49 Theology. THE GREAT REMEDY. OUR malady is sin; and we shall now consider the remedy which has been prepared and revealed by God. The great design of the Bible is to disclose this wondrous plan of salvation. How hapless must our condition have been had we been left to our own resources! We might have lived on earth ignorant of our fate, and have looked forward with joyous hopes; but our entrance into the invisible world would have dispelled our delusions, and involved us in irretrievable perdition. Now, however, the order of things is reversed. The gospel, devised in the counsels of heaven, and at length sealed by the blood of the Lamb of God, comes forth resplendent with glory and fraught with salvation, employing in its progress among the nations offers of mercy and persuasions of love, to draw them to the attainment of unspeakable bliss. If some grievous bodily distemper were preying upon our health, would we not eagerly examine a volume which promised to direct us to a suitable remedy? Let us, depending upon the promised illumination of the Holy Spirit, search the Scriptures with similar diligence, and we shall soon find what we seek-an infallible remedy, and a compassionate Physician, who is ever ready to administer it. Our malady is sin, and Jesus Christ is the Physician. He is authorized by God to heal sinners, even the chief of sinners. "He hath power to give eternal life; for him hath the Father sealed." He is God and man in one person; and this union of divinity and humanity gives infinite efficacy to his mediation. That he might, in consistency with Divine justice, rescue perishing sinners, Emanuel suffered and died, rose again and ascended to heaven. By his vicarious sufferings and obedience he obtained eternal redemption for his people, and now he sits at God's right hand, the sole administrator, as well as the sole purchaser of salvation. Is not this a scheme of grace worthy of its original, and adapted to meet in every respect the exigency of our lamentable condition? But let us take an example, and trace the cure in its progress. Behold that sinner on the broad road that leadeth to destruction: he is pressing forward at full speed, regardless alike of the admonitions of conscience and the beseeching voice of saving mercy. At length there is a change in his bearing: he is in deep perplexity and distress. The stern but just denunciation, "Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," has reached not only his ear, but his heart. He now feels himself oppressed by a load of guilt which he cannot shake off, and bound with fetters which he cannot break: in one word, he feels himself to be a condemned, enslaved, and helpless sinner. All this is new to him, and would soon prove overwhelming, were there no help at hand. But the book which solemnly declares that "the wages of sin is death," also announces that "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Labouring and heavy-laden, he pants after relief. Having heard of the matchless love of Christ, and of his ability to save, he now for the first time cries to him, in unfeigned earnestness, "Lord, save me! else I perish." He cries and cries again. He will take no denial, and outwearies delay. He reads the superscription over the strait gate, and knocks till it be opened. Oh! what can equal, what can withstand the importunity of a man in real earnest about the salvation of his soul? Through rich and sovereign mercy the trembler receives admission into the household of God-is pardoned, and begins to experience peace and joy in believing. A change, almost imperceptible at first, has taken place in his state and character. The blessed remedy has been applied, and is counteracting the malady under which he groaned. The condemning and reigning power of sin has been completely destroyed; but it is by slow degrees that its defiling and disturbing influence is subdued. The Physician continues to supply his sanctifying grace, and thus progressively purifies, invigorates, and ennobles the soul that was redeemed by his precious blood. The man whom we have set before you grows in grace, downwards in humility, upwards in heavenly-mindedness, and on every side in expansive charity and usefulness. He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water. But behold him approaching the end of his pilgrimage. He knows that he must die; but he fears not death. He can meet the last enemy with a tranquil heart; nay, in the exercise of faith, often most vigorous in its last and crowning acts, he can exclaim with an air of triumph, "Oh! death, where is thy sting? Thanks be to God, who giveth me the victory, through Jesus Christ my Lord." He dies; and at that very moment his liberated spirit, glowing in the perfection of immortal health, ascends in ecstasy to the heaven of heavens, to take its station among the bright and the blessed. And his body,-must it perish for ever? It is committed to the dust, and there it will lie for ages. Armies may wage tumultuous strife over its resting-place, and not disturb its repose; but there is one sound which can startle even the dull, cold ear of death. At the peal of the last trump it shall awake. Then shall the whole man, fully and finally freed from sin, distress, and degradation, dwell for ever with the Lord. This is life eternal ! August, 1847. NECESSITY, NATURE, AND DUTY OF PERSONAL PIETY. 66 MY DEAR BRETHREN,-My heart's desire and prayer to God for you is, that you may be saved. The welfare of your souls-your eternal welfare-is on my heart. This comprehends more than I can understand. The Saviour calls it 66 LIFE ETERNAL.' I am equally unable to conceive what is included in that misery of the impenitent which the same Divine teacher designates "everlasting destruction,' 66 everlasting punishment," everlasting fire," and "eternal damnation." A tremendous meaning must be in these words. I pause to meditate upon them. They are recorded for your serious thoughts. Say not they are harshthink them not unnecessarily awful. They certainly signify that the condition of the unconverted in another world will be one of intolerable, universal, and hopeless suffering. To deny this will not alter the fact. To exclude it from our thoughts will not save us from the dreadful destiny. The decisions of the last day will not be determined by what impenitent men have thought and believed, but by God's own word. He has declared, "that except we be converted and become as little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of God;" "except we repent, we must perish;" "except a man D. T. be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;""if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed;" and "he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Consider what it is that excludes men from eternal bliss. In these solemn declarations no mention is made of drunkenness, swearing, stealing, lying, dishonesty, nor fornication. Those who practise such things will never inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God; but multitudes who hear the gospel, though not chargeable with these immoralities, are in danger of the same dreadful banishment from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. Their character may not be defiled by gross impurities, but they may be guilty of unbelief, hardness of heart, self-righteousness, pride, disobedience to God, and enmity to spiritual religion. Consider, also, what the above passages of inspired Scripture require. They show that much more is essential to everlasting felicity than social virtues, humane feelings, and honourable conduct towards your fellow-men. According to their import, baptism will not make you Christians, nor any human administration of ordinances. Your regular and even commendable attendance on religious instructions, and liberal support of gospel institutions, will not secure eternal life, if your hearts be not right with God. There must be godliness— experimental, internal holiness-" for, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord." The heart must be the seat and throne of this spiritual life and purity. Bodily service will not avail. Morality is not sufficient. Knowledge is no substitute for love to a holy God. An evangelical creed, and professed attachment to the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, may exist without godliness, or a temper becoming the gospel. It is not being a Dissenter nor a Churchman that will secure you a place in heaven. The Pharisees' sanctity, unconnected with a simple dependence on the Saviour's righteousness and death for justification, and an orthodox faith that does not work by love, humble and purify the heart, and bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, are alike unacceptable to God and unprofitable to man. Faith without works is dead, being alone; and a "form of godliness, without the power, is perfectly vain." Speculative orthodoxy and religious formality, or superstition, are the two rocks on which multitudes who frequent Christian sanctuaries wreck their eternal interests. You may credit many truths of religion, acknowledge its obligations, and observe some of its external services, whilst sin and the world govern the heart. My dear friends, this is a matter which deeply concerns you. Whether your souls be prepared or not, they must appear before God, and they may do so at a time and in a manner you do not expect. Your danger lies in the aversion of the heart to real and inward religion. This aversion or enmity exerts a mighty influence in deceiving immortal souls. By it some are induced to defer all serious attention to eternal things, whilst they admit their importance and claims. They consider them as hostile to their present enjoyments and welfare, whilst the truth is, they are opposed only to their inclinations. They have a strong aversion to them, and an ardent love to practices and gratifications which the Bible condemns. Yet these very persons deceive themselves with the delusion that they are well disposed towards religion, and intend to embrace it on some future occasion. What is inward religion? What is it which prepares the soul for heaven but the destruction of this evil, wicked disinclination of the heart towards holiness and the love of God-of his truth and service ruling in its place? Awful infatuation, to suppose that this disaffection of the mind will be diminished by indulgence, or become weak by practice! Convictions stifled and suppressed may never be revived, and the change expected, and confessedly necessary, may never be experienced. It can take place at no time but by the operation of the Divine Spirit, and he may not always strive with the soul. Being grieved and resisted, after convincing the conscience of sin, righteousness, and judgment, he may depart, no more to return. The Holy Ghost says, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Another day you may not be where he strives with sinners, and if so, your character will be unalterable. 66 Be not ignorant of the power of that evil principle which governs every unconverted man. Through its influence acts of sin and neglect of religion have become habits; and do you still retain the idea of your own sufficiency to resolve and change your whole character and conduct? You are not inclined to do so now; you are fostering a disinclination to it. From what cause, then, is this inclination to holiness, this love to God, and obedience to him, to spring? Can an effect so glorious exist without a cause? Can it arise spontaneously from a heart that has long departed from God, lived without him, grieved him, and increased its defilement, alienation, and hardness, by worldliness and sin? Ponder the solemn question God proposes by the prophet Jeremiah, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil." This aversion to spiritual, experimental religion is common to man. It is discovered in his denial of its necessity or reality, and in his substitution of something in its stead. But, my dear friends, nothing else will avail for happiness in life, hope in death, and safety in eternity. Take heed, lest your precious souls be ruined by a vain confidence in some indefinite idea of God's mercy, by some imaginary good intention of heart to repent and turn to God ere you die, by some dependence on the correctness of your religious notions, whilst the heart is not subject to Christ's authority, or by a reliance on the morality of your conduct, and your orderly attention to the outward services of religion. Any one of these delusions may destroy you. They have all proved fatal to millions. In some instances, the first two of these errors have been abandoned for avowed infidelity. The love of sin has increased by practice, the last spark of conviction has expired, and the unwelcome recollection of its pain, and the knowledge of the sacred truths which excited it, have awakened the malignity of the heart to assail the Bible itself, to impugn its veracity, and insult its Author. The reason of this is plain. The Bible reveals a holy God, enforces holy precepts, denounces a fearful sentence against sin, and requires a humiliating repentance and faith, which the sinner hates. It is no marvel that a wicked heart is opposed to the Bible, nor is it any dishonour to God's truth. As an immortal and accountable creature, I beseech you to attend seriously and immediately to the subject of this letterpersonal and internal religion. First. CONSIDER ITS NECESSITY.-It is a thing which every unconverted man needs. It is a blessing of which he is destitute. Its value is above health or life. To live and die without it is a calamity more to be dreaded than immediate annihilation. No mind can be happy without it, because it cannot feel conscious of Divine favour. The remembrance of a holy God must be distressing to an unrenewed soul, and a correct understanding of the requirements of the law must fill the heart with fear, if it has not received Christ as the ground of its acceptance and hope. The favour of God i essential to happiness, and his frown is hell. Disconformity to his likeness, and disobedience to his precepts, bring his displeasure upon the spirit. His own holy image is the only thing he can approve, and that alone constitutes a meetness of character for heaven. Of this every man is destitute till he repents, or is born again. "All have sinned and come short of his glory; all are gone out of the way; there is none righteous, there is none that doeth good. made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions." These are the infallible testimonies of God respecting our fallen race. Yet without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Hence arises the necessity of a simple faith or reliance upon Christ for justification, and of the conversion of the soul to holiness. His God atonement is the only ground on which pardon can be obtained, and the Holy Spirit is given to renew the mind, and conform it to his image. The essence of sin is selfishness-self will, self-pleasing, and self-gratification. Through compliance with the inclinations of the heart, God is neglected and disobeyed, and self is idolized. This shows the necessity of true religion for the welfare of society; for where the fear of God does not exist, the strong will soon oppress the weak, and disregard the interests of their fellow-men. Genuine love to our neighbour can have no place in the heart where the love of God is absent. Hence, real religion is not only an individual blessing, but a public one also. Wherever it has been corrupted, and a false one substituted, or absolute scepticism has prevailed, civil convulsions, violence, and misery, have appeared as the natural fruits. An eminent writer says," When men depart from God the principle of union between men is lost, and self-love governs everything; and being 'lovers of their own selves,' they will be 'covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God,'" 2 Tim. iii. 1, &c. This was the case when God destroyed the old world, Gen. vi. 11—13. And as the same author states, "the late convulsions in a neighbouring nation may be traced to this source. Popery, aided by a despotic civil government, brought forth infidelity; and the child, as soon as it grew up to maturity, murdered its parents. Almost all the religious people were murdered or banished. If the principal part of these, in this or any other country, were driven away, the rest would soon become infidels and practical atheists; and what every order and degree of men would have to expect from the prevalence of these, there is no want of examples to inform them." True religion, then, is the preserving principle of society, and the salt of the land. These statements are confirmed by all history, and supported by the present condition of every nation. "Godliness is thus seen to be profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Consider your personal need of it, for the duties and advantages of every relationship you sustain both towards God and men. Secondly. Its NATURE.-This claims special attention. It is evident to all who understand what it is, that multitudes who profess it, and believe that they possess it, are deceiving themselves. There is the cold, speculative religion of the theorist. He is contented with the profession of a sound creed. All he exhibits is a lifeless skeleton-a breathless, unattractive, and imperfect image of the vital reality. This has no tender pulsations of pity for sinners, nor charity toward saints. It diffuses no warmth, and feels none. It is destitute of sensibility; consequently it knows no joy nor sorrow. It possesses no vital functions, therefore it is stationary and useless. Many look at it, and ask with contempt or wonder, Is this religion? And for the honour of the living, heavenly reality, we are compelled to say, It is not. An unsanctifying assent to revelation, or to a class of religious opinions, is not vital godliness. It is a dead faith, a form without life and power. It is indifference. Saving faith always affects the heart, excites the deepest interest in the things believed, and assimilates the mind to their holy nature. Thus it purifies the soul, and works by love. It is precious faith. Its effects are precious, and so are the realities on which it is exercised. It is the substance of things hoped for. It looks at eternal and heavenly objects. These are all holy, sublime, and attractive. They move every feeling of the heart, inspire the longing desire of conformity to their character, and excite the anticipation of their possession. The purity of God, and the glory of his love, as seen in the gift of Christ, and the precious blood of atonement, fill the soul with love and gratitude, and prompt to cheerful obedience. Divine love, as exhibited and commended in the death of Christ for us whilst we were yet sinners, has never been believed without dissolving the heart, destroying in it the love of the world, and constraining it to devotedness in obedience to God. Saving faith is— "The faith which changes all the heart, "Vain are our fancies, airy flights, This faith produces joy: "believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." It effects a glorious liberty for the soul. It lays hold of truth, which makes the sinner free, John viii. 32. As a criminal against the laws of God, his sin is pardoned; for he now trusts in Him who endured the penalty for the guilty. This faith secures to him an interest in all that Christ did. The yoke of bondage to the propensities of an evil heart is broken; the love of sin destroyed; the lineaments of a new character are formed, consisting of pure spiritual sentiments, desires, and hopes. A meek and quiet spirit is created: humility of mind, delight in doing good, hatred of sin, aversion to the vanities of earth, love to souls, and communion with God, are its true characteristics. This heavenly creation, or divine life, is something of heaven brought down into the soul. So that if heaven be desirable, this is desirable. If heaven be happiness, this is happiness. If heaven be better than earth, this is to be preferred to all that earth contains; for it is heaven enjoyed below, not in the fulness of its felicity, but in the possession of a measure of its chief elements, which are love, holiness, and happiness. This is true internal religion. It consists in the government of the heart by the spirit and truth of God; in the love, submission, and obedience of the heart to God, the dependence of the soul on God, and the delight of the heart in God. This is the kingdom of God in a man; which kingdom is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It differs from much which passes amongst men as religion. It is a mystery to the unconverted, a stranger to the mere formalist, and a living substance which the heartless and dull theorist knows not of. Unfortunately, real religion has been presented to the world by some of her professors marred and mangled, disrobed of her beauty, injured in her health, disfigured by carnal adhesions, stunted in her growth, and so unlike the heaven-born creature which the Bible reveals, and the Saviour exemplified, that her true features could scarcely be recognised. In numerous instances she has been caricatured, so that her own lovely form is concealed. Real religion is that substantial good which will satisfy the desires of the heart, beautify the character, and make life useful and happy. When you see a gloomy, fitful performance of sanctimonious services-a satisfaction with one or two monotonous visits to the house of God on the Lord's day, and an uninterrupted worldliness through the week-a mere strife about words or religious forms -a cold, insensible state of heart-an undisturbed carnal security-a love of ease-an indifference to the state of unconverted men, and no personal energetic efforts for their salvation-be assured that, whatever such profess, they possess not the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ. |