glimmering hopes? Surely thou dost not abandon thyself to utter despair?
Thou hast not assurance that Christ has accepted of thee; but art thou
not sincerely willing to surrender thyself to him, to receive his
complete salvation in the holiness as well as the happiness of it? Dost
thou not long to be pardoned and accepted of God, for the sake of his
death and obedience? And art thou not heartily desirous to give him all
the honour of thy salvation? Thou hast not much power against sin, but
dost thou not hate it with immortal hatred, and esteem it thy constant
enemy? Does it not often cause thee to mourn before the Lord, because of
thy captive state, and the working of in-dwelling iniquities? Perhaps
thou dost not yet feel thyself to be manifestly saved from sin, but art
thou not saved from the love of sin? It dwells in thy flesh, it may be,
and raises tumults there, but not in thy desire and thy delight. Canst
thou not say with the apostle; Rom. vii. 23, 24. _There is a law in my
members warring against the law of my mind?_ But it is a daily torment
to me, _O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?_ Thou dost not
love God, it may be, according to thy wish and desire; but is there any
thing which thou valuest more than God and his love? Art thou not truly
willing to love him above all things, to be renewed and sanctified in
all the powers of thy nature, to be fitted for the business of heaven,
and suited to the blessedness?
If thy heart can echo to this sort of language, and the grace of God has
prevailed thus far in thee, then thy salvation is begun; the gospel has
shewn its divine power upon thee, and thou art indeed to be numbered
among the believers.
III. But I would conclude my discourse with a word that may have equal
respect to saints or sinners. If you are concerned sincerely about your
eternal welfare, but can see no comfortable evidences in yourselves of
the work of faith, or the beginnings of salvation, if all within you
appear to be guilt and sin, and there is much of hell and darkness in
the soul, yet do not cast away all hope: Arise and come to Jesus the
Saviour, behold he calleth you. This is the season of the grace of the
gospel, _This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation_. Make
haste now to the city of refuge, fly now to the hope that is set before
you.
The promises are held open to thee, O soul! whosoever thou art, even the
promises of light and life, of grace and eternal glory. Christ Jesus
invites thee by the messengers of his gospel: If there be some darkness
upon thy Spirit, do not spend all thy time in laborious and fruitless
enquiries whether thou hast heretofore believed in Christ, or no; but
come now with an humble sense of thy guilty and sinful circumstances,
and surrender thyself to his charge and care by a new act of faith, or
trust, or dependance. Plead with him to accept a vile criminal
overloaded with guilt and misery, and to make thee accepted with God by
a righteousness which was not thy own. Beseech him to look with pity on
thy unholy soul, to sanctify and renew it, to take thy hard heart into
his hand, and soften it into repentance. Plead with him, and say, Lord,
art not thou exalted to give repentance as well as remission? Entreat of
him to subdue thy sins, to new-mould and create all the powers of thy
nature in the beauties of holiness, and to prepare thee for the heavenly
state. Go and complain humbly at his mercy-seat, how long thou hast sat
under the ministry of his own gospel, and felt no divine power attending
it. Intrust thyself now to his care, and place thyself by faith under
his divine influences. _He that comes_ in this manner, _shall in no wise
be cast out_, for the Lord has promised to receive him; John vi. 37.
Wait on him with daily importunity, follow all the means of grace which
he hath appointed, and the gospel of Christ shall appear in due time to
be the power of God, even thy God, to thy salvation. _Amen._
HYMN FOR SERMON XIX.
_None excluded from Hope._
Jesus, thy blessings are not few,
Nor is thy gospel weak?
Thy grace can melt the stubborn Jew,
And heal the dying Greek.
Wide as the reach of Satan’s rage,
Doth thy salvation flow:
’Tis not confin’d to sex or age,
The lofty or the low.
While grace is offer’d to the prince,
The poor may take their share:
No mortal has a just pretence,
To perish in despair.
Be wise, ye men of strength and wit,
Nor boast your native powers;
But to his sovereign grace submit,
And glory shall be yours.
Come, all ye vilest sinners, come,
He’ll form your souls anew:
His gospel and his heart have room
For rebels such as you.
His doctrine is almighty love;
There’s virtue in his name,
To turn the raven to a dove,
The lion to a lamb.
SERMON XX.
_Christian Morality_, _viz._ _Truth, Sincerity, &c._
PHILIP. iv. 8.—Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, _or grave_, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think
on these things.
Οσα εστιν αληθη, &c.
Faith and practice make up the whole of our religion: A sacred compound,
and divinely necessary to our happiness and our heaven! Nor does the
blessed apostle in any of his writings ever dwell so entirely on one of
them, as to forget the other. In this letter to the saints at Philippi,
practice has the largest share. Through every chapter he scatters up and
down particular directions for the conduct of those believers who dwelt
among the gentiles; but he gives them two general rules, by which they
were to walk. The first is in the beginning of his epistle; Philip. i.
27. _Let your conversation be as becomes the gospel._ Act always
agreeable to the temper and design of that gospel, which brings
salvation by Jesus Christ, and then you will certainly practise every
virtue of life; your carriage can never be amiss.
And toward the latter end of his letter he saith, _Finally, brethren_,
before I take my leave of you, I would give another general rule to
direct your practice: I would recommend holiness to you under another
view, and describe it in such colours and characters, as will not only
approve themselves to your fellow-christians, but even to the heathens
among whom you live, _that you may be_, as he expresses it in _chap._
ii. ver. 15. _that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke in a wicked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as
lights in the world_; that they that have a mind to speak evil of
christianity, and cast what reproaches they can upon the doctrine of the
cross, may not be able to find any flaw in your conversation, or any
ground to slander the doctrine which you profess.
The rule is this, whatsoever the light of nature, and the better sort of
heathens, esteem true and honest, or decent, and just, and pure, and
lovely, and of good report, let these things be your meditation, let
these be your constant aim and design, let these be the business of your
lives, and your perpetual practice: Think of these things, says the
apostle, and think of them so as to perform them.
In a day wherein the professors of christianity, and of the glorious
doctrines of the gospel, grow degenerate and loose in their lives, and
fall sometimes into vices, which the better sort of the heathens have
utterly condemned, I think it may not be amiss to stir you up together
with myself to all holy watchfulness and caution; that christianity in
our profession and in our practice may appear and shine in its own
bright raiment; _that the doctrine of God our Saviour may be adorned in
all things_, and that it may look, as it is indeed in itself, a doctrine
according to godliness.
Without any further preface, or division of the words, I shall take
these several sentences in the text, as so many distinct characters of
morality, or virtue, which the apostle recommends; and in discoursing of
each of them, I shall follow nearly the same method; _viz._
I. Shew the sense, latitude, and extent of the duty.—II. Make it appear,
that these duties are required by the law of nature.—III. Discover what
additional influence the gospel should have upon our consciences to the
meditation and performance of such duties; and sometimes,—IV. I shall
give directions toward the performance of them, and guard against the
contrary sins.
_Whatsoever things are true._—The first thing that the apostle mentions
is this, whatsoever things are true, let these be our meditation, and
our practice.
_First_, Let me shew the sense, latitude, and extent of this advice.
Truth in general lies in a conformity of one thing to some other which
is made the standard or rule of it. So a picture is said to be true,
when it is conformable to the face and figure of the person: So a copy
of any writing is true, when it is conformable to the original. So a
narrative or history is true, when it describes matters fairly as they
were transacted, and tells the circumstances just as they are. And that
is true doctrine which is conformable to the word of God, which is the
rule and standard divine truth.
But none of these agree to the design of my text. For the apostle here
is describing moral characters, and the duties of a christian. Truth in
this place is not so much to be considered as seated in the
understanding, as it is in the will. It signifies here integrity and
uprightness, in opposition to hypocrisy, insincerity, or moral
falsehood. And there are three things that make up the perfect character
of truth or integrity:
1. That our words be conformable to our hearts.—2. That our deeds be
conformable to our words.—3. That our whole carriage be conformable to
itself, and consistent with itself at all times, and in all places.
1. The first thing wherein this virtue consists, is in the conformity of
our words to our hearts. This is sometimes called veracity, sometimes
sincerity; a necessary duty that belongs to every christian, and that in
all the affairs of life. We must be sincere in all relations of matters
of fact; in all the narratives or accounts we give of either persons or
things, in all our discoveries of our esteem for other men, and in all
our professions of love and good-will to others. Whatsoever we speak, it
ought to be agreeable to the sentiment of our souls.
Let us first consider what is that truth that is required in relating
matters of fact, and narratives concerning things or persons. This is
what Solomon mentions; Prov. xii. 17. _He that speaketh truth, sheweth
forth righteousness; but a false witness deceit._ In the xvth Psalm,
ver. 2. it is the character of one of those who shall inhabit the holy
mountain of God, that he not only worketh righteousness, but he speaketh
the truth in his heart. That which he thinks in his heart to be true, he
clothes it in words, and thus delivers it out to his fellow-creatures.
The apostle in Eph. iv. 25. makes mention of the same duty, and presses
it upon those to whom he writes; “Wherefore putting away lying, speak
every man truth with his neighbour; for we all are members one of
another:” Members one of another, as we belong to the same original, as
we are born of the same first parents, as we are made of one flesh and
blood, as we are parts of the same civil society or nation, and
especially as we that profess christianity are related to one another in
nearer and diviner bonds, as we are members of the general church or
body of Christ. Now it does not become those that are joined in so near
a relation to lie and speak falsely, and deceive one another, no more
than the members of the natural body should do injury to each other,
whose single welfare lies much in the welfare of the whole body.
I grant it is possible for the best and wisest of men sometimes to be
mistaken in their apprehensions of things, and they may happen to speak
something that is false in the course of their conversation: for they
may be deceived themselves, and not know the truth. But in matters which
they have occasion to speak of, they ought to be as well informed of the
truth of things as present circumstances will admit, and to say nothing
to their neighbour but what they really believe themselves. When we
speak a thing which we sincerely believe, and it happens not to be true,
that is properly called a MISTAKE, for we had no design to deceive the
person we converse with. But when we speak the thing that is false, and
we know it to be false, or do not believe it to be true, this is
wilfully to deceive our neighbour; and is properly called by the odious
name of LYING.
It is granted also, that no person is always obliged to speak all that
he knows, when he is giving an account of some particular affair or
concern of life. There are several seasons, wherein it is a piece of
prudence to be silent, and not to publish all the truth. We have a most
remarkable instance of this in the prophet Jeremiah, when he had been
admitted to the speech of Zedekiah the king, and had given him divine
counsel, that he should submit himself to the Chaldeans, and save his
life, and preserve the city from burning, and at the same time had
intreated for himself, that he might not return to Jonathan’s house and
the dungeon, lest he died there. A little after, the princes of Israel
demanded of him what discourse he had with the king; he concealed his
chief business from the princes, which was about submission to the
Chaldeans, and told them that he _presented his supplication to the
king, that he would not cause him to return to Jonathan’s house, so the
princes left off speaking with him, and the matter was not perceived_;
Jer. xxxviii. 24, &c. There may be various occasions in life, wherein it
is proper to keep ourselves upon the reserve. Silence is much commended
by Solomon, who was made divinely wise; Prov. xxix. 11. _A fool uttereth
all his mind; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward._
Yet it must be confessed too, that sometimes the concealment of part of
the truth, when it is necessarily due to the hearer, in order to pass a
right judgment of the whole, is almost as criminal as a lie: And herein
consists the guilt of partial representations. But I cannot stay to
discuss this point at large.
The great rule of veracity in general lies in being just and fair in our
narratives and representations of things and in saying nothing but what
we believe to be true. Whatsoever therefore we have to speak to our
fellow-creatures, let us lay a charge upon our consciences perpetually,
that we speak according to the sentiments of our hearts; and remember,
that what disguises soever our tongues put on, God our Judge sees
through them all.
And not only when we relate matters of fact, but when we express our
sentiment of the characters of men, let us be just to truth. I confess,
brotherly love generally requires us to put the most favourable colours
on a blemished character, and say the softest things that the matter
will bear; love covereth a multitude of faults and follies, and in this
case silence often becomes us best. But when providence and duty
requires us to speak, no pretences of love or charity are sufficient to
excuse a falsehood.
Again, when we have a bright character upon our tongues, or when we are
paying civilities to our neighbours or friends, let us take heed of
being lavish beyond what truth will allow. The sins of complaisance may
be connived at or applauded by men, and miscalled by the name of good
breeding; but the eye and ear of God take a juster and more severe
notice of the softest and smoothest falsehoods.
In all the discoveries of our esteem for other men, let us speak no more
than we in our hearts believe. It is a character of a very vicious time,
and a very degenerate and corrupt age, Ps. xii. 2. “They speak every one
with his neighbour, with flattering lips, and with a double heart do
they speak; but the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, for he hates
them,” ver. 3. They speak flattery with their tongue, while at the same
time their throats are open sepulchres, and they, it may be, attempt to
waste, devour, and destroy. This character of the basest of men you read
in the vth Psalm; and you find the same hateful practice among the Jews
in their deepest degeneracy; _Jer._ ix. 5, 8. “They will deceive every
one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth. One speaketh peaceably
to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth wait for him.”
But this which was so abominable in a Jew, surely a christian ought to
stand at the greatest distance from it at all times.
As in discovery of our esteem, so in the profession of our love and
good-will to our neighbour, we must observe truth. When your heart is
not with your neighbour, be not profuse of the language of friendship.
_Let love be without dissimulation_; Rom. xii. 9. Let love be sincere to
your fellow-creatures, and love to your fellow-christians be upright and
cordial. Let not that affection appear in a flourish of fine words, if
it be not warm in your soul. This is the first character of truth, that
our words agree with our hearts.
II. The next instance of the truth required in my text, is, when our
deeds are conformable to our words: And this is called faithfulness, as
the former is called veracity or sincerity. Faithfulness or truth, in
this sense, has respect to our vows, our promises, our resolutions, or
our threatenings.
1. Vows are properly made to God alone: And when they are made, if the
matter of them be lawful, they ought to be performed. “When thou vowest
a vow, defer not to pay it. Better it is thou shouldst not vow, than
that thou shouldst vow, and not pay;” Ec. v. 4, 5.
2. Promises of things lawful made to our fellow-creatures, must also be
fulfilled with religious care. As for things unlawful, they ought not to
be promised. We bind ourselves to perform what we promise, and the law
of God binds us as well as the laws of social life. In the xvth Psalm,
ver. 4. it is another of the characters of him that shall inhabit the
mountain of God, _that he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not_;
that is, he makes a promise to his neighbour, and though it be much to
his own disadvantage, yet he doth not alter the word that is gone out of
his lips, nor make a forfeiture of his truth by breach of his promise.
We should remember, that when we bind ourselves by a promise to give any
good thing to another, or to do any thing for the benefit of another,
the right of the thing promised passes over from us to the person to
whom the promise is made, as much as if we had given him a legal bond,
with all the formalities of signing and sealing; we have no power to
recal, or reverse it without his leave. Always except the promise be
made with a condition expressed, or necessarily and evidently implied;
then indeed, if the condition fail, the promise is void. But the lips of
a christian, when they have once uttered an absolute promise, have laid
a bond upon his soul; and he dares not break the law of his God, though
the law of man should not bind him.
3. The case of threatenings is somewhat different. A promise makes over
the right of some benefit to another who may justly claim it; but a
threatening only shews what punishment shall be due to another for such
a particular fault or offence. If a superior propose and publish a law,
and therein threaten an inferior with some penalty, the superior is
supposed to be at liberty, whether he will execute the threatening of
his own law, or no: for the criminal will not claim it. Thence arises
the power of a superior to pardon a fault.
But if over and above the proposal and publication of this law, a
father, for instance, or a master, does solemnly foretel or declare that
he will certainly execute the penalty upon the child or servant
offending; I think he ought generally to esteem himself bound to fulfil
such a declaration or threatening, if it were made in a prudent and
lawful manner; unless the repentance of the offender, or some other
change of circumstances, give him a just reason to change his mind and
alter his purpose.
And in the fourth place, the case is much the same when we make a solemn
resolution, and publicly declare it, that we will do such or such a
thing in time to come. If this resolution be solemn and public, and be
in all respects lawful, it should generally be performed; unless some
other circumstances arise, which we did not foresee, or which escaped
our present notice when the resolution was made: otherwise we justly
expose ourselves to the censure of fickleness, inconstancy, rashness,
and folly: And such a conduct seems to intrench upon truth. But this
leads me to the third or last instance of truth.
III. Another part of the character of truth is, when our whole carriage
is conformable to itself. When we are always of a piece with ourselves,
and our conduct is still consistent with our own character and
profession. This is called constancy.
Something of this might have been introduced indeed under the first or
second particulars, when I shewed how our words should agree with our
hearts, and our deeds with our words; for both these demand that our
practice should correspond with our profession. But I choose to cast all
that I have to say on this subject under the head of constancy to our
professions and pretences, which implies a perpetual and persevering
honesty of thoughts, words, and actions, and a regular consistency with
ourselves. Now that I may throw this matter into the easiest method, I
shall shew how this exercise of christian truth will appear in a good
man at all times, in all conditions of life, in all places, and in all
companies.
1. At all times a good man is the same: He ever maintains the same pious
and religious design, and having set his face heavenward, he travels on
in the sacred narrow path, and never wilfully turns aside to the
right-hand or to the left: Or if at any time he makes a false step, he
recovers it again with humility and shame, and repentance, and his feet
return to the ways of holiness.
Here let it be observed, that a good man may change his practices in
some lesser points of christianity, and alter his principles too in
doctrines of less importance, and yet he is not to be charged with
criminal inconstancy or falsehood: For he never renounces all
improvement of knowledge, but is ever ready to receive further light,
and to retract his former errors and mistakes: And indeed this is one
glorious evidence of his being a constant friend to truth. But being
well established in the necessary and fundamental points of faith and
practice, he walks on regularly in his christian course without
wavering, or wandering into forbidden paths, ever pursuing his last
great end: And this is a constant christian, though his sentiments, in
the latter part of his life, may differ in several points from the
thoughts of his youth.
When the eye of the world smiles upon his profession, and the sun shines
bright upon his party, or when the clouds arise, and the sharp winds of
persecution blow, he is still the same steady christian, composed,
quiet, undisturbed; not doubtful what he should do, but aiming at
heaven, he marches on homewards, with the regular discharge of all his
duties to his God on high: nor does he forget his obligations to his
fellow-creatures on earth, though in twenty instances they may forget or
refuse to fulfil their duty to him. His supreme obligations are to God
his Maker, and to these he must be true and faithful.
How various were the trials that St. Paul met with from the Jews, and
from the Greeks, from the Jewish christian, and the heathen converts?
But how bright and blessed an uniformity ran like a golden thread
through his whole life and ministry? Hear the holy man often in his
writings declaring his own stedfast adherence to the gospel: Hear him
appealing to his Ephesian disciples concerning his own conduct, and
proving it to their consciences, that he had in some good measure
acquitted himself according to this rule of christianity; Acts xx. 18.
When the elders of Ephesus were come to him, _Ye know_, says he, _that
from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been
with you at all seasons_, and that was by the space of three years, as
in ver. 31. _serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears
and temptations that befel me_: And I was constantly testifying to the
Jews and Greeks, _faith and repentance, and shunned not to declare the
whole counsel of God to you, coveting no man’s gold or apparel_, &c. I
have shewed you now, that for these three years together I have
maintained the same holy conduct, that so you might follow my example,
that ye might always act agreeable to yourselves, and be constant to
your own virtuous and holy character.