messages to the church of the old testament
'and I will pronounce My judgment on them concerning all their wickedness
whereby they have forsaken Me
and have offered sacrifices to other gods
and worshiped the works of their own hands.
now gird up your loins and arise and speak to them all which i command you (jeremiah)
do not be dismayed before them, let i dismay you before them.
now behold I have made you today as a fortified city
and as a pillar of iron
and as walls of bronze18
Monday, March 24, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
3.22.2014 ARE YOU AGONIZING TO GET INTO HEAVEN? 2 - a sermon by john bunyan
CHAPTER 5 -BUT FEW WHO CLAIM HEAVEN SHALL HAVE IT
i come now to give you some OBSERVATIONS from the words
and they may be three.
1. when men have put in all the claim they can for heaven,
but few will have it for their inheritance.
'for many I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
2. great therefore will be the disappointment that many will meet with at the day of judgment.
'for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
3. going to heaven therefore will be no trivial business.
salvation is not got by a dream.
they that would then hve that kingdom, must now strive lawfully to enter.
'for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
i shall speak chiefly, and yet but briefly, to the first of these observations, namely: THAT
WHEN MEN HAVE PUT IN ALL THE CLAIM THEY CAN TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,
BUT FEW WILL HAVE IT FOR THEIR INHERITANCE.
the observation standeth of two parts.
1. that the time is coming when every man will put in whatever claim he can to the kingdom of heaven.
2. there will be but few of them that put in claim thereto, that shall enjoy it for their inheritance.
...in the 25th of matthew... all they on the left hand of the Judge did put in all the claim they could
for this blessed kingdom of heaven.
if you shall take them on the left hand, as most do, for all the sinners that shall be damned,
then that completely proveth the first part of the observation;
for it is expressly said,
'then shall they (all of them jointly and every on apart) also answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thus and thus and did not minister unto Thee'. matt. 25.44
i could here bring you in the plea of the slothful servant and the cry of the foolish virgins.
i could also here enlarge upon that passage,
'lord, Lord, have we not eat and drank in Thy presence
and Thou hast taught in our streets'.
but these things are handled already,
in the handling of which this first part of the observation is proved.
wherefore without more words, I will God assisting by His grace,
descend to the second part thereof,
viz...few..will enjoy..
to enlarge therefore upon the truth..first, more generally; secondly, more particularly.
1. more generally, i shall prove, that in all ages but few have been saved.
2. more particularly, i shall prove, but few of them that profess have been saved.
first, in the old world when it was most populous, even in the days of noah,
we read but of eight persons that were saved out of it:
well therefore might peter call them but few. but how few? why but eight souls.
'wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water'. I pet. 3.20
he touches a second time upon this truth, saying,
'he spared not the old world, but saved noah, the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly'.
mark, all the rest are called the ungodly
and there was also a world of them. II pet. 2.5
these are also taken notice of in Job and go there also by the name of 'wicked men'.
'hast thou marked the old way, which wicked men have trodden?
which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood;
which said unto God, depart from us and what can the Almighty do for them? Job 22.15-7
there were therefore but eight persons that escaped the wrath of God in the day that the flood came upon the earth.
the rest were ungodly;
there was also a world of them
and they are to this day in the prison of hell. heb. 11.7; I pet. 3.19-20
nay, i must correct my pen;
there were but seven of the eight that were good;
for ham, though he escaped the judgment of the water,
yet the curse of god overtook him to his damnation.
secondly, when the world began again to be replenished
and people began to multiply therein;
how few, even in all ages, do we read of that were saved from the damnation of the world?
one abraham and his wife God called out of the land of the chaldeans.
'I called (said God) abraham ALONE'. isaiah 51.1,2
ONE Lot out of sodom and gomorrah, out of admah and zeboim;
ONE Lot out of four cities.
indeed his wife and two daughters went out of sodom with him;
but they all three proved naught, as you may see in the 19th of genesis:
wherefore peter observes that Lot only was saved.
'and turning the cities of sodom and gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after
should live ungodly
and delivered just Lot,
that righteous man'. read II pet. 2. 6-8
Jude says that in this condemnation, God overthrew not only sodom and gomorrah,
but cities about them also
and yet you find none but Lot could be found that was righteous,
either in sodom or gomorrah or the cities about them,
wherefore they, all of them, suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. verse 7
come we now to the time of the Judges.
how few then were the godly;
even then when the inhabitants of the villages cease, they ceased in Israel!
'the highways (of God) were unoccupied'. Judges 5.6-7
there were but few in the days of david.
'help, Lord (says he) for the godly man ceaseth;
for the faithful fail from among the children of men'. psalm 12.1
in isaiah's time the saved were come to such a few, that he positively says,
that except there were a very small remnant let,
'God had made them like sodom and they had been like unto gomorrah'. isaiah 1.8-9
it was cried unto them in the time of jeremiah
that they should run 'to and fro through the streets of jerusalem
and see and know and seek in the broad places thereof,
if ye can find a man,
if there be any that executeth judgment,
that seeketh the truth
and I will pardon it'. jer. 5.1
God showed His servant ezekiel how few there would be saved in his day,
by the vision of a few hairs saved out of the midst of a few hairs;
for the saved were a few saved out of a few. ezekiel 5.3
you find in the time of the prophet micah, how the godly complain,
that as to number they then were so few
that he compares them to those that are left behind when they had gathered the summer fruit. micah 7.1
when Christ was come who did he confirm this truth,
that but few of them that put in claim for heaven will have it for their inheritance!
but the common people could not bear it
and therefore upon a time when he did but a little hint at this truth,
the people, even all in the synagogue where he preached it,
were filled with wrath, rose up, thrust Him out of the city
and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built,
that they might cast Him down headlong. luke 4.24-30
the apostle john, after Christ, saith, 'that the whole world lieth in wickedness';
that 'all the world wondered after the beast';
and that power was given to the beast 'over all kindreds, tongues and nations'.
power to do what?
why, to cause all, both great and small, rich and poor, bond and free, to receive his mark and be branded
for him. I john 5.19; rev. 13.3, 16
should we come to observation and experience,
the show of the countenance of the bulk of men doth witness against them.
' they declare their sin as sodom, they hid it not'. isaiah 3.9
where is the man that maketh the Almighty God his delight
and that designeth His glory in the world?
do not even almost all pursue this world,
their lust and pleasures?
and so consequently say unto god,
'depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways?
or
'what is the Almightly that we should serve him?
it is in vain to serve God' etc. Job 21.14-5
so that without doubt it will appear a truth in the day of God,
that but few of them that shall put in their claim to heaven will have it for their inheritance.
before i pass this head, i will show you to what the saved are compared in the scriptures.
(foot. the permanency of all the citations which follow, to the point in hand, does not clearly appear. ..)
...2....so they are compared to a lily among the thorns;
which is rare and not so commonly seen.
'as the lily among the thorns, (saith Christ)
so is My beloved among the daughters'. song 2.2
by thorns, we understand the worst and best of ungodly men,
even all that are destitute of the grace of God;
'for the best of them is as a brier and the most upright of them as a thorn hedge'. micah 7.4; II sam. 23.6
i know that the church may be called a lily amongst thorns also,
because she meets with the pricks of persecution. ezekiel 2.5; 28.24
she may also be thus termed, to show the disparity betwixt hypocrites and the church. luke 8.14; heb. 6.8
but this is not all; the saved are compared to a lily among thorns,
to show you that they are but few in the world;
to show you that they are but few and rare;
for as Christ compares her to a lily among thorns,
so she compares him to an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
which is rare and scarce, not common.
3. they that are saved are called but one of many.
for 'though there be threescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number,
but My love (saith Christ) is but one, My undefiled is but one'. song 6.8-9
so according to that of jeremiah,
'I will take you, one of a city'. jer. 3
that saying of paul is much like this,
'know you not, that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize'. I cor. 9.24
but one; that is few of many, few of them that run;
for he is not here comparing them that run with them that sit still, but with them that run.
some run and lose;
some run and win.
they that run and win are few in comparison of them that run and lose.
'they that run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize'.
let there then be 'thereescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number'
yet the saved are but few.
4. they that are saved, are compared to the gleaning after the vintage is in.
'woe is me (saith the church) for i am as when they have gathered the summer fruit,
as the grape gleanings of the vintage'. micah 7.1
'the gleanings!
what are the gleanings to the whole crop?
and yet you here see, to the gleanings are the saved compared.
it is the devil and sin that carry away the cart loads,
while Christ and his ministers come after agleaning;
but 'the gleaning of the grapes of ephraim is better than the vintage of abiezer'. judges 8.2
them that Chirst and His ministers glean up and bind up in the bundle of life
are better than the loads that go the other way.
you know it is often the cry of the poor in harvest, 'poor gleaning! poor gleaning!
and the ministers of the gospel also cry,
'Lord, who hath believed our report
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? isaiah 53.1
when the prophet speaks of the saved under this metaphor of gleaning, how doth he amplify the matter?
'gleaning grapes shall be left, (says he) tow or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough,
four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord'. isaiah 17.6
thus you see what gleaning is left in the vineyard after the vintage is in;
tow or three here, four or five there.
Alas! they that shall be saved when the devil and hell have had their due will be but as the gleaning;
they will be but few.
they that go to hell, go thither in clusters,
but the saved go not so to heaven. matt. 13.30; micah 7
wherefore when the prophet speaketh of the saved he saith, there is no cluster.
but when he speaketh of the damned, he saith, they are gathered by clusters. rev. 14.18-9.
O sinners!
but few will be saved.
O professors!
but few will be saved.
5. they that shall be saved are compared to jewels.
'and they shall be Mine saith the Lord in the day the I make up my jewels'. mal. 3.17
jewels, you know, are rare things, things that are not found in every house.
jewels will lie in little room being few and small,
though lumber takes up much.
in almost every house you may find brass and iron and lead
and every place you may find hypocritical professors;
but the saved are not these common things;
they are God's peculiar treasure. 134.4
wherefore paul distinguisheth betwixt the lumber and the treasure in the house:
there are, saith he, in a great house not only vessels of gold and silver,
but also of wood and of earth;
and some to honor and some to dishonor. II tim. 2.20
here is a word for wooden and earthy professors:
the jewels and treasure are vessels to honor;
they of wood and earth are vessels to dishonor,
that is vessels for destruction. rom. 9.21
6. they that shall be saved are compared to a remnant.
'except the Lord had left unto us a very small remnant,
we should have been as sodom and should have been like unto gomorrah'. isaiah 1.9
a remnant, a small remnant, a very small remnant.
O! how doth the Holy Ghost word it!
and all to show you how few shall be saved.
every one knows what a remnant is,
but this is a small remnant, 'a very small remnant'!
so again, 'sing with gladness for jacob and shout among the chief of the nations.
publish ye, praise ye and say, O Lord, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel' jer. 31.7
what shall i say?
the saved are often in scripture called 'a remnant'. ezek. 14.22; isaiah 10.20-2l;11.11-6; jer.23.3; joel 2.32
but what is a remnant to the whole piece?
what is a remnant of people to the whole kingdom?
or what is a remnant of wheat to the whole harvest?
7. the saved are compared to the tithe or tenth part.
wherefore when God sendeth the prophet
to make the hearts of the people fat, their ears dull and to shut their eyes,
the prophet asked, 'how long?'
to which God answered,
'until the cities be wasted without inhabitant
and the houses without man
and the land be utterly desolate
and the Lord have removed men far away
and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land:
but yet (as God saith in another place, 'I will not make a full end')in it shall be a tenth
-so the holy seed, of those that were to be reserved from the judgment.
and observe it, the fattening and blinding of the rest was to their everlasting destruction.
and so both Christ and paul expound it often in the new testament. matt. 13.14-5; mark 4.12; luke 7.10; john 12.40; acts 28.26; rom. 11.8
so that those that are reserved from them that perish will be very few, as it were, one in ten.
'a tenth shall return; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof'.
i shall not add more generals at this time.
i pray God the world be not offended at these.
but without doubt, but few of them that shall put in their claim for heaven will have it for their inheritance;
which will yet farther appear in the reading of that which follows.
CHAPTER 6 - BUT FEW WHO PROFESS RELIGION WILL BE SAVED
SECOND. i come now more particularly to show you, that
BUT FEW PROFESSORS WILL BE SAVED.
i say but few professors themselves will be saved;
for that is the truth that the text doth more directly look at and defend.
give me therefore thy hand, good reader and let us soberly walk through the rest of what shall be said
and let us compare as we go each particular with the holy scripture.
1. it is said 'the daughter of Zion, is left as a cottage in a vineyard,
as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city'. isaiah 1.8
the vineyard was the church of israel. isaiah 5.1
the cottage in that vineyard was the daughter of Zion or the truly gracious amongst or in that church.
'a cottage!'
God had but a cottage there, but a little habitation in the church,
a very few that were truly gracious amongst that great multitude that professed
and had it not been for these, for this cottage, the rest had been ruined as sodom.
'except the Lord of Host had left unto us (in the church) a very small remnant,
we had been as sodom'. isaiah 1.9
wherefore among the multitude of them that shall be damned,
professors will make a considerable party.
2. 'for though Thy people israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall return'
-'a remnant shall be saved'. isaiah 10.22; rom. 9.27
for though Thy people israel whom Thou broughtest out of egypt,
to whom Thou hast given a church constitution,
holy laws, holy ordinances, holy prophets and holy covenants;
Thy people by separation from all people and Thy people by profession;
though this Thy people be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
wherefore among the multitude of them that shall be damned,
professors will make a considerable party.
3. 'reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them'. jer. 6.30
the people here under consideration are called (in verse 27) God's people by profession:
'I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among My people,
that thou mayst know and try their way'.
what follows?
'they are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders;reprobate silver;
the Lord hath rejected them'.
in chap 7 v29, they are called also the generation of His wrath:
'for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath'.
this therefore i gather out of these holy scriptures,
that with reference to profession and church constitution
a people may be called the people of God,
but with reference to the event and final conclusion that God will make with some of them,
they may be truly the generation of His wrath.
4. in the 5th of isaiah you read again of the vineyard of god
and that it was planted on a very fruitful hill,
planted with the choicest vines, had a wall, a tower, a winepress belonging to it
and all things that could put it into right good order and good government as a church,
but this vineyard of the Lord of hosts brought forth wild grapes,
fruits unbecoming her constitution and government;
wherefore the Lord takes from her his hedge and wall and lets her be trodden down.
read Christ's exposition of it in matt. 21. 23f
look to it, professors, these are the words of the text,
'for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
5. 'son of man' said God top the prophet, the house of israel is to Me become dross;
all they are brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace;
they are even the dross of silver'. eze. 22.18
God had silver there, some silver, but it was but little;
the bulk of that people was but the dross of the church, though they were the members of it.
but what doth he mean by the dross?
why He looked upon them as no better, notwithstanding their church membership,
than the rabble of the world,
that is with respect to their latter end;
for to be called dross is to be put amongst the rest of the sinners of the world, in the judgment of God,
though at present they abide in His house.
'Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross, therefore i love Thy testimonies'. psalm 119.119
God saith of His saved ones, He hath chosen them in the furnace of affliction.
the refiner, when he putteth the silver into a furnace puts lead in also among it;
now this lead being ordered as He knows how,
works up the dross from the silver;
which dross, still as it riseth, he putteth by or taketh away with an instrument.
-and thus deals God with His church.
there is silver in His church, aye, and there is also dross.
now the dross are the hypocrites and graceless one that are got into the church
and these will god discover and afterwards put away as dross.
so that it will without doubt prove a truth of God,
that many of these professors that shall put in claim for heaven,
will not have it for their inheritance.
6. it is said of Christ, 'His fan is in His hand
and he will thoroughly purge His floor and gather His wheat into the garner,
but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire'. matt. 3.12
the floor is the church of God.
'O My threshing and the corn of My floor, said God by the prophet to His people isaiah 21.10
the wheat are those good one in his church that shall be undoubtedly saved;
therefore he saith, 'gather My wheat into My garner'.
the chaff groweth upon the same stalk and ear and so is in the same visible body with the wheat;
but there is not substance in it.
wherefore, in time they must be severed one from the other,
the wheat must be gathered into the garner, which is heaven
and the chaff, of professors that want true grace,
must be gathered into hell, that they may be burned up with unquenchable fire.
therefore let the professors look to it.
7. Christ casts away two of the tree ground that are said to receive the word. luke 13
the stony ground received it with joy and the thorny ground brought forth fruit almost to perfection.
indeed the highway ground was to show us that the carnal, whilst such, receive not the word at all;
but here is the pinch, two of the tree that received it, fell short of the kingdom of heaven;
for but one of the tree received it so as to bring forth fruit to perfection.
look to it professors!
8. the parable of the unprofitable servant,
the parable of the man without a wedding garment
and the parable of the unsavory salt,
do each of them justify this for truth. matt. 25. 24-9; 22.11-3
that of the unprofitable servant is to show us the sloth and idleness of some professors.
that of the man without a wedding garment is to show us
how some professors have the shame of their wickedness seen by God,
even when they are among the children of the bridegroom.
and that parable of the unsavory salt is to show that as the salt that hath lost its savor is fit for nothing,
no, not for the dunghill,
but to be trodden under foot of men;
so some professors (yea, and great ones too, for this parable reached one of the apostles)
will in god's day be counted fit for nothing but to be trodden down as the mire in the streets.
Oh! the slothful, the naked and unsavory professors,
how will they be rejected of God and Christ in the judgment!
look to it professors.
9. the parable of the tares also giveth countenance to this truth:
for though it be said, the field is the world,
yet it is said, the tares were sown even in the church.
'and while men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. matt. 13.24-5
objection. but some may object,
'the tares might be sowed in the world among the wheat, though not in the churches'.
answer. but Christ, by expounding this parable, tells us,
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world:
the son of man shall send forth His angels
and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire;
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth'.v40-3. look to it professors.
10. the parable of the ten virgins also suiteth our purpose.
these ten are called the kingdom of heaven, matt. 25.1,
that is the church of Christ, the visible right constituted church of Christ,
for they went all out of the world, had all lamps and all went forth to meet the bridegroom.
yet behold what an overthrow the one half of them met with at the gate of heaven;
they were shut out, bid to depart and Christ told them He did not know them. v10-2.
tremble professors! pray professors!
11. the parable of the net that was cast into the sea, matt. 13.47-50, also countenanceth this truth.
the substance of that parable is to show that
souls may be gathered by the gospel, there compared to a net;
may be kept in that net;
drawn to a shore to the world's end by that net;
and yet may then prove bad fishes
and be cast away.
the parable runs thus,
'the kingdom of heaven (the gospel) is like unto a net which was cast into the sea (the world)
and gathered of every kind (good and bad)
which when it was full they drew to shore (at the end of the world)
and sat down (in judgment)
and gathered the good into vessels and cast the bad away'.
some bad fishes, nay, i doubt a great many , will be found in the net of the gospel at the day of judgment.
watch and be sober professors.
12. 'and many shall come from the east and west
and shall sit down with abraham and isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
but THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE CAST OUT.matt. 13.11-2
the children of the kingdom whose privileges were said to be these,
'to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory
and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises rom. 9.4
i take liberty to harp the more upon the first church (ie israel), because that that happened to them,
happened as types and examples intimating there is ground to think
that things of as dreadful a nature are to happen among the churches of the gentiles. I cor. 10.11-2.
neither indeed have the gentile churches security from God
that there shall not as dreadful things happen unto them.
and concerning this very thing, sufficient caution is given to us also.
I cor. 6.9-10; gal. 5.19-21; eph. 5.3-7; phil. 3.10,19; II thess. 2.11-12;II tim. 2.20-1;
heb. 6.4-9; 10.26-9; II pet 2,3; I john 5.10; rev. 2.20
13. the parable of the true vine and its branches confirms what i have said. john 15.1-6
by the vine there i understand Christ, Christ as head;
by the branches i understand His church.
some of these branches proved fruitless castaways,
were in time cast out of the church,
were gathered by men and burned.
14. lastly, i will come to particular instances.
1. the twelve had a devil among them. john 6.70
2. ananias and sapphira were in the church of jerusalem. acts 5.3
3. simon magus was among them at samaria. acts 8.4
4. among the church of corinth were them that had not the knowledge of God. I cor. 15.5
5. paul tells the galatians, false brethren crept in unawares and so does the apostle jude
and yet they were as quick sighted to see as any now a days. gal. 2; jude 4
6. the church in sardis had but a few names in her, to whom the kingdom of heaven belonged
'thou hast a few names, even in sardis, which have not defiled their garments
and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy'.
7. as for the church of the laodicians, it is called 'wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.'
rev. 3
so that put all things together and i may boldly say, as i have said already,
that among the multitude of them that shall be damned,
professors will make a considerable party
or, to speak in the words of the observation,
when men have put in all the claim they can for heaven, but few will have it for their inheritance.
CHAPTER 7 - WHY SO MANY MISS OF HEAVEN
i will now show you some reason of the point, besides those five that i showed you before.
but, first, i will show you why the poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven
and then why the knowing professors miss of it also.
1. the poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven even because they love their sins
and cannot part with them.
'men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds be evil'. john 3
the poor ignorant world miss of heaven,
because they are enemies in their mind to God His word and holiness.
they must be all damned who take pleasure in unrighteousness. II thess 2.10-12
the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they stop their ears against convictions
and refuse to come when God calls.
'because I have called and ye refused;
I have stretched out My hand and no man regarded;
but ye have set at nought all my counsel
and would none of My reproof;
I also will laugh at your calamity;
i will mock when your fear cometh;
when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer;
they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.'. prov. 1.24-8.
2. the poor ignorant world miss of heaven,
because the God of this world hath blinded their eyes
that they can neither see the evil and damnable state they are in at present
nor the way to get out of it.
neither do they see the beauty of Jesus Christ nor how willing he is to save poor sinners. II cor. 4.4
3.the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they put off and defer coming to Christ
until the time of God's patience and grace is over.
some indeed are resolved never to come.
but some again say, we will come hereafter and so it comest to pass
that because God called and they did not hear;
so they shall cry and I will not hear saith the Lord. zech. 7.11-3
4. the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they have false apprehensions of God's mercy.
they say in their hears, 'we shall have peace, though we walk in the imagination of our heart
to add drunkenness to thirst'.
but what saith the word?
'the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord
and his jealousy shall smoke against that man
and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him
and God shall blot out his name from under heaven'. deut. 29. 19-21
5. the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they make light of the gospel
that offereth mercy to them freely
and because they lean upon their own good meanings and thinkings and doings.
matt. 22.1-6; rom. 9.30-1
6 the poor carnal world miss of heaven, because by unbelief, which reigns in them,
they are kept for ever from being clothed with Christ's righteousness
and from washing in His blood;
without which there is neither remission of sin nor justification. but to pass these till anon.
i come, in the next place, to show you some reasons why most professors fall short of heaven.
first, in the general, THEY REST IN THINGS BELOW SPECIAL GRACE;
as in awakenings that are not special, in repentance that is not special, etc.
and a little to run a parallel betwixt the one and the other, that,
if God will you may see and escape.
1. HAVE THEY that shall be saved, AWAKENINGS about their state by nature?
SO HAVE THEY THAT SHALL BE DAMNED.
they that never go to heaven may see much of sin
and of the wrath of God due thereto.
this had cain and judas and yet they came short of the kingdom. gen. 4; matt. 27.4
the saved have convictions in order to their eternal life;
but the others' convictions are not so.
the convictions of the one do drive them sincerely to Christ;
the convictions of the other drive them to the law
and the law to desperation at last.
2. there is a repentance that will not save
-a repentance to be repented of
and a repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. II cor. 7.10.
yet so great a similitude and likeness there is betwixt the one and the other,
that most times the wrong is taken for the right and through this mistake professors perish. as,
1) in saving repentance there will be an acknowledgment of sin
and one that hath the other repentance, may acknowledge his sins also. matt. 27.4
2) in saving repentance there is a crying out under sin;
but one that hath the other repentance may cry out under sin also. gen. 4.13
3) in saving repentance there will be humiliation for sin
and one that hath the other repentance may humble himself also. I kings 21.29
4) saving repentance is attended with self loathing;
but he that hath the other repentance may have loathing of sin too II pet 2.22
A LOATHING OF SIN BECAUSE IT IS SIN that he cannot have;
but a loathing of sin, because it is offensive to him, that he may have.
the dog doth not loathe that which troubleth his stomach, because it is there,
but because it troubleth him;
when it has done troubling him, he can turn to it again
and lick it up as before it troubled him.
5) saving repentance is attended with prayers and tears;
but he that hath none but the other repentance, may have prayers and tears also. gen. 27.34-5; heb. 12.24-7
6) in saving repentance there is fear and reverence of the word and ministers that bring it,
but this may be also where there is non but the repentance that is not saving.
'for herod feared john, knowing that he was a just man and a holy and observed him;
when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly'. mark 6.20
7) saving repentance makes a man's heart very tender of doing any thing against the word of God.
but balaam could say, 'if balak would give me his house full of silver and gold,
i cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord. num. 24.13
behold, then, how far a man may go in repentance and yet be short of that which is called,
'repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of'.
1. he may be awakened
2. he may acknowledge his sin
3. he may cry out under the burden of sin
4. he may have humiliations for it
5. he may loathe it
6. may have prayers and tears against it
7. may delight to do many things of God
8. may be afraid of sinning against Him
and after all this may perish for want of saving repentance.
secondly, have they that shall be saved FAITH?
why, they that shall not be saved may have faith also;
yea, a faith in many things so like the faith that saveth,
that they can hardly be distinguished, (though they differ both in root and branch.)
to come to particulars:
1. saving faith hath Christ for its object
and so may the faith that is not saving.
those very jews of whom it is said they believed on Christ,
Christ tells, and that after their believing,
'ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do'. john 8.30-44
2. saving faith is wrought by the word of God
and so may the faith that is not saving. luke 13.13.
3. saving faith looks for justification without works
ans so may a faith do that is not saving. james 2.18
4. saving faith will sanctify and purify the heart.
and the faith that is not saving, may work a man off from the pollutions of the world,
as it did judas, demas and others. see II pet. 2
5. saving faith will give a man tastes of the world to come and also joy by these tastes
and so will the faith do that is not saving. heb 6.4-5; luke 8.13.
6. saving faith will help a man, if called thereto,
to give his body to be burned for his religion
ans so will the faith do that is not saving. I cor. 13.1-5
7. saving faith will help a man to look for an inheritance in the world to come
and that may the faith do that is not saving.
'all those virgins took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom'. matt. 25.1
8. saving faith will not only make a man look but prepare to meet the bridegroom
and so may the faith do that is not saving.
'then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps'. matt. 25.7
9. saving faith will make a man look for an interest in the kingdom of heaven with confidence
and the faith that is not saving will even demand entrance of the Lord:
'Lord, Lord, open unto us'. matt. 25.11
10. saving faith will have good works follow it into heaven
and the faith that is not saving may have great works follow it as far as to heaven gates.
'Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name and in Thy name cast out devils,
and in Thy name done many wonderful works? matt. 7.22
now then, if the faith that is not saving, may have Christ for its object,
be wrought by the word,
look for justification without works,
work men off from the pollutions of the world and
give men tastes of and joy in the things of another world:
i say again, if it will help a man to burn at the stake for his judgment
and to look for an inheritance in another world;
yea if it will help a man to prepare for it, claim interest in it and
if it can carry great works, many great and glorious works as far as heaven gates,
then no marvel if abundance of people take this faith for the saving faith
and so fall short of heaven thereby.
alas friends! there are but few that can produce such fruits
for repentance and such faith as yet you see,
i have proved even reprobates have had in several ages of the church. but,
thirdly, they that go to heaven are a praying people,
but a man may pray that shall not be saved.
pray! he may pray and pray daily, yea, he may ask of God the ordinances of justice
and may take delight in approaching to God;
nay, further, such souls may, as it were cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
with weeping and crying out. mal. 2.13
fourthly, do God people keep holy fasts?
they that are not His people may keep His fasts also;
may keep fasts often, even twice a week.
'the pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
god, i thank Thee that i am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this publican.
i fast twice in the week, i give tithes of all that i possess'. luke 18.11-2
i might enlarge upon thins, but i intend but a little book.
i do not question but many balaamites will appear before the judgment seat to condemnation:
men that have had visions of God
and that knew the knowledge of the Most High;
men that have had the Spirit of God come upon them
and that have by that been made other men;
yet these shall go to the generations of their fathers,
they shall never see light. num. 24.2.4.16; I sam. 10, 6.10; psalm 49.19
i read of some men whose excellency in religion mounts up to the heavens and their head reaches unto the clouds,
who yet shall perish forever like their own dung
and he that in this world hath seen them shall say at the judgment, 'where are they?' Job 20.5-7
there will be many that were gallant professors in this world,
wanting among the saved in the day of Christ's coming;
yea, many whose damnation was never dreamed of
which of the twelve ever thought that judas would have proved a devil?
nay, when Christ suggested that one among them was naught
they each were more afraid of themselves than of him. matt. 26.21-3
who questioned the salvation of the foolish virgins?
the wise ones did not. they gave them the privilege of communion with themselves. matt. 25
the discerning of the heart and the infallible proof of the truth of saving grace
is reserved in the judgment of Jesus Christ at His coming.
the church and best of saints sometimes hit and sometimes miss in their judgments about this matter.
and the cause of our missing in our judgment, is
1. partly, because we cannot infallibly, at all times, distinguish grace that saveth,
from that which doth not appear to do so.
2. partly, also, because some men have the art to give right names to wrong things.
3. and partly because we being commanded to receive him that is weak,
are afraid to exclude the least christian.
by hidden means hypocites creep into the churches.
but what saith the scripture?
'I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins'.
and again, ' all the churches shall know that i am He which searcheh the reins and hearts:
and I will give to every one of you according to your works;. jer. 11.20; 17.10; rev 2.23.
to the Searcher of hears is the time of infallible discerning reserved
and then you shall see how far grace that is not saving hath gone
and also how few will be saved indeed.
the Lord awaken poor sinners by my little book.
CHAPTER 8 - APPLICATION TO THE UNCONVERTED.
i come now to make some brief use and application of the whole
and my first word shall be to THE OPENLY PROFANE...
my second word is to THEM THAT ARE UPON THE POTTER'S WHEEL
concerning whom yet, whether their convictions and awakenings will end in conversion or no.
several things i shall say to you, both to further your convictions and to caution you from staying
anywhere below or short of saving grace.
1. remember that but few shall be saved.
and if God should count thee worthy to be one of that few, what a mercy would that be?
2. be thankful therefore for convictions/.
conversion begins at conviction, though all conviction doth not end in conversion.
it is a great mercy to be convinced that we are sinners and that we need a saviour.
count it therefore a mercy.
and that thy convictions may end in conversion, do thou,
1. take heed of stifling of them....
2. be willing to see the worst of thy condition. it is better to see it here than in hell..
3. beware of little sins. they will make way for great ones
and they again will make way for bigger...
4. take heed of bad company...for that will corrupt good manners...
5. beware of such a thought as bids thee delay repentance; for that is damnable. prov. 1.24; zech 7.12-3
6. beware of taking example by some poor carnal professor, whose religion lies in the tip of his tongue....
Job 34.30;prov.13.20
7. give thyself much to the word and prayer and good conference.
8. labor to see the sin that cleaveth to the best of thy performances
and know that all is nothing if thou beest not found in Jesus Christ.
9. keep in remembrance that god's eye is upon thy heart and upon all thy ways.
'can any hide himself in secret places, that i shall not see him? saith the Lord...jer. 23.24
10. be often meditating upon death and judgment. eccl. 11.9; 12.14
11. be often thinking what a dreadful end sinners that have rejected Christ will make at that day...heb 10.31
12. put thy self often, in thy thoughts, before Christ's judgment seat in thy sins
and consider with thyself, were i now before by Judge, how should i look?
how should i shake and tremble?
13. be often thinking of them that are now in hell past all mercy.
1)they were once in the world, as i now am.
2)they once took delight in sin as i have done.
3) they once neglected repentance, as satan would have me do.
4) but now they are gone, now they are in hell, now the pit hath shut her mouth upon them!
....
CHAPTER 9 - APPLICATION TO PROFESSORS OF RELIGION
my third word is to PROFESSORS....
1. i begin with you whose religion lieth only in your tongues...
2. covetous professor! thou that makest a gain of religion...
3. wanton professors!...you that can tell how to misplead scripture to maintain
your pride, your banqueting and abominable idolatry..
4...the opinionist..him whose religion lieth in some circumstantials of religion...
these think all out of the way that are not of their mode,
when themselves may be out of the way in the midst of their zeal for their opinions...
5. ..the formalist...is a man that hath lost all but the shell of religion.
he is hot indeed for his form...but his form being without ..power..godliness..
6. legalist..him that hath no life but what he makes out of his duties.
this man hath chosen to stand and fall by moses who is the condemner of the world.
'there is one that accuseth you, even moses, in whom ye trust'. john 5.45
7...the libertine..he..pretendeth to be against forms and duties as things that gender to bondage
neglecting the order of God.
this man pretends to pray always, but under that pretence prays not at all
he pretends to keep every day a sabbath, but this pretence
serves him only to cast off all set times for the worship of God.
8....the temporizing latitudinarian.
he is a man that hath no God but his belly, nor any religion but that by which his belly is worshipped.
his religion is always like the times, turning this way and that way, like the cock upon the steeple;
neither hath he any conscience but a benumbed and seared on
and is next door to a downright atheist.....
9....the wilfully ignorant professor..is afraid to know more for fear of the cross.
he is for picking and choosing of truth
and loveth not to hazard his all for that worthy name by which he would be called.
when he is at any time overset by arguments or awakenings of conscience, he uses to heal all by saying,
'i was not brought up in this faith'..
as if it were unlawful for christians to know more than hath been taught them at first conversion....
10...the professor that would prove himself a christian by comparing himself with others
instead of comparing himself with the word of God.
this man comforts himself because he is as holy as such and such;
he also knows as much as that old professor and then concludes he shall go to heaven,
as if he certainly knew that those with whom he compareth himself would be undoubtedly saved.
but how if he should be mistaken?
nay, may not both fall short? II cor. 10.12
11...another professor...if for God and for baal too.
he can be any thing for any company; he can throw stones with both hands
his religion alters as fast as his company...
nothing that is disorderly comes amiss to him;
he will hold with the hare and run with the hound;
he carries fire in one hand and water in the other
he is very anything but what he should be....
12. there is also that free willer who denies to the Holy Ghost the sole work in conversion
and that socinian who denieth to Christ that He hath made to God satisfaction for sin
and that Quaker who takes from Christ the two natures in his person
...and i might add as many more touching whose damnation the scripture is plain...
i come now to give you some OBSERVATIONS from the words
and they may be three.
1. when men have put in all the claim they can for heaven,
but few will have it for their inheritance.
'for many I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
2. great therefore will be the disappointment that many will meet with at the day of judgment.
'for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
3. going to heaven therefore will be no trivial business.
salvation is not got by a dream.
they that would then hve that kingdom, must now strive lawfully to enter.
'for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
i shall speak chiefly, and yet but briefly, to the first of these observations, namely: THAT
WHEN MEN HAVE PUT IN ALL THE CLAIM THEY CAN TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,
BUT FEW WILL HAVE IT FOR THEIR INHERITANCE.
the observation standeth of two parts.
1. that the time is coming when every man will put in whatever claim he can to the kingdom of heaven.
2. there will be but few of them that put in claim thereto, that shall enjoy it for their inheritance.
...in the 25th of matthew... all they on the left hand of the Judge did put in all the claim they could
for this blessed kingdom of heaven.
if you shall take them on the left hand, as most do, for all the sinners that shall be damned,
then that completely proveth the first part of the observation;
for it is expressly said,
'then shall they (all of them jointly and every on apart) also answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thus and thus and did not minister unto Thee'. matt. 25.44
i could here bring you in the plea of the slothful servant and the cry of the foolish virgins.
i could also here enlarge upon that passage,
'lord, Lord, have we not eat and drank in Thy presence
and Thou hast taught in our streets'.
but these things are handled already,
in the handling of which this first part of the observation is proved.
wherefore without more words, I will God assisting by His grace,
descend to the second part thereof,
viz...few..will enjoy..
to enlarge therefore upon the truth..first, more generally; secondly, more particularly.
1. more generally, i shall prove, that in all ages but few have been saved.
2. more particularly, i shall prove, but few of them that profess have been saved.
first, in the old world when it was most populous, even in the days of noah,
we read but of eight persons that were saved out of it:
well therefore might peter call them but few. but how few? why but eight souls.
'wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water'. I pet. 3.20
he touches a second time upon this truth, saying,
'he spared not the old world, but saved noah, the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly'.
mark, all the rest are called the ungodly
and there was also a world of them. II pet. 2.5
these are also taken notice of in Job and go there also by the name of 'wicked men'.
'hast thou marked the old way, which wicked men have trodden?
which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood;
which said unto God, depart from us and what can the Almighty do for them? Job 22.15-7
there were therefore but eight persons that escaped the wrath of God in the day that the flood came upon the earth.
the rest were ungodly;
there was also a world of them
and they are to this day in the prison of hell. heb. 11.7; I pet. 3.19-20
nay, i must correct my pen;
there were but seven of the eight that were good;
for ham, though he escaped the judgment of the water,
yet the curse of god overtook him to his damnation.
secondly, when the world began again to be replenished
and people began to multiply therein;
how few, even in all ages, do we read of that were saved from the damnation of the world?
one abraham and his wife God called out of the land of the chaldeans.
'I called (said God) abraham ALONE'. isaiah 51.1,2
ONE Lot out of sodom and gomorrah, out of admah and zeboim;
ONE Lot out of four cities.
indeed his wife and two daughters went out of sodom with him;
but they all three proved naught, as you may see in the 19th of genesis:
wherefore peter observes that Lot only was saved.
'and turning the cities of sodom and gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after
should live ungodly
and delivered just Lot,
that righteous man'. read II pet. 2. 6-8
Jude says that in this condemnation, God overthrew not only sodom and gomorrah,
but cities about them also
and yet you find none but Lot could be found that was righteous,
either in sodom or gomorrah or the cities about them,
wherefore they, all of them, suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. verse 7
come we now to the time of the Judges.
how few then were the godly;
even then when the inhabitants of the villages cease, they ceased in Israel!
'the highways (of God) were unoccupied'. Judges 5.6-7
there were but few in the days of david.
'help, Lord (says he) for the godly man ceaseth;
for the faithful fail from among the children of men'. psalm 12.1
in isaiah's time the saved were come to such a few, that he positively says,
that except there were a very small remnant let,
'God had made them like sodom and they had been like unto gomorrah'. isaiah 1.8-9
it was cried unto them in the time of jeremiah
that they should run 'to and fro through the streets of jerusalem
and see and know and seek in the broad places thereof,
if ye can find a man,
if there be any that executeth judgment,
that seeketh the truth
and I will pardon it'. jer. 5.1
God showed His servant ezekiel how few there would be saved in his day,
by the vision of a few hairs saved out of the midst of a few hairs;
for the saved were a few saved out of a few. ezekiel 5.3
you find in the time of the prophet micah, how the godly complain,
that as to number they then were so few
that he compares them to those that are left behind when they had gathered the summer fruit. micah 7.1
when Christ was come who did he confirm this truth,
that but few of them that put in claim for heaven will have it for their inheritance!
but the common people could not bear it
and therefore upon a time when he did but a little hint at this truth,
the people, even all in the synagogue where he preached it,
were filled with wrath, rose up, thrust Him out of the city
and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built,
that they might cast Him down headlong. luke 4.24-30
the apostle john, after Christ, saith, 'that the whole world lieth in wickedness';
that 'all the world wondered after the beast';
and that power was given to the beast 'over all kindreds, tongues and nations'.
power to do what?
why, to cause all, both great and small, rich and poor, bond and free, to receive his mark and be branded
for him. I john 5.19; rev. 13.3, 16
should we come to observation and experience,
the show of the countenance of the bulk of men doth witness against them.
' they declare their sin as sodom, they hid it not'. isaiah 3.9
where is the man that maketh the Almighty God his delight
and that designeth His glory in the world?
do not even almost all pursue this world,
their lust and pleasures?
and so consequently say unto god,
'depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways?
or
'what is the Almightly that we should serve him?
it is in vain to serve God' etc. Job 21.14-5
so that without doubt it will appear a truth in the day of God,
that but few of them that shall put in their claim to heaven will have it for their inheritance.
before i pass this head, i will show you to what the saved are compared in the scriptures.
(foot. the permanency of all the citations which follow, to the point in hand, does not clearly appear. ..)
...2....so they are compared to a lily among the thorns;
which is rare and not so commonly seen.
'as the lily among the thorns, (saith Christ)
so is My beloved among the daughters'. song 2.2
by thorns, we understand the worst and best of ungodly men,
even all that are destitute of the grace of God;
'for the best of them is as a brier and the most upright of them as a thorn hedge'. micah 7.4; II sam. 23.6
i know that the church may be called a lily amongst thorns also,
because she meets with the pricks of persecution. ezekiel 2.5; 28.24
she may also be thus termed, to show the disparity betwixt hypocrites and the church. luke 8.14; heb. 6.8
but this is not all; the saved are compared to a lily among thorns,
to show you that they are but few in the world;
to show you that they are but few and rare;
for as Christ compares her to a lily among thorns,
so she compares him to an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
which is rare and scarce, not common.
3. they that are saved are called but one of many.
for 'though there be threescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number,
but My love (saith Christ) is but one, My undefiled is but one'. song 6.8-9
so according to that of jeremiah,
'I will take you, one of a city'. jer. 3
that saying of paul is much like this,
'know you not, that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize'. I cor. 9.24
but one; that is few of many, few of them that run;
for he is not here comparing them that run with them that sit still, but with them that run.
some run and lose;
some run and win.
they that run and win are few in comparison of them that run and lose.
'they that run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize'.
let there then be 'thereescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number'
yet the saved are but few.
4. they that are saved, are compared to the gleaning after the vintage is in.
'woe is me (saith the church) for i am as when they have gathered the summer fruit,
as the grape gleanings of the vintage'. micah 7.1
'the gleanings!
what are the gleanings to the whole crop?
and yet you here see, to the gleanings are the saved compared.
it is the devil and sin that carry away the cart loads,
while Christ and his ministers come after agleaning;
but 'the gleaning of the grapes of ephraim is better than the vintage of abiezer'. judges 8.2
them that Chirst and His ministers glean up and bind up in the bundle of life
are better than the loads that go the other way.
you know it is often the cry of the poor in harvest, 'poor gleaning! poor gleaning!
and the ministers of the gospel also cry,
'Lord, who hath believed our report
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? isaiah 53.1
when the prophet speaks of the saved under this metaphor of gleaning, how doth he amplify the matter?
'gleaning grapes shall be left, (says he) tow or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough,
four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord'. isaiah 17.6
thus you see what gleaning is left in the vineyard after the vintage is in;
tow or three here, four or five there.
Alas! they that shall be saved when the devil and hell have had their due will be but as the gleaning;
they will be but few.
they that go to hell, go thither in clusters,
but the saved go not so to heaven. matt. 13.30; micah 7
wherefore when the prophet speaketh of the saved he saith, there is no cluster.
but when he speaketh of the damned, he saith, they are gathered by clusters. rev. 14.18-9.
O sinners!
but few will be saved.
O professors!
but few will be saved.
5. they that shall be saved are compared to jewels.
'and they shall be Mine saith the Lord in the day the I make up my jewels'. mal. 3.17
jewels, you know, are rare things, things that are not found in every house.
jewels will lie in little room being few and small,
though lumber takes up much.
in almost every house you may find brass and iron and lead
and every place you may find hypocritical professors;
but the saved are not these common things;
they are God's peculiar treasure. 134.4
wherefore paul distinguisheth betwixt the lumber and the treasure in the house:
there are, saith he, in a great house not only vessels of gold and silver,
but also of wood and of earth;
and some to honor and some to dishonor. II tim. 2.20
here is a word for wooden and earthy professors:
the jewels and treasure are vessels to honor;
they of wood and earth are vessels to dishonor,
that is vessels for destruction. rom. 9.21
6. they that shall be saved are compared to a remnant.
'except the Lord had left unto us a very small remnant,
we should have been as sodom and should have been like unto gomorrah'. isaiah 1.9
a remnant, a small remnant, a very small remnant.
O! how doth the Holy Ghost word it!
and all to show you how few shall be saved.
every one knows what a remnant is,
but this is a small remnant, 'a very small remnant'!
so again, 'sing with gladness for jacob and shout among the chief of the nations.
publish ye, praise ye and say, O Lord, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel' jer. 31.7
what shall i say?
the saved are often in scripture called 'a remnant'. ezek. 14.22; isaiah 10.20-2l;11.11-6; jer.23.3; joel 2.32
but what is a remnant to the whole piece?
what is a remnant of people to the whole kingdom?
or what is a remnant of wheat to the whole harvest?
7. the saved are compared to the tithe or tenth part.
wherefore when God sendeth the prophet
to make the hearts of the people fat, their ears dull and to shut their eyes,
the prophet asked, 'how long?'
to which God answered,
'until the cities be wasted without inhabitant
and the houses without man
and the land be utterly desolate
and the Lord have removed men far away
and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land:
but yet (as God saith in another place, 'I will not make a full end')in it shall be a tenth
-so the holy seed, of those that were to be reserved from the judgment.
and observe it, the fattening and blinding of the rest was to their everlasting destruction.
and so both Christ and paul expound it often in the new testament. matt. 13.14-5; mark 4.12; luke 7.10; john 12.40; acts 28.26; rom. 11.8
so that those that are reserved from them that perish will be very few, as it were, one in ten.
'a tenth shall return; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof'.
i shall not add more generals at this time.
i pray God the world be not offended at these.
but without doubt, but few of them that shall put in their claim for heaven will have it for their inheritance;
which will yet farther appear in the reading of that which follows.
CHAPTER 6 - BUT FEW WHO PROFESS RELIGION WILL BE SAVED
SECOND. i come now more particularly to show you, that
BUT FEW PROFESSORS WILL BE SAVED.
i say but few professors themselves will be saved;
for that is the truth that the text doth more directly look at and defend.
give me therefore thy hand, good reader and let us soberly walk through the rest of what shall be said
and let us compare as we go each particular with the holy scripture.
1. it is said 'the daughter of Zion, is left as a cottage in a vineyard,
as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city'. isaiah 1.8
the vineyard was the church of israel. isaiah 5.1
the cottage in that vineyard was the daughter of Zion or the truly gracious amongst or in that church.
'a cottage!'
God had but a cottage there, but a little habitation in the church,
a very few that were truly gracious amongst that great multitude that professed
and had it not been for these, for this cottage, the rest had been ruined as sodom.
'except the Lord of Host had left unto us (in the church) a very small remnant,
we had been as sodom'. isaiah 1.9
wherefore among the multitude of them that shall be damned,
professors will make a considerable party.
2. 'for though Thy people israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall return'
-'a remnant shall be saved'. isaiah 10.22; rom. 9.27
for though Thy people israel whom Thou broughtest out of egypt,
to whom Thou hast given a church constitution,
holy laws, holy ordinances, holy prophets and holy covenants;
Thy people by separation from all people and Thy people by profession;
though this Thy people be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
wherefore among the multitude of them that shall be damned,
professors will make a considerable party.
3. 'reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them'. jer. 6.30
the people here under consideration are called (in verse 27) God's people by profession:
'I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among My people,
that thou mayst know and try their way'.
what follows?
'they are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders;reprobate silver;
the Lord hath rejected them'.
in chap 7 v29, they are called also the generation of His wrath:
'for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath'.
this therefore i gather out of these holy scriptures,
that with reference to profession and church constitution
a people may be called the people of God,
but with reference to the event and final conclusion that God will make with some of them,
they may be truly the generation of His wrath.
4. in the 5th of isaiah you read again of the vineyard of god
and that it was planted on a very fruitful hill,
planted with the choicest vines, had a wall, a tower, a winepress belonging to it
and all things that could put it into right good order and good government as a church,
but this vineyard of the Lord of hosts brought forth wild grapes,
fruits unbecoming her constitution and government;
wherefore the Lord takes from her his hedge and wall and lets her be trodden down.
read Christ's exposition of it in matt. 21. 23f
look to it, professors, these are the words of the text,
'for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able'.
5. 'son of man' said God top the prophet, the house of israel is to Me become dross;
all they are brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace;
they are even the dross of silver'. eze. 22.18
God had silver there, some silver, but it was but little;
the bulk of that people was but the dross of the church, though they were the members of it.
but what doth he mean by the dross?
why He looked upon them as no better, notwithstanding their church membership,
than the rabble of the world,
that is with respect to their latter end;
for to be called dross is to be put amongst the rest of the sinners of the world, in the judgment of God,
though at present they abide in His house.
'Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross, therefore i love Thy testimonies'. psalm 119.119
God saith of His saved ones, He hath chosen them in the furnace of affliction.
the refiner, when he putteth the silver into a furnace puts lead in also among it;
now this lead being ordered as He knows how,
works up the dross from the silver;
which dross, still as it riseth, he putteth by or taketh away with an instrument.
-and thus deals God with His church.
there is silver in His church, aye, and there is also dross.
now the dross are the hypocrites and graceless one that are got into the church
and these will god discover and afterwards put away as dross.
so that it will without doubt prove a truth of God,
that many of these professors that shall put in claim for heaven,
will not have it for their inheritance.
6. it is said of Christ, 'His fan is in His hand
and he will thoroughly purge His floor and gather His wheat into the garner,
but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire'. matt. 3.12
the floor is the church of God.
'O My threshing and the corn of My floor, said God by the prophet to His people isaiah 21.10
the wheat are those good one in his church that shall be undoubtedly saved;
therefore he saith, 'gather My wheat into My garner'.
the chaff groweth upon the same stalk and ear and so is in the same visible body with the wheat;
but there is not substance in it.
wherefore, in time they must be severed one from the other,
the wheat must be gathered into the garner, which is heaven
and the chaff, of professors that want true grace,
must be gathered into hell, that they may be burned up with unquenchable fire.
therefore let the professors look to it.
7. Christ casts away two of the tree ground that are said to receive the word. luke 13
the stony ground received it with joy and the thorny ground brought forth fruit almost to perfection.
indeed the highway ground was to show us that the carnal, whilst such, receive not the word at all;
but here is the pinch, two of the tree that received it, fell short of the kingdom of heaven;
for but one of the tree received it so as to bring forth fruit to perfection.
look to it professors!
8. the parable of the unprofitable servant,
the parable of the man without a wedding garment
and the parable of the unsavory salt,
do each of them justify this for truth. matt. 25. 24-9; 22.11-3
that of the unprofitable servant is to show us the sloth and idleness of some professors.
that of the man without a wedding garment is to show us
how some professors have the shame of their wickedness seen by God,
even when they are among the children of the bridegroom.
and that parable of the unsavory salt is to show that as the salt that hath lost its savor is fit for nothing,
no, not for the dunghill,
but to be trodden under foot of men;
so some professors (yea, and great ones too, for this parable reached one of the apostles)
will in god's day be counted fit for nothing but to be trodden down as the mire in the streets.
Oh! the slothful, the naked and unsavory professors,
how will they be rejected of God and Christ in the judgment!
look to it professors.
9. the parable of the tares also giveth countenance to this truth:
for though it be said, the field is the world,
yet it is said, the tares were sown even in the church.
'and while men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. matt. 13.24-5
objection. but some may object,
'the tares might be sowed in the world among the wheat, though not in the churches'.
answer. but Christ, by expounding this parable, tells us,
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world:
the son of man shall send forth His angels
and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire;
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth'.v40-3. look to it professors.
10. the parable of the ten virgins also suiteth our purpose.
these ten are called the kingdom of heaven, matt. 25.1,
that is the church of Christ, the visible right constituted church of Christ,
for they went all out of the world, had all lamps and all went forth to meet the bridegroom.
yet behold what an overthrow the one half of them met with at the gate of heaven;
they were shut out, bid to depart and Christ told them He did not know them. v10-2.
tremble professors! pray professors!
11. the parable of the net that was cast into the sea, matt. 13.47-50, also countenanceth this truth.
the substance of that parable is to show that
souls may be gathered by the gospel, there compared to a net;
may be kept in that net;
drawn to a shore to the world's end by that net;
and yet may then prove bad fishes
and be cast away.
the parable runs thus,
'the kingdom of heaven (the gospel) is like unto a net which was cast into the sea (the world)
and gathered of every kind (good and bad)
which when it was full they drew to shore (at the end of the world)
and sat down (in judgment)
and gathered the good into vessels and cast the bad away'.
some bad fishes, nay, i doubt a great many , will be found in the net of the gospel at the day of judgment.
watch and be sober professors.
12. 'and many shall come from the east and west
and shall sit down with abraham and isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
but THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE CAST OUT.matt. 13.11-2
the children of the kingdom whose privileges were said to be these,
'to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory
and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises rom. 9.4
i take liberty to harp the more upon the first church (ie israel), because that that happened to them,
happened as types and examples intimating there is ground to think
that things of as dreadful a nature are to happen among the churches of the gentiles. I cor. 10.11-2.
neither indeed have the gentile churches security from God
that there shall not as dreadful things happen unto them.
and concerning this very thing, sufficient caution is given to us also.
I cor. 6.9-10; gal. 5.19-21; eph. 5.3-7; phil. 3.10,19; II thess. 2.11-12;II tim. 2.20-1;
heb. 6.4-9; 10.26-9; II pet 2,3; I john 5.10; rev. 2.20
13. the parable of the true vine and its branches confirms what i have said. john 15.1-6
by the vine there i understand Christ, Christ as head;
by the branches i understand His church.
some of these branches proved fruitless castaways,
were in time cast out of the church,
were gathered by men and burned.
14. lastly, i will come to particular instances.
1. the twelve had a devil among them. john 6.70
2. ananias and sapphira were in the church of jerusalem. acts 5.3
3. simon magus was among them at samaria. acts 8.4
4. among the church of corinth were them that had not the knowledge of God. I cor. 15.5
5. paul tells the galatians, false brethren crept in unawares and so does the apostle jude
and yet they were as quick sighted to see as any now a days. gal. 2; jude 4
6. the church in sardis had but a few names in her, to whom the kingdom of heaven belonged
'thou hast a few names, even in sardis, which have not defiled their garments
and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy'.
7. as for the church of the laodicians, it is called 'wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.'
rev. 3
so that put all things together and i may boldly say, as i have said already,
that among the multitude of them that shall be damned,
professors will make a considerable party
or, to speak in the words of the observation,
when men have put in all the claim they can for heaven, but few will have it for their inheritance.
CHAPTER 7 - WHY SO MANY MISS OF HEAVEN
i will now show you some reason of the point, besides those five that i showed you before.
but, first, i will show you why the poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven
and then why the knowing professors miss of it also.
1. the poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven even because they love their sins
and cannot part with them.
'men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds be evil'. john 3
the poor ignorant world miss of heaven,
because they are enemies in their mind to God His word and holiness.
they must be all damned who take pleasure in unrighteousness. II thess 2.10-12
the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they stop their ears against convictions
and refuse to come when God calls.
'because I have called and ye refused;
I have stretched out My hand and no man regarded;
but ye have set at nought all my counsel
and would none of My reproof;
I also will laugh at your calamity;
i will mock when your fear cometh;
when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer;
they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.'. prov. 1.24-8.
2. the poor ignorant world miss of heaven,
because the God of this world hath blinded their eyes
that they can neither see the evil and damnable state they are in at present
nor the way to get out of it.
neither do they see the beauty of Jesus Christ nor how willing he is to save poor sinners. II cor. 4.4
3.the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they put off and defer coming to Christ
until the time of God's patience and grace is over.
some indeed are resolved never to come.
but some again say, we will come hereafter and so it comest to pass
that because God called and they did not hear;
so they shall cry and I will not hear saith the Lord. zech. 7.11-3
4. the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they have false apprehensions of God's mercy.
they say in their hears, 'we shall have peace, though we walk in the imagination of our heart
to add drunkenness to thirst'.
but what saith the word?
'the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord
and his jealousy shall smoke against that man
and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him
and God shall blot out his name from under heaven'. deut. 29. 19-21
5. the poor ignorant world miss of heaven because they make light of the gospel
that offereth mercy to them freely
and because they lean upon their own good meanings and thinkings and doings.
matt. 22.1-6; rom. 9.30-1
6 the poor carnal world miss of heaven, because by unbelief, which reigns in them,
they are kept for ever from being clothed with Christ's righteousness
and from washing in His blood;
without which there is neither remission of sin nor justification. but to pass these till anon.
i come, in the next place, to show you some reasons why most professors fall short of heaven.
first, in the general, THEY REST IN THINGS BELOW SPECIAL GRACE;
as in awakenings that are not special, in repentance that is not special, etc.
and a little to run a parallel betwixt the one and the other, that,
if God will you may see and escape.
1. HAVE THEY that shall be saved, AWAKENINGS about their state by nature?
SO HAVE THEY THAT SHALL BE DAMNED.
they that never go to heaven may see much of sin
and of the wrath of God due thereto.
this had cain and judas and yet they came short of the kingdom. gen. 4; matt. 27.4
the saved have convictions in order to their eternal life;
but the others' convictions are not so.
the convictions of the one do drive them sincerely to Christ;
the convictions of the other drive them to the law
and the law to desperation at last.
2. there is a repentance that will not save
-a repentance to be repented of
and a repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. II cor. 7.10.
yet so great a similitude and likeness there is betwixt the one and the other,
that most times the wrong is taken for the right and through this mistake professors perish. as,
1) in saving repentance there will be an acknowledgment of sin
and one that hath the other repentance, may acknowledge his sins also. matt. 27.4
2) in saving repentance there is a crying out under sin;
but one that hath the other repentance may cry out under sin also. gen. 4.13
3) in saving repentance there will be humiliation for sin
and one that hath the other repentance may humble himself also. I kings 21.29
4) saving repentance is attended with self loathing;
but he that hath the other repentance may have loathing of sin too II pet 2.22
A LOATHING OF SIN BECAUSE IT IS SIN that he cannot have;
but a loathing of sin, because it is offensive to him, that he may have.
the dog doth not loathe that which troubleth his stomach, because it is there,
but because it troubleth him;
when it has done troubling him, he can turn to it again
and lick it up as before it troubled him.
5) saving repentance is attended with prayers and tears;
but he that hath none but the other repentance, may have prayers and tears also. gen. 27.34-5; heb. 12.24-7
6) in saving repentance there is fear and reverence of the word and ministers that bring it,
but this may be also where there is non but the repentance that is not saving.
'for herod feared john, knowing that he was a just man and a holy and observed him;
when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly'. mark 6.20
7) saving repentance makes a man's heart very tender of doing any thing against the word of God.
but balaam could say, 'if balak would give me his house full of silver and gold,
i cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord. num. 24.13
behold, then, how far a man may go in repentance and yet be short of that which is called,
'repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of'.
1. he may be awakened
2. he may acknowledge his sin
3. he may cry out under the burden of sin
4. he may have humiliations for it
5. he may loathe it
6. may have prayers and tears against it
7. may delight to do many things of God
8. may be afraid of sinning against Him
and after all this may perish for want of saving repentance.
secondly, have they that shall be saved FAITH?
why, they that shall not be saved may have faith also;
yea, a faith in many things so like the faith that saveth,
that they can hardly be distinguished, (though they differ both in root and branch.)
to come to particulars:
1. saving faith hath Christ for its object
and so may the faith that is not saving.
those very jews of whom it is said they believed on Christ,
Christ tells, and that after their believing,
'ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do'. john 8.30-44
2. saving faith is wrought by the word of God
and so may the faith that is not saving. luke 13.13.
3. saving faith looks for justification without works
ans so may a faith do that is not saving. james 2.18
4. saving faith will sanctify and purify the heart.
and the faith that is not saving, may work a man off from the pollutions of the world,
as it did judas, demas and others. see II pet. 2
5. saving faith will give a man tastes of the world to come and also joy by these tastes
and so will the faith do that is not saving. heb 6.4-5; luke 8.13.
6. saving faith will help a man, if called thereto,
to give his body to be burned for his religion
ans so will the faith do that is not saving. I cor. 13.1-5
7. saving faith will help a man to look for an inheritance in the world to come
and that may the faith do that is not saving.
'all those virgins took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom'. matt. 25.1
8. saving faith will not only make a man look but prepare to meet the bridegroom
and so may the faith do that is not saving.
'then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps'. matt. 25.7
9. saving faith will make a man look for an interest in the kingdom of heaven with confidence
and the faith that is not saving will even demand entrance of the Lord:
'Lord, Lord, open unto us'. matt. 25.11
10. saving faith will have good works follow it into heaven
and the faith that is not saving may have great works follow it as far as to heaven gates.
'Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name and in Thy name cast out devils,
and in Thy name done many wonderful works? matt. 7.22
now then, if the faith that is not saving, may have Christ for its object,
be wrought by the word,
look for justification without works,
work men off from the pollutions of the world and
give men tastes of and joy in the things of another world:
i say again, if it will help a man to burn at the stake for his judgment
and to look for an inheritance in another world;
yea if it will help a man to prepare for it, claim interest in it and
if it can carry great works, many great and glorious works as far as heaven gates,
then no marvel if abundance of people take this faith for the saving faith
and so fall short of heaven thereby.
alas friends! there are but few that can produce such fruits
for repentance and such faith as yet you see,
i have proved even reprobates have had in several ages of the church. but,
thirdly, they that go to heaven are a praying people,
but a man may pray that shall not be saved.
pray! he may pray and pray daily, yea, he may ask of God the ordinances of justice
and may take delight in approaching to God;
nay, further, such souls may, as it were cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
with weeping and crying out. mal. 2.13
fourthly, do God people keep holy fasts?
they that are not His people may keep His fasts also;
may keep fasts often, even twice a week.
'the pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
god, i thank Thee that i am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this publican.
i fast twice in the week, i give tithes of all that i possess'. luke 18.11-2
i might enlarge upon thins, but i intend but a little book.
i do not question but many balaamites will appear before the judgment seat to condemnation:
men that have had visions of God
and that knew the knowledge of the Most High;
men that have had the Spirit of God come upon them
and that have by that been made other men;
yet these shall go to the generations of their fathers,
they shall never see light. num. 24.2.4.16; I sam. 10, 6.10; psalm 49.19
i read of some men whose excellency in religion mounts up to the heavens and their head reaches unto the clouds,
who yet shall perish forever like their own dung
and he that in this world hath seen them shall say at the judgment, 'where are they?' Job 20.5-7
there will be many that were gallant professors in this world,
wanting among the saved in the day of Christ's coming;
yea, many whose damnation was never dreamed of
which of the twelve ever thought that judas would have proved a devil?
nay, when Christ suggested that one among them was naught
they each were more afraid of themselves than of him. matt. 26.21-3
who questioned the salvation of the foolish virgins?
the wise ones did not. they gave them the privilege of communion with themselves. matt. 25
the discerning of the heart and the infallible proof of the truth of saving grace
is reserved in the judgment of Jesus Christ at His coming.
the church and best of saints sometimes hit and sometimes miss in their judgments about this matter.
and the cause of our missing in our judgment, is
1. partly, because we cannot infallibly, at all times, distinguish grace that saveth,
from that which doth not appear to do so.
2. partly, also, because some men have the art to give right names to wrong things.
3. and partly because we being commanded to receive him that is weak,
are afraid to exclude the least christian.
by hidden means hypocites creep into the churches.
but what saith the scripture?
'I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins'.
and again, ' all the churches shall know that i am He which searcheh the reins and hearts:
and I will give to every one of you according to your works;. jer. 11.20; 17.10; rev 2.23.
to the Searcher of hears is the time of infallible discerning reserved
and then you shall see how far grace that is not saving hath gone
and also how few will be saved indeed.
the Lord awaken poor sinners by my little book.
CHAPTER 8 - APPLICATION TO THE UNCONVERTED.
i come now to make some brief use and application of the whole
and my first word shall be to THE OPENLY PROFANE...
my second word is to THEM THAT ARE UPON THE POTTER'S WHEEL
concerning whom yet, whether their convictions and awakenings will end in conversion or no.
several things i shall say to you, both to further your convictions and to caution you from staying
anywhere below or short of saving grace.
1. remember that but few shall be saved.
and if God should count thee worthy to be one of that few, what a mercy would that be?
2. be thankful therefore for convictions/.
conversion begins at conviction, though all conviction doth not end in conversion.
it is a great mercy to be convinced that we are sinners and that we need a saviour.
count it therefore a mercy.
and that thy convictions may end in conversion, do thou,
1. take heed of stifling of them....
2. be willing to see the worst of thy condition. it is better to see it here than in hell..
3. beware of little sins. they will make way for great ones
and they again will make way for bigger...
4. take heed of bad company...for that will corrupt good manners...
5. beware of such a thought as bids thee delay repentance; for that is damnable. prov. 1.24; zech 7.12-3
6. beware of taking example by some poor carnal professor, whose religion lies in the tip of his tongue....
Job 34.30;prov.13.20
7. give thyself much to the word and prayer and good conference.
8. labor to see the sin that cleaveth to the best of thy performances
and know that all is nothing if thou beest not found in Jesus Christ.
9. keep in remembrance that god's eye is upon thy heart and upon all thy ways.
'can any hide himself in secret places, that i shall not see him? saith the Lord...jer. 23.24
10. be often meditating upon death and judgment. eccl. 11.9; 12.14
11. be often thinking what a dreadful end sinners that have rejected Christ will make at that day...heb 10.31
12. put thy self often, in thy thoughts, before Christ's judgment seat in thy sins
and consider with thyself, were i now before by Judge, how should i look?
how should i shake and tremble?
13. be often thinking of them that are now in hell past all mercy.
1)they were once in the world, as i now am.
2)they once took delight in sin as i have done.
3) they once neglected repentance, as satan would have me do.
4) but now they are gone, now they are in hell, now the pit hath shut her mouth upon them!
....
CHAPTER 9 - APPLICATION TO PROFESSORS OF RELIGION
my third word is to PROFESSORS....
1. i begin with you whose religion lieth only in your tongues...
2. covetous professor! thou that makest a gain of religion...
3. wanton professors!...you that can tell how to misplead scripture to maintain
your pride, your banqueting and abominable idolatry..
4...the opinionist..him whose religion lieth in some circumstantials of religion...
these think all out of the way that are not of their mode,
when themselves may be out of the way in the midst of their zeal for their opinions...
5. ..the formalist...is a man that hath lost all but the shell of religion.
he is hot indeed for his form...but his form being without ..power..godliness..
6. legalist..him that hath no life but what he makes out of his duties.
this man hath chosen to stand and fall by moses who is the condemner of the world.
'there is one that accuseth you, even moses, in whom ye trust'. john 5.45
7...the libertine..he..pretendeth to be against forms and duties as things that gender to bondage
neglecting the order of God.
this man pretends to pray always, but under that pretence prays not at all
he pretends to keep every day a sabbath, but this pretence
serves him only to cast off all set times for the worship of God.
8....the temporizing latitudinarian.
he is a man that hath no God but his belly, nor any religion but that by which his belly is worshipped.
his religion is always like the times, turning this way and that way, like the cock upon the steeple;
neither hath he any conscience but a benumbed and seared on
and is next door to a downright atheist.....
9....the wilfully ignorant professor..is afraid to know more for fear of the cross.
he is for picking and choosing of truth
and loveth not to hazard his all for that worthy name by which he would be called.
when he is at any time overset by arguments or awakenings of conscience, he uses to heal all by saying,
'i was not brought up in this faith'..
as if it were unlawful for christians to know more than hath been taught them at first conversion....
10...the professor that would prove himself a christian by comparing himself with others
instead of comparing himself with the word of God.
this man comforts himself because he is as holy as such and such;
he also knows as much as that old professor and then concludes he shall go to heaven,
as if he certainly knew that those with whom he compareth himself would be undoubtedly saved.
but how if he should be mistaken?
nay, may not both fall short? II cor. 10.12
11...another professor...if for God and for baal too.
he can be any thing for any company; he can throw stones with both hands
his religion alters as fast as his company...
nothing that is disorderly comes amiss to him;
he will hold with the hare and run with the hound;
he carries fire in one hand and water in the other
he is very anything but what he should be....
12. there is also that free willer who denies to the Holy Ghost the sole work in conversion
and that socinian who denieth to Christ that He hath made to God satisfaction for sin
and that Quaker who takes from Christ the two natures in his person
...and i might add as many more touching whose damnation the scripture is plain...
Friday, March 21, 2014
3.21.2014 HOW DO I SHARE YOUR LIFE that is WITHIN ME, LORD?
am i SCINTILLATING (sparkle, flash) or
am i INSINUATING (latin insinuAtus, to work in, instill; to suggest or hint; to instill or infuse subtly)?
make me like You oh Lord.
am i INSINUATING (latin insinuAtus, to work in, instill; to suggest or hint; to instill or infuse subtly)?
make me like You oh Lord.
3.21.2014 NO SIN WHICH IS PERSISTED IN IS SMALL..
no sin Great for which *FORGIVENESS IS SOUGHT of God. arab proverb (found in keil's comment on psalm 19.12-3)
*since it is very easy for us sinners to say 'sorry', i flesh out 'forgiveness' as including things like
SORROW
REGRET
PAIN
REPENTANCE
OPEN CONFESSION, ADMITTANCE OF
RESTITUTION (where possible and Godly good may be done thereby)
RENOUNCEMENT AND FORSAKING OF
HORROR OF
CLEANSING and FORGETTING OF BY GOD.
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
there is not a just man upon earth that doeth (note: the -eth in king james means continual or repeated)
good and sinneth not.
if we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
'for if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,
but a certtain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
that shall devour the adversaries'. heb. 10.26,7
..rather be a near frozen, drowning rat fighting against the wicked, black current within
than enjoy on the golden throne the pleasures of sin for a season...
*since it is very easy for us sinners to say 'sorry', i flesh out 'forgiveness' as including things like
SORROW
REGRET
PAIN
REPENTANCE
OPEN CONFESSION, ADMITTANCE OF
RESTITUTION (where possible and Godly good may be done thereby)
RENOUNCEMENT AND FORSAKING OF
HORROR OF
CLEANSING and FORGETTING OF BY GOD.
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
there is not a just man upon earth that doeth (note: the -eth in king james means continual or repeated)
good and sinneth not.
if we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
'for if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,
but a certtain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
that shall devour the adversaries'. heb. 10.26,7
..rather be a near frozen, drowning rat fighting against the wicked, black current within
than enjoy on the golden throne the pleasures of sin for a season...
3.21.2014 DO I DEPEND ON THE GOVERNMENT OR GOD to meet my every need?
today for the second time (at my own expense as a taxpayer), an encouragement from the pennsylvania
government to receive 'SOMETHING FOR NOTHING'!
the text ran:
ATTENTION: STEPHEN PAINE
WE ARE PLEaSED TO ANNOUNCE:
you may qualify for the Funeral Advantage Program that will pay your family in the event
of your death an insurance cash benefit up to $20,000.00 TAX FREE.
THOUSANDS OF PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENTS AGE 50-85 have been accepted so far
for this program-created to help pay for one's funeral and any other final expenses.
TO SEE IF YOU QUALIFY, mail this postage paid (at taxpayer expense) card today.
there is no charge for this information.
currently, you may qualify even if you have a health condition.
MAIL TODAY
requests received after 15 days may not be processed.
(note!!!!!!! always good to make quick, un thought out decisions..
'salesmen' have followed this method to gain personal ends since time immemorial.)
we currently live in a country that openly accepts lying (ie. saying one thing and doing another),
stealing (ie. spending other people's money without their consent), greed (ie. borrowing money
to get more than we have...i guess in the attempt to try to find satisfaction in things)
and being a law to ourselves...rather than submitting ourselves to the law of God
(ie.we have decided that we, as a nation, can do without the ten commandments and make up our own rules
may i rot forgotten into the ground of a horrific, pain-saturated and incurable disease before i take
ONE RED CENT from the government...by my own choice and for my own benefit.
psalm 9.17 the wicked shall be turned into hell
and all the nations that forget God. Amen.
government to receive 'SOMETHING FOR NOTHING'!
the text ran:
ATTENTION: STEPHEN PAINE
WE ARE PLEaSED TO ANNOUNCE:
you may qualify for the Funeral Advantage Program that will pay your family in the event
of your death an insurance cash benefit up to $20,000.00 TAX FREE.
THOUSANDS OF PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENTS AGE 50-85 have been accepted so far
for this program-created to help pay for one's funeral and any other final expenses.
TO SEE IF YOU QUALIFY, mail this postage paid (at taxpayer expense) card today.
there is no charge for this information.
currently, you may qualify even if you have a health condition.
MAIL TODAY
requests received after 15 days may not be processed.
(note!!!!!!! always good to make quick, un thought out decisions..
'salesmen' have followed this method to gain personal ends since time immemorial.)
we currently live in a country that openly accepts lying (ie. saying one thing and doing another),
stealing (ie. spending other people's money without their consent), greed (ie. borrowing money
to get more than we have...i guess in the attempt to try to find satisfaction in things)
and being a law to ourselves...rather than submitting ourselves to the law of God
(ie.we have decided that we, as a nation, can do without the ten commandments and make up our own rules
may i rot forgotten into the ground of a horrific, pain-saturated and incurable disease before i take
ONE RED CENT from the government...by my own choice and for my own benefit.
psalm 9.17 the wicked shall be turned into hell
and all the nations that forget God. Amen.
Friday, March 14, 2014
3.14.2014 THE LIFE OF GOD IN THE SOUL OF MAN by henry scougal
george whitefield, in his journals, identifies the time of his salvation to when he read this book.
'perfect love is a kind of self dereliction (deliberate or conscious neglect)
a wandering out of ourselves;
it is a kind of voluntary death,
wherein the lover dies to himself and all his own interest,
not thinking of them nor caring for them any more
and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves'.
-quote from the book found before the introduction to the book.
10 (this book) was written to counteract religious formalism and sectarian strife by stimulating a renewal of
VITAL, INWARD and ETHICAL religion
-a need as urgent today as it was then.
now, as then, the springs of spiritual life have been running dry,
leaving a void in the lives of countless numbers of Christian men and women
who find no help in external forms which have long since lost their meaning.
the sectarian spirit, moreover, still plagues a world
which desperately needs a unifying faith to transcend the (note: doctrinal)
differences that separate man from man.
the root of our trouble, Scougal maintains, is a fundamental misconception as to the nature of religion.
we mistake the trappings of religion for religion itself.
actually, the external forms and rites of religion bear the same relationship to true religion
as a puppet to a man.
true religion is life, not form.
it is not making orthodox affirmations,
saying prayers,
going to Church,
receiving the Sacrament
or doing any other external act.
it is rather the 'union of the soul with God,
a real participation of the divine nature
(note: it is a RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ marked by
FEALTY AND OBEDIENT OUT POURED LOVE
FILLED WITH FULLNESS OF PRAISE AND COMPLETE SATISFACTION
HONORING THE ONE WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US
BY literally GIVING UP OUR LIFE FOR HIM, His purposes, His glory.)
the very image of God drawn upon the sou
or, in the apostle's phrase, it is Christ formed within us'.
the outward forms of religious expression and devotion, S asserts,
are not to be repudiated by subordinated.
(but) an undue emphasis upon them, by diverting attention from essentials to nonessentials,
tends to produce bitterness and divisions.
...no law need be prescribed to those that love God,
for the 'divine love wherewith they are actuated makes them become a law unto themselves'.
...dugald butler has called this book the 'textbook' of the Holy Club (of which john and charles wesley
as well as whitefield were a part)...
the testimony of george W is interesting and significant.
'though i had fasted, watched and prayed and received the sacrament so long,
yet i never knew what true religion was till God sent me that excellent treatise
by the hand of my never to be forgotten friend. (charles wesley)...
'o what a ray of divine life did then break in upon my soul!...'
15...as late as 1825 this paper covered edition was still being reprinted and
-to use the words of the preface-
by directing attention from 'matters of doubtful disputation, about which the best and wisest men differ'
to 'matters of greatest importance, about which all good and wise men must agree'
it undoubtedly contributed largely to that great tide of co operative activity
which characterized the early decades of the 19th century in america.
20 a major objective which S had set for himself in life
was to abate the spirit of controversy that was bedeviling scotland in the seventeenth century.
to this end he sought to keep the students from becoming addicted 'to the disputing humour'
and developing an 'itch' to wrangle 'pro and con about anything'.
unlike the majority of the presbyteries, whose chief demand at ordination
was that the candidate be 'weill seen in contraversies',
S felt that the minister's task was not 'so much the managing of controversies and debates of religion,
as the guiding of men's souls to eternity,
the rescuing of the vicious from their sins and vices
and directing the serious to the true practice and exercise of religion;.
he, therefore, urged the students to avoid the
'subtle speculations, metaphysical niceties, perplexed notions foolish questions which engender strife'
and concentrate on inculcating 'the great and uncontroverted truths of our religion'.
controversy, S was convinced, was largely ineffective.
he believed that men are more apt 'to be reasoned out of their erroneous persuasions by a good life
than by many arguments'.
not only, however, were controversies unprofitable; evil consequences actually flowed from them.
for one thing, by transforming religion, 'the bond of love' into the 'bone of contention',
christianity was brought into disrepute and christendom was 'most unhappily divided'.
a second consequence of controversy, equally serious, was to divert men's minds
from essentials to nonessentials in religion.
the quarrels of the day were not over matters of vital importance,
and he called upon the students to put first things first.
'it were to be wished, he said in one of his sermons,
that there were less noise and debate about matters of this nature
and that, being agreed in the more substantial parts of religion,
we did all charitably acquiesce in that excellent advice of the apostle, which he giveth in a parallel instance,
let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth'.
....the major factor in shaping S's thought was probably the general point of view prevailing in aberdeen
after the time of bishop patrick forbes, but an important influence
which gave his thinking its own distinctive slant, came from south of the border.
it was the influence of the so called 'antinomians' among the english independents
and of their stepchildren, the cambridge platonists, several of whose words S possessed.
at aberdeen a loosely knit group of mystics had come into being.
friends of robert leighton and disciples of john forbes, of corse,
they were much more interested in religion than in theology.
tolerant, liberal and comprehensive,
they gave small place to dogma and stressed the inwardness of true religion.
the essential element in christianity was not the observance of external forms
nor the definition and acceptance of orthodox tenets,
bu an inner personal communion with God.
the appearance of mysticism in scotland may seem a strange development,
for 'scottish religion is proverbially theological and scottish theology notoriously dogmatic'.
when one considers, however, that interest in mystical religion always develops
when religious controversy becomes heated and sectarian strife sever,
it does not seem surprising that it should have appeared in 17th century scotland.
...the mysticism of aberdeen found its best and finest expression in henry scougal-'aberdeen's immortal mystic
29 OF THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION
i cannot speak of religion but i must lament that, among so many pretenders to it,
so few understand what it means;
some placing it in the understanding, in orthodox notions and opinions
and all the account they can give of their religion is that they are of the other persuasion
and have joined themselves to one of those many sects where into christendom is most unhappily divide.
others place it in the outward man,
in a constant course of external duties and a model of performances:
if they live peaceably with their neighbors,
keep a temperate diet,
observe the returns of worship, frequenting the church and their closet
and sometimes extend their hands to the relief of the poor,
they think they have sufficiently acquitted themselves.
others again put all religion in the affections,
in rapturous heats and
ecstatic devotion
and all they aim at is to pray with passion
and think of heaven with pleasure
and to be affected with those kind and melting expressions wherewith they court their Saviour,
till they persuade themselves that they are mightily in love with Him;
and form thence assume a great confidence of their salvation
which they esteem the chief of christian graces.
thus are those things which have any resemblance of piety
and at the best are but means of abstaining it or particular exercises of it,
frequently mistaken for the whole of religion;
nay, sometimes wickedness and vice pretend to that name.
i speak not now of those gross impieties wherewith the heathens were wont to worship their gods:
there are but too many christians who would consecrate their vices and hallow their corrupt affections,
whose rugged humor and sullen pride must pass for "Christian severity,
whose fierce wrath and bitter rage against their enemies must be called holy zeal,
whose petulancy towards their superiors or rebellion against their governors
must have the name of christian resolution and courage.
but certainly religion is quite another thing
and they who are acquainted with it will entertain far different thoughts
and disdain all those shadows and false imitations of it.
they know by experience that true religion is an union of the soul with God,
a real participation of the divine nature,
the very image of God drawn upon the soul or, in the apostles phrase, it is Christ formed within us.
briefly, i know not how the nature of religion can be more fully expressed than by calling it a DIVINE LIFE.
and under these terms i shall discourse of it,
showing first how it is called a life, and then how it is termed divine.
i choose to express it by the name of life;
first, because of its permanency and stability
religion is not a sudden start or passion of the mind;
not though it should rise to the height of a rapture and seem to transport a man to extraordinary performances.
there are few but have convictions of the necessity of doing something for the salvation of their souls
which may push them forward some steps with a great deal of seeming haste.
but anon they flag and give over;
they were in a hot mood but now they are cooled;
they did shoot forth fresh and high but are quickly withered because they had no root in themselves.
these sudden fits may be compared to the violent and convulsive motions of bodies newly beheaded,
caused by the agitations of the animal spirits after the soul is departed which,
however violent and impetuous, can be of no long continuance;
whereas the motions of holy souls are constant and regular,
proceeding from a permanent and lively principle.
it is true, this divine life continueth not always in the same strength and vigor,
but many times suffers sad decays and holy men find greater difficulty in resisting temptations
and less alacrity in the performance of their duties;
yet it is not quite extinguished,
nor are they abandoned to the power of those corrupt affections which sway and overrule the rest of the world.
again, religion may be defined by the name of life because it is an inward, fee and self moving principle
and those who have made progress in it are not actuated only by external motives
driven merely by threatenings nor bribed by promise, nor constrained by laws,
but are powerfully inclined to that which is good and delight in the performance of ti.
the love which a pious man bears to God and goodness
is not so much by virtue of a command enjoining him so to do
as by a new nature instructing and prompting him to it;
nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute
only to appease the divine justice or quiet his clamourous conscience,
but those religious exercises are the proper emanations of the divine life, the natural employments of the new born soul.
he prays and gives thanks and repents, not only because these things are commanded,
but rather because he is sensible of his wants and of the divine goodness
and of the folly and misery of a sinful life.
his charity is not forced nor his alms extorted from him:
his love makes him willing to give
and though there were no outward obligation his heart would devise liberal things..
injustice and intemperance and all other vices are as contrary to his temper and constitution
as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit
and impudence and scurrility (grossly or obscenely abusive) to those who are naturally modest;
so that i may well say with st. john,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
though holy and religious persons do much eye the law of God and have a great regard unto it,
yet it is not so much the sanction of the law
as his reasonableness and purity and goodness which do prevail with them.
they account it excellent and desirable in itself and that in keeping of it there is great reward
and that divine love wherewith they are actuated makes them become a law unto themselves.
who shall prescribe a law to those that love?
love's a more powerful law which doth them move.
in a word, what our blessed saviour said of himself is in some measure applicable to His followers,
that it is their meat and drink to do their Father's will
and as the natural appetite is cried out toward food,
though we should not reflect on the necessity of it for the preservation of our lives,
so are they carried with a natural and unforced propension (obs. = propensity, natural inclination)
toward that which is good and commendable.
it is true, external motives are many times of great use to excite and stir up this inward principle,
especially in its infancy and weakness when it is often so languid that the man himself can scarce discern it,
hardly being able to move one step forward but when he is pushed by his hopes or his fears,
by the pressure of an affliction or the sense of a mercy, by the authority of the law or the persuasion of others
now, if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience
and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dullness
and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor;
these are the first motions of the divine life which, though it be faint and weak,
will surely be cherished by the influences of heaven and grow unto greater maturity.
but he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle
and doth not aspire unto it, but contents himself with those performances whereunto he is prompted
by education or custom,
by the fear of hell or carnal notions of heaven,
can no more be accounted a religious person than a puppet can be called a man.
this forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid like the motion of a wight forced upward;
it is cold and spiritless like the uneasy compliance of a wife married against her will,
who carries on dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love out of some sense of virtue or honor.
hence also this religion is scant and niggardly,
especially in those duties which do greatest violence to men's carnal inclinations;
and those slavish spirit will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required.
it is a law that compels them
and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to;
nay, they will ever be putting such glosses on it as may leave themselves the greatest liberty;
whereas the spirit of true religion is frank and liberal,
far from such peevish and narrow reckoning
and he who hath given himself entirely unto God will never think he doth too much for Him.
37 it is now time to return to the consideration of that divine life whereof i was discoursing before;
that life which is hid with Christ in God
and therefore hath no glorious show or appearance in the world
and to the natural man will seem a mean and insipid notion.
as the animal life consisteth in that narrow and confined love which is terminated on a man's self
and in his propension towards those things that are pleasing to nature,
so the divine life stands in an universal and unbounded affection and in
the mastery over our natural inclinations that they may never be able to betray us
to those things which we know to be blamable.
the root of the divine life is faith;
the chief branches are:
love to God, charity to man, p0urity and humility.
for (as an excellent person hath well observed)
however these names be common and vulgar and make no extraordinary sound,
yet do they carry such a might sense that the tongue of man or angel can pronounce
nothing more weighty or excellent.
faith hath the same place in the divine life which sense hath in the natural,
being indeed nothing else but a kind of sense or feeling persuasion of spiritual things.
it extends itself unto all divine truths;
but, in our lapsed estate, it hath a peculiar relation
to the declarations of god's mercy and reconcilableness to sinners through a Mediator
and therefore, receiving its denomination from that principal object,
is ordinarily termed faith in Jesus Christ.
the love of God is a delightful and affectionate sense of the diving perfections
which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto Him,
desiring above all things to please Him
and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with Him
and being ready to do or suffer any thing for His sake or at His pleasure.
though this affection may have its first rise from the favors and mercies of God towards ourselves,
yet doth it in its growth and progress transcend such particular considerations
and ground itself on His infinite goodness manifested in all the works of creation and providence.
a soul thus possessed with divine love must needs be enlarged towards all mankind
in a sincere and unbounded affection,
because of the relation they have to God, being his creatures
and having something of His image stamped upon them.
and this is that charity i named as the second branch of religion
and under which all the parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbor,
are eminently comprehended;
for he who doth truly love all the world will be nearly concerned in the interest of every one
and so far from wronging or injuring any person, he will resent any evil that befalls others as if it happened to himself.
by purity, i understand a due abstractedness from the body and mastery over the inferior appetites
or such a temper and disposition of mind as makes a man despise and abstain
from all pleasures and delights of sense or fancy which are sinful in themselves
or tend to extinguish or lessen our relish of more divine and intellectual pleasures,
which doth also infer a resoluteness to undergo all those hardships
he may meet with in the performance of his duty.
so that not only chastity and temperance, but also christian courage and magnanimity may
come under this head.
HUMILITY imports a deep sense of our own weakness,
with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty,
which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God
and great deadness towards the glory of the world and applause of men.
these are the highest perfections that either men or angels are capable of;
the very foundation of heaven laid in the soul.
and he who hath attained them needs not desire to pry into the hidden rolls of God's decrees
or search the volumes of heaven to know what is determined about his everlasting condition,
but he may find a copy of God's thought concerning him written on his own breast.
his love to God may give him assurance of god's favor to him,
and those beginnings of happiness
which he feels in the conformity of the powers of his soul to the nature of God and compliance with His will,
are a sure pledge that his felicity shall be perfected and continued to all eternity.
and it is not without reason that one said,
'i had rather see the real impressions of a God like nature upon my own soul
than have a vision from heaven
or an angel sent to tell me that my name was enrolled in the book of life.
when we have said all that we can,
the secret mysteries of a new nature and divine life can never be sufficiently expressed;
language and words cannot reach them, nor can they be truly understood
but by those souls that are enkindled within and awakened unto the sense and relish of spiritual things.
there is a spirit in man
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.
THE POWER AND LIFE OF RELIGION
MAY BE BETTER EXPRESSED IN ACTIONS THAN IN WORDS,
BECAUSE ACTIONS ARE MORE LIVELY THINGS
AND DO BETTER REPRESENT THE INWARD PRINCIPLE WHENCE THEY PROCEED
and therefore we may take the best measure of those gracious endowments
from the deportment of those in whom they reside,
especially as they are perfectly exemplified in the holy life of our blessed Saviour,
a main part of whose business in this world
was to teach by His practice
what He did require of others
and to make his own conversation (obs. behavior, manner of living)
an exact resemblance of those unparalleled rules which he prescribed,
so that if ever true goodness was visible to mortal eyes,
it was then when His presence did beautify and illustrate this lower world.
49 THE EXCELLENCY OF DIVINE LOVE
...the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.
he who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile,
but a noble and well placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity
with the perfection which it loves.
the images of these do frequently present themselves unto the mind
and by a secret force and energy insinuate into the very constitution of thee soul
and mould and fashion it unto their own likeness.
hence we may see how easily lovers or friends do slide into the imitation of persons whom they affect
and how, even before they are aware, they begin to resemble them,
not only in the more considerable instances of their deportment,
but also in their voice and gesture
and that which we call their mien and air.
and certainly we should as well transcribe the virtues and inward beauties of the soul,
if they were the object and motive of our love.
but now, as all the creatures we converse with have their mixture and alloy,
we are always in hazard to be sullied and corrupted by placing our affections on them.
passion doth easily blind our eyes,
so that we first approve and then imitate the things that are blamable in them.
the true way to improve and ennoble our souls is by fixing our love on the divine perfections that we may have them always before us
and derive an impression of them on ourselves
and beholding with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
we may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory.
he who with a generous and holy ambition hath raised his eyes towards that uncreated beauty and goodness
and fixed his affection there,
is quite of another spirit, of a more excellent and heroic temper than the rest of the world
and cannot but infinitely disdain all mean and unworthy things,
will not entertain any low or base thoughts which might disparage his high and noble pretensions.
love is the greatest and most excellent thing we are master of
and therefore it is folly and baseness to bestow it unworthily.
it is indeed the only thing we can call our own.
other things may be taken from us by violence, but none can ravish our love.
if any thing else be counted ours, by giving our love we give all,
so far as we make over our hearts and wills by which we possess our other enjoyments.
it is not possible to refuse him any thing, to whom by love we have given ourselves. ...
51...again, as divine love doth advance and elevate the soul,
so it is that alone which can make it happy.
the highest and most ravishing pleasures,
the most solid and substantial delights that human nature is capable of,
are those which arise from the endearments of a well placed and successful affection.
that which imbitters love and makes it ordinarily a very troublesome and hurtful passion,
is the placing it on those who have not worth enough to deserve it
or affection and gratitude to require it
or whose absence may deprive us of the pleasure of their converse
or their miseries occasion our trouble.
to all these evils are they exposed those chief and supreme affection is placed on creatures like themselves,
but the love of god delivers us from them all.
first, i say, love must needs be miserable and full of trouble and disquietude
when there is not worth and excellency enough in the object to answer the vastness of its capacity.
so eager and violent a passion cannot but fret and torment the spirit
where it finds not wherewith to satisfy its cravings.
and, indeed, so large and unbounded is its nature that it must be extremely pinched and straitened when confined to any creature;
nothing below an infinite good can afford it room to stretch itself and exert its vigor and activity.
what is a little skin deep beauty
or some small degrees of goodness,
to match or satisfy a passion which was made for God, designed to embrace an infinite good?
no wonder lovers do so hardly suffer any rival
and do not desire that others should approve their passion by imitating it.
they know the scantiness and narrowness of the good which they love,
that it cannot suffice two, being in effect too little for one.
hence love, which is strong as death,
occasioneth jealousy which is cruel as the grave;
the coals whereof are coals of fire, which hath a most violent flame.
but divine love hath no mixture of this gall;
when once the soul is fixed on that supreme and all sufficient good,
it finds so much perfection and goodness as doth not only answer and satisfy its affection,
but master and overpower it too.
it finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object
and is only sorry that it can command no more.
it wisheth for the flames of a seraph and longs for the time when
it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love;
and because it can do so little itself, it desires the assistance of the whole creation,
that angels and men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those infinite perfections.
again, love is accompanied with trouble when it misseth a suitable return of affection.
love is the most valuable thing we can bestow
and by giving it, we do in effect give all that we have
and therefore it needs must be afflicting to find so great a gift despised,
that the present which one hath made of his whole heart cannot prevail to obtain any return.
perfect love is a kind of self dereliction,
a wandering out of ourselves;
it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself and all his won interest,
not thinking of them nor caring for them any more
and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves.
thus he is quite undone unless he meet with reciprocal affection;
he neglects himself and the other hath no regard to him'
but if he be beloved, he is revived, as it were and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves;
and now he begine to mind his own concernments ,
not so much because they are his as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them.
he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other.
but why should i enlarge on so known a matter?
nothing can be more clear than that the happiness of love depends on the return it meets with.
and herein the divine lover hath unspeakably the advantage,
having placed his affection on Him whose nature is love;
whose goodness is as infinite as His being;
whose mercy prevented us when we were His enemies
and therefore cannot choose but embrace us when we are become His friends.
it is utterly impossible that god should deny his love to a soul wholly devoted to Him
and which desires nothing so much as to serve and please him.
he cannot disdain his own image, nor the heart in which it is engraven.
love is all the tribute which we can pay him,
and it is the sacrifice which He will not despise.
another thing which disturbs the pleasure of love and renders it a miserable and unquiet passion,
is absence and separation from those we love.
it is not without a sensible affliction that friends do part, though for some little time.
it is sad to be deprived of that society which is so delightful;
our life becomes tedious, being spent in an impatient expectation of the happy hour
wherein we may meet again.
but if death hath made the separation, as sometime or other it must,
this occasions a grief scarce to be paralleled by all the misfortunes of human life
and wherein we pay dear enough for the comfort of our friendship.
but oh how happy are those who have placed their love on Him who can never be absent from them!
they need but open their eyes and they shall everywhere behold the traces of his presence and glory
and converse with Him whom their soul loveth.
and this makes the darkest prison or the wildest desert, not only supportable
but delightful to them.
in fine, a lover is miserable if the person whom he loveth be so.
they who have made an exchange of hearts by love
get thereby an interest in one another's happiness and misery
and this makes love a troublesome passion when placed on earth.
the most fortunate person hath grief enough to mar the tranquillity of his friend
and it is hard to hold out when we are attacked on all hands,
and suffer not only in our own person but in another's.
but if god were the object of our love, we should share in an infinite happiness
without any mixture or possiblity of diminution;
we should rejoice to behold the glory of God and receive comfort and pleasure
from all the praises wherewith men and angels do extol Him.
it should delight us beyond all expression to consider that the beloved of our souls
is infinitely happy in Himself
and that all His enemies cannot shake or unsettle his throne,
that our god is in the heavens and doth whatsoever He pleaseth.
behold, on what sure foundations His happiness is built whose soul is possessed with divine love,
whose will is transformed into the will of God
and whose greatest desire is that his Maker should be please.
oh, the peace, the rest, the satisfaction that attendeth such a temper of mind!
what an infinite pleasure must it needs be thus, as it were,
to lose ourselves in him
and being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of His goodness,
to offer ourselves a living sacrifice, always ascending unto him in flames of love!
never doth a soul know what solid joy and substantial pleasure is till,
once being weary of itself, it renounces all property,
gives itself up to the author of its being
and feel itself become a hallowed and devoted thing
and can say from an inward sense and feeling,
My Beloved is mine (i account all His interest mine own)
and I am His:
i am content to be any thing for him and care not for myself but that i may serve Him.
a person moulded into this temper would find pleasure in all the dispensations of providence.
temporal enjoyments whold have another relish when he would taste the divine goodness in them
and consider them as tokens of love sent by his dearest Lord and master.
and chastisements, though they be not joyous but grievous, would hereby lose their sting;
the rod as well as the staff would comfort him;
he would snatch a kiss from the hand that was smiting him and gather sweetness from that severity.
nay, he would rejoice that though God did not the will of such a worthless and foolish creature as himself,
yet He did His own will and accomplished His own designs,
which are infinitely more holy and wise.
the exercises of religion, which to others are insipid and tedious,
do yield the highest pleasure and delight to sould possessed with divine love.
they rejoice when they are called to go up to the house of the lord,
that they may see His power and His glory,
as they have formerly seen it in his sanctuary.
they never think themselves so happy as when, having retired from the world
and gotten free from the noise and hurry of affairs
and silenced all their clamourous passions (those troublesome guests within,
they have placed themselves in the presence of god and entertain fellowship and communion with Him.
they delight to adore His perfections and recount His favors
and to protest their affection to Him, and tell Him a thousand times that they love Him;
to lay out their troubles or wants before Him and disburden their hearts in his bosom.
repentance itself is a delightful exercise when it floweth from the principle of love:
there is a secret sweetness which accompanieth those tears of remorse,
those meltings and relentings unto God
and lamenting their former unkindness.
the severities of a holy life and that constant watch which we are obliged to keep over our hearts and ways,
are very troublesome to those who are overruled and acted by an external law
and have no law in their minds inclining them to the performance of their duty.
but where divine love possesseth the soul, it stands as sentinel to keep out everything
that may offend the beloved
and doth disdainfully repulse those temptations which assault it.
it complieth cheerfully, not only with explicit commands,
but with the most secret notices of the beloved's pleasure;
and is ingenious in discovering what will be most grateful and acceptable unto Him.
it makes mortification and self denial change their harsh and dreadful names
and become easy, sweet and delighful things.
56....the next branch of the divine life is an UNIVERSAL CHARITY AND LOVE.
THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS GRACE WILL BE EASILY ACKNOWLEDGED.
the excellency of this grace will be easily acknowledged.
for what can be more noble and generous than a heart enlarged to embrace the whole world,
whose wishes and designs are levelled at the good and welfare of the universe,
which considereth every man's own interest as its own?
he who loveth his neighbor as himself can never entertain any base or injurious thought
or be wanting in expressions of bounty;
he had rather suffer a thousand wrongs than be guilty of one
and never accounts himself happy but when some one or other hath been benefited by him.
the malice or ingratitude of men is not able to resist his love;
he overlooks their injuries and pities their folly
and overcomes their evil with good
and never designs any other revenge against his most bitter and malicious enemies
than to put all the obligations he can upon them,
whether they will or not.
is it any wonder that such a person be reverenced and admired and accounted the darling of mankind.
this inward goodness and benignity of spirit reflects a certain sweetness and serenity
upon the very countenance
and makes it amiable and lovely.
it inspireth the soul with a noble resolution and courage
and makes it capable of enterprising and effecting the highest things.
those heroic actions which we are wont to read with admiration
have for the most part been the effects of the love of one's country
or of particular friendships
and certainly a more extensive and universal affection must be much more powerful and efficacious.
again, as charity flows from a noble and excellent temper,
so it is accompanied with the greatest satisfaction and pleasure.
it delights the soul to feel itself thus enlarged and to be delivered from
from those disquieting as well as deformed passions-malice, hatred and envy
-and become gentle, sweet and benign.
had i my choice of all things that might tend to my present felicity,
i would pitch upon this, to have my heart possessed with the greatest kindness and affection
towards all men in the world.
i am sure this would make me partake in all the happiness of others,
their inward endowments and outward prosperity;
every thing that did benefit and advantage them would afford me comfort and pleasure.
and though i should frequently meet with occasions of grief and compassion,
yet there is a sweetness in commiseration which makes it infinitely more desirable than a stupid insensibility
and the consideration of that infinite goodness and wisdom which governs the world
might repress any excessive troubled for particular calamities that happen in it
and the hopes or possibility of men's after-happiness
might moderate their sorrow for their present misfortunes.
certainly, next to the love and enjoyment of God, that ardent charity and affection
wherewith blessed souls do embrace one another is justly to be reckoned
as the greatest felicity of those regions above,
and did it universally prevail in the world,
it would anticipate that blessedness and make us taste of the joys of heaven upon earth.
that which i named as a third branch of religion was PURITY
and you may remember i described it to consist in a contempt of sensual pleasures
and resoluteness to under go those troubles and pains we may meet with in the performance of our duty.
now, the naming of this may suffice to recommend it as a most noble and excellent quality.
there is no slavery so base as that whereby a man becomes a drudge to his own lusts,
nor any victory so glorious as that which is obtained over them.
never can that person be capable of any thing that is noble and worthy who is sunk in
the gross and feculent (full of dregs and feculent matter) pleasures of sense
or bewitched with the light and airy gratifications of fancy.
but the religious soul is of a more sublime and divine temper;
it knows it was made for higher things and scorns to step aside one foot out of the way of holiness
for the obtaining any of these.
and this purity is accompanied with a great deal of pleasure.
whatsoever defiles the soul disturbs it too; all impure delights have a sting in them
and leave smart and trouble behind them.
excess and intemperance and all inordinate lusts,
are so much enemies to the health of the body and the interests of this present life
that a little consideration might oblige any rational man to forbear them on that very score;
and if the religious person go higher
and do not only abstain from noxious pleasures but neglect thos that are innocent,
this is not to be looked upon as any violent and uneasy restraint
but as the effect of better choice,
that their minds are taken up in the pursuit of more sublime and refined delights,
so that they cannot be concerned in these.
any person that is engaged in a violent and passionate affection
will easily forget his ordinary gratifications,
will be little curious about his diet or his bodily ease
or the divertisements (diversion or entertainment) he was wont to delight in.
no wonder, then, if souls overpowered with divine love despise inferior pleasures
and be almost ready to grudge the body its necessary attendance for the common accommodations of life,
judging all these impertinent to their main happiness
and those higher enjoyments they are pursuing.
as for the hardships they meet with, they rejoice in them as opportunities to exercise and testify their affection
and since they are able to do so little for God, they are glad of the honor to suffer for Him.
the lst branch of religion is HUMILITY
and however to vulgar and carnal eyes this may appear an abject, base and despicable quality,
yet really the soul of man is not capable of a higher and more noble endowment.
it is a silly ignorance that begets pride,
but humility arises from a nearer acquaintance with excellent things,
which keeps men from doating on trifles or admiring themselves because of some pretty attainments.
noble and well educated souls have no such high opinion of
riches, beauty, strength and other such like advantages,
as to value themselves for them or despise those that want them
and as for inward worth and real goodness,
the sense they have of the divine perfections makes them think very meanly of any thing they have hitherto attained,
and be still endeavoring to surmount themselves
and make nearer approaches to those infinite excellencies which they admire.
i know not what thought people may have of humility,
but i see almost every person pretending to it and shunning such expressions and actions
as may make them be accounted arrogant and presumptuous,
so that those who are most desirous of praise will be loath to commend themselves.
what are all those compliments and modes of civility so frequent in our ordinary converse,
but so many protestations of the esteem of others and the low thought we have of ourselves
and must not that humility be a noble and excellent endowment when the very shadows of it
are accounted so necessary a part of good breeding?
again, this grace is accompanied with a great deal of happiness and tranquillity.
the proud and arrogant person is a trouble to all that converse with him,
but most of all not himself;
every thing is enough to vex him, but scarce any thing is sufficient to content and please him.
he is ready to quarrel with every thing that falls out, as if he himself were such a considerable person
that God Almighty should do every thing to gratify him
and all the creatures of heaven and earth should wait upon him and obey his will.
the leaves of high trees do shake with every blast of wind
and every breath, every evil word will disquiet and torment an arrogant man;
but the humble person hath the advantage when he is despised,
that none can think more meanly of him than he doth of himself
and therefore he is not troubled at the matter
but can easily bear those reproaches which wound the other to the soul.
and withal, as he is less affected with injuries,
so indeed he is less obnoxious unto them:
contention, which cometh of pride, betrays a man into a thousand inconveniences
which those of a meek and lowly temper seldom meet with.
true and genuine humility begetteth both a veneration and love among all wise and discerning persons;
while pride defeateth its own design
and depriveth a man of that honor it makes him pretend to.
but as the chief exercises of humility are those which relate unto Almighty God,
so these are accompanied with the greatest satisfaction and sweetness.
it is impossible to express the great pleasure and delight which religious persons feel
in the lowest prostration of their souls before god;
when, having a deep sense of the divine majesty and glory,
they sink (if i may so speak) to the bottom of their beings
and vanish and disappear in the presence of God,
by a serious and affectionate acknowledgment of their own nothingness
and the shortness and imperfections of their attainments;
when they understand the full sense and emphasis of the psalmist's exclamations, Lord, what is man?
and can utter it with the same affection.
never did any haughty and ambitious person receive the praises and applause of men with so much pleasure
as the humble and religious do renounce them:
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, etc.
thus have i spoken something of the excellencies and advantage of religion in its several branches,
but should be very injurious to the subject did i pretend to have given any perfect account of it.
let us acquaint ourselves with it, my dear friend;
let us acquaint ourselves with it and experience will teach us
more than all that ever hath been spoken or written concerning it.
but if we may suppose the soul to be already awakened
unto some longing desires after so great a blessedness,
it will be good to give them vent and suffer them to issue forth in some such aspirations as these:
oh, the happiness of those souls that have broken the fetters of self love
and disentangled their affection from ever narrow and particular good;
whose understandings are enlightened by the Holy Spirit
and their wills enlarged to the extent of Thine;
who love Thee above all things and all mankind for Thy sake!
i am persuaded, O God!
i am persuaded that i can never be happy, till my carnal and corrupt affections be mortified
and the pride and vanity of my spirit be subdued
and till i come seriously to despise the world and think nothing of myself.
but oh, when shall it once be!
Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me and satisfy my soul with Thy likeness,
making me holy as Thou art holy, even in all manner of conversation!
hast Thou given me a prospect of so great a felicity and wilt Thou not bring me unto it?
hast Thou excited these desires in my soul
and wilt Thou not also satisfy them?
Oh, teach me to do Thy will, for Thou are my God;
Thy spirit is good, lead me into the land of uprightness.
quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's sake
and perfect that which concerneth me.
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever:;
forsake not the work of Thine own hands.
'perfect love is a kind of self dereliction (deliberate or conscious neglect)
a wandering out of ourselves;
it is a kind of voluntary death,
wherein the lover dies to himself and all his own interest,
not thinking of them nor caring for them any more
and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves'.
-quote from the book found before the introduction to the book.
10 (this book) was written to counteract religious formalism and sectarian strife by stimulating a renewal of
VITAL, INWARD and ETHICAL religion
-a need as urgent today as it was then.
now, as then, the springs of spiritual life have been running dry,
leaving a void in the lives of countless numbers of Christian men and women
who find no help in external forms which have long since lost their meaning.
the sectarian spirit, moreover, still plagues a world
which desperately needs a unifying faith to transcend the (note: doctrinal)
differences that separate man from man.
the root of our trouble, Scougal maintains, is a fundamental misconception as to the nature of religion.
we mistake the trappings of religion for religion itself.
actually, the external forms and rites of religion bear the same relationship to true religion
as a puppet to a man.
true religion is life, not form.
it is not making orthodox affirmations,
saying prayers,
going to Church,
receiving the Sacrament
or doing any other external act.
it is rather the 'union of the soul with God,
a real participation of the divine nature
(note: it is a RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ marked by
FEALTY AND OBEDIENT OUT POURED LOVE
FILLED WITH FULLNESS OF PRAISE AND COMPLETE SATISFACTION
HONORING THE ONE WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US
BY literally GIVING UP OUR LIFE FOR HIM, His purposes, His glory.)
the very image of God drawn upon the sou
or, in the apostle's phrase, it is Christ formed within us'.
the outward forms of religious expression and devotion, S asserts,
are not to be repudiated by subordinated.
(but) an undue emphasis upon them, by diverting attention from essentials to nonessentials,
tends to produce bitterness and divisions.
...no law need be prescribed to those that love God,
for the 'divine love wherewith they are actuated makes them become a law unto themselves'.
...dugald butler has called this book the 'textbook' of the Holy Club (of which john and charles wesley
as well as whitefield were a part)...
the testimony of george W is interesting and significant.
'though i had fasted, watched and prayed and received the sacrament so long,
yet i never knew what true religion was till God sent me that excellent treatise
by the hand of my never to be forgotten friend. (charles wesley)...
'o what a ray of divine life did then break in upon my soul!...'
15...as late as 1825 this paper covered edition was still being reprinted and
-to use the words of the preface-
by directing attention from 'matters of doubtful disputation, about which the best and wisest men differ'
to 'matters of greatest importance, about which all good and wise men must agree'
it undoubtedly contributed largely to that great tide of co operative activity
which characterized the early decades of the 19th century in america.
20 a major objective which S had set for himself in life
was to abate the spirit of controversy that was bedeviling scotland in the seventeenth century.
to this end he sought to keep the students from becoming addicted 'to the disputing humour'
and developing an 'itch' to wrangle 'pro and con about anything'.
unlike the majority of the presbyteries, whose chief demand at ordination
was that the candidate be 'weill seen in contraversies',
S felt that the minister's task was not 'so much the managing of controversies and debates of religion,
as the guiding of men's souls to eternity,
the rescuing of the vicious from their sins and vices
and directing the serious to the true practice and exercise of religion;.
he, therefore, urged the students to avoid the
'subtle speculations, metaphysical niceties, perplexed notions foolish questions which engender strife'
and concentrate on inculcating 'the great and uncontroverted truths of our religion'.
controversy, S was convinced, was largely ineffective.
he believed that men are more apt 'to be reasoned out of their erroneous persuasions by a good life
than by many arguments'.
not only, however, were controversies unprofitable; evil consequences actually flowed from them.
for one thing, by transforming religion, 'the bond of love' into the 'bone of contention',
christianity was brought into disrepute and christendom was 'most unhappily divided'.
a second consequence of controversy, equally serious, was to divert men's minds
from essentials to nonessentials in religion.
the quarrels of the day were not over matters of vital importance,
and he called upon the students to put first things first.
'it were to be wished, he said in one of his sermons,
that there were less noise and debate about matters of this nature
and that, being agreed in the more substantial parts of religion,
we did all charitably acquiesce in that excellent advice of the apostle, which he giveth in a parallel instance,
let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth'.
....the major factor in shaping S's thought was probably the general point of view prevailing in aberdeen
after the time of bishop patrick forbes, but an important influence
which gave his thinking its own distinctive slant, came from south of the border.
it was the influence of the so called 'antinomians' among the english independents
and of their stepchildren, the cambridge platonists, several of whose words S possessed.
at aberdeen a loosely knit group of mystics had come into being.
friends of robert leighton and disciples of john forbes, of corse,
they were much more interested in religion than in theology.
tolerant, liberal and comprehensive,
they gave small place to dogma and stressed the inwardness of true religion.
the essential element in christianity was not the observance of external forms
nor the definition and acceptance of orthodox tenets,
bu an inner personal communion with God.
the appearance of mysticism in scotland may seem a strange development,
for 'scottish religion is proverbially theological and scottish theology notoriously dogmatic'.
when one considers, however, that interest in mystical religion always develops
when religious controversy becomes heated and sectarian strife sever,
it does not seem surprising that it should have appeared in 17th century scotland.
...the mysticism of aberdeen found its best and finest expression in henry scougal-'aberdeen's immortal mystic
29 OF THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION
i cannot speak of religion but i must lament that, among so many pretenders to it,
so few understand what it means;
some placing it in the understanding, in orthodox notions and opinions
and all the account they can give of their religion is that they are of the other persuasion
and have joined themselves to one of those many sects where into christendom is most unhappily divide.
others place it in the outward man,
in a constant course of external duties and a model of performances:
if they live peaceably with their neighbors,
keep a temperate diet,
observe the returns of worship, frequenting the church and their closet
and sometimes extend their hands to the relief of the poor,
they think they have sufficiently acquitted themselves.
others again put all religion in the affections,
in rapturous heats and
ecstatic devotion
and all they aim at is to pray with passion
and think of heaven with pleasure
and to be affected with those kind and melting expressions wherewith they court their Saviour,
till they persuade themselves that they are mightily in love with Him;
and form thence assume a great confidence of their salvation
which they esteem the chief of christian graces.
thus are those things which have any resemblance of piety
and at the best are but means of abstaining it or particular exercises of it,
frequently mistaken for the whole of religion;
nay, sometimes wickedness and vice pretend to that name.
i speak not now of those gross impieties wherewith the heathens were wont to worship their gods:
there are but too many christians who would consecrate their vices and hallow their corrupt affections,
whose rugged humor and sullen pride must pass for "Christian severity,
whose fierce wrath and bitter rage against their enemies must be called holy zeal,
whose petulancy towards their superiors or rebellion against their governors
must have the name of christian resolution and courage.
but certainly religion is quite another thing
and they who are acquainted with it will entertain far different thoughts
and disdain all those shadows and false imitations of it.
they know by experience that true religion is an union of the soul with God,
a real participation of the divine nature,
the very image of God drawn upon the soul or, in the apostles phrase, it is Christ formed within us.
briefly, i know not how the nature of religion can be more fully expressed than by calling it a DIVINE LIFE.
and under these terms i shall discourse of it,
showing first how it is called a life, and then how it is termed divine.
i choose to express it by the name of life;
first, because of its permanency and stability
religion is not a sudden start or passion of the mind;
not though it should rise to the height of a rapture and seem to transport a man to extraordinary performances.
there are few but have convictions of the necessity of doing something for the salvation of their souls
which may push them forward some steps with a great deal of seeming haste.
but anon they flag and give over;
they were in a hot mood but now they are cooled;
they did shoot forth fresh and high but are quickly withered because they had no root in themselves.
these sudden fits may be compared to the violent and convulsive motions of bodies newly beheaded,
caused by the agitations of the animal spirits after the soul is departed which,
however violent and impetuous, can be of no long continuance;
whereas the motions of holy souls are constant and regular,
proceeding from a permanent and lively principle.
it is true, this divine life continueth not always in the same strength and vigor,
but many times suffers sad decays and holy men find greater difficulty in resisting temptations
and less alacrity in the performance of their duties;
yet it is not quite extinguished,
nor are they abandoned to the power of those corrupt affections which sway and overrule the rest of the world.
again, religion may be defined by the name of life because it is an inward, fee and self moving principle
and those who have made progress in it are not actuated only by external motives
driven merely by threatenings nor bribed by promise, nor constrained by laws,
but are powerfully inclined to that which is good and delight in the performance of ti.
the love which a pious man bears to God and goodness
is not so much by virtue of a command enjoining him so to do
as by a new nature instructing and prompting him to it;
nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute
only to appease the divine justice or quiet his clamourous conscience,
but those religious exercises are the proper emanations of the divine life, the natural employments of the new born soul.
he prays and gives thanks and repents, not only because these things are commanded,
but rather because he is sensible of his wants and of the divine goodness
and of the folly and misery of a sinful life.
his charity is not forced nor his alms extorted from him:
his love makes him willing to give
and though there were no outward obligation his heart would devise liberal things..
injustice and intemperance and all other vices are as contrary to his temper and constitution
as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit
and impudence and scurrility (grossly or obscenely abusive) to those who are naturally modest;
so that i may well say with st. john,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
though holy and religious persons do much eye the law of God and have a great regard unto it,
yet it is not so much the sanction of the law
as his reasonableness and purity and goodness which do prevail with them.
they account it excellent and desirable in itself and that in keeping of it there is great reward
and that divine love wherewith they are actuated makes them become a law unto themselves.
who shall prescribe a law to those that love?
love's a more powerful law which doth them move.
in a word, what our blessed saviour said of himself is in some measure applicable to His followers,
that it is their meat and drink to do their Father's will
and as the natural appetite is cried out toward food,
though we should not reflect on the necessity of it for the preservation of our lives,
so are they carried with a natural and unforced propension (obs. = propensity, natural inclination)
toward that which is good and commendable.
it is true, external motives are many times of great use to excite and stir up this inward principle,
especially in its infancy and weakness when it is often so languid that the man himself can scarce discern it,
hardly being able to move one step forward but when he is pushed by his hopes or his fears,
by the pressure of an affliction or the sense of a mercy, by the authority of the law or the persuasion of others
now, if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience
and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dullness
and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor;
these are the first motions of the divine life which, though it be faint and weak,
will surely be cherished by the influences of heaven and grow unto greater maturity.
but he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle
and doth not aspire unto it, but contents himself with those performances whereunto he is prompted
by education or custom,
by the fear of hell or carnal notions of heaven,
can no more be accounted a religious person than a puppet can be called a man.
this forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid like the motion of a wight forced upward;
it is cold and spiritless like the uneasy compliance of a wife married against her will,
who carries on dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love out of some sense of virtue or honor.
hence also this religion is scant and niggardly,
especially in those duties which do greatest violence to men's carnal inclinations;
and those slavish spirit will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required.
it is a law that compels them
and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to;
nay, they will ever be putting such glosses on it as may leave themselves the greatest liberty;
whereas the spirit of true religion is frank and liberal,
far from such peevish and narrow reckoning
and he who hath given himself entirely unto God will never think he doth too much for Him.
37 it is now time to return to the consideration of that divine life whereof i was discoursing before;
that life which is hid with Christ in God
and therefore hath no glorious show or appearance in the world
and to the natural man will seem a mean and insipid notion.
as the animal life consisteth in that narrow and confined love which is terminated on a man's self
and in his propension towards those things that are pleasing to nature,
so the divine life stands in an universal and unbounded affection and in
the mastery over our natural inclinations that they may never be able to betray us
to those things which we know to be blamable.
the root of the divine life is faith;
the chief branches are:
love to God, charity to man, p0urity and humility.
for (as an excellent person hath well observed)
however these names be common and vulgar and make no extraordinary sound,
yet do they carry such a might sense that the tongue of man or angel can pronounce
nothing more weighty or excellent.
faith hath the same place in the divine life which sense hath in the natural,
being indeed nothing else but a kind of sense or feeling persuasion of spiritual things.
it extends itself unto all divine truths;
but, in our lapsed estate, it hath a peculiar relation
to the declarations of god's mercy and reconcilableness to sinners through a Mediator
and therefore, receiving its denomination from that principal object,
is ordinarily termed faith in Jesus Christ.
the love of God is a delightful and affectionate sense of the diving perfections
which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto Him,
desiring above all things to please Him
and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with Him
and being ready to do or suffer any thing for His sake or at His pleasure.
though this affection may have its first rise from the favors and mercies of God towards ourselves,
yet doth it in its growth and progress transcend such particular considerations
and ground itself on His infinite goodness manifested in all the works of creation and providence.
a soul thus possessed with divine love must needs be enlarged towards all mankind
in a sincere and unbounded affection,
because of the relation they have to God, being his creatures
and having something of His image stamped upon them.
and this is that charity i named as the second branch of religion
and under which all the parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbor,
are eminently comprehended;
for he who doth truly love all the world will be nearly concerned in the interest of every one
and so far from wronging or injuring any person, he will resent any evil that befalls others as if it happened to himself.
by purity, i understand a due abstractedness from the body and mastery over the inferior appetites
or such a temper and disposition of mind as makes a man despise and abstain
from all pleasures and delights of sense or fancy which are sinful in themselves
or tend to extinguish or lessen our relish of more divine and intellectual pleasures,
which doth also infer a resoluteness to undergo all those hardships
he may meet with in the performance of his duty.
so that not only chastity and temperance, but also christian courage and magnanimity may
come under this head.
HUMILITY imports a deep sense of our own weakness,
with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty,
which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God
and great deadness towards the glory of the world and applause of men.
these are the highest perfections that either men or angels are capable of;
the very foundation of heaven laid in the soul.
and he who hath attained them needs not desire to pry into the hidden rolls of God's decrees
or search the volumes of heaven to know what is determined about his everlasting condition,
but he may find a copy of God's thought concerning him written on his own breast.
his love to God may give him assurance of god's favor to him,
and those beginnings of happiness
which he feels in the conformity of the powers of his soul to the nature of God and compliance with His will,
are a sure pledge that his felicity shall be perfected and continued to all eternity.
and it is not without reason that one said,
'i had rather see the real impressions of a God like nature upon my own soul
than have a vision from heaven
or an angel sent to tell me that my name was enrolled in the book of life.
when we have said all that we can,
the secret mysteries of a new nature and divine life can never be sufficiently expressed;
language and words cannot reach them, nor can they be truly understood
but by those souls that are enkindled within and awakened unto the sense and relish of spiritual things.
there is a spirit in man
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.
THE POWER AND LIFE OF RELIGION
MAY BE BETTER EXPRESSED IN ACTIONS THAN IN WORDS,
BECAUSE ACTIONS ARE MORE LIVELY THINGS
AND DO BETTER REPRESENT THE INWARD PRINCIPLE WHENCE THEY PROCEED
and therefore we may take the best measure of those gracious endowments
from the deportment of those in whom they reside,
especially as they are perfectly exemplified in the holy life of our blessed Saviour,
a main part of whose business in this world
was to teach by His practice
what He did require of others
and to make his own conversation (obs. behavior, manner of living)
an exact resemblance of those unparalleled rules which he prescribed,
so that if ever true goodness was visible to mortal eyes,
it was then when His presence did beautify and illustrate this lower world.
49 THE EXCELLENCY OF DIVINE LOVE
...the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.
he who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile,
but a noble and well placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity
with the perfection which it loves.
the images of these do frequently present themselves unto the mind
and by a secret force and energy insinuate into the very constitution of thee soul
and mould and fashion it unto their own likeness.
hence we may see how easily lovers or friends do slide into the imitation of persons whom they affect
and how, even before they are aware, they begin to resemble them,
not only in the more considerable instances of their deportment,
but also in their voice and gesture
and that which we call their mien and air.
and certainly we should as well transcribe the virtues and inward beauties of the soul,
if they were the object and motive of our love.
but now, as all the creatures we converse with have their mixture and alloy,
we are always in hazard to be sullied and corrupted by placing our affections on them.
passion doth easily blind our eyes,
so that we first approve and then imitate the things that are blamable in them.
the true way to improve and ennoble our souls is by fixing our love on the divine perfections that we may have them always before us
and derive an impression of them on ourselves
and beholding with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
we may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory.
he who with a generous and holy ambition hath raised his eyes towards that uncreated beauty and goodness
and fixed his affection there,
is quite of another spirit, of a more excellent and heroic temper than the rest of the world
and cannot but infinitely disdain all mean and unworthy things,
will not entertain any low or base thoughts which might disparage his high and noble pretensions.
love is the greatest and most excellent thing we are master of
and therefore it is folly and baseness to bestow it unworthily.
it is indeed the only thing we can call our own.
other things may be taken from us by violence, but none can ravish our love.
if any thing else be counted ours, by giving our love we give all,
so far as we make over our hearts and wills by which we possess our other enjoyments.
it is not possible to refuse him any thing, to whom by love we have given ourselves. ...
51...again, as divine love doth advance and elevate the soul,
so it is that alone which can make it happy.
the highest and most ravishing pleasures,
the most solid and substantial delights that human nature is capable of,
are those which arise from the endearments of a well placed and successful affection.
that which imbitters love and makes it ordinarily a very troublesome and hurtful passion,
is the placing it on those who have not worth enough to deserve it
or affection and gratitude to require it
or whose absence may deprive us of the pleasure of their converse
or their miseries occasion our trouble.
to all these evils are they exposed those chief and supreme affection is placed on creatures like themselves,
but the love of god delivers us from them all.
first, i say, love must needs be miserable and full of trouble and disquietude
when there is not worth and excellency enough in the object to answer the vastness of its capacity.
so eager and violent a passion cannot but fret and torment the spirit
where it finds not wherewith to satisfy its cravings.
and, indeed, so large and unbounded is its nature that it must be extremely pinched and straitened when confined to any creature;
nothing below an infinite good can afford it room to stretch itself and exert its vigor and activity.
what is a little skin deep beauty
or some small degrees of goodness,
to match or satisfy a passion which was made for God, designed to embrace an infinite good?
no wonder lovers do so hardly suffer any rival
and do not desire that others should approve their passion by imitating it.
they know the scantiness and narrowness of the good which they love,
that it cannot suffice two, being in effect too little for one.
hence love, which is strong as death,
occasioneth jealousy which is cruel as the grave;
the coals whereof are coals of fire, which hath a most violent flame.
but divine love hath no mixture of this gall;
when once the soul is fixed on that supreme and all sufficient good,
it finds so much perfection and goodness as doth not only answer and satisfy its affection,
but master and overpower it too.
it finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object
and is only sorry that it can command no more.
it wisheth for the flames of a seraph and longs for the time when
it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love;
and because it can do so little itself, it desires the assistance of the whole creation,
that angels and men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those infinite perfections.
again, love is accompanied with trouble when it misseth a suitable return of affection.
love is the most valuable thing we can bestow
and by giving it, we do in effect give all that we have
and therefore it needs must be afflicting to find so great a gift despised,
that the present which one hath made of his whole heart cannot prevail to obtain any return.
perfect love is a kind of self dereliction,
a wandering out of ourselves;
it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself and all his won interest,
not thinking of them nor caring for them any more
and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves.
thus he is quite undone unless he meet with reciprocal affection;
he neglects himself and the other hath no regard to him'
but if he be beloved, he is revived, as it were and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves;
and now he begine to mind his own concernments ,
not so much because they are his as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them.
he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other.
but why should i enlarge on so known a matter?
nothing can be more clear than that the happiness of love depends on the return it meets with.
and herein the divine lover hath unspeakably the advantage,
having placed his affection on Him whose nature is love;
whose goodness is as infinite as His being;
whose mercy prevented us when we were His enemies
and therefore cannot choose but embrace us when we are become His friends.
it is utterly impossible that god should deny his love to a soul wholly devoted to Him
and which desires nothing so much as to serve and please him.
he cannot disdain his own image, nor the heart in which it is engraven.
love is all the tribute which we can pay him,
and it is the sacrifice which He will not despise.
another thing which disturbs the pleasure of love and renders it a miserable and unquiet passion,
is absence and separation from those we love.
it is not without a sensible affliction that friends do part, though for some little time.
it is sad to be deprived of that society which is so delightful;
our life becomes tedious, being spent in an impatient expectation of the happy hour
wherein we may meet again.
but if death hath made the separation, as sometime or other it must,
this occasions a grief scarce to be paralleled by all the misfortunes of human life
and wherein we pay dear enough for the comfort of our friendship.
but oh how happy are those who have placed their love on Him who can never be absent from them!
they need but open their eyes and they shall everywhere behold the traces of his presence and glory
and converse with Him whom their soul loveth.
and this makes the darkest prison or the wildest desert, not only supportable
but delightful to them.
in fine, a lover is miserable if the person whom he loveth be so.
they who have made an exchange of hearts by love
get thereby an interest in one another's happiness and misery
and this makes love a troublesome passion when placed on earth.
the most fortunate person hath grief enough to mar the tranquillity of his friend
and it is hard to hold out when we are attacked on all hands,
and suffer not only in our own person but in another's.
but if god were the object of our love, we should share in an infinite happiness
without any mixture or possiblity of diminution;
we should rejoice to behold the glory of God and receive comfort and pleasure
from all the praises wherewith men and angels do extol Him.
it should delight us beyond all expression to consider that the beloved of our souls
is infinitely happy in Himself
and that all His enemies cannot shake or unsettle his throne,
that our god is in the heavens and doth whatsoever He pleaseth.
behold, on what sure foundations His happiness is built whose soul is possessed with divine love,
whose will is transformed into the will of God
and whose greatest desire is that his Maker should be please.
oh, the peace, the rest, the satisfaction that attendeth such a temper of mind!
what an infinite pleasure must it needs be thus, as it were,
to lose ourselves in him
and being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of His goodness,
to offer ourselves a living sacrifice, always ascending unto him in flames of love!
never doth a soul know what solid joy and substantial pleasure is till,
once being weary of itself, it renounces all property,
gives itself up to the author of its being
and feel itself become a hallowed and devoted thing
and can say from an inward sense and feeling,
My Beloved is mine (i account all His interest mine own)
and I am His:
i am content to be any thing for him and care not for myself but that i may serve Him.
a person moulded into this temper would find pleasure in all the dispensations of providence.
temporal enjoyments whold have another relish when he would taste the divine goodness in them
and consider them as tokens of love sent by his dearest Lord and master.
and chastisements, though they be not joyous but grievous, would hereby lose their sting;
the rod as well as the staff would comfort him;
he would snatch a kiss from the hand that was smiting him and gather sweetness from that severity.
nay, he would rejoice that though God did not the will of such a worthless and foolish creature as himself,
yet He did His own will and accomplished His own designs,
which are infinitely more holy and wise.
the exercises of religion, which to others are insipid and tedious,
do yield the highest pleasure and delight to sould possessed with divine love.
they rejoice when they are called to go up to the house of the lord,
that they may see His power and His glory,
as they have formerly seen it in his sanctuary.
they never think themselves so happy as when, having retired from the world
and gotten free from the noise and hurry of affairs
and silenced all their clamourous passions (those troublesome guests within,
they have placed themselves in the presence of god and entertain fellowship and communion with Him.
they delight to adore His perfections and recount His favors
and to protest their affection to Him, and tell Him a thousand times that they love Him;
to lay out their troubles or wants before Him and disburden their hearts in his bosom.
repentance itself is a delightful exercise when it floweth from the principle of love:
there is a secret sweetness which accompanieth those tears of remorse,
those meltings and relentings unto God
and lamenting their former unkindness.
the severities of a holy life and that constant watch which we are obliged to keep over our hearts and ways,
are very troublesome to those who are overruled and acted by an external law
and have no law in their minds inclining them to the performance of their duty.
but where divine love possesseth the soul, it stands as sentinel to keep out everything
that may offend the beloved
and doth disdainfully repulse those temptations which assault it.
it complieth cheerfully, not only with explicit commands,
but with the most secret notices of the beloved's pleasure;
and is ingenious in discovering what will be most grateful and acceptable unto Him.
it makes mortification and self denial change their harsh and dreadful names
and become easy, sweet and delighful things.
56....the next branch of the divine life is an UNIVERSAL CHARITY AND LOVE.
THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS GRACE WILL BE EASILY ACKNOWLEDGED.
the excellency of this grace will be easily acknowledged.
for what can be more noble and generous than a heart enlarged to embrace the whole world,
whose wishes and designs are levelled at the good and welfare of the universe,
which considereth every man's own interest as its own?
he who loveth his neighbor as himself can never entertain any base or injurious thought
or be wanting in expressions of bounty;
he had rather suffer a thousand wrongs than be guilty of one
and never accounts himself happy but when some one or other hath been benefited by him.
the malice or ingratitude of men is not able to resist his love;
he overlooks their injuries and pities their folly
and overcomes their evil with good
and never designs any other revenge against his most bitter and malicious enemies
than to put all the obligations he can upon them,
whether they will or not.
is it any wonder that such a person be reverenced and admired and accounted the darling of mankind.
this inward goodness and benignity of spirit reflects a certain sweetness and serenity
upon the very countenance
and makes it amiable and lovely.
it inspireth the soul with a noble resolution and courage
and makes it capable of enterprising and effecting the highest things.
those heroic actions which we are wont to read with admiration
have for the most part been the effects of the love of one's country
or of particular friendships
and certainly a more extensive and universal affection must be much more powerful and efficacious.
again, as charity flows from a noble and excellent temper,
so it is accompanied with the greatest satisfaction and pleasure.
it delights the soul to feel itself thus enlarged and to be delivered from
from those disquieting as well as deformed passions-malice, hatred and envy
-and become gentle, sweet and benign.
had i my choice of all things that might tend to my present felicity,
i would pitch upon this, to have my heart possessed with the greatest kindness and affection
towards all men in the world.
i am sure this would make me partake in all the happiness of others,
their inward endowments and outward prosperity;
every thing that did benefit and advantage them would afford me comfort and pleasure.
and though i should frequently meet with occasions of grief and compassion,
yet there is a sweetness in commiseration which makes it infinitely more desirable than a stupid insensibility
and the consideration of that infinite goodness and wisdom which governs the world
might repress any excessive troubled for particular calamities that happen in it
and the hopes or possibility of men's after-happiness
might moderate their sorrow for their present misfortunes.
certainly, next to the love and enjoyment of God, that ardent charity and affection
wherewith blessed souls do embrace one another is justly to be reckoned
as the greatest felicity of those regions above,
and did it universally prevail in the world,
it would anticipate that blessedness and make us taste of the joys of heaven upon earth.
that which i named as a third branch of religion was PURITY
and you may remember i described it to consist in a contempt of sensual pleasures
and resoluteness to under go those troubles and pains we may meet with in the performance of our duty.
now, the naming of this may suffice to recommend it as a most noble and excellent quality.
there is no slavery so base as that whereby a man becomes a drudge to his own lusts,
nor any victory so glorious as that which is obtained over them.
never can that person be capable of any thing that is noble and worthy who is sunk in
the gross and feculent (full of dregs and feculent matter) pleasures of sense
or bewitched with the light and airy gratifications of fancy.
but the religious soul is of a more sublime and divine temper;
it knows it was made for higher things and scorns to step aside one foot out of the way of holiness
for the obtaining any of these.
and this purity is accompanied with a great deal of pleasure.
whatsoever defiles the soul disturbs it too; all impure delights have a sting in them
and leave smart and trouble behind them.
excess and intemperance and all inordinate lusts,
are so much enemies to the health of the body and the interests of this present life
that a little consideration might oblige any rational man to forbear them on that very score;
and if the religious person go higher
and do not only abstain from noxious pleasures but neglect thos that are innocent,
this is not to be looked upon as any violent and uneasy restraint
but as the effect of better choice,
that their minds are taken up in the pursuit of more sublime and refined delights,
so that they cannot be concerned in these.
any person that is engaged in a violent and passionate affection
will easily forget his ordinary gratifications,
will be little curious about his diet or his bodily ease
or the divertisements (diversion or entertainment) he was wont to delight in.
no wonder, then, if souls overpowered with divine love despise inferior pleasures
and be almost ready to grudge the body its necessary attendance for the common accommodations of life,
judging all these impertinent to their main happiness
and those higher enjoyments they are pursuing.
as for the hardships they meet with, they rejoice in them as opportunities to exercise and testify their affection
and since they are able to do so little for God, they are glad of the honor to suffer for Him.
the lst branch of religion is HUMILITY
and however to vulgar and carnal eyes this may appear an abject, base and despicable quality,
yet really the soul of man is not capable of a higher and more noble endowment.
it is a silly ignorance that begets pride,
but humility arises from a nearer acquaintance with excellent things,
which keeps men from doating on trifles or admiring themselves because of some pretty attainments.
noble and well educated souls have no such high opinion of
riches, beauty, strength and other such like advantages,
as to value themselves for them or despise those that want them
and as for inward worth and real goodness,
the sense they have of the divine perfections makes them think very meanly of any thing they have hitherto attained,
and be still endeavoring to surmount themselves
and make nearer approaches to those infinite excellencies which they admire.
i know not what thought people may have of humility,
but i see almost every person pretending to it and shunning such expressions and actions
as may make them be accounted arrogant and presumptuous,
so that those who are most desirous of praise will be loath to commend themselves.
what are all those compliments and modes of civility so frequent in our ordinary converse,
but so many protestations of the esteem of others and the low thought we have of ourselves
and must not that humility be a noble and excellent endowment when the very shadows of it
are accounted so necessary a part of good breeding?
again, this grace is accompanied with a great deal of happiness and tranquillity.
the proud and arrogant person is a trouble to all that converse with him,
but most of all not himself;
every thing is enough to vex him, but scarce any thing is sufficient to content and please him.
he is ready to quarrel with every thing that falls out, as if he himself were such a considerable person
that God Almighty should do every thing to gratify him
and all the creatures of heaven and earth should wait upon him and obey his will.
the leaves of high trees do shake with every blast of wind
and every breath, every evil word will disquiet and torment an arrogant man;
but the humble person hath the advantage when he is despised,
that none can think more meanly of him than he doth of himself
and therefore he is not troubled at the matter
but can easily bear those reproaches which wound the other to the soul.
and withal, as he is less affected with injuries,
so indeed he is less obnoxious unto them:
contention, which cometh of pride, betrays a man into a thousand inconveniences
which those of a meek and lowly temper seldom meet with.
true and genuine humility begetteth both a veneration and love among all wise and discerning persons;
while pride defeateth its own design
and depriveth a man of that honor it makes him pretend to.
but as the chief exercises of humility are those which relate unto Almighty God,
so these are accompanied with the greatest satisfaction and sweetness.
it is impossible to express the great pleasure and delight which religious persons feel
in the lowest prostration of their souls before god;
when, having a deep sense of the divine majesty and glory,
they sink (if i may so speak) to the bottom of their beings
and vanish and disappear in the presence of God,
by a serious and affectionate acknowledgment of their own nothingness
and the shortness and imperfections of their attainments;
when they understand the full sense and emphasis of the psalmist's exclamations, Lord, what is man?
and can utter it with the same affection.
never did any haughty and ambitious person receive the praises and applause of men with so much pleasure
as the humble and religious do renounce them:
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, etc.
thus have i spoken something of the excellencies and advantage of religion in its several branches,
but should be very injurious to the subject did i pretend to have given any perfect account of it.
let us acquaint ourselves with it, my dear friend;
let us acquaint ourselves with it and experience will teach us
more than all that ever hath been spoken or written concerning it.
but if we may suppose the soul to be already awakened
unto some longing desires after so great a blessedness,
it will be good to give them vent and suffer them to issue forth in some such aspirations as these:
oh, the happiness of those souls that have broken the fetters of self love
and disentangled their affection from ever narrow and particular good;
whose understandings are enlightened by the Holy Spirit
and their wills enlarged to the extent of Thine;
who love Thee above all things and all mankind for Thy sake!
i am persuaded, O God!
i am persuaded that i can never be happy, till my carnal and corrupt affections be mortified
and the pride and vanity of my spirit be subdued
and till i come seriously to despise the world and think nothing of myself.
but oh, when shall it once be!
Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me and satisfy my soul with Thy likeness,
making me holy as Thou art holy, even in all manner of conversation!
hast Thou given me a prospect of so great a felicity and wilt Thou not bring me unto it?
hast Thou excited these desires in my soul
and wilt Thou not also satisfy them?
Oh, teach me to do Thy will, for Thou are my God;
Thy spirit is good, lead me into the land of uprightness.
quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's sake
and perfect that which concerneth me.
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever:;
forsake not the work of Thine own hands.
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