Part 14

Part 14

Having showed you how valuable this is to the bodies of men, I now

proceed,

Secondly, To show you how much more valuable this charity is, when it

extends to the souls of men.

And is not the soul more valuable than the body? It would be of no

advantage, but an infinite disadvantage, to obtain all the world, if we

were to lose our souls. The soul is of infinite value, and of infinite

concern, and, therefore, we should extend our charity whenever we see

it needful, and likewise should reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all

godliness and love.

We should, my dear brethren, use all means and opportunities for the

salvation of our own souls, and of the souls of others. We may have a

great deal of charity and concern for the bodies of our

fellow-creatures, when we have no thought, or concern, for their

immortal souls: But O how sad is it, to have thought for a mortal, but

not for the immortal part; to have charity for the body of our

fellow-creatures, while we have no concern for their immortal souls; it

may be, we help them to ruin them, but have no concern in the saving of

them.

You may love to spend a merry evening, to go to a play, or a horse-

race, with them; but on the other hand, you cannot bear the thoughts of

going to a sermon, or a religious society, with them; no, you would

sing the songs of the drunkard, but you will not sing hymns, with them;

this is not polite enough, this is unbecoming a gentleman of taste,

unfashionable, and only practiced among a parcel of enthusiasts and

madmen.

Thus, you will be so uncharitable as to join hand in hand with those

who are hastening to their own damnation, while you will not be so

charitable as to assist them in being brought from darkness t light,

and from the power of Satan unto God. But this, this, my dear brethren,

is the greatest charity, as can be, to save a soul from death: this is

of far greater advantage, than relieving the body of a fellow-creature:

for the most miserable object as could be, death would deliver it from

all. But death, to those who are not born again, would be so far from

being a release from all misery, that it would be an inlet to all

torment, and that to all eternity. Therefore, we should assist, as much

as possible, to keep a soul from falling into the hands of Satan: for

he is the grand enemy of souls. How should this excite you to watch

over your own and others souls? For unless you are earnest with God,

Satan will be too hard for you. Surely, it is the greatest charity to

watch over one another's words and actions, that we may forewarn each

other when danger is nigh, or when the enemy of souls approaches.

And if you have once known the value of your own souls, and know what

it is to be snatched as brands out of the burning fire, you will be

solicitous that others may be brought out of the same state. It is not

the leading of a moral life, being honest, and paying every man his

just due; this is not a proof of your being in a state of grace, or of

being born again, and renewed in the spirit of your minds: No, you may

die honest, just , charitable, and yet not be in a state of salvation.

It is not the preaching of that morality, which most of our pulpits now

bring forth, that is sufficient to bring you from sin unto God. I saw

you willing to learn, and yet were ignorant of the necessity of being

born again, regenerated, of having all old things done away, and all

things becoming new in your souls: I could not bear, my brethren, to

see you in the highway to destruction, and none to bring you back. It

was love to your souls, it was a desire to see Christ formed in you,

which brought me into the fields, the highways, and hedges, to preach

unto you Jesus, a crucified Jesus as dying for you. It was charity,

indeed it was charity to your souls, which has exposed me to the

present ill treatment of my letter- learned brethren.

Therefore, let me advise you to be charitable to the souls of one

another; that is, by advising them with all love and tenderness, to

follow after Christ, and the things which belong to their immortal

peace, before they be forever hid from their eyes.

I now proceed, in the Third place, to show when your charity is of the

right kind.

And here, my brethren, I shall show, First, When it is not; and ,

Secondly, When it is of the right kind.

1. First, Your charity is not of the right kind, when it proceeds from

worldly views or ends.

If it is to be seen of men, to receive any advantage from them, to be

esteemed, or to gain a reputation in the world; or if you have any

pride in it, and expect to reap benefit from God merely for it; if all,

or each of these is the end of your charity, then it is all in vain;

your charity does not proceed from a right end, but you are hereby

deceiving your own souls. If you give an alms purely to be observed by

man, or as expecting favor from God, merely on the account thereof,

then you have not the glory of God, or the benefit of your

fellow-creatures at heart, but merely yourself: this, this is not

charity. Nor,

Secondly, Is that true charity, when we give any thing to our fellow-

creatures purely to indulge them in vice: this is so far from being

charity, that it is a sin, both against God, and against our fellow-

creatures. And yet, this is a common, as it is sinful, to carry our

friends, under a specious pretense of charity, to one or the other

entertainment, with no other view, but to make them guilty of excess.

Hereby you are guilty of a double sin: we are not to sin ourselves,

much less should we endeavor to make another sin likewise. But,

Thirdly, Our charity comes from a right end, when it proceeds from love

to God, and for the welfare both of the body and soul of our fellow-

creatures.

When this is the sole end of relieving our distressed fellow-

creatures, then our charity comes from a right end, and we may expect

to reap advantage by it: this is the charity which is pleasing to God.

God is well pleased, when all our actions proceed from love, love to

himself, and love to immortal souls.

Consider, my dear brethren, that it was love for souls, that brought

the blessed Jesus down from the bosom of his Father; that made him, who

was equal in power and glory, to come and take upon him our nature;

that caused the Lord of life to die the painful, ignominious, and

accursed death of the cross. It was love to immortal souls, that

brought this blessed Jesus among us. And O that we might hence consider

how great the value of souls was and is: it was that which made Jesus

to bled, pant, and die. And surely souls must be of infinite worth,

which made the Lamb of God to die so shameful a death.

And shall not this make you have a true value for souls? It is of the

greatest worth: and this, this is the greatest charity, when it comes

from love to God, and from love to souls. This will be a charity, the

satisfaction of which will last to all eternity. O that this may make

you have so much regard for the value of souls, as not to neglect all

opportunities for the doing of them good: here is something worth

having charity for, because they remain to all eternity. Therefore, let

me earnestly beseech you both to consider the worth of immortal souls,

and let your charity extend to them, that by your advice and

admonition, you may be an instrument, in the hands of God, in bringing

souls to the Lord Jesus.

I am in the next place to consider, Fourthly, Why this charity, or

grace of love never faileth.

And it never faileth in respect of its proceeding from an unchangeable

God. We are not to understand, that our charity is always the same: No,

there may, and frequently are, ebbs and flowings; but still it never

totally faileth: No, the grace of love remaineth for ever. There is,

and will be, a charity to all who have erred and run astray from God.

We cannot be easy to see souls in the highway to destruction, and not

use our utmost endeavor to bring them back from sin, and show them the

dreadful consequence of running into evil. Christians cannot bear to

see those souls for whom Christ died, perish for want of knowledge: and

if they see any of the bodies of their fellow-creatures in want, they

will do the utmost in their power to relieve them.

Charity will never fail, among those who have a true love to the Lord

Jesus, and know the value of souls: they will be charitable to those

who are in distress. And thus you see, that true charity, if it

proceeds from a right end, never faileth.

I now proceed, my brethren, in the Last place, to exhort all of you,

high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to practice this

valuable and commendable duty of charity.

It is not rolling in your coaches, taking your pleasure, and not

considering the miseries of your fellow-creatures, that is commendable

or praise-worthy; but the relieving your distressed poor

fellow-creatures, is valuable and praise-worthy wherever it is found.

But alas! how very few of our gay and polite gentlemen consider their

poor friends; rather they despise, and do not regard them. They can

indulge themselves in the follies of life, and had much rather spend

their estates in lusts and pleasures, while the poor all round them are

not thought worthy to be set with the dogs of their flock. If you have

an abundance of the things of this world, then you are esteemed as

companions for the polite and gay in life; but if you are poor, then

you must not expect to find any favor, but be hated, or not thought fit

for company or conversation: and if you have an abundance of the things

of this life, and do not want any assistance, then you have many ready

to help you. My dear brethren, I do not doubt but your own experience

is a proof of my assertions; as also, that if any come into distress,

then those, who promised to give relief, quite forget what they

promise, and will despise, because Providence has frowned. But this is

not acting like those who are bound for the heavenly Jerusalem; thus

our hearts and our actions give our lips the lie: for if we profess the

name of Christ, and do not depart from all iniquity, we are not those,

who are worthy of being esteemed Christians indeed.

For, if we have not charity, we are not Christians: charity is the

great duty of Christians: and where is our Christianity, if we want

charity? Therefore, let me beseech you to exercise charity to your

distressed fellow-creatures. Indeed, my dear brethren, this is truly

commendable, truly valuable; and therefore, I beseech you, in the

bowels of tender mercy to Christ, to consider his poor distressed

members; exercise, exercise, I beseech you, this charity: if you have

no compassion, you are not true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I

humbly beg you to consider those who want relief, and are really

destitute, and relieve them according to your abilities. Consider, that

the more favorable Providence has been to you, it should make you the

more earnest and solicitous to relieve those whom you may find in

distress: it is of the utmost consequence, what is well pleasing to

your fellow-creatures, and doing your duty to God.

When you are called from hence, then all riches and grandeur will be

over; the grave will make no distinction; great estates will be of no

signification in the other world; and if you have made a bad use of the

talent which God hath put into your hands, it will be only an

aggravation of your condemnation at the great day of account, when God

shall come to demand your souls, and to call you to an account, for the

use to which you have put the abundance of the things of this life.

To conclude, let me once more beseech each of you to act according to

the circumstances of life, which God, in his rich and free mercy, has

given you.

If you were sensible of the great consequences which would attend your

acting in this charitable manner, and considered it as a proof of your

love to God, the loving his members; you could not be uncharitable in

your tempers, nor fail to relieve any of your distressed fellow

creatures.

Consider how easy it is for many of you, by putting your mites

together, to help one who is in distress; and how can you tell, but

that the little you give, may be the means of bringing one from

distress into flourishing circumstances; and then, if there is a true

spirit of a Christian in them, they can never be sufficiently thankful

to God the author, and to you as the instrument, in being so great a

friend to them in their melancholy circumstances: consider also, once

more, how much better your account will be at the day of judgment, and

what peace of conscience you will enjoy. How satisfactory must be the

thought of having relieved the widow and the fatherless? This is

recommended by the Lord Jesus Christ, and has been practiced in all

ages of the church: and therefore, my brethren, be ye now found in the

practice of this duty.

I have been the larger upon this, because our enemies say we deny all

moral actions; but, blessed be God, they speak against us without

cause: we highly value them; but we say, that faith in Christ, the love

of God, and being born again, are of infinite more worth; but you

cannot be true Christians without having charity to your

fellow-creatures, be they friends or enemies, if in distress. And,

therefore, exert yourselves in this duty, as is commanded by the

blessed Jesus: and if you have true charity, you shall live and reign

with him for ever.

Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be all

honor, power, glory, might, majesty, and dominion, both now and for

evermore. Amen.

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Satan's Devices

The occasion of these words was as follows: In the church of Corinth

there was an unhappy person, who had committed such incest, as was not

so much as named among the Gentiles, in taking his father's wife; but

either on account of his wealth, power, or some such reasons, like many

notorious offenders now-adays, he had not been exposed to the censures

of the church. St. Paul, therefore, in his first epistle, severely

chides them for this neglect of discipline, and commands them, "in the

name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when they were gathered together, to

deliver such a one, whoever he was, to Satan, for the destruction of

the flesh, that his Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord;" that

is, they should solemnly excommunicate him; which was then commonly

attended with some bodily disease. The Corinthians, being obedient to

the Apostle, as dear children, no sooner received this reproof, but

they submitted to it, and cast the offending party out of the church.

But whilst they were endeavoring to amend one fault, they unhappily ran

into another; and as they formerly had been too mild and remiss, so now

they behaved towards him with too much severity and resentment. The

Apostle, therefore, in this chapter, reproves this, and tells them,

that "sufficient to the offender's shame, was the punishment which had

been inflicted of many:" that he had now suffered enough; and that,

therefore, lest he should be tempted to say with Cain, "My punishment

is greater than I can bear;" or to use the Apostle's own words, "Lest

he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow;" they ought, now he had

given proof of his repentance, to forgive him, to confirm their love

towards him, and to restore him in the spirit of meekness; "Lest Satan,

(to whose buffetings he was now given, by tempting him to despair)

should get an advantage over us:" and so, by representing you as

merciless and cruel, cause that holy name to be blasphemed, by which

you are called; "for we are not ignorant of his devices:" we know very

well how many subtle ways he has to draw aside and beguile unguarded

unthinking men.

Thus then, stand the words in relation to the context; but as Satan has

many devices, and as his quiver is full of other poisonous darts,

besides those which he shoots at us to drive us to despair, I shall, in

the following discourse,

First, Briefly observe who we are to understand by Satan. And,

Secondly, Point out to you, what are the chief devices he generally

makes use of to draw off converts from Christ, and also prescribe some

remedies against them.

First, Who are we to understand by Satan?

The word Satan, in its original signification, meant an adversary; and

in its general acceptation, is made use of, to point out to us the

chief of the devils, who, for striving to be as God, was cast down from

heaven, and is now permitted, "with the rest of his spiritual

wickednesses in high places, to walk up and down, seeking whom he may

devour." We hear of him immediately after the creation, when in the

shape of a serpent, he lay in wait to deceive our first parents. He is

called Satan, in the book of Job, where we are told, that "when the

sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came

amongst them." As the scripture also speaketh in the book of

Chronicles; "and Satan moved David to number the people." In the New

Testament he goes under different denominations; sometimes he is called

the evil One, because he is evil in himself, and tempts us to evil.

Sometimes, "the Prince of the power of the air;" and, "the Spirit that

now ruleth in the children of disobedience;" because he resides chiefly

in the air, and through the whole world: and all that are not born of

God, are said to lie in him.

He is an enemy to God and goodness; he is a hater of all truth. Why

else did he slander God in paradise? Why did he tell Eve, "You shall

not surely die?" And why did he promise to give all the kingdoms of the

world, and the glories of them, to Jesus Christ, if he would fall down

and worship him?

He is full of malice, envy, and revenge: For what other motives could

induce him to molest innocent man in paradise? And why is he still so

restless in his attempts to destroy us, who have done him no wrong?

He is a being of great power, as appears in his being able to act on

the imagination of our blessed Lord, so as to represent to him all the

kingdoms of the world, and the glories of them, in a moment of time. As

also in carrying his sacred body through the air up to a pinnacle of

the temple; and his driving a herd of swine so furiously into the deep.

Nay, so great is his might, that, I doubt not, was God to let him use

his full strength, but he could turn the earth upside down, or pull the

sun from its orb.

But what he is most remarkable for is, his subtlety: for not having

power given him from above, to take us by force, he is obliged to wait

for opportunities to betray us, and to catch us by guile. He,

therefore, made use of the serpent, which was subtle above all the

beasts of the field, in order to tempt our first parents; and

accordingly he is said, in the New Testament, "To lie in wait to

deceive;" and, in the words of the text, the Apostle says, "We are not

ignorant of his devices:" thereby implying, that we are more in danger

of being seduced by his policy, than over-borne by his power.

From this short description of Satan, we may easily judge whose

children they are, who love to make a lie, who speak evil of, and

slander their neighbor, and whose hearts are full of pride, subtlety,

malice, envy, revenge, and all uncharitableness. Surely they have Satan

for their father: for the tempers of Satan they know, and the works of

Satan they do. But were they to see either themselves, or Satan as he

is, they could not but be terrified at their own likeness, and abhor

themselves in dust and ashes.

But, the justice of God in suffering us to be tempted, is vindicated

from the following considerations: That we are here in a state of

disorder; That he has promised not to suffer us to be tempted above

what we are able to bear; and not only so, but to him that overcometh

he will give a crown of life.

The holy angels themselves, it should seem, were once put to a trial

whether they would be faithful or not. The first Adam was tempted, even

in paradise. And Jesus Christ, that second Adam, though he was a son,

yet was carried, as our representative, by the Holy Spirit, into the

wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And there is not one single

saint in paradise, amongst the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the

glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs, and the

spirits of just men made perfect, who, when on earth, was not assaulted

by the fiery darts of that wicked one, the devil.

What then has been the common lot of all God's children, and of the

angels, nay, of the eternal Son of God himself, we must not think to be

exempted from: No, it is sufficient if we are made perfect through

temptations, as they were. And, therefore, since we cannot but be

tempted, unless we could unmake human nature, instead of repining at

our condition, we should rather be inquiring, at what time of our lives

Satan most violently assaults us? And what those devices are, which he

commonly makes use of, in order to "get an advantage over us?"

As to the first question, what time of life? I answer, we must expect

to be tempted by him, in some degree or other, all our lives long. --

For this life being a continual warfare, we must never expect to have

rest from our spiritual adversary the devil, or to say, our combat with

him is finished, till, with our blessed master, we bow down our heads,

and give up the ghost.

But since the time of our conversion, or first entering upon the

spiritual life, is the most critical time at which he, for the most

part, violently besets us, as well knowing, if he can prevent our

setting out, he can lead us captive at his will; and since the wise son

of Sirach particularly warns us, when we are going to serve the Lord,

to prepare our souls for temptation, I shall, in answer to the other

question, pass on to the

Second general thing proposed; and point out those devices, which Satan

generally makes use of at our first conversion, in order to get an

advantage over us.

But let me observe to you, that whatsoever shall be delivered in the

following discourse is only designed for such as have actually entered

upon the divine life; and not for carnal almost Christians, who have

the form of godliness, but never yet felt the power of it in their

hearts.

This being premised, The First device I shall mention, which Satan

makes use of, is, to drive us to despair.

When God the Father awakens a sinner by the terrors of the law, and by

his Holy Spirit convinceth him of sin, in order to lead him to Christ,

and show him the necessity of a Redeemer; then Satan generally strikes

in, and aggravates those convictions to such a degree, as to make the

sinner doubt of finding mercy thro' the Mediator.

Thus, in all his temptations of the Holy Jesus, he chiefly aimed to

make him question, whether he was the Son of God? "If thou be the Son

of God," do so and so. With many such desponding thoughts, no doubt, he

filled the heart of the great St. Paul, when he continued three days,

neither eating bread nor drinking water; and therefore he speaks by

experience, when he says, in the words of the text, "We are not

ignorant of his devices," that he would endeavor to drive the

incestuous person to despair.

But let not any of you be influenced by him, to despair of finding

mercy. For it is not the greatness or number of our crimes, but

impenitence and unbelief, that will prove our ruin: No, were our sins

more in number than the hairs of our head, or of a deeper die than the

brightest scarlet; yet the merits of the death of Jesus Chris are

infinitely greater, and faith in his blood shall make them white as

snow.

Answer always, therefore, his despairing suggestions, as your Blessed

Lord did, with an "It is written." Tell him, you know that your

Redeemer liveth, ever to make intercession for you; that the Lord hath

received from him double for all your crimes: And tho' you have sinned

much, that is no reason why you should despair, but only why you should

love much, having so much forgiven.

A Second device that Satan generally makes use of, to get an advantage

over young converts, is, to tempt them to presume, or to think more

highly of themselves than they ought to think.

When a person ha for some little time tasted the good word of life, and

felt the powers of the world to come, he is commonly (as indeed well he

may) most highly transported with that sudden change he finds in

himself. But then, Satan will not be wanting, at such a time, to puff

him up with a high conceit of his own attainments as if he was some

great person; and will tempt him to set at nought his brethren, as

though he was holier than they.

Take heed therefore, and let us beware of this device of our spiritual

adversary; for as before honor is humility, so a haughty spirit

generally goes before a fall; and God is obliged, when under such

circumstances, to send us some humbling visitation, or permit us to

fall, as he did Peter into some grievous sin, that we may learn not to

be too high minded.

To check therefore all suggestions to spiritual pride, let us consider,

that we did not apprehend Christ, but were apprehended of him. That we

have nothing but what we have received. That the free grace of God has

alone made the difference between us and others; and, was God to leave

us to the deceitfulness of our own hearts but one moment, we should

become weak and wicked, like other men. We should farther consider,

that being proud of grace, is the most ready way to lose it. "For God

resisteth the proud, and giveth more grace only to the humble." And

were we endowed with the perfections of the seraphim; yet if we were

proud of those perfections, they would but render us more accomplished

devils. Above all, we should pray earnestly to Almighty God, that we

may learn of Jesus Christ, to be lowly in heart. That his grace,

through the subtlety and deceivableness of Satan, may not be our

poison. But that we may always think soberly of ourselves, as we ought

to think.

A Third device I shall mention, which Satan generally makes use of, "to

get an advantage over us," is to tempt us to uneasiness, and to have

hard thoughts of God, when we are dead and barren in prayer.

Though this is a term not understood by the natural man, yet, whosoever

there are amongst you, who have passed through the pangs of the new

birth, they know full well what I mean, when I talk of deadness and

dryness in prayer. And, I doubt not, but many of you, amongst whom I am

not preaching the kingdom of God, are at this very time laboring under

it.

For, when persons are first awakened to the divine life, because grace

is weak and nature strong, God is often pleased to vouchsafe them some

extraordinary illuminations of his Holy Spirit; but when they are grown

to be more perfect men in Christ, then he frequently seems to leave

them to themselves; and not only so, but permits a horrible deadness

and dread to overwhelm them; at which times Satan will not be wanting

to vex and tempt them to impatience, to the great discomfort of their

souls.

But be not afraid; for this is no more than your blessed Redeemer, that

spotless Lamb of God, has undergone before you: witness his bitter

agony in the garden, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto

death. When he sweat great drops of blood, falling on the ground; when

the sense of the Divinity was drawn from him; and Satan, in all

probability, was permitted to set all his terrors in array before him.

Rejoice, therefore, my brethren, when you fall into the like

circumstances; as knowing, that you are therein partakers of the

sufferings of Jesus Christ. Consider, that it is necessary such inward

trials should come, to wean us from the immoderate love of sensible

devotion, and teach us to follow Christ, not merely for his loaves, but

out of a principle of love and obedience. In patience, therefore,

possess your souls, and be not terrified by Satan's suggestions. Still

persevere in seeking Jesus in the use of means, though it be sorrowing;

and though through barrenness of soul, you may go mourning all the day

long. Consider that the spouse is with you, though behind the curtain;

as he was with Mary, at the sepulcher, though she knew it not. That he

was withdrawn but for a little while, to make his next visit more

welcome. That though he may now seem to frown and look back on you, as

he did on the Syrophonecian woman; yet if you, like her, or blind

Bartimeus, cry out so much the more earnestly, "Jesus, thou Son of

David, have mercy on us;" he will be made known unto you again, either

in the temple, by breaking of bread, or some other way.

But amongst all the devices that Satan makes use of, "to get an

advantage over us," there is none in which he is more successful, or by

which he grieves the children of God worse, than a

Fourth device I am going to mention, his troubling you with

blasphemous, profane, unbelieving thoughts; and sometimes to such a

degree, that they are as tormenting as the rack.

Some indeed are apt to impute all such evil thoughts to a disorder of

body. But those who know any thing of the spiritual life, can inform

you, with greater certainty, that for the generality, they proceed from

that wicked one, the devil; who, no doubt, has power given him from

above, as well now as formerly, to disorder the body, as he did Job's,

that he may, with the more secrecy and success, work upon, ruffle and

torment the soul.

You that have felt his fiery darts, can subscribe to the truth of this,

and by fatal experience can tell, how often he has bid you, "curse God

and die," and darted into your thoughts a thousand blasphemous

suggestions, even in your most secret and solemn retirements; the bar

looking back on which makes your very hearts to tremble.

I appeal to your own consciences; Have not some of you, when you have

been lifting up holy hands in prayer, been pestered with such a crowd

of the most horrid insinuations, that you have been often tempted to

rise off from your knees, and been made to believe your prayers were an

abomination to the Lord? Nay, when, with the rest of your Christian

brethren, you have crowded round the holy table, and taken the sacred

symbols of Christ's most blessed body and blood into your hands,

instead of remembering the death of your Savior, have you not employed

in driving out evil thoughts, as Abraham was in driving away the birds,

that came to devour his sacrifice; and thereby have been terrified,

lest you have eat and drank your own damnation?

But marvel not, as though some strange thing happened unto you; for

this has been the common lot of all God's children. We read, even in

Job's time, "That when the sons of God came to appear before their

Maker, (at public worship) Satan also came amongst them," to disturb

their devotions.

And think not that God is angry with you for these distracting, though

ever so blasphemous thoughts: No, he knows it is not you, but Satan

working in you; and therefore, notwithstanding he may be displeased

with, and certainly will punish him; yet he will both pity and reward

you. And though it be difficult to make persons in your circumstances

to believe so; yet I doubt not but you are more acceptable to God, when

performing your holy duties in the midst of such involuntary

distractions, than when you are wrapped up by devotion, as it were,

into the third heavens; for you are then suffering, as well as doing

the will of God at the same time; and, like Nehemiah's servants at the

building of the temple, are holding a trowel in one hand, and a sword

in the other. Be not driven from the use of any ordinance whatever, on

account of those abominable suggestions; for then you let Satan get his

desired advantage over you; it being his chief design, by these

thoughts, to make you fall out with the means of grace; and to tempt

you to believe, you do not please God, for no other reason, than

because you do not please yourselves. Rather persevere in the use of

the holy communion especially, and all other means whatever; and when

these temptations have wrought that resignation in you, for which they

were permitted, God will visit you with fresh tokens of his love, as he

met Abraham, when he returned from the slaughter of the five kings; and

will send an angel from heaven, as he did to his Son, on purpose to

strengthen you.

Hitherto we have only observed such devices as Satan makes use of

immediately by himself; but there is a

Fifth I shall mention, which is not the least, tempting us by our

carnal friends and relatives.

This is one of the most common, as well as most artful devices he makes

use of, to draw young converts from God; for when he cannot prevail

over them by himself, he will try what he can do by the influence and

mediation of others.

Thus he tempted Eve, that she might tempt Adam. Thus he stirred up

Job's wife, to bid him "Curse God and die." And thus he made use of

Peter's tongue, to persuade our blessed Lord "to spare himself," and

thereby decline those sufferings, by which alone we could be preserved

from suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. And thus, in these last

days, he often stirs up our most powerful friends and dearest

intimates, to dissuade us from going in that narrow way, which alone

leadeth unto life eternal.

But our blessed Lord has furnished us with a sufficient answer to all

such suggestions. "Get you behind me, my adversaries;" for otherwise

they will be an offense unto you; and the only reason why they give

such advice is, because they "favor not the things that be of God, but

the things that be of men."

Whoever, therefore, among you are resolved to serve the Lord, prepare

your souls for many such temptations as these; for it is necessary that

such offenses should come, to try your sincerity, to teach us to cease

from man, and to see if we will forsake all to follow Christ.

Indeed our modernisers of Christianity would persuade us, that the

gospel was calculated only for about two hundred years; and that now

there is no need of hating father and mother, or of being persecuted

for the sake of Christ and his gospel.

But such persons err, not knowing the scriptures, and the power of

godliness in their hearts; for whosoever receives the love of God in

the truth of it, will find, that Christ came to send not peace, but a

sword upon earth, as much now as ever. That the father-in-law shall be

against the daughter-in-law, in these latter, as well as in the

primitive times; and that if we will live godly in Christ Jesus, we

must, as then, so now, from carnal friends and relations, suffer

persecution. But the devil hath a

Sixth device, which is as dangerous as any of the former, by not

tempting us at all, or rather, by withdrawing himself for a while, in

order to come upon us at an hour when we think not of it.

Thus it is said, that he left Jesus Christ only for a season; and our

blessed Lord has bid us to watch and pray always, that we enter not

into temptation; thereby implying, that Satan, whether we think of it

or not, is always seeking how he may devour us.

If we would therefore behave like good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we

must be always upon our guard, and never pretend to lay down our

spiritual weapons of prayer and watching, till our warfare is

accomplished by death; for if we do, our spiritual Amalek will quickly

prevail against us. What if he has left us? It is only for a season;

yet a little while, and, like a roaring lion, with double fury, he will

break out upon us again. So great a coward as the devil is, he seldom

leaves us at the first onset. As he followed our blessed Lord with one

temptation after another, so will he treat his servants. And the reason

why he does not renew his attacks, is sometimes, because God knows we

are yet weak and unable to bear them, sometimes, because our grand

adversary thinks to beset us at a more convenient season.

Watch carefully over thy heart, O Christian; and whenever thou

perceivest thyself to be falling into a spiritual slumber, say to it,

as Christ to his disciples, "Arise (my soul) why sleepest thou?" Awake,

awake; put on strength, watch and pray, or otherwise the Philistines

will be upon thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not. Alas! Is

this life a time to lie down and slumber in? Arise, and call upon thy

God; thy spiritual enemy is not dead, but lurketh in some secret place,

seeking a convenient opportunity how he may betray thee. If thou

ceasest to strive with him, thou ceasest to be a friend of God; thou

ceasest to go in that narrow way which leadeth unto life.

Thus have I endeavored to point out to you some of those devices, that

Satan generally makes use of "to get an advantage over us;" many others

there are, no doubt, which he often uses.

But these, on account of my youth and want of experience, I cannot yet

apprise you of; they who have been listed for many years in their

master's service, and fought under his banner against our spiritual

Amalek, are able to discover more of his artifices; and, being tempted

in all things, like unto their brethren, can, in all things, advise and

succor those that are tempted.

In the mean while, let me exhort my young fellow-soldiers, who, like

myself, are but just entering the field, and for whose sake this was

written, not to be discouraged at the fiery trial wherewith they must

be tried, if they would be found faithful servants of Jesus Christ. You

see, my dearly beloved brethren, by what has been delivered, that our

way through the wilderness of this world to the heavenly Canaan, is

beset with thorns, and that there are sons of Anak to be grappled with,

ere you can possess the promised land. But let not these, like so many

false spies, discourage you from going up to fight the Lord's battles,

but say with Caleb and Joshua, "Nay, but we will go up, for we are able

to conquer them." Jesus Christ, that great captain of our salvation,

has in our stead, and as our representative, baffled the grand enemy of

mankind, and we have nothing to do, but manfully to fight under his

banner, and to go on from conquering to conquer. Our glory does not

consist in being exempted from, but in enduring temptations. "Blessed

is the man, (says the apostle) that endureth temptation;": and again,

"Brethren, count it all joy, when you fall into divers temptations:"

And in that perfect form our blessed Lord has prescribed to us, we are

taught to pray, not so much to be delivered from all temptation, as

"from the evil" of it. Whilst we are on this side eternity, it must

needs be that temptations come; and, no doubt, "Satan has desired to

have all of us, to sift us as wheat." But wherefore should we fear? For

he that is for us, is by far more powerful, than all that are against

us. Jesus Christ, our great High-priest, is exalted to the right hand

of God, and there sitteth to make intercession for us, that our faith

fail not.

Since then Christ is praying, whom should we fear? And since he has

promised to make us more than conquerors, of whom should we be afraid?

No, though an hose of devils are set in array against us, let us not be

afraid; though there should rise up the hottest persecution against us,

yet let us put our trust in God. What though Satan, and the rest of his

apostate spirits, are powerful, when compared with us; yet, if put in

competition with the Almighty, they are as weak as the meanest worms.

God has them all reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of

the great day. So far as he permits them, they shall go, but no

farther; and where he pleases, there shall their proud malicious

designs be stayed. We read in the gospel, that though a legion of them

possessed one man, yet they could not destroy him; nor could they so

much as enter into a swine, without first having leave given them from

above. It is true, we often find they foil us, when we are assaulted by

them; but let us be strong, and very courageous; for, though they

bruise our heels, we shall, at length, bruise their heads. Yet a little

while, and he that shall come, will come; and then we shall see all our

spiritual enemies put under our feet. What f they do come out against

us, like so many great Goliaths; yet, if we can go forth, as the

stripling David, in the name and strength of the Lord of hosts, we may

say, O Satan, where is thy power? O fallen spirits, where is your

victory?

Once more therefore, and to conclude; let us be strong, and very

courageous, and let us put on the whole armor of God, that we may be

able to stand against the fiery darts of the wicked one. Let us

renounce ourselves, and the world, and then we shall take away the

armor in which he trusteth, and he will find nothing in us for his

temptations to work upon. We shall then prevent his malicious designs;

and being willing to suffer ourselves, shall need less sufferings to be

sent us form above. Let us have our loins girt about with truth; and

for an helmet, the hope of salvation; "praying always with all manner

of supplication." Above all things, "Let us take the sword of the

spirit, which is the word of God," and "the shield of faith," looking

always to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy

that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is

now sat down at the right hand of God.

To which happy place, may God of his infinite mercy translate us all,

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, three persons and one

eternal God, be all honor and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

__________________________________________________________________

On Regeneration

The doctrine of our regeneration, or new birth in Christ Jesus, though

one of the most fundamental doctrines of our holy religion; though so

plainly and often pressed on us in sacred writ, "that he who runs may

read;" nay though it is the very hinge on which the salvation of each

of us turns, and a point too in which all sincere Christians, of every

denomination, agree; yet it is so seldom considered, and so little

experimentally understood by the generality of professors, that were we

to judge of the truth of it, by the experience of most who call

themselves Christians, we should be apt to imagine they had "not so

much as heard" whether there be any such thing as regeneration or not.

It is true, men for the most part are orthodox in the common articles

of their creed; they believe "there is but one God, and one Mediator

between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus;" and that there is no

other name given under heaven, whereby they can be saved, besides his:

But then tell them, they must be regenerated, they must be born again,

they must be renewed in the very spirit, in the inmost faculties of

their minds, ere they can truly call Christ, "Lord, Lord," or have an

evidence that they have any share in the merits of his precious blood;

and they are ready to cry out with Nicodemus, "How can these things

be?" Or with the Athenians, on another occasion, "What wilt this

bumbler say? He seemeth to be a setter-forth of strange doctrines;"

because we preach unto them Christ, and the new-birth.

That I may therefore contribute my mite towards curing the fatal

mistake of such persons, who would thus put asunder what God has

inseparably joined together, and vainly think they are justified by

Christ, or have their sins forgiven, and his perfect obedience imputed

to them, when they are not sanctified, have not their natures changed,

and made holy, I shall beg leave to enlarge on the words of the text in

the following manner:

First, I shall endeavor to explain what is meant by being in Christ:

"If any man be in Christ."

Secondly, What we are to understand by being a new creature: "If any

man be in Christ he is a new creature."

Thirdly, I shall produce some arguments to make good the apostle's

assertion. And

Fourthly, I shall draw some inferences from what may be delivered, and

then conclude with a word or two of exhortation.

First, I am to endeavor to explain what is meant by this expression in

the text, "If any man be in Christ."

Now a person may be said to be in Christ two ways.

First, Only by an outward profession. And in this sense, every one that

is called a Christian, or baptized into Christ's church, may be said to

be in Christ. But that this is not the sole meaning of the apostle's

phrase before us, is evident, because then, every one that names the

name of Christ, or is baptized into his visible church, would be a new

creature. Which is notoriously false, it being too plain, beyond all

contradiction, that comparatively but few of those that are "born of

water," are "born of the Spirit" likewise; to use another spiritual way

of speaking, many are baptized with water, which were never baptized

with the Holy Ghost.

To be in Christ therefore, in the full import of the word, must

certainly mean something more than a bare outward profession, or being

called after his name. For, as this same apostle tells us, "All are not

Israelites that are of Israel," so when applied to Christianity, all

are not real Christians that are nominally such. Nay, this is so far

from being the case, that our blessed Lord himself informs us, that

many who have prophesied or preached in his name, and in his name cast

out devils, and done many wonderful works, shall notwithstanding be

dismissed at the last day, with "depart from me, I know you not, ye

workers of iniquity."

It remains therefore, that this expression, "if any man be in Christ,"

must be understood in a

Second and closer signification, to be in him so as to partake of the

benefits of his sufferings. To be in him not only by an outward

profession, but by an inward change and purity of heart, and

cohabitation of his Holy Spirit. To be in him, so as to be mystically

united to him by a true and lively faith, and thereby to receive

spiritual virtue from him, as the members of the natural body do from

the head, or the branches from the vine. To be in him in such a manner

as the apostle, speaking of himself, acquaints us he knew a person was,

"I knew man in Christ," a true Christian; or, as he himself desires to

be in Christ, when he wishes, in his epistle to the Philippians, that

he might be found in him.

This is undoubtedly the proper meaning of the apostle's expression in

the words of the text; so that what he says in his epistle to the

Romans about circumcision, may very well be applied to the present

subject; that he is not a real Christian who is only one outwardly; nor

is that true baptism, which is only outward in the flesh. But he is a

true Christian, who is one inwardly, whose baptism is that of the

heart, in the spirit, and not merely in the water, whose praise is not

of man but of God. Or, as he speaketh in another place, "Neither

circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing (of itself) but a

new creature." Which amounts to what he here declares in the verse now

under consideration, that if any man be truly and properly in Christ,

he is a new creature. Which brings me to show,

Secondly, What we are to understand by being a new creature.

And here it is evident at the first view, that this expression is not

to be so explained as though there was a physical change required to be

made in us; or as though we were to be reduced to our primitive

nothings, and then created and formed again. For, supposing we were, as

Nicodemus ignorantly imagined, to enter a "second time into our

mother's womb, and be born," alas! what would it contribute towards

rendering us spiritually new creatures? Since "that which was born of

the flesh would be flesh still;" we should be the same carnal persons

as ever, being derived from carnal parents, and consequently receiving

the seeds of all manner of sin and corruption from them. No, it only

means, that we must be so altered as to the qualities and tempers of

our minds, that we must entirely forget what manner of persons we once

were. As it may be said of a piece of gold, that was once in the ore,

after it has been cleansed, purified and polished, that it is a new

piece of gold; as it may be said of a bright glass that has been

covered over with filth, when it is wiped, and so become transparent

and clear, that it is a new glass: Or, as it might be said of Naaman,

when he recovered of his leprosy, and his flesh returned unto him like

the flesh of a young child, that he was a new man; so our souls, though

still the same as to offense, yet are so purged, purified and cleansed

from their natural dross, filth and leprosy, by the blessed influences

of the Holy Spirit, that they may be properly said to be made anew.

How this glorious change is wrought in the soul, cannot easily be

explained: For no one knows the ways of the Spirit save the Spirit of

God himself. Not that this ought to be any argument against this

doctrine; for, as our blessed Lord observed to Nicodemus, when he was

discoursing on this very subject, "The wind bloweth where it listeth,

and thou hearest the sound thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh,

and whither it goeth;" and if we are told of natural things, and we

understand them not, how much less ought we to wonder, if we cannot

immediately account for the invisible workings of the Holy Spirit? The

truth of the matter is this: the doctrine of our regeneration, or new

birth in Christ Jesus, is hard to be understood by the natural man. But

that there is really such a thing, and that each of us must be

spiritually born again, I shall endeavor to show under my

Third general head, in which I was to produce some arguments to make

good the apostle's assertion.

And here one would think it sufficient to affirm,

First, That God himself, in his holy word, hath told us so. Many texts

might be produced out of the Old Testament to prove this point, and

indeed, one would wonder how Nicodemus, who was a teacher in Israel,

and who was therefore to instruct the people in the spiritual meaning

of the law, should be so ignorant of this grand article, as we find he

really was, by his asking our blessed Lord, when he was pressing on him

this topic, How can these things be? Surely, he could not forget how

often the Psalmist had begged of God, to make him "a new heart," and

"to renew a right spirit within him;" as likewise, how frequently the

prophets had warned the people to make them "new hearts," and new

minds, and so turn unto the Lord their God. But not to mention these

and such like texts out of the Old Testament, this doctrine is so often

and plainly repeated in the New, that, as I observed before, he who

runs may read. For what says the great Prophet and Instructor of the

world himself: "Except a man (every one that is naturally the offspring

of Adam) be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into

the kingdom of God." And lest we should be apt to slight this

assertion, and Nicodemus-like, reject the doctrine, because we cannot

immediately explain "How this thing can be;" our blessed Master

therefore affirms it, as it were, by an oath, "Verily, verily, I say

unto you," or, as it may be read, I the Amen; I who am truth itself,

say unto you, that it is the unalterable appointment of my heavenly

Father, that "unless a man be born again, he cannot enter into the

kingdom of God."

Agreeable to this, are those many passages we meet with in the

epistles, where we are commanded to be "renewed in the Spirit," or,

which was before explained, in the inmost faculties of our minds; to

"put off the Old Man, which is corrupt; and to put on the New Man,

which is created after God, in righteousness and true holiness;" that

"old things must pass away, and that all things must become new;" that

we are to be "saved by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of

the Holy Ghost." Or, methinks, was there no other passage to be

produced besides the words of the text, it would be full enough, since

the apostle therein positively affirms, that "If any man be in Christ,

he is a new creature."

Multitudes of other texts might be produced to confirm this same truth;

but those already quoted are so plain and convincing, that one would

imagine no one should deny it; were we not told, there are some, "who

having eyes, see not, and ears, hear not, and that will not understand

with their hearts, or hear with their ears, lest they should be

converted, and Christ should heal them.

But I proceed to a

Second argument; and that shall be taken from the purity of God, and

the present corrupt and polluted state of man.

God is described in holy scripture (and I speak to those who profess to

know the scripture) as a Spirit; as a being of such infinite sanctity,

as to be of "purer eyes than to behold iniquity;" as to be so

transcendently holy, that it is said "the very heavens are not clean in

his sight; and the angels themselves he chargeth with folly." On the

other hand, man is described (and every regenerate person will find it

true by his own experience) as a creature altogether "conceived and

born in sin;" as having "no good thing dwelling in him;" as being

"carnal, sold under sin;" nay, as having "a mind which is at enmity

with God," and such-like. And since there is such an infinite

disparity, can any one conceive how a filthy, corrupted, polluted

wretch can dwell with an infinitely pure and holy God, before he is

changed, and rendered, in some measure, like him? Can he, who is of

purer eyes than to behold iniquity, dwell with it? Can he, in whose

sight the heavens are not clean, delight to dwell with uncleanness

itself? No, we might as well suppose light to have communion with

darkness, or Christ to have concord with Belial. But I pass on to a

Third argument, which shall be founded on the consideration of the

nature of that happiness God has prepared for those that unfeignedly

love him.

To enter indeed on a minute and particular description of heaven, would

be vain and presumptuous, since we are told that "eye hath not seen,

nor ear heard, neither hath in entered into the heart of man to

conceive, the things that are there prepared" for the sincere followers

of the holy Jesus, even in this life, much less in that which is to

come. However, this we may venture to affirm in general, that as God is

a Spirit, so the happiness he has laid up for his people is spiritual

likewise; and consequently, unless our carnal minds are changed, and

spiritualized, we can never be made meet to partake of that inheritance

with the saints in light.

It is, doubtless, for this reason, that the apostle declares it to be

the irrevocable decree of the Almighty, that "without holiness,

(without being made pure by regeneration, and having the image of God

thereby reinstamped upon the soul) no may shall see the Lord." And it

is very observable, that our divine Master, in the famous passage

before referred to, concerning the absolute necessity of regeneration,

does not say, Unless a man be born again, he shall not, but "unless a

man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." It is

founded in the very nature of things, that unless we have dispositions

wrought in us suitable to the objects that are to entertain us, we can

take no manner of complacency or satisfaction in them. For instance;

what delight can the most harmonious music afford to a deaf, or what

pleasure can the most excellent picture give to a blind man? Can a

tasteless palate relish the richest dainties, or a filthy swine be

pleased with the finest garden of flowers? No: and what reason can be

assigned for it? An answer is ready; because they have neither of them

any tempers of mind correspondent or agreeable to what they are to be

diverted with. And thus it is with the soul hereafter; for death makes

no more alteration in the soul, than as it enlarges its faculties, and

makes it capable of receiving deeper impressions either of pleasure or

pain. If it delighted to converse with God here, it will be transported

with the sight of his glorious Majesty hereafter. If it was pleased

with the communion of saints on earth, it will be infinitely more so

with the communion and society of holy angels, and the spirits of just

men made perfect in heaven. But if the opposite of all this be true, we

may assure ourselves the soul could not be happy, was God himself to

admit it (which he never will do) into the regions of the blessed. But

it is time for me to hasten to the

Fourth argument, because Christ's redemption will not be complete in

us, unless we are new creatures.

If we reflect indeed on the first and chief end of our blessed Lord's

coming, we shall find it was to be a propitiation for our sins, to give

his life a ransom for many. But then, if the benefits of our dear

Redeemer's death were to extend no farther than barely to procure

forgiveness of our sins, we should have as little reason to rejoice in

it, as a poor condemned criminal that is ready to perish by some fatal

disease, would have in receiving a pardon from his judge. For

Christians would do well to consider, that there is not only a legal

hindrance to our happiness, as we are breakers of God's law, but also a

moral impurity in our natures, which renders us incapable of enjoying

heaven (as hath been already proved) till some mighty change have been

wrought in us. It is necessary therefore, in order to make Christ's

redemption complete, that we should have a grant of God's Holy Spirit

to change our natures, and so prepare us for the enjoyment of that

happiness our Savior has purchased by his precious blood.

Accordingly the holy scriptures inform us, that whom Christ justifies,

or whose sins he forgives, and to whom he imputes his perfect

obedience, those he also sanctifies, purifies and cleanses, and totally

changeth their corrupted natures. As the scripture also speaketh in

another place, "Christ is to us justification, sanctification, and then

redemption." But,

Fourthly, Proceed we now to the next general thing proposed, to draw

some inferences from what has been delivered, And,

First, If he that is in Christ be a new creature, this may serve as a

reproof for those who rest in a bare performance of outward duties,

without perceiving any real inward change of heart.

We may observe a great many persons to be very punctual in the regular

returns of public and private prayer, as likewise of receiving the holy

communion, and perhaps now and then too in keeping a fast. But here is

the misfortune, they rest barely in the use of the means, and think all

is over, when they have thus complied with those sacred institutions;

whereas, were they rightly informed, they would consider, that all the

instituted means of grace, as prayer, fasting, hearing and reading the

word of God, receiving the blessed sacrament, and such-like, are no

farther serviceable to us, than as they are found to make us inwardly

better, and to carry on the spiritual life in the soul.

It is true, they are means; but then they are only means; they are

part, but not the whole of religion: for if so, who more religious than

the Pharisee? He fasted twice in the week, and gave tithes of all that

he possessed, and yet was not justified, as our Savior himself informs

us, in the sight of God.

You perhaps, like the Pharisee, may fast often, and make long prayers;

you may, with Herod, hear good sermons gladly. But yet, if you continue

vain and trifling, immoral or worldly-minded, and differ from the rest

of your neighbors barely in going to church, or in complying with some

outward performances, are you better than they? No, in no wise; you are

by far much worse: for if you use them, and at the same time abuse

them, you thereby encourage others to think there is nothing in them

and therefore must expect to receive the greater damnation. But,

Secondly, If he that is in Christ be a new creature, then this may

check the groundless presumption of another class of professors, who

rest in the attainment of some moral virtues, and falsely imagine they

are good Christians, if they are just in their dealings, temperate in

their diet, and do not hurt or violence to any man.

But if this was all that is requisite to make us Christians, why might

not the heathens of old be good Christians, who were remarkable for

these virtues? Or St. Paul before his conversion, who tells us, that he

lived in all good conscience? But we find he renounces all dependence

on works of this nature, and only desires to be found in Christ, and to

know the power of his resurrection, or have an experimental proof of

receiving the Holy Ghost, purchased for him by the death, and ensured

and applied to him by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The sum of the matter is this: Christianity includes morality, as grace

does reason; but if we are only mere Moralists, if we are not inwardly

wrought upon, and changed by the powerful operations of the Holy

Spirit, and our moral actions, proceed from a principle of a new

nature, however we may call ourselves Christians, we shall be found

naked at the great day, and in the number of those, who have neither

Christ's righteousness imputed to them for their justification in the

sight, nor holiness enough in their souls as the consequence of that,

in order to make them meet for the enjoyment, of God. Nor,

Thirdly, Will this doctrine less condemn those, who rest in a partial

amendment of themselves, without experiencing a thorough, real, inward

change of heart.

A little acquaintance with the world will furnish us with instances, of

no small number of persons, who, perhaps, were before openly profane;

but seeing the ill consequences of their vices, and the many worldly

inconveniencies it has reduced them to, on a sudden, as it were, grow

civilized; and thereupon flatter themselves that they are very

religious, because they differ a little from their former selves, and

are not so scandalously wicked as once they were: whereas, at the same

time, they shall have some secret darling sin or other, some beloved

Delilah or Herodias, which they will no part with; some hidden lust,

which they will not mortify; some vicious habit, which they will not

take pains to root out. But wouldst thou know, O vain man! Whoever thou

art, what the Lord thy God requires of thee? Thou must be informed,

that nothing short of a thorough sound conversion will fit thee for the

kingdom of heaven. It is not enough to turn from profaneness to

civility; but thou must turn from civility to godliness. Not only some,

but "all things must become new" in thy soul. It will profit thee but

little to do many things, if yet some one thing thou lackest. In short,

thou must not only be an almost, but altogether a new creature, or in

vain thou boasteth that thou art a Christian.

Fourthly, If he that is in Christ be a new creature, then this may be

prescribed as an infallible rule for every person of whatever

denomination, age, degree or quality, to judge himself by; this being

the only solid foundation, whereon we can build a well-grounded

assurance of pardon, peace, and happiness.

We may indeed depend on the broken reed of an external profession; we

may think we are good enough, if we lead such sober, honest, moral

lives, as many heathens did. We may imagine we are in a safe condition,

if we attend on the public offices of religion, and are constant in the

duties of our closets. But unless all these tend to reform our lives,

and change our hearts, and are only used as so many channels of divine

grace; as I told you before, so I tell you again, Christianity will

profit you nothing.

Let each of us therefore seriously put this question to our hearts:

Have we received the Holy Ghost since we believed? Are we new creatures

in Christ, or no? At least, if we are not so yet, is it our daily

endeavor to become such? Do we constantly and conscientiously use all

the means of grace required thereto? Do we fast, watch and pray? Do we,

not lazily seek, but laboriously strive to enter in at the strait gate?

In short, do we renounce our own righteousness, take up our crosses and

follow Christ? If so, we are in that narrow way which leads to life;

the good seed is sown in our hearts, and will, if duly watered and

nourished by a regular persevering use of all the means of grace, grow

up to eternal life. But on the contrary, if we have only heard, and

know not experimentally, whether there be any Holy Ghost; if we are

strangers to fasting, watching and prayer, and all the other spiritual

exercises of devotion; if we are content to go in the broad way, merely

because we see most other people do so, without once reflecting whether

it be the right one or not; in short, if we are strangers, nay enemies

to the cross of Christ, by lives of worldly-mindedness, and sensual

pleasure, and thereby make others think, that Christianity is but an

empty name, a bare formal profession; if this be the case, I say,

Christ is as yet dead in vain, to us; we are under the guilt of our

sins; and are unacquainted with a true and thorough conversion.

But beloved, I am persuaded better things of you, and things that

accompany salvation, though I thus speak; I would humbly hope that you

are sincerely persuaded, that he who hath not the Spirit of Christ is

none of his; and that, unless the Spirit, which raised Jesus from the

dead, dwell in you here, neither will your mortal bodies be quickened

by the same Spirit to dwell with him hereafter.

Let me therefore (as was proposed in the last place) earnestly exhort

you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to act suitable to those

convictions, and to live as Christians, that are commanded in holy

writ, to "put off their former conversation concerning the Old Man, and

to put on the New Man, which is created after God in righteousness and

true holiness."

It must be owned indeed, that this is a great and difficult work; but,

blessed be God, it is not impossible. Many thousands of happy souls

have been assisted by a divine power to bring it about, and why should

we despair of success? Is God's hand shortened, that it cannot save?

Was he the God of our Fathers, is he not the God of their children

also? Yes, doubtless, of their children also. It is a task likewise,

that will put us to some pain; it will oblige us to part with some

lust, to break with some friend, to mortify some beloved passion, which

may be exceeding dear to us, and perhaps as hard to leave, as to cut

off a right-hand, or pluck out a right-eye. But what of all this? Will

not the being made a real living member of Christ, a child of God, and

an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, abundantly make amends for all

this trouble? Undoubtedly it will.

The setting about and carrying on the great and necessary work, perhaps

may, nay assuredly will expose us also to the ridicule of the

unthinking part of mankind, who will wonder, that we run not into the

same excess of riot with themselves; and because we deny our sinful

appetites, and are not conformed to this world, being commanded in

scripture to do the one, and to have our conversation in heaven, in

opposition to the other, they may count our lives folly, and our end to

be without honor. But will not the being numbered among the saints, and

shining as the stars for ever and ever, be a more than sufficient

recompense for all the ridicule, calumny, or reproach, we can possibly

meet with here?

Indeed, was there no other reward attended a thorough conversion, but

that peace of God, which is the unavoidable consequence of it, and

which, even in this life, "passeth all understanding," we should have

great reason to rejoice. But when we consider, that this is the least

of those mercies God has prepared for those that are in Christ, and

become new creatures; that, this is but the beginning of an eternal

succession of pleasures; that the day of our deaths, which the

unconverted, unrenewed sinner must so much dread, will be, as it were,

but the first day of our new births, and open to us an everlasting

scene of happiness and comfort; in short, if we remember, that they who

are regenerate and born again, have a real title to all the glorious

promises of the gospel, and are infallibly certain of being as happy,

both here and hereafter, as an all-wise, all-gracious, all- powerful

God can make them; methinks, every one that has but the least concern

for the salvation of his precious and immortal soul, having such

promises, such an hope, such an eternity of happiness set before him,

should never cease watching, praying, and striving, till he find a

real, inward, saving change wrought in his heart, and thereby doth know

of a truth, that he dwells in Christ, and Christ in him; that he is a

new creature, therefore a child of God; that he is already an

inheritor, and will ere long be an actual possessor of the kingdom of

heaven.

Which God of his infinite mercy grant, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To whom, &c.

__________________________________________________________________

Christians, Temples of the Living God

Isaiah, speaking of the glory of gospel days, said, "Men have not heard

nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides

thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." Chap. 64:4.

Could a world lying in the wicked one, be really convinced of this,

they would need no other motive to induce them to renounce themselves,

take up their cross, and follow Jesus Christ. And had believers this

truth always deeply impressed upon their souls, they could not but

abstain from every evil, be continually aspiring after every good; and

in a word, use all diligence to walk worthy of Him who hath called them

to his kingdom and glory. If I mistake not, that is the end purposed by

the apostle Paul, in the words of the text, "Ye are the temple of the

living God." Words originally directed to the church of Corinth, but

which equally belong to us, and to our children, and to as many as the

Lord our God shall call. To give you the true meaning of, and then

practically to improve them, shall be my endeavor in the following

discourse.

It is thus that Christians are "the temple of the living God," of

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; they who once held a consultation to

create, are all equally concerned in making preparations for, and

effectually bringing about the redemption of man. The Father creates,

the Son redeems, and the Holy Ghost sanctifies all the elect people of

God. Being loved from eternity, they are effectually called in time,

they are chosen out of the world, and not only by an external formal

dedication at baptism, or at the Lord's supper, but by a free,

voluntary, unconstrained oblation, they devote themselves, spirit,

soul, and body, to the entire service of Him, who hath loved and given

himself for them.

This is true and undefiled religion before God our heavenly Father:

This is the real Christian's reasonable service, or, as some think the

word imports, this is the service required of us in the word of God. It

implies no less than a total renunciation of the world; in short, turns

the Christian's whole life into one continued sacrifice of love to God;

so that, "whether he eats or drinks, he does all to his glory." Not

that I would hereby insinuate, that to be Christians, or to keep to the

words of our text, in order to be temples of the living God, we must

become hermits, or shut ourselves up in nunneries or cloysters; this be

far from me! No. The religion, which this bible in my hand prescribes,

is a social religion, a religion equally practicable by high and low,

rich and poor, and which absolutely requires a due discharge of all

relative duties, in whatsoever state of life God shall be pleased to

place and continue us.

That some, in all ages of the church, have literally separated

themselves from the world, and from a sincere desire to save their

souls, and attain higher degrees of Christian perfection, have wholly

devoted themselves to solitude and retirement, is what I make no doubt

of. But then such a zeal is in no wise according to knowledge; for

private Christians, as well as ministers, are said to be "the salt of

the earth, and the lights of the world, and are commanded to "let their

light shine before men." But how can this be done, if we shut ourselves

up, and thereby entirely exclude ourselves from all manner of

conversation with the world? Or supposing we could take the wings of

the morning, and fly into the most distant and desolate parts of the

earth, what would this avail us, unless we could agree with a wicked

heart and wicked tempter not to pursue and molest us there?

So far should we be from thus getting ease and comfort, that I believe

we should on the contrary soon find by our experience the truth of what

a hermit himself once told me, that a tree which stands by itself, is

most exposed and liable to the strongest blasts. When our Savior was to

be tempted by the devil, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

How contrary this to their practice, who go into a wilderness to avoid

temptation! Surely such are unmindful of the petition put up for us by

our blessed Lord, "Father, I pray not that thou wouldst take them out

of the world, but that thou wouldst keep them from the evil." This then

is to be a Christian indeed; to be in the world, and yet not of it; to

have our hands, according to our respective stations in life, employed

on earth, and our hearts at the same time fixed on things above. Then,

indeed, are we "temples of the living God," when with a humble

boldness, we can say with a great and good soldier of Jesus Christ, we

are the same in the parlor, as we are in the closet; and can at night

throw off our cares, as we throw off our clothes; and being at peace

with the world, ourselves, and God, are indifferent whether we sleep or

die.

Farther, the Jewish temple was a house of prayer. "My house (says the

Great God) shall be called a house of prayer:" and implies that the

hearts of true believers are the seats of prayer. For this end was it

built, and adorned with such furniture. Solomon, in that admirable

prayer which he put up to God at the dedication of the temple, saith,

"Hearken therefore unto the supplication of thy servant, and of they

people Israel, which they shall make towards this place." And hence I

suppose it was that Daniel, that man greatly beloved, in the time of

captivity, "prayed as aforetime three times a day with his face towards

the temple." And what was said of the first, our Lord applies to the

second temple, "My house shall be called a house of prayer." On this

account also, true believers may be stiled, "the temple of the living

God." For being wholly devoted and dedicated to God, even a God in

Christ, their heart becomes the seats of prayer, from whence, as to

many living altars, a perpetual sacrifice of prayer and praise (like

unto, tho' infinitely superior to the perpetual oblation under the

Mosaic dispensation) is continually ascending, and offered up, to the

Father of Mercies, the God of all Consolations. Such, and such only,

who thus worship God in the temple of their hearts, can truly be said

to be made priests unto God, or be stiled a royal priesthood; such, and

such only, can truly be stiled, "the temple of the living God," because

such only pray to him, as one expresses it, in the temple of their

hearts, and consequently worship him in spirit and in truth.

Let no one say that such a devotion is impracticable, or at least only

practicable by a few, and those such who have nothing to do with the

common affairs of life; for this is the common duty and privilege of

all true Christians. "To pray without ceasing," and "to rejoice in the

Lord always," are precepts equally obligatory on all that name the name

of Christ. And though it must be owned, that it is hard for persons

that are immersed in the world, to serve the Lord without distraction;

and though we must confess, that the lamp of devotion, even in the best

of saints, sometimes burns too dimly, yet those who are the temple of

the living God, find prayer to be their very element: And when those

who make this objection, once come to love prayer, as some unhappy men

love swearing, they will find no more difficulty in praying to, and

praising God always, than these unhappy creatures do in cursing and

swearing always. What hath been advanced, is far from being a state

peculiar to persons wholly retired from the world.

My brethren, the love of God is all in all. When once possessed of

this, as we certainly must be, if e are "the temple of the loving God,"

meditation, prayer, praise, and other spiritual exercises, become

habitual and delightful. When once touched with this divine magnet, for

ever after the soul feels a divine attraction, and continually turns to

its center, God; and if diverted therefrom, by any sudden or violent

temptation, yet when that obstruction is removed, like as a needle

touched by a lodestone when your finger is taken away, turns to its

rest, ins center, its God, its All, again.

The Jewish temple was also a place where the Great Jehovah was pleased

in a more immediate manner to reside. Hence, he is said to put and

record his name there, and to sit or dwell between the cherubims; and

when Solomon first dedicated it, we are told, "the house was filled

with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason

of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house." And

wherefore all this amazing manifestation of the Divine Glory? Even for

this, O man, to show thee how the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth

eternity, would make believers hearts his living temple, and dwell and

make his abode in all those that tremble at his word.

To this, the apostle more particularly alludes in the words immediately

following our text; for having called the Corinthians "the temple of

the living God," he adds, "as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and

I will walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my

people." Strange and string expressions these! But strange and strong

as they are, must be experienced by all who are indeed "the temple of

the loving God." For they are said, to be "chosen to be a holy

habitation through the Spirit; to dwell in God and God in them; to have

the witness in themselves, and to have God's Spirit witnessing with

their spirits that they are the children of God." Which expressions

import no more or less, than that prayer of our Lord which he put up

for his church and people a little before his bitter passion, "That

they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that

they may be made perfect in one:" This glorious passage our church

adopts in her excellent communion office, and is so far from thinking

that this was only the privilege of apostles, that she asserts in the

strongest terms, that it is the privilege of every worthy communicant.

For then (says she) if we receive the sacrament worthily, we are one

with Christ, and Christ is one with us; we dwell in Christ, and Christ

in us. And what is it, but that inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which

we pray for in the beginning of that office, and that fellowship of the

Holy Ghost, which the minister, in the conclusion of every day's public

prayer, entreats the Lord to be with us all evermore?

Brethren, the time would fail me to mention all the scriptures, and the

various branches of our liturgy, articles, and homilies, that speak of

this inestimable blessing, the indwelling of the blessed Spirit,

whereby we do indeed become, "the temples of the living God." If you

have eyes that see, or ears that hear, you may view it almost in every

page of the lively oracles, and every part of those offices, which some

of you daily use, and hear read to you, in the public worship of

Almighty God. In asserting therefore this doctrine, we do not vent the

whimsies of a disordered brain, and heated imagination; neither do we

broach any new doctrines, or set up the peculiar opinions of any

particular sect or denomination of Christians whatsoever; but we speak

the words of truth and soberness, we show you the right and good old

way, even that, in which the articles of all the reformed churches, and

all sincere Christians of all parties, however differing in other

respects, do universally agree. We are now insisting upon a point,

which may properly be termed the Christian shibboleth, something which

is the grand criterion of our most holy religion; and on account of

which, the holy Ignatius, one of the first fathers of the church, was

used to stile himself a bearer of God, and the people to whom he wrote,

bearers of God: For this, as it is recorded of him, he was arraigned

before Trajan, who imperiously said, Where is this man, that says, he

carries God about with him. With an humble boldness he answered, I am

he, and then quoted the passage in the text, "Ye are the temple of the

living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them,

and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Upon this, to

cure him of his enthusiast, he was condemned to be devoured by lions.

Blessed be God! We are not in danger of being called before such

persecuting Trajans now: under our present mild and happy

administration, the scourge of the tongue is all that they can legally

lash us with. But if permitted to go farther, we need not be ashamed of

witnessing this good confession. Suffering grace will be given for

suffering times; and if, like Ignatius, we are bearers of God, we also

shall be enabled to say with him, when led to the devouring lions, Now

I begin to be a disciple of Christ.

But it is time for me,

Secondly, To make some practical improvement of what has been

delivered. You have heard in what sense it is that real Christians are

"the temple of the living God." Shall I ask, Believe ye these things? I

know and am persuaded that some of you do indeed believe them, not

because I have told you, but because you yourselves have experienced

the same.

I congratulate you from my inmost soul. O that your hearts may be in

tune this day to "magnify the Lord," and your spirits prepared to

"rejoice in God your Savior." Like the Virgin Mary, you are highly

favored, and from henceforth all the generations of God's people shall

call you blessed. You can call Christ, Lord, by the Holy Ghost, and

thereby have an internal, as well as external evidence of the divinity,

both of his person, and of his holy word. You can now prove that

despised book, emphatically called The Scriptures, doth contain the

perfect and acceptable will of God. You have found the second Adam to

be a quickening spirit; He hath raised you from death to life. And

being thus taught, and born of God, however unlearned in other

respects, you can say, "Is not this the Christ?" O ineffable blessing!

Inconceivable privilege! God's spirit witnesseth with your spirits,

that you are the children of God. When you think of this, are you not

ready to cry out with the beloved disciple, "What manner of love is

this, that we should be called the children of God!" I believe that

holy man was in an ecstasy when he wrote these words; and tho' he has

been in heaven so long, yet his ecstatic surprise is but now beginning,

and will be but as beginning through the ages of eternity. Thus shall

it be with all you likewise, whom the high and lofty One, that

inhabiteth eternity, hath made his living temples. For He hath sealed

you to the day of redemption, and hath given you the earnest of your

future inheritance. His eyes and heart shall therefore be upon you

continually: and in spite of all opposition from men or devils, the

top-stone of this spiritual building shall be brought forth, and you

shall shout Grace, grace unto it: your bodies shall be fashioned like

unto the Redeemer's glorious body, and your souls, in which (O infinite

condescension!) He now delights to dwell, shall be filled with all the

fullness of God. You shall then go no more out; you shall then no more

need the light of the sun or the light of the moon, for the Lord

himself will be your temple, and the Lamb in the midst thereof shall be

your glory. Dearly beloved in the Lord, what say you to these things?

Do not your hearts burn within you whilst thinking of these deep, but

glorious truths of God. Whilst I am musing, and speaking of them,

methinks a fire kindles even in this cold, icy heart of mine: O what

shall we render unto the Lord for all these mercies? Surely He hath

done great things for us: How great is his goodness, and his bounty! O

the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth of the love of God!

Surely it passeth knowledge. O for humility! And a soul-abasing,

God-exalting sense of these things! When the blessed virgin went into

the hill country, to pay a visit to her cousin Elizabeth, amazed at

such a favor, she cried out, "Whence is it that the mother of my Lord

vouchsafes to come to me?" And when the great Jehovah filled the temple

with his glory, out of the abundance of his heart, king Solomon burst

forth into this pathetic exclamation, "But will God in very deed dwell

with men on the earth?" With how much greater astonishment ought we to

say, And will the Lord himself in very deed come to us? Will the high

and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, dwell in, and make our earthly

hearts his living temples? My brethren, whence is this? From any

fitness in us foreseen? No, I know you disclaim such an unbecoming

thought. Was it then from the improvement of our own free-will? No, I

am persuaded you will not thus debase the riches of God's free grace.

Are you not all ready to say, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy

free, thy unmerited, thy sovereign, distinguishing love and mercy, O

Lord, be all the glory. It is this, and this alone, hath made the

difference between us and others. We have nothing but what is freely

given us from above: if we love God, it is because God first loved us.

Let us look then unto the rock from whence we have been hewn, and the

hole of the pit from whence we have been digged. And if there be any

consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the

spirit, if any bowels and mercies, let us study and strive to walk as

becometh those who are made the temples of the loving God, or, as the

apostle elsewhere expresseth himself, "a holy temple unto the Lord."

What manner of persons ought such to be in all holy conversation and

godliness? How holily and how purely should we live! As our apostle

argues in another place, "For what fellowship hath righteousness and

unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? Or what

concord hath Christ with Belial?" Shall those who are temples of the

living God, suffer themselves to be dens of thieves and cages of

unclean birds? Shall vain unchaste thoughts be suffered to dwell within

them? Much less shall any thing that is impure be conceived or acted by

them? Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? God forbid! We all know

with what distinguished ardor our blessed Redeemer purged an earthly

temple; a zeal for his father's house even eat him up: with what a holy

vehemence did he overturn the tables of the money-changers, and scourge

the buyers and sellers out before him! Why? They made his father's

house a house of merchandise: they had turned the house of prayer into

a den of thieves.

O my brethren, how often have you and I been guilty of this great evil?

How often have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the

pride of life, insensibly stolen away our hearts from God? Once they

were indeed houses of prayer; faith, hope, love, peace, joy, and all

the other fruits of the blessed Spirit lodged within them; but now, O

now, it may be, thieves and robbers. Hinc illa lachryma. Hence those

hidings of God's face, that dryness, and deadness, and barrenness of

soul, those wearisome nights and days, which many of us have felt from

time to time, and have been made to groan under. Hence those dolorous

and heart-breaking complaints, "O that I knew where I might find him! O

that it was with me as in days of old, when the candle of the Lord

shone bright upon my soul!" Hence those domestic trials, those personal

losses and disappointments: and to this perhaps some of us may add,

hence all those public rebukes with which we have been visited: they

are all only as so many scourges of small cords in the loving

Redeemer's hands, to scourge the buyers and sellers out of the temple

of our hearts. O that we may know the rod and who hath appointed it! He

hath chastised us with whips: may we be wise, and by a more close and

circumspect walk prevent his chastising us in time to come with

scorpions! But who is sufficient for this thing? None but thou, O Lord,

to whom alone all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no

secrets are hidden! Cleanse thou therefore the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of thy blessed Spirit, that henceforward we may more

perfectly love thee and more worthily magnify thy holy name!

But are not some of you ready to object, and to fear, that the Lord

hath forgotten to be gracious, that he hath shut up his loving kindness

in displeasure, and that he will be no more entreated? Thus the

psalmist once thought, when visited for his backslidings with God's

heave hand. But he acknowledged this to be his infirmity; and whether

you think of it or no, I tell you, this is your infirmity. O ye

dejected, desponding, distrustful souls, hear ye the word of the Lord,

and call to mind his wonderful declarations of old to his people. "I,

even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions: for a small moment

have I forsaken thee, but with everlasting mercies will I gather thee.

Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yes she may, but the Lord will

not forget you, O ye of little faith. For as a father pitieth his own

children, so doth the Lord pity them that fear him. How shall I give

thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set

thee as Zeboim?" And what is the result of all these interrogations?

"My repentings are kindled together: I will not return to execute the

fierceness of my anger against Ephraim: For I am God, and not man." And

is not the language of all these endearing passages, like that of

Joseph to his self-convicted, troubled brethren? "Come near to me." O

that it may be said of you, as it is said of them, "And they came near

unto him." Then should you find by happy experience, that the Lord, the

Lord God, merciful and gracious, is indeed slow to anger and of great

kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knows but he may come down

this day, this hour, nay this moment, and suddenly revisit the temple

of your hearts? Who knows but he may revive his work in your precious

souls, cause you to return to your first love, help you to do your

first works, and even exceed your hopes, and cause the glory of this

second visitation even to surpass that glory which filled your hearts,

in that happy, never to be forgotten day, in which he first vouchsafed

to make you his living temples? Even so, Father, let it seem good in

thy sight!

But the improvement of our subject must not end here. Hitherto I have

been giving bread to the children; and it is my meat and drink so to

do: but must nothing be said to those of you who are without? I mean to

such who cannot yet say, that they are "the temple of the living God."

And O how great, put you all together, may the number of you be: by

far, in all probability, the greatest part of this auditory. Say not I

am uncharitable; the God of truth, hath said it, "Strait is the gate,

and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that

find it." Suffer me to speak plainly to you, my brethren; you have

heard what has been said upon the words of our text, and what must be

wrought in us, ere we can truly say that we are "the temple of the

loving God." Is it so with you? Are ye separated from the world and

worldly tempers? Are your hearts become houses of prayer? Doth the

Spirit of God dwell in your souls? And whether you eat or drink, or

whatsoever you do, as to the habitual bent of your minds, do you do all

to the glory of God? These are short, but plain, and let me tell you

very important questions. What answer can you make to them? Say not,

"Go thy way, and at a more convenient season I will call for thee." I

will not, I must not suffer you to put me off so; I demand an answer in

the name of the Lord of Hosts. What say ye? Methinks, I hear you say,

We have been dedicated to God in baptism, we go to church or meeting,

we say our prayers, repeat our creeds, or have subscribed the articles,

and the confession of faith; we are quite orthodox, and great friends

to the doctrines of grace; we do no body any harm, we are honest moral

people, we are church-members, we keep up family-prayer, and constantly

go to the table of the Lord." All these things are good in their

places. But thus far, nay much farther may you go, and yet be far from

the kingdom of God. The unprofitable servant did no one any harm; and

the foolish virgins had a lamp of an outward profession, and went up

even to heaven's gate, calling Christ, "Lord, Lord." These things may

make you whited sepulchers, but not "the temples of the loving God."

Alas! Alas! one thing you yet lack, the one chief thing, and without

which all is nothing; I mean the indwelling of God's blessed Spirit,

without which you can never become "the temples of the loving God."

Awake therefore, ye deceived formalists, awake; who, vainly puffed up

with your model of performances, boastingly cry out, "The temple of the

Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord we are." Awake, ye

outward-court worshippers: ye are building on a sandy foundation: take

heed lest you also go to hell by the very door of heaven. Behold, and

remember, I have told you before.

And as for you who have done none of these things, who instead of

making an outward profession of religion, have as it were renounced

your baptism, proclaim your sin like Sodom, and willfully and daringly

live a without God in the world; I ask you, how can you think to

escape, if you persist in neglecting such a great salvation. Verily, I

should utterly despair of your ever attaining the blessed privilege of

being temples of the living God, did I not hear of thousands, who

through the grace of God have been translated from a like state of

darkness into his marvelous light. Such, says the apostle Paul, writing

to these very Corinthians who were now God's living temples,

(drunkards, whoremongers, adulterers, and such like) "such were some of

you. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in

the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." O that the

same blessed Spirit may this day vouchsafe to come and pluck you also

as brands out of the burning! Behold, I warn you to flee from the wrath

to come. Go home, and meditate on these things; and think whether it is

not infinitely better, even here, to be temples of the living God, than

to be bondslaves to every brutish lust, and to be led captive by the

devil at his will. The Lord Jesus can, and if you fly to him for

refuge, he will set your souls at liberty. He hath led captivity

captive, he hath ascended up on high, on purpose to receive this gift

of the blessed Spirit of God for men, "even for the rebellious," that

he might dwell in your hearts by faith here, and thereby prepare you to

dwell with Him and all the heavenly host in his kingdom hereafter.

That this may be the happy lot of you all, may God of his infinite

mercy grant, for the sake of his dear Son Christ Jesus our Lord; to

whom with the father, and the blessed Spirit, three persons, but one

God, be ascribed all power, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for

evermore. Amen! And Amen!

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Christ the Only Preservative Against a Reprobate Spirit

The doctrines of the gospel are doctrines of peace, and they bring

comfort to all who believe in them; they are not like the law given by

Moses, which consisted of troublesome and painful ceremonies; neither

do they carry with them that terror which the law did; as, "cursed is

every one who continueth not to do all things which are written in the

book of the law:" If you were to keep the whole law, and break but in

one point, you are guilty of the breach of all. The law denounces

threatenings against all who do not conform to her strict commands; but

the gospel is a declaration of grace, peace and mercy; here you have an

account of the blood of Christ, blood which speaketh better things than

that of Abel; for Abel's blood cried aloud from vengeance, vengeance.

But Jesus Christ's crieth mercy, mercy, mercy upon the guilty sinner.

If he comes to Christ, confesses and forsakes his sin, then Jesus will

have mercy upon him: And if, my brethren, you are but sensible of your

sins, convinced of your iniquities, and feel yourselves lost, undone

sinners, and come and tell Christ of your lost condition, you will soon

find how ready he is to help you; he will give you his spirit; and if

you have his spirit you cannot be reprobates: you will find his spirit

to be quickening and refreshing; not like the spirit of the world, a

spirit of reproach, envy, and all uncharitableness.

Most of your own experiences will confirm the truth hereof; for are not

you reproached and slandered, and does not the world say all manner of

evil against you, merely because you follow Jesus Christ; because you

will not go to the same excess of riot with them? While they are

singing the songs of the drunkard, you are singing psalms and hymns:

while they are at a playhouse, you are hearing a sermon: while they are

drinking, reveling and misspending their precious time, and hastening

on their own destruction, you are reading, praying, meditating, and

working out your salvation with fear and trembling. This is matter

enough for a world to reproach you; you are not polite and fashionable

enough for them. If you will live godly, you must suffer persecution;

you must not expect to go through this world without being persecuted

and reviled. If you were of the world, the world would love you; for it

always loves its own; but if you are not of the world, it will hate

you; it has done so in all ages, it never loved any but those who were

pleased with its vanities and allurements. It has been the death of

many a lover of Jesus, merely because they have loved him: And,

therefore, my brethren, do not be surprised if you meet with a fiery

trial, for all those things will be a means of sending you to your

master the sooner.

The spirit of the world is hatred; that of Christ is love; the spirit

of the world is vexation; that of Christ is pleasure: the spirit of the

world is sorrow; that of Christ is joy: the spirit of the world is

evil, and that of Christ is good: the spirit of the world will never

satisfy us, but Christ's spirit is all satisfaction: the spirit of the

world is misery; that of Christ is ease. In one word, the spirit of the

world has nothing lasting; but the spirit of Christ is durable, and

will last though an eternity of ages: the spirit of Christ will remove

every difficulty, satisfy every doubt, and be a means of bringing you

to himself, to live with him for ever and ever.

From the words of my text, I shall show you,

I. The necessity of receiving the spirit of Christ.

II. Who Christ is, whose spirit you are to receive. And then

Shall conclude with an exhortation to all of you, high and low, rich

and poor, to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ; and to beg that you may

receive his spirit, so that you may not be reprobates.

First, I am to show you the necessity there is of receiving the spirit

of Christ.

And here, my brethren, it will be necessary to consider you as in your

first state; that is, when God first created Adam, and placed him in

the garden of Eden, and gave him a privilege of eating of all the trees

in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which

stood in the midst thereof. Our first parents had not been long in this

state of innocence, before they fell from it, they broke the divine

commands, and involved all their posterity in guilt; for as Adam was

our representative, so we were to stand or fall in him; and as he was

our federal head, his falling involved all our race under the power of

death, for death came into the world by sin; and we all became liable

to the eternal punishment due from God, for man's disobedience to the

divine command.

Now as man had sinned, and a satisfaction was demanded, it was

impossible for a finite creature to satisfy him, who was a God of so

strict purity as not to behold iniquity: And man by the justice of God

would have been sent down into the pit, which was prepared of old for

the devil and his angels; but when justice was going to pass the

irrevocable sentence, then the Lord Jesus Christ came and offered

himself a ransom for poor sinners. Here was admirable condescension of

the Lord Jesus Christ! That he who was in the bosom of his father,

should come down from all that glory, to die for such rebels as you and

I are, who if it lay in our power, would pull the Almighty from his

throne: Now can you think that if there was no need of Christ's death,

can you think that if there could have been any other ransom found,

whereby poor sinners might have been saved, God would not have spared

his only begotten Son, and not have delivered him up for all that

believe in him?

This, my brethren, I think proves to a demonstration, that it was

necessary for Christ to die: But consider, it will be of no service to

know that Christ died for sinners, if you do not accept of his spirit,

that you may be sanctified, and fitted for the reception of that Jesus,

who died for all those who believe in him. The sin of your nature, your

original sin, is sufficient to sink you into torments, of which there

will be no end; therefore unless you receive the spirit of Christ you

are reprobates, and you cannot be saved: Nothing short of the blood of

Jesus applied to your souls, will make you happy to all eternity: Then,

seeing this is so absolutely necessary, that you cannot be saved

without having received the spirit of Christ, but that ye are

reprobates, do not rest contented till you have good hopes, through

grace, that the good work is begun in your souls; that you have

received a pardon for your sins; that Christ came down from heaven,

died, and made satisfaction for your sins. Don't flatter yourselves

that a little morality will be sufficient to save you; that going to

church, or prayers, and sacrament, and doing all the duties of religion

in an external manner, will ever carry you to heaven; no, you must have

grace in your hearts; there must be a change of the whole man.

You must be born again, and become new creatures, and have the spirit

of Christ within you: And until you have that spirit of Christ, however

you may think to the contrary, and please yourselves in your own

imagination, I say, you are no better than reprobates. You may content

yourselves with leading civil, outward decent lives, but what will that

avail you, unless you have the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ in your

hearts: His kingdom must be set up in your souls; there must be the

life of God in the soul of man, else you belong not to the Lord Jesus

Christ; and until you belong to him, you are reprobates.

This may seem as enthusiasm to some of you, but if it is so, it is what

the apostle Paul taught; and therefore, my brethren, they are the words

of truth. I beseech you, in the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, not to

despise these words, as if they do not concern you, but were only

calculated for the first ages of Christianity, and, therefore, of no

signification: If you think thus, you are wronging your own souls; for

whatever is written, was written for you in these times, as well as for

the Christians in the first ages of the church.

For the case stands thus between God and man: God, at first, made man

upright, or, as the sacred penman expresses it, "In the image of God

made he man;" his soul was the very copy, the transcript of the divine

nature. He who had, by his almighty power, spoken the world into being,

breathed into man the breath of spiritual life; and his soul became

adorned with purity and perfection. This was the finishing stroke of

the creation; the perfection both of the moral and material world; and

it so resembled the divine Original, that God could not but rejoice and

take pleasure in his own likeness: Therefore, we read, that when God

had finished the inanimate and brutish part of the creation, "he

looked, and behold it was good." But when that lovely, god-like

creature man was made, "behold it was very good."

Happy, unspeakably happy, to be thus partaker of a divine Nature; and

thus man might have continued still, had he continued holy; but God

placed him in a state of probation, with a free grant to eat of every

tree in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The

day he did eat thereof he was not only to become subject to temporal,

but spiritual death; and so lost that divine image, that spiritual life

which God had breathed into him, and which was as much his happiness as

his glory.

But man, unhappy man, being seduced by the devil, did eat of the

forbidden fruit, and thereby became liable to that curse which the

eternal God had pronounced on him for his disobedience. And we read,

that soon after Adam was fallen, he complained that he was naked;

naked, not only as to his body, but naked and destitute of those divine

graces which before beautified his soul.

An unhappy mutiny and disorder then fell upon this world; those briars

and thorns which now spring up and overspread the earth, were but poor

emblems, lifeless representations of that confusion and rebellion which

sprung up in, and overwhelmed, the soul of man, immediately after the

fall. He now sunk into the temper of a beast and devil.

In this dreadful and disordered condition are all of us brought into

the world: We are told, my brethren, that "Adam had a son in his own

likeness," or with the same corrupt nature which he himself had sunk

into, after eating the forbidden fruit: And experience, as well as

scripture, proves, that we are altogether born in sin, and, therefore,

incapable, whilst in such a state, to have communion with God.

For as light cannot have communion with darkness, so God can have no

communion with such polluted sons of Belial. Here, here, appears the

great and glorious end, why Christ was manifest in the flesh, to put an

end to these disorders, and to restore us unto the savor of God. He

came down from heaven and shed his precious blood upon the cross, to

satisfy the divine justice of his Father, for our sins; and so, he

purchased this Holy Ghost, who must once more re-stamp the divine image

on our hearts, and make us capable of living with, and enjoying of God.

We must be renewed by the spirit of God; he must dwell in us before we

can be new creatures, and be freed from a reprobate spirit: the spirit

of Christ must bring us home unto that fold where all his sheep are,

and implant his grace in our hearts, and take from us that spirit of

sin which reigns in us: And till this is rooted out of our hearts,

however we may flatter ourselves with being good Christians, because we

are good moralists, and lead civil, moral, decent lives, yet if we live

and die, my brethren, in this way, we are only flattering ourselves

into hell.

I think I have proved, to a demonstration, the necessity there is of

receiving the spirit of Christ. I now come to show you,

Secondly, Who Christ is, whose spirit you are to receive.

My brethren, (Jesus Christ is coequal, coessential, coeternal, and

consubstantial with the Father, very God of very God; and as there was

not a moment of time in which God the Father was not, so there was not

a moment of time in which God the Son was not.

Arians and Socinians deny this godhead of Christ, and esteem him only

as a creature: The Arians look on him as a titular Deity, as a created

and subordinate God; but, if they would humbly search the scriptures

they would find divine homage paid to Christ. He is called God in

scripture, particularly when the great evangelical Prophet says, "He

shall be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the

government shall be upon his shoulders:" And Jesus Christ himself says,

that he is the Alpha and Omega;" and that "the world was made by him:"

But though this be ever so plain, our gay airy sparks of this age will

not believe the Lord Jesus Chris to be equal with his Father, and that

for no other reason, but because it is a fashionable and polite

doctrine to deny his divinity, and esteem him only as a created God.

Our Socinians do not go so far they look upon Christ only to be a good

man sent from God, to show the people the way they should go, on their

forsaking of Judaism; that he was to be also an example to the world,

and that his death was only to prove the truth of his doctrines.

Many of those who call themselves members, yea, teachers of the church

of England, have got into this polite scheme. Good God! My very soul

shudders at the thoughts of the consequence that will attend such a

belief. O my brethren, do not think so dishonorably of the Lord who

bought you; of the Jesus who dies for you: he must be all in all unto

your souls, if ever you are saved by him: Christ must be your active,

as well as passive obedience; his righteousness must be imputed to you.

The doctrine of Christ's righteousness being imputed, is a comfortable,

a desirable doctrine to all real Christians: And to you, sinners, who

are inquiring what you must do to be saved? How uncomfortable would it

be to tell you, by your own good works, when, perhaps, you have never

done one good work in all your lives: This would be driving you to

despair indeed; no, "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be

saved;" come to the Lord Jesus by faith, and he shall receive you. He

is able and willing to save you.

This second person in the Trinity, who is God-man, the mediator of the

new covenant; he, my brethren, hath virtue enough, in his blood, to

atone for the sins of millions of worlds. As man he died, he was

crucified, nailed to, and pierced on the accursed tree: This was the

love of the Lord Jesus Christ for you; and will you then have low and

dishonorable thoughts of Jesus Christ, after his having done so much

for you? O my dear brethren, don't be so polite as to deny the Deity of

Christ; though you may be counted fools in the eye of the world, yet in

God's account, you shall be esteemed wise, wise for salvation.

You may now be looked upon as fools and madmen, as a parcel of rabble,

and, in a short time, fit for Bedlam. They may say you are going to

undermine the established church; but God knows the secrets of all

hearts, knows our innocency; and I speak the truth in Christ, I lie

not, I should rejoice to see all the world adhere to her articles; I

should rejoice to see the teachers, the ministers of the church of

England, preach up those very articles they have subscribed to; but

those ministers who do preach them up, they esteem as madmen, and look

on them as the off-scouring of the earth, unfit for company and

conversation.

The evil things they say of me, blessed be God, are without foundation;

I am a friend to the church homilies; I am a friend to her liturgy, and

if they did not thrust me out of their churches, I would read it every

day.

My brethren, I am not for limiting the spirit of God, but am for

uniting all in the bonds of love; I love all that love the Lord Jesus

Christ: This will make more Christians, than will the spirit of

persecution.

The Pharisees may think it madness to mention persecution in a

Christian country, but the spirit of persecution resides in many: their

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