Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
— Ecclesiastes 9:10
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
— Hebrews 6:10-11
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
— Revelation 3:15-16
But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
— 2 Thessalonians 3:13
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
— 1 Timothy 3:1
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
— 2 Timothy 4:2
The Use Of Humiliation, by Richard Baxter. The following contains an excerpt from Section One of Chapter Three of his work, “The Reformed Pastor.”
Reverend and dear brothers, our business here this day is to humble our souls before the Lord for our past negligence, and to implore God’s assistance in our work for the time to come. Indeed, we can scarcely expect the latter without the former. If God will help us in our future duty, he will first humble us for our past sin. Someone who does not have a great sense of his faults so as to sincerely lament them, will hardly have any more to reform them. The sorrow of repentance may exist without a change of heart and life; that is because an emotion may be more easily evoked than a true conversion. But the change cannot take place without some good measure of that sorrow. Indeed, we may justly begin our confessions here: it is too commonplace with us to expect something from our people, which we ourselves would seldom do or have. What pains we take to humble them, while we ourselves are unhumbled! How hard we expostulate with them to wring a few penitential tears out of them (and all too little), while our own eyes are dry! Alas! How we set them an example of hard-heartedness, while we are endeavoring to melt and soften them by our words! Oh, if we only studied half as much to affect and amend our own hearts, as we do those of our hearers, it would not be as it is with many of us! It is a great deal too little that we do for their humiliation; but I fear it is much less that some of us do for our own humiliation. Too many do something for other men’s souls, while they seem to forget that they have souls of their own to regard. They convey the matter as if their part of the work lies in calling for repentance, and the hearers’ lies in repenting; theirs lies in speaking with tears and sorrow, and other men’s lies in weeping and sorrowing; theirs lies in decrying sin, and the people’s lies in forsaking it; theirs lies in preaching duty, and the hearers’ lies in practicing it.
But we find that the guides of the Church in Scripture confessed their own sins, as well as the sins of the people. Ezra confessed the sins of the priests, as well as those of the people, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God. Daniel confessed his own sin, as well as the people’s sin. I think, if we consider well the duties already stated, and how imperfectly we have performed them, we do not need to hesitate answering whether we have cause for humiliation. I must say, though I condemn myself in saying it, that whoever reads just this one exhortation of Paul to the elders of the church at Ephesus, and compares his life with it, must be stupid and hard-hearted if he does not melt under a sense of his neglects, and is not laid in the dust before God, and forced to bewail his great omissions, and to fly for refuge to the blood of Christ, and to his pardoning grace. I am confident, brothers, that none of you in your own judgment would approve of the libertine doctrine that decries the need for confession, contrition, and humiliation, and indeed, would do so in order to pardon sin! Is it not a pity, then, that our hearts are not as orthodox as our heads? But we have only half learned our lesson when we simply know it and can say it. When the understanding has learned it, it is more of a chore to teach our wills and our affections, our eyes, tongues, and hands. It is a sad thing that so many of us preach our hearers asleep; but it is sadder still, if we have studied and preached ourselves asleep, and have talked so long against being hard of heart, until our own heart has grown hardened under the noise of our own reproofs.
And so that you may see that it is not a baseless sorrow that God requires of us, I will call to your remembrance our many sins, and set them in order before you, so that we may deal plainly and faithfully in a free confession of them, and so that God, who is “faithful and just, may forgive them, and cleanse us from all iniquity.” I suppose I have your hearty consent in this; and even though I may disgrace you and others in this office, you will not be so offended by me that you will not readily subscribe to the charge, and be humble self accusers; and I am not so inclined to justify myself from the accusation of others, that I will not also unreservedly put my name with the first in the bill of indictment. For how can a wretched sinner, one who can be charged with so many and so great transgressions, presume to justify himself before God? Or how can someone plead he is guiltless, whose conscience has so much to say against him? If I cast shame upon the ministry, it is not on the office, but on our persons, by revealing the sin which is our shame. The glory of our high employment does not convey any glory for our sin; for “sin is a reproach to any people.” And whether pastors or people, it is only those who “confess and forsake their sins that will have mercy,”while “he that hardens his heart will fall into mischief.”
I will not undertake to enumerate the great sins that we are guilty of; therefore, passing over any particular one is not to be taken as a denial or justification of it. But I will consider it my duty to give a few instances which cry loudly for humiliation and speedy reformation.
But first I must premise it with this profession: that, notwithstanding all the faults which may now be found among us, I do not believe that England ever had so able and so faithful a ministry since it became a nation, as it has today; and I fear that few nations on earth, if any, have its like. I am sure the change has been so great within these past twelve years, that it is one of the greatest joys that I ever had in the world to behold it. Oh, how many congregations are now plainly and frequently taught, who lived then in great obscurity! How many able, faithful men there are now in a county, in comparison to what we had then! How graciously God has prospered the studies of many young men who were little children in the beginning of the recent troubles, so that now they crowd out most of their seniors! How many miles I would have gone in the last twenty years to have heard one of those ancient reverend divines, whose congregations have now grown thin, and their roles esteemed minor, by reason of the notable improvement of their juniors! In particular, how mercifully the Lord has dealt with this poor county of Worcester, in raising up so many who do credit to the sacred office, and who freely and self denyingly lay themselves out for the good of souls, being zealous and steadfast in it! I bless the Lord that has placed me in such a neighborhood where I may have the brotherly fellowship of so many able, faithful, humble, unanimous, and peaceable men. Oh that the Lord would long continue this admirable mercy to this unworthy county! And I hope I will rejoice in God while I live that the change I have lived to see here has become common in other parts: that so many hundreds of faithful men are so hard at work to save souls, despite the muttering and gnashing of teeth of the enemy; and that more are quickly springing up. I know there are some men who, being of another mind as to church government, will be offended at my very mention of this happy alteration, and I respect their positions. But I must profess that, even if I were absolutely prelatical, if I knew my heart, I could not help but rejoice. What! Not rejoice at the prosperity of the Church, because men differ in opinion about its order? Should I shut my eyes against the mercies of the Lord? Are the souls of men so contemptible to me that I would envy them the bread of life, simply because it was broken by a hand that did not have the approval of the prelate? O that every congregation was thus supplied with its bread! But everything cannot be done at once. They had a long time to settle a corrupted ministry; and when the ignorant and the scandalous are thrown out, we cannot readily create abilities in others to replenish the supply. We must await the time of their preparation and growth. And then, if England does not drive away the gospel by their abuses, and their willful lack of reform, and their hatred of the light, then they are likely to be the happiest nation under heaven. As for all the sects and heresies that are creeping in and troubling us daily, I do not doubt that the gospel, if managed by an able and self-denying ministry, will effectually disperse and shame them all.
But, you may say,“This is not confessing sin; it applauds those whose sins you pretend to confess.” To this I answer, it is due acknowledgment of God’s kindness, and it is thanksgiving for his admirable mercies. I say it so that I may not appear unthankful in confessing it, nor appear to cloud or vilify God’s graces as I expose the frailties that accompany them in many of us; for many things are sadly out of order in the best of us, as will become apparent from the following particulars.
1. One of our most heinous and palpable sins is PRIDE. This sin has too large an interest in the best of us, but it is more hateful and inexcusable in us than in other men. Yet is it so prevalent in some of us, that it dictates our discourses, it chooses our company, it shapes our demeanor, and it puts the accent and emphasis on our words. It fills some men’s minds with aspirations and designs: it possesses them with envious and bitter thoughts against those who stand in their light, or who eclipse their glory in any way, or hinder the growth of their reputation. Oh what a constant companion, what a tyrannical commander, what a sly, subtle, and insinuating enemy this sin of pride is! It goes with men to the draper, the mercer, and the tailor: it chooses for them their cloth, their trimming, and their fashion. Fewer ministers would style their hair and clothing according to the latest fashion, if it were not for the command of this tyrannous vice. And I wish this were all of it, or the worst of it. But, alas! How frequently it goes with us into our study, and there it sits with us and does our work! How often it chooses our subject, and, more frequently still, our words and ornaments! God commands us to be as plain as we can, so that we may inform the ignorant; and as convincing and serious as we are able, so that we may melt and change their hardened hearts. But pride stands by and contradicts everything, and produces its toys and trifles. It pollutes rather than polishes; and under a pretense of laudable flourishes, it dishonors our sermons with childish decorations: as if a prince was to be dressed in the costume of a stage-player, or a painted fool. It persuades us to paint the window, so that it may dim the light: and to say to our people things they cannot understand; to let them know we are able to speak well – but unprofitably. If we have a plain and cutting passage of Scripture, our flowery speech takes off the edge, and dulls the life of our preaching under the pretense of filing off the roughness, unevenness, and excess. When God charges us to deal with men as if for their lives, and to beg them with all the earnestness that we are able to muster, this cursed sin controls all of it, and condemns the most holy commands of God. It says to us,“What! Will you make people think you are mad? Will you make them say you are raving? Can you not speak soberly and moderately?” And thus pride makes many a man’s sermons; and what pride makes, the devil makes; and what sermons the devil would make, and to what end, we may easily conjecture. Though the subject matter is about God, yet if the dress, and manner, and end are from Satan, then we have no great reason to expect success.
And when pride has made the sermon, it goes with us into the pulpit; it forms our tone; it animates us in the delivery; it takes us away from what may be displeasing, however necessary; and it sets us in pursuit of vain applause. In short, the sum of all this is that pride makes men, both in studying and preaching, seek themselves and deny God, when they should seek God’s glory and deny themselves. When they should inquire,“What will I say, and how will I say it, to please God best, and do the most good?”, it makes them ask instead, “What will I say, and how will I deliver it, to be thought a learned and able preacher, and to be applauded by all who hear me?” When the sermon is done, pride goes home with them; it makes them more eager to know whether they were applauded, than whether they prevailed to save souls. Were it not for shame, they could find it in their hearts to ask people how they liked them, and to elicit their praise. If they perceive that they are highly thought of, then they rejoice, having attained their purposes; but if they see that they are considered only weak or common men, then they are displeased, having missed the prize that they had in mind.
But even this is not all or the worst of it, if there can be worse. Oh, that it should ever be said of godly ministers, that they are intent upon popular air, and sitting high in men’s estimation. Or if it should be said that they envy the talents and names of their brothers who are preferred above them, as if any praise given to another was taken from their own praise; and as if God had given them his gifts to be their personal ornaments and trappings, so that they might walk as men of great reputation in the world; and as if all his gifts to others were to be trodden down and vilified, because they stood in the way of their own honor! What! A saint, a preacher of Christ, and yet he envies someone who bears the image of Christ, and he maligns his gifts for which Christ should receive the glory, and all because they seem to hinder his own glory. Is not every true Christian a member of the body of Christ, and, therefore he partakes of the blessings of the whole, and of each particular member of it? And does not every man owe thanks to God for his brothers’ gifts, not only having himself a part in them, as the foot has the benefit of the guidance of the eye; but also because his own ends may be attained by his brother’s gifts, as well as by his own? For if the glory of God and the Church’s happiness are not his end, then he is not a Christian. Will any workman malign another workman because he helps him do his master’s work? Yet, alas! How common this heinous crime is among the ministers of Christ! They secretly blot the reputation of those who stand in the way of their own reputation. What they cannot do plainly and openly, for fear they may be proved liars and slanderers, they do generally, and by malicious intimations; they raise suspicions where they cannot fasten accusations. And some go so far that they are unwilling to have anyone abler than themselves come into their pulpits, lest that person receive more applause than themselves. It is a fearful thing for anyone who has the least fear of God, to so envy God’s gifts that he would rather his carnal hearers remain unconverted, and the drowsy remain unawakened, than their conversion and awakening come at the hands of someone preferred above him. Indeed, this cursed vice prevails so far that in a number of large congregations, which need the help of many preachers, we can rarely get two of equality to live together in love and quietness, and to unanimously carry on the work of God. They contend for precedence, unless one of them is quite below the other in some area, and is content to be less esteemed; or unless he is an assistant to the other and is ruled by him. They envy each other’s influence, and they walk like strangers, with jealousy towards one another. This shames their profession, and greatly wrongs their people. I am ashamed to think that when I have been laboring to convince people of public influence and power, of the great need for more than one minister in large congregations, they tell me that two would never agree to work together. I hope the objection is unfounded for most; but it is a sad case that it would be true of any. No, some men are so far gone in pride, that when they might have an equal assistant to further the work of God, they would rather take the whole burden on themselves (even though it is more than they can bear), than to have anyone share their honor, or to have their influence diminished in the eyes of the people.
Out of pride, men also magnify their own opinions; they are as critical of anyone who differs from them in little things, as if it were the same to differ from them as from God. They expect everyone to conform to their judgment, as if they were the rulers of the Church’s faith; and while we decry papal infallibility, too many of us would be popes ourselves, and have everyone submit to our determinations, as if we were infallible. It is true that modesty will not let us say that expressly. Instead, we pretend that it is only the evidence of truth, apparent in our reasons, that we expect men to yield to; it is only our zeal for the truth, and not for ourselves. But if our reasons must be accepted as valid, then so must our truth. And if our reasons are openly examined, and found to be fallacious, then we refuse to see it, because they are our reasons; and so we become angry if our fallacious reasoning is disclosed to others. We defend the cause of our errors as if anything said against them is said against us personally; and as if we were heinously injured to have our arguments thoroughly refuted, those same arguments by which we injured the truth and the souls of men. Through our pride, the matter has come to this: that if an error or a fallacious argument comes under the patronage of a reverend name (which is nothing rare), then we must allow that argument the victory and give up the truth, or else we will injure the name that patronizes it. For even though you do not attack them personally, they put themselves under all the blows by which you assault their arguments. They feel them as sensibly as if you had spoken of them, because they think it follows in the eyes of others that weak arguing is a sign of a weak man. Therefore, if you consider it your duty to shame their errors and false reasonings by revealing their nakedness, they will take it as if you shamed them personally; and so their names become a garrison or fortress for their mistakes, and the reverence of their name requires them to defend all their sayings from attack.
So haughty indeed are our spirits, that when it is the duty of anyone to reprove or contradict us, we are commonly impatient with both the matter and the manner of it. We love the man who will say as we say, and have our opinion, and promote our reputation, though in other respects he may be less worthy of our esteem. But someone who contradicts us, and differs from us, and deals plainly with us as to our miscarriages, and tells us of our faults, is somehow ungrateful. Especially in managing our public discussions, where the eyes of the world are upon us, we can scarcely endure any contradiction or plain dealing. I know that railing language is to be abhorred, and that we should be as tender with each other’s reputation as our fidelity to the truth permits. But our pride makes too many of us think that all men despise us who do not admire us, indeed, who do not admire all we say, and do not subjugate their own judgments to our most obvious mistakes. We are so sensitive that a man can scarcely touch us without hurting us. We are so high-minded, that a man who is not versed in complimenting us, and skilled in flattery above the norm, can scarcely tell how to handle us. He must be so observant as to meet our expectations at every turn, not saying or neglecting anything that our haughty spirits will fasten on and take as injurious to our honor.
I confess I have often wondered how this most heinous sin can be made so light of, and thought so consistent with a holy frame of heart and life, when we proclaim far less sins are so damnable in our people? And I have wondered even more to see the difference between godly preachers and ungodly sinners in this respect. When we speak to those who are drunkards, worldly, ignorant, and unconverted, we completely disgrace them, and lay it on as plainly as we can. We tell them of their sin, shame, and misery; and we expect them not only to bear all this patiently, but to receive it all thankfully. And most with whom I deal do take it patiently. Many gross sinners will commend blunt preachers the most, and say they do not care to hear a man who will not tell them plainly of their sins. But when we speak to godly ministers against their errors or their sins, if we do not honor them and reverence them, and if we do not speak as smoothly as we are able, indeed, if we do not mix commendations with our reproofs, and if the praise does not drown all the force of the reproof or refutation, then they take it as an almost insufferable injury.
Brothers, I know this is a sad confession, but the fact that all this exists among us should be more grievous to us than being told about it. If the evil could be hidden, I would not have disclosed it, at least not so openly, and in the view of all. But, alas! It was open to the eyes of the world long ago. We have dishonored ourselves by idolizing our honor; we print our shame, and we preach it, thus proclaiming it to the whole world. Some will think I speak with too much charity when I call such persons godly men, those in whom so great a sin prevails, and to such an extent. I know, indeed, that where it is predominant in them, and it is not hated and bewailed, and it is not greatly mortified, there can be no true godliness; and I beg every man to exercise a strict wariness, and to search his own heart. But if all are graceless who are guilty of any pride, or who are guilty of most of the fore-mentioned evidences of pride, then may the Lord be merciful to the ministers of this land, and give us another spirit quickly; for then grace is rarer than most of us supposed. Yet I must say, that I do not mean to include all the ministers of Christ in this charge. It is spoken to the praise of Divine grace that we have some among us who are eminently known for their humility and meekness, and who are exemplary in these respects to their flocks and to their brothers. It is and it will be their glory; and it makes them truly honorable and lovely in the eyes of God and of all good men, and even in the eyes of the ungodly themselves. O that the rest of us were but such ministers! But, alas! This is not the case with all of us.
O that the Lord would lay us at his feet, in the tears of unfeigned sorrow for this sin! Brothers, may I expostulate this case a little with my own heart and yours, so that we may see the evil of our sin and be reformed! Is not pride the sin of devils – the first-born of hell? Is it not that in which Satan’s image greatly consists? And is it then to be tolerated in men who are engaged against him and his kingdom, as we are? The very design of the gospel is to abase us; and the work of grace is begun and carried on in humiliation. Humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature. It is a contradiction in terms to be a Christian, and not be humble. All who will be Christians must be Christ’s disciples, and “come to him to learn,” and the lesson which he teaches them is, to “be meek and lowly.” Oh, how many precepts and admirable examples our Lord and Master has given us to this end! Can we behold him washing and wiping his servants’ feet, and yet still be proud and lordly? Will he converse with the lowliest of people, and yet we avoid them as beneath our notice, and we think that only persons of wealth and honor are fit for our company? How many of us are found more often in the houses of gentlemen than in the cottages of the poor, of those who most need our help? Many of us would think it beneath us to be with the most needy and beggarly people daily, instructing them in the way of life and salvation; as if we had taken charge only of the souls of the rich!
Alas! What do we have to be proud of? Is it of our physical body? Why, is it not made of the same materials as the beasts; and will it not shortly be as loathsome and abominable as any other carcass? Is it of our graces? Why, the more proud we are of them, the less we have to be proud of. When so much of the nature of grace consists in humility, it is absurd to be proud of it! Is it of our knowledge and learning? Why, if we have any knowledge at all, we know how much reason we have to be humble; and if we know more than other men, we have more reason than they do to be humble. How little the most learned know compared to what they are ignorant of! Knowing that things are beyond your reach, and how ignorant you are, should be no great cause for pride. Do not the devils know more than you? And will you be proud of that in which the devils excel you? Our very business is to teach the great lesson of humility to our people; how unfitting it is, then, for us to be proud ourselves. We must study and preach humility; must we not also possess and practice humility? A proud preacher of humility is at least a self-condemning man. What a sad case it is, that so vile a sin is not more easily discerned by us. Instead, many who are most proud blame others for it, and yet ignore it in themselves! The world can recognize some among us who have aspirations, and seek the highest positions, and must be the rulers, and hold sway wherever they go, or else there is no living or dealing with them. In any consultations, these men do not search for truth; rather they dictate to others who perhaps are better fit to teach them. In a word, they have such arrogant and domineering spirits, that the world buzzes about it, and yet they will not see it in themselves!
Brothers, I desire to deal closely with my own heart and yours. I beg you to consider whether it will save us to speak well of the grace of humility while we do not possess it, or to speak against the sin of pride while we indulge in it? Do not many of us have cause to inquire diligently whether sincerity is consistent with the measure of pride we feel in ourselves? When we are telling the drunkard that he cannot be saved unless he becomes temperate, and the fornicator that he cannot be saved unless he becomes chaste, do we not have as great a reason, if we are proud, to say to ourselves that we cannot be saved unless we become humble? Pride, in fact, is a greater sin than drunkenness or whoredom; and humility is as necessary as sobriety and chastity. Truly, brothers, a man may just as certainly (and more slyly) hasten to hell, despite his earnest preaching of the gospel, and his seeming zeal for a holy life, as he would by way of drunkenness and filthiness. For what is holiness but being devoted to God and living for him? And what is a damnable state, but being devoted to our carnal self and living for ourselves? And does anyone live more for himself, or less for God, than the proud man? And may not pride make a preacher study for himself, and pray and preach for himself, and live for himself, even when he seems to surpass others in the work? The work, without the right principle and end, will not prove us upright. The work may be God’s, and yet we may do it for ourselves and not for God. I confess that I feel such a continual danger on this point, that if I do not watch, I will study for myself, and preach for myself, and write for myself, rather than for Christ, and I would soon go wrong; after all, if I must condemn the sin, then I must not justify it in myself.
Consider, I beg you, brothers, what baits there are in the work of the ministry to entice a man to selfishness, even in the highest works of piety. The fame of a godly man is as great a snare as the fame of a learned man. Woe to the one who seeks the fame of godliness instead of godliness itself! “Truly I say unto you, they have their reward.” When the times were all about learning and empty formalities, the temptation of the proud inclined that way. But now, through the unspeakable mercy of God, the most vital and practical preaching is now in favor, and godliness itself is in favor. And so, the temptation of the proud is to pretend to be zealous preachers and godly men. Oh, what a fine thing is it to have the people crowding around to hear us, and to be influenced by what we say, yielding their judgments and preferences to us! What a captivating thing it is to be acclaimed as the ablest and godliest man in the country, to be famed throughout the land for the highest spiritual excellences! Alas, brothers, a little grace combined with such inducements, will serve to make you join those who would be pre-eminent in promoting the cause of Christ in the world. No, pride may do it by itself, without special grace.
Oh, therefore, be jealous of yourselves; and, amid all your studies, be sure to study humility. “The one who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” I commonly observe that almost all men, whether good or bad, loathe the proud and love the humble. But pride so denies itself that, conscious of its own deformity, it often borrows the homely dress of humility. We have all the more cause to be wary of it, because it is a sin most deeply rooted in our nature, and as unlikely as any to be fully purged from the soul.
2. We do not lay ourselves out in the work of the Lord as seriously, unreservedly, and laboriously as men of our profession and activities should. I bless the Lord that there are so many who do this work with all their might. But, alas! How imperfectly and negligently most do their work, even those we take for godly ministers! How few of us behave ourselves in our office as men who are wholly devoted to it should, as men who have consecrated all they have to that end! And because you will see my grounds for this confession, I will mention some instances of our sinful negligence.
(1) If we were duly devoted to our work, we would not be so negligent in our studies. Few men take the pains necessary to rightly inform their understanding, and to equip them for further work. Some men have no delight in their studies, but take only an hour now and then, as it if it were an unwelcome task which they are forced to undergo; and they are glad when they are out from under the yoke. Will neither the natural desire for knowledge, nor the spiritual desire to know God and things Divine, nor the consciousness of our great ignorance and weakness, nor the sense of the weight of our ministerial work – will none of all these things keep us closer to our studies, and make us more laborious in seeking after truth? O what an abundance of things there are that a minister should understand! And what a great defect it is to be ignorant of them! And how much we will miss such knowledge in our work! Many ministers study only to compose their sermons and little more, when there are so many books to be read, and so many matters that we should not be unacquainted with. No, we are too negligent in the study of our sermons, gathering only a few naked truths, and not considering the most forcible expressions by which we may drive them home to men’s consciences and hearts. We must study how to convince and get inside our people, and how to bring each truth alive, and not leave all this to hasty preparation, unless in cases of absolute necessity. Certainly, brothers, experience will teach you that men are not made learned or wise without hard study and unwearied labor and experience.
(2) If we were heartily devoted to our work, it would be done more vigorously, and more seriously, than it is by most of us. How few ministers preach with all their might, or speak about everlasting joys and everlasting torments in such a way as to make men believe they are passionate about it! It should make a man’s heart ache to see a group of dead and drowsy sinners sitting under a minister, not hearing a word that is likely to enliven or awaken them. Alas! We speak so drowsily, and so softly, that sleepy sinners cannot hear our words. The blow falls so lightly that hard-hearted sinners cannot feel it. Most ministers will not strain their voice, stirring themselves up to speak passionately. And if they do speak loud and earnestly, few accompany it with weighty and passionate subject matter! And yet without this, the voice does little good; the people will consider it mere wailing if the content does not match the voice. It should grieve one to the heart to hear what excellent doctrine some ministers have in hand, and yet they let it die in their hands for lack of a familiar and lively application. What appropriate matter they have to convince sinners, and yet how little they make of it. And what good they might do if they would only drive it home; yet they cannot or will not do it.
O sirs, how plainly, how familiarly, how passionately, we should deliver a message of such import as ours, when the everlasting life or death of our fellowmen is involved! I think we lack nothing more than we lack this seriousness; nothing is more unsuitable to such a business than to be delicate and dull. What! Speak coldly for God, and for men’s salvation? Can we really believe that our people must be converted or condemned, and yet we speak to them in a drowsy tone? In the name of God, brothers, labor to awaken your own hearts before you go to the pulpit, so that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners! Remember they must be awakened or damned: a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners. If your words give the highest praises to the holy things of God, and yet you say them coldly, then your manner will seem to unsay the matter. It is a kind of contempt to speak of great things, especially these great things, without much affection and fervency. The manner as well as the words, must deliver them. If we are commanded,“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,” then certainly preaching for men’s salvation should be done with all our might. But, alas, how few there are of such men! It is only here and there, even among good ministers, that we find one who has an earnest, persuasive, and powerful way of speaking, so that the people can feel him preach when they hear him.
I am not urging you to have a constant loudness in your delivery (that will make your fervency scorned); yet see to it that you have a constant seriousness; and when the matter requires it (as it should, in the application at least), then lift up your voice, and do not spare your spirits. Speak to your people as you would to men who must be awakened, either here or in hell. Look around at them with the eye of faith, and with compassion, and think about which state of joy or torment they must be in forever; and then, I think, it will make you earnest, and it will melt your heart to a sense of their condition. Oh, do not speak one cold or careless word about so great a business as heaven or hell. Whatever you do, let the people see that you are in good earnest. Truly, brothers, these are great works which you have to do, and you must not think that trifling will somehow fulfill them. You cannot break men’s hearts by jesting with them, or telling them a smooth tale, or pronouncing a gaudy oration. Men will not throw away their dearest pleasures at the drowsy request of someone who does not seem to mean what he says, or to care much whether his request is granted or not. If you say that the work is God’s, and he may do it by the weakest means, I answer,“It is true, he may do so”; yet his ordinary way is to work by means, and to make not only the matter, but also the manner of preaching, instrumental to the work.
With most of our listeners, the very pronunciation and tone of speech is a great point. The best matter will scarcely move them, unless it is movingly delivered. See, especially, that there is no affectation, but that you speak as familiarly to them as you would if you were talking to any of them personally. The lack of a familiar tone and expression is a great fault in most of our deliveries, and we should be very careful to amend it. When a man has a reading or reciting tone, like a school-boy saying his lesson, or repeating an oration, few are moved by anything he says. Let us, therefore, rouse ourselves up to the work of the Lord, and speak to our people as if it was for their very lives, and save them by force,“pulling them out of the fire.” Satan will not be charmed out of his possession: we must lay siege to the souls of sinners, discover where his garrison is located, find out where his chief strength lies, and then lay the battery of God’s ordnance against it, and work it at close quarters until a breach is made; and then do not allow them by their evasions to repair it again. Because we have reasonable creatures to deal with, and because they abuse their reason against the truth, we must see that all our sermons are convincing, and that we make the light of Scripture and Reason shine so bright in the faces of the ungodly that it may even force them to see, unless they willfully shut their eyes. A sermon full of mere words, if it lacks the light of evidence and the life of zeal, however neatly it might be composed, is only an image of a well-dressed carcass.
In preaching, there is a communion of souls, and a communication of something from our souls to theirs. Just as we and they have understanding and will and affections, so the bent of our endeavors must be to communicate the fullest light of evidence from our understanding to theirs, and to warm their hearts by kindling in them a holy affection by communicating it from our own. The great things which we have to commend to our hearers have reason enough on their side, and lie plainly before them in the Word of God. We should, therefore, be furnished with all kinds of evidence so that we may come like a torrent upon their understanding; and so that with our reasoning and persuasion we may pour shame on all their vain objections, knocking them all down before us, so that their souls may be forced to yield to the power of truth.
(3) If we are heartily devoted to the work of God, then why do we not pity the poor unprovided congregations around us, and take care to help them to find able ministers? And, in the mean time, why do we not go out now and then to their assistance, when the business of our particular charge allows it? A sermon given in the more ignorant places, done purposely for the work of conversion, delivered by the most lively, powerful preachers, might be a great help where constant means are lacking.
3. Another sad evidence that we have not devoted ourselves and all we have to the service of God as we ought to have done, is our prevailing regard to our worldly interests – in opposition to the interest and the work of Christ. I will manifest this with three instances:
(1) The temporizing of ministers. I do not want anyone to be contentious with those who govern them, nor to disobey any of their lawful commands. But it is not the least accusation against ministers that most of them, for worldly advantage, accommodate the party which will most likely promote their ends. If they look for secular advantages, they accommodate secular power; if they look for applause, they accommodate the Church party that is most in favor. Alas! This malady is epidemic. In Constantine’s days, the Orthodox were prevalent! In Constantius’ days, almost all of them became Arians. There were very few bishops who did not apostatize or betray the truth, including the very men who had been at the Council of Nicaea. Indeed when not only Liberius, but great Ossius himself fell, the man who had been the president in so many orthodox councils, what more could be expected of weaker men? Were it not for secular advantage, how would it come to pass that ministers in all countries of the world are nearly all of whichever religion is most in favor, and most consistent with their worldly interests? Among the Greeks, they are all of the Greek profession: among the Papists, they are almost all Papists: in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, they are almost all Lutherans: and so it is in other countries. It would be strange that they are all “in the right” in one country, and all “in the wrong” in another, if carnal advantages did not hold much sway with men, as they engage in the search for truth. The variety of intellect, and innumerable other circumstances, would unavoidably cause a great variety of opinions on various points if it did not. But if the prince and the stream of men who are in power run one way, most ministers will agree with them to a hair, without going out of their way to search for the truth. Look how common ministers generally changed their religion with a change in prince at various times in this land! Indeed, not all of them did, as our Martyrology can attest, yet most did. And that same subservient weakness still follows us; it causes our enemies to say that reputation and preference are our religion and our reward.
(2) We mind worldly things too much, and shrink from any duties that will injure or hinder our temporal interests. How common it is for ministers to drown themselves in worldly business! Too many are just what the sectarians want us to be, who tell us that we should go to the plow and labor for our living, and preach without so much study. This is a lesson which is easily learned. Men are not anxious to cast off supporting themselves, so that their own souls and the Church may have all their care.
And especially how common it is to neglect any duties that are likely to diminish our own estates! Are there not many, for example, who dare not, and will not, exercise discipline in their churches because it may keep the people from paying them their dues? They will not offend sinners with discipline, lest the sinners offend them in their own estates. I find money is too strong an argument for some men to rebut, who yet proclaim that “the love of money is the root of all evil,”and who still make long orations about the danger of covetousness. I will say no more to them at present except this: If money was so deadly a sin in Simon Magus who offered to buy the gift of God with money, then what kind of sin is it to sell God’s gift, his cause, and the souls of men for money? And what reason do we have to fear, lest our money perish with us!
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