Maturity and the Word of God

Jonathan Edwards

For then for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.  Hebrews 5:12

Consider yourselves as scholars or disciples put into the school of Christ and therefore be diligent to make proficiency in Christian knowledge.  Content not yourselves with this, that you have been taught your catechism in your childhood, and that you know as much of the principles of religion as is necessary to salvation or else you will be guilty of what the apostle warns against, viz. going no further than laying the foundation of repentance from dead works, etc.

You are all called to be Christians, and this is your profession.  Endeavor, therefore, to acquire knowledge in things which pertain to your profession.  Let not your teachers have cause to complain that while they spend and are spent to impart knowledge to you, you take little pains to learn.  It is a great encouragement to an instructor to have such to teach as make a business of learning, bending their minds to it.  This makes teaching a pleasure, when otherwise it will be a very heavy and burdensome task.

You all have by you a large treasure of divine knowledge in that you have the Bible in your hands; therefore be not contented in possessing but little of this treasure.  God hath spoken much to you in the Scriptures; labor to understand as much of what he saith as you can.  God hath made you all reasonable creatures; therefore let not the noble faculty of reason or understanding lie neglected.  Content not yourselves with having so much knowledge as is thrown in your way, and receive in some sense unavoidably by the frequent inculcation of divine truth in the preaching of the word, of which you are obliged to be hearers, or accidentally gain in conversation; but let it be very much your business to search for it, and that with the same diligence and labor with which men are wont to dig in mines of silver and gold.

Especially I would advise those who are young to employ themselves in this way.  Men are never too old to learn; but the time of youth is especially the time for learning; it is peculiarly proper for gaining and storing up knowledge.  Further, to stir up all, both old and young, to this duty, let me entreat you to consider,

1. If you apply yourselves diligently to this work, you will not lack [usefulness], when you are at leisure from your common secular business. In this way, you may find something in which you may profitably employ yourselves.  You will find something else to do, besides going about from house to house, spending one hour after another in unprofitable conversation, or, at best, to no other purpose but to amuse yourselves, to fill up and wear away your time.  And it is to be feared that very much of the time spent in evening visits is spent to a much worse purpose than that which I have now mentioned.  Solomon tells us, Prov. 10:19, “That in the multitude of words, there lacketh not sin.”  And is not this verified in those who find little else to do but to go to one another’s houses and spend the time in such talk as comes next, or such as anyone’s present disposition happens to suggest?

Some diversion is doubtless lawful; but for Christians to spend so much of their time, so many long evenings, in no other conversation than that which tends to divert and amuse, if nothing worse, is a sinful way of spending time, and tends to poverty of soul at least, if not to outward poverty: Prov. 14:23, “In all labor there is profit; but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”  Besides, when persons for so much of their time have nothing else to do, but to sit, and talk, and chat, there is great danger of falling into foolish and sinful conversation, venting their corrupt dispositions, in talking against others, expressing their jealousies and evil surmises concerning their neighbors; not considering what Christ hath said, Matt. 12:36, “Of every idle word that men shall speak, shall they give account in the day of judgment.”

If you would comply with what you have heard from this doctrine, you would find something else to employ your time besides contention, or talking about those public affairs which tend to contention.  Young people might find something else to do besides spending their time in vain company; something that would be much more profitable to themselves, as it would really turn to some good account; something, in doing which they would both be more out of the way of temptation and be more in the way of duty and of a divine blessing.  And even aged people would have something to employ themselves in after they are become incapable of bodily labor.  Their time, as is now often the case, would not lie heavy upon their hands, as they would with both profit and pleasure be engaged in searching the Scriptures and in comparing and meditating upon the various truths which they should find there.

2. This would be a noble way of spending your time. The Holy Spirit gives the Bereans this epithet, because they diligently employed themselves in this business: Acts 17:11, “These were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”  Similar to this is very much the employment of heaven.  The inhabitants of that world spend much of their time in searching into the great things of divinity and endeavoring to acquire knowledge in them, as we are told of the angels, 1 Pet. 1:12, “ Which things the angels desire to look into.”  This will be very agreeable to what you hope will be your business to all eternity, as you doubtless hope to join in the same employment with the angels of light.  Solomon says, Prov. 25:2, “It is the honor of kings to search out a matter;” and certainly, above all others, to search out divine matters.  Now, if this be the honor even of kings, is it not much more your honor?

3. This is a pleasant way of improving time. Knowledge is pleasant and delightful to intelligent creatures, and above all, the knowledge of divine things; for in them are the most excellent truths and the most beautiful and amiable objects held forth to view.  However tedious the labor necessarily attending this business may be, yet the knowledge once obtained will richly requite the pains taken to obtain it.  “When wisdom entereth the heart, knowledge is pleasant to the soul,” Prov. 2:10.

4. This knowledge is exceedingly useful in Christian practice.  Such as have much knowledge in divinity have great means and advantages for spiritual and saving knowledge; for no means of grace have a saving effect, otherwise than by the knowledge they impart.  The more you have of a rational knowledge of divine things, the more opportunity will there be, when the Spirit shall be breathed into your heart, to see the excellency of these things, and to taste the sweetness of them.  The heathens, who have no rational knowledge of the things of the gospel, have no opportunity to see the excellency of them; and therefore the more rational knowledge of these things you have, the more opportunity and advantage you have to see the divine excellency and glory of them.

Again, the more knowledge you have of divine things, the better will you know your duty; your knowledge will be of great use to direct you as to your duty in particular cases.  You will also be the better furnished against the temptations of the devil.  For the devil often takes advantage of persons’ ignorance to ply them with temptations which otherwise would have no hold of them.  By having much knowledge, you will be under greater advantages to conduct yourselves with prudence and discretion in your Christian course and so to live much more to the honor of God and religion.  Many who mean well, and are full of a good spirit, yet for want of prudence, conduct themselves so as to wound religion.  Many have a zeal of God which doth more hurt than good because it is not according to knowledge, Rom. 10:2.  The reason why many good men behave no better in many instances is not so much that they lack grace as that they lack knowledge.  Besides, an increase of knowledge would be a great help to profitable conversation.  It would supply you with matter for conversation when you come together or when you visit your neighbors: and so you would have less temptation to spend the time in such conversation as tends to your own and others’ hurt.

5. Consider the advantages you are under to grow in the knowledge of divinity. We are under far greater advantages to gain much of this knowledge now than God’s people under the Old Testament, both because the canon of Scripture is so much enlarged since that time and also because evangelical truths are now so much more plainly revealed.  So that common men are now in some respects under advantages to know more than the greatest prophets were then.  Thus that saying of Christ is in a sense applicable to us, Luke 10:23-24, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see.  For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”  We are in some respects under far greater advantages for gaining knowledge now in these latter ages of the church than Christians were formerly; especially by reason of the art of printing of which God hath given us the benefit, whereby Bibles and other books of divinity are exceedingly multiplied and persons may now be furnished with helps for the obtaining of Christian knowledge at a much easier and cheaper rate than they formerly could.

6. We know not what opposition we may meet with in the religious principles which we hold. We know that there are many adversaries to the gospel and its truths.  If therefore we embrace those truths, we must expect to be attacked by the said adversaries; and unless we be well informed concerning divine things, how shall we be able to defend ourselves?  Beside, the apostle Paul enjoins it upon us, always to be ready to give an answer to every man who asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us.  But this we cannot expect to do without considerable knowledge in divine things.

Directions for the acquisition of Christian knowledge

1. Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scriptures.  This is the fountain whence all knowledge in divinity must be derived.  Therefore let not this treasure lie by you neglected.  Every man of common understanding who can read, may, if he please, become well acquainted with the Scriptures.  And what an excellent attainment would this be!

2. Content not yourselves with only a cursory reading without regarding the sense. This is an ill way of reading, to which, however, many accustom themselves all their days.  When you read, observe what you read.  Observe how things come in.  Take notice of the drift of the discourse and compare one scripture with another.  For the Scripture, by the harmony of its different; parts, casts great light upon itself.  We are expressly directed by Christ, to search the Scriptures, which evidently intends something more than a mere cursory reading.  And use means to find out the meaning of the Scripture.  When you have it explained in the preaching of the word, take notice of it; and if at any time a scripture that you did not understand be cleared up to your satisfaction, mark it, lay it up, and if possible remember it.

3. Procure, and diligently use, other books which may help you to grow in this knowledge.  There are many excellent books which might greatly forward you in this knowledge and afford you a very profitable and pleasant entertainment in your leisure hours.

4. Improve conversation with others to this end.  How much might persons promote each other’s knowledge in divine things if they would improve conversation as they might; if men that are ignorant were not ashamed to show their ignorance and were willing to learn of others; if those that have knowledge would communicate it without pride and ostentation; and if all were more disposed to enter on such conversation as would be for their mutual edification and instruction.

5. Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls, and in order to practice. If applause be your end, you will not be so likely to be led to the knowledge of the truth, but may justly, as often is the case of those who are proud of their knowledge, be led into error to your own perdition.  This being your end, if you should obtain much rational knowledge, it would not be likely to be of any benefit to you, but would puff you up with pride: 1 Cor. 8:1, “Knowledge puffeth up.”

6. Seek God that he would direct you and bless you in this pursuit after knowledge. This is the apostle’s direction, James 1:5, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.”  God is the fountain of all divine knowledge: Prov. 2:6, “The Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”  Labor to be sensible of your own blindness and ignorance and your need of the help of God, lest you be led into error, instead of true knowledge: 1 Cor. 3:18, “If any man would be wise, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.”

7. Practice according to what knowledge you have. This will be the way to know more.  The psalmist warmly recommends this way of seeking knowledge in divine truth, from his own experience: Psalm. 119:100, “I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.”  Christ also recommends the same: John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

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The following are some reasons why grace to persevere is promised in the covenant of grace.

1. God’s Better Covenant

God, when he had laid out himself to glorify his mercy and grace in the redemption of poor fallen men, did not see meet that those who are redeemed by Christ should be redeemed so imperfectly, as still to have the work of perseverance left in their own hands.  They had been found already insufficient for this even in their perfect state, and are now ten times more liable than formerly to fall away and not to persevere, if in their fallen broken state, with their imperfect sanctification, the care of the matter be trusted with them.  Man, though redeemed by Christ so as to have the Holy Spirit of God, and spiritual life again restored in a degree, yet is left a poor, piteous creature, because all is dependent [“suspended,” Edwards’ term throughout] on his perseverance as it was at first.  And the care of that affair is left with him as it was then, and he is ten times more likely to fall away than he was then, if we consider only what he was in himself to preserve him from it.  The poor creature sees his own insufficiency to stand, from what has happened in time past.  His own instability has been his undoing already, and now he is vastly more unstable than before.

The great thing wherein the first covenant was deficient was that the fulfillment of the righteousness of the covenant, and man’s perseverance, was entrusted with man himself, with nothing better to secure it than his own strength.  And therefore, God introduces a better, which should be an everlasting covenant, a new and living way, wherein that which was wanting in the first should be supplied, and a remedy should be provided against that, which under the first covenant proved man’s undoing, viz. man’s own weakness and instability, by a Mediator being given, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever: who cannot fail, who should undertake for his people and take care of them.  He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him, and ever lives to make intercession for them.  God did not see it fit that man should be trusted to stand in his own strength a second time. It is not fit that in a covenant of grace, wherein all is of mere, free, and absolute grace, that the reward of life should be dependent on the perseverance of man, as dependent on the strength and steadfastness of his own will.  It is a covenant of works, and not a covenant of grace that suspends eternal life on what is the fruit of a man’s own strength.

Eternal life was to have been of works in those two respects, viz. as it was to have been for man’s own righteousness, and as it was dependent on the fruit of his own strength.  For though our first parent depended on the grace of God, the influence of his Spirit in his heart, yet that grace was given him already, and dwelt in him constantly, and without interruption, in such a degree as to hold him above any lust or sinful habit or principle.  Eternal life was not merely dependent on that grace that was given him, and dwelt in him, but on his improvement of that grace which he already had.  For in order to [effect] his perseverance, there was nothing further promised beyond his own strength, no extraordinary occasional assistance was promised.  It was not promised but that man should be left to himself as he was.  But the new covenant is of grace, in a manner distinguishing from the old, in both these respects, that the reward of life is dependent neither on his own strength nor worthiness. It provides something above either.  But if eternal life under the new covenant was dependent on man’s own perseverance, or his perseveringly using diligent endeavors to stand without the promise of anything farther to ascertain it than his own strength, it would herein be farther from being worthy to be called a covenant of grace than the first covenant, because man’s strength is exceedingly less than it was then, and he is under far less advantages to persevere.  And if he should obtain eternal life by perseverance in his own strength now, eternal life would, with respect to that, be much more of himself than it would have been by the first covenant, because perseverance now would be a much greater thing than under those circumstances.  And he has but an exceeding small part of that grace dwelling in him, to assist him, than he had then, and that which he has, does not dwell in him in the exercise of it by such a constant law as grace did then, but is put into exercise by the spirit of grace, in a far more arbitrary and sovereign way.

2. Christ’s Finished Work

Again, Christ came into the world to do that in which mere men failed.  He came as a better surety, and that in him those defects might be supplied, which proved to be in our first surety, and that we might have a remedy for the mischief that came by those defects.  But the defect of our first surety was that he did not persevere.  He wanted steadfastness, and therefore God sent us, in the next surety, one that could not fail, but should surely persevere.  But this is no supply of that defect to us, if the reward of life be still dependent on perseverance, which has nothing, as to ourselves, greater to secure it still, than the strength of mere man.  And the perseverance of our second surety is no remedy against the like mischief, which came by failure of our first surety.  But on the contrary, we are much more exposed to the mischief than before.  This perseverance depended indeed on the strength of mere man, but now (on the supposition) it would be dependent on the strength of fallen man.

In that our first surety [Adam] did not persevere, we fell in and with him, for doubtless, if he had stood, we should have stood with him.  And therefore, when God in mercy has given us a better surety to supply the defects of the first, a surety that might stand and persevere, and one that has actually persevered through the greatest imaginable trials, then doubtless we shall stand and persevere in him.  After all this, eternal life will not be dependent on our own poor, feeble, broken strength.

Our first surety, if he had stood, would have been brought to eat of the tree of life, as a seal of a confirmed state of life in persevering and everlasting holiness and happiness, and he would have eaten of this tree of life as a seal of persevering confirmed life, not only for himself, but as our head.  As when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he tasted as our head, and so brought death on himself and all his posterity.  So if he had persevered and had eaten of the tree of life, he would have tasted of that as our head, and therein life and confirmed holiness would have been sealed to him and all his posterity.

But Christ, the second Adam, acts the same part for us that the first Adam was to have done, but failed.  He has fulfilled the law, and has been admitted to the seals of confirmed and everlasting life.  God, as a testimony and seal of his acceptance of what he had done as the condition of life, raised him from the dead, and exalted him with his own right hand, received him up into glory, and gave all things into his hands.  Thus the second Adam has persevered, not only for himself, but for us, and has been sealed to confirmed and persevering and eternal life, as our head: so that all those that are his, and who are his spiritual posterity, are sealed in him to persevering life.  Here it will be in vain to object that persons’ persevering in faith and holiness is the condition of their being admitted to the state of Christ’s posterity, or to a right in him, and that none are admitted as such till they have first persevered.  For this is as much as to say that Christ has no church in this world, and that there are none on this side the grave admitted as his children or people, because they have not yet actually persevered to the end of life, which is the condition of their being admitted as his children and people, which is contrary to the whole Scripture.

Christ having finished the work of Adam for us, does more than merely to bring us back to the probationary state of Adam, while Adam had yet his work to finish, knowing his eternal life [was] uncertain, because [it was] dependent on his uncertain perseverance.  That alone is inconsistent with Christ’s being a second Adam.  For if Christ, succeeding in Adam’s room, has done and gone through the work that Adam was to have done, and did this as our representative or surety, he has not only thereby set us in Adam’s probationary, uncertain state, but has [also] carried us, who are in him, and are represented by him, through Adam’s working probationary state, unto that confirmed state that Adam should have arrived at, if he had gone through his own work.

3. The Saints’ Completed Salvation

That the saints shall surely persevere, will necessarily follow from this, that they have already performed the obedience which is the righteousness by which they have justification unto life (or it is already performed for them and imputed to them), for that supposes that it is the same thing in the sight of God as if they had performed it.  Now when the creature has once actually performed and finished the righteousness of the law, he is immediately sealed and confirmed to eternal life.  There is nothing to keep him from the tree of life.  But as soon as ever a believer has Christ’s righteousness imputed to him, he has virtually finished the righteousness of the law.

To suppose that a right to life is dependent on our own perseverance, which is uncertain, and has nothing more sure and steadfast to secure it than our own good-wills and resolutions (which way soever we suppose it to be dependent on the strength of our resolutions and wills, either with assistance, or in the improvement of assistance, or in seeking assistance), is exceedingly dissonant to the nature and design of the gospel scheme.  For if it were so, it would unavoidably deprive the believer of the comfort, hope, and joy of salvation: which would be very contrary to God’s design in the scheme of man’s salvation, which is to make the ground of our peace and joy in all respects strong and sure.  Or else, he must depend much on himself, and the ground of his joy and hope must in a great measure be his own strength, and the steadfastness of his own heart, the unchangeableness of his own resolutions, etc., which would be very different from the gospel scheme.

From Miscellany 695. Headers have been added by the editor.

Reasons Assurance Is Not Attained

J. C. Ryle

I come now to the last thing of which I spoke.  I promised to point out to you some probable causes why an assured hope is so seldom attained. I will do it very shortly.

This is a very serious question, and ought to raise in all great searchings of heart.  Few, certainly, of Christ’s people seem to reach up to this blessed spirit of assurance.  Many comparatively believe, but few are persuaded.  Many comparatively have saving faith, but few that glorious confidence which shines forth in the language of St. Paul.  That such is the case, I think we must all allow.

Now, why is this so? —Why is a thing which two Apostles have strongly enjoined us to seek after, a thing of which few believers have any experimental [knowledge by experience] knowledge?  Why is an assured hope so rare?

I desire to offer a few suggestions on this point, with all humility.  I know that many have never attained assurance, at whose feet I would gladly sit both in earth and heaven.  Perhaps the Lord sees something in the natural temperament of some of His children, which makes assurance not good for them.  Perhaps, in order to be kept in spiritual health, they need to be kept very low.  God only knows.  Still, after every allowance, I fear there are many believers without an assured hope, whose case may too often be explained by causes such as these.

1. One most common cause, I suspect, is a defective view of the doctrine of justification.

I am inclined to think that justification and sanctification are insensibly confused together in the minds of many believers.  They receive the Gospel truth, —that there must be something done IN US, as well as something done FOR US, if we are true members of Christ; and so far they are right.  But, then, without being aware of it, perhaps, they seem to imbibe the idea that their justification is, in some degree, affected by something within themselves.  They do not clearly see that Christ’s work, not their own work,—either in whole or in part, either directly or indirectly,—is the alone ground of our acceptance with God; that justification is a thing entirely without us, for which nothing whatever is needful on our part but simple faith,—and that the weakest believer is as fully and completely justified as the strongest.

Many appear to forget that we are saved and justified as sinners, and only sinners; and that we never can attain to anything higher, if we live to the age of Methuselah.  Redeemed sinners, justified sinners, and renewed sinners doubtless we must be, —but sinners, sinners, sinners, always to the very last.  They do not seem to comprehend that there is a wide difference between our justification and our sanctification.  Our justification is a perfect finished work, and admits of no degrees.  Our sanctification is imperfect and incomplete, and will be to the last hour of our life.  They appear to expect that a believer may at some period of his life be in a measure free from corruption, and attain to a kind of inward perfection.  And not finding this angelic state of things in their own hearts, they at once conclude there must be something very wrong in their state.  And so they go mourning all their days, —oppressed with fears that they have no part or lot in Christ, and refusing to be comforted.

Reader, consider this point well.  If any believing soul desires assurance, and has not got it, let him ask himself, first of all, if he is quite sure he is sound in the faith, if his loins are thoroughly “girt about with truth,” and his eyes thoroughly clear in the matter of justification.  He must know what it is simply to believe before he can expect to feel assured.

Believe me, the old Galatian heresy is the most fertile source of error, both in doctrine and in practice.  Seek clearer views of Christ, and what Christ has done for you.  Happy is the man who really understands justification by faith without the deeds of the law.

2. Another common cause of the absence of assurance is, slothfulness about growth in grace.

I suspect many true believers hold dangerous and unscriptural views on this point: I do not of course mean intentionally, but they do hold them.  Many appear to me to think that once converted, they have little more to attend to, and that a state of salvation is a kind of easy chair, in which they may just sit still, lie back, and be happy.  They seem to fancy that grace is given them that they may enjoy it, and they forget that it is given, like a talent, to be used, employed, and improved.  Such persons lose sight of the many direct injunctions “to increase, —to grow, —to abound more and more, —to add to our faith,” and the like; and in this little-doing condition, this sitting-still state of mind, I never marvel that they miss assurance.

I believe it ought to be our continual aim and desire to go forward; and our watchword at the beginning of every year should be, “More and more” (1 Thess. 4:1): more knowledge, —more faith, —more obedience, —more love.  If we have brought forth thirty-fold, we should seek to bring forth sixty, and if we have brought forth sixty, we should strive to bring forth a hundred.  The will of the Lord is our sanctification, and it ought to be our will too.  (Matt. 13:23; 1 Thess. 4:3)

One thing, at all events, we may depend upon, —there is an inseparable connection between diligence and assurance.  “Give diligence,” says Peter, “to make your calling and election sure.”  (2 Peter 1:10)  “We desire,” says Paul, “that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.” (Heb. 6:11)  “The soul of the diligent,” says Solomon, “shall be made fat.” (Prov. 13:4)   There is much truth in the old maxim of the Puritans: “Faith of adherence comes by hearing, but faith of assurance comes not without doing.”

Reader, mark my words.  Are you one of those who desires assurance, but have not got it?  You will never get it without diligence, however much you may desire it.  There are no gains without pains in spiritual things, any more than in temporal.  “The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing.”  (Prov. 13:4)

3. Another common cause of a want of assurance is, an inconsistent walk in life.

With grief and sorrow, I feel constrained to say, I fear nothing in this day more frequently prevents men attaining an assured hope than this.  The stream of professing Christianity is far wider than it formerly was, and I am afraid we must admit, at the same time, it is much less deep.

Inconsistency of life is utterly destructive of peace of conscience.  The two things are incompatible.  They cannot and they will not go together.  If you will have your besetting sins, and cannot make up your minds to give them up; if you will shrink from cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye, when occasion requires it, I will engage you will have no assurance.

A vacillating walk, —a backwardness to take a bold and decided line, —a readiness to conform to the world, a hesitating witness for Christ, —a lingering tone of religion,—all these make up a sure receipt for bringing a blight upon the garden of your soul.

It is vain to suppose you will feel assured and persuaded of your own pardon and acceptance with God, unless you count all God’s commandments concerning all things to be right, and hate every sin, whether great or small.  (Psalm 119:128)  One Achan allowed in the camp of your heart will weaken your hands, and lay your consolations low in the dust.  You must be daily sowing to the Spirit, if you are to reap the witness of the Spirit.  You will not find and feel that all the Lord’s ways are ways of pleasantness, unless you labour in all your ways to please the Lord.

I bless God our salvation in no wise depends on our own works.  By grace we are saved, —not by works of righteousness, —through faith, —without the deeds of the law.  But I never would have any believer for a moment forget that our SENSE of salvation depends much on the manner of our living.  Inconsistency will dim your eyes, and bring clouds between you and the sun. The sun is the same behind the clouds, but you will not be able to see its brightness or enjoy its warmth, and your soul will be gloomy and cold.  It is in the path of well doing that the day-spring of assurance will visit you, and shine down upon your heart.

“The secret of the Lord,” says David, “is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” (Psalm 25:4)

“To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.” (Psalm 50:23)

“Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” (Psalm 119:165)

“If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” (1 John 1:7)

“Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” (1 John 3:18, 19.)

“Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1 John ii. 3.)

Paul was a man who exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man. (Acts 24:16)  He could say with boldness, “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith.”  I do not wonder that the Lord enabled him to add with confidence, “Henceforth there is a crown laid up for me, and the Lord shall give it me at that day.”

Reader, if any believer in the Lord Jesus desires assurance, and has not got it, let him think over this point also.  Let him look at his own heart, look at his own conscience, look at his own life, look at his own ways, look at his own home.  And perhaps when he has done that, he will be able to say, “There is a cause why I have no assured hope.”

I leave the three matters I have just mentioned to your own private consideration.  I am sure they are worth examining.  May you examine them honestly.   And may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

1.  And now, in closing this important inquiry, let me speak first to those readers who have not given themselves to the Lord, who have not yet come out from the world, chosen the good part, and followed Christ.

I ask you, then, to learn from this subject the privileges and comforts of a true Christian.

I would not have you judge of the Lord Jesus Christ by His people.  The best of servants can give you but a faint idea of that glorious Master.  Neither would I have you judge of the privileges of His kingdom by the measure of comfort to which many of His people attain.  Alas, we are most of us poor creatures!  We come short, very short, of the blessedness we might enjoy.  But, depend upon it, there are glorious things in the city of our God, which they who have an assured hope taste, even in their life-time.  There are lengths and breadths of peace and consolation there, which it has not entered into your heart to conceive.  There is bread enough and to spare in our Father’s house, though many of us certainly eat but little of it, and continue weak.  But the fault must not be laid to our Master’s charge: it is all our own.

And, after all, the weakest child of God has a mine of comforts within him, of which you know nothing.  You see the conflicts and tossings of the surface of his heart, but you see not the pearls of great price which are hidden in the depths below.  The feeblest member of Christ would not change conditions with you.  The believer who possesses the least assurance is far better off than you are.  He has a hope, however faint, but you have none at all.  He has a portion that will never be taken from him, a Saviour that will never forsake him, a treasure that fadeth not away, however little he may realize it all at present.  But, as for you, if you die as you are, your expectations will all perish.  Oh, that you were wise!  Oh, that you understood these things!  Oh, that you would consider your latter end!

I feel deeply for you in these latter days of the world, if I ever did.  I feel deeply for those whose treasure is all on earth, and whose hopes are all on this side the grave.  Yes: when I see old kingdoms and dynasties shaking to the very foundation, —when I see, as we all saw a few years ago, kings, and princes, and rich men, and great men fleeing for their lives, and scarce knowing where to hide their heads, —when I see property dependent on public confidence melting like snow in spring, and public stocks and funds losing their value, —when I see these things I feel deeply for those who have no better portion than this world can give them, and no place in that kingdom that cannot be removed.

Take advice of a minister of Christ this very day.  Seek durable riches, —a treasure that cannot be taken from you, —a city which hath lasting foundations.  Do as the Apostle Paul did.  Give yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek that incorruptible crown He is ready to bestow.  Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him.  Come away from a world which will never really satisfy you, and from sin which will bite like a serpent if you cling to it, at last.  Come to the Lord Jesus as lowly sinners, and He will receive you, pardon you, give you His renewing Spirit, fill you with peace.  This shall give you more real comfort than the world has ever done.  There is a gulf in your heart which nothing but the peace of Christ can fill.  Enter in and share our privileges.  Come with us, and sit down by our side.

2. Lastly, let me turn to all believers who read these pages, and speak to them a few words of brotherly counsel.

The main thing that I urge upon you is this, —if you have not got an assured hope of your own acceptance in Christ, resolve this day to seek it. Labour for it.  Strive after it.  Pray for it.  Give the Lord no rest till you “know whom you have believed.”

I feel, indeed, that the small amount of assurance in this day, among those who are reckoned God’s children, is a shame and a reproach.  “It is a thing to be heavily bewailed,” says old Traill, “that many Christians have lived twenty or forty years since Christ called them by His grace, yet doubting in their life.”  Let us call to mind the earnest “desire” Paul expresses, that “every one” of the Hebrews should seek after full assurance and let us endeavour, by God’s blessing, to roll this reproach away.  (Heb. 6:11)

Believing reader, do you really mean to say that you have no desire to exchange hope for confidence, trust for persuasion, uncertainty for knowledge?  Because weak faith will save you, will you therefore rest content with it?  Because assurance is not essential to your entrance into heaven, will you therefore be satisfied without it upon earth?  Alas, this is not a healthy state of soul to be in; this is not the mind of the Apostolic day!  Arise at once, and go forward.  Stick not at the foundations of religion: go on to perfection.  Be not content with a day of small things.  Never despise it in others, but never be content with it yourselves.

Believe me, believe me, assurance is worth the seeking.  You forsake your own mercies when you rest content without it.  The things I speak are for your peace.  If it is good to be sure in earthly things, how much better is it to be sure in heavenly things.  Your salvation is a fixed and certain thing.  God knows it.  Why should not you seek to know it too?  There is nothing unscriptural in this.  Paul never saw the book of life, and yet Paul says, “I know, and am persuaded.”

Make it, then, your daily prayer that you may have an increase of faith.  According to your faith will be your peace.  Cultivate that blessed root more, and sooner or later, by God’s blessing, you may hope to have the flower, You may not, perhaps, attain to full assurance all at once.  It is good sometimes to be kept waiting.  We do not value things which we get without trouble.  But though it tarry, wait for it.  Seek on, and expect to find.

There is one thing, however, of which I would not have you ignorant: —You must not be surprised if you have occasional doubts after you have got assurance.  You must not forget you are on earth, and not yet in heaven.  You are still in the body, and have indwelling sin: the flesh will lust against the spirit to the very end.  The leprosy will never be out of the walls of the old house till death takes it down.  And there is a devil, too, and a strong devil: a devil who tempted the Lord Jesus, and gave Peter a fall; and he will take care you know it.  Some doubts there always will be.  He that never doubts has nothing to lose.  He that never fears possesses nothing truly valuable.  He that is never jealous knows little of deep love.  But be not discouraged: you shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved you.

Finally, do not forget that assurance is a thing that may be lost for a season, even by the brightest Christians, unless they take care.

Assurance is a most delicate plant.  It needs daily, hourly watching, watering, tending, cherishing.  So watch and pray the more when you have got it.  As Rutherford says, “Make much of assurance.”  Be always upon your guard.  When Christian slept, in Pilgrim’s Progress, he lost his certificate.  Keep that in mind.

David lost assurance for many months by falling into transgression.  Peter lost it when he denied his Lord.  Each found it again, undoubtedly, but not till after bitter tears.  Spiritual darkness comes on horseback, and goes away on foot.  It is upon us before we know that it is coming.  It leaves us slowly, gradually, and not till after many days.  It is easy to run down hill.  It is hard work to climb up.  So remember my caution, —when you have the joy of the Lord, watch and pray.

Above all, grieve not the Spirit.  Quench not the Spirit.  Vex not the Spirit.  Drive Him not to a distance, by tampering with small bad habits and little sins.  Little jarrings between husbands and wives make unhappy homes, and petty inconsistencies, known and allowed, will bring in a strangeness between you and the Spirit.

Hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

The man who walks with God in Christ most closely will generally be kept in the greatest peace.

The believer who follows the Lord most fully will ordinarily enjoy the most assured hope, and have the clearest persuasion of his own salvation.

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1.  Faith is a belief of a testimony (2 Thess. 1:10).   “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”  It is an assent to truth as appears by the 11th of Hebrews.  And it is saving faith that is there spoken of, as appears by the last verses of the foregoing chapter: “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they, without us, should not be made perfect.”  “Saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: Repent ye and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).  “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that, believing, we might have life through his name” (John 21:31).  “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).

11.  It is something more than merely the assent of the understanding, because it is called an obeying the gospel. For Esaias saith, “Lord, who has believed our report?”  “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).

It is obeying the doctrine from the heart.  “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” etc. (Rom. 6:17, 18).

12.  This expression of obeying the gospel, seems to denote the heart’s yielding to the gospel in what it proposes to us in its calls: it is something more than merely what may be called a believing the truth of the gospel.  “Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also, many believed on him; but, because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42).  And Philip asked the eunuch, whether he believed with all his heart?  It is a fully believing, or a being fully persuaded: this passage evidences that it is so much at least.

13.  There are different sorts of faith that are not true and saving, as is evident by what the apostle James says, “Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works:” where it is supposed that there may be a faith without works, which is not the right faith.  When he says, “I will show thee my faith by my works,” nothing else can be meant, than that I will show thee that my faith is right.

14.  It is a trusting in Christ. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psa. 2:12).  “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ: in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:12, 13).  “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).

Many places in the Old Testament speak of trusting in God as the condition of his favor and salvation; especially Psalm 75:21, 22: “Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel: because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.”  It implies submission.  “And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust” (Rom. 15:12).  “For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe” (1 Tim. 4:10).  “For which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom 1 have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).  “Why are ye fearful. O ye of little faith?” (Mat. 5:26).   “Which Jesus, when he perceived, he said unto them. 0 ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?”(Matt 16:8).  “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life; and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (I John 5:13,14).  Believing in Christ in one verse is called confidence, in the text.

15.  It is a committing ourselves to Christ; “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).  This is a scripture sense of the word believe, as is evident by “Jesus did not commit himself to them” (John 2:24).

16.  It is a gladly receiving the gospel. “Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).  It is approving the gospel.  “But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.  But wisdom is justified of all her children” (Luke 7:30, 35).  It is obeying the doctrine.  “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Rom. 6:17).  It is what may be well understood by those expressions of coming to Christ, of looking to him, of opening the door to let him in.  This is very evident by Scripture.  It is a coming and taking the waters of life, eating and drinking Christ’s flesh and blood, hearing Christ’s voice and following him.  “But ye believe not: because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’” (John 10:26, 27).  “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).  “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).

17.  Faith consists in two things, viz. in being persuaded of, and in embracing, the promises: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13).  “Charity believeth all things, hopeth all things” (1 Cor. 13:7).  If that faith, hope, and charity, spoken of in this verse, be the same with those that are compared together in the last verse, then faith arises from a charitable disposition of heart, or from a principle of divine love.  “But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you,” with the context (John 5:42).  “Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord you God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Lev. 13:3).  “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him” (1 John 5:1).

23.  It is submitting to the righteousness of God. “For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).  It is what may be well represented by flying far refuge, by the type of flying to the city of refuge.  “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:18).  It is a sense of the sufficiency and the reality of Christ’s righteousness, and of his power and grace to save.  “He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8).  It is a receiving the truth with a love to it.  It is receiving the love of the truth.  “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Thess. 2:10,12).  The heart must close with the new covenant by dependence upon it and by love and desire.  “Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. This is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not grow” (2 Sam. 23:5).

24. Upon the whole, the best, and clearest, and most perfect definition of justifying faith, and most according to the Scripture, that I can think of is this, faith is the soul’s entirely embracing the revelation of Jesus Christ as our Savior. The word “embrace” is a metaphorical expression: but I think it much clearer than any proper expression whatsoever.  It is called believing, because believing is the first act of the soul in embracing a narration or revelation: and embracing, when conversant about a revelation or thing declared, is more properly called believing, than loving or choosing.  If it were conversant about a person only, it would be more properly called loving. If it were only conversant about a gift, an inheritance, or reward, it would more properly be called receiving or accepting, etc.

The definition might have been expressed in these words: faith is the soul’s entirely adhering and acquiescing in the revelation of Jesus Christ as our Savior—or thus: faith is the soul’s embracing that truth of God, that reveals Jesus Christ as our Savior—or thus: faith is the soul’s entirely acquiescing in, and depending upon, the truth of God, revealing Christ as our Savior.

It is the whole soul according and assenting to the truth, and embracing of it.  There is an entire yielding of the mind and heart to the revelation, and a closing with it, and adhering to it, with the belief, and with the inclination and affection.  It is admitting and receiving it with entire credit and respect.  The soul receives it as true, as worthy, and excellent.  It may be more perfectly described than defined by a short definition, by reason of the penury of words; a great many words express it better than one or two.  I here use the same metaphorical expressions; but it is because they are much clearer than any proper expressions that I know of.

It is the soul’s entirely acquiescing in this revelation from a sense of the sufficiency, dignity, glory, and excellency of the author of the revelation.

Faith is the whole soul’s active agreeing, according and symphonizing with this truth; all opposition in judgment and inclination so far as he believes being taken away.  It is called believing because fully believing this revelation, is the first and principal exercise and manifestation of this accordance and agreement of soul.

25. The adhering to the truth, and acquiescing in it with judgment is a sense of the glory of the revealer, and the sufficiency and excellency of the performer of the facts.  The adhering to it and acquiescing in it with the inclination and affection, is from the goodness and excellency of the thing revealed, and of the performer.  If a person be pursued by an enemy and commit himself to a king or a captain, to defend him, it implied his quitting other endeavors, and applying to him for defense and putting himself under him, and hoping that he will defend him.

If we consider it as a mere act of the mind, a transaction between spiritual beings, considered as abstracted from any external action, then it is the mind’s quitting all other endeavors and seeking and applying itself to the Savior for salvation, fully choosing salvation by him, and delivering itself to him, or a being willing to be his with a hope that he will save him.  Therefore, for a person to commit himself to Christ as a Savior, is quitting all other endeavors and hopes and heartily applying himself to Christ for salvation, fully choosing salvation by him, and acquiescing in his way of salvation, and a hearty consent of the soul to be his entirely, hoping in his sufficiency and willingness to save.

Excerpted and edited from The Works of Jonathan Edwards.  This volume contains many more thoughts by Edwards on the nature of saving faith than those we have listed here.

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Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 1 Corinthians 13:8

In the entire context, the drift of the apostle is, to show the superiority of charity over all the other graces of the Spirit.  And in this chapter, he sets forth its excellence by three things: first, by showing that it is the most essential thing, and that all other gifts are nothing without it; second, by showing that from it all good dispositions and behavior do arise; and, third, by showing that it is the most durable of all gifts, and shall remain when the church of God shall be in its most perfect state, and when the other gifts of the Spirit shall have vanished away.  And in the text may be observed two things: —

First, that one property of charity, by which its excellence is set forth, is, that it is unfailing and everlasting — “Charity never faileth.”  This naturally follows the last words of the preceding verse, that “charity endureth all things.”  There the apostle declares the durableness of charity, as it appears in its withstanding the shock of all the opposition that can be made against it in the world.  And now he proceeds further, and declares that charity not only endures to the end of time, but also throughout eternity — “Charity never faileth.”  When all temporal things shall have failed, this shall still abide, and abide forever.  We may also observe in the text,

Second, that herein charity is distinguished from all the other gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy, and the gift of tongues, and the gift of knowledge, etc. — “Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away;” but “charity never faileth.”  By the knowledge here spoken of, is not meant spiritual and divine knowledge in general; for surely there will be such knowledge hereafter in heaven, as well as now on earth, and vastly more than there is on earth, as the apostle expressly declares in the following verses.  The knowledge that Christians have of God, and Christ, and spiritual things, and in fact all their knowledge, as that word is commonly understood, shall not vanish away, but shall be gloriously increased and perfected in heaven, which is a world of light as well as love.  But by the knowledge which the apostle says shall vanish away, is meant a particular miraculous gift that was in the church of God in those days.  For the apostle, as we have seen, is here comparing charity with the miraculous gifts of the Spirit — those extraordinary gifts which were common in the church in those days, one of which was the gift of prophecy, and another the gift of tongues, or the power of speaking in languages that had never been learned.  Both these gifts are mentioned in the text; and the apostle says they shall fail and cease.  And another gift was the gift of knowledge, or the word of knowledge, as it is called in the eighth verse of the previous chapter, where it is so spoken of as to show that it was a different thing, both from that speculative knowledge which is obtained from reason and study, and also from that spiritual or divine knowledge that comes from the saving influence of the Holy Spirit in the soul.  It was a particular gift of the Spirit with which some persons were endowed, whereby they were enabled by immediate inspiration to understand mysteries, or the mysterious prophecies and types of the Scriptures, which the apostle speaks of in the second verse of this chapter, saying, “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge,” etc.  It is this miraculous gift which the apostle here says shall vanish away, together with the other miraculous gifts of which he speaks, such as prophecy, and the gift of tongues, etc.  All these were extraordinary gifts bestowed for a season for the introduction and establishment of Christianity in the world, and when this their end was gained, they were all to fail and cease.  But charity was never to cease.

Thus the apostle plainly teaches, as the doctrine of the text:

That That Great Fruit Of The Spirit, In Which The Holy Ghost Shall, Not Only For A Season, But Everlastingly, Be Communicated To The Church Of Christ, Is Charity, Or Divine Love.

That the meaning and truth of this doctrine may be better understood, I would speak to it in the four following propositions: first, The Spirit of Christ will be everlastingly given to his Church and people, to influence and dwell in them; second, There are other fruits of the Spirit besides divine love, wherein the Spirit of God is communicated to his church; third, These other fruits are but for a season, and either have already, or will at some time, cease; fourth, That charity, or divine love, is that great and unfailing fruit of the Spirit, in which his everlasting influence and indwelling in the saints, or in his church, shall appear.

1. A. The Spirit of Christ is given to his church and people everlastingly, to influence and dwell in them.

The Holy Spirit is the great purchase, or purchased gift, of Christ.  The chief and sum of all the good things in this life and in the life to come, that are purchased for the church, is the Holy Spirit.  And as he is the great purchase, so he is the great promise, or the great thing promised by God and Christ to the church; as said the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:32, 33) — “This Jesus… being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”  And this great purchase and promise of Christ is forever to be given to his church.  He has promised that his church shall continue, and expressly declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  And that it may be preserved, he has given his Holy Spirit to every true member of it, and promised the continuance of that Spirit forever.  His own language is (John 14:16, 17), “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

Man, in his first estate in Eden, had the Holy Spirit; but he lost it by his disobedience.  But a way has been provided by which it may be restored, and now it is given a second time, never more to depart from the saints.  The Spirit of God is so given to his own people as to become truly theirs.  It was, indeed, given to our first parents in their state of innocence, and dwelt with them, but not in the same sense in which it is given to, and dwells in, believers in Christ.  They had no proper right or sure title to the Spirit, and it was not finally and forever given to them, as it is to believers in Christ; for if it had been, they never would have lost it.  But the Spirit of Christ is not only communicated to those that are converted, but he is made over to them by a sure covenant, so that he is become their own.  Christ is become theirs, and therefore his fullness is theirs, and therefore his Spirit is theirs – their purchased, and promised, and sure possession.  But,

1. B. There are other fruits of the Spirit besides that which summarily consists in charity, or divine love, wherein the Spirit of God is communicated to his church. For example,

1.  The Spirit of God has been communicated to his church in extraordinary gifts, such as the gift of miracles, the gift of inspiration, etc. — The Spirit of God seems to have been communicated to the church in such gifts, formerly to the prophets under the Old Testament, and to the apostles, and evangelists, and prophets, and to the generality of the early ministers of the gospel, and also to multitudes of common Christians, under the New Testament.  To them were given such gifts as the gift of prophecy, and the gift of tongues, and the gift called the gift of knowledge, and others mentioned in the context, and in the foregoing chapter.  And besides these,

2.  There are the common and ordinary gifts of the Spirit of God. — These, in all ages, have more or less been bestowed on many natural, unconverted men, in common convictions of sin, and common illuminations, and common religious affections, which, though they have nothing in them of the nature of divine love, or of true and saving grace, are yet the fruits of the Spirit, in the sense that they are the effect of his influences on the hearts of men.  And as to faith and hope, if there be nothing of divine love with them, there can be no more of the Spirit of God in them than is common to natural unregenerate men.  This is clearly implied by the apostle, when he says in this chapter, “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”  All saving faith and hope have love in them as ingredients, and as their essence; and if this ingredient be taken out, there is nothing left but the body without the spirit.  It is nothing saving; but at best, only a common fruit of the Spirit.  But,

1. C. All these other fruits of the Spirit are but for a season, and either have already ceased, or at some time will cease.

As to the miraculous gifts of prophecy and tongues, etc., they are but of a temporary use, and cannot be continued in heaven.  They were given only as an extraordinary means of grace that God was once pleased to grant to his church in the world.  But when the saints that once enjoyed the use of these means went to heaven, such means of grace ceased, for they were no longer needful.  There is no occasion for any means of grace in heaven, whether ordinary, such as the stated and common means of God’s house, or extraordinary, such as the gifts of tongues, and of knowledge, and of prophecy.  I say, there is no occasion for any of these means of grace to be continued in heaven, because there the end of all means of grace is already fully obtained in the perfect sanctification and happiness of God’s people.  The apostle, speaking in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, of the various means of grace, says that they are given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.”  But when this has come to pass, and the saints are perfected, and are already come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, then there will be no further occasion for any of these means, whether ordinary or extraordinary.  It is in this respect very much as it is with the fruits of the field, which stand in need of tillage, and rain, and sunshine, till they are ripe and gathered in, and then they need them no more.

And as these miraculous gifts of the Spirit were but temporary with regard to those particular persons that enjoyed them, so they are but for a season with regard to the church of God taken as a collective body.  These gifts are not fruits of the Spirit that were given to be continued to the church throughout all ages.

These communications of the Spirit were given to make way for him who hath the Spirit without measure, the great prophet of God, by whom the Spirit is communicated to all other prophets.  And in the days of his flesh, his disciples had a measure of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, being enabled thus to teach and to work miracles.  But after the resurrection and ascension, was the most full and remarkable effusion of the Spirit in his miraculous gifts that ever took place, beginning with the day of Pentecost, after Christ had risen and ascended to heaven.  And in consequence of this, not only here and there an extraordinary person was endowed with these extraordinary gifts, but they were common in the church, and so continued during the lifetime of the apostles, or till the death of the last of them, even the apostle John, which took place about a hundred years from the birth of Christ; so that the first hundred years of the Christian era, or the first century, was the era of miracles.

But soon after that, the canon of Scripture being completed when the apostle John had written the book of Revelation, which he wrote not long before his death, these miraculous gifts were no longer continued in the church.  For there was now completed an established written revelation of the mind and will of God, wherein God had fully recorded a standing and all-sufficient rule for his church in all ages.  And the Jewish church and nation being overthrown, and the Christian church and the last dispensation of the church of God being established, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were no longer needed, and therefore they ceased; for though they had been continued in the church for so many ages, yet then they failed, and God caused them to fail because there was no further occasion for them.  And so was fulfilled the saying of the text, “Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”  And now there seems to be an end to all such fruits of the Spirit as these, and we have no reason to expect them any more.  And as to those fruits of the Spirit that are common, such as the conviction, illumination, belief, etc., which are common both to the godly and ungodly, these are given in all ages of the church in the world; and yet with respect to the persons that have these common gifts, they will cease when they come to die; and with respect to the church of God considered collectively, they will cease, and there will be no more of them after the day of judgment.  I pass, then, to show, as proposed,

1. D. That charity, or divine love, is that great fruit of the Spirit, that never fails, and in which his continued and everlasting influence and indwelling in his church shall appear and be manifest.

We have seen that the Spirit of Christ is forever given to the church of Christ, and given that it may dwell in his saints forever, in influences that shall never fail.  And therefore however many fruits of the Spirit may be but temporary, and have their limits where they fail, yet it must be that there is some way of the Spirit’s influence, and some fruit of that influence, which is unfailing and eternal.  And charity, or divine love, is that fruit, in communicating, and nourishing, and exercising which, his unfailing and eternal influences appear.  This is a fruit of the Spirit that never fails or ceases in the church of Christ, whether we consider it with respect to its particular members, or regard it as a collective body.  And,

1.  We may consider the church of Christ with respect to the particular members of which it consists. — And here it will appear that charity, or Christian love, is an unfailing fruit of the Spirit.  Every one of the true members of Christ’s invisible church is possessed of this fruit of the Spirit in the heart.  Divine or Christian love is implanted, and dwells, and reigns there, as an everlasting fruit of the Spirit, and one that never fails.  It never fails in this world, but remains through all trials and oppositions, for the apostle tells us (Rom. 8:38, 39) that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  And it ceases not when the saints come to die.  When the apostles and others of their day died and went to heaven, they left all their miraculous gifts behind them with their bodies.  But they did not leave the love that was in their hearts behind them, but carried that with them to heaven, where it was gloriously perfected.  Though when wicked men die, who have had the common influences of the Spirit, their gifts shall eternally cease, yet death never overthrows Christian love, that great fruit of the Spirit, in any that have it.  They that have it may and shall leave behind them many other fruits of the Spirit which they had in common with wicked men.  And though they shall leave all that was common in their faith, and hope, and all that did not pertain to this divine and holy love, yet this love they shall not leave behind, but it shall go with them to eternity, and shall be perfected there, and shall live and reign with perfect and glorious dominion in their souls forever and ever.  And so, again,

2.  We may consider the church of Christ collectively, or as a body. — And here, again, it will appear that charity, or Christian love, shall never fail.  Though other fruits of the Spirit fail in it, this shall never fail.  Of old, when there were interruptions of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit in the church, and when there were seasons in which no prophet or inspired person appeared that was possessed of such gifts, still there never was any total interruption of this excellent fruit or influence of the Spirit.  Miraculous gifts were intermitted through the long time extending from Malachi to near the birth of Christ; but in all this time, the influence of the Spirit, in keeping up divine love in the church, was never suspended.  As God always had a church of saints in the world, from the first creation of the church after the fall, so this influence and fruit of his Spirit never failed in it.  And when, after the completion of the canon of the Scriptures, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit seemed finally to have ceased and failed in the church, this influence of the Spirit in causing divine love in the hearts of his saints did not cease, but has been kept up through all ages from that time to this, and so will be to the end of the world.  And at the end of the world, when the church of Christ shall be settled in its last, and most complete, and its eternal state, and all common gifts, such as convictions and illuminations, and all miraculous gifts, shall be eternally at an end, yet then divine love shall not fail, but shall be brought to its most glorious perfection in every individual member of the ransomed church above.  Then, in every heart, that love which now seems as but a spark, shall be kindled to a bright and glowing flame, and every ransomed soul shall be as it were in a blaze of divine and holy love, and shall remain and grow in this glorious perfection and blessedness through all eternity!

I shall give but a single reason for the truth of the doctrine which has thus been presented.  And the great reason why it is so, that other fruits of the Spirit fail, and the great fruit of love remains, is, that love is the great end of all the other fruits and gifts of the Spirit. The principle and the exercises of divine love in the heart, and the fruits of it in the conduct, and the happiness that consists in and flows from it – these things are the great end of all the fruits of the Spirit that fail.  Charity or divine love is the end, to which all the inspiration, and all the miraculous gifts that ever were in the world, are but the means.  They were only means of grace, but charity or divine love is grace itself; and not only so, but the sum of all grace.  Revelation and miracles were never given for any other end but only to promote holiness, and build up the kingdom of Christ in men’s hearts; but Christian love is the sum of all holiness, and its growth is but the growth of Christ’s kingdom in the soul.  The extraordinary fruits of the Spirit were given for revealing and confirming the word and will of God, that men by believing might be conformed to that will: and they were valuable and good only so far as they tended to this end.  And hence when that end was obtained, and when the canon of the Scriptures, the great and powerful means of grace, was completed, and the ordinances of the New Testament and of the last dispensation were fully established, the extraordinary gifts ceased, and came to an end, as being no further useful.  Miraculous gifts being a means to a further end, they are good no further than as they tend to that end.  But divine love is that end itself, and therefore remains when the means to it cease. The end is not only a good, but the highest kind of good in itself, and therefore remains forever.  So it is with respect to the common gifts of the Spirit that are given in all ages, such as illumination, conviction, etc.  They have no good in themselves, and are no further good than as they tend to promote that grace and holiness which radically and summarily consist in divine love; and therefore when this end is once fully answered, there shall be an end forever of these common gifts, while divine love, which is the end of them all, shall eternally remain.

From Charity and Its Fruits, Lecture XV, “The Holy Spirit Forever To Be Communicated To The Saints, In The Grace Of Charity, Or Divine Love.”

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O thou that hearest prayer – Psalm 65:2

This psalm seems to be written, either as a psalm of praise to God for some remarkable answer of prayer, in the bestowment of some public mercy; or else on occasion of some special faith and confidence which David had that his prayer would be answered.  It is probable that this mercy bestowed, or expected to be bestowed, was some great public mercy, for which David had been very earnest and importunate, and had annexed a vow to his prayer; and that he had vowed to God, that if he would grant him his request he would render him praise and glory. — This seems to be the reason why he expresses himself as he does in the first verse of the psalm: “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed,” i.e. that praise which I have vowed to give thee on the answer of my prayer, waiteth for thee, to be given thee as soon as thou shalt have answered my prayer; and the vow which I made to thee shall be performed.  In the verse of the text, there is a prophecy of the glorious times of the gospel, when “all flesh shall come” to the true God, as to the God who heareth prayer, which is here mentioned as what distinguishes the true God from the gods to whom the nations prayed and sought, those gods, who cannot hear, and cannot answer their prayer.  The time was coming when all flesh should come to that God who doth hear prayer. — Hence we gather this doctrine that it is the character of the Most High, that he is a God who hears prayers.  I shall handle this point in the following method:

1. Show that the Most High is a God that hears prayer.

2. That he is emintently such a God.

3. That herein he is distingished from all false gods.

4. Give the reasons of the doctrine.

I. The Most High is a God that hears prayer.

Though he is infinitely above all, and stands in no need of creatures, yet he is graciously pleased to take a merciful notice of poor worms of the dust.  He manifests and presents himself as the object of prayer, appears as sitting on a mercy-seat, that men may come to him by prayer.  When they stand in need of any thing, he allows them to come, and ask it of him; and he is wont to hear their prayers.  God in his word hath given many promises that he will hear their prayers; the Scripture is full of such examples; and in his dispensations towards his church, manifests himself to be a God that hears prayer.

Here it may be inquired, What is meant by God’s hearing prayer?  There are two things implied in it.

1. His accepting the supplications of those who pray to him.  Their address to him is well taken; he is well pleased with it.  He approves of their asking such mercies as they request of him, and approves of their manner of doing it.  He accepts of their prayers as an offering to him: he accepts the honor they do him in prayer.

2. He acts agreeably to his acceptance.  He sometimes manifests his acceptance of their prayers, by special discoveries of his mercy and sufficiency, which he makes to them in prayer, or immediately after.  While they are praying, he gives them sweet views of his glorious grace, purity, sufficiency, and sovereignty, and enables them with great quietness, to rest in him, to leave themselves and their prayers with him, submitting to his will, and trusting in his grace and faithfulness.  Such a manifestation God seems to have made of himself in prayer to Hannah, which quieted and composed her mind, and tool; away her sadness. We read (in 1 Samuel 1) how earnest she was, and how exercised in her mind, and that she was I woman of a sorrowful spirit.  First, she came and poured out her soul before God, and spake out of the abundance of her complaint and grief, then we read, that she went away, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad (verse 13) which seems to have been from some refreshing discoveries which God had made of himself to her, to enable her quietly to submit to his will, and trust in his mercy whereby God manifested his acceptance of her. — Not that I conclude persons can hence argue, that the particular thing which they ask will certainly be given them, or that they can particularly foretell from it what God will do in answer to their prayers, any further than he has promised in his word; yet God may, and doubtless does, thus testify his acceptance of their prayers, and from hence they may confidently rest in his providence, in his merciful ordering and disposing, with respect to the thing which they ask. — Again, God manifests his acceptance of their prayers, by doing for them agreeably to their needs and supplications.  He not only inwardly and spiritually discovers his mercy to their, souls by his Spirit, but outwardly by dealing mercifully with them in his providence, in consequence of their prayers, and by causing an agreeableness between his providence and their prayers.

II. To show that the Most High is eminently a God that hears prayer.

This appears in several things.

1. In his giving such free access to him by prayer.

God in his word manifests himself ready at all times to allow us this privilege.  He sits on a throne of grace, and there is no veil to hide this throne, and keep us from it.  The veil is rent from the top to the bottom; the way is open at all times, and we may go to God as often as we please.  Although God be infinitely above us, yet we may come with boldness: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14, 16).  How wonderful is it that such worms as we should be allowed to come boldly at all times to so great a God! — Thus God indulges all kinds of persons, of all nations.  “Unto all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours; grace he unto you” (1 Corinthians 1:2,3).  Yea, God allows the most vile and unworthy; the greatest sinners are allowed to come through Christ.

And he not only allows, but encourages, and frequently invites them; yea, manifests himself as delighting in being sought to by prayer: “The prayer of the upright is his delight” (Proverbs 15:8).  And in the Song of Solomon, we have Christ saying to the spouse, “O my dove, let me hear thy voice; for so sweet is thy voice.”  The voice of the saints in prayer is sweet unto Christ; he delights to hear it.  He allows them to be earnest and importunate; yea, to the degree as to take no denial, and as it were to give him no rest, and even encouraging them so to do: “Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest” (Isaiah 62:6, 7).  Thus Christ encourages us, in the parable of the importunate widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18).  Also, in the parable of the man who went to his friend at midnight (Luke 11:5).

Thus God allowed Jacob to wrestle with him, yea, to be resolute in it; “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”  It is noticed with approbation, when men are violent for the kingdom of heaven, and take it by force.  Thus Christ suffered the blind man to be most importunate and unceasing in his cries to him (Luke 18:38, 39).  He continued crying, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”  Others who were present rebuked him, that he should hold his peace, looking upon it as too great a boldness, and an indecent behavior towards Christ, thus to cry after him as he passed by.  But Christ did not rebuke him, but stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him, saying, “What wilt thou that I should do to thee?”  And when the blind man had told him, Christ graciously granted his request.

The freedom of access that God gives, appears also in allowing us to come to him by prayer for every thing we need, both temporal and spiritual; whatever evil we need to be delivered from, or good eye would obtain: “Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

2. That God is eminently of this character, appears in his hearing prayer so readily.

He often manifests his readiness to hear prayer, by giving an answer so speedily, sometimes while they are yet speaking, and sometimes before they pray, when they only have a design of praying.  So ready is God to hear prayer, that he takes notice of the first purpose of praying, and sometimes bestows mercy thereupon: “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).  We read, that when Daniel was making humble and earnest supplication, God sent an angel to comfort him, and to assure him of an answer (Daniel 9:20-24).  When God defers for the present to answer the prayer of faith, it is not from any backwardness to answer, but for the good of his people sometimes, that they may be better prepared for the mercy before they receive it, or because another time would be the best and fittest on some other account: and even then, when God seems to delay an answer, the answer is indeed hastened, as in Luke 18:7, 8: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily.”  Sometimes, when the blessing seems to tarry, God is even then at work to bring it about in the best time and the best manner: “Though it tarry, wait for it; it will come, it will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3).

3. That the Most High is eminently one that hears prayer, appears by his giving so liberally in answer to prayer; James 1:5, 6: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.”  Men often show their backwardness to give, both by the scantiness of their gifts, and by upbraiding those who ask of them.  They will be sure to put them in mind of some faults, when they give them any thing, but, on the contrary, God both gives liberally, and upbraids us not with our undeservings.  He is plenteous and rich in his communications to those who call upon him: “For thou art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous hi mercy unto all that call upon thee” (Psalm 86:5) and “For there is no difference between the few and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him” (Romans 10:12).

Sometimes, God not only gives the thing asked, but he gives them more than is asked.  So he did to Solomon: “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be and among the kings like unto thee, all the days” (1 Kings 3:12,13).  Yea, God will give more to his people than they can either ask or think, as is implied in Ephesians 3:20: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

4. That God is eminently of this character, appears by the greatness, of the things which he hath often done in answer to prayer. Thus, when Esau was coming out against his bother Jacob, with four hundred men, without doubt fully resolved to cut him off, Jacob prayed and God turned the heart of Esau, so that he met Jacob in a very friendly manner (Genesis 32).  So in Egypt, at the prayer of Moses, God brought those dreadful plagues, and at his prayer removed them again.  When Samson was ready to perish with thirst, he prayed to God and he brought water out of a dry jaw-bone, for his supply (Judges 15:18,19). And when he prayed, after his strength was departed from him, God strengthened him, so as to pull down the temple of Dagon on the Philistines: so that those whom he slew at his death were more than all those whom he slew in his life.  Joshua prayed to God, and said, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon;” and God heard his prayer, and caused the sun and moon to stand still accordingly.  The prophet “Elijah was a man of like passion” with us; “and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit;” as the apostle James observes (James 5:17, 18).  So God confounded the army of Zerah, the Ethiopian, of a thousand thousand, in answer to the prayer of Asa (2 Chronicles 14:9).  And God sent an angel, and slew in one night an hundred and eighty-five thousand men of Sennacherib’s army, in answer to Hezekiah’s prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19, 35).

5. This truth appears, in that God is, as it were, overcome by prayer. When God is displeased by sin, he manifests his displeasure, comes out against us in his providence, and seems to oppose and resist us; in such cases, God is, speaking after the manner of men, overcome by humble and fervent prayer.  “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).  It has a great power in it; such a prayer-hearing God is the Most High, that he graciously manifests himself as conquered by it.  Thus God appeared to oppose Jacob in what he sought of him, yet Jacob was resolute, and overcame.  Therefore God changed his name from Jacob to Israel; for, says he, “as a prince thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Genesis 32:28).  A mighty prince indeed!   “Yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed: he wept and made supplication unto him” (Hosea 12:4).  When his anger was provoked against Israel, and he appeared to be ready to consume them in his hot displeasure, Moses stood in the gap, and by his humble and earnest prayer and supplication averted the stroke of divine vengeance (Exodus 32:9; Numbers 14:11).

III. Herein the most high God is distinguished from false gods.

The true God is the only one of this character; there is no other of whom it may be said, that he heareth prayer.   Many of those things that are worshipped, as gods are idols made by their worshippers, mere stocks and stones that know nothing.  They are indeed made with ears; but they hear not the prayers of them that cry to them.  They have eyes; but they see not (Psalm 115:5, 6).  Others, though not the work of men’s hands, yet are things without life.  Thus, many worship the sun, moon, and stars, which, though glorious creatures, yet are not capable of knowing any thing of the wants and desires of those who pray to them.  Some worship certain kinds of animals, as the Egyptians were wont to worship bulls, which, though not without life, yet are destitute of that reason whereby they would be capable of knowing the requests of their worshippers.  Others worship devils instead of the true God: “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils” (1 Corinthians 10:20).

These though beings of great powers, have not knowledge necessary to capacitate them fully to understand the state, circumstances, necessities, and desires of those who pray to them.  But the true God perfectly knows the circumstances of every one that prays to him throughout the world.  Though millions pray to him at once, in different parts of the world, it is no more difficult for him who is infinite in knowledge, to take notice of all than of one alone.  God is so perfect in knowledge, that he doth not need to be informed by us, in order to a knowledge of our wants, for he knows what things we need before we ask him.  The worshippers of false gods were wont to lift their voices and cry aloud, lest their gods should fail of hearing them, as Elijah tauntingly bid the worshippers of Baal do (1 Kings 18:27).  But the true God hears the silent petitions of his people.  He needs not that we should cry aloud; yea, he knows and perfectly understands when we only pray in our hearts, as Hannah did (1 Samuel 1:13).

Idols are but vanities and lies, in them is no help.  As to power or knowledge, they are nothing; as the apostle says, “An idol is nothing in the world” (1 Corinthians 8:4).  As to images, they are so far from having power to answer prayer, that they are not able to act, “They have hands, and handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat.”  They, therefore, that make them and pray to them, are senseless and sottish, and make themselves, as it were, stocks and stones, like unto them: Psalm 115:7-8 and Jeremiah 10:5: “They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go.  Be not afraid of them for they cannot do evil; neither also is it in them to do good.”

As to the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, although mankind receives benefit by them, yet they act only by necessity of nature; therefore they have no power to do any thing in answer to prayers.  And devils though worshipped as gods, are not able, if they had disposition, to make those happy who worship them, and can do nothing at all but by divine permission, and as subject to the disposal of Divine Providence.  When the children of Israel departed from the true God to idols, and yet cried to him in their distress, he reproved them for their folly, by bidding them cry to the gods whom they had served, for deliverance in the time of their tribulation (Joshua 10:14). So God challenges those gods themselves: “Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods, yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and behold it together.  Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought, an abomination is he that chooseth you” (Isaiah 12:23, 24).  These false gods, instead of helping those who pray to them cannot help themselves.  The devils are miserable tormented spirits, they are bound in chains of darkness for their rebellion against the true God, and cannot deliver themselves.  Nor have they any more disposition to help mankind, than a parcel of hungry wolves or lions would have to protect and help a flock of lambs.  And those that worship and pray to them get not their good-will by serving them: all the reward that Satan will give them for the service which they do him, is to devour them.

IV. To give the reasons of the doctrine, which I would do in answer to these two inquiries: first, Why God requires prayer in order to the bestowment of mercies, and secondly, Why God is so ready to hear the prayers of men?

Inquiry 1. Why doth God require prayer in order to the bestowment of mercies?

It is not in order that God may be informed of our wants or desires.  He is omniscient, and with respect to his knowledge unchangeable.  God never gains any knowledge by information. He knows what we want, a thousand times more perfectly than we do ourselves before we ask him.  For though, speaking after the manner of men, God is sometimes represented as if he were moved and persuaded by the prayers of his people; yet it is not to be thought that God is properly moved or made willing prayers; for it is no more possible that there should be any new inclination or will in God, than new knowledge.  The mercy of God is not moved or drawn by anything in the creature; but the spring of God’s beneficence is within himself only; he is self-moved; and whatsoever mercy he bestows, the reason and ground of it is not to be sought for in the creature, but in God’s own good pleasure.

It is the will of God to bestow mercy in this way, viz. in answer to prayer, when he designs beforehand to bestow mercy, yea, when he has promised it; as Ezekiel 36:36, 37: “I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.  Thus saith the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.”  God has been pleased to constitute prayer to be antecedent to the bestowment of mercy, and he is pleased to bestow mercy in consequence of prayer, as though he were prevailed on by prayer.  When the people of God are stirred up to prayer, it is the effect of his intention to show mercy; therefore he pours out the spirit of grace and supplication.

There may be two reasons given why God requires prayer in order to the bestowment of mercy, one especially respects God, and the other respects ourselves.

1. With respect to God, prayer is but a sensible acknowledgment of our dependence on him to his glory. As he hath made all things for his own glory, so he will be glorified and acknowledged by his creatures; and it is fit that he should require this of those who would be the subjects of his mercy.  That we, when we desire to receive any mercy from him, should humbly supplicate the Divine Being for the bestowment of that mercy, is but a suitable acknowledgment of our dependence on the power and mercy of God for that which we need, and but a suitable honor paid to the great Author and Fountain of all good.

2. With respect to ourselves, God requires prayer of us in order to the bestowment of mercy, because it tends to prepare us for its reception. Fervent prayer many ways tends to prepare the heart.  Hereby is excited a sense of our need, and of the value of the mercy which we seek and at the same time earnest desires for it, whereby the mind is more prepared to prize it, to rejoice in it when bestowed, and to be thankful for it.  Prayer, with suitable confession, may excite a sense of our unworthiness of the mercy we seek; and the placing of ourselves in the immediate presence of God, may make us sensible of his majesty, and in a sense fit to receive mercy of him.  Our prayer to God may excite in us a suitable sense and consideration of our dependence on God for the mercy we ask, and a suitable exercise of faith in God’s sufficiency them so we may be prepared to glorify his name when the mercy is received.

Inquiry 2. Why is God so ready to hear the prayers of men.

1. Because he is a God of infinite grace and mercy. It is indeed a very wonderful thing, that so great a God should be so ready to hear our prayers, though we are so despicable and unworthy: that he should give free access at all times to every one: should allow us to be importunate without esteeming it an indecent boldness, should be so rich in mercy to them that call upon him, that worms of the dust should have such power with God by prayer; that he should do such great things in answer to their prayers, and should show himself, as it were, overcome by them.  This is very wonderful, when we consider the distance between God and us, and how we have provoked him by our sins, and how unworthy we are of the least gracious notice.  It cannot be from any need that God stands in of us; for our goodness extendeth not to him.  Neither can it he from any thing in us to incline the heart of God to us; it cannot be from any worthiness in our prayers, which are in themselves polluted things.  But it is because God delights in mercy and condescension.  He is herein infinitely distinguished from all other gods: he is the great fountain of all good, from whom goodness flows as light from the sun.

2. [Because] we have a glorious Mediator, who has prepared the way, that our prayers may he heard consistently with the honor of God’s justice and majesty. Not only has God in himself mercy sufficient for this, but the Mediator has provided that this mercy may be exercised consistently with the divine honor.  Through him, we may come to God for mercy, he is the way, the truth, and the life; no man can come to the Father but by him.  This Mediator hath done three things to make way for the hearing of our prayers.

(1) He hath by his blood made atonement for sin; so that our guilt need not stand in the way, as a separating wall between God and us, and that our sins might not be a cloud through which our prayers cannot pass.  By his atonement, he hath made the way to the throne of grace open.  God would have been infinitely gracious if there had been no Mediator; but the way to the mercy-seat would have been blocked up.  But Christ hath removed whatever stood in the way.  The veil which was before the mercy seat “is rent from the top to the bottom,” by the death of Christ.  If it had not been for this, our guilt would have remained as a wall of brass to hinder our approach.  But all is removed by his blood (Hebrews 10:17).

(2) Christ, by his obedience, has purchased this privilege, viz. that the prayers of those who believe in him should be heard.  He has not only removed the obstacles to our prayers, but has merited a hearing of them.  His merits are the incense that is offered with the prayers of the saints, which renders them a sweet savor to God, and acceptable in his sight.  Hence the prayers of the saints have such power with God; hence at the prayer of a poor worm of the dust God stopped the sun in his course for about the space of a whole day; hence Jacob as a prince had power with God, and prevailed.  Our prayers would be of no account, and of no avail with God, were it not for the merits of Christ.

(3) Christ enforces the prayers of his people, by his intercession at the right hand of God in heaven.  He hath entered for us into the holy of holies, with the incense which he hath provided, and there he makes continual intercession for all that come to God in his name; so that their prayers come to God the Father through his hands, if I may so say; which is represented in Revelation 8:3, 4: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne.  And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God, out of the angel’s hand.”  This was typified of old by the priest’s offering incense in the temple, at the time when the people were offering up their prayers to God; as Luke 1:10: “And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.”

Application

Hence we may learn how highly we are privileged, in that we have the Most High revealed to us, who is a God that heareth prayer.  The greater part of mankind are destitute of this privilege.  Whatever their necessities are, whatever their calamities or sorrows, they have no prayer-hearing God to whom they may go.  If they go to the gods whom they worship, arid cry to them ever so earnestly, it will be in vain.  They worship either, lifeless things, that can neither help them; nor know that they need help or wicked cruel spirits, who are their enemies, and wish nothing but their misery; and who, instead of helping them, are from day to day working their ruin, and watching over them as a hungry lion watches over his prey.

How are we distinguished from them, in that we have the true God made known to us; a God of infinite grace and mercy a God full of compassion to the miserable, who is ready to pity us under all our troubles and sorrows, to hear our cries, and to give us all the relief which we need, a God who delights in mercy, and is rich unto all that call upon him!  How highly privileged are we, in that ye have the holy word of this same God, to direct us how to seek for mercy! And whatever difficulties or distress we are in, we may so to him with confidence and great encouragement.

What a comfort may this be to us!  And what reason have we to rejoice in our privileges, to prize them so highly, and to bless God that he hath been so merciful to us, as to give us his word, and reveal himself to us; and that he hath not left us to cry for help to stocks and stones, and devils, as he has left many thousands of others.

Objection

I have often prayed to God for certain mercies, and he has not heard my prayers. — To this I answer,

1. It is no argument, that God is not a prayer-hearing God, if he gives not to men what they ask of him to consume upon their lusts. Oftentimes when men pray for temporal good things, they desire them for no good end, but only to gratify their pride or sensuality.  If they pray for worldly good things chiefly from a worldly spirit; and make an idol of the world; It is no wonder that God doth not hear their prayers: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).  If you request him to give you something of which you will make an idol, and set up in opposition to him — or will use as weapons of warfare against him, or as instruments to serve his enemies — no wonder that God will not hear you.  If God should hear such prayers, he would act as  his own enemy, inasmuch as he would bestow them to serve his enemies.

2. It is no argument that God is not a prayer-hearing God, that he heareth not insincere and unbelieving prayers. How can we expect that he should have any respect to that which has no sincerity in it!  God looketh not at words, but at the heart, and it is fit that he should do so.  If men pray only in words, and not in heart, what are their prayers good for?  And why should that God who searches the heart, and tries the reins, have any respect to them?

Sometimes men do nothing but dissemble in their prayers, and when they do so, it is no argument that God is the less a prayer-hearing God, that he doth not hear such prayers, for it is no argument of want of mercy.  Sometimes they pray for that in words which they really desire not in their hearts, as that he would purge them from sin, when at the same time they show by their practice, that they do not desire to be purged from sin, while they love and choose it, and are utterly averse to parting with it.  In like manner, they often dissemble in the presence and show, which they make in their prayers, of dependence on God for mercies, and of a sense of his sufficiency to supply them.  In our coming to God, and praying to him for such and such things, there is a show that we are sensible we are dependent on him for them, and that he is sufficient to give them to us.  But men sometimes seem to pray, while not sensible of their dependence on God, nor do they think him sufficient to supply them; for all the while they trust in themselves, and have no confidence in God.

They show in words as though they were beggars; but in heart they come as creditors, and look on God as their debtor.  In words they seem to ask for things as the fruit of free grace; but in heart they account it would be hard, unjust, and cruel, if God should deny them.  In words they seem humble and submissive, but in heart they are proud and contentious; there is no prayer but in their words.

It doth not render God at all the less a prayer-hearing God, that he distinguishes, as an all-seeing God, between real prayers and pretended ones.  Such prayers as those which I have just now been mentioning, are not worthy of the name in the eyes of him who searches the heart, and sees things as they are.  That prayer which is not of faith, is insincere; for prayer is a show or manifestation of dependence on God, and trust in his sufficiency and mercy.  Therefore, where this trust or faith is wanting, there is no prayer in the sight of God.  And however God is sometimes pleased to grant the requests of those who have no faith, yet he has not obliged himself so to do, nor is it an argument of his not being a prayer-hearing God, when he hears them not.

3. It is no argument that he is not a prayer-hearing God that he exercises his own wisdom as to the time and manner of answering prayer. Some of God’s people are sometimes ready to think, that he doth not hear their prayers, because he doth answer them at the times when they expected, when indeed God doth hear them, and will answer them, in the time and way to which his own wisdom directs.  The business of prayer is not to direct God, who is infinitely wise, and needs not any of our directions; who knows what is best for us ten thousand times better than we, and knows what time and what way are best.  It is fit that he should answer prayer’s and, as an infinitely wise God, in the exercise of his own wisdom, and not ours.  God will deal as a father with us, in answering our requests.  But a child is not to expect that the father’s wisdom be subject to his nor ought he to desire it, but should esteem it a privilege, that the parent will provide for him according to his own wisdom.

As to particular temporal blessings for which we pray, it is no argument that he is not a prayer-hearing God, because he bestows them not upon us; for it may be that God sees the things for which we pray, not to be best for us.  If so, it would be no mercy in him to bestow them upon us, but a judgment.  Such things, therefore, ought to always to be asked with submission to the divine will.  God can answer prayer, though he bestow not the very thing for which we pray.  He can sometimes better answer the lawful desires and good end we have in prayer another way.  If our end be our own good and happiness, God can perhaps better answer that end in bestowing something else than in the bestowment of that very thing which we ask.  And if the main good we aim at in our prayer be attained, our prayer is answered, though not in the bestowment of the individual thing which we sought.  And so that may still be true which was before asserted, that God always hears the prayer OF FAITH.  God never once failed of hearing a sincere and believing prayer; and those promises forever hold good, “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: for every one that asketh, receiveth and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”

Another use of this doctrine may be, of reproof to those that neglect the duty of prayer.  If we enjoy so great a privilege as to have the prayer hearing God revealed to us, how great will be our folly and inexcusableness if we neglect the privilege, or make no use of it, and deprive ourselves of the advantage by not seeking this God by prayer.  They are hereby reproved who neglect the great duty of secret prayer, which is more expressly required in the word of God than any other kind.  What account can those persons give of themselves, who neglect so known a duty?  It is impossible that any among us should be ignorant of this command of God.  How daring, therefore, is their wickedness who live in the neglect of this duty and what can they answer to their Judge, when he shall call them to an account for it?

Here I shall briefly say something to an EXCUSE which some may be ready to make for themselves.  Some may be ready to say, If I do pray, my prayer will not be the prayer of faith, because I am in a natural condition, and have no faith.

This excuses not from obedience to a plain command of God.  The command is to all to whom the command shall come.  God not only directs godly persons to pray, but others also.  In the beginning of the second chapter of Proverbs, God directs all persons to cry after wisdom, and to lift up their voices for understanding, in order to their obtaining the fear and knowledge of God; and in James 1:5, the apostle says, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.”   Also Peter directed Simon Magus to repent, and pray to God, if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven him (Acts 8:22).  Therefore when God says, do thus or thus, it is not for us to make excuses, but we must do the thing required.  Besides, God is pleased sometimes to answer the prayers of unbelievers.  Indeed he hears not their prayers for their goodness or acceptableness, or because of any true respect to him manifested in them, for there is none; nor has he obliged himself to answer such prayers; yet he is pleased sometimes, of his sovereign mercy, to pity wicked men, and hear their cries.  Thus he heard the cries of the Ninevites, (Jonah 3) and the prayer of Ahab, 1 Kings 21:27, 28.  Though there be no regard to God in their prayers, yet he, of his infinite grace, is pleased to have respect to their desires of their own happiness, and to grant their requests.  He may, and sometimes does, hear the cries of wicked men as he hears the hungry ravens, when they cry (Psalm 147:9) and as he opens his bountiful hand, and satisfies the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:16).  Besides the prayers of sinners, though they have no goodness in them, yet are made a means of a preparation for mercy.

Finally, seeing we have such a prayer-hearing God as we have heard, let us be much employed in the duty of prayer: let us pray with all prayer and supplication: let us live prayerful lives, continuing instant in prayer, watching thereunto with all perseverance; praying always, without ceasing, earnestly, and not fainting.

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