THE READER REMINDED HOW MUCH HE NEEDS THE ASSISTANCE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD TO FORM HIM TO THE TEMPER DESCRIBED ABOVE, AND WHAT ENCOURAGEMENT HE HAS TO EXPECT IT.
1. Forward resolutions may prove ineffectual.--2. Yet religion is not to be given up in despair, but Divine grace to be sought.--3. A general view of its reality and necessity, from reason.--4. And Scripture.--5. The spirit to be sought as the spirit of Christ.--6. And in that view the great strength of the soul.--7. The encouragement there is to hope for the communication of it.--8. A concluding exhortation to pray for it. And an humble address to God pursuant to that exhortation.
I HAVE now laid before you a plan of that temper and character which the
Gospel requires, and which, if you are a true Christian, you will desire and
pursue. Surely there is, in the very description of it, something which must
powerfully strike every mind which has any taste for what is truly beautiful
and excellent. And I question not, but you, my dear render, will feel some
impression of it upon your heart. You will immediately form some lively purpose
of endeavoring after it; and perhaps you may imagine, you shall certainly and
quickly attain to it. You see how reasonable it is, and what desirable
consequences necessarily attend it, and the aspect which it bears on your
present enjoyment and your future happiness; and therefore are determined you
will act accordingly. But give me leave seriously to remind you how many there
have been, (would to God that several such instances had not happened within
the compass of my own personal observation!) whose goodness hath been "like a
morning cloud and the early dew," which soon "passeth away." (Hos. 6:4) There
is not room indeed absolutely to apply the words of Joshua, taken in the most
rigorous sense, when he said to Israel, that he might humble their too hasty
and sanguine resolutions, "You cannot serve the Lord." (Josh. 24:12) But I will
venture to say, you cannot easily do it. Alas! you know not the difficulties
you have to break through; you know not the temptations which Satan will throw
in your way; you know not how importunate your vain and sinful companions will
be, to draw you back into the snare you may attempt to break; and, above all,
you know not the subtle artifices which your own corruptions will practice upon
you in order to recover their dominion over you. You think the views you now
have of things will be lasting, because the principles and objects to which
they refer are so: but perhaps tomorrow may undeceive you, or rather deceive
you anew: tomorrow may present some trifle in a new dress, which shall amuse
you into a forgetfulness of all this. Nay, perhaps before you lie down on your
bed, the impressions you now feel may wear off. The corrupt desires of your own
heart, now perhaps a little charmed down, and lying as if they were dead, may
spring up again with new violence, as if they had slept only to recruit their
vigor; and if you are not supported by a better strength than your own, this
struggle for liberty will only make your future chains the heavier, the more
shameful, and the more fatal.
2. What then is to be done? Is the convinced
sinner to lie down in despair? to say, "I am a helpless captive, and by
exerting myself with violence, may break my limbs sooner than my bonds, and
increase the evil I would remove?" God forbid! You cannot, I am persuaded, be
so little acquainted with Christianity, as not to know "that the doctrine of
divine assistance bears a very considerable part in it." You have often, I
doubt not, read of "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, as making us
free from the law of sin and death," (Rom. 8:2) and have been told, "that
through the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the body." (Rom. 8:13) You have read
of "doing all things through Christ, who strengtheneth us," (Phil. 4:15) whose
grace "is sufficient for us," and whose "strength is made perfect in weakness."
(2 Cor. 12:9) Permit me, therefore, flow to call your attention to this, as a
truth of the clearest evidence, and of the utmost importance.
3. Reason, indeed, as well as the whole tenor of
Scripture, agrees with this.*.' The whole created world has a necessary
dependence on God: from him ever, the knowledge of "natural things" is derived,
(Psa. 94:10) and "skill in them is to be ascribed to him." (Exod. 31:3-6) Much
more loudly does so great and excellent a work, as the new-forming the human
mind, bespeak its divine Author. When you consider how various the branches of
the Christian temper are, and how contrary many of them also are to that
temper, which hath prevailed in your heart, and governed your life in time
past, you must really see divine influences as necessary to produce and nourish
them, as the influences of the sun and rain are to call up the variety of
plants and flowers, and grains and fruits, by which the earth is adorned, and
our life supported. You will be yet more sensible of this, if you reflect on
the violent opposition which this happy work must expect to meet with; of which
I shall presently warn you more largely, and which if you have not already
experienced, it must be because you have but very lately begun to think of
religion.
4. Accordingly, if you give yourself leave to
consult Scripture on this head, (and if you would live like a Christian, you
must be consulting it every day, and forming your notions and actions by it)
you will see that the whole tenor of it teaches that dependence upon God which
I am now recommending. You will particularly see, that the production of
religion in the soul is matter of divine promise; that when it has been
effected, Scripture ascribes it to a divine agency; and that the increase of
grace and piety in the heart of those who are truly regenerate, is also spoken
of as the word of God, who begins and "carries it on until the day of Jesus
Christ." (Phil. 1:6)
5. Inconsequence of all these views, lay it down
to yourself as a most certain principle, that no attempt in religion is to be
made in your own strength. If you forget this, and God purposes finally to save
you, he will humble you by repeated disappointments, till he teach you better.
You will be ashamed of one scheme and effort, and of another, till you settle
upon the true basis. He will also probably show you, not only in the general,
that your strength is to be derived from heaven, but particularly that it is
the office of the blessed Spirit to purify the heart, and to invigorate holy
resolutions; and also that, in all these operations, he is to be considered as
the Spirit of Christ, working under his direction, and as a vital communication
from him under the character of the great Head of the Church, the grand
Treasurer and Dispenser of these holy and beneficial influences. On which
account it is called "the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," (Phil. 1:19)
who is "exalted at the right hand" of the Father, "to give repentance and
remission of sins," (Acts 5:31) "in whose grace alone we can be strong," (2
Tim. 2:1) and "of whose fullness we receive even grace for grace." (John
1:16)
6. Resolve, therefore, strenuously for the
service of God, and for the care of your soul: but "resolve modestly and
humbly." Even "the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men utterly
fall; but they who wait on the Lord" are the persons who "renew their
strength." (Isai. 40:30,31) When a soul is almost afraid to declare, in the
presence of the Lord, that it will not do this or that, which has formerly
offended him; when it is afraid absolutely to promise that it will perform this
or that duty with vigor and constancy, but only expresses its humble and
earnest desire that it may by grace be enabled to avoid the one or pursue the
other; then, so far as my observation and experience have reached, it is in the
best way to learn the happy art of conquering temptation, and of discharging
duty.
7. On the other hand, let not your dependence
upon this Spirit, and your sense of your own weakness and insufficiency for any
thing spiritually good, without his continual aid, discourage you from devoting
yourself to God, and engaging in a religious life, considering "what abundant
reason you have to hope that these gracious influences will be communicated to
you." The light of nature, at the same time that it teaches the need we have of
help from God in a virtuous course, may lead us to conclude that so benevolent
a Being, who bestows on the most unworthy and careless part of mankind so many
blessings, will take a peculiar pleasure in communicating to such as humbly ask
them, those gracious assistances which may form their deathless souls into his
own resemblance, and fit them for that happiness to which their rational nature
is suited, and for which it was in its first constitution intended. The word of
God will much more abundantly confirm such a hope. You there hear divine wisdom
crying even to those who bad long trifled with her instructions, "Turn ye at my
reproof, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you" (Prov 1:23) You hear the
apostle saying, "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need." (Heb. 4:16) Yea, and you
there hear our Lord himself arguing in this sweet and convincing manner: "If
ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit unto them that ask him?" (Luke
11:13) This gift and promise of the Spirit was given unto Christ when he
ascended up on high, in trust for all his true disciples. God hath "shed it
abroad abundantly upon us in him." (Tit. 3:6) And I may add, that the very
desire you feel after the farther communication of the Spirit, is the result of
the fruits of it already given; so that you may, with peculiar propriety,
interpret it as a special call "to open your mouth wide, that he may fill it."
(Psa. 81:10) You thirst, and therefore you may cheerfully plead, that Jesus has
"invited you to come unto him and drink;" with a promise not only that you
shall drink if you come unto him, but also that "out of your belly shall flow,"
as it were, "rivers of living water," for the edification and refreshment of
others. (John, 7:37,38)
8. Go forth, therefore, with humble cheerfulness,
to the prosecution of all the duties of the Christian life. Go and prosper "in
the strength of the Lord, making mention of his righteousness, and of his
only." (Psa. 71:16) And as a token of farther communication, may your heart be
quickened to the most earnest desire after the blessings I have been now
recommending to your pursuit!" May you be stirred up to pour out your soul
before God in such holy breathings as these! and may they he your daily
language in his gracious presence!
An humble Supplication for the Influences of Divine Grace, to form and strengthen Religion in the Soul.