THE CHRISTIAN CONVERT WARNED OF, AND ANIMATED AGAINST THOSE DISCOURAGEMENTS WHICH HE MUST EXPECT TO MEET WHEN ENTERING ON A RELIGIOUS COURSE.
1. Christ has instructed his disciples to expect opposition and difficulties in the way to heaven.--2. Therefore a more particular view of them is taken, as arising-from the remainder of indwelling sin.--3. From the world, and especially from former sinful companions.--4. From the temptations and suggest ions of Satan.--5, 6. The Christian is animated and encouraged, by various considerations, to oppose them; particularly by the presence of God; the aids of Christ; the example of others, who, though feeble, have conquered; and the crown of glory to be expected.--7. Therefore, though apostacy be infinitely fatal, the Christian may press on cheerfully. Accordingly the soul, alarmed by these view; is represented as committing itself to God, in the prayer which concludes the chapter.
1. WITH the utmost propriety has our Divine Master required us "to strive to
enter in at the strait gate," (Luke 13:23) thereby intimating, not only that
the passage is narrow, but that it is beset with enemies; beset on the right
hand and on the left with enemies cunning and formidable. And be assured, O
reader! that whatever your circumstances in life are, you must meet and:
encounter them. It will therefore be your prudence to survey them attentively
in your own reflections, that you may see what you are to expect; and may
consider in what armor it is necessary you shall be clothed, and with what
weapons you must be furnished to manage the combat. You have often heard them
marshalled, as it were, under three great leaders, the flesh, the world, and
the devil; and; according to this distribution, I would call you to consider
the forces of each, as setting themselves in array against you. O that you may
be excited "to take to yourself the whole armor of God," (Eph. 6:13) and to
"acquit yourself like a man," and a Christian! (1 Cor. 16:13)
2. Let your conscience answer, whether do you
not carry about with you a corrupt and degenerate nature? You will, I doubt
not, feel its effects. You will feel, in the language of the apostle, who
speaks of it as the case of Christians themselves, "the flesh lusting against
the spirit, so that you will not be able," in all instances, "to do the things
that you would." (Gal. 5:17) You brought irregular propensities into the world
along with you; and you have so often indulged those sinful inclinations, that
you have greatly increased their strength; and you will find, in consequence of
it, that these habits cannot be broken through without great difficulty. You
will, no doubt, often recollect the strong figures in which the prophet
describes a case like yours; and you will own that it is justly represented by
that "of an Ethiopian changing his skin, and the leopard his spots." (Jer.
13:23) It is indeed possible, that, at first, you may find such an edge and
eagerness upon your spirits, as may lead you to imagine that all opposition
will immediately fall before you. But, alas! I fear that in a little time these
enemies, which seemed to be slain at your feet, will revive, and recover their
weapons, and renew the assault in one form or another. And perhaps your most
painful combats may be with such as you had thought most easy to be vanquished;
and your greatest danger may arise from some of those enemies from whom you
apprehended the least, particularly from pride and from indolence of spirit;
from a secret alienation or heart from God, and from an indisposition for
conversing with him, through an immoderate attachment to "things seen and
temporal," which may be oftentimes exceedingly dangerous to your salvation,
though perhaps they be not absolutely and universally prohibited. In a thousand
of these instances you must learn to deny yourself, or you "cannot be Christ's
disciple." (Matt. 16:24)
3. You must also lay your account to find great
difficulties from the world, from its manners, customs, and examples. The
things of the world will hinder you one way, and the men of the world another.
Perhaps you may meet with much less assistance in religion than you are now
ready to expect from good men. The present generation of them is generally so
cautious to avoid every thing that looks like ostentation, and there seems
something so insupportably dreadful in the charge of enthusiasm, that you will
find most of your Christian brethren studying to conceal their virtue and their
piety, much more than others study to conceal their vices and their
profaneness. But while, unless your situation be singularly happy, you meet
with very little aid one way, you will, no doubt, find great opposition
another. The enemies of religion will be bold and active in their assaults,
while many any or its friends seem unconcerned; and one sinner will probably
exert himself more to corrupt you, than ten Christians to secure and save you.
They who have been once your companions in sin, will try a thousand artful
methods to allure you back again to their forsaken society: some of them
perhaps with an appearance of tender fondness, and many more by the almost
irresistible art of ridicule: that boasted test of right and wrong, as it has
been wantonly called, will be tried upon you, perhaps without any regard to
decency, or even to common humanity. You will be derided and insulted. by those
whose esteem-and affection you naturally desire; and may find much more
proprietary than you imagine, in that expression of the apostle, "the trial of
cruel mockings," (Heb. 9:36) which some fear more than either sword or flames.
This persecution of the tongue you must expect to go through, and perhaps may
be branded as a lunatic, for no other cause than that you now begin to exercise
your reason to purpose, and will not join with those that are destroying their
own souls in their wild career of folly and madness.
4. And it is not at all improbable, that in the
meantime Satan may be doing his utmost to discourage and distress you. He will,
no doubt, raise in your imagination the most tempting idea of the
gratifications, the indulgences, and the companions you are obliged to forsake;
and give you the most discouraging and terrifying view of the difficulties,
severities, and dangers, which are, as he will persuade you, inseparable from
religion. He will not fail to represent God himself, the fountain of goodness
and happiness, as a hard Master, whom it is impossible to please. He will
perhaps fill you with the most distressful fears, and with cruel and insolent
malice, glory over you as his slave, when he knows you are the Lord's freeman.
At one time he will study, by his vile suggestions, to interrupt you in your
duties, as if they gave him an additional power over you. At another time he
will endeavor to weary you of your devotion, by influencing you to prolong it
to an immoderate and tedious length, lest his power should be exerted upon you
when it ceases. In short, this practiced deceiver has artifices which it would
require whole volumes to display, with particular cautions against each. And he
will follow you with malicious arts and pursuits to the very end of your
pilgrimage, and will leave no method unattempted which may be likely to weaken
your hands and to sadden your heart, that if through the gracious interposition
of God, he cannot prevent your final happiness, he may at least impair your
peace and your usefulness as you are passing to it.
5. This is what the people of God feel, and what
you will feel in some degree or other, if you have your lot and portion among
them. But, after all, be not discouraged: Christ is the "Captain of your
salvation." (Heb. 2:10) It is delightful to consider him under this view. When
we take a survey of these host of enemies, we may lift up our head amidst them
all, and say, "More and greater is he that is with us, than all those that are
against us." (2 Kings 6:16) "Trust in the Lord, and you will he like Mount
Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." (Psa. 125:1) When your
enemies press upon you, remember you are to "fight in the presence of God."
(Zech. 10:5) Endeavor, therefore, to act a gallant and a resolute part;
endeavor to "resist them steadfast in the faith." (1 Pet. 5:9) Remember, "He
can give power to the faint, and increase strength to them that have no might."
(Isai. 40:29) He hath done it in ten thousand instances already, and he will do
it in ten thousand more. How many striplings have conquered their gigantic foes
in all their most formidable armor, when they have gone forth against them;
though but as it were "with a staff and a sling, in the name of the Lord God of
Israel!" (1 Sam. 17:40-45) How many women and children have trodden down the
force of the enemy, "and out of weakness have been made strong!" (Heb.
11:34)
6. Amidst all the opposition of earth and hell,
look upward and look forward, and you will feel your heart animated by the
view. Your General is near; he is near to aid you, he is near to reward you.
When you feel the temptation press the hardest, think of him who endured even
the cross itself for your rescue. View the fortitude of your Divine Leader, and
endeavor to march on in his steps. Hearken to his voice, for he proclaims it
aloud, "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me." (Rev. 22:12) "Be
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." (Rev. 2:10)
And, oh! how bright will it shine! and how long will its lustre last! When the
gems that adorn the crowns of monarchs, and pass (instructive thought!) from
one royal head to another through succeeding centuries, are melted down in the
last flame, it is "a crown of glory which fadeth not away." (1 Pet. 5.4)
7. It is indeed true, "that such as turn aside to
crooked paths" will be "led forth with the workers of iniquity," to that
terrible execution which divine justice is preparing for them, (Psa. 125:5) and
it would have been "better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than, after having known it, to turn aside from the holy commandment." (2 Pet
2:21) But I would, by divine grace, "hope better things of you." (Heb. 6:9) And
I make it my hearty prayer for you, my reader, that you may be "kept by the
mighty power of God," kept, as in a garrison on all sides fortified in the
securest manner, "through faith, unto salvation."
The Soul, alarmed by a sense of these difficulties, committing itself to Divine Protection.