provision. No one can live long, and not find out that he is constantly
in need of a counsellor and adviser,--of a rule of faith and practice,
on which he can depend. Unless he lives like a beast, without a soul and
conscience, he will find himself constantly assailed by difficult and
puzzling questions. He will be often asking himself, What must I
believe? and what must I do?
(_a_) The world is full of difficulties about points of _doctrine_. The
house of error lies close alongside the house of truth. The door of one
is so like the door of the other that there is continual risk of
mistakes.
Does a man read or travel much? He will soon find the most opposite
opinions prevailing among those who are called Christians. He will
discover that different persons give the most different answers to the
important question, What shall I do to be saved? The Roman Catholic and
the Protestant,--the Neologian and the Tractarian,--the Mormonite and
the Swedenborgian,--each and all will assert that he alone has the
truth. Each and all will tell him that safety is only to be found in his
party. Each and all say, "Come with us." All this is puzzling. What
shall a man do?
Does he settle down quietly in some English or Scotch parish? He will
soon find that even in our own land the most conflicting views are held.
He will soon discover that there are serious differences among
Christians as to the comparative importance of the various parts and
articles of the faith. One man thinks of nothing but Church
government,--another of nothing but sacraments, services, and forms,--a
third of nothing but preaching the Gospel. Does he apply to ministers
for a solution? He will perhaps find one minister teaching one doctrine,
and another another. All this is puzzling. What shall a man do?
There is only one answer to this question. A man must make the Bible
alone his rule. He must receive nothing, and believe nothing, which is
not according to the Word. He must try all religious teaching by one
simple test,--Does it square with the Bible? What saith the Scripture?
I would to God the eyes of the laity of this country were more open on
this subject. I would to God they would learn to weigh sermons, books,
opinions, and ministers, in the scales of the Bible, and to value all
according to their conformity to the Word. I would to God they would see
that it matters little who says a thing,--whether he be Father or
Reformer,--Bishop or Archbishop,--Priest or Deacon,--Archdeacon or Dean.
The only question is,--Is the thing said Scriptural? If it is, it ought
to be received and believed. If it is not, it ought to be refused and
cast aside. I fear the consequences of that servile acceptance of
everything which "the parson" says, which is so common among many
English laymen. I fear lest they be led they know not whither, like the
blinded Syrians, and awake some day to find themselves in the power of
Rome. (2 Kings vi. 20.) Oh, that men in England would only remember for
what purpose the Bible was given them!
I tell English laymen that it is nonsense to say, as some do, that it is
presumptuous to judge a minister's teaching by the Word. When one
doctrine is proclaimed in one parish, and another in another, people
must read and judge for themselves. Both doctrines cannot be right, and
both ought to be tried by the Word. I charge them, above all things,
never to suppose that any true minister of the Gospel will dislike his
people measuring all he teaches by the Bible. On the contrary, the more
they read the Bible, and prove all he says by the Bible, the better he
will be pleased. A false minister may say, "You have no right to use
your private judgment: leave the Bible to us who are ordained." A true
minister will say, "Search the Scriptures, and if I do not teach you
what is Scriptural, do not believe me." A false minister may cry, "Hear
the Church," and "Hear me." A true minister will say, "Hear the Word of
God."
(_b_) But the world is not only full of difficulties about points of
doctrine; it is equally full of difficulties about points of _practice_.
Every professing Christian, who wishes to act conscientiously, must know
that it is so. The most puzzling questions are continually arising. He
is tried on every side by doubts as to the line of duty, and can often
hardly see what is the right thing to do.
He is tried by questions connected with the management of his _worldly
calling_, if he is in business or in trade. He sometimes sees things
going on of a very doubtful character,--things that can hardly be called
fair, straightforward, truthful, and doing as you would be done by. But
then everybody in the trade does these things. They have always been
done in the most respectable houses. There would be no carrying on a
profitable business if they were not done. They are not things
distinctly named and prohibited by God. All this is very puzzling. What
is a man to do?
He is tried by questions about _worldly amusements_. Races, and balls,
and operas, and theatres, and card parties, are all very doubtful
methods of spending time. But then he sees numbers of great people
taking part in them. Are all these people wrong? Can there really be
such mighty harm in these things? All this is very puzzling. What is a
man to do?
He is tried by questions about the _education of his children_. He
wishes to train them up morally and religiously, and to remember their
souls. But he is told by many sensible people, that young persons will
be young,--that it does not do to check and restrain them too much, and
that he ought to attend pantomimes and children's parties, and give
children's balls himself. He is informed that this nobleman, or that
lady of rank, always does so, and yet they are reckoned religious
people. Surely it cannot be wrong. All this is very puzzling. What is he
to do?
There is only one answer to all these questions. A man must make the
Bible his rule of conduct. He must make its leading principles the
compass by which he steers his course through life. By the letter or
spirit of the Bible he must test every difficult point and question.
"_To the law and to the testimony! What saith the Scripture?_" He ought
to care nothing for what other people may think right. He ought not to
set his watch by the clock of his neighbour, but by the sun-dial of the
Word.
I charge my readers solemnly to act on the maxim I have just laid down,
and to adhere to it rigidly all the days of their lives. You will never
repent of it. Make it a leading principle never to act contrary to the
Word. Care not for the charge of over-strictness, and needless
precision. Remember you serve a strict and holy God. Listen not to the
common objection, that the rule you have laid down is impossible, and
cannot be observed in such a world as this. Let those who make such an
objection speak out plainly, and tell us for what purpose the Bible was
given to man. Let them remember that by the Bible we shall all be judged
at the last day, and let them learn to judge themselves by it here, lest
they be judged and condemned by it hereafter.
This mighty rule of faith and practice is the book about which I am
addressing the readers of this paper this day. Surely it is no light
matter _what you are doing with the Bible_. Surely when danger is abroad
on the right hand and on the left, you should consider what you are
doing with the safe-guard which God has provided. I charge you, I
beseech you, to give an honest answer to my question. What art thou
doing with the Bible?--Dost thou read it? HOW READEST THOU?
VII. In the seventh place, _the Bible is the book which all true
servants of God have always lived on and loved_.
Every living thing which God creates requires food. The life that God
imparts needs sustaining and nourishing. It is so with animal and
vegetable life,--with birds, beasts, fishes, reptiles, insects, and
plants. It is equally so with spiritual life. When the Holy Ghost raises
a man from the death of sin and makes him a new creature in Christ
Jesus, the new principle in that man's heart requires food, and the only
food which will sustain it is the Word of God.
There never was a man or woman truly converted, from one end of the
world to the other, who did not love the revealed will of God. Just as a
child born into the world desires naturally the milk provided for its
nourishment, so does a soul "born again" desire the sincere milk of the
Word. This is a common mark of all the children of God--they "delight in
the law of the Lord." (Psalm, i. 2.)
Show me a person who despises Bible reading, or thinks little of Bible
preaching, and I hold it to be a certain fact that he is not yet "born
again." He may be zealous about forms and ceremonies. He may be diligent
in attending sacraments and daily services. But if these things are more
precious to him than the Bible, I cannot think he is a converted man.
Tell me what the Bible is to a man, and I will generally tell you what
he is. This is the pulse to try,--this is the barometer to look at,--if
we would know the state of the heart. I have no notion of the Spirit
dwelling in a man and not giving clear evidence of His presence. And I
believe it to be a signal evidence of the Spirit's presence when the
Word is really precious to a man's soul.
Love to the Word is one of the characteristics we see in Job. Little as
we know of this Patriarch and his age, this at least stands out clearly.
He says, "I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary
food." (Job xxiii. 12.)
Love to the Word is a shining feature in the character of David. Mark
how it appears all through that wonderful part of Scripture, the cxixth
Psalm. He might well say, "Oh, how I love thy law!" (Psalm cxix. 97.)
Love to the Word is a striking point in the character of St. Paul. What
were he and his companions but men "mighty in the Scriptures?" What were
his sermons but expositions and applications of the Word?
Love to the Word appears pre-eminently in our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. He read it publicly. He quoted it continually. He expounded it
frequently. He advised the Jews to "search" it. He used it as His weapon
to resist the devil. He said repeatedly, "The Scripture must be
fulfilled."--Almost the last thing He did was to "open the understanding
of His disciples, that they might understand the Scriptures." (Luke
xxiv. 45.) I am afraid that man can be no true servant of Christ, who
has not something of his Master's mind and feeling towards the Bible.
Love to the Word has been a prominent feature in the history of all the
saints, of whom we know anything, since the days of the Apostles. This
is the lamp which Athanasius and Chrysostom and Augustine followed. This
is the compass which kept the Vallenses and Albigenses from making
shipwreck of the faith. This is the well which was re-opened by Wycliffe
and Luther, after it had been long stopped up. This is the sword with
which Latimer, and Jewell, and Knox won their victories. This is the
manna which fed Baxter and Owen, and the noble host of the Puritans, and
made them strong to battle. This is the armoury from which Whitefield
and Wesley drew their powerful weapons. This is the mine from which
Bickersteth and M'Cheyne brought forth rich gold. Differing as these
holy men did in some matters, on one point they were all agreed,--they
all delighted in the Word.
Love to the Word is one of the first things that appears in the
converted heathen, at the various Missionary stations throughout the
world. In hot climates and in cold,--among savage people and among
civilized,--in New Zealand, in the South Sea Islands, in Africa, in
Hindostan,--it is always the same. They enjoy hearing it read. They long
to be able to read it themselves. They wonder why Christians did not
send it to them before. How striking is the picture which Moffat draws
of Africaner, the fierce South African chieftain, when first brought
under the power of the Gospel! "Often have I seen him," he says, "under
the shadow of a great rock nearly the live-long day, eagerly perusing
the pages of the Bible."--How touching is the expression of a poor
converted Negro, speaking of the Bible! He said, "It is never old and
never cold."--How affecting was the language of another old negro, when
some would have dissuaded him from learning to read, because of his
great age. "No!" he said, "I will never give it up till I die. It is
worth all the labour to be able to read that one verse, 'God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life.'"
Love to the Bible is one of the grand points of agreement among all
converted men and women in our own land. Episcopalians and
Presbyterians, Baptists and Independents, Methodists and Plymouth
Brethren,--all unite in honouring the Bible, as soon as they are real
Christians. This is the manna which all the tribes of our Israel feed
upon, and find satisfying food. This is the fountain round which all the
various portions of Christ's flock meet together, and from which no
sheep goes thirsty away. Oh, that believers in this country would learn
to cleave more closely to the written Word! Oh, that they would see that
the more the Bible, and the Bible only, is the substance of men's
religion, the more they agree! It is probable there never was an
uninspired book more universally admired than Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress. It is a book which all denominations of Christians delight to
honour. It has won praise from all parties. Now what a striking fact it
is, that the author was pre-eminently a man of one book! He had read
hardly anything but the Bible.
It is a blessed thought that there will be "much people" in heaven at
last. Few as the Lord's people undoubtedly are at any one given time or
place, yet all gathered together at last, they will be "a multitude that
no man can number." (Rev. vii. 9; xix. 1.) They will be of one heart and
mind. They will have passed through like experience. They will all have
repented, believed, lived holy, prayerful, and humble. They will all
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
But one thing beside all this they will have in common: they will all
love the texts and doctrines of the Bible. The Bible will have been
their food and delight in the days of their pilgrimage on earth. And the
Bible will be a common subject of joyful meditation and retrospect, when
they are gathered together in heaven.
This Book, which all true Christians live upon and love, is the subject
about which I am addressing the readers of this paper this day. Surely
it is no light matter _what you are doing with the Bible_. Surely it is
matter for serious inquiry, whether you know anything of this love to
the Word, and have this mark of walking "in the footsteps of the flock."
(Cant. i. 8.) I charge you, I entreat you to give me an honest answer.
What art thou doing with the Bible?--Dost thou read it?--HOW READEST
THOU?
VIII. In the last place, _the Bible is the only book which can comfort a
man in the last hours of his life_.
Death is an event which in all probability is before us all. There is no
avoiding it. It is the river which each of us must cross. I who write,
and you who read, have each one day to die. It is good to remember
this. We are all sadly apt to put away the subject from us. "Each man
thinks each man mortal but himself." I want every one to do his duty in
life, but I also want every one to think of death. I want every one to
know how to live, but I also want every one to know how to die.
Death is a solemn event to all. It is the winding up of all earthly
plans and expectations. It is a separation from all we have loved and
lived with. It is often accompanied by much bodily pain and distress. It
brings us to the grave, the worm, and corruption. It opens the door to
judgment and eternity,--to heaven or to hell. It is an event after which
there is no change, or space for repentance. Other mistakes may be
corrected or retrieved, but not a mistake on our death-beds. As the tree
falls, there it must lie. No conversion in the coffin! No new birth
after we have ceased to breathe! And death is before us all. It may be
close at hand. The time of our departure is quite uncertain. But sooner
or later we must each lie down alone and die. All these are serious
considerations.
Death is a solemn event even to the believer in Christ. For him no doubt
the "sting of death" is taken away. (1 Cor. xv. 55.) Death has become
one of his privileges, for he is Christ's. Living or dying, he is the
Lord's. If he lives, Christ lives in him; and if he dies, he goes to
live with Christ. To him "to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil.
i. 21.) Death frees him from many trials,--from a weak body, a corrupt
heart, a tempting devil, and an ensnaring or persecuting world. Death
admits him to the enjoyment of many blessings. He rests from his
labours:--the hope of a joyful resurrection is changed into a
certainty:--he has the company of holy redeemed spirits:--he is "with
Christ." All this is true,--and yet, even to a believer, death is a
solemn thing. Flesh and blood naturally shrink from it. To part from all
we love, is a wrench and trial to the feelings. The world we go to is a
world unknown, even though it is our home. Friendly and harmless as
death is to a believer, it is not an event to be treated lightly. It
always must be a very solemn thing.
It becomes every thoughtful and sensible man to consider calmly how he
is going to meet death. Gird up your loins, like a man, and look the
subject in the face. Listen to me, while I tell you a few things about
the end to which we are coming.
The good things of the world cannot comfort a man when he draws near
death. All the gold of California and Australia will not provide light
for the dark valley. Money can buy the best medical advice and
attendance for a man's body; but money cannot buy peace for his
conscience, heart, and soul.
Relatives, loved friends, and servants, cannot comfort a man when he
draws near death. They may minister affectionately to his bodily wants.
They may watch by his bed-side tenderly, and anticipate his every wish.
They may smooth down his dying pillow, and support his sinking frame in
their arms. But they cannot "minister to a mind diseased." They cannot
stop the achings of a troubled heart. They cannot screen an uneasy
conscience from the eye of God.
The pleasures of the world cannot comfort a man when he draws near
death. The brilliant ball-room,--the merry dance,--the midnight
revel,--the party to Epsom races,--the card table,--the box at the
opera,--the voices of singing men and singing women,--all these are at
length distasteful things. To hear of hunting and shooting engagements
gives him no pleasure. To be invited to feasts, and regattas, and
fancy-fairs, gives him no ease. He cannot hide from himself that these
are hollow, empty, powerless things. They jar upon the ear of his
conscience. They are out of harmony with his condition. They cannot stop
one gap in his heart, when the last enemy is coming in like a flood.
They cannot make him calm in the prospect of meeting a holy God.
Books and newspapers cannot comfort a man when he draws near death. The
most brilliant writings of Macaulay or Dickens will pall on his ear. The
most able article in the Times will fail to interest him. The Edinburgh
and Quarterly Reviews will give him no pleasure. Punch and the
Illustrated News, and the last new novel, will lie unopened and
unheeded. Their time will be past. Their vocation will be gone. Whatever
they may be in health, they are useless in the hour of death.
There is but one fountain of comfort for a man drawing near to his end,
and that is the Bible. Chapters out of the Bible,--texts out of the
Bible,--statements of truth taken out of the Bible,--books containing
matter drawn from the Bible,--these are a man's only chance of comfort
when he comes to die. I do not at all say that the Bible will do good,
as a matter of course, to a dying man, if he has not valued it before. I
know, unhappily, too much of death-beds to say that. I do not say
whether it is probable that he who has been unbelieving and neglectful
of the Bible in life, will at once believe and get comfort from it in
death. But I do say positively, that no dying man will ever get real
comfort, except from the contents of the Word of God. All comfort from
any other source is a house built upon sand.
I lay this down as a rule of universal application. I make no exception
in favour of any class on earth. Kings and poor men, learned and
unlearned,--all are on a level in this matter. There is not a jot of
real consolation for any dying man, unless he gets it from the Bible.
Chapters, passages, texts, promises, and doctrines of Scripture,--heard,
received, believed, and rested on,--these are the only comforters I dare
promise to any one, when he leaves the world. Taking the sacrament will
do a man no more good than the Popish extreme unction, so long as the
Word is not received and believed. Priestly absolution will no more ease
the conscience than the incantations of a heathen magician, if the poor
dying sinner does not receive and believe Bible truth. I tell every one
who reads this paper, that although men may seem to get on comfortably
without the Bible while they live, they may be sure that without the
Bible they cannot comfortably die. It was a true confession of the
learned Selden,--"There is no book upon which we can rest in a dying
moment but the Bible."
I might easily confirm all I have just said, by examples and
illustrations. I might show you the death-beds of men who have affected
to despise the Bible. I might tell you how Voltaire and Paine, the
famous infidels, died in misery, bitterness, rage, fear, and despair. I
might show you the happy death-beds of those who have loved the Bible
and believed it, and the blessed effect the sight of their death-beds
had on others. Cecil,--a minister whose praise ought to be in all
churches,--says, "I shall never forget standing by the bed-side of my
dying mother. 'Are you afraid to die?' I asked.--'No!' she
replied.--'But why does the uncertainty of another state give you no
concern?'--'Because God has said, Fear not; when thou passest through
the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee.'" (Isa. xliii. 2.) I might easily multiply illustrations
of this kind. But I think it better to conclude this part of my subject
by giving the result of my own observations as a minister.
I have seen not a few dying persons in my time. I have seen great
varieties of manner and deportment among them. I have seen some die
sullen, silent, and comfortless. I have seen others die ignorant,
unconcerned, and apparently without much fear. I have seen some die so
wearied out with long illness that they were quite willing to depart,
and yet they did not seem to me at all in a fit state to go before God.
I have seen others die with professions of hope and trust in God,
without leaving satisfactory evidences that they were on the rock. I
have seen others die who, I believe, were "in Christ," and safe, and yet
they never seemed to enjoy much sensible comfort. I have seen some few
dying in the full assurance of hope, and like Bunyan's "Standfast,"
giving glorious testimony to Christ's faithfulness, even in the river.
But one thing I have never seen. I never saw any one enjoy what I should
call real, solid, calm, reasonable peace on his death-bed, who did not
draw his peace from the Bible. And this I am bold to say, that the man
who thinks to go to his death-bed without having the Bible for his
comforter, his companion, and his friend, is one of the greatest madmen
in the world. There are no comforts for the soul but Bible comforts, and
he who has not got hold of these, has got hold of nothing at all, unless
it be a broken reed.
The only comforter for a death-bed is the book about which I address the
readers of this paper this day. Surely it is no light matter whether you
read that book or not. Surely a dying man, in a dying world, should
seriously consider whether he has got anything to comfort him when his
turn comes to die. I charge you, I entreat you, for the last time, to
give an honest answer to my question. What art thou doing with the
Bible?--Dost thou read it?--HOW READEST THOU?