participation in the short-comings I have spoken of, I call upon him, in
the name of the Lord, to awake, be zealous, and repent. Let not zeal be
confined to Lincoln's Inn, the Temple, and Westminster;--to banks, and
shops, and counting houses. Let us see the same zeal in the Church of
Christ. Let not zeal be abundant to lead forlorn hopes, or get gold from
Australia, or travel over thick ribbed ice in voyages of discovery, but
defective to send the Gospel to the heathen, or to pluck Roman Catholics
like brands from the fire, or to enlighten the dark places of the
colonies of this great land. Never were there such doors of usefulness
opened,--never were there so many opportunities for doing good. I loathe
that squeamishness which refuses to help religious works if there is a
blemish about the instrument by which the work is carried on. At this
rate we might never do anything at all. Let us resist the feeling, if we
are tempted by it. It is one of Satan's devices. It is better to work
with feeble instruments than not to work at all. At all events, try to
do something for God and Christ,--something against ignorance and sin.
Give, collect, teach, exhort, visit, pray, according as God enables you.
Only make up your mind that all can do something, and resolve that by
you, at any rate, something shall be done. If you have only one talent,
do not bury it in the ground. Try to live so as to be missed. There is
far more to be done in twelve hours than most of us have ever yet done
on any day in our lives.
Think of the _precious souls_ which are perishing while you are
sleeping. Be taken up with your inward conflicts if you will. Go on
anatomizing your own feelings, and poring over your own corruptions, if
you are so determined. But remember all this time souls are going to
hell, and you might do something to save them by working, by giving, by
writing, by begging, and by prayer. Oh, awake! be zealous, and repent!
Think of the _shortness of time_. You will soon be gone. You will have
no opportunity for works of mercy in another world. In heaven there will
be no ignorant people to instruct, and no unconverted to reclaim.
Whatever you do must be done now. Oh, when are you going to begin?
Awake! be zealous, and repent.
Think of _the devil_, and his zeal to do harm. It was a solemn saying of
old Bernard when he said that "Satan would rise up in judgment against
some people at the last day, because he had shown more zeal to ruin
souls than they had to save them." Awake! be zealous, and repent.
Think of _your Saviour_, and all His zeal for you. Think of Him in
Gethsemane and on Calvary, shedding His blood for sinners. Think of His
life and death,--His sufferings and His doings. This He has done for
you. What are you doing for Him? Oh, resolve that for the time to come
you will spend and be spent for Christ! Awake! be zealous and repent.
(3) Last of all, let me encourage _all readers of this paper who are
truly zealous Christians_.
I have but one request to make, and that is _that you will persevere_. I
do beseech you to hold fast your zeal, and never let it go. I do beseech
you never to go back from your first works, never to leave your first
love, never to let it be said of you that your first things were better
than your last.--Beware of cooling down. You have only to be lazy, and
to sit still, and you will soon lose all your warmth. You will soon
become another man from what you are now. Oh, do not think this a
needless exhortation!
It may be very true that wise young believers are very rare. But it is
no less true that zealous old believers are very rare also. Never allow
yourself to think that you can do too much,--that you can spend and be
spent too much for Christ's cause. For one man that does too much I will
show you a thousand who do not do enough. Rather think that "the night
cometh, when no man can work" (John ix. 4),--and give, collect, teach,
visit, work, pray, as if you were doing it for the last time. Lay to
heart the words of that noble-minded Jansenist, who said, when told that
he ought to rest a little, "What should we rest for? have we not all
eternity to rest in?"
Fear not the reproach of men. Faint not because you are sometimes
abused. Heed it not if you are sometimes called bigot, enthusiast,
fanatic, madman, and fool. There is nothing disgraceful in these titles.
They have often been given to the best and wisest of men. If you are
only to be zealous when you are praised for it,--if the wheels of your
zeal must be oiled by the world's commendation, your zeal will be but
short-lived. Care not for the praise or frown of man. There is but one
thing worth caring for, and that is the praise of God. There is but one
question worth asking about our actions: "How will they look in the day
of judgment?"
IX
FREEDOM
"_If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed._"--John viii. 36.
The subject before our eyes deserves a thousand thoughts. It should ring
in the ears of Englishmen and Scotchmen like the voice of a trumpet. We
live in a land which is the very cradle of freedom. But are we ourselves
free?
The question is one which demands special attention at the present state
of public opinion in Great Britain. The minds of many are wholly
absorbed in politics. Yet there is a freedom, within the reach of all,
which few, I am afraid, ever think of,--a freedom independent of all
political changes,--a freedom which neither Queen, Lords and Commons,
nor the cleverest popular leaders can bestow. This is the freedom about
which I write this day. Do we know anything of it? Are we free?
In opening this subject, there are three points which I wish to bring
forward.
I. I will show, in the first place, _the general excellence of
freedom_.
II. I will show, in the second place, _the best and truest kind of
freedom_.
III. I will show, in the last place, _the way in which the best kind
of freedom may become your own_.
Let no reader think for a moment that this is going to be a political
paper. I am no politician: I have no politics but those of the Bible.
The only party I care for is the Lord's side: show me where that is, and
it shall have my support. The only election I am very anxious about is
the election of grace. My one desire is, that sinners should make their
own calling and election sure.--The liberty I desire above all things to
make known, and further, is the glorious liberty of the children of
God.--The Government I care to support is the government which is on the
shoulder of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Before Christ I want every
knee to bow, and every tongue to confess that He is Lord. I ask
attention while I canvass these subjects. If you are not free, I want to
guide you into true liberty. If you are free, I want you to know the
full value of your freedom.
I. The first thing I have to show is _the general excellence of
freedom_.
On this point some readers may think it needless to say anything: they
imagine that all men know the value of freedom, and that to dwell on it
is mere waste of time. I do not agree with such people at all. I believe
that myriads of Englishmen know nothing of the blessings which they
enjoy in their own land: they have grown up from infancy to manhood in
the midst of free institutions. They have not the least idea of the
state of things in other countries: they are ignorant alike of those two
worst forms of tyranny,--the crushing tyranny of a cruel military
despot, and the intolerant tyranny of an unreasoning mob. In short, many
Englishmen know nothing of the value of liberty, just because they have
been born in the middle of it, and have never been for a moment without
it.
I call then on every one who reads this paper to remember that liberty
is one of the greatest temporal blessings that man can have on this side
the grave. We live in a land where our _bodies_ are free. So long as we
hurt nobody's person, or property, or character, no one can touch us:
the poorest man's house is his castle.--We live in a land where our
_actions_ are free. So long as we support ourselves, we are free to
choose what we will do, where we will go, and how we will spend our
time.--We live in a land where our _consciences_ are free. So long as we
hold quietly on our own way, and do not interfere with others, we are
free to worship God as we please, and no man can compel us to take his
way to heaven. We live in a land where no foreigner rules over us. Our
laws are made and altered by Englishmen like ourselves, and our
Governors dwell by our side, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
In short, we have every kind of freedom to an extent which no other
nation on earth can equal. We have personal freedom, civil freedom,
religious freedom, and national freedom. We have free bodies, free
consciences, free speech, free thought, free action, free Bibles, a free
press, and free homes. How vast is this list of privileges! How endless
the comforts which it contains! The full value of them can never perhaps
be known. Well said the Jewish Rabbins in ancient days: "If the sea were
ink and the world parchment, it would never serve to describe the
praises of liberty."
The want of this freedom has been the most fertile cause of misery to
nations in every age of the world. What reader of the Bible can fail to
remember the sorrows of the children of Israel, when they were bondmen
under Pharaoh in Egypt, or under Philistines in Canaan? What student of
history needs to be reminded of the woes inflicted on the Netherlands,
Poland, Spain, and Italy by the hand of foreign oppressors, or the
Inquisition? Who, even in our own time, has not heard of that enormous
fountain of wretchedness, the slavery of the Negro race? No misery
certainly is so great as the misery of slavery.
To win and preserve freedom has been the aim of many national struggles
which have deluged the earth with blood. Liberty has been the cause in
which myriads of Greeks, and Romans, and Germans, and Poles, and Swiss,
and Englishmen, and Americans have willingly laid down their lives. No
price has been thought too great to pay in order that nations might be
free.
The champions of freedom in every age have been justly esteemed among
the greatest benefactors of mankind. Such names as Moses and Gideon in
Jewish history, such names as the Spartan Leonidas, the Roman Horatius,
the German Martin Luther, the Swedish Gustavus Vasa, the Swiss William
Tell, the Scotch Robert Bruce and John Knox, the English Alfred and
Hampden and the Puritans, the American George Washington, are deservedly
embalmed in history, and will never be forgotten. To be the mother of
many patriots is the highest praise of a nation.
The enemies of freedom in every age have been rightly regarded as the
pests and nuisances of their times. Such names as Pharaoh in Egypt,
Dionysius at Syracuse, Nero at Rome, Charles IX. in France, bloody Mary
in England, are names which will never be rescued from disgrace. The
public opinion of mankind will never cease to condemn them, on the one
ground that they would not let people be free.
But why should I dwell on these things? Time and space would fail me if
I were to attempt to say a tenth part of what might be said in praise of
freedom. What are the annals of history but a long record of conflicts
between the friends and foes of liberty? Where is the nation upon earth
that has ever attained greatness, and left its mark on the world,
without freedom? Which are the countries on the face of the globe at
this very moment which are making the most progress in trade, in arts,
in sciences, in civilization, in philosophy, in morals, in social
happiness? Precisely those countries in which there is the greatest
amount of true freedom. Which are the countries at this very day where
is the greatest amount of internal misery, where we hear continually of
secret plots, and murmuring, and discontent, and attempts on life and
property? Precisely those countries where freedom does not exist, or
exists only in name,--where men are treated as serfs and slaves, and are
not allowed to think and act for themselves. No wonder that a mighty
Transatlantic Statesman declared on a great occasion to his assembled
countrymen: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at
the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not
what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me
death!"[5]
5: To prevent mistakes, I think it well to say that the man I refer to
is Patrick Henry, an American Statesman of the last century.
Let us beware of _undervaluing_ the liberty we enjoy in this country of
ours, as Englishmen. I am sure there is need of this warning. There is,
perhaps, no country on earth where there is so much grumbling and
fault-finding as there is in England. Men look at the fancied evils
which they see around them, and exaggerate both their number and their
intensity. They refuse to look at the countless blessings and privileges
which surround us, or underrate the advantages of them. They forget that
comparison should be applied to everything. With all our faults and
defects there is at this hour no country on earth where there is so much
liberty and happiness for all classes, as there is in England. They
forget that as long as human nature is corrupt, it is vain to expect
perfection here below. No laws or government whatever can possibly
prevent a certain quantity of abuses and corruptions. Once more then, I
say, let us beware of undervaluing English liberty, and running eagerly
after every one who proposes sweeping changes. Changes are not always
improvements. The old shoes may have some holes and defects, but the new
shoes may pinch so much that we cannot walk at all. No doubt we might
have better laws and government than we have: but I am quite sure we
might easily have worse. At this very day there is no country on the
face of the globe where there is so much care taken of the life, and
health, and property, and character, and personal liberty of the meanest
inhabitant, as there is in England. Those who want to have more liberty,
would soon find, if they crossed the seas, that there is no country on
earth where there is so much real liberty as our own.[6]
6: The following weighty passage, from the pen of the judicious Hooker,
is commended to the attention of all in the present day. It is the
opening passage of the first book of his "Ecclesiastical Polity."
"He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not
so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want
attentive and favourable hearers, because they know the
manifold defects whereunto every kind of regiment or government
is subject; but the secret lets and difficulties, which in
public proceedings are innumerable and inevitable, they have
not ordinarily the judgment to consider. And because such as
openly reprove disorders of States are taken for principal
friends to the common benefit of all, and for men that carry
singular freedom of mind, under this fair and plausible colour
whatsoever they utter passeth for good and current. That which
is wanting in the weight of their speech is supplied by the
aptness of men's minds to accept and believe it. Whereas, on
the other side, if we maintain things that are established, we
have not only to strive with a number of heavy prejudices,
deeply rooted in the breasts of men, who think that herein we
serve the times, and speak in favour of the present state,
because we either hold or seek preferment; but also to bear
such reception as minds so averted beforehand usually take
against that which they are loth should be poured into them."
But while I bid men not undervalue English liberty, so also on the other
hand I charge them not to _overvalue_ it. Never forget that temporal
slavery is not the only slavery, and temporal freedom not the only
freedom. What shall it profit you to be a citizen of a free country, so
long as your soul is not free? What is the use of living in a free land
like England, with free thought, free speech, free action, free
conscience, so long as you are a slave to sin, and a captive to the
devil? Yes: there are tyrants whom no eye can see, as real and
destructive as Pharaoh or Nero! There are chains which no hands can
touch, as true and heavy and soul-withering as ever crushed the limbs of
an African! It is these tyrants whom I want you this day to remember. It
is these chains from which I want you to be free. Value by all means
your English liberty, but do not overvalue it. Look higher, further than
any temporal freedom. In the highest sense let us take care that "we are
free."
II. The second thing I have to show is _the truest and best kind of
freedom_.
The freedom I speak of is a freedom that is within the reach of every
child of Adam who is willing to have it. No power on earth can prevent a
man or woman having it, if they have but the will to receive it. Tyrants
may threaten and cast in prison, but nothing they can do can stop a
person having this liberty. And, once our own, nothing can take it away.
Men may torture us, banish us, hang us, behead us, burn us, but they can
never tear from us true freedom. The poorest may have it no less than
the richest: the most unlearned may have it as well as the most learned,
and the weakest as well as the strongest. Laws cannot deprive us of it:
Pope's bulls cannot rob us of it. Once our own, it is an everlasting
possession.
Now, what is this glorious freedom? Where is it to be found? What is it
like? Who has obtained it for man? Who has got it at this moment to
bestow? I ask my readers to give me their attention, and I will supply a
plain answer to these questions.
The true freedom =I= speak of is spiritual freedom,--freedom of soul. It
is the freedom which Christ bestows, without money and without price, on
all true Christians. Those whom the Son makes free are free indeed:
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor. iii. 17.)
Let men talk what they please of the comparative freedom of monarchies
and republics; let them struggle, if they will, for universal liberty,
fraternity, and equality: we never know the highest style of liberty
till we are enrolled citizens of the kingdom of God. We are ignorant of
the best kind of freedom if we are not Christ's freemen.
Christ's freemen are free from the _guilt of sin_. That heavy burden of
unforgiven transgressions, which lies so heavy on many consciences, no
longer presses them down. Christ's blood has cleansed it all away. They
feel pardoned, reconciled, justified, and accepted in God's sight. They
can look back to their old sins, however black and many, and say,--"Ye
cannot condemn me." They can look back on long years of carelessness and
worldliness and say,--"Who shall lay anything to my charge?" This is
true liberty. This is to be free.
Christ's freemen are free from the _power of sin_. It no longer rules
and reigns in their hearts, and carries them before it like a flood.
Through the power of Christ's Spirit they mortify the deeds of their
bodies, and crucify their flesh with its affections and lusts. Through
His grace working in them they get the victory over their evil
inclinations. The flesh may fight, but it does not conquer them; the
devil may tempt and vex, but does not overcome them: they are no longer
the bondslaves of lusts and appetites, and passions, and tempers. Over
all these things they are more than conquerors, through Him that loved
them. This is true liberty. This is to be free.
Christ's freemen are free from the _slavish fear of God_. They no longer
look at Him with dread and alarm, as an offended Maker; they no longer
hate Him, and get away from Him, like Adam among the trees of the
garden; they no longer tremble at the thought of His judgment. Through
the Spirit of adoption which Christ has given them, they look on God as
a reconciled Father, and rejoice in the thought of His love. They feel
that anger is passed away. They feel that when God the Father looks down
upon them, He sees them in Christ, and unworthy as they are in
themselves, is well-pleased. This is true liberty. This is to be free.
Christ's freemen are free from the _fear of man_. They are no longer
afraid of man's opinions, or care much what man thinks of them; they are
alike indifferent to his favour or his enmity, his smile or his frown.
They look away from man who can be seen, to Christ who is not seen, and
having the favour of Christ, they care little for the blame of man. "The
fear of man" was once a snare to them. They trembled at the thought of
what man would say, or think, or do: they dared not run counter to the
fashions and customs of those around them; they shrank from the idea of
standing alone. But the snare is now broken and they are delivered. This
is true liberty. This is to be free.
Christ's freemen are free from the _fear of death_. They no longer look
forward to it with silent dismay, as a horrible thing which they do not
care to think of. Through Christ they can look this last enemy calmly in
the face, and say,--"Thou canst not harm me." They can look forward to
all that comes after death,--decay, resurrection, judgment, and
eternity,--and yet not feel cast down. They can stand by the side of an
open grave, and say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?" They can lay them down on their death-beds, and say, "Though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
(Ps. xxiii. 4.) "Not a hair of my head shall perish." This is true
liberty. This is to be free.
Best of all, Christ's freemen are _free for ever_. Once enrolled in the
list of heavenly citizens, their names shall never be struck off. Once
presented with the freedom of Christ's kingdom, they shall possess it
for evermore. The highest privileges of this world's freedom can only
endure for a life-time; the freest citizen on earth must submit at
length to die, and lose his franchise for ever: but the franchise of
Christ's people is eternal. They carry it down to the grave, and it
lives still; they will rise again with it at the last day, and enjoy the
privileges of it for evermore. This is true liberty. This is to be free.
Does anyone ask how and in what way Christ has obtained these mighty
privileges for His people? You have a right to ask the question, and it
is one that can never be answered too clearly. Give me your attention,
and I will show you by what means Christ has made His people free.
The freedom of Christ's people has been procured, like all other
freedom, at a mighty cost and by a mighty sacrifice. Great was the
bondage in which they were naturally held, and great was the price
necessary to be paid to set them free: mighty was the enemy who claimed
them as his captives, and it needed mighty power to release them out of
his hands. But, blessed be God, there was grace enough, and power enough
ready in Jesus Christ. He provided to the uttermost everything that was
required to set His people free. The price that Christ paid for His
people was nothing less than His own life-blood. He became their
Substitute, and suffered for their sins on the cross: He redeemed them
from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for them. (Gal. iii.
13.) He paid all their debt in His own person, by allowing the
chastisement of their peace to be laid on Him. (Isaiah liii. 5.) He
satisfied every possible demand of the law against them, by fulfilling
its righteousness to the uttermost. He cleared them from every
imputation of sin, by becoming sin for them. (2 Cor. v. 21.) He fought
their battle with the devil, and triumphed over him on the cross. As
their Champion, He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of
them openly on Calvary. In a word, Christ having given Himself for us,
has purchased the full right of redemption for us. Nothing can touch
those to whom He gives freedom: their debts are paid, and paid a
thousand times over; their sins are atoned for by a full, perfect, and
sufficient atonement. A Divine Substitute's death meets completely the
justice of God, and provides completely redemption for man.