Part 16
Only pray, that, whether it be in life or death, Christ may be
glorified in me: then I shall rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
And now, to whom shall I address myself next?
Fifthly, To those, who persecute their neighbors for living godly in
Christ Jesus. But, what shall I say to you? Howl and weep for the
miseries that shall come upon you; for a little while the Lord permits
you to ride over the heads of his people; but, by and by, death will
arrest you, judgment will find you, and Jesus Christ shall put a
question to you, which will strike you dumb, why persecuted you me? You
may plead your laws and your canons, and pretend what you do is out of
zeal for God; but God shall discover the cursed hypocrisy and
serpentine enmity of your hearts, and give you over to the tormentors.
It is well, if in this life God does not send some mark upon you. He
pleaded the cause of Naboth, when innocently condemned for blaspheming
God and the king; and our Lord sent forth his armies, and destroyed the
city of those who killed the prophets, and stoned them that were sent
unto them. If you have a mind therefore to fill up the measure of your
iniquities, go on, persecute and despise the disciples of the Lord: but
know, "that for all these things, God shall bring you to judgment."
Nay, those you now persecute, shall be in part your judges, and sit on
the right-hand of the Majesty on high, whilst you are dragged by
infernal spirits into a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and
the smoke of your torment shall be ascending up for ever and ever. Lay
down therefore, ye rebels, your arms against the most high God, and no
longer persecute those who live godly in Christ Jesus. The Lord will
plead, the Lord will avenge, their cause. You may be permitted to
bruise their heels, yet in the end they shall bruise your accursed
heads. I speak not this, as though I were afraid of you; for I know in
whom I have believed: only out of pure love I warn you, and because I
know not but Jesus Christ may make some of you vessels of mercy, and
snatch you, even you persecutors, as fire-brands out of the fire. Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners, even persecutors, the worst
of sinners: his righteousness is sufficient for them; his Spirit is
able to purify and change their hearts. He once converted Saul: may the
same God magnify his power, in converting all those who are causing the
godly in Christ Jesus, as much as in them lies, to suffer persecution!
The Lord be with you all. Amen.
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An Exhortation to the People of God Not to Be Discouraged in Their Way, by the
Scoffs and Contempt of Wicked Men
Hebrews 4:9 -- "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
When we consider the persecutions they are exposed to, who live
righteously and godly in this present world; it is amazing to consider,
that the people of this generation should be so fond of a name to live,
while they are in effect dead. The people of God are to expect little
else but troubles and trials while they are in this world; common
experience is a contradiction to my text, that there is a rest to the
people of God; but the author of the Hebrews, when speaking of this
rest, did not mean that they should have a rest here. No; he too well
knew that the people of God, all who would seek and serve the Lord
Jesus, must be despised, hated, scoffed, slandered, and evil entreated;
but the time was hastening when they should have a perfect rest: there
is a rest laid up for them, and this is an encouragement for you, my
brethren, to hold on, and hold out your way rejoicing; after death
there will be a rest for ever; at judgment, you shall be taken up to
dwell with the Lord Jesus Christ; and there, you shall be for ever
exempted from sin; you shall rest from all manner of sorrow, and be no
more troubled with the temptations of Satan. Now, you can set about
nothing for the glory of God, or for your own soul's welfare, but the
devil is dissuading you from it, or distracting you in it, or
discouraging you after it. Here we are scoffed and derided; as the
world hated the Lord Jesus Christ, so will it hate you: but be not
discouraged, though we are here the scorn and offscouring of all
things; and are as a gazing stock to men and angels. Though they put us
out of their synagogues, cast out our name as evil, and look on us as
persons unfit for their company; yet, in that rest which is prepared
for you, my brethren, we shall then be gazed at for our glory, and they
shut out of the assembly of the saints, and separated from us, whether
they will or no; unless the Lord Jesus Christ, by his free, rich, and
sovereign grace, brings them unto himself.
The letter-learned Scribes and Pharisees of this day, look on us as
madmen and enthusiasts; but though they make so much noise about the
world enthusiast, it means no more than this, one in God; and what
Christian can say, he is not in God, and God in him? And if this is to
be an enthusiast, God grant I may be more and more so; if we being in
Christ, and Christ in us, makes us enthusiasts. I would to God we were
all more and more enthusiasts. They now think it strange, that we run
not with them into all excess of riot, and because we will not go to
the devil's diversions with them, therefore they speak evil of us. We
cannot now go along the street, but every one is pointing out his
finger with scorn, and cries, Here comes another of his followers;
what! You are become one of his disciples too! But there is a rest
which will be a complete deliverance for you. Let none of these things
move you; for, though you are thus treated here, consider, you shall in
heaven have no discouraging company, nor any but what will be an
assistance to you; you will have no scoffer there, all will be ready to
join with heart and voice in your everlasting joy and praises. You will
not be counted enthusiasts, madmen, and rabble, in that rest which
remaineth for the people of God. Therefore, possess your souls in
patience; account it matter of joy when you fall into tribulation; God,
in his own time, will deliver us; let not their hindering us from
preaching in the church, be any discouragement; do not shrink, and draw
back, because of opposition; be not ashamed of your work or master; but
hold fast your integrity. You must expect to go through evil report,
and good report; fear not the violence of unreasonable men; let them
hate you, and cast you out for the Lord's sake, behold he shall appear
to your joy, and they shall be ashamed: therefore hold on, and hold out
to the end. Be steadfast and patient, and bear the troubles of the
world; if you are the people of God, there is a rest provided for you,
which you shall certainly obtain.
I shall not speak unto you, Pharisees, this morning, nor to any, except
to you who have experienced the pangs of the new-birth, or are at
present under them, and who know what it is to love the Lord Jesus in
sincerity and truth: do not be discouraged, or think hard of the ways
of God, my dear brethren, because you are not loved by the men of this
world; if you were of the world it would love you; it would then be
pleased with your company; it would not thrust you from a tavern, or an
alehouse; it would not dislike you for singing the songs of the
drunkard, or for going to plays, balls, or other polite and fashionable
entertainments, as they are called; no, these the children of the world
like; but if you will sing hymns and psalms, and go to hear what God
hath to say unto your souls, and spend your time in reading, praying,
and frequenting religious assemblies, then it is that they dislike you,
and thrust you out of their company, as unworthy thereof; but let none
of these things move you, for the rest which Jesus Christ hath prepared
for you, is an ample recompense for all you may meet with here.
This rest is the fruit of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ: O how
will it fill our souls with love, to think that through the streams of
this blood, we have overcome the violence of the world, and the snares
of the devil. My dear brethren, be not discouraged at the treatment you
meet with here, but let it be a means to stir you up to advance in the
love of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath prepared a rest for you. Can
you consider, what Christ has done and suffered for you, and have your
hearts stupefied with vile and senseless pleasures? Can you hear of a
panting, bleeding, dying Jesus, and yet be dull and unaffected? Was
there any sorrow like unto his sorrow? And all this, he underwent to
save you, who were vile, and polluted, and by nature, since the fall, a
motley mixture of the beast and devil. Jesus Christ, by dying upon the
cross, intended to take away the devil and beast from your heart, and
to prepare it for himself to dwell in. Think of the love of this your
Jesus, and then, will a little reproach and scorn move you? Sure it
will not. I hope better things of you, and things that accompany
salvation.
O think with what pleasing astonishment you will see the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he comes to take you to his rest: now his heart is open to
us; but our hearts are shut against him; then, then, his heart shall be
open, and ours shall be so too. O my brethren, how will your love be
increased? With what raptures will you see the Lord Jesus Christ?
Therefore, undergo a few reproaches here patiently, and revile not
again. Let them say what they please of me, the reproaches, scorns, and
contempt of this world, will no ways hurt me, but will recoil upon
their own heads; leave it to the Lord, who knows what is best for you
and me: do not question his love; he will be with you; only do you, who
have tasted the Lord to be gracious, follow hard after him.
And now, let me speak a word unto you, who have not yet experienced the
love of Christ to your souls, but are waiting for his appearance. I
shall be but very short, because I would not break in upon the duties
of the day.
I shall speak unto you a word of invitation; even, to wait still on the
Lord; do not forsake him, though he may not answer your petitions at
once or twice seeking unto him; hold on, do not leave seeking him, and
you shall have an answer of peace; remember the poor man who was lame,
and had lain at the pool of Bethesda thirty-eight years for relief, yet
at last he found that it was worth waiting for, he obtained his desire.
And if you are but zealous for the Lord, and seek unto Jesus, if your
zeal be according to godliness, and you pray unto him for his Spirit,
you shall certainly have an answer of peace; you shall find it is good
to seek unto the Lord, you will be adopted into his family, and by his
spirit be enabled to cry, "Abba, Father." O then do not leave, but be
continually waiting at wisdom's gate, and you shall find all her ways
to be ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace; then, you
shall find that it is worth waiting on the Lord Jesus; and when you
have got his Spirit within you, all the power of men or devils cannot
make you forsake the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you do but once taste of his pardoning love, it will be so
delightful unto you, that you will cry for more and more thereof; you
will be as full as you can hold, and still not be satisfied; you will
desire more and more of this love of Jesus, you will hunger and thirst,
and hunger and thirst again, and never be satisfied till you come to
that rest which is prepared for the people of God, where all hungering
and thirsting will cease, and will be turned into songs and
hallelujahs, and that for ever and ever.
As many of you as design to partake of the emblems of the body and
blood of our dying Lord, examine well yourselves, lest by eating and
drinking unworthily, you eat and drink damnation unto yourselves:
remember the dying love of your dying Lord, and eat and drink in
commemoration thereof; do not let the world keep you from partaking
hereof; and when you have eaten and drank, do not go away and run into
the world; let the world see that you have been with Jesus; give them
no room to speak unseemly, they do that enough without occasion; but
how would they rejoice if they had just reason.
Look well then unto your paths, that you do not slip; remember that all
your faults are magnified, and that all your little slips are laid upon
me; therefore, look well unto your ways, your words, your actions, that
they may silence gainsayers; let them see that we have the presence of
God with us, and that there has been good done by field preaching.
Let me exhort you once more to consider the love of the Lord Jesus
Christ. O do not forget this love. Consider, I beseech you, how great
it has been unto you, and do not slight this his grace, the riches, the
love, the kindness of your dear Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath prepared this eternal rest for you; he also laid down his life for
your sakes: what great love was here! that while you were enemies to
the Lord of glory, he died for you, to redeem you from sin, from hell
and wrath, that you might live and reign with him, world without end.
The Lamb that died, and was buried, is now risen and exalted, and sits
on the right-hand of God the Father; and when he shall come to judge
all the world, then, my brethren, it will be seen whether we have
deserved the usage the world has given us; then it will be known who
are the true followers of the Lord Jesus, and who are madmen and fools;
but, may it be determined in this world, that we and our present
enemies may enter into that rest which God hath prepared for those that
love him.
Which God of his infinite mercy grant!
My brethren, let not these few words of exhortation be forgotten, but
lay them up in your hearts, and remember they must be called over
another day. I should have enlarged, but the duties of the day obliged
me to forbear.
Now, to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be all power, &c.
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Preached Before the Governor, and Council, and the House of Assembly, in
Georgia, on January 28, 1770
Zech. 4:10 -- "For who hath despised the Day of small things?"
Men, brethren, and fathers, at sundry times and in diverse manners, God
spake to the fathers by the prophets, before he spoke to us in these
last days by his Son. And as God is a sovereign agent, and his sacred
Spirit bloweth when and where it listeth, surely he may reveal and make
known his will to his creatures, when, where, and how he pleaseth; "and
who shall say unto him, what doest thou?" Indeed, this seems to be one
reason, to display his sovereignty, why he chose, before the canon of
scripture was settled, to make known his mind in such various methods,
and to such a variety of his servants and messengers.
Hence it is, that we hear, he talked with Abraham as "a man talketh
with a friend." To Moses he spoke "face to face." To others by "dreams
in the night," or by "visions" impressed strongly on their
imaginations. This seems to be frequently the happy lot of the favorite
evangelical prophet Zechariah, I call him evangelical prophet, because
his predictions, however they pointed at some approaching or immediate
event, ultimately terminated in Him, who is the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end of all the lively oracles of God. The chapter
from which our text is selected, among many other passages, is a
striking proof of this: An angel, that had been more than once sent to
him on former occasions, appears again to him, and by way of vision,
and "waked him, (to use his own words) as a man that is wakened out of
his sleep." Prophets, and the greatest servants of God, need waking
sometimes out of their drowsy frames.
Methinks I see this man of God starting out of his sleep, and being all
attention: the angle asked him, "what seest thou?" He answers, "I have
looked, and behold, a candle-stick all of gold," an emblem of the
church of God, "with a bowl upon the top of it, and seven lamps
thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which were upon the top
thereof;" implying, that the church, however reduced to the lowest ebb,
should be preserved, be kept supplied, and shining, through the
invisible, but not less real, because invisible aids and operations of
the blessed Spirit of God. The occasion of such an extraordinary
vision, if we compare this passage with the second chapter of the
Prophecy of the prophet Haggai, seems to be this: It was now near
eighteen years since the Jewish people had been delivered from their
long and grievous Babylonian captivity; and being so lone deprived of
their temple and its worship, which fabric had been rased even to the
ground, one would have imagined, that immediately upon their return,
they should have postponed all private works, and with their united
strength have first set about rebuilding that once stately and
magnificent structure. But they, like too many Christians of a like
luke-warm stamp, though all acknowledged that this church-work was a
necessary work, yet put themselves and others off, with this godly
pretense, "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should
be built." The time is not come! What, not in eighteen years! For so
long had they now been returned from their state of bondage: and pray,
why was not the time come? The prophet Haggai tells them; their whole
time was so taken up building for an habitation for their great and
glorious Benefactor, the mighty God of Jacob.
This ingratitude must not be passed by unpunished. Omniscience
observes, Omnipotence resents it! And that they might read their sin in
their punishment, as they thought it best to get rich, and secure
houses and lands and estates for themselves, before they set about
unnecessary church-work, the prophet tells them, "You have sown much,
but bring in little: ye eat, but ye have not enough: ye drink, but ye
are not filled with drink: ye clothe you, but there is none warm: and
he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."
Still he goes on thundering and lightening, "Ye looked for much, and lo
it came to little: wand when ye brought it home, (pleasing yourselves
with your fine crops) I did blow upon it: why? Saith the Lord of Hosts;
because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own
house." A thundering sermon this! delivered not only to the common
people, but also unto, and in the presence of "Zerubbabel, the son of
Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedech the high-priest. The
prophet's report is believed; and the arm of the Lord was revealed.
Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedech (O
happy times when church and state are thus combined) with all the
remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the
words of Haggai the prophets."
The spirit of Zerubbabel, and of Joshua, and the spirits of all the
remnant of the people were stirred up, and they immediately came,
disregarding, as it were, their own private buildings, "and did work in
the house of the Lord of Hosts their God." For a while, they proceeded
with vigor; the foundation of the house is laid, and the superstructure
raised to some considerable height: but whether this fit of hot zeal
soon cooled, as is too common, or the people were discouraged by the
false representations of their enemies, which perhaps met with too
favorable a reception as the court of Darius; it so happened, that the
hearts of the magistrates and ministers of the people waxed faint; and
an awful chasm intervened, between the finishing and laying the
foundation of this promising and glorious work.
Upon this, another prophet, even Zechariah, (who with Haggai had been
joint sufferer in the captivity) is sent to lift up the hands that hang
down, to strengthen the feeble knees, and by the foregoing instructive
vision, to reanimate Joshua and the people in general, and the heart of
Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, in particular, maugre all
discouragements, either from inveterate enemies, or from timid unstable
friends, or all other obstacles whatsoever. If Haggai thunders,
Zechariah's message is as lightening. "This is the word of the Lord
unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, not by power, (not by barely
human power or policy) but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts: Who
art thou, O great mountain? (thou Sanballat and thy associates, who
have been so long crying out, what mean these feeble Jews? However
great, formidable, and seemingly insurmountable) before Zerubbabel thou
shalt (not only be lowered and rendered more accessible, but) become a
plain;" thy very opposition shall, in the end, promote the work, and
help to expedite that very building, which thou intendest to put a stop
to, and destroy.
And lest Zerubbabel, through unbelief and outward opposition, or for
want of more bodily strength, should think this would be a work of
time, and that he should not live to see it completed in his days, "The
word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house; his hands also shall finish it,
and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
Grace, grace unto it." Grace! Grace! Unto it: a double acclamation, to
show, that out of the abundance of their hearts, their mouth spake; and
this with shoutings and crying from all quarters. Even their enemies
should see the hand and providence of God in the beginning,
continuance, and ending of this seemingly improbable and impracticable
work; so that they should be constrained to cry, "Grace unto it," and
wish both the work and the builders much prosperity: But as for its
friends, they should be so transported with heart-felt joy in the
reflection upon the signal providences which had attended them through
the whole process, that they would shout and cry, "Grace, grace unto
it:" or, This is nothing but the Lord's doing; God prosper and bless
this work more and more, and make it a place where his free grace and
glory may be abundantly displayed. Then by a beautiful and pungent
sarcasm, turning to the insulting enemies, he utters the spirited
interrogation in my text, "Who hath despised the day of small things?"
Who are you, that vauntingly said, what can these feeble Jews do,
pretending to lay the foundation of a house which they never will have
money, or strength, or power to finish? Or, who are you, O timorous,
short- sighted, doubting, though well-meaning people, who, through
unbelief, were discouraged at the small beginnings and feebleness of
the attempt to build a second temple? And, because you thought it could
not come up to the magnificence of the first, therefore were
discouraged from so much as beginning to build a second at all?
A close instructive question this; a question, implying, that whenever
God intends to bring about any great thing, he generally begins with a
day of small things.
As a proof of this, I will not lead you so far back, as to the
beginning of time, when the Everlasting "I AM" spoke all things into
existence, by his almighty fiat; and out of a confused chaos, "without
form and void," produced a world worthy of a God to create, and of his
favorite creature man, his vicegerent and representative here below, to
inhabit, and enjoy in it both himself and his God. And yet, though the
heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handy work,
though there is o speech nor language where their voice is not heard,
and their line is gone out through all the earth: and by a dumb, yet
persuasive language, proves the hand that made them to be divine; yet
there have been, and are now, such fools in the world, as to "say in
their hearts, There is no God;" or so wise, as by their wisdom, not to
know God, or own his divine image to be stamped on that book, wherein
these grand things are recorded, and that in such legible characters,
that he who runs may read.
Neither will I divert your attention, honored fathers, to the histories
of Greece and Rome, or any of the great kingdoms and renowned
monarchies, which constitute so great a part of ancient history; but
whose beginnings were very small, (witness Romulus's ditch) their
progress as remarkably great, and their declension and downfall, when
arrived at their appointed zenith, as sudden, unexpected, and
marvelous. These make the chief subjects of the learning of our
schools; though they make but a mean figure in sacred history, and
would not perhaps have been mentioned at all, had they not been, in
some measure, connected with the history of God's people, which is the
grand subject of that much despised book, emphatically called, The
Scriptures. Whoever hath a mind to inform himself of the one, may read
Rollin's Ancient History, and whoever would see the connection with the
other, may consult the learned Prideaux's admirable and judicious
connection. Books which, I hope, will be strenuously recommended, and
carefully studied, when this present infant institution gathers more
strength, and grows up into a seat of learning. I can hardly forbear
mentioning the final beginnings of Great Britain, now so distinguished
for liberty, opulence and renown; and the rise and rapid progress of
the American colonies, which promises to be one of the most opulent and
powerful empires in the world. But my present views, and the honors
done this infant institution this day, and the words of my text, as
well as the feelings of my own heart, and I trust, of the hearts of all
that hear me, lead me to confine your meditations to the history of
God's own peculiar people, which for the simplicity and sublimity of
its language, the veracity of its author, and the importance and
wonders of the facts therein recorded, if weighed in a proper balance,
hath not its equal under the sun. And yet, though God himself hath
become an author among us, we will not condescend to give his book one
thorough reading. Be astonished, O heavens, at this!
Who would have thought that from once, even from Abraham, and from so
small a beginning, as the emigration of a single private family, called
out of a land wholly given to idolatry, to be sojourners and pilgrims
in a strange land; who would have thought, that from a man, who for a
long season was written childless, a man whose first possession in this
strange land, was by purchasing a burying place for his wife, and in
whose grave one might have imagined he would have buried all future
expectations; who would have thought, that from this very man and
woman, according to the course of nature, both as good as dead, should
descend a numerous offspring like unto the stars of heaven for
multitude, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore innumerable?
Nay, who would have imagined, that against all probability, and in all
human appearance impossible, a kingdom should arise? Behold a poor
captive stave, even Joseph, who was cruelly separated from his
brethren, became second in Pharaoh's kingdom: he was sent before to
work out a great deliverance, and to introduce a family which should
take root, deep root downwards and bear fruit upwards, and fill the
land. How could it enter into the heart of man to conceive, that when
oppressed by a king, who knew not Joseph, though they were the best,
most loyal, industrious subjects this king had, when an edict was
issued forth as impolitic as cruel, (since the safety and glory of all
kingdoms chiefly consist in the number of its inhabitants) that an
outcast, helpless infant should be taken, and bred up in all the
learning of the Egyptians, and in that very court from which, and by
that very tyrant from whom the edict came, and that the deliverer
should be nurtured to be king in Jeshurun?
But time as well as strength would fail me, was I to give you a detail
of all the important particulars respecting God's peculiar people; as
their miraculous support in the wilderness, the events which took place
while they were under a divine theocracy, and during their settlement
in Canaan to the time of their return from Babylon, and from thence to
the destruction of their second temple, &c. by the Romans. Indeed,
considering to whom I am speaking, persons conversant in the sacred and
profane history, I have mentioned these things only to stir up your
minds by way of remembrance.
But if we descend from the Jewish, to the Christian era, we shall find,
that its commencement was, in the eyes of the world, a "day of small
things" indeed. Our blessed Lord compares the beginning of its progress
in the world, to a grain of mustard-seed, which though the smallest of
all seeds when sown, soon becomes a great tree, and so spread, that the
"birds of the air," or a multitude of every nation, language and
tongue, came and lodged in its branches: and its inward progress in the
believers heart, Christ likens to a little leaven which a woman hid in
three measures of meal. How both the Jewish and Christian dispensations
have been, and even to this day are despised, by the wise disputers of
this world, on this very account, is manifest to all who read the
lively oracles with a becoming attention. What ridicule, obloquy, and
inveterate opposition Christianity meets with, in this our day, not
only from the open deist, but from formal professors, is too evident to
every truly pious soul.
And what opposition the kingdom of grace meets with in the heart, is
well known by all those who are experimentally acquainted with their
hearts: they know, to their sorrow, what the great apostle of the
Gentiles means, by "the Spirit striving against the flesh, and the
flesh against the Spirit."
But the sacred Oracles, and the histories of all ages acquaint us, that
God brings about the greatest thing, not only by small and unlikely
means, but by ways and means directly opposite to the carnal reasonings
of unthinking men: he chooses things that be not, to bring to nought
those which are. How did Christianity spread and flourish, by one, who
was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief, and who expired on a cross? He was despised and rejected, not
merely by the vulgar and illiterate, but the Rabbis and Masters of
Israel, the Scribes and Pharisees, who by the Jewish churchmen were
held too in so high a reputation for their outward sanctity, that it
became a common proverb, "if only two went to heaven, the one would be
a Scribe, and the other a Pharisee." Yet there were they who endeavored
to silence the voice of all his miracles and heavenly doctrine with,
"Is not this the Carpenter's son?" Nay, "He is mad, why hear you him?
he hath a devil, and casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the
devils." And their despite not only followed him to, but after death,
and when in the grave. "We remember (said they) that this deceiver
said, after three days I will rise again; command therefore that the
sepulcher be made sure;" but, maugre all your impotent precautions, in
sealing the stone, and setting a watch, he burst the bars of death
asunder, and, according to his repeated predictions, proved himself to
be the Son of God with power, by rising the third day from the dead.
And afterwards, in pretense of great multitudes, was he received up
into glory; as a proof thereof, he sent down the Holy Ghost, (on the
mission of whom he pawned all his credit with his disciples) in such an
instantaneous, amazing manner, as one would imagine, should have forced
and compelled all who saw it to own, that this was indeed the finger of
God.
And yet how was this grand transaction treated? With the utmost
contempt: when instantaneously the apostles commenced orators and
linguists, and with a divine profusion spoke of the wonderful things of
God; "these men (said some) are full of new wine." And yet by these
men, mean fishermen, illiterate men, idiots, in the opinion of the
Scribes and Pharisees, and notwithstanding all the opposition of earth
and hell, and that too only by the foolishness of preaching, did this
grain of mustard- seed grow up, till thousands, ten thousands of
thousands, a multitude which no man can number, out of every nation,
language and people, came and lodged under the branches of it.
Neither shall it rest here; whatever dark parenthesis may intervene, we
are assured, that being still watered by the same divine hand, it shall
take deeper and deeper root downward, and bear more and more fruit
upward, till the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea. Who shall live when God doth this? Hasten
O Lord that blessed time! O let this thy kingdom come! Come, not only
by the external preaching of the gospel in the world, but by its
renovating, heart- renewing, soul-transforming power, to awakened
sinners! For want of this, alas! alas! though we understood all
mysteries, could speak with the tongues of men and angels, we should be
only like sounding brass, or so many tinkling cymbals.
And yet, what a "day of small things" is the first implantation of the
seed of divine life in the soul of man? Well might our Lord, who alone
is the author and finisher of our faith, compare it to a little leaven,
which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened. Low similes, mean comparisons these, in the eyes of
those, who having eyes, see not; who having ears, hear not; whose
heart, being waxed gross, cannot, will not understand! To such, it is
despicable, mysterious, and unintelligible in its description; and, if
possible, infinitely more so, when made effectual by the power of God,
to the salvation of any individual soul. For the wisdom of God will
always be foolishness to natural men. As it was formerly, so it is now;
they who are born after the flesh, will persecute those that are born
after the spirit: the disciple must be as his master: they that will
live godly in him; they that live most godly in him, must, shall suffer
persecution. This is so interwoven in the very nature and existence of
the gospel, that our Lord makes it one part of the beatitudes, in that
blessed sermon which he preached, when, to use the words of my old
familiar friend the seraphic Hervey, a mount was his pulpit, and the
heavens his sounding board. A part, which, like others of the same
nature, I believe, will be little relished by such who are always
clamoring against those few highly favored souls, who dare stand up and
preach the doctrine of justification by faith alone in the imputed
righteousness of Jesus Christ, and are reproached with not preaching,
like their master, Morality, as they term it, in his glorious sermon on
the mount; for did we more preach, and more live it, we should soon
find all manner of evil would be spoken against us for Christ's sake.
But shall this hinder the progress, the growth, and consummation? And
shall the Christian therefore be dismayed and discouraged? God forbid!
On the contrary, the weakest believer may, and ought, to rejoice and be
exceeding glad. And why? For a very good reason; because, he that hath
begun the good work, hath engaged also to finish it; though Christ
found him as black as hell, he shall present him, and every individual
purchased with his blood, without spot or wrinkle, or any such-thing,
before the Divine Presence. O glorious prospect! How will the saints
triumph, and the sons of God then shout for joy? If they shouted when
God said, "Let there by light, and there was light;" and if there is
joy in heaven over one sinner only that repenteth, how will the
heavenly arches echo and rebound with praise, when all the redeemed of
the Lord shall appear together, and the Son of God shall say, "of all
these that thou hast given to me, have I lost nothing." On the
contrary, what weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth will there be,
not only amongst the devil and his angels, but amongst the fearful and
unbelieving, when they see that all the hellish temptations and
devices, instead of destroying, were over-ruled to the furtherance of
the gospel in general, and to the increase and growth of grace in every
individual believer in particular. And how will despisers then behold
and wonder and perish, when they shall be obliged to say, "we fools
counted their lives madness, and their end to be without honor; but how
are they numbered among the children of God, and how happy is their lot
among the saints!"
But whither am I going? Pardon me, my dear hearers, if you think this
to be a digression from my main point. It is true, whilst I am musing,
the fire begins to kindle: I am flying, but not so high, I trust, as to
lose sight of my main subject. And yet, after meditating and talking of
the rise and progress of the gospel of the kingdom, I shall find it
somewhat difficult to descend so low, as to entertain you with the
small beginnings of this infant colony, and of the Orphan-house, in
which I am now preaching. But I should judge myself inexcusable on this
occasion, if I did not detain you a little longer, in taking a
transient view of the traces of divine Providence, in the rise and
progress of the colony in general, and the institution of this
Orphan-house in particular. Children yet unborn, I trust, will have
occasion to bless God for both.
The very design of this settlement, as charity inclines us to hope all
things, was, that it might be an Asylum, and a place of business, for
as many as were in distress; for foreigners, as well as natives; for
Jews and Gentiles. On February 1, a day, the memory of which, I think,
should still be perpetuated, the first embarkation was made with
forty-five English families; men, who had once lived well in their
native country, and who, with many persecuted Saltzburghers, headed by
a good old soldier of Jesus lately deceased, the Rev. Mr. Boltzius,
came to find a refuge here. They came, they saw, they labored, and
endeavored to settle; but by an essential, though well-meant defect, in
the very beginning of the settlement, too well known by some now
present, and too long, and too much felt to bear repeating, prohibiting
the importation and use of Negroes, &c. their numbers gradually
diminished, and matters were brought to so low an ebb, that the whole
colony became a proverb of reproach.
About this time, in the year 1737, being previously stirred up thereto
by a strong impulse, which I could by no means resist, I came here,
after the example of my worthy and reverend friends, Messieurs John and
Charles Wesley, and Mr. Ingham, who, with the most disinterested views,
had come hither to serve the colony, by endeavoring to convert the
Indians. I came rejoicing to serve the colony also, and to become your
willing servant for Christ's sake. My friend and father, good Bishop
Bensen, encouraged me, though my brethren and kinsmen after the flesh,
as well as religious friends, opposed it. I came, and I saw (you will
not be offended with me to speak the truth) the nakedness of the land.
Gladly did I distribute about the four hundred pounds sterling, which I
had collected in England, among my poor parishioners. The necessity and
propriety of erecting an Orphan- house, was mentioned and recommended
before my first embarkation. But thinking it a matter of too great
importance to be set about unwarily, I deferred the farther prosecution
for this laudable design till my return to England in the year 1738,
for to have priests orders.
Miserable was the condition of many grown persons, as well as children,
whom I left behind. Their cause I endeavored to plead, immediately upon
my arrival; but being denied the churches, in which I had the year
before collected many hundreds for the London charity-schools, I
endeavored to plead their cause in the fields. The people threw in
their mites most willingly; once or twice, I think, twenty-two pounds
were collected in copper; the alms were accompanied with many prayers,
and which, as I told them, laid, I am persuaded, a blessed foundation
to the future charitable superstructure. In a short time, though
plucked as it were out of the fire, the collections and charitable
contributions amounted to more than a one thousand pounds sterling.
With that I reimbarked, taking Philadelphia in my way, and upon my
second arrival, found the spot fixed upon; but, alas! who can describe
the low estate to which it was reduced! The whole country almost was
left desolate, and the metropolis Savannah, was but like a cottage in a
vineyard, or as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. Many orphans, whose
parents had been taken from them by the distresses that naturally
attend new settlements, were dispersed here and there in a very forlorn
helpless condition; my bowels yearned towards them, and, animated by
the example of the great professor Franck, previous to bringing them
here, I hired a house, furnished an infirmary, employed all that were
capable of employment, and in a few weeks walked to the house of God
with a large family of above sixty orphans, and others in as bad a
condition.
On March 25, 1740, in full assurance of faith, I laid the foundation of
this house; and in the year following, brought in my orphan family,
who, with the workmen, now made up the number of one hundred and fifty:
by the money which was expended on these, the remaining few were kept
in the colony, and were enabled to pay the debts they owed; so that in
a representation made to the House of Commons, by some, who for very
good reasons wanted the constitution of the colony altered; they
declared, that the very existence of the colony was in a great measure,
if not totally, owing to the building and supporting of the Orphan
House.
Finding the care of such a family, incompatible with the care due to a
parish, upon giving previous warning to the then trustees, I gave up
the living of Savannah, which without fee or reward I had voluntarily
taken upon me: I then ranged through the northern colonies, and
afterwards once more returned home. What calumny, what loads of
reproach, I for many years was called to undergo, in thus turning
beggars for a family, few here present need to be informed; a family,
utterly unconnected by any ties of nature; a family, not only to be
maintained with food, but clothed and educated also, and that too in
the dearest part of his Majesty's dominions, on a pine barren, and in a
colony where the use of Negroes was totally denied; this appeared so
very improbable, that all beholders looked daily for its decline and
annihilation.
But, blessed be God, the building advanced and flourished, and the
wished-for period is now come, after having supported the family for
thirty-two years, by a change of constitution and the smiles of
government, with liberal donations from the northern, and especially
the adjacent provinces, the same hands that laid the foundation, are
now called to finish it, by making an addition of a seat of learning,
the whole products and profits of which, are to go towards the increase
of the fund, as at the beginning, for destitute orphans, or such youths
as may be called of God to the sacred ministry of his Gospel. I need
not call on any here, to cry, "Grace, grace, unto it." For on the
utmost scrutiny of the intention of those employed, and considering the
various exercises they have been called to undergo, and the opposition
the building hath every where met with, we may justly say, "not by
might, nor by power, but by thy Spirit, O Lord," hath this work been
carried on thus far; it is his doing, let it be marvelous in our eyes.
With humble gratitude, therefore, would we now set up our Ebenezer, and
say, "Hitherto thou, Lord, hast helped us;" and wherefore should we
doubt, but that he, who hath thus far helped, will continue to help,
when the weary heads of the first founders and present helpers, are
laid in the silent grave.
I am very well aware, what an invidious task it must be to a person in
my circumstances, thus to speak on an affair in which he hath been so
much concerned. Some may perhaps think, I am become a fool in thus
glorying. But as I am now, blessed be God, in the decline of life, and
as, in all probability, I shall never be present to celebrate another
anniversary, I thought it best to be a little more explicit, that if I
have spoken any thing but truth, I may be confronted; and if not, that
future ages, and future successors, may see with what a purity of
intention, and what various interpositions of Providence, the work was
begun, and hath been carried on to its present height.
It was the reading of a like account, written by the late Professor
Franck, that encouraged me: who knows but hereafter, the reading
something of a similar nature, may encourage others to begin and carry
on a like work elsewhere? I have said its present height, for I would
humbly hope, that this is, comparatively speaking, only a "day of small
things," only the dawn of brighter scenes. Private genius's and
individuals, as well as collective bodies, have, like the human body,
the nonage, puerile, juvenile estate, before they arrive at their
zenith, and their lives as gradually they decline. But yet I would
hope, that both the province and Bethesda, are but in their puerile or
juvenile state. And long, long may they increase, and make large
strides, till they arrive at a glorious zenith! I mean not merely in
trade, merchandise, and opulence, (though I would be far from secluding
them from the province, and would be thankful for the advances it hath
already made) but a zenith of glorious gospel blessings, without which,
all outward emoluments are less than nothing, or as the small dust of
the balance: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world and lost his own soul."
Who can imagine, that the prophet Zechariah would be sent to strengthen
the hands of Zerubbabel, in building and laying the foundation of the
temple, if that temple was not to be frequented with worshippers that
worshipped the Father in spirit and truth. The most gaudy fabrics,
stately temples, new moon Sabbaths, and solemn assemblies, are only
solemn mockeries God cannot away with. This God hath shown by the
destruction of both the first and second temples. What is become of the
seven churches of Asia? How are all their golden candlesticks
overthrown? "God is a Spirit, and they who worship him must worship him
in spirit and truth." And no longer do I expect that this house will
flourish, than when the power of religion is encouraged and promoted,
and the persons educated here, prosecute their studies, not only to be
great scholars, but good saints.
Blessed be God! I can say with Professor Franck, that it is in a great
measure owing to the disinterested spirit of my first fellow-helpers,
as well as those who are now employed, that the building hath reached
to its present height. This I am bound to speak, not only in honor to
those who are now with God, but those at present before me. Nor dare I
conclude, without offering to
Your Excellency, our pepper corn of acknowledgment for the countenance
you have always shown Bethesda's institution, and the honor you did us
last year, inlaying the first brick of yonder wings: in thus doing, you
have honored Bethesda's God. May he long delight to honor you here on
earth! And after a life spent to his glory, and your country's good,
may he honor you to all eternity, in placing you as Christ's right-hand
in the kingdom above!
Next to your Excellency, my dear Mr. President, I must beg your
acceptance both of thanks and congratulation on the annual return of
this festival. For you was not only my dear familiar friend, and first
fellow- traveler in this infant province; but you was directed by
Providence to this spot, laid the second brick of this house, watched,
prayed, and wrought for the family's good: A witness of innumerable
trials, partner of my joys and griefs; you will have now the pleasure
of seeing the Orphan- house a fruitful bough, its branches running over
the wall. For this, no doubt, God hath smiled upon and blessed you, in
a manner we could not expect, much less design; and may he continue to
bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Look to the rock from whence you have been hewn, and may your
children never be ashamed, that their father left his native country,
and married a real Christian, born again under this roof. May
Bethesda's Good grant this may be the happy portion of your children,
and children's children!
Gentlemen of his Majesty's council,
Mr. Speaker, and you members of the General Assembly, many thanks are
owing to you, for your late address to his Excellency in favor of
Bethesda. Your joint recommendation of it, when I was last here, which,
though in some measure through the bigotry of some, for the present is
rendered abortive, by their wanting to have it confined to a party, yet
I trust the event will prove that every thing shall be over-ruled to
the furtherance of the work. Here I repeat, what I have often declared,
that as far as lies in my power before and after my decease, Bethesda
shall be always on a broad bottom. All denominations have freely given;
all denominations, all the continent, God being my helper, shall
receive benefit from it. May Bethesda's God bless you all! In your
private as well as public capacity; and as you are honored to be the
representatives of a now flourishing increasing people: may you be
directed in all your ways! May truth, justice, religion, and piety be
established amongst you through all generations!
Lastly, My reverend brethren, and you inhabitants of the colony, accept
unfeigned thanks for the honor done me, in letting us see you at
Bethesda this day. You, Sir, for the sermon preached here last year.
Tell it in Germany, tell my great, good friend, Professor Franck, that
Bethesda's God, is a God whose mercy endureth for ever. O let us have
your earnest prayers! Encourage your people not to "despise the day of
small things." What hath God wrought? From its infancy, this colony
hath been blessed with many faithful gospel ministers: O that this may
be a nursery to many more! This hath been the case of the New England
College for almost a century, and why not the Orphan-house Academy at
Georgia?
Men, brethren, fathers, as many of you, whether inhabitants or
strangers, who have honored this day with your presence, give us the
additional blessings of your prayers. And O that Bethesda's God may
make this day, though but a day of small things, productive of great
things to the souls of all amongst whom I have been now preaching the
kingdom of God. A great and good day will it be indeed, if Jesus
Christ, our great Zerubbabel, should, by the power of the eternal
Spirit, bless any thing that hath now been said, to cause every
mountain of difficulty, that lies in the way of your conversion, to
become a plain. And what art thou, O great mountain, whether the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life, sin, or
self-righteousness? Before our Bethesda's God, thou shalt become a
plain.
Brethren, my heart is enlarged towards you: it is written, blessed be
God that it is written, "In the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,
whether things in heaven, or things in earth, or things under the
earth." O that we may be made a willing people in the day of his power!
Look, look unto him, all ye that are placed in these ends of the earth.
This house hath often been an house of God, a gate of heaven, to some
of your fathers. May it be a house of God, a gate of heaven, to the
children also! Come unto him, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, he
will give you rest; rest from the guilt, rest from the power, rest from
the punishment of sin; rest from the fear of divine judgments here,
rest with himself eternally hereafter. Fear not, though the beginnings
are but small, Christ will not despise the day of small things. A
bruised reed will he not break, and the smoking flax will he not
quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory. His hands that laid
the foundation, also shall finish it: yet a little while and the
top-stone shall be brought forth with shouting, and men and angels join
in crying "Grace! Grace! Unto it." That all present may be in this
happy number, may God of his infinite mercy grant, through Jesus our
Lord.
__________________________________________________________________
The Method of Grace
Jeremiah 6:14 -- "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my
people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
As God can send a nation or people no greater blessing than to give
them faithful, sincere, and upright ministers, so the greatest curse
that God can possibly send upon a people in this world, is to give them
over to blind, unregenerate, carnal, lukewarm, and unskilled guides.
And yet, in all ages, we find that there have been many wolves in
sheep's clothing, many that daubed with untempered mortar, that
prophesied smoother things than God did allow. As it was formerly, so
it is now; there are many that corrupt the Word of God and deal
deceitfully with it. It was so in a special manner in the prophet
Jeremiah's time; and he, faithful to his Lord, faithful to that God who
employed him, did not fail from time to time to open his mouth against
them, and to bear a noble testimony to the honor of that God in whose
name he from time to time spake. If you will read this prophecy, you
will find that none spake more against such ministers than Jeremiah,
and here especially in the chapter out of which the text is taken, he
speaks very severely against them -- he charges them with several
crimes; particularly, he charges them with covetousness: says he in the
13th verse, from the least of them even to the greatest of them, every
one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the
priest, every one dealeth false.' And then, in the words of the text,
in a more special manner, he exemplifies how they had dealt falsely,
how they had behaved treacherously to poor souls: says he, They have
healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,
Peace, peace, when there is no peace.' The prophet, in the name of God,
had been denouncing war against the people, he had been telling them
that their house should be left desolate, and that the Lord would
certainly visit the land with war. Therefore,' says he, in the 11th
verse, I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in; I
will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of
young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
the aged with him that is full of days. And their houses shall be
turned unto others, with their fields and wives together; for I will
stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.'
The prophet gives a thundering message, that they might be terrified
and have some convictions and inclinations to repent; but it seems that
the false prophets, the false priests, went about stifling people's
convictions, and when they were hurt or a little terrified, they were
for daubing over the wound, telling them that Jeremiah was but an
enthusiastic preacher, that there could be no such thing as war among
them, and saying to people, Peace, peace, be still, when the prophet
told them there was no peace. The words, then, refer primarily unto
outward things, but I verily believe have also a further reference to
the soul, and are to be referred to those false teachers, who, when
people were under conviction of sin, when people were beginning to look
towards heaven, were for stifling their convictions and telling them
they were good enough before. And, indeed, people generally love to
have it so; our hearts are exceedingly deceitful, and desperately
wicked; none but the eternal God knows how treacherous they are. How
many of us cry, Peace, peace, to our souls, when there is no peace! How
many are there who are now settled upon their lees, that now think they
are Christians, that now flatter themselves that they have an interest
in Jesus Christ; whereas if we come to examine their experiences, we
shall find that their peace is but a peace of the devil's making -- it
is not a peace of God's giving -- it is not a peace that passeth human
understanding. It is matter, therefore, of great importance, my dear
hearers, to know whether we may speak peace to our hearts. We are all
desirous of peace; peace is an unspeakable blessing; how can we live
without peace? And, therefore, people from time to time must be taught
how far they must go, and what must be wrought in them, before they can
speak peace to their hearts. This is what I design at present, that I
may deliver my soul, that I may be free from the blood of those to whom
I preach -- that I may not fail to declare the whole counsel of God. I
shall, from the words of the text, endeavor to show you what you must
undergo, and what must be wrought in you before you can speak peace to
your hearts.
But before I come directly to this, give me leave to premise a caution
or two. And the first is, that I take it for granted you believe
religion to be an inward thing; you believe it to be a work in the
heart, a work wrought in the soul by the power of the Spirit of God. If
you do not believe this, you do not believe your Bibles. If you do not
believe this, though you have got your Bibles in your hand, you hate
the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart; for religion is everywhere
represented in Scripture as the work of God in the heart. The kingdom
of God is within us,' says our Lord; and, He is not a Christian who is
one outwardly; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly.' If any of
you place religion in outward things, I shall not perhaps please you
this morning; you will understand me no more when I speak of the work
of God upon a poor sinner's heart, than if I were talking in an unknown
tongue. I would further premise a caution, that I would by no means
confine God to one way of acting. I would by no means say, that all
persons, before they come to have a settled peace in their hearts, are
obliged to undergo the same degrees of conviction. No; God has various
ways of bringing his children home; his sacred Spirit bloweth when, and
where, and how it listeth. But, however, I will venture to affirm this,
that before ever you can speak peace to your heart, whether by shorter
or longer continuance of your convictions, whether in a more pungent or
in a more gentle way, you must undergo what I shall hereafter lay down
in the following discourse.
First, then, before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be
made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your
actual transgressions against the law of God. According to the covenant
of works, The soul that sinneth it shall die;' cursed is that man, be
he what he may, that continueth not in all things that are written in
the book of the law to do them. We are not only to do some things, but
we are to do all things, and we are to continue so to do; so that the
least deviation from the moral law, according to the covenant of works,
whether in thought, word, or deed, deserves eternal death at the hand
of God. And if one evil thought, if one evil word, if one evil action,
deserves eternal damnation, how many hells, my friends, do every one of
us deserve, whose whole lives have been one continued rebellion against
God! Before ever, therefore, you can speak peace to your hearts, you
must be brought to see, brought to believe, what a dreadful thing it is
to depart from the living God. And now, my dear friends, examine your
hearts, for I hope you came hither with a design to have your souls
made better. Give me leave to ask you, in the presence of God, whether
you know the time, and if you do not know exactly the time, do you know
there was a time, when God wrote bitter things against you, when the
arrows of the Almighty were within you? Was ever the remembrance of
your sins grievous to you? Was the burden of your sins intolerable to
your thoughts? Did you ever see that God's wrath might justly fall upon
you, on account of your actual transgressions against God? Were you
ever in all your life sorry for your sins? Could you ever say, My sins
are gone over my head as a burden too heavy for me to bear? Did you
ever experience any such thing as this? Did ever any such thing as this
pass between God and your soul? If not, for Jesus Christ's sake, do not
call yourselves Christians; you may speak peace to your hearts, but
there is no peace. May the Lord awaken you, may the Lord convert you,
may the Lord give you peace, if it be his will, before you go home!
But further: you may be convinced of your actual sins, so as to be made
to tremble, and yet you may be strangers to Jesus Christ, you may have
no true work of grace upon your hearts. Before ever, therefore, you can
speak peace to your hearts, conviction must go deeper; you must not
only be convinced of your actual transgressions against the law of God,
but likewise of the foundation of all your transgressions. And what is
that? I mean original sin, that original corruption each of us brings
into the world with us, which renders us liable to God's wrath and
damnation. There are many poor souls that think themselves fine
reasoners, yet they pretend to say there is no such thing as original
sin; they will charge God with injustice in imputing Adam's sin to us;
although we have got the mark of the beast and of the devil upon us,
yet they tell us we are not born in sin. Let them look abroad into the
world and see the disorders in it, and think, if they can, if this is
the paradise in which God did put man. No! everything in the world is
out of order. I have often thought, when I was abroad, that if there
were no other argument to prove original sin, the rising of wolves and
tigers against man, nay, the barking of a dog against us, is a proof of
original sin. Tigers and lions durst not rise against us, if it were
not for Adam's first sin; for when the creatures rise up against us, it
is as much as to say, You have sinned against God, and we take up our
Master's quarrel. If we look inwardly, we shall see enough of lusts,
and man's temper contrary to the temper of God. There is pride, malice,
and revenge, in all our hearts; and this temper cannot come from God;
it comes from our first parent, Adam, who, after he fell from God, fell
out of God into the devil. However, therefore, some people may deny
this, yet when conviction comes, all carnal reasonings are battered
down immediately and the poor soul begins to feel and see the fountain
from which all the polluted streams do flow. When the sinner is first
awakened, he begins to wonder -- How came I to be so wicked? The Spirit
of God then strikes in, and shows that he has no good thing in him by
nature; then he sees that he is altogether gone out of the way, that he
is altogether become abominable, and the poor creature is made to live
down at the foot of the throne of God, and to acknowledge that God
would be just to damn him, just to cut him off, though he never had
committed one actual sin in his life. Did you ever feel and experience
this, any of you -- to justify God in your damnation -- to own that you
are by nature children of wrath, and that God may justly cut you off,
though you never actually had offended him in all your life? If you
were ever truly convicted, if your hearts were ever truly cut, if self
were truly taken out of you, you would be made to see and feel this.
And if you have never felt the weight of original sin, do not call
yourselves Christians. I am verily persuaded original sin is the
greatest burden of a true convert; this ever grieves the regenerate
soul, the sanctified soul. The indwelling of sin in the heart is the
burden of a converted person; it is the burden of a true Christian. He
continually cries out, "O! who will deliver me from this body of
death,' this indwelling corruption in my heart? This is that which
disturbs a poor soul most. And, therefore, if you never felt this
inward corruption, if you never saw that God might justly curse you for
it, indeed, my dear friends, you may speak peace to your hearts, but I
fear, nay, I know, there is no true peace.
Further: before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must not only
be troubled for the sins of your life, the sin of your nature, but
likewise for the sins of your best duties and performances. When a poor
soul is somewhat awakened by the terrors of the Lord, then the poor
creature, being born under the covenant of works, flies directly to a
covenant of works again. And as Adam and Eve hid themselves among the
trees of the garden, and sewed fig leaves together to cover their
nakedness, so the poor sinner, when awakened, flies to his duties and
to his performances, to hide himself from God, and goes to patch up a
righteousness of his own. Says he, I will be mighty good now -- I will
reform -- I will do all I can; and then certainly Jesus Christ will
have mercy on me. But before you can speak peace to your heart, you
must be brought to see that God may damn you for the best prayer you
ever put up; you must be brought to see that all your duties -- all
your righteousness -- as the prophet elegantly expresses it -- put them
all together, are so far from recommending you to God, are so far from
being any motive and inducement to God to have mercy on your poor soul,
that he will see them to be filthy rags, a menstruous cloth -- that God
hates them, and cannot away with them, if you bring them to him in
order to recommend you to his favor. My dear friends, what is there in
our performances to recommend us unto God? Our persons are in an
unjustified state by nature, we deserve to be damned ten thousand times
over; and what must our performances be? We can do no good thing by
nature: They that are in the flesh cannot please God.' You may do many
things materially good, but you cannot do a thing formally and rightly
good; because nature cannot act above itself. It is impossible that a
man who is unconverted can act for the glory of God; he cannot do
anything in faith, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.' After we are
renewed, yet we are renewed but in part, indwelling sin continues in
us, there is a mixture of corruption in every one of our duties; so
that after we are converted, were Jesus Christ only to accept us
according to our works, our works would damn us, for we cannot pt up a
prayer but it is far from that perfection which the moral law
requireth. I do not know what you may think, but I can say that I
cannot pray but I sin -- I cannot preach to you or any others but I sin
-- I can do nothing without sin; and, as one expresseth it, my
repentance wants to be repented of, and my tears to be washed in the
precious blood of my dear Redeemer. Our best duties are as so many
splendid sins. Before you can speak peace in your heart, you must not
only be made sick of your original and actual sin, but you must be made
sick of your righteousness, of all your duties and performances. There
must be a deep conviction before you can be brought out of your
self-righteousness; it is the last idol taken out of our heart. The
pride of our heart will not let us submit to the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. But if you never felt that you had o righteousness of your own,
if you never felt the deficiency of your own righteousness, you cannot
come to Jesus Christ. There are a great many now who may say, Well, we
believe all this; but there is a great difference betwixt talking and
feeling. Did you ever feel the want of a dear Redeemer? Did you ever
feel the want of Jesus Christ, upon the account of the deficiency of
your own righteousness? And can you now say from your heart, Lord, thou
mayst justly damn me for the best duties that ever I did perform? If
you are not thus brought out of self, you may speak peace to
yourselves, but yet there is no peace.
But then, before you can speak peace to your souls, there is one
particular sin you must be greatly troubled for, and yet I fear there
are few of you think what it is; it is the reigning, the damning sin of
the Christian world, and yet the Christian world seldom or never think
of it. And pray what is that? It is what most of you think you are not
guilty of -- and that is, the sin of unbelief. Before you can speak
peace to your heart, you must be troubled for the unbelief of you
heart. But, can it be supposed that any of you are unbelievers here in
this church-yard, that are born in Scotland, in a reformed country,
that go to church every Sabbath? Can any of you that receive the
sacrament once a year -- O that it were administered oftener! -- can it
be supposed that you who had tokens for the sacrament, that you who
keep up family prayer, that any of you do not believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? I appeal to your own hearts, if you would not think me
uncharitable, if I doubted whether any of you believed in Christ; and
yet, I fear upon examination, we should find that most of you have not
so much faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the devil himself. I am
persuaded the devil believes more of the Bible than most of us do. He
believes the divinity of Jesus Christ; that is more than many who call
themselves Christians do; nay, he believes and trembles, and that is
more than thousands amongst us do. My friends, we mistake a historical
faith for a true faith, wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God. You
fancy you believe, because you believe there is such a book as we call
the Bible -- because you go to church; all this you may do, and have no
true faith in Christ. Merely to believe there was such a person as
Christ, merely to believe there is a book called the Bible, will do you
no good, more than to believe there was such a man a Caesar or
Alexander the Great. The Bible is a sacred depository. What thanks have
we to give to God for these lively oracles! But yet we may have these,
and not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. My dear friends, there must
be a principle wrought in the heart by the Spirit of the living God.
Did I ask you how long it is since you believed in Jesus Christ, I
suppose most of you would tell me, you believed in Jesus Christ as long
as ever you remember -- you never did misbelieve. Then, you could not
give me a better proof that you never yet believed in Jesus Christ,
unless you were sanctified early, as from the womb; for, they that
otherwise believer in Christ know there was a time when they did not
believe in Jesus Christ. You say you love God with all your heart,
soul, and strength. If I were to ask you how long it is since you loved
God, you would say, As long as you can remember; you never hated God,
you know no time when there was enmity in your heart against God. Then,
unless you were sanctified very early, you never loved God in your
life. My dear friends, I am more particular in this, because it is a
most deceitful delusion, whereby so many people are carried away, that
they believe already. Therefore, it is remarked of Mr. Marshall, giving
account of his experiences, that he had been working for life, and he
had ranged all his sins under the ten commandments, and then coming to
a minister, asked him the reason why he could not get peace. The
minister looked at his catalogue, Away, says he, I do not find one word
of the sin of unbelief in all your catalogue. It is the peculiar work
of the Spirit of God to convince us of our unbelief -- that we have got
no faith. Says Jesus Christ, of the sin of unbelief; of sin,' says
Christ, because they believe not on me.' Now, my dear friends, did God
ever show you that you had no faith? Were you ever made to bewail a
hard heart of unbelief? Was it ever the language of your heart, Lord,
give me faith; Lord, enable me to lay hold on thee; Lord, enable me to
call thee my Lord and my God? Did Jesus Christ ever convince you in
this manner? Did he ever convince you of your inability to close with
Christ, and make you to cry out to God to give you faith? If not, do
not speak peace to your heart. May the Lord awaken you, and give you
true, solid peace before you go hence and be no more!
Once more then: before you can speak peace to your heart, you must not
only be convinced of your actual and original sin, the sins of your own
righteousness, the sin of unbelief, but you must be enabled to lay hold
upon the perfect righteousness, the all-sufficient righteousness, of
the Lord Jesus Christ; you must lay hold by faith on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, and then you shall have peace. Come,' says Jesus, unto
me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'
This speaks encouragement to all that are weary and heavy laden; but
the promise of rest is made to them only upon their coming and
believing, and taking him to be their God and their all. Before we can
ever have peace with God, we must be justified by faith through our
Lord Jesus Christ, we must be enabled to apply Christ to our hearts, we
must have Christ brought home to our souls, so as his righteousness may
be made our righteousness, so as his merits may be imputed to our
souls. My dear friends, were you ever married to Jesus Christ? Did
Jesus Christ ever give himself to you? Did you ever close with Christ
by a lively faith, so as to feel Christ in your hearts, so as to hear
him speaking peace to your souls? Did peace ever flow in upon your
hearts like a river? Did you ever feel that peace that Christ spoke to
his disciples? I pray God he may come and speak peace to you. These
things you must experience. I am not talking of the invisible realities
of another world, of inward religion, of the work of God upon a poor
sinner's heart. I am not talking of a matte of great importance, my
dear hearers; you are all concerned in it, your souls are concerned in
it, your eternal salvation is concerned in it. You may be all at peace,
but perhaps the devil has lulled you asleep into a carnal lethargy and
security, and will endeavor to keep you there, till he get you to hell,
and there you will be awakened; but it will be dreadful to be awakened
and find yourselves so fearfully mistaken, when the great gulf is
fixed, when you will be calling to all eternity for a drop of water to
cool your tongue, and shall not obtain it.
Give me leave, then, to address myself to several sorts of persons; and
O may God, of his infinite mercy, bless the application! There are some
of you perhaps can say, Through grace we can go along with you. Blessed
be God, we have been convinced of our actual sins, we have been
convinced of original sin, we have been convinced of
self-righteousness, we have felt the bitterness of unbelief, and
through grace we have closed with Jesus Christ; we can speak peace to
our hearts, because God hath spoken peace to us. Can you say so? Then I
will salute you, as the angels did the women the first day of the week,
All hail! Fear not ye, my dear brethren, you are happy souls; you may
lie down and be at peace indeed, for God hath given you peace; you may
be content under all the dispensations of providence, for nothing can
happen to you now, but what shall be the effect of God's love to your
soul; you need not fear what sightings may be without, seeing there is
peace within. Have you closed with Christ? Is God your friend? Is
Christ your friend? Then, look up with comfort; all is yours, and you
are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Everything shall work together for
your good; the very hairs of your head are numbered; he that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of God's eye. But then, my dear friends, beware
of resting on your first conversion. You that are young believers in
Christ, you should be looking out for fresh discoveries of the Lord
Jesus Christ every moment; you must not build upon your past
experiences, you must not build upon a work within you, but always come
out of yourselves to the righteousness of Jesus Christ without you; you
must be always coming as poor sinners to draw water out of the wells of
salvation; you must be forgetting the things that are behind, and be
continually pressing forward to the things that are before. My dear
friends, you must keep u a tender, close walk with the Lord Jesus
Christ. There are many of us who lose our peace by our untender walk;
something or other gets in betwixt Christ and us, and we fall into
darkness; something or other steals our hearts from God, and this
grieves the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost leaves us to ourselves. Let
me, therefore, exhort you that have got peace with God, to take care
that you do not lose this peace. It is true, if you are once in Christ,
you cannot finally fall from God: There is no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus;' but if you cannot fall finally, you may fall
foully, and may go with broken bones all your days. Take care of
backslidings; for Jesus Christ's sake, do not grieve the Holy Ghost you
may never recover your comfort while you live. O take care of going a
gadding and wandering from God, after you have closed with Jesus
Christ. My dear friends, I have paid dear for backsliding. Our hearts
are so cursedly wicked, that if you take not care, if you do not keep
up a constant watch, your wicked hearts will deceive you, and draw you
aside. It will be sad to be under the scourge of a correcting Father;
witness the visitation of Job, David, and other saints in Scripture.
Let me, therefore, exhort you that have got peace to keep a close walk
with Christ. I am grieved with the loose walk of those that are
Christians, that have had discoveries of Jesus Christ; there is so
little difference betwixt them and other people, that I scarce know
which is the true Christian. Christians are afraid to speak of God --
they run down with the stream; if they come into worldly company, they
will talk of the world as if they were in their element; this you would
not do when you had the first discoveries of Christ's love; you could
talk then of Christ's love for ever, when the candle of the Lord shined
upon your soul. That time has been when you had something to say for
your dear Lord; but now you can go into company and hear others
speaking about the world bold enough, and you are afraid of being
laughed at if you speak for Jesus Christ. A great many people have
grown conformists now in the worst sense of the word; they will cry out
against the ceremonies of the church, as they may justly do; but then
you are mighty fond of ceremonies in your behavior; you will conform to
the world, which is a great deal worse. Many will stay till the devil
bring up new fashions. Take care, then, not to be conformed to the
world. What have Christians to do with the world? Christians should be
singularly good, bold for their Lord, that all who are with you may
take notice that you have been with Jesus. I would exhort you to come
to a settlement in Jesus Christ, so as to have a continual abiding of
God in your heart. We go a-building on our faith of adherence, and lost
our comfort; but we should be growing up to a faith of assurance, to
know that we are God's, and so walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost
and be edified. Jesus Christ is now much wounded in the house of his
friends. Excuse me in being particular; for, my friends, it grieves me
more that Jesus Christ should be wounded by his friends than by his
enemies. We cannot expect anything else from Deists; but for such as
have felt his power, to fall away, for them not to walk agreeably to
the vocation wherewith they are called -- by these means we bring our
Lord's religion into contempt, to be a byword among the heathen. For
Christ's sake, if you know Christ keep close by him; if God have spoken
peace, O keep that peace by looking up to Jesus Christ every moment.
Such as have got peace with God, if you are under trials, fear not, all
things shall work for your good; if you are under temptations, fear
not, if he has spoken peace to your hearts, all these things shall be
for your good.
But what shall I say to you that have got o peace with God? -- and
these are, perhaps, the most of this congregation: it makes me weep to
think of it. Most of you, if you examine your hearts, must confess that
God never yet spoke peace to you; you are children of the devil, if
Christ is not in you, if God has not spoken peace to your heart. Poor
soul! What a cursed condition are you in. I would not be in your case
for ten thousand, thousand worlds. Why? You are just hanging over hell.
What peace can you have when God is your enemy, when the wrath of God
is abiding upon your poor soul? Awake, then, you that are sleeping in a
false peace, awake, ye carnal professors, ye hypocrites that go to
church, receive the sacrament, read your Bibles, and never felt the
power of God upon your hearts; you that are formal professors, you that
are baptized heathens; awake, awake, and do not rest on a false bottom.
Blame me not for addressing myself to you; indeed, it is out of love to
your souls. I see you are lingering in your Sodom, and wanting to stay
there; but I come to you as the angel did to Lot, to take you by the
hand. Come away, my dear brethren -- fly, fly, fly for your lives to
Jesus Christ, fly to a bleeding God, fly to a throne of grace; and beg
of God to break your hearts, beg of God to convince you of your actual
sins, beg of God to convince you of your original sin, beg of God to
convince you of your self-righteousness -- beg of God to give you
faith, and to enable you to close with Jesus Christ. O you that are
secure, I must be a son of thunder to you, and O that God may awaken
you, though it be with thunder; it is out of love, indeed, that I speak
to you. I know by sad experience what it is to be lulled asleep with a
false peace; long was I lulled asleep, long did I think myself a
Christian, when I knew nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ. I went perhaps
farther than many of you do; I used to fast twice a-week, I used to
pray sometimes none times a-day, I used to receive the sacrament
constantly every Lord's-day; and yet I knew nothing of Jesus Christ in
my heart, I knew not that I must be a new creature -- I knew nothing of
inward religion in my soul. And perhaps, many of you may be deceived as
I, poor creature, was; and, therefore, it is out of love to you indeed,
that I speak to you. O if you do not take care, a form of religion will
destroy your soul; you will rest in it, and will not come to Jesus
Christ at all; whereas, these things are only the means, and not the
end of religion; Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to all
that believe. O, then, awake, you that are settled on your lees; awake
you Church professors; awake you that have got a name to live, that are
rich and think you want nothing, not considering that you are poor, and
blind, and naked; I counsel you to come and buy of Jesus Christ gold,
white raiment, and eye-salve. But I hope there are some that are a
little wounded; I hope God does not intend to let me preach in vain; I
hope God will reach some of your precious souls, and awaken some of you
out of your carnal security; I hope there are some who are willing to
come to Christ, and beginning to think that they have been building
upon a false foundation. Perhaps the devil may strike in, and bid you
despair of mercy; but fear not, what I have been speaking to you is
only out of love to you -- is only to awaken you, and let you see your
danger. If any of you are willing to be reconciled to God, God the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is willing to be reconciled to you. O
then, though you have no peace as yet, come away to Jesus Christ; he is
our peace, he is our peace-maker -- he has made peace betwixt God and
offending man. Would you have peace with God? Away, then, to God
through Jesus Christ, who has purchased peace; the Lord Jesus has shed
his heart's blood for this. He died for this; he rose again for this;
he ascended into the highest heaven, and is now interceding at the
right hand of God. Perhaps you think there will be no peace for you.
Why so? Because you are sinners? Because you have crucified Christ --
you have put him to open shame -- you have trampled under foot the
blood of the Son of God? What of all this? Yet there is peace for you.
Pray, what did Jesus Christ say of his disciples, when he came to them
the first day of the week? The first word he said was, he showed them
his hands and his side, and said, Peace be unto you.' It is as much as
if he had said, Fear not, my disciples; see my hands and my feet how
they have been pierced for your sake; therefore fear not. How did Chris
speak to his disciples? Go tell my brethren, and tell broken-hearted
Peter in particular, that Christ is risen, that he is ascended unto his
Father and your Father, to his God and your God.' And after Christ rose
from the dead, he came preaching peace, with an olive branch of peace,
like Noah's dove; My peace I leave with you.' Who were they? They were
enemies of Christ as well as we, they were deniers of Christ once as
well as we. Perhaps some of you have backslidden and lost your peace,
and you think you deserve no peace; and no more you do. But, then, God
will heal your backslidings, he will love you freely. As for you that
are wounded, if you are made willing to come to Christ, come away.
Perhaps some of you want to dress yourselves in your duties, that are
but rotten rags. No, you had better come naked as you are, for you must
throw aside your rags, and come in your blood. Some of you may say, We
would come, but we have got a hard heart. But you will never get it
made soft till ye come to Christ; he will take away the heart of stone,
and give you an heart of flesh; he will speak peace to your souls;
though ye have betrayed him, yet he will be your peace. Shall I prevail
upon any of you this morning to come to Jesus Christ? There is a great
multitude of souls here; how shortly must you all die, and go to
judgment! Even before night, or to-morrow's night, some of you may be
laid out for this kirk-yard. And how will you do if you be not at peace
with God -- if the Lord Jesus Christ has not spoken peace to your
heart? If God speak not peace to you here, you will be damned for ever.
I must not flatter you, my dear friends; I will deal sincerely with
your souls. Some of you may think I carry things too far. But, indeed,
when you come to judgment, you will find what I say is true, either to
your eternal damnation or comfort. May God influence your hearts to
come to him! I am not willing to go away without persuading you. I
cannot be persuaded but God may make use of me as a means of persuading
some of you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. O did you but feel the
peace which they have that love the Lord Jesus Christ! Great peace have
they,' say the psalmist, that love they law; nothing shall offend
them.' But there is no peace to the wicked. I know what it is to live a
life of sin; I was obliged to sin in order to stifle conviction. And I
am sure this is the way many of you take; If you get into company, you
drive off conviction. But you had better go to the bottom at once; it
must be done -- your wound must be searched, or you must be damned. If
it were a matter of indifference, I would not speak one word about it.
But you will be damned without Christ. He is the way, he is the truth,
and the life. I cannot think you should go to hell without Christ. How
can you dwell with everlasting burnings? How can you abide the thought
of living with the devil for ever? Is it not better to have some
soul-trouble here, than to be sent to hell by Jesus Christ hereafter?
What is hell, but to be absent from Christ? If there were no other
hell, that would be hell enough. It will be hell to be tormented with
the devil for ever. Get acquaintance with God, then, and be at peace. I
beseech you, as a poor worthless ambassador of Jesus Christ, that you
would be reconciled to God. My business this morning, the first day of
the week, is to tell you that Christ is willing to be reconciled to
you. Will any of you be reconciled to Jesus Christ? Then, he will
forgive you all your sins, he will blot out all your transgressions.
But if you will go on and rebel against Christ, and stab him daily --
if you will go on and abuse Jesus Christ, the wrath of God you must
expect will fall upon you. God will not be mocked; that which a man
soweth, that shall he also reap. And if you will not be at peace with
God, God will not be at peace with you. Who can stand before God when
he is angry? It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of an angry
God. When the people came to apprehend Christ, they fell to the ground
when Jesus said, I am he.' And if they could not bear the sight of
Christ when clothed with the rags of mortality, how will they hear the
sight of him when he is on his Father's throne? Methinks I see the poor
wretches dragged out of their graves by the devil; methinks I see them
trembling, crying out to the hills and rocks to cover them. But the
devil will say, Come, I will take you away; and then they shall stand
trembling before the judgment-seat of Christ. They shall appear before
him to see him once, and hear him pronounce that irrevocable sentence,
Depart from me, ye cursed.' Methinks I hear the poor creatures saying,
Lord, if we must be damned, let some angel pronounce the sentence. No,
the God of love, Jesus Christ, will pronounce it. Will ye not believe
this? Do not think I am talking at random, but agreeably to the
Scriptures of truth. If you do not, then show yourselves men, and this
morning go away with full resolution, in the strength of God, to cleave
to Christ. And may you have no rest in your souls till you rest in
Jesus Christ! I could still go on, for it is sweet to talk of Christ.
Do you not long for the time when you shall have new bodies -- when
they shall be immortal, and made like Christ's glorious body? And then
they will talk of Jesus Christ for evermore. But it is time, perhaps,
for you to go and prepare for your respective worship, and I would not
hinder any of you. My design is, to bring poor sinners to Jesus Christ.
O that God may bring some of you to himself! May the Lord Jesus now
dismiss you with his blessing, and may the dear Redeemer convince you
that are unawakened, and turn the wicked from the evil of their way!
And may the love of God, that passeth all understanding, fill your
hearts. Grant this, O Father, for Christ's sake; to whom, with thee and
the blessed Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________
The Good Shepherd: A Farewell Sermon [5]
John 10:27-28 -- "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."
It is a common, and I believe, generally speaking, my dear hearers, a
true saying, that bad manners beget good laws. Whether this will hold
good in every particular, in respect to the affairs of this world, I am
persuaded the observation is very pertinent in respect to the things of
another: I mean bad manners, bad treatment, bad words, have been
overruled by the sovereign grace of God, to produce, and to be the
cause of, the best sermons that were ever delivered from the mouth of
the God-man, Christ Jesus.
One would have imagined, that as he came clothed with divine
efficience, as he came with divine credentials, as he speak as never
man spake, no one should have been able to have resisted the wisdom
with which he spake; one would imagine, they should have been so struck
with the demonstration of the Spirit, that with one consent they should
all own that he was that prophet that was to be raised up like unto
Moses.' But you seldom find our Lord preaching a sermon, but something
or other that he said was cavilled at; nay, their enmity frequently
broke through all good manners. They often, therefore, interrupted him
whilst he was preaching, which shows the enmity of their hearts long
before God permitted it to be in their power to shed his innocent
blood. If we look no further than this chapter, where he presents
himself as a good shepherd, one that laid down his life for his sheep;
we see the best return he had, was to be looked upon as possessed or
distracted; for we are told, that there was a division therefore again
among the Jews for these sayings, and many of them said, He hath a
devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?' If the master of the house was
served so, pray what are the servants to expect? Others, a little more
sober-minded, said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil;'
the devil never used to preach or act in this way; Can a devil open the
eyes of the blind?' So he had some friends among these rabble. This did
not discourage our Lord; he goes on in his work; and we shall never,
never go on with the work of God, till, like our Master, we are willing
to go through good and through evil report; and let the devil see we
are not so complaisant as to stop one moment for his barking at us as
we go along.
We are told, that our Lord was at Jerusalem at the feast of the
dedication, and it was winter; the feast of dedication held, I think,
seven or eight days, for the commemoration of the restoration of the
temple and altar, after its profanation by Antiochus. Now this was
certainly a mere human institution, and had no divine image, had no
divine superscription upon it; and yet I do not find that our blessed
Lord and Master preached against it; I do not find that he spent his
time about this; his heart was too big with superior things; and I
believe when we, like him, are filled with the Holy Ghost, we shall not
entertain our audiences with disputes about rites and ceremonies, but
shall treat upon the essentials of the gospel, and then rites and
ceremonies will appear with more indifference. Our Lord does not say,
that he would not go up to the feast, for, on the contrary, he did go
there, not so much as to keep the feast, as to have an opportunity to
spread the gospel-net; and that should be our method, not to follow
disputing; and it is the glory of the Methodists, that we have been now
forty years, and, I thank God, there has not been one single pamphlet
written by any of our preachers, about the non-essentials of religion.
Our Lord always made the best of every opportunity; and we are told, he
walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.' One would have thought the
scribes and Pharisees would have put him in one of their stalls, and
have complimented him with desiring him to preach: no, they let him
walk in Solomon's porch. Some think he walked by himself, no body
choosing to keep company with him. Methinks I see him walking and
looking at the temple, and foreseeing within himself how soon it would
be destroyed; he walked pensive, to see the dreadful calamities that
would come upon the land, for not knowing the day of its visitation;
and it was to let the world see he was not afraid to appear in public:
he walked, as much as to say, Have any of you any thing to say to me?
and he put himself in their way, that if they had any things to ask
him, he was ready to resolve them; and to show them, that though they
had treated him so ill, yet he was ready to preach salvation to them.
In the 24th verse we are told, Then came the Jews round about him, and
said unto him, How long dost thou make us doubt?' They came round about
him when they saw him walking in Solomon's porch; now, say they, we
will have him, now we will attack him. And now was fulfilled that
passage in the Psalms, they compassed me about like bees,' to sting me,
or rather like wasps. Now, say they, we will get him in the middle of
us, and see what sort of a man he is; we will see whether we cannot
conquer him; they came to him, and they say, How long dost thou make us
to doubt?' Now this seems a plausible question, How long dost thou make
us to doubt?' Pray how long, sir, do you intend to keep us in suspense?
Some think the words will bear this interpretation; Pray, sir, how long
do you intend thus to steal away our hearts? They would represent him
to be a designing man, like Absalom, to get the people on his side, and
then set up himself for the Messiah; thus carnal minds always interpret
good men's actions. But the meaning seems to be this, they were
doubting concerning Christ; doubting Christians may think it is God's
fault that they doubt, but, God knows, it is all their own. How long
dost thou make us to doubt?' I wish you would speak a little plainer,
sir, and not let us have any more of your parables. Pray let us know
who you are, let us have it from your own mouth; if thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly;' and I do not doubt, but they put on a very sanctified
face, and looked very demure; if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly,'
intending to catch him: if he do not say he is the Christ, we will say
he is ashamed of his own cause; if he tells us plainly that he is the
Christ, then we will impeach him to the governor, we will go and tell
the governor that this man says he is the Messiah; now we know of no
Messiah, but what is to jostle Caesar out of his throne. -- The devil
always wants to make it believed that God's people, who are the most
loyal people in the world, are rebels to the government under which
they live; If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.' Our Lord does not
let them wait long for an answer; honesty can soon speak: I told you,
and ye believed not; the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear
witness of me.' Had our Lord said, I am the Messiah, they would have
taken him up; he knew that, and therefore he joined the wisdom of the
serpent' with the innocence of the dove;' says he, I appeal to my works
and doctrine, and if you will not infer from them that I am the
Messiah, I have no further argument. But,' he adds, ye believe not,
because ye are not of my sheep.' He complains twice; for their unbelief
was the greatest grief of heart to Christ: then he goes on in the words
of our text, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.' My sheep hear my voice;
you think to puzzle me, you think to chagrin me with this kind of
conduct, but you are mistaken; you do not believe on me, because you
are not of my sheep. The great Mr. Stoddard of New England, (and no
place under heaven produces greater divines than New England), preached
once from these words, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my
sheep;' a very strange text to preach upon, to convince a congregation!
Yet God so blessed it, that two of three hundred souls were awakened by
that sermon: God grant such success to attend the labors of all his
faithful ministers.
My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.' It is very remarkable,
there are but two sorts of people mentioned in scripture: it does not
say that the Baptists and Independents, nor the Methodists and
Presbyterians; no, Jesus Christ divides the whole world into but two
classes, sheep and goats: the Lord give us to see this morning to which
of these classes we belong.
But it is observable, believers are always compared to something that
is good and profitable, and unbelievers are always described by
something that is bad, and good for little or nothing.
If you ask me why Christ's people are called sheep, as God shall enable
me, I will give you a short, and I hope it will be to you an answer of
peace. Sheep, you know, generally love to be together; we say a flock
of sheep, we do not say a herd of sheep; sheep are little creatures,
and Christ's people may be called sheep, because they are little in the
eyes of the world, and they are yet less in their own eyes. O, some
people think, if the great men were on our side, if we had king, lords,
and commons on our side, I mean if they were all true believers, O if
we had all the kings upon the earth on our side! Suppose you had: alas!
alas! do you think the church would go on the better? Why, if it were
fashionable to be a Methodist at court, if it were fashionable to be a
Methodist abroad, they would go with a Bible or a hymn-book, instead of
a novel; but religion never thrives under too much sun-shine. Not many
mighty, not many noble, are called, but God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.' Dr. Watts
says, Here and there I see a king, and here and there a great man, in
heaven, but their number is but small.
Sheep are looked upon to be the most harmless, quiet creatures that God
hath made: O may God, of his infinite mercy, give us to know that we
are his sheep, by our having this blessed temper infused into our
hearts by the Holy Ghost. Learn of me,' saith our blessed Lord; what to
do? To work miracles? No; Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart.' A very good man, now living, said once, if there be any
particular temper I desire more than another, it is the grace of
meekness, quietly to bear bad treatment, to forget and to forgive: and
at the same time that I am sensible I am injured, not to be overcome of
evil, but to have grace given me to overcome evil with good. To the
honor of Moses, it is declared, that he was the meekest man upon earth.
Meekness is necessary for people in power; a man that is passionate is
dangerous. Every governor should have a warm temper, but a man of an
unrelenting, unforgiving temper, is no more fit for government than
Phaethon to drive the chariot of the sun; he only sets the world on
fire.
You all know, that sheep of all creatures in the world are the most apt
to stray and be lost; Christ's people may justly, in that respect, be
compared to sheep; therefore, in the introduction to our morning
service, we say, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost
sheep.' Turn out a horse, or a dog, and they will find their way home,
but a sheep wanders about; he bleats here and there, as much as to day,
Dear stranger, show me my way home again; thus Christ's sheep are too
apt to wander from the fold; having their eye off the great Shepherd,
they go into this field and that field, over this hedge and that, and
often return home with the loss of their wool.
But at the same time sheep are the most useful creatures in the world;
they manure the land, and thereby prepare it for the seed; they clothe
our bodies with wool, and there is not the least part of a sheep but is
useful to man: O my brethren, God grant that you and I may, in this
respect, answer the character of sheep. The world says, because we
preach faith we deny good works; this is the usual objection against
the doctrine of imputed righteousness, but it is a slander, an impudent
slander. It was a maxim in the first reformers' time, that though the
Arminians preached up good works, you must go to the Calvinists for
them. Christ's sheep study to be useful, and to clothe all they can; we
should labor with our hands, that we may have to give to all those that
need.
Believers consider Christ's property in them; he says, my sheep:' O
blessed be God for that little, dear, great word My. We are his eternal
election: "the sheep which thou hast given me," says Christ. They were
given by God the Father to Christ Jesus, in the covenant made between
the Father and the Son from all eternity. They that are not led to see
this, I wish them better heads; though, I believe, numbers that are
against it have got better hearts: the Lord help us to bear with one
another where there is an honest heart.
He calls them My sheep;' they are his by purchase. O sinner, sinner,
you are come this morning to hear a poor creature take his last
farewell:' but I want you to forget the creature that is preaching, I
want to lead you further than the Tabernacle: Where do you want to lead
us? Why, to mount Calvary, there to see at what an expense of blood
Christ purchased those whom he calls his own; he redeemed them with his
own blood, so that they are not only his by eternal election, but also
by actual redemption in time; and they were given to him by the Father,
upon condition that he should redeem them by his heart's blood. It was
a hard bargain, but Christ was willing to strike the bargain, that you
and I might not be damned for ever.
They are his, because they are enabled in a day of God's power
voluntarily to give themselves up unto him; Christ says of these sheep,
especially, that they hear his voice, and that they follow him.' Will
you be so good as to mind that! Here is an allusion to a shepherd; now
in some places in scripture, the shepherd is represented as going after
his sheep; 2 Sam 7:8, Ps 78:71. That is our way in England; but in the
Eastern nations, the shepherds generally went before; they held up
their crook, and they had a particular call that the sheep understood.
Now, says Christ, My sheep hear my voice.' This is my beloved Son,'
saith God, hear ye him.' And again, The dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God, and live:' now the question is, what do we understand
by hearing Christ's voice?
First, we hare Moses' voice, we hear the voice of the law; there is no
going to Mount Zion but by the way of mount Sinai; that is the right
straight road. I know some say, they do not know when they were
converted; those are, I believe, very few: generally, nay, I may say
almost always, God deals otherwise. Some are, indeed, called sooner by
the Lord than others, but before they are made to see the glory of God,
they must hear the voice of the law; so you must hear the voice of the
law before ever you will be savingly called unto God. You never throw
off your cloak in a storm, but you hug it the closer; so the law makes
a man hug close his corruptions, (Rom 7:7, 8, 9) but when the gospel of
the Son of God shines into your souls, then they throw off the
corruptions which they have hugged so closely; they hear his voice
saying, Son, daughter, be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are
all forgiven thee. They hear his voice;' that bespeaks the habitual
temper of their minds: the wicked hear the voice of the devil, the
lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life; and
Christ's sheep themselves attended to it before conversion; but when
called afterwards by God, they hear the voice of a Redeemer's blood
speaking peace unto them, they hear the voice of his word and of his
Spirit.
The consequence of hearing his voice, and the proof that we do hear his
voice, will be -- to follow him. Jesus said unto his disciples, If any
man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and
follow me.' And it is said of the saints in glory, that they followed
the Lamb whithersoever he went.' Wherever the shepherd turns his crook,
and the sheep hear his voice, they follow him; they often tread upon
one another, and hurt one another, they are in such haste in their way
to heaven. Following Christ means following him through life, following
him in every word and gesture, following him out of one clime into
another. Bid me come to thee upon the water,' said Peter: and if we are
commanded to go over the water for Christ, God, of his infinite mercy,
follow us! We must first be sure that the great Shepherd points his
crook for us: but this is the character of a true servant of Christ,
that he endeavors to follow Christ in thought, word, and work.
Now, my brethren, before we go further, as this is the last opportunity
I shall have of speaking to you for some months, if we live; some of
you, I suppose, do not choose, in general, to rise so soon as you have
this morning; now I hope the world did not get into your hearts before
you left your beds; now you are here, do let me entreat you to inquire
whether you belong to Christ's sheep, or no. Man, woman, sinner, put
thy hand to thy heart, and answer me. Didst thou ever hear Christ's
voice so as to follow him, to give up thyself without reserve to him? I
verily do believe from my inmost soul, (and that is my comfort, now I
am about to take my leave of you,) that I am preaching to a vast body,
a multitude of dear, precious souls, who, if it were proper for you to
speak, would say, Thanks be unto God, that we can follow Jesus in the
character of sheep, though we are ashamed to think how often we wander
from him, and what little fruit we bring unto him; if that is the
language of your hearts, I wish you joy; welcome, welcome, dear soul,
to Christ. O blessed be God for his rich grace, his distinguishing,
sovereign, electing love, by which he as distinguished you and me. And
if he has been pleased to let you hear his voice, though the
ministration of a poor miserable sinner, a poor, but happy pilgrim, may
the Lord Jesus Christ have all the glory.
If you belong to Jesus Christ, he is speaking of you; for, says he, I
know my sheep.' I know them;' what does that mean? Why, he knows their
number, he knows their names, he knows every one for whom he died; and
if there were to be one missing for whom Christ died, God the Father
would send him down again from heaven to fetch him. Of all,' saith he,
that thou hast given me, have I lost none.' Christ knows his sheep; he
not only knows their number, but the words speak the peculiar knowledge
and notice he takes of them; he takes as much care of each of them, as
if there were but that one single sheep in the world. To the hypocrite
he saith, Verily, I know you not;' but he knows his saints, he is
acquainted with all their sorrows, their trials, and temptations. He
bottles up all their tears, he knows their domestic trials, he knows
their inward corruptions, he knows all their wanderings, and he takes
care to fetch them back again. I remember, I heard good Dr. Marryat,
who was a good market-language preacher, once say at Pinner's hall, (I
hope that pulpit will be always filled with such preachers), God has
got a great dog to fetch his sheep back,' says he. Do not you know,
that when the sheep wander, the shepherd sends his dog after them, to
fetch them back again? So when Christ's sheep wander, he lets the devil
go after them, and suffers him to bark at them, who, instead of driving
them farther off, is made a means to bring them back again to Christ's
fold.
There is a precious word I would have you take notice of, I know them,'
that may comfort you under all your trials. We sometimes think that
Christ does not hear our prayers, that he does not know us; we are
ready to suspect that he has forgotten to be gracious; but what a mercy
it is that he does know us. We accuse one another, we turn devils to
one another, are accusers of the brethren; and what will support two of
God's people when judged by one another but this, Lord, thou knowest my
integrity, thou knowest how matters are with me?
But, my brethren, here is something better, here is good news for you;
what is that? Say you: why, I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.' O
that the words may come to your hearts with as much warmth and power as
they did to mine thirty-five years ago. I never prayed against any
corruption I had in my life, so much as I did against going into holy
orders so soon as my friends were for having me go: and bishop Benson
was pleased to honor me with peculiar friendship, so as to offer me
preferment, or do any thing for me. My friends wanted me to mount the
church betimes, they wanted me to knock my head against the pulpit too
young; but how some young men stand up here and there and preach, I do
not know how it may be to them; but God knows how deep a concern
entering into the ministry and preaching, was to me; I have prayed a
thousand times, till the sweat has dropped from my face like rain, that
God, of his infinite mercy, would not let me enter the church before he
called me to, and thrust me forth in, his work. I remember once in
Gloucester (I know the room, I look up at the window when I am there
and walk along the street; I know the window, the bedside, and the
floor, upon which I have lain prostrate) I said, Lord, I cannot go, I
shall be puffed up with pride, and fall into the condemnation of the
devil; Lord, do not let me go yet; I pleaded to be at Oxford two or
three years more; I intended to make an hundred and fifty sermons, and
thought I would set up with a good stock in trade but I remember
praying, wresthng, and striving with God; I said, I am undone, I am
unfit to preach in thy great name, send me not, pray, Lord, send me not
yet. I wrote to all my friends in town and country, to pray against the
bishop's solicitations, but they insisted I should go into orders
before I was twenty-two. After all the solicitations, these words came
into my mind, My sheep hear my voice, and none shall pluck them out of
my hand.' O may the words be blessed to you, my dear friends, that I am
parting with, as they were to me when they came warm upon my heart;
then, and not till then, I said, Lord, I will go, send me when thou
wilt. I remember when I was in a place called Dover-Island, near
Georgia, we put in with bad winds; I had an hundred and fifty in family
to maintain, and not a single farthing to do it with, in the dearest
part of the king's dominions; I remember, I told a minister of Christ,
now in heaven, I had these words once, sir, "Nothing shall pluck you
out of my hand." O', says he, take comfort from them, you may be sure
God will be as good as his word, if he never tells you so again.' And
our Lord knew his poor sheep would be always doubting they should never
reach heaven, therefore says he, I give to them eternal life, and they
shall never perish.'
Here are in our text three blessed declarations, or promises:
First. I know them.
Second. They shall never perish; though they often think they shall
perish by the hand of their lusts and corruptions; they think they
shall perish by the deceitfulness of their hearts; but Christ says,
They shall never perish.' I have brought them out of the world to
myself, and do you think I will let them go to hell after that? I give
to them eternal life;' pray mind that; not, I will, but I do. Some talk
of being justified at the day of judgment; that is nonsense; if we are
not justified here, we shall not be justified there. He gives them
eternal life, that is, the earnest, the pledge, and assurance of it.
The indwelling of the Spirit of God here, is the earnest of glory
hereafter.
Third. Neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. He holds them in
his hand, that is, he holds them by his power; none shall pluck them
thence. There is always something plucking at Christ's sheep; the
devil, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of
life, all try to pluck them out of Christ's hand. O my brethren, they
need not pluck us, yet we help all three to pluck ourselves out of the
hand of Jesus; but none shall pluck them out of my hand,' says Christ.
I give to them eternal life. I am going to heaven to prepare a place
for them, and there they shall be.' O my brethren, if it were not for
keeping you too long, and too much exhausting my own spirits, I could
call upon you to leap for you; there is not a more blessed text to
support the final perseverance of the saints; and I am astonished any
poor souls, and good people I hope too, can fight against the doctrine
of the perseverance of the saints: What if a person say they should
persevere in wickedness? Ah! That is an abuse of the doctrine; what,
because some people spoil good food, are we never to eat it? But, my
brethren, upon this text I can leave my cares, and all my friends, and
all Christ's sheep, to the protection of Christ Jesus' never- failing
love.
I thought this morning, when I came here, riding from the other end of
the town, it was to me like coming to be executed publicly; and when
the carriage turned just at the end of the walk, and I saw you running
here, O, thinks I, it is like a person now coming just to the place
where he is to be executed. When I went up to put on my gown, I thought
it was just like dressing myself to be made a public spectacle to shed
my blood for Christ. I take all heaven and earth to witness, and God
and the holy angels to witness, that though I had preferment enough
offered me, that though the bishop took me in his arms, and offered me
two parishes before I was two- and-twenty, and always took me to his
table; though I had preferment enough offered me when I was ordained,
thou, O God, knowest, that when the bishop put his hand upon my head, I
looked for no other preferment than publicly to suffer for the Lamb of
God: in this spirit I came out, in this spirit I came up to this
metropolis. I was thinking, when I read of Jacob's going over the brook
with a staff, that I could not say I had so much as a staff, but I came
up without a friend, I went to Oxford without a friend, I had not a
servant, I had not a single person to introduce me; but God, by his
Holy Spirit, was pleased to raise me up to preach for his great name's
sake: through his divine Spirit I continue to this day, and feel my
affections are as string as ever towards the work and the people of the
living God. The congregations at both ends of the town are dear to me:
God has honored me to build this and the other place; and, blessed be
his name, when he called me to Georgia at first, and I left all London
affairs to God's care, when I had most of the churches in London open
to me, and had twelve or fourteen constables to keep the doors, that
people might not crowd too much; I had offers of hundreds then to
settle in London, yet I gave it all up to turn pilgrim for God, to go
into a foreign clime; and I hope with that same single intention I am
going now --
Now I must come to the hardest part I have to act; I was afraid when I
came out from home, that I could not bear the shock, but I hope the
Lord Jesus Christ will help me to bear it, and help you to give me up
to the blessed God, let him do with me what he will. This is the
thirteenth time of my crossing the mighty waters; it is a little
difficult at this time of life; and though my spirits are improved in
some degree, yet weakness is the best of my strength: but I am clear as
light in my call and God fills me with a peace that is unutterable,
which a stranger intermeddles not with: into his hands I commend my
spirit; and I beg that this may be the language of your hearts: Lord,
keep him, let nothing pluck him out of thy hands. I expect many a trial
while I am on board, Satan always meets me there; but that God who has
kept me, I believe will keep me. I thank God, I have the honor of
leaving every thing quite well and easy at both ends of the town; and,
my dear hearers, my prayers to God shall be, that nothing may pluck you
out of Christ's hands. Witness against me, if I ever set up a party for
myself. Did ever any minister, or could any minister in the world say,
that I ever spoke against any one going to any dear minister? I thank
God, that he has enabled me to be always strengthening the hands of
all, though some have afterwards been ashamed to own me. I declare to
you, that I believe God will be with me, and will strengthen me; and I
believe it is in answer to your prayers that God is pleased to revive
my spirits: may the Lord help you to pray on. If I am drowned in the
waves, I will say, while I am drowning, Lord, take care of my London,
take care of my English friends, let nothing pluck them out of thy
hands.
And as Christ has given us eternal life, O my brethren, some of you, I
doubt not, will be gone to him before my return; but, my dear brethren,
my dear hearers, never mind that; we shall part, but it will be to meet
again for ever. I dare not meet you now, I cannot bear your coming to
me, to part from me; it cuts me to the heart, and quite overcomes me,
but by and by all parting will be over, and all tears shall be wiped
away from our eyes. God grant that none that weep now at my parting,
may weep at our meeting at the day of judgment; and if you never were
among Christ's sheep before, may Christ Jesus bring you now. O come,
come, see what it is to have eternal life; do not refuse it; haste,
sinner, haste away: may the great, the good Shepherd, draw your souls.
Oh! If you never heard his voice before, God grant you may hear it now;
that I may have this comfort when I am gone, that I had the last time
of my leaving you, that some souls are awakened at the parting sermon.
O that it may be a farewell sermon to you; that it may be a means of
your taking a farewell of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eye, and the pride of life. O come! Come! Come! To the Lord Jesus
Christ; to him I leave you.
And you, dear sheep, that are already in his hands, O may God keep you
from wandering; God keep you near Christ's feet; I do not care what
shepherds keep you, so as you are kept near the great Shepherd and
Bishop of souls. The Lord God keep you, lift up the light of his
countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.