steward of the mysteries of_ God? Suppose you find at any time trouble
and heaviness, _is there no help for you in your_ God? Is not the God
whom you serve able to deliver you from any plague or trouble? Is the
being _drunk with wine_ a better relief, than the being _filled with
his Spirit_? Do you not understand this? Do you _not know the_ Lord?
Take heed you do not destroy both your own soul and them that hear you!
O beware! If you know not his love, fear his power! Make haste to flee
from the wrath to come, lest he smite you with a curse great as your
sin, and sweep you away from the face of the earth.
32. Can such as you be said, to _honour_ or _fear_ God, any more than
those spoken of by _Malachi_? May not God complain, _These priests
have violated my law and prophaned my holy things_? Yea, whensoever
you presume with those unhallowed hands, to touch the mysteries of God:
whensoever you utter his name or his word with those unhallowed lips!
But is it on this account only that God may say, _Both prophet and
priest are prophane_? May he not add, _they have put no difference
between the holy and prophane; therefore I am prophaned among them_.
For is it not so? Do _you_ put a difference between the holy and
prophane, him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not? Do you
put an effectual difference between them, even in the most solemn
office of our religion? At the table of the Lord, do you take care to
_separate the precious from the vile_? To receive all those who (as
you may reasonably believe) _draw near with penitent hearts and lively
faith_, and utterly to reject those who testify against themselves,
that they are without hope and without God in the world?
Nay, who dares repel one of the greatest men in his parish from the
Lord’s table? Even tho’ he be a drunkard or a common swearer? Yea tho’
he openly deny the Lord that bought him? Mr. _Stonhouse did_ this once.
But what was the event? The gentleman brought an action against him,
for the terror of all such insolent fellows, in succeeding times.
33. O my brethren, is it not for want of your making this difference,
as well as for many other abominations that with regard to some among
us, (how many God knoweth) that scripture is now also fulfilled. _His
watchmen are blind, they are ignorant, they are shepherds that cannot
understand.――The Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of deep
sleep, and hath closed their eyes; the prophets and the seers hath he
covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a
book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying,
Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed._
If you ask what those other abominations are? I will speak, in love
and in the spirit of meekness. There are found among us _covetous_ men,
men _who mind earthly things_, who _seek themselves_ and not Christ
crucified, who _love the world, and the things of the world_: men in
whom these words are still fulfilled, _Who is there among you that
would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on my altar
for nought. I have no pleasure in you saith the Lord of hosts_. Yea,
are there not those at this day, (O that I might be found to fear
where no fear is!) who _make themselves fat with the chiefest of all
the offerings of Israel_? Are there not those, who now _enlarge their
desire as hell, who are as death and cannot be satisfied_? Who, though
they want neither food to eat nor raiment to put on, yet seek more
and more _preferment_? Who are continually studying to _join house to
house, and to lay field to field_? To grow rich in the service of that
Master, who himself _had not where to lay his head_? Is it not to these
that those dreadful words belong, enough to cause the ears of him that
heareth to tingle, _They are greedy dogs which never can have enough;
they all look to their own way_, (not the way of their Lord) _every one
for his gain, from his quarter_.
Is it strange, if among these there should be some, who are cruel,
_oppressive_ men? Inasmuch as covetousness knows no mercy, nor can a
lover of money be a lover of his neighbour. Have not some been known
even to _grind the face of the poor_? To strip, rather than cloath
the naked? Some, who while they cried out, _as the horse-leech, Give,
give_, would take, if it was not given; like those of old who said,
_Thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force_: or
those spoken of by _Micah_, _The prophets bite with their teeth, and
cry peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare
war against him_. Very great is the sin of these men before the Lord.
If there be ten such now in the land, may God smite them this day with
terror and astonishment, that they may have no rest in their bones till
their sin is done away!
34. Are _you_ as watchful and zealous to gain souls, as those are
to gain the gold that perisheth? Do you know by experience what that
meaneth, _The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up_? Or are you one of
those watchmen who do not watch at all? Who neither know nor care when
the sword cometh? Of whom the prophet saith, _They are dumb dogs that
cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber_.
* Can it be supposed, that such shepherds will _feed the flock_? Will
_give to every one his portion of meat in due season_? Will these
_warn every man, and exhort every man, that they may present every man
perfect in_ Christ Jesus? Will they take care to “know all their flock
by name, not forgetting ♦the men-servants and women-servants?” Will
they enquire into the state of every soul committed to their charge?
And watch over each with all tenderness and long-suffering, _as they
that must give account_? Marking how they either fall or rise? How
these wax _weary and faint in their mind_; and those _grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour_ Jesus Christ? Who can do
this, unless his whole heart be in the work? Unless he desire nothing
but to _spend and be spent for them_; and _count not his life dear unto
himself_, so he may _present them blameless_ in the day of the Lord
Jesus.
♦ “their” replaced with “the” per Errata
Can any shepherd do this (and if he do not, he will never _give any
account with joy_) who imagines, he has little more to do, then _to
preach_ once or twice a week? That this is the _main point_, the _chief
part_ of the office, which he hath taken upon himself before God? What
gross ignorance is this? What a total mistake of the truth? What a
miserable blunder touching the _whole nature_ of his office? It is
indeed a very great thing, to speak in the name of God; it might make
him that is the stoutest of heart tremble, if he considered, that
every time he speaks to others, his _own soul_ is at stake. But great,
inexpressibly great as this is, it is perhaps the least part of our
work. To _seek and save that which is lost_, to bring souls from Satan
to God, to instruct the ignorant, to reclaim the wicked, to convince
the gainsayer; to direct their feet into the way of peace, and then
keep them therein; to follow them step by step, least they turn out
of the way, and advise them in their doubts and temptations; to lift
up them that fall, to refresh them that are faint, and to comfort the
weak-hearted; to administer various helps, as the variety of occasions
require, according to their several necessities: these are parts of
our office; all this we have undertaken at the peril of our own soul.
A sense of this made that holy man of old cry out, “I marvel if any
ruler in the church shall be saved;” and a greater than him say, in the
fulness of his heart, _who is sufficient for these things_?
34. But _who is_ not _sufficient_ for these things, _for_ the
taking care of a parish, though it contain twenty thousand souls, if
this implies no more than the taking care to preach there, once or
twice-a-week; and to procure one to read prayers on the other days, and
do what is called the _parish duty_? Is any trade in the nation so easy
as this? Is not any man sufficient for it, without any more talents
either of nature or grace, than a small degree of common understanding?
But O! what manner of shepherds are those, who look no farther into the
nature of their office, who sink no deeper into the importance of it
than this! Were they not such as these concerning whom the _word of
the Lord came unto_ Ezekiel, _saying, Woe be to the shepherds that
feed themselves: should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the
fat, and ye cloathe you with the wool; but ye feed not the flock. The
diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which
was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken; neither have
ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought
that which was lost――――And they were scattered, because there was no
shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field. Yea, my
flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search
or seek after them._
I conjure you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus, the great
shepherd of the sheep, who hath bought them and ♦us with his own blood,
apply this each to his own soul. Let every man look unto God, and say,
“Lord, _Is it I_? Am I one of these idle, careless, indolent shepherds,
that feed myself, not the flock? Am I one that cannot bark, slothful,
sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber? One of those who have not
strengthened that which was diseased, neither healed that which was
sick! _Search me, O Lord, and prove me; try out my reins and my heart.
Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting._”
♦ “as” replaced with “us” per Errata
35. “Have I not, at least, _healed the hurt of thy people slightly_?
Have I not said, _Peace, peace, when there was no peace_?”――How many
are they also that do this? Who do not study to speak what is _true_,
especially to the rich and great, so much as what is _pleasing_? Who
flatter _honourable_ sinners, instead of telling them plain, _How can
ye escape the damnation of hell_? O what an account have _you_ to make,
if there be a God that judgeth the earth? Will he not require at _your_
hands the blood of all these souls, of whom _ye are the betrayers and
murderers_? Well spake the prophets of your fathers, in whose steps
ye now tread. _They have seduced my people, and one built up a wall,
and another daubed it with untempered mortar. They strengthen the
hands of the evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness.
They prophesy lies in my name saith the Lord. They say unto them that
despise me, ye shall have peace, and unto them that walk after the
imagination of their own heart, no evil shall come upon you._
How great will _your_ damnation be, who _destroy_ souls, instead of
_saving_ them? Where will you appear, or how will you stand, _in that
great and terrible day of the Lord_! How will ye lift up your head,
when _the Lord descends from heaven, in flaming fire, to take vengeance
on his adversaries_! More especially on those who have so betrayed
his cause, and done Satan’s work under the banner of Christ! With what
voice wilt _thou_ say, “Behold me, Lord, and the sheep whom thou hadst
given me, whom I gave to the devil, and told them they were in the way
to heaven, till they dropped into hell?”
Were they not just such shepherds of souls as you are concerning whom
God spake by _Jeremiah_, _Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they
have trodden my portion under foot; they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness_: By _Ezekiel_, _There is a conspiracy of her
prophets, like a roaring lion, ravening the prey, they have devoured
souls_: And by _Zechariah_, _Thus saith the Lord, feed the flock of the
slaughter, whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty;
and they that sell them say, blessed be the Lord, for I am rich; and
their own shepherds pity them not._
* 36. Is not this the _real ground_, the principal _reason_ of the
present _contempt of the clergy_? And long since was it assigned as
such, by him who cannot lie. The same men of old, who _made the Lord’s
people to transgress_, thereby _made themselves vile_. They were
_despised_ both as the natural effect, and the judicial punishment
of their _wickedness_. And the same cause the prophet observes to
have produced the same effect, many hundred years after this. _Ye
are departed out of the way saith the_ Lord; _ye have caused many to
stumble――therefore have I also made you_ contemptible, _and base before
all the people_.
I have now, brethren, _delivered mine own soul_ and in so doing, I
have (as I proposed at first) _used great plainness of speech_, as not
studying _to please men, but the Lord_. The event I leave to him in
whose name I have spoken, and who hath the hearts of all men in his
hand.
I _have brought you heavy tidings this_ day, and yet I cannot but be
persuaded, that some of you will not _count me your enemy, because I
tell you the truth_. O that all of us may _taste_ the good word which
we _declare_! May _receive_ that knowledge of salvation, which we are
commanded to _preach_ unto every creature, thro’ the remission of sins!
My heart’s desire is, that all of us to whom _is committed the ministry
of reconciliation_, may ourselves be reconciled to God, thro’ the blood
of the everlasting covenant: that he may be henceforth unto us a God,
and we may be unto him a people: that we may all _know_ as well as
_preach_, the Lord, _from the least unto the greatest_: even by that
token, _I am merciful to thy unrighteousness: thy sins I remember no
more_!
III. 1. I have hitherto spoken more immediately to those, who profess
themselves members of the _church of_ England. But inasmuch as I
am a debtor also to those who do not, my design is now, to apply to
them also; and briefly to shew, wherein (I fear) they are severally
inconsistent with _their own principles_.
I begin with those who are at the smallest distance from us, whether
they are termed _Presbyterians_ or _Independents_. Of whom in general
I cannot but have a widely different opinion, from that I entertained
some years ago: as having since then conversed with many among them,
_in whom the root of the matter is_ undeniably _found_; and who labour
_to keep a conscience void of offence both toward God and toward man_.
I cannot therefore doubt, but every serious man, of either one or the
other denomination, does utterly condemn all that inward as well as
outward unholiness, which has been above described.
But do you, as a people, avoid what you condemn? Are no whoremongers or
adulterers found among you? No children disobedient to their parents?
No servants that are slothful or careless? That _answer again_? That
do not _honour their masters as is meet in the Lord_? Are there none
among you that censure or _speak evil of the ruler of their people_?
Are there no drunkards, no gluttons, no luxurious men, no regular
_epicures_, none _whose belly is their God_, who, as their fortune
permits, _fare sumptuously every day_? Have you no _dishonest dealers_,
no _unfair traders_, no _usurers_, or _extortioners_? Have you no
_liars_, either for gain, or for good manners, so called? Are you clear
of _ceremony_ and _compliment_? Alas, you are sensible, in most if not
all these respects, you have now small ♦pre-eminence over us.
♦ “preheminence” replaced with “pre-eminence”
How much more sensible must you be of this, if you do not rest on
the surface, but enquire into the bottom of religion, the religion of
the heart? For, what inward unholiness, what evil tempers are among
us, which have not a place among you also? You likewise bewail that
ignorance of God, that want of faith and of the love of God and man,
that inward idolatry of various kinds, that pride, ambition and vanity,
which rule in the hearts even of those who still have _the form of
godliness_. You lament before God, the deep covetousness that _eats
so many souls as doth a gangrene_; and perhaps are sometimes ready to
cry out, _help, Lord, for there is_ scarce _one godly man left_. Lay to
thine hand: _for the faithful are minished from the children of men_!
2. And yet you retain _the truth that is after godliness_, at least,
as to the substance of it. You own what is laid down in scripture,
both touching the _nature_ and _condition_ of _justification_ and
_salvation_. And with regard to the _author of faith and salvation_,
you have always avowed, even in the face of your enemies, that _it is
God which worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure_:
that it is his Spirit alone who _teacheth us all things_, all we know
of _the deep things of God_: that every true believer has _an unction
from the Holy One_ to _lead him into all_ necessary _truth_: that
_because we are sons, God sendeth forth the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, crying Abba, Father_; and that _this Spirit, beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God_.
How is it then, my brethren (so I can call you now, although I could
not have done it heretofore;) how is it, that the generality of you
also are fallen from your stedfastness? In the times of persecution
ye stood as a rock, tho’ _all the waves and storms went over_ you.
But who can bear ease and fulness of bread! How are you changed, since
these came upon you! Do not many of you now (practically I mean) put
something else, in the room of _faith that worketh by love_? Do not
some of you suppose that gravity and composedness of behaviour, are the
main parts of Christianity? Especially, provided you neither swear, nor
take the name of God in vain. Do not others imagine, that to abstain
from idle songs, and those fashionable diversions commonly used by
persons of their fortune, is almost the whole of religion? To which
if they add family prayer, and a strict observation of the sabbath,
then doubtless all is well! Nay my brethren, this is well, so far as
it goes: but how little a way does it go toward Christianity? All these
things, you cannot but see, are merely _external_; whereas Christianity
is an _inward_ thing; without which the most beautiful outward form is
lighter than vanity.
Do not others of you rest in _conviction_? Or good _desires_? Alas,
what do these avail? A man may be _convinced_ he is sick, yea deeply
convinced, and yet never recover. He may _desire_ food, yea with
earnest desire, and nevertheless perish with hunger. And thus I may be
_convinced_ I am a sinner; but this will not justify me before God. And
I may _desire_ salvation (perhaps by fits and starts, for many years)
and yet be lost for ever. Come close then to the point, and keep to
your principles. Have _you_ received the Holy Ghost; the Spirit which
is of God, and is bestowed by him on all believers, _that we may know
the things which are freely given to us of God_? The time is short. Do
you experience now that _unction from the Holy One_? Without which you
confess _outward_ religion, whether negative or positive is nothing.
Nay, and inward _conviction_ of our wants is nothing, unless those
wants are in fact supplied. Good _desires_ also are nothing, unless
we actually attain what we are stirred up to desire. For still, _if
any man_ have _not the Spirit of_ Christ, whatever he desires, _he is
none of his_. O my brother, beware you stop not short! Beware you never
account yourself a Christian, no not in the lowest degree, till God
_hath sent forth the Spirit of_ Christ _into_ your _heart_, and that
_Spirit bear witness with_ your _spirit, that you are a child of God_.
3. One step farther from us, are you who are called (though not by your
own choice) _Anabaptists_. The smallness of your number, compared to
that of either the _Presbyterians_, or those of the _church_, makes it
easier for you to have an exact knowledge of the behaviour of all your
members, and to put away from among you every one that _walketh not
according to the doctrine you have received_.
But is this done? Do all your members adorn the gospel? Are they all
_holy as he which hath called us is holy_? I fear not. I have known
some instances to the contrary; and doubtless you know many more.
There are unholy, outwardly unholy men, in _your_ congregations also:
men that prophane either the name or the day of the Lord; that do not
honour their natural or civil parents; that know not how to possess
their bodies in sanctification and honour; that are intemperate,
either in meat or drink, gluttonous, sensual, luxurious; that variously
offend against justice, mercy or truth, in their intercourse with their
neighbour, and do not walk by that _royal law, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself_.
But how is this consistent with your leading principle, “That no man
ought to be admitted to baptism, till he has that repentance whereby
we forsake sin, and living faith in God, through Christ?”
For if no man ought to be admitted into a church or congregation, who
has not actual faith and repentance, then neither ought any who has
them not, to continue in any congregation. And consequently an open
sinner cannot remain among you, unless you practically renounce your
main principle.
4. I refer it to your own serious consideration, whether one reason,
why unholy men are still suffered to remain among you, may not be this;
that many of you have unawares put _opinion_ in the room of _faith_ and
_repentance_? But how fatal a mistake is this? Supposing your opinion
to be true, yet a _true opinion_ concerning _repentance_ is wholly
different from the thing itself. And you may have a _true opinion_
concerning _faith_ all your life and yet die an unbeliever.
Supposing therefore the _opinion_ of _particular redemption_ true, yet
how little does it avail toward salvation? Nay, were we to suppose,
that _none can be saved_ who do not hold it, it does not follow, that
_all will be saved_ who do. So that if the one proved a man to be in
ever so _bad a state_, the other would not prove him to be _in a good
one_. And consequently, whosoever leans on this opinion, _leans on the
staff of a broken reed_.
Would to God that ye would mind this one thing, To _make your own
calling and election sure_! That every one of you (leaving the rest
of the world to him that made it) would himself _repent and believe
the gospel_! Not repent alone (for then you know only the baptism of
_John_) but believe and be _baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire_.
Are you still a stranger to that inward baptism, wherewith all true
believers are baptized? May the Lord constrain you to cry out, _How
am I straitened till it be accomplished_! Even till the love of God
inflame your heart, and consume all your vile affections. Be not
content with any thing less than this! It is this loving faith alone
which opens our way into _the general church of the first-born, whose
names are written in heaven_! Which giveth us to _enter within the veil,
where_ Jesus _our fore-runner is gone before us_!
5. There is a still wider difference in _some_ points, between us and
the people usually termed _Quakers_. But not in _these_ points. You,
as well as we, condemn _all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men_;
all those _works_ of the devil which were recited above, and all those
_tempers_ from which they spring.
You ♦agree, That we are all to be _taught of_ God; and to be _led by
his Spirit_: that the Spirit alone _reveals_ all truth, and _inspires_
all holiness: that by his inspiration men attain _perfect love_,
the love which _purifies them as he is pure_: and that through this
knowledge and love of God, they have power to _do always such things as
please him_; to worship God, a Spirit, according to his own will, that
is, _in spirit and in truth_.
♦ “argree” replaced with “agree” per Errata
Hence you infer, That _formal worship_ is not acceptable to God, but
that alone that springs from God in the heart: you infer also, that
they who are led by him, will use great _plainness of speech_, and
great _plainness of dress_, seeking no _outward adorning_, but _only
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit_.
I will look no farther now, than simply to ♦enquire, Whether you are
consistent with these principles?
♦ “equire” replaced with “enquire” per Errata
To begin with the latter: “He that is led by the Spirit will use great
plainness of speech.”
* _You_ would have said, “will use the plain language.” But that term
leads you into a grand mistake. That term, “_the_ plain language,”
naturally leads you to think of _one particular_ way of speaking; as if
_plainness of speech_ implied no more, than the use of that _particular
form_.