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PERSONAL DFXLENSION AND REVIVAL 
 
 KELIGIOX IN THE SOUL. 
 
WORKS BY THE REV. O. WINSLOW, M.A. 
 
 THE GLORY OF THE REDEEMER IN HIS 
 PERSON AND WORK. 
 
 Second Edition. Foolscap 8vo. Price 5^. cloth. 
 
 THE INQUIRER DIRECTED TO AN EXPERIMENTAL 
 
 AND PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 Fourth Edition. Foolscap 8vo. Price 3s. Gd. cloth. 
 
 THE INQUIRER DIRECTED TO AN EXPERIMENTAL 
 
 AND PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF THE 
 
 HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 Third Edition. 18mo. Price 3*. Gc?. cloth. 
 
 THE SILVER TRUMPET, OR, THE CHURCH GUIDED 
 
 AND WARNED IN PERILOUS TIMES. 
 
 ISmo. Price Is. G(Z. 
 
 CHRIST, THE THEME OF THE MISSIONARY t 
 
 An Argument for the Specific Design and the 
 Spiritual Character of Christian Missions. Foolscap 8vo. Price 2s. cloth. 
 
 EMINENT HOLINESS ESSENTIAL TO AN EFFICIENT 
 
 MINISTRY. 
 
 Foolscap 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 THE DANGER OF RE.TECTING THE ATONEMENT. 
 Fifth Thousand. ;52mo. Price 2d. gilt edges. 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE AUTHOR OF PRAYER. 
 Eiglith Thousand. 32mo. Price 4d. gilt edges. 
 
 THE SYMPATHY OF THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 Fifth Thousand. 32mo. Price 4d. gilt edges. 
 
 THE LORD, THE KEEPER OF HIS PEOPLE. 
 Fourth Thousand. 32mo. Price id. gilt edges. 
 
 THE WIDOW AND HER PRODIGAL SON. 
 
 Second Thousand. 32mo. Price id. gilt edges. 
 
 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 Third Thousand. 32mo. Price id. gilt edges. 
 
 INFIDELITY; OR, THE SCEPTICS DEATH-BED. 
 32mo. Price 6d. gilt edges. 
 
PEIiSONAL DECLENSION 
 
 REVIVAL OF RELIGION 
 
 THE SOUL, 
 
 REV. OCTAVIUS''WINSLOW, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE GLORY OF THE REEEEMER IN HIS PERSON AND WOKK ;" " THE 
 
 INQUIRER DIRECTED TO AN EXPERIMENTAL AND PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE 
 
 ATONEMENT," " THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT," ETC. ETC. 
 
 Cfjirlr tuition. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN F. SHAW, 27, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, 
 
 RUSSELL SQUARE ; 
 
 CHARLES L. COX, LEAMIXGTON ; 
 
 J. JOHNSTONE, EDINBURGH; J. ROBERTSON, DUBLIN. 
 
 1845. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 BLACKBURN AND PARDON, PRINTERS 
 
 HATTON GARDEN. 
 
BEV. JAMES HAKINGTON EVANS. 
 
 Dearly Beloved Brother, 
 
 As a small token of the sincere love I bear you, 
 and as a grateful acknowledgment of the spiritual 
 benefit, which, through the * unction of the Holy- 
 One,' I have received through your public and 
 social ministrations, permit me, with sentiments 
 of the most tender and affectionate esteem, to 
 dedicate to you this humble volume. 
 
 I feel no hesitation, my beloved brother, in 
 associating your revered name with the discus- 
 sion— -however feeble — of a subject so spiritual ; 
 the solemnity and the importance of which, I 
 beheve, are closely laid upon your heart. We have 
 often lamented together the mournful tendency 
 which exists to a deteriorating spirituality in our 
 own souls, and in the souls of the dear people of 
 our charge, and together have prayed for a more 
 enlarged communication of the reviving, sanctify- 
 ing, and anointing influence of the Holy Ghost 
 for them, for ourselves, and for the whole Israel 
 b 
 
VI DEDICATION. 
 
 of God. That the foUowing attempt to bring 
 these important views more distinctly and pro- 
 minently before the Christian Church, will meet 
 with your approval, and be followed by your 
 intercessions at the throne of grace for the accom- 
 panying blessing of God, it is my happiness to 
 believe. 
 
 May our adorable Immanuel, 'whose we are 
 and whom we serve,' fill our minds with increas- 
 ing spiritual light, our hearts with love, and our 
 spirits with lowliness ; may He, in this day of sad 
 declension, make us true and faithful watchmen 
 on the walls of Zion — taking heed to ourselves, to 
 our ministry, and to our flocks; and may He, 
 imparting all grace and working in us all sanc- 
 tification, so help us, that we, *' always bearing 
 about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
 that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest 
 in our body," may be *' found of him in peace, 
 without spot and blameless." 
 Believe me to be. 
 
 Beloved Brother, 
 Affectionately yours in a precious Jesus, 
 
 OCTAVIUS WiNSLOW. 
 
 Leamington, 
 September 1th, 1841. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 That the subject on which this humble volume treats 
 is vastly solemn, and deeply searching, every true believer 
 in Jesus must acknowledge. The existing necessity for 
 such a work has long impressed itself upon the Author's 
 mind. While other and abler writers are employing their 
 pens, either in defending the out-posts of Christianity, 
 or in arousing a slumbering church to an increased 
 intensity of personal and combined action in the great 
 work of Christian benevolence, he has felt that if he 
 might but be instrumental, in ever so humble a way, 
 of occasionally withdrawing the eye of the believer 
 from the dazzling and almost bewildering movements 
 aroimd him, and fixing it upon the state of his own 
 PERSONAL RELIGION, he would be rendering the Christian 
 church a service, not the less needed and important in her 
 present elevated and excited position. 
 
 It must be admitted, that the character and the ten- 
 dencies of the age are not favourable to deep and mature 
 reflection upon the hidden, spiritual life of the soul. 
 Whirled along as the church of God is, in her brilliant 
 
VUl PREFACE . 
 
 path of benevolent enterprise, — deeply engaged in con- 
 certing and in carrying out new and far-reaching plans 
 of aggression upon the dominion of sin, — and compelled 
 in one hand to hold the spiritual sword in defence of 
 the faith, which, with the other, she is up-building, — but 
 few energies are left, and but little time is afforded, for 
 close, faithful, and frequent dealing with the personal and 
 spiritual state of grace in the soul ; which, in consequence 
 of thus being overlooked and uncultivated, may fall into a 
 state of the deepest and most painful declension. " They 
 made me keeper of the vineyards ; but mine own vineyard 
 have I not kept." 
 
 It is, then, the humble design of the writer in the 
 present work, for awhile to withdraw the mind from the 
 consideration of the mere externals of Christianity, and 
 to aid the believer in answering the solemn and searching 
 inquiry, — " What is the present spiritual state of my soul 
 before God?" In the following pages he is exhorted to 
 forget the Christian profession he sustains, the party badge 
 he wears, and the distinctive name by which he is known 
 among men, — to turn aside for a brief hour from all reli- 
 gious duties, engagements, and excitement, and to look 
 this question fully and fairly in the face. 
 
 With human wisdom and eloquence the Author has 
 not seen fit to load and adorn his work : the subject 
 preserited itself to his mind in too solemn and awful an 
 aspect for this. The ground he traversed he felt to be 
 so holy, that he had need to put off the shoes from his 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 feet, and to lay aside everything that was not in strict 
 harmony with the spiritual character of his theme. That 
 the traces of human imperfection may be found on every 
 page, no one can be more conscious than the Author, — 
 no one more deeply humbled. Indeed, so affecting to 
 his own mind has been the conviction of the feeble manner 
 in which the subject is treated, that but for a deep sense 
 of its vast importance, and the demand that exists for its 
 discussion in almost any shape, he would more than once 
 have withdrawn his book from the press. May the Spirit 
 of God accompany its perusal with power and imction, 
 and to Him, as unto the Father and the Son, shall be 
 ascribed the glory ! 
 
 Leamikgtox Spa, 
 Sept., 1841. 
 
CONT 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page 
 
 Incipient Declension 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Declension in Love 58 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Declension in Faith 101 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Declension in Prayer 150 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Declension in Connexion with Doctrinal Error 188 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On Grieving the Spuit 218 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Fruitless and the Fruitful Professor 252 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Lord, the Restorer of his People 294 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Lord, the Keeper of his People .327 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 "The backslider in heart." — Prov. xiv. 14. 
 
 If there is one consideration more humbling 
 thaa another to a spiritually-minded believer, 
 it is, that, after all God has done for him, — 
 after all the rich displays of his grace, the 
 patience and tenderness of his instructions, the 
 repeated discipline of his covenant, the tokens 
 of love received, and the lessons of experience 
 learned, there should still exist in the heart a 
 principle, the tendency of which is to secret, 
 perpetual, and alarming departure from God ! 
 Truly, there is in this solemn fact, that which 
 might well lead to the deepest self-abasement 
 before Him. 
 
 If, in the present early stage of our inquiry 
 into this subject, we might be permitted to 
 
}i INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 assign a cause for the growing power which 
 this latent, subtle principle is allowed to exert 
 in the soul, we would refer to the believer^s 
 constant forgetfulness of the truth, that there 
 is no essential element in divine grace that can 
 secure it from the deepest declension ; that, if 
 left to its self-sustaining energy, such are the 
 hostile influences by which it is surrounded, 
 such the severe assaults to which it is exposed, 
 and such the feeble resistance it is capable of 
 exerting, there is not a moment — splendid 
 though its former victories may have been — in 
 which the incipient and secret progress of 
 declension may not have commenced and be 
 going forward in the soul ! There is a prone- 
 ness in us to deify the graces of the Spirit. 
 We often think of faith and love, and their 
 kindred graces, as though they were essen- 
 tially omnipotent ; forgetting that though they 
 undoubtedly are divine in their origin, spiritual 
 in their nature, and sanctifying in their effects, 
 they yet are sustained by no self-supporting 
 power, but by constant communications of 
 life and nourishment from Jesus; that, the 
 moment of their being left to their inherent 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 3 
 
 strength, is the moment of their certain 
 declension and decay. 
 
 We must here, however, guard a precious 
 and important truth ; viz., the indestructible 
 nature of true grace. Divine grace in the soul 
 can never really die; true faith can never 
 utterly and finally fail. We are speaking now 
 but of their decay. A flower may droop, and 
 yet live; a plant may be sickly, and yet not 
 die. In the lowest stage of spiritual declen- 
 sion, in the feeblest state of grace, there is a 
 life that never dies. In the midst of all his 
 startings aside, the ebb and the flow, the 
 wandering and the restoring, the believer in 
 Jesus is " kept by the power of God through 
 faith unto salvation." He cannot utterly fall; 
 he cannot finally be lost. The immutability of 
 God keeps him, — the covenant of grace keeps 
 him, — the finished work of Jesus keeps him, — 
 the indwelling of the Spirit keeps him, and 
 keeps him to eternal glory. We say, then, 
 true grace is indestructible grace; it can 
 never die. But it may decay; and to the 
 consideration of this solemn and important 
 subject, the reader^s serious attention is now 
 
4 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 invited. We propose to exhibit the subject of 
 Personal Declension of Religion in the Soul in 
 some of its varied and prominent forms and 
 phases, and to direct to those means which 
 God has ordained and blessed to its restoration 
 and revival. 
 
 Believing, as we do, that no child of God 
 ever recedes into a state of inward declension 
 and outward backsliding, but by slow and 
 gradual steps j and believing, too, that a pro- 
 cess of spiritual decay may be going forward 
 within the secret recesses of the soul, and not 
 a suspicion or a fear be awakened in the mind 
 of the believer; we feel it of the deepest 
 moment that this state should first be brought 
 to view in its incipient and concealed form. 
 May the Lord the Spirit fill the writer and 
 the reader's mind with light, the heart with 
 lowliness, and raise and fix the eye of faith 
 simply and solely upon Jesus, as we proceed in 
 the unfolding of a theme so purely spiritual 
 and so deeply heart-searching ! 
 
 We commence with a brief exposition of a 
 doctrine which must be regarded as forming the 
 ground-work of our subject ; viz., the life of 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 5 
 
 God in the soul of man. The believer 
 in Jesus is a partaker of the divine nature. 
 2 Pet. i. 4. He is "born of the Spirit;" 
 Christ dwelleth in him by faith ; and this con- 
 stitutes his new and spiritual life. A single 
 but emphatic expression of the apostle's, 
 unfolds the doctrine and confirms the fact, 
 "Christ in you." Col. i. 27. It is not so 
 much that the believer lives, as that Christ 
 lives in him. Thus the apostle expresses it : 
 "I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless 
 I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
 Do we look at the history of Paul as illustrative 
 of the doctrine ? Behold the grand secret of 
 his extraordinary life. He lived unreservedly 
 for Christ; and the spring of it was, Christ 
 lived spiritually in him. This it was that 
 rendered him so profound in wisdom, rich 
 in knowledge, bold in preaching, undaunted 
 in zeal, unwearied in toil, patient in suffering, 
 and successful in labour ; — Christ lived in him. 
 And this forms the high and holy life of every 
 child of God ;— " Christ who is our life." To 
 him, as the covenant head and mediator of his 
 people, it was given to have life in himself, 
 
6 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 that he might give eternal life to as many as 
 the Father had given him. Christ possesses 
 this life^ (John v. 26;) Christ communicates it, 
 (John V. 25 ;) Christ sustains it, (John vi. 57 ;) 
 and Christ crowns it with eternal glory, (John 
 xvii. 24.) 
 
 A peculiar characteristic of the life of God 
 in the soul, is, that it is concealed. " Your 
 life is hid with Christ in God." It is a hidden 
 life. Its nature, its source, its actings, its 
 supports, are veiled from the observation of 
 men. "The world knoweth us not." It 
 knew not Jesus when he dwelt in the flesh, else 
 it would not have crucified the Lord of life 
 and glory. Is it any wonder that it knows 
 him not, dwelling, still deeper veiled, in the 
 hearts of his members ? It crucified Christ in 
 his own person, it has crucified him in the 
 persons of his saints, and, if power were given, 
 would so crucify him yet again. And yet 
 there is that in the divine life of the believer, 
 which awakens the wonderment of a Christ- 
 rejecting world. That the believer should be 
 unknown, and yet well known ; should die, and 
 yet live; should be chastened, and yet not 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 7 
 
 killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, 
 yet making many rich; having nothing, and 
 yet possessing all things, is indeed an enigma — 
 a paradox to a carnal mind. Yea, there are 
 moments when the believer is a mystery to 
 himself. How the divine life in his soul is 
 sustained in the midst of so much that 
 enfeebles, kept alive surrounded by so much 
 that deadens^ the glimmering spark not extin- 
 guished, though obscured, amid the billows; 
 to drop all figure, — how his soul advances when 
 most opposed, soars when most burdened, 
 rejoices when most afflicted, and sings the 
 sweetest and the loudest, when the cross 
 presses the heaviest, and the thorn pierces the 
 deepest, may well cause him to exclaim, " I am 
 a wonder to others, but a greater wonder to 
 myself ! " But, if the nature and the supports 
 of the divine life in the soul are hid, not so 
 are its effects, and these prove its existence and 
 reality. The world has its keen, detecting eye 
 upon the believer. It marks well his every 
 step, it ponders narrowly his every going, it 
 investigates and analyses closely his secret 
 motives. No flaw, no deviation, no compro- 
 
8 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 mise, escapes its notice or its censure : it 
 expectSj and it has a right to expect^ perfect 
 harmony of principle and practice ; it rebukes, 
 and it has a right to rebuke, any marked dis- 
 crepancy between the two. We say, then, that 
 the effects of the life of God in the soul of the 
 believer are observed by an ungodly world. 
 There is that in the honest upright walk of a 
 child of God, which arrests the attention and 
 awakens the surprise of men, who, while they 
 hate and despise, cannot but admire and 
 marvel at it. 
 
 Yet another characteristic of the divine life 
 in the soul, is its security. ' Your life is hid 
 with Christ in GodJ There, nothing can touch 
 it : no power can destroy it. It is ' hid with 
 Christ,^ the beloved Son of the Father, the 
 delight, the glory, the richest and most 
 precious treasure of Jehovah : still more, — it 
 is ' hid with Christ in God,' in the hand, in the 
 heart, in the all -sufficiency, yea, in the eternity 
 of God. Oh the perfect security of the spiritual 
 life of the believer ! No power on earth or in 
 hell can move it. It may be stormed by 
 Satan, assaulted by corruption, scorned by 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 9 
 
 men, and even in the moment of unbelief and 
 in the hour of deep trial its existence doubted 
 by the believer himself ; yet, there it is, deep 
 lodged in the eternity of God, bound up in the 
 heart and with the existence of Jehovah, and 
 no foe can destroy it. " As soon,'' says Char- 
 nock, " might Satan pull God out of heaven, 
 undermine the security of Christ, and tear him 
 from the bosom of the Father, as deprive the 
 behever of his spiritual life, or destroy that 
 principle of grace which God has implanted in 
 him.'' But a greater than Charnock has 
 declared, " I give unto them eternal life ; and 
 they shall never perish, neither shall any man 
 pluck them out of my hand." John x. 28. 
 Let the sheep and the lambs of the ' little flock' 
 rejoice that the Shepherd lives, and that 
 because he lives they shall live also. But we 
 now pass to the consideration of the declen- 
 sion of this life in the soul. 
 
 By a state of incipient declension, we mean 
 that decay of spiritual life and grace in the 
 believer which naarks its earhest and more 
 concealed stage. It is latent and hidden, and 
 therefore the least suspected and the more 
 
10 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 dangerous. The painful process of spiritual 
 disease may be advanced in the soul so 
 secretly^ so silently, and so unobservedly, that 
 the subject of it may have lost much ground, 
 may have parted with many graces and much 
 vigour, aud may have been beguiled into an 
 alarming state of spiritual barrenness and decay, 
 before even a suspicion of his real condition has 
 been awakened in his breast. Like Samson, he 
 may awaken out of his sleep, and say, " I will go 
 out as at other times before, and shake myself. 
 And he wist not that the Lord was departed 
 from him." Judges xvi. 20. Or he may 
 resemble Ephraim, of whom it is recorded, 
 " Strangers have devoured his strength, and 
 he knoweth it not ; yea, grey hairs are here 
 and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not." 
 Hos. vii. 9. This is the state of the soul we 
 are now to examine, — a state that has to do, 
 not with the outward observation of men, but 
 more especially and immediately with a holy 
 and heart-searching God. In looking into 
 the state of a backslider in heart, we may, in 
 the first place, show what an incipient state of 
 declension does not necessarily involve. 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 11 
 
 And first ; it does not involve any alteration 
 in the essential character of divine grace, but 
 is a secret decay of the health, vigour, and 
 exercise of that grace in the soul. As in the 
 animal frame, the heart loses nothing of its 
 natural function, when, through disease, it 
 sends but a faint and languid pulsation 
 through the system ; so in the spiritual con- 
 stitution of the believer, divine grace may be 
 sickly, feeble, and inoperative, and yet retain 
 its character and its properties. The pulse 
 may beat faintly, but still it beats; the seed 
 may not be fruitful, but it 'liveth and abideth 
 for ever -^ the divine nature may be languid, 
 but it can never assimilate or coalesce with 
 any other, and must always retain its divinity 
 untainted and unchanged. And yet, without 
 changing its nature, divine grace may decline 
 to an alarming extent in its power and exercise. 
 It may be sickly, drooping, and ready to die ; 
 it may become so enfeebled through its decay, 
 as to present an ineffectual resistance to the 
 inroads of strong corruption ; so low, that the 
 enemy may ride rough-shod over it at his will; 
 so inoperative and yielding, that sloth, world- 
 
12 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 liness, pride, carnality, and their kindred vices, 
 may obtain an easy and unresisted conquest. 
 
 This decay of grace may be advancing, too, 
 without any marked dechne in the spiritual 
 perception of the judgment, as to the beauty 
 and fitness of spiritual truth. The loss of 
 spiritual enjoyment, not of a spiritual pe?'ception 
 of the loveliness and harmony of the truth, 
 shall be the symptom that betrays the true 
 condition of the soul. The judgment shall 
 lose none of its light, but the heart much of its 
 fervour ; the truths of revelation, especially the 
 doctrines of grace, shall occupy the same 
 prominent position as to their value and 
 beauty, and yet the influence of these truths 
 may be scarcely felt. The Word of God shall 
 be assented to ; but as the instrument of 
 sanctification, of abasement, of nourishment, 
 the believer may be an almost utter stranger 
 to it; yea, he must necessarily be so, while 
 this process of secret declension is going for- 
 ward in his soul. 
 
 This incipient state of declension may not 
 involve any lowering of the standard of holi- 
 ness ; and yet there shall be no ascending of 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 13 
 
 the heart, no reaching forth of the mind to- 
 wards a practical conformity to that standard. 
 The judgment shall acknowledge the divine 
 law, as embodied in the life of Christ, to be the 
 rule of the believer^s w^alk; and yet to so low and 
 feeble a state may vital godliness have declined 
 in the soul, there shall be no panting after 
 conformity to Christ, no breathing after holi- 
 ness, no 'resistance unto blood, striving against 
 sin.' Oh, it is an alarming condition for a 
 Christian man, when the heart contradicts the 
 judgment, and the life belies the profession ! 
 — when there is more knowledge of the truth 
 than experience of its powder, — more light in 
 the understanding than grace in the affections, 
 — more pretension in the profession than holi- 
 ness and spirituality in the walk ! And yet to 
 this sad and melancholy state it is possible 
 for a Christian professor to be reduced. How 
 should it lead the man of empty notions, of 
 mere creeds, of lofty pretension, of cold and 
 lifeless orthodoxy, to pause, search his heart, 
 examine his conscience, and ascertain the true 
 state of his soul before God ! 
 
 Once more : This state of secret departure 
 
14 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 from God may exist in connexion with an 
 outward and rigid observance of the means of 
 grace; and yet there shall be no spiritual use 
 of, or enjoyment in, the means. And this, it 
 may be, is the great lullaby of his soul. 
 Rocked to sleep by a mere formal religion, the 
 believer is beguiled into the delusion that his 
 heart is right, and his soul prosperous in the 
 sight of God. Even more than this, — a de- 
 clining believer may have sunk so deeply into 
 a state of formality, as to substitute the out- 
 ward and the public means of grace for a close 
 and secret walk with God. He may have 
 taken up his abode in the outer courts of the 
 temple; he may dwell in the mere porch of 
 the sanctuary. Frequent or even occasional 
 retirement consecrated to meditation, self- 
 examination, the reading of God^s word, and 
 secret prayer, may yield to an outward, bust- 
 ling form of godliness. Public and committee 
 meetings — religious societies — business and 
 professional engagements — wearing a religious 
 aspect, and even important in their subordinate 
 places, may thrust out God from the soul, and 
 exclude Christ from the heart. And that a 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 15 
 
 believer should be satisfied to 'live at this 
 poor dying rate/ content to dwell amid the din 
 and the bustle of the outworks^ is one of the 
 most palpable and alarming symptoms of the 
 decline of the life of God in his soul. But let 
 us group some of the more positive marks of 
 an incipient and hidden state of spiritual 
 declension. 
 
 When a professing man can proceed with 
 his accustomed religious duties, strictly, regu- 
 larly, formally, and yet experience no enjoy- 
 ment of God in them, no filial nearness, no 
 brokenness and tenderness, and no conscious- 
 ness of sweet return, he may suspect that his 
 soul is in a state of secret and incipient back- 
 sliding from God. Satisfying and feeding his 
 soul — if feeding it may be called — with a 
 lifeless form; what stronger symptom needs 
 he of his real state ? A healthy, growing state 
 of religion in the soul demands more for its 
 nourishment and support than this. A believer 
 panting for God, hungering and thirsting after 
 righteousness, grace thriving, the heart deeply 
 engaged in spiritual duties, lively, prayerful, 
 humble, and tender, ascending in its frame 
 
16 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 and desires, — a state marked by tliese features, 
 cannot be tied down to a lifeless, spiritless 
 form of religious duties. These were but 
 husks to a healthy state of the life of God in 
 the soul. It wants more. It will hunger and 
 thirst, and this spiritual longing must be met. 
 And nothing can satisfy and satiate it but 
 living upon Christ, the bread and the water of 
 life. " I am the bread of life." " If any man 
 thirst, let him come unto me and drink." 
 "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
 drink indeed." The professing man that goes 
 all his days without this nourishment, thus 
 starving his soul, may well exclaim, '^My 
 leanness, my leanness !" Oh, how solemn to 
 such are the words of our Lord, "^ Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you. Except ye eat the flesh 
 of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye 
 have no life in you." John vi. 53. 
 
 Again : When a professing man can read 
 his Bible with no spiritual taste, or when he 
 searches it, not with a sincere desire to know 
 the mind of the Spirit in order to a holy and 
 obedient walk, but with a merely curious, or 
 literary taste and aim, it is a sure evidence 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 17 
 
 that his soul is making but a retrograde 
 movement in real spirituality. Nothing per- 
 haps more strongly indicates the tone of a 
 believer's spirituality, than the light in which 
 the Scriptures are regarded by him. They 
 may be read, and yet be read as any other 
 book, without the deep and solemn conviction, 
 that " all scripture is given by inspiration of 
 God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
 for correction, for instruction in righteousness; 
 that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
 furnished unto all good works.'' 2 Tim. iii. 
 16, 17. They may be read without a spiritual 
 relish, without being turned into prayer, with- 
 out treasuring up in the heart and reducing to 
 daily practice its holy precepts, its precious 
 promises, its sweet consolations, its faithful 
 warnings, its affectionate admonitions, its 
 tender rebukes. And thus read, how can a 
 believer expect to derive that ' profit' from the 
 Scriptures which they were intended, and are 
 so calculated to convey ? 
 
 When a professing Christian can pray, and 
 yet acknowledge that he has no nearness to the 
 throne, no touching of the sceptre^ no fellow- 
 c 
 
18 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 ship with God, — calls him "Father/^ without 
 the sense of adoption, — confesses sin in a 
 general way, without any looking up to God 
 through the cross, — has no consciousness of 
 possessing the ear and the heart of God, the 
 evidence is undoubted of a declining state of 
 religion in the soul. And when too, he can 
 find no sweetness in a spiritual ministry, — 
 when he is restless and dissatisfied under a 
 searching and practical unfolding of truth, — 
 when the doctrines are preferred to the pre- 
 cepts, the promises to the commands, the 
 consolations to the admonitions of the gospel, 
 incipient declension is marked. 
 
 When the believer has but few dealings with 
 Christ, — his blood but seldom travelled to, — 
 his fulness but little lived upon, — his love and 
 glory scarcely mentioned, the symptom of 
 declension in the soul is palpable. Perhaps 
 nothing forms a more certain criterion of the 
 state of the soul than this. We would be 
 willing to test a man^s religion, both as to its 
 nature and its growth, by his reply to the 
 question, " What think ye of Christ V Does 
 his blood daily moisten the root of thy pro- 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 19 
 
 fession? Is his righteousness that which 
 exalts thee out of and above thyself, and daily 
 gives thee free and near access to God ? Is 
 the sweetness of his love much in thy heart, 
 and the fragrance of his name much on thy 
 lips ? Are thy corruptions daily carried to his 
 grace, thy guilt to his blood, thy trials to his 
 heart ? In a word, is Jesus the substance of 
 thy life, the source of thy sanctification, the 
 spring-head of thy joys, the theme of thy song, 
 the one glorious object on which thine eye is 
 ever resting, the mark towards which thou art 
 ever pressing ? Be not offended, reader, if we 
 remark, that a professing man may talk well 
 of Christ, and may do homage to his name, 
 and build up his cause, and promote his king- 
 dom, and yet rest short of having Christ in his 
 heart, the hope of glory. It is not the talking 
 about religion, or ministers, or chui-ches, nor 
 an outward zeal for their prosperity, that either 
 constitutes or indicates a truly spiritual man. 
 And yet how much of this in our day passes 
 current for the life of God in the soul ! that 
 among God^s dear saints there were less talking 
 of ministers^ and more of Jesus; less of ser- 
 
20 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 mons, and more of the power of the truth in 
 their souls ; less of " I am of Paul/^ and " I 
 of Apollos/' and more of '' I am of Christ." 
 
 An uncharitable walk towards other Chris- 
 tians, marks a low state of grace in the soul. 
 The more entirely the heart is occupied with 
 the love of Christ, there will be less room for 
 uncharitableness towards his saints. It is 
 because there is so little love to Jesus, that 
 there is so little towards his followers. In 
 proportion as the mind becomes spiritual, it 
 rises above party distinctions and names, — it 
 resigns its narrow and exclusive views, casts 
 away its prejudices against other sections of 
 the one church, and embraces in the yearnings 
 of its Christian sympathy all who "love the 
 Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.^"' In advocating 
 a wider platform of Christian love, we would 
 by no means " sell the truth," or compromise 
 principles, or immolate conscience upon the 
 altar of an infidel liberalism. But that for 
 which we plead, is, more of that Christian love, 
 tender-heartedness, kindness, charity which 
 allows the right of private judgment, respects 
 a conscientious maintenance of truth, and con- 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 21 
 
 cedes to others the same privilege it claims 
 for itself. Differing as many of the saints of 
 God necessarily do in judgment, does the same 
 necessity exist wherefore they shall be alienated 
 in affection ? We think, far from it. There 
 is common ground on which all Christians who 
 hold the Head can stand. There are truths 
 which can assimilate all our minds, and blend 
 all our hearts. Why then should we stand 
 aloof from the one body and exclaim, "The 
 temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord 
 are we V ^Vhy should we refuse to recog- 
 nise the Father^s image in the children's 
 face, and treat them as aliens in person, in 
 spirit, and in language, because they see not 
 eye to eye with us, in all our interpretations of 
 God's word ? Why should not " all bitterness, 
 and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil 
 speaking, be put away, with all malice ?" and 
 why should we not be " kind one to another, 
 tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as 
 God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us," seeing 
 that the church is but one, the family but one, 
 that true believers are all "one in Christ 
 Jesus?" This will be so where there is a 
 
22 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 deepening spirituality. And its absence marks 
 a decay of grace, a waning of the life of God 
 in the soul. 
 
 We have thus endeavoured to bring to view 
 some of the prominent characteristics of a 
 state of incipient declension of the life of God 
 in the believer. It will be seen that we have 
 referred to those only which mark the hidden 
 departure of the heart from God; — that state 
 that is so concealed, so veiled from the eye, 
 and wearing so fair an exterior, that all sus- 
 picion of its existence is lulled to rest, and the 
 soul is soothed with the delusion that all is 
 well with it. Dear reader, is this thy state ? 
 Has this book thus far detected in thee any 
 secret declension, any concealed departure, any 
 heart backsliding? Has it proved to thee — 
 the Spirit of God speaking by it — that thy 
 soul is in an unhealthy state, that the Divine 
 life within thee is drooping ? Turn not from 
 the discovery, painful though it be. Look at 
 it fully, honestly. It is no step towards the 
 recovery of a sickly state, to disguise the worst 
 symptoms of that state from the eye. The 
 mark of true wisdom and skill is, to ascertain 
 
INCIPIEXT DECLENSION. 23 
 
 the worst of the disease, to probe the depth of 
 the wound. And although such a course may 
 be painful to the patient, it is essential to his 
 thorough recovery. Beloved reader, it is 
 important that thou shouldst know the exact 
 state of thy soul before God. And if thou art 
 sincere in that petition which has often 
 breathed from thy lip, ^^ Search me, God, 
 and know my heart; try me, and know 
 my thoughts ; and see if there be any wicked 
 way in me-/' thou wilt thank him for any 
 gentle and faithful admonition that sets thee 
 upon the great work of self-examination. " It 
 is fit," says Dr. Owen, " that professors of all 
 sorts should be reminded of these things ; for 
 we may see not a few of them under visible 
 decays, without any sincere endeavours after 
 a recovery, who yet please themselves that the 
 root of the matter is in them. It is so, if love 
 of the world, conformity unto it, negligence in 
 holy duties, and coldness in spiritual love, be an 
 e\idence of such decays. But let none deceive 
 their own souls; wherever there is a saving 
 principle of grace, it vnll be thriving and 
 growing unto the end. And if it fall under 
 
24 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 obstructions, and thereby into decays for a 
 season, it will give no rest or quietness unto 
 the soul wherein it is, but will labour con- 
 tinually for a recovery. Peace in a spiritually- 
 decaying condition, is a soul-ruining security ; 
 better be under terror on the account of 
 surprisal into some sin, than be in peace under 
 evident decays of spiritual life.^^ 
 
 Some of the marked characteristics of the 
 state of heart declension which we have been 
 considering, are so strikingly set forth in the 
 case of the church, as described by the Holy 
 Ghost in the fifth chapter of the Song of 
 Solomon, that we would direct the serious 
 attention of the reader to it in connexion with 
 this part of our work. 
 
 In the 2nd verse, the church acknowledges 
 her drowsy J yet not entirely insensible, condition : 
 "I sleep, but my heart waketh.^^ Here was 
 the existence of the Divine life in the soul, 
 and yet that life was on the decline. She 
 knew that she had fallen into a careless and 
 slumbering state, that the work of grace in her 
 soul was decaying, that the spirit of slumber 
 had come over her; but the awful feature was, 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 25 
 
 she was content to be so. She heard her Be- 
 loved knock ; but, so enamoured was she with 
 her state of drowsiness, she gave no heed to it 
 — she opened not to him. ^' I sleep, but my 
 heart waketh : it is the voice of my Beloved 
 that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, 
 ray love, my dove, my un defiled ; for my head 
 is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops 
 of the night." Thus addressed, her duty 
 would have been instantly to have aroused 
 herself from her sleep, and admitted her Lord. 
 A believer may fall into a drowsy state of soul, 
 not so profound as to be entirely lost to the 
 voice of his Beloved speaking by conscience, by 
 the word, and by providences : and yet so far 
 may his grace have decayed, so cold may his 
 love have grown, and so hardening may have 
 been his declension, he shall be content that 
 this should be his state. 0, alarming symptom 
 of soul declension, when the indulgence of 
 sloth and self is preferred to a visit from 
 Jesus ! 
 
 Then observe that, when she did arise, Christ 
 had withdrawn himself. " I opened to my Be- 
 loved, but my Beloved had withdrawn himself, 
 
26 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 and was gone : my soul failed when he spake ; 
 I sought him, but I could not find him; 1 
 called him, but he gave me no answer." ver. 6. 
 Weary with waiting so long, grieved at the 
 discovery he made of her deep declension, and 
 wounded by her cold repulse, he withdrew his 
 sensible, loving presence, and left her to the 
 consequences of her sad departure. The Lord 
 never withdraws himself from his people will- 
 ingly : he is never actuated by an arbitrary 
 impulse of his will. Such is his delight in his 
 people, such his love towards them, and such 
 the joy he derives from their fellowship, that 
 he would walk with them all the day long, and 
 sun them with the unclouded light of his 
 countenance. But when he hides himself for 
 a little moment, he is driven from their 
 embrace by their lukewarmness of heart, and 
 unkind resistance of his love. Possessing a 
 tender heart himself, the slightest indifference 
 discoverable in his child wounds it : an ocean 
 of love himself, the least lukewarmness in the 
 love of his people causes him to withdraw. 
 And yet this momentary withdrawment is not 
 a judicial, but a fatherly, loving correction, to 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 27 
 
 bring them to a knowledge and confession of 
 their state : '^I will go and return to my place, 
 till they acknowledge their offence, and seek 
 my face ; in theii* affliction they will seek me 
 early." Hos. v. 15. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that she receded into 
 this state of declension immediately aftei' a 
 peculiar manifestation of Christ's love to her 
 soul. We find her thus inviting her Beloved : 
 '' Awake, north wind, and come, thou south ; 
 blow upon my garden, that the spices may 
 flow out. Let my Beloved come into his 
 garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." He 
 graciously accepts the invitation : '' I am come 
 into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have 
 gathered my myrrh \^ith my spice ; I have 
 eaten my honeycomb with my honey ; I have 
 drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends ; 
 drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved." 
 Thus was her declension preceded by near 
 and peculiar communion with her Lord. And 
 how many of the Lord's people can testify to 
 the same solemn truth, that some of their 
 saddest departures have immediately followed 
 seasons of the most endeared and holy fellow- 
 
28 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 ship with their God and Father ! It is after 
 such periods that the believer is most exposed 
 to a spirit of self-complacency. Without great 
 vigilance over the heart, self takes the glory 
 and the praise of the gracious visit of love 
 Jesus has made to the soul, and looks within 
 for some secret cause of the mercy. When 
 the Lord imparts a blessing, we need especial 
 grace to keep us from falling through that 
 very blessing. The case of the disciples 
 affords a memorable illustration of this thought. 
 The occasion on which the circumstance 
 transpired to which we are about to refer, was 
 a most solemn and affecting one ; it was the 
 scene that immediately preceded the crucifixion 
 of Jesus. Luke thus records it: ''^And he 
 took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and 
 gave unto them, saying. This is my body 
 which is given for you : this do in remem- 
 brance of me. Likewise also the cup after 
 supper, saying. This cup is the new testament 
 in my blood, which is shed for you." xxii. 
 19, 20. What moment could have been more 
 holy than this ? what occasion more solemn 
 and sacred ? Here were the disciples holding 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 29 
 
 fellowship with their adorable Immanuel in 
 the awful mystery of his sufferings ! But 
 immediately after the close of this hallowed 
 service, what do we read ? — '^ There was also a 
 strife among them, which should be accounted 
 the greatest/^ verse 24. Here were the worst 
 exhibitions of fallen nature, — passion, hatred, 
 envy, rankling in the heart, at a moment 
 when the elements of their Saviour's dying 
 love were yet upon their lips ! Oh, what 
 does this instructive lesson teach us ! — trust 
 not in frames and feelings, pray without ceas- 
 ing, and particularly "watch unto prayer" 
 immediately after seasons of peculiar nearness 
 to God, or especial mercies received at his 
 hands. " Special spiritual enjoyments," wisely 
 remarks Traill, "are dangerous, and render a 
 man very needy of the helping grace of God. 
 They expose to special temptations, are apt to 
 give rise to special corruptions, such as spirit- 
 ual pride, contentedness with a present good 
 condition, dullness of desire after a better state. 
 If the Lord grant singular communications of 
 himself, know that it is a season of special need 
 of grace to guide them well. They would 
 
30 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 return more frequently, and would spring 
 higher and last longer if they were better 
 improved. The greater the blessing be, the 
 greater the sin of its abuse; the greater the 
 blessing be, the greater is the difficulty of 
 guiding it well; and the more difficult the 
 work, the greater our need of the grace of 
 God; and the more frequent and fervent 
 should our supplications be to the throne of 
 grace for that needful, helpful grace/' 
 
 Yet once more : Mark the hardening tendency 
 of repeated declension in her case. In chap. iii. 
 1, she manifests some desire for Christ, though 
 her posture indicated a slothful spirit: "By 
 night on my bed I sought him whom my soul 
 loveth.^' Immediately after, Christ knocks, 
 but she had sunk so deep in slumber that she 
 arose not to admit him. Trace the steps, and 
 mark the deadening nature of soul declension. 
 She first places herself in the posture of sloth, 
 and soon is heard to say, " I sleep." Why is 
 it that so many who appear to be seeking 
 Christ, rest short of him ? It is not difficult 
 in most cases to ascertain the true cause. It 
 is this — they seek him in a slumbering posture 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 31 
 
 — on their beds. Their desires are so languid, 
 their frame of spirit so dead, their hearts so 
 cold, that their very manner of seeking him 
 seems to give an air of insincerity to their 
 desires, and would seem to plead for a denial 
 of their requests. Ponder again her confes- 
 sion : — Oh, is it not the confession of many ? 
 — " By night on my bed I sought him whom 
 my soul loveth : I sought him, hut I found him 
 not.'' And the reason why she found him not, 
 was, her slothful posture, and her drowsy 
 spirit in seeking him ! Guard against a sloth- 
 ful seeking of Jesus. With such a frame, 
 disappointment will inevitably ensue. But 
 seek him with all your heart, with all your 
 desire, with the whole bent of your soul. 
 Seek him as thy chief, thine only good. Seek 
 him as that which can supply the absence of 
 all other good, without whom nothing is good. 
 Seek him as that blessing that can turn every 
 bitter cup into sw^eetness, every dark cloud 
 into brightness, every cross into a mercy ; that 
 can bring bread out of the eater, and honey 
 out of the rock. Oh what a portion has that 
 soul that has Jesus for its portion ! " The 
 
33 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore 
 will I hope in him." But he must be sought 
 with all the vigour of the soul, with all the 
 intensity of desire, and with all perseverance 
 of purpose, if he would be found. And well is 
 he worth this labour of search. He is that 
 pearl that will repay a diligent seeking. He 
 will plentifully reward every sincere, humble 
 comer. Not a want but he will supply, not a 
 wound but he will heal, not a sorrow but he 
 will soothe, not a sin but he will pardon, not a 
 corruption but he will subdue. But seek him 
 with full purpose of soul, and he shall be found. 
 "When thou saidst. Seek ye my face, my 
 heart said unto thee, Thy face. Lord, will 
 I seek." Ps. xxvii. 8. "The soul of the 
 sluggard desireth, and hath nothing ; but the 
 soul of the diligent shall be made fat." Prov. 
 xiii. 4. 
 
 There is yet one more remarkable feature in 
 the state of the church we have been consider- 
 ing, too instructive to pass by unnoticed ; — we 
 allude to the persuasion she felt, that though 
 the Divine life in her soul was at a low ebb, 
 stillj Christ was hers, and she was Chrisfs. 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 33 
 
 " I sleep, but my heart waketh : it is the voice 
 of my Beloved that knocketh.^' In the worst 
 frame that can affect a true child of God, there 
 is always some indication that the Divine life 
 in the soul is not quite extinguished. In its 
 greatest decay, there is yet some symptom of 
 life. In the darkest hour, there is that in the 
 nature of true grace, which emits some scintil- 
 lation of its essential glory; in its greatest 
 defeat, that which asserts its divinity. Just as 
 a king, though deposed from his throne and 
 driven into exile, can never entirely divest 
 himself of the dignity of his regal character ; 
 so real grace, though often severely tried, 
 sharply assailed, and sometimes momentarily 
 defeated, can never sink its character, nor 
 relinquish its sovereignty. Mark the proof of 
 this in the case of the apostle Paul : " Now 
 then it is no more I that do it, but sin that 
 dwelleth in me. For the good that I would 
 I do not : but the evil which I would not, that 
 I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no 
 more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." 
 Rom. vii. 17, 19, 20. And so the church 
 expresses it, " I sleep, but my heart waketh." 
 
 D 
 
34 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 In her most drowsy, slothful state, she could 
 not forget that she was still her Beloved^ s, and 
 that her Beloved was hers. Glorious nature, 
 and blessed triumph of the life of God in the 
 soul of man ! 
 
 We now come to the consideration of the 
 REVIVAL of this Divine life in the soul of the 
 believer. From what has been already ad- 
 vanced, it will be perceived that we are far 
 from considering this a hopeless state. For a 
 decHning believer to settle down under the 
 conviction that such a state is irrecoverable; 
 that because he has taken the first step in 
 departure from God, he must necessarily take 
 the second, is to afford the most alarming 
 evidence of a state of soul declension. But so 
 far from this, we state it distinctly and empha- 
 tically, that whatever be the departure of a 
 backsliding child of God, it is recoverable : not 
 a step has he lost but may be retraced ; not 
 a grace has decayed but may be restored ; not 
 a joy has fled but may be won back. Alas for 
 us, when the day comes that shall close up 
 every avenue to the return of a backsliding 
 soul ! that tells us that the Father no longer 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION, 35 
 
 welcomes home the prodigal ; that the blood of 
 Jesus no longer heals a wounded spirit ; that 
 the Holy Ghost no longer restores the lost joys 
 of God^s salvation ! But we desire now to show, 
 that for every poor, self-condemned, heart- 
 broken, returning soul, there is a lingering 
 affection in the heart of the Father, a welcome 
 in the blood of Jesus, and a restorative power 
 in the operation of the Spirit, and therefore 
 every encouragement to arise and come to God. 
 The first direction which we would give in 
 the way of recovery is, acquaint yourself 
 thoroughly with the real state of your soul as 
 before God. As the first step in conversion 
 was to know yourself to be a lost, helpless, 
 condemned sinner; so now, in your re-con- 
 version to God, you must know the exact state 
 of your soul. Be honest with yourself; let 
 there be a thorough, faithful examination of 
 your spiritual condition; let all disguise be 
 removed, the eye withdrawn from the opinion 
 of men, and the soul shut in with God in a 
 close scrutiny of its worst state. Your min- 
 ister, your church, your friend, may know 
 nothing of the secret state of your soul j they 
 
36 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 may not even suspect any hidden decline of 
 gracCj any incipient backsliding of heart from 
 God. To their partial eyc^ the surface may 
 be fair to look upon ; to them your spiritual 
 state may present the aspect of prosperity and 
 fruitfulness ; but the solemn question is be- 
 tween God and your own soul. You have to 
 do with a God that judgeth not as man judgeth 
 — by the outward appearance only — but who 
 judgeth the heart. " I, the Lord, search the 
 heart. '^ The ^^ backslider in heart ^^ may deceive 
 himself, he may deceive others, but God he 
 cannot deceive. Seek then to know^ the real 
 condition of your soul. Search and see what 
 graces of the Spirit have declined, what fruits 
 of the Spirit have decayed. My reader, this is 
 a solemn and a great work we have set you 
 upon, but it is necessary to your recovery. We 
 would bring you into the court of your own 
 bosom, to examine fairly and strictly the 
 spiritual state of your soul. It is a solemn 
 process ! The witnesses summoned to testify 
 are many; — conscience is a witness, — how 
 often it has been silenced; the word is a 
 witness, — how sadly it has been neglected ; the 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 37 
 
 throne of grace is a witness, — how frequently 
 it has been slighted ; Christ is a witness, — ^how 
 much he has been undervalued; the Holy 
 Spirit is a witness, — how deeply he has been 
 grieved; God is a witness, — how greatly he has 
 been robbed. All these testify against the 
 soul of a backslider in heart, and yet all plead 
 for its return ! 
 
 The second step is, to discover and bring to 
 light the cause of the soul's declension. "Is 
 there not a cause V Search and see what has 
 fallen as a blight upon thy soul, what is feeding 
 at the root of thy Christianity. The apostle 
 Paul, skilful to detect, and faithful to reprove, 
 any declension in the faith or laxity in the 
 practice of the early churches, discovered in 
 that of Galatia a departure from the purity of 
 the truth, and a consequent carelessness in 
 their walk. Grieved at the discovery, he 
 addresses to them an affectionate and faithful 
 epistle, expressive of his astonishment and pain, 
 and proposing a solemn and searching inquiry. 
 " I marvel,^^ he writes, " that ye are so soon 
 removed from him that called you into the 
 grace of Christ. How, after that ye have 
 
S9t INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 known God^ or rather are known of God, how 
 turn ye again to the weak and beggarly 
 elements? I am afraid of you, lest I have 
 bestowed upon you labour in vain. Where is 
 the blessedness ye spake of? I stand in doubt 
 of you. Ye did run well; who did hinder 
 you ? This persuasion cometh not of him that 
 calleth you." To the reader, conscious as he 
 hangs over this page, of secret declension in 
 his soul, we propose the same searching and 
 tender inquiry. Ye did run well; who did 
 hinder you ? — what stumbling-block has fallen 
 in your way ? — what has impeded your onward 
 course ? — what has enfeebled your faith, chilled 
 your love, drawn your heart from Jesus, and 
 lured you back to the weak and beggarly 
 elements of a poor world ? You set out fair ; 
 for a time you ran well ; your zeal, and love, 
 and humility, gave promise of a useful life, of 
 a glorious race, and of a successful competition 
 for the prize; but something has hindered. 
 What is it ? Is it the world, creature love, 
 covetousness, ambition, presumptuous sin, un- 
 mortified corruption, the old leaven unpurged ? 
 Search it out. Rest not until it be disco- 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 39 
 
 vered. Your declension is secret, perhaps the 
 cause is secret, some spiritual duty secretly 
 neglected, or some known sin secretly indulged. 
 Search it out, and bring it to light. It must 
 be a cause adequate to the production of effects 
 so serious. You are not as you once were. 
 Your soul has lost ground; the Divine life has 
 declined ; the fruit of the Spirit has withered ; 
 the heart has lost its softness, the conscience 
 its tenderness, the mind its lowliness, the 
 throne of grace its sweetness, the cross of Jesus 
 its attraction. Oh, how sad and melancholy the 
 change that has passed over you ! And have 
 you not the consciousness of it in your soul ? 
 Where is the blessedness ye spake of? where 
 is the sunlight countenance of a reconciled 
 Father? where are the rich moments spent 
 before the cross ? the hallowed seasons of 
 communion in the closet, shut in with God ? 
 where is the voice of the turtle-dove, the 
 singing of birds, the green pastures where thou 
 didst feed, the still waters on whose banks 
 thou didst repose ? Is it all gone ? Is it 
 winter with thy soul ? Ah ! yes ; thy soul is 
 made to feel that it is an evil and a bitter 
 
40 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 thing to depart from the living God. But yet 
 there is hope. 
 
 The next step in the work of personal 
 revival, is, to take the cause of the soul's declen- 
 sion immediately to the throne of grace, and lay 
 it before the Lord. There must be no parley- 
 ing vi^ith it, no compromise, no concealment : 
 there must be a full and unreserved disclosure 
 before God, without aught of palliation or dis- 
 guise. Let your sin be confessed in all its 
 guilt, aggravation, and consequences. This is 
 just what God loves — an open, ingenuous 
 confession of sin. Searching and knowing, 
 though he does, all hearts, he yet delights in 
 the honest and minute acknowledgment of sin 
 from his backsliding child. Language cannot 
 be too humiliating, the detail cannot be too 
 minute. Mark the stress he has laid upon 
 this duty, and the blessing he has annexed to 
 it. Thus he spake to the children of Israel, 
 that wandering, backsliding, rebellious people: 
 " If they shall confess their iniquity, and the 
 iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass 
 which they trespassed against me, and that 
 also they have walked contrary unto me; and 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 41 
 
 that I also have walked contrary unto them, 
 and have brought them into the land of their 
 enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts 
 oe humbled, and they then accept of the 
 punishment of their iniquity : then will I re- 
 member my covenant with Jacob, and also my 
 covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant 
 with Abraham will I remember; and I will 
 remember the land." Levit. xxvi. 40 — 42. 
 Truly may wc exclaim, "Who is a God like 
 unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth 
 by the transgression of the remnant of his 
 heritage ! he retaineth not his anger for ever, 
 because he delighteth in mercy." This, too, 
 was the blessed experience of David, God's 
 dear yet often backsliding child : " I acknow- 
 ledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity 
 have I not hid. I said, I will confess my trans- 
 gressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest 
 the iniquity of my sin." Psalm xxxii. 5. And 
 how did the heart of God melt with pity and 
 compassion when he heard the audible relent- 
 ings of his Ephraim! "I have surely heard 
 Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast 
 chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock 
 
42 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 imaccustomed to the yoke : turn thou me^ and I 
 shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God/' 
 And what was the answer of God? "Is Ephraim 
 my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since 
 I spake against him^ I do earnestly remember 
 him still; therefore my bowels are troubled 
 for him : I will surely have mercy upon him, 
 saith the Lord/' Jer. xxxi. 18, 20. Nor is 
 the promise of pardon annexed to confession of 
 sin, unfolded with less clearness and consola- 
 toriness in the New Testament writings. "If 
 we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness.'' I John i. 9. How full, 
 then, the blessing, how rich the consolation 
 connected with an honest heart-broken con- 
 fession of sin ! How easy and how simple, 
 too, this method of return to God ! "Only 
 acknowledge thine iniquity." Jer. iii. 13. It 
 is but a confession of sin over the head of 
 Jesus, the great sacrifice for sin. 0, what 
 is this that God says ? " Only acknowledge 
 thine iniquity ! " Is this all he requires of 
 his poor wandering child ? This is all ! 
 " Then," may the poor soul exclaim, " Lord, 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 43 
 
 I come to thee. I am a backslider, a wanderer, 
 a prodigal. I have strayed from thee like a 
 lost sheep. My love has waxed cold, my steps 
 have slackened in the path of holy obedience ; 
 my mind has yielded to the corrupting, dead- 
 ening influence of the world, and my affections 
 have wandered in quest of other and earthly 
 objects of delight. But behold I come unto 
 thee. Dost thou invite me ? Dost thou stretch 
 out thy hand ? Dost thou bid me approach 
 thee? Dost thou say, 'Only acknowledge 
 thine iniquity ? ' Then, Lord, I come ; in the 
 name of thy dear Son, I come ; ' restore unto 
 me the joy of thy salvation.''' Thus con- 
 fessing sin over the head of Jesus, until the 
 heart has nothing more to confess but the sm 
 of its confession,— for, beloved reader, our very 
 confession of sin needs to be confessed over, 
 our very tears need to be wept over, and our 
 very prayers need to be prayed over, so defaced 
 with sin is all that we do; — the soul, thus 
 emptied and unburthened, is prepared to re- 
 ceive anew the seal of a Father's forgiving 
 love. 
 
 The true posture of a returning soul is 
 
44 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 beautifully presented to view in the prophecy 
 of Hosea^ xiv. 1, 2: "0 Israel, return unto the 
 Lord thy God ; for thou hast fallen by thine 
 iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to 
 the Lord : say unto him, Take away all 
 iniquity, and receive us graciously : so will we 
 render thee the calves [sacrifices] of our lips.^^ 
 Here are conviction, godly sorrow, humiliation, 
 and confession, the essential elements of a 
 true return to God. Conviction of the true 
 state of the declining soul; godly sorrow re- 
 sulting from the discovery ; humiliation, deep 
 and sincere, on account of it; and a full and 
 unreserved confession of it before God. 
 blessed evidences! lovely posture of a 
 restored soul ! 
 
 Essentially connected with the discovery 
 and the confession, there must be the entire 
 mortification and abandonment of the cause of 
 the souVs secret declension. Apart from this, 
 there can be no true revival of the work of 
 Divine grace in the heart. The true spiritual 
 mortification of indwelling sin, and the entire 
 forsaking of the known cause, whatever it is 
 found to be, of the heart's declension, con- 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 45 
 
 stitute the true elements of a believer's re- 
 storation to the joys of God's salvation. And 
 when we speak of the mortification of sin, let 
 not the nature of this sacred work be mis- 
 understood. It has been in the case of many, 
 why may it not in yours ? There may exist 
 all the surface-marks of mortification, and still 
 the heart remain a stranger to the work. An 
 awakening sermon, an alarming providence, or 
 a startling truth, may for a moment arrest 
 and agitate the backsliding soul. There may 
 be an opening of the eyelid, a convulsive 
 movement of the spiritual frame, which, to a 
 superficial observer, may wear the appearance 
 of a real return to consciousness, of a true 
 waking np to new life and vigour the slum- 
 bering soul, and yet these may be but the 
 transient and fitful impulses of a sickly and a 
 drowsy spirit. The means of grace, too, may 
 be returned to, — the secret declension felt, 
 deplored, and acknowledged, but the hidden 
 cause remaining unmortified and unremoved, 
 all appearance of recovery quickly and pain- 
 fully subsides. It was but a transient, 
 momentary shock, and all was still j the heavy 
 
46 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 eyelid but feebly opened, and closed again ; 
 the ^ goodness ^ that promised so fair, was but 
 as the morning cloud and the early dew. And 
 the reason is found in the fact, that there was 
 no true mortification of sin. And so I may re- 
 pair to a plant withering and drooping in my 
 garden; I may employ every external means 
 for its revival ; I may loosen the earth about 
 it, water, and place it in the warm sunbeam : 
 but if the while I had not discovered and re- 
 moved the hidden cause of its decay, — if I had 
 not known that a worm was secretly feeding 
 at the root, and in ignorance of this, had pro- 
 ceeded with my surface-work of restoration, 
 what marvel, though the morning sunbeam, 
 and the evening dew, and the loosened earth, 
 had produced a momentary freshness and life, 
 that yet my plant had ceased to exist, had 
 withered and died? Thus may it be with a 
 declining believer. The external means of re- 
 vival may be sedulously employed, means of 
 grace diligently used and even multiplied, but 
 all to no real and permanent effect, while a 
 worm secretly feeds at the root ; and until the 
 hidden cause of decay be mortified, removed. 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 47 
 
 and utterly extirpated^ the surface revival does 
 but end in a profounder sleep, and a more 
 fearful deception of the soul. Again, and yet 
 again would we repeat it, — there cannot pos- 
 sibly be any true, spiritual, and abiding re- 
 vival of grace in a believer, while secret sin 
 remains undiscovered and unmortified in the 
 heart. True and spiritual mortification of sin 
 is not a surface-work : it consists not merely 
 in pruning the dead tendi'ils that bang here 
 and there upon the branch ; it is not the 
 lopping off of outward sins, and an external 
 observance of spiritual duties ; it includes 
 essentially far more than this : it is a laying 
 the axe at the root of sin in the believer; it 
 aims at nothing less than the complete sub- 
 jection of the principle of sin ; and until this 
 is effectually done, there can be no true return 
 of the heart to God. Christian reader, what 
 is the cause of thy soul^s secret declension ? 
 What is it that at this moment feeds upon the 
 precious plant of grace, destroying its vigour, 
 its beauty, and its fruitfulness ? Is it an in- 
 ordinate attachment to the creature ? mortify 
 it ; — the love of self ? mortify it ; — the love of 
 
48 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 the world ? mortify it ; — some sinful habit 
 secretly indulged ? mortify it. It must be 
 mortified^ root as well as branch, if you would 
 experience a thorough return to God. Dear 
 though it be, as a right hand, or as a right 
 eye, if yet it comes between thy soul and God, 
 if it crucifies Christ in thee, if it weakens faith, 
 enfeebles grace, destroys the spirituality of the 
 soul, rendering it barren and unfruitful, rest 
 not short of its utter mortification. 
 
 Nor must this great work be undertaken in 
 your own strength. It is pre-eminently the 
 result of God the Holy Ghost working in, and 
 blessing the self-efibrts of, the believer : " If 
 ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of 
 the body, ye shall live.^^ Rom. viii. 13. Here 
 is a recognition of the believer^s own exertions, 
 in connexion with the power of the Holy 
 Ghost : " If ye " (believers, ye saints of God) 
 " through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the 
 body,^' &c. It is the work of the believer him- 
 self, but the power is of the Spirit of God. Take, 
 then, your discovered sin to the Spirit : that 
 Spirit bringing the cross of Jesus, with a 
 killing, crucifying power, into your soul, giving 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 49 
 
 you such a view of a Saviour suffering for 
 siiij as it may be you never had before, will in 
 a moment lay your enemy slain at your feet. 
 yield not to despair, distressed soul ! Art 
 thou longing for a gracious revival of God's 
 work within thee ? — art thou mourning in 
 secret over thy heart-declension? — hast thou 
 searched and discovered the hidden cause of 
 thy decay? — and is thy real desire for its 
 mortification ? Then look up, and hear the 
 consolatory words of thy Lord : " I am the 
 Lord that healeth thee." Exod. xv. 26. The 
 Lord is thy healer ; his love can restore thee ; 
 his blood can heal thee ; his grace can sub- 
 due thy sin. "Take with you words, and 
 turn to the Lord ; say unto him. Take 
 away all iniquity, and receive us graciously:" 
 and the Lord will answer, " I will heal their 
 backslidings, I will love them freely ; for mine 
 anger is turned away from him." 
 
 Endeavour to enrich and enlarge your mind 
 with more spiritual apprehensions of the personal 
 glory, love, and fulness of Christ. All soul- 
 declension arises from the admission of things 
 into the mind contrary to the nature of in- 
 
 £ 
 
50 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 dwelling grace. The world, — its pleasures, its 
 vanities, its cares, its varied temptations, — 
 these enter the mind, disguised in the shape 
 often of lawful undertakings and duties, and 
 draw off the mind from God, and the affections 
 from Christ. These, too, weaken and deaden 
 faith and love, and every grace of the indwell- 
 ing Spirit : they are the " foxes that spoil the 
 vines, for our vines have tender grapes. ^^ Sol. 
 Song ii. 15. The w^orld is a most hurtful 
 snare to the child of God. It is impossible 
 that he can maintain a close and holy walk 
 with God, live as a pilgrim and a sojourner, 
 wage a constant and successful warfare against 
 his many spiritual foes, and at the same time 
 open his heart to admit the greatest foe to 
 grace, — the love of the world. But when the 
 mind is pre-occupied by Christ, filled with 
 contemplations of his glory, and grace, and 
 love, no room is left for the entrance of ex- 
 ternal allurements : the world is shut out, and 
 the creature is shut out, and the fascinations 
 of sin are shut out ; and the soul holds a con- 
 stant and undisturbed fellowship with God, 
 while it is enabled to maintain a more vigorous 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 51 
 
 resistance to every external attack of the 
 enemy. And 0, how blessed is the souFs com- 
 munion, thus shut in with Jesus ! " Behold, 
 I stand at the door and knock : if any man 
 hear my voice, and open the door, I will come 
 in to him, and will sup with him, and he with 
 me.^^ 'I would come in,' says the dear Lamb 
 of God, 'and dwell in you, and take up my 
 abode with you, and sup with you, and you 
 with me.' This is true fellowship ! And 0, 
 sweet response of his o\\ti Spirit in the heart, 
 when the believing soul exclaims, — ''When 
 thou saidst. Seek ye my face ; my heart said 
 unto thee. Thy face. Lord, will I seek ! " 
 'Enter, thou precious Jesus; I want none but 
 thee; I desire no company, and would hear 
 no voice but thine; I wall have fellowship 
 with none but thee, — let me sup with thee : 
 yea, give me thine own flesh to eat, and thine 
 own blood to di'ink.' Ah ! dear Christian 
 reader, it is because we have so little to do 
 with Jesus, — we admit him so seldom and so 
 reluctantly to oui* hearts, — we have so few 
 dealings with him, — travel so seldom to his 
 blood and righteousness, and live so little 
 
52 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 upon his fulness^ that we are compelled so often 
 to exclaim, — "My leanness, my leanness!'' 
 But, if we be " risen with Christ, seek those 
 things which are above, where Christ sitteth 
 on the right hand of God;" let us seek to 
 know Christ more, to have more spiritual and 
 enlarged comprehensions of his glory, to drink 
 deeper into his love, to imbibe more of his 
 Spirit, and conform more closely to his ex- 
 ample. 
 
 But that which forms the great secret of all 
 personal revival is yet to be disclosed; we allude 
 to a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost. This a 
 declining soul needs more than all beside. 
 Possessing this in a large degree, he possesses 
 every spiritual blessing : it includes, and is the 
 pledge of every other. Our dear Lord sought 
 to impress this, his last consoling doctrine, upon 
 the di'ooping minds of his disciples : his bodily 
 presence in their midst, he taught them, was 
 not to be compared with the spiritual and 
 permanent dwelling of the Spirit among them. 
 The descent of the Holy Ghost was to bring 
 all things that he had taught them to their 
 remembrance ; it was to perfect them in their 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 53 
 
 knowledge of the supreme glory of his person, 
 the infinite perfection of his work, the nature 
 and spirituality of his kingdom, and its ulti- 
 mate and certain triumphs in the earth. The 
 descent of the Spirit, too, was to mature them 
 in personal holiness, and more eminently fit 
 them for their arduous and successful labour in 
 his cause, by deepening their spirituality, 
 enriching them with more grace, and enlarg- 
 ing them with more love. And fully did the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost, on the day of 
 Pentecost, accomphsh all this: the apostles 
 emerged from his influence, like men who had 
 passed through a state of re-conversion. 
 
 And this is the state, dear reader, you must 
 pass through, would you experience a revival 
 of God^s work in your soul : you must be re- 
 converted, and that through a fresh baptism of 
 the Holy Ghost. Nothing short of this will 
 quicken your dying graces, and melt your 
 frozen love ; nothing save this will arrest your 
 secret declension, and restore your backsliding 
 heart. You mv^t he baptized afresh luith the 
 Spirit; that Spiiit whom you have so often 
 and so deeply wounded, grieved, slighted and 
 
54 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 quenched, must enter you anew, and seal, and 
 sanctify, and re-convert you. arise, and pray, 
 and agonise for the outpouring of the Spirit 
 upon your soul ; give up your lifeless religion, 
 your form without the power, your prayer 
 without communion, your confessions without 
 brokenness, your zeal without love. And 0, 
 what numerous and precious promises cluster 
 in God^s word, all inviting you to seek this 
 blessing ! " He shall come do^vn like rain 
 upon the mown grass ; as showers that water 
 the earth." Psalm Ixxii. 6. "I will heal their 
 backslidings, I will love them freely ; for mine 
 anger is turned away from him. I will be as 
 the dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the 
 lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His 
 branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be 
 as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 
 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; 
 they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the 
 vine ; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of 
 Lebanon." Hos. xiv. 4 — 7. " Come, let us 
 return unto the Lord ; for he hath torn, and he 
 will heal us ; he hath smitten, and he will bind 
 us up. After two days will he revive us, in the 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 55 
 
 third day he will raise us up^ and we shall live 
 in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow 
 on to know the Lord : his going forth is pre- 
 pared as the morning ; and he shall come unto 
 us as the rain, as the latter and former rain 
 unto the earth." vi. 1 — 3. Seek, then, above 
 and beyond all other blessings, the renewed 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost. " Be filled with 
 the Spirit -^^ seek it earnestly ^ — seek it under 
 the deep conviction of your absolute rzee^ o/z7, — 
 seek it perseveringly, — seek it helievingly. God 
 has promised, " I will pour out my Spirit upon 
 you;" and, asking it in the name of Jesus, j^ou 
 shall receive. 
 
 One word more : Be not surprised if the Lord 
 should place you in circumstances of deep trial, 
 in order to recover you from your soul-declen- 
 sion : the Lord often adapts the peculiarity of 
 the discipline to that of the case. Is it secret 
 declension ? He may send some secret rebuke, 
 some secret cross, some hidden chastisement: 
 no one has discovered thy concealed declension, 
 and no one discovers thy concealed correction. 
 The declension was between God and thy soul, 
 so also it may be is the rebuke; the backsliding 
 
56 INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 was of the heart, so also is the chastisement. 
 But if the sanctified trial works the recovery 
 of your soul, the restoration to Christ of your 
 wavering heart, the revival of his entire work 
 within you, you shall adore him for the dis- 
 cipline; and with David, extolHng the dealings 
 of a covenant God and Father, shall exclaim, — 
 " Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now 
 have I kept thy word. It is good for me that 
 I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy 
 statutes!" 
 
 Lastly : Set out afresh for God and heaven, 
 as though you had never started in the way 
 before. Commence at the beginning ; go as a 
 sinner to Jesus ; seek the quickening, healing, 
 sanctifying influence of the Spirit ; and let this 
 be your prayer, presented, and urged until 
 answered, at the footstool of mercy : " Lord, 
 revive thy work ! Quicken me^ Lord ! Re- 
 store unto me the joy of thy salvation !" In 
 answer to thy petition, " He shall come down 
 like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that 
 water the earth;" and thy song shall be that of 
 the church, " My Beloved spake, and said unto 
 me, Rise up, my love, my fail* one, and come 
 
INCIPIENT DECLENSION. 
 
 57 
 
 away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is 
 over and gone. The flowers appear on the 
 earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, 
 and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. 
 The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and 
 the vines with the tender grape give a good 
 smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come 
 
 away.^^ 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 " The love of many shall wax cold." — Matt. xxiv. 12. 
 
 Having described the hidden and incipient 
 declension of the behever, we propose in the 
 present and succeeding chapters, to trace this 
 melancholy state in some of its more advanced 
 stages, as it is seen in the languor and decay 
 of the graces of the Spirit in the soul. It is 
 no longer the concealed, but developed, charac- 
 ter of spiritual and personal declension that we 
 are now to consider. Its tjrpe is more marked, 
 and its symptoms more palpable and visible 
 to the eye. It has arrived at such a stage 
 as to render concealment impossible. Just 
 as in the physical frame, a slight sinking 
 in the heart's pulsation, even though the seat 
 of disease is invisible, may be traced in the 
 external symptoms that ensue ; so, in the 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 59 
 
 spiritual man, when there is a secret unhealthi- 
 ness of soul, the effects are so marked in their 
 character as to leave no doubt of its existence. 
 The man may not himself be sensible of his 
 backsliding state ; he may wrap himself up in 
 the fearful deception that all is well, close his 
 eyes voluntarily against his real state, disguise 
 from himself the rapidly advancing disease, 
 crying 'peace, peace,^ and putting far off the 
 evil daj^j but with a spiritual and advancing 
 believer, one whose eye is keen to detect an 
 unfavourable symptom, and whose touch is 
 skilful to mark a sickly pulse, the case is 
 involved in no mystery. 
 
 In tracing the declension of some of the 
 essential and prominent graces of the Spirit, 
 we commence with the grace of love, it con- 
 stituting the spring-head of all the kindred 
 graces. The spiritual state of the soul, and 
 the vigour and promptness of its obedience, 
 A^dll correspond with the state and tone of the 
 believer's affections towards God. If decay, 
 coldness, declension, exist here, it is felt and 
 traced throughout the entire obedience of the 
 new man. Every grace of the Spirit feels it ; 
 
60 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 every call to duty feels it ; and every throb of 
 the spiritual pulse will but betray the secret 
 and certain declension of Divine love in the 
 soul. Let the Christian reader^ then, imagine 
 what must be the spiritual unhealthiness of the 
 believer, what his outward and visible declen- 
 sions from God, when love, the spring of all 
 spiritual duties, ceases to exert a vigorous 
 influence, and when, as the heart of experi- 
 mental godliness, it transmits but sickly and 
 sluggish streams of life throughout the spiritual 
 system. Let us, before we proceed to the im- 
 mediate discussion of the main subject before 
 us, present a brief and scriptural view of the 
 necessity, nature, and operation of Divine love 
 in the soul. 
 
 Love to God is spoken of in his word, as 
 forming the primary and grand requirement of 
 the Divine law. Thus is the truth declared, 
 " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
 thy mind. This is the first and great com- 
 mandment.^^ Matt. xxii. 37, 38. Now, it was 
 both infinitely wise and good in God, thus to 
 present himself the proper and lawful object 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 61 
 
 of love. We say it was wise, because, had he 
 placed the object of supreme affection lower 
 than himself, it had been to have elevated an 
 inferior object above himself. For whatever 
 other object than God is loved with a sole and 
 supreme affection, it is a deifying of that object, 
 so that it, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, 
 showing itself that it is God. It was good, 
 because a lesser object of affection could never 
 have met the desires and aspirations of an 
 immortal mind. God has so constituted man, 
 implanting in him such a capacity for happi- 
 ness, and such boundless and immortal desires 
 for its possession, as can find their full enjoy- 
 ment only in infinity itself. He never designed 
 that the intelligent and immortal creature 
 should sip its bliss at a lower fountain than 
 himself. Then it was infinitely wise and good in 
 God, that he should have presented himself as 
 the sole object of supreme love and worship to 
 his intelligent creatures. His wisdom saw the 
 necessity of having one centre of supreme and 
 adoring affection, and one object of supreme 
 and spiritual worship to angels and to men. 
 His goodness suggested that that centre and 
 
62 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 that that object should be himself, the perfec- 
 tion of infinite excellence, the fountain of 
 infinite good. That, as from him went forth 
 all the streams of life to all creatures, it was but 
 reasonable and just that to him should return, 
 and in him should centre, all the streams of 
 love and obedience of all intelligent and 
 immortal creatures : that, as he was the most 
 intelHgent, wise, glorious, and beneficent object 
 in the universe, it was meet that the first, 
 strongest, and pui-est love of the creature should 
 soar towards, and find its resting-place in him. 
 Love to God, then, forms the grand require- 
 ment, and fundamental precept of the Divine 
 law. It IS binding upon all intelligent beings. 
 From it no consideration can release the 
 creature. No plea of inability, no claim of 
 inferior objects, no opposition of rival interest, 
 can lessen the obligation of every creature 
 that hath breath to ^ove the Lord his God 
 with all his heart, and with all his soul, and 
 with all his mind.' It grows out of the relation 
 of the creature to God, as his Creator, Moral 
 Governor, and Preserver; and as being in 
 himself the only object of infinite excellence, 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 63 
 
 wisdom, holiness, majesty, and grace. This 
 obligation, too, to love God with supreme 
 affection, is binding upon the creature irre- 
 spective of any advantage which may result 
 to him from so loving God. It is most true 
 that God has benevolently connected supreme 
 happiness with supreme love, and has threat- 
 ened supreme misery, where supreme affection 
 is withheld; yet, independent of any blessing 
 that may accrue to the creature from its love 
 to God, the infinite excellence of the Divine 
 nature, and the eternal relation in which he 
 stands to the intelligent universe, render it 
 irreversibly obligatory on every creature to 
 love him with a supreme, paramount, holy 
 and unreserved affection. 
 
 Love, too, is the great influential principle of 
 the Gospel. The religion of Jesus is pre- 
 eminently a religion of motive : it excludes 
 every compulsory principle; it arrays before 
 the mind certain great and powerful motives 
 with which it enlists the understanding, the 
 will, and the affections, in the active service of 
 Christ. Now the law of Christianity is not 
 the law of coercion, but of love. This is the 
 
64 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 grand lever, the great influential motive, — "the 
 love of Christ constraineth us/^ This was the 
 apostle^s declaration, and this his governing 
 motive ; and the constraining love of Christ is 
 to be the governing motive, the influential 
 principle of every believer. Apart from the 
 constraining influence of Christ's love in the 
 heart, there cannot possibly be a willing, 
 prompt, and holy obedience to his com- 
 mandments. A conviction of duty and the 
 influence of fear may sometimes urge forward 
 the soul, but love alone can prompt to a 
 loving and holy obedience ; and all obedience 
 that springs from an inferior motive is not the 
 obedience that the gospel of Jesus inculcates. 
 The relation in which the believer stands to 
 God, under the new covenant dispensation, is 
 not that of a slave to his master, but of a child 
 to its father. " And because ye are sons, God 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your 
 hearts, crying, Abba, Father.^' Gal. iv. 6. 
 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
 spirit, that we are the children of God.'' Rom. 
 viii. 16. "Wherefore thou art no more a 
 servant (a slave), but a son." Gal. iv. 7. With 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 65 
 
 this new and spiritual relation, we look for a 
 new and spiritual motive, and we find it in 
 that single but comprehensive word — love. 
 And thus has our Lord declared it : " If ye 
 love me, keep my commandments." John xiv. 
 15. "If a man love me, he will keep my 
 words; and he that loveth me not keepeth not 
 my sayings." Ver. 23, 24. It is then only 
 where this love is shed abroad in the heart by 
 the Holy Ghost, that we may expect to find 
 the fruit of obedience. Swayed by this Divine 
 principle, the believer labours not for life, but 
 from life : not for acceptance, but from ac- 
 ceptance. A holy, self-denying, cross-bearing 
 life, is not the drudgery of a slave, but the 
 filial, loving obedience of a child : it springs 
 from love to the person, and gratitude for the 
 work of Jesus ; and is the blessed effect of the 
 spirit of adoption in the heart. 
 
 It must be acknowledged, too, that this 
 motive is the most holy and influential of all 
 motives of obedience. Love, flowing from the 
 heart of Jesus into the heart of a poor believ- 
 ing sinner, expelling selfishness, melting cold- 
 ness, conquering sinfulness, and drawing that 
 r 
 
66 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 heart up in a simple and unreserved surrender, 
 is, of all principles of action, the most power- 
 ful and sanctifying. Under the constraining 
 influence of this principle, how easy becomes 
 every cross for Jesus ! — how light every 
 burthen, how pleasant every yoke ! Duties 
 become privileges — difficulties vanish — fears are 
 quelled — shame is humbled — delay is rebuked; 
 and, all on flame for Jesus, the pardoned, 
 justified, adopted child exclaims, " Here, Lord, 
 am I, a living sacrifice; thine for time, and 
 thine for eternity ! " 
 
 Love is that principle that expels all legal 
 fear from the heart. "There is no fear in 
 love ; but perfect love casteth out fear, because 
 fear hath torment. He that feareth is not 
 made perfect in love.^^ 1 John iv. 18. Who 
 that has felt it will deny that 'fear hath 
 torment ? ' The legal fear of death, of judg- 
 ment, and of condemnation, — the fear en- 
 gendered by a slavish view of the Lord's com- 
 mandments, — a defective view of the believer^s 
 relation to God, — imperfect conceptions of the 
 finished work of Christ, — unsettled apprehen- 
 sions of the great fact of acceptance, — yielding 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 67 
 
 to the power of unbelief, — the retaining of 
 guilt upon the conscience, or the influence 
 of any concealed sin, will fill the heart 
 with the torment of fear. Some of the most 
 eminent of God^s people have thus been 
 afflicted : this was Job^s experience, — " I am 
 afraid of all my sorrows.^^ "Even when I 
 remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh 
 hold on my flesh.^^ " When I consider him, 
 I am afraid of him.^^ So also David, — "\^Tiat 
 time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." "My 
 flesh trembleth for fear of thee ; I am afraid 
 of thy judgments.'^ But ^perfect love casteth 
 out fear : ' he that feareth is not perfected in 
 the love of Christ. The design and tendency 
 of the love of Jesus shed abroad in the heart, 
 is to lift the soul out of all its ^bondage 
 through fear of death ' and its ultimate con- 
 sequences, and soothe it to rest on that 
 glorious declaration, triumphing in which 
 many have gone to glory, "There is there- 
 fore now no condemnation to them which are 
 in Christ Jesus." See the blessed spring from 
 whence flows a believer^s victory over all bond- 
 age-fear — from Jesus : not from his experience 
 
68 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 of the truth, not from, evidence of his accept- 
 ance and adoption, not from the work of the 
 Spirit in his heart, blessed as it is, but from 
 out of, and away from, himself, even from 
 Jesus. The blood and righteousness of Christ, 
 based upon the infinite dignity and glory of 
 his person, and wrought into the experience of 
 the believer by the Holy Ghost, expel from the 
 heart all fear of death and of judgment, and 
 fill it with perfect peace. thou of fearful 
 heart ! why these anxious doubts, why these 
 tormenting fears, why this shrinking from the 
 thought of death, why these distant, hard, and 
 unkind thoughts of God ? Why this prison- 
 liouse, — why this chain ? Thou art not per- 
 fected in the love of Jesus, for "perfect love 
 casteth out fear;^^ thou art not perfected in 
 that great truth, that Jesus is mighty to save, 
 that he died for a poor sinner, that his death 
 was a perfect satisfaction to Divine justice; 
 and that without a single meritorious work of 
 thine own, just as thou art, poor, empty, vile, 
 worthless, unworthy, thou art welcome to the 
 rich provision of sovereign grace and dying love. 
 The simple belief of this, will perfect thy heart 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 69 
 
 in love ; and perfected in love, every bondage- 
 fear will vanish away. seek to be perfected 
 in Christ^s love ! It is a fathomless ocean. 
 Why then shouldst thou not descend into it ? 
 Approach, for it is free ; drink, for it is deep ; 
 launch into it, for it is broad, "The Lord 
 direct your heart into the love of God.^' 
 
 Love is that grace of the Spirit that brings 
 faith into active exercise; "faith which worketh 
 by love," Gal. v. 6 ; and faith thus brought into 
 exercise, brings every spiritual blessing into 
 the soul. A believer stands by faith, Rom. xi. 
 20 ; he walks by faith, 2 Cor. v. 7 ; he over- 
 comes by faith, 1 John v. 4 ; he lives by faith, 
 Gal. ii. 20. Love is therefore a laboui'ing 
 grace; "God is not unrighteous to forget your 
 work and labour of love, which ye have shewed 
 towards his name." Heb. vi. 10. There is 
 nothing indolent in the nature of true love ; it 
 is not an inert, sluggish principle: where it 
 dwells in the heart in a healthy and vigorous 
 state, it constrains the believer to live not 
 to himself, but unto Him who loved and gave 
 himself for him ; it awakes the soul to watch- 
 fulness, sets it upon the work of frequent self- 
 
70 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 examination, influences it to prayer, daily 
 walking in the precepts, acts of kindness, 
 benevolence, and charity, all springing from 
 love to God, and flowing in a channel of love 
 to man. 
 
 The Holy Ghost distinguishes love as a part 
 of the Christian armour : " Let us, who are of 
 the day, be sober, putting on the breast-plate 
 of faith and love^ 1 Thess. v. 8. Without 
 ardent and increasing love to God, the believer 
 is but poorly armed against his numerous 
 spiritual and ever-aggressive foes : but what a 
 breast-jolate and helmet is this in the day of 
 battle ! Who can overcome a child of God 
 whose heart is overflowing with Divine love ? 
 what enemy can prevail against him thus 
 armed? There is something so shielding in 
 its influence, so repelling to the spirit of 
 enmity and darkness, so obnoxious to sin, that 
 he only is fit for the conflict who is well clad 
 in the breast-plate of love. He may be, and 
 he is, in himself, nothing but weakness ; his 
 foes many and mighty ; hemmed in on every 
 side by his spiritual Philistines ; and yet, his 
 heart soaring to God in love, longing for his 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 71 
 
 presence, panting for his precepts, desiring 
 above and beyond all other blessings. Divine 
 conformity ! with what a panoply is he 
 clothed ! No weapon formed against him 
 shall prosper : every ' fiery dart of the ad- 
 versary' shall be quenched, and he shall 
 ^ come off more than a conqueror through him 
 who hath loved him/ 
 
 In a word, love is immortal ; it is that grace 
 of the Spirit that will never die. This is not 
 so with all the kindred graces ; the period will 
 come when they will no more be needed. The 
 day is not far distant, when faith will be turned 
 to sight, and hope will be lost in full fruition, 
 but love will never die ; it will live on, and ex- 
 pand the heart, and tune the lip, and inspire 
 the song, through the unceasing ages of eter- 
 nity. ^^ Whether there be prophecies, they shall 
 fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall 
 cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall 
 vanish away -," but love never faileth ; it is 
 an eternal spring, welled in the bosom of 
 Deity j heaven will be its dwelling-place, God 
 its source, the glorified spirit its subject, and 
 eternity its duration. 
 
72 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 For one moment let the Christian reader 
 call to mind the period and the circumstances 
 of his first espousals to Jesus. If there ever 
 was a blissful period of thy life, — if a spot of 
 verdure in the remembrance of the past, on 
 which the sunlight ever rests, — was it not the 
 time, and is it not the place, where thy heart 
 first expanded with the love of Jesus ? Thou 
 hast, it may be, trod many a thorny path since 
 then ; thou hast travelled many a weary step 
 of thy pilgrimage — hast buffeted many storms, 
 hast waded through many deep afflictions, and 
 fought many severe battles, — but all have well 
 nigh faded from thy memory ; but the hour 
 and the events of thy ^ first love,^ — these thou 
 never hast forgotten, thou never canst forget. 
 ever to be loved, ever to be remembered 
 with deep songs of joy, with adoring gratitude 
 to free and sovereign grace, the period when 
 the chains of thy bondage were broken, — 
 when thy fettered soul broke from its thraldom, 
 and sprang into the liberty of the sons of God, 
 — when light discovered thy darkness, and that 
 darkness rolled away before its increasing 
 lustre, — when the Spirit wounded thee, then 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 73 
 
 healed that wound with the precious balm of 
 Gilead, — when he gave thee sorrow, then 
 soothed that sorrow by a view of the crucified 
 Lamb of God, — when faith took hold of Jesus, 
 and brought the blessed assurance into the soul, 
 '' I am my beloved^ s, and my beloved is mine }^ 
 and when Jesus whispered, — how tender 
 was his voice ! — " Thy sins, which were many, 
 are all forgiven thee ; go in peace." Blissful 
 moment ! How fresh is the whole transaction 
 to thy mind : the sanctuary where thou didst 
 worship, — the minister whom thou didst hear, 
 — the people with whom thou didst associate, 
 — the spot where thou didst lose thy burden, 
 and where light, and love, and joy, broke in 
 upon thy soul, — the saints who rejoiced over 
 thee, and the happy converts who clustered 
 around thee, mingling their joys and their 
 songs with thine ; and the man of God who 
 introduced thee within the pale, and to the 
 ordinances and the privileges of the church of 
 Christ, — all, all is now before thee with a vivid- 
 ness and a freshness as though it had but just 
 transpired. that the Lord should ever have 
 reason to prefer the charge, ''thou hast left 
 
74 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 thy first love !" And yet to the consideration 
 of this melancholy state of a professing soul, 
 we have now to turn. May the Spirit of truth 
 and of love be our guide and teacher ! 
 
 The subject now before us for reflection, is 
 the humbling and affecting truth, that the grace 
 of love in a child of God may greatly and sadly 
 decline. We speak, let it be remembered, not 
 of the destruction of the principle, but of the 
 decline of its power. This spiritual and influ- 
 ential truth cannot be too frequently nor too 
 strongly insisted upon, — that though faith, 
 and love, and hope, and zeal, and their kindred 
 graces, may greatly decline in their vigour, 
 fervour, and real growth ; yet that they may 
 entirely fail even in their greatest decay, or 
 severest trial, the word of God assures us can 
 never be. To believe the opposite of this, is 
 to deny their Divine origin, their spiritual and 
 immortal character, and to impeach the wisdom, 
 power, and faithfulness of God. Not a grain 
 of the true wheat can ever be lost in the sifting, 
 not a particle of the pure gold in the refining. 
 Let us now be understood as unfolding in this 
 chapter the declension of love in its vital 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 75 
 
 actings in the soul, and in its influential 
 character upon the outward, holy walk of a 
 child of God. 
 
 In looking into God's word, we find this to 
 have been the solemn charge which he brought 
 against his ancient professing people : " Thus 
 saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness 
 of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when 
 thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a 
 land that was not sown." Then follows the 
 charge of declension in their love : " Thus saith 
 the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers 
 found in me, that they are gone far from me, 
 and have walked after vanity, and are become 
 vain V "0 generation, see ye the word of 
 the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto 
 Israel ? a land of darkness ? Wherefore say 
 my people. We are lords; we will come no 
 more unto thee ? Can a maid forget her orna- 
 ments, or a bride her attire ? yet my people 
 have forgotten me days without number.^' 
 Jer. ii. 2, 5, 31. And to the same state, as 
 forming an evidence of approaching desola- 
 tions, our dear Lord refers, when he says, 
 "And because iniquity shall abound, the love 
 
76 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 of many shall wax cold." Matt. xxiv. 12. And 
 against the church of Ephesus the same charge 
 is thus preferred ; " Nevertheless I have some- 
 what against thee, because thou hast left thy 
 first love." Rev. ii. 4. The following may be 
 considered as forming some of the marked 
 characteristics of the decay and declension of 
 this principle. 
 
 When God becomes less an object of fervent 
 desire, holy delight, and frequent contemplation, 
 we may suspect a declension of Divine love in 
 the soul. Our spiritual views of God, and our 
 spiritual and constant delight in him, will be 
 materially affected by the state of our spiritual 
 love. If there is coldness in the affections, if 
 the mind grows earthly, carnal, and selfish, 
 dark and gloomy shadows will gather round 
 the character and the glory of God. He will 
 become less an object of supreme attachment, 
 unmingled delight, adoring contemplation, and 
 filial trust. The moment the supreme love of 
 Adam to God declined, — the instant that it 
 swerved from its proper and lawful centre, he 
 shunned converse with God, and sought to 
 embower himself from the presence of the 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. '^'^I 
 
 Divine glory. Conscious of a change in his 
 affections, — sensible of a divided heart, of sub- 
 jection to a rival interest, — and knowing that 
 God was no longer the object of his supreme 
 love, nor the fountain of his pure delight, nor 
 the blessed and only source of his bliss, — he 
 rushed from his presence as from an object 
 of terror, and sought concealment in Eden^s 
 bowers. That God whose presence was once 
 so glorious, whose converse was so holy, whose 
 voice was so sweet, became as a strange God to 
 the rebellious and conscious-stricken creature, 
 and, ' absence from thee is best,' was written 
 in dark letters upon his guilty brow. 
 
 i\.nd whence this difference ? Was God less 
 glorious in himself? was he less holy, less 
 lo\dng, less faithful, or less the fountain of 
 supreme bliss ? Far from it. God had un- 
 dergone no change. It is the perfection of a 
 perfect Being that he is unchangeable ; that 
 he can never act contrary to his own nature, 
 but must ever be, in all that he does, in 
 harmony with himself. The change was in 
 the creature. Adam had left his first love, 
 had transferred his affections to another and 
 
78 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 an inferior object ; and conscious that he had 
 ceased to love God, he would fain have veiled 
 himself from, his presence, and have excluded 
 himself from his communion. It is even so 
 in the experience of a believer, conscious of 
 declension in his love to God. There is a 
 hiding from his presence ; there are misty 
 views of his character, misinterpretations of 
 his dealings, and a lessening of holy desire for 
 him : but where the heart is right in its 
 affections, warm in its love, fixed in its desires, 
 God is glorious in his perfections, and commu- 
 nion with him the highest bliss on earth. 
 This was David's experience, — " God, thou 
 art my God ; early will I seek thee : my soul 
 thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee 
 in a dry and thirsty land where no water is ; 
 to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have 
 seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy 
 loving-kindness is better than life, my lips 
 shall praise thee/' Ps. Ixiii. 1 — 3. 
 
 Not only in the declension of Divine love in 
 the soul, does God become less an object of 
 adoring contemplation and desire, but there is 
 less filial approach to him. The sweet confi- 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 79 
 
 dence and simple trust of the child is lost ; 
 the soul no longer rushes into his bosom with 
 all the lowly yet fond yearnings of an adopted 
 son, but lingers at a distance ; or, if it attempts 
 to approach, does so with the trembling and 
 the restraint of a slave. The tender, loving, 
 child-like spirit, that marked the walk of the 
 believer in the days of his espousals, when no 
 object was so glorious to him as God, no being 
 so loved as his heavenly Father, no spot so 
 sacred as the throne of communion, no theme 
 so sweet as his free grace adoption, has in a 
 great degree departed ; and distrust, and legal 
 fears, and bondage of spirit, have succeeded 
 it. All these sad effects may be traced to the 
 declension of filial love in the soul of the 
 believer towards God. 
 
 Hard thoughts of God in his dispensations^ 
 may be regarded as another undeniable symp- 
 tom. The mark of a vigorous love to God is, 
 when the soul justifies God in all his wise and 
 gracious dealings with it ; rebels not, murmurs 
 not, repines not, but meekly and silently ac- 
 quiesces in the dispensation, be it never so 
 trying. Divine love in the heart, deepening 
 
80 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 and expanding towards that God from whence 
 it springs, will, in the hour of trial, exclaim, 
 " My God has smitten me, but he is my God 
 still, faithful and loving. My Father has 
 chastened me sore, but he is my Father still, 
 tender and kind. This trying dispensation 
 originated in love, it speaks with the voice of 
 love, it bears with it the message of love, and 
 is sent to draw my heart closer and yet closer 
 to the God of love, from whom it came.^^ 
 Dear reader, art thou one of the Lord's af- 
 flicted ones ? Happy art thou if this is the 
 holy and blessed result of his dealings with 
 thee. Happy if thou heardest the voice of love 
 in the rod, winning thy lone and sorrowful 
 heart to the God from whom it came. But 
 when love to God has declined, the reverse of 
 this is the state of a tried and afflicted believer. 
 When there is but little inclination for com- 
 munion with God, and the throne of grace is 
 sought as a duty rather than a j)rivilege, and, 
 consequently, hut little fellowship is experienced, 
 a stronger evidence we need not of a declension 
 of love in the soul. The more any object is to 
 us a source of sweet delight and contemplation, 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 81 
 
 the more strongly do we desire its presence, 
 and the more restless are we in its absence. 
 The friend we love we want constantly at our 
 side ; the spirit goes out in longings for com- 
 munion with him, — his presence sweetens, his 
 absence embitters, every other joy. Precisely 
 true is this of God. He who knows God, who, 
 with faith^s eye, has discovered some of his 
 glory, and by the power of the Spirit, has felt 
 something of his love, will not be at a loss to 
 distinguish between God^s sensible presence 
 and absence in the soul. Some professing 
 people walk so much without communion, 
 without fellowship, without daily filial and 
 close intercourse with God ; they are so im- 
 mersed in the cares, and so lost in the fogs 
 and mists of the world ; the fine edge of their 
 spiritual affection is so blunted, and their love 
 so frozen by contact with worldly influences 
 and occupations, — and no less so, with cold, 
 formal professors,— that the Sun of righteous- 
 ness may cease to shine upon their soul, and 
 they not know it ! God may cease to visit 
 them, and his absence not be felt ! He may 
 cease to speak, and the stillness of his voice not 
 
 6 
 
82 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 awaken an emotion of alarm ! Yea, a more 
 strange thing would happen to them, if the 
 Lord were suddenly to break in upon their 
 soul, with a visit of love, than were he to leave 
 them for weeks and months without any token 
 of his presence. Reader, art thou a professing 
 child of God ? Content not thyself to live 
 thus ; it is a poor, lifeless existence, unworthy 
 of thy profession, unworthy of Him whose name 
 thou dost bear, and unworthy of the glorious 
 destiny towards which thou art looking. Thus 
 may a believer test the character of his love : 
 he, in whose heart Divine affection deepens, 
 increases, and expands, finds God an object of 
 increasing delight and desire, and communion 
 Avith him, the most costly privilege on earth - 
 he cannot live in the neglect of constant, 
 secret, and close fellowship with his God, his 
 best and most faithful Friend. 
 
 W7ien there is a less tender walk with Godj 
 we may be at no loss to ascertain the state of 
 our love. What do we mean by a tender 
 walk ? When a believer walks in holy cir- 
 cumspection, in uprightness, integrity, close 
 vigilance, and praycrfulness, before God, he 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 83 
 
 then walks softly : " I shall go softly all my 
 years/^ Isa. xxxviii. 15. When with filial 
 tenderness, he trembles to offend his Father, 
 his God, his best Friend, — when he increasingly 
 delights himself in the precepts and command- 
 ments of the Lord, — when he would rather 
 pluck from himself the right eye, and sever 
 the right hand, than wilfully and knowdngly 
 offend God, and grieve the Spirit ; then his 
 walk is tender and soft and close with God. 
 And what constrains a believer to this glorious 
 life, this holy, hidden walk, but the love of 
 God shed abroad in his heart ? Imagine, then, 
 what dangers must throng the path, what 
 temptations must beset the soul, in whom the 
 precious and influential grace of love is in a 
 state of declension and decay ! 
 
 Need we add, when Christ is less glorious to 
 the eye, and less precious to the heart, Divine 
 love in the soul of a believer must be on the 
 wane ? it cannot be otherwise. Our views of 
 Jesus must be materially affected by the state 
 of our affections towards him. When there is 
 but little dealing with the atoning blood, lean- 
 ing upon the righteousness, drawing from the 
 
84 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 fulness, and bearing daily the cross of Christ, 
 the love of a believer waxeth cold. We would 
 judge the depth of a man^s Christianity, by 
 his reply to the question. "'What think ye 
 of Christ ? ' Is he lived to, is he lived upon ? 
 is his name your delight, his cross your boast, 
 his work your resting place V This will be 
 your blessed experience, if the pulse of Divine 
 love beats strong in your breast for Christ. 
 
 A decay of love to the saints of God, is a 
 strong evidence of a decay of love to God him- 
 self. If we love God with a sincere and deep- 
 ening affection, we must love his image where- 
 ever we find it. It is true, the picture may 
 be but an imperfect copy, the outline may be 
 but faintly drawn ; there may be shades we 
 cannot approve of ; yet, recognising in the 
 work the hand of the Spirit, and in the outline 
 some resemblance to Him whom our souls ad- 
 mire and love, we must feel a drawing out of 
 our holiest affections towards the object ; we 
 shall not pause before the surrender is made, 
 to inquire to what section of the church of 
 Christ he belongs, what name he bears, or 
 what the colour of his uniform ; but, discover- 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 85 
 
 ing the man of God, the meek and lowly 
 follower of Jesus_, our heart and our hand 
 are freely offered. what a passport to our 
 hearts is the image of Jesus in a child of 
 God ! Do we trace Christ in the principles 
 that guide him, in the motives that govern 
 him, in the spirit, in the very looks of the 
 man ? — we feel that we must take him to our 
 bosom for Jesus^ sake. 0, it marks the 
 decay of love to God in the soul, when the 
 heart beats faintly, and the eye looks coldly, 
 towards any dear saint of God, because he 
 belongs not to our party, and wears not our 
 badge ; when bigotry, narrow-minded selfish- 
 ness, warps the mind, congeals the current of 
 love, and almost unchristianises a believer. 
 The word of God is solemn and decisive on 
 this point : " If a man say, I love God, and 
 hateth his brother, he is a liar ; for he that 
 loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
 how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? 
 And this commandment have we from him, 
 that he who loveth God, love his brother 
 also.'' 1 John iv. 20, 21. "By this,'' says 
 Jesus, " shall all men know that ye are my 
 
86 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 disciples, if ye lave one another/^ If we love 
 not the visible resemblance, how can we love 
 the invisible Archetype ? 
 
 When love to God declines, with it will 
 decline an interest in the advancement and pros- 
 perity of his cause : the one invariably follows 
 the other. We do not say that outward zeal 
 may not continue long after a process of con- 
 cealed declension has advanced in the soul, and 
 secret duties have become neglected — this is 
 the lamentable case with many ; but a true, 
 spiritual, and lively interest in the increase of 
 Christ^s kingdom, in the diffusion of his truth 
 the deepening of holiness in the church, the 
 conversion of sinners, will invariably decline 
 with the declension of love to God. And when 
 we mark a member of a church maintaining 
 his external union, and yet hanging as a dead 
 and fruitless branch upon the vine, doing 
 nothing to advance the cause of God and 
 truth, withholding his money, his prayers, his 
 personal attendance on the means of grace, 
 and rather opposing than cheering on the 
 active portion of the body, we are ready to ask, 
 " how dwelleth the love of God in him ? '' 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 87 
 
 The declension of love may be traced to 
 many causes : we can enumerate but a few ; let 
 the follo\^ing be seriously pondered. Worldly 
 encroachment is a fruitful cause ; no two affec- 
 tions can be more opposite and antagonist 
 than love to God and love to the world : it is 
 impossible that they can both exist with equal 
 force in the same breast ; the one or the other 
 must be supreme, — they cannot occupy the 
 same throne. If a Divine affection is regent, 
 then the world is excluded ; but if an earthly 
 affection, a grovelling and increasing love to 
 the world governs — God is shut out : the one 
 must give place to the other. Love to God 
 will expel love to the world ; love to the world 
 will deaden the souFs love to God. " No 
 man can serve two masters :" it is impossible 
 to love God and the world, to serve him and 
 mammon. Here is a most fertile cause of 
 declension in Divine love ; guard against it as 
 you would fortify yourself against your greatest 
 foe. It is a vortex that has engulfed millions 
 of souls; multitudes of professing Christians 
 have been drawn into its eddy, and have gone 
 down into its gulf. This enemy of your soul 
 
88 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 will steal upon you by silent and insidious 
 encroacliinent. It has its disguises many. It 
 will present itself masked in a proper regard 
 for business, in a diligence in lawful callings, 
 a prudent yielding to domestic claims, and 
 will even quote scriptural precept and example, 
 and assume the form of an angel of light ; but 
 suspect it, guard against it. Remember what 
 is recorded by the apostle of a primitive pro- 
 fessor : "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved 
 this present world.'' Be not a modern Demas ; 
 " Love not the world, neither the things 
 that are in the world ; if any man love the 
 world, the love of the Father is not in him.^' 
 No Christian man can maintain his spirituality 
 unimpaired, his love uninjured, his robe un- 
 spotted, his walk irreproachable, who secretly 
 admits the world to his heart. How can he 
 exemplify the life of a pilgrim and a sojourner ; 
 how can his heart rise in a constant flame of 
 love to God ; what attraction can the throne of 
 grace have, what zest in spiritual duties, what 
 delight in the communion of saints, while his 
 heart goes out after covetousness, and worldly 
 ambition, love of place, and human applause are 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 89 
 
 the rival passions of his soul ? Let it, then, 
 be solemnly remembered, that an inordinate, 
 uncrucilied attachment to the world, must be 
 parted with, if the precious grace of love to 
 God is to enthrone itself in the affections of 
 the believer. 
 
 An idolatrous and unsanctified attachment to 
 the creature, has again and again crucified love 
 to Christ in the heart. Upon the same prin- 
 ciple that no man can love the world and God 
 with a like supreme and kindred affection, so 
 no man can give to Christ and the creature 
 the same intensity of regard. And yet, how 
 often has the creature stolen the heart from 
 its lawful Sovereign ! That heart that was once 
 so simply and so supremely the Lord's, — those 
 affections that clung to him with such purity 
 and power of grasp, have now been transferred 
 to another and inferior object : the piece of 
 clay that God had given but to deepen the 
 obligation and heighten the soul's love to him- 
 self, has been moulded into an idol, before 
 which the heart pours its daily incense : the 
 flower that he has caused to spring forth, but 
 to endear his own beauty, and make his own 
 
90 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 name more fragrant, has supplanted tlie ' Rose 
 of Sharon^ in the bosom. Oh! is it thus 
 that we abuse our mercies ? is it thus that we 
 convert our blessings into poisons ? that we 
 allow the things that were sent to endear the 
 heart of our God, and to make the cross, 
 through which they came, more precious, to 
 allure our affections from their holy and 
 blessed centre ? Fools that we are, to love the 
 creature more than the Creator! Bear reader, 
 why has God been disciplining thee as, it may 
 be, he has ? why has he removed thine idols, 
 crumbled into dust thy piece of clay, and 
 blown witheringly upon thy beauteous flower ? 
 — why ? because he hateth idolatry ; and 
 idolatry is essentially the same, whether it be 
 offered to a lifeless, shapeless stock, or to a 
 spirit of intellect and beauty. And what 
 speaks his voice in every stream that he dries, 
 in every plant that he blows upon, and in 
 every disappointment he writes upon the 
 creature ? — " My son, give me thine heart. I 
 want thy love, thy pure and supreme affection; 
 I want to be the one and only object of thy 
 delight. I gave my Son for thee — his life for 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 91 
 
 thine ; I sent my Spirit to quicken, to renew, 
 to seal, and to possess thee for myself : all this 
 I did, that I might have thine heart. To possess 
 myself of this, I have smitten thy gourds, 
 removed thine idols, broken thine earthly de- 
 pendences, and have sought to detach thy 
 affections from the creature, that they may rise, 
 undivided and unfettered, and entwine around 
 one who loves thee with an undying love.^^ 
 
 Again ; interpreting God's covenant dealings 
 in the light of judgments rather than the fruits 
 of love, will tend greatly to deaden the soul's 
 affections towards God. Hard and harsh 
 thoughts of God, will be the effect of wrong in- 
 terpretations of his dealings : if for one moment 
 we remove the eye from off the heart of God 
 in the hour and depth of our trial, we are pre- 
 pared to give heed to every dark suggestion of 
 the adversary; that moment we look at the dis- 
 pensation with a different mind, and to God 
 with an altered affection; we view the chastise- 
 ment as the effect of displeasure, and the 
 covenant God that sent it, as unkind, unloving, 
 and severe. But let faith's eagle-eye pierce 
 the clouds and darkness that surround the 
 
92 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 throne, and behold the heart of God as still love^ 
 all love, and nothing but love, to his afflicted, 
 bereaved, and sorrow-stricken child, and in a 
 moment every murmur will be hushed, every 
 rebellious feeling will be still, and every unkind 
 thought will lay in the dust ; and, '' He hath 
 done all things well, — in love and faithfulness 
 hath he afflicted me,'^ will be the only sounds 
 uttered by the lips. If, then, beloved, you 
 would have your heart always fixed on God, 
 its affections flowing in one unbroken current 
 towards him, interpret every dispensation that 
 he sends in the light of his love ; never suffer 
 yourself to be betrayed into the belief, that 
 any other feeling prompts the discipline; give 
 not place to the suggestion for one moment, — 
 banish it from the threshold of your mind, the 
 moment it seeks an entrance. And let this 
 be the reflection that hushes and soothes you to 
 repose, even as an infant upon its mother's 
 breast : '' My God is love ! my Father is un- 
 changeable tenderness and truth ! he hath done 
 it, and it is well done." 
 
 Let us now turn to the consideration of the 
 revival of this waning grace in the child of 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 93 
 
 God ; but before any especial means of revival 
 are suggested or adopted, let the believer seek 
 to know the exact state of his love to God. A 
 knowledge of himself, is the first step in the 
 return of every soul to God. In conversion, it 
 was self-knowledge — a knowledge of ourselves 
 as utterly lost — that led us to Jesus ; thus did 
 the Eternal Spirit teach, and thus ho led us to 
 the great and finished work of the Son of God. 
 Before, then, you fall upon any means of re- 
 vival, ascertain the exact state of your love, 
 and what has caused its declension; shrink 
 not from the examination, — turn not from the 
 discovery. And should the humiliating truth 
 force itself upon you, — "I am not as I once 
 was; my soul has lost ground, — my spiritu- 
 ality of mind lias decayed; — I have lost the 
 fervour of my first love — have slackened in the 
 heavenly race; — Jesus is not as he once was, 
 the joy of my day, the song of my night ; — 
 and my walk with God is no longer so tender, 
 loving, and filial, as it was,^^ — then honestly 
 and humbly confess it before God. To be 
 humbled as we should be, we must know our- 
 selves ; there must be no disguising of our 
 
94 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 true condition from ourselves,, nor from God ; 
 there must be no framing of excuses for our 
 declensions : the wound must be probed, the 
 disease must be known, and its most aggra- 
 vated symptoms brought to view. Ascertain, 
 then, the true state of your affection towards 
 God; bring your love to him, to the touch- 
 stone of truth; see how far it has declined, 
 and thus you will be prepared for the second 
 step in the work of revival, which is, to 
 
 Trace out and to crucify the cause of your 
 declension in love. Where love declines, there 
 must be a cause ; and when ascertained, it 
 must be immediately removed. Love to God 
 is a tender flower ; it is a sensitive plant, soon 
 and easily crushed ; perpetual vigilance is 
 needed to preserve it in a healthy, growing 
 state. The world^s heat will wither it, the 
 coldness of formal profession will often nip it : 
 a thousand influences, all foreign to its natm-e 
 and hostile to its growth, are leagued against 
 it ; the soil in which it is placed, is not genial 
 to it. " In the flesh there dwelleth no good 
 thing '" whatever of holiness is in the believer, 
 whatever breathing after Divine conformity. 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 95 
 
 whatever soaring of the affections towards God, 
 is from God himself, and is there as the result 
 of sovereign grace. *^That which is born of 
 the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of 
 the Spirit is spirit.^^ What sleepless vigilance, 
 then, and what perpetual culture are needed, 
 to preserve the bloom and the fragrance, and 
 to nourish the growth of this celestial plant ! 
 Search out and remove the cause of the de- 
 clension and decay of this precious grace of 
 the Spirit ; rest not until it is discovered and 
 brought to light : should it prove to be the 
 worlds come out from it, and be ye separate, 
 and touch not the unclean thing; or the power 
 of indwelling siii, seek its immediate crucifixion 
 by the cross of Jesus. Does the creature steal 
 thy heart from Christ, and deaden thy love to 
 God ? — resign it at God's bidding ; he asks 
 the surrender of thine heart, and has promised 
 to be better to thee than all creature love. 
 All the tenderness, the fond affection, the acute 
 sympathy, the true fidelity, that thou ever didst 
 find or enjoy in the creature, dwells in God, thy 
 covenant God and Father, in an infinite degree. 
 He makes the creature all it is to thee : that 
 
96 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 fond smile which thy fellow-believer beamed 
 upon thee, was but a ray from his countenance ; 
 that expression of love was but a drop from his 
 heart ; that tenderness and sympathy was a part 
 of his nature. Then, possessing God in Christ, 
 you can desire no more, — you can have no 
 more : if he asks the surrender of the creature, 
 cheerfully resign it ; and let God be all in all 
 to thee. This suggests a second direction : — 
 Draw largely from the fount of love in God. 
 All love to God in the soul, is the result of his 
 love to us ; it is begotten in the heart by his 
 Spirit, — " We love him, because he first loved 
 us -'^ he took the first step, and made the first 
 advance, — '' He first loved us.^^ heart-melt- 
 ing truth ! The love of God to us when yet 
 we were sinners, who can unfold it ? what 
 mortal tongue can describe it ? Before we 
 had any being, and when we were enemies, he 
 sent his Son to die for us ; and when we were 
 far ofi" by wicked works, he sent his Spirit to 
 bring us to him in the cloudy and dark day. 
 All his dealings with us since then — his 
 patience, restoring mercies, tender, loving, 
 faithful care, yea, the very strokes of his rod, 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 97 
 
 have but unfolded the depths of his love 
 towards his people : this is the love wc desire 
 you to be filled with. " The Lord direct your 
 hearts into the love of God.^' Draw largely 
 from this river ; why should you deny your- 
 selves ? There is enough love in God to over- 
 flow the hearts of all his saints through all 
 eternity ; then why not be filled ? " The Lord 
 direct your hearts into the love of God ;^^ 
 stand not upon the brink of the fountain, 
 linger not upon the margin of this river, — 
 enter into it — plunge into it ; it is for thee_, — 
 poor, worthless, unworthy, vile, as thou feelest 
 thyself to be, — this river of love is yet for 
 thee ! Seek to be filled with it, that ye may 
 know the love of Christ which passeth know- 
 ledge, and that your heart in return may 
 ascend in a flame of love to God. 
 
 Deal much and closely with a crucified Sa- 
 viour. Here is the grand secret of a constant 
 ascending of the afi'ections to God. If thou 
 dost find it difficult to comprehend the love of 
 God towards thee, read it in the cross of his 
 dear Son. " In this was manifested the love 
 of God towards us, because that God sent his 
 
 H 
 
98 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 only-begotten Son into the world, that we 
 might live through him. Herein is love, not 
 that we loved God, but that he loved us, and 
 sent his Son to be the propitiation for our 
 sins.^^ 1 John iv. 9, 10. Dwell upon this 
 amazing fact ; drink into this precious truth • 
 muse upon it, ponder it, search into it, pray 
 over it, until your heart is melted down, and 
 broken, and overwhelmed with God^s wondrous 
 love to you, in the gift of Jesus. how will 
 this rekindle the flame that is ready to die in 
 your bosom ! how it will draw you up in a 
 holy and unreserved surrender of body, soul, 
 and spirit ! Forget not, then, to deal much 
 with Jesus. Whenever thou detectest a waning 
 of love, a reluctance to take up the daily cross, 
 a shrinking from the precept, go immediately 
 to Calvary ; go simply and directly to Jesus ; 
 get thy heart warmed with ardent love by con- 
 templating him upon the cross, and soon will 
 the frosts that gather round it melt away, the 
 congealed current shall begin to flow, and the 
 " chariots of Amminadib" shall bear thy soul 
 away to commune and fellowship with God. 
 Do not fail to honour the Holy Spirit in this 
 
DECLENSION IN LOVE. 99 
 
 great work of revival. The work is all his; 
 beware of taking it out of his hands. The 
 means we have suggested for the revival of 
 this waning grace of love, can only be rendered 
 eflfectual as the Spirit worketh in you, and 
 worketh with you. Pray much for his anoint- 
 ings ; go to him as the Glorifier of Christ, as 
 the Comforter, the Sealer, the Witness, the 
 Earnest of his people : it is he that will apply 
 the atoning blood, — it is he that will revive 
 thy drooping graces, — it is he that will fan to a 
 flame thy waning love, by unfolding the cross, 
 and dii'ecting your heart into the love of God. 
 Take not your eye off the love of the Spirit ; 
 his love is equal with the Father's and the 
 Son's love. Honour him in his love, let it 
 encourage thee to draw largely from his in- 
 fluences, and to be ' filled with the Spirit.' 
 
 Lastly : remembei^ that though your love has 
 waxed cold, the love of thy God and Father 
 towards thee has undergone no diminution .- 
 not the shadow of a change has it known. 
 Although he has hated thy declension, has 
 rebuked thy wandering, yet his love he has 
 not withdrawn from thee. What an encourage- 
 
100 DECLENSION IN LOVE. 
 
 ment to return to him again ! Not one 
 moment has God turned his back upon thee, 
 though thou hast turned thy back upon him 
 times without number : his face has always 
 been towards thee; and it would have shone 
 upon thee with all its melting power, but for 
 the clouds which thine own waywardness and 
 sinfulness have caused to obscure and hide 
 from thee its blessed light. Retrace thy steps 
 and return again to God. Though thou hast 
 been a poor wanderer and hast left thy first 
 love, — though thy affections have strayed from 
 the Lord, and thy heart has gone after other 
 lovers, still God is gracious and ready to 
 pardon ; he will welcome thee back again for 
 the sake of Jesus, his beloved Son in whom he 
 is well pleased, for this is his own blessed 
 declaration, — " If his children forsake my law, 
 and walk not in my judgments ; if they break 
 my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; 
 then will I visit their transgressions with a 
 rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Never- 
 theless my loving kindness will I not utterly 
 take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to 
 fail.'' Psalm Ixxxix. 30—33. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 "Lord, increase our faith." — Luke xrii. 5. 
 
 Each grace of the Spirit must be considered 
 by the believer as forming an essential element 
 of his Christian character, and as such, incon- 
 ceivably costly and precious. He may not be 
 sensible of possessing them all in the same 
 degree : for as we only know the extent of 
 our mental or physical powers, as circumstances 
 develope them, so a believer knows not what 
 graces of the Spirit he may possess, until the 
 dealings of a covenant God call them into holy 
 and active exercise. Thus do infinite wisdom 
 and goodness unfold themselves in all the 
 transactions of God with his people. Not 
 arbitrarily, nor w^antonly, nor unnecessarily, 
 does the heavenly Father deal with his child ; 
 
102 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 — every stroke of the rod is but the muffled 
 voice of love ; every billow bears on its bosom, 
 and every tempest on its wing, some new and 
 rich blessing from the better land. that we 
 should ever breathe a sigh, or utter a murmur 
 at God's covenant dealings, or for one moment 
 mistake their holy and wise design and 
 tendency ! 
 
 If, then, every grace of the Spirit be thus 
 indispensable and costly, the declension and 
 decay of that grace in the believer must attract 
 the especial notice of God, and involve solemn 
 and serious consequences. Any part of God's 
 great and gracious work of grace in the soul 
 that is suffered to decay, seems like a reflection 
 upon God himself; there is a dishonouring of 
 -him in it to a degree of which the believer is 
 but little aware. What, next to his Son, is 
 most glorious, and costly, and precious in 
 God's sight ? Is it the world ? — nay, he sees 
 no glory in that. Is it the heavens ? — nay, 
 they are not clean in his sight, and he chargeth 
 his angels with folly : what is it, then ? — it is 
 his kingdom in his saints, his renewing, adopt- 
 ing, sanctifying grace in his people. Next to 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 103 
 
 his Son, nothing is so glorious and costly ; he 
 sees compared with this no real beauty in 
 aught besides ; here his profoundest thoughts 
 dwells here his fondest love rests ; to commence, 
 carry forward, and perfect this, all his arrange- 
 ments in the vast provinces of nature, provi- 
 dence, and grace, are rendered subservient. 
 Let us imagine, then, what must be the mind 
 of God in view of a decaying, declining state 
 of grace in the soul, and what the peculiar 
 method which he adopts to resuscitate and re- 
 cover it. Having considered personal declen- 
 sion in two of its stages, we have arrived at 
 another equally solemn and important, — the 
 declension of the grace of faith. "\Ye shall 
 adopt the same plan in discussing it ; and pro- 
 ceed, in the outset, to unfold the scriptural 
 nature and properties of this Christian grace. 
 
 Few subjects within the vast range of 
 Christian theology have been more frequently 
 discussed, and yet, perhaps, so little under- 
 stood, as that of faith. Nor is it to be won- 
 dered at, that men who approach its investiga- 
 tion without strict regard to the simple 
 teaching of God^s word, and entire dependence 
 
104 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 upon the illumination of the Spirit, should 
 find difficulty and even obscurity investing a 
 subject so purely spiritual. Nor is Satan 
 slothful in his attempts to obscure the minds 
 of men in their researches into this great sub- 
 ject. Faith is that grace against which the 
 attacks of Satan are more directly and con- 
 stantly directed than almost any other. Not 
 ignorant of its spiritual nature and essential 
 importance ; and knowing the great glory its 
 exercise brings to God, this subtle and sleep- 
 less foe of the believer employs every art to 
 mystify its simplicity, and neutralise its efforts. 
 It is not surprising, then, that opinions upon 
 a subject so important should often be conflict- 
 ing, and that views of its nature should often 
 be obscure. 
 
 And yet scriptural and spiritual views of 
 faith form the very basis of experimental god- 
 liness. Faith, being the starting point of ex- 
 perimental religion, an error here must prove 
 fatal to every succeeding step. It is of no real 
 moment how beautiful that religious structure 
 is, or how perfect its symmetry, and magni- 
 ficent its archings, and lofty its turrets, if it is 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 105 
 
 based upon an unsound faith. No system of 
 religion, no doctrinal creed, no profession of 
 Christianity, if it cannot bear the test of God's 
 word, and is not found to answer that test, is 
 of any real value. All mere religion of the 
 intellect, and of the imagination, and of taste, 
 — and these only are popular with the world — 
 resting upon an unscriptural and defective 
 faith, are but splendid chimeras ; they dis- 
 appoint in periods of sorrow, they deceive in 
 the houi' of death, and they involve the soul 
 in interminable woe in the world to come. It 
 is, then, of the most solemn moment, that, in 
 professing religion, a man should see that he 
 starts with true faith. If a merchant in balanc- 
 ing his books, commences with an error in his 
 calculations, is it surprising that that error 
 should extend throughout his account, and 
 bring him to a wrong conclusion ? Or, if a 
 traveller journeying towards his home, selects 
 from the many roads that branch out before 
 him, a wrong one, would it be any marvel if 
 he should never arrive at it ? Apply these 
 simple illustrations to the subject before us. 
 Man has a long and a solemn account to settle 
 
106 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 with God ; he is a debtor to a large amount ; 
 he owes God a perfect obedience to his law, and 
 has "nothing to pay." Yet another character : 
 he is a traveller to eternity, and every step is 
 conducting him towards the close of a brief 
 but responsible probation. Now, if in his 
 religion he commences with unsound, un- 
 warrantable, unscriptural views of any essential 
 doctrine of salvation, the error with which he 
 commenced must affect his entire religion ; 
 and unless his steps are retraced, and the error 
 discovered and corrected, the end must prove 
 fatal to his eternal happiness. He who pens 
 this page feels it of the most solemn import- 
 ance, that this chapter should present a scrip- 
 tural view of the nature, properties, and 
 tendency of this essential part of the great 
 plan of salvation. May the Spirit now be our 
 teacher, and the word of God our text-book ! 
 
 It may be proper to state, that the authors 
 of systems of divinity have generally classified 
 the subject of faith. They speak of speculative 
 faith, — of historical faith, — practical faith, — 
 saving faith, — realising faith. But as these 
 distinctions serve only to mystify the subject 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 107 
 
 and perplex the mind_, and frequently lead to 
 great errors, we set them aside, preferring and 
 adopting the simple nomenclature of the in- 
 spired word, which can never perplex or mis- 
 lead the humble disciple of Jesus. 
 
 The Holy Ghost speaks of but "one faith," 
 Eph. iv. 5, and that faith the "faith of God^s 
 elect." Tit. i. 1. And still the question recurs. 
 What is faith ? Briefly and simply, it is that 
 act of the understanding and the heart by 
 which a repenting sinner — a sinner under the 
 mighty operation of the Eternal Spirit, con- 
 vincing him of sin, and working in him true 
 contrition — closes in with God's free proclama- 
 tion of pardon through a crucified Saviour : 
 he believes, he receives, he welcomes the pro- 
 mise of eternal life through the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thus " sets to his seal that God is 
 true." We speak of the understanding as in- 
 cluded in this act, because the advocates of 
 evangelical truth have been accused of ad- 
 vancing doctrines which render nugatory all 
 mental operation, and which make religion to 
 consist in mere feeling. This witness is not 
 true. We maintain that every faculty of the 
 
108 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 human mind is brought out in its full power, in 
 the great work of heart-religion ; that the Holy 
 Spirit, working repentance and faith in a man, 
 does more to develope the intellectual faculties, 
 than all human teaching beside. Have we 
 not seen individuals, who, before conversion, 
 gave no evidence of any than the most ordi- 
 nary powers of mind, become, through the 
 illumination of the Spirit by the revealed word, 
 strong and commanding in intellect ! Powers 
 of reasoning, hitherto hidden, were developed ; 
 and fountains of thought, hitherto sealed up^ 
 were opened ; old things passed away, and all 
 things became new. We repeat, then, it is 
 the tendency of true religion to develope and 
 strengthen the human intellect, and to give 
 intensity and acuteness to all its faculties. 
 No mind is so powerful as a renewed and 
 sanctified mind. 
 
 Faith, then, has to do with the understand- 
 ing and the heart. A man must know his lost 
 and ruined condition before he will accept of 
 Christ ; and how can he kaow this, without a 
 spiritually-enlightened mind ? What a sur- 
 prising change now passes over the man ! He 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 109 
 
 is brought, by the mighty power of the Holy 
 Ghost, to a knowledge of himself ; one beam 
 of light, one touch of the Spirit, has altered all 
 his views of himself, has placed him in a new 
 aspect ; all his thoughts, his affections, his 
 desires, are diverted into another and an 
 opposite channel ; his fond views of his own 
 righteousness have fled like a dream ; his high 
 thoughts are humbled, his lofty looks are 
 brought low, and, as a broken-hearted sinner, 
 he takes his place in the dust before God. 
 wondrous, blessed change ! to see the 
 Pharisee take the place, and to hear him utter 
 the cry, of the Publican, — " God be merciful 
 to me a sinner ! " — to hear him exclaim, " I 
 am lost, self-ruined, deserving eternal wrath ; 
 and of sinners, the vilest and the chief ! " 
 And now the work and exercise of faith com- 
 mences ; the same blessed Spirit that con- 
 vinced of sin, presents to the soul a Saviour 
 crucified for the lost, — unfolds a salvation full 
 and free for the most worthless, — reveals a 
 fountain that ^^ cleanses from all sin,^^ and 
 holds up to view a righteousness that "justifies 
 from all things." And all that he sets the 
 
110 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 poor convinced sinner upon doing to avail 
 himself of this, is simply to believe. To the 
 momentous question, " What shall I do to be 
 saved ? '^ this is the only reply, — " Believe in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
 saved." The anxious soul eagerly exclaims, — 
 " Have I then nothing to do but to believe ? — 
 have I no great work to accomplish ? — no 
 price to bring, no vi^orthiness to plead ? — may 
 I come just as I am, without merit, without 
 self-preparation, without money, with all my 
 vileness and nothingness ? " Still the reply 
 is, " Only beheve :'' "Then, Lord, 1 do beheve,'' 
 exclaims the soul in a transport of joy, " help 
 thou my unbelief ! '^ This, reader, is faith ; 
 faith, that wondrous grace, that mighty act of 
 which you have heard so much, upon which 
 so many volumes have been written, and so 
 many sermons have been preached ; it is the 
 simple rolling of a wounded, bleeding heart, 
 upon a wounded, bleeding Saviour ; it is the 
 simple reception of the amazing truth, that 
 Jesus died for the ungodly — died for sinners _ 
 died for the poor, the vile, the bankrupt ; that 
 he invites and welcomes to his bosom all poor. 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. Ill 
 
 convinced, heavy-laden sinners. The heart, 
 believing this wondrous announcement, going 
 out of all other dependences and resting only 
 in this, — receiving it, welcoming it, rejoicing 
 in it, in a moment, all, all is peace. Forget 
 not then, reader, the simple definition of faith, 
 — it is but to believe with all the heart that 
 Jesus died for sinners ; and the full belief of 
 this one fact will bring peace to the most 
 anxious and sin-troubled soul. 
 
 " Having begun in the Spirit," the believer 
 is not to be " made perfect in the flesh ; " 
 having commenced his Divine life in faith, in 
 faith he is to walk every step of his journey 
 homewards. The entire spiritual life of a 
 child of God is a life of faith, — God has so 
 ordained it ; and to bring him into the full 
 and blessed experience of it, is the end of all 
 his parental dealings with him. The moment 
 a poor sinner has touched the hem of Christ^s 
 garment, feeble though this act of faith be, 
 it is yet the commencement of this high and 
 holy life ; even from that moment, the believ- 
 ing soul professes to have done with a life of 
 sense — with second causes, and to have entered 
 
112 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 upon a glorious life of faith on Christ. It is 
 no forced application to him of the apostle^s 
 declaration : "I am crucified with Christ ; 
 nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth 
 in me ; and the life which I now live in the 
 flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." 
 Let us briefly unfold some peculiar points of 
 blessedness in this life. 
 
 There is its security : a believer stands by 
 faith, — "Thou standest by faith.'' Rom. xi. 
 20. Why is it that thou hast been kept to 
 the present moment ? Thou hast seen many 
 a tall cedar bowed to the earth ; many who 
 did appear to ^ run well/ but who, in the hour 
 of temptation, when worldly power, and wealth, 
 and distinction increased, made shipwreck of 
 their fancied faith, and fell into divers lusts 
 and snares which drowned their souls. Why 
 hast tliou been kept ? thy vessel weathering 
 the storm, thy feet yet upon the rock ? Because 
 ' thou standest by faith,' — the ' faith of God's 
 elect' has kept thee ; and though thou art 
 deeply conscious of many and great departures, 
 — sins, it may be, which if known to an un- 
 godly, ignorant world, would bring upon thee 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 113 
 
 the laugh of scorn, — yet thou hast never been 
 left quite to unhinge thy soul from Jesus ; 
 thou hast discovered thy sins, and mourned 
 over, and confessed them, and sought their 
 forgiveness through a fresh application of the 
 atoning blood, — and still, ^thou standest by 
 faith/ Ah ! if faith had not kept thee, where 
 wouldst thou now have been ? where would 
 that temptation have driven thee ? into what 
 consequences would that sin have involved 
 thee ? But 0, that brokenness, that contrition, 
 that mourning, that going afresh to the open 
 fountain, doth prove that there was that in 
 thee which would not let thee quite depart. 
 The cedar may have been bowed to the earth, 
 but it has risen again ; the vessel may have 
 been tossed in the tempest, and even may have 
 been worsted by the storm, yet it hath found 
 its port : the ' faith of God^s elect' has kept 
 thee. "Be not high-minded, but fear." Thine 
 own vigilance, and power, and wisdom, had 
 been but poor safeguards, but for the indwell- 
 ing of that faith that can never die. 
 
 There is, too, the peculiar blessedness of the 
 life of faith : " We walk by faith, not by 
 I 
 
114 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 sight." 2 Cor. v. 7. This walk of faith takes 
 in all the minute circumstances of every day^s 
 history ; a walking every step by faith ; a look- 
 ing above trials^ above necessities, above per- 
 plexities, above improbabilities and impossibili- 
 ties, above all second causes ; and, in the face 
 of difficulties and discouragements, going for- 
 ward, leaning upon God. If the Lord were to 
 roll the Red Sea before us, and marshal the 
 Egyptians behind us, and thus, hemming us in 
 on every side, should yet bid us advance, it 
 would be the duty and the privilege of faith 
 instantly to obey, — believing, that, ere our feet 
 touched the water, God, in our extremity, 
 would divide the sea, and take us dry-shod 
 over it. This is the only holy and happy life 
 of a believer ; if he for a moment leaves this 
 path, and attempts to walk by sight, difficulties 
 will throng around him, troubles will multiply, 
 the smallest trials will become heavy crosses, 
 temptations to depart from the simple and up- 
 right walk will increase in number and power, 
 the heart will sicken at disappointment, the 
 Spirit will be grieved, and God will be dis- 
 honoured. Let this precious truth ever be 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 115 
 
 before the mind, — " We walk by faith, not by 
 sight/' 
 
 Faith is an essential part of the spiritual 
 armour : " Above all, taking the shield of faith, 
 wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery 
 darts of the wicked/' Eph. vi. 16. Faith is 
 also spoken of as the believer's breast-plate : 
 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, 
 putting on the breast-plate of faith.'' 1 Thess. 
 V. 8. There is not a moment, even the holiest, 
 but we are exposed to the ' fiery darts' of the 
 adversary. The onset, too, is often at a mo- 
 ment when we least suspect its approach ; 
 seasons of peculiar nearness to God, of hallowed 
 enjoyment, — " for we wi'estle not against flesh 
 and blood, but against principalities, against 
 powers, against the rulers of the darkness of 
 this world, against spiritual wickedness in 
 high places," [marg. "heavenly places,) — are 
 frequently selected as the occasion of attack. 
 But, clad in this armour, — the shield and 
 the breast-plate of faith, — no weapon formed 
 against us shall prosper ; the ^ fiery dart' shall 
 be quenched, and the enemy shall be put to 
 flight. Faith in a crucified, risen, conquering, 
 
116 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 exalted Saviour, — faith in a present and ever- 
 living Head, — faith eyeing future glory, the 
 crown glittering, and the palm waving in its 
 view, is the faith that overcomes and triumphs. 
 Faith dealing constantly and simply with 
 Jesus, — flying to his atoning blood, drawing 
 from his fulness, and at all times and under 
 all circumstances looking unto him, will ever 
 bring a conflicting soul ofi" more than con- 
 queror : " This is the victory that overcometh 
 the world, even our faith. Who is he that 
 overcometh the world, but he that believeth 
 that Jesus is the Son of God ? ^' 
 
 Faith is a purifying grace : " Purifying their 
 hearts by faith," Acts xv. 9 ; " Sanctified by 
 faith that is in me," Acts xxvi. 18. It is a 
 principle holy in its nature and tendency ; he 
 is most holy who has most faith ; he who has 
 least faith is most exposed to the assaults of 
 his inbred corruptions. If there is in any 
 child of God a desire for Divine conformity, 
 for more of the spirit of Christ, more weaned- 
 ness, and crucifixion, and daily dying, this 
 should be his ceaseless prayer, — " Lord, in- 
 crease my faith." Faith in Jesus checks the 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 117 
 
 power of sin, slays the hidden corruption, and 
 enables the believer to " endure as seeing him 
 who is invisible/^ 
 
 This, too, is the grace that smooths the 
 rugged way, lightens the daily burthen, 
 ''glorifies God in the fire;" is ''the sub- 
 stance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
 things not seen ; ^^ rests upon God's word 
 because he has said it; and keeps the soul, 
 through all its conflicts and trials, safe unto 
 eternal glory : " Kept by the power of God, 
 through faith, unto salvation/' But we have 
 mainly to do with the declension of this precious 
 grace. 
 
 We have already remarked, that there is 
 nothing essentially omnipotent in any single 
 grace of the Spirit ; to suppose this, would be 
 to deify that grace : that, although regeneration 
 is a spiritual work, and all the graces implanted 
 in the soul are the product of the Spirit, and 
 must necessarily be in their nature spiritual 
 and indestructible, yet they may so decline in 
 their power, become so enfeebled and impaired 
 in their vigour and tendency, as to be classed 
 among the ^ things that are ready to die.' It 
 
118 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 is pre-eminently so with faith ; perhaps there 
 is no part of the Spirit's work more constantly 
 and severely assailed, and consequently more 
 exposed to declension, than this. Shall we 
 look at the examples in God's word ? We cite 
 the case of Abraham, the father of the faithful ; 
 beholding him, at God's command, binding 
 his son upon the altar, and raising the knife 
 for the sacrifice, we unhesitatingly exclaim, — 
 ^ Surely never was faith like this ! Here is 
 faith of a giant character ; faith, whose sinews 
 no trial can ever relax, whose lustre no tempt- 
 ation can ever dim.' And yet, tracing the 
 history of the patriarch still further, we find 
 that very giant faith now trembling, and yield- 
 ing under a trial far less acute and severe ; he, 
 who could surrender the life of his promised 
 son — that son, through whose lineal descent 
 Jesus was to come — into the hands of God, 
 could not entrust that same God with his own. 
 We look at Job : in the commencement of his 
 deep trial we find him justifying God; mes- 
 senger follows messenger with tidings of yet 
 deeper woe, but not a murmur is breathed; 
 and as the cup, now full to the brim, is placed 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 119 
 
 to his lips, how sweetly sounds the voice of 
 holy resignation, — "The Lord gave, and the 
 Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
 of theLord/^ "In all this did not Job sin with 
 his lips:" and yet the very faith, which thus 
 bowed in meekness to the rod, so declined, as 
 to lead him to curse the day of his birth ! We 
 see David, whose faith could at one time lead 
 him out to battle with Goliath, now fleeing 
 from a shadow, and exclaiming, — " I shall one 
 day perish by the hand of Saul ! " And mark 
 how the energy of Peter's faith declined, who 
 at one period could walk boldly upon the 
 tempestuous sea, and yet at another could 
 deny his Lord, panic-struck at the voice of a 
 little maid. ^\Tio will say that the faith of 
 the holiest man of God may not at one time 
 greatly and sadly decline ? 
 
 But we need not travel out of ourselves for 
 the evidence and the illustration of the afi'ect- 
 ing truth we are upon : let every believer turn 
 in upon himself. What, reader, is the real 
 state of your faith ? is it as lively, vigorous, 
 and active, as it was when you first believed ? 
 Has it undergone no declension? Is the Object 
 
120 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 of faith as glorious in your eye as lie then was? 
 Are you not now looking at second causes in 
 God^s dealings with you, instead of lifting 
 thine eye and fixing it on him alone ? Wh'dt 
 is your faith in prayer ? — do you come boldly 
 to the throne of grace, asking, nothing doubt- 
 ing? Do you take all your trials, your wants, 
 your infirmities, to God ? What is your reali- 
 sation of eternal things, — is faith here in con- 
 stant, holy exercise ? Art thou living as a 
 pilgrim and a sojourner, " choosing rather to 
 sufi'er affliction with the people of God,^^ than 
 float along on the summer-sea of this world^s 
 enjoyments? What is the crucifying power of 
 your faith ? — does it deaden you to sin, and 
 wean you from the world, and constrain you 
 to walk humbly with God and near to Jesus ? 
 And when the Lord brings the cross, and says, 
 " Bear this for me,^"* does your faith promptly 
 and cheerfully acquiesce, ^^any cross, any 
 suffering, any sacrifice for thee, dear Lord ? " 
 Thus may you try the nature and the degree 
 of your faith ; bring it to the touch-stone of 
 God^s truth, and ascertain what its character 
 is, and how far it has suffered declension. 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 121 
 
 Permit us to adduce a few causes to which a 
 feeble and dechnirig faith may frequently be 
 traced. 
 
 When a believer's visits to his closet grow 
 less frequent and spiritual, faith will assuredly 
 decline. Prayer is the channel that supplies 
 faith with its nourishment and vigour. As 
 well might we cut off all the rills and streams 
 which flow down the mountain's side, and 
 expect that the valleys beneath will present 
 their enamelled and verdant aspect, as to close 
 up the channel of prayer, and then look for a 
 healthy, vigorous, and growing faith. There 
 is a beautiful connexion between faith and 
 prayer, — their influence is reciprocal : constant 
 and ardent prayer strengthens faith, and faith, 
 brought into exercise, stimulates to prayer. A 
 praying man will be a believing man, and a 
 man of faith will be a man of prayer. Mary 
 Queen of Scotland is said to have expressed a 
 greater dread of the prayers of John Knox the 
 Reformer, than of all the armies leagued 
 against her. But what infused such power 
 into the prayers of Knox, rendering them 
 ^terrible as an army with banners?' — it was 
 
122 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 his mighty faith; and his mighty faith ren- 
 dered him mighty in prayer. Here, then, we 
 have one cause, and a most fruitful one, of the 
 weak and powerless faith of many professors : 
 they live at a distance from God, and the con- 
 sequence is, faith receives no nourishment; 
 there is but little going to Jesus, but little 
 dealing with his blood, but little drawing 
 from his fulness ; forgetting that, as he is the 
 Author, so is he the Sustainer of faith, and that 
 the soul only lives, as it lives '' by the faith of 
 the Son of God.'' Reader, is thy faith in a 
 feeble, sickly, declining state ? Look well to 
 thy closet : see if thou canst not trace the 
 cause there. What is thy accustomed habit 
 of prayer ? How much time of twelve hours 
 is spent with God ? "\^Tiat ! do thy business, 
 thy family, thy worldly engagements, consume 
 all thy time ? What ! but little time for 
 prayer ? — but few stolen moments for God ? — 
 no hours redeemed from secular pursuits, and 
 devoted to holy communion and filial fellow- 
 ship with thy Father in secret ? Is it well- 
 nigh all consumed upon thyself, in worldly 
 care, confusion, and excitement ? Wonder 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 123 
 
 not that thy faith is feeble, drooping, and 
 ready to die : the greatest wonder is, that thou 
 art not quite dead ; that the feeble, flickering 
 spark is not entii'ely extinguished. Rouse 
 thee from thy fearful slumber ! Thy situation, 
 drowsy professor, is perilous in the extreme ; 
 thoa art sleeping on enchanted ground; thy 
 shield and thy breast-plate lying unbuckled at 
 thy side, and all thine enemies gathering in 
 fearful numbers around thee ! — a retm-n to 
 prayer is thine only safety. 
 
 Dealing much with a life of senses is a most 
 influential cause of declension in faith. If we 
 desire to see our way every step of om- home- 
 ward path, we must abandon the more difiicult, 
 though more blessed ascent of faith; it is 
 impossible to walk by sight and by faith at the 
 same time ; the two paths run in opposite 
 directions. If the Lord were to reveal the why 
 and the wherefore of all his dealings, — if we 
 were only to advance as we saw the spot on 
 which we were to place our foot, or only to go 
 out, as we knew the place whither we were 
 going, it then were no longer a life of faith 
 that we lived, but of sight. We should have 
 
124 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 exchanged the life which glorifies, for the Hfe 
 which dishonours God. When God, about to 
 deHver the Israehtes from the power of Pharaoh, 
 commanded them to advance, it was before he 
 revealed the way by which he was about to 
 rescue them. The Red Sea rolled its deep and 
 frowning waves at their feet ; they saw not a 
 spot of dry ground on which they could tread ; 
 and yet, this was the command to Moses, — 
 " Speak unto the children of Israel that they 
 go forward" They were to " walk by faith, 
 not by sight." It had been no exercise of 
 faith in God, no confidence in his promise, no 
 resting in his faithfulness, and no ' magnifying 
 of his word above all his name,^ had they 
 halted until the waters clave asunder, and a 
 dry passage opened to their view. But, like 
 the patriarchs, they " staggered not at the 
 promise of God through unbelief; but were 
 strong in faith, giving glory to God." Have 
 Httle to do with sense if thou wouldst have 
 much to do with faith. Expect not always 
 to see the way. God may call you to go 
 out into a place, not making known to you 
 whither you go; but it is your duty, like 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 125 
 
 Abraham, to obey. All that you ever have to 
 do is to go forward, leaving all consequences 
 and results to God : it is enough for you that 
 the Lord by this providence says, " Go for- 
 ward V This is all you may hear ; it is your 
 duty instantly to respond, " Lord, I go at thy 
 bidding; bid me come to thee, though it be 
 upon the stormy water/^ 
 
 Faith unexercised in dark and afflictive pro- 
 vidences, leads greatly to its declension. The 
 exercise of faith strengthens, as the neglect 
 to exercise weakens it. It is the constant 
 play of the arm that brings out its muscular 
 power in all its fulness ; were that arm allowed 
 to hang by our side, still and motionless, how 
 soon would its sinews contract, and its energy 
 waste away ! So it is with faith, the right arm 
 of a believer^s strength ; the more it is exer- 
 cised, the mightier it becomes ; neglect to use 
 it, allow it to remain inert and inoperative, 
 and the effect will be, a withering up of its 
 power. Now when gloomy providences, and 
 sharp trials and temptations, thicken around a 
 poor believing soul, then is it the time for faith 
 to put on its strength, and come forth to the 
 
126 DECLENSION IN FA.ITH. 
 
 battle. God never places his cliild in any 
 difficulties, or throws upon him any cross, but 
 it is a call to exercise faith ; and if the oppor- 
 tunity of its exercise passes away without 
 improvement, the effect will be, a weakening 
 of the principle, and a feeble putting forth of 
 its power in the succeeding trial. Forget not, 
 that the more faith is brought into play, the 
 more it increases ; the more it is exercised, the 
 stronger it becomes; the reverse of this, is 
 frequently the cause of its sad declension. 
 
 The habitual, or even the occasional, doubtful 
 apprehension indulged in of his interest in Christ, 
 will tend materially to the enfeebling and 
 decay of a believer's faith : no cause can be 
 more certain in its effects than this. If it be 
 true, as we have shown, that the exercise of 
 faith developes its strength, it is equally true, 
 that the perpetual indulgence of doubtful ap- 
 prehensions of pardon and acceptance, must 
 necessarily eat as a cankerworm at the root of 
 faith. Every misgiving felt, every doubt 
 cherished, every fear yielded to, every dark 
 providence brooded over, tends to unhinge the 
 soul from God, and dims its near and loving 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 127 
 
 view of Jesus. To doubt the love, the wisdom, 
 and the faithfulness of God; to doubt the 
 perfection of the work of Christ ; to doubt the 
 operation of the Spirit on the heart, — what 
 can tend more to the weakening and decay of 
 this precious and costly grace? Every time 
 the soul sinks under the pressure of a doubt of 
 its interest in Christ, the effect must be, a 
 weakening of the souFs view of the glory, per- 
 fection, and all-sufficiency of Christ^s work. 
 But imperfectly may the doubting Christian 
 be aware, what dishonour is done to Jesus, 
 what reflection is cast upon his great work, by 
 every unbelieving fear he cherishes. It is a 
 secret wounding of Jesus, however the soul 
 may shrink from such an inference; it is a 
 lowering, an undervaluing of Christ^s obedience 
 and death, — that glorious work of salvation 
 with which the Father has declared himself 
 well pleased, — that work with which Divine 
 justice has confessed itself satisfied, — that 
 work on the basis of which every poor, con- 
 vinced sinner is saved, and on the ground of 
 which, millions of redeemed and glorified 
 spirits are now bowing around the throne, — 
 
128 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 that work, we say, is dishonoured, under- 
 valued, and shghted by every doubt and fear 
 secretly harboured, or openly expressed by a 
 child of God. The moment a believer looks 
 at his un worthiness more than at the right- 
 eousness of Christ, — supposes that there is 
 not a sufficiency of merit in Jesus, to supply 
 the absence of all merit in himself before God, 
 what is it but a setting up his sinfulness and 
 unworthiness above the infinite worth, fulness, 
 and sufficiency of Christ^s atonement and right- 
 eousness ? There is much spurious humility 
 among many of the dear saints of God. It is 
 thought by some, that to be always doubting 
 one^s pardon and acceptance, is the evidence 
 of a lowly spirit. It is, allow us to say, the 
 mark of the very opposite of a lowly and 
 humble mind. That is true humility that 
 credits the testimony of God, — that believes 
 because he has spoken it, — that rests in the 
 blood, and righteousness, and all-sufficiency of 
 Jesus, because he has declared that " whoso- 
 ever believeth in him shall be saved.^' This is 
 genuine lowliness, — the blessed product of the 
 Eternal Spirit. To go to Jesus just as I am. 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 129 
 
 a poor, lost, helpless sinner. — to go without 
 previous preparation, — to go glorying in my 
 weakness, infirmity, and poverty, that the free 
 grace, and sovereign pleasure, and infinite 
 merit of Christ, may be seen in my full pardon, 
 justification, and eternal glory. There is more 
 of un mortified pride, of self-righteousness, of 
 that principle that would make God a debtor 
 to the creature, in the refusal of a soul fully 
 to accept of Jesus, than is suspected. There 
 is more real, profound humility in a simple, 
 believing venture upon Christ, as a ruined 
 sinner, taking him as all its righteousness, all 
 its pardon, all its glory, than it is possible for 
 any mortal mind to fathom. Doubt is ever 
 the ofi*spring of pride; humility is ever the 
 handmaid of faith. 
 
 Nor must we forbear to specify, as among 
 the most fruitful causes of a declension of 
 faith, the power of unsubdued sin in the heart : 
 nothing, perhaps, more secretly and efi'ectually 
 militates against the vigour of a life of faith 
 than this. Faith, as we have seen, is a holy, 
 indwelling principle; it has its root in the 
 renewed, sanctified heart ; and its growth and 
 
 K 
 
130 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 fruitfuliiess depend much upon the progressive 
 richness of the soil in which it is embedded : 
 if the noxious weeds of the natural soil are 
 allowed to grow and occupy the heart, and 
 gain the ascendency, this celestial plant will 
 necessarily droop and decay. In order to form 
 some conception of the utter incongruity of a 
 life of faith with the existence and power of 
 unmortified sin in the heart, we have but to 
 imagine the case of a believer living in the 
 practice of unsubdued sin. What is the real 
 power of faith in him ? where is its strength ? 
 where are its glorious achievements? where 
 the trophies it has won in the field of battle ? 
 We look for the fruit of faith, — tlie lowly, 
 humble, contrite spirit — the tender conscience 
 — the travelling daily to the atoning blood — 
 the living upon the grace that is in Christ 
 Jesus — the carrying out of Christian principle 
 — crucifixion to the w^orld — patient submission 
 to a life of suffering — meek resignation to a 
 Father^s discipline — a living as beholding ilim 
 who is invisible — a constant and vivid realisa- 
 tion of eternal realities, — we look for these 
 fruits of faith ; but we find them not. And 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 131 
 
 why ? because there is the worm of unmortified 
 sin feeding at the root; and until that is slain, 
 faith will always be sickly, unfruitful, and 
 ' ready to die/ " Therefore, brethren, we are 
 debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh. 
 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but 
 if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds 
 of the body, ye shall livc.^^ 
 
 A looking off of Christ will tend greatly to 
 the weakening and unfruitfulness of faith. It 
 is said, that the eaglets eye becomes strong 
 through the early discipline of the parent; 
 placed in such a position when young, as to 
 fix the gaze intently upon the sun, the power 
 of vision gradually becomes so great, as to 
 enable it in time to look at its meridian 
 splendour without uneasiness, and to descry 
 the remotest object without difficulty. The 
 same spiritual discipline strengthens the eye 
 of faith; the eye grows vigorous by looking 
 much at the Sun of righteousness. The 
 more constantly it gazes upon Jesus, the 
 stronger it grows ; and the stronger it grows, 
 the more glory it discovers in him, the more 
 beauty in his person, and perfection in his 
 
132 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 work. Thus strengthened, it can see things 
 that arc afar off, — the promises of a covenant- 
 keeping God, the hope of eternal Ufe, the 
 crown of glory — these it can look upon and 
 almost touch : " Faith is the substance of 
 things hoped for, the evidence of things not 
 seen." And of the Old Testament worthies it 
 is recorded by the same Spirit : " These all 
 died in faith, not having received the promises, 
 but having seen them afar off, and were per- 
 suaded of them, and embraced them, and con- 
 fessed that they were strangers and pilgrims 
 on the earth." precious, costly grace of the 
 Eternal Spirit ! who would not possess thee ? 
 who would not mortify everything that would 
 wound, enfeeble, and cause thee to decay in 
 the soul ? 
 
 It only remains for us to show, in what way 
 the Holy Spirit revives, strengthens, and in- 
 o' cases the declining grace of faith. And this 
 he does, in the first place, by discovering to the 
 believer the cause of its declension, and setting 
 him upon, and strengthening him in, the work of 
 its removal. The Spirit leads the declining 
 believer to the spiritual duty of self-examin- 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 133 
 
 ation. "When any grace of the Spirit is in a 
 sickly and dechning state, an effect so painful 
 must originate in a cause that needs to be 
 searched out : the great difficulty in a back- 
 sliding soul, is, to bring it to the spiritual and 
 needed duty of self-scrutiny. There is some- 
 thing so humiliating, so foreign to the natural 
 inclination of the heart, and withal, to which 
 the very declension of the soul is so strongly 
 opposed, that it requires no little putting forth 
 of the Spirit^ s grace, to bring the believer 
 honestly and fully into it. Just as the 
 merchant, conscious of the embarrassed state of 
 his affairs, shrinks from a thorough investi- 
 gation of his books, so does the conscious 
 backslider turn from the honest examination 
 of his wandering heart. But as the cure of 
 any disease, or the correction of any evil, 
 depends upon the knowledge of its cause, so 
 does the revival of a declining believer closely 
 connect itself with the discovery and removal 
 of that which led to his declension. Declining 
 believer ! what is the cause of thy weak faith ? 
 Why is this lovely, precious, and fruitful 
 flower drooping, and ready to die ? What has 
 
134 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 dimmed the eye, and paralysed the Land, and 
 enfeebled the walk of faith? Perhaps it is the 
 neglect of prayer: thou hast lived, it may be, days, 
 and weeks, and months, without communion 
 with God; there have been no constant and 
 precious visits to thy closet; no wrestling with 
 God ; no fellowship with thy Father. Marvel 
 not, beloved, that thy faith languisheth, 
 droopeth, and fadeth. The greater marvel is, 
 that thou hast any faith at all ; that it is not 
 quite dead, plucked up by the root ; and but 
 for the mighty power of God, and the constant 
 intercession of Jesus at his right hand, it 
 would long since have ceased to be. But 
 what \n\\\ revive it ? — An immediate return to 
 prayer; revisit thy closet; rebuild the broken 
 altar; rekindle the expiring flame; seek thy 
 forsaken God. how can faith be revived, 
 and how can it grow, in the neglect of daily, 
 secret, and wrestling prayer with God ? The 
 Eternal Spirit laying this upon thine heart, 
 showing thee thy awful neglect, and breathing 
 into thee afresh the spirit of grace and suppli- 
 cation, will impart a new and blessed impulse 
 to faith. 
 
DECLENSION IN TAITII. 13.") 
 
 Perhaps you have been misinterpreting the 
 LorcVs providential dealings with you ; you 
 have been indulging in unbelie\ang^ unkind, 
 unfilial views of your trials, bereavements, and 
 disappointments : you have said, " Can I be a 
 child, yet be afflicted thus ? can he love me, 
 yet deal with me so ?" O that thought ! O 
 that surmise ! Couldst thou have looked into 
 the heart of thy God when he sent that trial, 
 caused that bereavement, blew upon that 
 flower, and blasted that fair design, thou 
 wouldst never have murmured more : so much 
 love, so much tenderness, so much faithfulness, 
 so much wisdom wouldst thou have seen as to 
 have laid thy mouth silent in the dust before 
 him. Wonder not that, indulging in such 
 misgivings, interpreting the covenant dealings 
 of a God of love in such a light, thy faith has 
 received a wound. Nothing perhaps more 
 tends to unhinge the soul from God, engender 
 distrust, hard thoughts, and rebellious feel- 
 ings, than thus to doubt his loving-kindness 
 and faithfulness in the discipline he is pleased 
 to send. But faith, looking through the 
 dark cloud, rising on the mountain wave, and 
 
136 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 anchoring itself on the Divine veracity, and the 
 unchangeable love of God, is sure to strengthen 
 and increase by every storm that beats upon it. 
 Is it the enchantment of the world that has 
 seized upon thy faith ? has it stolen upon thee, 
 beguiled thee, caught thee with its glitter, fas- 
 cinated thee with its syren song, overwhelmed 
 thee with its crushing cares ? — Come oat from 
 it, and be separate ; resign its hollow friend- 
 ship, its temporising policy, its carnal enjoy- 
 ments, its fleshly wisdom, its sinful conformity. 
 All these becloud the vision, and enfeeble the 
 grasp of faith. The world, and the love of it, 
 and conformity to it, may please and assist the 
 life of sense, but it is opposed to, and will re- 
 tard, the life of faith. Not more opposed in 
 their natures are the flesh and the Spirit, 
 darkness and light, sin and holiness, than are 
 a vigorous life of faith and a sinful love of the 
 world. Professor of the Gospel ! guard against 
 the world ; it is your great bane : watch 
 against conformity to it in your dress, in your 
 mode of living, in the education of your chil- 
 dren, in the principles, and motives, and policy, 
 that govern you. We would say to every 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 137 
 
 professing Christian, be a non-conformist here ; 
 separate yourselves from the world, — that 
 world that crucified your Lord and blaster, 
 and would crucify his faith that is in you; 
 touch not the unclean thing, for, " ye are a 
 chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 
 nation, a pecuhar people ; that ye should show 
 forth the praises of him who hath called you 
 out of darkness into his marvellous light/^ 
 Would you be ' strong in faith, giving glory 
 to God ? ' — then yield obedience to the voice 
 which, with an unearthly tongue, exclaims to 
 every professing child of God, "Be not con- 
 formed to this world ; but be transformed by 
 the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove 
 what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect 
 will of God !^^ 
 
 Is it unmortiiied sin that feeds at the root 
 of faith ? Bring it to the cross of Christ, — 
 condemn it there, nail it there, and leave it 
 not until you are enabled to exclaim, " Thanks 
 be unto God, who always causeth me to 
 triumph through Christ Jesus V^ 
 
 Is it the indulgence of unbelieving and dis- 
 honouring fears touching your interest in 
 
138 DECLENSION' IN FAITH. 
 
 Christ ? Yield tliem, and let the wind scatter 
 them ; there is no ground for the doubts and 
 unbelief of a child of God ; there may be much 
 in himself to cast him down, but nothing in 
 the truth which he professes to beheve ; there 
 is nothing in the subject-matter of faith, 
 nothing in Christ, nothing in the work of 
 Christ, nothing in the word of God, calculated 
 to bej>:et a doubt or a fear in the heart of a 
 
 ^D 
 
 poor sinner. On the contrary, everything to 
 inspire confidence, strengthen faith, and en- 
 courage hope. Does his sin plead loud for his 
 condemnation? — the voice of ImmanueFs blood 
 pleads louder for his pardon ; does his own 
 righteousness condemn ? — the righteousness of 
 Christ acquits. Thus there is nothing in Christ 
 to engender an unbelieving doubt in a poor 
 convinced sinner. Himself he may doubt, — he 
 may doubt his ability to save himself, — he 
 may doubt his power to better his condition, 
 to make himself more worthy and acceptable, 
 but never let him doubt that Christ is all that 
 a poor, lost, convinced sinner wants. Let him 
 not doubt that Jesus is the Friend of sinners, 
 the Saviour of sinners, and that he was never 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 139 
 
 known to cast out one who in lowliness and 
 brokenness of heart, sought his compassionate 
 grace. seek, reader, more simple views of 
 Jesus ; clearer views of his great and finished 
 work ; take every doubt as it is suggested, 
 every fear as it rises, to him ; and remember 
 that whatever of vileness you discover in your- 
 self that has a tendency to lay you low, there 
 is everything in Jesus calculated to lift you 
 from the dunghill, and place you among the 
 princes. Discovering to the backsliding be- 
 liever these points, — making known to him 
 which it is that causes the declension of his 
 faith, the Eternal Spirit of God takes the firs* 
 step in the great and precious work of revival. 
 A further step by which the Holy Spirit 
 revives the decaying faith of the believer is, 
 by leading him to rest more simply on the faith- 
 fulness of God. What a restorative to drooping 
 faith are these declarations of the Divine word, 
 which represent God as infinitely unchange- 
 able and faithful : " I am the Lord, I change 
 not :^' ^^ Every good gift and every perfect 
 gift is from above, and cometh down from the 
 Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, 
 
140 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 neither shadow of turning -^ " I will betroth 
 thee unto me in faithfulness :^^ " Righteous- 
 ness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith- 
 fulness the girdle of his reins :'' " Nor will I 
 suffer my faithfulness to fail :" "Great is thy 
 faithfulness :^' " Faithful is he that promised !" 
 And then to remember, that the unbelief of 
 the believer never affects the faithfulness of 
 God ! "If we believe not, yet he abideth 
 faithful; he cannot deny himself." This is 
 the only true and secure anchorage-ground for 
 a poor soul, tossed amid the waves of doubt 
 and perplexity : — to know that God cannot 
 alter his word, — that it is impossible that he 
 should lie, — that were he to deviate from his 
 infinite perfection, he would cease to be a 
 perfect Being, and consequently would cease to 
 be God : to know, too, that he is faithful in 
 the midst of the unfaithfulness and perpetual 
 startings aside of his child, — faithful in the 
 depth of the deepest affliction, — faithful when 
 earthly hopes wither, and human cisterns are 
 broken, and when the soul is led to exclaim, 
 " His faithfulness hath failed !" O what a 
 spring to a tried and drooping faith, is this 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 141 
 
 view which God himself has given of his own 
 glorious and perfect character ! It is no small 
 triumph of faith to walk with God, when all is 
 darkness with the soul, and there is no light ; 
 to feel amid the roaring of the waves that still 
 he is faithful; that though he slay, yet the 
 soul can trust him ; that though he were to 
 take all else away, he would never remove 
 himself from his people. glorious triumph 
 of faith ! "Who is among you that feareth 
 the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, 
 that walketh in darkness, and hath no light ? 
 let him trust in the name of the Lord, and 
 stay upon his God." 
 
 It will tend much to the revival of a tried 
 and drooping faith to remember, that when 
 the Lord is about to impart any peculiar 
 mercy, there is always a travail of faith for 
 that mercy. Some of the choicest mercies of 
 the covenant brought into the experience of 
 the believer, come by a travail of faith : it may 
 be a tedious and a painful process ; faith may 
 be long and sharply tried, yet the blessings it 
 will bring forth will more than repay for all 
 the weeping, and suffering, and crying, it has 
 
142 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 occasioned. Be not surprised, then, at any 
 severe trial of faith ; be sure that when it is 
 thus tried, God is about to bring your soul 
 into the possession of some great, and perhaps, 
 hitherto unexperienced mercy. It may be a 
 travail of faith for spiritual blessing ; and the 
 result may be a deepening of the work in your 
 heart, increase of spirituality, more weaned- 
 ness from creature-trust, and more child-like 
 leaning upon the Lord ; more simple, close, 
 and sanctifying knowledge of the Lord Jesus. 
 Or, it may be a travail of faith for temporal 
 mercy, for the supply of some want, the rescue 
 from some embarrassment, the deliverance out 
 of some peculiar and trying difficulty ; but, 
 whatever the character of the trial of faith be, 
 the issue is always certain and glorious. The, 
 Lord may bring his child into difficult and 
 strait paths, he may hedge him about with 
 thorns so that he cannot get out, but it is only 
 to draw the soul more simply to repose in 
 himself; that, in the extremity, when no 
 creature would or could help, when refuge 
 failed and no man cared for his soul, that then 
 faith should go out and rest itself in Him who 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 143 
 
 never disowns his own work, but always 
 honours the feeblest exhibition, and turns his 
 ear to the faintest cry. "Out of the depths 
 have I cried unto thee, Lord. Lord, hear 
 my voice : let thine ears be attentive to the 
 voice of my supplication." " In my distress I 
 called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God : 
 he heard my voice out of his temple, and my 
 cry came before him, even into his ears." '' O 
 magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt 
 his name together. I sought the Lord, and 
 he heard me, and delivered me from all my 
 fears." " This poor man cried, and the Lord 
 heard him ; and saved him out of all his 
 troubles." Here was the severe travail of 
 faith, and here we see the blessed result. 
 Thus true is God's word, which declares that 
 "weeping may endure for a night, but joy 
 Cometh in the morning." "He that goeth 
 forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 
 shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 
 bringing his sheaves with him." 
 
 But more, — the trial of faith is a test of its 
 degree. AVe know not what faith we possess, 
 until the Lord calls it into exercise ; wc may 
 
144 DECLENSION IN PAITH. 
 
 be greatly deceived as to its nature and degree ; 
 to walk upon the stormj'^ water, may be thought 
 by us an easy thing ; to witness for Christ, no 
 hard matter : but the Lord brings our faith to 
 the test. He bids us come to him upon the 
 water, and then we begin to sink ; he suffers 
 us to be assailed by our enemies, and we 
 shrink from the cross ; he puts our faith to 
 the trial, and then we learn how little we 
 possess. 
 
 The trial of faith is also a test of its 
 character ; it is the furnace that tries the ore 
 of what kind it is : it may be brass, or iron, 
 or clay, or perhaps precious gold; but the 
 crucible will test it. There is much that 
 passes for real faith, which is no faith ; there 
 is much spurious, counterfeit metal ; it is the 
 trial that brings out its real character. The 
 true character of Judas was not known until 
 his covetousness was tempted; Simon Magus 
 was not discovered to possess a spurious faith, 
 until he thought to purchase the gift of God 
 with money; Demas did not forsake the 
 apostle, until the world drew him away. Thus 
 solemnly has our Lord unfolded this truth, — 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 145 
 
 " He that received the seed into stony places, 
 the same is he that heareth the word, and 
 anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not 
 root in himself, but dureth for a wOiile : for 
 when tribulation or persecution ariseth because 
 of the word, by-and-by he is offended. He 
 also that received seed among the thorns is he 
 that heareth the word; and the care of this 
 world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke 
 the word, and he becometh unfruitful.'' But 
 true faith stands the trial; where there is a 
 real work of grace in the heart, no tribulation, 
 or persecution, or power of this world, will 
 ever be able to expel it thence : but if all is 
 chaff, the wind will scatter it; if all is but 
 dross and tinsel, the fire will consume it. Let 
 the humble and tried believer, then, thank 
 God for every test that brings out the real 
 character of his faith, and proves it to be 
 "the faith of God's elect." God will try his 
 own work in the gracious soul ; every grace of 
 his own Spirit he will at one time or another 
 place in the crucible; but never will he remove 
 his eye from off it ; he will ' sit as a refiner,' 
 and watch that not a grain of the precious 
 
 L 
 
146 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 metal is consumed ; he will be with his child 
 in all and every affliction; not for one moment 
 will he leave him. Let gratitude rather than 
 murmuring, joy rather than sorrow, attend 
 every test which a loving and faithful Father 
 brings to his own gracious work, — " that the 
 trial of your faith being much more precious 
 than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried 
 with fire, might be found unto praise, and 
 honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus 
 Christ.^' 
 
 Be careful of not making a Saviour of faith. 
 There is a danger — and it cannot be too 
 vigilantly guarded against — of substituting 
 the work of the Spirit for the work of Christ ; 
 this mistake it is that leads so many of God^s 
 saints to look within, instead of without, them- 
 selves for the evidences of their calling and 
 acceptance ; and thus, too, so many are kept 
 all their spiritual course walking in a state of 
 bondage and fear, the great question never 
 fully and fairly settled, or, in other words, 
 Bcver quite sure of their sonship. The work 
 of Christ is a great and finished work ; it is so 
 glorious that it can admit of no comparison. 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 147 
 
 80 complete that it can allow of no addition^ 
 and so essential that it can give place to no 
 substitution. Precious as is the work of the 
 Holy Ghost in the heart, and essential as it is 
 to the salvation of the soul, yet he who places 
 it where the work of Jesus ought only to be, 
 deranges the order of the covenant, closes up 
 the legitimate source of evidence, and will 
 assuredly bring distress and uncertainty into 
 his soul. " Righteousness, peace, and joy,^' 
 are the fruit of a full belief in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; and he who looks for them away from 
 the cross, will meet with disappointment : but 
 they are found in Jesus. He who looks away 
 from himself, from his vileness, guiltiness, 
 emptiness, and poverty, fully and believingly 
 unto Jesus, shall know what the forgiveness of 
 sin is, and shall experience the love of God 
 shed abroad in his heart. 
 
 If, then, your faith is feeble and tried, be 
 not cast down ; faith does not save you. 
 Though it be an instrument of salvation, and 
 as such, is of vast importance, it is but the 
 instrument ; the finished work of Immanuel 
 is the ground of your salvation, yea, it is your 
 
148 DECLENSION IN FAITH. 
 
 salvation itself. Then make not a Saviour of 
 your faith ; despise it not if it is feeble, exult 
 not in it if it is strong, trample not on it if 
 it is small, deify it not if it is great : such are 
 the extremes to which every believer is ex- 
 posed. If your faith is feeble and sharply 
 tried, it is no evidence that you are not a 
 believer ; but the evidence of your acceptance 
 in the Beloved, is to arise from Jesus alone ; 
 then let your constant motto be, "looking 
 unto Jesus ; '' looking to him just as you are ; 
 looking unto him when faith is feeble ; look- 
 ing unto him when faith is tried; looking 
 unto him when faith is declining, yea, looking 
 unto him when you fear you have no faith. 
 Look up, tried and tempted soul ! Jesus is 
 the Author, the Sustainer, and he will become 
 the Finisher of thy faith. All thou wan test is 
 in him. One glimpse, dim though it be, of 
 his cross, — one touch, trembling though it 
 be, of his garment, — will lift thee from thy 
 lowest depths, lighten thy heaviest burthen, 
 gild thy darkest prospect, and when thou 
 arrivest at Jordan^s brink, will bear thee safely 
 through its swellings, and land thee on the 
 
DECLENSION IN FAITH. 149 
 
 sunny and verdant shores of Canaan. Let 
 this be your prayer, urged unceasingly at the 
 throne of grace until it is answered — '^ Lord, 
 increase my faith ; " and then with holy Paul, 
 you too shall be enabled with humble assur- 
 ance to exclaim, ^^I know in whom I have 
 believed, and am persuaded that he is able to 
 keep that which I have committed unto him 
 against that day !^^ 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 "Thou restrainest prayer before God." — Jobxy.4. 
 
 Were we to select a single characteristic of 
 personal declension more marked than another, 
 we should feel no hesitation in adopting the 
 decay of the spirit of prayer as that feature. 
 As prayer is the first evidence of spiritual life 
 in the soul, and its growth in spirituality and 
 vigour marks the healthy and advancing state 
 of that life, so the declension of prayer in its 
 spirit, exercise, and enjoyment, is strongly in- 
 dicative of the decay of real grace in a child of 
 God. We address ourselves to the unfolding 
 of this subject under the solemn conviction, 
 that it is of more general application to pro- 
 fessing believers, than upon first reflection 
 some would, perhaps, be ready to admit ; and 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 151 
 
 that it involves more serious consequences to 
 the spiritual interests of the soul, than any 
 branch of personal declension we have yet 
 considered. 
 
 In opening to the reader the nature of true 
 prayer, — which seems proper before we con- 
 sider its declension_, — we remark, there are 
 many solemn and affecting things connected 
 with it, which present it as a subject of vast 
 importance. What is prayer? It is the com- 
 munion of the spiritual life in the soul of man 
 with its Divine Author ; it is a breathing back 
 the Divine life into the bosom of God from 
 whence it came ; it is holy, spiritual, humble 
 converse with God. That was a beautiful 
 remark of a converted heathen, — ^' I open my 
 Bible, and God talks with me; I close my 
 Bible, and then I talk with God." Striking 
 definition of true prayer ! It is a talking with 
 God as a child talketh with his father, as a 
 friend converseth with his friend : " And the 
 Lord talked with Moses." Let it be re- 
 membered, then, that true prayer is the aspira- 
 tion of a renewed soul towards God ; it is the 
 breathing of the Divine life, sometimes in the 
 
152 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 accents of sorrow, sometimes as the expression 
 of want, and always as the acknowledgment of 
 dependence ; it is the looking up of a renewed, 
 afflicted, necessitous, and dependent child to 
 its own loving Father, in all the consciousness 
 of utter weakness, and in all the sweetness of 
 filial trust. 
 
 "Who is the object of prayer ? Jehovah, the 
 Lord of heaven and earth; to him as the Three 
 in One, does true prayer only address itself. 
 He only hath an ear to hear our tale of sorrow, 
 an arm that can succour in time of need, 
 and a heart that can sympathise with our deep 
 necessity. The high and lofty One, that in- 
 habiteth eternity, whose name is holy, who is 
 the Creator and Governor of all worlds, who 
 bears up the pillars of the universe, to whom 
 all the powers in heaven, in earth, and in hell, 
 are subject, he is the glorious Object to whom 
 we address ourselves in prayer. 
 
 Not less amazing is the medium of prayer; 
 what is it ? Not a creature, dependent as our- 
 selves ; but the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God, equal in might, majesty, and dominion 
 with the Father, and yet the Elder Brother, 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 153 
 
 the slain Lamb, the Mediator and Surety, the 
 High Priest of his people. Prayer finds accept- 
 ance within the veil, only as it is presented in 
 the name of Jesus. The voice that speaks 
 there, in behalf of the lowly suppliant, is the 
 voice of ImmanueFs blood ; this is the " new 
 and living way,^^ — this is the plea that pre- 
 vails, — this is the argument that moves 
 Omnipotence itself. He who pleads the blood 
 of Jesus in prayer, may have ten thousand 
 tongues all pleading against him, but ^^the 
 blood of Jesus speaks better things, ^^ and 
 drowns their every voice. precious, costly 
 medium of prayer ! 
 
 Marvellous, too, is the Author of prayer ; 
 who is he ? The apostle informs us : ^^ Like- 
 wise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; 
 for we know not what we should pray for as 
 we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh inter- 
 cession for us, with groanings which cannot be 
 uttered.^' Thus is it the Holy Ghost who 
 begets the desire, indites the petition, and 
 breathes it forth in prayer through Christ to 
 God. What a sublime exercise, then, is prayer ! 
 The outgoing of the Divine life in the soul 
 
154 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 is its nature, — Jehovali its object, — the Lord 
 Jesus its medium, — and the Holy Ghost its 
 author. Thus, the blessed Trinity in Unity is 
 engaged in the great work of a sinner's ap- 
 proach unto God. 
 
 Touching the absolute necessity of prayer, 
 need we enlarge ? And yet it must be ad- 
 mitted, that the believer requires constant ex- 
 hortation to the exercise of this duty. Do we 
 want any stronger evidence of the perpetual 
 tendency to spiritual declension than this, — 
 that the child of God requires repeated stimu- 
 lus to the sweet and precious privilege of com- 
 munion with his heavenly Father ? — that he 
 needs to be urged by the strongest arguments 
 and the most persuasive motives to avail him- 
 self of the most costly and glorious privilege 
 this side of glory ? Does it not seem like 
 pleading with a man to live ? — reminding him 
 that he must respirate if he would maintain 
 life ? Without the exercise of prayer, we tell a 
 child of God, he cannot live ; that this is the 
 drawing in of the Divine life, and the breathing 
 of it forth again; that the spiritual nature 
 requires constant supplies of spiritual nourish- 
 
DECLENSIOX IN PRAYER. 155 
 
 ment ; and that the only evidence of its healthy- 
 existence is, its constant rising towards God. 
 We tell him, cease to pray, and all your grace 
 withers, all your vigour decays, and all your 
 comfort dies. 
 
 But observe how prayer, as a duty, is en- 
 joined in God's word : " Call upon me in the 
 day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou 
 shalt glorify me." Psalm 1. 15. As though 
 the Lord had said, " Call upon me when all is 
 dark, when all is against you; I speak not 
 now of the day of prosperity, of the sunny 
 hour, when thy soul prospers, when thy busi- 
 ness prospers, when all things go smooth with 
 thee, and the sky above thee is cloudless, and 
 the sea beneath thee is unruffled ; but call 
 upon me in the day of trouble, the day of want, 
 the day of adversity, the day of disappointment 
 and of rebuke, the day when friends forsake, 
 and the world frowns upon thee, the day of 
 broken cisterns and withered gourds. — Call 
 upon me in the day of trouble, and I will 
 deliver thee." Observe, too, how our dear 
 Lord enjoined this precious duty upon his 
 disciples : "Thou, when thou prayest, enter 
 
156 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 into tliy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy 
 door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." 
 Matt. vi. 6. And observe how he also en- 
 couraged it : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my 
 name, he will give it you." John xvi. 23. In 
 harmony with this, is the sweet exhortation of 
 the apostle : " Be careful for nothing ; but in 
 everything by prayer and supplication with 
 thanksgiving let your requests be made known 
 unto God." Phil. iv. 6. And what a striking 
 unfolding of the true nature of prayer does 
 the same writer give us in Eph. vi. 18 : 
 " Praying always with all prayer and supplica- 
 tion in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with 
 all perseverance and supplication for all saints." 
 The apostle James bears the same testimony : 
 " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of 
 God, that giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
 braideth not, and it shall be given him." i. 5. 
 
 But we take higher ground than this ; we 
 urge the exercise of prayer, not merely as a 
 solemn duty to be observed, but also as a 
 precious privilege to be enjoyed. Happy is 
 that believer, when duties come to be viewed 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 157 
 
 as privileges. What ! is it no privilege to 
 have a door of access ever open to God ? Is 
 it no privilege when the burthen crushes, to 
 cast it upon One who has promised to sustain ? 
 When the corruptions of an unsanctified nature 
 are strong, and temptations thicken, is prayer 
 no privilege then ? And when perplexed to 
 know the path of duty, and longing to walk 
 complete in all the will of God, and, as a child, 
 fearing to offend a loving Father, is it then no 
 privilege to have a throne of grace, an open 
 door of hope ? When the world is slowly 
 stealing upon the heart, or when that heart is 
 wounded through the unkindness of friends, 
 or is bleeding under severe bereavement, is it 
 then no privilege to go and tell Jesus ? Say, 
 ye poor, ye needy, ye tried, ye tempted souls ! 
 say, if prayer is not the most precious, balmy 
 and costly privilege this side heaven. 
 
 And yet, how much infidelity still lingers in 
 the heart of a renewed soul, touching this 
 solemn duty and immense privilege ! That is 
 infidelity that takes a believer in the hour of his 
 need first to the arm of flesh, rather than in 
 prayer to God. To go to the creature first, is to 
 
158 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 " go down into Egypt^^ for help, — a sin which 
 God has signaUsed with his severest dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 But true prayer may greatly decline, and to 
 the consideration of this point, in connexion 
 with the means of its revival, we now proceed 
 to direct the serious attention of the reader. 
 
 Prayer is the spiritual pulse of the renewed 
 soul ; its beat indicates the healthy or un- 
 healthy state of the believer. Just as the 
 physician would decide upon the health of the 
 body from the action of the pulse, so would we 
 decide upon the spii'itual health of the soul 
 before God, by the estimation in which prayer 
 is held by the believer. If the soul is in a 
 spiritually healthy, growing state, prayer will 
 be vigorous, lively, spiritual, and constant ; if, 
 on the contrary, an incipient process of declen- 
 sion is going forward in the soul — if the heart 
 is wandering, and love waxeth cold, and faith 
 is decaying, the spirit and the habit of prayer 
 will immediately betray it. 
 
 In the first place, we remark, that the spirit 
 of prayer may decline in the believer, and he 
 may not at once be sensible of it. The form 
 and the habit of prayer may for a while con- 
 
DECLENSION IN PKAYER. 159 
 
 tinue, the domestic altar sustained, and even 
 the closet occasionally visited; — but the spirit 
 of prayer has evaporated, and all is coldness 
 and dulness, the very torpor and frigidity of 
 death ! But of what real worth is the habit 
 of prayer apart from the spirit of prayer ? just 
 what this planet would be without the sun, or 
 the body without the living, animating, breath- 
 ing soul, — what but a cold, lifeless form ? 
 Yes ] and a believer may be beguiled into this 
 lamentable state, and not a suspicion of its 
 existence be awakened ; he may observe his 
 accustomed habit, and use his empty form, 
 and not suspect that all is cold and breathless 
 as death itself. it is not the rigidly-observed 
 form that God looks at ; nor is it great volu- 
 bility, and eloquent fluency, and rich senti- 
 ment, and splendid imagery, and rounded 
 periods, that God regards : far from this ; a 
 man may not be able to give expression to his 
 deep emotion in prayer, his thoughts may find 
 no vehicle of utterance, language may entirely 
 fail him ; or, if he attempts the audible ex- 
 pression of his wants, there may be much that 
 offends a refined taste, and that grates harshly 
 upon a musical ear, and yet the spirit of prayer 
 
160 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 may glow in his breast ; — and this — the true 
 language of prayer — finds its way to the ear 
 and to the heart of God. Now it is manifest 
 from observation^ as it is from God^s word, 
 that the spirit of prayer may depart from a 
 soul, and the gift of prayer and its form may 
 remain. The form may be found easy, — 
 words, and even thought, may flow freely, and 
 yet, no warmth, no life, no spirituality, no 
 power, no unction, attend the prayer ; and 
 this may long continue the state of a profess- 
 ing man. guard against it, reader ; look 
 well to the state of your soul ; examine your 
 prayers ; see that ye have not substituted the 
 cold form for the glowing spirit, the mere body 
 for the soul. Real prayer is the breathing of 
 God's own Spirit in the heart ; have you this ? 
 It is communion and fellowship with God ; 
 know you what this is ? It is brokenness, con- 
 trition, confession, and that often springing 
 from an overwhelming sense of his goodness 
 and his love shed abroad in the heart ; is this 
 thy experience ? Again we repeat it, look 
 well to your prayers ; test them, not by the 
 natural or acquired gift which you may pos- 
 
DECLENSION IX PRAYER. 161 
 
 sess, — this is nothing with God ; in answer to 
 all your forms, he may say, " I hear no prayer. 
 To what purpose is the multitude of your 
 sacrifices unto me, when ye come to appear 
 before me ? who hath required this at your 
 hands to tread my courts ? Bring no more 
 vain oblations ; incense is an abomination unto 
 me. Your new moons and your appointed 
 feasts my soul hateth ; they are a trouble unto 
 me, I am weary to bear them. And when ye 
 spread forth your hands, I wdll hide mine eyes 
 from you : yea, when ye make many prayers, 
 I will not hear/' but test them by the real 
 communion you have with God, — the returns 
 they make to your soul. 
 
 There is yet another state in which the habit 
 of prayer does not even survive the declension of 
 the spirit of prayer. There may be instances, 
 in which, as we have just shown, the form 
 may be rigidly sustained long after true prayer 
 has departed from the soul ; there may be too 
 much light in the conscience, and too much 
 strength in the force of habit, and something, 
 too, in the appearance of the thing, that will 
 not allow of a total abandonment of this. But, 
 
 M 
 
162 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 in most cases of actual backsliding, the habit 
 declines with the spirit ; the latter having 
 gone, the former becomes insipid and tedious, 
 and is at last thrown off as a thing irksome 
 and painful to the mind. And yet even the 
 relinquishment of the form is not always a 
 sudden act : Satan is too subtle, and the heart 
 too deceitful, to allow of this ; there must be 
 steps in the decline. The sudden breaking off 
 from the accustomed habit of prayer might 
 awaken alarm, and surprise, and thoughtful- 
 ness : " Has it come to this ?" — would be the 
 exclamation of the startled soul. ^' Am I so 
 far gone, as to abandon even my wonted habit 
 of prayer ?^^ Such a pause and such an in- 
 quiry might possibly lead to self-examination, 
 contrition, and a return : but the declension 
 is gradual. The first habit that is relinquished 
 with the declension of the spirit of prayer, is 
 that of closet i^rayer ; this is the first exercise 
 that loses its sweetness, and becomes tedious 
 and insipid, because it is the most spiritual of 
 all devotional exercises, and has most to do 
 with the secret intercourse of the soul with 
 God. And who can portray the loss ? No 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 163 
 
 more hallowed visits to the closet ; no more 
 turning aside from business, from care, and 
 from the world, to be shut in with God ; no 
 more precious, heart-melting, spirit-humbling, 
 heaven-reviving seasons of communion and 
 fellowship with the Father who heareth in 
 secret ; no more sweet visits of love from 
 Jesus, nor breathing of the hearths sorrows and 
 wants into his secret ear ; — the closet is aban- 
 doned, and with it all pleasant, holy, and 
 happy walk with God ! 
 
 The relinquishment of ejaculatory prayer 
 then follows. That holy habit of a growing 
 Christian, which, while in the world, and 
 diligently engaged in its lawful calling, yet 
 keeps him soaring above it; which sustains 
 the wheels of the soul in easy and constant 
 motion, preserves it in a holy, heavenly frame ; 
 fortifies it against the surprisals of the adver- 
 sary, and strengthens it in every inward or 
 outward conflict, — ejaculatory prayer, the 
 'prayer without ceasing,' is given up; and all 
 seems a blank between the soul and God ! 
 
 Family prayer is, perhaps, the next devo- 
 tional habit that is abandoned. That " border 
 
164 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 which keeps the web of daily life from 
 unravelling/^ that exercise which throws so 
 hallowing an influence around the domestic 
 circle, — cementing the hearts, awakening 
 and concentrating the sympathies, fortify- 
 ing the mind, and softening the cares and 
 trials of each loved member, is now yielded : 
 the family Bible, so regularly brought out, 
 spread open, read, and expounded, is now laid 
 aside; the altar around which clustered in 
 devout and reverential silence the lowly group, 
 and from which ascended the morning and the 
 evening sacrifice, is thrown down ; for he who 
 officiated at its holy shrine, has declined in the 
 spirit of prayer, and the efi'ects of his declen- 
 sion are felt and traced by every member, and 
 through every department of the domestic 
 circle ; the patriarch no more returns to bless 
 his household ! 
 
 Social prayer is now relinquished without 
 a sigh. That service that was once found so 
 refreshing and exhilarating at the close of the 
 day's cares; and which, amid its fatigues, 
 anxieties, and disappointments, was so fondly 
 anticipated and ardently longed for, comes and 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 165 
 
 passes away unheeded and unregretted. The 
 hour of prayer arrives, we look at the vacant 
 place and we inquire, '^ where is he?" — away, 
 amid the world^s turmoil, and ardent in its 
 pursuit : " where is he V — gone, perhaps, 
 to some scene of carnal amusement, folly, and 
 sin; and he, who, when the season of social 
 communion returned, w^as present to cheer and 
 encourage with his prayers and exhortations 
 the souls of the devout assembly, is now away 
 "sowing to the flesh," and giving to the 
 " things that are temporal," the time and the 
 energies that belong to the "things that are 
 eternal." This is the man in whom the spirit 
 of prayer has declined ! From one step of de- 
 clension he has proceeded to another, until his 
 soul has become, as to all grace and spirituality 
 and love, like the barren heath of the desert, 
 without a spot of verdure to cheer and enliven 
 it. But there are yet other consequences of 
 the soul's declension in the spirit and habit of 
 prayer too solemn and serious to overlook : 
 they are the following : — 
 
 A distant walk from God will superinduce 
 distant thoughts of God, and this is no light 
 
166 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 matter. If the simple axiom be true, that the 
 more intimate we become with any object, the 
 better we are prepared to judge of its nature 
 and properties, we may apply it with peculiar 
 appropriateness to our acquaintance with God. 
 The encouraging invitation of his word is, 
 "Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at 
 peace. ^'' Now, it is this acquaintance with God 
 that brings us into the knowledge of his 
 character as a holy, loving, and faithful God ; 
 and it is this knowledge of bis character 
 that begets love and confidence in the 
 soul towards him. The more we know of 
 God^ the more we love him : the more we try 
 him, the more we confide in him. Let the 
 spiritual reader, then, conceive what dire 
 effects must result from a distant walk from 
 God. The farther the soul gets from him, 
 the more imperfect must be its knowledge 
 of him. When he appears in his corrective 
 dealings, how will those dealings be inter- 
 preted in the distant walk of the soul ? As 
 of a covenant God? as of a loving Father? 
 Nay, far from it. They will receive a harsh 
 and unkind interpretation, and this will 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 167 
 
 neutralise their effect : for in order to reap 
 the proper fruit of the Lord's dealings with 
 the soul, it is necessary that they should be 
 viewed in the light of his faithfulness and 
 love. The moment they are otherwise inter- 
 preted, the soul starts off from God, and 
 wraps itself up in gloomy and repulsive views 
 of his character, and government, and dealings. 
 But this will assuredly follow from a distant 
 walk. guard against declension in prayer : 
 let there be no distance between God and thy 
 soul ! 
 
 A change in the sweetness and enjoyment of 
 spiritual duties, may be regarded as another 
 and painful effect of a declension in this holy 
 exercise : they will become less desired, and 
 more irksome and insipid : will be regarded 
 less as a privilege, more as a burthen and 
 a task. What is the spiritual duty ? Is it 
 meditation ? The mind is not attuned to this. 
 It demands a spiritual mind, one richly 
 anointed of the Holy Ghost, and accustomed 
 to close intercourse with God, rightly and 
 profitably to enjoy it. Is it the communion 
 of saints? This soon becomes irksome and 
 
168 DECLENSION IN rilAYER. 
 
 insipid. The company of God^s humble, 
 broken-hearted people, hungering and tliirst- 
 ing for holiness, and seeking crucifixion to 
 the world ; the word of God their study, the 
 love of Christ their theme, and Divine con- 
 formity their aim, soon loses its attraction to 
 a professing man walking at a distance from 
 God. Yea, we might enumerate all the spirit- 
 ual duties familiar to the child of God; and 
 not one will be found to possess attraction or 
 sweetness to that soul passing through a 
 process of declension in prayer. "\¥hy is it, 
 reader, that meditation, and the research of 
 God^s word, and holy intercourse with his 
 saints, and praise, are privileges dry and 
 tasteless to thy soul ? Thou canst turn from 
 them with loathing. Any engagements but 
 these, — the calls of business, worldly company, 
 the perusal of a novel, will satisfy thee ! 
 Where art thou ? How hast thou, declined ! 
 It was not once so. how precious in the 
 first love of thine espousals were the moments 
 of holy abstraction ! — how eagerly sought, and 
 richly enjoyed, was the communion of saints ! 
 — how sweet a privilege was praise, and how 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 169 
 
 sacred a duty was prayer ! Is it all gone ? 
 Is it all winter with thee now ? No verdant 
 spot, no green pasture, no still waters ? 
 return again to prayer ! Thy sad distance 
 from God is the secret of thy souPs leanness. 
 The withering of the spirit of prayer has 
 withered thy grace, and with it all spiritual 
 enjoyment of the means. 
 
 A falling off in the external deportment of 
 the believer, is a necessary and often a certain 
 consequence of a declension of the spirit and 
 habit of prayer. The lowliness, self-oblivion, 
 softness of walk, and exemplary regard for the 
 honour and glory of God, of the prayerful 
 man, are often succeeded by loftiness of spirit 
 and of mien, self-confidence, a readiness to 
 sit in judgment upon the conduct and infirm- 
 ities of others, a cold indifference to the in- 
 crease of the kingdom of Christ and the 
 conversion of sinners, and a carelessness in the 
 outward deportment of the prayerless man. 
 All backsliding has its commencement in the 
 declension of prayer : it may date its beginning 
 at the throne of grace. The restraining of 
 prayer before God was the first step in de- 
 
170 DECLENSION IX PRAYER. 
 
 parture; and the first step taken, and not 
 immediately retraced, was quickly succeeded 
 by others. The path of a backslider from 
 God is always dowTiward : the descent is easy 
 and rapid : the velocity of the souFs departure 
 increases with its progress; and when a pro- 
 fessing man evinces an inclination and an 
 evidence of spiritual declension, there are not 
 wanting influences ready to assist him on in 
 his departure. Satan, the subtle and sleep- 
 less foe of the soul, is prepared with a thou- 
 sand enticements to smooth the downward 
 path j the world appears with some new 
 attraction ; sin tastes less bitter, and appears 
 less " exceeding sinful ;" objects of sense 
 become familiar, are looked at, admired, then 
 embraced : and now the soul, but for pre- 
 serving and restraining grace, has taken a 
 farewell for ever of God. Reader, dost thou 
 tremble at the possibility of ever becoming 
 a backslider ? dost thou fear a fall ? dost 
 thou dread the thought of wounding Jesus ? 
 then, restrain not prayer before God; vigi- 
 lantly guard against the first symptom of 
 declension in this holy exercise, or if that 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 171 
 
 symptom has already appeared, haste thee to 
 the dear Physician, who alone has power to 
 arrest its progress, and heal thy soul. 
 
 An accumulation of daily a'osses, seldom fails 
 to follow declension in prayer. The constant 
 exercise of prayer makes light every burthen, 
 and smooths every rugged step of a child of 
 God : it is this only that keeps down his trials ; 
 not that he is ever exempt from them,— nay, 
 it is " through much tribulation that he is to 
 enter the kingdom ;"— he is a disciple of the 
 cross, his religion is that of the cross, he is a 
 follower of Him who died upon the cross, and 
 entire exemption from the cross he never ex- 
 pects until he passes to the possession of the 
 crown. But he may pray down his crosses : 
 prayer will lessen their number, and will miti- 
 gate their severity. The man whose walk is 
 far from God, whose frame is cold, and worldly, 
 and careless, if he be a true child of the cove- 
 nant, one of the Lord's family, he may expect 
 crosses and trials to increase upon every step 
 he advances towards the kingdom. Ah ! little 
 do many of the tried, afflicted, and constantly 
 disappointed behevers think, how closely re- 
 
172 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 lated are these very trials, and afflictions, and 
 disappointments, to their restraining of prayer 
 before God : every step seems attended with 
 some new cross, — every scheme is blasted by 
 some adverse wind, — every effort is foiled, — 
 disappointment follows disappointment, wave 
 attends upon wave, — nothing they attempt 
 prospers, all they enter upon fails, — and every- 
 thing seems against them. ! could we pass 
 behind the scene, what should we discover ? — 
 a deserted throne of grace ! Were we to 
 divulge the secret, and place it in the form of 
 a charge against the believer, what would it 
 be ? — " Thou hast restrained prayer 
 BEFORE God !" The scheme was framed with- 
 out prayer ; the enterprise was entered upon 
 without prayer; the effort was made without 
 prayer ; — God has blown upon it, and all has 
 come to nought. No marvel; God was not 
 consulted, — the Lord was not acknowledged, 
 his permission was not asked, his wisdom was 
 not sought, his blessing was not craved ; and 
 so he blew upon it all ! The precious injunc- 
 tion is, — "Trust in the Lord with all thine 
 heart, and lean not unto thine own under- 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 173 
 
 standing. In all thy ways acknowledge him, 
 and he shall direct thy paths." AYhere this 
 is honoured, there is the Divine blessing; 
 where it is slighted, there is the Di\dne 
 displeasure. 
 
 But we need not enlarge ; the evils resulting 
 from a declension of prayer are sufficiently 
 obvious. We have shown that the secret of a 
 happy life, and the spring of a holy one, are in 
 a close walk with God ; that if a child of God 
 restrains prayer, he opens the door for the de- 
 parture of every grace, and to the admission 
 of every sin : when these statements have been 
 seriously and prayerfully pondered, let the 
 reader follow us to the consideration of those 
 means which the Lord has appointed and 
 owned, for the revival of the spirit and exer- 
 cise of prayer in the believer. 
 
 The believer should correctly ascertain the 
 true character of his prayers. Are they lively 
 and spiritual? are they the exercises of the 
 heart, or of the understanding merely ? Are 
 they the breathings of the indwelling Spirit, 
 or the cold observance of a form without the 
 power ? Is it communion and fellowship ? 
 
174 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 Is it the filial approach of a child, rushiDg 
 with confidence and affection into the bosom 
 of a Father, and sheltering itself there in every 
 hour of need ? It should be remembered by 
 every professing man, that there is a great 
 difference between prayer and praying; we 
 mean, between the formal observance of the 
 duty, and the spiritual character of the per- 
 formance. All prayer is not communion ; and 
 here a man may be greatly and awfully de- 
 ceived : he may repeat his visits to the throne 
 of grace, and go and come without having 
 exhaled a single breath of spiritual prayer ; 
 there may be no respiration in the soul ; all is 
 formal, cold, and lifeless. This, then, is the 
 first step to a revival of true prayer in the soul. 
 Examine the character of your devotions ; are 
 they such as will stand the test of God^s word ? 
 will they compare with the holy breathings of 
 David, and Job, and Solomon, and the New 
 Testament saints ? are they the breathings 
 forth of the life of God within you ? are they 
 ever accompanied with filial brokcnncss, lowli- 
 ness of spirit, and humble and contrite confes- 
 sion of sin ? Sec well to your prayers ! be 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 175 
 
 not content with half-hearted devotions ; be 
 not satisfied with cold, dull, formal petitions. 
 Take care that your family prayers degenerate 
 not into this, — there is danger here ; see that 
 the flame bui*ns brightly, and rises high on 
 that sacred altar, — that your breathings to 
 God are such as to carry conviction to the 
 minds of your children, your domestics, and 
 your friends, that the duty in which they are 
 engaged is the most spiritual, holy, and solemn 
 of all engagements ; they will form their view 
 of prayer by youi- performance of it at the 
 domestic altar. Be cautious that you beget 
 not in them a disgust for the exercise ; if their 
 minds are unregenerate, great wisdom and 
 deep spirituality are needed to guard against 
 this j let them see that you attach a great and 
 solemn importance to the duty ; be not hurried 
 in its performance ; let it take precedence of 
 all other engagements ; nothing should crowd 
 upon it, and thus cm-tail the time sacred to it 
 alone. If possible, it should always precede 
 the morning and evening's repast ; the mind 
 is thus hallowed with solemn thought, and is 
 better fitted for the varied engagements that 
 
176 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 follow. It has been found a beneficial prac- 
 tice, too, to supply each member of the domes- 
 tic circle with a Bible, each in succession 
 reading a verse of the chapter, or else following 
 the individual conducting the devotional exer- 
 cise ; this will prevent the roving eye, and will 
 check distraction of thought, by concentrating 
 the mind upon the portion that is read. An 
 occasional comment, explaining a term, or 
 elucidating a truth, or reconciling an apparent 
 discrepancy, will often impart increased inter- 
 est and profit to the service. Should there be 
 no godly father at the head of the family, let 
 not the Christian mother shrink from the dis- 
 charge of this engagement : the word of God 
 is on her side — the grace of Christ Jesus is 
 on her side — God himself is on her side ; 
 let her erect the family altar in the fear of 
 God, and in the strength of Jesus, — around it 
 let her gather her children and her domestics, 
 and let her be the priestess that offers up the 
 morning and the evening sacrifice : it is her 
 solemn duty, — and for the discharge of every 
 duty, the Lord has promised to impart all-suf- 
 ficient grace. 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 177 
 
 A further step in the re\ival of true prayer is, 
 to become more thoromjlihj acquainted with our 
 many and varied necessities. It is the know- 
 ledge of his need that gives true eloquence to 
 the petition of the beggar ; a sense of destitu- 
 tion^ of absolute want, of actual starvation, 
 imparts energy to his plea, and perseverance 
 in its attainment ; his language is, " I must 
 have bread, or I die/^ This is just what we 
 want the child of God to feel : what is he but 
 a pensioner on God's daily bounty ? what re- 
 sources has he wdthin himself ? — none what- 
 ever ; and what is he without God ? — poor 
 indeed. Now, in proportion as he becomes 
 acquainted with his real case, his utter desti- 
 tution, he wdll besiege the throne of grace, and 
 take no denial. He must know his wants, he 
 must know what grace he is deficient in, what 
 easy besetting sin clings to him, what in- 
 firmities encompass him, what portion of the 
 Spirit's work is declining in his soul, where he 
 is the weakest and the most exposed to the 
 attacks of the enemy, and what yet he lacks 
 to perfect him in all the will of God ; let him 
 examine himself honestly, and know his real 
 N 
 
178 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 condition. This will endear the throne of 
 grace, will stir up the slumbering spirit of 
 prayer, will supply him with errands to God, 
 and give argument, energy, and perseverance 
 to his suit. It was his deep and pressing 
 sense of need, that imparted such boldness and 
 power to the wrestlings of Jacob : " I will not 
 let thee go, except thou bless me;" and the 
 Lord said, " Thy name shall be called no more 
 Jacob, but Israel ; for as a prince hast thou 
 power with God and with men, and hast pre- 
 vailed.^' Thus imitate the patriarch ; begin 
 the day with thinking over what you may 
 possibly need before its close ; whether any 
 cross is anticipated, or any temptation is ap- 
 prehended, or any danger to which you may 
 be exposed ; and then go and wrestle for the 
 needed and the promised grace. it is a 
 great mercy to have an errand that sends us 
 to God ; and when we remember what a full 
 heart of love he has, what a readiness to hear, 
 what promptness in all his answers, what 
 entering into the minutest circumstance of a 
 believer's history, — how it chides the reluctance 
 and rebukes the unbelief that we perpetually 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 179 
 
 manifest in availing ourselves of this most 
 costly, holy, and precious of all our privileges ! 
 
 There should be the searching out and the 
 removal of that which hinders j)rayei\ Many 
 things weaken true prayer : unsubdued sin — 
 unrepented sin — unpardoned sin, we mean the 
 secret sense of it upon the conscience — worldly- 
 mindedness — light and trifling conversation, 
 vain disputations, much and frequent inter- 
 course either with unconverted individuals or 
 cold and formal professors ; all these com- 
 bined, or any single one, will, if suffered to 
 prevail, unfit the mind for converse wdth God, 
 and cause a decay of the spirit of prayer in the 
 soul. Regard that as injui'ious which touches 
 the devotional frame of your mind ; which 
 abridges the hour of prayer, and removes the 
 fine edge of its holy enjoyment. 
 
 But that for which we most earnestly plead, 
 and which will tend more than all beside to 
 the revival of true prayer in the believer, is, a 
 more enlarged communication of the Holy Spirit's 
 gracious influence. Here lies the grand source 
 and secret of all true, spiritual, believing, per- 
 severing, and prevailing prayer ; it is the lack 
 
180 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 of this that is the cause of the duhiess, and 
 formality, and reluctance, that so frequently 
 mark the exercise. The saints of God honour 
 not sufficiently the Spirit in this important 
 part of his work ; they too much lose sight of 
 the truth, that of all true prayer he is the 
 Author and the Sustainer ; and the conse- 
 quence is, and ever will be, self-sufficiency and 
 cold formality in the discharge, and ultimate 
 neglect of the duty altogether. But, let the 
 promise be pleaded, "I will pour upon the 
 house of David, and upon the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplica- 
 tion ;" let the Holy Ghost be acknowledged 
 as the Author, and constantly sought as the 
 Sustainer of this holy exercise ; let the saint of 
 God feel that he knows not what he should 
 pray for as he ought, that the Spirit itself 
 maketh intercession for us with groanings 
 which cannot be uttered, and that God knows 
 the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh in- 
 tercession for the saints according to his will ; 
 and what an impulse will this give to prayer ! 
 what new life will it impart, what mighty 
 energy, what unction, and what power with 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 181 
 
 God ! Seek, then, with all your blessings, 
 this, the richest and the pledge of all, the bap- 
 tism of the Spirit ; rest not short of it ; you 
 are nothing as a professing man without it ; 
 your religion is lifeless, your devotion is formal, 
 your spirit is unctionless, you have no moral 
 power with God or with man, apart from the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost ; seek it, wrestle 
 for it, agonise for it, as transcendently more 
 precious than every other mercy. Submerged 
 in his quickening and reviving influences, what 
 a different Christian will you be ! how differ- 
 ently will you pray, how differently will you 
 live, and how differently will you die ! Is the 
 spirit of prayer languishing ? is its exercise 
 becoming irksome ? is closet devotion aban- 
 doned ? is the duty in any form becoming a 
 task ? — rouse thee to the seeking of the 
 baptism of the Spirit ! this alone will stay the 
 progress of thy declension, this will revive the 
 true spirit of prayer within thee, and this will 
 give to its exercise sweetness, pleasantness, and 
 power. God has promised the bestowment of 
 the blessing, and he will never disappoint the 
 soul that seeks it. 
 
182 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 The outpouring of the Spirit of prayer, too, 
 is needed to give frequency, and life, and 
 directness, to our petitions in behalf of the 
 church and the world. The word of God is 
 exphcit on this point. Thus for all classes and 
 conditions of men : " I exhort, therefore, that, 
 first of all, supplications, prayers, inter- 
 cessions, and giving of thanks, be made for 
 all men ; for kings, and for all that are in 
 authority; that we may live a quiet and peace- 
 able life in all godliness and honesty. For 
 this is good and acceptable in the sight of God 
 our Saviour." 1 Tim. ii. 1 — 3. And thus, 
 too, for the church of Christ : " Pray for the 
 peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that 
 love thee." Psalm cxxii. 6. Intercessory prayer 
 one for the other is urged: "Confess your 
 faults one to another, and pray one for 
 another, that ye may be healed. The 
 effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man 
 availeth much." James v. 16. And also for 
 the ministers of the Gospel ; " Brethren, pray 
 for us." Heb. xiii. 18. These are solemn in- 
 junctions : who can read them without a secret 
 consciousness of havinc; slighted or overlooked 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 183 
 
 them ? But what is to give intensity, and 
 power, and fixedness, and prevalency, to our 
 prayers for the church of Christ, and in behalf 
 of a world still under the dominion and supre- 
 macy of sin, but a large effusion of the Spirit of 
 prayer ? Contracted wall be our sympathies, 
 selfish our desires, and cold and general our 
 petitions, if not baptized in the Spirit of 
 prayer. The Holy Ghost, descending as on 
 the day of Pentecost, filling, overwhelming, 
 and saturating us with his influence, how 
 will the pressing necessities of the church, 
 and the moral claims of the world, then rise 
 before us in all their eloquent pleadings ! We 
 will close the present chapter with a few re- 
 marks of a practical tendency. 
 
 In all true prayer, great stress should be laid 
 on the hlood of Jesus: perhaps no evidence 
 distinguishes a declension in the power and 
 spirituality of prayer more strongly than an 
 overlooking of this. Where the atoning blood 
 is kept out of view; not recognised, not 
 pleaded, not wrestled with, not made the 
 grand plea, there is a deficiency of power 
 in prayer. Words are nothing, fluency of 
 
184 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 expression nothing, niceties of language and 
 brilliancy of thought nothing, and even 
 apparent fervour nothing, where the blood 
 of Christ, — the new and the living way 
 of access to God, the grand plea that moves 
 Omnipotence, that gives admission within the 
 holy of holies, — is slighted, undervalued, and 
 not made the groundwork of every petition. 
 Oh, how much is this overlooked in our 
 prayers, — how is the atoning blood of 
 Immanuel slighted ! how little mention we 
 hear of it in the sanctuary, in the pulpit, in 
 the social circle ; whereas it is this that makes 
 prayer what it is with God ! All prayer is 
 acceptable with God, and only so, as it comes 
 up perfumed with the blood of Christ; all 
 prayer is answered as it urges the blood of 
 Christ as its plea : it is the blood of Christ 
 that satisfies justice, and meets all the demands 
 of the law against us; it is the blood of Christ 
 that purchases and brings down every blessing 
 into the soul ; it is the blood of Christ that 
 sues for the fulfilment of his last will and 
 testament, every precious legacy of which 
 comes to us solely on account of his death; 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 185 
 
 this it is, too, that gives us boldness at the 
 throne of grace, — " Having boldness to enter 
 into the holiest by the blood of Jesus/^ How 
 can a poor sinner dare approach without this ? 
 how can he look up, how can he ask, how can 
 he present himself before a holy God, but as 
 he brings in the hand of faith the precious 
 blood of Jesus ? Out of Christ, God can hold 
 no communication with us ; all intercourse is 
 suspended, every avenue of approach is closed, 
 all blessing is withheld. God hath crowned 
 his dearly beloved Son, and he will have us 
 crown him too; and never do we place a 
 brighter crown upon his blessed head, than 
 when we plead his finished righteousness as 
 the ground of our acceptance, and his atoning 
 blood as our great argument for the bestow- 
 ment of all blessing with God. If, then, dear 
 reader, you feel yourself to be a poor, vile, 
 unholy sinner; if a backslider, whose feet have 
 wandered from the Lord, in whose soul the 
 spirit of prayer has declined, and yet still feel 
 some secret longing to return, and dare not, 
 because so vile, so unholy, so backsliding ; yet 
 you may return, "having boldness to enter 
 
186 DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 
 
 into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Come, 
 for the blood of Christ pleads ; return, for the 
 blood of Christ gives you a welcome : " If any 
 man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous." 
 
 Forget not that the season of trial and of 
 bereavement is often the sanctified occasion of a 
 revival of prayer in the soul. The Lord has 
 marked your wanderings ; he has had his eye 
 upon the declension of your soul. That voice, 
 always so pleasant to his ear, has ceased to call 
 upon him : and now he would recover thee ; 
 he would hear that voice again. And how will 
 he effect it ? He causes you to *' pass under 
 the rod," sends some sore trial, lays on thee 
 some weighty cross, brings trouble and sorrow 
 into thy soul, and then thou criest unto him, 
 and dost besiege the mercy-seat. how 
 eagerly is God sought, how attractive and how 
 precious does the throne of grace become, 
 when the soul is thus led into deep waters of 
 trial ! No longer silent, no longer dumb, the 
 believer calls upon God, pleads with " strong 
 crying and tears," wrestles and agonises, and 
 thus the slumbering spirit of prayer is stirred 
 
DECLENSION IN PRAYER. 187 
 
 up and revived in the soul. sweet affliction, 
 precious discipline^ that brings back the 
 wandering soul to a closer and a holier walk 
 with God ! 
 
 Again we exhort the believer, guard against 
 the least declension in prayer; let the first 
 unfavourable symptom that appears alarm you; 
 go to the Lord in your worst frames ; stay not 
 from him until you get a good one. Satan^s 
 grand argument to keep a soul from prayer, 
 is, — ' Go not with that cold and insensible 
 frame; go not with that hard and sinful heart; 
 stay until you are more fit to approach God.' 
 And listening to this specious reasoning, 
 many poor, distressed, burthened, longing souls 
 have been kept from the throne of grace, and 
 consequently from all comfort and consolation. 
 But the Gospel says, — ' Go in your very worst 
 frames ; ' Christ says, — ' Come just as you 
 are : ' and every promise and every example 
 but encourages the soul to repair to the cross 
 whatever be its frame or condition. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION WITH 
 DOCTRINAL ERROR. 
 
 " Sanctify them through thy truth."— Jo/m xvii. 17. 
 
 God has been graciously pleased to appoint 
 his chui*ch the great conservator of his truth, 
 and his truth the especial medium of sanctifi- 
 cation to his church; there is a close and 
 beautiful relation between the two. The 
 chui'ch may be compared to the golden lamp 
 which contains the sacred oil, which, in its 
 turn, feeds the flame of its light and holiness. 
 The church is to guard with a jealous and 
 vigilant eye the purity of the truth, while the 
 truth is to beautify and sanctify the ark which 
 preserves it; compare 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; John 
 xvii. 17. Thus there is a close relation, and a 
 reciprocal influence constantly existing and 
 exerted, between the church of Christ and the 
 truth of God. 
 
DOCTRINAL ERROR. 189 
 
 To this thought add yet another : every in- 
 dividual believer in Jesus is himself a subject, 
 and therefore a witness, of the truth ; he has 
 been quickened, called, renewed, and partially 
 sanctified through the instrumentality of God^s 
 revealed truth : " Of his own will begat he us 
 with the word of truth." James i. 18. "For 
 the truth's sake which dwelleth in us." 
 2 John 2. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the 
 Lord." Here is unfolded one of the most 
 solemn and afi'ecting truths touching the 
 character and individual responsibility of a 
 child of God. He is a subject of truth, he is 
 a repository of the truth, and he is a witness 
 for the truth ; yea, he is the only living 
 witness to the truth which God has on 
 earth. The world he lives in is a dark, 
 polluted, God -blaspheming, Christ - denying, 
 truth -despising world. The saints who have 
 been called out of it according to his 
 eternal purpose and love, and by his sovereign, 
 distinguishing, and free grace, are the only 
 lights and the only salt in the midst of this 
 moral darkness and corruption. Here and 
 there a light glimmers, irradiating the gloomy 
 
190 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 sphere in which it moves ; here and there a 
 spot of verdure appears, relieving the arid and 
 barren desolation by which it is surrounded. 
 These are the saints of the Most High, the 
 witnesses of the Divine character, the omni- 
 potent power, and the holy tendency, of God^s 
 blessed truth. Let the saints of God, then, 
 solemnly weigh this affecting fact, that though 
 the written word and the accompanying Spirit 
 are God's witnesses in the world, yet they are 
 the only living exemplifications of the power 
 of the truth, and as such, are earnestly ex- 
 horted to be ^^ blameless and harmless, the 
 sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a 
 crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye 
 shine as lights in the world." Phil. ii. 15. 
 
 The first point on which it is our duty to 
 touch in opening the subject of this chapter, 
 is, the holy tendency of Divine truth, or, the 
 intimate relation between truth and holiness. 
 There are two admitted axioms in every de- 
 partment of human science, which will apply 
 with equal force to the matter before us ; — 
 viz., that an effect cannot exist without a cause, 
 and that a cause docs not operate without the 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 191 
 
 use of means. Let these admitted proposi- 
 tions form the basis of om* reasoning upon this 
 important subject. God has designed the sanc- 
 tification of his people ; he has appointed his 
 truth as the great instrument of effecting their 
 sanctification ; and in order to accomplish this, 
 he has declared, that his truth must dwell in 
 the heart in the same richness, fulness, and 
 purity, with which it is revealed in his word. 
 
 In sustaining oui' proposition, that the truths 
 of the Gospel are the grand means which God 
 employs for the sanctification of his people, let 
 us be distinctly understood in the outset, as 
 disclaiming all belief in the mere power of the 
 truth itself to produce holiness. This is one 
 of the grand errors of modern divinity from 
 which we unhesitatingly dissent, and which 
 we sternly repudiate. The mere presentation 
 of truth to the unrenewed mind, either in the 
 form of threatening, or promise, or motive, can 
 never produce any saving or sanctifying effect. 
 The soul of man in its unrenewed state, is re- 
 presented as spiritually dead ; insensible to all 
 holy, spiritual motion. Now upon such a 
 mind, what impression is to be produced by 
 
193 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 the mere holding up of truth before its eye ? 
 What life, what emotion, what effect will be 
 accomplished ? As well might we spread out 
 the pictured canvas before the glazed eye of a 
 corpse, and expect that by the beauty of the 
 design, and the brilliancy of the colouring, and 
 the genius of the execution, we would animate 
 the body with life, and heave the bosom with 
 emotion, and cause the eye to swim with de- 
 light, as to look for similar moral effects to 
 result from the mere holding up to view Divine 
 truth before a carnal mind, " dead in trespasses 
 and sins." And yet there are those who main- 
 tain the doctrine, that Divine truth unaccom- 
 panied by any extraneous power, can effect all 
 these wonders ! Against such a theory we 
 would simply place one passage frdm the 
 sacred word : " Except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 
 But the power of the truth for which we 
 plead, is that which results from the attending 
 energy and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. 
 The sacred word, inspired though it be, is but 
 a dead letter, unclothed with the life-giving 
 power of the Holy Ghost. Awful as are the 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERKOJl. 193 
 
 truths it unfolds, solemn as are the revelations 
 it discloses, touching as are the scenes it 
 portrays, and persuasive as are the motives 
 it supplies, yet, when left to its own unaided 
 operation, Divine truth is utterly impotent to 
 the production of spiritual life, love, and holi- 
 ness in the soul of man. Its influence must 
 necessarily be passive, possessing as it does no 
 actual power of its own, and depending upon 
 a Divine influence extraneous from itself, to 
 render its teaching efficacious. The three 
 thousand who were converted on the day of 
 Pentecost, were doubtless awakened under one 
 sermon, and some would declare it was the 
 power of the truth which wrought those 
 wonders of grace. With this we perfectly 
 agree, only adding, that it was truth in the 
 mighty hand of God which pricked them to 
 the heart, and wrung from them the cry, 
 "Men and brethren, what shall we do V^ The 
 Eternal Spirit was the efficient cause, and the 
 preached truth but the instrument employed, 
 to produce the efiect ; but for his accompany- 
 ing and efi'ectual power, they would, as multi- 
 tudes do now, have turned theii- backs upon 
 o 
 
194 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 the sermon of Peter, though it was full of 
 Christ crucified, deriding the truth, and reject- 
 ing the Saviour of whom it spake. But it 
 pleased God in the sovereignty of his will, to 
 call them by his grace, and this he did by the 
 efiectual, omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit, 
 through the instrumentality of a preached 
 Gospel. 
 
 Thus, then, we plead for a personal experi- 
 mental acquaintance with, and reception of, 
 the truth, ere it can produce anything like 
 holiness in the soul. That it has found an 
 entrance to the judgment merely, will not do ; 
 advancing not further, — arresting not the will, 
 touching not the heart, renewing not the whole 
 soul, — it can never erect the empire of holiness 
 in man ; the reign of sanctification cannot have 
 commenced. The mental eye may be clear, 
 the moral eye closed ; the mind all light, the 
 heart all dark ; the creed orthodox, and the 
 whole life at variance with the creed. Such is 
 the discordant efiect of Divine truth, simply 
 settled in the human understanding, unaccom- 
 panied by the power of the Holy Ghost in the 
 heart. But let a man receive the truth in his 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 195 
 
 heart by the power of God himself ; let it enter 
 there^ disarming and dethroning the strong 
 man ; let Jesus enter, and the Holy Spirit 
 take possession, renewing, sealing, and sancti- 
 fying the soul; and then we may look for 
 the "fruits of holiness which are unto eternal 
 life.'' 
 
 Now that it is the natm-al tendency of 
 Divine truth thus received into the heart, to 
 produce holiness, a moment^s reference to the 
 word of God will show. The design of the 
 whole plan of redemption, was to secure the 
 highest holiness and happiness of the creature ; 
 and when the Gospel comes with the power of 
 God unto the salvation of the soul, this end is 
 pre-eminently secured. The renewed man is 
 a pardoned man ; the pardoned man becomes 
 a holy man; and the holy man is a happy 
 man. Look, then, at God^s word, and trace 
 the tendency of every doctrine, precept, pro- 
 mise, and threatening, and mark the holy in- 
 fluence of each. To select, for example, a few 
 of the distinguishing doctrines of grace. Take 
 the doctrine of God^s everlasting love to his 
 people, as seen in their election to eternal life. 
 
196 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 How holy is the tendency of this truth ! 
 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all 
 spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ : 
 according as he hath chosen us in him before 
 the foundation of the world, that we should be 
 holy and without blame before him in love.'^ 
 Eph. i. 3_, 4. Let not my reader turn from 
 this glorious doctrine, because he may find it 
 irreconcileable wdth others that he may hold, or 
 because the mists of prejudice may long have 
 veiled it from his mind : it is a revealed doc- 
 trine, and therefore to be fully received ; it is 
 a holy doctrine, and therefore to be ardently 
 loved. Received in the heart by the teaching 
 of the Holy Ghost, it lays the pride of man in 
 the dust, knocks from beneath the soul all 
 ground for self-glorying, and expands the 
 mind with the most exalted views of the 
 glory, grace, and love of Jehovah. He who 
 receives the doctrine of electing love in his 
 heart by the power of the Spirit, bears about 
 with him the material of a holy walk; its 
 tendency is to humble, abase, and sanctify the 
 man. 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 197 
 
 Thus holy, too, is the revealed doctrine of 
 God's free, sovereign, and distinguishing grace. 
 The tendency of this truth is most sanctify- 
 ing : for a man to feel that God alone hath 
 made him to differ from another — that what 
 he has, he has received — that by the free, dis- 
 tinguishing grace of God, he is what he is, — is 
 a truth, when experienced in the heart, surely 
 of the most holy influence. How it lays the axe 
 at the root of self ! how it stains the pride of 
 human glory, and hushes the whispers of vain 
 boasting ! It lays the renewed sinner, where 
 he ought ever to lie, in the dust ; and places 
 the crown, where it alone ought to shine, 
 bright and glorious, upon the head of 
 sovereign mercy. " Lord, why me ? I was 
 far from thee by wicked works ; I was the 
 least of my Father's house, and of all, the most 
 unworthy and unlikely object of thy love : and 
 yet thy mercy sought me, — thy grace selected 
 me out of all the rest, and made me a miracle 
 of its omnipotent power. Lord, to what can 
 I refer this, but to thy mere mercy, thy 
 sovereign and free grace, entirely apart from 
 all worth or worthiness that thou didst see in 
 
198 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 me ? Take, therefore, my body, soul, and 
 spirit, and let them be, in time and through 
 eternity, a holy temple to thy glory." Thus 
 "the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, 
 hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that 
 denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
 should live soberly, righteously, and godly in 
 this present evil world." And so might we 
 pass on through all the kindred doctrines of 
 grace, were it necessary, showing that the 
 sanctification of the believer is their great end 
 and tendency. 
 
 All the 'precepts, too, are on the side of 
 holiness. "If ye love me, keep my command- 
 ments ; " " Love not the world, nor the things 
 of the world ; " " Come out of the world, 
 and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean 
 thing ; " " Watch and pray ; " " Pray without 
 ceasing;" "Love as brethren;" "Be ye holy, 
 for I am holy ; " God hath not called us unto 
 uncleanness, but unto holiness ; " " That ye 
 might walk worthy of the Lord unto all 
 pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, 
 and increasing in the knowledge of God." 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 199 
 
 Holy precepts ! May the Eternal Spirit 
 engrave them deep upon our hearts ! 
 
 Not less sanctifying in their tendency are 
 those "exceeding great and precious promises" 
 which the word of truth contains. " Having, 
 therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let 
 us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
 flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear 
 of God/' 
 
 Equally holy is the tendency of the Divine 
 threatenings. " The day of the Lord will 
 come as a thief in the night ; in the which 
 the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, 
 and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, 
 the earth also and the works that are therein 
 shall be burned up. Seeing, then, that all 
 these things shall be dissolved, what manner 
 of persons ought ye to be in all holy 
 conversation and godliness ! Nevertheless 
 we, according to his promise, look for new 
 heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that 
 ye look for such things, be diligent that ye 
 may be found of him in peace, without spot, 
 
200 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 and blameless." Thus holy and sanctifying 
 are the nature and the effect of Divine truth. 
 It is in its nature and properties most holy; 
 it comes from a holy God ; and whenever and 
 wherever it is received in the heart, as the 
 good and incorruptible seed of the kingdom, it 
 produces that which is in accordance with its 
 own nature, — holiness. As is the tree, so 
 are the fruits ; as is the cause, so are the 
 effects. It brings down and lays low the high 
 thoughts of man, by revealing to him the 
 character of God; it convinces him of his deep 
 guilt and awful condemnation, by exhibiting 
 the Divine law; it unfolds to him God^s hatred 
 of sin, his justice in punishing and his mercy 
 in pardoning it, by unfolding to his view the 
 cross of Christ ; and taking entire possession 
 of the soul, it implants new principles, supplies 
 new motives, gives a new end, begets new joys, 
 and inspires new hopes, — in a word, diffuses 
 itself through the whole moral man, changes 
 it into the same image, and transforms it into 
 " an habitation of God through the Spirit." 
 
 Now it will require no laboured or 
 lengthened discussion to show, that the nature 
 
WJTH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 201 
 
 and tendency of error must be opposite to 
 that of truth; for it is impossible that two 
 things so different in their natures should be 
 capable of producing the same effects. If the 
 nature and the tendency of truth are to pro- 
 mote holiness, it must be the nature and the 
 tendency of en'or to promote unholiness; if 
 the one tends to humble the pride of man, to 
 diminish him in his own eyes, to correct the 
 evils of his fallen nature, to break the power 
 of corruption, and to introduce him into the 
 holy liberty of the child of God, — for ' if the 
 truth makes him free, then is he free indeed,^ 
 — surely the other tends to foster his proud 
 conceit of himself, to beget a lofty view of his 
 own gifts and attainments, to lessen his views 
 of sin^s exceeding sinfulness, and, lowering the 
 motive and weakening the power of holiness, 
 gives the unchecked rein to all the corrupt 
 propensities of a fallen nature. 
 
 It is the tendency of false doctrine to 
 divert the mind that cherishes it into a 
 wi-ong channel ; it leads the soul away from 
 God. As truth experimentally received draws 
 the heart to God, so error cherished in the 
 
202 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 mind leads the heart from God. It imparts 
 distorted views of the Divine character, gives 
 low conceptions of the Divine law, beclouds 
 the finished work of Christ, weakens the 
 power of moral obligation, and, from step to 
 step, leads the soul entirely, and, if grace do 
 not interfere, for ever, from God. 
 
 That the connexion between spiritual and 
 personal declension and false doctrine is close 
 and inseparable, and the results always the 
 most painful and disastrous, cannot be ques- 
 tioned. The moment a private Christian, or a 
 public teacher, or an associated body, becomes 
 infected with false doctrine, departs from the 
 word of God, and sets up doctrines, and com- 
 mandments, and ordinances, at variance with 
 the revealed word, that moment finds him or 
 them deteriorating in spirituality and declining 
 in holiness; and from a career of spiritual pros- 
 perity, perhaps the most unexampled, relapsing 
 into a state of formality, deadness, and un- 
 fruitfulness, from which nothing seems fully 
 and permanently to recover them. 
 
 Select an individual believer, a minister, or 
 the case of a church, which has departed from 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 203 
 
 the "faith once delivered unto the saints/' 
 and has relinquished some of the fundamental 
 doctrines of the Gospel, and how marked and 
 painful are the results ! 
 
 Take, for example, the case of an individual 
 believer. Has he abandoned the ancient land- 
 mark of truth ? Has he lost a reverence for 
 its character, a sense of its value, a relish for 
 its sweetness ? Trace the sad effects in his 
 uneven walk, his careless spirit, his low-toned 
 spirituality, his hardened conscience, his insen- 
 sible heart, his neglect of means — in a word, 
 the apparent withering up of all his grace. 
 What a change has passed over the man ! 
 what a distant spirit now marks him whose 
 walk was once so close with God ! what exhi- 
 bitions of self in him who was once so humble 
 and so retiring, whose carriage did seem to 
 speak the inward consciousness of the soul 
 'less than the least of all saints V what a turn- 
 ing of the back upon the means of grace, by 
 him to whom they were once so highly prized, 
 so eagerly sought, so richly enjoyed, amid 
 which he walked as through green pastures, 
 and by the side of still waters ! what un- 
 
204 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 kindness, what haughty bearing, what frigid 
 distance, now marks his conduct towards the 
 saints of God, once so dear to his heart, his 
 chosen and beloved companions, with whom 
 he desired to live and to die ! He has de- 
 parted from the faith, and these are some of 
 the dire effects ! 
 
 Take the still more affecting case of a pro- 
 fessed minister of the Gospel. Has any change 
 taken place in his views of the Christian 
 system ? has he relinquished any fundamental 
 doctrine of the Gospel ? has he abandoned any 
 essential element of- revealed truth ? Perhaps 
 he has given up the Godhead of Christ, the 
 sacrificial character of his death ; or, it may 
 be, he denies the Deity and Personality of the 
 Spirit ; or else his views touching the obliga- 
 tion of the believer to holiness have undergone 
 a painful alteration. But, whatever be the 
 error he has imbibed, whether doctrinal or 
 preceptive, a fearful blight has in consequence 
 fallen upon the man. How changed the spirit- 
 ual frame of his mind ! — no more zeal, tender- 
 ness, or solemnity marks him. How altered 
 the character of his ministry ! — no more power, 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 205 
 
 earnestness^ or spirituality, clothes it. How 
 different its results ! — no more conversions, 
 and no more edification, comfort, and estab- 
 lishing to the saints follow it. How differently 
 he prays ! — no more unction, life, and power 
 breathe in his petitions. He has imbibed 
 error, he has turned his back upon God's 
 truth, and God has turned his back upon him. 
 
 We might go on to trace the same or simi- 
 lar effects, showing the close connexion between 
 false doctrine and spiritual declension, in the 
 history of a church which has departed from 
 the purity of the faith ; but sufficient has been 
 advanced, we believe, to illustrate the awful 
 consequences of tampering with God's word, 
 and of relinquishing our hold upon a single 
 truth which he has revealed for the sanctifica- 
 tion and salvation of the soul. 
 
 The inquiry appropriately suggests itself 
 here, — how far may the prevailing deficiency 
 in spirituality be traced to the influence of lax 
 views of Divine truth among professedly ortho- 
 dox Christians, and to the existence of alarm- 
 ing errors which, like a flood, threaten to sweep 
 away the ancient land-marks of Gospel truth ? 
 
206 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 That such a dearth of spirituality does exist, — 
 traced in the pulpit, on the platform, from the 
 press, and in the social intercourse of Chris- 
 tians, — cannot be doubted : the only question 
 is. To what are we to refer it as a cause ? We 
 unhesitatingly reply. To a defective theology, 
 to false doctrine, to low and lax views of God's 
 revealed truth. Declension in spirituality has 
 ever followed a departure from the purity of 
 the faith. Look at the reformed churches on 
 the continent of Europe ; they departed from 
 the pure doctrines of the Reformation, and 
 what and where are they now ? Scattered, 
 many of them, to the winds, — torn up by the 
 roots ; while those that remain have sunk into 
 a state of the deepest declension, abandoned to 
 the withering influence of an infidel neology, 
 and a mystic transcendentalism. It is true, 
 the sun of the Reformation appears in some 
 parts of the land of Calvin and Luther to be 
 emerging from its long and deep obscuration, 
 inspiring hopes of the revival of a more pure 
 and spiritual Christianity. And to what are 
 these favourable symptoms to be traced, save 
 to a return of some of the churches and pastors 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 207 
 
 to the pure doctrines of the Reformation ? — 
 doctrines which Luther boldly preached, on 
 which Calvin powerfully wrote, and for which 
 Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer went fearlessly 
 to the stake. It is much to be feared, that if 
 the reformed churches of England and of 
 America return not soon to a purer and a 
 more spiritual theology, they will smite upon 
 the rocks on which the continental churches 
 have so sadly made shipwreck of faith. To 
 descend to particulars : 
 
 Is there not in the present day a criminal 
 keeping back by some, and a painful under- 
 valuing by others, of the scriptural and holy 
 doctrines of grace ? — The doctrines which un- 
 fold the eternity of God^s love to his people — 
 the sovereignty of his grace in their election — 
 the effectual power of the Spirit in their call- 
 ing — the free justification of their persons 
 through the imputed righteousness of Christ, 
 and the entire putting away of their sins by 
 his atoning blood — the solemn obligation to 
 "live soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
 present evil world,^^ and the certainty of their 
 final glorification in the world to come, — are 
 
208 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 not these Divinely-revealed truths, at the pre- 
 sent moment, and by the great mass of Christian 
 professors and preachers, excluded from our 
 pulpits and exiled from our land ? are they 
 not considered mean and unfashionable ? and, 
 having lost their savour with the many, are 
 they not cast out and trodden under foot of 
 men ? We verily and solemnly believe that it 
 is so. By some they are professedly received, 
 but criminally held back ; by others they are 
 professedly preached, but with such timidity 
 and obscurity, as to render them of none 
 effect; and by the many they are disbelieved 
 altogether, and therefore openly and boldly 
 denied ! And yet, these are the doctrines 
 which shine so luminously in every page of the 
 apostle^s writings, — these are the doctrines 
 which formed the grand themes of Christ^s 
 ministration, — and these are the doctrines, to 
 the preaching of which by the reformers, we 
 owe all the civil and religious liberty which, as 
 a nation, we now possess. We hesitate not, 
 then, to say that, along with the denial or the 
 undervaluing of these doctrines of grace, there 
 will go forth an influence that will wither the 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 209 
 
 spirituality and obstruct the prosperity of the 
 churches of our land. It is true, an outward 
 appearance of fruitfulness may follow the ex- 
 hibition of opposite and conflicting doctrines, 
 — crowds may flock to their standard, and 
 multitudes seem converted by their influence, 
 — but soon these delusive appearances are seen 
 to pass away. The time of trial and of sifting 
 comes, and then it is found — when, alas ! 
 too late to close the flood-gate against the 
 overwhelming evils which the preaching of 
 error has produced — that the truth, and the 
 truth only, in the hands of the Eternal Spirit 
 of God, can really enlighten the dark mind, 
 regenerate the lifeless soul, and subdue and 
 sanctify the rebellious heart : it is then dis- 
 covered, that the true prosperity of a church, 
 its stability, its spirituality, its vigour, and its 
 holy influence, are essentially, and therefore 
 inseparably, connected with a fearless and holy 
 maintenance of the doctrines of grace; that 
 where they are denied, or held back, or in any 
 way obscured, there may indeed exist the form 
 of godliness, but the power — the glorious. 
 Divine, and sanctifying power — is wanting. 
 p 
 
210 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 The preaching of false doctrine may build up 
 a church composed of " wood, hay, stubble," 
 but the preaching of truth alone can rear a 
 church composed of " gold, silver, precious 
 stones." And the day is approaching, when 
 " every man^s work shall be made manifest ; 
 for the day shall declare it, because it shall be 
 revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every 
 man^s work of what sort it is." 1 Cor. iii. 13. 
 Do we long J and pray, and labour for a true 
 revival of the Lord^s work ? — What is more 
 calculated to bring down the Holy Spirit of 
 God upon us in all the plenitude of his awaken- 
 ing influence, — arousing the careless, convinc- 
 ing the impenitent and unbelieving of sin, 
 annihilating the self-righteousness, prostrating 
 the high thoughts, and slaying the pride of 
 the human heart, — than a clear, pointed, and 
 faithful exhibition of God^sown revealed truth? 
 Has not the great experiment been tried, and 
 the question set at rest ? — It has. President 
 Edwards, in his "Narrative of Sm-prising 
 Conversions," bears this testimony : " I think 
 I have found," says he, " that no discourses 
 have been more remarkably blessed than those 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 211 
 
 in which the doctrine of God's absolute 
 sovereignty with regard to the salvation of 
 sinners, and his just liberty with regard to his 
 answering the prayer, or succeeding the pains 
 of mere natural men, continuing such, have 
 been insisted on. I never found so much 
 immediate saving fruit, in any measure, of any 
 discourses I have offered to my congregation, 
 as some from those words, ' That every mouth 
 may be stopped,^ Rom. iii. 19 ; endeavouring 
 from thence to show, that it would be just 
 with God for ever to reject and cast off mere 
 natural men.^' 
 
 And to go still further back in search of a 
 stronger testimony ; what was the great revival 
 at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost the result 
 of, but a faithful exhibition of the truth, 
 brought to bear upon the consciences and the 
 hearts of three thousand rebellious sinners, by 
 the bold apostle Peter? The doctrines he then 
 proclaimed, were the now despised and slighted 
 doctrines of grace ; the truths he then thundered 
 forth, were the most humbling to human pride, 
 and the most offensive to the natural heart, 
 and yet the most calculated, in the hands of 
 
212 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 the Eternal Spirit, to awaken the deepest 
 emotion, and to produce the most anxious 
 inquiry ; — " Him, being delivered by the 
 determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
 God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands 
 have crucified and slain." " Now, when they 
 heard this, they were pricked in their heart, 
 and said unto Peter and the rest of the 
 apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we 
 do ? " This was the result of a simple preach- 
 ing of the truth, — a faithful exhibition of the 
 doctrines of grace. The stout-hearted Jews 
 listened with awe : the men who had witnessed 
 the awful scene of Calvary without emotion, 
 now quailed, trembled, turned pale, and smote 
 on their breasts, in all the anguish of a deep, 
 pungent conviction of sin. How soon did 
 their proud natures bend, their hard hearts 
 melt; the strong fortress of their prejudices 
 yield before the simplicity and the majesty of 
 the truth ! It was the naked " sword of the 
 Spirit" which Peter wielded, and this, at one 
 blow, smote to the earth three thousand of the 
 most hopeless, impenitent sinners; it was a 
 crucified Saviour that he held up, which, by 
 
AVITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 213 
 
 the power of the Holy Ghost, wrought the 
 wonders of the day of Pentecost. "Is not 
 my word/' saith God, " Uke as a fire, and like 
 a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ?'' 
 " Thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the 
 king's enemies, w^hereby the people fall under 
 thee.'' Is it unreasonable, then, to expect, 
 that the same Spirit will honour with similar 
 tokens of his power, the preaching of the same 
 truths in our day ? " Thus saith the Lord, 
 Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the 
 old paths, where is the good way, and walk 
 therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." 
 Jer. vi. 16. 
 
 We would also inquire, is there not in the 
 present day a sad declension in the setting forth 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Have we not cause 
 to sound the note of alarm touching this most 
 important point? We verily and solemnly 
 beheve that the pulpits of oui* land are awfully 
 guilty here ; that the modern preaching of the 
 Gospel is not formed on the model of the 
 apostles', which was — Christ crucified : " I de- 
 termined not to know (or to make known) 
 anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and 
 
214 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 him crucified/^ Is not Jesus kept in the back 
 ground ? Is not his cross hidden, and much 
 of his glory veiled, as if ashamed to bring him 
 fully forward? Are the glory, the majesty, 
 and the beauty of his Divine and human 
 nature, his wondrous person, clearly set forth ? 
 Are the nature, necessity, and perfection of 
 his great work, fully and fearlessly unfolded ? 
 Are his precious blood, his imputed righteous- 
 ness, his mediatorial fulness, his exaltation and 
 intercession at the right hand of God, truths 
 prominently exhibited and fervently preached ? 
 On the contrary, are not human knowledge, 
 and splendid talents, and brilliant eloquence, 
 and moral suasion, greatly substituted for the 
 preaching of the cross ? That there should 
 be a sad declension of vital piety, of real 
 spirituality, and of active exertion, where 
 Christ is not fully preached, is not to be 
 wondered at. The cross of Jesus is the very 
 soul of Christianity ; all is death where Jesus 
 is not. Grace decays, piety languishes, and 
 formality takes the place of the power of the 
 Gospel, where the person and the work of 
 Christ are slighted, undervalued, or denied. 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 215 
 
 How should we pray that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Lamb slain, who is "worthy to 
 receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
 strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing," 
 should be more fully and simply preached 
 through the length and breadth of our land ; 
 that the church and the pulpit should more 
 manifestly crown him Lord of all ! 
 
 Once more : Is not the doctrine of the Holy 
 Spirit held slightly ? Is he not denied in his 
 person, dishonoured in his work, wounded and 
 grieved in his influence ? Is there not a more 
 marked dependence on creature power, than 
 upon the power of the Spirit? Do not sermons 
 and books, and reports, sadly forget to recog- 
 nise and honour him as the grand source of 
 all blessing ? Are his power, grace, and love, 
 in the great work of conversion, distinctly 
 acknowledged and duly honoured? That there 
 should be no precious gales of grace, no revival 
 of the Lord^s work, no true spiritual prosperity, 
 where the Holy Spirit is not glorified, we can- 
 not marvel. All must be cold, formal, and 
 lifeless — that church a stagnant pool, and that 
 ministry a powerless instrument, where the 
 
216 DECLENSION IN CONNEXION 
 
 Spirit of God is slighted, wounded, or abso- 
 lutely denied. 
 
 In closing, let us remark, that, living as 
 we do in a day of abounding error, it solemnly 
 behoves those who believe the truth, fearlessly 
 to maintain it. Let there be no compromise, 
 no barter of the truth ; buy it at any sacrifice 
 of human opinion, sell it at no price whatever. 
 '' Buy the truth, and sell it not.^^ Stand up a 
 witness of the truth, humbly, boldly, and in 
 the strength of the Lord, wherever his pro- 
 vidence may place you. consider the honour 
 of being permitted to testify to the truth as it 
 in Jesus ! You may be a lone, a solitary wit- 
 ness, yet fear not ; he who is ^' the truth" itself 
 says to you, as he did to the church in Phil- 
 adelphia, — "Thou hast a little strength, and 
 hast kept my word, and hast not denied my 
 name. Because thou hast kept the word of 
 my patience, I also will keep thee from the 
 hour of temptation, which shall come upon all 
 the world, to try them that dwell upon the 
 earth. Behold, I come quickly; hold that 
 fast which thou hast, that no man take thy 
 crown." Rev. iii. 10, 11. 
 
WITH DOCTRINAL ERROR. 217 
 
 Let those who hold the truth, be careful to 
 maintain good works, and so walk in all the 
 holiness of the truth they profess ; let them see 
 that by no carelessness of deportment, by no 
 want of integrity, by no neglect of the means 
 of grace, by no exhibitions of unholy temper, 
 by no worldly conformity, yea, by no inconsist- 
 ency whatever, they bring a slur upon the holy 
 doctrines they avowedly maintain and love; 
 let them not be satisfied with maintaining a 
 string of doctrines, unaccompanied with their 
 sanctifying power : but let them see that with 
 the truth in their judgments, they possess 
 grace in the heart, and unspotted holiness in 
 the life. '^Then said Jesus to those Jews 
 which believed on him. If ye continue in my 
 word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye 
 shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 you free.'' John viii. 31, 32. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God."— Epfi. iv. 20. 
 
 This subject stands in close and solemn 
 relation to the spiritual and personal declen- 
 sion of the believer : his decay in grace neces- 
 sarily and painfully involves it. Of all that 
 has been wrought in the believer in the way 
 of conviction^ repentance, faith, joy, holiness, 
 &c., the blessed and Eternal Spirit is the sole 
 Author. Great and glorious is his work : yea, 
 but for it, the redemption accomplished by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, as to any saving effects, 
 would have availed nothing. The ^Sun of 
 righteousness' might have risen upon the 
 world in all his peerless splendour; but until 
 the mental eye had been opened by the Holy 
 Spirit, not a beam had found its way into the 
 dark chambers of the understanding and the 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 219 
 
 heart. The Gospel ^ supper' might have been 
 prepared, the Lamb slain, and the invitation 
 issued; but without a supernatural power 
 working upon the will, the desires, and the 
 affections of man, all would have ' made light 
 of it, and have gone their ways, one to his farm, 
 another to his merchandise.' " It is expedient 
 for you that I go away," said Jesus, " for if I 
 go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
 you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto 
 you. And when he is come, he will reprove 
 the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
 judgment." Our views of the work of the 
 Spirit cannot be too spiritual, nor can our 
 estimate of its value be too high. The great 
 danger to which we are exposed, is, not in 
 overrating, but in undervaluing the office-work 
 of the Spirit ; not in thinking too high, but in 
 thinking too low of it : and that anything 
 tends more to wound, grieve, and chase from 
 us his sensible presence, than a known and 
 permitted declension of his work, we cannot 
 imagine. This is the solemn and important 
 point, to which the consideration of the reader 
 is now to be directed. 
 
220 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 The phrases, '^ vexing the Spirit/ 'grieving 
 the Spirit/ 'quenching the Spirit/ 'resisting 
 the Spirit/ &c.^ though metaphorical^ are 
 nevertheless highly significant and solemn in 
 their meaning. Grief is not a passion in the 
 Holy Spirit^ as it is in us^ any more than 
 'anger/ 'wrath/ 'revenge/ are unholy 
 emotions in God^ though ascribed to him. 
 In condescension to our weakness, these ex- 
 pressions are employed to set forth God's 
 extreme hatred of sin, and the holy sensitive- 
 ness of the Eternal Spirit to any neglect, 
 undervaluing, or declension of his most gra- 
 cious work and influence in the soul. Properly, 
 the Spirit cannot be grieved, cannot be quench- 
 ed, cannot be resisted; because he is not a 
 creature, though a person. To believe the 
 contrary, would be to invest the Holy Spirit 
 of God with such attributes as would be in- 
 compatible with his Divine glory and infinite 
 perfections, — such as belong only to a weak, 
 sinful, finite creature. But, metaphorically, to 
 'grieve the Spirit,' is to disregard his voice, 
 oppose his influence, and slight his kind, loving, 
 and tender natui'e ; and thus cause a with- 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 221 
 
 drawment from the soul — in some cases tem- 
 porary, in others eternal — of his presence, 
 influence, and blessing. In the case of the 
 regenerate, the withdrawment of the Spirit on 
 being grieved, is for a season only ; in that of 
 the finally impenitent and unbelieving, the 
 hushing of his voice, speaking to them in con- 
 science, in providence, and in his word, is the 
 giving of them up for ever. But these are 
 points that will appear in a more advanced 
 elucidation of our subject. Let our attention 
 now be directed to the way in which the Holy 
 Spirit of God may be grieved, and then to the 
 consideration of some of the certain and 
 mournful consequences. 
 
 I am supposed to address myself to those 
 who admit, in its unlimited meaning, the 
 scriptural doctrine of the Divine Pe?'sonality 
 of the Holy Spirit : else it might be proper to 
 show, that a denial of this truth involves an 
 absolute denial of the Spirit, — his personal 
 glory and official work, — and charges home 
 upon the conscience of the rejecter, a sin of 
 the most malignant character, and of the 
 most fatal tendency. It surely needs not the 
 
222 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 reasoning of a moment to prove that any exist- 
 ing doubt, any latent suspicion, as to the 
 Spirit's right to Divine homage, must involve 
 the sin of grieving the Spirit, in the highest 
 degree. Let the spiritual coldness, sterility, 
 lethargy, which are the legitimate and certain 
 results, prove the truth of vi^hat we affirm. 
 The moment a man entertains views of the 
 Spirit derogatory from his personal dignity, 
 that moment he seems like one abandoned of 
 the Spirit to the fearful and ruinous conse- 
 quences of his sin : his spirituality withers, his 
 grace decays, the spirit of devotion languishes, 
 and at length expires. If he ministers in the 
 priest's office, all power and unction in his 
 ministrations evaporate; or if he moves in a 
 private walk, all zeal, and ardour, and devoted- 
 ness in the cause of Christ become stagnant, 
 and the curse and the reproach of barrenness 
 fall like a blight upon the once fertile and 
 flourishing soul. These dire effects may be 
 traced to low views of the personal dignity and 
 official work of the Holy Spirit. But I now 
 particularly address myself to those Christians 
 who acknowledge the deity of the Spirit, and 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 223 
 
 his distinct personality in the Godhead, and 
 who humbly hope they are the subjects of his 
 renewing grace, and thus are acquainted with 
 the power and glory of his work. That even 
 such may sadly grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 
 and in consequence be great spiritual losers, 
 we think the following considerations, deduced 
 from the inspired word, will clearly show. 
 
 We commence with that which bears most 
 directly upon the subject of the present 
 volume, the declension of the Spirit's work of 
 grace in the soul of a child of God. What 
 can grieve the Spirit more than this? It 
 is an awful slight cast upon the most 
 glorious and stupendous production of his 
 power : nowhere has he erected a temple so 
 glorious, and nowhere has he put forth energy 
 so mighty, and in nothing has he imprinted so 
 deeply the outline of his own holy character, 
 as in the work of grace which he has com- 
 menced, and carries on in the heart of man. 
 Now, to witness any decay, declension, or 
 languor in this work; to mark the loss of 
 vigour, healthfulness, or fruitfulness, in any 
 single grace ; to see those whose souls he had 
 
224 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 quickened, whose minds he had illumined, 
 whose affections he had detached from earthly 
 things and centred in God, who did seem to 
 ' run well,' and promised much fruit, and ^ an 
 abundant entrance into the everlasting king- 
 dom,' now slacken their pace, grow weary of 
 the way, fold their arms again in slumber, 
 grow earthly, sensual, and grovelling; the 
 temple neglected, its gates unwatched, and 
 other guests admitted ; holy motives losing 
 their power, love ceasing to constrain, spiritual 
 things no longer attracting, delighting, and 
 satisfying the soul, — oh! can we imagine 
 the loving, faithful, tender heart of the Spirit 
 more sensibly touched with grief by anything 
 than this? Well might he exclaim, "What 
 could I have done more for my vineyard than 
 I have done ? Why, then, when I looked for 
 grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes ?" " 
 Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? 
 Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your 
 goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the 
 early dew it goeth away." 
 
 Of all spiritual states, lukewarmness is most 
 abhorrent to God, and grieving to the Holy 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 225 
 
 Spirit. " I know thy works, that thou art 
 neither cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold 
 or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm^ 
 and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out 
 of ray mouth. ^' Thus has God declared his 
 utter detestation of this state. And yet, who 
 contemplates it in this awful light? who 
 pauses to examine himself, to ascertain what 
 real progress his soul is making, — what grace 
 is enfeebled, — what part of the Spirit's work is 
 decayed, — what spot of his soul is barren and 
 unfruitful, and how far he is secretly and 
 effectually grieving the Holy Spirit, by a 
 known, allowed, and cherished state of spirit- 
 ual declension ? If, after all his skill, it must 
 be affecting to the architect to witness the 
 decay of his building ; if so to the parent, after 
 his costly expenditure of means in education, 
 to witness the fond hopes he cherished of his 
 child blasted, how infinitely more is the 
 Spirit affected and grieved to behold the 
 temple he had erected at such a cost, falling to 
 decay ; the soul he had taught wdth such care 
 and solicitude, receding into a state of coldness 
 and formality in its spiritual duties and affec- 
 Q 
 
226 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 tions ! " The heart of the Spirit/' beautifully 
 remarks Dr. Owen, '^ is infinitely more tender 
 towards us, than that of the most affectionate 
 parent can be towards an only child. And 
 when he with cost and care hath nourished 
 and brought us up into some growth and 
 progress in spiritual affections, wherein all his 
 concerns in us do lie, for us to grow cold, dull, 
 earthly-minded, to cleave unto the pleasures 
 and lusts of this world, how is he grieved, how 
 is he provoked V See, then, that your spirit- 
 ual state is such as occasions joy rather than 
 grief to the Holy Spirit of God. Nothing can 
 fill his loving heart with greater and more holy 
 delight, than to witness the deepening charac- 
 ter and expanding influence of his own work 
 in the believer. To behold the glimmering 
 light which he created, ^shining more and 
 more,' — the gentle plant emitting its 
 fragrance and putting forth its fruit, — the 
 well-spring in the heart, rising heavenward, 
 Godward, — such a picture must be grateful to 
 the Spirit. If the enthroned Redeemer looks 
 down with satisfaction upon the travail of his 
 soul in the calling in of his redeemed, equally 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 227 
 
 joyous must it be to the Eternal Spirit, to 
 behold the widening of his kingdom in the 
 saints, — the maturing of the soul for the in- 
 heritance and the companionship of ^just men 
 made perfect/ To mark a growing conformity 
 to the image of Christ — holiness expanding 
 its root — each grace in active exercise — every 
 w^eight cast aside — every sin mortified, and the 
 whole body, soul, and spirit, a rising temple to 
 God, must indeed fill all heaven with joy. 
 Christian reader, see well to thy state, that 
 the Holy Spirit of God is not grieved at any 
 known and cherished declension of his work 
 in thy soul. 
 
 The Spirit is grieved by a denial, or under- 
 valuing of his gracious work in the heart. It is 
 a circumstance worthy of remark, and import- 
 ant in the instruction which it conveys, that, 
 among all the examples of deep humility, seK- 
 abasement, consciousness and confession of 
 sin recorded of the saints in the word, not one 
 appears to afford an instance of a denial or 
 undervaluing of the Spirit^s work in the heart. 
 Keen as appears to have been the sense of 
 unworthiness felt by Jacob, David, Job, Isaiah 
 
228 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Peter, Paul, and others ; deep as was their 
 conviction, and humiliating as were their con- 
 fessions of sin's exceeding sinfulness, not one 
 expression seems to betray a denial of the 
 work of the Holy Ghost in their souls : they 
 felt, and mourned, and wept, and confessed 
 as men called of God, pardoned, justified, 
 adopted, not as men who had never tasted 
 that the Lord was gracious, and who therefore 
 were utter strangers to the operation of the 
 Spirit upon their hearts : they acknowledged 
 their sinfulness and their backslidings as con- 
 verted men, always ready and forward to crown 
 the Spirit in his work. But what can grieve 
 the tender, loving heart of the Spirit more 
 deeply than a denial of his ivork in the soul ? 
 And yet there is a perpetual tendency to this, 
 in the unbelieving doubts, legal fears, and 
 gloomy forebodings which those saints yield 
 to, who, at every discovery of the sin that 
 dwelleth in them, resign themselves to the 
 painful conviction, that they have been given 
 over of God to believe a lie ! To such we 
 would earnestly say. Grieve not thus the Holy 
 Spirit of God. Deep self-abasement, the con- 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 229 
 
 sciousness of utter worthlessness, ueed not 
 necessarily involve a denial of indwelling grace 
 in the heart; yea_, this blessed state is perfectly 
 consistent with the most elevated hope of 
 eternal life. He that can confess himself the 
 ' chief of sinners^ and ' the least of saints/ is 
 most likely to acknowledge, "I know in whom 
 I have believed," — "He hath loved me, and 
 given himself for me/' A^Tiat ! is it all 
 fabulous that you have beheved ? is it all a 
 delusion that you have experienced ? have you 
 been grasping at a shadow, believing a lie, and 
 fighting as one that beateth the air ? are you 
 willing to yield your hope and cast away your 
 confidence ? What ! have you never known 
 the plague of your own heart, the sweetness of 
 godly sorrow at the foot of the cross ? have 
 you never felt your heart beat one throb of 
 love to Jesus ? has his dear name never broken 
 in sweet cadence on your ear ? are you willing 
 to admit that all the grief you have felt, and 
 all the joy you have experienced, and all the 
 blessed anticipations you have known, were 
 but as a ^ cunningly devised fable,' a device 
 of the wicked one, a moral hallucination of the 
 
230 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 mind ? grieve not thus the Holy Spirit of 
 God ! deny not, undervalue not, his blessed 
 work within thee ! What if you have been 
 led into deeper discoveries of your fallen 
 nature, your unworthiness, vileness, insuffi- 
 ciency, declensions, and backsliding from God, 
 we ask. Whose work is this ? whose, but that 
 same blessed, loving Spirit whom thus you are 
 wounding, quenching, grieving, denying ? On 
 this point the writer feels acutely ; when he 
 remembers how many whose eye may trace 
 this page, are in this very state, — not merely 
 writing hard and bitter things against them- 
 selves, but also against the blessed, loving, 
 faithful Spirit of God, — calling grace nature, 
 denying his work in them, and, in a sense 
 most painful to his tender heart, ^ speaking 
 words against the Holy Ghost,^ he cannot but 
 feel. There is much spurious humility among 
 many saints of God, and this is one of its 
 common forms. It is not pride gratefully to 
 acknowledge what great things the Lord hath 
 done for us, — it is pride that refuses to 
 acknowledge them ; it is not true humility to 
 doubt, and underrate, until it becomes easy to 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 231 
 
 deny altogether the work of the Holy Ghost 
 within us, — it is true humility and lowliness 
 to confess his work, bear testimony to his 
 operation, and ascribe to him all the power, 
 praise, and glory. See then, dear reader, that 
 you cherish not this false humility, which is 
 but another name for deep, unmortified pride 
 of heart ; remember that as Satan may trans- 
 form himself into an angel of light, so may 
 his agencies assume the disguise of the most 
 holy and lovely graces ; thus pride, one of his 
 master agents of evil in the heart, may appear 
 in the shape of the profoundest humility. And 
 I would have you bear in mind, too, that 
 though the work of the Spirit in your heart 
 may, to your imperfect knowledge and dim 
 eye, be feeble — the outline scarcely visible 
 amid so much indwelling sin — the spark 
 almost hid amid so much abounding cor- 
 ruption, yet, to the Spirit's eye, that work 
 appears in all its distinctness and glory. 
 "The Lord knoweth them that are his.^' 
 This declaration will apply with equal truth 
 to the knowledge which the Holy Ghost 
 hath of his own work in the believer; his 
 
232 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 eye is upon the gentlest buddings of in- 
 dwelling grace — the faintest spark of love^ 
 — the softest whisper of holy desire — the 
 most feeble yearnings of the heart towards 
 Jesus, — all, all is known to, and loved by, the 
 Spirit ; it is his own work, and strange should 
 he not recognise it. Suffer this consideration 
 to have its proper weight in hushing those 
 murmurings, and soothing those fears, and 
 neutralising those doubts that so deeply grieve 
 the Holy Spirit of God: yield yourself up unto 
 him ; humbly acknowledge what he has done 
 in you; follow the little light he has given 
 you, call into constant and active exercise the 
 small degree of grace and faith which he has 
 imparted, and seek " with all prayer and 
 supplication^^ an enlarged degree of his holy 
 anointing, sanctifying, and sealing influence. 
 
 A substitution of his own work in the soul for 
 the atoning and finished work of Jesus, greatly 
 grieves the Holy Spirit of God. One essential 
 and important office of the Spirit is to glorify 
 Christ: "He (the Spirit) shall glorify me,'' 
 said Jesus ; " He shall testify of me -/' " He 
 shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 233 
 
 This being his work in reference to Christ, it 
 must be, of course, the great delight of the 
 Spirit ever and at all times to lift up Jesus 
 and glorify him. And how does the Spirit 
 most glorify Christ, but by exalting his atoning 
 work, — giving to it the pre-eminence, the 
 importance, and the glory it demands, — lead- 
 ing the sinner, whom he has first convinced 
 of sin, to accept of Jesus as a willing, an all- 
 sufficient Saviour, — to cast away all trust in 
 self, all reliance upon a covenant of works, 
 which is but a covenant of death, and thus 
 going entirely out of himself, to take up his 
 rest in the blood and righteousness of Im- 
 raanuel, the God-man Mediator. Oh, what 
 sweet, holy delight, must it be to the Spirit 
 of God, when a poor sinner in all his conscious 
 nothingness is led to build upon Jesus, the 
 " tried stone, the precious corner-stone, the 
 sure foundation \" 
 
 Let the reader, then, imagine how grieving 
 it must be to the Spirit, when there is any 
 resting in his work in the soul, either for 
 acceptance, or for comfort, or for peace, or for 
 strength, or even for evidence of a state of 
 
234 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 grace, and not solely and entirely in the 
 atoning work which Jesus hath wrought out 
 for the redemption of sinners. The work of 
 the Spirit and the work of Christ, though 
 they form parts of one glorious whole, are 
 yet distinct, and to be distinguished in the 
 economy of grace, and in the salvation of a 
 sinner. It is the work of Jesus alone, his 
 perfect obedience to the broken law of God, 
 and his sacrificial death as a satisfaction of 
 Divine justice, that form the ground of a 
 sinner^s acceptance with God, — the source of 
 his pardon, justification, and peace. The work 
 of the Spirit is, not to atone, but to reveal the 
 atonement; not to obey, but to make knoivn 
 the obedience; not to pardon and justify, but 
 to bring the convinced, awakened, penitent 
 soul to receive the pardon and embrace the 
 justification already provided in the work of 
 Jesus. Now, if there is any substitution of 
 the Spirit's work for Christ's work, — any 
 undue, unauthorised leaning upon the work 
 within, instead of the work without, the 
 believer, there is a dishonour done to Christ, 
 and a consequent grieving of the Holy Spirit 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 235 
 
 of God. It cannot be pleasing to the Spirit 
 to find himself a substitute for Christ ; and 
 yet this is the sin which so many are con- 
 stantly falling into. If I look to convictions 
 of sin within me, to any motion of the in- 
 dwelling Spirit, to any part of his work, as 
 the legitimate source of healing, of comfort, 
 or of evidence, I turn my back upon Christ, 
 I remove my eye from the cross, and slight 
 his great atoning work ; I make a Christ of 
 the Spirit ! I make a Saviour of the Holy 
 Ghost ! I convert his work into an atoning 
 work, and draw the evidence and the consola- 
 tion of my pardon and acceptance from what 
 he has done, and not from what Jesus has 
 done ! 0, is not this, again we ask, dis- 
 honouring to Christ, and grieving to the 
 Holy Spirit of God? Think not that we 
 undervalue the Spirit's work, — great and 
 precious is it. Viewed as a Quickener, John 
 vi. 63 — as an Indweller, 1 Cor. vi. 19 — as a 
 Sanctifier, 2 Thess. ii. 13 — as a Sealer, Eph. i. 
 13 — as a Witness, John v. 10 — as a Comforter, 
 John xiv. 26 — as the Author of Prayer, Rom. 
 viii. 26, — his person cannot be too ardently 
 
236 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 loved, nor can his work be too highly prized : 
 but the love we bear him, and the honour we 
 give him, must not be at the expense of the 
 honour and glory and love due to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, whom it is his office and his 
 delight to glorify. The crown of redemption 
 must be placed upon the head of Jesus; he 
 alone is worthy to wear it, — he alone has a 
 right to wear it. " Thou hast redeemed us by 
 thy blood,^^ is the song they sing in glory, and 
 " Thou shalt wear the crown," should be the 
 song echoed back from the redeemed on earth. 
 See, then, that you grieve not the Spirit, 
 either by misplacing or by undervaluing the 
 atoning work of Jesus. His blood, applied by 
 the Spirit, pardons ; his righteousness received 
 by faith justifies you; and ^^the peace of God 
 which passeth all understanding," is the 
 certain and blessed fruit of both. The con- 
 stant evidence of a pardoned and justified 
 state, must spring from a constant dealing 
 with, and looking to, the Lord Jesus : it is 
 ^ in his light that we are to see light ;' he is 
 the Sun that shines upon the work within us. 
 The eye of the soul withdrawn from his cross, 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 237 
 
 and fixed in intense gaze upon itself, will soon 
 be lost amid shadows and gloom. Inward 
 joys may be lived upon, until the spring of 
 joy ceases to flow ; evidences may be looked 
 to, until they melt away into darkness. What, 
 under these circumstances, is the poor, dis- 
 tressed, alarmed soul to do, but to fly afresh to 
 the cross ? AVhere is it to look, but again unto 
 Jesus ? What is to speak a sense of pardon, 
 but the atoning blood ; and what is to assure 
 of ^perfect peace,^ but the justifying righteous- 
 ness of the Son of God ? that there were a 
 more simple and direct looking out of, and 
 away from, self, to the atoning Saviour ! Then 
 would the precept be sweet, then would obedi- 
 ence be easy, then would the cross be light, and 
 then, too, would peace flow as a river, and 
 righteousness roll in as the waves of the sea. 
 
 And yet, there is a sense in which the 
 Spirifs own work may he so slighted, as deeply 
 to grieve his heart. There is a proneness to 
 extreme points even in the child of God : he 
 may either overrate, or he may underrate a 
 thing ; he may place an unwarrantable depend- 
 ence upon that which, at another period, he 
 
238 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 may be found painfully and sinfully to slight. 
 Thus, in reference to the afflictions of the 
 believer, the word of God exhorts him on the 
 one hand not to despise them, and tenderly 
 admonishes him on the other hand not to faint 
 under them. Heb. xii. 5. We may either 
 think too much or too little of God^s covenant 
 chastenings. What need of the teachings of 
 the Spirit every moment of one's life ! how 
 important to be found constantly distrusting 
 and leaning off of self, and trusting to, and 
 leaning upon, Jesus ! The prayer of a child of 
 God should unceasingly be, that the Lord 
 would keep him from himself; that the posture 
 of his mind might be low at the feet of Jesus, 
 each moment learning of, and living to, him. 
 But how may the Spirit's work be slighted by 
 the believer ? In various ways. 
 
 He may cherish an imperfect conscioiisness of 
 the indwelling of the Spirit in his heart. To 
 show any indifference to the presence of a 
 guest, to manifest any want of marked and 
 proper attention, is a slight of no ordinary 
 nature: in this sense may the Holy Spirit 
 of God be grieved. For the Holy Ghost 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 239 
 
 effectually to call, renew, sanctify and take 
 possession of the soul — make it his temple, his 
 permanent dwelling-place ; and yet, for that 
 soul to entertain inadequate views of this great 
 truth, forget who is dwelling with and in him, 
 slight his heavenly guest, and go out and come 
 in, and hve and act as if he were not a temple 
 of the Holy Ghost, — what can be more dis- 
 honouring to the Blessed and Eternal Spirit ! 
 that this momentous truth should even for 
 a single moment be lost sight of by the be- 
 liever ! That he should be the dwelling-place 
 of the Most High, the ' High and Lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,' 
 the residence of the Holy Ghost, and yet enter- 
 tain a feeling or a thought not in perfect har- 
 mony with so great a fact, does indeed show 
 the necessity of the apostolic admonition, 
 '' Grieve not the Holy Spnit of God/' 
 
 When, too, his still small voice is unheeded, 
 and his gentle constraints are not yielded to, 
 there is a slight put upon his work of a very 
 grievous nature. The abiding Indweller of the 
 saint of God, the Spirit, is perpetually speak- 
 ing to, admonishing, leading, drawing, and 
 
240 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 constraining the soul; his great work there, 
 is to teach, to sanctify, to shiekl, to check, 
 and to comfort the beUever. Every holy 
 shrinking from sin, every firm resistance of its 
 power, every victory achieved over its motions, 
 every aspiration after holiness, and every feeble 
 desire to walk in the way of filial obedience to, 
 and sweet communion with, God, is the fruit 
 of the indwelling Spirit in the heart. How 
 grieving, then, to that Spirit, when this loving 
 voice of his, and these gentle constraints of 
 his, are overlooked, stifled, disregarded, and 
 slighted by the soul he so tenderly loves, and 
 so faithfully watches over ! Grieve not thus 
 the Holy Spirit of God. In all his dealings 
 with you, he seeks but your real good; he 
 aims to deepen his own work in your hearts ; 
 he seeks but to promote your holiness, and to 
 mature your soul for the joys and the com- 
 panionship of the saints in light. Yet more ; 
 he desires your true happinesSj — he would 
 draw you ofi" from carnal things, he would 
 allure you from objects of sense and sin, and 
 open to you springs of higher and purer en- 
 joyment,, and lead you into fairer and greener 
 
ox GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 241 
 
 pastures : this would he do, by unfolding to 
 you what you possess in Jesus, in the covenant 
 of grace, and in a covenant God. Let your 
 ear, then, be open to the gentle voice of the 
 Spirit, and follow promptly and implicitly his 
 secret and gentle leadings. 
 
 Inconsistency in the Christian profession, 
 must be highly grieving to the Holy Spirit of 
 God. To mark a w^ant of harmony between 
 the professed principles and the habit of life in 
 one avowedly his temple ; to trace a love of 
 the world, a panting for its fame, a graspins^ 
 for its wealth, an adoption of its policy, a con- 
 forming to its maxims, its pursuits, its plea- 
 sures, and its religion, cannot fail to wound 
 the sacred guest, the indwelling Spirit. And 
 yet this worldly spirit, this painful inconsist- 
 ency of avowed Christian principle, how many 
 professors does it mark ! What numbers there 
 are professing and calling themselves Chris- 
 tians, the disciples of the Lord, the followers 
 of the meek and lowly Lamb of God, who 
 think lightly of putting on gay, worldly attire, 
 — of frequenting balls, or moving in the 
 dance, — of joining in carnal music, — of attend- 
 s 
 
242 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ing plays, and reading novels and romances, — 
 all of which are at variance with the Christian 
 character, are violations of the Christian rule, 
 are dishonouring to the name of Christ, and 
 are deeply grieving to the Holy Spirit of God. 
 You are professedly a temple to the Holy 
 Ghost. What ! shall you adorn that temple 
 with earthly splendour, after the fashion of 
 this world ? What says the Holy Ghost by 
 his servant ? — " In like manner also, that 
 women adorn themselves in modest apparel, 
 with shamefacedness and sobriety ; not with 
 broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly 
 array ; but (which becometh women professing 
 godliness) with good works." 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. 
 Again, — " Whose adorning let it not be that 
 outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of 
 wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel ; 
 but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in 
 that which is not corruptible, even the orna- 
 ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in 
 the sight of God of great price. For after 
 this manner, in the old time, the holy women 
 also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves." 
 1 Peter iii. 3 — 5. Do, then, the extravagance, 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 243 
 
 the costliness, the worldliness, the studied 
 attention to taste, that mark the outward 
 adornment of so many professing Christians^ 
 comport with the spirit and the precept of 
 the Gospel ? rather, are they not such in- 
 dulgences as the Gospel clearly interdicts, and 
 on which Christianity severely frowns ? 
 
 Again : Shall the believer, the professed 
 temple of the Holy Ghost, be found mingling 
 with the world, taking pleasure in its amuse- 
 ments, courting its society, working upon its 
 principles, and adopting its policy ? Ought 
 this to be the line of conduct pursued by a 
 professing Christian ? Is this the way to 
 illustrate the holy power of the truth, to re- 
 commend the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to rebuke 
 the sin, and folly, and rebellion of the world, 
 and to win it over to the obedience of the 
 faith ? Assuredly not ! 
 
 And how can the Divine life in the soul be 
 fed and sustained from such a source ? What 
 nom-ishment does it derive from the light and 
 frothy readings of the day, — from the pages 
 of a sickly romance^ a frivolous novel, a tale 
 of fiction ? What food can the unhallowed^ 
 
244 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 unsanctified imagination of men, prepare for 
 the strengthening, supporting, and expanding 
 of this Divine principle in the soul ? Surely 
 none. 
 
 And what meetness for prayer, for commu- 
 nion with God, for the reading of his sacred 
 word, can a believer find in the giddy dance, 
 in carnal song, in the immoral novel ? What 
 preparation of mind do these pursuits afford 
 for approaching to God, for the proper dis- 
 charge of Christian duties, for sober reflection, 
 for the hour of death, and for the day of judg- 
 ment ? Oh ! the awful inconsistencies that 
 mark the profession of some, who can find a 
 near and an easy path from the sanctuary, the 
 communion table, and the closet, to the even- 
 ing party, the ball-room, the mazy dance, the 
 empty novel, the very heart of a gay and giddy 
 world ! Is this true Christianity ? is this like 
 Christ ? is it after his command, his precept, 
 and his example ? Judge ye. 
 
 But what is the line of duty marked out for 
 the walk of a professing believer ? It is as 
 clear in the word of God, as the meridian sun. 
 Thus is it laid down : " Be not conformed to 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 245 
 
 this world : but be ye transformed by the re- 
 newing of your mind, that ye may prove what 
 is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will 
 of God." Rom. xii. 3. "Come out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, saith the 
 Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I 
 will receive you, and will be a Father unto 
 you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, 
 saith the Lord Almighty.'' 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. 
 " Love not the world, neither the things 
 that are in the world. If any man love the 
 world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
 For all that is in the world, the lust of the 
 flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride 
 of life, is not of the Father, but is of the 
 world.'' 1 John ii. 15, 16. "Ye adulterers 
 and adulteresses, know ye not that the friend- 
 ship of the world is enmity with God ? whoso- 
 ever therefore will be a friend of the world, 
 is the enemy of God." James iv. 4. " Pure 
 rehgion and undefiled before God and the 
 Father, is this — to visit the fatherless and 
 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
 unspotted from the world." i. 27. Thus im- 
 plicitly and clearly is the line of Christian duty, 
 
246 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 in reference to a believer^s connexion with the 
 world, laid down by the Holy Ghost ; he can- 
 not depart from it without grieving the Spirit, 
 wounding his own soul, and compromising his 
 Christian profession. 
 
 Grieve not, then, the Holy Spirit of God by 
 any known inconsistency of conduct, any sin- 
 ful conformity to the world, any inordinate 
 pursuit of its wealth, its honours, its pleasures, 
 its friendships, and its great things. Pray 
 against the sin of covetousness, that canker- 
 worm that feeds at the root of so many souls ; 
 pray against a love of dress, that sin that 
 diverts the mind of so many professors from 
 the simplicity of Christ, and takes the eye off 
 from the true adornment; — pray against a 
 thirst for light and trifling reading, that 
 strange and sinful inconsistency of so many, 
 the certain tendency of which is, to starve the 
 life of God in the soul, to engender a distaste 
 for spiritual aliment, for the word of God, for 
 holy meditation, and for Divine communion 
 and fellowship ;- — yea, pray against the spirit 
 of worldly, sinful conformity in evei^ything, that 
 the Holy Spirit be not gx'ieved, and that Christ 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 247 
 
 be not dishonoured and crucified afresh in and 
 through you. It is to be feared that much of 
 the professed Christianity of the day is of a 
 compromising character. The spirit that marks 
 so many is, "What will ye give me, and I 
 will deliver him unto you ? " There is a 
 betraying of Christ before the world — a 
 bartering of Christianity for its good opinion, 
 its places of honour, and influence, and 
 emolument. The world, the flesh, and Satan, 
 are ever on the alert to frame a bargain with a 
 Christian professor for his religion. " What 
 will you give me in return ? " is the eager 
 inquiry of many. Oh, awful state ! oh, fearful 
 deception ! oh, fatal delusion ! Reader ! are 
 you a professing Christian? Then guard 
 against the least compromise of your prin- 
 ciples, the least betrayal of Jesus, the first 
 step in an inconsistency of walk : above all, 
 pray and watch against a worldly Christianity y 
 a Christianity that wears a fail* exterior, so far 
 as it is composed of attendance upon sanctuary 
 services, and sacraments, and religious institu- 
 tions, but which excludes from it the cross 
 of the meek and lowly Lamb of God, — a 
 
248 ox GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Christianity which loves the world and the 
 things of the world, 'makes a fair show in 
 the flesh/ speaks well of Christ, and yet 
 betrays him with a kiss. 
 
 But let not this be the model of your 
 religion. You are not of the world, even as 
 Christ was not of the world : if the world 
 hate you, it hated him also before it hated 
 you : if you were of the world, the world 
 would love you. Marvel not at this ! Do not 
 expect more from the world than your Master 
 received. The world that crowned your Lord 
 with thorns, will never, if you " live godly in 
 Christ Jesus," crown you with garlands : the 
 world that crucified him, will never, if you are 
 his consistent disciple, enthrone you. The 
 world is the sworn enemy of your Saviour, let 
 it not be your friend. No ; come out of it, 
 and be ye separate. Let your whole life be a 
 solemn rebuke of it : let your integrity rebuke 
 its want of principle, — your sobriety rebuke 
 its frivolousness, — your upright sincerity 
 rebuke its heartlessness, — your crucifixion to 
 it rebuke its emptiness, folly, and sinfulness, — 
 let your dress, your spirit, your whole con- 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 249 
 
 versation evince what a splendid nothing is all its 
 pomp^ and glory, and pretension: so shall you 
 resemble your Lord and Master, — he who 
 loved you unto the death, whose glory was in 
 his humiliation, whose path was humble, 
 lowly, and obscure, and whose death was the 
 ignominious and accursed death of the cross : 
 thus, too, you shall resemble his beloved 
 apostle, who, taking his place by the cross, 
 and looking down upon the world from the 
 holy elevation where he stood, could exclaim, 
 " God forbid that I should glory, save in the 
 cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the 
 world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 
 world/^ 
 
 The Spirit may be grieved by a slight put 
 upon the means of grace : these are his 
 channels for the conveyance of his covenant 
 blessings into the soul. He works not by 
 miracles now, but by instrumentalities, by 
 various agencies and means : he communicates 
 his blessing and transmits his voice through 
 the word, the ministry, the mercy-seat, and 
 various other channels which he has graciously 
 provided for the spiritual nourishment of the 
 
250 ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Divine life in the soul. Slight them not, 
 undervalue them not, neglect them not. Look 
 not for his blessing, nor expect to hear his 
 voice, save as you arc found walking in his own 
 appointed way : you will grieve him, and 
 cause him to withdraw his sensible presence, 
 if any mean of grace is wilfully undervalued 
 and neglected by you. These are the ' green 
 pastures,' where the Shepherd causes his flock 
 to rest at noon; these are the 'still waters,' 
 where he leadeth their souls : and if the back 
 is turned slightingly upon them, leanness and 
 barrenness, coldness and death, must ensue. 
 ''They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength ; they shall mount up with 
 wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be 
 weary, and they shall walk and not faint.'' 
 
 In a word; the Spirit is grieved by any 
 deviation from the strict and holy walk of a 
 child of God — by any sense of guilt retained 
 upon the conscience — any sin unconfessed, 
 unrepented, and unforsaken — any known de- 
 filement of the temple he inhabits — any slight 
 put upon Jesus — any neglect of the atoning 
 blood — any light and trifling deportment — 
 
ON GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. 251 
 
 any uncharitable walk towards other Christians 
 — any taking of the judgment-seat against 
 them, — all these must be grieving to the Holy 
 Spirit of God. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FRUITLESS AND THE FRUITFUL 
 PROFESSOR. 
 
 " Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away : and 
 every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth 
 more fruit." — John xv. 2. 
 
 If there were any one feature in our Lord^s 
 ministrations more peculiarly impressive than 
 another, it was the discriminating character 
 that marked them. No one, on hearing him, 
 could retire without the deep conviction that 
 he was the man whose moral image Jesus had 
 been drawing, and in such true and vivid 
 resemblance, as to compel him to acknowledge 
 the faithfulness of the portrait. There was no 
 personality, no harshness, no unnecessary keen- 
 ness in his reproof, no exaggeration of colour- 
 ing, nothing overdrawn; but such a simple, 
 faithful, scriptural dealing with human con- 
 science, as either compelled his hearers to 
 
THE FRUITLESS PROFESSOR. 253 
 
 submit to his authority, and rank themselves 
 among his followers, or to retire, silenced, 
 self-accused, and self-condemned. Thus it is 
 recorded at the conclusion of one of his dis- 
 courses, — " And when the chief priests and 
 Pharisees had heard his parables, they per- 
 ceived that he spake of them.^' Matt. xxi. 45 ; 
 and on another occasion we read, as the result 
 of one of his peculiar and emphatic modes of 
 teaching, — '^ And they which heard it, being 
 convicted by their own conscience, went out 
 one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto 
 the last.^^ John viii. 9. 
 
 In the parable of the vine and the branch, 
 we have, perhaps, one of the most striking 
 specimens of our Lord's analytical style of 
 instruction. He who formed the heart, and 
 knew, — in consequence of its apostacy, — how 
 deeply it was tainted with e\41, was not igno- 
 rant how far a man could go in an outward 
 profession of his name, and yet live and die 
 destitute of regenerating grace. In the para- 
 ble, therefore, to which we have alluded, he 
 goes into a faithful and searching discrimina- 
 tion of character, lays bare the e\il to which 
 
254 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 men were exposed^ warns them of the danger 
 of self-deception, distinguishes between the 
 true and the false professor, and describes, in 
 striking and aflfecting terms, the final state of 
 both : " I am the true vine, and my Father is 
 the husbandman. Every branch in me that 
 beareth not fruit he taketh away : and every 
 branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it 
 may bring forth more fruit/^ In these words 
 of our dear Lord, we have first, a solemn de- 
 scription of a fruitless professor ; he then directs 
 us to the pruning of the fruitful branch, and he 
 assigns a reason why he prunes it — ^^that it 
 may bring forth more fruit/^ Let us, in the pre- 
 sent chapter, take the description of the fruit- 
 less professor, as the basis of our first reflections. 
 That there can exist such a state as a fruit- 
 less professor of the Gospel, is, perhaps, one of 
 the most indubitable evidences of the deep 
 degeneracy of the human heart, and its natural 
 tendency to self-deception, that exists. " The 
 heart is deceitful above all things, and despe- 
 rately wicked : ^' and here is the proof, if all 
 other were wanting, that an individual may 
 approach so near in his external resemblance 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 255 
 
 to a child of God, may look so like a believer 
 in Jesus, may appear to be united to him, 
 and still remain among the dead. Of all states 
 this side of eternity, this is the most awful ; 
 and yet it is to be feared, if we are to judge 
 of the tree by its fruits, and not by its leaves, 
 that this is the state of thousands at the pre- 
 sent moment. How important, may we not 
 pause to remark, that the ministers of the 
 Gospel — those who stand between the living 
 and the dead — should model their ministry, as 
 closely as they can, after their blessed Lord^s ; 
 that they should be careful how they preached, 
 — that their preaching should be discriminat- 
 ing without being harsh, pointed without being 
 personal, searching without being caustic; 
 that no hearer should go away from beneath 
 their ministrations, without a faithful delinea- 
 tion of his own character, the voice sounding 
 in his conscience, and following him amid all 
 his windings and his wanderings, " Thou art 
 the man ! " 
 
 An expression of our Lord^s, may need a 
 moment^s explanation : he speaks of the fruit- 
 less branch as united to himself, — ^^ Every 
 
256 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 branch in me that beareth not fruit." We are 
 not to understand this of a vital union, a 
 spiritual grafting into Christ ; the analogy of 
 truth is opposed to such an interpretation. 
 The word of God invariably maintains the 
 influential character of a living faith, — that 
 it is ever productive of the fruits of holiness, — 
 that a union to Christ will always result in 
 a living to God : to suppose, therefore, that 
 a dead and fruitless branch could be vitally in 
 Christ, is to suppose that the word of God was 
 against itself, which can never be. But we 
 are to understand our Lord as referring to an 
 external union, to an outward profession only. 
 There is such a thing as being externally in 
 Christ ; in him by an avowal of attachment to 
 his cross, by a profession of his name, by 
 adherence to his cause, by an apparent zeal for 
 his glory : all this may exist, and in thousands 
 does exist, without one particle of real, spi- 
 ritual, life- deriving union to Christ. We may 
 repair to a nursery, and may lop off a branch 
 from a dead tree, and simply tie it to a living 
 tree, and to all appearance it may resemble a 
 true vital graft. A casual observer may be 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 257 
 
 deceived ; but time proves its false appearance : 
 we come and look for fruit, the natural result 
 of true grafting, and we find nothing save a 
 lifeless, sapless, barren branch, externally 
 united to the living tree. Look at such a 
 professor ! Where is the fruit ? where is the 
 real severing from the wild olive-tree ? where 
 is the great separation between himself and 
 his own righteousness ? where is the breaking 
 up of the fallow ground of a hard, corrupt, 
 stony heart ? where is the humble, lowly, con- 
 trite spirit? where is the self-loathing, self- 
 abhorrence, self-accusing, self-condemnation ? 
 Hear we the cry, " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner?^' Mark we the low posture in the 
 dust, the smiting upon the breast, the standing 
 afar off, the eye not lifted even towards the 
 dwelhng-place of a holy God? Where, too, 
 is a living faith in Christ, a living upon Christ, 
 and a living to Christ ? Where is conformity 
 to the Divine image ? "Where the fruits of 
 holiness increasing and abounding ? What of 
 the spirit, the meekness, the lowliness, the 
 gentleness, the sanctity of Jesus, do we dis- 
 cover ? What self-denial, bearing of the cross. 
 
258 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 crucifixion to sin, deadness to the world, and 
 living for eternity, do we trace ? Alas ! alas ! 
 we have mistaken the external profession for a 
 vital, spiritual union to Christ ! And is it any 
 marvel, that when we came seeking fruit from 
 such a branch, we should have found none ? 
 
 But look at the profession of our day. If to 
 put on the Lord Jesus by an outward avowal 
 of his religion, — if to profess and call them- 
 selves Christians, — if to bow the knee at the 
 mention of his name, — if to partake of the 
 outward symbols of his body and his blood, — 
 if to speak well of Jesus, — assent and consent 
 to his doctrine, approve of his Gospel, follow 
 his ministers, crowd his temple, contribute 
 liberally to his cause, — if these constitute the 
 sole and essential elements of real spiritual 
 union to Christ, then may we not exclaim, — 
 " The millennium has broken upon us in 
 noontide splendour V We speak of no single 
 sect, we speak of all religious sects, for among 
 all are to be found the lifeless, fruitless pro- 
 fessor. Was it not so in the days of our Lord, 
 and during the searching ministry of his 
 apostles? Discriminating in his preaching as 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 259 
 
 he was, and vigilant as they were in their over- 
 sight of the dock, false professors abounded 
 in their time, and even rose to places of dis- 
 tinction in the church. Look at the case of 
 Simon Magus; he was but ^ fruitless prof essor ; 
 concerning whom it is recorded, that he had 
 " neither part nor lot in the matter — that his 
 heart was not right in the sight of God — that 
 he was in the gall of bitterness, and in the 
 bond of iniquity." Look at the case of 
 Demas; he was but a fruitless jjrofessor. 
 " Demas hath forsaken me," writes the apostle, 
 ^^ having loved this present world." And 
 look at that eminent and awful instance of a 
 mere external union to Christ — a fruitless 
 profession of his name — Judas Iscariot ; in 
 reference to whom, Jesus prays to his 
 Father, "those that thou gavest me I have 
 kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of 
 perdition." And to those whose union to 
 himself was but external, and where life was 
 fruitless, our Lord alludes in these solemn 
 words, " Strive to enter in at the strait gate : 
 for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, 
 and shall not be able. When once the master 
 
260 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the 
 door, and ye begin to stand without, and to 
 knock at the door, saying. Lord, Lord, open to 
 us ; and he shall answer and say unto you, I 
 know you not whence ye are. Then shall ye 
 begin to say. We have eaten and drunk in thy 
 presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. 
 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not 
 whence ye are ; depart from me, all ye workers 
 of iniquity. There shall be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, 
 and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in 
 the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust 
 out.'^ Luke xiii. 34 — 28. If possible, in 
 yet more awful terms does the word of God 
 unfold the final doom of the Christless, fruit- 
 less professor. ^' Every tree which briugeth 
 not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast 
 into the fire ." "AYhose fan is in his hand, and 
 he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather 
 his wheat into his garner ; but he will burn up 
 the chaff with unquenchable fire" Matt. iii. 
 10, 12. 
 
 But it is not often the case that the fruitless 
 professor clings even to his bare profession, 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 261 
 
 until his doom arrives. There are many, who, 
 long before the awful note of approaching 
 judgment falls on their ear, throw off the 
 outward garb, and stand forth in their true 
 character. Our Lord seems to intimate this 
 in various parts of his word ; especially in his 
 explanation of the parable of the sower, does 
 he refer to it in clear and affecting terms, — 
 " Those by the way side are they that hear ; 
 then cometh the devil, and taketh away the 
 word out of their hearts, lest they should be- 
 lieve it and be saved. They on the rock are 
 they, which, when they hear, receive the word 
 with joy ; and these have no root, which for a 
 while believe, and in time of temptation fall 
 away. And that which fell among thorns 
 are they, which, when they have heard, go 
 forth, and are choked with cares and riches 
 and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit 
 to perfection.^^ Luke viii. 12 — 14. These are 
 they whom the spiritual Husbandman "taketh 
 away.^^ The season of temptation, the time of 
 persecution, the accumulation of worldly cares, 
 the increase and glitter of riches, are periods 
 and occasions that place a man^s rehgion in 
 
263 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 the crucible^ that bring it to the test. The 
 bare professor cannot stand it. The wind 
 sweeps over the tree, and all its leaves are 
 scattered. The fire kindles around the ore, 
 and proves it to be base metal. But let us 
 not be misunderstood. We dare not affirm 
 of all mere profession of the Gospel, that its 
 false character soon discovers itself. There 
 are thousands who make mammon their trust, 
 ^ whose god is their belly, whose glory is their 
 shame, who mind earthly things / and whose 
 ^ end,' if they are not brought to true repent- 
 ance, will be ^ destruction :' who yet, in the 
 midst of it all, rigidly maintain the form of 
 godliness, and who would regard it as the 
 greatest offence, were their Christianity for a 
 moment doubted. Oh, the heart is deep and 
 treacherous as the sea ; and they who trust it 
 will be fearfully and eternally ruined ! A man 
 may be a lover of pleasure, and a lover of the 
 world, and a lover of sin, — his heart may go 
 after covetousness, and his mind may be im- 
 mersed in worldly cares, and all the while be a 
 rigid formalist, and a proud Pharisee, and a 
 noisy disputant, and even suffer persecution 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 263 
 
 for conscience' sake, rather than yield a prin- 
 ciple bearing upon some lesser matter of the 
 law. But we would now turn the reader's 
 attention to the pruning of the fruitful 
 
 BRANCH. 
 
 Our dear Lord's words are deep and rich in 
 meaning : " Every branch that beareth fruit, 
 he purgeth it." Here is life, here is true 
 union; it is a fruitful branch, deriWng its 
 fruitfulness from its vital union to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. It will be observed, that this 
 fruit-bearing branch is in Christ; grafted 
 upon him, united to him, and dwelling in him, 
 as the branch is one with the vine. The 
 union of the believer with Jesus, and the con- 
 sequent fruitfulness, is a glorious truth : the 
 Holy Ghost, in his word, has laid great stress 
 upon it. It is spoken of as a being in Christ : 
 " Every branch in me ; " " If any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature ; " " So we, 
 being many, are one body in Christ ; " " They 
 that are fallen asleep in Christ.'^ But in what 
 sense are we to understand this being "in 
 Christ ? " We have shown how a fruitless 
 professor may be externally united to Christ, 
 
264 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 there being no Divine life in the soul, no true 
 faith, and consequently no spiritual fruitful- 
 ness : he is ^' dead while he liveth/^ But to 
 be in Christ truly, spiritually, vitally, is more 
 than this ; it is to be in that eternal covenant 
 of grace made with Christ, as the Surety and 
 Mediator of his people; one of the number 
 spoken of as the Lord's " peculiar treasure,'^ 
 — ^' For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto 
 himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure," 
 Psalm cxxxv. 4 ; and concerning whom the 
 Holy Ghost declares that they are elected in 
 Christ, — " Blessed be the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us 
 with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things 
 in Christ : according as he hath chosen us in 
 him before the foundation of the world, that 
 w^e should be holy and without blame before 
 him in love.'' Eph. i. 3, 4. To be "in 
 Christ" truly, is to stand accepted in his 
 righteousness, to be justified by him freely 
 from all things; it is to be brought to the 
 knowledge of our own vileness, insufficiency, 
 and guilt; to be made to cast aside all self- 
 dependence, that is, all works of human merit. 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 265 
 
 and to come as the thief on the cross came 
 without any allowed confidence in aught of 
 self, but as a poor, helpless, ruined, con- 
 demned sinner, all whose hope of pardon and 
 acceptance is through the free mercy of God in 
 Christ Jesus. To be "in Christ," is to be 
 the subject of a living, holy, influential prin- 
 ciple of faith ; it is to be brought into the 
 blessed state thus described by the apostle as 
 his own : " I am crucified with Christ : never- 
 theless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
 me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh 
 I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 
 ii. 20. To be " in Christ," is to be one with 
 him ; it is to be a member of his mystical 
 body, of which he is the spiritual head ; and 
 the head and the members are one. It is to 
 have Christ dwelling in the heart : " Christ in 
 you the hope of glory " — " Know ye not that 
 Christ dwelleth in you, except ye be repro- 
 bates?"— "I in them." Yea, it is to dwell 
 in the heart of Christ ; it is to rest there in 
 the very pavilion of his love, to dwell there 
 every moment, to be sheltered there from all 
 
266 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 evil^ and to be soothed there under all sorrow. 
 Oh blessed state of being " in Christ ! " Who 
 would not experience it ? who would not enjoy 
 it ? " There is therefore now no condemnation 
 to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
 not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
 Rom. viii. 1. 
 
 These are the living branches, united to the 
 true Vine, which bear fruit. From their union 
 to the living Yine their fruit comes : " From 
 me is thy fruit found ; " " as the branch 
 cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in 
 the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in 
 me." And oh what precious fruit does such a 
 living branch bear ! the broken heart — the 
 contrite spirit — the mourning over sin — the 
 low, abasing, humbling views of self — the 
 venturing by faith on a full, mighty, willing 
 Saviour — the going out of self, and resting in 
 his all-atoning work and all-satisfying right- 
 eousness. This followed by a progressive ad- 
 vance in all holiness and godliness, the fruits 
 of faith which are by Jesus Christ, abounding 
 in the life, and proving the reality of the 
 wondrous change, — the close walk with God 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 267 
 
 — the submission of the will in all things to 
 his, — the conformity of the life to the example 
 of Jesus, the '^ power of his resurrection^' 
 felt — the ^' fellowship of his sufferings '' known 
 — and "conformity to his death" marking 
 the entire man. Phil. iii. 10. 
 
 These are some of the fruits of a truly re- 
 generate soul. The Holy Ghost testifies^ that 
 the "fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, 
 and righteousness, and truth ; " and still more 
 minutely as consisting of "love, joy, peace, 
 long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
 meekness, temperance." 
 
 Now observe, it is the fruitful branch only 
 that the Husbandman pruneth : "every branch 
 that beareth fruit, he purgeth it." If it be 
 asked — why ? the answer is, because it is only 
 the fruitful branch that beareth the pruning. 
 He pruneth it, because it is fruitful, because it 
 has life from, and union with, the Vine. This 
 purging, or pruning of the fruitful believer by 
 the Lord, is the trial of his own work. The 
 very discipline which a covenant God employs 
 mth his child, prov^es the existence and reality 
 of grace in the soul. It is not the lifeless 
 
268 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 branch that he pruneth, it is not the spurious 
 ore that he putteth in the furnace. When he 
 takes his child in hand to deal with him, it is 
 with a view of drawing forth the grace which 
 he has first implanted in the soul. The very 
 trial of faith, supposes the existence of faith ; 
 and the trial of any one grace of the Spirit, 
 supposes the previous indwelling of that grace 
 in the believer. No man goes to a dry well 
 to draw water from it ; no man goes to a 
 bank in which he has made no previous de- 
 posit, to draw money from it. "When God, — 
 the spiritual Husbandman of the church, — 
 comes into his garden, and walks amid the 
 " trees of righteousness," and in his sove- 
 reignty marks one here and another there for 
 discipline, for pruning, whom does he select 
 for this blessed purpose, but the trees which 
 he has himself planted ? Jesus, the Vine, has 
 declared, that ' every plant which his heavenly 
 Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.' 
 And have we not often seen the solemn fulfil- 
 ment of this threatening in the case of grace- 
 less professors ? — the first blast of temptation 
 has carried them away, root and branch. 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 269 
 
 God, perhaps, has brought them into deep 
 trial ; the storm of adversity has fallen upon 
 them; death has snatched away the "desire 
 of their eyes with a stroke :" riches have taken 
 wings and flown away; character has been 
 assailed; temptations have overtaken them; 
 and what has been their end ? We look for 
 their religion, — it has fled away like the chaff" 
 of the threshing-floor before the sweeping hur- 
 ricane ; their profession, — it is all gone ; their 
 prayers, — they have evaporated into empty 
 air. The solemn 'place of the holy^ that 
 knew them, know^s them no more ; the pruning 
 knife left not a limb standing; the furnace 
 tested the ore, and it proved nothing but tin. 
 And so it will prove with every plant that our 
 heavenly Father has not planted ; and so with 
 all the wood, haj^, and stubble, built upon an 
 outward acknowledgment and profession of 
 Christ. And oh their end ! " For if after 
 they have escaped the pollutions of the world 
 through the knowledge (not an experimental 
 or saving knowledge is here meant) of the 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again 
 entangled therein, and overcome, the latter 
 
270 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 end is worse with them than the beginning. 
 For it had been better for them not to have 
 known the way of righteousness, than, after 
 they have known it, to turn from the holy 
 commandment delivered unto them. But it 
 is happened unto them according to the true 
 proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit 
 again ; and the sow that was washed to her 
 wallowing in the mire/' 2 Pet. ii. 20—22. 
 
 But the true child of the covenant, the 
 Lord tries; the living, fruitful branch, the 
 Husbandman prunes. There is that in every 
 believer, yea, the most eminent child of God, 
 — eminent for his holy and close walk, — that 
 needeth pruning. We cannot always see the 
 necessity of the discipline ; we wonder, often, 
 why such a believer is so constantly, and, in a 
 sense, so severely dealt with. We look at his 
 godly conversation in all things ; we mark his 
 holy deportment, his consistent walk, his lowly 
 spirit, his spiritual gifts and graces, his de- 
 votedness and zeal in the cause of the Lord, 
 and we exclaim, " Lord, make me hke him, as 
 he is like thee ! " And when we see the cedar 
 in Lebanon bend before the sweeping tempest 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 271 
 
 — when we mark how the man of God becomes 
 the subject of the most overwhelming afflic- 
 tions, how wave follows wave, and messenger 
 after messenger comes with tidings of evil still 
 more bitter than the last, — when we see this 
 mercy blasted, that comfort removed, — here a 
 check, and there a disappointment, and he 
 whom we gazed upon as one in whom the 
 Lord had deposited great grace, and favoured 
 with peculiar nearness and conformity to him- 
 self thus deeply afflicted, — we marvel that the 
 dear Husbandman should prune him as he 
 does. But what says the Husbandman? — 
 " I, the Lord, search the heart.'' Here is the 
 secret revealed; the hidden evil of that holy 
 man of God we could not discover. The 
 powerful corruptions that dwelt in his heart, 
 — which he, in a degree, knew, and mourned 
 over and confessed daily before the Lord, — 
 were concealed from our eye; and while we 
 were judging from outward appearance, — and, 
 it may be, judging correctly too, for by their 
 fruits we are to know the true and the false 
 professors, — the Lord was probing and search- 
 ing the heart, and for the subjugation of the 
 
272 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 evil that he discovered there, was thus disci- 
 plining, and pruning, and purging his beloved 
 child. 
 
 Dear reader, if thou art experimentally ac- 
 quainted with the truth as it is in Jesus, if 
 thou art a living branch of the true Vine, it 
 will be nothing new for you to be informed, 
 that the Canaanites still dwell in the land. 
 You will recollect, that when the phildren of 
 Israel took possession of Canaan, although 
 they conquered its inhabitants, and took su- 
 preme possession and government of the 
 country, yet the former occupants of the soil 
 they could not entirely dispossess. The cir- 
 cumstance is thus recorded : " The children of 
 Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants 
 of those cities ; but the Canaanites would 
 dwell in that land." Josh. xvii. 12. Now what 
 these Canaanites, these heathenish idolators, 
 were to the children of Israel, the natural cor- 
 ruptions of the heart are to the called children 
 of God. After all that Divine and sovereign 
 mercy has done for the soul, — though the 
 inhabitants of the land have been conquered, 
 and the heart has yielded to the power of 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 273 
 
 omnipotent grace, and the 'strong man armed' 
 has been deposed, and Jesus has taken the 
 throne,, yet the Canaanites will dwell in the 
 land, and we cannot expel them thence. These 
 are the natural corruptions of our fallen nature, 
 the evils of a heart that is but partially re- 
 newed, the heathenish lusts, and passions, and 
 infirmities that formerly were the sole occu- 
 pants of the soil, and still dwell there, and 
 which we shall never, in the present state, 
 entirely dispossess. But what did the children 
 of Israel do to these Canaanites^ whom they 
 could not drive out of the cities, but who 
 would dwell in the land ? We read in the 
 13th verse : " Yet it came to pass when the 
 children of Israel were w^axing strong, that 
 they put the Canaanites to tribute ; but did not 
 utterly drive them out.^^ Now this is what 
 the children of God must do with the spiritual 
 Canaanites that yet dwell in the renewed 
 heart : they cannot be driven out, but they 
 may be put to tribute ; they cannot be entirely 
 extirpated, yet they may be brought into com- 
 plete subjection, and even made to contribute 
 to the spiritual advance of the soul, and to the 
 
274 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 glory of God. Yes, even these very indwelling 
 and powerful Canaanites, these strong cor- 
 ruptions that war and fight in the renewed 
 soul, may be made subservient to the spiritual 
 benefit of a child of God. Will it not be so, 
 if they lead him to put no confidence in him- 
 self, to draw largely from the fulness of grace 
 in Jesus, to repair often to the throne of mercy, 
 to deal much and closely with the atoning 
 blood, to cultivate a watchful, prayerful, tender 
 spirit, and daily and hourly to rejoice in Christ 
 Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh ? And 
 yet all this may be the result, when the be- 
 liever has waxen strong in the Divine life, and 
 has learned to put his indwelling corruptions 
 to tribute, though he may not utterly expel 
 them from his breast. Thus ^^God turned 
 the curse of Balaam into a blessing,^^ Neh. 
 xiii. 2 ; and thus, too, may the renewed soul, 
 — often led to exclaim, " wretched man that 
 I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death V — through a supply of the 
 Spirit of Christ Jesus, and becoming more 
 thoroughly versed in the art of the holy war, 
 be able to turn the risings of his indwelling 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 275 
 
 sins into occasions of more holy and humble 
 walk with God. Happy believer, the tendency 
 and real effect of whose indwelling infirmities 
 of the flesh and the spirit are, to school the 
 soul in the knowledge of its own nothingness, 
 to constrain it to a soft and lowly walk, and to 
 endear the blood, the mercy- seat, aud the holy 
 of holies, into which the most burthened, dis- 
 tressed, and humble soul may at all times 
 enter ! 
 
 This pruning does not destroy or weaken 
 the power of the Divine life in the soul. We 
 may go to a tree of the forest, and prune 
 it of every branch, yea, we may level it to the 
 earth ; and yet, — the principle of life still 
 remaining, — the genial showers, and the warm 
 sunshine, will cause it again to spring forth, 
 and bud, blossom, and bear fruit. The Divine 
 life in the soul of man is indestructible, — it 
 cannot perish; the seed that grace has im- 
 planted in the heart is incorruptible, — it 
 cannot be corrupted. So far from trials, and 
 conflicts, and storms, and tempests, impairing 
 the principle of holiness in the soul, they do 
 but deepen and strengthen it, and tend greatly 
 
276 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 to its growth. We look at Job : who of mere 
 man was ever more keenly tried, or more 
 closely pruned than he ? — and yet, so far from 
 destroying, or even weakening, the Divine 
 life within him, the severe discipline of the 
 covenant, through which he passed, did but 
 deepen and expand the root, bringing forth in 
 richer clusters the blessed fruits of holiness. 
 Think you, dear reader, the Divine life in his 
 soul had undergone any change for the worse, 
 w^hen, as the result of God^s covenant dealings 
 wdth him, as the effects of the severe pruning 
 of the fruitful branch, he exclaimed, — "I 
 have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, 
 but now mine eye seeth thee : wherefore I 
 abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes ? '' 
 No : the pruning of the fruitful branch impairs 
 not, but rather strengthens and renders more 
 fruitful the principle of holiness in the soul, as 
 we now proceed to show. The pruning of 
 the fruitful branch, our Lord declares, is with 
 the view of its increased fruitfulness : " Every 
 branch that bearcth fruit, he purgeth it, that 
 it may hring forth more fruit, ^^ 
 
 It is the will of God that his people should 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 277 
 
 be a fruitful people. " This is the will of God, 
 even your sanctification/' — the sanctification 
 of a believer including all fruitfulness. He 
 will bring out his own work in the heart of 
 his child; he will show that where grace 
 dwells, it is productive of good fruit : and 
 never does he take his child in hand with a 
 view of dealing with him according to the 
 tenor of the covenant of grace, but that dealing 
 results in a greater degree of spiritual fruitful- 
 ness. Now, when the Lord afflicts, and the 
 Holy Ghost sanctifies the affliction of the be- 
 liever, are not these among the costly fruit o^ 
 that discipline ? In the first place, self has 
 become more hateful. This, God declared 
 should be the result of his dealings with his 
 ancient people Israel, for their idolatry, — 
 " They shall loathe themselves for the e\dls 
 which they have committed in all their abo- 
 minations.^^ And again, — " Then shall ye 
 remember your ways, and all your doings 
 wherein ye have been defiled : and ye shall 
 loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all 
 your evils that ye have committed." And 
 when the Divine compassion was drawn forth, 
 
278 THE TRUITLESS AND 
 
 this is described as having been the state of 
 his beloved people, — ''None eye pitied thee, 
 to do any of these unto thee, to have compas- 
 sion upon thee ; but thou wast cast out in the 
 open field to the loathing of thy person/^ 
 And this is no small fruit, the result of God's 
 covenant dealings with the soul : it is one of 
 the useless branches which he prunes away. 
 To loathe self on account of its sinfulness, to 
 mortify it in all its forms, and to bring it en- 
 tirely into subjection to the Spirit of holiness, 
 are indeed no small triumph of Divine grace 
 in the soul, and no mean effect of the sanctified 
 use of the Lord's dispensations. That must 
 ever be considered a costly mean that accom- 
 plishes this blessed end. This unmortified 
 self in the believer, is one of the most deadly 
 enemies of his soul ; it shows itself in a thou- 
 sand ways, and wearing a thousand disguises. 
 It is often difficult to detect the under-current 
 working of the principle ; for, frequently, 
 w^here suspicion of its existence is most lulled 
 to rest, there is it most rife and powerful. 
 Self-confidence as in Peter, self-boasting as in 
 Hezekiah, self-righteousness as in Job, self- 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 279 
 
 deception as in Balaam, — in how many num- 
 berless ways may this hateful, ruinous principle 
 discover itself ! and how much ^^ deceivableness 
 of unrighteousness^* is in it — is only fully 
 known to Him who solemnly declares, " I, the 
 Lord, search the heart/* Beloved reader, in 
 thy heart and in mine, the principle of this 
 sin exists, and who can search it out, and root 
 it out, but the Lord the Spirit ? " If we 
 through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the 
 body, we shall live.** Is thy covenant God 
 and Father dealing with thee now ? Pray 
 that this may be one blessed result, the abase- 
 ment of self within thee, the discovering of it 
 to thee in all its modifications and deformity, 
 and its entire subjection to the cross of Jesus. 
 Blessed pruning, if the tendency and the efi'ect 
 are, to lay thee in the dust before the Lord, to 
 cause thee to loathe thyself, and to go softly 
 and lowlily all thy days ! 
 
 Another holy tendency of the pruning of 
 the fruitful branch, is, to endear the Lord Jesus 
 in his person, work, and offices. Jesus, the 
 ' Branch,* the ' Plant of Renown,* grows only 
 upon the living and the pruned heart. There 
 
280 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 are many professors in whose hearts there is 
 not room for Christ : the world, unmortified 
 sin, take up all the space, occupy all the aiFec- 
 tions ; and while his name is outwardly pro- 
 fessed, his cross is inwardly despised. Oh, 
 what emptying, what humbling, what pruning, 
 are necessary, in order to make room for the 
 lowly Lamb of God in the heart of a poor 
 believing sinner ! And for years after the first 
 reception of Jesus, are this emptying and prun- 
 ing needed. If it were not so, would our dear 
 Lord discipline as he does ? Would he sever 
 this and that limb ; would he cut ofi" this and 
 that dependence; would he take us off of 
 creature trust, and that sometimes in the most 
 painful way ? Oh no ! by these means he 
 seeks to establish himself in our affections, — 
 he would have our whole hearts, he would 
 make us fruitful. And when thus unhinged 
 from earthly trust, when emptied of confidence 
 in self, when pruned of earthly comforts, — oh 
 how unutterably precious does Jesus become ! 
 Then do we see him to be just the Jesus that 
 we want, just the Saviour that we need : we 
 find in him all that we ever found in the crea- 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 281 
 
 tiire, and infinitely more — wisdom, strength, 
 tenderness, and sympathy, surpassing all that 
 men or angels ever felt, or could possibly feel, 
 for us. Then it is, his blood and righteous- 
 ness are endeared ; then we fly to his fulness 
 of all grace ; and then the tender, bleeding 
 branch takes a firmer hold on its stem, and, 
 henceforth, looks only to it for all its vigour, its 
 nom-ishment, and its fruit. "As the branch 
 cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in 
 the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in 
 me." Ah ! beloved reader, if thou art his 
 child, he will cause thee to know it, and will 
 endear himself to thee as such. And this is 
 seldom done, save in the way of severe prun- 
 ing. Shrink not from it, then. All the good 
 that the Lord ever takes from thee, he returns 
 ten thousand-fold more in giving himself. If 
 thou canst say, '^^the Lord is my portion," 
 then what more dost thou, canst thou want ? 
 And remember, too, the Lord will prune thee 
 of nothing that was for thy real good. He is 
 the Judge of what is best for thee, not thyself : 
 he will sever the useless tendrils only, the 
 small branches that consume the sap, that 
 
282 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 absorb the nourishment, and are productive of 
 unfruitfulness. We are but imperfect judges 
 of what tends best to our spiritual or temporal 
 benefit. That which we may deem absolutely- 
 essential to both, the Lord in his wisdom and 
 love may see proper to remove; and as fre- 
 quently, that, the removal of which we had 
 often besought the Lord, he may see fit to 
 retain. Thrice Paul prayed for the removal of 
 his infirmity, and thrice the Lord denied his 
 request : but the denial was accompanied by a 
 promise, calculated to soothe into sweet ac- 
 quiescence every feeling of the apostle — " My 
 grace,^' said the Lord, " is sufficient for thee." 
 Let it ever be remembered by the tried be- 
 liever, that supporting grace, in the season of 
 trial, is a greater mercy than the removal of the 
 trial itself The Lord Jesus did seem to say 
 to his servant, " I see not that it would be for 
 thy good to grant thy prayer, but I will enable 
 thee to bear the infirmity without a murmur : 
 I will so support thee, so manifest my strength 
 in thy weakness, my all-sufficiency in thy 
 nothingness, that thou shalt not desire its 
 removal." "Lord," he might have replied, 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 283 
 
 "this is all that I desire. If thou in thy 
 wisdom and love dost see fit still to prune me, 
 I am in thy hands to do with me as seemeth 
 good in thy sight. The continuance of the 
 trial will but prove the strength of thy grace, 
 and the tenderness and sympathy of thy 
 heart.'' After this, we hear no more of Paul's 
 thorn in the flesh: the grace of his Lord, 
 doubtless proved all-sufficient for him. 
 
 There are one or two points of caution and 
 encouragement upon which we would touch 
 before closing the chapter. 
 
 Let the believer he aware, how he despises 
 what little fruitfulness the Lord the Spirit may 
 have given him : there is danger of this. Many 
 who read this chapter, may close it with deep 
 mourning over their barrenness ; they may 
 think their fruit nothing but leaves, their reli- 
 gion nothing but profession. But stay, dear 
 reader : it is a mercy for thee to know that the 
 Lord does not regard thj estimate of a fruitful 
 state ; else, were the Lord to judge and con- 
 demn us as we do ourselves, were he to despise 
 his own work as we too frequently do, it would 
 indeed ffo hard with us. But he does not : 
 
284 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 that which we have often thought unworthy of 
 his notice, he has looked down upon with the 
 fondest complacency and delight. And when 
 at the close of a sermon, or the reading of a 
 book, or on retiring from the throne of grace, 
 we have hung our heads, and blushed to lift 
 our faces towards him, exclaiming, — ^^ Lord, I 
 am vile, look not on me, for I am black," he 
 has beheld the fruit of his own Spirit, costly, 
 fragrant, and precious in his sight. See, 
 then, that you despise not what the Lord has 
 wrought for you. Any desire of the heart for 
 Christ, any secret brokenness, any godly sor- 
 row over indwelling sin, any feeble going out 
 of self and leaning on Jesus, is the gracious 
 work of the Holy Ghost in the soul, and must 
 not be undervalued or unacknowledged. A 
 truly humble view of self, is one of the most 
 precious fruits of the Spirit ; it indicates more 
 real fruitfulness, perhaps, than any other state 
 of mind. That ear of corn which is the most 
 full of grain, hangs the lowest; that bough 
 which is the most heavily laden with fruit, 
 bends the nearest to the ground. It is no 
 unequivocal mark of great spiritual fruitfulness 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 285 
 
 in a believer, when tenderness of conscience, 
 contrition of spirit, low thoughts of self, and 
 high thoughts of Jesus, mark the state of his 
 soul. '' Who hath despised the day of small 
 things V — not Jesus. 
 
 But, dear reader, rest not here ; blessed as 
 it is to know thy barrenness, and to mourn 
 over it, it is still more blessed to press forward 
 towards a deeper and more spiritual acquaint- 
 ance with Christ, the source of all real fruit- 
 fulness. Too many rest in a mere deploring 
 of their barrenness; they will ingenuously 
 acknowledge their state, freely confess it 
 before God, and yet meet them when you will, 
 this is always their posture, and this their 
 confession. One seems to mark in them no 
 advance, no striving after higher attainments, 
 the crucifixion of known infirmities, the 
 mortification of easy besetting sins, the sur- 
 render of that which feedeth as a worm upon 
 the root of their religion. There seems just 
 life and consciousness enough to detect the 
 secret declension of the soul, but not enough 
 to arrest its progress. 
 
 But, reader, that this should not be thy 
 
286 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 case, seek an increasing knowledge of Christ ; 
 be assured of this, — here hes the grand secret 
 of a growing, fruit-bearing Christian. "As 
 the branch cannot bear fruit of itself , except it 
 abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye 
 abide in me." There is a perpetual proneness 
 to seek our fruitfulness from anything save a 
 close, spiritual, and constant dealing with the 
 cross of Jesus : but as well might we expect 
 the earth to clothe itself with verdure, or the 
 tree to blossom, and the blossom ripen into 
 fruit, without the sun^s genial warmth, as to 
 look for fruitfulness in a regenerate soul, 
 without a constant dealing with the Lord 
 Jesus Christ; for, just what the sun is to 
 the kingdom of nature, Jesus the Sun of 
 righteousness is to the kingdom of grace, — 
 the blessed source of all its verdure, fragrance, 
 and fruitfulness. Then, let all your expecta- 
 tions be centred here. No real good can 
 come to thee, no healing to thy spirit, no 
 fruitfulness to thy soul, from a perpetual 
 living upon convictions of sin, legal fears, 
 or transient joys : the Divine life can derive 
 no aliment from these. But live upon the 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 287 
 
 atoning blood of Jesus. Here is the fatness 
 of thy soul found ; this it is that heals the 
 wound, wins the heart, and hushes to repose 
 every fear of condemnation; this it is that 
 enables a poor sinner to look full at God, 
 feeling that justice, holiness, truth, and every 
 Divine perfection are on his side. It is the 
 blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit, that 
 moistens each fibre of the root of holiness in 
 the soul, and is productive of its fruitfulness ; 
 this it is that sends the warm current of life 
 through every part of the regenerate man, 
 quickening the pulse of love, and imparting a 
 healthy and vigorous power to every act of 
 obedience. And when the spiritual seasons 
 change, — for it is not always spring-time with 
 the soul of a child of God, — when the sum- 
 mer's sun withers, or the autumnal blast 
 scatters the leaves, and winter's fiercer storm 
 beats upon the smitten bough, the blood and 
 righteousness of Christ lived upon, loved, and 
 cherished, will yet sustain the Divine life in 
 the soul, and in due season, the spring 
 blossom and the summer fruit shall again 
 appear, proving that the Divine life of a 
 
288 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 believer is 'hid with Christ in God/ Then 
 shall it be said of you, as was said of the 
 church by her Beloved : " The winter is past, 
 and the rain is over and gone; the flowers 
 appear on the earth, the time of the singing of 
 birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is 
 heard in our land. The fig-tree putteth forth 
 her green figs, and the vines with the tender 
 grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, 
 my fair one, and come away." Sol. Song 
 ii. 11 — 13. Then let your heart respond, 
 " Awake, north wind, and come, thou south, 
 blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof 
 may flow out." Thus shall you be "filled 
 with the fruits of righteousness, which are by 
 Jesus Christy unto the glory and praise of God." 
 Afflicted believer, forget not that it is 
 the fruitful branch only that the Lord 
 pruneth : " whom the Lord loveth, he chas- 
 teneth :" and again, he declares, " Whom 
 I love J I rebuke and chasten." Then, thank 
 him for the pruning ; bless him for the sancti- 
 fied trial that weans thee from earthly things, 
 that deadens thy heart to every rival of Christ, 
 and that imparts an upward spring to faith, 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 289 
 
 hope, and love. Not one unkind thought is 
 there in the heart of the God that now chastens 
 you. True, he may have severed from thee 
 branch after branch, he may cut off all thy 
 earthly springs, he may lead thee down into 
 the deep valley of abasement ; yet still is he 
 love, and nothing but love. Could you look 
 into his heart, — not a spring would be found 
 dwelling, nor a pulse beating there that would 
 not speak of love to thee at this very moment. 
 All that he seeks with regard to yourself, is 
 your increased fruitfulness ; and to promote 
 your real sanctification, is to promote your 
 real happiness. In all God's dealings with his 
 covenant people, he seeks their greatest good, 
 their highest happiness, and in nothing more 
 manifestly than in this does he show the 
 intense love which dwells in his heart towards 
 them. 
 
 Frequently call to mind our Lord's words : 
 " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear 
 much fruit, so shall ye be (manifestly) my 
 disciples." This ' much fruit' is often found 
 mostly in those with whom the Lord mostly 
 deals. He has created his people for his own 
 u 
 
290 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 glory, and this he will secure to himself in 
 their abundant fruitfulness. This is why the 
 most illustrious saints have ever been the most 
 deeply tried, severely pruned: their great 
 fruitfulness sprang from their great afflictions. 
 And yet, beloved, the Lord deals with his 
 saints according to his holy sovereignty ; not 
 by one line, or in one path, does he always 
 conduct them. Is God smiling upon thee? 
 does the summer sun shine ? is thy sea smooth 
 and flowing ? does the ' south wind' blow upon 
 thee ? See, then, that thou walk humbly with 
 God; "Be not high-minded, but fear.'^ If 
 God in his providence has elevated thee a 
 little in the world, ye have need to besiege his 
 throne for great grace to keep thy spirit low 
 in the dust before him. Do thy fellows ad- 
 mire thy talents, extol thy gifts, applaud thy 
 works, and court thy society ? Oh how closely 
 and softly and humbly ought you mw to 
 walk with God ! That breath of adulation 
 that hghted upon thee, will prove a blight 
 upon thy graces, if thou go not upon thy 
 knees before God ; that flattering word which 
 fell upon thine ear, will prove as the fly in the 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 291 
 
 apotliecary's ointment to thy soul, if thou get 
 not closer down at the foot of the cross. Let 
 every circumstance and state take thee there ; 
 whether the north wind or the south wind 
 blows, whether the dark cloud of adversity 
 gathers over thee, or the sunshine of prosperity 
 beams upon thee — still let thy posture ever be 
 low before the Saviour's cross: nothing can 
 harm thee there. See that the season of out- 
 ward prosperity is the season of thy souPs 
 fruitfulness ; see that every mercy takes thee 
 to God; convert every new blessing into a 
 fresh motive for Hving not unto thyself, but 
 unto Him from whom the blessing came. 
 
 And if you are constrained to take your 
 worst frames to Christ, your sins as they rise, 
 your weakness as you are conscious of it, 
 your corruptions as they discover themselves, 
 even so shalt thou be a fruitful branch of the 
 true Vine. In the very act of going, just as 
 he is, to Christ, the believer brings forth fruit. 
 For what marks the frame of the soul thus 
 traveling up to the cross, but self-distrust, 
 self-abasement, deep conceptions of its own 
 nothingness, high views of Christ's sufficiency? 
 
292 THE FRUITLESS AND 
 
 And is not this precious and costly fruit ? I 
 know of none more so. 
 
 And let the fruitful believer anticipate the 
 approaching period of his translation to a more 
 genial and healthy soil. In heaven^ the home 
 of the saints^ there will be nothing to blight 
 the flower of grace; no frosts of winter, no 
 burning heat of summer, no crushing storms, 
 no sweeping tempests ; the former things will 
 all have passed away, and a new heaven and a 
 new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness, 
 shall have succeeded them. Happy hour of 
 this release ! Here he is a ^ lily among thorns/ 
 there he will be a tree of righteousness, on 
 which the storm will never rise, on which the 
 sun will never set. 
 
 " Oh what a garden will be seen, 
 When all the flowers of grace 
 Appear in everlasting green, 
 Before the Planter's face ! 
 
 " No more exposed to burning skies, 
 Or winter's piercing cold : 
 What never-dying sweet will rise 
 From every op'ning fold ! 
 
 " No want of sun or showers above, 
 To make the flowers decline ; 
 Fountains of life and beams of love, 
 For ever spring and shine. 
 
THE FRUITFUL PROFESSOR. 293 
 
 " No more they need the quick'ning air, 
 Or gently rising dew ! 
 Unspeakable their beauties are, 
 And yet for ever new. 
 
 *' Christ is their shade, and Christ their sun ; 
 Among them walks the King ; 
 Whose presence is eternal noon, 
 His smile eternal spring." 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE LORD, THE RESTORER OF HIS 
 PEOPLE. 
 
 " He restoreth my soul."— Psalm xxiii. 3. 
 
 Throughout the discussion of our subject, 
 we have endeavoured to keep distinctly and 
 prominently before the mind of the reader, the 
 indestructible nature of the Divine life in the 
 soul, the stability of the covenant of grace, and 
 the unchangeableness of God's love towards his 
 people. The proper unfolding of our theme, 
 demanded more than a bare recognition of 
 these glorious Gospel truths : apart from them, 
 upon what an uncertain tenure would the final 
 salvation of the believer rest ! When we are 
 led to consider the uncertainty of the creature, 
 — ^when we take the history of a child of God, 
 compressed within the short period of a single 
 day, — mark what flaws, what imperfections. 
 
THE LORD_, THE RESTORER, ETC. 295 
 
 what fickleness, what startings aside, what 
 dereliction in principle, what flaws in practice, 
 what errors in judgment, and what wanderings 
 of heart, make up that brief history, — how are 
 we led to thank God for the stability of the 
 covenant ! that covenant which provides for 
 the full redemption of all believers, — which 
 from eternity secures the effectual calling, the 
 perfect keeping, and the certain salvation of 
 every chosen vessel of mercy. With what dis- 
 tinctness and sweetness is this truth thus 
 unfolded by God himself: "If his children 
 forsake my law, and walk not in my judg- 
 ments; if they break my statutes, and keep 
 not my commandments -, then will I visit their 
 transgression with the rod, and their iniquity 
 with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kind- 
 ness mil I not utterly take from him, nor 
 suffer my faithfulness to fail : my covenant will 
 I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone 
 out of my lips.'' Ps. Ixxxix. 30—34. 
 
 It will be seen, that two most solemn and 
 affecting truths are recognised in this passage, 
 — ^the backslidings of a child of the covenant, 
 and the certainty of his restoration. It is 
 
296 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 more especially with the latter truth that we 
 have to do in the present chapter. 
 
 Of the necessity that exists for the restorings 
 of the Lord, we need not here say much, the 
 preceding pages having gone at some length 
 into this point ; and yet it forms the basis of 
 our present subject, and is too important to 
 be dismissed with a simple allusion. That 
 there exists a necessity for the Divine restor- 
 ings, who can doubt, that remembers that the 
 Divine life of a believe?- has its t^esidence in a 
 hear't but patiially renewed and sanctified ? In 
 the case of Adam before he fell, this was not 
 so ; there was nothing in his heart opposed to 
 the life of God within him. The mind, the 
 will, the affections, yea, the whole soul, were 
 one glorious orb of perfect light and holiness : 
 not a shadow dimmed its lustre, not a speck 
 marred its beauty. Every faculty of the mind, 
 every bias of the will, every emotion of the 
 heart, every breathing of desire, were in agree- 
 ment with its nature, and were favourable to 
 its growth. 
 
 But not so is it now. Adam fell, and in 
 his fall transmitted to his posterity a nature 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 297 
 
 totally corrupt in every part; and although 
 Divine and sovereign grace has undertaken to 
 renew that nature, and does so in part, yet it 
 is but in part renewed and restored to its ori- 
 ginal glory. The Divine life has its dwelling- 
 place in a fallen, fleshly nature. One sentence 
 of the apostle^s explains and confirms this 
 truth, — "The life which I now live in the 
 flesh," Gal. ii. 20 : the Divine life which he 
 lived, was in the flesh. It was encompassed 
 by all the corruptions, weaknesses, infirmities, 
 and assaults of the flesh ; there was not a 
 moment that it was not exposed to assaults 
 from within ; there was not a natural faculty 
 of the mind, or throb of the heart, that was 
 favourable to its prosperity, but all were con- 
 trary to its nature, and hostile to its advance. 
 Let every believer remember, that the Divine 
 life which he lives, he hves in the flesh; and 
 that there exists not a day that he stands not 
 in need of the restorings of the Lord. 
 
 Connect with this the many external influ- 
 ences which are hostile to the Divine life in 
 the soul. As there is nothing internal that is 
 favourable to a state of grace, so there is no- 
 
298 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 thing external that assists it forward. It has 
 its many and violent enemies : Satan is ever 
 on the watch to assault it, — the world is ever 
 presenting itself in some new form of fascina- 
 tion and power to weaken it, — a thousand 
 temptations are perpetually striving to ensnare 
 it ; thus its internal and external enemies are 
 leagued against it. Is it, then, any wonder, 
 that faith should sometimes tremble, that 
 grace should sometimes decline, and that the 
 pulse of the Divine life should often beat 
 faintly and feebly ? 
 
 The saints in every age have felt and la- 
 mented this. Hence the prayer of David, 
 which is the prayer of all true believers : 
 "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe;" 
 implying the greatest weakness in himself, 
 and his perpetual exposure to the greatest 
 falls ; " Hold thou me up, for only as I am 
 upheld by thee, am I safe." Again he prays : 
 " Keep back thy servant also from presump- 
 tuous sins ; let them not have dominion over 
 me ;" implying that a believer left to the ten- 
 dencies of his fallen nature, might become 
 a prey to the worst sins ; " Keep back thy 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 299 
 
 servant also from presumptuous sins." In 
 addressing himself to the converted Hebrews, 
 the apostle seizes the occasion thus to exhort 
 them : " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in 
 any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in depart- 
 ing from the living God." "In departing,^' — 
 implying a constant tendency to depart from 
 God. And what does God himself say of his 
 people ? " My people are bent to backsliding 
 from me." And again, "Why is this people 
 of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back- 
 sliding ?" Yes, it is a perpetual proneness to 
 declension. The sun rises but to set, the 
 clock is wound up but to run dovm ; and not 
 more natural is it for them thus to obey the 
 laws that govern them, than for the heart of a 
 child of God to follow the promptings of its 
 corrupt and wayward nature. 
 
 This leads us to touch upon the principle of 
 all departure from God. We look at a be- 
 liever^s lax practice, we mourn and weep over 
 it, and we do well; we trace our own, and 
 still deeper shame and confusion of face cover 
 us : but we forget that the cause of our bitter- 
 est sorrow and humihation should be, the 
 
300 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 concealed principle of evil from whence springs 
 this unholy practice. How few among the 
 called of God, are found confessing and mourn- 
 ing over the sin of their nature — the impure 
 fountain from whence flows the stream, the 
 unmortified root from whence originates the 
 branch, and from which both are fed and 
 nourished ! This is what God looks at, — the 
 sin of our fallen, unsanctified nature, — and 
 this is what we should look at, and mourn 
 over. Indeed, true mortification of sin con- 
 sists in a knowledge of our sinful nature, and 
 its subjection to the power of Divine grace. 
 The reason why so few believers ^Hhrough 
 the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body,^^ is, a 
 forgetfulness that the work has to do first and 
 mainly with the root of sin in the soul : " Make 
 the tree good, and the fruit will also be good •/' 
 purify the fountain, and the streams will be 
 pure. Oh, were there a deeper acquaintance 
 with the hidden iniquity of our fallen nature, 
 — a more thorough learning out of the truth, 
 that "in our flesh there dwelleth no good 
 thing,'' — a more heart-felt humiliation on ac- 
 count of it, and more frequent confession of it 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 301 
 
 before God, — how much higher than they now 
 are would be the attainments in holiness of 
 many believers ! 
 
 There is, then, in every child of God, the 
 innate principle of departure. Notwithstand- 
 ing the wonders of grace God has wrought for 
 the soul, — though he has elected, called, re- 
 newed, washed, and clothed the believer ; yet 
 if he did not check and rein him in, he would 
 depart, and that for ever ! — this unsanctified, 
 unmortified principle would bear him away. 
 Is there not in this aspect of our theme 
 something truly heart-breaking ? — the subject 
 of a kind and benevolent government, and yet 
 to be always rebelling against the Sovereign ; 
 dwelling under a kind and loving Father^s 
 roof, and yet to be perpetually grieving him, 
 and departing from him ; to have received so 
 many costly proofs of his love, and yet render- 
 ing the most ungrateful returns, — oh, it is 
 enough to sink the soul in the deepest self- 
 abasement before God ! Reader, what has the 
 Lord been to thee ? Come, witness for him ; 
 has he ever been a wilderness to thee, a dry 
 and barren land ? — has there been aught in 
 
302 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 his dealings, in his conduct, in his way with 
 thee, wherefore thou shouldst have turned thy 
 back upon him ? — has there been any harsh- 
 ness in his rebukes, any unkind severity in his 
 corrections, anything judicial and vindictive in 
 his dealings ? Nay, on the contrary, has he 
 not been a fruitful garden, a pleasant land, a 
 fountain of living waters to thee ? Has he 
 not blended kindness with all his rebukes, 
 tenderness with all his chastisements, love 
 with all his dealings, and has not his gentle- 
 ness made thee great ? Then why hast thou 
 departed from him ? What is there in God 
 that thou shouldst leave him, what in Jesus 
 that thou shouldst wound him, what in the 
 blessed Spirit that thou shouldst grieve him ? 
 Is not the cause of all thy departure, declen- 
 sion, unkindness, unfruitfulness, in thyself, 
 and in thyself alone? But if this has been 
 thy conduct towards God, not so has been his 
 conduct towards thee. This brings us to the 
 consideration of his restoring mercy. 
 
 The first point we would look at is, the love 
 of the Lord Jesus in restoring a wandering 
 believer. Nothing but the most infinite, 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 303 
 
 tender, unchanging love, could prompt him 
 to such an act. There is so much of black 
 ingratitude, so much of deep turpitude in the 
 sin of a believer^s departure from the Lord, 
 that but for the nature of Christ^s love, there 
 could be no possible hope of his return. Now 
 this costly love of Christ is principally seen in 
 his taking the first step in the restoring of the 
 soul : the first advance is on the part of the 
 Lord. This is too important a truth to be lightly 
 touched upon. There is no more self-recovery 
 after, than there is before, conversion; it is 
 entirely the Lord^s work. The same state of 
 mind, the same principle that led to the first 
 step in declension from God, leads on to each 
 successive one : until, but for restraining and 
 restoring grace, the soul would take an ever- 
 lasting farewell of God. But mark the ex- 
 pression of David, — " He restoreth my soul.^^ 
 Who ? He of whom he speaks in the fii'st verse 
 as his Shepherd, — '^^The Lord is my Shep- 
 herd." It is the Shepherd that takes the first 
 step in the recovery of the wandering sheep. 
 If there is one aspect in the view of this 
 subject more touching than another, it is this, 
 
304 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 — ^that such should be the tender^ unchanging 
 love of Jesus towards his wandering child, he 
 should take the first step in restoring him. 
 Shall an offended, insulted Sovereign make 
 the first move towards conciliating a rebellious 
 people ? — that Sovereign is Jesus : shall an 
 outraged Father seek his wandering child, and 
 restore him to his affections and his house ? — 
 that father is God. Oh what love is that which 
 leads Jesus in search of his wandering child : 
 love that will not let him quite depart; love 
 that yearns after him, and seeks after him, and 
 follows after him through all his devious way, 
 his intricate wanderings, and far-off departures; 
 love that no unkindness has been able to cool, 
 no forgetfulness has been able to weaken, no 
 distance has been able to destroy ! 
 
 Not less conspicuous is the power of Jesus 
 in the restoring of the soul : '^ He restoreth my 
 soul," — he, the Omnipotent Shepherd. We 
 want Omnipotence to bring us back when we 
 have wandered; nothing less can accomplish 
 it. We want the same power that converted, 
 to re- convert ; the power that created, to re- 
 create us : this power Jesus possesses. It was 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 305 
 
 essential to the full salvation of his church that 
 he should have it ; therefore, when praying to 
 his Father, he says, " As thou hast given him 
 power over all flesh," — why this power? — 
 " that he should give eternal life to as many as 
 thou hast given him." It was necessary that 
 he should have power over all flesh, yea, over 
 all the powers leagued against the church, that 
 he should bring to glory all that were given to 
 him in the covenant of grace. 
 
 Now this power is gloriously exerted in the 
 restoring of the soul. Jesus works in the 
 believer, in order to his recovery. He breaks 
 down the hard heart, arrests the soul in its 
 onward progress of departure, places upon it 
 some powerful check, lays it low, humbles, 
 abases it, and then draws from it the blessed 
 acknowledgment, ^^ Behold, I am vile; but, 
 he restoreth my soul." 
 
 There is infinite ivisdom, too, in the Lord^s 
 restorings. This perfection of Jesus is clearly 
 revealed here : in the way he adopts to restore, 
 we see it. That he should make, as he fre- 
 quently does, our very afflictions the means of 
 restoration to our souls, unfolds the profound 
 
 X 
 
306 THE LORDj THE RESTORER 
 
 depth of his wisdom. This 
 prayer, — '' Quicken me according to thy judg- 
 ments -J' and this was his testimony, — " Before 
 I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I 
 kept thy word ;" " Though I walk in the 
 midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." The 
 season of trial is not unfrequently the sancti- 
 fied season of revival. Who that has passed 
 through the furnace has not found it so ? Then 
 the declension of the soul has been discovered, 
 — then the hidden cause of that declension has 
 been brought to light, — then the spirit has 
 bowed in contrition before the Lord, — then 
 grace has been stirred up in the heart, and a 
 new sweetness has been given to prayer, and a 
 new impulse to faith, and a new radiance to 
 hope, and from the flame the gold and the 
 silver have emerged, purified of their tin and 
 dross. But for the production of effects like 
 these, why the many peculiar and heavy 
 afflictions that we sometimes see overtaking 
 the child of God ? Think not that our heavenly 
 Father takes pleasure in chastening us ; think 
 not that it delights him to behold the writhings, 
 the throes, and the anguish of a wounded 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 307 
 
 spirit ; think not that he loves to see our tears, 
 and hear our sighs and our groans under the 
 pressure of keen and crushing trial. No : he- 
 is a tender, loving Father ; so tender and so 
 loving, that not one stroke, nor one cross, nor 
 one trial more does he lay upon us, than is 
 absolutely needful for our good ; — not a single 
 ingredient does he put in our bitter cup, that 
 is not essential to the perfection of the remedy. 
 It is for our profit that he chastens, not for his 
 pleasure ; and that often to rouse us from our 
 spiritual sleep, to recover us from our deep 
 declension, and to impart new vigour, healthi- 
 ness, and growth, to his own life in the soul. 
 
 Nor must we overlook the gentleness of the 
 Lord^s restoring. We have a beautiful exhi- 
 bition of this in the recovery of the stray sheep, 
 as set forth by Jesus himself: "\Vhat man 
 of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose 
 one of them, doth not leave the ninety and 
 nine in the wilderness, and go after that which 
 is lost, until he find it ? And when he hath 
 found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoic- 
 ing." Luke XV. 4, 5. Here is the gentleness of 
 the shepherd, — "he layeth it on his shoulders." 
 
308 THE LORD; THE RESTORER 
 
 Too feeble itself to walk, too exhausted in its 
 wanderings to return, the gentle shepherd 
 having sought and found it, '' lays it on his 
 shoulders, rejoicing." Touching picture of 
 the Saviour^ s gentleness in restoring a back- 
 sliding soul ! "WTiat but infinite gentleness is 
 seen in the restoring of Peter ? It was but a 
 look; — not a word fell from the lips of the 
 Saviour — not an unkind rebuke, not a harsh 
 upbraiding word did he breathe ; yet that look 
 — what artistes pencil has ever been able to 
 imitate it ? — that look so full of love, so full of 
 gentleness, so full of forgiveness, did seem to 
 say, "I am going to die for thee, Peter — all 
 this and more I suffer for thee; wilt thou, 
 canst thou deny me ?" — that look, so touch- 
 ing, so melting, so eloquent, and so forgiving, 
 reached the heart of the backsliding apostle, 
 melted it, broke it, and sent him from the 
 judgment-hall weeping bitterly. There was 
 no expression in the look which Jesus bent 
 upon Peter, but love. Let this truth be fixed 
 in the heart of every backsliding believer. The 
 Lord restores the soul gently. The moment 
 he discovers to it its sin, he conveys somd 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 309 
 
 token of his pardoning mercy : the balm is 
 applied the moment the wound is given, the 
 remedy is at hand the moment the distemper 
 is discovered. There is a tenderness, an un- 
 utterable tenderness, in the heart and hand, in 
 the mercy and the method of the Lord^s reco- 
 very of his child, which only he can feel. See 
 it in the case of David. How did God bring 
 his sin to remembrance ? By the chastising 
 rod ? by hea\y judgment ? by severe expres- 
 sions of displeasure ? Nay ; none of these 
 were his messengers : but he sent a kind, 
 tender, faithful prophet, to discover to him 
 his awful backsliding ; and the astounding 
 words, " Thou art the man," had scarcely died 
 away upon his ear, ere he pom's in this healing 
 balm, '' The Lord also hath put away thy sin ; 
 thou shalt not die." Oh, what gentleness, 
 what tenderness, are thus shown in the Lord's 
 restorings of his wandering child ! From 
 whom could this have been expected but from 
 him whose nature and whose name is love, — 
 from whom, but him who could thus speak to 
 his backsliding Ephraim : " Is Ephraim my dear 
 son ? is he a pleasant child ? for since I spake 
 
310 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 against him, I do earnestly remember him 
 still; therefore my bowels are troubled for 
 him : I will surely have mercy upon him, 
 saith the Lord/^ This is an outgushing of 
 tenderness towards a poor, returning, back- 
 sliding soul, which could only have had its 
 dwelling-place in the heart of Jehovah. 
 
 But we have yet to speak of the way of a 
 poor backslider's return to the Lord. May 
 the Spirit impart wisdom and unction in 
 unfolding this most important point ! First, 
 as touching the spirit with which he should 
 return. 
 
 Looking at the case of the backsliding 
 church of Ephesus, we find the nature of her 
 sin, and the mode of her recovery, thus 
 set forth : " I have somewhat against thee, 
 because thou hast left thy first love. Re- 
 member, therefore, from whence thou art 
 fallen, and repent and do the first works." 
 The first exhortation addressed to her was. 
 Remember, therefore, from whence thou art 
 fallen." She was first called to solemn re- 
 flection upon her former state of prosperity. 
 
 Let the backsliding believer be brought to 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 311 
 
 this first step. "Remember from whence thou 
 art fallen ; " — revert to thy past history, thy 
 former spiritual state ; — remember thy first 
 sorrow for sin, the first joy of its pardon ; — 
 remember the spring-tide of thy first love — 
 how precious Jesus was, how glorious was his 
 person, how sweet was his cross, how fragrant 
 was his name, how rich was his grace ; — re- 
 member how dear to you was the throne of 
 grace, how frequently you resorted to it, 
 regarding it of all spots on earth the most 
 blessed ; — remember how, under the anoint- 
 ings of adopting love, you walked with God as 
 with a Father — how filial, how close, how holy 
 was your communion with him ; — remember 
 the seasons of refreshing in the sanctuary, in 
 the social meeting, in the closet, how your 
 soul did seem to dwell on the sunny sides of 
 glory, and you longed for the wings of a dove 
 that you might fly to your Lord ; — remember 
 how, publicly and before many witnesses, you 
 put off" sin and put on Christ, and turning 
 your back upon the world, took your place 
 among the followers of the Lamb ; — remember 
 how holy, and circumspect, and spotless was 
 
312 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 your walk, bow tender was your conscience, 
 how guileless was your spirit, how humble and 
 lowly your whole deportment. But what and 
 where are you now ? remember /ro?/i whence 
 you are fallen ! Think from what a high 
 profession, from what an elevated walk, from 
 what holy employments, from what hallowed 
 joys, from what sweet delights, and from 
 what pleasant ways have you declined ! May 
 you not truly inquire with the sweet poet of 
 Olney,— 
 
 " Where is the blessedness I knew 
 When first I saw the Lord ? 
 Where is the soul- refreshing view 
 Of Jesus and his word ? 
 
 " What peaceful hours I once enjoyed ! 
 How sweet their mem'ry still ! 
 But they have left an aching void, 
 The world can never fill. 
 
 " Return, O holy Dove, return, 
 Sweet messenger of rest ; 
 I hate the sins that made thee mourn. 
 And drove thee from my breast." 
 
 In the exhortation given to the backsliding 
 church at Ephesus, there is yet another in- 
 struction equally applicable to the case of all 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 313 
 
 wanderers from the Lord : " Repent and do 
 the first works/' How can a departing soul 
 retui-n without repentance ? by what other 
 avenue can the prodigal reach his Father's 
 heart ? Repentance implies the existence and 
 conviction of sin. Ah ! is it no sin, beloved 
 reader, to have turned thy back upon God ? 
 is it no sin to have lost thy first love, to have 
 backslidden from Jesus, to have transferred thy 
 afi'ections from him to the world, or to the 
 creature, or to thyself ? is it no sin to go no 
 more with the Shepherd, and to follow no 
 more the footsteps of the flock, and to feed no 
 more in the green pastures, or repose by the 
 side of the still waters ? yes ! it is a sin of 
 peculiar magnitude ; it is a sin against God in 
 the character of a loving Father, against Jesus 
 in the character of a tender Redeemer, against 
 the Holy Spirit in the character of a faithful 
 Indweller and a Sanctifier ; it is a sin against 
 the most precious experience of his grace, 
 against the most melting exhibitions of his 
 love, and against the most tender proofs of his 
 covenant faithfulness. 
 
 Repent, then, of this thy sin. Think how 
 
314 THE LORD_, THE RESTORER 
 
 thou hast wounded Jesus afresh, and repent; 
 think how thou hast requited thy Father's 
 love, and repent ; think how thou hast grieved 
 the Spirit, and repent. Humble thyself in 
 dust and ashes before the cross, and through 
 that cross, look up again to thy forgiving God 
 and Father. The sweet promise is, "They 
 shall look upon him whom they have pierced, 
 and shall mourn for him as one mourneth for 
 his only son/' This leads us to touch upon 
 one more point of vast moment in the way of 
 a soul's return to God. It is this : 
 
 All real return of a backsliding soul is 
 through Jesus. Jesus is God's great Door of 
 approach to his throne. No other entrance 
 will conduct us to the golden sceptre; no 
 other will bring us into the holy of holies. 
 Thus has the Holy Ghost unfolded this truth : 
 " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter 
 into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a 
 new and living way, which he hath conse- 
 crated for us through the veil, that is to say, 
 his flesh ; and having an High Priest over the 
 house of God; let us draw near." blessed 
 Door of return for a poor, backsliding, heart- 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 315 
 
 broken believer ! — a crucified Saviour, in 
 whom God is well pleased, and for whose sake 
 he can receive the sinner, and put away his 
 sin, can welcome the backslider, and heal his 
 backsliding. 
 
 Nor must we overlook the gracious work of 
 the Spirit in the restoring of a backsliding 
 soul ; but for him, not a step in the way of 
 return would be taken on the part of the be- 
 liever. The first solemn reflection, the first 
 wistful glance of the eye tow^ards the Father's 
 home, the first sigh that heaves the heart, the 
 first tear that starts from the fountain of grief, 
 the first step bent towards a forsaken God, 
 is the efi'ect of his blessed operation, of his 
 unchangeable love, and covenant faithfulness. 
 What debtors are we to the blessed and Eter- 
 nal Spirit ! What reverential views should 
 we entertain of his person, and what tender 
 thoughts should we cherish of his work ! 
 
 The encouragements to return to the Lord 
 are many and great : in the first place, we 
 have the gracious invitations of God himself. 
 How numerous and touching are these ! Where 
 is the heart, deeply conscious of its backsliding. 
 
316 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 that can resist the power of language like 
 this : " Go, and proclaim these words towards 
 the north, and say, Keturn, thou backsliding 
 Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause 
 mine anger to fall upon you : for I am merci- 
 ful, saith the Lord, and will not keep anger 
 for ever." Jer. iii. 12. Here is the warrant 
 for your return — God^s own free invitation ! 
 You want no more. What if Satan discour- 
 ages, what if your sins plead against you, 
 what if guilt and unbelief and shame combine 
 to impede your way, if God says, " Return V^ 
 — that is sufficient for thee. Thou dost want 
 no more; if he is willing to receive you back, 
 to pardon your sins, to forget your base 
 ingratitude, to heal your backslidings, and 
 restore your soul, you have the broad warrant 
 to return, in the face of all opposition and dis- 
 couragement. Yet again the cheering invita- 
 tion runs, — " Only acknowledge thine iniquity 
 that thou hast transgressed against the Lord 
 thy God.^' "Turn, backsliding children, 
 saith the Lord, for I am married unto you.'' 
 " Return, ye backsliding children, and I will 
 heal your backslidings." " 1 will heal their 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 317 
 
 backsliding, I will love them freely : for mine 
 anger is turned away from him." Jer. iii. ; 
 Hosca xiv. 
 
 The character of God is such as encourages 
 the return of a backsliding soul. In the invi- 
 tations he has given, he m-ges them upon the 
 ground of ivhat he is: "Return, thou back- 
 sliding Israel, saith the Lord ; and I will not 
 cause mine anger to fall upon you : for I am 
 merciful, saith the Lord." touching, soul- 
 subduing, heart-melting argument, — ' Return 
 unto me, for I am merciful!' ^lerciful to 
 receive you, merciful to pardon you, merciful 
 to heal you. the boundless mercy of God 
 in Christ towards a soul returning from its 
 wanderings ! Will not this draw you ? Again ; 
 "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy 
 transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins ; return 
 unto me, for I have redeemed thee." " Return, 
 for I have blotted out thy transgressions : re- 
 turn, for I have put away thy sins : return, for 
 I have redeemed thee. The work is already 
 done, — the pardon has already gone forth, — 
 the backsliding has already been forgiven ; 
 then linger not, but return, for I have re- 
 
318 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 deemed thee.' Here, on the broad basis of 
 the Lord's free and full pardon, the wander- 
 ing soul is urged to return. Truly may the 
 apostle say, " If we confess our sins, he is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
 cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 
 Thus is the character of God, as a merciful, 
 sin-pardoning God, held out in the word as a 
 motive and an encouragement to return. This 
 is just the view of God, which, as a backsliding 
 soul, you want. In yourself you see every- 
 thing to discourage," everything to forbid your 
 return ; and even on awakening to a sense of 
 your departure, your first thoughts of God are 
 such as to repel you from his presence ; you 
 are ready to say, '' I have wilfully departed 
 from the Lord ; I have gone after other lovers ; 
 I have hewn out other cisterns ; now the Lord 
 has given me up in his displeasure, and has 
 forsaken me for ever in his wrath.'' But God 
 comes forth, and vindicates his own gracious 
 character, unfolds his own love, and in accents 
 most encouraging and persuasive, addresses 
 himself to his wandering child, and says. 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 319 
 
 '^Return, thou backsliding Israel, for / am 
 merciful.'' 
 
 In the parable of the prodigal son, we have 
 the character of God towards a returning soul 
 truly and beautifully drawn. The single point 
 we would now advert to is, the posture of the 
 father on the approach of his child. What 
 was that posture ? — the most expressive of 
 undiminished love, of yearning tenderness, of 
 eagerness to welcome his return. Thus is it 
 described : ^' And when he was a great way off, 
 his father saw him, and had compassion, and 
 ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.^^ 
 All this is God to thee, dear returning soul ! 
 He is on the eager watch for thy first move- 
 ment towards him ; he is looking as with out- 
 stretched neck for the first sign of thy souFs 
 return, for the first sound of thy footsteps, 
 for the first relentings of thy heart : yea, even 
 more than this, or this were nothing, he sends 
 his ow^n Spirit to w^ork that retui-n in thy soul, 
 to break thy heart, to rouse thy slumbering 
 spirit, to draw thee, win thee to his arms. 
 This is thy God, — the God whom thou hast 
 
320 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 forsaken, from whose ways thou hast declined, 
 but who, in the very depth of thy declension, 
 and in the very extremity of thy departure, 
 has never withdrawn his eye of love one mo- 
 ment from thee. 
 
 Nor must we overlook the grand source of 
 encouragement to a returning soul, — that ivhich 
 springs from the cross of Christ. But for a 
 crucified Saviour, there could be no possible 
 return to God ; in no other way could he, con- 
 sistently with the holiness and rectitude of the 
 Divine government, with what he owes to him- 
 self as a just and holy God, receive a poor, 
 wandering, returning sinner. Mere repent- 
 ance and humiliation for, and confession of, 
 sin, could entitle the soul to no act of pardon. 
 The obedience and death of the Lord Jesus, 
 laid the foundation, and opened the way for 
 the exercise of this great and sovereign act of 
 grace. The cross of Jesus displays the most 
 awful exhibition of God^s hatred of sin, and at 
 the same time the most august manifestation 
 of his readiness to pardon it. Pardon, full and 
 free, is written out in every drop of blood that 
 is seen, is proclaimed in every groan that is 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 321 
 
 heard, and shines in the very prodigy of mercy 
 that closes the solemn scene upon the cross. 
 blessed door of return, open and never shut, 
 to the wanderer from God ! how glorious, how 
 free, how accessible ! Hither the sinful, the 
 vile, the guilty, the unworthy, the poor, the 
 penniless, may come. Here, too, the weary 
 spirit may bring its burthen, the broken spirit 
 its sorrow, the guilty spirit its sin, the back- 
 sliding spirit its wandering. All are welcome 
 here. The death of Jesus was the opening 
 and the emptying of the full heart of God ; it 
 was the outgushing of that ocean of infinite 
 mercy, that heaved and panted and longed for 
 an outlet ; it was God showing how he could 
 love a poor, guilty sinner. What more could 
 he have done than this ? what stronger proof, 
 what richer gift, what costlier boon, could he 
 have given in attestation of that love ? Now 
 it is the simple belief of this, that brings the 
 tide of joy down into the soul. It is faith^s 
 view of this that dissolves the adamant, rends 
 asunder the flinty rock, smites down the pyra- 
 mid of self-righteousness, lays the rebellious 
 will in the dust, and enfolds the repenting, 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 believing soul in the very arms of free, rich, 
 and sovereign love. Here, too, the believer is 
 led to trace the sin of his backsliding in its 
 darkest lines, and to mourn over it with his 
 bitterest tears, — 
 
 " Then beneath the cross adoring, 
 Sin doth like itself appear ; 
 When the wounds of Christ exploring, 
 I can read my pardon there." 
 
 If the Lord has restored thy soul, dear 
 reader, remember why he has done it, — to make 
 thee hate thy sins. He hates them, and he will 
 make thee to hate them too : and this he does 
 by pardoning them, by sprinkling the atoning 
 blood upon the conscience, and by restoring 
 unto you the joys of his salvation. And never 
 is sin so sincerely hated, never is it so deeply 
 deplored, so bitterly mourned over, and so 
 utterly forsaken, as when he speaks to the 
 heart, and says, " Thy sins are forgiven thee, 
 go in peace." As though he did say, '' I have 
 blotted out thy transgressions, I have healed 
 thy backslidings, I have restored thy soul; 
 ' that thou mayst remember and be confounded, 
 and never open thy mouth any more because 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 323 
 
 of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee 
 for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord 
 God/ '' Ezek. xvi. 63. 
 
 Remember that, jmt whei^e the departure 
 commenced, there should commence the return. 
 Did it begin at the closet ? — then at the closet 
 let thy restoration commence. Return to 
 secret, closet prayer; build up the ruined 
 altar, — rekindle the expiring flame ; let that 
 holy sanctuary once more witness to your con- 
 fessions, your humiliations, your strong crying 
 and tears, and your close, filial, and hallowed 
 communion with God. blessed moment 
 that sees you there again, even though it be to 
 smite in anguish on your breast, and to cover 
 yourself with sackcloth and ashes before the 
 Lord! 
 
 And do not overlook in this great business 
 of restoration, the intercession of Jesus, the 
 High Priest, at the right hand of God. If thy 
 heavenly Father has restored thy soul, not only 
 has he done it from the spring of his own un- 
 changeable love, but that which has prevailed 
 with him, was the power of the sweet incense 
 of the Redeemer's blood before the mercy-seat. 
 
324 THE LORD, THE RESTORER 
 
 Moment by moment does this fragrant cloud 
 go up, bearing as it ascends all the circum- 
 stances of all the Israel of God. There is not 
 only the blood already sprinkled on the mercy- 
 seat, which has satisfied Divine justice, but 
 there is the constant pleading of the blood 
 by Jesus, the Priest, before the throne. 
 precious thought, comforting, encouraging 
 truth, for a soul retreading its steps back to 
 God ! Of its own it hath nothing to plead 
 but its folly, its ingratitude, its wretchedness, 
 and its sin ; but faith can lay its trembling 
 hand upon this blessed truth, — faith can descry 
 Jesus clothed in his priestly garments stand- 
 ing between the soul and God, spreading forth 
 his hands, and pleading on behalf of the re- 
 turning believer the merits of his own precious 
 obedience and death. And thus encouraged, 
 he may draw nigh and touch the sceptre : " If 
 any man sin, we have an Advocate with the 
 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.^^ " Christ 
 is not entered into the holy places made with 
 hands, which are the figures of the true ; but 
 into heaven itself, now to appear in the pre- 
 sence of God for us." Heb. ix. 24. 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 325 
 
 In view of all these precious encourage- 
 ments, persuasive motives, and earnest expos- 
 tulations, will you, dear backsliding soul, still 
 refuse to return ? I entreat you, I implore 
 you, I beseech you, to arise and go to your 
 Father, and say unto him, " Father, I have 
 sinned against heaven and in thy sight/'' By 
 all that is tender and forgiving in that Father's 
 heart, — by all that is melting, persuasive, and 
 precious in the work of Jesus, — by his agony 
 and bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by 
 his death, burial, and resurrection, I beseech 
 you to return ! By the honour of that holy 
 religion you have wounded, by all the hopes of 
 glory you have indulged in, by all that is 
 sacred and precious in the memory of the 
 past, and by all that is solemn and real in the 
 prospect of the future, I implore you to return ! 
 By the faithful promises of God, by the tender 
 yearnings of Jesus, by the gentle drawings of 
 the Spirit, by all that you will experience in 
 the joy and peace and assurance of a restored 
 soul, by the glory of God, by the honom- of 
 Christ, by the nearness of death and the 
 
326 THE LORD, THE RESTORER, ETC. 
 
 solemnity of the judgment, I entreat, I implore, 
 I beseech you, wanderer, prodigal, to return ! 
 
 ♦' Return, O wanderer, return ! 
 And seek an injured Father's face ; 
 Those warm desires that in thee burn, 
 "Were kindled by reclaiming grace. 
 
 " Return, O wanderer, return ! 
 Thy Saviour bids thy spirit live ; 
 Go to his bleeding side, and learn 
 How freely Jesus can forgive. 
 
 " Return, O wanderer, return ! 
 Regain thy lost, lamented rest ; 
 Jehovah's melting bowels yearn 
 To clasp his Ephraim to his breast." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LORD, THE KEEPER OF HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 " The Lord is thy keeper."— Pfa/m cxxi. 5. 
 
 How frequently, clearly, and solemnly does 
 the Holy Ghost unfold this great truth in his 
 word, that salvation is entirely in and of God, 
 irrespective of all worth, worthiness, or power 
 of the creature ; and that as the salvation of 
 his covenant people is supremely and solely his 
 own work, so in every respect it is infinitely 
 worthy of himself. God can do nothing but 
 what harmonises with his own illimitable 
 greatness : he can never act below himself. 
 All the productions of his creative power in 
 nature, all the events of his directive msdom 
 in providence, bear the impress, from the 
 smallest to the greatest, of his " eternal power 
 and Godhead." But in salvation, it is 
 
328 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 supremely and pre-eminently so. Here, the 
 whole Deity shines ; here, the entire Godhead 
 is seen; here, Jehovah emerges from the 
 veiled pavilion of his greatness and glory, and 
 by one stupendous exercise of power, and by 
 one august act of grace, and by one ineffable 
 display of love — before which all other revela- 
 tions of his glory seem to fade away and well- 
 nigh disappear — walks abroad among men in 
 his full-orbed majesty : '' And I heard a great 
 voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the 
 tabernacle of God is with men, and he will 
 dwell with them, and they shall be his people, 
 and God himself shall be with them and be 
 their God/^ This glorious '' tabernacle^^ that 
 is " with men,^^ what less is it than the mani- 
 festation of Jesus in our own nature — God 
 manifest in the flesh ? Truly may w^e say, 
 " His glory is great in our salvation." Is he 
 the only- wise God ? — his salvation must needs 
 be the most profound result of that wisdom. 
 Is he most holy ? — his salvation must be holy. 
 Is he just ? — his salvation must be just. Is 
 he gracious ? — so must be his salvation. It 
 bears the imprint of every attribute ; it em- 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 329 
 
 bodies in its nature the manifestation of every 
 perfection. No other conception of his wis- 
 dom, no other product of his power, no other 
 revelation of his greatness, gives any adequate 
 conception of God, but the cross of his beloved 
 Son. '^ It is here that he appears under the 
 new and unequalled aspect of the God of our 
 salvation ; and hence that he desires a renewal 
 of praise, not only for his excellent greatness, 
 or his marvellous works, but for what he is in 
 his inherent and illimitable goodness, and for 
 what he imparts in the fruitions of his love. 
 The very thought of such a discovery, is itself 
 a new creation. It is the product of inspira- 
 tion, not of mortal intelligence : it could 
 proceed only from him by whom it is to be 
 substantiated and accomplished; it constitutes 
 its own evidence, it authenticates itself. 
 Divinity is not more its object than its 
 essence : incommunicable majesty is impressed 
 on every feature, and diffused over all its form. 
 Well may it be said of such a system, even as 
 of Him who is its author, that herein God is 
 manifested in the flesh, beheld in his express 
 image and his uncreated brightness.^^ 
 
330 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 Now this salvatioD, thus so completely and 
 entirely out of the creature, in God, takes in 
 all the circumstances of a child of God. It is 
 not only a salvation from wrath to come — that 
 were an immeasurable act of grace — but it is 
 a present salvation, anticipating and providing 
 for every exigency of the life that now is, 
 including deliverance from all evil, help in all 
 trouble, comfort in all sorrow, the supply of 
 all want, and through all conflicts, assaults, 
 and difficulties, perfect safety and final 
 triumph. But the single point with which we 
 now have to do, is, the present and certain 
 security of the believer, provided for in the 
 covenant of grace, made sure in Jesus the 
 covenant head, and revealed in this glorious 
 covenant plan of salvation. We have, in the 
 preceding chapter, been considering the 
 inherent tendency and the constant liability 
 of a child of God to departure from God ; we 
 now would look up to the Holy Spirit to 
 unfold to us this great and consoling truth, 
 that in the midst of all their weakness, way- 
 wardness, and tendency to wander, the Lord is 
 the keeper of his people, and that they whom 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 331 
 
 he keeps are well and eternally kept. " Tlie 
 Lord is thy keeper." 
 
 We cannot rightly discuss our subject^ 
 without laying its foundation in the "perfect 
 weakness of the believer himself. If this were 
 not so, — if there were aught of self-power in 
 the believer, any ability to keep himself, — if 
 he were not weakness, all weakness, and 
 nothing but weakness, — then the Lord could 
 not in truth be said to be the keeper of his 
 people. This truth, we repeat, is the ground- 
 work of our subject, and of it the believer 
 needs to be perpetually put in remembrance. 
 The principle of self-confidence is the natural 
 product of the human heart : the great charac- 
 teristic of our apostate race, is, a desire to 
 live, and think, and act, independently of God. 
 What is the great citadel, to the overthrow of 
 which Divine grace first directs its power? 
 what is the first step it takes in the subjection 
 of the sinner to God ? what, but the breaking 
 down of this lofty, towering, independent 
 conceit of himself, so natural to man, and so 
 abhorrent to God ? Now, let it be remembered, 
 that Divine and sovereign grace undertakes not 
 
332 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 the extraction of the root of this depraved 
 principle from the heart of its subjects. The 
 root remains to the very close of life's pilgrim- 
 age : though in a measure weakened, subdued, 
 mortified, still it remains; demanding the 
 most rigid watchfulness, connected with 
 ceaseless prayer, lest it should spring upward, 
 to the destruction of his souFs prosperity, the 
 grieving of the Spirit, and the dishonouring of 
 God. how much the tender, faithful dis- 
 cipline of a covenant God, may have the 
 subjection and mortification of this hateful 
 principle for its blessed end, who can tell? 
 We shall never fully know until we reach our 
 Father's house, where the dark, and to us, 
 mysterious dealings of that loving Father 
 with us here below, shall unfold themselves in 
 light and glory, elevating the soul in love and 
 praise ! 
 
 That no mere creature, angelic or human, 
 can keep itself, is a truth fairly written out 
 in the word of God, and illustrated by some 
 of the most solemn and affecting examples. 
 In the history of the fallen angels, God has 
 revealed and confirmed this truth. If any 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 333 
 
 creature could have kept itself from falling, 
 why not a pure angelic spirit? All that the 
 creature could possess in itself favourable to 
 its security, they had ; God created them in 
 perfect uprightness and holiness; they were 
 bound by a law implanted in their nature, — 
 the same as the law of nature inscribed on 
 Adam's heart, and which in substance corre- 
 sponds with the moral law, — they were bound, 
 we say, by this law to love God supremely, to 
 obey him implicitly, to serve him devotedly 
 and everlastingly. No power could release 
 them from this obligation ; nor did they want 
 the moral capacity to obey it. The bent of 
 their wills, the bias of their minds, the desire 
 of their affections, were all towards it. And 
 yet they fell ! ^^hy ? Because God left 
 them to the freedom of their wills, which were 
 mutable, and that instant they were left to 
 themselves, they fell as lightning from heaven. 
 " I beheld," said Christ, " Satan as lightning 
 fall from heaven." If it had been possible 
 for created power to have sustained itself, 
 here was the glorious theatre for the display 
 of that power. Their natures were holy, the 
 
334 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 God whom they served was holy, the place 
 they inhabited was holy, their companions 
 were holy, their employments were holy, and 
 yet they fell ! Again we ask why ? — because 
 no creature ever has or ever can, by any in- 
 nate, inherent strength or power of his own, 
 keep himself: that moment God leaves him 
 to himself, that moment he falls. 
 
 Look at Adam : he too was created in per- 
 fect holiness; not a taint of sin originally 
 in his nature; not a cloud darkened his 
 mind; not the least bias of his will, or a 
 single inclination of his heart, but centred 
 in God: and yet, he fell from his original 
 holiness. And why? Because he could not 
 keep himself: God left him to his natural 
 and moral ability, which in the creature is 
 natural and moral weakness^ he left him to his 
 own free-will, he left him to his own innate 
 power, and the sad consequence was, he in- 
 stantly fell, and in him, as their federal head, 
 fell the whole human race. Adam was poor 
 in himself, — he was a pensioner upon the free 
 bounty of the God of heaven ; even when he 
 reposed amid the beauty and luxuriance of 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 335 
 
 paradise, and trod the earth as the monarch 
 of a new and a glorious world, every object of 
 which paid him homage, and submitted to his 
 will, even then was he, as all creatures neces- 
 sarily must be, poor in himself, and hung as a 
 weak dependent creature upon the God that 
 created him. And the moment that God with- 
 drew his sustaining power, that moment Adam 
 tore the crown of creature glory from his 
 head, and trampled it into atoms in the dust ! 
 Look at the histories of some of the most 
 eminent of God's saints. What affecting con- 
 lirmation do they afford to the most important 
 truth we are now upon, that the creature left 
 to itself, is perfect weakness ! If the angels in 
 their purity, if Adam in his state of innocence, 
 fell in consequence of being left in the sove- 
 reign will of God to their own keeping, what 
 may we expect from a fallen, sinful, imperfect 
 creature, even though renewed ? Do we look 
 into God^s blessed word, and read what is 
 there declared, touching the power of a re- 
 newed creature to keep itself ? How affecting, 
 and at the same time conclusive these declara- 
 tions are: "Having no might;" "Without 
 
336 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 strength;'' "Weak througli the flesh;" "Out 
 of weakness were made strong/' Could lan- 
 guage more forcibly set forth the utter weak- 
 ness of a child of God ? And what are the 
 figures employed to impress upon the mind the 
 same truth ? They are most expressive ; the 
 believer is represented as a ^lamb among 
 wolves/ — as a dove ready to be fastened upon 
 by the vulture, — as a ' lily among thorns/ — 
 as ' a bruised reed/ — as ^ smoking flax/ — as a 
 feeble branch hanging upon the vine. And 
 what are their own acknowledgments? "The 
 Lord is the strength of my life;" "The 
 Lord is my shepherd;" "Hold thou me up 
 and I shall be safe;" "Keep back thy ser- 
 vant also from presumptuous sins;" "Hold 
 up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps 
 slip not ; " " We had the sentence of death in 
 ourselves, that we should not trust in our- 
 selves;" "Yet not I, but the grace of God 
 which was with me ;" " By the grace of God I 
 am what I am." And what are the examples? 
 To select but a few from among many : look 
 at the intemperance of Noah, the unbelief of 
 Abraham, the adultery and murder of David, 
 the idolatry of Solomon, the self-righteousness 
 
OF HIS PEorLE. 33r 
 
 of Job^ the impatience of Moses, the self-con- 
 fidence, and trimming, temporising poUcy of 
 Peter. Solemn are these lessons of the crea- 
 ture's nothingness; affecting these examples 
 of his perfect weakness ! 
 
 But why speak of others ? Let the reader, if 
 he is a professing child of God, pause and sur- 
 vey the past of his own life. What marks of 
 perfect weakness may he discover, what evi- 
 dences of his own fickleness, folly, immature 
 judgment, may he trace, what outbreakings of 
 deep iniquity, what disclosures of hidden cor- 
 ruption, what startling symptoms of the most 
 awful departure and apostacy from God, does 
 the review present ! And this, too, let it be 
 remembered, is the history of a believer in 
 Jesus, a renewed child of God, a partaker of 
 the Divine nature, an expectant of eternal 
 glory ! Holy and blessed are they who, as 
 they read and lay aside this book, shall relin- 
 quish all their fond conceit of self-power, and 
 of self-keeping, and shall pray, and cease not 
 to pray, " Lord, hold thou me up, and I shall 
 be safe !" " Let him that thinketh he standeth, 
 take heed lest he fall/' 
 
 But the Lord will cause his people to know 
 a 
 
338 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 their perfect weakness and insufficiency to 
 keep themselves, and that, too, not notionally, 
 not theoretically, nor from what they hear, 
 or from what they read, but from their own 
 deep personal experience of the truth : yea, 
 he is perpetually causing them to learn it. I 
 do not allude merely to that blessed period 
 when the Holy Ghost first lays his axe at the 
 fabric of their self-righteousness, — truly they 
 first learn it then, — but it is a truth they 
 become growingly acquainted with ; it is a 
 lesson they are made daily to learn ; and he 
 becomes the most perfectly schooled in it, who 
 watches most narrowly his own heart, is most 
 observant of his own way, and deals most con- 
 stantly and simply with the cross of Jesus. 
 With regard to the way which the Lord adopts 
 to bring them into the knowledge of it, it is 
 various. Sometimes it is by bringing them 
 into great straits and difficulties, hedging up 
 their path with thorns, or paving it with flints. 
 Sometimes it is in deep adversity after great 
 prosperity, as in the case of Job, stripped of 
 all, and laid in dust and ashes, in order to be 
 brought to the conviction and the confession 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 339 
 
 of deep and utter vileness. Sometimes it is in 
 circumstances of absolute prosperity, when he 
 gives the heart its desire, but sends leanness 
 into the soul. how does this teach a godly 
 man his own utter nothingness ! Sometimes 
 it is by permitting the messenger of Satan to 
 buffet, — sending and perpetuating some heavy, 
 lingering, lacerating cross. Sometimes by 
 the removal of some beloved prop on which 
 we too fondly and securely leaned, — putting a 
 worm at the root of our pleasant out-spreading 
 gourd, drying up our refreshing spring, or 
 leading us down deep into the valley of self- 
 abasement and humiliation. But the great 
 school in which we learn this painful, yet 
 needed and wholesome lesson, is, in the body 
 of sin which we daily bear about with us. It 
 was here Paul learned his lesson, as the seventh 
 chapter of his letter to the church at Rome 
 shows, and for which epistle the saints of God 
 will ever have reason to praise and adore the 
 blessed and Eternal Spirit : " I know that in 
 me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good 
 thing : for to will is present with, me ; but 
 how to perform that which is good I find not. 
 
340 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 For the good that I would I do not ; but the 
 evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I 
 do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, 
 but sin that dwelleth in me. wretched man 
 that I am ! who shall deliver me from the 
 body of this death?" In this school and in 
 this way, did the great apostle of the Gentiles 
 learn that the most holy, deeply taught, use- 
 ful, privileged, and even inspired saint of God, 
 was in himself nothing but the most perfect 
 weakness and sin. Be not thou cast down, 
 dear reader, if the Lord the Spirit is teaching 
 you the same lesson in the same way ; if he is 
 now ploughing up the hidden evil, breaking 
 up the fallow ground, discovering to you more 
 of the evil principle of your heart, the iniquity 
 of your fallen nature, and that, too, it may be, 
 at a time of deep trial, of heavy, heart-break- 
 ing affliction. Ah ! thou art ready to exclaim, 
 " All these things are against me : ^ I was at 
 ease, but he hath broken me asunder ; he hath 
 also taken me by my neck, and shaken me 
 to pieces, and set me up for his mark. His 
 archers compass me round about ; he cleaveth 
 my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 341 
 
 pouretli out my gall upon the ground. He 
 breaketh me with breach upon breach,, he run- 
 neth upon me like a giant/ Job xvi. 12 — 14. 
 Am I a child of God ? Can I be a subject of 
 grace, and at the same time be the subject of 
 so much hidden evil, and of such deep, over- 
 whelming trial ? Is this the way he dealeth 
 with his people ?'' — 
 
 " I asked the Lord that I might grow- 
 In faith, and love, and every grace, 
 Might more of his salvation know, 
 And seek more earnestly his face. 
 
 " 'Twas he who taught me thus to pray, 
 And he, I trust, has answered prayer ; 
 But it has been in such a way, 
 As almost drove me to despair. 
 
 " I hoped that in some favoured hour, 
 At once he'd answer my request, 
 And by his love's constraining power, 
 Subdue my sins, and give me rest. 
 
 " Instead of this, he made me feel 
 The hidden evils of my heart ; 
 And let the angry powers of hell 
 Assault my soul in every part. 
 
 *' Yea more ; with his own hand he seemed ' 
 
 Intent to aggravate my woe ; 
 Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 
 Blasted my gourds, and laid me low. 
 
342 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 " ' Lord, why is this ?' I trembling cried, 
 ' Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death ? ' 
 
 * 'Tis in this way,' the Lord replied, 
 
 * I answer prayer for grace and faith. 
 
 " ' These inward trials I employ, 
 ' From self and pride to set thee free, 
 'And break thy schemes of earthly joy, 
 ' That thou mayst seek thy all in me.' " 
 
 Yes, dear believer, thou art not solitary nor 
 alone: for along this path, all the covenant 
 people of God are travelling to their better and 
 brighter home. Here they become acquainted 
 with theii" own weakness, their perpetual 
 liability to fall; here they renounce their 
 former thoughts of self-power and of self- 
 keeping; and here, too, they learn more of 
 Jesus as their strength, their all-sufficient 
 keeper, more of him as their "wisdom, 
 righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." 
 Cheer up, then, for the Lord thy God is 
 leading thee on by a safe and a right way 
 to bring thee to a city of rest. 
 
 But, the Lord is the keeper of his people. To 
 the consideration of this point, let us direct 
 our remaining meditations. If what we have 
 advanced touching the perfect helplessness, the 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 343 
 
 proneness to constant departure of the child of 
 God, be true ; surely it needs no argument to 
 shoWj that the believer stands in need of just 
 such a keeper as God is. If he cannot keep 
 himself, no mere creature can keep him — none 
 but God in Christ. 
 
 Our blessed Lord has himself declared this 
 truth. Mark the double security of the 
 believer in his and his Father's hands : " My 
 sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and 
 they follow me : and I give unto them eternal 
 life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall 
 any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, 
 which gave them me, is greater than all ; and 
 none is able to pluck them out of my Fathei-'s 
 hand. I and my Father are one." John x. 
 27 — 30. Here they are declared to be his own 
 chosen peculiar people, his sheep ; given to 
 him of his Father, and perfectly safe in the 
 hands of both. Listen to the breathing of his 
 soul on behalf of his people : " And now I am 
 no more in the world, but these are in the 
 world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, 
 keep through thine own name those whom 
 thou hast given me, that they may be one as 
 
344 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 we are. While I was with them in the world, 
 I kept them in thy name; those that thou 
 gavest me I have ke}3t." 
 
 That the Lord Jesus is able to keejj his 
 people from falling, is a view of our subject 
 worthy of especial and grateful consideration. 
 This is the ground-work of our faith, — that 
 Christ has poicer to keep, through ail time 
 and to all eternity, the people entrusted to his 
 care. They are his portion, his bride, his 
 jewels ; they were committed to him of his 
 Father, and therefore he is responsible for 
 their present and eternal salvation. Let us 
 see how he is in all respects fitted for this great 
 undertaking. 
 
 As God, Christ is able to keep his people. 
 When Jehovah made promise of any blessing 
 to his ancient people, with a view of confirming 
 their faith in his ability to perform what he had 
 promised, he was wont to append to his name 
 Almighty, " the Lord that created the heaven and 
 the earth ;" so that, however great and stupend- 
 ous, and seemingly impossible, might appear the 
 thing promised. He who " created heaven and 
 earth'^ was able to perform it. Now this very 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 345 
 
 perfection of God, this work that stamps his 
 omnipotence, and which answers all question 
 and silences all doubt as to his " eternal power 
 and Godhead," belongs and is ascribed to 
 Christ the Keeper of his people. Thus, — " By 
 him (Christ) were all things created that are 
 in heaven and that are in earth, visible and 
 invisible, whether they be thrones, or domi- 
 nions, or principalities, or powers : all things 
 were created by him and for him : and he is 
 before all things, and by him all things 
 consist.'' Col. i. 16, 17. Not less strikingly 
 is the same exercise of omnipotent power ap- 
 phed to Christ in the epistle to the Hebrews, — 
 " Who being the brightness of his [Father's] 
 glory, and the express image of his person, 
 and upholding all things by the word of his 
 power, when he had by himself purged our 
 sins, sat down on the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high." ch. i. 3. In this passage, 
 Jesus is invested with a creative and a sustain- 
 ing power, — attributes that can be predicated 
 only of God. Here lies, then, the great 
 ability of Christ, as the Keeper of his covenant 
 people. The same perfection which qualified 
 
346 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 him as the covenant head and surety of his 
 people; the same almighty strength which 
 enabled him to work out their salvation, to 
 bear the burthen and the curse of their sins, 
 enables him to preserve them while " dead in 
 trespasses and in sins," and to keep them after 
 they have been called and renewed by the 
 operation of the Holy Ghost. As God, then, 
 he is able to keep his saints from falling. 
 
 But, as God-man Mediator, he is also able 
 to keep his people. As the covenant head and 
 preserver of his church, " it pleased the Father 
 that in him should all fulness dwell." The 
 Father knew what his beloved family would 
 need. He knew what corruptions would 
 threaten them, what temptations would beguile 
 them, what foes would assail them, what in- 
 firmities would encompass them, and what 
 trials would depress them ; therefore it pleased 
 him, it was his own good and gracious pleasure, 
 that in his Son, the mediator of his beloved 
 people, should all fulness dwell ; — a fulness of 
 merit, a fulness of pardon, a fulness of right- 
 eousness, a fulness of grace, wisdom, and 
 strength, commensurate with the varied, mul- 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 347 
 
 tiplied, and diversified circumstances of his 
 family. It is "all fulness." "Full/' as 
 Owen beautifully remarks^ "to a sufficiency 
 for every end of grace; full for practice, to 
 be an example to men and angels as to 
 obedience ; full to a certainty of uninterrupted 
 communion with God ; full to a readiness of 
 giving supply to others ; full to suit him to all 
 the occasions and necessities of the souls of 
 men ; full to a glory not unbecoming a sub- 
 sistence in the person of the Son of God ; full 
 to a perfect victory in trials over all tempta- 
 tions ; full to an exact correspondence to the 
 whole law, every righteous and holy law of 
 God ; full to the utmost capacity of a limited, 
 created, finite nature ; full to the greatest 
 beauty and glory of a living temple of God ; 
 full to the full pleasure and delight of the 
 soul of his Father; full to an everlasting 
 monument of the glory of God, in giving such 
 inconceivable excellencies to the Son of man." 
 As the Mediator, then, of his people, he 
 keeps them in perfect safety by night and by 
 day. No man, no power, can pluck them out 
 of his hands; he has undertaken their full 
 
348 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 salvation. To die for their sins, and to rise 
 again for their justification, and yet not to 
 provide for their security while travelling 
 through a world of sin and temptation, — to 
 leave them to their own guardianship, an 
 unprotected prey to their own hearts^ corrup- 
 tions, the machinations of Satan, and the 
 power of worldly entanglement, — would have 
 been but a partial salvation of his people. 
 Opposed by a threefold enemy, — Satan and 
 the world in league with their own imperfectly 
 renewed and sanctified hearts, that treacherous 
 foe dwelling within the camp, ever ready to 
 betray the soul into the hands of its enemies, 
 — how could a poor, weak child of God bear 
 up and breast this powerful phalanx ? But he 
 who was mighty to save, is mighty to keep ; 
 in him provision is made for all the trying, 
 intricate, perilous circumstances in which the 
 believer may be placed. Grace is laid up for 
 the subjection of every inbred corruption, — 
 an armour is provided for every assault of the 
 foe, — wisdom, strength, consolation, sympathy, 
 kindness, — all, all that a poor believing sinner 
 can possibly require, is richly stored in Jesus, 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 349 
 
 the covenant Head of all the fulness of God 
 to his people. 
 
 But how is the child of God to avail him- 
 self of this provision ? The simple but glorious 
 life of faith exhibits itself here. It is by faith 
 in Christ the soul is made strong in battle ; 
 this is the channel through which the fulness 
 of Jesus comes to the believer. By faith he 
 travels up to this rich and ample supply ; by 
 faith he takes his nothingness to Christ's all- 
 suificiency ; by faith he takes his unworthiness 
 to Christ's infinite merit ; by faith he takes 
 his weakness to Christ's strength^ his folly 
 to Christ's wisdom ; his fearful heart, his 
 timid spirit, his nervous frame, his doubtful 
 mind, his beclouded evidences, his rebellious 
 will, his painful cross, his peculiar case of 
 whatever natiu-e it may be, in the way of 
 helieving, in the exercise of simple faith, he 
 goes with it to Jesus, and as an empty vessel 
 hangs himself upon that '^ nail fastened in a 
 sure place," the glorious Eliakim on whom 
 is hung " all the glory of his Father's house, 
 the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small 
 quantity ; from the vessels of cups, even to all 
 
350 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 the vessels of flagons." Isaiah xxii. 24. Thus 
 may the weakest believer, the most severely 
 assailed, the most deeply tried, the most pain- 
 fully tempted, lay his Goliath dead at his feet, 
 by a simple faith^s- dealing with the fulness 
 that is in Christ Jesus. how mighty is the 
 believer, who, in deep distrust of his own 
 power, casting off from him all spirit of self- 
 dependence, looks simply and fully at Jesus, 
 and goes not forth to meet his enemy, only as 
 he is '^ strong in the strength that is in 
 Christ." 
 
 But what is the great evil of which the true 
 saints of God most stand in jeopardy, and 
 which their timid, fearful hearts most dread ? 
 Is it not secret and outward backsliding from 
 God, after conversion ? Surely it is, as the 
 experience of every honest, upright. God- 
 fearing man will testify. It is his consolation 
 then to know, that Jesus is " able to keep him 
 from falling ;" " Unto him that is able to 
 keep you from falling." Jude 24. This is 
 the most overwhelming evil that stares the 
 believer in the face. Some, but imperfectly 
 taught in the word, are dreading awful apos- 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 351 
 
 tacy from the faith here, and final condemna- 
 tion from the presence of God hereafter, — 
 believing that though Christ has made full 
 satisfaction for their sins to Divine justice, 
 has cancelled the mighty debt, has imputed to 
 them his righteousness, has blotted out their 
 iniquities, has called, renewed, sanctified, and 
 taken full possession of them by his Spirit, 
 and has ascended up on high, to plead their 
 cause with the Father ; that yet, after all this 
 stupendous exercise of power, and this match- 
 less display of free grace, they may be left to 
 utter apostacy from God, and be finally and 
 eternally lost. If there is one doctrine more 
 awful in its nature, distressing in its conse- 
 quences, and directly opposed to the glory of 
 God and the honour of Christ, than another, 
 methinks it is this. 
 
 Others, again, more clearly taught by the 
 Spirit, are heard to say, ' I believe in the 
 stabihty of the covenant, in the unchangeable- 
 ness of God^s love, and in the faithfulness of 
 my heavenly Father, but I fear lest some day 
 under some sharp temptation, some burst of 
 indwelling sin, when the enemy shall come in 
 
352 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 as a flood, I shall fall, to the wounding of my 
 peace, to the shame of my brethren, and to 
 the dishonouring of Christ/ Dear believer, 
 truly thou vvouldst fall, were he to leave thee 
 to thine own keeping for one moment; but 
 Jesus is able to keep thee from falling. Read 
 the promises, believe them, rest upon them. 
 Concerning his redeemed church, what does 
 he say ? " I, the Lord, do keep it ; I will 
 water it every moment, lest any hurt it ; I 
 will keep it night and day.^' Isa. xxvii. 3. 
 " The Lord upholdeth the righteous.^^ Psalm 
 xxxvii. 17. "The righteous shall hold on his 
 way, and he that hath clean hands shall be 
 stronger and stronger.'^ Job xvi. 9. " They 
 go from strength to strength, every one of 
 them in Zion appeareth before God.^^ Psalm 
 Ixxxiv. 7. " They that trust in the Lord shall 
 be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, 
 but abideth for ever. As the mountains are 
 round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round 
 about his people, from henceforth, even for 
 ever/' Psalm cxxv. 1, 2. "Kept by the 
 power of God, through faith, unto salvation/' 
 1 Pet. i. 5. "I will lift up mine eyes unto 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 353 
 
 the hills, fi'om whence cometh my help. My 
 help cometh from the Lord, which made 
 heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy 
 foot to be moved : he that keepeth thee will 
 not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel 
 will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is 
 thy keeper." Psalm cxxi. 1 — 5. 
 
 A simple glance at these passages will pre- 
 sent to the believer^s eye, a threefold cord, by 
 which he is kept from falling. In the first 
 place, God the Father keeps him, — "kept by 
 the power of God;" the power that created 
 and upholds the world, keeps the believer. 
 The eternal purpose, love, and grace of the 
 Father keep him : this is the first cord. 
 
 Again, God the Son keeps him : " My 
 sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and 
 they follow me ; and I give unto them eternal 
 life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall 
 any man pluck them out of my hand." The 
 covenant engagements, the perfect obedience, 
 the atoning death of Immanuel, keep the 
 believer : this is the second cord. 
 
 Yet again, God the Holy Ghost keeps him : 
 " When the enemy shall come in like a flood. 
 
354 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard 
 against him," (marg. shall put him to flight.) 
 The effectual calling, the personal indwelling, 
 the tender love, the covenant faithfulness, and 
 the omnipotent power of the Eternal Spirit, 
 keep the believer : this is the third cord. 
 And '^ a threefold cord is not quickly broken." 
 Eccles. iv. 12. Exceeding great and precious 
 promises ! Well may we sing with the poet — 
 
 " More happy, but not more secure, 
 The glorified spirits in heaven." 
 
 But with these promises of the triune God 
 to keep his people from falling, he has wisely 
 and graciously connected the diligent, prayer- 
 ful use of all the means which he has appointed 
 for this end. The believer is nowhere in the 
 Bible spoken of, or addressed, as a lifeless 
 machine, a mere automaton; but as one 
 "alive unto God," Rom. vi. 11, — as "created 
 in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 10, — as a "partaker 
 of the Divine nature," 2 Pet. i. 4. As such 
 he is commanded to " work out his own salva- 
 tion with fear and trembling," Phil. ii. 12, — 
 to " give diligence to make his calling and 
 election sure," 2 Pet. i. 10, — to " watch and 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 355 
 
 pray, lest he enter into temptation," Matt, 
 xxvi. 41 : and the apostle Jude thus affection- 
 ately and earnestly exhorts the saints to whom 
 he addressed his brief epistle, " But ye, be- 
 loved, building up yourselves on your most 
 holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep 
 yourselves in the love of God, looking for 
 the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto 
 eternal life,'' 20, 21. Thus does God throw 
 a measure of the responsibility of his own 
 standing upon the believer himself, that he 
 might not be slothful, unwatchful, and prayer- 
 less, but be ever sensible of his solemn obliga- 
 tions to " deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
 and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in 
 this present world,'' remembering that he is 
 " not his own, but is bought with a price." 
 
 Let the reader guard against the slightest 
 abuse of any of the great truths discussed in 
 this work, especially the one insisted upon in 
 this chapter. If the power of God is the 
 efficient cause of the eternal security of the 
 believer, yet, as auxiliaries which God has 
 appointed, and by which he instrumentally 
 works, the beUever is to use diligently all holy 
 
356 THE LORD, THE KEEPER 
 
 means of keeping himself from falling; as a 
 temple of the Holy Ghost, as the subject of 
 the Divine life, as a pardoned, justified man, 
 he is called to labour perseveringly, to pray 
 ceaselessly, and to watch vigilantly. He is 
 not to run wilfully into temptation, to expose 
 himself needlessly to the power of the enemy, 
 to surround himself with unholy and hostile 
 influences, and then take refuge in the truth, 
 that the Lord will keep him from falling. God 
 forbid ! This were most awfully to abuse the 
 " doctrine that is after godliness,^^ to " hold 
 the truth in unrighteousness -^^ and to make 
 " Christ the minister of sin." Dear reader, 
 watch and pray against this ! 
 
 And lastly : Let the cheering prospect of 
 that glory unto which you are kept, stimulate 
 you to all diligent perseverance in holy duty, 
 and constrain you to all patient endurance of 
 suffering. In all your conflicts with indwelling 
 sin, under the pressure of all outward trial, 
 let this precious truth comfort you, — that your 
 heavenly Father hath "begotten you again 
 unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incor- 
 
OF HIS PEOPLE. 357 
 
 ruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not 
 away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept 
 by the power of God through faith unto sal- 
 vation ;" that soon — how soon ! — all that 
 now loads the heart with care, and wrings it 
 with sorrow — all that dims the eye with tears, 
 and renders the day anxious and the night 
 sleepless, will be as though it had never been. 
 Emerging from the entanglement, the dreari- 
 ness, the solitude, the loneliness, and the 
 temptations of the wilderness, you shall enter 
 upon your everlasting rest, your unfading 
 inheritance, where there is no sorrow, no 
 declension, no sin; where there is no sunset, 
 no twilight, no evening shades, no midnight 
 darkness, but all is one perfect, cloudless, 
 eternal day — for Jesus is the joy, the light, 
 and the glory thereof. 
 
 '^NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO KEEP 
 YOU FROM FALLING, AND TO PRESENT YOU 
 FAULTLESS BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF HIS 
 GLORY WITH EXCEEDING JOY, TO THE ONLY 
 
 WISE God our Saviour, be glory and 
 
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 MDCCCXLV. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The following work, in the first department of it, is an attempt 
 to supply what has long appeared to be a great desideratum — 
 to give in a small compass to the great mass of readers of the 
 Scriptures the advantage, now confined to ministers and the 
 limited number of others who have the time and means for 
 extensive theological studies, of tlie light thrown on many pas- 
 sages by the labours of the various Critical Annotators on the 
 originals, and Scripture Lexicographers, and especially those who 
 have availed themselves of the collation of ancient manuscripts 
 and versions made since our translation. 
 
 To some, indeed, the improvement required in the Authorised 
 Version has appeared to be so extensive as to call for a new 
 
translation; but they have not reflected that, even were it 
 possible to supersede the present by a better, there would still be 
 counterbalancing disadvantages which render it far from desirable. 
 It is, however, not necessary, as our translators have themselves 
 left us a precedent for a plan of improvement of the existing 
 version, which only requires to be carried out more fully in order 
 to give all the advantages derivable from subsequent critical 
 research and study of the originals, namely, the Marginal 
 Readings, by which another translation of the received text is 
 given, or the reading of one more approved, as may be ; and to 
 do this — to extend the present Marginal Readings, so as to 
 embrace all material improvements of the authorised version — is 
 the first object here proposed : in which department, it is hoped, 
 the work will not only be useful to those who have not access to 
 critical works, but also to those conversant with them, as a 
 Manual of Biblical Criticism, comprising the results of much 
 study of the originals, as well as of a careful comparison of the 
 works of the best annotators, and a constant reference to the 
 various Scripture Lexicons, 
 
 In addition to the Marginal Readings, a second object attempted 
 has been to render more useful another aid to Scriptural know- 
 ledge, no less important, though of a diflferent character — 
 namely, the Marginal References. 
 
 Of the value of references to the Bible nothing need be said, 
 as they obviously rank first among comments on the sacred 
 volume, making the Scriptures their own interpreter, and facili- 
 tating more than anything else that Divinely commended means 
 of attaining to heavenly wisdom — " comparing spiritual things 
 with spiritual." (1 Cor. ii. 13.) 
 
 To these two departments, embraced in the work, is added a 
 third, viz. occasional Notes, for the most part critical, i. e. 
 showing the exact meaning of particular terms ; from the con- 
 viction that an accurate definition of the terms of Scripture is not 
 only an indispensable requisite to its sound exposition, but often 
 affords a ready solution of difficulties otherwise in vain sought for. 
 
 This outline, it is hoped, is sufficient to claim for this attempt 
 the notice of the large class of Christian readers whose benefit is 
 sought in it ; and in commending to such this aid to the attain- 
 ment and communication of the knowledge which makes wise 
 unto salvation, I desire in conclusion to remind them that (in the 
 words of another already quoted) valuable as is the study of the 
 Scriptures, even tlius in themselves, and ' without other com- 
 mentary or exposition than the different parts of the sacred 
 volume mutually furnish for each other,' it is yet only available 
 as ' we never cease to pray for the illumination of that Spirit by 
 which these books were dictated,' — that no amount of knowledge 
 of the letter will profit, or give the apprehension of Divine truth, 
 without the Spirit which alone " giveth life." 
 
 Blackburn and Pardon, Printers, 6, Hatton Garden, London. 
 
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