we understand it. Ignorance on this point is one great secret of faint
hopes, little comfort, and ceaseless doubts in the minds of Christians.
Too many are content with a vague idea that Christ will somehow save
sinners: but how or why they cannot tell. I protest against this
ignorance. Let us set fully before our eyes the doctrine of Christ's
vicarious death and substitution, and rest our souls upon it. Let us
grasp firmly the mighty truth, that Christ on the cross, stood in the
place of His people, died for His people, suffered for His people, was
counted a curse and sin for His people, paid the debts of His people,
made satisfaction for His people, became the surety and representative
of His people, and in this way procured His people's freedom. Let us
understand this clearly, and then we shall see what a mighty privilege
it is to be made free by Christ.
This is the freedom which, above all other, is worth having. We can
never value it too highly: there is no danger of overvaluing it. All
other freedom is an unsatisfying thing at the best, and a poor uncertain
possession at any time. Christ's freedom alone can never be overthrown.
It is secured by a covenant ordered in all things and sure: its
foundations are laid in the eternal councils of God, and no foreign
enemy can overthrow them. They are cemented and secured by the blood of
the Son of God Himself, and can never be cast down. The freedom of
nations often lasts no longer than a few centuries: the freedom which
Christ gives to any one of His people is a freedom that shall outlive
the solid world.
This is the truest, highest kind of freedom. This is the freedom which
in a changing, dying world, I want men to possess.
III. I have now to show, in the last place, _the way in which the best
kind of freedom is made our own_.
This is a point of vast importance, on account of the many mistakes
which prevail about it. Thousands, perhaps, will allow that there is
such a thing as spiritual freedom, and that Christ alone has purchased
it for us: but when they come to the application of redemption, they go
astray. They cannot answer the question, "Who are those whom Christ
effectually makes free?" and for want of knowledge of the answer, they
sit still in their chains. I ask every reader to give me his attention
once more, and I will try to throw a little light on the subject.
Useless indeed is the redemption which Christ has obtained, unless you
know how the fruit of that redemption can become your own. In vain have
you read of the freedom wherewith Christ makes people free, unless you
understand how you yourself may have an interest in it.
We are not born Christ's freemen. The inhabitants of many a city enjoy
privileges by virtue of their birth-place. St. Paul, who drew
life-breath first at Tarsus in Cilicia, could say to the Roman
Commander, "I was free-born." But this is not the case with Adam's
children, in spiritual things. We are born slaves and servants of sin:
we are by nature "children of wrath," and destitute of any title to
heaven.
We are not made Christ's freemen by baptism. Myriads are every year
brought to the font, and solemnly baptized in the name of the Trinity,
who serve sin like slaves, and neglect Christ all their days. Wretched
indeed is that man's state of soul who can give no better evidence of
his citizenship of heaven than the mere naked fact of his baptism!
We are not made Christ's freemen by mere membership of Christ's Church.
There are Companies and Corporations whose members are entitled to vast
privileges, without any respect to their personal character, if their
names are only on the list of members. The kingdom of Christ is not a
corporation of this kind. The grand test of belonging to it is personal
character.
Let these things sink down into our minds. Far be it from me to narrow
the extent of Christ's redemption: the price He paid on the cross is
sufficient for the whole world. Far be it from me to undervalue baptism
or Church-membership: the ordinance which Christ appointed, and the
Church which He maintains in the midst of a dark world, ought neither of
them to be lightly esteemed.--All I contend for is the absolute
necessity of not being content either with baptism or Church-membership.
If our religion stops short here it is unprofitable and unsatisfying. It
needs something more than this to give us an interest in the redemption
which Christ has purchased.
There is no other way to become Christ's freemen than that of simply
believing. It is by faith, simple faith in Him as our Saviour and
Redeemer, that men's souls are made free. It is by receiving Christ,
trusting Christ, committing ourselves to Christ, reposing our whole
weight on Christ,--it is by this, and by no other plan, that spiritual
liberty is made our own. Mighty as are the privileges which Christ's
freemen possess, they all become a man's property in the day that he
first believes. He may not yet know their full value, but they are all
his own. He that believeth in Christ is not condemned,--is justified, is
born again, is an heir of God, and hath everlasting life.
The truth before us is one of priceless importance. Let us cling to it
firmly, and never let it go. If you desire peace of conscience, if you
want inward rest and consolation, stir not an inch off the ground that
faith is the grand secret of an interest in Christ's redemption.--Take
the simplest view of faith: beware of confusing your mind by complicated
ideas about it. Follow holiness as closely as you can: seek the fullest
and clearest evidence of the inward work of the Spirit. But in the
matter of an interest in Christ's redemption remember that faith stands
alone. It is by believing, simply believing, that souls become free.
No doctrine like this to suit the ignorant and unlearned! Visit the
poorest and humblest cottager, who knows nothing of theology, and cannot
even repeat the creed. Tell him the story of the cross, and the good
news about Jesus Christ, and His love to sinners; show him that there is
freedom provided for him, as well as for the most learned in the
land,--freedom from guilt, freedom from the devil, freedom from
condemnation, freedom from hell. And then tell him plainly, boldly,
broadly, unreservedly, that this freedom may be all his own, if he will
but trust in Christ and believe.
No doctrine like this to suit the sick and dying! Go to the bedside of
the vilest sinner, when death is coming nigh, and tell him lovingly that
there is a hope even for him, if he can receive it. Tell him that Christ
came into the world to save sinners, even the chief of them; tell him
that Christ has done all, paid all, performed all, purchased all that
the soul of man can possibly need for salvation. And then assure him
that he, even he, may be freed at once from all his guilt, if he will
only believe. Yes, say to him, in the words of Scripture, "If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that
God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. x. 9.)
Let us never forget that this is the point to which we must turn our own
eyes, if we would know whether we have a saving interest in Christ's
redemption. Waste not your time in speculations whether you are elect,
and converted, and a vessel of grace. Stand not poring over the
unprofitable question whether Christ died for you or not. That is a
point of which no one ever made any question in the Bible. Settle your
thoughts on this one simple inquiry,--"Do I really trust in Christ, as a
humble sinner? Do I cast myself on Him? Do I believe?"--Look not to
anything else. Look at this alone. Fear not to rest your soul on plain
texts and promises of Scripture. If you believe, you are free.
(1) And now as I bring this paper to a conclusion, let me affectionately
press upon every reader the inquiry which grows naturally out of the
whole subject. Let me ask every one a plain question: "Are you free?"
I know not who or what you are into whose hands this paper has fallen.
But this I do know, there never was an age when the inquiry I press upon
you was more thoroughly needed. Political liberty, civil liberty,
commercial liberty, liberty of speech, liberty of the press,--all these,
and a hundred other kindred subjects, are swallowing up men's attention.
Few, very few, find time to think of spiritual liberty. Many, too many,
forget that no man is so thoroughly a slave, whatever his position, as
the man who serves sin. Yes! there are thousands in this country who are
slaves of beer and spirits, slaves of lust, slaves of ambition, slaves
of political party, slaves of money, slaves of gambling, slaves of
fashion, or slaves of temper! You may not see their chains with the
naked eye, and they themselves may boast of their liberty: but for all
that they are thoroughly slaves. Whether men like to hear it or not, the
gambler and the drunkard, the covetous and the passionate, the glutton
and the sensualist, are not free, but slaves. They are bound hand and
foot by the devil. "He that committeth sin is the servant of sin."
(Rom. viii. 34.) He that boasts of liberty, while he is enslaved by
lusts and passions, is going down to hell with a lie in his right hand.
Awake to see these things, while health, and time, and life are granted
to you. Let not political struggles and party strife make you forget
your precious soul. Take any side in politics you please, and follow
honestly your conscientious convictions; but never, never forget that
there is a liberty far higher and more lasting than any that politics
can give you. Rest not till that liberty is your own. Rest not till YOUR
SOUL IS FREE.
(2) Do you feel any desire to be free? Do you find any longing within
you for a higher, better liberty than this world can give--a liberty
that will not die at your death, but will go with you beyond the grave?
Then take the advice I give you this day. Seek Christ, repent, believe,
and be free. Christ has a glorious liberty to bestow on all who humbly
cry to Him for freedom. Christ can take burdens off your heart, and
strike chains off your inward man. "If the Son shall make you free, you
shall be free indeed." (John viii. 36.)
Freedom like this is the secret of true happiness. None go through the
world with such ease and content as those who are citizens of a heavenly
country. Earth's burdens press lightly upon their shoulders; earth's
disappointments do not crush them down as they do others; earth's duties
and anxieties do not drink up their spirit. In their darkest hours they
have always this sustaining thought to fall back on,--"I have something
which makes me independent of this world: I am spiritually free."
Freedom like this is the secret of being a good politician. In every age
Christ's freemen have been the truest friends to law and order, and to
measures for the benefit of all classes of mankind. Never, =never= let
it be forgotten that the despised Puritans, two hundred years ago, did
more for the cause of real liberty in England than all the Governments
which ever ruled this land. No man ever made this country so feared and
respected as Oliver Cromwell. The root of the most genuine patriotism is
to be one of those whom Christ has made free.
(3) Are you spiritually free? Then rejoice, and be thankful for your
freedom. Care not for the scorn and contempt of man: you have no cause
to be ashamed of your religion or your Master. He whose citizenship is
in heaven (Phil. iii. 20), who has God for his Father, and Christ for
his Elder Brother, angels for his daily guards, and heaven itself for
his home, is one that is well provided for. No change of laws can add to
his greatness: no extension of franchise can raise him higher than he
stands in God's sight. "The lines are fallen to him in pleasant places,
and he has a goodly heritage." (Psalm xvi. 6.) Grace now, and the hope
of glory hereafter, are more lasting privileges than the power of voting
for twenty boroughs or counties.
Are you free? Then stand fast in your liberty, and be not entangled
again in the yoke of bondage. Listen not to those who by good words and
fair speeches would draw you back to the Church of Rome. Beware of those
who would fain persuade you that there is any mediator but the one
Mediator, Christ Jesus,--any sacrifice but the one Sacrifice offered on
Calvary,--any priest but the great High Priest Emmanuel,--any incense
needed in worship but the savour of His name who was crucified,--any
rule of faith and practice but God's Word,--any confessional but the
throne of grace,--any effectual absolution but that which Christ bestows
on the hearts of His believing people,--any purgatory but the one
fountain open for all sins, the blood of Christ, to be only used while
we are alive. On all these points stand fast, and be on your guard.
Scores of misguided teachers are trying to rob Christians of Gospel
liberty, and to bring back among us exploded superstitions. Resist them
manfully, and do not give way for a moment. Remember what Romanism was
in this country before the blessed Reformation. Remember at what mighty
cost our martyred Reformers brought spiritual freedom to light by the
Gospel. Stand fast for this freedom like a man, and labour to hand it
down to your children, whole and unimpaired.
Are you free? Then think every day you live of the millions of your
fellow-creatures who are yet bound hand and foot in spiritual darkness.
Think of six hundred millions of heathens who never yet heard of Christ
and salvation. Think of the poor homeless Jews, scattered and wandering
over the face of the earth, because they have not yet received their
Messiah. Think of the millions of Roman Catholics who are yet in
captivity under the Pope, and know nothing of true liberty, light, and
peace. Think of the myriads of your own fellow-countrymen in our great
cities, who, without Sabbaths and without means of grace, are
practically heathens, and whom the devil is continually leading captive
at his will. Think of them all, and feel for them. Think of them all,
and often say to yourself,--"What can I do for them? How can I help to
set them free?"
What! Shall it be proclaimed at the last day that Pharisees and Jesuits
have compassed sea and land to make proselytes,--that politicians have
leagued and laboured night and day to obtain catholic emancipation and
free trade,--that philanthropists have travailed in soul for years to
procure the suppression of negro slavery,--and shall it appear at the
same time that Christ's freemen have done little to rescue men and women
from hell? Forbid it, faith! Forbid it, charity! Surely if the children
of this world are zealous to promote temporal freedom, the children of
God ought to be much more zealous to promote spiritual freedom. Let the
time past suffice us to have been selfish and indolent in this matter.
For the rest of our days let us use =every= effort to promote spiritual
emancipation. If we have tasted the blessings of freedom, let us spare
no pains to make others free.
Are you free? Then look forward in faith and hope for good things yet to
come. Free as we are, if we believe on Christ, from the guilt and power
of sin, we must surely feel every day that we are not free from its
presence and the temptations of the devil. Redeemed as we are from the
eternal consequences of the fall, we must often feel that we are not yet
redeemed from sickness and infirmity, from sorrow and from pain. No,
indeed! Where is the freeman of Christ on earth who is not often
painfully reminded that we are not yet in heaven? We are yet in the
body; we are yet travelling through the wilderness of this world: we are
not at home. We have shed many tears already, and probably we shall have
to shed many more; we have got yet within us a poor weak heart: we are
yet liable to be assaulted by the devil. Our redemption is begun indeed,
but it is not yet completed. We have redemption now in the root, but we
have it not in the flower.
But let us take courage: there are better days yet to come. Our great
Redeemer and Liberator has gone before us to prepare a place for His
people, and when He comes again our redemption will be complete. The
great jubilee year is yet to come. A few more returns of Christmas and
New Year's Days,--a few more meetings and partings,--a few more births
and deaths,--a few more weddings and funerals,--a few more tears and
struggles,--a few more sicknesses and pains,--a few more Sabbaths and
sacraments,--a few more preachings and prayings,--a few more, and the
end will come! Our Master will come back again. The dead saints shall be
raised. The living saints shall be changed. Then, and not till then, we
shall be completely free. The liberty which we enjoyed by faith shall be
changed into the liberty of sight, and the freedom of hope into the
freedom of certainty.
Come, then, and let us resolve to wait, and watch, and hope, and pray,
and live like men who have something laid up for them in heaven. The
night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Our King is not far off: our
full redemption draweth nigh. Our full salvation is nearer than when we
believed. The signs of the times are strange, and demand every
Christian's serious attention. The kingdoms of this world are in
confusion: the powers of this world, both temporal and ecclesiastical,
are everywhere reeling and shaken to their foundations. Happy, thrice
happy, are those who are citizens of Christ's eternal kingdom, and ready
for anything that may come. Blessed indeed are those men and women who
know and feel that they are free!
X
HAPPINESS
"_Happy is that people whose God is the Lord._"--Psalm cxliv.
15.
An infidel was once addressing a crowd of people in the open air. He was
trying to persuade them that there was no God and no devil no heaven,
and no hell, no resurrection, no judgment, and no life to come. He
advised them to throw away their Bibles, and not to mind what parsons
said. He recommended them to think as he did, and to be like him. He
talked boldly. The crowd listened eagerly. It was "the blind leading the
blind." Both were falling into the ditch. (Matt. xv. 14.)
In the middle of his address a poor old woman suddenly pushed her way
through the crowd, to the place where he was standing. She stood before
him. She looked him full in the face. "Sir," she said, in a loud voice,
"Are you happy?" The infidel looked scornfully at her, and gave her no
answer. "Sir," she said again, "I ask you to answer my question. Are you
happy? You want us to throw away our Bibles. You tell us not to believe
what parsons say about religion. You advise us to think as you do, and
be like you. Now before we take your advice we have a right to know what
good we shall get by it. Do your fine new notions give you much comfort?
Do you yourself really feel happy?"
The infidel stopped, and attempted to answer the old woman's question.
He stammered, and shuffled, and fidgetted, and endeavoured to explain
his meaning. He tried hard to turn the subject. He said, he "had not
come there to preach about happiness." But it was of no use. The old
woman stuck to her point. She insisted on her question being answered,
and the crowd took her part. She pressed him hard with her inquiry, and
would take no excuse. And at last the infidel was obliged to leave the
ground, and sneak off in confusion. He could not reply to the question.
His conscience would not let him: he dared not say that he was happy.
The old woman showed great wisdom in asking the question that she did.
The argument she used may seem very simple, but in reality it is one of
the most powerful that can be employed. It is a weapon that has more
effect on some minds than the most elaborate reasoning of Butler, or
Paley, or Chalmers. Whenever a man begins to take up new views of
religion, and pretends to despise old Bible Christianity, thrust home at
his conscience the old woman's question. Ask him whether his new views
make him feel comfortable within. Ask him whether he can say, with
honesty and sincerity, that he is happy. The grand test of a man's faith
and religion is, "Does it make him happy?"
Let me now affectionately invite every reader to consider the subject of
this paper. Let me warn you to remember that the salvation of your soul,
and nothing less, is closely bound up with the subject. The heart cannot
be right in the sight of God which knows nothing of happiness. That man
or woman cannot be in a safe state of soul who feels nothing of peace
within.
There are three things which I purpose to do, in order to clear up the
subject of happiness. I ask special attention to each one of them. And I
pray the Spirit of God to apply all to the souls of all who read this
paper.
I. Let me point out some things which are absolutely essential to
all happiness.
II. Let me expose some common mistakes about the way to be happy.
III. Let me show the way to be truly happy.
I. First of all I have _to point out some things which are absolutely
essential to all true happiness_.
Happiness is what all mankind want to obtain: the desire of it is deeply
planted in the human heart. All men naturally dislike pain, sorrow, and
discomfort. All men naturally like ease, comfort, and gladness. All men
naturally hunger and thirst after happiness. Just as the sick man longs
for health, and the prisoner of war for liberty,--just as the parched
traveller in hot countries longs to see the cooling fountain, or the
ice-bound polar voyager the sun rising above the horizon,--just in the
same way does poor mortal man long to be happy. But, alas, how few
consider what they really mean when they talk of happiness! How vague
and indistinct and undefined the ideas of most men are upon the subject!
They think some are happy who in reality are miserable: they think some
are gloomy and sad who in reality are truly happy. They dream of a
happiness which in reality would never satisfy their nature's wants. Let
me try this day to throw a little light on the subject.
True happiness _is not perfect freedom from sorrow and discomfort_. Let
that never be forgotten. If it were so there would be no such thing as
happiness in the world. Such happiness is for angels who have never
fallen, and not for man. The happiness I am inquiring about is such as a
poor, dying, sinful creature may hope to attain. Our whole nature is
defiled by sin. Evil abounds in the world. Sickness, and death, and
change are daily doing their sad work on every side. In such a state of
things the highest happiness man can attain to on earth must
necessarily be a mixed thing. If we expect to find any literally perfect
happiness on this side of the grave, we expect what we shall not find.
True happiness _does not consist in laughter and smiles_. The face is
very often a poor index of the inward man. There are thousands who laugh
loud and are merry as a grasshopper in company, but are wretched and
miserable in private, and almost afraid to be alone. There are hundreds
who are grave and serious in their demeanour, whose hearts are full of
solid peace. A poet of our own has truly told us that smiles are worth
but little:--
"A man may smile and smile and be a villain."
And the eternal Word of God teaches us that "even in laughter the heart
is sorrowful." (Prov. xiv. 13.) Tell me not merely of smiling and
laughing faces: I want to hear of something more than that when I ask
whether a man is happy. A truly happy man no doubt will often show his
happiness in his countenance; but a man may have a very merry face and
yet not be happy at all.
Of all deceptive things on earth nothing is so deceptive as mere gaiety
and merriment. It is a hollow empty show, utterly devoid of substance
and reality. Listen to the brilliant talker in society, and mark the
applause which he receives from an admiring company: follow him to his
own private room, and you will very likely find him plunged in
melancholy despondency. Colonel Gardiner confessed that even when he was
thought most happy he often wished he was a dog.--Look at the smiling
beauty in the ball-room, and you might suppose she knew not what it was
to be unhappy; see her next day at her own home, and you may probably
find her out of temper with herself and everybody else besides.--Oh, no:
worldly merriment is not real happiness! There is a certain pleasure
about it, I do not deny. There is an animal excitement about it, I make
no question. There is a temporary elevation of spirits about it, I
freely concede. But call it not by the sacred name of happiness. The
most beautiful cut flowers stuck into the ground do not make a garden.
When glass is called diamond, and tinsel is called gold, then, and not
till then, your people who can laugh and smile will deserve to be called
happy men.[7]
7: Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, at a time when all Spain was
laughing at his humorous work, was overwhelmed with a deep cloud of
melancholy.
Moliere, the first of French comic writers, carried into his domestic
circle a sadness which the greatest worldly prosperity could never
dispel.
Samuel Foote, the noted wit of the last century, died of a broken heart.