Section 13.

SECTION 13.

An address to a penitent mourner.

THOU deniest that loving Redeemer no longer, O thou poor, mourning penitent, who art ready to sink under the burden of thy sins, and longest to find rest for thy soul. The Lord, who pronounces thee blessed, says, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my mourning people. By whom shall I comfort thee?” O! that it were by me! O! that I were so happy as to administer one drop of Gospel cordial to thy fainting spirit! Though I am less than the least of my Lord’s servants, he sends thee by me a Benjamin’s portion: be not above accepting it. Thou hast humbly received the wounding truths of the Gospel; why shouldst thou obstinately reject the healing ones? Thou hast eaten the bitter herbs of repentance: yea, thou feedest upon them daily, and preferrest them to all the sweets of sin. Why then, O! why should thy heart rise against the flesh and blood of the true paschal Lamb? Why shouldst thou starve, when “all things are now ready?” Why shouldst thou not believe the whole truth as well as one part of it? Will “the word of God’s grace” be more true ten years hence than it is now? Is not “Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?” If thy dull “believing in God has already saved thee from thy vain conversation and thy outward sins; how much more will a cheerful “believing in the Lord Jesus,” save thee into Christian righteousness. peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Do not “begin to make excuse,” and say, “I must not believe the joyous truths of the Gospel till they are first powerfully applied to my soul.” It is right, very right for thee, for all, never to rest short of such an application. But how art thou to wait for it? In the way of duty, or out of it? Surely in the way of duty. And is it not thy duty no longer to “make God a liar?” Is it not thy bounden duty, as it is thy glorious privilege, to “set thy seal,” as thou canst, to the word of God’s grace, as well as to the declaration of his justice? Does he not charge thee to “believe,” though it should be “in hope against hope,” the reviving “record which he has given of his Son?” Is not “this the record: — That God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son: that to as many as receive him, that is, to as many as believe on his name, he gives power to become the sons of God: that God commendeth his love toward us, in that when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us [men and for our salvation:] that his blood [through faith on our part] cleanseth from all sin: that he was delivered for our offences, and rose again for our justification:” and that he even now “maketh intercession for us;” bearing us up in the arms of his mercy, that we sink not into hell, and “drawing to Him, who justifieth the ungodly, all men,” that renounce their ungodliness as thou hast done, and believe in Jesus as I want thee to do? If it is “a saying worthy of all men to be received, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save even the chief of sinners,” upon Gospel terms; he undoubtedly came to save me and thee. Do not thou then foolishly excommunicate thyself from redeeming love. Away with thy unchristian, discouraging notions about absolute reprobation, preterition, non-election, &c, &c. Doubt not but thou art conditionally elected, that is, “chosen in Christ” to eternal salvation; yea, peculiarly chosen of God explicitly to “believe in that Just One who gave himself a ransom for all,” and “by this one oblation of himself once offered, made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” Believe then thy election, and that of God. As certainly as Christ hung upon the cross, flesh of thy flesh, and bone of thy bone, thou art “chosen to eternal salvation THROUGH sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.” Wilt thou then be powerfully saved here, and eternally saved hereafter? Only “make thy calling and election sure, through sanctification of the Spirit;” and make “sanctification of the Spirit sure, through belief of the truth.”

Believe, as well as thou canst, this comfortable, this sanctifying truth, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Be not afraid to conclude, upon the Divine record, that God loves thee, that Christ gave himself for thee, and that the Holy Ghost will gloriously witness the Saviour’s love to thy soul. And calmly, yet earnestly wait for a Divine token, and an abiding sense of this love upon thy heart.

But, I repeat it, wait in faith: wait, believing the truth: wait, doing thy work; and Christ will surely finish his own: he will “save thee to the uttermost,” from sin and hell into holiness and heaven. Remember, that as he once bled for thee, so he now “worketh in thee both to will and to do.” Up then and be doing. “Work out thy own salvation with fear and trembling.” Thou canst never do God’s part, and he will never do thine: do not expect it; nor let the song of “finished salvation” make thee conclude that thou hast nothing to do. Even John Bunyan, in his “Heavenly Footman,” cries out to the slothful, “If thou wilt have heaven, thou must run for it.” And if thou dost not believe him, believe the Christians of the Lock Chapel, and of the Tabernacle, who, when they do justice to the second Gospel axiom, agree to “complain of spiritual sloth,” in the following well known hymn: —

Our drowsy powers, why sleep ye so?

Awake, each sluggish soul;

Nothing has half thy work to do,

Yet nothing’s half so dull, &c.

The God of truth will warm thy heart in a rational manner, by the truth, which is the Divine cordial generally used by the Comforter for that purpose. Thou must therefore take that cordial first. If thou art “of little faith,” there is no need that thou shouldst be of little sense also. Some absurdly refuse to believe the Gospel till they can feel it, (if I may so speak,) with their finger and thumb: so gross, so carnal are their ideas of truth! And others think it their duty just to look at, or to hear about the Gospel feast; supinely waiting till all its rich blessings are forcibly thrust into their hearts, or at least conveyed there, without any endeavour of their own. “When the truth shall be powerfully applied to my soul,” says a modern Thomas, “I will believe, and not before.” Avoid this common mistake. If thou wert invited to a feast, and one said, “You must not eat this rich food, unless it is first powerfully applied to your stomach;” wouldst thou not reply, that thou must first eat it, in order to such an application? Be as wise in spiritual things; and remember that the way of relishing the Gospel, and “feeling it to be the power of God unto salvation,” is actually to believe it till we can, till “the Spirit of truth” makes us feel its efficacy.

“To eat or drink spiritually,” and “to believe or receive the truth,” are Gospel terms of the same import. Come, then, leave all thy excuses to those who have learned the lessons of “voluntary humility.” If the king offered thee a present, would it not be impertinent to make him stretch out his hand for one hour, under pretence that thou art not yet worthy of his bounty? And thinkest thou that a similar conduct is not highly provoking to the King of kings? Does he not complain, “I called and ye refused: I stand at the door and knock: all the day long have I stretched my hands to a gainsaying and disobedient people?” Come, then, know thy distance: know thy place: know thy God: send thy absurd ceremoniousness back to Geneva: crucify thy guilty fears on Calvary; and make the best of thy way to Sion, “the mountain where God has made unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines, of fat things full of marrow, of wines well refined.” “There is room,” says the Lord: “Draw them with the bands of a man;” with arguments, threatenings, promises, expostulations, &c. — “Compel them to come in.” There is balm enough in Gilead, bread enough in my house, love enough in my heart, blood enough in the fountain that my Son has opened for sin, grace enough in the river that flows from my throne, truth enough in the Gospel of my grace to heal, nourish, delight, transport a world of prodigal sons and daughters. And is there not enough for thee, who “fearest God?” For thee, to whom “the word of this Christian, this great salvation is sent?” Did not Christ himself break the bread of consolation for thee, when he said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you?” Did he not offer thee the cup of salvation, when he added, “This is the cup of the New Testament in my blood, shed for the remission of sins; drink ye all of it,” and carry it into all nations — “preach it,” offer it “to every creature?” I bring thee this bread; it “came down from heaven to give life to the world;” it was surely consecrated in Gethsemane, and broken on Calvary for thee, man, and for thee, woman, and for thy salvation. O! if the fragments of perishing barley bread were so to be gathered, that none of them might be lost, with what thankfulness shouldst thou receive the morsel which I set before thee! With what “hunger after righteousness” shouldst thou feast upon it! How shouldst thou try to relish every crumb, every particle of Gospel truth; of “the meat that endureth to everlasting life;” of “the word of the Lord that abideth for ever!” Wonder at our Lord’s condescension. Lest thou shouldest think that the word of his servants is insignificant, although it is the word of truth, he prays particularly “for them that shall believe on him through their words;” and he asks, “How is it that ye do not discern this time” of love? “Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right,” and makes for your peace? “O ye that have no money, come, buy, and eat, buy wine and milk: yea, eat and drink abundantly, O beloved, without money, and without price. Hearken diligently unto me: eat ye that which is good: let your soul delight itself in fatness,” in the richest Gospel truths. “Whosoever will, let him come and take of the bread and water of life freely.” Thus “the water and the blood, the Spirit and the word,” sweetly agree to invite thee, to chide thy delays, to bid thee come and welcome to Christ, and to all the unsearchable riches of his grace.

If thou refusest this drop of Gospel cordial, this crumb of the bread of life; or if, after a faint attempt to take it, thou sinkest back into thy stupid unbelief, I beg leave to inquire into the reason. (1.) Is it “the hour and the power of darkness?” Is thy mind so confused, and thy heart so distracted, that in this moment thou canst neither consider, nor welcome the truth? In this case, wait groaning: if thou canst not wait “in hope, believing against hope,” endeavour at least not to yield ,o despair. This storm will soon blow over: “the time of refreshing will come;” and the Lord, who permits thee to have fellowship with him in Gethsemane, will soon enable thee to triumph with him upon the mount.

Hast thou little or no appetite for the truth? In this case, I fear, thou still feedest upon husks and ashes, which spoil thy spiritual digestion; and I advise thee to exercise repentance; remembering “that to be carnally minded is death,” and that the promise is not made to the slothful, but to them who, “through faith and patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory” — to them who, in taking up their cross and denying themselves, inherit the Gospel promises.

Hast thou made an absurd covenant with unbelief, as Thomas? Art thou determined not to credit God’s record, unless he come down to thy terms? Dost thou still confound faith with its first fruits, and God’s works with thine own? If this be thy case, how justly may the Lord suffer thee to go on moping, not only for a week, as the obstinate apostle did, but for years! And after all, when thou hast long dishonoured God, and tormented thyself by thy wilful unbelief, thou wilt be glad to do upon a death bed what I want thee to do now. Being then surrounded by threatening billows, driven from thy carnal moorings, and tossed into true wisdom, thou wilt, without ceremony, venture upon the merits and blood of thy Saviour, and strive to enter, by wrestling faith, and agonizing prayer, into “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Happy would it be for thee, in the meantime, if thou wert not wiser in thy own conceit than seven men that can render a reason; if thou wert not obstinately bent upon nursing thy curse; if thou didst confer with flesh and blood no more; and if, regarding the Gospel passport more than Solifidian embargoes, and the word of God more than the dispiriting speeches of faint-hearted spies, thou becamest one of the “BABES to whom it is our heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom;” one of “the VIOLENT who take it by force,” — thou wouldst soon find that these two dispositions are as compatible as the two Gospel axioms; and “receiving the end of thy faith,” thou wouldst soon, perhaps to-day, experience the astonishing force of truth, and taste the ravishing powers of the world to come.