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The Children's Mark James Smith
The children
of God are by nature sinners, even as others; but by grace they are adopted into the Lord's family, and are renewed in the
spirit of their minds. The Holy Spirit becomes their teacher, and God deals with them as with children. They are entitled
. . . They are expected, in return . .
. But the principle mark by which the children
of God are known, is their love to Jesus. They are led to see . . . They love Him for what He IS . . . They love
Him for what He has DONE, in . . . They love His WORD . . . They love His WAYS . . . They love His PEOPLE, and esteem them the excellent of the earth. They may be poor and illiterate; they may be despised and hated by others - but they love them, prefer their company, and cleave to them. They love them, because the image of Christ is stamped upon them - and because they love Jesus. For wherever the image of Jesus is seen, or love to Jesus is manifested - there the love of the believer fixes. "By this we know that we love the children of God - when we love God and keep His commandments." And by this we prove that we love Jesus - when we love His people, His Word, and His ways. All the children of God love Jesus, though for loving Him, they may be called
to . . . They love Him more than these. They can give up these - but they cannot give up Him. They can be happy
without these - but they cannot be happy without Him. Jesus is all their salvation - and all their desire. They are not ashamed
to own Him - nor afraid to suffer for Him. They love Him - though they do not enjoy Him as they wish. Their
daily grief is . . . They want to love Him not only supremely - but intensely; not only really - but with all their hearts and souls! They feel as if they could never love Him enough; and they long for Heaven, that they may love Him without intermission, and without end! Their love to Jesus always produces high valuation and great esteem. They value Jesus above comforts, wealth, yes, life itself! They esteem Him above all in earth or Heaven. Their love to Jesus leads them to place implicit trust in Him; they trust their souls in His hands, and rest their salvation on His blood. They trust His word of promise, and rely on His gracious Providence; believing that Providence will bestow what His promise warrants them to expect. Their love to Jesus issues in cheerful obedience; they not only say, "Lord, Lord;" but they do the things which He commands them. They acquiesce in His will, and desire to obey His Word. They work, not like the slave, from fear; but as children, from love. Reader, do you love Jesus? You cannot be a child of God without loving Him. He says, "If God were your Father - you would love me." If you do not love Christ, God is not your Father; and if God is not your Father - then Satan is! How awful to hear Jesus testify, "You are of your father - the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do!"
Self-Examination James Smith, 1842
Affliction calls us to reflection, self-examination,
and prayer. It is . . . The Lord calls us aside, and says to us, as Jesus to His disciples, "Let us go aside into a desert place and rest awhile." Look back, believer, upon the ways in which your God has led you; review His dealings with you; look at your conduct in reference to Him. Search your ways. What course have you been pursuing prior to this afflictive dispensation? What spirit have you manifested? What have you been habitually aiming at? Try your ways. Try them by the precepts of God's holy word. Try them by your professions; by the examples of holy men; try them by the character you have to sustain. Have you been doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with your God? Has your conduct declared plainly, that you seek a country, a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God? Have you been walking after the Lord - or contrary to Him? Have you been setting your affections on things above - or minding earthly things? Have you been laying up for yourself treasures in Heaven - or laboring more especially for the food that perishes? Do not put away the questions - but search and try your ways. Has the Lord reason to say to you, "O my people, what have I done unto you? How have I wearied you? Testify against me. Have I been a wilderness unto you? a land of darkness? Why have you so backslidden from me? " Turn again to the Lord - He invites you back! He acknowledges that you have done evil things as you could - but He says, "Yet now return unto me." Turn to Him with confession of sin, mourn over your follies and transgressions, and bemoan yourself before Him. Turn to Him with all the heart, not insincerely. He says to you, "My son, give me your heart! This sickness is sent to demand it, surrender it without hesitation, surrender it without reserve. As a Father - I ask your love! As a Savior - I ask your confidence! As a Friend - I, ask your company! As a God - I ask your entire dedication to my service and praise. You have deserved wrath - but you shall find mercy! You have merited condemnation - but you shall obtain remission! You may expect banishment - but you shall be accepted in the Beloved, to the praise of the glory of my grace." He says to you, "I have blotted out your sins as a cloud, and your iniquities as a thick cloud! Return unto me, for I have redeemed you. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God - and he who confesses and forsakes His sin, shall find mercy. Will you not from this time cry unto me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth? Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." What can be more precious? How can mercy be more free? He imposes no hard conditions, He requires no costly sacrifice, He says, "Confess - and be pardoned; ask - and be blessed; receive - and be holy; obey - and be happy." Oh say unto Him, Behold, Lord, I come unto you; for you are the Lord my God. Then you may sing: Instructed now I bow,
Christian Zeal J.C. Ryle, 1878
Zeal is a subject, like many others in religion, most sadly misunderstood. Many would be ashamed to be thought "zealous" Christians. Many are ready to say of zealous people what Festus said of Paul: "They are beside themselves - they are mad!" (Acts 26:24.) But zeal is a subject which no reader of the Bible has any right to pass over. If we make the Bible our rule of faith and practice, we cannot turn away from it. We must look it in the face. What says the Apostle Paul to Titus? "Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2:14.) What says the Lord Jesus to the Laodicean Church? "Be zealous and repent!" (Rev. 3:19.) My object in this paper is to plead the cause of zeal in religion. I believe we ought not to be afraid of it - but rather to love and admire it. I believe it to be a mighty blessing to the world, and the origin of countless benefits to mankind. I want to strike a blow at the lazy, easy, sleepy Christianity of these latter days, which can see no beauty in zeal, and only uses the word "zealot" as a word of reproach. I want to remind Christians that "Zealot" was a name given to one of our Lord Jesus Christ's Apostles, and to persuade them to be zealous men. I ask every reader of this paper to give me his attention while I tell him something about zeal. Listen to me for your own sake - for the sake of the world - for the sake of the Church of Christ. Listen to me, and by God's help I will show you that to be "zealous" is to be wise. I. Let me show, in the first place, what is zeal in religion. II. Let me show, in the second place, when a man can be called rightly zealous in religion? III. Let me show, in the third place,
why it is a good thing for a man to be zealous in religion? I. First of all, I propose to consider this question: "WHAT is zeal in religion?" Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature - which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted - but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others, that they alone deserve to be called "zealous" Christians. This desire is so strong, when it really reigns in a man, that it impels him to make any sacrifice - to go through any trouble - to deny himself to any amount - to suffer, to work, to labor, to toil - to spend himself and be spent, and even to die - if only he can please God and honor Christ. A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed-up in one thing - and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives - or whether
he dies; We all know the habit of mind that makes men great in this world - that makes such men as Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, or Oliver Cromwell, or Napoleon. We know that, with all their faults, they were all men of one thing. They threw themselves into one grand pursuit. They cared for nothing else. They put everything else aside. They counted everything else as second-rate, and of subordinate importance, compared to the one thing that they put before their eyes every day they lived. I say that the same habit of mind applied to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, becomes religious zeal. We know the habit of mind that makes men great in the sciences of this world - that makes such men as Archimedes, or Sir Isaac Newton, or Galileo, or Ferguson the astronomer, or James Watt. All these were men of one thing. They brought the powers of their minds into one single focus. They cared for nothing else beside. And this was the secret of their success. I say that this same habit consecrated to the service of God, becomes religious zeal. We know the habit of mind that makes men rich - that makes men amass mighty fortunes, and leave millions behind them. What kind of people were the bankers, and merchants, and tradesmen, who have left a name behind them, as men who acquired immense wealth and became rich from being poor? They were all men that threw themselves entirely into their business, and neglected everything else for the sake of that business. They gave their first attention, their first thoughts, the best of their time, and the best part of their mind - to pushing forward the transactions in which they were engaged. They were men of one thing. Their hearts were not divided. They devoted themselves, body, soul, and mind to their business. They seemed to live for nothing else. I say that if you turn that habit of mind to the service of Christ, it makes religious zeal. (a) Now this habit of mind - this zeal was the characteristic of all the Apostles. See for example the Apostle Paul. Hear him when he speaks to the Ephesian elders for the last time: "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry that I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24.) Hear him again, when he writes to the Philippians: "This one thing I do; I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13, 14.) See him from the day of his conversion, giving up his brilliant prospects - forsaking all for Christ's sake - and going forth to preach that very Jesus whom he had once despised. See him going to and fro throughout the world from that time - through persecution - through oppression - through opposition - through prisons - through bonds - through afflictions - through things next to death itself, up to the very day when he sealed his faith with his blood, and died at Rome - a martyr for that Gospel which he had so long proclaimed. This was true religious zeal. (b) This again was the characteristic of the early Christians. They were men "everywhere spoken against." (Acts 28:22.) They were driven to worship God in dens and caves of the earth. They often lost everything in the world for their religion's sake. They generally gained nothing - but the cross, persecution, shame, and reproach. But they seldom, very seldom, went back. If they could not dispute - at least they could suffer. If they could not convince their adversaries by argument - at any rate they could die, and prove that they themselves were in earnest. Look at Ignatius cheerfully traveling to the place where he was to be devoured by lions, and saying as he went, "Now I begin to be a disciple of my Master, Christ!" Hear old Polycarp before the Roman Governor, saying boldly, when called upon to deny Christ, "Four-score and six years have I served Christ, neither has He ever offended me in anything - how then can I revile my King?" This was true zeal. (c) This again was the characteristic of Martin Luther. He boldly defied the most powerful hierarchy that the world has ever seen. He unveiled its corruptions with an unflinching hand. He preached the long-neglected truth of justification by faith - in spite of anathemas and excommunications, fast and thickly poured upon him. See him going to the Diet at Worms, and pleading his cause before the Emperor and the Legate, and a host of the men of this world. Hear him saying - when men were dissuading him from going, and reminding him of the dire fate of John Huss, "Though there were a devil under every the on the roofs of Worms, in the name of the Lord I shall go forward!" This was true zeal. (d) This again was the characteristic of our own English Reformers. You have it in our first Reformer, Wickliffe, when he rose up on his sick bed, and said to the Friars, who wanted him to retract all he had said against the Pope, "I shall not die - but live to declare the villainies of the Friars." You have it in Cranmer, dying at the stake, rather than deny Christ's Gospel, holding forth that hand to be first burned which, in a moment of weakness, had signed a recantation, and saying, as he held it in the flames, "This unworthy hand!" You have it in old father Latimer, standing boldly on his faggot, at the age of seventy years, and saying to Ridley, "Courage, brother Ridley! We shall light such a candle this day as, by God's grace, shall never be put out!" This was zeal. (e) This again has been the characteristic of all the greatest missionaries. You see it in Dr. Judson, in Carey, in Morrison, in Schwartz, in Williams, in Brainerd, in Elliott. You see it in none more brightly than in Henry Martyn. Here was a man who had reached the highest academic honors that Cambridge could bestow. Whatever profession he chose to follow, he had the most dazzling prospects of success. He turned his back upon it all. He chose to preach the Gospel to poor benighted heathen! He went forth to an early grave, in a foreign land. He said when he got there and saw the condition of the people, "I could bear to be torn in pieces, if I could but hear the sobs of penitence - if I could but see the eyes of faith directed to the Redeemer!" This was zeal. (f) But let us look away from all earthly examples - and remember that zeal was pre-eminently the characteristic of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. Of Him it was written hundreds of years before He came upon earth, that He was "clad with zeal as with a cloak," and "the zeal for your house has devoured me." And His own words were "My food is to do my Father's will, and to finish His work." (Psalm 69:9; Isaiah 59:17; John 4:34.) Where shall we begin, if we try to give examples of His zeal? Where should we end, if we once began? Trace all the narratives of His life in the four Gospels. Read all the history of what He was from the beginning of His ministry to the end. Surely if there ever was one who was all zeal, it was our great Example - our Head - our High Priest - the great Shepherd of our profession, the Lord Jesus Christ. If these things are so, we should not only beware of running down zeal - but we should also beware of allowing zeal to be run down in our presence. It may be badly directed, and then it becomes a curse - but it may be turned to the highest and best ends, and then it is a mighty blessing. Like fire, it is one of the best of servants - but, like fire also, if not well directed, it may be the worst of masters. Listen not to those people who talk of zeal as weakness and enthusiasm. Listen not to those who see no beauty in missions, who laugh at all attempts at the conversion of souls - who call Societies for sending the Gospel to the world useless - and who look upon City Missions, and District Visiting, and Ragged Schools and Open Air Preaching - as nothing but foolishness and fanaticism. Beware, lest in joining a cry of that kind, you condemn the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Beware lest you speak against Him who has "left us an example, that we should follow His steps." (1 Peter 2:21.) Alas I fear there are many professing Christians who if they had lived in the days when our Lord
and His Apostles walked upon earth - would have called Him and all His followers enthusiasts and fanatics.
There are many, I fear, who have more in common with Annas and Caiaphas - with Pilate and Herod - with Festus and Agrippa
- with Felix and Gallio - than with Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ! II. I pass on now to the second thing I proposed to speak of. WHEN is a man truly zealous in religion? There never was a grace, of which Satan has not made a counterfeit. There never was a good coin issued from the mint, but forgers at once have coined something very like it. It was one of Nero's cruel practices first to sew up Christians in the skins of wild beasts, and then bait them with dogs. It is one of Satan's devices to place distorted copies of the believer's graces before the eyes of men - and so to bring the true graces into contempt. No grace has suffered so much in this way, as zeal. Of none perhaps are there so many shams and counterfeits abroad. We must therefore clear the ground of all rubbish on this question. We must find out when zeal in religion is really good, and true, and of God. (1) If zeal is true, it will be a zeal according to knowledge. It must not be a blind, ignorant zeal. It must be a calm, reasonable, intelligent principle, which can show the warrant of Scripture for every step it takes. The unconverted Jews had zeal. Paul says, "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God - but not according to knowledge." (Romans 10:2.) Saul had zeal when he was a persecuting Pharisee. He says himself, in one of his addresses to the Jews, "I was zealous toward God as you all are this day." (Acts 22:3.) Manasseh had zeal in the days when he was an idolater. The man who made his own children pass through the fire - who gave up the fruit of his body to Moloch, to atone for the sin of his soul - that man had zeal. James and John had zeal when they would have called down fire on a Samaritan village. But our Lord rebuked them. Peter had zeal when he drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. But he was quite wrong. Bonner and Gardiner had zeal when they burned Latimer and Cranmer. Were they not in earnest? Let us do them justice. They were zealous, though it was for an unscriptural religion. The members of the Catholic Inquisition in Spain had zeal when they tortured men, and put them to horrible deaths, because they would not forsake the Gospel. Yes! they marched men and women to the stake in solemn procession, and called it "An act of faith," and believed they were doing God service. The Hindus, who used to lie down before the car of Juggernaut and allow their bodies to be crushed under its wheels - had not they zeal? The Indian widows, who used to burn themselves on the funeral pile of their deceased husbands - had not they zeal? The Roman Catholics, who persecuted Christians to death, and cast down men and women from rocks and precipices, because they were heretics - had not they zeal? The Crusaders - the Jesuits - had they not all zeal? Yes! Yes! I do not deny it. All these had zeal beyond question. They were all zealous. They were all in earnest. But their zeal was not such zeal as God approves - it was not a "zeal according to knowledge." (2) Furthermore, if zeal be true, it will be a zeal from true motives. Such is the subtlety of the heart, that men will often do right things from wrong motives. Amaziah and Joash, kings of Judah, are striking proofs of this. Just so a man may have zeal about things that are good and right - but from second-rate motives, and not from a desire to please God. And such zeal is worth nothing! It is reprobate silver. It is utterly lacking when placed in the balance of God. Man looks only at the action - God looks at the motive. Man only thinks of the quantity of work done - God considers the doer's heart. There is such a thing as zeal from party spirit. It is quite possible for a man to be unwearied in promoting the interests of his own Church or denomination - and yet to have no grace in his own heart - to be ready to die for the peculiar opinions of his own section of Christians - and yet to have no real love to Christ. Such was the zeal of the Pharisees. They "compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he was made, they made him two-fold more the child of Hell than themselves!" (Matthew 23:15.) This zeal is not true. There is such a thing as zeal from mere selfishness. There are times when it is men's interest to be zealous in religion. Power and patronage are sometimes given to religious men. The good things of the world are sometimes to be attained by wearing a cloak of religion. And whenever this is the case - there is no lack of false zeal. Such was the zeal of Joab, when he served David. Such was the zeal of only too many Englishmen in the days of the Commonwealth, when the Puritans were in power. There is such a thing as zeal from the love of praise. Such was the zeal of Jehu, when he was putting down the worship of Baal. Remember how he met Jonadab the son of Rechab, and said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord." (2 Kings 10:16.) Such is the zeal that Bunyan refers to in "Pilgrim's Progress," when he speaks of some who went "for praise" to mount Zion. Some people feed on the praise of their fellow-creatures. They would rather have it from Christians, than have none at all. It is a sad and humbling proof of man's corruption, that there is no degree of self-denial and self-sacrifice to which men may not go, from false motives. It does not follow that a man's religion is true, because he "gives his body to be burned," or because he "gives his goods to feed the poor." The Apostle Paul tells us that a man may do all this - and yet not have true love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3.) It does not follow, because men go into a wilderness, and become hermits - that therefore they know what true self-denial is. It does not follow, because people immure themselves in monasteries and nunneries, or become "sisters of charity," and "sisters of mercy" - that therefore they know what true crucifixion of the flesh and self-sacrifice is in the sight of God. All these things people may do on wrong principles. They may do them from wrong motives - to satisfy a secret pride and love of notoriety - but not from the true motive of zeal for the glory of God. All such zeal, let us understand, is false. It is earthly, and not of Heaven. (3) Furthermore, if zeal is true, it will be a zeal about things according to God's mind, and sanctioned by plain examples in God's Word. Take, for one instance, that highest and best kind of zeal - I mean zeal for our own growth in personal holiness. Such zeal will make a man feel incessantly that sin is the mightiest of all evils - and conformity to Christ the greatest of all blessings. It will make him feel that there is nothing which ought not to be done, in order to keep up a close walk with God. It will make him willing to cut off the right hand, or pluck out the right eye, or make any sacrifice - if only he can attain a closer communion with Jesus. Is not this just what you see in the Apostle Paul? He says, "No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." "I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus!" (1 Corinthians 9:27; Philippians 3:13, 14.) Take, for another instance, zeal for the salvation of souls. Such zeal will make a man burn with desire to enlighten the darkness which covers the souls of multitudes, and to bring every man, woman, and child he sees to the knowledge of the Gospel. Is not this what you see in the Lord Jesus? It is said that He neither gave Himself nor His disciples leisure so much as to eat. (Mark 6:31.) Is not this what you see in the Apostle Paul? He says, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22.) Take, for another instance, zeal against evil practices. Such zeal will make a man hate everything which God hates - such as drunkenness, slavery, or infanticide - and long to sweep it from the face of the earth. It will make him jealous of God's honor and glory, and look on everything which robs him of it as an offence. Is not this what you see in Phinehas, the son of Eleazar? or in Hezekiah and Josiah, when they put down idolatry? Take, for another instance, zeal for maintaining the doctrines of the Gospel. Such zeal will make a man hate unscriptural teaching, just as he hates sin. It will make him regard religious error as a pestilence which must be checked, whatever may be the cost. It will make him scrupulously careful about every jot and tittle of the counsel of God, lest by some omission the whole Gospel should be spoiled. Is not this what you see in Paul at Antioch, when he withstood Peter to the face, and said he was to be blamed? (Galatians 2:11.) These are the kind of things about which true zeal is employed. Such zeal, let us understand, is honorable before God. (4) Furthermore, if zeal is true, it will be a zeal tempered with charity and love. It will not be a bitter zeal. It will not be a fierce enmity against people. It will not be a zeal ready to take the sword, and to smite with carnal weapons. The weapons of true zeal are not carnal - but spiritual. True zeal will hate sin - and yet love the sinner. True zeal will hate heresy - and yet love the heretic. True zeal will long to break the idol - but deeply pity the idolater. True zeal will abhor every kind of wickedness - but labor to do good even to the vilest of transgressors. True zeal will warn as Paul warned the Galatians - and yet feel tenderly, as a nurse or a mother over erring children. It will expose false teachers, as Jesus did the Scribes and Pharisees - and yet weep tenderly, as Jesus did over Jerusalem when He came near to it for the last time. True zeal will be decided, as a surgeon dealing with a diseased limb; but true zeal will be gentle, as one who is dressing the wounds of a brother. True zeal will speak truth boldly, like Athanasius, against the world, and not care who is offended; but true zeal will endeavor, in all its speaking, to "speak the truth in love." (5) Furthermore, if zeal is true, it will be joined to a deep humility. A truly zealous man will be the last to discover the greatness of his own attainments. All that he is and does will come so immensely short of his own desires, that he will be filled with a sense of his own unprofitableness, and amazed to think that God should work by him at all. Like Moses, when he came down from the Mount - he will not know that his face shines. Like the righteous, in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew - he will not be aware of his own good works. Buchanan is one whose praise is in all the churches. He was one of the first to take up the cause of the perishing heathen. He literally spent himself, body and mind, in laboring to arouse sleeping Christians to see the importance of missions. Yet he says in one of his letters, "I do not know that I ever had what Christians call zeal." Whitefield was one of the most zealous preachers of the Gospel the world has ever seen. Fervent in spirit, instant in season and out of season, he was a burning and shining light, and turned thousands to God. Yet he says after preaching for thirty years, "Lord help me to begin to begin." M'Cheyne was one of the greatest blessings that God ever gave to the Church of Scotland. He was a minister insatiably desirous of the salvation of souls. Few men ever did so much good as he did, though he died at the age of twenty-nine. Yet he says in one of his letters, "None but God knows what an abyss of corruption is in my heart. It is astonishing that ever God could bless such a ministry." We may be very sure where there is self-conceit - there is little true zeal. I ask the readers
of this paper particularly to remember the description of true zeal which I have just given: I ask you to remember the description, because of the times in which you live. Beware of supposing that sincerity alone can ever make up true zeal - that earnestness, however ignorant, makes a man a really zealous Christian in the sight of God. There is a generation in these days which makes an idol of what it is pleased to call "earnestness" in religion. These men will allow no fault to be found with an "earnest man." Whatever his theological opinions may be - if he is but an earnest man - that is enough for these people, and we are to ask no more. They tell you we have nothing to do with minute points of doctrine, and with questions of "words and names," about which Christians are not agreed. Is the man an earnest man? If he is - we ought to be satisfied. "Earnestness" in their eyes covers over a multitude of sins. I warn you solemnly to beware of this spurious doctrine. In the name of the Gospel, and in the name of the Bible, I enter my protest against the theory that mere earnestness can make a man a truly zealous and pious man in the sight of God. These idolaters of earnestness would make out that God has given us no standard of truth and error; or that the true standard, the Bible, is so obscure, that no man can find out what truth is by simply going to it. They pour contempt upon the written Word - and therefore they must be wrong. These idolaters of earnestness would make us condemn every witness for the truth, and every opponent of false teaching, from the time of the Lord Jesus down to this day. The Scribes and Pharisees were "in earnest," and yet our Lord opposed them. And shall we dare even to hint a suspicion that they ought to have been let alone? Queen Mary, and Bonner, and Gardiner were "in earnest" in restoring Popery, and trying to put down Protestantism - and yet Ridley and Latimer opposed them to the death. And shall we dare to say that as both parties were "in earnest," both were in the right? Devil-worshipers and idolaters at this day are in earnest - and yet our missionaries labor to expose their errors. And shall we dare to say that "earnestness" would take them to Heaven, and that missionaries to heathen and Roman Catholics had better stay at home? Are we really going to admit that the Bible does not show us what is truth? Are we really going to put a mere vague thing called "earnestness," in the place of Christ, and to maintain that no "earnest" man can be wrong? God forbid that we should give place to such doctrine! I shrink with horror from such theology. I warn men solemnly to beware of
being carried away by it, for it is common and most seductive in this day. Beware of it, for it is only
a new form of an old error - that old error which says that a man, "Can't be wrong - whose life is in the right."
Admire zeal. Seek after zeal. Encourage zeal. But see that your own zeal is true. See that the zeal which you admire
in others is a zeal "according to knowledge" - a zeal from right motives - a zeal that can bring chapter
and verse out of the Bible for its foundation. Any zeal but this is but a false fire. It is not lighted by the Holy Spirit. III. I pass on now to the third thing I proposed to speak of. Let me show, WHY it is good for a man to be zealous. It is certain that God never gave man a commandment which it was not man's interest, as well as duty to obey. He never set a grace before His believing people, which His people will not find it their highest happiness to follow after. This is true of all the graces of the Christian character. Perhaps it is preeminently true in the case of zeal. (a) Zeal is good for
a Christian's own soul. We all know that exercise is good for the health - and that regular employment of our muscles
and limbs promotes our bodily comfort, and increases our bodily vigor. Now that which exercise does for our bodies - zeal
will do for our souls. It will help mightily to promote inward feelings of joy, peace, comfort, and happiness. None have so
much enjoyment of Christ, as those who are . . . Such men live in the full light of the sun, and therefore their hearts are always warm. Such men water others, and therefore they are watered themselves. Their hearts are like a garden daily refreshed by the dew of the Holy Spirit. They honor God, and so God honors them. I would not be mistaken in saying this. I would not appear to speak slightingly of any believer. I know that "the Lord takes pleasure in all His people." (Psalm 119:4.) There is not one, from the least to the greatest - from the smallest child in the kingdom of God, to the oldest warrior in the battle against Satan - there is not one in whom the Lord Jesus Christ does not take great pleasure. We are all His children - and however weak and feeble some of us may be, "as a father pities his children - so does the Lord pity those who love and fear Him." (Psalm 103:13.) We are all the plants of His own planting - and though many of us are poor, weakly exotics, scarcely keeping life together in a foreign soil - yet as the gardener loves that which his hands have reared - so does the Lord Jesus love every poor sinners who trusts in Him. But while I say this, I do also believe that the Lord takes special pleasure in those who are zealous for Him - in those who give themselves body, soul, and spirit, to extend His glory in this world. To them He reveals Himself, as he does not to others. To them He shows things that other men never see. He blesses the work of their hands. He cheers them with spiritual consolations, which others only know by the hearing of the ear. They are men after His own heart, for they are men more like Himself than others. None have such joy and peace in believing - none have such sensible comfort in their religion - none have so much of "Heaven upon earth" Deuteronomy 11:21) - none see and feel so much of the consolations of the Gospel - as those who are zealous, earnest, thorough-going, devoted Christians! For the sake of our own souls, if there were no other reason, it is good to be zealous - to be very zealous in our religion. (b) As zeal is good for ourselves individually - so it is also good for the professing CHURCH of Christ generally. Nothing so much keeps alive true religion - as a leaven of zealous Christians scattered to and fro throughout a Church. Like salt, they prevent the whole body falling into a state of corruption. None but men of this kind can revive Churches, when ready to die. It is impossible to over-estimate the debt that all Christians owe to zeal. The greatest mistake the rulers of a Church can make, is to drive zealous men out of its pale. By so doing they drain out the life-blood of the system, and hasten on ecclesiastical decline and death. Zeal is that grace which God seems to delight to honor. Look through the list of Christians who have been eminent for usefulness. Who are the men that have left the deepest and most indelible marks on the Church of their day? Who are the men that God has generally honored to build up the walls of His Zion, and turn the battle from the gate? Not so much men of learning and literary talents - as men of zeal. Latimer was not such a deeply-read scholar as Cranmer or Ridley. He could not quote Fathers from memory, as they did. He stuck to his Bible. Yet it is not too much to say that no English reformer made such a lasting impression on the nation as old Latimer did. And what was the reason? His simple zeal. Richard Baxter, the Puritan, was not equal to some of his contemporaries in intellectual gifts. It is no disparagement to say that he does not stand on a level with Manton or Owen. Yet few men probably exercised so wide an influence on the generation in which he lived. And what was the reason? His burning zeal. Whitefield, and Wesley, and Berridge, and Venn were inferior in mental attainments to Bishops Butler and Watson. But they produced effects on the people of this country which fifty Butlers and Watsons would probably never have produced. They saved the Church of England from ruin. And what was one secret of their power? Their zeal. These men stood forward at turning points in the history of the Church. They bore unmoved, storms of opposition and persecution. They were not afraid to stand alone. They cared not, though their motives were misinterpreted. They counted all things but loss for the truth's sake. They were each and all and every one, eminently men of one thing - and that one thing was to advance the glory of God, and to maintain His truth in the world. They were all fire, and so they lighted others. They were wide awake, and so they awakened others. They were all alive, and so they quickened others. They were always working, and so they shamed others into working too. They came down upon men, like Moses from the mount. They shone as if they had been in the presence of God. They carried to and fro with them, as they walked their course through the world, something of the atmosphere and savor of Heaven itself. There is a
sense in which it may be said that zeal is contagious. Nothing is more useful to the professors of Christianity,
than to see a real live Christian - a thoroughly zealous man of God. He opens their eyes. It may be sadly true that "one sinner destroys much good;" but it is also a blessed truth, that one zealous Christian can do much good. Yes, one single zealous man in a town - one zealous man in a congregation - one zealous man in a society - one zealous man in a family, may be a great, a most extensive blessing. How many machines of usefulness such a man sets a going! How much Christian activity he often calls into being, which would otherwise have slept! How many fountains he opens, which would otherwise have been sealed! Truly there is a deep mine of truth in those words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: "Your zeal has stirred up most of them!" (2 Corinthians 9:2.) (c) But, as zeal is good for the Church and for individuals, so zeal is good for the WORLD. Where would the Missionary work be, if it were not for zeal? Where would our City Missions and Ragged Schools be, if it were not for zeal? Where would our District-Visiting and Pastoral Aid Societies be, if it were not for zeal? Where would our Societies for rooting out sin and ignorance, for finding out the dark places of the earth, and recovering poor lost souls be? Where would all these glorious instruments for good be - if it were not for Christian zeal? Zeal called these institutions into being, and zeal keeps them at work when they have begun. Zeal gathers a few despised men, and makes them the nucleus of many a powerful Society. Zeal keeps up the collections of a Society when it is formed. Zeal prevents men from becoming lazy and sleepy when the machine is large and begins to get favor from the world. Zeal raises up men to go forth, putting their lives in their hands, like Moffatt and Williams in our own day. Zeal supplies their place when they are gathered into the garner, and taken home. What would become of the ignorant masses who crowd the lanes and alleys
of our overgrown cities, if it were not for Christian zeal? Governments can do nothing with them - they cannot make laws that
will meet the evil. The vast majority of professing Christians have no eyes to see it - like the priest and Levite, they pass
by on the other side. But zeal has . . . Zeal does not stand poring over difficulties - but simply says, "Here are souls perishing - and something shall be done!" Zeal does not shrink back because there are Anakim (giants) in the way - it looks over their heads, like Moses on Pisgah, and says, "The land shall be possessed." Zeal does not wait for company, and tarry until good works are fashionable - it goes forward like a forlorn hope, and trusts that others will follow by and bye. Ah! the world little knows what a debt it owes to Christian zeal. How much crime it has checked! How much sedition it has prevented! How much public discontent it has calmed! How much obedience to law and love of order it has produced! How many souls it has saved! Yes! and I believe we little know what might be done - if every Christian was a zealous man! How much if ministers were more like Bickersteth, and Whitefield, and M'Cheyne! How much if laymen were more like Howard, and Wilberforce, and Thornton, and Nasmith, and George Moore! Oh, for the world's sake, as well as your own - resolve, labor, strive to be a zealous Christian! Let every one who professes to be a Christian, beware of checking zeal. Seek it. Cultivate it. Try to blow up the fire in your own heart, and the hearts of others - but never, never check it. Beware of throwing cold water on zealous souls, whenever you meet with them. Beware of nipping in the bud, this precious grace when first it shoots. If you are a parent, beware of checking it in your children - if you are a husband, beware of checking it in your wife - if you are a brother, beware of checking it in your sisters - and if you are a minister, beware of checking it in the members of your congregation. It is a shoot of Heaven's own planting. Beware of crushing it, for Christ's sake. Zeal may make mistakes. Zeal may need directing. Zeal may need guiding, controlling, and advising. Like the elephants on ancient fields of battle - it may sometimes do injury to its own side. But zeal does not need damping in a wretched, cold, corrupt, miserable world like this! Zeal, like John Knox pulling down the Scotch monasteries, may hurt the feelings of narrow-minded and sleepy Christians. It may offend the prejudices of those old-fashioned religionists who hate everything new, and (like those who wanted soldiers and sailors to go on wearing pigtails) abhor all change. But zeal in the end will be justified by its results. Zeal, like John Knox, in the long run of life - will do infinitely more good than harm. There is little danger of there ever being too much zeal for the glory of God. God forgive those who think there is!! You know little of human nature. You forget that sickness is far more contagious than health - and that it is much easier to catch a cold than impart a glow. Depend upon it, the Church seldom needs a bridle - but often needs a spur. It seldom needs to be checked - it often needs to be urged on. And now, in conclusion, let me try to APPLY this subject to the conscience of every person who reads this paper. It is a warning subject, an arousing subject, an encouraging subject - according to the state of our several hearts. I wish, by God's help, to give every reader his portion. (1) First of all, let me offer a warning to all who make no decided profession of true religion. There are thousands and tens of thousands, I fear, in this condition. If you are one, the subject before you is full of solemn warning. Oh, that the Lord in mercy may incline your heart to receive it! I ask you, then, in all affection: Where is your zeal in religion? With the Bible before me, I may well be bold in asking. But with your life before me, I may well tremble as to the answer. I ask again: Where is your zeal for the glory of God? Where is your zeal for extending Christ's Gospel through an evil world? Zeal, which was the characteristic of the Lord Jesus; zeal, which is the characteristic of the angels; zeal, which shines forth in all the brightest Christians - where is your zeal, unconverted reader? Where is your zeal indeed! You know well it is nowhere at all; you know well you see no beauty in it; you know well it is scorned and cast out as evil by you and your companions; you know well it has no place, no portion, no standing ground, in the religion of your soul. It is not perhaps that you know not what it is to be zealous in a certain way. You have zeal - but it is all misapplied. It is all earthly - it is all about the things of time. It is not zeal for the glory of God - it is not zeal for the salvation of souls. Yes, many a man has zeal for the newspaper - but not for the Bible; zeal for the daily reading of the Times - but no zeal for the daily reading of God's blessed Word. Many a man has zeal for the account book and the business book - but no zeal about the Book of Life and the last great account; zeal about silver and gold - but no zeal about the unsearchable riches of Christ. Many a man has zeal about his earthly concerns, his family, his pleasures, his daily pursuits - but no zeal about God, and Heaven, and eternity! If this is the state of anyone who is reading this paper - awake, I do beseech you, to see your gross folly! You cannot live forever. You are not ready to die. You are utterly unfit for the company of saints and God. Awake! Be zealous and repent! Awake to see the harm you are doing! You are putting arguments in the hands of infidels by your shameful coldness. You are pulling down - as fast as ministers build. You are helping the devil! Awake! Be zealous, and repent! Awake to see your childish inconsistency! What can be more worthy of zeal - than eternal things, than the glory of God, than the salvation of souls? Surely if it is good to labor for rewards that are temporal - it is a thousand times better to labor for those that are eternal. Awake! Ne zealous and repent! Go and read that long-neglected Bible. Take up that blessed Book which you have, and perhaps never use. Read that New Testament through. Do you find nothing there to make you zealous - to make you earnest about your soul? Go and look at the cross of Christ. Go and see how the Son of God there shed His precious blood - how He suffered and groaned, and died - how He poured out His soul as an offering for sin, in order that sinners might not perish - but have eternal life. Go and look at the cross of Christ, and never rest until you feel some zeal for your own soul - some zeal for the glory of God - some zeal for extension of the Gospel throughout the world. Once more I say, awake! Be zealous, and repent! (2) Let me, in the next place, say something to arouse those who make a profession of being decided Christians, and are yet lukewarm in their practice. There are only too many, I regret to say, in this state of soul. If you are one, there is much in this subject which ought to lead you to searchings of heart. Let me speak to your conscience. To you also I desire to put the question in all brotherly affection, Where is your zeal? Where is your zeal for the glory of God, and for extending the gospel throughout the world? You well know it is very low. You well know that your zeal is a little feeble glimmering spark, that just lives, and no more - it is like a thin "ready to die." (Rev. 3:2.) Surely, there is a fault somewhere, if this is the case. This state of things ought not to be. You, the child of God; you, redeemed at so glorious a price; you, ransomed with such precious blood; you, who are an heir of glory such as no tongue ever yet told, or eye saw - surely you ought to be a man of another kind. Surely your zeal ought not to be so small. I deeply feel that this is a painful subject to touch upon. I do it with reluctance, and with a constant remembrance of my own unprofitableness. Nevertheless, truth ought to be spoken. The plain truth is, that many believers in the present day seem so dreadfully afraid of doing harm - that they hardly ever dare to do good. There are many who are fruitful in objections - but barren in actions. Truly, in looking around the Church of Christ, a man might sometimes think that God's kingdom had come, and God's will was being done upon earth - so small is the zeal that some believers show. It is vain to deny it. I need not go far for evidence. I point to Societies for doing good to the heathen, the colonies, and the dark places of our own land, languishing and standing still for lack of active support. I ask, Is this zeal? I point to thousands of pitiful donations which are never missed by the givers - and yet make up the sum of their Christian liberality. I ask, Is this zeal? I point to false doctrine allowed to grow up in churches and families without an effort being made to check it, while so-called believers look on, and content themselves with wishing it was not so. I ask, Is this zeal? Would the apostles have been satisfied with such a state of things? We know they would not. If the conscience of anyone who reads this paper pleads guilty to any participation in the short-comings I have spoken of, I call upon him, in the name of the Lord - to awake, be zealous, and repent. Let not zeal be confined to banks, and shops, and counting houses. Let us see the same zeal in the Church of Christ. Let not zeal be abundant to lead forlorn hopes, or get gold from Australia, or travel over thick ribbed ice in voyages of discovery - but defective to send the Gospel to the heathen, or to pluck Roman Catholics like brands from the fire, or to enlighten the dark places of the colonies of this great land. Never were there such doors of usefulness opened - never were there so many opportunities for doing good. I loathe that squeamishness which refuses to help Christian ministries - if there is a blemish about the instrument by which the work is carried on. At this rate we might never do anything at all! Let us resist the feeling, if we are tempted by it. It is one of Satan's devices. It is better to work with feeble instruments - than not to work at all. At all events, try to do something for God and Christ - something against ignorance and sin. Give, collect, teach, exhort, visit, pray - according as God enables you. Only make up your mind that all can do something, and resolve that by you, at any rate, something shall be done. If you have only one talent - do not bury it in the ground. Try to live - so as to be missed. There is far more to be done in twelve hours - than most of us have ever yet done on any day in our lives. Think of the precious souls which are perishing - while you are sleeping. Be taken up with your inward conflicts, if you will. Go on anatomizing your own feelings and poring over your own corruptions, if you are so determined. But remember all this time, that souls are going to Hell, and you might do something to save them by working, by giving, by writing, by begging, and by prayer. Oh, awake! be zealous, and repent! Think of the shortness of time. You will soon be gone. You will have no opportunity for works of mercy in the eternal world. In Heaven there will be no ignorant people to instruct, and no unconverted to reclaim. Whatever you do - must be done now. Oh, when are you going to begin? Awake! be zealous, and repent. Think of the devil, and his zeal to do harm. It was a solemn saying of old Bernard when he said that "Satan would rise up in judgment against some people at the last day, because he had shown more zeal to ruin souls than they had to save them." Awake! be zealous, and repent! Think of your Savior, and all His zeal for you. Think of Him in Gethsemane and on Calvary, shedding His blood for sinners. Think of His life and death - His sufferings and His doings. This He has done for you. What are you doing for Him? Oh, resolve that for the time to come you will spend and be spent for Christ! Awake! be zealous and repent! (3) Last of all, let me encourage all readers of this paper who are truly zealous Christians. I have but one request to make, and that is that you will persevere. I beseech you to hold fast your zeal, and never let it go. I beseech you never to go back from your first works, never to leave you first love, never to let it be said of you that your first things were better than your last. Beware of cooling down. You have only to be lazy, and to sit still - and you will soon lose all your warmth! You will soon become another man from what you are now. Oh, do not think this a needless exhortation! It may be very true that wise young believers are very rare. But it is no less true that zealous old believers are very rare also. Never allow yourself to think that you can do too much, that you can spend and be spent too much for Christ's cause. For one man that does too much - I will show you a thousand who do not do enough! Rather, think that "the night comes, when no man can work "(John 9:4) - and give, collect, teach, visit, work, pray - as if you were doing it for the last time. Lay to heart the words of that noble-minded man, who said, when told that he ought to rest a little, "What should we rest for? have we not all eternity to rest in?" Fear not the reproach of men. Faint not because you are sometimes abused. Heed it not if you are sometimes called bigot, enthusiast, fanatic, madman, and fool. There is nothing disgraceful in these titles. They have often been given to the best and wisest of men. If you are only to be zealous when you are praised for it, if the wheels of your zeal must be oiled by the world's commendation - then your zeal will be but short-lived. Care nothing for the praise or frown of man. There is but one thing worth caring for - and that is the praise of God. There is but one question worth asking about our actions, "How will they look in the day of judgment?"
THE WORLD J.C.
Ryle, 1878 "Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 The text which heads this page touches a subject of vast importance in religion. That subject is the great duty of separation from the world. This is the point which Paul had in view when he wrote to the Corinthians, "Come out - be separate." The subject is one which demands the best attention of all who profess and call themselves Christians. In every age of the Church, separation from the world has always been one of the grand evidences of a work of grace in the heart. He who has been really born of the Spirit, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus, has always endeavored to "come out from the world," and live a separate life. They who have only had the name of Christian, without the reality, have always refused to "come out and be separate" from the world. The subject perhaps
was never more important than it is at the present day. There is a widely-spread desire to make things pleasant in
religion - to saw off the corners and edges of the cross, and to avoid, as far as possible, self-denial. On every
side we hear professing Christians declaring loudly that we must not be "narrow and exclusive," and that there is
no harm in many things which the holiest saints of old thought bad for their souls. That we may . . . There are four points which I shall try to show my readers, in examining this mighty subject. I. First, I shall try to show that the world is a source of great danger to the soul. II. Secondly, I shall try to show what is not meant by separation from the world. III. Thirdly, I shall try to show in what real separation from the world consists. IV. Fourthly, I shall try to show the secret of victory over the world. And now, before I go a single step further, let me warn every reader of this paper that he will never understand this subject, unless he first understands what a true Christian is. If you are one of those unhappy people who think everybody is a Christian who goes to a place of worship, no matter how he lives, or what he believes - I fear you will care little about separation from the world. But if you read your Bible, and are in earnest about your soul - you will know that there are two classes of professing Christians - converted and unconverted. You will know that what the Jews were among the nations under the Old Testament - this the true Christian is meant to be under the New. You will understand what I mean when I say that true Christians are meant, in like manner, to be a "peculiar people" under the Gospel, and that there must be a difference between believers and unbelievers. To you, therefore, I make a special appeal this day. While many avoid the subject of separation from the world, and many positively hate it; and many are puzzled by it - give me your attention while I try to show you "the thing as it is." I. First of all, let me show that the world is a source of great DANGER to the soul. By "the world," be it remembered, I do not mean the material world on the face of which we are living and moving. He who pretends to say that anything which God has created in the Heavens above, or the earth beneath, is in itself harmful to man's soul - says that which is unreasonable and absurd. On the contrary, the sun, moon, and stars - the mountains, the valleys, and the plains - the seas, lakes, and rivers - the animal and vegetable creation - all are in themselves "very good." (Genesis 1:31.) All are full of lessons of God's wisdom and power, and all proclaim daily, "The hand that made us is Divine!" The idea that "matter" is in itself sinful and evil - is a foolish heresy. When I speak of "the world" in
this paper, I mean those people who think only, or chiefly, of this world's things, and neglect the world to come - the people
who are always thinking . . . It is of them and their ways, habits, customs, opinions, practices, tastes, aims, spirit, and tone - that I am speaking when I speak of "the world." This is the world from which Paul tells us to "Come out - and be separate." Now that "the world," in this sense, is an enemy to the soul, the well-known Church Catechism teaches us at its very beginning. It tells us that there are three things which a Christian is bound to renounce and give up, and three enemies which he ought to fight with and resist. These three are the flesh, the devil, and "the world." All three are terrible foes, and all three must be overcome if we would be saved. But, whatever men please to think about the Catechism, we shall do well to turn to the testimony of Holy Scripture. If the texts I am about to quote do not prove that the world is a source of danger to the soul, there is no meaning in words. (a) Let us hear what the apostle Paul says: "Be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2.) "We have received, not the spirit of the world - but the Spirit which is of God." (1 Corinthians 2:12.) "Christ gave Himself for us, that He might deliver us from this present evil world." (Galatians 1:4.) "In time past you walked according to the course of this world." (Ephesians 2:2.) "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." (2 Tim. 4:10.) (b) Let us hear what the apostle James says: "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27.) "Don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4.) (c) Let us hear what the apostle John says: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world - the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father - but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he who does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:15-17.) "The world knows us not, because it knew Him not." (1 John 3:1.) "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them." (1 John 4:5.) "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world." (1 John 5:4.) "We know that we are of God - and the whole world lies in wickedness." (1 John 5:19.) (d) Let us hear, lastly, what the Lord Jesus Christ says: "The cares of this world choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful." (Matthew 13:22.) "You are of this world - I am not of this world." (John 8:23.) "The Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him." (John 14:17.) "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." (John 15:18.) "If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world - but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19.) "In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33.) "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (John 17:16.) I make no comment on these twenty-one texts. They speak for themselves. If anyone can read them carefully, and fail to see that "the world" is an enemy to the Christian's soul, and that there is an utter opposition between the friendship of the world and the friendship of Christ - he is past the reach of argument, and it is a waste of time to reason with him. To my eyes they contain a lesson as clear as the sun at noon day. I turn from Scripture to matters of fact and
experience. I appeal to any old Christian who keeps his eyes open, and knows what is going on in the Churches. I
ask him whether it be not true that nothing damages the cause of religion so much as "the world"? It is not open
sin, or open unbelief, which robs Christ of His professing servants - so much as . . . The world is the great rock on which thousands of young people are continually making shipwreck. They do not object to any article of the Christian faith. They do not deliberately choose evil, and openly rebel against God. They hope somehow to get to Heaven at last; and they think it proper to have some religion. But they cannot give up their idol - they must have the world. And so after running well and bidding fair for Heaven, while boys and girls - they turn aside when they become men and women, and go down the broad way which leads to destruction. They begin with Abraham and Moses - -and end with Demas and Lot's wife. The last day alone will prove how many souls "the world" has slain. Hundreds will be found to have been trained in religious families, and to have known the Gospel from their very childhood - and yet missed Heaven. They left the harbor of home with bright prospects, and launched forth on the ocean of life with a father's blessing and a mother's prayers, and then got out of the right course through the seductions of the world, and ended their voyage in shallows and in misery! It is a sorrowful story to tell; but, alas, it is only too common. I cannot wonder that Paul says, "Come out - and be separate." II. Let me now try to show what does NOT constitute separation from the world. The point is one which requires clearing up. There are many mistakes made about it. You will sometimes see sincere and well-meaning Christians doing things which God never intended them to do, in the matter of separation from the world, and honestly believing that they are in the path of duty. Their mistakes often do great harm. They give occasion to the wicked to ridicule all religion, and supply them with an excuse for having none. They cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of, and add to the offence of the cross. I think it a plain duty to make a few remarks on the subject. We must never forget that it is possible to be very much in earnest, and to think we are "doing God service" - when in reality, we are making some great mistake. There is such a thing as "zeal not according to knowledge." (John 16:2, Romans 10:2.) There are few things about which it is so important to pray for a right judgment and sanctified common sense, as about separation from the world. (a) When Paul said, "Come out - and be separate," he did not mean that Christians ought to give up all worldly callings, trades, professions, and business. He did not forbid men to be soldiers, sailors, lawyers, doctors, merchants, bankers, shop-keepers, or tradesmen. There is not a word in the New Testament to justify such a line of conduct. Cornelius the centurion, Luke the physician, Zenas the lawyer, are examples to the contrary. Idleness is in itself a sin. A solemn calling is a remedy against temptation. "If any man will not work - neither shall he eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10.) To give up any business of life, which is not necessarily sinful, to the wicked and the devil, from fear of getting harm from it - is lazy, cowardly conduct. The right plan is to carry our religion into our business, and not to give up business under the specious pretense that it interferes with our religion. (b) When Paul said, "Come out - and be separate," he did not mean that Christians ought to decline all fellowship with unconverted people, and refuse to go into their society. There is no warrant for such conduct in the New Testament. Our Lord and His disciples did not refuse to go to a marriage feast, or to sit at a Pharisee's table. Paul does not say, "If any of those who believe not bid you to a feast," you must not go - but only tells us how to behave if we do go. (1 Corinthians 10:27.) Moreover, it is a dangerous thing to begin judging people too closely, and settling who are converted and who are not, and what society is godly and what ungodly. We are sure to make mistakes. Above all, such a course of life would cut us off from many opportunities of doing good. If we carry our Master with us wherever we go - who can tell but we may "save some," and get no harm? (1 Corinthians 9:22.) (c) When Paul says, "Come out - and be separate," he did not mean that Christians ought to take no interest in anything on earth except religion. To neglect science, art, literature, and politics, to read nothing which is not directly spiritual - to know nothing about what is going on among mankind, and never to look at a newspaper - to care nothing about the government of one's country, and to be utterly indifferent as to the people who guide its counsels and make its laws - all this may seem very right and proper in the eyes of some people. But I think that it is an idle, selfish neglect of duty. Paul knew the value of good government, as one of the main helps to our "living a quiet and peaceable life in godliness and honesty." (1 Tim. 2:2.) Paul was not ashamed to read heathen writers, and to quote their words in his speeches and writings. Paul did not think it beneath him to show an acquaintance with the laws and customs and callings of the world, in the illustrations he gave from them. Christians who plume themselves on their ignorance of secular things are precisely the Christians who bring religion into contempt! I knew the case of a blacksmith who would not come to hear his clergyman preach the Gospel, until he found out that he knew the properties of iron. Then he came. (d) When Paul said, "Come out - and be separate," he did not mean that Christians should be singular, eccentric, and peculiar in their dress, manners, demeanor, and voice. Anything which attracts notice in these matters is most objectionable, and ought to be carefully avoided. To wear clothes of such a color, or made in such a fashion, that when you go into company - every eye is fixed on you, and you are the object of general observation - is an enormous mistake. It gives occasion to the wicked to ridicule religion, and looks self-righteous and affected. There is not the slightest proof that our Lord and His apostles, and Priscilla, and Persis, and their companions, did not dress and behave just like others in their own ranks of life. On the other hand, one of the many charges our Lord brings against the Pharisees was that of "making broad their phylacteries, and enlarging the borders of their garments," so as to be "seen by men." (Matthew 23:5.) True sanctity and sanctimoniousness - are entirely different things. Those who try to show their unworldliness by wearing conspicuously ugly clothes, or by speaking in a whining, snuffling voice, or by affecting an unnatural slavishness, humility, and gravity of manner - miss their mark altogether, and only give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. (e) When Paul said, "Come out - and be separate," he did not mean that Christians ought to retire from the company of mankind, and shut themselves up in solitude. It is one of the crying errors of the Church of Rome, to suppose that eminent holiness is to be attained by such monkish practices. It is the unhappy delusion of the whole army of monks, nuns, and hermits. Separation of this kind is not according to the mind of Christ. He says distinctly in His last prayer, "I pray not that You should take them out of the world - but that You should keep them from the evil." (John 17:15.) There is not a word in the Acts or Epistles to recommend such a separation. True believers are always represented as mixing in the world, doing their duty in it, and glorifying God by patience, meekness, purity, and courage in their several positions - and not by cowardly desertion of them. Moreover, it is foolish to suppose that we can keep the world and the devil out of our hearts by going into holes and corners! True religion and unworldliness are best seen, not in timidly forsaking the post which God has allotted to us - but in manfully standing our ground, and showing the power of grace to overcome evil. (f) Last - but not least, when Paul said, "Come out - and be separate," he did not mean that Christians ought to withdraw from every Church in which there are unconverted members, or to refuse to worship in company with any who are not believers, or to keep away from the Lord's table if any ungodly people go up to it. This is a very common but a very grievous mistake. There is not a text in the New Testament to justify it, and it ought to be condemned as a pure invention of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself deliberately allowed Judas Iscariot to be an apostle for three years, and gave him the Lord's Supper. He has taught us, in the parable of the wheat and tares, that converted and unconverted will be "together until the harvest," and cannot be divided. (Matthew 13:30.) In His Epistles to the Seven Churches, and in all Paul's Epistles, we often see faults and corruptions mentioned and reproved; but we are never told that they justify desertion of the assembly, or neglect of ordinances. In short, we must not look for a perfect Church, a perfect congregation, and a perfect company of communicants, until the marriage supper of the Lamb. If others are unworthy Churchmen, or unworthy partakers of the Lord's Supper - the sin is theirs and not ours: we are not their judges. But to separate ourselves from Church assemblies, and deprive ourselves of Christian ordinances, because others use them unworthily - is to take up a foolish, unreasonable, and unscriptural position. It is not the mind of Christ, and it certainly is not Paul's idea of separation from the world. I commend these six points to the calm consideration of all who wish to understand the subject of separation from the world. About each and all of them, far more might be said than I have space to say in this paper. About each and all of them, I have seen so many mistakes made, and so much misery and unhappiness caused by those mistakes - that I want to put Christians on their guard. I want them not to take up positions hastily, in the zeal of their first love, which they will afterwards be obliged to give up. I leave this part of my subject with two pieces of advice, which I offer especially to young Christians. I advise them, for one thing, if they really desire to come out from the world, to remember that the shortest path is not always the path of duty. To quarrel with all our unconverted relatives, to "cut" all our old friends, to withdraw entirely from mixed society, to live an exclusive life, to give up every act of courtesy and civility in order that we may devote ourselves to the direct work of Christ - all this may seem very right, and may satisfy our consciences and save us trouble. But I think that it is often a selfish, lazy, self-pleasing line of conduct - and that the true cross and true line of duty, may be to adopt a very different course of action. I advise them, for another thing, if they want to come out from the world, to watch against a sour, morose, uncongenial, gloomy, unpleasant, bearish demeanor - and never to forget that there is such a thing as "winning without the Word." (1 Peter 3:1.) Let them strive to show unconverted people that their principles, whatever may be thought of them - make them cheerful, amiable, good-tempered, unselfish, considerate for others, and ready to take an interest in everything that is innocent and of good report. In short, let there be no needless separation between us and the world. In many things, as I shall soon show, we must be separate; but let us take care that it is separation of the right sort. If the world is offended by such separation, we cannot help it. But let us never give the world occasion to say that our separation is foolish, senseless, ridiculous, unreasonable, uncharitable, and unscriptural. III. In the third place, I shall try to show what true separation from the world really is. I take up this branch of my subject with a very deep sense of its difficulty. That there is a certain line of conduct which all true Christians ought to pursue with respect to "the world, and the things of the world," is very evident. The texts already quoted make that plain. The key to the solution of that question lies in the word "separation." But in what separation consists, it is not easy to show. On some points it is not hard to lay down particular rules; on others it is impossible to do more than state general principles, and leave everyone to apply them according to his position in life. This is what I shall now attempt to do. (a) First and foremost, he who desires to "come out from the world, and be separate," must steadily and habitually refuse to be guided by the world's standard of right and wrong. The rule of the bulk of mankind is . . . The true Christian will never be content with such a rule as that. He will simply ask: What do the Scriptures say? What is written in the Word of God? He will maintain firmly that nothing can be right - which God says is wrong; and that the customs and opinions of his neighbors, can never make that to be a trifle - which God calls serious; or that to be no sin - which God calls sin. He will never think lightly of such sins as drinking, swearing, gambling, lying, cheating, swindling, or breach of the seventh commandment, because they are common, and many say, "Where is the mighty harm?" That miserable argument, "Everybody thinks so, everybody says so, everybody does it, everybody will be there" - goes for nothing with him. Is it condemned or approved by the Bible? That is his only question. If he stands alone in the parish, or town, or congregation - he will not go against the Bible. If he has to come out from the crowd, and take a position by himself - he will not flinch from it, rather than disobey the Bible. This is genuine Scriptural separation. (b) He who desires to "come out from the world and be separate," must be very careful how he spends his leisure time. This is a point which at first sight appears of little importance. But the longer I live, the more I am persuaded that it deserves most serious attention. Honorable occupation and honest business are a great safeguard to the soul, and the time that is spent upon them is comparatively the time of our least danger. The devil finds it hard to get a hearing from a busy man. But when the day's work is over, and the time of leisure arrives - then comes the hour of temptation. I do not hesitate to warn every man who wants to live a Christian life, to be very careful how he spends his evenings. Evening is the time when we are naturally disposed to unbend after the labors of the day; and evening is the time when the Christian is too often tempted to lay aside his armor, and consequently brings trouble on his soul. "Then comes the devil," and with the devil - the world. Evening is the time when the poor man is tempted to go to the ale-house, and fall into sin. Evening is the time when the tradesman too often goes to the Inn parlor, and sits for hours hearing and seeing things which do him no good. Evening is the time which the higher classes choose for dancing, card playing, and the like; and consequently never get to bed until late at night. If we love our souls, and would not become worldly - let us mind how we spend our evenings! Tell me how a man spends his evenings - and I can generally tell what his character is. The true Christian will do well to make it a settled rule never to waste his evenings. Whatever others may do, let him resolve always to make time for quiet, calm thought, for Bible-reading, and prayer. The rule will prove a hard one to keep. It may bring on him the charge of being unsocial and over strict. Let him not mind this. Anything of this kind is better than habitual late hours in company, hurried prayers, slovenly Bible reading, and a bad conscience. Even if he stands alone in his parish or town, let him not depart from his rule. He will find himself in a minority, and be thought a peculiar man. But this is genuine Scriptural separation. (c) He who desires to "come out from the world and be separate," must steadily and habitually determine not to be swallowed up and absorbed in the business of the world. A true Christian will strive to do his duty in whatever station or position he finds himself, and to do it well. Whether statesman, or merchant, or banker, or lawyer, or doctor, or tradesman, or farmer - he will try to do his work so that no one can find occasion for fault in him. But he will not allow it to get between him and Christ. If he finds his business beginning to eat up his Sundays, his Bible-reading, his private prayer, and to bring clouds between him and Heaven - he will say, "Stand back! There is a limit. Hitherto you may go - but no further. I cannot sell my soul for place, fame, or gold!" Like Daniel, he will make time for his communion with God, whatever the cost may be. Like Havelock, he will deny himself anything rather than lose his Bible-reading and his prayers. In all this, he will find he stands almost alone. Many will laugh at him, and tell him they get on well enough without being so strict and particular. He will heed it not. He will resolutely hold the world at arm's length, whatever present loss or sacrifice it may seem to entail. He will choose rather to be less rich and prosperous in this world, than not to prosper about his soul. To stand alone in this way, to run counter to the ways of others, requires immense self-denial. But this is genuine Scriptural separation. (d) He who desires to "come out from the world and be separate" must steadily abstain from all amusements and recreations which are inseparably connected with sin. This is a hard subject to handle, and I approach it with pain. But I do not think I would be faithful to Christ, and faithful to my office as a minister - if I did not speak very plainly about it, in considering such a matter as separation from the world. Let me, then, say honestly, that I cannot understand how anyone who makes any pretense to real vital religion, can allow himself to attend races and theaters. Conscience, no doubt, is a strange thing, and every man must judge for himself and use his liberty. One man sees no harm in things which another regards with abhorrence as evil. I can only give my own opinion for what it is worth, and entreat my readers to consider seriously what I say. That to look at horses running at full speed is in itself perfectly harmless, no sensible man will pretend to deny. That many plays, such as Shakespeare's, are among the finest productions of the human intellect, is equally undeniable. But all this is beside the question. The question is whether horse-racing and theaters, as they are now conducted in England, are not inseparably bound up with things that are downright wicked. I assert without hesitation, that they are so bound up. I assert that the breach of God's commandments so invariably accompanies the race and the play, that you cannot go to the amusement without helping sin. I entreat all professing Christians to remember this, and to take heed what they do. I warn them plainly that they have no right to shut their eyes to facts which every intelligent person knows, for the mere pleasure of seeing a horse-race, or listening to good actors or actresses. I warn them that they must not talk of separation from the world, if they can lend their sanction to amusements which are invariably connected with gambling, betting, drunkenness, and immorality. These are the things "which God will judge." "The end of these things is death." (Hebrews 13:4; Romans 6:21.) Hard words these, no doubt! But are they not true? It may seem to your relatives and friends very narrow-laced, strict, and narrow - if you tell them you cannot go to the races or the theater with them. But we must fall back on first principles. Is the world a danger to the soul - or is it not? Are we to come out from the world - or are we not? These are questions which can only be answered in one way. If we love our souls - we must have nothing to do with amusements which are bound up with sin. Nothing short of this can be called genuine scriptural separation from the world. (e) He who desires to "come out from the world, and be separate," must be moderate in the use of solemn and innocent recreations. No sensible Christian will ever think of condemning all recreations. In a world of wear and tear like that we live in, occasional unbending and relaxation are good for all. Body and mind alike require seasons of lighter occupation, and opportunities of letting off high spirits, and especially when they are young. Exercise itself is a positive necessity for the preservation of mental and bodily health. I see no harm in cricket, rowing, running, and other manly athletic recreations. I find no fault with those who play at chess and such-like games of skill. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. No wonder the poet says, "Strange that a harp of thousand strings, should keep in tune so long!" Anything which strengthens nerves, and brain, and digestion, and lungs, and muscles, and makes us more fit for Christ's work, so long as it is not in itself sinful - is a blessing, and ought to be thankfully used. Anything which will occasionally divert our thoughts from their usual grinding channel, in a healthy manner - is a good and not an evil. But it is the excess of these innocent things which a true Christian must watch against, if he wants to be separate from the world. He must not devote his whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and time to them, as many do, if he wishes to serve Christ. There are hundreds of lawful things which are good in moderation - but bad when taken in excess; healthful medicine in small quantities - but downright poison when swallowed down in huge doses. In nothing is this so true as it is in the matter of recreations. The use of them is one thing, and the abuse of them is another. The Christian who uses them must know when to stop, and how to say "Stop! Enough!" Do they interfere with his private religion? Do they take up too much of his thoughts and attention? Have they a secularizing effect on his soul? Have they a tendency to pull him down to earth? Then let him hold hard and take care. All this will require courage, self-denial, and firmness. It is a line of conduct which will often bring on us the ridicule and contempt of those who know not what moderation is, and who spend their lives in making trifles, serious things; and serious things, trifles. But if we mean to come out from the world, we must not mind this. We must be "temperate" even in lawful things, whatever others may think of us. This is genuine Scriptural separation. (f) Last - but not least, he who desires to "come out from the world and be separate" must be careful how he allows himself in friendships, intimacies, and close relationships with worldly people. We cannot help meeting many unconverted people as long as we live. We cannot avoid having fellowship with them, and doing business with them, unless "we go out of the world." (1 Corinthians 5:10.) To treat them with the utmost courtesy, kindness, and charity, whenever we do meet them, is a positive duty. But acquaintance is one thing, and intimate friendship is quite another. To seek their society without cause, to choose their company, to cultivate intimacy with them - is very dangerous to the soul. Human nature is so constituted that we cannot be much with other people, without effect on our own character. The old proverb will never fail to prove true: "Tell me with whom a man chooses to live - and I will tell you what he is." The Scripture says expressly, "He who walks with wise men - shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." (Proverbs 13:20.) If then a Christian, who desires to live consistently, chooses for his friends those who either do not care for their souls, or the Bible, or God, or Christ, or holiness, or regard them as of secondary importance - it seems to me impossible for him to prosper in his religion. He will soon find that their ways are not his ways, nor their thoughts his thoughts, nor their tastes his tastes; and that, unless they change, he must give up intimacy with them. In short, there must be separation. Of course such separation will be painful. But if we have to choose between the loss of a friend, and the injury of our souls - there ought to be no doubt in our minds. If friends will not walk in the narrow way with us - we must not walk in the broad way to please them. But let us distinctly understand, that to attempt to keep up close intimacy between a converted and an unconverted person, if both are consistent with their natures - is to attempt an impossibility. The principle here laid down ought to be carefully remembered by all unmarried Christians in the choice of a husband or wife. I fear it is too often entirely forgotten. Too many seem to think of everything except religion in choosing a partner for life, or to suppose that it will come somehow as a matter of course. Yet when a praying, Bible-reading, God-fearing, Christ-loving Christian marries a person who takes no interest whatever in serious religion - what can the result be but injury to the Christian, or immense unhappiness? Health is not infectious - but disease is. As a general rule, in such cases, the good go down to the level of the bad - and the bad do not come up to the level of the good. The subject is a delicate one, and I do not care to dwell upon it. But this I say confidently to every unmarried Christian man or woman - if you love your soul, if you do not want to fall away and backslide, if you do not want to destroy your own peace and comfort for life - resolve never to marry any person who is not a thorough Christian, whatever the resolution may cost you. You had better die - than marry an unbeliever. Stand to this resolution, and let no one ever persuade you out of it. Depart from this resolution, and you will find it almost impossible to "come out and be separate." You will find you have tied a mill-stone around your own neck in running the race towards Heaven; and, if saved at last, it will be "so as by fire." (1 Corinthians 3:15.) I offer these six general hints to all who wish to follow Paul's advice, and to come out from the world and be separate. In giving them, I lay no claim to infallibility; but I believe they deserve consideration and attention. I do not forget that the subject is full of difficulties, and that scores of doubtful cases are continually arising in a Christian's course, in which it is very hard to say what the path of duty is, and how to behave. Perhaps the following bits of advice may be found useful. In all doubtful cases, we should first pray for wisdom and sound judgment. If prayer is worth anything, it must be specially valuable when we desire to do right - but do not see our way. In all doubtful cases, let us often try ourselves by recollecting the eye of God. Should I go to such and such a place, or do such and such a thing, if I really thought God was looking at me? In all doubtful cases, let us never forget the second advent of Christ and the day of judgment. Would I like to be found in such and such company, or employed in such and such ways? Finally, in all doubtful cases, let us find out what the conduct of the holiest and best Christians has been under similar circumstances. If we do not clearly see our own way, we need not be ashamed to follow good examples. I throw out these suggestions for the use of all who are in difficulties about disputable points in the matter of separation from the world. I cannot help thinking that they may help to untie many knots, and solve many problems. IV. I shall now conclude the whole subject by trying to show the secrets of real victory over the world. To come out from the world of course is not an easy thing. It cannot be easy - so long as human nature is what it is, and a busy devil is always near us. It requires a constant struggle and exertion; it entails incessant conflict and self-denial; it often places us in exact opposition to members of our own families, to relations and neighbors; it sometimes obliges us to do things which give great offence, and bring on us ridicule and petty persecution. It is precisely this which makes many hang back and shrink from decided religion. They know they are not right; they know that they are not so "thorough" in Christ's service as they ought to be, and they feel uncomfortable and ill at ease. But the fear of man keeps them back. And so they linger on through life with aching, dissatisfied hearts - with too much religion to be happy in the world, and too much of the world to be happy in their religion. I fear this is a very common case, if the truth were known. Yet there are some in every age who seem to get the victory over the world. They come out decidedly from its ways, and are unmistakably separate. They are independent of its opinions, and unshaken by its opposition. They move on like planets in an orbit of their own, and seem to rise equally above the world's smiles and frowns. And what are the secrets of their victory? I will set them down. (a) The first secret of victory over the world, is a right heart. By that I mean a heart renewed, changed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit - a heart in which Christ dwells, a heart in which old things have passed away, and all things become new. The grand mark of such a heart, is the bias of its tastes and affections. The owner of such a heart no longer likes the world, and the things of the world - and therefore finds it no trial or sacrifice to give them up. He has no longer any appetite for the company, the conversation, the amusements, the occupations, the books which he once loved - and to "come out" from them seems natural to him. Great indeed is the expulsive power of a new principle! Just as the new spring-buds in a beech hedge push off the old leaves and make them quietly fall to the ground - so does the new heart of a believer invariably affect his tastes and likings, and make him drop many things which he once loved and lived in, because he now likes them no more. Let him who wants to "come out from the world and be separate," make sure first and foremost that he has got a new heart. If the heart is really right - everything else will be right in time. "If your eye is single - your whole body shall be full of light." (Matthew 6:22.) If the affections are not right - there never will be right action. (b) The second secret of victory over the world, is a lively practical faith in unseen things. What says the Scripture? "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4.) To attain and keep up the habit of looking steadily at invisible things, as if they were visible - to set before our minds every day, as grand realities, our souls, God, Christ, Heaven, Hell, judgment, eternity - to nourish an abiding conviction that spiritual realities are just as real as what we do see, and ten thousand times more important - this, this is one way to be conquerors over the world. This was the faith which made the noble army of saints, described in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, obtain such a glorious testimony from the Holy Spirit. They all acted under a firm persuasion that they had a real God, a real Savior, and a real home in Heaven - though unseen by mortal eyes. Armed with this faith, a man regards this world as a shadow, compared to the world to come, and cares little for its praise or blame, its enmity or its rewards. Let him who wants to come out from the world and be separate - but shrinks and hangs back for fear of the things seen, pray and strive to have this faith. "All things are possible to him that believes." (Mark 9:23.) Like Moses, he will find it possible to forsake Egypt, seeing Him who is invisible. Like Moses, he will not care what he loses and who is displeased - because he sees afar off, like one looking through a telescope, a substantial recompense of reward. (Hebrews 11:26.) (c) The third and last secret of victory over the world, is to attain and cultivate the habit of boldly confessing Christ on all proper occasions. In saying this I would not be mistaken. I want no one to blow a trumpet before him, and thrust his religion on others at all seasons. But I do wish to encourage all who strive to come out from the world to show their colors, and to act and speak out like men who are not ashamed to serve Christ. A steady, quiet assertion of our own principles, as Christians - a habitual readiness to let the people of the world see that we are guided by other rules than they are, and do not mean to swerve from them - a calm, firm, courteous maintenance of our own standard of things in every company - all this will insensibly form a habit within us, and make it comparatively easy to be a separate man. It will be hard at first, no doubt, and cost us many a struggle; but the longer we go on, the easier will it be. Repeated acts of confessing Christ will produce habits. Habits once formed will produce a settled character. Our characters once known, we shall be saved much trouble. Men will know what to expect from us, and will count it no strange thing if they see us living the lives of separate peculiar people. He who grasps the nettle most firmly will always be less hurt than the man who touches it with a trembling hand. It is a great thing to be able to say "No!" decidedly - but courteously, when asked to do anything which conscience says is wrong. He who shows his colors boldly from the first, and is never ashamed to let men see "whose he is and whom he serves" - will soon find that he has overcome the world, and will be let alone. Bold confession is a long step towards victory. It only remains for me now to CONCLUDE the whole subject with a few short words of APPLICATION. The danger of the world ruining the soul, (1) My first word shall be a QUESTION. Are you overcoming the world - or are you overcome by it? Do you know what it is to come out from the world and be separate, or are you yet entangled by it, and conformed to it? If you have any desire to be saved, I entreat you to answer this question. If you know nothing of "separation," I warn you affectionately that your soul is in great danger. The world passes away; and those who cling to the world, and think only of the world - will pass away with it to everlasting ruin! Awake to know your peril before it be too late. Awake and flee from the wrath to come. The time is short. The end of all things is at hand. The shadow are lengthening. The sun is going down. The night comes, when no man can work. The great white throne will soon be set. The judgment will begin. The books will be opened. Awake, and come out from the world while it is called today! Yet a little while, and there will be no more worldly occupations and worldly amusements - no more getting money and spending money - no more eating, and drinking, and feasting, and dressing, and ball-going, and theaters, and races, and cards, and gambling. What will you do when all these things have passed away forever? How can you possibly be happy in an eternal Heaven - where holiness is all in all, and worldliness has no place? Oh consider these things, and be wise! Awake, and break the chains which the world has thrown around you! Awake, and flee from the wrath to come! (2) My second word shall be a COUNSEL. If you want to come out from the world - but know not what to do, take the advice which I give you this day. Begin by applying direct, as a penitent sinner, to our Lord Jesus Christ, and put your case in His hands. Pour out your heart before Him. Tell Him your whole story, and keep nothing back. Tell Him that you are a sinner wanting to be saved from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and entreat Him to save you. That blessed Savior "gave Himself for us that He might deliver us from this present evil world." (Galatians 1:2.) He knows what the world is, for He lived in it thirty and three years. He knows what the difficulties of a man are, for He was made man for our sakes, and dwelt among men. High in Heaven, at the right hand of God, He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him - able to keep us from the evil of the world while we are still living in it - able to give us power to become the sons of God - able to keep us from falling - able to make us more than conquerors. Once more I say, Go directly to Christ with the prayer of faith, and put yourself wholly and unreservedly in His hands. As hard as it may seem to you now to come out from the world and be separate - you shall find that with Jesus nothing is impossible. You, even you, shall overcome the world. (3) My third and last word shall be ENCOURAGEMENT. If you have learned by experience what it is to come out from the world, I can only say to you: Take comfort, and persevere. You are in the right road; you have no cause to be afraid. The everlasting hills are in sight. Your salvation is nearer than when you believed. Take comfort and press on. No doubt you have had many a battle, and made many a false step. You have sometimes felt ready to faint, and been half disposed to go back to Egypt. But your Master has never entirely left you, and He will never allow you to be tempted above that you are able to bear. Then persevere steadily in your separation from the world, and never be ashamed of standing alone. Settle it firmly in your mind that the most decided Christians are always the happiest; and remember that no one ever said at the end of his course - that he had been too holy, and lived too near to God. Hear, last of all, what is written in the Scriptures of truth: "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life!" (Mark 10:29, 30.) "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith!" (Hebrews 10:35-38.) Those words were written and spoken for our sakes. Let us lay hold on them, and never forget them. Let us persevere to the end, and never be ashamed of coming out from the world, and being separate. We may be sure it brings its own reward.
N.B. Readers will observe that, under the head of worldly amusements - I have said nothing about ball-going, card-playing, and field-sports. They are delicate and difficult subjects, and many classes of society are not touched by them. But I am quite willing to give my opinion, and the more so because I do not speak of them without experience in the days of my youth. (a) Concerning ball-going, I only ask Christians to judge the amusement by its tendencies and accompaniments. To say there is anything morally wrong in the mere bodily act of dancing would be absurd. David danced before the ark. Solomon said, "There is a time to dance." (Ecclesiastes 3:4.) Just as it is natural to lambs and kittens to frisk about, so it seems natural to young people, all over the world, to jump about to a lively tune of music. If dancing were taken up for mere exercise, if dancing took place at morning hours, and men only danced with men, and women with women - it would be needless and absurd to object to it. But everybody knows that this is not what is meant by modern ball-going. This is an amusement which involves very late hours, extravagant dressing, and an immense amount of frivolity, vanity, jealousy, unhealthy excitement, and vain conversation. Who would like to be found in a modern ball-room when the Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time? Who that has taken much part in balls, as I myself once did, before I knew better - can deny that they have a most dissipating effect on the mind, like opium-eating and alcohol-drinking on the body? I cannot withhold my opinion that ball-going is one of those worldly amusements which "war against the soul," and which it is wisest and best to give up. And as for those parents who urge their sons and daughters, against their wills and inclinations, to go to balls - I can only say that they are taking on themselves a most dangerous responsibility, and risking great injury to their children's souls. (b) Concerning card-playing, my judgment is much the same. I ask Christian people to try it by its tendencies and consequences. Of course it would be nonsense to say there is positive wickedness in an innocent game of cards, for diversion, and not for money. I have known instances of old people of lethargic and infirm habit of body, unable to work or read, to whom cards in an evening were really useful, to keep them from drowsiness, and preserve their health. But it is vain to shut our eyes to facts. If masters and mistresses once begin to play cards in the parlor, servants are likely to play cards in the kitchen; and then comes in a whole train of evils. Moreover, from simple card-playing to desperate gambling - there is but a chain of steps. If parents teach young people that there is no harm in the first step, they must never be surprised if they go on to the last. I give this opinion with much diffidence. I lay no claim to infallibility. Let every one be persuaded in his own mind. But, considering all things, it is my deliberate judgment that the Christian who wishes to keep his soul right, and to "come out from the world," will do wisely to have nothing to do with card-playing. It is a habit which seems to grow on some people so much that it becomes at last a necessity, and they cannot live without it. "Madam," said Romaine to an old lady at Bath, who declared she could not do without her cards, "Madam, if this is the case - then cards are your god, and your god is a very poor one." Surely in doubtful matters like these, it is well to give our souls the benefit of the doubt, and to refrain. (c) Concerning field-sports, I admit that it is not easy to lay down a strict rule. I cannot go the length of some, and say that galloping across country, or shooting grouse, partridges, or pheasants, or catching salmon or trout - are in themselves positively sinful occupations, and distinct marks of an unconverted heart. There are many people, I know, to whom rigorous out-door exercise and complete diversion of mind are absolute necessities, for the preservation of their bodily and mental health. But in all these matters the chief question is one of degree. Much depends on the company men are thrown into, and the extent to which the thing is carried. The great danger lies in excess. It is possible to be intemperate about hunting and shooting - as well as about eating and drinking. We are commanded in Scripture to be "temperate in all things," if we would so run as to obtain; and those who are addicted to field-sports should not forget this rule. The question, however, is one about which Christians must be careful in expressing an opinion, and moderate in their judgments. The man who can neither ride, nor shoot, nor throw a fly - is hardly qualified to speak dispassionately about such matters. It is cheap and easy work to condemn others for doing things which you cannot do yourself, and are utterly unable to enjoy! One thing only is perfectly certain - all intemperance or excess is sin. The man who is wholly absorbed in sports, and spends all his years in such a manner that he seems to think God only created him to be a "hunting, shooting, and fishing animal," is a man who at present knows very little of Scriptural Christianity. It is written, "Where your treasure is - there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21.)
HAPPINESS J.C.
Ryle, 1878 "Happy is that people whose God is the Lord." Psalm 144:15 An infidel was once addressing a crowd of people in the open air. He was trying to persuade them that there was no God and no devil no Heaven, and no Hell, no resurrection, no judgment, and no life to come. He advised them to throw away their Bibles, and not to mind what preachers said. He recommended them to think as he did, and to be like him. He talked boldly. The crowd listened eagerly. It was "the blind leading the blind." Both were falling into the ditch! (Matthew 15:14.) In the middle of his address, a poor old woman suddenly pushed her way through the crowd, to the place where he was standing. She stood before him. She looked him fully in the face. "Sir," she said, in a loud voice, "Are you happy?" The infidel looked scornfully at her, and gave her no answer. "Sir," she said again, "I ask you to answer my question. Are you happy? You want us to throw away our Bibles. You tell us not to believe what preachers say about the gospel. You advise us to think as you do, and be like you. Now before we take your advice - we have a right to know what good we shall get by it. Do your fine new notions give you much comfort? Do you yourself to be really feel happy?" The infidel stopped, and attempted to answer the old woman's question. He stammered, and shuffled, and fidgeted, and endeavored to explain his meaning. He tried hard to turn the subject. He said, he "had not come there to preach about happiness." But it was of no use. The old woman stuck to her point. She insisted on her question being answered, and the crowd took her part. She pressed him hard with her inquiry, and would take no excuse. And at last the infidel was obliged to leave the ground, and sneak off in confusion. He could not reply to the question. His conscience would not let him - he dared not say that he was happy. The old woman showed great wisdom in asking the question that she did. The argument she used may seem very simple - but in reality it is one of the most powerful that can be employed. It is a weapon that has more effect on some minds, than the most elaborate reasoning of Butler, or Paley, or Chalmers. Whenever a man begins to take up new views of religion, and pretends to despise old Bible Christianity - thrust home at his conscience the old woman's question. Ask him whether his new views make him feel comfortable within. Ask him whether he can say, with honesty and sincerity, that he is happy. The grand test of a man's faith and religion is, "Does it make him happy?" Let me now affectionately invite every reader to consider the subject of this paper. Let me warn you to remember that the salvation of your soul, and nothing less, is closely bound up with the subject. The heart cannot be right in the sight of God, which knows nothing of happiness. That man or woman cannot be in a safe state of soul, who feels nothing of peace within. There are three things which I purpose to do, in order to clear up the subject of happiness. I ask special attention to each one of them. And I pray the Spirit of God to apply all to the souls of all who read this paper. I. Let me point out some things which are absolutely essential to all happiness. II. Let me expose some common mistakes about the way to be happy. III.
Let me show the way to be truly happy. I. First of all I have to point out some things which are absolutely essential to all true happiness. Happiness is what all mankind want to obtain - the desire for it is deeply planted in the human heart. All men naturally dislike pain, sorrow, and discomfort. All men naturally like ease, comfort, and gladness. All men naturally hunger and thirst after happiness. Just as the sick man longs for health, and the prisoner of war longs for liberty; just as the parched traveler in hot countries longs to see the cooling fountain, or the ice-bound polar voyager longs to see the sun rising above the horizon - just in the same way does poor mortal man long to be happy. But, alas, how few consider what they really mean, when they talk of happiness! How vague and indistinct and undefined the ideas of most men are upon the subject! They think some are happy - who in reality are miserable; they think some are gloomy and sad - who in reality are truly happy. They dream of a happiness which in reality would never satisfy their nature's needs. Let me try this day to throw a little light on the subject. True happiness is not perfect freedom from sorrow and discomfort. Let that never be forgotten. If it were so, there would be no such thing as happiness in the world. Such happiness is for angels who have never fallen, and not for man. The happiness I am inquiring about, is such as a poor, dying, sinful creature may hope to attain. Our whole nature is defiled by sin. Evil abounds in the world. Sickness, and death, and change - are daily doing their sad work on every side. In such a state of things - the highest happiness man can attain to on earth must necessarily be a mixed thing. If we expect to find any literally perfect happiness on this side of the grave - we expect what we shall not find! True happiness does not consist in laughter and smiles. The face is very often a poor index of the inward man. There are thousands who laugh loud and are merry as a grasshopper in company - but are wretched and miserable in private, and almost afraid to be alone. On the other hand, there are hundreds who are grave and serious in their demeanor - whose hearts are full of solid peace. A poet of our own has truly told us that smiles are worth but little: "A man may smile and smile - and be a villain!" And the eternal Word of God teaches us that "even in laughter, the heart may be sorrowful." (Proverbs 14:13.) Tell me not merely of smiling and laughing faces! I want to hear of something more than that, when I ask whether a man is happy. A truly happy man no doubt will often show his happiness in his countenance; but a man may have a very merry face - and yet not be happy at all. Of all deceptive things on earth - nothing is so deceptive as mere worldly gaiety and merriment. It is a hollow empty show, utterly devoid of substance and reality! Listen to the brilliant talker in society, and mark the applause which he receives from an admiring company; follow him to his own private room, and you will very likely find him plunged in melancholy despondency. Colonel Gardiner confessed that even when he was thought most happy - he often wished he was a dog. Look at the smiling beauty in the ball-room, and you might suppose that she knew not what it was to be unhappy; see her next day at her own home, and you may probably find her out of temper with herself and everybody else besides! Oh, no! Worldly merriment is not real happiness! There is a certain pleasure about it, I do not deny. There is an animal excitement about it, I make no question. There is a temporary elevation of spirits about it, I freely concede. But do not call it by the sacred name of 'happiness'. The most beautiful cut flowers stuck into the ground, do not make a garden. When glass is called diamond, and tinsel is called gold - then, and not until then, those people who can laugh and revel will deserve to be called happy people. Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, at a time when all Spain was laughing at his humorous work, was overwhelmed with a deep cloud of melancholy. Moliere, the first of French comic writers, carried into his domestic circle a sadness which the greatest worldly prosperity could never dispel. Samuel Foote, the noted wit of the last century, died of a broken heart. Theodore Hooke, the facetious novel writer, who could set everybody laughing, says of himself in his diary, "I am suffering under a constant depression of spirits, which no one who sees me in society dreams of." A woebegone stranger consulted a physician about his health. The physician advised him to keep up his spirits by going to hear the great comic actor of the day: "You should go and hear Matthews. He would make you well." "Alas, sir," was the reply, "I am Matthews himself!" 1. To be truly happy - the highest needs of a man's nature must be met and satisfied. The requirements of his wondrously wrought constitution must all be filled up. There must be nothing about him that cries, "Give, give," but cries in vain and gets no answer. The horse and the ox are happy - as long as they are warmed and filled. And why? It is because they are satisfied. The little infant looks happy when it is clothed, and fed, and well, and in its mother's arms. And why? Because it is satisfied. And just so it is with man. His highest needs must be met and satisfied - before he can be truly happy. All must be filled up. There must be no void, no empty places, no unsupplied cravings. Until then he is never truly happy. And WHAT are man's principal needs? Has he a body only? No! He has something more! He has a soul. Has he sensual faculties only? Can he do nothing but hear, and see, and smell, and taste, and feel? No! He has a thinking mind and a conscience! Has he no consciousness of any world, but that in which he lives and moves? He has. There is a still small voice within him which often makes itself heard: "This life is not all! There is an unseen world! There is a life beyond the grave!" Yes! it is true. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. All men know it - all men feel it, if they would only speak the truth. It is utter nonsense to pretend that food and clothing and earthly things alone - can make men happy. There are soul-needs. There are conscience-needs. There can be no true happiness - until these needs are satisfied. 2. To be truly happy - a man must have sources of gladness which are not dependent on anything in this world. There is nothing upon earth which is not stamped with the mark of instability and uncertainty. All the good things which money can buy, are but momentary: they either leave us - or we are obliged to leave them! All the sweetest relationships in life are liable to come to an end - death may come any day and cut them off. The man whose happiness depends entirely on things here below, is like him who builds his house on sand, or leans his weight on a reed. Tell me not of your happiness, if it daily hangs on the uncertainties of earth. Your home may be rich in comforts; your wife and children may be all you could desire; your means may be amply sufficient to meet all your needs. But oh, remember, if you have nothing more than this to look to - that you stand on the brink of a precipice! Your rivers of pleasure may any day be dried up. Your joy may be deep and earnest - but it is fearfully short-lived! It has no root. It is not true happiness. 3. To be really happy - a man must be able to look on every side without uncomfortable feelings. He must be able to look back to the past without guilty fears; he must be able to look around him without discontent; he must be able to look forward without anxious dread. He must be able to sit down and think calmly about things past, present, and to come - and feel prepared. The man who has a weak side in his condition - a side that he does not like looking at or considering - that man is not really happy. Do not talk to me of your happiness - if you are unable to look steadily either before or behind you. Your present position may be easy and pleasant. You may find many sources of joy and gladness in your profession, your dwelling-place, your family, and your friends. Your health may be good, your spirits may be cheerful. But stop and think quietly over your past life! Can you reflect calmly on all the sins of omission and commission of by-gone years? How will they bear God's inspection? How will you answer for them at the last day? And then look forward, and think on the years yet to come. Think of the certain end towards which you are hastening: think of death; think of judgment; think of the hour when you will meet God face to face! Are you ready for it? Are you prepared? Can you look forward to these things without alarm? Oh, be very sure if you cannot look comfortably at any season but the present - then your boasted happiness is a poor unreal thing! It is but a white-washed sepulcher, fair and beautiful on the outside - but bones and corruption within! It is a mere thing of a day, like Jonah's gourd. It is not real happiness. I ask my readers to fix in their minds the account of things essential to
happiness, which I have attempted to give. Dismiss from your thoughts the many mistaken notions which pass current
on this subject, like counterfeit coin. To be truly happy - the needs of your soul and conscience must be
satisfied. To be truly happy - your joy must be founded on something more than this world can give you. To be truly happy
- you must be able to look on every side - above, below, behind, before - and feel that all is right. This is real, sterling,
genuine happiness - this is the happiness I have in view, when I urge on your notice the subject of this paper. II. In the next place, let me expose some common mistakes about the way to be happy. There are several roads which are thought by many, to lead to happiness. In each of these roads, thousands and tens of thousands of men and women are continually traveling. Each imagines that if he could only attain all that he wants - that he would be happy. Each imagines, if he does not succeed - that the fault is in his lack of luck and good fortune. And all alike seem ignorant that they are hunting shadows. They have started in a wrong direction! They are seeking that which can never be found in the place where they seek it. I will mention by name some of the principal delusions about happiness. I do it in love, and charity, and compassion to men's souls. I believe it to be a public duty to warn people against cheats, quacks, and impostors! Oh, how much trouble and sorrow it might save my readers, if they would only believe what I am going to say! It is an utter mistake to suppose that RANK and GREATNESS alone can give happiness. The kings and rulers of this world are not necessarily happy men. They have troubles and crosses, which none know but themselves! They see a thousand evils, which they are unable to remedy! They are slaves working in golden chains, and have less real liberty than any in the world! They have burdens and responsibilities laid upon them, which are a daily weight on their hearts. The Roman Emperor Antonine often said, that "the imperial power was an ocean of miseries." Queen Elizabeth, when she heard a milk-maid singing - wished that she had been born to a lot like her's. Never did our great Poet write a truer word than when he said, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown!" It
is an utter mistake to suppose that RICHES alone can give happiness. They can enable a man to command and
possess everything - but inward peace! They cannot buy a cheerful spirit and a light heart. There is . .
. He was a wise man who said that "money" was only another name for "trouble," and that the same English letters which spelled "acres" would also spell "cares." It is an utter mistake to suppose that LEARNING and SCIENCE alone can give happiness. They may occupy a man's time and attention - but they cannot really make him happy. Those who increase knowledge - often "increase sorrow;" the more they learn - the more they discover their own ignorance. (Eccles. 1:18.) It is not in the power of earthly things - to minister to a diseased heart. The heart needs something - as well as the head; the conscience needs food - as well as the intellect. All the secular knowledge in the world will not give a man joy and gladness - when he thinks on sickness, and death, and the grave. Those who have climbed the highest - have often found themselves solitary, dissatisfied, and empty of peace The learned Selden, at the close of his life, confessed that all his learning did not give him such comfort as these four verses of the apostle Paul - Titus 2:11-14.) It is an utter mistake to suppose that IDLENESS alone can give happiness. The laborer who gets up at five in the morning, and goes out to work all day in a cold clay ditch, often thinks, as he walks past the rich man's door, "What a fine thing it must be to have no work to do!" Poor fellow! he little knows what he thinks. The most miserable creature on earth - is the man who has nothing to do. Work for the hands or work for the head - is absolutely essential to human happiness. Without it, the mind feeds upon itself, and the whole inward man becomes diseased. The machinery within will work - and without something to work upon, will often wear itself to pieces. There was no idleness in Eden. Adam and Eve had to "dress the garden and keep it." There will be no idleness in Heaven. God's "servants shall serve Him." Oh, be very sure, that the idlest man - is the man most truly unhappy! (Genesis 2:15; Rev. 22:3.) It is an utter mistake to suppose that PLEASURE-SEEKING and
AMUSEMENTS alone can give happiness. Of all roads that men can take in order to be happy, this is the one
that is most completely wrong! Of all weary, flat, dull and unprofitable ways of spending life - this exceeds all. To think
of a sinful, dying creature, with an immortal soul, expecting happiness . . . Surely it is a sight that is enough to make the devil laugh and the angels weep! Even a child will not play with its toys all day long! But when grown up men and women think to find happiness in a constant round of amusement - they sink far below a child! I place before every reader of this paper, these common mistakes about the way to be happy. I ask you to mark them well. I warn you plainly against these pretended short cuts to happiness, however crowded they may be. I tell you that if you imagine any one of them can lead you to true peace, that you are entirely deceived. Your conscience will never feel satisfied; your immortal soul will never feel easy; your whole inward man will feel uncomfortable and out of health. Take any one of these roads, or take all of them, and if you have nothing besides to look to - you will never find happiness. You may travel on and on and on, and the wished-for object will seem as far away at the end of each stage of life as when you started. You are like one pouring water into a sieve, or putting money into a bag with holes. You might as well try to make an elephant happy, by feeding him with a grain of sand a day - as try to satisfy that heart of your's with rank, riches, learning, idleness, or pleasure! Do you doubt the truth of all I am saying? I dare say you do. Then let us turn to the great Book of human experience, and read over a few lines out of its solemn pages. You shall have the testimony of a few competent witnesses on the great subject I am urging on your attention. A King shall be our first witness - I mean Solomon, King of Israel. We know that he had power, and wisdom, and wealth, far exceeding that of any ruler of his time. We know from his own confession, that he tried the great experiment how far the things of this world can make man happy. We know, from the record of his own hand - the result of this curious experiment. He writes it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the benefit of the whole world, in the book of Ecclesiastes. Never, surely, was the experiment tried under such favorable circumstances: never was any one so likely to succeed as the Jewish King. Yet what is Solomon's testimony? You have it in his melancholy words: "All is vanity and vexation of spirit!" (Eccles. 1:14.) A famous French lady shall be our next witness - I mean Madam De Pompadour. She was the friend and favorite of Louis the Fifteenth. She had unbounded influence at the Court of France. She lacked nothing that money could procure. Yet what does she say herself? "What a situation is that of the great! They only live in the future, and are only happy in hope. There is no peace in ambition. I am always gloomy, and often unreasonably so. The kindness of the King, the regard of courtiers, the attachment of my servants, and the fidelity of a large number of friends - motives like these, which ought to make me happy, affect me no longer. I have no longer inclinations for all which once pleased me. I have caused my house at Paris to be magnificently furnished - well; it pleased for two days! My residence at Bellevue is charming - but I cannot endure it. Kind people relate to me all the news and adventures of Paris; they think I listen - but when they are done, I ask them what they said. In a word, I do not live! I am dead before my time. I have no interest in the world. Everything conspires to embitter my life. My life is a continual death!" To such testimony I need not add a single word. (Sinclair's Anecdotes and Aphorisms, p. 33.) A famous German writer shall be our next witness - I mean Goethe. It is well known that he was almost idolized by many during his life. His works were read and admired by thousands. His name was known and honored, wherever German was read, all over the world. And yet the praise of man, of which he reaped such an abundant harvest, was utterly unable to make Goethe happy. "He confessed, when about eighty years old, that he could not remember being in a really happy state of mind even for a few weeks together." (See Sinclair's Anecdotes and Aphorisms, p. 280.) An English peer and poet shall be our next witness - I mean Lord Byron. If ever there was one who ought to have been happy according to the standard of the world - Lord Byron was the man! He began life with all the advantages of English rank and position. He had splendid abilities and powers of mind, which the world soon discovered and was ready to honor. He had a sufficiency of means to gratify every wish, and never knew anything of real poverty. Humanly speaking, there seemed nothing to prevent him enjoying life and being happy. Yet it is a notorious fact that Byron was a miserable man. Misery stands out in his poems - misery creeps out in his letters. Weariness, satiety, disgust, and discontent appear in all his ways. He is an solemn warning that rank, and title, and literary fame, alone - are not sufficient to make a man happy. A man of science shall be our next witness - I mean Sir Humphrey Davy. He was a man eminently successful in the line of life which he chose, and deservedly so. A distinguished philosopher - the inventor of the famous safety-lamp which bears his name, and has preserved so many poor miners from death - a Baron of the United Kingdom, and President of the Royal Society - his whole life seemed a continual career of prosperity. If learning alone were the road to happiness, this man at least ought to have been happy. Yet what was the true record of Davy's feelings? We have it in his own melancholy journal at the latter part of his life. He describes himself in two painful words: "Very miserable!" A man of wit and pleasure shall be our next witness - I mean Lord Chesterfield. He shall speak for himself - his own words in a letter shall be his testimony. "I have seen the silly round of business and pleasure, and am done with it all. I have experienced all the pleasures of the world - and consequently know their futility, and do not regret their loss. I appraise them at their real value - which in truth is very low; whereas those who have not experience them - always overrate them. They only see their mirthful outside, and are dazzled with their glare - but I have been behind the scenes. I have seen all the coarse pulleys and dirty ropes which exhibit and move the gaudy machine, and I have seen and smelled the candles which illuminate the whole decoration - to the astonishment and admiration of the ignorant audience! When I reflect on what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I have done - I cannot persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry of bustle and pleasure of the world had any reality. I look on all that is past, as one of those romantic dreams which opium occasions, and I do by no means wish to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fleeting dream!" These sentences speak for themselves. I need not add to them one single word. The Statesmen and Politicians who have swayed the destinies of the world, ought by good right to be our last witnesses. But I forbear, in Christian charity, to bring them forward. It makes my heart ache when I run my eye over the list of names famous in English history - and think how many have worn out their lives in a breathless struggle after place and distinction! How many of our greatest men have died of broken hearts - disappointed, disgusted, and tried with constant failure! How many have left on record some humbling confession that in the plenitude of their power they were pining for rest, as the caged eagle for liberty! How many whom the world is applauding as "masters of the situation" - are in reality little better than galley-slaves, chained to the oar and unable to get free! Alas, there are many sad proofs, both among the living and the dead - that to be great and powerful is not necessarily to be happy! I think it very likely that people do not believe what I am saying. I know something of the deceitfulness of the heart on the subject of happiness. There are few things which man is so slow to believe as the truths I am now putting forth about the way to be happy. Bear with me then while I say something more. Come and stand with me some afternoon in the heart of the city of London. Let us watch the faces of most of the wealthy men whom we shall see leaving their houses of business at the close of the day. Some of them are worth hundreds of thousands - some of them are worth millions of pounds. But what is written in the countenances of these grave men whom we see swarming out from Lombard Street and Cornhill, from the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange? What do those deep lines which furrow so many a cheek and so many a brow mean? What does that air of anxious thoughtfulness which is worn by five out of every six we meet mean? Ah, these things tell a serious tale. They tell us that it needs something more than gold and bank notes to make men happy! Come next and stand with me near the Houses of Parliament, in the middle of a busy session. Let us scan the faces of Nobles whose names are familiar and well-known all over the civilized world. There you may see on some fine May evening, the mightiest Statesmen in England hurrying to a debate - like eagles to the carcass. Each has a power of good or evil in his tongue, which it is fearful to contemplate. Each may say things before tomorrow's sun dawns, which may affect the peace and prosperity of nations, and convulse the world! There you may see the men who hold the reins of power and government already; there you may see the men who are daily watching for an opportunity of snatching those reins out of their hands, and governing in their stead. But what do their faces tell us, as they hasten to their posts? What may be learned from their care-worn countenances? What may be read in many of their wrinkled foreheads - so absent-looking and sunk in thought? They teach us a solemn lesson. They teach us that it needs something more than political greatness to make men happy. Come next and stand with me in the most fashionable part of London, in the height of the season. Let us visit Regent Street or Pall Mall, Hyde Park or May Fair. How many fair faces and splendid equipages we shall see! How many we shall count up in an hour's time who seem to possess the choicest gifts of this world - beauty, wealth, rank, fashion, and troops of friends! But, alas, how few we shall see who appear happy! In how many countenances we shall read weariness, dissatisfaction, discontent, sorrow, or unhappiness - as clearly as if it was written with a pen! Yes, it is a humbling lesson to learn - but a very wholesome one. It needs something more than rank, and fashion, and beauty, to make people happy! Come next and walk with me through some quiet country village in merry England. Let us visit some secluded corner in our beautiful old father-land, far away from great towns, and fashionable dissipation and political strife. There are not a few such to be found in the land. There are rural villages where there is neither street, nor public-house, nor beer shop - where there is work for all the laborers, and a church for all the population, and a school for all the children, and a minister of the Gospel to look after the people. Surely, you will say - we shall find happiness here! Surely such parishes must be the very abodes of peace and joy! Go into those quiet-looking cottages, one by one, and you will soon be undeceived. Learn the inner history of each family, and you will soon alter your mind. You will soon discover that backbiting, and lying, and slandering, and envy, and jealousy, and pride, and laziness, and drinking, and extravagance, and lust, and petty quarrels - can murder happiness in the country, quite as much as in the city! No doubt a rural village sounds pretty in poetry, and looks beautiful in pictures; but in sober reality, human nature is the same evil thing everywhere! Alas, it needs something more than a residence in a quiet country village to make any child of Adam a happy man! I know these are ancient things. They have been said a thousand times before without effect, and I suppose they will be said without effect again. I want no greater proof of the corruption of human nature, than the pertinacity with which we seek happiness where happiness cannot be found! Century after century, wise men have left on record their experience about the way to be happy. Century after century, people will have it that they know the way perfectly well, and need no teaching. They cast our warnings to the winds; they rush, every one, on his own favorite path. They walk in a vain shadow, and disquiet themselves in vain, and wake up when too late - to find that their whole life has been a grand mistake. Their eyes are blinded - they will not see that their visions are as baseless and disappointing as the mirage of the African desert. Like the tired traveler in those deserts, they think they are approaching a lake of cooling waters; like the same traveler, they find to their dismay that this imagined lake was a splendid optical delusion - and that they are still helpless in the midst of burning sands! Are you a young person?
I entreat you to accept the affectionate warning of a minister of the Gospel - and not to seek happiness where happiness cannot
be found. All these are bright and splendid fountains - their waters taste sweet. A crowd is standing round them, who will not leave them; but, oh, remember that God has written over each of these fountains, "He who drinks of this water - shall thirst again!" (John 4:13.) Remember this, and be wise. Are you poor? Are you tempted to imagine that if you had the rich man's place - that you would be
quite happy? Resist the temptation, and cast it behind you. Do not envy your wealthy neighbors - be content with such things
as you have. Happiness does not depend on houses or lands! Silks and satins cannot shut out sorrow from the heart! Castles
and fine halls cannot prevent anxiety and care coming in at their doors. There is as much misery riding and driving about
in splendid carriages - as there is walking about on foot! There is as much unhappiness in large mansions - as in poor cottages.
Oh, remember the mistakes which are common about happiness, and be wise! III. Let me now, in the last place - point out the way to be really happy. There is a sure path which leads to happiness, if men will only take it. There never lived the person who traveled in that path, and missed the object that he sought to attain. It is a path open to all. It needs neither wealth, nor rank, nor learning in order to walk in it. It is for the servant as well as for the master: it is for the poor as well as for the rich. None are excluded but those who exclude themselves. It is the one and only path. All who have ever been happy, since the days of Adam, have journeyed on it. There is no royal road to happiness. Kings must be content to go side by side with their humblest subjects, if they would be happy. WHERE is this path? Where is this road? Listen, and you shall hear. The way to be happy - is to be a real, thorough-going, true-hearted Christian! Scripture declares it - experience proves it. The converted man, the believer in Christ, the child of God - he, and he alone, is the happy man. It sounds too simple to be true - it seems at first sight so plain a receipt that it is not believed. But the greatest truths are often the simplest. The secret which many of the wisest on earth have utterly failed to discover - is revealed to the humblest believer in Christ. I repeat it deliberately, and defy the world to disprove it - the true Christian is the only happy man. What do I mean when I speak of a true Christian? Do I mean everybody who goes to church or chapel? Do I mean everybody who professes an orthodox creed, and bows his head at the belief? Do I mean everybody who professes to love the Gospel? No indeed! I mean something very different. All are not Christians - who are called Christians. The man I have in view - is the Christian in heart and life. He who has been taught by the Spirit really to feel his sins - he who really rests all his hopes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and His atonement - he who has been born again and really lives a spiritual, holy life - he whose religion is not a mere Sunday coat - but a mighty constraining principle governing every day of his life - he is the man I mean, when I speak of a true Christian. What do I mean when I say the true Christian is happy? Has he no doubts and no fears? Has he no anxieties and no troubles? Has he no sorrows and no cares? Does he never feel pain, and shed no tears? Far be it from me to say anything of the kind! He has a body weak and is frail like other men; he has affections and passions like everyone born of woman; he lives in a changeful world. But deep down in his heart, he has a mine of solid peace and substantial joy which is never exhausted! This is true happiness. Do I say that all true Christians are equally happy? No, not for a moment! There are babes in Christ's family - as well as old men; there are weak members of the mystical body - as well as strong ones; there are tender lambs - as well as sheep. There are not only the cedars of Lebanon - but the hyssop that grows on the wall. There are degrees of grace and degrees of faith. Those who have most faith and grace - will have most happiness. But all, more or less, compared to the people of the world - are happy men. Do I say that real true Christians are equally happy at all times? No, not for a moment! All have their
ebbs and flows of comfort - some, like the Mediterranean sea, almost insensibly; some, like the tide at Chepstow,
fifty or sixty feet at a time. I use the words, "as a general rule," advisedly. When a believer falls into such a horrible sin as that of David, it would be monstrous to talk of his feeling inward peace. The true Christian is the only happy man - because his conscience is at peace. That mysterious witness for God, which is so mercifully placed within us - is fully satisfied and at rest. It sees in the blood of Christ - a complete cleansing away of all its guilt. It sees in the priesthood and mediation of Christ - a complete answer to all its fears. It sees that through the sacrifice and death of Christ, God can now be just - and yet be the justifier of the ungodly. It no longer bites and stings, and makes its possessor afraid of himself. The Lord Jesus Christ has amply met all its requirements. Conscience is no longer the enemy of the true Christian - but his friend and adviser. Therefore he is happy. The true Christian is the only happy man - because he can sit down quietly and think about his soul. He can look behind him and before him, he can look within him and around him, and feel, "All is well." He can think calmly on his past life, and however many and great his sins, take comfort in the thought that they are all forgiven. The righteousness of Christ covers all, as Noah's flood overtopped the highest hills. He can think calmly about things to come - and yet not be afraid. Sickness is painful; death is solemn; the judgment day is a solemn thing - but having Christ for him, he has nothing to fear. He can think calmly about the Holy God, whose eyes are on all his ways, and feel, "He is my Father, my reconciled Father in Christ Jesus. I am weak; I am unprofitable - yet in Christ He regards me as His dear child, and is well-pleased." Oh, what a blessed privilege it is to be able to think - and not be afraid! I can well understand the mournful complaint of the prisoner in solitary confinement. He had warmth, and food, and clothing, and work - but he was not happy. And why? He said, "He was obliged to think." The true Christian is the only happy man, because he has sources of happiness entirely independent of this world. He has something which cannot be affected by sickness and by deaths, by private losses and by public calamities - the "peace of God, which passes all understanding." He has a hope laid up for him in Heaven; he has a treasure which moth and rust cannot corrupt; he has a house which can never be taken down. His loving wife may die - and his heart feel torn in two; The true Christian is happy, because he is in his right position. His abilities are being directed to right ends. His affections are not set on things below - but on things above. His will is not bent on self-indulgence - but is submissive to the will of God. His mind is not absorbed in wretched perishable trifles. He desires useful employment - he enjoys the luxury of doing good. Who does not know the misery of disorder? Who has not tasted the discomfort of a house where everything and everybody are in their wrong places, the last things first - and the first things last? The heart of an unconverted man is just such a house! Saving grace puts everything in that heart in its right position. The things of the soul come first - and the things of the world come second. Anarchy and confusion cease - unruly passions no longer run loose. Christ reigns over the whole man - and each part of him does his proper work. The heart of the Christian is the only heart that is in order. He has laid aside his pride and self-will; he sits at the feet of Jesus, and is in his right mind. He loves God and loves man - and so he is happy. In Heaven all are happy - because all do God's will perfectly. The nearer a man gets to this standard - the happier he will be. The plain truth is, that without Christ there is no happiness in this world! He alone can give the Comforter who abides forever. He is the sun - without Him, men never feel warm. He is the light - without Him, men are always in the dark. He is the bread - without Him, men are always starving. He is the living water - without Him, people are always athirst. Give them what you like - place them where you please - surround them with all the comforts you can imagine - it makes no difference. Separate from Christ, the Prince of Peace - a man cannot be happy. Give a man a sensible interest in Christ - and he will be happy in spite of poverty. He will tell you that he lacks nothing that is really good. He is provided for, he has all that he needs now - and riches in eternity. He has food to eat which the world knows nothing of. He has friends who never leave him nor forsake him. The Father and the Son come to him, and make their abode with him; the Lord Jesus Christ sups with him, and he with Christ. (Rev. 3:20.) Give a man a sensible interest in Christ, and he will be happy in spite of sickness. His flesh may groan, and his body be worn out with pain - but his heart will rest and be at peace. One of the happiest people I ever saw, was a young woman who had been hopelessly ill for many years with disease of the spine. She lay in a poor garret without a fire; the straw thatch was not two feet above her face. She had not the slightest hope of recovery. But she was always rejoicing in the Lord Jesus. The spirit triumphed mightily over the flesh. She was happy, because Christ was with her. Give a man a sensible interest in Christ, and he will be happy in spite of abounding public calamities.
- but still his heart will not fail. He will remember that the kingdom of Christ will one day be set up. He will say, like the old Scotch minister who lived unmoved throughout the turmoil of the French revolution: "It is all right! It shall be well with the righteous!" I know well that Satan hates the doctrine which I am endeavoring to press upon you. I have no doubt he is filling your mind with objections and reasonings, and persuading you that I am wrong. I am not afraid to meet these objections face to face. Let us bring them forward and see what they are. You may tell me that "you know many very religious people who are not happy at all." You see them diligent in attending public worship. You know that they are never missing at church. But you see in them no marks of the peace which I have been describing. But are you sure that these people you speak of are true believers in Christ? Are you sure that, with all their appearance of religion, they are born again and converted to God? Is it not very likely that they have nothing - but the name of Christianity, without the reality; and a form of godliness, without the power? Alas! you have yet to learn that people may do many religious acts - and yet possess no saving religion! It is not a mere formal, ceremonial Christianity which will ever make people happy. We need something more than going to Church - to give us peace. There must be real, vital union with Christ. It is not the formal Christian - but the true Christian, who is the happy man. You may tell me that "you know really spiritually-minded and converted people who do not seem happy." You have heard them frequently complaining of their own hearts, and groaning over their own corruption. They seem to you to be all doubts, and anxieties, and fears; and you want to know where is the happiness in these people of which I have been saying so much. I do not deny that there are many saints of God such as these whom you describe, and I am sorry for it. I allow that there are many believers who live far below their privileges, and seem to know nothing of joy and peace in believing. But did you ever ask any of these people whether they would give up their Christianity, and go back to the world? Did you ever ask them, after all their groanings, and doubtings, and fearings, whether they think they would be happier if they ceased to follow Christ? Did you ever ask those questions? I am certain if you did, that the weakest and lowest believers would all give you one answer, I am certain they would tell you that they would rather cling to their little scrap of hope in Christ - than possess the world! I am sure they would all answer, "Our faith is weak, if we have any; our grace is small, if we have any; our joy in Christ is next to nothing at all - but we cannot give up what we have gotten. Though the Lord slays us - we must cling to Him." The root of happiness lies deep in many a poor weak believer's heart - when neither leaves nor blossoms are to be seen! But you will tell me, in the last place, that "you cannot think that most believers are happy, because they are so grave and serious." You think that they do not really possess this happiness I have been describing - because their countenances do not show it. You doubt the reality of their joy - because it is so little seen. I might easily repeat what I told you at the beginning of this paper - that a merry face is no sure proof of a happy heart. But I will not do so. I will rather ask you whether you yourself may not be the cause why believers look grave and serious when you meet them? If you are not converted yourself - you surely cannot expect them to look at you without sorrow! They see you on the high road to destruction, and that alone is enough to give them pain! They see thousands like you, hurrying on to weeping and wailing and endless woe! Now, is it possible that such a daily sight, should not give them grief? Your company, very likely, is one cause why they are grave. Wait until you are a converted man yourself, before you pass judgment on the gravity of converted people. See them in companies where all are of one heart, and all love Christ, and so far as my own experience goes - you will find no people so truly happy, as true Christians. When the infidel Hume asked Bishop Horne why religious people always looked melancholy, the learned prelate replied, "The sight of you, Mr. Hume, would make any Christian melancholy!" I repeat my assertion in this part of my
subject. I repeat it boldly, confidently, deliberately. I say that there is no happiness among worldly people, which will
at all compare with that of the true Christian. All other happiness compared with his - is moonlight compared to sunshine,
and brass compared to gold. Boast, if you will, of the laughter and merriment of irreligious men; sneer, if you will, at the
gravity and seriousness, which appear in the demeanor of many Christians. I have looked the whole subject in the face, and
am not moved. I say that the true Christian alone is the truly happy man - and the way to be happy is to be a true Christian. And now I am going to close this paper by a few words of plain APPLICATION. I have endeavored to show what is essential to true happiness. I have endeavored to expose the fallacy of many views which prevail upon the subject. I have endeavored to point out, in plain and unmistakable words, where true happiness alone can be found. Allow me to wind up all by an affectionate appeal to the consciences of all into whose hands this volume may fall. (1) In the first place, let me entreat every reader of this paper to apply to his own heart the solemn inquiry: Are you happy? High or low, rich or poor, master or servant, farmer or laborer, young or old - here is a question that deserves an answer: Are you really happy? Man of the world, who is caring for nothing but the things of time, neglecting the Bible, making a god of business or money, providing for everything but the day of judgment, scheming and planning about everything but eternity: Are you happy? You know you are not! Foolish woman, who is trifling life away in levity and frivolity, spending hours after hours on that poor frail body which must soon feed the worms, making an idol of dress and fashion, and excitement, and human praise - as if this world was all: Are you happy? You know you are not! Young man, who is bent on pleasure and self-indulgence, fluttering from one idle pastime to another, like the moth about the candle flame - imagining yourself clever and knowing, and too wise to be led by pastors, and ignorant that the devil is leading you captive, like the ox that is led to the slaughter: Are you happy? You know you are not! Yes - each and all of you - you are not happy! And in your own consciences, you know it well. You may not allow it - but it is sadly true. There is a great empty place in each of your hearts - and nothing will fill it. Pour into it money, learning, rank, and pleasure - and it will be empty still. There is a sore place in each of your consciences - and nothing will heal it. Infidelity cannot; free-thinking cannot; Romanism cannot - they are all quack medicines. Nothing can heal it - but that which at present you have not used - the simple Gospel of Christ. Yes, you are indeed a miserable person! Take warning this day - that you never will be happy until you are converted. You might as well expect to feel the sun shine on your face when you turn your back to it, as to feel happy when you turn your back on God and on Christ. (2) In the next place, let me warn all who are not true Christians - of the folly of living a life which cannot make them happy. I pity you from the bottom of my heart, and would gladly persuade you to open your eyes and be wise. I stand as a watchman on the tower of the everlasting Gospel. I see you sowing eternal misery for yourselves, and I call upon you to stop and think, before it is too late. Oh, that God may show you your folly! You are hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns for yourselves - which can hold no water. You are spending your time, and strength, and affections on that which will give you no return for your labor, "spending your money on that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not." (Isaiah 55:2.) You are building up a Babel of your own contriving, and ignorant that God will pour contempt on your schemes for procuring happiness - because you attempt to be happy without Him. Awake from your dreams, I entreat you, and show yourselves men! Think of the uselessness of living a life which you will be ashamed of when you die; and of having a mere nominal religion - which will utterly fail you when it is most needed. Open your eyes and look round the world. Tell me who was ever really happy, without God and Christ and the Holy Spirit. Look at the road in which you are traveling. Mark the footsteps of those who have gone before you - see how many have turned away from it, and confessed they were wrong. I warn you plainly, that if you are not a true Christian - you will miss happiness in the present world, as well as in the world to come. Oh, believe me, the way of happiness, and the way of salvation - are one and the same! He who will have his own way, and refuses to serve Christ - will never be really happy. But he who serves Christ has the promise of both lives. He is happy on earth, and will be happier still in Heaven! If you are neither happy in this world nor the next, it will be all your own fault. Oh, think of this! Do not be guilty of such enormous folly! Who does not mourn over the folly of the drunkard, the opium eater, and the suicide? But there is no folly like that of the impenitent child of the world. (3) In the next place, let me entreat all readers of this book, who are not yet happy - to seek happiness where alone it can be found. The keys of the way to happiness are in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is sealed and appointed by God the Father, to give the bread of life to those who hunger, and to give the water of life to those who thirst. The door which riches and rank and learning have so often tried to open, and tried in vain - is now ready to open to every humble, praying believer. Oh, if you want to be happy - come to Christ! Come to Him, confessing that you are weary of your own ways, and want rest; that you find you have no power and might to make yourself holy or happy or fit for Heaven; and have no hope but in Him. Tell Him this unreservedly. This is coming to Christ. Come to Him, imploring Him to show you His mercy, and grant you His salvation - to wash you in His own blood, and take your sins away - to speak peace to your conscience, and heal your troubled soul. Tell Him all this unreservedly. This is coming to Christ. You have everything to encourage you. The Lord Jesus Himself invites you. He proclaims to you as well as to others, "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11. 28-30.) Wait for nothing. You may feel unworthy. You may feel as if you did not repent enough. But wait no longer. Come to Christ. You have everything to encourage you. Thousands have walked in the way you are invited to enter, and have found it good. Once, like yourself - they served the world, and plunged deeply into folly and sin. Once, like yourself - they became weary of their wickedness, and longed for deliverance and rest. They heard of Christ, and His willingness to help and save; they came to Him by faith and prayer, after many a doubt and hesitation; they found Him a thousand times more gracious than they had expected! They rested on Him and were happy - they carried His cross and tasted peace. Oh, walk in their steps. I beseech you, by the mercies of God, to come to Christ. As ever you would be happy, I entreat you to come to Christ. Cast off delays. Awake from your past slumber - arise, and be free! This day come to Christ. (4) In the last place, let me offer a few hints to all true Christians for the increase and promotion of their happiness. I offer these hints with diffidence. I desire to apply them to my own conscience as well as to your's. You have found Christ's service happy. I have no doubt that you feel such sweetness in Christ's peace that you would gladly know more of it. I am sure that these hints deserve attention. Believers, if you would have an increase of happiness in Christ's service, labor every year to grow in grace. Beware of standing still. The holiest men are always the happiest. Let your aim be every year to be more holy - to know more, to feel more, to see more of the fullness of Christ !do not rest upon old grace - do not be content with the degree of grace whereunto you have attained. Search the Scriptures more earnestly; Believers, if you would have an increase of happiness in Christ's service - labor every year to be more thankful. Pray that you may know more and more what it is to "rejoice in the Lord." (Philippians 3:1.) Learn to have a deeper sense of your own wretched sinfulness and corruption, and to be more deeply grateful, that by the grace of God you are what you are. Alas, there is too much complaining - and too little thanksgiving among the people of God! There is too much murmuring, and coveting things that we have not. There is too little praising and blessing for the many undeserved mercies that we have. Oh, that God would pour out upon us a great spirit of thankfulness and praise! Believers, if you would have an increase of happiness in Christ's service, labor every year to do more good. Look around the circle in which your lot is cast - and lay yourself out to be useful. Strive to be of the same character with God: He is not only good - but "does good." (Psalm 119:68.) Alas, there is far too much selfishness among believers in the present day! There is far too much lazy sitting by the fire nursing our own spiritual diseases, and croaking over the state of our own hearts! Up, and be useful in your day and generation! Is there no one that you can speak to? Is there no one that you can write to? Is there literally nothing that you can do for the glory of God, and the benefit of your fellow-men? Oh I cannot think it! I cannot think it. There is much that you might do, if you had only the desire. For your own happiness' sake - arise and do it, without delay. The bold, outspoken, working Christians - are always the happiest! The compromising, lingering Christian must never expect to taste perfect peace. The most decided Christian - will always be the happiest man.
A Church That Makes God Sick When the Apostle John was exiled on the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, he saw a vision of the Glorified Christ who gave him a message to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor, one of which was in Laodicea. He said among other things, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth [Rev. 3:15]. Now there just isn't a nicer way to say "vomit," but that is exactly what the word "spue" means. This church which was neither hot or cold, on or off, up or down, in or out, simply made God sick to His stomach. The Lord Jesus also made quite a startling statement to His disciples when He said, Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men [Mt. 5:13]. Paul the Apostle also referred to powerless religion as having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof ... [2 Tm 3:5]. As we examine the church at Laodicea, we see several things that quickly stand out about this church. First, in spite of its condemnation, it was still considered to be one of the Lord's churches, whom He expressed his love for and had not given up on, even though He was not even welcome to come inside to worship. The process of forsaking them wasn't completed yet, because He said that He was still rebuking and chastening them like backsliding Israel in the Old Testament. His hand was "outstretched still" as He calls them to "be zealous therefore and repent. They were the "lukewarm" church, as was Israel "at ease in Zion," settled on their lees and settled down in the world. They were the First Community Church, and they were comfortable in the community and the community was comfortable with them. They had no controversy with the community and the community had no controversy with them. Some years ago our church, along with another church in our city, went down to protest at an abortion clinic; many were arrested. During the process, we noticed that the church next door to the clinic had an agreement with the clinic that the murderers and murderesses could use the church parking lot while they did their dirty work. Their excuse was that before the clinic rented the space, the church had an agreement with the office building. Guess it never occurred to them that they might have even put a porn bookstore in there. The Laodicean church was also a proud church. It said, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing. They had no need of the prayer meeting, or the old protracted revival meetings, or the old camp meetings, or the old tent meetings, or the old prophecy conferences. If they had needed those things they would still have had them- they that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. These are not the things the Laodicean church of today hungers after. But she has a softball team, a basketball league, children's church, church suppers, seminars of all kinds. Because these are the things that she really needs, rather than those other "outdated" things.
What is the result of this Laodicean spirit? It has resulted in a church that has no relevance in the world today. Every indication shows that the church in America, as in Europe, is becoming less relevant to society in general every day. Like Lot, he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law when he warned them to get out of Sodom. When he warned them that God was going to destroy Sodom, they thought that he was joking. The world thinks the average preacher and church is just a big joke. When it comes to our point of view, they could care less. Young blondes who give political analysis on CNN and Fox News, and the glib Rachel Maddow on MSNB are far more important than the pastors of America. Listen to Joel Osteen making a fool of himself to Larry King when he says that he has no problem with Mitt Romney as President; in fact, he told King that he hasn't ever studied much about Mormonism. Dr. Phil has now become America's pastor as the average woman literally worships at his altar of wisdom. Do they not mock us when they say that we can pray in the halls of the state house or Congress but leave our Jesus outside on the street? Do they not mock us when they say to our Christian chaplains in the military, we want you to go into battle and conduct services for our boys but leave your Jesus back home? Do they not mock us when they say to us, you can send cookies to the boys in Iraq but leave your Bibles in America? Do they not mock us when they say, we want your moral teaching in our schools to tame our little barbarians so we can keep them from climbing the walls and raping the girls and killing the teachers, but leave your Jesus at your church when you come? And does the IRS not mock us when they say, we will give you tax exemption and we will give your members credit on their 1040 for gifts for your churches, and we will give you pastors tax credits such as housing, etc. and other goodies, but you cannot endorse specific candidates and legislation from the pulpit? And the preachers salve their conscience by saying, "No one has ever told me what I can or can't preach from the pulpit." That's like saying, "No one has ever told me that I can't speed." The preachers may not have awakened from the ether, but their church members have, according to a recent poll from Life Way Christian Resources conducted for the Alliance Defense Fund. The ADF is the Christian legal society that has been the ramrod behind the pulpit initiative program. This is the effort that encourages pastors to preach political sermons from the pulpit in order to bait the IRS into a legal challenge. The intent is to overturn what is called the "Johnson Law," passed by Congress in 1954 at the behest of Lyndon Johnson, which prohibits preachers of 501(c)(3) tax exempt churches from endorsing particular candidates or legislation from the pulpit. So far the IRS hasn't taken the bait. Read on and weep. In a Sept. 11, 2011 article by Ed Stetzler, Vice President of Research and Ministry Development for LifeWay Christian Resources whose polling institute has been collecting data for the ADF, he writes the following: We have completed two surveys recently looking at pastors, people, and politics. The numbers are pretty clear: pastors and people do not think that pulpits are the right place for politics and they also feel that the IRS should not be using the threat of the loss of tax exemption to regulate those pulpits. Today, we released new data, conducted August 2011. Here is an excerpt from the release and an earlier release on
the place of politics in the church: [We] found that 79% of Protestant pastors largely disagreed that, "The government
should regulate sermons by revoking a church's tax exemption if its pastor approves of or criticizes candidates based on the
church's moral beliefs or theology."
Interpreting the statistics These figures show that the Johnson law is accomplishing exactly what it was designed to accomplish-it is silencing the preachers of America. Isaiah the prophet called them in his day, "dumb dogs" that cannot bark [Isaiah 56:10]. They also confirm that the old adage, "politics and religion don't mix," is well entrenched in the American psyche to the extent that the average congregation will not tolerate what is called much "political preaching" from the pulpit. We have surely come to the place where the words of Paul have come true, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears [2 Timothy 4:3]. May we dare ask, what political issue is not a religious issue, and what political subject is God not interested in? Also, what political decision will be made in the state house that will not affect the family home or the church house in some manner? If that be the case, then why should the pastor not be informing his people regularly as to what the scriptures have to say on these subjects? If two candidates are running for office, one for abortion and one opposed, is the pastor to remain silent on the subject of murder? Or sodomy, or sex education in schools, or socialism, or any number of other subjects? What if a member of the church is a candidate, is the pastor not to allow him to give a testimony to the congregation? But the IRS rules say that he would have to give his opponent, even if he or she was a sodomite or lesbian, equal opportunity. Also one other thing before we leave this subject ... When the pollster asked the question, why didn't someone think to say that no pastor should ever tell anyone how to vote or who to vote for, or for that matter, what to do or how to live? The pastor is an Ambassador of Jesus Christ according to the Apostle Paul and stands before the people in "Christ's stead." He also said, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. If a preacher cannot back his instructions to the people on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, they have no obligation to follow him. However, if he can show them, "Thus saith the Lord," then their controversy is not with the man of God, but with God himself. The old saying, "Come Shekels, Come Shackles", has now come true. Because of tax exemption-the not-for-profit gift, and the pastors housing allowance and various tax breaks, he is afraid of the IRS. So, whether conscious or unconscious, he is tailoring his preaching to stay within the IRS guidelines. And all the while he says, "They aren't telling me what to preach, I haven't changed my preaching, I preach on any subject I want to preach on," etc. But he has no idea how toned down his sermons have really become. One preacher said, "I have learned to stay under the radar." But he can't stay under God's radar because God is omniscient, and besides, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us [Hebrews 12:1].
According to a recent Barna group poll, 40% of 16-29 year old Americans identify as non-Christian; 85% of them consider Christianity hypocritical, and 52% of Christians in the same age group agree. Does Christianity have an image problem? More Americans tailoring religion
to fit their needs Polls show that in 1991, 24% of U.S. adults hadn't been to church in the past six months; today, it's 37%. That's one of the key findings in newly released research that reveals America's drift from clearly defined religious denominations to faiths cut to fit personal preferences. The folks who make up God as they go are side-by-side with self-proclaimed believers who claim the Christian label but shed their ties to traditional beliefs and practices. More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their savior and expect to go to heaven. And more say they haven't been to church in the past six months except for special occasions such as weddings or funerals. In 1991, 24% were "unchurched." Today, it's 37%. Barna blames pastors for those oddly contradictory findings. "Everyone hears, 'Jesus is the answer. Embrace him. Say this little Sinners Prayer and keep coming back.' It doesn't work. People end up bored, burned out and empty," he says. "They look at church and wonder, 'Jesus died for this?'" "The consequence," Barna says, "is that, for every subgroup of religion, race, gender, age and region of the country, the important markers of religious connection are fracturing." When he measures people by their belief in seven essential doctrines, defined by the National Association of Evangelicals' Statement of Faith, only 7% of those surveyed qualified. Barna laments, "People say, 'I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want.'"
Sociologist Robert Bellah first saw this phenomenon emerging in the 1980s. In a book he co-authored, Habits of the Heart, he introduces Sheila, a woman who represents this. Sheila says, "I can't remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice. ... It's just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think God would want us to take care of each other."
A Voice in the Wilderness John the Baptist was The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. No matter what the cost, we need a nation of pastors, evangelists, and missionaries who will determine in their hearts that they will be a "voice" for God to cry out in the "wilderness" of apostasy, sin, and debauchery that we find ourselves in today. We need pastors and churches to throw off the shackles of tax exemption so they can preach with power what God wants them to preach and say without fear as Nathan did of old to King David, Thou art the man! And as John the Baptist did when he said to Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. The Lord Jesus says, knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: Obviously they were not aware of their condition. The solution was drastic, I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire Is this the last call for Repentance for the Lord's church? As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. From the Trumpet Newsletter (the voice of the unregistered church movement) Greg Dixon, Editor - send email address to: drgregdixon@earthlink.net.For more information, go to www.unregisteredbaptistfellowship.com, www.biblicallawcenter.com, and www.trailofbloodrevisited.net
The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion By Samuel Davies "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 the difficulties and dangers in 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 in worldly 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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