The writer of the following pages has been deeply affected, by the
consideration of the strange and melancholy fact--that Christianity
has made little or no progress for fifteen successive centuries: and
having, as he trusts, perceived, in an attentive perusal of the
Gospel History,[1] that primitive Christianity owed much of its
irresistible energy to the open and public manifestation by the early
disciples, of their love to their Redeemer and King, and to one
another, by the evidence which they gave of it in their conduct, and
being moreover convinced that the exhibition of this love tends
directly and most powerfully to augment the prosperity of the Church
of Christ within its own bosom, and to extend its influence
throughout the world in all ages; he ventures to lay the result of
his reflections open to the candid consideration of the sincere
disciples of that Saviour, "who, though he was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor.
8. 9).
This manifestation of love he believes to have been made by the
entire and real (not figurations) devotion of themselves, their
property, time and talents to Christ, their Lord and King. The
subsequent remarks, however, more especially relate to the bestowment
of property, and that whether of capital already possessed, or of
income to be acquired by industry.
The object proposed by the writer is to prove that such a Dedication
is invariably enforced by the commands of our Saviour, and that it is
illustrated by the practice of his Apostles and their immediate
contemporaries[2]: and he entreats of all the sincere disciples of
Christ, that they will weigh what is written in the balance of the
Sanctuary, and not in the balances of this world;-that they will pray
earnestly to the "Father of lights" to have, in their search after
truth, a single eye to the glory of Him whose they are and whom they
ought to serve, and to the extension of His Kingdom--that they will,
while they search and pray, have a tender regard both to their own
souls; and to those of the Millions of "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and
Heretics", whose ignorance and wretchedness they profess to deplore.
If in our enquiry into the meaning and extent of our Saviour's
words--"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,"--we should
be led to the persuasion that he meant them, and that the Apostles
and their companions received them, in their most unrestricted sense;
may the Holy Spirit of God enable us to lay firm hold on the most
comfortable and consolatory permission thence arising--to cast all
our cares upon Him, because we know that He careth for us. All that
is, or that can fairly be, claimed, in investigating the question
before us, is, that the various precepts and arguments, along with
the uniform practice, of our Saviour and his Apostles, be allowed to
explain his meaning in this particular instance. I shall, therefore,
consider in the first place, the direct Scriptural account of the
Principle, to which we have alluded, as it is enforced by precept and
illustrated by example; and I shall next consider its important
bearing upon other momentous commands, which, without it, are
rendered exceedingly difficult, nay, impossible, to be understood and
received. I shall then conclude with a few arguments to prove that,
if the extension of the spirit of Christ's Kingdom be the proper
object of the churches' pursuit, these views are as consonant with
reason as they are with revelation.
I. I shall begin with the passage from which the motto is taken.
"Lay not up for yourselves" says our Saviour, in his Sermon on the
Mount, "treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of
light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of
darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how
great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore
I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is
not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment. Behold the
fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much
better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit
unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they
spin; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was
not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass
of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore
take no thought, saying--What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?
or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do
the Gentiles seek;) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take
therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof" (Mat. 6. 19, etc.).[3]
The principal points to be attended to, in the above passage,
are,--The importance attached to a "single eye" and the clear
declaration of our Saviour, that riches disturb the clearness and
simplicity of its vision;--God's care of the lowest of his creatures,
and his provision for those which have neither storehouse nor
barn;--the inference thence deduced by our Saviour, that he will much
more care and provide for those who singly and earnestly seek the
Kingdom of God and his righteousness, though they have neither
store-house nor barn;--and the source of all our distrust and doubt,
clearly intimated in the expression--"O ye of little faith." The
parallel passage in St. Luke is almost verbally the same. It is,
however, more striking, as it is introduced by a practical warning
derived from the conduct of the "rich man",[4] who cries out, on the
contemplation of his security from want,--"Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years", and to whom God replies...--"Thou fool, this
night shall thy soul be required of thee; then whose shall those
things be which thou hast provided" (Luke 12. 13-14). It also
concludes with an exhortation somewhat different from that in St.
Matthew. In the latter it is said--"Lay not up"; whereas in St. Luke
it is said,--"Sell all that thou hast, and give alms; provide
yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that
faileth not."
To all arguments drawn from passages of this description, the usual
answer is, That the exhortations contained in them are not to be
taken literally, but are to be considered merely as loose general
statements, strongly, and only in appearance absolutely, made, with a
view of producing greater effect. In endeavouring, therefore, to
ascertain their true meaning, let us examine the evidence supplied by
the remarks and conduct of our Blessed Lord and his Apostles, in
those cases which bear upon the point in question.
When the young man came to enquire what good thing he could do to
inherit eternal life, after having mentioned several duties, our Lord
says,--"Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and
distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and
come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for
he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he
said,--'How hardly shall they, that have riches, enter into the
Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's
eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!' And they
that heard it said,--'Who then can be saved?' And he said,--'The
things, that are impossible with men, are possible with God.' Then
Peter said: 'Lo, we have left all and followed thee.' And he said
unto them,--'Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left
house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the Kingdom
of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present
time, and in the world to come life everlasting'" (Luke 18. 22-30).
If then this is the judgment of him in whom we believe to be "hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge",--who "Knew what was in
man"--who was acquainted with all the secret influences by which his
heart is governed; shall we, in opposition to his solemnly recorded
judgment,--that if it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle, than for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of
God"--strive, by the amassing of wealth, effectually, as far as in us
lies, to stop our own heavenward course, as well as that of those
dear little ones, whom our heavenly Father may have committed to our
peculiar and tender care? We may, without anxiety, contemplate the
circumstance (I shall not say the misfortunes of dying and leaving
our families to struggle with many seeming difficulties in this
world) should obedience to the Divine Commands bring us and them into
such a situation; because our faith could lay hold, for support and
consolation, on the well-known declarations and the acknowledged
truth--that the Captain of our Salvation was made "perfect through
sufferings", and "learned obedience by the things that he suffered"
(Heb. 2.10, and 5.8);--that the Apostle "gloried in tribulations,
knowing that tribulation workers patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope--even a hope which maketh not ashamed" (Rom. 5.
5);--that he could describe himself "as sorrowful--yet always
rejoicing; as poor--yet making many rich; as having nothing--and yet
possessing all things" (2 Cor. 6. 10). But a Family left, by our
labour and contrivance, in a situation in which, as our Blessed Lord
himself declares, it is all but impossible that they should be
saved,[5] presents an object of contemplation widely different. Faith
can only lay hold of the fearful declaration;--"It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for those who have
riches to enter into the Kingdom of God"; and if the situation of
such a family is irretrievably fixed, and that by our exertions, the
contemplation of it may well bring alarm and sadness and distress
upon the last hours of a Christian Parent. And these feelings may
well rise to anguish, if he is conscious that his system of
accumulation was carried on in defiance of solemn admonitions; and if
he is persuaded that the wealth he has amassed--as it were to shut
out heaven from the hopes and prospects of his children--if it had
been dedicated day by day, as God had prospered him, as a
manifestation of his love, and a tribute of his gratitude to his Lord
and King, might have been the means of feeding with the bread of life
some of the hundreds of millions who lie in darkness, hopelessness,
and sin, because the Son of Righteousness has not arisen on them with
healing in his wings. Such are the views and feelings which an
unbiassed consideration of the words of our Saviour is calculated to
produce.
Some, however, may be prepared to assert that his words give no
encouragement or allowance to any such conclusions; and this
assertion they may support by another--that a love of riches was the
peculiar failing of the young man, whose conduct suggested the
observations of our Saviour. It ought, however, to be remarked that
he does not say, How hardly shall this rich man enter into the
Kingdom of God!--but in the most general terms,--to "How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God!"--it may be
desirable for those who consider the expression...--"Trust in
riches"--used in the parallel passage of St. Mark (10. 24) as
mitigating considerably the severity of our Saviour's declaration to
view the connection of the several parts of the passage in which the
expression is found. 23. "Jesus looked round about, and saith unto
his disciples--'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
Kingdom of God.' 24. And the disciples were astonished at his words.
But Jesus answered again and saith unto them,--'Children, how hardly
shall they that trust in riches enter into the Kingdom of God!' 25.
'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for
a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.' 26. And they were
astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, 'Who then can be
saved?'" Our Lord, in the 23rd verse, asserts it to be almost
impossible for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of
God. When he observes the astonishment of his disciples, he explains
to them the reason of his passing a judgment so severe, by stating
the cause of that difficulty, of which he spoke as amounting almost
to an impossibility. It is next to Impossible for a rich man to enter
the Kingdom of God, because he trusts in his riches. So that the
expression is not introduced with a view of making riches appear less
dangerous to the possessor, but rather with a view of explaining why
they are so dangerous.
The repetition of the general declaration in the strongest terms as
it is found in the 25th verse, shows that this is the meaning of our
Lord; and the increased astonishment of the Disciples plainly gives
the same intimation. It is evident that they were not led, by this
explanation, to consider the case of the rich less hopeless or
deplorable; for they cry out: "Who then can be saved? "--evidently
the expression of men whose difficulties were confirmed, not removed,
by the answer they had received. The simple meaning, therefore, of
the passage seems to be this; The danger of riches is their being
trusted in; and the difficulty of possessing them, and not trusting
in them for happiness and protection, is as the difficulty of a
camel's going through the eye of a needle: therefore, "lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, for where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also". But the man whose soul the love of Christ
has touched, does not look on the question as one merely involving
danger to himself: he looks on wealth, as well as every other gift,
as an instrument of bringing glory to his Lord, by feeding the little
ones of his kingdom, or in some way extending the savour of his name.
It is not a matter of law, but a golden opportunity on which
affection seizes, to bring a leaf to the wreath of praise and honour,
that crowns Him Lord, to the glory of God the Father, who has won the
hearts, and is entitled to the uncontrolled dominion of his own
saints.
From the observations suggested by the conduct of the "young man" let
us pass on to the memorable comment of our Lord on the charity of the
poor Widow, as recorded by St. Mark (12. 41, etc.). "Jesus sat over
against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the
treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a
certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a
farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto
them,--'Verily, I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more
in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: for all they did
cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that
she had, even all her living.'" In the world's estimation nothing
could be more improvident or more improper than her conduct; and I
fear that few of us would have the heart to commend one who should go
and do likewise. But how does our Blessed Lord judge, who judges not
according to appearance, but righteous judgment? Observing that she
ants quite according to his precept of giving up all, He does not
call his disciples round him, to warn them, by her example, not to
take his words literally, as he did Peter on the use of the sword;
but, on the contrary, points out carefully the peculiarity and
unequalled greatness of her sacrifice, and holds her up to admiration
on account of it. The rich cast in of their abundance, much; she, of
her penury, cast in a little; but it was all that she had, even all
her living. We have now only to go one step farther in order to
ascertain in what sense the Apostles understood that command of our
Saviour now under consideration. The conduct of them and their
adherents is thus recorded by St. Luke (Acts 2.44, etc., and 4.32, 34
and 35.) "All that believed were together and had all things common:
and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as
every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the
temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat
with gladness and singleness of heart. The multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them
that ought of the things that he possessed was his own; but they had
all things common. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for
as many as were possessors of lands, or houses, sold them, and
brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down
at the Apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man
according as he had need."
By what arguments can it be shown that such a "union of heart and of
soul", as is here described, is not just as important to us now, as
it was to the primitive Christians? If this community of hearts and
possessions was according to the mind of the Spirit then, why not
now? We have the general precept enforcing the conduct of our Blessed
Lord himself;--a particular exhortation to it in his conversation
with the "young man"; and a most pointed approbation of it in the
case of the poor widow. We have, moreover, to encourage and urge it,
not only the example of the Apostles, but that of all those who
believed in Jerusalem. The former truly said, "Lo we have left all
and followed thee"; and of the latter it was also truly
written,--"Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he
possessed was his own". I would just remark that such conduct does
not essentially involve the institution of a common stock, but will
be effectually secured by each individual blending himself with the
whole household of faith, feeling their wants, and rejoicing in their
welfare, as his own. This sympathy of the members of the holy family
toward each other, is strongly enforced, and beautifully illustrated
by St. Paul. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his
poverty might be rich. I mean not that other men may be eased, and
you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your
abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also
may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality; as It is
written: "He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that had
gathered little had no lack" (2 Cor. 8. 9, 13, 14, 15). As then
here, the superabundance of him, who had gathered much, ministered to
the deficiency of him who had gathered little; so now, whatever the
bounty of God may bestow upon us, above a sufficiency for our present
necessities, is to be esteemed a blessing in proportion as it is
distributed to relieve the temporal and spiritual wants of others.
Again I ask--How do we evade the application of all these precepts
and arguments and exhortations and warnings and examples to our own
times? Is there in the Holy Scriptures any limitation as to the time
when the love which distinguished the primitive church was to be in
exercise? Is not humiliation and suffering, the very character of
this dispensation, as of the life of Him who introduced it? Are there
no farther ends to be obtained by the crucifixion of self and selfish
interests, and manifesting the mind that was in Christ Jesus? Let the
disputes and divisions in the Church of God, and the 600,000,000 who
have never heard the name of salvation by the blood of Jesus declare.
Let the Agents of our Societies declare, who travel from one end of
the land to the other, to gather a scanty pittance from
half-reluctant Christians--nay, who are often led to sharpen their
goads at the Philistines' grind-stones, to the dishonour of the cause
of God. What then is the ground of evasion? Why, that those were
apostolic times and apostolic men. Could there be a stronger reason
urged for following their steps? Their having supernatural aids, in
addition to moral, makes the obligation to use moral more imperative
on our part, if possible, than on theirs; for we have now only the
silent and unobserved influences of the Spirit of God operating by
them. Those, who may be inclined to ask--Were not the miraculous
powers, entrusted to the Apostles for the advancement of
Christianity, also subservient to their personal comfort, amidst
their want and pain and distress? We would refer those who enquire to
the words of the Apostle Paul. "Even unto this present hour," says he
(1 Cor. 4. 11 and 2 Cor. 11. 27), "we both hunger, and thirst, and
are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place. I
have been in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." It was,
indeed, the very ground of the Apostles' glorying and rejoicing--that
they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Him who had died
for them; and it was these very sufferings which they endured, and
sacrifices which they made, that proved most effectual in converting
others to the faith, by drawing their attention to Him whom they
loved, and for whom they suffered gladly the loss of all things. They
felt the beneficial effects of suffering on their own souls, and they
saw it blessed to the conversion of the souls of others: and, looking
beyond things which are seen and temporal, they beheld that
"exceeding and eternal weight of glory" which their sufferings were
working out (2 Cor. 4. 17);--they knew that, if they suffered with
their master, they should also reign with him. Considering the
preceding remarks to establish the sense, in which the Apostles
received the command of our Saviour in regard to giving up all, as
well as the meaning of our Saviour Himself; it may appear superfluous
to state anything farther; particularly as my only desire is, to open
the eyes of those who love their Lord and Master with a pure heart,
fervently to the understanding of his mind on the subject of this
little book; for it is not money, time, and talents, that I desire to
see brought into the external service of Christ, as such; but only as
the incense of praise and thanksgiving to Him "who has loved us, and
washed [properly "loosed"] us from our sins in His own blood, and
hath made us kings and priests unto God the Father", from His own
redeemed, yea, the ransomed of the Lord, not the extorted, but
voluntary homage from those hearts which would crown Him Lord of all.
And certainly, any farther statement would be superfluous, if we were
called upon to sit in judgment on the meaning of writers, whose
opinions laid us under no practical obligation, or whose sentiments
were in unison with our whole nature. Here however, the case is
widely different; we have an old nature for this earth, as well as a
new nature for heaven; and therefore, things require to be stated as
fully as may be, that Satan may be stopped at every turn by "it is
written". To admit an opinion--is to admit a truth; and to admit a
truth--is to admit the obligation to act upon it, against our earthly
constitution. And as the admission and reception of the particular
truth now under consideration, strikes at the very root of many of
nature's most fondly cherished feelings, and of many apparently so
amiable, that we scarcely allow ourselves to doubt that they are of
God; it may be necessary to enlarge still more upon the subject, and
show that the reception of this truth prepared the way for the
success of the Apostles, by leaving them free to follow Him who had
called them to be soldiers, and that it will, by the grace of
God,--promised to us as well as to them;--accomplish as great things
in our days as it did in theirs, springing, as it did, and ever will,
from this one source, Christ in us the hope of Glory, dwelling in us
richly in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; yea: in those cases
where the world think we fail, as well as those in which we seem to
succeed: for if Christ and the spirit of His Kingdom be manifested,
we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, whether they receive our
testimony or reject it; yea, though we preach as Noah did, an hundred
and twenty years, and no man regard us.
II. I come, therefore, secondly, to consider the important bearing of
the Principle, I have endeavoured to establish and illustrate, on
several momentous commands which, without the reception of it, are
rendered exceedingly difficult, nay, impossible, to be understood and
received; notwithstanding that the import and object of these
commands are abundantly obvious, and the performance of them tends
most directly and most powerfully to promote the highest good which
the church is capable of enjoying.
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature"
(Mark 16. 15),--was the parting command of our Blessed Saviour; and
it was on the literal reception of this command that the momentous
alternative hung of our knowledge, or ignorance of the only Name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved; for "how
shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except
they be sent?", still is the order of God's government. Had there
been the same doubt of the meaning and obligation of this precept in
the infancy of Christianity, which these last ages have exhibited, it
would scarcely have extended its influence beyond the confines of
Judea. But, thanks be to God, the first Christians felt the gospel,
committed to their trust, to be "the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth"; and they felt it to be the mind of Him who
had loved them with an everlasting love, and given Himself for them,
that this great act of surpassing love should be published to every
creature, for His own glory, and for salvation to the ends of the
earth; and therefore they counted all things but loss, that they
might fulfil His will, and advance His Kingdom. Why has this spirit
for so many centuries been slumbering? Because men have been seeking,
every one his own things, and not the things of Christ. Let any one
ask his own heart, as in the presence of God, in which state he
should feel most disposed to embrace the command, "Go into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature"--whether, when he is
labouring for, and enjoying the comforts and conveniences of life,
and providing against the future possible wants of himself and his
family; or when, like the Apostles and first Christians, he has laid
aside every earthly encumbrance, and waits ready to go or to stay, as
the Spirit of God may appoint. To the enquiry--"Who will go for
us?"--can there be a doubt whose heart would be most ready to reply
"Here am I, send me"? (Isa. 6. 8). The one, having the eye single,
since to glorify his Lord is the only object of his life, will be
ready to answer--"Here am I "; while those who are surrounded by the
cares and comforts of this world, have so many earthly claims and
relations to adjust, that the general result will be that of standing
still, and the enquiry,--"Who will go for us? "--will sound unwelcome
to the ear, will chill, not animate, the noblest sympathies of the
heart, and set the seal of silence on the lips. It is not meant
absolutely to say that every man should become a Missionary, in the
proper sense of the term. "There are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the
same Lord" (1 Cor. 12. 4). While one has that ministration of the
Spirit which leads him to go and preach the gospel in person, another
shows that he is guided by the same Spirit in carefully supplying the
wants of him who thus goes "taking nothing of the Heathen" (3 John
7), from the abundance yielded by devoted diligence in his honest
vocation, and by rigid habits of self-denial.[6]
Again, consider the important command, "Love thy neighbour as
thyself" (Leviticus 19. 18). Can we, with any truth, be said to love
that neighbour as ourselves, whom we suffer to starve, whilst we have
enough and to spare? May I not appeal to any, who have experienced
the Joy of knowing the unspeakable gift of God, and ask--Would you
exchange this knowledge, with all the comforts and blessings it has
been the means of imparting, for a hundred worlds, were they offered?
Let us not then withhold the means by which others may obtain this
sanctifying knowledge and heavenly consolation. Is it a profitable
employment of our wealth, to raise it as a bulwark against those
difficulties, which, if they meet even the children's children of the
servants of God, are sent as especial proofs of their Father's
love--for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?--and are
designed to work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory? Are not these very difficulties, dangers, and afflictions,
against which we so anxiously desire to provide, the very marks by
which Jesus Christ himself, his Apostles and Prophets, and all the
chosen servants of God, have ever been distinguished, and the means
by which they have been perfected.[7] Can then our wealth be so
beneficially employed, either with reference to our own advantage or
that of others, in removing from our Christian course these means of
advancement, and characteristics of our profession, as in helping on
the Kingdom of Christ with all that energy which a single eye can
impart to the most limited powers, when directed and sustained by the
Spirit of God?
It has been remarked that some pious men have, from their imprudence,
left their children a burden upon the Christian public, and thus
disgraced their profession. If, however, the unprovided state of
these children was owing to an enlarged view of devotedness to God on
the part of these Parents, accompanied by frugal appropriations to
themselves, and that strict honour and honesty, which must ever
precede beneficence to others; all the disgrace, and ultimately all
the loss, must rest on those that survive, who are so dead to the
privileges of the Gospel, as either to forget that it was ever
said,--"Whosoever receivers one such little one in my name, receivers
me" (Matthew 18. 5), or to neglect the opportunity, despise the
honour, and spurn away the blessing, of entertaining such a guest.
Oh! if we really believed our Saviour's declaration, how dearly
should we value, and how warmly embrace, such an opportunity of
glorifying our Master, of blessing ourselves, and of showing again to
the world "how these Christians love one another"![8] All our
misconceptions on this subject seem to arise from one deeply rooted
opinion, learnt of Satan and the world over which he presides, that
riches and comforts are better for our children, than poverty and
dependence. The whole tenor of the New Testament, however, pronounces
the opinion to be false; and were a hundred individuals appointed to
the once of choosing a portion for their children, in accordance with
the obvious principles of Christianity, and with the declarations of
its Author and his Apostles--such a portion as bore the most
favourable aspect on the acquisition of the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus; and were they conscientiously to perform
their office, they would all unite in choosing a portion poor and
dependent.[9] Yet whilst our Lord says: "How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! "--we act just as though
he had said--How hardly shall they enter in, who are without them!
Here I would leave the sovereignty of the Lord unlimited. It is
doubtless the same thing to Him to work by many or by few--by the
rich or the poor: but still "how hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of heaven" must stand.
If there had been an unerring physician of the body sent to a
consumptive family who left it as his prescription: "How hardly shall
they survive the climate of the North; it is easier for a camel to go
through a needle's eye than your children escape destruction in the
blasts of the North"; if after this you saw the parents struggling
for northern climates, you must say they either did not believe the
physician, or they were deliberately doing what they could to destroy
their children.
Again I say, let me not be misunderstood, as though I wished to make
all Christianity consist in giving up money, time, and talents,
unless they are the expressions of love to the Lord, and flow from a
desire to meet His mind and promote his glory, they are but sounding
brass and tinkling cymbals. Yet surely, they are the natural external
expressions of internal love; and although they be insincerely
assumed by Hypocrisy, it is her homage to truth; and although the
self-righteous Pharisee may present the semblance of devotion, as a
vain and hateful barter for heaven, yet it requires very little
spirituality of mind to discern that this arises in a different
source and terminates in a different object: the one begins in self
and ends in self; the other begins in Christ, and ends in Christ.
When, therefore, the Lord requires his Church to be careful for
nothing, it is only that He might display his watchfulness and
carefulness over her. Surely it is a most unspeakable privilege to be
allowed to cast all our cares upon God; and to feel that we are
thereby delivered from the slavery of earthly expectations, and made
free to speak the truth m love, without fear or apprehension? What is
the glorious liberty of the children of God, but to be dependent only
upon One, "who giveth liberally and upbraideth not,"--who
says,--"Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh,
receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened." God, in pity to our weakness and unbelief,
condescends to reason with us thus:--"What man is there of you, whom,
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish,
will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which
is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7. 7,
etc.). Let us therefore do the will of such a Father to the utmost of
our ability now, and trust him for the future: "for he hath said, 'I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee'; so that we may boldly say,
'The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear, what man shall do unto
me'" (Heb. 13. 6). "Trust therefore in the Lord, and do good; and
verily thou shalt be fed" (Ps. 37. 3). Oh! if every one, who believed
himself ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, felt himself so
entirely the purchased possession of Him, who thus so dearly bought
him, as to determine henceforth to know nothing save Jesus Christ and
him crucified; nor to labour for anything, but that the unspeakably
glad tidings of salvation through Him might be spread throughout the
world, till every heart of the ransomed family drank of the same
overflowing cup of consolation; how soon would the wants of the whole
habitable earth be answered by thousands crying out,--"Here am I,
send me"; while those sheep to whom the glad tidings would be borne,
would discern the shepherd's voice, receive with thankfulness such
messengers of peace, seeing by their fruits "that God was in them of
a truth".
Think not that this is carrying things too far. Our blessed Lord
says,--"This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have
loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command you" (John 15. 12). Here our Blessed Lord tells us to love
one another, as He has loved us; and then points to the laying down
his life, as the most exalted proof of that love which could be
given. If then, as the example of our Saviour and the exhortation of
the Apostle testify, "we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren"[10] how much more ought we to impart to them our substance.
We all know what a persuasive power the deaths of the Martyrs exerted
on the minds of those who witnessed them; and, in its just measure
and proportion, would the dedication of property, time and talents,
have a similar effect at the present day. It would convince those,
whom we are anxious to convince, of the reality of our faith in that
Redeemer and that inheritance, which they now think only a name, in
consequence of the secular spirit that disfigures the Christianity of
too many of its professors. How differently would the Heathen look on
our endeavours to publish the mercy of our glorified Lord, if the
hardy and suffering spirit of primitive times were to descend again
on the silken age into which we are fallen! and if they perceived in
us that love which led them to endure all things for the elect's
sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ
Jesus with eternal glory. Example is a far more fruitful source of
self-denial than the influence exerted on the mind by precept. If we
call on those, who know nothing of the savour of that Name which is
as ointment poured forth, to give up all for Christ, and this you
literally do to every Hindoo and Mahomedan; let us, who thus call,
and who profess to know much of the power of His Name, do so
likewise; that they may catch a kindred spirit from a living
exhibition. Let us evidence, in very deed, that we love not the
world, neither the things of the world, but that the love of the
Father is in us. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof; but he, that doeth the will of God, abideth for ever" (1
John 2. 15).
III. I shall now conclude with a few arguments to prove, that if the
extension of the spirit of Christ's Kingdom be the proper object of
the Church's pursuit--which is, on earth, essentially a spirit of
self-denial for others' good--the entire surrender contended for, is
as consonant with reason as it is with revelation; and consequently
the great end of our existence should be the extension of this
spirit; and the most important enquiry, in which we can be engaged,
is,--how this may be most effectually accomplished.
Let us, therefore, begin with the consideration of our children, as
it regards their apprehension of this spirit of our Lord's kingdom.
There is no one calling himself a Christian, who does not profess to
desire, and there is no one really a Christian, who does not in
earnest desire for his children, both the apprehension and attainment
of this blessing. The lips of all, and the hearts of the saints
continually declare it as their wish that their children may receive
the word of truth, "not as the word of man, but as it is indeed the
word of God";--that they may esteem and receive it as "a lamp unto
their feet and a light unto their paths";--that they may prize it as
the greatest and best gift of God, next to Him of whom it bears
testimony and to whom it owes its preciousness. How then is a
Christian to direct most powerfully and practically, the opening and
susceptible minds of his children towards this Word of Truth? Is it
to be done by exhibiting to them a life devoted to the study of that
word, as revealing the will of Him whom he loves, and Him of whom it
testifies, so that they may attach true ideas to true words,
following simply its precepts as judging them concerning all things,
to be right for himself, and promoting the extension of this
knowledge as equally essential to others;--by a dedication of time
and talents to this end;--by habits of continued self-denial, having
for their object the acquisition of greater means towards the
accomplishment of a work for which he would have them to believe that
Jesus their Lord left the bosom of his Father and descended to earth,
and for the furtherance of which Apostles and Martyrs regarded
all;--temporal advantages as loss, and were ready to suffer the
privation of them all? Or is it to be done by speaking, in very high
terms, of the excellence and importance of the work;--by accompanying
the words with a gift of one, five, fifty, or a hundred pounds a year
for the promotion of it, but, in other respects, providing for
temporal conveniences and enjoyments like the world? As long as the
human mind is capable of being influenced by example, the first of
these two exhibitions must exert the most powerful influence on the
youthful mind. It must have a direct and almost invincible tendency
to impress that mind with a conviction of the sincerity of our love
of the Truth, of the reality of our devotion towards its great
Author, of our deep feeling of its necessity as the only guide to
purity and happiness, and of our ardent desire that all men may know
and receive and embrace it. And although all this is infinitely
removed from a work of grace on the soul, the almighty work of the
Spirit of God; yet they may be, and continually are, the instruments
he uses for arresting the sinner, and turning his attention to Jesus,
and leading beyond the apprehension of the truth--in the
understanding, to the Author and Finisher of faith for the
realization of it in the heart. But, on the contrary, every
appropriation towards providing temporal comforts, and conveniences,
and pleasures, either for them or for ourselves, has a tendency
directly the reverse. It shows that there is, in this value for the
world, a rival interest in the heart; it weakens their conviction of
our sincerity; and lessens, in exact proportion to its amount, the
practical conviction on their minds--that there is but "one thing
needful" in our estimation.
The true servant of God knows, better than any man, the real value of
money, the value of time, the value of talent of whatever order. He
is accordingly the most assiduous in his vocation, the most
parsimonious of his time, the most anxious to improve his talents so
far as they are subservient to the interests of Christ's Kingdom.[11]
He knows that the mysterious dealings of God have most intimately
connected us in the ways of his providence, with the salvation of one
another. He knows also that there is no means, humbly laid at the
foot of the cross, which He, who hung there, does not bless, and send
forth, with the blessing resting on it, to accomplish purposes of
mercy.
As to laying up for children,[12] believing it to be contrary to the
letter and spirit of the Gospel, and therefore to the best interests
of the children themselves, I have no hesitation in saying that, on
these grounds, I am persuaded it ought to be relinquished--as much
so, as spending our means on the selfish indulgence of our own
inclinations. The reason indeed of the commands, exhortations, and
encouragements to abstain from all such provision, appears as
obvious, from every day's experience, as that of any single command
in the Scripture; so that it manifestly would be the happiness of a
child of God to pursue the conduct thus enjoined by his Lord, even if
revelation was far less explicit on the subject, than it clearly and
undeniably is. A "single eye" can alone secure our fidelity in the
discharge of a stewardship so peculiarly trying as that with which
the wealthy[13] among us are entrusted. The circumstances of such a
stewardship have a remarkable power in directing and drawing our
affections toward improper objects; in fixing them upon others in an
inordinate degree; in leading us to misapprehend the nature of true
happiness, and to estimate things by a standard entirely at variance
with the plainest, and most frequently reiterated declarations of the
Gospel. If, therefore, under such circumstances, personal
conveniences and indulgences, the elevation of self in the world,
under the thousand alluring masks which Satan provides for those who
wish to wear them, as means, he tells them, of influence, be allowed
any weight in the argument, we may easily determine the judgment
which will go forth; you will see every man looking on his own
things, not on the things of others. Nay, is not this now the aspect,
even of the professing Church of Christ? Should any one rise, and
say, However this may be with others, it does not apply to me. I give
a guinea to this, and a guinea to that, and a guinea to another; I
might say, Yes, and as many hundreds, it may be thousands to Self,
whose desires were to be mortified and solicitations curtailed.
How much would the judgment of the Christian World be modified with
regard to the Leadings of Providence, if the eye had always the glory
of God as the single object on which it rested! If that glory were
our only aim, we should be all led to press forward, in the path to
affluence and honours, with a more fluttering step and chastened
energy. How slowly would a servant of Christ, who profitably labours
among many thousand souls with a bare subsistence, be led to
interpret the possibility of obtaining a more abundant provision (if
with a less extensive sphere of usefulness) into a leading of
providence which encourages and demands his removal. He might, on the
other hand, be led sometimes even to suspect the possibility of its
being only a temptation of Satan, laid in his way, with a view of
limiting the held of his usefulness. That malicious and powerful
Spirit doubtless now tempts the servant, as he once did his Lord, by
saying,--"All this power will I give thee and this glory: for that is
delivered unto me: and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou,
therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine" (Luke 4. 6). We
should never forget that this power of Satan over the world and the
things of the world, is acknowledged by our Saviour himself, when he
calls him "the prince of this world" (John 14. 30). With the
solicitations of this "Prince of Darkness" coming, as he often does,
in the form of "an angel of light" there concur affections of our
nature, called tender and amiable. The whole heart is misled; the
judgment is biassed; and the understanding darkened. He, on the
contrary, who considers and uses an increase of means only as a
sacred deposit, committed to him for the extension of Christ's
Kingdom, and not for individual aggrandizement, is liable to no such
deception with respect to the Leadings of Providence. He has no
personal interest in the pecuniary advantages attendant on any
situation; and his only question is--whether it be one in which he
may best serve and glorify his Master. When his heavenly Father sends
him prosperity beyond what is sufficient for his immediate wants, he
does not ask himself--May not I possibly need this superabundance at
some future period? or, if I never require it myself, may not my
Wife, or Children, or Relatives? He dares not to ask a question so
full of unbelief, nor presumes to turn the very abundance of the past
mercies of God into an argument against trusting Him for the future.
He knows that the best security for all spiritual blessings and all
temporal mercies, both to himself and to his friends, lies in doing
the will, and trusting unreservedly in the promises: of that God who
hath said:--"Can a mother forget her sucking child, that she should
not have compassion on the fruit of her womb? Yea, she may forget;
yet will not I forget thee" (Isaiah 49. 15). What, therefore, he has
freely received, he freely gives; and trusts for the future the
promises of his Heavenly Father, with a sincere, filial, and
ingenuous confidence.
The view here taken may naturally lead the minds of many inquirers
after the truth to ask,--'Is not this tempting God?' To this
difficulty Scripture supplies us with many very interesting and
striking answers; from which I shall select a few.
When Abraham was called to quit his kindred and country and to put
his trust under the shadow of the Almighty's wing,--his going,
notwithstanding that he knew not whither, and that he was perfectly
unacquainted in what manner or to what extent he was to be provided
for, constitutes that peculiar feature in his obedience, which all
Christians feel and appreciate, and the spirit of which they profess
to desire to have animating their own. The same is also observable in
the sacrifice of his son. Compliance in this case seems the
death-blow to his fondest hopes; and to trust that, notwithstanding
his compliance, the promises which God had made to him would be
fulfilled, was a confidence resting on somewhat beyond the bounds of
all human probability. Yet he does not hesitate to obey (and the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us why), because he
believed that God was able to raise his son up from the dead. Was
this then tempting God? What says his Word? "The Angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of Heaven the second time, and said, 'By
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
seashore: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice'" (Gen. 22. 15, etc.).
Again, in the 34th Chapter of Exodus it is written,--"Thrice in the
year shall all your men--children appear before the Lord God, the God
of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge
thy borders; neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go
up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." Now, would
obedience to this precept be tempting God? Doubtless not. Yet surely
there is a much greater natural difficulty in the way of protecting
the defenceless wives and families of a whole people during the
absence of all the males at Jerusalem, than there is in providing
subsistence sufficient for those who daily labour; for by this means
the great mass of mankind are, and ever have been provided for.
The institution of the sabbatical year appears to afford another very
apt illustration. Let us therefore for a moment consider the commands
and promises annexed to its observance, as well as the threatenings
pronounced, and the punishments inflicted, in case of disobedience.
"Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune
thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh
year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the Land, a sabbath for the
Lord; thou shalt neither sow thy held, nor prune thy vineyard. And if
ye shall say,--'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold we shall
not sow, nor gather in our increase':--then I will command my
blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit
for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old
fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in, ye shall eat of
the old store. If ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk
contrary unto me, I will bring your land into desolation, and I will
scatter you among the heathen: and your lands shall be desolate, and
your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as
it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land: even then shall
the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate
it shall rest: because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye
dwelt upon it" (Lev. 25. 3, 4, 20; and C. 26.).
We see afterwards the execution of this threat:--"Them that had
escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were
servants to the King and his sons until the reign of the Kingdom of
Persia; to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,
until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; for as long as she lay
desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years" (2
Chron. 36. 20).[14]
Now these illustrations of the nature of the divine government are
very instructive, whether we contemplate Abraham's obedience and
reward, or the disobedience and punishment of his posterity. Abraham
appears to pursue a line of conduct, which must end in the loss of
everything dear to him; yet in the way of obedience, unimagined
mercies and favours meet him. His posterity, by neglecting to go
thrice in the year to Jerusalem, or to obey the command respecting
the observance of the sabbatical year, seem to the natural eye to be
in the way of safety and abundance; yet their enemies brought famine
and desolation on their land, and they themselves, their wives, and
their little ones, were carried away into captivity. Now the
anxieties which led the Jews to ask,--"What will become of our wives
and our children during our absence at Jerusalem?" or, "What will
become of our households during the seventh year?"--are natural
anxieties, as strong and as amiable as can influence the decision of
the human heart. Yet these very anxieties were the immediate cause of
their doubts, their distrust, and their disobedience. If then the
following even these strong dictates of the heart, against a command
of God, has proved perfect foolishness to those who have presumed so
to do, let us take warning by their example; for to this end were
these things written.
There is one inference which, guided by the analogy of faith I would
draw from the preceding observations. If trusting against the natural
appearance of things, was demanded under the comparatively dim light
of the Old Testament,--a dispensation which, considered nationally,
had peculiar respect to temporal prosperity; much more might we
expect it to be required under the bright light of the Gospel,--a
dispensation in which temporal prosperity and all temporal
distinctions are cast entirely into the shade: and as the
disobedience of the Jews cut them off--not only from the direct
blessings promised to obedience, but also from the striking
manifestations of the divine providence over them, which the three
years' corn in one year, and the protection of their families and
possessions during their absence at Jerusalem, would have afforded
them; so we, by our want of confidence in God, lose those endearing
evidences of His love, which a simple trust in His promises is the
appointed means of drawing down from His open and bountiful hand.
What preachers of righteousness would these Jews have been, had they
obeyed the commands of their God! What a sermon on God's providence
over His chosen, would the three years' provision in one year, and
the miraculous protection of their coasts, have been to the Heathen
around! It may be of importance for us to remember, that it is God
alone whom we are afraid to trust. Where we have no doubt of the
integrity or ability of man, we fearlessly trust. If one of the
Princes of this world has an arduous undertaking to accomplish, which
requires the undivided care and attention of those to whom it is
committed; and if he says to his servants,--"Pursue steadily and
singly the business entrusted to you, without distraction about
personal provision, of which I will take sufficient care"; how many
are the candidates, how eager the contention, how secure the
confidence! Nay more, the obvious tendency of such a plan toward the
attainment of the end in view, is seen, and its wisdom appreciated.
Yet when the King of Heaven, after manifesting his unspeakable love
toward us, in the sacrifice of his Son, demands of us a similar
confidence, we make no scruple to withhold it. When our Blessed Lord
says,--"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth," that your
eye may be single in my service,--that your whole body may be full of
light to discern between good and evil: when He expressly
says,--"Take no thought saying,--'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall
we drink?' or, 'Wherewithal shall we be clothed;' but seek ye first
the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you";--we see neither the wisdom nor goodness of His
design. We begin to explain away His instructions concerning it; we
hesitate about the meaning of His promises; we put far from us the
privilege of believing that He, who neither slumbers nor sleeps,
hatchets over us. Whence then this confidence in man, whose breath is
in his nostrils, who is absent in the moment of calamity; yet
diffidence in God[15] who is the Omnipotent, the very present, help
in every time of trouble? Does it not arise from a fear--lest, if we
trust him with our provision, he might choose for us and ours the
portion he chose for the Son of his love? Does it not arise from a
secret desire that our own wills may be done, and not His? Yet we may
rest assured that, as it is not for the interest of a wayward child
to be independent of the salutary control of an excellent Father,
neither is it for ours to be able to say: "Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years."
So intensely am I convinced of this truth, that I can, with my whole
heart, pray for myself and all who are nearest and dearest to me,
that we may be so circumstanced in life, as to be compelled to live
by faith on the divine promises day by day.[16] "Godliness with
contentment," says the Apostle, "is great gain. For we brought
nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and
perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil (a root of
all evils, Revised Version); which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness" (1 Tim. 6.
6-11). Let us therefore "endure hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus
Christ", knowing that "no man that warreth entangleth himself with
the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him
to be a soldier" (2 Tim. 2. 3).
Now that all this may not appear irresistible to many, I am fully
aware; and having been myself, in times past, led to wish that a few
passages, such as 1 Tim. 5. 8: 2 Cor. 12. 14, had admitted of clearer
explanation, or, rather, required none, I shall now, in a few words,
endeavour to explain what appears to me to be the principle of the
New Testament revelation, which is not to supply the logician with an
irresistible chain of premises and conclusions, but the child with a
light to his Father's mind; therefore, on the divinity of our Blessed
Lord, the Lord's day, the principle of communion, of church
discipline, and of literally giving up all--if a man wishes to be
disputatious and escape the easy and blessed yoke of Christ's love he
may, and therefore will walk in darkness, whilst the child is, in his
simplicity, surrounded by a food of light.
I shall, therefore, briefly recapitulate the reasons why it appears
to me that our Saviour spoke literal truth, and meant to be
understood as so speaking, when he used such expressions as
these--"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth", and, "Sell
all that thou hast":--