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SELF-INQUIRY
"Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we
have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do." (Acts
15:36).
The text which heads this page contains a proposal which the Apostle
Paul made to Barnabas after their first missionary journey. He
proposed to revisit the Churches they had been the means of
founding, and to see how the were getting on. Were their members
continuing steadfast in the faith? Were they growing in grace? Were
they going forward, or standing still? Were they prospering, or falling
away? "Let us go again and visit our brethren in see how they do."
This was a wise and useful proposal. Let us lay it to heart, and apply
it to ourselves in the nineteenth century. Let us search our ways, and
find out how matters stand between ourselves and God. Let us "see
how we do." I ask every reader of this volume to begin its perusal by
joining me in self-inquiry. If ever self-inquiry about religion was
needed, it is needed at the present day.
We live in an age of peculiar spiritual privileges. Since the world
began there never was such an opportunity for a man's soul to be
saved as there is in England at this time. There never were so many
signs of religion in the land, so many sermons preached, so many
services held in churches and chapels, so many Bibles sold, so many
religious books and tracts printed, so many Societies for evangelizing
mankind supported, so much outward respect paid to Christianity.
Things are done everywhere now-a-days which a hundred years ago
would have been thought impossible. Bishops support the boldest
and most aggressive efforts to reach the unconverted. Deans and
Chapters throw open the naves of cathedrals for Sunday evening
sermons! Clergy of the narrowest High Church School advocate
special missions, and vie with the Evangelical brethren in
proclaiming that going to church on Sunday is not enough to take a
man to heaven. In short, there is a stir about religion now-a-days to
which there has been nothing like since England was a nation, and
which the cleverest skeptics and infidels cannot deny. If Romaine,
and Venn, and Berridge, and Rowlands, and Grimshaw, and Hervey,
had been told that such things would come to pass about a century
after their deaths, they would have been tempted to say, with the
Samaritan nobleman, "If the Lord should windows of heavens might
such a thing be." (2 Kings 7:19). But the Lord has opened the
floodgates of heaven. There is more taught now-a-days in England of
the real Gospel, and of the way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ,
in one week, than there was in a year in Romaine's time. Surely I
have a right to say that we live in an age of spiritual privileges. But
are we any better for it? In an age like this it is well to ask, "How do
we do about our souls?"
We live in an age of special spiritual danger. Never perhaps since the
world began was there such an immense amount of mere outward
profession of religion as there is in the present day. A painfully large
proportion of all the congregations in the land consists of
unconverted people, who know nothing of heart-religion, never come
to the Lord's Table, and never confess Christ in their daily lives.
Myriads of those who are always running after preachers, and
crowding to hear special sermons, are nothing better than empty
tubs, and tinkling cymbals, without a bit of real vital Christianity at
home. The parable of the sower is continually receiving most vivid
and painful illustrations. The way-side hearers, the stony-ground
hearers, the thorny-ground hearers abound on every side.
The life of many religious people, I fear, in this age, is nothing better
than a continual course of spiritual dram-drinking. They are always
morbidly craving fresh excitement; and they seem to care little what
it is if they only get it. All preaching seems to be the same to them;
and they appear unable to "see differences" so long as they hear what
is clever, have their ears tickled, and sit in a crowd. Worst of all,
there are hundreds of young unestablished believers who are so
infected with the same love of excitement, that they actually think it a
duty to be always seeking it. Insensibly almost to themselves, they
take up a kind of hysterical, sensational, sentimental Christianity,
until they are never content with the "old paths" and, like the
Athenians, are always running after something new. To see a calm minded young believer,
who is not stuck up, self confident, self conceited, and more ready to teach than learn, but content with a
daily steady effort to grow up into Christ's likeness, and to do Christ's
work quietly and unostentatiously, at home, is really becoming
almost a rarity! Too many young professors, alas, behave like young
recruits who have not spent all their bounty money. They show how
little deep root they have, and how little knowledge of their hearts, by
noise, forwardness, readiness to contradict and set down old
Christians, and over-weaning trust in their own fancied soundness
and wisdom! Well will it be for many young professors of this age if
they do not end, after being tossed about for a while, and "carried to
and fro by every wind of doctrine," by joining some petty, narrow minded,
censorious sect, or embracing some senseless, unreasoning
crotchety heresy. Surely, in times like these there is great need for
self-examination. When we look around us, we may well ask,
"How do we do about our souls?"
In handling this question, I think the shortest plan will be to suggest
a list of subjects for self-inquiry, and to get them in order. By so
doing I shall hope to meet the case of every one into whose hands
this volume may fall. I invite every reader of this paper to join me in
calm, searching self-examination, for a few short minutes. I desire to
speak to myself as well as to you. I approach you not as an enemy,
but as a friend. "My heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may
be saved" (Romans 10:1). Bear with me if I say things which at first
sight look harsh and severe. Believe me, he is your best friend who
tells you the most truth.
(1) Let me ask, in the first place, "DO WE EVER THINK ABOUT OUR SOULS AT ALL?"
Thousands of English people, I fear, cannot answer that question
satisfactorily. They never give the subject of religion any place in
their thoughts. From the beginning of the year to the end they are
absorbed in the pursuit of business, pleasure, politics, money, or self
indulgence of some kind or another. Death, and judgment, and
eternity, and heaven, and hell, and a world to come, are never calmly
looked at and considered. They live on as if they were never going to
die, or rise again, or stand at the bar of God, or receive an eternal
sentence! They do not openly oppose religion, for they have not
sufficient reflection about it to do so; but they eat and drink, and
sleep, and get money, and spend money, as if religion was a mere
fiction and not a reality. They are neither Romanists, nor Socinians,
nor infidels, nor High Church, nor Low Church, nor Broad Church.
They are just nothing at all, and do not take the trouble to have
opinions. A more senseless and unreasonable way of living cannot be
conceived; but they do not pretend to reason about it. They simply
never think about God, unless frightened for few minutes by
sickness, death in their families, or an accident. Barring such
interruptions, they appear to ignore religion altogether, and hold on
to their way cool and undisturbed, as if there were nothing worth
thinking of except this world.
It is hard to imagine a life more unworthy of an immortal creature
than such a life as I have just described, for it reduces a man to the
level of a beast. But it is literally and truly the life of multitudes in
England; and as they pass away their place is taken by multitudes
like them. The picture, no doubt, is horrible, distressing, and
revolting: but, unhappily, it is only too true. In every large town, in
every market, on every stock-exchange, in every club, you may see
specimens of this class by the scores--men who think of everything
under the sun except the one thing needful--the salvation of their
souls. Like the Jews of old they do not "consider their ways," they do
not "consider their latter end;" they do not "consider that they do
evil" ( Isaiah 1:3; Haggai 1:7; Deuteronomy 32:29; Ecclesiastes 5:1).
Like Gallio they "care for none of these things:" they are not in their
way. ( Acts 18:17) If they prosper in the world, and get rich, and
succeed in their line of life, they are praised, and admired by their
contemporaries. Nothing succeeds in England like success! But for
all this they cannot live forever. They will have to die and appear
before the bar of God, and be judged; and then what will the end be?
When a large class of this kind exists in our country, no reader need
wonder that I ask whether he belongs to it. If you do, you ought to
have a mark set on your door, as there used to be a mark on a plague stricken house two centuries ago,
with the words, "Lord have mercy
on us," written on it. Look at the class I have been describing, and
then look at your own soul.
(2) Let me ask, in the second place, WHETHER WE EVER DO ANYTHING ABOUT OUR SOULS?
There are multitudes in England who think occasionally about
religion, but unhappily never get beyond thinking. After a stirring
sermon,--or after a funeral,--or under the pressure of illness,--or on
Sunday evening,--or when things are going on badly in their
families,--or when they meet some bright example of a Christian,--or
when they fall in with some striking religious book or tract,--they will
at the time think a good deal, and even talk a little about religion in a
vague way. But they stop short, as if thinking and talking were
enough to save them. They are always meaning, and intending, and
purposing, and resolving, and wishing, and telling us that they
"know" what is right, and "hope" to be found right in the end, but
they never attain to any action. There is no actual separation from
the service of the world and sin, no real taking up the cross and
following Christ, no positive doing in their Christianity. Their life is
spent in playing the part of the son in our Lord's parable, to whom
the father said, "'Go and work today in the vineyard:' and he
answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go" (Matthew 21:30). They are
like those whom Ezekiel describes, who liked his preaching, but
never practiced what he preached:--"They come unto you as the
people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear
your words, but they will not do them. . . .And lo, you are unto them
as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play
well on an instrument: for they hear your words but they do them
not." (Ezekiel 33:31- 32). In a day like this, when hearing and
thinking without doing, is so common, no one can justly wonder that
I press upon men the absolute need of self-examination. Once more,
then, I ask my readers to consider the question of my text,--"How do
we do about our souls?"
(3) Let me ask, in the third place, WHETHER WE ARE TRYING TO SATISFY OUR CONSCIENCES WITH A MERE 'FORMAL' RELIGION?
There are myriads in England at this moment who are making
shipwreck on this rock. Like the Pharisees of old, they make much
ado about the outward part of Christianity, while the inward and
spiritual part is totally neglected. They are careful to attend all the
services of their place of worship, and regular in using all its forms
and ordinances. They are never absent from Communion when the
Lord's Supper is administered. Sometimes they are most strict in
observing Lent, and attach great importance to Saints' days. They are
often keen partisans of their own Church, or sect, or congregation,
and ready to contend with any one who does not agree with them.
Yet all this time there is no heart in their religion. Anyone who knows
them intimately can see with half an eye that their affections are set
on things below, and not on things above; and that they are trying to
make up for the want of inward Christianity by an excessive quantity
of outward form. And this formal religion does them no real good.
They are not satisfied. Beginning at the wrong end, by making the
outward things first, they know nothing of inward joy and peace, and
pass their days in a constant struggle, secretly conscious that there is
something wrong, and yet not knowing why. Well, after all, if they do
not go on from one stage of formality to another, until in despair they
take a fatal plunge, and fall into Popery! When professing Christians
of this kind are so painfully numerous, no one need wonder if I press
upon him the paramount importance of close self-examination. If
you love life, do not be content with the husk, and shell, and
scaffolding of religion. Remember our Savior's words about the
Jewish formalists of His day: "These people draws near with their
mouth, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
In vain do they worship." (Matthew 15:8-9). It needs something
more than going diligently to church, and receiving the Lord's
Supper, to take our souls to heaven. Means of grace and forms of
religion are useful in their way, and God seldom does anything for
His church without them. But let us beware of making shipwreck on
the very lighthouse which helps to show the channel into the harbor.
Once more I ask, "How do we do about our souls?"
(4) Let me ask, in the fourth place, WHETHER WE HAVE RECEIVED THE FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS?
Few reasonable Englishmen would think of denying that they are
sinners. Many perhaps would say that they are not as bad as many,
and that they have not been so very wicked, and so forth. But few, I
repeat, would pretend to say that they had always lived like angels,
and never done, or said, or thought a wrong thing all their days. In
short, all of us must confess that we are more or less "sinners," and,
as sinners, are guilty before God; and, as guilty, we must be forgiven,
or be lost and condemned forever at the last day.-- Now it is the glory
of the Christian religion that it provides for us the very forgiveness
that we need--full, free, perfect, eternal, and complete. It is a leading
article in that well-known creed which most Englishmen learn when
they are children. They are taught to say, "I believe in the forgiveness
of sins." This forgiveness of sins has been purchased for us by the
eternal Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has purchased it for us
by coming into the world to be our Savior, and by living, dying, and
rising again, as our Substitute, in our behalf. He has bought it for us
at the price of His own most precious blood, by suffering in our place
on the cross, and making satisfaction for our sins. But this
forgiveness, great, and full, and glorious as it is, does not become the
property of every man and woman as a matter of course. It is not a
privilege which every member of a Church possesses, merely because
he is a Churchman. It is a thing which each individual must receive
for himself by his own personal faith, lay hold on by faith,
appropriate by faith, and make his own by faith; or else, so far as he
is concerned, Christ will have died in vain. "He that believes on the
Son has everlasting life, and he that believes not the Son shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). No terms can
be imagined more simple, and more suitable to man. As good old
Latimer said in speaking of the matter of justification, "It is but
believe and have." It is only faith that is required; and faith is
nothing more than the humble, heartfelt trust of the soul which
desires to be saved. Jesus is able and willing to save; but man must
come to Jesus and believe. All that believe are at once justified and
forgiven: but without believing there is no forgiveness at all.
Now here is exactly the point, I am afraid, where multitudes of
English people fail, and are in imminent danger of being lost forever.
They know that there is no forgiveness of sin excepting in Christ
Jesus. They can tell you that there is no Savior for sinners, no
Redeemer, no Mediator, excepting Him who was born of the Virgin
Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead, and buried. But
here they stop, and get no further! They never come to the point of
actually laying hold of Christ by faith, and becoming one with Christ
and Christ in them. They can say, He is a Savior, but not my Savior--
a Redeemer, but not my Redeemer--a Priest, but not my Priest--an
Advocate, but not my Advocate: and so they live and die unforgiven!
No wonder that Martin Luther said, "Many are lost because they
cannot use possessive pronouns." When this is the state of many in
this day, no one need wonder that I ask men whether they have
received the forgiveness of sins. An eminent Christian lady once said,
in her old age,-- "The beginning of eternal life in my soul, was a
conversation I had with an old gentleman who came to visit my
father when I was only a little girl. He took me by the hand one day
and said, 'My dear child, my life is nearly over, and you will probably
live many years after I am gone. But never forget two things. One is,
that there is such a thing as having our sins forgiven while we live.
The other is, that there is such a thing as knowing and feeling that we
are forgiven.' I thank God I have never forgotten his words."-- How is
it with us? Let us not rest until we "know and feel", as the Prayer
Book says, that we are forgiven. Once more let us ask, in the matter
of forgiveness of sins, "How do we do?"
(5) Let me ask, in the fifth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING BY EXPERIENCE OF CONVERSION TO GOD.
Without conversion there is no salvation. "Except you be converted,
and become as little children, you shall never enter the kingdom of
heaven."-- "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God."--"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His."--"If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." (Matthew 18:3,
John 3:3, Romans 8:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are all by nature so weak, so worldly, so earthly-minded, so
inclined to sin, that without a thorough change we cannot serve God
in life, and could not enjoy Him after death. Just as ducks, as soon as
they are hatched, take naturally to water, so do children, as soon as
they can do anything, take to selfishness, lying, and deceit; and none
pray or love God, unless they are taught. High or low, rich or poor,
gentle or simple, we all need a complete change--a change which is
the special office of the Holy Spirit to give us. Call it what you please-
-new birth, regeneration, renewal, new creation, quickening, repentance
--the thing must be had if we are to be saved: and if we
have the thing it will be seen.
Sense of sin and deep hatred of it, faith in Christ and love to Him,
delight in holiness and longing after more of it, love for God's people
and distaste for the things of the world,--these, these are the signs
and evidences which always accompany conversion. Myriads around
us, it may be feared, know nothing about it. They are, in Scripture
language, dead, and asleep, and blind, and unfit for the kingdom of
God. Year after year, perhaps, they go on repeating the words of the
creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit;" but they are utterly ignorant of
His changing operations on the inward man. Sometimes they flatter
themselves they are born again, because they have been baptized,
and go to church, and receive the Lord's Supper; while they are
totally destitute of the marks of the new birth, as described by John
in his first Epistle. And all this time the words of Scripture are clear
and plain,--"Except you be converted, you shall in no case enter the
kingdom." (Matthew 18:3).
In times like these, no reader ought to wonder that I press the
subject of conversion on men's souls. No doubt there are plenty of
sham conversions in such a day of religious excitement as this. But
bad coin is no proof that there is no good money: no, rather it is a
sign that there is some money current which is valuable, and is worth
imitation. Hypocrites and sham Christians are indirect evidence that
there is such a thing as real grace among men. Let us search our own
hearts then, and see how it is with ourselves. Once more let us ask, in
the matter of conversion, "How do we do?"
(6) Let me ask, in the sixth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN HOLINESS?
It is as certain as anything in the Bible that "without holiness no one
will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). It is equally certain that it is the
invariable fruit of saving faith, the real test of regeneration, the only
sound evidence of indwelling grace, the certain consequence of vital
union with Christ.
Holiness is not absolute perfection and freedom from all faults.
Nothing of the kind! The wild words of some who talk of enjoying
"unbroken communion with God for many months, are greatly to be
deprecated, because they raise unscriptural expectations in the
minds of young believers, and so do harm. Absolute perfection is for
heaven, and not for earth, where we have a weak body, a wicked
world, and a busy devil continually near our souls. Nor is real
Christian holiness ever attained, or maintained, without a constant
fight and struggle. The great Apostle, who said "I fight,-I labor,-I
keep under my body and bring it into subjection" (1 Corinthians
9:27), would have been amazed to hear of sanctification without
personal exertion, and to be told that believers only need to sit still,
and everything will be done for them!
Yet, weak and imperfect as the holiness of the best saints may be, it is
a real true thing, and has a character about it as unmistakable as
light and salt. It is not a thing which begins and ends with noisy
profession: it will be seen much more than heard. Genuine Scriptural
holiness will make a man do his duty at home and by the fireside,
and adorn his doctrine in the little trials of daily life. It will exhibit
itself in passive graces as well as in active. It will make a man
humble, kind, gentle, unselfish, good-tempered, considerate of
others, loving, meek, and forgiving. It will not constrain him to go
out of the world, and shut himself up in a cave, like a hermit. But it
will make him do his duty in that state to which God has called him,
on Christian principles, and after the pattern of Christ.
Such holiness, I know well, is not common. It is a style of practical
Christianity which is painfully rare in these days. But I can find no
other standard of holiness in the Word of God,- no other which
comes up to the pictures drawn by our Lord and His Apostles. In an
age like this no reader can wonder if I press this subject also on
men's attention. Once more let us ask--In the matter of holiness, how
is it with our souls? "How do we do?"
(7) Let me ask, in the seventh place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING OF ENJOYING THE MEANS OF GRACE?
When I speak of the means of grace, I have in my mind's eye five
principal things: the Reading of the Bible, private prayer, public
worship, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and the rest of the Lord's day.
They are means which God has graciously appointed in order to
convey grace to man's heart by the Holy Spirit, or to keep up the
spiritual life after it has begun. As long as the world stands, the state
of a man's soul will always depend greatly on the manner and spirit
in which he uses means of grace. The manner and spirit, I say
deliberately and of purpose. Many English people use the means of
grace regularly and formally, but know nothing of enjoying them:
they attend to them as a matter of duty, but without a jot of feeling,
interest, or affection. Yet even common sense might tell us that this
formal, mechanical use of holy things is utterly worthless and
unprofitable. Our feeling about them is just one of the many tests of
the state of our souls. How can that man be thought to love God who
reads about Him and His Christ as a mere matter of duty, content
and satisfied if he has just moved his mark onward over so many
chapters?- How can that man suppose he is ready to meet Christ who
never takes any trouble to pour out his heart to Him in private as a
Friend, and is satisfied with saying over a string of words every
morning and evening, under the name of "prayer", scarcely thinking
what he is about?- How could that man be happy in heaven forever
who finds Sunday a dull, gloomy, tiresome day,-who knows nothing
of hearty prayer and praise, and cares nothing whether he hears
truth or error from the pulpit, or scarcely listens to the sermon?-
What can be the spiritual condition of that man whose heart never
"burns within him," when he receives that bread and wine which
specially remind us of Christ's death on the cross, and the atonement
for sin?
These inquiries are very serious and important. If means of grace had
no other use, and were not mighty helps toward heaven, they would
be useful in supplying a test of our real state in the sight of God. Tell
me what a man does in the matter of Bible reading and praying, in
the matter of Sunday, public worship, and the Lord's Supper, and I
will soon tell you what he is, and on which road he is traveling. How
is it with ourselves? Once more let us ask--In the matter of means of
grace, "How do we do?"
(8) Let me ask, in the eighth place, WHETHER WE EVER TRY TO DO ANY GOOD IN THE WORLD?
Our Lord Jesus Christ was continually "going around doing good,"
while He was on earth (Acts 10:38). The Apostles, and all the
disciples in Bible times, were always striving to walk in His steps. A
Christian who was content to go to heaven himself and cared not
what became of others, whether they lived happy and died in peace
or not, would have been regarded as a kind of monster in primitive
times, who did not have the Spirit of Christ. Why should we suppose
for a moment that a lower standard will suffice in the present day?
Why should fig trees which bear no fruit be spared in the present
day, when in our Lord's time they were to be cut down as "cumberers
of the ground"? (Luke 13:7). These are serious inquiries, and demand
serious answers.
There is a generation of professing Christians now-a-days, who seem
to know nothing of caring for their neighbors, and are completely
swallowed up in the concerns of number one--that is, their own and
their family's. They eat, and drink, and sleep, and dress, and work,
and earn money, and spend money, year after year; and whether
others are happy or miserable, well or ill, converted or unconverted,
traveling towards heaven or toward hell, appear to be questions
about which they are supremely indifferent. Can this be right? Can it
be reconciled with the religion of Him who spoke the parable of the
good Samaritan, and bade us "go and do likewise"? (Luke 10:37). I doubt it altogether.
There is much to be done everywhere. There is not a place in
England where there is not a field for work and an open door for
being useful, if any one is willing to enter it. There is not a Christian
in England who cannot find some good work to do for others, if he
has only a heart to do it. The poorest man or woman, without a single
penny to give, can always show his deep sympathy to the sick and
sorrowful, and by simple good-nature and tender helpfulness can
lessen the misery and increase the comfort of somebody in this
troubled world. But alas, the vast majority of professing Christians,
whether rich or poor, Churchmen or Dissenters, seem possessed with
a devil of detestable selfishness, and do not know the luxury of doing
good. They can argue by the hour about baptism, and the Lord's
supper, and the forms of worship, and the union of Church and State,
and such-like dry-bone questions. But all this time they seem to care
nothing for their neighbors. The plain practical point, whether they
love their neighbor, as the Samaritan loved the traveler in the
parable, and can spare any time and trouble to do him good, is a
point they never touch with one of their fingers.
In too many English parishes, both in town and country, true love
seems almost dead, both in church and chapel, and wretched party spirit and controversy are the only fruits that Christianity appears
able to produce. In a day like this, no reader should wonder if I press
this plain old subject on his conscience. Do we know anything of
genuine Samaritan love to others? Do we ever try to do any good to
any one beside our own friends and relatives, and our and our own
party or cause? Are we living like disciples of Him who always "went
about doing good," and commanded His disciples to take Him for
their "example"? (John 13:15). If not, with what face shall we meet
Him in the judgment day? In this matter also, how is it with our
souls? Once more I ask, "How do we do?"
(9) Let me ask, in the ninth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING OF LIVING THE LIFE OF HABITUAL COMMUNION WITH CHRIST?
By "communion," I mean that habit of "abiding in Christ" which our
Lord speaks of, in the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel, as essential
to Christian fruitfulness (John 15:4-8). Let it be distinctly
understood that union with Christ is one thing, and communion is
another. There can be no communion with the Lord Jesus without
union first; but unhappily there may be union with the Lord Jesus,
and afterwards little or no communion at all. The difference between
the two things is not the difference between two distinct steps, but
the higher and lower ends of an inclined plane. Union is the common
privilege of all who feel their sins, and truly repent, and come to
Christ by faith, and are accepted, forgiven, and justified in Him. Too
many believers, it may be feared, never get beyond this stage! Partly
from ignorance, partly from laziness, partly from the fear of man,
partly from secret love of the world, partly from some unmortified
besetting sin, they are content with a little faith, and a little hope,
and a little peace, and a little measure of holiness. And they live on
all their lives in this condition, doubting, weak, hesitant, and bearing
fruit only "thirty-fold" to the very end of their days!
Communion with Christ is the privilege of those who are continually
striving to grow in grace, and faith, and knowledge, and conformity
to the mind of Christ in all things--who "forget what is behind," and
"do not consider themselves yet to have taken hold of it, but "press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14) Union is the bud,
but communion is the flower: union is the baby, but communion is
the strong man. He that has union with Christ does well; but he that
enjoys communion with Him does far better. Both have one life, one
hope, one heavenly seed in their hearts,--one Lord, one Savior, one
Holy Spirit, one eternal home: but union is not as good as
communion! The grand secret of communion with Christ is to be
continually "living the life of faith in Him," and drawing out of Him
every hour the supply that every hour requires. To me, said St. Paul,
"to live is Christ."--I live: yet not I, but Christ lives in me (Galatians
2:20; Philippians 1:21). Communion like this is the secret of the
abiding "joy and peace in believing," which eminent saints like
Bradford and Rutherford notoriously possessed. None were ever
more humble, or more deeply convinced of their own infirmities and
corruption. They would have told you that the seventh chapter of
Romans precisely described their own experience. They would have
endorsed every word of the "Confession" put into the mouths of true
believers, in our Prayer-book Communion Service. They would have
said continually, "The remembrance of our sins is grievous to us; the
burden of them is intolerable." But they were ever looking unto
Jesus, and in Him they were ever able to rejoice.--Communion like
this is the secret of the splendid victories which such men as these
won over sin, the world, and the fear of death. They did not sit still
idly, saying, "I leave it all to Christ to do for me," but, strong in the
Lord, they used the Divine nature He had implanted in them, boldly
and confidently, and were "more than conquerors through Him who
loved them." (Romans 8:37). Like St. Paul they would have said, "I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians
4:13).
Ignorance of this life of communion is one among many reasons why
so many in this age are hankering after the Confessional, and strange
views of the "real presence" in the Lord's Supper. Such errors often
spring from imperfect knowledge of Christ, and obscure views of the
life of faith in a risen, living, and interceding Savior. Is communion
with Christ like this a common thing? Alas! It is very rare indeed!
The greater part of believers seem content with the barest
elementary knowledge of justification by faith, and half-a-dozen
other doctrines, and go doubting, limping, halting, groaning along
the way to heaven, and experience little of the sense of victory or of
joy.
The Churches of these latter days are full of weak, powerless, and
uninfluential believers, saved at last, "but so as by fire," but never
shaking the world, and knowing nothing of an "abundant entrance."
(1 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Peter 1:11). Despondency and Feeble-mind and
Much-afraid, in "Pilgrim's Progress," reached the celestial city as
really and truly as Valiant-for-the-truth and Greatheart. But they
certainly did not reach it with the same comfort, and did not do a
tenth part of the same good in the world! I fear there are many like
them in these days! When things are so in the Churches, no reader
can wonder that I inquire how it is with our souls. Once more I ask--
In the matter of communion with Christ, "How do we do? (10) Let
me ask, in the tenth and last place, whether we know anything of
being ready for Christ's second coming?
That He will come again the second time is as certain as anything in
the Bible. The world has not yet seen the last of Him. As surely as He
went up visibly and in the body on the Mount of Olives before the
eyes of His disciples, so surely will he come again in the clouds of
heaven, with power and great glory (Acts 1:11). He will come to raise
the dead, to change the living, to reward His saints, to punish the
wicked, to renew the earth, and take the curse away--to purify the
world, even as He purified the temple--and to set up a kingdom
where sin shall have no place, and holiness shall be the universal
rule. The Creeds which we repeat and profess to believe, continually
declare that Christ is coming again.
The early Christians made it a part of their religion to look for His
return. Backward they looked to the cross and the atonement for sin,
and rejoiced in Christ crucified. Upward they looked to Christ at the
right hand of God, and rejoiced in Christ interceding. Forward they
looked to the promised return of their Master, and rejoiced in the
thought that they would see Him again. And we ought to do the
same. What have we really got from Christ? And what do we know of
Him? And what do we think of Him? Are we living as if we long to
see Him again, and love His appearing?-- Readiness for that
appearing is nothing more than being a real, consistent Christian. It
requires no man to cease from his daily business. The farmer need
not give up his farm, nor the shopkeeper his counter, nor the doctor
his patients, nor the carpenter his hammer and nails, nor the
bricklayer his mortar and trowel, nor the blacksmith his smithy.
Each and all cannot do better than be found doing his duty, but
doing it as a Christian, and with a heart packed up and ready to be
gone. In the face of truth like this no reader can feel surprised if I
ask, How is it with our souls in the matter of Christ's second coming?
The world is growing old and running to seed. The vast majority of
Christians seem like the men in the time of Noah and Lot, who were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and
building, up to the very day when flood and fire came. Those words
of our Master are very solemn and heart-searching, "Remember Lot's
wife."--"Take heed lest at any time your heart be overcharged with
the cares of this life, and that day come upon you unawares." (Luke
17:32; 21:34). Once more I ask--In the matter of readiness for
Christ's second coming, "How are we doing?
I end my inquiries here. I might easily add to them; but I trust I have
said enough, at the beginning of this volume, to stir up self-inquiry
and self-inquiry and self-examination in many minds. God is my
witness that I have said nothing that I do not feel of paramount
importance to my own soul. I only want to do good to others.
Let me now conclude all with a few words of practical application.
(A) IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER ASLEEP AND UTTERLY THOUGHTLESS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY?
Oh, awake and sleep no more! Look at the churchyards and
cemeteries. One by one the people around you are dropping into
them, and you must lie there one day. Look forward to a world to
come, and lay your hand on your heart, and say, if you dare, that you
ready to die and meet God. Ah! You are like one sleeping in a boat
drifting down the stream towards the falls of Niagara! "What
meanest you, oh sleeper! Arise and call on your God!"--"Awake you
that sheep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light!""
(Jonah 1:6; Ephesians 5:14).
(B) IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER FEELING SELFCONDEMNED, AND AFRAID THAT THERE IS NO HOPE FOR HIS SOUL?
Cast aside your fears, and accept the offer of our Lord Jesus Christ to
sinners. Hear Him saying, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). "If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (John 7:37). Him that
comes unto me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37).
Doubt not that these words are for you as well as for anyone else.
Bring all your sins, and unbelief, and sense of guilt, and unfitness,
and doubts, and infirmities--bring all to Christ. "This man receives
sinners," and He will receive you (Luke 15:2). Do not stand still,
wavering between two opinions, and waiting for a convenient season.
On your feet! He's calling you. Come to Christ this very day (Mark
10:49).
(C) IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER A PROFESSING BELIEVER IN CHRIST, BUT A BELIEVER WITHOUT MUCH JOY AND PEACE AND COMFORT?
Take advice this day. Search your own heart, and see whether the
fault is not entirely your own. Very likely you are sitting at ease,
content with a little faith, and a little repentance, a little grace and a
little sanctification, and unconsciously shrinking back from
extremes. You will never be a very happy Christian at this rate, if you
live to the age of Methuselah. Change your plan, if you love life and
would see good days, without delay. Come out boldly, and act
decidedly. Be thorough, thorough, very through in your Christianity,
and set your face fully towards the sun. Lay aside every weight, and
the sin that does so easily beset you. Strive to get nearer to Christ, to
abide in Him, to cleave to Him, and to sit at His feet like Mary, and
drink full draughts out of the fountain of life. "These things," says St.
John, "we write unto you that your joy may be full." (1 John 1:4). "If
we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another." (1 John 1:7). (d) Is any reader of this paper a believer
oppressed with doubts and fears, on account of his feebleness,
infirmity, and sense of sin?
Remember the text that says of Jesus, A bruised reed will He not
break, and smoking flax shall he not quench." (Matthew 12:20). Take
comfort in the thought that this text is for you. What though your
faith be weak? It is better than no faith at all. The least grain of life is
better than death. Perhaps you are expecting too much in this world.
Earth is not heaven. You are yet in the body. Expect little from self,
but much from Christ. Look more to Jesus, and less to self.
(D) FINALLY, IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER SOMETIMES DOWNCAST BY THE TRIALS HE MEETS WITH ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN, BODILY TRIALS,
FAMILY TRIALS, TRIALS OF CIRCUMSTANCES, TRIALS FROM NEIGHBORS, AND TRIALS FROM THE WORLD?
Look up to a sympathizing Savior at God's right hand, and pour out
your heart before Him. He can be touched with the feelings of your
trials, for He Himself suffered when He was tempted. Are you alone?
So was He. Are you misrepresented and slandered? So was He. Are
you forsaken by friends? So was He. Are you persecuted? So was He.
Are you wearied in body and grieved in spirit? So was He. Yes! He
can feel for you, and He can help as well as feel. Then learn to draw
nearer to Christ. The time is short. Yet in a little while, and all will be
over: we shall soon be "with the Lord". "There is an end, and your
expectation shall not be cut off." (Proverbs 23:18). "You have need of
patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive
the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come
and will not tarry." (Hebrews 10:36-37).
SELF-INQUIRY
"Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we
have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do." (Acts
15:36).
The text which heads this page contains a proposal which the Apostle
Paul made to Barnabas after their first missionary journey. He
proposed to revisit the Churches they had been the means of
founding, and to see how the were getting on. Were their members
continuing steadfast in the faith? Were they growing in grace? Were
they going forward, or standing still? Were they prospering, or falling
away? "Let us go again and visit our brethren in see how they do."
This was a wise and useful proposal. Let us lay it to heart, and apply
it to ourselves in the nineteenth century. Let us search our ways, and
find out how matters stand between ourselves and God. Let us "see
how we do." I ask every reader of this volume to begin its perusal by
joining me in self-inquiry. If ever self-inquiry about religion was
needed, it is needed at the present day.
We live in an age of peculiar spiritual privileges. Since the world
began there never was such an opportunity for a man's soul to be
saved as there is in England at this time. There never were so many
signs of religion in the land, so many sermons preached, so many
services held in churches and chapels, so many Bibles sold, so many
religious books and tracts printed, so many Societies for evangelizing
mankind supported, so much outward respect paid to Christianity.
Things are done everywhere now-a-days which a hundred years ago
would have been thought impossible. Bishops support the boldest
and most aggressive efforts to reach the unconverted. Deans and
Chapters throw open the naves of cathedrals for Sunday evening
sermons! Clergy of the narrowest High Church School advocate
special missions, and vie with the Evangelical brethren in
proclaiming that going to church on Sunday is not enough to take a
man to heaven. In short, there is a stir about religion now-a-days to
which there has been nothing like since England was a nation, and
which the cleverest skeptics and infidels cannot deny. If Romaine,
and Venn, and Berridge, and Rowlands, and Grimshaw, and Hervey,
had been told that such things would come to pass about a century
after their deaths, they would have been tempted to say, with the
Samaritan nobleman, "If the Lord should windows of heavens might
such a thing be." (2 Kings 7:19). But the Lord has opened the
floodgates of heaven. There is more taught now-a-days in England of
the real Gospel, and of the way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ,
in one week, than there was in a year in Romaine's time. Surely I
have a right to say that we live in an age of spiritual privileges. But
are we any better for it? In an age like this it is well to ask, "How do
we do about our souls?"
We live in an age of special spiritual danger. Never perhaps since the
world began was there such an immense amount of mere outward
profession of religion as there is in the present day. A painfully large
proportion of all the congregations in the land consists of
unconverted people, who know nothing of heart-religion, never come
to the Lord's Table, and never confess Christ in their daily lives.
Myriads of those who are always running after preachers, and
crowding to hear special sermons, are nothing better than empty
tubs, and tinkling cymbals, without a bit of real vital Christianity at
home. The parable of the sower is continually receiving most vivid
and painful illustrations. The way-side hearers, the stony-ground
hearers, the thorny-ground hearers abound on every side.
The life of many religious people, I fear, in this age, is nothing better
than a continual course of spiritual dram-drinking. They are always
morbidly craving fresh excitement; and they seem to care little what
it is if they only get it. All preaching seems to be the same to them;
and they appear unable to "see differences" so long as they hear what
is clever, have their ears tickled, and sit in a crowd. Worst of all,
there are hundreds of young unestablished believers who are so
infected with the same love of excitement, that they actually think it a
duty to be always seeking it. Insensibly almost to themselves, they
take up a kind of hysterical, sensational, sentimental Christianity,
until they are never content with the "old paths" and, like the
Athenians, are always running after something new. To see a calm minded young believer,
who is not stuck up, self confident, self conceited, and more ready to teach than learn, but content with a
daily steady effort to grow up into Christ's likeness, and to do Christ's
work quietly and unostentatiously, at home, is really becoming
almost a rarity! Too many young professors, alas, behave like young
recruits who have not spent all their bounty money. They show how
little deep root they have, and how little knowledge of their hearts, by
noise, forwardness, readiness to contradict and set down old
Christians, and over-weaning trust in their own fancied soundness
and wisdom! Well will it be for many young professors of this age if
they do not end, after being tossed about for a while, and "carried to
and fro by every wind of doctrine," by joining some petty, narrow minded,
censorious sect, or embracing some senseless, unreasoning
crotchety heresy. Surely, in times like these there is great need for
self-examination. When we look around us, we may well ask,
"How do we do about our souls?"
In handling this question, I think the shortest plan will be to suggest
a list of subjects for self-inquiry, and to get them in order. By so
doing I shall hope to meet the case of every one into whose hands
this volume may fall. I invite every reader of this paper to join me in
calm, searching self-examination, for a few short minutes. I desire to
speak to myself as well as to you. I approach you not as an enemy,
but as a friend. "My heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may
be saved" (Romans 10:1). Bear with me if I say things which at first
sight look harsh and severe. Believe me, he is your best friend who
tells you the most truth.
(1) Let me ask, in the first place, "DO WE EVER THINK ABOUT OUR SOULS AT ALL?"
Thousands of English people, I fear, cannot answer that question
satisfactorily. They never give the subject of religion any place in
their thoughts. From the beginning of the year to the end they are
absorbed in the pursuit of business, pleasure, politics, money, or self
indulgence of some kind or another. Death, and judgment, and
eternity, and heaven, and hell, and a world to come, are never calmly
looked at and considered. They live on as if they were never going to
die, or rise again, or stand at the bar of God, or receive an eternal
sentence! They do not openly oppose religion, for they have not
sufficient reflection about it to do so; but they eat and drink, and
sleep, and get money, and spend money, as if religion was a mere
fiction and not a reality. They are neither Romanists, nor Socinians,
nor infidels, nor High Church, nor Low Church, nor Broad Church.
They are just nothing at all, and do not take the trouble to have
opinions. A more senseless and unreasonable way of living cannot be
conceived; but they do not pretend to reason about it. They simply
never think about God, unless frightened for few minutes by
sickness, death in their families, or an accident. Barring such
interruptions, they appear to ignore religion altogether, and hold on
to their way cool and undisturbed, as if there were nothing worth
thinking of except this world.
It is hard to imagine a life more unworthy of an immortal creature
than such a life as I have just described, for it reduces a man to the
level of a beast. But it is literally and truly the life of multitudes in
England; and as they pass away their place is taken by multitudes
like them. The picture, no doubt, is horrible, distressing, and
revolting: but, unhappily, it is only too true. In every large town, in
every market, on every stock-exchange, in every club, you may see
specimens of this class by the scores--men who think of everything
under the sun except the one thing needful--the salvation of their
souls. Like the Jews of old they do not "consider their ways," they do
not "consider their latter end;" they do not "consider that they do
evil" ( Isaiah 1:3; Haggai 1:7; Deuteronomy 32:29; Ecclesiastes 5:1).
Like Gallio they "care for none of these things:" they are not in their
way. ( Acts 18:17) If they prosper in the world, and get rich, and
succeed in their line of life, they are praised, and admired by their
contemporaries. Nothing succeeds in England like success! But for
all this they cannot live forever. They will have to die and appear
before the bar of God, and be judged; and then what will the end be?
When a large class of this kind exists in our country, no reader need
wonder that I ask whether he belongs to it. If you do, you ought to
have a mark set on your door, as there used to be a mark on a plague stricken house two centuries ago,
with the words, "Lord have mercy
on us," written on it. Look at the class I have been describing, and
then look at your own soul.
(2) Let me ask, in the second place, WHETHER WE EVER DO ANYTHING ABOUT OUR SOULS?
There are multitudes in England who think occasionally about
religion, but unhappily never get beyond thinking. After a stirring
sermon,--or after a funeral,--or under the pressure of illness,--or on
Sunday evening,--or when things are going on badly in their
families,--or when they meet some bright example of a Christian,--or
when they fall in with some striking religious book or tract,--they will
at the time think a good deal, and even talk a little about religion in a
vague way. But they stop short, as if thinking and talking were
enough to save them. They are always meaning, and intending, and
purposing, and resolving, and wishing, and telling us that they
"know" what is right, and "hope" to be found right in the end, but
they never attain to any action. There is no actual separation from
the service of the world and sin, no real taking up the cross and
following Christ, no positive doing in their Christianity. Their life is
spent in playing the part of the son in our Lord's parable, to whom
the father said, "'Go and work today in the vineyard:' and he
answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go" (Matthew 21:30). They are
like those whom Ezekiel describes, who liked his preaching, but
never practiced what he preached:--"They come unto you as the
people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear
your words, but they will not do them. . . .And lo, you are unto them
as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play
well on an instrument: for they hear your words but they do them
not." (Ezekiel 33:31- 32). In a day like this, when hearing and
thinking without doing, is so common, no one can justly wonder that
I press upon men the absolute need of self-examination. Once more,
then, I ask my readers to consider the question of my text,--"How do
we do about our souls?"
(3) Let me ask, in the third place, WHETHER WE ARE TRYING TO SATISFY OUR CONSCIENCES WITH A MERE 'FORMAL' RELIGION?
There are myriads in England at this moment who are making
shipwreck on this rock. Like the Pharisees of old, they make much
ado about the outward part of Christianity, while the inward and
spiritual part is totally neglected. They are careful to attend all the
services of their place of worship, and regular in using all its forms
and ordinances. They are never absent from Communion when the
Lord's Supper is administered. Sometimes they are most strict in
observing Lent, and attach great importance to Saints' days. They are
often keen partisans of their own Church, or sect, or congregation,
and ready to contend with any one who does not agree with them.
Yet all this time there is no heart in their religion. Anyone who knows
them intimately can see with half an eye that their affections are set
on things below, and not on things above; and that they are trying to
make up for the want of inward Christianity by an excessive quantity
of outward form. And this formal religion does them no real good.
They are not satisfied. Beginning at the wrong end, by making the
outward things first, they know nothing of inward joy and peace, and
pass their days in a constant struggle, secretly conscious that there is
something wrong, and yet not knowing why. Well, after all, if they do
not go on from one stage of formality to another, until in despair they
take a fatal plunge, and fall into Popery! When professing Christians
of this kind are so painfully numerous, no one need wonder if I press
upon him the paramount importance of close self-examination. If
you love life, do not be content with the husk, and shell, and
scaffolding of religion. Remember our Savior's words about the
Jewish formalists of His day: "These people draws near with their
mouth, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
In vain do they worship." (Matthew 15:8-9). It needs something
more than going diligently to church, and receiving the Lord's
Supper, to take our souls to heaven. Means of grace and forms of
religion are useful in their way, and God seldom does anything for
His church without them. But let us beware of making shipwreck on
the very lighthouse which helps to show the channel into the harbor.
Once more I ask, "How do we do about our souls?"
(4) Let me ask, in the fourth place, WHETHER WE HAVE RECEIVED THE FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS?
Few reasonable Englishmen would think of denying that they are
sinners. Many perhaps would say that they are not as bad as many,
and that they have not been so very wicked, and so forth. But few, I
repeat, would pretend to say that they had always lived like angels,
and never done, or said, or thought a wrong thing all their days. In
short, all of us must confess that we are more or less "sinners," and,
as sinners, are guilty before God; and, as guilty, we must be forgiven,
or be lost and condemned forever at the last day.-- Now it is the glory
of the Christian religion that it provides for us the very forgiveness
that we need--full, free, perfect, eternal, and complete. It is a leading
article in that well-known creed which most Englishmen learn when
they are children. They are taught to say, "I believe in the forgiveness
of sins." This forgiveness of sins has been purchased for us by the
eternal Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has purchased it for us
by coming into the world to be our Savior, and by living, dying, and
rising again, as our Substitute, in our behalf. He has bought it for us
at the price of His own most precious blood, by suffering in our place
on the cross, and making satisfaction for our sins. But this
forgiveness, great, and full, and glorious as it is, does not become the
property of every man and woman as a matter of course. It is not a
privilege which every member of a Church possesses, merely because
he is a Churchman. It is a thing which each individual must receive
for himself by his own personal faith, lay hold on by faith,
appropriate by faith, and make his own by faith; or else, so far as he
is concerned, Christ will have died in vain. "He that believes on the
Son has everlasting life, and he that believes not the Son shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). No terms can
be imagined more simple, and more suitable to man. As good old
Latimer said in speaking of the matter of justification, "It is but
believe and have." It is only faith that is required; and faith is
nothing more than the humble, heartfelt trust of the soul which
desires to be saved. Jesus is able and willing to save; but man must
come to Jesus and believe. All that believe are at once justified and
forgiven: but without believing there is no forgiveness at all.
Now here is exactly the point, I am afraid, where multitudes of
English people fail, and are in imminent danger of being lost forever.
They know that there is no forgiveness of sin excepting in Christ
Jesus. They can tell you that there is no Savior for sinners, no
Redeemer, no Mediator, excepting Him who was born of the Virgin
Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead, and buried. But
here they stop, and get no further! They never come to the point of
actually laying hold of Christ by faith, and becoming one with Christ
and Christ in them. They can say, He is a Savior, but not my Savior--
a Redeemer, but not my Redeemer--a Priest, but not my Priest--an
Advocate, but not my Advocate: and so they live and die unforgiven!
No wonder that Martin Luther said, "Many are lost because they
cannot use possessive pronouns." When this is the state of many in
this day, no one need wonder that I ask men whether they have
received the forgiveness of sins. An eminent Christian lady once said,
in her old age,-- "The beginning of eternal life in my soul, was a
conversation I had with an old gentleman who came to visit my
father when I was only a little girl. He took me by the hand one day
and said, 'My dear child, my life is nearly over, and you will probably
live many years after I am gone. But never forget two things. One is,
that there is such a thing as having our sins forgiven while we live.
The other is, that there is such a thing as knowing and feeling that we
are forgiven.' I thank God I have never forgotten his words."-- How is
it with us? Let us not rest until we "know and feel", as the Prayer
Book says, that we are forgiven. Once more let us ask, in the matter
of forgiveness of sins, "How do we do?"
(5) Let me ask, in the fifth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING BY EXPERIENCE OF CONVERSION TO GOD.
Without conversion there is no salvation. "Except you be converted,
and become as little children, you shall never enter the kingdom of
heaven."-- "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God."--"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His."--"If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." (Matthew 18:3,
John 3:3, Romans 8:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are all by nature so weak, so worldly, so earthly-minded, so
inclined to sin, that without a thorough change we cannot serve God
in life, and could not enjoy Him after death. Just as ducks, as soon as
they are hatched, take naturally to water, so do children, as soon as
they can do anything, take to selfishness, lying, and deceit; and none
pray or love God, unless they are taught. High or low, rich or poor,
gentle or simple, we all need a complete change--a change which is
the special office of the Holy Spirit to give us. Call it what you please-
-new birth, regeneration, renewal, new creation, quickening, repentance
--the thing must be had if we are to be saved: and if we
have the thing it will be seen.
Sense of sin and deep hatred of it, faith in Christ and love to Him,
delight in holiness and longing after more of it, love for God's people
and distaste for the things of the world,--these, these are the signs
and evidences which always accompany conversion. Myriads around
us, it may be feared, know nothing about it. They are, in Scripture
language, dead, and asleep, and blind, and unfit for the kingdom of
God. Year after year, perhaps, they go on repeating the words of the
creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit;" but they are utterly ignorant of
His changing operations on the inward man. Sometimes they flatter
themselves they are born again, because they have been baptized,
and go to church, and receive the Lord's Supper; while they are
totally destitute of the marks of the new birth, as described by John
in his first Epistle. And all this time the words of Scripture are clear
and plain,--"Except you be converted, you shall in no case enter the
kingdom." (Matthew 18:3).
In times like these, no reader ought to wonder that I press the
subject of conversion on men's souls. No doubt there are plenty of
sham conversions in such a day of religious excitement as this. But
bad coin is no proof that there is no good money: no, rather it is a
sign that there is some money current which is valuable, and is worth
imitation. Hypocrites and sham Christians are indirect evidence that
there is such a thing as real grace among men. Let us search our own
hearts then, and see how it is with ourselves. Once more let us ask, in
the matter of conversion, "How do we do?"
(6) Let me ask, in the sixth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN HOLINESS?
It is as certain as anything in the Bible that "without holiness no one
will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). It is equally certain that it is the
invariable fruit of saving faith, the real test of regeneration, the only
sound evidence of indwelling grace, the certain consequence of vital
union with Christ.
Holiness is not absolute perfection and freedom from all faults.
Nothing of the kind! The wild words of some who talk of enjoying
"unbroken communion with God for many months, are greatly to be
deprecated, because they raise unscriptural expectations in the
minds of young believers, and so do harm. Absolute perfection is for
heaven, and not for earth, where we have a weak body, a wicked
world, and a busy devil continually near our souls. Nor is real
Christian holiness ever attained, or maintained, without a constant
fight and struggle. The great Apostle, who said "I fight,-I labor,-I
keep under my body and bring it into subjection" (1 Corinthians
9:27), would have been amazed to hear of sanctification without
personal exertion, and to be told that believers only need to sit still,
and everything will be done for them!
Yet, weak and imperfect as the holiness of the best saints may be, it is
a real true thing, and has a character about it as unmistakable as
light and salt. It is not a thing which begins and ends with noisy
profession: it will be seen much more than heard. Genuine Scriptural
holiness will make a man do his duty at home and by the fireside,
and adorn his doctrine in the little trials of daily life. It will exhibit
itself in passive graces as well as in active. It will make a man
humble, kind, gentle, unselfish, good-tempered, considerate of
others, loving, meek, and forgiving. It will not constrain him to go
out of the world, and shut himself up in a cave, like a hermit. But it
will make him do his duty in that state to which God has called him,
on Christian principles, and after the pattern of Christ.
Such holiness, I know well, is not common. It is a style of practical
Christianity which is painfully rare in these days. But I can find no
other standard of holiness in the Word of God,- no other which
comes up to the pictures drawn by our Lord and His Apostles. In an
age like this no reader can wonder if I press this subject also on
men's attention. Once more let us ask--In the matter of holiness, how
is it with our souls? "How do we do?"
(7) Let me ask, in the seventh place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING OF ENJOYING THE MEANS OF GRACE?
When I speak of the means of grace, I have in my mind's eye five
principal things: the Reading of the Bible, private prayer, public
worship, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and the rest of the Lord's day.
They are means which God has graciously appointed in order to
convey grace to man's heart by the Holy Spirit, or to keep up the
spiritual life after it has begun. As long as the world stands, the state
of a man's soul will always depend greatly on the manner and spirit
in which he uses means of grace. The manner and spirit, I say
deliberately and of purpose. Many English people use the means of
grace regularly and formally, but know nothing of enjoying them:
they attend to them as a matter of duty, but without a jot of feeling,
interest, or affection. Yet even common sense might tell us that this
formal, mechanical use of holy things is utterly worthless and
unprofitable. Our feeling about them is just one of the many tests of
the state of our souls. How can that man be thought to love God who
reads about Him and His Christ as a mere matter of duty, content
and satisfied if he has just moved his mark onward over so many
chapters?- How can that man suppose he is ready to meet Christ who
never takes any trouble to pour out his heart to Him in private as a
Friend, and is satisfied with saying over a string of words every
morning and evening, under the name of "prayer", scarcely thinking
what he is about?- How could that man be happy in heaven forever
who finds Sunday a dull, gloomy, tiresome day,-who knows nothing
of hearty prayer and praise, and cares nothing whether he hears
truth or error from the pulpit, or scarcely listens to the sermon?-
What can be the spiritual condition of that man whose heart never
"burns within him," when he receives that bread and wine which
specially remind us of Christ's death on the cross, and the atonement
for sin?
These inquiries are very serious and important. If means of grace had
no other use, and were not mighty helps toward heaven, they would
be useful in supplying a test of our real state in the sight of God. Tell
me what a man does in the matter of Bible reading and praying, in
the matter of Sunday, public worship, and the Lord's Supper, and I
will soon tell you what he is, and on which road he is traveling. How
is it with ourselves? Once more let us ask--In the matter of means of
grace, "How do we do?"
(8) Let me ask, in the eighth place, WHETHER WE EVER TRY TO DO ANY GOOD IN THE WORLD?
Our Lord Jesus Christ was continually "going around doing good,"
while He was on earth (Acts 10:38). The Apostles, and all the
disciples in Bible times, were always striving to walk in His steps. A
Christian who was content to go to heaven himself and cared not
what became of others, whether they lived happy and died in peace
or not, would have been regarded as a kind of monster in primitive
times, who did not have the Spirit of Christ. Why should we suppose
for a moment that a lower standard will suffice in the present day?
Why should fig trees which bear no fruit be spared in the present
day, when in our Lord's time they were to be cut down as "cumberers
of the ground"? (Luke 13:7). These are serious inquiries, and demand
serious answers.
There is a generation of professing Christians now-a-days, who seem
to know nothing of caring for their neighbors, and are completely
swallowed up in the concerns of number one--that is, their own and
their family's. They eat, and drink, and sleep, and dress, and work,
and earn money, and spend money, year after year; and whether
others are happy or miserable, well or ill, converted or unconverted,
traveling towards heaven or toward hell, appear to be questions
about which they are supremely indifferent. Can this be right? Can it
be reconciled with the religion of Him who spoke the parable of the
good Samaritan, and bade us "go and do likewise"? (Luke 10:37). I doubt it altogether.
There is much to be done everywhere. There is not a place in
England where there is not a field for work and an open door for
being useful, if any one is willing to enter it. There is not a Christian
in England who cannot find some good work to do for others, if he
has only a heart to do it. The poorest man or woman, without a single
penny to give, can always show his deep sympathy to the sick and
sorrowful, and by simple good-nature and tender helpfulness can
lessen the misery and increase the comfort of somebody in this
troubled world. But alas, the vast majority of professing Christians,
whether rich or poor, Churchmen or Dissenters, seem possessed with
a devil of detestable selfishness, and do not know the luxury of doing
good. They can argue by the hour about baptism, and the Lord's
supper, and the forms of worship, and the union of Church and State,
and such-like dry-bone questions. But all this time they seem to care
nothing for their neighbors. The plain practical point, whether they
love their neighbor, as the Samaritan loved the traveler in the
parable, and can spare any time and trouble to do him good, is a
point they never touch with one of their fingers.
In too many English parishes, both in town and country, true love
seems almost dead, both in church and chapel, and wretched party spirit and controversy are the only fruits that Christianity appears
able to produce. In a day like this, no reader should wonder if I press
this plain old subject on his conscience. Do we know anything of
genuine Samaritan love to others? Do we ever try to do any good to
any one beside our own friends and relatives, and our and our own
party or cause? Are we living like disciples of Him who always "went
about doing good," and commanded His disciples to take Him for
their "example"? (John 13:15). If not, with what face shall we meet
Him in the judgment day? In this matter also, how is it with our
souls? Once more I ask, "How do we do?"
(9) Let me ask, in the ninth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING OF LIVING THE LIFE OF HABITUAL COMMUNION WITH CHRIST?
By "communion," I mean that habit of "abiding in Christ" which our
Lord speaks of, in the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel, as essential
to Christian fruitfulness (John 15:4-8). Let it be distinctly
understood that union with Christ is one thing, and communion is
another. There can be no communion with the Lord Jesus without
union first; but unhappily there may be union with the Lord Jesus,
and afterwards little or no communion at all. The difference between
the two things is not the difference between two distinct steps, but
the higher and lower ends of an inclined plane. Union is the common
privilege of all who feel their sins, and truly repent, and come to
Christ by faith, and are accepted, forgiven, and justified in Him. Too
many believers, it may be feared, never get beyond this stage! Partly
from ignorance, partly from laziness, partly from the fear of man,
partly from secret love of the world, partly from some unmortified
besetting sin, they are content with a little faith, and a little hope,
and a little peace, and a little measure of holiness. And they live on
all their lives in this condition, doubting, weak, hesitant, and bearing
fruit only "thirty-fold" to the very end of their days!
Communion with Christ is the privilege of those who are continually
striving to grow in grace, and faith, and knowledge, and conformity
to the mind of Christ in all things--who "forget what is behind," and
"do not consider themselves yet to have taken hold of it, but "press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14) Union is the bud,
but communion is the flower: union is the baby, but communion is
the strong man. He that has union with Christ does well; but he that
enjoys communion with Him does far better. Both have one life, one
hope, one heavenly seed in their hearts,--one Lord, one Savior, one
Holy Spirit, one eternal home: but union is not as good as
communion! The grand secret of communion with Christ is to be
continually "living the life of faith in Him," and drawing out of Him
every hour the supply that every hour requires. To me, said St. Paul,
"to live is Christ."--I live: yet not I, but Christ lives in me (Galatians
2:20; Philippians 1:21). Communion like this is the secret of the
abiding "joy and peace in believing," which eminent saints like
Bradford and Rutherford notoriously possessed. None were ever
more humble, or more deeply convinced of their own infirmities and
corruption. They would have told you that the seventh chapter of
Romans precisely described their own experience. They would have
endorsed every word of the "Confession" put into the mouths of true
believers, in our Prayer-book Communion Service. They would have
said continually, "The remembrance of our sins is grievous to us; the
burden of them is intolerable." But they were ever looking unto
Jesus, and in Him they were ever able to rejoice.--Communion like
this is the secret of the splendid victories which such men as these
won over sin, the world, and the fear of death. They did not sit still
idly, saying, "I leave it all to Christ to do for me," but, strong in the
Lord, they used the Divine nature He had implanted in them, boldly
and confidently, and were "more than conquerors through Him who
loved them." (Romans 8:37). Like St. Paul they would have said, "I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians
4:13).
Ignorance of this life of communion is one among many reasons why
so many in this age are hankering after the Confessional, and strange
views of the "real presence" in the Lord's Supper. Such errors often
spring from imperfect knowledge of Christ, and obscure views of the
life of faith in a risen, living, and interceding Savior. Is communion
with Christ like this a common thing? Alas! It is very rare indeed!
The greater part of believers seem content with the barest
elementary knowledge of justification by faith, and half-a-dozen
other doctrines, and go doubting, limping, halting, groaning along
the way to heaven, and experience little of the sense of victory or of
joy.
The Churches of these latter days are full of weak, powerless, and
uninfluential believers, saved at last, "but so as by fire," but never
shaking the world, and knowing nothing of an "abundant entrance."
(1 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Peter 1:11). Despondency and Feeble-mind and
Much-afraid, in "Pilgrim's Progress," reached the celestial city as
really and truly as Valiant-for-the-truth and Greatheart. But they
certainly did not reach it with the same comfort, and did not do a
tenth part of the same good in the world! I fear there are many like
them in these days! When things are so in the Churches, no reader
can wonder that I inquire how it is with our souls. Once more I ask--
In the matter of communion with Christ, "How do we do? (10) Let
me ask, in the tenth and last place, whether we know anything of
being ready for Christ's second coming?
That He will come again the second time is as certain as anything in
the Bible. The world has not yet seen the last of Him. As surely as He
went up visibly and in the body on the Mount of Olives before the
eyes of His disciples, so surely will he come again in the clouds of
heaven, with power and great glory (Acts 1:11). He will come to raise
the dead, to change the living, to reward His saints, to punish the
wicked, to renew the earth, and take the curse away--to purify the
world, even as He purified the temple--and to set up a kingdom
where sin shall have no place, and holiness shall be the universal
rule. The Creeds which we repeat and profess to believe, continually
declare that Christ is coming again.
The early Christians made it a part of their religion to look for His
return. Backward they looked to the cross and the atonement for sin,
and rejoiced in Christ crucified. Upward they looked to Christ at the
right hand of God, and rejoiced in Christ interceding. Forward they
looked to the promised return of their Master, and rejoiced in the
thought that they would see Him again. And we ought to do the
same. What have we really got from Christ? And what do we know of
Him? And what do we think of Him? Are we living as if we long to
see Him again, and love His appearing?-- Readiness for that
appearing is nothing more than being a real, consistent Christian. It
requires no man to cease from his daily business. The farmer need
not give up his farm, nor the shopkeeper his counter, nor the doctor
his patients, nor the carpenter his hammer and nails, nor the
bricklayer his mortar and trowel, nor the blacksmith his smithy.
Each and all cannot do better than be found doing his duty, but
doing it as a Christian, and with a heart packed up and ready to be
gone. In the face of truth like this no reader can feel surprised if I
ask, How is it with our souls in the matter of Christ's second coming?
The world is growing old and running to seed. The vast majority of
Christians seem like the men in the time of Noah and Lot, who were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and
building, up to the very day when flood and fire came. Those words
of our Master are very solemn and heart-searching, "Remember Lot's
wife."--"Take heed lest at any time your heart be overcharged with
the cares of this life, and that day come upon you unawares." (Luke
17:32; 21:34). Once more I ask--In the matter of readiness for
Christ's second coming, "How are we doing?
I end my inquiries here. I might easily add to them; but I trust I have
said enough, at the beginning of this volume, to stir up self-inquiry
and self-inquiry and self-examination in many minds. God is my
witness that I have said nothing that I do not feel of paramount
importance to my own soul. I only want to do good to others.
Let me now conclude all with a few words of practical application.
(A) IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER ASLEEP AND UTTERLY THOUGHTLESS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY?
Oh, awake and sleep no more! Look at the churchyards and
cemeteries. One by one the people around you are dropping into
them, and you must lie there one day. Look forward to a world to
come, and lay your hand on your heart, and say, if you dare, that you
ready to die and meet God. Ah! You are like one sleeping in a boat
drifting down the stream towards the falls of Niagara! "What
meanest you, oh sleeper! Arise and call on your God!"--"Awake you
that sheep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light!""
(Jonah 1:6; Ephesians 5:14).
(B) IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER FEELING SELFCONDEMNED, AND AFRAID THAT THERE IS NO HOPE FOR HIS SOUL?
Cast aside your fears, and accept the offer of our Lord Jesus Christ to
sinners. Hear Him saying, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). "If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (John 7:37). Him that
comes unto me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37).
Doubt not that these words are for you as well as for anyone else.
Bring all your sins, and unbelief, and sense of guilt, and unfitness,
and doubts, and infirmities--bring all to Christ. "This man receives
sinners," and He will receive you (Luke 15:2). Do not stand still,
wavering between two opinions, and waiting for a convenient season.
On your feet! He's calling you. Come to Christ this very day (Mark
10:49).
(C) IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER A PROFESSING BELIEVER IN CHRIST, BUT A BELIEVER WITHOUT MUCH JOY AND PEACE AND COMFORT?
Take advice this day. Search your own heart, and see whether the
fault is not entirely your own. Very likely you are sitting at ease,
content with a little faith, and a little repentance, a little grace and a
little sanctification, and unconsciously shrinking back from
extremes. You will never be a very happy Christian at this rate, if you
live to the age of Methuselah. Change your plan, if you love life and
would see good days, without delay. Come out boldly, and act
decidedly. Be thorough, thorough, very through in your Christianity,
and set your face fully towards the sun. Lay aside every weight, and
the sin that does so easily beset you. Strive to get nearer to Christ, to
abide in Him, to cleave to Him, and to sit at His feet like Mary, and
drink full draughts out of the fountain of life. "These things," says St.
John, "we write unto you that your joy may be full." (1 John 1:4). "If
we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another." (1 John 1:7). (d) Is any reader of this paper a believer
oppressed with doubts and fears, on account of his feebleness,
infirmity, and sense of sin?
Remember the text that says of Jesus, A bruised reed will He not
break, and smoking flax shall he not quench." (Matthew 12:20). Take
comfort in the thought that this text is for you. What though your
faith be weak? It is better than no faith at all. The least grain of life is
better than death. Perhaps you are expecting too much in this world.
Earth is not heaven. You are yet in the body. Expect little from self,
but much from Christ. Look more to Jesus, and less to self.
(D) FINALLY, IS ANY READER OF THIS PAPER SOMETIMES DOWNCAST BY THE TRIALS HE MEETS WITH ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN, BODILY TRIALS,
FAMILY TRIALS, TRIALS OF CIRCUMSTANCES, TRIALS FROM NEIGHBORS, AND TRIALS FROM THE WORLD?
Look up to a sympathizing Savior at God's right hand, and pour out
your heart before Him. He can be touched with the feelings of your
trials, for He Himself suffered when He was tempted. Are you alone?
So was He. Are you misrepresented and slandered? So was He. Are
you forsaken by friends? So was He. Are you persecuted? So was He.
Are you wearied in body and grieved in spirit? So was He. Yes! He
can feel for you, and He can help as well as feel. Then learn to draw
nearer to Christ. The time is short. Yet in a little while, and all will be
over: we shall soon be "with the Lord". "There is an end, and your
expectation shall not be cut off." (Proverbs 23:18). "You have need of
patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive
the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come
and will not tarry." (Hebrews 10:36-37).