Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 52 - The Good Steward - Sermons on Several Occasions

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52 - The Good Steward - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: The good steward, give an account of thy stewardship, for
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  Speaker 1: thou mayest be no longer steward Luke sixteen two. The
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  Speaker 1: relation which man bears to God the creature to his creator,
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  Speaker 1: is exhibited to us in the oracles of God under
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  Speaker 1: various representations. Considered as a sinner a fallen creature, he
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  Speaker 1: is there represented as a debtor to his creator. He
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  Speaker 1: is also frequently represented as a servant, which indeed is
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  Speaker 1: essential to him as a creature, insomuch that this appellation
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  Speaker 1: is given to the Son of God, when in his
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  Speaker 1: state of humiliation, he took upon him the form of
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  Speaker 1: a servant, being made in the likeness of men. But
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  Speaker 1: no character more exactly agrees with the present state of
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  Speaker 1: man than that of a steward. Our blessed Lord frequently
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  Speaker 1: represents him as such, and there is a peculiar propriety
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  Speaker 1: in the report present. It is only in one particular respect, namely,
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  Speaker 1: as he is a sinner, that he is styled a debtor,
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  Speaker 1: and when he is styled a servant, the appellation is
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  Speaker 1: genuine and indeterminate. But a steward is a servant of
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  Speaker 1: a particular kind, such a one as many is in
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  Speaker 1: all respects. This appellation is exactly expressive of his situation
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  Speaker 1: in the present world, specifying what kind of servant he
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  Speaker 1: is to God and what kind of service his divine
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  Speaker 1: master expects from him. It may be of use, then,
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  Speaker 1: to consider this point thoroughly and to make our full
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  Speaker 1: improvement of it. In order to this, let us first
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  Speaker 1: inquire in what respects we are now God's stewards. Let
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  Speaker 1: us secondly observe that when He requires our souls of us,
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  Speaker 1: we can be no longer stewards. It will then only
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  Speaker 1: remain as we may. In the third place, observe to
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  Speaker 1: give an account of our stewardship Item one. And first,
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  Speaker 1: we are to inquire in what respects we are now
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  Speaker 1: God's stewards. We are now indebted to Him for all
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  Speaker 1: we have. But although a debtor is obliged to return
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  Speaker 1: what he has received, yet until the time of payment comes,
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  Speaker 1: he is at liberty to use it as he pleases,
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  Speaker 1: it is not so with a steward. He is not
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  Speaker 1: at liberty to use what is lodged in his hands
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  Speaker 1: as he pleases, but as his master pleases. He has
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  Speaker 1: no right to dispose of anything which is in his hands.
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  Speaker 1: But according to the will of his Lord. For he
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  Speaker 1: is not the proprietor of any of these things, but
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  Speaker 1: barely entrusted with them by another, and intrusted on this
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  Speaker 1: express condition that he shall dispose of all as his
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  Speaker 1: master orders. Now, this is exactly the case of every
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  Speaker 1: man with relation to God. We are not at liberty
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  Speaker 1: to use what he has lodged in our hands as
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  Speaker 1: we please, but as He pleases, who alone is the
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  Speaker 1: possessor of heaven and earth, and the lord of every creature.
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  Speaker 1: We have no right to dispose of anything we have,
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  Speaker 1: but according to his will. Seeing we are not proprietors
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  Speaker 1: of any of these things, they are all, as our
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  Speaker 1: Lord speaks, a latria belonging to another person. Nor is
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  Speaker 1: anything properly our own. In the land of our pilgrimage.
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  Speaker 1: We shall not receive tai idia our own things till
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  Speaker 1: we come to our own country. Eternal things only are
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  Speaker 1: our own. With all these temporal things, we are barely
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  Speaker 1: entrusted by another, the disposer and lord of all, and
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  Speaker 1: he entrusts us with them on this express condition that
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  Speaker 1: we use them only as our master's goods, and according
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  Speaker 1: to the particular directions which he has given us in
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  Speaker 1: his word on this condition, he hath entrusted us with
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  Speaker 1: our souls, our bodies, our goods, and whatever other talents
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  Speaker 1: we have received. But in order to impress this weighty
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  Speaker 1: truth on our hearts, it will be needful to come
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  Speaker 1: to particulars. And First, God has entrusted us with our soul,
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  Speaker 1: an immortal spirit made in the image of God, together
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  Speaker 1: with all the powers and faculties thereof understanding, imagination, memory, will,
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  Speaker 1: and a train of affections either included in it or
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  Speaker 1: closely dependent upon it. Love and hatred, joy and sorrow
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  Speaker 1: respecting present good and evil, desire and aversion, hope and fear,
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  Speaker 1: respecting that which is to come. All these Saint Paul
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  Speaker 1: seems to include in two words when he says, the
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  Speaker 1: peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds pha.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps indeed the latter word noahmata might rather be rendered thoughts,
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  Speaker 1: provided we take that word in its most extensive sense.
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  Speaker 1: For every perception of the mind, whether active or passive. Now,
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  Speaker 1: of all these, it is certain we are only stewards.
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  Speaker 1: God has entrusted us with these powers and faculties, not
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  Speaker 1: that we may employ them according to our own will,
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  Speaker 1: but according to the express orders which He has given us,
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  Speaker 1: Although it is true that in doing his will we
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  Speaker 1: most effectually secure our own happiness, seeing it is herein
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  Speaker 1: only that we can be happy, either in time or
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  Speaker 1: in eternity. Thus we are to use our understanding, our imagination,
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  Speaker 1: our memory wholly to the glory of Him that gave them.
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  Speaker 1: Thus our will is to be wholly given up to Him,
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  Speaker 1: and our affections to be regulated as He directs. We
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  Speaker 1: are to love and hate, to rejoice, and greet, to desire,
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  Speaker 1: and shun to hope and fear, according to the rule
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  Speaker 1: which He prescribes. Whose we are and whom we are
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  Speaker 1: to serve in all things. Even our thoughts are not
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  Speaker 1: our own. In this sense, they are not at our
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  Speaker 1: own disposal. But for every deliberate motion of our mind
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  Speaker 1: we are accountable to our great Master. God has secondly
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  Speaker 1: entrusted us with our bodies, those exquisitely wrought machines so
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  Speaker 1: fearfully and wonderfully made, with all the powers and members thereof.
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  Speaker 1: He has entrusted us with the organs of sense of sight, hearing,
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  Speaker 1: and the rest. But none of these are given us
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  Speaker 1: as our own, to be employed according to our own will.
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  Speaker 1: None of these are lent us in such a sense
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  Speaker 1: as to leave us at liberty to use them as
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  Speaker 1: we please for a season. No, we have received them
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  Speaker 1: on these very terms, that as long as they abide
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  Speaker 1: with us, we should employ them all in that very manner,
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  Speaker 1: and no other, which he appoints. It is on the
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  Speaker 1: same terms that he is imparted to us that most
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  Speaker 1: excellent talent of speech. Thou hast given me a tongue,
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  Speaker 1: says the ancient writer. That I may praise thee therewith
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  Speaker 1: for this purpose was it given to all the children
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  Speaker 1: of men, to be employed in glorifying God. Nothing therefore
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  Speaker 1: is more ungrateful or more absurd than to think or say,
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  Speaker 1: our tongues are our own. That cannot be unless we
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  Speaker 1: have created ourselves and so are independent on the most high. Nay,
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  Speaker 1: but it is He that hath made us, and not
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  Speaker 1: we ourselves. The manifest consequence is that He is still
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  Speaker 1: lord over us. In this as in all other respects.
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  Speaker 1: It follows that there is not a word of our
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  Speaker 1: tongue for which we are not accountable to him. To him,
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  Speaker 1: we are equally accountable for the use of our hands
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  Speaker 1: and feet, and all all the members of our body.
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  Speaker 1: These are so many talents which are committed to our
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  Speaker 1: trust until the time appointed by the Father. Until then
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  Speaker 1: we have the use of all these, but as stewards,
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  Speaker 1: not as proprietors. To the end, we should render them
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  Speaker 1: not as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but as instruments
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  Speaker 1: of righteousness unto God. God has entrusted us thirdly with
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  Speaker 1: a portion of worldly goods, with food to eat, raiment
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  Speaker 1: to put on, and a place where to lay our head,
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  Speaker 1: with not only the necessaries, but the conveniences of life.
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  Speaker 1: Above all, He is committed to our charge that precious
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  Speaker 1: talent which contains all the rest money. Indeed, it is
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  Speaker 1: unspeakably precious if we are wise and faithful stewards of it,
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  Speaker 1: if we employ every part of it for such purposes
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  Speaker 1: as our blessed Lord has commanded us to do. God
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  Speaker 1: has entrusted us fourthly with several talents which do not
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  Speaker 1: properly come under any of these heads. Such is bodily strength.
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  Speaker 1: Such are health, a pleasing person, an agreeable address. Such
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  Speaker 1: are learning and knowledge in their various degrees, with all
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  Speaker 1: the other advantages of education. Such is the influence which
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  Speaker 1: we have over others, whether by their love and esteem
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  Speaker 1: of us, or by power power to do them good
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  Speaker 1: or hurt, to help or hinder them in the circumstances
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  Speaker 1: of life. Add to these that invaluable talent of time,
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  Speaker 1: with which God entrusts us from moment to moment. And
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  Speaker 1: lastly that on which all the rest depend, and without
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  Speaker 1: which they would all be curses, not blessings, namely the
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  Speaker 1: grace of God, the power of Holy Spirit, which alone
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  Speaker 1: worketh in us all that is acceptable in His sight.
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  Speaker 1: Item too, in so many respects are the children of
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  Speaker 1: men stewards of the Lord, the possessor of heaven and earth.
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  Speaker 1: So large a portion of His goods, of various kinds
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  Speaker 1: hath he committed to their charge. But it is not forever,
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  Speaker 1: nor indeed for any considerable time. We have this trust
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  Speaker 1: reposed in us only during the short uncertain space that
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  Speaker 1: we sojourn here below, only so long as we remain
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  Speaker 1: on earth. As this fleeting breath is in our nostrils.
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  Speaker 1: The hour is swiftly approaching. It is just at hand
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  Speaker 1: when we can be no longer stewards the moment the
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  Speaker 1: body returns to the dust as it was, and the
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  Speaker 1: spirits to God that gave it, we bear that character
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  Speaker 1: no more. The time of our stewardship is at an end.
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  Speaker 1: Part of those goods wherewith we were before entrusted, are
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  Speaker 1: now come to an end. At least they are so
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  Speaker 1: with regard to us, Nor are we longer entrusted with them.
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  Speaker 1: And that part which remains can no longer be employed
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  Speaker 1: or improved as it was before. Part of what we
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  Speaker 1: were entrusted with before is at an end, at least
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  Speaker 1: with regard to us. What have we to do after
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  Speaker 1: this life? With food and raiment in houses and earthly possessions.
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  Speaker 1: The food of the dead is the dust of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: They are clothed only with worms and rottenness. They dwell
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  Speaker 1: in the house prepared for all flesh. Their lands know
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  Speaker 1: them no more. All their worldly goods are delivered into
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  Speaker 1: other hands, and they have no more portion under the sun.
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  Speaker 1: The case is the same with regard to the body.
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  Speaker 1: The moment the spirit returns to God, we are no
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  Speaker 1: longer stewards of this machine, which is then sown in
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  Speaker 1: corruption and dishonor all the parts and members of which
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  Speaker 1: it was composed lie moldering in the clay. The hands
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  Speaker 1: have no longer power to move. The feet have forgot
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  Speaker 1: their office. The foot, bush, sinews, and bones are all
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  Speaker 1: hastening to be dissolved into common dust. Here end also
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  Speaker 1: the talents of a mixed nature, our strength, our health,
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  Speaker 1: our beauty, our eloquence and address, our faculty of pleasing
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  Speaker 1: or persuading or convincing others. Here end Likewise, all the
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  Speaker 1: honors we once enjoyed, all the power which was lodged
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  Speaker 1: in our hands, all the influence which we once had
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  Speaker 1: over others, either by the love or the esteem which
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  Speaker 1: they bore us. Our love, our hatred, our desire, is perished.
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  Speaker 1: None regard how we were once affected toward them. They
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  Speaker 1: look upon the dead as neither able to help nor
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  Speaker 1: hurt them, so that a living dog is better than
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  Speaker 1: a dead lion. Perhaps a doubt may remain concerning some
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  Speaker 1: of the other talents, wherewith we are now entrusted, whether
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  Speaker 1: they will cease to exist when the body returns to dust,
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  Speaker 1: or only cease to be improvable. Indeed, there is no doubt,
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  Speaker 1: but the kindest speech which we now use by means
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  Speaker 1: of these bodily organs, will then be entirely at an
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  Speaker 1: end when those organs are destroyed it is certain that
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  Speaker 1: tongue will no more occasion any vibrations in the air.
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  Speaker 1: Neither will the ear convey these tremulous motions to the
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  Speaker 1: common sensory. Even the snus excellus, the low, shrill voice,
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  Speaker 1: which the poet supposes to belong to a separate spirit,
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  Speaker 1: we cannot allow to have a real being. It is
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  Speaker 1: a mere flight of imagination. Indeed, it cannot be questioned.
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  Speaker 1: But separate spirits have some way to communicate their sentiments
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  Speaker 1: to each other. But what inhabitant of flesh and blood
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  Speaker 1: can explain that way? What we term speech, they cannot have,
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  Speaker 1: So that we can no longer be stewards of this
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  Speaker 1: talent when we are numbered with the dead. It may
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  Speaker 1: likewise admit of a doubt whether our senses will exist
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  Speaker 1: when the organs of sense are destroyed. Is it not
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  Speaker 1: probable that those of the lower kind will cease the feeling,
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  Speaker 1: the smell, the taste, as they have a more immediate
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  Speaker 1: reference to the body, and are chiefly, if not wholly,
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  Speaker 1: intended for the preservation of it. But will not some
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  Speaker 1: kind of sight remain although the eye be closed in death?
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  Speaker 1: And will there not be something in the soul equivalent
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  Speaker 1: to the present sense of hearing. Nay, is it not
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  Speaker 1: probable that these will not only exist in the separate state,
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  Speaker 1: but exist in a far greater degree, in a more
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  Speaker 1: eminent manner than now, when the soul, disentangled from its clay,
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  Speaker 1: is no longer a dying sparkle in a cloudy place,
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  Speaker 1: when it no longer looks through the windows of the
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  Speaker 1: eye and ear, but rather is all eye, all ear,
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  Speaker 1: all sense, in a manner we cannot yet conceive. And
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  Speaker 1: have we not a clear proof of the possibility of this,
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  Speaker 1: of seeing without the use of the eye, at hearing
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  Speaker 1: without the use of the ear, yea and earnest busness
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  Speaker 1: of it continually. For does not the soul see in
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  Speaker 1: the clearest manner when the eye is of no use,
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  Speaker 1: namely in dreams? Does she not then enjoy the faculty
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  Speaker 1: of hearing without any help from the ear. But however,
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  Speaker 1: this be certain. It is that neither will our senses,
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  Speaker 1: any more than our speech, be entrusted to us in
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  Speaker 1: the manner they are now, when the body lies in
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  Speaker 1: the silent grave. How far the knowledge or learning which
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  Speaker 1: we have gained by education will then remain we cannot tell. Solomon. Indeed, says,
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  Speaker 1: there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge nor wisdom
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  Speaker 1: in the grave, whither thou goest. But it is evident
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  Speaker 1: these words cannot be understood in an absolute sense. For
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  Speaker 1: it is so far from being true that there is
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  Speaker 1: no knowledge after we have quitted the body, that the
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  Speaker 1: doubt lies on the other side. Whether there be any
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  Speaker 1: such thing as real knowledge till then, whether it be
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  Speaker 1: not a plain, sober truth, not a mere poetical fiction,
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  Speaker 1: that all these shadows which for things we take, are
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  Speaker 1: but the empty dreams which in death's sleep we make,
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  Speaker 1: only accepting those things which God himself has been pleased
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  Speaker 1: to reveal to man. I will speak for one. After
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  Speaker 1: having sought for truth with some diligence for half a century,
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  Speaker 1: I am at this day hardly sure of anything but
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  Speaker 1: what I learn from the Bible. Nay, I positively affirm
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  Speaker 1: I know nothing else so certainly that I would dare
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  Speaker 1: to stake my salvation upon it. So much, however, we
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  Speaker 1: may learn from Solomon's words that there is no such
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  Speaker 1: knowledge or wisdom in the grave as will be of
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  Speaker 1: any use to an unhappy spirit. There is no device
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  Speaker 1: there whereby we can now improve those talents with which
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  Speaker 1: he was once entrusted. For time is no more the
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  Speaker 1: time of our trial, for everless, and happiness or misery
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  Speaker 1: is past our day. The day of man is over,
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  Speaker 1: the day of salvation is ended. Nothing now remains but
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  Speaker 1: the day of the Lord, ushering in wide and changeable eternity.
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  Speaker 1: But still our souls, being incorruptible and immortal, of a
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  Speaker 1: nature little lower than the angels, Even if we are
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  Speaker 1: to understand that phrase of our original nature, which may
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  Speaker 1: well admit of a doubt, when our bodies are moldered
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  Speaker 1: into earth, will remain, with all their faculties, Our memory,
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  Speaker 1: our understanding, will be so far from being destroyed yea,
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  Speaker 1: or impaired by the dissolution of the body, that, on
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  Speaker 1: the contrary, we have reason to believe they will be
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  Speaker 1: inconceivably strengthened. Have we not the clearest reason to believe
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  Speaker 1: that they will then be wholly freed from those defects
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  Speaker 1: which now naturally result from the union of the soul
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  Speaker 1: with the corruptible body. It is highly probable that from
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  Speaker 1: the time these are disunited, our memory will let nothing
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  Speaker 1: slip YEA, that it will faithfully exhibit everything to our
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  Speaker 1: view which was ever committed to it. It is true
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  Speaker 1: that the invisible world is, in scripture termed the land
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  Speaker 1: of forgetfulness, or, as it is still more strongly expressed
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  Speaker 1: in the old translation, the land where all things are forgotten.
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  Speaker 1: They are forgotten, but by whom, not by the inhabitants
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  Speaker 1: of that land, but by the inhabitants of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: It is with regard to them that the unseen world
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  Speaker 1: is the land of forgetfulness. All things therein are too
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  Speaker 1: frequently forgotten by these, but not by disembodied spirits. From
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  Speaker 1: the time they have put off the earthly tabernacle, we
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  Speaker 1: can hardly think they forget anything. In like manner, the
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  Speaker 1: understanding will doubtless be freed from the defects that are
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  Speaker 1: now inseparable from it. For many ages it has been
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  Speaker 1: an unquestioned maxim huminum asked errare et nessaree, ignorance and
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  Speaker 1: mistake are inseparable from human nature. But the whole of
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  Speaker 1: this assertion is only true with regard to living men,
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  Speaker 1: and holds no longer than while the corruptible body presses
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  Speaker 1: down the soul. Ignorance indeed belongs to every finite understanding,
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  Speaker 1: Seeing there is none beside God that knoweth all things,
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  Speaker 1: but do not mistake. When the body is laid aside,
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  Speaker 1: this also is laid aside forever. What then, can we
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  Speaker 1: say to an ingenious man who has lately made a
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  Speaker 1: discovery that disembodied spirits have not only no senses, not
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  Speaker 1: even sight or hearing, but no memory or understanding, no
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  Speaker 1: thought or perception, not so much as a consciousness of
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  Speaker 1: their own existence. Yet they are in a dead sleep
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  Speaker 1: from death to the resurrection, consanguineous lethiosop or indeed, such
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  Speaker 1: a sleep we may call a near kinsman of death.
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  Speaker 1: If it be not the same thing, What can we
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  Speaker 1: say but that ingenious men have strange dreams, and these
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  Speaker 1: they sometimes mistake for realities. But to return as the
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  Speaker 1: soul will retain its understanding and memory, notwithstanding the dissolution
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  Speaker 1: of the body. So undoubtedly the will, including all the affections,
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  Speaker 1: will remain in its full vigor. If our love or anger,
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  Speaker 1: our hope or desire perish, it is only with regard
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  Speaker 1: to those whom we leave behind. To them, it matters
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  Speaker 1: not whether they were the objects of our love or hate,
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  Speaker 1: of our desire or aversion, but in separate spirits themselves,
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  Speaker 1: we have no reason to believe that any of these
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  Speaker 1: are extinguished, it is more probable that they work with
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  Speaker 1: far greater force than while the soul was clogged with
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  Speaker 1: flesh and blood. But although all these, although both our
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  Speaker 1: knowledge and senses, our memory and understanding, together with our will,
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  Speaker 1: our love, hate, and all our affections, remain after the
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  Speaker 1: body is dropped off, yet in this respect they are
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  Speaker 1: as though they were not. We are no longer stewards
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  Speaker 1: of them. The things continue, but our stewardship does not.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: We no more act in that capacity. Even the grace,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: which was formally entrusted with us in order to enable
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: us to be faithful and wise stewards is now no
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: longer entrusted for that purpose. The days of our stewardship
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: are ended. Item three. It now remains that, being no
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: longer stewards, we give an account of our stewardship. Some
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: have imagined this to be done immediately after death, as
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: soon as we enter into the world of spirits. Nay,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: the Church of Rome does absolutely assert this. YEA makes
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: it an article of faith, and thus much we may allow.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: The moment a soul drops the body and stands naked
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: before God, it cannot but know what its portion will
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: be to all eternity. It will have full in its view,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: either everlasting joy or everlasting torment, as it is no
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: longer possible to be deceived in the judgment which we
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: pass upon ourselves. But the scripture gives us no reason
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to believe that God will then sit in judgment upon us.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: There is no passage in all the oracles of God
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: which affirms any such thing. That which has been frequently
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: alleged for this purpose seems rather to prove the contrary. Namely,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Hebrews nine twenty seven. It is appointed for men once
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: to die, and after this the judgment. For in all
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: reason the word once is here to be applied to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: judgment as well as death, so that the fair inference
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to be drawn from this very text is not that
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: there are two judgments, a particular and a general, but
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that we are to be judged as well as to
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: die once only not once immediately after death and again
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: after the general resurrection, but then only when the Son
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of Man shall come in his glory and all his
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: holy angels with him. The imagination, therefore, of one judgment
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: to death and another at the end of the world
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: can have no place with those who make the written
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: word of God, the whole and sole standard of their faith.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: The time, then, when we are to give this account,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: is when the great white Throne comes down from heaven,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: and he that sitteth thereon, from whose face the heavens
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and the earth flee away, and there is found no
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: place for them. It is then that dead, small and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: great will stand before God, and the books will be opened,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the Book of Scripture to them who were entrusted therewith,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the Book of Conscience to all mankind. The Book of Remembrance. Likewise,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: to use an another scriptural expression, which had been writing
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: from the foundation of the world, will then be laid
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: open to the view of all the children of men,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: before all these, even the whole human race, before the
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Devil at his angels, before an innumerable company of holy angels,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: and before God, the Judge of All. Thou wilt appear
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: without any shelter or covering, without any possibility of disguise,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to give a particular account of the manner wherein thou
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: hast employed all thy Lord's goods. The Judge of All
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: will then inquire, how didst thou employ thy soul? I
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: entrusted thee with an immortal spirit, endowed with various powers
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: and faculties, with understanding, imagination, memory, will, affections. I gave
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: THEE withal full and expressed directions how all these were
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: to be employed. Didst thou employ thy understanding as far
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: as it was capable? According to these directions, namely, in
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the knowledge of thyself and me, my nature, my attributes,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: my works, whether of creation, of providence or of grace,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: in acquainting thyself with my word, in using every means
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to increase thy knowledge thereof, and meditating thereon day and night,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: didst thou employ thy memory according to My will? In
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: treasuring up whatever knowledge thou hast acquired, which might conduce
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: to my glory, to thy own salvation, or the advantage
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: of others. Didst thou store up therein not things of
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: no value, but whatever instruction thou hadst learned from my word,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: and whatever experience thou hadst gained of My wisdom, truth, power,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and mercy. Was thy imagination employed not in painting vain images,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: much less such as nourished foolish and hurtful desires, but
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: in representing to THEE whatever would profit thy soul and
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: awaken thy pursuit of wisdom and holiness. Didst thou follow
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: my directions with regard to thy will? Was it wholly
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: given up to me? Was it swallowed up in mine
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: so as never to oppose, but always run parallel with it?
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Were thy affections placed and regulated in such a manner
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: as I appointed in my word? Didst thou give me
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: thy heart? Didst thou not love the world? Neither the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: things of the world? Was I the object of thy love?
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Was all thy desire unto me and unto the remembrance
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of my name? Was I the joy of thy heart,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: the delight of thy soul, the chief among ten thousand.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Didst thou sorrow for nothing but what grieved my spirit?
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Didst thou fear and hate nothing but sin? Did the
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: whole stream of thy affections flow back to the ocean
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: from whence they came? Were thy thoughts employed according to
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: My will? Not in raging to the ends of the earth,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: not on folly nor sin. But on whatsoever things were pure,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: whatsoever things were holy, on whatsoever was conducive to My
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: glory and to peace and goodwill among men. Thy Lord
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: will then inquire, how didst thou employ the body? Wherewith
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I entrusted THEE. I gave THEE a tongue to praise
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: me therewith didst thou use it to the end for
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: which it was given? Didst thou employ it not in
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: evil speaking or idle speaking, not in uncharitable or unprofitable conversation,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: but in such as was good, as was necessary or useful,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: either to thyself or others, such as always tended directly
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: or indirectly to minister grace to the hearers. I gave THEE,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: together with thy other senses, those grand avenues of knowledge, sight,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: and hearing. Were these employed to those excellent purposes for
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: which they were bestowed upon THEE, in bringing THEE in
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: more and more instruction and righteousness and true holiness. I
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: gave THEE hands and feet and various members, wherewith to
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: perform the works which were prepared for THEE. Were they
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: employed not in doing the will of the flesh of
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: thy evil nature, or the will of the mind, the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: things to which thy reason or fancy led THEE, but
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the will of Him that sent THEE into the world,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: merely to work out thy own salvation. Didst thou present
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: all thy members not to sin as instruments of unrighteousness,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: but to me alone, to the Son of My Love,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: as instruments of righteousness. The Lord of all will next inquire,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: how didst thou employ the worldly goods which I lodged
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: in thy hands? Didst thou use thy food not so
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: as to seek or place thy happiness therein, but so
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: as to preserve thy body in health, in strength and vigor,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: a fit instrument for the soul? Didst thou use apparel
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: not to nourish pride or vanity, much less to tempt
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: others to sin, but conveniently and decently to defend thyself
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: from the injuries of the weather. Didst thou prepare and
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: use thy house and all other conveniences with a single
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: eye to my glory, in every point, seeking not thy
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: own honor but mine, studying to please not thyself but me?
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Once more, in what manner didst thou employ that comprehensive
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: talent money, not in gratifying the desire of the flesh,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: the desire of the eye, or the pride of life,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: not squadding it away in vain expenses, the same as
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: throwing it into the sea, not hoarding it up to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: leave behind thee the same as bearing it in the earth,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: but first supplying thy own reasonable wants, together with those
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: of thy family, then restoring the remainder to me through
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: the poor, whom I had appointed to receive it, looking
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: upon thyself as only one of that number of poor
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: whose wants were to be supplied out of that part
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: of my substance which I had placed in thy hands
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: for this purpose, leaving thee the right of being supplied first,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: and the blessedness of giving rather than receiving. Wast thou
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: accordingly a general benefactor to mankind, feeding the hungry, clothing
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: the naked, comforting the sick, assisting the stranger, relieving thee afflicted,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: according to the various necessities. Wast thou eyes to the blind,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: and feet to the lame, a father to the fatherless,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: and an husband to the widow. And didst thou labor
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: to improve all outward works of mercy as means of
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: saving souls from death? Thy Lord will farther inquire hast
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: thou been a wise and faithful steward with regard to
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the talents of a mixed nature which I lent thee?
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Didst thou employ thy health and strength not in folly
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: or sin, not in the pleasures which perished in the using,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: not in making provision for the flesh to fulfill them
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: desires thereof, but in a vigorous pursuit of that better
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: part which none could take away from Thee. Didst thou
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: employ whatever was pleasing in thy person, or address whatever
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: advantages thou hast by education, whatever share of learning, whatever
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: knowledge of things or men was committed THEE, for the
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: promoting a virtue in the world, for the enlargement of
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: my kingdom. Didst thou employ whatever share of power thou hast,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: whatever influence over others by the love or esteem of
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: THEE which they had conceived, for the increase of their
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: wisdom and holiness. Didst thou employ that inestimable talent of
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: time with weariness and circumspection, as duly weighing the value
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of every moment, and knowing that all were numbered in
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: eternity above all, wast thou a good steward of My grace, preventing,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: accompanying and following THEE. Didst thou duly observe and carefully
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: improve all the influences of my life, thy spirit, every
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: good desire, every measure of light, all his sharp or
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: gentle reproofs, How didst thou profit by the spirit of
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: bondage in fear, which was previous to the spirit of adoption?
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: And when thou hast made a partaker of this spirit
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: crying in thy heart, abba Father, didst thou stand fast
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: in the glorious liberty wherewith I made THEE free? Didst
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: thou from thenceforth present thy soul and body, all thy thoughts,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: thy words, and actions in one flame of love as
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: a holy sacrifice, glorifying me with thy body and thy spirit.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Then well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the joy of Thy Lord. And what will remain either
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: to the faithful or unfaithful steward, nothing but the execution
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: of that sentence which has been passed by the righteous Judge,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: fixing thee in a state which admits of no chain
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: through everlasting ages. It remains only that thou be rewarded
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: to all eternity according to Thy works Item four. From
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: these plain considerations we may learn first, how important is
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: this short, uncertain day of life. How precious above all utterance,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: above all conception is every portion of it? The least
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: of these A serious care demands for though they're little,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: they are golden sands. How deeply does it concern every
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: child of man to let none of these run to waste,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: but to improve them all to the noblest purposes, as
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: long as the breath of God is in his nostrils.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: We learn from hence secondly that there is no employment
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: of our time, no action or conversation that is purely indifferent.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: All is good or bad, because all our time, as
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: everything we have, is not our own. All these are
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: as our Lord speaks to Alatria, the property of another
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: of God, our creator. Now these either are or are
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: not employed according to his will. If they are so employed,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: all is good. If they are not, all is evil. Again,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: it is his will that we should continually grow in
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: grace and in the living knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consequently,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: every thought, word, and work whereby this knowledge is increased,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: whereby we grow in grace, is good, and everyone whereby
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: this knowledge is not increased, is truly and properly evil.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: We learned from hence thirdly that there are no works
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: of supererogation, that we can never do more than our duty,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Seeing all we have is not our own, but Gods
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: all we can do is doe to him. We have
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: not received this or that, or many things only, but
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: everything from him. Therefore everything is his due. He that
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: gives us all must needs, have a right to all,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: so that if we pay him anything less than all,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: we cannot be faithful stewards. And considering every man shall
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: receive his own reward according to his own labor, we
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: cannot be wise stewards unless we labor to the uttermost
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: of our power, not leaving anything undone which we possibly
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: can do, but putting forth all our strength. Brethren, who
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: is an understanding man and endued with knowledge among you,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: let him show the wisdom from above by walking suitably
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: to his character. If he so account of himself is
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: a steward of the manifold gifts of God, let him
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: see that all his thoughts and words and works be
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: agreeable to the post God has assigned him. It is
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: no small thing to lay for God all which you
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: have received from God. It requires all your wisdom, all
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: your resolution, all your patience and constancy, far more than
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: ever you had by nature, but not more than you
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: may have by grace, For His grace is sufficient for you,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: and all things you know are possible to him that
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: believeth by faith. Then put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Put on the whole armor of God, and you shall
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: be enabled to glorify Him in all your words and works. YEA,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Edinburgh,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: May fourteenth, seventeen sixty eight, end of Section fifty two.