Religion of the Bible in select discourses

Preface

I have entitled this book, " Religion of the Bible," not because I would intimate that there is nothing of much importance contained in the Bible, which is not expressed in these few pages; nor that the kind of religion, Which the Scriptures teach, is not elsewhere to be found in the writings of men ; but merely because I think, that what of religion the book does contain, has been drawn directly and exclusively out of the Bible, coincides with it in teaching, spirit, and purpose, and has that authority, at least, for its warrant and its defence.

If I have attained my end, the reader will find in the pieces composing this volume, nothing incongenial with the spiritual feelings and sympathies of all true Christians ; nothing which will not, if he is a spiritual man, tend to his advancement in spirituality ; and if he is a worldly man, 1* vi

PREFACE .

tend to make him a spiritual one. It is earnestly hoped, that in perusing the book, he will not once find his thoughts conversant with a subject, which he himself will regard as a matter of doubtful disputation, or as among the uncertainties of religion, or as pertaining to those peculiarities, whether of doctrine, practice, or spirit, which have given Christians different names, and have divided them into contending schools and sects.

Let it not be presumed, however, from what has now been said respecting the sort of book which I have intended this to be, that I wish to be thought averse to a strictly doctrinal mode of treating religious subjects. If the book is adapted to make this impression on the judicious reader, I can only say, that my convictions of what should be its intellectual character, have not had justice done them by my endeavour. The subject matter of the book, I am sure, demands, what I understand by the doctrinal strain of discourse, in a preeminent degree. It is not when its theme is controversy, but certain and fundamental truth,

PREFACE.

vii that religious discourse should be most distinguished by discrimination, exactness of statement, clearness, order, and strength of reasoning, as well as by pungency and earnestness. I am aware also that excellency of discourse on such a theme, requires in its author not only a high order of intellect, but eminent spirituality : and when I think of this, I cannot but be humbled at the vast disparity between the importance of the topicks here discussed, and the treatment I am capable of giving them.

Nor do I wish to be thought of the opinion, that all discussion of points in dispute among Christians, is unlawful, or unnecessary. The ordinary teaching of the ministry, should, I am persuaded, have little to do with disputes: If any

MAN SPEAK, LET HIM SPEAK AS THE ORACLES OP

God. It is a "point of great inconvenience and peril to entitle the people to hear controversies, and all kinds of doctrine. They say no part of the counsel of God is to be suppressed : so as the difference which the Apostle maketh between viii

PREFAC E .

milk and strong meat is confounded : and his precept, that the weak be not admitted unto questions and controversies, taketh no place."* If, nevertheless, Christians will discuss their differences with becoming moderation, and so that earnest endeavours be still used to keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace, there doubtless are times and places in which they may do so, without sin, and, perhaps, to edification. Where, however, the business directly in hand is that of saving men, earnestness and skill in conducting that great work, will, as far as possible, preclude the intrusion of controverted points.

I have been induced to give these discourses to the public in their present form, from the fact that though they have been before printed, the most of them have scarcely been published ; and particularly with the hope that I may by this means, speak more frequently, in their private habitations, to those accustomed to my voice in the house of God.

* Lord Bacon.

PREFACE.

ix

The discourses, with one or two exceptions, have not the form of religious addresses spoken to an assembly, and are not introduced as such addresses commonly are, by sentences from the Bible serving as mottoes or texts. To suit the character of the publications in which they appeared, they were originally thus printed ; and it was not until this reprint of them was nearly completed, that I began to regret, notwithstanding the prejudice which seems to be prevailing against discourses so composed, that the}' were not remodelled into the ordinary homiletical style. I have given the texts which I would have selected, had this regret been prevented by earlier reflection^ in the table of contents.

Contents

PAGE

" Whom have I in heaven but Thee 1 and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee, 13

II. — SPIRITUAL JOY.

I. Spiritual Religion

There are three kinds of religion among those who call themselves Christians. Of one kind it were well if the world were destitute. Excepting by the observance of religious rites and solemnities, it does not distinguish the lives of those who practise it from the lives of irreligious men. It is the form of godliness without its power : the religion which would serve at the same time two masters ; would join light and darkness, Christ and Belial, believers and infidels together.

There is another kind of religion which has been called the middle path of Christi- 2

RELIGION OP THE BIBLE.

anity. It is the religion manifestly of the generality of those who are considered Christians. It embraces, besides a profession and the observance of ordinances, a belief of the doctrines, and an irreprehensible outward conformity to the duties of the Gospel. But it falls short of the privileges of the Gospel ; not including those lively hopes and anticipations, those holy joys and sorrows, that sensible intercourse and fellowship with God and Christ, that enrapturing communion with the Holy Spirit, that vivid and permanent earnest and assurance of Heaven, which the Gospel warrants and encourages in every believer.

A third kind of religion is that which does include these peculiar experiences. We would designate it Spiritual Religion, It is a religion which can be satisfied with nothing merely external, however blameless and fair. The offering up of prayer and praise, meditation in the Scriptures, attendance upon ordinances, liberality to-

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

ward the poor, the utmost exactness and irreproachableness of life — these do not meet its demands, unless there is correspondent sensibility and life in the heart. There must be a feeling of the Divine presence ; a relishing of the Divine excellence ; a heart-assured persuasion of the Divine favour and complacency. God must be enjoyed ; or there will be disquietude of sou), as in the Patriarch, " O that I knew where I might find him and in the Psalmist, " as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." If the light of God's countenance ceases at any time to shine upon the soul, the darkness which then covers it no outward prosperity can dispel ; its sorrows nothing can alleviate. No loveliness, no excellence remains, when the heart cannot taste the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. No satisfaction is taken in the intercourse of the dearest friends when the returns of grace from the Holy Comforter are sus-

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE.

pended. The visible world is a waste wilderness when the world unseen is clouded or remote. There is no peace, no pleasure in life, when there is no sensible relish and delight in God and divine things.

The difference between this last kind of religion, and those alluded to above, is very apparent in examples of each. Every one sees a striking difference in the piety of such men as Leighton, Baxter, Edwards, Brainerd, and Martyn, and that of the mass of those who bear, and are not supposed to dishonour, the Christian name, Dr. John Mason Good, the distinguished and excellent author of the " Book of Nature," said, on his death bed, "I have taken what unfortunately the generality of Christians too much take — I have taken the middle walk of Christianity. I have endeavoured to live up to its duties and doctrines, but I have lived below its privileges." The men first mentioned were not content to pursue what is here called the middle

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

walk of Christianity. Their religion was strictly and eminently experimental and spiritual.

This kind of religion has greatly the pre-eminence above every other in many respects, some of which will be briefly considered.

I. It is Scriptural religion. The religion of the Scriptures is the fruit of the Spirit, which is " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tern* perance embracing frames and dispositions of soul more agreeable to that lively and affectionate religion of which we speak than to any other, Manifestly, likewise, is this sort of religion most congenial with the view of holy living, given us in the Scriptures, when they speak of it, which they constantly do, as walking with God ; having fellowship with the Father and the Son ; communing with the Spirit ; walking after the Spirit ; walking in the Spirit ; walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort 2* of the Holy Ghost. — It is most accordant also with those passages which call upon the saints to delight themselves in God ; to rejoice in the Lord ; to rejoice in him always ; and which represent them as having peace with God, and the love of God shed abroad in their hearts ; as having the witness of the Spirit with their own spirit ; as walking by faith, not by sight, looking more at the things of the unseen world than at things which address themselves to their bodily senses. — It is, moreover, most like the religion of Scripture characters ; as of Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, who walked with God ; of Moses, and Samuel, and David, and Elijah, and Daniel ; of the Apostles and the first Christians also, as far as their history has been written in the Bible. The religion of these men who are held up to us as patterns and exemplars, was eminently a vital, affectionate, spiritual religion. They conversed closely and delightfully with God, and lived habitually under the light of his

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

countenance, and in the sensible enjoyment of his love. — But especially was the personal religion of Christ of this kind ; all whose plans and principles, ways and movements, discourses and doctrines, made it manifest, that his heart, and spirit, and will, were constantly one with the heart and spirit and will of God.

II. It is the most rational kind of religion. If the things of religion are not merely imaginary, they ought in fitness and reason to command the whole heart, and rule the whole inner and outer man. If they are real, they are comparatively the only realities ; all else is shadow and illusion. If the God of the Scriptures, and the objects revealed to us in eternity do indeed exist, well may the prophet pronounce the world and its affairs to be less than nothing in the comparison. Such objects then, so transcendently important in themselves, ought to have a correspondent influence on our character and conduct. And what is

RELIGION OP THE BIBLE.

such an influence ? If that Being who is the infinite fountain of all being, who made me, and sustains me every moment ; who, in all the glory of his infinite perfections, " compasses my path and my lying down," and is ever with me ; the Being on whom my happiness wholly depends, and from whom my last sentence is to proceed — if he has that influence on me which his character and relations to me ought to exert, shall I not always be in his fear ; shall I not always dwell in love to him ; and rejoice when he smiles upon me, and be troubled when he suspends the communications of his favour ? Towards such a Being, so related to me as God is, do I not express a reasonable affection when I exclaim, in the ardent language of the Psalmist, "whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." If I have any love at all for such a Personage, and one so related to me as Christ, ought I not to be constrained by that love,

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

as Paul was, to live and die to this infinite benefactor — making it my whole duty and happiness to serve and enjoy him ? And what would be the result upon my heart and life, of a reasonable operation of the Gospel upon them ? What manner of person should I be in all holy conversation and godliness, if my example were a just transcript of the great truths of the Gospel ? That religion has been thought by some to be the most enlightened and reasonable, which has least to do with the affections of the heart ; but never was there a more manifest mistake. Reasonableness in religion is absorption of mind and heart — the whole man ruled and overborne by the transcendent importance and glory of the objects of religion. For a man to pretend to be religious, and yet be cold and backward in the concerns of religion, and contentedly uncertain whether the infinite objects which it discloses may not be adverse to his eternal happiness — this is not rea-

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE.

son, but the supreme of inconsistency and stupidity.

III. It is spiritual religion alone in which the human mind can find sensible and satisfying enjoyment. True religious enjoyment consists in a heartfelt complacency in God and divine things. There is indeed a feeling of quietude arising from the regular discharge of moral duties, and the routine of religious observances, which is not spiritual joy or peace, but the fruit of predominant self-righteousness and fatal delusion. It implies a great abiding spiritual apathy and thoughtlessness ; for if sensibility were awake, and thought intelligently exercised on the person's habitual course of life, a general worldliness of spirit would be seen to pollute and vitiate the services of religion ; and then these services, instead of yielding hope and comfort, would conspire with other things to work fear, and doubt, and misery, in the heart. — There is, however, a hope of Heaven different from that

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

of the self-righteous, which springs from reflection on the general tenour of our conduct, regarded as an evidence of our spiritual character and state. This probably is the hope of the mass of professed Christians. We speak not against it, except by lamenting that it should be made so generally the measure of spiritual enjoyment. What is the amount of positive happiness that a hope of this kind yields ? It is not the assurance of hope — the living, refreshing, soul-elevating hope of the first Christians. It does not preclude doubt, but only despair. It leaves its subjects uncertain of their state. They are not sure of their calling and election. The Spirit does not so "witness with their spirits" but that they remain halting, hesitating, trembling, in respect to their final sentence ; or if not trembling, wondering that they do not, amidst their want of satisfying evidence. Such is the general feelings of professed Christians, in respect to their character

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE.

and prospects for eternity — and such, or worse than this, must necessarily be the feeling of all who do not cultivate and exercise a spiritual religion. Nothing but a sensible, living, joyous intercourse with God and Christ and the things of the Spirit, can wholly displace anxiety or even torment from the heart. Without this there may be selfcomplacency, there may be delusion, there may be negative hope mingled with fear ; but a soul-satisfying evidence of present acceptableness in the sight of God, and of ultimate admission into the joys of his kingdom, there cannot be, without the pleasurable consciousness of the reality and excellency of heavenly things. This consciousness is a witness that cannot be resisted ; it is itself the earnest and foretaste of eternal life, and can no more co-exist with doubt, than the consciousness of an outward world can co-exist with hesitation as to the reality of such a world. Let a man feel habitual love to God — let him feel the

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

peace of God in his heart — let him feel the Spirit of Christ living in him — let him have conscious delight in the truths and promises of the Gospel, and he will then enjoy evidences of his state, which will displace every doubt, and yield him " glory begun below." If therefore we would have a religion full of comforts and pleasures, a religion which will yield us solid satisfaction, let us fix our minds, not on that customary religion which rests in periodical services and outward strictness, but on a religion of intimate, sensible, living communion and intercourse with God.

IV. This is the only kind of religion which perceptibly advances the soul in the life and likeness of God. They who sensibly commune with God, and keep their hearts alive to the excellency of divine things, from day to day, cannot but become more and more assimilated to those glorious objects. These objects operating upon susceptible and affectionate minds, must 3

RELIGION OP THE BIBLE.

make upon them their own impression and image; and that image must at length become too resplendent in the spirit and life, to leave it doubtful whether there has been progress and growth in grace. Men of spiritual religion, therefore, must be advancing, as time passes, toward the measure of the stature of a perfect Christian. In their views, feelings, and conversation, they must be rising nearer and nearer to " the just made perfect." The beauty of holiness must be gradually brightening upon them, and their affinity and relationship to Heaven must be becoming increasingly manifest. It must be so, by the very laws of such intercourse, as they maintain with heavenly objects ; and that it is so in fact, no one can be ignorant. These men, of whatever country or age, do advance in moral worth and loveliness, as they advance in years. Time invigorates them in all the principles, and beautifies them in all the graces of holiness. Even while "their

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

outward man perishes " — while the animal vivacity and vigour of their earlier years decay, " they are renewed in the inward man, day by day." Was it not thus with all the spiritually-minded, whose names we have mentioned, or of whom we have ever read or heard ? But the same cannot be truly said of men of other kinds of religion. They are, in regard to religion and holiness, little better at one time than at another. Take them when you will, in the middle of life, or in old age, they are not, as far as man can see, much improved in spirit. Their hearts do not seem to be much more in Heaven ; their affections do not appear to be more spiritual ; their devotedness to God and his interests does not seem increased. Call to mind instances of the customary sort of religion — think of those whose religion is of this kind, and consider whether these remarks are not exemplified in their conduct. Do they present themselves to our thoughts as Christians advancing in the

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE.

life of God ? Are they evidently holier men now than they were some years ago ? Do we feel more confident of their final salvation at this moment than we did when they first professed conversion? Is it more certain now — more certain to themselves or to any others — that they will be saved, than it was then? Alas, it is well if the probability of their final salvation is not diminished. Professed Christians who have not a spiritual and affectionate religion, often degenerate, but seldom improve. It is not merely praying, or reading, or hearing, that profits the soul, but just feeling toward the objects with which the soul converses, or should converse, in prayer, reading, and hearing. These exercises are nothing, except as sensibility of heart pervades and animates them. It is by this sensibility, that God and our own spirits come into union and fellowship. It is by this, that our souls mingle with the invisible things of the sanctifying Spirit. Two lifeless masses are

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

not more inoperative on each other, than the unseen world on the human character, if sensibility toward that world is wanting. We may speak, and read, and think, but we shall never be made better, if we do not feel. Now when we remember what the Scriptures teach concerning the essential progressiveness of true grace in the heart, that it is as the little "leaven which leaveneth the whole lump f and join with this the fact, that professed Christians who are not spiritual in their feelings, do not visibly advance in the divine life, can we rest satisfied with a religion like theirs ? Is it by any means certain that their religion will save the soul?

V. Spiritual religion is far more useful than any other. Usefulness depends on three things, — power, readiness to use it, and using it in a proper manner ; and no kind of religion includes these things in so eminent a degree as the spiritual religion of which we speak. — There is more 3* power in this than in any other sort of religion. Knowledge is power in religious concerns as well as every other ; and there is no religion so favourable as this to the acquisition of divine knowledge. Men may be led to pursue such knowledge by curiosity, ambition, and other motives ; but the attainments so made will be superficial, when compared with the illumination shed down from the Holy Spirit into the mind and heart of the spiritually discerning and inquiring Christian. How sure and substantial, how deep and enduring, is the knowledge of the spiritually-minded, in comparison with theirs who know every thing in speculation only. And ordinarily their knowledge is greater, as well as of a better kind. They meditate more in the Scriptures, they reflect more, they pray more, and the relish for divine things which inclines them to do so, makes them quick of spiritual understanding, and thus becomes the means of a more rapid growth

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

in divine knowledge than would otherwise be possible. And as the religion of which we treat joins to greater knowledge, greater grace and holiness, which likewise is the highest kind of power, it must, in respect to its intrinsic strength and efficiency, be incomparably superior to every other.

But not only have the men of this religion more strength, they are also more disposed to use their strength than others. It is a false notion of spiritual-mindedness, that it inclines men to a secluded and inactively contemplative life. It had not this tendency in Christ and his apostles, or the prophets ; the influence of whose mighty labours is felt over the world to this day. Spiritual-mindedness is nothing but a living and efficient benevolence, duly awake and active. From the secret place of the Most High, in which it dwells, it looks abroad upon the sensual world with a self-sacrificing, self-devoting compassion, like that of our blessed Saviour ; and is ever ready to

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE.

go forth, in his spirit and strength, to every work of faith and love. Customary religion, and even principles of natural goodness, have led men to practise some forms of benevolence ; but it is spiritual-mindedness that has cared for the bodies and souls of men on the largest scale, and has wrought miracles of mercy and love, the record of which will endure longer than the sun and the moon.

But the religion here recommended is pre-eminent, as we have already said, not only in power and in aptitude to use that power, but in the excellence of the manner in which it uses it. It is both in labours more abundant, and in wisdom and propriety of action more perfect. It does its work aptly, skilfully, prudently, with a spirit congenial to its ends ; a spirit of meekness and love, and dependence on God. In the highest instances and sorts of benevolent labour, men of little spirituality would not find themselves in their proper element.

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

The unsuitableness of their spirit and manner would make their work irksome, and mischief might be the result. How much out of place do such men find themselves under remarkable effusions of the Holy Spirit; when the accessions to the happiness of the universe are as the " clouds, and as when doves fly to their windows." It is spirituality alone that can make men as " polished shafts " to the consciences of their fellow-men at such seasons. It is only this, indeed, which can ensure a right and successful way of fulfilling any of the offices of the holiest and noblest order of well-doing.

These things demonstrate the superior usefulness of the spiritual kind of religion. Observation also confirms this conclusion. One spiritual Christian in a church is often more useful than a hundred ordinary professors. How many hundred Christians of the common kind would be required to make, in point of usefulness, one Baxter, or Edwards, or Martyn. These,

RELIGION OP THE BIBLE.

it is true, were men of powerful minds ; but it was their superior spirituality that made their power the means of exalting the ages in which they lived. There were other professed Christians of minds as powerful and of learning as great as theirs, who did very little toward advancing the cause of holiness in the world. If then we would pass our days in the most useful manner — if we would give the church and our generation the greatest reason to bless God for our existence, let our religion be of the spiritual kind.

VI. This kind of religion will best sustain us under evil. He who is accustomed to converse affectionately and delightfully with God — to lay open his heart to the influence of His " excellent glory " and of eternal objects, will acquire a capacity of enduring evil, altogether peculiar to himself. His frame of spirit, and the blessedness of that intercourse, make him in a manner invulnerable to evil. The day of trouble to the

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

man of the world is insupportable, because, besides the evil of his unholy spirit, he has no counterbalancing good in prospect. Past prosperity cannot be recalled ; the future is unknown, and may be worse than the present. The unspiritual, unexercised professor of religion, too, may not be prepared for that day: the hope which now supports him may fail him then. He will then need other evidences of the divine favour than those on which he is accustomed to rely ; evidences which may not be afforded him then, as they are not sought for now. But the spiritual Christian is not thus forlorn in heart when his time of trial comes. The feeling toward God expressed by the Psalmist, " whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee," having been habitual with him even in the days of prosperity, he will not be desponding and heart-smitten now ; for God, his chosen portion, remains the same, and his delight in God is the same

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE.

also : and how small a loss can befall that person, how little can he be injured by any calamity in the whole creation, whose happiness was not in the creation, but in its infinite Author. Besides, if there is a man to whom the Father of compassion will show himself especially gracious in the hour of need, that man, doubtless, is the spiritually-minded Christian. Who is an heir of the promises, if he is not ? Whom, if not him, does God love and delight in ? There may be room for doubt whether other sorts of professed Christians, — all other sorts, — may not be deceivers or deceived ; but who doubts his piety who lives a spiritual and heavenly life ? Such persons are assuredly the children of God, whom God will not forsake in times of trouble. The night of their affliction shall be as the brightest and best of their prosperous days. They shall glorify God in " passing through the fire their end shall be peace, and they shall depart, leaving mankind impress-

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

ed with the certainty, that whoever may find their hope of ultimate happiness disappointed, these men were more fit for heaven than for earth, and " have passed through the gate into the city" of God.

These are some of the considerations which show what manner of persons we all should be who call ourselves by the name of Christ. — But there is one objection which we fear will weigh more with some persons than all these considerations, however solemn and conclusive : it is, that the religion we recommend is not a practicable one. It may do perhaps for a very few peculiarly favoured and peculiarly situated persons, but it will not answer for the generality of mankind ■ — it is too refined, too elevated, too difficult a religion for the mass of the people. It is not, we suppose, the import of this objection, that this is a different religion from that which the Scriptures teach. The scriptural certificate to this religion we have already presented. If there is a 4