv, we neither
*r / j
E
66
regard him as God nor as our Father.
Widely different from these are the senti-
ments of him who sincerely loves God. I
am thy creature, Lord, do with me as it
seemeth best to thy good pleasure. If it
please thee, that I should die this very hour,
or be plunged into the midst of evils, I
cheerfully submit. My life, my reputation,
my property, my all, I hold as nothing, when
placed in competition with thy will. But
what mortal man can you find, who will
always hold such language as this with sin-
cerity? The Law requires that nothing
should be even disagreeable to you, which
is agreeable to God ; that you should
willingly observe all his precepts and all his
prohibitions, throughout the whole of your
life and conversation. But there exists not
the man who stands uncondemned for his
breach of that Law, which God requires to be
observed. Such is the trouble and affliction,
in which we are involved ; nor are we in
the least able to extricate ourselves. This
67
then is the first knowledge of the Law ; to
know that it is impossible for human
strength to observe it. God requires the
heart ; and, unless our works be done from
the heart, they are of no value in his sight.
Works indeed you may do in outward
appearance ; but God is not satisfied with
them, unless they spring from the soul and
from love : which can never be the case,
unless a man be born again of the spirit.
Wherefore the end of the Law is to bring
us to acknowledge our infirmity, insomuch
that of ourselves we are not able to perform
even the letter of the Law. As soon as you
are convinced of this, the Law has done its
duty. Hence St. Paul asserts that " by the
Law is the knowledge of sin" 1
Let persons of the class which I have
been describing try their hearts, with fide-
1 Luther. Enarrat. Fol. 335. C.
68
lity and sincerity, by this admirable pas-
sage. Let them see, whether they love
God as they ought to do; whether they
keep his statutes and his ordinances in the
manner which he has prescribed ; whether
they find their whole souls so totally devot-
ed to his service, as to exclude every vain
thought and every foolish wish ; whether
their life be spent in an unceasing round of
duties, both- negative and positive. All
this is required by the Law without any mi-
tigation and abatement. Hence, to those,
o
who seek to be justified by their works, it is
the savour of death unto death : 'for they,
who would be justified by the Law, must
keep the Law. Hence also it is absolutely
necessary, that the Holy Spirit should open
the eyes of their understanding, in order that
they may discern the purity of the Law and
the extent of their danger. Till his gracious
influences pervade their hearts, every spiri-
tual sense is benumbed by ignorance and
69
steeped in error. They see not the corrup-
tion, which is the inheritance of all the
children of Adam ; even the word of God
cannot persuade them of the reality of its
existence. All, who attempt to convince
them of it, are considered only in the light
of gloomy hypochondriacs, ever brooding
over imaginary evils. Their words appear
to them as idle tales, which they cannot
comprehend and will not believe. Scrip-
ture alone can account for so singular a
difference between these two classes of
men. The one is possessed of a sense, of
which the other is destitute. , The, natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God ; for they are foolishness unto him :
neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. 1 This spiritual dis-
cernment is the special gift of the Holy
Ghost. It is he, who causes the proud
' 1 Corinth ii. 14,
sinner to see clearly the requisitions of the
Law, and his own utter inability to per-
form them. It is he, who destroys that
comfortable self-sufficiency, that hollow se-
curity, in which the soul had long reposed ;
and who, armed with all the thunders of
Sinai, rouses the sleeping conscience, and
arrests the unwilling attention. At the
bar of such a judge every plea is rejected,
and the stubborn reluctant sinner is com-
pelled to plead guilty. He will now tho-
roughly comprehend the meaning of St.
Paul's confession : I had not known sin?
but by the Law : for I had not known lust,
except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the Law sin was dead. For I
was alive without the Law once : but, when
the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
71
For sin, faking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me ; and by it slew me. therefore
the Law is holy ; and the commandment holy
and just and good. Was then that which is
good made death unto me ? God forbid.
But sin, that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good ; that sin
by the commandment might become exceeding
sinful. For we know that the law is spiri-
tual ; but I am carnal, sold under sin*
So long as St. Paul remained in his un-
converted state, he was totally unconscious
of the spirituality of the Law, and per-
ceived not that it contained the sentence of
his condemnation. While he was thusplaced
without the real Law, he seemed to himself
alive ; and entertained not the slightest
doubt of his having merited salvation,
being, as he elsewhere expresses himself,
touching the righteousness which is in the
1 Row. tii. 7.
72
Law, blameless. 1 But, as soon as the Holy
Spirit opened his eyes, and when the com-
mandment came, attended with a clear con-
viction of his numerous breaches of it, and
his utter inability to keep it; sin revived,
and he evidently saw that he lay under
sentence of death. He was compelled
indeed to acknowledge the Law to be holy,
and just, and good ; but this very excellence
served only to increase his condemnation.
Though the commandment was ordained /
life, he found it to be unto death ; a conse-
quence which arose, not from the imperfec-
tion of the Law, but from the depravity of
his own nature. The Holy Ghost having
enabled him to see the spirituality of the
Law, he then for the first time perceived
that he was carnal, sold under sin. And
so deep was the impression which this con-
viction made upon his mind, that it forced
him to exclaim in a kind of agony :
' Phil. ih. S.
73
wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death ? He was
now brought into a proper frame of mind
to receive the Gospel of Christ. He saw
his o\vn manifold corruptions and the
extreme sinfulness of his sin ; he perceived
that he was unable of himself to help
himself, and that his very best deeds could
not stand the scrutiny of him. who
chargeth even his angels with folly. This
conviction forced him to look unto Christ
for salvation, and to submit himself to the
righteousness of God. The Gospel was
now to him a savour of life unto life ; he
renounced all dependence on his own
goodness, and humbly thanked God for
the pardon held out to him through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Such were the varying emotions of St.
Paul's heart, while the great work of illu-
mination was going on within him ; and
74
such (for human nature is the same in
all ages,) must be the convictions of every
one, whom the Holy Spirit condescends to
instruct. We are not indeed to imagine
that the sincerity of a man's conversion is
to be estimated by the strength of his
feelings. The converted profligate will
naturally be more deeply sensible of those
stings, which a consciousness of the violat-
ed Law inflicts upon the soul, than the
decent moral man, who begins to suspect
the safety of relying upon his own righ-
teousness : and the warmer a man's natural
feelings are, the stronger will be his terror
when labouring under a sense of guilt ; for
Christianity does not so much eradicate the
passions, as enlist them into her service.
But men of all temperaments mm>t be
thoroughly convinced of their own exceed-
ing vileness, whatever their feelings may be
upon the occasion, or their understandings
will never be sufficiently enlightened to
75
perceive the necessity of a mediator. They
may indeed, previous to this conviction,
acknowledge the want of a Saviour with
their lips, and own in general terms that their
lives are not perfectly free from sin : but,
with respect to the hopes which they
entertain of their salvation, they will ever
be found to place their principal depen-
dence on the blamelessness of their lives,
their benevolence towards their fellow-crea-
tures, and (in their more thoughtful hours)
on some vague notions of God's mercy.
Observe the workings of a really
humbled mind in the confession of Bp.
Beveridge. " If," says he, " there be not a
bitter root in my heart, whence proceeds so
much bitter fruit in my life and conversa-
tion ? Alas ! I can neither set my head
nor heart about any thing, but I still shqw
myself to be the sinful offspring of sinful
parents, by being the sinful, parent of a sin-
ful offspring. Nay, I do not only betray
76
the inbred venom of my heart, by poison-
ing my common actions, but even my most
religious performances also, with sin. I
cannot pra}% but I sin ; J cannot hear or
preach a sermon, but I sin ; I cannot give
an alms, or receive the sacrament, but I
sin ; nay, I cannot so much as confess my
sins, but my very confessions are still
aggravations of them; my repentance
needs to be repented of, my tears want
washing, and the very washing of my tears
needs still to be washed over again with the
blood of my Redeemer. Thus, not only
the worst of my sins, but even the best of
my duties, speak me a child of Adam :
Insomuch, that whensoever I reflect upon
my past actions, methinks I cannot but
look upon my whole life, from the time of
my conception to this very moment, to be
but as one continued act of sin/' 1
' F ' Thoughts, Art. iv.
77
When a person is once brought into this
state of mind, he will then, and not till
then, begin to think seriously of another
world. He will perceive himself to be a
miserable, helpless, undone sinner, justly
obnoxious to the wrath of God. Instead
of attempting to excuse and palliate his
depravity, he will anticipate the sentence of
his judge, and be the first to pronounce
condemnation upon himself. He will see
the impossibility of cleansing his impurity,
and the vanity of expecting to purchase
salvation by any inherent righteousness of
his own. It costs more to redeem his soul,
so that he must let that alone for ever.
When he considers his past life, he will be
astonished at his former ignorance and in-
sensibility. He will seem to himself like
one roused from a deep sleep, in which
every faculty of his soul had been com-
pletely locked up ; but he will awake only
to perceive himself destitute, bare, and
miserable.
78
-So rose the Danite strong,
Herculean Sampson from the harlot lap
Of Philistean Dalilah, and wak'd,
Shorn of his strength '
He will now, with the astonished jailor,
be ready to cry out, What shall I do to be
saved ? Driven from every strong-hold of
vanity and presumption, he will leave the
absurdly proud notion of self-justification
to the blind Socinian and arrogant Pelagi-
an. However he may once have indulged
in the fantastic airy dream of his own ex-
cellence and dignity, he will now clearly
perceive, that there is no hope, no com-
fort, no solid expectation of future happi-
ness, but in the name and through the
merits of Jesus Christ.
CHAP. III.
A description of two different Classes of Men, zvhose
understandings are enlightened, while their hearts re-
main unaffected.
JL wo very different classes of men fre-
quently attain to a considerable, I had al-
most said an equal, degree of spiritual
knowledge with respect to the sinfulness of
sin and the requisitions of the divine Law.
They are both deeply convinced of the de-
pravity of the human heart. They are
both conscious of their manifold aberra-
tions and deficiencies in practice. They
80
both feel the load of their iniquity to be
grievous and intolerable. Neither of these
classes attempts to justify itself. Each is
forced by conscience to cry out Unclean^
unclean. Each is secretly constrained to
acknowledge the righteousness of God.
Thus far the parallel holds good between
them, but here it terminates ; and a strik-
ing difference commences, which will best
be discerned by a separate delineation of
the character of each.
I. The anguish, which persons of the first
description feel, arises merely from a con-
sciousness of guilt and from a dread of
threatened punishment. In their case
there is no spiritual loathing of the black-
ness of sin, no horror of it springing from
the knowledge of its hatefulness to God,
no indignation, no vehement desire, no zeal,
no revenge* The tempest in their hearts
' 8 Cor. vii. 11.
81
is conjured up solely by terror, unmixed
terror. They feel nothing of filial sorrow
at having offended their heavenly Father ;
they feel no compunction at having count-
ed the blood of atonement an unholy
thing ; they feel no grief, at having resisted
the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit.
Sin still reigns triumphant in their hearts;
and they inwardly abhor that Law, which
strikes at the very existence of their idol.
Were all fears of future punishment remov-
ed, and were they assured beyond a possi-
bility of doubt, that mere annihilation
would hereafter be their portion ; these
joyful tidings would wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and remove every uneasy
thought from their heart. Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die. They would
return with avidity to their former vicious
indulgences, regardless, whether their con-
duct was pleasing or displeasing to the Most
F
High. It is not -sin that they hate, but the
rvages of si?i ', it is not God that they
love, but their own safety.
In vain is the wonderful goodness and
long suffering of the Lord held up before
the eyes of their understanding. The
numberless blessings which they enjoy, the
numberless evils from which they are ex-
empt, the patience with which God has
endured their perverseness, the opportuni-
ties which he has given them of repent-
ance, the tender loving kindness witfy
which he condescendingly solicits (as it
were) a reconciliation with them ; like
Gallic, they care for none of these things.
In vain for them doth the whole creation
proclaim the beneficence of the great
Creator. In vain for them doth he cause
the sun to shine, and the seasons to revolve
in grateful vicissitude. In vain for then?
83
doth he, by the powerful machinery of
nature, send the springs into the rivers,
which run among the hills. IB vain for
them, by the united operation of various
causes, doth he bring food out of the earth,
and wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
and oil to make him a cheerful countenance,
and bread to strengthen man's heart*
They will riot in these blessings even to
satiety ; the harp and the viol, the tabret and
pipe, are in their feasts : but they regard
not the work of the Lord, neither consider
the operation of his hands. 2 '
The mysterious act of mercy displayed
in man's redemption may be described to
them, but it excites no feeling of gratitude
in their souls. The blameless life, the
wonderful love, the bitter sufferings, and
' Psalm civ. 10. * Isaiah v. 12,
84
,..,*rin(T t]f>xi\i nf thp ,^<
the lingering; death, of the Son of God arc
O O '
acknowledged in words indeed, but fail to
touch their hearts. Though salvation be
freely offered to them, though the mild
voice of the Redeemer calls upon all who
thirst to drink of the water of everlasting
life ; they angrily dash the proffered cup
from their lips, and hate that mode of sal-
ration which requires the dereliction of sin.
In short, their understandings are convinc-
ed, 'but their hearts remain untouched.
They see the danger of sin, but they love it
and cleave to it ; they perceive the neces-
sity of a life of holiness, but they detest
and abhor it. Like the devils, they believe
and tremble; but, like them also, they
fight indignantly against the Lord and
against his Christ. Even the ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his masters crib : but
they are dead to every sense of gratitude ;
they consider God in the light of a tyrant,
85
who seeks to deprive them of their dearest
enjoyments.
" The power of the word/' says Bp.
Reynolds, " towards wicked men is seen in
affrighting of them ; there is a spirit of
O O 1
bondage, and a savour of death, as well as a
spirit of life and liberty, which goeth along
with the word. Guilt is an inseparable con-
sequent of sin ; and fear, of the manifesta-
tion of guilt. If the heart be once convinced
of this, it will presently faint, and tremble,
even at the shaking of a leaf, at the wag-
ging of a man's own conscience ; how
much more at the voice of the Lord, which
shaketh mountains and maketh the strong
foundations of the earth to tremble ? It is
not for want of strength in the word, or
because there is stoutness in the hearts of
men to stand out against it, that all the
wicked of the world do not tremble at it,
but merely their ignorance of the power
86
and evidence thereof. The devils are
stronger and more stubborn creatures
than any man caii be ; yet, because of
their full illumination and that invincible
conviction of their consciences from the
power o the word, they believe and trem-
ble at it. The power of the ingrafted
word towards wicked men is seen even in
the rage and madness which it excites in
them. It is a sign, that a man hath to do
with a strong enemy, when he buckleth on
all his harness, and calleth together all his
strength for opposition. The most calm
and devout hypocrites in the world have by
the power of this word been put out of
their demure temper, and mightily trans-
ported with outrage and bitterness against
the majesty thereof: one time filled with
wrath ; another time filled with madness ;
another time filled with envy and indigna-
tion; another time filled with contradic-t
87
tiou and blasphemy ; another time cut to
the heart, and, like reprobates in hell,
o-nashino; with their teeth. Such a search-
O O
ing power and such an extreme contrarie-
ty there is in the Gospel to the- lusts of
men, that if it do not subdue, it will won-
derfully swell them up, till it distemper
even the grave prudent men of the world
with those brutish and uncomely affections
of rage and fury, and drive disputers from
their arguments unto stones. Sin cannot
endure to be disquieted, much less to be
shut in and encompassed with the curses of
God's word. Therefore, as a hunted beast,
in an extremity of distress, will turn back,
\
and put to its utmost strength to be
revenged on the pursuers and to save its
life : so wicked men, to save their lusts,
will let out all their rage, and open all their
sluices of pride and malice to withstand
that holy truth, which doth so closely pur-
88
sue them. 1 Till men can be persuaded to
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, they will never receive the in-
grafFed word with meekness. For till then
it is a binding word, which sealeth their
guilt and condemnation upon them/' "
Perhaps no state of mind is more deplo-
rable than that in which an enlightened
understanding is united to an unconverted
heart. 1 1 is a state totally devoid of peace
and comfort, full of terror and a fearful
looking out-for of judgment and fiery
indignation. The e} T es of the mind are
opened, so as to discern clearly that he is
1 To /xey xaTayeXacrflrjva^ jcrcoj ouSsv -^gay^a' A^r/vono^ yap
TOI, coj eju-oi Soxet, ou cr<po5ga //-eXst, civ TV Sejvov OIOJVTCU
iS(rxaXxov rrjg O.VTOV cro<paj' 6v 8* ctv x
Troiejy TCJOOTOUJ, 5u/x,owvT. Plat. Euthyphron. 3.
* Bp. Reynolds's Works, pp. 365, 366, 36?.
89
not a Christian who is one outwardly.
The awakened conscience is trembling!/
alive to every touch. It perceives the ne-
cessity of repentance ; and it acknowledges
the obligation laid upon all true believers
to take up their cross and follow Christ.
But the will and the affections are wanting ;
a secret hatred and reluctance reigns in.
the heart ; and the whole man loathes the
burden which he conceives to be imposed
upon him. Meanwhile a person of ,-this
description is deeply convinced, that, with
his present temper and disposition, it is
utterly impossible for him to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. He knows that he
labours under a natural unfitness for it, and
that he could find no happiness even in the
presence of God himself, unless a complete
change should previously take place in his
heart. This awful truth is evident, beyond
a possibility of contradiction, to the man
90
whose understanding has been so far en-
lightened as to comprehend the requisitions
of the Law and the nature of holiness ;
but, his heart being at the same time totally
unaffected and unaltered, he cannot con-
ceive what pleasure there can be in a
perpetual communion with God and in the
purely spiritual joys of lieaven. Hence
arises his misery : he knows that he is un-
fit for heaven, and he shudders at the
thoughts of hell. Gladly would he escape
into some middle place of abode, were any
such in existence, equally undisturbed by
the presence of God and the torments of the
damned. His future destiny perpetually
haunts his imagination : and he flies from
himself to seek relief in the midst of com-
pany and dissipation. For a time, he proba-
bly succeeds : for a time, he contrives to
silence his conscience. The ever-varying
pageant of vain amusements gradually
9t
banishes the recollection of those deep
impressions which he had formerly receiv-
ed ; and he once more feels something at
least of the pleasures of this world. But,
if ever the strings of conscience happen to
be again touched, he relapses into all his
former misery ; a misery, moreover, now too
frequently mixed with a sort of hellish rage
and malice against his monitor. Perhaps
the Gospel is never sincerely explained
and enforced, without either effecting a
change in the heart, or exciting a spirit of
bitter animosity and determined opposition.
Men cannot bear to have their false
tranquillity broken in upon ; they cannot
bear to have the truth faithfully set before
them ; they cannot bear to have the carnal
security of their sinful pleasures disturbed.
Provided these points be not touched upon,
they will listen with the utmost compla-
cency to an eulogy on the beauty of
92
virtue and the dignity of human nature ;
but, the moment they are compelled to
look within themselves, their patience fails
them, and they are sometimes altogether
unable even to conceal their indignation.
II. The second class, which I purposed
to describe, is composed of persons of a
character radically different from that of
the former. These see their duty to its full
extent ; they thoroughly comprehend the
spirituality of the Law; and they readily
acknowledge the greatness of their religious
obligations : but, at the same time, they
can find no inward satisfaction, no secret
complacency, in obeying the divine com-
mandments. I am not at present speaking
of those who indulge in grosser sins : it
would be almost an insult to praise a man,
who had made even the least progress in
Christianity, on account of his sobriety or
93
his honesty. 1 The defect in the persons,
whose characters I am describing, consists
in their having a will untamed, unbending,
and unsubdued. Their affections are too
much placed on things below, and too
little on things above. Whatever duties
they perform are discharged from a sense of
religious obligation merely ; not from find-
ing in the discharge of them that spiritual
pleasure, that communion with God, which
appears to be at once the happiness and the
privilege of a Christian. They do not take
up the yoke with their whole heart, though
conscience forces them in some measure to
submit to it. They are strangers to that,
which is prophesied of our Lord in the
Psalms ; I delight to do thy will, my God,
1 " Jntegritatem atque abstinentiam in tanto viro refer-
re injuria virtutum fucrit." Tacit. Vit. Jgric. \ 9-
yea, thy law is within my hear I .-* nor can
they comprehend how it could be his meat
to do the will of him that sent him* They at-
tempt indeed to perform this will; but
every effort is grief and weariness to them.
They strive to conquer their dislike ; but, in-
stead of yielding, it seems rather to increase.
Thus far they coincide in some measure
with those unhappy men, whose case has
been already described ; but here, the grand,
the constituent, difference between them
commences. The former detest and oppose
the law of God : the latter simply derive no
pleasure from paying obedience to it, and
are not interested in its precepts as they
could wish to be. The first absolutely hate
the divine image, which shines conspicu-
ously in the character of every true Christ-
1 Psalm xl. 8. *Jolmiv. 34.
95
ian : the second love it, and labour earn-
estly to acquire it, grieving bitterly at the
waywardness and perverseness of their
hearts. The first are anxious to stifle the
voice of conscience, and burn with rasje
o
against any person who attempts to rouse,
it : tho second endeavour to keep the con-
science tender, and do not cease to regard
a neighbour as a friend, though he may
point out failings and deficiencies. In
short, the former stumble at the very thresh-
old of Christianity : while the latter lament
their unwillingness, yet continue striving to
acquire a relish for their duty.
\
The condition of this second description
of persons is doubtless uncomfortable, but
yet very far (I apprehend) frgm being
dangerous. Let not such despair : let
them not doubt, but that God, in his own
gopd time, will accomplish the work, which
96
he has begun within them. That they are
possessed of any good wishes, that their
hearts are at all inclined, however small
that inclination may be, towards a desire of
gaining the favour of God, is an argument
of greater blessings yet in store for them.
Every good and every perfect gift cometh
from above ; nor is a single one bestowed
without carrying with it a demonstration of
good \\ ill towards man. However dark and
clouded may be the prospects of those,
who acknowledge and lament the hardness
of their hearts and their utter disinclination
towards that which is good ; blessed be
God ! despondency ought not to be their
portion. He, who has promised that he
will not bruise the broken reed nor quench the
smoking jlax, would never have raised
those wishes for a better disposition of the
heart, without an intention to gratify them.
Ask, and ye shall have ; seek, and ye shall
97
Jind, is one of those comfortable promises,
with which Scripture abounds : and we
cannot, we ought not to doubt, but that the
strengtli of Israel will accept every one
without distinction, who cometh to him in
his Son's name. It is even possible, that a
man's heart may be sincerely attached to
God, when he himself is the most ready to
suspect its sincerity. Actions, not words,
are the best proofs of a state of grace ; and
the performance of those duties, from
which our natural inclinations shrink, is
assuredly the very highest exertion of reli-
gious obedience. Thus, if we may argue
from our intercourse with each other, we
are accustomed to set a much greater value
upon the friendship, which will expose it-
self for our sake to difficulties and incon-
veniences, than upon that which in serving
us merely gratifies its own inclinations.
The road of duty is indeed thorny and pain-
G
98
iul to those, whose natural affections run in
a different channel : but let them earnestly
pray to God to grant them strength and
perseverance, to remove their heart of
stone, and to give them a heart of flesh.
The first of these petitions he will most
assuredly listen to ; and, if the second be
not immediately granted, they may be cer-
tain that the refusal proceeds from wise
reasons best known to himself. He may
for a time be deaf to their intreaties, with
a view to try their faith and to exercise
their patience; to show them, what weak,
miserable, helpless creatures they are with-
out his assistance ; and to train them up in
the school of spiritual discomfort, in order
that they may be better prepared for the
everlasting rest of heaven. This dissatis-
faction with the world and with themselves
proceeds from God; and however painful
it may be for the present, let them recpl-
99
lect, that the chastisement of their heaven-
ly Father is the result, not of hatred, but
of love. The sordid worldling, and the
dissipated voluptuary, are strangers to that
conflict between duty and inclination,
which exists in a greater or in a less degree
within the bosom of every Christian.
Hence it is evident that such a struggle,
provided only that duty generally prevails,
is an evidence of spiritual life. The dead
feel not ; the living only possess the powers
of action and sensation. In the mean
time, till God is pleased to grant them
more of that peace which passeth all
understanding, let them strengthen their
hearts with some such promises as the
following.
For a small moment have I forsaken thee ;
but with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee
for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy
Redeemer. For the mountains shall depart,
and the hills be removed ; but my kindness
shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the
Lord, that hath mercy on thee. Oh, thou
afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not com-
forted, behold, I will lay thy stones with
fair colours, and lay thy foundations with
sapphires. A fid I will make thy windows of
agates, and thy gates with carbuncles, and
all thy borders of pleasant stojics. And all
thy children shall be taught of the Lord :
and great shall be the peace of thy children.
In righteousness shah thou be established :
thou shalt be far from oppression ; for thou
skalt not fear ; ctndfrom terror ; for it shall
not come near thee. A r o weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper; and
every tongue, that shall rise against thee in
101
judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is of me t s.aith the Lord.*
Isaiah liv. 7.
CHAPTER IV.
The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the will
being by nature in a state of com-
plete darkness and ignorance, so far as re-
lates to spiritual things, the first operation
of the Holy Ghost must necessarily be to
remove the veil from off his heart and to
enlighten his understanding. This, how-
ever, as we have already seen, is of little
use, unless the affections be also reclaimed
from the love of sin and converted to the
love of God. The divine principle, never-
103
theless, may exist in the heart, even when
the favoured possessor of it least suspects
its presence and is almost ready to despair
from his supposed deficiency in it. The
striking difference between the character
of these humble, dejected, self-condemning,
believers, and the character of those unhap-
py men, who know the truth only to hate
and reject it, has been sufficiently shown.
Whatever degree of reluctance a man may
feel in the performance of his duty, yet, if
he do perform it, if he daily pray and strive
against this reluctance, if, instead of hatred
towards the Son of God, he at times be
sensible of tender grief from the conscious-
ness of his own obduracy and ingratitude ;
he may depend upon it, that these emo-
tions, so opposite to the hellish temper of
an unrenewed heart, are the first-fruits of
that Spirit, whose peculiar office it is to
guide the Christian into all truth.
Wicked men indeed have sometimes good
wishes. Even Balaam, when obstinately
resisting the counsel of tlie Most High,
could yet exclaim, May I die the death of
the righteous, and may my latter end be like
his ! But unhappily these wishes only spring
up occasionally. There is nothing of that
abiding sense of God's presence, that restless
desire of a greater degree of communion
with him, which every real Christian is wont
to experience. In the unconverted, good
impressions, however lively at first, soon
wear off; and they gradually return to their
former habits of irreligion : but, in the chil-
dren of God, such impressions perpetually
acquire fresh vigour and energy ; they grow
with their growth, and strengthen with their
strength, until they imperceptibly become
the main spring of every thought and ac-
tion.
"The foulest hearts/' says Bishop Hal],
" do sometimes entertain good motions ;
like as, on the contrary, the holiest souls
give way sometimes to the suggestions of
evil. The flashes of lightning may be dis-
cerned in the darkest prisons : but, if good
thoughts look into a wicked heart, they stay
not there ; as those that like not their lodg-
ing, they are soon gone. Hardly any thing
distinguishes betwixt good and evil, but
continuance. The light, that shines into a
holy heart, is constant, like that of the sun,
which keeps due times, and varies not his
course for any of these sublunary occa-
sions." '
The Holy Spirit, then, having enlightened
the understanding, proceeds, in the next
' Hall's Works, p. 1058.
106
place, to renovate the will and the affec-
tions. At first, the change in the inclina-
tions is scarcely to be perceived. Oppress-
ed with a load of superincumbent corrup-
tions, the spark of divine life seems at times
almost to approach to utter extinction.
But not one word or one tittle of all God's
promises can fail. The smoking flax will
gradually burst out into a clear flame, when
fanned by the gentle breezes of the Holy
Spirit. A greater conformity will soon take
place between the will of the Christian, and
the will of his God. Even should this
comfort be for a season denied, still he is
under the protection of his Lord ; who
views with a loving pity the struggle in his
heart, and who will doubtless, as soon as it
shall be expedient for him, cause the light
of his countenance to shine upon him. Mean-
while all things work together for his good;
and, if his inclinations be deficient in fer-
107
vency, his conscience acquires fresh tender-
ness and more acute discernment. The
difficulty, which he finds in loving what he
ought to love, gives him deeper views of
sin, and convinces him more effectually of
his own utter inability. He now discovers,
and believes, on the sure ground of actual
experience, that in himself dwelleth no good
thing, and that all his sufficiency is of God.
So far from being faithful to grace, as some
vainly talk, he daily sees more and more of
his unfaithfulness ; and, though he strives
under the influence of the Holy Spirit to
work out his salvation, yet he is constrained
to acknowledge that it is God tvho worketh
in him both to will and to do.
Since Scripture represents man in his
natural state as dead in trespasses and sin ;
it will follow, unless the whole propriety
of the metaphor be destroyed, that he is
108
totally unable, by any inherent strength of
his own, to raise himself up to the life of
righteousness. This figurative resurrection
from the dead is the same, as what is some-
times termed, by a different metaphor, re-
generation or a new birth. It is occasion-
ally likewise represented as a new creation.
All which images plainly teach us, both
that a very essential change must take place
in the moral constitution in order to a man's
being a Christian, and that that change
must be effected by some extrinsic power.
<e To be born again implies, that, as no
man can bestow upon himself a natural
being therefore the Scripture chooses to
express this new birth by such terms as im-
port in us an utter impossibility and impo-
tency to effect it by our own power. It is
called the quickening the dead ; you hath
he quickened, says the Apostle, who were
109
dead in trespasses and sins. Ldok, how im-
possible it is for a dead man, that is shut
down under the bars of the grave, that is
crumbled away into dust and ashes, to pick
up every scattered dust and to form them
again into the same members : look, how
o
impossible it is for him to breathe without
a soul, or to breathe that soul into himself.
Alike impossible is it for a natural man,
who hath lain many years in the death of
sin, to shake off from himself that spiritual
death, or to breathe into himself that spiri-
tual and heavenly life that may make him
a living soul before God/' Most assured-
ly " for this great work God only is equal ;
it is not in our power to regenerate our-
selves : for we are not born of blood, nor of
the will ofthejlesh, nor of the will of man,
Bishop Hoptyns's Works p. 531,
110
that is, not of any natural created strength,
but of God" 1 He it is, who maketh us new
creatures. By his Holy Spirit, not by any
strength of our own, the divine principle of
love, without which no man can live well,
is diffused through our hearts.*
So great a change, however, is not
effected without much opposition on the
part of those, who are the subjects of it,
nor without a vehement exercise of that
determined resolution, which God alone
can confer upon them. " After many
strugglings and conflicts with their lusts and
the strong bias of evil habits/' as it is rightly
1 Bishop Wilkins on Prayer, chap. xvii.
* " Charitas Dei, sine qua nemo bene vivit, difftinditur
iu cordibus nostris, non a nobis, sed per Spiritum Sanctum
qui datus est nobis." Augustm. Epist. 105.
Ill
observed by Abp. Tillotson, " this resolu-
tion, assisted by the grace of God, does
effectually prevail and make a real change
both in the temper of their minds and in
the course of their lives : and when that is
done, and not before, they are said to be
regenerate.
Well then might St. Austin exclaim,
(t To justify a sinner, to new create him
from a wicked person to a righteous man,
is a greater act, than to make such a new
heaven and earth as is already made/' 2
Well might the pious founders of our
Church maintain that, " the more regenera-
tion is hid from our understanding, the
more it ought to move all men to wonder at
the secret and mighty working of God's
1 Tillotson's Serm. on Gal. vi. 15.
Cited in Homily for Rogat. Week, part i.
112
Holy Spirit, which is within us. For it is
the Holy Ghost, and no other thing, that
doth quicken the minds of men, stirring up
good and godly motions in their hearts,
which are agreeable to the will and com-
mandment of God, such as otherwise of
their own crooked and perverse nature they
should never have. That which is born of
the Spirit is Spirit. As who should say,
man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal,
corrupt and naught, sinful and disobedient
to God, without any spark of goodness in
him, without any virtuous or godly motion,
only given to evil thoughts and wicked
deeds" yet " such is the power of the
Holy Ghost to regenerate men, and as it
were to bring them forth anew, that they
shall be nothing like the men that they
were before/' *
1 Homily for Whitsunday, part i. We may observe
that in this passage our venerable reformers, in exact accor-
113
The reason why our Lord insists so much
upon the absolute necessity of that change
dance with the preceding citations from Abp. Tillotson
and Bps. Hopkins and Wilkins, clearly speak of regenera-
tion as taking place in adult subjects ; and therefore do
not attach it necessarily, and in the way of cause and
effect, to baptism. Analogous to it, is the declaration in
the catechism, that the two sacraments are only generally
necessary to salvation. For, since our Lord asserts that
regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation, if our
reformers had believed that the inward spiritual grace was
altogether inseparable from the outward visible sign, they
must have maintained that baptism was not merely gene-
rally, but indispensably, necessary to our entering into the
kingdom of heaven. These explanatory declarations of their
entiments .in the homilies and catechism will teach us,
how we ought to understand the phraseology of the bap-
tismal service. Sacramental regeneration is there hoped,
in the judgment of charity, to be real regeneration ; just as
St. Paul, in his epistles, is wont to address a whole church,
as if every one of its members were indisputable heirs of
salvation : but, whether the subjects of baptism have
n renewed by the Holy Spirit, must bedetermin-
H
114
of the heart, usually denominated regenera-
tion, 1 appears to be simplythis ; without such
change zee should labour under a sort of
natural unfitness to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. No man can be happy in the
company of those, whose views and pur-
suits are totally dissimilar to his own.
ed by their future conduct. In fact, if we maintain that
regeneration is so inseparable from baptism, that every
baptized person is re-generate, and that every unbaptized
person is imregenerate : \ve shall be compelled to maintain
that the devout Cornelius was absolutely in the gall of
bitterness until he was baptized, while the baptized sorce-
rer Simon was a truly regenerate Christian, notwithstand-
ing he is declared by Peter to have neither lot nor part in
4he Holy Spirit. If the reader wish to see the doctrine
of regeneration clearly stated and the phraseology of the
baptismal sefvice ably explained, he woujd do well to
peruse .with attention four sermons by Bp. Hopkins on
Johniii. 5. They form a complete treatise on the subject.
1 Johniii. 121.
115
They must either conform to him, or he to
them, before they will be able to associate
together. He, that is uneasy in the pre-
sence of the pious upon earth, can never
derive any pleasure from spending an eter-
nity with them. The joys of heaven are
described as purely spiritual ; so much so,
that even the very best of men, in their
present imperfect state, are unable fully to
comprehend them. Au intimate communion
with God, an intense degree of devotion, a
peace of mind which passeth all under-
standing, an entire coincidence of their will
with the will of God, a never-ceasing round
of praise and thanksgiving, are proposed
to the servants of Christ, as their stimulus
here, and their portion hereafter. But, if
a maji have no relish for any of these enjoy-
ments, erep Paradise itself would be no
Paradise to him. What excited the high-
est pleasure in others, would produce in
116
him no other sensations than those of
weariness and disgust. His soul would
sicken at the view of that happiness, which
he was incapable of tasting ; and, like the
fabulous Tantalus, he would starve in the
midst of plenty. On these grounds it is,
that Bishop Reynolds somewhere remarks,
with no less beauty than justice, that the
man, who is weary of a single sabbath upon
earth, can never derive anv satisfaction
' . **
from the observance of a perpetual sabbath
in heaven. Every faculty of the soul must
receive a new tendency ; the image of Satan
must be gradually eradicated, and the
image of God must be planted in its stead ;
or we can never expect to enter into the
kingdom of Christ.
It may perhaps be asked, who then can
be saved ? For where is the man whose will
is in so perfect a state of conformity with
117
the will of God, as to experience no inward
resistance, no internal straggles, when
obeying the divine command rnents? Where
is the person, who possesses such a degree
of heavenly mindedness, as always to prefer
the prospects of happiness in another world
to the certainty of present gratification in
this?
I readily answer, that no such character
exists on this side of the grave ; nor are we
to expect that any such ever will. The
deeper insight a man acquires into his own
heart, the more deeply will he be convinced
of his inveterate corruption and manifold
infirmities ; the more bitterly will he bewail
his sins, and lament the perverseness of his
will and affections. Here we are not to
expect any thing more, than the beginning
of the spiritual life ; the consummation and
118
perjection of it is reserved for a richer
soil and a more genial climate. The taint
of original sin remains even " in them that
are regenerated/' The spirit indeed may
be willing, but the flesh is weak. In the
bosom of every true Christian, there is a
never-ceasing conflict between two princi-
ples diametrically opposite to each other.
His renewed heart wills to serve God, but
his corrupt nature resists, and rights against
his better inclinations. Such will necessa-
rily be his condition, so long as he remains
a member of the church militant. Nothing
will terminate the warfare, but a translation
into the church triumphant.*
1 Art. ix.
* ff Quamdiu vivis, peccatum necesse est esse in mem-
bris tuis. Saltern illi regnum auferatur, non fiat quod
jubet." Aug. in Johan. Tract. 41.
119
St. Paul has left us upon record, for the
edification of Christians in all ages, a very
lively and affecting description of this con-
test between grace and nature. That which
I do, I allow not : for what I would, that do
I not ; but what I hate, that do I. If then
I do that which I would not, I consent unto
the law, that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present
with me ; but how to perform that which zx
good I find not. For the good that I would,
I do not ; but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, /;.
is no more I that do it, but sin thai dwelleth
in me. I find then a law, that, when I would
do good, evil is present with me. For 1
delight in the law of God after the inward
man : but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of mi/ mind, and
120
is MI , mefcfcf* o
/ am!
. y,,, w thc
tody of //,/, ,/,-,;//, ? I thank God thro
/CfMI
7 }n ^' h l t
\tit'*/i thc A . .-,,/
Tins intmi:il stm^lr, BQ tar tV>m .
an argument afainai a ivnowrd w j]|, LS t | lc
IS, -Cun, COfpUl ^ ,,,,:,. ,-, S piriti, m
coOo, , rsl fen, ,. t lirluni Mimns . r| - n
"troq.u-. ul , st. rt COr^Qn rt spiritu, ut Dei r,,/ WM / ;. v
'> \i ,.)im iuin r:.,n,tuM spiritum
' v ,
discordtntiv 01 vwttttt mvicom qvotidkiw coi
ut non in:v \oluni ; ii '"im.v Dum spiritus cctlettiii
ft ilivni.i ,|u.vnl. i-.no ten. ;'' (t - <l ''iilann CiMu-upiM-it : c[
idro prtimus itrprns^ int> !'< i't :ui\iliv) I^-i
i-oiu-M ( i'..j:n tini : ut. cium ot in spintu rt in cat no voli;
jn i uni ic ;;r ."
. Doniin.
121
very test, which most decisively proves that
it is renewed. While a man yields himself
a willing slave to Satan, or while he con-
ceals a total igiioraiiee. of his own heart
under a ileeorons exterior ; he teds nothing
of the mutest between ^race and nature,
which is so grievous a burden to every real
Christian. lie has no conception of that
restlessness and uneasiness of mind, so feel-
ingly described by the o-reat apostle of the
(lentilcs. Having never experienced tin-
violent resistance which our depraved hearts
make to the will of (Jod, he has no idea of
the difficulty of repentance and amend-
ment. ; nor docs he believe that there is any
need of divine inlluence to enable him to
turn from the evil of his ways. I Icnce he
readily adopts the Pelagian notion, that
repentance is always m his own power; and
scoffs at the sober decision of our church,
41 that tin: condition of man is such, that
he cannot turn and prepare himself by his
own natural strength, and good works, to
faith and calling upon God/" But, as
soon as he attempts the arduous task of a
real and vital reformation, a reformation
which is not confined to bare external
decorum, but which affects even the very
inmost thoughts of the heart ; he then be-
gins to find his weakness and inability, and
is forced at length by repeated lapses to
acknowledge that all his sufficiency is of
God. Along with this conviction, he now,
for the first time, experiences the internal
Christian conflict ; he now perceives the
full meaning of St. Paul's confession ; and,
like him, is ready to exclaim, O wretched
man that I am I who shall deliver me from
the body of this death ? Let him not, how-
ever, be discouraged, still less despair, on
1 Art, x.
123
account of the opposition, which corrupt
nature makes to the influences of the Holy
Spirit. Every Christian, whatever may be
his rank in life or his progress in piety, has
had the same enemy to contend with.
Let him recollect the promise, My grace is
sufficient for thee ; nor let him doubt, but
that he, which redeemed Jacob from all evil,
is equally ready to assist all who find their
need of a Saviour. Strengthen ye the weak
hands, and confirm the feeble knees ; say to
them, that are of a fearful heart, Be strong,
fear not ; behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense ; he
mil come and save you*
Since probably few Christians of the
present day will venture to claim even an
equality with St. Paul in point of holiness,
1 Isaiah xxxv. 3.
124
much less a superiority over him, we may
derive from his memorable confession
another important truth : that it is vain for
man to dream of attaining to perfection in
this world. Our very best , deeds will
ever be mingled with sin ; our very best
wishes will ever be distracted with reluc-
tance ; and our very best services will ever
partake largely of corruption. Though some
may strangely pervert the meaning of
Scripture and falsely boast of an imaginary
perfection, the humble disciple, who by
bitter experience has known the plague
of his own heart, cannot be thus lamentably
deluded.' Free indeed every one, that is
1 1 John iii. Q. " Haec hominibus," says St, Jerome,
" sola perfectio, si imperfectos se esse noverint." And St.
Austin, " Nulla remansit iufirmitas ? Si non remansisset,
sine peccato hie viveremus. Quis autem audeat hoc
dicere, nisi superbus? nisi misericordialiberatoris indignus?
nisi qui seipsum vult decipere, et in quo veritas non est ?"
125
born of God, must be from a resolute habit
of sin, and from a predetermined purpose
of enjoying its pleasures whenever they
occur. But who shall cleanse himself from
all his secret faults ? Who is able to purify
himself from offence in thought, in word,
and in deed ? Who shall dare to pronounce
himself clear from the culpability of omis-
sion, as well as from the presumptuousness
of commission ? If we say that zze have
no sm, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us.'
I cannot refrain from observing, it f 'i i v e more than
once met with writers, who no less roundly than unac-
countably have asserted that the Calvinists hold the doc-
trine of sinless perfection in those whom they denominate
the elect. The Calvinists hold no such doctrine, however
unwarrantable may be their speculations on the abstruse
points of predestination and reprobation.
1 John i. 8.
126
Respecting the proper mode of carrying
on the internal warfare of grace against na-
ture, very excellent is the advice of Bp.
Hall. " There are two men/' says he, " in
every regenerate breast, the old and the
new ; and of these, as they are ever plot-
ting against each other, we must take the
better side, and labour that the new man by
being more wise in God may outstrip the
old. And how shall that be done ? If we
would dispossess the strong man that keeps
the house, our Saviour bids us bring in a
stronger than he ; and, if we would over-
reach the subtilty of the old man, yea the
old serpent, bring in a stronger than he,
even the Spirit of God, the God of
Wisdom/' 1
Nor is this observation excellent only in
Bp. Hall's Works, p. 469.
the way of advice ; it affords also to every
man a very useful test of his regeneracy.
If he find that two men are perpetually at
war within him, and that the one gradually
prevails over the other ; he has no reason
to doubt of the reality of his being a child
of God, though he may never have felt any
of those sudden and violent pangs of con-
science which some appear erroneously to
esteem the very essentials of regeneration.
But, on the other hand, if he view his be-
loved self with a fond complacency, and if
he be totally unacquainted with the- never-
ceasing inward warfare of a Christian ; he
then has but too sufficient grounds to be
very doubtful of the goodness of his state.
" There are tvo men in every regenerate
breast/' Where the workings of one alone
are perceptible, and where consequently
there is no struggle, is it possible then, if
Bp. Hall be a sound expositor, that the re-
128
newing influence of the Holy Spirit can
ever have been really experienced ?
Upon the whole, we may conclude
that, in the regenerate, the vicious inclina-
tions of corrupt nature are not so much
eradicated, as mortified and subdued. A
i
new principle is instilled into the heart, di-
ametrically opposite to the affections of the
flesh, and waging an eternal war against
them. It is vain to expect in this world,
that duty will ever be entirely unattended
with pain. The carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the Law
of God, neither indeed can be. 1 As a rem-
nant of the idolatrous Canaanites was left
in the midst of the children of Israel, to be
a thorn in their sides and a perpetual snare
to them ; * so are the evil affections of a
1 Rom. viii.7. Judg. ii. 3.
129
Christian a constant source of trouble and
vexation to him. Yet these lusts of the
flesh are kept in a state of abject slavery
to their new master; and, although they
may be disposed occasionally to rebel, and,
in fact, do never cordially submit to the
yoke imposed upon them, still are they daily
constrained to bow beneath it, still are they
daily losing some portion of their original
strength and influence. At times, indeed,
as every believer knows by woeful experi-
ence, the house of Saul will appear to prevail
against the house of David. Long and tedi-
ous is the war between them, a war which
can only terminate with the extinction of
one of the parties ; yet in the course of
this spiritual struggle, it will be found that
David waxes stronger and stronger, and the
house of Saul weaker and weaker. 1 Even
natural causes will contribute their mite of
* 2 Sam.iii, 1.
I
130
co-operation with the Spirit of grace.
What at first was indescribably irksome,
will through habit gradually become tolera-
ble, if not palatable, even to our natural
inclinations ; while the hope of a speedy
victory and a glorious recompence will al-
leviate the hardships of the, Christian war-
fare. Meanwhile the soul, through the
assistance of the blessed Spirit, will be per-
_petually advancing in the paths of holiness,
and perpetually discovering new beauty,
and experiencing fresh pleasure in them,
A delightful sense of security, a calm
reliance upon the protection of God, and a
consciousness of possessing an interest in
the merits of the Saviour, will smooth the
rugged path of duty, and make the rough
places plain. The communion of saints, that
golden though invisible chain which forms
the connexion between the higher and the
nether worlds, affords a never failing source
of happiness to the believer. If a pagan
131
could exult in the uncertain prospect of
rejoining his friends in the realms of bliss,*
what shall we say of the certain view of
futurity held out to the Christian ? In a
few, a very few years, death will be swallow-
ed up in victory, the wicked will cease from
troubling, and the weary will be at rest.
Those associates, in whom he most delight-
ed while upon earth, will soon rejoin him,
pure, perfect, and sinless, in heaven. He is
conscious that at present there is a some-
thing in his nature, a bitter root of perverse-
ness and corruption, which prevents him
from attaining to that degree of holiness,
that entire communion with God, beneath
which his soul is unable to rest satisfied.
He delights in the law of God after the i?i-
ward man, but he sees another law in his
* Cicer. somiL Scip.
132
members warring against the law of his
mind. 1 Hence arises a wish to quit this
troublesome world and all its vanities ; a
desire to be with Christ, which is far better."
Yet is this wish unalloyed with discontent:
The Christian can humbly resign himself,
whether living or dying, to the good* plea-
1 Rom. vii. 22.
* Did we feel the vanity of the world as practically as
we are ready to allow it theoretically, this wish would
always be predominant in our hearts, though tempered, no
doubt, with resignation to the will of heaven, and with
humble gratitude for our deliverance from the merited
penalties of sin. (< Paulisper te crede subduci in mentis
ardui verticem celsiorem, speculari inde rerum infra te
jacentium facies ; et oculis in diversa porrectis, ipse a
terrenis contactibus liber, flucluantis mundi turbines intu-
ere. Jam seculi et ipse miscreberis ; tuique admonitus,
et plus in Deum gratus, majore laetitia quod evaseris gra-
tulaberis. Cerne tu itinera latronibus clausa, maria ob-
sessa praedonibus, cruento horroie castrorum bella ubique
divisa : madet orbis mutuo sanguine ; et homicidium cum
133
sure of his heavenly Father, who knows,
infinitely better than himself what is good
and proper for him. Thus, secure under
the protection of his God, and firmly rely-
ing on the merits of his Saviour, he calm-
ly awaits the hour of his dissolution ; when
he shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the
sons of God, when tears shall be wiped
away from every eye, and when the sorrows
of time shall give place to the joys of
eternity.
admittunt singuli, crimen est ; virtus vocatur cum publice
geritur ; impunitatem sceleribus acquirit, non innocently
ratio, sed saevitiae magnitude)." Cyprian, ad Donat. The
sum and substance of practical wisdom is condensed in this
short apophthegm, The fashion of this world passeth
CHAP. V.
The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Affections.
WHILE the blessed Spirit of God is em-
ployed in illuminating the understandings,
and in converting the wills of his servants,
he is also working a gradual change in
their affections. He weans them from the
/
gross and terrestrial objects of sense, he
mortifies the works of the flesh, and he
draws up their minds to high and heavenly
things. 1 He teaches them not merely
1 Art. xvii.
135
theoretically, but experimentally, the infi-
nite disproportion between the .pleasures of
this world and the joy which is reserved
for the faithful at the right hand of God.
By slow and almost imperceptible degrees,
a surprising change takes place within
them. They no longer feel any relish for
those vanities, which the slaves of dissipa-
tion esteem absolutely necessary for their
happiness ; and what at first was resigned
upon principles of duty and conscience,
though with no small reluctance, now
ceases to excite a single wish, and is consi-
dered with indifference or even aversion/
1 " By this new nature the very natural motion of the
soul, so taken, is obedience to God, and walking in the
paths of righteousness ; it can no more live in the habit
and ways of sin, than a man can live under water. Sin is
not the Christian's element ; it is too gross for his renewed
soul, as the water is for his body. He may fall into it, but
he cannot breathe in it ; cnnnot take delight and continue
136
The life of Christ is the beautiful ex-
emplar, which every man under the guid-
ance of the Holy Spirit endeavours to
imitate. He finds himself uneasy in the
society of those, whose daily conversation
is the very reverse of that bright pattern,
which was once, and only once, exhibited
before the eyes of sinful mortality ; and
lie flies with delight to companions, whose
habits and views are more congenial with
to live in it : but his delight is in the law of the Lord.
That is the walk, that his soul refreshes itself in ; he loves
it entirely, and loves it most, when it most crosses the re-
mainders of corruption that are in him; he bends the
strength of his soul to please God, and aims wholly at that.
It takes up his thoughts early and late ; he hath no other
purpose in his being and living : but only to honour his
Lord, that is, to live to righteousness. He doth not make
a by-work of it, a stud^ for his spare hours ; no, it is his
main business, his all." Abp. Leighton's Works, Vol. i.
p. 402.
137
his own. Still, whenever there is even a
faint hope only of effecting a reformation,
he seeks not morosely to shun the presence
of the thoughtless and the dissipated/
Here his business is to watch for opportu-
nities of usefulness ; to avoid the appear-
ance of unnecessary rigour ; and to diffuse
the practice of holiness, rather by occasion-
al hints and general remarks, than by
petulant reproof and pointed allusion. We
are all, however absurd it may be, more
subject to the influence of pride and self-
conceit, than perhaps of any other species
of mental criminality. It is the particular
* ' OTTQV TtXenvv XOTTOJ, TroAu xsgSoj. A"Aouj JJOX^TO.; sow
#s o"0i oyx e<7T*v. /xaXAov TOV; Aoj/Aoregouj ey 7roa<mjTJ
U7roTa<r<7e. O-j Trav Tgay/ia TJJ ctvTy e[&Tr\et<rTgcp QsgcurEviTcti.
Tou; 7ra^o0y<T]aouj s^go^a.^ TTCUVS. 0^ov;/xoj ytvou u>s o^ij ev
7ra:ny, KSH cfAzgctio; (ami TregiVTegct. Ignat. Epist. ad
Poly carp.
138
aim of Christianity to eradicate this master
passion of the soul ; and all, who have had
the least experience of their own hearts,
will readily allow the difficulty of the work.
If such be the confession of every humble,
self-denying believer, with what a tremend-
ous sway must the sin of pride rule in the
breasts of the carnal and worldly-minded !
Men never much relish the being driven to
their duty. Personal censure, and ill-timed
advice, always convey an idea of superio-
rity, and as such will always give offence.
Impressed with the truth of these remarks,
the Christian will endeavour to unite pru-
dence with his zeal. He will strive rather
to lead men into the paths of salvation,
than to compel them to come in. Though
ever upon the watch to do good, he will
temper his watchfulness with judgment.
He will study to remove all appearance of
design and premeditation from what he
says. He will seek to conciliate the aftec-
139
tions of those with whom he converses,
He will resolutely turn aside from every
temptation to sarcasm and ridicule, as well
knowing that the applause, which might
perhaps be procured by his wit, would be
but a poor recompense for the diminution,
probably the loss, of his influence over an
immortal soul. He will strive, in short, to
inculcate the maxims of his religion bv
o /
example, as well as by precept. With
these views, and these resolutions, he will
enter into company, and thus convert even
an ordinary visit into a plan for promoting
the glory of God.
The imitation, then, of Christ constitutes
the principal study of those, who are in-
fluenced by the Holy Ghost. Whatsoever
action they are about to perform, their
first question is, whether Christ would have
performed it, bad he been in their situation :
140
and it is their constant endeavour to regu-
late, not only their words, but their very
thoughts, in a way resembling that, in
which they have reason to conceive that he
regulated his. Their ordinary employ-
ments, their amusements, their choice of
friends, nay even the most common trans-
actions of their lives, will be brought to
the same test. They contemplate the
heavenly meekness of Christ : and labour
to transfuse his spirit into their own hearts.
They view his immaculate purity; and
strive with yet greater earnestness to put
off the old man with his lusts. Tliey be-
hold his wonderful and disinterested love
for mankind, displayed in a life of active be-
nevolence and in a death full of pain and
torment; they hear him praying for his
murderers, and see him anxiously concerned
for the welfare of his friends even when
the prospect of his own bitter suffer-
141
ings was directly before his eyes : and,
full of these thoughts, they learn to
abhor the narrow spirit of selfishness, and
feel their souls alive both to the temporal
and the eternal interests of all their
brethren. They are taught by his blessed
example to love their enemies, to bless those
that hate them, and to pray for those that
despiteful ly use them and persecute them.
Thus endeavouring to tread in the steps
of their divine master, they gradually
acquire a greater relish for heavenly enjoy-
ments, and find themselves elevated above
the fleeting pleasures of this transitory
world. The amiable mildness and sweet
serenity of the new disposition, which has
been implanted in them, is so conspicuous,
that it cannot but be perceived even by
those whose hearts are unaffected. It is
true, that the man, who is naturally of a
142
harsh and rugged temper, will never wholly
attain to the gentleness of those Christians,
whose affections have been originally cast
in a different and more beautiful mould.
Something of the old leaven will yet re-
main, nor can it ever be totally removed
except by the hand of death. Yet how
pleasing is it to behold asperities gradually
worn away, and, in direct opposition to the
ordinary course of mere nature, a mild and
placid old age succeeding to a morose and
irritable manhood. Such will ever be the
influence of real Christianity upon all the
more unkindly passions of the human soul.
Avarice will become liberality ; unclean-
ness, purity ; and selfishness, a generous
desire of promoting the happiness of all
mankind. Old things are passed away ; be-
hold all things are become new.
" Give me," says the eloquent Lactan-
145
tius, " a man of a passionate, abusive,
headstrong, disposition ; with a few only
of the words of God, I will make him gen-
tle as a lamb. Give me a greedy, avari-
cious, tenacious, wretch ; and I will teach
him to distribute his riches with a liberal
and unsparing hand. Give me a cruel,
and blood-thirsty monster; and all his
rage shall be changed into true benignity.
Give me a man addicted to injustice, full of
ignorance, and immersed in wickedness;
he shall soon become just, prudent, and in-
nocent. In the single laver of regenera-
tion, he shall be cleansed from all his
malignity." 1
Is it possible for a change like this to be
effected by mere human means ? The laws
' Lact. In?t, 1. ii. c. 26.
144
of a country may indeed operate so far as
to prevent open violence, but the Holy
Spirit of God is alone able to reach the
soul. The artificial restraints of politeness
are but a poor, a servile, imitation of that
true urbanity of manners, that constant
desire of beins; serviceable to all around us,
o
which nothing but the gospel of Christ can
teach. Pursue the man of the world into his
retirements; and the smiling insinuating
courtier will frequently be metamorphosed
into the negligent and cruel husband, or the
harsh and tyrannical master. His natural
temper, now no longer under any restraint,
breaks out with redoubled violence, and
vents itself on those who are unhappily
subjected to his power. Widely different
is the conduct of the Christian. Acting
from a higher principle, and experiencing
the changing influence of the Spirit in the
very inmost recesses of his heart, he is uni-
145
form and consistent at all times and in all
places. He is the same character in pri-
vate and in public, at home and abroad.
His politeness is the politeness of the
heart, not the spurious offspring of a studi-
ed and elaborate refinement.
It is striking to observe the different
effects of religion and irreligion on persons,
who are naturally of very opposite disposi-
tions.
The originally mild and gentle Nero was
soon corrupted by the charms of despotism
and the flattery of sycophants. Proceed-
ing from bad to worse, he became ultimate-
ly one of the bloodiest tyrants upon record;
the terror and aversion of his enslaved sub-
jects; the murderer of his brothers, his wives,
and his mother ; and the bitter persecutor
of Christianity.
K
146
The impetuous, blood-thirsty, and unre-
lenting Saul, on the contrary, the furious
opposer of the Gospel, and the determined
enemy of the Messiah, was changed into the
" amiable, fervent, and affectionate, apostle,
ready to bear all hardships, and to submit to
all the wayward and petulant humours both
of Jew and of Gentile, in order that he might
gain some to the cause of his Lord. Read
that beautiful specimen of the conciliatory,
his epistle to Philemon. We have great joy
and consolation in thy love, because the bowels
of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
Wherefore, though I might be much bold in
Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
yet for loves sake I rather beseech thee,
being such an one as Paul the aged, and now
also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beseech
thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have be-
gotten in my bonds ; which in time past was
to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee
and to me ; whom I have sent again : thou
147
therefore receive him, that is, mine own
bowels : whom I would have retained with me,
that in thy stead he might have ministered
unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But
without thy mind would I do nothing ; that
thy benefit should not be as it were of neces-
sity, but willingly. Who would ever have
supposed, that this delicate and conde-
scending address could have proceeded from
the pen of the haughty and implacable
Saul ? What an astonishing difference be-
tween the mild yet dignified apostle, and
the relentless bigot, breathing out threaten-
ings and slaughter against the disciples,
making havoc of the church, entering into
every house, and haling men and women to
prison !
Whence then could arise this difference,
as singular as it is palpable, except from
the opposite influences of grace and nature,
the one gradually correcting the malignant
148
propensities of the human heart, the other
cherishing and fostering them? Had the
black list of his future crimes been propheti-
cally displayed before the eyes of the youth-
ful Nero, he would have been inclined to
ask, in the words of Hazael, Am I a dog,
that I should do these things ? Such often
is the language of modern Infidelity ; but
by their fruits are the disciples of Christ
best distinguished from the upholders of
the empire of Satan.
The dignity of human nature ; the eternal
fitness of things ; the moral sense ; the
beauty of virtue, and the deformity of vice ;
the tendency of the heart to the one, and
its repugnance to the other ; the superiority
of philosophy over Christianity ; the charms
of universal philanthropy and disinterested
benevolence : have in our own memory
been repeatedly and triumphantly brought
forward. The God of Israel has been in-
149
suited to his face ; his statutes, and his ordi-
nances, have been ridiculed ; the person of
his Son has been vilified ; the operations of
his Holy Spirit have been held up, as a mad
enthusiasm ; and Christianity has been tra-
duced, as the artful machination of a design-
ing impostor. We have been informed that,
when philosophy should take the lead, a new
and happier order of things would succeed
to the present. Emancipated from the
shackles of priestcraft and tyranny, human
reason would expand itself to its full growth,
and infallibly conduct us to peace, to love,
and to happiness. Religion, the bugbear
of deluded mortals, would hide her dimi-
nished head ; prejudices would vanish
from off the face of the earth ; cruelty
and despotism would become extinct with
priests and kings ; and the infinite perfecti-
bility of our nature would commence.
Wars would be no more heard of; and
mankind would be one large family, united
150
by the ties of a generous affection, and
actuated by one common principle of mu-
tual improvement. Thus conferring and
receiving happiness, we should behold the
rast globe itself gradually converted into a
terrestrial paradise.
Such vain dreams of self-intitled philoso-
phers have at length received a tremendous
confutation. We have seen realized, in
these last days, the theory of a people
without prince, without priest, and without
religion. We have seen the Gospel with-
drawn from a nation, which had long either
perverted its doctrines, or scoffed at its
truths. We have seen that nation formally
cast off the authority of God. We have
seen her left to legislate, and frame fantastic
codes of natural religion, for herself. It
almost appears as if God had wisely per.
mitted the experiment to be tried, in order
that man might be taken in his own folly,
151
that the different effects of Christianity and
of unbelief might be placed in the most
striking point of view, and that the pride of
Infidelity might be for ever humbled in the
dust. The religion of God, and the religion
of Satan, have been palpably contrasted
together. They have both equally promised
the blessings of philanthropy, universal
charity, and diffusive benevolence ; they
have both equally declared the happiness
of man to be their object ; and they have
both equally held out the prospect of ame-
liorating our nature, and of eradicating
the seeds of ignorance, cruelty, and corrup-
tion.
That the Gospel has most faithfully per-
formed its promise, the comfortable expe-
rience of every sincere believer will joyfully
acknowledge. Many indeed there are, who,
while they bear the name of Christians, are
totally unacquainted with the power of
152
their divine religion. But for their crimes
o
the gospel is in no wise answerable. Chris-
tianity is with them a geographical, not a
descriptive, appellation. In strict propri-
ety of speech, they are no more Christians,
than the unconverted savages, who roam
through the trackless deserts of America.
The same reason equally serves to prove the
truth of this assertion, and to show how
little Christianity is bound to answer for
their misconduct. He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly ; neither is that circumci-
sion which is outward in thefeah : but he is
a JL'W u'hich is one inwardly ; and circum-
cision in that of the heart, in the spirit, and
not in the letter ; whose praise is not oj men,
but of God. 1
We may now ask, in what manner has
Infidelity kept her promise to her deluded
1 Rom. ji. 28.
153
followers? She has opened the floodgates
of licentiousness and immorality ; she has
deified lust, pride, and blasphemy ; she has
encouraged an indiscriminate cruelty and
thirst of blood : she has trampled upon
those rights of man, which she affected to
vindicate ; and she has endeavoured to tear
away the only remaining comfort of the
wretched, the hope of speedily exchanging
the miseries of this life for the happiness of
a better. Such are the fruits of high-vault-
ing infidelity.
The effect, indeed, which this sin of sins
produces upon the mind, is precisely the
reverse of that change of heart, which in
Scripture is metaphorically termed regene-
ration. An overweening pride, a hatred of
all restraints, a contempt of those milder
virtues in which Christianity so particularly
delights, are the usual characteristics of the
anarch and the deist. Where did we ever
154
behold the infidel exhibiting any of those
fruits of the Spirit, which are the marks,
the exclusive marks, of those that have been
born again ? The levity, with which one of
the most celebrated champions of deism is
said to have met death, even if the account
be true, is surely very different from the
calm serenity, the filial gratitude, and the
trembling confidence, of an expiring Chris-
tian. When Mr. Hume was drawing near
to that awful crisis, which, one would think,
even the best of men could not behold with
indifference, how did he employ the few last
weeks of a fleeting existence ? He read Lu-
cian, played at whist, and amused himself
with anticipating the conversation which
was to take place between himself and Cha-
ron ! " Drollery," says Bishop Home, " in
such circumstances, is neither more nor less
than
Moody madness, laughing wild
Amid severest woe.
155
Would we know the baneful and pestilen-
tial influences of false philosophy on the
human heart, we need only contemplate
them in this most deplorable instance of
Mr. Hume/' Such was the man, whom his
biographer considers, " both in his life-time,
and since his death, as approaching as near-
ly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtu-
ous man, as perhaps the nature of human
frailty will permit ! "
Let us now view a Christian's anticipation
of death.
Watch tJwu in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at
hand. I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith :
henceforth there is laid tip for im a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
156
judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to
me only, but unto all them that love his ap-
pearing.*
In this last address of the aged Paul to
Lis beloved son Timothy, when the pros-
pect of a speedy dissolution was full before
him, the marks of a regenerate and sancti-
fied believer must be evident even to the
most careless observer. While the Apostle
joy fully anticipates the promised reward, and
looks forward with eagerness to that happj
day, when corruptible shall put on incor-
ruption, and when mortal shall put on im-
mortality ; his affectionate heart still yearns
towards those friends whom he is about
to leave behind him, and almost his last
thoughts are employed in pointing out the
most effectual means of diffusing Christian
knowledge.
* 2 Tim. iv. 5.
157
Infidelity has of late years displayed a
zeal in propagating her sentiments, but lit-
tle inferior to that of primitive Christianity :
yet, in the midst of her labours, she has
shown, in a most striking manner, the
difference of the spirit, with which the
regenerate and the unregenerate are actu-
ated.
The martyr Stephen, in imitation of his
blessed Lord, spent his last breath in inter-
ceding for his murderers. Prayers were the
sole arms of the church of Christ, agreeably
to his express prohibition of attempting to
diffuse the gospel by violence ; and never
did the papists err more completely, than
when they called in the secular arm.
But what is the treatment, which all the
opponents of Infidelity must expect, not-
withstanding her perpetual appeal to tole-
ration, candour, liberality, and humanity ?
158
One of her warmest adherents desired only
" to die on a heap of Christians immolated
at his feet ;" Voltaire proposed, in case his
antichristian plan should succeed, to stran-
gle the last Jesuit with the bowels of the
o
last Jansenist; a regal apostate avowed,
that Infidelity could never be established,
except by the exertion of a superior force ;
and d'Alembert expressed a wish not un*
worthy even of a Nero, a wish to see a
whole nation exterminated, simply because
they professed the Christian religion. 1
The meek and submissive spirit of regene-
ration prompted the apostle to forbid, even
upon pain of damnation, all resistance to
the lawfully constituted powers of govern-
ment. He rightly judged, that self-vindi-
cation was inconsistent with the character
of him, who has been born again ; of him,
1 Barruel, Mem. of Jacobinism.
159
who expects his portion, not in this world,
but in the next. His precepts ^ were faith-
fully obeyed by the primitive Christians;
and there is not a single instance upon re-
cord of any resistance being made even to
the bloodiest persecutions of the heathen,
emperors.
This humility and gentleness, Infidelity
treats with the most sovereign contempt ;
she spurns at the idea of a meek and con-
tented obedience, and she values not the
blessing of a quiet spirit. Unlike that
evangelical charity, which seeketh not her
own, she clamorously demands her rights,
and preaches the legality of open insurrec-
tion and rebellion. The gospel reverently
looks up to God, as the sole fountain of
power, both civil and ecclesiastical ; but
Infidelity proudly scoffs at the degrading
sentiment, and confers upon the populace
the prerogative of Jehovah.
160
I have dwelt the more largely upon the
spirit of Infidelity, in order that it might
form the more striking contrast to that of
a regenerate Christian under the sanctify-
ing influence of the Holy Spirit. In a
painting, light appears more vivid from
being placed in the vicinity of darkness ;
and beauty possesses a tenfold degree of
attraction in the neighbourhood of de-
formity. It is impossible to avoid seeing
the difference between the real believer, and
the man who makes this world his god.
Setting aside all discrepancies of opijiion,
who is there, that, does not perceive the won-
derful dissimilarity between the character
of Paul, and that of a Hume or a Voltaire?
Who can avoid acknowledging that some
important change must have taken place
in the one, of which the others were totally
ignorant ? There was a time when the great
apostle of the gentiles, an apostle, moreover,
well versed in the most polite literature of the
161
age, hated, with Voltaire, the very name of
Christ; and would gladly, with d'Alembert,
have exterminated, at a single blow, the
whole multitude of the faithful. What then
can it be, which hath made him to differ?
Let us humbly confess, or rather let the
Apostle himself confess, that it was God,
who worked in him both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. Without the convertino-
^5
and sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost,
Paul would for ever have remained dead in
trespasses and sins.
In fine, to use the emphatic language of
Scripture, the regenerate are the temple of
the blessed Spirit, built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
being the chief corner stone. 1 God himself
condescends to dwell within them; 1 and,
. f
Ephesians, ii. 20.
1 1 Cor. Hi. 16. 2 Tim. i. 14. l John iv. 12. 15. 16.
L
162
like the Shechinah in his magnificent house
at Jerusalem, sanctities, illuminates, and
directs them. 1 What the soul is to the
body, the Holy Spirit is to the Church.
By his powerful agency, its members are
not only enlightened and actuated indivi-
dually ; but, like the several parts of the
natural body, they are connected and held
together in spiritual peace, order, union,
and harmony.*
OuSsv Av5vei TOV
syyoj O.VTCO <rnv. Tlavrtu ovv TTOKUpev ca$ ai/rov ev
xa.TomovvTO$, ivot WjU-sv aurou vao*, xai ayToj jj iv )jj.v
wv $ix#ja>j y7rajj,sv aorov. Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes.
Conversemur quasi Dei templa, ut Deum in nobis con-
stet habitare. Nee sit degener actus noster a Spiritu, ut
qui coelestes et spirituales esse coepimus, non nisi spiri-
tualia et coelestia cogitemus et agawus. Cyprian, de Orat.
Domin.
* Barrow's Works. Vol. ii. p. 505.
163
Such, and so great, are the privileges and
endowments of a Christian. However those,
that sit in the chair of the scorner, may
mock at the counsel of God, and deride
the operations of his Holy Spirit; they,
who have experienced the benefit of his
influence, thankfully acknowledge the great-
ness of his power in the conversion and
sanctification of a sinner. They know, in
whom they have believed. . If God be for
them, who can be against them ? In all things
they are more than conquerors through him
that loved them.
Blessed be God, even in these latter days
of the Christian Church, his arm is not
shortened. He is still both able and willing
o
to save all, who come to him in his Son's
name. His promises yet receive their ac-
complishment, nor can one jot or one tittle
of his word fail. As many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
164
ye have not received the spirit of bondage,
again to fear ; but ye have received the spi-
rit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit itself bearing witness with our
' spirit, that we are the children of God: and,
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. 1
1 Rom. viii. 14. 38.
CHAPTER VI.
The Holy Spirit, a Comforter, and an Intercessor.
THE Christian, who has been accustomed
to observe the workings of his heart, well
N knows that there are times, in which his
views of a better world are greatly darken-
ed and obscured. He is deprived of that
comfortable reliance on the fatherly good-
ness of God, which once constituted his
greatest joy and his highest privilege. His
love towards his Saviour appears to be
strangely diminished ; and, instead of that
fervent affection which once he experienced,
he feels nothing but a cold and painful
indifference. He sees others rejoicing in
the paths of holiness, and full of that
166
peace which passeth all understanding;
while his better prospects are fearfully
clouded, and a deep gloom overhangs his
dejected spirits. Scripture, instead of
offering him consolation, presents only a
menacing aspect ; and he dwells, with an
oppressive melancholy, upon those passages,
which contain the severe denunciations of
an offended God against hardened and im-
penitent sinners. Ordinances, that once
seemed to bring all heaven upon his ear,
now delight no more ; and, though he
sedulously frequents them, he appears to
himself to have, as it were, no interest in
them. The precious dew of God's Holy
Spirit descends upon all around him ;
while he alone, like Gideon's fleece, remains
unaltered. Public and private devotion
are equally inefficacious ; and even the
social conversation of a dear and religious
friend.no longer produces its wonted effect.
Weary of himself and sick of the world,
bewailing the deadness of his own heart,
167
and mourning for the loss of those better
days which once he knew, he is ready to
exclaim, that I had wings like a dove, for
then would I flee away and be at rest. 1
Such appears frequently to have been
the case with that favoured servant of
God, the holy Psalmist of Israel. O
Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, nei-
ther chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For
thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand
' " In spiritual trials, that are the sharpest and most
fiery of all, when the furnace is within a man, when God
doth not only shut up his loving kindness from its feeling,
but seems to shut it up in hot displeasure, when he writes
bitter things against it : yet then to depend upon him, and
wait for his salvation, this is not only a true, but a strong,
and very refined faith indeed, and the more he smites,
the more to cleave to him. Well might he say, When I
am tried, I shall come forth as gold. Who could say
that word, Though he stay me, yet will I trust in him ?
though I saw, as it were, his hand lifted up to destroy me,
yet from that same hand would I expect salvation." Abp.
Leighton's Comment, on 1 Pet. 1 7.
presseth me sore. There is no soundness in
my flesh, because of thine anger ; neither is
there any rest in my bones, because of my sin.
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head ;
as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for
me. I am troubled, I am bowed down
greatly, I go mourning all the day long. I
am feeble and sore broken ; I have roared by
reason of the disquietness of my heart.
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my
groaning is not hid from thee. My heart
panteth, my strength faileth me ; as for the
light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. 1
In another psalm he exclaims ; my tears
have been my meat day and night, while they
continually say unto me, Where is thy God ?
When I remember these things, I pour out
my soul in me : for I had gone with the
multitude, I went with them to the house of
God, with thevoice cf joy and praise, with
1 Psalm xxxviii.
169
the multitude that kept holy-day. Not with-
standing this use of outward means, the heart
of the prophet could still find no comfort ;
Why art thou cast down, my soul ? and why
art thou disquieted within me ? Deep calleth
unto deep at the noise of the water-spouts ;
all thy waves and thy billows are gone over
me. In this melancholy situation, David
looks up for help to him, from whom alone
help can come. my soul, hope thou in
God, for I will yet praise him, who is the
health of my countenance and my God. 1
While the Christian labours under this
depression of spirits, the subtle enemy of
mankind is busily employed in harassing
and distracting his soul. A thousand an-
xious doubts and fears are suggested to
him. His former happy communion with
God appears only like a delusion; and he
is tempted to suspect, that he never knew
1 Psalm xlii.
170
what real religion is. All those arguments
and evidences, from which he once con-
cluded that he was at peace with Christ, no
longer retain their former efficacy, but
seem to have vanished into empty air.
While he thus suffers the terrors of God
with a troubled mind; he is almost induced
to believe, that the Most High hath forgot-
ten to be gracious, and hath for ever shut
up the bowels of his compassion against
him. 1
1 There are some very useful obervations on this sub-
ject, in a sermon by the late Bp. Home, intitled, The
blessing of a cheerful heart. He judiciously refers the
gloom, which I have been describing, ultimately to a kind
of infidelity, a timorous distrust of God's promises.
Something of that sort will generally be found at the bot-
tom of religious despondency, insomuch that every
Christian has great reason daily to pray, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. See also Bp. Reynolds' works,
p. 458. and Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion,
chap. xxiv. from which very valuable treatise many of the
following observations are borrowed.
171
Persons in this uncomfortable state
ought first to consider, whether their case
does not require the physician rather than
the divine. It is almost superfluous to
observe, what has been already so often
observed, how wonderful a connexion there
is between the soul and the body. A long
train of nervous affections will generally
produce, if I may use the metaphor, a kind
of enervation of the mind. Its faculties
will lose their elasticity ; and a deep depres-
sion of spirits will take place of that com-
fort and serenity, which it is the direct ten-
dency of Christianity to inspire. Thanks
be to God, our religion is not a system of
gloomy observances, or a succession of rites
which fieeze the soul with horror, and teach
it to consider the beneficent Creator in the
light of a sanguinary and unrelenting
demon. The Gospel contains glad news of
great salvation to lost mankind ; and, as
such, ought to convey to us sensations of
pleasure, not of sorrow and melancholy.
172
If, therefore, disorder be the sole cause of
this painful dejection, a mere natural mala-
dy must be remedied by natural means ; for
we have no right to expect that God should
interfere with a miracle, in order to prevent
a bodily distemper from producing its ordi-
nary effect upon the mind.
But, where the corporeal frame is in a state
of perfect good health, and where every
nerve is strung up to its proper pitch, if
this painful sense of alienation from God,
so emphatically and beautifully styled in
Scripture the hiding of God's face, 1 still
subsist ; it will then be necessary to com-
mence a deep and impartial scrutiny both
of the inward thoughts and of the outward
conversation. Sins may have been com-
mitted, and repentance may have been
neglected. Or, if external pollution has
been avoided, the imagination may have
' Isai. Ixiv. 7. and lix. 2.
173
been for some time past deliberately and
habitually tainted with impurity, inflamed
with hatred, or too eagerly and exclusively
employed upon sensible objects. Should
such, upon a candid examination, appear
to have been the case, we may rest assured,
that our offences have separated between God
and us, and that our iniquities have caused
him to withdraw the cheering light of his
Holy Spirit. Even supposing that the
conscience does not plead guilty to these of-
fences, we may possibly find, upon a more
close search, that we have not entirely sur-
rendered ourselves to the service of our hea-
venly master. Some secret reservation, some
private compromise, may still be made.
Like Ananias, we may be inclined to give
only a part to God, still retaining the
remainder for ourselves. Whichever of these
be the case with us, it is our duty immedi-
ately to put away from us the accursed
thing and humbly to solicit peace and recon-
ciliation with heaven. If we find within our-
174
selves a readiness to submit to the painful
task of self-examination, that very circum-
stance ought to be a matter of comfort to us
in the midst of our dejection. " It is a good
sign of grace/' as Bp. Hopkins well
observes, " when a man is willing to search
o
and examine himself, whether he be gra-
cious or not. There is a certain instinct in
a child of God, whereby he naturally de-
sires to have the title of his legitimation
tried ; whereas a hypocrite dreads nothing
more than to have his rottenness searched
into. Try yourselves by this ; do you love
the word of God because it is a searching
word, because it brings home convictions
to you, and shakes your carnal confidences
and presumptions ? Do you love a mi-
nistry, that speaks as closely and particu-
larly to you, as if it were another con-
science without you ; a ministry, that ran-
sacks your very souls, and tells you all
that ever you did ? Do you delight in a
ministry, that forceth you to turn inward
175
upon yourselves, that makes you tremble
and look pale at every word, for fear it
should be the sentence of your damnation ?
This is a sign that your condition is good,
because you are so willing to be searched/' 1
If such be our case, and if, after a dili-
gent scrutiny, we are able to discover
nothing more than those ordinary imperfec-
tions with which the life of the very best
Christian is chequered ; if we cannot detect
any particular cause of that gloom, which
overhangs our spirits : let us not in such cir-
cumstances be like unto men without hope.
We may depend upon it, that we are
exposed to this trial for the wisest and
most merciful purposes. All things will
finally work together for good to those that
love God. Perhaps it may be necessary
for our spiritual welfare, that our faith
should be proved, that our self-confidence
1 Bishop Hopkins' Works, p. 553.
176
should be abated, and that we should be
made to see that man, even in his best estate,
is altogether vanity. The careless and the
inconsiderate are ignorajit even of the very
existence of this internal distress. Those,
that God loveth, are the persons whom he
more particularly chasteneth. If David
was so frequently constrained to mourn l)ij
reason of affliction, and to exclaim in the
bitterness of his heart, Lord, why easiest
tliou off my soul ? why hidest thou thy face
from me ? l can we reasonably expect to
be made perfect without suffering ? Our
blessed Saviour himself was a man of sor-
rows and acquainted with grief, and such
also his disciples must frequently be. His
tender care, however, has not left us with-
out a provision against the day of evil
tidings. Blessed are they that mourn, for
they shall be comforted. 1 ' This promise he
was afterwards pleased to explain more at
1 Psalm Ixxxviii. 14. * Matt. v. 4.
177
large, and to point out to us that gracious
personage, through whose agency we may
expect to receive the balm of consolation.
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 ;
whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye
know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you. I will not leave you comfort-
less*
In these words, another very important
office of the Holy Ghost is pointed out to
us ; and a promise is made, that he should
abide with us for ever in the capacity of a
comforter. Through the midst of that gloom,
with which the Christian is sometimes sur-
rounded, a ray of light at length breaks in
upon his soul, and dissipates the heavy
1 Johnxiv. 1 6.
M
178
clouds of despondency. His mourning is
turned into joy ; and, instead of his ashes,
he receives the oil of gladness. His filial con-
fidence in God is again restored to him ; he
clearly sees the infinite merit of his Re-
deemer's sufferings ; and doubts not to ap-
ply to himself that gracious invitation,
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Such are
the great things, which God the Spirit hath
done for his soul, and which he fails not to
acknowledge with praise and thanksgiving.
The remembrance of his past sorrows
heightens his present joy ; his faith is great-
ly increased ; and he learns to cast his bur-
den upon the Lord, 1 who alone is able to
sustain him.*
1 Psalm Iv. 22.
* " The peace that we have with God in Christ, is invio-
lable ; but, because the sense and persuasion of it may be
interrupted, the soul, that is truly at peace with" God, may
for a time be disquieted in itself, through weakness of
faith, or the strength of temptation, or the darkness of
179
The Holy Psalmist frequently celebrates
the goodness and mercy of God for having
delivered him from this oppressive load of
mental indisposition. I waited patiently
for the Lord ; and he inclined unto me, and
heard my cry. He brought me up also out of
the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my
goings. And he hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God ; many shall
see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.\
desertion, losing sight of that grace, that love and light of
God's countenance, on which its tranquillity and joy
depend. Thou hidest thy face, saith David, and I was
troubled. But when these eclipses are over, the soul is
revived with new consolation, as the face of the earth is
renewed, and made to smile with the return of the sun in
the spring ; and this ought always to uphold Christians in.
the saddest times, viz. that the grace and love of God,
towards them, depends not on their sense, nor upon any
thing in them, but is still in itself incapable of the smallest
alteration." Abp. Leighton's Works, Vol. i. p. 47.
1 Psalm xl. 1.
180
Most indeed of those Psalms, which begin
sorrowfully, terminate with expressions of
joy and triumph. In short, as Dr. Barrow
well observes, " it is a notable part of the
Holy Spirit's office >to comfort and sustain
us, as in all our religious practice, so parti-
cularly in our doubts, difficulties, distresses,
and afflictions ; to beget joy, peace, and
satisfaction in us, in all our performances,
and in all our sufferings, whence the title of
comforter belongeth to him."
In addition to the internal trials of harass-
ing doubts and fears, the Christian is also
exposed to those external ones which are the
common lot of mortality. His communion
with God does not exempt him from cala-
mity and disease, from the loss of his dear-
est relatives, and from the ingratitude of
his most confidential friends. They, whose
portion is in this world, are frequently
* Barrow's Works, vol. ii. p> 505.
181
much less subject to temporal misfortunes,
than the pious and the just. Troubles of
various kinds are often the lot of the most
highly favoured children of God. It is
good for them to be kept in a state of per-
petual warfare, in order that they may be
safe from carnal security and effeminate
indulgence. The luxury of Capua proved
more fatal to the Carthaginian hero, than
all the efforts of Roman valour : *and a
Christian is never more in danger, than
when taught by prosperity to consider him-
self no longer in an enemy's country.
Whatever his afflictions are, he may rest
assured that they are sent in mercy, not in
anger ; that they are designed to wean his
affections from sublunary objects, and to
rivet them more immoveably upon the
promised joys of heaven. When every
earthly prospect of felicity is blasted by the
pangs of disease or the inroads of poverty,
by the premature death of our best beloved
friends, t)r the loss of worldly reputation
182
for the sake of our religion ; we then learn
to look for happiness beyond the grave, in
those blessed abodes where the wicked cease
from troubling, and where the weary are at
rest. In such distressing circumstances,
the Christian is not deserted by his Saviour ;
and he soon finds, by his own happy expe-
rience, that the Lord is a God who keepeth
his promise with a thousand generations.
Through the gracious influences of the Holy
Spirit, he finds a light springing up in the
midst of darkness ; his sorrows are gradu-
ally assuaged ; his confidence in God is
increased ; and ne is brought at length to
acknowledge that it is good for him, that
he has been afflicted. Ye now have sorrow,
said our blessed Lord to his disciples, but I
will see you again, and your joy no man
takethfrom you?
It is usually so ordered by the merciful
1 John xvi. 22.
183
providence of God, that, when worldly
comforts are at the lowest ebb, and when
earthly enjoyments are violently torn away
from our grasp ; the soul is then best fitted
for divine exercises, and acquires a more
thorough insight into heavenly matters.
This sacred consolation seems to be in-
creased or diminished, according to the
varying exigencies of the Christian. During
the pains of martyrdom, all heaven opened
upon the enraptured eyes of Stephen ; and
he beheld his Saviour ready to receive him
into the mansions of everlasting felicity.
Unless, however, we should be placed in a
similar situation, we certainly have no
grounds to expect an equal degree of com-
fort : yet, when the pious believer is strip-
ped of all the good things which this world
can afford, and when the iron has entered
into his very soul ; when his mortal part is
wasting away with disease, and when his
immortal spirit trembles on the verge of
futurity ; is it unreasonable to suppose that
184
the God, who hath promised to make all
his bed in his sickness, will be his guide
and his support even to death itself? While
the current of life is fast ebbing, never to
flow again in this world ; may we not
humbly trust that the Holy Spirit will
.descend into the soul with a full tide of
glory, that all misgiving fears and anxious
doubts will be removed, and that the terror
of uncertainty will be converted into the
filial confidence of hope ?'
" I trust, Beloved," says the judicious
Hooker, " we know that we are not repro-
bates, because our spirit doth bear us
record, that the faith of our Lord Jesus
1 Far be it from me to assert, that these sensible com-
forts are in the slightest degree necessary and essential to
saltation : on the contrary, it is highly probable, that the
sun of many of God's faithful servants hath set behind a
cloud, in order only to rise with greater splendor in the
kingdom of heaven. The possibility, and the necessity, of
such comforts, are two entirely distinct ideas.
185
Christ is in us. It is as easy a matter for
the spirit within you to tell whose ye are,
as for the eyes of your body to judge where
you sit or in what place you stand. For
they, which fall away from the grace of
God and separate themselves unto perdi-
tion, they are fleshly and carnal, they have
not God's Holy Spirit. But unto you,
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, to
the end ye might know that Christ hath
built you upon a rock unmoveable ; that
he hath registered your names in the book
of life ; that he hath bound himself in a
sure and everlasting covenant to be your
God, and the God of your children after
you. The Lord, of his infinite mercy, give
us hearts plentifully fraught with the trea-
sure of this blessed assurance of faith unto
the end." 1
1 Hooker's Works, Vol. iii. p. 557, 5*8. Oxf. Edit.
186
We are not however to imagine, that the
comforts of a Christian are uniformly the
same at all times, or that an equal sense of
being at peace with God is granted to every
believer. " This assurance," says the
excellent Archbishop Leighton, " all the
heirs of glory have not ordinarily within
them, and scarce any at all times equally
clear. Some travel on in a covert cloudy
day, and get home by it, having so much
light as to know their way, and yet do not
at all clearly see the bright and full sunshine
of assurance : others have it breaking forth
at some times, and anon under a cloud :
and some more constantly. But, as all meet
in the end, so all agree in this in the begin-
ning, that is, the reality of the thing ; they
are made unalterably sure heirs of it, in
their effectual calling/"
The scriptural expression, the Seal of the
I Works, Vol. ii. p. 340.
18?
Spirit, seems plainly to signify, that the
soul of that Christian, upon whom it is im-
pressed, bears as evident marks of confor-
mity to the will of God, as the wax does of
similarity to the seal by which it has been
stamped. 1 By means of this resemblance, the
Spirit bcareth witness with our spirits that we
are the children of God, thus infusing into
our hearts the sweet balm of divine consola-
tion. As the Christian clearly discerns, that
there is a natural unfitness in the unregene-
rate soul to enter into the kingdom of
heaven ; so, in consequence of the change,
which has taken place within him, he
argues, that the regenerate soul, the soul
which bears the impression of the seal of the
Spirit, is also unfit for the society of the
damned. However deeply he may be con-
scious of his numerous deficiencies, yet he
1 See Bp. Hopkius's Works, p. 529- Bp. Andrews's
Works, p. 654, 660. Bp. Hooper's Works, p. 581. Bp.
Wilkins on Prayer, p. 2
188
finds within himself a certain relish and
affection for heavenly matters, which he
knows is foreign to his nature, and which
consequently must have been derived from
some external influence. Of ourselves we
can neither will nor do any thing that is
good ; he finds, that he does both will and
do that which is good, though in a degree
far inferior to his wishes : hence he con-
cludes, that his sufficiency is derived, not
from himself, but from God. He looks
around him, and perceives that the bulk of
mankind have no standard of action except
their own inclinations ; they consider not
what is acceptable to God, but what is
pleasing to themselves ; and their own
gratification is the sole end of all their pur-
suits. On the contrary, he cannot avoid
observing, though it be with the utmost
humility, that his conduct is influenced by
widely different principles. Self is daily
mortified, and the sense of duty is daily
strengthened. His lofty looks are humbled.
189
and his haughtiness is bowed down ; the Lord
alone is exalted, and his honour alone is con-
sulted. 1 Though he may perpetually fall
short of his intentions, yet those intentions
remain unaltered ; and his fixed purpose is
to do all things to the glory of God.' When
he considers what has been done for his
soul, he is filled with gratitude and humility.
His own vileness forms such a contrast with
the mercy of his Redeemer, as fills him
with astonishment ; and he is constrained
to acknowledge, that the whole is the Lord's
doing. Such is that blessed correspondence
of our inclinations with the will of God,
which Scripture denominates the seal of tht
Spirit ; such are those strong consolations,
which the Almighty alone is able to bestow
upon us.
Nor does the title of Paraclete convey
simply the idea of a comforter ; it is also
1 Isaiah ii. 1 1 ,
190
the office of the Holy Ghost to suggest to us
fit matter for our devotions, and to present
our imperfect supplications before the
throne of grace. Of ourselves, we are
o
unable to offer up a single acceptable
prayer; for every good and every perfect
gift cometh from above. Hence the Apostle
declares, that the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities ; for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groan-
ings which cannot le uttered. 1 He is our
advocate at the bar of heaven, where he
continually pleads in our behalf the merits
of our blessed Saviour with an eloquence,
of which mortal tongues are incapable.
To adopt the language of the pious Barrow,
<c He reclaimeth us from error and sin ; he
supporteth and strengthen eth us in tempta-
tion ; he advisetli and admonisheth, exci-
teth and encourageth, us to all works of
1 Rom. viii. 26.
191
piety and virtue. He guideth, and quick-
eneth, us in devotion : showing us what we
should ask ; raising in us holy desires and
comfortable hopes ; disposing us to ap-
proach unto God with fit dispositions of
mind, love, and reverence, and humble
confidence. He is also our intercessor with
God ; presenting our supplications, and
procuring our good. He cryeth in us, he
pleadeth for us to God. Whence he is
peculiarly called vapax^ros, the advocate ;
that is, one, who is called in by his good
word or countenance to aid him, whose
cause is to be examined, or petition to be
considered." 1
These are the benefits which the Christian
receives from the Holy Spirit, in the way of
consolation and intercession. In the midst
of his troubles, he is not left comfortless ;
for he is perfectly assured and convinced,
* Barrow's Works, Vol. n. p. 505.
192
that God careth for him. A peace unknown
to the wicked is diffused over his heart ;
and he gratefully confesses that the hand,
which bestowed it, must be divine. He
approaches the throne of grace without
fear ; for he knows in whom he hath believed,
and relies upon the intercession of the Al-
mighty Spirit. Impressed with the convic-
tion of these great truths, he can joyfully
take up the words of the Psalmist ; The
Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; he
leadeth me beside the still waters. He resto-
reth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with
me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever. 1
1 Psalm xxiii.
CHAP. VII.
The fruits of the Spirit contrasted with the works of
the Flesh.
I. NOTWITHSTANDING the preceding dis-
cussion, some one may still perhaps be
inclined to ask, How am I to know, whether
my understanding, my will, and my affec-
tions, have indeed been acted upon by the
Holy Spirit of God ? The question is a
most important one, yet, I trust, by no
means unanswerable. Would we solve it
satisfactorily, let us have recourse to
Scripture.
1. Some attempt to reduce the whole of
the influences of the Spirit to a mere exter-
N
194
nal decorum ; and profanely decry as en-
thusiasm the belief in that supernatural
change of heart, the necessity of which is
so strongly inculcated by our Saviour. As
if it were probable, that the diabolical sins
of envy, hatred, and malice, sins perfectly
compatible with outward decency, did not
render a man just as much a child of hell,
as the more glaring turpitude of drunken-
ness, fornication, and dishonesty.
2. On the other hand, some would per-
suade us, that almost the whole of religion
consists in warm and lively feelings ; and
that, unless our souls are perpetually (as it
were) in the third heaven, we know but lit-
tle of the nature of the Spirit's influences,
or of the privileges of genuine Christianity.
Hence they are obviously led to imagine,
that if sensible comforts abound, they may
safely conclude themselves at peace with
God ; but that, if they be withdrawn, thej
195
have no longer any right to believe them-
selves his children. Thus the favour of the
Almighty, of him who knoweth neither
change nor shadow of turning, is supposed
to be as variable and irregular as the human
temperature. The frequent coldness and
languor of our devotions, the perpetual
wandering of our thoughts from divine
subjects, and the indifference with which
we too often contemplate the redeeming
goodness of our Lord, are indeed sad
proofs of the corruption of our nature,
and afford ample cause for humility and
contrition : but there is no reason to think,
that they are marks of unregeneracy, or
tokens of God's rejection and abiding dis-
pleasure. His covenant is built upon a
surer foundation than either our feelings or
our faithfulness : feelings, which are sub-
ject to incessant variation; and faithful-
ness, which the very best of us must own
to be but too unfaithful.
196
3. God willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel, confirmed it by an oath ; that by
two immutable things, in which it was impos-
sible for God to lye, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us : which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul both
sure and stedfast. 1
This is the great charter of the Christian,
on which he builds the hope of his salva-
tion. God hath sworn, that he will never
forsake the heirs of promise ; but that he
will be with them in every trial, and will
safely conduct them to the very end of
their pilgrimage. Therefore, with faithful
Abraham, they believe even against hope
and in despite of their natural feelings. They
may be cast down, but they are not des-
1 Heb. vi. 17.
197
troyed ; and, in the inidst of all their dif-
ficulties, they trust that a life is hid for them
with Christ in God.' Faith is not the
evidence of things seen, but of things un-
seen : consequently, if our religious state
was to be decided by our feelings, the very
foundation of faith would be overturned ;
and we should have sensible demonstration
of that, which we are required to believe,
simply because God has promised it.
II. The same question however may
still be asked ; How am I to know, whether
I have been renewed by the Holy Ghost ?
How can I tell whether I have any right to
apply God's promises to myself? The
charter of salvation is sufficiently clear and
explicit; but that will afford ME little
comfort, unless I have good reason for
thinking that I am included.
1 Coloss. iii. 3.
198
1. Let us see, whether we cannot find an
answer to these queries, in the page of
Scripture. St. Paul informs us, that the
flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh : and these are contrary
the one to the other. 1 Are we sensible then
of any internal contest of this description
in our hearts ? Do we perceive a new prin-
ciple, to which we were formerly strangers,
strongly drawing us to the practice of holi-
ness and all good works ; while another
principle damps our ardour, discourages
our exertions, and too frequently frustrates
our best resolutions ? He, that has never
felt such a struggle, must either be sinless
or dead in sins. It is needless to say, that
the former supposition cannot but be
erroneous.
2. We further learn from the Apostle,
that we cannot do the things that we would.
' Gal. v. 17.
199
Are we deeply conscious then, that this
is our case ? Do we daily more and more
discover our own insufficiency ? Do we la-
ment that we cannot perform our duty bet-
ter, labouring however at the same time
incessantly after spiritual improvement?
Many persons will readily enough acknow-
ledge their imperfections ; but the question
is, in what manner do they make the ac-
knowledgment ? Do they realty feel the
burden of their sins to be intolerable ? Do
they indeed, and from the very bottom of
their souk, experience the pain and grief
of falling so far short of their wishes ? Or
do they confess their failings with as much
phlegmatic indifference, as if it were a mat-
ter which concerned any body in the whole
world rather than themselves ? The disor-
ders of the soul are constantly represented
in Scripture by corresponding disorders of
the body : hence it is reasonable to sup-
pose, that, as corporeal pain is the result
of the latter, so mental pain or grief will be
200
the natural consequence of the former. In
what manner then is a person affected, who
has long laboured under the pressure of a
severe disease ? Will he speak of his pains
with insensibility ? Will he sit down per-
fectly contented with his malady, totally
forget its inconvenience, and take no steps
to procure its removal, or at least its alle-
viation ? Where did we ever meet with a
sick man, who answered to this description?
Can we then easily believe, that he is very
sensible of his spiritual disorder, who speaks
of it with carelessness, finds it no obstacle
to his enjoyments, and feels scarcely any
desire for its expulsion ? If a man really per-
ceived, that he cannot do the things which
he would, in the same manner that St. Paul
did, he would experience the same restless
sorrow, which constrained the Apostle to
cry out ; O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death ?
Let us then seriously ask ourselves, Do we
clearly discern our inefficiency ; do we la-
201
ment our numerous failings ; and do we
labour earnestly after amendment? The
answer to these questions is almost alone
sufficient to decide, whether we have any
right to consider ourselves heirs of the pro-
mise.
The Apostle however is not content tc
let the matter rest here. He gives us a
black catalogue of those deeds of darkness
which are the works of the flesh, and then
forcibly contrasts them with the fruits of
the Holy Spirit, thus paraphrasing, as it
were, our Saviour's brief declaration, By
their fruits shall ye know them.
III. Now the works of the flesh are mani-
fest, which are these ; adultery, fornication,
unclean-ness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witch-
craft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envy ings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like : of the
which I tell you before, as I have also told
202
you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God*
1. If then we be anxious to know whe-
ther we are led by the Spirit of God, let us
examine ourselves, and learn whether we
work the deeds of the flesh. Do we live in
habits of fornication and uncleanness ? Are
we addicted to the foul sin of drunkenness?
Or, supposing that we are free from these
external abominations, are we equally guilt-
less of internal wickedness ? Do we set up
the world as an idol in opposition to the
living God ? Do we indulge in sentiments
of uncharitableness towards our neigh-
bours ? Do we entertain a proud, self-
sufficient, opinion of ourselves ; and con-
tend, upon all occasions, with the bitterest
animosity, for what we call our rights ? Are
we irheasy and restless beneath the lawful
authority of our superiors, perpetually
1 Galat. v. 19.
203
striving to foment discord and sedition, des-
pising dominion, and speaking evil of digni-
ties? 1 Do we delight in promoting schism
and heresy in the Church ; and, under the
cloak of Christian zeal, in acting the same
part now, that Korah, Dathan, and Abi-
ram, did of old ? Are we guilty of pervert-
ing religion into rebellion, and faith into
faction, or of concealing the most Anti-
Christian sentiments beneath the specious
mask of piety and humility? Let us dili-
gently scrutinize our hearts, and see, whe-
ther they produce these corrupt fruits ; and
if we unhappily find such to be the case,
while we lament our wickedness and trem-
ble at our danger, let us pray God to grant
us a better spirit and to enable us to for-
sake the evil of our ways. What is the
awful declaration of the Apostle respecting
the workers of iniquity ? I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they
1 Jude 8.
204
which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God.
2. It may perhaps be said, If God be
extreme to mark what is done amiss, who may
abide it ? Where is the man, who does not of-
fend daily, both in thought, word, and deed ?
We readily acknowledge, that our very
best deeds are unclean in the eyes of him,
who chargeth even his angels with folly ; but
the point is, in what manner do we bear
the consciousness of our sinfulness? Are we
penitent, or impenitent, offenders ? Mercy is
abundantly held forth to the former : but
pardon is never once offered to the latter.
Though God gives his grace to the humble,
he stedfastly resists the proud and the pre-
sumptuous. Were we really conscious of
the load of our iniquities, did we really de-
sire to be freed from their yoke, we should
feel ourselves little less incommoded by our
subjection to them, than the eye does when
205
inflamed with even the most minute parti-
cle of sand. We all know, that the very
smallest mote occasions such an exquisite
degree of pain in the organ of vision, as to
permit us to enjoy no rest until it be ex-
tracted. Something similar to this are the
sensations of the man, who truly feels his
sin to be a grievous burden to him. He is
uneasy and restless until it be removed ; he
cannot cheerfully, or even tamely, acquiesce
in its dominion ; nor can he be content, so
long as he knows himself to be its vassal.
Here then we have another test, by which
we may decide whether or no we are in a
state of grace. If we acknowledge our sins
without the least compunction and without
any wish to be freed from their tyranny,
our situation is indeed most awfully dange-
rous ; we tremble on the very brink of a
precipice, from which if we fall, we fall to
rise no more. But, if we feel a vehement
206
degree of pain and restless uneasiness in
their continuance, if we experience a strong
and ardent desire for their removal, if we
labour incessantly to effect their extirpation,
if we declare everlasting war against them :
our situation then is good ; we have then
no reason to doubt, but that the Holy Spi-
rit of God is contending for the possession
of our hearts. In such a case, let us joy-
fully welcome the heavenly visitor, and re-
sign ourselves implicitly to his guidance and
direction.
3. We are not however to be content with
mere negative religion, with only endea-
vouring to abstain from evil ; we must also
labour after the things that are good. The
Holy Spirit is an active energetic principle,
and is perpetually employed in new-mould-
ing the hearts of the faithful and in leading
them to the practice of all righteousness.
Good works, as our Church justly deter-
207
mines, 1 necessarily spring out of a true and
lively faith ; and it is impossible for those,
who are under the influence of the Holy
Ghost, to avoid showing whose servants
they are by their life and conversation.
Hence, a striking difference of character
will always be perceptible between the
children of light and the children of dark-
ness : insomuch that, generally speaking,
it will require no very great degree of pene-
tration to discriminate between them ; espe-
cially, if we study the strongly-drawn por-
traits of them, with which we have been
furnished by the Apostle.
IV. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, fang-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance : against such
there is no lazv. And they, that are Christ's,
have crucified the flesh, with the affections and
lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit. 1
r i
* Art, xii. Galat. v. 22.
208
1. The Christian, though originally in a
state of enmity with God, has his affections
so far changed by the influence of the Holy
Ghost, that he now loves what before he
hated, and now hates what before he loved.
None perhaps of the sacred writings breathe
the spirit of divine charity in a more emi-
nent degree, than those of the beloved dis-
ciple of our Lord. They contain a beau-
tiful picture of that dove-like temper which
seems peculiarly to have belonged to their
author, and may be considered as a kind
of manual for the daily use of believers.
Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna.
From a constant perusal of them, joined
with the prayer of faith, we may reasonably
expect to derive some portion of that spirit
with which they are animated. When a
Christian considers his own rebellious and
perverse nature, and contrasts it with the
wonderful goodness of God, displayed in
his redemption and sanctification ; his heart
is softened with such condescending marks
209
of Almighty love. He is astonished at that
mercy and patience, which so long bore with
his iniquities and spared him till the hour
of repentance arrived. He recollects num-
bers cut off in the midst of their career, with-
out ever having had his opportunities vouch-
safed to them; and the words of the Apostle
instantly recur to his mind, Who hath made
thee to differ from another ? He is deeply
conscious, that he had no claim upon God
on the score of a prerequisite meritorious-
ness ; and he acknowledges that he might
justly have been suffered to perish in his sins.
This conviction, united with the considera-
tion of his present happy state, fills his heart
with sentiments of humble love and devout
gratitude. He confesses the whole to be free
grace, and he gives all the glory to God.
Boasting is excluded, and a heart-felt humi-
lity takes place of vanity and presumption.
We were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others ; but God, who is rich in mercu,
O
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened its
together with Christ : by grace ye are saved :
tnd hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Je-
sus : that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kind-
ness toward us through Christ Jesus For
through him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no
more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-
citizens with the saints, and of the household
of God ; and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner-stone.*
The contemplation of these benefits ex-
cites the utmost love of the Christian, and
he experiences the truth of St. John's decla-
ration : Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his son
1 Ephes. ii. 3. 18.
211
be the propitiation for our sins. We love
him, because he first lovejd us. 1 While his
affections are thus set on things above, he
does not forget to draw the same edifying
conclusion from the goodness of his heavenly
Father, which the Apostle did before him.
If God so loved us, we ought also to love one
another* This is the only sure foundation
of love to our brethren. The world has
often largely and eloquently discoursed
upon sincerity and disinterestedness, but it
has felt little of the reality ; and a thousand
untoward accidents will overthrow the most
ancient friendships, unless they be built
on the rock of Christianity. That, which
among natural men is a mere abstract idea,
a metaphysical non-entity, is converted by
the influence of religion into a glorious
reality. Behold how these Christians love
one another, was the constrained observa-
tion even of paganism ; and such will
* 1 John iv. 10. 19. * 1 John iv. 11.
always be the case, wherever vital religion
prevails. An ardent desire to promote the
spiritual welfare of our neighbours, a tender
concern for the interest of their souls, and
a hearty wish to do them all the good in our
power, independent of any secondary mo-
tives, are some of the best proofs that we
are led by the Spirit of God. Beloved, let
us love one another : for love is of God, and
every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth
not God, for God is love If we love one.
another, God dwdleth in us, and his love is
perfected in us. Hereby know we t that we
dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath
given us of his Spirit If a man say, I love
God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar :
for he that loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God, whom he
hath not seen ? And this commandment have
we from him, That he, who loveth God, love
his brother also. 1
1 John iv. 7. 12.20.
2. When the Christian is thus in a state
of charity both with God and his neigh-
bour, he experiences that joy and that
peace, which passeth all understanding ;
which the world is neither able to confer,
nor to take away. His joy is not like the
mad, short-lived joys of the children of
darkness, but stable and durable. It is
founded upon the sense of his being recon-
ciled to God, through the blood of Jesus
Christ. Hence it is not liable to be affect-
ed by those outward circumstances, which
shake the happiness of the worldly-minded.
In the midst of persecution and distress,
sickness and affliction, the serenity of the
Christian still remains unmoved ; and he
looks forward with confidence to the recom-
pence of reward, being well assured, that
all these momentary sorrows work for him a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory. His joy and peace, it is true, are
not of a violent and tumultuous kind ; they
arc rather a sensation of security and tran-
214
quillit3 r , than a sudden flash of rapturous
transport ; they resemble the salutary and
equable warmth of the sun, not the porten-
tous blaze of a meteor. Such was the peace,
which the apostles experienced, when they
rejoiced, that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for the name of Christ ; *
and such was that confidence, which
made the primitive martyrs appear ra-
ther as if they were marching in a tri-
umph, than as if led to torments and igno-
miny. External sorrows, indeed, the
Christian must expect, but nothing is able
to deprive him of his internal comfort.
Notwithstanding his outward distresses, he
feels all the value of his privileges, and
envies not the transitory prosperity of the
worldling. Ye now have sorrow, said our
Lord to his disciples, but I will see you
again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your
joy no man takethfrom you* This serenity,
1 Acts v. 41, a John xvi. 22.
215
though undoubtedly not without some in-
terruptions, is the portion of the Christian
through the appointed term of his pilgrim-
age. It may occasionally for wise purposes
be withdrawn, and his sensible comforts
may be diminished ; but the eye of faith
still looks forward to the joys of heaven,
and anticipates the time when doubt and
sorrow shall be swallowed up in victory.
Grief is seldom long the portion of a Christ-
ian. A light springs up in the midst of
darkness, and gladness once more becomes
the lot of such as are true-hearted. The
joys of religion are the encouragement of
youth, and the prop of old age. Without
them, we sicken even in the midst of pros-
perity ; and, with them, adversity loses all
its terrors. They sweeten our slumbers ;
they soothe our waking hours. At home
and abroad, in private and in public, they
are our constant companions, our richest
treasures. The vigour of youth, and
the blush of health, are transitory bless-
216
ings ; the pride of rank soon wearies ; and
riches make themselves wings and fly
away : but the joy of a Christian, though
o
it walks upon earth, hides its head in
heaven. It is the gift of God ; and God
alone is able to deprive him of it.
3. An abiding sense of his own defects,
and a grateful remembrance of undeserved
mercies, produce in a believer the amiable
qualities of long-suffering, meekness, and .
gentleness. Differences, indeed, there will
be in the various tempers of various Christ-
ians ; nor do the naturally harsh and rug-
ged, perhaps, ever attain to the same emi-
nence in these graces, as the naturally
placid and benign. But a similar spirit
will nevertheless be observable in them all ;
a spirit far removed from that proud sense
of injury, that haughty self-vindication,
which constitutes the very essence of mo-
dern honour. A desire of mutual accom-
modation ; a meek endurance of the
217
perverseness of others ; a patient tolerance
of those little affronts, which are the
offspring of childish petulance, and which
are frequently more irritating than serious
acts of injustice ; mark the characters of all
real Christians. He, to whom nature has
given less of the milk of human kindness,
mourns in private over those sallies into
which he is sometimes hurried, and labours
incessantly to check the impetuosity of his
temper. On the other hand, he, who has
received a more plentiful share of the mild-
er affections, blesses God for his bounty,
and rejoices in the cultivation of his talent.
All are not born with the amiable disposi-
tion of St. John ; but all are enabled, in a
sufficient degree, to subdue innate ferocity,
and to repress the sudden starts of proud
indignation. The leopard is constrained to
lie down with the kid, and the wolf to dwell
with the lamb ; the lion and the bear put
off their savage natures, and submit to the
guidance even of an infant.
218
4. Another eminent fruit of the Spirit is
goodness. Without holiness naman shall see
the Lord, but without the assistance of the
Holy Ghost no man can attain to holiness *
hence goodness is rightly enumerated
among the fruits of the Spirit. The Christ-
ian will not allow himself to indulge in the
commission of any sin. The same sense of
duty, which restricts him from fornication
and uncleanness, forbids him also to violate
the laws of temperance and moderation.
He is not satisfied with a partial observance
of God's commandments ; his principle is
universal and unlimited obedience. He
seeks not to extenuate a favourite vice; he
strives not to persuade himself, that it is
only a venial infirmity : he rather labours to
eradicate it entirely from his breast, and to
tear it away, though it be as dear to him as
the apple of his eye. Yet, while he strug-
gles to attain personal holiness both in
thought, word, and deed; he carefully
guards against the fataJ error of trusting to
219
it for his justification. When he has done
all, he still acknowledges himself to be an
unprofitable servant ; and places all the
hopes of his salvation, solely upon the me-
rits of his Redeemer.
5. This stedfast reliance upon the all-
sufficiency of the blood of Christ is the
grand and most important gift of the
Spirit. Faith is the tree, from which all
other graces spring ; the shield, which is to
defend us from the assaults of the powers
of darkness ; the sure rock, upon which we
must lay our foundations. That faith,
which is the fruit of the Spirit, is not a
barren, inactive belief, a cold, speculative
assent to the truth of our religion ; but a
lively, energetic principle, which God alone
is able to instill into the heart. We may
be irresistibly compelled to a bare belief
by the mere force of evidence ; but, unless
God is pleased to superadd to it a Christian
faith, it will only be the same conviction as
220
that, which forces the devils to tremble. A
man must believe with the heart to right-
C5
eousness, 1 not simply with the head ; or he
will derive but little benefit from the ortho-
doxy of his faith. Not every one, that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king-
dom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of
my Father, which is in heaven. Christian
faith is a grateful acknowledgment of the
mercies of redemption ; an unshaken con-
fidence in the word of him, who hath pro-
mised ; the instrument, by which we re-
ceive the benefits of Christ's death and
passion ; and the main-spring, which occa-
sions and regulates all our actions. It
is the seed of all goodness, and the fruitful
parent of all those graces which adorn the
Christian profession. Through faith, the
weak become strong ; the doubtful, reso-
lute ; and the timid, courageous. Faith
holds up before their eyes the prospect of a
heavenly kingdom, and convinces them of
the emptiness of earthly enjoyments. It
' Rom. x, 10.
enables them to crucify the flesh with its
affections and lusts, to fear no difficulties,
and to shrink from no dangers. It teaches
them to draw near in fall assurance of hope,
having their hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and their bodies washed with pure
water, and to hold fast their profession
without wavering, for he is faithful that
promised. It enables them to lay aside,
every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset them, and to run with patience the
race that is set before them, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith,
who for the joy, that was set before him, en-
dured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the majesty of
heaven. In short, faith is the middle link,
which connects the visible and invisible
worlds ; which supports us in this life, and
fits us for the life to come.
V. Such are the blessed fruits of the
Spirit of God : a total change takes place
222
in the heart ; and along with it a total
change in the motives, the actions, and the
conversation. An answer is now obtained
to the important question, Have I been re-
newed by the Holy Ghost ? Try yourself
by the Christian standard ; examine your-
self diligently ; and see, whether you pro-
duce those fruits, which are meet for repen-
tance. Do you indulge in the practice of any
known sin ? Do you suffer yourself to be
enslaved by the diabolical passions of envy,
hatred, and malice ? Do you find a self-
ish spirit predominate, instead of that gene-
rous and diffusive love, which is the pecu-
liar characteristic of Christianity ? So
again, if you be happily conscious that
such is not your case, do you perform your
good deeds from a sincere desire of pro-*
moting the honour of God and the cause
of religion, rather than from vain-glory and
ostentation ? Do you strive in all things to
consult the will of the Most High, however
it may cross your own private inclinations ?
223
And do you labour to subdue and eradi*
cate every unkind emotion and every vici-
ous propensity ? Hereby we do know, that
we know Christ, if we keep his command-
ments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. But, whoso keepeth
his word, in him verily is the love of God
perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. He, that saith he abideth in him,
eught himself also so to walk, even as he
walked* If then we would know, whether
we be under the influence of the Holy
Spirit, let us consider how far we imitate
the example and tread in the steps of our
blessed Saviour.
1. Perhaps some dejected self-condemned
penitent may be ready to exclaim ; Alas !
who may abide when God cometh in judg-
ment ? My transgressions and rebellions
' 1 Johnii. 2.
arc so numerous ; my good deeds arc so few,
so trifling, and so ill-performed; my per-
'Verseness of temper is so incorrigible ; my
selfishness is so deeply rooted; my love to
God and my brethren is so feeble, so insin-
cere, and so lukewarm ; that I can scarcely
venture to conclude, that I have received the
Holy Spirit into my heart. When I see the
progress which other Christians have made
in holiness, and compare it with my own
backwardness ; when I contrast their cheer-
ful zeal with mil own reluctance and indiffe-
/ t/ iAS
rence ; I appear to myself to be scarcely
worthy of bearing even the name of a be-
liever ; much less of being a suitable resi-
dence, a fit temple, for the Holy Ghost. I
stand condemned by my own conscience ; and
how can I hope that God will acquit me f
Such cases as these are far from being
unfrequent ; but, though they may be
painful, they arc the very reverse of being
dangerous. Let a person in this situation
Q25
consider the wide difference between his
state of mind, and that of the gay, luxu-
rious worldling. While the one is depressed
even to the very dust by a deep sense of
his own unworthiness, the other is totally
free from all such disquieting reflections.
He sees not his sinfulness, and perceives
not his danger. He is little concerned
either about the promises, or the terrors,
of religion ; and fancies that he cannot but
be safe in the road which is trod by so
many thousands besides himself.
Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
While proudly riding o'er the azure realm,
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes,
Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ;
Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,
That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening prey.
This is generally the situation of the vo-
luptuary ; and is it more safe, because the
danger is concealed ? Can his condition be
thought preferable to yours? God has
P
been pleased in his mercy to open the eyes
of } r our understanding, and to show you
the hideous gulph which yawns at your feet.
Can this be a sign of his enmity towards
you ? Surely it is rather a mark of his
loving kindness, ,a proof that he has not
yet forgotten to be gracious. You might
still have been wrapt in the sleep of spiri-
tual insensibility, like numbers, who must
daily occur to your observation ; and would
you be willing to exchange your situation
for theirs ? You will readily answer ; No.
Why then, let me ask, should you doubt,
but that God, who has begun a good work
in you, will also in his own due time
accomplish it ? You cannot distrust either
his power, or his love. He is able to save
even to the uttermost ; and his love will
never permit him to reject any afflicted
sinner, that comes to him in his son's name.
2. You will perhaps say ; I find within
myself such little evidence of my being
227
wider the guidance of the Spirit, that I dare
not hope to meet with a favourable reception
from God.
Consider the reason, why Christ came
into the world : was it to save the just, or
the unjust; the angel, or the sinner? If
we had never deflected from our original
purity, should we have had any need of a
Saviour? Guilt, not innocence, requires
expiation. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners, to repentance. The question is
not, whether you have attained to immacu-
late perfection ; but whether you are heart-
ily sorry for your imperfection, and labour
to make greater advances in holiness.
Your very self-condemnation shows, that
you possess at least one Christian grace,
that of humility ; and your grief is a proof,
that you have the desire to become better.
Reflect then a moment ; whence can this
humility and this desire have proceeded ?
Are they the deeds of the flesh, or the
fruits of the Spirit ?
3. But I fear, that these are the only
fruits which I produce ; and that they alone
are scarcely sufficient to prove, that I am
in a ftatc of grace.
Do you imagine then, that you are to
attain to the summit of Christian practice,
before you have well set out upon your
journey ? There is a growth in holiness, as
well as in the natural body : neither of
them attain to their full stature suddenly ;
and we must be content in both cases to be
children, before we are men. The main
point is, whether or no, you are pressing
forward ; if you are, however slow and even
insensible your progress may be, it is a
proof that the spiritual life is not extinct.
Your present situation may be uncomfort-
able ; and it is wisely ordered, that it should
be so. It effectually prevents you from
resting satisfied with your present attain-
ments, and constrains you to labour more
abundantly. In the mean time, remember,
for your comfort, the gracious promise of
him, who spake as never man spake.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they
that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth. Blessed are they who do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be Jilted. 1 Thus is heaven promised as the
reward of your humiliation ; comfort, as
the happy result of your sorrow ; and the
fullest satisfaction, as the end of your eager
desire after a more perfect communion with
God.
4. After all, it may very possibly be, that
you have made a much greater progress in
religion, than you yourself are conscious of.
That very Christian, whom you look up to
as so much your superior, may perhaps at
the same time be mourning his own defici-
ency in those graces, which to him seem to
1 Matt. v. 3.
230
flourish much more abundantly in your
heart. They, who are the most advanced
in holiness, have always the most accurate
perception of sin ; and consequently are
much more sensible of their failings, than
others who have had less experience of
themselves. They see so much imperfect-
ion in their very best deeds, so much obsti-
nacy even in their reformed wills, and so
much corruption in their purest affections ;
that, while they deeply perceiv r e the neces-
sity of being saved solely by the merits of
Christ, they are apt to think no human heart
so replete with perverseness as their own.
Even the laborious Apostle of the Gentiles
pronounces himself less than the least of all
the Apostles, unworthy of bearing the name
of an Apostle ; and every Christian, who
possesses the least degree of self-knowledge,
can most feelingly exculpate him from the
charge of an affected humility. They,
who complacently view their own good
deeds, and, while they bless themselves
that they are not like other men, verily
believe that they produce the fruits of the
Spirit in the highest perfection, are much
further removed from the kingdom of God,
than the humble, self-condemning, penitent,
sinner, who dares not so much as lift up his
eyes unto heaven. Such an one need in
no wise despair. Though his heart may
accuse him, God is greater than his heart
and knoweth all things. 1 Let him redouble
his diligence, and leave the rest in the
hands of his Redeemer. The merciful
Saviour never yet cast out a single person,
who claimed his assistance and besought
his intercession.
5. I cannot better conclude this descrip-
tion of the fruits of the Spirit, than with
the beautiful delineation which St. Paul
has given us of Christian love ; and which,
if I may use the expression, is a miniature
portrait of every sincere believer.
1 1 John iii. 20.
Charity suffer eth long, and is kind; chari-
ty envyeth not ; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itself un-
seemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily
provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things. 1
1 1 Corinth, xiii, 4.
CHAP. VIII.
The constant influence of the Holy Spirit necessary
to convey us in safety to the end of our pilgrimage*
WHEN a man has been once deeply con-
vinced of the extreme sinfulness of his
heart, and has discovered from repeated
lapses his utter inability to walk in the
way of God's commandments by any inhe-
rent strength of his own ; he will naturally
be anxious to learn, how he is to arrive in
safety at the end of his pilgrimage. He
knows too well by bitter experience, that
the moment he is left to himself, he is sure
to fall more or less from that degree of
Christian perfection, to which he had previ-
234
ously attained. When the supporting arm
of God is withdrawn, as a trial of his faith,
and in order to convince him of his frailty ;
his strength withers, his spiritual faculties
decay, and he becomes weak like any other
man. 1 He finds that the occasional as-
sistance of the Spirit is not sufficient ; but
that he requires it every day, every hour,
every minute.* As the body is unable to
perform its functions, unless constantly
supplied with the breath of life ; so does
the soul constantly require the vivifying
inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
In Scripture, spiritual ideas are conveyed
to our minds by natural objects ; nor is it
possible to form a conception of them
through any other medium, than that of
1 Judges xvi. 17.
* " Opus est nobis auotidiana sanctificatione, ut qui
quotidie delinquimus, delicta nostra sanctificatione assidua
repurgemus." . Cyprian, de Orat. Domin.
235
some one of our senses. If the Holy
Ghost bore no other denomination than
that of the third person of the Trinity, we
should be unable from such a title to form
any definite notion of his attributes. But
when he is styled Ruach and Pneuma,
words which primarily signify the air in
motion, we are led to conclude, that there
must be some analogy between his influ-
ence upon the soul and that of the atmos-
phere upon the body. This persuasion is
strengthened by finding, that the same
terms are invariably used to describe the
action both of the divine and the material
spirit. The play of the lungs, by which
the atmosphere is received into our animal
frames, is termed inspiration ; the very
name, by which the conveyance of super-
natural powers to the mind, is uniformly
designated. But we are not to confine the
term inspiration merely to the gift of pro-
phecy : our church teaches us to give it a
much more extensive meaning, and to
236
apply it to that ordinary assistance of the
Spirit, which every believer is intitled to
expect. She directs us to pray, " that the
thoughts of our hearts may be cleansed by
his inspiration,'" and " that by his holy inspi-
ration we may think the things that be
good;" 2 thus clearly showing, that our re-
formers, though they rejected all vain and
fanatical pretensions to the gift of prophecy
or the authority of revelation, yet decided-
ly maintained the necessity of the constant
ordinary inspiration of the Spirit. What
that inspiration is, hath already been
abundantly shown in considering those
operations of the Holy Ghost, which take
place in the soul of every believer : I mean
the enlightening of the understanding, the
rectifying of the will, the purification of
the affections, and the production of those
* Collect in Commun. Service.
a Collect to the 5th Sund. after Easter.
237
graces which the Apostle terms fruits of the
Spirit. 1
In consequence of the air being thus the
appointed emblem of the third person of the
Trinity, our Lord compares the operations
of the one to the operations of the other,*
1 " We find in the Scriptures both of the Old and New
Testament, that the persons of the eternal Three, and
their economical offices and operations in the spiritual, are
represented by the three conditions of the celestial fluid, and
their operations in the material world. Thus the peculiar
emblem of the Word, or second Person, is the Shemesh or
Light ; and he is, and does, that to the souls or spirits of
men, which the material or natural light is and does, to
their bodies. The third Person has no other distinctive
name in Scripture, but Ruach in Hebrew and Pneuma iu
Greek, both which words in their primary sense denote
the material spirit, or air in motion; to which appellation
the epithet Kadesh, Hagion, Holy, or one of the names of
God, is usually added : and the actions of the Holy
Spirit in the spiritual system are described by those of the
air in the natural." Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon Vox
* John Hi. 8.
238
and communicates the gift of the Holy
Ghost to his disciples by breathing upon
them. 1 That wonderful effusion of the
Spirit on the day of Pentecost was attend-
/
ed with a sound from heaven as of a mighty
rushing wind, expressive of those miracu-
lous powers, which were the instrument of
producing so great a revolution in the
superstitions of Paganism: and, in the
mystic epithalamium of Solomon, the fruc-
tification of the Church is described by
the soft breezes of the south wind blowing
among the aromatic plants of an eastern
garden.*
If we wish then to understand the man-
ner in which the Spirit operates upon the
soul, we must inquire in what manner the air
1 John xx. 22.
* Cantic. iv. 16. Our translators, in the title which
they have prefixed to the fourth chapter of this divine
song, give it as their opinion, that in the sixteenth verse
" the Church prayeth to be made fit for the presence of
Christ."
239
operates upon the body. Now we find,
that the air surrounds the body on all sides,
is perpetually inhaled by it, and is so neces-
sary to its health, that death is the certain
consequence of its being withdrawn. In a
similar manner, so long as the Holy Ghost
animates the soul of the Christian, it enjoys
the highest degree of spiritual health ; if
the vivifying principle be in part with-
drawn, the soul languishes ; and, if it be
once entirely removed, what is figuratively
termed the second death immediately takes
place. 1 We are no more able to advance
in our heavenly pilgrimage without the con-
stant inspiration of the Holy Ghost, than
we should be to accomplish some long
journey upon earth without the perpetual
inspiration of the atmosphere. To be de-
prived of either is equally fatal ; the one
to the spiritual, the other to the natural,
economy.*
1 Revel, xx. 14.
* " The branch can bear no fruit, nor preserve nor ripen
240
On this account, it is a most important
matter to inquire, what scriptural reasons
we have to expect the unceasing assistance
of the Holy Spirit ; for melancholy indeed
would be our situation, had we the road to
everlasting life merely pointed out to us,
and were we thenceforward left to pursue
it by the unaided exertion of our own
that which it hath, but by its unity with the root : light
continues not in the house, but by its dependence on the
sun ; shut out that, all the light is presently gone. Take
water away from the fire, and its nature will be presently
stronger than the heat it borrowed, and suddenly reduce
it to its wonted coldness. So we can do nothing but by
the constant supplies of the Spirit of Christ. He, that
begins, must finish every good work in us. He, that is the
author, must be the finisher of our faith too. Without
him, we cannot will nor do any good. Without him,
when we have done both, we cannot continue, but shall
faint in the way. His Spirit must lead us. His arm
must heal and strengthen us. As we have received him, so
we must walk in him : without him we cannot walk. God
is the God of all grace : to him it belongeth not only to call,
but to perfect ; not only to perfect, but to strengthen, stab-
lish, settle us." Bp. Reynolds's Sinfulness of Sin, p. ISO.
241
strength. The hearts of the stoutest would
be appalled at the sight of the dangers and
difficulties which everywhere present them-
selves, unless they were convinced that God
himself was on their side ; and the spirits
even of the most vigourous would fail them,
if it were a matter of doubt whether the
Redeemer might not possibly desert them
in the last stage of their pilgrimage. Argu-
ing only from the bare light of reason, it
surely is unworthy of the goodness of God
to suppose, that he would forsake his
children in their greatest need, and leave
them exposed in their declining years, an
unresisting prey to all the malice of Sa-
tan. 1
1 It was the fear of this that caused David to exclaim :
Cast me not away in the time of age ; forsake me not
when my strength faileth me- Forsake me not, O God,
in mine old age, when I am grey-headed; until 1 have
showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to
all them that are yet for to come. Psalm Ixxi. 8, 16.
Q
The gracious Lord, however, in his
mercy, has not left us to our own vague
conjectures and unsatisfactory probabili-
ties. On the contrary, he has armed the
Christian with an abundance of precious
promises ; and has fortified his mind,
against the hour of danger, with the most
soothing assurances of his friendship and
protection. He knoweth what is in man ;
and has therefore provided him with arm-
our of proof, to enable him to stand fast
in the evil day of peril and adversity. He
has repeatedly declared, that he will never
forsake his servants, unless they resolutely
and with a high hand forsake him ; but
that he will preserve his heritage from all
the assaults of hell, and safely conduct them
into the realms of everlasting happiness.
This God is our God for ever and ever ; he
ll be our guide even unto death* Many
Psalm xlviii. 14.
243
are the afflictions of the righteous ; but the
Lord deliver eth him out of them all. 1 Cast
thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sus-
tain thee ; he shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved.* Fear not, for I am with thee ;
be not dismayed, for I am thy God ; I will
strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness*
Similar to these are the gracious assur-
ances contained in the New Testament,
which are admirably calculated to strength-
en the hearts of the feeble and the dejected.
I know in whom I have believed, says the
Apostle, and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed to him
until that day* Father, says our blessed
Saviour, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am ; that they
1 Psalm xxxiv. 19. * Psalm Iv. 22.
3 Isaiah xli. 10. * 2 Tim. i. 12.
244
may behold my glory which thou hast given
me ; for thou lovedst me before the foundation
of the world. 1
In order to show the faithful how little
they have to fear from the assaults of their
enemies, and to convince them that God is
on their side, Christ builds the safety of his
Church upon Omnipotence itself: when
that fails, the ultimate felicity of believers
will be insecure ; but, till then, the gates
of hell can never prevail against them. My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me : and I give unto them eternal
life ; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any one" pluck them out of my hand.
1 John xvii. 24.
* The strength of the original Greek is nmch impaired
in our translation, by inserting the word man, instead of
the word one, after the pronoun any ; for the passage,
when thus rendered, hath the appearance of limiting the
declaration of Christ to a promise of protection only against
human efforts. TJJ and ouSsij evidently relate, not merely,
to terrestrial, but also to infernal, enemies.
245
Father, which gave them me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. 1
The Almighty himself, moreover, merci-
fully foreseeing what a hindrance it would
be to his children in their spiritual progress
if they had not good reason to rely upon
his faithfulness, has confirmed the immu-
tability of his counsel by an oath ;* and
has been pleased to reveal himself to man
by the two names of Jehovah and Elohim,
the one descriptive of his self-existence, and
the other allusive to that covenant which
the eternal Three have sworn to ratify.
This is the stedfast anchor of the soul ; the
firm assurance of the certainty of all God's
promises ; the termination of strife ; and
the earnest of immortality. J God is not a
1 John x. 27. a Heb. vi. 17.
3 " Si tibi vir gravis et laudabilis aliquid polliceretur,
haberes utique pollicenti fidem, nee te falli aut decipi ab
eo crederes, quern stare in sermonibus atque actibus uis
246
man that he should lie ; neither the son of
man that he should repent : hath he said, and
shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good ? \
But, notwithstanding God hath gracious-
ly promised that he will never forsake those
that love him ; yet, since man hath now
recovered his lost freedom of will by the
preaching of the Gospel, he may abuse it,
like Adam, to his own destruction. As a
man in the full vigour of health may be
guilty of self-murder ; so may a Christian
commit what may be termed spiritual sui-
cide. In this case, it is not God that for-
sakcth him, but he that forsaketh God.
scires; mine Deus tecum loquitur; et tu mente incredula
perfidus fluctuas ? Deus de hoc mundo recedenti tibi im-
mortaliLuem atque seternitatem pollicetur ; et tu dubitas ?
Hoc est Deum omnino non nosse : hoc est Christum cre-
dentium Dominum et magistrutn peccato incredulitatis
offendere : hoc est in ecclesia constitutum fidem in domo
fidei non habere." Cyprian, de Mortal.
1 Numb, xxiii. 19.
247
Hence the Apostle wholesomely advises,
Let him, that thinketh he standeth, take heed
lest he fall. Let him beware of a carnal
security and a reliance upon sensible com-
forts, lest he find too late by fatal experi-
ence, that the promises of Scripture were
not made to the unholy and the impenitent.
St. Paul has intimated, that even he himself,
after converting the whole Gentile world,
might nevertheless be a cast-away, if he
neglected to use the proper means to make
his calling and election sure : * how greatly
ought we then to beware, lest we gradually
fall away from our first love, and so make
shipwreck of our salvation. Too frequently
do we behold persons, who originally set
out well on their religious course, at length
* / keep under my body, and bring it into subjection ;
lest that by any means (Gr. PJTTCWJ), when I have preached
to others, I myself should be a cast-away. 1 Corinth, ix.
27- I apprehend^ that the difference between pjwaj and
Ivoc pj, although they are both translated lest, is this ; that
the former implies a possibility of danger, whereas the lat-
ter relates only to the using of means to prevent something.
248
rejecting the counsel of God against them-
selves, and dying in so reprobate a state
that we cannot reasonably suppose them
to be heirs of the promise. Like their types
the rebellious Israelites, who perished in
the wilderness after they had been delivered
from the bondage of Egypt, these awful
characters perish through unbelief ere
they reach the confines of the heavenly
Canaan : for it is impossible for those, who
were once enlightened, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and were made partakers of
the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the world to
come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to
themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
him to an open shame. 1 Such persons seem
to be pointed out by our Lord in his para-
ble of the sower. They are the seed, which
falls upon stony ground and soon springs
up in full luxuriancy ; but, having no depth
1 Heb vi. 4.
249
of soil, presently withers beneath the scorch-
ing rays of the Sun. These melancholy ex-
amples, while they strike the Christian with
a wholesome terror, ought not to produce
in him any distrust of the certainty of God's
covenant. The Holy Spirit never leaves a
man till after he has long striven with him
in vain ; nor does God ever give any person
up to destruction, till he has first given up
himself.
The righteous may indeed fall seven times
in a day, and repeatedly grieve the Holy
Ghost by his backwardness and perverse-
ness. He knows and laments his own infir-
mities, and his sins are ever before him :
nevertheless, he resolutely strives against
them, firmly relying upon the certainty of
God's oath. This is his strong consolation
o
in the midst of all his trials ; if God be for us,
who shall be against us f Christ hath died
for us, yea rather hath risen again from the
dead, and perpetually inaketh intercession
for us. The Holy Spirit has engaged to
250
abide with us for ever ; * and the Father has
covenanted to accept all those who come
unto him in his Son's name. Here then is
the sure refuge of the Christian. He relies
upon the faithfulness of God, and diligently
applies himself to the acquisition of those
graces, which are required as necessary
qualifications for the kingdom of heaven,
Though his mind may at times be clouded
with doubts and harassed with fears, the
word of promise is his sure anchor. He
strives to live by faith ; the consciousness
of undeserved mercy stimulates him to a
course of cheerful obedience ; and he la-
bours to render unto God the best service,
the service of the heart. He knows, that
the Holy Spirit is not given to supersede
the necessity of any endeavours on his part,
but to enable him to labour more abun-
dantly in the cause of religion ; not to pro-
mote indolence, but to excite diligence.
Hence, while he is confident of this very thing %
* John xiv. 16.
251
that he, which hath begun a good work in him,
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ ;*
he still continues to work out his own salva-
tion with fear and trembling?
Such is the strong ground of consolation
which the Christian possesses ; a consola-
tion not founded upon the deceitfulness of
feeling, but upon a lively faith in the ex*
press promises of God. Frequently is he
necessitated to believe even against hope ;
but, though his heart within him may be
desolate, the Holy Spirit still supports him
in the midst of his infirmities, and enables
him to exclaim with the Psalmist, Though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with
me, thy rod, and thy staff, they comfort me}
Thus daily strengthened and sustained, he
forgets those things which are behind, and
presses forward to those which are yet before
him : thus daily increasing in piety and
1 Philip, i. 6. a Philip, ii. 12. 3 Psalm xlviii. 14.
abounding in every good word and work,
he by degrees grows up unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the st attire of the fulness
of Christ. 1 Old things are passed away, and
all things are become new. His understand-
ing, his will, and his affections, are no
longer prostituted to the service of Satan,
but are devoted to the cause of God. Being
''justified freely, he is made a son of God
by adoption, made like the image of his
only begotten Son Jesus Christ. He walks
religiously in good works ; and at length,
by God's mercy, attains to everlasting
felicity/'
The result, then, of the whole inquiry is
this : that man by nature is born in sin, a
child of wrath, and utterly unable either to
think or to do any good by virtue of his own
unassisted faculties : that, although Christ
laid down his life for him, he cannot avail
himself of the benefits which result from
1 Eph.iv. 13. a Art. xvii.
253
that mysterious sacrifice, unless a change be
effected in his understanding, his will, and
his affections ; so that he may perceive his
need of a Saviour, desire above all things
to serve him, and unfeignedly love the way
of his commandments : that, being dead
in trespasses and sins, he is no more able
to infuse life into his soul, than a corpse is
to raise itself up from the grave : that the
blessed spirit of God is the appointed agent
to work this great change, to sanctify and
comfort the heart of the believer, and to
conduct him in safety to the realms of
everlasting happiness : that he is the
bestower of every good and every perfect
gift, the breath of our spiritual life, and
the support of our drooping courage : that
through him we commence" our journey to
heaven ; and that through him alone we are
enabled to persevere even to the end :
that, when he hides his face, we are trou-
bled ; and, should he totally withdraw him-
self, spiritual death would be the immediate
consequence : but that we have a promise,
that he will abide with us for ever ;* and on
the strength of that promise, we go on our
way, if not always rejoicing, yet always
with such a degree of confidence as God in
his wisdom judges to be sufficient for us.
To him we have committed our souls
through the merits of Christ Jesus ; and we
wait, with a humble, a trembling, reliance
upon his word, for that salvation, which he
freely offers to all who are willing to accept
it. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth ]
but the word of our God shall stand fast for
ever* The world may frown upon us, and
the powers of darkness may league toge-
ther against us ; but the rock, upon which
we are founded, is the sure rock, the rock
of ages. J
1 John xiv. 16. * Isaiah xl. 8.
3 How animated is the language of Cyprian, when he
looks forward with the eye of faith to the happiness laid
up for him in the kingdom of heaven. " Considerandum
est, fratres dilectissimi, et ideutidem cogitandum, renunci-
asse nos mundo, et tanquam hospites et peregrines isthic
255
Behold, all they that were incensed against
thee, shall be ashamed and confounded : they
shall be as nothing : and they that strive with
interim degere. Amplectamur diem, qui assignat singulos
domicilio suo ; qui nos isthinc ereptos, et laqueis seculari-
bus exsolutos paradiso restituit, ct regno coelesti. Quis non
peregre constitutus properaret in patriam regredi ? Quis
non ad suos navigare festinans, ventum prosperum cupi-
dius optaret, ut velociter caros liceret amplecti ? Patriam
nostram Paradisum computemus, parentes padiarchas
ha^ere jam coepimus ; quid non properamus et currimus,
ut patriam nostram videre, ut parentes salutare possimus ?
Magnus illic nos carorum numerus expectat, parentuin,
fratrum, filiorum frequens nos et copiosa turba desiderat,
jam de sua immortalitate secura, et adhuc de nostra salute
solicita. Ad horum conspectum et complexum venire,
quanta et illis et nobis in commune laetitia est ? Qualis
illic crelestium regnorum voluptas sine timore moriendi,
et cum seternitate vivendi? Quam summa et perpetua
felicitas ? Illic Apostolorum gloriosus chorus : illic pro-
phetarum exultantium numerus : illic martyrum innume-
rabilis populus ob certaminis et passionis victoriam coro-
natus : triumphantes illic virgines, quas concupiscentiam
cai'nis et corporis, continentiae robore subegerunt : remu-
nerati misericordes, qui alimentis et largitionibus pauperum
justitiae opera fecerunt ; qui Dominica praecepta servantes
256
thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and
shalt not find them, even them that contended
with thee : they that war against thee shall
be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For
I, the Lord tJiy God, will hold thy right
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help
thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye
men of Israel : I will help tJiee, saith the
Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel Even the youths shall faint and be
weary, and the young men shall utterly fall :
but they, that wait upon the Lord, shall renew
their strength ; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be
weary ; they shall walk, and not faint. 1
ad coelestes thesauros terrena patrimonia transtulerunt.
Ad hos, fratres dilectissimi, avida cupiditate properemus;
ut cum his cito esse, ut cito ad Christum venire contingat,
optemus." De Mortal.
1 Isaiah xl. 30. and xli. 1 1 .
Printed by A. J. Valpu, Tookc's Court, Chancery Lane, Lendem.
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