05 - The Means which seem best Calculated for Promoting the Knowledge and Spirit of Religion

CHAP. V. The Means which seem best calculated for promoting the Knowledge and Spirit of Religion amongst the Common People.

1. THE foundation of all religious knowledge and attainments, must be laid in a proper acquaintance with the sacred Scrip­tures, and a constant attention to them as the unerring rule of faith and conduct. Without this heavenly guide, the children of men would wander in perpetual uncer­tainty and danger; but by following this light of truth, which shineth in a dark world, they are led into the paths of peace, are filled with consolation, and go forward from strength to strength, until they appear before God in Zion. To the poor the gospel is published; by this they are made wise to salvation, and taught how to purify their way. Though the glimmerings of reason, when united with the improvements of philosophy, may be supposed to be of some advantage to men of refinement; yet what benefit can these yield to men unaccustomed to argue, unfit to detect the subtleties of the arrogant, and so much occupied by daily labours, as to enjoy little leisure for perusing the multiplied volumes of the learned? The God of wisdom and compassion hath pitied their circumstances, and hath not withheld from them, a plain and perfect revelation of his will; it shines before them as the bright morning-star, leading their attention to the glorious Sun of Righteousness, and conduct­ing many sons and daughters to glory. Follow ye, therefore, this true light, which descendeth from heaven; search the sacred volume with diligence, humility, and prayer; and hold converse with it daily, as with a beloved companion. Examine its doctrines, rejoice in its promises, observe the path of duty it prescribes, and contemplate with de­light the glorious objects it exhibits. Thus seek for wisdom as for hid treasures, and thus apply your hearts to understanding. The Scriptures are intended for the benefit of all ranks, and are adapted to the circumstances of every character; therefore all are required to know the truth, to have the word of Christ dwelling richly in them, and to regard the things which belong to their everlasting peace. But they who hate instruction, who love the darkness, who re­ject the counsel of God, and obey not his gospel, are threatened with destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

If God commandeth all to search the Scriptures, must not the neglect of this ex­press command, be both sinful and danger­ous? Yet some pretended Christians have extolled ignorance as the mother of devo­tion. Such a daring sentiment insults the kindness of that God, who deigned to re­veal his will to men; and betrays so much malevolence against the truth, as may well excite our indignation and sorrow. The arrogant pride of popery, in substituting human inventions for the ordinances of God, is not more fatal and delusive, than the cruel conduct of her priests, in with­holding from the common people the free perusal of the Scriptures. But we have not so learned Christ: we know that with him is no distinction of persons; that his voice is to the children of men; that all kindreds and people are commanded to walk in his light, and to make his statutes their songs in their pilgrimage.

Men and brethren, prize your privileges, and rejoice that the word of truth is in your habitations, and in your hands. Your fa­thers sat in darkness, under popish delusion: but this land where your fathers dwelt, is become a valley of vision. Ye are rescued from the dominion of tyrannic priests: the ministers of the sanctuary are not permitted, by our holy religion, to lord it over your faith: ye are required to try their doctrines by the law and the testimony, before you receive them with all readiness: the word is nigh you, it is translated into your own language, it is given you almost without price; and no mean is left untried, to encourage your daily perusal of the sa­cred volume.

O how highly favoured is this island above many other nations! The Sun of Righteousness has not yet dispelled from their boundaries, the clouds of ignorance, error, and idolatry-the prophets and apostles are scarcely known among them, ex­cept by the pencil of the painter-the in­spired writings of these holy men are de­tained in the repositories of priests-the waters of salvation are stopped in their courses, by the mighty bulwarks of super­stition-the fountain opened by the Son of God, for purifying many nations, is shut up by the daring Vicar of Christ-the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the people, is guarded from the approaches of the needy by mercenary hirelings-and the glorious light of the gospel is involved in the mysterious darkness of gloomy subtleties. But the God of Zion will ere long arise, and plead his own cause; he will shake the kingdoms of the earth, he will gird his sword on his thigh, and he will go forth in the chariot of his gospel, from conquering to conquer. May his word run, and have free course, and be glorified! May the tumults of the people terminate in the triumphs of the Redeemer’s kingdom! and may his bles­sed religion be preserved amongst us in all its purity, experienced in all its power, and perpetuated to latest ages!

Since to you is given the gospel of salvation, prize this privilege, and improve it with care: count all as loss for the excel­lence of the knowledge of Christ: read his word with delight and attention, with humi­lity and reverence, with faith and firm as­sent, with application of what it reveals to your own circumstances, and with fervent supplication for the teaching of the Spirit, that you may understand the Scriptures, may embrace the promises, and may walk in the truth.

2. A spirit of religion will never prevail in any community, where there is not a general and regular attendance on the preaching of the word. This, therefore, is earnestly recommended to families, both as a duty and a privilege.

Thanks unto the God of our fathers, the sublime and sanctifying doctrines of grace are, even in this age of error, taught by many, with sincerity, plainness, and power. Many faithful ministers, of various denominations, harmoniously unite in the de­claration and defence of the record which God hath given: they testify the great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh: they preach Christ crucified, as the foundation of hope for guilty creatures, and as the Author of eternal redemption to all who obey him. This comfortable con­sideration, united with the many important ends of public worship, warrants the exhor­tation now given, to frequent the house of God, if you desire progress in religion.

Though it is a common complaint, that little space is reserved in churches for the accommodation of the poor, and though the complaint may not be wholly groundless; yet in almost every city and parish, there are churches reared by various sects, where the same gospel is preached, where the poor may find easy access, and where they will be instructed in the truth as it is in Jesus. Since, then, there are places pro­vided in this land of liberty, where you may worship God according to your consciences, and since ministers are willing to instruct all who come to them, why should you perish for lack of knowledge? Why ne­glect the means of improvement? And why refuse a willing attendance on the public ordinances of divine institution? That attendance may not perhaps be al­ways followed with the desired effects: some may long enjoy the means of the grace, and remain unenlightened and unre­newed; still they are engaged, as becometh creatures, in waiting on God, and worshipping him; they are in the sanctuary, where he manifests his glory, and exerts his saving power; they are in the place where he pro­mises to meet with his people, and to bless them.

Under these impressions, it is earnestly recommended to all in the community, that they conduct their children to some proper place of worship on the Lord’s day, and teach them to listen with reverent attention to the truths delivered. Pernicious and alarming are the consequences, when the common people forsake the worshipping of God in the sanctuary: every religious and moral principle soon becomes effaced from their remembrance; all the restraints of character and decency are burst asunder: those sacred hours in which others are en­gaged, with heavenly devotion, in public worship, are spent by these neglecters of God’s house, in the haunts of intemper­ance, in depredations on their neighbour’s property, or in forming associations dan­gerous to families, and destructive to do­mestic order. Considering it therefore as a duty enjoined by religion, as a matter of policy for the welfare of society, as a matter of prudence for the comfort of families, and as a mark of compassion for the souls of the perishing, let parents, masters, and supe­riors endeavour, by all the influence they can employ, by rewarding the complying and reproving the froward, by exhortation and authority, to prevent their domestics or ser­vants, their tenants or children, from ne­glecting the assemblies of the saints; let them also endeavour to promote among the poorest of the people, a regular attendance upon the public worship of God every returning Sabbath.

3. A third means of improvement in religion, is a careful application to the several exercises of closet devotion. Under this particular may be included, profitable read­ing, pious meditation, and secret prayer. Though each of these merits a separate consideration, yet their influence upon each other is so natural and intimate, that there seems no impropriety in classing them to­gether. A daily searching of the Scriptures hath already been urged: and therefore the pro­fitable reading now to be recommended, re­fers to the serious perusal of books of piety. All have not equal opportunities for this profitable employment: yet the most laborious and hard wrought in our land, have their hours of recess from the fatigues of business, and their seasons of rest and leisure. With­out proper caution, these may prove dan­gerous periods, by leading the unemployed into follies and crimes, which will entail upon them lasting distress and wretchedness. To prevent such miseries, improve your lei­sure hours in the perusal of the writings of the pious. Thanks unto God, we are fa­voured with a variety of valuable publications, which are well calculated both to please and to edify; which contain no dan­gerous tenets; which attempt not to pro­mote devotion without principle, or piety without morality; but which are at once evangelical, practical, and plain. A Flavel, a Watts, an Owen, a Hervey, and a Dod­dridge, though dead, yet speak to us in all the eloquence of animated address, of un­adulterated doctrine, and of genuine piety. In our own day, a Newton, a Venn, a Walker, and a Witherspoon, have given to the world amiable and just representa­tions of evangelical truth. To all these I might add, as worthy of perusal, and hap­pily adapted to the capacities of the meanest, the labours of a Boston, a Bunyan, and an Erskine. All these authors now named were men eminent for their piety, and use­ful in their day: their spirit breathes in their works; and their praise will be long perpetuated in the church. Modern re­finers of a religion which is perfect in itself, and can admit of no improvement by modern discoveries, may affect to despise the writ­ings now mentioned, and may load them with the reproachful names of enthusiasm and vulgarity. Nevertheless, if you peruse them with care, you will find them rich in sentiment, and profitable for your instruction in righteousness; and if you are so fortu­nate as to bring your own household, and the families around, to read and relish what these books contain, you will be doing all essential service to the interests of religion.

Serious meditation on divine things, is another important branch of closet-devotion. It is not reasonable, that the objects of time should occupy the chief attention of immor­tal men; that they should mind only earthly things, and be only careful about worldly concerns. It becomes them to allot proper intervals for spiritual contemplation; to re­tire often from the business and the bustle of the world: to call themselves to frequent and strict account; to examine if they are in the faith; to try their tempers and con­duct by the law of God; to inquire what progress they are making in their prepara­tions for an everlasting state of existence: and to live under realizing impressions of the future world. The want of religious knowledge, and habitual neglect of serious consideration, prove the ruin of thousands. What real or persevering religion can be expected from an uninformed, undisciplined, unthinking mind? and how unavailing must be all the means of grace, if men will not allow them­selves leisure to examine their real state before God, to ponder the things which be­long to their salvation, and to meditate on the all-important doctrines, promises, and precepts of Scripture? Small attention is necessary to give the objects of sense their full force; these are ever present, and their influence is powerful: but of what is un­seen and everlasting, a more fixed recollec­tion is indispensably necessary. This, in some measure, removes the distance between heaven and earth; brings spiritual objects near to the believing reflecting mind; in­creases that faith which is the substance of things hoped for; and derives from these un­seen realities, far nobler joys than can be obtained from the most inviting pleasures of sin.

Retire, therefore, by yourselves, into the fields or the closet, to meditate on heavenly themes: contemplate what hath been, what is, and what shall be hereafter. Mark the ways of Providence; and trace, with admir­ing acknowledgment, the doing of the Lord to yourselves, your families and your kin­dred. Look forward to future, but certain and approaching scenes: an expiring world, a general judgment, an unalterable state. How must these solemn prospects moderate your eagerness for the passing fashions of the world, and quicken your progress to­wards Zion. Meditate on heaven, as the land of rest, and the sure inheritance of all the redeemed; contemplate their joys and their employments, and long to be united with the just made perfect, and with the in­numerable company of angels. Above all, let the meditations of God and the Redeemer be sweet unto your thoughts. Contemplate your heavenly Father’s mercy and faithful­ness, his infinite glory, and his condescend­ing care. Look unto Jesus the author of eternal redemption: admire his transcendent excellence, his sufferings and triumphs, the blessings he hath purchased, the mediation he now accomplishes, and the happiness prepared for all his followers. Inquire if you have good hope through grace, that you are among the number of his followers? if you love him more than all? if you abide in him as your Saviour and Sanctifier? and if you have been made willing to deny your­selves, to take up your cross and to follow Christ? Thus, by uniting serious self-in­quiry with heavenly contemplation, you will experience the accomplishment of the apos­tle’s declaration, that to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.

Professing Christians, placed by Provi­dence in laborious or dependent stations of life, excuse their neglect of this duty, by pleading their want of time, and continual employment. But surely this reasoning cannot apply to the Sabbath: or if it does, they themselves are highly culpable, for en­gaging in any service which admits not of their sanctifying the day of God. That sacred and blessed day is not theirs, to give to worldly business: nor their masters to dispose of: it is consecrated to the God of their lives, and the rock of their salvation: it hath work assigned it peculiar to that one day in seven; and in this work the public and private exercises of religious worship are mercifully interwoven: amongst these, the duty now recommended claims its ad­mission: and some portion of the morning and evening of every Lord’s day ought to be set apart for spiritual meditation.­-Squander not then these precious hours in unprofitable visits or idle converse; but retiring from every eye, delight yourselves in God, and let your souls follow hard after him: review the general tenor of your tem­pers through the past week, and your con­duct both towards God and man: compare your dispositions, pursuits, words and ac­tions, with the law and the gospel: confess the plagues of your heart, and the trans­gressions of your life: renew your accep­tance of the Saviour, and dedication to his service: and contemplate, with growing joy, the height, and depth, and breadth, and length of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let the reading and hearing of the word, and all the solemn services of that hallowed day, instead of preventing, promote and encourage this heavenly employment: so shall the reviving worship of the Christian Sabbath on earth prove a pleasing earnest of nearer intercourse with God in the Zion above. But heavenly contemplation need not be confined to one day in seven; it may be en­joyed amidst the ordinary transactions of daily business: nay, every occurrence in life, every mercy and affliction, every temptation or escape, every danger or deliverance -should aid you in rising from the creature to God, and in setting your affections on -the things which are above. Every return­ing evening it becomes you to inquire, What hath been your state and temper of mind, amidst the varying events of the day? what duties have been cheerfully performed, or sinfully omitted? what temptations have been boldly resisted, or shamefully complied with? what trials have been patiently en­dured, or fretfully spurned at? what graces of the divine life have been exercised, and what have been neglected? what time hath been happily gained from indolence, or car­nal indulgence? and what endeavours have been used for promoting the good of others, or the honour of religion? Such self-exa­mination should be strictly attended to, and considerably enlarged every Lord’s day ev­ening, every return of your birth-day, every first day of the year, and always before par­taking of the sacrament of the supper.

Another happy mean of promoting in the mind the true spirit of religion, is daily, earnest secret prayer. This may well be esteemed by Christians an important duty, and an inestimable privilege. So necessary is it for the progress of real goodness, that without prayer, all the other means already recommended, would be of little avail; and so advantageous is it to the Christian, that the follies of the world will be lightly es­teemed, when intercourse with the God of all grace is enjoyed. No duty can be more reasonable, than that frail creatures should daily acknowledge, with gratitude and re­verence, their dependence upon God, and their obligations to the Giver of all good: no service can be more acceptable to heaven than the morning and evening sacrifice of humble adoration and fervent intercession, through the one Mediator; and no attainment marks more strongly the Christian’s progress in religion, than a praying spirit; by which is meant, a delight in approaching to God as the hearer of prayer; and un­folding, with undisguised freedom, our sins and sorrows; a turning every day’s events into arguments and matters for supplication; and a persevering continuance, in humbly pleading for promised blessings. That praying spirit which all should cul­tivate, meets with violent opposition from the pride and levity of the human mind; the former inclining to live as if indepen­dent of God; the other leading to an indo­lent superficial performance of a mere ex­ternal form, vainly dignified with the name of prayer. But every lover of real religion must resist these temptations; must seek, through grace, to continue instant in prayer: and even when unable to order his cause through reason of his ignorance, or through the prevalence of unbelief, must, with sighs, which cannot be expressed, heave the wish­ful desire to that righteous Advocate, who maketh continual intercession: and hope for the Spirit to help his infirmities.

You who are considered as placed in the obscurer ranks of life, and for whose benefit this publication is chiefly intended, ought particularly to rejoice in the privilege of prayer. It is the provision which your heavenly Father hath made for your consolation in this weary wilderness; allowing you, at all times, freedom of access to the throne of his mercy; and assuring you that his ear is ever open to the cry of the hum­ble. Through that compassionate Re­deemer, who is your prevalent Advocate, you have access by one Spirit, to the Father. Go, therefore, to him with all your difficul­ties; unfold to him the secret griefs which you cannot safely intrust with any compa­nion; rely on his wisdom for guidance, and on his almighty power for protection; en­large your desires after heavenly enjoy­ments; and plead the accomplishment of his gracious promises. Thus by the prayer of faith, you will be strengthened, estab­lished, and comforted; and by making all your wants known, with supplication and thanksgiving, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind, through Christ Jesus our Lord.