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053 - The Good Steward · Sermons on Several Occasions, First Series

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