October 13

I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. - Acts 20:27.

IT has already been shown that “the counsel of God” here refers to the gospel; and here with that reference we observe, first, That there is in this subject itself, and the manner of its announcement, a fulness of affluence and harmony. Though it be a whole yet it has a thousand parts; and the whole is a mighty whole too. The Apostle therefore calls it the “unsearchable riches of Christ” which he was to preach among the Gentiles, and he prays for the Ephesians that they might “be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Secondly, It is intimated that it must he preached without partiality, both with regard to the persons addressed, and to the subject of the address. To all hearers he says he had declared the “counsel of God,” without abridgment, reserve, or concealment, so that by “the manifestation of the truth he had commended himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Thirdly, It is intimated that in doing this he had to withstand and resist many temptations; and these temptations still exist. If a minister brings forward the doctrines of grace in all their fulness and harmony, he will be subjected to the charge of Antinomianism; and if he enforce the precepts in all their Spirituality and extensiveness, embracing all personal and religious duties which they enjoin, he will subject himself to the charge of legality; and if he unfold the work of the Spirit as experienced in and by all real Christians, so that they may say with Newton, I have “learned by experience,” or that “true religion,” as Hart says, “is more than notion, something must be known and felt,” he will be charged with enthusiasm, as if either love or sorrow could be unfelt.

Religion must be within in the principle before it can be seen without in the conduct. Now when all these things, this doctrine, this experience, and this practice are combined, when regardless of the charge of Antinomianism, these doctrines are preached clearly and fully; and when, regardless of the charge of enthusiasm, Christian experience and the agency and influence of the Holy Ghost in the souls of men is brought forward and insisted upon; and when, regardless of the charge of legality, pious tempers and a holy walk and conversation becoming the gospel is enjoined, the minister can also say with Paul, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

Considering the mixture there was in the congregations which heard Paul preach, and that there is always in every congregation, it is probable, if not certain, that the preacher who does not “shun to declare unto all the counsel of God” will give some offence. But says the Apostle, “If I seek to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Daniel reproved Belshazzar as if he had been a common man; and John’s doctrine was as rough as the garments he wore; and he dared to tell majesty to its face, that it was not above law any more than one of his subjects: “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” Paul knew the character and conduct of Felix and Drusilla, but “he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.”

It is a poor sermon, says George Whitfield, that gives no offence, that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself, nor with the preacher. It was a noble eulogium that Louis XIV. passed on one of his preachers, Massilon: “I don’t know how it is; when I hear my other chaplains I admire them, but when I hear Massilon I always go away displeased with myself.” There could not be a finer encomium. And, says the Apostle, “Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and in godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.” And he knew that this satisfaction of his would bear attestation. “I call God,” says he, “to witness that I am pure from the blood of all men,” and the blood of souls is the most defiling, and cries out the most for vengeance; for “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”