Power From On High
By Charles Finney
Many of the chapters in
this book, were originally published
in "THE
INDEPENDENT" in
That series, in a
somewhat different order
with an additional
article not published in The INDEPENDENT,
was published as POWER FROM
ON HIGH in 1944.
CHAPTER
1 – Power From On High
CHAPTER
2 – What Is It?
CHAPTER
3 – The Enduement Of The Spirit
CHAPTER
4 – Enduement Of Power From On High
CHAPTER
5 – Is It A Hard Saying?
CHAPTER
6 – Prevailing Prayer
CHAPTER
7 – How To Win Souls
CHAPTER
8 – Preacher, Save Thyself
CHAPTER
9 – Innocent Amusements
CHAPTER
10 – How To Overcome Sin
CHAPTER
11 – The Decay Of Conscience
CHAPTER
12 – The Psychology Of Faith
CHAPTER
13 – The Psychology Of Righteousness
Please permit me through your columns to
correct a misapprehension of some of the members of the late Council at Oberlin
of the brief remarks which I made to them; first on Saturday morning, and
afterwards on the Lord’s Day. In my first remarks to them I called attention to
the mission of the Church to disciple all nations, as recorded by Matthew and
Luke, and stated that this commission was given by Christ to the whole Church,
and that every member of the Church is under obligation to make it his lifework
to convert the world. I then raised two inquiries:
1. What do we need to secure success in this
great work?
2. How can we get it?
Answer. 1. We need the enduement of power
from on high. Christ had previously informed the disciples that without Him
they could do nothing. When He gave them the commission to convert the world,
He added, “But tarry ye in
2. How shall we get it? Christ expressly
promised it to the whole Church, and to every individual whose duty it is to
labour for the conversion of the world. He admonished the first disciples not
to undertake the work until they had received this enduement of power from on
high. Both the promise and the admonition apply equally to all Christians of
every age and nation. No one has, at any time, any right to expect success,
unless he first secures this enduement of power from on high. The example of
the first disciples teaches us how to secure this enduement. They first
consecrated themselves to his work, and continued in prayer and supplication
until the Holy Ghost fell upon them on the Day of Pentecost, and they received
the promised enduement of power from on high. This, then, is the way to get it.
The Council desired me to say more upon this
subject; consequently, on the Lord’s Day, I took for my text the assertion of
Christ, that the Father is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask Him than we are to give good gifts to our children.
1. I said, This text informs us that it is
infinitely easy to obtain the Holy Spirit, or this enduement of power from the
Father.
2. That this is made a constant subject of
prayer. Everybody prays for this, at all times, and yet, with all this intercession,
how few, comparatively, are really endued with this spirit of power from on
high! This want is not met. The want of power is a subject of constant
complaint. Christ says, “Everyone that asketh receiveth,” but there certainly
is a “great gulf” between the asking and receiving, that is a great
stumbling-block to many. How, then, is this discrepancy to be explained? I then
proceeded to show why this enduement is not received. I said:
(1) We are not willing, upon the whole, to
have what we desire and ask.
(2) God has expressly informed us that if we
regard iniquity in our hearts He will not hear us. But the petitioner is often
self-indulgent. This is iniquity, and God will not hear him.
(3) He is uncharitable.
(4) Censorious.
(5) Self-dependent.
(6) Resists conviction of sin.
(7) Refuses to confess to all the parties
concerned.
(8) Refuses to make restitution to injured
parties.
(9) He is prejudiced and uncandid.
(10) He is resentful.
(11) Has a revengeful spirit.
(12) Has a worldly ambition.
(13) He has committed himself on some point,
and become dishonest, and neglects and rejects further light.
(14) He is denominationally selfish.
(15) Selfish for his own congregation.
(16) He resists the teachings of the Holy
Spirit.
(17) He grieves the Holy Spirit by
dissension.
(18) He quenches the Spirit by persistence
in justifying wrong.
(19) He grieves Him by a want of
watchfulness.
(20) He resists Him by indulging evil
tempers.
(21) Also by dishonesties in business.
(22) Also by indolence and impatience in waiting
upon the Lord.
(23) By many forms of selfishness.
(24) By negligence in business, in study, in
prayer.
(25) By undertaking too much business, too
much study, and too little prayer.
(26) By a want of entire consecration.
(27) Last and greatest, by unbelief. He
prays for this enduement without expecting to receive it. “He that believeth
not God, hath made Him a liar.” This, then, is the greatest sin of all. What an
insult, what a blasphemy, to accuse God of lying!
I was obliged to conclude that these and
other forms of indulged sin explained why so little is received, while so much
is asked. I said I had not time to present the other side. Some of the brethren
afterward inquired, “What is the other side?” The other side presents the
certainty that we shall receive the promised enduement of power from on high,
and be successful in winning souls, if we ask, and fulfill the plainly revealed
conditions of prevailing prayer. Observe, what I said upon the Lord’s Day was
upon the same subject, and in addition to what I had previously said. The
misapprehension alluded to was this: If we first get rid of all these forms of
sin, which prevent our receiving this enduement, have we not already obtained
the blessing? What more do we need?
Answer. There is a great difference between
the peace and the power of the Holy Spirit in the soul. The disciples were
Christians before the Day of Pentecost, and, as such, had a measure of the Holy
Spirit. They must have had the peace of sins forgiven, and of a justified
state, but yet they had not the enduement of power necessary to the
accomplishment of the work assigned them. They had the peace which Christ had
given them, but not the power which He had promised. This may be true of all
Christians, and right here is, I think, the great mistake of the Church, and of
the ministry. They rest in conversion, and do not seek until they obtain this
enduement of power from on high. Hence so many professors have no power with
either God or man. They prevail with neither. They cling to a hope in Christ,
and even enter the ministry, overlooking the admonition to wait until they are
endued with power from on high. But let anyone bring all the tithes and
offerings into God’s treasury, let him lay all upon the altar, and prove God
herewith, and he shall find that God “will open the windows of heaven, and pour
him out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
The apostles and brethren, on the Day of
Pentecost, received it. What did they receive? What power did they exercise
after that event?
They received a powerful baptism of the Holy
Ghost, a vast increase of divine illumination. This baptism imparted a great
diversity of gifts that were used for the accomplishment of their work. It
manifestly included the following things: The power of a holy life. The power
of a self-sacrificing life. (The manifestation of these must have had great
influence with those to whom they proclaimed the gospel.) The power of a
cross-bearing life. The power of great meekness, which this baptism enabled
them everywhere to exhibit. The power of a loving enthusiasm in proclaiming the
gospel. The power of teaching. The power of a loving and living faith. The gift
of tongues. An increase of power to work miracles. The gift of inspiration, or
the revelation of many truths before unrecognized by them. The power of moral
courage to proclaim the gospel and do the bidding of Christ, whatever it cost
them.
In their circumstances all these enduements
were essential to their success; but neither separately nor all together did
they constitute that power from on high which Christ promised, and which they
manifestly received. That which they manifestly received as the supreme,
crowning, and all-important means of success was the power to prevail with both
God and man, the power to fasten saving impressions upon the minds of men. This
last was doubtless the thing which they understood Christ to promise. He had
commissioned the Church to convert the world to Him. All that I have named
above were only means, which could never secure the end unless they were
vitalized and made effectual by the power of God. The apostles, doubtless,
understood this; and, laying themselves and their all upon the altar, they
besieged a Throne of Grace in the spirit of entire consecration to their work.
They did, in fact, receive the gifts before
mentioned; but supremely and principally this power to savingly impress men. It
was manifested right upon the spot. They began to address the multitude; and,
wonderful to tell, three thousand were converted the same hour. But, observe,
here was no new power manifested by them upon this occasion, save the gift of
tongues.
They wrought no miracle at that time, and
used these tongues simply as the means of making themselves understood. Let it
be noted that they had not had time to exhibit any other gifts of the Spirit
which have been above named. They had not at that time the advantage of
exhibiting a holy life, or any of the powerful graces and gifts of the Spirit.
What was said on the occasion, as recorded in the gospel, could not have made
the impression that it did, had it not been uttered by them with a new power to
make a saving impression upon the people. This power was not the power of
inspiration, for they only declared certain facts of their own knowledge. It
was not the power of human learning and culture, for they had but little. It
was not the power of human eloquence, for there appears to have been but little
of it. It was God speaking in and through them. It was a power from on high—God
in them making a saving impression upon those to whom they spoke. This power to
savingly impress abode with and upon them. It was, doubtless, the great and
main thing promised by Christ, and received by the apostles and primitive
Christians. It has existed, to a greater or less extent, in the Church ever
since. It is a mysterious fact often manifested in a most surprising manner.
Sometimes a single sentence, a word, a gesture, or even a look, will convey
this power in an overcoming manner.
To the honour of God alone I will say a
little of my own experience in this matter. I was powerfully converted on the
morning of the 10th of October. In the evening of the same day, and
on the morning of the following day, I received overwhelming baptisms of the
Holy Ghost, that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul. I
immediately found myself endued with such power from on high that a few words
dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate
conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men.
They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can
attest to this. Oftentimes a word dropped, without my remembering it, would
fasten conviction, and often result in almost immediate conversion. Sometimes I
would find myself, in a great measure, empty of this power. I would go out and
visit, and find that I made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray, with
the same result. I would then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer,
fearing that this power had departed from me, and would inquire anxiously after
the reason of this apparent emptiness. After humbling myself, and crying out
for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been
the experience of my life.
I could fill a volume with the history of my
own experience and observation with respect to this power from on high. It is a
fact of consciousness and of observation, but a great mystery. I have said that
sometimes a look has in it the power of God. I have often witnessed this. Let
the following fact illustrate it. I once preached, for the first time, in a
manufacturing village. The next morning I went into a manufacturing
establishment to view its operations. As I passed into the weaving department I
beheld a great company of young women, some of whom, I observed, were looking
at me, and then at each other, in a manner that indicated a trifling spirit,
and that they knew me. I, however, knew none of them. As I approached nearer to
those who had recognized me they seemed to increase in their manifestations of
lightness of mind. Their levity made a peculiar impression upon me; I felt it
to my very heart. I stopped short and looked at them, I know not how, as my
whole mind was absorbed with the sense of their guilt and danger. As I settled
my countenance upon them I observed that one of them became very much agitated.
A thread broke. She attempted to mend it; but her hands trembled in such a
manner that she could not do it. I immediately observed that the sensation was
spreading, and had become universal among that class of triflers. I looked
steadily at them until one after another gave up and paid no more attention to
their looms. They fell on their knees, and the influence spread throughout the
whole room. I had not spoken a word; and the noise of the looms would have
prevented my being heard if I had. In a few minutes all work was abandoned, and
tears and lamentations filled the room. At this moment the owner of the
factory, who was himself an unconverted man, came in, accompanied, I believe,
by the superintendent, who was a professed Christian. When the owner saw the
state of things he said to the superintendent, “Stop the mill.” What he saw
seemed to pierce him to the heart.
“It is more important,” he hurriedly
remarked, “that these souls should be saved than that this mill should run.” As
soon as the noise of the machinery had ceased, the owner inquired: “What shall
we do? We must have a place to meet, where we can receive instruction.” The
superintendent replied: “The muleroom will do.” The mules were run up out of
the way, and all of the hands were notified and assembled in that room. We had
a marvelous meeting. I prayed with them, and gave them such instructions as at
the time they could bear. The word was with power. Many expressed hope that
day; and within a few days, as I was informed, nearly every hand in that great
establishment, together with the owner, had hope in Christ.
This power is a great marvel. I have many
times seen people unable to endure the word. The most simple and ordinary
statements would cut men off from their seats like a sword, would take away
their bodily strength, and render them almost as helpless as dead men. Several
times it has been true in my experience that I could not raise my voice, or say
anything in prayer or exhortation except in the mildest manner, without wholly
overcoming those that were present. This was not because I was preaching terror
to the people; but the sweetest sounds of the gospel would overcome them. This
power seems sometimes to pervade the atmosphere of one who is highly charged
with it. Many times great numbers of persons in a community will be clothed
with this power, when the very atmosphere of the whole place seems to be
charged with the life of God. Strangers coming into it, and passing through the
place, will be instantly smitten with conviction of sin, and in many instances
converted to Christ. When Christians humble themselves, and consecrate their
all afresh to Christ, and ask for this power, they will often receive such a
baptism that they will be instrumental in converting more souls in one day than
in all their lifetime before. While Christians remain humble enough to retain
this power the work of conversion will go on, till whole communities and
regions of country are converted to Christ. The same is true of ministers. But
this article is long enough. If you will allow me, I have more to say upon this
subject.
Since the publication in the Independent of
my article on “The Power from on High” I have been confined with protracted
illness. In the meantime I have received numerous letters of inquiry upon that
subject. They relate mostly to three particular points of inquiry:
1. They request further illustrations of the
exhibition of this power.
2. They inquire, “Who have a right to expect
this enduement?”
3. How or upon what conditions can it be
obtained?
I am unable to answer these inquiries by
letters to individuals. With your leave I propose, if my health continues to
improve, to reply to them in several short articles through your columns. In
the present number I will relate another exhibition of this power from on high,
as witnessed by myself. Soon after I was licensed to preach I went into a
region of country where I was an entire stranger. I went there at the request
of a Female Missionary Society, located in
In this article I propose to consider the
conditions upon which this enduement of power can be obtained. Let us borrow a
little light from the Scriptures. I will not cumber your paper with quotations
from the Bible, but simply state a few facts that will readily be recognized by
all readers of the Scriptures. If the readers of this article will read in the
last Chapter of Matthew and of Luke the commission which Christ gave to His
disciples, and in connection read the first and second chapters of the Acts of
the Apostles, they will be prepared to appreciate what I have to say in this
article.
1st. The disciples had already
been converted to Christ, and their faith had been confirmed by His
resurrection. But here let me say that conversion to Christ is not to be
confounded with a consecration to the great work of the world’s conversion. In
conversion the soul has to do directly and personally with Christ. It yields up
its prejudices, its antagonisms, its self-righteousness, its unbelief, its
selfishness; accepts Him, trusts Him, and supremely loves Him. All this the
disciples had, more or less, distinctly done. But as yet they had received no
definite commission, and no particular enduement of power to fulfil a
commission.
2nd. But when Christ had
dispelled their great bewilderment resulting from His crucifixion, and
confirmed their faith by repeated interviews with them, He gave them their
great commission to win all nations to Himself. But He admonished them to tarry
at
We, as Christians, have the same commission
to fulfil. As truly as they did, we need an enduement of power from on high. Of
course, the same injunction, to wait upon God till we receive it, is given to
us.
We have the same promise that they had. Now,
let us take substantially and in spirit the same course that they did. They
were Christians, and had a measure of the Spirit to lead them in prayer and in
consecration. So have we. Every Christian possesses a measure of the Spirit of
Christ, enough of the Holy Spirit to lead us to true consecration and inspire
us with the faith that is essential to our prevalence in prayer. Let us, then,
not grieve or resist Him: but accept the commission, fully consecrate
ourselves, with all we have, to the saving of souls as our great and our only life-work.
Let us get on to the altar with all we have and are, and lie there and persist
in prayer till we receive the enduement. Now, observe, conversion to Christ is
not to be confounded with the acceptance of this commission to convert the
world. The first is a personal transaction between the soul and Christ relating
to its own salvation. The second is the soul’s acceptance of the service in
which Christ proposes to employ it. Christ does not require us to make brick
without straw. To whom He gives the commission He also gives the admonition and
the promise. If the commission is heartily accepted, if the promise is
believed, if the admonition to wait upon the Lord till our strength is renewed
be complied with, we shall receive the enduement.
It is of the last importance that all
Christians should understand that this commission to convert the world is given
to them by Christ individually.
Everyone has the great responsibility
devolved upon him or her to win as many souls as possible to Christ. This is the
great privilege and the great duty of all the disciples of Christ. There are a
great many departments in this work. But in every department we may and ought
to possess this power, that, whether we preach, or pray, or write, or print, or
trade, or travel, take care of children, or administer the government of the
state, or whatever we do, our whole life and influence should be permeated with
this power. Christ says: “If any man believe in Me, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water”—that is, a Christian influence, having in it the
element of power to impress the truth of Christ upon the hearts of men, shall
proceed from Him. The great want of the Church at present is, first, the
realizing conviction that this commission to convert the world is given to each
of Christ’s disciples as his life-work. I fear I must say that the great mass
of professing Christians seem never to have been impressed with this truth. The
work of saving souls they leave to ministers. The second great want is a
realizing conviction of the necessity of this enduement of power upon every
individual soul. Many professors of religion suppose it belongs especially and
only to such as are called to preach the Gospel as a life-work. They fail to
realize that all are called to preach the Gospel, that the whole life of every
Christian is to be a proclamation of the glad tidings. A third want is an
earnest faith in the promise of this enduement. A vast many professors of
religion, and even ministers, seem to doubt whether this promise is to the
whole Church and to every Christian. Consequently, they have no faith to lay
hold of it. If it does not belong to all, they don’t know to whom it does
belong. Of course they cannot lay hold of the promise by faith. A fourth want
is that persistence in waiting upon God for it that is enjoined in the
Scriptures. They faint before they have prevailed, and, hence, the enduement is
not received. Multitudes seem to satisfy themselves with a hope of eternal life
for themselves. They never get ready to dismiss the question of their own
salvation, leaving that, as settled, with Christ. They don’t get ready to
accept the great commission to work for the salvation of others, because their
faith is so weak that they do not steadily leave the question of their own
salvation in the hands of Christ; and even some ministers of the Gospel, I
find, are in the same condition, and halting in the same way, unable to give
themselves wholly to the work of saving others, because in a measure unsettled
about their own salvation. It is amazing to witness the extent to which the
Church has practically lost sight of the necessity of this enduement of power.
Much is said of our dependence upon the Holy Spirit by almost everybody; but
how little is this dependence realized. Christians and even ministers go to
work without it. I mourn to be obliged to say that the ranks of the ministry
seem to be filling up with those who do not possess it. May the Lord have mercy
upon us! Will this last remark be thought uncharitable? If so, let the report
of the Home Missionary Society, for example, be heard upon this subject.
Surely, something is wrong.
An average of five souls won to Christ by
each missionary of that Society in a year’s toil certainly indicates a most
alarming weakness in the ministry. Have all or even a majority of these
ministers been endued with the power which Christ promised? If not, why not?
But, if they have, is this all that Christ intended by His promise? In a former
article I have said that the reception of this enduement of power is
instantaneous. I do not mean to assert that in every instance the recipient was
aware of the precise time at which the power commenced to work mightily within
him. It may have commenced like the dew and increased to a shower. I have
alluded to the report of the Home Missionary Society. Not that I suppose that
the brethren employed by that Society are exceptionally weak in faith and power
as labourers for God. On the contrary, from my acquaintance with some of them,
I regard them as among our most devoted and self-denying labourers in the cause
of God. This fact illustrates the alarming weakness that pervades every branch
of the Church, both clergy and laity. Are we not weak? Are we not criminally
weak? It has been suggested that by writing thus I should offend the ministry
and the Church. I cannot believe that the statement of so palpable a fact will
be regarded as an offence. The fact is, there is something sadly defective in
the education of the ministry and of the Church. The ministry is weak, because
the Church is weak. And then, again, the Church is kept weak by the weakness of
the ministry. Oh for a conviction of the necessity of this enduement of power
and faith in the promise of Christ!
In a former article I said that the want of
an enduement of power from on high should be deemed a disqualification for a
pastor, a deacon or elder, a Sabbath-school superintendent, a professor in a
Christian college, and especially for a professor in a theological seminary. Is
this a hard saying? Is this an uncharitable saying? Is it unjust? Is it
unreasonable? Is it unscriptural? Suppose any one of the Apostles, or those
present on the day of Pentecost, had failed, through apathy, selfishness,
unbelief, indolence, or ignorance, to obtain this enduement of power, would it
have been uncharitable, unjust, unreasonable, or unscriptural, to have
accounted him disqualified for the work which Christ had appointed them?
Christ had expressly informed them that
without this enduement they could do nothing. He had expressly enjoined it upon
them not to attempt it in their own strength, but to tarry at
And is it not true of all to whom the
command to disciple the world is given, and to whom the promise of this power
is made, if through any shortcoming or fault of theirs they fail to obtain this
gift, that they are in fact disqualified for the work, and especially for any
official station? Are they not, in fact, disqualified for leadership in the
sacramental host? Are they qualified for teachers of those who are to do the
work? If it is a fact that they do lack this power, however this defect is to
be accounted for, it is also a fact that they are not qualified for teachers of
God’s people; and if they are seen to be disqualified because they lack this
power, it must be reasonable and right and Scriptural so to deem them, and so
to speak of them, and so to treat them. Who has a right to complain? Surely,
they have not. Shall the
There is need of a great reformation in the
Church on this particular point. The Churches should wake up to the facts in
the case, and take a new position, a firm stand in regard to the qualifications
of ministers and Church officers. They should refuse to settle a man as pastor
of whose qualifications for the office in this respect they are not well
satisfied. Whatever else he may have to recommend him, if his record does not
show that he has this enduement of power to win souls to Christ, they should
deem him unqualified. It used to be the custom of Churches, and I believe in
some places is so still, in presenting a call to the pastorate, to certify
that, having witnessed the spiritual fruits of his labours, they deem him
qualified and called of God to the work of the ministry. Churches should be
well satisfied in some way that they call a fruitful minister, and not a dry
stalk—that is, a mere intellect, a mere head with little heart; an elegant
writer, but with no unction; a great logician, but of little faith; a fervid
imagination, it may be, with no Holy Ghost power.
The Churches should hold the theological
seminaries to a strict account in this matter; and until they do, I fear the
theological seminaries will never wake up to their responsibility. Some years
since, one branch of the
Prevailing prayer is that which secures an
answer. Saying prayers is not offering prevailing prayer. The prevalence of
prayer does not depend so much on quantity as on quality. I do not know how
better to approach this subject than by relating a fact of my own experience
before I was converted. I relate it because I fear such experiences are but too
common among unconverted men.
I do not recollect having ever attended a
prayer-meeting until after I began the study of law. Then, for the first time, I
lived in a neighbourhood where there was a prayer-meeting weekly. I had neither
known, heard, nor seen much of religion; hence I had no settled opinions about
it. Partly from curiosity and partly from an uneasiness of mind upon the
subject, which I could not well define, I began to attend that prayer-meeting.
About the same time I bought the first Bible that I ever owned, and began to
read it. I listened to the prayers which I heard offered in those
prayer-meetings with all the attention that I could give to prayers so cold and
formal. In every prayer they prayed for the gift and outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. Both in their prayers and in their remarks, which were occasionally
interspersed, they acknowledged that they did not prevail with God. This was most
evident, and had almost made me a sceptic.
Seeing me so frequently in their
prayer-meeting, the leader, on one occasion, asked me if I did not wish them to
pray for me. I replied: “No.” I said: “I suppose that I need to be prayed for,
but your prayers are not answered. You confess it yourselves.” I then expressed
my astonishment at this fact, in view of what the Bible said about the
prevalence of prayer. Indeed, for some time my mind was much perplexed and in
doubt in view of Christ’s teaching on the subject of prayer and the manifest
facts before me, from week to week, in this prayer-meeting. Was Christ a divine
teacher? Did He actually teach what the Gospels attributed to Him? Did He mean
what He said? Did prayer really avail to secure blessings from God? If so, what
was I to make of what I witnessed from week to week and month to month in that
prayer-meeting? Were they real Christians? Was that which I heard real prayer,
in the Bible sense? Was it such prayer as Christ had promised to answer? Here I
found the solution.
I became convinced that they were under a
delusion; that they did not prevail because they had no right to prevail. They
did not comply with the conditions upon which God had promised to hear prayer.
Their prayers were just such as God had promised not to answer. It was evident
they were overlooking the fact that they were in danger of praying themselves
into scepticism in regard to the value of prayer.
In reading my Bible I noticed such revealed
conditions as the following:
(a) Faith in God as the answerer of prayer.
This, it is plain, involves the expectation of receiving what we ask.
(b) Another revealed condition is the asking
according to the revealed will of God. This plainly implies asking not only for
such things as God is willing to grant, but also asking in such a state of mind
as God can accept. I fear it is common for professed Christians to overlook the
state of mind in which God requires them to be as a condition of answering
their prayers.
For example: In offering the Lord’s Prayer,
“Thy kingdom come,” it is plain that sincerity is a condition of prevailing
with God. But sincerity in offering this petition implies the whole heart and
life devotion of the petitioner to the building up of this kingdom. It implies
the sincere and thorough consecration of all that we have and all that we are
to this end. To utter this petition in any other state of mind involves
hypocrisy, and is an abomination.
So in the next petition, “Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven,” God has not promised to hear this petition unless
it be sincerely offered. But sincerity implies a state of mind that accepts the
whole revealed will of God, so far as we understand it, as they accept it in
heaven. It implies a loving, confiding, universal obedience to the whole known
will of God, whether that will is revealed in His Word, by His Spirit, or in
His providence. It implies that we hold ourselves and all that we have and are
as absolutely and cordially at God’s disposal as do the inhabitants of heaven.
If we fall short of this, and withhold anything whatever from God, we “regard
iniquity in our hearts,” and God will not hear us.
Sincerity in offering this petition implies
a state of entire and universal consecration to God. Anything short of this is
withholding from God that which is His due. It is “turning away our ear from
hearing the law.” But what saith the Scriptures? “He that turneth away his ear
from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.” Do professed
Christians understand this?
What is true of offering these two petitions
is true of all prayer. Do Christians lay this to heart? Do they consider that
all professed prayer is an abomination if it be not offered in a state of
entire consecration of all that we have and are to God? If we do not offer
ourselves with and in our prayers, with all that we have; if we are not in a
state of mind that cordially accepts and, so far as we know, perfectly conforms
to the whole will of God, our prayer is an abomination. How awfully profane is
the use very frequently made of the Lord’s Prayer, both in public and in
private. To hear men and women chatter over the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” while their lives are
anything but conformed to the known will of God is shocking and revolting. To
hear men pray, “Thy kingdom come,” while it is most evident that they are
making little or no sacrifice or effort to promote this kingdom, forces the
conviction of bare-faced hypocrisy. Such is not prevailing prayer.
(c) Unselfishness is a condition of
prevailing prayer. “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may
consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).
(d) Another condition of prevailing prayer
is a conscience void of offense toward God and man.
(e) A pure heart is also a condition of
prevailing prayer. Psalm 66:18: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me.”
(f) All due confession and restitution to
God and man is another condition of prevailing prayer.
(g) Clean hands is another condition. Psalm
26:6: “I will wash mine hands in innocence, so will I compass thine altar, O
Lord.” I Timothy 6:8: “I will that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath and doubting.”
(h) The settling of disputes and animosities
among brethren is a condition.
(i) Humility is another condition of
prevailing prayer.
(j) Taking up the stumbling-blocks is
another condition.
(k) A forgiving spirit is a condition.
(l) The exercise of a truthful spirit is a
condition. Psalm 51:6: “Behold, Thou desireth truth in the inward parts.” If
the heart be not in a truthful state, if it be not entirely sincere and
unselfish, we regard iniquity in our hearts; and, therefore, the Lord will not
hear us.
(m) Praying in the name of Christ is a
condition of prevailing prayer.
(n) The inspiration of the Holy Spirit is
another condition. All truly prevailing prayer is inspired by the Holy Ghost.
(o) Fervency is a condition. A prayer, to be
prevailing, must be fervent.
(p) Perseverance or persistence in prayer is
often a condition of prevailing. See the case of Jacob, of Daniel, of Elijah,
of the Syrophoenician woman, of the unjust judge, and the teaching of the Bible
generally.
(q) Travail of soul is often a condition of
prevailing prayer. “As soon as
(r) Another condition of prevailing prayer
is the consistent use of means to secure the object prayed for, if means are
within our reach, and are known by us to be necessary to the securing of the
end. To pray for a revival of religion, and use no other means, is to tempt
God. This, I could plainly see, was the case of those who offered prayer in the
prayer-meeting of which I have spoken. They continued to offer prayer for a
revival of religion, but out of meeting they were as silent as death on the
subject, and opened not their mouths to those around them. They continued this
inconsistency until a prominent impenitent man in the community administered to
them in my presence a terrible rebuke. He expressed just what I deeply felt. He
rose, and with the utmost solemnity and tearfulness said: “Christian people,
what can you mean? You continue to pray in these meetings for a revival of
religion. You often exhort each other here to wake up and use means to promote
a revival. You assure each other, and assure us who are impenitent, that we are
in the way to hell; and I believe it. You also insist that if you should wake
up, and use the appropriate means, there would be a revival, and we should be
converted. You tell us of our great danger, and that our souls are worth more
than all worlds; and yet you keep about your comparatively trifling employments
and use no such means. We have no revival and our souls are not saved.” Here he
broke down and fell, sobbing, back into his seat. This rebuke fell heavily upon
that prayer-meeting, as I shall ever remember. It did them good; for it was not
long before the members of that prayer-meeting broke down, and we had a
revival. I was present in the first meeting in which the revival spirit was
manifest. Oh! how changed was the tone of their prayers, confessions, and
supplications. I remarked, in returning home, to a friend: “What a change has
come over these Christians. This must be the beginning of a revival.” Yes; a
wonderful change comes over all the meetings whenever the Christian people are
revived. Then their confessions mean something. They mean reformation and
restitution. They mean work. They mean the use of means. They mean the opening
of their pockets, their hearts and hands, and the devotion of all their powers
to the promotion of the work.
(s) Prevailing prayer is specific. It is
offered for a definite object. We cannot prevail for everything at once. In all
the cases recorded in the Bible in which prayer was answered, it is noteworthy
that the petitioner prayed for a definite object.
(t) Another condition of prevailing prayer
is that we mean what we say in prayer; that we make no false pretenses; in
short, that we are entirely childlike and sincere, speaking out of the heart,
nothing more nor less than we mean, feel, and believe.
(u) Another condition of prevailing prayer
is a state of mind that assumes the good faith of God in all His promises.
(v) Another condition is “watching unto
prayer” as well as “praying in the Holy Ghost.” By this I mean guarding against
everything that can quench or grieve the Spirit of God in our hearts. Also
watching for the answer, in a state of mind that will diligently use all
necessary means, at any expense, and add entreaty to entreaty.
When the fallow ground is thoroughly broken
up in the hearts of Christians, when they have confessed and made
restitution—if the work be thorough and honest—they will naturally and
inevitably fulfill the conditions, and will prevail in prayer. But it cannot be
too distinctly understood that none others will. What we commonly hear in
prayer and conference meetings is not prevailing prayer. It is often
astonishing and lamentable to witness the delusions that prevail upon the
subject. Who that has witnessed real revivals of religion has not been struck
with the change that comes over the whole spirit and manner of the prayers of
really revived Christians? I do not think I ever could have been converted if I
had not discovered the solution of the question: “Why is it that so much that
is called prayer is not answered?”
“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the
doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and
them that hear thee.” —1 Timothy 4:16.
I beg leave in this article to suggest to my
younger brethren in the ministry some thoughts on the philosophy of so
preaching the gospel as to secure the salvation of souls. They are the result
of much study, much prayer for divine teaching, and a practical experience of
many years.
I understand the admonition at the head of
this article to relate to the matter, order, and manner of preaching.
The problem is, How shall we win souls
wholly to Christ? Certainly we must win them away from themselves.
1st. They are free moral agents,
of course—rational, accountable.
2nd. They are in rebellion
against God, wholly alienated, intensely prejudiced, and committed against Him.
3rd. They are committed to
self-gratification as the end of their being.
4th. This committed state is
moral depravity, the fountain of sin within them, from which flow by a natural
law all their sinful ways. This committed voluntary state is their “wicked
heart.” This it is that needs a radical change.
5th. God is infinitely
benevolent, and unconverted sinners are supremely selfish, so that they are
radically opposed to God. Their committal to the gratification of their
appetites and propensities is known in Bible language as the “carnal mind”; or,
as in the margin, “the minding of the flesh,” which is enmity against God.
6th. This enmity is voluntary,
and must be overcome, if at all, by the Word of God, made effectual by the
teaching of the Holy Spirit.
7th. The gospel is adapted to
this end, and when wisely presented we may confidently expect the effectual
co-operation of the Holy Spirit. This is implied in our commission, “Go and
disciple all nations, and lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the
world.”
8th. If we are unwise, illogical,
unphilosophical, and out of all natural order in presenting the gospel, we have
no warrant for expecting divine co-operation.
9th. In winning souls, as in
everything else, God works through and in accordance with natural laws. Hence,
if we would win souls we must wisely adapt means to this end. We must present
those truths and in that order adapted to the natural laws of mind, of thought
and mental action. A false mental philosophy will greatly mislead us, and we
shall often be found ignorantly working against the agency of the Holy Spirit.
10th. Sinners must be convicted
of their enmity. They do not know God, and consequently are often ignorant of
the opposition of their hearts to Him. “By the law is the knowledge of sin,”
because by the law the sinner gets his first true idea of God. By the law he
first learns that God is perfectly benevolent, and infinitely opposed to all
selfishness. This law, then, should be arrayed in all its majesty against the
selfishness and enmity of the sinner.
11th. This law carries
irresistible conviction of its righteousness, and no moral agent can doubt it.
12th. All men know that they have
sinned, but all are not convicted of the guilt and ill desert of sin. The many
are careless and do not feel the burden of sin, the horrors and terrors of
remorse, and have not a sense of condemnation and of being lost.
13th. But without this they
cannot understand or appreciate the gospel method of salvation. One cannot
intelligently and heartily ask or accept a pardon until he sees and feels the
fact and justice of his condemnation.
14th. It is absurd to suppose
that a careless, unconvicted sinner can intelligently and thankfully accept the
gospel offer of pardon until he accepts the righteousness of God in his
condemnation. Conversion to Christ is an intelligent change. Hence the
conviction of ill desert must precede the acceptance of mercy; for without this
conviction the soul does not understand its need of mercy. Of course, the offer
is rejected. The gospel is no glad tidings to the careless, unconvicted sinner.
15th. The spirituality of the law
should be unsparingly applied to the conscience until the sinner’s
self-righteousness is annihilated, and he stands speechless and self-condemned
before a holy God.
16th. In some men this conviction
is already ripe, and the preacher may at once present Christ, with the hope of
His being accepted; but at ordinary times such cases are exceptional. The great
mass of sinners are careless, unconvicted, and to assume their conviction and
preparedness to receive Christ, and, hence, to urge sinners immediately to
accept Him, is to begin at the wrong end of our work—to render our teaching
unintelligible. And such a course will be found to have been a mistaken one,
whatever present appearances and professions may indicate. The sinner may
obtain a hope under such teaching; but, unless the Holy Spirit supplies
something which the preacher has failed to do, it will be found to be a false
one. All the essential links of truth must be supplied.
17th. When the law has done its
work, annihilated self-righteousness, and shut the sinner up to the acceptance
of mercy, he should be made to understand the delicacy and danger of dispensing
with the execution of the penalty when the precept of law has been violated.
18th. Right here the sinner
should be made to understand that from the benevolence of God he cannot justly
infer that God can consistently forgive him. For unless public justice can be
satisfied, the law of universal benevolence forbids the forgiveness of sin. If
public justice is not regarded in the exercise of mercy, the good of the public
is sacrificed to that of the individual. God will never do this.
19th. This teaching will shut the
sinner up to look for some offering to public justice.
20th. Now give him the atonement
as a revealed fact, and shut him up to Christ as his own sin offering. Press
the revealed fact that God has accepted the death of Christ as a substitute for
the sinner’s death, and that this is to be received upon the testimony of God.
21st. Being already crushed into
contrition by the convicting power of the law, the revelation of the love of
God manifested in the death of Christ will naturally beget great self-loathing,
and that godly sorrow that needeth not to be repented of. Under this showing
the sinner can never forgive himself. God is holy and glorious; and he a
sinner, saved by sovereign grace. This teaching may be more or less formal as
the souls you address are more or less thoughtful, intelligent, and careful to
understand.
22nd. It was not by accident that
the dispensation of law preceded the dispensation of grace; but it is in the
natural order of things, in accordance with established mental laws, and
evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel. To overlook this in
instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction
of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the Church with
spurious converts. Time will make this plain.
23rd. The truth should be
preached to the persons present, and so personally applied as to compel everyone
to feel that you mean him or her. As has been often said of a certain preacher:
“He does not preach, but explains what other people preach, and seems to be
talking directly to me.”
24th. This course will rivet
attention, and cause your hearers to lose sight of the length of your sermon.
They will tire if they feel no personal interest in what you say. To secure
their individual interest in what you are saying is an indispensable condition
of their being converted. And, while their individual interest is thus
awakened, and held fast to your subject, they will seldom complain of the
length of your sermon. In nearly all cases, if the people complain of the
length of our sermons, it is because we fail to interest them personally in
what we say.
25th. If we fail to interest them
personally, it is either because we do not address them personally, or because
we lack unction and earnestness, or because we lack clearness and force, or
certainly because we lack something that we ought to possess. To make them feel
that we and that God means them is indispensable.
26th. Do not think that earnest
piety alone can make you successful in winning souls. This is only one
condition of success. There must be common sense, there must be spiritual
wisdom in adapting means to the end. Matter and manner and order and time and
place all need to be wisely adjusted to the end we have in view.
27th. God may sometimes convert
souls by men who are not spiritually minded, when they possess that natural
sagacity which enables them to adapt means to that end; but the Bible warrants
us in affirming that these are exceptional cases. Without this sagacity and
adaptation of means to this end a spiritual mind will fail to win souls to
Christ.
28th. Souls need instruction in
accordance with the measure of their intelligence. A few simple truths, when
wisely applied and illuminated by the Holy Ghost, will convert children to
Christ. I say wisely applied, for they too are sinners, and need the
application of the law, as a schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ, that they
may be justified by faith. It will sooner or later appear that supposed
conversions to Christ are spurious where the preparatory law work has been
omitted, and Christ has not been embraced as a Saviour from sin and condemnation.
29th. Sinners of education and
culture, who are, after all, unconvicted and sceptical in their hearts, need a
vastly more extended and thorough application of truth. Professional men need
the gospel net to be thrown quite around them, with no break through which they
can escape; and, when thus dealt with, they are all the more sure to be
converted in proportion to their real intelligence. I have found that a course
of lectures addressed to lawyers, and adapted to their habits of thought and
reasoning, is most sure to convert them.
30th. To be successful in winning
souls, we need to be observing—to study individual character, to press the
facts of experience, observation, and revelation upon the consciences of all
classes.
31st. Be sure to explain the
terms you use. Before I was converted, I failed to hear the terms repentance,
faith, regeneration, and conversion intelligibly explained. Repentance was
described as a feeling. Faith was represented as an intellectual act or state,
and not as a voluntary act of trust. Regeneration was represented as some
physical change in the nature, produced by the direct power of the Holy Ghost,
instead of a voluntary change of the ultimate preference of the soul, produced
by the spiritual illumination of the Holy Ghost. Even conversion was
represented as being the work of the Holy Ghost in such a sense as to cover up
the fact that it is the sinner’s own act, under the persuasions of the Holy
Ghost.
32nd. Urge the fact that
repentance involves the voluntary and actual renunciation of all sin; that it
is a radical change of mind toward God.
33rd. Also the fact that saving
faith is heart trust in Christ; that it works by love, it purifies the heart,
and overcomes the world; that no faith is saving that has not these attributes.
34th. The sinner is required to
put forth certain mental acts. What these are he needs to understand. Error in
mental philosophy but embarrasses, and may fatally deceive the inquiring soul.
Sinners are often put upon a wrong track. They are put upon a strain to feel
instead of putting forth the required acts of will. Before my conversion I
never received from man any intelligible idea of the mental acts that God
required of me.
35th. The deceitfulness of sin
renders the inquiring soul exceedingly exposed to delusion; therefore it
behoves teachers to beat about every bush, and to search out every nook and
corner where a soul can find a false refuge. Be so thorough and discriminating
as to render it as nearly impossible as the nature of the case will admit that the
inquirer should entertain a false hope.
36th. Do not fear to be thorough.
Do not through false pity put on a plaster where the probe is needed. Do not
fear that you shall discourage the convicted sinner, and turn him back, by
searching him out to the bottom. If the Holy Spirit is dealing with him, the
more you search and probe the more impossible it will be for the soul to turn
back or rest in sin.
37th. If you would save the soul,
do not spare a right hand, or right eye, or any darling idol; but see to it
that every form of sin is given up. Insist upon full confession of wrong to all
that have a right to confession. Insist upon full restitution, so far as is
possible, to all injured parties. Do not fall short of the express teachings of
Christ on this subject. Whoever the sinner may be, let him distinctly
understand that unless he forsakes all that he has he cannot be the disciple of
Christ. Insist upon entire and universal consecration of all the powers of body
and mind, and of all the property, possessions, character, and influence to
God. Insist upon the total abandonment to God of all ownership of self, or
anything else, as a condition of being accepted.
38th. Understand yourself, and,
if possible, make the sinner understand, that nothing short of this is involved
in true faith or true repentance, and that true consecration involves them all.
39th. Keep constantly before the
sinner’s mind that it is the personal Christ with whom he is dealing, that God
in Christ is seeking his reconciliation to Himself, and that the condition of
his reconciliation is that he gives up his will and his whole being to God—that
he “leave not a hoof behind.”
40th. Assure him that “God has
given to him eternal life, and this life is in His Son”; that “Christ is made
unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption”; and that from
first to last he is to find his whole salvation in Christ.
41st. When satisfied that the
soul intelligently receives all this doctrine, and the Christ herein revealed,
then remember that he must persevere unto the end, as the further condition of
his salvation. Here you have before you the great work of preventing the soul
from backsliding, of securing its permanent sanctification and sealing for
eternal glory.
42nd. Does not the very common
backsliding in heart of converts indicate some grave defect in the teachings of
the pulpit on this subject?
What does it mean that so many hopeful
converts, within a few months of their apparent conversion, lose their first
love, lose all their fervency in religion, neglect their duty, and live on in
name Christians, but in spirit and life worldlings?
43rd. A truly successful preacher
must not only win souls to Christ, but must keep them won. He must not only
secure their conversion, but their permanent sanctification.
44th. Nothing in the Bible is
more expressly promised in this life than permanent sanctification.
45th. We learn from the
Scriptures that “after we believe” we are, or may be, sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, and that this sealing is the earnest of our salvation.
46th. Now, brethren, unless we
know what this means by our own experience, and lead converts to this
experience, we fail most lamentably and essentially in our teaching. We leave
out the very cream and fullness of the Gospel.
47th. It should be understood
that while this experience is rare amongst ministers it will be discredited by
the Churches, and it will be next to impossible for an isolated preacher of
this doctrine to overcome the unbelief of his Church. They will feel doubtful
about it, because so few preach it or believe in it; and will account for their
pastor’s insisting upon it by saying that his experience is owing to his
peculiar temperament, and thus they will fail to receive this anointing because
of their unbelief. Under such circumstances it is all the more necessary to
insist much upon the importance and privilege of permanent sanctification.
48th. Sin consists in
carnal-mindedness, in “obeying the desires of the flesh and of the mind.”
Permanent sanctification consists in entire and permanent consecration to God.
It implies the refusal to obey the desires of the flesh or of the mind. The
baptism or sealing of the Holy Spirit subdues the power of the desires, and
strengthens and confirms the will in resisting the impulse of desire, and in
abiding permanently in a state of making the whole being an offering to God.
49th. If we are silent upon this
subject, the natural inference will be that we do not believe in it, and, of
course, that we know nothing about it in experience. This will inevitably be a
stumbling-block to the Church.
50th. Since this is undeniably an
important doctrine, and plainly taught in the gospel, and is, indeed, the marrow
and fatness of the gospel, to fail in teaching this is to rob the Church of its
richest inheritance.
51st. The testimony of the
Church, and to a great extent of the ministry, on the subject has been
lamentably defective. This legacy has been withheld from the Church, and is it
any wonder that she so disgracefully backslides? The testimony of the
comparatively few, here and there, that insist upon this doctrine is almost
nullified by the counter-testimony or culpable silence of the great mass of
Christ’s witnesses.
52nd. My dear brethren, my
convictions are so ripe and my feelings so deep upon this subject that I must
not conceal from you my fears that lack of personal experience, in many cases,
is the reason of this great defect in preaching the gospel. I do not say this
to reproach you; it is not in my heart to do so. It is not wonderful that many
of you, at least, have not this experience. Your religious training has been
defective. You have been led to take a different view of this subject. Various causes
have operated to prejudice you against this blessed doctrine of the glorious
gospel. You have not intellectually believed it; and, of course, have not
received Christ in His fullness into your hearts. Perhaps this doctrine to you
has been a stumbling-block and a rock of offence; but I pray you let not
prejudice prevail, but venture upon Christ by a present acceptance of Him as
your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and see if He will
not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you asked or thought.
53rd. No man, saint or sinner,
should be left by us to rest or be quiet in the indulgence of any sin. No one
should be allowed to entertain the hope of heaven, if we can prevent it, who
lives in the indulgence of known sin in any form. Our constant demand and
persuasion should be, “Be ye holy, for God is holy.” “Be ye perfect, even as
your Father in heaven is perfect.” Let us remember the manner in which Christ
concludes His memorable Sermon on the Mount. After spreading out those awfully
searching truths before His hearers, and demanding that they should be perfect,
as their Father in heaven was perfect, He concludes by assuring them that no
one could be saved who did not receive and obey His teachings. Instead of
attempting to please our people in their sins, we should continually endeavor
to hunt and persuade them out of their sins. Brethren, let us do it, as we
would not have our skirts defiled with their blood. If we pursue this course
and constantly preach with unction and power, and abide in the fullness of the
doctrine of Christ, we may joyfully expect to save ourselves and them that hear
us.
“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the
doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and
them that hear thee.”—I Timothy 4:16.
I am not going to preach to preachers, but
to suggest certain conditions upon which the salvation promised in this text
may be secured by them.
1st. See that you are constrained
by love to preach the gospel, as Christ was to provide a gospel.
2nd. See that you have the
special enduement of power from on high, by the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
3rd. See that you have a heart,
and not merely a head call to undertake the preaching of the gospel. By this I
mean, be heartily and most intensely inclined to seek the salvation of souls as
the great work of life, and do not undertake what you have no heart to.
4th. Constantly maintain a close
walk with God.
5th. Make the Bible your book of
books. Study it much, upon your knees, waiting for divine light.
6th. Beware of leaning on
commentaries. Consult them when convenient; but judge for yourself, in the
light of the Holy Ghost.
7th. Keep yourself pure—in will,
in thought, in feeling, in word and action.
8th. Contemplate much the guilt
and danger of sinners, that your zeal for their salvation may be intensified.
9th. Also deeply ponder and dwell
much upon the boundless love and compassion of Christ for them.
10th. So love them yourself as to
be willing to die for them.
11th. Give your most intense
thought to the study of ways and means by which you may save them. Make this
the great and intense study of your life.
12th. Refuse to be diverted from
this work. Guard against every temptation that would abate your interest in it.
13th. Believe the assertion of
Christ that He is with you in this work always and everywhere, to give you all
the help you need.
14th. “He that winneth souls is
wise”; and “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men
liberally and upbraideth not, and he shall receive. But let him ask in faith.”
Remember, therefore, that you are bound to have the wisdom that shall win souls
to Christ.
15th. Being called of God to the
work, make your calling your constant argument with God for all that you need
for the accomplishment of the work.
16th. Be diligent and laborious,
“in season and out of season.”
17th. Converse much with all
classes of your hearers on the question of their salvation, that you may
understand their opinions, errors, and wants. Ascertain their prejudices,
ignorance, temper, habits, and whatever you need to know to adapt your
instruction to their necessities.
18th. See that your own habits
are in all respects correct; that you are temperate in all things—free from the
stain or smell of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or anything of which you have reason
to be ashamed, and which may stumble others.
19th. Be not “light-minded,” but
“set the Lord always before you.”
20th. Bridle your tongue, and be
not given to idle and unprofitable conversation.
21st. Always let your people see
that you are in solemn earnest with them, both in the pulpit and out of it; and
let not your daily intercourse with them nullify your serious teaching on the
Sabbath.
22nd. Resolve to “know nothing”
among your people “save Jesus Christ and Him crucified”; and let them
understand that, as an ambassador of Christ, your business with them relates
wholly to the salvation of their souls.
23rd. Be sure to teach them as
well by example as by precept. Practise yourself what you preach.
24th. Be especially guarded in
your intercourse with women, to raise no thought or suspicion of the least
impurity in yourself.
25th. Guard your weak points. If
naturally tending to gaiety and trifling, watch against occasions of failure in
this direction.
26th. If naturally sombre and
unsocial, guard against moroseness and unsociability.
27th. Avoid all affectation and
sham in all things. Be what you profess to be, and you will have no temptation
to “make believe.”
28th. Let simplicity, sincerity,
and Christian propriety stamp your whole life.
29th. Spend much time every day
and night in prayer and direct communion with God. This will make you a power
for salvation. No amount of learning and study can compensate for the loss of
this communion. If you fail to maintain communion with God, you are “weak as
another man.”
30th. Beware of the error that
there are no means of regeneration, and, consequently, no connection of means
and ends in the regeneration of souls.
31st. Understand that regeneration
is a moral, and therefore a voluntary change.
32nd. Understand that the gospel
is adapted to change the hearts of men, and in a wise presentation of it you
may expect the efficient co-operation of the Holy Spirit.
33rd. In the selection and
treatment of your texts, always secure the direct teaching of the Holy Spirit.
34th. Let all your sermons be
heart and not merely head sermons.
35th. Preach from experience, and
not from hearsay, or mere reading and study.
36th. Always present the subject
which the Holy Spirit lays upon your heart for the occasion. Seize the points
presented by the Holy Spirit to your own mind, and present them with the
greatest possible directness to your congregation.
37th. Be full of prayer whenever
you attempt to preach, and go from your closet to your pulpit with the inward
groanings of the Spirit pressing for utterance at your lips.
38th. Get your mind fully imbued
with your subject, so that it will press for utterance; then open your mouth,
and let it forth like a torrent.
39th. See that “the fear of man
that bringeth a snare” is not upon you. Let your people understand that you
fear God too much to be afraid of them.
40th. Never let the question of
your popularity with your people influence your preaching.
41st. Never let the question of
salary deter you from “declaring the whole counsel of God, whether men will
hear or forbear.”
42nd. Do not temporize, lest you
lose the confidence of your people, and thus fail to save them. They cannot
thoroughly respect you, as an ambassador of Christ, if they see that you dare
not do your duty.
43rd. Be sure to “commend
yourself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
44th. Be “not a lover of filthy
lucre.”
45th. Avoid every appearance of
vanity.
46th. Compel your people to
respect your sincerity and your spiritual wisdom.
47th. Let them not for one moment
suppose that you can be influenced in your preaching by any considerations of
salary, more or less, or none at all.
48th. Do not make the impression
that you are fond of good dinners, and like to be invited out to dine; for this
will be a snare to you, and a stumbling-block to them.
49th. Keep your body under, lest
after having preached to others, yourself should be a castaway.
50th. “Watch for souls as one who
must give an account to God.”
51st. Be a diligent student, and
thoroughly instruct your people in all that is essential to their salvation.
52nd. Never flatter the rich.
53rd. Be especially attentive to
the wants and instruction of the poor.
54th. Suffer not yourself to be
bribed into a compromise with sin by donation parties.
55th. Suffer not yourself to be
publicly treated as a mendicant, or you will come to be despised by a large
class of your hearers.
56th. Repel every attempt to
close your mouth against whatever is extravagant, wrong, or injurious amongst
your people.
57th. Maintain your pastoral
integrity and independence, lest you sear your conscience, quench the Holy
Spirit, forfeit the confidence of your people, and lose the favour of God.
58th. Be an example to the flock,
and let your life illustrate your teaching. Remember that your actions and
spirit will teach even more impressively than your sermons.
59th. If you preach that men
should offer to God and their neighbour a love service, see that you do this
yourself, and avoid all that tends to the belief that you are working for pay.
60th. Give to your people a love
service, and encourage them to render to you, not a money equivalent for your
labour, but a love reward that will refresh both you and them.
61st. Repel every proposal to get
money for you or for Church purposes that will naturally disgust and excite the
contempt of worldly but thoughtful men.
62nd. Resist the introduction of
tea-parties, amusing lectures, and dissipating sociables, especially at those
seasons most favourable for united efforts to convert souls to Christ. Be sure
the devil will try to head you off in this direction. When you are praying and
planning for a revival of God’s work, some of your worldly Church members will
invite you to a party. Go not, or you are in for a circle of them, that will
defeat your prayers.
63rd. Do not be deceived. Your
spiritual power with your people will never be increased by accepting such
invitations at such times. If it is a good time to have parties, because the
people have leisure, it is also a good time for religious meetings, and your
influence should be used to draw the people to the house of God.
64th. See that you personally
know and daily live upon Christ.
We hear much said, and read much, in these
days, of indulging in innocent amusements. I heard a minister, some time since,
in addressing a large company of young people, say that he had spent much time
in devising innocent amusements for the young. Within a few years I have read
several sermons and numerous articles pleading for more amusements than have
been customary with religious people. With your consent, I wish to suggest a
few thoughts upon this subject—first, what are not, and, secondly, what are
innocent amusements.
1st. This is a question of
morals.
2nd. All intelligent acts of a
moral agent must be either right or wrong. Nothing is innocent in a moral agent
that is not in accordance with the law and gospel of God.
3rd. The moral character of any
and every act of a moral agent resides in the motive or the ultimate reason for
the act. This I take to be self-evident and universally admitted.
4th. Now, what is the rule of
judgment in this case? How are we to decide whether any given act of amusement
is right or wrong, innocent or sinful?
I answer:
1st. By the moral law, “Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” etc., “and thy neighbour as
thyself.” No intelligent act of a moral agent is innocent or right unless it
proceeds from and is an expression of supreme love to God and equal love to
man—in other words, unless it is benevolent.
2nd. The Gospel. This requires
the same: “Therefore, whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the
glory of God.” “Do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
3rd. Right reason affirms the
same thing. Now, in the light of this rule, it is plain that it is not innocent
to engage in amusements merely to gratify the desire for amusement. We may not
innocently eat or drink to gratify the desire for food or drink. To eat or drink
merely to gratify appetite is innocent enough in a mere animal, but in a moral
agent it is a sin. A moral agent is bound to have a higher ultimate motive—to
eat and drink—that he may be strong and healthy for the service of God. God has
made eating and drinking pleasant to us; but this pleasure ought not to be our
ultimate reason for eating and drinking. So amusements are pleasant, but this
does not justify us in seeking amusements to gratify desire. Mere animals may
do this innocently, because they are incapable of any higher motive. But moral
agents are under a higher law, and are bound to have another and a higher aim
than merely to gratify the desire for amusements. Therefore, no amusement is
innocent which is engaged in for the pleasure of the amusement, any more than
it would be innocent to eat and drink for the pleasure of it. Again, no
amusement is innocent that is engaged in because we need amusements. We need
food and drink; but this does not justify us in eating and drinking simply
because we need it. The law of God does not say, “Seek whatever ye need because
ye need it”; but, “Do all from love to God and man.” A wicked man might eat and
drink selfishly—that is, to make his body strong to execute his selfish
plans—but this eating and drinking would be sin, notwithstanding he needed food
and drink.
Nothing is innocent unless it proceeds from
supreme love to God and equal love to man, unless the supreme and ultimate
motive be to please and honour God. In other words, to be innocent, any
amusement must be engaged in because it is believed to be at the time most
pleasing to God, and is intended to be a service rendered to Him, as that
which, upon the whole, will honour Him more than anything else that we can
engage in for the time being. I take this to be self-evident. What then? It
follows:
1st. That none but benevolent
amusements can be innocent. Fishing and shooting for amusement are not
innocent. We may fish and hunt for the same reason that we are allowed to eat
and drink—to supply nature with aliment, that we may be strong in the service
of God. We may hunt to destroy noxious animals, for the glory of God and the
interests of His kingdom. But fishing and hunting to gratify a passion for
these sports is not innocent. Again, no amusement can be innocent that involves
the squandering of precious time, that might be better employed to the glory of
God and the good of man. Life is short. Time is precious. We have but one life
to live. Much is to be done. The world is in darkness. A world of sinners are
to be enlightened, and, if possible, saved. We are required to work while the
day lasteth. Our commission and work require dispatch. No time is to be lost.
If our hearts are right, our work is pleasant. If rightly performed it affords
the highest enjoyment and is itself the highest amusement. No turning aside for
amusement can be innocent that involves any unnecessary loss of time. No man
that realizes the greatness of the work to be done, and loves to do it, can
turn aside for any amusement involving an unnecessary waste of time. Again, no
amusement can be innocent that involves an unnecessary expenditure of the
Lord’s money. All our time and all our money are the Lord’s. We are the Lord’s.
We may innocently use both time and money to promote the Lord’s interests and
the highest interests of man, which are the Lord’s interests. But we may not
innocently use either for our own pleasure and gratification. Expensive
journeys for our own pleasure and amusement, and not indulged in with a single
eye to the glory of God, are not innocent amusements, but sinful. Again, in the
light of the above rule of judgment, we see that no form of amusement is lawful
for an unconverted sinner. Nothing in him is innocent. While he remains
impenitent and unbelieving, does not love God and his neighbour according to
God’s command, there is for him no innocent employment or amusement; all is
sin.
And right here I fear that many are acting
under a great delusion. The loose manner in which this subject is viewed by
many professors of religion, and even ministers, is surprising and alarming.
Some time since, in a sermon, I remarked that there were no lawful employments
or innocent amusements for sinners. An aged clergyman who was present said,
after service, that it was ridiculous to hold that nothing was lawful or
innocent in an impenitent sinner. I replied: “I thought you were orthodox. Do
you not believe in the universal necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit?”
He replied: “Yes.” I added: “Do you believe that an unregenerate soul does
anything acceptable to God? Before his heart is changed, does he ever act from
a motive that God can accept, in anything whatever? Is he not totally depraved,
in the sense that his heart is all wrong, and therefore his actions must be all
wrong?” He appeared embarrassed, saw the point, and subsided.
Whatever is lawful in a moral agent or
according to the law of God is right. If anyone, therefore, engages lawfully in
any employment or in any amusement, he must do so from supreme love to God and
equal love to his neighbour; and is, therefore, not an impenitent sinner, but a
Christian. It is simply absurd and a contradiction to say that an impenitent
soul does, or says, or omits anything with a right heart. If impenitent, his
ultimate motive must necessarily be wrong; and, consequently, nothing in him is
innocent, but all must be sinful. What, then, is an innocent amusement? It must
be that and that only which not only might be but actually is engaged in with a
single eye to God’s glory and the interests of His kingdom. If this be not the
ultimate and supreme design, it is not an innocent, but a sinful amusement.
Now, right here is the delusion of many persons, I fear. When speaking of
amusements, they say: “What harm is there in them?” In answering to themselves
and others this question, they do not penetrate to the bottom of it. If on the
surface they see nothing contrary to morality, they judge that the amusement is
innocent. They fail to inquire into the supreme and ultimate motive in which
the innocence or sinfulness of the act is found. But apart from the motive no
course of action is either innocent or sinful, any more than the motions of a
machine or the acts of a mere animal are innocent or sinful. No act or course
of action should, therefore, be adjudged as either innocent or sinful without
ascertaining the supreme motive of the person who acts.
To teach, either directly or by implication,
that any amusement of an impenitent sinner or of a backslider is innocent is to
teach a gross and ruinous heresy. Parents should remember this in regard to the
amusements of their unconverted children. Sabbath school teachers and
superintendents who are planning amusements for their Sabbath schools,
preachers who spend their time in planning amusements for the young, who lead
their flocks to picnics, in pleasure excursions, and justify various games,
should certainly remember that, unless they are in a holy state of heart, and
do all this from supreme love to God and a design in the highest degree to
glorify God thereby, these ways of spending time are by no means innocent, but
highly criminal, and those who teach people to walk in these ways are simply
directing the channels in which their depravity shall run. For be it ever
remembered that, unless these things are indulged in from supreme love to God
and designed to glorify Him, unless they are, in fact, engaged in with a single
eye to the glory of God, they are not innocent, but sinful amusements. I must
say again, and, if possible, still more emphatically, that it is not enough
that they might be engaged in as the best way, for the time being, to honour
and please God; but they must be actually engaged in from supreme love to God,
with the ultimate design to glorify Him. If such, then, is the true doctrine of
innocent amusements, let no impenitent sinner and no backslidden Christian
suppose for a moment that it is possible for him to engage in any innocent
amusement. If it were true, as the aged minister to whom I have referred and
many others seem to believe, that impenitent sinners or backsliders can and do
engage in innocent amusements, the very engaging in such amusements, being
lawfully right and innocent in them, would involve a change of heart in the
unconverted, and a return to God in the backslider. For no amusement is lawful
unless it be engaged in as a love-service rendered to God and with design to
please and glorify Him. It must not only be a love service, but, in the
judgment of the one who renders it, it must be the best service that, for the
time being, he can render to God—a service that will be more pleasing to Him
and more useful to His kingdom than any other that can be engaged in at the
time. Let these facts be borne in mind when the question of engaging in
amusements comes up for decision. And remember, the question in all such cases
is not, “What harm is there in this proposed amusement?” but, “What good can it
do?” “Is it the best way in which I can spend my time?” “Will it be more
pleasing to God and more for the interest of His kingdom than anything else at
present possible to me?” “If not, it is not an innocent amusement, and I cannot
engage in it without sin.” The question often arises: “Are we never to seek
such amusements?” I answer: It is our privilege and our duty to live above a
desire for such things. All that class of desires should be so subdued by
living so much in the light of God, and having so deep a communion with Him as
to have no relish for such amusements whatever. It certainly is the privilege
of every child of God to walk so closely with Him, and maintain so divine a
communion with Him, as not to feel the necessity of worldly excitements,
sports, pastimes, and entertainments to make his enjoyment satisfactory. If a
Christian avails himself of his privilege of communion with God, he will
naturally and by an instinct of his new nature repel solicitations to go after
worldly amusements. To him such pastimes will appear low, unsatisfactory, and
even repulsive. If he is of a heavenly mind, as he ought to be, he will feel as
if he could not afford to come down and seek enjoyment in worldly amusements.
Surely, a Christian must be fallen from his first love, he must have turned
back into the world, before he can feel the necessity or have the desire of
seeking enjoyment in worldly sports and pastimes. A spiritual mind cannot seek
enjoyment in worldly society. To such a mind that society is necessarily
repulsive. Worldly society is insincere, hollow, and to a great extent a sham.
What relish can a spiritual mind have for the gossip of a worldly party of
pleasure? None whatever. To a mind in communion with God their worldly spirit
and ways, conversation and folly is repulsive and painful, as it is so strongly
suggestive of the downward tendency of their souls, and of the destiny that
awaits them. I have had so marked an experience of both sides of this question
that I think I cannot be mistaken. Probably but few persons enjoy worldly
pleasure more intensely than I did before I was converted; but my conversion,
and the spiritual baptism which immediately followed it, completely
extinguished all desire for worldly sports and amusements. I was lifted at once
into entirely another plane of life and another kind of enjoyment. From that
hour to the present the mode of life, the pastimes, sports, amusements, and
worldly ways that so much delighted me before have not only failed to interest
me, but I have had a positive aversion to them. I have never felt them
necessary to, or even compatible with, a truly rational enjoyment. I do not
speak boastingly; but for the honour of Christ and His religion, I must say
that my Christian life has been a happy one. I have had as much enjoyment as is
probably best for men to have in this life, and never for an hour have I had
the desire to turn back and seek enjoyment from anything the world can give.
But some may ask: “Suppose we do not find sufficient enjoyment in religion, and
really desire to go after worldly amusements. If we have the disposition, is it
not as well to gratify it?” “Is there any more sin in seeking amusements than
in entertaining a longing for them?” I reply that a longing for them should
never be entertained. It is the privilege and therefore the duty of everyone to
rise, through grace, above a hungering and thirsting for the fleshpots of
Professed Christians are bound to maintain a
life consistent with their profession. For the honour of religion, they ought
to deny worldly lusts; and not, by seeking to gratify them, give occasion to
the world to scoff and say that Christians love the world as well as they do.
If professors of religion are backslidden in heart, and entertain a longing for
worldly sports and amusements, they are bound by every consideration of duty
and decency to abstain from all outward manifestation of such inward lustings.
Some have maintained that we should conform to the ways of the world
somewhat—at least, enough to show that we can enjoy the world and religion too;
and that we make religion appear repulsive to unconverted souls by turning our
backs upon what they call their innocent amusements. But we should represent
religion as it really is—as living above the world, as consisting in a heavenly
mind, as that which affords an enjoyment so spiritual and heavenly as to render
the low pursuits and joys of worldly men disagreeable and repulsive. It is a
sad stumbling-block to the unconverted to see professed Christians seeking
pleasure or happiness from this world. Such seeking is a misrepresentation of
the religion of Jesus. It misleads, bewilders, and confounds the observing
outsider. If he ever reads his Bible, he cannot but wonder that souls who are
born of God and have communion with Him should have any relish for worldly ways
and pleasures. The fact is that thoughtful unconverted men have little or no
confidence in that class of professing Christians who seek enjoyment from this
world. They may profess to have, and may loosely think of such as being liberal
and good Christians. They may flatter them, and commend their religion as being
the opposite of fanaticism and bigotry, and as being such a religion as they
like to see; but there is no real sincerity in such professions on the part of
the impenitent.
In my early Christian life I heard a
Methodist bishop from the South report a case that made a deep impression on my
mind. He said there was in his neighbourhood a slave holder, a gentleman of
fortune, who was a gay and agreeable man, and gave himself much to various
field sports and amusements. He used to associate much with his pastor, often
invite him to dinner, and to accompany him in his sports and pleasure-seeking
excursions of various kinds. The minister cheerfully complied with these
requests, and a friendship grew up between the pastor and his parishioner that
continued till the last sickness of this gay and wealthy man. When the wife of
this worldling was apprised that her husband could live but a short time she
was much alarmed for his soul, and tenderly inquired if she should not call in
their minister to converse and pray with him. He feelingly replied: “No, my
dear; he is not the man for me to see now. He was my companion, as you know, in
worldly sports and pleasure-seeking; he loved good dinners and a jolly time. I
then enjoyed his society and found him a pleasant companion. But I see now that
I never had any real confidence in his piety, and have now no confidence in the
efficacy of his prayers. I am now a dying man, and need the instruction and
prayers of somebody that can prevail with God. We have been much together, but
our pastor has never been in serious earnest with me about the salvation of my
soul, and he is not the man to help me now.” The wife was greatly affected, and
said: “What shall I do, then?” He replied: “My coachman, Tom, is a pious man. I
have confidence in his prayers. I have often overheard him pray, when about the
barn or stables, and his prayers have always struck me as being quite sincere
and earnest. I never heard any foolishness from him. He has always been honest
and earnest as a Christian man. Call him.” Tom was called, and came within the
door, dropping his hat and looking tenderly and compassionately at his dying
master. The dying man put forth his hand, saying: “Come here, Tom. Take my
hand. Tom, can you pray for your dying master?” Tom poured out his soul in
earnest prayer. I cannot remember the name of this bishop, it was so long ago;
but the story I well remember as an illustration of the mistake into which many
professors and some ministers fall, supposing that we recommend religion to the
unconverted by mingling with them in their pleasures and their running after
amusements. I have seen many illustrations of this mistake. Christians should
live so far above the world as not to need or seek its pleasures, and thus
recommend religion to the world as a source of the highest and purest happiness.
The peaceful look, the joyful countenance, the spiritual serenity and
cheerfulness of a living Christian recommend religion to the unconverted. Their
satisfaction in God, their holy joy, their living above and shunning the ways
and amusements of worldly minds, impress the unconverted with a sense of the
necessity and desirableness of a Christian life. But let no man think to gain a
really Christian influence over another by manifesting a sympathy with his
worldly aspirations.
Now, is this rule a yoke of bondage? I do
not wonder that it has created in some minds not a little disturbance. The
pleasure-loving and pleasure-seeking members of the Church regard the rule as
impracticable, as a strait-jacket, as a bondage. But to whom is it a
straitjacket and a bondage? To whom is it impracticable? Surely it is not and
cannot be to any who love God with all their heart and their neighbour as
themselves. It certainly cannot be so regarded by a real Christian, for all
real Christians love God supremely. Their own interests and their own pleasure
are regarded as nothing as compared with the interests and good pleasure of
God. They, therefore, cannot seek amusements unless they believe themselves
called of God to do so. By a law of our nature we seek to please those whom we
supremely love. Also, by a law of our nature, we find our highest happiness in
pleasing those whom we supremely love; and we supremely please ourselves when
we seek not at all to please ourselves, but to please the object of our supreme
affection. Therefore, Christians find their highest enjoyment and their truest
pleasure in pleasing God and in seeking the good of their fellow-men; and they
enjoy this service all the more because enjoyment is not what they seek, but
what they inevitably experience by a law of their nature.
This is a fact of Christian consciousness.
The highest and purest of all amusements is found in doing the will of God.
Mere worldly amusements are cold and insipid and not worthy of naming in
comparison with the enjoyment we find in doing the will of God. To one who
loves God supremely it is natural to seek amusements, and everything else that
we do seek, with supreme reference to the glory of God. Why, then, should this
rule be regarded as too strict, as placing the standard too high, and as being
a strait-jacket and a bondage? How, then, are we to understand those who plead
so much for worldly amusements?
From what I have heard and read upon this
subject within the last few years, I have gathered that these pleaders for
amusements have thought that there was more enjoyment to be gained from these
amusements than from the service of God. They remind me of a sentence that I
used to have as a copy when a school-boy: “All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy.” They seem to assume that the service of God is work in the sense of
being a task and a burden; that to labour and pray and preach to win souls to
Christ, to commune with God and perform the duties of religion is so wearisome,
not to say irksome, that we need a good many playdays; that the love of Christ
is not satisfactory; that we must have frequent resort to worldly amusements to
make life tolerable. Christ on one occasion said to His disciples: “Come aside
and rest awhile.” This is not wonderful when we consider that they were often
so thronged as not to have time even to eat their ordinary meals. But it was
not amusement that they sought; simply rest from their labours of love, in
which labours they must have had the greatest enjoyment.
I often ask myself: “What can it mean that
so many of our highly-fed and most popular preachers are pleading so much for
amusements?” They seem to be leading the Church off in a direction in which she
is the most in danger. It is no wonder that lay-men and women are easily led in
that direction, for such teaching exactly accords with the innumerable
temptations to worldliness which are presented to the Church on every side. The
Bible is replete with instruction upon this subject, which is the direct
opposite of these pleas for worldly amusements. These teachers plead for fun,
hilarity, jesting, plays, and games, and such things as worldly minds love and
enjoy; but the Bible exhorts to sobriety, heavenly-mindedness, unceasing
prayer, and a close and perpetual walk with God. The Bible everywhere assumes
that all real enjoyment is found in this course of life, that all true peace of
mind is found in communion with God and in being given up to seek His glory as
the constant and supreme end of life. It exhorts us to watchfulness, and
informs us that for every idle word we must give account in the Day of
Judgment. It nowhere informs us that fun and hilarity are the source of
rational enjoyment; it nowhere encourages us to expect to maintain a close walk
with God, to have peace of mind and joy in the Holy Ghost, if we gad about to
seek amusements. And is not the teaching of the Bible on this subject in exact
accordance with human experience? Do we need to have the pulpit turn advocate
of worldly amusements? Is not human depravity strong enough in that direction,
without being stimulated by the voice of the preacher? Has the Church worked so
hard for God and souls, are Christians so overdone with their exhausting
efforts to pull sinners out of the fire, that they are in danger of becoming
insane with religious fervour and need that the pulpit and the press should
join in urging them to turn aside and seek amusements and have a little fun?
What can it mean? Why, is it not true that
nearly all our dangers are on this side? Is not human nature in its present
state so strongly tending in these directions that we need to be on our guard,
and constantly to exhort the Church not to be led away after amusements and
fun, to the destruction of their souls? But to come back to the question: To
whom is it a bondage, to be required to have a single eye to the good pleasure
and glory of God in all that we do? Who finds it hard to do so? Christ says His
yoke is easy and His burden is light. The requirement to do all for the glory
of God is surely none other than the yoke of Christ. It is His expressed will.
Who finds this a hard yoke and a heavy burden? It is not hard or heavy to a
willing, loving mind.
Just the thing here required is natural and
inevitable to everyone that truly loves God and is truly devoted to the
Saviour. What is devotion to Jesus but a heart set upon rendering Him a loving
obedience in all things? What is Christian liberty but the privilege of doing
that which Christians most love to do—that is, in all things to fulfil the good
pleasure of their blessed Lord? Turn aside from saving souls to seek
amusements! As if there could be a higher and diviner pleasure than is found in
labouring for the salvation of souls. It cannot be. There can be no higher
enjoyment found in this world than is found in pulling souls out of the fire
and bringing them to Christ. I am filled with amazement when I read and hear
the appeals to the Church to seek more worldly amusements. Do we need, can we
have any fuller and higher satisfaction than is found in a close, serious,
loving walk with God and co-operation with Him in fitting souls for heaven?
All that I hear said to encourage the people
of God in seeking amusements appears to me to proceed from a worldly, instead
of a spiritual state of mind. Can it be possible that a soul in communion with
God and, of course, yearning with compassion over dying men, struggling from
day to day in agonizing prayer for their salvation, should entertain the
thought of turning aside to seek amusement? Can a pastor in whose congregation
are numbers of unsaved souls, and amongst whose membership are many
worldly-minded professors of religion, turn aside and lead or accompany his
Church in a backsliding movement to gain worldly pleasure? There are always
enough in every Church who are easily led astray in that direction. But who are
they that most readily fall in with such a movement? Who are ready to come to
the front when a picnic, a pleasure excursion, a worldly party, or other
pleasure-seeking movements are proposed? Are they, in fact, the class that always
attend prayer-meetings, that are always in a revival state of mind? Do they
belong to the class whose faces shine from day to day with the peace of God
pervading their souls? Are they the Aarons and Hurs that stay up the hands of
their pastor with continual and prevailing prayer? Are they spiritual members,
whose conversation is in heaven and who mind not earthly things? Who does not
know that it is the worldly members in the Church who are always ready for any
movement in the direction of worldly pleasure or amusement, and that the truly
spiritual, prayerful, heavenly-minded members are shy of all such movements?
They are not led into them without urging, and weep in secret places when they
see their pastor giving encouragement to that which is likely to be so great a
stumbling-block to both the Church and to the world.
Pres. Finney, in forwarding his revision of
the above tract for publication by the Willard Tract Repository, accompanied it
with a note to Dr. Cullis, in which he said:
“The previous pages contain a condensation
of three short articles that I published in the Independent. I recollect that
the editor of the Advance, and one of the editors of the Independent, both of
whom had published what I regard as very loose views, approving and recommending
the worldly amusements of Christians, criticized those articles with an
asperity that seemed to indicate that they were nettled by them. They so far
perverted them as to assert that they taught asceticism, and the prohibition of
rest, recreation, and all amusements. I regard the doctrine of this tract as
strictly Biblical and true. But, to avoid all such unjust inferences and
cavils, add the following lines.
“Let no one say that the doctrine of this
tract prohibits all rest, recreation, and amusement whatever. It does not. It
freely admits all rest, recreation, and amusement that is regarded, by the
person who resorts to it, as a condition and means of securing health and
vigour of body and mind with which to promote the cause of God. This tract only
insists, as the Bible does, that ‘whether we eat or drink,’ rest, recreate, or
amuse ourselves, all must be done as a service rendered to God. God must be our
end. To please Him must be our aim in everything, or we sin.”
In every period of my ministerial life I
have found many professed Christians in a miserable state of bondage, either to
the world, the flesh, or the Devil. But surely this is no Christian state, for
the apostle has distinctly said: “Sin shall not have dominion over you, because
ye are not under the law, but under grace.” In all my Christian life I have
been pained to find so many Christians living in the legal bondage described in
the seventh Chapter of Romans—a life of sinning, and resolving to reform and falling
again. And what is particularly saddening, and even agonizing, is that many
ministers and leading Christians give perfectly false instruction upon the
subject of how to overcome sin. The directions that are generally given on this
subject, I am sorry to say, amount to about this: “Take your sins in detail,
resolve to abstain from them, and fight against them, if need be with prayer
and fasting, until you have overcome them. Set your will firmly against a
relapse into sin, pray and struggle, and resolve that you will not fall, and
persist in this until you form the habit of obedience and break up all your
sinful habits.” To be sure it is generally added: “In this conflict you must
not depend upon your own strength, but pray for the help of God.” In a word,
much of the teaching, both of the pulpit and the press, really amounts to this:
Sanctification is by works, and not by faith. I notice that Dr. Chalmers, in
his lectures on Romans, expressly maintains that justification is by faith, but
sanctification is by works. Some twenty-five years ago, I think, a prominent
professor of theology in
Now it is important to say right here that
all such efforts are worse than useless, and not infrequently result in
delusion. First, it is losing sight of what really constitutes sin; and,
secondly, of the only practicable way to avoid it. In this way the outward act
or habit may be overcome and avoided, while that which really constitutes the
sin is left untouched. Sin is not external, but internal. It is not a muscular
act, it is not the volition that causes muscular action, it is not an
involuntary feeling or desire; it must be a voluntary act or state of mind. Sin
is nothing else than that voluntary, ultimate preference or state of committal
to self-pleasing out of which the volitions, the outward actions, purposes,
intentions, and all the things that are commonly called sin proceed. Now, what
is resolved against in this religion of resolutions and efforts to suppress
sinful and form holy habits? “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” But do we
produce love by resolution? Do we eradicate selfishness by resolution? No,
indeed. We may suppress this or that expression or manifestation of selfishness
by resolving not to do this or that, and praying and struggling against it. We
may resolve upon an outward obedience, and work ourselves up to the letter of
an obedience to God’s commandments. But to eradicate selfishness from the
breast by resolution is an absurdity. So the effort to obey the commandments of
God in spirit—in other words, to attempt to love as the law of God requires by
force of resolution—is an absurdity. There are many who maintain that sin
consists in the desires. Be it so. Do we control our desires by force of
resolution? We may abstain from the gratification of a particular desire by the
force of resolution. We may go further, and abstain from the gratification of
desire generally in the outward life. But this is not to secure the love of
God, which constitutes obedience. Should we become anchorites, immure ourselves
in a cell, and crucify all our desires and appetites, so far as their
indulgence is concerned, we have only avoided certain forms of sin; but the
root that really constitutes sin is not touched. Our resolution has not secured
love, which is the only real obedience to God. All our battling with sin in the
outward life, by the force of resolution, only ends in making us whited
sepulchres. All our battling with desire by the force of resolution is of no
avail; for in all this, however successful the effort to suppress sin may be,
in the outward life or in the inward desire, it will only end in delusion, for
by force of resolution we cannot love.
All such efforts to overcome sin are utterly
futile, and as unscriptural as they are futile. The Bible expressly teaches us
that sin is overcome by faith in Christ. “He is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” “He is the way, the truth, and
the life.” Christians are said to “purify their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).
And in
Alas! for the blindness that “leads to
bewilder” the soul that is longing after deliverance from the power of sin. I
have sometimes listened to legal teaching upon this subject until I felt as if
I should scream. It is astonishing sometimes to hear Christian men object to
the teaching which I have here inculcated that it leaves us in a passive state,
to be saved without our own activity. What darkness is involved in this
objection! The Bible teaches that by trusting in Christ we receive an inward
influence that stimulates and directs our activity; that by faith we receive
His purifying influence into the very centre of our being; that through and by
His truth revealed directly to the soul He quickens our whole inward being into
the attitude of a loving obedience; and this is the way, and the only
practicable way, to overcome sin. But someone may say: “Does not the Apostle exhort
as follows: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God
which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure’? And is not
this an exhortation to do what in this article you condemn?” By no means. In
the 12th verse of the second Chapter of Philippians Paul says: “Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it
is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” There
is no exhortation to work by force of resolution, but through and by the
inworking of God. Paul had taught them, while he was present with them; but
now, in his absence, he exhorts them to work out their own salvation, not by
resolution but by the inward operation of God. This is precisely the doctrine
of this tract. Paul had too often taught the Church that Christ in the heart is
our sanctification, and that this influence is to be received by faith, to be
guilty in this passage of teaching that our sanctification is to be wrought out
by resolution and efforts to suppress sinful and form holy habits. This passage
of Scripture happily recognizes both the divine and human agency in the work of
sanctification. God works in us to will and to do; and we, accepting by faith
His inworking, will and do according to His good pleasure. Faith itself is an
active and not a passive state. A passive holiness is impossible and absurd.
Let no one say that when we exhort people to trust wholly in Christ we teach
that anyone should be or can be passive in receiving and co-operating with the
divine influence within. This influence is moral, and not physical. It is
persuasion, and not force. It influences the free will, and consequently does
this by truth, and not by force. Oh! that it could be understood that the whole
of spiritual life that is in any man is received direct from the Spirit of
Christ by faith, as the branch receives its life from the vine. Away with this
religion of resolutions! It is a snare of death. Away with this effort to make
the life holy while the heart has not in it the love of God. Oh! that men would
learn to look directly at Christ through the Gospel and so close in with Him by
an act of loving trust as to involve a universal sympathy with His state of
mind. This, and this alone, is sanctification.
I believe it is a fact generally admitted
that there is much less conscience manifested by men and women in nearly all
the walks of life than there was forty years ago. There is justly much
complaint of this, and there seems to be but little prospect of reformation.
The rings and frauds and villainies in high and low places, among all ranks of
men, are most alarming, and one is almost compelled to ask: “Can nobody be
safely trusted?” Now, what is the cause of this degeneracy? Doubtless there are
many causes that contribute more or less directly to it, but I am persuaded
that the fault is more in the ministry and public press than in any and all
things else. It has been fashionable now for many years to ridicule and decry
Puritanism. Ministers have ceased, in a great measure, to probe the consciences
of men with the spiritual law of God. So far as my knowledge extends, there has
been a great letting down and ignoring the searching claims of God’s law, as
revealed in His Word. This law is the only standard of true morality. “By the
law is the knowledge of sin.” The law is the quickener of the human conscience.
Just in proportion as the spirituality of the law of God is kept out of view
will there be manifest a decay of conscience. This must be the inevitable
result. Let ministers ridicule Puritanism, attempt to preach the Gospel without
thoroughly probing the conscience with the divine law, and this must result in,
at least, a partial paralysis of the moral sense. The error that lies at the
foundation of this decay of individual and public conscience originates, no
doubt, in the pulpit. The proper guardians of the public conscience have, I fear,
very much neglected to expound and insist upon obedience to the moral law. It
is plain that some of our most popular preachers are phrenologists. Phrenology
has no organ of free will. Hence, it has no moral agency, no moral law and
moral obligation in any proper sense of these terms. A consistent phrenologist
can have no proper ideas of moral obligation, of moral guilt, blameworthiness,
and retribution. Some years since a brother of one of our most popular
preachers heard me preach on the text “Be ye reconciled to God.” I went on to
show, among other things, that being reconciled to God implied being reconciled
to the execution of His law. He called on me the next morning, and among other
things said that neither himself nor two of his brothers, whom he named, all
preachers, had naturally any conscience. “We have,” said he, “no such ideas in
our minds of sin, guilt, justice and retribution as you and Father have.” “We
cannot preach as you do on those subjects.” He continued: “I am striving to
cultivate a conscience, and I think I begin to understand what it is. But,
naturally, neither I nor the two brothers I have named have any conscience.”
Now, these three ministers have repeatedly appeared in their writings before
the public. I have read much that they have written, and not infrequently the
sermons of one of them, and have been struck with the manifest want of
conscience in his sermons and writings. He is a phrenologist, and, hence, he
has in his theological views no free will, no moral agency, and nothing that is
really a logical result of free will and moral agency. He can ridicule
Puritanism and the great doctrines of the Orthodox faith; and, indeed, his
whole teaching, so far as it has fallen under my eye, most lamentably shows the
want of moral discrimination. I should judge from his writings that the true
ideas of moral depravity, guilt, and ill-desert, in the true acceptation of
those terms, have no place in his mind. Indeed, as a consistent phrenologist,
such ideas have no right in his mind. They are necessarily excluded by his
philosophy. I do not know how extensively phrenology has poisoned the minds of
ministers of different denominations, but I have observed with pain that many
ministers who write for the public press fail to reach the consciences of men.
They fail to go to the bottom of the matter and insist upon obedience to the
moral law as alone acceptable to God. They seem to me to “make void the law
through faith.” They seem to hold up a different standard from that which is
inculcated in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, which was Christ’s exposition of
the moral law. Christ expressly taught in that sermon that there was no
salvation without conformity to the rule of life laid down in that sermon. True
faith in Christ will always and inevitably beget a holy life. But I fear it has
become fashionable to preach what amounts to an antinomian gospel. The rule of
life promulgated in the Gospel is precisely that of the moral law. These four
things are expressly affirmed of true faith—of the faith of the Gospel:
1st. “It establishes the law.”
2nd. “It works by love.”
3rd. “It purifies the heart.”
4th. “It overcomes the world.”
These are but different forms of affirming
that true faith does, as a matter of fact, produce a holy life. If it did not,
it would “make void the law.” The true Gospel is not preached where obedience
to the moral law as the only rule of life is not insisted upon. Wherever there
is a failure to do this in the instructions of any pulpit, it will inevitably
be seen that the hearers of such a mutilated Gospel will have very little
conscience. We need more Boanerges or sons of thunder in the pulpit. We need
men that will flash forth the law of God like livid lightning and arouse the
consciences of men. We need more Puritanism in the pulpit. To be sure, some of
the Puritans were extremists. But still under their teaching there was a very
different state of the individual and public conscience from what exists in
these days. Those old, stern, grand vindicators of the government of God would
have thundered and lightened till they had almost demolished their pulpits, if
any such immoralities had shown themselves under their instructions as are
common in these days. In a great measure the periodical press takes its tone
from the pulpit. The universal literature of the present day shows conclusively
that the moral sense of the people needs toning up, and some of our most
fascinating preachers have become the favourites of infidels, sceptics of every
grade, Universalists, and the most abandoned characters. And has the offence of
the Cross ceased, or is the Cross kept out of view? Has the holy law of God,
with its stringent precept and its awful penalty, become popular with
unconverted men and women? Or is it ignored in the pulpit, and the preacher
praised for that neglect of duty for which he should be despised? I believe the
only possible way to arrest this downward tendency in private and public morals
is the holding up from the pulpits in this land, with unsparing faithfulness,
the whole Gospel of God, including as the only rule of life the perfect and
holy law of God.
The holding up of this law will reveal the
moral depravity of the heart, and the holding forth of the cleansing blood of
Christ will cleanse the heart from sin. My beloved brethren in the ministry, is
there not a great want in the public inculcations of the pulpit upon this
subject? We are set for the defence of the blessed Gospel and for the
vindication of God’s holy law. I pray you let us probe the consciences of our
hearers, let us thunder forth the law and Gospel of God until our voices reach
the capital of this nation, through our representatives in Congress. It is now
very common for the secular papers even to publish extracts of sermons. Let us
give the reporters of the press such work to do as will make their ears and the
ears of their readers tingle. Let our railroad rings, our stock gamblers, our
officials of every grade, hear from its pulpit, if they come within the sound,
such wholesome Puritanical preaching as will arouse them to better thoughts and
a better life. Away with this milk-and-water preaching of a love of Christ that
has no holiness or moral discrimination in it. Away with preaching a love of
God that is not angry with sinners every day. Away with preaching a Christ not
crucified for sin.
Christ crucified for the sins of the world
is the Christ that the people need. Let us rid ourselves of the just imputation
of neglecting to preach the law of God until the consciences of men are asleep.
Such a collapse of conscience in this land could never have existed if the
Puritan element in our preaching had not in great measure fallen out.
Some years ago I was preaching in a
congregation whose pastor had died some months before. He seemed to have been
almost universally popular with his Church and the community. His Church seemed
to have nearly idolized him. Everybody was speaking in his praise and holding
him up as an example; and yet both the Church and the community clearly
demonstrated that they had had an unfaithful minister, a man who loved and
sought the applause of his people. I heard so much of his inculcation and saw
so much of the legitimate fruits of his teachings that I felt constrained to
tell the people from the pulpit that they had had an unfaithful minister; that
such fruits as were apparent on every side, both within and without the Church,
could never have resulted from a faithful presentation of the Gospel. This
assertion would, doubtless, have greatly shocked them had it been made under
other circumstances; but, as the way had been prepared, they did not seem
disposed to gainsay it.
Brethren, our preaching will bear its
legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a
great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for
it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible
for it. If the Church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for
it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government
are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore
this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly
awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.
CHAPTER 12
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FAITH
I
have heretofore endeavored to show that sanctification is wrought in the soul
by the Spirit of Christ, through faith, with and not without the concurrence of
our own activity. I now wish to call attention to the nature or psychology of
faith as a mental act or state. My theological teacher held that faith was an
intellectual act or state, a conviction or firm persuasion that the doctrines
of the Bible are true. So far as I can recollect, this was the view of faith
which I heard everywhere advanced.
When
it was objected to this that the intellectual convictions and states are
involuntary, and could not be produced by any effort of the will, and,
consequently, we cannot be under obligations to exercise faith; and,
furthermore, that faith, being an intellectual act or state, could not be
virtue, it was replied that we control the attention of the mind by an effort
of the will, and that our responsibility lay in searching for that degree of
evidence that would convince the intellect; that unbelief was a sin, because it
was the inevitable result of a failure to search for and accept the evidence of
the truths of revelation; that faith was virtue, because it involved the
consent and effort of the will to search out the truth.
I
have met with this erroneous notion of the nature of Christian faith almost
everywhere since I was first licensed to preach. Especially in my early
ministry I found that great stress was laid on believing “the articles of
faith,” and it was held that faith consisted in believing with an unwavering
conviction the doctrines about Christ. Hence, an acceptance of the doctrines,
the doctrines, the DOCTRINES of the Gospel was very much insisted upon as
constituting faith. These doctrines I had been brought to accept intellectually
and firmly before I was converted. And, when told to believe, I replied that I
did believe, and no argument or assertion could convince me that I did not
believe the Gospel. And up to the very moment of my conversion I was not and
could not be convinced of my error.
At
the moment of my conversion, or when I first exercised faith, I saw my ruinous
error. I found that faith consisted not in an intellectual conviction that the
things affirmed in the Bible about Christ are true, but in the heart’s trust in
the person of Christ. I learned that God’s testimony concerning Christ was
designed to lead me to trust Christ, to confide in His person as my Saviour;
that to stop short in merely believing about Christ was a fatal mistake and
inevitably left me in my sins. It was as if I were sick almost unto death, and
someone should recommend to me a physician who was surely able and willing to
save my life, and I should listen to the testimony concerning him until fully
convinced that he was both able and willing to save my life, and then should be
told to believe in him, and my life was secure. Now, if I understood this to
mean nothing more than to credit the testimony with the firmest conviction, I
should reply: “I do believe in him with an undoubting faith. I believe every
word you have told me regarding him.” If I stopped here I should, of course,
lose my life. In addition to this firm intellectual conviction of his
willingness and ability, it were essential to apply to him, to come to him, to
trust his person, to accept his treatment. When I had intellectually accepted
the testimony concerning him with an unwavering belief, the next and the
indispensable thing would be a voluntary act of trust or confidence in his
person, a committal of my life to him, and his sovereign treatment in the cure
of my disease.
Now
this illustrates the true nature or psychology of faith as it actually exists
in consciousness. It does not consist in any degree of intellectual knowledge,
or acceptance of the doctrines of the Bible. The firmest possible persuasion
that every word said in the Bible respecting God and Christ is true, is not
faith. These truths and doctrines reveal God in Christ only so far as they
point to God in Christ, and teach the soul how to find Him by an act of trust
in His person.
When
we firmly trust in His person, and commit our souls to Him by an unwavering act
of confidence in Him for all that He is affirmed to be to us in the Bible, this
is faith. We trust Him upon the testimony of God. We trust Him for what the
doctrines and facts of the Bible declare Him to be to us. This act of trust
unites our spirit to Him in a union so close that we directly receive from Him
a current of eternal life. Faith, in consciousness, seems to complete the
divine galvanic circle, and the life of God is instantly imparted to our souls.
God’s life, and light, and love, and peace, and joy seem to flow to us as
naturally and spontaneously as the galvanic current from the battery. We then
for the first time understand what Christ meant by our being united to Him by
faith, as the branch is united to the vine. Christ is then and thus revealed to
us as God. We are conscious of direct communion with Him, and know Him as we
know ourselves, by His direct activity within us. We then know directly, in
consciousness, that He is our life, and that we receive from Him, moment by
moment, as it were, an impartation of eternal life.
With
some the mind is comparatively dark, and the faith, therefore, comparatively
weak in its first exercise. They may hold a great breadth of opinion, and yet
intellectually believe but little with a realizing conviction. Hence, their
trust in Him will be as narrow as their realizing convictions. When faith is
weak, the current of the divine life will flow so mildly that we are scarcely
conscious of it. But when faith is strong and all-embracing, it lets a current
of the divine life of love into our souls so strong that it seems to permeate
both soul and body. We then know in consciousness what it is to have Christ’s
Spirit within us as a power to save us from sin and stay up our feet in the
path of loving obedience.
From
personal conversation with hundreds—and I may say thousands—of Christian
people, I have been struck with the application of Christ’s words, as recorded
in the fifth Chapter of John, to their experience. Christ said to the Jews: “Ye
do search the Scriptures [for so it should be rendered][1][1];
for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of
Me; and ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life.” They stopped short
in the Scriptures. They satisfied themselves with ascertaining what the
Scriptures said about Christ, but did not avail themselves of the light thus
received to come to Him by an act of loving trust in His person. I fear it is
true in these days, as it has been in the days that are past, that multitudes
stop short in the facts and doctrines of the Gospel, and do not by any act of
trust in His person come to Him, concerning whom all this testimony is given.
Thus the Bible is misunderstood and abused.
Many,
understanding the “Confession of Faith” as summarizing the doctrines of the
Bible, very much neglect the Bible and rest in a belief of the articles of
faith. Others, more cautious and more in earnest, search the Scriptures to see
what they say about Christ, but stop short and rest in the formation of correct
theological opinions; while others, and they are the only saved class, love the
Scriptures intensely because they testify of Jesus. They search and devour the
Scriptures because they tell them who Jesus is and what they may trust Him for.
They do not stop short and rest in this testimony; but by an act of loving
trust go directly to Him, to His person, thus joining their souls to Him in a
union that receives from Him, by a direct divine communication, the things for
which they are led to trust Him. This is certainly Christian experience. This
is receiving from Christ the eternal life which God has given us in Him. This
is saving faith.
There
are many degrees in the strength of faith, from that of which we are hardly
conscious to that which lets such a flood of eternal life into the soul as to
quite overcome the strength of the body. In the strongest exercise of faith the
nerves of the body seem to give way for the time being under the overwhelming
exercise of the mind. This great strength of mental exercise is perhaps not
very common. We can endure but little of God’s light and love in our souls and
yet remain in the body. I have sometimes felt that a little clearer vision
would draw my soul entirely away from the body, and I have met with many
Christian people to whom these strong gales of spiritual influence were
familiar. But my object in writing thus is to illustrate the nature or
psychology and results of saving faith.
The
contemplation of the attitude and experience of numbers of professed Christians
in regard to Christ is truly lamentable and wonderful, considering that the
Bible is in their hands. Many of them appear to have stopped short in
theological opinions more or less firmly held. This they understand to be
faith. Others are more in earnest, and stop not short of a more or less realizing
conviction of the truths of the Bible concerning Christ. Others have strong
impressions of the obligations of the law, which move them to set about an
earnest life of works which leads them into bondage. They pray from a sense of
duty; they are dutiful, but not loving, not confiding. They have no peace and
no rest, except in cases where they persuade themselves that they have done
their duty. They are in a restless agonizing state.
<verse> <l>“Reason they hear, her counsels weigh,</l> <l>And all her words
approve,</l> <l>And yet they find it hard to obey,</l> <l>And harder still to love.”</l> </verse>
They
read and perhaps search the Scriptures to learn their duty and to learn about
Christ. They intellectually believe all that they understand the Scriptures to
say about Him; but when Christ is thus commended to their confidence, they do
not by an act of personal loving trust in and committal to Him so join their
souls to Him as to receive from Him the influx of His life, and light and love.
They do not by a simple act of personal loving trust in His person receive the
current of His divine life and power into their own souls. They do not thus
take hold of His strength and interlock their being with His. In other words,
they do not truly believe. Hence, they are not saved. Oh! what a mistake is
this. I fear it is very common. Nay, it seems to be certain that it is
appallingly common, else how can the state of the Church be accounted for? Is
that which we see in the great mass of professors of religion all that Christ
does for and in His people, when they truly believe? No, no! There is a great
error here. The psychology of faith is mistaken, and an intellectual conviction
of the truth of the Gospel is supposed to be faith. And some whose opinions
seem to be right in regard to the nature of faith rest in their philosophy and
fall short of exercising faith.
Let
no one suppose that I under-estimate the value of the facts and doctrines of
the Gospel. I regard a knowledge and belief of them as of fundamental importance.
I have no sympathy with those who undervalue them and treat doctrinal
discussion and preaching as of minor importance, nor can I assent to the
teaching of those who would have us preach Christ and not the doctrines
respecting Him. It is the facts and doctrines of the Bible that teach us who
Christ is, why He is to be trusted, and for what. How can we preach Christ
without preaching about Him? And how can we trust Him without being informed
why and for what we are to trust Him?
The
error to which I call attention does not consist in laying too much stress in
teaching and believing the facts and doctrines of the Gospel; but it consists
in stopping short of trusting the personal Christ for what those facts and
doctrines teach us to trust Him, and satisfying ourselves with believing the
testimony concerning Him, thus resting in the belief of what God has said about
Him, instead of committing our souls to Him by an act of loving trust.
The
testimony of God respecting Him is designed to secure our confidence in Him. If
it fails to secure the uniting of our souls to Him by an act and state of
implicit trust in Him—such an act of trust as unites us to Him as the branch is
united to the vine—we have heard the Gospel in vain. We are not saved. We have
failed to receive from Him that impartation of eternal life which can be
conveyed to us through no other channel than that of implicit trust.
During my Christian life I have been asked a
great many times, in substance, by thoughtful and anxious souls: “What is the
mental act or acts and states that God requires of me?” I have found it
profitable, and even indispensable, with the commands of God before me, to
question consciousness for a satisfactory answer to this question. I have
satisfied myself, and, by the help of God, I trust I have aided many others to
their satisfaction. Be it understood, then, that by the psychology of
righteousness I mean to designate the mental act and state that constitutes
righteousness. I will endeavour to develop this in the following order by
showing:
I. What righteousness is not.
II. What it is.
III. How we know what righteousness is.
IV. How a sinner may attain to
righteousness.
1. Righteousness does not consist in the
outward life or in any physical or bodily act whatever. All of these acts
belong to the category of cause and effect. They are necessitated by an act of
the will and have in themselves no moral character whatever.
2. Righteousness does not consist in
volition. Volition is an act of will, but necessitated by choice. It is an
executive act, and is the product of a purpose or choice. It is designed as a
means to an end. It is put forth to control either the attention of the
intellect, the states of the sensibility, or the movements of the outward life
by force. Volition is both an effect and a cause. It is the effect of a choice,
purpose, intention. It is the cause of the outward life and of many of the
changes both of the intellect and sensibility. Volition is a doing. Whatever we
do we accomplish by the exercise of volition. Volition is not, in the highest
sense, a free act, because it is an effect. It is itself caused. Hence, it has
no moral character in itself, and moral quality can be predicated of it only as
it partakes of the character of its primary cause.
3. Righteousness does not consist in
proximate or subordinate choice. I choose an ultimate, supreme end, for its own
sake. This choice is not executive. It is not put forth to secure the end, but
is simply the choice of an object for its own sake. This is ultimate choice. I
purpose, or choose, if possible, to secure this end. This is proximate or
subordinate choice. Strictly speaking, this choice belongs also to the category
of cause and effect. It results by necessity from the ultimate choice. In the
strictest sense, it is not a free act, since it is itself caused. Hence, it has
no moral character in itself, but, like volition, derives whatever moral
quality it has from its primary cause, or the ultimate choice.
4. Righteousness does not consist in any of
the states or activities of the sensibility. By the sensibility I mean that
department of the mind that feels, desires, suffers, enjoys. All the states of
the sensibility are involuntary, and belong to the category of cause and
effect. The will cannot control them directly, nor always indirectly. This we
know by consciousness. Since they are caused, and not free, they can have no
moral character in themselves, and, like thoughts, volitions, subordinate
choices, have no moral quality except that which is derived from their primary
cause.
Righteousness is moral rightness, moral
rectitude, moral uprightness, conformity to moral law. But what mental act or
state is that which the moral law or law of God requires? Law is a rule of
action. Moral law requires action—mental action, responsible action, therefore
free action. But what particular form of action does moral law require?
Free action is a certain form of action of
the will, and this is the only strictly free action. Christ has taught us by
His own teaching and through His inspired Prophets and Apostles that the moral
law requires love, and that this is the sum of its requirements. But what is
this love? It cannot be the involuntary love of the sensibility, either in the
form of emotion or affection; for these states of the mind, belonging as they
do to the category of cause and effect, cannot be the form of love demanded by
the law of God. The moral law is the law of God’s activity, the rule in
conformity to which He always acts. We are created in God’s image. His rule of
life is therefore ours. The moral law requires of Him the same kind of love
that it does of us. If God had no law or rule of action, He could have no moral
character. As our Creator and Lawgiver, He requires of us the same love in kind
and the same perfection in degree that He Himself exercises. “God is love.” He
loves with all the strength of His infinite nature. He requires us to love with
all the strength of our finite nature. This is being perfect as God is perfect.
But what is this love of God as a mental exercise? It must be benevolence or
good will. God is a moral agent. The good of universal being is infinitely
valuable in itself. God must infinitely well appreciate this. He must see and
feel the moral propriety of choosing this for its own sake. He has chosen it
from eternity. By His executive volitions He is endeavouring to realize it. The
law which He has promulgated to govern our activity requires us to sympathize
with His choice, His benevolence, to choose the same end that He does, for the
same reason—that is, for its own sake. God’s infinite choice of the good of
universal being is righteousness in Him, because it is the choice of the intrinsically
and infinitely valuable for its own sake. It is a choice in conformity with His
nature and the relations He has constituted. It must be a choice in conformity
with His infinitely clear conscience or moral sense. Righteousness in God,
then, is conformity to the laws of universal love or good will. It must be an
ultimate, supreme, immanent, efficient preference or choice of the highest good
of universal being, including His own. It must be ultimate, in that this good
of being is chosen for its own sake. It must be supreme, because it is
preferred to everything else. It must be immanent, because it is innate and at
the very foundation of all His moral activity. It must be efficient, because,
from its very nature, it must energize to secure that which is thus preferred
or chosen with the whole strength of his infinite nature. This is right choice,
right moral action. The moral quality, then, of unselfish benevolence is
righteousness or moral rightness. All subordinate choices, volitions and
actions, and states of the sensibility which proceed from this immanent,
ultimate, supreme preference or choice, have moral character in the sense and
only for the reason that they proceed from or are the natural product of
unselfish benevolence. This ultimate, immanent, supreme preference is the holy
heart of a moral agent. Out of it proceeds, directly or indirectly, the whole
moral or spiritual life of the individual.
I answer: By consciousness.
(a) By consciousness we know that our whole
life proceeds from ultimate choice or preference. (b) By consciousness we know
that conscience demands perfect, universal love or unselfish benevolence; and,
by consequence, it demands all those acts and states of mind and outward
courses of life that by a law of our nature proceed from unselfish benevolence.
(c) By consciousness we know that conscience is satisfied with this, demands
nothing more, and accepts nothing less. (d) By consciousness we know that
conscience pronounces this to be right, or righteousness. (e) By consciousness
we know that this is obedience to the law of God as revealed in our nature, and
that when we render this obedience we are so adjusted in the will of God that
we have perfect peace. We are in sympathy with God. We are at peace with God
and with ourselves. Short of this we cannot be so. This I understand to be the
teaching both of our nature and the Bible. My limits will not allow me to quote
Scripture to sustain this view.
A sinner is a selfish moral agent. Being
selfish, he will, of course, make no other than selfish efforts to become
righteous. Selfishness is a state of voluntary committal to the indulgence of
the sensibility. While the will is in this state of committal to
self-indulgence, the soul will not and cannot put forth any righteous act. The
first righteous act possible to an unregenerate sinner is to change his heart,
or the supreme ultimate preference of his soul. Without this he may outwardly
conform to the letter of God’s law; but this is not righteousness. Without this
he may have many exercises and states of mind which he may suppose to be
Christian experience; but these are not righteousness. Without a change of
heart he may live a perfectly outwardly moral and religious life. All this he
may do for selfish reasons; but this is not righteousness. I say again his
first righteous act must be to change his heart. To say that he will change
this for any selfish reason is simply a contradiction, for the change of heart
involves the renunciation of selfishness. How, then, can a sinner change his
heart or attain to righteousness? I answer: Only by taking such a view of the
character and claims of God as to induce him to renounce his self-seeking spirit
and come into sympathy with God. To say nothing here of possibility, the Bible
reveals the fact and human consciousness attests the truth that a sinner will
never attain to such a view of the claims of God as will induce him to renounce
selfishness and sympathize with God without the illuminations of the Holy
Spirit. A sinner attains, then, to righteousness only through the teachings and
inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
But what is involved in this change from sin
to righteousness?
(1) It must involve confidence in God, or
faith. Without confidence a soul could not be persuaded to change his heart, to
renounce self, and sympathize with God.
(2) It must involve repentance. By
repentance I mean that change of mind which consists in a renunciation of
self-seeking and a coming into sympathy with God.
(3) It involves a radical change of moral
attitude in respect to God and our neighbour.
All these are involved in a change of heart.
They occur simultaneously, and the presence of one implies the existence and
presence of the others. It is by the truths of the Gospel that the Holy Spirit
induces this change in sinful man. This revelation of divine love, when
powerfully sent home by the Holy Spirit, is an effectual calling. From the
above it will be seen that, while a sinner may live a perfectly outwardly moral
and religious life, a truly regenerated soul cannot live a sinful life. The new
heart does not, cannot sin. This John in his first Epistle expressly affirms. A
benevolent, supreme, ultimate choice cannot produce selfish, subordinate
choices or volitions. It is possible for a Christian to backslide. If it were
not, perseverance would be no virtue. If the change were a physical one, or a
change of the very nature of the sinner, backsliding would be impossible and perseverance
no virtue. It is objected to this view that backsliding must consist in going
back to a selfish, ultimate preference, and, therefore, involve an adverse
change of heart. What if it does? Must this not be, indeed, true? Did not Adam
and Eve change their hearts from holy to sinful ones? But may a man change his
heart back and forth? I answer: Yes; or a sinner could not be required to make
to himself a new heart, nor could a Christian sin after regeneration. The idea
that the same person can have at the same time both a holy and a sinful heart
is absurd in true philosophy, contrary to the Bible, and of most pernicious
tendency. When a soul is backslidden, Christ calls upon him to repent and do
his first work over again.
Righteousness is sustained in the human soul
by the indwelling of Christ through faith and in no other way. It cannot be
sustained by purposes or resolutions self-originated and not inwrought by the
Spirit of Christ. Through faith Christ first gains ascendancy in the human
heart, and through faith He maintains this ascendancy and reigns as king in the
soul.
There can be no righteousness in man back of
his heart, for nothing back of this can be voluntary; therefore, there can be
no righteousness in the nature of man in the sense that implies
praiseworthiness or virtue.
All outward conformity to the law and
commandments of God that does not proceed from Christ, working in the soul by
His Holy Spirit, is self-righteousness. All true righteousness, then, is the
righteousness of faith, or a righteousness secured by Christ through faith in
Him.
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Index of Scripture References
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Psalms
Proverbs
Ezekiel
Matthew
Acts
Romans
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
1 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
James
1 John