Fragments.

FRAGMENTS.

ON SERIOUSNESS.

NOTHING is so contrary to godliness as levity. Seriousness consists in the matter of what is spoken, in the manner of speaking, in dignity of behaviour, and in weighty, not trifling actions. Some people are serious by nature, some by policy and for selfish ends, and some by grace and from a sense of duty.

Jesting and raillery, lightness of behaviour, useless occupations, joy, without trembling and awe of God, an affectation of vivacity and sprightliness, are all contrary to the Spirit of God. “A fool laughs loud,” saith Solomon; but a wise man scarce smiles a little.

Levity is contrary to contrition and self knowledge - to watching and prayer - frequently to charity - and to common sense, when death is at our heels.

Levity is also destructive of all devotion - in our own hearts - and in those of others, by unfitting the company for receiving good, and bringing a suspicion of hypocrisy upon all.

Seriousness is useful to prevent the foregoing miscarriages, to keep grace, to recommend piety, and a sense of God’s presence, to leave room for the Spirit to work, and to check levity and sin in others.

And have we not motives sufficient to seriousness? Are we not priests and kings to God - temples of the Holy Ghost? Are we not walking in the presence of God - on the verge of the grave - and in sight of eternity? All who walk with God are serious, taking their Lord for their example, and walking by Scripture precepts and warnings.

“But are we to renounce innocent mirth?” Our souls are diseased. “Are we to be dull and melancholy?” Seriousness and solid happiness are inseparable. “Is there not a time for all things?” There is no time for sin and folly.

ON PLEASURE.

DYING to pleasure, even the most innocent, we shall live to God. Of pleasures there are four sorts. Sensual pleasures - of the eye, ear, taste, smell, ease, indulgence, &c. Pleasures of the heart - attachments, entanglements, creature love, unmortified friendships. Pleasures of the mind - curious books, deep researches, speculations, hankerings after news, wit, fine language. The pleasures of the imagination - schemes fancies, suppositions.

God requires that we should deny ourselves in all these respects, because,

1. God will have the heart, which he cannot have if pleasure hath it: and God is a jealous God.

2. There is no solid union with God until, in a Christian sense, we are dead to creature comports. Pleasure is the Gordian knot.

3. God is purity - hankering after pleasure is the cause of almost all our sins - the bait of temptation.

4. God calls us to show our faith and love by a spirit of sacrifice. Pleasure is Isaac.

5. Denying ourselves, hating our life, dying daily, crucifying the flesh, putting off the old man, are Gospel precepts: so is cutting off the right hand, plucking out the right eye, and forsaking all to follow Christ.

6. God makes no exceptions. All the offending members must be cut off; every leak must be stopt; otherwise the corrupting pleasure spared gets more ascendency.

7. Pleasures render the soul incapable of the operations of the Spirit, and obstruct Divine consolations.

Now nature is all for pleasure, and lives upon sensuality. The senses, heart, mind, and imagination, pursue always objects that may gratify them. We love pleasure so as to deprive ourselves of every thing to enjoy it in some kind or other; and we undergo hardships to procure it. Nature frets horribly if disappointed in this favourite pursuit; and yet, if nature be pampered, grace must be starved.

Earthly pleasures are of a corrupting nature; for example, that of taste, if indulged, spreads through, corrupts, and dissipates all the powers of the soul and body. It is so much the more dangerous, as it hides itself under a mask of necessity, or colour of lawfulness; and does all the mischief of a concealed traitor. It betrays with a kiss, poisons with honey, wounds in its smiles, and kills while it promises happiness.

Indulgence enervates and renders us incapable of suffering any thing from God, men, devils, or self; and stands continually in the way of our doing, as well as suffering the will of God. It is much easier, therefore, to flee from pleasure than to remain within due bounds in its enjoyments. The greatest saints find nothing is so difficult, nothing makes them tremble so, as the use of pleasure; for it requires the strictest watchfulness and the most vigorous attention. He must walk steadily who can walk safely, on the brink of a precipice.

The absolute necessity of dying to pleasure will appear from the following considerations. The earthly senses must be spiritualised; the sensual heart purified; the wandering mind fixed; the foolish imagination made sober. Worldly pleasures are all little, low, and transitory, and a hinderance to our chief good. Much moderation, however, is to be used in the choice and degree of our mortifications. Through pride, nature often prompts us to great extremes, which hurt the body, and sometimes lead the mind into sourness and obstinacy. But to know, and walk in the right path of self denial, we have need of much recollection.

ON HYPOCRISY.

MANY pretend to a share of the holy child, but we want all the wisdom of the true Solomon to know the mother from the harlot. A hypocrite hides wickedness under a cloak of goodness, - clouds without rain, wells without water, trees without fruit, the ape of piety, the mask of sin, glorious without, carrion within. They do not put off, but throw a cloak over it. Satan an arch hypocrite. - Having apostatized from God himself, he endeavours to vent his malice and envy on God’s favourite, loan. He disguised himself as a serpent, showed much love and friendship, and by that appearance deceived Eve. Though God has prepared an antidote, yet he goes about murdering the children of men with increasing craft, (for he is now the old serpent,) he is still opposing Christ, picking up the seed of the word, hindering the sowers, sowing tares. He is the strong man, armed with the force of an angel, the subtilty of a fallen angel, able to insinuate himself into souls, as into serpents. His baits are pleasure for the sensual, wealth for the muckworm, honour for the ambitious, and science for the curious: in each he transforms himself as an angel of light, gilding all with heavenly appearances; but his light is darkness, and how great is that darkness!

He works admirably on predispositions.

1. On ignorance of evil, or forgetfulness of the sword of the Spirit. He finds us blind, or blinds our eyes to make us turn the better in his mill.

2. On security. He puts far from us the thoughts of death: “Ye shall not surely die.”

3. On idleness. When David was idle at home, and Joab in the field, Satan took that opportunity to draw him into the snare of lust.

4. On unreasonable scruples of conscience, - discouragement, - extremes. If he cannot put out the fire of zeal, he will make it break out at the chimney, and drive fasting into starving.

5. He suits his temptations to the subjects, drives the nail that will go, and causes the stream of natural propensities to flow. He tempts not, in general, the old to pleasure, nor the young to covetousness; nor the sick to drunkenness, but to impatience.

The moral hypocrite. - Many mistake nature for grace, and so rest short of a true change. Strong sense, keen wit, lively parts, and a good natural temper, puff up many. The tempering makes a vast difference in many blades, all made of the same metal, some of which will bend before they break, others break before they bend. Good nature without grace, maketh a fairer show than grace with an evil nature. A cur outruns a greyhound with a clog.

The hypocrite derives his honour from his birth; the child of God from his new birth. The hypocrite hath his perfections from the body, from his complexion and constitution, which are not praiseworthy; but the Christian hath them from his better part, the soul. A warm temper hath often the appearance of zeal; a cooler, of patience; melancholy, of contemplation; lively blood and strong spirits, of spiritual joy.

The hypocrite serves God with what costs him nothing, only going down the stream; but the Christian works with strife and industry, wrestleth, and keeps his body under.

The hypocrite is disposed to some virtues, and refrains from those vices that are contrary to his taste and humour, as an elephant abhors a mouse; but the Christian shuts every door against sin, and is thoroughly furnished to every good work.

The hypocrite puts reason in the place of religion; on the contrary, the Christian brings reason under the command of religion; his understanding bows to faith, and his free will to God’s free grace.

The hypocrite derives his virtues from himself, spider like. “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,” Jeremiah 17:5. The Christian hath his virtue from above: the one is like marshy ground, the other is watered from heaven. Again: the hypocrite curses himself, by giving to reason the command of appetite, not knowing that his reason is crooked; but the Christian puts all under the strict rule of grace: - grace is Sarah, reason Agar. The one talks of right reason, the other rectifieth it. The hypocrite puts honesty in the place of piety, but the Christian is honest and kind from a principle of genuine piety. There was a difference between Alexander and David pouring out water, the one before his soldiers, the other before the Lord.

He hath for virtues only shining vices - virtues proceeding from unsanctified reason, and spoiled by the intention: thus a covetous, indolent man avoids and hates law suits; he is sober and temperate through love of money, or of health and reputation; he is diligent and industrious to compass profit. But the Christian hath the truth, if he wants the perfection of virtue; the one shines as rotten wood, the other as gold in the ore. The hypocrite cries up virtue and exclaims against vice, rather by speech than practice; but the king’s daughter is glorious within: the one speaks, the other lives, great things.

The hypocrite keeps himself from gross sins, but harbours spiritual corruptions. Does he subdue his passions? They are in the way of his glory and quiet. Does he do good? It is to be more in love with himself. The Christian cleanseth himself from all spiritual vices: the one is settled on the lees of self love, the other is emptied of self, and filled with Christ. The hypocrite compares himself with a child of God, when under disadvantages; as for example, when he is fallen, or overtaken in an infirmity; but the whitest devil shall not stand in the judgment with the most tawny child of God. The meteor may blaze, but the star standeth. The hearing hypocrite. - The hearing hypocrite hears Christ’s word without benefit; he assembles with the pious, whom he deceives, as he hopes to deceive Christ, Luke 13. He goes to meet Christ, not as the bride, but only as the bride’s friend. He is the stony ground; he is sermon proof, repels conviction, takes nothing to himself, or shakes it off, as sheep do the rain. He hath the forehead of the whore, Jeremiah 3:3, and refuses to be ashamed. Christ condemns him both as a worker of iniquity, and a builder on the sand. The Christian hears so that his “profiting appears unto all men;” he hears Christ himself through the minister; and the word is “able to save his soul, - is a savour of life unto life:” nor is he “a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word.”

The hypocrite will hear only such ministers as suit his humour, - Balaam suits Balak, a lying prophet Ahab. He will neglect or slight others. The Christian hears God’s voice through every messenger of his; the plainer the message, the better he receives the messenger, - as “an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus,” Galatians 4:14. He Judges not of the word by the preacher, but of the preacher by the word. He, like Jehosaphat, will hear Micaiah preach, rather than the four hundred prophets of Baal. The hypocrite hears, in hopes of hearing something new; therefore when he has heard a few times, he grows weary, and longs for a new preacher. An unsanctified heart, like a sick stomach, loathes its daily bread; but the Christian is never tired of “the sincere milk of the word;” he desires no new wine; he likes manna after forty years, - “Evermore give us this bread.” The hypocrite hearkens more after eloquence than substance. He likes Apollos, not Christ’s messenger; he hears not for life; he sports with the infirmities of Samson, - but death is at the door. The Christian looks most to the power of the word; he comes not as to a show, but to the bar; weighs the matter rather than the manner, and regards the message more than the messenger. The one falls down before man, the other before God. He will not hear all; comforts, promises, and general truths he loves; the doctrine of the cross he hates. A foil, a wooden sword that draws no blood, suits him. The Christian hears all God’s word, loves to be smitten, does not say, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” But, “Search me, and try my heart.”

The hypocrite looks on the word as a story, or a landscape; he loves to hear of Christ’s miracles, of the prodigal son, &c, but draws a curtain before his own picture. The Christian looks on the word as a glass to see himself. The one uses the word as children their books, looking more at the pictures than the lesson; the other sees himself, and improves. He hears, without preparing his heart to hear; he minds his outward more than his inward man; he uses no exercise to get an appetite; it is enough if he hears, though he digests nothing. He sows among thorns, having never ploughed them up, and they choke all. The Christian looks to his feet, comes hungry to the house of God, longing to be fed, and is not willing to go without his portion.

He hears only for the present time, as he would hear a concert of music; the Christian hears both for the time present and to come; he studies what he hears, and to what end, that he may turn it into practice. He remembers that word; “Take heed how ye hear.”

He proposes to himself some carnal end, if any at all; as to be noted for his diligence, to be reputed a good Churchman, to fulfil his task of hearing; perhaps to cavil and find fault, to make amends for not doing, to please a friend. Festus thus pleased Agrippa, and Ahab heard Micaiah for Jehosaphat’s sake: but the Christian hears for his own and others’ edification.

If the hypocrite is of the second class of hearers, he sometimes pretends to practise, as an excuse for not hearing. “I have,” says he, “enough in one sermon to practise all the week.” The Christian makes hearing and practice to go hand in hand; he will redeem time for hearing from recreation and sleep; his hearing is a spur to his practice. He does not pretend practice as a hinderance to his hearing, like Judas, who, out of pretended regard to the poor, sought to rob Christ of his due.

Sometimes he trembleth under the word, but yet he shifts it off; before it has taken hold on his heart: as a tree shaken by the wind takes deeper root, so is he more rooted in his sins. Felix’s fearfulness surpriseth the hypocrite before he is aware; he is ashamed of himself, angry at the preacher, and, Cain like, he runs from God, instead of going to him. But the Christian trembles at the word as afraid to sin against it. One is Pharaoh, the other Josiah.

He is a seeming friend, but a secret foe, to the Gospel. When the word is a hammer, he is an anvil; when it is a fire, he is clay. But the Christian is both reconciled to, and transformed into the word; receiving it as the word of God in the love thereof. If the word be a nail, it nails him to Christ; if a sword, he loves to be cut and dissected; if a fire, he is like water, or as gold. The one kisses the word, like Judas; the other embraces it, as Joseph did Benjamin.

The praying hypocrite. - The praying hypocrite prays with his tongue, but not with his heart. The heart of the Christian goes first in prayer. The hypocrite asks according to his wishes, looking no farther, like Israel for quails, Balaam for leave to curse God’s people, Rachel for children. But the Christian, like Hannah, who prayed hard, and submitted all to God. He is wavering and double minded. “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” “Will he hear and answer?” The Christian asketh in faith, nothing wavering; as Moses at the Red Sea, while Israel cried and expected death.

The hypocrite is sometimes presumptuous also: “Wherefore have I fasted, and thou seest not?” The Christian always comes as a poor beggar, crying with the centurion, “I am not worthy.” He quarrelleth with God, if not answered: “This evil is of the Lord.” But the Christian waiteth patiently, saying, “It is the Lord, let him do as he pleaseth.”

He prays without repentance, regarding iniquity in his heart; but the Christian confesses and forsakes his sin.

The hypocrite prays without faith, without expecting an answer; therefore he often cuts short his prayer, especially in secret. The Christian pours out his soul in prayer: gives good measure, pressed down, running over, being assured that word standeth fast, “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall my heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask it?”

At other times the hypocrite will exceed measure, - but only in company, like the Ave Marias of the Papists. The true Christian measures his prayers by his affections, and by works of charity and duty.

The hypocrite prays in adversity, not in prosperity: he comes like the leper, or beaten child. The Christian, as the loving son, prays in prosperity, without the compulsion of the rod. Or, perhaps, he will pray in prosperity; but in adversity his heart sinks, like Nabal’s: he murmurs, complains, and cries out, “Why doth the Lord do thus unto me?” The Christian remembers those words of St. James, “Is any afflicted? Let him pray.” The one, as a bastard, runs away; the other kisses the rod, and sees every thing as the answer of prayer, submitting himself wholly to the will of God. The preaching hypocrite worse than all. - Admitted of men, not called of God, he preaches Christ, but not for Christ. “Put me (saith he) into the priest’s office, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” He is, perhaps, a “preacher of righteousness,” but a “worker of iniquity.” But the true Christian preacher only spends and is spent upon Christ and his interest; he is careful not only of his gifts, but of his grace; not only to be sent of men, but of God. The one preaches himself, and for himself; the other preaches Christ, and for Christ.

The hypocrite is ambitious to show his learning, - to be admired rather than to be useful: not so St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 2. A “scribe well instructed bringeth out of his own treasures things new and old.”

He brings in learning, but not Divine learning! His artificial fire hath no warmth in it. But the Christian minister, though perhaps learned in Egyptian wisdom as Moses, and in Greek literature as St. Paul, who quoted Aratus to the Athenians, Acts 17:28, Menander to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15:38, Epimenides to Titus 1:12, never uses it but as the Agar of Sarah; Christ crucified being his chief knowledge. The hypocrite uses Divine learning to human, carnal ends, - to get preferment or fame, to support opinions or parties. The minister of Christ handles not the “word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,” 2 Corinthians 4:2. He glorieth not in his preaching, a necessity being laid upon him by Christ.

The hypocrite chooses subjects on which he may shine and please: the other, those which may awaken and edify, disclaiming men pleasing. The one shoots over the heads, the other aims at the hearts of his hearers, suiting himself to the meanest capacity.

He puts on a face of zeal, without zeal; and, trying to move others, is himself unmoved. He cannot say, with Christ, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” His zeal is an ignis fatuus, or perhaps a heathenish fire lighted at Seneca’s torch; not a burning, as well as a shining light. He may have some feelings, but they are over with his sermon or prayer; some warmth for the Church, as Jehu, because it is his party. But the Christian minister hath more zeal in his bosom than on his tongue. Elijah like, the “word of the Lord is as a fire in his bones.” His soul “mourns in secret places” for the sins he reproves openly, Jeremiah 13:17. He can put probatum est to what he preaches; and his zeal hath a very large measure of Gospel love; it saves others while it consumes himself. The hypocrite is, perhaps, strict in his rules, loose in his practice, binding heavy burdens, that he toucheth not himself. He is like a finger post, which shows the way, but never walks in it. He promises liberty, while he is himself the slave of sin. The true preacher is afraid to preach what he practises not; he lives his sermons over. As a brave captain, he saith, “Follow me.” He aims at thummim as well as urim, perfection as well as light.

The one makes the way to heaven as broad as he can, at least to himself; and oft times allows things to others to screen himself. The other makes the way to heaven narrower to himself than to his hearers, and never gives up the last of the word, lest his own foot should be pinched. ON LUKEWARMNESS.

THE lukewarm are of two sorts. The first will speak against enormities, but plead for little sins; will go to church and sacrament, but also to plays, races, and shows; will read the Bible, and also romances and trifling books. They will have family prayer, at least on Sundays, but after it unprofitable talk, evil speaking, and worldly conversation. They plead for the Church, yet leave it for a card party, a pot companion, or the fire side. They think they are almost good enough, and they who aim at being better, are (to be sure) hypocrites. They are under the power of anger, evil desire, and anxious care, but suppose all men are the same, and talk much of being saved by true repentance, and doing all they can. They undervalue Christ, extol morality and good works, and do next to none. They plead for old customs: they will do as their fathers did, though ever so contrary to the word of God; and whatever hath not custom to plead for it, though ever so much recommended in Scripture, is accounted by them a heresy. They are greatly afraid of being too good, and of making too much ado about their souls and eternity. They will be sober, but not enthusiasts. The scriptures they quote most, and understand least, are, “Be not righteous over much: God’s mercies are over all his works: there is a time for all things,” &c. They call themselves by the name of Christ, but worship Baal. The second sort of lukewarm persons assent to the whole Bible, talk of repentance, faith, and the new birth, commend holiness, plead for religion, use the outward means, and profess to be and do more than others. But they yield to carelessness, self indulgence, fear of man, dread of reproach, and of loss, hatred of the cross, love of ease, and the false pleasures of a vain imagination. These say, do, and really suffer many things; but rest short of the true change of heart, the one thing needful being still lacking. They are as the foolish virgins, without oil, as the man not having a wedding garment.

Of these the Lord hath said, “He will spue them up out of his mouth.” But why so severe a sentence? Because,

(1.) Christ will have a man hearty and true to his principles; he looks for truth in the inward parts. As a consistent character, he commended even the unjust steward.

(2.) Religion admits of no lukewarmness, and it is by men of this character, that his name is blasphemed.

(3.) A bad servant is worse than a careless neighbour; and a traitor in the guise of a friend, is more hateful, and more dangerous, than an open enemy: Judas was more infamous than Pilate.

(4.) The cold have nothing to trust to; and harlots and publicans enter into the kingdom of heaven before moral or evangelical Pharisees, who, in different degrees, know their Master’s will and do it not: “they shall be beaten with many stripes.”

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee,

Isaiah 26:3 ISAIAH 26:3.

THE very centre of the Christian religion is union with Christ, and the receiving him as our all; in other words, called faith, or a “staying our minds upon him.” To the doing this, there are many hinderances, but the two greatest and most general ones are: -

First, the want of self knowledge; this keeps ninety - nine out of one hundred from Christ. They know not, or rather feel not that they are blind, naked, leprous, helpless, and condemned; that all their works can make no atonement, and that nothing they can do will fit them for heaven. When this is truly known, the first grand hinderance to our union with Christ is removed.

The second is the want of understanding “the Gospel of Christ:” the want of seeing therein the firm foundation given us for this pure and simple faith, the only solid ground of staying our souls on God. We must remember that the Gospel is “good news,” and not be slow of heart to believe it. Christ receiveth sinners; he undertaketh their whole concern; he giveth not only repentance, but remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He creates them anew: his love first makes the bride, and then he delights in her. The want of viewing Christ in this light, as the author and finisher of our salvation, hinders the poor, humble penitent from casting himself wholly on the Lord, although he hath said, “Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.”

I do not mention sin, for sin is the very thing which renders man the object of Christ’s pity: our sins will never turn away the heart of Christ from us, for they brought him down from heaven to die in our place; and the reason why iniquity separates between God and our souls, is because it turns our eyes from him, and shuts up in us the capacity of receiving those beams of love, which are ever descending upon and offering themselves to us. But sin, sincerely lamented, and brought by “a constant act of faith” and prayer before the Lord, shall soon be consumed, as the thorns laid close to a fire; only let us abide thus waiting, and the Lord will pass through them and burn them up together.

When the soul feels its own helplessness, and receives the glad tidings of the Gospel, it ventures upon Christ; and though the world, the flesh, and the devil pursue, so that the soul seems often to be on the brink of ruin, it has still only to listen to the Gospel, and venture on Christ, as a drowning man on a single plank, with “I can but perish;” remembering these words, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”

The consequence of thus trusting is, that God keeps the soul from its threefold enemy: defends it in temptation, in persecution, in heaviness. Through all it finds power to repose itself on Christ, to say, “God shall choose my inheritance for me.” Here the Christian finds peace with God, peace with himself, and peace with all around him; the peace of pardon, the peace of holiness; for both are obtained through staying he mind on Christ. He walks in the perpetual recollection of a present God, and is not disturbed by any thing. If he feels sin, he carries it to the Saviour; and if in heaviness, through manifold temptations, he still holds fast his confidence: he is above the region of clouds.

The careless sinner is not to be exhorted to trust in Christ; it would be to cast pearls before swine. Before an act of faith, there must be an act of self despair; before filling, there must be emptiness. Is this thy character? Then suffer me to take away thy false props. Upon what dost thou stay thy soul? Thy honesty, morality, humility, doing good, using the means, business, friends, confused thoughts of God’s mercy? This will never do. Thou must be brought to say, “What shall I do to be saved?” Without trembling at God’s word, thou canst not receive Christ. Nothing short of love will do. The penitent needs, and, blessed be God, has every encouragement. You have nothing but sin; - it is time you should understand the Gospel. You see yourself sinking, - Christ is with you.

You despair of yourself, - hope in Christ. You are overcome, - Christ conquers. Self condemned, - he absolves. Why do not you believe? Is not the messenger, the word, the Spirit of God sufficient? You want a joy unspeakable, - the way to It is by thus waiting patiently upon God. Look to Jesus. He speaks peace; abide looking, and your peace shall flow as a river. Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed - nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

Daniel 3:14 DANIEL 3:14.F21

IN this chapter we have an account of those worthies, who quenched the violence of fire.

(I.) The dedication of the image.

(II.) The three children accused and arraigned.

(III.) Soothed and threatened, but preferring death to sin, God’s law to the king’s, faith to honour and profit.

(IV.) Nebuchadnezzar’s anger, their punishment, and deliverance. (V.) The effect it had on the king.

This account may be applied to the trials of God’s children, in all ages. The god of this world sets up, in opposition to the Gospel, three images: the first, a golden image, profit; the second, an airy image, honour; the third, a beautiful alluring image, pleasure.

The first, profit, is worshipped by setting our affections upon it, by making it the prime, if not sole object of our thoughts, and lord even of our Sabbaths. We bow down to this golden image, by unjust dealing, running in debt without taking care to discharge it, choosing rather to wound our conscience than our pocket, by countenancing or suffering evil for filthy lucre’s sake, forgetting that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” The second, honour, is worshipped, when we desire the applause of men, or shrink from duty for fear of their rage or contempt.

The third, pleasure, when we indulge the flesh, by excessive eating and drinking, by uncleanness, vain shows and heathenish sports; when we delight ourselves in dress, furniture, our persons, &c. In a word, when we do not sanctify the enjoyment of the creature by the word of God and prayer.

As the people of God will not bow down to this threefold image, they are accused, threatened, and ridiculed. Their duty, under such circumstances, is to bear their testimony against this idolatrous worship of the god of this world, to possess their souls in patience, to believe in the Lord’s will and power to save them; not to comply by halves, or compromise the matter with the world; but to be ready to offer up their lives, and leave the event to God, in a steady purpose not to offend him.

All came to the dedication, even from afar; - but how many stay from the house of God, though at the door! All bowed down but three. How many are now going to turn their backs on the Lord’s table!

From the dedication of our Church, from days set apart to be kept holy, Satan takes occasion to enforce the worship of his threefold image. Now, remember the duty of God’s people, and quit yourselves like men. Some petty Nebuchadnezzars have sent to gather together, not princes, but drunken men: and have set up, not a golden image, no, nor a golden calf, but a living bull. O ye, that fear God, be not afraid of their terror, be not allured by their music; confess the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed - nego; and pray that these offenders may, with Nebuchadnezzar of old, resolve, not only to do nothing against, but not even “to speak amiss of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed - nego.”

To you, my brethren, who worship the image, what shall I say? Shall Nebuchadnezzar rise up in judgment against you? He blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed - nego; will you curse him? For inasmuch as you do it to one of his followers, you do it unto him. Nebuchadnezzar made a decree, that whoever should speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed - nego, should be cut in pieces, and their houses made a dung hill; and will you cut in pieces, with your tongues; or turn into a dung hill, by riot and mobbing, the houses of those who fear and love the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed - nego? No other God can deliver after this sort, saith the heathen: and give me leave to add, no other God can punish after this sort.

The King of kings hath anointed Jesus! He is lifted up on the cross; - upon a throne of glory. The decree is gone forth. At the name of Jesus every knee must bow. All tongues, nations, languages, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, angels, archangels, and saints, above and below, “all must fall down.” In heaven, trumpets, thunders, lightnings, voices: - on earth, the terrors of Sinai, all say, “Kiss the Son.” He is not a dead image, but the living God. He comes: the trump of God may sound to - day. The burning furnace of his indignation is heated, and eternity is the duration of their torments, whose smoke ascendeth for ever and ever. O let him bless you now, in turning every one of you from his iniquities, and you shall keep the feast in heaven.

Being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground,

Luke 22:44 LUKE 22:44.

MANY desire to know what passes in the heart of great men, when under afflicting circumstances, or engaged in some great undertaking. Behold the most sublime scene of suffering held out to us in the word of God. Here are laid open the last, the dying thoughts and cruel sufferings of the Saviour of mankind. Here is a scene, in which we are all most deeply interested. Let us look into,

I. The agony of our Saviour.

II. What he did in his agony.

III. The amazing consequences of that agony.

The agony of our Lord was a conflict: - a violent struggle: - a grappling and wrestling with the deepest horror: - the agitation of a breast penetrated with the greatest sense of fear and amazement. “He was heard in that he feared.”

The cause of his agony was,

(1.) The powers of darkness, legions of devils, who poured on his devoted head their utmost rage and malice. Every wound, which sin had given, and the devil had power to inflict, the pure and naked bosom of Jesus opened itself to receive. The prince of darkness, whose chain was let loose for the purpose, now ruled his hour, and, to appearance, triumphed over the Prince of life.

(2.) The feeling of the weight of the wrath of God (and who knoweth the power of his wrath?) as kindled against sin: - the terrors of the Lord: - the cup of trembling, the withdrawing of God’s comfortable presence.

(3.) The fear of his farther sufferings: - a violent, dreadful, and approaching death.

(4.) The atoning for our coldness, and the painful foresight, with how much truth, those words of the prophet might be applied to many, “Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by?”

During his agony he prayed more earnestly. He prayed earnestly before, but now more earnestly; before he kneeled, but now he threw himself prostrate on the earth. He prayed aloud, with strong cries and tears, Hebrews 5:7. He was in an agony, every power of soul and body being stretched to the utmost. Those who never, or seldom pray, are strangers to spiritual conflicts.

The greatness of his agony, and intenseness of his prayer, caused that amazing circumstance “of his sweat being as it were great drops of blood.” Amazing! because it was a cold damp night: - he lay on the dewy ground: - it was so profuse as to run down in great drops to the ground; the sweat was mixt with blood, bursting out of the capillary vessels through the open pores.

Observe, Adam sinned in a garden; in a garden Christ expiates his sin. Before death, “In the sweat of thy brow,” &c, Genesis 3. before death, Christ sweat, and with all his body laboured. “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth;” Christ sweat blood, strong sign of pain. “Cursed is the ground,” &c. Christ, when made sin and a curse, lies prostrate on the ground, and bedews it with blood.

Brethren, we must all be brought to an agony; yea, we must be crucified with Christ, if we would reign with him. Beware then of villifying the spiritual agonies of the children of God, by calling them mad fits. You who, in agony, have brought forth children, or struggled under the load of excessive drinking, or laboured for life when in danger, struggle and agonize now for your souls.

Learn to pray most, when most troubled - when weakest - when most tempted. Still look to the Lord Jesus - adore him - love him. Be not dry, like Gideon’s fleece, in the midst of this sacred dew. O come for the answer of his prayer. It is thy balm, O Gilead, the precious ointment, which runs down to the skirts of his clothing! Wash away thy sin: bathe in his bloody sweat; it is the former and the latter rain, bedewing prophets and apostles.

Let every believer remember, (and rejoice in the remembrance,) that sweat, pain, the earth, the grave, are sanctified: and let every stubborn unbeliever beware of the cry of his blood. It now cries better things: by and by it will cry bitterer things than the blood of Abel.

The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force,

Matthew 11:12 MATTHEW 11:12.

THE grand device of Satan is to prevent us from seeing the necessity of this holy violence, or from putting it in execution. To prevent the effect of this stratagem, our blessed Lord gives us the plainest directions in these words: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” “Labour for the meat that endureth to eternal life,” &c, &c. But in no scripture is the direction more plain than in that of the text: “The kingdom,” &c. Let us consider,

I. The nature of this kingdom.

II. How the violent take it by force.

III. Answer an objection to the doctrine of the text.

This kingdom is that of grace, which brings down a heavenly nature and felicity into the believing soul. The kingdom within us is righteousness, and peace, and joy. It is Jesus apprehended by faith, as given for us; and felt by love, as living in us. In a word, it is the image of God lost in Adam and restored by Christ; - pardon, holiness, and happiness issuing in eternal glory.

This kingdom suffereth violence, which is offered,

(1.) To those lords who reign over us, - the world, the devil, the flesh. These rebels must be turned out: our own wills must be overcome, and ourselves surrendered up to God, as to our lawful and chosen sovereign.

(2.) An humble, holy, sacred violence must be used in prayer, - with Jesus, that he would open in our hearts the power of faith, apply the efficacy of his blood, and bestow upon us the spirit of prayer; or in other words the prayer of faith: - with the Father, that he would look through the pillar of fire, and discomfit all our enemies: - with the Holy Ghost, that he would take up his abode with us.

Of this violence we have an example in Jacob wrestling with the Angel, who said, “Let me go, for the day breaketh;” and he said, “I will not let thee go till thou bless me,” Genesis 32:26. Here Jacob, being left alone, improves his solitude; danger and trouble work in him the right way. He prays, prays earnestly, and that against much discouragement. God and man seem to oppose him; for the Angel of the covenant wrestled as if to get loose from his hold. It was a spiritual wrestling; he wept and made supplication; but before he prevailed the Angel touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and hindered him from wrestling in his own strength. Then the Spirit alone made intercession; nature failed, and grace was conqueror. “When I am weak, then am I strong.” He says, “Let me go;” as God once said to Moses, “Let me alone:” thus does the Lord sometimes try our faith. This was the case of the woman of Canaan, when Jesus, at first, answered her not, and afterward said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to the dogs.” But when she still worshipped, prayed, and waited, she obtained these words of approbation: “O woman, great is thy faith!” as well as the answer of her prayer. So the Angel said, “Let me go, the day breaketh;” - thy affairs want thee; - thou must have rest; but Jacob foregoes all for the blessing, - rest, family, weariness, pain; and answers, “I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me.” So must it be with us; none prevail but those who take the kingdom by violence. He conquers at last. “What is thy name?” saith God. He will have the sinner know himself, and confess what he is; then he gives the new name, “A prince with God. If God be for us, who can be against us?” The Angel does not tell him his name; for the tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge. “He saw God face to face and lived.” So it is with faithful wrestlers: God resists only to increase our desires; and we must be resolved to hearken to nothing that would hinder. Weariness, care, friends, fear, and unbelief, must all be thrown aside when we seek to see God face to face, and to be brought into the light of life.

They who are weary of the Egyptian yoke of outward and inward sin, who cannot resist without the love of Jesus, the life of God, at last become violent. They forcibly turn from the world; by force they attack the devil; bringing themselves by force before God; and drag out, by strong confession, the evils that lurk within. Against these they fight, by detesting and denying them. Their strength is in crying mightily to the Lord, and expecting continually that fire which God will rain from heaven upon them. All this must be done by force and with great conflicts; for it is against nature, which hath the utmost reluctance to it.

The words of the text allude to the taking a fortified town by storming it; and this is of all military expeditions the most dangerous. The enemy is covered and hid, and those who scale the walls have nothing but their arms and courage. But can the wrestling soul overcome, can he take this kingdom? Ah! no, not by his own strength; but his Joshua will take it for him. God only requires that we should entreat him to do this; the prayer of repentance, the prayer of faith, storm Mount Sion, the city of God. He that is violent shall receive the kingdom of God, - justification and sanctification: but remember the violent take it by force. He shall have many a hard struggle with God’s enemies, and it may be, many with the Lord himself, before he declares him conqueror.

Some object, “We have no might;” and to endeavour to take the kingdom by violence, is taking the matter out of God’s hand: is it not better to wait for the promise, “Stand still, and see the salvation of God?” If you mean by standing still, not agonising to enter in at the strait gate, not wrestling in prayer and fighting the good fight of faith; may God save you from this stillness! “You err, not knowing the Scriptures.” The standing still there recommended is to possess your soul in patience, without dejection, fears and murmuring. Stand still, as the apostles, who watched together in prayer, ran with patience the race set before them, and fought manfully, as faithful soldiers, under the banner of the cross. Any other stillness is of the devil, and leads to his kingdom. Search the New Testament and show me one standing still after he had been convinced of his wants. Did the centurion, did the woman of Canaan, did blind Bartimeus stand still? Did St. Paul, did the woman with the bloody issue stand still? Did not all of them use the power they had? I do not desire you to use what you have not; only be faithful stewards of the manifold grace entrusted to you. A kingdom, a kingdom of heaven is before you - power to reign with Jesus as his priests and kings. Stir up then thy faith; reach forward to the things which are before. Become a wrestling Jacob and you shall shortly be a prevailing Israel. Be not discouraged, for, as a good man observes, “God frequently gives in one moment what he hath apparently withheld for many years.”

Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, Luke 12:20 LUKE 12:20.

LET us consider,

I. Why our Lord calls the person mentioned in the text, fool, - Thou fool.

II. The sudden and unexpected separation between this rich man and his all.

III. The circumstance of the particular time of his death, - This night.

IV. Make some observations on the nature and value of a soul. V. Observe who shall require the rich man’s soul, - I shall be required.

VI. Make some remarks on the last words of the text, - “Thy soul shall be required of thee.”

I. It is not without good reason that our Lord addresses the rich man in the text with, Thou fool. The picture our Lord has drawn of him hath eight strokes, each of which proves this worldling to have been an egregious fool.

(1.) He was rich in this world, but neglected being rich toward God, rich in grace.

(2.) He was perplexed without reason, and exclaimed, “What shall I do! I have not where to bestow my fruits.” Had he been wise, he would rather have cried out, with the jailer, “What shall I do to be saved?” or he would have inquired whether all the houses of his poor neighbours were full, and whether he could not bestow upon them some of those fruits, the abundance of which made him so uneasy.

(3.) He determined to pull down his barns: not to break off his sins. The pile of them, though towering to heaven, like Babel, did not make him uneasy.

(4.) He resolved to build greater barns; but forgot to build the hopes of his salvation on the Rock of ages, Matthew 7:24.

(5.) He would say to his soul, Soul, thou hast goods laid up: but had he been wise, he would have considered, that although he was rich as to his outward circumstances and the things which support the body, yet his soul was “poor, miserable, blind, and naked,” Revelation 3:17.

(6.) He had the folly to promise himself a long life, as if he had a lease of it, signed by his heavenly Lord. “Soul,’ said he, “thou hast much goods laid up for many years:” but God said, “Thou fool, this night,” &c.

(7.) He would say to his soul, “Soul, take thine ease;” but had he been directed by wisdom, he would have exhorted his soul not to rest till he had obeyed the apostle’s precept, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” Philippians 2:1 - 2. Alas! how common and how dangerous is the mistake of the children of this world, who openly follow this fool, and say either to themselves or one to another, “Soul, take thine ease; take care of being under any concern about salvation, there is no need of so much ado about religion and heaven.”

(8.) The last mark of the rich man’s folly, was to say to his deluded soul, “Eat, drink, and be merry;” as if a soul could eat and drink, what money can procure or barns contain. No, my brethren: the grace of God, and the benefits of Christ’s death, which are called his “flesh and blood, the bread of life, and the living water,” are the only food and drink proper for our souls; and the true mirth and solid joy of a spirit, is that to which St. Paul exhorts us, “Rejoice in the Lord; and again, I say, rejoice,” Philippians 4:4.

II. The separation between this rich farmer and his all was sudden and unexpected: “This night,” said God, “shall thy soul be required of thee.” This night, not so much as to - morrow is allowed him to dispose of those goods which were laid up for many years; he must suddenly, immediately, part with all.

(1.) All his movable goods, except a winding sheet.

(2.) All his landed estate, except a grave.

(3.) All his barns, houses, and halls, except a coffin.

(4.) All his friends and relations without exception. He must go this dismal journey alone and unattended.

(5.) All his time, his precious time, which the living kill so many ways, and which the dying and the dead would gladly recover, by parting with a world, if they had it to part with.

(6.) His soul, it is to be feared.

Let us here reflect, how careful we are to secure our door, lest thieves should break in and take away some of our goods; and yet how careless to provide for death, which carries away all, or rather hurries us away from all at once! What an alarming thought is this for impenitent sinners! May their souls be required this very night? O let them not plot wickedness and contrive vanity against to morrow.

III. The circumstance of the particular time of this rich man’s death is very awful, “This night,” not this day, “shall thy soul,” &c. This seems to imply four things.

(1.) Darkness and horror, which chiefly belong to the night. Of this we have striking illustrations, in the destruction of the first born of the Egyptians, and of Sennacherib’s army in Judea.

(2.) Drowsiness and carnal security, illustrated in the opposite case of the foolish virgins, Matthew 25.

(3.) Sadness, in opposition to those nights which he had perhaps spent in debauchery and vain diversions.

(4.) Sin and ignorance of the ways of God; which are called darkness and night, works of darkness, &c, in various parts of the Scripture. O think upon this night of death, ye that forget God. How soon may it be here, to cast a veil upon your pride, and make it share the fate of Absalom’s beauty, Jezebel’s paint, and Saul’s stature.

If this night of death is coming upon all! This night “when no man can work!” Let us follow our Lord’s advice, “and work the works of God, while it is day, John 9:4.

IV. How wonderful is the nature, how inestimable is the value of that soul, which was required of this fool; and which shall be required of us! How excellent is that noble, that neglected being, in itself! Spiritual, immortal, endued with the most glorious faculties, made after the very image of God!

How precious is it, as well as how excellent. It is a jewel of inestimable value, and its worth may be estimated,

(1.) From the admirable texture of the body, which is only the casket where that jewel is placed.

(2.) From the extraordinary pains which the sons of men take to repair and adorn the body, whose value depends only on the jewel it contains.

(3.) From the testimony of Christ, who prefers one soul to the whole material creation: “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Matthew 16:26.

Suffer me then to entreat you, brethren, to bestow on your souls pains and care, in some measure, proportionable to their worth; at least, be not offended with us ministers, for showing some concern for the salvation of your precious immortal souls.

V. Who shall require his soul? “Thy soul shall be required.” The original word, apaitousin means, “They shall require.” The question then offers itself, Who they are that shall require the unprepared worldling’s soul? I answer,

(1.) Not Christ as a Saviour; for in that capacity he hath nothing to do with dying unbelievers. They would not receive his grace into their hearts, and he will not receive them into his glory, Proverbs 1:24, &c.

(2.) Nor good angels: we read, indeed, that they “carried Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom,” Luke 16:22: but the rich man found his way to the flames without them.

(3.) Nor departed saints, who neither can nor will meddle with unregenerated souls.

For this we may read the conversation between Abraham and the wretch who prayed to him for help, Luke 16. Who then?

(1.) Some unforeseen accident or distemper.

(2.) Death, who, as an officer, delivers the wicked into the hands of the tormentors.

(3.) Evil spirits, the ministers of Divine justice; which may be inferred from the strong sense of the powers of darkness, which some wicked men have in their last moments. See the case of the memorable Francis Spira.

Believers cheerfully resign their souls into their Saviour’s hands; yea, they long to “depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.” Unbelievers, who have their portion in this world, are loath to leave it: but a peremptory, forcible command shall set aside all their pleas: their souls shall be required.

VI. the last words of the text afford matter for the last head of the discourse. Death comes to require a soul: “Not of me,” says, perhaps, the rich farmer; “not of me, for I have much goods laid up for many years;” but God says, “Of thee shall thy soul be required.”

What! May not the soul of some poor Lazarus, who pines away in want, sickness, and obscurity, be required first? No, says God, it must be required of thee. May not an old Simeon, who longs to depart in peace, be allowed to die for the rich man? No: his hour is come; of him is his soul required. But, perhaps, some of the rich man’s servants, at the feet of the bed, may go upon his fatal errand for him? No, says death, he must go himself: of thee is thy soul required. See all those weeping friends who surround his bed! May not one of them do for death? No, cries the stern messenger, my errand is to thee.

Consider the peremptoriness of the inexorable messenger. Gold will not bribe him. Entreaties prevail not. He takes no notice of promises of amendment. Tears melt him not. In spite of physicians and medicines, he does his office, and requires of the worldling his unprepared soul. The epithet, which God fixes on the rich man, belongs,

(1.) To all who depend upon many years of life, and do not habitually prepare for death.

(2.) To all, whether rich or poor, who are not rich toward God.

(3.) Especially to those who, though they have not the conveniences, and hardly the necessaries of life, will yet trample on the riches of Divine grace and heavenly glory. If the rich worldling was a fool in God’s esteem, how doubly foolish are the poor, to whom the Gospel is preached in vain!

Ye foolish virgins, ye slumbering souls, awake, - arise, - trim your lamps. Be wise to salvation; be as anxious about your eternal, as he was for his temporal prosperity. Pull down, not your barns, but your sins. Build not larger houses, but the house that will stand when death beats upon you with all its storms. And never say to your soul, “Soul, take thine ease,” until you have a habitation, “not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Ye, who are wise virgins, and who are preparing to meet the Bridegroom, apply to your souls, but in a better sense, the words that the rich fool spake to his soul, “Eat, drink, and be merry.” Feed upon the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood; that is, believe the Gospel of Jesus, firmly believe that, by his cross, he redeemed you from sin, death, hell, and the grave: and through faith in him, you will be able to rejoice in the Lord with unspeakable joy, and to antedate your heaven.

I beseech thee, awakened sinner, who tremblest at death and judgment, to come, by the prayer of faith, to the Prince of life, that, through the value of his death, he may take away the sting of death, sin, from thy heart. Steadfastly believe these comfortable words of St. Paul: “He tasted death for every man; that he, through death, might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage,” Hebrews 2:9, 14, 15. If you heartily credit this blessed report, you will find your fears of death changed into longings after it; and with your dying breath you will be able, through mercy, to challenge the king of terrors, and to say, with the apostle, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”