And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
— Malachi 3:5
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
— Deuteronomy 6:6-8
And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;
— 2 Samuel 7:1
And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
— Esther 2:23
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
— Psalm 10:4
Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
— Psalm 66:5
Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
— Psalm 22:23-24
Religious Cases of Conscience Answered in an Evangelical Manner, by Samuel Pike and Samuel Hayward. The following contains Case Number 23 from their work. 1755.
Malachi iii. 16. — Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
P. Ixvi. 16. — Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Case 23. How may a professor who fears that his experiences are counterfeit and not genuine graces, come to such a satisfaction concerning his state, that it will encourage his continued receiving of the Lord’s Supper? This question, which so much regards all members of Gospel churches, is taken into consideration on account of the following letter:
“Reverend Sir — I am a young person who has had a religious education, and had hopes that it was not entirely in vain; though I desire to be ashamed that I have improved it no better. I should be very much obliged to you, if you would form a question, and answer it, as soon as possible, from the following broken account of myself.
I was under convictions, when I was very young; but they were too often stifled by me. But since that time I have returned, and believed that God had begun a good work on my soul. I then thought it my duty to give myself up to the Lord in a public manner, was received into a church of Christ, have often found pleasure in attending upon those ordinances, and in particular I have found comfort at the Lord’s table. Though it has not always been the same with me when there, I have hoped that when the ordinance was not so comfortable, it was a humbling one. I am often in darkness about my state, and am ready to fear lest I have deceived myself. But I still desire to seek God, and would esteem an interest in Christ above all the perishing riches of this vain world, indeed, above ten thousand worlds. But, sir, I don’t know what to think of myself after all. If there is a false faith, a false love, a false hope, a false humility and the like, perhaps mine may be no better. Is it my duty to go to the table of the Lord, if I have no real love for him, and no true faith in him? Isn’t this an ordinance of love? And when we attend upon it, isn’t this a time to put faith in Christ, in exercise? But if my faith and love are false, what must I do? Am I not deceiving myself and others, and mocking God? Surely none ought to go to this ordinance, without a change wrought in them; and if there is a false pleasure in such an ordinance, as well as a false faith, how can I know that mine isn’t so? I fear I lean too much toward outward duties.
I would esteem it a favour if you would, sir, show me what is true faith, true love, etc., and what is the difference between them and false experiences, so that I may know in some measure how it is with me. If I belong to Christ, I desire to honour him both living and dying.”
This letter plainly expresses the doubtful state of many a serious Christian who has had the enjoyment of Gospel ordinances for a considerable time, and has been admitted into the peculiar privileges of church fellowship. I have no doubt that there is many a person whose heart reasons in just this manner:
“I hope I have received the grace of God in truth, and now make a public profession of it. But Oh! when I hear that even professors may deceive themselves with false instead of true hopes, with a false instead of true love, I am afraid for myself, lest all my experiences have been of this kind. And since there is so much perplexity in my case, so much deceitfulness in my heart, and so much confusion in my mind concerning myself, how will I come to know whether it is my duty to go on receiving the Lord’s Supper as usual? I am afraid that all is not right between God and my soul. And if it should appear, after all, that my faith is a false faith, my hope a false hope, my humility a false humility, and the like, then it is plain that I have no right to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Though indeed I have a visible right to the ordinance because of my profession and church-membership, I am afraid that I have no real spiritual right to it. Wouldn’t it be better if I suspended attendance upon the Lord at his table, lest I go on deceiving myself and others, until I can gain a clearer satisfaction concerning my state? And if I should thus withhold for a time, how will I arrive at this desired satisfaction, or how will I attain to a well-grounded persuasion that my experiences are true and genuine graces, not spurious and counterfeit?”
In this way of reasoning, many a conscientious professor and serious Christian often perplexes himself about his present duty — while the mere nominal Christian, the hypocritical professor, generally has no doubts about this, but goes on in the outward participation of Gospel privileges, thus deceiving others, and hardening his own heart more and more. May the Lord enable me to speak to this important point with faithfulness and clearness; and may the blessed Spirit drive it home upon each of our hearts for our humiliation and consolation.
Therefore, in order to answer this question, I must desire all who make a visible profession, to look closely into these four things:
1. Your conduct and practice.
2. The nature and ground of your doubts and jealousies.
3. The frame and temper of your mind with respect to the Lord’s Supper. And,
4. The tendency of those experiences that you feel in yourself.
1. Look attentively into your conduct and practice. For we must take that as a general rule in all cases, which the apostle lays down in 1Joh 1.6, 7:
“If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Be careful, therefore, to put those two suppositions faithfully to yourselves. If you walk in darkness — that is, if you go on knowingly and willingly in the path of sin, or in the omission of known incumbent duty — then you may take it for granted that all your pretences are vain, that your profession is hypocrisy, and though you are church members, and so have a visible right to all the ordinances of the church, you are yet strangers to Christ, his truth, and his Spirit. Your allowed practice of any known sin, whether secret or open, makes your profession a lie; or as the apostle strongly expresses it, you lie and do not practice the truth. But if, on the contrary, it is your real desire to walk blameless in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord; if you desire to be found in the way of your duty, to watch, strive, and pray against sin; if you sincerely desire to honour and serve the Lord from a principle of love for Him, and from a sense of His love for you — then you have real spiritual fellowship with one another, and with the church of God. And you will happily find that the blood of Jesus Christ, represented in the sacrament, cleanses you more and more from all sin.
I hope this is the case with the young person who wrote this letter. For there are many things in it that seem to prove the sincerity of his profession, such as these: he desires to seek God; he esteems an interest in Christ above all the perishing riches of this vain world, indeed, above ten thousand worlds; he is afraid that he leans too much on his own outward duties, and has a desire to honour Christ both living and dying. Surely this is not the language of an unregenerate heart. Thus then, let all professors inquire into their conduct and practice.
2. Inquire into the nature and ground of these doubts and jealousies. You say you are often in darkness about your state, and are ready to fear that you’ve been deceiving yourself all along. And understanding that there are such things as false experiences, false faith, false hope, false humility, false delight and the like, your suspicions are strengthened, and your heart discouraged. I say, ask yourselves what the reason is for these doubts and suspicions? I know that Satan and an unbelieving heart will unite to cast a damp on the mind, and inject a surmise with special strength and weight. But perhaps only a surmise is injected, which doesn’t offer any particular reason for its support. Now, if these injections and surmises offer nothing on which to ground themselves, they are not to be attended to, but resisted and rejected. You are in this case to take up the shield of faith in order to quench these fiery darts of the wicked one. Whenever such jealousies seize your mind, ask the question seriously which the Psalmist put to himself, Psa 42.5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul; and why are you disquieted within me?” Don’t respond to the suggestion unless it gives a sufficient reason for its support.
But if your mind offers any reason for these doubts and fears, look at them attentively. Perhaps you will say, “Oh, I see much reason to doubt, for I feel much corruption in my heart, much deadness and carnal security, much vanity and selfishness, and every abomination in me — while I experience but little of love for God, or faith in his Son.” Are such things as these the true reasons for your fears? Then you have great ground to hope that all is well with you. For this is an intimation that the Lord has enlightened you into a knowledge of yourself. He has given you a view of the plague of your own heart; and he doesn’t suffer you to be content under the prevalence of any corruption. This sort of doubt is so far from rendering your experience more suspicious, it rather proves that all you feel, like faith, hope, and love, is true and genuine. For this jealousy proceeds upon a spiritual sight and conviction of your own unworthiness, guilt, and corruption.
Again, look into the tendency of these suspicions. Which way do they work? Don’t they tend to make you more humble and watchful? And while you walk in the dark, don’t you therefore walk more slowly and cautiously? Do they not make you more desirous after true grace and greater enlargement in duty? Do they not make you long more for holiness? If they work this way, you have great reason to conclude, from the very nature of your suspicions, that your heart is right with God, and principled with his saving grace.
3. Inquire into the frame and temper of your spirit with regard to the Lord’s Supper. Why do you desire a continued enjoyment of this privilege? What is it that makes you want to have free access to this ordinance? Is it to subserve some temporal interest? Is it to make a justifying righteousness of this privilege? Or is it that you may be better esteemed among Christians or professors? If it is, then you have sad reason to fear that you have no real right to the ordinance.
Instead, do you desire the continued enjoyment of this privilege, in order to testify of your love for Christ, to have your sins subdued, to have your graces strengthened, your affections for Christ inflamed, and to have some sweet enjoyment of him along with the saints of God? In a word, are your views and desires conformable to the design of Christ in appointing this spiritual ordinance? If they are, then however dark your frame may be, however dubious you may be as to your state, or however much you complain under the power of corruption, you may come and be welcome to the Lord’s table, since your designs and desires in coming are to behold what Christ exhibits there, and to receive what Christ has to bestow. This ordinance was particularly designed to comfort and to establish those who are worried by the temptations of Satan, and oppressed by their tyrannizing corruptions.
Therefore, as you have a visible right by being a church member, and you are not under church censure, you ought to consider that you have a real right to it because the Lord draws forth your desires, and he directs your views to what is the very design of this sacred institution. Come then, and welcome! Continue your attendance; for you are welcomed to the table by Christ himself, as well as by his church.
4. Lastly, inquire into the tendency of those experiences you feel in yourself. In looking over the particulars of the letter which occasioned this question, I find there are five fundamental graces of the Spirit mentioned. Concerning all of these, our friend desires to know how he will be satisfied that they are true and genuine — namely, faith, hope, love, humility, and spiritual pleasure. It is true, there is a counterfeit to each of these in the hearts and experience of temporary believers and mere notionalists. But if you would know whether yours are true or false, look into the tendency and working of them in your heart. It would require much time and several discourses to enter deeply into the consideration of each of these graces, and to set forth the evidences and marks of their being either spurious 0r genuine. But I will endeavour to run through them in as brief a manner as I can, suggesting a few thoughts that may give some satisfaction concerning the truth of each of them.
1. Look into your faith. You sometimes feel motions in your heart, that have the appearance of faith in and reliance upon the Lord Jesus. But just as there is a false faith, you are afraid that yours may be such. Consider then, and ask yourselves questions such as these: whether your faith is only notional, or whether it is joined with a serious concern for yourself about an interest in Christ and his salvation? Again, inquire whether you go to Christ for sanctification as well as for justification. Inquire, likewise, whether the reason for your application to Christ is an inward conviction of your own guilt, corruption, and helplessness, or whether it is only a flighty affection, without any serious insight into yourself? Now, you may be sure that if your soul acts towards Christ from a serious concern for holiness, as well as for happiness, proceeding from an inward knowledge of yourself, and founded on the free encouragement of the Gospel, then you may be sure your faith is true and genuine.
2. As to your hope. You have at times some pleasing hope in your soul concerning an interest in Christ, and the possession of his salvation. You not only fly to Christ, but you have received some hope into your soul, that he will save you with an everlasting salvation. Take notice then, what the foundation and tendency of this hope are.
Observe what the foundation of this hope is. If it is grounded on an imagination of the excellence of your duties, and the goodness of your heart, then it is a hope that will make you ashamed, because it betrays your ignorance of your own imperfections and corruptions. But if it is founded on the freeness of divine grace, the riches of divine love, and the faithfulness of the divine promises, then it will stand the test, because it proceeds from the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit, Rom 5.5.
Again, look into the tendency of your hope. If it tends to make you careless under the power of sin, or more careless about walking with God because you have a prospect of being happy forever, this is all wrong. Such a hope is certainly spurious and presumptuous. But if, on the contrary, it is your heart’s desire to glorify God, to fly from sin, and to increase in holiness, the more your hopes grow, this is a token that your hope is genuine. For whoever has Gospel hope in him, “purifies himself, even as Christ is pure.” 1Joh 3.2.
3. As to your love. You feel some outgoings of affection for Christ, for his ordinances and his people, but you fear lest all this may be counterfeit. And so it is, if your love is consistent with the love and liking of sin. But if your affection for Christ teaches you to cling to the Lord, to delight in his ordinances, and to love his people on account of their being such; if it makes you more willing and desirous to serve and honour the Lord Jesus Christ, then it is surely a genuine love.
4. As to your pleasure and delight in spiritual things. You sometimes feel a delight in divine ordinances, a secret pleasure in attending to the means of grace because they are sweet and comfortable to your soul. But you fear lest this likewise be false. Indeed, we must acknowledge that even a hypocrite may take pleasure in enjoying the means of grace, as we are told in Isa 58.2. There it is said, concerning the hypocritical Israelites, that they sought God daily, delighted to know his ways, and even delighted in approaching God. But what was the reason and ground for their delight? It was because they hoped by such services to make atonement for their sins, and to bring themselves into the divine favour by their own duties, as it appears in verse 3, “Why have we fasted, they say, and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice?” They had such a high opinion of their duties, that they thought it strange that God didn’t smile on and reward them for their religious services.
But now ask yourself this question: What is the reason for your delight in divine ordinances? Is it from a hope of being justified by it, or of laying God under some obligation to you? Do you take pleasure in them merely because they are suited to your own sentiments, or because they convey pleasure to your ears? Then indeed, it may be counterfeit. But if your pleasure in approaching God is because you desire and hope to find Him in his ordinances, because you would receive supplies from him, and enjoy communion with him, and would be brought nearer to him, and be made more like him — then you may be sure that your pleasure and delight are genuine.
5. Lastly, as to your humility. You find something within you that looks like a proper humiliation before God and his people; but your fear is that this likewise might be spurious and counterfeit. To be satisfied as to this matter, seriously inquire into the nature of your humility, whether it is feigned or forced — whether it arises from a real sight and conviction of your own meanness, guilt, and pollution before God. There is a kind of voluntary humility which some are very fond of, striving to represent themselves before their fellow Christians as very contemptible and polluted, as very ignorant and weak. They profess themselves to be such before men, when they know in their own consciences that they wouldn’t choose companions who had that opinion of them. But they do it with the purpose that their friends will think they are very modest and self- abased. It is evident at first thought, that this humility has a most hateful pride at the bottom of it. And those who are given to it, and fond of it, have great reason to suspect themselves, as they would certainly be suspected by their friends if they could see through the disguise.
But true humility is an unfeigned, unforced thing. The person who has it is really low in his own eyes; he sees and laments before God, his own guilt, weakness, and impurity; he confesses himself in the sight of God, as the chief of sinners. And the more he sees of the grace of God in Christ, the more he admires it, and is affected by it — and yes, humbled by it. None are more humble in reality than those who can view and receive the grace of the Gospel as entirely free. For the truly humble person, the more that he sees of the divine glory, and the more he beholds of the riches of grace, the more he lays himself low at the divine footstool. He says with Job, 42.5, 6, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” This is that broken spirit and contrite heart which God will not despise. But God, and man too, would despise a feigned, voluntary, affected humility. Therefore, inquire whether your being abased is thus sincere, or feigned.
Once more, look into the depth of your humility. Perhaps you are low in your own eyes merely because of some particular defects of capacity or knowledge; or chiefly because of some enormities or irregularities in your practice. If this is all, then it is not sufficiently deep. But if what makes you self-abased is a view of your own spiritual emptiness and poverty, a view of the corruptions of your nature, and the sins of your thoughts and affections; if you see yourself in such a light as to be heartily willing to receive all salvation as an entirely free gift, and to be truly thankful for every degree of hope with which you are favoured, as utterly undeserved and unprocured by you — then you are among the number of those whom Christ first pronounced blessed, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Mat 5.3.
Thus inquire into the genuineness of your experiences, and look up to the blessed Spirit to enable you to pass a right judgment upon them. The whole of it is this: if that faith, hope, love, delight, and humility which you experience in yourself, tends to wean you more and more from sin and the world, to win you over to embrace and admire the free grace of the Gospel, and to make you depend on and delight in Christ, both for justification and sanctification — then your graces are true and genuine, not spurious and counterfeit.
But, after all that can be said on this searching subject, I know that in many cases no clear satisfaction can be given or received by way of self-examination. There is a necessity for the witness of God’s Spirit to join with ours, to assure us that we are the children of God (Rom 8.16). There is so much darkness in our minds, deceitfulness in our hearts, and perplexity in our thoughts, that the clearest cases will sometimes be clouded, and the brightest evidences obscured.
You may ask then, What must a poor soul do in such circumstances? When he cannot gain the satisfaction he wants because of the Spirit’s withdrawal, must he abstain from the peculiar privileges of church fellowship? Must he desist from a regular receiving of the Lord’s Supper until these matters are cleared up to his satisfaction?
I will give my answer to this in the application of it, which will be (1) for encouragement, (2) for reproof, and (3) for warning.
1. For encouragement. Let me here say a free word to such poor doubting souls. Let me ask you, are you conscious of indulging and embracing any secret or open sin? Do you harbour any sinister or worldly views in desiring to eat of the children’s bread? Do you want to make a justifying righteousness of this special ordinance? I hope you can answer in the negative to these queries, by saying that so far as you know your own heart, you would not, you dare not. If so, then you do not impose on the church, nor do you pervert the design of the ordinance by receiving it.
Do you still say, “Oh, but I fear, and have great reason to fear, that I have been a self-deceiver; for I cannot come to any clear evidence of the truth of my graces and experiences!” Do you therefore think it is your duty to desist, on this account, from attending the Lord’s table? Think again, what would the consequence be if every doubting soul were to reason in this manner? If none but those who were free from doubts were to attend, I fear that very few would be found at the sacramental feast. Our churches are thin enough already. Many gracious persons keep themselves from the fellowship of a church on the same account. And how few, very few, would honour Christ by such a profession of his name, if all were to act upon this plan? What will you say as to the pastor himself? Do you think he is always free from such doubts, fears, and perplexities of soul? If you do, you are very much mistaken. And what if he were to absent himself every time his heart is dubious and perplexed? This would run church ordinances into confusion indeed. It is therefore abundantly evident that a serious church member should not absent himself from the Lord’s table because of his doubts and fears. No, no — doubting distressed souls should rather come, that their doubts may be scattered, their faith strengthened, and their comforts restored there. Come and welcome, so that you come with views and desires to meet with Christ, to see him, to receive from him, and to testify of your regard for him as the chief desire and only hope of your soul. You need not fear receiving any damage by coming unworthily, if you come with such views as these. But you may rather hope to find Christ and his love there, shed abroad in your hearts.
2. I now have a word of reproof for many serious Christians. I cannot help but find fault with several, for always complaining. You harbour your doubts and fears; you encourage them; your souls refuse to be comforted. You are always making scruples, raising objections, and you seem to be resolved not to be satisfied with the plainest evidences. Such a temper as this is surely dishonourable to Christianity. It is grieving the good Spirit; and it is ungrateful to God who has given you some tokens of his love. Because he hasn’t given you all the grace and comfort that he has given others, you therefore continually suspect his love; but I must leave this charge to everyone’s own conscience. While I heartily pity those who are truly in darkness and distress of soul, I must say that some are much to be blamed, who are fond of recommending themselves to their fellow Christians by making themselves appear as very dark and discouraged. Those who are inclined this way, insensibly sink themselves lower and lower, and provoke the Spirit of God more and more to withdraw his enlightening and comforting influence. Once more,
3. A word for warning and conviction. Remember, there are three sorts of church members: those who have their evidences clear and exercise their graces; those who are under darkness and doubts; and those who mind none of these things, so long as they can keep up a visible profession, and maintain their credit among Christians. These last ones are very easy and satisfied. They have no scruples or doubts, and think it is enough if they can keep themselves from falling under the censure of the church or their fellow professors. Let me tell you that such members as these, it is to be feared, are tares among the wheat. These have great reason to suspect that all is not right with them. And though I would do and say all I could to encourage the serious, dubious soul, I must proclaim that such carnal gospellers are in a most dangerous condition. They receive this sacrament only to keep their reputation alive. By continuing in this way, they stifle the convictions of their own consciences, harden their hearts more and more, and are in danger of falling from all their profession and privileges, into sin and hell. If these lines come into the hands of any such persons, oh, that they may be made to strike home to their consciences, and remind them that the case of the serious, fearful, and dubious soul who comes with trembling and concern to the table of the Lord, is abundantly preferable to their case, who boldly claim a privilege with no higher view than to support the reputation that they bear in the eyes of others. May the Lord convince and deter them, while He comforts and encourages the feeble-minded by his word and Spirit.
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