YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
JOHN ELLIOTT FUND

CRABBE'S POSTHUMOUS SERMONS,
PUBLISHED FOR
THB LIQUIDATION OF THE DEBT ON
TROWBRIDGE CHURCH AND SCHOOLS.
1850.

S^inma. Jj- TFhiOips;^. A.

Mffi^Sry ®IE®IK©ffi (S3E*,]B®!1. SL.lL.m).

POSTHDMODS SERMONS,

KEY. GEOEGE. CEABBE, L.L.B.,
AUTHOR OF
" THE BOROUGH," " TALES OF THE HALL," &C., &C.

EDITED BY
JOHN D. HASTINGS, A.M.,
RECTOR OF TBOWBRirGE, WILTS.

DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION,

HIS EOYAl HIGHNESS THE PEINCE ALBEET, E. G,

LONDON:
J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY.
1850.

LONBON :
rBINl'KI) BY u. J. PALMER, SAVOY STREET, STR«ND.

TO
HIS KOYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRIJNrCE ALBERT, K.G.

May it please your Royal Highness.
It was usual in olden times, when a work was
dedicated to a noble patron, to acknowledge the
favour in a dedicatory epistle ; and though of late
this ancient custom has fallen into disuse, I hope
it may not be deemed out of place or presumptu
ous in me to return to it, more especially as it
affords a happy opportunity of gratefully and
humbly acknowledging (which it were ingratitude
in me to omit) the gracious condescension of your
Royal Highness in accepting the dedication of the
present volume. While thus conferring a distin
guished favour, your Royal Highness will, I be
lieve, be gratifying the first and noblest wish of
your heart by promoting the cause of divine
truth,— a cause which you feel it to be no less your
happiness than your privilege to maintain, and the

vi DEDICATION.
advancement of which sheds a lustre on the ex
alted position you occupy and adorn.
When I applied to your Royal Highness for
permission to place this volume under your Royal
patronage, I was urged to so bold a step, not only
by the necessities of so large and growing a charge
as that of the important manufacturing town of
Trowbridge pressing upon me as its Minister, but
under the firm persuasion, that by your Royal
Highness's condescension, the general interest of
the Church in this locality would be greatly ad
vanced. In graciously acceding to the request, your
Royal Highness may lay claim to the highest
honour conferred on Royal dignity, according to
the declaration of Holy Scripture, — " And kings
shall be thy nursing fathers."
It is the happy privilege of our highly-favoured
nation to be blessed with a sovereign who (in con
cert with your Royal Highness) exercises a foster
ing care over the temporal and spiritual interests
of her. subjects, thus encouraging them in every
effort which has for its object the dissemination
of truth or the alleviation of suffering.
Under the influence of these feelings, and in
furtherance of so good a cause, I commit this
volume to the world, fully satisfied, that favoured
by your Royal Highness's protection and patronage,
it will accomplish the object of its mission, having

DEDICATION. VU
secured to it by the countenance of such a Patron,
a favourable and respectful reception from all.
That the God of princes may be pleased to pro
tect our gracious and beloved Queen, and you, her
Royal Consort, and perfect grace in each, and give
you as much favour in heaven as you have honour
on earth, is the earnest prayer of
Your Royal Highness's
Very hutable
and obedient Servant,
John D. Hastings.
Rectory, Trowbridge,
May, 1850.

SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES.

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copies.
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Brooke, F. C, Esq., Ipswich.
Berners, The Ven. Archdeacon. 2 copies.
Blandford, Mr.
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Buckpitt, Mr., Trowbridge.
Browne, Mr. Samuel, Trowbridge.
Bell, Mr. John, Bristol.
Berry, Rev. M.S., Trowbridge.
Bush, Elijah, Esq., Trowbridge. 4 copies.
Clark, Thomas, Esq., Trowbridge. 25 copies.
Cadby, Mr. John, Trowbridge.
Carey, J. W., Esq., Trowbridge. 2 copies.
Chapman, Rev. A., Broad Chalke.
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Chilcatt, Mr., Bath.
Clark, J. N., Esq., Trowbridge.
Clark, T., Esq., jun., Trowbridge.
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Fox, Rev. T., Wincanton.
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Gane, Mr. J., Trowbridge. 2 copies.
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PREFACE.

It is the generally received opinion, as well as
that entertained by the most competent judges,
that the Author of the Sermons contained in the
present volume, the Rev. George Crabbe, ranks
amongst the most distinguished of our British
poets ; his knowledge of human nature, which he
made his constant study, was deep and penetrating :
and by the keen and powerful research of his ever
active and enlightened mind, he traced the various
conduct of mankind to its real and hidden spring,
and, stripping their actions of all artificial guise,
brought them out into the light of truth ; thus
excelling in delineation of character, he is accu
rately described as
" Nature's sternest painter, yet her best."
The foUowing graphic sketch from a little work
lately published, entitled, " Pinacothec^ Histo-
Eicis Specimen," is highly characteristic : —

X PREFACE.
" Georqivs . Crabbe,
mire . opifex
plebecvlse . mores . ac . fortvnas
natvrse . veriqve . coloribvs
describere idem
in reserandis . abditissimis . affectvvm . fontibvs
miserationis . prsecipve
potentissimvs
Omnibvs . omnivm . svffragiis . dignvs
qvi . novse . in . re . poetica . disciplinae
avetor . baberetvr."
But although known and valued as a poet, Mr.
Crabbe, as a preacher, was unknown, except to a
comparative few; yet undoubtedly the distinguished
talents and rare attainments which have secured
to him such well-earned reputation as an author,
entitle him to more than ordinary attention as a
preacher of the everlasting Grospel. If his acute
observation could so well decipher character, if he
could investigate and understand the workings of
vice and passion in the human breast, before they
break out into action, could detect the first steps
in evU, or discover the feeblest effort of the wan
derer to return to the paths of piety and virtue ;
if his ear was ever open to the tale of woe, and
his heart ever ready to feel for others; — ^then was
he pecuharly suited to warn the sinner, to bear
the sweet message of mercy to the penitent, to
admonish the unwary, to instruct the ignorant,

PREFACE. Xl
and to comfort the afflicted under the many sor
rows and sufferings which are the sad consequences
of the first transgression of man.
Before the entrance of our Author into the
ministry, his own pen bears testimony to the clear
and scriptural knowledge which he possessed of
the all-important and leading doctrines of Chris
tianity, of the state of man by nature as a sinner,
and of the only way by which pardon of sin and
hohness can be obtained, even through the sacri
fice of Christ's atonement. In his life, p. 86
there are some beautiful meditations which exhibit
so strikingly the practical influence of the faith he
professed on his character and feelings, that the
Editor is induced to lay before his readers a por
tion of them, and trusts he may be pardoned for
so doing. I.
" Amid the errors of the best, how shall my soul £nd
safety? Even by thee, 0 Lord? Where is unlet
tered hope to cast her anchor ? Even in thy blessed
Gospel ! Serious examination, deep humility, earnest
prayer, will obtain certainty.
" God is good. Christ is our only Mediator and Ad
vocate. He suffered for our sins : by his stripes we
are healed. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all are
made alive. Whoso believeth shall be saved. But
faith without works is dead. Yet it is the grace of
God that worketh in us. Every good and every perfect
work cometh from above. Man can do nothing of

xn PREFACE.
himself; but Christ is all in all ; and whatsoever
things ye shall ask in the name of Jesus shall be
granted. This is sufficient, this is plain ; I ask no
philosophic researches, no learned definitions ; I want
not to dispute, but to be saved. Lord ! save me, or I
perish. I only know my own vileness ; I only know
thy sufficiency ; these are enough ; witness heaven
and earth my trust is in God's mercy, through Jesus
Christ, my blessed Redeemer. Amen."
IL
" 0, my Lord God, I will plead my cause before
thee, let me not be condemned ; behold, I desire to be
thine, 0, cast me not away from thee. My sins are
great, and often repeated. They are a burthen to me,
I sink under them ; Lord, save me, or I perish. Hold
out thine hand ; my faith trembles ; Lord save me, ere
I sink. " I am afflicted in mind, in body, in estate ; oh ! be
thou my refuge ! I look unto thee for help, from
whence all help cometh. I cast off all dependence on
the world, or mine own endeavours : thou art my God,
and I will trust in thee alone.
" 0 Lord, Jesus Christ, who didst deliver us from
darkness and the shadow of death, illuminate, enlighten
me ; comfort me, 0 Lord, for I go mourning. 0 be
thou with me, and I shall live. Behold, I trust in
thee ; Lord, forsake me not. Amen."
IIL
" I look back on myself, — ^myself, an ample field of
speculation for me. I see there the infant, the child,
and all the rapid progress of human life ; the swifter

PREFACE. XUl
progress of sin and folly that came with every new day,
but did not, Hke the day, depart to return no more.
" If I die to-morrow — and it may be my lot — shall I
not have cause to wish my death had happened at a
former period ? at a time when I felt strong hope and
lively faith ? And what inference will the wish lead
me to draw, — a wish for stronger hope and liveher
faith, an ardent prayer and due repentance ? If not,
my wishes will be my torment. Never again to be
cheered with the comforts of divine grace, how sad !
to be totally forsaken of it, how tremendous !
" But I speak of to-morrow, why may it not be to
day ? — why not now ? — ^this instant, I ask my heart the
question, it may cease to beat. The thunderbolt may
be spent on my head. The thunderbolt, did I say ? 0
the importance of a worm's destruction ! A little
artery may burst ; a small vital chord drop its office ;
an invisible organ grow dormant in the brain, and all
is over — all over with the clay, and with the immortal
all to come.
" Of the ten thousand vital vessels, the minute, in
tricate network of tender-framed machinery, how long
have they wrought without destroying the machine 1
How many parts necessary to being, how long put in
motion ! Our hours are miracles : shall we say that
miracles cease, when, by being, we are marvellous?
No, I should not think the summons wonderful ; nor
partial, for younger have been summoned ; nor cruel,
for I have abused mercy ; nor tyrannical, for I am a
creature, a vessel in the hands of the potter : neither
am I without conviction that, if it be better for me to
live another day, I shall not die this.

xiv PREFACE.
" But what of awe, of fear, in such a call ? Where
is he who then thinks not — if he has permission to
think — solemnly? God his judge, and God his re
deemer ; terror visible, and mercy slighted, are then to
be heard : — the moment at hand that brings heaven
or hell ! Where is an opiate for the soul that wakes
then ?
" 0 thou blessed Lord, who openedst the gate of life,
let me live in true faith, in holy hope : and let not
my end surprise me ! Ten thousand thoughts disturb
my soul : be, thou greatest and fairest among ten thou
sand, — be thou with me, 0 my Saviour ! Return !
return ! and bring me hope !"
In this volume there are twenty-one sermons,
which are now for the first time presented to the
christian public. It must be distinctly borne in
mind by the reader, that they were intended solely
for the parochial charge over which Mr. Crabbe
was placed ; they were written, not to please the
ear, nor to satisfy curiosity, but to instruct the
understanding and influence the heart.
The Editor would simply state the cause of
their appearance. Trowbridge is a manufacturing
town with an increasing population, at present
amounting to about 14,000 ; the poor are very
numerous, chiefly engaged in the woollen manu
facture. In the year 1845 schools were built for
750 children ; on their completion they were
Hcensed by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese for
divine service, during the rebuilding of the parish

PREFACE. XV
church, which was unsafe to assemble in, and
therefore was required to be taken down, with the
exception of the tower and a small portion of the
outside walls. The united cost of church and
schools, including site for the latter, and residences
for teachers, was 10,000/. ; but notwithstanding
that the greatest exertions have been made, there
yet remains a very heavy debt. In order to raise
the means of paying off this debt, and of securing,
if possible, another church to the town, there being
only church room for 2,000, (including a district
church erected within the last few years,) it was
suggested by a friend that if a selection of Mr.
Crabbe's sermons, to form a volume, could be pro
cured, and permission given for their publication,
something considerable might be effected, and thus
a heavy responsibility removed fi-om those who are
labouring in this important and arduous sphere.
The Editor immediately applied to the only surviv
ing son of Mr. Crabbe, the Rev. George Crabbe, Vicar
of Bredfield, stating the above facts, and submitting
his request, Mr. Crabbe replied, that the sermons
having been prepared without the remotest idea of
publication, he was unwilling to commit them to the
press. It was further represented, that although
they would be given to the public in their unre-
vised condition, yet the known character of the
Author would secure their favourable reception,
and their intrinsic merit be discovered under their

xvi PREFACE.
original simplicity. Knowing the deep interest
his father ever manifested towards Trowbridge, of
which he was Rector upwards of eighteen years,
Mr. Crabbe at length kindly acceded to the re
quest, making the stipulation that it should be
particularly and distinctly stated that the sermons
were never intended for publication. Mr. Crabbe
was further requested to edit the work ; this he
declined, but at the same time kindly afforded
every assistance in selecting the sermons. And
the Editor takes this opportunity of acknowledg
ing with grateful feelings the kindness of the family
of the Author, and especially and pubHcly offers
his sincere thanks to the Rev. George Crabbe, for
the permission given to pubhsh, and the assistance
afforded in doing so.
The Sermons thus presented to the pubhc just
as they were delivered, the Editor feels persuaded
vnll be perused with deep interest, and, under the
divine blessing, with much benefit. He commends
them to the kindness of the courteous reader,
pleading the circumstances under which they make
their appearance as his claim for criticism being
withheld, and defects passed over with indulgence.
The Editor, in conclusion, cherishes an anxious
hope, that through the liberality of the friends of
the Church, this work will supply the means not
only of discharging the debt due, but of raising a
noble memorial to the name of Crabbe, in the erec-

PREFACE. xvn
tion of another church at Trowbridge, the parish
in which he so long laboured and was so much
beloved. Rectory, Trowbridge,
May, 1850.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.
THE TRUE WORSHIPPER.
John iv. 24.
" God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth." . . Page 1
SERMON II.
THE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
Luke ix. 57.
" Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." . 1 1
SERMON III.
THE WORTH OF THE SOUL.
St. Matthew xvi. 26.
' " What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul?" . . . . .22

XX CONTENTS.
SERMON IV.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PIETY.
Eccles. xii. 1.
" Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou
shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." . . 32
SERMON V.
THE GOOD CONSCIENCE.
1 John iii. 20.
" If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart,
and knoweth all things." . . . .45
SERMON VI.
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED.
Psalm ix. 17.
" The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God." , . . . .56
SERMON VII.
NO PEACE TO THE WICKED.
Isaiah Ivii. 21.
" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." . 68

CONTENTS. XXI
SERMON VIII.
ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED ?
Luke xiii. 23.
'• Then said one unto him. Lord, are there few that be saved ?
and he said unto thee. Strive to enter in at the strait
gate." . . . . . .82
SERMON IX.
THE SLEEPER.
1 Thess. v. 6.
" Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch
and be sober." . . . . ¦ p2
SERMON X.
THE CERTAINTY OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
Matt, xxiv. 3.
" And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying. Tell lis, when shall these things
be ? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the
end of the world?" . . . .104

XXU CONTENTS.
SERMON XI.
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS.
Luke ii. 10.
" And the angel said unto them. Fear not, for behold I bring
you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." 114
SERMON xn.
IMITATION OF CHRIST.
Phil. ii. 5.
" Let this mind be in jou, which was also in Christ Jesus." 125
SERMON XIII.

CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

1 CoR. i. 23.

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-
block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." . . 137

SERMON XIV.
THE CROSS AND CROWN.
Luke xiv. 27.
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me,
cannot be my disciple." . . . .148

CONTENTS. XXUl
SERMON XV.
THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION.
1 Cor. XV. 13, 14.
" If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen ; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain and your faith is also vain." . . . 160
SERMON XVI.
CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE.
Habak. iii. 17, 18.
" 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
tbe field, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I
will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal
vation." . . . . . .173
SERMON XVII.
THE HOLY COMMUNION.
1 Cor. x. 16.
" The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the commu
nion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break,
is it not the communion of the body of Christ V , 186

XXIV CONTENTS.
SERMON XVIII.
CHRISTIAN HUMILITY,
1 Pet, V, 6.
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you in due time." . .199
SERMON XIX.
SELF-JUSTIFICATION. Luke x. 29;
"But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who
is my neighbour 1" . . . . 209
SERMON XX.
JUDGE NOT.
Luke vi. 37.
" Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and
ye shall not be condemned." . . 221
SERMON XXI.
THE ALMOST CONVINCED, AND THE ALMOST
CONVERTED.
Acts xxvi. 28.
" Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me
to be a Christian." . . . ,236

SERMONS.

SERMON I.
THE TRUE WORSHIPPER.
John iv. 24.
" God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth."
These words were spoken by our Lord to the
woman of Samaria, who inquired of him, whether
on the mountain of that country, where the Sa
maritans had their temple, or in Jerusalem,
was the place where men ought to worship ! In
Jerusalem certainly was the place appointed by
God, and so far the Samaritans were mistaken ;
but the Jews also, in part, mistook, for they im
puted too . much sanctity to the place, and too
little to the act of worship, and therefore it was
necessary that our great Teacher (among other
divine purposes of his mission) should open the
B

2 sermon I.
eyes of his hearers to this truth, that the place
and the forms of worship, the outward shows and
signs of religion, the temple, the times, the sacri
fices, and the rites : all these, though allowed as
helps, yet are only helps, because religion must
dwell inwardly in the spirit, and they that worship
God truly, must worship him in spirit and in
truth. And this alone one would hope must put
an end to men's disputes and quarrels and vain
contentions about places and forms of worship ;
for if religion be indeed within us, and if it con
sist, as surely it doth, of faith and hope and
charity, of love to God and love to man, of trust
in our Lord and Saviour, repentance for sins
past and resolution to live a holy and heavenly
life, — I say if this be religion, then why should we
make of so much consequence anything besides 1
It is necessary for good order ahd propriety — for
the sake of uniformity and peace, that men may
assemble, and praise, and pray to their God, through
the mediation of their Redeemer, and may ask
such things as be requisite for the body and the
soul ! Por 'these things the places of worship
must be appointed, and who so proper to appoint
them as the lawful governors of a christian land ?
And with regard to the forms of christian worship,
who so likely to be correct and proper, and be
coming in such things as persons brought up in
every useful species of learning, taught from theif

THE TRUE WORSHIPPER. 3
youth in, the Scriptures, and elected from their
brethren to be guides and directors of Christ's
flock 1 Such were the pious and learned men to
whom we are indebted for our Church, our prayers,
our litany, our creeds, and all our decent and
judicious forms! And how men can think it
right to contend and dispute respecting such
points, if they be once agreed in the essentials,
that is, if they have repentance towards God and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a pious resolu
tion of living to their God, is, I confess, most asto
nishing ! It is as if two persons should agree in
the way they are travelling, and then quarrel
for the right or the left hand side ; or as if they
should consent to serve a good master in all such
essential and important articles as he has ap
pointed, and then should be angry vrith, and griev
ously vex and distress each other only about
trivial matters which they have provided for them
selves as helps and assistances in their great work.
If (and it truly is so) pious and careful men
have formed our books of prayer, and all our
rites and ceremonies, which are neither many nor
burthensome, what reasonable person would be at
the pain and trouble of seeking other forms and
other customs and institutions which cannot have
such high authority, and most likely wiU not have
so much knowledge and judgment bestowed upon
them 1 but if any choose, nevertheless, to depart
B 2

SERMON I.

from the great body of. the national church on
this account, at least let them retain the great and
essential points, christian charity and reciprocal
good will. If they wdll not worship with us, at
least let them depart and be at peace with us and
with themselves, never forgetting that, God as a
spirit, (wheresoever he is worshipped,) must be
served and adored and obeyed, in spirit and in
truth. Man, as a creature, formed of earth and
quickened by the breath of life as a reasonable
soul in human flesh subsisting, must have an out
ward expression of religion and times for meeting
in public worship. Ministers also must be ap
pointed, and all other things held in respect by
the reasonable worshipper who would do all
things, as St. Paul advises, in decency and in
order ; but he will take great care to distinguish
between all these things and religion itself He
will recollect that religious persons may and
would be so if they were in a desert without
ministers, churches, forms, or customs of any kind.
Nay, if deprived of vocal organs ; if the mind
were left whole and the soul retained her faculties,
there would be religion, there would be the true
and spiritual worship. And such as is probably
that of many orders of superior creatures. Crea
tures to whom their God may speak, and whom
he may make abundantly happy, by the blessed
inspiration, that needs no form of words or sound

THE TRUE WORSHIPPER. 3
of voice. Of this we know not ; but we are told
that God knoweth the thoughts of man ; that
none of our secrets are hidden from him. We
are told also that he sheddeth abroad his grace,
that he giveth light and hope and favour to the
children of men, and if so, then doth man con
verse with his Maker and the Creator with his
creatures without any external or intervening as
sistance. We know also on the best and surest
authority that all our desires, hopes, wishes, and
purposes, all resistance or compliance with temp
tation, every good thought indulged, and every
vain and wicked thought rejected, are known to
this great and all-discerning power. Of whom
cometh that blessedness of an approving mind,
that lightness and joy of a devout spirit, but of
our merciful and gracious Lord 1 Let me not
appear an advocate for enthusiastic imaginary
comforts, for flights and fancies and feelings which
weak or volatile spirits are prone to. I know too
well the mistakes made by the unstable and light-
minded, by persons tossed about by every wind of
doctrine, now raised to the hope of heaven, and
then sunk to the depths of despondency. But
while we reject the counterfeit, shall we deny the
real happiness of a religious mind 1 or will you
say, how do you know the one from the other 1
the workings of our own fancy from the visitations
of the power of grace. I answer, God hath given

SERMON I.

us reason to be our guide in this and all other
doubts not determined by his word. If our joy
be the answer of a good conscience thoroughly
examined ; if our comfort be that of our sincerity
and piety confirmed and persisted in ; if we re
joice in the victory of our resolution over evil
passions, or in the doing some act of piety or
goodness against our natural or carnal will ; in
fact, if our spirit is made happy by the obedience
which is our duty, and it is not the flash of mo
mentary delight, but the indwelling satisfaction of a
constant piety, then where is our danger 1 What
is our apprehension 1 The Spirit then beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of adoption ; but if our joy comes and goes, we
know not why ; if it be kindled by the soHtary
meditation or momentary devotion, or a warm
and passionate strain of piety in a prayer or a
discourse, then may we reasonably fear that such
feelings are deceitful, and have neither the source
nor the effect of heavenly joy. The light of the
sun, and the blaze of a meteor, do not more differ
than the warmth and comfort of real piety and
the surprise and glow of kindled zeal. A Chris
tian should suspect all such feeUngs as come with
out reasonable cause, and leave no proof behind
that their origin is divine; and the best proof we
can have is a stronger and more confirmed resolu
tion to live a Hfe of purity, piety, and peace in
consequence of them.

THE TRUE WORSHIPPER. 7
I am well assured that there is nothing new in
this doctrine; we all know hearers, as well as
preachers, that in the heart dwells true religion,
from that alone proceeds acceptable praise and
accepted prayer. But I am assured also that we
are perpetually taken away from this doctrine.
Forms will have their effect on bodies, and if we
do not take care, will have more effect than things
essential on the spirit. Why do so many persons
go to this or that preacher, or to different places
of worship, if they did not too much rest in what
they hear that has a pleasing novelty in it, and
too little in what they perform, acts of piety and
sincere devotion from their own soul 1
What can a preacher do for you 1 At best he
can but persuade and exhort, and sometimes en
force a duty or explain a difficulty. He is called
upon to pray with you and for you, and there
ends his talk, while, for yourselves you must do
infinitely more. You have a great work to do;
you must examine into your state of faith and
sincerity of obedience ; you must learn what is
your love for God and gratitude to your Saviour.
You have the part that no minister can do for
you, and can scarcely assist you in doing, that of
correcting the evil and confirming by pious reso
lutions, through God's grace, the good within
you. To you also belong the real confession as
to your heavenly Father, the real absolution, for
ours can be but conditional.

o SERMON I.
At our entrance into the service of the day, we
declare to you for what purpose we assemble and
meet together. To confess our sins and wicked
ness manifold, and not cloke them or endeavour
vainly to hide them ; to. hear. and receive his holy
word, and to. thank him truly for all his mercies,
and tofask such things; as be needful for the body
and soul.. Such is our declared purpose; but it
lies with you , to effect" it! Manifold as your
offences be, are they before you 1 are they upon
or in your spirit, as sins repented heretofore,- or
still grievous and burthensome ?
, In your thanksgiving do you give thanks ? give
them heartily and fuUy and. with joyful mind ? re
ceive you. the w:ord of God with respect and attention,
and when you pray for such things as be needful, goes
your .understandirig with the words of the prayer,
that.it may come up acceptably before your God ?
Thus doing you shall worship him in spirit and in
truth. True religion is sober, is rational, is pure ;
it depends not upon, the eloquence of a preacher ;
it depends upon your faith, your repentance, your
sincerity ; for what can a preacher, however gifted,
do for these 1 he can but persuade you to look
into your own heart, to think religion something
not between your minister and you, but between
you and your God; something that he may de
scribe and enforce, but which you must possess
and practise : but little depends upon us, upon

THE TRUE WORSHIPPER. if
you much. We can pray Avith you, but cannot
give you the spirit of prayer ; we can show you
what is truth, but you must embrace it. We can
call upon God in form and with our voices, but
you must join in heart ; you must be sincere, or
how can it be done in spirit and in truth 1
As creatures of very different habits, natures,
and temperaments, we are liable to errors in each
extreme, and that in all we act, in all we feel : but
most fatal are these errors in religion ! What
mischief have they not done, what needless anxiety
have they given to some, what violent wrath have
they not excited in others 1 In 6ur times, the
extremes we most usually behold are indiffer
ence on the one hand, and violence on the other.
Indifference that nearly falls into hypocrisy, and
and violence that rises almost to madness. Look
at those who are indifferent ! They attend at the
tolling of a bell, and read the form of a prayer ;
they hear indeed with the outward ears, but the
word is not grafted inwardly in the heart. They
listen to the word of life as to an often-told tale,
and are neither the wiser nor the better for it.
As they come led by custom, so they depart to
the customary avocations of life, and think of reli
gion no more till they receive the summons again.
Look to the fanatics ; they are all life and spirit,
and seem to possess feehngs which they may sup
pose to be the love or grace of God ; they encou-

10 SERMON I.
rage and call up, and believe as divine gifts the
feelings of their spirit ; they are angry with all
opposers, and over fond of all who agree with
them ; they go from place to place, the spirit
within neither seeks nor delights in repose, and
whether troubled or not, it is never at rest.
Lastly, behold the sincere, the devout and
reasonable Christian ; he submits to forms, but he
rests not. in them; to times and manners, but he
does so because they are decent and becoming ;
he knows that religion is of the heart, and is faith,
and hope, and love. Faith, that rests in the re
demption of sinful man by the death and passion
of our Saviour Christ ! Hope, that looks for eternal
life through the resurrection of him who had the
victory over the grave ; and love, that after work
ing with trembling obedience, at length casts off
fear, and feels joyful because of the reasonable
assurance of the glory to come.

11

SERMON IL
THE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
Luke ix. 57.
" Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest."
From the fifty-seventh verse to the conclusion of
this chapter we have some strong and remarkable
passages, upon which, if we duly and seriously
think, it would much conduce to our spiritual
wisdom and improvement. The person who said
these words, " Lord, I will follow thee whitherso
ever thou goest," had seen the wonders of our
Redeemer's healing hand, and heard the wisdom
of his heavenly speech ; he was doubtless con
vinced of his truth, and made sensible of his good
ness, his greatness, and his mercy. But what said
our Lord 1 Would he not invite and encourage a
new disciple 1 Would he not praise and accept
such zeal and such readiness, and say, well done,
good and faithful servant 1 No ; there was yet

12

SERMON II.

no service, it was profession only ; and the Sa
viour informed him what (if he indeed became a
disciple) he was to expect — " the foxes have holes,
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
man hath not where to lay his head." On another
occasion, he had said that the disciple was to be as
his Lord, and therefore the new convert was to
expect no sublunary honour, no worldly comforts,
no earthly benefits ; the kingdom of the Master
and the reward of the servant were not to be
found in the present world ; on the contrary, the
Master was to meet with persecution and shame,
and the servant, or disciple, was to look for disap
pointment and reproach. Let no man be deceived
by his religion ; the pious wiU have many privi
leges and much happiness, but there is no promise
of these arising from the things of this world ; on
the contrary, they are quite independent of them,
and have their source in God, who bestows on his
believing people joy and peace. The Christian
has always something to give up, much to strive
against, and to call up his fears and his repentance.
What a miserable creature, therefore, must be he
who professes to be religious, and yet has no real
inward true piety ; for such persons have all the
outward evils which in this world follow and ap
pertain to a holy and religious life, and have none
of the inward, the spiritual consolations which
they who are faithful always enjoy- — the clear con-

THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST. 13
science, the lively hopes, and the heart that is de
voted to God and resigned to his will.
Our blessed Lord deceived no man ; he did not
describe the kingdom of God as easy to be inherited,
nor the narrow way as delightful to be passed ;
but he invited those who heard him, by greater
motives, and more glorious prospects : so did St.
Paul ; he did not hold out prospects of what we
call pleasure in this life, but , present inward satis
faction and content, and indescribable blessings in
the life that is to come ; in fact, the Christian is
called to a race, a pilgrimage, a warfare ; he must
strive, he must contend, and he must persevere.
The profession which this person made was gene
rous and large, " Lord, I will follow thee whither
soever thou goest," and yet we all profess the
same — ^we all vow to follow the precepts and
duties of religion whithersoever they lead, and
surely we should do well to consider soberly and
solemnly whether we are led by them. It is no
difficult matter to profess. reUgion — it is no very
difficult matter to desire and wish to be religious,
nor is it any extraordinary difficulty to see and
own its value and importance ; but truly and in
deed to live a rehgious life, and without turning
aside to follow our Master, as it asks the greatest
exertion, so it has the highest reward. When our
Saviour said to another man, " Follow me," he re
plied, " Suffer me first to go and bury my father."

14 SERMON II.
When to another, " Follow thou me," he wanted
first to take leave of them of his household. It is
the case with most men ; they may have no parent
to attend to his grave, they may have no leave to
take of an household, but some with one excuse,
some with another, put off the entire following of
their Lord, the first great and solemn duty, that
which they know to be required of them, and
which we all confess to be requisite above all
things, till either they cease to be moved by the call,
or get into habits of putting it away from them till
they find no leisure to entertain it, forgetting what
our Lord himself practised, " I must work while it is
day, the night cometh when no man can work."
Here are then two kinds of persons de
scribed by the evangehst, the one who professes
to be ready for all their duties, " Lord, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest," and the
others called, but not ready — ^invited, but willing
to be excused for the present ; for though we may
differ in what we prefer to our duty, yet if we
prefer anything, we are disobedient to the call.
Let us return to the former kind of these persons,
those who profess to be followers of our Lord —
who are they 1 Are not all here present 1 else
whi/ present ? Why do we come into a christian
assembly, if not as Christians ? Doubtless we come
all under the class and description of those who
would be thought, and who think themselves, ser-'
8

THE FOLLOWERS OP CHRIST. 15
vants of the Lord of life — his people, and the sheep
of his pasture. I conclude no one would say he
comes to this sacred place for any other purpose
than his religious duties : there are indeed the idle
and inconsiderate who come because they are
compelled by custom, or because they know not
otherwise how to dispose of their time ; but in
general we may hope that we assemble in the house
of God for the serious and solemn purpose of de
votion, and therefore do in fact and in word, in the
beautiful services of our Church, proclaim our adhe
rence to the faith of Christ crucified.
Such, then, being our profession, we so far resem
ble him who said, " I will foUow thee whithersoever
thou goest," that is, I will do whatever thy holy reli
gion commandeth me. Let us then attend to our
Lord's reply, " The Son of man hath not where to lay
his head." It is not an easy, though it is a happy
life ; you must expect to meet with difficulties
and to encounter temptations ; you must set a con
stant watch on your passions and inclinations, deny
ing aU ungodhness, and worldly, that is, evil desires,
and Hve soberly and righteously in the present
world. How many of aU ages and conditions in
life, Hve as ii professing to follow their Master was
sufficient, but when the true disciples heard the
caU of their divine Master, they left their all to
foUow him. It is very probable that our Saviour,
who could see the heart of man, saw somewhat of

16 SERMON II.
lurking insincerity (though perhaps unknown to
himself) in the heart of the person who was so
eager to follow Him, and therefore gave that cau
tion that he might know and consider what it was
to follow Christ the Redeemer ; he might possibly
think that it was only to hoar his divine words,
and to behold his niighty works, and that he had
no more to do than to converse with the objects of
his mercy, with his apostles and disciples, and eat
with gratitude and wonder the loaves and fishes
multiplied under the Saviour's hands : this was
not all, nor the chief duty and occupation of a dis
ciple ; he was to endure the wants of nature and
hazard the dangers of teaching his Master's doc
trine ; he was to disregard the anger and mahce
of the Jews, and to be with his Lord in the seasons
of reproach and persecution, to go to the gar
den of Gethsemane, the hall of judgment, and to
the place of crucifixion. For this, perhaps, he
might not be prepared. He was going forth to the
battle without putting on the whole armour of God.
And this reasoning will equally apply to the
present times of the Church. There are numbers
who are professedly Christians, but they will not
duly consider what is indeed Christianity ; they
will attend some place of worship, and wiU not
often perhaps step aside from the outward habits
the decent and serious forms of our holy profes
sion ; they are baptized into the flock, and con-

THE FOLLOWERS OP CHRIST. 17
sider themselves as a part of the fold of the good
Shepherd ; but when more than this is required of
them, they do not find in themselves a disposition
or inclination to comply, nor have the resolution
to follow their Master, when the way becomes
painful — when hard denials and severe duties are
required of them in the exercise of the most mate
rial obligations of religion. The duties they shrink
from are these, — the continual strife with them
selves, their stronger passions, and appetites —
especially the sin that doth most easily beset them ;
in mortification and self-correction, in watching
their hearts that they may be pure and clean,
their habits, that no evil ones may grow upon
them and rule them ; add to these, the duty of
earnest and daily prayer, " Watch and pray that
ye enter not into temptation," of frequent and
solemn meditation of their latter end, of judgment
to come, and of eternity, and casting away all
sinful thoughts as they arise, and governing the
tongue to virtue and godliness, looking attentively
and constantly to aU they do, not only the more
important actions, but the daily, hourly conduct,
that all may be done (as far as human infirmity
admits) innocently and usefuUy to themselves,
friendly and beneficially to their neighbours, and
in obedience and duty to their God.
We have only to look abroad, and we shall see,
only to read the common language of mankind, 0

18 SERMON II.
and we shall learn, only to make use of our under
standing, and we must perceive, that among those
who profess and call themselves Christians, there
are too many whose conduct and habits speak of
them more strongly and loudly than a thousand
professions; that they are either those who make
religion a form, or in the number of those unhappy
self-deceivers, who think they believe and follow
what they actuaUy refuse to love and practise ;
who say, " Lord, Lord, but do not those things
which he commandeth." This is a serious subject,
and must be treated seriously. Religion is of infi
nite consequence or it is nothing. These instances
given by the evangehst which I have just repeated
are very remarkable ; the first, the man mentioned
in the text was warned that in following the Sa
viour, there was and would be much opposition to
the nature of man ; the others, that no worldly
obligations, such as taking leave of a household ;
no inferior duties, such as burying a father, must
stand in the way of that superior caU, the voice
of conscience, and the word of God. It would be
very useful if we were often to ask ourselves. What
does my religion do for me 1 how does it act
and operate in my mind ? is it a sufficient Hght
and guide to me, so that I see clearly what is my
duty, what I have promised and vowed, not by
my sureties only, but for myself ? Is it a suffi
cient check and tie upon my wishes, my carnal

THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST. 19
will, SO that I am kept by it, fi-om all allowed or
habitual offences 1 Has it such influence upon me
that I often and solemnly consider, what I was
and am — a fallen but a ransomed creature, and what
I should and will be, a faithful and obedient sol
dier and servant of my Lord Jesus Christ 1 These
questions we may surely answer in one way or
other, and many similar self-inquiries concerning
our actual obedience, our progress in hohness, and
onr stedfast or wavering faith, — ^in truth, thet/ must
pay constant and prayerful attention to themselves
and their improvement who hope to follow their
Lord and his reHgion whithersoever he goeth and
to whatsoever it leadeth — whether to the mar
riage-feast or to the last supper— whether to aid
the sufferings of the wretched, or to endure our
selves the calamities and miseries of life.
Before I conclude, let me remark that what
has been observed of man's carelessness, his sins,
and his disobedience, does not extend to his weak
ness and fi'ailties. The Lord knoweth (even better
than we know ourselves) " whereof we are made,
he remembereth that we are but dust." There
are faiHngs in the most perfect, there were even in
the disciples themselves. " Who can understand
his errors V says the Psalmist ; " cleanse thou me
fi-om my secret faults." " If thou. Lord, art severe
to mark what is done amiss, oh ! Lord, who may
abide 1" " In many things," says St. James, " we
c 2

20 SERMON II.
offend all ;" that is, all are oftentimes offenders,
therefore let us beware, in passing judgment on
ourselves, that we do not mistake wilful and re
peated sin for sudden or light finality, that we do
not consider as frailties any flagrant, allowed, or
habitual offences of word, thought, or deed. We
are sure God is merciful and loveth mercy ; he
will not be hasty nor severe to punish. What can
be more gracious than this declaration, which
doubtless every sincere Christian may take to him
self, " If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him
with the rod of men and with the strifes of the
children of men, but my mercy shall not depart
away from him ;" but then all this imphes and re
quires on our part, sincere repentance and habitual
obedience ; and while we comfort ourselves (as
assuredly we may and ought) with such declara
tions of God's mercy and love to sinners, let us
reflect that aU this promise of mercy is to invite
and guide us into the paths of faith and holiness,
and for those who will not obey such invitations,
more solemn advice is given and more awful reasons
for it pronounced, for if the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner ap
pear? Then think, when tempted byany sin or frailty,
we cannot follow our Lord except we resist temp
tation ; when we are backward and slothful in our
christian course, we cannot follow our Lord unless
we strive against flesh and blood, and work while

THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST. 21
it is called to-day. When we are in trouble, need^
sorrow, sickness, or any other adversity, we cannot
follow our Lord unless we bear these trials pa
tiently. When we perform our religious duties,
public or private, we cannot foUow our Lord unless
we engage in them earnestly and faithfully ; and
finally, we cannot follow our Lord into that state
of glory whither he is gone in triumph, unless we
follow his example in this state of trial and
temptation, through which he led the way be
fore us.

22

SERMON III.
THE WORTH OF THE SOUL.
St. Matthew xvi. 26.
" What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul ?"
" As I have a soul to be saved," is sometimes
the assertion of those who do not consider whe
ther they have a soul to be saved, much less do
they reflect whether they have not a soul to be
lost. Yet the salvation of the soul, that which
is the immortal part of us, is the most glorious
prospect we can have, and who is so dreadfully
rash as to feel without awe, that his own soul may
be lost % Let us ask our hearts, and ask them se
riously, how we could bear the terrible, shocking
assurance that our immortal part, after we are
" dehvered from the burden of the flesh," wiU not
be in joy and felicity, but in anguish and despair,

THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 23
" where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched." Little, then, would it have availed us
to have had possession of the whole world. But
how small a portion of that world often wins and
purchases a soul ! How cheaply is this the
most precious of merchandize sold ! what trifling
things do men ask for such inestimable treasure !
The poor savage gives gold, and silver, and jewels,
for beads and other trifles. But what does the
poor (so caUed) Christian 1 He gives his soul, his
eternal inheritance, the treasure which worlds
ought not to purchase, for some poor passions, and
short indulgences ; he gives the very seat and
source of enjoyment for something which con
science lets no man thoroughly enjoy. For sup
pose you could gain the whole world in exchange
for your soul, what would you gain 1 Certainly
no more of it than you could enjoy ; therefore the
possession of the whole world is only so much
wealth, pleasure, power, and honour, as you could
feel and taste, and partake without pain and
satiety, and how little that is, misers and profli
gates could soon inform you. Now whenever you
knowingly do wrong, you make advances to sell
your soul, and whenever you deHberately and
habitually take unlawful and forbidden gain or
pleasure, you are enjoying (if it can be enjoyed)
the price of your soul. In the first place, should
you make this dreadfiil bargain, I wiU endeavour
10

24 SERMON III.
to show you that you gain nothing that is really
good or profitable, and then I will offer to your
reason some considerations on the nature of these
agreements with sin — these silent negociations
with the power who makes merchandize of raen.
Suppose you could by doing wickedly gain all you
wanted in the world — money, power, pleasure.
Count your gains. Others have had these things,'
and you never heard they were made happy by
them. In fact, we should leave out money and
power, because these are but the means of plea
sure of one kind or other, and the whole inquiry
will be then into the worth of worldly pleasure.
Count your gain. Ask your own heart — Can any
pleasure you ever took ; or can you conceive any
so great as to counterbalance all the pain that is
inseparable from human nature and human life, if
there were no prospect beyond this present scenel
Is it worth all the fears and alarms of infancy — ^all
the disappointments and correction of youth — all
the care and trouble that man endures to obtain
it ¦? Does this pleasure that the world giveth,
balance pain, sorrow, disappointment, and sickness 1
Does it make you so happy that you feel no wants
or fears for yourself or others 1 no apprehensions
of an evil in this life, or any dread of losing it 1
We may answer that question at once. No
worldly pleasure is able to do any of these things.
Pain, care, grief, trouble, sickness, loss, disappoint-

THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 25
ment, and the fear of death, all of them, nay, any
of them, can at any time chase away our unstable
pleasures, and crush the tender and feeble tribe of
our amusements, vanities, and relaxations, as well
as the more valued and social enjoyments of life.
So that, could you have pleasure without selling your
soul, (as, indeed, all good men have in that degree
God permits in this mortal state,) could you insure
the things you desire and covet most, still they are
not permanently, not seriously good, they give but
Httle and that not long, and life has a thousand
evils, every one painful enough, to subdue and kill
these weak and precarious objects of our pursuit.
Reflect then ! whatsoever earthly good you delight
in — ^whatever gain you could enjoy, at such an
enormous expense as your soul — reflect ! that
your utmost gains are small, and soon gone. We
need not dwell on this head any longer, because
you will confess there can be no gain in the whole
world which can pay the dreadful hazard of a soul's
loss. Let us, therefore, proceed to the more im
portant part of our subject, and see how we lose
or sell the soul for such enjoyments. We know
that no person makes those contracts with the
evil spirits, and agrees to those astonishing arti
cles, which some wicked people have formerly
been accused of doing. No one thus invites or in
vokes his soul's enemy, to give him power, or

26 SERMON III.
pleasure of any kind ; nor signs with his blood the
bargain for his soul. But surely every evil action
you deHberately perform, every evil word and
thought that you cherish, and which God's law
and your conscience condemn, all your dealings
with man which are not just and true — all your
self-indulgences which are not pure and lawful —
aU which the Scripture forbids, and you allowedly
and habitually commit, — surely is a sale, a bargain,
with your tempter and accuser for so much worldly
pleasure or profit at the expense of your soul. It
is a silent bargain which, if not broken, does sell
the soul for eternity, just as effectually as if it was
openly sold to Satan and made over by contract.
For is it not said that the great deluder goes
about seeking whom he may devour 1 Do not
temptations everywhere beset you 1 If you deH
berately faU into them, are you not rewarded by
some present enjoyment which tempted you 1 and
what is that reward but the price given you for
leaving the narrow way, the paths of virtue and
religion 1 that is, in other words, we thus lose or
sell our souls, and gain the poor and perishing
pleasures we coveted. It may be said, and truly
said, that all men do wrong, and that the best are
only the least guilty, and therefore that there is
no cause to call every deviation from rectitude the
sale or loss of our soul. This is true ; but we are
not speaking of the infirmity of the Christian,

THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 27
but of habitual sins. And let us remember that
it is not by great crimes only that we sell the soul.
This is done as effectually by an habitual course
of what the irreligious person considers as small of
fences. First, he thinks his sins few and little. Is it
not a little one | And then he fancies there is no
danger in committing them, and so he grows se
cure, and commits greater, and thus infalHbly ac
quires the habit of sin, and generally falls from
one step to a lower and lower still. Our soul's
enemy would persuade us, just as we would per
suade ourselves, — he always insinuates into our
minds, " Where is the danger 1" " Where is the
hazard 1" " Are not thousands greater sinners
than you are V " Will God condemn you for
such Httle pardonable Hght offences V " Trifles,
natural indulgences, customary, habitual frailties 1
Will an immortal soul be lost for the weakness
and indulgence of a mere inclination V " In
dulge ! indulge ! 0 man ; seize the occasion, relax
a little from the severity of virtue, and be happy !"
Thus reasons our soul's enemy, or thus persuade
our desires and passions, our senses, our compa
nions, or our opportunities, and so men yield and
become confirmed in the habit of disobedience,
and are finaUy lost. Let me, therefore, repeat
that in every fault, every little forbidden indul
gence, there is some danger, in many much
danger, and that nothing sinful can be done with-

28 SERMON III.
out such hazard, that, as if you could see the end to
which all sin leads, you would instantly refrain.
Again we say it is not only, or chiefly, by great
sins that the soul is lost. Would any one in his
senses rush into a lion's den, or into fire 1 Of
course not, even if he were quite weary of hfe.
Because we could all see there our danger and the
torment that must follow. So they who dare not
commit great and flagrant crimes, as murder,
theft, adultery, fall into the same danger — ^hazard
the same torment, by what they caU human infir
mities. But open your eye, your mind's eye, and
you will perceive the den ! the fire ! in all aUowed
habitual sin : you will see how they venture who
knowingly do wrong. Look at the drunkard who
forgets his family, and his health, and his soul's
peace, in the riot of intoxication — is he in no
danger ? Look rightly, and you wiU see him
standing in the midst of false security near that
fire which every day and hour threatens to con
sume him. Look also at the overbearing tyranni
cal man, who is hard of heart to his neighbour,
covetous, proud, crafty, worldly-minded. He
stands, as he thinks, upon the firm ground of
worldly prudence, but it is in the midst of the
same imminent danger, as the same gross offender.
And there is he who leads a corrupt and sensual
life ; he indulges, though you cannot see him ; his
crimes are very secret, and he fancies there is no

THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 29
danger ; but there is a precipice before him which
he sees not, and conscience behind him which will
soon arrest him ; he will fall into the trap of
Satan, and then despair will stand over him fallen,
and drive repentance from him.
Some one may say, But these also are grievous
sinners, not such as I am. Observe, then, a little
offender. Now he avoids all the open dangers of
the way through life ; there he sees a great temp
tation, and great peril joined with it, and he vrith-
stands it, but soon after is tempted by a smaller
offence ; he deUberates ! He looks about and
finds no hazard; he can repent; he thinks he
does no great evil, (none, saith the tempter,) and
the habit is continued. So he walks aU his days,
and what is the end 1 " He who despises Httle
things shaU faU by Httle and little." He is bound
down with small cords, but they are many : the
arrows are not deep that wound him, but they
pierce in every part ; the way to repentance is no
where entirely shut, but there are so many impe
diments to remove of one kind or other, that be
fore the labour finishes, the life is gone. Hope
that never was hindered by any great weight,
sinks under the oppression of every day's frailty.
Beware, therefore, of aU approach to the sale of
your immortal part ; beware of little sins, or what
you may fancy such ; aU proceeds firom an irre
ligious state of mind, a careless indifference to

30 SERMON III.
your soul. Do not then despise your birthright.
You are admitted as an inheritor of the kingdom
of heaven : an heir of God, and joint-heir of
Christ. Do not only keep your hope, but priise it
as you ought ; think it insufficient not to seU your
heritage, but value it above all things, for it wiU
be of inestimable value when all that you now
prize and covet are lost and perished yb?* ever.
And now to apply what has been said to our
selves. Whoever among us has lived in any
known sin, small or great, — whoever has Hved a
careless irreligious life, did while he so lived seU
his' soul ; but none of us are innocent and free, we
are all brought in guilty before God — ^we all have
a ransom to pay. Man's account with his soul is
very great, how shall he settle it 1 Let him plead
the redemption of our Lord, and the price paid for
man — the precious blood of Jesus ! Let him turn
unto him with full purpose of heart, truly repent
ing him of the past. And let him employ aU his
powers, faculties, and acquirements in the service
of his Lord ; his time, his thoughts, his care, his
prayers ; and this preparation should be instant.
Who, my brethren, who would not prepare a place
in the world of spirits whither he is going 1 And
we can. Our God has given us light to know the
way, and he has sent his Son, who is the way, the
truth, and the life. And his Spirit wiU guide us,
and when we pray, grace wiU be given us. AU

THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 31
invite us to be happy. What shall a man give to
gain such a prospect as this 1 What would it profit
him to gain the whole world and lose it 1 Oh !
my beloved brethren, be assured you gain the
world, and more than a thousand worlds, gaining
Hfe everlasting.

32

SERMON IV.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PIETY.
Eccles. xii. 1.
" Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou
shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."
To remember our Creator in the religious sense
of the words is to become above all things consi
derate and attentive to the concerns of the soul ;
in fact, to turn from every evil way, every sinful
habit, every criminal pursuit, and to reflect with
penitent and contrite hearts on what we have
done, and vrith serious resolutions on what he
ought to do. On this subject it is natural to re
flect on the advice given from age to age from the
old to the young, who, once being young, had the
same advice administered to them, which they in
their days were disposed to receive as the common
admonition of the old, and to regara it as a

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PIETY. 33
thing of course ; as if it were the very duty of the
elders to teach, and the privilege of the younger
to disregard — and yet every one in their turn
found out at length that it was really and in fact
a duty which demanded their most serious atten
tion ; they found temptations that befel them,
they met trials, which, whether prepared for them
or not, they must undergo, and then they la
mented their neglect of admonitions, — then, too,
they judged it expedient to give the advice to
others, to which they themselves had paid so little
regard; — ^thus from father to son, from generation
to generation, the time for profitable instruction,
for laying the right foundation of piety in season,
passes away. Yet happily it is not so with all.
Some are wiser ; some do indeed remember their
Creator in the days of their youth, and so, when
the evil days come, and the time of their death
draws nigh, they are happy enough to feel that
they have pleasure in them. When age has stolen
upon us ; when we can enjoy but few pleasures of
this life ; when our strength is nearly exhausted,
and our spirits are cold and depressed ; when the
present world has ceased to make its great pro
mises, and we feel our disappointment in those it
had made ; when the grave will sometimes appear,
as the enjoyments of life retire from us, it is then
common for many (for all who are not lost to re
flection) to turn their views to a consideration of
D

34 SERMON IV.
futurity, to think of a judgment to come, and in
what degree preparation has been made for it ;
then men endeavour to make their peace with
themselves and with their God. It is indeed a
late repentance, a Ungering piety, but it is all that
can be done ; how much better, then, happier,
nay, more pleasant, easy, and delightfiil, to pre
vent this late, this doubtful repentance, by that
early devotion to divine truth, accompanied by aU
the affection and earnestness that youth and
health and strength bring with them. And to this
you are thus invited. And among the arguments
for remembering our Creator in our early days is
this, that when our evU days are come, it is pos
sible that we cannot remember him then; these
early days are certainly the proper season for
piety, and it may be truly said of them, " behold
now is the accepted time, behold now is the day
of salvation." Therefore let not the young delude
themselves with unavaiUng purposes; we wiU
think seriously on these unquestionable duties at
some fiiture time, when arrived at such a period,
on such an occasion, at such an advanced state of
our life, or when this or that event has taken
place, for then we shall have quiet and leisure for
such devotion. Say not these things, nor purpose
them in your heart, for such resolutions are both
feeble and dangerous; if you indeed purpose to
be ever religious, begin to be so when you purpose.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PIETY. 35
You can have nothing at this time to prevent you,
except those things that in greater number and
with greater force (while your powers are en
feebled) will prevent you hereafter. The cares of
Iffe wUl certainly come on with increasing demand
on your time, and the sorrows and troubles with
multiplying force on your spirits ; difficulties,
doubts, perplexities, troubles, beset men in their
progress, and oftentimes the very calamities which
should lead them to seek comfort in reHgion, so
engross and overpower their minds, that they
prevent them fi-om turning to that source whence
their true help and consolation would arise. In
all these cases, there is a double task and labour
for the mind, not only to live to the fiiture, but to
recover from the evil effect of the past ; prevent,
therefore, by an early choice, this error of delay;
seize the hour while it is yours; the past has fled
from your vigilance, the future you know not if it
will offer to your acceptance; the present only is
yours, and of that we may stiU repeat, " Behold
now is the accepted time, behold now is the day
of salvation." The advice of the inspired writer
is not a matter of indifference; it is not a some
thing which you may either take or refiise as you
may be disposed; the neglect of it assuredly is
most criminal, and argues something like a deter
mination to persist in error. The .whole of men's
reasonable and active life is short, and should be
D 2

36 SERMON IV.
all religious and useful, and being thus, would also
be deHghtful ; but we are weak and frail, and God
knoweth our frailty; we have therefore many
helps for our infirmities, and, on true repentance,
gracious forgiveness of our omissions and offences.
Yet this forgiveness requires acceptance on our
part, and a resolution to continue in the covenant
made in our baptism, to confess the faith of Christ
crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner
against the devil, the world, and the flesh, and
continue his faithful soldiers and servants to our
lives' end. We should do wisely if we often re
flected on this engagement, and duly considered
and examined our hearts, inquiring diUgently whe
ther we be indeed these soldiers and servants,
diUgent, faithful, obedient ; otherwise, though you
may not deny or reject your part of the covenant,
you do not observe and fulfil it ; though you may
be caUed Christians, you are not working in your
Lord's vineyard, you are cold to the cause, and do
not take any part in the conflict of Christianity.
Consider, then, your high calling and profession;
what great things are done for you, and what
good things raust be done by you: consider what
it is you are striving for by a Hfe of christian
obedience; what vsdll be the consequence of your
not striving, and what enemies you have to strive
against. You are called to the warfare that you
may obtain an eternal state of glory and happi-

THE IMPORTANCE OP EARLY PIETY. 37
ness, which our Saviour has promised to aU who
truly and in heart serve and obey him; that you
may obtain in this life a pure and quiet conscience,
the victory over evil passions and lawless desires,
an honourable victory over the adversary of man,
and the temptations by which your weakness is
assaUed; it is to be a fellow-soldier with saints and
martyrs, and to take the good part which none
ever repented taking, aiid none who persevere in,
can fail in the reward. The consequence, if you
do not take this good part is, that you will be
overcome by your enemies, and lose all the gra
cious promises and glorious expectations of the
gospel covenant. You will become the slave and
servant of sin ; you will bring upon yourself sorrow
and trouble and fruitless regret, the anger of your
offended Lord, and, at the end of a misspent life,
the terrors of an awakened conscience, and the
fearful expectation of punishment to come. Rea
sonable persons will not hesitate about the part
they ought to take, but it is a coraraon delusion
with the young that they have tirae to spare ; they
forget how easily habits are contracted, and how
difficult it is to break thera off; they also forget
that though they slumber, their spiritual enemies
do not, and that though thousands have deferred
their repentance too long, no one ever began the
work of salvation too soon ; it may easily be, and
often is, too late to correct the evils, but it can

38 SERMON IV.
never be too early to guard against them. The
enemies you have to contend with, are the temp
tations of the world, of your own corrupt nature,
and those which the evil one brings against you.
These are so many, and so well known, that there
is neither time nor occasion to repeat them ; you
all know the sin that most easUy besets you, the
evil desire that would draw you into disobedience,
and by acts of disobedience into destruction. You
know also the commandments of your- God, and
the divine precepts of your Saviour, and can be at
no loss either to see your danger, or to know your
duty; and if you are assailed by the urgency of
any evil incHnation, if the temptation be strong,
and the heart weak, there is then for your comfort
and security the great remedy of prayer, to which
no one has recourse with earnestness and sincerity
without receiving strength and protection. Yet
so many are these temptations, and so various,
that no one, however young, can safely venture on
delay, or trifle with the danger; and if this be
doubted, they may inquire of those who have
passed that season of trial, and whether they
theraselves have succeeded or not, they wiU inform
you that there is no time to lose, for if they suc
ceeded, they are now rejoicing that they began so
early to serve the Lord, and if they did not, they
are now regretting that they put off the purpose
until their task became grievous and painful.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PIETY. 39
I have now to lay before you the natural con
sequences of both this neglect, and this early choice
of a pious and rehgious Hfe ; and, first, consider
the fruit of this negUgence and forgetfulness, this
dangerous and fearful trifling with your souls, this
sin and folly. In this case, you wiU have at best
a youth of continual self-accusation — self-accusa
tion without amendment, and fear without effec
tual sorrow. As you advance in Hfe, and your
habits are confirmed, you may not so often bo
disturbed by conscience ; but the reproof wUl be
more bitter, and though the pleasure of sinful
courses wiU die away, the sins and the habits wiU
remain to disturb you. Your old age, if you
arrive at it, will be disrespected, and its infirmities
grievous, and perhaps insupportable. You will
have these infirmities of the old without their con
solations, and while this world becomes more and
more a burden to your spirits, you wUl less and
less endure the thoughts of parting with it, so that
even the miseries here wiU be more bearable and
easy than the fears and apprehensions of the evil
to come ; and if it should be said there are old
and very sinful men who do not feel this alarm
and terror, I would answer, so much the more
awful is their case, for who is there in youth so
daring and impious as to think without terror of
becoming an old and confirmed sinner, who had
lost the feeling both of his offences and his
6

40 SERMON IV.
danger 1 On the contrary, what blessings are
attendant on early piety ! Whatever evUs the
world has in prospect, you wiU be enabled to bear
them, because you have not sold yourself to the
temptations it presented. Whatever you possess,
a good conscience will enable you to enjoy; and
whatever you want, christian resignation will teach
you to be contented : a blessing wUl accompany
all your endeavours. Your reflections wiU be
happy. You will not be afraid of sudden evU
when it cometh, but wiU go to rest in assurance of
heavenly favour, and rise with the comfort of
divine protection. Respect you wiU have from
all good men, and even the wicked in their hearts
will give it ; thus life, with all its sorrows, wiU be
a blessing — prosperity will not be embittered by
reflection, and adversity wiU be sweetened by it.
Your thoughts wiU be composed, and the affairs
of the world wiU proceed vsithout interrupting
your tranquillity. FinaUy, and above aU, when
this life is ended, you will depart in peace; yours
wiU be that immortaUty which your Redeemer has
both purchased and promised, and of which, as
you have read, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard." Be assured, then, that of aU the blessings
and advantages of life, an early turning to God is
the greatest; early conversion has in it aU that is
desirable, without the bitter pangs of a wounded
conscience, and with Httle of the danger of a re-

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PIETY. 41
lapse into sin; without a painful consideration of
the evil which a person's own bad example may
have brought on others, or the influence which
sinful habits may have on the repenting sinner's
own soul, too often conquered by the power of
sin. And what is yet a stronger proof of the advan
tage of an early casting away aU works of dark
ness, there is time and opportunity for religious
improvement, for laying up the treasure, and for
acquiring those habits of holiness and virtue which
the late repenting sinner may earnestly desire but
cannot effectually obtain. Let us refer to our
Lord's parable on this iraportant subject, the
talents distributed for increase and iraprovement.
What increase, what improvement are they to
make whose repenting and wounded spirits are
hurried by hopes and fears, by strife with long
indulged habits, and constant endeavours to
walk in that narrow way which, being so lately
found, is found so full of difficulty and trouble ;
but in the early repentant and religious mind, im
provement of the talents "becomes its natural and
pleasant occupation, and the ten," or the five, or
even the one, as it has pleased God to give them,
are increased and kept in constant employment.
Observe the parable of the leaven : in time, but
not without, the whole is leavened — the whole
heart and mind. Now in the late repentance

42 SERMON IV.
there is not this time, and consequently we lose
the proof that the change is effected, that the
passions are commanded, that the will is tho
roughly controlled, that the love of earthly things
is become a real steady desire for heavenly. But
when the conversion was early, the change is not
only wrought with less difficulty, but there is
evidence of the effect ; there is time for religion to
becorae habit, and duty pleasure; the strife of the
sinful passions is abated, and the struggle of the
raind in the strong opposition of duty and desire,
has settled into a calm; the things of a better
world have then their fuU weight, and in conse
quence hope has become fixed, and the whole is
leavened. There is but one parable which appears
to make a late conversion, and of course repent
ance, equally avaiUng with an early turning to the
Lord our God, and continuing to be his faithfiil
people until our Hves end; this is the parable of
the labourers sent into the vineyard at the differ
ent hours of the day, that is, caUed to rehgious
thoughts and duties in the earlier or the later
periods of our lives. Here, indeed, they who had
laboured but one hour, were made equal with
those who had borne the burden and heat of the
day. But then to whom shall we compare such
labourers 1 Not surely to the late repenting sin
ners, who were from infancy called and invited,
nay, entreated and implored, to accept the offered

THE IMPORTANCE OP EARLY PIETY. 43
mercy, and they would not ! The labourers of
the gospel went into the vineyard as soon as they
were called. If we liken them to any, it must be
to aged heathen, who are induced by the persua
sion of christian missionaries to enter into the
covenant of the gospel, and accept the mercy of
the Saviour, of which they had not heard before ;
but this has no resemblance to the sinner who has
been caUed through Hfe, and would not hearken
tiU life had Httle or nothing to give him.
I believe there are many persons in early
life, among the thoughtless and wicked, who
make a kind of compromise with conscience
by resolutions to become faithful and obedient at
a later period, but they do not reflect upon the
extreme folly as weU as the great sinfulness of
such poor endeavours to procure a little peace
within, such dangerous opiates to gain a troubled
and disturbed repose. For what does a person
virtuaUy say to his God, who makes these poor
unavaiUng resolutions to be a Christian by-and-
bye 1 He says to his Lord and Judge, " What
you require of me is just and right, and ultimately
I perceive, for my own happiness; I am just now
engaged by the pleasures fitted to my time of life
and my incUnations, but at a later time I will
give up my mind to the subject, and live soberly
and religiously the rest of my days." A man
dares not utter such speeches to his Maker ; but

44 SERMON IV.
aU such persons in reality so think and act, that
it is plain what they would say if they spake in
truth and sincerity ; and besides this extreme arro
gance and folly, there is great danger in making
such apologies for putting off the good work ; the
excuse cannot be accepted, and the proposed re
formation is seldom made. What numbers have
died impenitent and hard of heart, who, in the
thoughtless levity of youth, resolved to indulge a
little while, and then to repent and turn to God,
and do works meet for repentance ! But an early
dedication of yourselves to Almighty God, to the
duties of religion, and the study and practice of
the gospel precepts, is the way to happiness, and
it is the only way that renders at least support
able, the evils of this world, and it anticipates the
happiness and glories of the world to come ;
whereas, by deferring this holy work, you not
only bring tenfold difficulty and anxiety of spirit,
but you can never be certain that when the sup
posed time for repentance is come, the disposition
to repent wiU come with it ; if you mean ever to
lead a religious life ; if you desire the peace
which the world cannot give ; if you would Hve
in comfort and die in hope, defer not for any con
sideration a work of such unparaUeled import
ance ; seize the hour while it is yours ; for whe
ther young or old, we know not what the next
may bring forth.

45

SERMON V.

THE GOOD CONSCIENCE.
1 John iii. 20.
" If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart,
and knoweth all things."
To these words are immediately added, — " Be
loved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we
confidence towards God." Herein, then, we have
the apostle's account of the effect of conscience ;
in the one case, if it condemn us, we raay as
suredly judge that God will ; and if it condemn
us not, we have that proof of our being uncon-
demned in the sight of God ; yet though gene-
raUy speaking our conscience may both condemn
and acquit us justly ; we must not in all cases
rely upon this rule alone, for certainly we raay
oftentiraes acquit, and sometimes, though very
rarely, condemn ourselves vsithout sufficient rea
sons for so doing. It may, therefore, be profitable

46 SERMON V.
for us to inquire into the nature and working of
our consciences, to look into the reasons for its not
always giving the just answer to our inquiries, to
observe how and why it happens that the con
science, which is so excellent a monitor when
clear to discern, and uncontroUed by vice or
passion, is yet so far from being a just and faith
ful director, that it goes astray and wants a guide
and direction for itself
" We trust," saith St. Paul, " that we have
a good conscience ;" and he might, no doubt,
trust safely in the goodness of his conscience,
but it is not every one who can, and his very
words, " We trust we have a good con
science," imply, if they do not directly express,
that some have a conscience which is not good,
that is, they have lost the proper and right feel
ing ; so that the sense of good and evil in many
cases being obscure, and, as it were, worn away
by evU habits, is lost, and conscience either slum
bers while evil is committed, or even mistakes the
very nature of sin, and rests easy under what
should be the burden of its weighty offences. A
conscience, when pure and just, I would Hken to
a dial, upon which the sun shines from heaven,
and it therefore cannot err ; but a conscience
assailed by and yielding to the indulgence of some
passion or persuaded by some false argument, re
sembles rather the time-pieces raade by man's art.

THE GOOD CONSCIENCE. 47
which though they vary and are more or less
correct, yet they are aU liable to error; the best
do not always go right, they want correction, and
must be often (as I may say in this comparison)
wound up, or they wiU, instead of informing us of
that which we want to know, namely, " how time
passes," lead us into mistakes of more or less im
portance, and if they are neglected for any length
of time, they wUl become utterly useless, and give
no information.
St. Paul says that he exercised himself to have
always a good conscience " void of offence," which
is a proof that such spiritual exercise is necessary,
and that without it, the conscience may not be good.
It may then be expedient for us to enter a little
on this inquiry, and to point out the errors which
we are Hable to fall into, that we may avoid them,
and, like the holy apostle, exercise ourselves to
have always a conscience void of offence, both
towards God and towards men.
Our way is then to inquire, first, what are
those things which prevent us, so that we do not
possess this exceUent monitor, a conscience void of
offence ; and, secondly, what those are by which
that blessing is to be obtained, premising always
that we rely upon the grace and assistance of the
Holy Spirit in our endeavour for the argument,
not only of a good conscience, but of all things
that are good. Now though many impediments

48 SERMON V.
might be found that oppose us in this endeavour
after a clear and pure conscience, yet they may, I
think, be included in these, which I consider as
the principal among them ; — ^first, I would state
the neglect of and carelessness in this important
inquiry. There are many persons, I am afraid,
who, if their conscience do not trouble them, never
trouble themselves in reflecting from whence this
quiet comes, whether from all being right within,
or from never looking within to see what reaUy is
there. A conscience of this kind may be void of
offence, and yet the person be a gross offender
against God. Great and enormous crimes would
indeed awaken any conscience not entirely dead
and rendered insensible by the repetition of such
transgressions ; but I am not speaking of persons
thus lost, but of such among us who profess their
faith in a Saviour, and the coraraon hope of salva
tion. Among believers of this description, neglect
of and indifference for the answer of a good con
science is but too common a faiUng. Nay, the
very expression, the answer of a good conscience,
should show us the necessity of asking the ques
tion, or why do we caU its report an answer?
An answer to what 1 To our own question and
self-examination, we ought to reply ; for I know
not how we should get an answer of our own con
science without it. It is true that if such Chris
tians as I am supposing were to be seduced into

THE GOOD CONSCIENCE. 49
some great and glaring transgression, as murder,
adultery, perjury, and sins of such enormity, con
science would anticipate inquiry, and would not
stay to be questioned, but immediately " cry out,"
and would be attended to, but with this exception,
the neglected conscience is but too much inclined
to repose, and neither receives alarra nor gives
trouble. In the prayer for grace in the Morning
Service, we ask of our heavenly Father that he
would defend us with his mighty power, and grant
that this day we fall into no sin. It is surely
then most reasonable, at the conclusion of the day,
to inquire of our own hearts whether we have so
fallen or not 1 for is it not a strange impropriety
(to speak in the gentlest terms) that we can pray
for such blessing as a freedom from sin, and then
take no thought whether we have been kept from
the evil we so prayed that we might escape.
Would we ask even of our fellow-sinner a favour
of any kind, and then make no inquiry whether
it were granted ¦? If so, then we either set no
value upon the thing we asked, or had no depend-
ance upon the person to whom we applied.
I therefore state this neglect and want of fair
and full search into our own hearts to be one
great cause why our conscience is not the guide
and monitor which it might be made with due
attention and just inquiry; and, secondly, I con
ceive that this evil effect upon the conscience is
E

50 SERMON V.
occasioned by our habits ; and our continually
submitting ourselves to what we suppose to be (if
we think any thing about them) sins of the smaUest
possible account, scarcely worth our inquiry, and
by no means of that importance that they should
make us unhappy, or disturb the reposes of our
conscience. But in answer to this, I must observe
that there are no such things as little sins; for
sins are transgressions against God's command
ments. Crimes of little weight and consequence,
that is, offences against the laws of man, there
may be ; but not sins. No sin is a trifle ; what is
the sin that we can Hghtly estimate 1 and yet
there are those which some habituaUy pass over,
and by which their consciences are not offended:
the habit of relating falsehoods in what are caUed
trifling matters is one of these evils; for there is
in some persons the vanity of speaking marvellous
things, or the desire of entertaining their friends,
or some such small inducement continually leads
to these breaches of truth. It may be said that
this is not injurious to any one, but that depends
upon the nature of what is said; and suppose it
be not injurious, yet truth is violated, and that is
sinful, though another sin, that of doing injury, is
not added to it. In like raanner habits of drink
ing, yet stopping short of actual intoxication, are
contracted, and men do not feel the accusing voice
of conscience even when they indulge themselves

THE GOOD CONSCIENCE. 51
to the ruin of their health and the injury of their
families. Habits of deceit in a person's common
transactions and deaUngs with other men are also
acquired, and conscience in a little time rests very
quietly under them. It is but too true that much
of the common intercourse between man and man
will not bear strict inquiry. And there is like
wise another deception when people suppose they
are living in the same way and walking in the
same steps as they observe other persons in their
situation; but there is deceit in this; we do not
know how other persons live; their secret good as
weU as evil may be unknown to us, and they may
be more pious and devout than we are aware of;
but suppose not, stiU they are not to be our ex
amples. Our way is pointed out for us in the
word of God. We may be encouraged to do good
by a virtuous person, and warned of evil by the
transgressions of the more sinfid, but our rule and
example is in the words and commandments of
our Lord and Redeemer. Let us then contend
against these habits of evil that so quietly steal
upon us, and make useless the governing principle
of our conscience. When death approaches, al
most every one passes through some kind of trial,
some self-accusation. Sins, even the long-for
gotten sins, then present themselves, and in some
cases cause alarm and terror, — and why 1 They
would not, if we did, as St. Paul, that is, " die
E 2

52 SERMON V.
daily;" for then we should be accustomed to aU
the preparation for dealth; and what is the prepa
ration but so to live with respect to our sins and
sinful habits and incUnations, as if every day was
the one we were to die in — die daily, or, in other
words, prepare for death 1
The third cause for the errors of our conscience,
and the last which I shaU now dwell upon, is the
false judgment which we so often make of the sins
of omission, and what naturally follows a want of
spiritual improvement. Even in persons who do
attend, though perhaps not sufficiently, to con
scientious feeling, we too often find an entire for
getfulness of this duty of the soul's improvement;
but in the progress of a Christian it is not suffi
cient that he shuns the way of unrighteousness,
but that he proceeds and advances in the way
that leadeth to the life everlasting. Not only
that he denies his evil and corrupt affections, but
that he daily proceeds in all virtue and godhness
of living, and yet, though oftentimes admonished
on this head in the sacred writings, still men do
not feel this want of improvement as an actual
transgression, and their consciences are too often
silent on the subject. They do sometimes lament
the doing that which they ought not to have
done, but they, forget how often the things that
should be done they have neglected to do. But
what saith our divine Teacher upon this duty of

THE GOOD CONSCIENCE. 53
working in the vineyard of our Lord 1 Our's is
not an idle calUng; and why should we abstain
from vice but that we may have hearts and minds
at leisure, and in freedom to follow after that
which is good 1 Why were the talents given but
to be improved 1 He who returned it again as he
received it was punished; and he who increased
that with which he was trusted had the reward of
his diligence. We can estimate our worldly
wealth, and know if it be raore or less than at a
former period, but we can, in too many instances,
go on year after year, and yet not know, not
reflect, not weigh and duly consider, whether our
faith be more firmly grounded, our hope more
exalted and brighter, and our charity burn raore
like the charity of St. Paul, by fitting us for the
state our hope aspireth to.
Our Lord corapareth the effect of religion, his
religion upon our minds, to the operation of leaven,
which ceaseth not to exert its power on the mass
tUl the whole is leavened. This also shows the
necessity of improvement, and yet needful as it
is, how few comparatively speaking are anxious to
learn the measure of their improvement; or indeed
to inquire whether they are iraproved or not.
Thus it is, brethren, that the conscience becomes
unfitted for its great office, the discovering to our
selves what we truly are; for in whomsoever there
is that neglect of frequent and full inquiry; in

54 SERMON V.
I
whomsoever is that easy admission of sinful habits,
though the sins be not of the more alarming de
scription, and in whomsoever dwells that uncon
cern and thoughtlessness of improvement; — in
these there is no right, no conscientious feeling.
The mind, like the mirror that is stained and sul
lied with impurities, yields no just reflection, nor
can assist us in beholding ourselves as we truly
are. Having thus stated those things which I con
ceive to be the causes why men lose the blessing
of a pure conscience and one void of offence, I
ask your most serious attention to the subject
which has been laid before you. It is a benefit so
great, a treasure of such inestimable worth, to
have a conscience always void of offence both
towards God and towards man, that I think none
of us who are accustomed to reflect on things pre
sent, and things to come, would wilHngly live
without it, would consent to lose a guide so use
ful, a monitor so just, a comforter when we are
most afflicted, and a friend when the world and
its friends have forsaken us, as is a conscience
void of offence towards. God and towards man.
What men generally want, is, that liveUness and
tenderness of conscience that makes them sensible
when they have done that which they ought not
to have done, or spoken thu-t which has been or
may be injurious to anothier, or is unbecoming iu
6

THB GOOD CONSCIENCE. 55
the speaker. No one can have' a conscience void
of offence who has not often examined and re
proved himself There are so many things by
which we offend against God or man, or our own
souls, that carelessness in this respect is not only sin
ful, but the occasion of sin. We must not be
careless, and then think we are easy and have
nothing to disturb us. Cleanse thou me from my
secret faults, said the psahnist, and there will be
some secret to us, even in the most careful ; but
we must not lead such a careless life as to have
all our faults secret. We must pray for the direc
tion and guidance of him who seeth all things,
and from whom none of our sins and offences can
be hidden. A lively faith, a devout spirit, and a
tender conscience, will preserve us in the trials
and temptations which continually assail us, and
therefore it is the first part and duty of a Chris
tian in this time of probation to look strictly and
earnestly into these great preservatives of the
soul; faith stedfast and immoveable, piety that
has recourse to prayer, as the great guard against
sin, and a conscience always awake, .always ahve
to every impression of good and evil, void of of
fence towards God and towards man.

56

SERMON VI.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED.
Psalm ix. 17-
" The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God."
The general consent of all nations, the answer
of every man's conscience, and the express revela
tion of God Almighty agree in this, that there is
a judgraent hereafter, and a punishment for
wicked, unrepenting, and unbelieving persons in
the world to come. It is, therefore, above aU
things necessary that we should know whether we
be in the number of those persons, and not de
ceive ourselves in such an important concern. I
will therefore endeavour to describe what is here
meant by wickedness in its various degrees and
stages; and if you fear a reserablance with your
own bosom, you wiU readily Hsten to the caU of

the description of the WICKED. 57
repentance. We will then consider what it is to
forget God, and I think you will find that many
forget him who think they remember him.
First, I am to explain who the wicked are.
Now of some men there can be no doubt, wher
ever society is numerous, there will be some
among them who are openly abandoned and given
over to evil, who either make a mock at sin, or
at least despise the voice of truth and the com
mandments of God. Such are the blasphemers,
the sabbath-breakers, the cruel and unjust, who
steal and plunder, who habituaUy lie and deceive,
those who are bad parents, husbands or wives, and
make aU about them, as far as they can, wretched
and wicked like themselves ; these condemn them
selves, by their evil doings, in the sight of all men ;
these are prodigals in a very far country, and we
fear reasonably that they will never return; they
are like the dry bones in the valley of the pro
phet, and it is, as it were, by miracle if they live
again. Men of this wicked and reprobate kind
do indeed, in their latter end, sometiraes think of
the judgment of the life to come, and in this case
they perhaps send for some minister of God's
word, more in many instances, it is to be feared,
to give them comfort than instruction. In all
such cases, ministers can honestly give but little
comfort, they can only tell them to repent truly,
to make amends for the wrongs they have done

58 SERMON VI.
to others as far as possible, to be truly sorry and
sincerely penitent for their countless offences
against God, to ask for mercy through the inter
cession of their Redeemer, and not to fancy they
have it because they think they beheve and repent;
for, as it is then too late to afford any trial, any
proof of that belief and repentance ; no minister
can give unconditional hope, for how can he tell
if a man repent till " he do works meet for re
pentance," and how can he do works when he is at
the point of deathl This is, you may"think, a hard
doctrine, but if so, avoid, I beseech you, the danger
that lies in its truth, for if you lead such a Hfe, I
think that no minister can honestly give any more
hope than this. Some, however, are found, who
do feel confident and assured under these circum
stances; they lay hold, they say, on their Saviour's
purchase of eternal Hfe ; they call up faith in his
blood and the promise of reraission of sins
to such as rely, to such as rest upon this sal
vation, and assert that they feel the peace that
this pardon ensures. This false security may
bring more present comfort than the bitter tears
of godly sorrow, but can it be trusted 1 Is the
foundation sure "? The promise of the gospel is
to faith, on repentance; the promise to repent
ance, when sin is forsaken ; but in such cases, it is
not the sinner forsaking sin, but death terminating
both. Men may die easy who have lived repro-

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED. 59
bate, and to awaken their fears may seem harsh
and unchristian ; but whether is it better to give
men fears, or feed false hopes ; if their fears be
false, they are soon over ; if their hope be false,
they are lost for ever. The beautiful petition in
our Liturgy, " Lamb of God that takest away the
sins of the world, grant us thy peace," is a plain ac
knowledgment that we are in danger of receiving
a peace which flows not from the Saviour of sin
ners. We hear or read of the most grievous of
fenders against the laws of God and man, robbers
by profession, hardened, guilty of the raost atro
cious violations against the property and even
lives of their feUow creatures, yet with a prospect
of alraost immediate death before them — ^that they
have felt this call to repentance, and, as they be
lieve, have obeyed it; being changed mercifully
and miraculously from the most grievous of sin
ners, and become not only repenting, but assured
of pardon and a place with the children of light.
And shall we object to their hope and assurance"?
We dare not; but God only knoweth on what
foundation it rests. Next to these, the openly
abandoned, are another kind of wicked, who are
under the habit and dorainion of one particular
sin, but in other respects raay be decent and even
praiseworthy. The covetous are of this kind, who
Hve, nevertheless, in good repute, nay, perhaps,
scrupulously, but they are wholly heart and soul
given over to mammon — some worldly advantage,

60 SERMON VI.
and prefer it to everything besides. The drunkard
is also of these, though he may have this only
vice, and be otherwise generous, charitable, and
just. The gamester Ukewise, and those who live
in any forbidden pleasure, though persons of strict
integrity and honour in other respects, are num
bered with the wicked. The liar also and slan
derer, and, in short, he who allows himself in the
practice of any one sin, though very cautious to
avoid others, cannot by all his caution escape this
sentence — ^he is one of the wicked. This, too,
may seem a hard doctrine, but we are not so much
to consider whether what we preach be pleasant
or painful, as whether it be false or true. That
this doctrine is true, witness St. Jaraes : " For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet of
fend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that
said, Do not comrait adultery, said also, Do not
kill." Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if
thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
This, then,is sufficient toshowusthat one kind of sin,
habitual and persisted in, is sufficient for our condem
nation, it is rebellion ; it proceedeth from evil, and
is the corrupt fruit of the tree which is corrupt.
Beware, therefore, of one sin; do not make, as it
were, an agreement with your conscience, and
proraise yourselves to be religious in raany re
spects, so that you may indulge in soraething : you
cannot do more than your duty in anything, and
therefore what you do rightly cannot excuse what

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED. 61
you do wrong. But you may say, Will not God for
our Redeemer's sake pardon one act of sin"?
Surely, if we truly repent. But we are not speak
ing of one act of sin, but of the habit, or allowance
of one sin, which is very different, and reraember,
few acts will make a habit; any sin whatever, is
committed with less reluctance a second time than
a first, and is harder to be repented of; it is more
willingly yet a third time, than the second, and the
work of repentance still more difficult; and now it
begins to be a habit; many excuses are made for
repeating it — many delays are made in amend-
raent; the struggle of conscience grows fainter
and the power of temptation stronger, till the soul
is ensnared in the practice, and one sinful action
then becomes a habit of sinning. Where the root
is bitter, and there is not the graft of truth, the
question is not so much what quantity it brings
forth, but of what nature and kind. But adrait
even a habit of one sin — nay, of many — there is,
you say, pardon in the mercy of God through
Christ. Assuredly there is; full pardon for the
past, and promise in the future assistance of grace
and the glad hope of final salvation. All this is
yours, when you repent and believe the gospel,
when you cast off the works of darkness and take
on you the armour of light — ^when you pray for
grace and diligently use it, — when we do these
things, all these hopes and promises relate to us;

62 SERMON VI.
but how can a person on his death-bed be said to
give up or forsake any habit of sinl the sin for
sakes him.
I have now described two kindsof wicked persons;
those notoriously guilty of many sins, and those
presumptuously Hving in the habit of one; to
these we must add a third. You have read St.
Paul's description of charity, without which, even
if a man had all knowledge and language, aU pro
phecy and faith so that he could remove moun
tains, he would be as sounding brass and a tink
ling cymbal that is good for nothing. The un
charitable, therefore, must be reckoned among the
wicked. These are hard-hearted, cruel, selfish,
and unkind; they bear nothing patiently them
selves, and yet they make others suffer; they are
proud and revengeful, they resent injuries and
exact homage. These, or most of these things the
uncharitable do, and though by them they may
not transgress any positive law of man, or obtain
any grievous evil report, yet they are in the num
ber of the wicked, and rebel against the repeated
commandment of their God; for theirs is a spirit
quite contrary to the Spirit of Christ, and his meek
and hurabUng religion. You will see men, not un
frequently, to whose charge you can lay no parti
cular crime, who have this uncharitableness, this
unkindness, and want of brotherly love; but from
this only, they become almost the enemies of man-

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED. 63
kind; they are tyrants and torments in their fami
Ues, uncourteous to their superiors, unpitiful to
those below them, and unfriendly with all around
them. Our Saviour has told us who are the
blessed on earth, and we find thera just the oppo
sites of these men. " Blessed," saith our Lord,
" are the meek, the pitiful, the patient, the peace
makers," all who have that temper and spirit so
different from the hard and unkind ; therefore if
you do not forgive men, and love them — if you be
impatient and uncontrollable — if you raake your
friends or family uncomfortable or unhappy — if
you disdain the poorest of your fellow-creatures,
and make much of yourself, because of such a
spirit, it is quite inconsistent with the christian
character. Such are not the patient, the meek,
the raUd, the courteous, who are blessed, but the
uncharitable, who must repent and pray for a new
heart and a new spirit. Such are the wicked.
I wiU now speak of those who forget God— not
entirely forget hira, indeed, for that none of us
can, who see daily his mighty works and hear
weekly at least his holy word; but notwithstand
ing this, many may and do forget their God, in
that sense which will, I fear, rank them with the
wicked in their condemnation. First, they forget
the majesty of God, his great power and absolute
rule over raen, who neither give him praise for his
almighty and infinite power and wisdom, nor yet

64 SERMON VI.
stand in awe of his sovereign rule and eternal jus
tice. The holy men of old were used to call upon
even inanimate creatures to praise God; that is, to
show forth his glory. Praise hira, said they, all
his works, fire and hail, wind and storm fulfilling
his word. " Praise him, sun and moon, praise him
all ye stars of light;" " for his name only is excel
lent, and his dominion endureth throughout aU
ages." How can they be said to remember him
who do not in daily prayer lift up their hearts to
him, nor praise him, nor reverence his name *? and
such are wicked men who forget thejr God.
2ndly. They forget, also, the justice of God as
well as his power, and do not confess before him
with penitent and contrite hearts the sins they
have committed and continue to commit. This
forgetfulness is presumption, a spirit of pride, with
forgetfulness, that will not fear the wrath of God
upon the children of disobedience. They do not
consider how God knows every thought, word, and
work, every secret work, every wicked purpose,
every vain and criminal desire or act ; neither do
they reflect how many of these they allow and
commit. We well know that there is no one who
sinneth not, but then the godly confess their sins,
remember them, resolve and guard against them;
are sorry for all they have done amiss, and seek
for grace to assist and ultimately overcome them;
there is in them a new truth and ingrafted spirit,
and the evil is thrown off and overcome.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED. 65
3rdly. These persons forget to pray ; for they
neither study themselves to know what things they
have need of, nor think of the power and wiU of God
to give them; in the morning they rise to their
business, at night they retire to their rest; all day
long they live, and move, and have their being by
God's permission, and yet morning, noon, and
night pass away without thinking who it is that
protects them, and without wishing for his protec
tion. 4thly. They are those who ungratefully for
get his mercies, our very birth and being, our
food and sustenance, our preservation from evil,
our deliverance from danger; all our hopes, our
comforts, our present good, and our future expec
tations God has given us ; and shall we give him
no thanks, no acknowledgment for all his benefits
which he hath done unto usi Are they not un
grateful and wicked who do not 1 Can they who
do so — who live so — expect continuance of his
blessing in this life'? Can they hope to escape
punishraent in another"?
I have now endeavoured to describe to you the
wicked, according to the raeaning of this fearful
and warning passage, viz., those guilty of raany
and notorious sins, those indulging themselves in
any sinfiil habit, and the uncharitable and hard of
heart; also those who are forgetful of God, viz.,
those who do not praise him and reverence his
F

66 SERMON VI.
holy name — who do not confess to him and repent
of their sins — ^who do not pray to him for his
blessing and protection — and who are not thank
ful for his benefits and mercies, — who, in fact,
have not that spirit which would lead and direct
them in aU their ways. I have now to entreat
you, not to be of this nuraber; if you have been
or are such, repent, before it is too late. God
willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that
he should turn from his wickedness and Uve. He
hath given his Son for us, and he is the sacrifice
for sins if we repent and truly turn to him; there
fore let us not presume to hope that Christ is the
sacrifice for our sins in particular, tUl our own
particular faith and repentance make him so. He
is indeed the sacrifice for the sins of the whole
world ; but the salvation of aU those, whether Jew
or Gentile, bond or fi"ee, who cast off their evil
ways, calHng upon his name and trusting in his
satisfaction. This is the religion which is both
reasonable and comfortable; for nothing can be
more unreasonable than to expect to Hve aU our
Hfe in sin and forgetfulness of God, and then when
we come to die imagine that the visit of a minister,
the discourse of a friend, or the reading of a book,
is to pave our way to heaven.
To prevent false hopes, therefore, when you
come to die — ^to prevent tears and despair also,
and what, if possible, is worse than either, to pre-

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED. 67
vent a cold, dead, miserable heart, think seriously,
repent truly, and lead a new, holy, and obedient
Hfe, that so, yours may be the death of the righte
ous, and your latter end like his — an end that is
peace, with the promise of joy; where death has
no sting, where the grave has no victory, but the
soul, triumphing over the ruins of the body, looks
for imraortaUty, glory, and everlasting happiness.

F 2

68

SERMON VII.
NO PEACE TO THE WICKED.
Isaiah Ivii. 21.
" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
That we may the better understand and the
more readily agree to this declaration, and more
especially that we may be profited by the fact,
we should learn who are those wicked persons on
whom the prophet denounces this judgment, and
what is that peace of which they cannot be par
takers. Now it is plain to the most common un
derstanding that when we speak of good men we
do not raean those who perform some occasional
acts of virtue, who are at some times kind, for
bearing, and just, or who are moved to any transi
tory desires for the advantage of their feUow-crea-
tures, or to some acts of piety for the benefit of
their own souls. Not these ; but we call those good.

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 69
and those alone, who Hve in a uniform and habi
tual desire to do that which is lawfiil and right,
who are penitent for every sinful word and work
that they are led by the frailty of their nature to
utter or perform. In fact, they are not good by
chance or by force, but in conformity with the
precepts of the gospel, and that change which has
been wrought in them by the Holy Spirit purify
ing and softening their hearts ; those whose re
pentance has led them to renounce and forsake aU
habitual sin ; and whose faith brings forth in them
good fifuits, obedience to God, and peace and joy
in themselves. Opposite to these are the wicked; they are not
such as through the strength of temptation, or the
frailty of nature, commit occasional acts of deeply
repented sin — acts never by frequency wrought
into habit : neither are they those who in the
great warfare betwixt duty and inclination are
sometimes overthrown; but the wicked are fol
lowers and lovers of wickedness; those whose
habits are evil, and whose hearts are perverted by
false opinions and debased by vicious propensities
— ^who either make a mock at sin, or are hardened
by the practice of it — whose best deeds are acciden
tal, and whose notions are worldly and selfish;
they are those to whom religion is an enemy, and
therefore they are always in fact, and sometimes
in profession, enemies to religion, ridicuUng its

70 SERMON VII.
precepts and denying its prinGiples,-^in fact, the
wicked are they who obey the suggestions of a
depraved incHnation, a vitiated appetite, or are the
servants of sin and mammon in any of its forms.
The wicked as the good are, to be found in every
class of mankind, and every station of Hfe; — :among
the rich and poor, the busy and unoccupied, the
ignorant and learned; and though the depravity
of man must appear in different ways, yet there
can be no doubt of the evil nor (happily we can
add) of the good ; of evil which neither the palace
nor cottage can exclude, which neither business
nor repose have been found to banish, which the
niost ignorant have been taught to embrace, and the
most learned have not been wise enough to expel,
There may be places, and professions, more or less
favourable, to good and evil, but mere good and
evil have been found in every one of them. But
though all these may go astray in different modes
and manners, yet they are all so far ahke, that
they sin against the light of their own reason, the
commandments of God, and the purity of the
gospel. The wickedness of him " who lurks in
the thievish corner of the streets," and robs the
passenger of the means by which he Hves and
sometimes of his life, is certainly very unUke that,
him who seduces the virtue of the innocent, or cor
rupts the manners of the simple ; the sin of the
usurer is of one kind, and that of the profligate

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 71
another. The daring and impious man who ridi
cules aU that is serious, and attacks the religion
which is the honour of his country, to wound the
peace of those who rely upon it, is very unlike, in
mere outward appearance, the craft and subtlety
of him who takes every advantage and every op
portunity to gain at the expense of the unwary
and the needy ; who either rely on his integrity,
or are forced by circumstances on his raercy ; but
in principle, or rather want of principle, they are
just the sarae. The wicked, then, of whatever
class and kind they may be, are those who seek
the gratification of their own passions, vrishes, and
inclinations, without regarding the opposition of
laws huraan or divine, if they can evade the one,
or escape the infamy which attends any gross vio
lation of the other ; and we too well know that
men may be exceedingly wicked, without being
Hable to either the arm of the law or the cry of
shame. To point out the wicked personally could
not be done, except in gross and palpable of
fenders; in other cases we are liable to err;
their sins must in general be left to their own con
science, except, as I say, where the arm of justice
or the common sense and feeUng of mankind pal
pably show the sinner to his fellow-creatures and
to himself ; but these are punishments which evil
men reserved for greater, oftentimes, nay, gene
rally, escape; and the few of them who are

72 SERMON VII.
brought to public condemnation or are notoriously
and openly characterized as enemies to their fel
low-creatures, are only such as rather serve for
examples of what all the wicked deserve, and
shadow forth in sorae feeble degree that punish
ment which none of them can finally escape. But
though we cannot say that wicked persons who
break the laws of man are all punished by the jus
tice of man, much less that those who break the
coraraandments of God, and who violate the pre
cepts of the gospel, are either despised or put to
open shame, yet we are assured that they do not
escape even in this part of their existence, some of
the evil that is attendant upon sin; for as the
righteous amid all their afflictions and temptations
have a secret and assuring comfort in their hearts,
" a peace that passeth understanding," — so the
wicked, in all their joys, triumphs, and exaltation,
have, sooner or later, their weight and measure of
retribution, if not always by the answer of a
wounded spirit, yet by the absence of an approv
ing conscience. " There is no peace, saith my
God, to the wicked."
What that peace is we proceed to describe : it
is not that thoughtless quiet and repose of spirit,
which some even among very wicked persons for
a time possess. Conscience is not always awake,
and in many slumbers tiU a late period in life.
The attacks of conscience, it is well known, are

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 73
frequently caused by distress and sudden cala
mity, by sickness and sorrow; and while these do
not afflict thera, wicked raen are often able to cast
off every conscientious reflection, and every pain
ful thought that occasionally obtrudes itself. Nor
is it that peace which is transient and sudden —
which is not a resource, but an accident — which
comes, we know not how, nor remains with us. It
is not to be denied that holy men have joys in
their devotions and in their raeditations, and
are at tiraes more abundantly happy; but the
peace of which I am speaking is rather an as
surance of the divine favour, than the emotions of
a lively and joyful spirit. Neither by peace is
meant that even tide of prosperity or that happi
ness which raany persons enjoy, who are neither
thoughtful whence it arises, nor thankful for it
when it comes. In many passages of the psalras
is this flourishing state of wicked men noticed, but
not as a state of peace; the joys and triumphs of
the wicked have always more of the tempest than
the calm, for how can the wicked have peace
whose happiness is at the mercy of an hour ?
Take the most favourable circumstances, and appa
rently the most lasting; those of a young healthy
man surrounded by his family and acquaintances
and thriving in his business ; dividing his time be
tween the active pursuit of wealth and the enjoy
ment of all those pleasures of life which his money

74 SERMON VII.
can purchase. Here is youth, health, and pro
sperity, — life can give no more, nor give a better
prospect of continuance. Here raay be for a time
rauch pleasure, but no peace. The raan in the midst
of this enjoyment feels that he is liable at any
time to various calamities, any one of which would
make him miserable; and though he may seldom
reflect on the liability, there is at aU times a feel
ing of insecurity that is quite inconsistent with
peace. For a time all these prosperous circum
stances may continue ; but who except those that
die instantly in the full tide of prosperity can
escape some of the calamities of Ufe ? and to the
wicked such kind of escape would be the worst
calamity of all. Some iUs of Ufe are sure to
occur sooner or later. Suppose that he meets
with that reverse in circumstances which thou
sands experience, and is at once deprived of all
comforts and superfluities, and reduced to the bare
necessaries of life, and obUged to work at some
new and hard employment to procure them. Can
that man (if he is not under the influence of vital
religion) have peace 1 Where is it to come from?
He is one, therefore, whether in prosperity or ad
versity, who, according to the preceding definition,
must be classed with the wicked. There can be
no peace for him under such reverses ; the residue
of such a life is often passed either in the despe
rate resource of intoxication or with a repining
6

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 75
and irritable spirit; or instead of the loss of pro
perty, does he meet with the loss of health? this
may occur to the raost apparently strong in one
day; some fatal disorder may fasten on some vital
part, and there may be no probability, no hope of
a cure. What is all his wealth to that man?
Money can only be valuable in order to procure
the means of enjoyment ; here the very source of
aU worldly enjoyment is cut off — a painful disease
ending only in the grave. Where is the peace of
the wicked under such afflictions ? Or it scarcely
alters the case if this fatal disorder should seize
upon one of his family, (for those who forget God
and their duty have very strong attachments to
their earthly connexions, nay, may even idoUze
them). It may be perhaps said in this case, that
time may soften or obliterate the suffering; but
may not time double it, and some other of his near
connexions be torn from him? Even the probabi
lity of such calamities is quite sufficient to banish
all peace from such a mind, much more the actual
endurance. But if, by an unusual exemption, none
of these sorrows overtake the wicked, the time of
his own departure raust arrive, whether preceded
by a long illness or a short and violent one. It is
alraost needless for me to observe, that amid the
confusion of feeling in such a man's mind at such
a tirae, alarm, self-reproach, remorse, terror, de
spair, there can be no peace.

76 SERMON VII.
I have supposed the case of a person of wealth,
of fair worldly character, under the most favoura
ble circumstances that can be imagined, yet with
all this there can be no peace to the wicked; but
if we suppose one under the average mixture of
worldly good and ill, and to have lost that which
few of the wicked retain altogether unblemished, a
good name, the blessed consciousness of peace of
mind such an one can never know. I am sup
posing that there is no effectual change of heart,
no true repentance, no real conversion; for wher
ever that takes place there is even from the first a
gleam of that peace, which though it may be " afar
off," is quite bright and heavenly enough to engage
the heart to follow after it. Now which is to be
chosen, — that peace, or such a remaining portion
of this world's enjoyments as your age, station,
and raeans promise you ? Supposing that true re
ligion forbids some of those enjoyments, we see
the precarious, the tottering state of the very
best of them. Are you ready to sacrifice all hope
of this peace for such a portion as you can rea
sonably expect ? But if you can have all the real
enjoyments of Ufe, the true, the substantial, and
the virtuous, and this peace beside, who can hesi
tate for a moment ? Let us examine, then, more
attentively the nature of this religious peace, and
I think we shall find it harmonize with every real
satisfaction of life. That peace which the wicked

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 77
cannot have, then, is that which is a lasting,
abiding possession of good and faithful men — it is
peace that not only bears reflection, but that
springs frora it, and which, while it is alUed to
the strongest faith, is confirmed by the soundest
reason, — ^it is the peace of .God, the flower of grace,
the fruit of saving faith, — it is not merely repose
of mind and quiet, but the glorious consequence
and high privilege of the faithful Christian, — a
peace which the accidents and miseries of life may
disturb for a time, but cannot destroy, and are
afterwards additions to its returning comforts.
This peace it is which the wicked cannot have, in
deed they cannot conceive, but it is promised to
all that seek for it with sincere minds and obe
dient hearts ; but there must be no deceit in the
spirit; it is only given to those who approve them
selves upright and sincere, " Mark the perfect man
and behold the upright, for the end of that raan
is peace ;" and it is said, " Thou wilt keep hira in
perfect peace, whose raind is stayed on thee, be
cause he trusteth in thee ;" and, in fact, the raore
steady the faith of a believer, and the more holy
his life, so much more divine and comfortable is
this peace of the soul; the blessings of this peace,
which is beyond any other gift, can only be under
stood by those who possess it, but it may be so far
appreciated even by others as to becorae an object
of desire. There are many who so feel the want

78 SERMON VII.
as to wish for that Spirit which is peaceable and
pure. To aU those that aspire to this blessing is
a proraise given, that they shal^possess it, if they
will enter upon and persevere in the right way.
You know from whence come grace and truth, and
to whom you have access by faith. You know
that this grace of God bringeth salvation, and that
you are taught by it to deny all ungodUness and
worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and
godly, in the present world. Other foundation
can no man lay; if you would have this peace you
must have this grace — faith in the Lord your
Redeemer, and the righteousness and holiness
which are the fruit of it. " This is the true grace
of God wherein we stand." This divine peace,
therefore, springs from the faith and practice of
the true Christian; it is his assurance, his trust,
his inheritance, his triumph; and it is, I might
add, his armour and defence, his support and com
fort, for there is no situation in which man can
possibly be placed, wherein he finds not that peace
which the world cannot give, more than a com
pensation for everything which it can take away.
The world has not a blessing to compare with it,
though it has a thousand temptations and seduc
tions which prevent our seeking, and draw us aside
when we have in some degree sought it. If it be
asked more particularly what this peace is, we re
ply, it is, in one word, reaUzing the blessings and

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 79
promises of the gospel, and therefore it is no
wonder that wicked men cannot have it; but were
they for a raoraent convinced of its effects, even
they m,ust desire it,— the peace of God is that
which Ughtens every affliction, and extinguishes
every fear; it perpetually brings to the soul the
strong and Hvely prospect of salvation, of a future
state of blessing and glory; so that when the
weakness of our nature begins to give way, and
we feel the irapression of outward circumstances,
injuries, losses, disappointments, vexations, then
the trust we have in the raercies and promises of
the new covenant, our faith in the resurrection of
our Lord and Redeemer, and our hope that where
he is we shaU be also, the confidence that we pos
sess that God is true and that his truth has been
made manifest to us, and the boundless scene of
glory and greatness represented to us, both by
reason and faith — ^reason that reUes on the evi
dence of the gospel, and faith that reposes on the
assurances of the Redeemer. All these unite in
forming that peace which surpasses the under
standing, but contradicts it not; that peace which
places the Christian above the things of the world,
and yet does not make them indifferent to him,
inasmuch as they are the occasions for his duties
and the instruments of his obedience — that peace
which gives a tenfold interest to all that is good
and valuable in the world, because it extends our

80 SERMON VII.
love for these to a boundless eternity, while it
teaches us to look on our daily misfortunes, our
troubles, and vexations, as things of the moment,
and only trials for patience and resignation. If
this life were all, the troubles and miseries of it
bear, indeed, a formidable proportion to all the
comforts that man can possess, and overbalance
beyond comparison the isolated seasons of glad
ness and joy; but let the future be taken into the
account, and the proportion of evil sinks to
nothing, but is utterly lost in a glorious futurity.
For a blessing so great as this peace let us aU
strive : " My peace I leave with you," saith our
blessed Master ; seek it on all occasions, —
seek it in trials, troubles, and disappointments;
seek it by prayer and meditation; by a correctiQn
of the evil within, and a guard on the seductions
without: above all, seek it by reliance on the mer
cies of the Redeemer, and faith in his blood: this
is the only way to that peace which passeth un
derstanding, which every one who seeketh in sin
cerity will assuredly to his joy and confirmation
of hope find. There is certainly nothing in this
life that can repay us for the loss of this peace;
and consider, the longer we live, the more we must
feel the want of it, because all other comforts, one
after another, fail us. The attachment of friends
we cannot always depend on; our cotemporaries.
have their own afflictions, and want their own con-

NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. 81
solations. All have their own pursuits, and few,
if any, can enter into our feelings, the solicitudes
of our own bosom, or contribute to our reUef.
The pleasures of the senses are all Hable to decay,
and if they remain as long as Ufe lasts, and also
the means to indulge them, what a poor, sensual, and
degrading kind of happiness to a creature, rational
and formed for immortaUty ! Be assured the world
cannot give that peace, nor an equivalent for it:
but the gospel can, and the faith that reposes in
the divine promise, and relies on the covenant of
mercy, can and wiU infaUibly give the soul that
inward rest which no outward trouble can long or
finally disturb. This happiness is not a fanciful
exultation of the spirits ; it is not enthusiasm, but
arises fi?om a reasonable, sober conviction, that
after these few years of probation in this unequal
and (as it appears to some) confused scene of ex
istence, there wiU be another state, another life,
one of perfect peace, where goodness is not left
struggling with adversity, and where wickedness
is not suffered to exist.

G

82

SERMON VIII.
ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED ?
Luke xiii. 23.
" Then said one unto him. Lord, are there few that be saved ?
and he said uuto them. Strive to enter in at the strait
gate." It is evident from this reply, that our Lord did
not mean to answer the question put to him; nor
after this reply would it become us to inquire into
the number of those, the happy and chosen ser
vants of the Lord, who shaU enter into his joy,
and be partakers of his glory. But though the
number of these, the children of the kingdom, or
of the rejected, must not be inquired into, it is
not only allowable, but it is incumbent on us, and
is our duty, to learn what kind of persons they
are, who shaU on the day of judgment be placed
on the right hand and on the left, who shall be
admitted into the mansions of glory, or who shall

ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED ? 83
be excluded and thrust out into darkness, the
dwellings of sin and sorrow, where shall be weep
ing and gnashing of teeth. And let us recollect
that we know of no other than those who are on
the right hand or on the left — the received or the
condemned. What it may please the aU-wise and
merciful Judge to do with respect to those who
know not, or who could not know of his holy will
and commandments, with those void of under
standing, with the utterly ignorant, it becomes us
to be utterly submissive in our judgment.
As we must be completely ignorant of the di
vine dispensation, we may rest assured that the
Judge of all the earth wiU do that which is
righteous and just, and may cease from all further
inquiry. But with respect to ourselves, to all
who have heard the glad tidings of the gospel,
who have learned what Christianity is, that new
covenant of gmce and raercy — ^to us is revealed
those important truths which inform us what is
the wiU of God, and teach us how to live in obe
dience to, and conformity with it. What is it
that we are taught from our youth, nay, what is
impressed upon us in our very childhood, that it
may dwell with us as most essential to our safety
in a state of trial, and to our happiness in a state
hereafter? Are not ^Aese truths ? 1st. Forgiveness
of sins through faith in our Redeemer. 2nd. Re
pentance of all that we have done amiss. And 3rd.
G 2

84 SERMON VIII.
A new birth unto righteousness, that our lives
may be answerable to our profession ; for with
out faith in the Saviour we have no promise,
nor well-grounded hope of forgiveness; without
repentance we have no assurance nor proof of
faith: they who believe truly, do repent sincerely;
and without that holy and christian life, that new
birth unto righteousness, we have no solid ground
for our hopes to rest upon; our house is not built
upon the rock, for " if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature." Faith, repentance, and refor
mation of Hfe, are the three raarks of true conver
sion, and for these we should strive as our Lord
has commanded; not inquiring if few or many are to
be saved, but earnestly endeavouring to ensure our
own salvation. Our Lord did not answer questions
which were dictated by curiosity, and led to no
beneficial purpose. When Peter asked him. Lord,
and what shall this man do ? meting St. John,
his Lord replied, " If I will that he tarry till
I corae, what is that to thee 1 follow thou me."
Many things we raay be anxious to know, but they
are hidden from us; there is sufficient, there is aU
that is requisite for our conduct in this life, and
our happiness in a life to come. More than this
would probobly be an hindrance rather than a
help, and gratify our thirst of knowledge at the
hazard of our temporal peace, and, it may be, our
eternal salvation. Suppose our divine teacher had

ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED ? 85
answered the question, and told his disciples whe
ther few or many would be saved ; curiosity would
not have ended there; then would some have pro
bably inquired concerning the manner of salvation,
the degree of happiness, the states of greater or
less offenders, how they would fare who knew not
that the Saviour came into the world, that the
world through him might be redeemed from sin;
or what would be the lot of the voluntary ignorant
who sought not the way of salvation, or that of
improvident, negUgent, and worldly minds, who
live without a care, or even thought for their souls;
of the fiiture state of these, and numberless of
human beings raore or less devoted to the plea
sures, pursuits, and aU the engageraents and en
tanglements of this world of trial, of the mansions
of which our Lord has told us there are many.
Over these, and all that the mind of man contem
plates with awe and hope, or with anxiety and
terror, a veil is cast which may not be withdrawn ;
hope we may, and fear we raust, but certainly as
respects these things, we cannot know, tiU the
things of the world shall pass away, and tirae and
trial shaU be no more. Let us not then busy our
selves, and weary our rainds in vain research after
knowledge that cannot be obtained; let us not
inquire whether many shall be saved or few, nor
look to be informed what are the mansions of glo
rified spirits, what are appointed for the ignorant
or others : our way is pointed out to us, our duty

86 SERMON VIII.
is assigned; we are to strive in this life for the
happiness of a life to come, by faith in the Saviour
of the world, by repentance for all that we have
done amiss, and by a new birth unto righteous
ness, being just and charitable in all that relates
to man, pure and temperate in all our enjoyments,
and in meekness, humility, and earnestness, serv
ing our God.
There are many other subjects which may
lawfully and laudably engage our thoughts,
and are the proper subjects of our inquiry;
and there are the Holy Scriptures open, that
in the darker ages and times of papal usurpa
tion were denied to the raerabers of the church,
who were forbidden to read them, and therefore
could not mark, learn, nor inwardly digest them;
they might indeed boast that they were all of one
mind, for how could it be otherwise ? because in
the dark we are all of one colour : but by reason
of sin there is no unmixed good to men in this
sinful world. When the Reformation opened the
Bible for all who were disposed for so interesting
a study, many read and were profited, many read
and were confused; to some it was the savour of
life unto life, to others of death unto death. Some
pretended to have found doctrines which were but
the fruit of their own fancies, and whUe there
were those who were sober and judicious, others
were led away from all the sobriety of truth and
reason, into strange and visionary opinions, taking

ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED? 87
the fanciful interpretations of raen for the revela
tion and commandments of God. Hence arose
various sects and extravagant doctrines, and many,
instead of seeking for the assistance of the Spirit
of God (which is so fi^eely promised to all that ask
for it) to guide them into all truth, became vain
in their imagination, and their foolish heart was
darkened; professing theraselves to be wise they
becarae fools; the light that was in them was
darkness, and how great was that darkness !
Still, there were found some, who carae in an hura-
ble and teachable spirit, to learn the will of God in
his revealed word, and to such, it became a light,
to light their feet into the way of peace; these,
through faith in their Redeemer, obeyed his pre
cepts, and received the end of their faith, even the
salvation of their souls.
But let us attend to the admonition of our hea
venly Father — " Strive to enter into the strait
gate," that is, let us endeavour with aU our heart,
mind, and strength, to become the true foUowers
of our gracious Lord, and to ensure our eternal
salvation; the way is strait, and therefore requires
our most serious purpose and our continual care;
but this way leads to everlasting happiness, and
must not be sought (for it cannot be found) by a
slow, careless, indifferent spirit. Are we not told
that such is the happiness, that the eye of man
hath not seen it, nor can see, nor his ear hear, nor

88 SERMON VIII.
his heart conceive, the things that God hath pre
pared for those who love him ? Who would not
strive for this ? who would not diUgently inquire
how it may be obtained ? I have said how it is
to be sought and obtained — by a sincere and un
shaken faith in the redemption of the world by
our Lord Jesus Christ; a true repentance for the
sins, offences, errors, and frailties of our past Hfe;
an holy purpose and resolution to live as beUevQrs
in the gospel of our Lord and Redeemer; an habi
tual obedience to his divine precepts, praying for
that assisting grace which will not be denied to
the supplications of the penitent and the humble,
the holy in purpose and the pure in heart, nor to
those who sincerely desire to become such. This
is not a life of pain, austerity, and fear. Who so
happy as he who strives for the happiness of a Ufe
to come ? He cannot be disappointed. We are
not forbidden to seek the good of this Iffe, pro
vided we do not make it our first and greatest
obj'ect — provided we do not endeavour to serve
two masters. But even in our lawful pursuit of
worldly good, there are these things against us,
first, that we may not acquire the object of our
pursuit; and secondly, if we do acquire it, we may
find that we have mistaken our interest, and
though we have gained the object of our pursuit,
it does not bring us the happiness we expected
from it; for if it did, then rich men and great.

ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED ? 89
wise men and learned, men of knowledge and
skUl, would be all happy, and the comparatively
poor and needy, the simple and uninformed, those
who labour for food and toil for rest, would be
miserable; and yet neither of these results are
true. But whoever of them, in either situation, or
in any, seeketh first and earnestly the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, seeketh that happiness
in the attainment of which he will not be disap
pointed. It is not easy for us to determine what
situation of life has most of happiness or least of
trouble. WUl it be said that the poor labouring
man, who wants much, has most of distress ? Let
us compare his lot with that of the luxurious rich
man, who has fed his diseases till his days are
without comfort, and his nights know no repose.
Who shall decide which is the happier condition,
that of the man of great talents, who, after rauch
study and many trials, has accomplished the very
object of his ambition, or the simple man's
quiet, who never wearied himself with a thought
on the subject ?
We may depend on it, our situations in life are
more equal, more accurately balanced than we
oftentimes suppose them to be; the great and
essential difference is between those who strive,
and those who do not strive, for that happiness
which the world cannot give; and to this may be
added an important truth, that the strife for this

90 SERMON VIII.
happiness in a world to come, is so far fi-om de
priving us of the real good of this world, that it
adds to every pleasure we may innocently enjoy,
and takes from every care, trouble, and affliction,
that flesh is heir to. Whether there be many,
comparatively speaking, to be saved, or consider
ing the inconceivable multitude of human beings,
whether there be few, — ^what are the mansions of
glory, what the measure and degree of happiness
in them, or what the judgment passed on the sin
ners who had not faith, who did not repent !
What the justice and mercy of the just and mer-
cifiil God will effect, and how be made manifest
in that great day for which the Lord had com
manded us to be prepared — all these are subjects
for our veneration and godly fear; but they are
beyond our knowledge, and while they excite in
us the strongest motives for our obedience, are
beyond the reach of our understanding. The great
and all-interesting day of judgment, and the desti
nation of all human beings in a future state, are
subjects upon which it would be presumption in
us to reason, or to suppose that we can enter into
the secret counsels of the Ruler and Lord of all
worlds, and all that live and move therein.
But while these things surpass our comprehension,
they demand our reverence, and should awake in us
the most lively hope, or the most awful fear, as
our faith lies, or has not worked in us effectually.

ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED? 91
Can we indeed believe that we shall be judged,
and yet not strive, that we may find mercy ? Can
we rely upon the mercy of our Redeemer, and yet
not live in obedience to his laws ? It was asked,
Lord, are there few that be saved ? Had he an
swered. Few, would not this have led the tiraid
Christian to despair ? And had the answer been.
Many, numbers might have been encouraged to
presume; but the Lord said unto him who in
quired, " Strive." The most fearful may, there
fore, know that salvation may be attained, and the
most confident may learn that it cannot be at
tained without strife — ^without faith in the Re
deemer, and obedience to his holy word — without
piety, charity, and resistance of sin.

92

SERMON IX.
THE SLEEPER.
jl Thess. v. 6.
" Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch
and be sober."
St. Paul was himself ever watchful, ever atten
tive to that which was committed to him, " the
care of all the churches" which, by the aid of the
Holy Spirit, he had established among the Gen
tiles. No one can doubt the zeal of St. Paul, the
faithful servant of his divine Master, who became
all things to all men, that he raight gain some.
What he did, and what he suffered, are they not
written in his Epistles, and related in the Acts of
the Apostles ? and they cannot be unknown to any of
us who read with even moderate attention those
records of holy writ. Now this zeal and earnest
ness which he felt in himself, he earnestly recom
mends to his converts, and implies that no sincere

THE SLEEPER. 93
Christians can be like persons who sleep, with
such works and such views before thera, but must
be ever awake and watchful in their high and
holy calHng; nor can we reasonably doubt that
what was dehvered to them is intended for us
likewise. Who can question that it is our
duty to be earnest, vigilant, attentive, and not
slumber in our christian course, as if we were
called to duties of slight importance, and to hopes
and fears that could but little concern us, and for
a short time. Let us remember what encourage
raent the sarae apostle hath given to us, and his
solemn words when he had treated at large on the
resurrection of the dead: " Therefore, my beloved
brethren," said he, " be ye stedfast, unmoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, foras
much as ye know that your labour is not in vain
in the Lord." What a manifest difference is there
between those who are actuated by this principle
of vigilance, and those who heed it not; and this
is proved in every act, and more especially in
every religious duty which they perforra.
You perceive that while some sleep, others watch
and are sober, that is, serious and considerate.
Let us attend to this difference, that those who
sleep may feel the distinction, and awakening, act
upon it, and become the faithfiil vigilant servants
of their divine Master — and that all may prepare
with raore earnest diligence for that great day of

94 SERMON IX.
the Lord when we must make up our account of
the employment of our time and the improvement
of our talents. Observe the vast difference be
tween that vital religion, and the cold habitual
devotion of a nominal Christian — or at most, a mere
beUever in the truth of Christianity — which he
vainly imagines is all that is required of him. First
observe their different methods of reading the Holy
Scriptures. All Christians at some time read their
Bible, but those whom St. Paul names the sleepers
do this without any purpose, at least, any previous
consideration of what they are doing or mean to
do, what they are seeking or wish to find. They
have heard that reading the word of God is a
duty, and they read it. It is to them not material
in what part. The books of Moses, the history of
the chosen people, what are caUed by the He
brews the holy writings and the prophetical books,
are all open unto thera, with the still more deeply
interesting contents of the New Testament, the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the epistles
of his servants the apostles. In some part of
some of these the uninterested reader spends the
time allotted to this duty, and when he has
finished what is ofttiraes a task, he considers
hiraself as one who has been engaged in a neces
sary but somewhat burdensome employment. He
remerabers little or nothing; for his purpose was
to "read the Scripture." The reading was the

THE SLEEPER. 95
thing to be done. If any part of it dwelt on his
memory, that was more than he thought of when
he began to read; in fact, he has given his half
hour to his Bible, and perhaps has taken some
degree of credit to himself for so long an abstrac
tion of his mind from the other duties or engage
ments of the day. Not so the Christian: watchful
and serious, he has prepared himself for that
which he is about to perforra ; and he either pre
viously purposes to himseff what he shall read,
and for what purpose, or if he ever reads without
an especial choice, whatever portion of Scripture
he peruses, he does this with the greatest atten
tion. He takes care to be informed of the raean
ing, and earnestly seeking for the enlightening
influence of the Holy Spirit, marks, learns, and
inwardly digests it. If he read in the Old Testa
ment, he considers it with relation to something
in the New; he draws practical inferences from
the precepts, and divine consolation and hope
from the promises, and with holy fear regards the
awful threatening of a righteous God against im
penitent sinners. He counts that reading as of
Httle or no use which leads not to the information
of the mind or the improvement of the soul. In
the Gospels the words of our Lord command his
utmost reverence, and the precepts of holiness and
piety are engrafted in his memory. The works
of mercy fill him with admiration and holy love.

96 SERMON IX.
and that one great mercy, the redemption of a
sinful world, becomes, as he reads, life to his
faith, and strength to his obedience. AU is inter
esting, because, though he has read these things
over and over again, yet the impression is made
strong by the importance of the subject, and be
comes, as it were, new, by the reflections which
ever spring afresh from the words and works
which so deeply concern his own happiness and
that of aU mankind.
What has been said of the sacred Scrip
tures may be spoken of prayer and other reli
gious duties, both public and private. Doubt
less there are, in all congregations, those who
worship " in the beauty of hohness," in since
rity and truth, and others who, though they do
not (like the Jews in the days of our Redeemer)
bring their tables of money and their merchandize
into the house of God, yet have in their thoughts
either these or things of like worldly concern —
the business of the day past, or the cares of the
morrow. Again, these sleepers of the apostle are
but too much accustomed to consider the sabbath
as, exclusively of other days, dedicated to reHgion,
or rather to the .duties which are prescribed to
them — pubUc worship and reading the Scriptures;
when the day is past, the cares and concerns of
the world enter into the heart, (if indeed they
were ever excluded even for that one day,) and

THE SLEEPER. 97
the whole mind, with aU its faculties and powers,
becomes enslaved by the associations of the calHng
or business which may be urgent and must be
attended to, but surely never to the exclusion of
man's first and greatest concern. For how does
the watchful, the earnest, and faithful servant of
his Lord estimate these things ? he gives, and
wiUingly, for he is permitted to give his mind to
his worldly concerns, but he does not permit them
so to engross his time and faculties as ever to
forget that he is a candidate for immortality and
glory. There are times when even the busiest
may cease from the labour of his mind and body,
and may converse with hiraseff and with his God.
In the midst of the world's affairs, a sincere be
liever will find intervals for withdrawing his
thoughts from the care of the day, and directing
them to the time when that care will be no more.
It is not a favourable sign of the religious state of
any when his sabbath-day is so unlike the other
six days, when the raind returns to its worldly
vacations as a school-boy to his amuseraents; and
yet this is found in every one who has not tasted
the pleasures that true religion affords to the sin
cere beUever. The privileges and duties of the
sabbath-day are appointed for the instruction of
sorae, and the devotion of aU; but the Christian
is the same with respect to his heart, his inward
piety, his devotions in private, and, in fact, in all
H

98 SERMON IX.
he thinks, believes, and hopes, he is the same on
every day beside, as on the one appointed for
nobler service.
Without entering raore minutely into these dis
tinctions, we raay observe that a true sense of
reHgion, a lively faith in redeeming love, and a
constant desire to live as in the sight of God, wiU
have such effect upon the believer, that he cannot
for any length of time, cannot any day of his life,
divest himself of the hope of his soul's salvation;
and where this hope reigns, it must of necessity
possess a distinguished place in his heart and af-'
fections ; it will in its very nature, as the first
concern of his life, become the frequent object of
his desires and his prayers. It may not perhaps be
easy to distinguish between the nominal Christian
who sleepeth and the believer who is awake and
attentive to the one thing needful. Nor is it
necessary. We are not judges of our fellow-sin
ners, neither, generaUy speaking, do we approach
near enough to discern the secrets of the heart ;
but however incapable we may be, there is one
that seeth and judgeth, and neither of the persons
described can be ignorant of the state of his own
soul. The bright hopes of the one, and (where
he does think) the apprehensions of the other, or
his very unwiUingness to look accurately into
himself, raust discover this difference to those
who have the least interest in their own souls ;

THE SLEEPER. 99
but if the sleeper does not discover his danger
during the period of health and active life, he
assuredly will when age comes on with its infir
mities. Disease and weakness, they will force
hun to look (at least at times) fi'om the employ
ments, the cares, and the interests which hitherto
have shut out aU serious thoughts of the soul's
welfare ; then is the sleeper compelled to awake.
" Awake thou that sleepest," had long been said,
but he scarcely knew that he was asleep, and the
caU was not hearkened to ; but now at this period
of Ufe the thought is irresistibly presented to him,
and the awfiil question will force itself into the
mind. Am I prepared for death ? he has then
perhaps no immediate worldly business which he
may turn to, and, by incessant occupation, drive
away the answer which he is obliged to give to
questions of such importance as these. Is my
heart in my duty ? do I feel the beUever's hope
and love and joy ? am I convinced that my Re
deemer liveth, and that he died for me ? have I
denied and subjected my evil passions, and my
carnal and earthly desires, in obedience to him ?
has my prayer for the divine grace and favour
been offered with earnestness ? in fact, have I
Hved as a disciple of my Lord and Saviour, de
sirous to serve him, and happy to trust in his
mercy and forgiveness ?
To aU these questions the faithful and true believer
H 2

100 SERMON IX.
has already answered with sincerity, and rejoices
with aU humility, that he is enabled to take to him
self the comfort that such self-examination affords
him ? But what does the sleeper ? he cannot reap
this comfort, for he has not sown that which produces
it ; and " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap ;" then if he cannot comfort himself, he
will send for one who may assist him in the
search for comfort. It is the eleventh hour, and
his mind is weak as his body; but stiU he would
not depart without the hope, and, if possible, the
assurance of happiness hereafter. And who is to
promise this ? or who knoweth upon what founda
tion it is to be built ?
In some few of such cases we may have reason
to hope it may not be too late; but the pain, the
difficulty, the bodily infirmity, the loss of time
and the want of it, all are vast and fearful impedi
ments in the way of either hope or comfort. AH
are proofs how dangerous a thing it is to sleep
to our great interests, and be alive and active in
our pursuit of the less. A friend or minister may
wish to give the hope that he dares not, and how
shall he be of effectual service to one who wishes
(I repeat) to reap the blessing of a joyful death,
when he had not ever seriously entered upon the
christian course, not yet set one step in the nar
row way that leadeth unto life ? True it may be
said, and it is what men naturally will say, "that

THE SLEEPER. 101
it is at no period too late for that call, the time
for repentance is not decided. The penitent thief
had the promise of mercy, and the prodigal son
returned to his father's house; there were those
who entered into the vineyard at the eleventh
hour, and had the same reward as those who had
borne the burden and heat of the day; and if we
truly repent, then have we had time sufficient for
repentance." These are some of the arguments
which the fond hopes and self-love of erring raan
wUl find for his consolation. It raay appear like
cruelty in any one to disturb the repose of his
mind in his last days, by reasons of an opposite
tendency; but what may appear as cruel to one in
that situation, is mercy to those who are in health,
and can (by the grace of God) make their caUing
and election sure, and even unto him it may, by
sweeping away his refuge of lies, be the means of
fixing his hope on the only true foundation. Let
us, then, reflect upon the real nature of that hope
which those have who have slept during the days of
health and opportunity. It is said, " if we truly
repent, then have we had time sufficient for re
pentance." But who shall answer, and how shall
we assure ourselves of our repenting truly for sins
past, sins forgotten, the errors and transgressions
of our youth and of our age ? " The time for re
pentance cannot be determined;" but of this we
are certain, it is never too early, and it may be too

102 SERMON IX.
late. The penitent thief had the promise of
mercy; he may have obeyed the first invitation
to repentance, and he who knows all hearts saw
that he was sincere. But who among these
sleepers has not been called many times, and who
can discern between true repentance and mere
fear when sickness or death are in view ? It has
been well said, there is one recorded instance of
late repentance in Scripture that none may de
spair, and but one that none may presume. The
prodigal son returned to his father's house, but he
did not say when dying, " I wiU arise and go ;"
he arose and went while he had health and
strength for the journey. And if the labourers
who entered into the Lord's vineyard at the
eleventh hour were rewarded as those who bore
the burden and heat of the day, yet be it remem
bered that they began their labour as soon as
they were caUed to their work. Who among the
sleepers in a christian land can be said to do this ?
We must not have recourse to these dangerous
but too common comforts. If whatever be our
age, state of health, or other circumstances, any
of us have too much reason to think our faith has
been dead and our habits unholy; if our affections
be fixed on the world and our gratitude for the
Redeemer's love and sufferings cold and inopera
tive ; if we have Hved in the world, not as stran
gers and pilgrims, but as its friends and admirers.

THE SLEEPER. 103
with hearts wedded to its pleasures and de
luded by its proraises ; if such be the awful
state of any, let them, without delay, turn away
fi-om these lying vanities, and earnestly pray for
true repentance. The shorter your time, the
more need there is for earnestness of purpose and
earnestness in prayer. If you have slept so long,
there is the raore urgent necessity to awake; let
your repentance be sincere, your confession of sin
fuU and without reserve, and your amendment
without the aUowance of any sin; for "he that
confesseth and forsaketh his sins shaU find mercy."
CaU to mind what you have done amiss, and your
omission of what you ought to have done; and if
you do this with sincerity and truth, with deep
humiUty and godly sorrow, you may then, late as
it is and grievous as your sins raay have been,
remember and be thankful that there is this com
fort still open, stUl offered to you, that the Lord
our God pardoneth and absolveth all them that
truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy
gospel.

104

SERMON X.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
Matt. xxiv. 3.
" And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying. Tell us, when shall these things
be ? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the
end of the world ?"
The three evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark,
and St. Luke, have related at some length the
discourse of our Saviour to his disciples concern
ing two very important events, viz., the destruc
tion of Jerusalem, and the end of the world. Of
these St. Mark appears to be most particular. Our
blessed Lord begins his reply with warning them
that false Christs would come and deceive many;
that they should be persecuted; that great tribu
lation should arise; brother betraying brother,
and father son. He foretells them that they must
be brought before rulers and kings, and some of

the certainty of the FINAL JUDGMENT. 105
them put to death; that there should be famines,
pestilences, and earthquakes ; that many false
prophets and impostors would arise and deceive
many. These, and some other particulars, our
Lord foretold concerning the destruction of Jeru
salem; and he added, moreover, that all should
come to pass before the end of that generation,
that is to say, before threescore years.
All this our Saviour seems to have spoken of
Jerusalem, and the final destruction of the temple
and nation; but concerning the end of the world
he is less particular, only saying that in those
days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light; that the stars of heaven
shall fall, and the powers of heaven be shaken;
that then shaU they see the Son of man coraing in
the clouds with great power and glory, who shall
send his angels and gather his elect frora the
uttermost part of earth to the uttermost part of
heaven. And concerning the time of this great
event, very different is the account from that of
the destruction of Jerusalem. Of the end of that
nation it is expressly said, that generation should
not pass away till all be fulfilled; but of the last
day, our Lord adds, " No man knoweth, no, not
the angels of heaven, but the Father only."
Thus, then, our blessed Teacher utters two pro
phecies, — one with many particulars, the other
with few, both awful and impressive. If one of

106 SERMON X.
these be true, no question but the other is also,
having the same divine authority ; and if the de
struction of Jerusalem was in every particular
foretold, who shall question — who shall dare to
dispute the certainty of that great day which re
lates to the end of the world and its final judg
ment ?
Let us then inquire, first, what was the state of
Jerusalem at the time of our Saviour's prophecy
concerning it ? secondly, in what manner it was
fulfilled ? and, thirdly, what we may conclude from
it concerning the end of the world and the day of
judgment ?
Now the state of the Jewish nation, in the time
of our Saviour, was as secure, as apparently fixed
and firmly ordered and established as any country
or government in the earth; true, they were
under the Roman power, but so were ahnost all
other nations, and this was so far from being an
apparent cause of their destruction, that it seemed
an argument for their continuance, because no
rebellions could arise within and among them
selves, nor any enemies among the neighbouring
nations. Their conquerors were ready to protect
them, and indeed we find that their nation never
enjoyed more security than at that period; their
people were extremely numerous, and Jerusalem
abounded with riches; wicked indeed they were,
blind and forgetful of their God ; but only such as

THE CERTAINTY OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 107
believe in his providence will look upon this as an
argument and cause of their destruction. In aU
outward appearance they stood safe, and happy,
in peace, opulence, and false but fuU security,
bUndly confident and content. But that divine
Person who saw into the future pronounced their
coming destiny. He said plainly, that within a
few years, before the end of one generation, these
things should corae to pass. I repeat them, that
we should remember the accuracy with which
they were completed.
The ruin of the temple and city is clearly fore
told, — the extraordinary afflictions of the time.
He declares that the gospel must first be preached
to aU nations ; that his disciples should be perse
cuted; that false Christs should arise and de
ceivers, and that wherever the Roman eagles or
standard, that is, the abomination of desolation of
the prophet Daniel, should be placed, there should
be the ruin and slaughter of the Jewish race.
Our duty is, therefore, to inquire if aU these
things thus prophesied did come to pass, and when.
All this is happily left on record by a learned
historian of their own nation, Josephus by name, a
priest, but not a Christian : he was, therefore, not
partial, much less would he, or indeed could
he have written falsities which every one living-
could have disproved. And when I say Josephus

108 SERMON X.
was not a Christian, I do not know for certainty.
He writes little or nothing concerning it, but yet
he must have known rauch. There were believers
in all nations in his tirae. Why is he then sUent ?
If he did not believe in the evidence and pure
spirit of this holy reHgion, why not proclaim his
disbelief? He had no fear on that side. The
emperor and all his court were Pagans, and Jose
phus might have abused the doctrine of Christ
and his apostles with perfect safety, and even
with praise, and perhaps reward; but he is silent.
Now if he were a believer entirely or in part, his
silence is easily accounted for. He was afraid of
rebuke, ridicule, loss, and punishment; for he was
in favour at a heathen court. I have therefore,
since I was capable of thinking, thought the si
lence of this learned Jew a good argument in
favour of Christianity, and have cared very little
whether the only passage in his history of the
Jews which relates to our Saviour be spurious
or authentic. He probably did not write it.
Now this Hebrew historian expressly informs us,
that about forty years after our Saviour's death,
and before that generation were passed away, the
temple was burned, viz., in the tenth day of the
month of August, the same day and the same
month in which it had once been destroyed by
the king of Babylon, the city was taken after five

THE CERTAINTY OP THE PINAL JUDGMENT. 109
months' siege, in which the sufferings of the
Jewish people were beyond description, almost
beyond imagination.
Before this event, the gospel was preached by
St. Paul and other disciples to aU nations in the
then known world; these disciples had also suf
fered the predicted punishment, and had taken
the warning given by their Master, that is, wher
ever they found the Roman armies approach, they
fled that place which was sure of destruction.
The description of the sufferings of the Jews has
in it something very horrible for a raind that for
gets their exceeding obstinacy and depravity: the
nurabers crucified by their conquerors; the num
bers slain by each other; burned in the temple,
famished for want of food, perished by lingering
and accumulated tortures, are an awful and strik
ing proof that this was a pecuUar judgment on a
peculiar people, exemplary chastisement for hi
therto unheard-of rebellion, complete vengeance
for compHcated sins.
" The delicate woman," as Moses writes, " the
tender and deUcate woraan who would not adven
ture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground
for deUcacy and tenderness, her eye shall be evil
towards the husband of her bosora, and towards
her son, and towards her daughter, and towards
her young ones whom she bare, for she shaU eat
them for want of all things, secretly in the siege

110 SERMON X.
and straitness." This horrible circumstance ac
tually came to pass, with other calamities of like
nature in the siege of Jerusalem, both first and
last, and many more grievous kinds of distress are
related in the account of Josephus their historian.
Thus, then, we find our blessed Lord was
pleased to foreshow to his disciples, two events,
both to them, and one to us, of vast importance ;
that which was first to come to pass he described
with many particulars, all very unlikely to happen
in the common course of events. First, it was
not likely that so small a state as Jerusalem
should rebel against the vast power of the Roman
empire, much less that all the Jews in other places
of Judea should follow the example as they did ;
so that wheresoever the body, that is, the people
of Israel, were, there were the Roman eagles ga
thered together. It was, further, very unlikely
that when conquered elsewhere, the Jews should
yet all shut themselves up in their city, and re
fuse the peace that was offered kindly, and re
peatedly by the conqueror ; that their extreme
miseries should not drive them to submit, is stiU
another unusual circumstance.
And it is even wonderful that aU their own
reverence, and all the care of the Roman con
queror Titus, could not save the temple, which
was literally so destroyed that one stone was not
left upon another ; and, lastly, it is to be re-

THE CERTAINTY OP THE FINAL JUDGMENT. Ill
marked, that instead of again building their tem
ple and the city as they had once before, they
fiilfiUed the prophecy of Moses and of our Re
deemer, and we see them trodden under foot of the
Gentiles in every place, as doubtless they will be,
until the time of these Gentile nations be fulfilled.
And now let us seriously consider what should
be our thoughts when we contemplate these im
portant prophecies, when we find that concerning
the faU of the Jews so very complete, so exactly
fulfiUed. Must we not be sure, be entirely and
fuUy satisfied of the truth of the other prophecy,
and look with faith and assurance for the end of
the world, when the Son of man shall corae with
his angels in great power and glory, that day and
hour of which no man knoweth ?
It seems as if our Redeemer raeant that we
should have this great proof of his future coming
to banish all our doubts, to fiU our minds with
reverence, hope, and patience, when he was
pleased to describe a pecuHar event to take place
in the world, at a particular time, and with parti
cular circumstances, so that when that event came
to pass, just in the way and at the time foretold,
no one should reasonably have a doubt of the
other event foretold with it, as certainly to be
fulfilled in a fiiture time known to God alone, but
by us to be reverently expected.
Let us be assured that however delayed his
8

112 SERMON X.
coming, yet our Lord will come ; a thousand
years are as one day to him who endureth for
ever, and all will stand before his judgraent-seat.
Of the many reflections and resolutions to be de
duced from this awful subject I will only urge the
principal — the great folly and guilt of obtaining
any profit or pleasure in such a world as this, at
the price of faith and holiness, since the world and
the good of it has such an end, and such an event
must close all its enjoyments, and all its concerns.
And secondly, the hardness and dulness of those
hearts which the certainty of this event and the
uncertainty of the time cannot soften into fear nor
awake to repentance.
Whether this final close of mortal things wiU be
in our days, our Maker only knoweth, but we have
seen that it will be; and our days must be the
preparation for it. The bodies of the dead shaU
hear his voice and live; therefore let us ever bear
in mind the warning before we die — ^let us remem
ber, this life is the only time given of preparation
for another — that in order to avoid the terrible
punishments of the wicked, we must seek the only
remedy pointed out in the Scriptures, Christ
Jesus the Saviour of sinners; let all awake to piety
now, and they will be saved frora destruction at
that day; then shall they descend to the grave
with assurance of that call which will quicken the
body to join the soul, freed from the terrors of

THE CERTAINTY OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 113
judgment, rejoicing in the joys of heaven, saved
from the horrors and reserved to the glories of the
final scene. Men may cherish their own opinions
of the mercy of our Judge, and the degree of their
guilt, but as we have the written word, it is build
ing on sand to trust anything besides. Hopes
and opinions, not expressly spoken by scripture,
may be true, but raay be wrong. The gospel is
truth, and there it is said, " He that believeth
shaU be saved, he that believeth not shaU be
daraned;" the one shall stand on the right-hand,
the other on the left, that sorae shaU go into con
deranation and others into life eternal. These
things being discovered to us, our safety lies in
constant watchfulness and in sincere prayer for
the aid of the Holy Spirit, which alone can enable
us to live in sobriety, righteousness, and holiness
in this present world. Thus Hving we shall learn
to die, and look forward to that closing scene, the
bed of death; and beyond it, to a resurrection
from the grave to a state of eternal happiness and
glory, with the spirits of the blessed.

114

SERMON XI.
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS.
Luke ii. 10.
" And the angel said unto them. Fear not, for behold I bring
you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people."
In dwelling upon the glorious communication of
the mercy of God, which at this season we com-
raeraorate, I would call your thoughts to the great
reforraation wrought in the world by the Re
deemer's coming, which was announced in the
words which I have just read. Whithersoever the
religion of Christ was carried, there was carried
virtue and restoration to virtue in its principles
and operation.
We are led by our subject to look backward
upon the rise and progress, the birth and perpetual
increase, the infant state and wonderful growth of
the church of Christ, from the nativity of the

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS. 115
Saviour to the tirae in which we live. Our Lord,
we are informed by St. Luke, sent forth seventy
disciples to prepare the way before him as well as
the twelve apostles, but we are not to consider
these as all who believed in him. Many others
heard his divine words, and saw the miracles
which he did, but how many soever of these there
might be, we are informed by the same evangehst
that after the resurrection, when the apostles and
brethren were assembled together, the nuraber of
disciples was about one hundred and twenty; but
I repeat, we are not to iraagine the number of be
lievers was thus bounded; many hundreds were
the witnesses of his miracles, the admirers of
his wisdom, but they were afraid, they hesitated;
they were not willing to encounter the displeasure
of their priests and rulers; they kept from the
christian assemblies in which was so rauch danger,
and they waited to see what would becorae of a
doctrine so wonderfuUy introduced, and so power-
fiiUy opposed; but by-and-by this infant church,
on the preaching of Peter and the other apostles,
was increased by three thousand converts, and
many priests became obedient to the faith. Peter
was sent to the devout centurion, and a man, not
a Jew, became a member of the infant church.
PhiHp baptized an officer of Candace, queen of
Ethiopia, and some faint rays appeared of that
light which was soon to lighten aU nations. This
I 2

116 SERMON XI.
was the first stage in the history and progress of
the christian church when it was, with sUght ex
ceptions, confined to Jews; but nowa great eventwas
nigh at hand. Paul, (Saul is his Hebrew name,) a
young man of much learning, great natural abili
ties, and extraordinary zeal, had been a very warm
persecutor of the new religion; he kept the gar
ments of those who cast them off that they might
have no impediment to their cruelty in stoning
the martyr Stephen. He, therefore, encouraged
and applauded their act — he did more — he perse
cuted the church in Jerusalem, and to augment
his power, begged for letters of the chief priests
to Damascus, that would give him authority to
persecute the Christians in that city; but Paul,
though mistaken, was sincere; he believed that
he was doing right, and acting in the cause of
truth and of the God of truth; so he found mercy
— he was made a chosen vessel — ^an apostle, more
enduring, more persevering, raore warm, more
energetic, and more successful than any other of
the teachers of the doctrines of his divine Master.
We do not read of his converting one family as
that of Cornelius, or one person as the eunuch, but
he converted the people of many nations; he
founded churches in Europe and in Asia, at
Corinth, at Ephesus, and at Galatia, in Thessa
lonica, in Laodicea, and in many cities not perhaps
favoured by his epistles, but instructed by his dis-

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS. 117
courses — Athens, for instance, that seat of earthly
wisdom and idolatry. There were added to the
church by the preaching of Peter three thousand
souls at Jerusalem; by the preaching of Paul
great multitudes were converted in all the known
world; daily and hourly were added to the happy
and chosen people such as should be saved.
The scripture,and the writings of theearly Fathers,
(as they are called) describe the singleness of heart
and purpose, the divine joy and gladness, the holy
delight and rejoicing of these infant churches,
these first Christians; how they lived among un
believers, how they met in solitude and darkness,
how they sang hymns of rejoicing and praise,
how they adored the power which had called them
fi-om darkness into this raarvellous light, and how
they loved and obeyed the good apostle as an
angel of the Holy One, willing, if it had been pos
sible, to have plucked out their eyes and have
given them unto him. I would that I had power
to represent to you their gratitude for the coming
of their Saviour upon earth; what they felt when
they contemplated the nativity of the Redeemer
of men — their unspeakable joy — how they com
municated it one to another. All earthly con
siderations were then left; for a season we find
there were no poor and rich among thera, no high
and low, no servant or raaster, in that brother
hood; then all things were in common, not of ne-

118 SERMON XI.
cessity but in joy; not to be continued as a cus^
tom, binding any, but as a peculiar pleasure, hap
piness, and comfort, enjoyed by them at that time.
This was the state of the early church at
the very dawn of Christianity ! The rest of the
world yet unbelieving and unconverted, and they
ransomed and redeemed — the early favoured par
ticipators of the glad tidings, that were to be not
only glory to the people of Israel, but the enhght-
ening call of the world at large. So far the New
Testament is our chief guide, for the rest we de
pend upon human authority. Yet we are not left
in darkness; frora the very times of the apostles
are christian and heathen witnesses, who have left
us account of what was then doing. We have at
this day remaining (as proofs how the gospels and
epistles were received) several authentic -writings
bearing witness of the same truths, and quoting
and treating of the books of the New Testament
which we now have — sometimes in the very words
of the evangelists, sometimes in their sense and
meaning. From this tirae even to three hundred
years was this church striving against the powers
of the world, its vices, and prejudices — against the
inveterate malice of the Jews, the offended autho
rity of the Romans and the indifference and un
concern of the wealthy and luxurious of aU na
tions where the glad tidings were carried. The
Christians in these times had not churches, not

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS. 119
temples made with hands. What was meant by
churches was congregations and assemblies of be
lievers who met as they could by night, chiefly
in secret places — ^by river sides — ^in retirements —
in private rooms and retreats inaccessible by, or
unknown to, persons in authority. Now all this,
as we raust judge by the nature of our own hearts,
raust have been the effect of thorough conversion
producing this concord, confidence, and love, pa
tience under persecution, and rautual support,
which nothing but the christian spirit could then
have produced; they were subject to perpetual
executions, imprisonraents, and deaths; these gave
rise to unexarapled instances of fidelity and trust.
The Christians of that time were as one family,
and each raeraber bound by love to every other;
people thus pressed without by power, and thus
united within by affection, had a kind and measure
of happiness which we should strive to attain, and
which could only have been derived frora the raost
stedfast belief that Jesus Christ was risen from the
dead, and that they also should rise and be with
him. " This is the victory that overcometh the
world, even onv faith."
Such were the circumstances which added
to the rautual love of the. Christians in those early
times, and to that trust . which they had in their
risen Lord. Among the persecutions there were
often especial devastations wliich befel the early

120 SERMON XI.
church; one under the emperor Nero,*who being
suspected himself of setting fire to" the city of
Rome, caused the crime to be laid to the charge of
the professors of the new religion, and they were
tortured and put to death with the greatest inhu
manity. There are nine other of these recorded
persecutions; some at the instigation of the unbe
lieving Jews, others for the refusal of the Chris
tians to submit to certain pagan rites and modes
of worship. There were besides persons who ac
cused the churches, not only of rebeUion and dis
obedience, but of atheism and contempt of their
gods, and then (as they were obhged to meet in
secret places and privately) there were laid to
their charge crimes of every description that
secrecy and darkness can give birth to. These
persecutions made many martyrs, who all died re
joicing, and sorae with exceeding great joy.
There was no doubt among them — scarcely was
there fear; many even desired the glory of mar
tyrdom, and all might have avoided it. It was
said, " Cast a little salt upon the fire, and no one
will hurt you;" but they asked, " What is casting
a little salt upon the fire?" It is to be under
stood, was the reply, as joining in the sacrifice of
our gods. Then said the Christians, " send us
from your altars, and cast us to your flames."
Now as these Christians were always in danger,
and always had the full assurance of faith that

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS. 121
they should be sustained by their Redeemer in
their trials, and received by him in their death;
and as they naturally became endeared to each
other by the same sufferings and expectations,
and were led to rejoice in that only good and
happy prospect which their divine Master had
opened to them, it may perhaps be conceived with
what joy and holy rapture they united to do
honour to the different periods in the life of Christ,
and how they celebrated with their whole raind
and strength, their whole heart and spirit, the
birthday of their Lord and Redeemer. There was
another event which made a very strong impres
sion upon the Christians of that day — I mean the
total destruction of Jerusalem, and that radical
overthrow of the teraple that literally one stone
was not left upon another. When they read and
remembered the prophecy of their Saviour, and
then saw before them that dreadful accomplish
ment of it, and before that generation had passed
away, they became as it were doubly assured;
they had been warned by their Master to fly, and
they fled; they were safe, and like Abrahara after
the destruction of Sodora, could see the whole
country, the fire of which went up, as from a fur
nace. Thus during the first three hundred years
the religion of the Christians was going on in
creasing from many causes, — increasing from per
secution, from the prophecies confirmed, from the
writings of learned converts afterwards called

122 SERMON XI.
fathers, from the courage of the martyrs under
torture, from their holy lives and conversation,
and from the follies, wickedness, and profligacy of
the pagan superstition. So Christianity flourished,
and became of such a body and strength, that the
lords of the heathen world found they had no place
nor office, nor trust, nor trade, nor occupation,
but if it were lawful and right. Christians were
placed in them; every one could trust a Christian's
promise. A heathen servant sought a christian
master, for he was sure of humane treatment; a
heathen master sought a christian servant, for he
was sure of honest service. What men thus loved
in others, they by degrees sought to become them
selves; and when Constantine, the Emperor of
Rome, and lord of the civilized world, embraced
Christianity, he found all things prepared for the
change, for aU who thought or cared about reh
gion were of his opinion; and I need not describe
how the birth of Christ was then celebrated.
When the conqueror of many rivals, and the first
christian emperor, openly proclaimed his own con
version, and invited his subjects of all nations to
partake of the mercy — from this time, that is,
about the year 330, the whole civilized world be
came Christians; the only religion that ever pre
vailed without force against power, and that
(originating among an obscure people in a remote
province) travelled on from year to year, from

THE BIRTH OP CHRIST, AND ITS EFFECTS. -123
place to place, from one kingdora to another
people, tiU it had overcome prejudice and the
established superstition, and had put down all
power and authority, and, like as its divine Master
shall do, saw all its enemies under its feet. It is
the nativity of this reUgion, once so persecuted,
now so triumphant, the birth of the church of
Christ, and of Christ as man, that we are called
upon solemnly but joyfully to celebrate. Let us
chiefly remember that the sole cause we can have
for our joy, like the early Christians, is our faith;
we can scarcely be glad on earth, unless we have
expectations in heaven. But all true Christians
have these blessed expectations, and they know
that unto them a Son was born, unto them a Sa
viour was given; that he has blotted out the
handwriting of ordinances that is against them;
that he is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that beUeveth; that he was made to be
sin for us, who himself knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him.
These are the true causes of the Christian's joy ;
and if you can feel them, and rest your hopes on the
happiness they hold out to you, I know not any
thing I can add, nor anything I need add; you
well remember the words in the message of the
angel, the glad tidings which are to all people;
you well remember that through him we have
access by one spirit to the Father, and are no
7

W ->!

124 SERMON XI.
more strangers, but fellow-citizens of the house
hold of God, and will recollect the words of the
venerable raan of God, "Lord, now lettest thou thy
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation."
But again, I ask why did these early Chris
tians rejoice so sincerely ? Because they sin
cerely and earnestly believed ; and according to
our faith will be our joy. We can surely dis
tinguish such joy from the mere external and
assumed kind of rejoicing, that is but httle
more than merriment and festivity, an agreement
to remember a season which has in every age of
Christianity been celebrated by some outward
appearances of gladness and mutual congratula
tion. We can most readily see how far this falls
beneath the true and real gladness of heart, the
rejoicing of those whose faith is fixed upon the
Lord the Saviour, and whose hope of heaven is
lively and strong; they alone wiU possess this true
and spiritual joy, who indeed feel their interest in
the birth of him who brought Ught into a world
of darkness, and pardon to a race of sinners. Let
us not then rest in that poor and fruitless celebra
tion of an event so glorious, and producing so
much happiness; let us not be as spectators, but
rejoice as sincere believers and partakers of the
mercy of that all-interesting message of the angel,
" Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people."

125

SERMON XII.
IMITATION OF CHRIST.
Phil. ii. 5.
" Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
When we direct our minds to a view of the
character of our blessed Lord and Redeemer, we
may think of him as in his union with the God
head, and of his existence before all worlds; or we
may likewise contemplate him in his union with
the manhood, when he took upon hira our nature,
and for us became liable to all (sin excepted)
which we endure.
And in this union with our nature we look upon
our blessed Lord, first, as the sacrifice for sin;
the Mediator between God and raan ; the Intercessor
for our transgressions ; the Propitiation for our
offences. This is that fruit of the character of
the Son of God which calls for our most grateful

126 SERMON XII.
remembrance, the most heartfelt acknowledgments
for such mercy and goodness.
Next to this is the contemplation of our Lord
as a teacher sent from God, who has given to man
such holy precepts, such pure and divine laws and
comraandraents, as tend to the purification of our
nature, and lead us to a great portion of the com
forts of this world of trial, as weU as to the happi
ness of a world to come; inconceivable indeed to
us, but to which every true believer directs his
hope, and looks forward in faith towards God, and
in charity with man.
And again, we consider our Lord as man, and
as a pattern for mankind, when for us he became
as we are, liable to the wants and sufferings of
man's nature— as he afforded an example for us
to follow, while he condescended to become, as it
were, a stranger frora the happiness and glory of
a state of which we can at present know but
this, that it is raost glorious and most happy.
It is of our divine Master in this his state of
humUity, a man tempted and suffering, that I
purpose at this time to speak, and to consider how
and in what respects he is an example whom we
ought to foUow, leaving to another occasion the
mediation of the Son of God, and that great act of
raercy, the sacrifice for sin; and omitting also the
consideration of our Lord as the great instructor
and guide of man, who spake as never man before

IMITATION OF CHRIST. 127
had spoken, and who so clearly pointed out to us
the broad and the narrow way — that which it
concerns us so deeply to avoid— as the way that
leadeth to destruction, and that which we should
walk in as it tendeth towards the life eternal.
Our subject, then, is the imitation of our Lord
Jesus Christ in those things wherein a being so
unlike every other can be imitated or foUowed by
creatures so weak, so liable to sin and error as we
all are, and yet, through the mercies granted to
us, so capable of recovery from both; — a being de
graded, but not utterly lost; going astray, but not
forsaken; in error, but not without a guide; having
a foe in his own frailty, but a friend in his Lord
and Redeemer.
Our Lord giveth example to man in the virtues
of humility and meekness, with patience, temper
ance, and charity; but it is not these virtues, con
sidered in themselves only, which we contemplate,
but the practice of them under the raost trying
circurastances, the hardest temptations. For our
Lord was humble, with a consciousness of his vast
superiority; he was meek under the greatest pro
vocations, and with the fuU power of retaliating
the injuries he received; he was temperate, with
the command of all things; and he went about
doing good, when evil was done unto him. In
these cases, and under these circumstances, how
exemplary was the humility, the patience, the

128 SERMON XII.
moderation, and the charity, in which our Lord
has given to us such pattern for our conduct !
When I speak of our Saviour as forgiving in
juries, and having raercy on those who inflicted
thera, it may remind us of an admonition of St.
Paul, which we have all heard, and many of us, I
trust, reflected upon: " If thine enemy hunger,
feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so
doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."
" Coals of fire" raay, at a first view, seem a vin
dictive expression, as if we were admonished to
treat our enemy with love and kindness, in order
to increase his punishment hereafter. But this is
so contrary to the spirit of a Christian, that no
one who really is such, can wilHngly admit of
this meaning, and happily there is no occasion.
The words are words of similitude. Coals of fire
placed upon metals in a state nearly of fusion, are
to promote that effect, and cause the melting
which is intended. So are benefits done for in
juries, they raelt the hardness of man's heart, and
make it ready for every good impression. Some
said the effect of the coals of fire is a Ukeness to
that painful shame which a man raust feel who
receives good in return for his evU; but this is
only another way of expressing the same senti-
nient. This shame must be felt on such occa
sions, and wiU naturally go before the true peni
tence and softness of spirit. All I raean to advert

IMITATION OP CHRIST. 129
to is, the mistake of supposing that any Christian
precept or doctrine can recommend the doing an
act of charity and benevolence for a cruel pur
pose; to feed the hungry, and give drink to him
who thirsts, only that he may receive the greater
condemnation. This would be far from the spirit
of him who would imitate his divine Master, who
would have that mind within hira which was in
Christ Jesus.
But to return. Humility is a christian virtue,
and is seldom found in those who are not Chris
tians indeed. It is not because people are poor
that they are humble; on the contrary, a strong
and resisting spirit is oftentiraes seen in the very
lowest sta,tions of society. Man is naturaUy proud
and vindictive, and we need not go into the supe
rior classes of our fellow-creatures to behold the
effects of these evil passions. Humility and meek
ness are nearly related, but they are not the same.
Humility is of the mind, meekness in the temper.
A person may be humble in spirit without meek
ness, and meek without humility. HumiUty is
opposed to pride, and meekness to anger. Both
are amiable, and become the Christian. To try
our humiUty, we must be subjected to pride and
arrogance; to prove our meekness, we raust sub
mit under provocation. We are made humble by
reflecting upon our faults, but we become meek by
bearing the faults and infirmities of other persons,
K

130 SERMON XII.
Both will richly pay us for our endeavours to
acquire them, and as in the attainment of aU other
virtues and graces, so in these, prayer for the
divine assistance is essentially requisite, and a
serious view of that faultless example which we
have in our Lord and Redeemer. Whosoever
would follow him, must take up the cross; and in
this, humility of spirit and meekness of temper are
both implied. Humility is always a virtue, but
is the greater under the more trying circum
stances. Our Lord was humble, with conscious
ness of power and greatness, not only more than
man can attain to, but beyond what he could con-
ceive, This we must bear in mind. A man may
appear humble in the presence of those who are
greater and in a station above him, but he is not
truly so, unless the humility remains when he is
with his equals, and with those who are inferior.
The poorest of our brethren have some who are
placed in sorae respects below them; they are
husbands or fathers, or they have bodily strength
or powers of mind which others have not. If,
then, they are not humble with these, they have
not the true humility ; for the proud can stoop
when it answers their purpose. So, too, meek
ness is to be judged of It is the part of this
virtue which is comprehended under the apostle's
description of christian charity, that it is not

IMITATION OF CHRIST. 131
easily provoked, that it beareth all things, en
dureth aU things. It giveth not raiUng for raU-
ing, but contrariwise, blessing. Personal outrage
or insult is very hard to be borne, but we know
who bore them ! When smitten by one who had
received no offence, what said the meek and
patient sufferer ? " If I have spoken evU, bear
witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou
me?" In this the apostle of our Lord was not equally
patient with his divine Master. An high priest
had commanded him to be smitten, and he said,
" God shall smite theOj thou whited wall, for
sittest thou to judge rae after the law, and com-
mandest me to be smitten contrary to the law ?"
Doubtless the provocation was great, but the
meekness of the Saviour was not to be overcome
by the virulence and insult of man ; that of the
apostle yielded in some degree to the temptation.
Of temperance and moderation likewise, in
general it may be observed, that they become
greater virtues under greater temptations. We
caU not him temperate who Hves on Httle, if he
hath no means of obtaining more ; nor is a person
to be commended for his moderation, if his nature
or his fortune have denied hitn the means of gra
tification. Moderation and temperance are of the wiU and
spirit, not of situation and necessity ; and we can-
K 2

132 SERMON XII.
not forget that not only a want of means, but a
love of money, may keep men from extravagance
and expensive pleasures, and then we cannot allow
them the credit of self-government, for they do
but sacrifice one inclination for another, preferring
the power of purchasing indulgence to the enjoy
ment of the purchase.
But look to the example of our divine Master.
He could command the supply for a multitude of
fasting men, and could forbear himself to take
more than needful food of the most common Icind.
He could have bidden the stones to become not
only bread, but whatever he desired to behold or
to enjoy ; but he knew not the frailty of appetite,
and though he felt the necessity of taking food,
he took it as of necessity. Having our nature, he
must have had our nature's want and supply.
" The Son of man came eating and drinking," it
is written, that is, he mixed in coramon life, and
was not like John the Baptist in the wilderness,
nor fed on locusts and wild honey ; but our Lord
was in that an example of moderation and thank
fulness. The Saviour was with his mother at a
marriage, and miraculously made the water wine;
but he made it not for himself It was an in
stance of his benevolence, and not .of self-in
dulgence. Hence we learn what moderation and temper
ance are. They are not the virtues that circum-
8

IMITATION OF CHRIST. 133
stances occasion, but such as rule in the heart and
direct the conduct. They who have all the
means for indulgence, and regard not cost, these,
if moderate, must love moderation ; and so may
we reason of temperance and self-command, if it
be ours, it exists alike in all places. It is not
frugality, however commendable that may be ; for
the temperate person is temperate at the table of
the rich man who fares sumptuously every day, as
at his own scanty board, which he supplies as
prudence directs him. I do not say that the tem
perate man never feasts, but that he feasts tempe
rately. To do anything moderately, is not always
to do it in the sarae degree, for in both the feast
and the fast there raay be a regard to circum
stances, to the occasion ; there may be forbear
ance in the one case, indulgence in the other, and
yet in both moderation.
Prom the example of our Lord we may likewise
learn patience, which becomes the true disciple of
him who suffered before he was glorified, who en
dured the pangs of death on the cross before he
arose from the grave in triumph ; who subraitted
himself to the insult as well as the injustice of
man, and gave an example of that virtue which is
difficult for man to practise, that of enduring re
proach from the people whom he carae to save ;
who was forsaken by them whom he had chosen,
and upbraided them not, and who, suffering under

134 SERMON XII.
a sentence as cruel as it was unjust, said, " Father,
forgive them, they know not what they do."
Patience, at least the patience mentioned in the
sacred writings, is of two kinds, that which sub
mits quietly to injuries and insultj, to sufferings
and deprivations, and that which waits in holy
confidence for the divine favour and deUverance
from evil. Our Lord affordeth instances of both
kinds, first, by the unresisting endurance of pains
and reproaches, and, secondly, by the full assur
ance of a resurrection firom the dead. Patience
endures the evil, and waits for the good.
The patience of Job appears to have been
rather of this latter kind — ^waiting for the good —
than of the former. His trials were inost severe,
and the upbraiding of his friends was most cruel ;
but he did not rest under them with that meek
and quiet spirit which we behold in our Redeemer.
When his possessions, his children, and all he had
were lost ; when his body was covered with boils,
and he sat down in the ashes, no murmur indeed
escaped his lips ; when his wife bade him trust no
longer in his integrity, but submit and die, he
replied with meekness and piety, " ShaU we re
ceive good at the hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil ?" But after this, when his fi-iends
came and sat with him seven days, and spake not
yet a word. Then " Job opened his mouth and
cursed his day, saying. Let the day perish

IMITATION OP CHRIST. 135
wherein I was born, and the night in which it was
said. There is a man child conceived." " Why
died I not fi-om the womb ? why did I not give
up the ghost ? For the thing that I greatly feared
is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of
is come ; I was not in safety, neither had I rest,
neither was I quiet, yet trouble carae."
Now this is not the language of him who sub-
mitteth quietly to evU ; this is not that patience
which is meek, sUent, and without a murmur.
What, then, was the patience of Job ! His patience
was a quiet waiting upon God in fiiU trust, that at
his own time he would make manifest his in
tegrity, being confident that no secret sin (as his
fi-iends had asserted) had brought these evUs upon
him. i' I know," said he, " that my Redeemer
Uveth, and that he shaU stand in 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 shaU see for myseff, and mine eyes shall
behold, and not another." And though we take
these words in their prophetical sense, yet they
were used by Job as a strong assertion that God
would make manifest the truth and integrity of
his servant : he waited for this, and this waiting
was his patience.
This appears to have been the full and pious
expectation of this great and suffering man. But
leaving this, I repeat that our Lord gave example

136 SERMON XII.
of patience in both kinds — meekness under suffer
ing, and assurance of victory over the powers of
darkness and death.
Such are a part of those virtues which we are
enjoined to observe and to imitate in our divine
Master-^-meekness, humility, temperance, and pa
tient submission to the will of God, with compas
sion to the sufferings and afflictions of man, to
sickness and sorrow, and all that is distressing to
him in his progress through life. Let us think
whom we imitate, and what our reward. And
that we raay do this, let us endeavour to make
our will that of our great example. Let us pray
that we may put off all that is hard, selfish, par
tial, and unjust, and that we may acquire or re
tain a new heart and new affections, serving the
Lord in meekness and lowliness of spirit, in tem
perance, patience, and hope, in faith and charity ;
and, in the words of the apostle. Let this mind be
in us which was also in Christ Jesus our Lord and
Redeemer.

137

SERMON Xni.

CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

1 Cor. i. 23.

" But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-
block, and unto the Greeks foolishness."
The word which is here translated stumbUng-
block, raeans, in sorae places, a snare; in others,
an impediment or hindrance. The cross was this
to the Jews, because it prevented their beUef in
the Redeemer. When he carae to them, he carae
not as the Messiah they desired or expected.
The cross was an offence and redemption by it,
a kind of redemption they would not listen to.
The miracles which some of them witnessed all
might believe; the doctrines which many of them
heard all might consider, and the wise among
them must approve; but the humUiation arising
from the cross, that is from faith in a crucified Sa-

138 SERMON XIII.
viour, was to them a stone of stumbling and a rock
of offence.
And then, too, this doctrine brought with it the
admission of the Gentiles into a participation of
the mercy which was offered to them; made the
people of all nations who were believers as one
fold under one Shepherd. This their pride and
the prejudices of their rulers could not submit to;
selfish and covetous, bigoted and cruel, ostenta
tious and hypocritical, they could see no beauty
in a hohness that was not ceremonious and legal,
and no excellence in the precepts that were di
rected to the heart. The glad tidings of the
gospel lost their effect upon such people, and
though many of the first believers were Jews, yet
they in general rejected the word of truth, made
light of their last invitation, and awaited that
judgment from the God of their forefathers, which
so soon fell upon the children of disobedience.
Thus to the Jews was the cross of Christ an occa
sion of offence, for they were a rebellious and
stiff-necked people. To the Greeks it was foolish
ness, that is, it had not their favourite kind of
wisdom, their learning and power of words to
recommend it. It encouraged no vain specula
tions; it caUed them off from such fruitless pursuits
to serve the living God in holiness and truth, in sin
cerity and earnestness, all the days of their life.
It placed wisdom in faith, meekness, purity, and

CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 139
obedience. It was an enemy to their self-love
and self-sufficiency, to their popular and delusive
prejudices, to their subtle and endless disputa
tions. This your unknown God, said St. Paul,
I declare to you; but they continued to dispute
about his existence, his essence, his attributes, and
were unwUling to attend to the messengers who
taught them his wiU, and showed them the condi
tions of his mercy. And yet these divine truths
made their way, powerfully and rapidly, among
these learned people. The " foolishness," as they
supposed it, became more and more effectual to
the casting off those vain conceits and empty
speculations. Weighty and soleran truths pre
vailed, and at the time when the Jewish nation
and temple were finally dispersed and destroyed,
the Gentiles had embraced the glad tidings which
the Jews rejected, and were become, in turn, the
people of their God, and beUevers in him who was
crucified for the sins of the world. StiU, I repeat,
we must bear in mind, that though this was the
general effect of Christianity among the Jews and
the Greeks, a great number of the Jews did, ne
vertheless, believe, and for a time a considerable
portion of the Gentiles rejected the faith, that is,
there were yet among the Jews those to whom
the preaching of the cross was not a stumbling-
block, and among the Greeks those to whom it
was foolishness.

140 SERMON XIII.
And now, let us consider, what is the preaching
of the cross to us ? Is it not, I would ask, even
to sorae of us still that rock of offence and stone
of sturabUng? not just for the same cause as it
was to the Jews and Greeks, but for some cause ?
Are we sure that religion, the christian religion,
has not something in it at which the natural heart
revolts ? Let us inquire. The objection of the
Jews was, that the gospel militated against their
favourite and long-indulged opinions and preju
dices; and of the Greeks, that it was too plain,
void of ornament. Our objection is, that it re
quires a renouncing of self in every material
respect, and this will appear in the three particu
lars of our judgment, our passions, and what we
caU our merits. It requires the renunciation of
our judgraent thus far, that when we are con
vinced that the gospel is truth, we must take it
fully as it is, and not permit that judgment of
ours to alter or vary any part of it at our plea
sure. Our reason is given us that we may seek
the truth and find it; but having found it, reason
has done its office, and must submit to that truth
which it has found. In traveUing through an un
known country, our reason tells us to seek a guide,
and our judgment helps us to choose one who is
able to conduct us; but having chosen, both reason
and judgment must submit to his direction.
So in our religion. Judge of its truth and try

CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 141
it; but when it becomes evident that it is ^rue, we
must not judge of this or that particular, because
they do not suit our inclination or coincide with
our opinion. The awful truths of revelation re
specting the divine nature of our Redeemer, the
voluntary sacrifice for sin, the mysterious incarna
tion of the divinity, and the unity of the person
of Jesus Christ, are all subjects inexplicable and
incomprehensible, and it is in vain that the pride
and subtlety of human wisdom goes about to ex
plain and unfold them, as if they were only the
obscurities of human error, and not the mysteries
of holy writ.
Nor are these the only kind of truths to which
the understanding of raan must submit. We be
lieve that God knoweth aU things, and ordereth
all by his word; yet there is one of his creatures,
man, a being conscious of sin, sensible of wilful
error, that is of going his own way and obeying his
own wiU, and who shaU reconcile these things 1
No one; and in this also the understanding must
submit. Many passages in the sacred vrritings
require a like submission of our reasoning pride,
and with regard to some, I cannot but conceive
the very attempt to elucidate and explain them
has its rise in this great and leading infirraity of
man, his unwiUingness to submit and acknowledge
his weakness.
But not his understajiding alone; he must deny

142 SERMON XIII.
himself in other respects, and especiaUy that ever-
craving part of himself, his passions and incUna
tions, in short, his wiU. But this, you wiU per
haps teU me, that aU religion aU moraUty requires.
By no means in the same degree. What reU
gion ever so claimed the service of these first
springs and movements of the heart which con
stitute so much of our nature ?
In Christianity the axe is laid at the root of
the corrupt tree, and it is not enough to cut off
here and there the too luxuriant branches. The
coraraand goes to the heart. What reHgion but
that of Jesus Christ ever inculcated those self-
denying precepts, — " Love your enemies," " Do
good to them that hate you." Our Lord re-
quireth the subdued wUl, the obedience that af
fection pays, the duty that is prompted by love,
and the worship that is of the Spirit ; and it is
this that makes the difficulty. That we may not
commit the crime of murder, we are required to
abstain from the sins of hatred, malice, and re
venge ; that we may not steal, we are commanded
not even to covet what is another's ; but what
numbers have ill-will and covetousness at heart
who yet offend not against the letter of the sixth
or eighth commandment 1 It is not, then, the
outward conformity merely, but it is the inward
disposition that is required, and herein sacrifice
of self must be made. We are not born Chris-

CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 143
tians any more than we are born soldiers. There
must be training and discipUne, courage and con
stancy, strict obedience where it is due, and re
sistance of every wish that opposes it ; and this
requires the second sacrifice that we have men
tioned, — ^the will must be offered at the altar of
obedience, and then, when the judgment is thus
subdued and the wiU is thus conquered, it wiU
remaui (in the third place) that we deny our
selves all merit ; for we are stUl unprofitable ser
vants. Many are deceived in their obedience to this
duty. It is frequently said by persons of very
different degrees of moral virtue, that they put
their sole and fiiU trust in the mercy of their God,
and look for pardon through faith in the Re
deemer only ; but how often may we hear these
very persons comforting themselves, even on their
death-bed, with the pleasing picture of their own
worth ! They affirm that they are in love and
charity, they bear no malice nor hatred in their
hearts, they wrong not their neighbours, they for
give sincerely, they are in charity with aU man
kind. This disposition of mind is most natural to
man, and even in his very humility his pride is
manifest — in his very confession he adds to his
offences ! So hard is it to resign ourselves and
renounce even our resemblances of virtue. And
yet this self-renunciation is the great criterion of

144 SERMON XIII.
christian discipline, — " Whosoever wiU come after
me," saith our Lord, " let him deny himself."
But here I raay be asked, how comes it to pass
that raany sincere Christians, St. Paul himself in
cluded, have had this corafort at the close of life, that
they had lived as becarae Christians, that hence
forth there was laid up for them a crown of glory
to be given them at the appearing of their Lord,
because they had fought the great fight and been
obedient ? The answer is, that this joy and ex
ultation of St. Paul and other sincere Christians
was occasioned, not by reflections on their own
raerits, but by a view of what they had been en
abled to do, since they became members of the
christian covenant. These holy men, by their
reflections at their latter end, did not signify their
confidence in their own acts and power, but they
rejoiced in the fruit of good living, which the
grace of God had enabled them to bring forth.
They would not have said. Let us stand or faU in
the judgment-day according to our works, but
they would have rejoiced in such works as they
were sure would not have been brought forth had
they not been partakers of the grace of God as
revealed in the christian dispensation. It is one
thing, at the close of life, to talk of the good done,
the charity felt, and the forgiveness sealed, and
the trials suffered as the consequence of their own
efforts, and it is another thing to reflect upon

CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 145
them — upon trials sustained and duties performed,
all as the effect of a religion sent from God, and
done in meekness and humility of spirit.
Besides, the Christian not only knows and feels
his good deeds and benevolent feelings, his patient
endeavour of trial and resistance of sin, to be
works of grace, but he is sure that even in his
best works is rauch of man's imperfection, and
that there are many of his works which are in
their own nature evil, and much in the heart that
militates against its best and purest desires and
inclinations. This, then, is true, that an obedient, a just and
religious life will give pleasure on reflection, be
cause it is the fruit of the faith which we as Chris
tians possess, but reflections on our obedience and
moral good conduct, taken independently of our
religion, if they give us pleasure, it must be the
effect of vanity and self-deception.
We find, then, that the cross is a stumbling-
block, an offence, even among professing Chris
tians. How many refuse to bend the pride of
their judgment, the stubbornness of their will, or
the support of their own merit, to the simplicity
of the words of truth, the sanctity of the divine
precepts, and the righteousness that is of faith
alone ! Not, as I said before, that we are to dis
card our judgment, our will, or our virtues, and
L

146 SERMON XHI.
make them nothing, for then we should cease to
be creatures in a state of trial.
No, we are to retain our judgment and capa
city to improve and cultivate our talents, and yet
in its highest state of improvement the judgment
raust bow down iraplicitly and meekly to the
truth that is revealed, however mysterious and
however incomprehensible.
Neither are we to be without wiU or desire, nor
can we, for then trial would cease ; but the
stronger the desire is, the more urgently are we
called upon to make it a sacrifice. We are bought
with a price, and are no more our own, the sheep
of the good Shepherd whom we are implicitly to
follow. And if we have brought ourselves under this
yoke, and have been faithful and obedient in
raany things, still we must recoUect that " in
many things we . offend all," that even when our
deeds are virtuous, our hearts are often corrupt,
and that our best actions have their alloy of error,
frailty, or vice.
It is self-renouncing which the gospel requires,
that rejection of our ovm wisdom, our own will,
and our own virtue. Let us rely on the wisdom
which is from above, on the vrill of God, which
obeyed leads to happiness, on the goodness that
has brought salvation for us. Let us avoid the

CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 147
error of both kinds, and the enthusiasm that
would bUnd us to the moral sanctity of the
gospel. This self-rejection is not easy, but it is required
of us, and if we be humble and meek, we have a
foundation for it. The purchase is not easy, but
the possession is inestimable; for whoever are
reaUy and freely denying themselves for Christ's
sake, have taken up the cross of the Redeemer,
and are following him in the way to glory and
happiness eternal.

L 2

148

SERMON XIV.
THE CROSS AND CROWN.
Luke xiv. 27.
" And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me,
cannot be my disciple."
When our Lord said of the kingdom of heaven,
" Few there be that find it," whether he spoke of
few by comparison with all who were born into
the world, or few in the coramon acceptation of
the words, I do not purpose now to consider, but
take the words as a warning, that whosoever
would enter into the kingdom of heaven must
have difficulties to undergo, works to perform,
griefs to endure, and temptations to overcome ; —
and this exactly accords with the words of the
text. There is a cross to be borne. It is scarcely
needful to observe that we speak of Christians in
general — men or women of understanding, or of

the cross and crown. 149
age to understand — infants die, and our faith as
sures us that God has taken them to his mercy —
without proof of their perseverance and duty —
persons void of inteUect and due understanding, as
they are not improveable, so neither can they be
accountable. God can iUuminate aU darkness,
and every disease of mind and body are removed
at his pleasure.
Leaving these, therefore, we return to our sub
ject, namely, the necessity there is that all who
would enter into the straight gate raust strive to
do it ; all who would serve and please God must
be masters of, and deny themselves ; all who
would triumph with the Lord who is in glory
must patiently endure with the Lamb who was
slain ; all who would be Christians indeed must
endure their cross whatever it be. That we do
not suffer, or are tried as the first Christians, is
certain, but stiU we have our trials, nay, that very
ease and freedom we have in our religion, is itself
a temptation to sloth and inattention. Because
we are not punished for being Christians, many
scarcely inquire whether they are so or not. We
shaU not be brought into trouble for our faith, nor
questioned by rulers and judges over us, and so,
many forget to judge and question their own
hearts, what is the state of their faith and how it
preserves them from disobedience, and what trials
they could endure for Christ's sake. There is a

150 SERMON XIV.
proverbial saying amongst religious persons, "no
cross no crown." If we be not abased, we cannot
be exalted ; if we do not suffer we cannot tri
uraph ; if we do not fight, we must not hope to
overcome ; and this is certainly the case with
respect to the pursuits, profits, and honours of
this life. There must be the labour or there will
not be the reward. How much raore true of the
highest and noblest of aU pursuits. The wise son
of Sirach informs us that "wisdom will at first
take a man through crooked ways, and bring fear
and dread upon him, and torment him with her
discipline, until she may trust his soul, and try
him by her laws, then will she return the strait
way unto him, and comfort him, and show him
her secrets."
And so it is with all spiritual good. It is to
be attained by pains, by labour, by suffering, by
faith ; there must be the cross where we look for
the crown. These questions might be put to aU
men. What is your crown ? and what is likely
to be your cross ? or, in other words, what is it
you principally desire ? and what lies in your
way and prevents your attaining it ? But leaving
all other objects of men's pursuits, let us consider
the soul's happiness in a future life as our crown,
the first object of our wishes, hopes and prayers,
and then ask ourselves, what are the crosses we
have to -bear, and the hindrances we find in our

THE cross and CROWN. 151
way ? Yet thus far we may observe of this Hfe's
good, real or fancied, (which so many seek after,)
that none, however fond and desirous of honour,
or power, or wealth, or pleasure, are so lost in the
pursuit of these, but even they will confess that
the joys and glories of a Hfe to come are far
beyond comparison the greater and nobler objects.
And yet it might be very hard to prove that the
most religious suffer more or make greater sacrifices
to their eternal welfare and happiness than those
persons do, to the things which end with this world,
things which, whatever pains they cost, can only
reward their admirers for a little time, and even
in that Httle they discover how poor and ungrati-
fying a nature they are really of If then, as we
all must wish and pursue some object, and that
chiefly and more anxiously than others, surely it
should be that which all confess is most worthy,
and yet none can prove that it is attended with
more trouble, care, sorrow, (or, in these times,)
difficulty, or danger, than transitory advantages.
Then, too, in a pursuit of eternal happiness, there
can be no disappointment.. Other things. that you
may wish for, you may lose, and be disappointed
by your faUure, or you may gain, and yet not be
happy, and so be disappointed in your success ;
or you may arrive at them when it is too late to
enjoy or profit by them, but a strife and labour
for the joys and glories of heaven can bring no

152 SERMON XIV.
disappointment. They who indulge pride, and
delight themselves in vanities, and live upon the
reputation in which the world holds them, what
trouble do they not give themselves, what sacri
fices do they not make ? and yet they are often
exceedingly mortified and disappointed, and never
thoroughly satisfied with the end when attained.
They who are covetous and fond of increase and
abundance are not perhaps so much disappointed,
but they are often criminal, often vexed by the
slow progress of their beloved wealth, often
terapted by injustice, and always degraded, and
sometimes tormented, by the base and contemp
tible nature of their favourite object. The lovers
of sensuality, the indulger of every lawless inch-
nation, or at least every restless, one has so much
misery, that no believer in his pUgrimage, no
penitent in his self-reproaches, endures so much
for the good of his soul as these persons for the
indulgence of their senses, so that this great and
good part not only promises the most glorious
reward, but it actually requires the more easy
sacrifices. In the pursuit, too, of the crown of Hfe there
must be success as long as we sincerely follow it —
for the very circumstance, the very fact that we
are following it, is a proof, that we are succeeding ;
this can be said of no earthly good ; and the
older we grow, and the more incapable of enjoying

THE CROSS AND CROWN. 153
the things of this world, the nearer we are to the
end of that trouble and expectation which opens
the treasures of an eternal inheritance. Heaven,
then, and the joys of heaven, being the crown and
object which every true Christian will chiefly
pursue, let our thoughts be now directed to the
cross that hinders us in our way, and which we
raust avoid, endure, or overcome. This cross is
various, according to our several cases; we are
hindered in many ways. The cross of the first
Christians was pain and torture, fire, and the fury
of the wUd beasts, insult and cruelty, contempt
and death ; and this their faith overcame, and they
set the crown so continuaUy and so fuUy in their
sight, that in the midst of trial and torture, their
minds were fixed upon that, and that only. Af
terwards, a new trial awaited them, when they
Hved at peace and in triumph, when kings and
queens becarae nursing fathers and nursing mo
thers to the Church, and gloried in these titles as
marks of the first distinction. Then revenge for
former persecutions, pride in recent success, luxury
from unaccustomed wealth, and arabition from a
prospect of power, all became temptations to the
chUdren of the late humble and suffering Chris
tians, and many fell into the snares of the eneray
of souls, who thus spread for them all the seduc
tions that sinfiil pleasure, worldly emolument, and
earthly, power can hold out to catch the soul of
erring, frail mankind.

154 SERMON XIV.
But with some few exceptions, and in some pe
culiar stations, these evUs of both kinds, misery
and excess, the persecution that alarms the soul,
and the honours and luxuries which weaken and
overcome it, have long ceased, and other crosses,
other difficulties, are now presented to us, that we
raay be sure there is a work to do, and warfare to
wage, before we also can take our rest, and have a
reasonable hope of being crowned for victory.
Want of faith, want of resolution, want of a de
cided, steady, fixed principle of religion, — ^these
are with the greater part of us the causes of our
failing in the first great object of human existence.
Now who can have a difficulty so unconquerable
in his way as want of faith 1 When the very
blessing and crown he aspires to, are scarcely be
lieved to be attainable, when the prayers he offers
are accompanied by doubts if they will be heard
or can be accepted ? When the condemnation of
the wicked and the commendation of the righteous
are so sHghtly engrafted in the mind, so coldly re
ceived, so distrustfully believed, that they create
neither a godly fear of future punishment, nor a
lively hope of eternal joy, nor a fixed resolution to
live as a Christian : this is but too common ; many
believe so coldly and so weakly, that they are
themselves no judges of the degree of faith which
they possess. Do you believe ? is a question to
which all would reply, " We do." But in what

THE CROSS AND CROWN. 155
MANNER 1 Does your faith make you earnest, cir
cumspect, careful, diUgent ? Exaraine what kind
of faith it is ; what it would bear ff evil befel you ;
ff the days of trial were to corae ; as they came
upon the Christians of old. Is your faith
joyfiil through hope, and rooted in obedience and
charity ? Faith in raany, slurabers, in many is in
active, and in some absolutely dead. To obtain,
then, a Hving and working (that is) a saving faith,
is to have the one great requisite for victory in the
trials and crosses which Christians raust expect;
and it is this want of true faith which makes so
many without improvement. One year is Hke the
last, one day Hke another, and that increase of
hope, and that increase in every christian grace,
which are always the fruits of the true christian faith,
which are so wanting in many that forty or fifty
years makes Httle or no difference with respect to
their reHgion. Many have just faith enough to
meet together in worship, who part to think no
thing about it. Many have just faith enough to
pray, at least to hear a prayer, who have not
enough to work out their salvation, by an inquiry
into their own hearts, by any personal self-denial,
by any painful endeavour to resist the temptations
that beset them and the corruption of their hearts.
Now what can be more obvious and plain than
that if we hope for this crown, we must pray
earnestly to him who imparts this faith to soften

156 SERMON XIV.
and purify our hearts, to open our understandings
to see the truth ; then shaU we be enabled to take
up our cross. Now to take up the cross is to do
whatsoever the word of God coraraands, however
contrary to our weakness, passions, habits, or
wishes ; it is, therefore, in some to bear patiently
the evils of life, and to seek means of reUef that
are just and right, and these only. If poverty
and want of many comforts be our cross, we live
in a land of Christians, and where the laws pro
tect, defend, and support those who are unable to
help theraselves, — not, indeed, to aU we may wish
or want, but as far as necessity demands, all that
in general cases can be given; and to bear this
cross as Christians, it is necessary that we be con
tent with what is provided. If we seek to break a
law because we think we have not our share of
good things, then we take the judgment out of
God's hands, and do what we know to be wrong,
because we fancy that what is right is not done to
us. It is want of faith in such cases that adds
guilt to sorrow, and makes want dishonourable.
If we firmly believed that the just and righteous
God disposed our lot, and knew our temptations,
and would reward our patience, and if we earnestly
prayed, would confirm our strength and give us
grace to resist temptation, — if we thus felt and
possessed this faith, want would not cause us to
murmur against the dispensations of providence,

THE CROSS AND CROWN. 157
much less break the laws of God and man. Sick
ness and sorrow are the crosses of many, and here
still raore patience and submission are required in
bearing the cross ; a confiding, patient trust and
reliance on hira whose sufferings were so much
greater than ours can be — ^faith in the promise,
that they who now go on their way weeping and
bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them —
that is, they who now beheve and trust the pro
mises of God in his holy word, though they be
sorrowful, yet if they keep their faith stedfast and
sure, and bear their trials, whatsoever they be, in
meekness and patience, shall hereafter receive the
reward of their faith, and more than they can
either hope, or desire, or conceive, as their portion
for ever, through the merits of their Redeemer.
We have, therefore, to count the cost that we may
not deceive ourselves. The Christian will have
his cross, and must not expect to be without it.
In the afflictions of this Hfe, or the temptations,
we raust look for a call for our resolution; and
where our especial cross is, there must we turn
our chief attention, and there must strive to con
quer, through the grace freely offered to us. Do
not let us concern ourselves whether our cross be
more or less endurable than that of another; do
not let us distress our minds because we believe
another has the lighter burden, for this we cannot
know.

158 SERMON XIV.
We have above all things to attend to the con
cerns of our own souls and to the means of our
own salvation ; for if strait be the gate and narrow
the way that leadeth unto life, it surely behoves
us with all our care to enter in by that gate, to
walk in that way, and resolutely to join the few
that find it. And again I say, that when you re
flect seriously upon this, that whether you be a
sincere Christian or not, some cross, some vexa
tion and disappointment, some grief or sickness
will be yours ; when you consider what the most
experienced of our brethren have declared to us,
that sorrow cannot be escaped even by prudence
or care ; that disease will reign in spite of temper
ance, and punishment will ensue where there was
no immediate crime to call for it; that alarm and
trouble vdll find us in our closest privicy, and that
our very caution may lead to the dangers we
would fly from; that what we doat upon as a
means of happiness will not bring us to the end
we look for, — the smoothest course of life has its
roughness. In fact, when we are thus informed
and thus instructed by the experience of all ages,
what should be our resolution ? Not, of course,
to forsake the world, nor to deny ourselves the
innocent and unforbidden enjoyments of life, but
our true wisdom lies in this, (and for this purpose
only we bring this catalogue of fears, sorrows,
afflictions, and temptations before you,) that as

THE CROSS AND CROWN. 159
troubles wiU come whether we choose the way
of true reUgion or not, the gain is certain ff
that blessed path be our choice. We have seen
that when torture and excruciating pain was
joined with the religion of Christianity, many in
vast numbers becarae and resolutely remained
Christians; and wUl you now decline the great
and glorious privUege, when no more danger or
sorrow, when no more pain than even the world's
pleasure itseff oftentimes causes, wUl afflict the
body or the soul of the true believer ? Surely,
then, the sincere Christian not only takes the
more wise and virtuous, but the safer, the easier,
and the happier lot.

'^ ~\

160

SERMON XV.
THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION.
1 CoR. XV. 13, 14.
" If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen ; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain and your faith is also vain."
There may be some events related in the
gospels, and some doctrines delivered by the apos
tles and evangelists, which being taken away
would occasion great loss and concern to the chris
tian believer, and yet they would not affect his
belief ; but the resurrection of our Redeemer is of
that essential, that vital iraportance, that our hope
and faith entirely depend on it. If Christ be not
risen, we preach in vain the resurrection of the
dead, and not that only, but the whole budding
of the apostles and evangelists falls with it.
The sacrifice of the death of Christ, merciful

the hope of the resurrection. 161
and gracious as the deed was, loses all its worth
and glory if it was not followed by his victory
over the grave. This may be then accounted the
most interesting event that ever the earth exhibit
ed, and the day on which it took place the most
triumphant and glorious day : " For if we be
lieve that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring
with him."
Nor need we trouble ourselves as beUevers be
cause there are some who yet say, " How are the
dead raised up, and with what body do they
come ?" even though we should not be able to
comprehend the reply of St. Paul, nor conceive
how a natural body can become spiritual or a cor
rupt and mortal being assume the glory and power
of incorruption and immortaUty ; this need not
give us concern, for as we believe in the event, and
know that the power that raised up Jesus can
effect aU things that divine wisdom and goodness
design, we have confidence in the exertion and
efficacy of that power, though we be ignorant of
the mode of its operation. We need not be
afflicted by our ignorance. If that which is sown
in dishonour be raised in glory, if that which is
sown in weakness be raised in power, it is our
comfort and happiness to rejoice in the effect of so
wonderful a cause, and to be assured that however
M

162 SERMON XV.
wonderful, it is not beyond the might Of his mar
vellous acts, nor too great for the arm of him who
is Almighty. Whether we shall live in another state of being
is to us the first and most important of all con
cerns, — ^the only one, indeed, in which aU are
equaUy concerned, — nor have we any conception
of that mind in any reasonable creatures, who
being satisfied that they must soon die are entirely
careless whether they shall live again. It is true,
we see persons live as if they were thus forgetful,
but this cannot be always, it cannot be in private,
in solitude, in sickness, and (when it may be too
late) on a death-bed. Then surely aU do earnestly
vsdsh for a state of rest and a world of comfort — a
new life, and a freedom from the pain, care, and
anguish that flesh is heir to. And such a hope
there is for all the people of God in the doctrine
of the resurrection of the dead. Of this doctrine
we have a very lively representation in the book
of the prophet Ezekiel. The prophet did not
know whether the dry bones could live, tiU the
Lord God breathed into them the spirit of life,
but he prophesied as he was commanded, and
there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the
bones came together bone to his bone, and the
sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above, but there was no breath,

THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION. 163
and the prophet prophesied as he was com
manded, " Come from the four winds, 0 breath,
and breathe upon these slain that they may
Hve ;" and then breath came into them, and they
lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great
army. Seeing, then, the vast importance of this doc
trine, it is very needful that we feel ourselves as
sured of its truth — that we firmly and constantly
believe " that there wiU be a resurrection of the
dead, both of the just and the unjust," and that
" every one shaU receive for the things done in
the body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad." Let us, then, consider that
though aU the events, miraculous or natural, in
the gospels, derive some of their proof from this,
and are made of importance to us by it, yet this is
also proved by them, and is the concluding event
of many preceding, whose truth shows us the truth
of the resurrection. This most interesting fact
has indeed proof pecuHar to itself, and it has
the general argument for aU gospel truth ; that
it is utterly impossible to account for the very
being of Christianity upon any principle which
does not admit the truth of the facts recorded
concerning Christ and the divine authority of his
mission. But I will not take up your time in speaking
further of the evidence of the resurrection of our
M 2

164 SERMON xv.
Lord. Those who disbelieve it are not, I hope,
among us, nor are they so numerous now as for
merly. Infidelity has lost ground of late years;
there was at one time a prevalence of unbelief, but
many men of acute minds and sound judgment,
friends to religion and their feUow-creatures, de
fended the faith with powerful and convincing ar
guments. Reason and devotion, Hke mercy and
truth, met together, and the advocates and abettors
of irreligion felt in their turn a shame in their
cause and a fear of its defenders.
That triumph of Christianity which we this day
commemorate- the resurrection of our Lord and
Redeemer from the holds of death — is an event so
engrossing, so almost exclusively great, that it
leaves room for but one other idea as important —
that as God hath raised- up Jesus, so also hath he
made him Judge of all the earth, and the contem
plation of the one ought to stir us up to more
earnest preparation for the other. At this season,
then, while we give the outward expressions of joy
that our Lord is risen, let us be sure that they
proceed from a really rejoicing spirit, that is as
sured of the fact and feels the blessing. It is this
assurance and feeling that are indeed the thanks
giving, when not the tongue only, but the heart,
rejoices and pays its glad tribute to the Giver of
all good, for that best good, the lively hope of
everlasting life which we have in Christ Jesus our

THE HOPE OP THE RESURRECTION. 165
Lord. It is but a little time that these outward
proofs of rejoicing can last; when we depart fi-om
this place, then the psalm ceaseth and the voice is
mute, but not therefore is the heart insensible;
there may yet remain in us the thankful and joy
ful remembrance of this great mercy, and, indeed,
without this, what is our thanksgiving, what is
our praise ? They are, Uke the exterior shows of
charity raentioned by St. Paul, as sounding brass
and tinkling cymbals, profitless and vain.
There are two descriptions of persons who by
their peculiar situations are liable to forget the
unspeakable blessing that is impUed in this hope
of a future state, — one by the present happiness
which they enjoy, the other by the present misery
which they endure. With respect to the former,
I do not mean that such persons are really happy,
but they are comparatively so, and at least are
absorbed and taken up by their perpetuaUy oc
curring engagements. The hours of the day are
fiUed up ; time does not stagnate with them ; they
have ever some caU to obey. There is the em
ployment ready for their leisure, and as soon as
one purpose is fulfilled another purpose offers
itseff. These are the more happy because more
employed, and none of that tediousness of Ufe
which so many complain of depresses them; their
spirits flow in an even tide, and the things about
them are of a nature that the mind is pleased with
6

166 SERMON XV.
the view and pursuit of, and in this state it is that
a future, a distant, an unexplained, and undefined
mode of existence has not power to catch, at least
to retain their thoughts and command attention.
This is so peculiarly their world, that it wUl not
relax its hold upon their affections and give place
to another. They have ever something to con
sider, something to do, something to enjoy, and
the mind shrinks from the contemplation of a
future state which is so different from their pre
sent, and which must be looked at through the
shades of suffering and the gloom of the vaUey of
the shadow of death. These busy and (as I said
speaking comparatively) these happy persons,
ought to bear in mind that the fleeting and fugi
tive Hfe which they now enjoy, however pleasant
it may be, must soon be over, and that however
clouded the prospect of the next world, it must be
endless ; and this one thought, when through the
grace of God it is impressed on the mind, is suffi
cient for true believers, however engaged they
now may be, to lead them to live for that life that
shall be eternal.
If we could escape another life by refusing to
think of it, that would be ingratitude and folly in
the extreme, but as we shall live again whether
we exclude it from our minds or not, it is surely
little less than madness, voluntary and guilty
madness, to shut out the view that has no bounds,

THE HOPE OP THE RESURRECTION. 167
but is, as we make it, an object the most glorious
and desirable or the most to be feared and dreaded
of aU that imagination is able to portray. And
again, this great and best hope is equaUy excluded
in many persons by their aflBictions and sorrows,
by the troubles and cares of the world. We
should naturaUy suppose that the more wretched
we are, the more disposed we should be to look
into another Hfe for conffort that we cannot find
in this; but these sorrows and troubles are pre
sent, always felt, always fiUing the mind with
darkness that it wiU not adrait the comfort of the
future, always suffiising, as it were, the eye with
tears, and hindering the view of distant deUght.
Pain urges, want presses, sickness enfeebles, or
trouble engrosses the spirit, and the cure for all
these evUs, the everlasting and glorious deUver
ance, is undistinguished in the confiision that afflic
tion causes. A man in trouble is Hke one who is
drowning in the waters of the ocean; he cannot
pierce through the waves that on aU sides over
whelm him, and though safety is near him and
one weU-directed effort would bring him to it, yet
he is perplexed by the tumult, and heartless and
hopeless in the danger. Here, then, are causes
both in our prosperity and our affliction, why eter
nity is excluded, and a resurrection of the dead
made of trifling effect ; the present good, the pre
sent evil, the pain and pleasure of the reigning

168 SERMON XV.
moment, taking possession of our minds, and turn
ing them as they wiU! Yet, rightly employed,
these, so far from being hindrances, would prove
helps to our salvation. Our very pleasures which
so engage, our very troubles which so oppress us,
might be converted into means and instruments
for promoting our everlasting happiness.
Having fixed in our minds the fact that Christ
is risen and become the first-fi-uits of them that
slept, having a firm belief that there will be a re
surrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;
we shall then enlist our fears and hopes in the
service of this persuasion. Let us consider what
the future state will be to us. It will be one of
which, though we can form no adequate concep
tion, yet we may be assured that the happiness or
affliction of this state of being has no coraparison
to what we shall then experience. It would be
well, then, if from our present condition, whatever
it be, we could draw such .reflections as would lead
us to shun the misery and pursue the happiness of
the life to come. Let us forra to ourselves a pic
ture of the deepest of earthly sorrows and the
highest of earthly joys. First, let us take youth,
health, and competence, and give them aU to one
person, who has judgment and understanding,
knowledge and feeling, taste and sensibility. Let
there be no compunction for sins committed, no
fear for punishment deserved, no grief for misfor-

THE HOPE OP THE RESURRECTION. 169
tune sustained, no sorrow for friends afflicted.
Let this happy person enjoy the beauty of a
country blessed with fertiUty, and the intercourse
of society cheerful and improving. Still further,
let us look on this favoured being as one blessed
with the friendship and enjoying the affections of
beings like himseff. I raight, perhaps, add raore
colouring to the picture, but it is already far be
yond real life, and such as though we may con
ceive we should not be able to discover. But with
all this, if it could be found, there is one considera
tion that not only overclouds, but must finaUy de
stroy, all this apparently stable felicity. It is but
the felicity of life, and depends upon life for its
being and support; what destroys life destroys it;
what vexes life and enfeebles it, lessens and debi
litates this transitory good ; sickness puts it away
for a time, and death finally levels it with the
things that have been and are not.
But let one more blessing be added to those
already mentioned ; make them permanent, make
them eternal, and what a value would it give to
that happiness ! give all these good things to
mortal man and they will be lost in his mortality,
but give them to man incorruptible and eternal
and they will be his for ever and ever. And if
the things of this life, health, strength, knowledge,
and gratified affections, — if these carried into eter
nity would render that future state most desirable.

170 SERMON XV.
what are we not to think of that sublime happi
ness, that new, undefined, incomprehensible good,
which the children of grace, the followers of the
Lamb, shaU find their inheritance, when this
natural body shall have been raised a spiritual
body, and this mortal shall have put on immor
tality. And now reverse the picture, and view a crea
ture full of sorrows and wedded to calamity, in
pain, poverty, and reproach, feeUng acutely, and
having only affliction to engage his feeUngs, de
serted where he put his trust, forsaken where he
had most affection, his senses unable to taste the
beauties and exceUencies of art or nature, his
judgment clouded by doubts and uncertainties, his
spirit vexed by enmity and resentment, the objects
of his love become the sources of his sorrow : let
us add gloom and despondency, a frowning world
without, and a troubled spirit within. This would
appear, I think, a very low state of human suf
fering, and if you vsdll add to this a sense of sin
and self-reproach, there is yet one circumstance
that could greatly diminish the evil of this state —
if it were to last no longer than our present Hfe,
if in a few years it were to be no more : but if it
were otherwise ; if we suppose a person enduring
all that darkness within, that misery without — ^aU
the anxiety and loathing of the wounded spirit —
all the sorrow and anguish of the troubled heart.

THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION. 171
and then add the horrible consideration that this
would be eternal, where is the strong and stub
born spirit that could bear such possibUity 1
Pain and reproach, grief and fear, self-condemna
tion and hopeles misery, all eternal ! And yet,
are we not told that in that state all this and
worse shall be endured ? Do we not read of
the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not
quenched ?
What manner of persons, then, brethren,
ought we to be for whom so much happiness or
so much misery may be allotted !— the glory that
eye hath not seen, or the remorse that never ends,
the happiness that surpasses iraagination, or the
fire that is never quenched, the delight that is not
to be disturbed, or the torment that is not to be
aUayed !
This is the alternate view of happiness and
misery in this world and the next. Let your
earnest attention be given to it ; reflect on the
certainty of death and of the resurrection from
the dead. Christ is risen, so we shall rise. Let
it be our care so to live that we may die in
hope that we shall rise to glory. So we shall,
if the Spirit that was in Jesus dwell in us ; for
St. Paul has shown us that if we have indeed that
Spirit — ^if we be his who bought us by his blood,
and brought assurance of hope by his resurrection
from the grave — ^he will also quicken our mortal

172 SERMON XV.
bodies by the same Spirit, and that if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, so them also that
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

173

SERMON XVI.

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE.
Habak. iii. 17, 18.
" 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 oif from
the field, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I
will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal
vation." There is, perhaps, no one subject in all the
sacred Scriptures which either by precept or ex
araple is introduced more frequently than afflic
tion and its religious comforts. As every man is
born to trouble, every man is in need of consola
tion, and therefore it concerns him to know where
chiefly it is to be found. That there is a very
large and even portion of grief raight be proved
from many arguments ; but I pass them by, and
leave those to contradict the assertion who are

174 SERMON XVI.
certain of their happiness. In our most fond and
liveliest satisfaction, in the meetings of convi
viality, in the seats of splendour, at the boards of
festivity, we may safely appeal to each other if we
do not often pause and reflect, when the heart re
volting, asks, if this be joy ? But was there ever
a time, when in the dwelUngs of misery, by the
bed of anguish, in the habitation of want, by the
side of affliction,— in all these was there ever oc
casion for the mind to hesitate, the heart to in
quire, if this be sorrow 1 No — ^pleasure may be
thus far imaginary that it flies away when we at
tempt to analyze and grasp it, but pain and
sorrow is real, and wiU not vanish at the aUure-
ments of fancy or the dictates of reason. It be
comes us, then, in this common malady, to seek a
coramon alleviation, and this the prophet presents
to us in the words of our text, " Yet will I rejoice
in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salva
tion." In a prayer to God, he describes the terri
ble consequences of his anger, and speaks of him
self as greatly affected by the representation ; he
trembled in himself, and wished for rest in the day
of trouble ; but yet he immediately, in the words
of the text, declared his full trust and confidence
in his God, and his resolution in distress of every
kind not only to abide patiently in the Lord, but
to rejoice and have joy in the Rock of his sal
vation.

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE. 175
Such are the thoughts and purposes of all good
and faithful Christians; conscious of their own
weakness, they will pray for times of consolation
and repose ; but conscious, also, of the strength of
faith and the enduring mercies of God, they wiU
not murmur in the times of trouble, but rejoice in
their God, even in days of trial and affliction. If
the days of prosperity and comfort return, they
wiU be (like Job) exaraples of rewarded trust and
resignation, but if their afflictions endure as long
as Hfe, then will they repose and die with confi
dence in the power and promise of their Father in
heaven. I would endeavour, in the first place, to show
that in times of distress such as the prophet so
powerfuUy describes, all earthly consolations and
aU that can be suggested to the grieving spirit,
that is not drawn from a rehgious source, is of
very smaU value and answers no end effectually ;
and secondly, to describe what are the comforts
afforded by rehgious principles ; and in pursuance
of the subject, I would represent the contrast be
tween the consolations of piety and those which
the world can bestow, upon such as look to them
for aid in the days of sorrow and calamity.
First, then, what are the comforts which you
can draw from this world, suppose you to be in
trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other ad
versity ? WiU you say that the hope of better

176^ SERMON XVI.
times will take away the evils of the present ?
No — nor even the certainty of better times, though
indeed it would bring relief, could not altogether
banish the reigning sorrow; but where is such
certainty ? We can only hope in our distresses,
and worldly hope is soon faint and weary and dies
away on any little addition to our care and trou
ble. That other persons are afflicted is sometimes
offered as comfort to us, but we must have evU
and envy in our minds if a neighbour's affliction
will bring us relief; if this brings any alleviation,
it is of a sinful kind, and more likely in the end to
add to our burden than to make it lighter. Some
persons in their affliction have recourse to the
pleasures of sensuality, to intoxication, and the
means of turning away the raind from suffering
and sorrow; but besides the increase of guilt
which arises from such indulgences of the senses,
there are intervals of thought, when the sufferings
are rendered doubly severe, and all that was
gained in a few hours of unlawful pleasures is re
paid by a large increase of painful and tormenting
reflections. The pity of friends can but little avaU
us in our sorrows, even when we do not feel dis
pleasure on account of it ; but there are persons
under trouble whose pride leads them to disdain
all pity and compassion from others ; but whether
we are offended or not by such appearances of re
gard, we know they cannot much avail us ; yet to

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE. 177
be pitiful and courteous St. Peter hath told us, and
Job could even ask for it. " Have pity upon me,
oh, my fi-iends, for the hand of God hath touched
me." But, then, the pity Job begged for was only
this, that his friends would not misjudge and
trouble him. If, then, worldly comforts fail us, it
will be wisdom to learn how far those of reHgion
will contribute to our reUef; stiU premising that
we are in distress, " that the fig-tree doth not
blossom, neither is any fi-uit in the vine," reHgion
then gives us this comfort, that if our troubles be
distressing they wiU not be so long. The short
ness of Iffe, which is often a painful consideration
to the happy, holds out a cheerful view to the
weary and heavy-laden Christian; faith has no
terrors when it looks at the grave, because it can
always look beyond it. Year after year the nearer
approach to an eternal home is always consolation
to the rehgious mind in its affliction. ' So much of
my sorrowful Iffe is passed, so many of my days of
distress are over ; a little time and I shaU He
down in peace, to suffer no more, but wake in
glory.' Again, there is this great benefit in a state of
worldly distress, or any kinds of sorrow, to which
the faithfiil in this their state of trial Hke others
must be subject; that the world being shut out
fi-om the soul, aU the comforts of faith and reli
gious hope more readily and feeUngly enter.
N

178 SERMON XVI.
Then it is, as we are taught in the book of Job,
•' we acquaint ourselves with God;" then " thou
shalt have delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift
up thy face unto thy God." It is of such rehgious
persons our Lord spake : " Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted ;" and St. Paul
said, " Blessed be the God of all comfort, who hath
comforted us in our tribulations, that we may
be able also to comfort them in trouble." We
also read in St. John that our sorrow shall be
turned into joy, and St. Peter writeth, that " be
lieving in Christ ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory ;" and of old it was sung, " He
that soweth in tears shall reap in joy." Can we
wonder, then, that the Christian, in sorrow, sick
ness, and trouble, should look so earnestly that
way whence his help cometh, and that earnestly
looking he should both see and feel it ? This is
the time for effectual prayer and the comfort of
true piety : Is any in trouble let him pray ;
not that prayer should not be a resource at all
times, but that in trouble prayer is an especial
remedy, and in itself a support and comfort. At
such times men seem to be forsaken of the world,
and therefore more especiaUy lift up their eyes to
the God of consolation ; then, too, is the time when
the higher and hoUer thoughts which arise fi-om
true faith and trust in the Redeemer, have their
pure and divine influence — the happiness of heaven,
6

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE. 179
though not revealed, is beUeved ; " it doth not yet
appear," St. John saith, " what we shaU be, but we
shaU be like him, (our Lord,) and shaU see him as
he is — who shall say, " Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you."
Such words then make their strong impression ;
they do not just enter in at the ear and pass
away; and the saying of the prophet also will
then have its due weight, who is speaking of the
glory to come : " The inhabitants of that place shall
not say I am sick, and the people that dwell there
shaU be forgiven their iniquity;" there sorrow and
sighing shaU flee away ; there " the sun no more
shall be thy light by day, neither shall the moon
give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto
thee an everlasting Hght, and thy God, thy glory."
These are the words and these the comforts and
meditations of the religious mind, in the seasons of
trouble, sickness, and adversity, and you wiU judge
whether the world can boast any such consola
tions. Now, as was proposed, let us compare the state
of mind in the two kinds of persons in their dis
tresses, because in those the world is sometimes
not without its consolations and assistance, -with
respect to the comforts which may be occasionally
found in this world. No man has opinion of sin
and error, but that he incHnes to assist and re-
Heve the upright and conscientious ; even the
N 2

180 SERMON XVI.
wicked do not favour the persons lUte themselves,
but rather show (if not a partiality and love for)
yet a respect and regard for such as live vir
tuously. The evU, then, and unjust, in their
troubles have not the consolation of friends to
support them ; at least they have not the same
likeUhood of acquiring them. Again, men's good
spirits, given by nature, are a support in some
cases and at sorae times ; but it is not likely that
these strong and Hvely spirits should bear them
up at such seasons of affliction, if they are not
supported also by the answer of a good conscience,
and reliance upon a merciful God. The high
spirits of strong health fail in the days of con
tinued and repeated trouble, in the nights of pain,
in the hours of reflection, on the opproach of want,
and the prospect of death ; but the pious have a
support which cannot fail, that is, sincere faith.
Nor does their native strength of mind, if they
possess it, their cheerfulness, and the comfort of a
kind and social temper, leave them in their ad
versity ; they not only live, but they die cheer
fully ; their spirits rise when the joy and gladness
of the sinful and negligent turn to melancholy, re
morse, and despair. It would instruct numbers
who dread the times of adversity, if they could
see how religious minds not only supported the
weight, but could rejoice beneath it.
Again, as I have already mentioned, devout

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE. 181
persons draw comfort from the shortness of life ;
but what can the wicked see in the prospect but
misery increasing ? The shortness of life is so far
from comfort, that they can but wish their past
days, evil as they have been, and productive of
evil, to return again — in all their guilt, with all
their misery ; nay, they can bear the present
sorrow better than their fears for their state here
after. And what a miserable situation is that,
wherein being now in affliction and distress, we
yet look forward, not with a Hvely hope of relief,
but with a foreboding fear of additional anguish ;
here, in the present life, the thought, is terrible
and the feehngs oppressive, but there, in the life
to come, the worm dieth not, ahd the fire is not
quenched. Hence it is, that his misery to the
wicked man increases his love for Hfe, as the
gamester's ill luck makes him raore eager in his
ruin ; both are desperate, and depend on irapro-
babilities and hope, where no reasonable prospect
for it can be indulged. But a rehgious man knows
what he has to depend upon ; he trusts his peace
to no accident, he looks only to that hope which
the chances of life and the capriciousness of for
tune cannot take away.
Another great distinction between the troubles
of the religious and the unrepenting is this, that
the wicked more commonly bring their troubles
upon themselves ; they are then to him not so

182 SERMON XVI.
much trials as punishments, not to prove what he
can do, but to convince him of what he has done :
but the afflictions and troubles of the rehgious and
devout person are really trials, and will conduce
to his present or his eternal welfare. Another
source of comfort is, from the reflection that such
persons have, when they think of their inter
course and dealings with whomsoever they have
had concern or relation, they have deliberately in
jured none, and are thus spared remorse of con
science ; to some they have been kind and bene
volent, and hence a measure of comfort ; they
have meted rightly, and it wUl in large measure
be dealt to them again. Now the injuries to his
fellow-creatures is one great cause of disquiet to
the mind of him who has done evil ; his misery is
his own, his own conduct brought it upon him, his
own crimes were the purchase : from this con
sideration must arise anxious, fruitless, and miser
able thoughts ; passionate and lamentable, but
unavaiUng complaints.
There is one more point of view in which we
will place both these persons, and that is, on the
bed of sickness, at the hour of death, and let both
be poor in circurastances, both in some degree of
pain, friendless, and without effectual support ;
with no worldly comforts, with no outward pro
spects of aUeviation or redress, much less of
recovery from sickness ; though alUce in aU things

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE. 183
relating to this Iffe, or arising fi-om it, or terminat
ing in it, yet they are as widely differing, as fancy
can paint or experience verify — ^for in the one the
sinful unrepenting unconverted man is a principle
depraved and sensual, and a prospect hopeless
and miserable ; and, in the other, a principle of
faith and rectitude, and a prospect of boundless
feUcity and glory.
Let things be thus considered, and aU who will
make use of their judgment wiU surely choose the
better part, but our great and general error is,
that so few judge that to be true of themselves
which is not told particularly of them ; a general
description does not affect them, and a particular
one who shaU give 1 All this death-bed scenery
appears to many Ught and inconsiderate minds
like the account of some far distant, some duU,
some uninteresting, country, and they cooUy look
at a view of traveUers passing through it ; but, on
the contrary, it should be as the just description
of that place to which we aU must come, and to
which so many of us are almost immediately
coming — ^the land wherein is the shadow of death,
the situation in which is the prospect of eternity.
And in that land, and in that situation, if we com
pare the varying states of Hfe, that of prosperity
and adversity, plenty and want, what is the differ
ence ? Then let us learn to estimate rightly our
best wealth, and never be wiUing to pay a vast

184 SERMON XVI.
price (the peace of our conscience, and the salva
tion of our soul,) for so miserable a purchase as
any sensual pleasure or earthly advantage. Be
warned to escape the miseries which at that awful
time are so hard to be borne, the pangs of a
wounded spirit, the terrors of foreboding fear, that
when the evil days be coming, you may be easy,
nay, happy, in your reflections, and the peace of
God may dwell in your heart.
Not raany of us can live long, a few winters'
cold, a few summers' suns ! yet another time for
sowing, yet another harvest, and all is over. And
shall we for these, for so little, be so very careful,
and yet let our eternal interest, our first and great
concern, pass from our rainds as if it were of less
value, and even below our consideration ? Sup-^
pose the continuance of life be what you may
reasonably expect, or what you unreasonably look
for, still the end must come. Now is the time to
choose whether you will make it miserable or
happy. Wise and blessed are they who wiU take
their thoughts from the world and its advantages,
to look at the past, wherein friends have departed,
and neighbours are almost forgotten, to look both
backward and forward in the stream of time, tiU
at length they can fix the mind and heart upon
that ocean of eternity which we were created to
possess, though unable to conceive. If we would
do this earnestly and frequently, as it ought to be

CONSOLATION IN TROUBLE. 185
done, it would help to rectify numbers of our
opinions and estimations that are injurious to us ;
we should learn to look calmly on this world, and
most earnestly on a better, so that in times of
prosperity, and when, as we say, fortune smiles
upon us, we should not be seduced into foUy, and
in times of adversity, when she fi-owns, we should
never be driven to despair, but can take up the
exultation of the prophet, " Although the fig-tree
shaU not blossom, neither shaU fi:-uit be in the
vines, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in
the God of my salvation."

186

SERMON xvn.
THE HOLY COMMUNION.
1 CoR. X. 16.
" The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the commu
nion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break,
is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1"
The word communion means feUowship, the
common participation of anything ; and in this
particular case the general receiving among be
lievers of the bread and wine, which are the repre
sentations and emblems of Christ's body which
was given, and of his blood which was shed for
us. By the religious participation of these we
show forth his death and passion until his coming
again. The explanation of this sacrament is given in
the catechism, which explanation, as far as it
goes, is just and exceUent ; but its extreme bre
vity in some points requires a fiirther elucidation

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 187
and enlargement. As it was intended to be com
mitted to memory, it is necessarily short ; but this
necessity in some degree enforces another, and
renders it expedient for us to dweU upon some of
the subjects which are connected with a rite of so
much importance as the sacrament of the Supper
of the Lord. StiU it is the catechism that I shaU
make the foundation of aU that I have to observe,
and wiU begin with the question which there in
troduces the subject, " What meanest thou by this
word sacrament ?"
The answer is, " I raean an outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given unto
us, ordained by Christ himseff as a means whereby
we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us
thereof" It foUows, then, that there are two parts in a
sacrament, the outward a'nd visible sign, and the
inward and spiritual grace.
Now this definition of a sacrament excludes cer
tain other rites and forms which the Church of
Rome has received as sacraments, namely, confir
mation, penance, holy orders, matrimony, and ex
treme unction, which, as our 25th article ex
presses it, are " such as have grown partly out of
corrupt foUowing of the apostles, and pai-tly are
states of life which are aUowed in the Scriptures?
but which have not like nature with the sacra
ments of baptism and the Lord's supper," that is.

188 SERMON XVII.
they have not an outward and visible sign of an
inward and spiritual grace, and ordained by Christ
himseff. The two which answer to this definition are
baptism and the Supper of the Lord. It is this
last which at the present calls for our most serious
attention. Again, it is asked in the catechism,
" Why was the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
ordained ?" and the answer is, " For the continual
remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ,
and of the benefits which we receive thereby."
This is in conformity with what our Lord himself
has said, " Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in
remembrance of me ;" and thus doing, we are told
that we show forth the Lord's death till he come.
This is one reason for the observance pf this ordi
nance. It is an act of obedience and gratitude ;
and a second is because 'of the benefits which we
receive in this act of duty. If, then, by a partici
pation of this sacrament, we both receive benefits
to our souls, and perform an act of thanksgiving
and obedience to our Lord and Redeemer, how is
it to be accounted for that comparatively few
among our brethren are partakers of the holy
coraraunion ? There is reason to believe that
many serious but fearful persons have been de
terred by the apparently severe denunciation of
the apostle, that they who eat and drink unwor
thily, eat and drink damnation to themselves, not

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 189
considering the Lord's body ; but this has been
explained in books and tracts written upon the
subject, and learned people have assured us that the
word which our translators render " damnation,"
means in this place not the final award, but judg
ment or condemnation in this world, as the apostle
says, " For this cause many are weak and sickly
among you, and many sleep."
Perhaps it may appear to some that this expla
nation was given for the sake of some timid
Christians who have consciences that are easily
offended ; but they may be assured that it is not
so. This explanation of the word is the true one ;
nor would such men as have thus explained it
have on any consideration stepped aside from the
very truth, nor done anything wrong that good
might come of it. Archbishop Seeker was one
of these ; and there were others equaUy care
ful and conscientious, so that we may rest satis
fied that St. Paul meant no more than that kind
of condemnation which the faults of eating and
drinking so irreverently as he describes brought
upon those who did so in the present world.
And another reason why such apprehensions
should be laid aside is, that no such fault is ever
committed among ourselves ; we may indeed have
a coldness and want of inward sanctity and reve
rence, but none assuredly have that outward levity
and disorder which the apostie condemns, so that

190 SERMON XVII.
with respect to our congregations that part of the
epistle which relates to this circumstance has no
other reference than as it serves for a general
admonition to us aU, that we go to the Lord's
table with reverence and godly fear, with solemn
consideration of the act which we are about to
perform. But though it may be true that the
idea of this tremendous danger in the unworthy
participation of the holy communion may have
kept, and still may keep, some part of our congre
gation from the performance of this duty, yet that
cannot be the sole cause of backwardness, for
many absent themselves from the communion who
do not fear after the manner of the weak and
apprehensive Christian. What, then, are the rea
sons of their omitting a duty enjoined, and re
fusing a benefit offered to them ? In some I
believe this is a cause, that they feel conscious
that on the whole their way of life, their daily
manners and habits, are not those of the true and
earnest believer ; and they are kept from the duty
not so much by fear of punishment — for if that
were true they would be afraid on account of their
habitual disobedience — ^but they look upon the
receiving the holy sacrament as a kind of pledge
and proraise of a more serious and religious life
than that which they now live ; and as they can
not with full heart and mind purpose to lead such
life, they are loth to perform an act which in some

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 191
degree pledges them to it. The foUy and weak
ness of such way of reasoning is evident ; these
persons neglect to perform a solemn duty because
they have no mind at present to Hve in conformity
with it, and so they vriU forbear what is right
lest it should be a reproof to them afterwards ;
they would be consistently careless, and not obey
in one particular, for fear their own consciences
should compel them to be obedient in others.
Such is the rash and dangerous neglect of those
who, knowing what is the right way, wUl not enter
in because they cannot in their hearts resolve to
proceed. We know there are some even serious persons
who defer this duty of receiving the holy sacra
ment tUl a later period of their Hves, when they
shaU be more disengaged fi-om the business, cares,
and duties of the present world ; but this is most
unreasonable and wrong. For one design of our
receiving is the strengthening and refi?eshing of
the soul ; this then is lost, just at the very time
when it is most wanted, amid the temptations
that continuaUy beset us. Seldom do we more
stand in need of the strength thus received, than
when we are engaged by the very things which
prevent our seeking it in this way ; for the de
vout observance of this duty would greatly aid us
to withstand temptation, and tend to preserve us

192 SERMON XVII.
frora the errors and frailties to which, amidst the
busy occupations of the world, we are so Hable.
To return : we are further instructed on this
subject in the catechism as follows : " What is the
outward part or sign in the Lord's Supper ?" and
" What is the inward part or thing signified ?"
Of the former of these questions we have now
no need to speak. The answer to the latter is,
" The body and blood of Christ, which are verily
and indeed taken and received by the faithful in
the Lord's Supper."
When it is said that the body and blood of
Christ are verily and indeed taken and received,
the meaning is, that the benefits of them, of the
crucifixion of that body, and the shedding of that
blood, are so received. But you wiU ask, ' Why
not then so express it ?'
The reason is, that the compUers of our Liturgy
thought it to be right to abide by the words of
our Redeemer, and rather to hazard some small
obscurity than to deviate frora them ; but a recol
lection of our Lord's own words under the circum
stances, in which he partook of the passover with
his disciples, will convince us that by the body
and blood of Christ must be signified the benefits
of his passion, and these only. For when the
Lord said, presenting the bread, " Take, eat, this
is my body ;" and when offering the cup, he

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 193
added, " Drink ye all of this, for this is ray blood
of the New Testament which is shed for you, and
for many, for the remission of sins ; do this as oft
as ye shaU drink it in remembrance of me."
When our Lord thus spake, he was with his disci
ples personaUy, and therefore his meaning could
not by them be misunderstood, namely, " This bread
and this wine are emblems and signs of my body
and blood, and by means of these you and aU the
faithful hereafter may show forth my death, and
be partakers of aU the benefits of my sacrifice.'
The question that foUows is this, " What are
the benefits which we receive thereby ?" and it is
answered, " The strengthening and refreshing of
our souls by the body and blood of Christ, as our
bodies are by the bread and wine." By the
strengthening and refi-eshing of our souls is meant
the establishing them in all virtue and godliness
of Hving, and the enUvening and comforting them
in aU trials and afflictions ; and our purpose is to
learn how this confirmation and support are to be
derived. The answer is, By a Hvely faith in the
sacrifice which we are thus commemorating, and
by a due preparation for the discharge of the
duty ; and this leads to the last and most im
portant question in our church catechism, " What
is required of those who come to the Lord's Sup
per ?" The answer we will consider in its several
parts, and first, they are " to examine themselves 0

194 SERMON XVII.
whether they repent them truly of their former
sins." This is the first step in our preparation,
and they only can think it an easy one who have
not yet tried it. If the question were addressed to
us individually. Have you repented truly of your
former sins ? it would assuredly be to many a
startling question, whUe to others it would admit
a ready, and in many cases a cheerful reply, for
they know and feel that they have truly repented.
This must be left, however, to every one's own
conscience ; we cannot know how it is with an
other, neither ought we to judge when we cannot
determine, and when, if we could, we can do no
more than advise, and show the sin and danger of
living without repentance.
The subject of repentance is one of too much
importance, and is too complicated for us to dis
cuss fully at the present time. AU that I can
now do is earnestly to recommend it to your most
anxious consideration, whether you have truly re
pented or not, whether, at any period of your
life, you have been struck with alarm by any
event on account of your sins, or by any other
means have been brought to reflect upon them ;
your sins against God, your neighbour, and your
self ; your impiety and neglect of the soul's wel
fare ; your deliberate injustice or want of bene
volence and charity ; your intemperance, or too
exclusive self-love and self-indulgence. If these.

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 195
or other offences, are on record against you, your
conscience also bearing witness that you are verily
and indeed guilty, we must not only say to you
in the words of the exhortation of our Church,
" Repent, or come not to that holy table," but re
pent, or hope not to enter into life eternal.
It is not, however, Hkely that persons whose
consciences are burdened with gross and scandalous
offences, would in general presume to join the
more serious part of a congregation in an act of
duty held in so much reverence as this holy sacra
ment. The repentance to which those who arc
reaUy awakened and earnest are exhorted is, a
devout and sober reflection upon the infirmities
and omissions which they are conscious of, and
which their habit of seff-examination readily pre
sents to their memory, and their seriousness and
real piety make them feel with sorrow and seff-
reproach. In regard of their duty to God, they
may have to lament that they have had irregular,
presumptuous, or degrading thoughts of him ; that
they have been forgetful or negligent, or that
doubts and unbeUef have entered into their minds.
As to their duty to mankind, though they cannot
be guUty of deUberate cruelty, injustice, or of in
juring with design the body or soul of their
neighbour, yet they may have given way to hard
thoughts, uttered impatient expressions, or been
guilty of other inconsiderate offences ; and
0 2

196 SERMON XVII.
as respects themselves, though they raay have
been free from grosser vices, yet they may have
been too self-indulgent ; may have thought too
highly of themselves, or what relates to them
selves ; may have yielded to the suggestions of
vanity, or entered with too much eagerness into
their pursuits, or pleasure, or profit ; and these,
or like offences, are the subjects for painful reflec
tion and sincere repentance in those who would
go to this sacrament, and would not go without
real preparation.
There is next required of us a stedfast purpose
to lead a new life, that is, a godly and consistent
life ; and this indeed is included, strictly speak
ing, in repentance for the past ; for if our repent
ance be true, it will unquestionably cause and
confirm in us a resolution to forsake everything
that is displeasing to God. We are moreover re
quired " to have a lively faith in God's mercy
through Christ." Hardly any one, perhaps, would
come to the Lord's table, or into his church,
without some kind of belief in the truth of reli
gion ; but this is not to be confounded with the
lively faith that is here spoken of, which is an
humble and earnest reliance on the promises of
God, which are given to us in our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is added, " With a thankfiil remem
brance of his death." This we shall have in pro
portion as we think of, and are impressed by, this

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 197
important subject. If we do not love to meditate
upon the Saviour's sufferings, upon their design
and consequences to the world and to ourselves,
we shaU not feel that lively interest in them which
wiU make us sincerely and heartily thankful ;
and it is to stir up within us such devout and
grateful sensations that we are caUed to prayer,
or admonished to read in the gospels of what
Christ underwent for the sius of the world.
" To be in perfect charity with all men," is the
last mentioned requisite for a fit communicant ; a
duty which we find more light or severe, accord
ing to our difference of temper or disposition ; for
some are of so easy a nature that they do not feel
it very trying to forgive, and some are by nature
so vindictive as to feel the duty of forgiveness one
of the most difficult that they have to perform.
But of the duty itseff no one can question who re
members our Lord's precepts, " I say unto you.
Love your enemies, bless them which curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
that despitefuUy use you and persecute you. For
if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither wUl
your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses."
Thus does our blessed Lord command the duty
of forgiveness of injuries, and upon the general
subject of showing kindness and charity towards
all men, we have many simUar injunctions, as, for
instance, " Give to him that asketh thee, or from

198 SERMON XVII.
him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
away." " And as ye would that men should do
to you, do ye also to them likewise." Such, then,
is the preparation required of those who come
to the Lord's Supper. Such also is the prepara
tion for a life of hohness and virtue, and such is
the preparation for a death-bed of peace, resigna
tion, and comfort.

199

SERMON XVIII.

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY.

1 Pet. V. 6.

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you in due time."
It is not an easy thing to be truly humble, but
it is a very easy and common thing to express a
humihty that is not true. The difference between
true and false humility is not in appearance : so
far as it is expressed by outward and visible signs,
the one may resemble the other in a great raea
sure. To say that we are poor vile and miserable
offenders, may be an act of humility of either
kind ; to kneel down and solemnly beg forgive
ness is becoraing, natural, and proper ; to appear
dejected and sorrowful, repentant and abased, is
the part of one who is conscious of sin and un
worthiness, and I might go on and point out

200 SERMON XVIII.
many other tokens of penitence and humility, but
StiU none of these, nor all together, are proofs of
that humbled spirit which Christianity requires,
and which is so well pleasing in the sight of our
Creator. The distinction is, that humility in the one case,
the false humUity, goes no further than the tokens
and expressions, and, in the other the true ; it
proceeds from a contrite spirit, and is accom
panied, not only by sincere repentance, but by
" works meet for it," by unfeigned sorrow for sin
and earnest amendment of life. False humUity
produces false security ; for it is very natural for
those who think they are hurable in heart, when
they are only hurable in manner and form, to
think also they are secure when they are only
confident. We must, therefore, guard against this deceit
of false security and all our too confident hopes
and unscriptural expectations by careful inspec
tion of our hearts, vigilance in our conduct, and
judgment of ourselves, which are so necessary for
all who would be truly humble. True christians
are so far from being presuming and confident, that
they even lose the recollection of their good works
in the sense of their sins and omissions. " When
saw we thee an hungered, or thirsty, or sick, or in
prison?" is described as the language of the
righteous by our Lord in his representation of the
6

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 201
judgment-day, they are sensible of many sins and
infirmities, though not of habitual and obstinate
transgressions. Thence true Christians are always
more disposed to look at the dark than the bright
side of their conduct. They do not flatter thera
selves with a few duties imperfectly performed,
but rather lament that imperfection and the neg
lect of numberless opportunities of growing in
grace and goodness. When, therefore, the Chris
tian's heart would represent his conduct as meri
torious, he corrects its vanity by a more just
account. If your heart should lay before you
your duties performed, your temptations resisted,
your particular acts of piety and your general
good conduct, and if you are tempted to draw
any vain or presumptuous confidence from this,
you must consider, on the other hand, the duties
neglected or sHghtly fiilfiUed, the temptations not
resisted, or in part compHed with, the coldness
and wavering of your rehgious affections, and all
the errors, wanderings, and finalities of your Hfe.
There is no one who duly considers and weighs
himseff in a fair balance but must know and feel
his multipUed deficiencies. No one who looks
within hiraself wiU stand or be wiUing to stand by
his own merits ; the deeper he looks, the raore
he wUl find of weakness and sin, and he wUl be
more incUned (even if his life be more than com
monly reputable or clean) to despair of mercy for

202 SERMON XVIII.
his provocations than to hope for acceptance with
out it. There have been proud and reasoning
sinners who, on balancing (in their way) the good
and evil of their conduct, not only acquit, but
applaud themselves for an overplus of good works ;
but you wiU not find a true Christian doing this ;
he is too deeply sensible of his sinfulness and
weakness, the good suggestions which he has neg
lected, the evil ones which he has followed ; he is
sensible, not only of the outward acts by which
he has displeased God, but of a naturaUy corrupt
and slothful wUl ; he remembers his backward
ness and disinclination to pray, his many and idle
delays, the imperfection of his best doings, his secret
pride, sensuality, obstinacy, or perverseness. AU
this and much more is perceived in hiraself by the
humble and self-abasing Christian ; but the self-
acquitting moralist passes over aU this, he looks
to an act of sin which it may be he calls frailty,
and to an act of benevolence which he thinks
meritorious, and so he draws a balance in his
favour, and thinks, nay, is most confident, that he
stands securely beyond the reach of danger.
That you raay see the deceitful nature of this
false security, and the truly humble spirit of a
believer who works out his salvation with fear
and trembUng, with pious and patient spirit.
Consider the exaraples of good and holy men of
old. Abraham, the father of nations, a righteous

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 203
as well as a mighty man ; highly revered by his
feUow-creatures, highly favoured of Almighty God,
chosen and called for an especial purpose, — ^this
holy and venerable person, in his own opinion,
was a poor and sinful creature. " Behold," said
he, " I have taken upon me to speak unto the
Lord which am but dust and ashes." And this,
after he had received such favours and honours,
that no prince on earth had the least pretension
to be his equal. So humble a spirit has true
piety. What did Jacob say when, after many
years of hard and personal servitude, he was tra
veUing with his flocks and herds, his wives and
children, his many possessions and great house
hold, aU which many would have said were the
fi-uit of his own industry and care ; but he knew
better what they were and said, " 0 God of ray
father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, I
am not worthy of the least of aU thy mercies and
of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy
servant." Of the deep humility and exemplary
patience of Job we all know ; for though he per
sisted in affirming his righteousness, yet that was
not to justify himseff before God as a man who
had never offended, but it was an argument
against his accusers, in which he asserted that no
private sins, no hypocritical wickedness, as they
supposed, had brought the heavy judgments of
the Almighty upon him, but unto God he saith.

204 SERMON XVIII.
" I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, 0
thou preserver of men ;" " I abhor myseff and
repent in dust and ashes." Of the humbled feel
ings of David and Solomon we may be perfectly
assured by reading the Psalms and the books of
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes ; and everywhere in the
Word of God, self-abasement and humility, a
lowly and contrite spirit, are spoken of as among
the signs of a true and faithful servant of God,
while pride and self-righteousness are joined with
folly and wickedness, both in their nature and in
their punishment.
But it is in the blessed gospel that we see both
by precept and exaraple the true spirit of the
humble man. By precept thus, — " Blessed are
the meek," — " the poor in spirit," — " Whosoever
shall humble himself, (truly, that is, from his
heart) shall be exalted," — " Whosoever shall hum
ble himself as a Httle child, the same is great," —
" When ye have done aU, say we are unprofitable
servants." This last declaration applies very
strongly to our present subject, for you find if aU
we can do were done, we are unprofitable ; how
much then are we less than this ? how worthless
the best of us, for who has done all he might
have done ? which of us has taken every occasion
of doing good ? which of us has not taken any
occasion of doing evil ? are we not worse than
unprofitable ? what are our merits ? what is our

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 205
righteousness ? where is the support we have
provided ourselves that we may stand in the day
of judgment ?
But see also this humble spirit exemplified by
the foUowers of Jesus. " Depart from me," said
St. Peter, " I am a sinful man, 0 Lord." It is
true that this apostle in an unguarded hour,
elated with the high distinction which had been
conferred on him a Httle before, took upon him to
be wiser than his Master and to rebuke him ; and
on another occasion he showed too much confi
dence in his own stedfastness and attachment to
his Lord, when he declared himseff ready to go
with him in spite of aU opposition, and even to
die in his corapany. We all know what sad ex
perience he soon had of his own weakness ; but
we know too how deeply he was humbled, and
how bitterly he wept for his presuraption.
Again, — ^there is nothing perhaps which could
give a raan greater conceit of his own hohness
than the power of working miracles. The disci
ples of our blessed Saviour had this power, yet
you do not see in them anything of pride or seff-
justification on account of it. When Peter and
John had cured the cripple who had been laid
at the gate of the temple, we find them thus
addressing the wondering multitude, — " Why
marvel ye at this ? or why look ye so earnestly
on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we had made this man to walk ?"

206 SERMON XVIII.
St. Paul, who was so eminent for his labours
and sufferings, and for " the abundance of the re
velations" which he received of the Lord, writes
thus of himself, — " Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given ;" and
when on one occasion he was, for his argument
sake, in a manner forced to commend himself, he
adds a remark on the folly and vain glory of all
such things, — " I speak as a fool," saith he ; " ye
constrain me." " If we confess our sins," saith
St. John, " God is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We have now, it is hoped, sufficiently seen the
necessity of true humbleness of mind, of the godly
fear and reverential awe that it behoves us to
have if we would be Christians indeed, so that we
may learn how necessary it is for us, if we think
we stand, to take heed how we stand — to be sure
that our confidence is well-placed — that we are
not presumptuous and self-righteous like the Pha
risee, but penitent self-accusers as the poor pub
lican, yet not only self-accusers and penitent, but
self-correctors, and bringing forth fi:-uit meet for
repentance. It may perhaps appear to some, that
in conderaning self-righteousness we are speaking
of an error that is by no means coraraon, for that
in general, men are ready enough to confess their
sins, and to own themselves unfruitful and un
profitable servants, and to trust in the merits and

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 207
mercies of their Saviour. Our pubUc confession,
it may be thought, will prove this, — nay, when
ever there is any conversation upon the subject,
we always hear, above aU things, this confession,
that aU are sinners before God. All are ready
to acknowledge that they " have done the things
which they ought not to have done, and have
left undone the things which they ought to have
done, and that there is no health in them." All
this is true. We repeat this often, every sabbath
most of us, and some much oftener ; but still this
confession so fuU, so deeply humble, is it not often
made by the most presumptuous and the most
careless, by those who regard not one word of all
they are saying ?
What, my brethren, are mere words ? It is
the mind, the wiU, the understanding, the affec
tions that make these an act of devotion, or an
act of presumption. Thousands who repeat this
humbhng form are yet standing on their own lofty
ground, are Pharisees in heart, with the words of
the publican.
See, then, that your confession is from the
heart, that your repentance is sincere, your faith
real and earnest, not a cold Hfeless consent to the
articles of a creed, but an humble and stedfast
reUance on the merits of your Redeemer. Think
with gratefiil remembrance of all that he has
done and suffered for a sinful world, and that all

208 SERMON XVIII.
this has been done for you, that though miUions
of your fellow-sinners be saved by his sacrifice,
yet the blessed effect on you is just the same as
if he had suffered for you alone ; and if so, how
great ought your thankfulness to be ! Let your
reflection on the evil of your life, and the evU of
your nature, and your sorrow on account of these,
be effectual in leading you resolutely to contend
against them. No one who truly strives to serve
God but must feel the perpetual opposition of his
rebellious nature, his sinfiil desires, his doubts and
fears, the unwillingness of his heart for this holy
work; and while he feels this evil bias, he cannot
but sincerely grieve on account of it. Let it be
your stedfast and unwearied purpose to fight
against this evil and to overcome it. Prove your
self a true foUower of Jesus Christ. Make it the
great care and business of your life to be obedient
to his will, and show the grateful spirit of a re
deemed creature, of one that is rescued from ruin
by a merciful Saviour who died for our sins, and
who is now preparing a place of happiness and
honour for his people, to which he will exalt them
in due time.

209

SERMON XIX.

SELF-JUSTIFICATION.

Luke x. 29.

" But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who
is my neighbour?"
Can any presume to stand acquitted of sin
when he is judged of his God 1 or can he make
out any justification of his Hfe, even though it may
have been so unusuaUy correct that his feUow-sin-
ners can lay nothing to his charge but what to
them he might be able to vindicate or justify ? for
the judgment of God reacheth the heart, and
bringeth forth every secret sin and every trans
gression and offence which the transgressor him
seff may have been accustomed to pass over. Seff-
righteousness, indeed, is what no christian pro
fesses; but notwithstanding this, many excuse
their offences who do not justify themselves by

210

SERMON XIX.

their merits. They do not presume on the good
ness, the integrity, the purity, that is within them,
for they are conscious that this cannot be done ;
but they do make many excuses for the sins they
commit, and find out many ways of acquitting
themselves from their many transgressions.
There are, then, two parts of self-justification, —
one respects our duty, the other our neglect of
duty. First, we may judge too favourably of our
state of mind, manner of life, our good deeds, our
rehgious duties, as weU as those which relate to
our fellow-creatures and ourselves. We raay think
too highly of our faith, our hope, and our charity,
and may draw a very flattering conclusion from
aU we judge of ourselves, our thoughts, words,
and works. Secondly, we may equaUy mistake in
our judgment of what we have done amiss, or the
good we have neglected to do, and may form such
excuses for our sins and our omission of duty, that
it may seem in many cases as if we rather de
served pity for our mistakes than punishment for
our transgressions.
I wiU now ask your attention to these false ex
cuses, this self-justification, this proneness of our
hearts to acquit us of that which conscience brings
in view before us, our sins and fraUties, the evil
we have done, and the good we have omitted to
do. This self-excuse is an error of great anti
quity ; it stands one of the first upon record, —

SELP-JUSTIPICATION. 211
" Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I com
manded thee that thou shouldest not eat ?" Of
fending Adam repHed, — " The woman whom thou
gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat." And Eve said, — "The serpent
beguiled me." There is a deformity, a hateful
ness in sin, that scarcely any one but the very
hardened and abandoned can bear the thought of
their own gmlt, and so they try to make it appear
less odious or more excusable. It is so bad in
itseff, that men's fear and seff-love induce them to
cloathe and disguise it, that they may be less
ashamed of their offences, and less afraid of their
disobedience. I shaU especiaUy dweU on two kinds of excuses,
or seff-justification. First, there are some persons
who find excuse for a wicked Hfe, in their early
habits and the sinfiilness of those who had the
fonmng of them. Their parents, they say, were
careless and irreligious, and taught them evil by
their example ; their companions were sinners,
and aU their habits and iadulgeneies sinful. They
were not trained in virtue and reHgion, and there
fore it is not wonderful that they go astray. Per
haps they may add to aU this, that they were
brought up in poverty, and were compeUed to
earn the bread that nourishes the body, which left
them no time for attention to the concerns of the
4
soul ; but there is deceit in all this, and those
p 2

212 SERMON XIX.
who make such excuses for a sinful life are de
ceivers of theraselves. They speak of the wicked
exaraple they have had, of their wicked compa
nions, of careless parents, and evil habits. Why,
THEN, they must have known what wickedness is ;
they must have known that such companions were
wicked ; they must have known much that their
parents omitted to do for them, and with this
they must have known the evil of those habits
which they had contracted and now condemn ;
And if they knew these things in any degree ;
if they were thus acquainted with good and evil ;
are they not conscious of offending a just and
righteous Lord by doing that which he has for
bidden, and by neglecting to do that which he
hath commanded ? No person in a christian land
is brought up and trained in sinfiil habits, and
those only, children of the most negUgent parents
associate with others, and as they grow up, they
mark and learn and distinguish what passes
around them. They learn good and evil, and they
early, very early, feel the distinction ; they have
a conscience that accuses or acquits them. If
they are dra-wn in to do wickedly, they know and
feel that they deserve punishment ; and however
they may have been neglected by their fathers
and mothers, the world itself has been a school
to them, and the fears and terrors, the pains and
punishment of guilty men have impressed upon

SELF-JUSTIFICATION. 213
their minds, that if they sin they must like
wise suffer; they see or hear of an offender
against the laws of God and man, condemned
to shame and punishment ; and is not this a
lesson that deeply imprints the law of God upon
the heart ?
We must not, then, look upon the neglect of
persons by their parents, or the early habits con
tracted by themselves, — 'We must not look upon
the bad example which they continuaUy behold, or
the sinfiil companions of their youth, as forming
just excuses for their transgressions, their disobe
dience to the commandments of their God, or their
pernicious and wicked habits of intemperance, or
dishonesty, or any other crime. Perhaps it raay
be asked whether there is not more excuse for
such, brought up in this neglect with bad exam
ples and evU companions, than there is for the
offenders of another class, the chUdren of prosper
ous and wealthy parents, who were regularly
taught fi-om their infancy what was right, and
who were trained up in the way they should go
whUe yet in their childhood, that when they be
came men and women they might not depart fi-om
it? Who are most excusable must depend on the
peculiar nature of their crimes, and the circum
stances under which they were committed. In
many cases the danger is much more equal than
might be supposed, — ^the children of the wealthy

214 SERMON XIX.
see bad examples, though under different manners;
the sins around them are often the same, though
under different forms. The intoxicating spirits of
the poor and the sparkling poison of the rich have
the same effect, and give birth to the same evil
passions; and who shaU decide which is most
offensive ? The discourse which is subversive of
all earnest reUgion which is too fit-equently heard in
the society of some in the upper classes, or the
swearing and awful appeals to God in the attestation
of falsehood which are so frequently found among
the irreligious and uneducated. Temptations and
trials are prepared for all,' — ^you cannot escape, —
no station or rank is free from them. There is
no excuse, then, for a wicked life in the disadvan
tages of .station.
Secondly. Among the excuses made by tcans-
gressors ¦•against the will and commandment of
God is a want of education or of learning. How
often has this reply been made when a person has
been accused of doing that which he ought not to
have done, " he had no learning!" Did he require
amy to teU him that he offended his God when
he broke his commandments ? If learning were
needed to understand the will of God, ignorance
might be pleaded when it was disobeyed. Who
is ignorant, when he commits a sin, that he merits
punishment ? Yet we repeatedly hear, in excuse
for the sins and crimes of persons in the lower

SELF-JUSTIFICATION. 215
stations of society that " they had no learning."
Is learning a preservative against sin? Do not
learned persons sometimes grievously offend against
God's holy wiU and commandments ? Do not
many unlearned and single-hearted persons revor
rence and keep them ? There is no such excuse
as these offenders would take to themselves. God
knoweth their hearts, and they also know when
they do that which they ought not to do that they
are guilty and have wilfully broken the law by
which they were to be directed and wiU be judged.
AU have knowledge of good and evU, and dearly
have men paid for the knowledge ; but they have
it, and when they commit sin, when they are
guilty of profaneness and want of aU reverence to
God, of dishonouring the sabbath and refusing to
hearken to the Scriptures, if they waste that holy
day in seff-indulgence or idleness, if they are guUty
of dishonest and fraudulent practices, of falsehood,
injustice, or robbery ; ff they consume what they
acquire in selfish and intemperate gratifications,
leaving their famUy in want, or waste the aUotted
time of trial and neglect reUgious preparation ; — ff
they do these things, or things of Hke evU kind, can
any one single individual plead ignorance and want
of learning in excuse 1 No one is ignorant whe
ther he leads an ungodly and wicked Hfe. AU sin
is wUful, and who that transgresses the law of God
can justly plead, "I knew not that I offended?"

216 SERMON XIX.
Do the holy laws of God require any study that
is denied to am/y man ? Thou shalt not steal ;
thou shalt not commit adultery ; thou shalt not
bear false witness ; thou shalt keep holy the Sab
bath-day ; thou shalt repent thee truly of all thy
sins, and Hve soberly, righteously, and godly in
the present world ; — is this a matter of difficulty
to understand ? Can we not all comprehend it ?
And when we offend in any one respect against
the holy commandment, are we not convinced,
and does not our conscience inform us, that we are
transgressors ? But sorae persons might perhaps
reply. We know all this, we acknowledge our
transgressions, and we look for pardon, not by our
own good Hfe or good works, but solely through
the merits and satisfaction, the aU-sufficient sacri
fice for the sins of man, by the death and passion
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will readily aUow
this plea, if the offender (whoever he be) can sin
cerely add, " by whom the world is crucified unto
rae and I unto the world ;" for says the apostle
this only of himself? He adds, " And they that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affec
tions and lusts."
Now if the world be crucified unto you, you are
dead unto it, having neither affections nor inclina
tions for its pomps and vanities, its dangerous
pleasures, and sinful indulgences, — to all it holds
out to tempt your carnal affections, your evil pas-
6

SELF -JUSTIFICATION. 217
sions, and to entice and draw you from the narrow
into the broad path by its aUureraents, tempta
tions, seductions, and deceptions. These are
so crucified and dead and buried to you, that you
are no longer a slave to any sinful habits, nor feel
the bondage of anything the world can hold out
to impose upon or deceive you. Understand you
this ? Is the world so crucified unto you ? But
fiirther, are you crucified to the world ? Is your
pride mortified, so that you are becorae humble as
a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, meek and
lowly, patient, enduring reproach and enmities as
a Christian ? Are you crucified in spirit, gentle,
peaceable, forgiving, easy to be entreated ? Have
you that charity of heart which the apostle Paul
describes as indispensable to the Christian, which
hopeth, beheveth, endureth ? Have you crucified
the flesh with the desires and incitements that lead
to sin ? Are those worldly affections subdued
which led you to covet and desire that which was
not your own ? Do you, in heart and wiU, yield
unto aU, that which you would reasonably desire
should be yielded unto you ? Have you crucified
and buried in you all angry, revengeful, and ma
lignant gratifications of the carnal mind ? all
hatred, scorn, and contempt of your fellow-crea
tures ? and have justice, and charity, and bro
therly love reigned in their stead 1

218 SERMON XIX.
Again, I ask you, are you thus crucified imto
the world and the world unto you ? We are not
asking whether you have equaUed the holy apostle
in the degree with which he crucified himself, and
becarae dead unto the world, but whether you
have the sarae holy and christian principle — whe
ther you have tried, and with all your heart sin
cerely endeavoured to be thus conformed and
made Hke to your great example — ^whether you
have prayed for strength, and used what power
you had for the holy purpose of purifying your
heart and its evil affections, — if so, then is there
no condemnation to you, for you are in Christ
Jesus, and walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. Your best endeavours will be accepted if
you be thus in earnest in your strife against your
sinful and selfish affections and passions, and if
you continuaUy pray for the divine favour and
assisting grace, your imperfections and fraUties
wUl never be mentioned unto you, but blotted out
for the sake of him in whom you have behoved.
And while he knoweth our frame and remembereth
that we are but dust, he has promised his for
giving mercy to those only who sincerely endea
vour to walk in the steps of our Lord's most holy
Ufe, who have crucified the body of sin, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
In conclusion, I would again refer to the sub-

SELP-JUSTIPICATION. 219
ject of our discourse, seff-justification ; and as we
find, that by those several excuses which I have
named, no man can obtain forgiveness, much less
be justified, it behoves us aU to know the true way
by which the real justification can be obtained,
and that is by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, for
" aU that beheve are justified from aU things,"
going to him burdened with our sins and wearied
with our transgressions, pleading for mercy as
those who having nothing to .offer, look unto the
righteousness of him who offered up himself as the
propitiation for our sins. But how shall those go
to Christ who feel not the burden of their sins as
heavy and wearisome ? who are not hurt and op
pressed, grieved, and humbled, and bowed down
by it ? who have no desfre to be reUeved from it?
The promise of rest is to the weary and heavy-
laden; ff, like the prodigal, we come to the com
passionate Saviour with penitent and contrite
spirits, we shall receive that mercy which to the
real penitent is never refused, and the very going
to the Saviour for raercy implies the purpose of
the repenting spirit to sin no more — ^no more wU-
fiiUy to be disobedient to that gracious God who
has made him a partaker of unmerited mercy and
love, — ^mercy, without which knowledge is misery,
hope is lost, and the prospect of a future Hfe so
deUghtfiil and glorious to the true Christian, would

220 SERMON XIX.
be at best a doubtful and melancholy view, but
now becomes a source of comfort, under the deepest
worldly affliction, and of joy unspeakable and full
of glory to the departing spirit.

22J

SERMON XX.
JUDGE NOT.
Luke vi. 37.
" Judge not, and ye shall not be judged ; condemn not, and
ye shall not be condemned."
This is one of the raany prohibitions respecting
the vice of condemning or judging others, and is
directed against slander of every kind, and unjust,
uncaUed-for censure. Love thy neighbour is en-
joiaed or is impUed in almost every page of holy
writ, and who can love him, of whom he thinks
contemptuously and speaks with reproach ? Nor
is it the word of God alone, but every wise man in
every ciriUzed country has proclaimed the base
ness of this vice ; nay, those we term unenUght-
ened savages often speak of their brother savages
with kindness or concern, and by their humaiiity,
their tenderness, and mutual participation of each
other's fortune, they afford us an example of bro-

222 SERMON XX.
therly affection, and teach Christians how they
may become men.
The branches of this vice are various; they
consist of groundless conjectures, evil reports, and
uncharitable suppositions — ^they essentially unite
in speaking in such manner of another as tends to
lessen his reputation or disturb his repose, without
a motive to do him service, or a design to amend
him, in those errors which are the foundation of
such reports. And let no one who speaks to the
prejudice of another conclude his intention good,
without the severest exaraination ; for it can but
very seldom happen that any good wiU arise from
it. People are not deterred from vice by exam
ple, but excited to it ; and the more we encourage
a disposition that delights in another's faults, the
more we flatter and fondle our own. Happy, in
deed, would it be if a man's vices were the only
subjects of man's condemnation ; but the censo
rious stop not here — ^they condemn his most in
different pecuUarities, nay, even his virtues ; they
deride his talents, they despise his person, they
degrade his merit, they blast his reputation; it is
their sport to run down his fortune; and to attack
him in all his actions, forms only a part of their en
tertainment. If to speak without a motive of ad
vantage either to ourselves or others ; if to do that
which all men condemn; if to do that which aU
men suffer by, be unreasonable, how unreasonable

JUDGE NOT. 223
is a disposition to slander ! it is the malignity of
folly, it is the rancour of fools. What am I the
better if another be bad ? What am I the worse
if my neighbour be commended ? Does his error
require my cenSure to add to it 1 Does his good
fortune ask my slander to raake it less ? WiU he
amend because I raU 1 No ! but he wiU reckon
me his enemy, and never pay ray reproof the com-
pUment of his reformation.
But you may say that another's faults make
your virtues conspicuous — ^they must be indeed
little virtues that need such a medium ; we want
no assistance to look at great objects, but if your
merits are indeed very small, perhaps they may
seem to some enlarged through your neighbour's
infirmities ; but remember that every man of un
derstanding will know this is not the natural way
of looking at them ; but commonly the man that
raUs at another not only lays himself open to a
retort, but puts people in mind of his own imper
fections ; those who speak evU of the profane,
the proud, and the extravagant, not to expose vice
but to injure character, do they not remind us, in
the very act, of their own hypocrisy, meanness,
or avarice ? The enemy of vice does not rail at,
but endeavours to lessen the number of the vicious.
This vice, therefore, is contrary to the law of the
Almighty, to the law of nature, to the light of
reason, and the good of man ; it is, we find, un-

224 SERMON XX.
profitable, and we shall find it mean, malicious,
and full of danger, — it is mean, for a great mind is
above snch little injuries. How cowardly is it to
speak iU of the absent ! to wound those who can
not defend themselves ! to be at once accuser,
witness, and judge of our neighbour's reputation.
Is there not something in our own hearts that tells
us we are ourselves guilty creatures when we rail
at others ? Surely if we looked into ourselves and
found all right in our own breasts, we should be in
too pleasant a temper to find fault with others ;
but if our vices vex and torment us, it is no wonder,
though it is a great fault, that we try to reduce
others to our own level.
Slander is not only a vice in itself, but it is the
sure token of other vices, and a prudent man, to
be imputed good, ought in discretion to be cha
ritable in his remarks. A continual change of
opinion, as well as an obstinate adherence to it, is
a strong indication of a little mind, and this is
almost always manifested in the slanderer. No
actions, no words, no opinions, escape him; he
levels his censure at all mankind ; he discharges
his spleen on every reputation; the poor he re
proaches with want of prudence, the rich he accuses
vrith want of corapassion, the prudent he upbraids
with closeness of design, and he laughs at the cora-
passionate for the weakness of their natures. How
might a man reason with them who are so preju-

JUDGE NOT. 225
diced ? Ye are not satisfied with my reHgion, yon
call it hypocrisy ; yet if I be free you accuse my
irreligion. When I appear cheerful you wonder
at my thoughtlessness ; when I seem thoughtful,
you see evU in the occasion. I am distressed, and
ye say I deserve it ; I become easy, and ye suspect
my principles have been sacrificed to my repose.
And here I must take notice of a fault which
nowhere comes so properly as under the article
meanness : which is that of pretended pity and
sorrow for our neighbours' errors or misfortunes ;
the severest things that can be said of us are said
by those who pretend to pity, who are professedly
concerned for our affUctions, aggrieved by our
calamities, and full of gentle rebuke at our mis
carriages. Insulting hypocrisy ! the Httle artifice
of a narrow heart, a loose tongue, and a perverted
disposition; a bait to gain applause for good na
ture, whUe they are throwing out poison and
playing with our ruin. It is maUcious ; for let
us look on a person, prosperous, easy in circum
stances, and weU with the world, of respectable
character for those things which that world caUs
most reputable. And let us hear, for we often
may hear them, with false pity or open triumph
railing at the Httle errors and mistakes of their
unfortunate neighbours, perhaps ruined, wretched,
and fiiU of affliction ; — is not this highly malicious ?
Is anything so contrary to the character of Chris-

226 SERMON XX.
tianity, to that love and charity which should in
fluence the heart of one who feels that he himself
has much to be forgiven, and whose only hope of
present peace and future happiness is through the
mercy of God in Jesus Christ ? Is anything so
conformable to the character of the devil ? He is
an accuser of the brethren, the father of lies.
Again ; no person is so low and poor, but he
may in some degree avenge himself if he be so
disposed, as indeed we all are too much ; mankind
are Hnked together in such a manner that the
most obscure has it in his power to return the
injury of the most conspicuous ; either by open
violence, or secret wrong if he be a bad man — or
by patient triumph and steady defiance if his
poverty retains the courage of virtue. But if
the person censured be powerful and above his
accuser, the danger is much greater ; he will find
a time to retort with severe interest, and repay
every foolish word with a deed of retaliation ; he
vrill alienate the friends of his slanderer, and stir
up his enemies ; he wUl himself attack his credit,
and find or feign a thousand flaws in his reputa
tion. Nor is it, perhaps, uncommon to atone by
absolute ruin for the injuries of inconsiderate scan
dal. If, then, our neighbour be in adversity, is it
not an act of malignity to traduce his character ?
If he be in prosperity, is it not a token of envy ?
His good fortune hurts us, and we dare avenge

JUDGE NOT. 227
ourselves on his demerits. We cannot reach to
his height, and we level him to our meanness ;
there is a part of his character that is too bright
for us, we shade it with his defects. Do not all
these things speak our own depravity, the restless
mahce of the natural heart ? proving the truth of
scripture, " The spirit that dweUeth in us lusteth
to envy." But this vice is likewise dangerous, for
it exposes a man's own faults, and puts the world
in mind of his infirmities. Many people Hsten to
tales of slander, and many love them, but few
think well of the slanderer, and none on account
of his information. In the flow of conversation,
the tale of scandal is hurried round, and all seem
to approve it, but I beUeve the private reflections
which are made at home on these occasions injure
the teUer of an idle tale rauch raore than the
party abused. And suppose the accused to be
both prudent and forgiving, this which so greatly
aggravates the crime does but increase the danger
to the accuser, for then the accuser has more
friends about him, and they, seeing the malignity
of the slander, will take that revenge which he
himself wUl not take, and think it a point of
honour and gratitude to heap vengeance on his
enemies. Having thus considered the nature of this vice
of uncharitable censure, in opposition to the ex
press command of God and of human reason — its
Q 2

228 SERMON XX.
meanness, malignity, and danger — I shall now
speak to those who have allowed themselves these
unreasonable liberties of discourse ; and, secondly,
to those who have suffered by it. And let me
exhort aU men who believe in the religion of Jesus
Christ to weigh seriously the words he has left for
our direction on this important subject : " Judge
not, and ye shall not be judged ; condemn not,
and ye shall not be condemned ; for with what
judgment ye judge ye shaU be judged, and with
what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you
again." " And why beholdest thou the mote
that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not
the beam that is in thine own eye?" " Thou
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own
eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out
the mote out of thy brother's eye." St. Paul
speaks of this vice in his epistle to Timothy :
" Put them in mind to speak evil of no man." In
his epistle to the Corinthians, " Judge nothing be
fore the time, until the Lord come ;" and again,
charity " thinketh no evil." St. James saith,
" Speak not evil one of another ;" " who art thou
that judgest another ?" AU which passages, and
many others to the same import, enforce clearly
that divine prohibition in my text — judge not.
Let us fiirther reason on this matter. How
are you certain the thing you report of another is
true ? was it not told you ? and if so, may it not

JUDGE NOT. 229
be false ? There are not many things generally
known that are truly known. Do we not see in
pubhc affairs how report contradicts report, and
rumour displaces rumour ? much raore is the un
certainty in private concerns. Many eyes are
looking at national business, and it can hardly be
concealed from all ; but few can see into the ac
tions of individuals, and therefore there is greater
probability of mistake; yet you who will not be
lieve the news of a battle, or a defeat, wUl give
credit to your neighbour's misfortunes and mis
conduct upon the sHghtest information, upon the
whispers of a foe ? But perhaps you have some
reason for your censure, and know a part of what
you advance : indeed, this is a most common case
in every malevolent attack. You are sure of
something, and this serves as a foundation for all
your superstructure — ^because you know it cannot
be contradicted. Moreover, allowing your vera
city, you see the worst part of your neighbour's
character — ^his shifts and sorrows, his repining and
fretfiilness, ff in poverty, or his exultation in pro
sperity and on success. The virtues of his cha
racter He hid beneath a veil, and where is that
charitable hand that wiU Uft it up, and that
charitable eye that wiU look at the virtues be
neath it ? But you wiU say, we know certainly
the actions we condemn ; we have watched the
conduct we disapprove ; we know the truth of

230 SERMON XX.
our reports, and, rest our own character on the
veracity with which we speak of others. It may
be so ; but if you know a man's actions, by what
rule do you know his motives to them, his trials,
his struggles, his temptations ? how much he suf
fered, how much he resisted, how reluctantly he
yielded ? These things are in his own breast,
only discovered, only discoverable by the all-
searching eye of his God, who looks more merci
fully upon him than you will do. What motives
led an unhappy man to defraud his neighbour we
cannot tell, but we all know that he can have
none but malignant motives who slanders ; it nei
ther feeds him if he hunger, nor satisfies him if
he thirst, nor eases his conscience if his sins tor
ment him. You will say, then is vice to escape ?
Shall one whom the law cannot reach be free
from aU human punishment ? Shall he triumph
in the iniquity we do not indulge in ? If, indeed,
vice were a pleasure or a triumph, there were some
propriety in these questions, but I trust it is nei
ther to any of us. The man who commits a fault,
in proportion to its magnitude certainly angers as
he disobeys a just and righteous God ; he most
probably wounds his own conscience; he forfeits
the esteem of good men, though he does not pro
voke their slander ; he falls unavoidably in his re
putation, and becomes liable to the vengeance of

JUDGE NOT. 231
human laws in as many cases as he offends against
them ; and should he escape these " there is no
peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
Now if aU these things are not sufflcient to
punish an offending feUow-creature, then let thy
hard thoughts and harsh words add to his afflic
tion and persecute him for his offence ; not, in
deed, that slander is always thus cautious, to
speak evU of those only who deserve it. I dare
affirm you have aU known, and I answer for my
seff that I have, tales raised without even the
sHghtest foundation, and reports propagated with
out the smaUest regard to truth. It is strange,
but no less true, that there are people who deUght
in these things, who rather than not speak censo
riously of their neighbours, wUl be at the pains to
invent incidents and forge accusations. Great
God ! how unUke thee are thy creatures ! we sin,
and thou forgivest us ; we provoke thee — ^thou
turnest and repentest thee of the evil ; we daUy
rebel against thee, and thou art our preserver, our
helper, and our fiiend ; but we, without end, with
out reason, without fear, become each other's foes
of the bitterest kind ! and aU such as are beyond
the reach of personal injuries, we load with con
tempt, with disgrace, with shame. And that we
may see the foUy of this vice, let us reflect how
often it happens that time clears up the character
we have injured. Actions appear with other mo-

232 SERMON XX.
tives. New circumstances arise in our view ; the
man is beheld in a different light, and the very
things that were once the objects of our evil re
port, we have now the shame to look upon as
worthy our praise and patterns for our imitation :
so that in every view, whether we think of the na
ture or end, the cause or consequence, the sinful
ness or punishment, of this uncharitable or censo
rious temper, we shall find it unworthy the Chris
tian, the citizen, or the man — equally reprobated
by God and reason, equaUy injurious to religion,
to society, and to our peace.
To you who suffer under the slander of your
neighbour's evil report, muchmore gentle, much more
comfortable things may be addressed ; for consider,
first, that if you are really guilty of the things laid to
your charge, what an opportunity is given you to
amend by the forcible instruction such reproaches
give you. What a noble revenge do we take when
we render our enemy's report ineffectual by our re
formation ! How very little is the mind that rails,
how very great the spirit that reforms ! But if
you are innocent of the things the censorious lay
to your charge, your case is different, " for what
glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults
ye shall take it patiently ? but if when ye do weU
and suffer for it ye take it patiently, this is ac
ceptable with God." And if you are spoken evil
of for Christ's sake, , your happiness is abundantly

Judge not. 233
greater. Blessed are ye when men shaU revile
you and persecute you, and shall say aU manner
of evU against you falsely for my sake. " Rejoice
and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in
heaven ;" the clamour of your eneraies is the
shout of your triumph. Happy, indeed, is the
good man under this visitation, ff he do not suffer
the world to mount above and overwhelm him ;
then whUe the busy, the idle, the envious, and Ul-
natured, are prating their Httle tales of poorly-in
vented reproach, he retires and looks into his own
bosom, and finds a good and quiet conscience with
which he converses in comfort, and praying to his
God he Ues down in peace. Yet I weU know the
weakness of a dejected and humble spirit, under
tho trials of calamity and reproach.
I readUy aUow the difficulty of bearing up
against slanderous tongues, intent to sharpen the
edge of affliction; and it is no easy thing to sit
down with religious fortitude when we strive and
struggle under poverty, and day and night labour
in our minds and bodies to rid ourselves in vain.
When aU our expectations are lost, and all our
hopes defeated, and aU our pains repaid with dis
appointment — ^when we are sick in mind, and in
firm in constitution, and dejected in spirit, and
lost to hope — ^when we seem to wander through
the world alone, no man regarding us, no raan
caring for us — ^when our enemies triumph over us,

234 SERMON xx.
and exult in their conquest — when our friends fall
from us and cool in their affection — when they
cease to pity and begin to blame, and at last turn
against us — when the few that love us cannot as
sist us, perhaps want our assistance — ^when the
many that hate us mock our misfortunes, perhaps
bring them upon us — when all but religion is lost,
and reUgibn itseff is shaken or overcast by de
spondency, — then, and in these circumstances, to
hold fast your integrity, to trust in your God, to
pity and forgive your accusers, and to rely on the
mercies and means of an over-ruUng providence,
are the evidences of a truly christian temper, a
noble and persevering spirit, and a soul acceptable
and accepted of God, and sanctified by its sorrows ;
and for your comfort on earth let it be remem
bered that the affliction of this world, like this
world's vanities, passeth away.
Often it happens that your day of mourning is
quickly over ; your sun breaks out, your character
is redeemed, your troubles are forgotten, your
enemies are silent, your friends return, and your
forraer state is remembered no more, or remem
bered only to your credit and applause. And
here is a new scene of trial; there is danger lest
when your sorrows are forgotten, resentment
should arise; but remember what creatures and
whose we are ; how that in many things we all
offend, and in all things we fall short of perfec-

JUDGE NOT. 235
tion. Hence let brotherly love and christian cha
rity be increased amongst us ; and whatever our
station is and whatever our provocations may be,
let us be humble, gentle, easy to be entreated, not
rendering raiUng for raUing, but contrarywise
blessing, and so shall we be most sure that the
blessing of God is with us, and that the arm of
the Almighty wiU defend and protect us for ever.

236

SERMON XXI.

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND THE ALMOST
CONVERTED.

Acts xxvi. 28.
" Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian."

Whether Agrippa was ever entirely persuaded
to be what he almost wished to be, is, I beUevcj
very uncertain ; he was not endowed with so
much authority as some who were appointed go
vernors by the Romans, but he had perhaps more
wisdom and moderation than many ; at least thus
far he was wise, that he listened attentively to the
words of the apostle, but his words are now be
fore us : " Almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian." They are not many, but they are
surely important, and it wiU not be unprofitable to
us if we reflect seriously upon them, and consider

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND CONVERTED. 237
what it is, and to what it leads, when almost we
are persuaded.
And here, perhaps, it may not be superfluous, if
we stop to recoUect the difference between the
two expressions, — ^the almost being persuaded to
be a Christian, and the being persuaded to be
almost what a Christian should be. To be a
Christian is to be what St. Paul was, excepting
his inspiration ; and Agrippa's expression conveys
that he was almost persuaded to be this; but
there are great numbers with whom persuasion
goes not so far; they are not, as I observed,
almost persuaded to be Christians, but persuaded
to be ahnost Christians, — that is, to be so far
religious as it is convenient or agreeable. We
wiU consider both these kinds of persuasion : and
first, that of Agrippa, the being almost persuaded.
And here we have to remark that king Agrippa
had studied the prophets and beUeved them.
" King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ?" said
St. Paul ; " I know that thou beUevest :" he was
not therefore like Festus, contemptuous nor
touched with momentary feeUng on hearing of a
judgment to come, as FeUx was, but he was pre
pared by serious consideration and study of the
Scriptures. And this is a great arguraent for the
truth of our reHgion ; it makes a much greater
progress with well-informed minds than with the
ignorant. All the nations and people to whom

238 SERMON XXI.
the apostles preached the gospel were not rude
and ignorant, vrild or uncultivated ; but among
them were the most civilized and instructed in
the arts, and by the wisdom which was then
in the world ; many of them, as the Athenians,
were a refined and learned people, always inquisi
tive after any new matter that was presented to
them, and quite capable of investigation. Now
when such people are converted, and erabrace the
religion proposed to them, it must be either for
some immediate pleasure or profit, or because they
are convinced of its truth. Profit or pleasure, as
generally understood, there was not, but, on the
contrary, the continual exercise of forbearance and
self-denial ; then it foUows, that their reason con
sented, their judgment went with the apostles, and
they were convinced by facts and proofs that
could not be resisted.
Illiterate and uninformed nations may be per
suaded, but not in the same way, nor so much b}'^
the understanding, but gradually and in part ;
and more especially when they perceive that their
instructors are more wise, more enlightened than
themselves, and from a country they admire and
look up to, as flourishing, powerfiil, and happy-
But this was not the reason why the people of old
were converted by the apostles, who were compa
ratively poor, boasted of no worldly wisdom, and
were strangers from a country of which they knew

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND CONVERTED. 239
Uttle, and respected less. " What wiU this babbler
say ?" was the first question of these learned raen ;
but they soon found that he whom they ridiculed
had the words of sobriety, wisdom, and truth.
Agrippa, having studied the prophets, had a
foundation that christian truth might be built
upon ; and the more a mind is informed, the
more it is fitted for the sacred doctrines and ex
alted views of the christian religion. Such minds,
it is true, may be only almost persuaded ; but
they are more Hkely to be entirely convinced than
the uncultivated. I speak not here of moral
fitness, for it is equaUy true of all men in their
natural state, that they love darkness rather than
Ught, but of due instruction, and, as we say, good
education. It is necessary also to remeraber that
I am speaking of the conversion of those who had
not previously been acquainted with the reHgion
proposed to them. Christianity is a religion
adapted to the iUiterate, the uninformed, and those
of inferior capacities, who can feel its comforts and
obey its precepts, as well as the learned and more
instructed. But in this christian country the un
lettered are brought up in the sacred truths, and
taught to reverence the ordinances of our holy re
Hgion, what to believe, and how to Hve, as the
disciples of our Lord.
This is a different thing from the conversion of
him who is yet a stranger to the reHgion which is

240 SERMON XXI.
proposed to his judgment, as well as his obedi
ence ; and in this case the better and stronger his
judgment is, the sooner he is persuaded that the
doctrine is true. Thus it was with Agrippa, and
thus with many who were converted by St. Paul ;
and no question but Christianity receives an addi
tional evidence from the conviction of such as
Agrippa, and from the many converts among the
nations of Rome and Greece, the most powerful
and most learned of all people ; for surely it is a
strong argument for the truth of our religion, that
the wiser, the better informed, and the fiirther
advanced in aU profitable arts and useful know
ledge nations are, so much the more readily they
admit the facts, and so rauch the more wiUingly
they obey the moral precepts of the gospel. The
nations amongst whom St. Paul and the other
apostles laboured, were the most enlightened on
the face of the earth ; they were more capable of
inquiring into, and reasoning upon, aU that was
conveyed to them ; and in a few years there was
no more acknowledged idolatry amongst them.
The stronger the mind is, and the more taught
in every profitable studj^ so much the more
readily wiU it assent to those divine truths and
that holy doctrine which is indeed wisdom, and
makes those who believe and obey it wise unto
salvation ! But if such, with natural and acquired
knowledge, and good understanding, be profligate.

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND CONVERTED. 241
cruel, uncharitable, or be under the dominion of
any wicked passion that prevaUs over their better
judgment — ^and this is too frequently to be seen
among us — then they are certainly hard to be
convinced, because they have that evil within
their mind that opposes and forbids the entrance
of rehgious truth to the heart ; and what the
heart is unwiUing to admit, the understanding wUI
not readUy agree to. A wicked man cannot be
come a sincere beUever in the gospel of our Lord
untU he be first converted from the sins of his
Hfe. But it may be said that Agrippa was but almost
persuaded ; what he did, and how he proceeded,
we are not informed. If he were wise and pa
tient, and sincere in pursuing his inquiries, he no
doubt became not ahnost, but altogether, a Chris
tian ; but doubtless there are many who, Hke him,
are almost persuaded, and whoever finds himseff
thus disposed, thus almost convinced, let him re
coUect that he has many proofs which Agrippa
could not have, not only in the conversion of mul
titudes in every region from that time untU the
present, but also in the very existence and preva
lence of that holy reHgion, which, had it not been
true, had long since been entirely forgotten, or
had only been recorded as an instance of unsuc
cessful imposture ; its truth preserved it.
Now be it allowed that a person is almost per-
R

242 SERMON XXI.
:Suaded of the truth of the christian religion, what
is he to do ? suspense is uneasy ; a state of doubt
is that of disquiet. How should a man free him
self frora such uncertainty ? He is first to look
diligently from whence the impediments to his
entire belief proceed, whether the fault be not in
himself. It may be that he -will not enter into
the conditions of Christianity, and then it is no
wonder if he strive against conviction ; it is hia
pleasure, his passion, his inclination that argues,
or at least that persuades against the sobriety and
godliness that he must follow if he become a
Christian ; he must raake no agreement between
temptation and conviction, he must have no some
thing to do first, if he feels it a duty to foUow his
Redeemer. But if an almost persuaded person
be firm and sincere, willing to cast off every sinful
indulgence, and to make no compromise with his
conscience ; if he will read the Scriptures with
seriousness and respect, if he wiU lead a christian
life, and ask for wisdom and light from the Father
of spirits, who giveth Hberally and upbraideth not,
then there will remain no other doubt or difficulty
than must cleave to aU who are engaged in the
christian warfare, and exposed to the assaults and
temptations of the evil one ; he will have faith
sufficient to venture all things upon it, to give up
all rather than part with it. And he who would
stake his life for his soul's happiness in a state to
6

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND CONVERTED. 243
corae, has undoubtedly that faith that overcomes
the world ; and he wiU eventually obtain that com
fortable assurance which is never denied to any
who foUow their Lord fiiUy.
We wiU now advert to that other view of this
subject which I have already stated, when speak
ing of the distinction between the being almost
persuaded to be a Christian, and the being per
suaded to be ahnost a Christian. Agrippa, we
have seen, is an example of the first view ; and
we shall find in the rich young man who left our
Lord in sorrow to be an instance of the other.
He would have done much to inherit eternal Hfe,
but he would not do all ; the commandments, he
said, he had kept from his youth, but he had not
learned how to part with a favourite indulgence.
His possessions were clogs upon his soul, and his
divine Teacher saw this : " Go and seU that thou
hast and give to the poor," " and come and follow
me." It was the young man's trial ; he heard,
and perhaps he considered, but he went away sor
rowful, for he was very rich. This is a much
more common case than the former ; where there
is one kept from religion because his judgment is
not fully convinced, there are many who are not
Christians indeed, because there is something
which that requires, and which they wiU not give
up ; and strange expedients have sorae recourse
to, when their duty requires something, and their

244 SERMON XXI.
heart or their passions refuse it. What did Ana
nias and Sapphira his wife 1 They judged it to
be a duty to make sorae charitable contribution,
and to lay their purposed alms at the apostles'
feet ; but while this caU operated upon their
minds, there was the love of money pleading at
the heart. No man required the sacrifice of their
possessions ; it was aU of free mU, and these un
happy persons appear as if they were resolved to
be doubly gratified ; they would first have praise
from the apostles and brethren for their bountiful
supply, and then they would indulge the secret
pleasure of the reflection, that they had yet a
store, and were not reduced, Uke those whom they
relieved, to a state of poverty ; they would openly
have the credit of that sacrifice which they were
conscious they had not made. It is true, this is
a particular instance of the almost Christian ; but
how many are there whom one or raore favourite
vices or indulgences separate from the true and
real profession of the christian faith ! they know,
they feel that they are not among the true dis
ciples, and yet they cannot persuade themselves
to remove the impediment.
Our Lord told the Jewish ruler, Nicodemus, that
ho must be born again, he must be born of the Spirit,
that is, he must have new and pure motives for his
actions. There is no mystery in what is thus re
quired of the beUever in, Christ : his heart must be

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND CONVERTED. 245
changed ; he must live as one for whom Christ died,
and who has such faith that he also dies to sin, and
henceforth lives as the disciple of our Lord, who
looks for eternal Ufe, and obeys the precepts of
his Redeemer from his heart, not grudgingly or of
necessity, for God loveth a wiUing and devoted
spirit. The ahnost Christian cannot act from
pure faith and sincere obedience ; he has always
in reserve something that he loves, or some pas
sion that he gratifies, some pleasure that he in
dulges in, or some object to which he sacrifices at
times his duty. The man almost persuaded to be
a Christian, may be fully persuaded if he takes the
means, that is, if he studies the Scriptures, and
walks humbly with his God, praying for divine
Hght, and devoting himself to the truth ; but the
almost Christian has another task, he has to part
with whatsoever there raay be between his spirit
and the sincere and pure spirit of gospel truth.
One of these only wants to know what the truth
is, that he may choose it and obey ; but the other
already beUeves in the authority of what is re
quired of him, but is unwilUng to give up aU to
the profession which he appears to approve and
follow. As the former seeks only truth, he gene
raUy finds it ; but the latter, who seeks to be re
hgious in a certain degree, and yet to gratify his
own. wishes, and to indulge himself in some pro
pensity, must either make the sacrifice of his own

246 SERMON XXI.
pleasure, or he will fall away, like water that run
neth apace, into neglect of religious duties, and
either take the miserable refuge of unbelief, or
continue to sin against conviction. This almost
Christian defends hiraself by the example of
nurabers around him ; he is but one of a multi
tude ; he is more correct, and leads a more regular
and reUgious life than others whom he observes
living in repute and without any reproach for their
want of religion ; he is therefore reconciled to
himseff, and if the question should occur to him
whether he is walking in the broad or the narrow
way, he is content with knowing that it is the
same way in which many are going with him, and
who are, so far as he can see, very religious and
praiseworthy persons. I need not inform you
that this is not the Christian's way of self-exami
nation ; he never corapares himself with others,
but with the christian pattern. Has he the true
faith in Christ his Redeemer 1 Does he study the
wiU of his Lord, and lead a life of purity, righteous
ness, and peace 1 Is there anything that comes
between him and that quiet conscience which is
his great comfort, and which reconciles him to aU
the sorrows and afflictions of this life ?
Such are the questions which he wiU ask him
self, and to these he wiU have a direct and satis
factory reply. He will not be almost a Christian,
for he is fully persuaded of the truth of his reli-

THE ALMOST CONVINCED AND CONVERTED. 247
gion, and he will make no compromise with what
soever opposes it. Let him then who is alraost
persuaded to be a Christian, be assured that the
way to be freed from the anxiety of doubt is to
. study with the most serious attention the Scrip
tures themselves, and more especiaUy the gospel
of our Lord and Redeemer, and this with earnest
prayer to the Father of Ughts, who giveth wisdom
to them who ask it, wiU not fail to estabUsh his
mind in the truth that he so earnestly inquireth
after, and he wiU have joy in the fulness and se
curity of his faith. But to him who is almost the
Christian, and who places something that he loves
or deUghts in, between his hope of eternal Hfe as
promised in the gospel of his Redeemer, to him it
is, above all things, necessary that he disengage
his soul from his clog and incumbrance from the
sin that so easUy besets him. His Lord has said.
Whoso loveth father or mother, son or daughter,
more than me, cannot be my disciple. And we
may therefore be assured, that unless we are wiU
ing to take reHgion as we find it in the gospel, in
the exercise of faith and sincere repentance, a de
voted heart and a single eye, our labour is lost,
and our hope is vain. Great is the mistake of
that man who endeavours to satisfy his mind and
soothe his conscience by being almost a Christian.
Again, I say, let those who are almost per
suaded pray to their God for light, and his gra-

248 SERMON XXI.
cious assistance in the study of his word and
truth wiU shine upon and illuminate their minds,
and let the alraost Christian know assuredly that
his only way to peace of conscience and accept
ance with his Lord and Redeemer is to fight the
good fight against the power that seduces him, to
deny his passions whatsoever they unlawfuUy de
mand of indulgence, and to run with patience the
race that is set before him, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith.

THE END.

LONDON:
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J. HATCHARD AND SON. 13

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/. HATCHARD AND SON, 17

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1, HATCHARD AND SON. 25

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J. HATCHARD AND SON. 29

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