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  CHOICE SERMONS
  by Samuel Davies
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Selected sermons by Samuel Davies, the great 18th-century Presbyterian preacher
and president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton). His sermons are noted
for their evangelical fervor, literary quality, and appeal to both heart and
mind.

  Chapters: 31

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00.1-Davies, Samuel � Choice Sermons
    2. 00.2-SOURCE NOTE AND SPECIAL THANKS
    3. 00.3-BiographySeptember, 1845�
    4. 01-A New Year's Gift!
    5. 02-Lessons from the Recent EARTHQUAKE�
    6. 03-The Justice of God�andthe Sins of Our Country
    7. 04-This very year you are going to die!by Samuel Davies
    8. 05-The Resurrection of Damnation
    9. 06-The General Resurrection
   10. 07-The Universal Judgment
   11. 08-The Success of the Gospel by the Divine Power upon the Souls of Men
   12. 09-The Nature of Love to God andChrist, Opened and Enforced
   13. 10-The Christian Feast
   14. 11-Divine Mercy to Mourning Penitents
   15. 12-Indifference to the Things of this Present Life�Urged from Life's Shortness and Vanity
   16. 13-Unseen Things to Be Preferred to Seen Things
   17. 14-The Rejection of Gospel-light, the Condemnation of Men
   18. 15-Ingratitude to God�a Heinous but General Iniquity
   19. 16-Divine Government�the Joy of Our World
   20. 17-The Sacred Import of the Christian Name
   21. 18-The Nature and Danger of MakingLight of Christ and Salvation
   22. 19-Jesus Christ, the Only Foundation
   23. 20-The One Thing Needful
   24. 21-The Compassion of Christ to Weak Believers
   25. 22-The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion
   26. 23-The Vessels of Mercy and theVessels of Wrath Delineated
   27. 24-The Wonderful Compassion of Christ to the Greatest Sinners
   28. 25-On the Death of King George II
   29. 26-A Time of Unusual Sickness and Mortality Improved
   30. 27-The Christian Ministry
   31. 28-Serious Reflections on WAR

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  CHAPTER 1: 00.1-DAVIES, SAMUEL � CHOICE SERMONS
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Davies, Samuel – Choice Sermons

(1724-1761) A New Year’s Gift!

Lessons from the Recent EARTHQUAKE The Justice of God—and the Sins of Our
Country This Very Year You are Going to Die! The Resurrection of Damnation The
General Resurrection The Universal Judgment The Success of the Gospel by the
Divine Power upon the Souls of Men The Nature of Love to God and Christ, Opened
and Enforced The Christian Feast Divine Mercy to Mourning Penitents Life’s
Shortness and Vanity Unseen Things to Be Preferred to Seen Things The Rejection
of Gospel-light, the Condemnation of Men Ingratitude to God—a Heinous but
General Iniquity Divine Government—the Joy of Our World The Sacred Import of the
Christian Name The Nature and Danger of Making Light of Christ and Salvation
Jesus Christ, the Only Foundation The One Thing Needful The Compassion of Christ
to Weak Believers The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion The Vessels of Mercy
and the Vessels of Wrath Delineated The Wonderful Compassion of Christ to the
Greatest Sinners On the Death of King George II A Time of Unusual Sickness and
Mortality Improved The Christian Ministry Serious Reflections on WAR


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  CHAPTER 2: 00.2-SOURCE NOTE AND SPECIAL THANKS
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SOURCE NOTE AND SPECIAL THANKS

Grace Gems Editors (God’s Servants) at http://www.gracegems.org/ updated,
revised, and adapted this beautiful material to modern English. They adopted a
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NT v.96)


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  CHAPTER 3: 00.3-BIOGRAPHYSEPTEMBER, 1845�
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Biography September, 1845

Samuel Davies (1724–1761) was a Congregational minister, and, in some respects,
was a most remarkable man. As a pulpit orator, this country has furnished but
few equals. For persevering industry and toil in his Master’s service, he has
left an example worthy the imitation of the pious in all ages. For great success
in his labors, as a Christian minister, he was singularly successful. Few men,
perhaps, in any age have been more highly honored, than was our author, in
accomplishing the great objects contemplated in the Christian ministry. The
precise time of his conversion is unknown, though it is supposed to have taken
place when about twelve years of age. Being early dedicated to God by his
parents, he was now led to consecrate himself to God, through faith in the
atoning merit. For a time he was exercised with perplexing doubts respecting his
divine acceptance but by constant prayer, and impartial and repeated
self-examination, he obtained a satisfactory assurance of his adoption into the
divine family, which he happily retained to the end of his life.

He was not favored with a collegiate education, though being naturally endowed
with an extraordinary intellect, and being ardently zealous to accomplish
whatever he took in hand, he prosecuted his studies with astonishing success.
All subjects within his investigations were mastered with apparent ease. By his
indefatigable labors, his scholarship became quite extensive. From what has been
said, it appears that he early selected the Christian ministry as a calling for
life. Whether the prayers and instructions of his parents had any influence on
this early selection, is not necessary here to inquire At what age he entered
upon his long-desired vocation is uncertain; though it is highly probable that
he commenced his ministry when about twenty. At twenty-one, it is supposed that
he was engaged as a minister, in a revival of religion in Virginia. He preached
to several congregations, which formed a kind of circuit, and in the discharge
of his duties he was frequently under the necessity of traveling sixty miles.
Such were his patience, perseverance, and piety, together with his powerful
ministrations, that his labors were attended with great success. The "wilderness
and solitary places" bloomed and blossomed before him. Many sinners were
converted through his instrumentality, and among them were many slaves, who, no
doubt, will furnish additional jewels in his " crown of glory."

Davies seemed to have been peculiarly fitted for the exigences of the times in
which he lived. It was an age characterized by profligacy and vice; corruption
of manners and a deep-rooted opposition to spiritual things had become
exceedingly prevalent. A large proportion of the people had become averse to
experimental piety, and many who adhered to the "form," were destitute of the
"power, of godliness." To meet the opposition, prejudice, and ignorance of such
a period, required the first order of endowments. Such were pre-eminently
possessed by our author. Like the Wesleys, he was evidently "fitted to his day."

Mr. Bostwick describes him as being "adorned with such an assemblage of amiable
and useful qualities, and each shining with such distinguished luster, that it
is hard to say in which he most excelled; and equally hard to mention one
valuable or useful accomplishment in which he did not excel. A large and
capacious understanding; a solid, unbiased, and well-regulated judgment; a quick
apprehension; a genius truly penetrating; a fruitful invention; an elegant
taste—were all happily united in him, and constituted a real greatness of mind
which never failed to strike every observer with an agreeable surprise."

It was as a Christian minister, that our author particularly excelled. He loved
the work, being satisfied that he had been called to it by the "Holy Spirit,"
and to it he unreservedly consecrated all the powers of body and mind. Feeling
that the "love of Christ constrained" him, he went forth an itinerant minister,
as did the apostles, "To seek the wandering souls of men." In the exercise of
the ministerial functions, "his fervent zeal and sincere piety, popular talents
and engaging address, soon acquired for him a distinguished character, and
general admiration. Scarcely was he known as a minister but he was sent, on the
earnest application of the people, to some of the distant settlements of
Virginia, where many of the inhabitants, in respect of religion, were but a
small remove from the darkness and ignorance of uncultivated heathenism; and
where the religion of Jesus, which he endeavored to propagate, had to encounter
all the blindness, prejudice, and enmity, that are natural to the heart of the
most depraved sinner. Yet, under all apparent disadvantages, his labors were
attended with such remarkable success, that all opposition quitted the unequal
combat, and gave way to the powerful energy of the divine Spirit, which was
graciously pleased by his ministry to add many new subjects to the spiritual
kingdom of our glorious Immanuel."

"The work of the ministry," says the author just quoted, "was Mr. Davies’ great
delight, and for which he was admirably furnished with every valuable
qualification of nature and grace. Divinity was a favorite study, in which he
made great proficiency for one of his years, and yet he generally preferred the
most necessary and practical branches of it to the dark mazes of endless
controversy and intricate disputes; aiming chiefly at the conversion of sinners,
and to change the hearts of men by an affecting representation of the plain, but
most important and interesting truths of the gospel. His talent for composition,
especially for the pulpit, was equaled by few, and perhaps exceeded by none. His
taste was judicious, elegant, and polite, and yet his discourses were plain and
pungent; peculiarly adapted to pierce the conscience and affect the heart. His
diction was surpassingly beautiful and comprehensive, tending to make the most
stupid hearer sensibly feel, as well as clearly understand. Sublimity and
elegance, plainness and perspicuity, and all the force and energy of language,
were seen, to some extent, in all his writings. His manner of delivery, as to
pronunciation, gesture, and modulation of voice, seemed to be a perfect model of
the most moving and striking oratory.

"Whenever he ascended the sacred desk, he seemed to have not only the attention,
but all the various passions of his auditory entirely at command. And as his
personal appearance was noble and venerable, yet benevolent and mild, so he
could speak with the most commanding authority, or melting tenderness, according
to the variation of his subject. With what majesty and grandeur, with what
energy and striking solemnity, with what powerful and almost irresistible
eloquence, would he illustrate the truths and inculcate the duties of
Christianity! Mount Sinai seemed to thunder from his lips, when he denounced the
curses of the law, and sounded the dreadful alarm to guilty sinners. The solemn
scenes of the last judgment seemed to rise in view, when he arraigned, tried,
and convicted, self-deceivers and hypocrites. And how did the balm of Gilead
distill from his lips, when he exhibited a bleeding Savior to sinful man, as a
remedy for the wounded heart and guilty conscience! In a word, whatever subject
he undertook, persuasive eloquence dwelt upon his tongue; and his audience was
all attention. He spoke as on the borders of eternity, and as viewing the
glories and terrors of an unseen world, and conveyed the most grand and
affecting ideas of these important realities; realities which he then firmly
believed, and which he now sees in the clearest light." But to the volumes
before us. These contain a large number of sermons on "important subjects,"
which were published after the author’s death. Such was their rapid sale, that
they soon passed through nine editions. They passed through several editions in
England, and were sought after there with great eagerness by the religious
reading community. Indeed, it is believed that no sermons of modern times have
passed through more editions than have these, except those of Mr. Wesley. And
though, perhaps, occasionally lacking in elegance of diction, and excessive in
verbiage, yet they will be sought for and read when many others of more recent
date shall have been consigned to oblivion. Dr. Gibbons, in the sixth London
edition, speaks of them as follows:

"A careful attention to the portions of sacred truth upon which he proposes to
treat, so that his discourse as naturally rises from his theme as the branch
grows from the root, or the stream issues from the fountain. In every page, and
almost every line of our author’s sermons, his readers may discover the subject
he at first professed to handle; and he is ever illustrating, proving, or
enforcing some truth evidently contained in it; observing a due regard to the
divine Word, by comparing and confirming Scripture by Scripture, by taking the
sacred text in its easy and natural sense, and by pertinent citations of
passages, both in the proof and amplification; an observance of method and
order, so as to proceed, like a wise builder, in laying a foundation and
regularly erecting the superstructure, and yet diversifying his method by making
it sometimes open and express, and at other times indirect and implicit; a rich
vein of evangelical doctrine with a proper notice of practical duties, or awful
denunciation of divine wrath against the impenitent and incorrigible; an
impartial regard to the cases of all his hearers, like a good steward
distributing to all their portion in due season; animated and pathetic
application, in which our author collects and concentrates what he has proved in
his discourses; and urges it with all the power of forcible address and melting
persuasion to the heart." That the enterprising publishers have presented the
public with a new and cheap edition of these sermons is a matter of
thankfulness; and it is ardently hoped that they will still prove a great
blessing to the ministry and to the church, and that they will continue to be
read with increasing interest, delight, and profit, until time shall be no more!

R. W. A. New London, Connecticut, September, 1845.


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  CHAPTER 4: 01-A NEW YEAR'S GIFT!
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A New Year’s Gift! by Samuel Davies, January 1, 1760

"Knowing the time—that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed." Romans 13:11

TIME, like an ever-running stream, is perpetually gliding on, and hurrying each
of us into the boundless ocean of eternity! We are now entering upon one of
those imaginary lines of division, which men have drawn to measure out TIME for
their own convenience; and, while we stand upon the threshold of a new year, it
befits us to make a solemn contemplative pause; though time can make no
pause—but rushes on with its usual velocity. Let us take some suitable reviews
and prospects of time past and future, and indulge such reflections as our
transition from year to year naturally tends to suggest. The grand and leading
reflection is that in the text, with which I present you as a New-Year’s Gift:
"Knowing the time—that it is now high time to awake out of sleep!" The
connection of our text is this—The apostle, having enjoined sundry duties of
religion and morality, subjoins this consideration, namely—that the time
remarkably required them, as if he should say, "Be subject to magistrates, and
love one another, and that because, knowing the time, that it is now high time,
or the proper hour, to awake out of sleep. A sleepy negligence as to these
things is peculiarly unreasonable at such a time as this!" The Romans, to whom
this epistle was written, were Christians indeed; they were such, whose
salvation the apostle could point at as near approaching: "Now," says he, "is
your salvation nearer than when you believed." And yet he calls even upon such
to awake out of sleep. The fact is, that even sincere Christians are too often
apt to fall into a spiritual lethargy. They contract an indolent, dull, lazy
disposition, as to the duties of religion and divine things. Sometimes their
love languishes, their zeal cools, and they become remiss or formal in their
devotions.

Now such a state of dullness and inactivity is often represented by the metaphor
SLEEP; because as sleep disables us from natural actions, and blunts our
physical senses. Just so, this spiritual sleep indisposes the soul for the
service of God and spiritual sensations.

Hence it follows, that to awake out of sleep, signifies to rouse out of carnal
security, to shake off spiritual sloth, and to engage in the concerns of true
religion with vigor and full exertion, like men awake. And as even Christians
are too often liable to fall into some degrees of spiritual sleep, as they often
nod and slumber over the great concerns of piety, which demand the utmost
exertion of all their powers, notwithstanding the principle of divine life
implanted in them, there is great need to call even upon them to awake. Thus the
apostle rouses the Roman Christians, including himself among them, as standing
in need of the same excitation. It is high time for us, says he, that is, for
you and I, to awake out of sleep! This is a duty proper at all times. There is
not one moment of time in which a Christian may lawfully and safely be slothful
and negligent. Yet the apostle intimates, that some particular times call for
particular vigilance and activity; and that to sleep at such times is a sin
peculiarly aggravated. NOW, says he, it is high time for us, to awake out of
sleep: "This is not a time for us to sleep! This time calls upon us to rouse and
exert ourselves! This is the hour for action! We have slept too long already!
Now let us rouse and rise!" The apostle also intimates, that the serious
consideration and right knowledge of TIME, is a strong excitement to awake out
of sleep. "Knowing the time," says he, "that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep;" that is, your knowing and seriously considering the importance, the
uncertainty, and the shortness of time in general, and the peculiar
circumstances of the present time in particular, may be sufficient to rouse you.
Natural sleep should be in its season: "Those who sleep—sleep in the night."
But, says he, "we are all the children of the light, and the children of the
day. We are brought out of darkness into the glorious light of the gospel;"
therefore let not us sleep, as others do. Consider the time, that it is
day-light with you; and you cannot but be sensible, that it is now high time for
us to awake out of sleep! This is the hour to rise. Therefore let us awake to
righteousness. The reason the apostle urges upon the Roman Christians to awake
at that time is very strong and moving; it is this: "Now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed." Salvation is hastening quickly towards us upon the wings
of time. As many years as are past since we first believed in Christ—by so many
years nearer is our salvation! Or, as he expresses it in the next verse, "The
night is far spent—the day is at hand." The gloomy, turbulent night of the
present state is near over; the dawn of eternal day is just ready to open upon
us; and can we sleep at such a time? What! sleep on the very threshold of
heaven! What! sleep, when salvation is just ready to embrace us! What! sleep,
when the dawn of celestial day is just about shining around us! Is it possible
that we should sleep at such a time? Must not the prospect of everlasting
salvation so near us, the thought that in a very little time we shall be in
heaven—rouse us, and fix us in a posture of eager expectation and constant
watchfulness? The text implies, that Christians should always be growing in
grace; and that the nearer their salvation is—the more lively and zealous should
they be; and since it is nearer this year than the last year—they ought to be
more holy this year than the last. The nearer they are to heaven—the more
heavenly they should be. The near approach of salvation is a strong motive to
holiness; and the stronger by how much the nearer it is. My chief design, at
present, is, to lead you to know the time, and to make such reflections upon it,
as its nature and circumstances require, and as are suited to our respective
conditions. The first thing I would set you upon as a necessary introduction to
all the rest, is the important but neglected duty of self-examination. Methinks
it should shock a man to enter upon a new year, without knowing whether he shall
be in heaven or hell before the end of it! And that man who can give but a very
poor account of the last year, and perhaps twenty or thirty years before
it—cannot yet give any satisfactory answer to this grand question. Time is given
us to determine this important point, and to use proper means to determine it in
our favor. Let us therefore resolve, this day, that we will not live another
year utterly uncertain what will become of us through an endless duration! This
day let us put this question to our hearts: "What really am I? Am I an humble,
dutiful servant of God? Or am I a disobedient, impenitent sinner? Am I a
disciple of Christ in reality? Or do I only wear His name, and make an empty
profession of His religion? Where am I bound for? For heaven—or for hell? Which
am I most fit for in my disposition? For the region of perfect holiness—or for
that region of sin and impurity? Shall I stupidly delay the determination, until
it is passed by the irrevocable sentence of the Supreme Judge, before whom I may
stand before this year is at a close? Alas, if it should then be against me—then
my doom will be remediless! But if I should now discover my case to be bad,
blessed be God, it is not too late to alter it. I may yet obtain a good hope,
through grace, though my present hope should be found to be that of the
hypocrite!"

If I should push home this inquiry, it will probably reveal two sorts of people
among us, to whom my text leads me particularly to address myself: the one,
entirely destitute of true religion, and consequently altogether unprepared for
a happy eternity, and yet careless and carnally secure in that dangerous
situation; the other, Christians indeed, and consequently habitually prepared
for their latter end; but criminally remiss or formal in the concerns of piety,
and in the duties they owe to God and man. The one, sunk in a deep sleep in sin;
the other, nodding and slumbering, though upon the slippery brink of eternity!
Now, as to both these sorts of people—it is high time for them to awake out of
sleep. And this exhortation I would press upon them, first, by some general
considerations common to both; and then, by some particular considerations
proper to each respectively. The general considerations are such as these:

I. Consider the UNCERTAINTY of your time! You may die the next year, the next
month, the next week, the next day, the next hour, or the next moment!

I once knew a minister who, while he was making this same point—was made a
striking illustration of it—and instantly dropped down dead in the pulpit! When
you look forward through the year now begun, you see what may never be your own.
No, you cannot call one day of it your own! Before that day comes, you may be
done with time—and have entered upon eternity! Men presume upon time, as if it
was guaranteed upon them for so many years; and this is the delusion which ruins
multitudes! How many are now in eternity, who begun the last year with as little
expectation of death, and hopes of long life—as you have at the beginning of the
present year? And this may be your doom! Should a prophet be sent to open the
book of the divine decrees to you—as Jeremiah did to Hananiah; some of you would
no doubt see it written there by your name, "This year you shall die!"Jeremiah
28:16. Some unexpected moment in this year, will put an end to all the labors
and enjoyments of the present state, and all the duties and opportunities
peculiar to it!

Therefore, if sinners would repent and believe; if they would obtain the favor
of God and preparation for the heavenly state; and if saints would make high
improvements in piety; if they would make their calling and election sure, that
they may not stumble over doubts and fears into the presence of their Judge; if
they would do anything for the honor of God, and the interests of the Redeemer’s
kingdom in the world; if they would be of service to their families, their
friends, their country, and mankind in general; NOW is the time for them to
awake out of sleep, and set about their respective work!

NOW is the time, because this is the ONLY time they are certain of! Sinners, you
may be in hell before this year finishes its round—if you delay the great
business of salvation any longer! And saints, if you neglect to improve the
present time, you may be compelled to shoot the gulf of eternity, and launch
away to unknown coasts—full of fears and perplexities; you may be cut off from
all opportunities of doing service to God and mankind, of endeavoring to instill
the principles of Christian knowledge and practice into the minds of your dear
children, and those under your care—unless you catch the present hour. For
remember, time is uncertain! Youth, health, strength, business, riches, power,
wisdom, and whatever this world contains—cannot insure it. No, the thread of
life is held by the divine hand alone; and God can snap it asunder, without
warning, in whatever moment He pleases! "It is appointed unto men once to
die—and after that to face judgment!" Hebrews 9:27

II. Consider the SHORTNESS of your time! Time in its utmost extent, including
what is past from the creation, and what is future to the final conflagration,
is nothing when compared to eternity. But the time of your life is vastly
shorter! That part of time which is parceled out to you—is not only
UNCERTAIN—but extremely SHORT! It is uncertain when it will end—but it is
absolutely certain that it will end very soon! You cannot hope to surpass the
common standard of long lives—and that is but seventy or eighty years. Nay, you
have but very little reason to hope you shall arrive to this. There are at least
ten who die before they reach seventy years—for every one who lives to the age
of seventy. It is therefore far more likely that you will never spend seventy or
eighty years upon earth. A shorter space than that—will probably convey you from
this world—to heaven or hell. And is it not high time then for you to awake out
of sleep! Your work is great—and your time is short! You have no time to
spare—none to trifle away! It is all little enough for the great work which you
have yet to do.

III. Consider how much of your time has been LOST and MISSPENT already! Some of
you that are now the sincere servants of God, may recollect how late in life you
engaged in his service; how long you stood idle in his vineyard, when his work
was before you. How many guilty days and years have you spent in the drudgery of
sin, and in a base neglect of God and your immortal souls!

Others of you, who have the noble pleasure of reflecting that you devoted
yourselves to God early, in comparison with others—are yet sensible how many
days and years were lost before you were saved—lost in the sins and follies of
childhood and youth. And the best of you have reason to lament how much of
precious time you have misspent, even since you heartily engaged in the service
of God; how many opportunities, both of doing good to others—and receiving good
yourselves, you have lost by your own carelessness. How many seasons for
devotion have you neglected or misimproved! Oh! how little of your time has been
devoted to God—and the service of your souls! How much of it has been wasted
upon trifles, or in an over-eager pursuit of this vain world! Does not the loss,
upon the whole, amount to many days—and even years? And a day is no small loss
to a creature, who has so few days at most to prepare for eternity! And to many
of you, is it not sadly evident, that you have lost ALL the days and years that
have rolled over your heads? You have perhaps managed time well, as to the
purposes of the present life; but that is but the lowest and most insignificant
use of it. Time is given as a space for repentance and preparation for eternity;
but you have entirely lost it—as to this grand use of it! Nay, are not your
hearts more hard, and you less prepared for eternity now, than you were some
years ago? Have you not been heaping up the mountain of sin higher and higher
every day, and estranging yourselves from God more and more? To heighten your
loss of precious time—you should consider it as IRRECOVERABLE. Nothing is more
impossible, than to recall past time. It is gone! it is gone forever! Yesterday
can no more return—than the years before the flood! Power, wisdom, tears,
entreaties, all the united efforts of the whole universe of creatures, can never
cause it to return! And is there so much of your time lost? Lost beyond all
possibility of recovery? And is it not high time to awake out of sleep! Have you
any more precious time to throw away? Shall the time to come—be abused and lost,
like the past? Or will you not endeavor to redeem the time you have lost—in the
only way in which it can be redeemed; that is, by doubling your industry in time
to come? You have MUCH to be done—in a little time, since you have now but
little left. You have indeed had ten, twenty, thirty, or forty precious years;
but, alas! they are irrecoverably lost. And may not this thought startle you—and
cause you to awake out of sleep! the loss of the same number of kingdoms would
not be half so great. To a candidate for eternity, whose everlasting state
depends upon the improvement of time—a year is of infinitely greater importance,
than a kingdom can be to any mortal man!

IV. Consider, that the great PURPOSES of the present life, can be accomplished
only in time; for there are certain important duties peculiar to this world,
which, if unperformed here, must remain so forever, because eternity is not the
season for them.

Both worlds have their proper business allotted them; and the proper business of
the one—cannot be done in the other. ETERNITY and TIME are intended for quite
different purposes. The one is seed-time; the other, harvest! The one is the
season for working; the other, for receiving the wages! And if we would invert
the unchangeable order of things, and defer the business of life until after
death—we shall find ourselves miserably mistaken!

Therefore if saints would make progress in piety; I mean that religion which
befits our present sinful state; that religion which is a course of discipline
to prepare and educate us for heaven; which is a painful process for our
refinement, to qualify us for that pure region; if they would nourish a noble
ambition, and not only ensure happiness—but high degrees of it; if they would be
of service to mankind, as members of civil or religious society; and
particularly, if they would be instrumental to form others for a blessed
immortality, and save souls from death, by converting sinners from the errors of
their way: if they would do these things, the present life is the only time. In
heaven they will have more noble employment. These things must NOW be done—or
never! And oh! what pious heart can bear the thought of leaving the world while
these important things are undone? Would you not desire to enter into
heaven—ripe for it? To be completely formed by your education, before you enter
upon a state of maturity? Oh! does not your heart burn to do something for your
gracious God and Savior, who has done and suffered so much for you? Oh! Do you
not long to be an instrument of some service to the world, while you are passing
through it? If this is your desire—NOW is the time. When once death has laid his
cold hand upon you—you are forever disabled from such services as these. Then
farewell to all opportunities of usefulness in the present life. Then, even your
children and dearest friends may run on in sin, and perish, while it is not in
your power so much as to speak one word to dissuade them! Therefore, enter upon
this new year with hearty resolutions to be more zealous and laborious in these
respects, than you have ever yet been.

Again, if unrepentant sinners, who are now in a state of condemnation, would
escape out of it; if those who are at present slaves to sin, would become
sincere converts to righteousness; if they would use the means of grace for that
purpose—then NOW is the time. There is none of this salvation work in hell! They
no sooner enter into the eternal world—than their state will be unchangeably and
eternally fixed! The present life is the only state of trial; and if we do not
turn out well in this trial—we shall never have another! All are ripe for
eternity—before they are removed into it! The godly are ripe for heaven—and the
wicked are ripe for hell! The godly are vessels of mercy, prepared for glory;
the wicked are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and for nothing else!
And therefore they must remain forever in their respective lodgings!

Sinners do indeed repent when in hell—but their repentance is their punishment,
and has no tendency to amend or save them. They mourn and weep—but their tears
are but oil to increase the flame! They cry, and perhaps pray in hell—but the
hour of acceptance with God is past—past forever! The means of grace are all
gone! The sanctifying influences of the Spirit are all withdrawn forever! And
hence they will corrupt and putrefy into mere masses of pure unmingled
wickedness and misery!

Sinners, realize this thought—and surely, it must rouse you out of your lethargy
and sleep! Trifle on a little longer—and it is all over with you! Spend a few
days more as you have spent your time past—and you will be engulfed in as
hopeless a misery—as any devil in hell!

Another year now meets you, and invites you to improve it to prepare for
eternity; and if you waste it like the past—you may be undone forever. Therefore
take Solomon’s warning, "Whatever your hand finds to do—do it with all your
might; for in the grave, where you are going—there is neither working nor
planning nor knowledge nor wisdom!" Ecclesiastes 9:10

These considerations, methinks, must have some weight, both upon slumbering
Christians and impenitent sinners—to persuade them to awake out of sleep. I now
proceed to a few considerations peculiar to each class.

Upon slumbering saints I would again try the force of the apostolic
consideration in my text: "Awake, for now is your salvation nearer than when you
believed!" Heaven may be only at the distance of a year or an hour from you! It
is, however, certainly nearer today—than ever it was before. As many days as are
past—so much the less time have you to groan away in the present life. And shall
you indeed, in so short a time, be imparadised in the bosom of your God? Shall
you so soon be done with all the sins and sorrows which now oppress you? Are
your days of warfare with temptation so near a close? Shall you so soon be
advanced to all the glory and blessedness of the heavenly state, and be as happy
as your glorified nature can bear? Is this indeed the case? And must not the
prospect rouse you, and fire your hearts! Is not salvation the thing you have
been longing and laboring for? And now, can you slumber—when it is so near? Can
you sleep—when the night of life is so far spent, and the dawn of eternal day is
ready to shine around you! Can you sleep on the brink of eternity—on the
threshold of heaven! The apostle here intimates—that the near approach of
salvation is great cause of great joy to believers! It is a cause of joy—though
death lies between, and salvation cannot reach us until we pass through the
gloomy valley. Therefore, believers, I may wish you joy—in prospect that you
shall soon die! This wretched world shall not be your residence always! Your
worst enemies upon earth or in hell—will not be able to confine you here in this
world for long—much less forever. You may rejoice in the prospect of your speedy
dissolution, because death is not nearer to you—than your salvation! Before your
cooling clay is wrapped in its shroud—your glorified souls will be in heaven!
You will be striking examples of the truth of Solomon’s remark, that "the day of
one’s death—is better than the day of his birth." Ecclesiastes 7:1. Your death
day—will be your birthday, which will introduce you into the world of eternal
bliss!

Mortals in their language—will pronounce you "dead"—but angels will shout, "An
immortal born! Born to an everlasting life! Born to an eternal crown of glory!
Born to a priceless inheritance in heaven—pure and undefiled, beyond the reach
of change and decay!" And must not the prospect of this glorious day so
near—rouse you out of sleep? Can you not watch one hour, or one year? Shall
eternal salvation surprise you asleep?

Some of you perhaps are now thinking, "Oh! if I were certain that my salvation
is so near—it would even transport me, and inspire me with flaming zeal and
unwearied activity! But alas! I am afraid of being deceived. It is true, I
cannot but entertain some humble hope, which the severest trial cannot
overthrow. But oh! what if I should be mistaken? This makes me tremble, and
shrink back from the prospect of death and eternity!" This may be the case of
many an honest soul. But can this be pleaded as a reason or excuse for carnal
security? Alas! can you sleep in such a dreadful suspense? Alas! can you sleep,
while you are uncertain what shall become of you through an endless duration? If
you have not the sure prospect of salvation to awaken you—methinks the fear of
damnation must effectually do it! For it is certain that one or the other is
very near you!

Therefore endeavor by close and severe self-examination, to push the matter to
some certain outcome. Resolve that you will not spend another day, much less
another year—in a state of such dangerous, alarming uncertainty! If this point
is not yet determined—it is certainly high time for you to awake out of sleep!

Consider farther, how far your pious improvements, have come short of your own
resolutions and expectations, as well as your obligations. You happy souls, who
now enjoy a good hope through grace, recollect the time when you were in a very
different and more melancholy condition: the time when your hearts bled with a
thousand wounds; when the terrors of the Lord set themselves in array against
you—and the thunders of Sinai rung the most alarming peals in your astonished
ears; when the arrows of God stuck fast in you—and their poison drank up your
spirits; when guilt lay heavy upon your consciences, and sunk you down into the
depth of despondency; when you were haunted with alarming apprehensions of
divine vengeance night and day; when you went about crying for a Savior, "Oh for
a Savior!"—but your cries seem to be in vain!

Oh! what were then your vows and resolutions—if it should please God to deliver
you! Did you then expect—that you would fall asleep so soon after your
deliverance! Recollect also the happy hour, when the face of a reconciled God
first smiled upon you, when Jesus appeared to your minds in all the attractive
glories of a Savior—an all-sufficient Savior in a desperate case! When he
"delivered your soul from death, your feet from falling, and your eyes from
tears;" when he inspired your desponding hearts with hope, and revived you with
the heavenly cordials of his love!

Oh! what then were your thoughts and resolutions? How strongly were you bent to
make him returns of gratitude! How firmly did you bind yourselves to be his
servants forever! But how soon, alas! did you begin to slumber! How far short
have you fallen of your vows and promises!

Recollect also what were your expectations at that memorable time. Oh! would you
then have believed it, that in the space of ten or twenty years—that you would
have made such small progress in your heavenly course, as you have in fact done?
Had you not a better hope? But, alas! how are you disappointed! What sorry
servants have you been to so good a Master—in comparison of what you expected
yourselves to become! And can you bear the thought of slumbering on still? Oh!
shall this year pass by like the former? Surely you cannot bear the thought!
Therefore awake out of sleep! Rise and work for your God!

Let me conclude my address to you slumbering saints with this advice: Begin this
new year by dedicating yourselves afresh to God, and solemnly renewing your
covenant with him. Take some hour of retirement, this evening, or as soon as you
can. Call yourselves to account for the year past, and all your life. Recollect
your various spiritual infirmities, mourn over them, and resolve, in the
strength of divine grace—that you will guard against them in the time to come.
Examine yourselves both as to the reality of your religion—and as to your
proficiency in it. Conclude the whole—by casting yourselves anew upon Jesus
Christ, and devoting yourselves for this new year entirely to him; resolved to
live more to him than you have hitherto done, and depending upon him to conduct
you safely through whatever this year may bring forth, whether prosperity or
adversity, whether life or death. This is the true and only means whereby we can
attain that eternal happiness, which we ought all to be in pursuit of—that
pleasure which will never end!

Let me now address a few considerations to impenitent sinners, peculiarly
adapted to them: Consider what a dreadful risk you run—by neglecting the present
time. The longer you indulge yourselves in sin—the harder it will be to break
off from it; and do you not then run the risk of cementing an eternal union with
that deadly evil—sin? The longer you nourish a wicked disposition, the stronger
the habits of sin will grow! And are you not in danger of becoming eternal
slaves to it? The longer you continue impenitent—the harder your hearts will
grow! The oftener you do violence to your consciences—the more insensible they
will become! And are you not taking direct ways to confirm yourselves in
impenetrable hardness of heart—and contracting a reprobate mind? The more you
sin against God, and grieve his Spirit—the more you provoke him to withhold the
influences of his grace, and in righteous judgment—to give you up as a hardened
reprobate. And dare you run so dreadful a risk as this? The more time you
waste—the greater is your work, and the less your time to perform it. By how
much the longer you waste your time—by so much the shorter you make your
opportunity for salvation. Alas! the day of your visitation may be drawing fast
towards evening—when the things which belong to your peace will be eternally hid
from your eyes. Is it not then high time for you to awake out of sleep! Will you
rather run such a dreadful risk—than rouse out of your stupid security? Oh! what
will be the end of such a foolish course?

Let me deal plainly and without reserve with you, on a point too dangerous to
allow of flattery. If you do not now awake, and turn your attention to the
concerns of your souls—then it is but too probable that you will still go on in
carnal security—and at last perish forever! Blessed be God, this is not
certain—and therefore you have no reason to despair. But it is really most
probable—and therefore you have great reason to fear. This alarming probability,
methinks, must force its evidence upon your own minds, upon principles you
cannot reasonably dispute.

You have lived twenty, thirty, forty years, or more—in God’s world. You have
done much to provoke the almighty God to cast you off! Your sinful habits have
grown so strong! Your hearts have become so much hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin! You have continually rejected the gospel, and your
consciences have become greatly hardened by repeated violence! And the longer
you live in this wretched condition—the more and more discouraging it will grow.

I will by no means limit a sovereign God in the exercise of his free grace. But
this is evident, that from the human perspective, and according to appearances,
it was much more likely you would have been converted in time past, than that
you will be converted in time to come. The most hopeful part of life is over
with you; and yet even in that, you were not brought to repentance. How much
less likely is it, then, that you will be converted in time to come?

Allow me to tell you plainly (for it is my loving concern which makes the
declaration) that I cannot but tremble for some of you! I am really afraid some
of you will perish forever; and the ground of my fear is this: The most generous
charity cannot but conclude, that some of you are impenitent sinners; your
disposition and conduct proclaim it aloud! And it is very likely, all things
considered, that you will always be so. Since you have not repented in the most
promising season of life—it is much to be feared you will not repent in the less
promising part of it. And since no impenitent, unholy sinner can enter into the
kingdom of heaven—it is much to be feared that you will perish forever in hell;
not because the mercy of God, or the merit of Christ, is insufficient to save
you, if you apply to him for it, according to the terms of the gospel; not
because your case is in itself hopeless, if you would awake out of sleep, and
seek the Lord in earnest; nor because you have not sufficient encouragement for
laborious endeavors. But because it is all too likely, that you will continue on
careless and secure, as you have always done, and persist in it—until all your
time is gone—and then your case will be indeed desperate and hopeless!

I honestly warn you of your danger, which is too great to be concealed. And yet
I give you sufficient encouragement to fly from it, while I assure you, that if
you now lay your dreadful condition to heart, and earnestly use all proper means
for your conversion—then you have the utmost reason to hope for success; as much
reason as the saints now in heaven once had, when in your condition; and in your
condition they once were.

Therefore, now, sinners, awake out of your sleep! Instead of entering upon this
new year with carousals and extravagances; consecrate it to the great purpose
for which it is given you—by engaging in earnest—in the great work of your
salvation. "How can you sleep at a time like this? Get up and pray to God! Maybe
he will have mercy on you and spare your life!" Jonah 1:6. "Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light!" Ephesians 5:14.

Consider, that this year may lay you low in the dust of death. How many are now
in the grave—who saw the last new-year’s day! And though I cannot point out the
specific people who will die this coming year—yet, without a spirit of prophecy,
I may venture to foretell, that some of US will be in heaven or hell—before this
year ends its rapid round! Some gray head or some sprightly youth; perhaps
you—or perhaps myself! And since none of us know WHO it shall be—then none of us
are exempted from the necessity of immediate preparation. Oh! that we may all be
so wise, as to consider our latter end!

I beg permission of my kind hearers—to employ a few minutes in addressing myself
to my pupils, whom my affection would always single out from the rest, even when
I am speaking in general terms to a mixed crowd. Therefore, my dear charge, my
students, my children, and every tender and endearing name! You young immortals,
you embryo-angels or infant-fiends! You blooming, lovely, fading flowers of
human nature, the hope of your parents and friends, of church and state, the
hope, joy and glory of your teachers! Hear one who loves you! Hear one whose
greatest interest in the world—is to promote your best interest! Hear one who
would account this the greatest blessing he could enjoy in his pilgrimage, and
whose nights and days are sometimes made almost equally restless, by his
affectionate concerns for you! Hear him upon a subject in which you are most
intimately interested; a subject more important that even an angel could address
you upon; and that is—the right improvement of your time—the present time—and
preparation for eternity.

It is necessary that you in particular, you above all others, should know the
time—that it is now high time for YOU to awake out of sleep! I make no doubt but
you all look upon true religion—as an object worthy of your notice. You all as
certainly believe that there is a God—as that yourselves exist! You all believe
that heaven and hell are not majestic fantasies, or fairy-lands—but the most
important realities; and that YOU must in a little time—be the eternal residents
of the one or the other! It cannot, therefore, be a question with any of you,
whether you shall mind religion at all! On that you are all determined. But the
question is—what is the most proper time for it? whether the present—or some
uncertain hereafter? And in what order you should attend to it, whether in the
first place, and above all, even in your youthful days—or whether you should not
rather indulge yourselves in the pleasures of youth for some time—and then make
religion the business of the dregs of old age.

If any of you hesitate upon this point, it may be easily solved. NOW is the most
convenient, promising season for this purpose that you are likely to see! Never
will you live more free from care, or more remote from temptation. When you
launch out into the noise, and bustle, and hurry, and company, and business, and
vice of the world—then you will soon find the scene changed for the worse! He
must be a tempter to himself, who can find a temptation, while immured at this
school, and immersed in books. Never will you see the time, when your sins will
be so conquerable, and your hearts so tender, and susceptive of holy
impressions; though even now, if you really know yourselves, you find that your
sins are invincibly strong to you, and that your hearts impenetrably hard!
Therefore now, my dear youth, now is the inviting season: Awake out of your
sleep; awake to righteousness and sin not.

I beg you would not now commit sin—with a design to repent of it afterwards. For
can you be so foolish as knowingly and deliberately to do that which you
explicitly intend to repent of? That is, to do that which you intend to wish
undone; and to lament with broken hearts that ever you did it! Can Bedlam
itself, parallel the folly of this? Oh take warning from the fate of your
wretched predecessors in this course. Could you ask the crowds of lost souls who
are now suffering the eternal punishment of their sin, whether they intended to
persist impenitent in it, and perish—they would all answer, that they either
vainly flattered themselves that they had repented already—or intended to repent
before they died! But death seized them unawares, and put an end to all their
expectant hopes! Young sinners among them—imagined they would not die until old
age! And old age itself thought it might hold out a few days longer—and that
they would yet have time enough to repent. But oh! they have now discovered
their error, when it is too late to correct it!

Therefore do not harbor one thought of putting off repentance to a sick-bed, or
to old age; that is the most inconvenient and desperate season in your whole
life. And if you fix all your hopes upon this, we would think that you had
viewed your whole life on purpose to find the most unfit and discouraging period
of it—for the most necessary, difficult, and important work in the world!

Come, then—NOW devote yourselves to God, and away with all excuses and delays.
Remember, that upon the principles I have laid down, principles that must gain
your assent by the force of their own evidence; I say, remember, that upon these
principles, that it is extremely likely that you will always persist impenitent
in sin, and perish forever—if you waste away the present season of youth,
destitute of vital religion. Every day, you have less and less hope for
yourselves! And can you bear the thought of perishing forever? Are your hearts
so soon arrived to such a pitch of hardness, as to be armored against the
terrors of the dreadful prospect? It cannot be! For "who among us can dwell with
the devouring fire! Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings!" Isaiah
33:14. As for such of you as have already begun that great work of salvation—I
have only this to say, "Therefore, my dear brothers—be steadfast, immovable,
always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not
in vain!" 1 Corinthians 15:58.


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  CHAPTER 5: 02-LESSONS FROM THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE�
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Lessons from the Recent EARTHQUAKE

Preached in Hanover county, Virginia, June 19, 1756, by Samuel Davies.

(Note: In this sermon, Davies is referring to the Great Lisbon Earthquake which
took place on November 1, 1755. Contemporary reports state that the earthquake
lasted nearly six minutes, causing gigantic fissures 15 feet wide. Approximately
forty minutes after the earthquake, an enormous tsunami engulfed the harbor and
downtown. It was followed by two more waves. In the areas unaffected by the
tsunami, fire quickly broke out, and flames raged for five days! Tsunamis as
tall as 66 feet swept the coast of North Africa, and struck Martinique and
Barbados across the Atlantic.)

"Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap
will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The earth is
shaken beneath you. The earth has broken down and has utterly collapsed.
Everything is lost, abandoned, and confused. The earth staggers like a drunkard.
It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for its
sins are very great!" Isaiah 24:18-20 The works of Creation and Providence were
undoubtedly intended for the notice and contemplation of mankind, especially
when God comes out of his place, that is, departs from the usual and stated
course of his providence — to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquities; then it befits us to observe the operation of his hands with fear
and reverence. To this the Psalmist repeatedly calls us: "Come, see the glorious
works of the LORD: See how he brings destruction upon the earth!" Psalms 46:8.
"Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!" Psalms
66:5. To assist you in this, I shall cheerfully devote an hour today. This world
is a state of discipline for the eternal world; and therefore, chastisements of
various kinds and degrees are to be enumerated among the ordinary works of
Providence. Pain, sickness, losses, bereavements, disappointments; these are the
usual scourges of the divine hand, which our heavenly father uses every day, to
chastise some or other of his wayward children. But when these are found too
weak and ineffectual for their reformation; or when, from their being so
frequent and common, that people begin to think them things of course, and not
to acknowledge the divine hand in them; then the universal Ruler departs from
his usual methods of chastisements, and uses such signal and extraordinary
executioners of his vengeance, as cannot but rouse a slumbering world, and
render it sensible of his agency. At such times, God throws his world into a
ferment; and either controls its established laws, or carries such into
execution, as were formed only for extraordinary occasions. The extraordinary
executionersof his vengeance, are generally these four: 1. Famine 2. Sword 3.
Pestilence 4. Earthquakes A FAMINE in this land of plenty, would be an unusual
judgment indeed; and yet sundry parts of our country have been reduced to the
borders of it, by the severity of last year’s drought. The SWORD has been a
harmless weapon to us, until of late; but now it is brandished over our heads,
and pierces our country in a thousand veins. The PESTILENCE is a mischief that
has not spread desolation among us; though there is not perhaps one year, in
which it is not walking through some country or other upon our globe. As for
EARTHQUAKES, we have had such shakes, as may convince us, that we are not beyond
the reach of that desolating judgment, even on this solid continent; though they
have not as yet done us any injury. But perhaps there never was, since the
earthquake at the deluge, that broke up the fountains of the great deep, so
extensive a desolation of this kind — as has lately happened in Europe and
Africa. And though, blessed be God, it did not immediately affect us; yet the
very fame of so dreadful a judgment ought to be improved for our advantage. To
this event I may accommodate the words of my text, "The earth is shaken beneath
you. The earth has broken down and has utterly collapsed. Everything is lost,
abandoned, and confused. The earth staggers like a drunkard. It trembles like a
tent in a storm!" And the reason of all is, "For its sins are very great!"

Such of you as have read the public papers, need not be informed of that
wide-spreading earthquake, which began on the first of November, and has since
been felt at different times, through most parts of Europe. For the sake of
those that have only had some imperfect hints of it, I would give you this short
history: The city of Lisbon, Portugal, is now no more! Its vast riches, and by
all accounts, between fifty and a hundred thousand people, have been buried or
burnt in its ruins! Sundry other towns in Portugal, Spain, and along the
European coasts of the Mediterranean, have been damaged, overthrown, or sunk,
like Sodom and Gomorrah. The earthquake also extended across that sea, and has
ruined a great part of Africa, particularly in the empire of Morocco, where the
large and populous cities have been demolished, with many thousands of the
inhabitants. It has likewise been felt in sundry parts of Italy, Germany,
France, Bohemia, and even in Great Britain and Ireland. Nay, the tremor has
reached our continent; and has been very sensibly felt in Boston and other parts
of New England.

Though much harm has not been done in those parts — yet a loud warning has been
given; and oh! that it may not be given in vain. It would certainly be an
instance of inexcusable stupidity, for us to take no notice of so dreadful a
dispensation. Such devastations are at once, judgments upon the places where
they happen, and warnings to others. For what end were the Israelites punished
with so many miraculous judgments? Paul will tell you, it was not only for their
sins — but "all these things happened to them for examples, and they are written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Corinthians
10:11. For what end were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah turned into ashes?
Peter will tell you: God "made them an example unto those who should after live
ungodly." 2 Peter 2:6. And shall not we regard such examples, even in our own
age? Shall others perish for our admonition? and shall we receive no profit by
their destruction? This would be stupid and inexcusable indeed. Therefore my
present design is, to direct you to such meditations as this alarming event
naturally suggests; and which may be sufficient to the right improvement of it.
But before I enter upon this design, I would once more inculcate upon you a
doctrine, which I have often proved in your hearing; and that is: that this
world is a little territory of Jehovah’s government, and under the management of
his providence. And particularly, that all the blessings of life are the gifts
of his bounty; and all its calamities are the chastisements or judgments of his
hand. This I would have you to apply to the event now under consideration.

It is the providence of God that has impregnated the bowels of the earth with
these dreadful materials, that tear and shatter its frame. It is his providence
which strikes the spark, which sets this dreadful train in a flame, and causes
the terrible explosion!

There is a set of conceited, smattering philosophers risen among us, who think
they disprove all this, by alleging that earthquakes proceed from natural
causes; and therefore, it is superstitious to ascribe them to the agency of
Providence. But there is no more reason or philosophy in this, than if they
should deny that a man writes, because he makes use of a pen; or that kings
exercise government, because they employ servants under them. I grant, that
natural causes concur toward the production of earthquakes: but what are these
natural causes? Are they independent, self-moved causes? No! they were first
formed, and are still directed, by the Divine hand. The shortest and plainest
view I can give of the case is this: When God formed this globe, he saw what
would be the conduct of its inhabitants, in all the periods of time; and
particularly, he knew at what particular time a kingdom or city would be ripe
for his judgments; and he adjusted matters accordingly. He set the train of
events with so much exactness, that it will spring just in the critical moment,
when everything is ripe for it. And thus, by a preconcerted plan, he answers all
the occasional exigencies of the world, and suits himself to particular cases,
without a miraculous and direct working of his own hand.

Or, perhaps, he may sometimes think it necessary to work with his own immediate
hand, and to suspend or counteract the usual and stated laws of creation, that
his interference may be more conspicuous. Let this truth, then, my friends, be
laid deep in your minds, as a foundation: that earthquakes are the effects of
divine Providence, and produced to answer some of its important ends in the
world. And hence I naturally proceed, according to promise, to direct you to
such meditations as are suitable to this shocking event.

Now you may hence take occasion to reflect upon: the majesty and power of God;
the dreadfulness of God’s anger; the sinfulness of our world; the distinguishing
kindness of Providence towards us; the destruction of this globe at the final
judgment.

First, Let the majestic and terrible phenomenon of earthquakes put you in mind
of the majesty and power of God, and the dreadfulness of his displeasure. He can
toss and convulse this huge globe, and shake its foundations down to the center!
Trembling continents, burning or sinking mountains, wide-yawning gulfs in solid
ground, explosions of subterranean mines sufficient to shiver a world, are but
hints of his indignation. But my language does but sink this exalted subject; I
shall therefore give you the inimitable descriptions of the sacred writers.

"His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out
unscathed? He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his
anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. He
speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars. He
alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He is the
Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted."
Job 9:4-10

"For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the lowest hell. It
will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the
mountains. I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them!"
Deuteronomy 32:22-23 But the most striking and lively description, methinks,
which the language of inspiration itself has given us, is in the prophecy of
Nahum, "The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is
filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath
against his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will
not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and
clouds are the dust of his feet. The mountains quake before him and the hills
melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it.
Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is
poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him!" Nahum 1:2-6 And is
this the Being who is so little thought of in our world? Is this he — whose Name
passes for the lightest trifle, whose Word can hardly engage men’s attention,
whose Authority is ridiculed, whose Wrath is scorned, whose Laws are audaciously
violated, whose Threatenings are despised! Is this he, who is complimented with
empty, spiritless formalities, under the name of religion! Oh! is this he, whom
we are met this day to worship! What! and shall there be no more attention and
solemnity among us? Can anything be more unnatural, more impious, or more
shocking! Indeed, sirs, it strikes me with horror to think how contemptuously
this glorious, almighty, and awesome God is treated in our world. Angels do not
treat him so; nay, even devils, in the height of their malice, dare not thus
trifle with him — they tremble at his very name. Oh! "Why does the wicked man
revile God? Why does he say to himself-He won’t call me to account"? Psalms
10:13.

See here is your antagonist: "His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has
resisted him and come out unscathed?" Job 9:4. This earth is as nothing in his
hands. "Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as
dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust!" Isaiah
40:15. He who can shake this huge globe to the center; he who can bury proud
cities, with all their inhabitants, in the bowels of the earth; he who can toss
the ocean into a ferment, and cause it to overwhelm the guilty land; he who can
hurl the tallest mountains from their everlasting foundations into the sea, or
sink them into the valleys, or pools of water; he who has stored the bowels of
the earth, as with magazines of gunpowder, and can set it all in blaze, or burst
it into ten thousand fragments; he who can arm the tiniest creature, a gnat or a
worm, to be your executioner, and has an absolute power over the most mighty and
ungovernable elements: oh! what will he make of you, when he takes you in hand!
Can you rest easy one moment, while you have reason to fear that the supreme
Lord of the universe is your enemy — for your willful provocations! In his name
(in his glorious and fearful name has any weight with you) I charge you to seek
his favor; make him your friend, and dare to rebel against him no more! Dare you
continue a rebel against him, or careless about pleasing him — while you walk on
his ground, while you breathe in his air, while you feed upon his provisions,
while you live in his territories, and within the reach of his arm! Why, he can
make that earth you pollute with your sins — open its dreadful jaws and swallow
you up alive, like Korah and his company. Numbers 16:32.

Oh! my friends, it may break our hearts to think there should be any people so
mad as to incur his displeasure, and be careless about his favor. But, alas! are
there not some such among us? Well; they will soon find that "It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" unless they speedily repent.
Hebrews 10:31

Secondly, This desolating judgment may justly lead you to reflect upon the
sinfulness of our world. Alas! we live upon a guilty globe; and much has it
suffered for the sins of its inhabitants. Once it was all drowned in an
universal deluge; and many parts of it have since sunk under the load of guilt.
If sin had never defiled it — then it would never have been thus torn and
shattered. We have seen that these judgments are at the disposal of Divine
Providence: and we are sure, a righteous Providence would never inflict them
needlessly. It is SIN, my friends, which is the source of all the calamities
that oppress our world from age to age! It is sin which has so often convulsed
it with earthquakes! Do but observe the language of my text on this head, "The
earth is shaken beneath you. The earth has broken down and has utterly
collapsed. Everything is lost, abandoned, and confused. The earth staggers like
a drunkard. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise
again, for its sins are very great!" This, sirs, this, is the burden under which
it totters; this is the evil, at which it trembles; this is a load, which men,
which the earth itself, nay, which angels, and the whole creation, cannot bear
up under!

Why was the old world destroyed by a deluge? It was because all flesh had
corrupted their way: "The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had
become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
all the time." Genesis 6:5.

Why was Sodom consumed with lightning from heaven, and sunk into a dead sea by
an earthquake? It was because "The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before
the Lord exceedingly." Genesis 13:13. In short, SIN is the cause of all the
calamities under which our world has groaned, from the fall of Adam to this day.
Heaven has been testifying its displeasure against the sins of men by the most
terrible judgments, from age to age, for nearly six thousand years. The
destruction of one nation — is intended not only for their punishment — but for
a warning to others, that they may "hear and be afraid, and no one among you
will do such an evil thing again." Deuteronomy 13:11. But men will still
obstinately persist, unalarmed by the loudest warnings, and unreformed by the
severest chastisements. Let the sword of war slay its thousands; let the
pestilence walk about in all its desolating terrors; let the earth shake and
tremble under its guilty inhabitants; let these judgments be repeated from
generation to generation, from country to country — and still they will sin on;
and the chastisements of six thousand years have not been able to reform them.

Oh! what a rebellious province of Jehovah’s empire, is this guilty globe! And
probably it has been seldom more so, than in the present age; and therefore it
is no wonder that the judgments of God are in the earth. The greatest part of it
is overrun with all the idolatry and ignorance, vice and barbarity of
heathenism. A great part of it worships the impostor Mahomet, instead of the Son
of God, and groan under his yoke. This is the character of the empire of
Morocco, and those African territories that have been ravaged by the late
earthquake. They are either superstitious heathens or deluded Mohammedans, and
the knowledge of God is not to be found among them. The greatest part of Europe
is corrupted with the idolatry, superstition, and debaucheries of the church of
ROME, and groans under its tyranny. There the most foolish theatrical farces are
devoutly performed under the name of religion! There the freeborn mind is
enslaved, and dare not think for itself in matters in which it must answer for
itself. There the homage due to the true God, and the only Mediator — is
sacrilegiously given to senseless idols, and a rabble of imaginary saints! There
the infernal court of the inquisition imitates the tortures of hell, and makes
the man who would discover the truth — a monument of misery! There a market for
indulgences and pardons is held; and men, for a little money, may buy a license
to commit the most atrocious crimes, or they make atonement for them by the
penance of bodily austerities! And can pure and undefiled religion, can good
morals grow and flourish in such a soil? No! Religion has degenerated into
priest-craft and a mercenary superstition, and the most enormous vices and
debaucheries must abound. Such, alas! was Lisbon, by universal character. And
though I would not repeat the censorious sins of the Jews, with regard to the
Galileans, (Luke 13:2) nor suppose that Lisbon was more deeply guilty than all
the cities upon the face of the earth; yet this I dare pronounce, that it was a
very guilty spot of the globe, and that it was for this, that it was so severely
punished.

If we take a survey of Protestant countries, where religion is to be found, if
anywhere at all, alas! how melancholy is the prospect! The good old doctrines of
the reformation, which were adapted to advance the honors of divine grace and
mortify the pride of man, have been too generally abandoned; and a more easy
system, agreeable to the vanity and self-flattery of depraved hearts, has been
dressed up in their stead!

Nay, Christianity itself has been rejected, ridiculed, and exposed to public
scorn, by the increasing club of deists; and where the Christian name and
profession are retained, the life and spirit are too generally lost; and their
practice is an open opposition to their professed faith. How are the ordinances
of the gospel neglected or profaned? What a shocking variety of crimes are to be
found everywhere, even in countries that profess to have renounced Popery for
its corruptions? Drunkenness, swearing, perjury, lying, fraud, and injustice;
pride, luxury, various forms of lewdness, and all manner of extravagances; and
all these expressly forbidden, under the severest penalties, by that religion
which they themselves profess and acknowledge to be divine! And thus they
continue, in spite of warnings and chastisements; in spite of mercies and
instructions. They have sinned on, impenitent and incorrigible, for a length of
many years. God is but little regarded in the world, which owes its existence
and all its blessings to his power and goodness. Jesus is but little regarded,
even in those countries that profess his name; and is it any wonder the earth
trembles, when the iniquity thereof lies so heavy upon it? Is it not rather a
wonder that it has not burst to pieces long ago, and buried its guilty
inhabitants in its ruins? Is there a supreme Ruler over the kingdoms of men —
and shall he not testify his displeasure against their rebellion? Shall he
always tamely submit to such contemptuous treatment? And shall he always look
on, and see his government insulted, and his vengeance defied? No! At proper
seasons he will come forth out of his place; he will depart from the stated
course of his providence, to punish them for their iniquities. The convulsions
of the earth, the inundations of the sea, and the sword of war shall at once
proclaim and execute his displeasure! If our country has escaped the
devastations of the earthquake, it is not owing to our innocence — but to the
distinguishing mercy and patience of God! And, therefore,

Thirdly, This melancholy event may carry your minds gratefully to reflect upon
the peculiar kindness of God towards our country, in that it was not involved in
the same destruction.

I need not tell you that we are a guilty, obnoxious people; you may be convinced
of it by more authentic evidence. The lives of the generality proclaim it aloud;
the terrors of war that now surround us proclaim it; and do not your own
consciences whisper the same thing? And why have we been spared? How has even
this solid continent borne up under the load of guilt that burdens it? It has
been owing entirely to the grace and patience of that God, who is so little
regarded among us. And shall we not gratefully celebrate his praises? Shall not
his goodness lead us to repentance? Shall all his kindness be thrown away upon
us? Will we constrain him to pour out his judgments upon us also, at last?

Methinks I hear him expostulating over Virginia, in that compassionate language:
"How shall I give you up, Virginia? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you
like Admah and Zeboiim?" Cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah. "My
heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows!" Hosea 11:8. Oh! must not
such moving language melt us down at his feet, in the most sincere repentance,
and engage us to his service for the future! Without a spirit of prophecy, I may
safely pronounce, it will never be well with our country until we are brought to
this. But,

Fourthly, That which I would particularly suggest to your thoughts from the
devastations of the late earthquake, is the last universal destruction of our
world at the final judgment. Of this, an earthquake is both a confirmation to
human reason, and a lively representation.

1. It is a confirmation even to human reason, drawn from the constitution of our
globe, that such a destruction is possible, and even probable, according to the
course of nature. Our globe is stored with subterranean magazines of combustible
materials, which need but a spark to produce a violent explosion, and rend and
burst it to pieces! What huge quantities of these sulphurous and nitrous mines
must there be — when one discharge can spread a tremor over half the world, bury
islands and cities, and shatter wide-extended continents! What an inexhaustible
store of fire and brimstone has supplied Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, and other
burning volcanoes, that have been belching out torrents of liquid fire for some
thousands of years, and now rage as furiously as ever?

Let but the subterranean magazines, in every cave and cranny of the globe, be
set in a blaze; let the central fire but break loose; let all the combustible
materials near or upon the surface of the earth, be once inflamed — turf, coal,
trees, cities, houses, and all their furniture; this would produce a general
conflagration, which nothing could resist. In short, we may conjecture, from the
construction of our world, that it was not intended for a perpetual existence in
its present form — but to be dissolved by the dreadful element of fire. And
Revelation assures us of this universal desolation, when the heavens shall be
shriveled up, like a parched scroll, and pass away with a great noise; and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth, also, and the things that are
therein, shall be burnt up! 2 Peter 3:10. An earthquake is also a
livelyrepresentation of the universal ruins of that day, and the horror and
consternation of mankind. Let imagination form a lively idea of the destruction
of Lisbon — the ground trembling, and heaving, and roaring with subterranean
thunders — towers, palaces, and churches tottering and falling — the flames
bursting from the ruins, and setting all in a blaze — the sea roaring, and
rushing over its banks with resistless impetuosity — the inhabitants running
from place to place in wild consternation, in search of safety; or falling on
their knees, and rending the air with their wild shrieks and cries — flying to
the strongest buildings for shelter — but crushed in their ruins; or to the sea,
and there swept away by the rushing waves. Walls falling upon thousands in their
flight; or the earth opening her jaws, and swallowing them up. Can human
imagination represent anything more shocking? In other calamities, whatever else
we lose, we have still the earth to support us: but when that is gone, we are
helpless indeed, and must sink into immediate destruction!

Such, my friends — but infinitely more dreadful, will be the terrors of that
last, that universal earthquake, which we shall all see:

Stars drop, rush lawless through the air, and dash one another to pieces! The
sun is extinguished, and looks like a huge globe of solid darkness! The moon is
turned into blood, and reflects a portentous, sanguinary light upon the earth.
The clouds flash and blaze with sheets of lightning; and are rent with the
horrid crash of thunder! This is echoed back by the subterranean thunders that
murmur, rumble, and roar under ground. The earth is tossed like a ball, and
bursts asunder like a moldering clod!. See, the yawning gulfs open! the flames
bursting forth from the center; and a horrid confusion of fire and smoke rolling
through the arch of heaven! See the works of nature and art perishing in one
promiscuous ruin! Mountains sinking and bursting out into so many volcanoes,
vomiting up seas of liquid fire! Rocks dissolving, and pouring their melted mass
into the channels of the rivers! Pyramids, towers, palaces, cities, forests, and
plains — burning in one gigantic, indistinguishable blaze! The seas evaporating,
and vanishing away, through the intenseness of the heat! a mixed, confused heap
of sea and land! floods of water, and torrents of melted rocks! Now the earth is
turned upside-down, inside-out, and reduced into one gigantic chaos! And where,
you hardy, presumptuous sinners, who can now despise the terrors of the Lord —
oh! where will you flee in this tremendous day? What shall support you when the
ground on which you stand is gone? What rock or mountain shall you procure to
shelter you, when rocks and mountains are sinking and disappearing, or melting
away, like snow before the sun? How can you expect to escape hell — when the
earth itself is turned into a lake of fire and brimstone! Oh! how can you bear
the thought of rolling and weltering there? What is now become of your lands and
possessions on which you once set your hearts? Nay, where is the country, where
the continent, in which you once dwelt? Alas! they are all reduced into ashes!
And is there no safety in this wreck of nature? Are all mankind involved in this
general ruin? No! blessed be God, there are some who shall be safe and unhurt,
while the frame of nature is dissolving around them. Those happy souls, who
choose the Lord for their portion, and Jesus for their Savior, and who in this
tottering world looked for a city that has foundations, firm, unshaken
foundations; they shall be safe beyond the reach of this general desolation;
their happiness lies secure in a "kingdom which cannot be moved" Hebrews 12:28.
There is a new heaven and a new earth prepared for them!

Then, my friends, you will see the advantage of that despised, neglected thing,
true religion, and the difference between the righteous and the wicked; between
him that serves the Lord, and him that serves him not. Malachi 3:18. Then, those
that are now so unfashionable as to make religion a serious business, will smile
secure at a dissolving world. Then they will find the happy fruits of those
hours they spent on their knees at the throne of grace; of those cries and tears
they poured out after Jesus; of their honest struggles with sin and temptation;
and in short, of a life devoted to God.

Therefore, let such of you, (for I trust there are such among you,) rejoice in
the prospect of that glorious, dreadful day; and let it be more and more your
serious business to prepare for it. You shall rest forever in a country that
shall never be shaken with earthquakes, nor be subject to any of the calamities
of this mortal state. Therefore, since this shall be your portion, do not be
much disturbed with any of the judgments that may befall this land of your
pilgrimage and exile. The sooner it is destroyed — the sooner you will get home
to the region of eternal rest! Borrow the language of the triumphant Psalmist,
"So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into
the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters
surge!" Psalms 46:2-3.

But, oh! where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? Oh, where shall some of you,
my dear people, appear in that dreadful day? I am jealous over you with a godly
jealousy, and am really afraid for some of you. Do you not know in your own
consciences, that you are generally thoughtless and careless about the great
concerns of your eternal state? Your hearts have never been thoroughly changed
by divine grace; nor do you know by experience what it is to believe, to repent,
and to love God with all your hearts. You do not make conscience of every duty;
I mean, you neglect the worship of God, in your families, though under the
strongest obligations to perform it, perhaps from your own solemn vows and
promises. You indulge yourselves in some known sin or other; and if you feel
some pangs of repentance, your repentance does not issue in reformation. Alas!
my friends, is this the character of one soul within the hearing of my voice?
Then I must tell you, that if you continue such, you will be fuel for the last
universal fire! and must perish in the ruins of the world you have loved so
well! But who knows, that if you begin immediately, you may yet have time enough
to work out your salvation. Therefore, now begin the work. There is no safety
but in Jesus Christ. Away to him therefore; let me lay the hand of friendly
violence upon you, and hurry you out of your present condition, as the angel did
Lot out of Sodom. "Up, get out of this dreadful condition; for the Lord will
destroy all who continue in it! Escape for your life, do not look back — escape
to Jesus Christ, lest you be consumed!" Genesis 19:14-17.

I must tell you frankly, I studied this part of my discourse with an anxious
heart; and I was almost discouraged from adding this exhortation to it. "For,"
thought I, "I have given such exhortations over and over — but they seem
generally in vain. There is indeed a happy number among my hearers, who, I doubt
not, have regarded the gospel preached by my lips. But, alas! as to the rest, I
have been so often disappointed that I now hardly hope to succeed." These, my
dear friends, are my discouragements in my retirements, when no eye sees me but
God. And oh! sinners, will your future conduct prove, that there was good reason
for my fears? Alas! is the ministry of the gospel, a useless institution with
regard to you? Have such exhortations as these, no weight with you? Will you
resist my benevolent hand — when I would stretch it forth to pluck you out of
the burning!

Well, my friends, I cannot help it. If you will perish, if you are obstinately
set upon it, I have only this to say — that your poor minister will weep in
secret for you, and drop his tears upon you as you are falling into ruin from
between his hands!

Yes, sinners, God forbid that I should cease to pray for you and pity you! While
my tongue is capable of pronouncing a word, and you think it worth your while to
hear me — I will send the calls of the gospel after you; and if you perish after
all, you shall drop into hell with the offers of heaven in your ears!

Gladly would I clear myself and say, "Your blood be upon your own heads — I am
clean!" Acts 18:6. But, alas! my heart recoils and fails. I have no doubt at all
— but the gospel I have preached to you is indeed the gospel of Christ, and I
cheerfully venture my own soul upon it. But in dispensing it among you, I am
conscious of so much weakness, coldness, and unskillfulness, that I am at times
shocked at myself, lest I should be accessory to your ruin!

However, this is certain, great guilt will fall somewhere. I desire to take my
own share of shame and guilt upon myself, and to humble myself for it before
God. And I ask you do the same. Oh, humble yourselves before God, for your past
conduct; and prepare, prepare to meet him, in the midst of a burning world!

Or, if you continue obstinately impenitent still, prepare to make your defense
against your poor minister there, when he will be obliged to appear as a swift
witness against you, and say, "Lord, I can appeal to yourself, that I warned
them to prepare for this day, though with so many guilty infirmities, as nothing
but your mercies can forgive. But they would not regard my warnings, though
given in your solemn Name, and sometimes enforced with my own compassionate
tears."

There, sirs, at the supreme tribunal, prepare to meet me; and there I dare
appeal for the truth and importance of the things I have inculcated upon you.

(The following hymn is by Samuel Davies)

How great, how terrible that God, Who shakes creation with his nod! He frowns,
and earth’s foundations quake, And all the wheels of nature break!

Crushed under guilt’s oppressive weight, This globe now totters to its fate:
Trembles beneath her guilty sons, And for deliverance heaves and groans!

And see! the glorious, dreadful day, That takes the enormous load away! See
skies, and stars, and earth, and seas, Sink in one universal blaze!

Where, now — ah! where shall sinners seek For shelter in the general wreck? Can
falling rocks conceal them now, When rocks dissolve like melting snow?

In vain for pity now the cry, In lakes of liquid fire they lie! There on the
burning billows tossed, Forever, ever, ever, lost!

But saints, undaunted and serene, Your eyes shall view the dreadful scene! Your
Savior lives, though worlds expire, And earth and skies dissolve in fire!

JESUS! the helpless creature’s friend! To you my all I dare commend: You can
preserve my feeble soul, When lightnings blaze from pole to pole!


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  CHAPTER 6: 03-THE JUSTICE OF GOD�ANDTHE SINS OF OUR COUNTRY
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The Justice of God—and the Sins of Our Country Samuel Davies, 1755

"When disaster comes to a city—has not the LORD caused it?" Amos 3:6

It concerns you all seriously to reflect upon your own sins, and the sins of
your land—which have brought all these calamities upon us. If you believe that
God governs the world, if you do not abjure him from being the Ruler of your
country—then you must acknowledge that all the calamities of war, and the
threatening appearances of famine—are ordered by his Providence! And if you
believe that he is a just and righteous Ruler, you must also believe that he
would not thus punish a righteous or a penitent people.

We and our countrymen are sinners, aggravated sinners! God proclaims that we are
such by his judgments now upon us: by withering fields and scanty harvests, by
the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war. Our consciences must also bear
witness to the same melancholy truth. And if my heart were properly affected, I
would concur with these undoubted witnesses; I would cry aloud and not spare; I
would lift up my voice like a trumpet—to show you your transgressions and your
sins.

O my country, is not your wickedness great, and your iniquities infinite? Where
is there a more sinful spot to be found upon our guilty globe? Pass over the
land, take a survey of the inhabitants, inspect into their conduct—and what do
you see? What do you hear?

You see the gigantic forms of vice bidding defiance to the God of heaven—while
true religion and virtue are obliged to retire, to avoid public contempt and
insult!

You see herds of drunkards swilling down their cups, and drowning all the
morality within them!

You hear the swearer venting his fury against God—trifling with that Name which
prostrate angels adore, and imprecating that damnation, under which the hardiest
devil in hell trembles and groans!

You see AVARICE hoarding up her useless treasures, dishonest craft planning her
schemes of unlawful gain, and oppression unmercifully grinding the face of the
poor!

You see prodigality squandering her stores! You see luxury spreading her table!

You see vanity laughing aloud and dissolving in empty, unthinking mirth,
regardless of God, of time and eternity!

You see sensuality wallowing in carnal pleasures, and aspiring, with perverted
ambition—to sink as low as her four-footed brethren in the stalls!

You see cards more in use than the Bible; the backgammon table more frequented
than the table of the Lord; novels and romances more read—than the history of
the blessed Jesus!

You see trifling and even evil diversions and amusements, become a gigantic
business! You see the outcome of a horse-race or a dog-fight more anxiously
attended to, than the concerns of eternity! And where these grosser forms of
vice do not shock your senses—even there you often meet with the appearances of
more refined impiety, which is equally dangerous!

You hear the conversation of reasonable creatures, of candidates for eternity—
engrossed by trifles, or vainly wasted on the affairs of time! These are their
important subjects of conversation, even at the threshold of the house of God!

You see swarms of prayerless families all over our land! You see ignorant,
wicked children, unrestrained and untaught by those to whom God and nature have
entrusted their souls!

You see thousands of poor slaves in a Christian country, the property of
’Christian’ masters, as they will be called, almost as ignorant of Christianity
as when they left the wilds of Africa!

You see the holy religion of Jesus—abused, neglected, disobeyed, and dishonored
by its professors!

You see hear Infidelity scattering her ambiguous hints and suspicions; or openly
attacking the Christian cause with pretended argument, with insult and ridicule!

You see crowds of professed believers, who are in reality, practical Atheists!
These nominal Christians are really unholy heathens! They are abandoned slaves
of sin—who yet pretend to be the servants of the holy Jesus!

You see the ordinances of the gospel neglected by some, profaned by others, and
attended upon by the generality with a trifling irreverence, and studied
unconcernedness. Alas! who would think that those thoughtless assemblies we
often see in our places of worship—have met for such solemn purposes as to
implore the pardon of their sins from an injured God, and to prepare for an
all-important eternity?

Alas! Has that religion, for the propagation of which, the Son of God labored,
and bled, and died; has that religion, for which his apostles and thousands of
martyrs have spent their strength, and shed their blood; has that religion, on
which our eternal life depends—has that religion become such a, trifle in our
days—that men are hardly serious and in earnest when they attend upon its most
solemn services?

You see multitudes lying in a deep sleep in sin all around us! You see them
eager in the pursuits of the vanities of time—but stupidly unconcerned about the
important realities of the eternal world just before them! So few are concerned
what shall become of them—when all their connections with earth and flesh must
be broken, and they must take their flight into strange, unknown regions! So few
lamenting their sins! So few crying for mercy and a new heart! So few flying to
Jesus, or even sensible of the importance of a Mediator, in a religion for
sinners!

You may indeed see some degree of civility and benevolence towards men, and more
than enough of cringing complaisance of worms to worms—of clay to clay—of guilt
to guilt. But oh! how little sincere homage, how little affectionate veneration
for the great Lord of heaven and earth! You may see something of duty to
parents, of gratitude to benefactors, and obedience to superiors—but if God is a
Father—then where is his honor? If he is a Master—then where is his fear? If he
is our Benefactor—then where is our gratitude to him?

You may see here and there some instances of proud, self-righteous virtue, some
appearances of morality: but oh! how rare is vital, evangelical religion, and
true Christian morality, animated with the love of God, proceeding from a new
heart, and a regard to the divine authority; full of Jesus, full of regard to
him as a Mediator, on whose account alone—our duties can find acceptance!

O blessed Redeemer! what little necessity, what little use do the sinners of our
country find for you in their religion! How many discourses are delivered, how
many prayers offered, how many good works are performed—in which there is scarce
anything of Christ! And this defect renders them all—but ’shining sins’,
’glittering crimes’!

How few pant and languish for you, blessed Jesus! and pledge never be contented
with their reformation, with their morality, with their good works—until they
obtain a saving interest in your righteousness, to sanctify all, to render all
acceptable!

You may see children sensible of their dependence on their parents for their
existence; you see multitudes sensible of their dependence on clouds, and sun,
and earth, for provision for man and beast. But how few sensible of their
dependence upon God, as the great Sustainer of the universe? You see that even
the dull ox knows its owner, and the stupid donkey knows its master’s
feeding–trough; you see the workings of gratitude even in your dog, which
welcomes you home with a thousand fondling motions! But how is Jehovah’s
government and agency practically denied in His own territories! How few receive
the blessings of life as from His hand—and make proper returns of gratitude to
Him!

You see a withered, ravaged country around you, languishing under the frowns of
an angry God; but how few earnest prayers, how few penitential groans do you
hear! Pass over the land, and bring me the facts! Is not this the general
character of our country? I know there are some happy exceptions; and I hope
sundry such might be produced from among you. But is not this the prevailing
character of a great majority? The most generous charity cannot think the
contrary, if under any Scriptural or rational limitations. May it not be said of
the people of our country—as well as those of Sodom, "Now the men of Sodom were
wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD!" And thus, alas! it has been
for a long time! Our country has sinned on securely for over one hundred and
fifty years; and each generation has increased the vices of the previous one!
And can a land always bear up under such a load of accumulated wickedness! Can
God always allow such a race of sinners to go unpunished, from generation to
generation! May we not fear that our iniquities have now filled up the cup of
God’s wrath—and that He is about to thunder out His dreadful mandate to the
executioners of His vengeance, "Swing the sickle—for the harvest is ripe! Come,
trample the grapes—for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is
their wickedness!" Joel 3:13 And is there no relief for a sinking country? Or is
it too late to administer it? Is our wound so incurable, that it cannot be
healed? No, blessed be God; if you now turn every one of you from your evil
ways, if you mourn over your sins, and turn to the Lord with your whole
hearts—then your country will yet recover. God will appear for us, and give a
prosperous turn to our affairs; he has assured us of this in his own word, "If
at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and
destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil—then I will relent
and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned!" Jeremiah 18:7-8.

Therefore, my friends, as we have all rebelled—let us all join in unanimous
repentance and a thorough reformation. Not only your eternal salvation requires
it—but also the preservation of your country, which is now bleeding with the
wounds you have given it by your sins. The safety of these our friends, who are
now engaged in so generous a design, requires it: for even an army of saints, or
of heroes—cannot defend a guilty, impenitent people, ripe for the judgments of
God!

If you would be everlastingly happy, and escape the vengeance of eternal fire,
or (to mention what may perhaps have more weight with some of you,) if you would
preserve yourselves, your families, your posterity—from poverty, from slavery,
ignorance, idolatry, torture, and death; if you would save yourselves and them
from all the infernal horrors of popery, and the savage tyranny of a mongrel
race of French and Indian warriors: in short, if you would avoid all that is
terrible, and enjoy everything that is dear and valuable—then you must repent
and turn to the Lord. This is the only cure for our wounded country; and if you
refuse to repent in time—then prepare to perish in its ruins.

If you go on impenitent in sin, you may expect not only to be damned forever—but
(what is more terrible to some of you) to fall into the most extreme outward
distress. You will have reason to fear not only the loss ofheaven—which some of
you perhaps think little of—but the loss of your estates, which lie so near your
hearts. And will you not repent—when you are pressed to it from so many quarters
at once?

(Note: The above is an excerpt from a much longer sermon.)


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  CHAPTER 7: 04-THIS VERY YEAR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!BY SAMUEL DAVIES
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This very year you are going to die!

by Samuel Davies

(This message was preached at Princeton College on January 1, 1761. The author
died shortly after, on February 4--at the age of 37! Thus in a way—hepreached
his own funeral sermon!)

"Thus says the Lord—I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This
very year you are going to die!" Jeremiah 28:16

While we are entering upon the threshold of a new year, it may be proper for us
to stand, and pause, and take a serious view of the occurrences that may happen
to us this year—that we may be prepared to meet them. Future contingencies are
indeed unknown to us; and this ignorance is as agreeable to our present state,
and as conducive to our improvement and happiness—as our knowledge of the things
which it concerns us to know. But though we cannot predict to ourselves the
particular events that may befall us—yet the events of life in general, in a
vague indeterminate view, are not so contingent and unknowable as to leave no
room for rational suppositions, and probable expectations.

There are certain events which regularly happen to us every year, and therefore
we may expect them this year.

There are others which sometimes occur in the compass of a year, and sometimes
do not; such are many of the blessings and afflictions of life; of these we
should be apprehensive, and prepare for them. And there are events which we know
are before us, and we are sure they will occur; but at what particular time they
will happen, whether this year or next, whether this day or tomorrow—is to us an
utter uncertainty.

Such is that most solemn event—the close of the present life, and our entrance
into eternity. That we must die—is as certain as that we now live; but the hour
or year when we die—is kindly and wisely concealed from us, that we may be
always ready, and stand in the posture of constant vigilant expectation; that we
may not be surprised. But certainly it befits us to reflect seriously upon the
mere possibility of this event happening this year, and realize to ourselves
those important consequences that result from this supposition. The mere
possibility of this may justly affect us more than the certain expectation of
any other futurity. And it is not only possible—but highly probable, death may
meet some of us within the compass of this year! Yes, it is highly probable,
that if some prophet, like Jeremiah, should open to us the book of the divine
decrees, one or another of us would there see our sentence, and the time of its
execution fixed! "Thus says the Lord—This very year you are going to die!"

There some of us would find it written, "This year you shall enjoy a series of
prosperity—to try if the goodness of God will lead you to repentance." Others
might read this melancholy line, "This year shall be to you a series of
afflictions: this year you shall lose your dearest earthly support and comfort;
this year you shall pine away with sickness, or agonize with torturing pain—to
try if the kind severities of a father’s rod will reduce you to your duty."
Others, I hope, would read the gracious decree, "This year, your stubborn
spirit, after long resistance, shall be sweetly constrained to bow to the
despised gospel of Christ. This year shall you be born a child of God, and an
heir of happiness, which the revolution of years shall never, never, terminate."
Oh happy and glorious event! May we hope this mercy is reserved among the
secrets of heaven, for any thoughtless impenitent sinner among us!

Others perhaps would read this tremendous doom, "This year my Spirit so long
resisted, shall cease to strive with you; this year I will give you up to your
own heart’s lusts, and swear in my wrath that you shall not enter into my rest."
Oh! dismal sentence! None can equal it in terror but one, and that is, "Depart
from me, you who are cursed, into everlasting fire!" And the former is an
infallible presage of the latter. Others (Oh! let our souls dwell upon the
thought!) would probably find the doom of the false prophet Hananiah pronounced
against them: "Thus says the Lord—I am about to remove you from the face of the
earth. This very year you are going to die!" This year you may die—for your life
is the greatest uncertainty in the world. You have no assurance of another year,
another day, or even another moment! This year you may die—because thousands
have died since the last new year’s day; and this year will be of the same kind
with the last—a time to die for many mortals. The causes of death, both in the
human constitution and in the world without, will exist and operate in this year
as well as in the last. This year you may die—for thousands of others will die:
it is certain they will—and why may not you? What peculiar security have you to
confide in? This year you may die—though you are young; for the regions of the
dead have been crowded with people of your age; and no age is the least security
against the stroke of death. This year you may die—though you are now in health
and vigor, and your constitution seems to promise a long life; for thousands of
such will be hurried into the eternal world this year, as they have been in
years past. The principles of death may be even now working within you,
notwithstanding the seeming firmness of your constitution; and you may be a
pale, cold, lifeless corpse, sooner than the invalid whose life is apparently
near its close! This year you may die—though you are full of business, though
you have projected many schemes, which it may be the work of years to execute,
and which afford you many bright and flattering prospects. Death will not
consult your leisure, nor be put off until another year—that you may accomplish
your designs. Thousands have died before you, and will die this year amidst
their golden prospects, and while spinning out their eternal schemes. And what
has happened to them—may happen to you. This year you may die—though you have
not yet finished your education, nor fixed your place in life—but are preparing
to appear in the world, and perhaps elated with the prospect of the figure you
will make in it. Many such abortive students are now in the dust. Many who had
passed through a laborious course of preparation for public life, and had
inspired their friends, as well as themselves, with high hopes—have been
snatched away as they were just stepping upon the stage! And this may be your
doom also! This year you may die—though you are not prepared for it. When death
shows you his warrant under the great seal of heaven, it will be no excuse to
plead, "But I am not ready!" Though the consequence of your dying unprepared
will be your everlasting ruin—yet that dreadful consideration will have no
weight to delay the execution! This year you may die—though you deliberately
delay your preparation, and put it off to some future time. You may fix upon the
next year, or the decline of life—as the season for religion; but that time may
never be at your disposal. Others may live to see it—but you may be engulfed in
the boundless ocean of eternity before it arrives, and your time for preparation
may be over forever! This year you may die—though you are unwilling to admit the
thought. Death does not slacken his pace towards you, because you hate him, and
are afraid of his approach. Your not realizing your latter end as near—does not
remove it to a greater distance. Think of it or not—you must die! Your lack of
thought can be no defense; and you know not how soon you may feel—what you
cannot bear to think of! This year you may die—though you may strongly hope the
contrary, and flatter yourself with the expectation of a length of years. You
will not perhaps admit the thought of a short abortive life; but notwithstanding
this—you may be a lifeless corpse before this year finishes its revolution!

Thus it appears very possible, that one or other of us may die this year. Nay,
it is very probable, as well as possible, if we consider that it is a very
uncommon, and almost unprecedented thing, that not one should die in a whole
year, out of such a large assembly as this. Several have died the year past, who
made a part of our assembly last new year’s day. Therefore, let each of us (for
we know not on whom the lot may fall,) realize this possibility, this alarming
probability, "This year I may die!" And what if YOU should die? Surely you may
be startled at this question; for oh! the surprising change! Oh! the important
consequences!

If you should die this year—then all your doubts, all the anxieties of blended
hopes and fears about your state and character, will terminate forever in full
conviction. If you are impenitent sinners, all the artifices of self-flattery
will be able to make you hope better things no longer; but the dreadful
discovery will flash upon you with resistless blaze! You will see, you will feel
yourselves such. If you lie under the condemnation of the divine law, you will
no longer be able to flatter yourselves with better hopes: the execution of the
penalty will sadly convince you of the tremendous truth. To dispute it would be
to dispute the deepest heart-felt sensations of the most exquisite misery.

But, on the other hand, if your fears and doubts are the honest anxieties of a
sincere, self-diffident heart, ever jealous of itself, and afraid of every
mistake in a matter of such vast importance, you will meet with the welcome
demonstration of your sincerity, and of your being unquestionably the favorites
of heaven. Sensation will afford you conviction; and you will believe—what you
see. In short, the possibility that this year maybe your last, may be joyful
tidings to you. If you die this year, this year you shall be in heaven,
imparadised in the bosom of God! And is it possible that your salvation is so
near! Transporting thought!

It would be easy to enumerate several happy consequences of death with regard to
those who have spent their life in preparation for it; and the nearness of
death, instead of striking them with terror, may heighten the transport of
expectation. It would afford me no small pleasure to trace those blessed
consequences, and it would be an act of kindness and compassion to the heirs of
heaven, many of whom go on mourning and trembling even towards the regions of
happiness, as though they were going to the place of execution, and anticipate
but very little of those infinite pleasures which are so near at hand. But I
intend to devote the present hour chiefly to the service of a part, perhaps the
greater part of my hearers, who are in a more dangerous and alarming situation,
I mean such who may die this year—and yet are not prepared; such who are as near
to hell as they are to death, and consequently stand in need of the most
powerful and immediate applications, lest they be undone forever beyond
recovery. To you, therefore, my dear brethren, my fellow mortals, my fellow
candidates for eternity, whose everlasting state hangs in a dread suspense, who
have a secret conviction that you are not qualified for admission into the
kingdom of heaven, and who cannot promise yourselves that you shall not sink
into the infernal pit of hell this year—but upon this supposition, which is the
most precarious and doubtful in the world, namely, that you shall live out
another year. To you I would address myself with affectionate tenderness, and
yet with plainness and pungency. And I beg your most solemn attention to an
affair of infinite consequence, to which you may not have another year to
attend. This year you may die! And should you die in your sins this year—you
will be forever cut off from all the pleasures of life! Then farewell, an
everlasting farewell to all the mirth and gaiety, to all the tempting amusements
and vain delights of earth! Farewell to all the pleasures you derive from the
senses, and all the gratification of appetite. This year the sun may lose his
luster as to you; and all the lovely prospects of nature may become a dismal
blank. To you music may lose all her charms, and die away into everlasting
silence; and all the gratifications of the palate may become insipid. When you
lie in the cold grave, you will be as dead to all such sensations—as the clay
that covers you! Then farewell to all the pompous but empty pleasures of riches
and honors. The pleasures both of enjoyment and expectation from this quarter
will fail forever. But this is not all.

If you should die in your sins this year—then you will have no pleasures, no
enjoyments to substitute for those which you will lose. Your capacity and eager
thirst for happiness will continue, nay, will grow more strong in your immortal
state. And yet you will have no good—real, or imaginary—to satisfy it; and
consequently the capacity of happiness will become a capacity of misery; and the
privation of pleasure will be positive pain. Can imagination think of anything
more wretched than a creature formed for the enjoyment of the infinite good,
pining away forever with hungry, raging desires, without the least degree of
gratification! banished at once from the supreme good, and from all the created
enjoyments that were accustomed to be poorly substituted in its stead! Yet this
may be your case in the short compass of the following year! Oh! what a terrible
change! What a prodigious fall!

If you should die in your sins this year—then all your hopes and prospects of a
long life, will perish abortive. Several of you now are in a state of education,
preparing to enter upon the stage of the world; and you are perhaps often
pleasing yourselves with mirthful and magnificent dreams about the figure you
will make upon it. You may be planning many schemes to be accomplished in the
several periods of a long life: and are perhaps already anticipating in idea the
pleasure, the profit, or the honor you expect to derive from their execution. In
these fond hopes—your affectionate parents, friends, and teachers concur with
generous pleasure.

But, alas! in the swift revolution of this beginning year, all these optimistic
expectations and pleasing prospects may vanish into smoke! Youth is the season
of promise, full of fair blossoms; but these fair blossoms may wither, and never
produce the expected fruits of maturity. It may perhaps be the design of God,
that after all the flattering hopes and projects, and after all the pains and
expense of a fine education, that you shall never appear upon the public stage;
or that you shall vanish away like a phantom, as soon as you make your
appearance! Certainly then you should extend your prospects beyond the limits of
mortality; extend them into that world, where you will live to execute them,
without the risk of a disappointment. Otherwise,

If you should die in your sins this year—then you will not only be cut off from
all the flattering prospects of this life—but from all hope entirely, and
forever! You will be fixed in an unchangeable state of misery; a state that will
admit of no expectation but that of uniform, or rather ever-growing misery; a
state that excludes all hopes of making any accomplishment, except as the
monuments of the vindictive justice of God, and the deadly effects of sin! How
affecting is the idea of a promising youth cut off from the land of the
living—useless and hopeless in both worlds! fallen from the summit of hope—into
the gulf of everlasting despair! Yet this may be your doom, my dear youth, your
doom this very year—if you should die in your sins!

If you should die in your sins this year—then all the ease and pleasure you now
derive from thoughtlessness, self-flattery, and suppressing the testimony of
your consciences, will forever be at an end! You will then be obliged to view
yourselves in a just light, and to know the very worst of your condition. The
secret plaudits of self-flattery will be forever silenced, and conscience will
recover itself from that state of insensibility into which you have cast it by
repeated hardenings, and, as exasperated by your ill-treatment, it will become
your everlasting tormentor! It will do nothing but accuse and upbraid you
forever; you will never more be able to entertain so much as one favorable
thought of yourselves! And what a wretched state will this be! for a man to be
self-condemned! to disapprove of his whole past conduct! to be pleased with
nothing in himself—but heartily, though with horror, to concur in the condemning
sentence of the Supreme Judge—to esteem himself a fool, a sinner, a base, sordid
wretch; an enemy to himself, and the whole universe; a self-destroyer, an
outcast from all happiness, and from the society of all happy beings; a vile,
odious, useless, miserable, despairing creature forever! O miserable situation!
Does it not alarm you to think you may be so near to it?

If you should die in your sins this year—then you will be deprived forever of
all the means of salvation. All these are confined to the present life, and have
no place in the world of eternal punishment. There the thunders of the divine
law roar; but the gentle voice of the gospel never sounds. There the LION of the
tribe of Judah tears the prey; but never exhibits himself as a LAMB that was
slain, an atonement for sin, and the Savior of the guilty. There conscience
exerts its power, not to excite the medicinal anguish of kindly repentance—but
the hopeless horrors of everlasting despair! There Jehovah works—but not to
enable the sinner to work out his own salvation—but to touch all the springs of
painful sensation, and open all the sources of misery in the criminal. There
mercy no more distributes her bounties—but justice reigns in her dreadful
rigors! There the sanctifying Spirit no more communicates his purifying,
all-healing influences—but sin, the great Apollyon, diffuses its deadly poison!
In a word, when you leave this earthly state of trial, all the discipline of the
present state, all your advantages for salvation, all the means of grace, and
all the encouragements of hope—will be forever removed out of your reach; and
consequently all possibility of your salvation will cease forever; for when the
necessary means are taken away—the end becomes utterly impossible.

Therefore, if you should die this year—then all your hopes of heaven will vanish
forever! No more happiness for you! You have received your portion in this
life—a few years of fleeting, sordid, unsatisfactory happiness! And an entire
eternity of misery; permanent, exquisite, consummate misery—follows! No more
honor for you—but shame and everlasting contempt! No more amusements for you—but
only the blackness of darkness forever! Only intense poring upon your hopeless
wretchedness! Only tormenting recollections of your past folly and madness of
voluntarily rushing into the infernal pit! No agreeable companions! No
sympathizing friends! No relaxation! No pleasing hobbies! No encouraging
prospects! No comforting hopes! No token of love! No gift of grace from the
Father of mercy! No hope in the future! No relief from the past! No refuge, no
escape—into the gulf of annihilation!

ABOVE you—an angry omnipotent God—and a lost heaven!

BEHIND you—a misspent life, and opportunities of salvation irrecoverably lost!

WITHIN you—a guilty, remorseful conscience—an implacable self-tormentor!

AROUND you—malignant, enraged fiends, mutual tormentors!

BEFORE you—an eternity of hopeless misery, extending infinitely!

Oh tremendous doom! Who can bear the thought? And is it possible that this doom
should be so near to any of US? Where is the unhappy creature, that we may all
drop our tears over him? Where is he? Rather, where is he not? An impenitent
sinner is almost everywhere to be found; and that is the wretched creature who
stands every moment upon the slippery brink of this horrible precipice! And this
year, nay, this hour, for what mortals or angels know, he may be thrown down,
engulfed and lost forever! And is this a safe situation for you, thoughtless,
foolhardy mortals! Does it befit you in such a situation—to be cheerful, merry,
and mirthful? Does it befit you in such a situation—to be busy, restless, and
laborious in the pursuits of this transitory life? Does it befit you in such a
situation—to dread nothing but the disasters and calamities of the present
state? Does it befit you in such a situation—to spin out your eternal schemes of
grandeur, riches, or pleasures—in hopes to accomplish them within the narrow,
uncertain limits of time allotted you?

Alas! before another year has run its hasty round, the world and all that it
contains, all its pursuits and enjoyments, all its cares and sorrows—may be as
insignificant to you as the grandeur of Caesar, or the riches of the world
before the flood.

If you die this year, then . . . earthly riches or poverty, liberty or slavery,
honor or disgrace, joy or sorrow, sickness or health— will be as little your
concern—as the dust that shall cover your coffin! Does it not rather befit you
to turn your thoughts to another inquiry, "Is it possible for me to escape this
impending danger? Where, how, whence may I obtain deliverance?" If you are not
desirous seriously to attend to this inquiry—then it will be to no purpose for
me to solve it; to you it will appear as a solemn trifle, or an impertinent
fantasy. But if you will lay it to heart; if you will, as it were, give me your
word that you will pay a proper regard to it, I shall enter upon the SOLUTION
with the utmost alacrity!

I assure you, then, in the first place—that your case is not yet desperate,
unless you choose to make it so; that is, unless you choose to persist in
carelessness and impenitence, as you have hitherto done. If you now begin to
think seriously upon your condition, to break off from your sins, and attend in
good earnest upon the means appointed for your salvation—then there is hope
concerning you! Yes, miserable sinners! there is hope that this year, which now
finds you in so deplorable a state—will introduce you into another state, under
the blessing of God—safe from all danger, and entitled to everlasting happiness!

I presume you all know well, the external means you should use for your
salvation, that I need not particularly direct you to them. You all know that
prayer; reading and hearing the Word of God; meditation upon divine things,
sincere conference with such as have been taught by experience to direct you in
this difficult work; you all know, I say, that these are the means instituted
for your conversion; and if you had right views of things and a just temper
towards them—you would hardly need instruction or the least persuasion to make
use of them! But to give you such views, and inspire you with such a temper,
this is the difficulty. Oh! that I knew how to undertake it with success! I can
only give you such directions as appear to me proper and beneficial; but it is
the almighty power of God alone, that can give them force and efficacy.

You must learn to think, to think seriously and solemnly upon your danger, and
the necessity of a speedy escape. You must retire from the crowd, from talk,
business, and amusement, and converse with yourselves alone in pensive solitude.
You must learn to think seriously upon the most melancholy and alarming
subjects: your present guilt and depravity, and your dreadful doom so near at
hand, if you continue in your present condition. The mind, fond of ease, and
impatient of such mortifying and painful thoughts, will recoil, and fly off, and
seek for refuge in every trifle! But you must arrest and confine it to these
disagreeable subjects; you must force upon it this necessary discomfort—just as
you may sometimes take bitter medicines, when your health requires it. There is
not any moroseness in this advice; no ill-natured design upon your pleasure and
happiness. On the other hand, it is intended to procure you more pleasure and
happiness than you can possibly obtain any other way! It is intended to prevent
many sorrowful days and years, nay, a complete eternity of misery! The
alternative proposed to you, is not . . . whether you shall feel the bitter
anguish of repentance—or not; whether you shall be pensive and serious—or not;
whether you shall think upon gloomy and alarming subjects—or not.

This is not at all the state of the case—for . . . you must feel the sorrows of
repentance; you must be thoughtful and pensive; you must confine your minds to
subjects of terror! You MUST, whether you will or not! It is utterly
unavoidable! But the only alternative proposed to your choice is—whether you
will voluntarily submit to the kindly, hopeful, medicinal, preventive sorrows of
repentance in this earthly state of trial, which will issue in everlasting joy!
Or whether you will be forced to submit to the despairing pangs, and useless,
destructive horrors of ’too late a repentance’ in the eternal world; which will
only torment you—but not save you; which will be your punishment—and not a means
of your salvation, or a preparative for happiness! Your only choice is—whether
you will now contemplate your present miserable circumstances, while hope
irradiates even the darkest gloom of discouragement, and the gospel opens such
bright and inviting prospects beyond those melancholy views which now first
present themselves to your thoughts; or whether you will choose to pine away a
doleful eternity in sullen, intense, hopeless porings upon your remediless
misery, in remorseful reviews of your past folly, and shocking surveys of
endless ages of woe before you! This is the true state of your case! And can you
be at a loss what choice to make! Does not the voice of reason, the voice of
conscience, of self-interest and self-love, as well as the voice of God—direct
you to choose a few serious, solemn, sorrowful, penitent hours now—rather than
to forever regret your choice; and to purchase a few hours of presumptuous ease
at the expense of a wretched, despairing eternity? Oh choose life, that you may
live! While you indulge a trifling levity of mind, and a roving dissipation of
thought—there is no hope you will ever seriously attend to your most important
interest, or use the means of grace in earnest. Hence it is that I have made it
so much my endeavor today to make you serious and thoughtful.

Ah! my friends! while we laugh—all things are serious round about us. God is
serious, who exercises patience towards us! Christ is serious, who shed his
blood for us! The Holy Spirit is serious, who strives against the obstinacy of
our hearts! The holy Scriptures bring to our ears the most serious things in the
world! The whole creation is serious in serving God and us! All who are in
heaven and hell are serious! How then can we be mirthful?

I beg you, my dear friends, yield an immediate compliance. Do not delay this
great affair for another year—you are not sure that you shall live another year!
You may perhaps have time enough to work out your salvation—if you immediately
begin to improve it: but, if you loiter—you may perish for lack of time! All the
riches of the world will not be able then to redeem one of those precious hours
you now squander away!

Let me now make you one of the most reasonable, beneficial, and advantageous
proposals that heaven itself can make to you; and that is—that you endeavor to
enter upon this new year as new creatures. Let the old man with his affections
and lusts die with the old year. "Do not live the rest of his earthly life for
evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough
time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust,
drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry!" How shocking the
thought that your old guilt should follow you into the new year, and haunt you
in future times! Oh! begin this year as you would wish to end your life! Begin
it so as to give hopes that your future time will be so spent as to render death
harmless, and even welcome to you.

Let the possibility suggested in my text, have due weight with you: "Thus says
the Lord—I am about to remove you from the face of the earth! This very year you
are going to die!" But perhaps some of you may be inverting this consideration,
and whispering to yourselves, "This year I may not die!" and therefore there is
no immediate necessity of preparation for death. But what if you should not die
this year, if you still delay the great work for which your time is given you?
Alas! if you persist in this—one would think it can give you but little pleasure
whether you die this year or not? What end will your life answer—but to add to
your guilt, and increase your punishment? What safety can another year afford
you—when you must die at last? What valuable end do you intend to answer in
future life? Do you purpose to spend this year—as you have your past years?

What! in offending your God!

What! in abusing his mercies!

What! in neglecting the precious seasons of grace!

What! in hardening yourselves more and more in impenitence!

What! in adding sin to sin, and treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath! Is
it worth your while to live for such horrid, preposterous purposes as these? Can
you wish for another year with these views? Could you venture to pray for it?
Come, put on the hardiness of an infernal fiend, that you may be able to support
yourselves, under the horror of the sound: "O supreme Excellence! Author of my
being, and all my powers! Father of all my mercies! O righteous Judge of the
world! I have spent ten, twenty, or thirty years in displeasing you and ruining
myself; but I am not yet satisfied with the pleasures of such a conduct. Grant
me, I pray you, another year to spend in the same evil manner. Grant me more
mercies to abuse. Grant me more time to misspend. Grant me more means of grace
to neglect and profane." Could you now fall on your knees, and present such
petitions to Almighty God? Surely you could not! Surely your body would shudder;
nay, would not the heavens gather blackness, and the earth tremble at the sound!
But have your temper and practice no language? Language expresses the thoughts
and intentions of the mind; and are not the habitual temper and practice—a more
certain discovery of the thoughts and intentions, than mere words? words, which
may be spoken without a thought, or in a passion, and which may soon be heartily
retracted? But the temper and practice—is a steady and sure rule of judging, and
decisive of a man’s predominant character.

Therefore, while your temper and practice are agreeable to such a prayer: that
is, while you are disposed to spend your time that God gives you in sin and
impenitence; you are perpetually insulting almighty God with such petitions, and
that too in a manner much more expressive and strong, than if you should utter
them in words! And can you quietly bear the thought of this horrid blasphemy,
which you are constantly breathing out against the God of heaven? Can you wish
and pray for another year for this horrid purpose?

What though you should not die this year? Will this exempt you from death
forever, or from the punishment of misspent life? Alas! no! This will only
render you a greater criminal, and a more miserable wretch in eternity! One more
year of sinning—will make a dreadful addition to your account.

Therefore conclude, every one for himself, "It is of little importance to me
whether I die this year, or not. But the only important point is, that I make a
good use of my future time, whether it be longer or shorter." This, my brethren,
is the only way to secure a happy new year—a year of time, that will lead the
way to a holy and happy eternity!

"Thus says the Lord—I am about to remove you from the face of the earth! This
very year you are going to die!" Jeremiah 28:16


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: 05-THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION
========================================================================

The Resurrection of Damnation Samuel Davies (1724 - 1761)

"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the
graves will hear His voice and come out; those who have done good—unto the
resurrection of life; and those who have done evil—unto the resurrection of
damnation!"John 5:28-29

"Then the King will say to those on his right: Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world!" (Matthew 25:34) See a glorious multitude, which none can number,
openly acquitted, pronounced ’blessed’, and welcomed into the Kingdom prepared
for them from the foundation of the world! Now they enter upon a state that
deserves the name of LIFE. They are all vital, all active, all glorious, all
happy. They shine brighter than the stars in the skies, like the sun forever and
ever! All their faculties overflow with happiness. They mingle with the glorious
company of angels. They behold that unseen Savior Whom they loved. They dwell in
eternal intimacy with the infinite Father. They are employed with ever new and
growing delight, in the exalted services of the heavenly sanctuary. They shall
never more fear, nor feel the least touch of sorrow, pain, or any kind of
misery—but shall be as happy as their glorified natures can admit, through an
immortal duration. What a glorious new creation is here! What indescribable
creatures, who were originally formed from the dust! Shall any of US join in
this happy company? Oh, shall any of us feeble, dying, sinful creatures share in
their glory and happiness? This is a most important inquiry! The prospect would
be delightful, if charity could hope that this will be the happy end of all
people.

But, alas! Multitudes shall come forth from their graves, not to the
resurrection of life—but to the resurrection of damnation! What terror is in
these words! If audacious sinners in our world make light of it—their comrades
already in the infernal fires, who feel its tremendous import are not so
hardy—but tremble, groan, and can trifle with it no more!

Let us realize the miserable doom of this class of mankind!

"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the
graves will hear His voice and come out!" See them bursting into life from their
subterranean dungeons! Horror throbs through every vein—and glares wildly and
furiously in their eyes. Every joint trembles and every countenance looks
downcast and gloomy! Now they see that tremendous Day of which they were warned
in vain—and shudder at those terrors of which they once made light. They now
experientially know the grand business of the Day and the dreadful purpose for
which they are roused from their slumbers in the grave: to be tried, to be
convicted, to be condemned, and to be dragged away to execution!

Conscience has been anticipating the trial—and no sooner is the soul united to
the body, than immediately conscience ascends its throne in the soul. It begins
to accuse, to convict, to pass sentence, to upbraid, and to torment! The sinner
is condemned, condemned at his own tribunal—before he arrives at the bar of his
omnipotent Judge!! The first act of consciousness in his new state of existence,
is a conviction that he is condemned—an irrevocably condemned creature. He
enters God’s court, knowing beforehand how it will go with him. When he finds
himself ordered to the left hand of his Judge, when he hears the dreadful
sentence thundered out against him, "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!" (Matthew 25:41), it was
just what he expected.

While on earth, he could flatter himself with vain hopes and shut his eyes
against the light of conviction—but then he will not be able to hope better.
Then he must know the worst of his case. The formality of the judicial trial is
necessary for his conviction before the world—but not for his own conscience,
which has already determined his condition. However, to convince others of the
justice of his doom—he is dragged and guarded from his grave to the Judgment
Seat by fierce, unrelenting devils, before his tempters, but now his tormentors.
With what horror does he view the burning throne—and the frowning face of his
Judge—that Jesus Whom he once disregarded! How he wishes for rocks and mountains
to cover and conceal him from His angry eye! But all in vain. Appear he must! He
is ordered to Christ’s left hand, among the other trembling criminals.

Now the TRIAL comes!

All his evil deeds and all his omissions of duty—are now produced against him.
All the mercies he abused, all the chastisements he despised, all the means of
grace he neglected or mis-improved, every sinful and even every idle word;
more—his most secret thoughts and dispositions are all exposed and brought into
judgment against him! When the Judge interrogates him, "Is it not so, sinner?
Are not these charges true?" His conscience obliges him to confess and cry out,
"Guilty! Guilty!" Now the trembling criminal, being plainly convicted and left
without any plea nor any excuse—the supreme Judge, in stern majesty and
inexorable justice, thunders out the dreadful sentence, "Depart from me, you who
are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!"

Oh tremendous doom! Every word is big with terror and shoots a thunderbolt
through the heart!

"Depart!" Away from My presence! I cannot bear so loathsome a sight as you! I
once called you to come to Me that you might have life—but you would not regard
the call. Now you shall never more hear that inviting voice!

Depart "from Me"—from Me, the only Fountain of happiness, the only proper Good
for an immortal soul!

"But, Lord," we may suppose the criminal to say, "if I must depart, bless me
before I go."

"No!" says the angry Judge, "Depart you who are cursed! Depart with My eternal
and heavy curse upon you; a curse dreadfully powerful—which blasts whatever it
falls upon like flashes of consuming, irresistible lightning!"

"But if I must go away under Your curse," the criminal may be supposed to say,
"then let that be all my punishment. Let me depart to some agreeable or at least
tolerable remote place, where I may meet with something to mitigate the curse!"

"No! You must depart into FIRE! There you must forever burn in excruciating
tortures!"

"But, Lord, if I must make my bed in fire—oh, let it be a transient blaze that
will soon burn itself out and put an end to my torment!"

"No! Depart into everlasting fire! There burn without being consumed, and be
tormented without end!"

"But, Lord, grant me," cries the poor wretch, "at least the mitigation of
friendly and sympathizing company. Or, if this cannot be granted, grant me this
small, this almost no request—to be doomed to some solitary corner in hell,
where I shall be punished only by my own conscience and Your immediate hand.
But, oh, deliver me from these evil, tormenting devils! Banish me into some
hidden corner in the infernal pit—far from malicious fiends!"

"No! into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! You must be
one of their wretched crew forever. You joined with them in sinning—and now must
share in their punishment! You gladly submitted to them as your tempters—and now
you must submit to them as your tormentors!" The sentence being pronounced and
read—it is immediatelyexecuted! "And they will go away into eternal punishment!"
(Matthew 25:46) Devils drag them away to the pit, and throw them down headlong!
They must go away into the bottomless pit! There they are confined in chains of
darkness, and cast into the burning lake of fire and brimstone forever and ever!
In that dreadful word "forever" lies the epitome of torment! This is the ’hell’
of Hell. If they might be but released from suffering, though it were by
annihilation after they have wept away ten thousand millions of ages in
extremity of pain—it would be some mitigation, some encouragement. But, alas!
When as many millions of ages are passed as the stars of heaven, or the sands on
the seashore, or the atoms of dust in this huge earthly globe—their punishment
is as far from an end—as when the sentence was first pronounced upon them!

FOREVER! There is no exhausting of that word. When it is affixed to the highest
degree of misery—the terror of the sound is utterly insupportable!

See, sirs, what depends upon ’time’—that span of time we may enjoy in this
fleeting life. Eternity! Solemn, all-important eternity, depends upon it!

All this while, conscience tears the sinner’s heart with the most tormenting
reflections. "Oh what a fair opportunity I once had for salvation, had I
improved it! I was warned of the consequences of a life of sin and carelessness.
I was told of the necessity of faith, repentance, and universal holiness of
heart and life. I enjoyed a sufficient space for repentance and all the
necessary means of salvation. But fool that I was—I neglected all, I abused all.
I refused to part with my sins. I refused to engage seriously in religion and to
seek God in earnest. And now I am lost forever without hope! Oh! For one of
those months, one of those weeks, or even so much as one of those days or hours
I once trifled away! With what earnestness, with what solicitude would I improve
it! But all my opportunities are past, beyond recovery, and not a moment shall
be given me for this purpose any more. O what a fool I was—to sell my soul for
such trifles! To think so lightly of heaven—and fall into hell through mere
neglect and carelessness!"

You impenitent, unthinking sinners, though you may now be able to silence or
drown the clamors of your consciences, yet the time—or rather the dread
eternity—is coming when they will speak in spite of you, when they will strike
home to your soul—and be felt by the most hardened and remorseless heart.
Therefore, regard their warnings now—while they may be the means of your
recovery. You are vitally concerned in the solemn transaction of that Day I have
been describing. You shall either be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye; or while moldering in the grave, you shall hear the voice of the Son of God
and come forth—either to the resurrection of life—or to the resurrection of
damnation! And which shall be your eternal destiny? Have you any evidence to
hope that you shall not be of that wretched, numerous multitude who shall rise
to damnation? If there is any inquiry within the compass of human knowledge that
demands your solicitous thoughts, certainly it is this! Methinks you cannot
enjoy one moment’s ease or security while this is undetermined. This fleeting
life is all the time you have for preparation, and can you trifle it away? Your
all, your eternal all is set upon your short life. You have but one opportunity,
and if that fails, through your sloth or mismanagement, you are irrecoverably
undone forever!

Therefore, by the solemn authority of the great God; by the terrors of death,
and the great rising-day; by the joys of heaven, and the torments of hell; and
by the value of your immortal souls—I entreat, I charge, I adjure you to awake
out of your security, and improve the precious moments of life! The world is
dying all around you. And can you rest easy in such a world, while unprepared
for eternity? Awake to righteousness now, at the gentle call of the gospel,
before the last trumpet gives you an alarm of another kind!

"There is a dreadful hell, And everlasting pains; There sinners must with devils
dwell, In darkness, fire and chains!"

"He has appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness."
Acts 17:31


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: 06-THE GENERAL RESURRECTION
========================================================================

The General Resurrection Samuel Davies (1724 - 1761)

"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the
graves will hear His voice and come out; those who have done good—unto the
resurrection of life; and those who have done evil—unto the resurrection of
damnation!" John 5:28-29

Ever since sin entered into the world and death by sin, this earth has been one
vast graveyard or burying place for her children. In every age and in every
country, that sentence has been executing, "Dust you are—and unto dust you shall
return!" (Genesis 3:19). The earth has been filled up with graves, the last
lodgings of mortals; and the bottom of the ocean has been paved with the bones
of men! Human nature was at first confined to one pair—but how soon and how wide
did it spread! How inconceivably numerous are the sons of Adam! How many
different nations on our globe contain many millions of men—even in one
generation! And how many generations have followed one another, in the long run
of nearly six thousand years!

Let imagination call up this vast army army!Infants that just enter upon our
globe and then wing their flight into an unknown world; the gray-headed that
have had a long journey through life; the blooming youth and the middle-aged—let
them pass in review before us from all countries and from all ages. How vast and
astonishing the multitude! If the posterity of one man, Abraham, by one son was,
according to the divine promise, as the innumerable stars of heaven or as the
sand by the seashore; what numbers can compute the multitudes that have sprung
from all the patriarchs, the sons of Adam, and Noah? But what is become of them
all? Alas! They are turned into earth—their original element! They are all
imprisoned in the grave, except the present generation—and we are dropping one
after another in quick succession into that place appointed for all living!

There has not been perhaps a moment of time for five thousand years—but someone
or another has sunk into the dwellings of the dead. In some fatal hours, by the
sword of war, or the devouring jaws of earthquakes, thousands have been cut off,
swept away at once, and left in one huge heap of carnage!

Beyond comparison, the greatest number of mankind is now sleeping under ground.
There lies ’beauty’ moldering into dust, rotting into stench and loathsomeness,
and feeding the vilest worms! There lies the ’head that once wore a crown’—as
vile and contemptible as the poorest beggar’s head! There lie the mighty giants,
the heroes and conquerors: the Samsons, the Ajaxes, the Alexanders, and the
Caesars of the world! There they lie—dead, senseless, inactive, and unable to
drive off the worms that riot on their marrow—and make their ’houses’ in those
sockets where the eyes once sparkled with living luster.

There lie the wise and the learned—as rotten, as helpless as the fool does!
There lie some that we once conversed with, some that were our friends, our
companions. There lie our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters. And
shall they lie there always? Shall this body, this elaborate workmanship of
heaven so wonderfully and fearfully made, always lie in ruins—and never be
repaired? Shall the wide-extended valleys of dry bones, never more live? This we
know, that it is not an impossible thing with God, to raise the dead (Acts
26:8). He who could first form our bodies out of nothing—is certainly able to
form them anew and repair the wastes of time and death! But what is His declared
will in this case? On this, the matter turns, and this is fully revealed in my
text. "A time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and
come out; those who have done good—unto the resurrection of life; and those who
have done evil—unto the resurrection of damnation!" And for what END shall they
come forth? Oh! For very different purposes: some to the resurrection of
life—and some to the resurrection of damnation! "All who are in the graves will
hear His voice and come out; those who have done good—unto the resurrection of
life; and those who have done evil—unto the resurrection of damnation!"

All who are in the graves will hear His voice! The voice of the Son of God here,
probably means the sound of the archangel’s trumpet, which is called "His voice"
because it is sounded by His orders and attended with His all-quickening power.
This all-wakening call to the tenants of the grave, we frequently find foretold
in Scripture. I shall refer you to two plain passages. "Behold," says Paul, "I
show you a mystery," that is—an important and astonishing secret, "we shall not
all sleep" (1 Corinthians 15:51); that is—mankind will not all be sleeping in
death when that Day comes.

There will be a generation then alive upon the earth. Though they cannot have a
proper resurrection, yet they shall pass through a change equivalent to it. "We
shall all be changed," says he, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound" (1 Corinthians 15:52). It shall give
the alarm! No sooner is the awful trumpet heard, than all the living shall be
transformed into immortals, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. We, who
are then alive, shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52). This is all the
difference: the dead shall be raised, and the living shall be changed. This
awful prelude of the trumpet, is also mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16, "We
who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly
not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet
of God," that is, with a godlike trumpet, such as it befits His majesty to
sound. The dead in Christ shall rise first, that is, before the living shall be
caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. When they are risen and the
living transformed, then both shall ascend together to the place of judgment. My
brethren, realize the majesty and terror of this universal alarm! When the dead
are sleeping in the silent grave; when the living are thoughtless of the grand
event—or intent on other pursuits—some of them asleep in the night; some of them
immersed in sensual pleasures—eating and drinking; some of them planning or
executing schemes for riches or honors; some in the very act of sin—the
generality of people stupid and careless about the concerns of eternity, and the
dreadful Day just at hand; and a few here and there conversing with their God
and "looking for the glorious appearance of their Lord and Savior" (Titus 2:13);
when the course of nature runs on uniform and regular as usual, and infidel
scoffers are asking, "Where is the promise of His coming? Forever since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning
of creation?" (2 Peter 3:4). In short, when there are no more visible
appearances of this approaching Day, than of the destruction of Sodom on that
fine clear morning in which Lot fled away; or of the deluge, when Noah entered
into the ark—then in that hour of calm security—-then suddenly the heavens shall
open over the astonished world; then shall the all-alarming trumpet break over
their heads like a clap of thunder in a clear sky!

Immediately the living turn their gazing eyes upon the amazing phenomenon! A few
hear the long-expected sound with rapture—and lift up their heads with joy,
assured that the day of their redemption has come; while the thoughtless world
is struck with the wildest horror and alarm! In the same instant, the sound
reaches all the dwellings of the dead. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
they are raised—and the living are changed! This call will be as animating to
all people—as that call to a single person, "Lazarus, come forth!" (John 11:43).
Oh, what a surprise will this be to a thoughtless world! Should this alarm burst
over our heads this moment, into what a terror would it strike many!

Such will be the terror, such the consternation, when it actually comes to pass.
Sinners will be the same fearful, self-condemned creatures then—as they are now.
Then, they who are deaf to all the gentler calls of the Gospel—now will not be
able to stop their ears! Then, the trumpet of God will constrain them—to whom
the ministers of Christ now preach in vain—to hear and fear! Then they must all
hear, for my text tells you y you:

All who are in the graves graves, all without exception, shall hear his
voice!Now the voice of mercy calls, reason pleads, conscience warns—but
multitudes will not hear. But this is a voice that shall, that must reach every
one of the millions of mankind, and not one of them will be able to shut his
ears! Infants and giants, kings and subjects, all ranks, all ages of mankind
shall hear the call. The living shall be changed, and the dead rise at the
sound! The dust that was once alive and formed a human body, whether it flies in
the air, floats in the ocean, or vegetates on earth—shall hear the new-creating
fiat! Wherever the fragments of the human frame are scattered, this
all-penetrating call shall reach and speak them into life!

We may consider this voice as a summons, not only to dead bodies to rise—but to
the souls that once animated them—to appear and be reunited to them, whether in
heaven or hell. To the grave, the call will be, "Arise, you dead, and come to
judgment!" To heaven, "You spirits of just men made perfect, descend to the
world whence you originally came, and assume your new formed bodies!" To hell,
"Come forth and appear, you damned souls, you prisoners of darkness, and be
again united to the bodies in which you once sinned, that in them you may now
suffer!"

Thus will this summons spread through every corner of the universe! Heaven,
earth, hell, and all their inhabitants shall hear and obey! Devils, as well as
human sinners—will tremble at the sound: for now they know they can plead no
more as they once did, "Do not torment us before the time!" (Matthew 8:29). For
the time has come, and they must mingle with the prisoners at the bar. Now when
all who are in the graves hear this all-quickening voice,

They shall come forth hey forth! Now I see, I hear the earth heaving, charnel
houses rattling, tombs bursting, graves opening! Now the nations underground
begin to stir. There is a noise and a shaking among the dry bones. The dust is
all alive and in motion, and the globe breaks and trembles as with an
earthquake, while this vast army is working its way through and bursting into
life! The ruins of human bodies are scattered far and wide, and have passed
through many and surprising transformations. Multitudes have sunk in a watery
grave, been eaten up by the fish of the deep, and transformed into a part of
their flesh. Multitudes have been eaten by beasts and birds of prey, and
incorporated with them; and some have been devoured by their fellow men in the
rage of a desperate hunger, or of unnatural cannibal appetite, and digested into
a part of them. Multitudes have moldered into dust, and this dust has been blown
about by winds, washed away with water, or it has petrified into stone. Or it
has been burnt into brick to form dwellings for their posterity. Or it has grown
up in grain, trees, plants, and other vegetables, which are the food of man and
beast, and are transformed into their flesh and blood. But through all these
various transformations and changes, the omnipotent God knows how to collect,
distinguish, and compound all those scattered and mingled seeds of our mortal
bodies!

Now at the sound of the trumpet—they shall all be collected, wherever they were
scattered; all shall be properly sorted and united, however they were confused;
atom to its fellow-atom, bone to its fellow-bone. Then, my brethren, your dust
shall be reanimated and re-organized. "After my body has decayed, yet in my body
I will see God!" (Job 19:26). And what a vast improvement, will the frail nature
of man then receive! Our bodies will then be substantially the same—but how
different in qualities, in strength, in agility; in capacities for pleasure or
pain; in beauty or deformity; in glory or terror—according to the moral
character of the person to whom they belong! Matter, we know, is capable of
prodigious alterations and refinements: there it will appear in the highest
perfection. The bodies of the saints will be formed glorious, incorruptible,
without the seeds of sickness and death. The glorified body of Christ, which
undoubtedly is carried to the highest perfection that matter is capable of—will
be the pattern after which they shall be formed. He will "change our vile body,"
says Paul, "that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" (Php 3:21).
"Flesh and blood," in their present state of grossness and frailty, "cannot
inherit the kingdom of Go. For the perishable must clothe itself with the
imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." (1 Corinthians 15:50; 1
Corinthians 15:53). And how vast the change, how high the improvement from this
present state! "The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body"
(15:42-43). Then will the body be able to bear up under the exceeding great and
eternal weight of glory! It will no longer be a clog or an encumbrance to the
soul—but a proper instrument and assistant in all the exalted services and
enjoyments of the heavenly state. The bodies of the wicked will also be
improved—but their improvements will all be dreadful and vindictive. Their
capacities will be thoroughly enlarged—but it will be that they may be made
capable of greater misery! They will be strengthened—but it will be that they
may bear the heavier load of torment! Their sensations will be more quick and
strong—but it will be that they may feel the more intense pain. They will be
raised imperishable—that they may not be consumed by everlasting fire or escape
punishment by death or annihilation. In short, their augmented strength, their
enlarged capacities, and their immortality—will be their eternal curse! They
would willingly exchange them, for the fleeting duration of a fading flower, or
the faint sensations of an infant! The only power they would rejoice in, is that
of self-annihilation.

Now when the bodies are completely formed and fit to be inhabited, the souls
that once animated them, being collected from heaven and hell, re-enter and take
possession of their old dwellings. They are united in bonds that shall never
more be dissolved, and the moldering tabernacles are now become everlasting
habitations. With what joy will the spirits of the righteous, welcome their old
companions from their long sleep in the dust, and revel in their glorious
resurrection! How they will rejoice to re-enter their old habitations, now so
completely repaired and highly improved! To find those bodies that were once
their encumbrance; once frail and mortal in which they were imprisoned and
languished; once their temptation, tainted with the seeds of sin—now their
assistants and co-partners in the business of heaven; now vigorous,
incorruptible, and immortal, now free from all corrupt mixtures and shining in
all the beauties of perfect holiness! In these bodies, they once served their
God with honest, though feeble efforts, conflicted with sin and temptation, and
passed through all the united trials and hardships of mortality and the
Christian life. Now, they are united to them for more exalted and blissful
purposes! The lungs that were accustomed to heave with penitential sighs and
groans—shall now shout forth their joys and the praises of their God and Savior.
The heart that was once broken with sorrows—shall now be bound up forever, and
overflow with immortal pleasures. Those very eyes that were accustomed to run
down with tears and to behold many a tragic sight—shall now behold the King in
His beauty, shall behold the Savior, Whom though unseen they loved, and all the
glories of heaven—and God shall wipe away all their tears!

All the senses, which were once avenues of pain, shall now be inlets of the most
exalted pleasure. In short, every organ, every member shall be employed in the
most noble services and enjoyments, instead of the sordid and laborious drudgery
and the painful sufferings of the present state. Blessed change indeed! Rejoice,
you children of God, in the prospect of it! But how shall I glance a thought
upon the dreadful case of the wicked in that tremendous Day! While their bodies
burst from their graves, the miserable spectacles of horror and deformity, see
the millions of gloomy souls that once animated them, rise like pillars of smoke
from the bottomless pit! With what reluctance and anguish do they re-enter their
old habitations! Oh, what a dreadful meeting! What shocking salutations!

"And must I be chained to you again?" may the guilty SOUL say. "Oh, you
accursed, polluted body, you system of deformity and terror! In you I once
sinned, by you I was once ensnared, debased, and ruined; to gratify your vile
lusts and appetites, I neglected my own immortal interests, degraded my native
dignity, and made myself miserable forever. Have you now met me—to torment me
forever? Oh, that you had still slept in the dust and never been repaired again!
Let me rather be condemned to animate a vile serpent—rather than that odious
body once defiled with sin, and the instrument of my guilty pleasures, now made
strong and immortal to torment me with strong and immortal pains!

Once indeed, I received sensations of pleasure from you; but now you are
transformed into an instrument of torture! No more shall I through your eyes
behold the cheerful light of the day and the beautiful prospects of nature—but
the thick glooms of hell, grim and ghastly spirits; heaven at an impassable
distance, and all the horrid sights of woe in the infernal regions! No more
shall your ears charm me with the harmony of sounds—but terrify and distress me
with the echo of eternal groans and the thunder of almighty vengeance! No more
shall the gratification of your appetites afford me pleasure—but your appetites,
forever hungry, forever unsatisfied—shall eternally torment me with their eager,
unceasing cravings. No more shall your tongue be employed in mirth, jest, and
song—but shall complain, groan, blaspheme, and roar forever! Your feet that once
walked in the flowery, enchanted paths of sin—must now walk on the dismal
burning soil of hell. O my wretched companion! I parted with you with pain and
reluctance in the struggles of death—but now I meet you with greater terror and
agony! Return to your bed in the dust, to sleep and rot! Let me never see your
shocking visage again!" In vain the petition! The reluctant soul must enter its
prison, from whence it shall never more be dismissed. If we might indulge
imagination so far, we might suppose the BODY begins to recriminate in such
language as this: "Come, guilty soul, enter your old dwelling. If it is horrible
and shocking—it is owing to yourself. Was not the animal nature, subjected to
your government, who are a rational principle? Instead of being debased by me,
it befit you to have not only retained the dignity of your nature—but to have
exalted mine by nobler employments and gratifications worthy an earthly body
united to an immortal spirit! You might have restrained my members from being
the instruments of sin, and made them the instruments of righteousness! My knees
would have bowed at the throne of grace—but you did not affect that posture. My
eyes would have read and mine ears heard the Word of Life! But you would not set
them to that employment or would not attend to it. Now it is but just the body
you did prostitute to sin, which will be the instrument of your punishment!

Indeed, gladly would I relapse into senseless earth as I was—and continue in
that insensibility forever! But did you not hear the all-rousing trumpet just
now? Did it not even shake the foundations of your infernal prison? It was that
call that awakened me and summoned me to meet you—and I could not resist it.
Therefore, come, miserable soul! Take possession of this frame, and let us
prepare for everlasting burning! O that it were now possible to die! O that we
could be again separated and never more be united! Vain wish! The weight of
mountains, the pangs of hell, the flames of unquenchable fire—can never dissolve
these chains which now bind us together!"

O sirs! What a shocking interview is this!

O the glorious, dreadful morning of the resurrection! What scenes of unknown joy
and terror will then open! We should always have it in view. It must even now
engage our thoughts, fill us with trembling solicitude, and make it the great
object of our labor and pursuit to share in the resurrection of the just. But
for what ends do these sleeping multitudes rise? For what purposes do they come
forth? My text will tell you.

They shall come forth, "some to the resurrection of life—and some to the
resurrection of damnation." They are summoned from their graves to stand at the
bar, and brought out of prison by angelic guards to pass their last trial. And
as in this impartial trial they will be found to be people of very different
characters, the righteous Judge of the earth will accordingly pronounce their
different destinies.

"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the
graves will hear His voice and come out; those who have done good—unto the
resurrection of life; and those who have done evil—unto the resurrection of
damnation!"John 5:28-29

"Then the King will say to those on his right: Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world!" (Matthew 25:34) See a glorious multitude, which none can number,
openly acquitted, pronounced ’blessed’, and welcomed into the Kingdom prepared
for them from the foundation of the world! Now they enter upon a state that
deserves the name of LIFE. They are all vital, all active, all glorious, all
happy. They shine brighter than the stars in the skies, like the sun forever and
ever! All their faculties overflow with happiness. They mingle with the glorious
company of angels. They behold that unseen Savior Whom they loved. They dwell in
eternal intimacy with the infinite Father. They are employed with ever new and
growing delight, in the exalted services of the heavenly sanctuary. They shall
never more fear, nor feel the least touch of sorrow, pain, or any kind of
misery—but shall be as happy as their glorified natures can admit, through an
immortal duration. What a glorious new creation is here! What indescribable
creatures, who were originally formed from the dust! Shall any of US join in
this happy company? Oh, shall any of us feeble, dying, sinful creatures share in
their glory and happiness? This is a most important inquiry! The prospect would
be delightful, if charity could hope that this will be the happy end of all
people.

But, alas! Multitudes shall come forth from their graves, not to the
resurrection of life—but to the resurrection of damnation! What terror is in
these words! If audacious sinners in our world make light of it—their comrades
already in the infernal fires, who feel its tremendous import are not so
hardy—but tremble, groan, and can trifle with it no more!

Let us realize the miserable doom of this class of mankind!

"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the
graves will hear His voice and come out!" See them bursting into life from their
subterranean dungeons! Horror throbs through every vein—and glares wildly and
furiously in their eyes. Every joint trembles and every countenance looks
downcast and gloomy! Now they see that tremendous Day of which they were warned
in vain—and shudder at those terrors of which they once made light. They now
experientially know the grand business of the Day and the dreadful purpose for
which they are roused from their slumbers in the grave: to be tried, to be
convicted, to be condemned, and to be dragged away to execution!

Conscience has been anticipating the trial—and no sooner is the soul united to
the body, than immediately conscience ascends its throne in the soul. It begins
to accuse, to convict, to pass sentence, to upbraid, and to torment! The sinner
is condemned, condemned at his own tribunal—before he arrives at the bar of his
omnipotent Judge!! The first act of consciousness in his new state of existence,
is a conviction that he is condemned—an irrevocably condemned creature. He
enters God’s court, knowing beforehand how it will go with him. When he finds
himself ordered to the left hand of his Judge, when he hears the dreadful
sentence thundered out against him, "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!" (Matthew 25:41), it was
just what he expected.

While on earth, he could flatter himself with vain hopes and shut his eyes
against the light of conviction—but then he will not be able to hope better.
Then he must know the worst of his case. The formality of the judicial trial is
necessary for his conviction before the world—but not for his own conscience,
which has already determined his condition. However, to convince others of the
justice of his doom—he is dragged and guarded from his grave to the Judgment
Seat by fierce, unrelenting devils, before his tempters, but now his tormentors.
With what horror does he view the burning throne—and the frowning face of his
Judge—that Jesus Whom he once disregarded! How he wishes for rocks and mountains
to cover and conceal him from His angry eye! But all in vain. Appear he must! He
is ordered to Christ’s left hand, among the other trembling criminals.

Now the TRIAL comes!

All his evil deeds and all his omissions of duty—are now produced against him.
All the mercies he abused, all the chastisements he despised, all the means of
grace he neglected or mis-improved, every sinful and even every idle word;
more—his most secret thoughts and dispositions are all exposed and brought into
judgment against him! When the Judge interrogates him, "Is it not so, sinner?
Are not these charges true?" His conscience obliges him to confess and cry out,
"Guilty! Guilty!" Now the trembling criminal, being plainly convicted and left
without any plea nor any excuse—the supreme Judge, in stern majesty and
inexorable justice, thunders out the dreadful sentence, "Depart from me, you who
are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!"

Oh tremendous doom! Every word is big with terror and shoots a thunderbolt
through the heart!

"Depart!" Away from My presence! I cannot bear so loathsome a sight as you! I
once called you to come to Me that you might have life—but you would not regard
the call. Now you shall never more hear that inviting voice!

Depart "from Me"—from Me, the only Fountain of happiness, the only proper Good
for an immortal soul!

"But, Lord," we may suppose the criminal to say, "if I must depart, bless me
before I go."

"No!" says the angry Judge, "Depart you who are cursed! Depart with My eternal
and heavy curse upon you; a curse dreadfully powerful—which blasts whatever it
falls upon like flashes of consuming, irresistible lightning!"

"But if I must go away under Your curse," the criminal may be supposed to say,
"then let that be all my punishment. Let me depart to some agreeable or at least
tolerable remote place, where I may meet with something to mitigate the curse!"

"No! You must depart into FIRE! There you must forever burn in excruciating
tortures!"

"But, Lord, if I must make my bed in fire—oh, let it be a transient blaze that
will soon burn itself out and put an end to my torment!"

"No! Depart into everlasting fire! There burn without being consumed, and be
tormented without end!"

"But, Lord, grant me," cries the poor wretch, "at least the mitigation of
friendly and sympathizing company. Or, if this cannot be granted, grant me this
small, this almost no request—to be doomed to some solitary corner in hell,
where I shall be punished only by my own conscience and Your immediate hand.
But, oh, deliver me from these evil, tormenting devils! Banish me into some
hidden corner in the infernal pit—far from malicious fiends!"

"No! into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! You must be
one of their wretched crew forever. You joined with them in sinning—and now must
share in their punishment! You gladly submitted to them as your tempters—and now
you must submit to them as your tormentors!" The sentence being pronounced and
read—it is immediatelyexecuted!

"And they will go away into eternal punishment!" (Matthew 25:46) Devils drag
them away to the pit, and throw them down headlong! They must go away into the
bottomless pit! There they are confined in chains of darkness, and cast into the
burning lake of fire and brimstone forever and ever! In that dreadful word
"forever" lies the epitome of torment! This is the ’hell’ of Hell. If they might
be but released from suffering, though it were by annihilation after they have
wept away ten thousand millions of ages in extremity of pain—it would be some
mitigation, some encouragement. But, alas! When as many millions of ages are
passed as the stars of heaven, or the sands on the seashore, or the atoms of
dust in this huge earthly globe—their punishment is as far from an end—as when
the sentence was first pronounced upon them!

FOREVER! There is no exhausting of that word. When it is affixed to the highest
degree of misery—the terror of the sound is utterly insupportable!

See, sirs, what depends upon ’time’—that span of time we may enjoy in this
fleeting life. Eternity! Solemn, all-important eternity, depends upon it!

All this while, conscience tears the sinner’s heart with the most tormenting
reflections. "Oh what a fair opportunity I once had for salvation, had I
improved it! I was warned of the consequences of a life of sin and carelessness.
I was told of the necessity of faith, repentance, and universal holiness of
heart and life. I enjoyed a sufficient space for repentance and all the
necessary means of salvation. But fool that I was—I neglected all, I abused all.
I refused to part with my sins. I refused to engage seriously in religion and to
seek God in earnest. And now I am lost forever without hope! Oh! For one of
those months, one of those weeks, or even so much as one of those days or hours
I once trifled away! With what earnestness, with what solicitude would I improve
it! But all my opportunities are past, beyond recovery, and not a moment shall
be given me for this purpose any more. O what a fool I was—to sell my soul for
such trifles! To think so lightly of heaven—and fall into hell through mere
neglect and carelessness!"

You impenitent, unthinking sinners, though you may now be able to silence or
drown the clamors of your consciences, yet the time—or rather the dread
eternity—is coming when they will speak in spite of you, when they will strike
home to your soul—and be felt by the most hardened and remorseless heart.
Therefore, regard their warnings now—while they may be the means of your
recovery. You are vitally concerned in the solemn transaction of that Day I have
been describing. You shall either be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye; or while moldering in the grave, you shall hear the voice of the Son of God
and come forth—either to the resurrection of life—or to the resurrection of
damnation! And which shall be your eternal destiny? Have you any evidence to
hope that you shall not be of that wretched, numerous multitude who shall rise
to damnation? If there is any inquiry within the compass of human knowledge that
demands your solicitous thoughts, certainly it is this!

Methinks you cannot enjoy one moment’s ease or security while this is
undetermined. And is it an answerable inquiry? Can we now know what are the
present distinguishing characters of those who shall then receive so different a
doom? Yes, my text determines the point:

"Those who have done good—unto the resurrection of life; and those who have done
evil—unto the resurrection of damnation."

These are the grounds of the distinction that shall then be made in the final
states of men: doing good—and doing evil. And certainly this distinction is
perceivable now; to do good and to do evil are not so much alike as that it
should be impossible to distinguish between them. Let us then see what is
implied in these characters, and to which of us they respectively belong.

1. What is it to do GOOD? This implies:

(1.) An honest endeavor to keep all God’s commandments. I say, ALL his
commandments, with regard to God, our neighbor, and ourselves; whether easy—or
difficult; whether fashionable—or not; whether agreeable to our natural
constitution—or not; whether enjoining the performance of duty—or forbidding the
commission of sin; whether regarding the heart—or the outward practice.

I say, an uniform, impartial regard to all God’s commandments, of whatever kind,
in all circumstances, and at all times—is implied in doing good. For if we do
anything because God commands it, we will endeavor to do everything that he
commands, because where the reason of our conduct is the same, our conduct
itself will be the same.

I do not mean that godly men, in the present state, perfectly keep the
commandments of God in everything, or indeed in anything; but I mean that
universal obedience is their honest endeavor. Their character is in some measure
uniform and all of a piece; that is, they do not place all their religion in
obedience to some commands which may be agreeable to them, as though that would
make atonement for their neglect of others; but, like David, they have a respect
to all God’s commandments, Psalms 119:6. My brethren, try yourselves by this
test.

(2.) To do good in an acceptable manner pre-supposes a change of nature and a
new principle. Our nature is so corrupted that nothing really and formally good
can be performed by us until it is renewed. To confirm this I shall only refer
you to Ephesians 2:10, and Ezekiel 36:26-27, where being created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, and receiving a new heart of flesh, are mentioned as
prerequisites to our walking in God’s statutes. As for the principle of
obedience, it is the love of God: 1 John 5:3. That is, we must obey God—because
we love him; we must do good—because we delight to do good. Otherwise it is all
hypocrisy, constraint, or selfishness, and cannot be acceptable to God. Here,
again, my brethren, look into your hearts, and examine what is the principle of
your obedience, and whether ever you have been made new creatures.

(3.) I must add, especially as we live under the gospel, that your dependence
for life must not be upon the good which you do—but entirely upon the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. After you have done all—you must acknowledge you
are but unprofitable servants; and renounce all your works in point of
merit—while you abound in them in point of practice; Php 3:7-8. This is an
essential characteristic of evangelical obedience, and without it you cannot
expect to have a resurrection to eternal life and blessedness.

I might enlarge upon this head, but time will not permit; and I hope these three
characters may suffice to show you what is implied in doing good. Let us now
proceed to the opposite character.

2. What is it to do EVIL? This implies such things as these: the habitual
neglect of well-doing; or the performance of duties in a languid, formal manner,
or without a right principle; and the willful indulgence of any one sin; the
secret love of sin, even though it is not allowed to break forth into the
outward practice. Here it is evident at first sight that profane sinners,
drunkards, swearers, defrauders, avowed neglecters of religion, etc., have this
dismal brand upon them, that they are such as do evil. Nay, all such who are in
their natural state, without regeneration, whatever their outside be—must be
ranked in this class; "for that which is born of the flesh—is flesh," John 3:6;
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God, nor be rightly subject to his
law. Romans 8:7-8. And now who is for life—and who for damnation among you?
These characteristics are intended to make the distinction among you, and I pray
you apply them for that purpose. As for such of you, who, amidst all your
lamented infirmities, are endeavoring honestly to do good, and grieved at heart
that you can do no more, you also must die—you must die, and feed the worms in
the dust. But you shall rise gloriously improved, rise to an immortal life, and
in all the terrors and consternation of that last day, you will be secure,
serene, and undisturbed. The almighty Judge will be your friend, and that is
enough. Let this thought disarm the king of terrors, and give you courage to
look down into the grave, and forward to the great rising-day. Oh what a happy
immortality opens its glorious prospects beyond the reach of sight before you!
And after a few struggles more in this state of warfare, and resting awhile in
the bed of death—at the regions of eternal blessedness you will arrive, and take
up your residence there forever! But are there not some here who are conscious
that these favorable characteristics do not belong to them? that know that
well-doing is not the business of their life, but that they are workers of
iniquity? I tell you plainly, and with all the authority the Word of God can
give, that if you continue such—that you shall rise to damnation! That
undoubtedly will be your doom, unless you are greatly changed and reformed in
heart and life. And will this be no inducement to vigorous endeavors? Are you
armored against the force of such a consideration? You careless sinners, awake
out of your carnal security, and prepare for death and judgment! This fleeting
life is all the time you have for preparation, and can you trifle it away? Your
all, your eternal all is set upon your short life. You have but one opportunity,
and if that fails, through your sloth or mismanagement, you are irrecoverably
undone forever!

Therefore, by the solemn authority of the great God, by the terrors of death,
and the great rising-day, by the joys of heaven, and the torments of hell, and
by the value of your immortal souls—I entreat, I charge, I adjure you to awake
out of your security, and improve the precious moments of life! The world is
dying all around you. And can you rest easy in such a world, while unprepared
for eternity? Awake to righteousness now, at the gentle call of the gospel,
before the last trumpet gives you an alarm of another kind!

"There is a dreadful hell, And everlasting pains; There sinners must with devils
dwell, In darkness, fire and chains!"

"He has appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness."
Acts 17:31


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  CHAPTER 10: 07-THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT
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The Universal Judgment by Samuel Davies

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance—but now He commands all people
everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with
justice by the Man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men—by
raising Him from the dead." Acts 17:30-31

"The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of
judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The day of the Lord will come like a
thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by
fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare!" 2 Peter 3:7; 2
Peter 3:10 The present state is but the infancy of the world. All the events of
time, even those which make such great noise to us, and determine the fate of
kingdoms—are but as the trivial games of little children. But if we look forward
and trace events to maturity, we meet with vast, interesting, and majestic
events! To one of those scenes I would direct your attention this day; I mean
the solemn, tremendous, and glorious scene of the universal judgment!

You have sometimes seen a stately building in ruins; come now and view the ruins
of a demolished world!

You have often seen a feeble mortal struggling in the agonies of death, and his
shattered frame dissolved; come now and view the whole universe severely
laboring and agonizing in her last convulsions, and her well-ordered system
dissolved!

You have heard of earthquakes here and there that have laid huge cities in
ruins; come now and feel the tremors and convulsions of the whole globe, which
blend cities and countries, oceans and continents, mountains, plains, and
valleys—in one giant heap!

You have a thousand times beheld the moon walking in brightness, and the sun
shining in his strength; come now look and see the sun turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood!

It is our lot to live in an age of war, blood, and slaughter; an age in which
our attention is engaged by the dubious fate of kingdoms. Draw off your thoughts
from these objects for an hour, and fix them on more solemn and vital objects.
Come view this dread scene!

"The world alarmed, both earth and heaven o’erthrown, And gasping nature’s last
tremendous groan; Death’s ancient scepter broke, the teeming tomb, The Righteous
Judge, and man’s eternal doom!"

Such a scene there certainly is before us; for Paul tells us that "He has set a
day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man he has appointed. He
has given proof of this to all men—by raising Him from the dead!" Christ’s
resurrection is a demonstrative proof of it. My text is the conclusion of Paul’s
defense or sermon before the famous court of Areopagus, in the learned and
philosophical city of Athens. In this kingly assembly he speaks with the
boldness, and in the evangelical strain of an apostle of Christ. He first
inculcates upon them the great truths of natural religion, and labors
faithfully, though in a very gentle and inoffensive manner, to reform them from
that stupid idolatry and superstition into which even this learned philosophical
city was sunk, though a Socrates, a Plato, and the most celebrated sages and
moralists of pagan antiquity had lived and taught in it. Afterwards, in the
close of his discourse, he introduces the glorious themes of Christianity,
particularly the great duty of repentance, from evangelical motives, the
resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment. But no sooner has he entered
upon this subject than he is interrupted, and seems to have broken off abruptly;
for when he had just hinted at the then unpopular doctrine of the resurrection
of the dead. We are told, "When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,
some of them sneered, but others said: We want to hear you again on this
subject."

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people
everywhere to repent!" In those dark times of ignorance which preceded the
publication of the gospel, God seemed to wink at, or overlook the idolatry and
various forms of wickedness that had overspread the world. That is, he seemed to
take no notice of them, so as either to punish them, or to give the nations
explicit calls to repentance. But now, says Paul, the case is altered! Now the
gospel is published through the world, and therefore God will no longer seem to
overlook the wickedness and impenitence of mankind—but publishes his great
mandate to a rebel world, explicitly and loudly, commanding all men everywhere
to repent! And he now gives them particular motives and encouragements to this
duty.

One motive of the greatest weight, which was never so clearly or extensively
published before, is the doctrine of the universal judgment. "In the past God
overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has
appointed." And surely the prospect of a universal judgment must be a strong
motive to sinners to repent! This, if anything, will rouse them from their
thoughtless security, and bring them to repentance.

Repentance should, and one would think must, be as extensive as this reason for
it. This Paul intimates. "He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For
he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice!" Wherever the gospel
publishes the doctrine of future judgment, there it requires all men to repent;
and wherever it requires repentance, there it enforces the command of this
alarming doctrine. God has given assurance to all men; that is, to all that hear
the gospel, that he has appointed a day for this great purpose, and that Jesus
Christ, God-man, is to preside in person in this majestic solemnity. He has
given assurance of this; that is, sufficient ground of faith; and the assurance
consists in this: that he has raised him from the dead. The resurrection of
Christ gives assurance of this in several respects. It is a specimen and a
pledge of a general resurrection, that grand preparative for the judgment. The
resurrection of Christ is an incontestable proof of his divine mission; for God
will never work so unprecedented a miracle in favor of an impostor. The
resurrection of Christ is also an authentic attestation of all our Lord’s
claims; and he expressly claimed the authority of supreme Judge as delegated to
him by the Father; "the Father judges no man—but has committed all judgment to
the Son." John 5:22. There is a peculiar fitness and propriety in this
constitution. It is fit that a world placed under the administration of a
Mediator—should have a mediatorial Judge. It is fit this high office should be
conferred upon him as an honorary reward for his important services and extreme
abasement. Because he humbled himself, therefore God has highly exalted him. Php
2:8-9.

It is fit that creatures clothed with bodies should be judged by a man clothed
in a body like themselves. Hence it is said that "God has given him authority to
execute judgment, because he is the Son of man." John 5:27. This would seem a
strange reason, did we not understand it in this light. Indeed, was Jesus Christ
man only, he would be infinitely unequal to the office of universal Judge; but
he is both God and man, ’Immanuel, God with us!’ As such, he is the fittest
person in the universe for the work. It is also fit that Christ should be the
supreme Judge, as it will be a great encouragement to his people for their
Mediator to execute this office. And it may be added, that hereby the
condemnation of the wicked will be rendered more conspicuously just; for, if a
Mediator, a Savior, the Friend of sinners, condemns them—they must be worthy of
condemnation indeed!

Let us now enter upon the majestic scene. But alas! what images shall I use to
represent it? Nothing that we have ever seen, nothing that we have ever heard,
nothing that has ever happened on the stage of time—can furnish us with proper
illustrations. All is low and groveling, all is faint and obscure, that ever the
sun shone upon—when compared with the grand phenomena of that day!

We are so accustomed to low and little objects, that it is impossible we should
ever raise our thoughts to a suitable pitch of elevation. Before long we shall
be amazed spectators of these majestic wonders, and our eyes and our ears will
be our instructors! But now it is necessary we should have such ideas of them as
may affect our hearts, and prepare us for them. Let us therefore present to our
view those representations which divine revelation—our only guide in this
case—gives us . . . of the person of the Judge, and the manner of his
appearance; of the resurrection of the dead, and the transformation of the
living; of the universal gathering of all men before the supreme tribunal; of
their separation to the right and left hand of the Judge, according to their
characters; of the judicial process itself; of the decisive sentence; of its
execution, and of the conflagration of the world! As to the person of the Judge,
the psalmist tells you that God is Judge himself. Psalms 1:6. Yet Christ tells
us, "the Father judges no man—but has committed all judgment unto the Son; and
has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."
John 5:22; John 5:27. It is therefore Christ Jesus, God-man, as I observed, who
shall sustain this high character as the universal Judge. And for the reasons
already alleged, it is most fitting that it should be devolved upon him. Being
both God and man, all the advantages of divinity and humanity center in him, and
render him more fit for this office than if he were God only—or man only. This
is the grand Judge before whom we must stand; and the prospect may inspire us
with reverence, joy, and terror. As for the manner of his appearance, it will be
such as befits the dignity of his person and office. He will shine in all the
uncreated glories of the Godhead, and in all the gentler glories of a perfect
man. His attendants will add a dignity befitting to His grand appearance, and
will increase the solemnity and terror of the day. Let his own word describe
them:

"The Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with hisangels!"Matthew
16:27.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him—he will sit
on his throne in heavenly glory!" Matthew 25:31.

"This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire
with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of
his power!" 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 And not only will the angels, those
illustrious ministers of the court of heaven, attend upon that solemn
occasion—but also all the saints who had left the world from Adam to that day;
says Paul, "God will bring with Jesus—those who have fallen asleep in him." 1
Thessalonians 4:14. The grand imagery in Daniel’s vision is applicable to this
day—and perhaps to this it primarily refers: "As I looked, thrones were set in
place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and
its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before
him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened!" Daniel
7:9-10

Perhaps our Lord Jesus may exhibit himself to the whole world upon this most
grand occasion, in the same glorious form in which he was seen by his favorite
John, "His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes
were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his
voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven
stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like
the sun shining in all its brilliance!" Revelation 1:13-16

Another image of inimitable majesty and terror, the same writer gives us, when
he says, "Then I saw a great white throne and HIM who was seated on it. Earth
and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the
dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged
according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the
dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them,
and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If
anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the
lake of fire!" Revelation 20:11-15

What an astonishing scene is this! The stable earth and heaven cannot bear the
majesty and terror of His look; they fly away affrighted, and seek a place to
hide themselves—but no place is found to shelter them; every region through the
immensity of space, lies open before Him! This is the Judge before whom we must
stand; and this is the manner of His appearance! But is this the babe of
Bethlehem—who lay and wept in the manger? Is this the supposed son of the
carpenter, the despised Galilean? Is this the man of sorrows? Is this He who was
. . . arrested, condemned, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, executed as
a slave and a criminal, upon the cross?

Yes, it is Him! The very same Jesus of Nazareth! But oh how changed! How
deservedly exalted! Heaven and earth bows before Him!

Now let his enemies appear and show their contempt and malignity!

Now, Pilate—condemn the King of the Jews as an usurper!

Now, you Jews, raise the clamor, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Now bow the knee in
scorn, spit in His face, and buffet Him! Now tell the scourged impostor that He
must die!

Now, you Deists and Infidels, dispute his divinity and the truth of his religion
if you can. Now, you hypocritical professing Christians, try to impose upon him
with your idle pretenses.

Now despise His grace, now laugh at His threatenings, and now make light of His
displeasure—if you dare!

Ah! now their courage fails, and terror surrounds them! Now they try to hide in
caves and among the rocks of the mountains. Now they call to the mountains and
the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and
who can stand?"

But, alas! That LAMB who once bled as a sacrifice for sin—now appears in all the
terrors of a LION! Oh! could they hide themselves in the bottom of the ocean, or
in some rock that bears the weight of the mountains—how happy would they think
themselves!

While the Judge is descending—the parties to be judged will be summoned to
appear. But where are they? They are all asleep in their dusty beds—except that
present generation. And how shall they be roused from their long sleep of
thousands of years? Why, "the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a
loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God!"
1 Thessalonians 4:16. The trumpet shall sound, and those who are then alive
shall not pass into eternity through the beaten road of death—but at the last
trumpet they shall be changed—changed into immortals, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye! 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.

Now all the millions of mankind, of whatever country and nation, whether they
expect this tremendous day or not, all feel a shock through their whole frames,
while they are instantaneously metamorphosed in every limb, and the pulse of
immortality begins to beat strong in every part! Now also the slumberers under
ground begin to stir, to rouse, and spring to life! Now see graves opening,
tombs bursting, charnel-houses rattling, the earth heaving, and all alive, while
these subterranean armies are bursting their way through! See clouds of human
dust and broken bones darkening the air, and flying from country to country over
intervening continents and oceans—to meet their kindred fragments, and repair
the shattered frame with pieces collected from a thousand different quarters,
where they were blown away by winds, or washed away by seas!

See what millions start up in company—in the spots where Nineveh, Babylon,
Jerusalem, Rome, and London once stood! Whole armies spring to life in fields
where they once lost their lives in battle, and were left unburied! They spring
up from fields which fattened with their blood, produced a thousand harvests,
and now produce a crop of living men! See a succession of thousands of years
rising in crowds from grave-yards round the places where they once attended, in
order to prepare for this solemn and decisive day.

Nay, graves yawn, and swarms burst into life from under palaces, and buildings
of pride and pleasure, in fields and forests, in thousands of places where
graves were never suspected!

How are the living surprised to find people springing into life under their
feet, or just beside them; some beginning to stir and heave the ground; others
half-risen, and others quite disengaged from the encumbrance of earth, and
standing upright before them!

"The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead
that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done!"
Revelation 20:13. What vast multitudes which had slept in a watery grave, now
emerge from rivers, and seas, and oceans, and throw them into a tumult! Now
appear to the view of all the world—the Goliahs, the Anakim, and the other
giants of ancient times! And now the millions of infants spring up at once!

"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting
life, others to shame and everlasting contempt!" Daniel 12:2.

"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil will rise to the resurrection
of damnation!" John 5:28-29.

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the
earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I
will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed
at the thought!" Job 19:25-27

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be
changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be
changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the
mortal with immortality!" 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 As the characters, and
consequently the doom of mankind, will be very different—so we may reasonably
suppose they will rise in very different forms of glory or dishonor, of beauty
or deformity. Their bodies indeed will all be improved to the highest degree,
and all made vigorous, capacious, and immortal. But here lies the difference:
the bodies of the righteous will be strengthened to bear an exceeding great and
eternal weight of glory—but those of the wicked will be strengthened to sustain
an exceeding great and eternal load of misery! Their strength will be but mere
capacity to suffer a horrid capacity of greater pain! The immortality of the
righteous will be the duration of their happiness! But the immortality of the
wicked will be the duration of their misery! Their immortality, the highest
privilege of their nature—will be their heaviest curse! They would willingly
exchange their duration with an insect of a day, or a fading flower. The bodies
of the righteous will "shine as the sun, and as the stars in the firmament
forever and ever!" But the bodies of the wicked will be grim, and shocking, and
ugly and hateful—as hell! The bodies of the righteous will be fit mansions for
their heavenly spirits to inhabit, and every feature will speak the delightful
passions that agreeably work within. But the wicked will be but spirits of hell
clothed in the material bodies; and malice, rage, despair, and all the infernal
passions, will manifest in their countenances, and cast a dismal gloom around
them! Oh! they will then be nothing else, but shapes of deformity and terror!
They will look like the natives of hell, and spread horror around them with
every look! With what reluctance may we suppose will the souls of the wicked
enter again into a state of union with these hellish bodies, that will be
everlasting engines of torture to them—as they once were instruments of sin to
their bodies! But oh! with what joy will the souls of the righteous return to
their old habitations, in which they once served their God with honest though
feeble endeavors, and now so gloriously repaired and improved! How will they
welcome the resurrection of their old companions from their long sleep in death,
now made fit to share with them in the sublime employments and fruitions of
heaven! Every organ will be an instrument of service and an inlet of pleasure,
and the soul shall no longer be encumbered, but assisted by this union to the
body.

Oh what surprising creatures can Omnipotence raise from the dust! To what a high
degree of beauty can the Almighty refine the offspring of the earth! And into
what miracles of glory and blessedness can he form them!

Now the Judge has come, the Judgment-seat is erected, the dead are raised. And
what follows? Why, the universal gathering of all people before the
Judgment-seat! The place of judgment will probably be the extensive region of
the air, the most capacious for the reception of such a multitude; for Paul
tells us that the saints shall "be caught up together in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air." 1 Thessalonians 4:17. And that the air will be the place of
judicature, perhaps, may be intimated when our Lord is represented as coming in
the clouds, and sitting upon a cloudy throne.

These expressions can hardly be understood literally, for clouds which consisted
of vapors and rarified particles of water—seem very improper materials for such
a throne of judgment, but they may very properly intimate that Christ will make
his appearance, and hold his court in the region of the clouds; that is, in the
air! And perhaps that the rays of light and majestic darkness shall be so
blended around him as to form the appearance of a cloud to the view of the
wondering and gazing world! To this throne of judgment, from whence our globe
will lie open to view far and wide—will all the sons of men be convened. And
they will be gathered together by the ministry of angels—the officers of this
grand court. "They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with
power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and
they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to
the other!" Matthew 24:30-31. Their ministry also extends to the wicked, whom
they will drag away to judgment and execution, and separate from the righteous.
"The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds
are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The
Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom
everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the
fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Matthew
13:39-42

What a resplendent convocation, what a vast assembly is this! See flights of
angels darting round the globe from east to west, from pole to pole—gathering up
here and there the scattered saints, separating them out from among the crowd of
the ungodly, and bearing them aloft on their wings to meet the Lord in the air!

Meanwhile the wretched crowd look and gaze, and stretch their hands, and would
mount up along with them; but, alas! they must be left behind, and wait for
another kind of convoy—a convoy of cruel, unrelenting devils, who shall snatch
them up as their prey with malignant joy, and place them before the flaming
tribunal.

Now all the sons of men meet in one immense assembly! Adam beholds the long line
of his posterity; and they behold their common father. Now Europeans and
Asiatics, the swarthy sons of Africa and the savages of America—all mingle
together. Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, and Pagans, the learned and the
ignorant, kings and subjects, rich and poor, free and slave—form one great
crowd. Now all the vast armies that conquered or fell under Xerxes, Darius,
Alexander, Caesar, and other illustrious warriors, unite in one vast army!
There, in short, all the successive inhabitants of the earth for thousands of
years—appear in one vast assembly. And how inconceivably great must the number
be! When the inhabitants of but one town meet together—you are struck with the
survey. Were all the inhabitants of a kingdom convened in one place—how much
more striking would be the sight! Were all the inhabitants of the kingdoms of
the earth convened in one general assembly—how astonishing and vast would be
that multitude be! But what is even this vast multitude, when compared with the
long succession of generations that have peopled the globe, in all ages; and in
all countries; from the first commencement of time—to the last day! Here numbers
fail, and our thoughts are lost in the immense survey! The extensive region of
the air is very properly chosen as the place of judgment; for this earthly globe
would not be sufficient for such a multitude to stand upon! In that prodigious
assembly, my friends—you and I must mingle! And we shall not be lost in the
crowd, nor escape the notice of our Judge! His eye will be as particularly fixed
on each one of us—as though there were but one person before Him! To increase
the number, and add a majesty and terror to the assembly, the fallen angels also
make their appearance at the judgment bar. This they have long expected with
horror, as the period when their consummate misery is to commence. When Christ,
in the form of a servant, exercised a god-like power over them in the days of
his residence upon earth, they almost mistook his first coming as a Savior—for
his second coming as their Judge; and therefore they expostulated, "have you
come to torment us before the time?" Matthew 8:29. That is, "We expected that
you would at last appear to torment us—but we did not expect your coming so
soon!"

Agreeable to this, Peter tells us, "God did not spare angels when they sinned,
but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for
judgment!" 2 Peter 2:4. To the same purpose Jude speaks: "And the angels who did
not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has
kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day!"
Jude 1:6.

What horribly dreadful figures will these be! And what a direful appearance will
they make at the judgment bar! Their powers blasted, stripped of their primeval
glories, and lying in ruins! Yet dreadful even in ruins—gigantic forms of terror
and deformity; horribly dreadful, fallen angels!

Now the Judge is seated—and anxious millions stand before Him waiting for their
doom! As yet, there is no separation made between them; but men and devils,
saints and sinners, are promiscuously blended together. But see! at the order of
the Judge, the crowd is all in motion! They part, they sort together according
to their character, and divide to the right and left. He Himself has told us,
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him—He will sit
on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him,
and He will separate the people one from another—as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right—and the goats on His
left!" Matthew 25:31-33.

And, oh! what strange separations are now made! what multitudes that once ranked
themselves among the saints, and were highly esteemed for their piety, by others
as well as themselves—are now banished from among them, and placed with the
trembling criminals on the LEFT hand! And how many poor, honest-hearted,
doubting, desponding souls, whose foreboding fears had often placed them there,
now find themselves, to their agreeable surprise, stationed on the RIGHT hand of
their Judge, who smiles upon them!

What relations are now broken! What hearts are now torn asunder! What intimate
companions, what dear friendships are now parted forever! Neighbor from
neighbor, friend from friend, parents from children, husband from wife! Those
who were but one flesh, and who lay in one another’s bosoms—must part forever.
Those who lived in the same country, who joined the same denomination, who
worshiped in the same place, who lived under one roof; who lay in the same womb,
and sucked the same breast—must now part forever! And is there no separation
likely to be made then in our families or in our congregation? Is it likely that
we shall all be placed in that blessed group on the right hand? Are all the
members of our families prepared for that glorious station? Alas! are there not
some families among us who, it is to be feared—shall all be sent off to the left
hand, without so much as one exception? For who are those miserable multitudes
on the LEFT hand? There, through the medium of Scripture revelation, I see the
drunkard, the swearer, the immoral, the liar, the defrauder, and the various
classes of profane, profligate sinners. There I see the unbeliever, the
impenitent, the lukewarm formalist, and the various classes of hypocrites, and
half-Christians. There I see the families that do not call upon God’s name, and
whole nations that forget him. And, oh! what vast multitudes, what millions of
millions of millions do all these make! And do not some, alas! do not many of
YOU belong to one or other of these classes of sinners whom God, and Christ, and
Scripture, and conscience conspire to condemn? If so, to the left hand you must
depart among devils and trembling criminals, whose guilty minds foretell their
doom, before the judicial process begins. But who are those glorious immortals
upon the RIGHT hand? They are those who have surrendered themselves entirely to
God, through Jesus Christ, who have heartily complied with the method of
salvation revealed in the gospel; who have been formed new creatures by the
almighty power of God; who make it the most earnest, persevering endeavor of
their lives—to work out their own salvation, and to live righteously, soberly,
and godly in the world. These are some of the principal lineaments of character
of those who who shall have their safe and honorable station at the right hand
of the sovereign Judge. And is not this the prevailing character of some of you?
I hope and believe that it is. Through the medium of Scripture revelation, I see
you in that blessed station. And, oh! I would make an appointment with you this
day to meet you there. Yes, let us this day appoint the time and place where we
shall meet after the separation and dispersion that death will make among us;
and let it be at the right hand of the Judge at the last day!

If I be so happy as to obtain some humble place there, I shall look for some of
you, my dear people! There I shall expect your company, that we may ascend
together to join in the more exalted services and enjoyments of heaven, as we
have frequently in the humbler forms of worship in the church on earth.

But, oh! when I think what startling separations will then be made—I tremble
lest I should miss some of YOU there! And are you not afraid lest you should
miss some of your friends, or some of your family members there? Or that you
should then see them move off to the LEFT hand, and looking back with eagerness
upon you, as if they would say, "This is my doom through YOUR carelessness! Had
you but acted as a faithful friend towards me, while conversant with you or
under your care—I might now have had my place among the blessed saints!" Oh! how
could you bear such powerful, piercing looks from your child, or your friend!
Therefore now do all in your power to "convert sinners from the error of their
way, and to save their souls from death!" When we entered upon this practical
digression—we left all things ready for the judicial process. And now the TRIAL
begins!

Now "God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." Romans 2:16. All the works
of people will then be tried! "For," says Paul, "we must all appear before the
judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the
things done while in the body, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10. John in
his vision "saw the dead judged according to their works." Revelation 20:12-13.
These works immediately refer to the actions of the life—but they may also
include the inward temper, and thoughts of the soul, and the words of the lips;
for all these shall be brought into judgment.

Says Solomon, "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every
hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14. And though we are
too apt to think that we are not accountable for our words—he who is to be our
Judge has told us that "for every careless word which men speak, they shall give
an account in the day of judgment; for by your words," as well as your actions,
"you shall be justified; and by your words you shall be condemned." Matthew
12:36-37.

What astonishing discoveries will this trial of every hidden thing make! What
noble dispositions which never shone in full beauty to mortal eyes! What
generous purposes crushed in embryo for lack of power to execute them! What
pious and noble actions concealed under the veil of modesty, or misconstrued by
ignorance and prejudice! What affectionate aspirations, what devout exercises of
heart, which lay open only to the eyes of Omniscience, are now brought to full
light, and receive the approbation of the Supreme Judge before the assembled
universe! But on the other hand: what works of shame and darkness are then
revealed! What hidden things of dishonesty! What dire secrets of treachery,
hypocrisy, lewdness, and various forms of wickedness artfully and industriously
concealed from human sight! What horrid exploits of sin now burst to light in
all their hellish colors, to the confusion of the guilty, and the astonishment
and horror of the universe!

Surely the history of mankind must then appear like the annals of hell, or the
biography of devils! Then the mask of deceit will be torn off! Clouded
characters will clear up, and men as well as things will appear in their true
light. Their hearts will be, as it were, turned outwards, and all their secrets
exposed to full view! The design of this judicial inquiry will not be to inform
the omniscient Judge—but to convince all worlds of the justice of his
proceedings. And this design renders it necessary that all these things should
be laid open to their sight, that they may see the grounds upon which he passes
sentence. Does not the prospect of such a ’revealing’ fill some of you with
horror? For many of your actions, and especially of your thoughts—will not bear
the light. How would it confound you, if all your secret thoughts were now all
published, even in the small circle of your friends? How then, can you bear to
have them all fully exposed before God, angels, and the universe! Will it not
confound you with shame, and make you objects of everlasting contempt to all
worlds!

These are the FACTS to be tried. But by what RULE shall they be tried? From the
goodness and justice of God—we may conclude that men will be judged by some rule
known to them, or which at least it was in their power to know. Now the light of
reason, the law of conscience, is a universal rule, and universally known—or at
least knowable by all men, heathen and Muhammadans, as well as Jews and
Christians. And therefore all mankind shall be judged by this rule. "Indeed,
when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law,
they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they
show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their
consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even
defending them." Romans 2:14-15. By this rule their consciences now acquit or
condemn them, because they know that by this rule they shall then be judged. The
conscience seems to be a kind of innate monitor of human nature. As the heathen
were invincibly ignorant of every rule but the conscience—they shall be judged
by this only. But as to those parts of the world that enjoyed, or might enjoy
the advantages of Scriptural revelation, whether by tradition with the
pre-Mosaic world, or in the writings of Moses and the prophets with the Jews, or
in the clearer dispensation of the gospel with the Christian world—they shall be
judged by this revealed law. And by how much the more perfect the rule—by so
much the stricter will their account be. That which would be an excusable
infirmity in an African or an American Indian, may be an aggravated crime in us
who enjoy such superior advantages. This is evident from the repeated
declarations of sacred writ. "As many as have sinned without the law, (that is,
without the written law,) shall also perish without law; and as many as have
sinned under the law—shall be judged by the law. This will take place on the day
when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares."
Romans 2:12; Romans 2:16.

"If I had not come and spoken to them," says the blessed Jesus, "they would not
be guilty of sin." That is, they would not have had sin so aggravated; or they
would not have had the particular sin of unbelief in rejecting the Messiah; but
now they have no cloak for their sin. John 15:22. That is, now when they have
had such abundant conviction, they are utterly inexcusable!

"This," says he, "is the condemnation;" that is, this is the occasion of the
most aggravated condemnation; "that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19.

"That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do
what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not
know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows!"
(observe, ignorance is no sufficient excuse,) "From everyone who has been given
much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much,
much more will be asked" Luke 12:47-48.

Upon these maxims of eternal righteousness, the Judge will proceed in
pronouncing the doom of the world; and it was upon these principles he declared,
in the days of his flesh, that it should be more tolerable in the day of
judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah—than for those places that enjoyed the
advantages of his ministry, and misimproved them! Matthew 11:21-24. Whether upon
these principles sinners among us have not reason to expect they will obtain a
more horrid sentence among the million of sinners in that day, I leave you to
judge, and to tremble at the thought!

There is another representation of this proceeding, which we often meet with in
the sacred writings, in allusion to the forms of proceedings in human courts. In
courts of law, law-books are referred to, opened, and read for the direction of
the judges, and sentence is passed according to them. In allusion to this
custom, Daniel, in vision, saw, "As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the
Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of
his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels
were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened!"Daniel 7:9-10. And
John had the same representation made to him: "Then I saw a great white throne
and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there
was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the
throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of
life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the
books." Revelation 20:11-12. Should we pursue this significant allusion, we may
say—then will the book of the law of NATURE be opened; and mankind will be tried
according to its precepts, and doomed according to its sentence. This is a plain
and vast volume, opened and legible now to all who can read their own hearts; to
all who have eyes to look round upon the works of God, which show his glory and
their duty; and who have ears to hear the lectures which the sun and moon, and
all the works of creation and providence, read to them night and day.

Then, too, will be opened the book of SCRIPTURE revelation, in all its parts,
both the law of Moses and the gospel of Christ; and according to it—will those
be judged who lived under one or other of these dispensations. Then it will
appear that that neglected, old-fashioned book called the Bible is not a
romance, or a system of trifling truths—but the standard of life and death to
all who had access to it.

Then will also be opened the book of GOD’S REMEMBRANCE. In that book, are
recorded all the thoughts, words, actions, both good and bad, of all people—and
now the immense account shall be publicly read before the assembled universe.

Then, likewise, as a counterpart to this, will the book of CONSCIENCE be opened;
conscience which, though unnoticed, writes our whole history as with an iron pen
and the point of a diamond!

Then, also, we are expressly told, will be opened the book of LIFE, in which are
contained all the names of all the heirs of heaven. Revelation 20:12. This seems
to be an allusion to those registers which are kept in cities or corporations,
of the names of all the citizens or members who have a right to all the
privileges of the society. And I know not what we can understand by it so
properly—as the perfect knowledge which the omniscient God has, and always had
from eternity, of those on whom he purposed to bestow eternal life; and whom he
has from eternity, as it were, registered as members of the general assembly and
church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, or as citizens of that
blessed city. These, having been all prepared by his grace in time—shall then be
admitted into the New Jerusalem in that day of the Lord.

Farther, the representation which the Scripture gives us of the proceedings of
that day leads us to conceive of WITNESSES being produced to prove the facts.
The omniscient Judge Himself, will be a witness against the guilty. "I will come
near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,
adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who
oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not
fear me—says the LORD Almighty!" Malachi 3:5. And he will, no doubt, be a
witness for his people, and attest their sincere piety, their saving interest in
Christ, and those good dispositions or actions which were known only to him.

Angels, also, who ministered to the heirs of salvation, and no doubt inspected
the affairs of mankind, will be witnesses.

Devils too, who once tempted, will now become accusers.

Conscience within will also be a witness! It shall acquit the righteous of many
unjust imputations, and attest the sincerity of their hearts and their many good
actions. But oh! it will be the most terrible witness against the ungodly! They
will be witnesses against themselves, (Joshua 24:22,) and this will render them
self-tormentors! Conscience will re-echo to the voice of the Judge, and cry,
"Guilty, guilty, to all his accusations!" And who can make the wicked happy—when
they torment themselves? Who can acquit them—when they are self-condemned?
Conscience, whose voice is now so often suppressed—will then have full scope—and
shall be regarded. Whom conscience condemns—the righteous Judge will also
condemn; for, "if our hearts condemn us—God is greater than our hearts, and
knows all things," 1 John 3:20. God knows many more grounds for condemning us
than we, and therefore much more will he condemn us. In short, so full will be
the evidence against the sinner, that the Scripture which is full of striking
imagery to affect human nature, gives life to inanimate things upon this
occasion, and represents them as ’speaking’. Stones and dust shall witness
against the ungodly. The dust under the feet of their ministers shall witness
against them! Matthew 10:14. "The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams
of the woodwork will echo it!" Habakkuk 2:11. "Your gold and silver are
corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like
fire." James 5:3. Nay, "The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise
up against him!" Job 20:27. Heaven and earth were called to witness, that life
and death were set before them, Deuteronomy 30:19, and now they will give in
their evidence that they chose death!

Thus God and all his creatures, heaven, earth, and hell—rise up against them,
accuse and condemn them! And will not the wicked accuse and witness against one
another? Undoubtedly they will. They who lived or conversed together upon earth,
and were spectators of each other’s conduct—will then turn mutual witnesses
against each other. Oh, astonishing thought! That friend should inform and
witness against friend! That parents should inform and witness against children,
and children against parents! That ministers should inform and witness against
their people, and people against their ministers!

Alas! what a confounding testimony against each other must those give—who are
now sinning together!

Thus the way is prepared for the passing sentence. The case was always clear to
the omniscient Judge—but now it is so fully discussed and attested by so many
evidences, that it is quite plain to the whole world of creatures—who can judge
only by such evidence; and for whose conviction the formality of a judicial
process is appointed.

How long a time this grand court will sit, we cannot determine, nor has God
thought fit to inform us; but when we consider how particular the trial will be,
and the innumerable multitude to be tried—it seems reasonable to suppose that it
will be a long session. It is indeed often called a day; but it is evident a day
in such cases, does not signify a natural day—but the space of time allotted for
transacting a business, though it be a hundred or even a thousand years.

Creatures are incapable of viewing all things at once, and therefore, since the
trial, as I observed, is intended to convince them of the equity of the divine
proceedings, it is proper the proceedings should be particular and leisurely,
that they may have time to observe them.

We are now come to the grand crisis, upon which the eternal states of all
mankind turn! I mean the passing the great decisive and final sentence.

Heaven and earth are all silence and attention, while the Judge, with smiles in
his face, and a voice sweeter than heavenly music, turns to the glorious company
on his RIGHT hand, and pours all the joys of heaven into their souls, in that
transporting sentence, of which he has graciously left us a copy: "Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world!"

Every word is full of emphasis, full of heaven, and exactly agreeable to the
desires of those to whom it is addressed. They desired, and longed, and
languished to be near their Lord; and now their Lord invites them, "Come near
me, and dwell with me forever!" There was nothing they desired as much as the
blessing of God, nothing they feared so much as his curse—and now their fears
are entirely removed, and their desires fully accomplished, for the supreme
Judge pronounces them ’blessed by his Father’. They were all poor in spirit,
most of them poor in this world, and all sensible of their unworthiness. How
agreeably then are they surprised, to hear themselves invited to a kingdom,
invited to inherit a kingdom, as princes of the blood-royal, born to thrones and
crowns! How will they be lost in wonder, joy, and praise—to find that the great
God entertained thoughts of love towards them, before they had a being, or the
world in which they dwelt had its foundation laid, and that he was preparing a
kingdom for them—while they were nothing, unknown even in idea, except to
himself?

O brethren! dare any of us expect this sentence will be passed upon us? Methinks
the very thought would overwhelm us! Methinks our feeble frames would be unable
to bear up under the ecstatic hope of such a weight of blessedness. Oh! if this
is our sentence in that day, it is does not matter what we suffer while in our
short sojourn on earth. That sentence of eternal blessedness will compensate for
all, and annihilate the sufferings of ten thousand years. But hearken! Another
sentence breaks from the mouth of the angry Judge, like vengeful thunder! Nature
gives a deep tremendous groan; the heavens lower and gather blackness, the earth
trembles, and guilty millions sink with horror at the sound! And see, he whose
words are works, whose mere creative fiat produces worlds out of nothing; he who
could consign ten thousand worlds into nothing at a frown; he whose thunder
quelled the insurrection of rebel angels in heaven, and hurled them headlong
down, down, down, to the dungeon of hell; see, he turns to the guilty crowd on
his LEFT hand; his angry countenance reveals the righteous indignation that
glows in his heart. His countenance manifests that he is inexorable, and that
there is now no room for prayers and tears.

Now, the sweet, mild, mediatorial hour is past—and nothing appears but the
majesty and terror of the judge! Horror and darkness frown upon his brow, and
vindictive lightnings flash from his eyes. And now, (Oh! who can bear the
sound!) he speaks, "Depart from me, you who are cursed—into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels!" Oh! the cutting emphasis of every word!

Depart!

Depart from me—from me, the Author of all good, the Fountain of all good, the
Fountain of all happiness. Depart, with all my heavy, all-consuming curse upon
you!

Depart into fire, into eternal fire—prepared, furnished with fuel, and blown up
into rage!

Prepared for the devil and his angels, once your companions in sin—and now the
companions and executioners of your punishment!

Now the grand period has arrived in which the final, everlasting states of
mankind are unchangeably fixed! From this all-important day—their happiness or
misery runs on in one uniform, uninterrupted tenor! There is no change, no
gradation—but from glory to glory—in the scale of heavenly perfection; or from
gulf to gulf—in hell. This is the day in which all the schemes of Providence,
carried on for thousands of years, terminate.

TIME was—but it is no more! Now all people enter upon a duration not to be
measured by the revolutions of the sun, nor by days, and months, and years. Now
eternity dawns—a ’day’ that shall never see an ’evening’. And this terribly
illustrious morning, is solemnized with the execution of the sentence. No sooner
is it passed than immediately the wicked "will go away to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life!" Matthew 25:46.

See the astonished, thunder-struck multitude on the LEFT hand, with sullen
horror, and grief, and despair in their looks, writhing with agony, crying and
wringing their hands, and glancing a wishful eye towards that heaven which they
lost! See them, dragged away by devils to the place of execution! See, hell
expands her voracious jaws, and swallows them up! And now an ’eternal farewell’
to earth and all its enjoyments! Farewell to the cheerful light of the sun!
Farewell to all ’hope’, that sweet relief of affliction!

Heaven frowns upon them from above, the horrors of hell spread far and wide
around them, and conscience, that never-dying worm within, preys upon their
hearts.

CONSCIENCE! O you abused, mistreated power, which now sleeps in so many breasts!
What severe, ample revenge will you then take upon those who now dare to abuse
you!

Oh the dire reflections which MEMORY will then suggest! The remembrance of
mercies abused! The remembrance of a Savior slighted! Remembrance of means and
opportunities of salvation neglected and lost! This remembrance will sting the
heart like a scorpion! But O ETERNITY! ETERNITY! With what horror will your name
circulate through the vaults of hell!

ETERNITY in misery! No end to pain! No hope of an end!

Oh this ETERNITY is the hell of hell! This ETERNITY is the parent of despair!
Despair is the direst ingredient of misery, the most tormenting passion which
devils feel. But let us view a more delightful and illustrious scene! See the
bright and triumphant army marching up to their eternal home, under the conduct
of the Captain of their salvation, where they shall ever be with the Lord, 1
Thessalonians 4:17, as happy as their nature in its highest improvements is
capable of being made!! With what shouts of joy and triumph do they ascend! With
what sublime hallelujahs do they crown their Deliverer! With what wonder and
joy, with what pleasing horror, like one that has narrowly escaped some
tremendous precipice—do they look back upon what they once were!

Once they were vile, guilty, depraved, condemned sinners!

Afterward they were imperfect, brokenhearted, sighing, weeping saints! But now
they are innocent, holy, happy, glorious immortals!

Now with what pleasure and rapture do they look forward through the long, long
prospect of immortality, and call it their own! The duration not only of their
existence—but of their happiness and glory! Oh shall any of US share in this
immensely valuable privilege! How immensely transporting the thought!

Oh what miracles of power and grace, are these! But why do I darken such
splendors, with words without knowledge? The language of mortals was formed for
lower descriptions. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived—what God has prepared for those who love him!" 1 Corinthians 2:9. And
now when the inhabitants of OUR WORLD, for whose sake it was formed, are all
removed to other regions, and it is left a wide extended desert; what
remains—but that it also meet its fate? It is fit that so guilty a globe, which
had been the stage of sin for so many thousands of years, and which even
supported the cross on which its Maker expired—should be made a monument of the
divine displeasure, and either be laid in ruins, or refined by fire.

"The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of
judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The day of the Lord will come like a
thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by
fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare!" 2 Peter 3:7; 2
Peter 3:10.

Look! the universal blaze begins! Now stars rush from their orbits! Comets
glare! The earth trembles with convulsions! All the lofty peaks of mountains
thunder, and smoke, and flame and quake like Sinai, when God descended upon it
to publish his fiery law! Rocks melt and run down in torrents of flame! Rivers,
lakes, and oceans boil and evaporate! Sheets of fire and pillars of smoke, and
insufferable thunders and lightnings burst, and bellow, and blaze, and shake the
heavens from pole to pole! The whole globe is now dissolved into a shoreless
ocean of liquid fire! And where now—shall we find the places where cities stood,
where armies fought, where mountains stretched their ridges, and reared their
heads so high? Alas! they are all lost, and have left no trace behind them where
they once stood! Where are you, oh my country? Sunk with the rest—as a drop into
the burning ocean! Where now are your houses, your lands, and those earthly
possessions you were once so fond of? They are nowhere to be found!

How sorry a portion for an immortal soul—is such a dying world as this!

Thus, my brethren, I have given you a view of the solemnities of the last day
which our world shall see. The view has indeed been but very faint and
obscure—and such will be all our views and descriptions of it—until our eyes and
our ears teach us better! Yes, brethren, these very ears that now hear my
voice—shall hear the all-alarming clangor of the last trumpet, the decisive
sentence from the mouth of the universal Judge, and the horrid crash of
shattering worlds! These very eyes with which you now see one another—shall yet
see the descending Judge, the assembled multitudes, and all the majestic
phenomena of that day! And we shall not see them as indifferent spectators!
No—we are as much concerned in this great final transaction. We must all appear
before the judgment-seat, and receive our sentence according to the deeds done
in the body.

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance—but now He commands all people
everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with
justice by the Man he has appointed!" Acts 17:30-31. And if so:

Why are we not preparing more diligently?

Why does the prospect not affect us more?

Why are the righteous not transported with unspeakable joy?

Why are the sinners in Zion not afraid?

Why are the hypocrites not filled with fearfulness? Isaiah 33:14. Can one of you
be careless from this hour—until you are in readiness for that tremendous day?
Repentance is the grand preparative for this dreadful day; and the apostle
mentions the final judgment as a powerful motive to repentance.

What will criminals think of repentance—when they see the Judge ascend his
throne? Come, sinners, look forward and see . . . the flaming tribunal erected,
your crimes exposed, your doom pronounced, and your hell begun!

See the whole world demolished, and ravaged by boundless conflagration for your
sins! With these objects before you, I call you to repent! I call you! I retract
my words! GOD, the great God, whom heaven and earth obey, commands you to
repent!

Whatever are your characters, whether rich or poor, old or young, white or
black, wherever you sit or stand, this command reaches you: "God commands all
people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world
with justice by the Man he has appointed!"

You are this day firmly bound to this duty by his authority. And dare you
disobey Him—with the prospect of all the dreadful solemnities of judgment before
you—in so near a view? Oh! methinks I have now brought you into such a
situation, that the often-repeated but hitherto neglected call to repentance
will be regarded by you.

Repent you must—either upon earth or in hell. You must either spend your TIME—or
your ETERNITY, in repentance. It is absolutely unavoidable. Putting it off now,
does not remove the necessity—but will only render it the more bitter and severe
hereafter. Which then do you choose? The tolerable, hopeful, medicinal
repentance of the present life? Or the intolerable, unprofitable, despairing
repentance of hell? Will you choose to spend time—or eternity in this melancholy
exercise? Oh! make the choice which God, which reason, which self-interest,
which common sense recommend to you! Now repent at the command of God, because
"He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will
judge the world with justice by the Man he has appointed!" Amen.


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  CHAPTER 11: 08-THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL BY THE DIVINE POWER UPON THE SOULS OF MEN
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The Success of the Gospel by the Divine Power upon the Souls of Men by Samuel
Davies, Hanover, Virginia, October 17, 1756.

"The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for
the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing
that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to
the obedience of Christ!" 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 This restless world is now in an
unusual ferment; kingdom rising up against kingdom, and nation against nation;
armories filling, weapons glistening, cannons roaring, and human blood
streaming, both by sea and land. These things engross the thoughts and
conversation of mankind, and alarm their fears and anxieties. But there is
another kind of war carrying on in the world; a war, the outcome of which is of
infinitely greater importance; a war of nearly six thousand years standing; that
is, ever since the first grand rebellion of mankind against God; a war in which
we are all engaged as parties, and in the result of which our immortal interest
is concerned; though, alas! it engages but little of the attention and
solicitude of the generality among us; I mean, the war which Jesus Christ has
been carrying on from age to age by the ministry of the gospel—to reduce the
rebellious sons of men to their duty, and redeem them into the glorious liberty
of the sons of God, from their wretched captivity to sin and Satan! This is the
design in which the apostles were embarked, and which Paul describes in the
military style in my text. As some members of the Corinthian church had taken up
a very low opinion of Paul, his design in the context is to raise the dignity of
his apostolic office. And for that purpose, he describes in military language
the efficacy and success of those apostolic powers with which he was furnished
for the propagation of Christianity, and the reduction of the world into
obedience to the gospel.

These powers he here calls weapons of war. This tent-maker and a few fishermen
were sent out upon a grand expedition, in opposition to the united powers of
Jews and Gentiles, of earth and hell. All the world, with their false gods, were
ready to join against them. They were ready to oppose them with all the force of
philosophy, learning, authority, threatenings, and all the cruel forms of
persecution. For the Christian cause in which these soldiers of Jesus Christ
were engaged, was contrary to their lusts and prejudices, their honor and
secular interests. This opposition of the world to the gospel, the apostle also
describes in the military style. Their lusts, prejudices, and interests, their
vain imaginations and false reasonings, are so many strongholds and high castles
in which they, as it were, fortify and entrench themselves. These they hold and
garrison under the prince of darkness: in these they stand out in their
rebellion against heaven, and fight against God, against his gospel, and against
their own consciences. And with what weapons did the apostles attack these
rebels in their strongholds? Not with carnal weapons, such as the heroes and
conquerors of the world are accustomed to use—but with weapons of a spiritual
nature, the preaching of the doctrine of the cross, the force of evidence and
conviction, the purity of their doctrines and lives, the terrors of the Lord,
and the all-conquering love of a dying Savior! With these weapons they
encountered the allied powers of men and devils; with these they propagated the
religion of their Master; and not with the sword, like Mohammed; or with the
bloody artillery of persecution, like the church of Rome; or by the canon, like
the tyrants of France.

What unpromising weapons were these! To what avail is the light of evidence—in a
world that loves darkness rather than light, and where lust, prejudice, and
self-interest generally prevail against truth and reason? Is the contemptible
weapon of the cross—likely to conquer? Are the unpopular, mortifying doctrines
of one who was crucified like a malefactor and a slave—likely to prevail against
all the prejudices of education; and the attachment of mankind to the religion
of antiquity, established by law; and the policy of priestcraft; and the love of
gain; and the powers of the world; and the various oppositions of the depraved
hearts of mankind? Are such gentle and weak weapons as these—likely to have any
success? Yes, these weapons, though not carnal, were mighty, resistless,
all-conquering—but then you must observe, they were mighty through God. The
excellency of the power was of God, and such unpromising weapons were used on
purpose to show this. It was God who gave edge to the weapons, and force to the
blow. Without the energy of his grace, they could have done nothing, even in the
hands of apostles. But, by the might of his Spirit, they became almighty, and
carried all before them! These contemptible weapons, with his concurrence,
pulled down strongholds; cast down towering imaginations, and human reasonings
that seemed impregnable, and demolished every high thing, every battery, castle,
or citadel, that was erected against the knowledge of God—that knowledge of him
which the gospel brought to light; and reduced every thought into captivity, to
the obedience of Christ!

Sinners were brought not only to compliment Jesus with a bended knee, and
profess subjection to him with their lips—but to bow their stubborn hearts to
him, and let him reign in their affections. That gospel to which they were so
averse—gained a complete victory over their minds; their minds, which the
Alexanders and Caesars of the world could not subdue; and reduced not only their
external conduct—but their thoughts; not only some thoughts—but every thought,
to the obedience of Christ! When God gives the commission, the mighty walls of
Jericho fall flat, even at the feeble sound of rams’ horns. To bring into
captivity, is generally understood in a bad sense, and signifies the carrying
away of loyal subjects against their wills, into a foreign country, and there
enslaving them to the enemy. But here it signifies the deliverance of sinners
from the slavery of sin and Satan, and their restoration into a state of
liberty, into favor with God, and this too by their own free consent. And it is
called a captivating, to intimate, that, though when the sinner submits—he does
it voluntarily—yet he had really made a strong resistance, and did not submit
until sweetly constrained to it; and that he looked upon his state of slavery to
sin—as a state of freedom, and was as unwilling to leave it as a free-born
subject would be to be captivated and enslaved in an enemy’s country.

I foresee I cannot take time to do justice to this copious subject. But I shall
endeavor to compress my thoughts in as little space as possible, in a few
propositions, to which each head in my text may be reduced. And the whole will
be but a short history:

1. of the revolt of mankind against the great God, their rightful Sovereign; and
of their miserable slavery to sin and Satan;

2. of an important expedition carried on by the ministry of the gospel, to
recover them from their state of slavery, and reduce them to their obedience;

3. of their various methods of opposition to this design; or the various ways in
which they fortify themselves against the attacks made upon them by divine grace
for this end;

4. of the outcome of this siege, particularly the terms of surrender;

5. and their consequent deliverance from the dominion of sin and Satan, and
their willing subjection to their rightful Lord and Proprietor.

I. All mankind, in their present state of apostasy, have revolted from God, and
surrendered themselves as slaves to sin and Satan.

We might produce abundant evidence of this from the sacred writings; but as the
evidence from plain undeniable fact may be more convicting, I shall insist
chiefly upon it. Mankind are secretly rebellious to God and his government in
their hearts; and hence they do not take pleasure in his service. They are not
solicitous for the honor and dignity of his government. They will not bear the
restraints of his authority, nor regard his law as the rule of their conduct—but
will follow their own inclinations, let him prescribe what he will.

Nay, they have no disposition to return to their duty, or listen to proposals
for reconciliation; and hence they disregard the gospel (which is a scheme to
bring about a peace) as well as the law. In short, they will not do anything
that God commands them—unless it suits their own corrupt inclinations; and they
will not abstain from anything which he forbids, for his sake—if they have any
temptation to it from their own lusts. These things, and a thousand more which
might be mentioned, fix the charge of rebellion upon them. It is undeniable,
they are mutinous to his government in their hearts, whatever forced or
complimental expressions of loyalty some of them may at times give him. Look
into your own hearts, and take a view of the world around you—and you will find
this is evidently the case. But though they are thus disobedient to their
rightful Sovereign—yet to sin and Satan, those usurping and tyrannical masters,
they are the most willing and submissive slaves. For these, they will go through
the most sordid drudgery, for no other wages than death and damnation. For
these, they will give up their most important interests, and exchange their
souls, and their share in heaven, without any compensation—but the sorry,
transitory pleasures of sin! Let temptation but beckon—and they immediately see
the signal, and obey. Let sin command them to hurt their souls and bodies, and
perhaps their estates, with excessive drinking—and the poor slaves comply. Let
sin order them to swear, to lie, to defraud—and they submit, though eternal
damnation be the consequence! Let sin order them to pursue riches, honor, or
sensual pleasures, at the loss of their ease, the danger of their lives, and the
destruction of their souls—and they engage in the drudgery, and toil all their
days in it! Let sin forbid them to serve God, to attend seriously to his Word,
to pray to him, to reflect upon their miserable condition, to repent and believe
the gospel; let sin but lay them under a prohibition to those things—and they
will cautiously refrain from them! And all the arguments which God and man can
use with them—will have little or no weight! In short, let sin but order them to
give up their interest in heaven, and run the risk of eternal ruin; let sin but
command them to neglect and disregard the God who made them, and the Savior that
died for them—and they will venture upon the self-denying and destructive
enterprise! They will do more for sin than they will do for the great God, their
rightful Sovereign and constant Benefactor! Sin has more influence with
them—than all the persuasions of parents, ministers, and their best friends;
nay, more influence than the love, the dying groans and agonies of a crucified
Savior!

There is nothing so sacred, so dear or valuable in heaven—but they will give it
up—if sin requires them! There is nothing so terrible in hell—but they will rush
into it, if sin sets them upon the desperate attempt. They are the most tame,
unresisting captives to sin. Sin is an arbitrary, absolute, despotic tyrant over
them! And, which is most astonishing, they are not weary of its tyranny, nor do
they strive and struggle for liberty. Liberty to them has lost its charms, and
they hug their chains—and love their bondage.

Alas! are there not many free-born Britons in this assembly, who are slaves in
this sense? Slaves in a worse sense than the poorest negro among us? Slaves to
sin—and consequently to Satan; for sin is commander-in-chief under the prince of
darkness, the evil god of this world! It is by sin, as his deputy, that Satan
exercises his power—and therefore sinners are in reality slaves to him! This,
one would think, would be a shocking reflection to them, that they are slaves of
the most malignant being in the universe; a being not only malignant—but also
very powerful; that they have broken off from the kind and equitable government
of the Sovereign of the universe—and sold themselves slaves to such a lawless,
tyrannic usurper! But, alas! they do not resent the usurpation, nor struggle to
throw off the yoke, and regain their liberty. They resign themselves as
voluntary slaves to Satan, and love their master and his drudgery. This is a
very melancholy indeed—but, alas! it is a true history of human nature in its
present state. Thus are mankind in rebellion to the divine government, and held
in a wretched captivity to sin and Satan! This is indeed a very dismal and
threatening state, and we might tremble for the consequences, had we no gospel
to inform us of a plan of reconciliation.

Here I may borrow the words Mr. Howe: "When we hear of a sort of creatures that
were fallen away from God, and gone into rebellion against him; that were
alienated and enemies to him in their minds, by wicked works; we would be in
suspense, and say: ’Well, and what became of them? What was the outcome of their
rebellion?’ And we would expect to hear, ’Why, fire came down from heaven upon
them, and consumed them in a moment; or the earth opened and swallowed them up!’
Yes, and if the matter were so reported to us, if we did hear that fire and
brimstone, flames and thunder-bolts came down instantly upon them, and destroyed
them in a moment, who would not say, ’So I thought; who could expect better
treatment?’" But what grateful astonishment may it raise in heaven and earth to
hear that their offended Sovereign has been so far from this, that he has sent
his Son—his only Son, to die for them, in order to bring about a peace! and
that,

II. He has set on foot an important expedition, and is carrying it on from age
to age by the ministry of the gospel, to recover these rebels from their
voluntary slavery to sin and Satan, and reduce them to their duty, and so bring
them into a state of liberty and happiness! This is the benevolent design on
which the Son of God came down from his native heaven, and for which he endured
the shame and the agonies of the cross. This is the design on which he set out
his apostles into the world—armed, not with instruments of war and
destruction—but with the most beneficent powers, powers of doing good, the
powers of preaching the most important doctrines, of proving them by argument—to
bring them to repentance. To carry on this design, the ministry of the gospel is
perpetuated in the world from age to age; and for this purpose, my dear people,
I would exercise my ministry among you. I would make an attack upon your
hearts—to break them open for the admission of the King of heaven. I have
continued the siege against the stubborn Trojans for nearly ten years! And now,
in the name of God, I once more would renew the attack, and summon you to
capitulate and surrender. For this purpose the ministers of the gospel have
their weapons; they begin the attack with the artillery of the divine LAW, which
thunders the terrors of the Lord against you. They surround you with troops of
arguments, which one would think would soon overpower a reasonable creature, and
constrain him immediately to submit. They reason the matter with you, and lay
before you the wickedness, the baseness, the unnatural ingratitude, and the
dangerous consequences of your rebellion against God. They inform you what a
good king and what an excellent government you have rejected; what holy, just,
and good laws you have insolently broken; what rich mercies you have
ungratefully abused; what long-continued patience you have provoked; and what
friendly warnings you have despised.

They expose to your view the terrible consequences of your rebellion, if you
persist in it; they honestly warn you that the wages of sin is death; death in
all its terrible forms; death temporal, spiritual, and eternal! They solemnly
admonish you—that if you continue your losing battle against God, that it will
issue in your eternal, remediless destruction! They open to you the corruption
of your natures; the aversion of your hearts to all that is spiritually good and
excellent: your innate propensities to sin, and voluntary indulgence of your
lusts and guilty pleasures. They put you upon a review of your lives, to
recollect your willful omissions of duty to God and man, and your commissions of
known sin, in spite of the restraints of divine authority, the allurements of
divine mercy, and the admonitions of your own consciences. When they have thus
discharged the dreadful artillery of the law, the thunders and lightnings of
Sinai against you—the way is prepared for proposing the terms of surrender and
articles of reconciliation. They make an attack upon the citadel of your heart,
with the gentler weapons from the armory of the gospel of peace. They represent
your injured Sovereign as reconcilable, reconcilable through Jesus Christ. They
give you the strongest assurances from his own Word, that he is willing to make
a lasting peace with you; that upon your laying down your weapons (that is,
forsaking your sins and submitting upon his terms,) he will freely pardon all
your past rebellion, and receive you again into his favor.

They also inform you of the strange method in which this peace may be brought
about, consistently with the honor of his character as the Ruler of the world,
and with the sacred rights of his government; and that is, through the mediation
of his Son, the great Peace-maker, who, in your stead, has obeyed that law—which
you have broken, and endured that penalty—which you have incurred. They likewise
inform you in what manner you are to accede to this treaty, or consent to this
plan of peace, namely, by believing in his Son—and thereby receiving every
blessing as his free gift through Jesus Christ—by a deep, sincere repentance for
your past rebellion, and by devoting yourselves to his service for the future.

These overtures of reconciliation, they enforce from various arguments, which,
one would think, you would not be able to resist. They represent to you the
riches of divine grace and mercy, and the all-conquering love of Jesus. That
contemptible weapon, the cross, has broken many a hard heart; and subdued many
an obstinate rebel!

They beseech you, in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God; and if you should
be obstinate enough to refuse such a request, they urge it with arguments drawn
from its reasonableness in justice and gratitude, from its being of the greatest
importance to your happiness, as being the only way in which apostate creatures
can obtain the favor of their injured Sovereign! They also reason from the
terrible consequences of a refusal; for unless you submit upon these terms, you
may expect nothing but wrath and fiery indignation, which shall devour you as
God’s adversaries!

You cannot but know, my brethren, that the ministry of the gospel has, with such
weapons as these, laid close siege to your hearts, year after year. And who
would have thought that one heart among you would have been armored against this
divine artillery, and stood it out so long? Some of you, I doubt not, have
surrendered, and are now the willing subjects of your heavenly King. But, alas!
do not some of you still obstinately refuse to submit, and persist in your
rebellion? And are you not fortifying yourselves more and more against the
attempts made to reduce you to obedience? This naturally leads me,

III. To give you a history of some of the various ways in which sinners oppose
this benevolent design of the ministry of the gospel, to subdue them to the
obedience of Christ.

Alas! these rebels also have their artillery, with which they labor to repel all
the attacks made upon them by the gospel. They, as it were, throw up various
lines of entrenchments around them, to defend them against conviction.
Particularly,

Sinners hide themselves in the darkness of ignorance; ignorance of God, of Jesus
Christ, of the law and gospel, and consequently of themselves! They endeavor to
keep up their courage—by refusing to know their danger! They muffle themselves
up in ignorance, so that they do not see their almighty enemy, nor the
instruments of death he has prepared for them. And hence they are so stupid as
to conclude that God neither sees them, nor can he bring them to justice!

They also fortify themselves, as it were, in the enclosure of a hard heart; a
heart of rock and adamant, which is armored against the artillery of the gospel.
This, like an impregnable cave cut in a rock, holds out against all the terrors
of the Lord set in array against it. The sinner, shut up in this stronghold, can
laugh at the shaking of Jehovah’s spear! Let the law thunder out tribulation and
wrath, indignation and anguish against him; let the gospel attack him with the
cross of Christ, with all the love of a dying Savior, and all the mercy of a
reconcilable God—he is still secure, and bids defiance to all these attacks! The
rock is impregnable, until the power of God gives force to these weapons, and
then indeed it begins to tremble; then the sinner is struck into a
consternation, and is dreadfully apprehensive that he cannot hold out the siege.
This natural fortification, (so I may call it, for his ignorance and hardness of
heart are natural to him, though dreadfully improved by schemings,) this natural
fortification, I say, begins to fail him; and hereupon he sets himself to work
upon artificial fortifications, which may enable him to hold out the longer in
his opposition against God.

He throws up an entrenchment of objections and excuses, or (a little to alter
the metaphor) he discharges whole volleys of objections and excuses against
those that besiege him. Perhaps he dares to plead that he is already a dutiful
subject to the King of heaven, and therefore that the ministry of the gospel has
missed its aim in directing its artillery against him as an enemy. And if to
this plea, it is answered, that his temper and conduct towards his Sovereign
plainly show that he is really rebellious to him in his heart, whatever outward
professions of duty he may make; he replies—that if in some instances he allows
himself in the breach of the divine laws—yet he has no bad design in so doing;
that he has a good heart notwithstanding; and that he hopes the King of Heaven
will not be so strict as to take notice of of his minor infractions.

He pleads that he is as loyal as other people around him—and hopes that this
will suffice. He reasons that, if he should be very punctual and zealous in his
duty to God—that he would soon be out of fashion, and draw the contempt and
ridicule of the world upon him. He objects, that he has not been so bold and
daring a rebel as many others—and therefore he cannot think that so mild and
gracious a King will severely punish him.

He pleads that he is now too busy about other things to listen to proposals of
gospel reconciliation; and therefore begs that the matter may be put off, at
least, until he has finished some important affairs he has now in hand. And he
promises, that the next year, or in old age, or upon a death-bed—that he will
submit, and make peace with God!

He pleads that he enjoys a great deal of pleasure under his present master, sin,
which he must give up as unlawful, if he would change masters. He objects that
the service of God is a drudgery to him, and that he has no relish for it, and
that the laws of the King of Heaven are so strict, that he cannot live under
them. These, and a thousand other pleas—the rebel urges to excuse his
non-compliance with the proposals of gospel reconciliation; and in these he
trusts as a sufficient defense!

Moreover, the lusts of the flesh, his pride, presumption, and love of ease, the
cares of the world, the company of the wicked, who persuade him by all means not
to surrender, and furnish him with weapons and all the assistance in their power
to continue the war—these are all so many strongholds in which the sinner
fortifies himself against the Lord Jesus. But if the weapons of the gospel prove
mighty through God to diminish these strongholds, and the rebel finds they can
defend him no longer, then he abandons these outworks, and entrenches himself
secretly in his own righteousness! He, as it were, surrounds himself with a line
of good works, repentance, and reformation. And now he thinks he is safe! Now he
hopes he shall pass for a friend and subject of the King of heaven, and that the
artillery of the law will continue to play upon him no longer. This is the
sinner’s last refuge; and it is the greatest difficulty of all—to drive him out
of this. He will not abandon this, until he is driven to great extremity indeed.
And here many continue in it until they are dragged out of it—to the tribunal of
their supreme Judge!

It must also be observed, that the sinner tries all the arts of self-deceit to
secure his stronghold. When he finds he cannot defend himself as an open enemy
by his declared hostilities, he pretends a submission; he pretends to capitulate
and surrender. But then, he does not cordially consent to all the terms. He
makes a reserve of some favorite lusts, and will not deliver them up to the
sword of the conqueror! He has secret exceptions to the conditions of
surrender—and will not comply with them all.

There are also some instances of duty, from which he will excuse himself. In
short, his heart is not sincerely resigned to the Conqueror. His submission is
forced and involuntary, and therefore is resented as the basest treachery by God
who searches the heart, and must reign in the hearts of all his subjects. Are
not some of you, my brethren, now entrenched and fortified against the gospel in
these strongholds? And such of you as are now the willing subjects of Jesus
Christ—may you not recollect, that thus did you once strengthen yourselves in
your opposition to him! But he has sweetly overcome your enmity, and constrained
you to submit. And this leads me,

IV. To describe the outcome of this war, where it is effectually carried on; and
particularly the terms of surrender. The success of this war depends entirely
upon the working of the almighty power of God. If the preacher’s weapons of
warfare prove mighty—it is only through God. Let the ministers of the gospel
attack the sinner with all the weapons with which the arsenals of the law and
gospel, of Scripture and reason, furnish them—they will never subdue one soul to
the obedience of Christ! The sinner will still hold out, and bid defiance to all
of them!

What is the reason that there are so many secure, presumptuous rebels among us,
though the gospel-ministry has so often and so long discharged its artillery
against them? The reason is, the weapons of our warfare are not made mighty
through God. God does not give edge and force to these weapons by the
all-conquering power of his Spirit. But when he begins to work—then the hardest
sinner begins to tremble, the rocky heart breaks to pieces, and his strongholds
are demolished! All his objections are silenced! He is then convinced that he is
indeed a rebel against his rightful Sovereign; that his rebellion is most
unnatural, ungrateful, unreasonable, and the height of wickedness; and that it
is a most astonishing instance of condescending grace—that his provoked
Sovereign should stoop to graciously propose articles of reconciliation to him.
He sees that God might justly damn him—without one offer of mercy. He is struck
with horror to think that ever he, a poor dependent worm, should engage in a war
against the Lord Almighty, who has omnipotence at his command; and especially
that he has dared to stand out so long against him. He is now sensible of the
danger of delays, sensible that he has been ungrateful and rebellious too long
already, and that, if he delays his submission, that his almighty enemy may take
his strongholds by force—and justly damn him.

He is now sensible that the slavery of sin is intolerable; that his lusts are
tyrannical masters, and will give him no other wages but death and damnation!
And therefore he pants and struggles for liberty. The artillery of the divine
law demolishes the promising entrenchment which he had formed for his own good
works, and leaves him naked and defenseless to its vindictive fire!

Conscience also calls to the sinner to surrender, to surrender in time, while
terms of peace may be obtained, and warns him of the dreadful consequences of
continuing the war. The trumpet of the gospel is still publishing peace, and
summoning him to submit. The gospel assures him of pardon and acceptance, if he
will but surrender. Now also (if I may so boldly accommodate the military style
of this subject) now his provisions and ammunition begin to fail; he finds he
can exist no longer; and, like the prodigal, is perishing with hunger! He finds
he can defend himself no longer, but must submit—or die. If he continues in the
battle—he is sure to die; but if he submits—he has some hopes of pardon; for oh!
he has heard that the King of Israel is a merciful King. He must however make
the trial.

All this time the Spirit of God is at work within, sweetly inclining the
stubborn heart to yield, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God. He gives the rebel favorable
thoughts of the government of the Conqueror, and the infinite advantages of
living under it. In short, he enforces upon the heart, all the applications made
from without by the ministry of the gospel. And now the sinner begins to think
in earnest of surrendering; now he eagerly listens to terms of peace. And at
length—he lays down his weapons, submits to the Conqueror, falls at his feet,
casts himself upon his mercy, and welcomes him into the citadel of his heart!
This is the most happy and important hour the sinner ever saw! The transactions
of this hour extend their blessed consequences through all his future life—and
to the remotest periods of eternity!

It may be necessary for me to inform you more particularly, of the mannerof this
surrender:

(1.) The sinner surrenders himself as an obnoxious rebel, lying entirely at the
mercy of the Conqueror! He has no plea to excuse his rebellion, no merit to
ingratiate himself, or procure a pardon. He pleads guilty—and surrenders himself
to the will of the Conqueror, conscious that God may do with him—just as he
pleases. His noble imaginations of himself are all demolished; his confidence in
his own righteousness is entirely mortified; and he has nothing to plead but
mercy, free, unmerited mercy! On this—he casts himself as his only ground of
hope.

(2.) He surrenders himself entirely upon the terms prescribed by the Conqueror.
He is conscious that he has no right to dictate, or to plead his own terms. His
duty is to submit. The way of reconciliation revealed in the gospel, now appears
to him infinitely reasonable, and to stand in need of no amendment.

Particularly, he is willing to lay down his weapons; that is, to forsake his
sins, and to walk in ways of holiness for the future. He is willing to make the
pleasure of his Sovereign, the rule of his conduct. Above all it must be
noticed, that he is willing to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. The
mediation of Jesus Christ, the glorious peculiarity of the Christian religion—is
the only medium through which he would approach to God, and expect
reconciliation with him. It is only in the righteousness of Christ, which he
trusts to make atonement for his guilt, and procure the divine favor. In short,
he is willing that the Conqueror should make his own terms—and he submits, if he
may but have his life for a prey. He puts a blank paper into God’s hands,
desirous he should fill it up with whatever articles he pleases; and he will
cheerfully subscribe to them. His language is like that of Paul, when struck
down prostrate at the feet of the persecuted Jesus, "Lord, what will you have me
to do?" Acts 9:6. "Lord, you but command—and I will obey!" Now the rebel is all
submission, all obedience.

(3.) He submits voluntarily and cheerfully. The power of divine grace has rooted
out the enmity of his carnal mind, and implanted the principle of love to God in
his heart. He breaks off from sin and Satan, as from the most cruel usurpers and
destroyers! And he submits to Christ, not merely as to an irresistible
Conqueror—but as to a gracious Deliverer. He enters upon a pious life, not as a
state of slavery and unwilling captivity—but as a state of the most glorious
liberty. He submits to the terms of gospel reconciliation, not as the arbitrary
impositions of an imperious usurper—but as the gentle and reasonable
prescriptions of a wise and good ruler. He esteems all his laws—to be holy, and
just, and good; and with all his heart he acquiesces and rejoices in the blessed
gospel of peace. In short, the rebel’s heart is now entirely changed and
rendered subservient to the divine government; and consequently, he cordially
and freely submits to it. Once indeed he hated it, and then he did at best but
pretend submission to it. But now, his enmity being subdued, he freely
surrenders himself with all his heart.

(4.) He makes a universal surrender of himself and all that he is and has—to
Jesus Christ. He makes no reserve of one favorite lust—but gives them all up to
be slain! He makes no secret exceptions to any of the articles of gospel
reconciliation—but heartily consents to them all. He devotes his whole soul and
all its faculties to God, in and through Jesus Christ: his understanding to know
him; his heart to love him; and his will to be governed by him. This is implied
in my text: Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Every thought, every passion, every motion of the soul must submit to Christ.
Now every insurrection of sin in his heart alarms him, as an internal enemy. He
also yields his body to God, and his members as instruments of righteousness
unto holiness. He also devotes all his accomplishments, his learning, his
influence, his popularity, his riches— to his new master. In short, all his
possessions of every kind—he is now willing to employ them all in the service of
his new Master; or to resign them all, if they are inconsistent with his duty to
God. Oh! how different a temper is this—from that which is natural to the
sinner!

Thus the treaty of peace is happily concluded! He who was once a rebel against
God, and an enemy to the Cross of Christ—has now become a friend and a loyal
subject. The past rebellion is entirely forgotten and buried—and he is received
into divine favor—as though he had never offended!

Once God was angry with him every day—but now he accepts him in the Beloved. Now
the prince of hell has lost a captive; and Jesus has the satisfaction of seeing
one more of his spiritual seed born unto his family! Now there is joy in
heaven—upon this addition to the number of loyal subjects. Oh! the happy, the
glorious peace! Oh! the blessed change in the circumstance of the poor condemned
criminal!

What now remains?

V. We take a view of the true convert’sstateandconduct,in consequence of this
gospel reconciliation. This you may be sure is vastly different from what it was
before. As to his STATE: He is now delivered from his sordid slavery to sin, as
well as from guilt, and the sentence of condemnation. He is justified and
accepted before God, through Jesus Christ, and entitled to a heavenly crown and
kingdom.

Sin, indeed, is not entirely subdued; it forms frequent and violent
insurrections, and struggles hard to recover its former power over him. The old
man with his affections and lusts was immediately crucified upon the sinner’s
surrender to Christ; but crucifixion is a lingering death, and hence sin is
never entirely dead—while he continues in this imperfect state. It is every day
plotting against him, and laboring to ensnare him. And hence his life is a
constant warfare—an incessant conflict. He lives the life of a sentinel,
perpetually upon the watch; or of a soldier, night and day in the battle. If he
is off his guard but for an hour, he is liable to be surprised; and sometimes,
alas! he is overcome! But he rises again, and renews the combat—and will rather
die than willingly submit. He would resist even unto blood, striving against
sin. In short, whatever sins he may fall into—he is habitually on God’s side: he
espouses the cause of God in this rebellious world, whatever it costs him. He is
an enemy to the kingdom of darkness, and all its interests; and it is the great
business of his life—to oppose it in himself and others. The longer he lives
under the government of King Jesus—the more he is attached to him, and in love
with his administration. And it is his habitual endeavor to lead a life of
universal obedience. And now, my brethren, there is an inquiry I would set you
upon, and that is, whether you have ever been captivated into a willing
obedience to Jesus Christ? I am afraid this matter is not so plainly and
unquestionably in your favor, as to render all inquiry into it needless. I am
afraid it is dismally dark and doubtful, with regard to some of you—whether you
are the servants of Christ—or the slaves of sin and Satan! Nay, I am afraid,
there are plain evidences against some of you! However, you must put the matter
to sincere trial; for I assure you it is a matter of too much importance to be
slightly passed over.

Now it is evident, in the first place, that you are still the enemies of Jesus
Christ—unless you have been deeply convinced of your enmity against him. It is
impossible you should be reconciled to him—until you have seen your need of
reconciliation. And it is impossible that you should see your need of
reconciliation, until you are convinced that you are at war with him. Such of
you, therefore, are undoubtedly his enemies—who imagine you have always been his
friends! In the next place, turn the substance of what has been said into so
many queries to yourselves; and by these means, you may discover the truth of
your case. Has ever the dreadful artillery of the law discharged its terrors
upon you? Have you ever been driven out of all your carnal confidences, and
particularly your own righteousness? Have you ever surrendered yourselves to the
Conqueror? Has he overcome you by the sweet constraints of his love? And upon
what terms did you surrender? Did you surrender as a vile rebel, lying at God’s
mercy? Did you submit to his terms, without pretending to dictate any of your
own? Did you submit voluntarily and cheerfully? Did you surrender yourselves
universally, without any reserve? Do you since endeavor to behave as dutiful
subjects? And do you find his service to be perfect freedom? And now, in
consequence of this trial—Who is upon the Lord’s side? Who? What is your real
character? Are you to be ranked among the loyal subjects of Christ—OR among the
stubborn enemies of his crown and dignity? Could I now collect the rebels
together into one company, I would tell them some very alarming things from that
God to whom they refuse to submit. Yes, sinner, as Ehud said to Eglon, king of
Moab, "I have a message from God unto you!"Judges 3:20. In his name, and as his
ambassador, I warn you of the dreadful consequences of your vile rebellion
against him. You cannot win the battle against him. He is wise in heart, and
mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against him—and prospered? All the
universe is subject to him, and he can order the smallest part of it to be the
executioner of his vengeance upon you! If you refuse to submit—you shall as
surely perish, as you have a being. Of this you have reason to be apprehensive
at all times—but especially at this time, when your almighty enemy is attacking
your country with the terrors of war, and your neighborhood with an epidemic
raging distemper. Sicknesses are his soldiers, and fight in his cause against a
rebellious world! He says to one, "Go!" and it goes; and to another, "Come!" and
it comes. And are you not afraid some of these deadly shafts may strike you now,
when they are flying so thickly all around you?

God has for many a year used gentler weapons with you—but now he seems about to
take the citadel by storm! Now, therefore, now without delay—lay down your
weapons and surrender yourselves to the Almighty Conqueror!

I have also joyful news to communicate, even to you rebels, if you are disposed
to hear it! Your injured Sovereign is willing to be reconciled to you—even after
all your hostilities, if you will now submit to the terms of reconciliation!

Christ is not here in person; but lo! though I also am but dust and ashes—I am
here to manage the treaty in his name. Therefore, I beseech you in Christ’s
stead—be reconciled to God!


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  CHAPTER 12: 09-THE NATURE OF LOVE TO GOD ANDCHRIST, OPENED AND ENFORCED
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The Nature of Love to God and Christ, Opened and Enforced by Samuel Davies The
third time Jesus said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was
hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord,
you know all things; you know that I love you." John 21:17 "If anyone does not
love the Lord—a curse be on him!" 1 Corinthians 16:22

There is nothing more essential to religion, or of more importance in it—than
divine love. Divine love is the sole spring of all acceptable obedience in this
life, and the grand pre-requisite for complete happiness in the enjoyment of God
in the world to come; and without it, our religion, all our gifts and
improvements, however high and showy—are vain. Religion without love, is as
great a contradiction as friendship without love. To worship a God whom we do
not love; to adore excellences which we dislike; to profess a religion founded
by an enemy—this is the greatest absurdity imaginable. Such a religion must
appear abominable both to God and man.

Divine love is the subject of my text, which I have chosen for your present
meditation; and you see that I have not chosen a subject which is trifling in
itself, or the disputed peculiarity of a party. You need not, therefore, be
under apprehensions, that I would proselyte you to anything but the sincere love
of God and Jesus Christ. However I would not have you judge of my design by my
verbal declarations—but by the apparent tendency of my discourse, of which you
will be able to form a judgment when I have finished. Therefore entertain no
prejudices or suspicions, lest you deprive yourselves of that benefit you might
otherwise receive from your present attendance.

There is so little solicitous inquiry among men concerning the sincerity of
their love to God, that it would seem self-evident, and beyond all dispute.
Whatever sins they indulge themselves in, however much they practically neglect
God and religion—yet still they insist upon it—that they love him sincerely. But
is divine love indeed a thing so common, so universal? We read that the carnal
mind is enmity against God. Romans 8:7. And is there no such thing as a carnal
mind now to be found upon earth? We are told of some that were haters of God.
Romans 1:30; and enemies in their minds by wicked works. Colossians 1:21. And
are there none such to be found among us? The heart-searching Jesus, while
conversant among mortals, told the Jews, who made so great a profession of their
love to God, and suspected their own sincerity as little as any of us, "I know
you, that you have not the love of God in you." John 5:42. And were he now to
pass sentence upon us, would he not make the same declaration with regard to
many of us, who, perhaps, are least apprehensive of it? Is it a needless thing
for us to enter into a serious conference with our own hearts, and ask them, "Do
I indeed love the ever blessed God, and the only Savior? Will my love stand the
test? What are its properties and effects?" Is this, my friends, a superfluous
or impertinent inquiry? I am sure it did not seem so to Christ, who put Peter to
the trial upon this point no less than thrice. Our Lord made a meal with his
disciples, to convince them of the reality of his body after his resurrection.
When it was finished, he turns to Peter, and asks him a very serious question,
"Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" The very proposal of the question seems
to suppose that Peter had given some reason to suspect his love to him, as he
had really done, a few days before, by denying him thrice, with shocking
aggravations; and with this reference the inquiry was very cutting to Peter, and
no doubt made him think thus with himself: "Ah! it is no wonder my Lord should
call my love in question, who so lately most ungratefully denied him!" The
question is put to him openly, before the whole company, which might perhaps
increase his confusion; but it was prudently ordered, that he might declare his
love to Jesus as openly as he had denied him, and that his brethren might be
satisfied of his sincerity, and recovery from his late fall. The first form of
the question implies a comparison: "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more
than these?" That is, more than these your fellow-disciples? "It is not long
since, Peter, that you declared, Though all should forsake you—yet I will not;
though all my fellow disciples should prove treacherous—yet I am determined to
adhere to you, come what will; and are you still of the same mind?" Peter
modestly replies, "Lord, you know that I love you!" As much as to say, "Lord, I
own that I have fallen more foully than any of my brethren, and I dare not say I
love you more than they do. I dare say nothing of the high degree of my love, in
comparison with others; but, Lord, I must assert the sincerity of my love, as
weak as it is, and I humbly adventure to appeal to you, who know all things, and
cannot be deceived with fair pretensions, for the truth of my profession."

Peter, no doubt, hoped this declaration would satisfy his Lord. But Jesus, after
a pause, put the question to him again, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?"
And Peter insists upon his former answer, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you!"

Now he hoped to escape all future questions upon this point. But Jesus, as
though he were still suspicious of him, puts it to him a third time, "Simon, son
of Jonah, do you love me?" Peter was grieved that this inquiry should be put to
him successively no less than thrice; it cut him to the heart with the
remembrance of his base denial of his Master as often, and perhaps with a fear
that Jesus would not now be convinced of his sincerity—but was about to expose
him as a traitor, and discard him. Upon this he grows warm, and replies with the
most passionate vehemence, "Lord, you know all things—you know that I love you!"
As much as to say, "Lord, why do you try me so often upon this point? Look only
into my heart, which lies all open to your view, and judge yourself, whether I
do not sincerely love you. I must confess my late conduct looked very
suspicious: and I reflect upon it with shame and sorrow! I am unworthy to be
ranked by you among your friends. But, Lord, as unworthy as I am, and as base
and suspicious as my conduct was—I must insist upon it, that I do love you; and
it wounds me to the heart that you should seem so jealous of me. I cannot give
up this point; and I appeal to yourself for the truth of it!"

Jealousy in love, my brethren, suspicion among friends, is a very painful and
anxious passion; and never so much so to a pious heart, as when the sincerity of
our love to God is the object of it. Such a person cannot be easy, while a
matter of so much importance lies under suspicion—but must put it beyond all
doubt. And let me tell you—this is a question in which we are all most nearly
concerned. Are our conduct and temper towards God so entirely and uniformly
friendly and dutiful, as to put it beyond all doubt that we do truly love him?
Alas! are there not many things that look very suspicious in our case? Should
Jesus now call each of us by our names, as he did Peter, and ask us, one by one,
"Do you love me?" What could we answer? Could we honestly desire him to look
into our hearts, that he might see that sacred principle there? And could we
produce the genuine evidences of it in our lives? My friends, if there be an
inquiry within the compass of human knowledge which deserves the most solicitous
attention, certainly this does! And it is my present design to assist you to
come to a determination upon it. I say, we are now going upon this search, "Do I
really love the Lord Jesus?"

Come—let us all join in it; let us all resolve to be determined in this point
before we leave this place! For this purpose, I shall point out some plain marks
of genuine love. And then, supposing that you will have discovered your real
character in this respect, I shall address you as divided into two different
classes: the friends, and the enemies of Jesus. And as love to God the Father,
and love to Jesus Christ, who is God as well as man—I shall not distinguish
between them—but speak upon the one or the other, as may be most conducive to my
design.

I. I am to point out some plain, genuine MARKS of divine love. And these I shall
derive either from plain Scripture; or from the apparent nature and inseparable
properties of love.

I need hardly tell you, that while there is so much hypocrisy, flattery, and
compliment in the world; a man’s mere professing the Christian religion, and a
supreme regard to its Founder—is no certain evidence of sincere divine love.
Insincerity and treachery, which have done so much mischief in private
friendships, and betrayed so many kingdoms, has diffused itself, like a
malignant poison, into the affairs of religion; and men dare to compliment and
flatter even the heart-searching God! Judas betrayed his Lord with a "Greetings,
Master!" and a kiss! And his conduct before that, had the appearance of sincere
friendship, otherwise the disciples would have suspected him for the traitor
upon the first hint. Therefore there must be something more substantial to
evidence the truth of our love, than a mere profession, or the external forms of
religion. Nor does true love consist in a speculative, languid esteem, or a
careless, unaffecting good opinion of Jesus Christ. We may think and speak
highly of him, and believe very great things concerning him, while the heart is
dead and cold towards him; yes, full of enmity against him. All this may be the
effect of education, or cool reasoning, and may hover in the head, without
sinking deep into the heart, and becoming a governing principle in practice. It
is this speculative good opinion of him which, I am afraid, the generality
mistake for divine love. They cannot but know that their hearts are habitually
careless and indifferent towards God, that they do not feel those affectionate
emotions and strong tendencies of soul towards him, which they feel towards all
other objects of their love. However, when they happen to think of him, it is
sometimes with a kind of high esteem; and this they take to be a genuine love to
him—though it has no correspondent effects upon their temper or conduct!

I may add farther, that some may love God upon a mistake; that is, they love him
upon supposition that he is quite another kind of being than he really is. But
did they conceive of him as he is, he would appear to their depraved hearts
rather an object of terror and abhorrence, than of love and delight. For
example, they suppose Him so soft, easy, and passive a being—as not to resent
their rebellious conduct! They suppose God to be so merciful—as hardly ever to
execute justice upon sinners! They suppose Him to be so careless of the honor of
His law and government, as to pass by all their disobedience! They suppose God
to be so foolishly fond of His creatures, as to advance them to happiness
promiscuously, without any regard to their moral character, or the honor of His
perfections.

Such a deity as this—is formed exactly according to their taste, to encourage
them in sin, and relieve them from horrors of conscience and the fears of
eternity! It is no wonder that they should love such a ’god’ as this—so like
themselves. Even criminals would love a judge of this character. This is not the
true God—but the creature of their own foolish imaginations! This is not that
God before whom the celestial multitudes cry, "Holy, holy, holy!" and who is of
purer eyes than to behold iniquity; who is a God of truth, and without iniquity;
just and righteous; who turns the wicked into hell, and all the nations that
forget God; and who will not admit one soul into heaven but what is made holy in
temper and practice beforehand. And did they view Him as He really is—they would
be so far from loving him, that their carnal minds would rise in enmity against
Him!

Now to love God upon such a supposition, is not to please him—but to reproach
and affront him; and he resents it as the highest indignity! How would you take
it, if a fool or a villain should love you upon a mistaken notion, that you were
a profligate, a thief, or a liar, like himself? Would you thank him for such a
friendship? No! You would esteem it the basest affront. And when you had
convinced him of his mistake, his love would be turned into hatred. My friends,
we must love God for what He is—otherwise we do not love Him at all. We must,
therefore, know Him in such measure as He is, before we can rationally love Him;
and particularly we must know and delight in those perfections which are most
unacceptable to guilty and depraved creatures—His justice, holiness, and
infinite hatred of sin—before we can truly love Him!

Having cautioned you against these plausible and popular mistakes, I now resume
my purpose, and shall point out some undoubted marks of genuine and sincere love
to God. And that I may not perplex you with too many particulars, I shall only
mention these four: that it is of a divine and supernatural original; and that
it produces frequent and affectionate thoughts of its object; a delight in
communing with him: and an earnest study and endeavor to please him—by a life of
universal obedience.

1. If you would determine this important inquiry, "Do I really love the Lord
Jesus Christ?" you must previously inquire HOW you came by your love; whether it
is the mere effect of human nature, of education, or of anything within the
power of man; or whether it was wrought in your hearts by the almighty power of
God, after many rebellious straggles and insurrections, and a full conviction of
the innate enmity of your carnal minds against him? If it is the spontaneous
production of your own hearts, or of natural causes, if you have always been
possessed of it, and never found it difficult to obtain or cherish it; if you
have not been sensible of a supernatural power working it in you—then you may be
sure that it is all delusion! For though the passion of love is innate in our
nature, and is easily excited by a thousand created beauties—yet, alas! it has
no natural tendency towards the true God. Human nature in its present state is
strangely indisposed and disaffected in this respect, as experience has
abundantly convinced us—unless we have been stupidly unobservant with regard to
ourselves. A state of nature is uniformly represented in Scripture as a state of
enmity against God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, John 3:6; and,
therefore, by nature, we are all flesh in the Scripture style. Now, "they that
are in the flesh cannot please God," says Paul, "because the carnal mind is
enmity against God," etc. Romans 8:7-8. The Scriptures everywhere represent us
as being saved in the way of reconciliation; now reconciliation supposes a
previous variance and enmity. Nay, Paul expressly tells us, that "we were
enemies, when we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Romans 5:10.
By nature, we are children of wrath, Ephesians 2:3; and surely we cannot be
children of wrath—and lovers of God—at one and the same time! Here, then, you
must all plead guilty. Whatever you now are, it is beyond all doubt that you
were once enemies to God. It is sufficient conviction against you who you are
men, and belong to a race which is universally alienated from God. And now have
you ever been brought out of that state? If not—then you are enemies to God
still.

You could not pass from death unto life in a dream, or an entire insensibility;
for you must have experienced a great change, and you must have been sensible
of, and may now recollect a great many deep and affecting sensations that
attended it. You must have seen and been shocked at your enmity towards God! You
must have been brought to cry in the most importunate manner to God to give you
a better temper, and to shed abroad his love in your hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5. In short, you are made new creatures; old things are passed away,
and all things are become new; and all these new things are of God, who has
reconciled you to himself. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18.

Now if these are the test, what would you say to this question, "Do you love
Me?" Some of you, I trust, could answer; "Lord, I am afraid of the truth of my
love; but this I am sure of, a great change has been wrought in my soul. Whether
I am now a sincere lover of God or not, I am sure I am not what I once was; not
only my outward practice—but the inward temper of my heart towards you is vastly
altered; it is more filial, affectionate, and dutiful." If any of you can
advance thus far in your answer, my friends, it looks comfortable, though you
should still be jealous of yourselves. But, sirs, let conscience now deal
honestly with you: are there not many of you who are still in your natural
state? All your religion is an earth-born, self-sprung thing. You have never
been the subjects of a supernatural work of divine grace, nor felt such a great
change in the temper of your minds; and if this is your case, I must pronounce,
that, however many amiable qualities you may possess, and however fair a
profession you make of religion—that you have not the love of God in you; for
how should you have it, when it is not natural to you, and when it has not been
implanted in you by an operation above nature? Indeed my friends, if this is
your case, you are plainly convicted this day of being destitute of the very
first principle of all true religion. Admit the conviction: you may as well
expect to be men without being born—as to love God without being born again.
But,

2. If you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity—then you frequently and
affectionately think of him. This you know is the genius and tendency of love in
general—to fix our thoughts upon its object; and the Psalmist often mentions
this, as an attendant of his love to God. "How precious are your thoughts unto
me, O God! how great is the sum of them! if I should count them, they are more
in number than the sand! When I awake—I am still with you." Psalms 139:17-18. "I
remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the night-watches." Psalms
63:6. "My meditation of him shall be sweet." Psalms 104:34. Isaiah represents
the whole church as saying, "The desire of our soul is to your name, and to the
remembrance of you. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my
spirit longs for you." Isaiah 26:8-9. This you see, is the character of the
lovers of God. And on the other hand, his enemies are characterized as people
who do not like to retain him in their knowledge, Romans 1:28, who forget God;
Psalms 9:12, and Psalms 9:17. "God is not in all your thoughts!" Psalms 10:4.
They practically say unto the Almighty, "depart from us; we desire not the
knowledge of your ways!" Job 21:14. The thoughts of an enemy are always
ungrateful, especially if he is unable to avenge himself of his adversaries; and
the mind will turn every way to avoid them. But thoughts of one we love, how
sweet, how welcome, how often do they return! How often does the dear image of
an absent friend rise to the mind! and with what affectionate endearments!
Unless you are entire strangers to this sincere passion, you know, by
experience, this is the nature and tendency of love. And do not these things
enable some of you to give a comfortable answer to this question, "Do you love
Me?" You are often jealous of your love; but if you love him not, why do your
thoughts make so many eager sallies to him? Once your thoughts could dwell
within the compass of created nature, and fly from vanity to vanity, without
attempting a flight to heaven. But now do they not often break through the
limits of creation, in eager search after God as that supreme good? And with
what affectionate eagerness do they at times dwell there? How do your souls
delight to survey and gaze at his perfections, and contemplate the wonders of
his works! And how often do your thoughts hover round a crucified Jesus, and, as
it were, cling and cluster to his cross—like the bees round the hive!

You do not indeed think of him as frequently, or with such affectionate
endearments as you should. But can you not appeal to himself, that the thoughts
of him are welcome to your minds; that you do at times dwell with pleasure in
the delightful contemplation, even when your hands are busy about other things;
and that it is your daily sorrow that your hearts are mot more intimate with
him, and pay him more frequent visits? Does not your experience tell you, that
you cannot always let your thoughts grovel in the dust, or run out in an endless
chase of things below—but that, in some happy hours, they rise on the wings of
love, and most affectionately cleave to your dear Redeemer? And your thoughts
are not the cold speculations of a philosopher—but the warm, passionate, and
heart-affecting thoughts of a Christian. If this is your care, my friends, take
courage. You love the Lord Jesus Christ—and you may be sure he loves you, and
will treat you as his friends! But are there not many of you who may be
convinced by those things, that you have not the love of God in you? For are you
not conscious that your affectionate thoughts are prostituted to some trifle in
this fleeting world, and hardly ever aspire to Jesus? Nay, are not the thoughts
of God, and divine and eternal things, unwelcome to you? And do you not cast
them out of your minds as you would shake a spark of fire from your clothing? Do
you not find yourselves shy of him, and alienated from him? Do not those things
give you pain which would turn your thoughts towards him? You do not affect such
subjects of meditation or conversation, and you soon grow weary and uneasy when
your minds are tied down to them. And what can be the cause of this—but a strong
disaffection to God, and a secret consciousness that he is your enemy on this
account?

O sirs! what can be more astonishing, or what can be a stronger evidence of
enmity to God, than that men should live in such a world as this—and yet hardly
ever have one affectionate thought of their great Author, Preserver, and
Benefactor! His glory shines upon them from all his works, and meets their eye
wherever they look! His Word exhibits him to their view in a still more bright
and amiable light. It represents the Lord Jesus in all the love and agonies of
his crucifixion, and in all the glories of his exaltation! They are receiving
mercies from him every moment of their lives; for in him they live, and move,
and have their being. Their own reason and consciences tell them that he is the
most excellent and lovely being, and worthy of supreme and universal love, and
they profess to believe it; and yet he cannot, after all, gain so much as their
frequent and affectionate thoughts! Their thoughts, those cheap and easy
things—are ungratefully denied to him, who gave them a power of thinking! Oh
what stupid indifference about the supreme good, or rather what prevailing
enmity is here! Can you pretend to be lovers of Jesus Christ while this is your
case? Can you excuse or extenuate this under the soft name of infirmity? No, it
is rank, inveterate, sullen enmity! And the righteous God resents it as such!
But,

3. If you love truly God and the Lord Jesus Christ—then you delight in communion
with them. Friends, you know, delight to converse together, to unbosom
themselves to one another, and to enjoy the freedoms of society. They are fond
of interviews, and seize every opportunity for that purpose; and absence is
tedious and painful to them. If you are so happy as to have a friend, you know
by experience this is the nature of love. Now, though God is a spirit, and
infinitely above all sensible converse with the sons of men—yet he does not keep
himself at a distance from his people. He has access to their spirits, and
allows them to carry on a spiritual communication with him, which is the
greatest happiness of their lives. Hence God is so often said, in the
Scriptures, to draw near to them, and they to him, James 4:8; Hebrews 7:19;
Psalms 69:18; Psalms 73:28; Hebrews 10:22; Lamentations 3:57. And John, speaking
of himself and his fellow-Christians, says, "Truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:3. This divine fellowship is
promised by Jesus Christ to all his friends, John 14:21; John 14:23. "He who
loves me—shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him; my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with him." This mystical fellowship is peculiar to the friends of God—and
others know nothing of it. They are represented as rebellious strangers and
aliens—who have no communication with God. Ephesians 2:12, Colossians 1:21. He
is shy of them, and they of him. They keep at a distance from one another like
alienated people. This communion on God’s part, consists in his communicating to
his people the influences of his grace, to quicken them, to inflame their love,
to give them filial boldness in drawing near to him, in assuring them of his
love to them, and representing himself to them as reconciled and accessible. And
on their part—it consists in a liberty of heart and speech in pouring out their
prayers to him, a delightful freedom of spirit in all exercises of devotion, in
returning him love for love, and dedicating themselves to him.

Thus there is a kind of interchange of thoughts and affections, mutual freedoms
and endearments, between them. And oh! how divinely sweet in some happy hours of
sacred intimacy! This indeed is heaven upon earth: and, might it but continue
without interruption, the life of a lover of God would be a constant series of
pure, unmingled happiness! But, alas! at times their Beloved withdraws himself,
and goes from them, and then they languish, and pine away, and mourn, like the
mourning turtle-dove that has lost his mate. This fellowship with God may be a
strange thing to some of you; and to vindicate the lack of it, you may give it
some odious name, such as enthusiasm, fanaticism, or a heated imagination. But I
must tell you, if you know nothing of it, your temper and experience is entirely
different from all the friends of God, and, therefore, you cannot rank
yourselves in that happy number.

Now the ordinances of the gospel are, as it were, the places of interview, where
God and his people meet, and where they indulge those sacred freedoms. It is in
prayer, in meditation, in reading or hearing his Word, in communion at his
table; it is in these and the like exercises that God communicates, and, as it
were, unbosoms himself to those who love him; and they enjoy the freedom of
children and friends with him: and on this account they delight in those
ordinances, and take pleasure in attending upon them. The workings of their
hearts in this respect, you may discover in David, when, by the persecution of
Saul, or the rebellion of his son Absalom, he was banished from the stated
ordinances of public worship, Psalms 62:1-4, and Psalm 84 throughout, and Psalms
27:4. And now, my friends, to come nearer home, have not some of you experienced
the sacred joys of communion with God? And were not those the sweetest hours of
your life? Have you not found it good for you to draw near to him? And when he
has withdrawn his presence—how have you languished and mourned, and could never
be easy until he was pleased to return to you? Do you not also find a sacred
pleasure in the institutions of the gospel, because there you hope to meet your
God, and enjoy communion with him? Is this the principle that prompts you to
pray, to hear, and perform every religious duty? Then you may appeal to a
heart-searching God, "Lord, you know that I love you!" But does not this view of
the matter give the conscience of some of you reason to condemn you? You have
neither known nor desired this fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus
Christ. Alas! you know nothing of those freedoms of divine friendship; and you
have no prevailing pleasure in devotion. You either neglect the duties of
religion, or else you perform them from custom, education, constraint of
conscience, or some other such base principle. Let me point out one instance as
a specimen; and that is secret prayer and closet devotion. Nothing can be more
expressly commanded than this is by Christ, Matthew 6:6, and is this your daily
practice? Is this the most pleasant exercise of your life? Or is it a mere
formality, or a weariness to you? My friends, inquire honestly into this matter!

4. And lastly, If you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ—then you earnestly study
and endeavor to please him by a life ofuniversal obedience. Love is always
desirous to please the person beloved; and it will naturally lead to a conduct
that is pleasing. This, then, you may be sure of, that if you love Jesus—then it
is the labor of your life to please him. The grand inquiry with you is not: Will
this or that please men? Will it please myself? Or will it promote my interest?
But, Will it please my God and Savior? If not—then I will have nothing to do
with it! This is the standing rule of your practice. Let others consult their
own inclinations, or the taste of the age; let them consult their own secular
interest, or the applause of mortals; you consult what is the good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2. See also Ephesians 6:6; 1
Peter 3:17; Hebrews 13:21; and if you may but please him—it is enough. But are
there not some of you who are hardly ever concerned with this dutiful
solicitude? If you can please yourselves, and those whose favor you would court,
if you can but promote your own interest—then you are not solicitous whether you
please God or not. This proves that you destitute of his love. The only way to
please God, and the best test of your love to Him—is obedience to His
commandments. This is made the decisive mark by Christ himself. "If anyone loves
Me—he will obey My teaching. He who does not love Me—will not obey My teaching."
John 14:23-24. Jesus repeats this theme over and over in different forms:
"Whoever has My commands and obeys them—he is the one who loves Me," verse 21.
"If you love Me—you will obey what I command," verse 15. "You are My friends—if
you do what I command." John 15:14. "This is love for God," says John; that is,
it is the surest evidence, and the natural, inseparable effect of our love to
God, "that we obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome." 1 John
5:3; that is, they will not seem grievous to one who obeys them from the sincere
principle of love.

Here, then, you who profess to love the Lord Jesus, here is an infallible test
for your love! Do you make it the great study of your life to keep his
commandments? Do you honestly endeavor to perform every duty he has enjoined,
and that because he has commanded it? And do you vigorously resist and struggle
against every sin, however constitutional, however fashionable, however
gainful—because he forbids it? And is the way of obedience pleasant to you?
Would you choose this holy way to heaven rather than any other—if it were left
to your choice?

What does conscience answer to this? Do not some of you stumble and hesitate
here? If you should speak the truth, you must say, "I cannot but confess that I
willfully indulge myself in some things which Jesus has forbidden, and leave
unattempted some duties which he has commanded." Alas! is this the case? Then
his love does not dwell in you: you are undeniably his enemies, whatever be your
pretensions. But if you can say, "Lord, I own that in many things I offend; and
in many things I come short of my duty; but if I know myself, I think I can
honestly declare, that it is my sincere and earnest desire to do your will, and
that it is my real endeavor in every instance in which it is made known to me;"
I say, if you can make this declaration, your case looks encouraging; this is
the dutiful temper and modest language of genuine love to God. And now, my
friends, if Jesus should put this question to each of you, "Do you love Me?" are
you prepared to answer him? Can you desire more plain or more certain evidences
than have been given? Surely, not! And therefore, if you are still quite
undetermined, it is owing to the real obscurity and perplexity of your case, or
to your carelessness and inattention, or to your willfully shutting your eyes
against conviction! My friends, if you have these characteristics of love to
Jesus—then away with your painful doubts, and believe that your hearts are
upright before him. But if you are destitute of them, be assured you are equally
destitute of his love.

Love can never be separated from its natural fruits and effects; and therefore,
without these, it is the greatest absurdity to pretend to it. Can you rise up
now, and tell the Lord Jesus to his face, "Lord, it is true, I have not the
fruits and evidences of love—but I love you notwithstanding! I love you above
all, though I have no frequent affectionate thoughts of you! I love you, though
I hate to think of you; though I have no pleasure in conversing with you, nor
any concerns to please you, and keep your commandments! That is, I love you,
though my temper and conduct towards you be those of an enemy!"

Alas! Sirs, will you presume to impose upon an omniscient God, with such absurd
contradictory pretensions as these! Would such a love as this pass current among
men? Offer it now to your judge, your father, or your friend—and see if they
will accept of it. Tell your friend, "I most sincerely love you, though I
dislike to think of you, or converse with you; I love you, though I care not
whether I please you!" Would he not discard you from his friendship, as an
inconsistent pretender, and highly resent it, that you should think to impose
upon him by such absurd pretensions! And shall that pass for sincere, supreme
love to God—which would not be accepted as common friendship among men? Shall
enmity, disguised under hypocritical pretensions, be offered to him, under the
name of friendship? With horror I mention it! And yet I must mention it, that
you may be shocked at your conduct! Do you think that God lacks wisdom—to be
thus imposed upon? It is a plain case—you have not the least spark of true love
to him! You are enemies to him in your minds, by wicked works—so therefore, pass
sentence upon yourselves! "Here is a soul so perverse and wicked, that it has
never yet loved its divine Parent and the supreme excellency; it has never loved
the blessed Jesus, the Friend of sinners!" And now, should all the enemies of
God in this assembly walk to to the left side, and crowd together by themselves;
how thin would the congregation be on the right! How few would be left behind!
Well, the day is coming, when you must be separated, as a shepherd divides the
sheep from the goats. To the left hand, sinners, to the left hand of your Judge
you must go, who continue destitute of his love. Then you will know the truth of
your case; but, alas! it will be too late to correct it. But now the discovery
of it is the first step towards the amendment of it. And, therefore, let your
consciences now anticipate the proceedings of the great judgment day, and draw a
line of separation between you, that I may address you according to the classes
in which you are found. This leads me, pursuant to my proposed method,

II. To address myself to you who have now discovered that you aresincere
loversof Jesus Christ, notwithstanding your many imperfections. And my time will
allow me to offer only two things to you.

1. The one is, your heaven is sure! I repeat it again, your heaven is sure; as
sure as the sincerity of your love. Love is the grand qualification for the
enjoyment of God. You can be happy in his presence, because you love him; happy
in his service, because you love him; happy in the contemplation of his glories,
because you love him. In short, love renders you fit for heaven, and all its
employments and fruitions, and therefore you shall certainly be admitted there;
for God never will exclude one soul that is fit for it, or that could relish the
happiness there. Love is the substance of all religion and obedience; love is
the fulfilling of the law; and that love you have in your hearts. Oh happy
souls, "rejoice in hope of the glory of God:" for, as the apostle reasons, "your
hope will not make you ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in your
hearts by the Holy Spirit." Romans 5:4-5. Love is an important principle.
Charity, or love, never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8 :It is, therefore, not only
your privilege—but your duty, to rejoice: and how can you refrain, when in a few
years, at most, you will be with that Jesus whom you love unseen, in all the
glories, and in all the felicities, of the heavenly world.

2. The other thing I would mention to you is, alas! how faint, how imperfect is
your love! And what great reason have you to cherish it, and labor to raise it
unto a vigorous flame! I need not offer much for your conviction on this head;
for, alas! you cannot but be sensible your love bears no suitable proportion to
the excellency of the divine nature, the dying love of Jesus, and your
obligations to him. Alas! it is but a feeble spark, and sometimes so buried and
suffocated under the weight of your corruptions, that you can hardly discern it
at all, and fear it is entirely extinguished. Oh then, I beseech you, love your
God more: love your dear Redeemer more. Do not affront him with such a languid
love: think over his excellences, his relations to you, his unbounded love and
grace to you; and these considerations may fire your hearts, cold as they are.
Cry to him to kindle the sacred flame in your breasts, and avoid everything that
tends to damp it: guard against the friendship of this world, which is enmity
against God, and against all the workings of sin: avoid all causes of variance
and distance between God and you, and labor to maintain a settled peace and a
constant correspondence. But the other class of my hearers stand in greater need
of immediate relief, and therefore,

III. I shall address myself to such of you as may have discovered, by this day’s
trial, that you aredestituteof sincere love to Christ, and what I have to say to
you, my dear fellow-mortals, may be reduced under two heads: your sin and
danger; and the most proper means of deliverance.

A. To convince you of your SIN and DANGER in not loving God and his Son Jesus
Christ, consider:

1. It is thesupreme excellency, whom you have refused to love! The most
venerable Majesty, the most consummate wisdom, the most rich goodness and grace,
the most amiable justice; these are the things which you dislike and
refuse—while you are remain at enmity towards God; for these are his very
nature. You neglect and refuse faithfulness, justice, veracity, mercy,
benevolence, and every moral beauty in the highest perfection. You are enemies
to the origin, and the sum total of all excellency! Now this may strike you with
conviction in various views:

How depraved and corrupt must yoursoulsbe—which can dislike and refuse such a
glorious object! How must your taste be vitiated—which cannot relish the supreme
good! You can love the faint shadows of these perfections—in your
fellow-creatures: you can love generosity, benevolence, mercy, justice, and such
virtues—in mortals. So may you not fall down overwhelmed with astonishment, and
cry out, "Lord, what is this that has befallen my soul—that I cannot love you!
That I can love anything else that is lovely—and yet cannot love you! Oh! what a
perverse, depraved, abominable soul I have!"

Sirs, must you not be shocked, to think that you have such souls within you? If
your bodies were all overrun with rotten ulcers; if your facial features were
all convulsed and distorted into the most hideous forms; if your limbs were all
shattered and dislocated; if your taste were so vitiated that you loathed all
healthful food, and you should crawl upon the earth, feeding on its mire and
dirt; all this would not render you half so odious and horrible a monster—as a
soul hating and refusing God!

Again, what an aggravated wickedness must this be? Your obligations to love
him—are just in proportion to his loveliness and excellency; and the wickedness
of breaking these obligations is in exact proportion to their strength. And as
his excellency and your obligations are infinite—then your wickedness in not
loving him must be infinite as well. What illustration shall I use to represent
this crime in its proper infernal colors? If you should be an enemy to the whole
creation; and hate all men and angels with implacable abhorrence; and detest the
father who begat you, and the breasts that gave you suck; nay, if you should
commence a direct enemy to yourself—and be perpetually plotting against your own
life—all this would not equal the crime of hating the ever-blessed God! For all
these beings together, have no excellency when compared to him! And your
obligation to love him is prior and fundamental to all others. Here your love
should begin, here it should center, and then extend its lines to all parts of
the circle of creation. Therefore, no more plead your innocence. If you had
never committed one other sin in all your life—this sin of not loving God is
sufficient to condemn you forever to the lowest hell.

Further, this sin will appear more aggravated, if you consider, that, by not
loving God, you do in the strongest manner declare, that he has none of these
excellences—but is a worthless being, undeserving of your love! When you do not
love him, after all the discoveries he has made of himself to you, it is plain
that this is the habitual sense of your hearts—that he has no excellency worthy
of your love! This is the language of your hearts; and this language is much
more strong and expressive than that of your lips! You may speak things
inadvertently, which your second thoughts would retract; but by being all your
life destitute of the love of God, you have all your life been declaring that
you look upon him as a worthless being, far inferior to a thousand trifles upon
earth, to which you have given your love.

Now you would not dare to utter such blasphemy as this, and how can you dare to
declare it, much more strongly, by the temper of your hearts, and stand to it as
a truth? Oh! will you never retract it—by becoming a lover of God? My friends,
can you imagine a more shocking, insolent wickedness than this? And what a
hateful and despicable soul must that be—which has been guilty of it all its
days! What is this but to say, with the atheistic fool, "No God for me!" For he
is not God, if he is not supremely excellent and amiable. And if you wish there
were no God, what do you do but wish universal desolation, and imprecate
destruction to yourself and every other being? For were there no God—there could
be nothing else; there would not have been one spark of being through infinite
space in any point of duration!

2. Your not loving God—is a mostUNNATURALwickedness! He is your Father; and that
in a higher sense than your earthly parents can be. He is the author of your
BODIES, because it was he who first established, and still continues in force,
those laws of generation, by which they were produced. And had it not been for
this, men could no more produce one another—than a stone or a clod of earth! As
to your SOULS, the nobler part of your persons, they are his immediate
offspring, produced by him without the instrumentality of secondary causes, of
any pre-existent materials.

Thus he is your Father in the highest sense—and yet you have not loved him! You
have not loved him—who gave you the power of love. You have not loved him—from
whose creative hands you came a few years ago. What an unnatural wickedness is
this!

What were you a hundred years ago? You were nothing! And you would have
continued so to all eternity—had he not spoke you into being! And yet you have
not sincerely loved him all your life—to this moment. Most astonishing! Must you
not tremble at and abominate yourselves as the vilest and most unnatural
monsters! Should the child whom received his being from you in a subordinate
sense, the child you dandled upon your knees, and for whom you are now
laboriously making provision, should he hate the sight of you, shun your
company, and do nothing to please you—how would you take it? Would you not think
the unnatural miscreant unworthy of life? And yet thus you have treated your
heavenly Father—to whom you were under much higher and more endearing
obligations. You have treated him as only a despised broken thing—in whom you
could take no pleasure. And are you pleased with yourselves, notwithstanding?
Shall not such a shocking prodigy, at which angels gaze with horror—be struck
with horror at itself? Should all the world treat God as you have done, what
would be the consequence? Why, there would not be one lover of God to be found
among all the numerous race of man! And yet, if you have a right to hate
him—they have too. Have you any peculiar indulgence in this case? Can you
produce an exemption from that universal law, "You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength"? You see, then, where your conduct
leads—and do you not shudder to think of it? And can you imagine yourselves
innocent still? Do you think you have tolerably good hearts after all of this? I
am sure your reason, if it is not entirely lost, will not allow you to think so!

3. Your not loving God—is a mostUNGRATEFULwickedness! Think what God has done
for you: how many mercies he has given you, as many mercies as moments! Think
how many deliverances he has wrought for you! See what a well-furnished world he
has formed for your accommodation. Think, oh think, of the love and sufferings
of Jesus! See the abasement, the labors, the hardships of his life! See the
agonies of his crucifixion! See the crown of thorns, the mangled visage, the
disjointed limbs, the flowing blood, the bursting heart, the dying pangs of your
blessed Redeemer!

Oh! think upon and view these things, and then say what you think of your enmity
against him, after all this? Can ingratitude rise to a higher pitch! Oh! is this
your return—for all the kindness of God? for all the love of Jesus!!

There was something very cutting in his question to the Jews, "I have shown you
many good works," I have never provoked you by anything but good works; "Which
of these works are you stoning Me for?" John 10:32. This may be easily
accommodated to you. Many kind actions has he done to you, many grievous
sufferings has he undergone for you; and for which of these do you hate him? Oh!
must not such an expostulation wound you to the heart, and melt you down at his
feet in the deepest repentance! Oh! can you continue enemies to the very cross
of Christ! Must not that disarm your resentment, and dissolve your hearts—as
hard as they are—into the most tender love?

4. Your not loving God—is a mostCOMPREHENSIVEwickedness! You are repeatedly
told, that love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:8; Romans 13:10; James
2:8. The first and great commandment upon which the whole law and the prophets
depend, is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind
and strength," that is—love is the root, the principle, the substance of all
obedience, because it constrains a man to a cheerful observance of every divine
precept, and naturally disposes him to a dutiful conduct.

Now, if love is the fulfilling of the whole law—it follows, that the lack of
love is the breach of the whole law: it is dashing the two tables of the law in
pieces at once! As love is the principle of all obedience; so enmity is the
principle of all disobedience! And while this enmity to God reigns in your
hearts—it diffuses a deadly poison through everything you do! And hence, you
cannot perform one action acceptable to God. All your endeavors are but the
treacherous flattery of an enemy, or the forced homage of a rebel obliged to
feign submission. In short, the lack of love to God is the lack of everything
that is morally good! It is the root of all evil! It is a complication of all
wickedness! It is a summary, nay, I may say, the sum total of all disobedience
and rebellion! And can you any longer build your hopes on the fewness or
smallness of your sins? Alas! while you are possessed of this temper—your hearts
are full of every evil. This renders not only your actions, your words, and
thoughts of every kind—guilty and vile; but the stated, settled bent and
disposition of your minds—are most wicked and abominable. When the omniscient
God views you asleep, when all the powers of action are suspended, what can he
say of you but this, "Here lies an enemy of God!" And must you not fall on your
faces before your injured Sovereign, and cry, "Guilty! Guilty!"

5. Your not loving God—is a mostINEXCUSABLEwickedness. Your mouth must be
stopped, and you have no plea left to excuse or extenuate it. You cannot plead
here, as you do in some other things, "There are so many different opinions
about religion—that I know not what to choose!" For here, as I told you, all are
agreed. They are all unanimous in this—that love to God is essential to
religion. Not only all denominations of Christians—but Jews, Mohammedans,
Heathen, and all who believe the existence of a God, confess this. And are you
of a religion that does not include the love of God in it? If so—then it is the
religion of devils—or rather it is the most diabolical irreligion! I insist the
more boldly upon this point, because it is a universal truth, free from all
dispute.

You cannot plead that you have no time for the exercise of love to God; for love
is not the work of the hands—but of the heart; and may be performed while you
are engaged in other business. Can you not think affectionately of a friend
behind a counter, or over a plough? So you might love God—and yet follow your
daily employments. Nor can you excuse yourselves from your inability; for God
has implanted the passion of love in your nature, and you find it easy to love
other things: you can love the world, you can love a child or a friend—and why
cannot you love God? The act of love is the same in both cases, and one would
think it would be an easier thing for you to love him who is the Supreme
Excellence, than imperfect creatures, whose excellency is limited, or mingled
with many hateful qualities.

Whence then is your inability in this case? It is nothing else but the strength
of your enmity; that is, you are so rebellious to the ever-blessed God, that you
cannot love him! And does this lessen your crime? Do the inveteracy and rancor
of your enmity, excuse it? Alas! that is its most dreadful aggravation! Oh! how
wicked must you be—when you are so rebellious to the God who made you, and the
Savior who died for you—that you cannot prevail upon your hearts to love him!

Farther, Have you tried what can be done to root out and subdue this enmity—by
the power of the Holy Spirit? Have you cried to God in earnest prayer, and used
all means for that end? If not—then it is plain you are an enemy to God, and
delight to continue so; you hate him, and practically insist upon it, that you
do right. Nor can you pretend ignorance in this case; for your own conscience
tells you that it is your duty to love God. In short, you are entirely
inexcusable; you sin against the full conviction of your own minds—and you must
join with God, angels, and men, in your own condemnation!

6. Your not loving God—if it continues, will certainlyexclude you from the
kingdom of heaven! Alas! what would you do with your wicked hearts in heaven?
Heaven would be an enemy’s country to you. What pleasure could you have in the
society or service of that God whom you hate? What pleasure could you have in
those exercises and enjoyments for which you have no relish? Could you be happy
in the practice of eternal flattery, bowing and singing insincere complimental
praises to an enemy? Could you be happy to be an eternal impostor? There is not
one imposter like you in all that innumerable assembly: they all love that God
whom you hate. And with what pleasure could you mingle among them? How could you
live in a country where the laws, the customs, the employments, the disposition
of the inhabitants, are all contrary to your temper? Oh! you need no sentence
from your Judge to exclude you—you would exclude yourselves, and choose to
mingle with your fellow-devils! Which leads me to add,

7. Your not loving God—if it continues, will certainlylead you to hell. You are
fit for no other place. Where should the enemies of God be—but in an infernal
prison? There is the same propriety in throwing you into hell—as in shutting up
madmen in bedlam—or rebels in a dungeon! Why, you are devilized already! You
have the very temper of devils! Enmity to God is the grand constituent of a
devil—it is the worst ingredient in that infernal disposition; and this you have
in your hearts, and, as it were, incorporated with your habitual temper. And
what do you think will become of you? Judge yourselves, must you not be doomed
to that everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels, whom
you resemble?

Here I must add, that if ever you are brought to love God—it must be in this
present world. In heaven and hell—no new dispositions are planted; but those
which are found prevalent in the soul—will ripen and grow to perfection. None
begin to grow wicked in hell—or to love God in heaven! The seeds are all sown in
the present state, which then spring up to maturity. Therefore, if you would
ever have the love of God shed abroad in your hearts—now, now is the time!
Now—or never!

B. "But, what MEANS (you will say) shall I use for this purpose?" Here I must be
short; but if you are really in earnest, you will easily understand the shortest
hints:

1. Labor to be deeply sensible of theaggravated sinfulness and dangerof your
present state. Deeply impress your minds with this. Check the levity of your
minds—and indulge a serious, anxious, sorrowful temper; for your case really
requires it!

2. Be deeply sensible of thenecessity of divine graceto change your hearts, and
inspire you with divine love. The disease is so far gone—that you cannot heal
yourselves! But, blessed be God, he is able, he is able to make such an enemy as
you—into his hearty friend and dutiful subject! Therefore,

3. Betake yourselves toearnest prayer; and confess your guilt, your vileness,
your liableness to divine displeasure! Cry for his Spirit to shed abroad his
love in your hearts! Here let your petitions center; for this is the main thing.
Endeavor to devote yourselves to him, to give up your wicked hearts to him, to
bow that rebellious soul at his feet.

4. Meditate upon—the glory of God, his kindness to you, the love and sufferings
of Christ, and such subjects as tend to beget and inflame your love to him.

5. Do not weary in the use of these means—but persevere, hold on, until you find
a thorough change produced in your hearts. Your eternal all is concerned!
Therefore be not remiss and careless; be not soon tired or discouraged. Never
give up until your last breath; and who knows but that hostile spirit of
yours—may soon become the friend of God, and at length shine among his celestial
friends in all their transcendent glories, and ineffable and eternal felicity!
Amen.


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  CHAPTER 13: 10-THE CHRISTIAN FEAST
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The Christian Feast by Samuel Davies

"Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice
and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."
1 Corinthians 5:8 As we have the agreeable prospect of celebrating the Lord’s
supper on the next Lord’s day, we cannot spend this day to better purpose than
preparing for it. And no preparative can be of more importance than a right
knowledge of the end and design of that solemn ordinance, and the qualifications
necessary in those that would worthily partake of it. To this I would devote the
present discourse: and so important a design, certainly demands the attention of
all, especially of such of you as intend to join in the participation of the
sacred supper.

Though my text may be taken in a larger latitude—yet it is justly supposed to
have a particular reference to this institution, which has the same place under
the gospel dispensation, which the Passover had under the law. Paul had very
naturally glided into the style of the Jewish law concerning the paschal supper,
in the directions he had been giving concerning a scandalous member of the
Corinthian Church: and he carries on the metaphor with a beautiful uniformity,
when he comes to speak of the gospel-dispensation, and particularly of the
Lord’s supper.

He had directed the Church of Corinth to cast the offender out of their
communion, while he continued impenitent, because if they should tolerate such a
corrupt member among them, it would tend to corrupt the whole church. Wickedness
is of a spreading, infectious nature, and the indulgence of it in one instance,
may occasion extensive mischief; for, says he, Don’t you know—that a little
leaven ferments and diffuses itself, till at length it has leavened the whole
lump! Just so one corrupt member in a church may spread a contagion through the
whole. Therefore purge out the old leaven; cast out this scandalous offender,
and labor also to purge your Church, and your own hearts from all
corruption—that you may be as a new, solid, and pure lump! For you are more
strongly bound to keep yourselves morally pure, and to guard your Church against
infection, than the Jews were to abstain from all things mixed with leaven at
the feast of the Passover; for though that feast is no more to be observed—yet
that which was signified by the paschal Lamb is now come to pass: Christ our
Passover is sacrificed for us, and the ordinance of his supper is appointed as a
sacred feast, in commemoration of him, and our deliverance by him—as the
Passover was commemorative of the deliverance from Egypt, and the destroying
angel. And this is the stronger reason for the more purity of Christian people
and congregations under the gospel, than there could be for ceremonial purity
under the law. "Therefore," says he, " let us keep this evangelical feast, not
with old leaven," not with those corrupt dispositions which we once indulged,
and which, like leaven, soured our nature, and fermented through our frame;
"neither with the leaven of malice, or any kind of wickedness;" but renouncing
our old temper and practice, and with hearts universally sanctified, and full of
love and good will to all mankind, let us piously celebrate this gospel feast
with those dispositions which were signified by the unleavened bread, namely,
sincerity and truth.

It was the practice of the Jews, when the Passover was approaching, to search
every corner of their houses with lighted candles, that they might be sure there
was no leaven to be found under their roofs. The apostle probably alludes to
that practice, and exhorts Christians to a like care in searching and purging
their hearts, and the churches to which they belong, that they may be pure and
fit for partaking of so holy an ordinance. My design is to show you the
principal ends of the institution of the Lord’s supper: and as I go along to
delineate the character of those who are fit to attend upon it—for by knowing
the former, we may easily know the latter. The Lord’s supper partakes of the
general nature of those divine institutions which are called sacraments. It is
intended to represent spiritual things—by material emblems or signs which affect
our senses, and thereby enlarge our ideas and impress our hearts in the present
state of flesh and blood. As we have not only rational minds—but also physical
bodies endowed with senses, God has wisely adapted his institutions to the make
of human nature, and called in the assistance of our eyes, and our ears, to help
our conceptions of divine things, and to affect our minds with them. And this
method is agreeable to the nature of mankind; God has been pleased to use it in
every age, and under every dispensation of religion. The tree of life was the
sacrament of the first covenant: a sensible confirmation to Adam that he should
obtain eternal life by his obedience. The rainbow was appointed as a
confirmation of the covenant with Noah—that the world should no more perish by a
deluge: and we have not only the assurance of the divine promise but we may
receive the confirmation through our eyes—by beholding that illustrious sign in
the clouds. Circumcision and the Passover were noted sacraments of the covenant
of grace, under the Jewish dispensation; and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are
appointed in their place, and answer the like ends under the gospel. In all
these ordinances God condescends to our weakness, and, as I observed, makes our
bodily senses helpful to the devotions of our minds. Indeed this method of
representing and confirming things by sensible signs and significant actions, is
so natural and expressive, that men have used it in all ages in their
transactions with one another. It was remarkably in use among the ancients; but
it is not quite laid aside in our age, which does not abound in such methods of
representation. In our age and country it is usual to confirm contracts by
annexing seals to a written document; to confirm an agreement by shaking hands;
to signify love by a kiss, and obligingness by bowing; and we sometimes give
some token as a memorial to a parting friend. I mention these familiar instances
that I may, if possible, give some just ideas of a sacrament to the lowest
capacity. It partakes of the general nature of these significant signs and
actions, and it is intended, like them, to strike our senses; and through that
medium to instruct or affect our minds. And such a sign, such a seal, such a
significant action—is the Lord’s Supper in particular.

Having made this remark upon its general nature, I now go on to show the
particularends of its institution:

1. This ordinance was intended as amemorialof the sufferings of Christ for his
people. That this is its immediate and principal design, we learn from the words
of the blessed Jesus at its first institution. "This do in remembrance of me."
That we are to remember him particularly and principally as suffering for our
sins—is evident from his words in distributing the elements. "This is my body
which is broken for you." Here a moving emphasis is laid upon his body’s being
broken: broken, crushed, and mangled with an endless variety of sufferings. So
again. "This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you."

Hence it is evident this ordinance was appointed as a memorial of a suffering
Savior; and it is under this notion that we are particularly to remember him. We
are to "show forth the Lord’s death," says the apostle; his death which was the
consummation of his sufferings, until he comes again to visit our world in a
very different and glorious manner.

"The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given
thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in
remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This
cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in
remembrance of Me." 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 The Lord’s supper is to be looked
upon as a token of love, or memorial left by a friend at parting among his
friends—that whenever they see it—they may remember him. Our Lord knew we would
be very apt to forget Him; and, therefore, that the memory of His sufferings
might never be lost—He instituted this ordinance. And by the humble elements of
bread and wine—He represents Himself to our senses as broken under the burden of
His sufferings, and shedding His blood.

Grain, out of which bread is made, which is first threshed, then ground in a
mill, then baked in an oven—is a very proper emblem to signify the violences
which our Lord’s sacred body endured. And wine pressed from the grape, and
poured into the cup, is a striking representation of His blood, which was forced
from Him by the crushing weight of His agonies! Therefore there was a peculiar
propriety in appointing these elements to be the memorials of His sufferings.
This remembrance of a suffering Savior must be attended with suitable
affections. To remember Him with a careless indifference, or with contempt—is
the most ungrateful insult! Were He an insignificant person, in whom we have no
concern—then we might treat Him thus. But thus to treat the beloved Son of God,
and our only Savior, thus to requite all His love and sufferings for us—what can
be more shocking! What can be more base ingratitude!

We should therefore remember Him in this ordinance: with a penitent sense of our
sins—which were the cause of His death; with an ardent love and gratitude—for
His dying love to us; with a humble faith and confidence in the merit of His
death—to procure for us eternal salvation; and with a voluntary dedication of
ourselves to Him and His service forever! And hence you may learn the character
of those who may participate in this feast: only those who are true penitents,
fully convinced of their sins, and deeply sensible of their malignity;
especially as the causes of His death, and thoroughly determined to forsake
them; only those who are lovers of a crucified Jesus, and feel their hearts
fired with gratitude to Him for all His love; only those who are sensible that
they have no personal righteousness, and therefore place all their dependence
upon Christ alone; only those who feel His love constraining them, and are
determined to "live no more to themselves—but to Him who died for them, and rose
again."

Self-examination is a necessary preparative to this ordinance. "Let a man
examine himself," says the apostle, "and so let him eat of this bread, and drink
of this cup." Therefore, my brethren, inquire whether this is your character; if
it is not, you have no right to this sacred privilege.

It is a shocking incongruity to pretend to commemorate the death of
Christ—without love to Him, or without penitential sorrow for those sins for
which He died. Memorials of friendship and love-tokens—are only for friends; and
when others use them, it is mere farce and hypocrisy! Therefore, until you have
these dispositions in your heart—do not adventure to come to His sacred table.

2. The Lord’s supper was appointed as a badge of our Christian profession, and
of our being the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Baptism is appointed for our initiation into the Christian church—at our first
assuming the Christian profession. And by partaking of this ordinance of the
Lord’s supper, we declare our constancy in that profession, and that we do not
repent of our choice, nor desire to change our Master. We openly profess that we
are not ashamed of the cross, or the religion of the despised Nazarene; but
publicly avow our relation to him before the world. This perhaps may be intended
by that expression of Paul, "showing forth the Lord’s death." We show, profess,
and publish to all the world—the regard we have even to his ignominious death.

We may look upon this ordinance as an oath of allegiance to Jesus Christ. And
hence probably it was first called a sacrament; which properly signifies an
oath; and particularly that kind of oath which the Roman soldiers gave to their
generals, in which they engaged to be faithful to their leaders, and to fight
for their country, and never desert its cause. To this practice probably
Augustine, about fourteen hundred years ago, refers, as well known to his
hearers, when he addresses them thus: "You know, my beloved, that the soldiers
of this world, who receive but temporal rewards from temporal masters, do first
bind themselves by military sacraments or oaths, and profess that they will be
faithful to their commanders; how much more then ought the soldiers of the
eternal King, who shall receive eternal rewards, to bind themselves with the
heavenly sacraments or oaths, and publicly profess their fidelity to him!"

Now if we receive the sacrament of the Lord’s supper in this view, we assume a
badge or mark of distinction from the rest of the world, and openly profess
ourselves to be his disciples. We take a solemn oath of allegiance to him, and
swear that we will be his faithful servants and soldiers to the end of life!
From hence you may learn another qualification of an acceptable communicant,
namely, a hearty willingness to renounce his lusts and pleasures, and every sin,
and to become universally and eternally the devoted servant and disciple of
Jesus Christ. Here again examine yourselves whether you have this qualification.

3. We may consider this ordinance of the Lord’s supper as a seal of the covenant
of grace, both upon God’s part and upon ours.

Every sacramental institution seems to partake of the general nature of a seal;
that is, it is a sensible sign for the confirmation of a covenant or contract.
This Paul expressly asserts, with regard to circumcision, when he says, that
"Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of
faith." Romans 4:11. And Christ asserts the same thing concerning the ordinance
now under consideration: This cup, says he, is the New Testament, or covenant,
in my blood; that is—it is a ratifying sign or seal of the covenant of grace,
which is founded in my blood. That you may rightly understand this, you must
observe that God has cast his dispensation towards our guilty world into the
form of a covenant, or contract, in which God and man are the parties, and
Christ is the Mediator between them. The tenor of the covenant on GOD’S part is
to this purpose, "that he will graciously bestow for the sake of Christ, pardon
of sin, eternal life, and all the blessings of his purchase—upon all such
sinners of the race of man as comply with the terms on which these blessings are
offered." The tenor or terms upon OUR part are to this purpose, "That we receive
and submit to the Lord Jesus as our only Savior and Lord; or, in other words,
that we believe in him with all our hearts, and repent of our sins, and devote
our selves to his service." This is the substance of that happy contract: and of
this the Lord’s supper is a seal as to both parties. On God’s part, this
covenant can receive no intrinsic confirmation. He has plainly declared it in
his Word; and no oaths or confirming signs can add any intrinsic certainty to
his declaration. We say, "an honest man’s word—is as good as his oath, or bond
and seal;" and surely we may apply this in the highest sense to the declarations
of eternal truth. But though this covenant cannot be made more certain in itself
on God’s part—yet the evidence of its certainty may be made more sensible and
affecting to poor creatures like us, who are so slow of heart to believe. And
hence God has been pleased, in condescension to our weakness, to confirm it with
the most solemn oaths and sacramental signs. This institution, in particular, is
a standing evidence, obvious to our senses, in all the ages of the Christian
church—that he is unchangeably willing to stand to the articles on his part;
that he is ready to give his Son and all his blessings to those who believe, as
he is to give bread and wine as signs and seals of them. As to our part in
receiving these elements—we signify our hearty consent to the covenant of grace,
and, as it were, set our seal to it to confirm it. The language of that speaking
action is to this purpose: "I cordially agree to the plan of salvation through
Jesus Christ, as revealed in the gospel; and in token thereof, I hereunto affix
my seal. As I take this bread and wine before many witnesses, so I openly and
avowedly take and receive the Lord Jesus as my only Savior and Lord, and the
food and life of my soul! I cheerfully receive the offer of salvation according
to the terms proposed in the gospel; of which let this bread and wine given and
received be a token, or pledge, and seal."

This, my brethren, is the meaning of this solemn action. And hence you may know
whether you are qualified to join in it. If you have not heartily consented to
the contract, it is the greatest absurdity and deception, to set your seal to
it. What! will you, as it were, annex your hand and seal—to a bargain that you
do not agree to! Can you dare thus to be trifling with a heart-searching,
all-knowing God! But, if divine grace has powerfully engaged your hearts to
consent to this agreement, come with humble boldness, and attest and seal it
before men and angels! And remember, for your comfort, that on God’s part—it
always stands firm and unalterable. You have his Word—which is his handwriting,
his oath, his seal—to confirm your faith; and what can you desire more—to give
you strong consolation!

4. This ordinance of the Lord’s supper was intended for the saints to hold
communion together. By the communion of saints, I mean that mutual love and
charity, that reciprocal acknowledgment of each other, that brotherly fellowship
and communion, which should be cultivated among them as children of the same
father, in the same family, and as members of the same society—the church, or
mystical body of Christ. This is a thing of so much importance, that it is an
article of the common creed of the Christian church. Our sitting down at the
same table, partaking of the same elements, and commemorating the same Lord, are
very expressive of this communion, and have a natural tendency to cultivate and
nourish it. In such a posture we look like children of one family, fed at the
same table upon the same spiritual provisions. It is a significant expression:
that we are one in heart and affection; that we have one hope of our calling,
one faith, one baptism, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one God and Father of all;
and that we acknowledge one another as brethren and fellow-Christians.

Hence this ordinance has been frequently and justly called the communion. And
Paul assures us it deserves the name, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, "Is not the cup of
thanksgiving for which we give thanks—a participation in the blood of Christ?"
That is—is it not a token and pledge of our joint share and participation in the
blessings purchased by his blood? "And is not the bread that we break—a
participation in the body of Christ?" That is—is it not a sign of our common
right to the happy effect of the sufferings of his body? "Because," says he,
"there is one loaf—we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one
loaf." That is, "As many grains make but one loaf of bread, and as many members
make but one body—so we, being many, are, as it were—but one bread, and one
sacred body politic, of which Christ is the head; and our partaking together of
one bread in the Lord’s Supper, is a sign and pledge of this union." (The love
feasts, among the primitive Christians, were intended still farther to express
this brotherly love and communion.) This appears still clearer from the design
of the apostle in these verses, which was to caution the Corinthians against
partaking with heathens in those religious feasts, which they were accustomed to
celebrate in the temples of their idols, after they had offered their
sacrifices. This he represents as idolatrous. "Therefore, my dear friends" says
he, "flee from idolatry!" 1 Corinthians 10:14. And then, to convince them that
in communicating with idolaters in these feasts—that they really join with them
in their idolatry, he argues from the nature of the Lord’s Supper, which is also
a feast upon sacrifice. "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give
thanks—a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we
break—a participation in the body of Christ?" So by joining with idolaters in
these religious feasts—we hold communion with them in their idolatry.

Hence you may learn another qualification for this ordinance, namely love and
charity to all mankind, and especially to our fellow-communicants. To sit down
at this feast of love with a heart possessed with angry and malicious
passions—is certainly an aggravated wickedness. To this we may accommodate the
words of Christ, though spoken before the institution of this ordinance.
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that
your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the
altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your
gift." Matthew 5:23-24.

Hence also you may learn that none but such as make a credible profession of the
Christian religion, have a right to this ordinance. If it is a sign of the
communion of saints, and if we should love our fellow-communicants as
saints—then it follows that we should be real saints or true Christians. Our
being such in reality—is necessary to give us a right in the sight of God; and
our appearing such, is necessary to give us a right in the sight of the visible
church, which can only judge by an outward visible profession.

Therefore such ought not to be admitted, however strenuously they insist that
they are Christians, whose gross ignorance of the foundational truths of the
gospel; or whose immoral and impious practices—leave no ground for a rational
charity to hope that they are true Christians. How can we cultivate the
communion of saints—with such who do not so much as appear to be saints? To have
been baptized, to call themselves Christians, and to attend upon the worship of
the Christian church, and the like—is far from being sufficient to constitute a
credible profession; for all this a man may do—and yet be farther from practical
Christianity than a heathen. But a man must profess and act habitually in some
measure as a Christian, before he can justly be looked upon as a Christian!
Alas! the number of professing Christians in our land are generally of a very
different character! They may call themselves Christians, as you or I may call
ourselves kings or princes; but the profession is ridiculous; and that is not
Scriptural charity—which can communicate with them as fellow Christians.

5. In this ordinance God maintains communion with his people—and they with him.
This is a communion of a more divine and exalted kind, than the former: and it
is often mentioned in Scripture as the privilege of the people of God. "Our
fellowship" says John, "is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1
John 1:3. The communion of the Holy Spirit is a part of the apostolic
benediction, which we sometimes use at the close of our religious assemblies.
This communion consists partly in that fellowship which is carried on between
God and his people. There is a spiritual fellowship carried on between him and
them. He communicates his love and the influences of his Spirit to them; and
they pour out their hearts, their desires, and prayers before him. He draws near
to them, and revives their souls; and they draw near to him, and converse with
him in prayer, and in other ordinances of his worship. Hence he is said to dwell
in them, and to live in them. 2 Corinthians 6:16. "Our bodies are the temples of
the Holy Spirit," in which he resides. 1 Corinthians 6:19. Christ speaks of this
mutual fellowship in the strongest terms; "If a man loves me—my Father will love
him, and I will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him." John
14:23.

There is also a kind of fellowship between Christ and his people. They are
children of the same Father, and he is not ashamed to call them brethren; they
are joint heirs of the same inheritance. They have a fellowship in his
sufferings, Php 3:10, and are sharers in the glory and bliss of his resurrection
and exaltation. The relation between them is often represented by that between
husband and wife, between whom all things are common. Hence the apostle argues,
that "if we are Christ’s, then all things are ours." 1 Corinthians 3:21.

There is also a happy interchange of property between Christ and his people:
happy for them, though it was terrible to him. He took their sin upon him—and
they have his righteousness in exchange! He endured the death they had
incurred—and they enjoy the life he obtained. He assumed the curse due to
them—and they have the blessing transferred to them which was due to him.

Here again the marital relation may be a proper illustration. As the wife is
entitled to the inheritance of her husband, and he is answerable for her debts
and obligations; so Christ made himself answerable in behalf of his people, for
all their debts to the law and justice of God; and they are entitled to all the
blessings he has purchased. O what a gracious and advantageous exchange, is this
for us!

Now the Lord’s Supper is a very proper emblem of this communion, and a suitable
means to cultivate it. It is the place where Christ and his people meet, and
have their sweet fellowship. He, the great Master of the feast, feeds them at
his own table, upon his own provisions, in his own house; and they eat and
drink, as it were, in company with him; and thus it is a spiritual fellowship
between them. There he favors them with his spiritual presence, and gives them
access to him; and they draw near to him with humble boldness, and enjoy a full
liberty of speech and conversation with him. There, under the elements of bread
and wine, he makes over to them his body and blood, and all the blessings
purchased by his sufferings; and they receive them with eager desire; they cast
their guilt and unworthiness upon him, and give themselves to him, in return for
his richer gifts to them! There they put in their humble claim as fellow-heirs
with him, and he graciously acknowledges their title as good.

There is a solemn exchange made between them: of their guilt—for His
righteousness; of their misery—for His happiness; of their curse—for His
blessing; of their death—for His life.

Christ takes their evils upon himself—and they cast them off themselves upon
him; and he makes over His blessings to them—and they humbly receive them by
faith. And of all this, his appointing and their receiving this ordinance, is as
it were, sitting down together at one table, like husband and wife, or parent
and children—is a very proper emblem and representation. And I doubt not, but
some of you, upon such occasions, have enjoyed the pleasures of communion with
him, which gives you a high esteem for this sacred feast, and clearer ideas of
its design, than is in the power of any language to afford!

Here again you may learn one important preparative for the ordinance of the
Lord’s Supper; and that is, reconciliation to God, and a delight in communion
with him. You cannot walk together, or maintain fellowship with him—until you
are agreed, and take pleasure in his society. Therefore carefully inquire into
this point.

Having thus shown you the principal ends of this institution, and the
qualifications necessary in those that would partake of it, I shall subjoin this
one general remark: That it is evident from all that has been said, that people
who live wicked and impious lives, whatever their profession is—have no right to
this ordinance, and should not be admitted to it by the officers of the church,
until they profess their repentance and reformation. When we exclude such, we
are not taking too much upon us, nor pretending to judge of what we have nothing
to do with; but we only exercise that power which is inherent in every society,
and with which Christ has expressly invested his church!

Every society has a power to exclude those from its peculiar privileges, who
violate the essential and fundamental laws of its constitution. And no law can
be so essential to any constitution, as a life of holiness is to the character
of a Christian, and the constitution of the Christian church. It does not matter
what people profess with their lips; it is the life which is to be regarded as
the decisive evidence! What would it signify for a man to insist that he was
honest—if he persisted in theft and robbery! Or to take the oath of allegiance
to his king—when his conduct was a course of rebellion against his sovereign!
And equally insignificant and absurd, is a profession of Christianity without a
correspondent practice!

If we consider the design and end of this ordinance, we cannot but see that such
people cut themselves off from all right to it. Is it fit that a drunkard, a
swearer, or any profane sinner should commemorate the death of the holy Jesus,
while he has no love to him—but is determined to go on in sin! Should they wear
the badge of Christ’s disciples, whose lives proclaim them his enemies! Should
they affix their seals to the covenant of grace, who have never consented to
it—but are grossly violating it by their practice! Should they hold communion
with Christ and his people, who have fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness!

Hear the apostle upon this head: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord—and the
cup of devils! You cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table—and of the table of
devils!" 1 Corinthians 10:21. Such a thing is absurd and ridiculous! "For what
do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light
have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a
believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the
temple of God and idols? Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the
Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you!" 2 Corinthians 6:14-17. As
to public offences, the apostle gives this direction to Timothy, which is
binding upon all the ministers of Christ: "Those who sin," that is, that sin
grossly, "rebuke before all, that others may fear!" 1 Timothy 5:20. To the same
purpose he speaks to Titus, "Warn a heretic once, and then warn him a second
time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man
is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned!" Titus 3:10-11. Cast such heretics
out of the church! This indeed is immediately intended of fundamental errors in
doctrine—but it may undoubtedly be applied to wicked practices; for, as
Tillotson justly observes, "The worst of heresies—is a bad life." As to private
offences against a particular person, in which the church, as such, is not
concerned, private measures are to be taken to bring the offender to repentance,
until they are found to be in vain, and then the church is to be apprised of it;
and if he pays no regard to that authority, then he is to be excluded from the
society. This is according to Christ’s express direction, "If your brother sins
against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he
listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take
one or two others along, so that ’every matter may be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it
to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church—treat him as you
would a pagan or a tax collector!" Matthew 18:15-17. There is nothing more plain
in scripture, than that scandalous members should be cast out of the church; and
an excessive indulgence towards them—is most severely censured.

Paul orders Timothy about those who are "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers
of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with
them!"2 Timothy 3:5. He lays the weight of his apostolic authority upon the
Christian church in this case: "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command
you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live
according to the teaching you received from us!" 2 Thessalonians 3:6 The
churches of Pergamos and Thyatira are severely threatened by Christ himself, for
tolerating the corrupt sect of the Nicolaitans, and the followers of Balaam’s
and Jezebel’s profane and loose practices, and not casting them out of their
fellowship. Revelation 2:14, etc. And the church of Ephesus is commended for her
strict discipline, and that she did not tolerate those who were evil; and for
having tested pretended apostles, and discovering their true characters—
rejected them as impostors! But I need go no farther than the chapter where my
text lies, for abundant evidence of the necessity of this holy discipline. Here
Paul warmly rebukes the Corinthian church for allowing a scandalous member to
continue in communion with them; and solemnly charges them to cast him out from
the church into the wide world, the territories of Satan, who is called the god
of this world. And this he strongly describes, in order to strike terror into
the offender, as a delivering him over to Satan! He urges this wholesome
severity, as a proper expedient to bring the offender himself to repentance; and
especially to keep their church pure! "Don’t you know that a little leaven
leavens the whole lump!" And just so—the indulgence of one corrupt member may in
time corrupt the whole church!

It was by the remarkable strictness of their discipline, that the New Testament
church kept itself from corruption in the midst of heathen and idolaters. And it
is the lack of this discipline, which has so scandalously corrupted the
generality of our modern churches, whose members are very often the reproach of
that religion which they profess! Let not us imitate them—but pity and pray for
them, lest we become a mere mass of corruption, like them! The apostle forbids
not only all religious fellowship—but all unnecessary familiarity with such
scandalous professors; and intimates, that we should be more avoid them—than of
such as make no pretensions to religion at all. "I have written you in my letter
not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of
this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that
case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must
not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother—but is sexually immoral or
greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do
not even eat!"1 Corinthians 5:9-11 This world is so full of such profligate
sinners, that you cannot avoid them—without leaving human society altogether.
But we should cultivate no unnecessary familiarity with a wicked professor! Do
not make a choice of him as your guest or companion at your common meals, much
less in the sacred feast of the Lord’s supper!

You see, my brethren, we are not at liberty in this case; we are tied down by
the divine authority, to the faithful exercise of church discipline. And though
nothing can be more disagreeable to us than to touch the sores of others—yet we
cannot dispense with our duty in this respect. If we make light of the
ordinances of Christ, it is at our peril. It is therefore the most unreasonable
and absurd thing for people to expect the officers of the church to pastor
them—and then to be offended that they faithfully do their duty in church
discipline. All that is required of sinful church member—is a profession of deep
repentance for their misconduct, and a promise of reformation for the future.
And is this too much to do—to repair the injury they have done to the Christian
religion, to satisfy the church to which they belong, and restore themselves
into the charity of their brethren, whose hearts are so grieved by their
conduct? Or are they indeed determined not to repent and reform—but to go on in
their wicked courses! Then they have nothing to do with the peculiar privileges
of the Christian church, and therefore should not claim them.

It is in vain here to object, "That none can forgive sins but God, and therefore
they will not confess them to man." For, as I told you, every member of the
Christian church ought to give his fellow-members some evidence that he is
indeed one of their body, and worthy of their acceptance. But what evidence can
they have of this, if when he falls into some scandalous sin inconsistent with
his profession, he does not so much as profess his repentance! It is only God
who can pardon the sin—as it is done against him. But the church has also been
offended—and has a right to demand satisfaction.

Hence we are commanded to, "Confess our faults to one another." James 5:16. And
he is a proud, impenitent creature indeed, unworthy of a place among Christians,
who thinks it a mighty thing to make this small satisfaction. The incestuous
Corinthian was brought to repentance by the wholesome severities used with him.
And upon this, the apostle Paul, in his second epistle, advises them to forgive
him, (which implies, that in some sense the offence was against the church, and,
in that sense, they had power to forgive him,) "that they should comfort him,
and confirm their love towards him—that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive
sorrow." 2 Corinthians 2:7-8. And shall we be more obstinate than an incestuous,
excommunicated Corinthian? As this subject naturally came in my way, and as it
is necessary for us as church-members to have right ideas of gospel-discipline,
I have taken this opportunity to enlarge on it; and I hope you will so remember
it, as to render all instructions on this head needless hereafter. I now proceed
to what is more PRACTICAL.

Let me as a herald of Jesus Christ, proclaim to you the business of the next
Lord’s day. We are going to commemorate the most important event that ever
happened upon our globe; an event accomplished some seventeen hundred years
ago—but never to be forgotten; an event that extends its happy consequences to
the remotest periods of eternity! I mean the sufferings and death of Jesus
Christ for his people! And who among you is prepared and willing to commemorate
this grand event? Where are the broken-hearted penitents? Where the lovers of a
crucified Savior? Where the holy and happy people who believe in him with all
their hearts? Come, take the dear memorials of your precious Redeemer! Come,
refresh your souls once more with the sweet remembrance of his love! Shall his
dear name be forgotten among us? What! forgotten, after all he has done—after
all he has suffered for us! Can you bear the thought!

We are going to profess openly before a scoffing world, that we are the servants
and disciples of a crucified Christ! We are going to put on the badges of his
servants, and wear his livery; to enlist as volunteers under his banner, and
swear allegiance and fidelity to him! And where are those that are willing to
join with us? Who is upon the Lord’s side? Who? Come you who will have Christ
for your Master—come enter your names in his list! Be fixed and determined for
him.

How long will some of you halt between two opinions? It is a plain case, and
requires no long time to deliberate. Come you who would stand among his people
at his right hand at last—come now with prepared hearts and mingle among them at
his table. We are going to enter into an everlasting covenant with our God, and
to set our solemn seal to the contract. Who among you gives his consent? Who is
willing to take the Lord Jesus for his only Savior and Lord, and to give himself
up to him entirely and forever? Who will avow the Lord to be his God—that He may
avow him to be one of his people?

How are your hearts, my brethren, disposed in this respect? Do they give a full
consent? And are you willing from this time to renounce and abjure all your
lusts and sinful pleasures? In short, do you consent to the covenant of grace?
If so, come and confirm it with that solemn oath and seal. God and Christ are
agreed to the proposal; and if you agree, the happy contract is made; it is
established firmer than the pillars of heaven; and if you had them, you might
venture ten thousand souls upon it.

We are going to maintain communion with the saints, and sit down with them at
the same table of our common Lord. And who of you would join yourselves with
that little flock—that despised but happy few? If you would mingle with them in
heaven—then separate from the wicked world, and join them now; and as a token of
it eat of the same bread, and drink of the same cup with them. But we are going
to maintain communion of a still more exalted kind: communion with the
everlasting Father, with the Son of his love, and with the Holy Spirit. And
where are those who pant and languish for this sacred and divine fellowship?
Come to the table of the Lord Jesus, the place of communion, and you may humbly
hope to meet him there. There you may pour out your hearts to him with all the
freedom of intimacy and filial boldness, and there you may receive the tokens of
his love. My brethren, if upon careful self-examination, you find reason to hope
that you have the qualifications of acceptable communicants, which I have
described, I require you—in the name of that Jesus who expired upon the cross
for you, a name which one would think should have some weight with you—in his
endearing, irresistible name, I require you to come to his table! This is not
only your sacred privilege—but your sacred duty! And you cannot neglect it,
without the basest ingratitude and wickedness. Shall Jesus, when he views the
guests around his table, find your seat empty! Alas! shall he have reason to
say, "What! has such a one turned his back upon me! I bought him with my
blood—and have I deserved to be thus treated by him!"

O! my brethren, has it come to that pass with you—that you stand in need of
persuasions to commemorate that Savior who laid down his life for you! Had Jesus
been as shy of a cross—as you are of his table; and as backward to die—as you
are to commemorate his death, alas! what would have become of you!

What are the obstructions which lie in your way? Mention them, and methinks I
can remove them all in a few words, when the case is so plain. Do you urge, that
you are afraid you are not prepared? But have you examined yourselves
impartially by what I have said? Are you sure you have the qualifications
mentioned? If so, your way is very clear! Or if you are not sure, does it appear
probable to you? If so, you may humbly venture. Or if you cannot go so far as a
probability, have you some trembling hopes? Hopes which, though they often
waver—yet you cannot entirely cast away, though you admit all the evidence you
can get, and are desirous to know the very worst of yourselves. Why, if you have
even thus much of encouragement, I would advise you to come, though with
trembling! If you are impartial in self-examination, and yet cannot after all
discover that you are destitute of those qualifications I have mentioned, it is
extremely unlikely that you are deceived! People are never deceived in this
case—but by their own carelessness and partiality; therefore, take courage. If
you look out with a careful eye, there is little danger of your splitting on
this rock! Or are you afraid that you will not be able to perform your
sacramental vows—but may apostatize from your God? But I need not tell you that
your strength is entirely from God. And I appeal to yourselves, whether it is
most likely that you will obtain strength from him—in the way of duty, or in the
neglect of duty? My brethren, do your duty, and leave the consequence to him.
Trust in him, and he will take care of you, and keep you from falling, or raise
you up if you should fall. It is not his usual way to desert those who, sensible
of their own weakness, depend upon him; nay, he has bound himself by promise
that he will not do it; but you shall be "kept by his power through faith unto
salvation." "For He Himself has said—I will never leave you or forsake you!"
Hebrews 13:5. Therefore in his strength, humbly come to the gospel feast. As for
such of you as have NOT the qualifications described—and yet are communicants at
the Lord’s table—I have a FEW SERIOUS CONSIDERATIONS to offer to you:

1. Did you never observe that solemn warning of Paul, which, like a flaming
sword, hovers round the table of the Lord to guard it from your profanation?
"Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
way—will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. So a man
should examine himself; in this way he should eat of the bread and drink of the
cup. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks
judgment on himself!" 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. Keep away, therefore, you unholy
sinners, lest the weight of this tremendous curse falls upon you and crushes you
to eternal ruin!

2. To what purpose do you communicate? This will not constitute you as
Christians, nor save your souls. Not all the ordinances that ever God has
instituted, can do this—without a saving interest in Christ, and universal
holiness of heart and life. And will you incur such dreadful guilt, without
answering any valuable end by it?

3. How absurd is it for you to pretend friendship to Christ in this ordinance,
when your hearts are not in love with him! This I have hinted at already. This
ordinance is a seal; but what do you set your seal to, when you do not heartily
and practically consent to the covenant of grace? How can you hold communion
with the saints—when you are not a saint? How can you hold communion with
God—when you neither know him nor love him? How dare you wear the badge and
livery of his servants—when you are enemies in your minds by wicked works? Will
you mingle among his people—when you belong to the camp of the wicked god of
this world? Will you act the part of Judas over again, and compliment Christ
with a traitorous kiss! What absurdity, what gross hypocrisy, what a daring
insult is this! Can Omniscience be imposed upon by such pretensions? Or will a
jealous God let you escape unpunished? Do but read His just sentence of you:
"But to the wicked, God says: What right have you to recite my laws or take my
covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.
When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers.
You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You speak
continually against your brother and slander your own mother’s son. These things
you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I
will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue!" Psalms 50:16-22

O, Sirs, consider: it will be a poor plea at last to have it to say, "Lord,
Lord, have we not eaten and drank in your presence?" The supreme Judge will,
notwithstanding, pronounce the dreadful sentence upon you, "Depart from me—all
you workers of iniquity!"

4. Has not God appointed other means which are preparatory to this ordinance;
and in the use of which you may hope to obtain proper qualifications? His Word,
prayer, meditation, and such means—are for the common use of saints and sinners,
and intended to beget as well as to confirm grace in the hearts of men. But the
Lord’s supper is the peculiar privilege of only such as are true Christians
already; and is intended only to nourish and improve true piety, where it is
already begun. Therefore your partaking of it without this grand preparative, is
preposterous, and directly contrary to the order of divine appointment!

Sinners go first upon your bended knees before God; cry to him with all the
earnestness of perishing creatures, for converting grace! Think upon your
miserable condition, and never take off your thoughts from the melancholy
contemplation, until your hearts are deeply affected. Read, and hear, and
meditate upon his Word—until you know your danger and remedy. Take this method
first, and when you have succeeded—then come to this ordinance; and God, angels,
and holy men, will bid you welcome.

5. Consider how aggravated your punishment will be, if you continue in your
present condition. To sink down into hell—from the table of the Lord! O! what a
dreadful fall! Those who perished from Sodom and Gomorrah, though their
punishment will be intolerable, will be but slightly punished in comparison to
you. "But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of
judgment—than for you!" Matthew 11:24 A lost communicant! One who went to
hell—with the bread and wine, the memorials of a dying Savior, as it were—in his
mouth! O! methinks such a one must be the most shocking sight in the infernal
regions! How will lost angels, and lost heathens, wonder and stare at you as a
horrible phenomenon, a dreadful curiosity! How will they upbraid you, "How have
you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! You have become one of
us!" To tell the truth without reserve, I cannot but tremble at the thought of
seeing some of you on the LEFT hand of the Judge! What a shocking presence will
you make there! Therefore do not make the profanation of the body and blood of
Christ—the whole of your religion—but begin where you should, in earnest
endeavors after a new heart and life, in the use of the means appointed for that
end. But there are some of you, perhaps, who may take encouragement from hence,
and think you are eternally safe, because you have not been guilty of profaning
this solemn institution. Yet you are conscious that you are not prepared, and
therefore most contentedly stay away. There are, no doubt, sundry of you who
have lived in this neglect all your lives! I have a few things to say to you—and
I beg you to apply them to yourselves!

1. Consider what it is that you say—when you declare that you are unfit for this
holy ordinance—and boast that they are not ’hypocrites’. They make a sort of
merit of it—that they stay away from the Lord’s table, because they know that
they lack the marks of a true Christian. But this is really an admission—that
they lack all love to God, and faith in Christ, and repentance for sin! This is
an admission that they lack holiness of heart and life, and every good thing!
This is an admission that they lack pardon for sin, and a title to heaven, and
have no saving interest in the righteousness of Christ! This is an admission
that they are slaves to sin and Satan, and heirs of hell—poor perishing
creatures, liable every moment to be cut off, and sink under the weight of
divine vengeance! This is your case if you are unfit for this ordinance. Nothing
but such things as I have mentioned above, can render you unfit. Do you think
that you are presently in a safe place? Can you contentedly rest in it? Alas! is
there any merit in your neglecting to remember Christ in this institution—which
will render your case safe before God? Must you not be shocked at the thought?

2. Are you using all proper means to be saved, with the utmost diligence and
earnestness? Or are you inactive and unconcerned about it? If so, it is plain
that you are content to take pleasure in being disqualified to remember the Lord
Jesus in his ordinance. And while you are careless about this, you are virtually
careless what will become of you in eternity; careless whether heaven or hell
will be the place of your everlasting residence! O! what will be the end of such
a foolish course! How terrible is your guilt!

3. Is it nothing to you who you have lived so many years in the world, without
affectionately commemorating that Savior of sinners, without devoting yourselves
to God, consenting to his covenant, and joining yourselves with his people? O!
is there no guilt in all this? No guilt in allowing so many opportunities of
attending upon this ordinance to pass by, neglected by you? What can be a more
aggravated wickedness!

4. This neglect—clearly proves that you have no regard for Jesus Christ. You do
perhaps insist upon it—that you love him. But he himself has left a test of your
love: If you love me—keep my commandments. Now this brings the matter to a sure
outcome. There is no command in the whole Bible more plain, than that of
remembering him in this ordinance. This you know in your consciences. And yet
you have lived in the willful neglect of this known, easy, dying command of
Jesus! How can you then be so bold—as to pretend that you love him? Your love is
a mere sham—and will not stand the test!

5. Some of you have been baptized in the name of the blessed Trinity; and yet
you give yourselves to that horrible trinity of another kind—to the world, to
sin, and the devil. And are you indeed willing to have no more to do with the
God who made you, and with Jesus the only Savior? Pause and think, before you
agree to such a dreadful renunciation!

I would now particularly address the young people here present. "Choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve!" Joshua 24:15. What are you resolved
upon? Will you be Christ’s—or Satan’s? You cannot avoid choosing one or the
other for your master; for not positively choosing Christ—is virtually choosing
the devil for your master, and hell for your eternal home! "Enter through the
narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the
road that leads to life, and only a few find it!" Matthew 7:13-14.

6. Do not think that by this neglect you keep yourselves from being under
obligations to be holy, and that you are at liberty to live as you wish. Your
obligations do not depend upon your consent. You were born under obligation to
God. Is he not the most excellent of beings, your Creator, your Lawgiver, your
Preserver, your Redeemer? And do these things infer no obligation upon you? Have
you not also, in sickness, or under horror of conscience, made vows and
resolutions? And are you free to sin still? The truth of the case is—do what you
will, you are under the strongest obligations to God, and you cannot shake them
off! And if you will not observe these obligations to your duty—you must submit
forever to your indispensable obligation to punishment! And God will make you
know that he has a right to punish you—if you will not acknowledge his right to
your obedience.

7. What does it avail—that you can avoid the Lord’s table, when you cannot
possibly shun death—or avoid his dread tribunal? Here, try all your arts, and
you will find it in vain. If you are not prepared for this ordinance of worship
in the church on earth—much less are you prepared for those more exalted forms
of worship in the church in heaven. What then will become of you? In short, it
is a dreadful sin—that the table of the Lord is contemptible to so many; that
many people who call themselves Christians, live in the willful neglect of that
ordinance which was appointed by him, whom they acknowledge as the Founder of
their religion—to be a memorial of himself. Alas! the very memory of Christ is
almost lost among us! "Should I not punish them for this? declares the LORD."
Jeremiah 5:9.

Perhaps some of you will say, "You shut us up in a strange dilemma indeed. If we
come unprepared—we sin! And if we stay away—we sin! And what then shall we do?"
My brethren, I thus shut you up, on purpose—that you may see what a wretched
case you are in, and that there is no safety for you while you continue in it.
You are shut up under a necessity of sinning in either way—and the best choice
in such a condition can be only the less evil way—though even that is extremely
aggravated. Whether you come or stay away—you grievously sin! It is all sin,
peril, ruin, and misery all through! You should neither come unprepared, nor
stay away unprepared; that is, you should not be unprepared at all. Your lack of
preparation is in itself a dreadful wickedness! And whatever you do in this
unprepared state, you are neither safe nor in the way of duty; it is altogether
a state of sin and danger! The only way of safety and duty—is to seek for
preparation immediately, and with the utmost earnestness, and then to come to
the Lord’s supper.

Let me set all this congregation upon this work, before we part today, and make
it the business of this week. You have spent all your life about things of less
importance, and will you refuse time to this great work? Now set about this
work! Now begin to look into the state of your neglected souls! Now recollect
your sins! Now look in upon your depraved hearts! Now look back upon a miserable
mis-spent life! Now look forward to death, eternity, and the divine tribunal
just before you! Now look to Jesus in the agonies of crucifixion on Mount
Calvary! Now look up to God in earnest prayer for his mercy!

Let these things follow you home to your houses; let them dwell upon your hearts
night and day. Do not laugh, or talk, or trifle them away! For O! they will
rebound upon you with overwhelming weight at last—if you now turn them away. O!
that God may prepare a people for himself in this poor place! O! that he would
visit this barren spot with the showers of divine grace! And may he prepare our
hearts for the rich gospel feast before us! Amen.


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  CHAPTER 14: 11-DIVINE MERCY TO MOURNING PENITENTS
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Divine Mercy to Mourning Penitents By Samuel Davies

"I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ’You disciplined me like an unruly calf,
and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the
LORD my God. After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I struck
my thigh in grief! I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of
my youth.’ Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I
often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for
him! I will surely have mercy upon him!" declares the LORD. Jeremiah 31:18-20 In
these words, we have the mourning language of a penitent child—sensible of
ingratitude, and at once desirous and ashamed to return. Sweetly blended with
these words—we have the tender language of a compassionate father—at once
chastising, pitying, and pardoning. The images are so lively and moving, that if
they were regarded only as poetical descriptions founded upon fiction, they
would be irresistibly striking. But when we consider them as the most important
realities, as descriptive of that sincere repentance which we must all feel, and
of that gracious acceptance we must all obtain from God before we can be
happy—what great effect should they have upon us! how may our hearts dissolve
within us at the sound of such pathetic complaints, and such gracious
encouragements! Hard indeed is that heart, that can hear these penitential
strains without being melted into the like tender relentings; and inveterate is
that melancholy, incurable is that despondency, that can listen to such
expressions of fatherly compassion and love, without being cheered and animated.
This whole chapter had a primary reference to the Jews, and such of the
Israelites as might mingle with them in their return from the Babylonian
captivity. As they were enslaved to foreigners, and removed from their native
land for their sins—so they could not be restored, but upon their repentance.
Upon this condition only, was a restoration promised to them. Leviticus
26:40-43; Deuteronomy 30:1-16. In this chapter we have a prediction of their
repentance under the heavy chastisement of seventy years’ captivity, and of
their return thereupon, to their own land. In the text the whole body of
penitents among them is called by the name of a single person, Ephraim. In the
prophetic writings, the northern kingdom of the ten tribes, as distinguished
from the southern kingdom of Judah, is frequently denominated by this name,
because the Ephraimites were a principal family among them. And sometimes, as
here, the name is given to the Jews, probably on account of the great number of
Ephraimites mingled with them, especially on their return from captivity. All
the penitent Jews are included under this single name, to intimate their
unanimity in their repentance. Their hearts consented, like the heart of one
man, to turn to the Lord, from whom with horrid unanimity they had previously
revolted. This single name Ephraim also renders this passage more easily
applicable to particular penitents in all ages. Every one of such may insert his
own name, instead of that of Ephraim, and claim the encouragement originally
given to them. And indeed this whole passage is applicable to all true
penitents.

Repenting Ephraim did but speak the language of every one of you, my brethren,
who is made sensible of the plague of his own heart, and turned to the Lord. And
the tender language of forgiving grace to mourning Ephraim—is addressed to each
of you; and it is with a view to you that I intend to consider this Scripture.
The text naturally resolves itself into three parts, as it consists of three
verses. In verse 18, we find the careless, resolute impenitent, reduced by
chastisement to a sense of his danger, and the necessity of turning to God; and
yet sensible of his utter inability, and therefore crying for the attractive
influence of divine grace. You hear Ephraim bemoaning his wretched case, and
pouring out importunate groans for relief, thus: You have chastised me, and I
was chastised, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, which struggles and
wearies himself in vain to get free from it, and must be broken and tamed with
severe usage. Thus stubborn and unmanageable, have I been. And now, when I am
convinced of the necessity of a return to you, I feel my obstinate
heart—stubborn, like a wild ox, and I cannot come. I therefore cry to you for
the attractive influence of your grace! "Restore me, and I will return; draw me,
and I shall run after you! To whom but to you should I return; and to whom but
to you should I apply for strength to return? For you only are the Lord my God,
who can help me, and whom I am under infinite obligations to serve."

Thus the awakened sinner prayed; and mercy listened to his cries. The attractive
influences of divine grace are granted, and he is enabled to return. This
introduces the second branch of the text in the 19th verse, in which the new
convert is represented as reflecting upon the efficacy of converting grace, and
the glorious change wrought in him by it: "After I strayed, I repented; after I
came to understand, I struck my thigh in grief! I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth." While the returning prodigal is
venting himself in these plaintive strains in some solitary corner, his heavenly
Father’s affections are moving over him. The third part of the text represents
the blessed God listening to the cries of his mourning child. And while Ephraim
is going on in his passionate complaints, God, as it were, interrupts him, and
surprises him with the soothing voice of mercy. "Is not Ephraim my dear son, the
child in whom I delight?" Surely he is. Or we may understand the words thus, as
if God should say, "Whose mourning voice is this that I hear? Is this Ephraim,
my dear son? Is this my pleasant child that bemoans himself as a helpless
orphan, or one abandoned by his father? And can I bear to hear his complaints
without mingling divine consolations with them, and assuring him of pardon? No!
For since I spoke against him in my threatenings, I do earnestly remember him
still! Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him!" says
the Lord.

I shall endeavor to illustrate each of these parts of the text; and thus shall
be led to describe the preparative exercise, the nature and concomitants of true
repentance; and lastly, the tender compassions of God towards mourning
penitents.

1. Let us view the returning sinner under his first spiritual concern, which is
generallypreparatoryto evangelical repentance. And where shall we find him? And
what is he doing?

We shall not find him as usual, in a thoughtless hurry about earthly things,
confining all his attention to these trifles, and unmindful of the important
concerns of eternity. We shall not find him merry and vain, in a circle of
jovial, careless companions; much less shall we find him intrepid and secure in
a course of sin, gratifying his flesh, and indulging his lusts. In this
enchanted road, the crowd of hardy impenitents pass secure and cheerful down to
the chambers of eternal death—but the awakened sinner flies from it with horror;
or, if his depraved heart would tempt him to walk in it, he cannot take many
steps before he is shocked with the horrid apparition of impending danger! He
finds the flattering paths of sin haunted with the terrible specters of guilt;
and the sword of divine vengeance gleams bright and dreadful before him, and
seems lifted to give the fatal blow!

You will, therefore, find the awakened sinner solitary and solemn in some
retired corner, not deceiving himself with vain hopes of safety in his present
state—but alarmed with apprehensions of danger. He is not planning schemes for
his temporal advantage; nor asking, with sordid anxiety, "Who will show me any
worldly good?" but solicitous about his perishing soul, and anxiously inquiring,
"What shall I do to be saved?" He is not congratulating himself upon the
imaginary goodness of his heart or life, or priding himself with secret wonder
in a rich conceit of his excellencies; but you will hear him, in his sorrowful
retirement, bemoaning, or (as the original signifies) condoling himself. He sees
his case to be really dreadful and sad, and he, as it were, takes up a
lamentation over himself. He is no more senseless, hard-hearted, and
self-applauding, as he was accustomed to be: but, like a mourning dove, he
bewails himself in such pathetic strains as these:

"Unhappy creature that I am! into what a deplorable state have I brought myself!
and how long have I continued in it, with the insensibility of a rock and the
stupidity of a brute! Now I may mourn over my past neglected and unimproved
days, as so many deceased friends, sent indeed from heaven to do me good—but
cruelly killed by my ungrateful neglect and continued delays as to return to God
and holiness. Fly back, you abused months and years; arise from the dead;
restore me your precious moments again, that I may unravel the web of life, and
form it anew; and that I may improve the opportunities I have squandered away!
Vain and desperate wish! the wheels of time will not return—and what shall I do?
Here I am, a guilty, obnoxious creature, uncertain of life and unfit to die;
alienated from God, and incapable (alas! I may add unwilling to return) a slave
to sin, and too feeble to break the fetters of my inveterate habits; liable to
the arrest of divine justice, and unable to deliver myself; exposed to the
vengeance of heaven—yet can make no atonement; destitute of a saving interest in
Christ; and uncertain, awfully uncertain, whether I shall ever obtain it!

"And if these guilty lips may dare to pronounce your injured name, O God of
grace, have pity upon me! But, alas! I deserve no pity, for how long have I
denied it to myself! Ah, infatuated wretch! why did not I sooner begin to secure
my unhappy soul, which has lain all this time neglected, and unpitied, upon the
brink of ruin! Why did I not sooner lay my condition to heart? Alas! I should
have gone on thoughtless still, had I not been awakened by the kind severity,
the gracious chastisements of my dishonored Father!"

"You have chastised me!" This, as spoken by Ephraim, had a particular reference
to the Babylonish captivity; but we may naturally take occasion from it to speak
of those afflictions in general, whether outward or inward, that are made the
means of alarming the secure sinner. There are many ways which our heavenly
Father takes to correct his undutiful children until they return to him.

Sometimes he kindly takes away their health—the abused occasion of their
wantonness and security, and restrains them from their lusts with fetters of
affliction. This is beautifully described by Elihu. "God disciplines people with
sickness and pain, with ceaseless aching in their bones. They lose their
appetite and do not care for even the most delicious food. They waste away to
skin and bones. They are at death’s door; the angels of death wait for them."
Job 33:19-22

Sometimes God awakens the sinner to bethink himself, by stripping him of his
earthly supports and comforts: his estate or his relatives—which drew away his
heart from eternal things, and thus brings him to see the necessity of turning
to God, the fountain of bliss—upon the failure of the creature streams. Thus he
dealt with profligate Manasseh. 2 Chronicles 33:11-12. He was taken in "thorns,
and bound in fetters, and carried to Babylon; and when he was in affliction he
sought the Lord, and humbled himself greatly before him, and prayed unto him,"
etc. Thus also God promises to do with his chosen: "I will cause you to pass
under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of my covenant." Ezekiel
20:37; Psalms 89:32; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 29:15. But the principal means of
correction which God uses in conversion, is that of conscience; and indeed
without this, all the rest are in vain. Outward afflictions are of service—only
as they tend to awaken the conscience from its lethargy to a faithful discharge
of its trust. It is conscience which makes the sinner sensible of his misery and
scourges him—until he returns to his duty. This is a chastisement the most
severe that human nature can endure. The lashes of a guilty conscience are
intolerable; and some under them have chosen strangling and suicide rather than
life. The spirit of a man may bear him up under outward infirmities; but when
the spirit itself is wounded—who can bear it? Proverbs 18:14. "They show that
the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also
bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them."
Romans 2:15

Conscience is a serpent in his breast, which bites and gnaws his heart; and he
can no more avoid it, than he can fly from himself! Its force is so great and
universal, that even the heathen poet Juvenal, not famous for the delicacy of
his morals, taught by experience, could speak feelingly of its secret blows, and
of agonizing sweats under its tortures. Let not such of you as have never been
tortured with its remorse, congratulate yourselves upon your happiness, for you
are not innocents! Your conscience will not always sleep; it will not always lie
torpid and inactive, like a snake benumbed with cold, in your breast! It will
awaken you either to your conversion—or condemnation! Either the fire of God’s
wrath flaming from his law will enliven it in this world to sting you with
medicinal anguish; or the unquenchable fire of his vengeance in the lake of fire
and brimstone will thaw it into life—and then it will horribly rage in your
breast, and diffuse its tormenting poison through your whole frame! And then it
will become a never-dying worm, and prey upon your hearts forever! But if you
now allow it to pain you with beneficial remorse, and awaken you to a tender
sensibility of your danger—then this internal enemy will in the end become your
bosom friend, will support you under every calamity, and be your faithful
companion and guardian through the most dangerous paths of life.

Therefore now submit to its wholesome severities, now yield to its
chastisements!

Such of you as have submitted to its authority, and obeyed its faithful
admonitions, find it your best friend. And you may bless the day in which you
complied with its demands, though before divine grace renewed your heart, your
wills were stubborn and reluctant; and you might say with Ephraim: "You
disciplined me like an unruly calf!" That is, "As a wild young ox, unbroken from
the herd, is unmanageable, refuses the yoke, becomes outraged at the whip or
goad, and wearies himself in struggles to throw off the burden put upon him, and
regain his savage liberty, and never will submit until wearied out, and unable
to resist any longer; so has my stubborn heart, unaccustomed to obey, refused
the yoke of your law, O my God, and struggled with sullen obstinacy under your
chastisements! Instead of calmly submitting to your rod, and immediately
reforming under correction, instead of turning to you, and flying to your arms
to avoid the falling blow—I was unyielding and outraged, like a wild bull in a
net! Isaiah 51:20. I wearied myself in desperate struggles to free myself from
your chastising hand; or vainly tried to harden myself to bear it with obdurate
insensibility. I tried to break the rod of conscience that I might no more groan
under its lashes, and my heart forcefully resisted and rebelled against the
gracious design of your correction, which was to bring me back to you my
heavenly Father. But now I am wearied out, now I am sensible I must submit, or
perish, and that my conscience is too strong for me, and must prevail."

You see, my brethren, the obstinate reluctance of an awakened sinner to return
to God. Like a wild young bullock, he would roam at large, and is impatient of
the yoke of the law, and the restraints of conscience. He loves his sin—and
cannot bear to part with it. He has no relish for the exercises of devotion and
self-denial; and therefore will not submit to them. The way of holiness is
disagreeable to his depraved heart, and he will not turn his feet to it. He
loves to be stupidly comfortable, and serene in mind, and cannot bear to be
checked in his pursuit of business or pleasure, by anxieties of heart! And
therefore he is impatient of the honest warnings of his conscience, and uses a
variety of wretched expedients to silence its clamorous remonstrances. In short,
he will do anything, he will turn to anything—rather than turn to God. If his
conscience will be but satisfied, he will forsake many of his sins. He will,
like Herod, Mark 6:20, do many things, and walk in the whole round of external
religious duties. All this he will do, if his conscience will be but bribed by
it. But if conscience enlarges its demands, and, after he has reformed his life,
requires him to have a new heart, requires him to turn not only from the outward
practice of gross vices—but from the love of all sins; not only to turn to the
observance of religious duties—but to turn to the Lord with all his heart, and
surrender himself entirely to him, and make it the main business of life to
serve him; if conscience, I say, carries its demands thus far—he cannot bear it,
he struggles to throw off the yoke! And some are cursed with horrid success in
the attempt! They are permitted to rest content in a partial reformation, or
external religion, as sufficient; and so go down to the grave with a lie in
their right hand! But the happy soul, on whom divine grace is determined to
finish its work, in spite of all opposition, is allowed to weary itself out in a
vain resistance of the chastisements of conscience, until it is obliged to
yield, and submit to the yoke. And then with Ephraim it will cry: "Restore
me—and I will return!" This is the mourning sinner’s language, when convinced
that he must submit and turn to God, and in the meantime finds himself utterly
unable to turn.

He makes many attempts to give himself to the Lord; but oh! his heart starts
back and shrinks away, as though he were rushing into flames—when he is but
flying to the gracious embraces of his Father! He strives, and strives to drag
himself along—but all in vain. And what shall he do in this extremity—but cry,
"Lord, Restore me—and I will return! Draw me—and I shall run after you. Work in
me to will and to do—and then I shall work out my own salvation.

"Lord, though I am sensible of the necessity of turning to you, though I exert
my feeble strength in many a languid effort to come—yet I cannot so much as
creep towards you, though I should die on the spot! Not only your Word—but my
own experience now convinces me that I cannot come unto you—unless you draw me.
John 6:44.

"Others vainly boast of their imaginary power, as though, when they set
themselves about it, they could perform some great achievements. Thus I once
flattered myself—but now, when I am most capable of judging, that is, when I
come to the trial, all my boasts are humbled! Here I lie, a helpless creature,
unable to go to the physician, unable to accept of pardon and life on the easy
terms of the gospel, and unable to free myself from the bondage of sin! And thus
I must lie forever, unless that God, from whom I have revolted, draws me back to
himself. Turn me, oh you who have the hearts of all men in your hands, and can
turn them wherever you please! Turn me—and then as weak and reluctant as I am—I
shall be turned. This backward heart will yield to the almighty attraction of
your grace! Here am I—as passive clay in the hand of the potter; incapable to
fashion myself into a vessel fit for your house; but you can form me as you
please. This hard and stubborn heart will be malleable and pliable to your
irresistible power."

Thus you see the awakened sinner is driven to earnest prayer in his exigency.
Never did a drowning man call for help, or a condemned malefactor plead for
pardon—with more sincerity and ardor! If the sinner had neglected prayer all his
life before now—he flies to it as the only expedient left! Or if he formerly ran
it over in a careless, unthinking manner, as an insignificant form—now he exerts
all the importunity of his soul! Now he prays as for his life, and cannot rest
until his desires are answered! The sinner ventures to enforce his petition by
pleading his relation to God, "Restore me, and I will return, because you are
the LORD my God." There is a sense in which a sinner in his unregenerate state
cannot call God, his God; that is, he cannot claim a special interest in him as
his portion, nor cry "Abba, Father," with the spirit of adoption, as reconciled
to God. But even an unregenerate sinner may call him my God in other senses:

He is his God by right, that is, though he has idolatrously yielded himself to
other gods—yet by right he should have acknowledged the LORD only.

He is his God—as that name denotes authority and power, to which he should be
subject.

He is his God—as he would now choose him to be his God, his portion, and his
all, which is implied in turning to him.

He is his God—by anticipation and hope, as upon his turning to him he will
become his reconciled God in covenant.

He is his God—by outward profession and visible relation. The force of this
argument, to urge his petition for converting grace, may be viewed in various
lights.

It may be understood thus: "Restore me—for you only who are the Lord of the
universe, and have all the creation at your control. You alone, who are my God
and ruler, and in whose hand my heart is—are able to turn so obstinate a
creature as myself! In vain do I seek for help elsewhere. Not all the means upon
earth, not all the persuasions, exhortations, invitations, and terrors that can
be used with me—can turn my hard heart; it is a work befitting the Lord God
Almighty, and it is you alone can effect it." Or we may understand the plea
thus: "Restore me—and I shall turn to you; to you who are the Lord my God, and
to whom I am under the most sacred obligations to return. I would resign your
own right to you; I would submit to you who alone has a just claim to me as your
servant." Or the words may be understood as an abjuration of all the idol-lusts
to which the sinner was enslaved before: "I will turn to you; for to whom should
I turn—but to the Lord my God! "What have I to do any more with idols?" Hosea
14:8 : "Why should I any longer submit to other masters, who have no right to
me? I would renounce them all; I would throw off all subjection to them, and
avouch you alone for the Lord my God!" Thus have the Jews renounced their false
gods upon their return from Babylon. Or we may understand the words as an
encouragement to hope for converting grace, since it is asked from a God of
infinite power and goodness: "Though I have most grievously offended, and had I
done the thousandth part so much against my fellow creatures, I could never
expect a favorable admission into their presence; yet I dare ask so great a
favor of you, for you are God—and not man: your power and your grace are all
divine, such as befit a God. I therefore dare to hope for that from your hands,
which I might despair of from all the universe of beings besides." Or finally,
the passage may be looked upon as a plea drawn from the sinner’s external
relation to God, as a member of his visible church, and as dedicated to him:
"Restore me—and I will turn to you, whose name I bear, and to whom I have been
early devoted. I would now of my own choice acknowledge the God of my fathers,
and return to the guide of my youth. And, since you have honored me with a place
in your visible church, I humbly hope you will not reject me now, when I would
sincerely consecrate myself to you, and become your servant in reality, as well
as in appearance." In this sense the plea might be used with peculiar propriety
by the Jews, who had been nationally adopted as the peculiar people of God. In
whatever sense we understand the words, they convey to us this important truth:
that the awakened sinner is obliged to take all his encouragement from God, and
not from himself. All his trust is in the divine mercy, and he is brought to a
happy self-despair.

Having viewed Ephraim under the preparatory work of legal conviction, and the
dawn of evangelical repentance; let us now view him,

2. As reflecting upon the surprising efficacy of grace he had sought, and which
was bestowed upon him in answer to his prayer. We left him just now crying,
"Restore me—and I shall be turned!" And here we find him actually turned: "After
I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I struck my thigh in grief!"
When the Lord exerts his power to subdue the stubbornness of the sinner, and
sweetly to allure him to himself—then the sinner repents; then his heart
dissolves in sincere, unselfish relentings. His sorrow and concern before
conversion are forced and mercenary; they are occasioned only by a selfish fear
of punishment, and he would willingly get rid of them! But now, his grief is
free and spontaneous; it flows from his heart as freely as streams from a
fountain! He now takes pleasure in tender relentings before the Lord for his
sin; he delights to be humble, and to feel his heart dissolve within him. A
heart of flesh, soft and susceptive of impression, is his choice; and a stony,
insensible heart a great burden. The more penitent—the more happy; and the more
senseless—the more miserable he finds himself.

Now also, his heart is actuated with a generous concern for the glory of God.
Now also, he sees the horrid evil of sin as contrary to the holiness of God, and
an ungrateful requital of his uninterrupted beneficence. We learn from this
passage, that the true penitent is sensible of a mighty turn in his temper and
inclinations. "Surely after I strayed, I repented." His whole soul is turned
from what he formerly delighted in—and turned to what he had no relish for
before. Particularly his thoughts, his will, and affections are turned to God.
There is a heavenly bias communicated to them—which draws them to holiness; like
the law of gravitation in the material world.

There is indeed a new turn given to his outward practice; the world may in some
measure see that he is a new man; but this is not all; the first spring that
turns all the wheels of the soul and actions of life is the heart—and this is
first set right. The change within is as evident as that without; and could our
eyes penetrate the heart—we would clearly see the great change. In short, "If
any man is in Christ—he is throughout a new creature; old things are passed
away, and behold, all things are become new!" Apply this touchstone to your
hearts, my friends—and see if they will stand the test! The penitent proceeds,
"After I came to understand, I struck my thigh in grief!" The same grace that
turns him—also instructs him; nay, it is by discovering to him the beauty of
holiness, and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that it draws him.
He is brought out of darkness, into marvelous and astonishing light, which
surprises him with new discoveries of things! He is instructed particularly: as
to the necessity of turning to God, as to the horrid ingratitude, vileness, and
deformity of sin, and as to his folly and wickedness in continuing so long
alienated from God. By the way, have you ever been let into these secrets, my
hearers? And when instructed in these, "I struck my thigh in grief!" This
gesture denotes consternation and amazement; and nature directs us thus to
express these passions. Ezekiel is enjoined to use this gesture as a prophetic
action, signifying the horror and astonishment of his mind. Ezekiel 21:12. This
action, therefore, of the penitent, intimates what consternation and amazement
he is cast into, when these new discoveries flash upon his soul. He stands
amazed at himself. He is struck with horror to think what an ungrateful,
ignorant, stupid wretch he has been all his life—until this happy moment! "Alas!
what have I been doing? abusing all my days in ruining my own soul, and
dishonoring the God of all my mercies! contentedly estranged from him, and not
seeking to return! Where were my eyes, that I never before saw the horrid evil
of my conduct and the shocking deformity of sin, which now opens to me in all
its hideous colors! Amazing! that divine vengeance has not broken out upon me
before now! Can it be that I am yet alive! Alive in the land of hope too! Yes,
alive, a humble pardoned penitent! Let heaven and earth be astonished at this,
for surely the sun never shone upon a wretch so undeserving! so great a monument
of mercy!" The pardoned penitent proceeds: "I was ashamed and humiliated because
I bore the disgrace of my youth!" Jeremiah 31:19.

We are ashamed when we are caught in a sordid, vile and scandalous action! We
blush, and are confounded, and know not where to look, or what to say. Thus the
penitent is heartily ashamed of himself, when he reflects upon the sordid
dispositions he has indulged, and the vile and scandalous actions he has
committed. He blushes at his own inspection; he is confounded at his own
tribunal. He appears to himself—a sordid, vile contemptible wretch; and, though
the world may honor him—he loathes himself, as viler than the earth he treads
on; and is secretly ashamed before the face of man. And how then shall he appear
before God? How shall he hold up his face in the presence of his injured Father?

He comes to God ashamed, and covering his head. He knows not what to say to him;
he knows not how to look him in His face—but he falls down abashed and
confounded at his feet. Thus was penitent Ezra ashamed before God. He fell upon
his knees, and lifted up his hands (his eyes, like the publican, he dared not
lift up) unto the heavens, and he says, "O my God, I am too ashamed and
disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than
our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our
forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. But now, O our God, what can we
say after this? For we have disregarded your commandments!" Ezra 9:5-10.

Thus it was foretold concerning the repenting Jews. "Then you shall remember
your ways and be ashamed. You shall be confounded and never open your mouth any
more, because of your shame!" Ezekiel 16:61-63. There is good reason for this
conscious shame, and therefore it is enjoined as a duty: "Be ashamed and
disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!" Ezekiel 36:32. And what is the
cause of this shame in the mourning penitent? "Oh," says he, "it is because I
bear the disgrace of my youth!" That is, "I carry upon me (as the original word
signifies) the brand of infamy. My youth, alas! was spent in a thoughtless
neglect of God and the duties I owed him; my vigorous days were wasted in
sensual extravagances, and gratifying my carnal inclinations. My prime of life,
which should have been sacred to the author of my existence, was spent in
rebellion against him! Alas! my first thoughts, my virgin love, did not aspire
to him; nor did my young desires, as soon as fledged, wing their flight to
heaven. In short, the temper of my heart, and my course of my life, from the
first exercises of reason—to this happy hour of my conversion, were a disgrace
to my rational nature! I have degraded myself beneath the beasts which perish!"

"Behold, I am vile! I loath and abhor myself for all my filthiness and
abominations!" Ezekiel 36:31. "And how amazing is the grace of God—to honor so
base a wretch with a place among the children of his love!"

Thus I have delineated the heart of penitent Ephraim. Let me ask you, my
friends—is this your picture? Have you ever felt such sincere relentings, such
just consternation, such holy shame and confusion? There can be no transition
from nature to grace, without these. You all bear the disgrace of your youth,
you have all spent some unhappy days in the scandalous ways of sin, and your
consciences still bear the brand of infamy. And have you ever been made deeply
sensible of it? Has God ever heard you bemoaning yourselves thus in some
mournful solitude, "You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been
disciplined." Is there any such mourner here this day? Then listen to the
gracious voice of your heavenly Father, while,

3. I am illustrating the last, the sweetest part of the text, which expresses
the tender compassion of God towards mourning penitents. While they are
bemoaning their case, and conscious that they do not deserve one look of love
from God—he is represented as attentively listening to catch the first
penitential groan which breaks from their hearts.

Ephraim, in the depth of his despondency, probably did hardly hope that God took
any notice of his secret sorrows, which he suppressed as much as possible from
the public view. But God did hear him—God was watching to hear the first
mournful cry; and he repeats all his complaints, to let him know (after the
manner of men) what particular notice he had taken of them. "I have surely
heard, or hearing I have heard." That is, "I have attentively heard Ephraim
bemoaning himself thus!"

What strong consolation may this give to desponding mourners, who think
themselves neglected by that God to whom they are pouring out their weeping
supplications! He hears your secret groans, he courts your sighs, and puts your
tears into his bottle! His eyes penetrate all the secrets of your heart, and he
observes all their feeble struggles to turn to himself; and he beholds you—not
as an unconcerned spectator—but with all the tender emotions of fatherly
compassion! For, while he is listening to Ephraim’s mournful complaints, he
abruptly breaks in upon him, and sweetly surprises him with the warmest
declarations of pity and grace:

"Is this Ephraim, my dear son, whose mourning voice I hear? Is this my pleasant
child, or (as it might be rendered) the child of my delights, who thus wounds my
ear with his heart-rending groans?" What strange language is this—to an
ungrateful, unyielding rebel, who continued obstinate—until he was wearied out;
who would not turn—until drawn; who deserved to fall a victim to justice! This
is the language of compassion all divine, of grace that befits a God. This
passage contains a most encouraging truth: that, however vile and abandoned a
sinner has been—yet upon his repentance, he becomes God’s dear son, his favorite
child! God will, from that moment, regard him, provide for him, protect him, and
bring him to his heavenly inheritance, as his son and heir! "For I am convinced
that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord!" Romans 8:38-39. Nothing shall separate him from his father’s
love—but "he shall inherit all things." Revelation 21:7. Yes, all things are his
already in title, and he shall be made "greater than the kings of the earth!" He
shall be made such as befits so dignified a relation as that of a son to the
King of kings, and Lord of lords! And is not this magnet sufficient to attract
all this assembly to their Father’s house? Can you resist the almighty force of
such compassion?

Return, you perishing prodigals! Return! Though you have sinned against Heaven,
and before your Father, and are not worthy to be called his son—yet return, and
you shall be made his dear son—the child in whom He delights! Are none of you in
need of such strong consolation as this? Do you need encouragement to return,
and are you ready to spring up and run to your Father’s arms upon the first
assurance of acceptance? If this is what you need, you have an abundance for
your supply. Are all your souls then in motion to return? Does that eye which
darts through the whole creation at once, now behold your hearts moving towards
God? Or am I wasting these gracious encouragements upon stupid creatures, void
of sense, who do not care for them; or that are so conceited of their own worth,
as not to need them? If so, I retract these consolations, with respect to you,
and shall presently tell you your doom! But let us further pursue these melting
strains of paternal pity: "Though I often spoke against him—I still remember
him." Many and dreadful were the threatenings denounced against the sinner,
while impenitent; and, had he continued impenitent, they would certainly have
been executed upon him. But the primary and immediate design of the
threatenings, are to make men happy—and not to make them miserable! They are
designed to deter them from disobedience, which is naturally productive of
misery; or to reclaim them from it, which is but to restrain them in their
career to ruin. And consequently these threatenings proceed from divine love—as
well as the promises of our God; from love to the person, though from hatred to
sin. So the same love which prompts a parent to promise a reward to his son for
obedience, will prompt him also to threaten him, if he takes some dangerous
weapon to play with. Or, to choose a more pertinent illustration, for God is the
moral ruler—as well as the gracious father of the rational world: the same
regard to the public well-being, which induces a lawgiver to annex a reward to
obedience, will also prompt him to add penalties to his law to deter from
disobedience. His immediate design is not to make any of his subjects
miserable—but to keep them from making themselves and others miserable by
disobedience! Though when the threatening is once denounced, it is necessary it
should be executed, to vindicate the veracity of the lawgiver, and secure his
government from insult and contempt.

Thus when the primary end of the divine threatenings, namely, the deterring and
reclaiming men from disobedience, is not obtained—then it becomes necessary that
they should be executed upon the impenitent in all their dreadful extent! But
when the sinner is brought to repentance, and to submit to the divine
government, then all these threatenings are repealed, and they shall not hurt
one hair of his head! And the sinner himself will acknowledge that these
threatenings proved necessary mercies to him, and that the denunciation of
everlasting punishment was one means of bringing him to everlasting happiness,
and that divine vengeance in this sense conspired with divine grace—to save him!

Consider this, you desponding penitents, and allay your terrors. That God, who
has written such bitter things against you in his Word; earnestly and
affectionately remembers you still, and it was with a kind intent to you that he
thundered out these terrors at which you tremble. These acids, this bitter
medicines, were necessary for your recovery. These coals of fire were necessary
to awaken you out of your lethargy. Therefore read the love of your Father, even
in these solemn warnings. He affectionately remembers you still; he cannot put
you out of his thoughts.

"Therefore my heart is troubled for him—my heart yearns for him!" adds the
all-gracious Jehovah! This is astonishing beyond conception! How can we bear up
under such words as these? Surely they must break our hearts, and overwhelm our
spirits! Here is the great God, who has millions of holy beings to serve him,
and who is absolutely independent of them all—is troubled, his very heart
troubled—for a rebellious, useless, trifling worm! Be astonished at this, you
angels of light, who are the witnesses of such amazing, such unbounded
compassion! And wonder at it, O you sons of men, who are more intimately
concerned in it! Stand and adore, as it were, in statues of admiration!

It is true? Surely, these words are not to be taken literally, as though the
Deity were capable of sorrow, or any of the human passions! But he here
condescends to adapt himself to the language of mortals, and to borrow such
images as will convey to us the most lively ideas of his grace and tenderness to
mourning penitents. And no image can answer this end better than that of a
father, whose affections are yearning over his mourning child, prostrate at his
feet, and who, with eager embraces, raises him up, assuring him of pardon and
acceptance!

If any of you know what it is to receive a penitent child in this manner, while
all the father is tenderly working within you—you may form some affecting ideas
of the readiness of our heavenly Father to receive returning sinners from this
tender illustration. The Lord concludes this moving speech with a promise that
includes in it—more than we can ask or think, sealed with his own sacred name.
"I will surely have mercy upon him!" That is, "I will show abundant mercy to
him! I will give him all the blessings which infinite mercy can bestow!"

What more can be needed? This promise includes pardon, acceptance,
sanctification, joy in the Holy Spirit, peace of conscience, and immortal life
and glory in the eternal world! Oh sirs! what a God, what a Father is this! "Who
is a God like you—who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant
of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You
will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all
our iniquities into the depths of the sea!" Micah 7:18-19 And can you, you
mourners in Zion, can you fear a rejection from such a tender Father? Can you
dread to venture upon such abundant mercies? Is there a mourning Ephraim in this
assembly? I may call you, as God did Adam, "Ephraim, where are you?"

Let the Word of God find you out, and force a little encouragement upon you:
"Your heavenly Father, whose angry hand you fear, is listening to your groans,
and will measure you out a mercy—for every groan; a blessing—for every sigh; a
drop, a whole draught of consolation—for every tear. His affections yearn for
you, and he addresses you in such language as this, "Is this my dear son? is
this my pleasant child?" And as to you, you sturdy impenitents, you abandoned
profligates, you careless formalists, you almost Christians; can you hear these
things—and not begin now to relent? Do you not find your frozen hearts begin to
thaw within you? Can you resist such alluring grace? Can you bear the thoughts
of continuing to be enemies to so good, so forgiving a Father? Does not
Ephraim’s sincere petition now rise in your hearts, "Restore me—and I shall be
turned?" Then I praise God upon this happy day; you have this day become God’s
dear sons, the children of his delight. But is there a wretch so senseless, so
wicked, so abandoned to sin—as to refuse to return? Where are you, hardy rebel?
Stand forth and meet the terrors of your doom! To you I must change my tone, and
instead of representing the tender compassions of a father—I must denounce the
terrors of an angry judge: Your DOOM is declared and fixed—by the same lips
which speak to penitents in such encouraging strains; by those gracious lips
that never uttered a harsh censure. "God is angry with you every day!" Psalms
7:11. "Unless you repent—you shall surely perish!" Luke 13:3. The example of
Christ authorizes me to repeat it again; "Unless you repent—you shall surely
perish!" verse 5. "The God who made you—will destroy you! And he who formed
you—will show you no favor." Isaiah 26:11. "You are treasuring up wrath in
horrid affluence against the day of wrath!" Romans 2:5.

"The LORD is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and wrath. He takes revenge on
all who oppose him and furiously destroys his enemies! The LORD is slow to get
angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. He
displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the
dust beneath his feet. At his command the oceans and rivers dry up! In his
presence the mountains quake, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles, and
its people are destroyed. Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive
his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to
dust in his presence!" Nahum 1:2-6

These flaming thunderbolts, sinners, are aimed at your heart, and if you can
harden yourself against their terror—then let me read you your doom before we
part! You have it pronounced by God himself: "Let none of those who hear the
warnings of this curse consider themselves immune, thinking: ’I am safe, even
though I am walking in my own stubborn way.’ This would lead to utter ruin! The
LORD will not pardon such people. His anger and jealousy will burn against them.
All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the LORD will
erase their names from under heaven. The LORD will separate them from all the
tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the covenant curses recorded in this
Book of the Law!" Deuteronomy 29:19-21 And now, stubborn sinner, if you can
return home careless and senseless with this heavy curse upon you—do not expect
a word of comfort; do not expect any blessing—until you are made truly penitent!
"For how shall I bless—those whom God has not blessed?" The blessing of our text
may fall upon one on your right hand, and one on your left hand—but the curse is
your lot! And this curse—you must have from the hand of God himself! If you
continue hardened and insolent in sin—you must lie down in eternal sorrow!
"Consider this, you who forget God—or He will tear you to pieces, with none to
rescue!" Psalms 50:22


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  CHAPTER 15: 12-INDIFFERENCE TO THE THINGS OF THIS PRESENT LIFE�URGED FROM LIFE'S SHORTNESS AND VANITY
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Indifference to the Things of this Present Life —Urged from Life’s Shortness and
Vanity A funeral sermon by Samuel Davies (1724–1761)

"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on, those who have
wives—should live as if they had none; those who mourn—as if they did not; those
who rejoice—as though they did not rejoice; those who buy something—as if it
were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world—as if not
engrossed in them. For this world in its present form, is passing away!" 1
Corinthians 7:29-31 A creature treading every moment upon the slippery brink of
the grave, and ready every moment to shoot the gulf of eternity, and launch away
to some unknown coast—ought to stand always in the posture of serious
expectation; ought every day to be in his own mind taking leave of this world,
breaking off the connections of his heart from it, and preparing for his last
remove into that world in which he must reside, not for a few months or years as
in this world—but through a boundless everlasting duration. Such a situation
requires habitual, constant thoughtfulness, withdrawal from the world, and
serious preparation for death and eternity. But when we are called, as we
frequently are, to perform the last sad offices to our friends and neighbors who
have taken their flight a little before us; when the solemn pomp and horrors of
death strike our senses—then certainly it befits us to be unusually thoughtful
and serious. Dying beds, the last struggles and groans of dissolving nature,
pale, cold, ghastly corpses: The knell, the shroud, the shovel, and the grave:
The deep damp vault, the darkness and the worm; these are very alarming warnings
of our own mortality: these out-preach the loudest preacher; and they must be
senseless rocks, and not men—who do not hear and feel their voice!

Among the numberless instances of the divine skill in bringing good out of evil,
this is one, that past generations have sickened and died to warn their
successors. One here and there also is singled out of our neighborhood or
families, and made an example to us who survive, to rouse us out of our stupid
sleep, to give us the warning-signal of the approach of the last enemy, DEATH;
to constrain us to let go our eager grasp of this vain world, and set us upon
looking out and preparing for another world. And may I hope my hearers have come
here today determined to make this improvement of this melancholy occasion, and
to gain this great advantage from our loss! To this I call you as with a voice
from the grave; and therefore, he who has ears to hear, let him hear!

One great reason of men’s excessive attachment to the present state, and their
stupid neglect of the concerns of eternity, is their forming too high an
estimate of the affairs of time—in comparison with those of eternity. While the
important realities of the eternal world are out of view, unthought of, and
disregarded, as alas! they generally are by the most of mankind, what mighty
things in their esteem, are the relations, the joys and sorrows, the possessions
and bereavements, the acquisitions and pursuits of this life! What airs of
importance do they put on in their esteem! How do they engross their anxious
thoughts and cares, and exhaust their strength and spirits! To be happy, to be
rich, to be great and honorable, to enjoy your fill of pleasure in this world,
is not this a great matter, the main interest of many of you? Is not this the
object of your ambition, your eager desire and laborious pursuit? But to consume
away your life in sickness and pain, in poverty and disgrace, in abortive
schemes and disappointed pursuits, what a serious calamity, what a huge
affliction is this in your esteem?

What is there in the compass of the universe that you are so much afraid of, and
so cautiously shunning? Whether large profits or losses in trade are not a
mightier matter—ask the busy, anxious merchant. Whether poverty is not a most
miserable state—ask the poor that feel it, and the rich that fear it. Whether
riches are not a very important happiness—ask their possessors; or rather ask
the restless pursuers of them, who expect still greater happiness from them than
those that are taught by experience can flatter themselves with. Whether the
pleasures of the marital state are not great and desirable, consult the few
happy pairs here and there who enjoy them. Whether the loss of an affectionate
husband and a tender father is not a most afflictive bereavement, a torturing
separation of heart from heart, or rather a tearing of one’s heart in pieces—ask
the mourning, weeping widow, and fatherless children, when hovering round his
dying-bed, or conducting his dear remains to the cold grave. In short, it is
evident from a thousand instances—that the enjoyments, pursuits, and sorrows of
this life are mighty matters! Nay, are ’all in all’ in the esteem of the
generality of mankind. These are the things they most deeply feel, the things
about which they are chiefly concerned, and which are the objects of their
strongest passions. But is this a just estimate of things? Are the affairs of
this world then indeed so crucial and all-important? Yes—if eternity is only a
dream, and heaven and hell but majestic fantasies, or fairy lands; if we were
always to live in this world, and had no concern with anything beyond it; if the
joys of earth were the highest we could hope for, or its miseries the most
terrible we could fear—then indeed we should take this present world for our
all, and regard its affairs as the most important that our nature is capable of.

"But this I say, brethren," (and I pronounce it as the echo of an inspired
apostle’s voice), this I say, "the time is short"; the time of life in which we
have anything to do with these affairs is a short, contracted span. Therefore
"it remains", that is, this is the inference we should draw from the shortness
of time, "those who have wives, be as though they had none; and those who weep,
as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and
those who buy, as though they possessed not; and those who use this world, as
not abusing it," (or using it to excess); "for the fashion of this world", these
tender relations, this weeping and rejoicing, this buying, possessing, and using
this world "passes away". The phantom will soon vanish, the shadow will soon fly
off; and those who have wives or husbands in this transitory life, will in
reality be as though they had none; and those who weep now, as though they wept
not; and those who now rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those who now
buy, possess and use this world, as though they never had the least property in
it. This is the solemn, sobering doctrine I am now to inculcate upon you in the
further illustration of the several parts of my text; a doctrine justly alarming
to the lovers of this world, and the neglecters of that life which is to come!
When Paul pronounces anything with an unusual air of solemnity and authority,
and after the formality of an introduction to gain attention, it must be a
matter of uncommon weight, and worthy of the most serious regard. In this manner
he introduces the funeral sentiments in my text. "This I say, brethren!"; this I
solemnly pronounce as the mouth of God: this I declare as a great truth but
little regarded; and which therefore there is much need I should repeatedly
declare; this I say with all the authority of an apostle, a messenger from
heaven; and I demand your serious attention to what I am going to say! And what
is it he is introducing with all this solemn formality? Why, it is an ancient,
plain, familiar truth universally known and confessed, namely, that the time of
our continuance in this world is short! But why so much formality in introducing
such a common, plain truth as this? Because, however generally it be known and
confessed, it is very rarely regarded; and it requires more than even the most
solemn address of an apostle, to turn the attention of a thoughtless world to
it!

How many of you, my brethren, are convinced against your wills of this
melancholy truth, and yet turn every way to avoid the sobering thought, are
always uneasy when it forces itself upon your minds, and do not allow it to have
a proper influence upon your temper and practice—but live as if you believed the
time of your earthly life were long, and even everlasting! Oh! When will the
happy hour come when you will think and act like those who believe that common,
incontrovertible truth, that the time of life is short? Then you would no longer
think of delays, nor contrive artifices to put off the work of your salvation;
then you could not bear the thought of such negligent, or languid, feeble
endeavors in a work that must be done—and that in so short a time.

"This I say, my brethren—the time is short!" The time of life is absolutely
short: a span, an inch, a hair’s breadth. How short the time between the cradle
and the grave! How short the journey from infancy to old age, through all the
intermediate stages! Let the few among you who bear the marks of old age upon
you—in gray hair, wrinkles, weakness, and pains—look back upon your tiresome
pilgrimage through life, and does it not appear to you, as though you commenced
to live but yesterday? And how little a way can you trace it back—until you are
lost in the forgotten unconscious days of infancy, or in that eternal
non-existence in which you lay before your birth! But they are but a very few,
who drag on their lives through seventy or eighty years. Old men can hardly find
contemporaries; a new generation has started up, and the aged have become almost
strangers in their own neighborhoods. By the best calculations that have been
made, at least one half of mankind die under seven years old. They are little
particles of life, sparks of being just kindled—and then quenched, or rather
dismissed from their suffocating confinement in clay—that they may aspire, blaze
out, and mingle with their kindred flames in the eternal world, the proper
region, the native element of souls. And how strongly does the shortness of this
life—prove the certainty of another life? Would it be worthwhile, should it be
consistent with the wisdom and goodness of the Deity, to send so many millions
of rational beings into this world—only to live the base life of a vegetable or
an animal for a few moments, or days, or years—if there were no other world for
these young immortals to transfer to, in which their powers might open, enlarge,
and ripen? Certainly men are not such insects of a day! Certainly this present
world is not the last stage of human nature! Certainly there is an eternity!
There is a heaven and a hell—otherwise we might expostulate with our Maker, as
David once did upon that supposition, "Why have You made all men in vain?"
(Psalms 89:47). In that solemn eternity—we must all be in a short time! Yes, my
brethren, I may venture to prophesy that, in less than seventy or eighty years,
the most, if not all of this assembly, must be in some dwelling of that strange
untried world. The merry, unthinking, irreligious multitude in that doleful
prison which I must mention, grating as the sound is to their ears—and that is
hell! And the pious, penitent, believing few—in the blissful glory of heaven!
There we shall reside a long, long time indeed—or rather through a long, endless
eternity! Which leads me to add, That the time of life is short absolutely in
itself, so especially it is short comparatively; that is, in comparison with
eternity. In this comparison, even the long life of Methuselah and the
antediluvians shrink into a mere point—a nothing! Indeed no duration of time,
however long—will bear the comparison! Millions of millions of years! As many
years as the sands upon the sea-shore! As many years as the particles of dust in
this huge globe of earth! As many years as the particles of matter in the vaster
heavenly bodies that roll above us; and even in the whole material universe—all
these years do not bear so much proportion to eternity—as a moment, a pulse, or
the twinkling of an eye—compared to ten thousand ages! Not so much as a hair’s
breadth—compared to the distance from the spot where we stand to the farthest
star, or the remotest corner of creation. In short, they do not bear the least
imaginable proportion at all—for all this length of years, though beyond the
power of distinct enumeration to us—will as certainly come to an end—as an hour
or a moment. And when it comes to an end, it is entirely and irrecoverably past!
But eternity (oh the solemn, tremendous sound!) Eternity will never, never, come
to an end! Eternity will never, never, never be past! And is this eternity, this
solemn, all-important eternity, entailed upon US? Upon us, the offspring of the
dust? The creatures of yesterday? Upon US—who a little while ago were less than
a gnat, less than a mote—a mere nothing? Upon us who are every moment liable to
the arrest of death, sinking into the grave, and moldering into dust one after
another in a thick succession? Upon us whose thoughts and cares, and pursuits
are so confined to time and earth, as if we had nothing to do with anything
beyond? Oh! Is this immense inheritance inalienably ours? Yes, brethren, it is!
Reason and revelation prove our title beyond all dispute. Eternity is an
inheritance entailed upon us, whether we want it—or not; whether we have made it
our interest—or not! To command ourselves into nothing—is as much above our
power as to bring ourselves into being. Sin may make our souls miserable—but it
cannot make them mortal. Sin may forfeit a happy eternity, and render our
immortality a curse; so that it would be better for us if we never had been
born; but sin cannot put an end to our being, as it can to our happiness, nor
procure for us any relief of rest—in the hideous gulf of annihilation. And is a
little time, a few months or years, a great matter to us? To us who are heirs of
an eternal duration? How insignificant is one moment—in seventy or eighty years!
But how much more insignificant is even the longest life upon earth—when
compared with eternity! How trifling are all the concerns of time—to those of
immortality! What is it to us who are to live forever—whether we now live happy
or miserable for an hour? Whether we have wives, or whether we have none;
whether we rejoice, or whether we weep; whether we buy, possess, and use this
world; or whether we consume away our life in hunger, and nakedness and in need
of all things? It will be all the same—in a little, little time! Eternity will
level all; and eternity is at the door! And how shall we spend this eternal
duration that is thus entailed upon us? Shall we sleep it away in a stupid
insensibility, or in a state of indifference, neither happy nor miserable? No,
no! We must spend it in the height of happiness—or in the depth of misery! The
happiness and misery of the world to come—will not consist in such childish toys
as those that give us pleasure and pain in this infant state of our
existence—but in the most substantial realities suitable to an immortal spirit,
capable of vast improvements and arrived at its adult age. As the apostle
illustrates it, we are now children, and we speak like children, we understand
like children; but then we shall become men, and put away childish things (see 1
Corinthians 13:11). Then we shall be beyond receiving pleasure or pain, from
such trifles as excite us in this present infantile state. This present world is
not the place of rewards or punishments, and therefore the great Ruler of the
world does not exert His perfections in the distribution of either; but eternity
is allotted for that very purpose, and therefore He will then distribute rewards
and punishments worthy of Himself, such as will proclaim Him as the omnipotent
God in acts of grace and vengeance, just as He has appeared in all His other
works. Then He will "show His wrath", and "make His power known on the vessels
of wrath who have made themselves fit for destruction!" And He will "show the
riches of the glory of His grace upon the vessels of mercy whom He prepared
beforehand for glory!" (Romans 9:22-23).

Thus heaven and hell will proclaim God’s attributes—will show Him to be the
Author of their respective joys and pains, by their agreeable or terrible
magnificence and grandeur. Oh eternity! With what majestic wonders are you
replenished, where Jehovah acts with His own immediate hand, and displays
Himself God-like and unrivaled, in His exploits both of vengeance and of grace!
In this present world, our good and evil are blended. Our happiness has some
bitter ingredients, and our miseries have some agreeable mitigations. But in the
eternal world, good and evil shall be entirely and forever separated! All will
be pure, unmingled happiness—or pure, unmingled misery! "Then they will go away
to eternal punishment—but the righteous to eternal life!" Matthew 25:46 In the
present state—the holiest have not uninterrupted peace within; conscience has
frequent cause to make them uneasy; some mote or other falls into its tender
eye, and sets it a-weeping! And in the present state—the most wicked also have
their arts to keep conscience sometimes easy, and silence its clamors. But then
conscience will have its full scope. It will never more pass a censure upon the
righteous, and it will never more be a friend, or even an inactive enemy to the
wicked for so much as one moment! And oh what a perennial fountain of bliss—or
pain will conscience then be!

One’s SOCIETY contributes much to our happiness or misery. But what misery can
be felt or feared—in the immediate presence and fellowship of the blessed God
and Jesus (the friend of man); of angels and saints, and all the glorious
inhabitants of heaven!

But, on the other hand, what happiness can be enjoyed or hoped for; and what
misery can be escaped—in the horrid society of lost, abandoned devils and damned
men—all dreadfully mighty and malignant, and rejoicing only in each other’s
misery; mutual enemies, and mutual tormentors, bound together inseparably in
everlasting chains of darkness! Oh the horror of the thought! The most terrible
images which even the pencil of divine inspiration can draw, such as a lake of
fire and brimstone, utter darkness, the blackness of darkness, the never-dying
worm, unquenchable everlasting fire, and all the most dreadful figures that can
be drawn from all parts of the universe—are not sufficient to represent the
punishments of the eternal world!

And, on the other hand, "the eye", which has ranged through so many objects,
"has not seen! And "the ear", which has had still more extensive intelligence,
"has not heard! Neither has it entered into the heart of man", which is even
unbounded in its conceptions, "the things that God has prepared for those who
love Him!" The enjoyments of time fall as much short of those of eternity—as
time itself falls short of eternity itself. But what gives infinite importance
to these joys and sorrows is—that they are enjoyed or suffered in the eternal
world, and they are themselves eternal. Eternal joys! Eternal pains! Joys and
pains that will last as long as the King eternal and immortal will live to
distribute them! As long as our immortal spirits will live to feel them! Oh what
joys and pains are these! And these eternal joys or pains, my friends—are
awaiting every one of us! These pleasures, or these pains—are felt this moment
by all our friends and acquaintances who have died before us! And in a little,
little while, you and I must feel them!

Alas! What then have we to do with time and earth? Are the pleasures and pains
of this world—worthy to be compared with eternal pleasures and pains? "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity!" The enjoyments and sufferings, the labors and
pursuits, the laughter and tears of the present state—are all nothing in
comparison. What is the loss of an estate, or of a dear relative—compared to the
loss of a blissful immortality? And if our heavenly inheritance is secure—what
does it matter, even if we should be reduced into Job’s forlorn situation? What
does it matter, even if we are poor, sickly, cancered, racked with pains, and
involved in every human misery? Heaven will more than make amends for all! But
if we have no evidences of a title to heaven, the sense of these transitory
distresses may be swallowed up in the fear of the horrible miseries of eternity!

Alas! What does it avail—that we play away a few years in mirth and gaiety, in
grandeur and pleasure—if when these few years are fled, we lift up our eyes in
hell, tormented in eternal flames! Oh what are all these transitory things—to a
candidate for eternity! An heir of everlasting happiness—or everlasting misery!

It is from such convicting premises, that Paul draws his INFERENCES in my text:
"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have
wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not;
those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were
not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed
in them. For this world in its present form is passing away!" The first branch
of the inference refers to the dear and tender relations that we sustain in this
life. "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who
have wives should live as if they had none." And by a symmetry of reason—those
who have husbands, parents, children, or friends—as dear as their own souls—be
as though they had none. Paul is far from recommending a stoic neglect of these
dear relations. That he tenderly felt the sensations, and warmly recommended the
mutual duties of such relations, appears in the strongest light in other parts
of his writings, where he is addressing himself to husbands and wives, parents
and children. But his design here is to represent the insignificance even of
these dear relations, considering how short and vanishing they are—and comparing
them with the infinite concerns of eternity.

These dear relations we shall be able to call our own for so short a time—that
it is hardly worthwhile to esteem them ours now. The concerns of eternity are of
so much greater significance, that it is very little matter—whether we enjoy
these comforts or not. In a few years at most—it will be all the same! The dear
ties that now unite the hearts of husband and wife, parent and child, friend and
friend—will be broken forever. In that world where we must all be in a little,
little time—they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are in this
respect like the angels. And of how small consequence is it to beings that are
to exist forever in the most perfect happiness—or misery; and who must so soon
break off all their tender connections with the dear creatures that were united
to their hearts in the present transitory state! Of how small importance is it
to such, whether they spend a few years of their existence in all the delights
of the marital state and the social life—or are forlorn, bereaved, destitute,
widowed, childless, fatherless, friendless! The grave and eternity will level
all these little inequalities! The dust of Job has no more sense of his past
calamities, than that of Solomon who felt so few; and their immortal parts are
equally happy in heaven—if they were equally holy upon earth. And of how small
consequence is it to Judas now, after he has been more than seventeen hundred
years in ’his own place’—whether he died single or married, a parent or
childless? These relations make no distinction in heaven or hell—unless that, as
relations increase, the duties belonging to them are multiplied, and the
responsibilities become the heavier—the faithful discharge of which meets with a
more glorious reward in heaven; and the neglect of which suffers a severer
punishment in hell.

Farther, the apostle, in saying that those who have wives should be as though
they had none, intends that we should not excessively set our hearts upon any of
our dearest relatives so as to tempt us to neglect the superior concerns of the
world to come—or draw off our affections from God. We should always remember who
it was that said, "He who loves father, or mother, or wife, or children, more
than Me—is not worthy of Me!" (Matthew 10:37).

"He who is married," says Paul, in the context, "cares for the things of the
world, how he may please his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:33). But we should beware
lest this care should run to excess, and render us careless of the interests of
our souls, and the concerns of immortality. To moderate excessive care and
anxiety about the things of this world—is the design the apostle has immediately
in view in my text; for having taught "those that have wives to be as though
they had none," etc., he immediately adds, "I want you to be free from the
concerns of this life"; and this is the reason why I would have you form such an
estimate of all the conditions of life, and count them as on a level. Those who
have the agreeable weights of these relations, ought no more to abandon
themselves to the over-eager pursuit of this world, or place their happiness in
it; they ought no more to neglect the concerns of religion and eternity, than if
they did not bear these relations. The busy head of a numerous family should be
as much concerned to secure his everlasting salvation, as a single man. Whatever
becomes of him and his belongings in this vanishing world—he must by no means
neglect to provide for his existence in the eternal world; and nothing in this
world can at all excuse that neglect.

Oh, that these thoughts may deeply affect the hearts of such of us as are
agreeably joined in such relations! And may they inspire us with a proper
insensibility and indifference towards them—when compared with the affairs of
religion and eternity! May this consideration moderate the sorrows of the
mourners, on this melancholy occasion; and teach them to esteem the gain or loss
of a blissful eternity—as that which should swallow up every other concern! The
next branch of the inference refers to the sorrows of life. "What I mean,
brothers, is that the time is short. From now on . . . those whomourn, as if
they did not." Whatever afflictions may befall us here on earth, they will not
last long—but will soon be swallowed up in the greater joys—or sorrows of the
eternal world! These tears will not always flow; these sighs will not always
heave our breasts. We can sigh no longer—than the vital breath fills our lungs!
We can weep no longer—than until death stops all the fountains of our tears—and
that will be in a very little time! And when we enter into the eternal world, if
we have been the dutiful children of God here on earth—His own gentle hand shall
wipe away every tear from our faces, and He will comfort His mourning people.
Then all the sorrows of life will cease forever, and no more painful remembrance
of them will remain—than of the pains and sickness of our unconscious infancy!
But if all the discipline of our heavenly Father fails to reduce us to our duty,
if we still continue rebellious and incorrigible under His rod, and consequently
the miseries of this life—convey us to eternal miseries—then the smaller
miseries will be swallowed up and lost in the greater—as a drop is swallowed up
and lost in the ocean!

Some desperate sinners have hardened themselves in sin with this cold comfort,
"That since they must be miserable hereafter, they will at least take their fill
of pleasure here—and take a merry journey to hell." But alas! What a sorry
mitigation will this be! How entirely will all this life of pleasure—be
forgotten at the first pang of infernal anguish! Oh! What poor relief to a soul
lost forever—to reflect that this eternity of pain followed upon, and was
procured by—a few months or years of sordid guilty pleasure! Was that a relief
or an aggravation which Abraham mentions to the rich glutton, when he puts him
in mind, "Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things"? (Luke
16:25). You had then—all the share of good which you ever shall enjoy; you had
your portion in that world where you chose to have it—and therefore are left to
the consequences of your own choice, and look for no other portion. Oh! Who can
bear to be thus reminded and upbraided—in the midst of remediless misery!

Upon the whole, whatever afflictions or bereavements we suffer in this world—let
us moderate our sorrows and keep them within proper bounds. Let them not work up
and ferment into murmurings and complainings against God—who gives and takes
away, as He desires. Let them not sink us into a sullen dislike of the mercies
still left in our possession. How unreasonable and ungrateful, that God’s
retaking one of His mercies—should tempt us to despise all the rest! Take a view
of the rich inventory of blessings still remaining, and you will find them much
more numerous and important than those you have lost! Do not mistake me, as if I
recommended or expected an utter insensibility under the calamities of life. I
allow nature its moderate tears—but let them not rise to floods of inconsolable
sorrows! I allow you to feel your afflictions like men and Christians—but then
you must bear them like men and Christians too. May God grant that we may all
exemplify this attitude when we are put to the trial. The third branch of the
inference refers to the joys and pleasures of life. "The time is short. From now
on . . . let those who rejoice—be as though they did not rejoice." That is, the
joys of this life, from whatever earthly cause they spring—are so short and
transitory, that they are as of no account to a being who is to exist forever;
to exist forever in joys or pains of an infinitely higher and more important
kind! To such a being it is an indifference whether he laughs or weeps, whether
he is joyful or sad—for only a few fleeting moments. These vanishing, uncertain
joys should not engross our hearts as our chief happiness; nor cause us to
neglect and forfeit the divine and everlasting joys above the skies. The
pleasure we receive from any created enjoyment, should not ensnare us to make it
our idol. We must not forget—that we must part with it; or to fret, and murmur,
and repine, when the parting hour comes! When we are rejoicing in the abundance
of earthly blessings—we should be as careful and laborious in securing the favor
of God and everlasting happiness—as if we rejoiced not. If our eternal All is
secure—it is enough! Heaven will not at all be heightened or diminished by the
reflection that we lived a joyful or a sad life in our earthly pilgrimage. But
if we spend our immortality in eternal misery—what sorry comfort will it be that
we laughed, and played, and frolicked away our few years upon earth! Years that
were given us for a serious purpose—as a space for repentance and preparation
for eternity! Therefore, "let those who rejoice—be as though they did not
rejoice"; that is, be nobly indifferent to all the little amusements and
pleasures of so short an earthly life. And let "those who buy something—as if it
were not theirs to keep." This is the fourth particular in the inference from
the shortness of time, and it refers to the trade and business of life. It
refers not only to the busy merchant, whose life is a vicissitude of buying and
selling—but also to the farmer, the tradesman, and indeed to every person among
us; for we are all carrying on a commerce, more or less, for the purposes of
this life. You all buy, and sell, and exchange, in some form or other; and the
things of this world are perpetually passing from hand to hand. Sometimes you
have good bargains, and make large acquisitions. But do not set your hearts upon
them; but in the midst of all your possessions, live as if they were not yours
to keep.

Alas! Of what small account are all the things you call your own upon earth—to
you who are to stay here so short a time; to you who must so soon bid an eternal
farewell to them all, and go as naked out of the world as you came into it; to
you who must spend an everlasting duration far beyond the reach of all these
enjoyments! It is not worth your while to even call them your own—since you must
so soon resign them to other hands. The melancholy occasion of this day may
convince you, that success in trade, and plentiful estate, procured and kept by
honest industry and good management, is neither a security against death, nor a
comfort in it! Alas! What service can these houses and lands, and numerous
servants—perform to the cold clay that molders in yonder grave, or to the
immortal spirit that is fled, we know not where? Therefore buy
everything—sensible that you can buy nothing upon a sure and lasting title. You
can buy nothing today—that you can certainly call ’yours’ tomorrow. Buy—but do
not sell your hearts—for the earthly trifles you buy! Do not let them tempt you
to act as if this world were your final home, or to neglect to lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven; treasures which you can call your own when this
world is laid in ashes, and which you can enjoy and live upon, in the eternal
heavenly state—when these bodies have nothing but a coffin, a shroud, and a few
feet of earth!

Finally, let "those who use the things of the world—as if not engrossed in
them." This is the fifth branch of the inference from the shortness of time; and
it seems to have a particular reference to such as have had such success in
their pursuit of the world, that they have now retired from business, and appear
to themselves to have nothing to do but enjoy the world, for which they so long
toiled. Or it may refer to those who are heirs of plentiful estates, and
therefore are not concerned to acquire the world—but to use and enjoy it. To
such I say, "Use the things of the world—as if not engrossed in them!" That is,
use it, enjoy it, take moderate pleasure in it—but do not abuse it by
prostituting it to sinful purposes, making provision for the flesh to fulfill
the lusts thereof, indulging yourselves in debauchery and extravagance, placing
your confidence in it! Do not be like the rich fool, who said to himself, "You
have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy! Eat, drink
and be merry!" Oh! presumptuous fool! "This very night your life will be
demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" (Luke
12:19-20). Do not use this world to excess (so the word may be translated), by
placing your hearts excessively upon it as your favorite portion and principal
happiness, and by allowing it to draw off your thoughts and affections from the
superior blessedness of the world to come.

Use the world—but let it not tempt you to excess in eating, drinking, dressing,
housing, or in any article of the parade of riches. True religion by no means
commands a sordid, niggardly, churlish manner of living; it allows you to enjoy
the blessings of life—but then it forbids all excess, and requires you to keep
within the bounds of moderation in your enjoyments. Thus, "Use the things of the
world—as if not engrossed in them!" The apostle’s inference is not only drawn
from strong premises—but also enforced with a very weighty reason: "For this
world in its present form is passing away." The whole scheme and system of
worldly affairs—all this marrying and rejoicing, and weeping, and buying, and
enjoying—is passing away! It is passing away this very moment! It not only WILL
pass away—but even now, it IS passing away! The ’stream of time’, with all the
trifles that float on it, and all the eager pursuers of these bubbles—is in
motion, in swift, incessant motion to empty itself and all that sail upon
it—into the shoreless ocean of eternity, where all will be absorbed and lost
forever! And shall we excessively doat upon things that are perpetually flying
from us, and in a little time will be no more our property than the riches of
the world before the flood? O, how long will you follow after vanity! "Why do
you spend your money on what is not food, and your labor on what does not
satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2).

"For this world in its present form is passing away!" Some say that this
sentence contains a fine striking allusion to the stage of a theater, and that
it might be rendered, "the ’scene’ of this world is passing away."

"You know," says a fine writer upon this text, "that upon the stage the actors
assume imaginary characters, and appear in costumes. One acts the courage and
triumph of the hero; another appears with a crown and a scepter, and struts
about with all the solemnity and majesty of a prince; a third puts on the
fawning smile of a courtier, or the haughtiness of a successful favorite; and
the fourth is represented in the dress of a scholar or a politician. For an hour
or two they act their several parts on the stage, and amuse the spectators; but
the scenes are constantly shifting; and when the play is concluded, the
pretended characters are laid aside, and the imaginary kings and emperors are
immediately divested of their pretended authority and ensigns of royalty, and
appear in their true characters.

"Just so, this world is a great stage that presents as variable scenes and
actors: princes, politicians, and warriors, the rich, the learned, and the wise;
and, on the other hand, the poor, weak, and despised part of mankind possess
their several places on the theater. Some lurk absolutely in a corner, seldom
come from behind the scenes, or creep along unnoticed. Others make a splendid
show and a loud noise, are adorned with the honors of a crown, or possessed of
large estates and great powers; they fill the world with the fame of their names
and actions; conquer in the battle-field; or are nobly employed in the ruling of
a nation.

"Well, in a little time the scene is shifted, and all these vain phantoms
disappear! The ’king of terrors’ clears the stage of the busy actors, strips
them of all their fictitious ornaments, and ends the vain farce of life! And
now, all being brought down to the same level by DEATH, they go down to the
grave in their original nakedness, their carcasses are jumbled together—and they
pass away as a tale that is told!

"In the Greek or Roman theaters, to which the apostle alludes, the actors
frequently, if not always, came upon the stage in a disguise, with a mask—a
false face, which was adapted to the different persons or characters they
designed to assume; so that no actor was seen with his real face—but all put on
borrowed visages. And in allusion to this, the text might be rendered, ’The
masquerade of the world passes away,’ pointing out the fraud and disguises which
mankind put on, and the flattering forms in which they generally appear—which
will all pass away, when DEATH shall pull off their mask; and they go down to
the eternal world naked and exposed, and appear at the supreme tribunal in their
true characters, and can no more be varnished over with fraudulent coloring!"
[Dunlop’s Sermons, Vol. I, pages 212-215].

Others apprehend that the apostle here alludes to some grand procession or
parade, in which pageants or emblematic figures pass along the crowded streets.
The staring crowd await their appearance with eager eyes, and place themselves
in the most convenient posture of observation: they gape at the passing show,
they follow it with a wondering gaze—and now it is past, and now it begins to
look dim to the sight, and now it disappears. Just such is this transitory
world! Thus it begins to attract the eager gaze of mankind; thus it marches by
in swift procession from our eyes to meet the eyes of others—and thus it soon
vanishes and disappears! And shall we always be stupidly staring upon this empty
parade—and forget that world of substantial realities to which we are hastening?
No! Let us live and act as aspirants of that eternal world, and as having
nothing to do with this passing world—but only as a school, a state of
discipline, to educate and prepare us for eternity!

Oh! That I could successfully impress this exhortation upon all your hearts! Oh!
That I could prevail upon you all this day to break off your over-fond
attachment to this fleeting earth—and to make preparation for immortality! Could
I bring this point home to you—it would be a greater advantage than all the dead
could receive from any funeral eulogies from me. I speak for the advantage of
the living upon such occasions, and not to celebrate the virtues of those who
have already passed earth’s trial—and received their sentence from the supreme
Judge. And I am well satisfied the mourning relatives of our deceased friend,
who best knew and esteemed his worth, would rather be offended than pleased—if I
should prostitute the present hour to so base a purpose.

Indeed, many a character less worthy of praise, often makes a shining figure in
funeral sermons. Many who have not been such tender husbands, such affectionate
fathers, such kind masters, such sincere, upright friends, so honest and
punctual in trade, such zealous lovers of true religion and godly men—have had
their putrefying remains perfumed with public praise from a place so solemn as
the pulpit! But you can witness for me, it is not my usual manner to run to this
extreme. My business is with you—who are as yet alive to hear me. To you I call,
as with the voice of your deceased friend and neighbor: "Prepare! Prepare for
eternity!"

Oh! If the souls that you once knew, while clothed in flesh, should take my
place, would not this be their united voice, "Prepare, prepare for eternity, you
frail short-lived mortals! You close neighbors of death and eternity! You
borderers upon heaven and hell—make ready, loosen your hearts from earth, and
all that it contains! Weigh anchor, and prepare to launch away into the
boundless ocean of eternity—which is now within your sight, and roars within
your hearing!" This I say, brethren, with great confidence, "The time is short!
From now on, those who have wives—should live as if they had none; those who
mourn—as if they did not; those who rejoice—as though they did not rejoice;
those who buy something—as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the
things of the world—as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present
form," in all its schemes of affairs, in all its vain parade, all the futile
farce of life, "is passing away!" And away let it pass—if we may at last obtain
a better country; that is, a heavenly one! Which may God grant, for Jesus’ sake!
Amen.


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  CHAPTER 16: 13-UNSEEN THINGS TO BE PREFERRED TO SEEN THINGS
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UnseenThings to Be Preferred toSeenThings by Samuel Davies (1724–1761)

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen—but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary—but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

Among all the causes of the stupid unconcernedness of sinners about true
religion, and the feeble endeavors of saints to improve in it—there is none more
common or more effectual, than their not forming a due estimate of the things of
time—in comparison with those of eternity. Our present affairs engross all our
thoughts, and exhaust all our activity, though they are but transitory trifles;
while the solemn realities of the future world are hid from our eyes by the veil
of flesh and the clouds of ignorance. Did these unseen eternal realities break
in upon our minds in all their tremendous importance, they would annihilate the
most desired vanities of the present state, obscure the glare of all earthly
glory, render all its pleasures insipid, and give us a noble resignation under
all its sorrows. A realizing view of these eternal realities, would shock the
worldling in his thoughtless career, tear off the hypocrite’s mask, and inflame
the devotion of the languishing saints. The concern of mankind would then be how
they might make a safe exit out of this world—and not how they may live happy in
their earthly state. Present pleasure and pain—would be swallowed up in the
prospect of everlasting happiness or misery hereafter! Eternity, solemn
eternity, would then be our serious contemplation. The pleasures of sin would
strike us with horror—as they issue in eternal pain! And our present
afflictions, however tedious and severe, would appear but light and momentary—if
they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!

These were the views which the apostle had of things, and these their effects
upon him. He informs us in this chapter of his unwearied zeal to propagate the
gospel amidst all the hardships and dangers that attend the painful discharge of
his ministry. Though he bore about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
though he was always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake—yet he fainted not.
And this was the prospect that animated him—that his "light affliction, which
was but for a moment, would work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory!" (2 Corinthians 4:17). When we view his sufferings in
themselves, without any reference to eternity—they were very heavy and of many
years’ continuance; and when he represents them in this view, how pitiable is
the narrative! (See 2 Corinthians 11:23-29). But when he views them in the light
of eternity, and compared with their glorious outcome—they sink into nothing!
Then scourging, stoning, imprisonment, and all the various deaths to which he
was daily exposed—are but light, trifling afflictions, hardly worth naming! Then
a series of uninterrupted sufferings for many years—are but momentary
afflictions! And when he views a glorious futurity, human language cannot
express the ideas he has of the happiness reserved for him; it is "a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory!" A noble sentiment! And expressed in the
sublimest manner the language of mortals can conceive!

It is glory—in opposition to affliction! It is a weight of glory—in opposition
to light affliction! It is a massive, extensive blessedness, which it requires
all the powers of the soul, in their full exertion, to support! In opposition to
affliction for a moment—it is eternal glory! And to finish all, it is a far more
exceeding glory! What greater idea can be grasped by the human mind, or
expressed in the feeble language of mortality! Nothing but actually feeling that
weight of glory could enlarge his conception; and nothing but the dialect of
heaven could better express it! No wonder that, with this view of things, Paul
wrote, "I consider that our present sufferings—are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us!" (Romans 8:18) The apostle observes, that he
formed this estimate of things, while he looked not at the "things which are
seen—but at the things which are unseen." By the things that are SEEN, are meant
the present life, and all the things of time: all the pleasures and pains, all
the labors, pursuits, and amusements of the present state. By the things that
are Unseen, are intended all the invisible realities of the eternal world: all
the beings, the enjoyments and sufferings which lie beyond the reach of human
sight—such as the great Deity, the joys of paradise, and the punishment of hell.

We are to look on these invisible things, and not on those that are seen. This
seems like a contradiction; but is it easily solved by understanding this act,
described by LOOKING, to be the act not of the bodily eye—but of faith and
enlightened reason. Faith is defined by this apostle to be "the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). And it is the
apostle’s chief design in that chapter, to give instances of the surprising
efficacy of such a realizing belief of eternal, invisible things (see
particularly Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 11:13-14; Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 11:25-27).

Hence to look not at visible—but at invisible things, signifies that the apostle
made unseen eternal realities, the chief objects of his contemplations, so that
he was governed in the whole of his conduct by the impression of eternal
things—and not by the present; that he formed his maxims and schemes from a
comprehensive survey of futurities—and not from a partial view of things
present; and, in short, that he had acted as an expectant of eternity—and not as
a fleeting inhabitant of this wretched world. This he else where expresses in
equivalent terms, "We walk by faith—and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Further, he assigns a reason why he had a greater regard to invisible things
than the visible, in the regulating of his conduct: "For what is seen is
temporary—but what is unseen is eternal." An important reason indeed! Eternity
when compared to a trifle—would advance it into infinite importance! But when
eternity is the adjective of the most perfect happiness, or of the most
exquisite misery—then it transcends all comparison! Then all temporal happiness
and misery, however great and long-continued, shrink into nothing, are drowned
and lost—like the small drop of water in the boundless ocean. "Then they will go
away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life!"Matthew 25:46 My
present design, and the contents of the text, prescribe to me the following
method:

I. I shall give you a comparative view of visible and invisible things—that you
may see the trifling nature of the one—and the great importance of the other.
This I choose to do under one head, because by placing these two classes of
things in an immediate comparison, we may see their infinite disparity.

II. I shall show you the great and happy influence which a suitable impression
of the superior importance of invisible things to visible things, would have
upon us.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen—but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary—but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 I. AComparative
Viewof Visible and Invisible Things We may compare visible and invisible things:

as to their intrinsic value, and as to their duration.

1. Consider the infinite disparity between the invisible things and the visible
things—as to their INTRINSIC VALUE. In this respect, the disparity is
inconceivable! This I shall illustrate in the two comprehensive instances of
pleasure and pain. To shun the one, and obtain the other—is the natural effort
of the human mind. This is its aim in all its endeavors and pursuits. The innate
desire for happiness and aversion to misery—are the two great springs of all
human activity! Were these springs relaxed or broken, all business would cease,
all activity would stagnate, and universal torpor would seize the world! And
these principles are co-existent with the soul itself, and will continue in full
vigor in a future eternal state.

Nay, as the soul will then be matured, and all its powers arrived to their
complete perfection; this eagerness after happiness, and aversion to misery—will
be also more quick and vigorous! The soul in its present state of infancy, like
a young child, or a man enfeebled and stupefied by sickness—is incapable of very
deep sensations of pleasure and pain; and hence an excess of joy, as well as
sorrow, has sometimes dissolved its feeble union with the body. On this account,
we are incapable of such degrees of happiness or misery from the things of this
world—as beings of more lively sensations might receive from them. And much more
are we incapable of the happiness or misery of the future world—until we have
actually put on immortality!

We cannot see God and live. Should the glory of heaven blaze upon us in all its
majestic splendor—it would overwhelm our feeble nature; we could not support
such a weight of glory! And one twinge of the agonies of hell would dislodge the
soul from its earthly habitation! One pang of hell would convulse and stupefy
it—were not its powers strengthened by the separation from the body. But in the
future world all the powers of the soul will be mature and strong, and the body
will be clothed with immortality; the union between them after the resurrection
will be inseparable, and able to support the most oppressive weight of glory—or
the most intolerable load of torment!

Hence it follows that pleasure and pain include all that we can desire or
fear—in the present or future world; and therefore a comparative view of present
and future pleasure and pain is sufficient to enable us to form a due estimate
of visible and invisible things. By present pleasure I mean all the happiness we
can receive from present things: as from riches, honors, sensual gratifications,
learning, and intellectual improvements, and all the amusements and activities
of this life. And by future pleasure, or the pleasure which results from
invisible things, I mean all the fruitions and enjoyments in which heavenly
happiness consists. By present pain, I mean all the uneasiness which we can
receive from the things of the present life: as poverty, losses, mental
distress, disappointments, bereavements, sickness, and bodily pains. And by
future pain, I mean all the punishments of hell: as banishment from God, and a
privation of all created blessings, the agonizing reflections of a guilty
conscience, the horrid company and torments of infernal demons, and the torture
of infernal flames.

Now let us put these in the balance—and the one will sink into nothing, and the
other rise into infinite importance!

CONSIDER:

A. Temporal things are of a contracted nature, and not adequate to the
capacities of the human soul; but eternal things are great, and capable of
communicating all the happiness and misery which the soul can receive.

B. The soul in its present state is not capable of such degrees of happiness and
misery—as it will be in the future, when it actually dwells among invisible
realities.

C. All that pleasure and pain which we receive from things that are seen, are
intermingled with some ingredients of a contrary nature. In this present world,
our good and evil are blended. Our happiness has some bitter ingredients, and
our miseries have some agreeable mitigations. But the pleasure and pain which we
receive from things that are unseen, are pure and unmingled.

Let’s look at these facts in detail:

A. VISIBLE things are not equal to the capacities of the human soul. This little
spark of being, the soul, which lies obscured in this prison of flesh, gives
frequent discoveries of surprising powers; its desires in particular, have a
kind of infinity. But all temporary objects are base and contracted; they cannot
afford the soul a happiness equal to its capacity—nor render it as miserable as
its capacity of suffering will bear. Hence, in the greatest affluence of
temporal enjoyments, in the midst of honors, pleasures, riches, friends, etc.,
it still feels a painful void within, and finds an unknown something lacking, to
complete its happiness.

Kings have been unhappy upon their thrones—and all their grandeur has been but
majestic misery! So Solomon found it, who had both curiosity and opportunity to
make the experiment; and this is his verdict upon all earthly enjoyments, after
the most extensive and impartial trial: "Vanity of vanities" says the Preacher,
"vanity of vanities; all is vanity and vexation of spirit!" (Ecclesiastes 1:2;
Ecclesiastes 1:13). On the other hand, the soul may possess some degree of
happiness, under all the miseries it is now capable of suffering from external
and temporal things. Guilt indeed denies it this support; but if there be no
internal broils, no anguish resulting from its own reflections—then not all the
visible afflictions can render it perfectly miserable; its capacity of suffering
is not put to its utmost stretch. This has been attested by the experience of
multitudes who have suffered for righteousness’ sake. But oh, when we take a
survey of INVISIBLE things—we find them all great and majestic, not only equal,
but infinitely superior to the most enlarged powers of the human and even of the
angelic nature. In His eternal worlds—the great Invisible dwells, and there He
acts with His own direct hand. It is He who directly and personally communicates
happiness through the heavenly regions. And it is His direct and personal breath
that, like a stream of brimstone, kindles the flames of hell. Whereas, in the
present world, He rarely communicates happiness, and inflicts punishment—but by
the instrumentality of creatures; and it is impossible that the extremity of
either happiness or misery—should be communicated through the instrumentality of
creatures. This the infinite God alone can do, and, though in the future worlds
He will use His creatures to heighten the happiness or misery of each other—yet
He will have a more direct and personal agency in them Himself. He will
communicate happiness directly and personally from Himself, the infinite
fountain of it—into the vessels of mercy! And He will directly and personally
show His wrath, and make His power known upon the vessels of wrath.

I may add, that those BEINGS, angels and devils, which will be the instruments
of happiness or misery to the human soul in the invisible world—are incomparably
more powerful than any in this present world—and consequently capable of
contributing more to our pleasure or pain. And let me also observe, that all
OBJECTS about which our faculties will be employed then—will be great and
majestic; whereas, at present, we grovel among little sordid things. The objects
of our contemplation, will then be either the unveiled glories of the divine
nature, and the unveiled wonders of creation, providence, and redemption; OR the
unveiled terrors of divine justice, the dreadful nature and aggravations of our
sin, the horrors of everlasting punishment, etc. And since this is the case, how
little should we regard the things that are seen—in comparison of those which
are unseen? But though visible things were adequate to our present
capacities—yet they are not to be compared with the things that are unseen,
because:

B. The soul is at present in a state of infancy, and incapable of such degrees
of pleasure or pain—as it can bear in the future world. The enjoyments of this
present life—are like the playthings of children; and none but childish souls
would trifle with them, or fret and vex themselves or one another about them!
But the invisible realities awaiting us are manly and great, and such as an
adult soul ought to concern itself with. The soul in the eternal world, can no
more be happy or miserable from such earthly toys—than men can be happy or
wretched in the possession or loss of the baubles of children! In the eternal
world, the soul will then necessitate great things to give it pleasure or pain.
The apostle illustrates this matter in this manner: "For we know in part and we
prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I
was a child—I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man—I put childish ways behind me." (1 Corinthians
13:9-11). How foolish is it then, to be chiefly governed by these childish
earthly toys—while we neglect the great and manly concerns of eternity—which
alone can make our souls perfectly happy or miserable, when their powers are
come to perfection!

C. And lastly, All that pleasure and pain which we receive from things that are
seen, are intermingled with some ingredients of a contrary nature. In this
present world, our good and evil are blended. Our happiness has some bitter
ingredients, and our miseries have some agreeable mitigations. But the pleasure
and pain which we receive from things that are unseen, are pure and unmingled.

We are never so HAPPY in this world—as to have no uneasiness! In the greatest
affluence—we languish for lack of some absent good, or grieve under some
incumbent evil. On the other hand, we are never so MISERABLE in this world—as to
have no ingredient of happiness. When we labor under a thousand calamities, we
may still see ourselves surrounded with, perhaps, an equal number of blessings.
And where now is there a wretch so miserable—as to endure unmingled misery,
without one comfortable ingredient? But in the invisible world, there is an
eternal separation made between good and evil, pleasure and pain; and they shall
never more mingle. In heaven—the rivers of pleasure flow untroubled with a drop
of sorrow. In hell, there is not a drop of water to mitigate the fury of the
eternal flame! And who then would not prefer the things that are unseen—to those
that are seen?

2. Now consider the infinite disparity between the invisible things and the
visible things—as to DURATION. This is the difference particularly intended in
the text: "For what is seen is temporary—but what is unseen is eternal." The
transitoriness of visible things, implies both that the things themselves are
perishable—and they may soon leave us; and that our residence among them is
temporary—and we must soon leave them! And the eternity of invisible things
implies quite the contrary: that the things themselves are of endless duration;
and that we shall always exist to receive either happiness—or misery from them!

Before we illustrate these instances of disparity, let us take a view of TIME
and ETERNITY in themselves; and as compared to one another.

TIME is the duration of creatures in the present earthly state. Time commenced
at the creation, and some six thousand years of it have since elapsed. And how
much of time yet remains—we know not. But this we do know: that the duration of
the world itself—is as nothing in comparison of eternity. But what is our
personal duration, when compared with the duration even of this world? It is but
a span, a hair’s-breadth; sixty, seventy, or eighty years—is generally the
highest limit of human life, and it is by far the smallest number of mankind who
arrive to these upper limits. Most people die like a flower blasted in the
morning, or at noon; and we have more reason to expect that this will be our
fate—than to hope for a long earthly life. The short span of time we enjoy in
life—is all the time we really have; we have no more property in the rest of
time—than in the years before the flood! Beyond our brief span—is eternity.
ETERNITY! We are alarmed at the sound! We are lost in the prospect!

Eternity with respect to GOD—is a duration without beginning—as well as without
end. Eternity, as it is the attribute of HUMAN nature, is a duration that had a
beginning, but shall never have an end. This "eternity" is inalienably entailed
upon us poor, dying worms! Let us survey our inheritance:

Eternity! It is a duration that exceeds all number and computation: days, and
months, and years, yes, and ages, are lost in it—like drops in the ocean!
Millions of millions of years, as many years as there are sands on the
sea-shore, or particles of dust in the globe of the earth, and these multiplied
to the highest reach of number—all these are nothing, when compared to eternity!
They do not bear the least imaginable proportion to it—for these will all
certainly come to an end! But eternity will never, never come to an end!
Eternity is a line without end! Eternity is an ocean without a shore! Alas! What
shall I say of it! It is an infinite, unknown something, that neither human
thought can grasp, nor human language describe!

Now place TIME—in comparison with ETERNITY—and what is it? It shrinks into
nothing, and less than nothing! What then is that little span of time in which
we have any present interest? Alas! It is too diminutive a point to be
conceived! Indeed, properly speaking, we can call no part of time our own—but
the present moment, this ’fleeting now’!

Future time is uncertain—and we may never live it; the breath we now inspire may
be our last! And as to our past time, it is gone—and will never be ours again.
Our past days are dead and buried, though perhaps guilt, their ’spirit’, may
haunt us still. And what is a moment—when compared to eternity? The disparity is
too great to admit of comparison!

Let me now resume the former particulars, implied in the transitoriness of
visible things—and the eternity of invisible things.

VISIBLE things are perishable and may soon leave us. When we think that they are
ours—they often fly from our embrace!

Riches may vanish into smoke and ashes—by an accidental fire!

We may be thrown down from the pinnacle of honor—and sink into utter disgrace!

Sensual pleasures often end in excess and disgust—or in sickness and death! Our
friends are torn from our bleeding hearts by the inexorable hand of death! Our
liberty and property may be wrested from us by the hand of tyranny, oppression,
or fraud! In a word, there is nothing which we now enjoy—but we may quickly
lose! On the other hand, our miseries here on earth are temporary. The heart
receives many a wound—but it heals again. Poverty may end in riches. A blemished
character may clear up, and from disgrace—we may rise to honor. We may recover
from sickness. And if we lose one comfort—we may obtain another. But in
eternity—everything is everlasting and unchangeable! Happiness and misery are
both without end—and the subjects of both well know that this is the case.

It is this eternality and perpetuity, which completes the happiness of the
inhabitants of heaven; the least suspicion of an end—would intermingle itself
with all their enjoyments, and embitter them; for the greater the happiness, the
greater the anxiety at the expectation of losing it. But oh, how transporting
for the saints on high, to look forward through the succession of eternal ages,
with an assurance that they shall be happy through them all, and that they shall
feel no change—but from glory to glory! On the other hand, this is the bitterest
ingredient in the cup of divine displeasure in the future state—that the misery
is eternal! Oh, with what horror does that despairing cry, "Forever! Forever!
Forever!" echo through the vaults of hell!

Eternity is such an important property, that it gives infinite weight to things
that would be insignificant, were they temporary. A small degree of happiness,
if it is eternal—exceeds the greatest degree of happiness that is transitory.
And a small degree of misery that is everlasting—is of greater importance than
the greatest degree of misery that soon comes to an end. You would prefer to
endure the most painful tortures that nature can bear for a moment—rather than
an eternal toothache or headache!

Again, should we consider all the ingredients and causes of future happiness and
misery—we would find them all everlasting. The blessed God is an inexhaustible
and perennial fountain of bliss! His image can never be erased from the hearts
of glorified spirits—the contemplation of the great God will always be obvious
to them; and they will always exist as the partakers and promoters of mutual
bliss. On the other hand, in hell the worm of conscience never dies, and the
fire is never quenched! Divine justice is immortal. Malignant spirits will
always exist as mutual tormentors, and their wicked habits will never be
extirpated. And now, need I offer anything further to convince you of the
superior importance of invisible and eternal things—to visible and temporary
things? Can a rational being be at a loss to choose, in so plain a case? Can you
need any arguments to convince you that an eternity of the most perfect
happiness—is rather to be chosen than a few years of sordid, unsatisfying
delight? Or that the former should not be forfeited—for the sake of the latter?
Have you any remaining scruples, whether the little concerns and mortifications
of a pious life—are more intolerable than everlasting punishment? Oh! It is a
plain case! Why then, does the infatuated world, lay out all their concern on
temporal things—and neglect the important affairs of eternity?

Let us illustrate this matter by a supposition. Suppose a little bird were to
pick up and carry away a grain of sand or dust from the globe of this earth,
once in a thousand years, until this present world should at length be wholly
carried away. The duration which this would take up, appears a kind of eternity
to us. Now suppose it were put to our choice, either to be happy during this
length of time—and miserable ever after; or to be miserable during this length
of time—and happy ever after; which would you choose? Why, though this duration
seems endless—yet he would be a fool who would not make the latter choice! For,
oh, oh! behind this vast duration—there lies an eternity, which exceeds it
infinitely more than this duration exceeds a moment! But we have no such
seemingly puzzling choice as this; the matter with us stands thus—Will you
choose the little sordid pleasures of sin that may perhaps not last an hour, or
at most, not many years—rather than everlasting pleasure of the sublimest kind?
Will you prefer to endure intolerable torment forever—rather than endeavor to be
holy here on earth for a short time? What does your conduct, my friends, answer
to these questions? If your tongues reply, they will perhaps for your credit
give a right answer; but what does your prevailing disposition and common
practice say? Are you not more thoughtful for time—than eternity? Are you not
more concerned about visible vanities—than invisible realities? If so, you make
a fool’s choice indeed! But let it be further considered, that the
transitoriness of visible things may imply that we must before long be removed
from them! Even if they were eternal—it would be nothing to us, since we are not
so in our present state. Within a few years at most—we shall be beyond the reach
of all happiness and misery from temporal things! But when we pass out of this
transitory state—we enter upon an everlasting state. Our souls will always
exist, exist in a state of unchangeable, boundless happiness—or misery. It is
but a little while ago, that we came out of a state of eternal non-existence,
and into being; but we shall never relapse into that state again. These little
sparks of being shall never be extinguished! They will survive the ruins of the
world, and kindle into immortality! When millions of millions of ages are
past—we shall still be in existence! And oh! in what unknown region? In that of
endless bliss—or of interminable misery? Is this the most anxious inquiry of our
lives?

Seeing then we must soon leave this world—and all its joys and sorrows; and
seeing we must enter on an unchangeable, everlasting state of happiness or
misery—it must be our chief concern to end our present pilgrimage well. It
matters but little whether we lie easy or not—during this short night of
existence—if so be we awake in eternal day. It is but a trifle, hardly worth a
thought—whether we are happy or miserable here on earth—so long as we are happy
forever hereafter! Why then—all this hustle and bustle of mankind about the
fleeting things of time? Oh, sirs, Eternity! Solemn, all important eternity—is
the only thing that deserves a thought!

II. The INFLUENCE of Seeing Things Aright

I now come, to show the great and happy influence a suitable impression of the
superior importance of invisible to visible things, would have upon us. This I
might exemplify in a variety of instances, with respect to saints—and sinners.
When we are tempted to any forbidden pleasures—how we would shrink away with
horror from the sinful pursuit—had we a due sense of the misery incurred, and
the happiness forfeited by it! When we find our hearts excessively eager after
earthly things, had we a suitable view of eternal things—all these things would
shrink into trifles hardly worth a thought, much less our principal concern!
When the sinner, for the sake of a little present ease, and to avoid a little
present uneasiness, stifles his conscience, refuses to examine his condition
before God, casts the thoughts of eternity out of his mind, and thinks it too
hard to attend on all the means of grace—has he then a proper estimate of
eternal things? Alas! no! He only looks at the things that are seen. Were the
mouth of hell open before him—that he might behold its torments; and had he a
sight of the joys of paradise, they would harden him into a general
insensibility to all the sorrows and anxieties of this life, and his inquiry
would not be whether these things required of him are easy—but whether they are
necessary to obtain eternal happiness, and avoid everlasting misery! When we
suffer any reproach or contempt for the sake of Christ—how would a due estimate
of eternal things fortify us with undaunted courage and make us willing to climb
to heaven through disgrace—rather than sink to hell with the universal applause
of men!

How would a realizing view of eternal things, animate us in our devotions? Were
this thought impressed on our hearts when in the secret or social duties of
religion, "I am now acting for eternity," do you think we would pray, read, or
hear with so much indifference and languor? Oh, no! It would rouse us out of our
dead frames, and call forth all the vigor of our souls. With what unwearied
importunity would we cry to God! With what eagerness would we hear the word of
salvation!

How powerful an influence would a view of future eternal realities, have to
alarm the secure sinner who has thought little of eternity all of his
life—though it is the only thing worth thinking of!

How would it hasten the determination of the lingering, wavering sinner, and
shock him at the thought of being unprepared to meet God, while living on the
very brink of eternity! In a word, a suitable impression of this would quite
alter the aspect of things in the world, and would turn the concern and activity
of the world into another channel. Eternity then would be the principal concern.
Our inquiries would not be, "Who will show us any temporal good? What shall we
eat, or what shall we drink?"—but rather, "What shall we do to be saved? How
shall we escape the wrath to come?" Let us then endeavor to impress our hearts
with invisible realities, and for that purpose consider, that:

We shall, before long, be engulfed in this solemn eternity, whether we think of
it—or not. A few days or years will surely launch us there—and oh, the
surprising scenes that will then open to us!

Without deep impressions of eternity on our hearts, and frequent thoughtfulness
about it—we cannot be prepared for it. And if we are not prepared for it—oh, how
inconceivably miserable is our case! But if prepared, how inconceivably happy!

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen—but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary—but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18


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  CHAPTER 17: 14-THE REJECTION OF GOSPEL-LIGHT, THE CONDEMNATION OF MEN
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The Rejection of Gospel-light, the Condemnation of Men

A sermon by Samuel Davies, delivered at Princeton College

"And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does
evil hates the light, and will not come into the light—for fear that his deeds
will be exposed!" John 3:19-20

What a strange and alarming declaration is this! Light has come into the world!
The Sun of Righteousness has risen upon this region of darkness; therefore it is
enlightened; therefore it is bright daylight with all its rational inhabitants:
therefore they will no longer grope and stumble in darkness—but all find their
way into the world of eternal light and glory.

These would be natural inferences from this event that we would be apt to expect
from the entrance of light into the world. But hear and tremble, you inhabitants
of the enlightened parts of the earth! hear and tremble, you inhabitants of
Princeton! The benevolent Jesus, the Friend of human nature, the Savior of men,
whose lips never dropped an over-severe word, or gave a false alarm: Jesus
himself proclaims, "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

"This is the condemnation!" That is, this is the great occasion of more
aggravated condemnation at the final judgment, and of more severe and dreadful
punishments in the eternal world; or, this is the cause of men’s condemning
themselves even now at the bar of their own consciences. That light has come
into the world—Jesus, the Sun of the moral world, has risen, and darts his beams
around him in the gospel. And this furnishes guilty minds with materials for
self-condemnation; and their obstinate resistance of the light enhances their
guilt, and will render their condemnation the more aggravated; and the reason
is, that "men love darkness rather than light!" They choose ignorance rather
than knowledge! The Sun of righteousness is not agreeable to them—but shines as
a baleful, ill-boding luminary. If they did but love the light, its entrance
into the world would be their salvation; but now it is their condemnation!

Truly, light is sweet—and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see the light
of the sun. And no light is so sweet as this divine light from heaven—no sun so
bright and reviving as the Sun of righteousness! But why do they hate the light?
Alas! there is no reason for it—but this wretched one, "men loved darkness
rather than light—because their deeds were evil!" And evil deeds always excite
uneasiness in the light, and afford the conscience matter of self-accusation,
therefore they wrap them selves up in darkness, and avoid the painful
discoveries of the light! The text directs us to the following inquiries:

What is that light which has come into the world?

What is that darkness which is opposed to it?

What are the evidences of men’s loving darkness rather than light?

What is the reason for it? In what respect is the light’s coming into the world,
and men’s loving darkness rather than light—their condemnation?

1. What is that LIGHT, which has come into the world? The answer to this and the
other questions, I shall endeavor to accommodate to our own times and
circumstances, that we may the more readily apply it to ourselves. The light of
reason entered our world as soon as the soul of man was created; and, though it
is greatly obscured by the grand apostasy—yet some sparks of it still remain. To
supply its defects, the light of Revelation soon darted its beams through the
clouds of ignorance which obscured the human mind—on its flying off to so great
a distance from the Father of lights. This heavenly day began feebly to dawn
upon the first pair of sinners, in that early promise concerning the seed of the
woman: and it grew brighter and brighter in the successive revelations made to
the patriarchs, to Moses, and the prophets; until at length the Messiah
appeared, as an illustrious sun—after a gradual, tedious twilight of the opening
dawn. The light of human literature has also come into the world, and shines
with unusual splendors upon our age and nation; and lo! it illuminates this
little village, and extends its beams through the land. But it is not light in
any of these senses, that our Lord principally intends—but himself and his
blessed gospel; a more clear and divine light than any of the former.

He often represents himself under the strong and insightful metaphor of LIGHT.
"I am the light of the world," says he: "he who follows me shall not walk in
darkness." John 8:12. "I am come as a light into the world, that whoever
believes in me, should not abide in darkness." John 12:46. Light is a strong and
beautiful metaphor for knowledge, prosperity, comfort, and happiness; and these
are the rays which the blessed Jesus diffuses around him. But wherever he does
not shine, all is sullen and dismal darkness. HELL is the BLACKNESS of darkness
forever, because he does not extend to it the light of his countenance. That
country where he does not shine—is the land of darkness and the shadow of death!
And that heart which is not illuminated with the light of the knowledge of his
glory—is the gloomy dungeon of infernal spirits. But wherever he shines, there
is intellectual day, the bright meridian of glory and blessedness. His gospel
also is frequently represented as a great light; and no metaphor was ever used
with more emphasis and propriety. His gospel is the medium through which we
discover the glory of the Deity, the beauties of holiness, the evil of sin, and
the reality and infinite importance of eternal, invisible things! His gospel is
the light that reveals the secrets of the heart, and reveals ourselves to
ourselves. It is this which gives us a just and full view of our duty to God and
man, which is but imperfectly or falsely represented in every other system of
religion and morality in the world. It is this which reveals and ascertains the
method in which rebels may be reconciled to their offended Sovereign, and
exhibits a Savior in full view to perishing sinners.

Hail! sacred heaven-born light! Welcome to our eyes, O brightest and fairest
effulgence of the divine perfections! May this dayspring from on high, visit all
the regions of this benighted world, and overwhelm it as with a deluge of
celestial light! Blessed be God, its vital rays have reached to us in these ends
of the earth; and if any of us remain ignorant of the important discoveries it
makes—it is because we love darkness rather than light! Which leads me to
inquire, II. What is that DARKNESS, which is opposed to this heavenly light?

Darkness is a word of gloomy import; and there is hardly anything dismal or
destructive—but what is expressed by it in Scripture. But the precise sense of
the word in my text is, a state of ignorance, and the absence of the means of
conviction. Men love darkness rather than light; that is, they choose to be
ignorant, rather than well-informed. They choose to be ignorant, particularly of
such things as will give them uneasiness to know—such as their sin, and the
danger to which it exposes them. They are willfully ignorant; and hence they
hate the means that would alarm them with the mortifying discovery. They would
rather be flattered than told the honest truth, and know their own character and
condition; and hence they shut their eyes against the light of the gospel—which
would flash the painful conviction upon them. Though the light of the gospel
shines round you—yet are not some of you involved in this darkness? This you may
know by the next inquiry.

III. What are the EVIDENCES of men’s loving darkness, rather than light? The
general evidence, which comprehends all the rest, is their avoiding the means of
conviction, and using all the artifices in their power to render them
ineffectual.

Those of you who love darkness rather than light, are so much upon your guard
against the discovery, as not to perceive your own character. Though you may
have a turn for speculation, and perhaps delight in every other branch of
knowledge—yet the knowledge of yourselves, the knowledge of your duties to God,
the discovery of your sin and danger, of your miserable condition as under the
condemnation of the divine law—this kind of self-knowledge you carefully shun!
And, when it irresistibly flashes upon you—then you endeavor to shut up all the
avenues of your mind, through which it might break upon you, and you avoid those
means of conviction from which it proceeds!

You set yourselves upon an attempt which is very preposterous and absurd in a
rational being, and that is, Not to think. When the ill-boding surmise rises
within, "All is not well with my soul! I am not prepared for the eternal world!
If I should die in this condition, I am undone forever!" When conscience thus
whispers your doom, it may make you sad and pensive for a minute or two—but you
soon forget it; you designedly labor to cast it out of your thoughts, and to
recover your former stupid serenity. Thelight of convictionis apainful blazeto a
guilty eye! So you wrap yourselves up in darkness, lest it should break in upon
you! When your thoughts are likely to fix upon this painful subject, do you not
labor to divert them into another channel? You immerse yourselves in business,
you mingle in company, you indulge and nourish a thoughtless levity of mind, you
break out of retirement into the wide world—that theater of folly, trifling, and
dissipation! And all this to scatter the gloom of conviction which hangs over
your ill-boding minds, and silence the clamors of an exasperated conscience! You
laugh, or talk, or work, or study away these fits of seriousness! You endeavor
to prejudice yourselves against them, by giving them ill names such as
fanaticism, narrow-mindedness, and I know not what! Whereas they are indeed—the
honest struggles of an oppressed conscience to obtain a fair hearing, and give
you faithful warning of approaching ruin! They are the benevolent efforts of the
Spirit of grace to save a lost soul. And O! it would be happy for you if you had
yielded to them, and nourished the serious hour! For the same reason, also, you
love a soft representation of Christianity, as an easy, indolent, inactive
thing; requiring no vigorous exertion, and attended with no difficult conflict!
You love an easy-going gospel which encourages your hopes of heaven—even while
you remain in a course of sloth, carelessness, and sinful indulgence! Your
favorite sermons and favorite books—are those which flatter you with smooth
things, putting the most favorable construction upon your wickedness, and
representing the way to heaven as smooth and easy! Or if you have an
unaccountable fondness for faithful, and therefore, alarming preaching, as it
must be owned that some self-flatterers have, it is not with a view to apply it
to yourselves—but to others. If you love the light, it is not that you may see
yourselves—but other objects. And whenever it forces upon you a glance of
yourselves, you immediately turn from it and hate it!

Hatred of the light, perhaps, is the reason why so many among us are so
impatient of public worship; so fond of their own homes on the sacred hours
consecrated to divine service: and are so reluctant, so late, or so inconstant
in their attendance. It is darkness perhaps, at home; but the house of God is
filled with bright light, which they hate—because their deeds are evil! This
also is one reason why they hate the conversation of zealous Christians, who are
not ashamed to talk of what lies nearest their hearts—their Savior, and His
gospel; and to express an abhorrence of what they so sincerely hate—the sins of
mankind, and every appearance of evil. I say, this is one reason why their
conversation is such a heavy and painful burden to those who love darkness. Such
godly men reflect the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and the beauties of
holiness all around them! They carry light with them wherever they go—and this
light strikes painful conviction to the guilty. The strictness, the warm
devotion and spirituality of their lives, pass a sentence of condemnation upon
the ungodly; a sentence which they cannot but feel, and which therefore renders
them very uneasy. Hence it is that such lively and holy believers are not at all
popular in the world. The favorites of the world are your pliable, obliging,
accommodating professors, who never carry true religion with them into polite
company—but conform themselves to the taste of those they converse with. These
give no man’s conscience uneasiness, they reflect no heavenly light—but thicken
the darkness of every company in which they appear; therefore they are quite
acceptable to every lover of darkness.

Another expedient that has often been used, and which some of you perhaps have
attempted, to avoid the light, is: to endeavor to work up yourselves to a
disbelief of the Christian gospel. If you could banish that heavenly light out
of the world, or substitute darkness in its place—then you might perpetrate the
works of darkness with more confidence and abandonment! Therefore you eagerly
listen to the laughs, the jeers, the railleries and sophisms of loose wits
against the gospel; and you are afraid to give a fair hearing to the many
satisfactory evidences in its favor. Thus you nourish that hideous monster,
UNBELIEF; which is your own offspring, not Satan’s, though he is the father of
lies; for the demons believe—and tremble! James 2:19.

These artifices and the like, are the effects, and consequently the evidences
and indications of men’s loving darkness rather than light. And instead of a
larger illustration, I shall conclude this head with a plain honest appeal to my
hearers. As in the presence of the heart-searching God, I solemnly appeal to
your consciences, whether you do not deal partially with yourselves, and refuse
pursuing those hints of your dangerous condition—because you love darkness, and
therefore do not want to make a full discovery of your dreadful condition! Do
not your hearts smite you, because you have suppressed evidence, when it was
against you, and shut your eyes against plain conviction? When the looking-glass
of the divine law has been held up before you, and shown you your own hideous
image—have you not gone away, and soon forgot what kind of men you are? Do you
not know in your consciences, that the hopes you entertain of future
happiness—are not the result of severe repeated trial—but on the other hand, owe
their strength and even their being to a superficial examination, or none at
all—to blind self-flattery and excessive self-love, which tempt you to believe
things—just as you would have them? Is it censoriousness, or is it evidence and
faithfulness, that constrains me to cry out, "O! how rare are well-founded,
well-attested hopes of heaven among us! Hopes supported by that only sufficient
proof—a conspicuous holiness of heart and life!"

I proceed to inquire, IV. What is the REASON of thisabsurd preference, that men
love darkness rather than light? The melancholy reason of this is easily
discovered, and has been partly anticipated; and it is this: that men love ease
and peace of mind—rather than fear and anxiety. They arereallyobnoxious sinners,
under the dreadful displeasure of almighty God, and on the slippery brink of
everlasting destruction! Now to have a full conviction of this—would alarm their
fears, embitter their pleasures, dampen their eager pursuits after the world,
and cast their minds into a ferment of anxiety and terror! But to be blind to
all these miserable prospects, to be elated with hopeful expectations of the
contrary, to have all serene and calm within, to be charmed with all the fine
delusions of a flattering imagination; to be ignorant of danger, and pleased
with themselves; this is a state they naturally delight in! In this state they
will lull themselves asleep at all hazards, regardless of the consequence! And
as darkness is the most proper attendant of sleep, therefore they choose it. But
the light of the gospel let into the conscience would give them quite another
view of things! It would: overturn all their towering hopes; set the terrors of
the Lord in array against them; open such shocking prospects in the ways of sin—
that they could no longer dare to walk in them; would constrain them to indulge
the sorrows of a broken heart, and to long, and pant, and look, and cry for a
Savior! This would be a very painful exercise to them; and therefore they hate
and shun the light, which would force the unwelcome convictions upon them!

"But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen
plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:21. Such a one
is willing to be searched. The trial is in his favor, and will turn out to his
honor. This is the reason which Christ himself assigns for some men’s loving
darkness, rather than light. "But everyone who does evil hates the light, and
will not come into the light—for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John
3:20. It is the fear of this ’exposure’ which makes him afraid of the light; for
he cannot but be conscious that his evil deeds deserve divine punishment: and to
be thus ’exposed’ will yield him pain.

"But since they have such favorable thoughts of themselves, and entertain such
high hopes—why are they afraid of the light? Must they not rather presume its
discoveries will be in their favor? And if so, why do they hate it?"

I answer, that notwithstanding all their high sentiments of themselves, they
have often a secret suspicion that they are not well grounded, and that the
light would make some dreadful discoveries concerning themselves! And hence they
will not venture to trust themselves in the light, lest their secret suspicion
should be confirmed, and rise into a full conviction.

It is really so evident that they are guilty, unholy creatures, unfit for
heaven, and their consciences sometimes give them such hints of this alarming
secret—that they cannot keep themselves altogether ignorant of it. They
therefore try to evade the trial, lest the sentence should go against them. I
appeal to your own hearts, my friends, whether this is not the true reason why
you are so unwilling to examine yourselves, and submit to the severe scrutiny of
the light of Scripture? What is the true reason why you are averse to the light
of self-knowledge, and the means that would obtrude it upon you? Is it not
because you cannot but pre-judge the matter even against yourselves—in spite of
all the arts of self-flattery? And if there are such strong evidence against
you—that even yourselves cannot but dread a trial at the tribunal of your
consciences—then is it not evident, that your chosen darkness is your only guard
against conviction, and that your case is really bad? And if so, how sorry a
relief is it to avoid the discovery! Since all your preposterous care to avoid
it—will but aggravate your condemnation! Which naturally introduces the last
inquiry:

V. In what respects, that the light’s coming into the world, and men’s loving
darkness rather than light—is their own condemnation.

Here I have only to illustrate two particulars already hinted at; that this
furnishes them with matter for self-condemnation now—and will be the occasion of
their more aggravated condemnation in the eternal world.

1. This furnishes them with matter of self-condemnation in the PRESENT state. It
is hard, perhaps impossible, for sinners under the meridian light of the
gospel—to avoid all conviction of their guilt and danger. That light is very
penetrating, and will dart its rays through the thickest glooms of ignorance!
"For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword—it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart!" Hebrews 4:12.

Such of you, my friends, as are resolved to shun the mortification of
self-knowledge, live in a situation very unfavorable to your design. You have
had "burning and shining lights" among you, who have shone as the sun; (Davies
may here be alluding to Jonathan Edwards, president of Princeton College—who had
recently died). But, when they were translated to a higher sphere, the gospel
has not left you—but still shines around you; and you will find it very
difficult, I hope, impossible, to wrap up yourselves in Egyptian darkness in
such a Goshen—such a land of light. In Japan, India, or some savage region of
darkness—you might have lived in contented ignorance, and avoided those
unacceptable blazes of light which will now break in upon you, in spite of all
your vigilance; for under the faithful and solemn preaching of the gospel, your
consciences will often be disturbed, and you will find yourselves unable to go
on in sin boldly and fearlessly. And though in the thoughtless gaiety of health,
and the hurry and din of business—you may drown the clamors of conscience—yet in
a retired hour, upon a sick bed, and in the near views of death and
eternity—then conscience will speak, and constrain you to hear! And thus you
will live as unhappy, self-condemned creatures in this world, until you are
condemned by the righteous sentence of God in the world to come! Therefore
consider,

2. Your loving darkness rather than light, will occasion your more aggravated
condemnation in the ETERNAL world. It was in your power to receive warning, and
discover your danger in time! Nay, it cost you some pains to avoid the
discovery, and despise the warning. And what a fruitful source of
self-tormenting reflections will this be! How will you then fret, and vex, and
accuse, and condemn yourselves—for acting so foolish a part! How will you then
exhaust and spend yourselves in eager, fruitless wishes—that you had admitted
conviction, while the danger was avoidable! But, O! it will then be too late!

HELL is a region of darkness too—but not of that soothing, peaceful darkness of
ignorance, which you now prefer to the light of the gospel—but a dreadful,
tremendous, tormenting darkness, which will forever hide every bright and
pleasing prospect from your eyes! And yet, this darkness of hell will be the
proper medium for revealing sights of woe and terror! It will be a thick
darkness, occasioned by the everlasting eclipse of the Sun of righteousness and
the light of God’s countenance, who will never dart one ray of comfort or of
hope through the sullen gloom! In this blackness of this hellish darkness—you,
who now love darkness rather than light—must dwell forever! And O! how will your
consciences haunt and terrify you—in that black, cheerless, stormy, eternal
night! Your guilt will also appear great in the sight of God, as well as to your
own consciences, and therefore he will inflict the greater punishment upon you.
You have despised the richest blessings that even infinite goodness could bestow
upon sinful men; I mean, his gospel and his Son! You have made light of His
gospel in the most open and audacious manner. He knows you were even afraid to
discover your duty towards him; he knows you would not regard your own
consciences when they were his advocates, and that you were unwilling to admit
so much conviction as would render you sorry for your offences against him. Nay,
he knows that your being convinced, that this or that was an offence against
Him—was no restraint to you from the commission of it! In short, he knows that
you spent your lives either in sinning against knowledge—or in avoiding that
knowledge which would have prevented your sinning. And while he views you in
this light—what obstinate, willful, daring offenders must you appear in his
eyes! And what aggravated punishment must he judge to be your just recompense!
He also knows that you blinded yourself, and struggled against your own
salvation, and hated that light which would have shown you the way to
everlasting life! And must he not think you worthy of that dreadful eternal
destruction which you have voluntarily chosen—and refuse you admittance to that
eternal happiness which you willfully refused? This is the representation which
the holy Scriptures uniformly give us, of such as love darkness rather than
light. "If I had not come and spoken to them," says the blessed Jesus, "they
would not have sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." It shall be more
tolerable in the day of judgment—for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, though
most notorious for all manner of wickedness and debauchery—than for the cities
of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, in which Christ’s mighty works were done,
and the light of his gospel shone so brightly! Matthew 11:21; Matthew 11:24. And
this is perfectly agreeable to the eternal rules of justice and righteousness:
that much should be required—where much has been given; and that the degree of
guilt should be estimated by the degrees of obligation, and advantages for
obedience. And now, my dear hearers, upon a review of this subject, you see your
own circumstances: the light has come among you—it shines all around you! And, I
doubt not but at times it finds some openings through which it forces its way
even into your unwilling minds. You have light to distinguish between truth—and
error; between sin—and duty to God; between the way to heaven—and the way to
hell. You are warned, admonished and instructed. You have the strongest
inducements to a life of holiness—and the strongest dissuasives from a course of
sin. I leave you therefore to determine what your guilt and punishment must
be—if you choose darkness rather than light; if you refuse light so clear, so
reviving, so beneficial, so divine! This alarming subject is very pertinent to
us all, and we should all apply it to ourselves. But it is so peculiarly adapted
to the residents of this college, that I must direct my address particularly to
you, my dear pupils, who have had the light shine so brightly around you.

There is not one in a thousand people—who enjoy your spiritual advantages.
Light, human and divine, natural and supernatural, ancient and modern; that is,
knowledge of every kind—shines upon you, and you are every day basking under its
rays. You have nothing to do but to polish your minds, and, as it were, render
them luminous. But let me put you in mind, that unless you admit the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ to shine in your hearts—you will still be the
children of darkness, and confined in the blackness of darkness forever! This is
intolerably shocking, even in supposition: Suppose any of you should be
surrounded with more light than others—for no other purpose but that you may
have a stronger conflict with conviction, and that your consciences may with
greater force raise tumults and insurrections within you! Suppose your sins
should be the sins of men of learning and knowledge, the most daring and
gigantic sins on this side of hell! Suppose you should turn out to be sinners of
great abilities, fine geniuses, like the fallen angels, those vast intellects;
wise but wicked; wise to do evil; but without knowledge to do good! Suppose it
should be your highest character, that you can dispute well, that you know a few
dead languages, that you have passed through a course of philosophy; but as to
that knowledge which sanctifies all the rest, and renders them useful to
yourselves or others; that knowledge which alone can make you wise to salvation,
and guide you to avoid the paths of eternal destruction—you shun it, you hate
it, and choose to remain contentedly ignorant in this important respect!

Suppose your parents, who have financed your education; your friends, who have
entertained such high and pleasing expectations concerning you; church and
state, which look to you for help, and depend upon you to fill stations of
importance in the world; and your godly instructors, who observe your growing
improvements with proportional pleasure; suppose, that after all this sincere
labor, and all these pleasing prospects, they should see you at last doomed to
everlasting darkness, for your voluntary abuse of the light you now enjoy!

Suppose these things, and the consequences of these suppositions are so
dreadful—that I am not hardy enough to mention them. And O! shall they ever
become matters of fact!

Therefore, my dear pupils—admit the light, love it, and pursue it, though at
first it should make such discoveries as may be painful to you; for the pain
will prove medicinal. By discovering your danger in time—you may be able to
escape it. But never expect to remove the painful discovery—by the silly
expedient of shutting your eyes to the light! Be impartial inquirers after truth
as to yourselves—and no longer attempt to put a cheat upon yourselves! Alas! how
childish and foolish—as well as wicked and ruinous—would such an imposture be!
The gospel, in this particular, only requires you to be honest men; and surely
this is a most moderate and reasonable demand. Therefore, be children of the
light and of the day, and walk as such—and then you will be a blessing to the
world and to yourselves.

Finally, let us all remember the terror of this friendly warning: "And this is
the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates
the light, and will not come into the light—for fear that his deeds will be
exposed!" John 3:19-20


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  CHAPTER 18: 15-INGRATITUDE TO GOD�A HEINOUS BUT GENERAL INIQUITY
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Ingratitude to God—a Heinous but General Iniquity by Samuel Davies

"Hezekiah’s heart was proud—and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness
shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem." 2
Chronicles 32:25

Among the many vices that are at once universally decried, and universally
practiced in the world— there is none more base or more common than INGRATITUDE;
ingratitude towards the supreme Benefactor. Ingratitude is the sin of
individuals, of families, of churches, of kingdoms, and even of all mankind. The
guilt of ingratitude lies heavy upon the whole race of men, though, alas! but
few of them feel and lament it. I have felt it of late with unusual weight; and
it is the weight of it that now extorts a discourse from me upon this subject.

If the plague of an ungrateful heart must cleave to us while in this world of
sin and imperfection, let us at least lament it; let us bear witness against it;
let us condemn ourselves for it; and let us do all we can to suppress it in
ourselves. I feel myself, as it were, exasperated, and full of indignation
against it, and against myself, as guilty of it. And in the bitterness of my
spirit, I shall endeavor to expose it to your view in its proper infernal
colors—as an object of horror and indignation. None of us can flatter ourselves
that we are in little or no danger of this sin, when even so good and great a
man as Hezekiah did not escape the infection. In the memoirs of his life, which
are illustrious for piety, zeal for reformation, victory over his enemies, glory
and importance at home and abroad, this, alas! is recorded of him, "Hezekiah’s
heart was proud—and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him;
therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem."

Many had been the blessings and deliverances of this good man’s life. I shall
only particularize two, recorded in this chapter. The Assyrians had overrun a
great part of the country, and intended to lay siege to Jerusalem. Their haughty
monarch who had carried all before him, and was grown insolent with success,
sent Hezekiah a blasphemous letter, to intimidate him and his people. He
profanely bullies and defies Hezekiah and his God together; and Rabshakeh, his
messenger, comments upon his master’s letter in the same style of impiety and
insolence. But here observe the signal efficacy of prayer! Hezekiah, Isaiah, and
no doubt many other pious people among the Jews, made their prayer to the God of
Israel; and, as it were, complained to him of the threatenings and profane
blasphemy of the Assyrian monarch. Jehovah hears, and works a miraculous
deliverance for them. "That night the angel of the LORD went out to the Assyrian
camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops!" (2 Kings 19:35)

Sennacherib, with the thin remains of his army, fled home inglorious; and his
two sons assassinated him at an idolatrous altar. Thus Jerusalem was freed from
danger, and the country rescued from slavery and the ravages of war. Nay, we
find from profane history, that this dreadful blow proved fatal in the outcome
of the Assyrian monarchy, which had oppressed the world so long; for upon this
the Medes, and afterwards other nations, threw off their submission; and the
empire fell to pieces. Certainly so illustrious a deliverance as this, wrought
immediately by the divine hand—was a sufficient reason for ardent gratitude!

Another deliverance followed upon this. Hezekiah was sick unto death; that is,
his sickness was in its own nature mortal, and would have been unto death—had it
not been for the miraculous interposition of Providence. But, upon his prayer to
God, he recovered, and fifteen years added to his life. This also was great
cause of gratitude. And we find it had this effect upon him, while the sense of
his deliverance was fresh upon his mind; for in his thankful song upon his
recovery, we find these grateful strains: "Only the living can praise you as I
do today. Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next. Think of
it—the LORD has healed me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of
my life in the Temple of the LORD!" Isaiah 38:19-20

But, alas! those grateful impressions wore off in some time; and pride, that
uncreaturely temper, began to rise. He began to think himself the favorite of
heaven, in some degree, on account of his own personal goodness. He indulged his
vanity in ostentatiously exposing his treasures to the Babylonian messengers;
which was the instance of selfish pride and ingratitude which here seems
particularly referred to. This pride and ingratitude passed not without
evidences of the divine indignation; for we are told, "Hezekiah’s heart was
proud—and he did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him; therefore
the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem." As the crime was not
peculiar to him—so neither is the punishment. Nations and individuals have
suffered in this manner from age to age; and under the guilt of it we and our
country are now languishing. In order to make you the more sensible of your
ingratitude towards your divine Benefactor, I shall give you a brief view of his
mercies towards you, and expose the aggravated baseness of ingratitude under the
reception of so many mercies!

Mercy has poured in upon you upon all sides, and followed you from the first
commencement of your existence; rich, various, free, repeated, uninterrupted
mercy! The blessings of a body wonderfully and fearfully made, complete in all
its parts, and not monstrous in any! The blessings of a rational, immortal soul,
preserved in the exercise of sound reason for so many years, amid all those
accidents that have shattered it in others, and capable of the exalted pleasure
of religion, and the everlasting enjoyment of the blessed God, the Supreme Good!
The blessing of a large and spacious world, prepared and furnished for our
accommodation; illuminated with an illustrious sun, and the many luminaries of
the sky! The earth enriched and adorned with trees, vegetables, various sorts of
grain, and animals, for our support or convenience! The the sea, a medium of
extensive trade, and an inexhaustible store of fish! The blessing of the early
care of parents and friends, to provide for us in the helpless days of infancy,
and direct or restrain us in the giddy, precipitant years of youth! The blessing
of being born in the mature age of the world, when the improvements of
civilization are carried to so high a degree of perfection! The blessing of
being born, not among savages in a wilderness—but in a humanized, civilized
country; not on the burning, sandy deserts of the torrid zone, nor under the
frozen sky of Lapland or Iceland—but in a temperate climate, as favorable to the
comfort and continuance of life as most countries upon earth; not in a barren
soil, scarcely affording provision of the coarsest sort for its inhabitants—but
in a land of unusual plenty, which has never felt the severities of famine! The
blessing of not being a race of slaves under the tyranny of an tyrannical
government—but free-born Britons and Americans in a land of liberty: these
birthright blessings are almost peculiar to us and our nation.

Let me enumerate also the blessing of a good education; good, at least, when
compared to the many savage nations of the earth! The blessing of health for
months and years! The blessing of clothing suited to the various seasons of the
year! The blessing of rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, of summer and
winter, of seedtime and harvest! The agreeable vicissitude of night and day! The
refreshing repose of sleep, and the activity and enjoyment of our waking hours!
The blessing of a refined society! The blessing of the most endearing
relationships; the blessings included in the tender names of friend, husband or
wife, parent or child, brother or sister! The blessing of peace; peace in the
midst of a peaceful country, which has been our happy lot until of late years;
or peace in the midst of a ravaged, bleeding country, which is a more
distinguished and singular blessing, and which we now enjoy, while many of our
fellow-subjects feel a terrible reverse!

Blessings in every age of life; in infancy, in youth, in adult age, and in the
decays of old age! Blessings by sea and land, and in every place where we have
resided! In short, blessings as numerous as our moments, as long continued as
our lives; blessings personal and relative, public and private! For while we
have the air to breathe in, the earth to tread upon, or a drop of water to
quench our thirst—we must own we are not left destitute of blessings from God!
From God—all these blessings originally flow! And to him—we are principally
obliged for them. Indeed, they are conveyed to us by means of our fellow
creatures; or they seem to be the spontaneous productions of natural causes,
acting according to the established laws of nature. But then it was God, the
Fountain of being and of all good, who gave our fellow-creatures the
disposition, the ability, and the opportunity of conveying these blessings to
us! And it is the great God who is the Author of those causes which
spontaneously produce so many blessings for our enjoyment, and of those laws of
nature, according to which they act. These are but channels, channels cut by his
hand! And he is the source of all our blessings—he is the ocean of blessings.
Creatures are but the hands which distribute his charity through a needy world;
but his is the storehouse from which they derive their supplies. On this
account, therefore, we should receive all these blessings as gifts from God, and
feel ourselves obliged to him, as the supreme, original Benefactor.

Besides, it is very probable to me, that in order to bestow some of these
blessings upon us by means of natural causes, God may give these causes a touch
to turn them in our favor more than they would be according to the established
course of nature; a touch so efficacious as to answer the kind design: though so
gentle and agreeable to the established laws of nature, as not to be
perceivable, or to cast the system of nature into disorder. The blessings
conveyed in this way are not only the gifts of his hand—but the gifts of his
immediate hand.

Therefore let God be acknowledged the supreme, the original Benefactor of the
world, and the proper Author of all our blessings! And let all his creatures, in
the height of their benevolence and usefulness, own that they are but the
distributors of his alms, or the instruments of conveying the gifts of his hand.
Let us acknowledge the light of yonder sun, the breath that now heaves our
lungs, and fans the vital flame, the growing plenty that is now bursting its way
through the clods of earth, the water that bubbles up in springs, that flows in
streams and rivers, or rolls at large in the ocean; let us own, I say, that all
these are the bounties of his hand, who supplies with good the various ranks of
being, as high as the most exalted angel, and as low as the young ravens, and
the grass of the field.

Let him stand as the acknowledged Benefactor of the universe—to inflame the
gratitude of all to him; or to array in the crimson colors of aggravated guilt
the ingratitude of those sordid, stupid wretches, who still continue unthankful.
The positive blessings I have briefly enumerated, have some of them been
interrupted at times; but even the interruption seemed only intended to make way
for some deliverance; a deliverance that reinstated us in the possession of our
former blessings with a new and stronger relish, and taught us, or at least was
adapted to teach us, some useful lessons, which we were not likely to learn, had
not our enjoyment been a while suspended. This very hour—let us turn our eyes
backward, and take a review of a length of ten, twenty, forty, or sixty years;
and what a series of deliverances rise upon us! Deliverances from the many
dangers of childhood, by which many have lost their limbs, and many their lives;
deliverances from many threatening and fatal accidents; deliverances from
exquisite pains, and from dangerous diseases; deliverances from the gates of
death, and the mouth of the grave; and deliverances for yourselves, and for your
dear families and friends! When sickness, like a destroying angel, has entered
your neighborhood, and made extensive havoc and desolation around you—you and
yours have escaped the infection, while you were every day in anxious
expectation of the dreadful visit, and trembling at the dubious fate of some
dear relative or your own; or if it has entered your houses, like a messenger of
death, it has not committed its usual ravages in them. Or if it has torn from
your hearts one or more members of your family, still you have some left, or
perhaps some new members added to make up the loss. When you have been in deep
distress, and covered with the most tremendous glooms, deliverance has dawned in
the most seasonable hour, and light and joy have followed the nights of darkness
and melancholy. In short, your deliverances have been endless and innumerable.
You appear this day—as so many monuments of delivering goodness. You have also
shared in the deliverances wrought for your country and nation in former and
latter times: deliverances from the open violences and clandestine plots and
insurrections of enemies abroad and traitors and rebels at home: deliverances
from the united efforts of both, to enslave us to civil or ecclesiastical
tyranny, or a medley of both; and deliverances from drought, and the threatening
appearances of famine, which we have so lately experienced in these parts; and
yet they are long enough past to be generally forgotten! In these instances of
deliverances, as well as in the former, of positive blessings, let the great God
be acknowledged the original cause, whatever creatures he is pleased to make use
of as his instruments. Fortuitous accidents are under his direction; and
necessary causes are subject to his control. Diseases are his servants, his
soldiers; and he sends them out, or recalls them according to his pleasure

! And now mention the human benefactor if you can—to whom you are a thousandth
part so much obliged as to this divine Benefactor. What a profusion of blessings
and deliverances has the Almighty made you a subject of! And oh! what
obligations of gratitude do such favors lay upon you! What ardent love, what
sincere thanksgiving, what affectionate duty do they require of you! These are
the cords of love—with which he would draw you to obedience.

What returns has this divine Benefactor received from you—for all this goodness?
Alas! the discovery which this inquiry will make, may convict, shock, confound,
and mortify us all; for we are all, in a prodigious degree, though some much
more than others, guilty in this respect—guilty of the vilest ingratitude!

Alas! are there not many of you who do not return to God—the gratitude of a dog
to his master? That brute animal who receives but crumbs and blows from you,
will welcome you home with a thousand fond and obliging motions. The very dull
ox you fodder, knows his owner. But oh! the more than brutal ingratitude of
reasonable creatures! Some of you, perhaps, do not so much as acknowledge the
agency of Divine Providence in these enjoyments; but, affecting a very foolish
infidelity under the name of philosophy, you make natural causes the authors of
all good to you, without the agency of the first Mover of all the springs of
nature!

Others of you, who may be orthodox in your faith as to this point—yet are
practical infidels, the most absurd and inconsistent sort in the world! That is,
while you certainly acknowledge, and speculatively believe the agency of Divine
Providence in these things—yet you live as if there were no such thing! You live
thoughtless of the divine Benefactor, and disobedient to him for days and years
together. The very mercies he bestows upon you—you abuse to his dishonor, by
making them occasions of sin! Do not your consciences now convict you of that
monster sin, ingratitude, the most base, unnatural—and yet indulged ingratitude?
How do you resent it, if one whom you have deeply obliged should prove
ungrateful, and abuse you? But it is impossible any one of your fellow-creatures
should be guilty of such enormous ingratitude towards you—as you are guilty of
towards God; because it is impossible that any one of them should be as strongly
obliged to you—as you are to him!

You children of God, his peculiar favorites, whose hearts are capable of, and do
actually feel some generous sensations of gratitude; what do you think of your
conduct towards such a Benefactor? I speak particularly to you, because you are
most likely to feel what I say. Have you rendered back to your God, according to
the divine benefits done to you? Oh! are you not mortified and shocked—to
reflect upon your ingratitude, your sordid, monstrous ingratitude! Do you not
abhor yourselves because you were capable of such base conduct? From you I
expect such a generous response. But, as to others, they are dead in
transgressions and sins, dead toward God—and therefore it is no wonder if they
are dead to all penitential sincere relentings for their ingratitude. But if all
this does not suffice to make you sensible of your enormous guilt in this
particular, let me lay before you an inventory of still richer blessings! At the
head of this stands Jesus Christ, the unspeakable gift of God. "God so loved the
world, (hear it, men and angels, with grateful wonder!) that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish—but have
everlasting life." John 3:16. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn
the world—but that the world through him, might be saved." John 3:17. The
comforts of this life alone would be a very inadequate provision for creatures
who are to exist forever in another world; for what are sixty or seventy
years—in comparison to the long duration of an immortal being! But in the
unsearchable riches of Christ, are contained the most ample provisions for your
immortal state. Jesus Christ is such a gift as draws all other gifts after it;
for so the apostle argues, "He who spared not his own Son—but delivered him up
for us all—how shall he not with him also freely give us all things!" Romans
8:32. And the purposes for which he gave this gift, render it the more
astonishing. He gave him not only to rule us by his power—but to purchase us
with the blood of his heart! He gave him up to death, even the death of the
cross! In consequence of which an economy of grace, a ministry of
reconciliation, is set up in our guilty world. Various means are appointed, and
various endeavors are used—to save you, perishing sinners. For your salvation
Jesus now intercedes in his native heaven, at the right hand of God. For your
salvation the Holy Spirit strives with you; conscience admonishes you;
Providence draws you by blessings, and drives you by chastisements; angels
minister to you; Bibles are put into your hands; ministers persuade you; friends
advise you; and thousands of saints pray for you. For this end, prayer,
preaching, and a great variety of means of grace, are instituted. For this end,
heaven is prepared and furnished with many mansions; the pearly gates open, and
dart their splendors from afar to attract our eyes; and things which the
eye—which has seen so many things, had never seen; which the ear—which has had
still more extensive intelligence, had never heard; nor the heart of man—which
is even unbounded in its conceptions, had never conceived; are all brought to
light by the gospel. Nay, for this purpose, your salvation— Sinai thunders, hell
roars and throws its devouring flames, even to warn a stupid world not to plunge
themselves into that place of eternal torment! In short, the kind designs of
redeeming love run through the whole economy of Providence towards our guilty
world. Heaven and earth, and, in the sense mentioned, hell itself, are trying to
save you. The strongholds of sin and Satan, in which you are held prisoners, are
attacked in kindness to you, from all quarters.

What beneficent efforts, what heroic exploits of divine goodness are these! And,
blessed be God, these efforts are not in vain. The celestial regions are fast
peopling, though, alas! not so fast as the land of darkness, with numerous
colonies from our guilty globe! Even in these dregs of time, when iniquity
abounds, and the love of many waxes cold—Jesus is gaining many hearts and saving
many souls, in the various regions of his church. Though you and thousands more
should be left, and continue to neglect Him—yet such excellencies shall not lack
admirers, such a Physician shall not lack employment in our dying world. No, "he
shall see of the travail of his soul—and shall be satisfied; and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Isaiah 53:11. And I doubt not, but there
are some among you who are the trophies of his victorious love—of his victorious
love, I say; for it is by the force of love—that he sweetly conquers. Now you,
my brethren, are the subjects of this administration of grace; with you, these
means are used for your salvation; to you Jesus is offered as a Savior; and
heaven and earth are striving to lodge you safe in his arms.

You should not rejoice in the needs of others; but certainly it may make you the
more sensible of your peculiar obligations, to reflect that your lot, in this
respect, is singular. It is but a very small part of mankind, who enjoy these
great advantages for a happy immortality. You live under the gospel, while the
most of the nations of the earth are sunk in heathen idolatry, groaning under
Popish tyranny, seduced by Mohammedan imposture, or hardened in Jewish
infidelity. And what peculiar obligations of gratitude, result from such
peculiar, distinguishing favors to you?

If mere men have obliged you, and you feel the obligation. But can men, can
angels, can the whole created universe bestow such gifts upon you, and make such
provisions for you—as those which have been mentioned? Gifts of infinite value,
dear to the Giver; provisions for an everlasting state; an everlasting state of
as complete happiness as your nature, in its highest improvements, is capable
of! These are favors worthy of God! favors that bespeak him God! And must he
not, then, be the object of your supreme gratitude? Can anything in the world be
more reasonable? And yet—hear, oh earth, with horror; be astonished, O heavens,
at this: How little gratitude does God receive from our world after all! How
little gratitude from you—on whom these favors are showered down with
distinguished profusion! Do not many of you neglect the unspeakable gift of God,
Jesus Christ, as well as that salvation which he bought with his blood? Do you
not ungratefully neglect the means of your salvation, and resist the generous
efforts that are used, from all quarters, to save you! Oh! the mountainous load
of ingratitude that lies upon you! It is enough to sink the whole world into the
depth of hell! But I must now address such of you, who are still more deeply
obliged to your divine Benefactor, and whose ingratitude therefore is black and
horrid; I mean such of you who have not only shared in the blessings and
deliverances of life, and lived under the advantages of a dispensation of
grace—but have experimentally known the love of God to your souls in a manner
peculiar to yourselves, and are actually entitled to all the unknown blessings
prepared for those that love him. If I am so happy as to belong to your number,
I am sure I am so unhappy as to share deeply with you in the guilt, the black
guilt of ingratitude! When you were dead in transgressions and sins, God
quickened you, out of his great love with which he loved you! When you were
rushing on towards destruction, in the enchanting paths of sin—he checked your
mad career, and turned your faces heavenward! When you were sunk into sorrows,
borne down with a sense of guilt, and trembling every moment with the fears of
immediate execution—he relieved you, led you to Jesus, and, as it were, lodged
you safe in his arms! When dismal glooms have again gathered upon your minds,
and overwhelming fears rushed again upon you like a deluge—he has relieved you
again by leading you to the same almighty and ever-constant Savior! When your
graces and virtues have withered in the absence of the Sun of righteousness, he
has again risen upon you with healing in his wings, and revived your languishing
souls. He has shed abroad his love in your hearts, which has made this wretched
wilderness a paradise to you.

He has, at times, afforded you, as you humbly hoped, joy and peace in believing;
yes, even caused you to rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. He has
met you in your retirements, and allowed you to converse with him in his
ordinances, with the heart of a friend. He has, as it were, unlocked his
peculiar treasures to enrich you, and given you an unshaken title to the most
glorious inheritance of the saints in light. He has made you his own, his own in
a peculiar sense: his people, his friends, his very own children! You are indeed
his favorites: you were even so, long before time began. He loved you with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness has he drawn you! And having
loved you once, he will love you always, and he will continue in his love to all
eternity. Neither life, nor death; neither things present, nor things to
come—shall ever be able to separate you from his love! Romans 8:38-39. His love
to you is an unbounded ocean, that spreads over eternity, and makes it, as it
were, the channel of the ocean of your happiness. In you, he intends to show to
all worlds what glorious creatures he can form of the dust, and of the polluted
fragments of degenerate human nature. What is all the profession of kings to
their favorites, what are all the benefactions of creatures, nay, what are all
the bounties of the divine hand itself within the compass of time—when compared
to these astonishing, unparalleled, immortal, infinite, God-like favors? They
all dwindle into obscurity, like the stars of night in the blaze of noon! And
now I am almost afraid to turn your thoughts to inquire—what return you have
made for all these favors, lest you should not be able to bear the shock. You
know that you have a thousand times repeated Hezekiah’s offence. I need not be
particular. Your conscience accuses you, and points out the particulars; and I
shall only join the cry of conscience against you. Oh! the ingratitude! Oh! the
base, vile, unnatural, horrid, unprecedented ingratitude! From you—your God
might have expected better things! From you, whom he has so peculiarly, so
infinitely obliged, and whose hearts he has made capable of generous sensations.
But oh! the shocking, horrid ingratitude! Let our hearts burst into a flood of
sorrows at the thought! They may be justly too full to allow us to speak much
upon it; but, oh! they can never be too full of shame, confusion, and tender
relentings for the crime. Methinks the thought must break the hardest heart
among us!

Let me now add a consideration, that gives an astonishing emphasis to all that
has been said. All this profusion of mercy, personal and relative, temporal and
spiritual—is bestowed upon creatures that deserve not the least mercy! Upon
creatures that deserve to be stripped naked of every mercy; nay, that deserve to
be made miserable in time and eternity! Upon creatures that deserve not to
breathe this vital air, to tread the ground, or drink the stream that runs
through the wilderness; much less to enjoy all the blessings which the infinite
merit of Jesus could purchase, or the infinite goodness of God can bestow! Upon
creatures that are so far from deserving to be delivered from the calamities of
life—that they deserve to have them all heightened and multiplied, until they
convey them to the more intolerable punishments of hell! Upon creatures that are
so far from making adequate returns, that they are perpetually offending their
God to his face; and every day receiving blessings from him, and every day
sinning against him!

Oh! astonishing! most astonishing! This wonder is pointed out by Jesus Christ
himself, who best knows what is truly marvelous. The Most High God, says he, "is
kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Luke 6:35. "Your heavenly Father makes his
sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the
unjust." Matthew 5:45. It need afford you no surprise, if my subject so
overwhelms me, as to disable me from making a formal application of it. I leave
you to your own thoughts upon it. And I am apt to think they will constrain you
to cry out in a consternation with me, "Oh! the amazing, horrid, base,
unprecedented ingratitude of man! And oh! the amazing, free, rich, overflowing,
infinite, unprecedented goodness of God! Let these two miracles be the wonder of
the whole universe!"

One prayer, and I am done. May our divine Benefactor, among his other blessings,
bestow upon us that of a thankful heart, and enable us to give sincere, fervent,
and perpetual praise to his name, through Jesus Christ, his unspeakable gift!
Amen.


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  CHAPTER 19: 16-DIVINE GOVERNMENT�THE JOY OF OUR WORLD
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Divine Government—the Joy of Our World by Samuel Davies

"The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad!"
Psalms 97:1

Wise and good rulers are justly accounted an extensive blessing to their
subjects. In a government where wisdom sits at the helm; and where justice,
tempered with clemency, holds the balance of retribution; where liberty and
property are secured; where encroaching ambition is checked; where helpless
innocence is protected; and where universal order is established—then,
consequently, peace and happiness diffuse their streams through the land. In
such a situation, every heart must rejoice, every countenance look cheerful, and
every bosom glow with gratitude to the happy instruments of such extended
beneficence.

But, on the other hand, "Woe to you, oh land, when your king is a child,"
Ecclesiastes 10:16. That is—weak, injudicious, thoughtless and peevish. This is
the denunciation of Solomon, a sage philosopher, and an opulent king, whose
station, capacity, and inclination, conspired to give him the deepest skill in
politics. This denunciation has been accomplished in every age. Empires have
fallen, liberty has been fettered, property has been invaded, the lives of men
have been arbitrarily taken away, and misery and desolation have broken in like
a flood—when the government has been entrusted in the hands of tyranny, of
luxury, or rashness! And the advantages of beneficial climate and soil, and all
others which nature could bestow, have not been able to make the subjects happy
under the baleful influence of such an administration!

It has frequently been the unhappy fate of nations to be enslaved to such
rulers. But such is the unavoidable imperfection of all human governments, that
when, like our own, they are managed by the best minds and hands, they are
attended with many calamities, and cannot answer several valuable ends. And from
both these considerations, we may infer the necessity of a divine government
over the whole universe and particularly over the earth, in which we are more
especially concerned. Without this supreme universal Monarch, the affairs of
this world would fall into confusion; and the concerns of the next world could
not be managed at all. The capacities of the wisest of men are scanty, and not
equal to all the purposes of government; and hence many affairs of importance
will be unavoidably misconducted; and dangerous plots and aggravated crimes may
be undiscovered for lack of knowledge; or pass unpunished for lack of power. A
wise and good ruler may be diffusing among his subjects all that happiness which
can result from the imperfect administration of mortals—but he may be tumbled
from his throne, and his government thrown into the greatest disorder by a more
powerful invader. So it is evident that even the best—ruler could not make his
subjects lastingly happy, unless he were universal monarch of the globe (a
province too great for any mortal) and above the reach of the ambitious power of
others.

Further, human dominion cannot extend to the souls and consciences of men: civil
rulers can neither know nor govern them; and yet souls and consciences must be
governed and brought into subjection to the eternal laws of reason, otherwise
tranquility cannot exist on earth; and especially the great purposes of true
religion, which regard a future state, cannot be answered. Men are placed here
on earth—to be formed by a proper education for the eternal world—for another
class, and other employments; but civil rulers cannot form them for these
important ends, and therefore they must be under the government of one who has
access to their hearts, and can manage them as he pleases.

Deeply impressed with these and other considerations, which shall be presently
mentioned, the Psalmist is transported into this reflection, "The LORD reigns;
let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad!" The Psalmist seems
to have the mediatorial empire of grace erected by Immanuel more immediately in
view; and this indeed deserves our special notice. But no doubt he included the
divine government in general, which is a just ground of universal joy; and in
this latitude I shall consider the text.

People in a transport are apt to speak abruptly, and omit the particles of
connection and inference usual in calm reasoning. Thus the Psalmist cries out,
"The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad!"
But if we reduce the passage into an argumentative form, it will stand thus,
"The Lord reigns; therefore let the earth rejoice; and let the multitude of
islands be glad upon this account." The earth may here signify by a usual
metonymy, the rational inhabitants of the earth, who are especially concerned in
the divine government. Or, by a beautiful figurative expression, it may signify
the inanimate globe of the earth—and then it intimates that the divine
government is so important a blessing, that even the inanimate and senseless
creation would rejoice in it, were it capable of such passions. The islands may
likewise be taken figuratively for their inhabitants, particularly the Gentiles,
who resided in them; or literally for tracts of land surrounded with water. My
present design is: To illustrate this glorious truth, thatJehovah’s supreme
government is a just cause of universal joy. For that end I shall consider the
divine government in various views, as legislative, providential, mediatorial,
and judicial; and show that in each of these views—the divine government is
matter of universal joy.

1. The Lord reigns upon a throne of LEGISLATION. "Let the earth rejoice; let the
multitude of islands be glad!" He is the one supreme LAWGIVER, James 4:12, and
is perfectly qualified for that important trust. Nothing tends more to the
advantage of civil society—than to have good and just laws established,
according to which mankind are to conduct themselves, and according to which
their rulers will deal with them. Now the supreme and universal king has enacted
and published the best laws for the government of the moral world, and of the
human race in particular. Let the earth then rejoice that God has clearly
revealed his will to us, and not left us in inextricable perplexities about our
duty to him and mankind.

Human reason, or the light of nature, gives us some intimations of the duties of
morality, even in our degenerate state; and for this information we should bless
God; but alas! these discoveries are very imperfect, and we need supernatural
revelation to make the way of life known to us. Accordingly, the Lord has
favored us with the sacred Scriptures as a supplement to the feeble light of
nature; and in them we are fully "taught what is good, and what the law requires
of us." And what cause of joy is this! How painful are the anxieties that attend
uncertainty about matters of duty! How distressing is a doubtful, fluctuating
mind, in an affair of such tremendous importance! This, no doubt, some of you
who are conscientious have had the experience of, in particular cases, when you
were at a loss to apply to them the general directions in sacred Scripture.

Again, "let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad," that these
laws are suitably enforced with proper sanctions. The sanctions are such as
befit a God of infinite wisdom, almighty power, inexorable justice, untainted
holiness, and unbounded goodness and grace! And they are such as are agreeable
to the nature of reasonable creatures formed for an immortal duration. The
REWARDS of obedience in the divine legislation are not such trifling toys—as
posts of honor and profit, crowns and empires—which are the highest rewards that
civil rulers can promise or bestow. In the divine government, the rewards of
obedience are: rational peace and serenity of mind; undaunted bravery under the
frowns of adversity; a cheerful confidence in the divine guardianship under all
the calamities of life; and in the future world an entire exemption from all
sorrow and from sin—which is the fruitful source of all our afflictions; the
possession of every good, the enjoyment of the divine presence, of the society
of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. In short, the fruition of a
happiness above our present wishes, and equal to our then mature and eternal
faculties—and all this forever! These are the rewards of evangelical obedience,
not indeed for its own sake—but upon account of the righteousness of the blessed
Jesus! And if these fail to allure men to obedience, what can prevail? And how
happy is it to live under a government, where virtue and true religion, which in
their own nature tend to our happiness, are enforced with such resistless
arguments! On the other hand, the PENALTY annexed by the divine Lawgiver to
disobedience, is proportionably dreadful. To pine and languish under the secret
curse of an incensed God, which, like a contagious poison, diffuses itself
through all the enjoyments of the wicked, Malachi 2:2; to sweat under the
agonies of a guilty conscience in this world; and in the future world to be
banished from the beatific presence of God and all the joys of heaven; to feel
the anguish and remorse of guilty reflections; to burn in unquenchable fire; to
consume a miserable eternity in the horrid society of malignant demons; and all
this without the least rational hope; nay, without so much as a deluded hope of
deliverance, or the mitigation of torture, through the revolutions of endless
ages—all this is a faint representation of the penalty annexed to disobedience!
And it is a penalty worthy a God to inflict, and equal to the infinite malignity
of sin.

"Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad," on account not
only for the rewards of obedience to the law—but also for this tremendous
penalty; for it flows not only from justice—but from goodness, as well as its
promise of rewards for obedience. The penalty annexed to the law, will not be
executed from a malignant pleasure in the misery of the creature—but it is
annexed from a regard to the happiness of mankind, and will be executed upon
individuals for the extensive good of the whole—as well as for the honorable
display of the divine purity and justice. A penalty is primarily intended to
deter men from disobedience. Now disobedience tends in its own nature, to make
us miserable; it renders it impossible, in the nature of things, that we should
be happy in the enjoyment of God and the employments of heaven, which are
eternally and immutably contrary to sinful dispositions. Disobedience also fills
us with those malignant and unruly passions which cannot but make us uneasy.
Hence it follows, that, since the penalty tends to deter us from sin, and since
sin naturally tends to make us miserable, therefore the penalty is a kind of
gracious enclosure around the pit of misery, to keep us from falling into it!
The penalty is a friendly warning not to drink poison! It is, in a word, a kind
restraint upon us in our career to ruin!

Indeed—it is a blessing we could not spare; for we find, that, notwithstanding
the terror of the threatening, that men will run on in sin! And with how much
more horrid alacrity and infernal zeal would they continue their course—if there
were no divine threatening to check and withhold them? The earth may also
rejoice for the execution of the penalty of the divine law against sin; for the
conspicuous punishment of the disobedient may serve as a loud warning to all
rational beings that now exist, or that may hereafter be created—not to offend
against God. And thus it may be the means of preserving them in obedience, and
so promote the general good. And it may be that the number of those that shall
be punished, when compared to the number of reasonable beings that shall be
confirmed in holiness and happiness by observing their doom—may bear no more
proportion, than the number of criminals executed in a government, as public
example does to all the subjects of it; and consequently such divine punishment
may be vindicated on the same principles.

Farther, Justice is an amiable attribute in itself, and it appears so to all
rational beings but criminals, whose interest it is, that it should not be
displayed. And therefore the infliction of just punishment should be matter of
general joy, since it is amiable in itself. So it is in human governments; while
we are innocent—we approve of the conduct of our magistrates in inflicting
capital punishment upon notorious malefactors, though the malefactors themselves
view it with horror. But to proceed: "Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude
of islands be glad," that the divine laws reach the inner man, and have power
upon the hearts and consciences of men. Human laws can only regulate our
external conduct at best—but the heart in the meantime may be disloyal and
wicked! Now this defect is supplied by the laws of the King of heaven, which are
spiritual. They require a complete uniformity and self-consistency in us—so that
heart and life may agree: and therefore they are wisely framed to make us
entirely good. The divine laws have also an inimitable power upon the
consciences of men. Should all the world acquit us—yet we cannot acquit
ourselves, when we violate them. The consciousness of a crime has made many a
hardy offender sweat and agonize with remorse, though no human eye could witness
to his offence! Now what cause of joy is it that these divine laws are living
and powerful, and that they are attended with almighty energy, which in some
measure intimidates and restrains the most audacious, and inspires the
conscientious with a pious fear of offending!

2. The Lord reigns by his PROVIDENCE. "Let the earth therefore rejoice; and the
multitude of islands be glad." The Providence of God is well described in our
shorter Catechism: "It is his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and
governing all his creatures, and all their actions." To particularize all the
instances of providential government which may be matter of joy to the earth,
would be endless; therefore I shall only mention the following: Let the earth
rejoice; and the multitude of islands be glad, that the Lord reigns over the
kingdoms of the earth, and manages all their affairs according to his sovereign
and wise pleasure!

We sometimes hear of wars, and rumors of wars, of thrones tottering, and
kingdoms falling, of the nations tumultuously raging and dashing in angry
conflict, like the waves of the boisterous ocean. In such a juncture we may say,
"The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is
armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your
throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted
up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their
pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the
breakers of the sea—the LORD on high is mighty. Your statutes stand firm, O
LORD!" Psalms 93:1-5

Sometimes the ambition of foreign power, or the encroachments of domestic
tyranny, may threaten our liberties, and persecution may seem ready to discharge
its artillery against the church of God; while every pious heart trembles for
the ark, lest it should be carried into the land of its enemies. But the Lord
reigns! let the earth, let the church rejoice! "The eternal God is her refuge,
and underneath her are the everlasting arms!" Deuteronomy 33:27. He will
overrule the various revolutions of the world for her good; and the united
powers of earth and hell shall not prevail against her! Though the frame of
nature should be unhinged, we may find refuge in our God.

Yet it must be owned, that the Lord for the chastisement of his people—may allow
their enemies to break in upon them, and may cast them into the furnace of
affliction. But let the earth rejoice, let the church be glad that the Lord
reigns over her most powerful enemies, and that they are but executing his will
even when they have no regard to it—but are gratifying their own ambition. They
are but a rod in the hand of a tender father, who corrects—only to amend! And
when he has used the rod for this gracious purpose—he will then lay it aside. In
this language the Almighty speaks of the haughty Assyrian monarch who had pushed
his conquest so far and wide. Isaiah 10:5-7 : "Oh Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation, I
dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down like mud in the streets!" That is, "I will give him my
commission, and send him against the Jews, my favorite people; because they are
degenerated into a hypocritical nation, and he shall execute my orders."

"But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind." That is, it
is far from his heart to obey my will in this expedition; but his only design is
to aggrandize himself, "his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many
nations." And when this instrument of the divine vengeance arrogates to himself
the honor of his own successes, with what just insult and disdain does the King
of kings speak of him! "When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount
Zion and Jerusalem, he will say—I will punish the king of Assyria for the
willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. For he says: By the
strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have
understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures;
like a mighty one I subdued their kings!" "Does the ax raise itself above him
who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?" The design of God in
these chastisements, is to purge away the iniquity of his people. And this is
all the fruit of them—to take away their sin; and when this gracious design is
answered, they shall be removed; "The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the
lot of the righteous." Psalms 125:3.

Now what cause of universal joy is this, that one infinitely wise sits at the
helm, and can steer the feeble vessel of his church through all the raging
storms of this unfriendly climate, and tempestuous ocean! He may seem at times
to lie asleep—but in the article of extreme danger, he will awake and still the
winds and the sea with his sovereign mandate, "Peace, be still!"

Men may form powerful political schemes, and purpose their accomplishment in
defiance of God, "but God frustrates the plans of the crafty, so their efforts
will not succeed. He catches those who think they are wise in their own
cleverness, so that their cunning schemes are thwarted." Job 5:12-13. This was
exemplified in the cause of Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 17:14. The hearts of men, yes
of kings, "are in the hand of the LORD, and he turns them wherever he will."
Proverbs 21:1, (see also chapter 16:1, 9, and 19:21.) And how joyful a thought
is this—that we are not at the arbitrary disposal of our fellow mortals, and
that our affairs are not managed according to their capricious pleasure—but that
"our God is in heaven, and he does whatever he pleases!" Psalms 115:3.

Again, the church may be endangered by internal divisions and offences. The
professors of religion may stumble and fall, and so wound the hearts of the
friends of Zion, and give matter of triumph and insult to its enemies. Some may
apostatize, and return like the dog to his vomit. A general lukewarmness may
diffuse itself through the church, and even those who retain their integrity in
the main, may feel the contagion. Divisions and animosities may be inflamed,
mutual love may be extinguished, and a spirit of discord succeed in its place. A
most melancholy case this, and too much like our own—and our hearts sink at
times beneath the burden! "But the LORD reigns; let the earth be glad!" He can
reduce this confusion into order, and make the wrath of man to praise him, and
restrain the remainder of it! Psalms 76:10.

It is the peculiarity of divine wisdom—to educe good out of evil, and let us
rejoice in it. God is supreme, and therefore can control all the wicked passions
of the mind. He has all power—and can rekindle the languishing flame of
devotion. And oh let us apply to him with the most vigorous and unwearied
importunity for so necessary a blessing!

Again, we are exposed to numberless accidental and unforeseen dangers, which we
can neither prevent nor counter. Sickness and death may proceed from a thousand
unsuspected causes. Our friends, our estates, and, in short, all our earthly
enjoyments—may be torn from us by a variety of accidents. We walk, as it were,
in the dark, and may tread on remediless dangers before we are aware. But the
LORD reigns! Let the earth be glad! contingent events are at his disposal, and
necessity at his control. The smallest things are not beneath the notice of his
providence, and the greatest are not above it. Those diseases and misfortunes
which seem to happen by chance—are commissioned by the Lord of all! And those
which result evidently from natural causes—are sent by his almighty will. He
says to one, "Go!" and it goes; and to another, "Come!" and it comes! He orders
the devastations that are made by the most raging elements. If flames lay our
houses in ashes—they are kindled by his breath. If hurricanes sweep through our
land, and carry desolation along with them—they but perform his will, and can do
nothing beyond it! His hand hurls the thunder, and directs it where to strike!
An arrow or a bullet shot at a venture in the heat of battle—is carried to its
mark by divine direction!

How wretched a world would this be—were it not under the wise management of
divine Providence! If ’chance’ or ’blind fate’ were its rulers—what desolation
would crowd upon us every moment! We would soon be crushed in the ruins of a
fallen world. Every wind that blows—might blast us with death! And fire and
water would mingle in a blended chaos, and bury us in their destruction! But so
extensive is the care of Providence, that even the sparrows may find safety in
it! And we cannot lose so much as a hair of our heads, without God’s permission!
Matthew 10:29-31. And how much more then, are we and our affairs of importance,
under his guardianship and direction!

Again, we are in perpetual danger from the malignant agency of infernal spirits,
who watch all opportunities to ruin the souls, bodies, and estates of men. These
subtle malignant spirits can inject ensnaring thoughts into our minds, and
present such images to the imagination as may allure the soul to sin. This is
repeatedly asserted in Scripture, and attested by the melancholy experience of
multitudes in all ages. That they also have power in the material world, to
raise storms and tempests, and to ruin men’s estates and inflict diseases on
their bodies—is plain from the case of Job. Many in our Savior’s time were also
afflicted from ’the prince of the power of the air;’ and his associates
spiritual wickedness in high places. And what horrid devastations would these
powerful and malicious beings spread through the world—if they were not under
the control of divine Providence! They would perpetually haunt our minds with
ensnaring or terrifying images; would meet us with temptations at every turn,
and lead us as willing captives—to hell! They would also strip us entirely of
all temporal enjoyments, torture our bodies with grievous pains, or moulder them
into dust with consuming and loathsome diseases. But the LORD reigns; let the
earth be glad!! He keeps the infernal lions in chains, and restrains their rage!
He sees all their subtle plots and machinations against his feeble sheep—and
baffles them all. He will not allow his people to be tempted above what they are
able to bear; but with the temptation will also make a way to escape; 1
Corinthians 10:13. And when he allows them to be buffeted—his grace shall be
sufficient for them. 2 Corinthians 12:7; 2 Corinthians 12:9.

God has also (as Satan himself confessed with regard to Job) made a hedge about
us, about our houses, and about all that we have on every side; Job 1:10; and
hence we live and enjoy the blessings of life. What cause of grateful joy is
this! Who would not rather die—than live in a world ungoverned by divine
Providence? This earth would soon be turned into a hell, if the infernal armies
were let loose upon it.

3. The Lord reigns upon a throne of GRACE! "Let the earth rejoice; let the
multitude of islands be glad!" It is the mediatorial government of the Messiah,
which the Psalmist had more immediately in view; and this is the principal cause
of joy to the earth and its guilty inhabitants. This is a kind of government
peculiar to the human race; the holy angels do not need it, and the fallen
angels are not favored with it. This is invested in the person of Immanuel, "who
is made head over all things to his church," Ephesians 1:22; "to whom all power
in heaven and earth is given," Matthew 11:27; Matthew 28:18. This is the kingdom
described in such magnificent language in Daniel 2:44-45; Daniel 7:14; Luke
1:32-33. Hence that Jesus who was mocked with a crown of thorns, and condemned
as a criminal at Pilate’s bar, wears on his vesture and on his thigh this
majestic inscription, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS!" Revelation 19:16. And
behold, I bring you glad tidings; this kingdom of God has come unto you, and you
are called to become its subjects, and share in its blessings. Wherever the
gospel is preached, there Jehovah sits upon a mercy-seat in majesty tempered
with condescending grace. From thence he invites rebels who had rejected his
government, to return to their allegiance; and passes an act of grace upon all
who comply with the invitation. To his throne of grace he invites all to come,
and offers them the richest blessings. From thence he publishes peace on earth,
and good will towards men. From thence he offers pardon to all who will submit
to his government, and renounce their sins—those weapons of rebellion. From
thence he distributes the influences of his Spirit to subdue obstinate hearts
into cheerful submission, to support his subjects under every burden, and
furnish them with strength for the spiritual warfare. He subdues their
rebellious corruptions, animates their languishing graces, and protects them
from their spiritual enemies!

He enacts laws for the regulation of his church, appoints ordinances for her
edification, and qualifies ministers to dispense them. He has ascended up on
high; he has received gifts for men; and these he has distributed, and given:
"some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and
teachers—for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ," Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:11-12.

How happy are we, who we live under the mediatorial administration! under the
empire of grace! "Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad
upon this account!" And let us pray that all nations may become the willing
subjects of our gracious Sovereign.

If this administration of grace had not yet been erected, in what a miserable
situation should we have been! guilty, miserable, and hopeless! Let us rejoice
that the King of heaven, from whom we had revolted, has not allowed us to perish
without remedy in our sinful rebellion—but holds out his scepter of grace to
us—that we may touch it and live

4. And lastly, the Lord will reign before long—upon a throne of universal
JUDGMENT, conspicuous to the assembled universe! "Let the earth therefore
rejoice, and the multitude of islands be glad!" Here I may borrow the inimitable
language of the Psalmist, "Say among the nations, ’The LORD reigns!’ The world
is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with
equity. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and
all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all
the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for
he comes—he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth!"Psalms 96:10-13 This will indeed be a day of
insupportable terror to his enemies, "Then the kings of the earth, the princes,
the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in
caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the
rocks—Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and
from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who
can stand?" Revelation 6:15-17

But, on many accounts, it will prove a day of joy and triumph. This day will
unfold all the mysteries of divine Providence, which are now unsearchable. There
are many troubling dispensations, now for which we cannot account. Many
blessings are bestowed, many calamities fall, and many events happen—of which
mortals cannot see the reason. Prosperity is the lot of some who seem the
peculiar objects of divine vengeance; and many groan under afflictions—who seem
more proper objects of providential beneficence. We are often led into ways, the
end of which we cannot see, and are bewildered in various perplexities about the
designs of divine Providence towards us!

Hence also impiety takes occasion to cavil at the ways of God—as not just, and
to censure his government as weakly administered. But in that day—all his ways
will appear to be just and righteous. The clouds and darkness which now surround
them will vanish—and the beams of wisdom, goodness, and justice, shall shine
illustrious before the whole universe, and every creature shall join the
plaudit, "He has done all things well!"

Now we can at best, but see a few links in the chain of providence—but then we
shall see it all entire and complete! Then the whole system will be exposed to
view at once, which will unveil the mysterious symmetry, connections,
dependencies, and references of all the parts; without which we can no more
judge of the excellency of the procedure than a plow-boy could tell the use of
the several parts of a watch, if he saw them scattered in various places. Let
the earth therefore be glad in expectation of this glorious discovery!

Again, let the earth rejoice that in that day, the present unequal distributions
of Providence will be forever adjusted, and regulated according to the strictest
justice. This present world is not the place or season for final retribution,
and therefore we need not be surprised that the blessings and calamities of this
life are not disposed according to men’s real characters! But then—every man
shall be dealt with according to his works. Oppressed innocence will be
redressed—and insolence forever mortified! Calumny will be confuted—and flattery
exposed! Lazarus shall be comforted—and Dives tormented! Impious kings shall be
driven into the infernal pit—while pious beggars shall be advanced to the
heights of happiness! In short, all matters will then be set right! Therefore
let the earth rejoice!

Again, let the earth rejoice, that in that day the righteous shall be completely
delivered from all sin and sorrow, and advanced to the perfection of heavenly
happiness! Then they shall enter upon the full fruition of that bliss, which is
now the object of all their anxious hopes and earnest labors! But we must change
the scene into tragedy—and take a view of the trembling criminals hearing their
dreadful doom, and sinking to hell with horrible anguish! And must the earth
rejoice in this too? Yes—but with a solemn tremendous joy. Even the condemnation
and everlasting misery of the ungodly—is right and just, is amiable and
glorious; and God, angels and saints, will at the great day rejoice in it. The
solemn grandeur of justice will be illustrated in it; and this is matter of joy.
The punishment of irreclaimable impenitents will be an effectual warning to all
reasonable beings, and to all future creations—that by it, they will be deterred
from disobedience; and this is the cause of joy.

These criminals will then be beyond repentance and reformation, and therefore it
is impossible in the nature of things, that they should be happy. And why then
should heaven be encumbered with them? Is it not cause of joy—that they should
be confined in prison—who have made themselves unfit for society? In the present
state, the ungodly are objects of our compassion and sorrow, and the whole
creation mourns for them. Romans 8:22. But God will then rejoice in their ruin,
and laugh at their calamity, Proverbs 1:26; and all holy creatures will join in
his joy. Thus you see that the Lord reigns! And who, poor feeble saints, WHO is
this that sustains this universal government, and rules the whole creation
according to his good pleasure? It is your Father, your Savior, your Friend! It
is he who entertains a tenderer regard for you—than ever glowed in a human
heart! And can you be so foolish as to regard the fears of unbelief? Can you
force yourselves to fear that he will ever leave or forsake you? Can you suspect
that he will allow you to fall a helpless prey to your enemies? No! Your Lord
reigns, therefore rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord always! And again I say—rejoice!

While your heavenly Father keeps the throne of the universe, you shall be safe
and happy. Your Father is greater than all, and none can pluck you out of his
hands. Remember, he sits upon a throne of grace, therefore come to him with
boldness. You may smile at calamity and confusion, and rejoice amid the ruins of
the world! You may borrow the language of David in Psalm 45, "Let your sharp
arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath
your feet. Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice
will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate
wickedness!"

You may say, like Habakkuk, "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and
there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the
fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the
cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the
God of my salvation!"

Remember also, that, as he is a king—he demands your cheerful obedience;
therefore make his service the business of your life.

And, unhappy sinners! let me ask you, "Who is this that reigns King of the
universe?" Why, it is he whom you have rejected from being King over you! He is
the one against whom you have rebelled, and who is therefore your just enemy.
And are you able to make good your cause against him—who has universal nature at
his nod? How dreadful is your situation! That which may make the earth
rejoice—may make you fear and tremble! The Lord reigns—let sinners tremble! You
must fall before him, if you will not cheerfully submit to his government.

Let me therefore renew the usual neglected declaration, "He sits upon a throne
of grace." Let me once more in his name proclaim "reconciliation!
reconciliation!!" in your ears, and invite you to return to your allegiance. Lay
down your arms, forsake your sins! Hasten, hasten to him! The sword of his
justice now hangs over your heads—while I am managing the treaty with you!
Therefore, do not delay! Yield! Yield—or die! Surrender—or perish! for you have
no other alternative. Submit, and you may join the general joy at his
government.

You upon earth, and devils and damned in hell—are the only beings that are sorry
for it; but upon your submission, your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and you
shall exult when the LORD of all "comes to judge the world with righteousness,
and the people with his truth."


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  CHAPTER 20: 17-THE SACRED IMPORT OF THE CHRISTIAN NAME
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The Sacred Import of the Christian Name by Samuel Davies

"The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch." Acts 11:26

Mere names are empty sounds, and but of little consequence. And yet it must be
owned, that there are names of honor and significance; and, when they are
attended with the things signified by them, they are of great and sacred
importance! Such is the Christian name; a name about seventeen hundred years
old. And now when the name is almost lost in party-distinctions, and the things
signified by the name are almost lost in ignorance, error, vice, hypocrisy, and
formality—it may be worth our while to consider the original import of that
sacred name, as a proper expedient to recover both name and thing. The name of
Christian was not the first by which the followers of Christ were distinguished.
Their enemies called them Galileans, Nazarenes, and other names of contempt. And
among themselves they were called Saints, from their holiness; Disciples, from
their learning their religion from Christ as their teacher; Believers, from
their believing in him as the Messiah; and Brethren, from their mutual love and
their relation to God and each other. But after some time they were
distinguished by the name of ’Christians’. This name, they first received in
Antioch, a heathen city, a city infamous for all manner of vice and debauchery:
a city that had its name from Antiochus Epiphanes, the bitterest enemy the
church ever had. Antioch was a very rich and powerful city, from whence the
Christian name would have an extensive circulation; but it is long since laid in
ruins, unprotected by that sacred name. In such a city was Christ pleased to
confer his name upon his followers; and you cannot but see that the very choice
of the place reveals his wisdom, grace, and justice. The original word, which is
here rendered "called", seems to intimate that they were called Christians by
divine appointment, for it generally signifies a declaration from God; and to
this purpose it is generally translated. Hence it follows that the very name
Christian, as well as the thing, was of a ’divine original’; assumed not by a
private agreement of the disciples among themselves—but by the appointment of
God! And in this view it is a remarkable accomplishment of an old prophecy of
Isaiah, chapter 62:2, "The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings
your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will
bestow." So Isaiah 65:15, "Your name will be a curse word among my people, for
the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and call his true servants by another name."
This name was at first confined to a few; but it soon had a surprisingly
extensive propagation through the world. In many countries, indeed, this name
was lost. Yet the European nations still retain the honor of wearing it. A few
scattered Christians are also still to be found here and there in Asia and
Africa, though crushed under the oppressions of Mohammedans and Pagans. This
name has likewise crossed the wide ocean to the wilderness of America, and is
worn by the sundry European colonies on this continent.

We, in particular, call ourselves Christians, and would take it badly, to be
denied the honor of that distinction. But do we really understand the MEANING
and sacred import of that name? Do we really know what it IS to be Christians
indeed? That is: are we in reality—what we are in name? Certainly it is time for
us to consider the matter; and it is my present design that we should do so.

Now we may consider this name in various views; particularly as a name of
distinction from the rest of the world, who know not the Lord Jesus, or reject
him as an impostor.

It is also a family name, pointing out the Father and Founder of our holy
religion and the Christian church; as a badge of our relation to Christ as his
servants, his children, his bride.

It intimates our unction by the Holy Spirit, or our being the subjects of his
influences; as Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit, or replenished with his
gifts above measure, (for you are to observe that anointed is the English of the
Greek name Christ, and of the Hebrew, Messiah).

It is signifies that we are the property of Christ, and his peculiar people.

Each of these particulars might be properly illustrated. But my present design
confines me to consider the Christian name only in two views: namely, as a
universal name, intended to bury all party denominations; and as a name of
obligation upon all that wear it to be Christians indeed, or to form their
temper and practice upon the sacred model of Christianity.

1. Let us consider the Christian name, as a UNIVERSAL name, intended to bury all
party denominations. The name Gentile was odious to the Jews, and the name Jew
was odious to the Gentiles. The name Christian swallows up both in one common
and agreeable appellation. He who has taken down the partition-wall, has taken
away partition names, and united all his followers in his own name—as a common
denomination. For now, says Paul, "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free—but Christ is all and in
all." Colossians 3:11. "And you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28.
According to a prophecy of Zechariah, "The LORD shall be king over all the
earth; and in that day there shall be one LORD, and his name one." Zechariah
14:9.

It is but a due honor to Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, that all who
profess his religion should wear his name alone. They pay an extravagant and
even idolatrous compliment to his subordinate officers and ministers, when they
take their denomination from them! Had this evil attitude prevailed in the
primitive church, instead of the common name ’Christians’, there would have been
as many party-names as there were apostles or eminent ministers! There would
have been:

Paulites from Paul; Peterites from Peter; Johnites from John; Barnabites from
Barnabas, etc.

Paul took pains to crush the first risings of this party spirit in those
churches which he planted; particularly in Corinth, where it most prevailed.
While they were saying, "I am of Paul; and I am of Apollos; and I am of Cephas;
and I am of Christ!" Paul puts this pungent question to them: "Is Christ
divided?" Are his servants the ringleaders of so many parties? Was Paul
crucified for you? Or were you baptized in or into the name of Paul—that you
should be so fond to take your name from him!

Paul counted it a happiness that Providence had directed him to such a conduct
as gave no umbrage of encouragement to such an evil attitude. "I thank God,"
says he, "that I baptized none of you—but Crispus and Gaius: lest any should
say, that I baptized in my own name, and was merely gathering a party for
myself." 1 Corinthians 1:12-15. But alas! how little has this convicting
reasoning of the apostle Paul—been regarded in the future ages of the church!
What an endless variety of denominations have been derived from some leading
men, or from some little theological peculiarities! What ’denominations’ have
prevailed in the Christian world, and crumbled it to pieces, while the Christian
name is hardly regarded! Not to take notice of Jesuits, Jansenites, Dominicans,
Franciscans, and other denominations and orders in the popish church, where
having corrupted the the whole Christian system—they act very consistently to
lay aside the name. But what ’party names’ have been adopted by the Protestant
churches, whose religion is substantially the same common Christianity, and who
agree in much more important articles—than in those in which they differ; and
who therefore might peaceably unite under the common name of Christians! We have
Lutherans, Calvinists, Arminians, Methodists, Churchmen, Presbyterians,
Independents, Baptists—and a long list of names which I cannot now enumerate! To
be a Christian now-a-days is not enough—but a man must also be something more
and better! That is, he must be an active bigot to this or that particular
denomination. But where is the reason or propriety of all this? I may indeed
believe the same things which Luther or Calvin believed—but I do not believe
them on the authority of Luther or Calvin—but upon the sole authority of Jesus
Christ, and therefore I should not call myself by their name, as one of their
disciples—but by the name of Christ, whom alone I acknowledge as the Author of
my religion, and my only Master and Lord.

If I learn my religion from one of these great MEN—then it is indeed proper that
I should assume their name. If I learn it from an assembly of men, and make
their beliefs the rule and ground of my faith—then it is enough for me to be of
their religion, be that what it will. I may then, with propriety be called a
mere conformist; for that is my highest character! But I cannot be properly
called a Christian—for a Christian learns his religion, not from an assembly of
men, or from the determinations of councils—but from Jesus Christ and his
gospel! To guard against mistakes on this head, I would observe that every man
has a natural and legal right to judge and choose for himself in matters of
religion; and that is a foolish person indeed, who unthinkingly accepts the
teachings of any man, or body of men upon earth—whether pope, king, parliament,
convocation, or synod.

Yet, in the exercise of this right and searching for himself, a serious person
will find that he agrees more fully in lesser as well as more important
articles—with some particular church than others; and thereupon it is his duty
to join in stated communion with that particular church. And he may, if he
pleases, assume the name which that church wears, by way of distinction from
others; this is not what I condemn. But for me to glory in the denomination of
any particular church as my highest character; to lay more stress upon the name
of a Presbyterian or a Churchman, than on the sacred name of Christian; to make
a punctilious agreement with my sentiments in the little peculiarities of a
certain church party—the test of all religion; to make it the object of my zeal
to gain proselytes to some other name, than the Christian name; to connive at
the faults of those of my own party, and to be blind to the good qualities of
other churches; or invidiously to misrepresent or diminish them—these are the
things which deserve universal condemnation from God and man! These proceed from
a spirit of bigotry and faction—directly opposite to the generous universal
spirit of Christianity, and subversive of it! And yet how common is this
unloving spirit among all denominations! and what mischief has it done in the
world! Hence proceed contentions and animosities, uncharitable suspicions and
censures, slander and detraction, partiality and unreasonable prejudices, and a
hideous group of evils, which I cannot now describe! This spirit also hinders
the progress of serious practical religion, by turning the attention of men from
the great concerns of eternity, and the essentials of Christianity—to vain
jangling and disputes about non-essentials and trifles. Thus the Christian is
swallowed up in the partisan, and the fundamentals lost in non-essentials. My
brethren, I would now warn you against this wretched, mischievous spirit of
denominationalism.

I would not have you entirely undetermined even about the smaller points of
religion, the modes and forms, which are the matters of contention between
different churches; nor would I have you quite indifferent what particular
church to join with in stated communion. Endeavor to find out the truth even in
these non-essentials, at least so far as is necessary for the direction of your
own conduct. But do not make these non-essentials, the whole or the principal
part of your religion. Do not be excessively zealous about them, nor break the
peace of the church by magisterially imposing them upon others. Have you
definite beliefs in these little disputables? It is well; "but have it to
yourself before God," and do not disturb others with it!

You may, if you please, call yourselves Presbyterians and Dissenters etc.; but a
Christian! a Christian! let that be your highest distinction; let that be the
name which you labor to deserve! God forbid that my ministry should be the
occasion of diverting your attention to anything else! But I am so happy that I
can appeal to yourselves, whether I have during several years of my ministry
among you, labored to instill into you the principles of bigotry, and make you
zealous proselytes to a denomination; or whether it has not been the great
object of my zeal—to inculcate upon you the grand essentials of our holy
religion, and make you sincere, practical Christians. Alas! my dear people,
unless I succeed in this, I labor to very little purpose, though I should
presbyterianize the whole colony of Virginia! But some of you may hear strange
surmises, wild conjectures, and most dismal insinuations about me. And if you
would know the truth at once, if you would be fully informed by one that best
knows what religion I hold to—then I myself will plainly tell you: "I am a
Christian, a mere Christian! I have no other religion! My church is the
Christian church. The Bible! the Bible is my religion! And if I am a dissenter,
I dissent only from modes and forms of religion which I cannot find in my Bible;
and which therefore have nothing to do with religion, much less should they be
made terms of Christian communion, since Christ, the only lawgiver of his
church, has HE not made them such! Let this congregation be that of a Christian
assembly, and I little care what other name it wears. Let it be a little
Antioch, where the followers of Christ shall be distinguished by their old
common name, ’Christians!’ To bear and deserve this character, let this be our
ambition, and this our labor. Let popes pronounce, and councils decree what they
please; let statesmen and ecclesiastics prescribe what to believe; as for us,
let us study our Bibles—let us learn of Christ; and if we are not dignified with
the smiles, or enriched with the emoluments of a denomination—we shall have His
approbation, who is the only Lord and Sovereign of the realm of conscience, and
by whose judgment we must stand or fall forever!" But it is time for me to
proceed to consider the other view of the Christian name, on which I intend
principally to insist; and that is,

II. As a name of OBLIGATION upon all who bear it—to beChristians indeed, and to
form theirtemperand practice upon the sacred model of Biblical Christianity. The
prosecution of this subject will lead me to answer this important inquiry, "What
is it to be a Christian?" To be a Christian, in the popular and fashionable
sense, is no really difficult or excellent thing. It is to be baptized, to
profess the Christian religion; to believe, like our neighbors, that Christ is
the Messiah, and to attend upon public worship once a week, in some church or
another. In this sense a man may be a Christian—and yet be habitually careless
about eternal things. He may be a Christian—and yet fall short of the morality
of many of the heathen. He may be a Christian—and yet a drunkard, a swearer, or
a slave to some vice or other. He may be a Christian—and yet a willful,
impenitent offender against God and man. To be a Christian in this sense—is no
high character; and, if this be the whole of Christianity, it is very little
matter whether the world is Christianized or not. But is this to be a
Christian—in the original and proper sense of the word? No! that is something of
a very different and superior kind. To be a Christian indeed—is the highest
character and dignity of which the human nature is capable! It is the most
excellent thing that ever adorned our world! It is a thing that heaven itself
beholds with approbation and delight.

To be a Christian indeed—is to be like to Christ, from whom the name is taken!

To be a Christian indeed—is to be a follower and imitator of Christ!

To be a Christian indeed—is to have Christ’s spirit and temper; and to live as
He lived in the world! To be a Christian is to have those just, exalted, and
divine beliefs of God and divine things; and that just and full view of our duty
to God and man, which Christ taught. In short, to be a Christian, is to have our
sentiments, our character and practice, formed upon the sacred model of the
gospel. Let me expatiate a little upon this amiable character.

1. To be a Christian—is to depart from iniquity. To this, the name obliges us;
and without this we have no right to the name. "Let every one who names the name
of Christ—depart from iniquity," 2 Timothy 2:19. That is, let him depart from
iniquity—or not even dare to take that sacred name. Christ was perfectly free
from sin: he was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." His
followers also shall be perfectly free from sin—in a little time! Before long
they will enter into the pure regions of perfect holiness, and will drop all
their sins, along with their mortal bodies—into the grave! But this, alas! is
not their character in the present state—but the remains of sin still cleave to
them. Yet even in the present state, they are laboring after perfection in
holiness. Nothing can satisfy them—until they are fully conformed to the image
of God’s dear Son!

They are hourly conflicting with every temptation, and vigorously resisting
every iniquity in its most alluring forms. And, though sin is perpetually
struggling for the mastery, and sometimes, in an inadvertent hour, gets an
advantage over them—yet, as they are not under the law—but under grace, they are
assisted with divine grace, so that no sin has any habitual dominion over them.
Romans 6:14.

Hence they are free from the gross vices of the age, and are men of good morals.
This is their habitual, universal character; and to pretend to be Christians
without this prerequisite, is the greatest absurdity!

What then shall we think of the drunken, swearing, debauched, defrauding,
worldly, profligate, profane ’Christians’, who have overrun the Christian world?
Can there be a greater contradiction? A loyal subject in arms against his
sovereign; an ignorant scholar; a sober drunkard, a charitable miser; an honest
thief— are not greater absurdities, or more direct contradictions! To depart
from iniquity—is essential to Christianity, and without it there can be no such
thing as a Christian!

There was nothing that Christ was so remote from—as sin! And therefore, for
those that indulge themselves in sin—and yet to wear His name, is just as absurd
and ridiculous as for a coward to denominate himself a great hero; or an
illiterate dunce to call himself a university professor!

Therefore, if you will not renounce iniquity—then renounce the Christian name!
You cannot consistently retain both!

Alexander the Great had a fellow in his army who had his same name—but was a
mere coward. "Either be like me," said Alexander to him, "or lay aside my name!"

You servants of sin, it is in vain for you to wear the name of Christ! It
renders you the more ridiculous, and only aggravates your guilt! You may with as
much propriety call yourselves ’princes’ or ’kings’, as ’Christians’, while you
are so unlike to Christ! You are a scandal to His precious name! His name is
blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.

2. To be a Christian—is to deny yourselves and take up the cross and follow
Christ. These are the terms of discipleship fixed by Christ himself. He said to
them all, "If any man will come after me—let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23. To deny ourselves, is to abstain from
the pleasures of sin, to moderate our sensual appetites, to deny our own
interest for the sake of Christ. In short, it is to sacrifice everything
inconsistent with our duty to him, when these come in competition. To take up
our cross, is to bear sufferings, to encounter difficulties, and break through
them all—in imitation of Jesus Christ, and for his sake. To follow Christ, is to
trace his steps, and imitate his example, whatever it cost us. But this
observation will coincide with the next head, and therefore I now dismiss it.
These, sirs, and these only, are the terms, if you would be Christians, or the
disciples of Christ. He honestly warned people of these terms when he first
called them to be his disciples. He did not take an advantage of them—but let
them know beforehand upon what terms they were admitted. "Large crowds were
traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and
does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and
sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not
carry his cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple!" Luke 14:25-27 By ’hating’
is here meant a smaller degree of love, or a comparative hatred. That is, if we
would be Christ’s disciples, we must be willing to part with our dearest
relations, and even our lives, when we cannot retain them consistently with our
duty to him.

He goes on: "And anyone who does not carry his cross", and encounter the
greatest sufferings after my example, "cannot be my disciple." The love of
Christ is the ruling passion of every true Christian, and for his sake he is
ready to give up all, and to allow all that earth or hell can inflict. He must
run all risks, and cleave to Christ’s cause at all hazards. This is the
essential character of every true Christian. What then shall we think of those
crowds among us, who retain the Christian name—and yet will not deny themselves
of their sensual pleasures, nor part with their temporal interest, for the sake
of Christ? Who are so far from being willing to lay down their lives, that they
cannot stand the force of a laugh or a sneer in the cause of Christ—but
immediately stumble and fall away? Are they Christians, whom the commands of
Christ cannot restrain from what their depraved hearts desire? No! A Christian,
without self-denial, mortification, and a supreme love to Jesus Christ, is as
great a contradiction as fire without heat, or a sun without light, a hero
without courage, or a friend without love! Does not this strip some of you of
the Christian name, and prove that you have no right at all to it?

3. A true Christian must be afollowerorimitatorof Christ. "Be followers of me,"
says Paul, "as I also am of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1. Christ is the model
after whom every Christian is formed; for, says Peter, "He left us an
example—that we should follow his steps!" 1 Peter 2:21. Paul tells us, that we
must be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son, Romans 8:29; and that the same
mind must be in us—which was also in Christ Jesus. Php 2:5. Unless we partake of
his spirit, and resemble him in practice; unless we are as he was in the
world—we have no right to partake of his name!

Here I would observe, that whatever was miraculous in our Lord’s conduct, and
peculiar to him as the Son of God and Mediator, is not a pattern for our
imitation—but only what was done in obedience to that law of God which was
common to him and us.

Christ’s heart glowed with love to His Father! He delighted in universal
obedience to Him; it was His food and drink to do His will, even in the most
painful and self-denying instances! He abounded in devotion, in prayer,
meditation and every pious duty.

He was also full of every grace and virtue towards mankind! He was meek and
humble, kind and benevolent, just and charitable, merciful and compassionate
towards all. Beneficence to the souls and bodies of men was the business of his
life; for he went about doing good. Acts 10:38. In regard to Himself—He was
patient and resigned—and yet undaunted and brave under sufferings. He had all
His appetites and passions under proper government. He was heavenly-minded,
above this world in heart—while He dwelt in it. This is an imperfect sketch of
his amiable character; and in these things every one who deserves to be called
after his name, does in some measure resemble and imitate him. This is not only
his earnest endeavor—but what he actually attains, though in a much inferior
degree; and his imperfections are the grief of his heart. This resemblance and
imitation of Christ is essential to the very being of a Christian, and without
it, all profession is a vain pretense! Does your Christianity, my friends, stand
this test? May one know that you belong to Christ—by your living like him, and
manifesting the same temper and spirit? Does the temper of the divine Master
spread through all his family; and do you show that you belong to it by your
temper and conduct? Alas! if you must be denominated from hence, would not some
of you with more propriety be called Epicureans from Epicurus, the sensual
atheistic philosopher; or mammonites from Mammon, the imaginary god of riches;
or Bacchanals from Bacchus, the god of wine; rather than Christians from Christ,
the most perfect pattern of living holiness and virtue that ever was exhibited
in the world!

If you claim the name of Christians, where is . . . that ardent devotion, that
affectionate love to God, that zeal for His glory, that alacrity in His service,
that resignation to His will, that generous benevolence to mankind, that zeal to
promote their best interests, that meekness and forbearance under ill usage,
that unwearied activity in doing good to all, that self-denial and
heavenly-mindedness which shone so conspicuous in Christ, whose holy name you
bear?

Alas! while you are destitute of those graces—and yet wear his name—you only
mock it, and turn it into a reproach both to him and yourselves.

I might add, that the Christian name is not hereditary to you by your natural
birth—but you must be born anew by the Spirit to entitle you to this new name.

Every Christian is also a believer; believing in him whom he calls his only
Savior and Lord.

Every Christian is also a true penitent. Repentance was incompatible with
Christ’s character, who was perfectly righteous, and had no sin of which to
repent. But it is a proper virtue in a sinner, without which he cannot be a
Christian. On these and several other particulars, I might enlarge—but my time
will not allow; I shall therefore conclude with a few PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS.

First, You may hence see that the Christian character is the highest, the most
excellent and sublime in the world; it includes everything truly great and
amiable. The Christian has . . . exalted sentiments of the Supreme Being, just
notions of duty, and a proper temper and conduct towards God and man. A
Christian is a devout worshiper of the God of heaven, a cheerful observer of his
whole law, and a broken-hearted penitent for his imperfections. A Christian is a
compilation of all the amiable and useful graces and virtues: temperate and
sober, just, liberal, compassionate and benevolent, humble, meek, gentle,
peaceable, and in all things conscientious. A Christian is a good parent, a good
child, a good master, a good servant, a good husband, a good wife, a faithful
friend, an obliging neighbor, a dutiful subject, a good ruler, and an honest
citizen. And as far as he is such, so far, and no farther—he is a Christian. And
can there be a more amiable and excellent character exhibited to your view? It
is an angelic, a divine character. Let it be your glory and your ambition to
wear it with a good grace, to wear it so as to adorn it. To acquire the title of
kings and princes, is not in your power. To spread your fame as scholars,
philosophers, or heroes, may be beyond your reach. But here is a character more
excellent, more amiable, more honorable than all these, which it is your
business to deserve and maintain. And blessed be God, this is a dignity which
the lowest among you, which beggars and slaves may truly attain to. Let this
therefore be an object of universal ambition and pursuit, and let every other
name and title be despised in comparison of it. This is the way to rise to true
honor in the estimate of God, angels, and holy men. What though the
pseudo-Christians of our age and country ridicule you? let them consider their
own absurd conduct and be ashamed. They think it an honor to wear the Christian
name—and yet persist in unchristian practices; and who but a fool, with such
palpable contradiction, would think so? A beggar who imagines himself a king and
trails his rags with majesty, as though they were royal robes—is not so
ridiculous as one that will usurp the Christian name without a Christian
practice! And yet such ’Christians’ are the favorites of the world. To them—to
renounce the profession of Christianity is barbarous and profane; but to live
according to that profession, and practice Christianity, is preciseness and
fanaticism! Can anything be more preposterous? This is as if one should ridicule
learning—and yet glory in the character of a scholar! And are they fit to judge
of the wisdom and propriety; or their censures to be regarded—who fall into such
an absurdity themselves?

Secondly, Hence you may see that, if all the professors of Christianity should
behave in character, the religion of Christ would soon appear divine to all
mankind, and spread through all nations of the earth. Were Christianity
exhibited to the life—in all its native inherent glories, it would be as
needless to offer arguments to prove it divine, as to prove that the sun is full
of light; the conviction would flash upon all mankind by its own intrinsic
evidence. Did Christians exemplify the religion they profess—all the world would
immediately see that that religion which rendered them so different a people
from all the rest of mankind—is indeed divine, and every way worthy of universal
acceptance. Then would Heathenism, Mohammedanism, and all the false religions in
the world, fall before the heaven-born religion of Jesus Christ. Then it would
be sufficient to convince an infidel—just to bring him into a Christian country,
and let him observe how different things are there—from all the world beside.
But alas!

Thirdly, How different is the Christian world—from the Christian religion! Who
would imagine that those who take their name from Christ—have any relation to
him, if we observe their spirit and practice? Should a stranger learn
Christianity from what he sees in POPISH countries—he would conclude that it
principally consisted in bodily austerities, in worshiping saints, images,
relics, and a thousand trifles, in theatrical fopperies and insignificant
ceremonies, in believing implicitly all the determinations of a fallible man as
infallibly true, and in persecuting all that differ from them, and showing their
love to their souls—by burning their bodies. In PROTESTANT countries, alas! the
face of things is but little better as to good morals and practical religion.
Let us take our own country for a sample. Suppose a Heathen or Mohammedan should
take a tour through Virginia to learn the religion of the inhabitants from their
general conduct. What would he conclude? Would he not conclude that all the
religion of the generality consisted in a few Sunday formalities, and that the
rest of the week they had nothing to do with God, or any religion—but were at
liberty to live as they please? And were he told these were the followers of one
Christ, and were of Christ’s religion, would he not conclude that Christ was
certainly an impostor, and the minister of sin? But when he came to find that,
notwithstanding all this licentiousness, they professed the pure and holy
religion of the Bible—how would he be astonished, and pronounce them the most
inconsistent, bare-faced hypocrites! My friends! Great and heavy is the guilt
that lies upon our country upon this account. It is a scandal to the Christian
name; it is guilty of confirming the neighboring heathen in their prejudices,
and hinders the propagation of Christianity through the world. Oh let not us be
accessory to this dreadful guilt—but do all we can to recommend our religion to
universal acceptance! I add,

Fourthly, and lastly, Let us examine whether WE have any just entitlement to the
Christian name; that is, whether we are Christians indeed; for if we have not
the thing, to retain the name—is the most inconsistent folly and hypocrisy, and
will answer no end but to aggravate our condemnation! A lost ’professing
Christian’ is the most shocking character in hell! And unless you are such
Christians as I have described—it will before long be your character!

Therefore, be followers of Christ, imbibe his spirit, practice his precepts, and
depart from iniquity. Otherwise he will sentence you from him at last—as workers
of iniquity. "And then will I profess unto them" (these are Christ’s own words!)
"I never knew you; depart from me, you who work iniquity!" Matthew 7:23.


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  CHAPTER 21: 18-THE NATURE AND DANGER OF MAKINGLIGHT OF CHRIST AND SALVATION
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The Nature and Danger of Making Light of Christ and Salvation by Samuel Davies
"But they made light of it."Matthew 22:5

There is not one of us in this assembly who has not heard of Christ and his
great salvation. There is not one of us who has not had the rich blessings of
the gospel freely and repeatedly offered to them. Each one of us stands in the
most absolute need of these blessings, and must perish forever without them! I
wish I could add, that there is not one of us who has not cheerfully accepted
them according to the offer of the gospel. But, alas! such an unmixed assembly
is not to be expected on earth! Multitudes will make light of Christ and the
invitations of the gospel, as the Jews did. This parable represents the great
God under the majestic idea of a king. He is represented as making a marriage
feast for his Son. That is, God in the gospel offers his Son Jesus Christ as a
Savior to the guilty sons of men, and, upon their acceptance of him—the most
intimate and endearing union, and the tenderest mutual affection takes place
between Christ and them; which may properly be represented by the marriage
relation. And God has provided for them a rich variety of blessings: pardon,
holiness, and everlasting felicity, which may be signified by a royal nuptial
feast, verse 2.

These blessings were first offered to the Jews, who were bidden to the wedding
by Moses and the prophets, whose great business it was to prepare them to
receive the Messiah, verse 3. The servants who were sent to call those who were
thus bidden, were the apostles and seventy disciples, whom Christ sent out to
preach that the gospel kingdom was just at hand, verse 3. When the Jews rejected
this call, he sent forth other servants, namely, the apostles, after his
ascension, who were to be more urgent in their invitations, and to tell them
that, in consequence of impending Christ’s death—that all things were now ready,
verse 4.

It is seldom that invitations to a royal feast are rejected; but alas! the Jews
rejected the invitation of the gospel, and would not accept its important
blessings. They made light of Christ and his blessings: they were careless to
them, and turned their attention to other things. These things were not peculiar
to the Jews—but belong also to us Gentile sinners in these ends of the earth.
Christ is still proposed to us; to the same blessings we are invited; and I have
the honor, my dear brethren, of appearing among you as a servant of the heavenly
King, sent out to urge you to embrace the offer!

I doubt not, but some of you have already complied; and you are enriched and
made blessed forever. But alas! must I not also fear for most of you? Have you
not made light of Christ and salvation, to which you have been invited for so
many years successively? Your case is really lamentable, as I hope you will see
before I am done; and I most sincerely compassionate you from my heart. I now
rise up in this solemn place with the design to address you with the most solemn
seriousness, and the most compassionate concern. And did you know how much your
happiness may depend upon it, and how anxious I am lest I should fail in the
attempt—I am sure you could not but pray for me, and pity me. If ever you
regarded a man in the most serious temper and address, I beg you would now
regard what I am going to say to you. You cannot receive any benefit from this,
or indeed any other subject—until you apply it to yourselves. And therefore, in
order to reform you of the sin of making light of Christ and the gospel, I must
first inquire: WHO are guilty of it? For this purpose let us consider,

What is it to make light of Christ and the invitations of the gospel? I can
think of no plainer way to show this, than to inquire how we treat those things
that we highly esteem; and also by way of contrast, how we treat those things
which we make light of. And hence we may discover whether Christ and the gospel
may be ranked among the things we esteem—or those we disregard.

1. Men are apt torememberandaffectionately thinkof the things that they highly
esteem; but as for those which they disregard, they can easily forget them, and
live from day to day without a single thought about them. Now do you often
affectionately remember the Lord Jesus Christ, and do your thoughts
affectionately go after him? do they pay him early visits in the morning? do
they make frequent excursions to him through the day? and do you lie down with
him in your hearts at night? Is not the contrary evident, as to many of you? Can
you not live from day to day thoughtless of Jesus, and your everlasting
salvation? Recollect now, how many affectionate thoughts have you had of these
things through the week past, or in this sacred morning. And can you indeed
highly esteem those things which you hardly ever think of? Follow your own
hearts, sirs—observe which way they most naturally and freely run—and then judge
whether you make light of the gospel or not!

Alas! we cannot persuade men to one hour’s serious consideration, as to what
they should do for a saving interest in Christ; we cannot persuade them so much
as to afford him only their thoughts, which are such cheap things! And yet
astonishingly, they will not be convinced that they make light of Christ! And
here lies the infatuation of sin: it blinds and befools men, so that they do not
know what they think of—what they love—or what they intend, much less do they
know the habitual bent of their souls. They often imagine themselves free from
those sins to which they are most enslaved; and particularly they think
themselves innocent of the crime of making light of the gospel, when this is the
very crime that is likely to destroy them forever!

2. The things that men most value—will be the frequent subjects of
theirdiscourse. The thoughts will command the tongue, and furnish materials for
conversation. But those things that they forget and disregard—they will not talk
of. Do not they therefore make light of Christ and salvation—who have no delight
in conversing about them, and hardly ever mention the name of Christ but in a
trifling or profane manner? They do not like the company where divine things are
discoursed of—but think it fanatical and troublesome. They had much rather be
entertained with humorous tales and idle stories, or talk about the affairs of
the world. "They are of the world," says John, "therefore speak they of the
world, and the world hears them." 1 John 4:5. They are in their element in such
conversation. Or others may talk about ’religion’—but it is only about the
’externals’ of it as, "How such a man preached; it was a very good or a bad
sermon," etc. But they have no desire to enter into the spirit and substance of
divine things! and if they speak of Christ and experimental religion, it is in a
heartless and insipid manner. And do not such make light of the gospel? and is
not this the character of many of you?

3. Men make light of those things, which they onlytalkabout—but do not reduce
intopractice. Christianity was intended not to furnish matter for empty
talkers—but to govern the heart and practice! But are there not some who only
employ their tongues about it, especially when their spirits are raised with
liquor, and then a torrent of noisy religion breaks from them. Watch their
lives, and you will see little appearance of Christianity there. And do not
these evidently make light of Christ, who make him the theme of their drunken
conversation, or who seem to think that God sent his Son from heaven just to set
the world a talking about him? There is nothing in nature that seems to me more
abominable than this!

4. We take the utmost pains and labor tosecurethe things we value—and cannot be
easy while our property in them is uncertain. But those things that we think
lightly of—we care but little whether they are ours or not. Therefore, have not
such of you made light of Christ and salvation, who have lived twenty or thirty
years uncertain whether you have a saving interest in him—and yet have been easy
and contented, and take no method to be resolved? Are all who hear me this day
determined in this important question: "What shall become of me—when I die?" Are
you all certain upon good grounds, and after a thorough trial—that you shall be
eternally saved? Oh that you were! but, alas! you are not! And do you think you
would bear this uncertainty about it, if you did not make light of salvation?
No! you would carefully examine yourselves; you would diligently peruse the
Scriptures to find out the marks of those who shall be saved; you would
anxiously consult those who could direct you, and particularly pious ministers,
who would think it the greatest favor you could do them—to devolve such an
office upon them. But now ministers may sit in their studies for a whole year,
and not ten people perhaps in five hundred, come to them on this important
business.

Oh, sirs, if the gospel should pierce your hearts indeed, you would but cry out
with the convicted Jews, "Men and brethren, what shall we do!" Acts 2:37. Paul,
when awakened, cries out, in a trembling consternation, "Lord! what will you
have me to do!" But when shall we hear such questions now-a-days?

5. The things that men highly esteem, deeply and tenderlyaffectthem, and excite
some motions in their hearts. But what they make light of, makes no impression
upon them. And if you did not make light of the gospel, what workings would
there be in your hearts about it! What solemn, tender, and vigorous passion
would it raise in you—to hear such things about the world to come! what fear and
astonishment would seize you at the consideration of your misery; what
transports of joy and gratitude would you feel at the glad tidings of salvation
by the blood of Christ! what strong effectual purposes would be raised in you at
the discovery of your duty! Oh what hearers would we have, were it not for this
one sin—the making light of the gospel! Whereas now we are in danger of wearying
them, or preaching them asleep with our most solemn discourses about this
momentous affair! But we talk to them of Christ and salvation—until they grow
quite tired of this dull old tale, and this foolishness of preaching. Alas!
little would one think from the air of carelessness, levity, and inattention
that appears among them—that they were hearing such weighty truths, or have any
concern in them!

6. Our estimate of things may be discovered by the diligence and earnestness of
our endeavors to obtain them. Those things which we highly value—we think no
pains too great to obtain. Those things we think lightly of—we use no endeavors
to obtain them, or we use them in a languid, careless manner. And do not they
make light of Christ and salvation, who do not exert themselves in earnest to
obtain them—and think a great deal of every little thing they do in religion?
They are still ready to cry out, "What need of so much diligence? We hope to be
saved without so much trouble!" And, though these may not be so honest as to
speak it out—it is plain from their temper and practice—that they grudge all the
service they do for Christ as done to a master whom they do not love. They love
and esteem the world—and therefore for the world they will labor and toil all
day, and seem never to think they can do too much! But for the God who made
them, for the Lord who bought them, and for their everlasting salvation, they
seem afraid of taking too much pains.

Let us preach to them as long as we will, we cannot bring them in earnest to
desire and pursue after holiness. Follow them to their houses, and you will
hardly ever find them reading a chapter in their Bibles, or calling upon God
with their families, so much as once a day. Follow them into their retirements,
and you will hear no penitent confessions of sin, no earnest cries for mercy.
They will not allow to God that one day in seven which he has appropriated to
his own immediate service—but they will steal and prostitute some even of those
sacred hours for idleness, for worldly conversation, or business. And many of
them are so malignant in wickedness, that they will reproach and ridicule others
who are earnestly seeking Christ! And is not Christ worth seeking? Is not
eternal salvation worth so much trouble? Does not that man make light of these
things—who thinks his ease or carnal pleasure of greater importance? Let common
sense judge!

7. That which we highly value—we think we cannot buy too dear; and we are ready
to part with everything that comes in competition with it. The merchant that
found the one pearl of great price—sold all that he had to purchase it, Matthew
13:46. But those things that we make light of—we will not part with things of
value for them.

Now, when Christ and the blessings of the gospel come in competition with the
world and sinful pleasures, you may know which you most highly esteem—by
considering which you are most ready to part with. You are called to part with
everything that is inconsistent with a saving interest in Christ—and yet many of
you will not do it. You are called but to give God his own, to resign all to his
will, to let go all those profits and pleasures which you must either part
with—or part with Christ; and yet your hearts cling to these things; you grasp
them eagerly, and nothing can tear them from you! You must have your pleasures,
you must keep your credit in the world, you must look to your estates—whatever
becomes of Christ and salvation! As if you could live and die better without
Christ—than without these earthly things; or as if Christ could not make you
happy without them. And does not this bring the matter to an issue, and plainly
show that you make light of Christ—in comparison with these things? Christ
himself has assured you, over and over, that unless you are willing to part with
all for his sake—that you cannot be his disciples! And yet, while you have the
quite contrary disposition—you will pretend to be his disciples; as if you knew
better what it is that constituted his disciples—than Christ does!

8. Those things which we highly value—we shall be for helping our friends to
obtain. Do not those, then, make light of Christ—who do not take half so much
pains to help their children to a saving interest in him, as to set them up in
the world, and leave them large fortunes? They supply the outward needs of their
families—but they take little or no care about their everlasting salvation!
Alas! Sirs, your neglected, ignorant, and wicked children—can witness against
you, that you make very light of Christ and salvation, and their immortal souls!

9. That which men highly esteem—they will so diligently pursue—that you may see
theirregardfor it in theirendeavorsafter it. You may therefore see that many
make light of the gospel by the little knowledge they have of it, after all the
means of instruction with which they have been favored. Alas! where is their
improvement in holiness! Alas! how little do they know of their own hearts, of
God and Christ, and the world to come, and what they must do to be saved! Ask
them about these things, and you will find them stupidly ignorant! And yet they
have so much conceited knowledge, that they will not acknowledge it; or if they
do, they have no better excuse than to say they are no scholars, or they have a
poor memory—as if it required extensive learning, or a great genius to know the
things that are necessary to salvation. Oh! if they had not made light of these
things; if they had bestowed but half the pains upon them which they have taken
to understand matters of worldly business or pleasure, they would not be so
grossly ignorant as they are! When men can learn the hardest trade in a few
years, when men of bright abilities, and perhaps considerable learning, after
living so many years—are still mere novices in matters of true religion, and do
not so much as know the terms of life according to the gospel—is it not plain
that they care but little about these things, and that they make light of the
Son of God, and all his inestimable, immortal blessings?

Thus I have offered you sufficient matter of conviction in this affair. And what
is the result? Does not conscience smite some of you by this time, and say, "I
am the man who has made light of Christ and his gospel!" If not, upon what
evidence are you acquitted? Some of you, I doubt not, can say, in the integrity
of your hearts, "Alas! I am too careless about this important affair—but God
knows I am often deeply concerned about it! God knows that if ever I was in
earnest about anything in all my life—it has been about my everlasting state;
and there is nothing in all the world that habitually lies so near my heart!"
But are there not some of you whom conscience does not accuse of this crime of
too much carelessness about the gospel, not because you are innocent—but because
you make so very light of it, that you will make no thorough search into it? and
does not this alone prove you guilty? I beseech such to consider the folly of
your conduct. Do you then think to excuse your crime, by being careless whether
you are guilty of it or not? Can you avoid the precipice—by shutting your eyes?
If you discover your sin now, it may be of unspeakable service to you—but if you
now shut your eyes—you must see it hereafter, when it will be too late—when your
conviction will be your punishment!

I beseech you also to consider the dreadful evil of your conduct in making light
of a Savior. And here I shall offer such arguments to expose its aggravations,
as I am sure I cannot fail to convince and astonish you—if you act like men of
reason and understanding.

1. Consider that you make light of Christ—who did not make light of you—when you
deserved only His wrath! You were worthy of nothing but contempt and abhorrence
from him. As a man—you are but a worm to God; and as a sinner—you are viler than
a toad or a serpent! Yet Christ was so far from making light of you—that he left
his native heaven, became a man of sorrows, and died in the most exquisite
agonies—that a way might be opened for the salvation of your miserable soul! And
can you make light of him after all his regard to you? What miracles of love and
mercy has he shown towards you! and can you neglect him after all? Angels, who
are less concerned in these things than we are—cannot but pry into them with
delightful wonder, 1 Peter 1:12, and shall sinners who have the most intimate
personal concern in them, make light of them? This is a crime more than
devilish; for the devils never had a Savior offered to them, and consequently
never could despise him. And can you live in a carelessness of Christ all your
days—and yet feel no remorse?

2. Consider you make light of matters of the greatest excellency and importance
in all the world! Oh, sirs, you know not what it is that you slight! Had you
known these things—you would not have ventured to make light of them for ten
thousand worlds! As Christ said to the woman of Samaria, "If you knew the gift
of God, and who it is, that says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked
of him, and he would have given you living water!" John 4:13. Had the Jews
known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory! 1 Corinthians 2:8. Just
so, had you known who Jesus is—you would not have made light of him; he would
have been to you the most important being in the universe!

Oh! had you been but one day in heaven, and seen and felt the happiness there!
or had you been but one hour under the agonies of hell—you could never more
trifle with salvation!

Here I find my thoughts run so naturally into the same channel with those of the
excellent Richard Baxter, about a hundred years ago, that you will allow me to
give a long quotation from him, that you may see in what light this great and
godly man viewed the neglected things which the gospel brings to your ears. His
words are these, and I am that they are very weighty:

"Oh, sirs, they are no trifles or jesting matters, which the gospel speaks of. I
must needs profess to you, that when I have the most serious thoughts of these
things, I am ready to wonder that such amazing matters do not overwhelm the
souls of men! that the greatness of the subject—does not so overmatch our
understandings and affections, as even to drive men beside themselves! Much more
am I amazed, that men should be so blockish as to make light of such wondrous
things! Oh, Lord, that men did but know what everlasting glory—and everlasting
torments are! Would they then hear us as they do? Would they read and think of
these things as they do? I profess I have been ready to wonder when I have heard
such weighty things delivered, how people can forbear crying out in the
congregation; and much more do I wonder how they can rest—until they have gone
to their ministers and learned what they shall do to be saved, that this great
business of their eternal salvation should be put out of doubt. Oh, that heaven
and hell should work no more upon men! Oh, that eternity should work no more!
Oh, how can you forbear when you are alone—to think with yourselves, what it is
to be everlastingly in joy—or torment! I wonder that such thoughts do not break
your sleep, and that they do not crowd into your minds when you are about your
labor! I wonder how you can almost do anything else! How can you have any
quietness in your minds? How can you eat or drink, or rest—until you have got
some ground of everlasting consolations? Is that a man, or a corpse—who is not
affected with matters of such great consequence? who can be readier to
sleep—than to tremble, when he hears how he must stand at the bar of God? Is
that a man, or a clod of clay—who can rise up and lie down without being deeply
affected with his everlasting state? who can follow his worldly business, and
make nothing of the great business of salvation or damnation; and that when he
knows it is so close at hand! Truly, sirs, when I think of the weight of the
matter, I wonder at the best saints upon earth, that they are no better, and do
no more in so weighty a case. I wonder at those whom the world accounts more
holy than needs be, and scorns for making too much ado—that they can put off
Christ and their souls with so little; that they do not pour out their souls in
every prayer; that they are not more taken up with God; that their thoughts are
not more serious in preparation for their last account! I wonder that they are
not a thousand times more strict in their lives, and more laborious and
unwearied for the eternal crown than they are. And for myself, (says that
zealous, flaming, and indefatigable preacher,) as I am ashamed of my dull and
careless heart, and of my slow and unprofitable course of life; the Lord knows I
am ashamed of every sermon that I preach! When I think what I am, and who sent
me, and how much the salvation and damnation of men is concerned in it—I am
ready to tremble, lest God should judge me as a slighter of his truth and the
souls of men; and lest, in my best sermon, I should be guilty of their blood!
Methinks we should not speak a word to men in matters of such consequence,
without tears, or the greatest earnestness!" And now, my brethren, if such a man
as this viewed these things in this light, oh what shall we—we languishing,
careless creatures, what shall we think of ourselves? Into what a dead sleep are
we fallen! Oh let the most active and zealous among us—awake, and be a thousand
times more earnest! And you frozen-hearted, careless sinners, for God’s
sake—awake, and exert yourselves to good purpose in the pursuit of salvation—or
you are lost to all eternity!

3. Considerwhosesalvation it is, that you make light of.

It is your own! And do you not care what becomes of your own eternal souls? Is
it nothing to you—whether you are saved or damned forever? Is the natural
principle of self-love extinct in you? Have you no concern for your own
preservation? Are you your own worst enemies?

If you slight Christ and love sin—you virtually love death and damnation! And
you may as well say this in words—as by your practice!

4. Consider, your sin is aggravated—byprofessingto believe that gospel, which
you make light of. For a professed infidel who does not believe the Scripture
revelation concerning Christ and a future state of rewards and punishments, for
such a one to be careless about these things would not be so strange. But many
of you profess to believe the gospel—but make light of it in your thoughts and
practice!

How astonishing is this!

How utterly inexcusable!

What! You believe that you shall live forever in the most perfect happiness or
exquisite misery—and yet take no more pains to obtain the one, and escape the
other!

What! You believe that the great and awesome God will shortly be your judge—and
yet make no more preparation for it? Either say plainly, "I am no Christian, I
do not believe these things!" or else let your hearts be affected with your
belief, and let it influence and govern your lives!

5. Consider what those things are, which engross your affections, and which
tempt you to neglect Christ and your salvation. Have you found a better friend
than Christ, or a more substantial and lasting happiness than His salvation?

Oh! what trifles and vanities, what dreams and shadows are men pursuing—while
they neglect the important realities of the eternal world!

If crowns and kingdoms, if all the riches, glories, and pleasures of the world
were ensured to you—as a reward for making light of Christ, you would even then
make the most foolish bargain possible; for what are these in the grand scale—if
compared to eternal joy or eternal misery! "What is a man profited, if he shall
gain even the whole world, and lose his own soul!" But you cannot realistically
hope for the ten thousandth part of these worldly trifles! And will you cast
away your souls for such a pittance?

You who think it such a great thing to live in riches, pleasures, and honors;
consider, is it such a mighty happiness to die rich? to die after a life of
pleasure and honor? Will it be such a great happiness to give an account at the
judgement day, for the life of a rich sensualist, rather than of a poor humble
Christian? Will Dives then be so much happier than Lazarus?

Alas! what does the richest, the highest, the most voluptuous sinner do—but lay
up treasures of wrath against the day of wrath! Oh how will the unhappy
creatures torture themselves forever with the most cutting reflections, for
selling their Savior and their souls for such trifles! Let your sins and earthly
enjoyments save you then, if they can! Then go and cry to the gods you have
chosen; let them deliver you in the day of your damnation!

6. Your making light of Christ and salvation, is a certain evidence that you
have no saving interest in them. Christ will not throw himself and his blessings
away upon those who do not value them. "Those who honor him—he will honor; but
those who despise him—shall be lightly esteemed," 1 Samuel 2:30. There is a day
coming, when you will feel you cannot do without him; when you will feel
yourselves perishing for lack of a Savior; and then you may go and look for a
savior where you will; then may you shift for yourselves as best you can—he will
have nothing to do with you! The Savior of sinners will cast you off forever!

I tell you, sirs, whatever estimate you may form of all these things—that God
thinks very highly of the blood of his Son, and the blessings of his purchase;
and if ever you obtain them, he will have you think highly of them too. If you
continue to make light of them—all the world cannot save you. And can you find
fault with God for denying you that which was so little in your account?

7. And lastly, the time is hastening when you will not think so lightly of
Christ and salvation. Oh, sirs, when God shall commission death to tear your
guilty souls out of your bodies, when devils shall drag you away to the place of
torment, when you find yourselves condemned to everlasting fire by that Savior
whom you now neglect—what would you then give for a Savior? When divine justice
brings in its heavy charges against you, and you have nothing to answer, how
will you then cry, "Oh if I had sincerely received Jesus for my Savior—He would
have answered all!" When you see that the world has deserted you, that your
companions in sin have deceived both themselves and you, and all your merry days
are over forever—would you not then give ten thousand worlds for Christ? And
will you not now think him worthy of your esteem and earnest pursuit? Why will
you judge of things now—quite the reverse of what you will do then—when you will
be more capable of judging rightly? And now, dear immortal souls! I have
revealed the nature and danger of this common but unsuspected and unlamented
sin, making light of Christ. I have delivered my message—and now I must leave it
with you, imploring the blessing of God upon it!

I cannot follow you home to your houses to see what effect it has upon you, or
to make application of it to each of you in particular; but oh, may your
consciences undertake this office! Whenever you spend another prayerless,
thoughtless day, whenever you give yourselves up to sinful pleasures, or an
over-eager pursuit of the world, may your conscience become your preacher, and
sting you with this expostulation: "Alas! is this the effect of all I have
heard? Do I still make light of Christ and the concerns of true religion? Oh
what will be the end of such conduct!"

I cannot but fear, after all, that some of you, as usual, will continue careless
and impenitent. Well, when you are suffering the punishment of this sin in hell,
remember that you were warned, and acquit me from being accessory to your
eternal ruin! And when we all appear before the supreme Judge, and I am called
to give an account of my ministry: when I am asked, "Did you warn these
creatures of their danger? Did you lay before them their guilt in making light
of these things?" You will hear me answer, "Yes, Lord, I warned them in the best
manner I could—but they would not believe me; they would not regard what I said,
though enforced by the authority of your awesome name, and confirmed by your own
Word!" Oh sirs, must I give in this accusation against any of you? No, rather
have mercy on yourselves, and have mercy upon me, that I may give an account of
you with joy, and not with grief!


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  CHAPTER 22: 19-JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY FOUNDATION
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Jesus Christ, the Only Foundation Samuel Davies, February 13, 1757

(Editor’s note: This sermon starts a bit slow, as Davies explains the context;
but do not despair, as it is one of the most insightful and powerful sermons
that we have read.)

"Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold! I lay in Zion for a foundation a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he who
believes shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and
righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
and the waters shall overflow the hiding place!" Isaiah 28:16-17 The context,
like many other passages of the prophetic scriptures, seems to have a double
sense. The primary sense may be thus represented. The judgments of God were
ready to break in upon and overwhelm the impenitent nation of the Jews, like "a
tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters
overflowing," and bearing all before it. (verse 2.) The prophet had repeatedly
given them timely warning of these approaching judgments; but they still
continued secure and impenitent, and unapprehensive of danger. They flattered
themselves they had skill enough to keep themselves safe. They thought
themselves to be impregnably entrenched and fortified in their riches, their
strongholds, and the sanctity of their temple and nation. They might also think
their arts of negotiation would secure them from the invasion of the neighboring
powers, particularly the Assyrians, to whom they were not exposed.

These were the lies which they made their refuge, and the falsehood under which
they hid themselves. These, they imagined, like motes or ditches, would keep off
the deluge of wrath, so that it would not come to them, much less overwhelm
them; and they were as secure as if they had made "a covenant with death, and
entered into an agreement with hell, or the grave," not to hurt them.

Therefore the prophet represents them as saying, "We have made a covenant with
death, and with hell are we at agreement: when the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies (that is what the
prophet calls lies,) our refuge;" and under what he calls falsehoods have we hid
ourselves. (verse 15.)

It is in this connection my text is introduced; and it points out a solid ground
of hope, in opposition to the refuge of lies in which these sinners trusted; as
if he had said, since the refuge to which you flee is not safe, and since my
people need another, "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I
am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is firm, a tested and precious
cornerstone that is safe to build on!" That is, "My promises, my providential
care, the supporting influences of my grace, and the various means I shall take
for the comfort and safety of my people in this national distress, shall as
effectually bear them up, as a firm foundation of stone does a building erected
upon it. Those who build their hopes upon this foundation, shall stand unshaken
amidst all the storms and tempests of the national calamity, that may beat upon
our guilty land."

"He who believes shall not make haste;" that is, "he who trusts in this refuge
shall not be struck into a distracted hurry and consternation upon the sudden
appearance of these calamities. He shall not, like persons surprised with
unexpected danger, fly in a wild haste to improper means for his safety, and
thus throw himself into destruction by his ill-advised, precipitate attempts to
keep out of it; but he shall be calm and serene, and have presence of mind to
take the most proper measures for his deliverance." Or the meaning may be, "He
who believes shall not make such haste to be delivered; as to fly to unlawful
means for that purpose; but will patiently wait God’s time to deliver him in a
lawful way." The prophet proceeds, "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and
righteousness to the plummet;" that is, "God will try the Jews with strict
justice, as an architect examines a building with a line and plummet. Such of
them who have built their hopes upon the foundation above described, shall stand
firm and unshaken, whatever tempests fall upon them, like a regular and stately
building, founded upon a solid rock. But as to others, they shall be overwhelmed
in the public calamity! the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies in which
they trusted; and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." And then your
covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand: "when the overflowing scourge shall pass through then shall you be
trodden down by it." (verse 18.) This seems to be a primary sense of the
context; and thus, it is probable, the Jews understood it, who did not enjoy
that additional light which the gospel sheds upon it. In this view it is very
applicable to us, in the present state of our country and nation, when the enemy
is likely to break in like a flood upon us. But I must add, that it is very
likely, that even in this primary sense of the context, the text refers to Jesus
Christ. There seems to be an unnatural force put upon the words, when they are
applied to any other and the connection will admit of their application to him,
even in this sense, thus, "Since the refuge of sinners is a refuge of lies,
behold I will provide one that will effectually secure all who fly to it from
all the judgments to which they are exposed." I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a
stone, a tried stone, &c. "I send my Son into the world, as an Almighty Savior;
and all who put themselves under his protection, and build their hopes upon him,
shall be so safe, that all the calamities of life shall not do them a lasting
injury; and the vengeance of the eternal world shall never fall upon them." But
whether we can find Christ in the primary sense of these words or not, it is
certain we shall find him in their ultimate, principal sense. And we have the
authority of an inspired apostle for this application. Peter quotes this
passage, with some improvements, and applies it expressly to Christ, "To whom
coming," says he, "as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen
of God, and precious, you also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house. Wherefore, also, it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion
a chief corner-stone, elect, precious; and he who believes on him shall not be
confounded." 1 Peter 2:4; 1 Peter 2:6.

Taking the passage in this evangelical sense, the general meaning is to this
purpose: The Lord Jesus is represented as a tried, precious, and sure
foundation, laid in Zion, that is, in the church, for the sons of men to build
their hopes upon. His church thus built on him, is compared to a stately, firm,
and impregnable temple, consecrated to the service of God, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices; and armored against all the storms and tempests that may beat upon
it. It shall stand firm and immovable through all eternity, for its foundation
is sure.

But, alas! though Jesus Christ be the only foundation, yet most people are so
full of themselves, that they venture to build their hopes upon something else,
and promise themselves safety—though they reject this sure foundation! They
think themselves as secure as if they had entered into a treaty with death and
the grave, and brought them over to their interest.

But, lo! the wrath of God will at last beat upon a guilty world, like a storm of
hail, or break in upon it like an overwhelming torrent; then every soul that is
not built upon this rock must be swept away, and all the other refuges and
hiding-places shall be laid in ruins forever! The great God will also strictly
inquire who is founded upon this rock, and who not. He will critically try the
temple of his church, like a workman, with line and plummet; he will discover
all irregularities and useless appendages. And in consequence of this
examination, the storms and torrents of divine indignation shall sweep away and
overwhelm all who are not built upon this foundation, and who are not compacted
into this building. These remarks contain the general meaning of our text, but
it is necessary I should be more particular.

Brethren, our nature, our circumstances, and the important prospects before us,
are such, that it is high time for us to look about us for some sure foundation
upon which to build our happiness. The fabric must endure long, for our souls
will exist forever; and their eagerness for happiness will continue vehement
forever. The fabric must rise high, for the capacities of our souls will
perpetually expand and enlarge. The fabric must be strong and impregnable,
armored against all the storms that may beat upon it; for many are the storms
that will rise upon us, upon our country, and upon this guilty world in general.
Losses, bereavements, sicknesses, and a thousand calamities that I cannot
name—may yet try us. The enemy is now breaking in like a flood upon our country,
and we and our earthly all—are in danger of being overwhelmed. Death will
certainly attack us all; and that must be a strong building indeed which the
king of terrors will not be able to demolish.

Besides, when all the purposes of divine love in our world shall be
accomplished, an almighty tempest of divine indignation shall break upon it, and
sweep away all that it contains; and blend cities, kingdoms, plains and
mountains, seas and dry land, kings and beggars—into one vast heap of ruin. Or,
to shift the metaphor according to the emphatic variety in my text, the fiery
deluge of divine vengeance, which has been gathering and swelling for thousands
of years, but has been, as it were, restrained and kept within bounds by divine
patience—shall then rise so high as to burst through all restraints, and
overwhelm the guilty globe, and turn it into an universal ocean of liquid fire!
This resistless torrent shall sweep away all the refuges of lies, and those who
trusted in them, into the gulf of remediless destruction. "The present heavens
and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men! The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The
heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and
the earth and everything in it will be burned up!" 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10

Well my friends, where shall we find a support to bear us up in this tremendous
day? Where shall we find a rock to build upon, that we may be able to stand the
shock, and remain safe and unmoved—in the wreck of dissolving worlds? What can
uphold us—when this vast machine of our world, formed with so much skill and
strength by the hands of a divine Architect, shall be broken up and fall to
pieces?

Now, now is the time for us to find the refuge; it will be too late when all
created supports are swept away, and this solid globe itself is dissolved
beneath our feet into a sea of fire! And where will you look? where will you
turn? This earth, and all its riches, honors, and pleasures, will prove but a
quicksand in that day. Your friends and relations, were they ever so great or
powerful—can then afford you no support. If they can but find refuge for
themselves, that will be all; therefore bethink yourselves once more; where
shall you find a rock on which you may build a happiness that will stand the
shock in that day?

If you are anxious and perplexed, I need only point you to my text for relief.
"Behold," says the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a
tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation; he who believes shall
not make haste."

Let me expatiate a little upon the properties of this foundation:

1. It is a STONE. A stone for solidity, stability, and durableness. Every thing
else besides Christ . . . is sliding sand, is yielding air, is a breaking
bubble! In that dread day . . . wealth—will prove to be a vain shadow,
honor—will prove to be an empty breath, pleasure—will prove to be a delusive
dream, your own righteousness—will prove to be a spider’s web!

If we rely on these, disappointment and doom inevitable!

Nothing but Christ, nothing but Christ, can stably support us in that dread day!
And blessed be God! "He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress—I
will never be shaken!" Psalms 62:2. He alone e is sufficient for this purpose.
Is a stone firm and solid? so is Jesus Christ. His power is almighty, able to
support the weakest of his people who build their hope upon him, and armor them
against all the attacks of earth and hell. His righteousness is infinitely
perfect, equal to the highest demands of the divine law—and therefore a firm,
immovable ground of trust. We may safely venture the weight of our eternal all
upon this rock! It will stand forever, without giving way under the heaviest
pressure; without being broken by the most violent shock. Let thousands, let
millions, with all the mountainous weight of guilt upon them, build upon this
foundation, and they shall never be moved! Is a stone durable and lasting? So is
Jesus Christ; he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His righteousness is
an everlasting righteousness, his strength an everlasting strength, and himself
the everlasting Father. He lives for ever to make intercession for his people,
and therefore he is able to save to the uttermost, to the uttermost point of
duration, all who come unto God by him. Here is a stone that can never molder
away by the waste of all-consuming time.

Persian marble, and even the flinty rocks decay! The firm foundations, the
stately columns, the majestic buildings of Nineveh, Babylon, and Persia, and all
the magnificent structures of antiquity, though formed of the most durable
stone, and promising immortality, are now shattered into ten thousand fragments,
or lying in ruinous heaps! But here is a foundation for immortal souls, immortal
as themselves; a foundation that now stands as firm under Adam, Abel, and
Abraham, as the first moment they ventured their dependence upon it; a
foundation that will remain the same to all eternity.

Therefore it deserves the next character given to it, namely—

2. It is a TRIED stone. "Tried," says a fine writer, "in the days of his
humanity by all the vehemence of temptations, and all the weight of afflictions;
yet, like gold from the furnace, rendered more shining and illustrious by the
fiery scrutiny." His obedience was tried; and it appeared upon trial that it was
perfect and universal. His meekness was tried—by the abusive treatment he met
with from men. His patience and resignation to the divine will was tried, when
the bitter cup of the wrath of God was put into his hand, and when the absence
of his Father extorted that bitter cry from him, "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me!" Matthew 27:46. His love to his Father, and his zeal for his honor,
were tried—and they were found an unquenchable flame, that glowed without once
languishing through the whole of his life. His love to men—to sinners—to
enemies, was tried: tried to the uttermost: it was put to the trial, whether his
own life—or theirs, was most dear to him; whether he would rather see his
enemies perish by the sword of justice, or that himself should feel the agonies
of a cross. This was a trial indeed; and you know how the outcome. The severity
of the trial—did but render his love to us the more illustrious! In short, this
stone was thoroughly tried by God and man—-and it still remained firm without a
flaw!

Jesus has also been tried under the capacity of a Savior—by millions and
millions of depraved, wretched, ruined creatures, who have always found him
perfectly able, and as perfectly willing—to expiate the most enormous guilt; to
deliver from the most inveterate corruptions; and to save to the very
uttermost—all who come unto God through him! Ten thousand times ten thousand,
have built their hopes upon this rock—and it has never failed so much as one of
them! Manasseh, Paul, and Mary Magdalen, and thousands more atrocious
sinners—have ventured upon this all-sufficient rock with all their load of sin
upon them—and found it able to sustain them! This stone is the foundation of
that living temple, the church, which has been now building for near six
thousand years, and the top of which already reaches the highest heaven. All the
millions of saints from Adam to this day, both those in heaven and those on
earth, are living stones built upon this foundation-stone; this supports the
weight of all. And this trial may encourage all others to build upon it; for it
appears sufficient to bear them all. But I must farther observe, that a
different interpretation of this sentence, still nearer to the original, will
give a new and important view of the sense of it. Instead of a tried stone, it
may be rendered, "a stone of trial;" or, "a trying stone;" that is, this is the
true touch-stone of men’s characters. It is this that, above all other things,
reveals what they really are: whether godly or wicked men, whether heirs of
heaven or hell. Only propose Jesus Christ to them as a Savior, and according as
they receive or reject him—you may know their true character, and their
everlasting doom!

If with eager hearts they spring forward and embrace him as a Savior—they are
true subjects to the King of heaven; they give the highest, the final, the most
decisive proof of their subjection to his authority. That men should submit to
Jesus Christ as a Savior, is not a single command of God, but it is the drift,
the scope, the substance of the whole law and gospel! It is the grand Scriptural
precept; it is a kind of universal command that runs through all the
dispensations of God, towards guilty men. And therefore, while men refuse to
submit to this command, they are guilty of a kind of universal disobedience; and
it is in vain for them to pretend to have a real regard to God and his authority
in any one instance whatever. On the other hand, if they obey God sincerely in
falling in with this command, they will obey him in everything; but if they will
not obey him in this, they will truly obey him in nothing! Hence it is that good
works are the inseparable fruits of faith in Christ; and that unbelief is the
root of all evil.

Submission to Christ is also the most effectual trial, whether the corrupt
dispositions of the heart, whether the innate enmity to God, pride,
stubbornness, etc., are subdued. If a man is once made so dutiful, so humble, so
pliable—as to submit to this humbling, mortifying method of salvation through
Jesus Christ, it shows that divine grace has got an entire victory over him, and
that now the rebel is so subdued—that he will be obedient in anything. There is
nothing in the whole law or gospel to which the hearts of unbelieving sinners
are so averse—as this method of salvation by Christ alone. And therefore, when
they are subdued to this, and made willing captives of the cross of Christ—we
may be sure they have surrendered themselves to universal obedience! This text
has made strange discoveries in the world in every age. This touch-stone has
revealed many glittering virtues—to be but dross! The religious Pharisees and
Scribes had a noble reputation among the Jews for piety—until this trying-stone
was applied to them; and then it appeared what they were! And then it appeared
that they were the most inveterate enemies of God upon earth. These were the
builders who rejected this stone, and would not build upon it. They rather chose
to build upon the sandy foundation of their own righteousness. Nay, instead of
making Christ the foundation of their hopes, they made him a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offence! Romans 9:32-33. 1 Peter 2:8, and they stumbled and fell
into destruction! "Christ crucified," says the apostle, "is a stumbling-block to
the Jews!" 1 Corinthians 1:23. This test made strange discoveries also in the
heathen world. Many of the sages of Greece and Rome had a high reputation for
wisdom and virtue; they gloried in it themselves, and they were admired and
celebrated by the populace. But when this stone was pointed out to them as the
only foundation of their hopes—they rejected it with proud disdain, and thought
it much more safe to depend upon their own virtue and merit, than upon the
virtue and merit of one that was crucified like a malefactor! And thus it
appeared, that they were not truly good and virtuous.

Let this touch-stone be applied likewise to the men of this generation, and it
will reveal a great many counterfeits!

You will find some who have a moral, amiable, winsome conduct, who are
temperate, just, charitable, and shine with the appearance of many virtues.

You will find others who are very punctual in the religious duties; they are
frequent in prayer, and strict attendants upon all the solemnities of divine
worship.

All this looks well in the sight of man. But tell them that all this is no
sufficient ground for their hopes of the divine acceptance; nay, that they must
renounce all this in point of dependence, as having no merit at all; and that
they must, as helpless, guilty, self-condemned sinners, place their trust only
in Jesus Christ; and they then begin to show their pride! Then their hearts rise
against this soul-mortifying doctrine, and perhaps against him who teaches it.
They cannot bear that all their imaginary merit—should have such contempt cast
upon it! They will own indeed, as others around them do, that Christ is the only
Savior; but their real dependence is at bottom, upon some supposed goodness in
themselves. And thus they reveal that all their righteousness is but the proud
self-righteousness of a Pharisee, or the self-confident virtue of a stoic
philosopher; and not the humble religion or genuine sterling virtue of a true
Christian!

Thus the reception which men give to Jesus Christ is the grand criterion of
their character before God. And this is agreeable to the prophecy of good old
Simeon concerning him: "Behold this child," says he, "is destined to cause the
falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken
against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed!"Luke 2:34-35. The
secret thoughts, reasonings, and dispositions of many hearts, which were before
unsuspected, are revealed by this trial! And I wish that it may not make very
damning discoveries among you. As this is a trying stone with regard to men’s
present characters, so it will be also as to their final doom and everlasting
state. All who are built upon this foundation, however frail and tottering in
themselves, shall grow up into a glorious impregnable temple, and stand firm
when the earth and everything in it will be burned up! But all who are not built
upon this foundation, however strong or well established in their own conceit,
or however high they raise the fabric of their hopes—shall be demolished and
laid in ruins forever! The one may be likened, says Christ, unto a wise man,
which built his house upon a rock: "The rain came down, the streams rose, and
the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall—because it had
its foundation on the rock." And the other may be likened unto "a foolish man
who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds
blew and beat against that house—and it fell with a great crash!" Matthew
7:25-27. What a confounding fall will this be to those that have built a
towering Babel of hopes that reaches to heaven! But,

3. This is a PRECIOUS stone. Says one, "More precious than rubies—is the pearl
of great price, and the desire of all nations!" Precious with regard to the
divine dignity of his person, and the unequaled excellency of his mediatorial
offices. In these and in all respects—chief among ten thousand; and, to the
awakened sinner, or enlightened believer, "He is altogether lovely!"

He is precious in himself, as possessing all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
the sum total of all divine excellencies, and as clothed with all the virtues of
a perfect man. In short, all moral excellency, divine and human, created and
untreated, center in him, and render him infinitely precious and valuable!

He is precious to his Father; his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased; his
elect one, in whom his soul delights.

He is precious to angels: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!" is their eternal
song.

He is precious to all godly men in all ages. "Unto you, therefore, who
believe—He is precious!" says Peter, 1 Peter 2:7.

How precious are his atoning blood and meritorious righteousness to the guilty,
self-condemned soul! How precious is his sanctifying grace to the soul
heavy-laden with sin, and groaning under that body of death! How precious the
assistance of his almighty arm to his poor soldiers in the spiritual warfare!
How precious the light of his instructions to the benighted, wandering mind! How
sweet are the words of his mouth; sweeter than honey from the honey-comb! How
precious the light of his smiling countenance, and the sensations of his love—to
the desponding, sinking soul! How precious is that eternal salvation which he
imparts! And how precious the price he paid for it! "For you know that it was
not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from
the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect!" says Peter. In
short, he is altogether lovely, altogether precious. Diamonds and pearls, and
all the precious stones in the universe, cannot represent his worth. Oh that a
thoughtless world did but know how precious he is! Surely they would then say to
his friends, "Where is your beloved gone, that we may seek him with you?"

I enlarge upon this article with the more pleasure, as I doubt not but the
experience of several among you can affix your ’Amen’ to what I say, and to much
more.

I am now but complying with the request of one of my friends, at the distance of
near four thousand miles, who writes to me thus: "Dear sir, recommend him to
poor sinners, recommend him to poor believers, as a most wonderful Savior and
Redeemer; abundantly able to deliver them—from all that hell and sin can do to
destroy them. Oh that his divine excellencies and worth could be set forth!
Surely the most abandoned sinners would fall before him with ravishment and
wonder." These are British sterling thoughts concerning this precious stone, my
brethren, and I hope the same thoughts are to be found among you. Oh that they
were universal among us, and among all the sons of men!

4. This stone is a SURE FOUNDATION. "Such" says one, "as no pressure can shake;
equal, more than equal to every weight; even to sin—the heaviest load in the
world. The rock of ages, such as never has failed, never will fail those humble
penitents who cast their burden upon the Lord Redeemer; who roll all their
guilt, and fix their whole hopes upon this immovable foundation." The foundation
is sure, because it is of divine appointment. "Behold," says the Lord God, who
has authority to make the appointment, "behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation!"

It is also sure—because of the extent of his power, the perfection of his
righteousness, and the eternity of his existence. But these I have already
touched upon. Indeed, his excellencies are so sweetly blended and mixed, like
the colors of the rainbow—that it is hard to describe one of them, without
running into another. A fine author thinks the words may be otherwise rendered:
"A foundation! a foundation!" "There is," says he, "a fine spirit of vehemency
in the sentence thus understood; it speaks the language of agreeable surprise
and exultation, and expresses an important discovery. That which mankind
infinitely need; that which multitudes seek, and find not—it is here! It is
here! This, this is the foundation for their pardon, their peace, their eternal
felicity."

5. This is a CORNER-stone. "It not only supports—but unites the edifice;
incorporating both Jews and Gentiles, believers of various languages and
manifold denominations, here, in one harmonious bond of brotherly love; and
hereafter, in one common participation of eternal joy." To this purpose, and in
this style, speaks the apostle: "He is our peace who has made both, that is,
both Jews and Gentiles, one." That is, one uniform, united, magnificent
superstructure, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly
framed together, grows unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you [Gentiles]
also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit:" Ephesians
2:14; Ephesians 2:20; Ephesians 2:22.

Materials for this sacred temple are collected from thrones—and cottages, from
slave—and free, from Jews—and Gentiles, from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America!
But notwithstanding these distinctions, they are all united in this cornerstone;
all harmoniously compacted into one uniform, magnificent temple, where the God
of heaven delights to dwell.

Jesus Christ may also be called a corner-stone, to signify his special
importance in this spiritual building. Hence he is elsewhere repeatedly called
the chief corner stone, and the head of the corner: Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10;
Luke 20:7; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7; Ephesians 2:20. We are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, in a subordinate sense; but Jesus
Christ himself is the chief corner-stone. He has the most important place in the
building! It is Christ—who holds up and connects all. Apostles, prophets, and
all, are but sinking sand without him. Their righteousness, their strength—are
nothing without him. On him all their doctrines depend, in him they all
terminate, and from him "they derive all their efficacy. Take away this
cornerstone, and immediately the saints in heaven fall from their throne! Take
away this cornerstone, and the saints upon earth, who are gradually rising
heavenward, sink forever! Take away this corner-stone, and this glorious living
temple, that has been building for so many ages—breaks to pieces, and covers
heaven and earth with its ruins!

Having thus illustrated the particular properties of this stone, I shall take
notice of this general property of it-that it is a FOUNDATION. So it is
repeatedly called in my text, "It is laid in Zion as a foundation." It is a sure
foundation. It must be the foundation, and have the principal place in the
spiritual building—or none at all. "No other foundation," says Paul, "can any
man lay, than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ!" And he must
lie at the foundation of all—or the superstructure cannot stand. To join our own
righteousness with his, in our justification; is to form a foundation of solid
stone, and hay, straw, and stubble—all blended together. To make our own merit,
the ground of our claim to his righteousness; that is, to hope that God will
save us for Christ’s sake, because we are so good as to deserve some favor at
least for our own sakes, that is to lay a foundation of stone upon a quicksand!
The precious corner-stone would have stood, had it been in its proper place,
that is, at the bottom of all; but when it is founded upon the sand—it must give
way, and all the superstructure must fall. This is the grand fundamental mistake
of multitudes in the ’Christian world’. They all own Christ is the only Savior;
but then the ground of their expecting salvation through him, is not his
righteousness, but their own! Their own worthless works, which their ignorance
and vanity call good—lie at the bottom of all their hopes, as the first
foundation; and Christ’s righteousness is rather part of the superstructure,
than the entire foundation! This is the refuge of lies—the delusive hiding-place
which multitudes are building all their lives—with a great deal of pains; and,
when they think themselves provided with a strong everlasting mansion, suddenly
they feel themselves swept away into destruction by the overwhelming torrent of
divine indignation!

Here, brethren, let us pause a while, and turn our attention to a question that
I hope you have anticipated, "Am I a living stone built upon this foundation?
Are all my hopes of acceptance with God and eternal happiness, founded upon this
rock?" Are you not desirous to make this important discovery? To make it now,
while you have time? If you have made a mistake, to correct it, by pulling down
the old building, and beginning a new one on the right foundation? Have you no
concern about this? If not, I must tell you, you care not for the God who made
you, or the Savior of sinners! Heaven and hell are but trifles to you—and you
are indifferent which should be your eternal lot. You have not the sensibility
of a man, with regard to pleasure and pain—but the stupidity of a brute, or
rather of a senseless stone! And if you continue thus stupidly careless about
eternal things—you shall forever be cut off from the rewards of pious diligence,
and feel the dreadful doom of the slothful servant!

Friends, can you be indifferent in a matter of such infinite consequence? Let me
remind you, that a dreadful hurricane is gathering over this guilty world, which
will burst upon you, and sweep you away, unless you are founded upon the Rock of
Ages. Think of the last part of my text: "the hail shall sweep away the refuge,
or hope of lies, the waters shall overflow the hiding place!" You may be parts
of the outward court of this spiritual building; I mean, you may be members of
the visible church; but that is only a scaffold to the sacred temple, and when
this is finished, that shall be pulled down.

Remember, this building will be critically inspected: the great Architect "will
lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet;" and if you do not
stand that test, you will be demolished, as useless appendages or encumbrances,
and you never can be built up again; the temple of God will then be complete,
and no new stones shall be added to it forever.

Therefore now is the time to discover fundamental errors, and correct them. You
will discover them in the eternal world—but oh! it will then be too late to
correct them! Would you, then, know whether you are really built upon this sure
foundation? If so, I shall willingly assist you to make the trial. And for this
purpose I solemnly propose a few QUESTIONS to your consciences in the sight of
God:

1. Have you ever seen the utter insufficiency ofevery otherfoundation? You will
never build upon Christ, while you can build anywhere else with hopes of safety.
If you have ever fled to him as your only hiding-place—then you have seen it was
your last refuge. And have all your false hopes, all your refuges of lies been
swept away? Have you seen that honors, riches, pleasures, and all the world—are
but breaking bubbles? Have you been sensible that your own righteousness was a
rotten foundation, and that you were just ready to sink every moment under the
burden of your sins, and to be swept away by the torrent of divine vengeance?
Like a sinking man, you have been ready to catch at every twig or straw for
support; but were you obliged at length with Peter to turn to Christ, and cry
out, "Help, Lord, I am perishing!" Have you let go every other hold, and taken
fast hold of Christ as the only support? Have you given up all other grounds of
hope, and as poor, guilty, perishing, helpless creatures, placed your whole
dependence upon this sure foundation? If you can honestly give a satisfactory
answer to these inquiries, it looks encouraging: but if not, you may be sure
that you are building upon some sandy foundation; you are lurking in some refuge
of lies—and must be overwhelmed at last in inevitable ruin!

2. Have you ever been sensible of the preciousness, the excellency, and the
stability of Christ, this divine foundation? If you have ever built upon Christ,
it has been at once an act of the last necessity, and of the most free choice.
Oh! how precious did this stone appear to you! like the loadstone, it had a
strong attraction upon you, and you were effectually drawn to it. You need go no
farther than your own hearts to find the truth of what I have said of the
preciousness of Christ—the preciousness of his strength, his righteousness, and
everything in him. "To you who believe—he is precious!" 1 Peter 2:7. This is the
assertion of an apostle concerning all believers, without exception. And shall I
conclude this is the real sentiment of this assembly concerning Christ? Shall I
conclude it, friends? Oh shall I allow myself to be so happy? Does your
conscience tell you there is ground for your saying, that Christ is precious to
you? Alas! is it not quite the reverse with many of you!

3. Where is your habitual dependence? Is it upon Jesus Christ alone? or is it
upon something else? Do you not feel the need of strength, of spiritual life, of
pardon, and righteousness, and eternal life? Certainly, if you know yourselves,
you feel the need of these things. And upon whom do you depend for them? Is it
upon Jesus Christ alone? Is it habitual, and, as it were, natural to you, since
you first ventured upon this foundation, to rest there, sensible that you have
always needed this support, and that every other foundation is but sinking sand?
Brethren, what does conscience reply to these questions?

4. Have you been formed intoproper stonesfor this spiritual temple? Has God hewn
you, may I so speak, by his Word, and broken off whatever was jagged, irregular,
and unfit to be built into the building? Has he shaped and polished your souls,
for a place in it? Do you feel this divine Architect daily carrying on this work
in you, polishing you more and more into a resemblance to Christ? Or are you
still the same rough, jagged unpolished pieces, with human nature unsanctified
in its present degenerate state? Then you may be sure you are not built upon
this foundation!

I think these few questions will be fully decisive of this case. And what
discoveries do they now make with you? Where, now, appears to be the foundation
of your hope? Have not some of you rejected the chief corner-stone which God has
appointed, and built upon a quicksand? If so, even a friendly tongue cannot but
denounce some dreadful things to you.

While you are not founded upon Christ, you shall, you must, unavoidably sink
forever! You have nothing that can support you! Build your hopes ever so high,
the fabric will fall, and bury you in its ruins! Nay, this only foundation of
hope and happiness will be to you—a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence,
the occasion of your more aggravated guilt, and more dreadful destruction!

There are a few texts of Scripture which I would ring like peals of alarming
thunder in your ears!

"The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are
to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for
both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock
that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a
snare!" Isaiah 8:14.

"Unto you who believe," says Peter, "He is precious! But to those who do not
believe: The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, and, A stone
that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." 1 Peter 2:7-8. If
this stone is not made by you the foundation of your hopes, it will fall upon
you and crush you in pieces!

Remember the declaration of Christ himself, "Whoever shall fall upon this stone
shall be broken;" that is, whoever shall reject him while in a humble form in
the days of his flesh, shall perish, "but on whoever this stone shall fall—it
shall grind him to powder!" That is, whoever shall reject him in his state of
exaltation, shall perish in a still more dreadful manner! And will not all these
alarming considerations have any force with you, to persuade you to make Jesus
your only foundation?

If you have already made him so, then be assured you are safe and immovable
forever. Let storms of private or public calamity rise and beat upon you; let
your fears and doubts rise to ever so high a deluge; let temptations make ever
so severe attacks upon you—still the foundation on which you stand abides firm
and unshaken

Nay, let all nature go to wreck, and seas and land, and heaven and earth, be
blended together, still this foundation stands firm, and the living temple built
upon it will remain immovable forever!

You who sincerely believe need not make haste, you need not be struck with
consternation upon the appearance of danger, nor fly to unlawful means of
deliverance. Your ALL is safe, and therefore you may be serene and calm. Is the
burden of guilt intolerable, and are you ready to sink under it? Or are you
sinking under a load of sorrow? Whatever is the burden, cast it upon the
Lord—and he will sustain you. This foundation is able to bear you up, however
great the pressure. Come, you who are weary and heavy-laden, come, and build
your hopes, and place your rest here! Oh! what joyful tidings are these! I hope
they will prove a word in season to some soul that is weary.

What now remains, but that I should more explicitly point out this precious
stone to you all, by illustrating the emphatic word BEHOLD! prefixed to the
text.

Behold! you poor sinking souls, behold with wonder and gratitude! Here is a sure
foundation for you! Cast your whole weight, venture your eternal all upon it—and
it will support you. Say no more, "Alas! I must sink forever under this mountain
of guilt;" but turn to Jesus, with sinking Peter, and cry, "Help, Lord, I am
perishing!" and he will bear you up! Yes, whatever fierce storms may blow,
whatever convulsions may shake the world—you are safe.

Behold, you joyful believers. See here the foundation of all your joys and
hopes. Do you not stand firm like Mount Zion? See, here is the ROCK that
supports you. Gratefully acknowledge it—and inscribe this precious stone with
your praises! Point it out to others—as the only ground of hope for perishing
souls.

You wretched, self-righteous Pharisees—behold the only rock on which you must
build, if you expect to stand. Your proud, self-confident works, your boasted
external morality, is but a loose, tottering foundation of sand! Virtue and
morality are necessary to complete and adorn the superstructure; but when they
are laid at the bottom of all, they will prove but a quicksand!

Behold, you despisers, and wonder and perish! Perish you must, if you reject
this precious stone. To you this only sure foundation will prove a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence. To you the nature of things is inverted: the
only true ground of hope will heighten your despair; and the Savior of men will
be your destroyer.

Behold, you glorious angels, behold the firm foundation which divine love has
laid for the salvation of guilty worms! Therefore join with us in celebrating
the praises of this foundation. This precious stone appears to you in all its
splendors; its brilliancy dazzles your admiring eyes. We also admire it as far
as we know it; but to us it is like a foundation laid deep under-ground, that
supports us, though we see it not. But when we be shall placed in the heights of
the heavenly Zion—it will appear fully to our view, and be the object of our
delightful contemplation forever and ever!


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  CHAPTER 23: 20-THE ONE THING NEEDFUL
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The One Thing Needful by Samuel Davies

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many
things, but only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen what is better, and it
will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42 For what are we placed in this
world? Is it to dwell here always? You cannot think so, when the millions of
mankind that have appeared upon the stage of time, are so many instances of the
contrary. The true notion therefore of the present state is, that it is a state
of preparation and trial for the eternal world; a state of education for our
adult age. As children are sent to school, and youth bound out to trades, to
prepare them for business, and qualify them to live in the world—so we are
placed here to prepare us for the grand business of immortality, the state of
our maturity, and to qualify us to live forever! And is there a heaven of the
most perfect happiness, and a hell of the most intense misery—just before us,
perhaps not a year or even a day distant from us? And it is the great design,
the business and duty of the present state: to obtain the one and escape the
other! Then what are we doing? What is the world doing all around us? Are they
acting as it befits candidates for eternity? Are they indeed making that the
principal object of their most zealous endeavors, which is the grand design,
business and duty of the present state? Are they minding this at all hazards,
whatever else they neglect? This is what we might expect from them as reasonable
creatures who love themselves, and have a strong innate desire of happiness.
This, a stranger to our world might charitably presume concerning them. But,
alas! look upon the conduct of the world around you, or look nearer home, and
where you are more nearly interested, upon your own conduct—and you will see
this is not generally the case! No! instead of pursuing the one thing needful,
the world is all in motion, all hustle and bustle, like ants upon a mole-hill,
about temporal affairs. They are in a still higher degree than Martha, careful
and troubled about many things.

Now to recall you from this endless variety of vain pursuits, and direct your
endeavors to the proper object, I can think of no better expedient than to
explain and inculcate upon you the admonition of Christ to Martha, and his
commendation of Mary upon this head.

Martha was the head of a little family, probably a widow in a village near
Jerusalem, called Bethany. Her brother and sister, Lazarus and Mary, lived along
with her. And what is remarkable concerning this little family is, that they
were all lovers of Jesus; and their love was not without return on his side; for
we are expressly told that ’Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus’.
What a happy family is this! but oh how rare in the world! This was the happy
place of retirement to Jesus, after the labors and fatigues of his ministry in
the city, and here we often find him.

Though spent and exhausted with his public services—yet when he gets into the
circle of a few friends in a private house, he cannot be idle; he still
instructs them with his heavenly discourse; and his conversation is a constant
sermon.

Mary, who was passionately devout, and eager for instruction, would not let such
a rare opportunity slip—but sits down at the feet of this great Teacher, which
was the posture of the Jewish pupils before their masters, and eagerly catches
every word from his lips; from which dropped knowledge sweeter than honey from
the honey-comb. Though she is solicitous for the comfort of her heavenly
guest—yet she makes no great stir to provide for him an elegant or sumptuous
entertainment; for she knew his happiness did not consist in luxurious eating
and drinking. It was his food and his drink to do the will of his Father; and as
the sustenance of his body, plain food was most acceptable to him. He was not
willing that any should lose their souls, by losing opportunities of
instruction, while they were making sumptuous provision for him.

Mary was also so deeply engaged about her salvation, that she was nobly careless
about the little decencies of entertainments. The body and all its supports and
gratifications, appeared of very small importance to her—when compared with the
immortal soul. Oh! if the soul be but fed with the words of eternal life, it is
enough. All this she did with Christ’s warm approbation, and therefore her
conduct is an example worthy of our imitation. And if it were imitated, it would
happily reform the pride, luxury, excessive delicacy, and multiform extravagance
which have crept in upon us under the ingratiating names of politeness, decency,
hospitality, good economy, and I know not what! These guilty superfluities and
refinements render the life of some—a course of idolatry to so sordid a god as
their bellies; and that of others a course of busy, laborious, and expensive
trifling! But to return: Martha, though a pious woman—yet, like too many among
us, was too solicitous about these things. She seemed more concerned to maintain
her reputation for good hospitality, than to improve in divine knowledge at
every opportunity; and to entertain her guest rather as a gentleman, than as a
divine teacher and the Savior of souls. Hence, instead of sitting at his feet
with her sister, in the posture of a humble disciple—she was busy in making
preparations; and her mind was distracted with the cares of her family. As
moderate labor and care about earthly things is lawful, and even a duty—people
are not readily suspicious or easily convinced of their guilty excesses in these
labors and cares. Hence Martha is so far from condemning herself on this
account, that she blames her devout sister for not following her example! Nay,
she has the confidence to complain to Christ himself of her neglect, and that in
language too, that sounds somewhat rude and irreverent. "Lord, don’t you care
that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Are
you so partial as to allow her to devolve all the trouble upon me—while she sits
idle at your feet?

Jesus turns upon her with just severity, and throws the blame where it should
lie, "Martha, Martha!" There is a vehemence and pungency in the repetition,
"Martha, Martha! You are worried and upset about many things!" Your worldly mind
has many objects; and many objects excite many cares and troubles, fruitless
troubles and useless cares! Your restless mind is scattered among a thousand
things, and tossed from one to another with an endless variety of concerns. But
let me collect your thoughts and cares to one point, a point where they should
all terminate: "only one thing is needful;" and therefore, dropping your
excessive care about many things, make this one thing the great object of your
pursuit. This one thing is what your sister is now attending to, while you are
vainly careful about many things; and therefore, instead of blaming her conduct,
I must approve it. She has made the best choice, "Mary has chosen what is
better, and it will not be taken away from her." After all your care and labor,
the things of this vain world must be given up at last, and lost forever. But
Mary has made a wiser choice; the portion she has chosen shall be hers forever;
it shall never be taken away from her!" But what does Christ mean by this one
thing which alone is needful? I answer, We may learn what he meant, by the
occasion and circumstances of his speaking. He mentions this one thing in an
admonition to Martha for excessive worldly cares—and the neglect of an
opportunity for promoting her salvation; and he expressly opposes this one
thing—to the many things which engrossed her care; and therefore it must mean
something different from and superior to all the pursuits of time. This one
thing is that which Mary was so much concerned about, while attentively
listening to his instruction. And what can that be but salvation as the end, and
holiness as the means, or a proper care of the soul? This is that which is
opposite and superior to the many cares of life—this is that which Mary was
attending to and pursuing. And I may add, this is that good part which Mary had
chosen, which should never be taken away from her; for that good part which Mary
had chosen seems intended by Christ to explain what he meant by the one thing
needful. Therefore the one thing needful must mean the salvation of the soul,
and an earnest application to the means necessary to obtain this end above all
other things in the world. To be holy—in order to be happy; to pray, to hear, to
meditate, and use all the means of grace appointed to produce or cherish
holiness in us; to use these means with constancy, frequency, earnestness, and
zeal; to use them diligently whatever else is neglected, or to make all other
things give way in comparison of this; this I apprehend is the one thing needful
which Christ here intends: this is that which is absolutely necessary, necessary
above all other things, and necessary forever. The end, namely, salvation, will
be granted by all to be necessary; and the necessity of the end renders the
means also necessary. If it is necessary that you shall be forever happy, and
escape everlasting misery—it is also necessary that you should be holy. For you
can no more be saved without holiness—than you can be healthy without health,
see without light, or live without food. And if holiness is necessary, then the
earnest use of means appointed for the production and improvement of holiness in
us must be necessary too. For you can no more expect to become holy without the
use of these means—than to reap without sowing, or become truly virtuous and
godly by chance or fate. To be holy in order to be happy, and to use all the
means of grace in order to be holy, is therefore the one thing needful. But why
is this concern which is so complex, called ’one thing’? I answer: Though
salvation and holiness include various ingredients, and though the means of
grace are various—yet they may be all taken collectively and called ’one thing’;
that is, one great business, one important object of pursuit, in which all our
endeavors and aims should center and terminate. It is also said to be one, in
opposition to the many things that are the objects of a worldly mind. This world
owes its variety in a great measure to contradiction and inconsistency. There is
no harmony or unity in the earthly objects of men’s pursuits, nor in the means
they use to secure them. Riches, honors, and pleasures generally clash. If a man
will be rich—he must restrain himself in the pleasures of gratifying his eager
appetites, and perhaps use some base artifice that may stain his honor. If he
would be honorable—he must often be generous with his riches, and abstain from
some sordid pleasures. If he would have the full enjoyment of sensual pleasures,
he must often squander away his riches, and injure his honor to procure them.
The lusts of men—as well as their objects, are also various and contradictory.
Covetousness and sensuality, pride and tranquility, envy and the love of ease,
and a thousand jarring passions—maintain a constant fight in the sinner’s heart.
The means for gratifying these lusts are likewise contrary; sometimes truth,
sometimes falsehood; sometimes indolence, sometimes action and labor are
necessary. In these things there is no unity of design, nor consistency of
means; but the sinner is properly distracted, drawn this way and that, tossed
from wave to wave; and there is no steadiness or uniformity in his pursuits. But
the work of salvation is one, the means and the end correspond, and the means
are consistent one with another; and therefore the whole, though consisting of
many parts, may be said to be one.

It may also be called the one thing needful—to intimate that this is needful
above all other things. It is a common form of speech to say of that which is
necessary above all other things—that it is the one or only thing necessary; and
so we may understand this passage.

There are what we call the real necessities of life; such as food and water;
there are also necessary callings and necessary labors. All these are necessary
in a lower sense; necessary in their proper place. But in comparison of the
great work of our salvation, they are all unnecessary; if we are but saved—we
may do very well without them all. But salvation is so necessary, that nothing
else deserves to be called necessary in comparison of it. This shows you also,
not only why this is called one thing—but why or in what sense, it is said to be
necessary. It is of absolute and incomparable necessity! There is not absolutely
necessity to our happiness, that we should be rich or honorable; nay, there is
no absolute necessity to our happiness that we should live in this world at all,
for we may live infinitely more happy in the heavenly world. And if life itself
is not absolutely necessary, then much less are food, or clothing, or health—or
any of those things which in a lower sense we call the necessities of life. In
comparison of this—they are all needless.

I add farther, this one thing may be said to be necessary, because it is
necessary always, or forever. The necessities of this life we cannot long
need—for we must soon remove into a world where there is no room for them; but
holiness and salvation we shall find needful always! They are needful under the
calamities of life; needful in the agonies of death; needful in the eternal
world; needful millions of ages hence; needful to all eternity; and without
them—we are eternally undone! This is a necessity indeed! This is a necessity,
in comparison of which all other necessities, are but superfluities.

I hope by this short explanation, that I have cleared the way through your
understandings to your hearts; and to your hearts I would now address myself.
However solemnly I may speak upon this interesting subject, you will have more
reason to blame me for the deficiency, than for the excess of my zeal and
solemnity. I hope I have entered this sacred place today with a sincere desire
to do some service to your immortal souls before I leave it. And may I not hope
that you have come here with a desire to receive some great advantage? If not,
you may number your seeming act of religion, as among the sins of your life; you
have come here today to sin away these sacred hours in hypocrisy and a profane
mockery of the great God! But if you are willing to receive any benefit, hear
attentively; hear, that your souls may live! My first request to you is, that
you would make this passage the test of your characters, and seriously inquire
whether you have lived in the world as those who really and practically believe
that this is the one thing of absolute necessity. Are not all the joys of heaven
and your immortal souls—worth the little pains of seriously putting this short
question to your consciences? Review your life, look into your hearts, and
inquire: has this one thing lain more upon your hearts than all other things
together? Has this been, above all other things, the object of your most
vehement desires, your most earnest endeavors, and eager pursuit? I do not ask
whether you have heard or read that this one thing is necessary, or whether you
have sometimes talked about it. I do not ask whether you have paid to God the
compliment of appearing in his house once a week, or of performing him a little
lip-service, morning and evening in your families, or in your closets, after you
have served yourselves and the world all the rest of your time, without one
affectionate thought of God. Nor do I inquire whether in a pang of horror after
the commission of some gross sin, that you have tried to make your conscience
easy by a few prayers and tears, of which you form an opiate to cast you again
into a dead sleep in sin! I do not ask whether you have performed many actions
that are materially good, and abstained from many sins. All this you may have
done—and yet have neglected the one thing needful all your lives! But I ask you,
whether this one thing needful has been habitually uppermost in your hearts, the
favorite object of your desires, the aim of your most vigorous endeavors, the
supreme happiness of your souls, and the principal object of your concern above
all things in the world? Sirs, you may now hear this question with stupid
unconcern and indifference; but I must tell you, that you will find, another
day, how much depends upon it! In that day it will be found, that the main
difference between true Christians and the various classes of sinners is
this—God, Christ, holiness, and the concerns of eternity, are habitually
uppermost in the hearts of the former! But, to the latter, they are generally
but secondary things; and the world engrosses the vigor of their souls, and is
the principal concern of their lives! To serve God, to obtain his favor, and to
be happy forever in his love—is the main business of the true Christian—to which
all the concerns of the world and the flesh must give way! But to live in ease,
in reputation, in pleasure, or riches, or to gratify himself in the pursuit and
enjoyment of some created good—this is the main concern of the unsaved sinner!
The one has made a hearty resignation of himself, and all that he is and has—to
God, through Jesus Christ; he serves him with the best, and thinks nothing too
good for him. But the other has his exceptions and reserves; he will serve
God—provided it may consist with his ease, and pleasure, and temporal interest;
he will serve God with a bended knee, and the external forms of devotion; but,
with the vigor of his spirit, he serves the world and his flesh! This is the
grand difference between a true Christian and the various forms of
half-Christians and hypocrites. And certainly this is a difference that may be
discerned. The tenor of a man’s practice, and the object of his love, especially
of his highest love and practical esteem—must certainly be very distinguishable
from a secondary thing, and from the object of a languid passion, or mere
speculation. Therefore, if you make but an impartial trial, you have reason to
hope you will make a just discovery of your true character; or if you cannot
make the discovery yourselves, call in the assistance of others. Do not ask your
worldly and sensual neighbors, for they are but poor judges, and they will
flatter you in self-defense; but ask your pious friends whether you have spoken
and acted like people who practically made this the one thing needful. They can
tell you what subject you talked most seriously about, what pursuit seemed to
lie most upon your hearts, and chiefly to exhaust your activity.

Brethren, I beseech you, by one means or other, to bring this matter to an
outcome, and let it hang in suspense no longer. Why are you so indifferent how
this matter stands with you? Is it because you imagine you may be true
Christians, and obtain salvation, however this matter is with you? Do not be
deceived! No man can serve two masters, whose commands are contrary; and you
cannot serve God and mammon, with a service equally devoted to both! If any man
loves the world, with supreme affection—the love of the Father is not in him. 1
John 2:15. Do not be deceived! God is not mocked: whatever a man sows—that shall
he also reap! He who sows to his flesh—shall from the flesh reap corruption: a
miserable harvest indeed! But he who sows to the Spirit—shall from the Spirit
reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:7-8.

Therefore you may be sure that if you live after the flesh—you shall certainly
die; and that you can never enjoy the one thing needful, unless you mind and
pursue it above all other things! But I shall not urge you any farther to try
yourselves by this test. I take it for granted the consciences of some of you
have determined the matter, and that you are plainly convicted of having
hitherto neglected the one thing needful. Allow me then honestly to expose your
conduct in its proper colors, and tell you what you have been doing—while you
were busy about other things, and neglecting this one thing needful.

1. However well you have improved your TIME for other purposes, you have lost it
all, unless you have improved it in securing the one thing needful. The proper
notion of time is, that it is a space for repentance. Time is given us—to
prepare for eternity. If this is done, we have lived long enough, and the great
end of time and life is answered, whatever else be undone. But if this is
undone, you have lived in vain, and all your time is lost, however busily and
successfully you have pursued other things! Though you have studied yourselves
pale to furnish your minds with knowledge; though you have spent the night and
the day in heaping up riches, or climbing up to the pinnacle of honor, and not
lost an hour that might be turned to your advantage—yet you have been most
wretchedly fooling away your time, and lost it all, if you have not laid it out
in securing the one thing needful!

And, believe me, time is a precious thing. So it will appear in a dying hour, or
in the eternal world, to the greatest spendthrift among you. Then, oh for a
year, or even a week, or a day—to secure that one thing which you are now
neglecting! And will you now waste your time—while you improve it? Shall so
precious a blessing be lost? By this calculation, how many days, how many
years—have you lost for ever! For, is not that lost, which is spent in
frustrating the end for which it was given you? Time was given you to secure an
eternity of happiness—but you have spent it in adding sin to sin, and
consequently in treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath! And is not your
time then a thousand times worse than lost?

Let me tell you, if you continue in this foolish course to the end, you will
wish a thousand times, either that you had never had one hour’s time given
you—or that you had made a better use of it!

2. Whatever else you have been doing, you have lost your LABOR with your time,
if you have not labored above all things, for this one thing needful. No doubt
you have been busy about something all your life; but you might as well have
been idle! You have been busy—in accomplishing nothing worth while! You have
perhaps toiled through many anxious and laborious days—and your nights have
shared in the anxieties and labors of your days. But if you have not labored for
the one thing necessary, all your labor and all the fruits of it are lost!

Indeed, God may have made use of you for the good of his church, or of your
country, as we make use of thorns and briers to stop a breach, or of useless
wood for fuel to warm our families; but as to any lasting and solid advantage to
yourselves, all your labor has been lost! But this is not all. Not only your
secular labor is lost—but all your toil and pains, if you have used any in the
duties of religion, they are lost likewise! All your reading, hearing, praying;
all your serious thoughts of death and eternity; all your struggles with
particular lusts and temptations; all the kind things you have done to
mankind—all are lost, since you have performed them by halves—with a lukewarm
heart, and have not made the one thing needful your great business and pursuit!

All these things will not save you; and what is that religion good for—which
will not save your souls? What do those religious endeavors avail—which will
allow you to fall into hell after all? Certainly such religion is vain! And now,
my hearers, do you believe this—or do you not?

If you do believe this—will you, dare you still go on in the same course?

If you do not believe it—let me reason the matter with you a little. You will
not believe that all the labor and pains you have taken all your life have been
quite lost: no, you now enjoy the fruits of them. But show me now, if you can,
what you have gotten by all that stir you have made—which will follow one step
beyond the grave, or that you can call your own tomorrow! Where is that sure
immortal acquisition that you can carry with you into the eternal world? Were
you to die this hour—would it afford you any pleasure to reflect that you have
lived a merry life, and had your fill of sensual pleasures; or that you have
labored for riches and honors, and perhaps acquired them? Will this reflection
afford you pleasure—or pain? Will this abate the agony of the eternal pain of
hell—or make up for the loss of heaven, which you willfully incurred by an
over-eager pursuit of these perishing vanities? Do you not see the extravagant
folly, the crazed frenzy of such a conduct? Alas! while you are neglecting the
one thing needful, what are you doing but spending your time and labor . . . in
laborious idleness, honorably debasing yourselves, delightfully tormenting
yourselves, wisely befooling yourselves, and frugally impoverishing and ruining
yourselves forever? A child or an idiot playing with a feather—are not so
foolish as you in your conduct—while you are so seriously pursuing the affairs
of time, and neglecting those of eternity! But,

3. This is not all: all your labor and pains have not only been lost while you
have neglected this one thing—but you have taken pains to ruin yourselves, and
labored hard all your lives for your own destruction! To this you will
immediately answer, "God forbid that we should do anything to hurt ourselves! We
were far from having any such design!" But the question is not, what was your
design? But, what is the unavoidable consequence of your conduct, according to
the nature of things, and the unchangeable constitution of heaven?

Whatever your design in going on in sin is—the wages of sin is death, eternal
death! You may indulge the carnal mind, and walk after the flesh—and yet hope no
bad consequence will follow. But God has told you that to be carnally minded is
death, and that if you live after the flesh—you shall die. The robber on the
highway has no design to be hanged; but this does not render him a jot safer.
Therefore, design what you will—it is certain you are positively destroying
yourselves, while your labors about other things, hinder you from pursuing the
one thing needful. And does not this thought shock you, that you should be
acting the part of enemies against yourselves, the most pernicious and deadly
enemies to yourselves in the whole universe!! No enemy in the whole universe
could do you that injury—which you are doing to yourselves!! To tempt you to sin
is all the devil can do; but the temptation alone can do you no injury; it is
consenting to it that ruins you; and this consent is your own voluntary act. All
the devils in hell could not force you to sin, without your consent; and
therefore all the devils in hell cannot injure you—as you do yourselves! God has
not given them so much power over you—as he has given you over yourselves; and
this power you abuse to your own destruction! Oh! in what a crazed state is the
world of the ungodly! If any other man is their enemy—how do they resent it! But
they are their own worst enemies—and yet they pamper themselves!

If another occasions them a disappointment in their pursuits, defrauds them of
an expected good, or lay schemes to make them miserable—what sullen grudges,
what keen revenge, what flaming resentments immediately rise in their hearts
against him! And yet they are all their lives disinheriting themselves of the
heavenly inheritance, laying a bomb—to blow up all their own hopes, and heaping
a mountain of guilt upon themselves—to sink them into the bottomless pit! And
all this while they think they are the best friends to themselves, and
consulting their own interest! As for the devil, the common enemy of mankind,
they abhor him; but they are worse to themselves than devils—and yet never fall
out with themselves for it.

This, sinners, may seem a harsh representation of your conduct, but, alas! it is
true. And if it is so shocking to you to hear it, what must it be to be guilty
of it! And oh! think what must be the consequences of such a conduct, such
monstrous suicide!

4. If you have hitherto neglected the one thing needful, you have unmanned
yourselves, acted beneath and contrary to your own reason, and in plain terms
behaved as if you had been out of your senses! If you have the use of your
reason—it must certainly tell you for what it was given to you. And I beseech
you to tell me what God gave you your reason for—but . . . to serve the God who
made you, to secure his favor, to prepare for your eternal state, and to enjoy
the supreme good as your portion? Can you once think that God gave you your
reason—for such low purposes as the contrivances, labor, and pursuits of this
vain life, and to make you a more ingenious sort of brutes? He was master of an
unusual share of reason who said, "There is very little difference between
having reason and having none—IF we had nothing to do with it but to lay up for
our food, and make provision for this corruptible flesh, and had not another
life to mind."

Therefore I may safely affirm that you have cast away your reason, and acted as
if you were out of your wits—if you have not employed your rational powers in
the pursuit of the one thing needful. Where was your reason—when your dying
flesh was preferred to your immortal spirit? Was reason your guide when you
chose the trash of this perishing world—and sought it more than the favor of God
and all the joys of heaven? Can you pretend to common sense, when you might have
had the pardon of sin, sanctifying grace, and a title to heaven, secured to you
before now? But you have neglected all, and instead of having a sure title to
heaven, or being prepared for it—you are fitted for destruction, and nothing
else! And you are only awaiting for a fever or an accident, or some other
executioner of divine vengeance—to cut the thread of life, and let you sink to
hell by your own weight! There you gravitate under the load of sin—as naturally
as a stone to the center; and you need no other weight to sink you down!

What have you done all your life—to make a wise man think you truly reasonable?
Is that your reason: to be wise to do evil—while to do good you have no
knowledge; or to be ingenious and active about the trifles of time—while you
neglect that great work for which you were created and redeemed? Can you be
wise—and yet not consider your eternal end? Nay, can you pretend to so much as
common sense—while you sell your eternal salvation for the sordid pleasures of a
few flying years? Have you common sense—when you will not keep yourselves out of
everlasting fire? What can a madman do worse, than willfully destroy himself?
And this, YOU are doing every day!! And yet these very people are proud of their
madness, and are apt to fling the charge of folly upon others, especially if
they observe some poor weak creatures, while they are groaning under a sense of
sin, and anxious about their eternal state. Then what a clamor they raise
against religion and preciseness, as the ready way to make people run mad! Then
they even dare to publish their resolution that they will not read and think so
much upon these things, lest it should drive them out of their senses.

O miserable mortals! is it possible that they should be more dangerously mad
than they are already? Do you lay out your reason, your strength, and time—in
pursuing vain shadows, and in feeding a mortal body for the grave, while the
important realities of the eternal world, and the salvation of your immortal
souls are forgotten or neglected! Do you sell your Savior with Judas for a
little money, and exchange your part in God and heaven—for the sordid pleasures
of sin, which are but for a season! And are you afraid of seriously reflecting
upon this course, that you may reform it, for fear such thoughts should make you
mad? What greater madness than this, can you fear? Will you run from God, from
Christ, from mercy, from the saints, from heaven itself—for fear of being mad?
Alas! you are mad in the worst sense already! Will you run into hell—to prove
yourselves in your senses?

He was a wise and good man who said, "Though the loss of a man’s understanding
is a grievous affliction, and such as I hope God will never lay upon me—yet I
had a thousand times rather go distracted to Bedlam with the excessive care
about my salvation, than to be one of you that cast away the care of your
salvation for fear of being distracted; and will go among the infernal Bedlams
into hell—for fear of being mad." Distraction in itself is not a moral evil—but
a physical, like those disorders of the body from which it often proceeds, and
therefore is no object for punishment; and had you no capacity of understanding,
you would have a cloak for your sin; but your madness is your crime, because it
is voluntary, and therefore you must give an account for it to the Supreme
Judge!

It would be easy to offer many more considerations to expose the absurdity and
danger of your conduct in neglecting the one thing necessary; but these must
suffice for the present hour. And I only desire you to consider farther, if this
be a just view of the conduct of such as are guilty of this neglect—then in what
a miserable, pitiable condition is the world in general! I have so often tried
the utmost energy of my words upon you—with so little success as to many, that I
am quite grown weary of them. Allow me therefore for once to borrow the more
striking and pungent words of one now in heaven; of one who had more success
than almost any of his contemporaries or successors in the important work of
"converting sinners from the error of their way and saving souls from death." I
mean that incomparable preacher, Richard Baxter, who sowed an immortal seed in
his parish of Kidderminster, which grows and brings forth fruit to this day. His
words have, through the divine blessing, been irresistible to thousands; and oh
that such of you, my dear hearers, whose hearts may have been armored against my
words, may not be so against his also!

"Were it possible for a man to see the affections and motions of all the world
at once, as God sees them—what a pitiful sight it would be! What a stir do they
make, alas, poor souls! for they know not what! while they forget, or slight, or
hate the one thing needful. What a heap of gadding ants would we see, that do
nothing but gather sticks and straws! Look among people of every rank, in city
and country, and look into families around you, and see what trade it is they
are most busily driving on, whether it be for heaven or earth! And whether you
can discern by their care and labors, that they understand what is the one thing
necessary! They are as busy as bees; but not for honey—but in spinning such a
spider’s web as the broom of death will presently sweep down! Job 8:14. They
labor hard—but for what? For the food that perishes—but not for that which
endures to everlasting life. John 6:27. They are diligent seekers; but for what?
Not first for God, his kingdom and righteousness—but for that which they might
have had as an addition to their blessedness. Matthew 6:33. They are still
doing—but what are they doing? Even undoing themselves by running away from
God—to hunt after the perishing pleasures of the world. Instead of providing for
the life to come—they are making provision to fulfill the lusts of their flesh!
Romans 13:14. Some of them hear the word of God—but presently choke it by the
deceitfulness of riches, and the cares of this life. Luke 8:14. They are careful
and troubled about many things; but the one thing that should be all to them—is
cast away as if it were nothing. Providing for the flesh and minding the
world—is all the employment of their lives. They labor with a doggish appetite
for their trash; but for holiness, they have no appetite, and are worse than
indifferent to the things that are indeed worthy. They have no covetousness for
the things which they are commanded earnestly to covet. 1 Corinthians 12:31.
They have so little hunger and thirst after righteousness, that a very little or
none will satisfy them. In religion, they are pleading always for moderation,
and against too much, and too earnest, and too long; and all is too much with
them—that is above stark nothing, or dead hypocrisy! And all is too earnest and
too long with them—that would make religion seem important, or engage them to
seem serious in their own profession, or put them past jest in the worship of
God and the matters of their salvation! Let but their children or servants
neglect their worldly business, (which I confess they should not do,) and they
shall hear of it with both their ears; but if they sin against God, or neglect
his Word or worship, they shall meet with more patience than Eli’s son did—a
cold reproof is usually the most! And it is well—if they are not encouraged in
their sin; it is well if a child or servant that begins to be serious for
salvation, that he is not rebuked, derided, and hindered by them! If on their
days of labor they oversleep themselves, they shall be sure to be called up to
work, (and good reason;) but when do they call them up to prayer? when do they
urge them to consider or converse upon the things that concern their everlasting
life? The Lord’s own day, which is appointed to be set apart for spiritual
matters—is wasted in idleness or worldly talk. Come at any time into their
company, and you may talk enough, and too much of the news, or other men’s
matters, of their worldly business, sports, and pleasures—but about God and
their salvation—they have so little to say, and that so heartlessly—as if they
were things that belonged not to their care and duty, and no whit concerned
them! Talk with them about the renovation of the soul, the nature of holiness,
and the life to come—and you will find them almost as dumb as a fish. The most
do not understand matters of this nature, nor much desire or care to understand
them. If one would teach them personally, they are too old to learn, though not
too old to be ignorant of the matters they were made for, and preserved for, in
the world. They are too wise—to learn to be wise, and too good—to be taught how
to be godly; though not too wise to follow the seducements of the devil and the
world; nor too good to be the slaves of Satan and the despisers and enemies of
godliness!"

"If they do anything which they call serving God, it is some cold and heartless
use of words to make themselves believe that even though they love their
sins—they shall be saved. But God will call that a serving their sins and
abominations—which they will call a serving of God. Some of them will confess
that holiness is good—but they hope God will be merciful to them without it. And
others so hate holiness, that it is a displeasing irksome thing to them to hear
any serious discourse of holiness; and they detest and deride those as
intolerant, fanatical, and troublesome, who that diligently seek the one thing
necessary! So that, if the belief of the most may be judged by their practices,
we may confidently say, that they do not practically believe that they will ever
be brought to judgment, or that there is any heaven or hell to be expected! And
that their confession of the truth of the Scriptures and the articles of the
Christian faith—are no proofs that they heartily take them to be true.

"Who can be such a stranger to the world—as not to see that this is the case of
the greatest part of men? And, which is worst of all, they go on in this
course—against all that can be said to them, and will give no impartial,
considerate hearing to the truth, which would recover them to their wits—but
they live as if it would be a felicity to them in hell—to think that they came
there by willful resolution, and in despite of the remedy!"

This, sinners, is a true representation of your case, drawn by one who well knew
it, and lamented it. And what do you now think of it yourselves? What do you
think will be the consequence of such a course? Is it safe to persist in it?
Will you still go on, troubling yourselves with many worldly things? or will you
resolve for the future to mind the one thing needful above all?

I beseech you to come to some thought and resolution. Time is on the wing, and
does not allow you to hesitate in so plain and important an affair. Do you need
any farther excitements? Then I shall try the force of one consideration more
which is contained in my text—and that is NECESSITY. Remember necessity, the
most pressing, absolute necessity, enforces this care upon you. One thing is
needful, absolutely needful, and needful above all other things. This, one would
think, is such an argument as cannot but prevail.

What exploits has necessity performed in the world! What arts has it discovered
as the mother of invention! What labors, what energies, what sufferings has it
undergone! What dangers has it encountered! What difficulties has it overcome!
Necessity is a plea which you think will warrant you to do anything and excuse
anything. Reasoning against necessity, is but reasoning against a hurricane; it
bears all away before it! To obtain the necessities of life, as they are
called—how much will men do and suffer! Nay, with what hardships and perils will
they not endure for things that they imagine necessary, not to their life—but to
their ease, their honor, or their pleasure! But what is this necessity, when
compared to that which I am now urging upon you! In comparison of this, the most
necessary of those worldly things are but superfluities; for if your ease, or
honor, or pleasure, or even your life in this world is not absolutely necessary,
as they cannot be to the heirs of immortality; then certainly those things which
you imagine necessary to your ease, your honor, your pleasure, or mortal
life—are still less necessary. But oh! to escape everlasting misery, and to
secure everlasting salvation—this is the grand necessity! This will appear
necessary in every point of your immortal duration; necessary when you are done
with this world for ever, and must leave all its cares, enjoyments, and pursuits
behind you! And shall not this grand necessity prevail upon you to work out your
salvation, and make that your great business; when a far less necessity, a
necessity that will last but a few years at most, sets you and the world around
you upon such hard labors and eager pursuits for perishing vanities? All the
necessity in the world—is nothing in comparison of that which lies upon you to
work out your salvation; and shall this have no weight with you?

If you do not labor or contrive for the bread that perishes—you must beg or
starve. But if you will not labor for the bread that endures unto everlasting
life—you must burn in hell forever!

You must lie in prison—if your debts with men be not paid. But, oh! what is it
to the prison of hell, where you must be confined forever—if your debts to the
justice of God are not remitted, and you do not obtain a saving interest in the
righteousness of Christ, which alone can make satisfaction for them!

You must suffer hunger and nakedness—unless you take care to provide food and
clothing. But you must suffer eternal banishment from God and all the joys of
his presence—if you do not labor to secure the one thing needful. Without the
riches of this world—you may be rich in faith, and heirs of the heavenly
inheritance. Without earthly pleasures—you may have joy unspeakable and full of
glory, in the love of God, and the expectation of the kingdom reserved in heaven
for you! Without health of body—you may have happiness of spirit; and even
without this mortal life—you may enjoy eternal life. Without the things of the
world—you may live in poverty for a little while—but then you will soon be rich
above the greatest princes, when in heaven. But without this one thing
needful—you are undone, absolutely undone. Though you were as rich as
Croesus—yet you "are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked!"
Your very being becomes a curse to you. It is your curse—that you are a man, a
reasonable creature. It had been infinitely better for you—if you had been a
toad or a snake—and so incapable of sin and of immortality, and consequently of
eternal punishment!

Oh then let this grand necessity prevail with you! I know you have other needs,
which you should moderately labor to provide for—but oh how small they are—and
of how short continuance! If your life and your all should be lost—you may find
more than all in heaven! But if you miss at this one thing—then all the world
cannot make up the loss!

Therefore to conclude with the awakening and resistless words of Richard Baxter,
"Awake, you sluggish, careless souls! The house over your head is in a flame!
The hand of God is lifted up in wrath against you! If you love yourselves,
prevent the stroke! Vengeance is at your backs; the wrath of God pursues your
sin; and woe to you if he finds it upon you when he overtakes you! Away with it
speedily! Up and begone; return to God! Make Christ and mercy your friends in
time, if you love your lives! The Judge is coming! Many have heard of it so
long—yet still do not believe it! You shall shortly see the majesty of his
appearance and the dreadful glory of his face; and yet do you not make ready for
such a day! Yes, though now the partition that stands between you and the world
to come may keep unbelievers strangers to the things that most concern them—yet
death will quickly find a portal to let you in; and then, sinners, you will find
such doings there as you little thought of, or did not sensibly regard upon
earth.

Before your friends will have time enough to wrap up your pale corpse in your
winding-sheet, you will see and feel that which will tell you—that one thing was
necessary! If you die without this one thing necessary, before your friends have
finished your funeral—your souls will have taken up their places among devils in
endless torments and despair! And all the wealth, and honor, and pleasure that
the world afforded you—will then not ease you at all. This is sad—but it is
true, sirs; for God has spoken it.

Up, therefore, and bestir yourself for the life of your souls. Necessity will
awake even the sluggard. Necessity, we say, will break through stone walls! The
proudest will stoop to necessity; the most slothful will bestir themselves in
necessity; the most careless will be industrious in necessity! Necessity will
make men do anything that is possible, which must be done. And is not necessity,
the highest necessity, your own necessity, able to make you cast away your sins,
and take up a holy and heavenly life? O poor souls! is there a greater necessity
for your sin—than of your salvation; and of pleasing your flesh for a little
time—than of pleasing the Lord and escaping everlasting misery? Oh that you
would consider what I say! May the Lord give you understanding in all things.
Amen."


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  CHAPTER 24: 21-THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST TO WEAK BELIEVERS
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The Compassion of Christ to Weak Believers By Samuel Davies, 1724-1761 "A
bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench."Matthew
12:20 The Lord Jesus possesses all those virtues in the highest perfection,
which render him infinitely amiable, and qualify him for the administration of a
just and gracious government over the world. The virtues of mortals, when
carried to a high degree, very often run into those vices which have a kind of
affinity to them. "Right, too rigid—hardens into wrong." Strict justice steels
itself into excessive severity; and the ’man’ is lost in the ’judge’. Goodness
and mercy sometimes degenerate into softness and a sentimentalism, inconsistent
with justice. But in Jesus Christ these seemingly opposite virtues center and
harmonize in the highest perfection, without running into extremes. Hence he is
at once characterized as a Lamb, and as the Lion of the tribe of Judah: a lamb
for gentleness towards humble penitents; and a lion to tear his enemies in
pieces!

Christ is said to judge and make war, Revelation 19:11; and yet he is called The
Prince of Peace; Isaiah 9:6. He will at length show himself dreadful to the
workers of iniquity; and the terrors of the Lord are a very proper topic whence
to persuade men. But now he is patient towards all men, and he is all love and
tenderness towards the vilest penitent. The meekness and gentleness of Christ is
to be my pleasing topic; and I enter upon it with a particular view to those
mourning, desponding souls among us, whose weakness renders them in great need
of strong consolation. To such, in particular, I address the words of my text,
"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench." The
general meaning of my text seems to be contained in this observation: That the
Lord Jesus has the tenderest and most compassionate regard to the feeblest
penitents, however oppressed and desponding; and that he will approve and
cherish the least spark of true love towards himself. A ’bruised reed’ seems
naturally to represent a soul at once feeble in itself, and crushed with a
burden; a soul both weak and oppressed. The reed is a slender, frail plant in
itself, and therefore a very proper image to represent a soul that is feeble and
weak. A bruised reed is still more frail, hangs its head, and is unable to stand
without some prop. And what can be a more lively emblem of a poor soul, not only
weak in itself, but bowed down and broken under a load of sin and sorrow, that
droops and sinks, and is unable to stand without divine support? Strength may
bear up under a burden, or struggle with it, until it has thrown it off; but
oppressed weakness, frailty under a burden—what can be more pitiable? and yet
this is the case of many a poor penitent. He is weak in himself, and in the
meantime crushed under a heavy weight of guilt and distress. And what would
become of such a frail oppressed creature, if, instead of raising him up and
supporting him, Jesus should tread and crush him under the foot of his
indignation? But though a reed, especially a bruised reed, is an insignificant
thing, of little or no use, yet "a bruised reed he will not break," but he
raises it up with a gentle hand, and enables it to stand, though weak in itself,
and easily crushed to ruin.

Perhaps the imagery, when drawn at length, may be this: "The Lord Jesus is an
Almighty Conqueror, marches in state through our world; and here and there a
bruised reed lies in his way. But instead of disregarding it, or trampling it
under foot—he takes care not to break it. He raises up the drooping straw,
worthless as it is—and supports it with his gentle hand." Thus, poor
brokenhearted penitents, thus he takes care of you, and supports you, worthless
as you are. Though you seem to lie in the way of his justice, and it might tread
you with its heavy foot—yet he not only does not crush you, but takes you up,
and inspires you with strength to bear your burden and flourish again. Or
perhaps the imagery may be derived from the practice of the ancient shepherds,
who were accustomed to amuse themselves with the music of a pipe of reed or
straw; and when it was bruised they broke it, or threw it away as useless. But
the bruised reed shall not be broken by this divine Shepherd of souls. The music
of broken sighs and groans—is indeed all that the broken reed can afford him;
the notes are but low, melancholy, and jarring. And yet he will not break the
instrument, but he will repair and tune it, until it is fit to join in the
concert of angels on high; and even now its humble strains are pleasing to his
ears. Surely every broken heart among us must revive, while contemplating this
tender and moving imagery. The other emblem is equally significant and
affecting. The ’smoking flax’ shall he not quench. It seems to be an allusion to
the wick of a candle or lamp, the flame of which is put out, but it still
smokes, and retains a little fire which may be again blown into a flame, or
rekindled by the application of more fire. Many such dying snuffs or smoking
wicks are to be found in the candlesticks of the churches, and in the lamps of
the sanctuary. The flame of divine love is just expiring, it is sunk into the
socket of a corrupt heart, and produces no clear, steady blaze, but only an
unpleasant smoke, although it shows that a spark of the sacred fire yet remains.
Or it produces a faint quivering flame that dies away, then catches and revives,
and seems unwilling to be quenched entirely. The devil and the world raise many
storms of temptation to blow it out; and a corrupt heart, like a fountain, pours
out water to quench it. But even this smoking flax, this dying snuff, Jesus will
not quench, but he blows it up into a flame, and pours in the oil of his grace
to recruit and nourish it. He walks among the golden candlesticks, and trims the
lamps of his sanctuary. Where he finds empty vessels without oil, or without a
spark of heavenly fire, like those of the foolish virgins—he breaks the vessels,
or throws them out of his house. But where he finds the least spark of true
grace, where he discovers but the glimpse of sincere love to him, where he sees
the principle of true piety, which, though just expiring—yet renders the heart
susceptive of divine love, as a candle just put out is easily rekindled; there
he will strengthen the things which remain and are ready to die. He will blow up
the smoking flax to a lively flame, and cause it to shine brighter and brighter
to the perfect day. Where there is the least principle of true holiness—he will
nourish it. He will furnish the expiring lamp with fresh supplies of the oil of
grace, and of heavenly fire; and all the storms that beat upon it shall not be
able to put it out, because sheltered by his hand.

I hope, my dear brethren, some of you begin already to feel the pleasing energy
of this text. Are you not ready to say, "Blessed Jesus! is this your true
character? Then you are just such a Savior as I need, and I most willingly give
up myself to you!" You are sensible you are at best, but a bruised reed—a
feeble, shattered, useless thing: an untunable, broken pipe of straw, that can
make no proper music for the entertainment of your divine Shepherd. Your heart
is at best but smoking flax, where the love of God often appears like an
expiring flame that quivers and catches, and hovers over the lamp, just ready to
go out. Such some of you probably feel yourselves to be. Well, and what do you
think of Christ? "He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking
flax;" and therefore, may not even your guilty eyes look to this gentle Savior
with encouraging hope? May you not say to him, with the sweet singer of Israel,
in his last moment, "He is all my salvation, and all my desire!" 2 Samuel 23:5.
In prosecuting this subject, I intend to illustrate the character of a weak
believer, as represented in my text; and then to illustrate the care and
compassion of Jesus Christ even for such a poor weakling.

I. I am to illustrate the character of a weak believer, as represented in my
text, by "a bruised reed, and smoking flax." The metaphor of a BRUISED REED, as
I observed, seems most naturally to convey the idea of a state of weakness and
oppression. And, therefore, in illustrating it, I am naturally led to describe
the various weaknesses which a believer sometimes painfully feels, and to point
out the heavy burdens which he sometimes groans under; I say sometimes, for at
other times even the weak believer finds himself strong, strong in the Lord, and
in the power of his might, and strengthened with might by the Spirit in the
inner man. The joy of the Lord is his strength: and he "can do all things
through Christ—who gives me strength." Even the oppressed believer at times
feels himself delivered from his burden, and he can lift up his drooping head,
and walk upright. But, alas! the burden returns, and crushes him again. And
under some burden or other many honest-hearted believers groan out the most part
of their lives.

Let us now see what are those WEAKNESSES which a believer feels and laments:

He finds himself weak in knowledge; a simple child in the knowledge of God and
divine things.

He is weak in love; the sacred flame does not rise with a perpetual fervor, and
diffuse itself through all his devotions, but at times it languishes and dies
away into a smoking snuff.

He is weak in faith; he cannot keep a strong hold of the Almighty, cannot
suspend his all upon his promises with cheerful confidence, nor build a firm,
immovable fabric of hope upon the rock Jesus Christ.

He is weak in hope; his hope is dashed with rising billows of fears and
jealousies, and sometimes just overwhelmed.

He is weak in joy; he cannot extract the sweets of Christianity, nor taste the
comforts of his religion.

He is weak in zeal for God and the interests of his kingdom; he would wish
himself always a flaming seraph, always glowing with zeal, always unwearied in
serving his God, and promoting the designs of redeeming love in the world. But,
alas! At times his zeal, with his love, languishes and dies away into a smoking
snuff.

He is weak in repentance; he troubled with that plague of plagues, a hard heart.

He is weak in the conflict with indwelling sin, that is perpetually making
insurrections within him.

He is weak in resisting temptations; which crowd upon him from without, and are
often likely to overwhelm him.

He is weak in courage to encounter the king of terrors, and venture through the
valley of the shadow of death.

He is weak in prayer, in importunity, in filial boldness, in approaching the
mercy-seat.

He is weak in abilities to endeavor the conversion of sinners and save souls
from death. In short, he is weak in everything, in which he should be strong. He
has indeed, like the church of Philadelphia, a little strength, Revelation 3:8,
and at times he feels it. But oh! it seems to him much too little for the work
he has to do.

These weaknesses or defects the believer feels—painfully and tenderly feels, and
bitterly laments. A sense of them keeps him upon his guard against temptations:
he is not venturesome in rushing into the combat. He would not parley with
temptation, but would keep out of its way; nor would he run the risk of a defeat
by an ostentatious experiment of his strength. This sense of weakness also keeps
him dependent upon divine strength. He clings to that support given to Paul in
an hour of hard conflict, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is
made perfect in weakness;" and when a sense of his weakness has this happy
effect upon him, then with Paul he has reason to say, "When I am weak—then I am
strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

I say the believer feels and laments these weaknesses; and this is the grand
distinction in this case between him and the rest of the world. They are the
weak too, much weaker than he; nay, they have, properly, no spiritual strength
at all; but, alas! they do not feel their weakness, but the poor vain creatures
boast of their strength, and think they can do great things when they are
disposed for them. Or if their repeated falls and defeats by temptation extort
them to a confession of their weakness, they plead it rather as an excuse, than
lament it as at once a crime and a calamity. But the poor believer tries no such
artifice to extenuate his guilt. He is sensible that even his weakness itself
has guilt in it, and therefore he laments his weakness with sincere sorrow,
among his other sins.

Now, have I not delineated the very character of some of you; such weaklings,
such frail reeds you feel yourselves to be? Well, hear this kind assurance,
"Jesus will not break such a feeble reed—but he will support and strengthen it!"
But you perhaps not only feel you are weak—but you are oppressed with some heavy
burden or other. You are not only a reed for weakness—but you are a bruised
reed, trodden under foot, crushed under a load. Even this is no unusual or
discouraging case, for: The weak believer often feels himself crushed under some
heavy burden. The frail reed is often bruised; bruised under a due sense of
guilt. Guilt lies heavy at times upon his conscience, and he cannot throw it
off. The frail reed is often bruised with a sense of remaining sin, which he
finds still strong within him, and which at times prevails, and treads him under
foot. The frail reed is often bruised under a burden of deficiencies: the lack
of tenderness of heart, the lack of ardent love to God and mankind, the lack of
heavenly-mindedness and victory over the world; the lack of conduct and
resolution to direct his behavior in a passage so intricate and difficult, and
the lack of nearer fellowship with the Father and his Spirit. In short, a
thousand pressing needs crush and bruise him!

He also feels his share of the calamities of life in common with other men. But
these burdens I shall take no farther notice of, because they are not peculiar
to him as a believer, nor do they lie heaviest upon his heart. He could easily
bear up under the calamities of life if his spiritual deficiencies were
supplied, and the burden of guilt and sin were removed. Under these last he
groans and sinks. Indeed these burdens lie with all their full weight upon the
world around him; but they are dead in trespasses and sins, and feel them not:
they do not groan under them, nor labor for deliverance from them. They lie
contented under them, with more stupidity than beasts of burden, until they sink
under the intolerable load into the depth of misery! But the poor believer is
not so insensible, and his tender heart feels the burden and groans under it.
"We who are in this tabernacle," says Paul, "do groan, being burdened." 2
Corinthians 5:4. The believer understands feelingly that pathetic exclamation,
"O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death!"
Romans 7:24. He cannot be easy until his conscience is appeased by a
well-attested pardon through the blood of Christ. Also, the sins he feels
working within him are a real burden and uneasiness to him, though they should
never break out into action, and publicly dishonor his holy profession. And is
not this the very character of some poor oppressed creatures among you? I hope
it is. You may look upon your case to be very discouraging—but Jesus looks upon
it in a more favorable light; he looks upon you as proper objects of his
compassionate care. Bruised as you are—he will bind up, and support you! But I
proceed to take a view of the character of a weak Christian, as represented in
the other metaphor in my text, namely, SMOKING FLAX. The idea most naturally
conveyed by this metaphor is, that of true and sincere grace—but languishing and
just expiring, like a candle just blown out, which still smokes and retains a
feeble spark of fire. It signifies a susceptibility of enlarged grace, or a
readiness to catch that sacred fire, as a candle just put out is easily
re-kindled. This metaphor therefore leads me to describe the reality of religion
in a low degree, or to delineate the true Christian in his most languishing
hours. And in so doing I shall mention those dispositions and exercises which
the weakest Christian feels, even in these melancholy seasons; for even in these
he widely differs still from the most polished hypocrite in his highest
improvements. On this subject let me solicit your most serious attention; for,
if you have the least spark of real religion within you, you are now likely to
discover it, as I am not going to rise to the high attainments of Christians of
the first rank—but to stoop to the character of the lowest. Now the peculiar
dispositions and exercises of heart which such in some measure feel, you may
discover from the following short history of their case: The weak Christian in
such languishing hours does indeed sometimes fall into such a state of
carelessness and insensibility, that he has very few and but superficial
exercises of mind about divine things. But generally he feels an uneasiness, an
emptiness, an anxiety within, under which he droops and pines away, and all the
world cannot heal the disease! He has chosen the blessed God as his supreme
happiness; and, when he cannot derive happiness from that source, all the sweets
of created enjoyments become insipid to him, and cannot fill up the great void
which the absence of the Supreme Good leaves in his craving soul. Sometimes his
anxiety is indistinct and confused, and he hardly knows what ails him; but at
other times he feels it is for God, the living God, that his soul pants. The
evaporations of this smoking flax naturally ascend towards heaven. He knows that
he never can be happy until he can enjoy the communications of divine love. Let
him turn which way he will—he can find no solid ease, no rest, until he comes to
this center again.

Even at such times, he cannot be thoroughly reconciled to his sins. He may be
parleying with some of them in an unguarded hour, and seem to be negotiating a
peace; but the truce is soon ended, and they are at variance again. The enmity
of a renewed heart soon rises against this old enemy. And there is this
circumstance remarkable in the believer’s hatred and opposition to SIN—that they
do not proceed principally, much less entirely, from a fear of punishment—but
from a generous sense to its intrinsic vileness and ingratitude, and its
contrariety to the holy nature of God. This is the ground of his hatred to sin,
and sorrow for it; and this shows that there is at least a spark of true grace
in his heart, and that he does not act altogether from the base, selfish and
mercenary principles of mere human nature. At such times he is very jealous of
the sincerity of his religion, afraid that all his past experiences were
delusive, and afraid that, if he should die in his present state, he would be
forever miserable. A very anxious state is this! The insensible world can lie
secure, while this grand concern lies in the most dreadful suspense. But the
tenderhearted believer is not capable of such fool-hardiness: he shudders at the
thought of everlasting separation from that God and Savior whom he loves. He
loves him, and therefore the fear of separation from him, fills him with all the
anxiety of bereaved love. This to him, is the most painful ingredient of the
punishment of hell. Hell would be a sevenfold hell to a lover of God, because it
is a state of banishment from him whom he loves! He could forever languish and
pine away under the consuming distresses of widowed love, which those who love
him cannot feel. And has God kindled the sacred flame in his heart—only in order
to render him capable of the more exquisite pain? Will he exclude from his
presence—the poor creature that clings to him, and languishes for him? No! the
flax that does but smoke with his love—was never intended to be fuel for hell;
but God will blow it up into a flame, and nourish it until it mingles with the
seraphic ardors in the region of perfect love! The weak believer seems sometimes
driven by the tempest of lusts and temptation from off the rock of Jesus Christ.
But he makes towards it on the stormy billows, and labors to lay hold upon it,
and recover his station there; for he is sensible there is no other foundation
of safety; but that without Christ he must perish forever.

It is the habitual disposition of the believer’s soul—to depend upon Jesus
Christ alone. He retains a kind of inclination or tendency towards him—like the
compass needle turns towards the north pole; and, if his heart is turned from
its course, it trembles and quivers until it gains its favorite point again, and
fixes there. Sometimes, indeed, a consciousness of guilt renders him shy of his
God and Savior; and after such base ingratitude he is ashamed to go to him: but
at length necessity as well as inclination constrains him, and he is obliged to
cry out, "Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life!" John
6:68. "In you alone I find rest to my soul; and therefore to you I must fly,
though I am ashamed and confounded to appear in your presence!" In short, the
weakest Christian upon earth sensibly feels that his comfort rises and falls—as
he lives nearer to or farther from his God. The love of God has such a habitual
predominance even in his heart, that nothing in the world, nor even all the
world together, can fill up God’s place. No, when God is gone—heaven and earth
together cannot replenish the mighty void. The weakest Christian upon earth,
longs to be delivered from sin—from all sin, without exception: and the body of
death hanging about him is the burden of his life. The poor languishing
Christian has his hope—all the little hope that he has—built upon Jesus Christ.
This smoking flax sends up some exhalations of love towards heaven. The poor
creature that often fears he is altogether a slave to sin—honestly, though
feebly, labors to be holy, to be holy as an angel, yes, to be holy as God is
holy. He has a heart that feels the attractive charms of holiness, and he is so
captivated by it, that sin can never recover its former place of dominion in his
heart. No! the tyrant is forever dethroned, and the believer would rather die
than yield himself a devoted slave to sin’s usurped tyranny again.

Thus I have delineated to you, in the plainest manner I could, the CHARACTER of
a weak Christian. Some of you, I am afraid, cannot lay claim even to this low
character. If so, you may be sure you are not true Christians, even of the
lowest rank. You may be sure you have not the least spark of true religion in
your hearts—but are utterly destitute of it. But some of you, I hope, can say,
"Well, after all my doubts and fears, if this is the character of a true, though
weak Christian, then I may humbly hope that I am one. I am indeed confirmed in
it, that I am less than the least of all other saints upon the face of the
earth—but yet I see that I am a saint; for thus has my heart been exercised,
even in my dark and languishing hours. This secret uneasiness and pining
anxiety, this thirst for God—for the living God, this tendency of soul towards
Jesus Christ, this implacable enmity to sin, this panting and struggling after
holiness: these things have I often felt!" And have you indeed? Then away with
your doubts and jealousies; away with your fears and despondencies! There is at
least an immortal spark kindled in your hearts, which the united power of men
and devils, of sin and temptation, shall never be able to quench! No, it shall
yet rise into a flame, and burn with seraphic ardors forever! For your farther
encouragement, I proceed, II. To illustrate the CARE and COMPASSION of Jesus
Christ for such poor weaklings as you. This may appear a needless task to some:
for who is there that does not believe it? But to such would I say, it is no
easy thing to establish a trembling soul in the full belief of this truth. It is
easy for one that does not see his danger, and does not feel his extreme need of
salvation, and the difficulty of the work—to believe that Christ is willing and
able to save him. But oh! to a poor soul, deeply sensible of its condition, this
is no easy matter. Besides, the heart may need be more deeply affected with this
truth, though the understanding should need no farther arguments of the
speculative kind for its conviction; and to impress this truth is my present
design. For this purpose I need but read and paraphrase to you a few of the many
kind declarations and assurances which Jesus has given us in his word, and
relate the happy experiences of some of his saints there recorded, who found him
true and faithful to his word. The Lord Jesus Christ seems to have a peculiar
tenderness for the poor, the mourners, the broken-hearted; and these are
peculiarly the objects of his mediatorial office. "The Spirit of the Sovereign
LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the
poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives
will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who
mourn that the time of the LORD’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s
anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for
ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has
planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory." Isaiah 61:1-3.

Thus says the LORD, in strains of majesty that become him, "Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that?
Could you build a dwelling place for me? My hands have made both heaven and
earth, and they are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken!" Had he spoken uniformly in
this majestic language to us guilty worms, the declaration might have
overwhelmed us with awe—but could not have inspired us with hope. But he
advances himself thus high—on purpose to let us see how low he can stoop. Hear
the encouraging sequel of this his majestic speech: "I will bless those who have
humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word!" Isaiah 66:1-2.

He loves to dwell upon this subject, and therefore you hear it again in the same
prophecy: "Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is
holy,"—what does he say? "I dwell in the high and holy place." Isaiah 57:15,
This is said of his character; this is a dwelling in some measure worthy the
inhabitant. But oh! will he stoop to dwell in a lower mansion, or pitch his tent
among mortals? Yes, he dwells not only in his high and holy place—but also,
"with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I refresh the humble and give
new courage to those with repentant hearts!"

He charges Peter to feed his lambs—as well as his sheep; that is, to take the
tenderest care even of the weakest in his flock. John 21:15. And he severely
rebukes the shepherds of Israel, "Because," says he, "You have not taken care of
the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the broken bones. You have
not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you
have ruled them with force and cruelty." Ezekiel 34:4. But what an amiable
reverse is the character of the great Shepherd and Sustainer of souls! "Behold,"
says Isaiah, "The Sovereign LORD is coming in all his glorious power. He will
rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes!" How
justly may we tremble at this proclamation of the approaching God! for who can
stand when he appears? But how agreeably are our fears quenched in what follows!
If he comes to take vengeance on his enemies—he also comes to show mercy to the
lowest of his people. "He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the
lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the
mother sheep with their young!" Isaiah 40:10-11. That is, he shall exercise the
tenderest and most compassionate care towards the lowest and weakest of his
flock.

"The LORD looked down," says the Psalmist, "from his heavenly sanctuary. He
looked to the earth from heaven;" not to view the grandeur and pride of courts
and kings, nor the heroic exploits of conquerors—but "to hear the groans of the
prisoners, to release those condemned to die!" He will regard the prayer of the
destitute, and not despise their prayer. This was written for the generation to
come. Psalms 102:19-20. It was written for your encouragement, my brethren. Over
three thousand years ago, this encouraging passage was entered into the sacred
records for the support of poor desponding souls today—to the ends of the earth.

Oh, what an early provident care does God show for his people! There are none of
the seven churches of Asia so highly commended by Christ as that of
Philadelphia; and yet in commending her, all he can say is, "I know all the
things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can shut. You have
little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me!" Revelation 3:8.

Oh, how acceptable is a little strength to Jesus Christ, and how ready is he to
improve it! "He gives power to those who are tired and worn out", says Isaiah,
"He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless!" Isaiah 40:29.

Hear farther what words of grace and truth flowed from the lips of Jesus. "Come
to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle,
and you will find rest for your souls!" Matthew 11:28-29.

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will
never drive away!" John 6:37.

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!" John 7:37.

"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!"
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift
of the water of life!" Revelation 22:17

Oh, what strong consolation is here! What exceeding great and precious promises
are these! I might easily add to the catalogue—but these may suffice.

Let us now see how his people in every age have ever found these promises made
good.

Here David may be consulted, and he will tell you, pointing to himself, "This
poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles!"
Psalms 34:6.

Paul, in the midst of affliction, calls God "the Father of compassion and the
God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles!" 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.
"God," says he, "who comforts those that are cast down—has comforted us." 2
Corinthians 7:6. What a sweetly emphatic declaration is this! "God, the
comforter of the humble—has comforted us!" (This is the literal translation of
the text.) He is not only the Lord Almighty, the King of kings, the Creator of
the world—but among his more magnificent characters he assumes this title, the
Comforter of "the humble."

Such Paul found him in an hour of temptation, when he had this supporting answer
to his repeated prayer for deliverance, "My grace is sufficient for you—for my
power is made perfect in weakness!" 2 Corinthians 12:9. Since this was the case,
since his weakness was more than supplied by the strength of Christ, and was a
foil to set it off, Paul seems quite regardless what infirmities he labored
under. "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when
I am weak, then I am strong!" He could take no pleasure in feeling himself weak:
but the mortification was made up by the pleasure he found in leaning upon this
almighty support. His wounds were painful to him: but, oh! the pleasure he found
in feeling the divine physician dressing his wounds, in some measure swallowed
up the pain!

It was probably his experience, as well as inspiration, that dictated to the
apostle that amiable character of Christ, that he is "A merciful and faithful
high priest. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help
those who are being tempted." Hebrews 2:17-18. And, "For we do not have a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has
been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." Hebrews 4:15.
But why need I multiply arguments? Go to his cross—and there learn his love and
compassion, from his groans and wounds, and blood, and death! Would he hang
there in such agony for sinners—if he were not willing to save them, and nourish
every good principle in them? There you may have much the same evidence of his
compassion, as Thomas had of his resurrection: you may look into his hands, and
see the print of the nails; and into his side, and see the scar of the spear;
which loudly proclaims his readiness to pity and help you! And now, poor,
trembling, doubting souls—you should raise up your drooping head, and take
courage! May you not venture your souls into such compassionate and faithful
hands? Why should the bruised reed shrink from him, when he comes not to tread
it down—but raise it up! As I am really solicitous that impenitent hearts among
us should be pierced with the medicinal anguish, and sorrow of conviction, and
repentance. I am truly solicitous that every honest soul, in which there is the
least spark of true piety, should enjoy the pleasure of it. It is indeed to be
lamented that those who have a title to so much happiness, should enjoy so
little of it! It is very incongruous that they should go bowing their head in
their way towards heaven—as if they were hastening to the place of execution!
and that they should serve so good a Master—with such heavy hearts! Oh lift up
the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees! "Comfort, comfort my
people! says your God." "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might."
Trust in your all-sufficient Redeemer; trust in him—though he should slay you!
And do not indulge causeless doubts and fears concerning your sincerity. When
they arise in your minds, examine them, and search whether there is any
sufficient reason for them; and if you discover there is not, then reject them
and set them at defiance, and entertain your hopes in spite of them, and say
with the Psalmist, " Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within
me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God!"
Psalms 42:11


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  CHAPTER 25: 22-THE DANGER OF LUKEWARMNESS IN RELIGION
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The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion By Samuel Davies (1724–1761)

"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold
or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold—I am going to
vomit you out of My mouth!" Revelation 3:15-16 The soul of man is endowed with
such active powers that it cannot be idle; and, if we look round the world, we
see it all alive and busy in some pursuit or other. What vigorous action, what
labor and toil, what hurry, noise, and commotion about the necessities of life,
about riches and honors! All men are in earnest about worldly concerns. They
sincerely desire and eagerly strive for these transient delights, or vain
embellishments of a mortal life. And may we infer farther, that creatures, thus
formed for action, and thus laborious and unwearied in these inferior pursuits,
are proportionably vigorous and in earnest in matters of infinitely greater
importance? May we conclude that they proportion their labor and activity to the
nature of things, and that they are most in earnest—where they are most
concerned? A stranger to our world, who could conclude nothing concerning the
conduct of mankind but from the generous presumptions of his own charitable
heart, might persuade himself that this is the case. But one that has been but a
little while conversant with them, and taken the least notice of their temper
and practice with regard to that most important thing, true Religion, must know
it is quite otherwise. For look round you—and what do you see? Here and there
indeed you may see a few unfashionable creatures, who act as if they looked upon
religion to be their most important concern; and who seem determined, let others
do as they will—to make sure of salvation, whatever becomes of them in other
respects. But as to the generality of men—they are very indifferent about it.
They will not indeed renounce all religion entirely; they will make some little
profession of the religion that happens to be most stylish and reputable in
their country, and they will conform to some of its institutions; but it is a
matter of indifference with them, and they are but little concerned about it; or
in the language of my text, they are "lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot." The
lukewarm Laodicean church was loathsome to Christ, and he characterizes her as
"wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." What condition can be
more deplorable and dangerous? This threatening, "I will vomit you out of my
mouth!" has been long ago executed with a dreadful severity upon the Laodicean
church; and it is now succeeded by a mongrel race of Pagans and Muhammadans; and
the name of Christ is not even heard among them. But, though this church has
been demolished for so many hundreds of years, that lukewarmness of spirit in
religion which brought this judgment upon them, still lives, and possesses the
Christians of our own age! It may therefore be expedient for us to consider
Christ’s friendly warning to them—that we may escape their doom! The epistles to
the seven churches in Asia are introduced with this solemn and striking preface,
"I know your works!" That is to say, your character is drawn by one who
thoroughly knows you; one who inspects all your conduct, and takes notice of you
when you take no notice of yourselves; one that cannot be imposed upon by an
empty profession and artifice—but searches the heart and the thoughts. Oh that
this truth were deeply impressed upon our hearts, for surely we could not trifle
and sin—while sensible that we are under the eye of our Judge!

"I know your works," says he to the Laodicean church, "that you are neither cold
nor hot." This church was in a very bad condition, and Christ reproves her with
the gravest severity; and yet we do not find her charged with the practice or
toleration of any gross immoralities, as some of the other churches were. She is
not censured for immorality among her members, or communicating with idolaters
in eating things sacrificed to idols, like some of the rest. She was free from
the infection of the Nicolaitans, which had spread among them. What then is her
charge? It is a subtle, latent wickedness, which has no shocking appearance,
which makes no gross blemish in the outward character of a professor in the view
of others, and may escape his own notice; it is, "You are lukewarm, and neither
cold nor hot!" As if our Lord had said, "You do not entirely renounce and openly
disregard the Christian religion, and you do not make it a serious business, and
mind it as your grand concern. You have a form of godliness—but deny the power.
All your religion is a dull languid thing, a mere indifference; your heart is
not in it; it is not animated with the fervor of your spirit. You have neither
the coldness of the profligate sinner—nor the sacred fire and life of the true
Christian; but you keep a sort of medium between them. In some things you
resemble the one, in other things the other; as lukewarmness partakes of the
nature both of heat and cold."

Now such a lukewarmness is an eternal fault in religion; it is the most absurd
and inconsistent thing imaginable: more so than avowed impiety, or a professed
rejection of all religion. Therefore, says Christ, "I wish that you were cold or
hot" that is, "You might be anything more consistently than what you are. If you
looked upon Christianity as a cheat, and openly rejected the profession of it—it
would not be strange that you should be careless about it, and disregard it in
practice. But to own Christianity as true, and make a profession of it—and yet
be lukewarm and indifferent about it—this is the most absurd conduct that can be
conceived. For, if Christianity is true, it is certainly the most important and
significant truth in all the world, and requires the utmost exertion of all your
powers!" When Christ expresses his abhorrence of lukewarmness in the form of a
wish, "I wish that you were cold or hot," we are not to suppose his meaning to
be, that coldness or fervor in religion is equally acceptable; or that coldness
is at all acceptable to him; for reason and revelation concur to assure us, that
the open rejection and avowed contempt of true religion is an aggravated
wickedness, as well as a hypocritical profession. But our Lord’s design is to
express, in the strongest manner possible, how odious and abominable their
lukewarmness was to him; as if he should say, "Your state is so bad, that you
cannot change for the worse; I would rather you were anything than what you
are!"

You are ready to observe, that the lukewarm professor is in reality wicked and
corrupt at heart, a slave to sin, and an enemy to God, as well as the avowed
sinner; and therefore they are both hateful in the sight of God—and both in a
state of condemnation! But there are some aggravations peculiar to the lukewarm
professor that render him peculiarly odious to God, as:

1. He adds the sin of a hypocritical profession to his other sins. The
wickedness of infidelity, and the wickedness of falsely pretending to be
religious—meet and center in him at once.

2. To all this, he adds the guilt of presumption, pride, and self-flattery,
imagining he is in a safe state and in favor with God; whereas he who makes no
pretensions to religion, has no such sins. Thus the miserable Laodiceans
"thought themselves rich, and increased in goods, and in need of nothing."

3. Hence it follows, that the lukewarm professor is in the most dangerous
condition, as he is not liable to conviction, nor so likely to be brought to
repentance. Thus publicans and harlots received the gospel more readily than the
self-righteous Pharisees!

4. The honor of God and religion is more injured by the negligent, unholy
behavior of these Laodiceans; than by the vices of those who make no pretensions
to religion; with whom therefore its honor has no connection. On these accounts
you see lukewarmness is more aggravatedly sinful and dangerous, than entire
coldness about religion. So then, says Christ, "So, because you are lukewarm,
and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth!" This is
their doom; as if he should say, "As lukewarm water is more disagreeable to the
stomach than either cold or hot water—so you, of all others, are the most
abominable to me. I am quite sick of such professors, and I will cast them out
of my church, and reject them forever!" My present design is to expose the
peculiar absurdity and wickedness of lukewarmness or indifference in religion; a
disease that has spread its deadly contagion far and wide among us, and calls
for a speedy cure! And let me first observe to you, that if I do not offer you
sufficient arguments to convince your own reason of the absurdity and wickedness
of such a temper—then you may still indulge it; but that if my arguments are
sufficient—then shake off your sloth, and be fervent in spirit; and if you
neglect your duty, be it at your peril. In illustrating this point I shall
proceed upon this plain principle: "That true religion is, of all things, the
most important in itself, and the most significant to us." This we cannot deny,
without openly pronouncing it an imposture. If there is a God, as religion
teaches us, he is the most glorious, the most venerable, and the most lovely
Being. Nothing can be so important to us as his favor—and nothing so terrible as
his displeasure. If God is our Maker, our Benefactor, our Lawgiver and Judge—it
must be our greatest concern to serve him with all our might. If Jesus Christ is
such a Savior as our religion represents, and we profess to believe—then he
demands our warmest love and most lively service. If eternity, if heaven and
hell, and the final judgment, are realities—they are certainly the most
magnificent, the most solemn, the most important, and the most significant
realities! And, in comparison to them, the most weighty concerns of the present
life are but trifles, dreams, and shadows!

If prayer and other religious exercises are our duty, certainly they require all
the vigor of our souls; and nothing can be more absurd or incongruous than to
perform them in a languid, spiritless manner, as if we knew not what we were
about. If there is any life within us—these are proper objects to call it forth.
If our souls are endowed with active powers—here are objects that demand their
utmost exertion. Here we can never be so much in earnest as the case requires.
Trifle about anything—but oh do not trifle here! Be careless and indifferent
about crowns and kingdoms, about health, life, and all the world—but oh do not
be careless and indifferent about such immense concerns as these! But to be more
particular: let us take a view of a lukewarm temper in various attitudes, or
with respect to several objects, particularly towards God—towards Jesus Christ—a
future state of happiness or misery—and in the duties of religion; and in each
of these views we cannot but be shocked at so monstrous a temper, especially if
we consider our difficulties and dangers in a religious life, and the eagerness
and activity of mankind in inferior pursuits.

1. Consider who and what GOD is. He is the original uncreated beauty, the sum
total of all natural and moral perfections, the origin of all the excellencies
that are scattered through this glorious universe; he is the supreme good, and
the only proper portion for our immortal spirits. He also sustains the most
majestic and endearing relations to us—our Father, our Preserver and Benefactor,
our Lawgiver and our Judge. And is such a Being to be put off with heartless,
lukewarm services?

What can be more absurd or impious than to dishonor supreme excellency and
beauty—with a languid love and esteem! What can be more absurd or impious than
to trifle in the presence of the most venerable Majesty! What can be more absurd
or impious than to treat the best of Beings with indifference! What can be more
absurd or impious than to be careless about our duty to such a glorious Father!
What can be more absurd or impious than to return such a Benefactor only insipid
complimental expressions of gratitude! What can be more absurd or impious than
to be dull and spiritless in obedience to such a lawgiver! What can be more
absurd or impious than to be indifferent about the favor or displeasure of such
a Judge!

I appeal to heaven and earth, if this is not the most shocking conduct
imaginable! Does not your reason pronounce it horrid and most daringly wicked?
And yet thus is the great and blessed God treated by the generality of mankind.
It is most astonishing that he should bear with such treatment so long, and that
mankind themselves are not shocked at it—but such is really the case. And are
there not some lukewarm Laodiceans in this assembly? Jesus knows your works,
that you are neither cold nor hot; and it is fit that you should also know them.
May you not be convinced upon a little inquiry, that your hearts are habitually
indifferent towards God? You may indeed entertain a speculative esteem or a good
opinion of him—but are your souls alive towards him? Do they burn with his love?
Are you fervent in spirit when you are serving him? Some of you, I hope, amid
all your infirmities, can give comfortable answers to these inquiries. But alas!
how few! But yet as to such of you as are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot—you
are the most abominable creatures upon earth to a holy God. Be zealous, be warm,
therefore, and repent! (verse 19.)

2. Is lukewarmness a proper temper towards JESUS CHRIST? Is this a suitable
return for that love which brought him down from his native paradise into our
wretched world? That love which, for thirty-three painful and tedious years,
kept his mind intent upon this one object—the salvation of sinners? That love
which rendered him cheerfully patient of the shame, the curse, the tortures of
crucifixion, and all the agonies of the most painful death? That love which
makes him the sinner’s friend still in the courts of heaven, where he appears as
our prevailing Advocate and Intercessor?

Blessed Jesus! is lukewarmness a proper return to you for all this kindness? No!
Methinks devils cannot treat you worse! My fellow-mortals, my fellow-sinners,
you who are the objects of all this love, can you put him off with languid
devotions and faint services? Then every grateful and generous passion is
extinct in your souls, and you are qualified to venture upon every form of
ingratitude and baseness. Oh, was Christ indifferent about your salvation? Was
his love lukewarm towards you? No! your salvation was the object of his most
intense application night and day through the whole course of his life, and it
lay nearest his heart in the agonies of death. For this he had a baptism to be
baptized with—a baptism, an immersion in tears and blood! "And how distressed I
am," says he, "until it is completed!" For this with desire, he desired to eat
his last Passover, because it introduced the last scene of his sufferings. His
love! what shall I say of it? What language can describe its strength and ardor?
"His love was strong as death. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away!" Song of Solomon
8:6-7. Never did a tender mother love her nursing child with a love equal to
his! Never was a father more anxious to rescue an only son from the hands of a
murderer, or to pluck him out of the fire—than Jesus was to save perishing
sinners. Now to neglect him after all; to forget him; or to think of him with
indifference, as though he were a being of but little importance, and we but
little obliged to him, what is all this but the most unnatural, barbarous
ingratitude, and the most shocking wickedness! Do you expect everlasting
happiness from Christ purchased at the expense of His blood? And can you hope
for such an immense blessing from Him, without feeling yourselves most sensibly
obliged to Him? Can you hope that He will do so much for you—and can you be
content to do nothing for Him, or to go through his service with lukewarmness
and languor, as if you cared not how you hurried through it, or how little you
had to do with it? Can anything be more absurd or impious than this! Methinks
you may defy hell to show a worse temper! May not Christ justly wish you were
either cold or hot; wish you were anything rather than thus lukewarm towards
Him—under a profession of friendship? Alas! my brethren, if this is your
habitual temper, instead of being saved by Him—you may expect that He will
reject you with the most nauseating disgust and abhorrence! But,

3. Is lukewarmness and indifference a suitable temper with respect to a future
eternal state of happiness or misery? Are lukewarmness and indifference a
suitable temper with respect to a HAPPINESS far exceeding the utmost bounds of
our present thoughts and wishes; a happiness equal to the largest capacities of
our souls in their most improved and perfect state; a happiness beyond the
grave, when all the enjoyments of this transitory life have taken an eternal
flight from us, and leave us hungry and famishing forever—if these are our only
portion; a happiness that will last as long as our immortal spirits, and never
fade or fly from us? Or are lukewarmness and indifference a suitable temper with
respect to a MISERY beyond expression, beyond conception dreadful; a misery
inflicted by a God of almighty power and inexorable justice upon all obstinate,
incorrigible rebels for numberless, willful and daring provocations, inflicted
on purpose to show His wrath and make His power known! A misery proceeding from
the united fury of divine indignation, of turbulent passions of a guilty
conscience, of malicious tormenting devils! A misery (who can bear up under the
horror of the thought!) that shall last as long as the eternal God shall live to
inflict it—as long as sin shall continue evil to deserve it—as long as an
immortal spirit shall endure to bear it—a misery that shall never be mitigated,
never intermitted, never, never, never see an end? And remember, that a state of
eternal happiness or misery is not far remote from us—but near us, just before
us! The next year, the next hour, or the next moment—we may enter into it! It is
a state for which we are now candidates, now upon trial; now our eternal all
lies at stake! Oh, sirs, does an apathetic, careless attitude befit us in such a
solemn situation? Is a state of such eternal happiness—or such misery; is such a
state which we must shortly enter—a matter of indifference to us? Oh, can you be
lukewarm about such matters? Was such a exceeding stupidity ever seen under the
canopy of heaven, or even in the regions of hell—which abound with monstrous and
horrid beings? No! the vilest demons below cannot make light of these things!
Mortals! can you trifle about them?

Well, trifle a little longer—and your trifling will be over, forever! You may
now be indifferent about the improving of your time; but time is not indifferent
whether to pass by or not: it is determined to continue its rapid course, and
hurry you into the ocean of eternity, though you should continue sleeping and
dreaming through all the passage!

Therefore awake, arise! Exert yourselves before your doom is unchangeably fixed!
If you have any fire within you—here let it burn; if you have any active
powers—here let them be exerted; here or nowhere, and on no other occasion. Be
active, be in earnest where you should be; or debase or sink yourselves into
stocks and stones—and escape the curse of being reasonable and active creatures.

Let the criminal, condemned to die tomorrow, be indifferent about a reprieve or
a pardon; let a drowning man be careless about catching at the only plank that
can save him; but oh do not you be careless and indifferent about eternity, and
such amazing realities as heaven and hell.

If you disbelieve these things—you are infidels. If you believe these things,
and yet are unaffected with them—you are worse than infidels! Not even hell
itself can find a precedent of such a conduct. The devils believe—and tremble!
You believe—and trifle with things whose very name strikes solemnity and awe
through heaven and hell. But,

4. Let us see how this lukewarm temper agrees with the duties of religion. And
as I cannot particularize them all, I shall only mention an instance or two.

"The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright
pleases Him." Proverbs 15:8. View a lukewarm professor in PRAYER; he pays to an
omniscient God, the compliment of a bended knee, as though he could deceive Him
with such an empty pretense. When he is addressing the Supreme Majesty of heaven
and earth, he hardly ever recollects in Whose presence he is, or Whom he is
speaking to—but seems as if he were worshiping without an object, or pouring out
empty words into the air. Perhaps through the whole prayer, he had not so much
as one solemn, heart-affecting thought of that God, whose name he so often
invoked.

Here is a condemned criminal petitioning for pardon so carelessly, that he
scarcely knows what he is doing! Here is a needy, famishing beggar pleading for
such immense blessings as everlasting salvation, and all the joys of heaven—so
lukewarmly and thoughtlessly, as if he no concern whether his requests were
granted or not! Here is an obnoxious sinner confessing his sins with a heart
untouched with sorrow; worshiping the living God—with a dead heart; making great
requests—but he forgets them as soon as he rises from his knees; and is not at
all inquisitive what becomes of them, and whether God accepts them or not. Can
there be a more shocking, impious, and daring conduct than this! To trifle in
the presence of an earthly king—would not be such an audacious affront! For a
condemned criminal to catch flies, or play with a feather, when pleading with
his judge for his pardon—would be but a faint shadow of such religious trifling!
What are such prayers, but solemn mockeries and disguised insults to the
omnipotent God! And yet, is not this the usual method in which many of you
address the great God? The words proceed no further than from your tongue: you
do not pour them out from the bottom of your hearts; they have no life or spirit
in them, and you hardly ever reflect upon their meaning. And when you have
babbled away to God in this manner—you will have it to pass for ’a prayer’. But
surely such prayers must bring down a curse upon you—instead of a blessing! Such
’sacrifices’ must be an abomination to the Lord! And it is astonishing that He
has not mingled your blood with your ’sacrifices’, and sent you from your knees
to hell! It is a wonder that He has not sent you from your thoughtless,
unmeaning prayer—to eternal blasphemy and torture! The next instance I shall
mention, is with regard to the WORD OF GOD. You own it to be divine; you profess
it to be the standard of your religion, and the most excellent book in the
world. Now, if this is the case—it is God who speaks to you in His Scriptures.
It is God who sends you an epistle, when you are reading or hearing His Word.
How impious and provoking then must it be to neglect it; to let it lie by you as
an antiquated, useless book; or to read it in a careless, superficial manner;
and hear it with an inattentive, wandering mind!

How would you take it, if, when you spoke to your servant about his own
interest—that he should turn away from you, and not regard you at all? Or if you
should write a letter to your son, and he should not so much as carefully read
it, or try to understand it? And do not some of you treat the sacred oracles in
this manner? You make but little use of your Bible—but to tell your children to
read it. Or if you read or hear its contents yourselves, are you not unaffected
with them? One would think you would be all attention and reverence to every
word! You would drink it in, and thirst for it as new-born babes for their
mother’s milk! You would feel its force, and acquire the character of that happy
man to whom the God of heaven delights to look! You would tremble at His Word.
It reveals the only method of your salvation; it contains the only charter of
all your blessings. In short, you have the nearest personal interest in it—and
can you be unconcerned hearers of it? I am sure your reason and conscience must
condemn such stupidity and indifference as incongruous, and outrageously wicked!
And now let me remind you of the observation I made when entering upon this
subject, that if I should not offer sufficient matter of conviction—then you
might go on in your lukewarmness; but if your own reason should be fully
convinced that such a temper is most wicked and unreasonable—then you might
trifle at your peril. What do you say now is the outcome? You modern Laodiceans,
are you not yet struck with horror at the thought of that insipid, formal,
spiritless religion you have hitherto been contented with? And do you not see
the necessity of following the advice of Christ to the Laodicean church: be
zealous, be fervent for the future, and repent, bitterly repent of what is past!
To urge this the more, I have two considerations in reserve, of no small weight:

1. Consider thedifficultiesanddangersin your way! Oh, sirs, if you know the
difficulty of the work of your salvation, and the great danger of miscarrying in
it, you could not be so indifferent about it, nor could you flatter yourselves
such languid endeavors will ever succeed. It is a labor, a striving, a race, a
warfare—so it is called in the sacred writings. But would there be any propriety
in these expressions, if it were a course of sloth and inactivity?

Consider your difficulties: you have strong lusts to be subdued; a hard heart to
be broken; many temptations to be encountered and resisted; a variety of graces,
which you are entirely destitute of—to be implanted and nourished, and that in
an unnatural soil, where they will not grow without careful cultivation. In
short, you must be made new men, quite other creatures than you now are. And oh!
can this work be successfully performed while you make such faint and feeble
efforts? Indeed God is the Agent, and all your best endeavors can never effect
the blessed revolution without him. But his assistance is not to be expected in
the neglect, or careless use of means. Nor is his assistance intended to
encourage idleness—but activity and labor: and when he comes to work, he will
soon inflame your hearts, and put an end to your lukewarmness.

Consider your dangers: they are also great and numerous! You are in danger from
presumption and from despondency; from coldness, from lukewarmness, and from
false fires and enthusiastic heats! You are in danger from self-righteousness,
and from open wickedness; from your own corrupt hearts, from this ensnaring
world, and from the temptations of the devil! You are in great danger of
sleeping on in security, without ever being thoroughly awakened; or, if you
should be awakened, you are in danger of resting short of vital religion; and in
either of these cases you are undone forever. In a word, dangers thickly crowd
around you on every hand, from every quarter; dangers into which thousands,
millions of your fellow-men have fallen—and never recovered. Indeed, all things
considered, it is very doubtful whether you will ever be saved—who are now,
lukewarm and secure. I do not mean that your success is uncertain if you are
brought to use means with proper earnestness; but alas! it is awfully uncertain
whether ever you will be brought to use them in this manner. And, O sirs! can
you continue secure and inactive—when you have such difficulties to encounter
with in a work of absolute necessity, and when you are surrounded with so many
and so great dangers? Alas! are you capable of such destructive madness? Oh that
you knew the true state of your case! Such a knowledge would soon fire you with
the greatest ardor, and make you all life and vigor in this important work!

2. Consider how earnest and active men are inworldly pursuits. Should we form a
judgment of the faculties of human nature, by the conduct of the generality of
people in religion—we would be apt to conclude that men are mere snails, and
that they have no active powers belonging to them. But view them about other
affairs, and you find they are all life, fire, and hurry! What labor and toil!
what schemes and contrivances! what solicitude about success! what fears of
disappointment! Hands, heads, hearts—all busy. And all this to procure those
enjoyments which at best they cannot long retain, and which the next hour may be
torn from them! To acquire a name or a diadem, to obtain riches or honors—what
hardships are undergone! what dangers dared! what rivers of blood shed! how many
millions of lives have been lost! and how many more endangered! In short, the
world is all alive, all in motion with business. On sea and land, at home and
abroad, you will find men eagerly pursuing some temporal good. They grow
grey-headed, and die in the attempt, without reaching their end! But this
disappointment does not discourage the survivors and successors; still they will
continue the fruitless endeavor. Now here, men act like themselves; and they
show they are alive, and endowed with powers of great activity. And shall they
be thus zealous and laborious in the pursuit of earthly vanities—and quite
indifferent and sluggish in the infinitely more important concerns of eternity?
What! solicitous about a mortal body—but careless about an immortal soul! Eager
in pursuit of temporal and fleeting worldly joys—but careless and remiss in
seeking an immortality of perfect heavenly happiness! Anxious to avoid poverty,
shame, sickness, pain, and all the evils, real or imaginary, of the present
life; but indifferent about a whole eternity of the most intolerable misery! Oh,
the destructive folly, the daring wickedness of such a conduct!

True religion the only thing which demands the utmost exertion of all your
powers! But alas! It is the only thing in which you are dull and inactive! Is
everlasting happiness the only thing about which you will be remiss? Is eternal
punishment the only misery which you are indifferent whether you escape or not?
Is God the only good which you pursue with faint and lazy desires? How
preposterous! How absurd is this!

You can love the world, you can love a father, a child, or a friend; nay, you
can love that abominable, hateful thing—sin! These you can love with ardor,
serve with pleasure, pursue with eagerness, and with all your might! But the
ever-blessed God, and the Lord Jesus, your best friend—you put off with a
lukewarm heart and spiritless services. Oh, how inexpressibly monstrous!

Lord, what is this that has befallen your own creation, that they are so
disaffected towards you? Blessed Jesus, what have you done—that you should be
treated thus? Oh sinners! what will be the consequence of such a conduct? Will
that God whom you treat so lightly—take you into the bosom of his love? Will
that Jesus save you by his blood, whom you make so light of? No! You may go and
seek a heaven where you can find it; for God will give you none of His heaven!
Go, shift for yourselves, or look out for a Savior where you will; Jesus will
have nothing to do with you—except to take care to inflict proper punishment
upon you if you retain this lukewarm temper towards him.

Hence, by way of practical application:

1. Learn the vanity and wickedness of a lukewarm religion. Though you should
profess the best religion that ever came from heaven, it will not save you; nay,
it will condemn you with peculiar aggravations, if you are lukewarm in it. This
spirit of indifference diffused through true religion—turns it all into deadly
poison. Your religious duties are all abominable to God, while the vigor of your
heart is not exerted in them. Your prayers are insults to him—and he will answer
them as such, by terrible things in righteousness. And do any of you hope to be
saved by such a religion? I tell you from the God of truth—it will be so far
from saving you, that it will certainly ruin you forever! Continue as you are to
the last—and you will be as certainly damned to all eternity—as Judas, or
Beelzebub, or any demon in hell.

2. But alas! How common, how fashionable is this lukewarm religion! This is the
prevailing, epidemic sin of our age and country. And it is well if it has not
the same fatal effect upon us—as it had upon Laodicea; Laodicea lost its
liberty, its religion, and its all. Therefore let us hear and fear—and no longer
act so wickedly. We have thousands of ’professors’, such as they are; but alas!
they are generally of the Laodicean stamp; they are neither cold nor hot. But it
is our first concern to know how it is with ourselves; therefore let this
inquiry go round this congregation: are you not such lukewarm professors? Is
there any fire and life in your devotions? Or are not all your active powers
engrossed by other worldly pursuits? Impartially make the inquiry, for
infinitely more depends upon it—than upon your temporal life.

3. If you have hitherto been possessed with this Laodicean spirit, I beseech you
indulge it no longer! You have seen that it mars all your religion, and will end
in your eternal ruin! I hope you are not so hardened as to be armored against
the force of this consideration. Why do you halt so long between two opinions? I
wish that you were either cold or hot. Either make thorough work of religion—or
do not pretend to it. Why should you profess a religion, to which you are
insipidly indifferent to? Such a religion is good for nothing!

Therefore awake, arise, exert yourselves! Strive to enter in at the strait gate;
strive earnestly—or you are shut out forever. Infuse heart and spirit into your
religion. Whatever your hand finds to do in this all important matter—do it with
your might. Now, this moment, while my voice sounds in your ears, now begin the
vigorous enterprise. Now collect all the vigor of your souls and breathe it out
in such a prayer as this, "Lord, fire this heart with your love!" Prayer is a
proper introduction: for let me remind you of what you should never forget, that
God is the only Author of this sacred fire; it is only he who can quicken you!
Therefore, you poor careless creatures—fly to him in an agony of importunate
prayer—and never desist, never grow weary—until you prevail.

4. And lastly, let us lament our lukewarmness, and earnestly seek more fervor of
spirit. Some of you have a little life; you enjoy some warm and vigorous
moments; and oh! they are divinely sweet. But reflect how soon your spirits
flag, your devotion cools, and your zeal languishes. Think of this—and be
humble. Think of this—and apply for more life. You know where to apply. Christ
is your life: therefore cry to him for the communication of it. "Lord Jesus! a
little more life, a little more vital heat for my languishing soul." Take this
method, and "you shall run and not be weary; you shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:31.


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  CHAPTER 26: 23-THE VESSELS OF MERCY AND THEVESSELS OF WRATH DELINEATED
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The Vessels of Mercy and the Vessels of Wrath Delineated by Samuel Davies

"Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some
pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to
show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of
Hiswrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his
glory known to the vessels of Hismercy—whom He prepared in advance for
glory—even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the
Gentiles?" Romans 9:21-24 The true notion of the present world is—that it is a
state of preparation for another, eternal world; and, therefore, such as we
habitually are here, such shall we be forever. Mankind are now being formed,
like clay in the potter’s hands—some for honor and some for dishonor; some for
wrath and some for glory. And as the potter does not put his vessels to their
respective uses until they are finished and prepared for them—so neither are men
removed from the present state, and fixed in their respective residences in the
eternal world, until they are prepared, finished, and completely fitted for
them. The vessels of mercy are prepared beforehand for that glory with which
they shall be filled. And, on the other hand, the vessels of wrath are fitted to
destruction, and fit for nothing else, before they are dashed to pieces by the
iron rod of divine justice.

It is a criticism worthy to be mentioned, even in this solemn place, where I
never choose to make a parade of useless learning, that the apostle uses a
different form of expression, when speaking of these different sorts of people.
The preparation of the vessels of mercy for glory, he ascribes to God, as his
work. Hence he uses an active verb, referring expressly to God as the agent—the
’vessels of mercy, whom HE prepared in advance for glory’. But the fitting or
preparing the vessels of wrath for destruction, he does not ascribe to God—but
intimates that it is their own work. Hence he uses a passive particle—the
’vessels of wrath prepared for destruction’—fitted by their own willful sin and
impenitence, during the long-suffering of God towards them, which had a tendency
to lead them to repentance.

Vessels of His wrath! How terribly emphatic is this phrase! Vessels dreadfully
capacious of divine wrath! to be filled to the brim—with that burning liquid!
But how beautifully significant is the metaphor—vesselsof His mercy! vessels
formed, prepared, finished, adorned by the gentle and skillful hand of divine
mercy! Vessels capacious of mercy, and to be filled, to overflow—with glory! The
gracious and sovereign God, who might justly have dashed these vessels of WRATH
to pieces as soon as they became marred clay in his omnipotent hands, endures or
bears with them with much long-suffering; as well as with vessels of mercy! He
bears with them, and he has with you—for days, and months, and years,
notwithstanding their daring provocations, and ungrateful abuse of his patience;
which nothing but divine patience could bear with so long! But all this time,
they contracted more and more filth and pollution; they became every day less
fit for their Master’s use, and rendered themselves more and more fit for
destruction, and fit for nothing else! And shall these vessels of wrath answer
no valuable use in the great house of the universe? Will they serve to furnish
out no apartment of this vast building? Will they be of no use in this numerous
family of reasonable creatures? Yes, they will furnish out the regions of hell—a
place as necessary and useful in the universe, as it is now constituted, as
prisons and bedlams upon the earth. They will serve as public and terribly
illustrious monuments of the divine power and justice, and the righteous
resentments of the righteous and holy God against sin. They will serve as loud
warnings to all worlds, to deter them from that destructive evil. And thus they
will answer a valuable, and even a benevolent, end in the creation, and
contribute to the public good; as the execution of criminals tends to guard the
laws from violation, and so promote the good of society. They will serve, as my
text informs you, "show God’s wrath and make his power known!" Their destruction
will illustriously display the glory of these perfections. The flames of hell
will burn dreadfully bright—to reflect a dreadful—and yet amiable splendor upon
them! And it is for this dreadful but righteous end, among others, that God now
endures them with so much long-suffering: that his perfections, and the honor of
his government, may be the more illustriously displayed—in the execution of
deserved punishment upon them. But the vessels of MERCY are intended and
prepared for nobler uses. On them God intends to display the glory, the riches
of the glory of his more gentle attributes—his love and grace. With them he
intends to furnish out the many mansions of his heavenly house. By them he
intends to let all worlds see what glorious vessels he can form, not only of the
dust—but of the shattered and polluted fragments of human nature, broken and
polluted by the fall of Adam, and by their own sin as well. The view in which I
now consider my text leads me to confine myself to this practical inquiry:

Wherein does preparation for glory consist? And wherein does fitness for
destruction consist?

Some of you, perhaps, when you heard the text, were struck with horror, and
ready to bless yourselves at the sound: for "Now," you thought within
yourselves, "we shall have a sermon upon the solemn doctrine of predestination!"
But you see I propose to consider the text entirely in a practical view; and
therefore your fears are imaginary. Nor do I choose to consider it in this view,
to let you see with what dexterity I can evade the genuine sense of it, and make
a mental reservation of a doctrine so unpopular; but because whatever else the
text in its connection may mean—it does naturally lead me to this grand inquiry;
and because my present design is to speak to your hearts, about an affair which
you are all concerned and capable to know, and not to perplex your minds with a
controversy, of which not many of you are competent judges.

I must own, indeed, I am not a skeptic of the doctrine of predestination. It is
not an entire blank in my creed; nor am I at all ashamed to declare my
sentiments in a proper time and place. At present I shall only tell you, that I
cannot be persuaded God has made such a world as this, without first drawing the
plan of it in his own omniscient mind. I cannot think he would produce such a
numerous race of reasonable and immortal creatures, without first determining
what to do with them. I cannot think the events of time, or the judicial process
of the last day, will furnish him with any new information to enable him to
determine the final states of men more justly than he could from eternity. But
away with all controversial thoughts at present; and let an object of more
importance engross all your attention: for you will find, I am not now going to
plunge and drown you in this unfathomable depth of truth. This you may be sure
of—that if you have not made yourselves fit for destruction, and fit for nothing
else, by your own willful sin—you shall never be doomed to it by virtue of any
decree of God. And, on the other hand, you may be equally sure, that he never
decreed to admit you into heaven, unless you are prepared for it; nor to exclude
you if you are so.

I now proceed to the grand inquiry: Wherein does preparation for glory—and
wherein does fitness for destruction, consist? This will naturally lead me to
inquire into your habitual dispositions and behavior: for it is by comparing
these to the nature and quality of the regions of heaven and hell—that you can
discover which eternal destiny you are fit for. If your temper and dispositions
are heavenly and divine—then you may be sure that you shall be admitted into
those blessed mansions above! But if, on the other hand, your tempers and
dispositions are infernal and diabolical; if they be such as are prevalent and
universal in hell—then you may be equally sure, that, unless they are
changed—you will be certainly doomed forever to that dismal region below! This
must, methinks, appear quite evident to common sense. The righteous Judge of all
the earth will always invariably do that which is righteous, just and fit. If
you are fit and prepared for the enjoyments and services of heaven—then you need
not fear that he will admit you; never has such a soul been excluded. And what
can you reasonably desire more? Would you have heaven encumbered with such as
could not be happy, even in the very regions of happiness, for lack of a proper
fitness and relish for the enjoyments there? But, if you are fit only for the
infernal prison, is there not a propriety, as well as justice—in your being
confined there? This is only the same propriety, as that madmen should be shut
up in bedlam, or notorious criminals in a dungeon. Therefore,

1. Are youpreparedandfitfor HEAVEN? Do you love and delight in God-—in a God of
infinite purity? If not—then the enjoyment of his presence, and the beatific
vision of his face, which is the principal ingredient of heavenly happiness,
could afford no happiness to you! Do you delight in the service of God, in
contemplating his glories, in celebrating his praises, and in the humble forms
of worship in his church on earth? Do these afford you the most exalted
pleasure? If not—then heaven is no place for you; for these are the eternal
exercises there: and to such of you as have no pleasure in them, the heavenly
state would be an eternal drudgery. Do you delight in holiness? If not—then what
would you do in the region of holiness? Alas! to you it would be an unnatural
element! Are the saints, those whom the world perhaps calls so with a sneer,
because they make it their great business to be holy in all of life—are these
your favorite companions? Is their society peculiarly delightful to you? And are
they the more agreeable to you—by how much the more holy they are? If not—then
what would you do among the holy inhabitants of heaven? With what pleasure could
you mingle in society with them—while your disposition and theirs are so
directly contrary? Are your hearts full of ardent love to God—and benevolence to
mankind? If not—then how would you breathe in the pure element of perfect love?
Without such dispositions as these, you are no more fit for heaven—than a sick
man for a feast; or a swine for a palace; or a blind man to view the splendors
of the universe; and, therefore, you may be certain, that God, who will never do
anything that is unjust or unfitting—will not admit you there, while you
continue such as you now are!

You must also consider, that if you are fit for these pure and blessed
regions—that it is God who has made you so, by his own almighty power! "It is
God who has made us for this very purpose," 2 Corinthians 5:5, and you have been
deeply sensible that the work was indeed his, was divine and god-like, and
beyond the utmost efforts of your degenerate nature. You are able indeed to fit
yourselves for destruction—that you can easily do; and that, I am afraid, some
of you have effectually done already. But it is God alone who can make you fit
for the inheritance of the saints in light. And have you ever been the subjects
of this divine operation? Have you ever felt the power of almighty grace opening
your blinded minds—breaking your stony hearts, and melting them into floods of
sincere sorrow, under the warm beams of a Savior’s love—like snow before the
sun? Have you ever felt it subduing your favorite sins, and making them more
bitter to you than death, and implanting and nourishing every grace and virtue
in your souls? Has the Holy Spirit turned the prevailing bent of your souls
towards holiness—so that you esteem it the principle ornament of your nature,
and make it the object of your eager desires, and most vigorous pursuit? Does
holiness appear to you amiable in itself, and not only a pre-requisite to your
happiness—but the principal ingredient of it? And is heaven itself the more
endeared to you by this consideration, that it is the region of pure, unmingled
holiness, that no unclean thing can enter there, and that even the way that
leads to it, is holy? If these things are not matters of experience to you—then
you may be sure you are not ’prepared in advance for glory’.

Let us now take a view of the opposite dispositions, and we shall make the same
discovery: Suppose your hearts are set upon the enjoyments of this present life,
as your principal happiness; suppose you are chiefly solicitous and laborious to
heap up riches, or to indulge your sensual lusts and appetites; supposing this
to be the ruling passion of your souls—then are you fit and prepared for heaven?
In heaven there are none of these low and sordid enjoyments! And what pleasure
would you have there, who have a taste only for these earthly things? You are
indeed fit to dig in the earth, like moles, and steal the serpent’s food; you
are indeed fit to scrape up riches; you are indeed fit to wallow in the mire of
guilty and debauched pleasures; you are indeed fit to live in this world, could
you always make your residence in it. This gross, impure, earthly element, suits
your depraved desires, tastes and constitutions. But can you once imagine that
you are fit for heaven; fit to breathe in that pure, healthful air; fit to share
in those refined and spiritual enjoyments; fit to join in the exalted
employments of seraphs—while this is your prevailing temper? Surely not! And
what then will become of you? The impure and gross region of this world, so
agreeable to you, will not always last—and you will not probably live in it as
long as it does last; but inexorable death, before long—will tear you away from
all that is dear to you under the sun. And, alas! where then shall you go?
Where, then, shall you take up your eternal residence? I leave you to pause and
think upon it!

Suppose the service of God to be a weariness to you, and the thoughts of him
unwelcome to your minds; suppose your hearts are full of angry, malignant
passions; in short, suppose you love sin more than holiness—can you then flatter
yourselves that you are prepared and fit for heaven? Alas! it would be as
unnatural an element to you—as for a fish to live out of water—or you to live in
it. But the farther illustration of this will fall under the next head;
therefore,

2. Inquire whether yourtempersanddispositionsare not infernal and diabolical,
and such as render you fit for destruction, and for nothing else? Are your
hearts destitute of the love of God? "No," you answer; "we thank God we have
never been so bad as that!" But if you love God, then why is it—that you have so
few affectionate thoughts of him? Why is it—that you do not study to please him
in all things, and delight in his service? If you love God, why is it that you
do not strive to keep his commandments, which is the grand decisive test of
love? Alas! instead of loving him, are not your hearts disaffected to him? As
evidences of this—may I not produce your dislike to serious thoughts of him—your
aversion to his service—your disregard to his will as the rule of your
conduct—and your headlong propensity to follow your own pleasure? Do not the
murmurings and insurrections of your hearts against him and his painful
dispensations; your uneasy, rebellious spirit under his providence; your
aversion to his service—do not these show that you are really disaffected to
him?

Now this is the very temper of hell! This is the constitution of a devil—the
very worst ingredient in that infernal disposition; and, therefore, unless this
temper is changed, you must dwell with devils forever! It is only just and
fit—that all the enemies of God should be shut up together in one vast prison!
It is unfit that rebels and traitors should always run at large, or mingle with
loyal subjects. Alas! sirs, a soul without the love of God—is devilized already,
ripe for destruction, and fit for nothing else!

Again, Are there not some of you who have no pleasure in private devotion, no
delight in conversing with God in his ordinances? The posture of humble
worshipers at the throne of grace—is not easy and agreeable to you; and hence
that you have prayerless families and prayerless closets; and if you join in
public worship once a week, it is a mere customary formality. You cannot bear to
wean your thoughts and tongues from temporal affairs—in the few hours devoted to
the service of God, though they make up but one day in seven. You do not delight
in pious conversation—but it strikes you dumb, like the man without the wedding
garment. Well, in the infernal regions, you will have as little of this pious
exercise, as you could wish! The patient will then be hopeless and incurable—and
therefore no farther means will be used with him. Then you will no more be
troubled with prayers, bibles, sermons, pious conversation, or the tedious hours
of Sunday worship. And, since you have no taste for such exercises, is it not
fit you should be sent into those ungodly regions, where you shall never again
be employed in them?

Again, Are not the minds of some of you defiled with all manner of sin and moral
pollutions? And do not those render you fit only for that region of corruption
and impurity? Do you not indulge an angry, contentious, unforgiving, malicious
temper? Well, that is the very temper of hell—and renders you fit for it! Nay,
these outrageous passions, when broke loose from restraint, will create a hell
in your own hearts, and not only expose you to punishment, according to
justice—but become the ingredients of your punishment, according to the course
of nature! Do not some of you indulge yourselves in backbiting, and all the
base, malignant arts of defamation, and perhaps are fire-brands in the
neighborhood where you live? Well, in hell you shall have enough of this work;
and while you indulge this spirit, you are preparing yourselves for that land of
universal hostility and revenge. Is not cursing and swearing the familiar
language of some of you? Well, this is the language of hell—and you are now
practicing the infernal dialect, and preparing to converse with the fiends below
in their own style, in the regions of imprecation and blasphemy! Do not some of
you live in the practice of the works of the devil; that is, of those works to
which he tempts you, and in which he has persisted, who was a rebellious sinner
from the beginning? Are you not then fit for that everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels? Even the gentle lips of Jesus himself would tell you,
as he did the Jews—that "you are of your father the devil,"John 8:44, since you
habitually do his works! And is it not fit that you should be doomed to the
society of your infernal father? Do you not find that your hearts are habitually
hard and insensible? Or if you have some kind of repentance, it is only a
servile horror, extorted remorse, and involuntary pangs of desperate agony. This
is the very kind of repentance in hell, where they still love sin—and yet cannot
but upbraid and torment themselves, because they have ruined themselves by
indulging it! Conscience tortures them with the keenest reflections; but they
feel no loving sincere relentings; no godly sorrows, proceeding from a sense of
the intrinsic vileness and baseness of sin—and from a sincere, unselfish love to
God and holiness. Hence their repentance is only a punishment—but has no
tendency to their reformation. And is not this the very nature of your
repentance at present? But I need not dwell long upon this inquiry. It is enough
to tell you, in short, that if you are still in your natural state; if you still
retain that temper which is natural to you as the degenerate sons of Adam,
without any supernatural change; that estrangement from God; that disaffection
to him; that carnality and earthly-mindedness; that blindness and insensibility
about divine things; that carnal presumption, security, and love of lawless
pleasure: I say, if this is still your prevailing temper—then you are not
prepared or fit for the heavenly inheritance; for in order to be heirs of that,
you must be born again of God. But you are fitted for destruction; for by
nature—you are children of wrath, Ephesians 2:3, and while you continue such,
you must be vessels of wrath.

Therefore bring the matter to a short issue, by this decisive inquiry: "Have I
ever been born again? Have I ever experienced such a mighty change in the temper
of my mind, as may, with propriety, be called a new birth or a new creation? For
’if any man is in Christ—he is a new creature; old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new!’ 2 Corinthians 5:17. Have I thus been renewed
in the spirit of my mind? Or am I still the same old man—with my old affections
and lusts?"

This, my friends, is the grand, decisive inquiry; for if you have been begotten
again, Peter tells you that "God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his
children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of
change and decay!" 1 Peter 1:4. But Jesus, the friend of sinners; Jesus, who
never pronounced a harsh sentence, and who never will exclude from heaven one
soul that is fit for it—nor doom to destruction one soul that is fit for
anything else; even Jesus himself has strongly assured you with his own gracious
lips, that "except a man is born again," born of the Spirit, as well as of
water, "he cannot see the kingdom of heaven; for that which is born of the flesh
is flesh," John 3:3; John 3:5-6—carnal, corrupt, unholy, and utterly unfit for
that spiritual, pure, and holy kingdom!

Here I would enlarge a little upon an observation which I just hinted at before,
namely: That these corrupt dispositions are not only criminal—and therefore will
bring upon you the penalty of the divine law, according to justice—but that they
are, in their own nature, destructive—and therefore, according to the course of
nature, will be your ruin.

Suppose God had made no positive constitution to exclude you from heaven; yet
while you have no relish or desire for the employments and enjoyments of that
state, it is impossible, in the nature of things, you should be happy there. As
you must have physical senses—to render you capable of physical pleasures; so
you must have spiritual senses—to render you capable of the pure spiritual
pleasures of paradise; and without these you can no more be happy there than a
stone can enjoy the pleasures of an animal; or a beast enjoy the pleasures of
reason. You would be miserable wretches in paradise itself! Do but consider in
what things the bliss of heaven consists of—and methinks that you will rather
fear, than hope and desire admission there! Is holiness so pleasing a thing to
you, that you might expect you that would be completely happy—if holiness were
but perfected in you? Alas! are there not a thousand things more agreeable to
some of you? But in heaven, there are none of these earthly trifles—so how do
you expect to be happy there? There must be another heaven created for you, a
Mohammedan paradise of sensual pleasures—or else your temper must be changed
before you are fit to enter the true heaven. The paradise of holy saints and
angels—does not suit your vitiated taste!

Farther, Suppose God should not inflict any positive punishment upon you with
his own immediate hand—but only allow the course of nature to run on, and let
your corrupt dispositions have full scope and range without restraint; would not
these dispositions alone, create a hell within you? Anger, malice, envy, and
every wicked and turbulent passion against God and his creatures, will break out
into outrageous hurricanes, when the kind restraints under which they now lie
are taken off; and they will agitate and distract your souls forever, and render
you incapable of all peace, serenity, and joy.

Then, also, all temporal enjoyments—the objects of your love and desire, and the
only things you have now to allay your raging thirst for happiness—will be
forever torn from you, and leave you to famish in a dismal void; and then you
will pine away with eager, impatient, insatiable desires, which will gnaw your
hearts, and prey upon your spirits like hungry vultures!

Suppose you were now stripped naked of every enjoyment, and nothing left you—but
bare being, with your usual capacity of enjoyments; suppose you were deprived of
the light of the sun, the products of the earth, the comforts of society, and
every imaginable blessing—and doomed to wander, forlorn and hungry, in some
dismal desert; how consummately miserable would this privation alone, render
you! But this will be the doom of the ungodly, as soon as death breaks their
connections with this world. They must leave all their enjoyments behind
them—and yet carry their eager desires, their insatiable avarice of happiness,
along with them! And these will make them capacious vessels of pain! For a
capacity of enjoyment, not satisfied—becomes a dreadful capacity of misery!

Thus, you see your destruction comes upon you according to the course of nature;
and you will die eternally, though the hand of the executioner should never
touch you—as the unavoidable result of your present temper, the deadly disease
under which you labor! And hence you may see, by the way, that it is no act of
cruelty or injustice in the Supreme Judge, to shut you up in the prison of hell!
For what else should he do with you—when you are fit for no other place! Is it
cruel to exclude the sick from entertainments, or people infected with the
plague from the society of the sound and healthy? Certainly not! Is it cruel to
confine madmen in bedlam, or criminals in prison? Certainly not! Therefore God
and his throne will be guiltless forever. And now, my dear friends, have any of
you been convinced that this is really your case? That your temper and conduct
is such as at once renders and proves you utterly unfit for heaven, and, as it
were, naturalizes and seasons you for the infernal regions of hell. Alas! this
is a shocking and alarming discovery indeed! But, blessed be God, you have made
this conviction in time; you have made it while in the land of hope, and in a
state of trial; and therefore there is reason to hope, that, if you now take the
alarm, and earnestly use the means of grace—that your condition, as bad as it
is—may be happily altered; and that you, who are now fit for nothing but
destruction, may yet be made fit for the inheritance of the saints in light. It
is because there is some reason for this hope, that I have honestly exposed
these alarming and unpopular things to your view.

You must know and experience them sooner or later! And if you do not know them
until you fall into the pit of destruction, alas! it will then be too late!
Believe me, my friends, these things do not proceed from a morose, malevolent
heart, nor are they intended to drive you into despair. I speak to you with
melting and affectionate benevolence; and instead of driving you into despair—my
design is to save you from it forever, and bring you to have a good hope through
grace! And as the evidence of what I have offered is so plain to common
sense—then do not pretend that you cannot understand me, and that you do not
know what I am aiming at. I am only inculcating upon you this self-evident
truth, that unless you are prepared for heaven—then you shall not be admitted!
And that, if you are fit for nothing but destruction—then you must be destroyed.
Can any mathematical demonstration be more plain than this? And are any of you
so void of sense, reason, and faith—as not to understand and believe it?

I now presume, that such of you as have made this discovery with regard to
yourselves, are also convinced, that you cannot possibly escape destruction,
unless your present temper be changed, and quite a new frame of spirit given
you. And who, do you think, can work this happy change in your hearts? If you
are so vain and ignorant as to flatter yourselves that you can effect it in your
own strength—then make the trial, and you will soon be undeceived. It is God
alone who can work in you both to will and to do. My text tells you, it is he
who prepares the vessels of mercy for glory; it is his Holy Spirit alone who is
equal to the arduous work. But in what way is this influence to be expected? Is
it in a course of impenitent sinning? of presumption and security? of sloth and
negligence? No! To expect it in that way—is to tempt the Lord your God. But such
of you as would escape the damnation of hell; such of you as have any desire to
be forever happy, hear me, seriously hear me, and I will tell you in a few plain
words what you must do, if you would expect the aids of divine grace to prepare
you for glory.

You must immediately think seriously of your condition. You must labor
impartially to know the truth of your case. You must pry into the dreadful
secrets of wickedness in your hearts. You must review your sinful lives. You
must reflect upon the purity and justice of God and his law, and what you have
deserved for a whole life of wicked rebellion against him. You must read and
hear the Word of life with solemnity and attention, and use all proper means to
furnish your minds with religious knowledge. It may pain you at first to confine
your minds to such objects; but it must be done—and there is no disputing
against necessity. Besides, the pain is medicinal; it will contribute to the
recovery of your dying souls.

Again, You must accustom yourselves to frequent, importunate prayer. If ever you
be saved, or prepared for salvation, it will be in answer to prayer: therefore,
engage in it, persevere in it, and never give over until you obtain your
request.

Further, You must guard against everything that tends to divert your minds from
this grand concern; as excessive hurries and cares about earthly things, vain
and wicked company, and every avoidable temptation.

Finally, You must persevere in this course, if you hope to succeed; and never
rest until you feel these heavenly dispositions wrought in your souls. A pang of
remorse, a fit of seriousness, and a transient prayer, will not suffice—but you
must hold on your way to the last. You may expect difficulties in this new
course, and you will probably meet with more than you can now foresee or expect.
But you must break through all; for your immortal interest, your all is at
stake! This is the course I would advise you to—if ever you hope to be prepared
for glory. I cannot give you the least encouragement in any other way. If any
other can show you a more easy way—and yet safe course, and produce sufficient
authority for it—then you may take it. But, for my part, if I teach you what I
learn in my Bible, I can give you no other direction; nor do I expect to be
saved in any easier way myself. And, therefore, if you will choose another
way—then you must be answerable for it. Remember, I warn you against it, and
would not be accessory to it—for ten thousand worlds!

Now, if this course must be taken, I ask—when do you think it must be begun?
Will you appoint tomorrow, or next year, or old age, or a sick-bed, for that
purpose? Alas! you may never live to see that time! Before then you may drop
into destruction, as rotten fruit falls to the ground by their own weight.
Therefore now, this present fleeting now—is the only time you are sure of; and,
consequently, now is the only proper time to begin this course. Now then, now,
while my voice is sounding in your ears—form the resolution, and carry it into
immediate execution! Bear it home upon your hearts to your houses, and there let
it dwell—until the great work is done. Oh! that you did but know its importance
and necessity—then you could not delay it one moment longer! And now, if you
have any regard for the God who made you, for the Lord who bought you, or for
your own everlasting happiness; then take this course immediately. If you have
any need of excitements take the following.

1. Consider your present dangerous situation! You hang over the pit of
destruction by the slender thread of life, held up only by the hand of an angry
God—just as we hold a spider, or some poisonous insect, over a fire, ready to
throw in it! You are ripe for destruction, and therefore in danger every day,
every hour, every moment—of falling into it! You are as fit for destruction—as a
murderer is fit for the gallows, or a gangrened limb is fit to be cut off. Such
polluted vessels of wrath must be thrown out of the way into some dark corner in
hell—that they may no more encumber or disgrace the more honorable apartments of
the universe. And is this a situation in which it befits you to be merry, and
mirthful, and thoughtless, and eager after the trifles of time? Oh does it not
befit you rather—to be on your knees at the throne of grace, and vigorously
pressing into the kingdom of God?

2. Reflect with how much long-suffering God has endured you, notwithstanding all
youraudaciousandrepeatedprovocations! One would think that one day’s sinning
against so holy and gracious a God, by a creature so deeply obliged to him—would
make your case desperate, and that the evening of such a day would be the hour
of your execution! But he has patiently borne with you for days, for months, for
years, perhaps for scores of years! And all this time he has followed you with
his blessings every moment, and granted you the means of preparation for glory.
And yet you have been thoughtless, disobedient, ungrateful, rebellious still.
How justly, then, may he inflict punishment upon you! And how industriously will
his goodness and severity, his mercy and justice, be displayed in his treatment
of you! What could you have desired more, in point of time, opportunity,
persuasives—than you have enjoyed? Will it not then appear evident, that your
destruction is entirely of yourself, and that, as I have told you before, God
and his throne will be guiltless forever!

3. Consider how dreadful will be your punishment, if you should perish at last
by your present willful negligence! My text tells you what will be the design of
your punishment; it will be to show the wrath of God, and make his power known!
Such will be your punishment, as will be fit to show that it is almighty power
which inflicts it, and that it is an almighty God who is angry with you! It will
be his professed design to display the dreadful glory of his vindictive
attributes upon you, particularly his justice, as the supreme Magistrate of the
universe! His justice deserves to be displayed; for divine justice is not that
ugly, grim, horrible thing, which criminals imagine. In a ruler, especially in
the supreme and universal ruler, justice is not only a majestic and solemn—but
it is a lovely, amiable, ingratiating attribute, essential to his character, and
to the public good. And so it appears to all competent judges; that is, to all
who are not self-flattering criminals, and therefore recipients of divine
justice. The display of this attribute, therefore, upon proper objects, is
necessary, to give a full view of God’s nature to the world; to represent him as
he is.

Now, whatever attribute of his that he intends to display in any of his works,
he always does it in a manner worthy of himself. When his design was to display
and glorify his creative power, wisdom, and goodness—see what a stately,
well-furnished universe he spoke into being! What a magnificent, God-like
building! When his design was to show the riches of his grace towards our guilty
race—see what wonders he performed! What inimitable exploits of condescension
and love! His only begotten Son must become a man, must struggle with all the
calamities of life for thirty-three long and painful years, must expire in
torture upon an ignominious cross, and redeem the guilty sinner—with the blood
of his heart! This was Godlike love and grace indeed, beyond all example. "Oh,
who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the
remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show
mercy." Micah 7:18. He is as much distinguished from all other beings by the
wonders of his love and grace, as by the eternity of his existence, or by that
wisdom which planned the universe, or that power which produced it out of
nothing! When in prosecution of the same design, he intends to give a farther
display of the riches of his glorious grace upon the vessels of mercy—what
Godlike provisions has he made for them. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man—the things which God has prepared for
those who love him!" He has prepared for them a city, such a glorious residence,
that he is not ashamed to be called their God. He is not ashamed to own the
relation, because he has acted up to the character so worthy of himself. Hebrews
11:16. And when his design is to show his avenging wrath, and make his punitive
power known; when it is to show what Godlike punishments he can inflict, such as
may, by their terror, declare him to be their author, and serve as loud warnings
to all present, and, perhaps, future creations, to deter them from the breach of
his sacred laws; and when the subjects of the punishment are strong, capacious
vessels of wrath, fit for nothing but destruction; I say, when this is the case,
what Godlike vengeance will he execute, what signal, unexampled punishment will
he inflict! The design of divine punishment is not the reformation of the
criminal—but the benefit of others, and the display of his perfections; requires
that he let loose to all the terrors of his power. And what miracles of misery,
what dreadful illustrious monuments of vengeance will that perform and erect! As
far surpassing all the punishments inflicted by mortals, as the creation of the
world out of nothing exceeds all the works of human art. And are you armored
against the force of such considerations as these? Then you are dreadfully
fitted for destruction indeed—for the strongest persuasives to deter you from
it, which God himself can reveal, or the human mind conceive, have no weight
upon you! But may I hope that I shall prevail at least with some of you this day
to flee from this tremendous destruction, into which you are this moment ready
to fall? Alas! Can I not prevail with so much as one soul, in so large an
assembly, and in a point so reasonable, and so strongly enforced by your own
interest! But I must leave this warning with you, and if you do not remember it
now—you will remember it millions of ages hence, when the remembrance of it will
torment you with intolerable anguish!

There are sundry in this assembly, I doubt not, who, by comparing their
dispositions with the nature of heavenly happiness, may make the welcome
discovery, that they are, in some measure, prepared for it. To such happy souls
I have time only to say—that if this is your character, then you may be sure
that immense happiness shall be yours: your present heavenly temper is a certain
pledge and earnest of it. You may be sure that God would never make you fit for
eternal felicity—and then exclude you from it.

And, on the other hand, if you find that the dispositions of hell are subdued in
you—then assure yourselves God will not doom you to it. Can you think he would
gain your hearts and allure your love—and then bid you depart from him, to
languish and pine away with the eager, anxious pantings of disappointed,
bereaved love? Will he doom you to reside forever among those whose works you
detest, and whose society you abhor? No! He will thoroughly prepare you, and
make you holy—and then he will advance you to dwell forever in his presence
which you love, in the element of holiness; to breathe in that clear, refined
air; to live in that wholesome climate, so agreeable to your soul’s
constitution; to be employed in those services in which you delight; to enjoy
that sublime and delicate happiness which you relish, and to converse in that
society which you delight, and which is of the same temper and spirit with you.
And for that blessed region—may we all be prepared, and there may we all meet at
last, to enjoy that endless felicity which awaits those who firmly put their
confidence in God, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some
pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to
show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of
Hiswrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his
glory known to the vessels of Hismercy—whom He prepared in advance for
glory—even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the
Gentiles?" Romans 9:21-24


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  CHAPTER 27: 24-THE WONDERFUL COMPASSION OF CHRIST TO THE GREATEST SINNERS
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The Wonderful Compassion of Christ to the Greatest Sinners by Samuel Davies

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets, and stone those who are sent
unto you; how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings—and you would not!" Matthew 23:37

There is not, perhaps, a chapter in the whole Bible so full of such repeated and
dreadful denunciations of the most tremendous woes as this, Matthew 23.
Certainly there is none like it, among all the discourses of Christ, left upon
record. Here the gentle Jesus, the inoffensive Lamb of God, treats the
unbelieving Scribes and Pharisees with the most pungent severity. "Woe! Woe!
Woe!" breaks from his lips like repeated claps of thunder! He exposes them with
an asperity and indignation not usual in his mild addresses. He repeatedly calls
them hypocrites, fools, blind guides, whited sepulchers, children of hell,
serpents, a generation of vipers, who could not escape the damnation of hell.
But in my text he melts into tenderness, even in this vein of terror, and
appears the same compassionate, gentle Savior we are accustomed to find him. His
most dreadful denunciations were friendly warnings, calculated to reform, and
not to destroy! And while denouncing the most dreadful woes against Jerusalem,
in an abrupt flow of passion he breaks out in the most moving lamentation over
her: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets, and stone those who are
sent unto you; how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings—and you would not!" This is one of those
tender cases which requires a familiar and moving, rather than a grand
illustration; and that which Jesus has here chosen is one of the most tender,
familiar, and moving that could be devised. "How often would I have gathered
you, O Jerusalem, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." As much as to
say, "As the parent-bird, when she sees some bird of prey hovering over her
helpless young, gives them the signal, which nature teaches them to understand,
and spreads her wings to protect them, resolved to become a prey herself rather
than her tender brood; or, as she shelters them from the rain and cold, and
nourishes them under her friendly feathers, so, says the compassionate Redeemer;
so, O Jerusalem, I see your children, like heedless chicks, in the most imminent
danger; I see the judgments of God hovering over them; I see storms of vengeance
ready to fall upon them; and how often have I invited them to fly to me for
shelter, and gave them the signal of their danger! how often have I spread the
wings of my protection to cover them, and keep them warm and safe as in my
bosom! But, oh, lamentable! oh, astonishing! you would not! I was willing—but
you would not! The silly chicks, taught by nature, understand the signal of
approaching danger, and immediately fly for shelter; but you, more silly and
presumptuous, would not regard my warnings; would not believe your danger, nor
fly to me for protection, though often, oh how often, warned and invited!" His
compassion will appear the more surprising, if we consider the object of it.
"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! you who kill the prophets, and stone those who are sent
to you—though upon the kind design of reforming and saving you, and who will, in
a few days, crucify that Savior who now laments your doom—how often would HE
have gathered even your ungrateful children and received them under his
protection, with an affection and tenderness, like the instinctive fondness and
solicitude of the mother-hen for her brood! Here is divine compassion, indeed,
that extends itself even to his enemies, to his murderers! Strange! that such
sincere benevolence should meet with such an ungrateful repulse! that the
provoked Sovereign should be willing to receive his rebellious subjects into
protection—but that they should be unwilling to fly to him for it! The important
truths which my text suggests are such as these: that sinners, while away from
under the protection of Jesus Christ, are in a very dangerous situation; that
they may obtain safety by putting themselves under his protection; that he is
willing to receive the greatest sinners under his protection; that he has often
used means to prevail upon them to fly to him, that they may be safe; that
notwithstanding all this, multitudes are unwilling to fly to him, and put
themselves under his protection; that this unwillingness of theirs is the real
cause of their destruction; that this unwillingness is an instance of the most
irrational and brutal stupidity—and that it is very affecting and lamentable.

1. The text implies, that sinners, while away from under the protection of Jesus
Christ, are in a very dangerous situation. As the hen does not give the signal
of danger, nor spread her wings to shelter her young, except when she sees
danger approaching; so the Lord Jesus would not call sinners to fly to him for
protection, were they not in real danger.

Sinners, you are in danger from the curse of the divine law, which is in full
force against you, while you have no saving interest in the righteousness of
Christ, which alone can answer its demands!

Sinners, you are in danger from the dread arrest of divine justice, which guards
the sacred rights of the divine government, and will avenge itself upon you for
all the insults you have offered it!

Sinners, you are in danger from the various judgments of God, who is angry with
you every day, and whose judgments are hovering over you, and ready to seize
you, like hungry birds of prey!

Sinners, you are in danger from your own vile corruption, which may hurry you
into such courses as may be harmful, or, perhaps, ruinous to you in this world,
may harden you in impenitence, and at length destroy you forever!

Sinners, you are in danger from your own conscience, which would be your best
friend; but it is now ready to rise up in arms against you, and, like an
insatiable vulture—prey upon your hearts forever!

Sinners, you are in danger from the arrest of death, which is ready every moment
to stretch out its mortal hand, and seize you!

Sinners, you are in danger from the malice and power of devils, who, like hungry
lions, are ready to snatch away your souls, as their helpless prey. In short,
you are surrounded with dangers on every hand, and dangers rise still more thick
and dreadful before you. You are not sure of an hour’s enjoyment of one comfort;
nay, you are not sure there is so much as one moment between you and all the
miseries of the damned! This minute you are upon earth, thoughtless, secure, and
mirthful; but the next may be—I tremble to tell you where—in the lake that burns
with fire and brimstone, tormented in flames! Yes, sinners, one flying moment
may strip you entirely naked of all the enjoyments of earth, cut you off from
all hope of heaven, and engulf you in remediless despair!

Some of you, whose very case this is, will not, probably, believe me, nor take
the alarm. But here, alas! lies your principal danger! If you would take warning
in time—then you might escape! But you will not believe there is danger—until it
becomes inevitable. Had Lot’s sons-in-law taken warning from him—they might have
escaped; but they saw no sensible appearance of the impending judgment, and,
therefore, they continued blindly secure, regarded the good old man as a mocker,
and therefore perished in Sodom. Had Jerusalem been apprehensive of its danger
in time, it might have flourished to this day; but it would not be warned, and
therefore became a ruinous heap! And this will be your doom, sinners, unless you
be apprehensive of it before it breaks upon you like a whirlwind.

Indeed it may make one sad to think how common this danger is, and how little it
is apprehended, to see crowds thoughtless and merry on the brink of ruin; secure
and careless while hanging over the infernal pit by the frail thread of life!
This is sad; but, alas! it is a common case in the world, and, I am afraid, it
is too common among you, my hearers. And where shall you flee for safety? Is the
danger inevitable? If so, where is the friendly arm that can guard you? where
the wing that can shelter you from those judgments that are hovering over you,
like ravenous birds, to make a prey of you? Blessed be God, I can show you a
place of safety; for, 2. The text implies, that if sinners fly to Christ, and
put themselves under his protection, they shall obtain safety. The beautiful
allusion to the protection a hen affords her young under the shelter of her
wings, implies thus much, as we may learn from the meaning of the same allusion
in other places. So in that beautiful passage, Psalms 91:1-4, "He who dwells in
the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say
of the LORD: He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely he
will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will
cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his
faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." That is, he shall protect you in
safety, and you shall trust in his guardian care. This is David’s meaning, when
he prays, "Lord, hide me under the shadow of your wings." Psalms 17:8. And when
he resolves, "yes, in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge, until
these calamities be over and past;" just as the hen’s helpless brood hide under
her wings until the storm is blown over, or the bird of prey has disappeared.
Psalms 57:1. "I will trust," says he, "in the covert of your wings." Psalms
61:4. "Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings will
I rejoice." Psalms 63:7.

However great and seemingly inevitable your dangers; yet, if you place
yourselves under the protection of Jesus Christ—you are safe forever! You are
safe from the deluges of divine wrath, that are ready to rush down upon you! You
are safe from the sword of justice, and the thunders of Sinai! You are safe from
the internal insurrections of your own conscience, and from the power and malice
of infernal demons! You are safe from the oppression of sin! You shall be
gloriously triumphant over death itself, the king of terrors! These may disturb
and alarm you, they may give you a slight wound, and put you in great terror;
but none of them can do you a lasting, remediless injury; nay, the very injuries
you may receive from them in this life, will, in the outcome, turn out to your
advantage, and become real blessings to you.

If you are Christ’s, then, says the apostle, then "all things are yours, whether
life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours!" 1
Corinthians 3:21. That is, you have a kind of property in all things that you
have any connection with, so that they shall work together for your good—as if
they were all your own, by a private right. Brethren, if we are covered with the
righteousness of Christ—then the sword of divine justice cannot reach us! All
its demands are answered, and justice itself becomes our friend. If we are
sheltered under the wings of his guardian care—then the most threatening dangers
of time or eternity cannot affect us with real injury. How happy, then, how safe
are such of you as have put yourselves under his protection!

Now every blessing is yours, and nothing can do you a real injury. You shall
never fall a prey to your various enemies—but shall at length obtain an
illustrious victory over them all, through the blood of the Lamb. To you I may
apply those sublime words of Moses, "As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters
over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings;"
so the Lord does and will lead you, Deuteronomy 32:11-12; defend you, cherish
you, and bear you along to your eternal home!!

You have, therefore, reason, with David, amidst all the peculiar dangers of this
life, to rejoice under the shadow of his wings. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower, and you have fled to it, and are safe! Amidst all your fears and terrors,
have you not some secure and delightful hours, when you, as it were, feel
yourselves gathered under the wings of your Redeemer? In such hours, do not even
such weaklings as you, dare to brave all your enemies, and bid defiance to earth
and hell? Oh how happy, how secure is your situation! But here a grand question
arises in the minds of some of you: "How may I know whether I have fled to Jesus
for protection? How may I know whether I have placed myself under his guardian
wings?" This is a question of the utmost importance: and I must offer a word or
two in answer to it.

Observe, then, if ever you have fled to Jesus for safety—then you have been made
deeply sensible of your danger. If ever you have sought shelter under his
wings—then you have seen your sins, the curses of the law, and the powers of
hell, as it were, hovering over you, and ready to seize and devour you as their
prey. You have also been made deeply sensible, that Jesus alone was able to save
you. You found that you could not shelter yourselves under the covert of your
own righteousness, and were constrained to give up all hopes of saving
yourselves by anything you could do in your own strength. Hereupon, as
perishing, helpless creatures, you have cast yourselves entirely upon the
protection of Jesus Christ, and put your souls into his hands—to be saved by him
in his own way. And you have also submitted freely to his authority, willing to
be ruled and disposed of entirely according to his pleasure.

These few things must suffice to determine this grand inquiry; and I hope you
will make use of them for that purpose. If they help you to discover that you
have fled to Jesus for refuge, rejoice in your happy lot, and let your mouths be
filled with praise. But alas! are there not some of you who have made the
contrary discovery, and, consequently, that you are exposed to all the dreadful
dangers of a sinner without Christ and His salvation? And is there no place of
safety for you? Yes, under those wings where believers have sheltered
themselves. In Jesus Christ there is safety—if you fly to him! But you may
perhaps inquire, "What encouragement have I to fly to him? I, who am so vile a
sinner; I, who have nothing at all to recommend me? Can I hope that he will
stretch out the wings of his mercy, and receive me into protection?" Yes, poor,
trembling creature, even you may venture; for remember what my text farther
implies:

3. That the compassionate Jesus is willing to receive the very greatest sinner
under his protection. Can you question this, after this moving lamentation of
his over Jerusalem? Jerusalem, that killed the prophets, and stoned those who
were sent unto her, though upon messages of grace! Jerusalem, upon whom should
come all the righteous blood of the prophets, through a length of nearly four
thousand years, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias! Jerusalem, the
den of those murderers, who, he well knew, would in a few days imbrue their
hands in his own blood! Jerusalem, that had abused so many mercies, been
incorrigible under so many chastisements, deaf to so many invitations! Yet, of
this very city, the compassionate Savior says, How often would I have gathered
your children under the wings of my protection: your children, obstinate and
ungrateful as they are!

Oh what gracious encouragement is here to the greatest sinners among us! Jesus
is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the same compassionate,
all-sufficient Savior. He did not lose his pity for Jerusalem after he had
suffered death by her bloody hands; but after his resurrection he orders his
apostles to make one trial more with her obstinate children: "Go," says he, "and
preach repentance and remission of sins to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
Luke 24:47. As much as to say, "Though Jerusalem is the ungrateful city, where
so much pains have been taken in vain, and where I have just been crucified with
cruel hands—yet do not give them up; try once more to gather them under my
wings; yes, let them have the very first offer of grace under this new
dispensation: make the first offer of pardon through my blood to the wretches
who shed my blood! Invite those to me as a Savior—who nailed me to the cross as
a malefactor and a slave!"

Oh what melting, overpowering mercy! What an overflowing and free grace is here!
This exemplifies his own declaration, that "he came not to call the
righteous—but sinners to repentance;" and sinners of the vilest characters are
welcome to him. He took care, at the first introduction of the gospel, to select
some of the most vile sinners, and make them the monuments of his grace to all
ages, that their history might give the strongest assurance of his grace to
sinners of the like character, from that time to the end of the world. Such an
instance was the famous Paul. This is a faithful saying, says he; a saying that
may be depended upon, and worthy of all acceptance; worthy to be received as
true, and embraced with joy by all: "that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners; of whom I am the chief!" 1 Timothy 1:15. This chieftain, this king
of sinners—was made a happy subject of Jesus Christ. And "for this cause," says
he, "I obtained mercy, that in me first, or in me the chief, Jesus Christ might
show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter
believe on him."

Blessed be God, there are many such instances now in heaven, in the glorious
company of angels! "There," as one observes, "is murderous and idolatrous
Manasseh among the true worshipers of God; there is oppressing Zaccheus among
the spirits of just men made perfect; there is Mary Magdalen, possessed by seven
devils, among the saints of the Most High, filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
In a word, there are the betrayers and murderers of our blessed Lord and Savior,
receiving eternal life and happiness from that precious blood which their own
guilty hands had shed."

Dr. Grosvenor, in a sermon entitled "The Temper of Jesus Christ towards his
Enemies, and his Grace to the Chief of Sinners," has the following very lively
and striking passage:

"It is very affecting that the first offers of grace should be made to those
who, of all people in the world, had done it the most despite! That the heavenly
gift should be offered to those first who least deserved it: not that any can
deserve it at all, for then it were not grace; but they of all people—had most
deserved the contrary! That those who had abused Christ to a degree beyond the
most pitiful description, should yet be uppermost in his care, and stand
foremost in his pity, and find so much mercy from one to whom they showed none
at all!

"One would rather have expected the apostles should have received another kind
of charge, and that Christ should have said: Let repentance and remission of
sins be preached—but do NOT carry it to Jerusalem, that wicked city, that has
been the slaughter-house of my prophets, whom I have often sent. After them I
sent John the Baptist, a burning and a shining light; whom they murdered in
prison. Last of all, I myself, the Son, came also—and with wicked hands, they
have crucified and murdered Me! They may do the same by you; the disciple is not
like to be treated better than his Lord: let not the gospel enter those wicked
gates, through which they led me, its Author, to crucifixion.

"I have been preaching there myself these three years, I have mingled my tears
with my sermons, I have supported my pretensions and character from the
Scripture of Moses and the prophets, I have confirmed them by divine miracles,
and sealed all with my blood—yet they would not give ear! O Jerusalem!
Jerusalem! all that I have left for you now is, what I have before dropped over
you, namely, a compassionate tear and wish, that you had known in this your day,
the things that belonged to your peace! but now they are hid from your eyes; and
so let them remain; for I charge you, my apostles, to preach repentance and
remission of sins to all other nations—but do not go near that wicked city!

"But God’s thoughts are not as ours, neither are his ways as our ways; but as
far as the heavens are above the earth, so are his thoughts and ways above ours.
Our way is, to make the chief offenders, examples of justice; to avenge
ourselves upon those who have done us personal injury and wrong. But Christ
chooses out exactly these—to make monuments of His mercy, and commands the first
offer of eternal life to be made to them—and all the world are to wait until
they have had the first refusal of the gospel salvation.

"As if our Lord had said: It is true that my sufferings are a universal remedy,
and I have given my life in ransom for many, that the Gentiles afar off might be
brought near, and all the ends of the earth might see the salvation of God; and
therefore go into all nations and offer this salvation as you go! But lest the
poor house of Israel should think themselves abandoned to eternal despair—as
cruel and vile as they have been—go, make the first offer of grace to them! Let
those who spilled my blood, be welcome to its healing virtue. Tell them that
there is repentance and forgiveness even for them!

"Tell them, that as I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so, if
they will be gathered, I will be their Shepherd still. Though they despised my
tears, which I shed over them, and imprecated my blood to be upon them, tell
them it was for their sakes I shed both, that by my tears I might soften their
hearts towards God, and by my blood I might reconcile God to them.

"Tell them I live; and because I am alive again, my death shall not be their
damnation; nor is my murder an unpardonable sin—but that the blood of Jesus
cleanses from all sin, even the sin by which that blood was drawn!

"Tell them that you have seen the prints of the nails upon my hands and feet,
and the wound of the spear in my side, and that those marks of their cruelty are
so far from giving me vindictive thoughts, that every wound they have given
me—speaks in their behalf, pleads with the Father for remission of their sins,
and enables me to bestow it; and by those sufferings which they may be ready to
think have exasperated me against them, by those very wounds—court and persuade
them to receive the salvation they have procured.

"Nay, if you meet that poor wretch who thrust his spear into My side, tell him
that there is another way, a better way of coming to My heart—even My heart’s
love! Tell him, that if he will repent, and look upon Me whom he has pierced,
and will mourn—then I will cherish him in that very bosom which he has wounded!
Tell him that he shall find the blood which he has shed—to be an ample atonement
for the sin of shedding it! And tell him from Me, that he will put Me to more
pain and displeasure by refusing this offer of My blood—than when he first drew
it forth!" In short,

"Though they have gainsaid my doctrine, blasphemed my divinity, and abused and
tormented my person, taken away my life, and, what is next valuable to every
honest man, endeavored to murder my reputation too—by making me an impostor, and
imputing my miracles to a collusion with Beelzebub; however, go to Jerusalem,
and by beginning there, show them such a miracle of goodness and grace, that
they themselves must confess too holy for the devil to have any hand in, too
God-like for him to be assisting to; that may convince them of their sin, and at
the same time that nothing can be greater than their sin, except this mercy and
grace of mine, which, where their sin has abounded, does thus much more abound,
beginning at Jerusalem." And what farther arguments need I produce of the
willingness of Jesus Christ to receive the vilest sinner among you, upon your
coming to him? I might prove the same joyful truth from his repeated
declarations, from his general invitations to all, and especially from that kind
assurance which has kept many a soul from sinking: "whoever comes to me I will
never drive away." John 6:37. But this argument from matters of fact is
sufficient. Therefore come, sinners, fly to Jesus, however deep your guilt. Had
you been murderers of fathers, or murderers of mothers; nay, had you come hither
this day with hands reeking in the blood of the Son of God—yet if you repent and
believe, he is willing to receive you under the shadow of his wings! I may
therefore invite you in the language of the following lines:

Outcasts of men, to you I call, Harlots, and publicans, and thieves; He spreads
his arms to embrace you all; Sinners alone—-his grace receives.

Come, all you Magdalens in lust: You ruffians great, in murders old, Repent and
live; despair and trust! Jesus for you to death was sold.

Come, O my guilty friends, come, Groaning beneath your load of sin! His bleeding
heart shall make you room, His wounded side shall take you in.

He calls you all, invites you home; Come, O my guilty friends, come! To
encourage you the more, and even to constrain you, consider what my text implies
farther, namely:

4. That the Lord Jesus has often usedmeansto prevail upon you to fly to him for
safety. What he says to Jerusalem, may be applied to you: "How often would I
have gathered your children together!" How often has he given you the signal of
danger, that you might fly from it! how often has he spread out a friendly wing
to shelter you! As often as the law has denounced his curses against you; as
often as the gospel has invited and allured you: as often as conscience has
checked and warned you, or prompted you to your duty: as often as the Holy
Spirit has moved upon your hearts, and excited some serious thoughts and good
purposes and inclinations: as often as Providence has allured you with its
profusion of blessings, or chastened you with its afflictive rod; as often as
you have seen a godly example, or heard a pious word dropped in conversation; in
short, as often as any means of any kind have been used with you, which had a
tendency to make you sensible of your danger, or your need of Jesus Christ—so
often has he used means with you to engage you to fly to the shelter of his
wings for protection.

Oh! how frequently and by what great variety of means, has he called you in this
congregation! This is the very business of one day in seven, when you are called
away from the noise and bustle of the world to listen to the voice of his
invitation. But this is not the only time when he calls you. While you are at
home, or following your business through the rest of the week—you have a Bible,
a Providence, a conscience, and the Holy Spirit still with you; and these are
still urging you to fly to Jesus, though their voice may be disregarded, and
lost in the din and confusion of the world around you. The gracious call of a
compassionate Savior has followed you ever since you were capable of hearing it
to this day. But, alas! does not the next remark hold true as to some of you,
namely:

5. That, notwithstanding all this—multitudes are unwilling to fly to him for
protection!

It was not of Jerusalem alone, that he had reason to say, "I would have gathered
you—but you would not! I was willing—but you were unwilling!" This is strange
indeed, and might seem incredible, were it not a notorious fact. That the Judge
should be willing to pardon—but the criminal unwilling to receive pardon! That
the offended Sovereign should be ready to take a perishing rebel under his
protection—but the rebel should stand off, and rather perish than fly to
him—this is a most astonishing thing; and it is the hardest thing in the world
to convince sinners that this is their conduct towards the Lord Jesus. They are
generally more suspicious of his willingness to save them, than of their own to
come to him. Were he but as willing to save them as they are to be saved by him,
they think there would be no danger of their salvation; but the case is directly
the reverse; the unwillingness lies entirely upon their side! To convince them
of this—let it be considered, that we are not truly willing to be saved by
Christ at all, unless we are willing to be saved by him—in his own way, and upon
his own terms. We are not willing to be saved, unless the nature of the
salvation offered is agreeable to us. Now one principal part of the salvation
which we need, and which Christ offers, is deliverance from sin: deliverance
from the power, the pleasures, the profits of sin, as well as from the
destructive consequences of it in the world to come. And are sinners willing to
accept of such a salvation as this from Christ? No! this appears no salvation to
them; this seems rather a confinement, a loss, a bereavement to them! They are
willing to indulge themselves in sin, and therefore it is impossible they
should, in the mean time, be willing to be restrained from it, or deprived of
it. This is the thing they struggle against, and to which all the means used
with them cannot bring them! To tear their sins from them—is to rob them of
their pleasures; and they rise up in arms against the attempt! And are these
willing to be saved by Christ—who abhor the salvation which he offers them? The
truth of the matter is, the conduct of sinners in this case is the greatest
absurdity; they are willing to be happy—but they are not willing to be holy—in
which alone their happiness consists! They are willing to be saved from hell—but
they are not willing to be saved from those dispositions which would create a
hell within them, even according to the nature of things! They are willing to go
to heaven when they can live no longer in this, their favorite world; but they
are unwilling to be prepared for it in their temper and disposition. An eternity
spent in holy exercises would be an eternal drudgery to them, unless they have a
relish for holiness. Freedom from sin would be a painful bereavement to
them—while they take pleasure in sin! How then could they be happy, even in the
very region of eternal happiness, since the sordid pleasures of sin never mingle
with those pure rivers of living water? In short, they act as absurdly as if
they were willing to recover their health—and yet were unwilling to part with
their sickness, or to be restrained from those things which are the causes of
it. They are willing to go to heaven—but it is in their own way: that is, in the
way that leads to hell! The only way of salvation according to the divine
appointment, is the way of holiness. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is
the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through
it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few
find it!" Matthew 7:13-14

Indeed Christ came into the world to save sinners; but these sinners must be
made saints before they can enter into his kingdom; and he makes them holy—in
order to be happy. And this is not an arbitrary appointment—but necessary, in
the very nature of things! For, as I observed, until they are made holy—it is
impossible in the nature of things they should be happy in heaven, because the
happiness of heaven consists in the perfection of holiness. To be saved without
holiness is as impossible as to be healthy without health, or saved without
salvation. Therefore, for God to gratify the sinner, and gratify him in his own
way, that is, in his sins, is an impossibility; as impossible, as for a
physician to heal an obstinate patient in his own way; that is, to heal him by
letting him retain and nourish his disease; letting him drink poison to cure a
headache! God is wise in all his constitution, and therefore the way of
salvation through Christ is agreeable to the nature of things; it is in itself
consistent and possible: and if sinners are not willing to be saved in this
possible way, they are not willing, in reality, to be saved at all.

Again, the way of salvation by Christ is all through GRACE. It is adapted to
stain the glory, and mortify the pride of all flesh, and to advance to the mercy
of God, and the honor of Christ, without a rival. Now haughty, self-righteous
sinners are unwilling to be saved in this humbling, mortifying way—and therefore
they are unwilling to be saved by Christ. If they would be saved by him, they
must be saved entirely upon the basis of his merit, and not their own; they must
own that they lie at his mercy; they must feel themselves self-condemned; they
must utterly renounce all dependence upon their own righteousness; and receive
every blessing as the free, unmerited gift of grace! And it is the hardest thing
imaginable, to bring a proud sinner so low as this! But until he is brought thus
low—he cannot be saved upon the gospel plan. Nor is this part of God’s plan of
salvation, any more arbitrary than the former. It would be inconsistent with the
honor of the great God, the Supreme Magistrate of the universe, and with the
dignity of his government, to receive a rebel into favor, on any other basis
than that of mere grace. If after sinning so much—the sinner still has merit
enough to procure a pardon, in whole or in part, or to render it cruel or unjust
for God to condemn and punish him—then certainly HE must be a being of very
great importance indeed; and SIN against God must be a very small evil. To save
a sinner in a way that would give any room for such insinuations as these, would
be inconsistent with the honor of God and his government; and therefore the plan
God has constituted, is a method of GRACE—of pure rich grace, in all and every
part!

Now while sinners are not willing to be saved in this way—they are not willing
to be saved at all. Here lies their grand mistake; because they have a general
willingness that Christ should save them from hell, they, therefore, conclude
they are really willing to come to him according to the gospel-constitution,
whereas there is nothing in the world to which they are more averse! There are
many that think, and perhaps declare, they would give ten thousand worlds for
Christ; when, in reality, they are not willing to receive him as a free gift!
They are not yet brought to that extremity as to fly to him. No, the sinner must
be brought low indeed—before he is brought to this. He must be entirely cut off
from all hope from every other quarter; particularly, he must see that he cannot
shelter himself any longer under the covert of his own righteousness—but that he
will be overwhelmed with a deluge of divine vengeance, unless he hides himself
under the saving wings of Jesus!

I beg you would examine yourselves impartially on this point, my friends, for
here lies the grand delusion that ruins thousands. If you are really willing to
fly to Jesus, and be saved by him in his own way—then you may be sure that he is
infinitely more willing than you are; nay, your willingness is the effect of
his, for he first made you so. But if, when you examine the matter to the
bottom, you find, that notwithstanding all your pretensions, you are really
unwilling to fly to him, consider your dangerous situation; for, 6. The text
implies, that this unwillingness of sinners, is the real cause of their
destruction.

Sinners complain of the lack of ability; but what is their inability—but their
unwillingness? Coming to Christ is an act of the will, and, therefore, to will
it heartily is to perform the act. To be unable to come to him is to be so
perverse, so disaffected to Jesus Christ, as not to have power to will to come
to him.

This, by the way, shows the vanity of that popular excuse, "I am not able to fly
to Christ, and therefore it is not my fault if I do not!" That is, you are so
wicked—that you can do no good thing! You so dislike Jesus Christ—that you have
no will, no inclination, to choose him for your Savior! You are such an
obstinate enemy to him—that you would rather perish than take him for your
Friend!

"You will not come to Me—that you might have life!" John 5:40. Yet you think
that your not coming to him is no crime. Is this consistent reasoning? Is it not
all one, as if a rebel should think to excuse himself by pleading, "I have such
an inveterate hatred to my king—that I cannot love him!" Or a robber to plead in
his defense, "I have such an aversion to honesty—that I cannot possibly help
stealing!" Would not this be an aggravation of the crime—rather than an excuse?
Is the invincible strength of your hatred to Christ—a vindication of it? Are you
the more excusable—by how much the more you hate him? Sinners, give up this
foolish reasoning, for the matter is too important to be trifled with! Your
inability in this case—is nothing else but your unwillingness; and your
unwillingness is the effect of nothing else but your hatred to Jesus Christ!
Therefore own that this is the true cause of your destruction! In short,
whatever pleas and excuses you make, you will find at last that your destruction
is entirely the effect of your own perverse desires and choice! You simply will
not come unto Christ—that you might have life, John 5:40, and therefore you must
perish without it. This reflection will forever torment you, that you willfully
destroyed yourselves, and were guilty of the most unnatural self-murder! Jesus
was willing—but you would not. God has even sworn that he has no pleasure in the
death of the wicked—but that you turn and live. To you, therefore, I may
properly address that expostulation:

Why will you die? Why will you? Why do you most willfully destroy yourselves?
Why do you ruin yourselves by your own free choice? Why will you die? You, whom
Jesus is willing to save, whom he has so often invited—why will you, above all
men in the world, causelessly eternally perish by your own act? Are you capable
of so much stupidity? It is stupidity, which is a dreadful peculiarity of your
own, for, 7. Unwillingness to fly to Jesus is the mostirrational, and worse than
brutal, stupidity. This is implied in my text. No sooner does the hen give the
signal of danger, than her little family, taught by instinct to understand the
alarm, immediately fly under her wings. "So," says Christ, "I gave you the
alarm—but you would not regard it! So I spread out the wing of my guardian care
to defend you—but you would not shelter under it!" What can be greater stupidity
than this! In this light, the conduct of sinners is frequently exposed in the
sacred writings. "The ox knows his owner," says Isaiah, "and the donkey his
master’s crib—but Israel does not know, my people does not consider!" Isaiah
1:3. "Every one turns to his course," says Jeremiah, "as the horse rushes into
the battle! Yes, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the
turtle-dove and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming;
but my people," (more stupid than these brutes!) "know not the judgment of the
Lord." Jeremiah 8:6-7. To refuse the offer of eternal salvation, when proposed
upon the most reasonable terms—is to rush into hell, rather than be saved by the
friendly hands of Jesus Christ! It is to suffer the most dreadful execution,
rather than accept Christ’s free pardon! It is to reject all the bliss of
heaven, when freely proposed by Christ! It is to choose the pleasures of sin for
a season, rather than an eternity of the most exalted happiness! It is to resist
the calls of redeeming love, and all the friendly efforts of divine grace, to
save a sinking soul! Is this the conduct of a reasonable creature? No! Show me
the brute, if you can, that would act so stupid a part—in things which come
within the sphere of its capacity. Would it not be better for you to be a cat or
dog—than that brute man, who is so proud of being rational—if you make so
irrational a choice? Let me endeavor to make you sensible, 8. And lastly, that
this conduct is extremely affecting and lamentable.

It is on this account, that Jesus laments over Jerusalem in such pathetic
strains in my text. He knew the truth of the case; his all-seeing eye took it in
all its extent, and viewed it in all its circumstances and consequences. And
since he, who knew it best, deeply laments it—then we may be sure it is
lamentable indeed, and it cannot but appear so even to us who know so little of
it. An immortal soul lost! Lost forever! Lost by its own obstinacy! Lost amidst
the means of salvation! How tragic a case is this! God dishonored! Jesus
rejected! His love spurned! His blood trampled upon! His Spirit grieved! How
lamentable is this! And yet are there not some of you in this lamentable
condition in this assembly? It was over such as you—that Jesus wept and mourned:
and shall he weep alone? Shall not our tears keep time with his, since we are so
much more nearly concerned? Oh that our heads were waters, and our eyes
fountains of tears, that we might weep along with the Savior of sinners! But,
alas! Our tears are too much reserved for dying friends, or some less affecting
object—while immortal souls perish around us, unpitied, unlamented!


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  CHAPTER 28: 25-ON THE DEATH OF KING GEORGE II
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On the Death of King George II by Samuel Davies

(Delivered on January 14, 1761, at Princeton College. It is interesting to note
that Davies himself died shortly after delivering this sermon, on February 4—at
the age of 37.) "How the mighty have fallen!"2 Samuel 1:19

George is dead! George, the mighty, the just, the gentle, and the wise! King
George, the father of Britain and her Colonies, the guardian of laws and
liberty, the protector of the oppressed, the arbiter of Europe, the terror of
tyrants and France! George, the friend of man, the benefactor of millions, is no
more! Millions tremble at the alarm. Britain expresses her sorrow in national
groans. Europe re-echoes to the melancholy sound. The melancholy sound
circulates far and wide. This remote American continent shares in the loyal
sympathy. The wide intermediate Atlantic rolls the tide of grief to these
distant shores; and even the recluse sons of Princeton College feel the immense
bereavement, with all the sensibility of a filial heart; and must mourn with
their country, with Britain, with Europe, with the world—George was our
benefactor too. In his reign, a reign so auspicious to literature, and all the
improvements of human nature, was this foundation laid—and Princeton College
received its existence. And though, like the sun, he shone in a distant sphere,
we felt, most sensibly felt, his benignant influences cherishing science and her
votaries in this, her new-built temple. In doing this humble honor to the memory
of our late sovereign, we cannot incur the suspicion of mercenary mourners,
paying homage to the rising sun. But we indulge and give vent to the
spontaneous, unselfish sorrows of sincere loyalty and gratitude, and drop our
honest tears over his sacred dust, who can be our benefactor no more; too
distant, too obscure and undeserving, to hope for the favorable notice of his
illustrious successor. Let selfish ambition put on the face of mourning, and all
the parade of affected grief, within the reach of the royal eye; and make her
court to a living prince, with all the ceremonial forms of lamentation for the
deceased; but let our tears flow down unnoticed into our own bosoms. Let our
grief, which is always fond of retirement, vent itself without ostentation, and
free from the restraint of the public eye. It will at least afford us the
generous pleasure of reflecting, that we voluntarily discharge our duty unbribed
and unselfish; and it will give relief to our bursting hearts, impatient of the
suppression of our sorrows.

How the mighty have fallen! Fallen under the superior power of death! Fallen
under death—the king of terrors, the conqueror of conquerors; whom riches cannot
bribe; whom power cannot resist; whom goodness cannot soften; whom dignity and
nobility cannot deter, or awe to a reverential distance!

Death intrudes into royal palaces—as well as into humble cottages!

Death arrests the monarch—as well as the slave! The royal robes of majesty—and
the filthy rags of beggary—are equal preludes to the shroud! A throne is only a
higher precipice, from whence to fall with greater noise and more extensive
ruin—into the grave!

Since death has climbed the British throne, and from thence snatched "George the
Mighty"—who then, can hope to escape? If temperance, that best preservative of
health and life; if extensive benefit to half of the world; if the united
prayers of nations; if the collected virtues of the king—could secure an earthly
immortality—never, O lamented George, never should your fall have added fresh
honors to the trophies of death! But since this king of Britain is no more—then
let all the nobles of earthly courts—be prepared for their "long homes" in the
dust! Let those earthly idols—prepare to die like men; and to sink down to a
level with beggars and worms—in the clay!

Let subjects be wise and consider their latter end, when the alarm of mortality
is sounded from the throne; and he who lived for their benefit, dies for their
benefit too;—dies to remind them, that they also must die! But how astonishing
and lamentable is the stupidity of mankind! Can the natural or the moral world
exhibit another phenomenon so shocking and unaccountable? DEATH sweeps off
thousands of our fellow-mortals every year! Our neighbors, like leaves in
autumn—drop into the grave, in a thick succession! And our attendance upon
funerals is almost as frequent—as our visits of friendship. Nay, sometimes death
enters in at OUR windows, and ravages our families before our eyes! The air, the
ocean, the earth, and all the elements—are armed with the powers of death; and
have their pestilential vapors and inclemencies, their tempests and inundations,
their eruptions and volcanoes—to destroy the life of man! A thousand dangers lie
in ambush for us! Nay, the principles of mortality lurk in our own bodies! And
sickness, the herald of the last enemy, often warns us to prepare!

Yet how few realize the thought—that they must die! How few familiarize to their
minds—that all-important hour, pregnant with consequences of great, of
incomparable, of infinite importance! How many forget that they must die—until
they feel it; and stand fearless, unapprehensive, and insolent—upon the slippery
brink of eternity—until they unexpectedly fall, and are engulfed forever in that
boundless ocean! "It is appointed unto men once to DIE—and after that to face
JUDGMENT!" Hebrews 9:27 The sons of ’Adam the sinner’, those fleeting phantoms
of a day, put on the air of immortality upon earth; and make no provision for
their existence in the proper regions of immortals beyond the grave. We pilgrims
and strangers imagine themselves everlasting residents; and make this transitory
life their all—as if earth was to be their eternal home—as if eternity was but a
fairy land, and heaven and hell but majestic fantasies!

"How the mighty have fallen!" Shall not this loud alarm awaken us out of our
vain dream of an earthly immortality? When the mighty has fallen—shall not the
feeble tremble? If the king of a people must cease to live, shall not the people
expect to die? If deaths of the common people are so frequent or insignificant,
that they have lost their monitory force, and are viewed with as much
indifference as the setting of the sun, or the fading of a flower—shall not the
death of a king, the death of the king of Britain, constrain his subjects to
realize the prospect of their own mortality, and diffuse that universal
seriousness among them which that prospect inspires? If thus improved, this
public loss—would be a public blessing; and the reformation of a kingdom would
be a greater happiness, than the life of the best of princes. Thus improved, how
easy and how glorious would the death of George the Second render the reign of
George the Third, who now sways the scepter, and in whom the hopes of kingdoms
center! To govern subjects on earth, who are prepared for the hierarchy of
heaven, would be a province worthy of an angel.

Since the mighty has fallen, since George is no more—how vain are all things
beneath the sun! Vanity of vanities; all is vanity! Can the riches of Britain,
or the honors of a crown; can the extent of dominion, or the laurels of
victory—now afford the least pleasure to the royal corpse which lies senseless
in the dust; or to the royal soul which has winged its flight to its own region,
to the eternal world! No! all these are now as insignificant as mere nothings to
him, as the conquests of Alexander, or the riches and honors of the Henries and
Edwards, who filled the same throne centuries ago.

If even kings cannot extract perfect happiness from things below; if the gross,
unsubstantial, and fleeting enjoyments of life are in their own nature incapable
of affording pure, solid, and lasting felicity—must we not all despair of it?
Yet such a happiness we desire; such we need; nay, such we must have; or our
very existence will become our curse, and all our powers of enjoyment, but
capacities of pain. And where shall we seek for it? Where—but in the supreme
Good? Let us "lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven—and be rich towards God;"
and then we shall live in perpetual affluence and consummate felicity—when
crowns, and thrones, and kings—nay, when stars, and suns, and worlds—are sunk
into one general ruin! But though crowns, and thrones, and kings, though stars,
and suns, and worlds, sink into one general ruin—there is one gift of heaven to
mankind which shall survive; which shall flourish and reign forever; a gift
little esteemed or solicited, and which makes no brilliant figure in mortal
eyes; I mean true religion. True religion! O brightest ornament of human nature!
O fairest image of the divine! O sacred spark of celestial fire, which now
glimmers with but a feeble luster—but will shine bright in the night of
affliction; will irradiate the thick gloom of death, and blaze out into
immortality in its native element! This will be an unfailing source of
happiness, through the revolutions of eternal ages. And may I be the man to whom
God shall bestow this most precious gift of divine bounty! Then let crowns and
kingdoms be scattered with an undistinguishing hand—to the worthless and the
brave, to the wise man and the fool; I will not murmur, envy, nor despond. These
majestic trifles are not the tests of real worth, nor the badges of heaven’s
favorites; it is gospel holiness which marks out the happy man; which
distinguishes the heir of an unfading crown; and when the dubious conflict of
life is over, shall inherit all things, and sit in triumph forever with the King
of kings, and Lord of lords! But is his senseless dust, all that is left of the
greatest of kings? Has he suffered a total extinction of being? Is he entirely
dead to himself, to the universe, and to God? No, he lives immortal! He lives in
the immense region of spirits, where monarchs and kings are private men: where
all the superficial distinctions of birth, riches, power, and majesty, are lost
forever: and all the distinction that remains, arises from virtue and vice—from
our having acted our part well or ill in the station where we are fixed; whether
on the throne of majesty, in the chains of slavery, or in the intermediate
classes of life.

There, royalty appears disrobed and uncrowned before God, who regards not the
rich more than the poor. There triumphant tyranny, that bade defiance to human
power, is blasted and degraded by the frown of Omnipotence. And there, those
rulers of men, who were the servants of God, are advanced to a higher sphere of
dominion and beneficence; and the badges of earthly majesty are superfluous to
their dignity, and would but conceal their real worth. There they are clothed
with the robes of salvation, and the garments of praise, and wear crowns of
unfading glory, infinitely brighter than those which the gold, and gems, and
glittering trifles of earth can compose! There our charity would place our
departed sovereign in a station as much superior to that of king of Great
Britain—as an angel to a man. But it is not for mortals to pry into the
inviolable secrets of the invisible world. When we view him in this light—the
medium in which people and things appear in eternity, we no longer revere the
king. The crown, the scepter, and all the regalia of earthly majesty—vanish! But
we behold something more venerable, more majestic, more divine—the immortal! The
soul stripped of all the empty parade and pageantry of outward show, and clothed
with all the godlike regalia of its own nature—illustrious in its own intrinsic
dignity! This view of kings and emperors does not diminish—but heighten and
brighten their majesty. This is the most venerable and striking attitude in
which kings and emperors themselves can appear; though in this view peasants and
slaves claim an equality with them. All equally immortal! And what renders the
nature of man, or even of angels, so important, so noble, so divine—as
immortality? This makes the man, infinitely superior to the monarch; and
advances the offspring of the dust—to a kind of equality with the natives of
heaven!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he
has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or
fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until
the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In
this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials." 1 Peter 1:3-6 (Note: The above is an
excerpt from a much longer sermon.)


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  CHAPTER 29: 26-A TIME OF UNUSUAL SICKNESS AND MORTALITY IMPROVED
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A Time of Unusual Sickness and Mortality Improved By Samuel Davies, November 14,
1756.

"O Lord, are not your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them—but they have
not grieved; you have consumed them—but they have refused to receive correction!
They have made their faces harder than a rock: they have refused to return."
Jeremiah 5:3

Richard Baxter was accustomed to say: "I preach as if I never should preach
again, And as a dying man to dying men." And oh, that I may imbibe the same
spirit, and enter the pulpit always under its influence! My fellow mortals! So I
call you, because mortality is the certain doom of us all. This is a truth at
all times evident; but now, methinks, it is more striking than usual, when death
has made such ravages among us; when it has made breaches upon sundry of our
families, and swept off some of them almost entirely: and when we who survive
are in daily expectation of a visit from this tremendous conqueror! Therefore,
my dear fellow mortals! under this character would I address you this day—as a
mortal, whose breath may be stopped the next day, or the next hour; I would
speak with more seriousness than, alas! is usual to me, to you, mortals, about
the great concerns of immortality!

If I would do anything to save myself and those who hear me, I see I must do it
quickly. I have for some time been languishing and indisposed myself, and the
contagious disease made its entrance into my family; but through the amazing and
distinguishing kindness of God, which I desire publicly to celebrate, and, I
hope, in answer to prayer—its progress has been stopped. And what better return
can I make to my gracious Deliverer, than to devote that life, which he has
spared, to his glory, and the service of your souls, with increasing zeal and
industry. The blind and secure world has accused me of making too great ado
about true religion: and when my mind is impressed with realizing views of death
and the supreme tribunal, I cannot but accuse myself: but, oh! it is upon a very
different account. I never feel one uneasy thought from the excess of my zeal,
or from the review of those few solemn hours, when I have delivered the messages
of God to you with such pathos and earnestness that the world may have thought
me mad. But I accuse myself, and would lament my many infirmities, particularly
my frequent languor and coldness in the care of your souls.

Indeed, I have been made sensible of my defects in this respect: and oh! that I
may be enabled to be more faithful and laborious for the future. I am more
sensible than usual that I must work while the day of life lasts: for oh! it is
short and uncertain; and the night of death is coming, when I cannot work. I
have but little time to labor for my divine Master—but little time to warn,
instruct, and edify my dear hearers. Therefore, now, while my mouth is not
silent in the dust—I would address you with the utmost earnestness and
solemnity. But this is not the only reason for improving the present time. As I
am mortal myself, so are my dear people: they are dying fast around me, and
dropping into the grave from between my hands! Above twenty that were accustomed
to mingle with us in this assembly, and to hear the word from my lips, have been
hurried into the eternal world in a few days! They have now passed the grand
decisive trial: their state of probation is over, and an irrevocable sentence
has fixed their eternal state in the mansions of glory—or misery!

These I have done with forever. No more can I labor to warn and convince them—no
more can I comfort and edify them—no more can I denounce the terrors of the Lord
against their sin, nor offer the blessings of the gospel to their acceptance!
The most ignorant of them are now wiser than their teacher, and know more of the
great realities of the eternal world—than the wisest man upon earth! Farewell,
then, to these our friends and neighbors—farewell, until we all meet in one vast
assembly before the supreme tribunal!

But, blessed be God that all my dear people are not yet swept off from the land
of the living! Here is still a goodly number, as yet in a state of trial for
that eternal world, where our departed friends have taken their flight. Here is
a goodly number who can still hear the gospel of peace, and who are still
interested to hear it; and who, unless they hear it in time, must soon be
miserable forever! And why, then, should you not all hear it with the most
solemn attention and seriousness? Why, brethren, should you not all hear it so
that your souls may live! Alas! is it possible that there should be one vain,
trifling, thoughtless mind, in a Christian assembly in such circumstances!
Methinks horror must set him a-trembling, and mark out the monster to the whole
congregation, as a terror to himself and all around him!

Certainly, if ever there was a time for serious thoughtfulness, this is such a
time. Our nation, our country, our neighborhood, and some of our families, are
in very alarming circumstances. Our nation is in danger from the victorious
power of France, and the formidable conspiracy of her allies—who seem zealous to
erase the name of Britons from the face of the earth. Our country has been
ravaged, and bled in a thousand veins; and the posture of our affairs threatens
still more gloomy times. Our neighborhood has been turned into a graveyard, and
some of us are the remains of families that have been thinned by death; and we
are escaped, like brands plucked out of the burning. And what improvement should
we make of these calamities? What is the will and pleasure of God in this case?
Suppose you knew what the will of your Maker and Lord is, what he desires,
commands, and expects you should do, in such circumstances —suppose you knew
this certainly and infallibly, must I not have so much charity for you all as to
presume you would pay a serious regard to it? Is it possible you should be
capable of such daring wickedness, as to despise his royal pleasure, when you
knew it beyond all doubt? Well, brethren, I am just going to put this matter to
a trial; for I can assure you as certainly as if you heard it proclaimed with an
immediate voice from heaven, what the will of God is in this case.

It is this: that you should repent, reform, and turn to the Lord, under these
threatenings and chastisements. This is undoubtedly the pleasure and the command
of God; and the outcome will show how much weight it will have with you. Some of
you, I doubt not, have been roused by these calamities to more earnestness and
zeal in the great work of your salvation. You have re-examined your past
experiences, to see if you can venture upon them into eternity. You have renewed
your hold of Jesus Christ, that he may be your sure support, when nature is
sinking in death. You have been trimming your lamps, and putting yourselves in a
proper habit to meet the bridegroom of your souls. You have been setting things
in order for your last and long home: and though you may have been tossed
between the alternate billows of hope and fear—yet you cannot but conclude, upon
the whole, that you have not delayed the grand work of life to such a time as
this; but have been so wise as to make it your main business in the time of
health and prosperity.

Well, my dear friends, go on in this course, and you shall be safe, come what
will; and these threatening and afflictive dispensations of Providence will, in
the outcome, prove most blessed and beneficial dispensations to you. Yes: all
things, even the heaviest calamities, shall work together for your greatest
good. May I not also allow myself the pleasure of hoping that some of you, who
have formerly lived thoughtless about the concerns of eternity, have been
awakened by these alarming providences to some proper sense of your danger, and
to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? You begin to see that your
former course will never do: that you are unprepared for eternity, and in the
utmost need of a Savior; and you are now determined to seek him with all your
might. Well, my friends, hold on in this course, and you have reason to hope it
will end well. Only I must caution you against the danger of apostasy. Alas, you
have reason to fear, lest, when the fright is over—all your religion come to
nothing! And if so, your last state is worse than the first.

This, sirs, is a very proper time for repentance and reformation, and I am
unusually desirous that it may be improved for that purpose. The calamities we
have felt, and those we feel, have a direct tendency to drive us to it. This is
an effectual method to make up our loss, and turn our afflictions into
blessings, and our bereavements into enjoyments; and this will be the best
preparative for days of distress, and the best support in them. God has also
frequently set in by his Spirit at such a time, and carried on an extensive work
of grace; and it is a dismal symptom, indeed, if he withdraws his Spirit from a
people in such circumstances, and leaves them to groan and perish under
unsanctified afflictions; or deliver their bodies from the outward calamity,
without delivering their souls from the slavery of sin. This is a melancholy
case indeed; and yet I am afraid this is the case of many, perhaps of most, in
this congregation. You may, perhaps, be a little damped while living, as it
were, among so many graves. You may have been struck into a panic, and in a
serious fit poured out a few prayers. But, alas! this is but a small part of the
work to be done! And unless it be carried farther, you must perish forever. You
may flatter yourselves, and make fair pretensions to others:

"But, Lord—are not your eyes upon the truth?" And do not you, who see through
all their designs, and know the reality of their case—do not you see that though
"you have stricken them, they have not grieved" with deep, sincere sorrows, and
the kindly relentings of true repentance?

"You have consumed them—but they refuse to receive correction;" they are not
made sensible of their sin, and reduced to their duty, by all your
chastisements, though various and heavy; they are stiff and unyielding under
your rod, and will not be made wise by it; instead of being dissolved into
repentance, and purified, they grow harder and harder in the furnace of
affliction.

"They have made their faces harder than a rock;" they can no more blush at their
base conduct towards you—than a senseless stone; they can no more wet their
faces with penitential tears—than a flinty rock.

"They refuse to return." Not that they refuse in words—not that they expressly
say in so many syllables, "We will not return;" but they refuse it practically.
They refuse to return by not actually returning; for not to return, in fact, is
to refuse to return. They refuse to return, by not using the means necessary for
their return, and by continuing their career in their old course. They refuse to
return by the habitual disposition of their hearts, which struggle, and draw
back, and will not return. This was the character of the Jews, under all their
calamities, in Jeremiah’s time. And is not this, friends, the character of
sundry of YOU? Are there not blind minds, hard hearts, and profane lips, among
us still? Are there not prayerless people and prayerless families among us? Are
there not some that neglect the plainest duties to God and man? Are there not
some thoughtless, careless creatures, who feel no deep impressions from eternal
things? Are there not some worldly-minded, groveling creatures, perpetually
digging in the earth for riches? Are there not some vain, light, trifling
sinners, who go on frolicking and carousing, even when the Lord Almighty calls
to "weeping, and mourning, and girding with sackcloth?" Isaiah 22:12. Are there
not some who have never experienced a thorough conversion, and know not what it
is to repent and believe? Are there not some obstinate, incorrigible sinners,
who bid defiance to all the judgments of God? Or, if they are afraid of his
judgments, they are not afraid of sin, the cause of them. In a dastardly and,
perhaps, unnatural manner, they keep off or fly from the contagious disorder;
and helpless families may die around them, unassisted, for them; but they are
not so shy of the more fatal contagion of sin, nor so solicitous to keep out of
the way of temptation. If they can but live, it is enough for them; but they
care not whether they live to God or not.

Alas! are there not many such among us? Does not conscience witness that this is
the real character of some of you? Chastisement is thrown away upon you; you are
made no better by it. You will receive no correction or warning from the death
of a neighbor, or even of a parent or a child!

This, indeed, is not a singular case, which renders it still the more
melancholy. It seems the general curse of the present generation, that the
chastisements of the divine hand do not work kindly upon them, nor bring them to
repentance. Thus it generally is in England, Scotland, and the northern
colonies, though in such an alarming situation.

Mr. Bellamy, of New England, whom some of you know and highly esteem for his
excellent writings, has these words, in a letter I lately received from him: "A
dark cloud seems to be gathering over a sinful land. We have had a day of great
grace: that is past and gone, and a day of great wrath seems to be at hand! Our
northern army is sickly and likely to do nothing; our treasury is exhausted;
people’s spirits low; great murmurings—but no reformation. For all these things
we feel and fear we do not return unto the Lord." Thus discouraging is the
prospect in New England, where true religion has so long flourished.

How loud are the alarms which solemn divine Providence is sounding in our dull
and heavy ears! The Lord’s judgments are visibly in the earth; but where does it
appear that the inhabitants are learning righteousness? In this country,
infidelity and immorality of all kinds make the most provoking progress. The cup
of our iniquity appears to be full to the brim—and the cup of God’s wrath now
ready to be poured out upon the despisers of the riches of his goodness and
patience?

You hear a great deal of bad news, my friends, of the political and war-like
kind; but here is bad news of a still more alarming kind. This not only
endangers our country—but threatens the everlasting ruin of immortal souls: and
this deprives us of that good which we might extract out of those evils, and
make them pure, unmingled evils to us. But shall not this congregation be an
exception from this general complaint? The Lord’s voice cries unto Hanover; and
will you not hear the rod, and him that has appointed it? Micah 6:9. To promote
this design, in my little sphere, is the great end I now have in view; and, for
that purpose:

I shall endeavor to show you what good effectsafflictionsshould have upon us,
especially on impenitent sinners. This my text naturally leads me to: for
though, in express terms, it only contains a complaint of the misimprovement of
afflictions, or incorrigibleness under them—yet this very plainly points out the
right improvement of them. When it is said, "Lord, you have stricken them—but
they were not grieved;" this implies that they should have been grieved; grieved
for their undutiful conduct towards God, which has exposed them to the scourges
of his rod; grieved with a godly sorrow, with kindly, generous relentings for
sin, as against God, and not merely as tending to ruin themselves. When the
prophet complains, "You have consumed them—but they refused to receive
correction," it is implied that they should have received correction, that they
should have submitted to the rod, as to the chastisement of a provoked, and yet
indulgent father, without sullen murmuring against it, or fainting under it;
that they should be made sensible of their sin, and reduced to their duty. When
the prophet complains, "They have made their faces harder than a rock," it
implies that their faces should have been flushed with sincere shame and
blushing, and washed with streams of penitential tears. And when he complains,
"They have refused to return," it implies that they ought immediately to have
returned to him that smote them. And hence it follows that sincere sorrow,
shame, and repentance; a submissive, corrigible disposition, and a sincere
conversion to God—are the effects which afflictions should have upon us,
according to my text.

Indeed I know no more convictive method of showing what it is to misimprove
afflictions, and be incorrigible under them, than to show positively what it is
to make a right use of them, or what are their proper effects when sanctified:
for if you find they have not had such effects upon you, you may be sure you
have refused to receive correction. To bring sinners to repentance, God has
instituted the gospel and its ordinances, and for this end they are dispensed
among you; for this end also he rouses your consciences within you, and
communicates his Holy Spirit to work upon your hearts. Now afflictions are so
many auxiliaries to assist these forces, to reduce you into captivity to the
obedience of Christ. When the persuasions of God’s Word are disregarded; when
the warnings of your own consciences are slighted, and the motions of the Holy
Spirit resisted, then our heavenly Father takes his rod, and either shakes it
over your heads, to see if the threatening will answer the end, without the
infliction; or he actually scourges you to make you sensible of your duty! The
great design of all this, as I told you, is to bring you to repentance, or to
turn you to him. This is the sum, the result of sanctified afflictions.

Let us, then, inquire what this is. And that I may be the more concise, and use
a uniform language on this subject, I shall include all that I have to say
concerning the right improvement of afflictions under this one inquiry: What is
it to turn to the Lord? to which the other expression contained in my text may
be reduced.

First, turning to God presupposes a deep conviction that you have gone astray,
both from the way of duty and the way of safety. You never will leave your
present course—until you plainly see that it leads you down to the chambers of
eternal death. You never will turn to the Lord, until you are certain you are
under the most pressing, absolute necessity to do so, both from duty and
self-interest.

Oh, sirs, if it would please God to open your blind unconverted eyes—what
strange, unsuspected, and astonishing views would open to you, concerning your
past and present course and condition! Then, to your surprise, you would see
that you have lived so many years in the world, without so much as earnestly
attempting that work, which is the great business of your life. You would see
that your hopes of heaven, in your present condition, are but a delusive dream;
and that you are in every moment in the utmost danger of sinking into the depth
of misery, under the heavy wrath of Almighty God! You would see what plain,
reasonable, and important duties you have carelessly neglected, both towards God
and man; and what a long train of known, willful sin, you have obstinately
persisted in.

You would see how criminally deficient you have been, even in those duties
which, as to the matter of them, you have performed; that even your good actions
have not proceeded from good principles and ends; the love of God, a regard to
his authority, and a view to his glory; but from some low, mercenary, selfish
principles and views; and that the reason why you abstained from any act of sin,
was not your love to God, and regard to his will—but because you had no
temptation to it, or because you apprehended it might injure your character or
temporal interests, or perhaps render you eternally miserable.

You would see that you have not such good hearts as you once flattered
yourselves you had; but that they are deceitfully and desperately wicked. You
would see that they are and have always been destitute of the reality of all the
Christian graces, and have imposed upon you hitherto with counterfeits and
deceitful appearances; destitute of true repentance, faith, and love towards God
and Jesus Christ; and full of pride, hypocrisy, ignorance, hardness of heart,
disaffection to God and his government, unbelief, earthly-mindedness,
sensuality, sordid and wicked lusts and passions, and an endless variety of
evils too numerous to be mentioned! In short, you would see yourselves a mere
mass of corruption; and you would wonder you have not sunk into hell long ago,
as rotten fruits fall to the ground. This would, no doubt, be a surprising,
unexpected discovery to some of you! You have no such thoughts of yourselves—but
quite the contrary. But the reason why you do not see this to be your case, in
fact, is because the god of this world has blinded your minds, and because your
treacherous hearts flatter you! This is, indeed, the truth of your case, while
unconverted, if you believe the plainest declarations of the Word of God, or the
unanimous testimony of all, in all ages, who have had their eyes open to see
themselves, and have been taught that important and useful, though mortifying
science, of self-knowledge! And if ever God enlightens your blind minds, you
would yourselves see that this is really your case. But oh! the astonishing
ignorance and self-flattery of the heart of man! Here, alas! lies the difficulty
in dealing with unconverted sinners. We cannot open their eyes to see their
guilt and danger! Could we do this, a grand point would be gained, and the work
would be well begun. But alas! they will not believe they are so guilty, so vile
and corrupt; and hence the gospel, which is a religion for self-condemned,
broken-hearted sinners, is but an idle tale, or a vain speculation to them: and
to invite them to come to Christ, is but to invite the healthy to a physician.

Farther, if it would please God to bring you out of darkness this day, into his
marvelous light—then you would see that SIN is not that harmless, innocent
thing, or that slight, excusable foible—which you once took it to be! You would
see that it is indeed the most abominable thing, the most terrible, vile and
malignant evil—upon earth, or in hell. Then, instead of wondering that such a
vile thing as sin should be punished with everlasting destruction by a gracious
God; and instead of disputing yourselves into doubts about it, or caviling at
it, as cruel and unjust; instead of this—you would rather wonder that so
dreadful an evil as sin could be pardoned at all, upon any consideration
whatever; and you would be more apt to question the possibility of forgiveness,
than the justice of your punishment! As the foundation of these discoveries, you
would see the majesty, the excellency, the holiness, justice, and goodness of
GOD; the purity and strictness of his law, and the equity and terror of its
penalty. You would see your obligations to him; your numerous, strong,
endearing, and sacred obligations to him—as your Creator, Preserver, and
Redeemer! You would see the aggravated baseness, ingratitude, rebellion, and
impiety of having lived all your days in the willful breach of such obligations.

These things, and the like, you would see, as in a new medium, and with other
eyes than you were accustomed to look upon them. And you would see them with
such glaring light and evidence, that you would be utterly astonished at your
own sottish ignorance, which had never revealed them before. They would now
appear as plain—as ever they were dark and doubtful. In consequence of this, you
would be struck with wonder and horror at your former security and stupor, in
such a dangerous a condition.

I really lack words to express the views and apprehensions you would then have
of things. Oh that experience may be your teacher! Blessed be God, I have
conversed with many a sinner formerly, upon their first receiving this
conviction: formerly, I say; for, alas! now-a-days I hardly meet with one to
converse with me upon this subject! No—the generality have no such alarming
views of themselves; but like the Laodiceans, they are rich in their own
conceit; and know not that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked! Revelation 3:17. But formerly it has been my happy employment
to instruct such convinced sinners; and I can still remember, it was a very
affecting conversation. Their language still seems to sound in my ears; and
methinks I hear them complaining in a flood of tears, "Oh what shall I do to be
saved? I see I am upon the very brink of destruction! I see I have been all my
life a poor, deceived, self-flattering sinner. Oh! I never thought I was such a
monster of wickedness, and upon the slippery brink of eternal ruin! But now I
see it! Now it is so evident to me, that I am amazed I never discovered it
before. Oh! is there any possibility of escape, for such a wretch as I? Let me
but know what is necessary, and I will attempt anything. I will deny myself in
anything, if my perishing soul may be saved."

These are the affecting strains of awakened sinners. This must be your language,
sinners, or at least the thoughts of your heart, before you can turn to the
Lord. But oh! when shall we hear it from you? To teach you this lesson, God has
sent the sword to ravage your country, and a deadly disease to spread desolation
in your neighborhood. To teach you this, your neighbors, or perhaps your parent,
your children, or some of your relatives have died! And shall they die in vain?
Oh! hear them as it were, crying to you from the dust. Some of you have lost
pious friends, who during their life labored to awaken you out of your security.
And when you view their grave, methinks you may recollect the epitaph which a
minister wrote for his own tomb-stone: "If all my life I tried in vain to save,
Hear me, oh! hear me crying from the grave!"

But, alas! I know that even this alarming voice will not awaken impenitent
sinners, unless God bears it home to their hearts by his almighty power. And oh!
that that divine Agent would begin to work among us! Then, sinners, you would
soon see, that the account I have been giving you of your guilt and danger is
not at all aggravated. But,

Secondly, Turning to God supposes a full conviction of the necessity of turning
to him immediately, without delay. Friends, if God should begin this work upon
your hearts this day, you would no longer stand hesitating and loitering. We
should no more hear from you that there is no need of so much ado, or that it is
time enough as yet. You would have such clear views of your own vileness, and
the disaffection of your souls to God, and holiness—that nothing could be more
evident to you than that you are utterly unfit for heaven, in your present
condition, and that you are fitted for destruction, and for nothing else.

You would not stand disputing, and hoping, and flattering yourselves in the
matter—but you would come to this peremptory conclusion, "If I continue in my
present condition, I am as certainly lost forever, as ever I was born! I shall
as surely be in hell in a little time—as I am now upon earth. The matter will
admit of no debate. It is as plain as that a beast cannot enjoy the pleasures of
reason; or a sick man the pleasures of a feast."

This, sirs, is a very alarming conclusion; and you may be very unwilling to
admit it: but terrible as it is, you will be forced to believe it, if ever you
are converted. It is indeed one of the first steps towards your conversion: for
can it be supposed you will turn to God, while you think it unnecessary, or
while you are not convinced that you are turned from him, and going the opposite
road? No, it is impossible. And therefore, such of you as have never been
convinced of this, may be assured you are so far from being converted, that you
have not taken the first steps towards it! But this is not all: you will be not
only convinced of the absolute necessity of turning to God in general—but of
turning to him immediately without delay. You will see, that you are so far from
having time to delay, that it will wound your heart to think this work was not
done many years ago. You will see, that your having delayed it so long already,
was the most desperate madness in the world—and that if you put it off any
longer, you may be lost beyond recovery! For oh! you will see that you stand in
slippery places, ready to be cast down into destruction every moment! You will
apprehend yourselves held over the pit of hell, in the hand of an angry God, by
the slender thread of life; just as we hold a spider, or some poisonous insect
over the fire, ready to throw it in immediately!

Now, while I am speaking to you, you would immediately set about this great
work: you would pray and hear at once. And upon your returning home, instead of
trifling and chattering about the world, you would retire to cry for mercy, and
meditate upon your miserable condition— you would fly to your Bibles, and other
good books for direction; and I would expect the pleasure once more of seeing
you come to your poor minister, anxiously inquiring what you shall do to be
saved?

Oh! when will the crowds of unconverted sinners among us be brought to this?
When will they give over their delays; and see they must engage in this great
business immediately! I am sure the sickness and mortality among us have a
tendency to bring them to this. Can you imagine, that conversion may be put off
to some future time, when you see so many in health and youth around you seized
with sickness, and hurried into the grave in a few days? This has been the doom
of sundry vigorous youth, and even of little children among us: and my dear
surviving youth and children, shall this be no warning to you?

Alas! will you dare to sin on still as thoughtless as ever? Will you any more
pretend that you may safely delay your conversion to a sick-bed or dying hour?
But ask those who have made the trial, and what do they say? Do any of them tell
you that that is the most proper time for this work? What do sinners say when
the time comes? "Oh, (they cry out,) what a fool was I to put it off until now!
Oh, how bitterly do I now repent that I did not attempt it sooner!"

What do those say who made it their business in health and prosperity? Do they
repent of it as premature? No! they all cry out, "I would be in a sad case,
indeed, if it were left undone until now: now I have enough to do to struggle
with my pains. But blessed be God, that great work is not now to be done!" And
dare any of you loiter and delay still, in opposition to the joint testimony of
those who have arrived at and made trial of that period which you allot for
turning to God? If the declaration of dying men has any weight of credibility,
the present time is the most fit season: therefore, oh, improve it while you
have it! But,

Thirdly, If afflictions should prove the happy means of turning you to God, they
will rouse you to the most earnest persevering endeavors. You would immediately
set about the work, and use all the means God has instituted for that purpose.
You would pray without ceasing; you would pray in secret places. And if you have
hitherto had prayerless families, they would be so no more: you would consecrate
them to God with prayer this very evening. Nay, you would keep your souls always
in a praying posture; you would waft up your desires to God while you are in
business or at leisure, in solitude or in society, at home or abroad. And your
prayers would not now be a dull, spiritless form: you would cry as for your
life, and exert all the vigor of your souls. You would find frequent errands to
the throne of grace; and you would cry there, like a condemned criminal pleading
for a pardon—or a drowning man calling for help! When Paul was awakened, Christ
himself remarks upon him, "Behold, he prays!" He had prayed many a time before;
but no notice is taken of it, because there was no life in it. But now he puts
life and spirit into his prayers, like one in earnest to be heard; therefore
they are taken notice of in heaven. Thus, my friends, will you also pray, if
ever you turn to God. You will accustom yourselves to deep and solemn
meditation.

You will seriously attend to the gospel and its ordinances. Your Bibles will no
longer gather dust; but you will eagerly search for the words of eternal life.
You will also love and frequent the society of those who, you hope, have
experienced that happy change you are seeking after; and you will catch all the
instruction you can from their conversation. In short, you will leave no means
untried; you will set yourselves in earnest about the work; with as much
earnestness as ever a miser pursued the world, or a sensualist his pleasures.
Oh! sirs, if such a concern to turn to the Lord should spread among us, how
would it change the aspect of things? How different would be the desires, the
labors, the pursuits, and conversation of mankind!

Believe me, sirs, there is need for such an alteration among us: and woe, woe to
many of us, if things run on as they have done—if the world continues to usurp
the pre-eminence of God and eternal things—if you are still more solicitous to
lay up earthly treasure, than to lay up treasure in heaven—if you abandon
yourselves to business or pleasure—to the neglect of true religion and the
concerns of eternity! I say, woe unto you, if things still continue in this
course!

Believe me also, that it is better worth your while to labor to turn to God, and
secure a happy immortality, than to lay out your labor on anything else. Need I
tell you that you shall not live always live here in this world, to enjoy the
things of this world? Go, and learn this truth at the graves of your friends and
neighbors. Need you be told that the enjoyments of this life are no suitable
happiness for your immortal souls? Do you not learn it from the uncertain,
transitory, unsatisfying nature of these enjoyments? You can carry none of them
with you to your eternal home; and what then will you have to make you happy
there?

Farther: As you will zealously use all endeavors to promote your conversion, so
you will carefully guard against everything that tends to hinder it. You will
immediately drop your wicked courses—you will have done forever with drinking,
swearing, and all the vices you were accustomed to practice! You will moderate
your pursuit of the world, and endeavor to disengage yourselves from excessive
hurries, which allow you neither leisure nor composure to mind the great
business of your salvation— that business, which, whether you regard it or not,
is of an infinitely greater importance than all the affairs of life, and for
which alone it is worth your while to live!

You will shun the company of the wicked, the vain, and secure, as much as
possible; yes, you will shun them as much as you now do the families that are
infected with the epidemic disorder, and with much better reason; for they are
infected with a much more fatal disease—the disease of sin, which is so deadly,
and which your souls are so apt to catch! In short, you will avoid every
obstacle to your conversion, as far as you can; and until you are brought to
this, it is in vain to pretend that you have any real inclination to turn to
God: and such of you as have never been brought to it, may be sure you have
never been converted.

Oh! when shall we see such earnest endeavors among us? When shall we see sinners
thus vigorously striving to enter in at the strait gate? When will their dead
sleep be over? When will the delusive dream of their false hopes vanish? When
will they begin to conclude that they have sinned long enough—that they have
delayed turning to God long enough—that they have been secure and careless, on
the slippery brink of destruction, long enough? When will they begin to think it
is high time to work out their salvation with fear and trembling? My dear
people, I long to see such a time among you once more! And unless such a time
comes, I expect sundry of you, even as many as are unconverted, will perish
forever! Yes, unless such an awakening time comes, and that speedily too—I fully
expect that some of you will burn in hell forever! Oh! the shocking thought!

What shall be done to avoid so dreadful a doom? Come, Holy Spirit—come and work
upon the hearts of these impenitent sinners; for you alone can perform the work.
Oh! come speedily, or they will be removed out of the sphere of your sanctifying
influences—out of the region of vitality—and into the territories of eternal
death! Friends, until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, the work of
conversion will never go on prosperously among us! We have had sufficient trial
to convince us of this. We have had preaching, and all the means of grace, long
enough to make us sensible that all will not do, without the Holy Spirit:
therefore, let us earnestly cry for this blessing. For,

Fourthly, If afflictions are followed with so blessed an effect upon you as to
turn you to God—then you will be made deeply sensible of your own inability to
turn to him, by the best endeavors you can use; and of the absolute necessity of
the influences of the Holy Spirit, or the power of divine grace.

While you are ignorant of yourselves, and have not put the matter to trial, you
may flatter yourselves that you are able to turn to God when you please: but
when you make the experiment in earnest, you will soon be undeceived. You can
indeed abstain from outward acts of gross sin—you can attend upon the means of
grace, and perform the outward duties of religion; and this is your duty: but,
alas! this is far short of true conversion. All this you may do—and yet the
heart be so far from being turned to God, that it may be strongly set against
him.

You will find, when you attempt the work in earnest, that, beside the drawbacks
from the world, and the temptations of Satan, your own hearts will refuse to
return; they will struggle, and draw back, as if you were rushing into flames,
or upon the point of a sword. They will cling fast to sin and the world, and
will not let go their hold. They have a great dislike to strict holiness, and
all you can do—cannot bring them in love with it. Your hearts are as hard as the
nether mill-stone, and no human means can break them. In short, you will be
sensible that you are so far gone with the disease of sin, so indisposed,
weakened, and corrupted, that nothing but the power of divine grace can recover
you, and inspire you with spiritual life and vigor. Therefore, you will lie
moaning and groaning before the Lord, waiting for his assistance, as helpless
creatures, in the greatest danger, and unable to deliver yourselves. Then you
will understand the meaning of that inspired prayer, "Turn me—and I shall be
turned!" Jeremiah 31:18. "Draw me—and I will run after you." Solomon’s Song of
Solomon 1:4. Then you will be convinced, by experience, of the truth of that
declaration you had before heard from the mouth of Christ, and perhaps labored
to explain away: "No one can come to me—unless the Father who sent me draws
him." John 6:44.

Oh! when shall we see the vanity and self-confidence of sinners mortified? When
shall we see them deeply sensible of their weakness and helplessness? It may
seem strange—but it is undoubtedly true, that they will never strive in earnest
until they are sensible that all their strivings are not sufficient—but that God
must perform the work in them. It is the high idea they have of their own
ability—which keeps them easy and careless. When they see that it is God alone
who must work in them both to will and to do—then, and not until then, they will
earnestly cry to him for his assistance, and use all means to obtain it.

It is not the awakened sinner who feels himself weak and helpless, who lives in
the careless neglect of the means of grace. No! it is the proud, presumptuous
sinner, who thinks he can do great things in religion when he sets about it.

It is indeed a strange sight to see those who complain they can do nothing
without Christ—laboring hard; and those who boast they can do great
things—standing idle! Yes—to see those who renounce all dependence upon their
good works—abounding in good works; and those that expect to be saved by their
good works—living in the neglect of good works, and doing the works of the
devil! This, I say, is a strange sight; but it is a general fact. And the
reasons of it are, that those who feel their own weakness will earnestly seek
for help from God; and God will help those who are sensible of their inability.
Whereas, others are not earnestly seeking that grace, the lack of which they do
not feel; and God lets them alone, to show what the vain fools can do; and will
not throw away his assistance upon those who do not want, nor ask it. But,

Fifthly, If ever you return to the Lord, you will be made deeply sensible that
Christ is the only way of access to God. You will be sensible, that it is only
for his sake that you can expect acceptance with God; and that all your
transactions with heaven must be carried on through him, as mediator. If ever
you return, you will come in as obnoxious criminals, upon the footing of free
grace, and not of merit; and you will see that it is only through Christ that
grace can be communicated to you. You will renounce all your own righteousness.
You will lie at the foot of divine mercy—and own that you deserve hell—as justly
as any malefactor deserved the gallows.

Some of you, perhaps, will say, "I will never believe this concerning myself; I
will never believe that I am such a guilty, obnoxious criminal!" But please do
not be too positive; do not say you never will believe it; for you may believe
it yet. Yes, you certainly will believe it, if ever you are converted and saved;
and I hope God has not given you up.

If ever you return to the Lord, you will come in as a poor, broken-hearted,
penitent rebel; and unless you come in upon this footing, you have nothing to do
with Jesus, nor he with you. For he came to save sinners and to heal the sick;
and until you feel yourselves such, you will never comply with the gospel, which
is a method of salvation through a Mediator.

Oh! that many sinners among us might thus be mortified, humbled, and brought
down to the foot of their injured Sovereign, this day! Oh! that they may be made
sensible that they lie at God’s mercy, and that they have not the least possible
ground of hope—but only through the righteousness of Christ! But,

Sixthly, If ever you are turned to God, you will experience a great change in
your disposition and conduct. Your hearts and lives will take a new bias! Your
thoughts and affections will be directed towards God and holiness; your hearts
will be turned to the holy Word of God, like wax to the seal, and receive the
stamp of his image. They will then aspire towards heaven—there they will tend,
as naturally as a stone gravitates to the earth. You will contract an
evangelical turn; that is, you will delight and acquiesce in the method of
salvation revealed in the gospel. Jesus will be infinitely dear to you; and you
will rejoice and glory in him, and put no confidence in the flesh. You will be
turned to the ordinances of the gospel, and delight to converse with God in
them. In short, your whole soul will receive a heavenly disposition—a new divine
bent, or bias, towards God and divine things. Your thoughts will run in a new
channel; your will and affections will fix upon new objects, and you will become
new creatures; old things will pass away, and all things will become new. 2
Corinthians 5:17. You will become fit for heaven—by having heavenly dispositions
wrought in you—and thence you may infer that you shall be admitted there.

Believe me, sirs, when you are turned to God, true religion will not be such a
dull, insipid thing to you, as it now is. The gospel will not be such an idle
story; nor the law of God such a elastic rule, that you may bend it as you
please to your own lusts. Heaven and hell will not be such dreams and trifles;
but you will be habitually affected with these things, as the most important
realities, and your hearts will be deeply impressed with their influence. As you
will be turned TO God and holiness, so you will be turned FROM sin and all its
pleasures.

Yes, friends, that pride, hypocrisy, sensuality, worldly-mindedness, and all the
various forms of sin which you now indulge, will become forever hateful to you!
You will abhor them, resist them, make war against them, and never more allow
them a peaceable harbor in your hearts! You will see their intrinsic vileness
and baseness, and their contrariety to the holy nature of God; and on this
account you will hate them and fly from them—as well as because they may bring
ruin upon yourselves. Oh! how will it then break your hearts to think that ever
you should have lived as you now do! How bitter will your present pleasures and
pursuits then be to you; and how will you bless God, that he opened your eyes
and gave your minds a new turn—before it was too late!

Farther; when your minds thus receive a new and heavenly turn, your practices
will be turned too. The practice follows the inward principle of action; and
when the heart is set right—then the practice will be agreeable to it.

Conversion, sirs, would be an effectual restraint from those vices which you now
practice, and an effectual constraint to those duties you now omit.

Conversion will cure you of your swearing, drunkenness, defrauding, contentions,
and quarrelings, and other vices!

Conversion will bring you to pray, to hear, to meditate, and to endeavor to
perform every duty you owe to God!

Conversion will bring you to observe the laws of justice and charity, and all
the duties you owe to man

Conversion will teach you not only to pray, and perform the other duties of
religion; but it will make you just, charitable, meek, compassionate, and
conscientious in all the duties of morality.

Conversion will make you better members of society, better neighbors, better
masters, better servants, better parents, better children; in short, conversion
will better in every relation. Never pretend you are converted, unless it has
this effect upon you—without this, all your religion is not worth a straw! From
hence you may see what a blessed thing it would be, even for this world, if we
should all turn to the Lord. Then, what happy families would we have! What a
happy neighborhood—what a happy congregation—what a happy country! Then every
man would fill up his place, and make conscience of the duties of his relation;
and then Heaven would smile, and rain down blessings upon so dutiful a people.

Seventhly: If ever you are turned to the Lord, your minds will
habituallyretainthat turn. I mean, your religion will not be a transient fit; a
fleeting dreamy thing; but it will be permanent and persevering. You will never
more relapse into your former voluntary slavery to sin. You will never more
indulge from day to day—your old disaffection to God, and your habitual allowed
indisposition to the exercises of religion. Then, farewell forever to the
smooth, enchanting paths of sin! And welcome forever to the ways of holiness!
From the happy moment of your return to God, to the end of your days, it will be
habitually the great concern of your life to make progress in piety, and live to
God; to carry on a war against all sin and temptation, and root out every evil
principle from your souls.

I do not mean, that you will be perfectly free from all sin, or that you will
never relapse into some degree of lukewarmness, and indisposition of spirit
towards God. But I mean, you never will be entirely and thoroughly what you once
were, in your unconverted state. You never will relapse into that indulged and
willful love of sin and the world—-that prevailing indifference or disaffection
towards God and his service, and that stupid, habitual carelessness about
eternal things, which now has the dominion over you. No, never more will you be
able to offend your God and neglect your Savior and your souls as you now do.
Never more will you be able to rest secure and thoughtless, while your eternal
state is awfully uncertain, and your hearts are out of disposition for devotion.
The bent of your minds towards God may be weakened; but you can never lose it
entirely. Your aversion to sin may be lessened; but you will never give up
yourselves to the love and practice of it. Something within will make you
perpetually uneasy—while your graces are languishing and your sin is gathering
strength. There is a secret bias upon your souls, which inclines them
heavenward; even while they are carried downward to the earth, by the remaining
tendencies of your innate corruption. The seed of God which remains in you, will
never allow you to sin as you now do. Your new nature will be searching after
God by a kind of spiritual instinct, like a child for the breast, and you can
never more peaceably take the world in his stead.

This, I hope, sundry of you know by experience. Since the moment of your
conversion, though you have had many sad relapses and backslidings—yet you can
never heartily return to sin again; and all the world cannot make you let go
your hold of God! You tend towards him with a propensity which, though it be
weak—yet neither earth nor hell, neither sin within, nor temptations without,
can entirely overcome. And hence such of you who once imagined that you were
converted—but are now habitually careless, earthly-minded, and luke-warm towards
God—hence, you may see, you never did, in reality, turn to him. No! it was all a
dream! For if you had once been turned TO him with all your hearts, you would
never again have turned entirely FROM him. Your conversion would have had some
lasting good effects upon you; and having once turned to God, you would never
again have bid him farewell, and forsaken him entirely. Such, therefore, who
remain grossly sinful, should still rank themselves among the unconverted. And
now, my dear hearers, I have endeavored, with the utmost plainness, to describe
to you that turning to God which should be the result of your afflictions as
well as of the means of grace, and which you must experience before you can
enter into the kingdom of heaven. I have had something more important at heart
than to embellish my style, and set myself off as a fine speaker. I have
endeavored to speak, not to an itching ear, or a curious fancy—but to your
understanding and your heart; that you may both know and feel what I say. And,
indeed, if I would aim at anything else—I would be at once an flagrant trifler,
and a profane mocker of God.

Now I have one serious question to put to you, upon a careful review of what I
have said; and that is, Do you really hope in your consciences, after you have
impartially tried yourselves as in the sight of God—that you have been converted
or turned to God? Here is the work of God’s grace—I have plainly described it.
But where is the heart in which it has been wrought? Can you put your hand upon
your breast and say, "Oh! if I know myself, here is the heart that has been the
subject of it?" Pause and think upon this inquiry, and never be easy until you
can give, at least, a creditable answer.

I hope this will confirm the wavering hopes of some of you, and enable you to
draw the happy conclusion: "Well, if this is conversion, I think I may venture
to pronounce myself a converted soul." Then happy are you indeed. I have not
time to say many comfortable things to you at present; but go to your Bibles;
there you will find precious promises enough for you. Live and feast upon them,
and before long they will be all fulfilled to you, and you shall live and feast
with your Savior in paradise. But my main business today lies with the
unconverted: and have not some of you discovered yourselves this day to be such?
Well, what is to be done now? Can you go on careless and secure still under this
tremendous conviction? I hardly think any of you are arrived to such a pitch of
presumption and fool-hardiness as this. Must you despair and give up all hopes
of salvation? No, unless you choose it—I mean, unless you choose to neglect the
means appointed for your conversion, and harden yourselves in sin. If you are
determined on this course, then you may despair indeed; there is not the least
ground of hope for you. But should you now rouse out of your security, and seek
the Lord in earnest, you have the same encouragement to hope which any one of
the many millions of converts in heaven or upon earth had, while in your
condition: therefore let me persuade you to take this course immediately. But
when I begin to persuade, I am in Jeremiah’s perplexity: "To whom shall I speak
and give warning, that they may hear?" Jeremiah 6:10. Shall I speak to you, men
of business and hurry? Alas! you have no leisure to mind such a trifle as your
soul. Shall I speak to you, men of wealth and character? Alas! this is a
business beneath your notice, What, a gentleman cry for converting grace! That
would be a strange sight indeed. Shall I speak to you, old men: my venerable
fathers in age? Alas! you are so hardened by a long course of sinning, that you
are not likely to hear. Shall I speak to you, you relics of those families where
death has lately made such havoc? Surely you must be disposed to hear me—surely
you cannot put me off so soon. I hope sickness and death have been sent among
you as my assistants: that is, to enforce what I say, and be the means of your
conversion. Shall I speak to you, young people? Alas! you are too merry and
mirthful to listen to such serious things: and you, perhaps, think that there is
time enough as yet. Thus I am afraid you will put me off: and if you put me off,
I shall hardly know where to turn; for of all the unconverted among us—I have
most hopes of you. Old sinners are so confirmed in their estrangement from God,
that there is but little hope of such veterans: but the habits of sin are not so
strong in you, and God is accustomed to work upon people of your age. If you,
then, put me off, where shall I turn? Behold, I turn to the Gentiles.

Poor negroes! Shall I find one among you that is willing to turn to God? Many of
you are willing to be baptized: but that is not the thing. Are you willing to
turn to God with all your hearts, in the manner I have explained to you? This is
the grand question; and what do your hearts answer to it? If you also refuse—if
you all refuse, then what remains for your poor minister to do—but to return
home and make this lament to him that sent him: "Lord, there were unconverted
sinners among my hearers; and in my poor manner, I made an honest trial to turn
them to you; but, Lord, it was in vain—they refused to return; and therefore I
must leave them to you—to do what you please with them!"

Oh! will you constrain me to make this lament upon any of you to my divine
Master? Oh! free me from the disagreeable necessity. Come, come all, rich and
poor, young and old, bond and free: come, and let us return unto the Lord; for
"he has torn—and he will heal us; he has smitten—and he will bind us up, and we
shall live in his sight." Hosea 6:1. Amen.


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  CHAPTER 30: 27-THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
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The Christian Ministry By Samuel Davies, Hanover, Virginia, June 5, 1757; at the
ordination of the Mr. John Martin, to the ministry of the gospel.

"This is a true saying, if any man desires the office of a bishop—he desires a
good work."1 Timothy 3:1

"If any man desires the office of a bishop." The word here rendered DESIRE is
very strong and emphatic; and signifies to catch at—to reach after—to be carried
away with eager desires. And this naturally leads me to say something of those
inward struggles and perplexities— those eager desires and agonies of zeal,
which honest souls generally feel before they enter into the ministry; and by
which it pleases God to qualify them for it.

I have now nothing to do with those unhappy creatures, who desire and catch at
the sacred office as a post of honor, profit, or ease; or, as the last shift for
a livelihood, when other expedients have failed. Such deserve to be exposed in
severer terms than I am disposed to use; and I cannot but tremble to think what
account they will be able to give to the great Bishop of souls, and Judge of the
universe.

But, as to those honest souls, who engage in it with proper motives and views,
they are generally determined to it with reluctance, and after many hard
conflicts. Some of them had the advantage of an early education, with a view to
some other employment. But when it pleases God to rouse them out of their
security, and bring them under the strong but agreeable constraints of the love
of Christ—when their eyes are opened to see the dangerous situation of a
slumbering world around them; and their hearts are fired with a loving zeal for
the honor of God and Jesus Christ, and the salvation of their perishing
fellow-sinners; then they begin to look about, and inquire, in what way they are
most likely to promote these important interests. And as the ministry of the
gospel appears to them the most promising expedient for this purpose—they devote
their whole life, and all their accomplishments, to this humble and despised
office, and give up all their other prospects, whatever tempting scenes of
riches, grandeur, or ease, might lie open before them.

Others have been put to learning in their childhood by their parents, and by
them have been intended for the church, in order to get a living; when neither
party had a view to the sacred office from just and honorable motives—but
considered it in the same light with other trades. Thus many commence as
ministers of the gospel, from the very same principles that others commence as
lawyers, physicians, or merchants. But, when it pleases God to awaken the
careless youth to a serious sense of true religion, and qualify him in reality
for that office, which he presumptuously aimed at from sordid motives, or in
complaisance to his parents; then, though the office he chooses is the same—yet
the principles and reasons of his choice are very different: now they are
sublime, unselfish, and divine.

Others have spent their early days equally thoughtless of God, and of the
ministerial office. But when they are brought out of darkness into light, and
fired with the love of God, and a benevolent zeal for the salvation of men—then
they begin to languish and pine away with generous anxieties, how they may best
promote the glory of God, and be of service to the immortal interests of
mankind, in the world. And while they are thus perplexed, the agitations of
their own thoughts, or perhaps the conversation of a friend, turns their minds
to the sacred office.

"Oh that I might have the honor of employing my life, and all that I am and
have, in recommending that dear Redeemer, who, I hope, has died for me, and had
pity on this once perishing soul of mine. Oh! that it might be my happiness to
contribute something towards promoting his cause in the world, and saving souls
from death. Oh! if I should be but one soul, I would count it a sufficient
reward for all the labors of my whole life!"

These are the noble motives that operate upon such a person to desire the office
of a bishop. But alas! a thousand discouragements rise in his way. His being so
far advanced in life, his lack of an early education, the difficulty of
acquiring a competency of learning in his circumstances: these appear as
insuperable obstructions in his way; and oblige him frequently to give up all
hopes of accomplishing his desire. But when he has relinquished the desperate
project, his uneasiness returns; his panting desires revive; and he can obtain
no rest—until he is at length constrained to make the attempt, in the name of
God, and leave the outcome to him. He hopes he shall either have his zealous
desires gratified, in building up the church of God; or, at least, that he shall
be approved in his generous, though unsuccessful endeavor, and hear it said to
him, as it was to David, "You did well—that it was in your heart." 1 Kings 8:18.
But though this group of discouragements may be peculiar to such as devote
themselves to the service of the church after that early part of life which is
most favorable to a pastoral education, is unhappily lost; yet, there are other
discouragements, which all meet with, more or less, who enter into this office
with proper views.

They are deeply sensible of the difficulty of a faithful discharge of this
office—of its solemn and tremendous consequences, both with regard to
themselves, and their hearers—which made even the chief of the apostles to cry
out, "and who is sufficient for these things!" 2 Corinthians 2:16. They are
deeply sensible of the various opposition they may expect from the world, who
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, John 3:19. They
are sensible especially of their lack of proper abilities to discharge, with
honor and success, an office so difficult and so important.

These discouragements, which force them back—and the impulses of a generous
zeal, which push them on—often throw them into a ferment, and agitate them with
various passions; so that they can enjoy no ease in the thoughts either of
prosecuting or declining the design.

Now they give it up in discouragement: but immediately they are seized with
agonies of zeal, and resolve, in a dependence upon divine strength, to break
through all discouragements, and make the attempt, at all hazards. Again, their
fears arise, and strike them off from the design. Again, their zeal revives, and
impels them to pursue it.

They can find no heart for any other pursuit. Or, if they fly to some other
business, like Jonah to Tarshish, to avoid the mission, Providence appears
against them, and raises some furious storm, that oversets all their schemes:
until, at length, they are constrained to yield, and surrender themselves to
God, to be used by him according to his pleasure.

If they had resolved with Jeremiah, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak
in his name," they find like him, that the Word of God is in their heart, as a
burning fire shut up in their bones, and they are weary with forbearing, and
they cannot stay. Jeremiah 20:9. We find many of the great and godly men of
antiquity in such a struggle, when God was about to send them upon a mission for
him.

Moses forms a great many excuses—from his own inability: "Who am I, that I
should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out
of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11; and from the incredulity of those to whom he was sent:
"Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice:" Exodus 4:1; and
from his lack of qualifications for the mission: "O my Lord, I am not eloquent:
I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue," 5:10. And when all these excuses are
removed, "Moses again pleaded, Lord, please! Send someone else" 5:13. As, if he
had said, "employ anyone in this mission, rather than me!"

We repeatedly perceive the same reluctance in Jeremiah, "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I
said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child!" Jeremiah 1:6. And
elsewhere, in a passage that has rather a harsh sound, according to our
translation, Jeremiah 20:7; but should be rendered thus: "You have persuaded me,
O Lord, and I was persuaded." That is, to undertake the prophetical office; "You
are stronger than I, and have prevailed;" prevailed over all my reluctance. "But
if I say, ’I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in
my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9 So Ezekiel tells us, that when he went to
discharge his office, "I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with
the strong hand of the LORD upon me," and he could not resist the almighty
impulse. Ezekiel 3:14.

Thus, you see, with what reluctance those generally engage in the sacred office,
who are justly sensible of its importance and difficulty, and of their own
weakness. Men, whose choice is directed by their parents, or proceeds from the
love of popular applause—from avarice, or some other low, selfish principle—may
rush thoughtlessly into it; and in the presumptuous pride of self-confidence,
imagine themselves equal to the undertaking. But those honest souls, who know
what they are going about, and what they themselves are, if they reach after
this sacred office, it is with a trembling hand. They do indeed desire it, most
ardently desire it—but it is when they are under the sweet constraints of the
love of Christ, and the souls of men. This bears them away like a torrent,
through all difficulties; and they would willingly hazard their lives in the
attempt. But notwithstanding this ardor, their hearts frequently fail, and
recoil; and, at such times, nothing but necessity could push them on.

Through such struggles as these, my friends in the gospel, have you entered into
that office, which you are now painfully discharging. Your desire after it was
indeed ardent and inextinguishable: but oh! what strong reluctance, what hard
conflicts have you felt when you compared your own abilities with the work you
had to do? And these discouragements have appeared to you perhaps, in so
affecting a light, even since you have been invested with your office, that you
would most willingly have resigned it. But "necessity is laid upon you; yes, woe
unto you—if you preach not the gospel!" 1 Corinthians 9:16. Therefore, in a
humble dependence upon divine assistance, you resolve to continue in it,
whatever discouragements arise from a sense of your own imperfections, or from
the unsuccessfulness of your labors in the world. And at times you feel that God
is with you, as a mighty one; and causes his pleasure to prosper in your hands;
and renders your hardest labors—your highest delights. And then, oh then, you
would not exchange your pulpit for a throne, nor envy kings—if you may be but
ministers of the glorious gospel. Then "you magnify your office," Romans 11:13,
and count it a very great grace, that you, who are so little among the saints,
should be employed to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. You find,
indeed, that the office of a bishop is a good work—good, pleasant, benevolent,
divine. But still it is a WORK. So the apostle calls it in my text, "The office
of a bishop a good work." If a man desires the office of a bishop from right
principles, he desires—not a secular dignity—not a good wage—not a post of honor
or profit—not an easy idle life—but he desires a work; a good work indeed it
is—but still it is a work.

It may properly be called a work, if we consider the DUTIES of the office, which
require the utmost assiduity, and some of which are peculiarly painful and
laborious. It is the minister’s concern, in common with other Christians: to
work out his own salvation; to struggle with temptation; to be always in arms to
bear down the insurrections of sin in his heart; and to discharge all the
ordinary duties of the Christian life—towards God, his neighbor, and himself.
This work is as necessary, as important, as difficult to him—as to his hearers.
And I appeal to such of you as have ever engaged in it, whether this alone is
not extremely difficult and laborious. It is, indeed, noble and delightful; but
still it is laborious. But besides this, there is a great, an arduous and
laborious work peculiar to the minister of the gospel, which not only is
sufficient to exhaust all his time and abilities—but which requires daily
supplies of strength from above to enable him to perform it! To employ his hours
at home, not in idleness, or worldly pursuits—but in study and devotion, that
his head and heart may be furnished for the discharge of his office—to preach
the Word, instant in season and out of season, with that vigorous exertion, and
those agonies of zeal, which exhaust the spirits, and throw the whole frame into
such a ferment as hardly any other labor can produce—to visit the sick, and to
teach his people in general, and from house to house, in the more social and
familiar forms of private instruction—to do all this, not as a trifling thing,
or a matter of formality—but with zeal, fidelity, prudence, and incessant
application, as the main business of life; deeply solicitous about the
important, consequences; to do this with fortitude and perseverance, in spite of
all the discouragements of unsuccessfulness and the various forms of opposition
that may arise from earth and hell—to abide steady and unshaken under the strong
gales of popular applause, and the storms of persecution— to bless, when
reviled; to forbear, when persecuted; to entreat, when defamed; to be abased as
the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things; (1 Corinthians
4:12-13,) to give no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed; but
in all things to approve himself as the minister of God: (2 Corinthians 6:3-4;)
to preach Christianity outside of the pulpit, by his example as well as in it,
by his discourses; and to make his life a constant sermon; this, this, my
friends, is the WORK a minister of the gospel!

"And who is sufficient for these things?" Is not this a work that would require
the strength of an angel? And yet this work must be done—done habitually,
honestly, conscientiously, by us frail mortals who sustain this office; or else
we shall be condemned as slothful and wicked servants! This thought must forever
sink our spirits—were it not that Christ is our strength and life. Yes, my dear
fellow-laborers, such weaklings as ourselves may spring up, and lay hold of his
strength; and we can do all things through Christ strengthening us. (Php 4:13.)

Thus you have experienced in hours of dejection; and unless the Lord had been
your help—your souls, before now, would have dwelt in silence. (Psalms 44:17.)
Hence, you may see the reason why the Lord has appointed, that they who preach
the gospel should live by it: it is because, that time, those abilities, and
those labors, which others lay out in providing for themselves and their
dependants, must be laid out by them in serving others, by a faithful discharge
of their office. If they thus devote themselves to the duties of their
function—then it is but just and reasonable that those for whom they labor,
should provide for their subsistence while they are serving them. But if those
who style themselves ministers, do not allow their office to restrain them from
secular pursuits; if it only employ an hour or two once a week; in short, if,
notwithstanding their office, they have the same opportunities with other
people, to provide themselves a living—then I see no reason why they should be
supported at the public charge—supported at the public charge—to serve
themselves! They are a kind of pensioners and drones in society! "The laborer is
worthy of his hire;" (Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5:18,) but the loiterer deserves
none!

You see, my brother, what it is you are now to engage in. You have desired the
office of a minister of the gospel; and after many struggles and
disappointments, the object of your desire appears now within your reach. But
remember, it is not a post of honor, profit, or ease—that you are about to be
advanced to; but it is a WORK. You are now entering upon a life of painful
labor, fatigue, and mortification. Now you have nothing to do but to work for
your Lord and Master: to work, not merely for an hour or two once a week—but
every day, in every week, and through your whole life. If you enter into your
closet—it must be to pray. If you enter your study—it must be to think what you
shall say to recommend your Master, not yourself; and to save the souls who hear
you. If you enter into the pulpit—it must be not to "preach yourself—but Christ
Jesus the Lord;" (2 Corinthians 4:5,) not to set yourself off as a fine speaker,
a great scholar, or a profound reasoner—but to preach Christ crucified—and the
humble, unpopular doctrines of Jesus of Galilee; and to beseech men, in his
stead, to be reconciled to God; to warn every man, and teach every man, that you
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus! (Colossians 1:28.)

If you go into the world, and mingle in conversation, it must be to drop a word
for Christ; and let mankind see, that you live, as well as talk—like a
Christian. If you travel about from place to place, among needy churches—it must
be to diffuse the vital savor of your Master’s name, and not your own. If you
settle, and undertake a particular charge, it must be to watch for souls, as one
who must give account; (Hebrews 13:17,) and industriously to plant and water
that spot which is laid out for you in the Lord’s vineyard.

Here, my friend, here is your work! And while you survey it, I doubt not but you
are ready to renew the exclamation, "Who is sufficient for these things!" (2
Corinthians 2:16.) This work will leave no blanks in your time—but is sufficient
to employ it well. It will leave none of your abilities idle—but requires the
utmost exertion of every one of them. It is the work of your Sundays, and of
your weekdays—the work of your retirement, and your social hours—the work of
soul and body—of the head and heart—the work of life and death! It is a
laborious, anxious, uninterrupted work. But, blessed be God! it is, after all, a
good work.

It is a good work, whether you consider: for WHOM you work; WITH whom you work;
and for WHAT you work.

1. For WHOM do you work? The ministers of the gospel work for GOD, who is
carrying on the grand scheme of salvation in our world. His immediate service is
the peculiar business of their lives. Their office calls them to minister at his
altar, while others are called even in duty to mind the labors and pursuits of
this world. Of them it may be said, in a peculiar degree, what holds true of
Christians in common in a lower sense: "For none of us lives to himself alone
and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live—we live to the Lord; and if we
die—we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die—we belong to the Lord."
Romans 14:7-8.

Now, who would not work for that God who made them, who gives them all their
blessings, and who alone can make them happy through an immortal duration? Who
would not work for so good, so excellent, so munificent a master? Oh! how good a
work is this!

Ministers also work for JESUS CHRIST. It was he who originally gave them their
commission; it was he who assigned them their work; it is he who is interested
in their success. It is his work they are engaged in: the great work of saving
sinners, in which he himself worked for thirty-three painful, laborious years;
and to promote which, he suffered all the agonies of crucifixion. And blessed
Jesus! who would not work for you! for you—who worked and suffered so much for
us! Oh! while we feel the constraints of your love—who can forbear crying out
with Isaiah, "Here am I—send me!" Isaiah 6:8. Send me to the ends of the earth;
send me among savage barbarians; send me through fire and water; send me where
you will—if it is only for you! Here, Lord, I go! I would undertake the hardest
work—if only it is for you! For oh! what work can be so good, so grateful, so
pleasant!

Again, the ministers of the gospel work for the SOULS of MEN. To do good to
mankind, is the great purpose of their office. It is their business to serve the
best interests of others, to endeavor to make men wise and godly, and
consequently happy, in time and eternity; to make them useful members of society
in this world; and prepared as heirs of the inheritance of the saints in light.
In short, to refine and advance human nature to the highest possible degree of
moral excellence, glory and happiness. Is not this the most noble and beneficent
office in all the world? And how good, how pleasing, and how delightful must it
be, in this view—to a benevolent soul! It is an office the most friendly
society, and the happiness of the world in general. And if some ministers have
often proved firebrands in society, and disturbers of the peace of mankind—it
has not been owing to the nature, design, and tendency of their office—but to
their being carried headlong by their own avarice or ambition, or some other
sordid lust—to abuse it to purposes directly contrary to those for which it was
intended and adapted!

Every minister of the gospel ought to have a benevolent, generous spirit, and be
the friend of human nature, from noble and unselfish views: otherwise, his
disposition and his office appear a shocking contrariety to each other. But when
they agree, he is a public blessing to the world, and an immortal blessing to
the souls of men. Thus, you see, this office is a good work, if we consider for
WHOM the work is done.

2. Let us next consider WITH whom the ministers of the gospel work. And we shall
see how good their employment is.

They are workers together with GOD, 2 Corinthians 6:1, engaged in carrying on
the same gracious design which lay so near his heart from eternity; for the
execution of which, he sent his Son into the world; has appointed various means
of grace, under the various dispensations of religion, during the space of some
six thousand years; and manages all the events of time, by his all-ruling
providence.

They are also co-workers with JESUS CHRIST. They are promoting the same cause,
for which he became man; for which he lived the life of a servant, and died the
death of a malefactor and a slave. Jesus, their Lord and Master, condescended to
be their predecessor in office, and to become the preacher of his own gospel.
They are engaged, though in an humbler sphere, in that work, which HE is now
carrying on, since his return to his native heaven. And whenever the pleasure of
the Lord prospers in their hands, he actually works with them, and is the author
of all their successes! He sends his Spirit to convince the world, by their
means—of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, John 16:8, and to make his
gospel powerful for the salvation of those that hear it. Oh! were it not for his
working—all the little true religion which is in the world would immediately
expire; and the united efforts of all the ministers upon earth, would not be
able to preserve one spark of it alive.

They may also be called fellow-workers with the HOLY SPIRIT, whose great office
it is to sanctify depraved creatures, and prepare them for the refined happiness
of heaven. While they are speaking to the ear—He speaks to the heart, and causes
men to feel, as well as to hear, the gospel of salvation.

They also act in concert with ANGELS; for what are these glorious creatures but
"ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of
salvation." Hebrews 1:14. An angel once condescended to call a minister of the
gospel his fellow-servant. "I am your fellow-servant" said the angel to John,
(the fellow-servant) "of your friends who have the testimony of Jesus!"
Revelation 19:10. And when these servants of an humbler order have finished
their painful ministration on earth, they shall join their fellow-servants of a
higher class in the court of heaven, and perhaps, share in the much more exalted
forms of angelic ministration. This seems implied in that text where the angel
of the Lord protests to Joshua the high priest, saying, "Thus says the Lord
Almighty: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will
govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among
these standing here." Zechariah 3:5-7. And who are those who were standing
there? You are told, "The angel of the Lord stood there." Among these,
therefore, Joshua had places given him to walk, as the companion and
fellow-servant of angels!

Ministers also are engaged in that work, in which the APOSTLES went before them.
In this good cause, they traveled over sea and land, they labored, they spent
their lives, and at last gloriously departed. Yes, my fellow-laborers, they felt
the generous toils, and braved the heroic dangers of your office—long before
you. In this good cause, thousands of MARTYRS have shed their blood! And
thousands of ministers, in various ages, and in various countries, have spent
their strength, their life, their all. In short, ALL the godly people who ever
have been, who now are, or ever shall be upon earth—concur in the same good work
with you, according to their respective characters. To make men wise, holy, and
happy, is their united effort—the object they have in view in their prayers, in
their instructions, in their lives, and in all their endeavors.

All HOLY beings, in the whole compass of the vast universe, befriend your
design—and none are against it but fallen spirits on the earth and in hell. And
must not this be a good work in which such a glorious company concur? and oh!
who would not work in such company—with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
with angels, with apostles, with martyrs, with all godly men upon the face of
the earth? Who would be so shocking a singularity as not to join with this
assembly in the work. Or who can question its goodness, since such a holy
assembly joins in it? The office of a bishop will farther appear a good work, if
it is considered WHAT it is, that ministers work for. They do not indeed work
for a reward upon the footing of personal merit; but they hope for it on the
plan of the gospel, through Jesus Christ. In this view, they are like Moses, "He
regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures
of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."Hebrews 11:26. God will
not forget their honest, though feeble, and frequently unsuccessful labors in
his own work. "Those who turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars
forever and ever!" Daniel 12:3.

If a cup of cold water, given to the lowest disciple of Christ, shall not be
unrewarded, then what rich rewards must be prepared for those who employ all
their time, all their abilities, all their life—in the most important,
benevolent, and laborious services for his church which he has purchased with
his own blood! Crowns of distinguished brightness, and thrones of superior
dignity are reserved for them! And in proportion to their labors here—will be
their glory and felicity in the world to come. In serving their divine Master
and the souls of men—they are also serving themselves; and in promoting the
interests of others—they most effectually promote their own. Thus, their duty
and interest—the interest of mankind and their own—are wisely and graciously
united, and mutually promote each other. And thus it appears, their laborious
and painful work is good—good in itself, good for the world, and good for
themselves. To sum up the whole—whatever contempt the ministerial office has
lain under; however much it has been disgraced, and rendered useless, and even
injurious, by the unworthy conduct of such as have thrust themselves into it,
from base and mercenary views; yet, it is in itself, and in its natural
tendency, the most noble, benevolent, and useful office in the world! To be the
minister of Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords—is a greater
honor than to be the most illustrious monarch upon earth! To save souls from
death, is a more heroic exploit—than to rescue enslaved nations from oppression
and ruin! To make a multitude of wretched, perishing souls—rich with the
unsearchable treasures of Christ—is a more generous charity—than to clothe the
naked, or feed the hungry! To refine depraved men, and improve into a fitness
for the exalted employments and enjoyments of heaven—is a higher pitch of
patriotism, than to civilize barbarous nations, by introducing the arts and
sciences, and a good form of government among them! To negotiate a peace between
God and man, and prevent the terrible consequences of the unnatural, unequal
war, which has so long been waged between them—is a more benevolent and
important service than to negotiate a peace between contending nations—to stop
the current of human blood, and heal the deadly wounds of war!

Let those, therefore, who are called to this blessed work, join with Paul, and
thank the Lord Jesus Christ, who has enabled them, for "that He counted them
faithful, putting them into the ministry!" 1 Timothy 1:12. Let them "magnify
their office," not by assuming airs of superiority, or by making ostentatious
claims to powers that they have nothing to do with—but by rejoicing more in it,
than in crowns and thrones—by acting up to their noble character; and by so
exercising it, as to render it an extensive blessing to the world. This will be
the best expedient to keep themselves and their office above contempt, and to
gain the approbation of both God and man. But when we reflect upon the dignity,
the importance, the difficulty, and the grand consequences of this noble
office—it will render us who sustain it, peculiarly sensible of our constant
need of supplies of Divine grace, to enable us to faithfully discharge it. Alas!
we know nothing of ourselves, if we imagine we are equal to it. Paul, with all
his apostolic abilities, humbly acknowledges, "Not that we are competent in
ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He
has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant." 2 Corinthians 3:5-6.

"Who is Paul," says he, "and who is Apollos—but ministers by whom you
believed—even as the Lord gave to every man?" Observe, their success was just as
the Lord gave to every man. "Neither is he who plants anything, neither he who
waters; but God who gives the increase." He is all in all. 1 Corinthians 3:5-7.
"If I labored more abundantly than others," says he, "it was not I—but the grace
of God which was with me!" 1 Corinthians 15:10.

Thus, my friends, it befits us to be always dependent upon Divine grace. It
befits us to be often on the knee at the throne of mercy, petitioning for divine
help and success. And if we are, in any measure, blessed with either, we should
arrogate nothing to ourselves—but ascribe all the glory to him, who condescends
to distribute gifts to men, and to crown these gifts with his Divine blessing.

Hence, also, my friends of the LAITY, you may see how much ministers need the
assistance of your prayers. Even the great Paul did not disdain to ask the
prayers of common Christians—but repeats his request over and over. And I, from
much more urgent necessity, as the mouth of these my friends—beg this charity of
you for both myself and them. Surely, you cannot deny it, especially as
yourselves will reap the advantage in the outcome; for whatever ministerial
abilities God may bestow upon us, in answer to your prayers—they are to be
employed for your service. And it is our being so poorly qualified to serve you,
which extorts this request from us, and is the cause of many a weeping, bitter
hour to us.

You must, also, hence see, that it is your concern to work with ministers of the
gospel in promoting the benevolent and important ends of their office. Endeavor
so to attend upon their ministrations, as that you yourselves may be saved by
them. And endeavor by your life and example, and all methods in your power—to
make them useful to others.

Oh! let us all, ministers and people, form a noble confederacy against the
kingdom of darkness, and make a vigorous attack upon it, with our united forces!
Let us all enlist volunteers—as good soldiers, under Jesus; and in our post,
whether high or low—do all we can to promote his kingdom! Amen.


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  CHAPTER 31: 28-SERIOUS REFLECTIONS ON WAR
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Serious Reflections on WAR by Samuel Davies. Preached on January 1, 1757; being
a day appointed by the Presbytery of Hanover to be observed as a religious fast,
on account of the present state of public affairs.

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of
your lusts that war in your members?" James 4:1 The years that now roll over our
heads are not likely to be passed over slightly in the annals of our country;
they are big with very important events, in which our own welfare and that of
our posterity is closely interested. Our happy country has been for a long time
the region of peace; and our years have run on in one uniform tenor of
undisturbed tranquility: but for some time past the scene has been changed. We
have seen years of terror and alarm, of desolation and slaughter; and the
prospect through future years is equally gloomy. We are as yet, blessed be God,
a free and happy people! We enjoy peace in the midst of a ravaged, bleeding
country: but how long we shall enjoy this distinguished happiness is a dreadful
uncertainty! The fate of our country, and all that it contains, hangs in an
anxious suspense. Whether the present year will leave us as it found us—is only
known to Omniscience. The Christian improvement of such important events,
whether prosperous or afflictive, is the best use we can make of them. And now,
while we stand upon the threshold of a new year, it is proper we should pause,
and look back to the events which the past year has brought forth, and forward
to those with which the coming year is pregnant. The review of the past
furnishes us with occasion both for praise and humiliation, and with materials
to sing of mercy and of judgment; and the prospect of the future calls for
prayer and repentance, to avert those judgments with which we are threatened,
and to obtain a favorable outcome to the expeditions in which we may engage.
That must be a thoughtless mind indeed, that can learn no useful lessons from
the present posture of our affairs, even without a teacher. And that must be an
atheistic mind indeed, that is not led, by the present appearances of things, to
those exercises of devotion, which such a season so loudly calls for. The
presbytery, therefore, has thought proper to appoint this day to be observed as
a religious fast, through all the congregations under their care, on account of
the present state of our public affairs: that we may leave the old year and our
old guilt, at once, behind us—that we may enter upon the new year as new
creatures—that, as we bid adieu to the old year, we may drop a tear, and vent a
groan, over the sins we committed in it—that we may not carry with us into this
year the heavy load of last year’s guilt—but may enter it with earnest prayers,
that God would be with us through it, and afford the same safe conduct to our
country and nation. The better to answer the design of this day, I shall briefly
recapitulate the affairs of the year past; and offer some conjectures, from the
present appearances of things, concerning the events that may be before us in
the year upon which we are now entering. The last seasonable and plentiful
summer, after a year of drought and scarcity, ought always to be remembered as a
surprising instance of divine bounty. How kind is our heavenly Father, even to
the disobedient and unthankful! How rich in mercy, even to the ungrateful
abusers of that mercy! With how much long-suffering does he endure even the
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction! And oh! the stupid ingratitude of the
sons of men! They sin on still, unmoved by the riches of his grace, as well as
incorrigible under his rod. What return has God received for rain from heaven,
and fruitful seasons, and a whole country full of blessings? Alas! not the
gratitude of the dull ox to his owner, or the stupid donkey to his master: for
"the ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib," Isaiah 1:3; but how
few among us know or consider our divine Master? How few acknowledge their
obligations to God for these blessings?

Last year, as well as that before it, our frontiers have streamed with British
blood. There you might see flourishing plantations deserted; families scattered
or butchered; some mangled and scalped; some escaped in horror and
consternation, with the loss of their earthly all; some captivated by the
savages, dragged through forests, and swamps, and mountains, to their towns, and
there prostituted to barbarous lust, or condemned to lingering tortures, which,
I believe, have hardly ever been equaled on this side hell. This has been the
fate of some hundreds of families on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania;
a fate so melancholy, that words cannot describe it, nor are our tenderest
compassions equal to it.

Last year also saw the surprising loss of the important harbors and fortresses
of Minorca and Oswego; a loss not likely to be soon repaired; a loss occasioned,
not by the superior force of the enemy—but it is to be feared, by the cowardice
or mismanagement of our own men; which renders it the more mortifying. The last
year was also sadly memorable for disappointed schemes and blasted expeditions.
Our expedition against the Shawnese most unaccountably miscarried. The northern
expedition against Crown Point, and the other French forts in those parts, which
has been so expensive, and from which we entertained such great expectations,
has proved abortive last summer, as it did the preceding: and whether ever it
can be carried into execution, is dreadfully uncertain. The scheme for
increasing our little regiment, by drafting the young men in the militia, did
not answer the end; and, instead of fifteen hundred men, we had hardly half that
number. In short, there is no scheme that I can think of, that has been
successful but the expedition of Colonel Armstrong against an Indian town.

I know that in this world, which is now under an indiscriminate Providence,
success is not peculiar to the pious; but victory and defeats happen
promiscuously to the good and bad. And yet, I cannot but look upon it as very
remarkable, that amidst so many disappointments and defeats, one of the most
hazardous expeditions, conducted by one that fears God, and depended upon his
strength, should be successful. Such is Colonel Armstrong; a Christian, as well
as a soldier. I have known him seeking after Jesus, as a broken-hearted
penitent, with cries and tears, for some years. Had we many officers thus
prepared to serve their country, we might expect more service from them. Faith
made heroes in ancient times; and I am persuaded that piety is the best source
of courage still. But alas! how few Christian heroes have we to boast!

Last year we had a treaty with the Catawba Indians, and with the more powerful
nation of the Cherokees. We have complied with our engagements, and had high
hopes of powerful assistance from them; but we have been disappointed; and as to
the latter, we fear they will not even observe a neutrality—but may be seduced
to the French interest.

Last year has also heard the declaration of war between Great Britain and
France; but what year will see the end of it, or what the outcome will be, is
utterly unknown. The commencement of war must always appear a very solemn period
to a thoughtful mind. It is the commencement of scenes of blood and desolation
as to thousands. Many will lose their lives in it, many their relations, many
their estates, and many their liberty: and whether we may not be of the number,
is all uncertain.

Now the sword is drawn, and begins to maim and mangle our fellow-men. Now
cannons begin to roar, and tear hundreds to pieces; now multitudes sink in the
ocean, and multitudes welter in their blood on the field of battle. Now cities
blaze, and are turned into ruinous heaps. Now the fate of empire, the cause of
religion and liberty, is disputed; and who knows what will be the outcome? Now
death devours thousands at a single meal; and multitudes of thoughtless
immortals are hurried into the eternal world unprepared; without thought in
those destroyed—as to where they are going; or in the destroyers—as to where
they are sending them. These are the dire effects of war; and are not these very
tragic and affecting? and must they not render the commencement of a war very
solemn and terrible?

Last year has been remarkable for very grand alliances. The empress queen, who
is indebted to Great Britain for the preservation of her dominions, and for the
advancement of her husband to be emperor of Germany, and for whom our king
bravely fought in person, has perfidiously and ungratefully deserted us, and
entered into a confederacy with France. The empress of Russia has acted the same
treacherous part, and acceded to that alliance, though bound by treaty to
furnish us with no fewer than fifty-five thousand men, upon demand. The Dutch,
intimidated by the French, have refused to fulfill their obligations to us. The
brave king of Prussia has entered into an alliance with Britain; and is, indeed,
the only important and active ally we have in the world. He has distinguished
the last year with one illustrious victory over the Austrians. And may the same
success still attend him in every good cause! To sum up this review, the last
year has been a very important period in the history of our country. Terror and
devastation have stalked through the earth; and streams of human blood have been
running by sea and land. To all which I may add, that God has visited a part of
this congregation with a deadly contagious disease, which has thinned the
neighborhood, and swept off some families almost entirely. Blessed be God; it is
now stopped: but, certainly, it befits us always to remember that gloomy time,
and reap instruction from the graves of our friends and neighbors, which are now
so thick among us. And now, may we not learn from this summary, that we and our
nation are a guilty people, and that a provoked God has, by this succession of
calamitous events, loudly proclaimed his displeasure against us? Have our
undertakings prospered, like those of a people in favor with God? Far from it.
And hence, we may also learn that we are now loudly called to repentance,
humiliation, and prayer. Let us repent of those sins which have brought these
calamities upon us; let us "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that
he may exalt us in due time;" 1 Peter 5:6; and let us cry mightily to God, that
he would "turn away from his fierce anger, that we do not perish," Jonah 3:9.

Let us now look forward to the year ahead of us. Blessed be God, we are blind to
future events; and therefore incapable of anticipating the pain they might
afford us, if known. But we may, at least, venture to form conjectures, from the
present appearances of things. Who knows, but still darker times are before us?
Who knows, but the measure of our iniquities is at length full, and God is about
to call a guilty people to account? There may be a winnowing time at hand, to
try and purge the Protestant churches. Popery may die hard; and its last
struggles may throw the Christian world into confusion, in which thousands may
be overwhelmed, and we among others. The continent of Europe is likely to be the
seat of war; and whether our brave ally, the king of Prussia, will be able to
stand his ground against the formidable confederacy formed against him, is
dismally uncertain. The preservation of the Protestant religion, and turning the
scale of war in our favor, depends upon his success; and, therefore, though at
this vast distance, we should earnestly pray, that a gracious Providence would
still guard and prosper him.

Great Britain is in anxious expectation of an invasion from France; and what may
be the consequence, is all unknown; though thus much may be very probably
expected, that should it be so much as attempted, it will cost much blood and
the lives of thousands.

Many captures will probably be made at sea this year, by which great numbers
will be reduced to poverty; and, it is not unlikely, many naval engagements will
happen, in which multitudes of human limbs and lives will be lost. We may also
expect that this year, like the last, will produce frequent skirmishes between
our men and the French and Indian savages; and that these will continue their
desolating and bloody inroads upon our frontiers, and probably penetrate father
into the country than they have hitherto done.

It is also likely, the expedition against Crown Point, and other French forts
and settlements, will be again set on foot; but the outcome is dreadfully
uncertain.

It is likewise probable, that some grand decisive blow may be struck, in a
general engagement, which may determine our fate; but what the determination
will be, is not likely to be known until it happen. Who knows but the Indian
savages may generally desert us, and, in conjunction with the French, pour down
upon us like a torrent? And if they should meet with assistance from some of our
own slaves, how inconceivably terrible would be the consequence! What unexampled
scenes of blood and slaughter, of desolation and torture, would fill our land!
This, alas! is not so unlikely as we could wish. In short, this year, like the
last, is likely to be a turbulent, bloody season. The potsherds of the earth are
dashing together, and thousands are broke to pieces in the conflict. Alas! what
a world do we live in! What a restless, troubled ocean! What an aceldema, a
field of blood! What savages are the sons of men, biting and devouring one
another!

Now, in the present state of things, the question in my text is very proper;
"Whence come wars and fightings among us?" What infernal cause is it that sets
the world in arms? that sets reasonable creatures of the same race, upon
disturbing and destroying one another? Whence is it that the art of war, that
is, the art of killing one another with the greatest skill, is a necessary
science? Whence is it that a great warrior, that is, a great destroyer of
mankind, should be an honorable and celebrated character? Whence is it that
swords and guns, and other instruments of death, have become necessary utensils
in life, and a piece of furniture for kingdoms? To such questions my text gives
the true answer: "Wars and fightings among you, come from hence, even from your
lusts, which war in your members." This holds true with regard to lesser
societies, and particular churches: contentions, quarrels, schisms, envying, and
strife, proceed from this turbulent source. Families, neighborhoods, and
particular churches, would be, circles of peace and tranquility, were it not for
the ungovernable lusts of some of their members. It was probably to these lesser
societies that the apostle immediately referred; but this assertion will also
hold true in a more extensive sense; for wars and fightings among nations
proceed from the same evil source, even from their lusts! The lust of dominion,
the lust of riches, the lust of vain glory and applause, have set the world in
arms from age to age; and the quarrel still continues and is never likely to be
ended, while those restless lusts, from whence it springs, remain predominant in
the hearts of men. One man has no right to superiority over others, except it
was originally derived from their consent. What, then—but the lawless lust for
power, could prompt a man to risk his own life, to embroil nations, to lay
countries waste, and to destroy the lives of thousands of his fellow-men, that
he may exercise dominion over the survivors? The needs of nature are few, and
easily satisfied; and every country produces the necessities for the support of
its inhabitants. What, then—but the lawless lust for riches, or an insatiable
avarice for the possessions of others, can cause nations to burst through their
bounds, and make inroads upon the property of their neighbors? How peaceably did
we live, until France began to imagine that she needed more plantations— that
she needed a tobacco colony—-that she needed the whole of the fur trade, and so
forth? But now this unbounded covetousness has set her in arms; has brought upon
us and upon herself all the calamities of war; and who knows what will be the
consequence?

Man is not really a being of such mighty importance, as that he should set the
present and future generations a talking about him, and admiring his exploits.
Nor is the breath of popular applause such a substantial good, as to deserve the
eager pursuit of a reasonable being. And yet, the lust for fame can carry a man
through a life of fatigues and dangers to drench countries in blood, and throw
away the lives of their inhabitants, merely to get a name—the name of a great
destroyer, a public robber, and a murderer of his species! For that is generally
the import of the names of heroes and great warriors—of the Alexanders and
Caesars of the world.

What a blind, infatuated, and yet powerful lust is this! Matters of justice and
property between nations, are not so intricate in themselves—but that they might
be amicably decided, were it not for the strength of lust. But that they should
immediately fly to arms, and shed each other’s blood—that matters of property
should not be determined—but by taking away the lives of the proprietors! How
astonishing is this! How shocking an evidence of the horrid power of lust over
them!

These lusts, says the apostle, which produce wars in the world without—also war
in your members. There the war begins—and thence it circulates through the
world. These mutinous and rebellious lusts raise an internal war in the man’s
own breast. There they commit ravages upon his own soul, and throw all into a
ferment. There they produce confusion and every evil work. They set the man at
variance with HIMSELF and all about him. He and his conscience are often engaged
in conflict; nay, he dares to resist even the Holy Spirit himself; the Spirit of
all grace and goodness. His selfish, proud, and avaricious lusts set him at
variance also with OTHERS. Hence proceed broils, animosities, and quarrels in
neighborhoods and families which turn them into a little hell. Were the fire of
lust within but quenched—these flames would immediately go out! But a depraved
heart, like an unruly tongue, "sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on
fire by hell." James 3:6. When these lusts inflame the hearts of public people,
of kings and their ministers, they set the world in a blaze around them; and
their subjects, fired with the same passions, add fuel to augment the flame!

You see the proper original SOURCE of war, that it is the lusts of men; and my
present design is, to make some reflections upon war as proceeding from this
source, which may assist us in the business of this day, and in a profitable
improvement of the present posture of our public affairs.

First, This subject naturally leads us to reflect upon the fallen, degenerate
state of human nature. Cannons and trumpets, and all the horrid noise of war,
proclaim aloud this melancholy truth—that we are a race of apostate creatures,
who have fallen from our original rectitude, and have become the slaves of
imperious and savage lusts.

What is this world—but a field of battle? What are soldiers—but destroyers of
mankind by profession! What are heroes and conquerors—but the most bold and
successful butchers of the human race! What is the history of nations, from
their first rise to the present day but a tragic story of wars, struggles for
dominion, encroachments upon the possessions of others, bloody battles and
sieges; ravaged countries, ruined cities, and heaps of slain? How many hundred
thousand souls has the sword of war cut off, in Europe only, within these past
sixty years? And thus it generally is, and has been, all the world over. The
earth is peopled with Ishmaelites: their hand against every man, and every man’s
hand against them. Twenty years of peace is a rare thing among the nations. The
ocean of mankind has but few and short calms; and it is soon tossed into a
tumult, and the outrageous waves dash, and foam, and break against one another.
Human blood is streaming almost incessantly by sea and land; and now the tide is
likely to swell unusually high—a tide of human blood!

Swords and guns, the instruments of death, are become necessary utensils, like
the tools of agriculture or architecture. Men are tearing one another to pieces
about the trifles of time—which a few years at most will tear from all their
hands. A thousand swords are dividing this atom earth, among a thousand lords;
and yet, strange! they cannot agree after all. What burning resentment! What
sullen enmity! What envenomed rancor! What barbarities, and tortures, and eager
thirst of blood! What public authorized murders! MURDERS, I say; for if the man
who takes away his neighbor’s life unjustly is guilty of murder, certainly those
who commence an unjust war, and thus take away the lives of thousands, perhaps
at one blow, are still more deeply guilty of murder.

One scholar computes that the number of men killed in the field of battle
amounts, at least, to forty thousand million, from the beginning of the world to
the year 1748; and to this, adding the havoc, calamity, and destruction
attending war, namely, famine, disease, pestilence, and massacres in cold
blood—he thinks he may fairly double the last total, and make the number no less
than eighty thousand million. And, as the number of men existing at a time upon
the earth never exceeds five hundred million, the number of men cut off by the
sword of war, or its attendant evils, in all ages, must, at least, be equal to a
hundred and sixty times the number of souls this day on the globe. What a
prodigious and shocking computation is this! This is a sketch of the history of
the world. But is this the history of mankind in their paradisaical state? Would
innocent creatures thus tear one another to pieces? Would innocent creatures be
thus actuated with such malignant passions? Did human nature first come out of
the hands of its Creator—thus inflamed with the passions of hell? Is it not
plain, that the great fundamental law of all morality is not now deeply
impressed upon the hearts of men, namely, that we should "love the Lord our God
with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves." Luke 10:27. The love of
God, and the love of man, if they were the ruling passions of the human soul,
would soon put an end to these confusions and blood-sheddings; would turn this
earth into a heaven, a region of perfect peace and universal benevolence! And
does not the strength, the inveteracy, and the universality of such infernal
passions, prove that they are innate—and that we are all born corrupt; and are,
from the womb, in a state of universal degeneracy?

"O fallen, fallen man! in what mournful strains shall we lament over you! The
offspring of God degenerated —the most intricate and noble piece of Divine
workmanship in our world—shattered, broken, and lying in ruins!" Who can repair
these ruins, and raise the noble frame again? None but he who formed it at
first. There is need of a new creation; and consequently of a new creating
powers. This, and this only, is the effectual cure of war and all its bleeding
wounds. This is the only inviolable bond of peace; the only firm cement of
divided nations.

Friends, while we are surrounded with the terrors of war, let us learn our own
degeneracy, mourn over it, and cry for the exertion of that power which alone
can form us anew, and repair these wastes and desolations. The present war,
indeed, on our side, is just, is unavoidable; and consequently our duty. But how
corrupt must this world be, when it is even our duty to weaken and destroy our
fellow-men as much as we can! How corrupt must the world be, when peace itself,
the sweetest of all blessings, has become an evil, and war is to be chosen
before it? When it has become our duty to shed blood! When martial valor, or
courage to destroy man, who was made in the image of God, has become a virtue!
When it has become glorious to kill men! And when we are obliged to treat a
whole nation—as a gang of robbers and murderers, and bring them to punishment!
This certainly shows that they are degenerated creatures; and as they share in
the same natures with us—we must draw the same conclusion concerning ourselves!
Let us, therefore, humble ourselves, and mourn in dust and ashes before the
Lord; and let us lament the general depravity of the world. But, Secondly, This
subject may naturally lead us to reflect upon the just resentments of God
against the sin of man.

War is not only the natural result of the depraved passions of mankind—but a
just punishment from God for that depravity. It is at once the natural effect,
and the judicial punishment of their lusts. As innocent creatures, under the
influence of universal benevolence, would not injure one another, or fly to
war—so God would not allow the calamities of war to fall upon them, because they
would not have deserved it. But alas! mankind have revolted from God, and
incurred his displeasure; and he employs them to avenge his quarrel and do the
part of executioners upon one another! They are fighting his quarrel, even when
they least design it. The sword of war—is God’s sword; he designs by it to
chastise his children; to punish his enemies: and in both, to testify his
resentments against sin. It is sin which sets the Omnipotent in arms against
this rebellious province of his dominions, and constrains him to let war loose
among us, as the executioner of his vengeance!

God is angry with the wicked every day; and hence it is that, according to that
striking piece of imagery, he calls for the sword, and says, "Sword, go through
the land, cut off man and beast from it." Ezekiel 45:17. If, therefore, we
expostulate and pray with Jeremiah, "Oh sword of the Lord, how long will it be
before you are quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still!" we
have the same answer, "How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord has given it a
charge?" a charge against his enemies; "there has he appointed it." Jeremiah
47:6-7.

Now if this is the case—is it any wonder that the sword has received a
commission against our country and nation—seeing our land is full of sin against
the holy One of Israel? The transgressors have come to the full among us; and
almost all flesh have corrupted their way. "There is none righteous; no, not
one!" Romans 3:10. The fear and love of God—are almost lost among his own
creatures, in his own world! This is a subject I have often enlarged upon; but,
alas! how much in vain, as to multitudes!

They will sin on still—in spite of warnings and remonstrances. And all the most
solemn and serious addresses to them on this head, seem but idle harangues, or
fashionable pulpit cant. But I must tell you once more, in serious sadness,
whether you hear, or whether you forbear—that our country and nation are likely
to sink under the burden of guilt, accumulated from so many quarters, and for so
many ages; that without a reformation, we are likely to be an enslaved, ruined
people; and that the present calamities of war are the punishments of the divine
hand upon an ungrateful, rebellious nation!

Indeed, sirs, we shall find it an evil thing and a bitter—that we have forsaken
the Lord our God. Sin will be found in the outcome—to be the bane of society in
this world—as well as of souls in the world to come. And unless we learn this by
gentler instructions, we are likely to learn it by the painful lessons of
experience. And, oh! how just and fit is it, that creatures in rebellion against
God, should be left to avenge his quarrel upon one another; that a world of
sin—should be made a field of blood!

Indeed, this unavoidably follows according to the course of nature. The love of
God, and the love of our fellow-creatures, are the grand cements of the moral
world, and the bonds of social union. And when these are broken, what must
follow—but mutual enmity and hostilities? Then the character of mankind is
"hateful, and hating one another." Titus 3:3.

Friends, God is proclaiming by the sound of cannons and the martial trumpet,
what he has often proclaimed unheard by the gentler voice of his Word, namely,
that he has a just controversy with our world for its rebellion. And shall not
this make us solicitous to be reconciled to him? Blessed be his name, the
quarrel may yet be made up. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to
himself." 2 Corinthians 5:19. And if we accept of reconciliation in this way, we
shall again be received into favor. We shall be justified by his grace, and so
"have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1.

Sinners, what do you think of this proposal? I seriously propose it to you; and
it demands your most solemn attention. What do you think of being reconciled to
God this day, through Jesus Christ; that he may no longer have any ground of
controversy with you, nor with your country on your account. I honestly warn
you, that if you still persist in your rebellion, "He will sharpen his sword: he
has bent his bow and made it ready. He has prepared for you the instruments of
death—he has ordained his arrows against you!" Psalms 7:12-13. "He has for a
long time been silent, and restrained himself." But he will not always bear with
you! "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; he shall stir up wrath, like a
man of war: he shall cry, yes, roar: he shall prevail against his enemies: he
will destroy and devour at once." Isaiah 42:13-14.

O sinners, are you able to engage the Omnipotent in battle? Will you not rather
fall at his feet, and submit? Methinks the terror of such declarations as these
from his own lips, may confound and overwhelm you. "If I sharpen my glittering
sword, and my hand takes hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to my
enemies, and will reward those who hate me; I will make my arrows drunk with
blood, and my sword shall devour flesh!" Deuteronomy 32:41-42. Oh bring not this
intolerable doom upon yourselves! But submit to the overtures of grace now,
while you may; while God is reconcilable, and even entreats and beseeches you to
be reconciled to him. Then this almighty Enemy will be your almighty Friend; and
his protection will render you secure in all the calamities of life, and through
all eternity! How happy would it be, if war among the nations—might be the
occasion of peace with God! I am sure it is a loud call to this; and oh! that we
may listen to it and obey! But,

Thirdly, The consideration of war as proceeding from the lusts of men, may
excite us to the most zealous endeavors, in our respective characters, to
promote a spiritual reformation. A thorough reformation would be the most
effectual expedient for a lasting peace among mankind, and to put an end to the
ravages and devastations of war. Were their tempers formed upon the model of
Christianity, that humane, gentle, benevolent religion of the harmless Lamb of
God—then they would then live like friends, in the bonds of love; they would
observe the rules of justice towards each other; they would naturally care for
each other’s welfare, and promote it, as that of another self. Therefore, if we
would contribute to the peace of the world, let us labor to reform it. It is but
little, indeed, that you and I can do, in so narrow a sphere, for a general
reformation: but let not that little be undone—at least, let it not be
unattempted.

Let us first begin at our own hearts. Let it be our next care to reform our
families; then let us extend our endeavors to our neighborhood, and to our
country, as far as our influence can reach. Small and unpromising beginnings
have sometimes, under the divine blessing, ripened into a very grand and happy
result.

Twelve fishermen, with the power of God along with them, did more to reform and
save the world, than was ever done before or since! And who knows what happy
effects might follow, if even this small, contemptible company here, should
resolutely set themselves upon promoting a spiritual reformation in our country,
with a humble dependence upon God for success, and exhibiting an example of it
in our own practice. In the name of God, let us unanimously make the attempt.
The attempt is glorious and God-like; and if it should fail of success—it will
not fail of its reward.

Let our lives be a loud testimony against the wickedness of the times; and a
living recommendation of despised religion. Let our children be instructed in
the knowledge of Christ; and let us labor to make them sincere, practical
Christians; let us exhort each other daily, lest any of us be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin, Hebrews 3:13; let us by our conversation and advices
endeavor to bring our friends and neighbors in love with true religion, and to
be solicitous about the concerns of eternity. Let us zealously concur in every
scheme that is likely to have a godly influence upon our country. And oh! let us
earnestly pray for our country; for we can never be sufficiently sensible, that
the Holy Spirit is the only effectual reformer of the world. And, blessed be
God, we are encouraged to hope that he will give his Holy Spirit to those who
ask him, Luke 11:13; which leads me to add,

Fourthly, that the consideration of war as proceeding from the lusts of men—may
make us sensible of our need of an outpouring of the divine Spirit.

"When He comes—He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and
judgment!" John 16:8. I must repeat it again, that the Holy Spirit is the only
effectual reformer of the world! It is He alone who can effectually "reprove the
world of sin." If He is absent—legislators may make laws against crime;
philosophers may reason against vice; ministers may preach against sin;
conscience may remonstrate against evil; the divine law may prescribe and
threaten hell; the gospel may invite and allure to heaven; but all will be in
vain! The strongest arguments, the most melting entreaties, the most alarming
denunciations from God and man, enforced with the highest authority, or the most
compassionate tears—all will have no effect—all will not effectually reclaim one
sinner, nor gain one sincere convert to righteousness! Paul, Apollos, and Peter,
with all their apostolic abilities, can do nothing, without the Holy Spirit.
Paul may plant the seed—and Apollos may water it; but God alone can make it
grow! "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who
makes things grow!" 1 Corinthians 3:6-7. He is all in all.

"For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers," says Isaiah, "until
the Spirit is poured down upon us from heaven!" Isaiah 32:13; Isaiah 32:15; that
is, their country shall be laid waste, and made a mere wilderness of briers and
thorns, by the ravages of war; or the people themselves shall be like briers and
thorns—fruitless, noxious, and troublesome. In this language the prophet Micah
describes the same people: "the best of them is as a brier; the most upright is
sharper than a thorn-hedge." Micah 7:4. Such shall they continue, "until the
Spirit is poured down upon us from heaven!" But when the happy time comes, "Then
the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will become a
lush and fertile forest." Isaiah 32:13-18. That is—this effusion of the Spirit
shall put an end to the desolations of war, and extinguish those flaming
passions, from which it proceeds. This shall introduce the blessing of lasting
and extensive peace: for, as it is there added, "Justice will rule in the
wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. And this righteousness will
bring peace. Quietness and confidence will fill the land forever. My people will
live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest!" This is the blessed
effect of the outpouring of the Spirit; and never will peace and harmony be
established in this jangling world—until this Divine Agent takes the work in
hand.

It is He alone—who can melt down the obstinate hearts of men into love and
peace!

It is He alone—who can soften their rugged and savage tempers, and transform
them into mutual benevolence!

It is He alone—who can quench those lusts that set the world on fire, and
implant the opposite virtues and graces. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness,
goodness, meekness, are mentioned by Paul, as the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians
5:22, because the Spirit alone is the author of them. And if these dispositions
were predominant in the world—what a serene, calm, peaceful region would it be,
undisturbed with the hurricanes of human passions!

"If you bite and devour one another," says the apostle, "take heed that you are
not consumed by one another: this I say then," as the best preservative from
this evil:

"Walk in the Spirit—and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Galatians
5:15-16. O friends! did we all walk in the Spirit—what peace and harmony would
reign in families and in neighborhoods! Were the Spirit of God poured out upon
the nations, we would no more hear the sound of the war trumpet, nor see
garments rolled in blood; but peace would spring up in every country as its
native growth, and allure contending kingdoms into friendship with its
fragrance!

Oh, how much do we need the influence of the blessed Spirit to calm the tumult
of the world, to restrain the ambition and avarice of princes and their
ministers, and to quench the savage thirst of blood! How much do we need him for
a purpose more important still; that is, to make this gospel, this neglected,
inefficacious gospel, which sinners are now hardy enough to trifle with, to make
it powerful to their salvation—to make the weapons of our warfare mighty to the
pulling down the strong-holds of Satan, and to bring every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ! How much do we need him to break the heart
of stone, to enlighten the dark mind, and to comfort the desponding soul! This
kind office, alas! we cannot perform to a dear child or friend. But oh! the
joyful thought! He is able! And how are we to expect this blessing? In what way
is it to be obtained? The answer is, Pray for it. Pray frequently, pray
fervently, "Lord, your Spirit! Oh give me your Spirit! He is the blessing I
need; He is the blessing families, and nations, and the whole race of man,
need." Pray in your retirements, pray in your families, pray in warm devotions,
pray without ceasing—for this great fundamental blessing. O friends! had many
among us done this, the Spirit would not be so much withdrawn; and should many
now do this, he would not be long absent.

Hear what encouragement Christ has given to prayer, in this particular: "Ask—and
it shall be given you; seek—and you shall find; knock—and it shall be opened
unto you. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children—how
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Luke 11:9-13. Therefore, friends, let us earnestly cry to God for his Spirit.
Would you beg for bread—when famishing? Would you beg for life—if condemned to
die? Oh then beg for the Spirit: for this gift is of more importance to you and
the world, than daily bread, or life itself!

I shallconcludewith TWO PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS: The one is, "humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." 1 Peter 5:6.
You have seen that war is both an evidence and effect of the corruption of our
nature, and of the righteous indignation of God against us on this account; and
in both these views—it loudly calls upon you to humble yourselves. The other
advice is but a repetition of what I have already recommended to you, namely:
"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17. No sign could be more encouraging
than to see the praying spirit spreading among us; to see those who have any
influence in heaven through their divine Mediator, using their interest in
behalf of their country. The efficacy of believing prayer is very great. The
encouragements to this duty are many; and I am sure our need of it is peculiarly
urgent; therefore, "continue instant in prayer." Romans 12:12.

It is but little we can do to promote a national reformation, much less an
universal reformation among all nations. The world will sin on still, in spite
of all our endeavors; but, if divine grace concurs—we may do much to reform the
little spot where we dwell. Every man is of some importance in his family, and
perhaps in his neighborhood; and why should we not begin at home? Why should we
not labor to reform the place where we live? Why should we not endeavor to
become the salt of the earth—to season the huge mass of corruption—the light of
the world, to dart some rays of light through the Egyptian darkness which hangs
over our country; and as a city set upon a hill, conspicuous to all around us,
for the beauties of holiness? Oh, let us labor to bring about so happy a
revolution; let us be ambitious to take the precedence in turning to the Lord,
and to be the first fruits of the glorious harvest of righteousness, which we
hope for, before the consummation of all things. To engage you the more, I have
the pleasure to inform you, that the synod of New York, and the ministers in
Connecticut, have appointed, that on the last Thursday in every month, during
these troublesome times, the congregations under their care, should meet
together in little societies, and spend a few hours in united prayer to God for
our country and nation. And I earnestly recommend it to you, my dear people, to
join with your friends in various parts, upon that day, in so seasonable and
important a duty; and who knows what extensive advantage thousands may receive
from the prayers of a few? They will, at least, return with blessings into your
own bosoms!


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