thou hast not only been called to survey the riches of thy inheritance,
but thou hast learned also, in what manner this inheritance is made over
to thee, if thou art a sincere christian, and a believer on the Son of
God.
“Look backward, my soul, to eternal ages, before the world began, when
God marked out the bounds of this creation, and the limits of these
heavens, and this earth, he designed them with all their treasures, for
the service of his holy ones, for the benefit of his children, angels
and men; and thy name and thy share was written down amongst them. The
great God, in those early days of his eternity, has provided a rich
sufficiency for thy present and future blessedness. O may my faith take
this delightful and distant retrospect, and rejoice in God’s eternal
love?
“God has given all things into the hands of his own Son Jesus, whom he
hath ordained Lord of all, that he might govern and dispose of all
things for the good of his people. Christ is risen from the dead, and
hath taken possession of all the blessings of grace and glory, in the
name of his saints, that he may make them possessors in their season,
and according to their measure: That he may make thee, O my soul, a rich
possessor of so fair an inheritance; and that he may keep every part of
it secure for thee, till in succession of times and seasons, both in
earth and in heaven, thou art fit to receive and enjoy it. If thou art
made a joint-heir with Christ, thou art heir of all things.”
But remember, it is a living faith in Christ that must entitle thee to
this rich inheritance. It is of infinite importance then, to search
often and enquire, Am I a christian indeed? A sincere convert, a
believer in Jesus? And does my faith evidence itself in all the fruits
of repentance, love, and holiness? O may I feel my soul to live daily
this divine life by the faith of the Son of God, that I may maintain a
humble claim to these treasures of mercy laid up in the gospel,
treasures committed to the hands of Christ to be kept safe for me.
“And may the blessed Spirit instruct me daily to improve all things to
my spiritual and eternal benefit, that I may not be like a fool, who has
a prize put into his right-hand, and knows not how to make use of it!
May I be taught to draw some sacred advantage, some holy delight and
refreshment from the continual new scenes and occurrences of life! May I
derive knowledge, and love, and heavenly sweetness from the surprizing
works of God, as the God of nature, and from the more surprizing wonders
of his grace! May I learn something divine and holy from all the
transactions of his providence, and the various turns and changes of
this present state, till I am prepared and _made meet for_ a more fit
and ample possession of the everlasting _inheritance of the saints in
light_!” Amen.
HYMN FOR SERMON XXXVIII.
_All things working together for Good._
My soul survey thy happiness,
If thou art found a child of grace,
How richly is the gospel stor’d!
What joy the promises afford!
“All things are ours;” the gift of God,
And purchas’d with our Saviour’s blood,
While the good Spirit shews us how
To use and to enjoy them too.
If peace and plenty crown my days,
They help me, Lord, to speak thy praise;
If bread of sorrows be my food,
These sorrows work my real good.
I would not change my bless’d estate
With all that flesh calls rich or great;
And while my faith can keep her hold,
I envy not the sinner’s gold.
Father I wait thy daily will,
Thou shalt divide my portion still,
Grant me on earth what seems thee best
Till death and heav’n reveal the rest.
SERMON XXXIX.
_The right Improvement of Life._
1 COR. iii. 22.—Whether life or death,—all are yours.
It is a large and fair inheritance that belongs to the children of God.
They have no need to divide themselves into little parties, and to
quarrel about their particular interest in one minister or another, in
one blessing or another; for whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,
whether life or death, all things are theirs.
My former discourses have explained in what sense christians possess all
things, and that is, that all things present or to come, that can any
way affect or concern them, shall certainly turn to their benefit, and
subserve their great and final interest. I proceed now more particularly
to enlarge on the words, which I had chiefly in my design, _whether life
or death, all are yours_. The first doctrine arising from the words is
this, “Life itself, and the continuance of it to the saints, is for
their advantage.” Now to improve this proposition to practical purposes,
I shall do these things:
I. I shall make it appear under a variety of instances, that life is
designed for the benefit of christians.—II. I would amplify and confirm
the doctrine yet further, by discovering what a variety of graces may be
exercised on earth, which can have no place in heaven; and make it
appear, that in some respects, a saint below hath advantage above the
saints that are on high.—III. I shall answer a considerable objection or
two that seems to rise against the doctrine, while I am treating of it:
And, at last some inferences will be drawn from the whole discourse.
First let me shew wherein life appears to be a benefit to true
believers. _Life is yours_, O christians, for
1. This is the time that was given you for your reconciliation to God,
and securing your everlasting interest. All the elect of God are born
into this world sinful and miserable, by their relation to the first
Adam, therefore St. Paul seems to include himself, as well as the
heathen infidels, when he speaks of the iniquity of their nature, and
the guilt of their state. Eph. ii. 2. _We all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others._ Now this life is the time given to seek deliverance from the
wrath to come, to fly to the hope that is set before us; _now is the
accepted time, now is the day of salvation_; 1 Cor. vi. 2. Now while we
are in our state of trial, before the gates of the grave have closed
upon us, and before the gates of hell have been opened to receive us.
We are all, by nature, strangers to God, enemies in our minds by wicked
works, and under sentence of condemnation: Remember, O sinners, this is
the time to get acquaintance with God, to return to his service, and
obtain his special favour. We are defiled and guilty creatures: This is
the hour of cleansing while the fountain of the blood of Christ stands
open, to wash us from sin and uncleanness. We are, by nature, utterly
unfit for heaven, and all the works and the joys of it, because of the
vicious inclinations that govern us. This is the day of repentance as
well as pardon: This is the day given to us to insure those blessed
mansions on high, and to obtain preparing graces. This temporal life is
the only season, wherein the sentence of our condemnation can be
reversed, and wherein we may obtain eternal forgiveness, and a right to
life everlasting. The blood and righteousness of the Son of God, are not
proposed nor offered to guilty creatures in the other world. Now is the
time to acquire a meetness for the inheritance in light through the
sanctifying influences of the blessed Spirit.
After death there is nothing of this kind to be done: There is no work,
nor device, no knowledge, nor wisdom, no faith or repentance to be
exercised, no such duty to be performed among the dead, no opportunity
to rectify, the mistakes of life: There is no grace to be obtained for
sinners _in the grave, whither we are all travelling_; Eccl. ix. 10.
What is left undone at that awful moment, must be for ever undone. At
the voice of the summons we must go, whether pardoned or unpardoned,
whether holy or unholy, whether hoping or despairing. And a dreadful
spectacle it is, as your eyes ever beheld, to see a sinner expiring in
full and raging despair.
But O what infinite advantage has it been to christians, that they have
enjoyed, this golden hour of grace, and been taught to improve it well!
What, had become of you, O believers, if ye had been arrested some years
ago by the messengers of death, and hurried away into eternity? Where
had your portion been, if ye had been sent down to the grave in the
midst of your sins, before you were awakened or convinced of your folly
and danger, before you had felt inward repentance, or had been
acquainted with Jesus that bought and bestows forgiveness; before ye had
known the virtue of his reconciling blood, or seen the face of a God
reconciled? While your hearts and life were all unclean and unholy, your
death must have been dreadful, and your soul for ever unhappy. What
infinite honours are due to the patience and long-suffering of your God,
and to the mercy and mediation of Jesus your Saviour? Glory be to divine
patience, and divine grace, for life prolonged, and a sinner saved!
II. Life is yours; it is your opportunity of doing much service for
Christ, and manifesting your gratitude for his redeeming love; 2 Cor. v.
15. _They who live, should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him
that died for them, and rose again._
Here on earth, you may speak of the wonders of his grace that has saved
you, and publish his love that is unspeakable: You may tell sinners of
the infinite dimensions of this love, to invite them to partake of the
same salvation. Here your lips, and your tongues may be delightfully
employed, in declaring what you have tasted of the blessings of the
gospel, and the grace of Christ; and call others to _taste and see that
the Lord is good, and how blessed the man is that trusteth in him_! Ps.
xxxiv. 8. Here you make it known, for the support of poor convinced
wretches that are ready to despair, what heights and what lengths, what
breadths and what depths there are in the love of Christ; for it reached
your soul even at the borders of hell, it spread wide to cover all your
great and heinous iniquities; it rises high, for it has lifted your
hopes to heaven, and it stretches its sweet and sovereign influence
beyond the length of time, and provides for your life and happiness that
shall measure out eternity. Here you may proclaim the praises of your
Redeemer to an ignorant world, you may promote his interest a hundred
ways on earth, and thus glorify your Saviour which is in heaven.
This is not to be done in the same manner, nor for the same blessed
purposes amongst the saints above. When the body lies senseless and
mouldering in the grave, the tongue cannot praise the Lord: _The living,
the living, they praise thee as we do this day_, as Hezekiah did when he
was recovered from sickness, and had a sense of pardoned sin. Is.
xxxviii. 17, 18. _In love to my soul, thou hast delivered it from the
pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. The
grave cannot praise thee, the dead cannot celebrate thee; they that go
down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth._ This is the proper work of
the living saint, to make known to sinners the grace of salvation.
Life is the only time of such work and service. “Opportunity, (saith a
writer on this subject) is like a golden instrument to dig for heavenly
treasure: Do not wear it out as many have done in digging for pebbles,
and at your latter end become a fool. Plead not your mean capacity:
_Kings of the earth, and all people, old men and children may praise the
Lord_; Ps. cxlviii. 11, 12. Serve your age according to your talent;
Mat. xxv. 15. He that had but one talent, but a single capacity, was
called to account for it, and cast into outer darkness. Think how many
opportunities you have out-lived, which will never have their
resurrection: Redeem lost time, by improving what remains. Project
improvements of life, since your light is near extinguished. Make up in
affection what may be wanting in action. If you cannot do much, yet love
much. If our servants should work no better for us than many have done
for God, we should turn them out of doors. Stir up others to work for
God, that you may do by their hand what you cannot do by your own.” Thus
this pious author.
Let us consider what glorious services have been done for God, by the
long continuance of saints in this world. Survey the labours and the
sufferings, the ministry, the zeal and the success of the blessed
apostles, who planted the first christian churches. What monuments of
honour did they raise among Jews and strangers, among Greeks and
barbarians, the savage and the polite heathens, to their crucified and
exalted Saviour! What multitudes of subjects were brought to bow the
knee to Jesus by their preaching! What a large harvest of souls was
gathered unto Christ, when the apostle scattered the seed of the gospel
all round the countries, from Jerusalem, through the provinces of the
lesser Asia, and through the southern parts of Europe, as some have
supposed, as far as Spain! And the Redeemer was glorified by his labours
where the name of the true God the Creator was hardly known before. What
an extensive blessing to the world was the life of Paul? It is to this,
that the following ages of christianity, as well as the primitive
saints, owe the unspeakable benefit of his writings; and it is to this,
that Great Britain owes the blessing of his divine epistles. How
honourable was it for St. Paul himself, and how happy for us, that he
was made an instrument of such service to Christ, such a glorious
service, as spread itself around the nations, and reached to distant
ages of mankind. His long life was an illustrious blessing both to
himself and to the christian world.
III. Life is yours, O christians, for it allows many a proper season for
giving examples of holiness to mankind. And it is a honour to a saint,
to be made an example of religion amongst a nation of sinners, or a
pattern of holiness, among the churches of believers. Herein you become
followers and imitators of the blessed Lord your Master: He is the first
pattern, he is the most glorious example; for in all things he must have
the pre-eminence.
If you become a public and a shining example of virtue, and piety, and
goodness, you may attain these four very valuable ends at once:
1. By this means you pay great and just honours to the blessed gospel
whereby you are saved, and confound and silence the impious accusations
and slanders of the wicked: And especially if your station and rank in
the world make you the object of more public notice, either in a city,
in a village, in a neighbourhood, or in any society of men, then like a
candle or a torch set on a hill, you diffuse light and honour far around
you, and God and the gospel are glorified on your account. And not only
in the higher stations of life, but even servants of the lowest
character, if they are but saints, _may adorn the doctrine of God their
Saviour in all things_; Titus ii. 10. It is greatly for the credit of
our holy religion, when the men of this world seeing our good works, are
forced to confess that there is something divine in christianity, that
God is amongst us of a truth; and by these means they are constrained to
glorify our Father, and our Redeemer, and our holy religion. This is the
command of Christ; Mat. v. 16.
2. Hereby sinners are not only convinced that there is a power and glory
in the doctrine of Christ, but many a soul has been converted to the
faith of Jesus, by beholding the pious conversation, the heavenly
graces, the holy love, the divine zeal, the constancy, the patience, and
the sufferings of christians. The good women in St. Peter’s days were
exhorted to invite and draw their unbelieving husbands to the faith and
love of the gospel, by beholding their chaste conversation, coupled with
religious fear, and the ornament of a meak and a quiet spirit; 1 Pet.
iii. 1-4. Look forward, O christians, to the last great day, and think
with what a pleasing joy you shall hear those who have been converted by
your example, and reformed from a licentious course of life, declare
this to your public honour before men and angels: Your holy example
though buried long in silence, shall have a glorious resurrection in
that day, and the Judge himself shall proclaim it to your praise, that
he used your piety here on earth, as an instrument of his grace to
enlarge his kingdom.
3. Hereby christians of a lower form, and those that are babes in
Christ, are awakened to a holy imitation of your superior virtues and
graces. It was the continuance of St. Paul in this life, through the
various stages of it, that recommended him as a pattern to the believers
of his day, in all the various circumstances of their lives; and the
longer he lived, the more glorious example he left behind him, for the
benefit of the saints, that they might _be followers of him as he was of
Christ_; 1 Cor. xi. 1. And I may add in the
Fourth place, Where a christian of shining virtues and of diffusive
goodness is blessed with a long life, the memory of his example, and the
sweet savour of his graces, remain the longer on earth, after his own
departure to heaven. It is like a rich perfume that has lain some
considerable time among garments, it communicates a pleasant fragrancy
to the apparel long after the perfume itself is removed. Thus many a
saint, by the sweet odour of his name, has done honour to the gospel in
the place where he lived, while his bones are mouldering in the dust:
The history of his various virtues has dwelt long on the lips of the
surviving neighbours, and perhaps, hath awakened others to an imitation
of such a pattern many years after his decease.
Whether example be of any use in heaven, or whether the saints of lower
rank there may be excited to holy imitation, by the superior graces or
glories of more eminent saints, is not so well known to us; but this we
may be well assured of, that the example of christians can have no use
in that happy world, to guard the doctrine of Christ from profane
reproaches, or to convince or convert sinners and infidels. It is the
living, and the living alone, that can do this service for Christ, and
glorify his gospel in such instances as these:
But I proceed to another advantage of our continuance in this world.
IV. Life is yours; for it gives opportunity for abounding in good works
to the great benefit of mankind. The longer a saint lives, if he
maintains his character with honour, he becomes so much a greater
blessing to the world. But what a deal of good ceases with the life of a
good man!
Christians, ye are required to maintain good works for the honour of
your Father, and for the glory of your Saviour, who hath purchased you
to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works: But there is another
reason for them too, and that is, “these things are good and profitable
to men;” Titus ii. 14. compared with the third chapter, verse 8. Every
day of life opens some new scenes, wherein you may be serviceable to
your neighbours, your relatives, your fellow-creatures, and so make the
world the better for you.
The days and years of life should be numbered by the multitude of good
works, as much as by the revolutions of the sun and moon: For lost and
wasted time should not come into the account of life. But if this were
our way of counting, what should we say of thousands, who have lived to
no other purpose but to eat and drink, and to make up the number of
mankind? O it is a mean and pitiful thing only to be old in time, and
not in duties to God, or benefits to men. And, as an author speaks on
this subject, All the good works of many who are stricken in years will
lie in a very little compass: To be an ancient man or woman of two or
three years old, sounds like a contradiction, and it is, indeed, a
matter of great shame, and ought to awaken deep repentance.
How many are there that live to no purpose at all, and the world will
not miss them when they are gone? How many that live to wicked purpose,
and the world is glad to be rid of them? Some are mere cumberers of the
ground, and some are perfect nuisances, and public mischiefs. Such
should never pretend to the name of christians. Let us remember it was
the character of our blessed Lord, that _he went about doing good; and
he was willing to work those works while it was his day of life; for the
night was coming on him wherein he should have no such sort of work to
do_; John ix. 4. O may our Saviour be our pattern, and let us be
followers of the holy Jesus! Alas! what a noble pattern! what slow and
distant followers.
It was this desire of service to the world, that put the great apostle
into a strait betwixt two, as in Philip. i. 23. He knew not what to ask
for; _Shall I pray for death and glory, my heart hath a wish that way?
It is far better for me to depart, and to be with Christ: Or shall I
desire to continue in life? This is for the service of your faith, and
furtherance of your joy; therefore I am content, saith he, to have my
crown and glory deferred, that my longer life may be your advantage. O
what an illustrious spirit of zeal and love reigned in the heart of this
apostle!_
_Ye are the light of the world_, saith Christ to his disciples; Mat. v.
13, 14. What a dark dungeon would this world be, if it had never a saint
in it? _Ye are the salt of the earth_; What corruption of manners would
overspread the face of the earth! What vile communications, and odious
practices would defile the world in a few years, if every christian were
dead! What shameful and abominable works had over-run the heathen
nations, before Christ and his gospel appeared, and the idolaters were
made christians! A saint in a family, is like _the ark of God in the
house_ of Obed-edom; 2 Sam. vi. 12. _For the Lord blessed the house of
Obed-edom, and all that pertained to him, because of the ark of God._ A
pious soul is a Joseph in the family of Potiphar; Gen. xxxix. 5. _When
the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the
blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the
field._
A number of saints in a city, or a nation, are many times like Noah,
Daniel, and Job, in the midst of them. They guard the public by their
prayers from mighty ruin and wide desolation. Sodom itself had been
saved, if there had been ten righteous souls in it. And I am persuaded,
Great-Britain had been a kingdom of idolaters and slavery, or a heap of
confusion and slaughter, and a field of blood long ago, because of the
provoking wickedness in the midst of it, had it not been for the few
righteous that have always stood in the gap: There have been always some
powerful pleaders at the mercy seat, when the wrath of God and the
destroying angels have been breaking in like a flood upon us, some Moses
and Samuel to withhold the desolation, when popery and tyranny have been
just at our gates, and ready to overwhelm us.
O how many unknown blessing do these sinful nations enjoy, because of
the lives and the prayers of the saints that are in it! Holy souls, who
though they are divided into different parties, and practise their
different forms, yet worship the same God, through the same Mediator,
and by the same Spirit, who are ever welcome to the throne of grace, who
are all saints in the esteem of God, and in the language of scripture.
Strange, that the name of a saint should be used as a term of reproach
amongst us, and cast upon one party in a way of scorn, when these are
the persons of every party who are the most excellent in the earth;
these are the guards and walls of defence to the nation, _the chariots
of our Israel, and the horsemen thereof_; 2 Kings ii. 12. xiii. 14.
V. Life is yours; for it affords means for brightening your evidence for
heaven, and improving your own preparation for glory. Surely you are not
willing to depart from this world, till you have good hope of an
interest in a better state, and a comfortable expectation that it shall
be well with you for ever. Does God prolong your days on earth? See
then, that the principles of piety and goodness be well rooted in your
hearts, and that your graces grow up under the influences of heaven. See
that they bud and blossom with fair flowers, to the honour of your
profession, and to the joy of your own consciences. Let the sacred
fruits of your love and zeal break out upon all just occasions: Shine
brighter in holiness every day of your mortal life, and bring forth
fruits meet for life everlasting, that ye may know and be assured that
the seeds of glory are sown within you, such divine seeds as will bear a
rich and blessed harvest in the great day.