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THE 
 
 MOURNER IN ZION 
 
 COMFORTED, 
 
 CONSOLATIONS OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 ADAPTED TO THE CASES OF 
 
 THE SPIRITUALLY-DISTRESSED. 
 
 WILLIAM HAMILTON, D.D. 
 
 MINISTER OF STRATHBLANE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HAMILTON AND ADAMS. 
 
 1830. 
 
E. Khull & Son, Printers, East Clyde Street, Glasgow. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the 
 upright in heart. The God of love has lavished on 
 them all the riches of his grace, and furnished them with 
 the noblest blessings and the most inexhaustible sources 
 of consolation. For them he has delivered up his own 
 Son to death, and provided a salvation containing all that 
 a guilty immortal can need for his present safety and 
 happiness, and for his future and everlasting welfare. 
 For them an eternity of honour and delight is spreading 
 its glory before them; and they are invited just now 
 to enter into rest ; and till they see him as he is, to walk 
 in the light of his countenance, to go on their way re- 
 joicing, and abound in hope through the power of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 From various causes, however, many of the best of 
 men, whose souls are most thoroughly exercised unto 
 godliness, live far below their privileges; and are, for 
 
4 
 
 long periods, and some for the greater part of their lives, 
 destitute of that peace and comfort which the Gospel so 
 amply discloses ; and which, by the blessing of God, more 
 enlarged and enlightened views of its nature would enable 
 them to entertain. Whilst the careless and hardened, 
 for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever, 
 are living in ease and feasting themselves without fear ; 
 many of the dearest of God's children, who shall soon 
 reign with Christ in righteousness, and be satisfied with 
 his likeness, are walking in darkness without light, going 
 mourning without the sun, or suffering his terrors and 
 distracted. 
 
 To the afflicted pity should be shown. But no suf- 
 ferers have stronger claims upon our sympathy and kind- 
 ness, than those who are in trouble on account of the 
 state of their souls before God. It is at once the most 
 painful distress which any in this world can sustain ; and 
 at the same time there is none which we have greater 
 encouragement to undertake to remedy. The provisions 
 of the Gospel are so full, various, and comprehensive, 
 that there is no perplexity, despondence, or alarm, under 
 which a spiritually-minded person can labour, which 
 they are not fitted to remove : and if they fail to afford 
 immediate and complete relief, the fault must lie either 
 
in the unskilful manner in which they are administered, 
 or in the patient's refusal to receive them. In itself the 
 antidote is infallible, and the depression which believers 
 experience generally arises from defective views of the 
 glorious Gospel, or a partial reception of its health-giving 
 and joy-creating discoveries. 
 
 The following volume is intended as a contribution 
 to the removal of some of those cases of spiritual dejec- 
 tion which more frequently occur. A series of papers 
 upon the greater part of the subjects which it contains, 
 appeared in the Religious Monitor, a periodical work 
 which was published some years ago in Edinburgh. But 
 as the whole has been recomposed, and several additional 
 articles introduced, the present production possesses 
 much of a new character. 
 
 Time is rapidly flying away. If the principles in- 
 culcated in the ensuing pages are cordially embraced, 
 before many years go round, both the reader and the 
 writer shall be conclusively done with darkness and sor- 
 row, and be placed in the full blaze of celestial light and 
 the unbounded possession of eternal bliss. There Jesus 
 will be to us all in all. With such a prospect before us, 
 let us in the meantime strive to do honour to his gene- 
 
6 
 
 rosity and truth, by relying on his promises, living near 
 him, applying and using the riches of his grace, and 
 endeavouring more and more to promote his interest and 
 honour. This will connect earth with heaven, and the 
 toils and trials of time with the peace and triumphs of 
 immortality. 
 
 And if any who are strangers to the renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost shall look into this publication, let them 
 remember that the matters which are here discussed are 
 not vain things. They are inseparably connected with 
 the safety of the soul. On this fact the Author can 
 speak from experience. Since last he appeared before the 
 public, he has three times been brought, apparently, 
 within a few minutes of the unseen world. And though 
 he knew that Jesus is the Son of God, and that his 
 righteousness is divine ; in these solemn moments he 
 found that nothing less than an interest in the infinite 
 righteousness of an almighty and all-sufficient Saviour 
 could give peace to his mind, or safety to his soul. In 
 these trying circumstances, however feeble his grasp, the 
 wealth of worlds would not have tempted him to let go 
 his hold of the Rock of ages. With God there is no 
 respect of persons. What is necessary for the salvation 
 of one, is requisite for the salvation of another. The day 
 

 is not far distant when you also shall discover, that the 
 possession of the whole universe is not to be compared 
 with an interest in the righteousness of Immanuel : and if 
 you despise, or neglect it now, you are preparing for 
 yourselves an amount of wretchedness and horror, before 
 which all the sufferings of time shrink into insignificance ; 
 of wretchedness and horror too great for the powers of 
 human utterance, and which endless ages of lamentation 
 and mourning will neither repair nor diminish. For what 
 will it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your 
 own soul ? or what can you give in exchange for your 
 soul ? Consider what I say : and the Lord give you 
 understanding to know, in this the accepted time and 
 day of visitation, the things which belong to your ever- 
 lasting peace. 
 
 W. H. 
 
 Strathblane Manse, 7 
 
 2d January, 1828. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On the Importance of Religious Joy, 
 
 Page 
 Provision made for Joy — it is enjoined — honours God — ad- 
 vances religion — improves personal holiness and happiness. 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 On Distress arising from the greatness of Sin, 
 No guilt is too great for the power and grace of Christ. He 
 is Almighty — atonement all-sufficient — calls of the Gospel 
 universal — all are commanded to believe — expostulations 
 with the impenitent — threatenings against them — promises 
 to all who return — former examples of Christ's power and 
 willingness to save. ....... 32 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 On the fear of having committed the Sin against the 
 
 Holy Ghost, 
 
 This sin includes opposition to Christ and his cause — arises 
 from hatred — committed in opposition to knowledge — ac- 
 companied with blasphemies, and is exasperated by admo- 
 nition. But when a desire is cherished for the Divine favour, 
 it is no proof that this sin has been committed because con- 
 victions have been resisted — evil thoughts haunt us — blas- 
 phemous words have been uttered — religion has been re- 
 viled — deliberate sin has been perpetrated — or that the 
 heart seems hardened. ...... 57 
 
10 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 On the fear of being not Elected. 
 
 Page 
 Our conduct is to be regulated by the Scriptures. The invi- 
 tations of the Gospel are as unlimited as the commands of 
 the law. Men perish owing to their own wickedness, but 
 not to the Divine decrees. Election is known by calling. 83 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 On the want of Humiliation and sorrow for Sin. 
 No distress for sin can be too great — consolation generally ob- 
 tained after alarm and terror — no measure is prescribed for 
 the degree or duration of preparatory distress and trouble 
 — their design is to lead to Christ, and no soul can ever 
 come to him too soon or too confidently. . . .99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On the weakness and want of Faith. 
 Some involve themselves in trouble from confounding faith 
 with great mental powers — with its peaceful and comfortable, 
 fruits — and with what constitutes its perfection. Strong 
 faith is relative — sometimes strongest when suspected to 
 be weakest. Salvation secured to all that is sound and 
 living — and the kindest promises made to the weak in 
 faith 127 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The same subject continued. 
 To establish and maintain faith pore not upon difiiculties 
 and dangers, but look at the character of God who invites 
 our trust — study the promises — and implore the teaching of 
 the Holy Spirit. Remonstrance with the timid and doubt- 
 ful 150 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 On the Want of the Assurance of Salvation. 
 
 Assurance not inseparable from a state of grace, otherwise 
 
 the essence of faith would consist in a belief of our own 
 
 salvation — the agency of the Spirit would be unnecessary 
 
 to maintain our peace — temptation could not destroy our 
 
11 
 
 Page 
 
 hope the desponding would he under condemnation — and 
 
 the confident and presumptuous would be safe. That as- 
 surance is attainable is evident from Christ's love to his 
 people — from the change which they undergo at regener- 
 ation — some have attained it — it is enjoined — it is pro- 
 mised. Assurance ennobles, purifies, and supports the 
 soul. . • • • • . • • .181 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 On the remains of Corruption. 
 Religion produces a great change upon the character. It does 
 not make the Christian in this life perfect. But still there 
 is an essential difference betwixt him and the irreligious. 
 His sins are generally inward and spiritual. His outward 
 transgressions are committed ignorantly and involuntarily. 
 — They are only occasional and temporary — he resists all 
 sin, and shuns every appearance of evil. . . . 208 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 On the icant of Liveliness and Spirituality in Duty. 
 There is frequently a great appearance of liveliness without 
 any spiritual life. The Christian often discovers greater 
 liveliness than what he would otherwise display, in con- 
 sequence of the recentness of his religious impressions — 
 his rashness — natural ardour — and the extraordinary assist- 
 ance that he receives. There is sometimes most of the 
 life and power of godliness when the possessor is least 
 sensible of their presence, in consequence of the decays of 
 nature — the violence of temptation — the severity of his 
 spiritual trials — his excessive humility — and desires of un- 
 common attainments in grace. ..... 236 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 On Desertion. 
 Believers often regard themselves as deserted when they re- 
 ceive no return to their prayers — derive no advantage from 
 the ordinances — labour under languor — experience no suc- 
 cess in their benevolent services — and are subjected to mul- 
 tiplied trials. Desertion sometimes originates in the ap- 
 
12 
 
 Page 
 pointment of God ; but is generally occasioned by apostasy 
 of heart — remissness in duty — and open sin. . . . 267 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The same Subject continued. 
 Those who have fallen by iniquity must return anew to God 
 through Christ. Those conscious of no cause for this dis- 
 tress, must recall the former instances or God's favour. If 
 they cannot take encouragement from past experience, they 
 are exhorted to look into the present state of their heart. 288 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 On Temporal Affliction. 
 
 Affliction is not always the effect of the Divine displeasure, 
 nor reserved for the irreligious. It prevents and cures sin 
 — promotes conformity to the image of Christ — discovers 
 the excellence of the promises — enhances the value of 
 spiritual enjoyments — gives fervour to prayer — occasions 
 greater supplies of Divine strength and consolation — pro- 
 cures more frequent visits of the Spirit — and prepares for 
 greater future glory. ....... 303 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 On the Fear of Death. 
 
 There is nothing repulsive in the person, nor formidable in 
 the presence of Him, before whom death places the Chris- 
 tian. Nothing terrible in the passage from earth to heaven. 
 Nothing to rivet the affections of the believer to the things 
 of earth and time. His salvation cannot be complete till 
 he reach heaven. ....... 325 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 On the Evidences of a State of Grace. 
 
 Whatever may occur to alarm or agitate, all may rejoice in 
 their own safety who know that their souls are resting for 
 acceptance in the sight of God upon the righteousness of 
 
 Christ that they love him — obey his commandments — and 
 
 delight in spiritual enjoyments. ..... 356 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGIOUS JOY. 
 
 Man is born to trouble, and Christians are not 
 exempted from the ordinary calamities and sorrows 
 of humanity. Many are the afflictions of the 
 righteous. Though their hopes are high, and 
 they know that, when they reach their home, 
 they shall find their inheritance to be invaluable 
 and immense ; while they are in the house of their 
 pilgrimage, they experience much to disturb their 
 peace, and to exercise their faith, fortitude, and 
 patience. Their faculties are limited and feeble ; 
 their graces are imperfect; their understandings 
 are only partially enlightened ; their hearts are 
 deceitful; their bodies are frail; they are placed 
 in a wicked and ensnaring world; surrounded 
 with manifold temptations ; and exposed to severe 
 and complicated trials. They cannot always do 
 the things that they ought, nor even the things 
 that they would. When they would do good, 
 evil is present with them: they feel a law in 
 their members warring against the law in their 
 
14 
 
 minds ; and are burdened with a body of sin and 
 death. 
 
 Though, therefore, it is the duty of all who are 
 reconciled unto God by the death of his Son, to 
 be strong in the Lord, to glory in his love, to 
 rejoice alway; there are seasons when this joy 
 becomes unattainable, and when their souls are 
 filled with distress and anguish. Is it possible, or 
 proper, to rejoice when God forsakes them, and 
 the consolations of the Gospel are withdrawn? 
 Can they rejoice in the weakness of their faith, 
 and in the languor of their love ? in the wander- 
 ings of their affections, and the coldness of their 
 hearts ? in their distance from God, and faint and 
 indistinct views of his glory? Are they to rejoice 
 in the dishonours which the profane are heaping 
 upon his blessed name, and the awful amount of 
 wrath which they are treasuring up for themselves 
 against the day of wrath ? Are they to rejoice 
 when they are beset with temptation, or are actu- 
 ally overtaken with iniquity ? 
 
 These are circumstances which call for weeping, 
 and lamentation, and mourning. 
 
 But, at the same time, every believer ought to 
 be on his guard against the presence and the 
 power of these evils ; to stand fast in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ has made him free ; and to give 
 all diligence to increase his joy in the Lord, and 
 to rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For God 
 hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain sal- 
 vation by our Lord Jesus Christ : and he is gra- 
 
15 
 
 ciously calling us into his eternal glory, through 
 a life of faith upon his Son, and of peace and joy 
 in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Many indeed entertain the most base and dis- 
 honourable ideas of the blessed Gospel, and of 
 the adorable God who gave it. They suppose 
 that Christianity is a severe and gloomy system, 
 that crushes the spirits of those who embrace it, 
 and subjects them to a life of perpetual toil and 
 unenlivened sadness. They imagine that God is 
 a harsh and rigorous master; who wrings from 
 the hard hands of his people the utmost measure 
 of service which they can render, and in return 
 furnishes them with the most scanty and miserable 
 supplies. They seem to apprehend that he would 
 be alarmed and offended were they to discover 
 any symptoms of liveliness and joy; that he has 
 called them to bondage and suffering; and that, 
 though in heaven they shall be permitted to spend 
 their existence in happiness and bliss, they must 
 pass the time of their sojourning in perplexity 
 and pain, and serve him with slavish despondency 
 and overwhelming terror. 
 
 But do these ideas correspond at all with the 
 character of that God, who is the Father of mer- 
 cies and the God of love ? of that God who takes 
 pleasure in his people, and rejoices in the pros- 
 perity of his saints? After he has so loved the 
 world that he has given his only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life ; after he has sent down 
 
16 
 
 the Holy Ghost to lead us into all truth, to shed 
 abroad his love in our hearts, to bear witness with 
 our spirits that we are the sons of God, and fill 
 us with all peace and joy in believing; is it credi- 
 ble that he can have any delight in our fears and 
 troubles, or any desire to prolong our sufferings, 
 or multiply our sorrows ? 
 
 When we hear the advent of Jesus celebrated 
 as a cause of exultation and of gladness; when 
 we hear the prophet crying, " Sing, O ye 
 heavens, for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye 
 lower parts of the earth ; break forth into sing- 
 ing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree 
 therein : for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, 
 and glorified himself in Israel;" when we find 
 the faithful longing for his appearing as the 
 consolation of Israel; and the celestial inhab- 
 itants clustering around the place of his birth, 
 and singing, " Glory to God in the highest, on 
 earth peace and good will to men;" when we 
 hear the Son of God himself declaring, " The 
 Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he 
 hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the 
 meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken- 
 hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and 
 the opening of the prison to them that are bound, 
 — to comfort all that mourn;" when we hear 
 him opening his mouth in blessings, and inviting 
 all the labouring and heavy laden to come to him 
 for rest ; is it credible, is it possible, that he can 
 have any wish to lengthen out the sadness of his 
 
17 
 
 children, or to involve them in deeper affliction 
 and distress ? 
 
 When he has enjoined his ministers to comfort 
 his people; to strengthen the weak hands; to 
 confirm the feeble knees; to say to them of a 
 fearful heart, Be strong, fear not, for your God 
 will come and save you ; what other inference can 
 we draw from these precious facts, than that he 
 loves the peace and felicity of his followers, and is 
 delighted with their serenity and cheerfulness? 
 Unless he is set upon our welfare, and solicitous 
 to advance our present happiness and improve- 
 ment; why has he given us all things richly to 
 enjoy? why has he crowded into the promises of 
 his word, and the provisions of his grace, such an 
 inexhaustible fund of hope and rejoicing? why 
 has it pleased him that in Christ should all fulness 
 dwell; and that out of his fulness we should 
 receive even grace for grace ? 
 
 When the brief pilgrimage of life is closed, he 
 has prepared a heaven of purity and of bliss; 
 where his servants shall see his face ; where they 
 shall serve him day and night, and spend the 
 long range of their eternity in one uninterrupted 
 jubilee. In his presence is fulness of joy; at his 
 right hand there are pleasures for evermore. But 
 who are they who are counted worthy to obtain a 
 part in these exalted services, and in these ineffable 
 and never-ending triumphs ? Are they the angels 
 of light? the tenants of other worlds? creatures 
 of a superior rank and of nobler powers, whose 
 
18 
 
 natures were never stained with Sin, nor their 
 souls wrung with anguish ? No : they are the 
 sons and daughters of Adam who are in Christ 
 Jesus ; the men and the women who, from a dis- 
 covery of their guilt and wretchedness, have fled 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ ; have embraced him as 
 all their salvation and all their desire ; and who, 
 from love to his name and gratitude for the match- 
 less condescension and kindness which he has 
 shewn them, are actively and unreservedly devoted 
 to his interest and honour. 
 
 My dear readers, Are you in Christ Jesus? 
 Are you living on him by faith ? Do you count 
 all things but loss for his sake ; and determine to 
 know nothing save Christ, and him crucified? 
 Then, were death to cut you down this moment, 
 where would you be the next ? In heaven ; before 
 the throne; in the presence of God and of the 
 Lamb; and in full possession of all the dignity 
 and blessedness that encircle the presence of the 
 Eternal. For blessed are the dead who die in the 
 Lord: they rest from their labours, and their 
 works do follow them. They are absent from the 
 body, and present with the Lord. 
 
 Now : have all the dead, who have died in the 
 Lord, been instantly admitted into heaven ; and 
 if you are in Christ; were death now to strike 
 you down, would you also, in a moment, be trans- 
 lated from earth to heaven, from your present 
 employments, to the full blaze of celestial glory, 
 and all the ecstasy of its elevated and enraptured 
 
19 
 
 adorations ? Then, where is the decree or mandate 
 that prohibits you just now from tasting your 
 sacred and religious joys, and dooms you to 
 dejection and distress ? Had the last saint, who 
 entered the golden gates of the new Jerusalem, 
 any better right or firmer claim to its felicity and 
 honour than his union to the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 And, joined to him in the bonds of an everlasting 
 covenant, loving him with your whole heart, and 
 cleaving to him with all your strength and mind ; 
 your plea is just as strong and your title as valid 
 as his. Were death, therefore, this instant, to 
 snap asunder the frail thread of life ; without the 
 slightest accession to your right, would you, in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, clear all the 
 distance betwixt the throne of grace and the 
 throne of glory, betwixt the society of the saints 
 on earth, and that of the general assembly and 
 church of the first-born in heaven ? Then, grant- 
 ing that your pilgrimage were yet to extend to 
 threescore and ten, on what ground can you 
 believe that you are debarred from the immediate, 
 full, uninterrupted enjoyment and use of all the 
 riches of redeeming grace ; and all the unsearch- 
 able loving-kindness of an infinite God ? 
 
 The bare gift of God in creation and in provi- 
 dence, without any additional security, completely 
 warrants us to apply and use the precious benefits 
 which he confers. And is any thing more than 
 his free gift requisite to authorize and encourage 
 you to rest on the Lord Jesus Christ ; and, from 
 
20 
 
 this day and onward till you shall see him as he 
 is, to appropriate and use all the promises of his 
 word, and all the provisions of his love ? Yet to 
 you God gives his Son, his righteousness and 
 strength : to you he gives his grace and Spirit. 
 All things are yours. He that spared not his own 
 Son, but delivered him up for us all ; how shall 
 he not with him also freely give us all things? 
 Is the man entitled by the gift of God to the 
 enjoyment of his life and health? the philosopher, 
 of his reason and learning? and the industrious, 
 of their skill and success ? And is there any thing 
 more than this free gift necessary to imbolden 
 you forthwith to convert, to all the purposes of 
 your own holiness and comfort, the immense and 
 invaluable provisions of the everlasting Gospel? 
 
 Do I say that this is your right ? I must go 
 farther ; and affirm that this is your duty. For 
 what more than the commandment of the great 
 and eternal God is needful to render any exercise, 
 whether pleasant or painful, your obvious and 
 indispensable duty? Why was Abraham bound 
 to offer up his Son? Why are you obliged to 
 deny yourselves, to take up your cross, to follow 
 Christ ? to give yourselves to reading, meditation, 
 and prayer? to practise honesty and charity? 
 to fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on 
 eternal life? Because such are the plain and 
 express commandments of God. And is his sim- 
 ple commandment sufficient to enforce the per- 
 formance of these duties ? And is any thing more 
 
21 
 
 necessary to bind you to live on Christ ; to walk 
 by faith; to be strong in the Lord and in the 
 power of his might; to rejoice in the Lord alway, 
 and again to rejoice; to abide in him; and to 
 cultivate that peace w T hich passeth all understand- 
 ing, and that joy which is unspeakable and full of 
 glory ? 
 
 When such are the privileges and duties of 
 Christians ; let me entreat all who are reconciled 
 unto God by the death of his Son, and w T ho are 
 laying up your treasure in heaven, to avail your- 
 selves of your advantages. Endeavour to rise 
 superior to disquietude and fear. Labour to 
 realize the things that are freely given you of 
 God. Live on your inheritance. Leave no part 
 of it unoccupied and unemployed. Gather more 
 and more of the first-fruits of the Spirit. And 
 strive more and more to maintain and establish 
 that peace and joy which arise from faith in the 
 Saviour and close communion with God; and 
 which are a foretaste of future glory. 
 
 By conduct such as this, 
 
 I. You will greatly promote the honour of God. 
 
 Loaded with his blessings, and under such 
 immense obligations to his generosity and grace, 
 can you resist the inquiry, What shall we render 
 unto the Lord for all his benefits ? 
 
 There is nothing by which you can more decid- 
 b 2 
 
22 
 
 edly express your own gratitude and more effec- 
 tually advance his honour, than by your real satis- 
 faction in his friendship and happiness in his ser- 
 vice. It is greatly to the discredit of a teacher or 
 a general, when their scholars or soldiers are 
 peevish and discontented, melancholy and miser- 
 able. But it reflects the highest honour upon the 
 wisdom of their measures, and the kindness of 
 their hearts, when those under their charge are 
 attached to their persons, and evidently delighted 
 with their situation and employment. And can 
 any thing cast a greater shade over religion, than 
 to see those who profess it going in the bitterness 
 of their spirits; seldom or never serene or cheerful, 
 but frequently trembling and complaining ? But 
 he that offereth praise glorifieth God. The man 
 whose spirit and temper demonstrate that the 
 lines have fallen to him in pleasant places, and 
 that he has a goodly heritage ; that the possession 
 of the whole creation would be a poor and empty 
 acquisition, compared with an interest in the 
 favour of the great and the eternal God: that 
 man does justice to the goodness and liberality of 
 his heavenly Father. He does honour to the 
 gospel which he has embraced, and contributes to 
 raise religion in the esteem, and recommend it to 
 the pursuit of those around him. 
 
 The men of the world do justice to their friends, 
 and credit to the objects which they pursue. They 
 speak with rapture of their connexion with the 
 wealthy and the great, and give unquestionable 
 
5>3 
 
 proof of their gratification upon every accession to 
 their property or fame. Now, shall they feel or 
 express delight and exultation in their paltry and 
 perishing pleasures? What satisfaction should 
 you feel, and what gratitude and rejoicing should 
 you display, for all the riches of redeeming mercy 
 and all the inexhaustible resources of eternal 
 glory ? Shall they exhibit marks of contentment 
 and happiness in the bondage of sin and in the 
 drudgery of Satan ? And shall you betray melan- 
 choly and sadness in the service of the Father of 
 mercies, and in the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God? Shall they exult in the hollow and pre- 
 carious pleasures of a transitory world? And 
 shall you be gloomy and depressed who have all 
 the blessings of the everlasting gospel, and all the 
 fulness of Deity for your portion ? 
 
 Is it fitting that the children of a kino; should 
 be sad from day to day ? Should the brethren of 
 Jesus, and the heirs of his eternal glory, allow 
 their brows to be wTmkled with care, or their 
 hearts filled with anguish ? From the men of the 
 world who have their portion here, whose trea- 
 sures are confined within the narrow limits of earth 
 and time, who are without God and without hope, 
 we might justly expect the sigh of disappoint- 
 ment, and the murmurs of vexation and despair. 
 But should not Israel rejoice in him that made 
 him ? Should not the children of Zion be joyful 
 in their King ? Called by his grace into the fel- 
 lowship of his dear Son, and made partakers of 
 
24 
 
 all the plenitude of his salvation ; should not your 
 temper and deportment correspond to the magni- 
 tude of your privileges, and the grandeur of your 
 prospects ? And since your enjoyments and hopes 
 so infinitely surpass all that worldlings know ; 
 should not you labour as far to excel them in the 
 calmness and tranquillity of your spirits, and in 
 the stability and elevation of your happiness and 
 joy? " Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; for 
 praise is comely for the upright. Rejoice in the 
 Lord always; and again, I say, rejoice." 
 
 Religious peace and joy contribute greatly 
 
 II. To advance the salvation of your brethren. 
 
 The eyes of many are upon you. Every thing 
 bordering upon dejection and melancholy has a 
 tendency to disgust the ignorant and the worldly 
 at the ways of godliness, and to make them cling 
 more tenaciously to their sordid and forbidden 
 pleasures. Finding in sin much to gratify their 
 low and vitiated taste, and strangers to the hopes 
 and consolations of the gospel; they rashly and 
 unjustly conclude, from the dismal appearance of 
 its timid and morbid disciples, that our encomiums 
 upon its importance and excellence are false ; and 
 that it is their wisdom to cleave to the joys which 
 they know, rather than renounce them for those 
 which are unknown, and which they regard as 
 doubtful or visionarv. 
 
25 
 
 Multitudes, accordingly, of the gay and the 
 thoughtless are deterred from crossing the thresh- 
 hold of Christianity, from the apprehension that 
 they must leave all liveliness and cheerfulness 
 behind them, and spend the remainder of their 
 pilgrimage in gloom and dejection. Many of the 
 young contemplate a devout life with horror : and 
 the aged votaries of vice and folly tremble at the 
 thoughts of their children or relatives being 
 brought under the power of the truth, from the 
 fear that it will ruin their success in life, and 
 deprive them of all felicity and joy. 
 
 Every instance of religious gloom and despond- 
 ence has a tendency to confirm these prejudices, 
 and to counteract the diffusion of the benign and 
 salutary influence of our holy faith. But when 
 by the calmness of your minds, and the general 
 amenity and cheerfulness of your tempers, you 
 demonstrate that there is an unquestionable reality 
 and an indescribable worth and power in the hopes 
 and comforts of the gospel; this conduces to soften 
 their aversion to Christianity, and to excite a love 
 and a longing after an interest in its invaluable 
 blessings. When they see that godliness has the 
 promise of the life that now is ; that even in the 
 present state, they have great peace that love the 
 law of God ; that they walk in the light of the 
 Lord, and in His name rejoice all the day; that 
 even in the things in w T hich they fancy that they 
 excel, you are immeasurably above them; this 
 convinces them of the certainty of what the Bible 
 
26 
 
 reveals, and affords them a security that all the 
 promises of better and nobler enjoyments will be 
 amply fulfilled in the world beyond the grave. 
 
 If therefore you would wish to gain your fellow- 
 immortals to the obedience of the faith, and pre- 
 serve them from everlasting wretchedness and 
 ruin; if you would wish to do justice to the reli- 
 gion which you profess, and raise the name of 
 Jesus above every name, let the peace of God 
 which passeth all understanding keep your heart 
 and mind : abound in hope through the power of 
 the Holy Ghost: let the world see that he that 
 believes has eternal life; and that the way to 
 heaven above lies through a heaven below. Show 
 forth the praises of Him who hath called you out 
 of darkness into his marvellous light. 
 
 Religious peace and joy contribute greatly 
 
 III. To improve your holiness. 
 
 We are not our own. We were formed for the 
 service and honour of God. We are bought with 
 a price; and are bound to glorify God in our 
 bodies and spirits which are his. We are required 
 to receive, observe, and do all things whatsoever 
 God hath commaded us. We must do whatso- 
 ever our hand findeth to do, and do it with our 
 might. When we pray, it should be as with the 
 Holy Ghost sent down from heaven : when we 
 hear, it should be as for eternal life: when we 
 
27 
 
 enter upon any religious undertaking or benefi- 
 cent enterprise, it should be with all the energy 
 and decision of men who are determined to spend 
 and be spent in works of faith and in labours of 
 love, and who are resolved that Christ shall be 
 magnified in us and by us, whether that shall be 
 by life or by death. 
 
 But how can these grand ends of the christian 
 life be obtained, while you are distracted betwixt 
 hope and despair ? How can you advance in the 
 christian course, if you are obliged to devote to 
 the combating of your doubts and fears that atten- 
 tion and energy which ought to be sacredly reserved 
 for the calls of piety, and exerted in the positive 
 active service of the Lord ? Instead of advancing 
 boldly into the broad field of duty, and embarking 
 in the work of the Lord with the intrepidity and 
 zeal of men who are in earnest for eternal life ; 
 your minds will be confined to inferior and ele- 
 mentary matters. Instead of being occupied with 
 manifesting the glory of God, you will be engrossed 
 with the means of ensuring your own peace and 
 safety. Your religious progress will be limited 
 and desultory : your graces will be feeble and lan- 
 guid : your troubles multiplied and painful : and 
 your assaults from Satan frequent and galling. 
 The most sickly and stunted plants are the first 
 that are attacked by vermin : the most weak and 
 timid animals are the first victims of the beasts of 
 prey: and the most downcast and desponding 
 Christian is the most unfit for the various duties 
 
28 
 
 of his calling, and suffers most from the cruel 
 annoyances of the great enemy of souls. 
 
 But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is 
 liberty. The man who knows his calling and 
 election of God ; the man who has the witness in 
 himself that he is Christ's, can keep nothing back 
 from his divine and adorable Master. He yields 
 himself to him entirely, and lives to him, and to 
 him alone. In the attitude of ready preparation 
 and of cheerful submission to his will, he stands 
 waiting the injunctions of his Master, saying, 
 " Here am I, what wouldest thou have me to do?" 
 He is stedfast and immoveable, always abounding 
 in the work of the Lord : and whatsoever he does, 
 he does from the heart, and as unto the Lord and 
 not unto man. 
 
 If therefore you would wish to grow in grace ; 
 to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts; 
 to abound in the fruits of righteousness ; to shine 
 in the beauties of holiness; to know, obey, and 
 submit in all things to the will of God as the 
 angels do in heaven ; give all diligence to make 
 your calling and election sure, and to maintain 
 that peace which passes all understanding, and 
 that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. 
 
 IV. Religious peace and joy have a great effect 
 upon your happiness. 
 
 Would you like, ten, twenty, or thirty years 
 after this, to be free from all care and fear, from 
 all distress and pain, from all sickness and sorrow; 
 
29 
 
 to be perfectly holy and completely happy ? In 
 short, would you like when you die to go to 
 heaven, to see God, to be with Christ, to walk with 
 him in white, to follow him whithersoever he goes, 
 to possess fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore? 
 If you would wish to be perfectly happy then : 
 why should you decline this day, this hour, to be 
 made exceeding glad in the light of his counte- 
 nance, and to have the peace of God reigning in 
 your heart, and keeping your heart and mind ? If 
 you are longing for an abundant entrance at death 
 into the everlasting kingdom and joy of your Lord; 
 is there any reason w r hy, in the meantime, you 
 should refuse the first-fruits of the Spirit, and a 
 foretaste of that rest which remains for the people 
 of God ? Is there any reason why you should 
 postpone your bliss, and tie yourselves to distraction 
 and misery for another hour? 
 
 If there is no cause at all for lengthening out your 
 wretchedness, be persuaded instantly to banish all 
 your doubts and fears; to secure clear and scriptural 
 views of the fulness and freeness of the Gospel, of the 
 compassion, the power, and all-sufficiency of Jesus; 
 of your own right and title by his own word and 
 promise to all the riches of his grace and all the 
 blessings of his salvation. You shall then know 
 your calling and election of God. You shall then 
 be feasted with fat things and fed with hidden 
 manna. You shall know the things that are freely 
 given you of God : and though not so high, you 
 shall be as safe, and almost as happy as the spirits 
 
30 
 
 of the just made perfect. Can they possess a right 
 of nearer access into his presence, than what you 
 enjoy; who are permitted at all times to approach 
 boldly to his throne; to come near unto him, even 
 unto his seat, and to order all your cause before 
 him ? Can they possess a more intimate union 
 with Immanuel, than that which is formed betwixt 
 him and the subjects of his saving mercy, who al- 
 ready are joined to him, and made one spirit ? 
 Can they enjoy the protection of a God more 
 powerful, than Him who speaketh, and it is done, 
 who commands, and all things stand fast? Can 
 they be blessed with the affection of a more ardent 
 and faithful friend, than him who sticketh closer 
 than a brother ? Can they be enriched with the 
 munificence of a benefactor more liberal and kind, 
 than him who spared not his own Son, but 
 delivered him up for us all ? Can they claim a 
 portion more immense, than the fulness of him 
 who filleth all in all? or an inheritance more 
 comprehensive and inexhaustible than that of 
 being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ ? 
 
 The highest around the throne can possess 
 nothing nobler nor better than the presence and 
 the favour of Him in whom all fulness dwells; 
 who wields the universe at will, and is in all, and 
 through all, and over all. Yet if you are Chris- 
 tians, all these inestimable privileges and honours 
 are your own. Can any thing therefore on this 
 side of heaven contribute more to your real dignity 
 and delight, than to clear up your right to the 
 
31 
 
 provisions of the everlasting gospel, to realize 
 your interest in the love of God, and live upon 
 your spiritual and eternal portion ? 
 
 If therefore you value real felicity; if you covet 
 solid and lasting peace, learn the sacred art of 
 living wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and of 
 abiding in the joys and comforts of the Holy 
 Ghost. This will raise your mind above all that 
 is vain, or low, or painful. This will sweeten 
 every trouble, and enhance the value of every 
 blessing. This will fortify you against every 
 danger, and carry you in safety and comfort 
 through every difficulty and trial. This will teach 
 you to rejoice in tribulation, and to glory in the 
 cross. This will enable you to look forward to 
 heaven as your home; and, long before you leave 
 your cottages of clay, give you a specimen of its 
 elevated honours and ineffable enjoyments. 
 
 Many things concur to deprive believers of their 
 religious comfort. In the Gospel, however, there 
 is enough to meet every case of spiritual distress 
 and trouble, to relieve you from all your embar- 
 rassment and melancholy, and to establish and 
 maintain the most delightful and stable peace and 
 
 j°y- 
 
 We shall now consider in detail some of the 
 principal causes of religious distress, and the 
 means by which they may be most effectually met 
 and removed. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE 
 GREATNESS OF SIN. 
 
 Secure and hardened sinners give themselves 
 little or no concern about their souls, and the 
 means of laying hold on eternal life. They take 
 pleasure in unrighteousness; roll iniquity like a 
 sweet morsel under their tongue ; make a mock 
 at sin, and sport themselves with their own delu- 
 sions. From their systematic neglect of the Bible, 
 of prayer, of the ordinances of religion ; and the 
 pertinacity with which they persevere in habits of 
 ignorance, indolence, and impiety; instead of 
 regarding religion as the one thing needful, they 
 seem to consider it as the only thing that is need- 
 less; and instead of believing that there is any exer- 
 tion necessary to get to heaven, they appear to ima- 
 gine that the great difficulty lies in getting to hell. 
 No sooner, however, does the Holy Ghost set 
 home the commandment upon the conscience in its 
 purity and power, than the man obtains clear and 
 impressive ideas of the exceeding sinfulness of sin 
 in general, and of the number and enormity of his 
 own transgressions. He discovers that all unright- 
 eousness is sin, and that the wages of sin is death. 
 He finds that all his righteousnesses are as filthy 
 
33 
 
 rags ; and that that heart of his, in which he had 
 trusted as generous and good, is deceitful above 
 all things, and desperately wicked. Salvation now 
 becomes the supreme object of his desire and pur- 
 suit. His great solicitude is to be delivered from 
 the w T rath to come. His earnest and unceasing 
 inquiry is, What must I do to be saved? He hears 
 of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ: but 
 he has lived so long in sin, he has done so much 
 to grieve the Spirit of grace, and provoke the God 
 of glory, that he is terrified lest grace will not 
 reach, lest mercy will not pity, nor the adorable 
 Redeemer, all kind and compassionate as he is, 
 spare a rebel so unworthy, nor extend forgiveness 
 to a criminal so vile and abandoned as he. 
 
 If this is the case with any of my readers ; think 
 not that I can provide for your relief, or minister 
 to your comfort, by declaiming on the general 
 mercy of God, by palliating the evil of your tres- 
 passes, or by extenuating the danger of a carnal 
 and irreligious life. I dare not insult nor deceive 
 you by representing that base and abominable 
 thing as possessed of slight and trifling demerit, 
 which has defaced the image of our Maker on our 
 hearts, unhinged the frame of nature, lighted up 
 the flames of hell, and brought the Lord of glory 
 to the tortures of the cross. Neither the tongue 
 of men nor of angels can express the turpitude 
 and malignity of sin, nor the horrors of a ruined 
 eternity. And though God is rich in mercy unto 
 all them that call upon him ; he is a God of purity. 
 
34 
 
 He is glorious in holiness ; and will by no means 
 dear the guilty without satisfaction to his justice. 
 Unless, therefore, your transgressions are forgiven, 
 and your sins covered, you are under sentence of 
 condemnation, and exposed to all the power of his 
 anger. And " who knows the power of his anger ? 
 Who can dwell with devouring fire ? Who can 
 lie down with everlasting burnings ?" 
 
 To provide for your encouragement and comfort, 
 I must renounce all these false and ruinous delu- 
 sions, and lay before you more Scriptural and solid 
 grounds of consolation. I must reason with you 
 respecting the power and the grace of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the fulness and freeness of his 
 salvation. And here I may observe that, though 
 there is an exceeding sinfulness in sin, and its just 
 and natural wages are eternal death ; though your 
 offences have been infinitely heinous; and, criminal 
 and profligate as others have proved, the number 
 and flagitiousness of your provocations have 
 exceeded: yet if after all you loathe yourselves 
 for your iniquities, and are grieved and heart- 
 broken for your transgressions ; if after all you 
 are longing for reconciliation to God through the 
 blood of his Son, and will only com e to Christ, 
 and cleave to the atoning efficacy of his death ; I 
 can assure you that you have no cause of dis- 
 couragement, nor any reason for despair. 
 
 If you have any ground for considering your 
 case as desperate, this must be, either because 
 you believe that your guilt is too .great for the 
 
35 
 
 blood of Christ to wash away, or that its magni- 
 tude has rendered him unwilling to impart to you 
 the blessings of his salvation. It must be because 
 you suspect that he wants either the ability or the 
 will to save you. 
 
 But is there any foundation for either of these 
 awful suspicions? 
 
 I. Do you fear that your guilt is absolutely too 
 great for the power and the grace of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ to remove ? 
 
 Jesus is the Saviour. He is the Mediator 
 betwixt God and man. He was given for a light 
 to the Gentiles, that he might be the salvation of 
 God to the ends of the earth. The Father sent 
 the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 
 
 And is Jesus unfit for his office ? In selecting 
 a Saviour for the common benefit of our race, did 
 the Father lay our help upon one unequal for the 
 mighty and appalling task ? and, while our world 
 was occupied by wretches, covered with the deep- 
 est crimes, and polluted with the foulest abomina- 
 tions ; did he commit the work of redemption to 
 one unable to bear the iniquities of us all, and 
 incapable of saving every soul that sought his aid? 
 When he lighted up the bright and beauteous sun, 
 within his fair and splendid orb he lodged a plen- 
 itude of light and heat sufficient to illumine and to 
 cheer all that live. When he formed the firma- 
 ment of heaven, and poured around our globe the 
 liquid atmosphere; he gave them space and expan- 
 
36 
 
 sion to admit all who move and breathe, and fur- 
 nish every living thing with a never-failing supply 
 of vital air. And in redemption, the last and 
 greatest of all his works, where he has outdone all 
 the productions of his hands, and eclipsed all the 
 former manifestations of his wisdom and power, 
 are we to suppose that his resources have not risen 
 to the height of the great enterprise? Has he 
 encountered difficulties with which he cannot grap- 
 ple, met with maladies beyond the reach of his 
 might, and too desperate for the resources of his 
 love ? Are there cases of guilt and wretchedness 
 where his benevolence is overcome; and, notwith- 
 standing all his kindness and compassion for the 
 penitent, he sinks beneath the dreadful under- 
 taking, and finds himself unable to save ? 
 
 Jesus is almighty. He is God as well as man. 
 He speaks, and it is done: he gives the command- 
 ment, and all things stand fast. And is there any 
 thing too hard for God ? Is any service too com- 
 plex or arduous for him who suspends creation on 
 his arm, and wields at pleasure all the energies of 
 omnipotence ? And whilst as God his power is 
 almighty ; as Mediator, by the union of the Divine 
 with the human nature, his atonement is possessed 
 of unbounded value, and perfectly sufficient for 
 the free, complete, and everlasting salvation of 
 all those to whom it is imparted. Let the appli- 
 cants for his grace be ever so numerous, and their 
 crimes ever so malignant and atrocious ; yet, on 
 collecting into one all the sins of all the children 
 
37 
 
 of Adam, to what more could the whole black 
 and odious mass amount, than one infinite heap 
 of filth and loathsomeness? And can the obe- 
 dience, the sufferings, and sacrifice of a person of 
 the Divine dignity, and the matchless excellencies 
 of Immanuel, be less than infinite ? 
 
 Let, therefore, your former character and pre- 
 sent condition be what they may; though you have 
 run to the excess of riot, wrought unrighteousness 
 with greediness, and been almost in all evil; though 
 you have been guilty of the most impenetrable 
 hard-heartedness, the grossest ingratitude, the 
 basest treachery, and the most vile and provoking 
 rebellion against the God of grace; yet if, after all, 
 you are ashamed and confounded for your trans- 
 gressions, and longing for restoration to his favour, 
 you may with safety and confidence come unto 
 Jesus, and intrust into his hands the whole of your 
 eternal interests. " For if the blood of bulls and 
 of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the 
 unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; 
 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who 
 through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without 
 spot unto God, purge your consciences from dead 
 works to serve the living God?" The sea has 
 deeps capable not only of concealing molehills, 
 but of burying the largest mountains. And in the 
 ocean of redeeming mercy there are deeps sufficient, 
 not only to hide small offences, but also to cover 
 the most horrid and enormous transgressions. 
 " The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
 
38 
 
 And whilst there is an inexhaustible efficacy 
 and worth in the obedience, in the sufferings, and 
 sacrifice of our Divine and adorable Redeemer, to 
 pardon all the guilt, and to justify the persons of 
 the whole human race, if they will only come to 
 him ; can you for a moment suppose that, 
 
 II. The magnitude of your crimes has excluded 
 you from the hope of mercy, and that he has any 
 reluctance to receive you on your return, or any 
 backwardness to bestow upon you the blessings of 
 his grace ? 
 
 Can you argue his reluctance and backwardness 
 from the universal calls and free offers of the Gos- 
 pel? from the repeated and positive commands 
 given to all to believe on his name, and to accept 
 the blessings of his salvation ? from his affecting 
 expostulations with the impenitent, his gracious 
 promises to every one who comes to him, and the 
 awful denunciations which he pours out against 
 all who reject the provisions of his mercy? or 
 from the past exercise of his grace, and the 
 instances in which he has saved the most profligate 
 and abandoned? 
 
 Can you argue his reluctance to receive you, 
 however guilty, on your return, and his backward- 
 ness to bestow the blessings of his grace, 
 
 1. From the universal calls, and the free offers 
 of the Gospel, addressed without discrimination 
 and without reserve to sinners, whether great or 
 small ? 
 
39 
 
 Into whatever corner of the sacred volume you 
 cast your eyes, you find the most ample and delight- 
 ful proof that the Gospel of peace is not a well 
 shut up, nor a fountain sealed ; that it does not 
 confine its immense and invaluable blessings to a 
 dozen or a score, to a few of a family, or the rem- 
 nant of a tribe ; but lays open its rich and ineffable 
 treasures to the enjoyment and use of all the child- 
 ren of Adam. Its calls and invitations reach the 
 utmost ends of the earth, and embrace, in their 
 generous and heavenly provisions, every class and 
 description of human wretchedness. The lan- 
 guage in which it lifts up its voice, and addresses 
 itself to the ears of mortals, uniformly runs in terms 
 such as these : " To you, O men, I call, and my 
 voice is to the sons of men. Look unto me, and 
 be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Ho ! every 
 one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he 
 that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea, 
 come, buy wine and milk, without money and with- 
 out price. Come unto me, all ye that labour and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The 
 Spirit and the Bride say, Come ; and let him that 
 heareth say, Come: and let him that is athirst 
 come: and whosoever will, let him take of the 
 water of life freely." And in the same spirit of 
 genuine, ardent, unrestricted liberality ; in his last 
 commission to the Apostles, Jesus charged them 
 to " go into all the world, and preach the Gospel 
 unto every creature." He well knew what a set 
 of criminals our globe contained : he well knew 
 
40 
 
 how low some were sunk in ignorance and brutal- 
 ity, and how furious and ungovernable others were 
 in vice and profligacy. But without limitation or 
 reserve he commanded the Gospel to be preached 
 to the basest and most hardened of the whole. 
 Have you ceased to be inhabitants of the earth ? 
 Is your depravity more deep and dreadful than can 
 be exhibited by human creatures ? If not, then 
 you have the most abundant encouragement to 
 return to the Lord, and lay hold on the offers of 
 his grace : for after this solemn charge to make a 
 universal proclamation of the Gospel, he adds, 
 6 He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
 saved." 
 
 Can you argue that your sins are too great to 
 be forgiven ; or that God has any backwardness, 
 on account of their magnitude, to receive you, 
 and bestow upon you the blessings of his grace, 
 
 2. From his repeated and positive commands, 
 not excepting the most vile and unworthy, to 
 believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and 
 to embrace the provisions of redeeming mercy ? 
 
 The bare communication of what is necessary to 
 our welfare, constitutes a sufficient right to its 
 enjoyment and use. When the poor are presented 
 with alms, and the sick with medicine, this com- 
 pletely warrants them to accept them. The gift 
 of reason, and the possession of the means of men- 
 tal improvement, perfectly authorize us to exercise 
 our understanding, and cultivate our intellectual 
 powers. The mere opportunity of securing our 
 
41 
 
 safety, establishes a right to escape from the crush 
 of a falling edifice, or from the yawning of an 
 earthquake. And when our souls are poor and 
 wretched, diseased and dying, sunk in depravity, 
 and in danger of being swallowed up by everlasting 
 destruction ; after the God of peace has placed the 
 Gospel of his grace within our reach ; that Gospel 
 which contains all that is requisite for our temporal 
 happiness and eternal welfare; what more than 
 this marvellous manifestation of his mercy can you 
 desire, to entitle you to lay hold on the salvation 
 which it reveals, and secure all the immense and 
 inexhaustible blessings which it brings ? 
 
 After God has given us eyes and ears ; instead 
 of disputing about who has a right to enjoy and use 
 them, I would like to know who is debarred from 
 the privilege of possessing them, and of availing 
 himself of all the advantages and comforts which 
 they impart? After the almighty arm of Jehovah 
 has hung out the effulgent orb of day to illumine 
 and cheer the countless millions of our race; instead 
 of disputing about who has a right to look on his 
 radiance, I would like to know who is discharged 
 from basking in his beams, and taking the full 
 benefit of his light and heat ? And when the ever- 
 blessed God has sent his mercy after us ; when he 
 calls on all the helpless and miserable wanderers 
 of our race to return to the arms of his love, and 
 find their heaven of heavens in his presence and 
 favour: instead of contending about who has a 
 right and title to go to him, or to believe on him, 
 
42 
 
 I would like to know where is the man or woman 
 who is prohibited from approaching him, and from 
 embracing the offers of his compassion, and the 
 provisions of his beneficence ? When a king sends 
 to a city, languishing under the horrors of famine, 
 a supply sufficient to meet their wants, and appoint- 
 ed expressly for gratuitous distribution amongst 
 all the sufferers ; who has a right to intercept the 
 flow of his bounty, or to cut off the meanest and 
 most obscure within the walls from the effects of 
 his munificence ? And when God has so loved the 
 w r orld, that he has given his only-begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life ; when the Son of Man 
 has come to seek and to save that which was lost, 
 and invites all to look to him, and be saved: I 
 would like to know who has a right to come betwixt 
 us and the all-glorious Mediator, and arrest the 
 generous current of his kindness ? Has the most 
 indigent and starving a right to the royal bounty? 
 And shall the vilest and most abandoned of our 
 race, upon his application, be debarred access to 
 the adorable Redeemer, and excluded from em- 
 bracing the blessings of the common salvation ? 
 
 But if the mere universal offer of salvation 
 through the Lord Jesus Christ, authorizes all to 
 accept it ; tell me how mightily, how irresistibly, 
 this right is strengthened and confirmed, when the 
 gift of salvation is accompanied by an express 
 injunction to receive it? Now, in order at once 
 to cut up every fear and jealousy by the roots, and 
 
43 
 
 to lay the controversy at rest for ever respecting 
 the right and warrant of sinners to go to the Savi- 
 our and embrace the blessings of the great salva- 
 tion ; we are commanded to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Faith is represented in the Scrip- 
 tures not only as practicable, as warrantable, and 
 lawful ; but as our positive, binding, and indispen- 
 sable duty. " This is his commandment, that ye 
 should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. 
 This is the work of God, that ye believe on him 
 whom he hath sent."* The first commandment 
 in the law is, " Thou shalt have no other gods 
 before me." But as every prohibition requires the 
 reverse of what it forbids ; as the prohibition of 
 murder and theft, requires the preservation of life 
 and the exercise of brotherly kindness : the pro- 
 hibition of having any other gods, obliges us to 
 take the Lord for our God, and to employ him for 
 all the blessed and glorious purposes for which an 
 infinite and all-sufficient God can be applied and 
 enjoyed. To have the Lord for our God is the 
 same as to possess an interest in all the riches of 
 redeeming mercy, and in all the fulness of the ever- 
 lasting Gospel. This is the finishing, the crown- 
 ing blessing in the dispensation of grace. What 
 more could Adam in paradise have desired, or what 
 more can an angel in the world of light enjoy, than 
 to be united to the Most High, and have the Lord 
 for his God? Yet, so far from being left in 
 
 * 1 John iii. 23. John vi. 29. 
 
44 
 
 uncertainty about your right to go to the Saviour, 
 and accept the unsearchable riches of his grace, by 
 the clear and express authority of the great and 
 eternal God, you are commanded to believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and to take the Lord for your 
 God. 
 
 And do you need a special warrant to do your 
 duty? After we are plainly enjoined to search the 
 Scriptures, to pray, to venerate the holy name of 
 God, to reverence his sanctuary, and hallow his 
 Sabbaths; is a new and additional warrant, written, 
 signed, and sealed, by the hand of the Most High, 
 necessary to authorize us to fulfil these obliga- 
 tions? And when we are so distinctly and for- 
 cibly enjoined to believe on the name of the Lord 
 Jesus; what additional security can you demand 
 to imbolden you to rely on the righteousness of 
 Immanuel, and to take all the riches of redeeming 
 love for your own ? 
 
 If you make any dispute about the extent of the 
 Gospel call, and the right of the sinner to go to 
 the Saviour, and embrace all the fulness of the 
 great salvation ; I would like to know who has a 
 right to search the Scriptures, to pray, to reverence 
 the name of God, and keep holy his Sabbaths. If 
 vou can tell me who is discharged from the per- 
 formance of the one duty ; then, but not till then, 
 I can tell you who is debarred from the other. If 
 you can point out a man or a woman, who, in 
 consequence of the greatness of their guilt, are 
 forbidden, by express and positive statute, from 
 
45 
 
 searching the Scriptures, from praying, from rev- 
 erencing the name of God, entering his house, or 
 keeping holy his Sabbaths: then, but not till then, 
 will I be able to point out a single individual, who, 
 from the number and enormity of his crimes, is 
 prohibited from coming to the adorable Redeemer, 
 and claiming through him an interest in all the 
 blessedness and glory of the great salvation. The 
 calls of the Gospel are as wide as the requisitions 
 of the law. If the last reach the farthest limits of 
 the globe ; the former also extend to the utmost 
 ends of the earth. And the authority of Jehovah 
 is just as great and as irresistible in the one, as in 
 the other. The precept, ; ' Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
 soul," is not more clear and obligatory than the 
 command that all men should repent and believe 
 the Gospel. And till the magnitude of your 
 offences shall release you from the obligation to love 
 the Lord with your whole heart and soul, no 
 amount of criminality can free you from the obli- 
 gation to return to the Lord, and to believe on 
 Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. 
 
 Thus, by the provisions of the everlasting Gos- 
 pel, the blessings of salvation are rendered acces- 
 sible to the whole human race ; and it is as much 
 the duty as the privilege of every man who hears 
 them to embrace them : and it is at his peril, at 
 the peril of his immortal soul, that he has the pre- 
 sumption and madness to reject them. And when 
 it is thus rendered your duty to believe on the Son 
 c 2 
 
46 
 
 of God, will you contract any guilt, or incur any 
 danger, by doing what he says; and, in compliance 
 with his commandment, trusting in him, and rest- 
 ing on him ? Will you be condemned for reading 
 your Bibles, speaking the truth, and practising 
 honesty? And will you be more exposed to 
 condemnation for believing, in obedience to the 
 injunction of the Most High, on the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ? Guilt and danger lie in dis- 
 regarding the authority of God, but not in submit- 
 ting to his will, and complying with his gracious 
 requisitions. 
 
 Your guilt may be great and your iniquities 
 abominable and horrid. But all unrighteousness 
 is sin, and the wages of every sin is death. On the 
 field of battle, some of the fallen may be more 
 deeply wounded, and more hideously disfigured 
 than others. But all the slain are equally dead : 
 and while nothing less than Omnipotence can 
 reanimate those who have been most slightly 
 injured, this is able to revive those who have been 
 most awfully torn and mangled. And though the 
 transgressions of men are possessed of every differ- 
 ent degree of criminality; yet by nature all are dead 
 in trespasses and sins; and while nothing less than 
 the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is able to save the most decent and harmless 
 of our race, these are sufficient to save the vilest 
 and most unworthy. 
 
 Can you argue that the number and enormity of 
 your sins have placed you beyond the reach of mercy, 
 
47 
 
 3. From his fervent expostulations with the most 
 impenitent and profligate ; his kind promises to all 
 who return ; and his dreadful denunciations against 
 those who, from their carelessness and carnality, 
 refuse to be reconciled to him through the blood 
 of his Son? 
 
 Not satisfied with giving the most unlimited 
 invitations, and the most positive commands to 
 believe on the Saviour; he accompanies the whole 
 with the most earnest and affectionate remonstrances 
 with the impenitent and profligate. " What 
 fruit had ye in those things, whereof ye are now 
 ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 
 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the 
 whole world, and lose his own soul ? or what shall 
 a man give in exchange for his soul ? Turn ye, 
 turn ye from your evil ways ; for w r hy will ye die, 
 O house of Israel ?" Much as you have done to 
 provoke his indignation, he has no pleasure in your 
 death. If you will only return to him, you shall 
 live. Your guilt, however great, shall be forgiven: 
 and your iniquities, however heinous, shall be 
 blotted out. He does not ask, why you have pol- 
 luted yourselves with vice ; why you have sinned 
 against your own souls; rebelled against his 
 authority, and involved yourselves in guilt and 
 depravity: but why, by rejecting the great salva- 
 tion, and all the provisions of his mercy, you will 
 entail on yourselves the everlasting consequences 
 of your crimes, and deprive yourselves of all the 
 blessedness and glory of his kingdom? 
 
48 
 
 Without excepting the most flagitious and 
 atrocious offenders, he gives the most kind and 
 unqualified assurances of a gracious reception to all 
 who return. " Him that cometh unto me I will 
 in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all ye that 
 labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest. Come now, and let us reason together, saith 
 the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
 be as white as snow; though they be red like 
 crimson, they shall be as wool." 
 
 In order to rouse them to consideration, and 
 reclaim them from the evil of their ways, and the 
 ruin that attends them ; he pours out the most 
 awful denunciations against the profane and the 
 hardened. " He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life ; but he that believeth not the Son 
 shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on 
 him. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and 
 all the nations that forget God. Because I have 
 called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my 
 hand, and no man regarded ; but ye have set at 
 nought all my counsel, and would none of my 
 reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity, and 
 mock when your fear cometh. " 
 
 Look at all this, and say, if he is not only wil- 
 ling to receive all who come to him, but even 
 strongly set upon your salvation ? When he has 
 all power in heaven and in earth; when in a mo- 
 ment he could render a due reward to the wicked, 
 and turn all the profane and profligate into hell ; 
 unless he is solicitous to secure your salvation, why 
 
49 
 
 does he bear, with so much long-suffering, all your 
 provocations and sins? Why does he give you 
 line upon line, and precept upon precept, and bless 
 you with all that is necessary to ensure your pre- 
 sent and eternal welfare ? Why did he assume our 
 nature; sojourn as a man of sorrows in this world 
 of guilt and woe ; submit to the agonies of Geth- 
 semane, and the tortures of the cross? What was 
 the design of all this but to dissipate every suspicion 
 and fear; and assure you that whosoever will may 
 come unto him, and that him that cometh he will 
 in no wise cast out ? 
 
 Can you urge the hopelessness of your situation 
 on account of the greatness of your sins, 
 
 4. From the past exercise of his grace, and the 
 instances in which he has saved some of the most 
 abandoned and vicious of sinners ? 
 
 In strict conformity with the letter and the spirit 
 of the instructions which they had received from 
 their adorable Master, the Apostles carried the 
 glad tidings of salvation through the earth, even 
 unto the utmost ends of the world; and did not 
 shun to declare, even unto the most vile and des- 
 perate whom they encountered, all the counsel of 
 God. Constrained by love to Christ and compas- 
 sion for their perishing brethren, they regarded 
 themselves as debtors to the Jews and to the Greeks, 
 to the barbarians and Scythians, to the bond and 
 the free ; and wherever they could gain the ear of 
 a human creature, however sunk he might be in 
 infamy and foul with crime, they did not hesitate 
 
50 
 
 to proclaim the riches of redeeming mercy, and 
 point him to the Lamb of God that taketh away 
 the sin of the world. Listen to the language in 
 which Sk Paul addresses the Jews at Antioch : — 
 " Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that 
 through this man is preached unto you the forgive- 
 ness of sins ; and by him all that believe are justi- 
 fied from all things, from which they could not be 
 justified by the law of Moses." 
 
 Now who were the Jews to whom such an un- 
 qualified offer of gospel grace was given ? Were 
 they virtuous and upright men? Were they peni- 
 tent and humble ? possessed of pious hearts, and 
 contrite spirits ? They were men of whom the 
 Apostle was persuaded, that, whilst they wondered 
 at the truths which he delivered, they would reject 
 his testimony, and perish in their sins. The event 
 awfully verified his fears. " They were filled with 
 envy, and spake against those things which were 
 spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." 
 Nevertheless Paul and Barnabas affirmed, that " it 
 was necessary that the word of God should first 
 have been spoken unto them." * And if these 
 proud, impenitent, blaspheming and persecuting 
 Jews were invited, entreated, commanded to 
 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; and assured 
 that, on their believing, they should receive the 
 free remission of all their iniquities : then who can 
 be excluded from the calls of the everlasting gospel: 
 
 * Acts xiii. 38—46. 
 
51 
 
 or be so low, depraved, and loathsome, as to be 
 beyond the reach of the compassion and kindness 
 of the Almighty Redeemer ? 
 
 Such were the state and character of the people 
 among whom the Apostles were sent to exercise 
 their ministry. They were blind, foolish, disobe- 
 dient, deceived, serving divers lusts and passions. 
 The success, however, of the benevolent labours of 
 these heralds of mercy was great. Though the 
 Jews at Antioch rejected their message ; multitudes 
 were pierced to the heart; subdued to the obedience 
 of the faith ; proselyted to the holiness, and blessed 
 with the happiness of the Gospel. And if they 
 were not too depraved and hardened to become 
 the subjects of saving mercy, are you too abomin- 
 able and filthy to experience the pardoning and 
 sanctifying efficacy of Immanuel's blood ? 
 
 By nature all are guilty before God. There is 
 not a saint now in heaven, but who by birth was a 
 child of disobedience and wrath ; and up to the 
 moment of his justification, was under sentence of 
 condemnation, and exposed to all the horrors of 
 everlasting misery. The salvation, therefore, of 
 every individual, however sober and moral, is an 
 act of sovereign mercy, and may be justly regarded 
 as an illustration of the freeness of grace, and of 
 the ability of Jesus to save. There are cases, 
 however, in which he travels out of his ordinary 
 course, and appears to select men conspicuous for 
 their criminality, on purpose to give lustre to the 
 riches of his compassion, and shew what a God of 
 
52 
 
 boundless generosity and almighty power can per- 
 form. Such were the Corinthians. " Know ye 
 not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the king- 
 dom of God ? Be not deceived : neither fornica- 
 tors, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers 
 of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor 
 covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extor- 
 tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And 
 such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye 
 are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." * 
 Such too were the Ephesians.f And such too 
 was the great Apostle of the Gentiles. He was 
 a persecutor, a blasphemer, and injurious : how- 
 beit for this cause he obtained mercy, that in 
 him, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might shew 
 forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them 
 who should hereafter believe on him to life ever- 
 lasting.:): 
 
 It is scarcely possible to conceive a greater 
 excess of riot than that to which some of these men 
 ran, nor a greater degree of heaven-daring wicked- 
 ness than that with which they were chargeable : 
 and yet they were pardoned, reconciled, and saved. 
 And after this, can you doubt that there is mercy 
 with God, and that with him there is plenteous 
 redemption ? Did they obtain salvation with eter- 
 nal glory ? and can you fear that your application 
 shall be rejected ; and that, though you return to 
 
 • 1 Cor. vi. 9—11. f. Eph. ii. 1—7. \ 1 Tim. i. 13—16. 
 
53 
 
 the Lord, he will refuse to accept your surren- 
 der? 
 
 Dreadful as your state and character may be, 
 can you find no parallel to them in the former 
 manifestations of saving mercy ? Have you opposed 
 the truth, and reviled the characters of the faithful? 
 Paul persecuted the church of God, and wasted 
 it. Have you lived long in iniquity, and by your 
 influence and example imboldened others in vice? 
 Manasseh had grown hoary in the ways of wicked- 
 ness, had taught Judah to transgress, and filled 
 Jerusalem with innocent blood. Have you sinned 
 against light and conscience, and after making a 
 profession of the truth ? David and Peter had 
 long walked in the good ways of the Lord, when 
 they fell by their iniquity. And notwithstanding 
 the enormity of their offences, were these all washed 
 from their pollutions, and saved in the Lord with an 
 everlasting salvation ? and are your trespasses too 
 foul to be blotted out, and your guilt too great to 
 be forgiven ? 
 
 Even supposing that your case surpasses in atro- 
 city every precedent ; that, though the hearts of 
 others have been hard, and their conduct detesta- 
 ble ; your heart has been still more stubborn and 
 refractory, and your conduct still more dreadfully 
 and outrageously w T icked : remember there never 
 has, and there never w 7 ill, a single soul sink into 
 perdition from a defect in the power and grace of 
 the Redeemer. His power is almighty, and his 
 blood cleanseth from all sin. Many a dreadful 
 
54 
 
 desperate case has been put into his hands : but 
 never one of them has failed. And though his 
 mercy and his might have been exerted far, they 
 have not reached their utmost limits. Bring then 
 your matchless, indescribable case to this Almighty 
 Saviour, and he will surpass all the former exer- 
 cises of his generosity and power. Seize the oppor- 
 tunity, which it affords you, of doing the highest 
 honour to the riches of his grace, and of enabling 
 you through eternity to be loudest in the song of 
 grateful adoring praise. Go to him, and you will 
 find that this indeed is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, " that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners." " Let the 
 wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man 
 his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, 
 and" — will he spurn him from his presence? make 
 him a monument of his holy indignation against 
 iniquity, and render him as miserable as he has 
 been sinful? — "let him return unto the Lord, and 
 he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for 
 he will abundantly pardon." 
 
 But amidst all the abundant and endearing 
 encouragement to return to God ; remember the 
 necessity of coming to the Saviour, of believing on 
 him, and of trusting in him. He can save to the 
 utmost : but they that are far from him shall per- 
 ish. The munificence of the most liberal bene- 
 factor can do us no service, unless we accept his 
 bounty. And unless we embrace it, all the salva- 
 tion that is in Christ will not impart the smallest 
 
55 
 
 advantage to our soul. Religion is a personal 
 thing, which every individual must possess for him- 
 self, before he can derive the slightest benefit from 
 the blessings which it contains. The most valu- 
 able medicine can relieve none but those who 
 employ it. It does not attack contagion in the 
 abstract ; nor extirpate the maladies for which it is 
 a specific by encountering them in the atmosphere, 
 eradicating them in the regions where they are 
 engendered, and thus annihilating them all over 
 the globe. And though Jesus has finished trans- 
 gression, and made an end of sin ; it is not by 
 extinguishing its existence, nor expelling it from 
 the universe, but by removing it from the con- 
 science of individual believers, and by cancelling 
 before God the guilt of those who personally em- 
 brace him. 
 
 Take care then, amidst your doubts and your 
 fears, lest Satan gain an advantage over you ; lest 
 he and your own deceitful hearts lead you to reject 
 the righteousness of Christ, under the plausible but 
 ruinous expectation, that by length of time, and a 
 more sedulous application to the task of moral 
 duties and religious observances, you may hereafter 
 become more fit objects of mercy, and more wor- 
 thy recipients of the favour of God. None ever 
 was, and none ever will be accepted in the Beloved, 
 but in the character of a sinner. The Son of 
 Man came to seek and to save that which was lost; 
 not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. 
 It is as a sinner that you must apply ; for you 
 
56 
 
 never can have redemption but through his blood. 
 Salvation is the gift of God. Though you should 
 wait till the blast of the last trumpet, it would be 
 as a gift that even then you could receive it : and 
 as a gift you are welcome to it now. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE FEAR OF 
 
 HAVING COMMITTED THE SIN AGAINST 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 
 Nothing affords a more amiable and decisive 
 evidence of a genuine Christian, than tenderness 
 of conscience, and a habitual fear, and an unchang- 
 ing abhorrence of all evil. Whilst sinners boldly 
 adventure upon the most flagrant offences, give 
 themselves no uneasiness about the most foul and 
 horrid enormities, and even glory in their shame ; 
 a real Christian trembles at every appearance of 
 the abominable thing which Jehovah hates; 
 dreads the smallest approach to evil ; and, if ever 
 he is actually overtaken with iniquity, is covered 
 with shame, and filled with terror lest his guilt, 
 however comparatively slight, should prove too 
 great to be forgiven. 
 
 This is the black brand fixed by the hand of the 
 Eternal upon one of the sins of the sons of men. 
 The same Scriptures which every where, in lan- 
 guage the most distinct and impressive, proclaim 
 the irresistible power of the Redeemer, and the 
 inexhaustible efficacy of his blood : the same Scrip- 
 
58 
 
 tures which expatiate upon the riches of his grace, 
 and the fulness and freeness of his salvation; 
 plainly and forcibly tell us, that there is one sin 
 for which no blood has been shed, and for which 
 no pardon has been provided; a sin which excludes 
 the perpetrator from hope, and seals him up for 
 inevitable destruction. This is the blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Because the invitations of the Gospel are so lib- 
 eral and comprehensive, that salvation is offered 
 unreservedly to all; because we are so completely 
 assured of the omnipotence of the Saviour, and the 
 all-sufficiency of his atonement ; many have sup- 
 posed that there is no sin exempted from remission; 
 and that the only circumstance which prevents the 
 pardon of any sin, is the obstinate, persevering, 
 and final impenitence of the transgressor. 
 
 Of the extent of Immanuel's power, and the 
 virtue of his sacrifice, we never can entertain an 
 opinion too high. If such were his will, he is able 
 to sprinkle the conscience of every child of Adam, 
 and to purge our guilty globe from every stain and 
 vestige of evil; to extinguish the flames of hell, 
 and to cleanse its most black and loathsome 
 regions, from every trace of pollution and crime ; 
 to empty it of its inmates; to convey them to 
 paradise ; or to light it up with the splendours of 
 purity : to replenish it with the transports of praise, 
 and the ecstasies of bliss; and convert its wide 
 and dreary domains into an image of heaven, and 
 an abode of holiness and delight. For he is able 
 
59 
 
 even to subdue all things to himself. But the 
 question is not, what is he able to accomplish? 
 but what has he purposed ? what has he promised 
 to perform ? And when we find that blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost is represented as just as 
 really a separate sin, as robbery or murder; and 
 when we are just as distinctly told that it shall 
 never be forgiven, as that all other sins, upon the 
 faith and repentance of the sinner, shall be for- 
 given : we are bound to regard it as a specific sin, 
 and to believe that it shall never be forgiven. 
 This is the case from no defect in the power or 
 grace of the Redeemer; but entirely from his 
 righteous determination to exclude those who 
 commit it from the exercise of mercy, and to 
 leave them uniformly as monuments of his justice. 
 Final impenitence is not so much an independent 
 sin, as the natural and ordinary consummation of 
 a gay, thoughtless, careless, and irreligious life. 
 But, as many who live in this manner, scarcely 
 ever heard that there is a Holy Ghost ; with what 
 propriety can they be said to blaspheme him? 
 Undoubtedly all who are guilty of blaspheming 
 him, die impenitent : but unless we are prepared 
 to style insensibility and security blasphemy, we 
 have no authority for maintaining that final impeni- 
 tence is the sin against the Spirit of God. 
 
 No express notice is taken of this sin in the 
 Old Testament. But though the name does not 
 occur, we are almost inclined to think that the 
 thing existed ; and that it appeared at a very early 
 
60 
 
 age of the world. There seems to have been a 
 period in the lives of Cain, Balaam, and Saul, 
 when they were totally abandoned of God, and 
 given over to perdition. And there is reason to 
 believe that there was something bordering upon 
 this sin, in the case of those Jews for whom 
 Jeremiah was forbidden to pray ; and of Ephraim, 
 at that awful crisis, when he was joined to his 
 idols, and ordered to be let alone. 
 
 The first occasion on which it is directly men- 
 tioned in the New Testament, is in consequence 
 of the accusation of the Pharisees, that our Lord 
 was in confederacy with Satan, and cast out devils 
 by the assistance of Beelzebub, the prince of the 
 devils.* The next intimation which, it is supposed, 
 is given of this sin, is in the case of Simon Magus; 
 whose heart was w T holly engrossed with the love of 
 gain, and who imagined that the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost might be purchased with money, and con- 
 verted into a mean of promoting his worldly 
 aggrandisement.-)* To this subject Paul also is 
 thought to refer, when he says, " I was a blas- 
 phemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I 
 obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly, in 
 unbelief:";): words which seem to imply, that, if 
 what he did had been done with the knowledge 
 and conviction of Christ's real character, his con- 
 dition w T ould have been absolutely desperate. In 
 
 * Mat. xii. 31, 32. Mark iii. 28 ; 29. Luke xii. 10. 
 f Acts viii. 18—23. } 1 Tira. i. 13. 
 
61 
 
 the epistle to the Hebrews, when speaking of the 
 danger of apostasy, he obviously alludes twice to 
 the same sin.* This appears to have been the sin 
 committed by the apostate and licentious teachers, 
 whom Peter so severely reprobates.f And it 
 evidently is this sin which John has in view, when 
 he says, " If any man see his brother sin a sin 
 which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall 
 give him life for them that sin not unto death. 
 There is a sin unto death : I do not say that he 
 shall pray for it.";): 
 
 From these different passages, it appears that 
 there are various shades and degrees of this sin ; 
 and that it is not any particular act of sin that 
 renders it unpardonable, but the particular cir- 
 cumstances under which it is committed. " The 
 act, in the case of the Pharisees, was uttering 
 blasphemous language against the miracles of 
 Christ ; in the supposed case of Paul, it was blas- 
 phemously persecuting, and otherwise injuriously 
 treating the church of Christ ; in the case of the 
 Hebrews, it was apostasy from the truth ; in the 
 case of the false teachers described by Peter, it 
 was not only persecuting the truth, but returning 
 to sensual abominations."§ So that instead of 
 denying the reality of an unpardonable sin, it 
 
 * Heb. vi. 4—6. ; x. 26—29. 
 f 2 Peter ii. 20—23. f 1 John v. 16. 
 
 § See an excellent paper on the unpardonable sin in Fuller's 
 Essays. 
 
 D 
 
62 
 
 would be nearer the truth to say, that there are 
 different kinds of sin that are unpardonable. 
 
 Without pretending to define accurately what 
 the unpardonable sin is; for the relief of those 
 who are groundlessly alarmed with the fear that 
 they have committed it, it will be proper to point 
 out the principal circumstances in which it consists. 
 
 1. It includes opposition to Christ and his cause. 
 
 This is a quality which, in a greater or less 
 degree, belongs to every sin : but it is pre-emi- 
 nently characteristic of that one which is declared 
 to be irremissible. This evidently w T as the case 
 with the Scribes and Pharisees. When by a 
 miracle Jesus had given an indubitable proof of 
 his mission, and forced upon the people the con- 
 viction that he was the long-looked-for Messiah ; 
 to what measures had the Pharisees recourse? 
 Like candid and honest men, who were doubtful of 
 the reality of the mighty work which they had 
 witnessed, did they leave the multitude to the free 
 exercise of their judgment ? carefully abstain from 
 infusing either prejudice or prepossession into 
 their minds? encourage inquiry? assist them in 
 their researches? and anxiously examine every 
 incident by which they and the people might be 
 enabled to arrive at a fair and satisfactory decision? 
 This certainly is the course which they would have 
 adopted, if they had been men of integrity, and had 
 found themselves at any loss upon the subject. But 
 without feeling the least uncertainty respecting 
 
63 
 
 either the author, or the nature of the miracle ; 
 convinced that it laboured under no fraud nor 
 artifice, but was a direct result of Divine power ; 
 in order to blast his reputation, and prevent him 
 from enjoying the reception that he deserved; from 
 pure antipathy against his person and his cause, 
 they falsely and maliciously branded him as an 
 impostor and an agent of Satan. " This fellow 
 doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the 
 prince of the devils." 
 
 2. It arises from hatred and malice. 
 It is not committed from want of care and watch- 
 fulness, as in sins of surprise ; nor from want of 
 knowledge, as in sins of ignorance; nor from want 
 of courage and resolution, as in sins of infirmity ; 
 nor from rashness and self-confidence, as in sins of 
 presumption : but it possesses a guilt and malig- 
 nity peculiar to itself, by proceeding from pure 
 and unmingled hatred against Christ and godli- 
 ness. Could they obtain their desire, they would 
 gladly, not only extinguish the religion which he 
 has left us, but also annihilate his own existence. 
 They wish that there were no God. Their lan- 
 guage mav be bad and abusive. Their actions 
 may savour strongly of the camp of Satan. But 
 their hearts are worse ; and could we only see what 
 is passing there, we should find unbridled fury 
 rankling against God and goodness. This was 
 the case with the Pharisees. They hated Christ. 
 Thev endeavoured to ensnare him in his teaching: 
 and sought by what means they might take away 
 
64 
 
 his life. They did not put him to death in anger: 
 for that acts rashly, and without reflection: but 
 consulted how they might destroy him ; and em- 
 ployed artifice and cunning to apprehend him: and 
 thus were deliberate and malicious murderers. 
 And the same spirit of malevolence still charac- 
 terizes the conduct of apostates. They crucify 
 Christ afresh. Unable to repeat the literal action; 
 by renouncing the faith of the Gospel, and bring- 
 ing by their ungodly lives disgrace on the cause 
 which they once professed, they give their consent 
 and sanction to the diabolical deed of the Jews : 
 they trample his blood under foot, and do despite 
 to the Spirit of grace. 
 
 3. It is committed in opposition to light and 
 knowledge, and the conviction of the sinner's own 
 mind. 
 
 This is a circumstance which is inseparable from 
 its nature, and goes far to mature and complete its 
 guilt. Paul admits that if he had knowingly com- 
 mitted the crimes with which he was chargeable, 
 his case would have been hopeless. But amidst all 
 the means of better information that he possessed, 
 he never had been persuaded of the truth of 
 Christianity, and that the cause which he was per- 
 secuting was the cause of God : and, therefore, he 
 tells us, he " obtained mercy, because he did it 
 ignorantly, in unbelief." The Hebrews not only 
 had the Gospel clearly announced unto them, but 
 they had become the subjects of deep convictions 
 and powerful impressions. They had been enlight- 
 
65 
 
 ened, and tasted the heavenly gift; they had been 
 made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and had tasted 
 the good word of God, and the powers of the world 
 to- come. Though none of these expressions 
 denotes that Divine change which necessarily 
 accompanies salvation ; they at least intimate, that 
 they to whom they are applied, had been made to 
 feel convictions peculiarly deep, and impressions 
 of no common strength and liveliness; and, there- 
 fore, their future apostasy was a sinning wilfully 
 after they had received the knowledge of the truth. 
 This was the principal ingredient in the sin of 
 those apostates mentioned by Peter. Their doom 
 was sealed, because u after they had known the 
 way of truth, they had turned aside from the holy 
 commandment." And there can be no doubt that 
 this w r as the circumstance which placed the Phari- 
 sees beyond the reach of mercy. Though they 
 affected to treat Christ as an impostor, and to 
 regard his miracles as the effect of magic or diabo- 
 lical enchantment; in their hearts and consciences 
 they knew better. They knew who he was.* They 
 were convinced of the Divine origin of the works 
 which he performed. W hen he pronounced the 
 parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen, 
 they perfectly comprehended his design : and 
 though they could not deny the truth on which it 
 was founded; with a pertinacity and hardihood, 
 well worthy the first-born of Satan, they perse- 
 
 * John vii. 2a 
 
66 
 
 vered in acting upon the principle which it sug- 
 gested : " This is the heir, come let us kill him."* 
 Though they pretended to persecute him for 
 sedition and blasphemy, the real cause on account 
 of which he was put to death, was the number and 
 the undeniable truth of his miracles.t Because we 
 are forbidden to pray for the remission of the 
 unpardonable sin, and yet our Lord prayed for his 
 murderers ; some have supposed that the Pharisees 
 had not been guilty of this crime. But those for 
 whom Christ prayed, knew not what they did. 
 But this was far from being the case with all who 
 had a share in his death. They who seized him 
 because he was the heir, and who coolly replied to 
 the heart-rending confession of Judas, that he had 
 sinned, in that he had betrayed the innocent blood, 
 " What is that to us? see thou to that;" could not 
 allege the plea of ignorance. They sinned with 
 their eyes open ; and knew well what they were 
 doing. 
 
 4. It is accompanied with blasphemies and 
 reproaches. 
 
 It is not confined to the heart of the individual. 
 It does not consist solely in mean, dishonourable, 
 and impious thoughts of God. From the meaning 
 of the word blaspheme, which signifies to revile 
 or speak reproachfully, we are led to believe that 
 it uniformly proceeds to open ungodliness. Not 
 satisfied with renouncing his own allegiance to the 
 
 * Matt. xxi. 33—46. f John xl 47 > 48 * 
 
67 
 
 Most High, this sinner wishes to unhinge the 
 Divine government over others, and involve them 
 in the same perdition with himself. He works 
 unrighteousness with greediness; runs to the 
 excess of riot ; and glories in his shame. By his 
 foul and profane conversation; by his audacious 
 and infidel arguments; by his vile and abominable 
 works, he labours to shake the faith, undermine 
 die purity, and ruin the souls of all around him, 
 and send down the rank and virulent poison of 
 vice and profligacy to generations yet unborn. 
 
 It need scarcely be added that, 
 
 5. It extinguishes the desire of repentance, and 
 is exasperated by every attempt to admonish the 
 criminals of their danger, and lead them to return 
 to God. 
 
 Sold unto iniquity, and completely in love with 
 unrighteousness, they hate every appearance of 
 piety and worth ; and the more religious and spi- 
 ritual any measure is, they regard it with the more 
 bitter and implacable rancour. If exhorted to 
 repent and reform, they reject every entreaty and 
 call : for they have loved idols, and after them 
 they will go. They may not always believe that 
 their conduct is right, or their state safe. The 
 devil himself cannot believe that it is either his 
 duty or his interest to resist the government of the 
 Almighty, and make war against the peace and 
 felicity of the universe. And though they know 
 well that the face of God is set against them that 
 do evil, and that none can harden themselves 
 
68 
 
 against him and prosper ; having long lived in sin, 
 and wrought unrighteousness with greediness, they 
 become the slaves of their lusts and passions, and 
 are led captive by Satan at his pleasure. Their 
 corrupt habits obtain an uncontrolled dominion. 
 And every effort to rouse or reclaim them, only 
 strengthens their enmity against their benevolent 
 advisers and the good ways of God, and leads them 
 to launch out into deeds of darker atrocity and still 
 more horrid impiety. Why then should they be 
 stricken anymore, when they revolt more and more? 
 " Let no man strive nor reprove them. Give not 
 that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye 
 your pearls before swine, lest they trample them 
 under their feet, and turn again and rend you." 
 
 Such appear to be the principal ingredients in 
 this matchless enormity ; which carries human 
 depravity to its consummation ; which makes the 
 perdition of the rebel at once certain and dreadful; 
 which links earth to hell ; and, before the daring 
 offender quits the precincts of time, gives a sure 
 and an awful presage of his eternal destiny. He 
 dies in his iniquity : not because there is any defect 
 in the power or grace of the Redeemer, but 
 because he has proudly scorned all the overtures 
 of mercy, and all the calls of grace. He dies in 
 his iniquity ; not because repentance and reforma- 
 tion are unprofitable or unattainable, but because 
 his hardened heart has rendered him reckless of 
 his fate, and filled him with a rancorous, unyielding 
 aversion to the holiness and spirituality of the Gos- 
 
 
69 
 
 pel. And having thus rejected the only means of 
 salvation, and having done despite to that blessed 
 Agent through whose influences only that salvation 
 can be applied, " there remaineth no more sacri- 
 fice for" his " sin, but a certain fearful looking for 
 of judgment." 
 
 Now are these things so ? Does this sin consist 
 in opposition to Christ and his cause ? Does it 
 arise from hatred against him and his glorious 
 Gospel ? Is it perpetrated in defiance of the con- 
 victions of conscience, and the dictates of a better 
 judgment ? Is it accompanied with reproaches oi 
 the faithful, and blasphemous language against 
 God and godliness ? Does it extinguish the desire 
 of repentance, and exasperate the sinner by every 
 attempt to rouse and reclaim him? Then how 
 can you believe that you are chargeable with this 
 unparalleled atrocity, who are mourning over your 
 transgressions, and longing to be reconciled unto 
 God through the blood of his Son? who prefer 
 Jesus to your chief joy, and would gladly raise his 
 name above every name ? who are labouring to 
 comply with every intimation of his pleasure, and 
 abased and heart-broken because you love him so 
 coldly, and serve him so imperfectly ? whose bowels 
 yearn over his people ? w T ho delight in the society 
 of his saints ? who are striving to bring all to the 
 knowledge of his Gospel, and to fill the whole 
 earth with his glory ? who are ashamed and con- 
 founded for your past iniquities ? groaning under 
 the body of sin and death ? and imploring grace to 
 d 2 
 
70 
 
 know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, 
 as the angels do in heaven ? When the very first 
 effect of this sin is to sear the conscience, to make 
 the transgressor regardless of the consequences of 
 his conduct, and render him more determined and 
 audacious in deeds of profligacy and vice ; can you 
 who are standing in awe of the Divine judgments, 
 who are loathing yourselves for all your abomina- 
 tions, and are imploring deliverance from their 
 guilt and power ; can you maintain that you are 
 chargeable with this consummation of human im- 
 piety, and given over to blindness of mind and 
 hardness of heart ? When it leads those who com- 
 mit it to despise the ordinances of religion, to 
 undervalue the blood of Christ, and to treat the 
 favour of God with contempt; can you be labouring 
 under the blasting influences of this matchless 
 outrage against High Heaven, when conscious to 
 yourselves, that you delight in the services of 
 devotion, that you count all things but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and would 
 gladly part with the wealth of ten thousand thou- 
 sand worlds, to enjoy an interest in the loving- 
 kindness of the Lord ? Doth a fountain send forth 
 at the same place sweet water and bitter ? Do men 
 gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? or can 
 the feelings of friendship be found in the heart of 
 an enemy ? or the fruits of penitence and piety in 
 an impenitent and carnal mind? 
 
 While you still continue to bewail your offences, 
 and to long for an interest in the favour of the 
 
71 
 
 Most High, on what account can you suppose that 
 you have sinned the sin unto death ? 
 Perhaps some will tell me, 
 
 1. It is because they have stifled the convictions 
 of conscience, and resisted the work of the Holy 
 Spirit upon their hearts. 
 
 It is really unspeakably dangerous to suppress 
 the remonstrances of conscience, and to trifle with 
 any of the admonitions of the Spirit of grace. In 
 righteous displeasure, God may leave us to our 
 fate, and withdraw all further application to our 
 understanding and our heart. When he sends his 
 mercy after us, to recall us from our wanderings, 
 and bring us back to his friendship and service ; 
 we can never too speedily nor cordially comply 
 with his gracious invitations. To disregard his 
 kind and condescending addresses, is the height of 
 criminality and hardihood ; and may justly provoke 
 that dreadful sentence, " Because I have called, 
 and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and 
 no man regarded : I will laugh at your calamity ; 
 I will mock when your fear cometh." 
 
 But however criminal and dangerous, we are 
 not warranted to say, that the stifling of convictions 
 and the resisting of the work of the Spirit upon 
 the heart, are the sin against the Holy Ghost. 
 Though he will not always strive, he has long 
 patience with men. He waits to be gracious : and, 
 amidst their carelessness, security, and obstinacy; 
 by his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, 
 labours to bring them to repentance. Accordingly, 
 
72 
 
 many a sinner, who has long clone violence to his 
 convictions; who has disregarded the calls and 
 warnings of the word of God; and in order to 
 shake off his alarms and fears, has plunged deeper 
 into worldly and wicked pursuits; after all has 
 been made willing in a day of power. The young 
 sinner, who has brought the gray hairs of his 
 parents with sorrow to the grave : has himself, 
 before old age came on, yielded to the sceptre of 
 mercy. The stout-hearted, who, by their sturdy 
 defiance of the authority of Heaven, have proved 
 the vexation of one pastor ; long after his bones 
 have been laid in the dust, have, under the labours 
 of another, been subdued to the obedience of the 
 faith : just as thousands of the Jews, who had stood 
 out against the preaching of the Son of man, were 
 gained by the ministry of the Apostles. If there- 
 fore you are grieved that you have so long resisted 
 the Holy Spirit ; if you truly desire to be recon- 
 ciled unto God, take with you words, and turn to 
 the Lord. It is not yet too late. His language 
 is, " Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, 
 now is the day of salvation." 
 
 Some may tell me that they apprehend that they 
 are chargeable w r ith having sinned the sin unto 
 death, because, 
 
 2. They are haunted with foul, odious, and hor- 
 rid thoughts concerning God, and Christ, and 
 things divine and eternal. 
 
 Remember that there is a prodigious difference 
 betwixt consent and compulsion. If you forcibly 
 
73 
 
 enter the habitation of another, and replenish your 
 house with the plunder of his ; you are a house- 
 breaker and a villain. Though you should not 
 plant a foot upon his possessions ; yet, if you are 
 privy to the burglarious designs of others, and aid 
 them in secreting and disposing of his property ; 
 you are deeply criminal in the eye of God and of 
 man, and justly liable to all the penalties due to 
 an associate in their felony. But if, whilst igno- 
 rant of their persons and their plans; the depreda- 
 tors, in order to insult and annoy you, should fill 
 your premises with their booty ; if night after night 
 they should repeat the outrage, and deposit their 
 spoils in your dwelling : while you abhor their 
 unlawful proceedings, and are grieved and ashamed 
 at the indignity which they have inflicted ; while 
 you send the most prompt notice to the lawful 
 owners, and raise the hue and cry against the ban- 
 ditti; whilst you have recourse to every measure, 
 and employ every mean to check their depreda- 
 tions, and bring them to justice : can you be fairly 
 chargeable with dishonesty and house-breaking? 
 
 If you deliberately cherish any foul and criminal 
 thoughts you are a sinner. Whether you enter- 
 tain those that spontaneously spring up in your 
 mind, or indulge those that are suggested by wicked 
 men or injected by Satan ; you are deeply guilty 
 in the sight of God. You may fancy that whilst 
 your thoughts are confined to your own bosoms, 
 you are innocent and safe. This, however, is a 
 most egregious delusion. For as every man think- 
 
74 
 
 eth in his heart, so is he. Your contemplations 
 may be airy and visionary. They may never be 
 reduced to practice, nor imbodied in actions. But 
 the mind that can dwell with delight, even in idea, 
 upon what is forbidden, is dreadfully polluted and 
 desperately wicked. But if blasphemous thoughts 
 are hated and repelled ; if you labour to exclude 
 them from your fancies, and to pre-occupy your 
 mind with pure and holy meditations ; if you pray 
 for deliverance from every wandering and unworthy 
 imagination, and desire above all things that Christ 
 may dwell in your hearts by faith; if you endea- 
 vour to abide in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, 
 and maintain constant fellowship with God : how- 
 ever frequently and vehemently these detestable 
 suggestions may return ; however humbling, gall- 
 ing, and painful they may prove ; can you be 
 justly accused of being their author or abettor, and 
 subjected to punishment for their unwelcome and 
 hateful presence? It is not the crime, but the 
 calamity of the man of integrity, that stolen goods 
 are secretly thrown upon his premises. And it is 
 not your crime, but your calamity, that you are 
 pestered with the thoughts which you dread, and 
 which you vigorously labour to drive away. It is 
 an enemy that hath done it. For " if I do that I 
 would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that 
 dwelleth in me." After shewing him all the king- 
 doms of the world, and all the glory of them, the 
 devil had the audacity to say to the incarnate Re- 
 deemer^ " All these things will I give unto thee, 
 
75 
 
 if thou wilt fall down and worship me." And if 
 the Captain of salvation was assailed with such an 
 impious temptation, is it any marvel that his follow- 
 ers should be harassed with the most horrid and 
 odious suggestions ? While, however, you give 
 no place to Satan, but res' it him stedfast in the 
 faith; all is safe. Greater is he that is for you, 
 than all that can be against you. Rest on him, 
 and cleave to him. He will bruise Satan under 
 your feet shortly, and make you more than con- 
 querors. 
 
 Some perhaps will tell me that they fear that they 
 have committed the unpardonable sin, because 
 
 3. They have uttered blasphemous words against 
 God, and Christ, and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 No language can express, nor any mind can 
 conceive, the guilt and the danger of voluntarily 
 blaspheming the name of Him whom all nature 
 obeys, and all the angels adore. Every thing 
 approaching to profanity partakes of the dialect of 
 fiends, and shews that the speaker is possessed of 
 the spirit that reigns in hell. But we dare not say 
 that even blasphemous words, when uttered through 
 the force of delirium, or the surprise of sudden 
 and violent temptation, are beyond the reach of 
 forgiveness. To save his life, Peter denied his 
 Master with oaths and curses. In his rage against 
 the faithful, Paul compelled many of them to blas- 
 pheme. But, though their guilt was great ; for a 
 Christian ought rather to die than conceal his 
 attachment to his Master, or betray the cause of 
 
76 
 
 the Gospel; we have no reason for believing that 
 their crime was unpardonable, or their condition 
 desperate. Peter obtained the remission of his 
 iniquity ; and it is highly probable, that some of 
 those whom Paul had driven into this transgression 
 were afterwards humbled for their offence, and 
 restored to mercy. Instances have occurred of 
 persons, who, like Jerome of Prague, from a tem- 
 porary alarm, have disguised or renounced their 
 religion ; who afterwards have been enabled, with 
 heavenly calmness and holy fortitude, to surrender 
 their lives for the truth. 
 
 If oppressed with the recollection, that in a sea- 
 son of melancholy or madness, you have spoken 
 blasphemously, you ought to remember that me- 
 lancholy and madness are diseases and not sins; 
 and that they frequently deprive the sufferer of 
 responsibility for his actions. We cannot blame 
 the child who, in a fit of convulsion, unconsciously 
 strikes his parents. And if you have unintention- 
 ally uttered profane and impious language, and are 
 now grieved and humbled for what you have said ; 
 this grief and humility prove that you have not 
 sinned beyond the possibility of forgiveness. If 
 you had sinned the sin unto death, you would have 
 been regardless of your fate, and given yourselves 
 no uneasiness about the matter. 
 
 Some may tell me that they are afraid that they 
 have been guilty of this sin, because 
 
 4. They have hated religion, and reviled and 
 persecuted the pious. 
 
77 
 
 But however heinous such a sin may be, I dare 
 not say that even every kind of hatred of the truth 
 and persecution of the righteous, is the blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost. All natural men are ene- 
 mies to God in their minds and by wicked works ; 
 and entertain a greater or less degree of antipathy 
 against the Gospel and those who live under its 
 power. And yet from the ranks of natural men 
 God is daily adding to the church such as shall be 
 saved. The more holy the man is, the more dread- 
 ful is the guilt of hating and abusing him. But 
 the holiest man that breathes is not exempted from 
 the obligation of the precept, even with respect to 
 the most detestable miscreant that annoys him : 
 11 Love your enemies ; bless them that curse you ; 
 do good to them that hate you; and pray for them 
 who despitefully use you, and persecute you." But 
 if these crimes are unpardonable, why are we 
 required to pray for the criminals ? Where was 
 there ever a greater degree of hostility cherished 
 against Christianity, and the followers of Christ, 
 than by Paul before his conversion? What greater 
 malice could be entertained against God and good- 
 ness, or what more horrid atrocity could be perpe- 
 trated, than was manifested by those who took, and 
 crucified the Lord of glory ? yet even some of these 
 were pricked in their hearts, repented, and were 
 baptized with the Holy Ghost.* And if melted 
 into contrition upon account of your past enmity 
 
 * Actsii. 36— -41. 
 
78 
 
 to God and his people; can you doubt, if you 
 apply to the blood of sprinkling, that a free and 
 full pardon will also be extended to you ? 
 
 Some perhaps may tremble lest they have com- 
 mitted this unpardonable crime, because 
 
 5. They have sinned deliberately and wilfully, 
 when they knew that what they did was wrong, 
 condemned by the law of God, and exposed to the 
 severest visitations of his vengeance. 
 
 But though presumptuous sin is possessed of the 
 deepest dye; and, without repentance, will be fol- 
 lowed with the most dreadful retributions; we dare 
 not say that even this, heinous as it is, is beyond 
 the reach of forgiveness. The sin of David in the 
 matter of Uriah ; the sin of Jonah, in fleeing from 
 the presence of the Lord, when sent to proclaim 
 the Divine judgments against Nineveh; must have 
 been committed with the knowledge that they were 
 evil, and calculated to draw down the wrath of the 
 Most High. And yet David and Jonah were after- 
 wards brought to genuine humiliation and contri- 
 tion of spirit, and were pardoned and accepted. 
 
 Others perhaps may tell me that they are terri- 
 fied lest they have committed this sin, because 
 
 6. After making a profession of religion, they 
 have fallen by their iniquity; and now when they 
 would wish to be reconciled to God, and return to 
 their duty and allegiance, they cannot. 
 
 They feel no compunction for their sins; no bit- 
 terness nor vexation of soul for the evils that they 
 have done; and, though they wish to mourn over 
 
79 
 
 the dishonour which they have offered to the 
 blessed God, no tear drops from their eyes, and no 
 sighing nor sorrow proceeds from their soul. Not- 
 withstanding all the guilt under which they are 
 lying, their heart remains as cold, hard, and insen- 
 sible as a stone. They fear that their day of grace 
 is past ; that God has given them up in anger ; and 
 that all their alarms and terror are no better than 
 the unsanctified horrors of the proud and impeni- 
 tent Saul, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed 
 from him; or of the wretched Judas, who repented, 
 and went and hanged himself. 
 
 For the relief of persons in this situation, it must 
 be observed, that there is a wide difference betwixt 
 sickness and suicide. The patient is unexpectedly 
 seized with his malady : he dislikes it ; and longs to 
 recover his health. The self-murderer courts death, 
 and is resolved on his own destruction. And there 
 is as great a difference betwixt backsliding and 
 apostasy. The backslider may not be so completely 
 humbled and melted as he would wish for his 
 treachery and baseness. But whilst he abhors 
 himself, he loves and adores the glorious God : 
 and, whilst he is oppressed with an overwhelming 
 sense of his monstrous unworthiness, he has no 
 desire to increase it. Though fallen he has no 
 wish to lie still. The strongest, the supreme desire 
 of his heart is to be raised from his degradation ; to 
 regain his former standing; to recover his lost joys, 
 and to be fixed more firmly than before, in the love 
 of his heavenly Father. But the apostate, when he 
 
80 
 
 falls, has no desire to rise. He wishes to lie still ; 
 and is irritated at every attempt to raise and restore 
 him. The backslider, when admonished of his 
 offence, returns speedily, and seeks earnestly after 
 God. The apostate is indignant at his reprovers; 
 and, the farther he proceeds in his ungodly career, 
 becomes still more outrageous in vice, and more 
 desperately set upon his sins. Evil men and 
 seducers wax worse and worse. Peter as well as 
 Judas sinned against the Saviour : Cranmer as well 
 as Sharp betrayed the faith, But whilst the one 
 was instantly roused to a sense of his criminality, 
 and made the most ample reparation within his 
 power for his crime; the other plunged deeper and 
 deeper in guilt, till his course of impiety was 
 arrested by the dread realities of eternity. 
 
 Whilst, therefore, you abhor the sins which 
 have separated betwixt your soul and God ; while 
 you supremely prize his favour, and eagerly employ 
 the means for regaining his friendship ; how can 
 you believe that the day of your visitation is past ? 
 What affinity can you imagine betwixt your case 
 and that of Saul ; who, when he perceived that the 
 Lord had forsaken him, forsook him still farther ; 
 and much as he had previously done to provoke 
 him, completed his career of rebellion by having 
 recourse to an avowed agent of Satan? What 
 resemblance can your conduct possess to that of 
 Judas; who, after he had betrayed the innocent 
 blood, instead of repairing to the great atonement, 
 insulted the all-sufficiency of the Redeemer's sac- 
 
81 
 
 rifice bv refusing to apply to the merits of Imma- 
 nuel, and by seeking a refuge from the distractions 
 of his conscience in the horrors of self-slaughter ? 
 
 In short, though the Scriptures speak of many 
 sins against the Holy Ghost, with the exception of 
 blasphemy, none of them is declared to be unpar- 
 donable. We read of lying unto the Holy Ghost ; 
 of resisting, of tempting, of grieving, and of 
 quenching the Spirit ; but however foul and offen- 
 sive, none of them is said to be beyond the reach 
 of mercy ; and, therefore, we may safely conclude 
 that, upon the repentance of the criminal, they 
 may be forgiven. Whenever, therefore, either the 
 careless, the worldly, or the profligate, on reflect- 
 ing upon their own state and conduct, think that 
 they have reason to believe that they have been 
 guilty of this unparalleled enormity : or the people 
 of God, through the violence of temptation or of 
 mental distress, suspect that they have fallen into 
 this depth of Satan ; your wisdom is, instantly to 
 inquire what is the particular sin against the Holy 
 Ghost with which you are chargeable. For though 
 you have reason to tremble upon account of every 
 sin ; yet unless you have been guilty of blasphemy, 
 you have no ground to despair. Have you lied 
 unto the Holy Ghost ? Have you resisted, tempted, 
 grieved, or quenched the Spirit? Still, however 
 heinous and dangerous these offences; however 
 great cause you have on their account to be hum- 
 bled in dust and in ashes ; still, if you have not 
 proceeded unto the more horrid ungodliness of 
 
82 
 
 blasphemy, you have no reason to abandon hope. 
 If after all you repent and apply to the blood of 
 sprinkling, these iniquities shall be pardoned, and 
 these trespasses blotted out. For the Lord Jesus 
 Christ most solemnly assures us, that " all manner 
 of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, 
 but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." And 
 of this sin, one of the first effects is blindness of 
 mind and hardness of heart. Whilst therefore you 
 are alarmed about your situation, and solicitous for 
 reconciliation with God ; whatever guilt you may 
 have contracted, and whatever danger you may 
 have cause to dread, your condition is not desper- 
 ate: for vou have not sinned the sin unto death. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE FEAR OF 
 BEING NOT ELECTED. 
 
 Many reject the tender and affectionate calls of 
 the Gospel, and involve themselves in the most 
 distracting and overwhelming distress, from an 
 apprehension that, by an immutable and irresisti- 
 ble decree, they are excluded from the provisions 
 of mercy. They tell us, that " if we could enter 
 the heaven of heavens, discover a place prepared 
 for them in the realms of bliss, and bring down an 
 extract of their names from the Lamb's book of 
 life ; then they^would most gladly go to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and embrace the blessings of his 
 great salvation. But since God seeth the end from 
 the beginning, and worketh all things after the 
 counsel of his own will ; if they have been passed 
 over in the arrangements of everlasting love, and 
 withheld from the commission and charge given to 
 the Almighty and adorable Immanuel, to what 
 purpose is it to exhort them to repent and believe? 
 Their tears and entreaties, their labours and exer- 
 tions, must be utterly vain and abortive. They 
 may cry, but he will not hear them : they may 
 stretch out their hands, but he will not regard 
 them. For they have heard that the election has 
 
84 
 
 obtained mercy, and the rest are blinded : that as 
 many as are ordained to eternal life believe ; but 
 that the Jews who attended the ministry of Christ, 
 believed not, because they were not of his sheep. 
 If therefore they have been overlooked in the coun- 
 sels of Eternal kindness, their doom is fixed, and 
 their perdition inevitable. For who hath resisted 
 his will ? Behold he is in one mind, and who can 
 change him ?" 
 
 If this is the case with any of my disconsolate 
 and afflicted brethren ; in order to calm your fears 
 and remove your despondency, think not that I 
 am going to explain away the import of any of the 
 declarations of the sacred volume, or enter upon 
 a warfare against the doctrine of election, or the 
 existence of the Divine decrees. 
 
 The doctrine of election seems to be distinctly 
 asserted in Scripture : and it is as easy to call in 
 question any of the natural perfections of the Deity 
 as to doubt the reality of his decrees. If self-ex- 
 istent, independent, and almighty; in other words, 
 if he be possessed of what reason teaches us to 
 regard as absolutely essential to his character, he 
 must be infinite in all his attributes. But if he is 
 infinite in them all, then he must be omniscien t 
 or possessed of a thorough knowledge of every 
 thing that exists, and of every incident and occur- 
 rence that shall take place, not only in time, but 
 likewise throughout the ages of eternity. 
 
 The prophecies are uttered; not with the cau- 
 tion and hesitation of one who, from his superior 
 
85 
 
 observation and discernment, forms merely a pro- 
 bable conjecture of the future; nor with that 
 renunciation of interference and agency, which 
 might be expected from one who, from a loftier 
 elevation than others enjoy, commands a view in 
 the regions to them invisible, and can therefore 
 impart to them intimation of rising events, which 
 would otherwise be unknown till their arrival. 
 They are delivered with all the precision and 
 authority of Him who has planned the mighty series 
 of events which we witness; and who is able to fore- 
 tell them, because he has put the whole in motion, 
 and the transactions that take place are the result 
 of his own appointment and determination. 
 
 Believers are the objects of exceeding great and 
 precious promises. But does Jehovah take advan- 
 tage of his omniscience, to assume to himself the 
 credit of conferring those blessings, which he merely 
 foresees we shall at any rate acquire in the estab- 
 lished course of nature ? The blessings published 
 in his word, are the fruit of his own generosity : 
 and they are rendered absolutely certain, not 
 because the laws of nature are unchangeable, or 
 his penetration boundless, but because his purpose 
 is immutable, and his faithfulness cannot fail. 
 
 We are told that he keeps the bones of his 
 saints ; and that whilst he numbers the stars, he 
 also counts the hairs on the heads of his people, 
 and puts their tears into his bottle. And when 
 he thus attends so minutely to their inferior con- 
 cerns, can we suppose that he takes no notice of 
 
 E 
 
86 
 
 their infinitely more important and affecting inter- 
 ests? Can we imagine that he will neglect to count 
 the number of their persons, and to arrange what 
 is necessary to ensure their spiritual improvement 
 and everlasting welfare? If he provide for the 
 safety of our bodies, and our happiness in time ; 
 he surely will much more consult the felicity of our 
 souls, and their salvation through eternity. But 
 how can these momentous ends be attained without 
 a knowledge of the persons of his people, and a 
 fixed resolution respecting the means by which 
 they shall be brought to the enjoyment of never- 
 ending bliss ? 
 
 In every momentous measure, prudent men 
 deliberately consider what they are doing. And 
 can we suppose that the work of redemption was 
 undertaken without a plan? that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of 
 wisdom and of knowledge, in his Mediatorial office, 
 had no definite object in view? and actually laid 
 down his life, while ignorant who, or if any, would 
 accept the blessings which would costhim his blood? 
 
 Whilst, however, we boldly avow our belief in 
 the doctrine of Election, and contend for it as a 
 part of that faith which was delivered unto the 
 saints; it must be just as distinctly and strongly 
 stated, on the other hand, that the decree of Elec- 
 tion forms no obstruction to a soul in its approach 
 to the Saviour, nor any ground for rejecting the 
 calls and invitations, the hopes and consolations 
 of the Gospel. 
 
87 
 
 You say that if any could shew you your names 
 written in the Lamb's book of life, or point out the 
 seat prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world, in the kingdom of God; you would have 
 no difficulty in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and embracing the blessings of his salvation. 
 
 But why do you ply the business of your calling? 
 devote yourselves to the pursuits of literature and 
 science ? employ the refreshments of food and the 
 virtues of medicine ? Have you, by inspection of 
 the archives of heaven, found your names enrolled 
 amongst the wealthy, the learned, and the aged ? 
 or perused a decree ensuring success to the plans 
 which you project, and the measures which you 
 adopt ? And if, without any such discovery, you 
 are prompted to earnestness and energy, from a 
 reliance on the general assurances in Scripture of 
 the care and kindness of Providence : is a special 
 promise, or a particular communication from the 
 Most High, requisite to imbolden you to attend 
 to the one thing needful, and to lay hold on eter- 
 nal life ? Are a general promise and a bare hope 
 sufficient to rouse your activity and vigilance in 
 matters of trifling and of temporary interest ? And 
 are the unlimited invitations, and the express posi- 
 tive promises of the Bible, unable to excite your 
 attention to an object of infinite magnitude and 
 endless duration ? 
 
 We indeed have not entered the heaven of 
 heavens, nor looked within the leaves of the Lamb's 
 book of life. But it is as true that he that believ- 
 
88 
 
 eth shall be saved, as that as many as are ordained 
 to eternal life shall believe : and no angel, whom 
 the Almighty could dispatch from the court above, 
 could furnish you with an extract of your names 
 amongst the objects of electing love from an au- 
 thority more high, than that from which these gra- 
 cious declarations have been sent down ; " The 
 Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which 
 is lost; whosoever will may come to him; and him 
 that cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out." 
 In embarking in any honourable or useful under- 
 taking; your first business is not to ascertain if 
 you shall succeed in the enterprise, but if it is your 
 duty to attempt it; if God has enjoined it, and 
 promised to approve and bless the deed. And 
 when you are commanded to believe on the name 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to him and be 
 saved : you have no concern with the eternal coun- 
 sels and purposes of God. Your first and only 
 business is to inquire into the declarations of his 
 word, and instantly and implicitly to submit to its 
 decision. If the Gospel had required us in the 
 first instance to believe in our own election, or had 
 limited the promise of eternal life to those who 
 shall believe that, before the foundation of the 
 world, they were chosen to everlasting glory: then 
 indeed our first business would have been to have 
 determined this fact; and until it was placed beyond 
 a doubt, we should have had no encouragement 
 to have gone to the adorable Redeemer, nor to 
 have rested on him for our own salvation. But 
 
89 
 
 when it tells us that secret things belong unto the 
 Lord our God ; but things that are revealed to us 
 and our children; when it reprobates the desire to 
 pry into things that are concealed; when it informs 
 us that Christ is given for a light to the Gentiles, 
 and to be for salvation to the ends of the earth ; 
 when it invites all to the arms of his mercy, and 
 assures us that every one that asketh receiveth, 
 and he that seeketh findeth : in our first applica- 
 tion to the Saviour, we have no concern whatever 
 with his intentions and designs. Our only duty 
 is to consider what God has revealed ; to believe 
 his word, and embrace his promises. 
 
 Faith and revelation are relative terms. Faith 
 cannot exist without a foundation : and without a 
 revelation from God, there could have been no 
 foundation for faith. If a knowledge of our elec- 
 tion had been necessary as a warrant for the exer- 
 cise of faith, and as an authority to encourage us 
 to apply to Christ, it certainly would have been 
 published in the Scriptures. For as we cannot 
 believe without evidence ; unless our election w r ere 
 a subject of revelation, we could have no ground 
 whatever for the exercise of faith. But where, 
 within the whole compass of the word of God, have 
 we the slightest intimation of our election ? We 
 are required to make first our calling, and then 
 our election sure. But we never are allowed to 
 reverse this course. The calls and invitations of 
 the Gospel are general, and addressed without 
 discrimination to men of every character and 
 
90 
 
 description: and whosoever embraces them is 
 assured, by the testimony of the God of truth, 
 that he shall enjoy all the rich and inexhaustible 
 blessings which they unfold. The Lord Jesus 
 Christ does not say, Come unto me, all ye that 
 are elected, nor all ye that have been given unto 
 me by my Father, nor all ye that have been ordained 
 to eternal life;" but all ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden. He invites all who are willing to 
 come; all who are longing for reconciliation to 
 God through his blood; and he pronounces a 
 blessing on those who hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness. Now is this your case ? Are you 
 grieved and humbled on account of the offences 
 which you have committed ? Are you longing to 
 be delivered from the body of sin and death? 
 Are you asking in earnest what you must do to be 
 saved ? and counting every thing but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ? Then 
 take encouragement, and come. It was for such 
 as you that the Son of God was made manifest in 
 the flesh. He came not to call the righteous, but 
 sinners to repentance. This is a faithful saying, 
 and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 Some perhaps may be ready to say, " Though 
 the promises of the Gospel are general, and 
 directed indiscriminately to all; how can we 
 know that they are intended for us, and that we 
 may safely embrace them, when our names are 
 not included in them?" 
 
91 
 
 But what can give any individual a more com- 
 plete title to the enjoyment of any benefit, than the 
 free permission granted to all to avail themselves 
 of its communication? Can you desire a more 
 perfect right to the exercise of reason and common 
 sense, and the possession and use of air, and light, 
 and heat ; than the liberal allowance of the Great 
 Creator to all the sons of Adam, to use them 
 without limitation and restraint ? And when you 
 hear that Christ is the Saviour of the world, and 
 that whosoever will may come to him ; could you 
 have urged a more firm and absolute right to go 
 to him, and believe on him, even supposing that 
 you saw your names imbodied in the calls and 
 promises of the Gospel, or heard yourselves invited 
 by a voice from the eternal throne ? 
 
 How do you know that you are under sentence 
 of condemnation, and exposed to all the dreadful 
 penalties due to sin? Your names are written 
 neither in the precepts, the threatenings, nor the 
 curses of the law. But you know that you are 
 sinners; and that the law denounces indignation 
 and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every 
 soul of man that doeth evil: and therefore, because 
 you have done evil, you conclude that you are 
 justly doomed to punishment, and liable to all the 
 unknown anguish of everlasting misery. Now you 
 ought to reason in the same manner with respect 
 to the universal calls and free offers of the Gospel. 
 Though you are not mentioned by name; yet, 
 since the invitations are unlimited; since they are 
 
92 
 
 directed to every child of Adam, and accompanied 
 with the most positive promises of acceptance to 
 all who receive them: you are encouraged and 
 warranted to embrace them as the foundation of 
 your own trust, and the source of your own con- 
 solation ; saying, " to us is the word of this salva- 
 tion sent." Whatsoever things the law saith, it 
 saith to them who are under the law : and what- 
 soever benefits and blessings the Gospel contains, 
 are published to those who hear its joyful sound, 
 and are pressed upon the acceptance of all, how- 
 ever vile and unworthy. It is a message of mercy 
 from the God of love, proclaimed on our globe 
 for the common advantage of its guilty and perish- 
 ing inhabitants. By his own high authority we 
 are enjoined to believe it ; to appropriate to our- 
 selves the precious provisions with which it is 
 fraught : and are assured, that by believing it, all 
 its treasures shall become our own, but by rejecting 
 it, we make our own perdition sure. 
 
 Many a saint is now in heaven, exulting in the 
 full possession of all its ineffable purity, felicity, 
 and peace. But how were they enabled to sur- 
 mount all their alarms and fears, and place their 
 calm cordial dependence upon the power and grace 
 of Immanuel ? They had no more special encour- 
 agement, nor any stronger security than you. 
 They had no immediate communication from 
 God, nor any intimation from a celestial visitant 
 to assure them, that they were the objects of 
 electing love. They had the same Bible that you 
 
93 
 
 possess : they were invited to the same Saviour to 
 whom you are exhorted to apply : and by trusting 
 to the general calls and promises of the same 
 Gospel which is preached to you, without having 
 their names, any more than your own, inserted in 
 its gracious declarations, they were saved and 
 brought to glory. 
 
 Now, since with God there is no partiality nor 
 respect of persons ; since all indiscriminately are 
 entreated to come to Christ; and, by his own 
 infallible word, are made certain, on their appli- 
 cation, of a kind and affectionate welcome, be per- 
 suaded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 you also shall be saved. 
 
 You may perhaps tell me, "That all men will 
 not be saved : that strait is the gate, and narrow 
 is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be 
 that find it : and that though you strive to enter 
 thereat, you shall not be able." 
 
 It is indeed most lamentably true, that there are 
 few that shall be saved. But what has laid the 
 way to Zion desolate ? Stripped it of travellers ? 
 and crowded the road to destruction ? Is this to 
 be ascribed to the decrees of God ? to the limited 
 nature of the atonement? or the want of the 
 opportunities and means of laying hold on the great 
 salvation ? The atonement is of infinite value: and 
 could not have been possessed of greater efficacy 
 and worth, even though it had been designed for 
 the benefit of the whole creation. The calls and 
 invitations of the Gospel are free and indiscrimi- 
 e2 
 
94 
 
 nate, and extend to every rank and class of the 
 children of men. They bring the blessings of re- 
 demption down to the level of the whole human 
 race; and amongst the unknown multitudes of 
 Adam's descendants there is not one excluded from 
 their rich and liberal provisions. And the decrees 
 of God are unknown. And while concealed from 
 human view, can have no more effect than if they 
 had no existence, upon the conduct and character 
 of men. 
 
 But the reason why so few are saved, is because 
 so few seek salvation. The great mass of men live 
 to themselves, and are without God in the world. 
 They either run to the excess of riot, and cast off 
 every restraint of religion and reason : or else de- 
 ceive themselves with the form and shadow of god- 
 liness, while destitute of its power. They care 
 little about their souls, and less about the Divine 
 and adorable Redeemer. If they were in earnest 
 for eternal life, they would betake themselves to 
 the Almighty Immanuel, and never be at rest, till 
 they had evidence that they were interested in the 
 blessings of his purchase. But their ignorance 
 and depravity make them utterly reckless of the 
 consequences of an irreligious life, and of all the 
 wretchedness and horror of a ruined eternity. 
 
 Let me, therefore, entreat you to take heed lest 
 ye also fell after the same example of carelessness 
 and unbelief. Nothing but sin has ruined, or can 
 ruin a soul. In all hell there is not one who was 
 hardened by God's irresistible will, or who was 
 
95 
 
 sent into that place of woe in consequence of a Di- 
 vine decree. The destruction of every sinner and 
 transgressor, is of himself. Jesus was able to save 
 to the utmost. The Spirit of all grace stood ready 
 to guide and assist them in the way of peace. But 
 they would not come to Christ for life. They had 
 loved idols, and after them they persisted in going ; 
 till their feet stumbled on the dark mountains, and 
 the shadows of death closed for ever around them. 
 If you trifle with your souls, and neglect the great 
 atonement, you also shall die in your iniquity. 
 But if you embrace the great salvation, if you 
 apply to the Son of God, you shall never perish, but 
 have everlasting life. The Bible does not more 
 strongly assert that known unto God are all his 
 works from the beginning of the world, than it 
 affirms that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all 
 sin, that God commandeth all men everywhere to 
 repent, and has no desire for the death of a sinner. 
 With the same clearness with which it says, " The 
 wicked shall be turned into hell," it declares, M As 
 I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in 
 the death of the wicked : but that the wicked turn 
 from his way and live : turn ye, turn ye, from your 
 evil ways ; for why will ye die ?" 
 
 Solicitude respecting the subject is an encourag- 
 ing symptom. It shews that you are aware of the 
 importance of the one thing needful, and that you 
 are not sunk into the carnality and security which 
 undo the world of the ungodly. Your great wis- 
 dom is to give your solicitude a salutary direction ; 
 
96 
 
 to take the Bible for your guide; and to repair 
 immediately to the Son of God. Though we dare 
 not say that every degree of religious alarm and 
 anxiety is a thing that accompanies salvation : for 
 many for a time have appeared to be fleeing from 
 the wrath to come, who never have fled for refuge 
 to lay hold on the hope set before them : still it is 
 a favourable and encouraging circumstance, and 
 gives you reason to conclude that you are prisoners 
 of hope, and within the reach of sovereign mercy. 
 For if you had been given over to a reprobate 
 mind; like the unregenerate world, you would 
 have given yourselves no concern about the mat- 
 ter ; but have gone blindly and boldly on, crying 
 peace, peace, when there was no peace. 
 
 Betake yourselves instantly to the Lamb of God. 
 Submit to his righteousness. Cast on him all your 
 burden, and all your care. Believe the testimony 
 he has given ; and you shall find that he will do as 
 he has said. He has not only decreed the end, 
 but also appointed the means ; and since the result 
 of his counsels is unknown, all that you have to 
 do, is to obey what he has commanded. Enjoined 
 to make your calling sure, your business is first 
 to attend to the means of grace, and give all dili- 
 gence to be found of Christ in peace. By adopt- 
 ing this course, you shall advance with safety and 
 comfort. But if you reverse this process; it is 
 probable that you will labour long, and after all 
 acquire a very precarious and uncertain peace. 
 But if you lay hold on the hope set before you ; if 
 
97 
 
 you embrace the Lord Jesus as all your salvation 
 and all your desire; if you commit into his hands 
 the keeping of your souls, and comply with his 
 guidance and direction ; you shall never perish nor 
 come into condemnation, but be saved in the Lord 
 with an everlasting salvation. Conduct such as 
 this bespeaks faith in the Saviour. And he that 
 believeth shall be saved. 
 
 It is from the streams of grace in the heart, that 
 we trace the springs of Divine everlasting love. 
 You cannot ascend the heaven of heavens, nor look 
 within the volume of the Divine decrees. But 
 you can ascertain the state of your hearts, and 
 examine the course of your life and conversation. 
 And as there is a correspondence betwixt the events 
 of time and the purposes of eternity; if you wish 
 to know if God has chosen you, inquire if you 
 have chosen him ? Are you desirous to know if 
 you have been given by the Father to the Son? 
 Pray, have you given yourselves to the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ ? Have you done this sincerely, delib- 
 erately, cheerfully ? Have you joined yourselves 
 to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, and made 
 an unreserved surrender of all that you have and 
 are to his interest and honour ? Do you study to 
 walk so as to please him, and labour to glorify him 
 in your body and spirit, which are his ? If your 
 conscience bear you witness in the Holy Ghost, 
 that this is your daily prayer and labour, then you 
 see your calling and election of God : and if you 
 are not at present blessed with assurance of his 
 
98 
 
 love, persevere in this course of simple trust in the 
 Saviour, and devotedness to his glory ; and sooner 
 or later all your fears, doubts, and darkness shall 
 flee away. " Then shall thy light break forth as 
 the morning, and thy health shall spring forth 
 speedily : and thy righteousness shall go before 
 thee : the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. 
 Then shall ye know if ye follow on to know the 
 Lord. All that the Father giveth me shall come 
 to me." If you come to him, and cleave to him ; 
 you have all the security which an infinite and all- 
 sufficient God can give you for your present safety 
 and everlasting blessedness. " To my sheep I 
 give eternal life ; and they shall never perish, nei- 
 ther shall any pluck them out of my hand. My 
 Father, who gave them me, is greater than all ; 
 and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's 
 hand."* 
 
 * Those desirous of seeing a fuller illustration of the subject 
 of this Chapter, may consult the Author's Dissertation on Elec- 
 tion, pp. 245 — 271. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON DISTRESS, ARISING FROM THE WANT OF 
 HUMILIATION AND SORROW FOR SIN. 
 
 We read in scripture of convictions of sin and 
 emotions of sorrow preceding faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. We hear of many, when first brought 
 to the knowledge of the truth, who have been filled 
 w4th fear and shaken with dread ; who have been 
 laid in darkness and in the lowest deeps, where the 
 wrath of God has gone over them, and where they 
 have trembled lest in his anger he would cut them 
 off. We have heard of some, who have been 
 driven to their wit's end, reduced to the most awful 
 extremity of perplexity and trouble ; who have 
 been made to drink of the cup of the Lord's fury, 
 and undergo all the distractions of despondence, 
 and all the horrors of despair. 
 
 Believing that what is the case with one must 
 be the case with all, and that this agonizing per- 
 turbation and overwhelming sadness, are insepara- 
 ble from the transition from a state of nature to a 
 state of grace ; many christians* because they never 
 
100 
 
 have experienced them, have rashly concluded that 
 their religion is delusion, and all their hopes false 
 and presumptuous. If they had been previously 
 alarmed and agitated ; if God had let loose his 
 hand against them; if he had subjected them to 
 consternation and terror, and made them pass 
 through all the gloom and anguish of spiritual de- 
 pression and melancholy ; they imagine that then 
 they would have had some ground of hope, and 
 some cause for regarding themselves as new crea- 
 tures and heirs of heaven. But when they reflect 
 on the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of sin, 
 on the dishonour which they have done to his 
 blessed name, and the ingratitude which they have 
 shewn to the adorable Redeemer; and after all 
 find that their hearts are cold and lifeless, hard and 
 unfeeling ; they suspect that they are still dead in 
 trespasses and sins. If they were properly affected 
 with a sense of their guilt, they think that their 
 heads would be waters, and their eyes fountains of 
 tears ; and that they would weep day and night 
 for the evils which they have wrought, and the 
 punishment which they have deserved. When, 
 therefore, they discover such a humbling dispropor- 
 tion betwixt their sorrows and their sins; when 
 they can sleep so soundly ; live so securely ; and 
 feel so little grief and compunction for their iniqui- 
 ties : they apprehend that they have no part with 
 the saints, and cannot be reckoned in the number 
 of the mourners in Zion. 
 
 In order to mitigate and remove the pain which 
 
101 
 
 this subject occasions, it will be. necessary to ob- 
 serve, 
 
 I. That no distress that we can feel, can ever 
 equal the number or enormity of our offences. 
 
 Our forgetfulness of God and our disregard for 
 his authority and rights, may well confound us, 
 and compel us to go all our days in the bitterness 
 of our spirits. Those sins which lighted up the 
 flames of hell, which brought our Redeemer to 
 the dust of death, and filled his soul with unutter- 
 able anguish, may justly break our hearts, and 
 cover us with shame and self-abasement. Sins, 
 such as these, will keep thousands of the gay and 
 thoughtless weeping millions of ages hence. And 
 in the mean time they strongly call for our deep- 
 est humiliation and sorrow. 
 
 But after all, our contrition and tears cannot 
 efface the slightest spot of moral pollution. To 
 accomplish this, nothing less than the sacrifice of 
 Immanuel is sufficient. " Without shedding of 
 blood is no remission." But w T hilst his blood is 
 requisite to remove the stain of the smallest, it is 
 able to wash away the guilt of the greatest sin : 
 and as it is to him that you must have recourse at 
 last for the pardon of your least offences, your 
 wisdom and your duty are to go to him at first for 
 the forgiveness of all your transgressions together. 
 
 II. The way to genuine and lasting consolation 
 generally lies through the midst of terror and 
 
102 
 
 alarm ; and a work of the law, of a greater or less 
 extent and of a longer or shorter duration, usually 
 precedes believing views of the Saviour, and a set- 
 tled assurance of an interest in his salvation. 
 
 In every age, the road to Zion has gone through 
 the midst of the thunders and darkness of Sinai. 
 Before we are permitted to lie down in green pas- 
 tures, or feed beside the still waters, we must pass 
 through vallies of Baca and fields of solitude and 
 desolation. For, since the salvation revealed in 
 the Gospel is so utterly opposite to the strongest 
 principles and the dearest pursuits of the carnal 
 mind ; till, by the denunciations of the law and the 
 rigid demands of justice, the sinner is shut com- 
 pletely up unto the faith ; how is it credible, how is 
 it possible, that he will submit to the righteousness 
 of Christ, and count all things but loss for his sake? 
 It is no ordinary political tempest which will drive 
 a proud imperious monarch from his throne ; com- 
 pel him to lay aside the robes of state, the pomp 
 of royalty, and the indulgence of power; and de- 
 scend to all the obscurity and privacy of a humble 
 station. It is no common war of elements which 
 will urge the beasts of prey to quit their native 
 haunts, and seek shelter and protection in the 
 habitations of men. And can we suppose that it 
 is any moderate moral movement, any ordinary 
 convulsion of the mind, that will induce an empty, 
 self-righteous, self-sufficient sinner to renounce all 
 dependence upon his own wisdom and worth ; to 
 abandon his favourite habits and fondest pursuits ; 
 
103 
 
 and, with the feelings and language of a criminal, 
 self-condemned and deserving to perish, to cast 
 himself at the feet of the Saviour, saying, " In the 
 Lord alone have I righteousness and strength ?" 
 Is it a crisis of every day's occurrence, which will 
 constrain him to withdraw his affections from the 
 world and sin, and fix them supremely and in- 
 tensely on God, and heaven, and things divine and 
 eternal ? to cleave to the Saviour with full purpose 
 of heart ? to surrender himself to him entirely, and 
 labour to magnify him in his body and spirit which 
 are his ? 
 
 The power that is able to accomplish all this 
 must be indeed divine : and can we believe that the 
 man, who is the subject of this atonishing trans- 
 formation, can be insensible of its existence, or a 
 cool and passive observer of its progress ? When 
 told that strait is the gate, and narrow is the way 
 that leadeth unto life ; and that they must strive 
 who enter thereat ; when told that the kingdom of 
 heaven suffereth violence, and that the violent take 
 it by force ; can we imagine that a man can uncon- 
 sciously make a forcible entrance by the narrow 
 gate ; or carry, without a contest, the kingdom of 
 heaven by storm ? 
 
 In every other instance where human happiness 
 is at stake, no great nor permanent advantage can 
 be secured, without being previously desired and 
 vigorously pursued ; and does a different law pre- 
 vail in the regions of religion ? It is only by well- 
 concerted, earnest, toilsome application, that the 
 
104 
 
 evils of poverty, ignorance, and vice can be avoided, 
 and the blessings of wealth, learning, and virtue 
 can be obtained. And is the mightiest acquisi- 
 tion, that ever was submitted to the ambition of 
 mortals ; the acquisition, which demands and de- 
 serves the utmost exercise of resolute persevering 
 energy ; the acquisition which, from slaves of Sa- 
 tan, converts us into sons of God; which, from 
 the ranks of rebellion, and from being victims of 
 divine vengeance, transfers us to the protection of 
 the Almighty, and places us in the possession of 
 all the fruits of his friendship ; which, from being 
 inheritors of hell and doomed to all the wretched- 
 ness of never-ending ruin, makes us heirs of heaven, 
 and entails an eternity of blessedness and glory : 
 can this acquisition be reached without design, or 
 secured without a firm and determined effort ? In 
 other cases, where difficulties beset our path, and 
 rivals retard, or enemies oppose our progress ; it 
 is only by repeated and sustained exertions that we 
 can get forward, and we are perfectly aware of 
 every step that we take and of every advancement 
 that we gain. But in the conversion of the soul, 
 w T here the obstacles are the most numerous and 
 formidable, where our foes are the most cunning 
 and malignant, and where our aversion to encoun- 
 ter them is the most strong and obstinate; is it 
 possible that we can surmount the whole without 
 a struggle, and stand out at last in all the safety 
 of success, and in all the elevation of victory, with- 
 out once discovering the perils with which we were 
 
105 
 
 surrounded, or the toils and conflicts in which we 
 were engaged ? 
 
 Though the case is different with the elect who 
 are called in infancy ; we may in general affirm of 
 every adult, who is brought to the saving know- 
 ledge of the truth, that, in passing from death 
 unto life, he will undergo an exercise of mind, and 
 experience a set of feelings and emotions, which 
 he cannot overlook, and which he can no more 
 be able to forget, than his escape from the paw of 
 a bear, or his deliverance from a conflagration. 
 
 This view of the subject is confirmed by the re- 
 presentations of Scripture. We are there told that 
 the law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ; 
 that we must pass under the rod before we can be 
 brought within the bond of the covenant; and that 
 we must be subjected to the spirit of bondage, be- 
 fore we can be blessed with the Spirit of adoption. 
 Christ tells us that he came to seek and to save 
 that which was lost; not to call the righteous, but 
 sinners to repentance. And though the calls and 
 invitations of the Gospel are addressed indiscrimi- 
 nately to all, and none who apply are excluded 
 from their rich and invaluable provisions; still, 
 from the manner in which they are expressed, it is 
 evident that none will accept them but those who 
 are convinced of their guilt and wretchedness, and 
 have a strong and penetrating sense of their own 
 absolute need of an interest in the righteousness 
 of the Redeemer. It is thus that we are informed 
 that they who are whole need not a physician, but 
 
106 
 
 they who are sick. It is thus that we are assured 
 that Jesus was anointed to preach good tidings 
 unto the meek ; that he was sent to bind up the 
 broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, 
 and the opening of the prison to them that are 
 bound. It is thus that we observe him directing 
 the most precious messages of his grace to those 
 that are athirst, and to the labouring and heavy 
 laden. It is thus that we hear him pronouncing 
 blessings upon the poor in spirit, and upon them 
 that mourn ; and that we find him filling the hun- 
 gry with good things, and sending the rich empty 
 away. 
 
 From this and similar language, what other 
 inference can we draw, than that, though no pre- 
 paratory exercise of ours can either recommend us 
 to the Saviour or augment the value of his infinite 
 and all-sufficient righteousness ; he must be endear- 
 ed to our hearts by a work of the law before we 
 will embrace him as all our salvation and all our 
 desire ; and that we must be convinced of our deep 
 depravity and utter helplessness, be stripped of all 
 our vain and self-righteous pleas, and driven from 
 every refuge of lies, before we can know the value 
 of his salvation, and be willing to remain eternal 
 debtors to free, rich, sovereign mercy for all our 
 happiness and hopes ? 
 
 'With whatever ridicule and scorn some may 
 treat the contrition, the self-abasement, the alarm, 
 and the fear of an awakened soul, as savouring of 
 Mount Sinai, and utterly inconsistent with the 
 
107 
 
 liberal and gracious spirit of the Gospel ; the fact 
 is, that many who, both by themselves and the 
 world, are regarded as very good christians, arrive 
 at their peace and comfort far too soon. They no 
 sooner hear of the necessity of redemption through 
 the blood of Christ ; than without embracing the 
 offers of the atonement, they imagine that they are 
 redeemed by his blood. They no sooner hear of 
 the blessedness of those who are delivered out of 
 spiritual darkness ; than without taking one step 
 to escape from the territories of Satan, they fancy 
 that they are translated into Christ's marvellous 
 light. They no sooner admit the necessity of run- 
 ning the christian race, and of fighting the good 
 fight of faith ; than without advancing an inch, or 
 striking a blow, they suppose that they have finished 
 their course and are entitled to the prize. With- 
 out quitting the dominions of the prince of dark- 
 ness, or undergoing that renovation of nature, 
 which every individual must experience before he 
 can enter the kingdom of heaven ; because they 
 have acquired a knowledge of the doctrines, or 
 assumed a profession of the truths of Christianity, 
 they appropriate to themselves the promises and 
 privileges peculiar to the sons of God. Instead of 
 rasing the crazy and rotten foundation, they pro- 
 ceed to rear the walls of the new superstructure 
 upon the ruins of the former. Instead of putting 
 off the old man with his deeds, they endeavour to 
 put on the new man above it: and instead of laying 
 aside every weight, and the sin which most easily 
 
108 
 
 besets them, and renouncing all for the excellency 
 of the knowledge of Christ Jesus ; they strive to 
 retain their vices and corruptions, and to carry 
 the whole along with them to heaven, and to plant 
 them amidst the purity and bliss of paradise. 
 
 And what are the consequences of this prepos- 
 terous and criminal conduct? Mistaking the sha- 
 dow for the substance, the poor infatuated crea- 
 tures believe that all is safe, and raise the lulling 
 cry of Peace, peace, when they are in the gall of 
 bitterness and bond of iniquity. If their previous 
 state was bad, their succeeding condition fre- 
 quently becomes worse. Having adopted a form 
 of godliness, they flatter themselves that they have 
 also secured its power : and every attempt to unde- 
 ceive them, only excites their indignation and 
 makes them cleave more tenaciously to their ruin- 
 ous delusion. 
 
 If it is dangerous to have goods in your posses- 
 sion for which you cannot account ; that religion is 
 exceedingly suspicious, whose origin and progress 
 you are unable to trace and explain. 
 
 Whilst, however, we are thus obliged to affirm 
 that some distress of mind, some affliction of soul, 
 some work of the law, in the case of every adult, 
 must precede a cordial reception of the Gospel ; 
 we must on the other hand affirm, 
 
 III. That there is no particular measure pre- 
 scribed in Scripture, either for the degree or the 
 duration of legal distress and terror. 
 
109 
 
 Throughout all the works of God amidst a jjeu- 
 eral resemblance, an endless variety reigns amongst 
 the inclividuals of the same species. Though all 
 are fair and odoriferous, the form and fragrance 
 of one rose are distinct from those of another : and 
 though every star is brilliant, one star differs from 
 another star in glory. Nor is there a less admir- 
 able diversity in the mode of his operating, than 
 in the results which he accomplishes. He formed 
 the light in an instant, but the bodies of Adam and 
 Eve in succession and slowly. In a moment and 
 by the word of his power, Jesus restored Lazarus 
 to life : but in opening the eyes of the blind, he 
 again and again employed external applications, 
 and spent a portion of time in performing the cure. 
 The new creation is the work of the same ever- 
 blessed Author, and displays similar signatures of 
 manifold wisdom and almighty power. The effects 
 of regeneration are always in substance the same : 
 but still there is no absolute uniformity either in 
 them, or in the process by which they are pro- 
 duced. The standard, after which the christian 
 character is formed, is perfect, fixed, and perma- 
 nent. This is the unchangeable image of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ But whilst in their leading 
 and discriminating features, believers possess a 
 strong and striking similarity to their adorable 
 Master ; and from their likeness to him bear a vis- 
 ible resemblance to each other, still we can discern 
 a manifest diversity among them : and on compar- 
 ing their experience together, they frequently dis- 
 
110 
 
 cover a great variety, both in the amount of their 
 spiritual attainments, and in the manner in which 
 they were brought to the knowledge and enjoyment 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 Some have undergone deep distress. They have 
 suffered the terrors of the Lord, and been distract- 
 ed. He has met them as an armed man, and rent 
 their hearts asunder. He has rushed upon them 
 as the wide breaking in of waters, and covered 
 them with all his waves. The sorrows of death 
 have compassed them, and the pains of hell have 
 gotten hold upon them : they have found trouble 
 and sorrow. And from the scenes of suffering and 
 anguish through which they have passed, they 
 could almost as easily ascertain their gracious rela- 
 tion to God, as from the state of liberty and rest 
 into which they have been introduced. Others 
 have endured little spiritual trouble. Their pas- 
 sage from darkness to light has been so free from 
 perturbation and terror, that they have been un- 
 able to tell either the time or the manner in which 
 they were effectually called by grace. They per- 
 haps have been sanctified from their infancy : or 
 such a rich blessing has accompanied their early 
 religious education, that they have been gradually 
 and gently carried through the different stages of 
 conversion, and savingly united to Christ, before 
 they were sensible of the momentous fact. Such 
 seems to have been the case with Jeremiah, the 
 Baptist, and Timothy. 
 
 The duration, likewise, of this mental trouble, 
 
Ill 
 
 is as different as its degrees. Paul was blind three 
 days : and during that period was probably subject- 
 ed to a severe internal conflict. But Lydia appears 
 no sooner to have heard the word, than to have 
 had her heart opened, and to have been blessed 
 with peace and joy in believing. Whilst some for 
 years have groaned under the spirit of bondage ; 
 the jailor and the hearers of Peter, by a single ser- 
 mon, were convinced of guilt, filled with grief and 
 fe&r for their transgressions, and enabled to receive 
 the word with gladness, and to rejoice in the Lord. 
 Whilst Heman was afflicted and ready to die from 
 his youth up; on the same day that grace first 
 took possession of his heart, the soul of the peni- 
 tent thief was admitted into paradise. 
 
 Since, therefore, there is such a diversity both 
 in the depth and in the duration of religious dis- 
 tress ; instead of afflicting yourselves about any 
 deficiency in your convictions and contrition, your 
 wisdom is to secure the great object which they 
 are intended to produce, submission to the righte- 
 ousness of Christ. This duty is rendered the more 
 indispensable from the following facts. Hypocrites 
 have frequently counterfeited religious alarm and 
 dejection. And whilst some of the people of God 
 have experienced little gloom or despondence; 
 many of the unregenerate, at the very time that 
 they were in the gall of bitterness and bond of 
 iniquity, from the accusations of conscience or the 
 judgments of the Lord, without attempting to im- 
 itate them, and even in spite of all their efforts to 
 
112 
 
 suppress them; have been compelled to sustain the 
 most distracting and overwhelming remorse and 
 horror. Such was the case with Cain ; with Saul; 
 with Judas ; and with that generation of vipers, 
 who, under the ministry of the Baptist, seemed to 
 be fleeing from the wrath to come. 
 
 Finding, therefore, that some who are strangers 
 to the grace of God have felt a great amount of 
 dread and sorrow, and that many of his children 
 have been comparatively free from perplexity and 
 terror ; we are obliged to conclude that our reli- 
 gious condition must be determined by something 
 more substantial and solid than the intensity or 
 continuance of our convictions and fears : some- 
 thing which no unregenerate man ever felt, and 
 which no hypocrite can counterfeit. 
 
 Besides, it deserves to be remembered, that, 
 though none will submit to the righteousness of 
 Christ till driven out of their own refuge of lies, 
 the painful and long-continued distress which 
 several have undergone, has arisen from some pecu- 
 liarity in their own situation and character. Some 
 have been pre-eminent in iniquity : and God, in 
 his holy sovereignty, is pleased to make them feel 
 what an evil and bitter thing it is, by giving them 
 some drops of that cup of wrath, which in the days 
 of their rebellion they had been madly employed 
 in mingling. And others perhaps are subjected 
 to extraordinary solicitude and suffering, because 
 he intends afterwards to fill them with extraordi- 
 nary consolation ; or to qualify them for uncommon 
 
 
 , 
 
113 
 
 usefulness ; by fitting them to counsel, encourage, 
 and comfort others in similar trouble, with the 
 consolations wherewith they themselves have been 
 comforted of God. 
 
 If your grief has not been so pungent and op- 
 pressive as that of others ; after all, it may be as 
 sincere and sanctifying. It may have as effectually 
 emptied you of your self-righteousness and pride, 
 and conducted you with the same humble faith 
 and lively gratitude to the Divine and adorable 
 Redeemer. The sorrows, which in their case were 
 concentrated within a few weeks or days, in yours 
 may be spread over the whole extent of your pil- 
 grimage. A small spring, in the lapse of time, will 
 discharge more water, than the largest reservoir in 
 the course of a single day. And the man, whose 
 whole life is one unbroken humble tender walk with 
 God; in his period of threescore and ten, may 
 experience as much genuine contrition and self- 
 abasement, as his brother, whose griefs and fears 
 were more violent and intolerable, but confined to 
 the commencement of his religious career. 
 
 In Scripture, accordingly, many exhortations 
 are given to examine ourselves by the principles 
 which we entertain, and by the habits which we 
 have formed : but in vain shall we search all that 
 sacred volume for a single injunction to inquire by 
 what process our spiritual views and religious prac- 
 tices were adopted. The tree is known, not by 
 the time or manner in which it was planted or cul- 
 tivated, but by its fruits. And our state before 
 
114 
 
 God is to be determined, not by our former feel- 
 ings and emotions, but by our present conduct and 
 dispositions. The most tremendous threatenings 
 are denounced against those who lay claim to the 
 privileges of Christians, while destitute of the works 
 of faith and the labours of love. But the voice of 
 terror is never lifted up against any, who, by the 
 purity of their faith and the ardour of their piety, 
 give decisive evidence of the reality of their religion, 
 merely because they have acquired it too easily 
 or too speedily, and have not travelled through a 
 sufficient length or depth of preparatory dark- 
 ness and distress. Their works are regarded as suffi- 
 cient evidences of their faith ; but no strength of 
 confidence, nor any degree of alarm and sorrow, 
 can ever supersede the necessity of trying our faith 
 by its effects. 
 
 If therefore your faith has purified your heart, 
 and is working by love ; reject not the rich con- 
 solations which the Gospel sets before you, because 
 you have not been compelled to bear the same long 
 and exhausting sorrows which others have endur- 
 ed. Dare you limit the Holy One of Israel ? Can 
 you tell how quickly and how easily, that God, 
 who in the beginning spake and it was done, who 
 commanded and all things stood fast; and who, in 
 a moment and in the twinkling of an eye, shall 
 raise the dead and change the bodies of the living 
 saints into the likeness of the glorious body of our 
 Lord : can you tell how quickly and easily he is 
 able to form your souls anew, and translate you 
 
115 
 
 from the guilt and condemnation of nature, into 
 the peace, the purity, the liberty, and the enjoy- 
 ments of grace ? 
 
 Having thus seen that the Scriptures prescribe 
 no measure for either the degree or duration of 
 spiritual trouble, and that it is fallacious to attempt 
 to judge of our religious state by our preparatory 
 distress and fear ; it must be observed that these 
 remarks are confirmed by remembering 
 
 IV. That the great design of these convictions 
 and alarms is to unite the soul to Jesus ; and to lead 
 it to rely, for acceptance in the sight of God, sim- 
 ply on his righteousness. 
 
 It is in union with him that all our safety lies. 
 " He that hath the Son hath life." However 
 speedily and with whatever ease this union is 
 attained, the salvation of him who enjoys it is secur- 
 ed. He shall never perish nor come into condem- 
 nation, but shall have everlasting life. But with- 
 out this union, no terrors nor convictions, however 
 penetrating and lasting, can ever advance us one 
 inch on the road to heaven. " He that hath not 
 the Son of God hath not life." The wrath of God 
 abideth on him. And since we cannot be saved by 
 our humiliation and contrition, it is manifest that 
 the value of these depends, not upon their inten- 
 sity and duration, but upon their nature and ten- 
 dency. The most humble and broken-hearted 
 penitent that ever entered the world of glory, never 
 had any more compunction and contrition, than 
 
116 
 
 what convinced him of his total depravity and 
 worthlessness ; imbittered sin to his soul and filled 
 him with shame and self-abhorrence for the abomi- 
 nations of his heart and the evils of his life ; dis- 
 covered his utter helplessness and absolute ruin ; 
 drove him out of every refuge of lies and shut him 
 up unto the faith ; brought him to the Saviour and 
 led him cordially thankfully to embrace the pro- 
 visions of his free and gracious salvation ; and 
 inspired him with love to the Redeemer and devot- 
 edness to his interest and honour. And while no 
 penitent ever had more humiliation and compunc- 
 tion than this; no saint ever gained admission into 
 the climes of bliss, who was possessed of less. 
 
 Instead therefore of perplexing and vexing your- 
 selves about the amount or continuance of your 
 previous alarm and trouble, your wisdom is to in- 
 quire into the effects which they have produced. 
 What are the present leading and predominant de- 
 sires of your souls ? Have your concern and fear 
 made you repent and abhor yourselves in dust and 
 ashes? Have they constrained you to regard your- 
 selves as the chief of sinners, and utterly unworthy 
 to lift up your eyes to the habitation of the Divine 
 glory? Have they forced you to ask what you 
 must do to be saved, and led you to embrace Jesus 
 as all your salvation and all your desire ? Have 
 they endeared him to your souls, and made you 
 account all things but loss for his sake ? Do you 
 rely on him for righteousness and strength, and 
 cleave to him with full purpose of heart ? Is sin 
 
117 
 
 your burden and aversion ? Do you shun all ap- 
 pearance of evil, and hate every wicked and false 
 way ? Are you crucifying the flesh with all its 
 affections, and longing to be completely delivered 
 from the body of sin and death ? Do you esteem 
 the commandments of God concerning all tilings 
 to be right, and study at all times to walk so as to 
 please him ? Have you consecrated to him your 
 time and your talents, and are you labouring to 
 glorify him in your body and spirit which are his ? 
 Do you delight in his ordinances, and prefer his 
 favour to your chief joy ? Can you appeal to him- 
 self; and, in sincerity say, "Whom have I in 
 heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that 
 I desire besides thee ?" 
 
 If your consciences bear you witness in the Holy 
 Ghost, that this is your state : then, notwithstand- 
 ing all your doubts and fears respecting your want 
 of brokenness of heart and humiliation of soul, 
 this is a proof that you have passed from death unto 
 life, and are made partakers of the good word of 
 God and of the powers of the world to come. A 
 larger measure of sorrow and self-abasement than 
 this, none of the children of God ever carried along 
 with them into the regions of endless light. And 
 if you are possessed of this, you are in a state of 
 grace : and a station there is next step to the king- 
 dom of glory. 
 
 But if your compunction and contrition have 
 not produced the effects which have just now been 
 described, you are still without God and without 
 f2 
 
118 
 
 hope. If you have not renounced all reliance on 
 your own righteousness, and abandoned the love 
 of every sin ; if you are not resting on the righte- 
 ousness of Christ for the acceptance of your per- 
 sons, and living to the praise of his name : though 
 you should have experienced all the remorse of 
 Judas and all the horrors of hell, you have no part 
 in the salvation of the Gospel. Whatever grief or 
 fear he feels or affects for his past delinquencies, 
 can you persuade me that that miscreant has 
 become honest; who, at the very moment that he is 
 imploring my forgiveness for a former depredation, 
 has again gotten his hand into my pocket, and laid 
 hold of my watch or my purse? The labours and 
 sufferings of Paul for the name of Jesus, demon- 
 strated the soundness of his conversion. But if, 
 after appearing in the congregation at Damascus ; 
 if, after rehearsing the marvellous events that had 
 occurred on his journey, and assuring the brethren 
 that he was become a disciple : who could have 
 believed a word of his tale ; if after all this he had 
 gone to the rulers of the synagogue, produced the 
 letters of the high priest and elders ; and, taking 
 advantage of his presence in the assembly of the 
 faithful, had tendered a list of the names of those 
 whom he had witnessed there, that they might be 
 dragged to prison and to death ? And when we 
 know that in religion the Lord Jesus Christ is all 
 in all, and that every man who has any religion 
 whatever, relies upon him simply for righteousness 
 and strength, yields himself to him entirely and 
 
119 
 
 lives to him alone: how can we believe in the 
 soundness of your convictions, or the salutary 
 nature of your fears and sorrows, if they have left 
 you under the influence of any corrupt principle, 
 or strangers to the purifying and transforming 
 power of the grace of the Redeemer? They have 
 missed the grand object and only profitable end of 
 religious solicitude and trouble, which are union 
 to Christ, and submission to the Gospel scheme of 
 salvation. 
 
 But if you have fled for refuge to lay hold on 
 the hope set before you ; if you are renewed in the 
 spirit of your mind, and cleaving to Jesus with full 
 purpose of heart : then, in whatever manner you 
 may have been brought into this blessed state; 
 whether it was suddenly or slowly, whether it was 
 with deep and long-continued distress or with little 
 uneasiness and trouble ; still the state itself is on a 
 level far above the reach of nature, and such as 
 nothing less than the agency of the Holy Ghost 
 can produce. And when thus possessed of the seal 
 of the Eternal Spirit, why should you harass your- 
 selves, because you are unable to ascertain the date, 
 or describe the mode of his gracious operations ? 
 Shew me a tree, clothed with foliage and bending 
 beneath its load of grateful fruit : and though ig- 
 norant of the time when it was planted and of the 
 manner in which it was cultivated, I can be at no 
 loss to pronounce upon its healthy and thriving 
 state. And show me a man who loves the Saviour 
 with his whole heart, who is labouring to per fee: 
 
120 
 
 holiness in the fear of God, "who is abounding in 
 the fruits of righteousness, and who is grieved and 
 humbled because he feels so little of the power of 
 religion and enjoys so few of the consolations of the 
 Gospel : and, in whatever way he may have acquir- 
 ed these desires and views, whether it was with ease 
 or difficulty ; whether he was carried past the gates 
 of heaven, or through the suburbs of hell ; I can 
 then show you a man who is called and chosen of 
 God, a man who is born from above, and placed 
 within the bond of the everlasting covenant. He 
 has reached the city of refuge. He is fixed on the 
 rock of ages. He is lodged within the tower of 
 salvation. Humiliation and contrition have in his 
 case gained their blessed and glorious object. They 
 have driven him from the levity, recklessness, and 
 self-righteousness of a natural condition, to the 
 seriousness, the though tfulness, the faith, the love, 
 the dependence and obedience which the Gospel 
 enjoins and grace inspires. 
 
 If this is your situation, all is well. The guar- 
 dians of corporate rights ; however w r ell qualified 
 for the station that you occupy, or the office that 
 you fill ; w r ill scowl on you as an intruder, and 
 unceremoniously thrust you out, if you have not ap- 
 proached it along the chartered avenue, and through 
 the medium of legal forms and observances. But 
 the God of heaven never sacrifices the substance to 
 the form. The grand design and ultimate use of 
 alarm and terror are to shut us up unto the faith, 
 and constrain us to embrace the provisions of his 
 
121 
 
 mercy. It is in union with Jesus that our salvation 
 consists. And whenever this union is obtained, 
 and by whatever means it may be secured, our 
 eternity is safe. 
 
 So far from rejecting you because you have not 
 been sufficiently humbled and afflicted for your sins, 
 it must be added, 
 
 V. That no soul can ever apply too soon nor too 
 confidently to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. 
 
 In an alarming malady no patient can ever send 
 too early for a physician. Indeed, till once he is 
 aware of his situation, he will entertain no desire 
 for medical advice. But the pain and languor in- 
 duced by his complaint contribute nothing to the 
 restoration of his health, nor to the efficacy of the 
 practitioner's prescriptions. The ravages of dis- 
 ease spread more widely through his frame, and 
 increase his sufferings and dangers with every mo- 
 ment's delay: and convince him at last, that it 
 would have been well for him if he had called for 
 the physician at first. 
 
 We never can repair too soon, nor submit too 
 absolutely to the adorable Redeemer. He is the 
 way, the truth, and the life. He is the end of the 
 law for righteousness unto every one that believeth : 
 neither is there salvation in any other. Our ac- 
 ceptance with God does not, in the slightest degree, 
 depend upon the depth of our humiliation, the 
 pungency of our sorrow, nor the duration of our 
 agitation, solicitude, and terror. The convictions 
 
122 
 
 of sin, the remorse of conscience, and the most dis- 
 tressing preparatory exercises through which any 
 are called to pass, are necessary merely to shew us 
 our need of Christ, and render us willing to rest 
 upon his atonement* They rouse our drowsy 
 powers to consideration, and break the wayward- 
 ness and stubbornness of our spirits. They strip us 
 of the pride, the vanity, the carnality, and self-right- 
 eousness natural to our minds ; that, when thus 
 emptied of all that would repel his grace and oppose 
 the humbling and holy tendency of the gospel, he 
 may become precious to our hearts, and we may 
 cleave to him as all our salvation and all our desire. 
 But they form no part of our redemption. They 
 establish no claim to the Divine favour. They can- 
 not awaken the attention, nor attract the sympathy 
 of the Redeemer. They cannot recommend us to 
 his notice, nor enable him to save us with greater 
 facility or speed. He can save us at any time and 
 in any circumstances. Whether we are young or 
 old, newly aw r akened or have been long depressed 
 with the spirit of fear; if we will only receive him, 
 he can instantly and completely save us. His 
 pow r er is almighty, and his blood cleanseth from 
 all sin. His own language is, u Look unto me, 
 and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth : come 
 unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest: if any man thirst, let 
 him come to me and drink." 
 
 And do you ask when are you to look to him ? 
 to believe on him, and to go to him ? Tell me, 
 
123 
 
 When is the wicked to forsake his way, and the 
 unrighteous man his thoughts? When is the 
 patient to apply for a cure ? or the inmate to quit 
 his blazing crumbling tenement ? And then I will 
 tell you when you are to flee from the wrath to 
 come, to go to the adorable Redeemer, and accept 
 his all-sufficient salvation. Is it after you have 
 toiled for years at the task of humiliation and self- 
 denial ? after you have walked a certain round of 
 preparatory duties, and acquired a certain amount 
 of religious attainments and qualifications ? after 
 you have melted your hearts into a desirable state 
 of penitence, or steeped them for a becoming time 
 in the sorrows of self-abasement and contrition ? 
 No : you are to go to him immediately, you are to 
 believe on him this day, this hour, this instant. 
 He himself says, " To-day if ye will hear my voice, 
 harden not your hearts; turn ye to your strong-hold, 
 ye prisoners of hope, for even to-day do I declare 
 unto you, I will render double for all your sins." 
 Can the ignorant ever obtain knowledge too rapidly? 
 Can the transgressor ever cease too hastily to do 
 evil, or learn too soon to do well ? Can our frac- 
 tured bones be reduced too speedily? Can the 
 shipwrecked mariner be rescued too expeditiously 
 from the horrors of the devouring deep ? And 
 can you ever be delivered too quickly from what 
 constitutes the disgrace, the plague, and ruin of 
 your souls ; or be translated with too great de- 
 spatch into the health-inspiring and bliss-creating 
 liberty of the sons of God. 
 
124 
 
 If salvation is what you really want ; if you are 
 ashamed and confounded for the iniquities which 
 you have wrought ; and astonished and abashed for 
 the remaining insensibility of your spirits and hard- 
 ness of your hearts ; go to Jesus directly and sub- 
 mit to him now. You are not allowed a moment's 
 delay. No man has a warrant for one instant to 
 indulge in pride, envy, malice, covetousness, or 
 murder. And what right have you, for a single 
 second, to keep back your hearts from God, to trifle 
 with the great salvation, and refuse the blood- 
 bought atonement of the cross ? While you 
 are hesitating eternity is rushing on : and what 
 will become of your immortal spirits, if the 
 gates of bliss are closed while you are standing 
 in the porch of preparation, and have not stepped 
 in to reconciliation with God and union with his 
 Son ? 
 
 The shortest indecision may undo you for ever. 
 Christ invites you now ; and has pledged his word 
 for the immediate acceptance of all who have 
 recourse to his mercy. Time cannot increase his 
 truth, nor give any addition to his tenderness. 
 Your authority for believing on him is as great as 
 it can be on your dying day : and salvation, with 
 all its blessings, is just as free and attainable now, 
 as you can suppose it to be even then. Could you 
 live for ages, and spend every intervening hour in 
 tears, lamentations, and prayers; after all, you 
 could not then be more welcome to his arms, than 
 you are at this moment. Even then, if saved at 
 
125 
 
 all, you must be saved by grace : and he is able 
 and willing to save you by grace this day. 
 
 Be persuaded then to go to him instantly, and 
 to believe on him immediately. Can you ever be 
 too soon safe and happy ? Can you ever be too 
 soon reconciled unto God, and accepted in the 
 Beloved ? 
 
 Are you afraid that you shall obtain salvation 
 with too great facility ? Does it diminish the va- 
 lue of health, of liberty, of learning, or of fortune; 
 that they have been acquired with little fatigue and 
 trouble, with little suffering and solicitude ? And 
 can it lower the riches of redeeming mercy or the 
 worth of eternal glory, that these immense and in- 
 estimable blessings have been gained with too great 
 readiness and ease ? 
 
 Salvation is the gift of grace. Could you wait 
 in trembling anxiety and painful expectation till 
 the blast of the last trumpet; if even then you 
 would receive it, you must receive it as a free gift. 
 As such it is proposed to you now. The God of 
 truth this day declares, Whosoever w T ill, let him 
 take of the water of life freely. Amidst the con- 
 vulsions and the crash of a dissolving universe, 
 Omnipotence cannot render the gift of salva- 
 tion more gratuitous than it is at this passing 
 moment. 
 
 If therefore you desire to be saved in the Lord 
 with an everlasting salvation, take encouragement, 
 and come to him instantly. Wait for no additional 
 preparation. 
 
126 
 
 " Come needy, come guilty, 
 
 Come loathsome and bare : 
 You can't come too filthy, 
 Come just as you are." 
 
 It is a blessed thing to be humble and broken- 
 hearted: but it is unspeakably dangerous to rely on 
 our humility and contrition. Take care lest, by 
 rejecting the free and gracious offers of the gospel, 
 on the ground that you are not sufficiently affected 
 with a sense of your sins ; you make an idol of 
 your convictions and sorrows, and either place 
 them beside the righteousness of Christ, or sub- 
 stitute them in its room. The heart is deceitful, 
 and ever ready to introduce some ground of self- 
 dependence. Many long for greater humiliation, 
 not to make them more sensible of their need of 
 Christ, but to entitle them to his favour, and to 
 render them less indebted to his mercy. Main- 
 tain a vigilant watch against this alluring, but 
 ruinous delusion. For if you neglect the Saviour 
 and lose an interest in his salvation ; what does it 
 signify whether this is the consequence of a love 
 of iniquity, or of a legal and preposterous search 
 after better qualifications to recommend you to the 
 acceptance of that Saviour, who tells us that he 
 came not to call the righteous, but sinners to re- 
 pentance ? 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON DISTRESS, ARISING FROM THE WEAKNESS 
 OR WANT OF FAITH. 
 
 Faith enters so essentially into the substance of 
 religion, that without it we cannot be christians at 
 all. It is from the habitual use that he is required 
 to make of this principle, that the christian re- 
 ceives the name of a believer, or a man of faith. 
 He walks by faith ; he lives by faith ; he works 
 by faith ; he prays in faith ; he suffers in faith ; and, 
 when the solemn day of his departure from time to 
 eternity arrives, he dies in faith. 
 
 Nothing contributes so much to the happiness 
 and holiness of the christian as a strong and lively 
 faith ; and nothing is more painful and discour- 
 aging than its feebleness and languor. Many of 
 the children of God spend their days in sighing 
 and their years in grief, from an apprehension 
 that their faith is too weak to be genuine, and 
 mixed with too much timidity and doubt to be 
 either salutary or acceptable. They read of others 
 who have been strong in faith ; who have been able 
 to hope against hope ; and to declare, even amidst 
 the most alarming and desolating dispensations, 
 that though God should slay them yet they would 
 
128 
 
 trust in him. But the least trial is sufficient to 
 shake their fortitude and blast their joys. A dis- 
 appointment in their worldly prospects, or a slight 
 distress in their families or amongst their friends, 
 disconcerts and embarrasses them. The continuance 
 of a temptation, the withholding of an answer to 
 their prayers, the want of expected and implored 
 communion with God, the loss of a relative, or 
 the apparent approach of their own dissolution, 
 covers their countenance with sadness, and fills 
 their hearts with consternation and terror. They 
 imagine that this would not be the case if they were 
 rooted and grounded in the truth. They suppose 
 that if they were possessed of a proper degree of 
 faith in the Son of man, it would expel every slav- 
 ish and distressing fear ; that it would keep them in 
 perfect peace ; that it w T ould make them strong in 
 the Lord and in the power of his might ; and in- 
 spire them with constant serenity and heart-ele- 
 vating joy. 
 
 In endeavouring to minister to the encourage- 
 ment and comfort of persons who are labouring 
 under this distress, it is necessary to observe; 
 that, though it is the duty of every christian to 
 grow in grace, and to be strong in faith ; the 
 weakness, or supposed want of faith, is no conclu- 
 sive proof of its absence; and complaints and fears 
 on the subject, so far from being an unfavourable 
 symptom, are in fact a token for good. The ruin 
 of most men is, that they feel no solicitude about 
 the matter. Without the slightest inquiry into 
 
129 
 
 the origin or nature of their religion, they take it 
 for granted that their faith must be real, because 
 they entertain no doubt of the truth of Christianity 
 in general ; and fancy that their state must be safe, 
 because they are free from all apprehension about 
 its issue. In spite of every remonstrance to exa- 
 mine and prove themselves, they go on with the 
 lulling and fallacious cry of Peace, peace ; at the 
 very time when every thing in their spirit and 
 practice gives sad reason to suspect that they 
 are under sentence of condemnation, and far from 
 God and hope. 
 
 Complaints, therefore, of the weakness or want 
 of faith, are pleasing and encouraging circumstan- 
 ces. They prove that the man is concerned about 
 the one thing needful, and indicate that he is pos- 
 sessed of some good thing towards the Lord God 
 of Israel. I do not blame my friend for the want 
 of attachment, who is daily affording me indubit- 
 able proofs of his affection, and after all is deeply 
 sorry that he cannot give me more substantial 
 marks of his regard. It is that man's friendship 
 which I question, who has the opportunity and 
 means of effectually serving me, but who treats my 
 wishes and interests with cold neglect. And I have 
 no fear of the faith and the religious affection of 
 the man, whatever depression he may feel, who is 
 uniformly and earnestly labouring to walk before 
 God with a humble and perfect heart, and to 
 abound in all the fruits of righteousness. But I 
 tremble for that man's situation, who is full of 
 
 
130 
 
 hope, whilst his temper and conduct are betraying 
 a sad inconsistency with the principles of genuine 
 godliness, and who discovers no contrition for the 
 evils he has done, nor any steady determined effort 
 to avoid them. 
 
 When a man is grieved on account of the strength 
 of his fears and the weakness of his faith ; when he 
 is ashamed and confounded because he cannot rely 
 more firmly on the word of God, nor bear his 
 trials with greater fortitude and patience, nor de- 
 light in the Lord more fully, nor serve him with 
 greater cheerfulness and vigour : in all these cases 
 we have reason to regard his complaints as things 
 that accompany salvation. 
 
 In order to provide for the consolation and estab- 
 lishment of persons in these circumstances, we 
 shall shew, 
 
 I. That many involve themselves in perplexity 
 and trouble, from mistaking the nature of faith 
 and the foundation of religious comfort. 
 
 II. That faith, though weak, may be real and 
 saving. We shall then, 
 
 III. Give some directions to those who are weak 
 in faith. 
 
 I. Many involve themselves in perplexity and 
 trouble, from mistaking the nature of faith and 
 the proper foundation of religious comfort. 
 
 Whatever definition may be given of faith : 
 whether it is said to be a belief of the truth, or a 
 
 ^ . 
 
131 
 
 trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the 
 acceptance of our persons with God; we find that 
 it is a grace which is uniformly, supremely, im- 
 mutably exercised upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 To a believer Christ is all in all. To him Christ 
 is wisdom, righteousness, and strength. Jesus is 
 the foundation of his hope, and the source of his 
 joys. Without him the Christian is nothing, can 
 do nothing, and possesses nothing. But in Christ 
 he is complete. With him he is safe and happy ; 
 he has all and abounds. By the illustrious men 
 who composed the Catechism of our National 
 Church, faith has been most justly declared to be 
 " a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon 
 Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to us 
 in the Gospel." The man who, despairing of jus- 
 tification through any exertions of his own, is led, 
 from the testimony which God has given concern- 
 ing his Son, to rely on him alone for righteousness 
 and strength, to prefer him to his chief joy, and 
 to count all things but loss for his sake ; however 
 feeble his talents, or low r his attainments ; however 
 limited his progress in godliness, or his success in 
 good works ; however small the amount of his con- 
 solations, or faint the grasp with w r hich he clings 
 to the anchor of hope ; that man is a believer and 
 an heir of everlasting life. 
 
 But instead of regarding faith as the soul's 
 receiving and resting upon Christ, and drawing all 
 their comfort from their interest in his righteous- 
 
132 
 
 ness and grace ; many deprive themselves of the 
 peace which they might possess, 
 
 1. By imagining that faith is somehow connect- 
 ed with great mental powers, and that one of the 
 best sources of religious happiness consists in emi- 
 nent accomplishments. 
 
 If a man preach with ability, pray with fluency 
 and seeming fervour, and converse on religious 
 topics with propriety and eloquence ; they fancy 
 that he is possessed of uncommon spiritual attain- 
 ments, and greatly beloved of God : and because 
 they neither enjoy the same apparent elevation of 
 mind, nor the same liberty and enlargement of 
 soul, they immediately conclude that they are to- 
 tally destitute of the life and power of godliness. 
 
 But though great talents, when sanctified by 
 grace, and consecrated to the service of God, are 
 invaluable ; grace and gifts, faith and natural abili- 
 ties, are totally distinct. Great gifts no more im- 
 part grace nor ensure salvation, than grace confers 
 the gift of prophecy or the power of working mir- 
 acles. It is probable that Judas did not come 
 behind the Apostles in any gift : and none ever dis- 
 played greater zeal than the Pharisees. 
 
 Remember, however, that it is not he that 
 preaches well, that converses eloquently, that prays 
 powerfully ; but he that believeth, that shall be 
 saved. In estimating the amount of your religion, 
 look less at the number or variety of your gifts, 
 than at the simplicity of heart with which you rely 
 
133 
 
 on the atonement of Immanuel, and the purity and 
 ardour of that affection with which you submit to 
 his will, and cleave to his service. 
 
 2. Some involve themselves in distress from mis- 
 taking the fruits and effects of faith, for faith itself. 
 
 There are some things, such as love, humility, 
 self-denial, and obedience to the Divine will; which 
 enter so completely into the very essence of reli- 
 gion, that without them it is impossible to lay any 
 valid claim to the christian character, or entertain 
 any well-grounded hope of seeing the face of God 
 in mercy. But there are other principles, such 
 as peace, hope, and joy ; which, though closely 
 connected with the believer's comfort, and highly 
 conducive to his spiritual improvement, are neither 
 essential to the nature of faith nor inseparable from 
 a state of grace. We are told that if any man 
 love not the Lord Jesus Christ he shall be accursed ; 
 and that, except a man be born again, he cannot 
 enter the kingdom of God : but throughout the 
 whole compass of the sacred volume, it is never 
 once asserted nor insinuated that, if any be with- 
 out spiritual liberty, or peace, or joy, he shall not 
 see the Lord. 
 
 If therefore you are possessed of the essential 
 elements of the christian character, the things 
 which accompany salvation ; are you to deny the 
 reality of your religion, because for the present 
 you are deprived of its invaluable, but mutable, 
 enjoyments and graces ? Because a man has not 
 the beauty of Absalom nor the strength of Sam- 
 
134 
 
 son, it does not follow that he does not belong to 
 the species. And though your hopes may not be 
 so high as those of some with whom you associate, 
 your state may be as safe; and though their joy- 
 may be higher, your grace may be as great : for 
 the measure of our spiritual peace is not so much 
 in proportion to the amount of our attainments, 
 as to the degree in which God is pleased to lift 
 on us the light of his countenance, and to bless us 
 with the presence and consolations of his Spirit. 
 
 3. Some deprive themselves of comfort by con- 
 founding the perfection with the degrees of faith. 
 
 Through the peculiar favour of God some are 
 enabled to walk in the light of his countenance ; to 
 rejoice in the hope of his glory ; to appropriate 
 the blessings of the great salvation ; to realize their 
 interest in the righteousness of Immanuel; and to 
 say, " I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine : 
 this God is my God for ever and ever." 
 
 Their faith is perfect. It expels doubts ; casts 
 out fear ; and makes them strong in the Lord, 
 and in the power of his might. It gives them the 
 first-fruits of the Spirit, and a foretaste of heaven. 
 
 The possession of such a faith is invaluable. 
 Many have attained it ; and we ought never to rest 
 till we have secured it. Some spiritually-minded 
 christians have had their desires so strongly and 
 intensely fixed on its acquisition, that when the} 
 found themselves unable to reach it, they have 
 suspected that they had no grace at all. 
 
 But when throughout all the works and dispen- 
 
135 
 
 nations of the Most High, amidst objects of the 
 same class and order, a beautiful and striking vari- 
 ety every where reigns ; can we reasonably expect 
 a precise uniformity amongst the followers of 
 Christ in their faith and holiness, in their knowledge 
 and enjoyments? Are all his children of the same 
 age ? Are all his scholars alike diligent and docile? 
 Are all his soldiers alike courageous and skilful ? 
 With fewer years and inferior advantages are you 
 to rival and surpass those who possess superior age 
 and privileges ? Are you to deny the reality of 
 vour religion, because it is deficient in its decrees ? 
 When corn is in the blade ; are we to affirm that it 
 has no title to the name of grain, because it is not 
 in the ear ? Are infants to be excluded from the 
 list of the human race, because they are destitute 
 of the size and strength of men ? And while vou 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ supremely, and cleave 
 to him with full purpose of heart, are you to reject 
 the consolations of the gospel, and regard your- 
 selves as reprobates, because you are not endowed 
 with the faith, fortitude, and holy joy of an experi- 
 enced and established believer ? 
 
 Before therefore you make the deficiency of 
 your attainments an argument that you have no 
 religion whatever ; you ought to examine if the 
 attainments after which you aspire, may reasonably 
 be expected from people of your years, and pos- 
 sessed of your advantages. The progress of chris- 
 tians of the same age and favoured with the same 
 advantages, is often very unequal : and it is quite 
 
136 
 
 preposterous to expect the same attainments from 
 those whose years and privileges are widely differ- 
 ent. If you have only recently been led to lay to 
 heart the things belonging to your peace, or if 
 your opportunities for spiritual improvement have 
 been unfavourable ; it is too much to hope to equal 
 some of your brethren in their acquirements, or to 
 arrive at once at the summit of christian perfec- 
 tion, and the measure of the stature of perfect men 
 in Christ. It is enough that your progress corre- 
 sponds to your age and privileges, even though it 
 should be less than your wishes, and inferior to 
 that of some of your more advanced christian ac- 
 quaintances. It is absurd to look for meridian 
 splendour at the dawn of day : or to expect the 
 coolness and experience of a veteranina raw recruit. 
 And it is as unreasonable to expect in a young con- 
 vert, the wisdom, faith, fortitude, and patience 
 which have been found in aged disciples, or in the 
 Apostles and martyrs of God. Your business is 
 to strengthen the faith that you have; to pray 
 God to increase it ; and to persevere in the active 
 discharge of every duty, and in the careful improve- 
 ment of every privilege : for then shall ye know* 
 if ye follow on to know the Lord. 
 
 In this manner we find that many involve them- 
 selves in perplexity and trouble from mistaking 
 the nature of faith, and the foundation of spiritual 
 consolation. They confound it with some of its 
 fruits and effects, with some of its accessaries and 
 appendages. They complain of the weakness of 
 
137 
 
 faith, when the real cause of their distress is their 
 want of religious comfort and of great spiritual gifts 
 and graces. 
 
 It must be observed, 
 
 II. That faith, though weak, may be real and saving. 
 
 That this is the case will appear by shewing 
 that strong faith is a relative term, so that what 
 in one situation may be denominated strong faith, 
 may in another be considered as weak ; that faith 
 is sometimes strongest when the believer suspects 
 that it is w r eakest ; that the promise of salvation is 
 attached to sound and genuine, as well as to strong 
 and lively faith ; and that many kind and gracious 
 encouragements are given to feeble and drooping, 
 timid and disconsolate believers. 
 
 1. Strong faith is a relative term, so that what 
 in one situation may be denominated strong faith, 
 may in another be considered as weak. 
 
 Christians are placed in very different circum- 
 stances. They have various duties to fulfil ; and 
 are required to pass through very unequal scenes 
 of joy and sorrow, of suffering and of comfort. 
 Some are called to teach, and others to be taught : 
 some are fixed in public stations, and have to 
 act a conspicuous and important part in life; others 
 occupy a lower place, and move in a more obscure 
 and limited sphere. Some are favoured with pros- 
 perity, and others are visited with adversity. One is 
 wafted along with a gentle breeze, and all around 
 him is bright and inviting : another is compelled, 
 
138 
 
 to make his way amongst rocks and quicksands, 
 and contend with all the violence of the storm and 
 tumult of the ocean. 
 
 Now since it is the Lord who selects the situa- 
 tions which we occupy, and prescribes the duties 
 which we are to discharge ; since it is he who ap- 
 points our trials, and administers our comforts ; it 
 is reasonable to expect that his communications 
 will be suited to our need, and proportioned to the 
 services which he demands and the sufferings 
 
 o 
 
 which he inflicts. Whilst therefore those whose 
 labours are more difficult and hazardous, and 
 whose troubles are more complicated and severe, 
 have encouragement to expect a plentiful supply of 
 faith and fortitude ; those who are beset with fewer 
 dangers, and exposed to less'painful privations, have 
 no warrant to insist on the possession of the same 
 measure of supernatural aid. 
 
 Whilst therefore you are complaining of the 
 weakness or want of faith, your complaints may 
 be altogether groundless. Your faith may be weaker 
 than that of many, and yet be of the operation of 
 God. You may neither be visited with the same 
 calamities, nor summoned to the same painful and 
 perilous services to which they are called. Though 
 therefore your faith is far less than what is requi- 
 site for them, it may be enough for you. The 
 very men whom, perhaps, you are envying for 
 their strong faith and heavenly fortitude, may 
 find that they possess no more than what is abso- 
 lutely necessary for the labour in which they are 
 
139 
 
 engaged, and the sufferings to which they are sub- 
 jected. They who gathered much of the manna 
 had nothing over; and they who gathered little 
 had no lack. By that precious promise, " My 
 grace is sufficient for thee," God assures the feeblest 
 amongst his people of what is necessary for their 
 support : but the strongest will find that they have 
 no strength to spare, for their duties and trials will 
 be multiplied in proportion. It is not requisite 
 that every seaman should be endowed with the 
 talents of an admiral, nor that every soldier should 
 possess the military science of a commander. It 
 is enough that each enjoys what is proper for the 
 duties of his own place. And however desirable 
 eminent gifts and great grace may be, are you to 
 repine because you are not enriched with all the 
 spiritual endowments that blessed and ennobled 
 the most illustrious servants of God ? 
 
 Though you cannot at present rejoice in the 
 Lord as your God ; be thankful for faith to cleave 
 to him, and to enable you affectionately and stead- 
 ily to fulfil the labours of your station. Wait on 
 him, and keep his way. What is good he will 
 give. When your duties multiply or your suffer- 
 ings abound, he will increase your strength and 
 enlarge your consolations. But he is a God of 
 order, and performs his promises only in their sea- 
 son. He gives us grace to strengthen us for labour, 
 when we are called to active duty; comforting 
 grace he vouchsafes in a time of trouble ; and 
 dying grace he reserves for a dying day. Though 
 
140 
 
 therefore you may not be possessed of all the faith 
 which you wish, be glad that you enjoy what you 
 need. 
 
 The same believer has different degrees of faith 
 at different times. Paul, who on one occasion 
 could do all things ; on another despaired even of 
 life. Job, who at one time declared though God 
 slay me, yet will I trust in him; upon another 
 imagined that God had become his enemy. And 
 David too, who would not fear though a host should 
 encamp against him ; afterwards said, I shall one 
 day fall by the hand of Saul. 
 
 2. Faith is sometimes strongest when the be- 
 liever suspects that it is weakest. 
 
 The christian and the formalist, or self-deceiver, 
 are completely the reverse of each other. When- 
 ever he possesses peace, the self-deceiver fancies 
 that his faith is sound and genuine. He has no 
 attacks from Satan: for while the strong man 
 armed keepeth the house, his goods are in peace. 
 He has no disturbance from the remains of cor- 
 ruption : for while dead in sins, there is nothing 
 within him to make him sensible of his wretched 
 and ruined situation. He has no grief for the 
 want of Divine consolations : for while his soul 
 never tasted the blessedness inspired by their pre- 
 sence, their absence can excite no painful regrets. 
 And having no grace which can be tried ; he is a 
 stranger to the severe and harassing exercises of 
 faith and patience to which many of the children 
 of God are exposed. There is little to interrupt 
 
141 
 
 his tranquillity : and from this fatal calm ; which 
 is most alarming to a spiritual mind, because it 
 marks a soul forsaken of God and abandoned to 
 utter destruction; the infatuated man draws the 
 most preposterous conclusions. Because he has 
 no fears, he imagines that he has mighty faith ; and 
 that his condition must be without danger, because 
 he is free from disturbance. 
 
 But no sooner is a man brought into a state of 
 grace, than he encounters much to try his faith and 
 fortitude. Satan will assault him. Though he 
 keeps his own quarters quiet, he makes many an 
 effort to storm the camp of his foes : and even 
 where final success is hopeless, his disappointed 
 pride and malignant cruelty will lead him to har- 
 ass those whom he cannot destroy. Having now 
 a law in his mind, he becomes sensitively alive to 
 every movement of the law in his members : and 
 loving God with his whole heart, and longing to 
 exalt the name of Jesus above every name ; he is 
 mortified and grieved to find that he cannot do the 
 things that he would, and that he can undertake 
 and accomplish so little in the work in which he 
 supremely delights. Having found life in the 
 favour of God, and experienced that his loving- 
 kindness is better than life; the hidings of the 
 Divine countenance and the loss of spiritual con- 
 solation pierce his heart and afflict his soul. To 
 enlarge and confirm his faith God is pleased to 
 exercise and try it ; sometimes by worldly crosses, 
 g2 
 
142 
 
 sometimes by the delay of promised mercies, and 
 at other times by seeming to disregard his petition 
 and his cry. 
 
 Look now at the christian in such circumstances; 
 assailed by temptations which he hates, harassed 
 with the stirrings of depravity which his soul abhors, 
 deprived of the blessings which he so highly values, 
 and subjected to such a severe trial of his religious 
 principles ; and say, if he now can be possessed of 
 peace, and able to maintain an unshaken confi- 
 dence and an elevating joy ? He may sometimes 
 be ready to sink into despair: but whilst he vigor- 
 ously resists the attacks by which he is annoyed ; 
 and determines, that if he must perish, he shall 
 die at his Master's feet : can you say, though his 
 comfort has fled, that his faith has failed ? and that 
 along with the loss of his spiritual peace, he has 
 also renounced his allegiance to his heaven] v King? 
 The man who falls in the defence of his country, 
 is perhaps possessed of more love and loyalty to 
 his prince, than many who are residing in the 
 palace, and feasting at the table of the sovereign. 
 And there is frequently as much faith in the heart 
 of the christian, who, when all things seem to be 
 against him, cleaves firmly to the Lord ; as in the 
 heart of that believer who is walking in the light of 
 God's countenance, and rejoicing in hope of his glory. 
 3. The promise of salvation is not confined to 
 strong and lively faith, but extends to all that is 
 sound and living. 
 
143 
 
 Our faith can never be too strong nor lively. 
 We never can rest too simply, nor rely too confi- 
 dently, on the word of a true and faithful God. 
 We never can place too great dependence on an 
 almighty and infinite Saviour: nor apply and appro- 
 priate too fully the rich and inexhaustible pro- 
 visions of the everlasting gospel. For all things 
 are ours; and the more cordially that we embrace 
 them, and the more largely we enjoy them ; we not 
 only promote more effectually our own best inter- 
 ests, but also do the greater honour to the gener- 
 osity and truth of the God of grace. 
 
 But if nothing but a strong and lively faith can 
 save us, what is to become of the weak brother 
 for whom Christ died ? Where shall the faint 
 and those who have no might appear ? Why are 
 we commanded not to despise the day of small 
 things ? and told that the strength of Christ is 
 made perfect in our weakness ? If every believer 
 must possess the same amount of faith, and be 
 alike strong in that grace ; there could be no weak 
 members in the family of Christ, nor any occasion 
 for promises of encouragement and support to the 
 feeble, the drooping, and disconsolate. 
 
 The object which God requires, and which will 
 ensure our salvation in the great day of decision, 
 is not strong but genuine faith. The strongest faith 
 cannot save by its own intrinsic power or worth, 
 but entirely by uniting the soul to Jesus, and giving 
 it an interest in his righteousness. There is salva- 
 tion in no other. Without the redemption of 
 
 L 
 
 
144 
 
 Christ, there could have been no object for faith 
 to fix on. And if men still neglect his righteous- 
 ness : they may exert themselves as they please to 
 believe ; they may cling ever so tenaciously to the 
 opinions which they form, and the delusions which 
 they adopt ; but after all they must perish. 
 
 And as the firmest faith is absolutely unprofitable 
 except by leading the soul to rely simply on the 
 righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ: the feeblest 
 faith, that rests on his all-sufficient merits, renders 
 its possessor just as safe as the strongest. Our 
 interest in a gift depends, not upon the manner 
 in which we embrace it, but on the manner in 
 which it is conferred. The sick man, who can 
 merely express his acceptance of the kindness of 
 his benefactor, is just as much entitled to its use, 
 as the sturdiest who can vigorously grasp the 
 favour. On shipboard a giant is sustained, and 
 carried forward, not by his own bulk and vigour, 
 but by the strength and motion of the vessel: and 
 every infant there is just as safe, and as rapidly 
 propelled, as he. And in religion, the strongest 
 faith can do no more than unite the soul to Jesus : 
 and the weakest faith, if genuine, does no less. 
 
 If your faith has led you to renounce all depend- 
 ence upon your own wisdom and worth, to rest 
 on Christ alone for righteousness and strength : 
 however feeble and imperfect you may deem it, it 
 is sufficient to bear up the whole weight of your 
 eternal interests. Faith, no stronger than that, has 
 already landed thousands in the world of glory. 
 
145 
 
 And if you are possessed of such faith, you have 
 all the security which the word of an almighty and 
 faithful God can give you, for your own everlasting 
 happiness. " He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved." It is not said that he who has 
 faith to cast out devils, to remove mountains, to 
 subdue kingdoms, to overcome the world, to 
 abound in hope, to rejoice in anticipation of eter- 
 nal glory, but he that believeth, shall be saved. 
 
 A few grapes prove that the tree on which they 
 grow is a vine, and neither a bramble nor a thorn. 
 A few flowers or leaves shew that the plant is alive. 
 A breath or sigh indicates that the patient, how- 
 ever exhausted, is not dead. And a faith which 
 makes the soul cleave to the Saviour and tremble 
 at his word, demonstrates the presence of grace in 
 the heart as completely, as when it rises up into a 
 calm and settled assurance, and enables its posses- 
 sor to appropriate and apply all the rich and inex- 
 haustible blessings of the great salvation. 
 
 4. The most kind and encouraging promises of 
 assistance and acceptance are given to the weak in 
 faith. 
 
 The shepherd is most concerned for the feeble 
 in his flock ; and the parent for the sick and lan- 
 guishing in his family. And the great Shepherd 
 and Bishop of souls has shewn the most deep and 
 lively solicitude for the safety and comfort of the 
 timid, the dejected, and desponding. His charge 
 to Peter was, to feed his lambs. He enjoins min- 
 isters to strengthen the weak hands and to confirm 
 
146 
 
 the feeble knees ; to say to them that are of a fear- 
 ful heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God 
 will Come with vengeance, even God with a recom- 
 pense : he will come and save you. Ages before 
 his appearance, it was foretold that a bruised reed 
 he should not break, and smoking flax he should 
 not quench. He commenced his ministry by de- 
 claring, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; 
 because he hath anointed me to preach good tid- 
 ings to the meek ; he hath sent me to bind up the 
 broken-hearted. He pronounces blessings not only 
 on those who are strong in faith, rich in grace, and 
 full of spiritual joy ; but also on the poor in spirit, 
 on those that mourn, and that hunger and thirst 
 for righteousness. He feeds his flock as a shep- 
 herd : gathers the lambs with his arm, carries them 
 in his bosom ; and gently leads those that are with 
 young. He seeks that which was lost; brings 
 again that which was driven away ; strengthens 
 the weak, and binds up that w T hich is broken. He 
 makes his grace sufficient for us ; and perfects his 
 strength in our weakness. 
 
 What is the meaning of all this, but saying in 
 plain terms ; that, wherever there is a spiritual and 
 gracious principle implanted in the heart, it will 
 not be overlooked, destroyed, nor lost ; but pro- 
 tected, strengthened, and confirmed, till made meet 
 for eternal glory. 
 
 Whenever therefore you are apprehensive that 
 your state is dangerous because your faith is weak, 
 your wisdom is to search more for the evidences of 
 
147 
 
 its reality than of its strength. In sickness, though 
 the patient is without present vigour, it is encour- 
 aging to find the symptoms of returning health. 
 And, in a state of religious languor and despond- 
 ence, it is delightful to be able to discover the 
 proofs of a sound and genuine, though not of a 
 lively and overcoming faith. Has your faith led 
 you to submit to the Saviour, and to yield a cordial 
 obedience to his laws ? Has it brought you to rest 
 on him as all your salvation and all your desire ? 
 If it has: then you may see your calling and 
 election of God. He who is great, has done 
 great things for you. And having begun a good 
 work in you, he will perform it unto the day of 
 Christ. 
 
 For a season you may be unable to realize your 
 high privileges. But hold fast that which you 
 have. Wait on the Lord and keep his way. 
 Cast not away the beginning of your confidence, 
 which hath great recompense of reward : for he 
 is faithful who hath promised, who also will do it. 
 Though vour beonnnino; is small, vour latter end 
 shall greatly increase. The most majestic oak was 
 once an acorn. The mightiest river when traced 
 to its source, is found to be but a diminutive 
 stream. And what was the most illustrious saint 
 that ever blessed the church on earth, or entered 
 the world of glory, at the commencement of his 
 career, but a babe in Christ ? Give therefore ear- 
 nest heed to the things belonging to your peace. 
 Strive to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
 
148 
 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and you also 
 shall be strengthened with might by his Spirit in 
 the inner man. Christ will dwell in your hearts 
 by faith ; till being rooted and grounded in love, 
 you shall be able to comprehend with all saints 
 what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
 height, and to know the love of Christ which pass- 
 eth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the 
 fulness of God. 
 
 If therefore that faith which in one situation or 
 character is regarded as strong, may in another be 
 considered as w r eak ; if faith is sometimes strongest, 
 when the believer suspects that it is weakest ; if 
 the promise of salvation is annexed, not to strong 
 and lively, but to real and living faith ; and if the 
 most kind and animating assurances of assistance 
 and acceptance are given to the w^eak in faith ; then, 
 if you have evidence that your faith is real, though 
 far from possessing all the strength that you w r ish, 
 you have reason to rejoice, and to apply to your- 
 selves the consolations and hopes of the gospel. 
 
 But whilst these things are mentioned for the 
 encouragement of the humble and timid, who are 
 ready to suspect from the weakness of their faith, 
 that they have no grace at all : remember that it 
 can administer no comfort to any who are willing 
 to remain in such a state of languor and debility. 
 What would you think of the sick man, who is 
 glad that he is alive, but gives himself no con- 
 cern for the recovery of his health ? of the mer- 
 chant, who, while struggling with all the embar- 
 
 ^_ 
 
 . 
 
119 
 
 rassments of bankruptcy and poverty, is delighted 
 that lie is out of jail, but makes no effort to secure 
 wealth and independence ? And can we regard 
 that professor as a sound and genuine christian, 
 who is satisfied because he fancies that he possesses 
 the root and principle of the divine life, whilst he 
 makes no exertion to be strong in faith, and to 
 abound in the fruits of righteousness and in the 
 joys and comforts of the Holy Ghost ? The most 
 active and industrious man alive may be seized with 
 indisposition, and prevented for a time from pur- 
 suing his ordinary avocations : but he has no love 
 for his malady nor any wish for its continuance. 
 The most pious, zealous, and heavenly-minded 
 believer may labour under occasional languor and 
 infirmity : but this is not a state in which he would 
 willingly remain. He resists these attacks of drow- 
 siness and indifference. He endeavours to shake 
 off his torpor and inactivity. He forgets the things 
 that are behind, and reaches forth unto those things 
 that are before. And if you have any genuine 
 acquaintance with the truth as it is in Jesus, your 
 religion will operate in a similar manner. You 
 will be grieved and ashamed on account of your 
 infirmities and imperfections. You will every day 
 be engaged in fervent prayer and strenuous efforts, 
 to become more watchful, humble, spiritual, and 
 holy. For the path of the just is as the shining 
 light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect 
 day. The righteous holdeth on his way, and he that 
 hath clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger. 
 
' 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 Since faith enters so materially into all the duties 
 and enjoyments of the Christian life; and since 
 our happiness and holiness depend so much upon 
 its strength and liveliness; it is an object of great 
 importance to know by what means it may be most 
 effectually established and maintained in the soul, 
 and endowed with the most steady and command- 
 ing influence over the mind. For this purpose it 
 is necessary to add, 
 
 III. A few directions to those who are weak in 
 faith. 
 
 I. Pore not upon the difficulties and danger 
 of your situation, but look directly to the perfect 
 and adorable character of that God who invites 
 your trust. 
 
 Sense and reason are weak and cowardly. The 
 range of their observation is low and contracted, 
 and the amount of their resources is limited and 
 paltry. They magnify every real difficulty : and 
 frequently increase our embarrassments and fears, 
 by conjuring up ideal dangers. They tremble at 
 
151 
 
 the shaking of a leaf; and maintain that every 
 new and unknown trouble is utterly insupportable 
 and absolutely destructive. They tell us that this 
 sin can never be forgiven, that this corruption 
 never can be subdued, that this duty never can be 
 fulfilled, nor that trial endured. 
 
 Jf therefore you listen to their suggestions, you 
 never can be established, nor blessed with settled 
 and composing rest. You will be like a wave of 
 the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 
 
 But if you will withdraw your ears from their 
 dark and revolting representations, and fix your 
 eye on the wisdom and grace of Him who gave the 
 promises, and whose power and faithfulness are 
 engaged to make them good : where is there an 
 enemy that can shake your confidence, or an event 
 that ought to disturb your peace ? 
 
 Your path may be intricate. You may be 
 unable to discover any issue from your perplex- 
 ities and troubles. But because it is hid from your 
 view, is it concealed from the all-penetrating eye 
 of the Omniscient ? He know T s the close, as tho- 
 roughly as the commencement of your trials. He 
 sees the end from the beginning. His wisdom is 
 unsearchable. His understanding is infinite. And 
 though you cannot, he knows well how to deliver 
 the godly out of temptation. 
 
 Your guilt may be great and your corruptions 
 dreadful. But has he not laid your help on one 
 mighty to save ? has not Jesus finished transgres- 
 sion, and made an end of sin ? Is there any pas- 
 
152 
 
 sion so strong and turbulent, that his almighty 
 arm is unable to reduce to subjection? any cor- 
 ruption so inveterate that he cannot eradicate ? or 
 any guilt too great for him, whose blood cleanseth 
 from all sin, to wash away ? If they would only 
 take refuge there, there is strength sufficient be- 
 hind the shield of his atonement, to defend a whole 
 apostate universe from the visitations of almighty 
 vengeance. How much more then must he pos- 
 sess the power, upon your humble contrite appli- 
 cation, to forgive all your sins, and grant you sal- 
 vation with eternal glory ? 
 
 Your enemies may be restless and rancorous, 
 and your dangers apparently insurmountable and 
 overwhelming. But is there any thing too hard 
 for the Lord? He speaks, and it is done: he 
 commands, and all things stand fast. He doeth 
 whatsoever pleaseth him in heaven, and in earth, 
 and in all deep places. Take a survey of the ex- 
 tent of creation ; think of the magnificence and 
 grandeur of the unnumbered worlds, moving with 
 such majestic stateliness and unbroken steadiness in 
 the vast expanse that encircles us : and say, can any 
 thing be too difficult, for him who formed the whole 
 by a word, and sustains them all by the mere act 
 of his will ? The wide universe, however, is far 
 from being the measure of his strength. It is a 
 mere specimen of his power. Were it, at this 
 moment, swept from the face of being, he could the 
 next moment replace it, by another ineffably more 
 large and stupendous : for he is able not only to re- 
 
153 
 
 peat all that he has already done, but to outdo all 
 the former displays of hw wisdom and might There 
 is no searching of his understanding, and his power 
 is almighty. 
 
 Whenever therefore you are brought into dis- 
 tress and trouble ; whenever you are deprived of 
 the created supports of your courage and the usual 
 sources of your joy ; it is the height of folly to fasten 
 your eye upon the difficulties and dangers of your 
 condition, or upon the greatness and the value 
 of the blessings which you need. Your wisdom 
 is to summon faith instantly to your assistance, 
 and to lean entirely upon the Lord. By poring 
 upon the formidable appearances in your situation, 
 you may aggravate all your sufferings, and involve 
 yourselves in deeper perplexity and dismay. But 
 if you look at once beyond all your own weakness 
 and umvorthiness, your own trials and distresses, 
 to the wisdom, the power, the grace, and faithful- 
 ness of the God of love ; in him you will find more 
 than a match for all your difficulties, and an anti- 
 dote for all your fears. If you were called to en- 
 counter your troubles, and discharge your duties 
 in your own strength ; if, when assailed with temp- 
 tation and beset with danger, you had no higher 
 saviour than a created arm; you might justly sink 
 into despondence, or give way to despair. But 
 when, by the eye of faith, you are carried through 
 the thick and cloudy atmosphere of affliction and 
 sorrow, transported beyond the narrow bounds of 
 sense and reason, and fixed directly in the contem- 
 
154 
 
 plation of Immanuel's all-sufficient sacrifice and the 
 power and faithfulness of an infinite God : what 
 can overturn your trust or excite your alarm ? 
 
 If, in his advanced years, when a son was pro- 
 mised him, Abraham had thought only on his own 
 age and that of Sarah ; or if, at the Red Sea, when 
 assured of a passage through the deep, Moses had 
 attended merely to the operation of second causes ; 
 they would have had reason to have hesitated, and 
 to have cried, How can these things be? But by 
 looking at the power of the great Promiser, what 
 was the consequence ? Every shade of doubt and 
 apprehension was dissipated; and they felt the most 
 perfect certainty in the accomplishment of his word. 
 They staggered not at the promise of God through 
 unbelief; but were strong in faith, giving glory to 
 God, being fully persuaded that what he had pro- 
 mised he was also able to perform. And if, in the 
 day of your distress, you persist in asking, How 
 you shall weather the storm of adversity ? bear the 
 weight of your trials ? secure the supply of your 
 wants ? or obtain the salvation of your souls ? you 
 will only augment the pressure of your burdens, and 
 deepen the horrors of the gloom by which you are 
 surrounded. But if you will dismiss the suspicions 
 of sense, and adopt the arguments of faith; light will 
 spring up in darkness, and you shall soon rise su- 
 perior to all your trepidation and dejection. Faith 
 will teach you to reason on this wise, What hath 
 God said ? Has he engaged to pardon my sins ? 
 to heal my backslidings ? to subdue miij,e iniqui- 
 
155 
 
 ties? to supply all my need? to support me under 
 every trouble ? to deliver me from every evil ? arid 
 at last, to save my soul, and introduce me into 
 eternal glory? Has an almighty and covenant- 
 keeping God spoken all this in his holiness ? Then 
 I will rejoice. A man might deceive me ; an an- 
 gel might fail me : but with the Lord upon my 
 side, whom need I fear ? If he be for me, who can 
 be against me ? His love is as great as his power : 
 and he never has uttered one kind encouraging 
 word without the will and determination to make 
 it good. 
 
 But you perhaps will tell me, that "you have no 
 doubt of the power of the Most High. You know 
 that he can do all things, neither is there any 
 thing too hard for him. But the question is, 
 What has he promised ? His power was as great 
 when the angels fell, as when Jesus w r as bearing 
 our sins on Calvary ; and it is as great when sin- 
 ners take their descent to perdition, as when the 
 angels of light raise their hymn of triumph over 
 the admission of a soul to glory." Let me then 
 entreat you, 
 
 2. To study the promises of his word, and fix 
 your faith on what they reveal. 
 
 A man of integrity and wealth will honour every 
 draft that he gives : but he will indignantly spurn 
 the idea of being answ r erable for every demand 
 that fraud and avarice, without his knowledge 
 or permission, shall presume to make upon his 
 banker. 
 
156 
 
 Jehovah has passed his word to walk in the path 
 of his promises, and to regulate the dispensations 
 of his providence by the declarations of his grace. 
 To the men of the world, the Bible appears an 
 insignificant and contemptible volume ; far less 
 interesting and useful than the trash and scum of 
 the daily press. But to a man, whose mind is 
 enlightened by faith and his heart purified by the 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is invalu- 
 able. It is the charter of his salvation. It is the 
 security of all his hopes, and the pledge of the 
 affection and faithfulness of the God of love. It 
 contains exceeding great and precious promises. 
 No words can express, nor any mind conceive 
 their excellence and grandeur. Though you had 
 possessed the command of the heart of the Most 
 High and all the resources of Omnipotence ; you 
 could not have placed better, richer, greater, nobler 
 blessings in the covenant of peace, than what the 
 Father of mercies has spontaneously planted there. 
 Pardon, righteousness, and strength ; grace and 
 glory ; every thing requisite for your safety and 
 happiness in time, and for your dignity and 
 delight through eternity ; are all lodged in this 
 revelation of Divine generosity, and conveyed 
 along with the Lord Jesus Christ. " He that 
 spared pot his own Son, but delivered him up for 
 us all, how shall he not with him also freely give 
 us all things ?" 
 
 And whilst these promises are exceedingly great 
 and infinitely precious; they are all absolutely 
 
157 
 
 and infallibly true and certain. For they are all 
 Founded in the purpose of Him, whose nature is 
 unchangeable, and supported by the power of 
 Him, whose might is irresistible. The least pro- 
 mise is not below the notice of the God who gave it ; 
 and the greatest is not beyond the reach of Him 
 who grasps creation in his span, and wields at plea- 
 sure all the elements of nature. 
 
 But whilst his faithfulness stands committed to 
 fulfil the promises which he has given ; remember 
 that he has nowhere bound himself to regulate his 
 proceedings according to the dictates of sense and 
 reason, nor to fashion them according to our fan- 
 cies and humours. If he had given any notice of 
 such a design ; then we should have had great 
 cause indeed to have been alarmed whenever events 
 occurred contrary to our expectations and wishes. 
 But since, instead of any such intimation, he has 
 on the contrary expressly reserved to himself the 
 right of following the course of his own promises : 
 what ground have we for uneasiness or fear, as 
 long as he continues to move within the safe and 
 sacred limits fixed by his own wisdom and pub- 
 lished in his own word ? 
 
 In order therefore to strengthen your faith, and 
 secure the hope and comfort which in every situa- 
 tion, he graciously encourages you to entertain ; 
 labour to become familiar with the nature and ex- 
 tent of the promises, and learn the blessed art of 
 applying them to your own varying duties, wants, 
 and trials. Much of the unbelief that abounds in 
 
 H 
 
 { 
 
158 
 
 the world, and of the doubt and despondence that 
 prevails in the church, arises from ignorance of 
 what God has revealed. Did Christians only 
 know the things that are freely given them of God 
 could they question his generosity, or cherish 
 any suspicions of his faithfulness ? And did even 
 the worldly know the matchless perfections and in- 
 finite loveliness of his character, they would find 
 it almost impossible to withhold their hearts from 
 his possession, and their time and strength from 
 his service. 
 
 And if you desire to enjoy settled peace and 
 make great spiritual progress, you must contem- 
 plate him as he has revealed himself in the oracles 
 of truth. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing 
 by the word of God. No man can become learned 
 or wise by a mere wish, or mental effort. To ob- 
 tain learning or wisdom, he must study the princi- 
 ples of knowledge, and carefully employ the means 
 for improving his powers and storing his mind 
 with useful information. And faith is strengthened 
 and increased not by any abstract effort to be- 
 lieve, but by a growing acquaintance with the cer- 
 tainty, the excellence, and the glory of the truths 
 published in scripture. Where these truths are 
 unknown or disregarded, there can be no faith at 
 all. But if you knew their real worth, and were 
 thoroughly convinced of the high authority from 
 which they come ; you would be constrained to ad- 
 mire their magnitude and grandeur, and to rely on 
 their unquestionable and everlasting verity. The 
 
159 
 
 blessings which they reveal are immense, and 
 exactly suited to your need. But they are neither 
 too great for the hand of Omnipotence to bestow, 
 nor too mighty for his faithfulness to fulfil. Whilst 
 therefore they contain what you supremely value, 
 and are given freely by the God of truth : if you 
 clearly understood their nature, and were persuad- 
 ed of their reality, could you refrain from embrac- 
 ing them as all your salvation and all your desire ? 
 or refuse to rest on them as the foundation of your 
 present hopes, and pledge of your never-ending 
 blessedness ? 
 
 The faith which is founded upon the word of 
 God can never rise too high, nor be subjected to 
 too great a pressure. The base is as broad as the 
 desires of an immortal, firm as Omnipotence, and 
 capable of sustaining a fabric lofty as heaven and 
 lasting as eternity. But no edifice can be stronger 
 than the foundation on which it is reared. Rocks 
 piled on snow or sand, though secured by bands 
 of iron, will give way. And faith that does not 
 simply rest on the word of God ; though held with 
 all the tenacity of death, in the time of trial, and 
 in the day of decision, will most miserably fail. 
 But the building placed on a rock will stand. 
 And the faith that is fixed on the word of God, 
 on, the Rock of ages, no convulsion can shake, 
 nor any length of time destroy. 
 
 In proportion therefore as you value lively hope 
 and lasting peace, be careful to familiarize your 
 minds with the truths of revelation, and to secure 
 
160 
 
 clear and comprehensive views of their nature and 
 design. Ponder thoroughly the magnitude and 
 grandeur of the blessings which they promise; the 
 freeness with which they are bestowed ; and the in- 
 fallible security with which they are all supported. 
 The more fully you understand their meaning and 
 extent, and the high authority on which they are 
 founded; the more will your heart be charmed 
 with their excellence and glory, and led to rely 
 more simply and unreservedly upon their absolute 
 truth and unfailing certainty. Your faith will in- 
 crease in proportion as you grow in the knowledge 
 of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: and when 
 you know him fully, you will be able to rest on 
 him unreservedly, and to trust in him wholly. 
 But whilst your views of his character and worth 
 are dark and confused, and your ideas of the doc- 
 trines of his word are partial and contracted ; your 
 faith can neither be firm, nor your comfort steady. 
 " Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be esta- 
 blished : believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." 
 The man who, without a deposit, goes to a 
 banker with a draft, acts the part of a fool, and 
 exposes himself to derision. The man who coun- 
 terfeits the signature of another, is a forger, and 
 exposes himself to death. The man too who dis- 
 regards the word of God, and substitutes his own 
 opinions and fancies in its room, is deluded and 
 misled, and trusts to what can never bring him the 
 smallest profit. And the man who knowingly 
 and deliberately contradicts, perverts, or corrupts 
 
 
161 
 
 the scriptures, is a daring rebel against the author- 
 ity of the Most High, and subjects himself to ever- 
 lasting vengeance. But as every additional draft 
 from a man of wealth, is so much clear gain ; every 
 fresh discovery that we can make of the mean- 
 ing of the promises, and every new application 
 that we can obtain of their blessings, is a pure ac- 
 cession to our spiritual treasures, and an unexpected 
 addition to our best and dearest joys. The pro- 
 mises are all exceeding great and precious. Though 
 we never can completely ascertain their whole 
 worth; still the longer we study them, and the 
 more fully we comprehend them, we shall be more 
 and more charmed with their matchless and un- 
 searchable excellencies, and rest the more firmly 
 on their unchanging truth and everlasting cer- 
 tainty. 
 
 If therefore you wish to enjoy strong and lively 
 faith, and to possess settled and lasting peace ; 
 search the scriptures, and let the word of Christ 
 dwell in you richly in all wisdom and spiritual 
 understanding. To this it must be added, 
 
 3. Pray for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Faith is his gift. Men may talk as they please 
 about the force of reason and the omnipotence of 
 truth. Right reason, indeed, ought to be strong, 
 and truth never can be too mighty. But what can 
 truth avail when presented to the prejudiced ? or 
 reason, when urged upon the idiot or the insane ? 
 
 In every word and syllable of scripture there are 
 everlasting truth and righteousness. But can 
 
162 
 
 these move the feelings of a corrupt heart, or con- 
 quer the enmity of a carnal mind ? There are in- 
 finite loveliness and glory in the ever-blessed God, 
 But can these attract the admiration of Satan, or 
 excite the esteem and affection of the secure and 
 careless of the sons of Adam ? So far from rais- 
 ing their reverence or commanding their love, 
 these attributes rouse the disgust and hatred of 
 the impenitent and hardened. 
 
 And with all the truth and grace which the 
 scriptures contain, there are seasons when the most 
 humble and spiritually-minded Christians can de- 
 rive no comfort from these wells of salvation. 
 They believe what these lively oracles reveal. 
 They wish to feel their elevating and liberalising 
 power, and to enjoy their sublime and ineffable 
 consolations. But they cannot. They renounce 
 whatever opposes their influence, and resist 
 whatever the scriptures condemn. But after all 
 they reap no sensible advantage from their be- 
 lief and labours. The word is without power, 
 The ordinances are without profit. Their heart 
 lies in their breast as cold and hard as a stone. 
 But the Almighty Spirit can not only draw out the 
 truth and riches of the scriptures, but also open 
 our hearts to receive them. He can not only put 
 life into the ordinances, and render the word quick 
 and powerful, but also put life into our hearts, and 
 endow us with the capacity to relish and enjoy the 
 blessings w r hich they disclose. 
 
 It is his office to glorify the Father, to testify of 
 
163 
 
 Jesus, and to take of the things of Christ and shew 
 them unto the soul. 
 
 But without his teaching, the light may shine 
 around us, and yet shine in vain : every truth in 
 revelation may be presented to our contemplation, 
 and yet remain dark, unintelligible, and unpro- 
 fitable. The Bible is always the same : but what 
 different impressions does it produce on different 
 minds, and even on the same mind at different 
 times. The scriptures which the Jews and the 
 Christians study, to a certain extent, coincide; 
 those which were in the hands of Caiaphas and 
 Paul, were identically the same : but what a con- 
 trast in the result that followed their perusal ! And 
 even in the case of the same individual, the effect 
 attending the reading of the sacred volume at one 
 time, could not be more unlike that which accom- 
 panies it at another, even though the Bible with 
 which we are familiar were annihilated, and a new 
 one substituted in its room.* 
 
 But whilst we have the greatest need of his 
 teaching, this invaluable blessing is graciously pro- 
 mised upon our application. Without limitation 
 or reserve, the Lord Jesus Christ says, "Ask, 
 and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find; 
 knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every 
 one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, 
 findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be 
 opened. If ye, being evil, know how to give good 
 
 * A striking instance of this may be seen in Hanbury's edition 
 of Williams' Diary. 2d Edition, pp. 200, 201. 
 
164 
 
 gifts unto your children; how much more shall 
 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask him?" 
 
 Under the guidance of this Almighty Agent, is 
 any duty too difficult; or any blessing too high or 
 precious to be attainable? With the whole universe 
 at his disposal, nothing is too hard for him. He 
 can work in you both to will and to do of his good 
 pleasure. He can lead you into all truth : impart 
 to you an unction whereby you shall understand 
 all things: give your hearts to believe and love the 
 discoveries of Scripture, and to rest with calmness 
 and assurance on that adorable and all-sufficient 
 Redeemer whom they reveal. Learn then to im- 
 plore his assistance, and to submit unreservedly to 
 his direction. 
 
 When, therefore, you consider the character of 
 God who invites your trust; the security which he 
 has given for your confidence; and the power of 
 that blessed Agent, who, in answer to prayer, is 
 promised to work faith in your hearts, and to per- 
 fect what concerns you: let me, in the close of what 
 has been said, entreat you to guard vigilantly against 
 a spirit of unbelief. It is a common, a besetting, 
 but a ruinous sin. Men are very backward to 
 rely on the testimony of God, not because there is 
 any thing difficult or unreasonable in the exercise 
 of faith ; but because their minds are alienated from 
 the love of God, and engrossed with secular cares 
 and the most trifling and contemptible pursuits. 
 
 In other things, where the subject is far more 
 
165 
 
 mysterious and incomprehensible than any pro- 
 position within the whole compass of revelation, 
 men exercise faith without the least scruple or 
 reluctance. It seems to be only in matters of reli- 
 gion, where the greatest security has been given, 
 where every truth has been fortified by evidence 
 the most irresistible, and where distrust and fear 
 are most preposterous and unfounded, that the 
 human mind is divested of its natural resolution and 
 confidence, and becomes the slave of the most dis- 
 tracting doubts, and of the most distressing alarm 
 and terror. 
 
 A man will fearlessly take possession of a gift 
 bestowed by the generosity of an absent friend, 
 though he himself has done nothing to gain it; and 
 will coolly sit down in the enjoyment of a title and 
 estate won by the talents and virtues of his ances- 
 tors, though he himself has not contributed to their 
 acquisition or transmission. But the honours se- 
 cured by the toils, and the immense inheritance in 
 grace and in glory freely bequeathed by the death 
 of our elder Brother and Lord, his people are ter- 
 rified to claim and occupy. Notwithstanding all 
 the liberal and unrestricted invitations of the Gos- 
 pel, by which every child of Adam is encouraged 
 and exhorted to embrace the glorious salvation 
 which it brings; and notwithstanding all the over- 
 powering demonstrations of the sincerity of the 
 Most High in these proclamations of his grace : it 
 is seldom, among the many thousands where these 
 blessed tidings are most affectionately and forcibly 
 h 2 
 
166 
 
 published, that one is found who cordially believes 
 them, and who boldly embarks his eternal all on 
 their reality. Amidst the greatest tenderness and 
 vehemence with which these truths are stated and 
 urged, few give themselves any concern about the 
 matter ; and, amongst the few who lay it to heart 
 at all, the greater part continue to be haunted and 
 harassed with apprehensions respecting the possi- 
 bility of salvation through grace, and the faithful- 
 ness of God in performing his promises. If they 
 had any visible or tangible ground for their de- 
 pendance, it would be perfectly easy and reason- 
 able to cherish the hope of eternal life. If they 
 were required to work out a righteousness of their 
 own ; to occupy themselves in keeping the com- 
 mandments ; and by their alms, their prayers, and 
 other moral and religious performances, to con- 
 tribute something to the service of God and the 
 benefit of society : they fancy that they would then 
 possess a valid claim to the kingdom of heaven; 
 and having thus won, they might then safely en- 
 tertain the expectation of wearing the crown of life. 
 But to renounce all their own righteousness, to 
 abandon all dependence on their moral duties and 
 religious exercises, to place their undivided trust 
 and reliance upon the worth of another, upon the 
 obedience and sufferings of one whom they have 
 never seen, and who is beyond the reach of all 
 mortal vision : they regard as extremely dangerous, 
 and almost as irrational and absurd, as to expect 
 to stem the tide by a word, or to repel the at- 
 
167 
 
 tacks of disease and death by the enclosures of a 
 fortress. 
 
 Now, to those who are seriously concerned about 
 their everlasting welfare; and who, notwithstand- 
 ing the firm foundation which is laid in the gospel 
 for the free, complete, and eternal justification of 
 all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, are still 
 labouring under a spirit of fear and despondence 
 about the safety of their souls, and the warrant af- 
 forded for their hopes by this plan of unsearchable 
 boundless mercy; I must say that the security 
 given in the Scriptures for the salvation of those 
 who embrace the gospel is absolute and complete, 
 and at least as firm and ample as that which the 
 God of nature has given for the uniformity and 
 permanence of those laws which regulate the pheno- 
 mena of the material world. 
 
 Carry back your inquiries into the causes of 
 things, and say, w T hat is there more difficult or 
 mysterious in the doctrine of salvation by grace, 
 of justification through the righteousness of Christ; 
 than what we witness in the occurrences of every 
 day, and contemplate without the slightest emotion 
 of astonishment or wonder ? What gives food its 
 nourishing properties, or medicine its healing 
 powers ? What gives vegetation to grain, and as 
 the seasons roll round, brings on the plenteous 
 w r eeks of harvest ? The husbandman commits his 
 seed to the earth. He gives himself no more soli- 
 citude about the matter: and indeed, though he 
 were to torment himself with care, he could neither 
 
168 
 
 quicken nor retard the result, nor in the smallest 
 degree affect the steps of the operation. " He 
 sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed springs 
 and grows up, he knows not how: for the earth 
 bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then 
 the ear, after that the full corn in the car." The 
 earth and the planets around us, are in constant 
 motion. But we see not the process. No eye has 
 yet detected the wheels on which the mighty fabric 
 rolls, nor seen the strong and steady hand which 
 turns the silent spheres. We cannot obstruct their 
 advance, accelerate their velocity, nor exert any 
 control over their movements. But does this ig- 
 norance of the means by which their courses are 
 carried on, or this inability to guide and influence 
 their motions ; injure our happiness and peace, 
 disorder our secular plans and pursuits, break in 
 upon our hours of rest, or disturb our nightly 
 slumbers? No. Assured that the Most High, 
 sitting behind the elements which he has formed, 
 keeps his eye intent on the universe which he has 
 made, sends his all-pervading Spirit across the im- 
 mensity of space, and by the word of his power 
 sustains and governs the whole, and, till the light 
 and darkness shall come to an end, will maintain 
 unaltered their appointed revolutions, and preserve 
 them all from ruin and derangement; we give our- 
 selves no uneasiness respecting the matter, but 
 walk about our ordinary employments and amuse- 
 ments with all the calmness and confidence which 
 the protection of Omnipotence can inspire. 
 
169 
 
 But why all this coolness and composure in a 
 ca>c where we have nothing for our security and 
 
 safety hut the mere will of God? And why all 
 your apprehension, trepidation, and distraction, in 
 matters of salvation, where you have all the cer- 
 tainty for your faith, and all the security for your 
 safety, which the power and faithfulness of the same 
 Almighty God can afford you ? 
 
 Will you say, that "religion is employed about 
 things that are spiritual and invisible ?" But is 
 this any reason why we should reject its comforts 
 and distrust its truths, any more than the evidence 
 which is presented to our senses, and made a sub- 
 ject of observation and experiment ? Is that God, 
 who is a Spirit, less able to exert his authority over 
 the spiritual than over the material world? Is he 
 less able to communicate impressions of his pre- 
 sence and power over the regions of intellect than 
 of sense ? Are the laws that govern the phenomena 
 in the material universe more visible and palpable, 
 than those which direct the operations of mind ? 
 Take a farmer, a physician, or astronomer by the 
 hand ; and desire them to travel back a few steps 
 in their respective walks ; and you shall find that 
 they soon reach the confines of knowledge and cer- 
 tainty, and that the basis of their belief and prac- 
 tice is as much out of sight as your own. Why 
 seed-corn should grow, and produce a crop any 
 more than sand or pebbles ; unless such originally 
 was the will of God, the husbandman with all his 
 
170 
 
 skill and experience cannot tell. Why opium 
 should possess an intoxicating and soporific power, 
 any more than snow or water ; unless such has been 
 the will of God, the physician with all his study 
 and practice is ultimately unable to inform us. And 
 why the earth and orbs around move at all, or move 
 with the velocity which they possess; unless such 
 has been the appointment of the Creator and Lord 
 of the universe ; the astronomer, with the penetra- 
 tion of the loftiest intellect, and the science and 
 observation of the longest life, is unable to explain. 
 Now, in these and in a thousand other cases, is 
 the simple will or appointment of the Most High 
 an ample warrant for your security ? Then what 
 more than this can you possibly ask for the foun- 
 dation of your trust or the source of your joy in 
 the subject of your salvation ? Have the husband- 
 man, the physician, or astronomer, a more firm 
 and substantial foundation for their confidence than 
 you ? Is the chain which binds the effect to the 
 cause, more strong and visible in the natural than 
 in the moral world ? Or has the God, who pos- 
 sesses the management of matter, more authority 
 and power, than the God who reigns over the spi- 
 ritual universe, and exercises the supreme domi- 
 nion in the kingdom of grace ? And shall men 
 fearlessly rely on the unbroken connexion, which 
 he has in the material world established betwixt 
 cause and affect ? and yet, after he has, in a man- 
 ner so affecting and solemn, pledged his sincerity 
 
171 
 
 and truth in the promises of his word ; shall you 
 continue to cherish doubts and apprehensions re- 
 specting their fulfilment? 
 
 You may perhaps tell me, " that this compari- 
 son is not fair : that in the business of life, and in 
 the study of nature, we have observation and ex- 
 perience for our guide ; and that though the cause 
 may be invisible, yet since the effect is fully and 
 distinctly manifest, we are able from the latter, 
 not only to infer the existence of the former, but 
 likewise to reason far upon its operation and effi- 
 ciency." 
 
 But pray, have we no observation nor experi- 
 ence to direct us in matters of religion ? to corro- 
 borate the testimony of Scripture ? and give cer- 
 tainty and stability to the anticipations of faith ? 
 Look at the case of Abraham. He was called to 
 live by faith. Blessings, completely beyond the 
 reach of nature, and far above his expectations, 
 were promised. In his old age, he was assured 
 that he and Sarah should have a son : and, when 
 a solitary wanderer in Canaan, and utterly unable 
 to assert a claim to a single inch of the soil, he was 
 told that his posterity should inherit the whole. 
 Now did any of these promises fail ? Whose son 
 was Isaac ? And where had the Jews their resi- 
 dence for two thousand years ? Noah was informed 
 that he and his family should be preserved, when 
 the other inhabitants of the world should be drown- 
 ed. And can there be any dispute whether he and 
 his family escaped the deluge ? To Paul it was 
 
172 
 
 intimated that lie and the company that sailed with 
 him in his perilous voyage to Rome, amidst all 
 the dangers and disasters of the deep, should have 
 their lives given them for a prey. And were they 
 not all brought safe to land? It was long ago an- 
 nounced that the law should go forth from Zion, 
 and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; that 
 Jesus should have dominion from sea to sea, and 
 from the river unto the ends of the earth ; that he 
 should be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and that 
 to him should the gathering of the people be. And 
 have these words taken no effect? Has the Gos- 
 pel not been published in the islands, and found 
 its way to the remotest regions of the world ? Is 
 it not still extending its triumphs, and on its way 
 to visit and to bless all the nations of the globe ? 
 Amidst all the judgments with which the Jews were 
 threatened for rejecting the Messiah; still they were 
 told, that, though God would make a full end of 
 the nations among whom they were scattered, he 
 would not make a full end of them. And has this 
 promise been fulfilled or forgotten? Have the 
 Jews been swept off from the face of the earth ? or 
 incorporated with the nations among whom they 
 sojourned? They have been scattered and peeled, 
 trodden under foot, and made a taunt and a pro- 
 verb among the nations. But while their conquer- 
 ors have been subdued by others in their turn, and 
 the victors and the vanquished so completely blend- 
 ed, that no vestige of their original extraction can 
 be discovered ; to the present day, in all the places 
 
173 
 
 of their dispersion, the Jews remain a peculiar 
 people, and are as completely distinguished by 
 their national characteristics, as when settled in 
 Canaan, and peacefully observing the institutions 
 of their fathers. 
 
 All this looks like observation, lending its testi- 
 mony to illustrate and verify the averments of scrip- 
 ture. But we may bring the matter nearer home, 
 and render it a subject of experience. 
 
 In the Bible it is written, " There is no peace 
 to the wicked: the way of the wicked is as dark- 
 ness, they know not at what they stumble; and they 
 who hate wisdom," religion, " love death." Now, 
 ask the unregenerate if they do not feel within 
 themselves something like the accomplishment of 
 these declarations. Are they perfectly easy and 
 comfortable in their irreligious course ? Have they 
 no remorse in reflecting upon the past, nor any 
 alarm in looking forward to the future ? Do they 
 never find their hopes blasted, and their schemes 
 defeated ? Do they never look for much when it 
 comes to little, and find a canker in their posses- 
 sions, which consumes the best of their substance ? 
 What explanation can you give of this, unless it 
 be that it is the justice of the Most High, watch- 
 ing over the interests of his government; and faith- 
 fully fulfilling the threatenings of his word against 
 the secure, the worldly, and the carnal; and forc- 
 ing upon the consciences of every succeeding gen- 
 eration of transgressors, the conviction that verily 
 there is a reward to the wicked, verily there is a 
 God that judge th in the earth? 
 
174 
 
 If you know the grace of Christ, then I must 
 put the question, Do you not experience the per- 
 formance of the precious promises with which the 
 word of truth is stored ? It is there said, " Ask, 
 and ye shall receive : seek, and ye shall find." 
 And have you never found, to your delightful, 
 joyful experience, that God is the hearer of prayer ; 
 that before you called, he answered ; and while you 
 were yet speaking, he heard you ; that he has pre- 
 vented you with the blessings of goodness, and ex- 
 ceeded your utmost petitions and requests ? In 
 his word he says, " Fear not, for I am with thee ; 
 be not dismayed, for I am thy God : as thy day is, 
 so shall thy strength be." Now, are these declar- 
 ations true, or false ? What is the testimony of 
 your own experience on the subject ? When in- 
 volved in trouble, when deep has called unto deep, 
 when the proud waves have gone over your head, 
 and when to your apprehension and that of every 
 spectator, your distress seemed insupportable, and 
 your destruction inevitable : to your own astonish- 
 ment, and to the wonder of every beholder, have 
 you not been borne up under the trial ? has not 
 your head been raised high above all vour fears ? 
 darkness been made light before you, and crooked 
 things straight? have you not been mightily 
 upheld amidst all your sufferings, and compassed 
 about with songs of deliverance ? And to what 
 can you ascribe your preservation but to the power 
 and faithfulness of that God who has said, I will 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee : and who has 
 
175 
 
 promised to make all things work together for good 
 to them that love him? 
 
 Now, as from a part we can judge of the whole ; 
 as from the first-fruits we can estimate the quality 
 of the approaching harvest ; and from a single glass 
 can form an idea of the contents of the ocean ; so, 
 from the specimens of Divine tenderness and faith- 
 fulness which in our own experience we have en- 
 joyed, and from the attestations to his fidelity and 
 love transmitted to us from our fathers, we may 
 confidently rely on the immutability of his nature, 
 and the infallible certainty of all the promises con- 
 tained in his word ; and from what we see and 
 know of their exact fulfilment upon earth and in 
 time, we may securely depend on their complete 
 and glorious accomplishment in heaven through 
 eternity. 
 
 When therefore you look at all the evidences 
 which God has given of the truth of the Gospel, 
 and of his sincerity in the free, rich, and precious 
 invitations of his grace ; I must ask you, who are 
 in earnest for eternal life and solicitously inquiring 
 what you must do to be saved, How is it that ye 
 have no faith ? In the operations of nature, men 
 see not the hand and agency of the Most High : 
 but they believe themselves perfectly safe in the 
 world which he has made ; and trust with the most 
 unbounded confidence to the connexion betwixt 
 cause and effect, and to the steadiness and uni- 
 formity of the processes in the material creation. 
 But on what foundation is this universal conviction 
 
176 
 
 built ? Unless such has originally been the will of 
 God, the husbandman, physician, and astronomer, 
 can assign no reason for the appearances which 
 they witness, and the facts upon which their cal- 
 culations and practices are founded. He has given 
 them no Bible to regulate their judgment in their 
 respective pursuits ; nor endowed them with any 
 sense or organ denied to others, by which they 
 can discern his hand and agency, and discover 
 more manifest tokens of his presence and power on 
 the fields of their observation, than he has afforded 
 in the dispensations of his grace. And shall they, 
 in the business of life, without any direct commu- 
 nication from heaven, or any sense or organ with- 
 held from you, believe themselves safe in the world 
 which he sustains, and feel themselves secure in 
 relying on the regularity of the laws which he has 
 prescribed to nature? And after he has lavished 
 on you the contents of the Bible, and poured 
 around your path all the light and radiance of re- 
 velation ; why do you distrust his word, and per- 
 sist in harbouring such an amount of suspicion and 
 jealousy in the face of the strongest and most affect- 
 ing demonstrations of his sincerity and truth ? 
 
 Even supposing that the rules of husbandry, the 
 principles of medicine, and the laws of astronomy, 
 had all been communicated by inspiration ; the stu- 
 dents and practitioners in these arts and sciences, 
 could have had no greater security for the propri- 
 ety and success of their measures, than what you 
 enjoy in matters of religion, and in every subject 
 
177 
 
 connected with the present and everlasting welfare 
 
 of TOUT soul. There is but one God, who is in 
 all, and through all, and over all. He who wields 
 the sceptre over the world of matter, and upholds 
 the mighty mass of creation, is the same who rules 
 in the empire of mind ; who pervades it in all its 
 vast extent ; who superintends all its complicated 
 operations ; and who has given as much stability 
 and firmness to the foundations of Christian hope, 
 as to the ordinances that determine the movements 
 of the planetary system. 
 
 How is it then that you can trust him for your 
 bodies and the business of life ; and that you dis- 
 trust him where your souls and their everlasting 
 welfare are concerned ? Where w r as the faith or 
 consistency of the Israelites, who, after having been 
 delivered by the strong hand of God from the 
 power of Pharaoh, and conducted through the sea 
 on foot, doubted his ability to feed them in the 
 wilderness ? And where is your faith or consist- 
 ency in confiding in the stability of that world 
 which he has made and which he preserves ; and 
 in trusting to the regular succession of day and 
 night, of summer and winter; but distracting your- 
 selves with anxiety and care about the sufficiency 
 of the provisions of his grace, and the safety of your 
 souls ; when in obedience to his word you embrace 
 the invitations of the Gospel, and lay hold on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ as the author of your own eter- 
 nal salvation ? 
 
 In the one case, God has done nothing to con- 
 
178 
 
 firm your hope and confidence which, for a mo- 
 ment, can be compared with the security which he 
 has afforded you in the other. He has not given 
 you his word, his promise, nor his oath, to secure 
 you of the success of your manual labour, and of 
 the steadiness and permanence of the laws of na- 
 ture. And after he has done all this and more, 
 to fortify your dependence upon the declarations 
 of his grace, and to assure all the children of men, 
 that whosoever believeth on his Son shall never 
 perish, but have eternal life ; how is it that ye have 
 no faith ? Within the confines of immensity, is 
 there a power more high and mighty than the God 
 of heaven ? or, amidst all the sacred solemnities 
 employed to give validity and force to the decla- 
 rations of love and mercy, could the God of truth 
 bind himself by more firm and solid bands than his 
 promise, his oath, and the gift of his Son ? And 
 yet, after all these have been employed to ratify his 
 proclamations of generosity and tenderness : how 
 is it that you cannot, that you will not believe ? 
 
 Though creation has no such security nor guard 
 for its stability as his purposes of mercy, and pro- 
 mises of pardon, peace, and reconciliation to the 
 believing penitent: do you regard yourselves as 
 safe in the world which he has made ? Do you 
 never fear lest the earth ; as it wheels with such 
 rapid velocity in its annual revolution, will break 
 away from the invisible course prescribed it ; and, 
 baffling all the exertions of the Almighty to recall 
 it, wander far off into the untrodden tracks of 
 
179 
 
 space, beyond the cheering visitations of heat and 
 day ? And yet while you consider yourselves free 
 from danger in the world which he has made, and 
 which his own providence sustains : how is it that 
 you will not believe yourselves and your eternal 
 interests safe within the limits and protection of 
 that scheme of boundless benignity and mercy, 
 which he planned by his infinite wisdom, and 
 around which he has thrown all the strong and 
 impregnable protection of his omnipotence ? Why 
 will you not believe yourselves secure in the hands 
 of Him, who preserves every planet in its place, 
 and has the whole universe at his command ; and 
 who has engaged himself by every thing tender 
 and touching in goodness, and sacred and binding 
 in sincerity, to receive every sinner that returns, 
 to give eternal life to all those that obey him, and 
 never to leave nor forsake the souls of those that 
 love him ? Has the burden of your temporal in- 
 terests given any shock to the firmness of the globe 
 you dwell on, or any derangement to the regula- 
 rity and magnificence of its movements ? And after 
 you have seen the ark of mercy advancing so stea- 
 dily, so majestically on its course ; are you terrified, 
 lest by throwing on board the additional weight of 
 your eternal all, you shall burst its overstrained 
 strength, and endanger the safety of the whole that 
 it contains? 
 
 I cannot tell you all that the arm of Immanuel 
 has already performed. But I know that he has 
 softened hard and adamantine hearts ; that he has 
 
180 
 
 changed slaves of Satan into sons of God ; that he 
 has driven Jordan back, opened a path for his peo- 
 ple through the ocean; that he has plucked the 
 prey from the grasp of death, and stopped the sun 
 in his course, stretched out the heavens like a cur- 
 tain, and planted immensity with the worlds that 
 occupy and adorn it. Hereafter he will convert 
 Jews and Gentiles, fill the whole earth with his 
 ijlorv, and raise the dead. And is the fulfilment 
 of his promises and the salvation of your soul, a 
 harder task than these manifestations of his might? 
 Trust then in the Lord for ever : for in the Lord 
 Jehovah is everlasting strength. Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but his word shall not pass away. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON THE WANT OF THE ASSURANCE OF 
 SALVATION. 
 
 On the subject of assurance the Christian world 
 has been long widely divided. Some have asserted 
 that it is impossible to attain it, and that it is highly 
 presumptuous either to ask or expect it: whilst 
 others have affirmed that it is not only attainable 
 but absolutely essential to the very nature of faith, 
 and perfectly inseparable from a state of grace. 
 
 In matters of faith, we are not at liberty to call 
 any man master. We have the Scriptures in our 
 own hands: and by the authority of Him who 
 gave them, we are commanded to search them, 
 and to try by the law and the testimony every prin- 
 ciple and every practice which are recommended 
 to our belief and observance. On examining these 
 conflicting opinions by the unerring standard of 
 revelation, we shall find that neither the one nor 
 the other is strictly correct. We shall find that, 
 though the assurance of salvation is neither essen- 
 tial to the nature of faith nor inseparable from a 
 state of grace, it is a blessing which has been 
 attained, which is still attainable, and which it is 
 the duty of every believer to labour to secure. 
 
182 
 
 We affirm, 
 
 I. That the assurance of salvation is neither es- 
 sential to the nature of faith, nor inseparable from 
 a state of grace. 
 
 It must be observed that there is a wide differ- 
 ence betwixt the assurance of faith, and the assur- 
 ance of hope or salvation. The assurance of faith 
 is the belief, the persuasion, or conviction of the 
 truth and certainty of what God has revealed in 
 his word. This is an assurance which is absolute- 
 ly essential to the nature of faith, and without 
 which we cannot justly be denominated believers 
 at all. If we doubt or discredit what the Scrip- 
 tures contain, we are unbelievers. If from the 
 proposition, " God so loved the world that he gave 
 his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;" 
 we take away the certainty of what it states, or 
 in other words, the assurance of the facts which 
 it affirms: what is the consequence? We must 
 either deny these precious truths entirely, or else 
 be left in a state of awful uncertainty whether God 
 has loved the world, whether he has given his only 
 begotten Son for our salvation, and whether faith 
 possesses any connexion with eternal life. And 
 in the same manner, if we are not firmly convinced 
 of the truth and certainty of every promise and 
 declaration of the Bible, we cannot be said to 
 believe them. We in reality are unbelievers : 
 and expose ourselves to all the dreadful conse- 
 
183 
 
 quences of rejecting the testimony of the God of 
 truth. 
 
 We may therefore safely maintain that the 
 assurance of faith, or a clear and full conviction 
 of the reality of the truth believed, is absolutely 
 essential to the nature of faith. In fact, this 
 assurance and faith are one and the same thing. 
 And none who understands the meaning of the 
 language, will ever hesitate for a moment to 
 admit that it is absolutely necessary to the exist 
 ence of religion in the heart. Faith, and the 
 assurance of faith, are only two names for the 
 same thing. 
 
 But the assurance of hope, or of salvation, is 
 quite another matter. This does not consist in the 
 belief of what the Scriptures reveal, but in the 
 knowledge which a Christian possesses of his own 
 interest in the blessings of the Gospel and of his 
 own right to eternal life. It is of this assurance 
 that we aver, that it is neither essential to the 
 nature of faith, nor inseparable from a state of 
 grace. To assert the contrary, would be to affirm 
 that the essence of faith consists in the belief of 
 our own salvation ; that there is no need of the 
 agency of the Holy Spirit to maintain our peace 
 and joy ; that the hope and comfort of believers 
 can never be disturbed nor destroyed by tempta- 
 tion ; that all who labour under doubts and fears 
 are in a state of condemnation ; and that those who 
 are confident and secure respecting their everlast- 
 ing happiness are safe. But are these propositions 
 
184 
 
 consistent with either the letter or spirit of the in- 
 spired records? 
 
 1. If the assurance of salvation were essential 
 to the nature of faith, and inseparable from a state 
 of grace ; then the essence of faith would consist 
 in a belief of our own salvation. 
 
 The Scriptures however represent the essence 
 of faith to consist, not in a belief of our own justi- 
 fication, acceptance with God, nor salvation ; but 
 in a belief of the testimony of God, of the record 
 which he has given concerning his Son. They de- 
 scribe faith by coming unto Christ, by fleeing for 
 refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, re- 
 ceiving Christ, believing on him, and trusting in 
 him. Saving faith may therefore be said to be, 
 not a mere belief of the truth in general, but such 
 a belief as leads the soul to apply to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, for spiritual life and salvation, and to 
 rely on him for all the purposes for which he is 
 offered to us in the gospel. 
 
 Now, though from this act of the soul assurance 
 of salvation may, and ought to result ; it is at the 
 same time evident that, however closely related, 
 they are neither radically the same, nor insepara- 
 bly united. By faith we pass from death unto 
 life : by assurance we know that we have become 
 the subjects of this blessed change. By faith we 
 believe to the saving of the soul : by assurance we 
 know that we have believed through grace. By 
 faith we embrace the Saviour, and obtain an inter- 
 est in all the blessings of his salvation : bv assur- 
 
 
185 
 
 ance we know that Christ and all his fulness are 
 become our own. 
 
 Now though frequently conjoined, it is obvious 
 that in themselves they are totally distinct, and 
 that in the experience of christians they often may 
 be separated. Every living man has a chance for 
 health: but health and life are not inseparable. 
 Every man who is possessed of reason, is capable 
 of learning: but every rational man is far from 
 being a man of literature and science. Some may 
 never have enjoyed an opportunity for cultivating 
 their minds; and others, from the bustle of busi- 
 ness or the decay of memory, may have lost much 
 of the learning which they had once acquired. 
 And in the same manner, though faith and assur- 
 ance are closely allied, they are neither necessarily 
 nor indissolubly connected. Faith may sometimes 
 rise to a calm and settled assurance, and exult with 
 a joy unspeakable and full of glory; and at other 
 times be obliged to contend with weakness and im- 
 perfection, with doubts and fears. In some cases 
 the Christian may know in whom he has believed, 
 and in others be able only to say, Who knows but 
 the Lord may be gracious ? We may take a medi- 
 cine fitted to remove our malady, under a full per- 
 suasion of its efficacy, and yet not be conscious 
 for a time of a begun recovery. The well-known 
 generosity of a man of philanthropy, who never 
 was heard to have rejected a single application, 
 may encourage us in our difficulties to solicit his 
 aid : but till we actually receive his assistance, 
 
186 
 
 we may have many an anxious thought about the 
 success of our petition. And a sinner may apply 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, completely convinced of 
 his ability and willingness to save them to the ut- 
 termost that come to God by him ; and yet be 
 long doubtful whether he himself shall be made a 
 partaker of salvation with eternal glory. Some 
 may never arrive at this blessed hope ; and others, 
 who have enjoyed it for a season, may afterwards 
 lose it. Many, who at one time imagined that 
 their mountain stood strong, and that they never 
 should be moved, have soon been perplexed and 
 troubled. 
 
 In Scripture, accordingly, we find the assur- 
 ance of salvation represented not as the essence, 
 but as one of the fruits and effects of faith. For 
 unless this is the case, why do we find those who 
 have already believed through grace, exhorted to 
 make their calling and election sure ? Why are 
 we told, that " being justified by faith we have peace 
 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom 
 also we have access into this grace wherein we 
 stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God ?" 
 Why do we find such kind and animating promises 
 made to those who sow in tears, who seek the face 
 of God in sorrow, and who are bowed down, and 
 broken in heart ? And why does St. John declare, 
 " These things have I written unto you, that be- 
 lieve on the name of the Son of God, that ye may 
 know that ye have eternal life ?" If assurance of 
 salvation were essential to the nature of faith, and 
 
187 
 
 inseparable from a state of grace ; then everv 
 believer would be endowed with this inestimable 
 blessing, and it would be as superfluous and ab- 
 surd to exhort the people of God to seek it, as to 
 enjoin the innocent to sue for pardon, or the see- 
 ing to pray for eye-sight. 
 
 To affirm therefore that assurance of salvation 
 is essential to the nature of faith, confounds the 
 effect with the cause, the fruits and consequences 
 with the nature and essence of faith. 
 
 2. To assert that assurance of salvation is essen- 
 tial to the nature of faith, supersedes the necessity 
 of the influences of the Holy Spirit to maintain our 
 peace and joy. 
 
 The sacred Scriptures, however, intimate, that 
 though real religion tends to inspire peace, hope, 
 and joy, still assurance does not flow from a work 
 of grace by any natural necessity, as heat from the 
 fire, or light from the body of the sun. It is the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit ; who is not only the source 
 of spiritual life and vigour, but also the author of 
 peace and comfort ; and who may give or withhold 
 hope and consolation, in any measure or proportion 
 that he knows to be most for his own glory, and our 
 best and eternal interests. When our ways please 
 the Lord, he makes our enemies be at peace with us. 
 He makes his paths towards us mercy and truth ; and 
 fills us with a peace that passeth all understanding, 
 and a joy that is unspeakable, and full of glory. 
 But if we rebel and vex the Holy Spirit, he will 
 turn to be our enemy, and fight against us. He 
 
188 
 
 will withdraw the reviving, strengthening, and 
 cheering influences of his grace : and, as all the 
 ingenuity of man is utterly unable to produce light 
 to supply the place of the sun, so, when he with- 
 holds the elevating and comforting communica- 
 tions of his love, all the contrivances of the Chris- 
 tian are totally inadequate for the removal of the 
 trouble which he feels, and the restoration of the 
 joys which he has forfeited. 
 
 This is a case of frequent occurrence. For, 
 though by the provisions of the everlasting cove- 
 nant, and the power and grace of the Saviour, all 
 the children of God are effectually secured against 
 apostasy and final perdition ; yet, to manifest 
 their own weakness, and teach them the necessity 
 of habitual and unremitting dependence upon his 
 care and protection, they are often left to bitter 
 and long backslidings. Such, however, is the 
 rooted aversion which he entertains to all sin, that 
 he will not allow it to pass with impunity even in 
 his own people. If they forsake his law and walk 
 not in his judgments ; if they break his statutes and 
 keep not his commandments ; to awaken them to 
 contrition, to recall them from their wanderings, 
 and compel them to return and seek their rest and 
 happiness in himself, he gives his judgments a 
 commission to pursue them, lays bands on their 
 loins, causes men ride over their heads, visits 
 their transgressions with the rod, and their ini- 
 quities with stripes, and makes their own wicked- 
 ness correct them, and their backslidings reprove 
 
189 
 
 them. Under these painful visitations, however, 
 it is sometimes difficult, if not impossible, to dis- 
 tinguish betwixt the corrections of a friend, and 
 the rebukes of an adversary ; betwixt the salutary 
 chastisements of a parent, and the vindictive in- 
 flictions of a judge. In these circumstances, 
 though still interested in all the riches of redeem- 
 ing mercy ; the believer, like a child under the 
 frown of his father, is terrified lest he shall be cast 
 out from the Divine presence, and given over to 
 blindness of mind and hardness of heart. 
 
 3. If the assurance of salvation be essential to 
 the nature of faith, and inseparable from a state of 
 grace, the hope and comfort of believers can never 
 be destroyed nor disturbed by temptation. 
 
 There is however no truth so certain, but what 
 some Christian or other has been led, under vio- 
 lent and long continued temptation, to call in 
 question. Doubts, at times, have been started 
 in their minds of the existence of God, of the im- 
 mortality of the soul, and of the reality of the 
 whole Christian system. Now, if believers have 
 been induced to suspect these obvious and indis- 
 putable facts, how much more must they have 
 been found to distrust the genuineness of their 
 own religion, and their interest in the promises 
 of the everlasting Gospel ? Can it be suppos- 
 ed that they could retain the assurance of 
 their salvation, when tempted to entertain doubts 
 of the fundamental principles of natural and 
 revealed religion, and to deny the existence 
 i 2 
 
190 
 
 of salvation altogether ? The most holy man, 
 however, that lives, is rrot beyond the reach of 
 Satan's assaults, nor secured against the most 
 foul and blasphemous suggestions. If the devil, 
 when he said, " if thou be the Son of God," en- 
 deavoured to insinuate into the mind of our Lord 
 a doubt concerning his Sonship, how much more 
 must his followers be liable to suspicions and fears 
 respecting their adoption ? If the head was thus 
 assailed, how sadly must the members suffer ? 
 
 4. If the assurance of salvation be essential to 
 the nature of faith, then every one who labours 
 under doubts and fears, must be in a state of con- 
 demnation. 
 
 From the Bible, however, we are taught to re- 
 gard all as in a state of grace, and heirs of the 
 great salvation ; who, from a discovery of their 
 guilt and danger, have been compelled to flee for 
 refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them ; 
 who have embraced the Lord Jesus Christ as all 
 their salvation and all their desire ; and whilst they 
 rely on him for righteousness and strength, are 
 constrained by his love to crucify the flesh with all 
 its affections, and glorify him in their soul, body, 
 and spirit. But many who have given the most 
 ample evidence of their having been born again, 
 and renewed in the spirit of their minds, have been 
 far from always enjoying the comfortable sense of 
 God's love, and of their interest in the great salva- 
 tion. They have been filled with doubts and fears, 
 with alarm and trouble. They have walked in 
 
191 
 
 darkness and had no light. They have gone 
 mourning without the sun. Like Heman they 
 have been laid in the lowest deeps, where the wrath 
 of God has gone over them, and where they have 
 trembled lest in his anger he would cut them off*. 
 With Asaph they have been led to ask, " Will 
 the Lord cast off for ever, and be favourable no 
 more ? Is his mercy clean gone for ever, doth his 
 promise fail for ever more ?" 
 
 Now, as it is impossible to be neutral ; as every 
 man who is not a believer must be an unbeliever, 
 it follows, either that there are many christians 
 who have no assurance of their own salvation, or 
 that there are many who have all the marks and 
 characters of the people of God, their humility, 
 contrition, their submission to his will, their de- 
 votedness to his honour, their love for his presence, 
 and their longing for spiritual enjoyments, while 
 they are in the gall of bitterness and bond of ini- 
 quity : a conclusion which is utterly inconsistent 
 with the letter and spirit of the whole sacred vo- 
 lume. 
 
 5. If the assurance of salvation be essential to 
 the nature of faith, then all who are secure and 
 confident respecting their everlasting happiness 
 must be safe. 
 
 Nothing, however, appears to be more remote 
 from the truth : and I have no hesitation in affirm- 
 ing, not only that a man may be in a state of grace 
 whilst destitute of the assurance of salvation, but 
 
192 
 
 that some christians, who are filled with alarm 
 respecting their final condition, are in a far more 
 hopeful state, than many who live at their ease, and 
 entertain no apprehension about their everlasting 
 felicity. 
 
 Salvation is an object of infinite importance. 
 It augurs well of a man to hear of his doubts and 
 fears about his eternal welfare. This shows that 
 he has some concern about the subject, and en- 
 courages the hope that he is laying it seriously to 
 heart. It is a most alarming circumstance to find 
 any man, in an affair of such magnitude, too calm 
 and confident. It naturally excites a suspicion that 
 he has neither part nor lot in the matter : for if he 
 were aware of its immense value, he would from 
 time to time discover a solicitude to examine the 
 foundation of his hope and ascertain the safety of 
 his state. If you see two travellers; the one, with- 
 out ever looking after his luggage, making a great 
 noise about the treasure which it contains; and the 
 other, without saying much about the matter, fre- 
 quently examining if his baggage be secure ; you 
 would be at no loss to pronounce which of them 
 acted the most rational part, and was likely to be 
 possessed of the greatest wealth. And the man 
 who says least about his hopes, but gives the great- 
 est diligence to make his calling and election sure, 
 is generally more alive to religion, and far nearer 
 the kingdom of heaven, than the professor, who 
 flatters himself on the safety of his state, but is 
 
193 
 
 careless about the means of advancing his growth 
 
 hi grace, and promoting his progress in holiness 
 and spirituality. 
 
 Anxiety and alarm are distressing and painful : 
 but they are at the same time salutary. If the man 
 is already savingly converted, they will soon pass 
 away, and the end will be peace : and if he is not 
 vet reconciled to God, if they are of a sound and 
 genuine nature, they will never leave him till he is 
 established in the faith. But amongst all the me- 
 lancholy objects which w r e meet, none is so affect- 
 ing and overpowering as the sight of men, whose 
 temper and conduct prove that they are in the gall 
 of bitterness and bond of iniquity; and yet are 
 perfectly secure and easy; and, in spite of every 
 remonstrance, persevere in the lulling and deceitful 
 cry of Peace, peace, till their feet stumble upon 
 the dark mountains, and the shadows of death close 
 for ever around them. If the Christian be pos- 
 sessed of the assurance of faith; hypocrites and for- 
 malists have the confidence of presumption; and 
 the blind boldness of the latter is often far more 
 impregnable, than the peace and hope of the for- 
 mer. Whilst the strong man armed keepeth his 
 house, there is frequently as great quietness within, 
 as when it is brought under the power of a 
 stronger than he. The dearest of God's saints 
 have at times been in perplexity and despondence; 
 when the foolish virgins were secure; and those 
 who were farthest from acceptance with God, shew 
 by their address to our Redeemer, in the day of 
 
194 
 
 judgment, that they entertained the firmest persua- 
 sion of their safety. " Lord, Lord, have we not 
 prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast 
 out devils, and in thy name have done many won- 
 derful works? And then will I profess unto them, 
 I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work 
 iniquity." 
 
 If therefore the essence of faith consists, not in 
 our confidence of our safety; but in the reliance of 
 the soul upon Christ for salvation ; if assurance of 
 our interest in the love of God is the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost, and forfeited by our secure and care- 
 less walk; if during bitter and violent temptation, 
 without losing our relation to the Saviour, we may 
 not only be deprived of the hope of heaven, but 
 even of the exercise of faith itself; if many of the 
 people of God have been compelled to walk in 
 darkness without light, while they continued dear 
 to his heart; and above all, if some Christians, 
 who are filled with alarms and fears respecting 
 their everlasting interest, are in a far more hope- 
 ful condition, than many professors, who live at 
 their ease and have the most absolute confidence 
 in their final felicity : then we are warranted to 
 conclude, that the assurance of salvation is neither 
 essential to the nature of faith, nor inseparable 
 from a state of grace ; and that a man may be a 
 child of God and an heir of heaven, though at 
 times uncertain of his situation, and apprehensive 
 of the issue of his hopes and expectations. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to provide for the 
 
195 
 
 comfort and establishment of those whose souls 
 are broken and bowed down, from an apprehen- 
 sion that they are in a graceless condition, because 
 they are destitute of the assurance of salvation; in 
 faithfulness to a far more numerous class, and 
 who are in a far more dangerous situation, I must 
 now show, 
 
 II. That the assurance of salvation is a bless- 
 ing which has been attained, and which is still 
 attainable. 
 
 That this is the case we may infer, 
 
 1. From the love which the Lord Jesus Christ 
 bears to his people. 
 
 He has loved them with an everlasting love, and 
 therefore with loving-kindness he has drawn them. 
 From love to us he left the throne of heaven, 
 assumed our nature, suffered, bled, and died. 
 From love to us he rose from the dead, ascended 
 to the right hand of the Majesty on high, watches 
 over all our interests, guides us by his counsel, 
 protects us by his power, and keeps us as the apple 
 of his eye. Now, can we suppose that he has so 
 long taken such a deep and tender interest in our 
 welfare; and that during the whole of our pilgrim- 
 age, he will conceal from us every discovery of his 
 peculiar and endearing love ? Would he die for 
 our redemption, and with the feelings of a brother, 
 intercede for us in the presence of his Father ; 
 and after all, leave us, till our dying day, in a 
 state of painful uncertainty whether we shall be 
 
196 
 
 saved or lost? We cannot for a moment enter- 
 tain such a harsh and dishonourable thought. For 
 the correction of our faults, or the trial of our faith 
 and patience, he may for a season withdraw the 
 light of his countenance, and involve us in per- 
 plexity and trouble. But the strong affection 
 which he bears us, the numerous and costly proofs 
 which he has given of his strong and everlasting 
 regard, are all a security and pledge that sooner or 
 later we shall be honoured with the manifestation 
 of his favour, and blessed with a foretaste of our 
 future and eternal joy. 
 
 That believers may arrive at a knowledge of 
 their salvation may be inferred, 
 
 2. From the change which they undergo at 
 regeneration. 
 
 When we are admitted into the family of God, 
 we not only receive a new name, but are likewise 
 made partakers of a new nature. We are not only 
 invested with a title to the kingdom of heaven, 
 but also with a meetness for the inheritance of the 
 saints in light. Old habits are broken off, and 
 new ones formed. We are made to dislike the 
 things which we formerly loved, and pursue the 
 things which we previously shunned and hated. 
 We are made to experience a radical and total 
 transformation : for " if any man be in Christ, he 
 is a new creature ; old things are passed away ; 
 behold all things are become new. Whom God did 
 foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed 
 to the image of his Son, that he might be the 
 
197 
 
 first-born among many brethren. " And so abso- 
 lutely essential is this renovation of nature, and 
 this conformity to the image of the Saviour, to the 
 existence of religion in the heart, that, "if any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
 
 Now, shall a man undergo such a great and 
 astonishing change; and after all be unable to ascer- 
 tain its existence ? Shall we be renewed in the 
 spirit of our minds, created again in Christ Jesus 
 unto good works, and rendered not merely reformed 
 or altered men, but new creatures ; and after all, 
 are we to imagine that it is impossible in any case 
 to arrive at a knowledge of the fact, and that 
 we must through the whole of life remain ignorant 
 of this blessed and gracious transformation ? 
 
 If any great alteration takes place in our outward 
 circumstances ; if from a state of poverty we are 
 raised to affluence ; if from pining sickness we are 
 restored to health; if by patient application to 
 study, from being ignorant and illiterate, we 
 acquire literature and science; we soon become 
 sensible of the agreeable improvement. The 
 delightful transition is not published to the world, 
 and concealed from ourselves : we are the first to 
 know it. And shall we imagine that a man may 
 be the subject of the greatest of all changes ; that 
 from being a sinner he shall become a saint ; that 
 from being careless about his soul, and the adora- 
 ble Redeemer, he shall be in earnest for eternal 
 life, and regard Jesus as all his salvation and all his 
 
198 
 
 desire ; and yet never be able to discover the inter- 
 esting and momentous fact ? 
 
 The change may be accomplished suddenly or 
 slowly; it may be produced openly and visibly; oy 
 take place in a manner secret and unobserved : 
 for there are diversities of operations: and in form- 
 ing the soul anew, the Holy Spirit is not confined 
 to any particular mode, nor restrained by any fixed 
 and immutable law. He acts according to the 
 good pleasure of his will. But still, in whatever 
 way the change takes place, at whatever age, or 
 by whatever means it is accomplished, the conse- 
 quences are great and lasting; so that from the effect 
 we are at no loss to ascertain the nature and reality 
 of the cause. The descent of the dew may escape 
 observation : but when we see it lying on the grass 
 all around, we are certain that it must have fallen. 
 A child can give no account of the commencement 
 of his existence, nor of the time and manner in 
 which his soul joined his body : but no sooner does 
 he arrive at the exercise of reason, than he is con- 
 vinced that his being must have had a beginning, 
 and that at some time or other his soul must have 
 been united to his body. And the Christian 
 too may be unable to tell exactly by what means 
 he was brought to the knowledge of the truth, or 
 to describe distinctly how the blessed change 
 began, and was carried on. He may have learned 
 much from one sermon, and more from another. 
 He may have profited much by one exercise or 
 
199 
 
 ordinance, and more by another. M So is the 
 kingdom of Clod, as if a man should cast seed 
 into the ground: and should sleep and rise night and 
 day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he 
 knoweth not how : for the earth bringeth forth 
 fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after 
 that the full corn in the ear." But though unable 
 to describe the process, by which he was brought 
 from nature to grace: yet when he is established in 
 the faith, he must find a great and total difference 
 betwixt what he was once and what he is now ; so 
 that, like the man whom our Lord had cured of his 
 blindness, who declared, " One thing I know, that, 
 whereas I was blind, now I see;" when the believer 
 takes a calm and enlightened survey of his present 
 state in contrast with his past condition, he also 
 will be able to say, " One thing I know, that, 
 whereas by nature I neither knew God nor loved 
 him, the desire of my heart is now to him and to 
 the remembrance of his name ; whereas I walked 
 according to the course of this world, and lived in 
 the vanity of my mind ; now my heart's desire 
 and prayer are, that Christ may be magnified in 
 me, whether that shall be by life or by death : for 
 whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is 
 none upon earth whom I desire besides thee." 
 And if such is the result which a Christian's 
 examination of his own experience is calculated to 
 afford ; is it not obvious that the assurance of sal- 
 vation may at times be attained, and that the Spirit 
 
200 
 
 himself will bear witness with our spirits, that we 
 are the children of God? 
 
 3. Assurance is a blessing which has been 
 attained. 
 
 In the psalms we frequently find David speaking 
 of his gracious relation to God: calling himself his 
 servant, and the Lord the portion of his inherit- 
 ance. With all the confidence and calmness of 
 one who had the witness in himself that he was 
 born from above, and that he was an heir of the 
 righteousness of faith, he declares on his deathbed, 
 that God had made with him an everlasting cove- 
 nant, ordered in all things, and sure. Job pos- 
 sessed the same exalted and delightful attainment, 
 when he said, " I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
 and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
 earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy 
 this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom 
 I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, 
 and not another." And did not Paul too enjoy the 
 same sublime and animating confidence, when he 
 said, " I know whom I have believed, and am per- 
 suaded that he is able to keep that which I have 
 committed unto him against that day ?" Was it not 
 in consequence of this assurance that he declared, 
 " 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, who loved me, and gave 
 himself for me?" Was it not under the influence 
 of the same strong and glorious hope, that on the 
 
201 
 
 survey of his long career, and the near prospect 
 of its violent and bloody termination, with holy 
 boldness and sacred triumph he said, " I have 
 fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
 I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up 
 for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
 the righteous judge, shall give me at that day ?" 
 
 From such language, it is evident that these 
 holy men had no doubt of their own interest in the 
 covenant of grace. And is it credible that this 
 precious blessing was imparted to them, and that 
 it will be withheld from others, who walk in their 
 steps and are partakers of their faith ? Is there 
 partiality or respect of persons with God ? Shall 
 one man be saved by grace through faith ; and 
 shall another man, who cleaves to grace through 
 faith, be lost ? And shall one man by the exercise 
 of faith on the Son of God, arrive at the assurance 
 of his own eternal safety ; and shall another man, 
 who seeks the same blessing in the same manner, 
 be prevented from ever reaching it ? 
 
 That this blessing was intended for the benefit 
 of all believers who seek it, in the manner which 
 God has prescribed in his word, is manifest, 
 
 4. From the exhortations which in Scripture are 
 given to seek it. 
 
 In one place we are exhorted to " give dilligence 
 to make our calling and election sure;" and in 
 another to " give the same diligence to the full 
 assurance of hope unto the end." But if it be im- 
 possible to secure a knowledge of our own salva- 
 
202 
 
 tion, for what purpose were these injunctions left 
 on record ? Were they written merely to tanta- 
 lize us with empty and fallacious hopes, and excite 
 our industry in a direction absolutely unavailing? 
 Men destitute of sensibility, and completely har- 
 dened in crime, may sport with the feelings of 
 their fellow-creatures, and amuse them with hopes 
 which they never intend to realize : but the Father 
 of mercies and the God of love never enjoins any 
 duty that is impracticable, nor inspires any expec- 
 tations which he has no intention to fulfil. 
 
 On the same principle therefore on which I be- 
 lieve that truth, honesty, and sobriety, are all prac- 
 ticable duties, because they are inculcated in the 
 Bible ; from the exhortations to make our calling 
 and election sure, and to give diligence to the full 
 assurance of hope, I am also obliged to believe 
 that the assurance of salvation is an attainable 
 blessing. These injunctions to seek it are a pledge 
 of the love and veracity of the Lord, that, if we 
 employ the diligence which he has prescribed, and 
 in the manner which he has directed, we shall not 
 labour in vain, nor spend our strength for nought, 
 but shall most certainly "know, if we follow on to 
 know the Lord." 
 
 This conclusion is confirmed, 
 
 5. By the promises of God. 
 
 " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
 him, and he will shew them his covenant. He 
 that believeth hath the witness in himself." Be- 
 lievers are represented as possessing the first-fruits 
 
203 
 
 of the Spirit; as knowing their calling and election 
 of God : as rejoicing in hope of his glory ; as now 
 the sons of God, but that it doth not yet appear 
 what they shall be ; as knowing that they are of 
 God, and as having fellowship with the Father and 
 with his Son Jesus Christ. And our blessed Lord 
 himself declares, " He that loveth me shall be 
 loved of my Father, and I will love him, and 
 manifest myself to him. If a man love me, he 
 will keep my words : and my Father will love 
 him, and w r e will come unto him, and make our 
 abode with him." 
 
 From all these circumstances taken together : 
 from the love of Christ to his people ; from the 
 nature of regeneration ; from the example of the 
 saints; from the exhortations and promises of 
 Scripture, we are warranted to maintain that the 
 assurance of hope is an attainable blessing. 
 
 I must go farther, and add, that, 
 
 III. It is the duty of every Christian to labour 
 to secure it. 
 
 The duty of seeking this blessing will appear by 
 considering either the command of God, or the 
 multiplied advantages with which the assurance 
 of salvation is attended. 
 
 1. The command of God on the subject is clear 
 and explicit. And w r hen nothing more than his 
 authority is requisite to render any practice or 
 pursuit our binding and indispensable duty ; after 
 he has so distinctly and forcibly enjoined us to 
 
204 
 
 make our calling and election sure, and to give 
 diligence to the full assurance of hope, it must be 
 at our peril, if we despise or neglect a precept so 
 express and solemn. 
 
 2. The advantages with which the assurance of 
 salvation is attended, are numerous and invalu- 
 able. 
 
 It dignifies and ennobles the soul. For what 
 can raise the mind to a higher elevation; give it a 
 more decisive superiority over all that is low, 
 grovelling and base ; or fill it with a more exalted 
 and delightful consciousness of its own real digni- 
 ty, its renovated grandeur, and the boundless ex- 
 tent of the glory and felicity to which it shall ulti- 
 mately rise ; than to know that w r e are the children 
 of God, the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and the heirs of his eternal kingdom ? Can any 
 honour or distinction be more joyous and transport- 
 ing, than to have a sense of our reconciliation to 
 God, and of our interest in redeeming love, demon- 
 strated to our understanding, and impressed upon 
 our hearts; and to be able, amidst all the duties 
 and labours, the trials and distresses of life, to 
 say, " This God is my God for ever and ever, 
 and Jesus is my beloved and my friend ?" 
 
 It sanctifies and purifies the heart, and renders 
 its possessor active in the cause of God and good- 
 ness. Having the love of God shed abroad in his 
 soul by the Holy Ghost, possessed of the spirit 
 of adoption, and knowing his calling and election 
 of God, the believer feels an alliance to Deity, 
 
205 
 
 breathes the air of paradise, has a fellowship with 
 the happy spirits before the throne, and trans* 
 fuses into his temper and conduct, something of 
 the unsullied purity and seraphic ardour, which 
 adorn the characters, and dignify the services of 
 the inhabitants of heaven. Where was there a 
 man that ever rose higher in faith, or love, or 
 holiness ; a man whose soul was more completely 
 free from the dross and dregs of mortality ; a man 
 who followed the Lord more fully, and was more 
 zealously devoted to his honour ; a man who had 
 acquired more of an angel's mind, and possessed 
 more of the spirit of his adorable Master, than 
 Paul? But the great spring of all his activity, the 
 rich source of all his consolations, the grand im- 
 pelling principle which carried him forward with 
 such matchless energy in his divine career, was a 
 knowledge of his union to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and of his interest in the great salvation. " The 
 love of Christ," says he, " constraineth me. I 
 know whom I have believed. The life that I live, 
 I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
 me, and gave himself for me." And did we pos- 
 sess the same blessed assurance in the same high 
 and solid degree, it would still produce the same 
 glorious and transforming effects. 
 
 It supports and cheers the mind under the 
 various trials and distresses of life. Without this 
 assurance, the mind, in a time of trouble and danger, 
 is in a state of perpetual agitation and distraction ; 
 like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and 
 
 K 
 
206 
 
 tossed. But this assurance proves an anchor to the 
 soul, which keeps it sure and steadfast ; gives stabi- 
 lity to the sublime and bliss-creating expectations of 
 the mind; and preserves it, amidst all the attacks 
 and all the foes that can assail it, in perfect serenity 
 and unbroken peace. Our condition may be low, and 
 our lot calamitous; our worldly affairs may be in dis- 
 order, and our friends may prove false and treach- 
 erous ; the dear companions of our youth may be 
 sleeping in the dust, and our once happy habita- 
 tions may be laid in darkness and desolation by 
 the ravages of death ; but none of these things can 
 move us, when we know that we have God for 
 our portion, Jesus for our Saviour, and heaven 
 for our inheritance and home. By disclosing the 
 extent of our security, and giving a present sub- 
 sistence to the objects of our hopes, it disarms ad- 
 versity of its gloom, death of its sting, and the 
 grave of its horrors. It has carried thousands 
 comfortably, joyfully, through the greatest fight of 
 afflictions, and brought them off with more than 
 victory. It will enable us to take a calm and 
 steady survey of all the terrific forms in which tri- 
 bulation can possibly assault us, and then to say, 
 in the intrepid tone and holy triumph of the 
 Apostle, " Who shall separate us from the love 
 of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecu- 
 tion, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? 
 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquer- 
 ors, through him that loved us. For I am per- 
 suaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor 
 
207 
 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
 other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
 the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'* 
 
 J 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OX DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE REMAINS OF 
 CORRUPTION. 
 
 There is nothing on which the hearts of Chris- 
 tians are more strongly and intensely set than ho- 
 liness. Their great ambition is to be conformed to 
 the will of God. They are delighted with every 
 additional spiritual attainment which they gain ; 
 and rejoice in the prospect of heaven, because there 
 they shall be like Christ, for they shall see him 
 as he is. 
 
 But sin is the abominable thing which they hate : 
 and in proportion to the degree in which they love 
 holiness, are the pain and self-abasement which 
 they feel when prevented from reaching the sacred 
 elevations which they admire, and the shame and 
 consternation which they experience when betrayed 
 into the offences which they abhor. Could we 
 follow them into their closets we should find them 
 prostrate before the Lord, complaining in all the 
 bitterness of the most oppressive vexation that 
 they cannot do the things that they would, that 
 they are beset with temptations, and overtaken 
 with iniquity. 
 
209 
 
 When, time after time, the corruption, which 
 they hoped was subdued or entirely eradicated, 
 breaks out, and surprises them by its power and 
 prevalence ; they suspect that their religion is 
 delusive, and that they are still in all the guilt, de- 
 gradation, and wretchedness of a natural condition. 
 If their religion were real, they believe that they 
 would be growing in grace, going from strength 
 to strength, shining in the beauties of holiness, 
 and abounding in the fruits of righteousness. 
 Their frequent falls and gross imperfections lead 
 them to fear that they are far from God and far 
 from hope. 
 
 On the subject of indwelling-sin two opinions have 
 been advanced, alike opposite to the dictates of 
 inspiration, and hostile to the interests of practical 
 godliness. Whilst some, greatly to the grief of 
 the children of God, have maintained that believ- 
 ers in the present life rise superior to the remains 
 of corruption ; others with equal positiveness, to the 
 lamentable encouragement of carelessness and se- 
 curity, contend that religion consists in an assent 
 to the truths of Christianity; and that, whatever 
 may be a man's spirit and practice, as long as he 
 retains this assent he is in a state of safety. 
 
 In order to disentangle this subject from em- 
 barrassment and perplexity, and at once to pre- 
 vent the licentious perversion of the doctrine of 
 indwelling-sin, and provide for the establishment 
 and comfort of the believer, who suspects that he 
 is in a state of condemnation because he is molested 
 
210 
 
 with the remains of corruption; it will be necessary 
 to shpw ; 
 
 I. That religion produces a great change upon 
 the character. 
 
 II. That it does not in this life make the Chris- 
 tian perfect : but 
 
 III. That amidst all his falls and infirmities, 
 he is essentially different from the irreligious and 
 carnal. 
 
 I. Religion produces a great and thorough 
 change upon the character of those who em- 
 brace it. 
 
 It does not bestow merely the remission of sins, 
 but likewise a renewal of nature. Were we to as- 
 sert that it imparted no more than the forgiveness 
 of iniquity, the consequences would be most horrid 
 and ruinous. If by a mere assent to the doctrines 
 of the Gospel men obtained the pardon of all their 
 trespasses, without being laid under any obligation 
 to love and serve God, or brought to devote them- 
 selves to a life of piety and holiness ; this would 
 open the flood-gates of vice, and make Christ the 
 minister of sin. And what a perversion is this of 
 the blessed Gospel ! and what an insufferable insult 
 to our adorable Redeemer and Lord ! Did he 
 come into the world, endure the outrage of ungodly 
 men, submit to the agonies of Gethsemane and 
 the tortures of the cross, to save his people in 
 their sins ? to form by his mediation a highway, 
 
211 
 
 along which, in hourly succession, the vices and 
 crimes, bad passions and bad tempers of earth, 
 might be conveyed into heaven, and the kingdom 
 of God filled with all the filth and impurity that 
 darken and disgrace our globe ? He came to save 
 his people from their sins ; to destroy the works of 
 the devil ; to purify to himself a peculiar people 
 zealous of good works. He came, not to crowd 
 heaven with the trash, scum, and offscourings of 
 this world ; but with a people who are redeemed 
 from all iniquity, who are conformed to his own 
 image, and who have washed their robes, and made 
 them white in his blood. 
 
 If the forgiveness of sins and a right to eternal 
 life be all that is necessary for our salvation, what 
 is the use of the Holy Ghost ? Why has he been 
 sent down to renew us in the spirit of our minds, 
 to create us again in Christ Jesus unto good works, 
 to create in us clean hearts, and renew right 
 spirits within us ? If any man be in Christ he is a 
 new creature. The renovation of our nature is as 
 indispensable to salvation, as faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. We are just as distinctly told, that except 
 a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom 
 of God, as that he that belie veth not shall be damned. 
 He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified 
 are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed 
 to call them brethren. Jesus was holy, harmless, 
 and undefiled, and separate from sinners. And 
 the Scriptures assure us, that if any man have not 
 the spirit of Christ he is none of his. 
 
212 
 
 The society and services of heaven are pure 
 and holy. What enjoyment could a carnal mind 
 derive from its inexhaustible sources of ecstasy 
 and bliss ? or what fitness could it possess for the 
 sublime and ennobling employments of that bliss- 
 ful world ? To the unregenerate soul, all these 
 ineffable delights are insipid, or rather disgusting 
 and odious. The Sabbath is a weariness. Prayer 
 and religious exercises are offensive or intolerable. 
 And what satisfaction could men in such a state 
 receive from all the elevating services, and over- 
 whelming splendour of celestial glory ? The 
 dissipated have no pleasure in the comfort of so- 
 briety, nor the illiterate in the disclosures of learn- 
 ing and science. What fellowship hath righteous- 
 ness with unrighteousness ? and what communion 
 hath light with darkness ? 
 
 Did those who, in former ages, believed on 
 Jesus, neglect good works ? Did those w r ho have 
 already entered into the regions of everlasting rest, 
 gain admission there without a clean heart and a 
 right spirit ? or do any of the faithful now on earth, 
 treat the obligations of piety with indifference, or 
 shew a contempt for the claims of enlightened 
 beneficence, and practical godliness ? The faithful 
 in former ages laboured to adorn the Gospel by 
 the benignity of their tempers, and the holiness of 
 their lives : and those in the present day who are 
 reconciled unto God by the Gospel of his Son, 
 are careful to purify themselves even as he is pure. 
 They have their conversation in heaven and their 
 
213 
 
 fruit unto holiness. They live by faith and walk 
 with God, Having the hope that when Christ 
 shall appear, they shall be like him, they purify 
 themselves even as he is pure. 
 
 But whilst religion makes a great and thorough 
 change upon the heart and conduct of those who 
 embrace it ; for the relief of those who suspect 
 that they are in a graceless condition, because they 
 are harassed with the remains of corruption, it 
 must be observed, that, 
 
 II. The sanctification, or holiness of believers, 
 is never complete in the present life. 
 
 The Bible uniformly represents religion as a 
 progressive principle ; which can be strengthened 
 and improved by care and culture, but which never 
 in this world reaches full maturity and perfection. 
 The righteous holdeth on his way, and he that 
 hath clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger. 
 Through every step of his pilgrimage, and to 
 the very last hour of his life, the believer is fol- 
 lowed by the obligation to go from strength to 
 strength, to forget those things which are behind, 
 and reach forth unto those things which are before. 
 The most holy and heavenly-minded man on this 
 side of the world of glory, finds that he has not 
 fulfilled all the duties which he owes to God, nor 
 secured all the spiritual attainments to which he 
 has access : and that however great his services, 
 or multiplied his enjoyments, he is bound to be 
 still growing in grace, and increasing in the know- 
 ledge of God. 
 
 k2 
 
214 
 
 So far from discharging every trust and crowd- 
 ing every spiritual acquisition into their possession, 
 the best and holiest of men discover that in many 
 things they offend, and in all that they sin and 
 come short of the glory of God. It was not Saul, 
 Absalom, Ahithophel, nor any of the profligate and 
 abandoned in the court or the country of Judea; 
 but David, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the 
 sweet singer of Israel, the man after God's own 
 heart, who exclaimed, " Iniquities prevail against 
 me : Who can understand his errors ? Cleanse 
 thou me from secret faults." And it was not Demas 
 the apostate, nor Judas the traitor ; but Paul, the 
 stedfast adherent of the faith, the zealous and 
 indefatigable apostle of the cross, who cried out, 
 " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death ?" After his un- 
 rivalled labours and appalling sufferings in the 
 service of his Master, and the multiplied and in- 
 valuable proofs which he had received of his pre- 
 sence and favour ; w r e hear him declaring that he 
 had not attained, neither was already perfect. 
 Throughout the whole of life he found a law, that, 
 when he would do good, evil was present with him: 
 and w r hile he delighted in the law of God after the 
 inward man, he saw another law r in his members, 
 warring against the law r of his mind, and bring- 
 ing him into captivity to the law of sin which was 
 in his members. 
 
 So far from arriving at perfection in this life, I 
 have no hesitation in affirming that believers are 
 frequently prevented from doing the good which 
 
215 
 
 they love and admire, and betrayed into the evils 
 which they dread and abhor. 
 
 i. They are frequently prevented from doing 
 the gopd which they love and admire. 
 
 It is indeed no difficult matter to perform the 
 external duties of religion. While they have eyes, 
 it is easy to read the Scriptures. While they have 
 ears, they experience no hardship in listening to 
 the preaching of the Gospel. While they have 
 money, they are at no loss to give alms. And 
 while they retain the use of their reason, they en- 
 counter no great obstacle in framing their words 
 into the shape of a petition, and uttering them in 
 the style of prayer. But all these are the mere 
 form and shadow of Christianity. The life and 
 essence of religion consist in the exercise of the 
 heart : and when this animating principle is awant- 
 ing, the most splendid and costly round of outward 
 observances is as dead and useless, as the body 
 when the soul has fled. God is a spirit, and they 
 that worship him must worship him in spirit and 
 in truth. 
 
 And knowing that God is a spirit, and delight- 
 ing in him after the inward man ; if he could get 
 his wish every believer would serve him with his 
 spirit. He would never pray, but as with the 
 Holy Ghost sent down from heaven : he would 
 never look at the cross, but with a bleeding and 
 broken heart : he would never utter a sentence of 
 thanksgiving, without lifting up his soul with his 
 song of praise : he would never approach a reli- 
 
216 
 
 gious ordinance, without going to God, to God 
 his exceeding joy. If he could, he would stand 
 complete in all the will of God. He would eradi- 
 cate every remnant of evil from his nature : extir- 
 pate vice from the globe : fill the whole earth with 
 the glory of the Lord : be perpetually employed in 
 works of faith and labours of love ; and never em- 
 bark in a duty nor engage in any undertaking, with- 
 out throwing his whole heart and soul into the ser- 
 vice, and rivalling the spirituality and fervour of 
 the just made perfect, and the enraptured hosts 
 who encircle the throne of the Eternal. 
 
 But can he do the things that he would ? Can 
 he give to the great and adorable Jehovah all the 
 glory due unto his name, and all the homage and 
 obedience that he longs to render ? Is there at 
 this moment breathing within the confines of the 
 planet which we occupy, or is there to be found 
 within the records of time, a single believer who 
 has obtained all the holiness that he could covet ? 
 who has done all the good that he could desire ? 
 and who, till he enter the regions of light, could 
 solicit no accession to his religious virtues and 
 spiritual enjoyments ? So far from having ac- 
 quired all the holiness and spirituality which he 
 could wish ; where is a single day, or a single 
 action in the whole life of the most heavenly- 
 minded saint, in which he is satisfied with his 
 performances ? in which he can say that he has 
 faithfully done his duty, and fully discharged every 
 obligation which he owes to his Saviour and his 
 
217 
 
 God ? in which he can declare that the law can de- 
 mand no more than what he lias actually yielded it, 
 and that the eye of Omniscience can detect no flaw 
 either in the work which he has done, or in the 
 spirit and temper with which he has fulfilled it? 
 
 The language of the saint, after the perform- 
 ance of even the best and noblest service that ever 
 was accomplished by human agency, is, " Enter 
 not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy 
 sight shall no flesh be justified. Remember me, 
 O my God, concerning this also, and spare me 
 according to the greatness of thy mercy." After 
 he has done his utmost, he finds that he has done 
 less than he should : that he has done it very 'im- 
 perfectly, and that he must have recourse to God 
 for the forgiveness of the sinfulness with which it 
 has been attended. 
 
 But this is not the worst of the matter. In- 
 dwelling-sin not only prevents believers from doing 
 the good w r hich they love, but, 
 
 2. Frequently betrays them into the evil which 
 they fear and hate. 
 
 Passion, pride, and peevishness, beset us. Im- 
 patience, fretfulness, and discontentment, spring 
 up and trouble us. Irritation, anger, and censo 
 riousness, often surprise and overpower us. If the 
 brightest day has had its clouds, and the finest wea- 
 ther its haze and its showers ; the best and holiest 
 characters have had their faults and imperfections. 
 Weaknesses and inconsistencies have appeared, 
 not only in the lives of ordinary professors, men 
 
218 
 
 of an inferior rank in religion ; but also in the 
 conduct of men, who by their faith and piety 
 had risen to the highest elevation in the Divine life, 
 and who might have been expected to have most 
 completely escaped the pollutions that are in the 
 world. These eminent saints have been seduced 
 into sin, not at the commencement of their course, 
 when they had little knowledge of the deceitfulness 
 and power of their remaining corruptions ; but 
 after they had long walked on the road to Zion, 
 tasted largely of the Divine condescension and 
 kindness, and experienced much of the glorious 
 liberty of the sons of God. Just when they had 
 been distinguished by the most signal mercies; 
 when it might have been hoped that their hearts 
 would have been overflowing with the warmest 
 love and gratitude to the adorable Giver of all good, 
 and most firmly and affectionately rivetted to his 
 honour and interest ; then was the time that they 
 were guilty of their most foul and lamentable falls. 
 And if these men were overcome in such cir- 
 cumstances by the sin that dwelt in them, who can 
 expect to escape all the arts of this watchful and 
 wily adversary ? Who can ever hope to possess a 
 stronger principle of grace, to be honoured with 
 more elevating intercourse with the most High, 
 to be blessed with more precious communications 
 of his favour, and more richly furnished with all 
 that is requisite for his perseverance and stability, 
 than Noah and Abraham, Moses and David, He- 
 zekiah and Peter ? Are we more sincere and up- 
 
2ii) 
 
 right than Noah, who had this testimony, that he 
 was perfect in his generations and walked with 
 God ? Are we stronger in the faith than the fatlu r 
 of the faithful ? Have we a greater command of 
 our feelings and temper, than the meekest man 
 upon earth ? Are we more humble, self-denied, 
 and spiritually-minded than David ? Are we more 
 solieitous to comply with the wdiole will of God, 
 and to maintain the Divine life in our soul, than 
 Hezekiah, who could appeal to Omniscience that 
 he had walked before him in truth and with a per- 
 fect heart ? Or are we possessed of a greater de- 
 gree of zeal for his honour and resolution in his 
 service than Peter, who believed that he was able 
 to go to prison and death for his sake, and who at 
 last laid down his life in his cause ? When there- 
 fore we see such men as these, who had been long 
 conversant w T ith all the occurrences of the spiritual 
 warfare, who well knew the depths of Satan, w T ho 
 for years had withstood the power and policy of 
 inherent corruption, and who were so fully pre- 
 pared to encounter and repel its assaults ; when we 
 see such men as these foiled and defeated, the stout- 
 est heart may justly tremble, and the most exalted 
 and courageous in all the ranks of the faithful take 
 heed lest he also fall. 
 
 But notwithstanding all the falls and imperfec- 
 tions of the Christian, we must maintain, 
 
 III. That there is a wide and essential differ- 
 ence betwixt him and the irreligious and carnal. 
 
220 
 
 After God has loved his people with an everlast- 
 ing love, and sent his own Son to redeem them ; 
 is it credible that no moral difference shall be 
 created betwixt the objects of his affection and the 
 objects of his displeasure ; and that nothing more 
 is necessary to make us meet for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light, than to fit us for occupying a 
 place in the regions of darkness and despair ? After 
 the Holy Ghost has been commissioned to reno- 
 vate our natures, and form us after the image of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ ; are we to suppose that he 
 finds our hearts too hard and refractory to yield to 
 his soul-subduing and purifying power ; and that 
 in spite of all his efforts to mould us anew, and 
 bring us to the love and practice of holiness, he is 
 obliged to leave us under the same rankling and de- 
 basing virulence of depravity and vice as the hard- 
 ened and abandoned? Though we are told that the 
 kingdom of God is within us, and that if any man 
 be in Christ he is a new creature; are we notwith- 
 standing to imagine that a man may be a Christian, 
 that he may be joined to the Lord Jesus, and have 
 Christ formed in him the hope of glory ; and yet 
 after all that there shall be no difference betwixt 
 his temper and conduct, and those of a man who 
 is without God and without hope ? 
 
 A real Christian accordingly gives, in various 
 ways, the most ample and satisfactory evidence that 
 he is living under the power of religion. 
 
 1. The sins, into which he is betrayed, in gen- 
 eral, are inward and spiritual. 
 
221 
 
 Gross and open wickedness is absolutely incon- 
 sistent with a state of grace, and proves that the 
 man who commits it is dead in trespasses and sins. 
 They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But 
 believers are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. 
 However dreadful and horrid, outward transgres- 
 sion gives them comparatively little or no uneasi- 
 ness. Having their hearts exercised unto godliness, 
 and their hands filled with the work of the Lord, 
 they are seldom molested with the apprehension 
 that they shall dishonour his adorable name by 
 any flagrant and visible violation of his law. 
 
 Amidst the many causes of their secret humilia- 
 tion and tears, it is rarely indeed that any of the 
 offences which the world calls sin, constitute a 
 ground of their self-abasement and sorrow. They 
 may labour under a want of love, spirituality, 
 and fervour : but no man can charge them with a 
 defect in justice, integrity, and charity. They may 
 be haunted with wild, worldly, and w r andering 
 thoughts : but no dark nor ungodly deeds disgrace 
 them. They cannot reach that elevation of mind 
 which they admire, nor give to God all that lively 
 and affectionate service which they delight to 
 render : but their hearts cannot reproach them 
 with any act of intemperance or profanity, of fraud 
 or villany. Their rejoicing is this, the testimony 
 of their conscience, that in simplicity and godly 
 sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the 
 grace of God, they have had their conversation in 
 the world. 
 
222 
 
 But whilst they are diligent in the improvement 
 of every religious privilege, and in the discharge 
 of every moral duty ; whilst they are shining in 
 the beauties of holiness, and abounding in the 
 fruits of righteousness ; they are ashamed and 
 grieved because they cannot throw their whole 
 heart and soul into their services; nor enliven and 
 enrich their performances with all that warmth, 
 elevation, spirituality, and unction, which com- 
 pose the very essence of devotion, and are so 
 precious in the sight of God. They cannot rest 
 on him so simply, realize his presence so fully, 
 cleave to him so closely, delight in him so ardent- 
 ly, enjoy him so largely, pour out their hearts to 
 him so freely, nor glorify him so effectually, as he 
 requires, and the attainment of which would con- 
 stitute their joy and rejoicing. Their love fre- 
 quently languishes, their faith wavers, their minds 
 wander, their zeal and vigilance abate ; insensibil- 
 ity and formality creep over their affections, eat 
 out the very strength and substance of their duties, 
 and fill their spirits with distress and perplexity. 
 
 It is for these things that their souls are sore 
 broken and bowed down within them, and that 
 they go mourning all the day. Whilst others are 
 admiring their graces and extolling their perform- 
 ances, they are prostrate before God, lamenting 
 the deadness and treachery of their hearts, and 
 abashed and confounded upon account of the 
 awful defects and the horrid pollutions which have 
 degraded and defiled their services. 
 
223 
 
 But provided that they can secure a respectable 
 reputation, and avoid the present inconveniences 
 of vice, what care hypocrites and formalists about 
 the adorning of the inner man ; about purity, live- 
 liness, and spirituality of heart ? When did you 
 ever hear them complaining of blindness of mind 
 and insensibility of soul ? When did you ever 
 find them bewailing the dulness, coldness, and 
 treachery of their spirits ? mourning and deploring 
 that iniquities prevail against them ? and entreat- 
 ing God to cleanse them from secret faults, and 
 to make them all holy and glorious within ? 
 
 If ever they are betrayed into open sin, it must 
 be observed, that, 
 
 2. The outward transgressions of believers are 
 committed ignorantly and involuntarily. 
 
 We cannot deny that they sometimes offend; 
 for there is no man who liveth and sinneth not. 
 
 But did you ever hear of a Christian laying 
 plans of mischief? plotting evil upon his bed? 
 travailing w T ith deceit ? and coolly and deliberately 
 contriving by what means he might execute the 
 base and malicious purposes which he had projected? 
 
 The works of the unregenerate are bad. Their 
 worthless deeds, however, are only an imperfect 
 expression of the wickedness that is seated in their 
 souls. However vile, revolting, and abominable 
 their actions ; if we could look within, we should 
 find that their inward parts are unspeakably worse. 
 Their lives are under some restraint; but their 
 hearts are free from control ; and pride, passion, 
 
 ,, 
 
224 
 
 profligacy, and impiety, rage and riot there with 
 unbridled fury. Instead of being overtaken by 
 iniquity, overcome by temptation, and surprised 
 into sin ; they follow after vice, meditate mischief, 
 court temptation, and long for opportunities of 
 gratifying the desires of. the flesh and of the mind. 
 For unless this is the case, why do they absent 
 themselves from the ordinances of religion, and 
 habitually and studiously shun the means of spirit- 
 ual improvement ? associate with the worldly, the 
 carnal, and ungodly, and linger with such eager 
 delight on the verge of dissipation and debauchery? 
 Unless they wish to catch the infection, why do 
 they place themselves within the reach of conta- 
 gion ? And unless they love what is forbidden, and 
 desire to be entangled in the snares of vice, why do 
 they frequent the society of sinners, and hang so 
 fondly about the unhallowed purlieus of profligacy 
 and crime ? 
 
 But if a believer fall by his iniquity, it is in 
 consequence of some sudden and unexpected assault. 
 Vice attacks him by surprise, or assumes some fair 
 and plausible appearance ; and thus, when his 
 vigilance is relaxed, and his suspicions lulled to 
 rest, before he is aware of the direction in which 
 he is hurried, he is made the victim of temptation 
 and overpowered by sin. 
 
 But by whatever means he is betrayed into evil, 
 sin is the abominable thing that he hates ; and he 
 is no sooner made sensible of the wrong that he 
 has done, than he renounces it, and repents and 
 
 
225 
 
 abhors himself in dust and ashes. The supreme 
 object of his ambition being to walk so as to 
 please God, his confession of sin is frank, open, 
 and unreserved. The acknowledgment of his 
 transgressions gives him no uneasiness: but the 
 presence and power of evil fill him with shame 
 and self-abasement. Whenever therefore he 
 discovers the obliquity into which he has been 
 seduced, he instantly lays his case before the 
 Lord: crying, "Against thee, thee only, have I 
 sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." God 
 may forgive him: but he himself is inexorable, 
 and never can forget nor forgive his own base- 
 ness and vileness. 
 
 But when did you ever find an irreligious 
 man specifying his offences ? deploring his infir- 
 mities ; and in all the ingenuousness of contrition, 
 and in all the bitterness of a broken heart, be- 
 wailing his guilt and unworthiness ? You may 
 perhaps hear him in general terms admitting that 
 he is a sinner ; that every man has his failing, 
 and that he does not pretend to be better than 
 his neighbours. But these vague and wholesale 
 confessions, which implicate the whole human 
 race, mean nothing ; and no more affect his 
 heart nor penetrate his conscience, than if he 
 w r ere to declare that he is a man and not an 
 angel, an inhabitant of earth and not an occupant 
 of heaven. If you attempt to make him sensible 
 of the guilt of any of his most plain and unques- 
 tionable violations of the Divine law : you may 
 
226 
 
 reason and remonstrate as you please; he will 
 stoutly and stiffly deny the charge ; or if denial 
 be impossible, he will labour to palliate or 
 justify his delinquency, and dwell with glowing 
 satisfaction and the most disgusting pride, upon 
 the many excellencies of his heart and virtues of 
 his life. 
 
 Conduct such as this decides the character. 
 By concealing her father's images, and defeating 
 his attempts to recover them, Rachel showed her 
 love of idolatry : while the Ephesians, by bringing 
 forward their magical books, and cheerfully com- 
 mitting them to the flames, proved how com- 
 pletely they had renounced all regard for divina- 
 tion. And when we see the subterfuges and 
 evasions of the worldly and self-righteous ; when 
 we see how pertinaciously they stand upon their 
 defence, and how uniformly they treat those as 
 their enemies who have the courage and kindness 
 to tell them the truth : can any thing furnish a 
 more infallible and refreshing evidence of your 
 being possessed of another and a better spirit, 
 than your ambition to give God the glory due 
 unto his name, by freely and unreservedly pro- 
 claiming your own sinfulness and depravity in 
 breaking the requisitions of his righteous law, and 
 withholding the love and the obedience which you 
 owed him ? 
 
 3. The transgressions of believers are only 
 occasional and temporary. 
 
 Their constant employment is to do good. 
 
227 
 
 They exercise themselves to have a good con- 
 science in the sight of God and of man. It is 
 for this purpose that they are made a chosen 
 generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, 
 a holy nation. They are called and chosen of 
 God, that they may be holy and without blame 
 before him in love. And they habitually and as- 
 siduously labour to fulfil the great and blessed 
 object of their high and holy vocation. They do 
 good unto all as they have opportunity ; hold 
 forth the word of life; shine in the beauties of 
 holiness, and abound in the fruits of righteous- 
 ness. The very apostle who makes such a hum- 
 ble and affecting confession of his being unable 
 to do the things that he would, and made to do 
 the things that he hated; was one of the best 
 and holiest of men that the earth ever carried, or 
 that ever entered the regions of glory. He is 
 the very man who declares that he served God 
 with his spirit in the gospel of his Son ; that 
 when it pleased God to reveal his Son in him, 
 that he might preach him among the Gentiles, 
 immediately he conferred not with flesh and 
 blood. He is the very man who declared that 
 for him to live was Christ, and to die was gain ; 
 who was in labours more abundant than his 
 brethren ; and though, in his own esteem not 
 worthy of the name, was in reality the very chief 
 of the apostles. He is the man who, through life, 
 counted every thing but loss for the excellence 
 of the knowledge of Christ ; and at the close of 
 
228 
 
 his long career, and in the full prospect of ap- 
 pearing within a few hours before the God of 
 knowledge and of holiness, could say, " I have 
 fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
 I have kept the faith." 
 
 And this is the study, and in a greater or less 
 degree the attainment of every man who has 
 been taught the truth as it is in Jesus. He 
 lives not to himself, but to him who loved him, 
 and gave himself for him. He has his heart in 
 heaven and his conversation there. Who are the 
 men who hold forth most steadily the word of 
 life, and shine most brilliantly in the beauties of 
 holiness ? Who are foremost in every good work, 
 and most active and indefatigable in every humane 
 and benevolent enterprise ? Who are the men who 
 hallow our sabbaths, crowd our churches, educate 
 our youth, and pour in the funds requisite to feed 
 the institutions from which the various streams of 
 piety and beneficence flow to purify and bless our 
 polluted and wretched globe ? Who are these, 
 but the men who lament that they cannot do the 
 things that they would, and complain that iniqui- 
 ties prevail against them ? 
 
 Their outward offences are slight, rare, and 
 transient. They no sooner discover that they 
 have fallen by their iniquity, than they instantly 
 mourn over the evil that they have done, and in 
 all the fervour of importunity, and in all the 
 lowliness of humility, implore forgiveness from 
 that God whom they have offended, and grace 
 
229 
 
 in all time to come to walk in his commandment-. 
 Can you assert that such men are the servants of 
 sin ? Can you say that cold is the natural tem- 
 perature of summer, because in that season we 
 have a few chilly blasts? that light is not the 
 usual effect of sunshine, because the day is some- 
 times darkened and deformed with clouds and 
 storms? or can you affirm that holiness is not 
 the believer's chosen, favourite element, because 
 he is sometimes inadvertently or unconsciously 
 surprised into sin ? 
 
 But look at the ranks of the unregenerate, 
 the worldly, and the carnal : and what do you 
 discover ? Do you see men who are rivalling 
 the faithful in their zeal ? who are contending 
 side by side against the apathy and insensibility 
 of the ignorant and secure, and the general pre- 
 valence of selfishness and sin ? men who are la- 
 bouring to extend the triumphs of virtue, and 
 eclipse the followers of the Saviour in every branch 
 of practical goodness? You will behold among 
 them the covetous and the unclean, drunkards and 
 swearers, sabbath-breakers and men covered with 
 every vice. You will find among them men who 
 burlesque every thing that is sacred, and oppose 
 every thing that is serious. But in vain will you 
 search for one who loves God with his whole heart, 
 who takes Christ for his pattern, and strives to 
 walk in all the commandments and ordinances of 
 God. 
 
 L 
 
230 
 
 4. They resist all sin, and shun every appear- 
 ance of evil. 
 
 Sin is contrary to the will of that God, whom 
 the Christian cordially and supremely loves : it is 
 inconsistent with the honour of that Saviour, to 
 whom he owes his all, and prefers to his chief 
 joy : and it is ruinous to that soul, which is 
 formed for immortality, and which has an end- 
 less range of happiness or misery before it. 
 How then can he love it ? court it ? obey it. 
 How r can he do this great wickedness, and sin 
 against God? How can he do this abominable 
 evil, dishonour his adored Redeemer, and cru- 
 cify him afresh? How can he, for the paltry 
 and perishing pleasures of earth and of time, 
 throw a blessed eternity away, and encounter all 
 the indignation of an insulted and offended God ? 
 
 He is therefore perpetually on the watch to 
 detect this accursed thing which his soul hates : 
 and when he finds it out, his eye cannot pity it, 
 neither can his heart spare it. He guards 
 against temptation ; strives against sin ; and em- 
 ploys every rational measure to fortify his mind 
 against the solicitations of sense and the arts of 
 corruption. For this purpose he meditates in 
 the law of God : exercises himself to godliness ; 
 cultivates the life and power of piety ; courts the 
 presence and influences of the Holy Ghost ; lives 
 in the Spirit, and walks in the Spirit. He attends 
 on the ordinances of religion ; fulfils the outward 
 
231 
 
 calls of duty; and, in all that he docs, labours 
 to be spiritually-minded, to do it from the heart, 
 and as unto the Lord. 
 
 But is this the case with the unregenerate ? Do 
 they avoid temptation ? Do they resist sin? Do 
 they guard against the encroachments of selfish- 
 ness, indolence and carnality ? eagerly avail them- 
 selves of the means of spiritual improvement, and 
 vigorously endeavour to get into the heart and sub- 
 stance of piety, and to be continually engaged and 
 occupied with the work of God ? No ; they hate 
 every thing that is vital and spiritual in religion. 
 If ever they attend upon its ordinances or engage in 
 its exercises, it is with formality and indifference. 
 If they avoid flagrant and monstrous eruptions of 
 vice, they will at least indulge in less gross and 
 disgusting acts of wickedness. If they are not 
 ringleaders in corrupting and debauching their 
 brethren, they have the baseness to follow in the 
 rear of the abandoned, and to imitate the example 
 of the profane and profligate. If they will not run 
 to the excess of riot, and work unrighteousness 
 with greediness, they will at least cherish in their 
 hearts the love of evil, and dwell with delight on 
 what is forbidden. And can you say of such men 
 as these, that they consent unto the law that it is 
 good ? that they dread the appearance of evil ? 
 and delight in the will of God after the inward 
 
 man t 
 
 ? 
 
 We have thus seen that religion produces a 
 great and thorough change upon the heart and 
 
232 
 
 the life ; that it does not in this world render the 
 Christian perfect ; but that amidst all his weak- 
 nesses and imperfections, he is essentially different 
 from the irreligious and the carnal. 
 
 Let none therefore who hate sin with a perfect 
 hatred, and are longing for complete conformity 
 to the will of God ; be discouraged, however far 
 you may be from perfection, and however much 
 you may be ashamed and grieved for your own 
 offences. We cannot expect complete freedom 
 from sin, nor the full enjoyment of the image of 
 God, till we reach that blessed world where we 
 shall see him as he is, and where he is all in all. 
 It is well that you know the value of his favour, 
 and are longing for meetness for the inheritance 
 of the saints in light. The ruin of men is, that 
 they dislike the image of God : that madness and 
 folly are in their hearts : that they are sold under 
 sin, and led captives by their passions and vices. 
 To resist evil, to mourn over besetting sins, to aim 
 at perfect holiness, and perseveringly to pray to be 
 sanctified wholly ; are encouraging symptoms, and 
 inspire the hope, that however far you may be from 
 the possession of the holiness that you covet, you 
 are under the renovating influences of the Spirit 
 of grace, and on the road to the enjoyment of holi- 
 ness and God. If you were dead in trespasses 
 and sins, these matters would give you no uneasi- 
 ness whatever. The more ready you are to detect 
 your own faults and imperfections, and the more 
 rigid in reprobating yourselves for your offences; 
 
233 
 
 it is the more favourable proof of are generated 
 state. The quick-flighted discern motes in the sun- 
 beam, when the blind cannot perceive the most 
 lofty mountains : and " many a groan comes from 
 the sick-bed, but none from the grave." 
 
 But though it is no conclusive evidence that you 
 are in a natural state, because you are prevented 
 from doing the good that you love, and are haras- 
 sed with the evil that you hate : let all guard against 
 abusing this precious truth, by imagining that they 
 may sin with impunity. Those who know least what 
 believing is, may tell you that sin cannot hurt the 
 believer. 
 
 If there is no loss in the removal of the Divine 
 favour, in the interruption of communion with God, 
 and in the suspension of the joys of the Holy 
 Ghost ; then sin cannot hurt the believer. If 
 there is no harm in having your graces wasted, 
 your mind filled with remorse, consternation, and 
 terror, your soul overrun with the most loathsome 
 and ruinous corruptions, and your conscience ex- 
 posed to the distractions and horrors of hell ; then 
 sin cannot hurt the believer. If there is no evil in 
 vexing the hearts of the faithful, and in opening 
 the mouths of enemies to blaspheme; in dishonour- 
 ing the ever blessed God, in grieving the Spirit of 
 grace, and tearing open the wounds of your 
 bleeding and dying Redeemer ; then sin cannot 
 hurt the believer. If there is no injury in throw- 
 ing away the joys of salvation, in piercing your- 
 selves through with the most dreadful sorrows : 
 
231 
 
 in going all your days in the sadness of your spirits, 
 and imbittering the pungency of your death-bed 
 regrets; then sin cannot hurt the believer, and 
 you may freely yield to its suggestions. But if you 
 dread these things worse than chains and slavery, 
 than death and hell; O do not the abominable 
 thing which Jehovah hates. Give no place unto 
 Satan. Resist unto blood, striving against sin ; and 
 rather die than wound your own peace, and crucify 
 the Son of God afresh. 
 
 You have need of constant watchfulness and the 
 most unbending resolution. You are renewed only 
 in part, and sin is far from being entirely eradi- 
 cated. It had originally hold of the heart : and 
 whatever has first possession of the soil, unless 
 totally rooted out, is not easily kept under. Upon 
 the least remission of the husbandman's care, it 
 will throw up its shoots, and gradually overspread 
 the ground. And if we are guilty of the slightest 
 relaxation of our vigilance, sin will instantly exert 
 its energy, and strive to regain its lost dominion. 
 It is wholly through the power of an opposite 
 principle that it is subdued and displaced. This 
 principle is renewing and sanctifying grace ; which 
 is not at our command, but dispensed by the 
 Holy Ghost, at any time, and in any measure that 
 he pleases. 
 
 We cannot treasure it up, preserve, nor confine 
 it. By our diligence to-day, we may provide for 
 the demands of to-morrow. In the preceding 
 seasons we may guard against the cold and storms 
 
235 
 
 of winter: and when 8 drought is foreseen or a famine 
 apprehended, by timely supplies we may fearlessly 
 encounter all their privations. But by what art can 
 we treasure up the balmy influences of spring, or 
 retail) the light and heat of summer? And we too 
 may fill the memory with the words of truth, and 
 exercise ourselves to habits of probity and piety. 
 But by what means are we to command the opera- 
 tions of the eternal Spirit, or store up the vivify- 
 ing and refreshing communications of his grace ? 
 His grace is a blessing for which we must have re- 
 newed recourse, according to our returning diffi- 
 culties and exigencies. It is our daily bread, for 
 which we must make daily application. The corn 
 of human culture may be preserved in magazines : 
 but the manna, which came down from heaven, 
 could not be hoarded up. It required to be gath- 
 ered day by day. And if we remit our watchfulness, 
 or restrain the exercise of humble, persevering, 
 believing prayer ; the Spirit, grieved and disho- 
 noured, may withdraw his strengthening and puri- 
 fying presence, and leave us to the melancholy and 
 debasing power of the sin that most easily besets us. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE WANT OF 
 LIVELINESS AND SPIRITUALITY IN DUTY. 
 
 The value of our religious services depends, not 
 upon their number, the difficulties with which they 
 are accompanied, nor the apparent success with 
 which they are followed ; but upon the simplicity, 
 the sincerity, the cheerfulness, and affection with 
 tf'hich they are performed. Man looketh on the 
 outward appearance, and is pleased with a fair 
 show in the flesh : but the Lord looketh on the 
 heart, and requires them that worship him, to 
 worship him in spirit and in truth. When, in the 
 ordinances on which we attend, and in the reli- 
 gious exercises in which we engage, we are ena- 
 bled to come and appear before God, to realize 
 his presence, and to lift up our soul to him ; when 
 we find that our whole heart is going along with 
 the duties in which we are employed, that we are 
 entering into their very life and spirit, and that 
 what we do is done with all our might; we expe- 
 rience a serenity, a delight, a joy, and satisfaction, 
 far surpassing the powers of expression, which 
 
237 
 
 raise us above the ordinary state of mortality, 
 which give us a foretaste of heaven, and place us 
 in some measure on a level with the pure spirits 
 who surround the throne of the Highest. 
 
 But when this delightful, enviable, frame of 
 mind is lost; when we feel no warmth of affection, 
 no melting of heart, no elevation of soul, no near- 
 ness to God, no realizing views of his presence, 
 nor any manifest communications of his love ; 
 every labour and duty become dull and wearisome, 
 and every ordinance and exercise, tedious, taste- 
 less, and irksome. Deprived of the blessedness of 
 which others speak, and which we ourselves had 
 previously enjoyed; we are ready to write bitter 
 things against ourselves ; and, in the extremity of 
 our distress, to suspect that all our former expe- 
 rience has been a mere delusion ; or else that the 
 Lord has forsaken us, and that our God has for- 
 gotten us. " Whilst others are honoured with 
 access into his presence, permitted to go near unto 
 him, even unto his seat, and to fill their mouths 
 with arguments ; and I am excluded from the 
 light of his countenance, kept at such a dark and 
 painful distance, unable to find either the words 
 or the feelings of devotion : whilst others are strong 
 in the Lord and in the power of his might ; and 
 all my desires and affections are so cold, lifeless, 
 and languid : whilst in their temper and conversa- 
 tion they display so much of the substance of god- 
 liness, and exhibit something heavenly and divine ; 
 and I am so utterly unfit for every service, can do 
 l2 
 
238 
 
 so little for the Lord, and the little that I do is 
 done with so much stiffness, formality, and heart- 
 lessness : how can I lay claim to the christian 
 character, or entertain any hope of enjoying the 
 love and blessing of the Lord ?" 
 
 In this manner, many of the most eminent of 
 the saints, are found bitterly bewailing their 
 wretched condition, on suffering an abatement of 
 their religious comfort, and a decline of that 
 ardour and spirituality which they had formerly 
 possessed in their religious services. 
 
 But though every relaxation in our religious 
 diligence, and every decrease of our spiritual lib- 
 erty and joy, are a loud and solemn call to holy 
 jealousy and godly fear, lest we should be losing 
 our first love, and allowing our hearts treacher- 
 ously to depart from the Lord ; they are not 
 infallible evidences of apostasy, nor just causes of 
 despondence. For the encouragement and conso- 
 lation of real Christians in this mournful and dis- 
 tressing condition, it will be necessary to illustrate 
 the following facts : 
 
 I. There is frequently a great appearance of 
 liveliness, where there is no real life nor spiritual- 
 ity at all. 
 
 II. In many cases, where the life of God is 
 truly implanted in the heart, the Christian disco- 
 vers a far greater appearance of liveliness than what 
 he actually possesses. And, 
 
 III. There is sometimes most of the life and 
 
239 
 
 power of godliness, where the possessor is lea^t 
 sensible of their presence. 
 
 I. There is frequently a great appearance of 
 liveliness without any real life or spirituality at 
 all. 
 
 No professors possess a more fair and promising 
 appearance, than hypocrites and formalists. Does 
 a Christian practise prayer? Rather than omit 
 the regular and punctual performance of this duty, 
 they will pray in the corner of the streets. Does 
 a Christian, in order to promote his religious pro- 
 gress, and secure more close and elevating com- 
 munion with the Lord, set apart seasons in which 
 to fast and afflict his soul ? They will fast thrice 
 in the week. Does a Christian strive to owe no 
 man any thing ; and to contribute as God has 
 prospered him, to works of piety and beneficence ? 
 They pay tithes of all that they possess, and per- 
 haps fill the neighbourhood with the fame of their 
 generosity. Does a Christian seek the good of his 
 brother to edification, and labour by his counsel, 
 example, and munificence, to extend the knowledge 
 and influence of religion, and bring all men to the 
 obedience of the faith ? They will compass sea and 
 land to make proselytes ; and, like Jehu, cry, Come 
 and see our zeal for the Lord. 
 
 In these, and in a thousand similar cases, there 
 has been, and there may still be, a great appearance 
 of religious activity and ardour without a single 
 particle of genuine spiritual life. I have known 
 
240 
 
 some, whose whole spirit and conduct bespoke 
 them to be the affectionate children of God, de- 
 terred for months from presenting one petition 
 before the throne of mercy, on account of what 
 they regarded as their monstrous unworthiness 
 and utter inability to pray; whilst others, who 
 gave but very doubtful evidence of any piety what- 
 ever, could flippantly affirm, that they were never 
 at a loss to pray, nor troubled with wandering 
 thoughts in devotion. In the performance of his reli- 
 gious duties, a Christian will sometimes feel an insur- 
 mountable restraint and embarrassment: he will 
 hesitate and stammer like a child : when hypo- 
 crites and formalists, from the strength of their 
 natural abilities or elasticity of their spirits, will 
 go through the whole with facility and fluency ; 
 preach, pray, and converse like angels. By the 
 undiscerning multitude they may be revered as 
 saints ; and in the pride of their hearts they may 
 plume themselves on their fancied superiority, and 
 cast an eye of contempt upon their less gifted 
 brethren, while all along they are in the gall of 
 bitterness and bond of iniquity, and their persons 
 and performances are rejected by that God, who 
 sees every act of deceit, and hates every form of 
 duplicity. In the day of judgment many an unex- 
 pected disclosure will be made. Many w T ho are 
 now first will then be last, and the last first. 
 Many, who have taken the precedence of their hum- 
 ble and tender-hearted neighbour, on whom they 
 have looked down with supercilious disdain, will 
 
241 
 
 then Ik? excluded from the assembly of the faithful, 
 and condemned to take their place with the devil 
 and his angels. " Many will say to me in that day, 
 Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? 
 and in thy name have cast out devils? and in 
 thy name done many wonderful works ? Then 
 will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart 
 from me, ye that work iniquity." 
 
 These facts are certainly sufficient to shew, that 
 there may be a great appearance of religious live- 
 liness and zeal without any spiritual life ; and that 
 it is your wisdom, not to judge of the reality of 
 your religion, merely by the vividness of your 
 emotions, nor the ease and readiness with which 
 you perform your external duties. 
 
 II. In many cases where the life of God is really 
 implanted in the heart, the Christian displays 
 a greater appearance of liveliness than what he 
 possesses. In other words ; his spiritual attain- 
 ments are not in proportion to his appearance of 
 liveliness and ardour; so that, without actually 
 excelling others, he may for a time seem far to 
 surpass them ; and may afterwards experience, 
 what he apprehends, a decline in religion, without 
 sustaining the slightest decrease of his piety and 
 spirituality. 
 
 This is produced by various causes. I may 
 observe, 
 
 1. That the novelty of religion frequently gives 
 
244 
 
 under the truths that are spoken : in meditation, 
 they are ready to sink under the multitude and 
 pressure of their thoughts : there is a melting 
 pathos and an irrepressible energy in their prayers; 
 and in their whole spirit and conduct they look 
 like men who are determined to spring forward at 
 once to the immortal prize, and take the kingdom 
 of heaven by violence. 
 
 But though they feel no more intensely, and act 
 with no greater decision than they ought ; perhaps 
 much of this energy and ardour is the effect of fear 
 or amazement, and may subside, at the very time 
 that the attachment of the heart and the submis- 
 sion of the whole soul to God may have become 
 more affectionate and strong. In autumn, the 
 young tree may not be so verdant and beautiful as 
 in spring. But though stripped of its foliage, it 
 has actually gained by its summer's growth an acces- 
 sion to its size and strength. And though the agita- 
 tion and tumult of the soul, occasioned by the first 
 surprising discoveries of religious truth, may decline, 
 the Christian in the meantime may have made 
 great advances in the divine life by his increasing 
 humility, faith, knowledge, spirituality of mind, 
 and devotedness to God. Would it be fair to 
 conclude there is a decay of parental affection, 
 because the adult son does not receive the same 
 warm caresses with which, in the first transports 
 of love and gratitude, he was pressed to the heart? 
 And while you cleave to the Lord with full purpose 
 of soul, and make him your all in all ; are you to 
 
145 
 
 suspect a decline in your piety, because there is 
 a decrease in the liveliness of your feelings and 
 in the itrength and violence of your emotions? 
 Great must be the ecstasy of a disembodied spirit 
 when first introduced into the world of glory : but, 
 because the angels, who there live in their native 
 element, and are familiar with the scenes and ser- 
 vices of the place, do not participate in his sur- 
 prise, nor express their devotion in language of 
 the same overpowering amazement and wonder ; 
 would he have cause to charge with insensibility 
 " the rapt seraph that adores and burns ?" The 
 feelings of the seraph may be more strong and 
 sublime, though expressed in a more calm and 
 chastened form. And the faith, hope, and love of 
 the established believer, may be more pure and 
 firm, though seemingly less lively and ardent, than 
 those of the young convert. An angel can give God 
 no more than his all. And what less do you render, 
 when you prefer him to your chief joy, and give 
 him your whole heart and soul ? 
 
 2. Some men display a greater appearance of 
 spirituality and liveliness than what they really 
 possess, in consequence of their rashness and self- 
 confidence. 
 
 In the ardour of their first love, many christians 
 imagine that no duty is too laborious and painful, 
 no service too dangerous, nor any suffering in the 
 cause of Christ too severe. They think that they 
 have courage and resolution to follow him to prison 
 and to death. Afterwards, however, they become 
 
244 
 
 under the truths that are spoken : in meditation, 
 they are ready to sink under the multitude and 
 pressure of their thoughts : there is a melting 
 pathos and an irrepressible energy in their prayers; 
 and in their whole spirit and conduct they look 
 like men who are determined to spring forward at 
 once to the immortal prize, and take the kingdom 
 of heaven by violence. 
 
 But though they feel no more intensely, and act 
 with no greater decision than they ought ; perhaps 
 much of this energy and ardour is the effect of fear 
 or amazement, and may subside, at the very time 
 that the attachment of the heart and the submis- 
 sion of the whole soul to God may have become 
 more affectionate and strong. In autumn, the 
 young tree may not be so verdant and beautiful as 
 in spring. But though stripped of its foliage, it 
 has actually gained by its summer's growth an acces- 
 sion to its size and strength. And though the agita- 
 tion and tumult of the soul, occasioned by the first 
 surprising discoveries of religious truth, may decline, 
 the Christian in the meantime may have made 
 great advances in the divine life by his increasing 
 humility, faith, knowledge, spirituality of mind, 
 and devotedness to God. Would it be fair to 
 conclude there is a decay of parental affection, 
 because the adult son does not receive the same 
 warm caresses with which, in the first transports 
 of love and gratitude, he was pressed to the heart? 
 And while you cleave to the Lord with full purpose 
 of soul, and make him your all in all ; are you to 
 
145 
 
 suspect a decline in your piety, because there is 
 a decrease in the liveliness of your feelings and 
 in the strength and violence of your emotions? 
 Great must be the ecstasy of a disembodied spirit 
 when first introduced into the world of glory : but, 
 because the angels, who there live in their native 
 element, and are familiar with the scenes and ser- 
 vices of the place, do not participate in his sur- 
 prise, nor express their devotion in language of 
 the same overpowering amazement and wonder ; 
 would he have cause to charge with insensibility 
 " the rapt seraph that adores and burns ?" The 
 feelings of the seraph may be more strong and 
 sublime, though expressed in a more calm and 
 chastened form. And the faith, hope, and love of 
 the established believer, may be more pure and 
 firm, though seemingly less lively and ardent, than 
 those of the young convert. An angel can give God 
 no more than his all. And what less do you render, 
 when you prefer him to your chief joy, and give 
 him your whole heart and soul ? 
 
 2. Some men display a greater appearance of 
 spirituality and liveliness than what they really 
 possess, in consequence of their rashness and self- 
 confidence. 
 
 In the ardour of their first love, many christians 
 imagine that no duty is too laborious and painful, 
 no service too dangerous, nor any suffering in the 
 cause of Christ too severe. They think that they 
 have courage and resolution to follow him to prison 
 and to death. Afterwards, however, they become 
 
246 
 
 less ardent and adventurous ; not because their 
 love to the Redeemer has declined, but because 
 time has humbled them, tamed them, and taught 
 them many melancholy lessons which at first they 
 were very unwilling to learn. They discover that 
 modesty, humility, and meekness, are christian 
 virtues ; as much as zeal, courage, and determina- 
 tion ; and that to venture upon services for which 
 they have no call, and for which they possess no 
 qualifications, will only expose their own weak- 
 ness, and draw down the merited rebuke, M Who 
 hath required this at your hands?" Their for- 
 wardness may give them an air of superior piety ; 
 but when their rashness and impetuosity are soft- 
 ened and subdued by time, does it therefore follow 
 that the strength of their religious principles has 
 declined, and that their humble and unreserved 
 devotedness to God has vanished ? When Peter 
 exclaimed, " Though all men shall be offended 
 because of thee, yet will I not be offended;" he 
 seemed to be endowed with a love and zeal far 
 beyond what his fellow disciples possessed: but 
 when, on being afterwards interrogated by his 
 blessed Master, " Lovest thou me more than 
 these?" he modestly replied, "Lord, thou know- 
 est that I love thee ;" had his affection cooled, or 
 his religion lost any part of its excellence and 
 value? His forwardness and presumption had 
 declined: but his humility and diffidence had 
 increased ; and his ardent love and unqualified 
 devotedness to his Saviour had acquired fresh 
 
247 
 
 pfcrity and vigour. Young Christians are fre- 
 quently rash and censorious. Their ignorance 
 of their own weakness and of the difficulties attend- 
 ing the path of duty, emboldens them to embark 
 in undertakings, for which they are very far from 
 being competent; and their untried ardour often 
 leads them to suspect the sincerity and faithfulness 
 of the more aged and judicious, whose years and 
 experience have taught them the necessity of blend- 
 ing mildness with firmness, and of uniting prudence 
 with integrity and zeal. But because they possess 
 a greater degree of meekness, candour, and self- 
 government, than their younger brethren ; is that 
 any reason for questioning their sincerity, or charg- 
 ing them with indifference, or the want of any 
 quality essential to the christian character? 
 
 3. A difference in natural temper and mental 
 ability, creates a wide diversity in the character 
 and attainments of christians, and gives some a 
 greater appearance of piety and holiness, than 
 others whose faith is at least as firm, and their 
 religious progress as great. 
 
 Some men are possessed of a strong and com- 
 prehensive genius ; and others of feeble and con- 
 tracted powers. Some are naturally of a cheerful 
 and lively temper ; and others of a grave and me- 
 lancholy disposition. Some are bold, forward, and 
 resolute ; and others are timid, gentle, and yield- 
 ing. Now, in proportion to the natural vigour 
 and activity of their mind will be the quality of 
 their actions, and the manner in which they will 
 
248 
 
 appear for the cause of God in the world. For 
 though grace sanctifies all our faculties and prin- 
 ciples, and gives a new direction to all our ener- 
 gies ; it leaves the whole of our intellectual powers 
 substantially the same, so that our religion generally 
 retains much of our natural taste and tempers. 
 Like the trophies taken from the heathen, and em- 
 ployed in strengthening or ornamenting the tem- 
 ple of the God of Israel, every convert brings with 
 him into religion, the talents which he previously 
 possessed ; and consecrates to the cause of the 
 Redeemer, the abilities which he had formerly 
 employed in the service of self and of sin. 
 
 And if our religion retains the complexion of 
 our natural character, we must expect to find a 
 striking variety in the attainments of our fellow- 
 christians, and in the form and appearance which 
 their piety will assume. It will sometimes require 
 a greater effort, in a man of a dull, timid, and 
 modest disposition, to speak a word for God; than 
 in another of a bold and impetuous temper, to 
 perform a deed of daring and dangerous enter- 
 prise. It will cost one man a less painful effort to 
 sacrifice his life for Christ, than another to part 
 with his fortune. But is it fair to deny the religion 
 of the one any more than of the other ? The one 
 may perhaps possess as much of the life and power 
 of Christianity as the other ; but he may enjoy a 
 smaller proportion of natural generosity, resolu- 
 tion, and courage. If one man swims with the 
 stream, and another against it ; it would be alto- 
 
210 
 
 gtither unreasonable to affirm, that the one who 
 made the slowest progress is the most unskilful 
 ifl the art. He may be the better swimmer of 
 the two, though he has not enjoyed the same advan- 
 tages from the current. And in estimating the 
 amount of your religion, you must attend not only 
 to the duties which you perform, but likewise to 
 the abilities which you possess, and the opposi- 
 tion which you are obliged to surmount. He that 
 swims with the stream has little occasion for exer- 
 tion. If he merely commit himself to the tide, he 
 will inevitably be carried down. In the same 
 manner, when a man's duty coincides with his 
 natural taste and inclination, he has little occasion 
 for the exercise of labour and self-denial. His 
 work is then easy and pleasant. But when he is 
 obliged to contend against both wind and tide ; 
 when he has to forego his dearest interests, to cross 
 his favourite wishes and pursuits : then he will find 
 occasion for all the energy and vigour which he 
 can command, and experience the difficulty not 
 only of fulfilling the service well, but of perform- 
 ing it at all. 
 
 In inquiring therefore into the nature of your 
 religion, you must attend not only to the effect 
 which you have produced, but also to the effort 
 which it has cost. It is not the sum given in charity, 
 which measures the liberality of the donor, but the 
 motive from which it is bestowed, and the propor- 
 tion which it bears to his fortune. A man of 
 wealth, out of his abundance, may give far more 
 
250 
 
 than a whole congregation of mechanics ; and yet 
 the single mite of a poor widow may be a more 
 acceptable offering in the sight of God, than the 
 surrender of his whole substance. 
 
 When you apprehend that you are neither so 
 lively and active as others, nor as you yourself 
 have formerly been, that your affections are becom- 
 ing dull and languid, and your spirit worldly and 
 insensible ; though all this may be the effect of 
 deadness of heart and a decay of spirituality of 
 mind, and is a loud call to instant, serious, self- 
 examination ; you must after all remember that the 
 mere suspicion of the abatement of your liveliness 
 and zeal, does not necessarily prove that your 
 spiritual feelings are impaired, and that you are 
 now in a state of backsliding and apostasy. With- 
 out the slightest alteration on the holy and heavenly 
 tendency of your heart, your mental powers may 
 be declining, or your natural spirits exhausted. 
 Though the tired traveller does not make the same 
 progress at the close as at the commencement of 
 the day, his desire to reach his journey's end and 
 enjoy the society of his family and his friends, may 
 be as strong and ardent as ever. And though you 
 now are neither able to make the same exertions 
 as formerly in the cause of God and goodness, nor 
 blessed with the same sensible benefit from the 
 ordinances, nor tenderness and elevation of soul in 
 devotion ; are you necessarily from this to conclude 
 that you have lost the life and power of religion, 
 and are cast out from the Divine presence and 
 
251 
 
 favour? If you have the same desire after God, 
 the same esteem of his salvation, the same longing 
 for his presence, the same delight in his service, 
 and devotedness to his honour ; you may rest 
 assured that this loss of comfort arises merely from 
 the decline of your bodily health or mental vigour, 
 or from the influence of some external cause ; but 
 that your spiritual health, and your situation in the 
 sight of God, remain unchanged. As long as you 
 retain unabated the stedfastness of your faith and 
 love and obedience; as long as you continue to 
 follow hard after God, to prefer him to your chief 
 joy, all is safe. He that calleth the things that 
 are not as though they were, will say, it was well 
 that it was in your heart, and accept you according 
 to what you have, and not according to what you 
 have not. 
 
 It may be added, 
 
 4. That extraordinary assistance renders some 
 much more spiritual and lively than they would 
 otherwise appear. 
 
 Some christians are blessed with large supplies 
 of divine help through the whole of life ; but in 
 general these communications are most plentifully 
 imparted at the commencement of their course, 
 and in seasons of difficulty and danger. Though 
 at all times helpless and dependent, it is then that 
 they have most need of supernatural aid : for it is 
 then that their spiritual enemies are most violent 
 and outrageous, and that their wants and distresses 
 are most numerous and urgent. Accordingly, 
 
252 
 
 God, who knows our frame and pities us as a 
 father pitieth his children, gives us then the most 
 ample measure of light, liberty, and power, and 
 proportions our strength to our duties and trials. 
 When children are young, their parents assist 
 them in walking, but after they have acquired skill 
 and firmness, they leave them to go alone. They 
 may now meet with more frequent falls and bruises; 
 but that is not because they are become weaker, 
 but because their assistance is withdrawn. Because 
 they are the most helpless, he gives young Chris- 
 tians the greatest aid : but as they advance in 
 knowledge and experience, this assistance is some- 
 times withheld, and they are left to go alone. 
 They may now become more sensible of their own 
 frailty : they may feel a greater degree of dulness, 
 languor, and deadness ; and be more guilty of fail- 
 ings and offences. All this however is no proof 
 that they are actually become weaker, or that their 
 graces have declined, but only that their super- 
 natural assistance is suspended. If another, who 
 has borne the half of our burden, afterwards leaves 
 us to carry it alone ; though we have suffered no 
 diminution of strength, we must feel the pressure 
 more painfully, and make much slower progress. 
 And a christian, who is favoured with a great degree 
 of Divine aid, may be able to accomplish with 
 ease and comfort many services ; which others, 
 who are destitute of his assistance, would tremble 
 to undertake, and for which he may afterwards 
 find himself totally unequal. This failure how- 
 
253 
 
 ever on the part of himself and others, is not a con- 
 clusive proof that he and they are dead, but only 
 that they are favoured with a more limited supply 
 of the influences of the Holy Spirit, than what they 
 had previously enjoyed. Though the Psalmist 
 mi ght constantly delight in the law of the Lord, 
 he never could run with such alacrity and pleasure 
 in the way of his commandments, as in those sea- 
 sons when God had enlarged his heart. Paul 
 might always possess deep and adoring views of 
 the glorious greatness and matchless grace of 
 Christ ; but the general tenor of his feelings and 
 emotions could never be supposed to rival the ele- 
 vation and transport which he experienced in those 
 astonishing moments when he w T as caught up into 
 the heaven of heavens. And though the christian 
 may uniformly cleave to the Saviour with full pur- 
 pose of heart, and be at all times desirous to serve 
 him with his whole strength and mind : from the 
 various measures in which, at different times, Di- 
 vine light and power are imparted, without the 
 smallest abatement of his spirituality of mind, he 
 may be conscious of a very great difference in 
 the religious joy which he possesses, and in the 
 liberty and enlargement of heart which he feels. 
 
 From these various facts; from the effects of 
 novelty in religion, of rashness and self-confidence, 
 of a difference in mental talents and constitutional 
 temper, and of the degrees in which divine assist- 
 ance is imparted ; we are warranted to conclude 
 that, in many places where the life of God is im- 
 
 M 
 
254 
 
 planted in the soul, the christian may often dis- 
 cover a greater appearance of liveliness than what 
 he actually possesses, and without excelling others 
 may seem far to surpass them ; so that he may af- 
 terwards experience what he apprehends a decline 
 of his religion, without sustaining any real decrease 
 of his piety and spirituality. 
 . It is now high time to shew, 
 
 III. That there is frequently most of the life and 
 power of godliness, when the possessor is least sen- 
 sible of their presence. 
 
 To those who are ignorant of the nature of the 
 christian life, this may appear a strange and par- 
 adoxical assertion : but it is not more strange than 
 true. This singular fact in the believer's experi- 
 ence sometimes arises from the decays of nature ; 
 sometimes from the violence of temptation ; some- 
 times from the depth and severity of his spiritual 
 trials ; sometimes from excessive humility ; and 
 at other times from extraordinary desire after un- 
 common attainments in grace. 
 
 The christian is sometimes possessed of the great- 
 est degree of the life and power of godliness, when 
 least sensible of their presence, in consequence, 
 
 ]. Of the decays of nature. 
 
 There is a close connexion betwixt the soul and 
 body; they exercise a great influence over each 
 other. When the mind is impaired, the body is 
 often unfitted for its usual labours; and when our 
 corporeal frame is disordered, the mind in many 
 
255 
 
 Cases is unable to prosecute its ordinary pursuits, 
 or to relish its most favourite enjoyments. Every 
 individual must be aware of the paralyzing power 
 of drowsiness. It prevents us from engaging with 
 liveliness and vigour in duty, and from deriving 
 from the exercise the same advantage and delight 
 which at other times we have enjoyed. It was 
 of the disciples in such a situation that the com- 
 passionate Saviour said, " The Spirit is willing, 
 but the flesh is weak." Now, if such a mild and 
 gentle affection as drowsiness possess such a be- 
 numbing influence ; how much more chilling and 
 debilitating must be the effects produced by sick- 
 ness and the decays of age ? Sometimes the mind 
 seems to sympathize with the body, and to lose its 
 tone and vigour along with the languor and de- 
 cline of its feeble and expiring companion ; and 
 even in those cases where it retains its original 
 ardour, much of its strength and sensibility is lost. 
 But is it fair to argue a decrease of piety, because 
 there is a decay of mental energy ? Does the scho- 
 lar lose his power to read merely because light has 
 failed. And shall we affirm that the Christian has 
 lost his spirituality of mind, and his devotedness 
 of heart and soul to God ; because disease and pain 
 have made him their victim, and for a time suspend- 
 ed his power to exert himself in the service of his 
 Saviour, and deprived him of that tender interest 
 and elevated delight which he had previously en- 
 joyed in the exercises of devotion ? 
 
 The amount of our external performances is a 
 
256 
 
 very inadequate test of the real state of our mind. 
 The pulse of benevolence may sometimes beat as 
 strongly in the breast of the pious pensioner on the 
 funds of a charitable institution, as in the heart of 
 a Howard. The soul of a prisoner within the walls 
 of the Inquisition, may be as firmly fixed on en- 
 terprises of religious beneficence, as that of the 
 missionary, who is free to travel with the message 
 of mercy to the ends of the earth. 
 
 " The oppressor holds the body bound ; 
 
 But knows not what a range the spirit takes, 
 
 Unconscious of a chain." 
 
 And when languor and disease have blasted all the 
 bodily vigour, the mind of the believer frequently 
 continues to aspire as ardently after God and things 
 divine as in its better and brighter days. Though 
 the exhausted spirits and the feeble frame are un- 
 able to execute the purposes of his will, his deter- 
 mination of heart remains unaltered, and sometimes 
 gathers fresh strength and energy amidst the decays 
 and ruins of nature. Though clothed with less 
 lustre, the setting sun is neither more cold nor dark, 
 than when arrayed in all the fervours of meridian 
 splendour and scorching the nations with his rays. 
 And though breathless and exhausted, the desires 
 and longings of the dying believer are unchanged. 
 His faith and hope are the same : and the ravages 
 of age or of sickness only compel him to hold faster 
 the beginning of his confidence, and cleave to God 
 with more strength and tenacity. His flesh and 
 
257 
 
 heart fail : but God is the strength of his heart and 
 portion for ever. 
 
 Without sustaining any loss of their spiritual- 
 ity of mind, the liveliness and comfort of Christians 
 are sometimes suspended, 
 
 2. By violent and long continued temptation. 
 
 During the furious and harassing assaults of Sa- 
 tan, many have been totally deprived of their hope 
 and comfort. Whilst their hearts have been filled 
 with ardent love to God and an earnest desire to 
 enjoy his favour; whilst they have retained a root- 
 ed aversion to sin, and would not for the wealth of 
 ten thousand worlds have done the smallest action 
 to have offended their God and Saviour ; they have 
 been tempted to suspect that they had no religion 
 whatever. They have been afraid that their faith 
 was a mere delusion ; that they were in the gall of 
 bitterness and bond of iniquity ; and that, on ac- 
 count of their hypocrisy and hard-heartedness, the 
 Almighty was their enemy, and that they should 
 become the victims of his everlasting indignation. 
 
 But whilst in these melancholy seasons, the af- 
 flicted believer is led to call in question the ex- 
 istence of his own religion, and to conclude that he 
 has no spiritual life at all ; we must remember that 
 his interest in the provisions of the everlasting cov- 
 enant does not depend upon his frames and feelings, 
 but upon the reality of his union to Christ and the 
 immutability and faithfulness of that God in whom 
 he trusts. Because in a fit of derangement a man of 
 wealth imagines that he is reduced to poverty, his 
 
258 
 
 ancy is no proof that he has sustained any loss of 
 property. His bills, bonds, and other securities are 
 ample evidence that his fortune remains unimpaired. 
 And because a christian, in the dark and dreary 
 hour of temptation, thinks that his fervour is gone, 
 and that his faith and hope were altogether delu- 
 sive ; is that any reason for believing that his spirit- 
 uality of mind is decaying, or that his religion is 
 false and hypocritical ? His hatred of sin, his ten- 
 derness of spirit, and his deep humiliation on ac- 
 count of the foul and base suggestions with which 
 he is assailed, all concur to demonstrate the purity 
 and heavenly origin of his principles ; and that his 
 love, amidst all his trials, remains unabated. 
 
 Believers, in whose hearts the grace of God is 
 eminently and supremely reigning, are sometimes 
 rendered insensible to their own spirituality and 
 liveliness, 
 
 3. From the peculiar and painful nature of the 
 religious trials to which they are subjected. 
 
 Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 
 Believers, blessed with his strengthening and ele- 
 vating influences, are honoured to enjoy a degree 
 of spiritual freedom, enlargement, vigour, and com- 
 fort, which renders all their services easy, sweet, 
 and profitable, and invests them with something of 
 the bloom and freshness of immortality. But his 
 blessed agency is not always vouchsafed with the 
 same animating and reviving efficacy. If there are 
 times when the Christian is set on his high places, 
 and can lift up his soul freely and confidently to the 
 
259 
 
 Almighty as his God and Father; there are also 
 lOIM when he is placed in darkness and in the 
 lowest deeps, where his faith fails, and his heart 
 sinks in anguish and despondency. If there are 
 times when he is light, life, and joy in the Lord : 
 there are also seasons when he is involved in dark- 
 ness and confusion ; when he knows not to which 
 hand to turn, nor to what quarter to have recourse, 
 and cannot even order his speech by reason of per- 
 plexity and grief. The Psalmist tells us that he 
 was so troubled that he could not speak. We find 
 him pleading with the Lord to hear the voice of 
 his groaning, and not to hold his peace at his tears. 
 And what shall I add ? In his agony the Son of 
 God himself exclaimed, " Now is my soul troubled, 
 and what shall I say ?" 
 
 Look at all these facts, and doubt if you can, not 
 only the reality of a work of grace in the heart, 
 but even of a very superior degree of spirituality 
 of mind, at the very time when the Christian, from 
 his inward distress and trouble, is so embarrassed 
 as to be unable to state his own situation to God, 
 or to discern the evidences of his own sincerity and 
 faith. The child that groans is frequently in as 
 much pain as the one that cries. And the believer 
 who is so burdened and oppressed that he cannot 
 speak, is often more alive to God and things divine, 
 than the man who enjoys an uninterrupted fluency 
 of speech and is conscious of no restraint nor im- 
 pediment in his religious exercises. 
 
 In estimating the nature of genuine devotion 
 
many christians are apt to mistake. They are ready 
 to envy the man who possesses an exemption from 
 despondency and distress ; who can pray with abi- 
 lity, copiousness, and ease ; and they are disposed 
 to congratulate themselves, when in any of their 
 sacred exercises they have found a greater degree 
 than usual of facility and enjoyment. They are 
 sometimes prone to undervalue both the gifts and 
 the graces of their brother, who discovers a back- 
 wardness, timidity, and hesitation in his public acts 
 of devotion ; and they feel perfectly ashamed and 
 mortified if they themselves have been at a loss for 
 suitable matter and appropriate expressions. 
 
 But no test of our religious state can be more 
 fallacious, than that which is derived from the man- 
 ner in which we perform our religious duties, either 
 in public or in private. It is not the dress nor 
 appearance of the man, but his principles and con- 
 duct, which stamp his character. And it is not the 
 manner, but the spirit in which we perform our 
 devotions, which fixes their value. Many men 
 possess too great a facility in their religious exer- 
 cises. They are entire strangers to all restraint and 
 embarrassment. Ask them, on leaving the throne 
 of grace, if they have been blessed with access to 
 God ; if he has brought them near to himself, even 
 unto his seat, and filled their mouths with argu- 
 ments ? or if he has kept them at a forbidding 
 and distressing distance ? They will probably stare, 
 and wonder what you mean. They never find any 
 trouble nor difficulty in the service ; and fancy that 
 
261 
 
 whilst their reason lasts, they shall always be able 
 to pray with equal ease and propriety. 
 
 The tact however is, that, notwithstanding all 
 their imaginary ease and liveliness, they are totally 
 ignorant of the nature of the duty in which they 
 have been engaged ; and throughout the whole 
 course of their lives have never, in a single instance, 
 prayed to purpose. Betwixt praying gifts and 
 praying graces, the distance is immense. One 
 desire sent from the heart, one sigh heaved from 
 a contrite soul, rises nearer to the eternal throne, 
 and returns more richly laden with blessings, than 
 all the florid and unfelt addresses, that ever were 
 poured out in the hearing of the Most High. In 
 the single petition of the publican there was more 
 genuine devotion, than in all the splendid and 
 elaborate supplications of the hollowvhearted and 
 self-righteous Pharisees that ever trode the surface 
 of the globe. And still many a stammering, stut- 
 tering prayer ascends with acceptance before the 
 God of glory, when the fluent and well-digested 
 oration of the self-sufficient and worldly professor 
 falls unnoticed to the ground. Man attends to 
 the outward appearance, and estimates the worth 
 and excellence of religious performances by their 
 external form : but the Searcher of hearts looks at 
 the intention and design ; and with him one move- 
 ment of grace, one breathing of his own Spirit, in- 
 finitely outweighs all the productions of eloquence 
 and genius. Though in gold and all the ornaments 
 which the men of the world admire, the temple of 
 m 2 
 
262 
 
 Solomon so far surpassed the temple of Ezra, that 
 many of the ancients of Israel, who remembered 
 the magnificence of the former house, when they 
 saw the inferiority of the new building, wept aloud; 
 yet from the presence of the Lord Jesus, the desire 
 of all nations, the glory of the second house sur- 
 passed that of the former. And though our reli- 
 gious duties may be destitute of that fair and capti- 
 vating appearance which would attract the applause 
 of the ignorant and carnal ; yet if they are possessed 
 of sincerity, if they proceed from the heart, if they 
 are enriched and consecrated by the secret and 
 gracious influences of the Holy Ghost, whatever 
 may be their outward form, they shall receive a 
 most kind and ample acceptance. " For thus saith 
 the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, 
 whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy 
 place : with him also that is of a contrite and hum- 
 ble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and 
 to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 
 
 The believer is sometimes rendered blind to his 
 own spiritual attainments, 
 
 4. From his excessive humility. 
 Such is the nature of humility that in proportion 
 as it gathers strength, it sinks in its own estimation. 
 Accordingly the more that a Christian grows in 
 humility, and therefore the more holy and spiritual 
 he becomes, he is sometimes the more suspicious 
 that he has no grace at all. Whilst the proud and 
 censorious look on no virtues but their own ; the 
 humble look not at their own things, but on the 
 
263 
 
 things of others, and admire every excellence and 
 grace except those which they themselves possess. 
 Whilst therefore the hypocrites congratulate them- 
 selves upon the integrity of their hearts and the 
 safety of their state, at the very time when every 
 thing gives evidence of the utter worthlessness of 
 their character and rottenness of their pretensions ; 
 the humble are ready to convert every circumstance 
 to their own disadvantage ; and to apprehend nothing 
 but deceit, duplicity, and hypocrisy in themselves, 
 at the very time that every thing in their spirit and 
 temper demonstrates the most genuine simplicity 
 and godly sincerity. These jealousies and fears, 
 however, so far from being any proof that the 
 individuals in question have made less progress in 
 the divine life, than those who are more secure and 
 confident, bespeak very superior attainments in 
 grace and goodness. It was by men of the most 
 vile and infamous character, that it was said to their 
 neighbour, " Stand by thyself, come not near to me, 
 for I am holier than thou." And it was the greatest 
 of the apostles, who regarded himself as not meet 
 to be an apostle, and less than the least of all saints. 
 
 The Christian is sometimes prevented from dis- 
 cerning the religious progress which he has made, 
 
 5. From his eager desire to acquire uncommon 
 attainments in grace. 
 
 Lukewarm and worldly professors are very soon, 
 and very easily satisfied with the attainments which 
 they make. A slight degree of religious knowledge, 
 the discharge of a few outward and formal duties, 
 

 264 
 
 and the possession of a few superficial and short- 
 lived joys, are perfectly sufficient to fill and gratify 
 all the desires of their mean and grovelling minds. 
 The case however is widely different with the Chris- 
 tian, when freed from the darkness and entangle- 
 ments of security and sloth, and rendered fully 
 alive to the importance and grandeur of things 
 heavenly and eternal. Nothing less than a thorough 
 knowledge of the whole will of God, nothing less 
 than entire deliverance from the body of sin and 
 death, nothing less than close and uninterrupted 
 communion with the Lord, can then fill and satisfy 
 the boundless and divine ambition of his holy and 
 heaven-born soul. As the racer strains every nerve 
 in proportion as he reaches the goal, and the lion 
 accelerates his speed the nearer that he presses on 
 his prey; the believer exerts every faculty and 
 power in proportion as he advances in his course, 
 and becomes more and more covetous of spiritual 
 improvement the nearer that he approaches the sum- 
 mit of Christian perfection. The higher that he rises 
 in the divine life, and the more rich and delightful 
 acquisitions he obtains, divine objects acquireamore 
 lovely and attractive energy, and his sentiments 
 and views become more exalted and refined. He 
 entertains more lowly ideas of the worth of his past 
 attainments, and feels a more intense desire to reach 
 the height of Christian excellence, and lay hold on 
 all the immense and blessed privileges and enjoy- 
 ments which are every where opening before him, 
 and rising around him. 
 
 I 
 
265 
 
 In this manner religion operated upon the mind 
 of Moses. After witnessing signal displays of Di- 
 vine power and justice upon Pharaoh and his ser- 
 vants ; after viewing all the terrific majesty of Sinai, 
 and being honoured in the tabernacle of the con- 
 gregation to behold the milder glories of the Deity, 
 and converse with him as a man talketh with his 
 friend ; as if all these matchless manifestations of 
 Divine condescension and grace were nothing, we 
 find him longing for still more endearing access to 
 God, and a still more clear, and complete sight of his 
 eternal perfections and excellences. We find him 
 still saying, " I beseech thee shew me thy glory." 
 In this manner religion operated on the mind of 
 David. Notwithstanding all that he had seen of 
 the Divine beauty, and the enriching communica- 
 tions of Divine goodness which he had received, 
 we find him still saying, u When shall I come and 
 appear before God ?" And in this manner religion 
 appeared in the case of the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles. After twenty-eight years spent in the 
 service of his blessed Master, and after reaching 
 an elevation in the christian life altogether unri- 
 valled, we find him declaring, u Brethren, I count 
 not myself to have apprehended ; but this one thing 
 I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 
 And every Christian, whose soul is prospering, 
 will discover a similar spirit. But because he rises 
 
266 
 
 above his former acquisitions, and is dissatisfied 
 with his present joys; because he seems to think that 
 he has made no adequate attainments whilst any 
 duty remains undischarged, or any privilege unpos- 
 sessed ; are we therefore to conclude that he is de- 
 clining in his spirituality of mind and flagging in 
 his religious course? Whatever judgment he 
 may form of his own condition, this self-condem- 
 nation for past supineness, and this restless impa- 
 tience for higher and nobler enjoyments, demon- 
 strate an uncommon degree of christian progress, 
 and a soul peculiarly alive to God and things divine. 
 From all then that has been stated, we are jus- 
 tified in affirming, that in inquiring into our reli- 
 gious state, it is dangerous to trust to our feelings. 
 They are very far from being safe and infallible 
 tests of our spiritual condition. For, as we have 
 seen, there may often be much apparent liveliness 
 without any real life : in many cases where there 
 is spiritual life, the amount in which it is possessed, 
 is far from being equal to the degree of liveliness 
 displayed ; and, on the other hand, the Christian 
 is frequently endowed with most of the life and 
 power of godliness, when he is least sensible of their 
 presence. 
 
 4 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM DESERTION. 
 
 Of all the afflictions with which the soul can be 
 visited, none is more painful and overwhelming 
 than the loss of Divine consolation, and the hidings 
 of the light of God's countenance. Life lies in his 
 favour, and his loving-kindness is better than life. 
 Blessed is the man whom he chooseth, and causeth 
 to approach unto himself. It is his presence which 
 irradiates heaven, and clothes all its happy fields 
 with light and gladness ; which invests the ordi- 
 nances of religion with life and sweetness: and 
 gives dignity and elevation to the believer's mind, 
 and serenity and delight to his heart. 
 
 When this is imparted, the Christian can under- 
 take any service, or endure any suffering for the 
 sake of his Saviour and Lord. He can rejoice in 
 tribulation, and glory in the cross. In the midst of 
 the most severe and complicated trials, he possesses 
 a peace which passeth all understanding, and a joy 
 which is unspeakable and full of glory. But when 
 the Divine presence is withheld or withdrawn, the 
 ordinances lose their value ; the soul is deprived of 
 its liveliness and tranquillity ; darkness and confu- 
 
268 
 
 sion take possession of the mind, and fill it with 
 unutterable fear, despondence, and anguish. This 
 has, accordingly, extorted from the saints the bit- 
 terest exclamations of sorrow ; and it wrung from 
 the dying Redeemer the most painful and aifecting 
 complaint that ever reached the ears of the Eternal. 
 In contributing to the relief of those who are 
 deprived of the sensible communications of the 
 Divine favour, and subjected to the loss of that 
 spiritual peace and consolation which in their hap- 
 pier days they enjoyed, we shall consider, 
 
 I. The circumstances in which the believer sus- 
 pects that God has forsaken him. 
 
 II. The causes which occasion desertion, and, 
 
 III. The comfort which the Gospel has provided 
 for the deserted. 
 
 I. The circumstances in which the believer sus- 
 pects that God has forsaken him. 
 
 This is the melancholy conclusion to which the 
 believer is often reduced, when he obtains no re- 
 turn to his prayers, when he derives no sensible 
 advantage from the ordinances of religion, when 
 he labours under languor and barrenness in duty, 
 when he experiences no success in his benevolent 
 services, and is subjected to multiplied and length- 
 ened temporal trials. 
 
 A Christian is often led to regard himself as in 
 a state of desertion, 
 
 1. When he receives no return to his prayers. 
 
269 
 
 Prayer is an interesting, invaluable privilege. 
 What can be more delightful, honourable, and 
 profitable, than free access into the presence of the 
 King of kings, liberty to pour out our hearts fully 
 before him, and permission to ask what we will? 
 
 In scripture we have the most earnest exhorta- 
 tions to pray, and the most strong and encouraging 
 promises of a gracious return to our supplications. 
 Jehovah styles himself the hearer of prayer, and 
 assures us that all things whatsoever we shall ask 
 in prayer believing, we shall receive. And when 
 the intimations of a kind acceptance of our requests 
 are so numerous and positive; is it any wonder, 
 when an answer is withheld to his petitions, that 
 the Christian should fear that God has forsaken 
 him ; and that, in anger at his offences, God has 
 covered himself with a cloud, so that his prayers 
 cannot pass through ? 
 
 The believer is led to apprehend that he is for- 
 saken, 
 
 2. When he derives no sensible advantage from 
 the ordinances of religion. 
 
 The ordinances are precious to the soul of the 
 saint. There God has promised his presence, and 
 there the Christian is frequently honoured to enjoy 
 fellowship with the Father and the Son through 
 the Holy Ghost, and to possess blissful anticipations 
 of the delights and employments of the world of 
 glory. 
 
 When in the ordinances God lifts up the light 
 of his countenance, they are endowed with an in- 
 
270 
 
 describable life and sweetness. The Christian can 
 then give unreserved utterance to all his wants in 
 prayer, and lift up his soul with elevation and ec- 
 stasy in praise. The preaching of the word then 
 drops as the rain, and distils as the dew. It comes 
 to him as water to the thirsty, and floods to the 
 dry ground. With what enlargement of heart 
 does he then go to the holy table ! He then goes 
 to the altar of God, to God his exceeding joy. 
 There Jehovah makes all his goodness pass before 
 him. There he makes him eat of his pleasant meat, 
 and drink of his generous and refreshing wine. He 
 brings him into his banqueting-house, and spreads 
 over him the banner of love. As the heavenly-fed 
 and soul-strengthened believer retires from the hal- 
 lowed spot, he is made to exclaim, " It is good to 
 be here ! This is none other but the house of God, 
 and this is the gate of heaven ! " 
 
 But if God withhold or withdraw his presence, 
 however fair and promising the ordinances may 
 appear, all their majesty and beauty vanish, and 
 all their life and efficacy are blasted. Over them 
 all we may inscribe, Ichabod : for their glory is 
 departed. They are then as wells without w r ater, or 
 dry bones to a hungry soul. Under them all the 
 Christian makes no progress, acquires no strength, 
 and enjoys no comfort. And whilst others are edi- 
 fied and comforted, but he himself continues languid 
 and lifeless ; whilst the dew of Divine influence 
 falls copiously on all around, but his own soul re- 
 mains dry and withered ; it is no matter of surprise 
 
271 
 
 that he should write bitter things against himself, 
 and suspect that the Lord has forsaken him, and 
 that his Clod has forgotten him. In such a painful 
 situation, it is sometimes almost impossible to avoid 
 crying, " Lord, where are thy former loving-kind- 
 nesses ? Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the 
 sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards 
 me ? Are they restrained ? How long wilt thou 
 forget me, O Lord ? for ever ? How long wilt thou 
 hide thy face from me ? How long shall I take coun- 
 sel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?" 
 
 The believer sometimes considers himself as in 
 a state of desertion, because, 
 
 3. He labours under deadness and formality in 
 duty. 
 
 The law of the Lord is, Thou shalt love the Lord 
 thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy might. And the Christian never 
 can be satisfied till he gives to God what is required. 
 Every degree of liberty and enlargement in duty 
 delights and transports him : but every thing bor- 
 dering upon lukewarmness and insensibility fills 
 him with alarm and distress. 
 
 This however is frequently his painful experience. 
 The sabbath comes : but he feels none of a sab- 
 bath's frame. The sanctuary unfolds its gates, and 
 the sounds of the everlasting Gospel fall upon his 
 ear : but none of its life and power enters his heart. 
 His closet opens to receive him : but though time 
 after time he falls on his knees, lamenting the dry- 
 ness, languor, and formality of his spirit; he can 
 
272 
 
 wring no sigh of contrition from his heart ; and is 
 obliged to tear himself from the throne of grace, 
 without enjoying any of that tenderness, warmth, 
 and elevation of soul, which constitute the very 
 life and substance of devotion. 
 
 When therefore he knows that Christ has pro- 
 mised to baptize his people with the Holy Ghost, 
 and that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is 
 liberty; is it any cause of astonishment that, in 
 these melancholy moments, the believer should 
 draw the most dreadful conclusions respecting his 
 own condition, and suspect that the Lord has cast 
 him off, and will be favourable no more ? 
 
 Some are led to adopt the same mournful appre- 
 hension, 
 
 4. From the want of success in their pious and 
 beneficent undertakings. 
 
 From the day that you were taught to love the 
 Lord with your whole heart, you began to love 
 your neighbour as yourselves. Assured that it is 
 the consummation of human duty and happiness, 
 to know, love, serve, and enjoy the Lord; your 
 great labour and study have been to bring all to 
 the knowledge and enjoyment of God. This has 
 been your object in your prayers, in your circula- 
 tion of the Scriptures, in your contributions for 
 the extension and establishment of the gospel, in 
 your efforts for the instruction of the young, for 
 the relief and comfort of the aged, and for the 
 improvement and welfare of all mankind. 
 
 When therefore you have the command of God, 
 
273 
 
 enjoining you to do good unto all as you have 
 opportunity ; and his promises, holding forth the 
 certainty that he will accept your services, and 
 bless the work of your hands ; and yet find, that 
 your most pure and benevolent exertions are re- 
 viled and resisted, and that just in proportion as 
 you spend and are spent in labours of faith and of 
 love, vice and profligacy abound ; you begin to 
 tremble lest the Lord will accept no offering at your 
 hand ; and that, on account of your worldliness 
 and worthlessness, he has rejected both your per- 
 sons and your services. 
 
 Others are led to draw a similar conclusion, 
 5. From the long continuance of severe tem- 
 poral trials. 
 
 As long as your strength is equal to your day, 
 and you are blessed with the Divine presence and 
 support, no trouble nor affliction can move you. 
 So far from being oppressed with your trials, you 
 can not only possess your soul in patience, but even 
 glory in tribulation. But when your sufferings 
 are multiplied or prolonged, and the Comforter, 
 who should relieve your souls, is far from you ; 
 when you look for light, but behold darkness; for 
 a time of health, but behold trouble ; when, instead 
 of diminishing the burden, the Lord seems to 
 increase the load ; when, instead of easing your 
 complaints and granting you the desires of your 
 hearts, he aggravates your calamities and answers 
 you by terrible things in righteousness: this is 
 discouraging and alarming indeed. This over- 
 
 . 
 
274 
 
 whelms you with fear, and induces you to ap- 
 prehend that by your offences you have provoked 
 his displeasure, and that he has let loose his hand 
 against you, and is consuming you with allhisterorrs. 
 
 On these occasions your trouble may be often 
 augmented by the foul and detestible suggestions 
 of Satan. If the Lord be but slightly displeased, 
 the enemy of all goodness eagerly helps forward 
 the affliction. If the Lord lay on you the rod of 
 correction ; Satan will eagerly seize it, to convert 
 it, if possible, into a rod of iron, with which he 
 may crush you. If the Lord administer a salutary 
 draught; Satan will labour to infuse poison into 
 the cup, in order to destroy you. He will secretly 
 assail you with such insinuations as these : " Can 
 you be the objects of Divine love ; and yet exposed 
 to such lengthened and complicated sorrows ? Can 
 God retain any regard for your welfare, and yet 
 leave you to struggle alone with your afflictions ? 
 Will a tender-hearted parent abandon his sick and 
 languishing child ? And if you retained any in- 
 terest in the affections of the Most High, w r ould he 
 neither remove nor mitigate your troubles ? Would 
 he withdraw from you in the midst of your distress, 
 and neither cheer you with the light of his coun- 
 tenance, nor support you with the communications 
 of his grace ? This evil is of the Lord : what 
 should you wait for the Lord any longer?" 
 
 Such are the principal circumstances in which 
 believers are led to suspect that God has forsaken 
 them. 
 
 
275 
 
 Let us now attend, 
 
 II. To the causes of desertion. 
 
 These, however numerous and various, may be 
 divided into two great classes; the appointment 
 of God, and our own sinfulness. 
 
 Desertion sometimes arises, 
 
 1. From the appointment of God. 
 
 From the number and greatness of our sins; 
 from the inexhaustible provision made in the gos- 
 pel for our perpetual happiness and comfort; and 
 from the repeated promises of peace and joy to 
 them who love the Lord and are stedfast in his 
 covenant; many suppose that God never forsakes us, 
 till we have criminally departed from him; and that, 
 if we would walk more closely with him, we should 
 be strangers to every species of distress and sorrow, 
 and be able at all times to abound in hope through 
 the power of the Holy Ghost. They imagine that 
 to affirm the contrary, would deprive us of all con- 
 fidence in the word of God, relax the motives to 
 activity and watchfulness, and hold out as much 
 encouragement to the slothful and formal professor, 
 as to the humble, self-denied, and devoted disciple. 
 
 Since all have sinned and come short of the 
 glory of God, and in every thing we offend ; there 
 can be no doubt that every case of desertion ori- 
 ginates directly or remotely in a sinful cause, and 
 that God is perfectly just in the most painful dis- 
 pensations of this nature with which any of his 
 people are visited. 
 
276 
 
 But if, while we maintain that all have sinned, 
 we also admit that there are very different degrees 
 of guilt ; we shall find little difficulty in acknow- 
 ledging that believers are sometimes forsaken in 
 the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, without 
 any criminal cause on their part, but in 'order to 
 try their faith, and improve and strengthen their 
 graces. 
 
 If desertion were always the effect of our own 
 sinfulness, it would uniformly be represented as our 
 own work, as criminal, or at least as the punish- 
 ment of a crime. And instead of any provision 
 being made for the support and comfort of the 
 deserted, they would be reproved and threatened, 
 and ministers would be commissioned to harrow up 
 their consciences with remonstrances against their 
 past treachery and baseness, and denunciations of 
 future judgments against their perverse and rebel- 
 lious conduct. 
 
 But instead of speaking of desertion as our own 
 work, it is mentioned as the w r ork of God. It is 
 not designated by the names of backsliding, revolt, 
 apostasy, or any other term which should induce 
 us to conclude that it is always the effect of our 
 sin and folly. It is described by God's forsaking 
 us, hiding his face from us, and casting off our 
 soul.* Instead of ascribing their loss of comfort 
 to their own carelessness and carnality, we find the 
 saints in desertion frequently inquiring into the 
 
 * Psal. xxii. 1 ; xxx. 7 ; xxxviii. 21 ; xliy. 24 ; lxxvii. 7 — 9 ; 
 lxxxviii. 14. Isa. liv. 7, 8. 
 
 fe. 
 
277 
 
 reasons why he withholds his wonted loving-kind- 
 ness. " Why hast thou forgotten me ? Why go 
 I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy ? 
 Why standest thou afar off, O God? why hidest thou 
 thyself in times of trouble ?" If desertion is invar- 
 iably the fruit of our own transgressions ; instead 
 of telling us in such a situation that we have a just 
 cause of fear, instead of denouncing indignation 
 and wrath against our sins ; why does he expostulate 
 with his people upon the unreasonableness of their 
 alarms, and address them in language such as this ? 
 — " Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O 
 Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my 
 judgment is passed over from my God ? Hast thou 
 not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlast- 
 ing God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the 
 earth, fainteth not, neither is weary ? He giveth 
 power to the faint ; and to them that have no might 
 he increaseth strength." " Zion said, the Lord 
 hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me. 
 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she 
 should not have compassion upon the son of her 
 womb ? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget 
 thee. I have graven thee on the palms of my 
 hands ; thy walls are continually before me." 
 
 We frequently read of the sufferings, distresses, 
 and tribulations of believers. But if it were unjust 
 in God to forsake his saints except as a punish- 
 ment for their sins; it must be equally unjust to 
 subject them to affliction, except when they have 
 offended him by their transgressions. According 
 
 N 
 
278 
 
 to this idea, the greatest sufferers must be the great- 
 est sinners, and Job must have been wicked beyond 
 all the men of the east. But how is this to be re- 
 conciled with the declaration of our blessed Lord, 
 " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten ?" 
 
 And if the people of God may thus be occa- 
 sionally visited with affliction, without having pro- 
 voked the chastisement by their criminal conduct ; 
 there seems no reason that desertion must invariably 
 be the result of their secret backslidings or of their 
 open sins. 
 
 Desertion is indeed painful, but it is peculiarly 
 salutary and profitable. 
 
 It enhances the value of the Divine presence and 
 favour, and makes us cleave to God with more 
 fixed and determined resolution. The worth of 
 our blessings is seldom fully known till they are 
 lost, or endangered. Never was Elisha so sensible 
 of the importance of Elijah's society, as when the 
 latter was on the point of being taken from his 
 head. And never is the value of the Divine favour 
 so clearly seen and so highly prized, as when we 
 are on the point of being deprived of it, or find 
 that it is actually withdrawn. 
 
 Desertion increases our watchfulness against 
 temptation and our activity and ardour in duty. 
 We are never so solicitous to please an endeared 
 friend, as when we suspect that we shall be obliged 
 to forego his society, and be separated from him 
 for years, or for life. And when does the Christian 
 manifest the greatest tenderness of heart, the 
 
279 
 
 most ardent love of things heavenly and divine, and 
 the most intense desire to know and do the will of 
 God? It is when mourning over his departed 
 delights, and longing for the restoration of those 
 spiritual consolations, which had formerly consti- 
 tuted the joy and rejoicing of his heart. It is then 
 that there is the greatest diligence to guard against 
 all evil, the most fervent following after God, and 
 the most elevated ideas of the value of the presence 
 and grace of the eternal Spirit. 
 
 Desertion tries and discovers our graces. It is 
 easy to trust the Lord when every thing succeeds 
 according to our wish, and nothing occurs to dis- 
 turb our peace or alarm our fears. But to be able 
 to wait upon God even in the way of his judgments ; 
 to be able to hope even against hope, and like Job 
 to say, though he slay me yet will I trust in him : 
 this shows a deep acquaintance with the power and 
 faithfulness of God, and a love which many waters 
 cannot quench nor the floods drown. Such is the 
 spirit frequently brought into action in seasons of 
 desertion. Like David, the believer exclaims, " O 
 my God, my soul is cast down within me : therefore 
 will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, 
 and of the Hermonites, from the hill of Mizar. 
 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water- 
 spouts : all thy waves and billows are gone over me. 
 Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in 
 the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with 
 me, and my prayer unto the God of my life." 
 Desertion prepares us for relishing more the 
 
280 
 
 return of consolation, and qualifies us for minis- 
 tering to the comfort of those who are in similar 
 trouble. Those are best able to appreciate the 
 worth of health, who have been subjected to the 
 severest sickness. The best guides are those who 
 have travelled the same roads. The most useful 
 counsellors are those who have been involved in 
 perplexity like what we experience. And who can 
 know so well the blessedness to be found in the 
 light of the Divine countenance, as those who have 
 longest walked in darkness ? and who are so fit to 
 sooth the sorrows and revive the hopes of those 
 who are forsaken of the Lord, as those who have 
 been cast out from his presence and obliged for 
 a time to go mourning without the sun ? 
 
 And if desertion is thus calculated to promote 
 our spiritual improvement and future usefulness ; 
 it is no more inconsistent with the wisdom and 
 goodness of the Most High, than the temporary 
 restraints imposed upon the patient, are inconsistent 
 with the skill and benevolence of the physician. 
 Nor does it argue a breach of faithfulness, any more 
 than an answer to our prayers, not in kind but in 
 loving-kindness, or the early death of pious youths ; 
 imply a violation of his promises of a gracious 
 return to our petitions, and a long life to obedient 
 children. 
 
 But though God in his supreme and sovereign 
 wisdom sometimes forsakes his people, in order to 
 try and exercise their graces ; we may observe, that 
 this is very seldom the case, and that desertion 
 
281 
 
 commonly is the consequence of our own folly, per- 
 verseness, and sinfulness. 
 
 He is the Father of mercies and the God of love. 
 He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children 
 of men. If ever he restrain the manifestations of 
 his kindness, and lift the rod of correction, we may 
 in general rest assured that there is both a cause 
 for his displeasure, and some valuable purpose to 
 be accomplished by the chastisements which he 
 inflicts. 
 
 Any sin may provoke him to withdraw the light 
 of his countenance, and to involve us in spiritual 
 darkness and distress. The most common causes 
 however of desertion are apostasy of heart, remiss- 
 ness and formality in duty, and known and open 
 sin. 
 
 Desertion is frequently occasioned, 
 
 1. By apostasy of heart. 
 
 It is from this that all our crimes and sufferings 
 proceed. They begin in an evil heart of unbelief, 
 that wickedly departs from the living God. Till 
 its influence, however, appears by the neglect of 
 some positive duty, or the commission of some 
 open sin ; it cannot attract the notice of our fellow- 
 creatures, and may even escape our own. But 
 there is not a single temper, principle, nor disposi- 
 tion within us, than can elude the eyes of the 
 Omniscient, or impose upon the knowledge of 
 Him that made us. He most distinctly sees, and 
 most thoroughly knows the first risings and move- 
 ments of this accursed evil. 
 
282 
 
 If therefore, whilst our conduct continues decent 
 and correct, we are beginning to backslide in 
 heart; if whilst we retain our religious profession, 
 and persevere in our attendance upon the ordi- 
 nances and exercises of devotion, we are beginning 
 to lose the spirituality of our own minds, and to 
 fall from our first love; if we are beginning to 
 undervalue the Divine presence, and to indulge a 
 trifling and worldly spirit ; if we are satisfying our- 
 selves with the shadow of piety, but careless of the 
 life and power of godliness; it is impossible to 
 retain the light of his countenance, and to exult in 
 the joys of his salvation. Will he confer his favours 
 on those by whom they are not prized ? Will he 
 diffuse the peace and the hope which his Spirit 
 inspires, in that heart which is treacherously depart- 
 ing from himself, and following after its idols ? 
 
 His dispensations towards us are generally regu- 
 lated by our conduct towards him. Them that 
 honour him he will honour ; but they that despise 
 him shall be lightly esteemed. When we cleave 
 to him with purpose of heart, walk with him by 
 faith, and prefer him to our chief joy ; he feasts us 
 with fat things, feeds up with hidden manna, and 
 makes all his paths towards us tenderness and love. 
 But if we become unsteadfast in his covenant, or 
 walk contrary to him; he also will walk contrary 
 to us, and make us reap of the fruit of our ways, and 
 fill us with our own devices. The backslider in 
 heart shall be filled with his own ways. 
 
 If this is our case, the Lord will remove from us 
 
283 
 
 the light of his countenance, and the consolations 
 of his Spirit: he will meet us with one distress and 
 sorrow, with one calamity and suffering after 
 another; till we are humbled for our offences, and 
 led in earnest to seek his favour. " I will go and 
 return to my place, till they acknowledge their sin, 
 and seek my face : in their affliction they will seek 
 me early." Thus while the holy importunity of 
 Jacob detained the angel of the covenant till the 
 break of day, and the affectionate entreaties of the 
 disciples constrained the seemingly reluctant Savi- 
 our to abide with them ; how severely did the spouse 
 smart for indolently declining to give immediate 
 admission to her kind and condescending Lord?* 
 Whenever therefore, without being conscious 
 of any open sin, you become sensible of a loss of 
 religious peace and joy ; you have reason to fear 
 that some Achan has gotten into the camp ; that 
 some secret apostasy is begun; that there is an 
 inward departure from the Lord. Your business is 
 instantly to examine your hearts, to search whether 
 or not any iniquity has gained an ascendancy there. 
 For though some imagine that all is safe as long 
 as sin does not break out in the life, no delusion 
 can be more false and ruinous. As every man 
 thinketh in his heart, so is he. The life may be 
 comparatively blameless, when the heart is in the 
 gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. 
 Spiritual wickednesses, from being the most secret 
 and insidious, are by far the most dangerous and 
 
 * Song v. 6. 
 
284 
 
 destructive. " Satan neither drinks, nor swears, nor 
 commits sins of the flesh, and yet he is a devil." 
 And you may be free from gross vice, and yet be 
 dead in trespasses and sins. 
 
 Desertion is sometimes produced, 
 
 2. By remissness and formality in duty. 
 
 The Lord Jehovah did not form us for a life of 
 indolence and ease. He did not load us with the 
 bounties of his providence, nor surround us with 
 the riches of his grace, merely in order to multiply 
 our temporal comforts, and enable us to spend our 
 time in mean and ignoble indolence. He formed 
 us for himself, that we might shew forth his praise. 
 Whatever may be our talents or our station, he 
 requires us to love him with our whole heart, and 
 to serve him with all our strength and mind. He 
 tells us that we are not our own. He enjoins us 
 to glorify him in our body and spirit which are his ; 
 and to be steadfast and immoveable, always abound- 
 ing in his work. 
 
 Though we were to reserve every feeling and 
 every affection for him ; though we were to con- 
 secrate to him and to his cause every moment of our 
 time, and every particle of our strength ; we could 
 not even then love him too strongly, nor serve him 
 too actively and earnestly. Our obligations to him 
 are innumerable and immense ; and all the energies 
 of our nature, though exerted in his service 
 throughout the whole range of an endless existence, 
 never can requite the infinite debt of grateful affec- 
 tion that we owe him. 
 
285 
 
 If therefore, while we are thus bound to know 
 nothing but him, and to spend and be spent for 
 his sake: we become slothful and remiss in his 
 service; can we expect to enjoy the fruits of his love, 
 or share in the peace and gladness of his chosen ? 
 Can the trifler make the same progress with the 
 ardent and indefatigable student? Can the way- 
 ward and turbulent son possess the same marks of 
 his father's approbation, as his obedient and indus- 
 trious brother? And whilst we are indifferent 
 about our spiritual mercies ; whilst w r e neglect the 
 duties which God exacts, or are cold, remiss, and 
 formal, in those which we render ; what ground 
 have we to expect that he will dignify us with the 
 marks of his friendship, or enrich and bless us 
 with the elevating and endearing communications 
 of his grace ? If we would wish to walk in the 
 light of his countenance, and to be exalted in his 
 righteousness, we must abide in his love, and set 
 him continually before us : we must live under 
 the powers of the world to come ; and forgetting 
 the things that are behind, reach forth unto those 
 that are before, and press on towards the mark for 
 the prize of the high calling of God in Christ : we 
 must comply with every intimation of his pleasure ; 
 and whatever we do, do with our might, and 
 heartily, and as unto the Lord, and not unto man. 
 In heaven the saints never languish in their love, 
 nor wander from their duty ; and their sun no 
 more goes down, neither does their moon withdraw 
 her shining. If we were more like them in our 
 n 2 
 
286 
 
 spirit and temper ; if our hearts were more con- 
 stantly filled with the love of God, and our hands 
 occupied with his work ; our consolations and joys 
 would have a brighter and closer resemblance to 
 theirs. We should seldom have cause to complain 
 of doubts and of darkness. Our peace would be 
 as a river, and our righteousness as the waves of 
 the sea. 
 
 But if the Divine presence be lost by secret 
 apostasy, and by remissness and formality in duty, 
 it must much more certainly be forfeited, 
 
 3. By known and open sin. 
 
 Sin is irreconcilably repugnant td the nature of 
 God. It is the abominable thing which he hates. 
 What friendly intercourse then can he maintain 
 with those who commit it. What fellowship hath 
 righteousness with unrighteousness? And what 
 communion hath light with darkness ? And what 
 concord hath Christ with Belial ? Open sin is 
 such a flagrant violation of his law ; it is so utterly 
 inconsistent with the Christian character ; it tends 
 so much to embolden others in transgression, and 
 to set his authority at defiance ; that, so far from 
 maintaining any kindly fellowship with those who 
 indulge it, he has threatened to punish it severely, 
 and has actually inflicted the most awful judgments 
 even on his own people, who have ventured on this 
 vile and forbidden ground. And if ever we shall 
 presume to offend him, we must lay our account 
 with the most signal chastisements. For this is 
 a standing and immutable rule in his righteous 
 
287 
 
 administration, " 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 transgression with the rod, and 
 their iniquity with stripes." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 Let us now attend, 
 
 III. To the provision which the Gospel contains 
 for the support and encouragement of the deserted. 
 
 Whether this heavy calamity arises from a sinful 
 or a sinless cause ; if you retain your love to God, 
 and your attachment to the Saviour, if you are 
 mourning his absence, and humbled and ashamed 
 for the evils which you have done ; if you are long- 
 ing for the restoration of his favour, and seeking 
 his face with your whole heart and soul ; however 
 much reason you may have to be cast down, you 
 have no cause for despair. This distress for his 
 absence and this restless impatience for his return, 
 are a token for good ; and a proof, that though 
 he has withdrawn the light of his countenance, it 
 is only for a time, and that he has not forsaken 
 you for ever. 
 
 If you have reason to fear that, by some secret 
 sin, or open transgression, you have moved him to 
 jealousy, and provoked him to hide his face from 
 you ; then let me ask, Are you bewailing your 
 guilt and folly in all the pungency of grief, and 
 
289 
 
 in all the bitterness of a broken heart? Does the 
 remembrance of your ungrateful treachery and 
 criminal baseness, lead you to weep in secret places, 
 and abhor yourselves in dust and ashes? Are you 
 daily spreading your offences before the Lord; and 
 endeavouring, by renewed application to the blood 
 of sprinkling, to obtain the remission of your 
 iniquity, and the recovery of his presence and love ? 
 
 If this is your case, then be of good cheer. 
 However painful and deplorable your condition 
 may seem, all shall yet be well. Though your 
 sinfulness may be great ; yet if you again flee for 
 refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you, you 
 shall in nowise be cast out. Though your guilt 
 may be great, and its natural consequences most 
 dreadful ; no offences are too foul, nor any case too 
 desperate for the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we not 
 told that his blood cleanseth from all sin ? and that 
 he is able to save to the utmost them that come 
 unto God by him ? " Come now, and let us reason 
 together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as 
 scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; though they 
 be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Sinners, 
 who never knew his grace, who never entertained 
 any desire for his salvation, who have run to the 
 excess of riot and covered themselves over with 
 impiety and crime ; are invited, encouraged, com- 
 manded to come to him for life ; and are assured 
 that, on their application, none of their trespasses 
 shall be mentioned or brought into mind. 
 
 If therefore you have fallen by your iniquity, 
 
290 
 
 return instantly to the Lord your God. Take 
 with you words and turn to him. Go to the com- 
 passionate and adorable Redeemer, as if you had 
 never gone before. Your case cannot now be 
 more dismal and desperate than it was, when Jesus 
 first found you, lying in your blood, and cast out 
 to the loathing of your soul. And did he bid you 
 live when you were dead in trespasses and sins? 
 And will he now refuse to revive, or maintain the 
 work of his hands? Did he stop you in your 
 rebellious and ruinous career, when you were sinning 
 with a high hand, and revolting more and more ? 
 And will he reject your petition and your cry, 
 when prostrate in submission at his feet, and lifting 
 up the voice of penitence and prayer? If thy 
 brother trespass against thee seven times in a day, 
 and seven times in a day turn to thee, saying, I 
 repent ; thou shalt forgive him." And whilst thus 
 we are enjoined to exercise forgiveness to our 
 offending brother, can we believe that similar 
 compassion shall not be found in the God of grace 
 towards his repenting children ? We have heard 
 that the kings of Israel are merciful kings. And 
 we know that with the Lord there is mercy, and 
 with him is plenteous redemption. " I have surely 
 heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus ; Thou 
 hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock 
 unaccustomed to the yoke : turn thou me, and 
 I shall be turned ; for thou art the Lord my God. 
 — Is Ephraim my dear son ? is he a pleasant child ? 
 for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remem- 
 
291 
 
 ber him still; therefore my bowels are troubled for 
 him : I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 If YOU can discover no particular cause for your 
 sorrow ; if your conscience bear you witness in the 
 Holy Ghost that you have been endeavouring in 
 faith and in earnest to walk with God in peace and 
 equity ; to allow no iniquity to obtain dominion over 
 you ; that you have preferred God to your chief 
 joy ; that it has been your heart's desire and prayer 
 to abide in his love, and to live under the powers 
 of the world to come; then you have reason to 
 conclude that this painful dispensation is not the 
 effect of Divine displeasure, but intended merely 
 for the trial of your faith and patience. Your duty 
 is to submit to it with calmness and resignation : 
 and, till God is pleased to restore the light of his 
 countenance and the joys of his salvation, for 
 your encouragement and support, recall the former 
 instances of his favour, and reflect on the immutabi- 
 lity of his love. 
 
 If ever you have really tasted that he is gracious, 
 you may safely rely on the permanence of the good 
 work which he has begun. Apparent grace may 
 be lost. From him that hath not, shall be taken 
 away even that which he seemeth to have. But 
 real religion is the gift of God, which he will not 
 revoke ; and his own work, which he will never 
 forsake. Blazing meteors may soon disappear ; but 
 the stars keep their stations, and the sun continues 
 from age to age to shine in the greatness of his 
 
292 
 
 strength. Preparatory grace may give way. Every 
 child does not arrive at manhood ; and many of 
 the fairest blossoms are blasted, and yield no fruit. 
 And many professors who have run well for a 
 season, and have had the most imposing religious 
 appearance, have afterwards drawn back, and 
 walked no more with Jesus. But genuine godliness 
 is an enduring principle, which will never fail. 
 The righteous holdeth on his way, and he that hath 
 clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger. True 
 grace may suffer a decline, and the Christian may 
 be guilty of many a shameful and hurtful fall. In 
 temptation he may be severely tried and sorely 
 shaken : but though the heel may be bruised, the 
 head is safe. The exercise of grace may be restrain- 
 ed, and its consolations for a time suspended : 
 whilst the sacred principle itself retains its existence, 
 and shall sooner or later recover all its former 
 strength and beauty. Planted by the hand of the 
 Almighty, and perpetually under his protection 
 and care, it shall spring up in spite of all opposition, 
 outbrave the fury of every storm, and flourish in 
 undecaying verdure, when tempests shall cease to 
 beat, and the very region in which they were 
 engendered, and where they spent their violence, 
 shall be known no more. The gifts and the callings 
 of God are without repentance. He rests in his 
 love : he hateth putting away : and whom he loves, 
 he loves unto the end. Ask now of the days that 
 are past, which were before thee, since the day 
 that God created man upon the earth; and ask from 
 
293 
 
 the one side of heaven unto the other, if ever the 
 righteous were forsaken, if ever a believer had 
 cause to be ashamed of his hope, if ever the Lord 
 abandoned his inheritance, or finally withdrew his 
 love from a single soul whom he had drawn to 
 himself, and led to fix his affections on things 
 unseen and eternal? Could you assemble the 
 redeemed of the Lord into one, to the praise of the 
 glory of his grace they would unanimously declare 
 that Jesus is faithful to his trust, that to his sheep 
 he gives eternal life, and that they can never perish, 
 neither can any pluck them out of his hand. He 
 and they are one. Their interests are indentified 
 with his own ; and because he lives they shall live 
 also. " Who then shall separate you from the 
 love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or 
 persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? 
 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquer- 
 ors, through him that loved us." 
 
 But perhaps you can derive no comfort from 
 your past experience. You suspect that you never 
 have been the subject of a gracious change. You 
 fear that your former religion has been a perfect 
 delusion ; a shadow without a substance ; a form 
 without the life and power of godliness. 
 
 If this is the case then, you must look into the 
 present state of your heart, and take an impartial 
 and careful survey of its desires and feelings. 
 
 Whenever a final separation takes place betwixt 
 God and a soul, it is mutual and complete. The 
 Lord not only removes the light of his countenance, 
 
294 
 
 and the consolations of his Spirit, but likewise with- 
 draws his secret and urgent applications to the 
 sinner's heart and conscience. The man not only 
 loses all his religious joy and comfort, but also 
 renounces all concern for what is serious, and either 
 sinks into a state of deep and impenetrable security, 
 or else returns to a course of open impiety and pro- 
 fligacy. When love vanishes, it is seldom that it 
 is succeeded even by indifference : its place is 
 generally occupied by dislike or enmity. And 
 when the Spirit of the Lord retires from a soul, 
 his place is immediately occupied by a spirit of 
 a very different description. Hostility and discord 
 ensued, whenever Abimelech and the men of She- 
 chem lost their mutual regard. And no sooner 
 had the Spirit of the Lord forsaken Saul, than an 
 evil spirit troubled him. And whenever a soul is 
 finally forsaken, as the departure always begins on 
 the side of the creature, the breach is mutual. 
 The man retains no love to religion, nor any long- 
 ing after God. He not only loses his apparent 
 comfort, but even the semblance of piety. In such 
 an awful situation, the dreadful language w T hich 
 God employs by his prophet, is uniformly realized : 
 " My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhor- 
 red me." The apostate generally plunges into 
 gross vice, and becomes a scoffer at vital godliness. 
 But at all events he has no impressive nor abiding 
 sense of his guilt and danger ; he has no hatred of 
 sin ; and little or no uneasiness respecting the issue 
 of his course. He is twice dead : dead by nature, 
 
 — tmmu 
 
295 
 
 and though for a season roused to some degree of 
 serioiiMK £8, and apparently assuming the principles 
 of spiritual life, the temporary agitation and alarm 
 having once subsided, he sinks anew into that torpor 
 from which nothing shall ever awake him. His 
 conscience is seared as with a hot iron. As he did 
 not like to retain God in his knowledge, God gives 
 him over to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. 
 Instead of being affected by his fearful condition, 
 he becomes perfectly confident of his safety. 
 Emancipated from, what he calls, the terrors of 
 superstition, he lives in gaiety and pleasure, works 
 unrighteousness with greediness, glories in his 
 shame, and perversely asserts his innocence and 
 safety, even when addicted to those practices against 
 which God has most clearly denounced the most 
 awful visitations of his wrath. 
 
 Now is this your case ? Have you a secret 
 aversion to every thing spiritual and sacred ? 
 Have you an inward attachment to every thing 
 foolish and trifling? Do you withdraw from the 
 ordinances of religion ; and neglect the exercises 
 of devotion ? Do you cast off the restraints of 
 piety ; and walk in the sight of your eyes and the 
 ways of your own heart ? Do you indulge in sen- 
 suality and sin; and retain no love nor longing 
 after God and things divine ? If this were your 
 condition, you would have just cause to tremble 
 for your dreadful state : for more sturdy evidence 
 could not be given of a depraved heart and of a 
 corrupt mind. 
 
 . 
 
296 
 
 But if conscious to yourselves that this is such 
 a spirit as you dread and deprecate ; if instead of 
 viewing salvation with indifference, you regard it 
 as the one thing needful, and would cheerfully 
 part with the wealth of ten thousand worlds to 
 obtain clear satisfying proof of your own union to 
 Christ and interest in his righteousness : that so far 
 from living in any known sin, you shun all appear- 
 ance of evil, and are ashamed, heart-broken, and 
 confounded for the iniquities which you have already 
 wrought ; that so for from shunning the duties and 
 obligations which you owe to God, you delight in 
 his law after the inner man, and are labouring 
 to glorify him in your body and spirit which are 
 his; that so far from undervaluing the consolations 
 of religion and the light of God's countenance, you 
 prefer his favour to your chief joy, and count all 
 things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus : all this is a token for good. It 
 demonstrates that, though cast down, you are not 
 destroyed; that though in darkness and distress, 
 you are neither finally forsaken, nor forgotten. 
 However feeble, the least sigh, or motion, is a sign 
 of life : and however faint, and imperfect, every 
 degree of compunction for sin, every aspiration 
 after holiness, every longing after God, intimates 
 that spiritual life, however feeble, is not totally ex- 
 tinct; and that you still retain some good thing 
 towards the Lord God of Israel. When Jonah 
 cried, " I am cast out of thy sight, yet will I look 
 again toward thy holy temple ; when the spouse 
 
297 
 
 said, " I sleep, but my heart waketh ; my Beloved 
 put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my 
 bowels moved for him ;" this showed that however 
 criminal and comfortless their state, they had not 
 lost all spirituality of mind, nor were completely 
 cast out from the Divine presence and favour. 
 The root of the matter was still within them ; and 
 though their wickedness for a season corrected 
 them, and their backslidings reproved them, 
 their piety was revived and strengthened, and 
 their consolations restored. And as long as you 
 possess any sorrow for sin, and any earnest ar- 
 dent longings after holiness and God; your case, 
 though painful, is not desperate. The principle 
 of grace is still alive ; and Jesus will not forsake the 
 work of his hands. He, who has begun the good 
 work, will complete it. A bruised reed will he not 
 break, the smoking flax will he not quench, till he 
 bring forth judgment unto victory. 
 
 Your dejection and anguish for the loss of the 
 Divine presence, and for the darkness of your 
 understanding and the deadness of your heart ; so 
 far from arguing that your former religious joys 
 were false and your experience delusive, prove that 
 they were genuine and solid. You never mourn 
 the absence of those whose presence you never 
 possessed ; nor regret the suspension of an inter- 
 course which never was begun. And what do all 
 your distress and sorrow for the absence of your 
 Saviour, and all your restless and importunate 
 desires and prayers for his return, intimate, but that 
 
298 
 
 you have really tasted of his love, and that you 
 still delight in him as your portion and your all ? 
 Do the men of the world ever experience any such 
 trouble and grief? Do they ever feel any regret 
 for the absence of God ; or manifest any strong 
 and intense desires for the possession of the light 
 of his countenance and the joys of his salvation? 
 Do you ever hear them complaining, Verily thou 
 art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the 
 Saviour? Do you ever find them inquiring, Saw 
 ye him whom our soul loveth ? Do you ever see 
 them sunk in sorrow, and bending beneath the 
 burden of a broken heart, because they can do no 
 more to his honour, acquire no more conformity to 
 his image, nor enjoy more of his presence and love ? 
 Give them wealth and honour, mirth and amuse- 
 ment ; and what care they for Divine communica- 
 tions or spiritual enjoyments ? They despise the 
 ordinances of religion ; profane the sabbaths of the 
 Lord ; turn their backs upon the sanctuary ; and 
 remain unaffected by all the melting wonders of 
 redeeming mercy, and all the boundless discoveries 
 of celestial glory. If ever they engage in the exer- 
 cises of piety, they draw near to God with their 
 mouth, and honour him with their lips, but their 
 heart is far from him. To mourn an absent God, 
 to bewail the loss of spiritual consolation and joy, 
 to be humbled and ashamed on account of the cold- 
 ness, stupidity, and insensibility of your souls ; are 
 all proofs that you possess another and a better 
 spirit than the men of the world, that you are born 
 
299 
 
 (vm\ above, and sealed with that Holy Spirit of 
 promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, 
 until the redemption of the purchased possession. 
 The presence of these affections, and your incessant 
 and strong desires for the recovery of your former 
 spirituality of mind, and the restoration of your 
 past felicity and joy ; demonstrate that, though at 
 present deprived of the light of God's countenance 
 and the hopes of his salvation, he has called you 
 out of darkness into light, and transferred your 
 affections from the things that are seen and tem- 
 poral, to those that are unseen and eternal. For 
 if you had been without God; like the careless and 
 the carnal around you, you would have been living 
 to yourselves, minding earthly things, and in one 
 form or other, loving and serving the creature more 
 than the Creator. 
 
 How then came you to be exercised unto godli- 
 ness ? Why have you your conversation in heaven, 
 and your fruit unto holiness? Who has made 
 you to cleave to God with full purpose of heart, 
 and follow hard after him, even when he most 
 completely hides his face ? This is all the work 
 of the blessed Spirit; and without his sacred 
 agency, you would have still been dead in trespasses 
 and sins, and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and 
 mind. 
 
 A consciousness of remaining imperfection, and 
 a painful sense of indwelling-sin, so far from being 
 indications of a reprobate mind, are the charac- 
 teristics of a gracious state. Those who see may 
 
300 
 
 sometimes start at a shadow ; but the blind will 
 not shrink at the approach of a cannon-ball. The 
 living may complain of a blow : but the dead cannot 
 feel though crushed beneath the weight of a moun- 
 tain. The Christian may tremble at the least 
 frown which clouds the face of his heavenly Father, 
 and cry out on the slightest motion of corruption : 
 but the men of the world can sleep securely amidst 
 the thunders of Sinai, and riot in unrighteousness, 
 in defiance of the most tremendous denunciations 
 of Almighty vengeance. If therefore you feel 
 abhorrence of sin, love to God, zeal for his honour, 
 and an earnest desire to be solaced and cheered 
 with the light of his countenance, and the consola- 
 tions of his Spirit; then your eternal all is safe. 
 You are the objects of his affection, and the subjects 
 of his grace. U For thus saith the Lord, Heaven 
 is my throne, and the earth is my footstool : but to 
 this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and 
 of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word." 
 You may experience much to excite your alarm 
 and try your faith. You may receive no return to 
 your prayers : for Jesus himself complained, Why 
 art thou so far from helping me, and from the 
 words of my roaring ? You may derive no sensible 
 advantage from the ordinances of religion : for 
 many of his children, who have been the most 
 diligent in attending upon every external institu- 
 tion, have been compelled to cry, Oh that we knew 
 where we might find him ! You may languish 
 under a sense of formality and deadness in duty : 
 
301 
 
 for this must have been the case with the P>almist, 
 when he was obliged to declare that his soul cleav- 
 ed unto the dust, and entreated to be quickened 
 according to God's word. You may discover no 
 success attending your pious and beneficent under- 
 takings: for can you ever forget who lamented 
 that he had laboured in vain, and had spent hi- 
 strength for nought, and in vain? You may be 
 subjected to severe and long-continued trials; for 
 what son is he whom his father chasteneth not ? 
 But while you continue to follow r hard after God, 
 to prefer his favour to your chief joy, and to count 
 all but loss for his sake ; however dark and distress- 
 ing your frames may prove, your state is safe. 
 These are not the feelings of nature. They are 
 not the desires nor lonmnfjs of the unrenewed mind. 
 They are good gifts which come down from above. 
 They descend from the Father of lights, and are 
 the work of his blessed Spirit. And while they 
 remain deeply seated in your heart, can you believe 
 that God has finally forsaken you ? If a man go 
 from home, but leave his family and furniture 
 behind : what is our inference ? That his absence 
 is merely temporary, and that he is determined to 
 return. If he had renounced all interest in the 
 place, and resolved to abandon it for ever, he w r ould 
 have carried all alon£ with him, bag and ba^a^e, 
 and not have left a single article of his property 
 upon the premises. And after God long laid siege 
 to your heart, and by the mightiest operations of 
 his marvellous love, succeeded in planting the 
 o 
 
302 
 
 graces of his Spirit in your souls : whilst these best 
 and dearest pledges of his affection remain, can 
 you persuade yourselves that he has renounced his 
 conquest, and forsaken the work of his hands ? If 
 he had cast you off for ever, he would not only 
 have extinguished your religious hope and joy, but 
 also dismantled your soul of its graces and left it 
 under the dreary and desolating power of vice and 
 depravity. He would not only have concealed 
 from you the smiles of his face, but also have 
 recalled his Holy Spirit. He w r ould not only have 
 stripped you of your comforts, but also have with- 
 drawn every trace of his sanctifying and purifying 
 influence. If his departure had been final, every 
 vestige of humility, contrition, and spirituality, 
 would have been effaced, and your souls abandoned 
 to all that impenetrable and death-like apathy 
 which mark a reprobate mind and hardened heart. 
 As long therefore as you retain any love to his name, 
 any delight in his service, and longing for the 
 enjoyment of his love, as long as you vigilantly 
 exclude Satan and his emissaries, and faithfully 
 reserve the citadel of the heart for the King of 
 heaven : all these facts are endearing and decisive 
 proofs that you belong to the God of glory. They 
 are pledges that, however distant he may now appear, 
 he will speedily return. " For a small moment have 
 I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather 
 thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for 
 a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have 
 mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 OX DISTRESS ARISING FROM TEMPORAL 
 AFFLICTION. 
 
 Man is born to trouble : and by becoming Chris- 
 tians we are neither exempted from the ordi- 
 nary calamities of life, nor rendered insensible to 
 their number or severity. We are frequently sub- 
 jected to sufferings and sorrows of our own, with 
 which no stranger intermeddles : and though God 
 sanctifies our -trials, and gives us strength to bear 
 them ; still in themselves they are as painful to us as 
 to any of those who are around us. We feel as 
 acutely, as the worldly and the worthless, poverty 
 and reproach, sickness and anguish. We witness 
 with no less emotion than they, the pale coun- 
 tenance, the emaciated frame, and the sinking eye 
 of a dying friend or brother ; and follow with a heart 
 as heavy as theirs to the house of silence, and hear 
 with as great a thrill of sadness as they, the clods 
 of the valley rattling on the coffin, which contains 
 the remains of what was lately so lovely and ever 
 must be dear. 
 
 As long, however, as your strength is equal to 
 your day, and you are blessed with the Divine 
 
304 
 
 presence and support, none of these things can 
 move you. Instead of yielding to despair, you can 
 possess your souls in patience. Amidst the wreck 
 and ruin of your best and most valued earthly com- 
 forts, you can lift up your head sublime; take 
 a calm and steady view of the darkest and most 
 terrific of the scene, and glory in the deepest and 
 direst tribulation. 
 
 But when your distresses are multiplied or pro- 
 longed; and that God who, with the light of his 
 countenance and the consolations of his grace, used 
 to cheer and strengthen your heart, is far from 
 helping you and from the words of your roaring : 
 this fills you with perplexity and despondence, and 
 makes you suspect that by your coldness, unkind- 
 ness, and sinfulness, you have grieved his Holy 
 Spirit, and provoked him to become your adversary. 
 Knowing that godliness has the promise of the life 
 that now is, as well as of that which is to come, 
 and that God has engaged to keep him in perfect 
 peace whose mind is stayed on him ; but finding 
 that your own condition is desolate and dreary, that 
 one comfort after another is wrested from your 
 grasp, and that you are subjected to complicated 
 and lengthened trials : you are ready to question 
 the reality of your past religion, and to fear that 
 you are still without God and without hope. 
 
 My suffering friends, you would have great cause 
 indeed to adopt this melancholy conclusion, if you 
 could show that affliction is always sent as a mark 
 of the Divine displeasure, or reserved for the care- 
 less and the carnal, or sent as a punishment upon 
 
305 
 
 the faithful, without being fitted or designed to pro- 
 duce any valuable or salutary effect. 
 
 But is this any thing at all like the representation 
 which the Bible gives us of its nature and design? 
 
 Does the Bible, 
 
 I. Represent affliction as the effect merely of 
 the Divine displeasure ? 
 
 Is this the inference that w T e are to draw from 
 hearing the saints singing of judgment as well as of 
 mercy ? from the man being pronounced blessed 
 whom the Lord correcteth and teacheth out of his 
 law? from the declaration of the Psalmist, that it 
 was good for him that he had been afflicted? or from 
 the assurance of our blessed Lord, As many as 
 I love I rebuke and chasten ? 
 
 Does the Bible, 
 
 II. Represent affliction as reserved only for the 
 careless and the carnal ? 
 
 It is certain that hereafter the wicked shall be 
 punished with everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord and the glory of his power ; 
 and that in the meantime many of their guilty 
 pleasures are imbittered by remorse and shame, 
 and that multitudes of the transgressors themselves 
 are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. 
 
 But the profane and carnal are not the only 
 sufferers in this world of woe. It is only through 
 much tribulation that any can enter into the king- 
 dom. In the case of some of the dearest of the 
 
306 
 
 saints of God, afflictions have come so fast, and 
 lasted so long, that they have had tears for their 
 meat both in the night and day. Will you say that 
 Job, David, Jeremiah, and the Apostles, were sin- 
 ners above all the men of the ages in which they 
 lived? Yet their trials were singularly numerous 
 and severe : and in general none have received 
 worse treatment than those of whom the world was 
 most unworthy. 
 
 The ungodly prosper in the world : they increase 
 in riches : they become old and are great in power : 
 they are not in trouble as other men, neither 
 plagued as other men : for they have their portion 
 in this life. But God has provided some better 
 thing for you. He has called you to an inheritance 
 incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
 eternal in the heavens. And in bringing you to 
 glory one of the measures which he employs, with 
 the most blessed effect, is affliction. 
 
 Unless affliction is the lot of the children of God, 
 why are they so frequently exhorted to cultivate 
 patience and resignation ? commended for their 
 submission to the Divine will, and their fortitude 
 under trouble ? Why are support and consolation 
 provided for them in seasons of suffering and sor- 
 row ? and a rich and everlasting recompense pro- 
 mised to them who magnanimously endure their 
 toils and trials ? They who shall reign with Christ, 
 are they who now suffer with him. And if you 
 look into heaven, say, Who are these who are 
 arrayed in white robes ? and whence came they ? 
 
307 
 
 These are they who come out of great tribulation, 
 and have washed their robes, and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 So far is affliction from being reserved for the 
 worldly and the worthless, that, on the contrary, 
 it is one of the marks of adoption, and a large por- 
 tion of it is expressly assigned to the faithful. " If 
 ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with 
 sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth 
 not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof 
 all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons." 
 
 Does the Bible, 
 
 III. Represent affliction merely as the punish- 
 ment of sin, and as productive of no useful nor 
 salutary effect ? 
 
 It is true indeed that there is no man that liveth 
 and sinneth not. In manv things we all offend. 
 The very best men on earth are imperfect ; and 
 frequently chargeable with much that grieves the 
 Spirit of grace, and provokes the eyes of the Divine 
 glory. And as God will not allow sin to pass with 
 impunity in his dearest children, there can be no 
 doubt that believers often smart severely for their 
 trespasses. 
 
 But whilst we distinctly admit that affliction is 
 sometimes sent as a chastisement for our iniquities, 
 and that God is perfectly just in the heaviest trials 
 that we endure ; nothing can be farther from the 
 truth than to affirm that affliction is intended solely 
 as a punishment of our transgressions, and produc- 
 
308 
 
 tive of no beneficial consequences. Few blessings 
 are more important and inestimable, than the 
 prevention and cure of sin, conformity to the image 
 of Christ, a discovery of the meaning and excellence 
 of the promises, a love and a relish for spiritual 
 enjoyments, increasing fervour in prayer, liberal 
 supplies of Divine strength and consolation, fre- 
 quent visits of the Spirit of God, and a growing 
 meetness for future glory. On examination, how- 
 ever, you will find that these are some of the 
 peaceable and precious fruits of righteousness that 
 affliction yields. 
 
 1. It contributes to prevent and cure our sins. 
 
 The heart is deceitful above all things and 
 desperately wicked. But its baseness and treachery 
 never appear in a form more humbling, lamentable 
 and awful, than in seasons of ease and prosperity. 
 Though perpetually prone to backslide, it is then 
 especially that it betrays its criminal tendency to 
 depart from the living God ; and that we are in 
 greatest danger of overlooking the value of our 
 spiritual treasures, and of taking up our rest and 
 satisfaction in the empty and perishing trifles of 
 earth and of time. As long as his fortune lasted, 
 the prodigal seems scarcely to have entertained 
 a thought of his father : and if his wealth had 
 increased or even continued, he never would have 
 formed the resolution to return. But when his 
 substance was spent ; when the insidious attentions 
 of his deceitful flatterers were withdrawn ; when 
 famine began to prey upon the people; and he 
 
 [ 
 
309 
 
 himself was compelled, amidst hunger and naked- 
 ness, to submit to the disgrace and drudgery of 
 feeding swine ; he could no longer repel the recol- 
 lection of the plenty that filled, and the peace and 
 kindness that cheered his paternal habitation, nor 
 resist the desire to arise, and go to his father. And 
 when the world smiles on us, and we enjoy all the 
 created comforts which we can wish ; we are lament- 
 ably ready to relax our religious activity and ardour, 
 to forget our absolute unceasing dependence upon 
 the ever-blessed and all-sufficient Creator, and the 
 transcendent worth and endless duration of the 
 blessings which he bestows. But affliction rouses 
 us from our lethargy. The loss of the things that 
 we love, and the various trials and disappointments 
 which we sustain, irresistibly convince us that this is 
 not our rest, dissipate the airy and enchanting 
 visions which health and prosperity had spread 
 around us; unfix the grasp which earth had taken of 
 our affections; lead us to set our hearts on the things 
 that are above, and to seek our all from God. By 
 the sadness of the countenance the heart is made 
 better. By affliction iniquity is purged, and all 
 the fruit is to take away our sin. 
 
 When therefore affliction has such a direct and 
 powerful tendency to counteract the encroachments 
 of a selfish, worldly, and lukewarm spirit, and to 
 rouse you to consideration, watchfulness, and 
 prayer ; can you really be in love with religion and 
 prefer God to your chief joy, and yet regard adver- 
 sity as an insupportable calamity, and deprecate 
 o 2 
 
310 
 
 it as an unmingled and incurable evil ? Will you 
 choose sin rather than affliction? the pleasures 
 which perish with the using, rather than those pure, 
 sublime, and boundless joys, which fill and feast the 
 soul, and last for ever? 
 
 2. Affliction affords us the privilege of becom- 
 ing conformed unto the image of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 He is the perfection of beauty and of excellence. 
 He is higher than the highest : in all, and through 
 all, and over all. He is the brightness of the 
 Father's glory, and the express image of his person. 
 
 Can any honour be higher ? or any distinction 
 more sublime, than to possess a resemblance to him 
 who is so infinitely great, and so eternally blessed 
 and glorious ? 
 
 Yet this resemblance may be in part acquired, 
 and greatly promoted by the patient endurance of 
 affliction. Jesus was despised and rejected of men. 
 His visage was marred more than any man, and 
 his form more than the sons of men. Though he 
 was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things 
 which he suffered. 
 
 In this respect we are called to follow him. 
 When opening the eyes of the blind ; unstopping 
 the ears of the deaf; when healing the sick with 
 a word, raising the dead, and governing worlds, he 
 did not stand still, and say, " Come and learn of 
 me." It was when without a place where to lay his 
 head ; when subjected to obloquy and reproach ; 
 and enduring the contradiction of sinners against 
 
811 
 
 himself; that he said. Come and learn of me, for 
 I am meek and lowly in heart. Hence, his apostle 
 asks, " What glory is it, if, when ye be buffet ted for 
 your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when 
 ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, 
 this is acceptable with God ; for even hereunto were 
 ye called ; because Christ also suffered for us, leav- 
 ing us an example that we should follow his steps : 
 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
 mouth ; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again ; 
 when he suffered, he threatened not." 
 
 Persecution for the sake of righteousness, the 
 hatred and hostility of the sons of Belial, distress 
 and trouble in the cause of Christ and of a good 
 conscience; are the badges of Divine nobility. 
 These are the insignia of honour, with which Jesus 
 in the meantime dignifies those, on whose heads he 
 shall hereafter place the crown of salvation. He 
 himself was a man of sorrows. " And is the 
 disciple above his master ? or the servant above his 
 lord? It is enough that the disciple be as his 
 master, and the servant as his lord. Whom God 
 did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con- 
 formed to the image of his Son, that he might be 
 the first-born among many brethren." And what 
 honour on this side of heaven, or in heaven itself, 
 can be more exalted or delightful than to be like 
 the Son of God ? 
 
 The exercise of the active graces may be accom- 
 panied with a greater degree of present splendour, 
 and may even prove more profitable to the world ; 
 
312 
 
 bat the exercise of the passive graces is not less 
 worthy of admiration, nor less beneficial to your 
 own soul. Though God is at all times infinitely 
 glorious and lovely, never did his goodness appear 
 in a more majestic and endearing form, than when 
 the incarnate Saviour was seen bearing the con- 
 tradiction of sinners against himself; led as a lamb 
 to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers 
 is dumb, not opening his mouth ; healing the wound 
 of the ruffian who was sent to apprehend him ; and 
 in the agonies of death, i-ecom mending his murder- 
 ers to the mercy of his Father. 
 
 And however criminal and ruinous to their 
 authors; the scorn and derision, the malice and 
 abuse of the worldly and worthless, give us an 
 opportunity, which we never otherwise could have 
 enjoyed, of manifesting the heavenly origin and 
 matchless superiority of our principles. They 
 give us an opportunity of loving our enemies, of 
 blessing them that curse us, of doing good to them 
 that hate us, of praying for them that despitefully 
 use and persecute us ; and of demonstrating that 
 the very worst that earth and hell can attempt, to 
 subdue or suppress our religious activity and ardour, 
 only rivets us the more firmly to our duty, and 
 gives tenfold strength to the bands of affection and 
 zeal which bind our devoted hearts to the service 
 of our Master. 
 
 And the trials and afflictions of life, however 
 painful and severe, afford us a similar opportunity 
 of signalizing the strength of our faith and the 
 
313 
 
 purity of our love. A hireling will fight for his 
 pay, and a mercenary will abide in the work of his 
 employer while it yields him greater gain than 
 be could acquire by deserting it. But a friend, or 
 a son, will stand by a father or a benefactor, though 
 at the peril of their own life; and rather than 
 abandon the venerated object of their affection in 
 his distress, receive the mortal blow of the assassin 
 in their own breast. And while religion is accom- 
 panied with temporal ease and honour, hypocrites 
 and formalists will make a flaming profession of 
 piety, and outstrip many of the faithful themselves 
 in their forwardness and courage. But when 
 difficulties beset them, when dangers threaten, and 
 tribulation and persecution arise because of the 
 word ; by and by they are offended, draw back, and 
 walk no more with Jesus. But to cleave to him 
 when the world frowns ; to adhere to him the more 
 firmly as our trials abound; to be able to hope 
 even against hope ; to wait on him even in the way 
 of his judgments ; and say, Though he slay me yet 
 will I trust in him : this proves a genuine acquaint- 
 ance with the perfections of his nature, and the 
 tenderness of his heart : this bespeaks the faith of 
 a Christian ana the affection of a son ; and demon- 
 strates that we are possessed of a love which many 
 waters cannot quench, nor the floods drown. 
 
 And if this is the high and invaluable end of your 
 afflictions ; can you affirm, that, in the tribulations 
 which have overtaken you, any strange thing has 
 befallen you ? Is there any more perfect, lovely, 
 
314 
 
 and glorious than the Lord Jesus Christ? And 
 since he was made perfect through suffering, will 
 you dread or deprecate those trials which are sent 
 in love, and designed to promote your conformity 
 to his image? Does a soldier consider it as a 
 ground of rejoicing, that he is allowed to share in 
 the dangers and privations of his general ? Does 
 a courtier regard it as an honour, to accompany 
 his sovereign in all his toils and conflicts ? And 
 called unto the faith of the Gospel, and the hope 
 of his eternal kingdom ; can your hearts desire a 
 higher honour, or the God of grace confer a nobler 
 distinction, than the immense, the invaluable privi- 
 lege of a fellowship in the sufferings of him, who 
 is King of kings and Lord of lords, and with whom 
 you shall reign in righteousness for ever and ever ? 
 Rather rejoice in the tribulations that ye endure? 
 and glory in your infirmities. They are the gifts 
 of God, and the marks of peculiar, signal favour. 
 " Unto you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only 
 to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." 
 Such trials are " a manifest token of the righteous 
 judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy 
 of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." 
 Jesus could easily have bestowed on you the 
 power of working miracles : and you no doubt 
 would have been delighted with the gift. You 
 would have rejoiced to have gone about, multiply- 
 ing the supplies of the poor, healing the sick, and 
 opening the eyes of the blind. But this faculty 
 he has withheld, and reserved for you a prerogative 
 
less brilliant but more sublime : the privilege of 
 resembling himself in calm, patient, cordial sub- 
 minion to affliction and distress. Improve your 
 privilege. Take up your cross and follow him 
 through all the difficult and rugged steps in which 
 be may be pleased to lead you. 
 
 3. Affliction unfolds the meaning, and displays 
 the excellence of the promises. 
 
 If we were never sick, nor in want, we could 
 have no idea of the value of medicine, nor of the 
 importance of plenty. And though the Bible 
 abounds with exceeding great and precious pro- 
 mises ; unless we were occasionally in the circum- 
 stances of distress and of trouble to which they are 
 exactly adapted, the worth and efficacy of many 
 of the best and richest in all the volume of inspira- 
 tion would remain unknown. Till their provisions 
 were nearly spent, and a party of them had enjoyed 
 a delicious repast upon a dish of clams, an insig- 
 nificant shell-fish, which lodges in the sand, and 
 which in their more prosperous days they had 
 despised ; the first settlers in New-England never 
 discovered the meaning of that promise, " They 
 shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of 
 treasures hid in the sand." And if we were never 
 in sorrow, what conception could we form of 'the 
 blessedness of them that mourn ? If we were never 
 tempted, what meaning could we attach to the 
 language, " Blessed is the man that endureth 
 temptation." If we were never in want, how could 
 we justly appreciate the animating assurance, " My 
 
 
316 
 
 God shall supply all your need, according to his 
 riches in glory by Christ Jesus ?" And if we were 
 never called to pass through difficulties and dan- 
 gers, how could we fully prize the gracious and 
 astonishing declaration, " Fear not, for I am with 
 thee : be not dismayed, for I am thy God ?" 
 
 Ease, health, and prosperity, have their attrac- 
 tions and their uses. But if we wish to live by faith, 
 to be thoroughly acquainted with the whole will of 
 God, and know the import and the excellence of 
 all his words of truth and kindness ; we shall find 
 that a season of distress and of trial is highly 
 unspeakably advantageous. "As darkness shews 
 us worlds of light we never saw by day ;" a beauty, 
 a majesty, and glory burst from the pages of inspira- 
 tion in the night of affliction and sorrow, which 
 the sunshine of prosperity had concealed. 
 
 4. Affliction enhances the value of our spiritual 
 mercies, and makes us more sensible of the im- 
 portance of an interest in the provisions of the 
 everlasting covenant. 
 
 The prosperity of fools destroys them ; and 
 many believers have been deeply injured, in their 
 spiritual health and growth, by a long continuance 
 of worldly comforts. In these dangerous circum- 
 stances they are ready to forget their better and 
 more enduring portion, and to lavish their affec- 
 tions on the empty and perishing trifles around 
 them. But will you indulge in this criminal and 
 ruinous state of mind in the dark day of adversity, 
 or in the dreary night of death ? In the light and 
 
317 
 
 heat of B summer's day, the child may carelessly 
 rov^ from home, and entertain no wish to return. 
 But let the rain descend, let the tempest blow, or 
 an enemy present himself in his path : and instantly 
 he will discover the perils of his ramblings, and 
 lon^ for the shelter of his father's house, and the 
 kindness of his mother's arms. 
 
 And though, in prosperity, the Christian may 
 sink into carelessness and security, and take up 
 his satisfaction in the things around him; when 
 health leaves him, friends forsake him, Satan rages, 
 and the world frowns ; when time recedes, and 
 eternity with all its affecting realities rises on his 
 view ; he then most forcibly feels that this is not 
 his rest. He then finds that by remitting his 
 vigilance, and w T andering from his refuge, he has 
 exposed himself to inexpressible hazard, and most 
 deeply hurt the best interests of his soul. He then 
 sees that there is but one thing needful ; and that 
 the wealth of ten thousand worlds is not, for one 
 moment, to be compared with union to the Saviour, 
 and an interest in the great salvation. From the 
 vanities and follies of life, from the pleasures and 
 trifles of sense, we then instinctively and eagerly 
 turn to our nobler and better inheritance; and 
 cling with ardent intense avidity to the high hopes 
 and inexhaustible consolations of the everlasting 
 gospel. We are then compelled in the sincerity 
 of our souls to cry, " To whom can we go but to 
 thee ? Thou hast the w T ords of eternal life. Whom 
 have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon 
 
 
318 
 
 i 
 
 earth that I desire besides thee : my flesh and heart 
 faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and 
 my portion for ever." 
 
 5. Affliction gives life and fervour to prayer. 
 
 The child never cries more bitterly than when 
 in distress; the prisoner never pleads more ear- 
 nestly than when his life is in danger : and we are 
 never more frequent, more humble, and impor- 
 tunate in our applications at the mercy-seat, than 
 when assailed with trouble, and shaken with fear, 
 stripped of our temporal enjoyments, and visited 
 with severe and unexpected tribulation. Few 
 saints appear to have been oftener in trouble, or 
 involved in deeper distress, than David and Jer- 
 emiah. But none seem to have been more familiar 
 with the throne of grace, or more enlarged and 
 ardent in their supplications there. 
 
 In the time of health and prosperity our devotion 
 often languishes. We are cold, short, and lifeless 
 in our addresses to our heavenly Father. But 
 affliction rouses us from our lethargy. It drives 
 us to our knees. It fills our souls with alarm, and 
 our mouths with arguments. It compels us to 
 plead in earnest, and to wrestle with God like men 
 who know that their all is at stake, and that they 
 must either succeed or perish. Even the wicked 
 themselves will visit God in trouble, and pour out 
 a prayer when his chastening is upon them. How 
 much more must suffering bring you to the foot- 
 stool of the Most High, and constrain you to pour 
 out the fulness of your hearts before him? To 
 
319 
 
 whom can the sick and suffering child more na- 
 turally apply, than to his kind-hearted lather? 
 And, when you have tasted that the Lord is gra- 
 cious; to whom in all your griefs and fears, can you 
 more reasonably, more hopefully repair, than to 
 him who knows your frame, who is touched with 
 the feeling of your infirmities, and who has said, 
 u Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver 
 thee?" "From the end of the earth will I cry 
 unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed : lead me 
 to the Rock that is higher than I." 
 
 If, therefore, you know the worth of prayer, and 
 value communion with the Father of your spirits 
 and the God of love, fear not the approach of 
 adversity. This will break up the dulness and 
 sluggishness, the lukewarmness and formality which 
 insensibly steal in upon your affections. This will 
 discover your weakness and wants, multiply your 
 errands to the seat of mercy, and give warmth, 
 force, and perseverance, to your intercessions. 
 
 " Trials make the promise sweet, 
 
 Trials give new life to prayer ; 
 Trials bring us to his feet, 
 
 Lay us low, and keep us there." 
 
 6. Affliction is the occasion of bringing down 
 more plentiful supplies of spiritual strength and 
 consolation. 
 
 Among the many precious words which the Bible 
 contains, few are more encourasrino; and refreshing 
 
 CD CD O 
 
 than those promises in which God assures us ; that 
 
320 
 
 as our days, so also shall our strength be, that his 
 grace is sufficient for us, and his strength made 
 perfect in our weakness. In consequence of these 
 blessed declarations, we know that when we are 
 weakest in ourselves, we are strongest in the Lord. 
 The greater our helplessness, and the more numer- 
 ous and distressing our trials, we require more of 
 the Divine assistance and support. And since 
 God has engaged to supply all our need, and to 
 make his grace sufficient for us; we may then rely 
 on more rich and ample communications of strength 
 and comfort. 
 
 And when you know that your life does not 
 consist in temporal abundance, but in the presence 
 and friendship of the Most High ; when you know 
 that his favour is life, and his loving-kindness 
 better than life, and that these are most amply 
 afforded in seasons of suffering and sorrow ; will 
 you shrink from the cross, which is loaded with 
 these invaluable blessings? or tremble to place 
 your feet in those waters of affliction, which are 
 wafting to you your best and dearest treasures ? 
 Cultivate another and a better spirit ; and learn 
 to say with the apostle, " Most gladly will I rather 
 glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ 
 may rest upon me : therefore I take pleasure in 
 infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu- 
 tions, in distresses for Christ's sake : for when I am 
 weak then am I strong." 
 
 7. Affliction procures us the most frequent and 
 refreshing visits of the Spirit of God. 
 
221 
 
 A parent may love all his family, and treat the 
 whole with tenderness: but if there is any who 
 engrosses more of his attention, and receives more 
 marked proofs of his care than another, it is the 
 one who is most feeble, delicate, and sickly. And 
 though the Lord Jesus Christ has charge of all his 
 people, and loves the whole with the most lively 
 affection; the visits of his grace, and the consola- 
 tions of his Spirit, are most plentifully imparted 
 to those who are subjected to the most painful and 
 lingering trials. He feeds his flock like a shepherd : 
 he gathers the lambs with his arm, carries them 
 in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with 
 young. His own gracious declaration is, " When 
 thou passest through the waters, I will be with 
 thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not over- 
 flow- thee : when thou walkest through the fire, 
 thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flames 
 kindle upon thee." Accordingly, the valley of 
 Achor has often proved the door of hope. At 
 evening time it has been light. His people have 
 been not only patient, but joyful in tribulation. 
 They have glorified him in the fires. They have 
 found that when their outer man decayed, their 
 inner man was renew r ed. When poor in this world's 
 goods, they have had all, and abounded ; and been 
 able calmly and confidently to say, " Although the 
 fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in 
 the vines ; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the 
 fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off 
 from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the 
 stalls : yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in 
 
322 
 
 the God of my salvation." Sickness, suffering, and 
 death itself surely may be cheerfully undergone, if, 
 with the spouse, we can say, " His right hand is 
 under my head, and his left hand doth embrace me." 
 
 8. Affliction prepares us for greater measures of 
 future glory. 
 
 Though in heaven all are happy and glorious, 
 they possess very different degrees of honour and 
 of joy. For one star differeth from another star in 
 glory : and so also is the resurrection of the dead. 
 The degrees of glory in general, are conferred 
 according to the diligence and devotedness display- 
 ed in the service of God. " They that be wise shall 
 shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they 
 that turn many unto righteousness as the stars for 
 ever and ever." But there are cases in which the 
 rewards of that better world, are proportioned to 
 the sacrifices which have been made, and the faith 
 and fortitude with which sufferings have been 
 sustained for the Saviour's sake. " For our light 
 affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for 
 us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of 
 glory." And shall the student patiently bear all 
 the fatigues of literary toil, and the soldier all the 
 privations and perils of the campaign, for a little 
 fading worldly renown ? And shall you shrink 
 from the pressure of those temporary and short- 
 lived sufferings, when you have nothing less in view 
 than the fulness of celestial felicity, and all the 
 triumphs of eternal joy ? 
 
 Are these things so? Is it true that affliction is 
 a powerful preservative from sin ; that it shuts the 
 
 
323 
 
 heart up to the faith, and preserves us from wan- 
 dering from the God of love? that it unfolds the 
 meaning*, and displays the excellence of the pro- 
 mises? that it enhances the value of our spiritual 
 mercies, and makes us more sensible of the im- 
 portance of an interest in the provisions of the 
 everlasting covenant ? that it gives life and fervour 
 to prayer ? that it brings more plentiful supplies of 
 spiritual strength and consolation ? that it affords 
 us the most frequent and refreshing visits of the 
 Spirit of God? and works out for us a far more 
 exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory ? Then 
 under all your trials learn resignation to the 
 appointments of your heavenly Father. Be patient, 
 stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord 
 draweth nigh. Inquire into the lessons of humility, 
 self-denial, submission to the Divine will, and dili- 
 gence and zeal in duty, which your troubles are 
 intended to enforce. Say unto God, " Do not 
 condemn me ; shew me wherefore thou contendest 
 with me." And until you discover the lessons 
 that they are intended to inculcate, in patience 
 possess your souls. Under the guidance and direc- 
 tion of the God of love, all things are working 
 together for your good. Your severest trials are 
 sent in mercy; and will yield you the peaceable 
 fruits of righteousness. What you know not now 
 vou shall know hereafter. In the meantime vou 
 know enough to convince you that they come from 
 a friend, are the effects of his love, and intended 
 for your profit. Will the patient submit to the 
 
324 
 
 treatment which gives a temporary increase to his 
 sufferings, when he knows that it will ultimately 
 remove his complaint, and restore him to health 
 and soundness? Will the mariner calmly endure 
 the violence of a storm, when he knows that it is 
 carrying him from a pursuing rancorous foe, and 
 bringing him more speedily into a safe and friendly 
 port? And yet will you tremble or despond under 
 your trials, which are raising you above a world 
 that would undo you, and fitting you more rapidly 
 4ind fully for the purity and peace of heaven ? 
 
 " Beloved, think it not strange concerning the 
 fiery trial which is to try you, as though some 
 strange thing happened unto you : but rejoice, 
 inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings ; 
 that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
 glad also with exceeding joy." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE FEAR OF 
 DEATH. 
 
 On contemplating death and the glory beyond 
 it, many Christians act a most unreasonable and 
 inconsistent part, and do the grossest injustice to 
 our Divine and adorable Redeemer. They feel 
 that this world is not their rest. They are harassed 
 with the trials and calamities of life. They find 
 that their sanctification is far from being complete, 
 and their spiritual enjoyments pure and perfect. 
 They profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ; to 
 delight in his society ; to long for complete con- 
 formity to his image ; to mourn his absence ; and to 
 be desirous to see him as he is, and to possess close 
 and uninterrupted communion with him. 
 
 But though death will put an end to all their 
 sufferings and sorrows, place them in the immediate 
 presence of their Lord, and the full enjoyment of 
 his glory; they eagerly cling to life, and deprecate 
 the thoughts of dying. They tremble at the 
 approach of Christ, and dwell with reluctance and 
 regret on the prospect of being presented before 
 him. They are terrified lest the bustle and business 
 p 
 
326 
 
 of life should be interrupted by the signals of his 
 descent, and they should be transported too speedily 
 into his kingdom and joy. And when the summons 
 of death is actually put into their hands, they 
 instinctively recoil from its sight, and pathetically 
 exclaim, Spare us, O Lord, that we may recover 
 strength, before we go hence, and be no more. 
 
 But, my dear Christian friends, ought this to be 
 the case ? If you have laid up your treasure in 
 heaven ; if you have fixed your affections on the 
 things that are above; if you are living by faith on 
 the Son of man ; and making him all your salvation 
 and all your desire : what is there which ought to 
 inspire a dread of dissolution, rivet your attach- 
 ment to the things of earth and time, or excite 
 alarm at the view of coming and appearing before 
 your God? 
 
 To a man of the w T orld, who has lived without 
 God, who has his portion here, whose affections 
 grovel in the dust, whose soul is a stranger to the 
 sublime delights and elevating employments of 
 religion; life must be possessed of inexpressible 
 charms, and death of inconceivable overwhelming 
 terror. He has no acquaintance with God, nor 
 any inheritance in heaven. However gaily and 
 merrily he may trip along this world's brief journey, 
 he is hastening to woe unutterable. He is running 
 upon the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler, 
 and rushing to endless ruin. Careless and uncon- 
 scious as he is of his situation, it is one of unmeasur- 
 able wretchedness. Of all the awful spectacles 
 
327 
 
 which we are called to witness, none is so agonizing 
 and insupportable, as to stand by the deathbed of 
 I fellow-immortal, who has frittered away the short, 
 but invaluable day of his visitation. The ravages 
 of earthquakes, the devastations of volcanoes, and 
 the flames of a burning universe, shrink into 
 insignificance before the misery of the man, who 
 dies after having passed his life in disregarding the 
 precious entreaties of mercy, and resisting the 
 renewing influences of the Holy Ghost. His breath 
 departs : and in that moment the delusive vision of 
 his bliss for ever vanishes. Confronted with that 
 God whom he has forgotten, and that Judge whom 
 he has despised, and insulted; he is banished from 
 the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, 
 into the accumulated horrors of that eternity, for 
 which he made no preparation, and which by his 
 carelessness and crimes he has armed with wrath 
 and filled with anguish. Who knows the power 
 of the Almighty's anger? Who can conceive the 
 dreadfulness of being turned intohell, and subjected 
 to its never-ending w r eeping, and wailing, and 
 gnashing of teeth ? 
 
 Men who are living without the power of godli- 
 ness, have infinite cause to deprecate appearing 
 before the Son of God, and to cling tenaciously to 
 that world which contains their all. But if you are 
 resting your hopes on the atonement, delighting 
 in Jesus after the inward man ; if you are imploring 
 conformity to his image, and longing for the full 
 enjoyment of God: why should you desire to 
 
328 
 
 lengthen out the period of your exile and bondage ? 
 recoil from the approach of death? or dread to 
 enter the rest and joy of your Lord ? Is there any 
 thing repulsive in the person, or formidable in 
 the presence of the Immanuel ? Is there any thing 
 terrible or appalling in the passage from earth to 
 heaven? Is there any thing fascinating in the 
 world to excite your admiration, and rivet your 
 affections ? 
 
 Since you cleave to life and recoil from the 
 thoughts of dying, will you say that, 
 
 I. There is any thing repulsive in the person, 
 or formidable in the presence of Him before whom 
 death places you ? 
 
 Death introduces you into the presence of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. And is he an enemy, or a 
 stranger ? one who has treated you with haughti- 
 ness and severity ? grieved you by his coldness and 
 unkindness? or exhausted and oppressed you by 
 his tasks and his rigour? 
 
 He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and 
 the express image of his person : the Creator and 
 preserver of all : of whom, and through whom, 
 and to whom are all things. Who filled the earth 
 with its riches, and garnished the heavens with 
 their beauty? Who brought you into being? 
 watched over your infant years ? guided you in the 
 intricate and dangerous paths of youth ? furnished 
 your table? anointed your head with oil? made 
 your cup to run over ? and followed you with good- 
 
329 
 
 ness and mercy at every step of your pilgrimage!? 
 To these, and a thousand similar questions, the 
 same reply must be returned : It was the Lord. 
 It was he who arrested you in the midst of your 
 career of carelessness and carnality ; disclosed the 
 plagues of your heart ; stripped you of your refuges 
 of lies ; led you to the cross ; proclaimed peace to 
 your troubled mind, and gave you good hope 
 through grace of salvation with eternal glory. 
 When the world frowned on you ; when friends 
 forsook you ; and the worthless cast out your name 
 as evil; he was the friend who stuck closer than 
 a brother, and amidst the most terrific threatenings 
 with which you were assailed, cheered and encour- 
 aged you on by the kind assurance, Well done, 
 good and faithful servant, be thou faithful unto 
 the death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 
 "When languor and sickness prevailed ; when awe- 
 struck relatives stood weeping around you ; when 
 the physician shook his head, and silently withdrew; 
 when your heart fainted, and your flesh failed ; it 
 was he who stood by you, sustained your drooping 
 spirits, raised you from the bed of distress and 
 danger, and sent you back to the duties and enjoy- 
 ments of your calling. When bewildered with 
 fears, and beset with difficulties and perils ; it was 
 he who opened to you the Scriptures, led you to 
 the throne of grace, filled your mouth with argu- 
 ments, made you joyful in the house of prayer, 
 conducted you to the communion table, and spread 
 over you the banner of safety and of love. When 
 
330 
 
 deep was calling unto deep, when waves and billows 
 were passing over you; it was he who darted 
 through the gloom, and in the soothing accents of 
 love, saying, Be not afraid, it is I, stilled the tumult 
 of your mind, and shed light like a sun through 
 your soul. 
 
 And has Jesus fed and upheld you through the 
 whole of your pilgrimage? has he freely given you 
 all the comforts which you have tasted, and all the 
 hopes which you entertain ; has he loved you, and 
 given himself for you ? Has he for you lighted up 
 the splendours of heaven, and crowded it with all 
 its sources of delight and ecstasy ? And yet shall 
 you be averse to meet him, and afraid to go to him ? 
 Does he who came to seek and to save that which 
 was lost ; he who became poor that ye through his 
 poverty might be rich ; he who poured out his soul 
 unto death, that you might live an eternity in bliss : 
 does he engage to come, and receive you to himself? 
 And yet will you protest against his appearing, 
 and entreat him to delay his promised descent ? 
 Do we delight in the society of an exalted friend 
 and generous benefactor; rejoice to be recognised 
 as his associates, and honoured to wait on him, 
 and receive his visits in return? And when the 
 glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus, so infinitely 
 surpass all earthly kindness and all created com- 
 prehension ; will you shun his presence, and flee 
 from his approach? Are you his disciples? are 
 you living on him by faith ; walking with God ; 
 preferring him to your chief joy; and in the ordi- 
 
331 
 
 nances of religion and exercises of devotion, seek- 
 ing communion with him ; and crying, When shall 
 we come and appear before him ? And yet will 
 you dread his return, who comes to finish your 
 conflicts, admit you into his presence, and make 
 you exceedingly and eternally glad in the light of 
 his countenance and the joys of his salvation ? 
 
 And if his presence is desirable and delightful, 
 is there any thing, 
 
 II. Terrible and appalling in the circumstances 
 connected with the passage from earth to heaven? 
 To many this is the trying, discouraging cir- 
 cumstance. They would like to see Jesus as he is, 
 and gladly come and appear before God : but they 
 are afraid of what must accompany their departure 
 from time into eternity. Canaan could be entered 
 only by crossing the Jordan. Heaven cannot be 
 reached but by the dark valley and shadow of death. 
 And this possesses much to alarm and agitate. 
 
 One is afraid to die on account of the conse- 
 quences of death. 
 
 "After death cometh the judgment, when each 
 must give an account of himself unto God, and 
 have his condition decided for ever according to 
 what he has done in the body. But how can I 
 stand before the God of all the earth ? Without 
 holiness no man can see him. But alas ! I am a 
 sinful man. Iniquities prevail against me. I have 
 not attained, neither am I already perfect. My 
 heart, notwithstanding all its partiality and desire 
 
332 
 
 to justify me, condemns me for many duties neglect- 
 ed, and many mercies abused. How much more 
 must God condemn me, who is greater than my 
 heart, and knoweth all things? And if Jesus dis- 
 own me, what must be my fate ? To whom then 
 can I flee for help, or where can I leave my glory ? 
 If heaven close its gates against me, endless misery 
 must be my portion. And if the soul is lost, all is 
 gone : for what shall it profit me to gain the whole 
 world, and lose my own soul ? or what can I give 
 in exchange for my soul ? Who can dwell with 
 devouring fire ? Who can lie down with everlast- 
 ing burnings ?" 
 
 Another is afraid to enter the dark valley and 
 shadow of death, on account of the painful and affect- 
 ing circumstances with which dissolution is attended. 
 
 " My spirits fail, and my heart sinks, when I 
 reflect on the groans and agonies of dying; the 
 wasting sickness, the burning fever, the racking 
 pain, the exhausting languor, restlessness and 
 fainting, that beset the avenues of death ; and all 
 the humbling and revolting consequences that fol- 
 low dissolution ; the coffin and the shroud, the 
 damp grave and the nauseous worm, the decay and 
 corruption which shall devour this flesh, and ren- 
 der it a mass of putrefaction and loathsomeness." 
 
 Another is reluctant to die because of the long 
 and melancholy separation which it will create 
 betwixt him and his family and friends. 
 
 " The faith and affection of the people of God 
 have raised them in my esteem, and endeared 
 
333 
 
 them to my heart. My own family are never 
 absent from my thoughts ; and, by a thousand ten- 
 der, though nameless ties, are firmly bound to my 
 soul. But from them all death removes me, and 
 renders me as ignorant of their condition, and as 
 incapable, as the stones of the field, of ministering 
 either to their comfort or improvement. And 
 after all the happiness that I have experienced in 
 their society, how can I endure to break up so 
 many sacred and strong attachments ? bear to see 
 the companion of my joys and sorrow; and the 
 little objects of my love, weeping around me ? sup- 
 port the agony of their parting embrace ? or sustain 
 the burst of sorrow that will follow my last farewell ? 
 
 u Ever since I knew the grace of God, my fer- 
 vent desire and ceaseless endeavour have been that 
 they might be saved. But after all my labours 
 and prayers, there are some whose condition is 
 worse than doubtful; but without evidence that 
 they are brought under the power of godliness, how 
 can I leave them in this wicked and ensnaring 
 world, where I myself have suffered so severely ; 
 and where, if I had not been upheld by the mighty 
 power of God, I must have made shipwreck of the 
 faith, and have sunk into everlasting perdition? 
 If even under my own eye, they have repeatedly 
 wandered from the way of life ; w T hat shall become 
 of their souls, when I am gone, and can watch over, 
 and admonish, them no more?" 
 
 Another is pained at the thoughts of dying from 
 an apprehension of the loss which his death will 
 p2 
 
331 
 
 occasion to the interests of religion and of righte- 
 ousness. 
 
 " I have long been embarked in a pious and 
 beneficent enterprise. After years of toil and 
 anxiety have been spent upon the undertaking, 
 much is still awanting to bring it to a close. When 
 my breath departs, my purposes will be broken off, 
 and all my efforts will be blasted. The enemies of 
 light will rejoice in my decease, and speedily over- 
 spread the land around with vice and darkness. For 
 I know this, that after my departing shall grievous 
 wolves enter in, not sparing the flock." 
 
 It cannot be denied that there is much in death 
 to alarm and agitate the mind. But if you are 
 really relying on Christ alone for salvation, if you 
 are preferring him to your chief joy, ashamed and 
 humbled because you love him no more ardently, 
 and resemble him no more closely : whatever may 
 be the ground of your trepidation or terror, look to 
 him, and there you will find enough to meet and 
 remove it all. 
 
 Does a sense of guilt and imperfection deter 
 you? 
 
 Guilt is fearful and tremendous indeed. All 
 unrighteousness is sin : and the wages of sin is death. 
 To venture into eternity with unpardoned guilt, 
 is as much as your soul is worth. This is to throw 
 yourselves upon certain destruction. The founda- 
 tion on which we may safely place our hopes of 
 acceptance before a God glorious in holiness, and 
 which is able to sustain the whole weight of our 
 
335 
 
 everlasting interests, requires nothing less than 
 Almighty strength. 
 
 Such a foundation, however, is to be obtained 
 in the atonement of Immanuel : and if you will 
 only have recourse to it and rest on it, you shall 
 immediately secure safety and peace. Your guilt 
 may be great and dreadful : but his blood cleanseth 
 from all sin. Your persons may be vile and un- 
 worthy : but in him there is everlasting righteous- 
 ness, and he can render you comely through his 
 comeliness put upon you. You may be weak and 
 helpless, and your interests may be of the most 
 mighty and commanding importance : but his arm 
 is omnipotent, and he is able to save to the utter- 
 most. Though you were from this day down to 
 the consummation of all things to keep toiling in 
 the yoke of repentance and reformation, you never 
 could have redemption but through his blood : and 
 if you will go to him instantly, all its pardoning, 
 sanctifying, and saving virtue, will from this mo- 
 ment become your own. It will this instant justify 
 you freely, and sanctify you wholly. Our right to 
 heaven and our meetness for its honour and enjoy- 
 ments, depend neither upon the manner in which 
 we are brought to him, nor the time spent in his 
 service, but upon the reality of our faith in him, 
 and the sincerity of the heart's submission to him. 
 On one and the same day, the penitent thief heard 
 of Jesus for the first time believed on him, and 
 accompanied him to paradise. Believe on him, 
 
336 
 
 and you also shall be saved in the Lord with an 
 everlasting salvation. 
 
 Are you afraid of the pain and agony of dying, 
 and ready to recoil from the darkness, the dreari- 
 ness, and ravages of the grave ? 
 
 Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He that 
 believeth on him shall never die, but have life 
 everlasting. He who has guided and guarded you 
 through the whole of your journey, will not cast 
 you off when death and the grave overtake you. 
 In the dark, the fears of the infant are visionary. 
 In its mother's arms, it is then just as safe as in the 
 light. And if you have fled to the Lord Jesus, 
 and intrusted into his hands your souls and all 
 their interests, you are just as safe in the darkest 
 and deepest of the swellings of Jordan, as if placed 
 within the gates of the celestial Zion, or seated on 
 the throne of glory. If he be for you, who can be 
 against you? The eternal God is your refuge, 
 and underneath are the everlasting arms. He 
 himself declares, " Fear not, for I am with thee : 
 be not dismayed, for I am thy God. When thou 
 passest through the waters, I will be with thee; 
 and through the rivers they shall not overflow' thee. 
 I will redeem thee from death, I will ransom thee 
 from the power of the grave. O death, I will be 
 thy plague : O grave, I will be thy destruction." 
 
 And why take you thought for the body ? What 
 is sown in weakness, shall be raised in power ; and, 
 refined and purified by its long sleep in the dust 
 
337 
 
 of the earth, shall be raised in beauty and honour, 
 and fashioned like unto the glorious body of your 
 Lord. 
 
 Are you afraid to leave your friends and families 
 in this wicked and ensnaring world, where every 
 step is beset with danger, and where such multi- 
 tudes involve themselves in everlasting misery ? 
 
 Remember that that God, who is over all, is 
 rich unto all. His promise is to you, and to your 
 children after you, even as many as the Lord our 
 God shall call. Without his guidance and blessing, 
 even with your presence and watchfulness, they 
 would be eternally undone : and without your 
 presence and counsels, with his guidance and bless- 
 ing, they are safe. He who commands you to cast 
 your burden on himself, encourages you to cast on 
 him this care also. " Leave thy fatherless children, 
 I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust 
 in me." And can you desire a more powerful 
 protector ? a more skilful guide, or more generous 
 benefactor ? 
 
 Are you embarked in a pious and benevolent 
 enterprise, to complete which years will yet be re- 
 quisite ? 
 
 It is your duty to plead and wrestle for the wel- 
 fare and salvation of all, and to be continually 
 engaged in works of faith and labours of love. The 
 success however of religion does not depend upon 
 your life nor your exertions, but upon the blessing 
 of the Most High. Before you were called by his 
 grace, before you received your existence, he had 
 
338 
 
 a church and a people ; and ages after your bones 
 are reduced to dust, his cause and interest shall 
 remain unimpaired. He shall have a seed to serve 
 him throughout all generations. His name shall 
 endure for ever. The whole earth shall see his 
 salvation, and be filled with his glory. 
 
 And since there is nothing repulsive in the 
 person, nor formidable in the presence of the Lord 
 Jesus ; and since there is nothing appalling nor 
 alarming in the passage from earth to heaven, will 
 you maintain, 
 
 III. That there is any thing fascinating in the 
 world to excite your admiration and rivet your 
 affections to the things of earth and time ? 
 
 The world is polluted by vice and darkened by 
 suffering and sorrow. The name of God is blas- 
 phemed, and his laws and authority violated and 
 contemned. His grace and goodness are despised 
 and abused, and his spirit grieved and insulted. 
 Satan w r alks at large, and goeth about incessantly, 
 seeking whom he may devour. His servants have 
 the ascendancy : for the world lies in wickedness. 
 Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth 
 to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. 
 
 War and discord harass the states and lay waste 
 the nations. Weakness, inconsistency, and offen- 
 ces, break out in congregations, and perplex and 
 agitate the churches. Disease and death enter our 
 habitations, and create melancholy havock in our 
 families and the hallowed circle of our friends. The 
 
 
339 
 
 body is wasted with pining illness, and the "mind 
 is the frequent victim of remorse and fear, of alarm 
 and terror. We cannot do the things that we 
 would. We cannot tell how oft we transgress. 
 We are perpetually dishonouring God by our 
 waywardness and unworthiness, and afflicting our 
 souls by our formality and coldness. 
 
 And is this a world which should attract our 
 admiration and fascinate our hearts? Is it an 
 object of desire to prolong our residence in a world 
 that languisheth and mourneth, where the whole 
 creation travaileth and groaneth in pain together? 
 Would you like a little longer to be plied by the 
 temptations of Satan, and urged by the snares and 
 allurements of sin ? to hear the blessed name of 
 God blasphemed, and see the Spirit of all grace 
 more contumeliously dishonoured and more insult- 
 ingly provoked? Would you like to have your 
 souls a little longer vexed from day to day with 
 the filthy conversation of the wicked, and witness 
 more of their impious and daring outrages against 
 the King of kings ? Have you suffered so many 
 things to no purpose, that you would like a little 
 longer to have your bodies shaken with disease, 
 and racked with torturing pain ? to have your eyes 
 reddened with tears, and your heart wrung with 
 anguish for the sins that beset you, and the lusts 
 that war against your soul ? to dishonour your 
 Saviour, and offend your God ? to drink the cup 
 of sorrow, and bathe in the waters of affliction ? 
 And if there is nothing either in the natural or 
 
340 
 
 moral world which should attract you to earth; 
 will you say that your affections ought to be bound 
 to life, in consequence of your religious privileges 
 and spiritual enjoyments? 
 
 It is true indeed that Jesus has done much for 
 us on earth. Unable to restrain the exercise of 
 his loving-kindness till we reach the heaven of 
 heavens, and see him as he is; he commences just 
 now the endless, endearing career of his generosity 
 and grace. He showers down his goodness upon 
 us in the house of our pilgrimage. He forgives 
 us all our iniquities : he renews us in the spirit of 
 our minds : introduces us into his family : dignifies 
 us with the name, and blesses us with a place 
 amongst his own sons and daughters. He sheds 
 abroad his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, 
 and admits us to fellowship with himself. He 
 overrules every event for our advantage, and makes 
 goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our 
 lives. He blesses us with the first-fruits of the 
 Spirit ; and solaces us, in this land of distance and 
 darkness, with a specimen and earnest of our future 
 felicity and everlasting glory. 
 
 Loaded with his gifts and enriched with his 
 munificence, we are frequently compelled to stand 
 still and admire his liberality and love, and cry, 
 What shall we render unto the Lord for all his 
 benefits towards us ? The Lord is the portion of 
 our inheritance and of our cup. The lines have 
 fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a 
 goodly heritage. 
 
341 
 
 But after all, we must remember that these pri- 
 vileges and enjoyments are neither the productions 
 of the earth, nor the whole of our spiritual portion. 
 
 They are not the productions of the earth. They 
 are sent down from above. They come from the 
 Father of lights and God of love. They are sent 
 in mercy to animate and strengthen us amidst the 
 toils and perils of our warfare, by affording us a 
 security and foretaste of the honour and joy await- 
 ing us, when the labours and conflicts of mortality 
 are closed. We know what springs from earth. 
 It is groaning under a curse. But while sterile in 
 all that is spiritual and profitable, it is fertile in 
 thorns and thistles, in all that can annoy and injure. 
 Without the perpetual superintendence and care 
 of the Most High, it would soon stifle and destroy 
 all these plants of heavenly growth. In a soil and 
 climate so ungenial and noxious, nothing less than 
 Divine power can maintain the existence, and pre- 
 serve the beauty and vigour of these sacred prin- 
 ciples, which constitute the delight and joy of a 
 renewed soul, and afford an earnest and representa- 
 tion of celestial bliss. 
 
 And whilst the best and dearest of all our pres- 
 ent possessions come from above; we must also 
 remember that they are far inferior to our future 
 and eternal inheritance, and furnish us with a faint 
 and imperfect idea of the great things which God 
 has prepared in a better world for them that love 
 him. 
 
 Vast and invaluable as the blessings are which 
 
342 
 
 we now enjoy, redemption is not confined to them. 
 Can we believe that the riches of saving mercy are 
 exhausted in the religious privileges and spiritual 
 delights which we experience in the course of our 
 threescore and ten ? Was the mighty and liberal 
 heart of Immanuel set upon nothing nobler nor 
 higher, than the partial knowledge, the defective 
 holiness, and the limited happiness which in this 
 life w r e are enabled to acquire ? Was it merely 
 for this that the councils of heaven were engaged 
 from everlasting in deep and intense deliberation? 
 that the patriarchal dispensation was planned, and 
 the Mosaic economy introduced ? Was it for no 
 more than this that every promise of revelation 
 was charged with blessings, and the hopes and 
 prayers of an expecting church were kept for ages 
 rivetted on the mission of Messiah ? Was it for no 
 more than this that the stupendous machinery in 
 providence and grace, since the day that the sun 
 first set on a fallen world, has been maintained in 
 constant vigorous operation? and the Eternal 
 Spirit, in all his sanctifying and renovating energy, 
 has been hourly, perpetually at work in enlighten- 
 ing and purifying the souls of those who are partak- 
 ers of the great salvation ? Was it for no more 
 than this that the heavens at last gave way ; and 
 the Son of God, in all the fulness of Divine be- 
 neficence and power, descended to the globe we 
 dwell on; and for thirty-three years, in all the 
 depth of suifering and sorrow, traversed this world 
 of crime and woe ? watered the mountains with his 
 
343 
 
 tears? broke the silence of creation with his mid- 
 night cries? ascended the cross, and poured out 
 his soul in the midst of agony and blood? 
 
 The Lord is a God of knowledge. Throughout 
 the whole range of his works and dispensations, 
 consummate, absolute wisdom reigns? and in each 
 he has an end in view, suited to the importance 
 and magnitude of the instruments which he uses. 
 And are we to suppose that redemption, which in 
 the majesty and grandeur of the means employed, 
 so infinitely surpasses all the productions of his 
 power, is an exception to this general rule? and 
 that the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom dwells all the 
 fulness of the Godhead bodily, in treading the wine- 
 press of almighty vengeance and in laying down 
 his life, had not an object to gain, proportioned to 
 the immense price which he paid, and the myste- 
 rious and matchless measures which he adopted to 
 secure it ? 
 
 He well knew the nature of the undertaking in 
 which he was embarked. Before he entered on 
 the ardent task, he had a joy set before him, tor 
 which he reckoned it well worth while to endure 
 the cross : and he did not leave the scene of his 
 toils and his anguish without the assurance that he 
 should see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. 
 
 A salvation, however, capable of rewarding the 
 sufferings and death of the Son of God, is far too 
 large for this contracted life and the little world 
 we live in. The resources of a prince may be great : 
 but a prison is utterly unfit for his residence, or 
 
344 
 
 the display of his majesty and munificence. The 
 water of the ocean is immense : but it is only a 
 little that a cistern can contain. And with the 
 universe at his command, and all the resources of 
 Omnipotence at his disposal ; yet, when he pours 
 his blessings into our contracted souls, and conveys 
 them through the medium of his word and ordi- 
 nances, it is only a small portion of his generosity 
 which the Lord Jesus can unfold, and a mere 
 specimen of his goodness and grace that we can 
 enjoy. Though his power, at this moment, is as 
 great as it shall be after the consummation of all 
 things ; still this world is too narrow, time is too 
 short, and our capacities too limited and feeble, to 
 allow us in the present state to receive the whole 
 fruits of his purchase, to admit the unreserved 
 communications of his liberality and love, and to be 
 filled and feasted with all his fulness. 
 
 In order, therefore, to complete our holiness 
 and happiness, and do justice to the designs of his 
 peerless benignity and mercy, it is necessary that 
 a new system should succeed the present, and eter- 
 nity close in upon the transactions of time. A new 
 heaven and a new earth are prepared to supply 
 the place of the old, where all our faculties and 
 powers shall arrive at full maturity and vigour; 
 and where the Saviour, who loved us, shall have 
 ample room and leisure to perfect all his purposes 
 of kindness and munificence, and raise us to the 
 height of dignity, and put us in full possession of 
 unbounded blessedness. Accordingly, while pro- 
 
3*5 
 
 tiding richly for our safety and comfort in the place 
 of our present abode, his own heart rested on the 
 
 bliss and glory of heaven: and thither be taught 
 us to direct our own expectation and desires. M If 
 any man serve me, let him follow me, and where 
 I am there also shall my servant be. If any man 
 serve me, him will my Father honour. 91 And his 
 last petition in his last prayer was, M Father, I will 
 that they also whom thou hast given me, be with 
 me where I am, that they may behold my glory. " 
 
 If you reflect for a little on your state in heaven, 
 in contrast with your condition here, you will soon 
 discover the kindness and wisdom of your Redeemer 
 in his dying request, and acquiesce with the apostle 
 in his declaration, that " to depart, and be with 
 Christ, is far better." 
 
 Ever since you knew the grace of Christ in truth, 
 your heart's desire and prayer have been to be 
 near him, to see him as he is, and be like him. In 
 searching the Scriptures, in attending on his ordi- 
 nances, in pouring out your souls before him; the 
 leading, the supreme object of your ambition, has 
 been to see him more clearly, and enjoy him more 
 fully. But are you able in this world to secure 
 the objects on which your hearts are so immoveably 
 fixed, and which you so eagerly court ? Do you 
 see the Saviour whom you love ? Are you like him 
 whom you admire and adore ? Are you enriched 
 with the treasures of his grace, and filled with all 
 his fulness ? 
 
 There are days and weeks, when you cannot get 
 
846 
 
 near him, and know not where to find him. You 
 go forward, but he is not there; and backward, 
 but you cannot perceive him: on the left hand, 
 where he doth work, but you cannot behold him : 
 he hideth himself on the right hand that you can- 
 not see him. You complain that you are cast out 
 from his presence, and that he is a God that hideth 
 himself. 
 
 But in heaven you shall see him, and see him as 
 he is. The psalmist exulted in the assurance 
 that he should behold his face in righteousness, 
 and be satisfied when he awoke with his likeness. 
 " Blessed," said our Saviour, "are the pure in heart, 
 for they shall see God." We are repeatedly in- 
 formed that his servants shall see his face, behold 
 his glory, and walk with him in white. In his 
 description of the new Jerusalem, St. John tells us, 
 that the city has no need of the sun, neither of the 
 moon to shine in it ; for the glory of God doth 
 lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 
 
 Into this glory believers are admitted the moment 
 after death. The Bible knows nothing at all of 
 the cold and repulsive doctrine of the sleep of the 
 soul, during the interval betwixt death and the 
 resurrection of the dead. It represents the transi- 
 tion from earth to heaven as instantaneous : for it 
 speaks of our presence with the Lord as the imme- 
 diate consequence of our absence from the body. 
 " We are confident, and willing rather to be absent 
 from the body and present with the Lord." " To- 
 day," said our dying Redeemer to the penitent 
 
 A 
 
 
347 
 
 suffering beside him, " shalt thou be with me in 
 paradise." And as, on quitting their clay taber- 
 nacles, believers go to him, there they remain till 
 his return. " For if we believe that Jesus died, 
 and rose again, even so them also who sleep in 
 Jesus will God bring with him." There sleep is 
 unnecessary and unknown. For they rest not day 
 nor night in celebrating his praises. They sit with 
 him upon his throne, and follow him whithersoever 
 he goeth. 
 
 From your immediate presence with Christ, and 
 your unclouded view of his glory, there will result 
 the most delightful enlargement of your intellectual 
 faculties, and the noblest accessions to your know- 
 ledge. You are already blessed with some degree 
 of the knowledge of God. Truths of which you 
 formerly were ignorant, and which still remain con- 
 cealed from the wise and prudent, have been dis- 
 closed to your contemplation. The gross darkness 
 is already past, and the true light now shineth. 
 
 But after all, you see only through a glass 
 darkly. The thick and massy substance of matter 
 is interposed betwixt you and the subjects which 
 you are most anxious to comprehend. God is 
 invisible. The celestial guards, by whom you are 
 attended and protected, are beyond the reach of 
 your observation. Many of the pages of inspira- 
 tion are only partially understood. The universe 
 is wide : but from the place of our present resi- 
 dence, it is only a mere corner of the Divine do- 
 minions that we behold. Obscurity rests on many 
 
348 
 
 of the dispensations of Providence : and amidst the 
 overpowering glories of the gospel, our minds are 
 often lost before the splendour of those objects, 
 by which the angels' eyes are dazzled. 
 
 But when we are absent from the body and 
 present with the Lord, every obstruction to our 
 intellectual improvement shall be removed. Every 
 remain of ignorance, imperfection, and error shall 
 vanish. All our doubts and difficulties shall be 
 dissolved. The rays of Divine illumination, shall 
 be poured upon the darkest and most perplexing 
 matters of present investigation ; and our faculties, 
 brought to full maturity and vigour, shall be fitted 
 for mastering the most sublime and magnificent 
 realities, and strengthened for the direct and imme- 
 diate vision of God. 
 
 And if in this w r orld, where our faculties are 
 so feeble, where we labour under so many disad- 
 vantages for spiritual improvement, we have in a 
 few years reached our present attainments ; in the 
 course of eternal ages, what a mental vigour shall 
 we acquire, and w T hat an amount of intelligence 
 shall we gain, when w r e shall see him as he is, 
 behold light in his light, and know even as we are 
 know r n ? 
 
 This vision of his face will complete your sanc- 
 tification. 
 
 Your obligations to his grace are already un- 
 speakable. He has not only forgiven you your 
 trespasses, but also subdued your iniquities. He 
 has shed abroad his love in your hearts by the 
 
8 IS 
 
 Holy Ghost. He has led you to seek the things 
 which are above, to love him supremely, to delight 
 in his law after the inward man, and labour to 
 perfect holiness in his fear. He has renewed you 
 in the spirit of your minds, and created you again 
 unto good works. 
 
 After all, however, your sanctification is far from 
 being complete. You cannot give to God the 
 glory due unto his name. You cannot love him 
 as you would, nor serve him as you ought. You 
 are still beset with sin, and burdened with a body 
 of death. 
 
 But the spirits of the just are made perfect. 
 And when we are present with the Lord, even- 
 weakness shall be repaired, every want shall be 
 supplied, all that is pure shall become perfect, 
 and all that is spiritual and holy shall be rendered 
 permanent. We shall not only love God with our 
 whole heart, but also serve him with all our strength 
 and mind, and be possessed alike of the will and 
 the power to fulfil his adorable pleasure. The 
 moral disorders of our nature being eradicated, and 
 all our principles and faculties improved and elevat- 
 ed, the whole energies of our minds shall be in entire 
 and eternal subjection to the dictates of our enlight- 
 ened understanding, and execute with alacrity and 
 correctness all the injunctions of our renovated and 
 perfected wills. ^Ye shall be alike incapable of 
 wandering from our duty, and of languishing in 
 our work. Our invigorated pow r ers through an 
 endless succession of ages shall continue on the full 
 2 
 
350 
 
 stretch : and so far from experiencing weariness or 
 fatigue, shall gather fresh energy and ardour from 
 the exercise. We shall go from strength to strength, 
 increase our joy in the Lord, and perpetually reflect 
 more of the image of our Divine and adorable 
 Redeemer. In consequence of the sight which 
 Moses obtained of the glory of the Lord, his face 
 shone, so that the children of Israel could not 
 steadfastly behold it : and the communion which 
 Stephen enjoyed with his Master, not only filled 
 his soul w T ith serenity and joy, but also beamed 
 through his countenance, and forced itself upon the 
 notice of his barbarous and relentless persecutors. 
 But they had only a distant and a transient view 
 of God, a faint and indistinct representation of his 
 excellencies. What then must be the effect, when 
 we shall see him, not darkly and at a distance; 
 not with these dim organs of vision, but clearly, 
 closely, fully, and with strong immortal eyes ? As 
 the sun no sooner ascends the horizon, than instant- 
 ly the whole space lying beneath him is illuminated 
 with his rays, and converted into a region of light ; 
 so the Sun of righteousness will no sooner rise in 
 all his uncreated majesty upon the paradise of God, 
 than instantly the whole will be lighted into splen- 
 dour with his radiance, and all its happy inhabitants 
 made to shine with his lustre, and reflect the bright- 
 ness of his effulgence. " The sun shall be no more 
 thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the 
 moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be 
 unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy 
 
 i 
 
351 
 
 glory. Beholding with open face his glory, we 
 shall be changed into the same image, from glory 
 to glory." 
 
 From all this there will flow a joy and happiness 
 inconceivable, boundless and inexhaustible. 
 
 " Thou wilt shew me the path of life : in thy pres- 
 ence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are 
 pleasures for evermore." Every grievance shall be 
 redressed: every pain and sorrow shall flee away; 
 and every dignity and delight shall be conferred, 
 which a God of love can bestow, or our limited 
 but enlarged capacities can receive. We shall be 
 abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house, 
 and he will make us drink of the river of his plea- 
 sure. We shall hunger no more, neither thirst 
 any more; neither shall the sun light on us, nor 
 any heat : for the Lamb who is in the midst of the 
 throne shall feed us, and lead us unto living foun- 
 tains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears 
 from our eyes. We shall enter into the joy of our 
 Lord, inherit all things, and be for ever filled with 
 his fulness. 
 
 Is this the end of your faith ? Are these the 
 blessed fruits of your religious labours and expec- 
 tations ? the glorious results of living by faith and 
 dying in the Lord? Why then should you shrink 
 from the approach of death, and eagerly and timidly 
 cling to life ? The men of the world, who have 
 lived to themselves, and by their carelessness, and 
 crimes, have treasured up for themselves wrath 
 against the day of wrath ; may tenaciously cleave 
 
352 
 
 to that world which contains their little all, and 
 deprecate the advance of the king of terrors, who 
 comes to drag them to the bar of an offended God, 
 and plunge them into the horrors of a ruined 
 eternity. But, O why should you, who have fled 
 for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before 
 you ; you, who have your treasure in heaven, and 
 your conversation there; why should you recoil 
 from the appearance of death, and dread that hour 
 which sets you free from all the sins and sufferings 
 of mortality, and puts you in full possession of 
 the love and salvation of the Lord? Does the 
 captive exile fear to be loosed, and restored to the 
 bosom of his family, and the society of his friends? 
 Does the bride deprecate the day of her espousals 
 and of the gladness of her heart ? Does the heir 
 mourn because he has reached the time appointed 
 of his father, for passing from under the restraints 
 of tutors and governors, and for taking the com- 
 plete possession of his titles and estate ? Does the 
 son of a king, who has been long retained in the 
 hands of his enemies, and doomed to bear their 
 insult and scorn, their outrage and cruelty ; regret 
 the arrival of the day which is to release him from 
 their galling insolence and tyranny, and send him 
 back to the arms of his father, and the palace of 
 his ancestors ? 
 
 And complaining that you are condemned to 
 darkness and sorrow, to a state of restriction and 
 bondage ; will you mourn the dawn of that day, 
 which shall throw down the walls of your prison, 
 
353 
 
 deliver you from the body of this death, and in- 
 troduce you into the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God ? Is Jesus the beloved of your souls, all your 
 salvation and all your desire ? And yet will you 
 repine because the day of his marriage is come, 
 when your union to him shall be complete, and 
 your joy shall be full ? Are you at present only 
 in the infancy of your being, where all your powers 
 are imperfect, and your comforts mixed with trouble 
 and sorrow ? And yet will you lament that you 
 are to reach the stature of perfect men in Christ, 
 and be put in complete possession of the purchased 
 inheritance ? Professing to be pilgrims and stran- 
 gers upon earth ; bewailing that you are obliged 
 to dwell in Mesech and sojourn in the tents of 
 Kedar ; crying, O that we had the wings of a dove, 
 then would we fly away and be at rest ; will you 
 grieve at the call which commands you to arise and 
 depart, to return to the house of your Father, and 
 become kings and priests unto God and the Lamb ? 
 Do you love communion with Jesus; delight in 
 the knowledge of his glory; long for conformity 
 to his image, and the enjoyment of his presence and 
 favour? And yet will you betray alarm at the 
 prospect of the consummation and crown of dignity 
 and bliss, in being placed in his immediate pres- 
 ence, and seated with him upon his throne? 
 
 You know well what a mighty loss our souls 
 sustained by the fall of Adam. Would you like 
 to have the effects of our apostasy repaired ? 
 Would you rejoice to be restored to paradise? If 
 its beauty and fertility were again to be made to 
 
354 
 
 spring up, and the cherubim of glory to be with- 
 drawn from its gates ; would you gladly bend your 
 steps to Eden, and eagerly enter its green and 
 flowery arbours? Would you impatiently seek 
 there a retreat from the stormy wind and tempest? 
 from the blasphemies of the profane, and the filth 
 and nauseousness of the impure ? from the clam- 
 ours of contention, the outrages of violence and 
 oppression ? from the languors of disease, and the 
 ravages of death? Would you exult there to 
 regain the image and favour of your Creator and 
 Lord, and wait in patience till the God of love 
 should call you up from its sacred joys and en- 
 nobling employments to the scenes and services of 
 the world of glory ? 
 
 With such a prospect before you, would you 
 grudge no toil, and decline no danger to reach its 
 pure and inviting shelter ; but resolutely and 
 perseveringly urge your unwearied way to its bliss- 
 ful abodes, though continents should stretch their 
 breadth, mountains raise their awful forms, and 
 oceans roll their raging billow r s between ? 
 
 And in the arms of Immanuel, in the bosom of 
 your Saviour and your God ; have you all this and 
 more ? Have you there a refuge from every storm, 
 and a defence from every foe ? Have you there 
 exemption from every toil and trial, and deliver- 
 ance from every grief and fear ? Do the wicked 
 cease from troubling, and the weary live in un- 
 broken rest? Shall no lion be there, neither any 
 ravenous beast go up thereon ? Shall it not once 
 be found there ? Shall the inhabitant never say, 
 
355 
 
 I am sick? Are the people all righteous? Shall 
 your sun no more go down, nor your moon with- 
 draw itself? Shall the Lord be your everlasting 
 light, and the days of your mourning be ended ? 
 And while freed from every evil, shall you be 
 invested with every blessing ? Shall you see, and 
 be like your God ? and be feasted with the goodness 
 of his house, and made exceeding glad in the light 
 of his countenance ? 
 
 Is all this, and more, awaiting you in the heaven 
 of heavens ? And yet will you still desire to linger 
 on in this world of tears and trials, and deprecate 
 the thoughts of dying ? O learn to cultivate the 
 spirit of the children of Zion ; and when you hear 
 Jesus saying, Surely I come quickly; instead of 
 entreating a longer delay of his coming, invite his 
 descent, welcome his advent, and demonstrate your 
 joy at his approach, by cordially replying, " Amen, 
 even so come Lord Jesus. The voice of my Beloved 
 lo, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skip- 
 ping upon the hills. Now is come salvation, and 
 the kingdom of our God, and the power of his 
 Christ. Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for 
 him, and he w r ill save us: this is the Lord; we 
 have waited for him: we will be glad, and rejoice 
 in his salvation." 
 
 " To Jesus, the crown of my hope, 
 
 My soul is in haste to be gone ; 
 O bear me, ye cherubim, up, 
 
 And waft me away to his throne." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ON THE EVIDENCES OF A STATE OF GRACE. 
 
 We have now seen that to those who apply to 
 Christ, no sin is too great to be forgiven ; that as 
 long as any sorrow is felt for iniquity, and any 
 desire entertained for reconciliation to God, no 
 soul can be charged with having committed the sin 
 against the Holy Ghost; that the decree of Elec- 
 tion is not contrary to the promises ; but that, what- 
 ever may be the purposes of the Most High, the 
 universal calls and free offers of the Gospel, are 
 an ample warrant and security to every individual 
 to come to Christ, and believe on him for his own 
 salvation. We have seen that whilst the soul 
 counts all things but loss for the excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ, it has no real cause of alarm 
 on account of its want of humiliation and contrition 
 for its past offences ; that that faith is sound and 
 saving, which, however weak, shuts the soul up to 
 Christ, endears him to the heart, and leads us to 
 yield ourselves to him entirely and rest on him 
 alone for salvation; that though there can be no 
 faith without a persuasion of the truth of what we 
 believe, many have an interest in Christ without 
 
357 
 
 enjoying the assurance of their own salvation ; that 
 while remaining corruption is resisted and hated, 
 and, in spite of all its efforts to rule, is prevented 
 from reigning, the soul is safe, and not under the 
 law but under grace ; and that whilst the soul is 
 mourning its coldness and insensibility, and striving 
 to become more affectionate and lively in its ser- 
 vices, it is in no danger of being undone from the 
 want of spirituality and fervour. And we have 
 also seen, that whilst the man follows hard after 
 God, and longs for the enjoyment of the Divine 
 favour, however dark and disconsolate his condi- 
 tion, he has no cause to apprehend that God has 
 forgotten him ; that temporal affliction is a blessing, 
 and instead of being a proof of his displeasure, is 
 a mark of his love; and that death, instead of 
 being a ground of fear, ought to be to a Christian 
 an object of desire, and an occasion of rejoicing. 
 
 Many other grounds of spiritual distress might 
 be enumerated : but without entering into any far- 
 ther detail, I shall close all that has been said by 
 illustrating a general truth, which applies to every 
 case of religious trouble that can occur: While 
 you are possessed of real religion, while you are in 
 a state of grace, whatever you may experience 
 to alarm and agitate you, you have no reason to 
 despair. 
 
 If you ask what real religion is, and by what 
 
 means you may ascertain that you are in a state of 
 
 grace ; I have no hesitation in replying that real 
 
 religion may be most easily and decisively known, 
 
 22 
 
358 
 
 I. By the soul's resting for acceptance in the 
 sight of God upon the righteousness of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 This is the only foundation which the Bible re- 
 cognises, and to which a Christian dare cling. 
 
 Every man has some foundation of his own, to 
 which he trusts for acceptance in the day of deci- 
 sion. Some rely on their moral duties, and others 
 on their religious performances; some on their 
 good works, and others on their good intentions. 
 The grounds of their confidence differ as widely 
 as the education which they have received, the 
 society which they frequent, and the habits which 
 they have formed. But still, however shallow and 
 deceitful, however rotten and ruinous, some ground 
 of confidence they must have, otherwise they could 
 not retain their peace of conscience, nor remain 
 in what is commonly, though in their case falsely, 
 called their right mind. A view of the magnitude 
 of the horrors awaiting the unregenerate in the 
 future world, is more than any soul could endure, 
 and if they only saw the extent of their everlasting 
 wretchedness, without discovering at the same time 
 the means of escape which the Gospel has provided 
 for the perishing, the most stout-hearted and 
 hardened in all the ranks of profligacy and impiety 
 would be driven to distraction. 
 
 But a real Christian goes beyond all these, and 
 every other refuge of lies, and never stops till he 
 reaches the foundation laid in Zion. This founda- 
 tion is impregnable. The righteousness of Christ 
 
359 
 
 is possessed of infinite value; and more than this 
 no soul can require for its acceptance before the 
 Lord. It may be no easy matter to bring a believer 
 to confide in it simply and unreservedly. Without 
 a conviction of guilt and a discovery of the destruc- 
 tion which it entails, no man will betake himself to 
 the hope set before him in the Gospel. For they 
 that are whole need not a physician, but they that 
 are sick. But awakening and conviction, alarm 
 and terror, remorse and contrition, and all the 
 solicitude and trepidation of the most deep and 
 painful work of the law through which a soul ever 
 passed, can neither recommend him to the Re- 
 deemer, nor contribute the smallest fraction to his 
 justification. " Christ is the end of the law for 
 .righteousness to every one that believeth. By the 
 deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in 
 his sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 
 And if by grace, then is it no more of w r orks: 
 otherwise grace is no more grace ; but if it be of 
 works, then is it no more grace ; otherwise work is 
 no more work." 
 
 But whilst he wants no more than the righteous- 
 ness of Immanuel, the believer finds that, infinite 
 as it is, the whole is necessary. His guilt is so 
 great, that nothing less than blood Divine can 
 wash it out. His transgressions are so numerous 
 and enormous, that nothing less than Almighty 
 grace can forgive them. His umvorthiness is so 
 dreadful, and his heart so desperately wicked ; that 
 with a Holy God above him, an infallible tribunal 
 
360 
 
 before him, the curse of a broken law pursuing 
 him, and an awful eternity rapidly rushing on ; 
 this infinite righteousness is no more than he re- 
 quires. There is none of it that he can spare. 
 His poor perishing soul needs it all ; and he would 
 not for the wealth of ten thousand worlds, nor all 
 the treasures of creation, enter the world of spirits, 
 and appear before a holy and heart-searching God, 
 with less than a Divine and all-sufficient righteous- 
 ness. He can cordially adopt the language of the 
 Apostle, and say, " Yea, doubtless, and I count 
 all things but loss for the excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom I have 
 suffered the loss of all things, and do count them 
 but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in 
 him, not having mine own righteousness which is 
 of the law, but that which is through the faith of 
 Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. 
 God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 This entire reliance of the heart, for acceptance 
 in the sight of God, upon the righteousness of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, constitutes the turning point 
 in religion. Compared with this, every thing 
 shrinks into insignificance. The misery of men in 
 time, and their ruin through eternity, arise from 
 slight and superficial ideas of the sinfulness of sin, 
 and the matchless glorious excellencies of God, 
 which render him incapable of tolerating vice, or 
 conniving at iniquity. Hence, the apathy of the 
 ignorant and illiterate, the infatuated recklessness 
 
361 
 
 and litter impenetrability of the pay and frivolous, 
 the shocking impiety and Heaven-daring <>utr. 
 of the profane and hardened. Were they nm 
 of the consequences of a graceless condition, all the 
 powers of darkness could not impel them to another 
 deed of ungodliness ; and rather than abide a 
 moment longer in such an inexpressibly perilous 
 situation, they would submit to be torn limb from 
 limb, and undergo ten thousand violent and dread- 
 ful deaths. 
 
 But they feel not their guilt : they entertain no 
 apprehension of their awful fate; and therefore, 
 in spite of all that the messengers of the Most 
 High can urge, and all that the plainest declarations 
 of Scripture can denounce, they slumber on, and 
 take their rest; till the brief day of their visitation 
 closes, and, in a moment that they think not of, the 
 empty bubble of their visionary bliss gives way, and 
 the tremendous realities of a ruined immortality 
 burst upon their distracted view. Could we look into 
 hell, summon the spirits in prison to pass in suc- 
 cession before us, and learn from each how he came 
 into that place of wo ; we should find that they 
 all had been undone through blindness of mind 
 and hardness of heart, which led them to neglect 
 the infinite and all-sufficient righteousness of the 
 Redeemer. They would not believe they were so 
 bad as the Bible represented them : but imagined 
 that, though in common with all mankind they 
 had their faults, on the whole they were respectable 
 
362 
 
 characters, and possessed many valuable properties, 
 " Oh that we had known that by nature we were 
 the children of disobedience and wrath ; that we 
 were dead in trespasses and sins ; that we were 
 altogether as an unclean thing, and all our right- 
 eousnesses as filthy rags ; that all unrighteousness is 
 sin ; that the wages of sin are death ; that without 
 shedding of blood there is no remission of sin ; that 
 there is salvation in no other than the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; and that as many as are of the works of the 
 law are under a curse ! Had we understood these 
 things in the land of the living, we should not have 
 come to this place of torment. But the knowledge 
 of them came too late, and now repentance is for 
 ever hidden from our eyes ! " 
 
 They are irrecoverably lost through their in- 
 sensibility of soul, which led them to disregard the 
 strongest assurances of Scripture, that other founda- 
 tion can no man lay than that which is laid already, 
 and that salvation is of grace through faith. And 
 as many as are trusting for their acceptance with 
 God either in whole or in part to their own virtues 
 and performances, are, unconsciously indeed, but 
 rapidly following them to endless perdition. " Be- 
 hold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass your- 
 selves about with sparks : walk in the light of your 
 fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This 
 shall ye have of mine hand ; ye shall lie down in 
 sorrow. Israel, which followed after the law of 
 righteousness, hath not attained to the law of right- 
 
363 
 
 eousness. Wherefore ? Because they sought it not 
 by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. 
 By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." 
 
 If moral duties and religious observances, if the 
 tears of penitence and the sighs of contrition, if 
 the reformations induced by reason, or the repar- 
 ations extorted by the terrors of approaching judg- 
 ment, could wash out the stains of guilt, or open 
 the gates of glory to a single soul, the sorrows 
 and sufferings of the Son of God would have been 
 spared. Calvary never would have been reddened 
 with his blood, nor the grave closed on the Prince 
 of life. And since God has not spared his own Son, 
 but delivered him up for us all, this is a demonstra- 
 tion to all that there is salvation in no other; and 
 that, if we would wish to be partakers of the re- 
 demption that is in Christ, we must cleave to him 
 simply, rest on him entirely, renounce every thing 
 for his sake, and make him our all in all. 
 
 If this is your case, I congratulate you upon your 
 blessed, glorious condition. He that is mighty has 
 done to you great things; and holy is his name. 
 The natural enmity of your mind to him is slain. 
 Your pride, self-sufficiency, carnal ease, and sloth, 
 have received their death-blow. The controversy 
 betwixt your soul and God is closed. The conflict 
 for eternity is decided. Grace has won the day, 
 and carried the citadel of your heart : and now- 
 little else is before you but an endless triumph. 
 The Lord Jehovah is your strength and your song; 
 he also is become your salvation. Jesus has passed 
 
364 
 
 his word, Him that cometh to me I will in no 
 wise cast out. He that believeth shall be saved. 
 And by thus betaking yourselves to him alone for 
 righteousness and strength, you have him for your 
 righteousness and strength, and shall receive all 
 the blessings which infinite merit can secure, and 
 all the safety that the arm of Omnipotence can 
 impart. 
 
 But though the first and most decisive, faith in 
 the righteousness of Christ is not the only test of 
 a state of grace. We have not only a Saviour 
 but also a Sanctifier. While by faith in the right- 
 eousness of the Redeemer we obtain a title to the 
 kingdom of heaven, through the renovating influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit we are afore prepared 
 unto glory, and made meet for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light. Though therefore, the founda- 
 tion of our claim to eternal life is the perfect and 
 all-sufficient righteousness of Immanuel, which is 
 absolutely incapable of any additional force or 
 virtue; yet since faith purifies the heart, works by 
 love, and may be as simply and satisfactorily dis- 
 covered by its results, as the tree by its fruit; our 
 interest in the salvation of the gospel may be very 
 easily ascertained by the effects which faith invaria- 
 bly produces. 
 
 We must observe then that real religion may be 
 known, 
 
 II. By love to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Unto you who believe he is precious." With- 
 
365 
 
 out love to him there can be no religion whatever. 
 In redemption he is all in all : and if any man love 
 him not, he is an entire stranger to the gospel, and 
 under the curse of the Most High.* 
 
 They who know any thing of him at all, need 
 no commandment to love him. He possesses so 
 many attractions, that their hearts cleave to him, 
 and they cannot withhold from him their fervent 
 affection, and most devout and elevated admiration. 
 
 In himself he is infinitely great, and eternally 
 blessed and glorious. The universe is wide. A 
 cannon-ball, discharged from the nearest fixed star, 
 at the moment when God said, Let there be light, 
 though riving with its usual velocitv, w r ould still 
 require centuries to reach the earth. But supposing 
 that every inch in that intervening space, that 
 every inch from the centre of the eternal throne 
 round to the farthest verge of immensity, were filled 
 with seraphim and cherubim of the highest and 
 noblest powers ; there is worth and excellence in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ to ravish and transport the 
 whole. For he is altogether lovely, the perfection 
 of beauty and of goodness, the brightness of the 
 Father's glory and the express image of his person, 
 creator and preserver of all : for of him, and 
 through him, and to him, are all things : and vast 
 and mighty as the works are which he has made, they 
 afford only a mere specimen of his benevolence 
 and power. In majesty and grandeur, in endear- 
 
 * 1 Cor. xvi. ±2. 
 
366 
 
 ing and peerless loveliness and worth, he sits en- 
 throned immeasurably, ineffably above the brightest 
 and the loftiest of them all. 
 
 But whilst in himself he is infinitely great, bless- 
 ed, and glorious, our obligations to him are innu- 
 merable and immense ; inconceivably beyond what 
 the language of mortals can utter, or the gift of 
 the whole creation can equal. For he loved us, and 
 gave himself for us. He died for our redemption, 
 and rose again for our justification. He died to 
 deliver us from hell, and raise us to heaven; to 
 rescue us from wretchedness unknown and never- 
 ending, and put us in possession of blessedness and 
 honour, unbounded and eternal. 
 
 If, therefore, we feel affection, and manifest 
 esteem for the friend who confers a small acces- 
 sion to our fortune, or shews us any tender or costly 
 act of kindness ; can we ever have a just sense of 
 the value of the great salvation, without finding 
 our hearts glowing with admiration, and our whole 
 souls penetrated and filled with love and gratitude 
 to our Divine and adorable Redeemer, for bless- 
 ings so multiplied and overwhelming? blessings 
 which will convert eternity into one uninterrupted 
 scene of joy and ecstasy ? blessings purchased with 
 his own toil, and tears, and blood ? 
 
 To submit to Christianity as a task and a bur- 
 den, to endure it as a yoke and a bondage, betrays 
 an absolute ignorance of its nature, and a total 
 want of any interest in its elevating and bliss- 
 inspiring spirit. This is to yield to it merely from 
 
367 
 
 necessity. This is to declare that in itself it is 
 odious and detestable: but that, bad as it is, it is 
 more tolerable than everlasting perdition. 
 
 And are we at liberty to regard in this manner 
 the unspeakable gift of God? Are we permitted 
 thus to contemplate the most matchless display of 
 Divine benignity and mercy, which lias spread 
 such transport over creation, and which shall oc- 
 cupy with its praise the joyful lapse of endless 
 ages? Is this all the return that we owe the 
 friend of sinners, the compassionate and gener- 
 ous Saviour of our lost souls, who by the sacrifice 
 of himself has redeemed us from everlasting death, 
 and called us into the hope of his never-ending 
 glory ? 
 
 Unless we prefer him to our chief joy, delight in 
 him after the inner-man, and count all things but 
 loss for his sake ; we are destitute of every particle 
 of genuine religion, and have neither part nor lot 
 in its blessings. Real Christians love him in sin- 
 cerity. Overpowered by the consideration of his 
 unparalleled and astonishing condescension and 
 grace, their habitual inquiry is, " What shall we 
 render to the Lord for all his benefits ? Bless the 
 Lord, O our soul, and all that is within us, bless 
 his holy name. Bless the Lord, O our soul, and 
 forget not all his benefits. Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain to receive power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory? and 
 blessing. Unto him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood, and hath made 
 
368 
 
 us kings and priests unto God and his Father ; 
 to him be glory and dominion for ever and 
 ever." 
 
 Having the hope of soon seeing him as he is, 
 and finding their everlasting all in his presence 
 and favour, in the mean time they cleave to him 
 with full purpose of heart. They love his society : 
 delight in his service ; and rejoice to spend and be 
 spent for his sake. They can truly say, " Whom 
 have we in heaven but thee? and there is none 
 upon earth that we desire besides thee." 
 
 If this is the case with you, then all is well. 
 If your soul is overcome with the glories of his 
 person and the exceeding riches of his grace ; if 
 you are transported with the wonders of his com- 
 passion and generosity, and ardently irresistibly 
 devoted to his interest and honour ; and if amidst 
 all the attachment and gratitude that you feel, and 
 all the zeal and energy that you display, you are 
 astonished and humbled because your soul is not 
 melted with still more intense affection, and ele- 
 vated with still more sublime admiration for Him, 
 whose marvellous loving-kindness, and whose 
 matchless infinite excellencies are sufficient to charm 
 the universe and employ their enraptured adora- 
 tions for ever and ever : this is a proof that you 
 have passed from death unto life, that you are born 
 from above, and made the heirs of his everlasting 
 kingdom. To the unresenerate he is without form 
 and comeliness. He has no beauty that they 
 should desire him. To love him therefore, to de- 
 
269 
 
 light in him, and to follow on to know him. are the 
 effects of a new nature. This love to his person, 
 and this admiration of his character, prove that 
 God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
 darkness, hath shined ill your hearts, to give the 
 light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of 
 Jesus Christ; and that you shall partake of that 
 grace, which is promised to all who love our Lord 
 Jesus Christ in sincerity. 
 Genuine religion appears, 
 
 III. By obedience to the commandments of 
 Christ. 
 
 " In this the children of God are manifest, and 
 the children of the devil : whosoever doeth not 
 righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth 
 not his brother. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatso- 
 ever 1 command you. He that hath my command- 
 ments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; 
 and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
 and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." 
 
 Knowing this, and being renewed in the spirit 
 of their minds, the hearts of Christians are strongly 
 and intensely set upon holiness. They are ashamed 
 to grasp at pardon, and neglect purity ; to court 
 the favour, and despise the image of God. Sin is 
 the abominable thing which they hate. Its presence 
 fills them with horror. Its commission covers 
 them with confusion, and overwhelms them with 
 consternation and anguish. It bows them down 
 to the dust, and renders them so ashamed and 
 
370 
 
 grieved that they are unable to lift up their heads. 
 But they love the law of God. They delight in 
 conformity to his will: they exercise themselves 
 unto godliness : and labour to perfect holiness in 
 his fear. In the retirement of secret devotion, 
 they complain in the bitterness of vexation that 
 iniquities prevail against them, and that they can- 
 not do the things that they would; and implore 
 God to cleanse them from secret faults, to keep 
 them back from all presumptuous sin, and sanctify 
 them wholly in soul, body, and spirit. In attend- 
 ing the ordinances of religion, and frequenting the 
 society of the faithful, the grand object of their 
 ambition is to obtain a closer resemblance to their 
 adorable Redeemer, and a greater meetness for 
 the inheritance of the saints in light. And if you 
 come up to them when engaged in the duties of 
 their calling ; you will find that, by setting God 
 before them, doing all in obedience to his will, and 
 endeavouring to keep his love reigning in their 
 hearts, they are striving that God in all things may 
 be glorified through Jesus Christ. For the love of 
 Christ constrains them to live not unto themselves, 
 but unto him who died for them, and rose again. 
 Others pick and choose amongst the precepts of 
 the Most High, and attend only to the more easy, 
 popular, and fashionable services which are re- 
 quired. But Christians have no limitation nor 
 reserve in their obedience. They receive, observe, 
 and do all things whatsoever he has enjoined. 
 Others confine their regards merely to the outside 
 
371 
 
 of religion, and perform only the visible and pub- 
 lic duties which he has inculcated. But what be- 
 lievers covet above all things is holiness of heart. 
 They indeed labour to be blameless and harmless, 
 to hold forth the word of life, and abound in the 
 fruits of righteousness. But still the great object 
 of their ambition and pursuit is, to be all glorious 
 within. However amiable and excellent their life 
 may be, their heart is far better. Their life may 
 have its imperfections and its faults : for they can- 
 not do the things that they would. But if they 
 could obtain their hearts' desire and prayer, they 
 would never rest from their labours, nor leave any 
 part of their work unfulfilled. They would com- 
 ply with every intimation of the will of God, and 
 most effectually promote his praise. They would 
 never read, nor hear, nor pray, without throwing 
 their whole soul into the employment, and entering 
 into the very substance and essence of the exercise 
 in which they were engaged. 
 
 The law of God is exceeding broad. But it is 
 no wider than they wish. His law is holy : but 
 that is just the reason why they love it. It enjoins 
 no duty but what they esteem, and delight to dis- 
 charge. When they hear of the humility, the 
 self-denial, the purity, the spirituality, the eleva- 
 tion of mind, the fervour of spirit, the benevolence 
 to man, and the supreme devotedness to God which 
 it enforces ; the first desire that ascends from each 
 of their hearts to his throne is, " Oh that my ways 
 were directed to keep thy statutes ! " 
 
372 
 
 Theie is much holiness in heaven. The angels 
 have kept their first estate, and the spirits of the 
 just are made perfect. But is the temperature of 
 heaven too high? Is its devotion too pure? its 
 fervour too intense? its activity and ardour too 
 strenuous, lofty, and unremitting? Would it gall 
 them to be wholly engaged and engrossed with the 
 interest and honour of God, and to have their time 
 and strength unceasingly and vigorously consecrat- 
 ed to the advancement of his cause and kingdom ? 
 Would it grieve them to love him with all the 
 warmth of an angel, and serve him with all the holi- 
 ness and zeal of a seraph ? The holiness of heaven 
 is exactly what they covet. There the will of God 
 is done constantly, cordially, completely, with the 
 whole heart and soul. And nothing would trans- 
 port them more, than to bring down to the globe 
 which they traverse all the purity, spirituality, and 
 energy, which reign in the realms of bliss; and 
 carry into every relation of life, and exhibit in 
 every undertaking and employment, the spirit 
 and temper of an inhabitant of the celestial Zion. 
 " Thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. 
 Let the whole w T orld be filled with thy glory." 
 
 But though the law is exceeding broad, and 
 there is much holiness in heaven ; there is more 
 in the heart of the Man Christ Jesus. He is the 
 brightness of his Father's glory, and the express 
 image of his person. He is his Elect, in whom 
 his soul delighteth. But is Jesus too holy ? Is his 
 nature too pure, or his character too perfect and 
 
 
3T3 
 
 excellent to be an object of the love and imitation 
 of his disciples? It is just what they most pro- 
 foundly admire, and most eagerly long to resemble. 
 Their ceaseless study and earnest prayer are to have 
 the same mind in them which was in him, and to be 
 in the world even as he was in the world. Their 
 desires never can be gratified, nor their happiness 
 complete, till they acquire his image, and shine out 
 in a better world in all its lovely and glorious lustre. 
 " As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness : 
 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. 
 When he appears we shall be like him : for we 
 shall see him as he is." 
 
 If, therefore, amidst all your weaknesses and 
 imperfections you are conscious that this is the 
 case ; that you hate every appearance of evil ; that 
 that you are striving against sin ; longing for de- 
 liverance from the body of death; solicitous for 
 grace to glorify God in your body and spirit which 
 are his, and to be holy even as he is holy : this is 
 a demonstration that you are born from above, and 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works. " If ye 
 through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, 
 ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit 
 of God, they are the sons of God. Blessed are 
 they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness : 
 for they shall be filled." 
 
 Genuine religion invariably appears, 
 
 IV. By a relish for spiritual enjoyments. 
 Jesus is rich in grace. He has much to bestow. 
 
374 
 
 He possesses unsearchable, inexpressible supplies 
 of bliss : for he is heir of all things, and in him all 
 fulness dwells. With the universe at his command, 
 and all the resources of Deity at his disposal; he 
 also holds in his hands the whole plenitude of the 
 everlasting covenant, and all the treasures of re- 
 deeming mercy. In number, variety, and grandeur, 
 they are every way worthy of the power and muni- 
 ficence of God ; and calculated to raise the happy 
 subjects who receive them to the height of dignity, 
 and put them in possession of the most pure, 
 perfect, and enduring felicity. Tlrey require a 
 whole Bible to reveal them, a whole heaven to con- 
 tain them, and a whole eternity to unfold them. 
 The Scriptures now are occupied in displaying the 
 riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the 
 saints. But after all, it doth not yet appear what 
 we shall be. Eternity will be spent in accumulating 
 fresh honour and blessedness on the heads of the 
 redeemed : for they shall inherit all things, and be 
 more and more assimilated in holiness and happi- 
 ness to that Saviour whom they love, adore, and 
 enjoy. 
 
 But infinitely great and ineffably glorious as 
 they are ; within the whole range of the everlasting 
 gospel, is there a single blessing which a Christian 
 can overlook, or undervalue ? Is there a greater 
 amount of light, love, and faithfulness in the Scrip- 
 tures ? are there more hopes, privileges, and con- 
 solations in the gospel ? more vast and unbounded 
 stores of delight and ecstasy in heaven? more 
 
375 
 
 beauty and brilliancy in the celestial crown ? more 
 stability and grandeur in the regions of unclouded 
 light? greater kindness in the heart, or more barm 
 precious, and diversified blessings in the hands of 
 Immanuel, than a believer admires, and longs to 
 possess? O give him his strongest and dearest 
 desire, and he would instantly seize on the whole, 
 and never rest till blessed with all spiritual bless- 
 ings in heavenly places in Christ, and filled with 
 all the fulness of God. 
 
 As the merchant never apprehends that his trade 
 can become too good nor his gains too great; as 
 the husbandman never fears that the seasons shall 
 prove too favourable nor his fields too productive; 
 the Christian never dreads that his soul can possess 
 too much prosperity, nor be too amply replenished 
 and enriched with the gifts and graces of the Holy 
 Ghost. The more vast and invaluable supplies he 
 receives from his blessed Lord, only lead him more 
 to admire the sublime and indescribable delights 
 that are still behind, and incite him to press more 
 ardently after the unknown and yet uncommu- 
 nicated fulness of Immanuel. 
 
 Now is this the case with you ? Are you thirst- 
 ing for God, the living God? Are you crying, 
 When shall we come and appear before God? 
 Do the benefits purchased by the blood of the 
 adored Redeemer possess such a sacredness and 
 value, that they stand too high in your esteem, and 
 are far too dear to your heart, ever to be forgotten 
 or disregarded ? In reading the pages of inspira- 
 
276 
 
 tion, and in listening to the preaching of the gospel ; 
 does the mighty price which was paid to secure 
 them, rivet your attention to every blessing pre- 
 sented to your notice, and instinctively call up 
 a prayer for its possession ? 80 far from despising 
 or undervaluing one in all the vast assemblage, do 
 you venerate and admire the whole, and long for 
 the perfect enjoyment of them all? Does a love 
 of spiritual blessings often lead you to the throne 
 of grace; and when there, is it your constant sup- 
 plication that he who spared not his own Son, but 
 delivered him up for us all, will freely give you all 
 things, make you complete in Christ, supply all 
 your need according to his riches in glory, and 
 cause you to increase with the increase of God? 
 
 If your conscience bear you witness in the Holy 
 Ghost, that this really is your case : then no tongue 
 can express your happiness. The lines have fallen 
 to you in pleasant places : yea, ye have a goodly 
 heritage. These desires and longings are not the 
 product of nature. They never yet existed in a 
 carnal and unrenewed heart. The men of the 
 world mind earthly things, and have their portion 
 here : and provided that they can secure the wealth 
 and comforts of time, what care they for all the 
 riches of redeeming mercy, and all the treasures of 
 eternal glory? A love for religious enjoyments, 
 and a relish for things divine, are the work of the 
 Spirit, and mark their possessor an heir of heaven. 
 " For they that are after the flesh do mind the 
 things of the flesh; but they that are after the 
 
 
377 
 
 Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally- 
 minded is death; but to be spiritually-minded is 
 life and peace." This love and this relish prove 
 that ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit: for 
 he that hath wrought you for the self-same thing 
 is God, who hath also given unto you, in these holy 
 desires and sacred longings, the earnest of the 
 Spirit. And he is a rock : and his work is perfect. 
 Having begun a good work in you, he will perform 
 it unto the day of Christ. 
 
 Other evidences of a renovated nature might be 
 easily multiplied. But the possession of those which 
 have been already enumerated, are sufficient to 
 dissipate all cause of alarm and dejection, to estab- 
 lish hope and peace in your hearts, and assure you 
 that you are the objects of the love of God, and 
 partakers of the high and invaluable blessings of 
 the Gospel of his grace. Your religious progress 
 may not be equal to your wishes. Your spiritual 
 attainments may be far below what you are anxious 
 to reach: and you may be harassed with many 
 conflicts and trials, with much perplexity and fear, 
 dejection and despondence. But still if your con- 
 sciences bear you witness in the Holy Ghost, that 
 you are resting for acceptance in the sight of God 
 upon the righteousness of Christ alone, that Jesus 
 is precious to your soul, that you are labouring to 
 perfect holiness in the fear of God, and entertain 
 a strong love and a growing liking for all that is 
 pure and spiritual; you have reason to rejoice. 
 The presence of such dispositions and principles is 
 r 2 
 
378 
 
 a complete and satisfactory demonstration that 
 you are called and chosen of God, born from above, 
 and on the high road to never-ending glory. With- 
 out the agency of the Eternal Spirit, they never 
 could have found an entrance into your hearts. 
 
 In the absence of such evidences as those which 
 have just now been stated, no hope can be enter- 
 tained of your safety. For after the Bible so dis- 
 tinctly tells us, that Christ is the way, the truth, 
 and the life, and that no man cometh unto the 
 Father but by him ; and after it so plainly declares 
 that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, 
 old things are passed away and all things are 
 become new : it is the height of presumption and 
 as much as your souls are worth, to cherish the 
 expectation of heaven without trusting in Christ 
 alone for righteousness and strength, and being 
 constrained by his love to live, not to yourselves, 
 but to him who died for you, and rose again. 
 Other foundation can no man lay than that which 
 is laid in his infinite and all-sufficient righteous- 
 ness; and no man can have an interest in that 
 righteousness who does not purify himself even as 
 he is pure. 
 
 Self-righteousness and religious insensibility, 
 legality and antinomianism are extremes alike un- 
 scriptural and dangerous. If we have not been 
 shut up to the faith, and brought to cleave to 
 Christ alone for justification on the one hand, and 
 compelled on the other to shew our faith by our 
 works, and to abound in all the fruits of righte- 
 
 L 
 
 , 
 
379 
 
 ousness which are to the praise and glory of God : 
 we arc Btrangers to the first elements of Christian- 
 ity. Our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins. 
 Sin is the disgrace of our nature, and the only 
 source of our misery : and to hope for salvation 
 whilst sin is retained, is as absurd as to expect 
 health while we are employing measures to prolong 
 our malady. Christ came to save his people from 
 their sins : so that along with the remission of 
 iniquity, he also produces a renewal of our nature ; 
 and at the same time that he imparts a right, he 
 likewise confers a meetness for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light. The first discovery which we 
 obtain of our initial salvation, is from our begun 
 sanctification. Men may amuse themselves with 
 whatever delusions they please : but if their faith 
 is too feeble to subdue their sins, the awful day is 
 not far distant when it will be found prodigiously 
 too deficient in the strength requisite to save their 
 souls. " He that loveth not his brother whom he 
 hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not 
 seen?" And the faith that is incapable of pro- 
 ducing the present visible effects, which the Scrip- 
 tures invariably ascribe to it, how can it accomplish 
 those that are future and unseen ? If unable to 
 plant the fear and love of God in the heart, and 
 array the life in the beauties of holiness ; how can 
 it transport the soul to glory? If it fails amongst 
 the smallest matters, with what safety can it be 
 trusted in those of the most mighty and command- 
 ing interest ? If on trial it gives way amidst the 
 
380 
 
 inferior things of earth and time, is it wise to rest 
 on it for the infinite realities of heaven and eternity? 
 But if your religion has shewn you the vanity of 
 these lying refuges : if it has led you to the Savi- 
 our; convinced you that in him alone you can be 
 justified and glory; endeared him to your hearts, 
 taught you to delight in his society and service, 
 and to strive to magnify him in your body, whether 
 it be by life, or by death : then your souls and all 
 their interests are safe. You have fled to Jesus. 
 And did he ever reject a soul that came to him i 
 You are in Christ : and to them that are in him 
 there is no condemnation. It was by such a faith 
 as this that the saints in light found their way to 
 the regions of everlasting rest : and if you abide in 
 him, and cleave to him, your right to eternal life 
 is as firm, and your souls as safe as those of the 
 highest and happiest before the eternal throne. 
 In the righteousness of Him whom you love there 
 is infinite worth, enough for the free and full justi- 
 fication of " numbers without number ;" and in his 
 arm there is Almighty strength. Worlds unknown 
 are upheld by his hand ; and whilst it never grows 
 weary, none of them are allowed to go wrong. 
 Trusting to his righteousness, and protected by his 
 power, what have you to fear ? God is for you : 
 and who can be against you. " To my sheep I give 
 eternal life : and they shall never perish, neither 
 shall any pluck them out of my hand : my Father 
 who gave them me, is greater than all, and none 
 is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." 
 
381 
 
 Here then at last, my dear Christian brethren, 
 I must leave you in the hands of the great Shcfh 
 herd of the sheep. He is full of kindness and full 
 of care. " A bruised reed will he not break, and 
 the smoking flax will he not quench. Although 
 thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is 
 before him ; therefore trust thou in him." He 
 well deserves your trust : for with a power that is 
 Almighty he possesses a faithfulness that never 
 fails, and a compassion and kindness that know no 
 bounds, and that never become weary. Search 
 the Scriptures for clearer views of his character ; 
 and endeavour more and more to realize the free- 
 ness and all-sufficiency of his salvation. Live 
 nearer to him, and labour to secure more and more 
 of his fulness. In him all fulness dwells : and all 
 things are yours. Take instant and complete pos- 
 session of your inheritance, and maintain a spirit 
 and a temper corresponding to your high calling 
 and bright and blessed prospects. The worst 
 calamity that Satan can entail on any of the child- 
 ren of Adam, is to shut them out of the joys of 
 heaven after death ; and you cannot inflict a more 
 grievous injury on your own souls during the days 
 of your pilgrimage, than to exclude yourselves from 
 the cheering hopes of the everlasting gospel, and 
 the ineffable consolations of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Give diligence then to make your calling and 
 election sure. Hold the beginning of your con- 
 fidence steadfast to the end ; and building up your- 
 selves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
 
382 
 
 Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking 
 for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal 
 life. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
 Weeping may endure for a night ; but joy cometh 
 in the morning. To you it shall be a morning 
 without clouds, and in a land where the sun shall 
 be no more your light by day, neither for bright- 
 ness shall the moon give light unto you by night, 
 for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and 
 the days of your mourning shall be ended. There 
 the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and your 
 God your glory. And can men or angels express 
 what such a portion includes ? 
 
 THE END. 
 
 E. Khull & Son, Printers, 8, East Clyde Street, Glasgow. 
 
Lately Published by the same Author. 
 
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