jealousy, &c. may cloath themselves in the garb of virtue. Men may first
deceive themselves, by endeavouring to reconcile their criminal pursuits
with the dictates of conscience; and then employ the same infernal arts,
to deceive and impose upon others. It is with such masks as these, that
hypocrites, pharisees, and all pretenders to true religion, step forth
upon the stage of life, dare to enlist themselves under the standard of
virtue, and even sometimes assume the rank and authority of commanders.
But when they are summoned to the field of battle; when they are called
upon, from within, or from without, to exert themselves against their
spiritual adversaries, to assert the rights of Heaven, as well in
themselves as in the world around them, to subdue the evil lusts and
passions that tyrannize in their own breasts, or to engage with that
bitter and malevolent spirit, who opposes the advancement of their
Master's kingdom in the life and conduct of others; then it is, that the
traitors drop their masks; they meanly desert the banner of the cross,
openly disavow their pretensions to religion, and "deny the LORD that
bought them." They shrink from the combat, honourable as it would have
been for them to engage, and happy as they would have found themselves
in the issue; and meanly barter away their salvation for a false peace,
short in its continuance, and ending in woe and misery extreme. Like the
cowardly disciples mentioned in my text, "they go back, and walk no more
with their Master."
Doubtless these timid Israelites were alarmed at that heavenly discourse
of the BLESSED JESUS, which we read in the preceding part of this
chapter. The mysteries of his kingdom there delivered, were too refined
for their gross conception. The nature, nourishment, and growth of the
Inward and Spiritual Man, which is there indispensably required,
militated too powerfully against their favourite passions and
prejudices. Their high-blown hopes of future preferment in a temporal
kingdom, were, by this spiritual address, entirely dissipated; and they
were taught to seek and expect nothing from their Master, but what was
opposite to the life, and spirit, and maxims of this world.
Alas, how many apostates from the religion of JESUS, have imitated the
conduct of these unworthy disciples! Past, as well as present times,
afford too many melancholy examples of this kind. A temporizing spirit
hath prevailed in almost all ages; and ecclesiastical history abounds
with examples of its venomous influence upon the minds of men. The
temporal prosperity of the church, hath, in many instances, proved its
ruin; and accessions of wealth and power have only served to increase
its corruptions. Under the profession of a religion, which breathes
nothing but purity, meekness, and benevolence, men have been actuated by
all the diabolical passions that ever inflamed the breasts of the most
ignorant and unenlightened Pagans.
Wherever the external profession of Christianity hath been attended with
any outward emoluments, its disciples have increased, and an outward
shew of zeal for its advancement, hath not been wanting. This outward
shew gives them but little trouble; and the hypocrite's garb, though
cumbersome at first, is not only made light and convenient by custom,
but even desirable for the profits and advantages it brings.
Whilst the BLESSED JESUS is distributing his bounty, and loaves and
fishes multiply under his creating hand, he will never be without crouds
of followers to partake of his royal munificence. Whilst he is riding in
triumph through the streets of Jerusalem, nothing is heard from every
quarter, but "Hosannahs to the Son of David;" every one is ambitious of
joining his train, and of being in the number of his adherents. But when
the powers of this world confederate against him; when Herod and Pontius
Pilate, and the whole nation of the Jews, rise up in arms, seize upon
the innocent victim, and drag him to condemnation, torture and death;
then, indeed, his false friends appear in their proper colours; and, O
melancholy truth! even his disciples "go back, and walk no more with
him;" some of them deny him, and all fly and forsake him.
Let us not deceive ourselves, my brethren. It is not an outward
profession of Christianity, or an outward zeal against its adversaries,
that will stand us in any stead: all this may well enough consist with
inward impurity, a worldly spirit, and an heart devoted to the service
of sin. The great trial of our faith, the sure proof of the sincerity of
our conversion, must be sought for in deeper exercises than these.
When storms arise, when dangers threaten, when inward and outward
enemies attack our peace; when we cannot maintain our discipleship
without the sacrifice of some darling passion of almost irresistible
power; when we can walk no longer with our Master, without the loss of
some considerable temporal advantages; when we are summoned by him to
fly from the soft allurements of pleasure, to burst the bonds of avarice
or ambition, to disclaim all dependence upon the world, ourselves, or
any created being; in a word, "to forsake all, take up our cross, and
follow him;" then, indeed, is our hour of trial! then the sincerity of
our attachment to CHRIST, will be made manifest to ourselves, and to the
world; and we shall learn to know assuredly, whether we are, or are not,
of the number of those disciples, "who go back, and walk no more with
him."
Therefore, O Christian, thy Beloved is then only thine, and thou art
then only his, when thou canst abide with him in the darkness of the
vale, as well as in the splendors of the mount; when thou canst walk
with him in the wilderness, as well as on the plain; and when "neither
tribulation, nor distress, nor trial, nor persecution, can separate thee
from the LOVE OF GOD, which is in CHRIST JESUS our Lord."
DISCOURSE IV.
The Religion of Jesus, the only Source of Happiness.
St. JOHN, CHAP. vi. VER. 66, 67, 68.
"FROM THAT TIME MANY OF DISCIPLES WENT BACK, AND WALKED NO MORE WITH
HIM. THEN SAID JESUS UNTO THE TWELVE, WILL YE ALSO GO AWAY? THEN
SIMON PETER ANSWERED HIM, LORD! TO WHOM SHALL WE GO? THOU HAST THE
WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE."
The motives which induced many of our Lord's first followers to withdraw
themselves from his person, and wholly relinquish the connection they
had formed with him and his disciples, I have explained in the preceding
discourse. The erroneous conduct of mankind in general, their mistaken
notions of happiness, the false and dangerous paths in which they pursue
it, their delusive hopes and real disappointments; the palliative arts
they make use of to reconcile their duty with their passions, and the
various methods by which they deceive themselves as well as others;
their hypocritical pretensions to religion, and the ways in which their
deceptions are discovered, and their pharisaical professions unveiled;
in a word, the genuine sources of that error and apostasy, into which
the unworthy disciples mentioned in the text, as well as others who have
since imitated their example, have sadly degenerated; all these
particulars were suggested to my mind, from the consideration of these
words of the Evangelist, "From that time many of his disciples went
back, and walked no more with him."
The tender and pathetic expostulation which this ungenerous conduct
produced from the blessed lips of the common Friend and Saviour of Man,
breathes such a spirit of love, kindness, and compassion, towards the
souls of those whom he came to redeem, as cannot but claim our most
serious and grateful attention. The deep concern he must have felt for
such an instance of apostasy, added to his apprehensions of the fatal
influence it might have upon his beloved Apostles, awakened in him all
those innocent and delicate sensibilities, which, even in his human
nature, were the genuine offspring of that ETERNAL LOVE to which he was
essentially united.
Friendship, true friendship, is the HEAVEN-BORN OFFSPRING of Divine
Charity. Heaven is her native country. In that pure and gentle element
she lives and moves without constraint, free, chearful, delighting and
delighted. If ever she deigns to associate with the sons of men, it is
among the truly virtuous alone she can be found. She visits none but
those, whose "conversation is in heaven," who have within them a birth
congenial with her own, whose hearts and affections are governed by the
Spirit of Love, and can only be wooed and won by correspondent tempers
and characters. Her sacred name, indeed, is often prostituted to venal,
base, and corrupt purposes. Her fair and beauteous garb is often worn by
the votaries of avarice, pleasure, and ambition. Her sweet aspect, her
mild and winning graces, her obliging and disinterested disposition,
yea, even her peculiar warmth of affection, and glowing sensibility of
heart, are all profanely counterfeited by the selfish and sensual, the
vain and the aspiring.
Take it for granted, however, that man, whether gay, dissolute,
covetous, or ambitious, is incapable of real friendship: all his designs
and prospects center in himself, and every seeming act of kindness,
every splendid appearance of courtesy and generosity, is calculated to
promote some selfish purpose, to procure some temporal emolument.
Far different is the friendship of those who are "born of God;" who,
from a vital union with the Source of Love, derive such pure and
unadulterated streams of Charity into their breasts, as manifest
themselves in a life of general beneficence towards all men, and a warm,
affectionate, spiritual attachment towards "those especially, who are of
the houshold of faith." Such, but in the purest highest degree, were
those heavenly feelings of true friendship, with which the heart of
JESUS glowed, when he uttered this sweet and endearing expostulation,
"Will ye also go away?"
The words are few, but the sentiments are manifold, gracious, and
animating; and they cannot but appear so to those, who attend, with nice
discernment, to the common feelings of human nature. It is to these
common feelings that our Lord makes his appeal, in all his heavenly
discourses.
Though, from the general corruption, it is a case that has but seldom
occurred in the page of history, yet let us suppose a good and virtuous
man, associated with a set of good and virtuous companions, bound to him
by the strong and endearing ties of private friendship, in the defence
of some good and virtuous cause. Novelty, the love of fame, a desire of
appearing to the world in some conspicuous point of view, the prospect
of some great temporal advantages, and a variety of other motives of a
selfish nature, might suddenly prompt a considerable number of persons
to join these champions of virtue, and follow them in the glorious
enterprize. Enemies appear, dangers threaten; yea, death, perhaps, in
all its horrors, presents itself to their view. Personal security is to
be preferred before the general interest of virtue; and where virtue
cannot be supported without personal losses, her cause must be
abandoned. Upon these principles, the weak and timid multitude forsake
their gallant leader. Attached to him by no bonds, but those of interest
or ambition, when these fail, they think themselves at liberty to
abandon his person and his cause. The noble chieftain, not so much
affected with the prospect of danger to himself and his cause, as with a
real concern for the baseness of his followers, and an apprehension,
that their flight might perhaps intimidate those, whom he knew to be
attached, from principle, to virtue and himself; the noble chieftain, I
say, might with great propriety, and without the least tincture of fear
or despondency, but rather as a trial of their fidelity, and a most
powerful incentive to new and more vigorous efforts, address himself in
such words to the chosen few, as those, which the great Captain of our
Salvation delivered upon this occasion: "Will ye, also go away?" In this
address, there is not implied the least unkind suspicion of their
integrity. It is no more than an affectionate appeal to the warm and
tender sensations of true and genuine friendship.
O, my beloved Apostles! ye see the weakness, timidity, and
worldly-mindedness, of those pretended friends, who have hitherto
associated with us. So violent hath been their attachment to earthly
pursuits, that they would not suffer truths of the highest importance to
interfere with them for a moment. My last spiritual address was too deep
and powerful a stroke at their corruptions. Could they have continued in
fellowship with us upon their own terms, and made their connexion
subservient to their own views of temporal interest, they would not have
so suddenly forsaken us. But shall their conduct have the least
influence upon yours? Will ye be intimidated by their flight? Will ye
suffer your fidelity and perseverance to be shaken by their evil
example? Will ye unkindly abandon a Master, into whose service ye
entered upon the most disinterested principles, and who knows and feels
you to be attached to him by the heavenly ties of religion and love?
After having seen so many indubitable testimonies of that almighty power
wherewith he is invested, will ye doubt his ability to protect and
deliver you? After so many kind and instructive conversations, in the
course of which he hath gradually, and as he found you "could bear
them," opened to you the great truths of his spiritual kingdom; will ye
be such enemies to yourselves, and your real happiness, as to forsake
your best of friends, your kindest and most powerful protector? "Will ye
also go away?"
These sentiments, and more than these, are expressed in this pathetic
expostulation: and for our comfort, my brethren, may we ever recollect,
that, though ascended into the highest heavens, and seated at the right
hand of his Father, he continues the same loving conduct towards all his
faithful friends and followers, that he observed towards his disciples
whilst he was upon earth. The same gentle and affectionate modes of
speech, the same tender, but awakening expostulations, to which his
Apostles were accustomed, he still applies to the heart of every
believer.
If we look back to past experience, we shall be convinced, that this
very expostulation of our compassionate Master, hath frequently sounded
in our ears. When the infectious influence of evil example, the sudden
attack of some powerful temptation, some severe stroke of adversity, or
some smiling prospect of temporal felicity; when these, or any of these,
have secretly solicited our frail nature, to relinquish our religious
pursuits, to surrender ourselves to the dominion of sin, and renounce
the favour and protection of our Master; hath he not frequently, and
with ineffable tenderness, whispered this gentle reprehension to our
hearts, "Will ye also go away?" Happy, indeed, if, with Peter's
affectionate warmth, and honest faithful adherence to our Lord, amidst
the severest trials, we have been enabled to reply, from a full
conviction of our own weakness, and of his all-sufficiency, "Lord! to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life."
Peter generally spoke in the name of all his brethren. His answer here,
therefore, is to be considered as a solemn declaration on the part of
the Apostles, of their firm trust and confidence in their Master,
founded on the full evidence they had received of his Divinity. As if he
had said:
Think not, dearest Master, that thy faithful disciples are actuated by
such unworthy motives as have prompted some of their weak and carnal
brethren to forsake thee. No--we are intimately convinced of the folly
of depending upon any creaturely strength, or seeking for happiness in
any sublunary prospect. Thou hast opened upon our wondering souls such
scenes of heavenly bliss, thou hast manifested to our outward senses
such astonishing displays of thy absolute power over all temporal
nature, thou hast revived our hearts with such sweet draughts of those
rivers of pleasure that surround thy Father's throne, thou hast
enlightened our understandings with such piercing beams of truth, thou
hast placed such endearing objects before our will and affections, and
hast so enamoured our souls with the beauty and excellency of thy
Gospel; that we are perfectly satisfied to remain with thee for ever,
implicitly to follow thy blessed footsteps, to accompany thee through
all the difficulties and dangers of life, and even to meet death
undaunted at thy side. Indeed, "to whom shall we go?" Every creature
around us, bears the stamp of its own imperfection. Whatever they
possess of beauty or of bliss, it is all from thee, thou Lord of life,
and source of all perfection! They are in themselves, as poor and
indigent as we are. If we make the experiment, and go to them in quest
of happiness, our fond hopes are suddenly overthrown, and vexation
succeeds to disappointment. The life we are now in, is fallen, temporal,
and transient. The words of this life are as vain as the life itself:
for it can only speak what it knows and feels, and the sum and substance
of this is want and woe. But as thou hast in thyself the very source of
eternal life, by virtue of thy eternal union with the Father; as the
powers, sensibilities, virtues, and perfections of this life, are
completely opened in thee; as the "fulness of the GODHEAD dwells bodily"
in thee, so thy words must be the "words of eternal life:" for thou
"speakest that thou dost know, and testifiest that thou hast seen." Thy
outward words are, indeed, but the outward signs of this life eternal;
the real participation of it can be nothing less than an inward and
vital union of our wills with thine, effectually co-operating, and
gradually "transforming us into thine own image, from glory to glory."
Such was the import of the Apostle's reply; and such must be the real
heart-felt language of every sinner, that expects peace and pardon at
the hands of the Almighty. Pardon of sin, is not, as some vainly
imagine, like the cancelling of a bond, the remitting of a debt, or the
forgiveness of an injury betwixt man and man. No--It is a "dying unto
sin, and a rising again unto righteousness." It is life eternal opening
itself in the fallen soul, and extinguishing the life of sin, or at
least keeping it in due subjection, till the dissolution of the body
puts an end to its connection with this fallen world; it is, according
to the Apostle's language, "the law of the spirit of life making us free
from the law of sin and death."
That eternal life, which we have, and can have only from JESUS CHRIST,
the second Adam, can alone pardon, remit, atone, cover, extinguish, (for
all these are words of the same spiritual import) that earthly life,
which we have received from the first Adam. The very first motion of
this eternal life within us, is a conviction of the vanity, sin, and
folly of our earthly life. "They that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick." A sensibility of want and weakness must
necessarily precede a desire of relief: and the soul must be "weary and
heavy laden," oppressed beneath the burden of her fallen nature, and
convinced of its inability to yield her a moment's real peace, before
she will think of making this solemn inquiry, "what shall I do to be
saved? to whom shall I go?" Yea, even after she is come thus far, many a
weary step must be taken, many doubts and difficulties must be
encountered, before she will be able, from her own experience, to adopt
this declaration of the Apostle, "Thou hast the words of eternal life."
Those doubts and difficulties, with which men are frequently embarrassed
in their spiritual researches, do in a great measure proceed from that
general deviation from the primitive simplicity of Gospel Truth and
Gospel Language, which so sadly prevails among the various denominations
of Christians; in consequence of which, a multitude of useless and
unscriptural distinctions have been introduced into catechisms, systems
of divinity, and even books of practical devotion, which serve only to
perplex and confound the mind of anxious and well-disposed inquirers.
"To whom shall I go?" cries the poor penitent sinner, whom CHRIST, by
the Power of his Grace, hath brought to a sensibility of his fallen
life. Why, go to the priest, says one; confess, and get absolution, and
you will come away as innocent as a new-born babe. Go, and study the
Augsburg confession, says another, and you will soon have every doubt
and difficulty removed. Go, says a third, and read Calvin's system with
great attention, and you will soon find your soul at rest. Some advise
him to join himself to one sect of Christians, and some to another; each
maintaining, in his turn, that the life and power of religion is only to
be found among those of his own particular society.
The poor misguided seeker eagerly catches at every thing that looks like
spiritual advice; runs from one book to another, from one church and
conventicle to another, "seeking rest, but finding none," or at most, a
temporary peace, a partial truce from extreme distress; whereas after
all, a few plain words of Scripture, properly applied and attended to,
will go further towards setting him right in his researches, than all
the popes and priests, and Luthers, and Calvins, and sects and
denominations, in the world.
What then hath a minister of CHRIST, or indeed any private Christian, to
say or do, when a true penitent under such circumstances applies to him
for advice, and asks him with the utmost anxiety, "To whom shall I go?"
What can he do, what can he say, that will have a more immediate
tendency to fix his attention, and compose his distracted mind, than to
answer him in the words of the text? "To whom shouldst thou go, but to
JESUS CHRIST? it is he alone who hath the words of Eternal Life."
I know no other end of preaching but this; and I am sure, that we are
warranted by Scripture to declare to every such humbled, penitent, and
afflicted sinner, that if he thus seeks CHRIST, he shall not seek in
vain. By faithfully directing his will and affections towards his
REDEEMER, thus inwardly unfolding his graces and virtues in his heart,
he will become more and more acquainted, and more and more comforted,
with that "Life Eternal, which is the gift of GOD in CHRIST JESUS."
DISCOURSE V.
True Religion, a costly and continual Sacrifice.
2 SAMUEL, CHAP. xxiv, VERSE 24.
"AND THE KING SAID UNTO ARAUNAH, NAY, BUT I WILL SURELY BUY IT OF
THEE AT A PRICE; NEITHER WILL I OFFER BURNT-OFFERINGS UNTO THE LORD
MY GOD, OF THAT WHICH DOTH COST ME NOTHING."