the actions of the spiritual life proceed, are secret and hidden. Who
knows how they were wrought at first? how this heavenly breath, this
divine life was infused, which changed a dead sinner into a living
saint? Our Saviour himself compares this work of the Spirit to the wind;
John iii. 8. _We hear the sound_, we feel and see the effects of it,
_but we know not whence it comes, nor whither it goes; so is every one
that is born of the Spirit_. Who can describe those secret and almighty
influences of the blessed Spirit on the mind and will of man, which work
with such a sovereign, and yet such a gentle, and con-natural agency,
that the believer himself hardly knows it, but by the gracious effects
of it, and the blessed alterations wrought in his soul.
It is this glorious Agent, this Creator, this blessed Spirit, who is the
uncreated principle of this life. The Spirit, as proceeding from our
Lord Jesus Christ, begun this life at first in the soul: and the same
glorious unseen power carries it on through all difficulties and
oppositions, and will fulfil it in glory.
I must add also, that Christ himself, who is said to be our life in the
verse following my text, is at present hidden from us; he dwells in the
unseen world, and the heavens must receive him till the restitution of
all things; Acts iii. 21. Christ Jesus is the bread from heaven; John
vi. 32, 33. by which the believer is nourished; he is the hidden manna,
the divine food of souls: It is upon him the christian lives daily and
hourly; it is upon the blood of the Lamb, which is carried up to the
mercy-seat, that the believer lives for pardon and peace with God: It is
upon the righteousness of his Lord and Head, that he lives for his
everlasting acceptance before the throne; it is upon the grace and
strength of Christ, that he rests and depends all the day, when he is
called forth to encounter the boldest temptations, to fulfil the most
difficult duties, or to sustain the heaviest strokes of a painful
providence. “_Surely_, saith the saint, _in the Lord alone have I
righteousness and strength_; Is. xlv. 24. In the Lord my Saviour, whom
the world sees not; but I see him by the eye of faith.”
I shall enlarge farther on this subject under the second doctrine.
Thus, whether we consider the spiritual acts and exercises of this
christian life, or the springs and principles of it, still we shall find
it has just reason to be called a secret, or a hidden life.
Before I proceed, I shall lay down these two cautions:
1st Caution. Though it is a hidden life, yet I entreat my christian
friends, that they would not suffer it to be such a secret, as to be
unknown to themselves. God has ordained it to be hidden, not that it
might always be unknown to you, but that you might search after it with
diligence; and that when you find yourselves possessed of it, you might
rejoice in the evidences of your life and his love. Be not satisfied
then, O ye professors of the gospel! until you have searched and found
this divine life within you. What a poor life must that christian live,
who goes from day to day, and from year to year, and still complains, I
know not whether I am alive or no!
Labour, therefore, after self-acquaintance, since God has been pleased
in his word, to furnish us with sufficient means to find out our estate;
1 John v. 17. These things I write unto you, says the apostle, that ye
may believe on the name of the Son of God, and that ye may know that ye
believe. It is a dishonour to the gospel of Christ, to abide always in
darkness and doubtings, and to rest contented in so uncomfortable a
frame. We are told in Rev. ii. 17. that those whose life is supported by
this hidden manna, have also a white stone given them, with a new name
in it, which no man knows, save he that receives it: that is, they have
divine absolution and pardon of their sins, which was represented
heretofore, in some courts of judicature, by the gift of a white stone;
but surely, if my own name were written in it, I would use my utmost
endeavours to read the inscription myself, though it may be a secret to
the rest of mankind; then my God and Saviour shall have the honour of
his pardoning love, and then my soul shall enjoy the consolation.
2d Caution. Though it be a hidden life in the sacred operations and the
springs of it, yet the world ought to see the blessed effects of it. We
must _hold forth_ to men _the word of life_; Phil. ii. 16. Let the world
see that we live to God, and that by the secret power of his word in the
gospel.
The christian life is no fantastic and visionary matter, that consists
in warm imaginations, and pretences to inward light and rapture; it is a
real change of heart and practice, from sin to holiness, and a turn of
soul from earth toward heaven. It has been dressed up, indeed, like
enthusiastic foolery, by the impious wits of men, and painted for a
subject of ridicule and reproach. Thus the saints and holy martyrs have
been clad in a fool’s-coat, or a bear’s-skin, but they are still men,
and wise men too; they have been dressed up like devils, but they are
still the sons of God. So secret piety has solid reason and scripture
still on its side, whatever silly scandals have been cast upon it; there
is no cause, therefore, to be ashamed of professing it. There is nothing
in all the christian life, that a man needs to blush at. _We have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty_, knavery, and uncleanness,
when we began to be christians; 2 Cor. iv. 2. It is our glory that we
are alive to God, and we should be ashamed of nothing that either
exercises or maintains this life. None of the duties of worship, none of
the practices of godliness, that render religion honourable among men,
and make God our Saviour appear glorious in the world, should be
neglected by us, whenever we are called to practise or profess them.
The effects of this hidden life should not all be secret, though the
springs of it are so; for christians are commanded to make their _light
shine before men, that others may glorify their Father which is in
heaven_; Mat. v. 14, 15, 16. The lights of the world must not place
themselves under a bushel, and be contented to shine there useless and
alone; we must give honour to God in public. And though we are commanded
to practise such secrecy and self-denial in our deeds of charity, as may
secure us from all ostentation and pride, yet we must sometimes make it
appear too, that we do good to men, that christianity may have the glory
of it. We must feed the hungry, we must clothe the naked, we must love
all men, even our enemies, and discover to the world that we are
christians, by noble and sublime practices of every virtue and every
duty, as far as it is possible, even by the best works, to discover
inward religion.
[This sermon may be divided here.]
I proceed now to draw some inferences from the hidden nature of the
spiritual life.
I. And my first inference would teach you not to rest satisfied with any
externals: for they who put forth no other acts of life, but what the
world sees, are no true christians.
We eat, we drink, and sleep; that is the life of nature; we buy and
sell, we labour and converse; that is the civil life; we trifle, visit,
tattle, flutter, and rove among a hundred impertinencies, without any
formed, or settled design what we live for; that is the idle life; and
it is the kindest name that I can bestow upon it. We learn our creed, we
go to church, we say our prayers, and read chapters or sermons; these
are the outward forms of the religious life. And is this all? Have we no
daily secret exercises of the soul in retirement and converse with God?
No time spent with our own hearts? Are we never busied, in some hidden
corner, about the affairs of eternity; Are there no seasons allotted for
prayer, for meditation, for reading in secret, and self-enquiries?
Nothing to do with God alone in a whole day together? Surely this can
never be the life of a christian?
Remember, O man, there is nothing of all the labours or services, the
acts of zeal or devotion, that thou canst practise in public, but a
subtle hypocrite may so nearly imitate the same, that it will be hard to
discover the difference. There is nothing of all these outward forms,
therefore, that can safely and infallibly distinguish thee from a
hypocrite and false professor; for the same actions may proceed from
inward motions and principles widely different. If you would obtain any
evidence that you are a christian indeed, you must make it appear to
your own conscience by the exercises of the hidden life, and the secret
transactions between God and your soul. He was not a Jew of old, who was
one outwardly in the letter only; nor is he a christian, who has mere
outward forms; but a Jew or a christian, in the sight of God, is such a
one as hath the religion in his heart, and in spirit, _whose praise is
not of men, but of God_? Rom. ii. 28, 29.
II. Inference. The life of a saint is a matter of wonder to the sinful
world; for they know not what he lives upon. The sons of ambition follow
after grandeur and power; the animals of pleasure pursue all the
luxuries of sense; the miser hunts after money, and is ever digging for
gold. It is visible enough what these wise men live upon. But the
christian, who lives in the power and glory of the divine life, seeks
after none of these, any farther than as duty leads him, and the
supports and conveniencies of life are needful, in the present state of
his habitation in the flesh. The sinner wonders what it is the saint
aims at, while he neglects the tempting idols that himself adores, and
despises the gilded vanities of a court, and abhors the guilty scenes of
a voluptuous life. Christ and his children are, and will be, signs and
wonders to the age they live in; Is. viii. 18. compared with Heb. ii.
13.
The men of this world wonder what a christian can have to say to God in
so many retiring hours as he appoints for that end; what strange
business he can employ himself in; how he can lay out so much time in
affairs, which the carnal mind has no notion of. On the other hand, the
saint, when he is in a lively frame, thinks that all the intervals of
his civil life, and all the vacant seasons that he can find between the
necessary duties of his worldly station, are all little enough to
transact affairs of such awful importance as he has to do with God, and
little enough to enjoy those secret pleasures, which the stranger is
unacquainted with. The children of God pray to their heavenly Father in
secret, and they feel unknown refreshment and delight in it; and they
are well assured, that _their Father who seeth in secret will hereafter
reward them openly_; Mat. vi. 6.
It is no wonder, that the profane world reproaches true christians as
dull, lifeless creatures, animals that have neither soul nor spirit in
them, because they do not see them run to the same excess in things of
the lower life. Alas! they know not that the life of a christian is on
high; they see it not, for it is hidden; and therefore they wonder we
are not busily engaged in the same practices and pursuits as they are; 1
Pet. iv. 4. _They think it strange that we run not to the same excess of
riot._ The world sees nothing of our inward labour and strife against
flesh and self, our sacred contest for the prize of glory; they know
nothing of our earnest enquiries after an absent God, and a hidden
Saviour; and least of all do they know the holy joys, and retired
pleasures of a christian, because these are things which are seldom
communicated to others; and therefore the world grows bold to call
religion a melancholy thing, and the christian a mere mope. But the soul
who lives above, who lives within sight of the world of invisibles, can
despise the reproach of sinners.
III. Inference. See the reason why christians have not their passions so
much engaged in things of this life as other men have, because their
chief concern is about their better life, which is hidden and unseen.
They can look upon fine equipages, gay clothes, and rich appearances in
the world, without envy; they can survey large estates, and see many
thousands gotten in haste by those that resolve to be rich, and yet not
let loose one covetous wish upon them; they have a God whom they worship
in secret, and trust his blessing to make them sufficiently rich in the
way of diligence in their stations: they hope they shall have blessings
mingled with their mean estate, and no sorrows added to their wealth.
They can find themselves exalted by providence to high stations in the
world, and not to be puffed up in countenance, nor swell at heart. If
they are but watchful to keep their divine life vigorous they will
distinguish themselves as christians, even in scarlet and gold, and that
by a glorious humility. They know that all their advancements on earth
are but mean and despicable things, in comparison of their highest
hopes, and their promised crown in heaven. They can meet threatening
danger, diseases, and deaths, without those terrors that overwhelm the
carnal sinner; for their better life shall never die. They can sustain
losses, and sink in the world, when it comes by the mere providence of
God, without their own culpable folly, and bear it with a humble
resignation of spirit, and with much inward serenity and peace; for the
things which they have lost, were not their life; all these were
visible, but their life is hidden; Phil. iv. 12. I know how to be
abased, and how to be exalted; I know how to abound, and to suffer want;
I can do all these things through Christ strengthening me: Christ, who
is the principle of my inward life. O! that the christians of our day
had more of this sublime conduct, more of these noble evidences of the
life of christianity.
IV. Inference. How vain and needless a thing is it for a christian to
affect popularity and to set up for a shew in this world. How vain is it
for him to be impatient to appear and shine among men, for he has
honours and treasures, joys and glories, that are incomparably greater,
and yet a secret to the world. A christian’s true life is hidden, and he
should not be too fond of public and gay appearances. The apostle Peter
gives advice how the christian women should behave themselves not as the
rest of the world do, who set themselves forth to public shew, with many
ornaments of gold and pearl; but the believer should adorn herself with
modesty, and with every grace, in _the hidden man of the heart_; 1 Pet.
iii. 4.
How unreasonable is it for us who profess the christian life to be cast
down, if we are confined to an obscure station in the world! Was not the
Lord of glory, when he came down on earth to give us a pattern of the
spiritual life, content to be obscure for thirty years together! Was he
not unknown to men, but as a common carpenter, or a poor carpenter’s
son! And in those four years of appearance which he made as a preacher,
how mean, how contemptible were the circumstances of life which he
chose? And shall we be impatient and fretful under the same humbled
estate? Do we dislike so divine a precedent? Must we, like mushrooms of
the earth, be exalted, and grow fond of making a public figure, when the
King of heaven was so poor and lowly? We lose public honour and applause
indeed, but perhaps our hidden life thrives the better for it, when we
resist the charms of grandeur.
Besides, this is not a christian’s time for appearing, whilst Christ
himself is absent and unseen. The believer’s shining-time is not yet
come; but the marriage-day of the Lamb is hastening, and the bride is
making herself ready. The general resurrection is our great shining-day:
_When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear
with him in glory_: Col. iii. 4. and the christian is content to stay
for his robes of light, and his public honours, till the dawn of that
glorious morning. Nor shall we dare to be censorious of those who make a
poor figure, and but mean appearance in the world; perhaps they are some
of Christ’s hidden ones; they promise but little, and shew but little,
either wit or parts, prudence or power, skill or influence; and perhaps
they have but little too; but they know God, they trust in Christ, they
live a divine life, and have glorious communications from heaven in
secret daily, they make daily visits to the court of glory, and are
visited by condescending grace. You see in all these instances, that
popularity and shew are not at all necessary for a christian.
V. Inference. How exceeding difficult is it for those who are exalted to
great and public stations in the world to maintain lively christianity!
They have need of great and uncommon degrees of grace to maintain this
hidden life. _How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of God!_ These are our Saviour’s own words; Mark x. 23. and he
gave this reason for it, ver. 24. because it is so hard for those that
have riches, not to trust in them, not to live entirely upon them, and
make them their very life.
How hard is it for men in high posts of honour, to take due care that
their graces thrive, while they are all day engaged, either in the
fatigues of office, in state and pomp of their own, or in everlasting
attendances on the will of some superior; so that they have few moments
in a day, wherein they are capable of retiring, and holding any converse
with themselves or with heaven. But O! how pleasant is it to such as are
advanced in the providence of God, and have a value for their hidden
life, to steal an hour of retirement from the burden of their public
cares! How sweet is the recovery of a few minutes, and how well filled
up with active devotion! The secret life of a christian grows much in
the closet, and without a retreat from the world it cannot grow. Abandon
the secret chamber, and the spiritual life will decay: Doubtless many of
you can witness that you have found it so; and your own mournful
experience echoes to the words of our ministry in this point.
There was an ancient philosopher, who, when he had lost his riches in a
storm at sea, gave thanks to providence, under a heathen name; “I thank
thee, fortune, that hast now forced me to retire, and to live within my
cloak;” that is, upon the supports of philosophy, in meaner
circumstances of life. How much more should the christian be pleased
with a private station, who has the supports of the gospel to live upon,
and to sweeten his retirements! How cautious should christians be,
therefore, of the management of all the public affairs of their civil
life, lest they do any that should hurt their secret or religious life!
We should be still enquiring, “Will such sort of company to which I am
now invited; such a gainful trade which I am ready to engage in; such a
course of life which now lies before me; tempt me to neglect my secret
converse with God? Does it begin to alienate my heart from heaven, and
things unseen? then let me suspect and fear it.” Be afraid, christians,
of what grieves the blessed Spirit of Christ, who is the principle of
your life and may provoke him to retire from you. Be diligent in such
enquiries, be very watchful and jealous of every thing that would call
your thoughts outward, and keep them too long abroad. Christians should
live much at home, for theirs is a hidden life.
VI. Inference. We may see here divine wisdom in contriving the
ordinances of the gospel, with such plainness, and such simplicity, as
best serves to promote the hidden life of a christian. Pomp and
ceremony, gilded and sparkling ornaments, are ready to call the soul
abroad, to employ it in the senses, and divert it from that spiritual
improvement, which the secret life of a christian requires, and which
gospel-institutions were designed for.
You see in the heathen world, and you see in popish countries, that the
gay splendours of worship tempt the hearts of the worshippers to rest in
forms, and to forget God; and we may fear the greatest part of the
people lay under the same danger in the days of Judaism. I grant indeed,
that where pompous and glittering rites of religion are of special
divine appointment, and were designed to typify the future glories of a
more spiritual church and worship; there they might hope for divine aids
to lead their minds onward beyond the type, to those designed glories.
But carnal worshippers are the bulk of any sect or profession. All
mankind, by nature, is ready to take up with the forms of godliness, and
neglect the secret power. We naturally pay too much reverence to shining
formalities and empty shews. Set a christian to read the most spiritual
parts of gospel, on one page of the bible, and let some scene of the
history be finely graven, and painted on the opposite side; his holy
meditations will be endangered by his eyes, fair figures and colours
attract the sight, and tempt the soul off from refined devotion.
I cannot think it any advantage to christian worship, to have churches
well adorned by the statuary and the painter; nor can gay altar-pieces
improve the communion service. While gaudy glittering images attract and
entertain the outward sense, the soul is too much attached to the
animal, to keep itself at a distance; while the sight is regaled and
feasted, the sermon runs to waste, and the hidden life withers and
starves. When the ear is soothed with a variety of fine harmony, the
soul is too often allured away from spiritual worship, even though a
divine song attend the music. Our Saviour therefore, in much wisdom, and
in much mercy, has appointed blessed ordinances for his church, with
such plainness and simplicity, as may administer most support and
nourishment to the secret life. Thus I have finished the remarks on the
hidden life of a christian, considered as to its spiritual exercises in
this present world.
I proceed to consider, in what respects this life is hidden, as it is
more usually called eternal life, or to be exercised and enjoyed in
heaven.
And here we must confess, that we are much at a loss to say any thing
more than the scripture hath said before us. _Life and immortality_,
indeed, _are brought to light by the gospel of Christ_, in far brighter
measures than the former ages and dispensations were acquainted with; 1
Tim. i. 10. But still, what the apostle says concerning all the
blessings of the gospel, we may repeat emphatically concerning heaven,
that eye hath not seen, that ear hath not heard, that it hath not
entered into the heart of man to conceive; nor indeed hath God himself
revealed but a very small part of the things he hath prepared, in the
future world, for them that love him; 1 Cor. ix. 10. _It doth not yet
appear what we shall be_; the glory of that state is yet a great secret
to us; 1 John iii. 2. We know much better what it is not, than what it
is: we can define it best by negatives. Absence from the weaknesses,
sins, and sorrows of this life, is our best and largest account of it,
whether we speak of the separate state, or the heaven of the
resurrection.
The veil of flesh and blood divides us from the world of spirits; we
know not the manner of their life in the state of separation: we are at
an utter loss as to their stations and residences; what relation they
bear to any part of this material creation; whether they dwell in thin
airy vehicles, and are inhabitants of some starry world, or planetary
region; or whether they subsist in their pure intellectual nature, and
have nothing to do with any thing corporeal, till their dust be recalled
to life. We are unacquainted with the laws by which they are governed,
and the methods of their converse: we know little of the businesses they
are employed in, those glorious services for their God and their
Saviour, in which they are favoured with assistant angels; and little
are we acquainted with their joys, which are unspeakable and full of
glory. The very language of that world, is neither to be spoken nor
understood by us; St. Paul heard some of the words of it, and had a
faint glimpse of the sense of them; but he could not repeat them again
to mortal ears; nor had he power, nor leave to tell us the meaning of
them; 2 Cor. xii. 4. For, _whether he was in the body, at that time, or
out of the body_, he himself was not able to determine.
And as for the heaven of the resurrection; what sort of bodies shall be
raised from the dust, for perfect spirits to dwell in, is as great a
secret. A spiritual body is a mystery to the wisest divines and
philosophers; where our habitation shall be, and what our special
employment through the endless ages of immortality, are among the hidden
unsearchables. The most that we know, is, that we shall be made like to
Christ, and we shall be where he is, to behold his glory; 1 John iii. 2.
and John xvii. 24.
If the eternal life of the saints be so much a secret at present, we may
draw these two or three inferences from it.