24. And is not truth, as well as justice, fallen in our streets? For who speaketh the truth from his heart? Who is there, that makes a conscience of speaking the thing as it is, whenever he speaks at all? Who scruples the telling of officious lies? The varying from truth, in order to do good? How strange does that saying of the ancient fathers, found in modern ears, “I would not tell a lie, no, not to save the souls of the whole world.” Yet is this strictly agreeable to the word of God; to that of St. Paul in particular, if any say, let us do evil that good may come, their damnation is just.
But how many of us do this evil, without ever considering, whether good will come or no? Speaking what we do not mean, merely out of custom, because it is fashionable so to do? What an immense quantity of falshood does this ungodly fashion occasion day by day? For hath it not over run every part of the nation? How is all our language swoln with compliment? So that a well-bred person is not expected to speak as he thinks: we do not look for it at his hands. Nay, who would thank him for it? How few would suffer it? It was said of old, even by a warrior and a king, He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight: But are we not of another mind? Do not we rather say, He that telleth not lies, shall not tarry in my sight? Indeed the trial seldom comes; for both speakers and hearers are agreed, that form and ceremony, flattery and compliment should take place, and truth be banished from all that know the world.
And if the rich and great have so small regard to truth, as to lie even for lying-sake, what wonder can it be that men of lower rank will do the same thing for gain? What wonder that it should obtain, as by common consent in all kinds of buying and selling? Is it not an adjudged case, that it is no harm to tell lies in the way of trade? To say, that is the lowest price which is not the lowest; or that you will not take what you do take immediately? Insomuch that it is a proverb even among the Turks, when asked to abate of their price, “What! do you take me to be a Christian?” So that never was that caution more seasonable than it is at this day, Take ye heed every one of his ♦neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and they will deceive every one his neighbour.
25. And as for those few who abstain from outward sins, is their heart right with God? May he not say of us also (as of the Jews) This people is uncircumcised in heart? Are not you? Do you then love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your strength? Is he your God and your all? The desire of your eyes? The joy of your very heart? Rather, do you not set up your idols in your heart? Is not your belly your God? Or your diversion? Or your fair reputation? Or your friend? Or wife? Or child? That is plainly, do not you delight in some of these earthly goods, more than in the God of heaven? Nay, perhaps you are one of those grovelling souls that pant after the dust of the earth! Indeed who does not? Who does not get as much as he can? Who of those who are not accounted covetous, yet does not gather all the money he can fairly, and perhaps much more? For are they those only whom the world rank among misers, that use every art to increase their fortune? Toiling early and late, spending all their strength in loading themselves with thick clay? How long? Until the very hour when God calleth them; when he saith unto each of them, Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?
26. And yet doth not our pride, even the pride of those whose soul cleaves to the dust, testify against us? Are they not wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own conceit? Have not writers of our own remarked, that there is not upon earth a more self-conceited nation than the English; more ♦opinionated both of their own national and personal wisdom, and courage, and strength? And indeed, if we may judge by the inhabitants of London, this is evident to a demonstration: for, are not the very meanest of them able to instruct both the king and all his counsellors? What cobler in London is not wiser than the principal Secretary of State? What coffee-house disputer is not an abler divine than his Grace of Canterbury? And how deep a contempt of others is joined with this high opinion of ourselves? I know not whether the people of all nations are greater masters of dissimulation; but there does not appear in any nation whatever, such a proneness to despise their neighbour: to despise not foreigners only (near two thousand years ago they remarked Britannos hospitibus feros) but their own countrymen; and that very often for such surprising reasons, as nothing but undeniable fact could make credible. How often does the gentleman in his coach despise those dirty fellows that go a foot? And these, on the other hand, despise full as much those lazy fellows that loll in their coaches? No wonder then that those who have the form of godliness should despise them that have not: that the saint of the world so frequently says to the ♠gross sinner, in effect, if not in terms, Stand by thyself; come not near unto me; for I am holier than thou!
27. Yet what kind of holiness is this? May not God justly declare of us also, This people draw near me with their mouth, but they have removed their hearts far from me. They do but flatter me with their mouth, and dissemble with me in their tongue. Is it not so with you? When you speak to God, do your lips and your heart go together? Do you not often utter words by which you mean just nothing? Do not you say and unsay? Or, say one thing to God, and another to man? For instance, you say to God, Vouchsafe O Lord, to keep me this day without sin. But you say to man, this cannot be done; it is all folly and madness to expect it. You ask of God, that you may perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his holy name: but you tell man, there is no perfect love upon earth; it is only a madman’s dream. You pray God, to cleanse the thoughts of your heart, by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit. But you assure your neighbour, there is no such thing as inspiration now, and that none pretend to it but enthusiasts. What gross hypocrisy is this! Surely you think, there is no knowledge in the Most High. O be not deceived, God is not mocked. But whatsoever ye sow, that also shall ye reap!
28. Such at present is the religion of this Christian nation! So do we honour him by whose name we are called. And yet was there ever a nation more careless and secure? More unapprehensive of the wrath of God! How can a man more effectually expose himself to the ridicule of those who are esteemed men of understanding, than by shewing any concern, as if the judgments of God were hanging over our heads? Surely then a deceived heart hath turned us aside, that we cannot say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Surely this our confidence is not of God: it is rather a judicial infatuation; a stupid insensibility; a deep sleep, the fore-runner of heavy vengeance.
“Ruin behind it stalks, and empty desolation.”
Surely never was any people more fitted for destruction! Impudent children are they, and stiff hearted. Are they ashamed when they have committed abomination? When they have openly prophaned the day of the Lord? When they have committed lewdness? Or when they have uttered such curses and blasphemies, as are not heard of among the Heathens? Nay, They are not at all ashamed, neither can they blush. And though God send unto them all his servants, rising up early and sending them, yet will they not hear; they ♦harden their neck: they do worse than their fathers.
What then can God do more for his vineyard which he hath not done? He hath long tried us with mercies, giving rain and fruitful seasons, filing us with the flour of wheat. But still this revolting and rebellious people say not, Let us now fear the Lord our God. Nay, they gave him no thanks for all his mercies; they did not even acknowledge them to be his gift. They did not see the hand of God in any of these things; they could account for them another way. O ye unwise, when will ye understand? Know ye not yet, there is a God that ruleth the world? What did ye see with your eyes? Was the race to the swift, or the battle to the strong? Have ye forgotten Dettingen already? Does not England know that God was there?—Or suppose your continuance in peace, or success in war, be the mere result of your own wisdom and strength; do ye command the sun and the clouds also? Can ye pour out or stay the bottles of heaven? But let it all be nature, chance, any thing—so God may have no hand in governing the earth!
* 29. Will his judgments bring us to a better mind? Do we hear the rod, and him that has appointed it? Let us observe: What fruit do we find in those who are even consumed by means of his heavy hand? Let any one that desires to be clearly satisfied herein, visit the hospitals of this city. Let him judge for himself, how the patients there receive God’s fatherly visitation; especially there, because mercy also is mixed with judgment; so that it is evident the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth. Go then into any ward, either of men or women, look narrowly from one end to the other: are they humbling themselves under the hand of God? Are they trembling under a sense of his anger? Are they praising him for his love? Are they exhorting one another, not to faint when they are rebuked of him? How do nine in ten of them spend the time, that important time from morning to evening? Why in such a manner, that you would not easily learn, from thence, whether they were Christians, Pagans or Mahometans.
* Is there any deeper distress than this to be found? Is there a greater affliction than the loss of health? Perhaps there is, the loss of liberty, especially as it is sometimes circumstanced. You may easily be convinced of this, by going into either Ludgate or Newgate. What a scene appears, as soon as you enter! The very place strikes horror into your soul. How dark and dreary! How unhealthy and unclean! How void of all that might minister comfort! But this is little, compared to the circumstances that attend the being confined in this shadow of death. See that poor wretch, who was formerly in want of nothing, and encompassed with friends and acquaintance, now cut off, perhaps by an unexpected stroke, from all the chearful ways of men; ruined, forsaken of all, and delivered into the hands of such masters, and such companions! I know not, if to one of a thinking, sensible turn of mind, there could be any thing like it on this side hell.
What effect then has this heavy visitation of God, on those who lie under it for any time? There is perhaps, an exception here and there; but in general, they are abandoned to all wickedness, utterly divested of all fear of God, and all reverence to man; insomuch, that they commonly go out of that school compleatly fitted for any kind or degree of villany, perfectly brutal and devilish, thoroughly furnished for every evil word and work.
30. Are our countrymen more effectually reclaimed, when danger and distress are joined? If so, the army, especially in time of war, must be the most religious part of the nation. But is it so indeed? Do the soldiery walk as those who see themselves on the brink of eternity? Redeeming every opportunity of glorifying God, and doing good to men, because they know not the hour in which their Lord will require their souls of them? So far from it, that a soldier’s religion is a by-word, even with those who have no religion at all; that vice and prophaneness in every shape reign among them without controul; and that the whole tenor of their behaviour speaks, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.
Have those who are exposed to still more danger, the English sea-forces, more religion than those at land? It is said they were once remarkable for this: and it is certain Sir Francis Drake feared God, as did most of his commanders; and we have reason to believe, his marines and sailors too. But what shall we say of the navy that now is, more particularly of the ships of war? Is religion there? Either the power or the form? Is not almost every single man of war a mere floating hell? Where is there to be found more consummate wickedness, a more full, daring contempt of God, and all his laws, except in the bottomless pit? But here description fails: and the goodness of God endureth yet daily! But shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? O that the prospect of national judgments may suffice! That we may remember ourselves, and turn unto the Lord our God, before his long-suffering mercy is at an end, and he pours out the vials of his wrath upon us!
But how small ground have we as yet to hope for this? For who will now suffer the word of exhortation? How few will endure sound doctrine, and the honest, close application of it? Do they not say unto the seers, see not; and unto the prophets, prophesy smooth things? And if a man will do thus, if he will sew pillows to all arm-holes, and cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them; if he will prophesy of wine and strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people.
31. I am sensible, how nice a subject this is, and how extremely difficult it is so to speak, as neither to say too little nor too much, neither more nor less than the cause of God requires. I know also, that it is absolutely impossible, so to speak as not to give offence. But whosoever is offended, I dare not to be silent; neither may I refrain from plainness of speech: only I will endeavour to use all the tenderness I can consistently with that plainness.
In tender love then I ask, are there none among us (I speak to you, my brethren, who are priests and prophets of the Lord, set apart to minister in holy things, and to declare the word of the Lord) Are there none among us who commit lewdness, as did those by whom Israel was defiled? Hath not the Lord seen an horrible thing, in some of the prophets of this land also, even, that they commit adultery, and (to conceal it) walk in lies? God forbid that I should affirm this. I only propose (not maintain) the question. If there be such a wretch, I pray God to strike him to the heart, and to say, Thou art the man!
Are there none of you, like them, mighty to drink wine, men of strength to mingle strong drink? Yea, are there none, that err through strong drink, that are swallowed up of wine? Are there not found those who say, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink: and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant?
* Alas, my brother! Is this the voice of a minister of Christ? A steward of the mysteries of God? Suppose you find at any time trouble and heaviness, is there no help for you in your God? Is not the God whom you serve able to deliver you from any plague or trouble? Is the being drunk with wine a better relief, than the being filled with his Spirit? Do you not understand this? Do you not know the Lord? Take heed you do not destroy both your own soul and them that hear you! O beware! If you know not his love, fear his power! Make haste to flee from the wrath to come, lest he smite you with a curse great as your sin, and sweep you away from the face of the earth.
32. Can such as you be said, to honour or fear God, any more than those spoken of by Malachi? May not God complain, These priests have violated my law and prophaned my holy things? Yea, whensoever you presume with those unhallowed hands, to touch the mysteries of God: whensoever you utter his name or his word with those unhallowed lips! But is it on this account only that God may say, Both prophet and priest are prophane? May he not add, they have put no difference between the holy and prophane; therefore I am prophaned among them. For is it not so? Do you put a difference between the holy and prophane, him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not? Do you put an effectual difference between them, even in the most solemn office of our religion? At the table of the Lord, do you take care to separate the precious from the vile? To receive all those who (as you may reasonably believe) draw near with penitent hearts and lively faith, and utterly to reject those who testify against themselves, that they are without hope and without God in the world?
Nay, who dares repel one of the greatest men in his parish from the Lord’s table? Even tho’ he be a drunkard or a common swearer? Yea tho’ he openly deny the Lord that bought him? Mr. Stonhouse did this once. But what was the event? The gentleman brought an action against him, for the terror of all such insolent fellows, in succeeding times.
33. O my brethren, is it not for want of your making this difference, as well as for many other abominations that with regard to some among us, (how many God knoweth) that scripture is now also fulfilled. His watchmen are blind, they are ignorant, they are shepherds that cannot understand.—The Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed their eyes; the prophets and the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.
If you ask what those other abominations are? I will speak, in love and in the spirit of meekness. There are found among us covetous men, men who mind earthly things, who seek themselves and not Christ crucified, who love the world, and the things of the world: men in whom these words are still fulfilled, Who is there among you that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on my altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you saith the Lord of hosts. Yea, are there not those at this day, (O that I might be found to fear where no fear is!) who make themselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel? Are there not those, who now enlarge their desire as hell, who are as death and cannot be satisfied? Who, though they want neither food to eat nor raiment to put on, yet seek more and more preferment? Who are continually studying to join house to house, and to lay field to field? To grow rich in the service of that Master, who himself had not where to lay his head? Is it not to these that those dreadful words belong, enough to cause the ears of him that heareth to tingle, They are greedy dogs which never can have enough; they all look to their own way, (not the way of their Lord) every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Is it strange, if among these there should be some, who are cruel, oppressive men? Inasmuch as covetousness knows no mercy, nor can a lover of money be a lover of his neighbour. Have not some been known even to grind the face of the poor? To strip, rather than cloath the naked? Some, who while they cried out, as the horse-leech, Give, give, would take, if it was not given; like those of old who said, Thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force: or those spoken of by Micah, The prophets bite with their teeth, and cry peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Very great is the sin of these men before the Lord. If there be ten such now in the land, may God smite them this day with terror and astonishment, that they may have no rest in their bones till their sin is done away!
34. Are you as watchful and zealous to gain souls, as those are to gain the gold that perisheth? Do you know by experience what that meaneth, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up? Or are you one of those watchmen who do not watch at all? Who neither know nor care when the sword cometh? Of whom the prophet saith, They are dumb dogs that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
* Can it be supposed, that such shepherds will feed the flock? Will give to every one his portion of meat in due season? Will these warn every man, and exhort every man, that they may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus? Will they take care to “know all their flock by name, not forgetting ♦the men-servants and women-servants?” Will they enquire into the state of every soul committed to their charge? And watch over each with all tenderness and long-suffering, as they that must give account? Marking how they either fall or rise? How these wax weary and faint in their mind; and those grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Who can do this, unless his whole heart be in the work? Unless he desire nothing but to spend and be spent for them; and count not his life dear unto himself, so he may present them blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Can any shepherd do this (and if he do not, he will never give any account with joy) who imagines, he has little more to do, then to preach once or twice a week? That this is the main point, the chief part of the office, which he hath taken upon himself before God? What gross ignorance is this? What a total mistake of the truth? What a miserable blunder touching the whole nature of his office? It is indeed a very great thing, to speak in the name of God; it might make him that is the stoutest of heart tremble, if he considered, that every time he speaks to others, his own soul is at stake. But great, inexpressibly great as this is, it is perhaps the least part of our work. To seek and save that which is lost, to bring souls from Satan to God, to instruct the ignorant, to reclaim the wicked, to convince the gainsayer; to direct their feet into the way of peace, and then keep them therein; to follow them step by step, least they turn out of the way, and advise them in their doubts and temptations; to lift up them that fall, to refresh them that are faint, and to comfort the weak-hearted; to administer various helps, as the variety of occasions require, according to their several necessities: these are parts of our office; all this we have undertaken at the peril of our own soul. A sense of this made that holy man of old cry out, “I marvel if any ruler in the church shall be saved;” and a greater than him say, in the fulness of his heart, who is sufficient for these things?
34. But who is not sufficient for these things, for the taking care of a parish, though it contain twenty thousand souls, if this implies no more than the taking care to preach there, once or twice-a-week; and to procure one to read prayers on the other days, and do what is called the parish duty? Is any trade in the nation so easy as this? Is not any man sufficient for it, without any more talents either of nature or grace, than a small degree of common understanding? But O! what manner of shepherds are those, who look no farther into the nature of their office, who sink no deeper into the importance of it than this! Were they not such as these concerning whom the word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel, saying, Woe be to the shepherds that feed themselves: should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the fat, and ye cloathe you with the wool; but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken; neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost——And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
I conjure you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, who hath bought them and ♦us with his own blood, apply this each to his own soul. Let every man look unto God, and say, “Lord, Is it I? Am I one of these idle, careless, indolent shepherds, that feed myself, not the flock? Am I one that cannot bark, slothful, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber? One of those who have not strengthened that which was diseased, neither healed that which was sick! Search me, O Lord, and prove me; try out my reins and my heart. Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
35. “Have I not, at least, healed the hurt of thy people slightly? Have I not said, Peace, peace, when there was no peace?”—How many are they also that do this? Who do not study to speak what is true, especially to the rich and great, so much as what is pleasing? Who flatter honourable sinners, instead of telling them plain, How can ye escape the damnation of hell? O what an account have you to make, if there be a God that judgeth the earth? Will he not require at your hands the blood of all these souls, of whom ye are the betrayers and murderers? Well spake the prophets of your fathers, in whose steps ye now tread. They have seduced my people, and one built up a wall, and another daubed it with untempered mortar. They strengthen the hands of the evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness. They prophesy lies in my name saith the Lord. They say unto them that despise me, ye shall have peace, and unto them that walk after the imagination of their own heart, no evil shall come upon you.
How great will your damnation be, who destroy souls, instead of saving them? Where will you appear, or how will you stand, in that great and terrible day of the Lord! How will ye lift up your head, when the Lord descends from heaven, in flaming fire, to take vengeance on his adversaries! More especially on those who have so betrayed his cause, and done Satan’s work under the banner of Christ! With what voice wilt thou say, “Behold me, Lord, and the sheep whom thou hadst given me, whom I gave to the devil, and told them they were in the way to heaven, till they dropped into hell?”
Were they not just such shepherds of souls as you are concerning whom God spake by Jeremiah, Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness: By Ezekiel, There is a conspiracy of her prophets, like a roaring lion, ravening the prey, they have devoured souls: And by Zechariah, Thus saith the Lord, feed the flock of the slaughter, whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, blessed be the Lord, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.
* 36. Is not this the real ground, the principal reason of the present contempt of the clergy? And long since was it assigned as such, by him who cannot lie. The same men of old, who made the Lord’s people to transgress, thereby made themselves vile. They were despised both as the natural effect, and the judicial punishment of their wickedness. And the same cause the prophet observes to have produced the same effect, many hundred years after this. Ye are departed out of the way saith the Lord; ye have caused many to stumble—therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all the people.
I have now, brethren, delivered mine own soul and in so doing, I have (as I proposed at first) used great plainness of speech, as not studying to please men, but the Lord. The event I leave to him in whose name I have spoken, and who hath the hearts of all men in his hand.
I have brought you heavy tidings this day, and yet I cannot but be persuaded, that some of you will not count me your enemy, because I tell you the truth. O that all of us may taste the good word which we declare! May receive that knowledge of salvation, which we are commanded to preach unto every creature, thro’ the remission of sins! My heart’s desire is, that all of us to whom is committed the ministry of reconciliation, may ourselves be reconciled to God, thro’ the blood of the everlasting covenant: that he may be henceforth unto us a God, and we may be unto him a people: that we may all know as well as preach, the Lord, from the least unto the greatest: even by that token, I am merciful to thy unrighteousness: thy sins I remember no more!
III. 1. I have hitherto spoken more immediately to those, who profess themselves members of the church of England. But inasmuch as I am a debtor also to those who do not, my design is now, to apply to them also; and briefly to shew, wherein (I fear) they are severally inconsistent with their own principles.
I begin with those who are at the smallest distance from us, whether they are termed Presbyterians or Independents. Of whom in general I cannot but have a widely different opinion, from that I entertained some years ago: as having since then conversed with many among them, in whom the root of the matter is undeniably found; and who labour to keep a conscience void of offence both toward God and toward man. I cannot therefore doubt, but every serious man, of either one or the other denomination, does utterly condemn all that inward as well as outward unholiness, which has been above described.
But do you, as a people, avoid what you condemn? Are no whoremongers or adulterers found among you? No children disobedient to their parents? No servants that are slothful or careless? That answer again? That do not honour their masters as is meet in the Lord? Are there none among you that censure or speak evil of the ruler of their people? Are there no drunkards, no gluttons, no luxurious men, no regular epicures, none whose belly is their God, who, as their fortune permits, fare sumptuously every day? Have you no dishonest dealers, no unfair traders, no usurers, or extortioners? Have you no liars, either for gain, or for good manners, so called? Are you clear of ceremony and compliment? Alas, you are sensible, in most if not all these respects, you have now small ♦pre-eminence over us.
How much more sensible must you be of this, if you do not rest on the surface, but enquire into the bottom of religion, the religion of the heart? For, what inward unholiness, what evil tempers are among us, which have not a place among you also? You likewise bewail that ignorance of God, that want of faith and of the love of God and man, that inward idolatry of various kinds, that pride, ambition and vanity, which rule in the hearts even of those who still have the form of godliness. You lament before God, the deep covetousness that eats so many souls as doth a gangrene; and perhaps are sometimes ready to cry out, help, Lord, for there is scarce one godly man left. Lay to thine hand: for the faithful are minished from the children of men!
2. And yet you retain the truth that is after godliness, at least, as to the substance of it. You own what is laid down in scripture, both touching the nature and condition of justification and salvation. And with regard to the author of faith and salvation, you have always avowed, even in the face of your enemies, that it is God which worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure: that it is his Spirit alone who teacheth us all things, all we know of the deep things of God: that every true believer has an unction from the Holy One to lead him into all necessary truth: that because we are sons, God sendeth forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father; and that this Spirit, beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
How is it then, my brethren (so I can call you now, although I could not have done it heretofore;) how is it, that the generality of you also are fallen from your stedfastness? In the times of persecution ye stood as a rock, tho’ all the waves and storms went over you. But who can bear ease and fulness of bread! How are you changed, since these came upon you! Do not many of you now (practically I mean) put something else, in the room of faith that worketh by love? Do not some of you suppose that gravity and composedness of behaviour, are the main parts of Christianity? Especially, provided you neither swear, nor take the name of God in vain. Do not others imagine, that to abstain from idle songs, and those fashionable diversions commonly used by persons of their fortune, is almost the whole of religion? To which if they add family prayer, and a strict observation of the sabbath, then doubtless all is well! Nay my brethren, this is well, so far as it goes: but how little a way does it go toward Christianity? All these things, you cannot but see, are merely external; whereas Christianity is an inward thing; without which the most beautiful outward form is lighter than vanity.
Do not others of you rest in conviction? Or good desires? Alas, what do these avail? A man may be convinced he is sick, yea deeply convinced, and yet never recover. He may desire food, yea with earnest desire, and nevertheless perish with hunger. And thus I may be convinced I am a sinner; but this will not justify me before God. And I may desire salvation (perhaps by fits and starts, for many years) and yet be lost for ever. Come close then to the point, and keep to your principles. Have you received the Holy Ghost; the Spirit which is of God, and is bestowed by him on all believers, that we may know the things which are freely given to us of God? The time is short. Do you experience now that unction from the Holy One? Without which you confess outward religion, whether negative or positive is nothing. Nay, and inward conviction of our wants is nothing, unless those wants are in fact supplied. Good desires also are nothing, unless we actually attain what we are stirred up to desire. For still, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, whatever he desires, he is none of his. O my brother, beware you stop not short! Beware you never account yourself a Christian, no not in the lowest degree, till God hath sent forth the Spirit of Christ into your heart, and that Spirit bear witness with your spirit, that you are a child of God.
3. One step farther from us, are you who are called (though not by your own choice) Anabaptists. The smallness of your number, compared to that of either the Presbyterians, or those of the church, makes it easier for you to have an exact knowledge of the behaviour of all your members, and to put away from among you every one that walketh not according to the doctrine you have received.
But is this done? Do all your members adorn the gospel? Are they all holy as he which hath called us is holy? I fear not. I have known some instances to the contrary; and doubtless you know many more. There are unholy, outwardly unholy men, in your congregations also: men that prophane either the name or the day of the Lord; that do not honour their natural or civil parents; that know not how to possess their bodies in sanctification and honour; that are intemperate, either in meat or drink, gluttonous, sensual, luxurious; that variously offend against justice, mercy or truth, in their intercourse with their neighbour, and do not walk by that royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
But how is this consistent with your leading principle, “That no man ought to be admitted to baptism, till he has that repentance whereby we forsake sin, and living faith in God, through Christ?”
For if no man ought to be admitted into a church or congregation, who has not actual faith and repentance, then neither ought any who has them not, to continue in any congregation. And consequently an open sinner cannot remain among you, unless you practically renounce your main principle.
4. I refer it to your own serious consideration, whether one reason, why unholy men are still suffered to remain among you, may not be this; that many of you have unawares put opinion in the room of faith and repentance? But how fatal a mistake is this? Supposing your opinion to be true, yet a true opinion concerning repentance is wholly different from the thing itself. And you may have a true opinion concerning faith all your life and yet die an unbeliever.
Supposing therefore the opinion of particular redemption true, yet how little does it avail toward salvation? Nay, were we to suppose, that none can be saved who do not hold it, it does not follow, that all will be saved who do. So that if the one proved a man to be in ever so bad a state, the other would not prove him to be in a good one. And consequently, whosoever leans on this opinion, leans on the staff of a broken reed.
Would to God that ye would mind this one thing, To make your own calling and election sure! That every one of you (leaving the rest of the world to him that made it) would himself repent and believe the gospel! Not repent alone (for then you know only the baptism of John) but believe and be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Are you still a stranger to that inward baptism, wherewith all true believers are baptized? May the Lord constrain you to cry out, How am I straitened till it be accomplished! Even till the love of God inflame your heart, and consume all your vile affections. Be not content with any thing less than this! It is this loving faith alone which opens our way into the general church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven! Which giveth us to enter within the veil, where Jesus our fore-runner is gone before us!
5. There is a still wider difference in some points, between us and the people usually termed Quakers. But not in these points. You, as well as we, condemn all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; all those works of the devil which were recited above, and all those tempers from which they spring.
You ♦agree, That we are all to be taught of God; and to be led by his Spirit: that the Spirit alone reveals all truth, and inspires all holiness: that by his inspiration men attain perfect love, the love which purifies them as he is pure: and that through this knowledge and love of God, they have power to do always such things as please him; to worship God, a Spirit, according to his own will, that is, in spirit and in truth.
Hence you infer, That formal worship is not acceptable to God, but that alone that springs from God in the heart: you infer also, that they who are led by him, will use great plainness of speech, and great plainness of dress, seeking no outward adorning, but only the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.
I will look no farther now, than simply to ♦enquire, Whether you are consistent with these principles?
To begin with the latter: “He that is led by the Spirit will use great plainness of speech.”
* You would have said, “will use the plain language.” But that term leads you into a grand mistake. That term, “the plain language,” naturally leads you to think of one particular way of speaking; as if plainness of speech implied no more, than the use of that particular form.
* Alas! my brethren! Know ye not, that your ancestors designed this, only as a specimen of plain language? And is it possible that you should mistake the sample for the whole bale of cloth?
Consult the light God has given you, and you must see that plainness of speech does not lie in a single point, but implies an open, undisguised sincerity, a child-like simplicity in all we speak.
* I do not desire you to refrain from saying thou or thee. I would not spend ten words about it. But I desire you whenever you speak at all, to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth. I desire your words may always be the picture of your heart. This is truly plain language.
* Either do not pretend to plain speech at all, or be uniformly plain. Are you so? I pray, consider. Do you never compliment? I do not suppose you say, “Sir, your very humble servant.” But do you say no civil things? Do you never flatter? Do you not commend any man or woman to their face? Perhaps farther than you do behind their back. Is this plainness of speech? Do you never dissemble? Do you speak to all persons, high or low, rich or poor, just what you think, neither more nor less, and in the shortest and clearest manner you can? If not, what a mere jest is your plain language? You carry your condemnation in your own breast.
6. You hold also, That “he which is led by the Spirit, will use great plainness of dress, seeking no outward adorning, but only the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.”
And that, in particular, “he will leave gold and costly apparel, to those who know not God.”
* Now I appeal to every serious, reasonable man among you, Do your people act consistently with this principle? Do not many of your women wear gold upon their very feet? And many of your men use ornaments of gold? Are you a stranger to these things? Have you not seen with your eyes (such ♦trifles as will scarce bear the naming) their canes and snuff-boxes glitter, even in your solemn assembly, while ye were waiting together upon God? Surely, they are not yet so lost to modesty, as to pretend, that they do not use them by way of ornament. If they do not, if it be only out of necessity, a plain oaken stick will supply the place of the one, and a piece of horn or tin will unexceptionably answer all the reasonable ends of the other.