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24 - Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse IV - Sermons on Several Occasions · Sacred Texts Archive

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Upon our Lord's sermon on the Mount Discourse four. Ye are the salt of
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the earth. But if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it
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be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and
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trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A
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city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light
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a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candle stick,
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and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light
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so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your
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Father, which is in heaven Matthew five thirteen to sixteen. The beauty of
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holiness of that inward man of the heart, which is renewed after the image
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of God, cannot but strike every eye which God hath opened. Every enlightened
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understanding the ornament of a meek, humble, loving spirit, will at least
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excite the approbation of all those who are capable in any degree of discerning spiritual
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good and evil. From the hour men begin to emerge out of the darkness
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which covers the giddy, unthinking world, they cannot but perceive how desirable a
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thing, it is to be thus transformed into the likeness of Him that created
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us. This inward religion bears the shape of God so visibly impressed upon it,
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that a soul must be wholly immersed in flesh and blood when he can
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doubt of its divine original. We may say of this in a secondary sense,
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even as of the son of God himself, that it is the brightness
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of his glory, the express image of his person, a paugasma tes dosee
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auto, the beaming forth of his eternal glory, and yet so tempered and
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softened, that even the children of men may herein see God and live kiroctered
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tes hupostasos auto the character, the stamp, the living impression of his person,
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who is the fountain of beauty and love, the original source of all
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excellency and perfection. If religion therefore were carried no farther than this, they
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could have no doubt concerning it. They should have no objection against pursuing it
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with the whole ardor of their souls. But why say they, is it
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clogged with other things? What need of loading it with doing and suffering?
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These are what damps the vigor of the soul and sinks it down to earth
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again. Is it not enough to follow after charity, to soar upon the
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wings of love? Will it not suffice to worship God, who is a
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spirit, with the spirit of our minds, without encumbering ourselves with outward things,
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or even thinking of them at all. Is it not better that the
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whole extent of our thought should be taken up with high and heavenly contemplation,
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And that instead of busying ourselves at all about externals, we should only commune
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with God in our head hearts. Many eminent men have spoken thus, have
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advised us to cease from all outward action wholly, to withdraw from the world,
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to leave the body behind us, to abstract ourselves from all sensible things,
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to have no concern at all about outward religion, but to work all
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virtues in the will as the far more excellent way, the more perfective of
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the soul, as well as more acceptable to God. It needed not that
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any should tell our Lord of this masterpiece of the wisdom from beneath this fairest
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of all the devices, wherewith Satan hath ever perverted the right ways of the
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Lord. And oh what instruments hath he found from time to time to employ
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in this his service, to wield this grand engine of hell against some of
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the most important truths of God. Men that would deceive, if it were
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possible, the very elect, the men of faith and love. YEA,
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that have for a sUAS season deceived and led away no inconsiderable number of them
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who have fallen in all ages into the gilded snare, and hardly escaped with
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the skin of their teeth. But has our Lord been wanting on his part?
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Has he not sufficiently guarded us against this pleasing delusion? Has he not
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armed us here with armor of proof against Satan transformed into an angel of light?
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YEA, verily he here defends in the clearest and strongest manner, the
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active patient religion. He had just described. What can be fuller and plainer
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than the words He immediately subjoins to what he had said of doing and suffering.
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Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost
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His savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing
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but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Ye are the
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light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be
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hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,
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but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the
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house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
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good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. In order fully
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to explain and enforce these important words, I shall endeavor to show first that
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Christianity is essentially a social religion, and that to turn it into a solitary
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one is to destroy it. Secondly, that to conceal this religion is impossible,
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as well as utterly contrary to the design of its author. I shall
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thirdly answer some objections and conclude the whole with a practical application. One.
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First, I shall endeavor to show that Christianity is essentially a social religion,
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and that to turn it into a solitary religion is indeed to destroy it.
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By Christianity, I mean that method of worshiping God which is here revealed to
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man by Jesus Christ. When I say this is essentially a social religion,
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I mean not only that it cannot subsist so well, but that it cannot
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subsist at all without society, without living and conversing with other men. And
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in showing this, I shall confine myself to those considerations which will arise from
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the very discourse before us. But if this be shown, then doubtless to
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turn this religion into a solitary one is to destroy it. Not that we
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can in any wise condemn the intermixing solitude or retirement with society. This is
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not only allowable, but expedient. Nay, it is necessary, as daily
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experience shows for everyone that either already is or desires to be a real Christian.
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It can hardly be that we should spend one entire day in a continued
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intercourse with men without suffering life in our soul and in some measure grieving the
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Holy Spirit of God. We have need daily to retire from the world at
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least morning and evening, to converse with God, to commune more freely with
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our Father, which is in secret. Nor indeed, can a man of
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experience condemn even longer sessions of religious retirement, so they do not imply any
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neglect of the worldly employ wherein the providence of God has placed us. Yet
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such retirement must not swallow up all our time. This would be to destroy,
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not advance true religion. For that the religion described by our Lord in
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the foregoing words cannot subsist without society, without our living and conversing with other
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men. Is manifest from hence that several of the most essential branches thereof can
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have no place if we have no intercourse with the world. There is no
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disposition, for instance, which is more essential to Christianity than meekness. Now,
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although this, as it implies, resignation to God, or patience in
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pain and sickness, may subsist in a desert, in a hermit's cell,
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in total solitude. Yet as it implies, which it no less necessarily does,
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mildness, gentleness, and long suffering, it cannot possibly have a being.
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It has no place under heaven without an intercourse with other men, so
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that to attempt turning this into a solitary virtue is to destroy it from the
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face of the earth. Another necessary branch of true Christianity is peace making or
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doing of good. That this is equally essential with any of the other parts
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of the religion of Jesus Christ, there can be no stronger argument to evince,
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and therefore it would be absurd to allege any other than that it is
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here inserted in the original plan, he has laid down of the fundamentals of
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his religion. Therefore, to set aside this is the same daring insult on
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the authority of our great Master as to set aside mercifulness, purity of heart,
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or any other branch of his institution. But this is apparently set aside
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by all who call us to the wilderness, who recommend entire solitude, either
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to the babes or the young men, or the fathers in Christ. For
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will any man affirm that a solitary Christian, so called, though it is
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little less than a contradiction in terms, can be a merciful man, that
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is, one that takes every opportunity for doing all good to all men.
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What can be more plain, then, that this fundamental branch of the religion
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of Jesus Christ cannot possibly subsist without society, without our living and conversing with
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other men. But is it not expedient, however, one might naturally ask
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to converse only with good men, only with those whom we note be meek
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and merciful, holy of heart and holy of life. Is it not expedient
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to refrain from any conversation or intercourse with men of the opposite character, men
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who do not obey, perhaps do not believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus
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Christ. The advice to the Christians at Corinth may seem to favor this.
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I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators first Corinthians five
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nine. And it is certainly not advisable so to company with them, or
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with any of the workers of iniquity, as to have any particular familiarity or
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any strictness of friendship with them. To contract or continue an intimacy with any
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such is no way expedient for a Christian. It must necessarily expose him to
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abundance of dangers and snares, out of which he can have no reasonable hope
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of deliverance. But the Apostle does not forbid us to have any intercourse at
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all, even with men that know not God. For then says he ye
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must needs go out of the world, which he could never advise them to
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do. But he subjoins if any man that is called a brother, that
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professes himself a Christian be a fornicator or covetous, or an idolater, or
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a railer, or a drunkard or an extortioner. First Corinthians five eleven.
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Now I have written unto you not to keep company with him with such an
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one, no, not to eat. This must necessarily imply that we break
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off our familiarity, all intimacy of acquaintance with him. Yet count him not
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saith the apostle elsewhere as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
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Second Thessalonians three fifteen, plainly showing that even in such a case as this,
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we are not to renounce all fellowship with him, so that here is
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no advice to separate holy even from wicked men. Yea, these very words
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teach us quite the contrary, much more the words of our Lord, who
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is so far from directing us to break off all commerce with the world,
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that without it, according to his account of Christianity, we cannot be Christians
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at all. It would be easy to show that some intercourse, even with
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ungodly and unholy men, is absolutely needful in order to the full exertion of
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every temper, which he has described as the way of the kingdom, that
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it is indispensably necessary in order to the complete exercise of poverty, of spirit
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of mourning and of every other disposition which has a place here in the genuine
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religion of Jesus Christ. Yea, it is necessary to the very being of
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several of them, of that meekness, for example, which instead of demanding
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an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth, doth not
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resist evil, but causes us, rather, when smitten on the life,
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the right cheek, to turn the other. Also of that mercifulness, whereby
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we love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them
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that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us.
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And of that complication of love and all holy tempers, which is exercised
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in suffering for righteousness sake. Now all these, it is clear, could
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have no being, were we to have no commerce with any but real Christians.
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Indeed, were we holy to separate ourselves from sinners, how could we
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possibly answer that character which our Lord gives us in these very words. Ye
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Christians, Ye that are lowly serious and meek, Ye that hunger after righteousness,
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that love God and man, that do good to all, and therefore
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suffer evil, Ye are the salt of the earth. It is your very
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nature to season whatever is round about you. It is the nature of the
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Divine Savior which is in you, to spread to whatsoever you touch, to
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diffuse itself on every side to all those among whom you are. This is
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the great reason why the providence of God has so mingled you together with other
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men, that whatever grace you have received of God may through you be communicated
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to others, that every holy temper and word and work of yours may have
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an influence on them. Also by this means, a check will in some
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measure be given to the corruption which is in the world, and a small
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part at least saved from the general infection, and rendered holy and pure before
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God, that we may the more diligently labor to season all we can with
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every holy and heavenly temper. Our Lord proceeds to show the desperate state of
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those who do not impart the religion they have received, which indeed they cannot
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possibly fail to do, so long as it remains in them own hearts.
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If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It
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is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of
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men. If ye who are holy and heavenly minded and consequently zealous of good
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works. Have no longer that savor in yourselves, and do therefore no longer
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season others. If you are grown flat, insipid, dead, both careless
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of your own soul and useless to the souls of other men. Wherewith shall
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ye be salted? How shall ye be recovered? What help? What hope?
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Can tasteless salt be restored to its savor? No? It is thenceforth
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good for nothing but to be cast out, even as the mire in the
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streets, and to be trodden under foot of men, to be overwhelmed with
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everlasting contempt. If ye had never known the Lord, there might have been
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hope, if ye had never been found in him. But what can you
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now say to that his solemn declaration, just parallel to what he hath here
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spoken. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he the Father taketh
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away. He that abideth in me, and I in him bringeth forth much
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fruit. If a man abide not in me, or do not bring forth
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fruit, he is cast out as a branch and withered. And men gather
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them, not to plant them again, but to cast them into the fire.
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John fifteen two five and six. Toward those who have never tasted of
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the good word God is indeed pitiful and of tender mercy. But justice takes
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place with regard to those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and
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have afterwards turned back from the holy commandment then delivered to them. For it
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is impossible for those who were once enlightened Hebrews six four, in whose hearts
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God had won on shined to enlighten them with the knowledge of the glory of
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God in the face of Jesus Christ, who have tasted of the heavenly gift
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of redemption in his blood, the forgiveness of sins, and were made partakers
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of the Holy Ghost, of lowliness, of meekness, and of the love
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of God, and man shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost which
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was given unto them, and have fallen away chi Peripsontas, here is not
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a supposition, but a flat declaration of matter of fact. To renew them
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again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh and
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put him to an open shame. But that none may misunderstand these awful words,
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it should be carefully observed one who they are that are here spoken of,
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namely they, and only they who were once thus enlightened, They only
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who did taste of that heavenly gift, and were thus made partakers of the
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Holy Ghost. So that all who have not experienced these things are wholly unconcerned
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in this scripture. Two, What that falling away is which is here spoken
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of, It is an absolute total apostasy. A believer may fall and not
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fall away, he may fall and rise again. And if he should fall
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even into sin, Yet this case, dreadful as it is, is not
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desperate. For we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous,
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and he is the propitiation of our sins. But let him, above
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all things beware lest his heart be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, lest
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he should sink lower and lower till he wholly fall away, till he become
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as salt that hath lost its savor. For if we thus sin wilfully,
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after we have received the experimental knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
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sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of fiery indignation, which
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shall devour the adversaries. Two. But although we may not wholly separate ourselves
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from mankind, although it be granted we ought to season them with the religion
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which God has wrought in our hearts. Yet may not this be done insensibly?
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May we not convey this into others in a secret and almost imperceptible manner,
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so that scarce anyone shall be able to observe how or when it is
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done, even as salt conveys its own savor into that which is seasoned thereby
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without any noise and without being liable to outward observation. And if so,
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although we do not go out of the world, yet we may lie hid
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in it. We may thus far keep our religion to ourselves, and not
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offend those whom we cannot help. Of this plausible reasoning of flesh and blood.
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Our Lord is well aware also, and he has given a full answer
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to it in those words which come now to be considered in explaining which I
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shall endeavor to show, as I propose to do. In the second place,
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that so long as true religion abides in our hearts, it is impossible
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to conceal it, as well as absolutely contrary to the design of its great
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author. And first it is impossible for any that have it to conceal the
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religion of Jesus Christ. This our Lord makes plain beyond all contradiction by a
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twofold comparison, Ye are the light of the world. A city set upon
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a hill cannot be hid. Ye Christians are the light of the world.
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With regard both to your tempers and actions. Your holiness makes you as conspicuous
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as the sun in the midst of heaven. As ye cannot go out of
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the world, so neither can ye stay in it without appearing to all mankind.
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Ye may not flee from men, And while ye are among them,
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it is impossible to hide your lowliness and meekness, and those other dispositions,
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whereby ye aspire to be perfect, as your Father, which is in Heaven
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is perfect. Love cannot be hid any more than light, and least of
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all, when it shines forth in action, when ye exercise yourselves in the
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labor of love in beneficence of every kind. As well, may men think
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to hide a city as to hide a Christian? Yea as well may they
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conceal a city set upon a hill as a holy, zealous, active lover
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of God and man. It is true, men who love darkness rather than
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light. Because their deeds are evil, will take all possible pains to prove
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that the light which is in you is darkness. They will say evil,
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all manner of evil, falsely of the good which is in you. They
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will lay to your charge that which is furthest from your thoughts, which is
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the very reverse of all you are and all you do, and your patient
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continuance in well doing, your meek suffering all things for the Lord's sake,
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your calm, humble joy in the midst of persecution, your unwearied labor to
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overcome evil with good will make you still more visible and conspicuous than ye were
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before. So impossible it is to keep our religion for being seen unless we
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cast it away. So vain is the thought of hiding the light unless by
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putting it out. Sure it is that a secret, unobserved religion cannot be
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the religion of Jesus Christ. Whatever religion can be concealed is not Christianity.
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If a Christian could be hid, he could not be compared to a city
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set upon a hill to the light of the world, the sun shining from
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heaven and seen by all the world below. Never therefore, let it enter
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into the heart of him, whom God hath renewed in the spirit of his
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mind, to high that light to keep his religion to himself, especially considering
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it is not only impossible to conceal true Christianity, but likewise absolutely contrary to
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the design of the great author of it. This plainly appears from the following
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words. Neither do men light a candle to put it under a bushel,
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as if he had said, as men do not light a candle only to
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cover and conceal it. So neither does God enlighten any soul with his glorious
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knowledge and love, to have it covered or concealed, either by prudence falsely
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so called or shame, or voluntary humility, to have it hid either in
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a desert or in the world, either by avoiding men or in conversing with
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them. But they put it on a candlestick, and it giveth light to
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all that are in the house. In like manner, it is the design
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of God that every Christian should be in an open point of view, that
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he may give light to all around, that he may visibly express the religion
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of Jesus Christ. Thus hath God in all ages spoken to the world not
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only by precept, but by example also. He hath not left himself without
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witness in any nation where the sound of the Gospel hath gone forth without a
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few who testified His truth by their lives as well as their words. These
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have been as lights shining in a dark place, And from time to time
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they have been the means of enlightening, some of preserving a remnant, a
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little seed which was counted unto the Lord. For a generation. They have
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led a few poor sheep out of the darkness of the world, and guided
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their feet into the way of peace. One might imagine that where both Scripture
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and the Reason of things speak so clearly and expressly, there could not be
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much advanced on the other side, at least not with any appearance of truth.
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But they who imagine thus know little of the depths of Satan. After
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all that Scripture and reason have said, so exceeding plausible are the pretenses for
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solitary religion, for a Christian's going out of the world, or at least
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hiding himself in it. That we need all the wisdom of God to see
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through the snare, and all the power of God to escape it. So
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many and strong are the objections which have been brought against being social, open
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active Christians. Three. To answer these was the third thing which I proposed.
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And first, it has been often objected that religion does not lie in
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outward things, but in the heart, the inmost soul, that it is
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the union of the soul with God, the life of God in the soul
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of man. That outside religion is nothing worth seeing. God delighteth not in
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burnt offerings, in outward services, but a pure and holy heart is the
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sacrifice he will not despise. I answer, it is most true that the
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root of religion lies in the heart, in the inmost soul, that this
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is the union of the soul with God, the life of God in the
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soul of man. But if this root be really in the heart, it
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cannot but put forth branches. And these are the several instances of outward obedience
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which partake of the same nature with the root, and consequently are not only
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marks or signs, but substantial parts of religion. It is also true that
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bear outside religion, which has no root in the heart, is nothing worth
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that God delighteth not in such outward services, no more than in Jewish burnt
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offerings, And that a pure and holy heart is a sacrifice with which he
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is always well pleased. But he is also well pleased with all that outward
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service which arises from the heart, with the sacrifice of our prayers, whether
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public or private, of our praises and things, thanksgivings, of the sacrifice
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of our goods humbly devoted to Him and employed wholly to His glory, and
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with that of our bodies, which he peculiarly claims, which the Apostle beseeches
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us, by the mercies of God, to present unto him, a living
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sacrifice wholly acceptable to God. A second objection, merely related to this,
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is that love is all in all, that it is the fulfilling of the
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law, the end of the commandment of every commandment of God. That all
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we do and all we suffer, if we have not charity or love,
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profiteth us nothing. And therefore the Apostle directs us to follow after charity,
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and terms this the more excellent way I answer. It is granted that the
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love of God and Man, arising from faith unfeigned, is all in all,
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the fulfilling of the law, the end of every commandment of God.
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It is true that without this, whatever we do whatever we suffer profits us
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nothing. But it does not follow that love is all in such a sense
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as to supersede either faith or good works. It is the fulfilling of the
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law, not by releasing us from but by constraining us to obey it.
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It is the end of the commandment, as every commandment leads to and centers
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on it. It is allowed that whatever we do or suffer without love profits
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us nothing, but withal whatever we do or suffer in love, though it
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were only the suffering reproach for Christ, or the giving a cup of cold
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water in his name, it shall no wise lose its reward. But does
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not the apostle direct us to follow after charity, and does he not term
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it a more excellent way. He does direct us to follow after charity,
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but not after that alone. His words are follow after charity and desire spiritual
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gifts. First Corinthians fourteen one yea, follow after charity, and desire to
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spend and be spent for your brethren. Follow after charity, and as you
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have opportunity, do good to all men. In the same verse, also,
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wherein he terms this the way of love a more excellent way, he
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directs the Corinthians to desire other gifts. Besides it yea to desire them earnestly,
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covet earnestly, saith he the best gifts. And yet I show unto
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you a more excellent way first Corinthians twelve thirty one, more excellent than what
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than the gifts of healing, of speaking with tongues, and of interpreting mentioned
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in the preceding verse, but not more excellent than the way of obedience.
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Of this the apostle is not speaking. Neither is he speaking of outward religion
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at all, so that this text is quite wide of the present question.
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But suppose the apostle had been speaking of outward as well as inward religion,
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and comparing them together. Suppose in the comparison he had given the preference ever
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so much to the latter. Suppose he had preferred, as he justly might,
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a loving heart before all outward works. Whatever. Yet it would not
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follow that we are to reject either one or the other. No, God
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hath joined them together from the beginning of the world, and let not man
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put them asunder. But God is a spirit, and they that worship him
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must worship him in spirit and in truth, and is not this enough?
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Nay? Ought we not to employ the whole strength of our mind herein?
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Does not attending to outward things clog the soul that it cannot soar aloft in
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holy contemplation? Does it not damp the vigor of our thought? Has it
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not a natural tendency to encumber and distract the mind? Whereas Saint Paul would
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have us to be without carefulness and to wait upon the Lord without distraction?
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I answer, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship
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him in spirit and in truth. Yea, And this is enough. We
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ought to employ the whole strength of our mind therein. But then I would
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ask what is it to worship God a spirit, in spirit and in truth?
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Why it is to worship Him with our spirit? To worship Him in
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that manner which none but spirits are capable of. It is to believe in
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Him as a wise, just, holy being of purer eyes, than to
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behold iniquity and yet merciful, gracious and long suffering, for giving iniquity and
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transgression and sin, casting all our sins behind his back, and accepting us
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in the beloved. It is to love him, to delight in him,
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to desire Him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. To
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imitate him we love, by purifying ourselves even as He is pure, and
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to obey Him whom we love and in whom we believe, both in thought
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and word and work. Consequently, one branch of the worshiping God in spirit
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and in truth is the keeping his outward commandments to glorify Him. Therefore with
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our bodies as well as with our spirits, to go through outward work,
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with hearts lifted up to Him, to make our daily employment a sacrifice to
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God, to buy and sell, to eat and drink to his glory.
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This is worshiping God in spirit and in truth, as much as the praying
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to Him in a wilderness. But if so, then contemplation is only one
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way of worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Therefore, to give ourselves
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up entirely to this would be to destroy many branches of spiritual worship, all
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equally acceptable to God and equally profitable not hurt to the soul. For it
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is a great mistake to suppose that an attention to those outward things where to
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the providence of God hath called us, is any clog to a Christian,
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or any hindrance at all to his always seeing him that is invisible. It
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does not at all damp the ardor of his thought. It does not encumber
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or distract his mind. It gives him no uneasy or hurtful care. Who
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does it all as unto the Lord, who hath learned whatsoever he doth in
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word or deed to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, having
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only one eye of the soul, which moves round on outward things, and
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one immovably fixed on God. Learn what this meaneth, ye, poor recluses,
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that you may clearly discern your own littleness of faith, yea, that
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you may no longer judge others by yourselves. Go and learn what that meaneth
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thou, O Lord, in tender love, dost all my burdens bear,
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Lift my heart to things above, and fix it ever there colm on tumults.
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Weel I sit midst busy multitudes, alone, sweetly waiting at thy feet
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till all thy will be done. But the grand objection is still behind.
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We appeal, they say, to experience our light did shine. We used
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outward things many years, and yet they profited nothing. We attended on all
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the ordinances. But we were no better for it, nor indeed any one
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else. Nay, we were the worse, for we fancied ourselves Christians for
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so doing, when we knew not what Christianity meant. I allow the fact.
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I allow that you and ten thousand more have thus abused the ordinances of
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God, mistaking the means for the end. Supposing that the doing these or
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some other outward works, either was the religion of Jesus Christ or would be
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accepted in the place of it. But let the abuse be taken away way
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and the use remain. Now use all outward things, but use them with
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a constant eye to the renewal of your soul in righteousness and true holiness.
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But this is not all they affirm. Experience likewise shows that the trying to
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do good is but lost labor. What does it avail to feed or clothe
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men's bodies if they are just dropping into everlasting fire? And what good can
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any man do to their souls if these are changed? God doth it himself.
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Besides, all men are either good, at least desirous so to be,
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or obstinately evil. Now the former have no need of us. Let
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them ask help of God, and it shall be given them, and the
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latter will receive no help from us. Nay, and our Lord forbids to
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cast our pearls before swine, I answer one, whether they will finally be
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lost or saved. You are expressly commanded to feed the hungry and clothe the
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naked. If you can, and do not, whatever becomes of them,
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you shall go away into everlasting fire. Two. Though it is God only
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changes hearts, yet he generally doth it by man. It is our part
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to do all that in us lies as diligently as if we could change them
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ourselves, and then to leave the event to him. Three, God,
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in answer to their prayers, builds up his children by each other in every
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good gift, nourishing and strengthening the whole body by that which every joint supplieth,
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so that the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need
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of thee, no nor even the head to the feet, I have no
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need of you. Lastly, how are you assured that the persons before you
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are dogs or swine? Judge them not until you have tried. How knowest
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thou, o man? But thou mayest gain thy brother? But thou mayest
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under God, save his soul from death. Death. When he spurns thy
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love and blasphemes the good word, then it is time to give him up
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to God. We have tried, we have labored to reform sinners, and
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what did it avail on many? We could make no impression at all.
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And if some were changed for a while, yet their goodness was but as
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the morning do, and they were soon as bad, nay worse than ever,
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so that we only hurt them, and ourselves too, for our minds
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were hurried and discomposed, perhaps filled with anger instead of love. Therefore we
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had better have kept our religion to ourselves. It is very possible this fact
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also may be true, that you have tried to do good and have not
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succeeded. Yea, that those who seemed reformed relapsed into sin, and their
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last state was worse than the first. And what marvel is the servant above
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his master? But how often did he strive to save sinners and they would
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not hear? Or when they had followed him, awhile they turned back as
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a dog to his vomit. But he did not therefore desist from striving to
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do good. Nor should you, whatever your success be it is your part
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to do as you are commanded. The event is in the hand of God.
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You are not accountable for this. Leave it to him who orders all
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things. Well. In the morning, so thy seed, and in the
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evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper Ecclesiastes eleven
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six. But the trial hurries and frets your own soul. Perhaps it did
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so for this very reason, because you thought you was accountable for the event,
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which no man is, or indeed can be. Or perhaps because you
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was off your guard you was not watchful over your own spirit. But this
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is no reason for disobeying God. Try again, but try more wearily than
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before. Do good as you forgive, not seven times only, but until
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seventy times seven. Only be wiser by experience. Attempt it every time,
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more cautiously than before, Be more humbled before God, more deeply convinced that
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of yourself you can do nothing, Be more jealous over your own spirit,
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more gentle and watchful unto prayer. Thus cast your bread upon the waters,
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and you shall find it again after many days. Four. Notwithstanding all these
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plausible pretenses for hiding it, let your light so shine before men that they
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may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.
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This is the practical application which our Lord himself makes of the foregoing considerations.
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Let your light so shine, your lowliness of heart, your gentleness and meekness
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of wisdom, your serious, weighty concern for the things of each and sorrow
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for the sins and miseries of men, Your earnest desire of universal holiness and
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full happiness in God, Your tender goodwill to all mankind, and fervent love
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to your supreme Benefactor. Endeavor not to conceal this light, wherewith God hath
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enlightened your soul. But let it shine before men, before all with whom
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you are in the whole tenor of your conversation. Let it shine still more
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eminently in your actions, in your doing all possible good to all men,
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and in your suffering for righteousness sake, while you rejoice and are exceeding glad,
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knowing that great is your reward in Heaven. Let your light so shine
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before men, that they may see your good works. So far, let
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a Christian be from ever designing or desiring to conceal his religion. On the
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contrary, let it be your desire, not to conceal it, not to
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put the light under a bush. Let it be your care to place it
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on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the
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house. Only take heed not to seek your own praise herein, not to
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desire any honor to yourselves. But let it be your sole aim, that
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all who see your good works may glorify your Father, which is in heaven.
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Be this your one ultimate end in all things. With this view,
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be plain, open, undisguised. Let your love be without dissimulation. Why
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should you hide fair disinterested love. Let there be no guile found in your
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mouth. Let your words be the genuine picture of your heart. Let there
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be no darkness or reservedness in your conversation, no disguise in your behavior.
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Leave this to those who have other designs in view, designs which will not
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bear the light. Be ye artless and simple to all mankind, that all
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may see the grace of God which is in you. And although some will
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harden their hearts, yet others will take knowledge that ye have been with Jesus,
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and by returning themselves to the great Bishop of their souls, glorify your
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Father, which is in heaven with this one design, that men may glorify
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God in you go on in His name, and in the power of His
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might, be not ashamed even to stand alone. So it be in the
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ways of God. Let the light which is in your heart shine in all
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good works, both works of piety and works of mercy. And in order
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to enlarge your ability of doing good, renounce all superfluities. Cut off all
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unnecessary expense in food, in furniture, in apparel. Be a good steward
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of every gift of God, even of these his lowest gifts. Cut off
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all unnecessary expense of time, all needless or useless employments. And whatsoever thy
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hand findeth to do, do it thy might. In a word, be
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thou full of faith and love. Do good, suffer evil. And herein
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be thou steadfast, unmovable, yea always abounding in the work of the Lord,
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forasmuch as thou knowest that thy labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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End of Section twenty four