Short sermons on consecration and kindred themes : for the closet, the fireside, and the lecture-room

Contents

Sermon Page

I. Consecration : Its Nature and Obligation 7

II. Consecration must be Complete 19

I. Consecration : Its Nature And Obli- Gation

"And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? " — 1 Chron. xxix, 5.

Consecration, taken in a religious sense, is, according to Richard Watson, " A devoting or setting apart any thing to the worship or service of God." It is a demand, therefore, resting on the assumption that God has a right to our service, possessions, and love. And this demand we are expected to meet, however revolting it may be to our carnal natures, or however inconsistent with what appears to be our worldly interest. It is for this reason that consecration is described in the Scriptures as a sacrifice. Every injunction of self-denial, mortification of the flesh, and renunciation of the world, imposes the duty of consecration. And the work of faith, the experience of love, and the patience and perfection of hope, suppose that consecration has been performed, and is constantly and conscientiously maintained.

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the first-born." The word rendered sanctify "signifies," according to Dr. A. Clarke, "to consecrate, separate, and set apart a thing or person from all secular purposes to some religious use, and exactly answers to the import of the Greek hagiadzo, from a, privative, and ga, the earth, because every thing offered or consecrated to God was separated from all earthly uses. Hence a holy person or saint is termed hagios, that is, a person separated from the earth ; one who lives a holy life entirely devoted to the service of God." Accordingly, the father of the Israelitish household was required to explain these things to his children, and to say to them, " I sacrifice to the Lord," even all " the first-born of man." These, of course, were not sacrificed in the sense of being slain upon the altar, but they were consecrated to the Lord, and deemed as absolutely devoted to sacred uses as if their flesh had been consumed in the sacrificial flames. And in regard to the firstling of the flocks and herds, the command was, " Thou shalt set apart," or, as the margin reads, " cause to pass over" " unto the Lord " all these for holy uses. And the reason assigned is, They are Mine. " Sanctify unto Me all the first-born." " Mine shall they be ; I am the Lord." The original right of property which Jehovah has in all things, and in all souls, is made the ground of this obligation to consecrate unto him the firstling of the flock and the first-born male of the household, that is, the most cherished and endeared of our earthly possessions, in proof that we hold the whole in subjection to his will, and as stewards of his manifold gifts. " Then will I give him unto the Lord all the days of his life," is the form of consecration with which Hannah dedicated her child unto the

CONSECRATION. g

Almighty when " she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore." In regard to temporal possessions, the Scripture affirmation is, " All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's ; it is holy unto the Lord." And this dedication of the tithe to religious uses is an acknowledgment of God's right to all. The consecration of property to God is the doctrine it teaches. The followers of Jesus, in their character as Christians, are consecrated persons. " Christians in general," says Richard Watson, " are consecrated to the Lord, and are a holy race, a chosen people." Or, as St. Peter has expressed it, " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Consecration, then, is an acknowledgment of God's supremacy — that all right of property and moral government is in him, and that he is worthy of our best, purest, and noblest affections. It is a solemn devotement of ourselves, our possessions, our households, our affections, our honors, and whatever we most esteem on earth, to our Lord and King. It is loyalty to God, in heart and life, at any expense, sacrifice, peril, or loss, for time and for eternity. It is the honest choice of Christ as our portion, with his cross, the contempt of the world, and the malice of hell, for the sake of the communion of his love, and the partnership of his throne. It is self-denial in principle and in practice, under the inspiration of the loftiest sentiments of religion. It is the purpose to give up the right hand and pluck out the right eye, rather

IO SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION

than to displease God. It is that disposition which leads us to account all things loss for the excellency of Christ — which heeds the command, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." It is the solemn abjuration of all selfish objects and ends, that we may fulfill our course with joy, and reap an eternal reward. It is the divinely-begotten strength and heroism which enables us to endure tribulation and persecution for Christ's sake, cheerfully, with the conviction and assurance that because he hath overcome we also shall obtain grace to triumph, and glory to crown our immortal years. It is to come out from the world and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. It is to " take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake." It is to yield the heart always to the influence of the grace of God, to be crucified with Jesus, and to live the life which we now live in the flesh with constant reference to the will of God. It is to seek not our own, but the things which are Jesus Christ's. It is to press on incessantly, forgetting those things which are behind, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It is to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. It is to endure hardness as good soldiers of our conquering Captain and Prince. It is to do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. It is to walk worthy of God, who has called us unto his kingdom and glory.. It is to turn from all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. It is

CONSECRATION. II

to labor constantly to enter into that rest which remaineth to the people of God. It is to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which following after peace and holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is to rejoice in fiery trials, if thereby we are made partakers of the sufferings of Christ. It is to resist the devil, with sobriety, vigilance, and steadfastness, and to fly the corruption which is in the world through lust, as the only means of apprehending the exceeding great and precious promises, and becoming a partaker of the Divine nature — the sum of all attainment. It is to give all diligence to obtain an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. It is to account ourselves servants, stewards, and soldiers of Jesus Christ, and to act in the world as those who are his representatives — who have his work to do, his battles to fight, and his kingdom to maintain.

Such is the nature of consecration to God. There is in it martyr heroism and sublimity. There is in it that which dignifies and ennobles the humblest and commonest life. It lifts us to a higher grade of being. It inspires us with a worthy object of pursuit. It enriches our natures, and aggrandizes our whole career on earth. O, to feel that we live not for ourselves, not for mere secular ends and objects, not for temporary expedients and perishable results, but for God, for his kingdom and glory, for our fellow-men and their highest good, for the grand and glorious issues of our immortal state — that is genuine nobility, kingly privilege, and everlasting honor ! Just because consecration overcomes selfishness, lifts us out of the glare of worldly splendors, and makes us strong in purpose to resist evil, and to consummate in our experience all possibilities of virtue, does it bring to us abundant satisfaction. Did it require less, it would accomplish less in our behalf. We let go of the creature ; we devote ourselves to the Creator. It is a relief to be able to let go of self ; it is a mercy to be permitted to devote the life and heart to God. O for grace to nail our carnal natures to the cross, till the last quivering motion of the flesh shall cease ! O for power to devote body and soul, time, talents, friends, possessions, all things to Jesus, till he shall come and illumine our whole being with the light of his glorious presence !

Consecration, considered as a religious act, is an obligation. It is a duty which we owe to God and our fellow-men. It is not to be regarded as a matter of speculation or opinion, in respect to which men may innocently differ, both in theory and action, but as the essential demand of the irrepealable law of Jehovah. To withhold the sacrifice and offering which God requires at our hands is not merely a mistake, a source of personal wretchedness, and a deprivation and wrong toward others : it is a sin. To the full measure of our capacity and resources, according to the best light we have or can obtain, we owe ourselves to do or to suffer, with all things appertaining to us, to our Lord and Master.

It is a plain demand of justice. As God is our Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, Friend, he has a right to our service and affection. And as none can equal him, or be to us what he has been, or sustain to us relations so high and holy as those which he sustains, or meet the necessities of our natures, with such infinite provisions of mercy and love ; so none can ever

CONSECRATION. 13

rightfully come between our souls and the Lord of life and glory. Our noblest powers, our purest affections, our grandest possibilities, must be offered up to God. " For ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

^ " He justly claims us for his own, Who bought us with a price ; The Christian lives to Christ alone ; To Christ alone he dies." v

" I beseech you, therefore, brethren," importunes an apostle, "by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." The language is sacrificial. As the bodies of beasts, slain for sin, were offered on an altar of sacrifice, so are we exhorted to present our bodies, that is, ourselves, the whole of us, the body including the soul, the complete victim, as an offering to God. " The body," says Bengel, " generally encumbers the soul ; present the body to God, and the soul will not be wanting." How can the body become a sacrifice ? Chrysostom answers : " Let the eye look on no evil, and it is a sacrifice. Let the tongue utter nothing base, and it is an offering. Let the hand work no sin, and it is a holocaust. But more, this suffices not ; but, besides, we must actively exert ourselves for good ; the hand giving alms, the mouth blessing them that curse us, the ear ever at leisure for listening to God." The mind must be employed in the service of Christ, all our objects in life must be conformed to the Divine will, and our hearts must be so transfused with heavenly grace as to throb constantly with desire for his presence and satisfaction in his love. Though we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for every good impulse, yet this work of consecration is emphatically a human achievement. God gives the grace ; it is for man to perform the act. " He himself," as Dr. Merrick has expressed it, " must bring the sacrifice and lay it upon the altar. God will have a voluntary service or none. This may be a difficult work. It always is. The will bends reluctantly ; self pleads persuasively ; unbelief suggests a thousand fears ; the great adversary, and all the influences which operate upon the soul in opposition to God, combine to prevent such a step. But it can be taken, and it must be taken. The will must yield, self must be denied, God must be trusted, the devil resisted, and the offering made."

To consecrate ourselves to God is an obligation of gratitude. We are moved thereto by a consideration of the mercies of God. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins. He hath followed us with goodness and grace all our days. Life and health and reason, and the use of our senses, and the members of our bodies, friends, home, country — all these are arguments for consecration. But beyond all these, and above all, is the love of God in redemption — his mercy in Jesus Christ. " Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." And the joyful sound of Gospel grace has reached our ears, and stirred our hearts. Does no obligation of gratitude rest upon us to consider ourselves the servants and followers of Jesus Christ ?

" Every drop of my blood thanks you," said a criminal to Dr. Doddridge, when he had been released

CONSECRATION. 15

from prison in consequence of the Doctor's kind interposition, " every drop of my blood thanks you ; for you have had mercy upon every drop of it. Whereever you go, I will be yours." Does not this apply to our case ? May not we take up this strain, and chant our gratitude to Jesus ? Have we not been brought forth, by the blood of the covenant, " out of the pit wherein is no water ? " Have we not been permitted, as prisoners of hope, to turn to the stronghold for refuge, deliverance, and comfort ? Have not our prison-doors been opened, and have not our enslaved souls found the liberty of the Gospel ? If we are this side of perdition, we have occasion for gratitude to God ; and a sense of benefits received always moves a soul, not utterly debased, to attempt some return of service and affection.

But how strong is the argument for consecration — constant and full — based upon the facts of Christian experience ! If one has known any thing of God, through the apprehensions of his own faith, how plain does duty seem in regard to this matter ! The consciousness of salvation, in any measure, shows the possibility and propriety of consecration to God. It is an incentive and an argument for the preservation of covenant relations with the Great Head of the Church. And many a man can tell his experience in the triumphant language of Charles Wesley :

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in chains and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray ;

I woke — the dungeon flamed with light:

My chains fell off, my heart was free ;

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

" No condemnation now I dread ;

Jesus, with all in him, is mine ; Alive in him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ, my own."

And he who has broken our chains, illumined our darkness, delivered us from condemnation, and given us the right of access to the eternal throne, has a claim upon us, founded in justice and gratitude, for the constant service of our lives, and the fullest homage of our hearts.

Consecration involves self-denial} and self-denial is the generic demand of the Gospel.

In a brilliant essay on " Covetousness," by Rev. John Harris, it is contended that selfishness is the generic sin, the antagonist of the Gospel, the frustration of the divine plan, " the disease of the world," and " the prevailing malady of the Church." I add that self-denial is the generic demand of the Gospel, that it is in harmony with the divine plan, that it overcomes and destroys selfishness, and that it acts as an antidote to the malady and misery of a self-seeking world and a formal Church. Nothing hinders consecration when the mind is enlightened in regard to duty and privilege, but selfishness, in some one or more of its Protean forms ; and consecration, when consummated, involving as it does, self-denial, self-surrender, and complete self-devotement to God, counteracts selfishness, and leaves the mind open for the inflowing of the divine love in all its fullness, sweetness, and transforming power. Then the inquiry arises, « Lord, what wilt thou have me do > " and God becomes the spring of all our activities,

CONSECRATION. 17

the fountain of all our inspirations, and the end of all our labors.

" The very core of all religion," some one has said, "is not to live to ourselves but to God ; not to consider ourselves our own, but the property and servants of Jesus Christ ; not to feel as though we are set up in the world to work for ourselves, to spend the most of our time in promoting what is termed our innocent gratifications, but to hold our time, powers, influence, and property as talents intrusted to our care, to be used for Christ, keeping our eye on his lips to learn his will, and aiming habitually to please and honor him."

" They that wait upon the Lord," saith the word of inspiration, " shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint." To "wait upon the Lord" is to stand as a servant in his master's presence, watching for the motion of his hand or the movement of his lips, which shall indicate his will, ready to run at his bidding, prepared for any errand or labor which he shall designate, willing also to see others sent on honorable messages, rendering distinguished service, while he lingers and suffers, knowing that

"They also serve, who only stand and wait".

Such truly consecrated souls shall never faint, nor fail or flag through weariness ; but shall renew their strength day by day, till they can soar like the eagle, with his eye on the sun, above the clouds and storms and tempests of earth, into the pure cerulean of God.

"Who in the strength of Jesus trusts, Is more than conqueror." 2

Faith and repentance are required i7i the Scriptures as conditions of acceptance and eternal life , but consecration must precede the former, and is an element of the latter; there is no salvation, therefore, without consecration.

The soul which truly repents turns to God, or, in other words, becomes consecrated to his service ; this is the chief fact in repentance. That is genuine and sufficient penitence which leads a man to forsake his sins, abandon his selfish life, and devote himself to God ; while that is superficial and delusive, notwithstanding tears, emotions and agitations, which does not lead to such results of consecration and covenant engagement with Christ. Faith is not possible while the soul is unconsecrated, while any gift is withheld from the altar, or while the heart shrinks from any sacrifice which the Gospel demands ; so that the one grand condition of acceptance with God cannot be met without consecration.

G0N8E ORATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 1 9

II,

CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE.

" Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."' — Rom. vi, 11.

That we should be wholly devoted to God is plainly a demand of justice. Our obligation hath this extent. All the service and affection of which we are capable belongs to our supreme Head. A partial offering, therefore, will not satisfy the claims of the divine law. If I owe my friend money, service, honor, influence, affection, will a part pay the whole ? Could I say to my father, for instance, in discharging a pecuniary obligation which I might owe to him, " This meets all your demand upon me ? " Might he not retort, "Nay/ my son, you owe me your life ; and the extent of your obligation can only be measured by your possibility of service, honor, and love ? " And our heavenly Father has the completest claim upon our time, talents, affections, devotions, sacrifices, and upon whatever capacities we may have for doing or suffering what may be in accordance with his will and to the glory of his name. There is no pertinent reason why I should love or serve God at all, which is not equally conclusive to establish the position that I ought to love him with all my heart, and serve him with all my powers. Hence the justness and authority of the evangelical law : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." God cannot require less than this on the principle of justice and equity ; nor can man render less without wronging his own nature, and dwarfing and distorting the powers of his own soul.

" I call heaven and earth to witness," says Whitefield, speaking of his ordination, " that when the bishop laid his hands upon me, I gave myself up to be a martyr 'for Him who hung upon the cross for me. I have thrown myself blindfold, and, I trust, without reserve, into his almighty hands." And is this any thing more than the Gospel requires of every Christian ? Is not the martyr-spirit a vital spirit in our holy religion ? Except a man come to Jesus, giving up all that he hath, how can he be his disciple ? " In recompense for the love you may show your country," said Garibaldi, addressing the young men of Italy, " I offer you hunger, thirst, cold, war, and death ; who accepts these terms let him follow me." And so Jesus saith : " Whosoever will be my disciple, let him deny himself, bear his cross, count all things loss for my sake, welcome privations and persecutions, defy the scorn and opposition of the world, turn from father, mother, wife, and children if they stand in the way of my service, lay down his life if need be, for my cause, and count it all joy if sacrifice, peril, and martyrdom bring him nearer the communion of my love ; who accepts these terms let him follow me." Ay, let him follow ! It is a pathway of fire, of fierce and terrible conflicts, of anguish and death ; but it is also the pathway of victory, of unfailing consolations, and of immortal renown.

The will, the understanding, the affections, the whole being, must be dedicated to Christ. The world and the devil require as much as this in the service of sin — in the idolatry of fashion,. honor, and ambition. Lady Fowell Buxton, in one of her charming letters, gives an account of a dinner at her husband's house, at which Baron Rothschild, the millionaire, was present. He sat at Lady Buxton's right hand, and his whole discourse was of money and money-making, and of the way in which he- had trained his sons to preserve and expand his colossal fortune. Lady Buxton expressed the hope that he did not allow them to forget that never-ending life so soon to begin, for which, also, preparation must be made. " O," replied he, " I could not allow them to think of such a thing. It would divert their minds from business. It would be fatal to their success. To get and keep a great fortune is a very difficult thing, and requires all ones time and thoughts!'

Such is the demand which Mammon makes upon his worshipers ! Is it marvelous that entire consecration should be the requirement of the Gospel ? Men have made sacrifices scarcely less on the altars of patriotism for the unity and salvation of the republic. They have given of their fortune ; they have sent their sons to the field of combat ; they have endured discomforts, losses, and bereavements ; they have sundered the most endearing of earthly relations, and they have been ready to sacrifice the last dollar and the last life for the national flag — for constitutional freedom. Indeed, every loyal heart in the land responded to the noble sentiment of Secretary Seward, written in March, 1863: "He that preferreth himself, his fame, his fortune, his friend, his father, his mother, his wife, his party, or his section, above his country, is not worthy to be a citizen of the best and noblest country that God has ever suffered to come into existence."

Hear now the words of Jesus : " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Could we regard the religion of Jesus as divine, if it did not require this utter self-surrender, and this complete sacrifice of every thing which we hold dear, in order to the enjoyment of the Saviour's presence and love ?

How sublime a spectacle was that when Dr. Thomas Coke stood before the British Wesleyan Conference, pleading for a mission in India ! He had seen more than threescore years ; he had spent two large fortunes, preaching the Gospel ; he had crossed the ocean eighteen times on his mission of mercy ; he had been recognized as the first Bishop of the New World, but found not, as the historian of Methodism affirms, in a diocese co-extensive with a continent, room for his energies. Now his heart was turned toward India, and he pined, with a holy ambition, to preach the Gospel to the millions of Asia. Ceylon, "the threshold before 1he gate of the East," was open to missionary labor, and Coke was determined to go in spite of every obstacle. To a friend, who remonstrated with him on account of his age and the need of his services at home, he replied : " I am now dead to Europe and alive for India. God himself has said to me, Go to Ceylon ! / would rather be set naked on its coast, and without a friend, than not to go'.' He presented himself before the conference with his project for a mission in India. The conference was startled and astonished. " Many rose to oppose" it. Benson declared "with vehemence " that it would compromise the honor of the denomination and " ruin Methodism." Coke returned to his lodgings with the tears flowing down his face, passed the night in an agony of prayer, and came back the next day to the conference-room to offer himself and thirty thousand dollars in money upon the altar of this great sacrifice. The conference relented, and yielded to what was manifestly the voice of Providence. Coke did not live to reach his coveted field of missionary labor ; but his holy enthusiasm and sublime consecration still live, an inspiration to the Church in every land.

This spirit of entire consecration will lead us to conform all our plans and purposes to the manifest designs and purposes of the almighty Providence. Dr. Bushnell has a sermon entitled, " Every Man's Life a Plan of God." The fully-consecrated soul recognizes this truth. It constantly inquires for the divine mind. It seeks to realize in its history the divine ideal. It makes life a discovery, an unfolding of the gracious purposes of Jesus in redemption, providence, and grace. In the Church and in the world, in business and in society, in devotions and in relaxations, in health and in sickness, at home and abroad, for time and eternity, the aspiration of such a soul is to be conformed in word and act, in doing and suffering, to the mind and heart of the blessed Jesus. To fulfill God's highest ideals for life and immortality is its ceaseless ambition. Nothing is coveted but the will of God and the fullness of his love. " I desired neither life nor death," said the Methodist hero, Staniforth, when going into the battle of Fontenoy, '" but was entirely happy in God." Every such soul can say to the Almighty Father :

" To do or not to do, to have Or not to have, I leave with Thee ;

To be or not to be, I leave ; Thy only will be done in me :