^-^ 
 
 I THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | 
 f Princeton, N. J. f 
 
 t f 
 
 J From the PUBLISHER. ^ 
 
 '" BV 4915 .F67 1848 
 Ford, David Everard. 
 Decapolis; or. The 
 individual obligation of 
 
rs 
 
DECAPOLIS; 
 
 THE INDIVIDUAL OBLIGATION OF CHRISTIANS TO 
 SAVE SOULS FROM DEATH : 
 
 AN ESSAY, 
 
 DAVID EVERARD FORD. 
 
 "Jesus saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how 
 jreat things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion 
 on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis, how 
 great things Jesus had done for him ; and all men did marvel."— 
 Mark, v. IB, so. 
 
 FIFTH AMERICAN 
 FROM THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET, 
 
 1S46. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Whatever reception may await this book 
 at the hands of the religious pubhc, it is my 
 consolation/to know that the views which it 
 advocates have been owned of God to the 
 salvation of many souls. 
 
 This is my only apology for a style which 
 may seem in some instances to savor of dog- 
 matism. I have no wish to cast one unkind 
 reflection on brethren who differ from me ; to 
 our Master we stand or fall : but I must ex- 
 press myself strongly, for I speak that which 
 I know, and testify that which I have seen. 
 
 I have written for Christians. Should my 
 remarks awaken attention, they will fall into 
 the hands of many who have no right to that 
 holy name. A previous question demands 
 their notice, a question to which every other 
 ought to be postponec, nd from which I 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 would be among the last to divert them for 
 one moment — the question of the Philippian 
 jailer to Paul and Silas — " What must I do 
 to be saved 1" 
 
 And who are Christians? The disciples 
 of Christ ; men who have given their hearts 
 to God, and, on the ground of the great sac- 
 rifice for sin, have consecrated their bodies, 
 souls, and spirits, to the service and glory of 
 their Creator and Redeemer, the Holy One 
 of Israel. 
 
 To such, the following observations are 
 addressed. Brethren ! suffer the word of ex- 
 hortation. Soon we must give an account of 
 our stewardship, and, in the presence of Him 
 who redeemed us unto God by his blood, 
 narrate the efforts we have made to secure 
 and extend the blessings of that atonement 
 in the world where he labored, and for which 
 he died. The Lord grant that we may find 
 mercy of the Lord in that day ! 
 
 D. E. F. 
 
 Lymington, May 29, 1840. 
 
DECAPOLIS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The apostles have now rested from their 
 labors nearly eighteen centuries. Were they 
 to return to earth again, would they find the 
 world, would they find even the church, in 
 that condition in which they expected it to be 
 eighteen hundred years after their decease ? 
 
 We have no right to evade this question, or 
 to answer it in the affirmative, on the ground 
 of their inspiration : first, because we are not 
 quite sure that it was given them " to know 
 the times" or " the seasons" ( Acts i. 7) ; and, 
 next, because knowledge derived from such a 
 source, having no connexion whatever with 
 human calculation and forethought, would not 
 bear on the present inquiry. The question 
 before us can only be entertained while we 
 5 
 
6 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 speak after the manner of men, and regard the 
 apostles, in the absence of direct information 
 from heaven, as forming their opinions of the 
 future, as we are accustomed to form them, 
 according to appearances and probabilities. 
 Make, then, every reasonable allowance for the 
 discouraging matters with which they were 
 undoubtedly acquainted ; give all possible 
 weight to the prediction of " a falling away 
 first," and the revelation of the man of sin (2 
 Thess. ii. 3) ; bear in mind that they testified 
 by the Spirit that in the last days perilous 
 times should come (2 Tim. iii. 1), and tbat 
 scoffers should walk after their own lusts, say- 
 ing, " Where is the promise of his coming ?" 
 (2 Pet. iii. 4) ; yet can we imagine that the 
 church of the nineteenth century would be 
 found to answer the expectations which, with 
 all these deductions, they would indulge, and 
 which the successes of their own short and 
 brilliant career abundantly justified ? 
 
 But apart from all conjecture as to their ex- 
 pectations, does the present state of religion 
 answer our own ? Our notion of excellence 
 is probably too defective, and our conception 
 of eminent piety too low, to enable us readily 
 to detect and expose all the evils over v hich 
 
m THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 7 
 
 an apostle would mourn ; still we may discern 
 enough to excite our bitter lamentation. The 
 man who can read the New Testament, and 
 maintain that the religion which it teaches is 
 now in the position in which it ought to be, or 
 in the position in which ere now it would have 
 been, if the servants of Christ in former ages 
 had been faithful to his claims, has little in- 
 formation, or less piety, and is probably one of 
 the innumerable victims now on their way to 
 perdition, or already there, who may charge the 
 loss of their souls to the apathy of the church, 
 and whose blood will be required at the watch- 
 man's hand (Ezek. xxxiii, 6). 
 
 To evade the fearful responsibility which 
 such a statement involves, some have gravely 
 questioned whether salvation by Christ was 
 ever intended to be good tidings of great joy 
 " to all people," while others have referred the 
 whole matter to the sovereignty of God, and 
 have assigned as a sufficient reason for the past 
 and present state of things among us, that the 
 time to favor Zion is not yet come. How far 
 these opinions are tenable, it is the design of 
 some of the following pages to inquire. My 
 own conviction is, that they savor less of piety 
 thz^. of indolence, and that they find no sane- 
 
8 STATE OF RELIGION" 
 
 tion in divine revelation. " Thus speaketh the 
 Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The 
 time is not come, the time that the Lord's 
 house should be built. Is it time, O ye, to 
 dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house of 
 mine to lie waste ?" (Haggai i. 2, 4.) 
 
 Admitting that the expectations of the prim- 
 itive Christians have failed, it behooves us to 
 account for the failure. Has the gospel proved 
 itself unequal to the task of overcoming the 
 prejudices and renewing the hearts of men ? 
 Or has the Holy Spirit, grieved and disgusted 
 with human depravity, taken his flight to heav- 
 en, leaving the church to flounder on amid its 
 diflEiculties as best it may ? 
 
 Happily, these are questions w^hich we are 
 enabled to meet with a decided negative. God 
 has not forsaken his church. The gospel is 
 still his mighty power unto salvation. Chris- 
 tianity shows no indications of decrepitude or 
 decay. The times have not outgrown it, and 
 we are sure that they never will. The dis- 
 coveries of science have neither shaken its 
 evidences, nor superseded its information, and 
 we are sure that they never will. While hu- 
 man misery remains, here is its balm. While 
 piety finds an asylum upon earth, here is its 
 
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 9 
 
 temple. While man remains a transgressor, 
 and is desirous of pardon, here is the sacrifice 
 " which taketh away the sin of the world" 
 (John i. 29). 
 
 We may call a thousand witnesses, men of 
 sound judgment and unquestionable veracity, 
 whose united testimony will prove the truth of 
 these assertions. They will furnish the best 
 possible evidence of the facts, for of those facts 
 they themselves are a part. They know the 
 power of the gospel, for it has renewed their 
 hearts. They can attest the gracious energy 
 of the Holy Spirit, for he has sanctified their 
 souls ; and amid all the remaining imperfec- 
 tions of which they are deeply conscious, and 
 from which they daily seek deliverance, each 
 can say, "By the grace of God, I am what I 
 am" (1 Cor. xv. 10). 
 
 But though the gospel proves itself " the 
 power of God unto salvation, to every one that 
 believeth" (Rom. i. 16), the millions do not be- 
 lieve ; and, with relation to the greater part, 
 the appalling question still retains its force — 
 " How shall they call on him in whom they 
 have not believed ? and how shall they believe 
 in him of whom they have not heard? and 
 how shall they hsar without a preacher ? and 
 
10 THE MILITANT CHURCH. 
 
 how shall they preach, except they be sent ?" 
 (Rom. X., 14, 15.) And to make the matter 
 incomparably worse, the increase of popula- 
 tion, and the triumphs of discovery have so far 
 outrun the efforts of the church to spread the 
 gospel, that we can no longer follow the apos- 
 tle in the challenge with which he concludes 
 his appeal — "I say, have they not heard ? 
 Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, 
 and their words unto the ends of the world" 
 (verse 18). 
 
 The Captain of our salvation, when he as- 
 cended on high, commissioned the armies of 
 the faithful to subdue all nations to his do- 
 minion. For a season they attended to his 
 orders : the weapons of their wafare were 
 mighty, through God, to the pulling down of 
 strongholds. Nothing could resist them : the 
 fastnesses of ignorance, and the ramparts of 
 superstition, shared the fate of the walls of 
 Jericho ; they fell at the blast of the trumpet, 
 and the hosts of God had only to march on- 
 ward and take possession. The fear of them 
 fell upon all nations ; their enemies submitted 
 by thousands, almost without a struggle, and 
 went over to join their ranks and share their 
 triumphs. Hell looked on with amazement, 
 
THE MILITANT CHURCH. 11 
 
 and the god of this world trembled for his 
 sceptre. Had they thus gone on from con- 
 quering to conquer, captivity had now been 
 captive ; the whole earth had submitted to the 
 King of Zion, and centuries of peace and 
 righteousness had marked the history of all 
 nations. But they became contented with 
 their conquests ; they thought they had done 
 enough, and that the time was come to divide 
 the spoils. Among those spoils was found 
 many a wedge of gold, many a goodly Baby- 
 lonish garment ; and there was no Joshua 
 there to demand that Achan's sin should rest 
 on his own head, and so the anger of the Lord 
 be turned away from the camp of Israel. And 
 what is their position now ? Many of their 
 early posts have been abandoned ; some of 
 their most valuable possessions have fallen 
 again into the hands of the foe, and throughout 
 the remainder of the conquered territory they 
 have built themselves garrisons and citadels, 
 where they may dwell at ease, and sing " How 
 goodly are thy tents. O Jacob, and thy taberna- 
 cles, O Israel !" They have boasted, and not 
 without reason, that they have for their defence 
 the munition of rocks, and that beneath are 
 everlasting arms. They glory in iL" tho"--hl 
 
12 AWFUL FACTS. 
 
 that their bulwarks are impregnable, and that 
 the gates of hell have assaulted them in vain. 
 But these walls of strength they have made 
 their prison. They have dwelt in their garri- 
 sons, and have contented themselves with gar- 
 rison duty. Constant on parade, they have had 
 their reviews and their field-days ; and the 
 world, the world in rebellion against God — 
 the world which they were commanded to 
 subdue to the sceptre of Christ — that world 
 has stood by, admiring the correctness of their 
 movements, the splendor of their uniforms, and 
 the polish of their arms. 
 
 Enough of figures ; we come to facts. Is 
 it not a fact, that Christians are dwelling at 
 ease, while myriads around them are perishing 
 in ignorance and sin ? Is it not a fact, that 
 no aggressive movement, worthy of the cause 
 of God, has been made for ages ? Is it not a 
 fact, that though the church has long been 
 praying for the conversion of the world, it has 
 never yet put forth an effort of which it could 
 entertain a hope that God would prosper it to 
 that end ? 
 
 I make these statements w?.th no view to de- 
 preciate the amount of good which has really 
 been accomplished. In the success which 
 
THE HEATHE5r WORLD. 13 
 
 has recently attended the preaching of the 
 gospel, both at home and abroad, most heartily 
 do I rejoice. I am even prepared to admit, 
 that at no former period since the days of the 
 apostles, have equal exertions been made to 
 spread the knowledge of salvation ; and that, 
 in proportion to their extent, they have been 
 crowned with a large measure of success. 
 Still, some melancholy facts not only mark the 
 history of the past, but throw their dark shad- 
 ows over the future. The church has slum- 
 bered for ages, and is now only half awake. 
 "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, 
 what of the night ?" is an inquiry which beto- 
 kens incipient consciousness ; but the answer 
 falls unheeded, or surely the church would 
 never sleep again. " The morning cometh, 
 and also the night" (Isa. xxi. 12). 
 
 " The dark places of the earth are full of the 
 habitations of cruelty," and it is impossible for 
 the most enlightened mind to entertain any- 
 thing like a correct apprehension of ihe igno- 
 rance, and crime, and misery, with which the 
 world abounds. Many hundred millions of 
 human beings, indeed, by far the greater por- 
 tion of the entire race, are enduring all the 
 evils which sin has entailed on my n kind, with- 
 
14 CHRISTENDOM. 
 
 out the slightest conception that God has turned 
 the curse into a blessing, is waiting to be gTa- 
 ck)us, and has so loved the world as to give 
 his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believ- 
 eth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life. The message of heavenly mercy 
 has been in the hands of the church eighteen 
 hundred years, and three fourths of the human 
 race are still unconscious that such a message 
 has been sent. 
 
 Well may we say, as David did when Saul 
 and Jonathan were slain, " Tell it not in Gath, 
 publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest 
 the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest 
 the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph !'* 
 But our silence comes too late, and will avail 
 us nothing ; it will not even conceal our dis- 
 grace ; the secret has transpired ; hell knows 
 it, and has blazoned it abroad, to persuade 
 mankind that Christians do not believe the re- 
 ligion which they profess. 
 
 We leave the heathen world, and turn to 
 Christendom (a name, by-the-way, which no 
 country under heaven yet deserves) ; and here 
 the view is sufficiently appalling. There is 
 probably not to be found a single populous dis- 
 trict, where Christians bear to the inhabitants 
 
ENGLAND. 15 
 
 a greater proportion than one tenth ; and al- 
 though a large deduction may be made for 
 tbose who, in our estimation, have not attained 
 the age of personal accountableness, the result 
 is frightful. Christ has the few, Satan the 
 many. Crowds are sinking into perdition from 
 the midst of our most Christianized localities ; 
 and their dying groans are saying, " No man 
 careth for our souls." 
 
 It is to be questioned whether in England, 
 even in those districts where there is the 
 largest proportion of true godliness, conversion 
 gains upon population. Let any one acquaint- 
 ed with the facts of our religious history, and 
 competent to form an opinion, compare one 
 census with another, and say whether the total 
 amount of conversions, among all denomina- 
 tions, durmg the ten intervening years, equals 
 the augmented number of souls within that 
 district ; to say nothing of those (not much 
 less than one third of the whole surviving pop- 
 ulatic n), who, during the interval, have passed 
 into eternity. 
 
 On the reader who questions the correctness 
 of this -statement, I would, with much affection 
 and tendeyn&ss, press the inquiry, Is he a com' 
 
16 SOULS AHE PERISHING. 
 
 petent judge 1 " Except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 
 iii. 3). Facts, which will deeply afflict a pious 
 mind, will be regarded with indifference or in- 
 credulity by " the natural man," who receives 
 not the things of the Spirit of God, and to 
 whom they are foolishness (1 Cor. ii. 14). 
 He heeds not the melancholy procession which 
 throngs the road to death ; and the reason is, 
 that he is journeying in the same direction. 
 
 But are proofs demanded ? We have them 
 in abundance. It is a notorious fact, that 
 thousands among us are living in open profli- 
 gacy, and that thousands more altogether neg- 
 lect even the forms of godliness : they belong 
 to no religious community, and they seek none. 
 Of those who attend public worship, a large 
 proportion frequent ministrations which have 
 never converted one soul, and never will. 
 And of those who habitually listen to a faith- 
 ful and apostolic ministry, vast numbers have 
 only a name to live, and are dead (Rev. iii. 1). 
 In all our sanctuaries there are some, in most 
 there are many, of whom no enlightened Chris- 
 tian can entertain a hope ; and the only differ- 
 ence between them and others who are more 
 openly walking in the way o. sinners is, that 
 
SOULS ARE PERISHING. 17 
 
 they have found a by-path to hell by the side 
 of Calvary. 
 
 It is readily admitted that these appalling 
 facts are disbelieved by some, and overlooked 
 by others, and that on few or none do they 
 produce so deep an impression as their fearful- 
 ness demands. But never, until they are 
 rightly regarded, will there be a thorough re- 
 vival in the church, or a general awakening in 
 the world. In the absence of powerful appre- 
 hensions of the guilt and danger of all the 
 unconverted and of the absolute certainty of 
 everlasting death, sinners will give themselves 
 little trouble about salvation, and Christians 
 will never awake to their awful responsibility. 
 
 We may set it down as an ascertained fact, 
 that until the terrors of hell are poured forth 
 on the consciences of men, there will never be 
 a general reception of the Gospel, or even a 
 strenuous effort for its propagation. To wel- 
 come escape, we must first be aware of our 
 danger. To attempt the relief of suffering, we 
 must first be assured of its existence. And, 
 in either case, our efforts will be proportionate 
 to our convictions. 
 
 This accounts for the terrific character of 
 the personal ministry of our Lord. In hii dis- 
 2* 
 
18 IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY 
 
 courses, " the worm that dieth not" (Mark ix. 
 44), " the damnation of hell" (Matt xxiii. 33), 
 and " everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels" (chap. xxv. 41), are subjects 
 of more frequent recurrence ihan in any ot 
 the writings or discourses of the prophets or 
 apostles. From this circumstance we may 
 learn, that real compassion for souls will in- 
 duce us to call awful things by awful names, 
 that " knowing the terror of the Lord," we 
 may "persuade men" (2 Cor. v. li), and save 
 them " with fear, pulling them out tff tho fire'' 
 (Jude 23). . ^hat is indeed mistaken tenderness 
 which sooths, as it nurses for the flames, the 
 victims of the second death. How vain the 
 task to hoard with care, and deck with gold, 
 the vessel of wrath, fitted for destruction, and 
 soon to be dashed in pieces ! 
 
 And in order to extensive usefulness, there 
 must not only be an apprehension that souls 
 are perishing, but a deep and settled convic- 
 tion that they deserve to perish. Our views of 
 sin, taken not from the opinions of men but 
 from the oracles of truth, must give a decided 
 negative to the question, " Is God unrighteous 
 who taketh vengeance 1" (Rom. iii. 5.) While 
 we harbor the slightest notion that eternal 
 
OF CORRECT VIEWS OF STN. 19 
 
 death is too severe a penalty for human guilt, 
 we are less the disciples of Christ than of 
 Satan. " Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. iii. 
 4), was the insinuation of the tempter to Eve, 
 and its effect was fatal. Its ruinous success 
 in that instance, has occasioned its constant 
 repetition ever since ; and of all the doctrines 
 of devils, current among mankind, this is un- 
 doubtedly the most popular. But fondly as 
 this seiitiment is cherished in the heart, it is 
 doomed to fall before the truth. And fall it 
 must, as Dagon fell before the ark of the cove- 
 nant, ere God will enter in and dwell there. 
 
 Hence, the first object of the Holy Spirit is 
 to " reprove the world of sin" (John xvi. 8). 
 Whatever the a\vakeaed sinner may think of 
 others, he entertains no doubt that he himself 
 deserves eternal death. And so deeply is this 
 conviction wrought upon his mind, that it is 
 often very difficult to persuade him of the pos- 
 sibility of his salvation. And it is only as he 
 apprehends the grand design of the Gospel, 
 that God " might be just, and the justifier of 
 him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. iii. 26), 
 that he dares to cherish a hope of pardon. But 
 the awakened sinner is not more righteously 
 or more certainly exnosed to everla* ing death 
 than his unawakr!,b.i neig:hhoi. .i- than the 
 
20 RELIGIOUS FAVORITISM. 
 
 whole unconverted world. The facts are the 
 same. The only difference is, that by him 
 they are perceived, while by others they are 
 disregarded. That which he has discovered 
 by the light of truth, the light of eternity will 
 reveal to all. 
 
 To anticipate that fearful disclosure, to warn 
 the sinner of the doom which awaits him, and 
 to warn him now, while yet there remains a 
 way of escape, is the sacred obligation of all 
 who love the Lord .lesus Christ in sincerity. 
 But it is only in proportion as they themselves 
 believe with the heart all the facts of the 
 case, that they will be prepared thus to serve 
 their generation according to the will of God. 
 Indistinct or doubtful apprehensions of the 
 truth, will utterly disqualify us to become in- 
 structers of otif-rs. " If the trumpet give an 
 uncertain soun-i, who shall prepare himself to 
 the battle?" (1 Cor. xiv. 8.) 
 
 Christi?ins often allow natural affection to 
 neutialize their religious convictions. They 
 admit that the wrath of God abides on the un- 
 believer, provided always, however, that the 
 unbeliever on whom that wrath shall abide is 
 not one o! their kindred. They can think of 
 the world ai a distance as goinfif down to the 
 c TQbers of death, and lying there * in ever- 
 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 21 
 
 tasting chains under darkness unto the judg- 
 ment of the Great day" ( Jude 6); but they shrink 
 from the thought when it comes more closely 
 home. It is an awful but indisputable fact, 
 that the most devoted Christians rarely admit 
 that their near relatives are gone to hell. Hence 
 their sincerity is suspected, and their warnings 
 are despised. To show the correctness of this 
 startling assertion, take the following case : — 
 A good man has a profligate son who is cut 
 off in the midst of his sins. The last act of 
 his life was an act of impiety, and the circum- 
 stances of his death were such as Solomon 
 predicted. " He, that being often reproved 
 hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, 
 and that without remedy" (Prov. xxix. 1). 
 The body is brought home to his father's 
 house, and is there made ready for the grave. 
 That father has other children, for whom he 
 has often trembled, lest the contagion of their 
 brother's example should prove their destruc- 
 tion. Now is the time to make an impression 
 on their hearts, and to turn even the ruin of 
 their brother to a good account. Imagine 
 then the agonized father, taking each child in 
 succession to view the corpse, and saying, 
 " There lies the body of your wicked brother. 
 
22 A father's appeal. 
 
 His soul is lost. Take warning or you will 
 follow him. Flee to Christ at once, or I shall 
 one day despair of your salvation, as I now do 
 of his. The only consolation I have concern- 
 ing him is, that he has not been able to charge 
 the ruin of his soul to me. I am guiltless of 
 that young man's blood. You know, and God 
 knows, that I warned him day and night with 
 many tears. I prayed for him, 1 prayed with 
 him, 1 prayed with him alone, and I besought 
 him by the tender mercies of God, to turn 
 from his wickedness and live, but he would 
 not hearken. And now, 1 own him for my son 
 no more. Our separation is final and eternal. 
 But, my dear child, ' of whom I travail in 
 birth again, until Christ be formed in you' 
 (Gal. iv. 19), must I also part with you ? 
 Shall all my hopes, and prayers, and aims, be 
 lost ? Shall it never be mine to say before 
 the throne, ' Here am I, and the children 
 which God has given me V Your brother has 
 perished in his sins. Will you perish too ? 
 Is the Redeemer of the world unworthy of 
 your love ? He died for your salvation. Will 
 you refuse to obey him ? He is waiting to 
 pardon your sins. Will you have redemption 
 through his blood ? He is waiting to receive 
 
FATAL TENDERNESS. 23 
 
 your soul. Will you devote it to his praise 1 
 Now is the accepted time, now is the day of 
 salvation. Hear his voice. Harden not your 
 heart. Flee for refuge, to lay hold of the hope 
 set before you. And then I shall rejoice 
 amid my sorrows, and say, at least of you, 
 * This my son was dead, and is alive again. 
 he was lost, and is found.' " Let such an 
 address be immediately followed by prayer 
 suited to the awful occasion, and where i? the 
 child that would ever forget it, or afterward 
 think his father's religion a lie ? 
 
 Do any ask, What father could do it ^ I 
 answer. The man who believes his Bible, and 
 thinks it bad enough to have one child in hell. 
 But suppose, ibat insicad of taking such a 
 course, he sparos his feelii>gs. He cHimot 
 bear to think that his child is lost. He breathes 
 the whisper of hope where facts warrant noth- 
 ing but despair. And what is the result? 
 One son says to himself, " Well. I am sure 
 that my poor brother was a great deal worse 
 than 1 have ever been. He died a.s he lived, 
 and if he is gone to heaven, I need nor bo 
 afraid <ii going to hell." That young iii^ i 
 takes courage in his sins, and from that day 
 becomes a profligate. Another comes to ilie 
 
24 RUINOUS CONSEQUENCES 
 
 conclusion, that, with all his pretence to piety,, 
 his father does not believe the religixDn whioh 
 he professes : that the wrath of God. and the 
 loss of the soul, are phrases which have a place 
 in his creed, but to which there is nothing, 
 correspondent in the true sentiments of his 
 heart. He leaps to the conclusion, that, if his 
 father is a hypocrite, religious men in general 
 are no better ; and thus the circumstance 
 which, if rightly improved, might have been 
 God's message of mercy to the salvation of 
 his soul, seals his ruin. He becomes an 
 infidel. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected that this case is 
 an extreme and improbable one, and that no 
 real Christian would entertain hope of a child 
 who had died under such circumstances. Per- 
 haps not. But many who pass for Christians 
 would, and few would censure them. Had 
 they been in the place of David when Absalom 
 was slain, instead of regarding his soul as lost, 
 as he evidently did, they would have cherished 
 the hope that the interval, " while he was yet 
 in the midst of the oak," was so employed, 
 that the darts of Joab, when they were thrust 
 through his heart, inflicted the last pang he 
 would ever suffer. 
 
OF MISTAKEN CHARITY. 25 
 
 Conversion in the last extremity of life, is 
 the only hope of the multitude. It is the last 
 resort of the impenitent, and Christians have 
 sanctioned the delusion. Even their anxiety to 
 visit the sick has been wrongly interpreted by 
 the world, and taken to indicate views of reli- 
 gion, from which an enlightened mind would 
 shrink with horror. Thousands are of opinion, 
 that all that needs to be done to set them right 
 for heaven, is to have some spiritual adviser tO' 
 attend their last hours " This their way is. 
 their folly, yet theii posterity approve their 
 sayings." Warm-hearted, but injudicious 
 Christians, have given it their sanction, by- 
 laying great stress on circumstances which at 
 best would only warrant a trembling hope^ 
 Sorrow for sin, and alarm of conscience, prompt^ 
 ed only by the near approach of eternity, have 
 been mistaken for conviction and repentance 
 of " a goodly sort" (2 Cor. vii. 9-1 1), and the 
 promises of the gospel, and the consolations 
 of Christ, have been addressed to persons, to 
 whom the extent and spirituality of the claims 
 of God, and the terrors of his righteous law, 
 would have been subjects far mor6 seasonable. 
 
 The common result of such treatment is, that 
 all anxiety is hushed, and a calm ensues whicb 
 
26 RUINOUS CONSEQUENCES 
 
 not a breath disturbs. The man has mistaken 
 remorse for penitence and vows of a new 
 life for evidence that he is a new creature. All 
 misgivings, doubts, and fears, are thenceforth 
 regarded as intrusive, and are instantly put 
 away. " A deceived heart hath turned him 
 aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, 
 Is there not a lie in my right hand ?" (Isa. 
 xliv. 20.) And thus he leaves the world. His 
 supposed conversion and happy death supply 
 the subject of a funeral sermon. Large num- 
 bers attend, for the occasion is an attractive 
 one. They wioh tj learn hiw men may 
 neglect the claims of G.ii '.n health and 
 strength, and yet find pe/av.e and joy on the 
 arrival of sickness and d^^ath. It is the very 
 tiling which they most of all desire. If they 
 may but nc^'ect religion all their lives, they 
 have no objectiim whatever to pay it their 
 dying retrard.^. TL.ey listen with approving 
 atieuiion, and take courage to trifle a little 
 longer. Oh, what a sermon would they have 
 if the lost soul could occupy that pulpit, and 
 tell ih«Mi> i^at the peace which comes not by 
 the hltiiid tn' the cross is a delusion (Col. i. 20), 
 and '.\t'd\ the hope of the hvpocrite shall perish ! 
 (Job xxvii. 8.) 
 
OF MISTAKEN CHARITY. 27 
 
 I am aware that such statements as these 
 are thought very uncharitable. Be it so! 
 Charity to the dead is often destruction to the 
 living ; and it is with the latter exclusively 
 that we have to do. The departed cannot be 
 injured, or even annoyed, by any judgment 
 of ours, however uncharitable ; whereas our 
 favorable opinion concerning them may induce 
 others to go and do likewise — to trifle with 
 Christ and eternity till health and life are 
 almost gone, and then, when the world can 
 charm no longer, to compromise matters with 
 their Creator as best they may. Thus, while 
 on the one hand the indulgence of groundless 
 hope can render no service to the objects 
 of our compassion (now, alas ! too late, their 
 state being unalterably fixed for ever), on the 
 other, survivors may be strengthened in their 
 impiety, and the threatenings of God be made 
 " of none effect." 
 
 But the objection may be started : What 
 right have we to entertain an unfavorable 
 opinion, or to pronounce judgment, when all 
 the evidence we have is to the contrary ? The 
 answer to this question turns upon another : 
 Is that evidence satisfactory ? 
 
 A pastorate of nearly twenty years has made 
 
28 A MELANCHOLY INSTANCE 
 
 me familiar with scenes of affliction. I can 
 hardly remember a case in which sickness did 
 not dispose the mind to think seriously of re- 
 ligion, especially when early associations had 
 led that way. But how has it been with those 
 who have returned to life again ? They have 
 left their religion in the chamber of affliction, 
 and not a vestige of piety has remained to 
 attest the genuineness of their conversion. 
 
 I have seen sinners brought to God amid 
 all the varieties of Christian experience ; some 
 by the terrors of the law, others by the attrac- 
 tions of the cross ; some by a long and almost 
 imperceptible process, others, comparatively, 
 in a moment ; but scarcely in a single in- 
 stance have I found conversion, or even real 
 awakening, dated from affliction. If ten were 
 cleansed, where are the nine ? " It has hap- 
 pened unto them according to the true prov- 
 erb, The dog is turned to his own vomit 
 again, and the sow that was washed to her 
 wallowing in the mire" ( 2 Pet. ii. 22). Would 
 that piety which could not stand the test of a 
 return to life have availed the soul in death t 
 Let conscience say. 
 
 I shall never forget an instance of disap- 
 pointed hope which occurred in the early part 
 
OF DISAPPOINTED HOPE. 29 
 
 of my career. A young man who had been in- 
 structed in a sabbath-school as to the elements 
 of religion, but had never made any pretension 
 to piety, was stricken with an alarming dis- 
 ease. His concern about his soul was imme- 
 diate and overwhelming. " What must I do 
 to be saved ?" seemed the one question which 
 absorbed all his thoughts. Those around him 
 did not fail to expound the reply of Paul and 
 Silas — " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 He listened most intently ; hope sprang up in 
 his soul, and passages of scripture which he 
 had learned at school, but which had till then 
 escaped his memory, came pouring into his 
 mind with a richness, propriety, and consecu- 
 tiveness, truly wonderful. Disease now gained 
 upon him, and all hope of recovery fled. The 
 surgeon plainly told him that nothing more 
 could be done, and that a few hours would 
 terminate his life. He received the announce- 
 ment with perfect composure, and said that he 
 had no wish to live, his only desire was to 
 depart and be with Christ. Inexperienced as 
 I then was, had he died, 1 should not have 
 entertained a doubt of his safety. But the 
 surgeon was mistaRen : lo the surprise of 
 every one, his recovery was soon completed. 
 3* 
 
30 A MELANCHOLY INSTANCE, &C. 
 
 He went to the house of God the first sabbath 
 he was able to walk, and returned thanks for 
 his restoration. For the next few sabbaths 
 following he was there ; afterward I missed 
 him. For sometime I was unable to learn 
 what had become of him ; at last I ascer- 
 tained that an act of gross immorality had 
 rendered it expedient for him to leave the 
 neighborhood. 
 
 After the lapse of twenty years, I very un- 
 expectedly met with him once again. During 
 the interval he had become a hardened sot. 
 At the time of this interview, however, he was 
 perfectly sober, but he appeared to have for- 
 gotten me. I reminded him of his vows in 
 affliction. He then mentioned my name. I 
 endeavored to recall his former impressions, 
 but the attempt was hopeless ; his conscience 
 was seared as with a hot iron : all I could get 
 him to say of the affliction which once seemed 
 so hopeful, was, " 1 have no wish to remera- 
 her it." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Never can it be too deeply impressed on 
 the minds of all who are anxious to bring sin- 
 ners to Christ, that health is the season of 
 benefit, as well as of usefulness. Of the man 
 who amid the excitements of life becomes 
 awakened to an apprehension of his guilt and 
 danger, we may entertain some reasonable 
 hope ; but when cares for eternity come across 
 the mind only when it has nothing else to en- 
 gage it, the result is at best but doubtful. The 
 sick demand our kindness, our sympathy, and 
 our prayers ; but if we wish to save men's 
 souls, our chief attention must be directed to 
 those who need no other physician. 
 
 Through inattention to this point, some of 
 the best energies of the church have been 
 thrown away. Persons in all diseases, and in 
 all stages of disease, have been eagerly sought 
 out with the benevolent intention of showing 
 them the way to heaven ; while the healthful 
 inmates of the same dwelling have been left to 
 
32 VISITATION OF THE SICK. 
 
 pursue their own path to hell without one 
 word of entreaty or warning. 
 
 In many instances the visitation of the sick 
 is perfectly useless. It is almost always so in 
 fevers and diseases connected with delirium ; 
 and in cases where delirium is not apparent, 
 there is often mental imbecility. I have 
 attended persons in malignant fevers, who 
 seemed perfectly conscious at the time, and 
 exceedingly thankful for my visits, but who, 
 on recovery had not the slightest recollection 
 of anything that had taken place. 
 
 My design, in these remarks, is not to dis- 
 courage attention to the sick, or in the slightest 
 degree to justify any in neglecting them, but 
 to show that the best season for labor is not 
 that which is generally selected, and that time 
 lost in health can seldom be redeemed in sick- 
 ness. 
 
 There are many, who, when conscience tells 
 them that they ought to do something for the 
 salvation of their unconverted neighbors, post- 
 pone their efforts for affliction to prepare the 
 way. The cares of life, they think, may then 
 more readily oe iam aside, and ^he auenaon 
 exclusively directed to the things of eternity. 
 .\iid moreover, at such a time the call of a 
 
SPIRITS IN PRISON. 33 
 
 Christian neighbor for the express purpose of 
 religious conversation will not be thought in- 
 trusive. " How glad I should be for my hus- 
 band to be seriously ill !" said a poor woman 
 one day, greatly to my surprise. On my 
 asking a reason for so strange a wish, she re- 
 plied, " O sir, if he were ill, somebody would 
 come and talk to him about his soul." The 
 woman was too ignorant to have intended it as 
 a personal rebuke ; but may it not be tbe 
 case, that while we account it a matter of im- 
 perative obligation to preach Christ to the 
 sick and dying, we rarely say a word about 
 him to those who need it not less than they ? 
 
 Whatever may be its cause, the silence of 
 Christians is the undoing of thousands. It 
 may be indolence, it may be timidity, it msy 
 be mistaken affection, it may be mere procras- 
 tination without any assignable reason ; but its 
 results are the same, and those results are tre- 
 mendous beyond description. 
 
 If we could get near enough to the prison- 
 house of souls (1 Pet. iii. 19), to listen to what 
 is passing there, we should overhear conversa- 
 tions which would make our ears to tingle 
 It is not improbable that our names are there 
 associated with cursings and bitterness, and 
 
34 SPIRITS IN PIMSON. 
 
 that the ruin of souls is ascribed to our negli- 
 gence. We should hear one saying to his 
 fellow-sufferer : " 1 had a Christian neighbor 
 who lived next door to me eighteen years. 
 He knew that I was regardless of religion, that 
 1 seldom attended public worship, and that I 
 often made the holy day of the Lord a season 
 of worldly pleasure, but he never reproved my 
 sin. To his silence, I may trace my ruin. I 
 remember the turning point in my life : it was 
 the morning of a bright and beautiful day. A 
 friend had invited me to an excursion. His 
 chaise drove off* with us at the moment my 
 neighbor was leaving his door to go to the 
 house of God. I would then have given the 
 world to accompany him, but I had gone too 
 far to retreat. How well I remember all that 
 passed on that occasion ! Oh, what a curse is 
 memory now ! God has set my sins * in 
 order' before mine eyes. There they are, in all 
 their horrible minuteness of circumstance ; not 
 a single aggravation is forgotten. My thoughts, 
 all that day, ran on the account to which I 
 should certainly be called the next morning. 
 I pondered over the best excuses that my 
 proud heart or my vain imagination, could 
 suggest. One was close confinement during 
 
SPIRITS IN PRISON. 35 
 
 the week, and the necessity of occasional re- 
 creation for the benefit of my heahh. Another, 
 that the sabbath was made for man, and not 
 man for the sabbath. A third (and it was this 
 that gave me greater relief than either), that 
 it was only for once, that I never intended to 
 do so again. Miserable was that day to me, 
 and it was followed by a sleepless night. Con- 
 science would not suffer me to slumber. But 
 that was the last time conscience ever disturbed 
 my rest. Monday morning came. My an- 
 swers were ready. I prepared myself for the 
 dreaded interview, and wished it over. Had 
 my neighbor then treated me with affectionate 
 fidelity, I had never gone on a Sunday's ex* 
 cursion again. I had already resolved thit 
 it should be the last time, and I wanted an 
 opportunity of saying so. Judge then my as- 
 tonishment, when 1 found that the religious 
 friend, in whose eyes I had fancied myself de- 
 graded for ever, made not the slightest allusion 
 to the manner in which I had passed the pre- 
 vious day ! His silence, I unhappily regarded 
 as the sanction of my sin. He was a kind 
 neighbor, and a good man, and I could not 
 imagine that he would see my soul in peril 
 without informing me. Fortified by his indif- 
 
36 THE LOST NEIGHBOR. 
 
 ference, I reached the conclusion which has 
 satisfied thousands. I thought religion good, 
 but not indispensable. I regarded it as a thing 
 about which every one should be fully per- 
 suaded in his own mind, and not make himself 
 a busybody in other men's matters. I felt 
 assured that with it my neighbor would go to 
 heaven, and almost as certain that I should 
 find my way thither without it. His conduct 
 seemed to justify my opinion. For his ha- 
 bitual silence, I could account in no other way. 
 During the lingering illness which brought my 
 body to the grave and my soul to this place 
 of torment, there was hardly a day when I was 
 not the subject of his kind inquiries. Yet not 
 one word did he say about the claims of 
 Christ, or the guilt and danger of neglecting 
 the great salvation. The consequence is, that 
 here I am, and here I must stay for ever. 
 Who can lie down in everlasting burnings ? 
 But I have no other bed. Thanks to my 
 Christian neighbor, for this awful doom ! 
 Had he been faithful to my soul, and warned 
 me of the wrath to come, never had I been 
 here." 
 
 " T, too," rejoins his companion in misery, 
 ** once had a religious friend, and that friend 
 
THE LOST HUSBAND. 37 
 
 was my wife. I loved her with the tenderest 
 affection, and believed that her love was na 
 less tender than my own. Her piety was 
 unquestioned. As she valued the orJmances 
 of God, I constantly accompanied her to the 
 sanctuary. At her request, I read prayers 
 every morning and evening with our assembled 
 household. It pleased her, and that was 
 enough for me, for it was the study of my life 
 to meet her views and anticipate her wishes. I 
 heard her speak to others about Christ, and^ 
 conversion, and eternity ; but of these things 
 she said not one word to me in a manner whichz 
 indicated a suspicion that matters between, 
 my soul and God needed the slightest altera-^ 
 tion. I gave myself credit for the piety which, 
 she evidently accorded me ; and though I 
 never went so far as to make a public profes- 
 sion of religion, I thought myself in a much- 
 better condition for doing so than many who' 
 did. Thus, life gently glided on till the ill- 
 ness overtook me of which I died. She then 
 watched my bed with unwearied attention, 
 spoke of the valley of the shadow of death, and 
 of fearing no evil there, but never asked me 
 on what I was resting my hope for eternity. 
 She took it for granted that I was right, and L 
 4 
 
38 THE LOST CHILD. 
 
 thought so too. But she might have known 
 that experimental religion never had charms 
 for me, and that beneath an irreproachable 
 character before men, I had but ill concealed 
 a heart at enmity with God : she might have 
 known this, and must have known it, had it 
 not been that affection blinded her judgment ; 
 for there was nothing in me to warrant a 
 belief that 1 had passed from death unto 
 iife. My virtues were those which a heathen 
 might have practised, and remained a heathen 
 «till ; and such a religion as mine might have 
 existed had Christ never died. And thus I 
 ieft the world. My last mortal recollection is 
 that my dear wife kissed my cold cheek, and 
 whispered in my ear, ' Farewell, my love, till 
 we meet in heaven.' Meet in heaven ? Never ! 
 if we meet, it will npt be there." 
 
 " And I," adds a third, " am another victim 
 of kindness ; my parents loved me too ten- 
 derly to permit my salvation. I once was 
 most fearfully alarmed about my soul ; but 
 they told me to beware of excitement, for it 
 would injure my health : they cautioned me 
 against enthusiastic views of religion, and as- 
 sured me that one so moral and virtuous had 
 nothing to fear. I hearkened to their counsels ; 
 
CLAIMS OF THE LIVING. 39 
 
 my convictions died away, and never troubled 
 me again. Through all the long months when 
 consumption was running its course, I cher- 
 ished the hope of recovery : not a word was 
 said to undeceive me, till I awoke and found 
 myself here. ' The harvest is past, the sum- 
 mer is over, and I am not saved.' " 
 
 I write not thus to awaken unavailing re- 
 grets. The dead are gone ; they are beyond 
 the reach of our repentance and our prayers : 
 but the consciousness of having been acces- 
 sories to their damnation may have a benefi- 
 cial influence ; it may teach us how to offer 
 the prayer of David, when he thought of the 
 murdered Uriah, " Deliver me from blood- 
 guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation 
 (Psalm li. 14). It may do more : the doom 
 of all the ungodly is not yet sealed. The 
 man who was once within your reach is beyond 
 it now ; but he has left five brethren at home : 
 the only amends you can make to him is to 
 warn them. Gladly would he send a messen- 
 ger from hell to do it, but he cannot ; there is 
 a great gulf between (Luke xvi. 19-31). But 
 that which he cannot do, you may accom- 
 plish; you may prevent their going to that 
 place of torment. Try. 
 
40 CLAIMS OF THE LIVING. 
 
 It may be that these remarks will fall into 
 the hands of one whose sabbath-breaking 
 neighbor, or whose unconverted husband, or 
 whose •consumptive child, is yet alive. Is it 
 so 1 Go, then, reader, and tell him of his 
 danger : tell him now, lest to-morrow it 
 should be too late. Assure him of the neces- 
 sity of salvation, and of the certainty of 
 Christ's willingness to save, to save even him. 
 You may yet render it impossible for him to 
 lay his ruin to your charge ; yea, more than 
 this — you may deliver his soul from death. 
 " Go, and the Lord be with thee !" If you 
 are afraid to tell him your fears, or know not 
 how to express them, take this book in your 
 hand, and ask him to read it : it may be he 
 will see his own likeness. If he should, assure 
 him that the sketch is a faithful one, that the 
 author intended him to see it, and prepared it 
 for him, cherishing the hope that this image of 
 his deformity would haunt him as a spectre, 
 until he should become a new creature in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 Conclusions involving responsibility so ter 
 rific as that which I have attempted to de 
 scribe, have been evaded by all the devices 
 which ingenuity can furnish, or in which an 
 
SCHOLASTIC SUBTLETIES. 41 
 
 uneasy conscience can promise itself repose. 
 But conceal or mystify the awful fact as we 
 may, souls are lost which might have been 
 saved, had the servants of Christ obeyed his 
 orders. Divine sovereignty, the decrees of 
 God, and " the election of grace," are not the 
 things which stand in the way of the world's 
 conversion. " Have I any pleasure at all that 
 the wicked should die ? saith the Lord God ; 
 and not that he should return from his ways 
 and live ?" (Ezek. xviii. 23.) 
 
 Peter knew nothing of the subtleties of the 
 schools, but he was filled with the Holy Ghost 
 when he said, " Him, being delivered by the 
 determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,. 
 ye have taken, and by wicked hands have cru- 
 cified and slain." (Acts ii. 23.) In his estima* 
 tion, divine foreknowledge afforded no excuse 
 for human wickedness. And when the church 
 resumes the zeal and devotedn^ss of primitive 
 times, it seems not unlikely that more attention 
 than at present will be paid to inspired author- 
 ity, and less deference be rendered to human 
 systems of theology. 
 
 Let none say, " Had we w&med of their 
 danger the souls which are now lost, the warn- 
 ing would have been unsuccessfiil We hars 
 4* 
 
42 A PARABLE. 
 
 no right to cherish such a persuasion ; and in 
 no relation but this, would it be tolerated for 
 one moment. To show the justice of this as- 
 sertion, suppose the following case : — 
 
 Some rebels have been convicted of high 
 treason. The question of their guilt admits 
 of no doubt, and if any deserve death for re- 
 bellion, they do. The king, whose authority 
 they had attempted to subvert, had been their 
 personal friend, and had loaded them with 
 favors. Their treachery, therefore, had all the 
 aggravation of the basest ingratitude. Their 
 condemnation excites no surprise ; it was ex- 
 pected by everybody. The fatal morning ar- 
 rives, and crowds assemble to witness their 
 execution : there is but one sentiment as to the 
 atrocity of their crime, and no one imagines 
 that their lives will be spared. The monarch, 
 however, resolves to exercise his prerogative 
 of mercy. As an act of pure sovereignty, he 
 determines not only to spare, but, on certain 
 conditions, to offer them a full pardon. A 
 great while before it is day, everything is ar- 
 ranged for carrying into effect his gracious 
 purpose. The necessary document is no soon- 
 er prepared, than it is put into the hands of one 
 of the attendants in waiting, who is informed 
 
A PARABLE. 43 
 
 of its contents, and instructed to proceed on 
 the errand of mercy with all possible despatch. 
 There is time, abundant time, for him to reach 
 the place of intended execution, before the fa- 
 tal moment ; but he loiters on the way. Who 
 would imagine the charge with which he is 
 intrusted ? At length he arrives, but is just 
 too late : the drop has fallen ; the last struggle 
 is over ; the culprits have entered eternity ! 
 Let the crowd be told of his cruel indolence, 
 and what would they say ? The very men who 
 thought the sentence a righteous one, would 
 charge him with being a murderer. Suppose 
 that, to evade the imputation, he should unfold 
 his commission, and say, " I deny it to be a 
 pardon ; it is only the offer of one, and it is 
 such an offer as would not have been accepted. 
 It contains some very humiliating conditions : 
 the rebels, in order to be spared, were to make 
 a- full confession of their guilt ; they were to 
 go through the streets of the city, and to the 
 gates of the palace, with ropes round their 
 necks, acknowledging the justice of their ori- 
 ginal sentence, and ascribing the preservation 
 of their lives to the royal clemency of him 
 whose government they had attempted to sub- 
 vert. I knew the men ; I was perfectly assured 
 
44 A PARABLE. 
 
 that they would never submit to such terms as 
 these, and therefore I thought it of little con- 
 sequence whether I brought the document or 
 not. On the whole, I regret that I came too 
 late ; but had I been earlier, the result would 
 have been the same." Can we imagine that the 
 crowd would have patience to listen to such a 
 defence ? or, having heard it, would think it 
 satisfactory ? A thousand voices would ex- 
 claim, " Wretch ! murderer ! tell us not what 
 those men would not have been willing to do ; 
 you were sent to give them an opportunity of 
 being willing to do it ; and as they lost that 
 opportunity through your negligence, they owe 
 their death to you." Should he escape being 
 torn in pieces on the spot, what account would 
 he give to the king who sent him ? Would he 
 dare to insinuate that if the offer of mercy had 
 been made in sincerity, it would have been 
 expressed in different terms, and committed to 
 a more trustworthy messenger ? 
 
 "If thou forbear to deliver them that are 
 drawn unto death, and those that are ready to 
 be slain ; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it 
 not ; doth not he that pondereth the heart con- 
 sider it 1 and he that keepeth thy soul, doth 
 LiOt he know it 1 and shall not he render to 
 
THE HIDDEN LEGER. 45 
 
 every man according to his works ?" (Prov. 
 xxiv. 11, 12.) 
 
 A fearful rendering that will be to many 
 who think not so. Amid all the efforts which 
 have been made to send forth missionaries, 
 and to translate the Scriptures into unknown 
 tongues, few are the Christians who contrib- 
 ute as large a sum for the conversion of the 
 world as is wrung from them in the shape of 
 rates and taxes ; and the man who gives to 
 the service of God the same amount that he 
 pays for the rental of his house, is thought a 
 prodigy of benevolence. Many a Christian 
 tradesman would rather burn his books, than 
 show them to the Lord Jesus Christ ; but he 
 who espied Nathanael under the fig-tree (John 
 i. 48) has seen them already, and will render 
 to every man according to his works. A scale 
 of expenditure which pampers selfishness, and 
 gives benevolence the crumbs, must necessa- 
 rily grieve the good Spirit of God, and bring 
 leanness into the soul. 
 
 But, after all, it is not here that the worst 
 defect is found. Mean as the contributions of 
 Christians in general to the treasury of God 
 undoubtedly are, wonders would be accom- 
 plished if those contributions were given con- 
 
46 UNCONVERTED SERVANTS. 
 
 sistently ; but they are not. The man be- 
 stows his guinea to save the heathen ; but not 
 a breath will he spend to save his friend or 
 his servant — perhaps we may add, his wife 
 or his child. 
 
 There are thousands of unconverted ser- 
 vants living in Christian households, for whose 
 salvation not one determined effort has ever 
 been made. Attendance at public worship, 
 and family prayer, have been thought sufficient, 
 and, in the absence of all other instrumentality, 
 religious masters and mistresses have felici- 
 tated themselves on having done their duty. 
 They have even thought that the commenda- 
 tion bestowed on Abraham would not be with- 
 hold en from them : " I know him that he will 
 command his children and his household after 
 him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." 
 (Gen. xviii. 19.) 
 
 I was once called to visit, in her last illness, 
 a young woman of good understanding, who 
 had lived three years in a professedly Christian 
 family, and had all that time attended public 
 and domestic worship, as part of her agree- 
 ment, but who did not know that she had a 
 soul, or that Jesus Christ came into the world 
 to save sinners. Her mistress had never given 
 
POPULAR IGNORANCE. 47 
 
 har that information. She went when others 
 went, knelt when others knelt, heard all, and 
 understood nothing. Not one word, of all the 
 sermons and prayers she had attended, had 
 fastened on her mind, or excited a single in- 
 quiry. And it is by no means unlikely, that 
 the reader who thinks this statement improba- 
 ble, would find, within his immediate circle, 
 specimens of ignorance quite as appalling, if 
 he would but give himself the trouble to search 
 them out. 
 
 A very large portion of truth from the pulpit 
 falls unheeded, because even the plainest lan- 
 guage is not generally understood. Persons 
 who have not made it a subject of inquiry, 
 would hardly believe the extent of popular ig- 
 norance as to the meaning of many words most 
 commonly used in preaching the gospel. " Sal- 
 vation," " redemption," " conversion," " atone- 
 ment," "justification," " sanctification," and a 
 hundred others of the same order, and without 
 which we could not preach at all, convey to 
 the minds of multitudes no distinct, no definite 
 impressions. They think of them as something 
 belonging to religion, and not to common life ; 
 and that is all they know, or care to know, 
 about the matter. And this deplorable igno- 
 
48 POPULAR IGNORANCE, &C. 
 
 ranee is not confined to those whom we usu- 
 ally regard as uneducated. It prevails, to a 
 fearful extent, among all classes, and includes . 
 not a few who pride themselves on their liter- 
 ary attainments. Some of our most popular 
 writers have betrayed a lack of Christian 
 knowledge which would disgrace a Sunday- 
 school child ten years old. 
 
 How can this difficulty be met ? It never 
 can be reached from the pulpit. To meet it 
 there, we must confine all our lessons to the 
 mere alphabet of Christianity. Familiar con- 
 versation is the only thing which can bring 
 home the plainest truths to minds so unin- 
 formed ; and until this be undertaken as a 
 matter of serious, personal obligation before 
 God, by all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 their neighbors will continue to perish in their 
 sins, and to them will belong the guilt of being 
 accessories to their ruin. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 With all humility and tenderness, I would 
 submit to my dear and honored brethren in the 
 ministry the question, whether there must not 
 be something radically wrong in that preach- 
 ing, to which the unconverted can approvingly 
 listen year after year, and remain in their sins. 
 
 It may perhaps be replied, that the same 
 event happened to Ezekiel, whose fidelity none 
 will presume to question. " They come unto 
 thee," said the Lord to that prophet, " as the 
 people Cometh, and they sit before thee as my 
 people, and they hear thy words, but they will 
 not do them And lo ! thou art unto them as 
 a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant 
 voice and can play well on an instrument ; for 
 they hear thy words, but they do them not." 
 (Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32.) 
 
 The relevancy of this passage to the case 
 
 under consideration, is, however destroyed by 
 
 the context. The men who, as a matter of 
 
 necessity or courtesy, listened to the message, 
 
 5 
 
60 MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 
 
 hated the prophet who brought it : they spoke 
 against him " by the walls and in the doors of 
 the houses" (verse 30). The case of Ezekiel, 
 then, after all, was no exception to the general 
 rule. Like Moses, and Jeremiah, and Daniel, 
 and a host of holy men " of whom the world 
 was not worthy," who " wandered in deserts 
 and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the 
 earth" (Heb. xi. 38), he found it impossible to 
 serve God faithfully, without provoking cen- 
 sure, and was included by Stephen in his 
 sweeping challenge to the rulers of the Jews ; 
 " Which of the prophets have not your fathers 
 persecuted ?" (Acts vii. 52.) 
 
 We may boast of the enlightened age in 
 which we live ; but we deceive ourselves, if 
 we imagine that the world is yet so changed 
 as to render obsolete the caution of our Lord 
 to his disciples : " Wo unto you when all men 
 shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers 
 to the false prophets." (Luke vi. 26.) 
 
 The commendation of an unconverted hearer 
 is very questionable praise. It is possible, in- 
 deed, that the man may have information enough 
 to acknowledge as truth the evidence of his 
 condemnation, or honesty enough to give us 
 credit for the sincerity of our ministrations ;. but 
 
MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 51 
 
 it is far more likely that he endures our ser- 
 mons because they press but lightly on his 
 conscience ; because we afford him so many 
 opportunities of evading our appeals ; or be- 
 cause we invariably suffer him to hide himself 
 in the crowd ; and when we describe the man 
 for whom there is no escape, because he neg- 
 lects the great salvation (Heb. ii. 3), we care- 
 fully guard against everything like personality, 
 lest he should possibly imagine that we mean 
 him. 
 
 But we do mean him, or ought to mean him ; 
 and the man will never be saved till he knows 
 it. Should he not find it out from our public 
 discourses, let us see him at home, and tell him 
 so. We have often indirectly described his 
 character, but still he has very little notion that 
 the description applies to himself. We must 
 remove from his mind all misapprehension, and 
 with boldness, yet with affection and tender- 
 ness, say, " Thou art the man." 
 
 Is it demanded who can do this ? I reply, 
 that servant of Christ who is found " warning 
 every man, and teaching every man in all wis- 
 dom," that he " may present every man perfect 
 in Christ Jesus." (Col. i. 28.) The preacher 
 who wishes to save himself, and them that hear 
 
52 MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 
 
 him (1 Tim. iv. 16), must thus be made all 
 things to all men, that he may by all means 
 save some (1 Cor. ix. 22). If sinners will take 
 warning in the ordinary way, our work will be 
 so much the lighter ; but if public exhortations 
 fail to produce the eflect desired, we must 
 adopt other methods, lest any one fail of the 
 grace of God. (Heb. xii. 15.) 
 
 And under the influence of those powerful 
 views of eternity which every man of God may 
 be expected to cherish, it will, after all, be no 
 very difficult matter to say to an unconverted 
 hearer, " My friend, I have great heaviness 
 and continual sorrow of heart on your account. 
 You have now been hearing me a whole year, 
 and I see no proof that you have been bene- 
 fited by my labors. Have I bestowed upon 
 you labor in vain ? What more can I do to 
 lead you to Christ ? I must soon give an ac- 
 count to God of my watchfulness for the sal- 
 vation of your soul. I want to do it with joy, 
 and not with grief ; for that would be unprofit- 
 able for you. (Heb. xiii. 17.) Must I tell 
 him that though I warned you, you would not 
 hearken ? that though I entreated you, you 
 would not comply 1 that though I besought 
 you, by the tender mercies of God, to present 
 
LAY AGENCY. 53 
 
 your body a living sacrifice, holy and accepta- 
 ble, that 'reasonable service' (Rom. xii. 1) you 
 refused to render him, and strangely deter- 
 mined to die in your sins, notwithstanding all 
 that infinite mercy had done for your redemp- 
 tion and conversion ?" 
 
 If we are not prepared thus to fight at close 
 quarters, are we good soldiers of Jesus Christ ? 
 (2 Tim. ii. 3.) If we cannot thus commend 
 ourselves to every man's conscience in the 
 sifrht of God, are we fit for our work ? are we 
 making full proof of our ministry ? It was thus 
 that the apostles labored (Acts xx. 20 ; 2 Cor. 
 iv. 2 ; 1 Thess. ii. 11, 12 ; 2 Tim. iv. 5) ; and 
 if we aspire to their successes, we must emu- 
 late their toils. 
 
 But whatever may be the piety and devoted- 
 ness of the ministers of the gospel, the world 
 will remain unsaved, while the conversion of 
 sinners is left to them. The mightiest armies 
 would never have subdued a single province, 
 had their officers been the only fighting men : 
 it was theirs to direct the battle, but victory 
 depended on the number, and training, and 
 valor of the main body, rank and file. And 
 never, until private Christians become efl*ective 
 men, will the church of the living God look 
 5* 
 
54 LAY AGENCY. 
 
 " forth as tlae morning, fair as the moon, clear 
 as the sun, and terrible as an army with ban- 
 ners." 
 
 When the leaven of popery is thoroughly 
 purged away, the whole body of the faithful 
 will awake to the fact that the communication 
 of spiritual blessings is not the exclusive pre- 
 rogative of a privileged order. It was not to 
 bishops and deacons alone, but to all the elect 
 strangers who were scattered throughout Pon- 
 tius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 
 whatever might be their worldly circumstances, 
 or ecclesiastical appointments, that Peter said, 
 " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest- 
 hood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye 
 should show forth the praises of him who hath 
 called you out of darkness into his marvellous 
 light." (1 Pet. ii. 9.) 
 
 The church of modern times has never yet 
 called into action one fiftieth part of the strength 
 which it really possesses. Among its members 
 there are hundreds, there are thousands, who 
 have done nothing for Christ ; they have never 
 saved one soul from death ; and no marvel, for 
 they have never made the attempt. Their only 
 notion of doing good has been to perform it by 
 proxy ; a donation, or annual subscription, to 
 
PERSONAL EFFORT. 55 
 
 some public society for the spread of the gospel, 
 has been the total amount of their efforts for 
 the conversion of the world. It seems never 
 to have entered their thoughts that Christ has 
 claims upon them for services which they can 
 never perform by deputy, and that nothing can 
 absolve them from personal obligation to bring 
 sinners to repentance. 
 
 It was not thus that the ancient church 
 achieved its triumphs. " Salute the beloved 
 Persis, which labored much in the Lord" 
 (Rom. xvi. 12) ; " and I entreat thee, true 
 yoke-fellow, help these women which labored 
 with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and 
 with other my fellow-laborers, whose names 
 are in the book of life" (Phil. iv. 3), are in- 
 structions which clearly indicate the compre- 
 hensive, yet individual character of that co-op- 
 eration which sustained and cheered an apostle, 
 while from Jerusalem, and round about unto 
 lUyricum, he fully preached the gospel of 
 Christ. (Rom. xv. 19.) The holy women 
 whose devoted exertions he mentions with so 
 much approbation, were forbidden to speak in 
 the public assembly (1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35) ; but 
 they found methods of glorifying God in the 
 domestic circle, and from house to house. 
 
56 PRIMITIVE ZEAL. 
 
 Eternity alone will reveal the extent of thebr 
 success. 
 
 A fine example of the working of this prim- 
 itive system is found in the instance of Aquila 
 and his wife Priscilla. By occupation they 
 were tent-makers. An intimate acquaintance 
 with the apostles of the Gentiles had given 
 them advantages which few could boast, and 
 which some would have been glad to monopo- 
 lize. In the synagogue, at Ephesus, they met 
 with an eloquent man, who was mighty in the 
 Scriptures, but who knew only the baptism of 
 John. They invited him home, and " ex- 
 pounded unto him the way of God more per- 
 fectly." The consequence was, that Apollos 
 went forth to water the enclosures which Paul 
 had planted : talents which otherwise would 
 have been lost to the church, were so em- 
 ployed that he " helped them much who had 
 believed through grace, for he mightily con- 
 vinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by 
 the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." (Acts 
 xviii. 28.) 
 
 These remarks are not intended to weaken 
 the claims of religious institutions to pecuniary 
 aid, nor are they designed to insinuate that the 
 authority of the pastoral office is to be merged 
 
DIVISION OF LABOR. 57 
 
 in the general effort of the whole church to 
 bring sinners to God. It was the " rule" of 
 an apostle to receive, from churches already 
 organized, the pecuniary assistance by which 
 he was enabled to preach the gospel in the re- 
 gions beyond them (2 Cor. x. 15, 16) ; and his 
 instructions imply, not only a division of labor, 
 but a distinctness of instrumentality. " Hav- 
 ing then gifts, differing according to the grace 
 that is given to us, — whether prophecy, let us 
 prophesy according to the proportion of faith ; 
 or ministry, let us wait on our ministering ; or 
 he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that ex- 
 horteth, on exhortation ; he that giveth, let 
 him do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with 
 diligence ; he that showeth mercy, with cheer- 
 fulness." (Rom. xii. 6-8.) Thus, in the'prim- 
 itive churches, the diversified " gifts" of the 
 whole body of the faithful found room for their 
 appropriate exercise, without intrenching on 
 *' another man's line of things ;" and, with a 
 moderate share of wisdom, the same thing may 
 still be accomplished : each may work dis- 
 tinctly, and all may work unitedly. The di- 
 rection with which the apostle concludes the 
 instructions already quoted — " Let love be 
 without dissimulation" — is a rule which will 
 
58 MODERN APPLIANCES. 
 
 enable us to conduct the most extensive and 
 multifarious operations, without even the pos- 
 sibility of clashing, or the slightest approach 
 to anything like disorder. Thus, " without 
 murmurings or disputings," the members of 
 the church at Philippi held forth the word of 
 life, and shone as lights in the world, " in 
 the midst of a crooked and perverse nation" 
 (Phil. ii. 15), and of their brethren at Thes- 
 salonica was borne this high and honorable 
 testimony : " From you sounded out the word 
 of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and 
 Achaia, but also in every place." (1 Thess. 
 i.8.) 
 
 It will surely not be pretended that opportu- 
 nities of usefulness are less frequent, or less 
 inviting, now, than they were in apostolic 
 days. On the contrary, we have means and 
 facilities of holy enterprise with which the 
 primitive Christians were not indulged, and of 
 which they were unable to form a conception ; 
 and the highest amount of peril to which we 
 may expose ourselves, in provoking the hatred 
 of the world, bears not a comparison with the 
 risk which they incurred who thought their 
 trials light so long as they had not " resisted 
 unto blood" (Heb. xii. 4), and who, when called 
 
DIVERSITIES OF EMPLOYMENT. 59 
 
 to that last and highest act of discipleship, 
 counted not their lives dear unto them, so that 
 they might finish their course with joy. (Acts 
 XX. 24.) Murdered by the savages of Erro- 
 manga, the names of Williams and Harris will 
 go down to posterity, like those of Stephen 
 and James the brother of John, crowned with 
 the honors of martyrdom ; but in general, if 
 our missionaries go forth at the hazard of their 
 lives, it is from other causes than " perils by 
 the heathen." in many instances, the objects 
 of iheir com[)assion are waiting to welcome 
 them 10 their shores ; and from more quarters 
 than (according to the present rate of exertion) 
 
 .can possibly receive artention, the prayer of 
 the man of iVIacedonia floats on the breeze — 
 " Come over and help us." 
 
 The modes of useful employment, moreover, 
 are now so diversified as to embrace all possi- 
 
 r ble varieties of talent and opportunity, so that 
 no disciple of Christ has a right to say, "I 
 pray thee have me excused." As when the 
 ancient idolaters made cakes for the queen of 
 heaven, they found something for everyone 
 to do, so may we : the children may gather 
 
 ^,M^ood, and die fathers kindle the fire, and the 
 
60 INEFFECTUAL PRAYER. 
 
 women knead their dough (Jer. vii. 18) : the 
 old and the young, the rich and the poor, the 
 learned and the illiterate, may here make 
 common cause, and become " fellow-helpers 
 to the truth." (3 John 8.) 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding all the facilities with 
 which Providence has favored us, many who 
 pass for Christians content themselves with 
 praying for the conversion of the world, while 
 they neglect the only instrumentality by which 
 it can be accomplished. The angels of heav- 
 en will never become pastors of churches, or 
 missionaries to the heathen : " we have this 
 treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Cor. iv. 7) ; and 
 if the nations are to have the treasure, we must 
 not only supply the vessels which contain it, 
 but we must keep them in repair. 
 
 To ask that God would bring the world to 
 the faith of Christ, while we know that " faith 
 Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word 
 of God" (Rom. x. 17) ; and moreover, that the 
 millions have no word of God to hear, and, 
 therefore, that there is nothing for divine 
 agency to work upon, is (if we at the same 
 time withhold from them the words whereby 
 they may be saved) but to stultify our own 
 prayers. As well may we ask for the showers 
 
SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY. 61 
 
 and sunshine of heaven to bring on the harvest 
 where the fallow ground remains unbroken and 
 unsown : the showers and sunshine may come, 
 but no harvest will follow. 
 
 It becomes, then, a serious question — Are 
 we putting forth an agency which God can 
 bless ? All abstract reasoning concerning his 
 power is irrelevant. As a mere question of 
 almightiness, we know that God can create 
 the " herb bearing seed," and grain for the use 
 of man, without the labors of the husbandman : 
 he did so in the first instance, before there was 
 a human being to aid his plans or witness his 
 operations. But has he done so since man 
 was made to till the ground ? The question 
 requires no answer. He gives us " fruitful 
 seasons" still, " filling our hearts with food and 
 gladness" (Acts xiv. 17) ; but his bounties need 
 the labor, the forecast, and the constant indus- 
 try of man, in order to their production. The 
 husbandman, who laboreth first, is partaker of 
 the fruits : he must plough the ground and 
 sow the seed, or he will never reap the har- 
 vest. (2 Tim. ii. 6.) 
 
 Between the laws of the natural, and those 
 of the spiritual world, there is an analogy more 
 strict than some theological notions would lead 
 6 
 
62 SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY 
 
 US to suppose. Faith, as we have seen, comes 
 by hearing, and hearing by the word of God : 
 the word must be heard, in order to accomplish 
 its designs ; and where it is unheard, or some- 
 thing else is heard in its stead, there the bless- 
 ing of heaven neither will nor can attend it. 
 
 As there are certain conditions of seed in 
 which it cannot vegetate, so there are certain 
 conditions of the word in which it cannot issue 
 in eternal life. As the germinating principle 
 in grain may be destroyed by mildew, damp, 
 or vermin, and the finest wheat become fit 
 only for the dunghill, the message of mercy 
 from heaven may be so corrupted by the de- 
 vices of men as to become a doctrine of 
 devils (1 Tim. iv. 1) ; the truth of God may 
 be changed into a lie (Rom. i. 25) ; his grace 
 may be turned into lasciviousness (Jude 4) ; 
 and a preacher may so pervert the gospel of 
 Christ, even by his misrepresentation of in- 
 stitutions unquestionably divine, that Paul 
 would pronounce him accursed (Gal i. 8, 9). 
 •* Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 
 of thistles ?" But they may do both, before 
 the preaching of legal justification, and sacra- 
 mental grace, will convert souls to God. 
 
 All the genial influences of rain, and dew, 
 
SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY. 63 
 
 and sunshine, will never cause that seed to 
 vegetate of which the vital germe has perished ; 
 and though Jehovah is as the dew unto Israel 
 (Hos. xiv. 5), and gracious influences " come 
 down like rain upon the mown grass, as show- 
 ers that water the earth'* (Psa. Ixxii. 6), no 
 blessing will arise where truth has lost its vi- 
 tality. That vitality lost, it is truth no more, 
 as grain is seed no longer when its germinating 
 property is destroyed. 
 
 Divine truth, in its integrity, has a vitality, 
 an inherent principle of life, of which fruit un- 
 to life eternal is but the natural result. Thus, 
 our blessed Lord, addressing some of his dis- 
 ciples who murmured at him aind were offended 
 at his doctrine, said, " The words that I speak 
 unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 
 (John vi. 63.) 
 
 If we set our hearts on occupying the field 
 of the world, to cultivate it for God, we should 
 carefully ascertain whether that which we 
 have is really " the seed of the kingdom." 
 Its genuineness admits of an easy test. Does 
 it spring, and grow, and produce, first the 
 blade, and then the ear, and after that the full 
 corn in the ear ? Or, to speak parables no 
 longer, are our labors for God eminently dis- 
 
64 SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY. 
 
 tingnished by the conversion of souls ? This 
 is the purpose for which God sent his truth to 
 our world ; and if it answers not that purpose, it 
 is " become of none effect." Should any ques- 
 tion the correctness of this assertion, I would 
 remind them that in a darker dispensation than 
 ours, when only a small portion of divine rev- 
 elation had been given to the church, such was 
 even then its design, and enough was there to 
 secure that end. The law of the Lord was 
 perfect, converting the soul ; the testimony of 
 the Lord was sure, making wise the simple. 
 (Psa. xix. 7.) 
 
 And wherever that truth retains its purity, it 
 retains its power ; heavenly influences are 
 waiting to bless it, and God demands that his 
 servants shall so obey his orders, and execute 
 his will, as to place the world in a condition 
 to receive and enjoy his measureless benedic- 
 tion. " Bring ye all the tithes into the store- 
 house, that there may be meat in my house ; 
 and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord 
 of hosts, if I will not open you the windows 
 of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that 
 there shall not be room enough to receive it" 
 (Mai. iii. 10) : " for as the rain cometh down, 
 and the snow from heaven, and returneth not 
 
SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY. 65 
 
 thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it 
 bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to 
 the sower, and bread to the eater : so shall my 
 word be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it 
 shall not return unto me void, but it shall ac- 
 complish that which I please, and it shall 
 prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isa. 
 Iv. 10, 11). 
 
 But, to revert to the figure recently em- 
 ployed, the best seed will not grow while it 
 remains in the gxanary. Would we raise a 
 harvest for God ? We must break up the fallow 
 ground, and carry forth the seed of the king- 
 dom from our closets and depositories, and 
 scatter it abroad, where it may bring forth 
 much fruit. 
 
 Should the result, after all, disappoint us, it 
 behooves us, as wise husbandmen, to ascertain 
 the cause. Is the fault in the seed, or in the 
 soil, in the seasons, or in our mode of culture ? 
 The seasons are such as God promised they 
 should be, and, every year, since the beginning 
 of the world, there have been both seed-time 
 and harvest ; and the soil, whatever its defects 
 may be, is no worse than that which has yielded 
 many a crop in former times — in some thirty, 
 in some sixty, and in some a hundred-fold. If 
 6* 
 
66 CAN GOD BLESS OUR EFFORTS ? 
 
 therefore, we labor in vain, and spend our 
 strength for nought, our seed must be bad, or 
 our plans injudicious. 
 
 There is one point, indeed, in which all 
 analogies drawn from nature completely fail. 
 I refer now to the moral qualifications of the 
 required human agency. In the natural world, 
 one event happens to all (Eccl. ii. 14) : the sun 
 rises on the evil and on the good, and the rain 
 descends on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 
 V. 45). The swearer, the drunkard, the forni- 
 cator, or the atheist, may (if he will employ 
 the same diligence of culture) reap as early 
 and as large a harvest as his Christian neigh- 
 bor ; but the seed of the kingdom rarely 
 vegetates when it falls from a polluted hand, 
 and the most awful truths of God seldom pro- 
 duce any permanent impression when they go 
 forth from feigned lips. " The sacrifice of the 
 wicked is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 
 XV. 8) ; their new moons, and their, appointed 
 feasts, his soul hateth (Isa. i. 14) ; and, by 
 parity of reasoning, it may be shown that the 
 imperfections and weaknesses of real Christians 
 are oftentimes a fearful hinderance in the way 
 of the gospel. 
 
 It may be devoutly questioned, whether 
 
CAN GOD BLESS OUR EFFORTS ? 67 
 
 indeed God can extensively bless the efforts of 
 his people until they are prepared to receive 
 and improve the blessing which he designs to 
 bestow. The only limits of his power are 
 those which are set by his own wisdom, holi- 
 ness, goodness, and truth; it is, therefore, no 
 disparagement of his omnipotence to affirm 
 that he cannot lie (Titus i. 2), as it was no dis- 
 credit to the miracles of Christ that on one 
 occasion " he did not many mighty works 
 there, because of their unbelief" (Matt. xiii. 
 58). " He laid his hands upon a few sick folk, 
 and healed them" (compare Mark vi. 5), to 
 show them that his power was as great as 
 ever ; upon only a few, to convince them that 
 the hinderance was all their own. But few 
 came, for fev^- had faith to be healed ; but of 
 those who did come, not one was refused. 
 
 Something analogous to this may be seen 
 in our churches now : a few are converted, that 
 men may see that the hand of the Lord is not 
 shortened that it cannot save ; and only a 
 few, to teach his people that their iniquities 
 have separated between them and their God, 
 and their sins have hid his face from them 
 (Isa. lix. 1,2). And, to carry the parallel yet 
 further, it may be affirmed that if, notwith- 
 
68 ARB WE PREPARED 
 
 Standing the indifference and unbelief of those 
 who ought to be the salt of the earth and the 
 lights of the world, any sinner should desire 
 salvation, he may have it. Should but one of 
 a village, or one of a city, or one of a nation, 
 offer in sincerity the prayer, " Jesus, thou Son 
 of David, have mercy on me," Jesus will come 
 and heal him. 
 
 Individual conversion, wherever it is seen, 
 affords demonstrative evidence that the Lord 
 is there. Let but the instances be multiplied, 
 and then we have " times of refreshing" (Acts 
 iii. 19). Suppose them to occur on the largest 
 scale imaginable, and then we realize the 
 visions of the latter day, when, " the wolf 
 and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion 
 shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall 
 be the serpent's meet'* (Isa. Ixv. 25). All that 
 shall in reality distinguish that day from our 
 own will be, that the people shall be all righ- 
 teous (chap. Ix. 21), and know the Lord from 
 the least of them unto the greatest (Jer. xxxi. 
 34. 
 
 And why are the triumphs of that day 
 delayed 1 We need no new revelation from 
 Heaven to inform us. The Lord is not slack 
 concerning his promise ; his faithfulness re- 
 
FOR HIS BLESSING T 69 
 
 mains unshaken, and his truth endures for 
 ever and ever. But hinderances are found 
 on the part of Christians themselves, which 
 are quite sufficient to account for all ; they 
 must be awakened before others will be 
 aroused ; the demon of unbelief must be cast 
 out of the faithful, before they can exorcise the 
 infidelity of the world. 
 
 A vessel in ballast dares not spread her can- 
 vass to the breeze as she can when deeply 
 laden ; for the gale which would be propitious 
 to the freighted merchantman, to her would 
 bring destruction. There are some states of 
 mind in which extensive usefulness would 
 become a snare and a curse ; and we may 
 imagine that God loves his saints too well to 
 place them in such peril : we hardly can ex- 
 pect him to bless us above that which we are 
 able to bear. If success would engender 
 pride, if usefulness to the souls of others 
 would induce us to neglect our own, we 
 cannot wonder that nothing comes of our 
 labors. 
 
 These remarks gather force from the fact 
 that special prayer has always preceded special 
 blessings : prayer has prepared the way for 
 those blessings ; it has placed the church in a 
 
70 CONNEXION BETWEEN 
 
 condition to receive them. There wa» pie- 
 viousiy no unwillingness on the part of God ; 
 he was waiting to be gracious, waiting to have 
 compassion, desiring not the death of sinners, 
 but rather that they should turn from their 
 wickedness, and live : but the church was not 
 ready for the blessing, and therefore it was 
 withheld. 
 
 Brethren, are these things true ? Then you 
 and I have been standing in the way of the 
 world's conversion : sinners have been perish- 
 ing around us, because we have been unfit to 
 be intrusted with their salvation. With us it 
 has been a question of success or non-success ; 
 but to them it has been a question of life or 
 death, of heaven or hell. It is true that not 
 one has died in his sins, but has justly per- 
 ished by his own iniquity ; but that is no ex- 
 cuse for us. Their guilt cannot justify our 
 negligence. Only God knows how fearful will 
 be the disclosures of that day in which he will 
 make inquisition for the blood of the slain. 
 
 Paul, on a memorable occasion, declared 
 himself " pure from the blood of all men.** 
 But on what grounds ? Because he had not 
 shunned to declare unto them all the counsel 
 of God, and by the space of three years, had 
 
DEVOTEDNESS AND SUCCESS. 71 
 
 ceased not to warn eve^y one, night and day, 
 with tears. (Acts xx. 26,27, 31.) It is therefore 
 but a fair inference, that had he been unfaithful 
 to the truth, or remiss in its propagation, the 
 blood of souls would have been laid to his ac- 
 count. Let not this assertion be charged with 
 extravagance : it is but the testimony of God 
 himself. " Son of man, I have made thee a watch- 
 man unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the 
 word at my mouth, and give them warning from 
 me. When I say unto the wicked thou shalt 
 surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor 
 speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked 
 way, to save his life, the same wicked man 
 shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I 
 require at thine hand." (Ezek. iii. 17, 18.) 
 
 But if we aim at nothing beyond exemption 
 from bloodguiltiness, we set our mark too low. 
 A man who is no murderer, may yet be a 
 very profitless member of the community. The 
 constant study of Christians, in relation to the 
 unconverted, should be to turn them from 
 darkness unto light, and from the power of 
 Satan unto God. This may be done, and 
 Christ has sent them to do it. (Compare Acts 
 xxvi. 18, with Matt. v. 16.) Let them attempt 
 
72 OBJECTIONS DRAWN FROM 
 
 it in faith, and he will bless iheir efforts to that 
 end. (James v. 19, 20.) 
 
 There are some, however, who question, and 
 even deny, the connexion between fidelity and 
 success ; and they endeavor to prove their 
 position by a reference to the personal ministry 
 of our blessed Lord. They tell us that he 
 stretched forth his hands imto a disobedient 
 and gainsaying people (Rom. x. 21); that it 
 was his lamentation, " Ye will not come to me 
 that ye might have life" (John v. 40) ; " How 
 often would I have gathered thy children 
 together, as a hen doth gather her brood under 
 her wings, and ye would not. (Luke xiii. 34.) 
 And they refer us to the hundred and twenty 
 disciples assembled at Jerusalem after his 
 resurrection (Acts i. 15), as the whole product 
 of his labors. 
 
 Much might be said to prove that the popular 
 notion of the unsuccessfulness of his personal 
 ministry is incorrect ; — that though only one 
 hundred and twenty names were enrolled at 
 Jerusalem, many, like Joseph of Arimathea, 
 were his disciples, but secretly, for fear of the 
 Jews (John xix. 38) ; that Paul mentions his 
 having been " seen of above five hundred 
 
THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST. 73 
 
 brethren at once" (1 Cor. xv. 6), who, after all, 
 were only chosen witnesses, selected, as it may 
 be fairly presumed, from a much greater num- 
 ber (Acts X. 41) ; that his main object in going 
 over the towns and cities of Judea was to lay 
 the foundation of his future kingdom, and to 
 enable his servants, after his ascension to 
 heaven, to challenge the disproof of their 
 statements, while they affirmed of the facts 
 which their testimony embraced, and from 
 which they derived their authority, " These 
 things were not done in a corner." But Iwaive^ 
 all these considerations, and meet the objeetioct 
 as it stands. 
 
 Admit that the hundred and twenty, and 
 those of their former companions who had 
 " fallen asleep," were the only fruits of his 
 toils, yet will the total result present an average 
 amount of usefulness with which the successes 
 of few of his servants will bear a comparison. 
 Here would be a soul for every sabbath of his 
 public life. Rare, indeed, have been the in- 
 stances in which his most favored disciples 
 have been honored with equal success. 
 
 I confess that I write these remarks with 
 a trembling hand. There seems something^ 
 bordering on the profane in an attempt to 
 7 
 
74 OBJECTIONS DRAWN FROM 
 
 measure our success with his. If the Socinian 
 hypothesis were correct, and he came only as 
 a teacher sent from God, a man of like passions 
 with ourselves, to show unto us the way of 
 salvation, the comparison would be legitimate ; 
 but its result would still be very humbling: 
 his would be an example of success before 
 which the greater part of his most devoted 
 followers must hide their heads. But when 
 we remember that the grand design of his 
 mission was to bear our sins in his own body 
 -on the tree (1 Pet. ii. 24) ; that the rejection 
 •of his testimony and the personal insults which 
 he bore were part of those sufferings through 
 which it became him for whom are all things, 
 and by whom are all things, in bringing many 
 «ons imto glory, to make the Captain of their 
 salvation perfect (compare Heb. ii. 10, with 
 Isa. liii. 4) ; that he even took our infirmities 
 that he might be a merciful and faithful high- 
 priest in things pertaining to God, to make rec- 
 onciliation for the sins of the people (Heb. ii. 
 17) ; that he suffered being tempted, that he 
 might be able to succor the tempted (ver. 18) ; 
 when we remember these things, and view them 
 in relation to his great sacrifice on the cross, the 
 <juestion of the number of souls saved by his 
 
THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST. 75 
 
 personal ministry, infinitely important to them- 
 selves as their salvation undoubtedly was, 
 dwindles into insignificance. 
 
 Let it moreover be borne in mind, that his 
 life and labors have formed the text-book of 
 all who have been successfully engaged, from 
 that day until now, in saving the souls of men ; 
 and that, by anticipation, to him gave " all the 
 prophets witness, that through his name who- 
 soever believeth in him shall receive remission 
 of sins," (Acts x. 43.) Let us give to these 
 considerations but a moderate share of atten- 
 tion, and then dare we form a low estimate of 
 his success X He finished the work which was 
 given him to do (John xvii. 4), and the pleasure 
 of the Lord prospered in his hand. (Isa. liii. 10.) 
 
 But further ; he expressly stated, " He that 
 believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he 
 do also ; and greater works than these shall 
 he do, because I go unto my Father'* (John 
 xiv. 12). This is a declaration which evidently 
 refers to augmented success in the conver- 
 sion of souls ; for, in so far as miraculous 
 agency was concerned, his disciples, not ex- 
 cepting the apostles themselves, never did 
 works greater than his own ; the fulfilment of 
 the promise is therefore found in the fact that 
 
76 OBJECTIONS DRAWN FROIVf 
 
 when he was glorified, the Holy Ghost was 
 thenceforth given to render each of his dis- 
 ciples a source of blessings to the world, a 
 fountain of living waters to the universe. (John 
 vii. 38, 39.) 
 
 It may, perhaps, be further objected that the 
 success of the apostles was not invariable ; — 
 that there were mockers at Athens, though Paul 
 was the preacher (Acts xvii. 22) ; that some 
 whom his warmest appeals were directed, judg- 
 ed themselves " unworthy of everlasting life" 
 (chap. xiii. 46) ; and that he alluded with tears, 
 to many who, after all his labors for their sal- 
 vation, remained enemies of the cross of Christ, 
 whose end is destruction. (Phil. iii. 18, 19.) 
 
 The facts are unquestionable, but when they 
 are adduced to disprove the connexion between 
 fidelity and success, they are cited in vain : for, 
 with the primitive church, success was the rule, 
 failure the exception. At Athens, some dared 
 to mock when the apostle preached " the 
 resurrection of the dead," but others received 
 the word with gladness. His success, even 
 there, was such as would delight the heart of 
 many a devoted missionary now, even though 
 all his exertions beside should have been 
 unproductive. Dionysius, the Areopagite, a 
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE APOSTLES. 77 
 
 member of the highest spiritual court in the 
 pagan world, was no mean convert ; and he 
 was not the only one ; Damaris and others 
 were left to testify to their heathen neighbors, 
 that a prophet of the " unknown God" had 
 passed that way, and had told them of the 
 great sacrifice which, once for all, had been 
 laid upon his altar to take away the sins of 
 the whole world. If Paul's kindred in the 
 flesh rejected his testimony, he turned to the 
 Gentiles (Acts xiii. 46). And if he wept over 
 some, because he had bestowed on them labor 
 in vain, to how many did he say, " Our hope, 
 our joy, our crown of rejoicing, are ye in the 
 presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his com- 
 ing?" (1 Thess. ii. 19.) Their number will 
 never be known till that day shall declare it. 
 Nor should it be forgotten that the formida- 
 ble opposition with which the apostles had to 
 contend, instead of disheartening, impelled 
 them to new and persevering efforts. They 
 saw arrayed against them the fatuity of igno- 
 rance on the one side, and the pride of intellect 
 on the other. The Sadducees of their day were 
 as flippant and as reckless as any of our modem 
 materialists ; and Peter, in his second epistle, 
 describes an order of things quite as appalling 
 7* 
 
78 ANCIENT SUCCESSf. 
 
 as any with which infidelity would imbody itsf 
 idea of a new moral world. Yet these were 
 the materials which, transformed into living 
 stones, were brought together to build " a 
 spiritua'l house, a holy priesthood, to offer up 
 spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus 
 Christ" (1 Pet. ii. 5). In preaching the gos* 
 pel, Paul considered himself " a debtor both 
 to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to 
 the wise and to the unwise^' (Rom. i. 14) ; and 
 he included converted infidels and sensualists, 
 of all possible varieties, when he said, "And 
 such were some of you ; but ye are washed, 
 but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit 
 of our God." (1 Cor. vi. 11.) 
 
 But who that is competent to form an opinion 
 on the subject, can say that success is now the 
 rule, and failure still the exception ? The state 
 of things in this respect is fearfully changed. 
 To say nothing of the neglected and profligate 
 world, multitudes attend the preaching of the 
 gospel all their days, and live and die without 
 religion. Unregenerated thousands dwell in 
 the midst of Christian associations and Christian 
 ordinances, year after year, and remain in their 
 sins till death sunrnions them to judgment and 
 
MODERN INEFFICIENCY. 79 
 
 consigns them to everlasting flames. And this 
 is now regarded so much as a matter of course, 
 that when, anrid a population of some tens of 
 thousands, a few hundreds are really awakened 
 to a sense of their guilt, and are induced to 
 flee for refuge to the hope set before them, the 
 church stands astonished at so extraordinary 
 a circumstance, and the whole country rings 
 with the news of a revival. 
 
 Far be it from me to discourage the feeling 
 of exultation which such a fact should excite. 
 •* There is joy in the presence of the angels 
 of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 
 XV. 10) ; and if we cannot sympathize with 
 angels, we shall never be admitted to their 
 fellowship. The man to whom the conversion 
 of sinners affords no delight, is himself " in the 
 gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." 
 We cannot but rejoice in the conversion of 
 others, if we have been converted ourselves, 
 but why should this our joy so seldom be fulfil- 
 led ? Why should the occasions of holy triumph 
 be so few and far between ? In other words, why 
 should not the condition which we term revi- 
 val, be the ordinary condition of our churches ? 
 
 It is easy to get rid of the difficulty by im- 
 puting it to the government of God. So many 
 
80 ADAPTATION OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 have done, and have persuaded themselves 
 that the salvation of the world is no business 
 of theirs : but let us take heed how we charge 
 God foolishly. Adam could find a similar 
 reason for eating the forbidden fruit — " The 
 woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she 
 gave me of the tree, and I did eat" (Gen. iii. 
 12) ; but the excuse did not avail him ; God 
 did not even deign to notice it : and what- 
 ever may be our opinions now, a day is com- 
 ing, when to stand in the place of the slothful 
 servant, and say, " Lord, I knew thee that thou 
 art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not 
 sown, and gathering where thou hast not 
 strawed," will be a certain presage of " outer 
 darkness," where " there shall be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth." (Matt. xxv. 24, 30.) 
 
 There seems, on the part of some, to be an 
 extreme reluctance even to acknowledge the 
 adaptation of divine ordinances, or, as they 
 are more commonly called, the means of grace, 
 to the purposes for which they were designed. 
 To such persons it appears almost sacrilegious 
 to place together, in the relation of cause and 
 effect, the preaching of the gospel and the 
 conversion of men. A similar relation they 
 can see and admire throughout the world of 
 
TO ANSWER ITS DESIGN. 81 
 
 nature, and, so far from regarding it as involv- 
 ing a suspicion that the Creator has w^ithdrawn 
 from the universe and abandoned it to chance, 
 they consider it a proof of his constant presence 
 there. But oh, the presumption of attempting 
 to trace effects to their causes when religion is 
 concerned ! In that department of his govern- 
 ment, it would seem we have nothing to do 
 with causes ; they all resolve themselves into 
 one simple fact — the sovereignty of God. 
 
 Few would assert this in so many words, 
 but many think so, and a great many more, 
 who are quite unconscious of entertaining such 
 an opinion, act as if they thought so. With 
 them, all usefulness, all success, so far as their 
 agency is concerned, is quite accidental : the 
 bow is drawn at a venture ; if the arrow should 
 strike, so much the better, and a wondrous 
 proof that God directed its flight : if it should 
 fall to the ground before it can take effect, or 
 completely miss the mark, they never suspect 
 that the reason might be their want of strength, 
 or of skill, or of both ; they even make their 
 carelessness the ground of self-complacency, 
 and fancy that they honor God by thus 
 " ceasing from man," and placing, as they tell 
 us, no dependance upon " means." And some 
 
82 ADAPTATION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 who would loudly exclaim against these absurd- 
 ities, have nevertheless suffered their jeal- 
 ousy for the honor of God to carry them to 
 dangerous extremes : they have magnified his 
 power at the expense of his wisdom, and have 
 even contended for the divine authority of the 
 gospel on the ground of its incongruity : thus 
 attempting to prove that God has sent it, be- 
 cause it accomplishes that for which it has 
 neither fitness nor adaptation. 
 
 The assertion of Paul concerning the " fool- 
 ishness of preaching" (1 Cor. i. 21), has in some 
 quarters been grossly misapprehended. His 
 argument, correctly understood, will no more 
 warrant such an assumption, than it will that 
 foolishness and weakness may be predicated 
 of the ever-blessed God (verse 25). By " the 
 foolish things," " the weak things," and " the 
 base things of the world" (verses 27, 28), he 
 means not things which are really such, 
 but things which are so regarded by men of 
 high repute for their worldly wisdom ; and, to 
 end all doubt as to his intention, he expressly 
 declares that which the Jews thought a 
 stumbling-block, and the Greeks accounted 
 foolishness, to be " the power of God, and the 
 wisdom of God" (verse 24). 
 
ITS REJECTION WILFUL. 83 
 
 The message of reconciliation is admirably- 
 adapted to effect the gracious intention of 
 Him who sent in ; the " faithful saying" is 
 •♦worthy of all acceptation" (1 Tim. i. 15); 
 and that men should need the influences of the 
 Holy Spirit to dispose them to receive it, is but 
 a proof, and perhaps the most fearful one we 
 have, of the extent of human depravity. On 
 other subjects, and as to other matters, self- 
 love is a motive almost resistless : convince 
 a man that your advice will greatly promote 
 his advantage, and he will want no farther 
 reason for its immediate adoption ; but as to 
 religion, the indisposition of the heart survives 
 the enlightenment of the understanding : many- 
 know the claims of God, but never obey them ; 
 they comprehend the message of mercy, but 
 aever believe to the salvation of the soul 
 
 It is a great error in relation to this state of 
 mind, to regard it simply as a matter of help- 
 lessness. It is not helplessness, it is depravity, 
 and, as such deserves the ruin which it 
 brings. *' How can we turn to God until he 
 gives us his Holy Spirit, and makes us willing 
 in ihe day of his power?" is the plausible 
 inquiry of thousands, while they are daily 
 resisting the Holy Ghost (Acts vii. 51). They 
 
84 OBLIGATION OF BEING 
 
 are refusing the gift for which they pretend to 
 be waiting, and there is not one among them 
 who has not already resisted and put away 
 an amount of divine testimony which, if wel- 
 comed and followed out, would have been suffi- 
 cient to bring the whole world to the faith of 
 Christ. 
 
 To plead before Him who sends the Holy 
 Spirit, a destitution of divine influence as an 
 excuse for neglecting or disobeying his will, 
 is but to add insult to rebellion ; and when 
 they can do it who know that Jesus said, " If 
 ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
 unto your children, how much more shall your 
 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask him?" (Luke xi. 13.) Their conduct 
 presents a specimen of infatuation hardly to 
 be equalled in the universe. I demand of 
 these patient waiters for divine influences, 
 how they are waiting : whether they are wait- 
 ing, as the disciples did, " with one accord in 
 prayer and supplication (Acts i. 14) ; or like 
 the Jews, who, after all the mighty works which 
 they had heard and seen, had the audacity to 
 8ay to Jesus, " How long dost thou make us 
 to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us 
 plainly." (John x. 24.) 
 
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 85 
 
 In religious inquiry, different states of mind 
 lead to very different results ; to one class of 
 inquirers Jesus said, " An evil and adulterous 
 generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall 
 no sign be given to it but the sign of the proph- 
 et Jonas" (Matt. xii. 39) ; while he assured 
 another, that if any man will do the will of 
 the Father who sent him, he shall know the 
 doctrine whether it be of God. (John vii. 17.) 
 
 And if the pretence of waiting for the Holy 
 Spirit will not excuse the impenitent in re- 
 fusing to submit to Christ, neither will it 
 justify the indolence of Christians in delaying 
 to " work the work of God." If we have not 
 the spirit of Christ, we are none of his (Rom. 
 viii. 9) ; and if we are his, we " are led by the 
 spirit" (verse 14) ; we " walk in the spirit" 
 (Gal. v. 16) ; and we are expected, and even 
 commanded to be "filled with the spirit." 
 The obligation of this attainment is as bind- 
 ing as it is to abstain from drunkenness (Eph. 
 V. 18) ; and that it should not be so accounted 
 is a melancholy proof that the church has de- 
 generated as to its standard of piety : yet is 
 the fact undeniable, that to " come behind" in 
 a gift so essential to the progress of religion 
 and the conversion of the world, is, by the 
 8 
 
86 SPIRITUAL DESERTION. 
 
 faithful themselves, esteemed a calamity, but 
 not a disgrace. Often has that been ascribed 
 to the mysteries of Providence, or the sover- 
 eignty of God, for which an apostle would 
 find another and a more humiliating solution : 
 "Ye have not, because ye ask not ; ye ask, 
 and receive not, because ye ask amiss." (James 
 iv. 2, 3.) 
 
 Many, who are loud in their complaints as 
 to their destitution of the cheering and quick- 
 ening influences of the Holy Spirit, would be 
 ashamed to state the time and the manner iq 
 which they are accustomed to seek them : the 
 neglected closet, the careless confession, and 
 the drowsy prayer v»'ould account for all ; and 
 the wonder is, not that the Holy Spirit has 
 been grieved, but that he has not taken his 
 flight for ever. 
 
 Others, against whom the charge of negli- 
 gence is not so clear, desire the Holy Spirit, 
 but it is only to make them happy, not lo 
 make them useful. They have been seeking 
 divine influences all their lives, without any 
 sensible improvement in the happiness which 
 they so earnestly desire. The reason is appa- 
 rent — selfisnness is their real motive : the in- 
 fluences which they implore are sought for 
 
HOLY SPIRIT, THE ADVOCATE OF CHRIST. 87 
 
 home consumption, not for distribution ; for ' 
 mere enjoyment, not for holy activity. This 
 is the very thing which, in the passage recently 
 quoted, is assigned as a reason why prayer itself 
 is sometimes unproductive — " That ye may 
 consume it upon your lusts," or, as the margin 
 reads, " on your pleasures." Thus was Israel 
 •' an empty vine," he brought forth " fruit unto 
 himself." (Hosea x. 1.) 
 
 It is not unlikely that some Christians 
 cherish a notion that the chief design of the 
 Holy Spirit is to make them happy, on the 
 ground that he was described by our Lord, 
 and promised to the church, as "the Com- 
 forter." It is true that this is one meaning of 
 TarkXrof, the word so rendered in the four- 
 teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of the 
 Gospel by John ; but it is not the only mean- 
 ing of that word, and perhaps is not even the 
 best that might have been selected. It is 
 used only once again in the New Testament, 
 and then, as in the present instance, it comes 
 from the pen of the beloved disciple. Now, it 
 seems hardly probable, that, in reporting the 
 discourses of Christ through the medium of 
 another tongue, extremely diverse from that 
 in which ihey were spoken, he would employ 
 
88 HIS PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 
 
 a word, and especially an unusual one, in a 
 sense very remote from that in which he was 
 accustomed to use it himself ; yet, in his 
 epistle it is rendered " advocate" (1 John ii. 1), 
 a term which would better suit the sense in 
 every instance where it occurs in the gospel, 
 than " comforter" would do to take its place 
 in the epistle. 
 
 Comparing the passages together, it seems a 
 just conclusion, that as Christ is the advocate, 
 or representative of his people in heaven, so the 
 Holy Spirit is the advocate, or representative 
 of Christ upon earth. The plea is in both 
 instances the same — the sacrifice of Calvary. 
 " Jesus Christ, the righteous," pleads that 
 sacrifice with God on behalf of man (Heb. ix. 
 24), and the Holy Spirit pleads it with man on 
 behalf of God. " Forasmuch as ye were not 
 redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and 
 gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" 
 (1 Peter, i. 18, 19), is the argument which he 
 sustains with groanings which cannot be uttered. 
 (Rom. viii. 26.) And when that argument 
 reaches the heart, " in demonstration of the 
 Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. ii. 4), the inquiry, 
 " Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ?" 
 is the immediate and necessary consequence. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 If Jesus were still a man of sorrows, not 
 having where to lay his head, Piety might 
 spread him a table, and provide him a home. 
 Affection might weave for him the seamless 
 garment, or break the alabaster-box of ointment 
 of spikenard, very precious, and so anoint him 
 for his burial. Poverty herself might wash his 
 feet with her tears, and wipe them with her 
 hair. At the end of his sojourn, Wealth might 
 find him a new sepulchre, hewn in the rock, 
 where never man was yet laid. And as a final 
 act of homage, Gratitude might bring her spices 
 and ointments, about a hundred pounds weight, 
 as the manner was of the Jews to bury. But 
 these offerings now, like the last, would all be 
 unseasonable. He needed not the skill of the 
 embalmers when he had risen from the dead, 
 and he requires not our personal ministrations 
 now he has ascended to glory. 
 
 Yet are there services still more important, 
 still more essential, which he allows us to ren- 
 der him, and which he expects at our hands. 
 8* 
 
90 CLAIMS OF JESUS. 
 
 The spirit of his parting charge to Peter may 
 be considered as extending through all time. 
 " Lovest thou me ?" — " feed my sheep ;" 
 ** Lovest thou me ?" — " feed my lambs." 
 (John xxi. 15-17.) If he has " other sheep to 
 bring which are not of this fold," to us is in- 
 trusted the instrumentality which shall guide 
 them to his feet. And the day in which his 
 church shall have subdued the world to his 
 faith and fear, is that in which " he shall see of 
 the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." 
 
 The glory of Christ must be our grand mo- 
 tive while we attempt the conversion of sinners. 
 To save their souls from death, is a noble en- 
 terprise ; but it derives its highest character 
 from the honor which it brings to him who is 
 the resurrection and the life. Is Jesus my 
 Lord ? Then others shall obey him. Is he the 
 propitiation for our sins ? Then " not for ours 
 only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 
 
 The fact of his infinite sacrifice is the ground 
 of his universal claim ; and if we would lay 
 hold of the consciences of men with a firm 
 grasp, we must boldly state it, notwithstanding 
 all the objections of the schoolmen. Some 
 may suspect our orthodoxy, and others think 
 us mad, but our defence is ready. " For 
 
EXTENT OF HIS SACRIFICE. 91 
 
 whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God : 
 or whether we be sober, it is for your cause : 
 for the love of Christ constraineth us ; because 
 we thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
 were all dead ; and that he died for all, that 
 they which live should not henceforth live 
 unto themselves, but unto him which died for 
 them, and rose again." (2 Cor. v. 13-15.) 
 
 If metaphysical subtleties prevent our say- 
 ing to men who afterward are found to perish 
 in unbelief, " God, having raised up his Son 
 Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away 
 every one of you from his iniquities," our the- 
 ology is not precisely that of the apostolic 
 school, for this is a faithful rendering of the 
 very words of Peter when addressing a most 
 hopeless assembly. (Acts iii. 26.) His hear- 
 ers on that occasion were persons who had not 
 only rejected the testimony of Christ, but their 
 unbelief having survived the day of Pentecost, 
 they had also bidden defiance to the Holy 
 Ghost. Surely, if any circumstances would 
 justify caution and reserve, such were these. 
 Yet he boldly claims the men who had " de- 
 nied the Holy One and the Just," and " desired 
 a murderer to be granted" unto them, and had 
 " killed the Prince of Life ;" — and he claims 
 
92 APOSTOLIC APPEALS. 
 
 them on the broad ground of God's gracious 
 invitation that every one of them should be 
 converted. Many who listened felt the appeal, 
 and the total number of converts soon amount- 
 ed to five thousand. 
 
 In taking this course, Peter only followed 
 the example of his Lord, who, although he 
 " knew from the beginning who they were that 
 believed not, and who should betray him" 
 (John vi. 64), said to those w^ho had not the 
 love of God in them, and who would not go to 
 him that they might have life, " These things 
 I say, that ye might be saved." 
 
 Let our appeals to the consciences of men 
 be equally unfettered ; and then, and not till 
 then, we shall " preach, warning every man, 
 and teaching every man in all wisdom, that 
 we may present every man perfect in Christ 
 Jesus." (Col. i. 28.) Since he " gave himself 
 a ransom for all, to be testified in due time/* 
 let us, in proclaiming that testimony, tell the 
 world that God our Savior " will have all men 
 to be saved and to come unto the knowledge 
 of the truth." If ever we have a right to as- 
 sume an air of confidence, it is when we are 
 treading in the footsteps of inspiration. And 
 where can these be plainer ? On few subjects, 
 
MODERN MISAPPREHENSIONS. 93 
 
 however, are the notions of the hearers of the 
 gospel so perverse and contracted as they are 
 in relation to the grace of God. Awakened 
 sinners often ask, with intense anxiety, wheth- 
 er they have a right to do that which God has 
 made a matter of solemn, and awful, and uni- 
 versal obligation. A right to repent ! when 
 God has commanded " all men, everywhere," 
 to do it ? (Acts xvii. 30.) A right to submit to 
 Christ ! when God has sworn that to him ev- 
 ery knee shall bow ? (Compare Isa. xlv. 21 ; 
 John V. 21 ; Rom. xiv. 11.) A right to believe 
 the gospel ! when " he that believeth not shall 
 be damned" (Mark xvi. 16), and is, in fact, 
 " condemned already ?" (John iii. 18.) 
 
 It would seem that some very plain things 
 require to be made yet plainer, ere the world, 
 ere the church itself, will receive them, A pure 
 river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeds 
 from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The 
 Spirit says, " Come." Then let the bride say, 
 " Come." Let all that hear say, " Come." And 
 then he that is athirst shall come, and whoso- 
 ever will shall " take the water of life freely." 
 
 The gracious invitations of the gospel must 
 be made, not only the subject of pulpit dis- 
 course, but of social converse. The disciples 
 
94 RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. 
 
 of Christ must daily press His claims on the 
 attention of all within their reach. The dis- 
 tinction between the church and the world will 
 then be more broEidly drawn, and many will say, 
 " We will go with you, for God is with you." 
 
 Is this too hard a service to be required at 
 our hands ? If any think so, let them ask 
 whether, when from the time they ought to be 
 teachers, they do not need that some one should 
 teach them again the first principles of the or- 
 acles of God. The obligation before us is not 
 peculiar to Christianity, it belonged to the an- 
 cient dispensation : " These words, which I 
 command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, 
 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy 
 children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit- 
 test in thine house, and when thou walkest by 
 the way, and when thou liest down, and when 
 thou risest up." (Deut. vi. 6, 7.) Here we 
 have a clear and ample direction as to this 
 important duty. The grand truths of religKm 
 are to furnish matter for our lessons to the 
 young, for our social converse, for our general 
 discourse, and for our private meditation. And 
 the force of this precept, so far from havrng 
 been impaired by the lapse of ages, is vastiy 
 augmented '' God, who at sundry times, and 
 
A POSITIVE DUTY. 95 
 
 in divers manners, spake in time past unto the 
 fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
 spoken to us by his Son" (Heb. i. 1, 2) ; and 
 " this is the message which we have heard of 
 him," — " that God is light, and m him is no 
 darkness at all ; but if we walk in the light, as 
 he is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
 another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
 cleanseth us from all sin." The dispensation 
 of types and shadows has given place to " a 
 kingdom which cannot be moved." We have 
 stores of information, lessons of mstruction, 
 facilities of labor, and motives to exertion, such 
 as the fathers of Israel never knew. It becomes, 
 therefore, the paramount duty of every Christian 
 to obtain and to diffuse religious information. 
 
 The grand matters of faith and holiness lie 
 within a narrow compass. A large amount of 
 knowledge, however desirable in order to use- 
 fulness, is not essential. The little maid who 
 waited on Naaman's wife, was probably no re- 
 markable specimen of intelligence, but she was 
 able to say, " Would God, my lord were with 
 the prophet that is m Samaria, for he would 
 recover him of his leprosy." The expression 
 of that wish led to its fulfilment ; Naamau went 
 to Elisha and was healed. 
 
96 QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 It must, however, be borne in mind, that 
 though a moderate portion of knowledge may- 
 suffice, wisdom is indispensable ; and the only- 
 wisdom which will answer the purpose, is that 
 which cometh from above, and " is first pure, 
 then peaceable." Worldly policy will do noth- 
 ing here. But "if any man lack wisdom, let 
 him ask of God, who giveth to all men liber- 
 ally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given 
 him." And in no case can we implore that 
 blessing with so much confidence of divine 
 approval, or with such certainty of success, as 
 when we ask it in order to lead sinners to 
 Christ. 
 
 In following out that glorious design, differ- 
 ent modes of treatment must be adopted, with 
 different persons, and on different occasions. 
 To pursue the same plan in every instance, 
 would be absurd and even ridiculous ; all need 
 the same salvation, but all cannot be reached 
 by the same methods of address. The young, 
 the timid, the hopeful, and the inquiring, would 
 be disheartened and alarmed by that which, in 
 the case of the careless, the hardened, and the 
 profane, would approve itself as the most ready, 
 if not the only way, of securing attention. 
 
 Invaluable opportunities of usefulness often 
 
OPPORTUNITIES. 97 
 
 occur in travelling, and Christians should study- 
 to turn them to the best account. On such oc- 
 casions, general remarks on religion will sel- 
 dom do much good, or obtain anything in reply 
 beyond Yes or No. It will be found a much 
 better plan to come to the point at once ; and, 
 although addressing a perfect stranger, to say, 
 without the slightest preface or apology, " Do 
 you care anything about your soul ?" " Pray, 
 what are your views of religion ?" " Do you 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ ?" " Have you a 
 good hope through grace ?" The very abrupt- 
 ness of the inquiry will awaken attention, and 
 probably elicit a reply which you may make 
 the text of your observations for the remainder 
 of a long journey. If, however, you wish to 
 accomplish your object, you must speak with 
 firmness, and not as if you were saying some- 
 thing of which you were half ashamed. Make 
 the inquiry just in the same tone and manner 
 as you would say, " Have you heard of the 
 dreadful fire last night ?" — " Can you tell me 
 how many persons were burnt to death ?" 
 
 All attempts of this kind, to be successful, 
 
 must be put forth in a modest and affectionate 
 
 manner. Anything which would seem like 
 
 saying, " Stand by thyself, for I am holier thaa 
 
 ' 9 
 
98 METHODS. 
 
 thou," would do more harm than good ; and 
 we had better hold our peace, even from good 
 things, while the wicked is in our sight, than 
 thus cause our good to " be evil-spoken of ;" 
 but let it be seen that we really aim to do them 
 good, and even the most abandoned will usu- 
 ally listen to what we have to say, and some- 
 times express a feeling of gratitude. It is, 
 however, important to remark, that in conver- 
 sation with strangers, close appeals to the con- 
 science should never be attempted, unless we 
 can get the individual alone. Every man has 
 a character of some sort to maintain, if it be 
 only for wickedness ; and it is impossible, by 
 an injudicious attempt at reproof, to increase 
 the evil which we deplore. 
 
 One very important matter in spiritual hus- 
 bandry is, '*that he that plougheth should 
 plough in hope." (1 Cor. ix. 10.) A bare per- 
 adventure as to the probability of success, will 
 go but little way toward the production of per- 
 severing effort ; but let us steadfastly depend on 
 the declarations of God concerning the ulti- 
 mate triumph of his truth, and then difficulties 
 will vanish, for our faith will remove mountains 
 and cast them into the sea. (Matt. xxi. 21.) 
 Our rule of duty, moreover, will be taken, not 
 
IMPULSES. 99 
 
 from appearances or impressions, but from the 
 lively oracles of God. " He that observeth the 
 wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the 
 clouds shall not reap." (Eccl. xi. 4.) If we 
 wait for favorable omens, we may wait till our 
 opportunity of improving them is gone for ever. 
 We have already a more certain word of di- 
 rection than our own unaided sagacity will 
 ever be able to supply — " In the morning sow 
 thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy 
 hand, for thou knowest not whether shall pros- 
 per, either this or that, or whether they both 
 shall be alike good." 
 
 Hence it appears, that the very circum- 
 stance which, under the influence of morbid 
 apprehensions, would induce us to refrain from 
 labor, when rightly regarded, will impel us to 
 more extended effort, that disappointment in 
 one quarter may be counterbalanced by success 
 in another. Occasional failure is nothing new ; 
 it has mingled with the most auspicious scenes ; 
 but " what is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the 
 Lord." (Jer. xxiii. 28.) Judas was an apos- 
 tate, but his eleven companions endured to the 
 end ; the defection of Ananias and Sapphira 
 threw no suspicion over the triumphs of Pen- 
 tecost ; and the fatal error of Simon, the ma- 
 
100 CLAIMS OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 gician, placed in no peril the commission of 
 Peter and John to bestow the Holy Ghost. 
 (Acts viii. 14-24.) 
 
 A very hopeful department of Christian labor 
 is with the young. Wherever we go we should 
 endeavor to say something to them which will 
 be worth remembering when we are dead. A 
 single remark may direct the whole course of 
 their future lives. But if we desire to do them 
 good, our observations must not be confined to 
 the generalities of religion. As in the case 
 of elder persons, close appeals to the con- 
 science and the heart are the only means of 
 producing a deep and lasting impression on 
 their minds. The claims of Christ must be 
 pressed on their immediate attention, and we 
 must give them distinctly to understand that 
 their characters are now forming for eternity. 
 
 A monstrous persuasion is abroad in the 
 world, and is current in the church, that de- 
 cision in religion belongs exclusively to riper 
 age ; an opinion which has been the ruin of 
 thousands. Not only have parents, professedly 
 Christian, contented themselves while seeing 
 their children grow up around them in utter 
 carelessness about their souls, but they have 
 even sanctioned in them the dangerous notion 
 
PARENTAL NE0L70ENCE. 101 
 
 that the question of personal piety, like the 
 choice of some business or profession, is one 
 which belongs to a future day. Meanwhile, 
 the unregeneracy of their offspring, so far from 
 being a subject of deep and agonizing solici- 
 tude, has scarcely awakened the slightest 
 anxiety. But though they have slumbered, 
 the enemy has not (Matt. xiii. 25.) The con- 
 sequence is, that the ground which they in- 
 tended at some future time to cultivate, has 
 been pre-occupied, and the seeds of licentious- 
 ness and infidelity have begun to bring forth 
 fruit unto death, before it was even suspected 
 that they had been sown. 
 
 I have almost been led to question whether 
 some parents think their unconverted children 
 the subjects of depravity. More than once, 
 when I was beginning to make an impression 
 on the heart of some dear child, as to the 
 necessity of loving and serving God, and the 
 enormity of refusing or neglecting to obey him, 
 have I been interrupted by some mistaken 
 mother, who has assured me that her child is 
 a very good little creature, and all that a 
 parent can wish ; and that mother has not 
 been a gay and thoughtless worldling, from 
 whom such an observation would awaken no 
 9* 
 
102 EARLY PIETY. 
 
 surprise, but a woman professing godliness, 
 and who, years hence (should she live to see 
 her children forsake the faith of their fathers, 
 and plunge into fashionable folly and dissipa- 
 tion), will think it a most mysterious provi- 
 dence, that young people, so carefully trained 
 and so religiously educated, should be alto- 
 gether regardless of piety. 
 
 Children of very tender age are susceptible 
 not only of deep religious impressions, but of 
 decided piety. So far as natural capacity is 
 concerned, where the one may be found, there 
 may the other. No child is too young to love 
 the Savior of the world, who is capable of 
 understanding the nature of his claims ; it 
 would be strange indeed were it otherwise. 
 To make salvation a question of mere intel- 
 lectual endowment would ill accord with the 
 moral perfections of God, and contradict some 
 of the plainest declarations of holy writ. " I 
 thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and 
 earth ! that thou hast hid these things from 
 the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
 unto babes" (Luke x. 21), was the language of 
 Christ ; and, as if to end all doubt on the sub- 
 ject, he farther said, " Suffer the little children 
 to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
 
SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 103 
 
 such is the kingdom of God." (Mark x. 14.) 
 To receive one such little child in his name, 
 and from the lips " of babes and sucklings" 
 (Matt xxi. 16), to hear the perfection of his 
 praise, is bliss which they who are wise to win 
 souls alone can know. 
 
 To many who have few other opportunities 
 of doing good, the sabbath-school presents an 
 inviting field ; it may be so cultivated as to 
 repay their exertions : yet, notwithstanding 
 all the good which such institutions have 
 hitherto accomplished, as a whole they have 
 been a failure. Their design, in the first in- 
 stance, was defective ; it was mere instruction : 
 the conversion of the children was not regarded 
 as the chief, the essential thing, without which 
 the best attainments would be vain, and all the 
 labor of imparting knowledge be thrown away. 
 In many cases the teachers themselves were un- 
 converted, and with them the routine of instruc- 
 tion on the sabbath was as much a matter of sec- 
 ular employment as any other during the week. 
 
 Another radical defect was, that sabbath- 
 schools were regarded as eleemosynary insti- 
 tutions, a refuge for the destitute. Conducted 
 on such a plan, they have generally proved a 
 loss of time and a waste of labor. There are 
 
104 SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 
 
 localities, undoubtedly, where a sabbath-sckool 
 must of necessity be a charity-school, but such 
 are only found in large cities and pauperized 
 neighborhoods. There can be no excuse for 
 such a state of things elsewhere. 
 
 In some places sabbath-schools are now 
 becoming what they ought always to have 
 been, nurseries for " the household of faith." 
 Where this is the case, they include all the 
 children belonging to the congregation, and the 
 teachers are some of the most intelligent and 
 devoted members of the church, whose grand 
 and exclusive aim is the salvation of every 
 child committed to their care. In such in 
 stances the course of instruction comprehends 
 something more than learning to read, and 
 committing to memory portions of Scripture, 
 catechisms, hymns, and confessions of faith ; 
 it embraces the elements of sound biblical in- 
 formation. The higher classes, taking the word 
 of God for their text-book, are led at once to 
 the fountain of knowledge, and, under suitable 
 direction, are taught to search the Scriptures., 
 whether things are so. (Acts xvii. 11.) 
 
 The beneficial influence of such a system, 
 even on the teachers themselves, is incal- 
 culable. Unless they would become ridicu- 
 
BIBLE-CLASSES. 105 
 
 !ous in the eyes of their pupils, they must 
 thoroughly examine the meaning and con- 
 nexion of every passage cited in the lesson ; 
 and so, the habit of patient research, which, 
 in the first instance, was adopted as a pre- 
 cautionary measure of self-defence, will even 
 before they are aware of it, make them 
 •" mighty in the Scriptures." These, there- 
 fore are methods of training which, in the 
 walks of private life, will furnish the church of 
 God with its brightest ornaments ; men sound 
 in the faith, " in doctrine showing uncorrupt- 
 ness," holding forth the word of life. The 
 vagaries of religious opinion to which super- 
 ficial inquirers are commonly exposed, will 
 present no temptations to persons whose faith, 
 thus grounded and settled, is no longer the 
 sport of" every wind of doctrine." (Eph. iv. 14.) 
 Never shall we have such a revival of 
 religion as the case requires, until all the de- 
 partments of labor which I have specified, 
 and others which ray limits will not allow me 
 to mention, are thoroughly and conscientiously 
 filled. Every Christian must feel his own 
 responsibility, and make it one subject of his 
 morning prayer that God would give him 
 wisdom to win souls ; and when he retires to 
 
106 THOROUGH CONSEjCRATION. 
 
 his closet in the evening, he must be able, 
 with a clear conscience and steadfast faith, ta 
 implore a blessing on the fresh labors which 
 he has put forth on that behalf. When Zion 
 puts on her strength, her sons will never dare 
 to sleep over their unprofitableness. A Chris- 
 tian in vigorous health, or able to attend to 
 his usual avocations, retiring to rest without 
 having made some distinct endeavor to save 
 souls from death, will be disturbed in his 
 dreams by the cries and groans of those who 
 " are ready to be slain/' and rising from his un- 
 refreshing slumbers, will earnestly pray that he 
 may never again so forget his sacred obligation, 
 before he lies down on that bed from which 
 he shall not rise till the heavens be no more. 
 
 Devoted, personal, and unremitting effort, 
 on the part of the whole body of the faithful, 
 would bring down such a blessing that there 
 would be no room to contain it ; the wilder- 
 ness and the solitary place would be glad, and 
 the desert would rejoice and blossom as the 
 rose ; churches and pastors would be doubled 
 and quadrupled ; repeated success would em- 
 bolden the timid and encourage the desponding, 
 and each new convert would immediately be- 
 come a valuable auxiliary to the great cause 
 
AGGRESSIVE PIETY. 107 
 
 of truth and holiness. " What are you doing 
 for Christ ?" would no longer be a question 
 answered only by a blush, or a sigh, or by 
 silence more ominous than either, but it would 
 meet with a ready response from a cloud of 
 witnesses to whom the honored individual 
 would refer as his joy and crown of rejoicing. 
 When prosperity dawns on the church, con- 
 verts will resemble in number, as well as in 
 purity, the dew-drops of the morning (Psa. 
 ex. 3.) "Who are these that fly as a cloud, 
 and as the doves to their windows ?" (Isa. Ix. 
 8.) But when " a little one shall become a 
 thousand, and a small one a strong nation" 
 (verse 22), to be regarded by none as their 
 fathers in Christ (1 Cor. iv. 15), will be thought 
 a far greater calamity than, in the Hebrew 
 commonwealth, it was reckoned to die child- 
 less. Children in the faith are the highest 
 prize imaginable short of a heavenly crown : 
 " Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of 
 them ; they shall not be ashamed, but they 
 shall speak with the enemies in the gate." In 
 such hands he may safely leave his reputation 
 while living, and his memory when dead. 
 Not even a tombstone may mark the spot 
 where he lies, " but the righteous shall be in 
 
108 CRUELTY OF CONCEALING 
 
 everlasting remembrance"' (Psa. cxii. 6) ; and 
 when the proudest monuments of fame are 
 blended in one common ruin, and the brightest 
 lights of science are all gone out, they " that 
 are wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
 firmament, and they that turn many to righ- 
 teousness, as the stars for ever and ever." 
 
 But though the grand reward of faithfulness 
 to the claims of Christ and the souls of men is 
 secured at the resurrection of the just, it often 
 happens that " hope deferred maketh the heart 
 sick" (Prov. xiii. 12). It is therefore very im- 
 portant that those who watch for souls should 
 be informed of every instance in which their 
 labors have been successful. This is but an 
 act of justice, a tribute of honesty as well as of 
 gratitude. The woman who came in the press 
 to our Lord, and touched the border of his gar- 
 ment, was not suffered to depart without ac- 
 knowledging her obligation. He admired her 
 faith, but not her silence ; and to reprove her 
 attempt at concealment, he made her declare 
 before all the people for what cause she had 
 touched him, and how she was healed imme- 
 diately (Luke viii. 47). This incident is full 
 of instruction, and ministers reproof to many 
 who have received blessings by stealth, and 
 
SPIRITUAL BENEFIT. 109 
 
 have never had the honesty to acknowledge 
 on earth a debt of gratitude which they will 
 remember in heaven. 
 
 On this subject I can write most feelingly. 
 .There have been seasons in which I have felt 
 all the depression of laboring in vain, when, 
 had I been told of instances of ministerial 
 success which afterward came to my knowl- 
 edge, I should have thanked Grod and taken 
 courage : and that which has happened to me 
 has happened to others. Few Christians seem 
 to account it a matter of sacred obligation to 
 inform those whom God has honored with 
 the instrumentality of their conversion of that 
 circumstance, although they would be more 
 delighted at such intelligence than they would 
 be with " thousands of gold and silver." 
 
 It is by no means improbable that many 
 devoted servants of Christ have gone down to 
 the grave with a broken heart, because they 
 were never informed of the real extent of their 
 success ; and the injury inflicted on them waa 
 as nothing in comparison with its results as to 
 others. It seems impossible to hear of th« 
 conversion of sinners through our labors^ 
 without feeling encouraged to labor more 
 abundantly : it is therefore not too much to 
 10 
 
110 NATURE AND LIMITATION 
 
 affirm that had some of the servants of Christ 
 known all the occasions of thanksgiving which 
 ought to have come to their knowledge, their 
 success would have been greater, and their 
 occasions of thanksgiving more abundant. The 
 conversion of one sinner would have led them 
 to attempt the conversion of another, until life 
 itself would have become one unbroken series 
 of devoted and successful labor. 
 
 While concealment of spiritual benefit is, on 
 the part of some the result of timidity or 
 thoughtlessness, with others it arises from 
 design ; and in its defence they allege an 
 apprehension of giving that glory to man which 
 ought to be rendered to God. This is another 
 instance in which perplexities never felt in 
 common life are associated with religion. We 
 surely do not the less feel our obligation to 
 God for the preservation of our lives, because 
 we reward the watchman who awakened us 
 •when we were sleeping among the flames. Who 
 sent him to our rescue ? How was it that we 
 heard the warning? Whence came the strength, 
 the self-possession, and the promptitude, which 
 secured our escape ? Solomon has supplied an 
 answer : " Safety is of the Lord'^Prov. xxi.31). 
 
 " By grace are ye saved, through faith ; and 
 
OF HUMAN agency'. Ill 
 
 that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God ; 
 not of works, lest any man should boast. For 
 we are his workmanship, created in Christ Je- 
 sus unto good works,which God hath before or- 
 dained that we should walk in them" (Eph. ii. 
 8-10). This is the grand doctrine which em- 
 braces, and combines, and harmonizes, every 
 other, throughout the whole range of divine 
 revelation. Nevertheless, by agencies the most 
 diverse " worketh that one and the self-same 
 Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he 
 will" (1 Cor. xii. 11). Hence we become 
 " fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God" 
 (Col. iv. 11), and are even required to work out 
 our own salvation with fear and trembling, for 
 it is God which worketh in us both to will and 
 to do of his good pleasure (Phil. ii. 12, 13). 
 On these grounds Paul felt no hesitation ia 
 exhorting Timothy to save both himself and 
 them that heard him (1 Tim. iv. 16). The ad- 
 monition was enforced by his own example. 
 He was made all things to all men, that he 
 might by all means save some (1 Cor. ix. 22). 
 Should it be contended that obedience to 
 Christ is in itself a sufficient motive to perse- 
 vering exertion, apart from all further encour- 
 agement, it is enough to reply, that one who 
 
112 SUBORDINATE SOURCES 
 
 was " in labors more abundant" (2 Cor. xi. 23), 
 and who counted not his life dear unto himself 
 80 that he might finish his course with joy, 
 and the ministry which he had received of the 
 Lord Jesus (Acts xx. 24), was not unaccustom- 
 ed to look to his hearers for fruit which might 
 abound to their account (Phil. iv. 17). He 
 rejoiced, even when Christ was preached of 
 envy and strife, by some who wished to add 
 affliction to his bonds (chap. i. 15, 16, 18); but 
 his tenderest sympathies were directed to those 
 who were the immediate fruit of his labors. 
 "As my beloved sons I warn you. For 
 though ye have ten thousand instructers in 
 Christ, yet have ye not many fathers ; for in 
 Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the 
 gospel" (1 Cor. iv. 14, 15). And the affection 
 which he cherished toward these Corinthians 
 was the invariable feeling of his heart, in re- 
 lation to all his children in the faith. Witness 
 his appeal to Philemon, on behalf of a runaway 
 slave : " I beseech thee, for my son Onesimus 
 whom I have begotten in my bonds. If thou 
 count me therefore a partner, receive him as 
 myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth 
 thee aught, put that on mine account ; I Paul 
 have written it with mine own hand, I will 
 
OF DELIGHT AND ENCOURAGEMENT. 113 
 
 repay it : albeit I do not say to thee how thou 
 owest unto me even thine own self beside." 
 (Phil. 10, 17-19.) Only those whom God has 
 extensively honored with the conversion of 
 souls, can comprehend the fulness of confi- 
 dence, or the intensity of affection, which 
 breathes in this one short sentence, " For now 
 we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." 
 
 But whatever may be our subordinate sour- 
 ces of delight and encouragement, the secret 
 of " patient continuance in well doing" can on- 
 ly be learned iii the closet. Persevering prayer 
 will lead to persevering effort, and our best 
 sympathies will be those which bring us into 
 closer fellowship with Him whom we serve. 
 Perpetual intercourse with the King whose 
 garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cas- 
 sia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have 
 made him glad (Psa. xlv. 8), will enable us to 
 say, " Thanks be unto God, which always 
 causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh 
 manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in 
 every place." (2 Cor. ii. 14.) Wherever we 
 go, the fragrance of heaven will rest on our 
 footsteps, and the true odor of sanctity evince 
 that we have been with Jesus. Our only apol- 
 ogy for zeal which the world will reckon im- 
 10* 
 
114 GODLY SINCERITY. 
 
 pertinent, and resist as obtrusive, will be that 
 of Peter and John to the rulers, and elders, 
 and scribes : " We cannot but speak the things 
 which we have seen and heard." (Acts iv. 20.) 
 To live " as seeing Him who is invisible" 
 (Heb. xi. 27), is the grand attainment with 
 which no other will bear comparison. What- 
 ever may be our qualifications for usefulness, 
 if this be lacking, they will all be vain. We 
 may enforce the claims of God, of Christ, of the 
 soul, of eternity, " with the tongues of men and 
 angels ;" but in the absence of overwhelming 
 views of Him whom no eye hath seen, all will 
 be but " as sounding brass, or a tinkling cym- 
 bal." The man of taste may praise our elo- 
 quence, and the careless sinner perhaps be 
 startled by our fervid declamation ; but both 
 will despise our hypocrisy, and well they may. 
 Such themes as redeeming love, and immortal 
 life, ill befit the stage, and the man who is 
 merely an actor had better let them alone. To 
 pretend to that compassion which we do not 
 feel, and that fervor which we do not possess, 
 will only be to expose ourselves to merited 
 contempt. The world will mock our preten- 
 sions, God will reject our services, and Satan 
 himself will say, " Jesus I know, and Paul I 
 know, but who are ye ?" (Acts xix. 15.) 
 
CHARGE OF ENTHUSIASM. 116 
 
 Let US but convince the ungodly that facts, 
 solemn and awful, but unquestionable facts, 
 have awakened our emotions, and the most 
 careless and most hardened will cease to blame 
 us for being in earnest. The true reason why 
 the world ever charges the church with enthu- 
 siasm, is latent infidelity. The facts are dis- 
 believed, and therefore the emotions awakened 
 by those facts are treated as weaknesses or 
 hallucinations. In no other way is it possible 
 to account for the morbid sensitiveness which is 
 so common, as to powerful religious affections. 
 No one would censure, for the intensity of his 
 emotions, the man whose house is in flames, 
 and who is watching the operations of the fire- 
 brigade while they are attempting to reach the 
 windows where his wife and children are im- 
 ploring help, and expecting that each minute 
 of delay will be fatal. Under such circum- 
 stances, no amount of feeling, no violence of 
 gesture, would be thought extravagant. But 
 let a Christian, who is a husband, or a parent, 
 be deeply moved because, notwithstanding all 
 the efforts which are made for their benefit, 
 the members of his household show no signs 
 of conversion ; and wherefore is he regarded 
 as an enthusiast ? Because the world disbe- 
 
116 REPLY TO THE CHARGE 
 
 lieves the threatenings of God, and therefore 
 heeds not " the lake which burneth with fire 
 and brimstone." (Rev. xxi. 8.) 
 
 The same skepticism which frowns on com- 
 passion for the impenitent, also scowls on the 
 joy and peace in believing which are the birth- 
 right of the regenerate. A little worldly pros- 
 perity is expected to make a man very happy, 
 and no one wonders at the satisfaction which 
 accompanies the resolution, " I will pull down 
 my barns and build greater, and there will I 
 bestow all my fruits and my goods ; and I will 
 say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods 
 laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, 
 drink, and be merry." (Luke xii. 18, 19.) I 
 remember an instance in which sudden pros- 
 perity was followed by even fatal effects. An 
 industrious couple were at the same time seized 
 with a malignant fever. They were placed in 
 separate rooms, but within hearing of each 
 other. Their mutual inquiries were almost 
 incessant, till delirium in both ended all anxi- 
 ety. The husband died and was buried while 
 the wife was in a state of utter unconscious- 
 ness. When she began to recover her reason, 
 the first indication of its return was the affec- 
 tionate inquiry, " My dear ! my love ! are you 
 
OF RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM. 117 
 
 better ?" But there was no voice, neither any 
 that regarded. She became alarmed. To keep 
 her quiet, the nurse wickedly told her that her 
 husband was better, but that the doctor had 
 sent him away for change of air. This false- 
 hood satisfied her for several days, and then 
 she awoke to the overwhelming consciousness 
 of her bereavement, and found herself the wid- 
 owed mother of five children, with little pros- 
 pect of anything but the workhouse. The staff 
 of the family was gone. She was, however, a 
 woman of spirit, and she roused herself to ex- 
 ertion. Early and late she toiled to keep to- 
 gether the little business that remained, and in 
 part she succeeded. It was a hard struggle ; 
 but still, by diligence and frugality, she kept 
 herself and her babes from pauperism. Thus 
 things continued, till one morning the postman 
 brought her a letter from the executors of an 
 old gentleman (a distant relation to her late 
 husband, but of whom she had never heard, 
 and from whom, of course, she had no expecta- 
 tions), informing her of his death, and that he 
 had left her eight hundred pounds. This sud- 
 den reverse of fortune was too much for her to 
 bear ; for a whole fortnight she never closed 
 her eyes, and then she died. Her death was 
 
118 REPLY TO THE CHARGE 
 
 universally attributed to excessive joy ; and 
 though many lamented it for the sake of her 
 children, none seemed to think it strange — 
 certainly not one v^as heard to remark on the 
 evils of property, or found to opine that an 
 unexpected legacy is a very dangerous thing. 
 Now, suppose that, instead of being in strait- 
 ened circumstances, she had been under deep 
 anxiety about her soul, and that, instead of 
 being informed of a legacy of eight hundred 
 pounds, she had obtained an assurance of her 
 acceptance with God, and that, in consequence 
 of such assurance, }oy had kept her awake for 
 a fortnight, at the end of which she died ; — 
 what would the world have said then ' How 
 rife would have been the imputations of ex- 
 travagance and fanaticism ! And why would 
 the censure, withholden in the one case, be 
 awarded in the other ? Simply because, in the 
 first instance the facts are admitted, and in the 
 second they are disbelieved. And such, in 
 truth, amid all the reverence which they pre- 
 tend to pay to religion, is the infidelity of a 
 large portion of the unconverted. 
 
 But while "he that believeth not is con- 
 demned already, because he hath not believed 
 in the name of the only begotten Son of God," 
 
OP RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM. 119 
 
 those who are exempted from that condemna- 
 tion must show their faith by their works. 
 Their holy zeal must prove their godly sincer- 
 ity, and convince the world that the Christian 
 faith is not a matter of opinion, or speculation, 
 or conjecture, but of plain, demonstrable truth, 
 of which they are quite as certain as of their 
 own existence. 
 
 Till self-denial ceases to be so accounted, 
 and personal sacrifices are thought unworthy 
 of that name, the world will continue to disbe- 
 lieve our creed, and mock our exertions. In 
 vain shall we preach that the ways of wisdom 
 are pleasantness, and that her paths are peace, 
 while we ourselves account the service of God 
 a weariness. Our whole character must bear 
 out our testimony. Risen with Christ, we must 
 seek the things which are above ; and while 
 we ofl'er to conduct men to brighter worlds, we 
 must lead the way. Our families will then be- 
 come nurseries for the church, and the church 
 a nursery for heaven. Our general intercourse 
 will constantly bear on the salvation of souls, and 
 the pleasure of God will prosper in our hands. 
 
 But whether we will do the work or not, it 
 must be done. The world is to be converted to 
 Christ, and sooner or later the required agency 
 
120 CONCLUSION. 
 
 will be foimd. Brethren, it remains for us to 
 say whether we will lead the onward movement, 
 or be trodden down by its pressure ; whether 
 we will impart a new character of fidelity to the 
 rising age, or content ourselves with the selfish 
 piety which has so long been current in the 
 church, until the merciful providence of God, 
 in pity to the next generation, shall thrust us 
 aside to make room for men of firmer mould. 
 
 Yet why should our firmness, our zeal, or 
 our piety, be inferior to theirs ? Will the men 
 of any age owe more to redeeming love than 
 we, or have more powerful reasons for setting 
 forth the great salvation ? Have we feelings ? 
 So will they. Have we infirmities ? So will 
 they. Can we find excuses 1 So might they. 
 There will be no motive for them which is not 
 available now ; no promise for them which may 
 not be pleaded now ; no aid for them which 
 may not be granted now ; and no success for 
 them which may not be expected now. " There- 
 fore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, un- 
 moveable, always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor 18 
 not in vam in the Lord." (1 Cor. xv. 58.)