Small Beginnings Not to Be Despised 2

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II. I shall now apply the sentiment of the text to PERSONAL PIETY.

1. True piety is often small in its commencement. This is not always the case. Sometimes a transformation of character takes place, as complete as it is rapid. Many people of notoriously wicked character have been so entirely changed under a single sermon, that in all their views, pursuits, and feelings, they have been, from that hour, new creatures in Christ Jesus. Such instances of conversion are not the ordinary method of Divine procedure; but to deny that they ever take place, is to contend against indubitable testimony. The historical parts of the New Testament furnish many cases of this nature, among which, the conversion of Paul bears a distinguished place. It must be admitted, however, that the usual process of this great change is much more slow. The figures by which it is set forth in the Word of God represent it as a gradual work. "The path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day." The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which advances through all the stages of intermediate growth to the magnitude of a tree. A Christian is first a babe, then a young man, then a father in Christ. In the growth of piety there is first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the car. All these figures imply small beginnings, and slow advances.

A pious emotion produced in the heart of a child, when her mother was explaining to her the catechism which she had committed to memory; or a devout seriousness impressed upon her mind by reading the obituary of some holy youth; the pang of compunction excited in the soul of a Sunday school boy, by the affectionate expostulation of his teacher; the reflection of a prodigal, in the land of his wanderings and his vices, upon the admonitions he had received in his father's house; the enquiry awakened in a thoughtless bosom by a hint dropped in company; such have been the beginnings, in many cases, of that religion which terminates in eternal life.

But we will represent it in a form of more frequent occurrence. How often does this great work begin in the soul under a sermon, to which the sinner was drawn by no better motive than that of curiosity? While hearing the word with listless indifference, his attention is roused and fixed by some pointed remark of the preacher, which, soft and silent as the seed that drops from the wings of the wind, and germinates where it drops—lands upon his soul, and produces a secret conviction that makes him return less easy than he came.

It is not strong enough to restrain him from his evil practices—but it prevents him from enjoying them as he once did. He is less happy in evil company, wishes that he had never heard the sermon which has thus interrupted his comfort, and begins to feel angry with the preacher that has disturbed his peace. Yet he must go and hear him again. Every sermon increases his uneasiness, and yet such is the power of the fascination that he cannot keep away. The evil of sin in general, and of his own sin in particular, increases upon his view. He determines to break off wrong practices, and perform religious duties.

All is now peace. He is pleased with himself, and expects that God is pleased with him too. The preacher, however, totally disturbs this groundless repose, by asserting that it is not by works of righteousness which we can do, that salvation is to be obtained. He is now plunged into the deepest distress, perplexity, and despondency. How then can he be saved? He is ready to give up all for lost, and since he cannot be saved by his good deeds, has serious thoughts of returning to his bad ones; for no man is in greater danger of being riveted to his sins than he who despairs of their being pardoned. In this situation he hears a discourse on the nature of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ. This is what he needed. It suits his case. He believes, and enters into rest. However, his knowledge may remain contracted for a while—his faith weak, his peace easily disturbed.

2. There are many ways in which the day of small things, in this application of the sentiment, may be despised. It may be RIDICULED as the fanaticism of a weak mind, or the enthusiasm of a heated imagination, or the whim of a capricious taste. Many of the convictions, tastes, and pursuits of spiritual religion, must necessarily appear so peculiar to one who is a stranger to them, that it is no wonder he should laugh at them. Let the scorner, however, beware, for ridicule at religion is most dangerous sport. Piety is the image of God in the soul of man, and an insult offered to a portrait, is in every case, next in crime to mocking the author. Let those who are the objects of this unhallowed mirth be mild but firm. Let them take it patiently, and it will be soon terminated. There is nothing men are more unwilling to spend in vain than their scorn. They can never endure long to waste their sneers upon a rock which neither feels them nor yields to them.

Ridicule is not unfrequently coupled with DIRECT OPPOSITION. Men who find that laughter avails nothing, are very likely to exchange it for wrath, and try to effect by frowns what could not be accomplished by jests. This was the case with the enemies of the Jews who opposed the rebuilding of the temple. Persecutors vary both their weapons and their method of attack. But in the case of real religion, they are all alike unsuccessful. They may as well attempt to arrest the tempest in its flight, as to stop the course of a soul which is soaring to heaven on the pinions of faith and love. They may as soon hope to extinguish the splendor of the noonday sun, as expect to put out the light of divine truth in a mind which has been illuminated by the Spirit of God. If they would try their strength, let them go to the forest, and pluck up the veteran oak by the roots—for this is an easier achievement than to eradicate the truest sapling which the hand of the Lord has planted in his garden.

NEGLECT, however, is that which comes more immediately within the intent of this part of the subject, as a method of despising the day of small things. The first appearances of religion in the soul do not always receive from others the prompt, affectionate, and skillful attention, which they demand and deserve. There is a most criminal inattention to this subject prevailing very extensively in the churches of God. People whose minds have been recently impressed with a sense of the necessity and importance of vital religion, who have entered the paths of wisdom, with timid and feeble steps, but who are deeply and tremblingly anxious to proceed, are too often left to journey onward amidst every discouragement, without one single friend to provide help to them in their future course. Of what service to such young travelers would be the smile, and the advice, and the encouragement of those who had been long in the way!

First impressions of piety, however deep, unless carefully watched, like the young buds of fruit trees in the spring, will soon fall off from the mind and come to nothing. It is a wretched perversion of a sublime and solemn doctrine to say, "That if the work is of God, it will go on without us—and if it is not, our exertions cannot perpetuate it." The same remark will apply with just as much propriety to render preaching useless. God carries on by means, no less than he begins by them.

There are many people, it is to be feared, who would hear with indifference and neglect the very question of the Philippian jailor again asked with agony not inferior to his, "What shall I do to be saved?" The cold unconcern and unbending stiffness of some who stand high in the churches of Christ—are as reproachful to themselves as they are injurious to others. It is truly shocking to see with what inattention in some cases, and with what suspicion in others, people under the deepest religious concern, are treated by those who ought to know better. Instead of this miserable and ruinous caution—we all ought to rejoice in the first marks of true religion in anyone, whether a stranger, or an enemy, or a friend. In default of abler assistance, we should offer him our own.

We should give him every help. If he is timid—we should encourage him; if he is wavering—we should strive to settle him; if he is ignorant—we should teach him; if he is alarmed—we should soothe him; if he grows but slowly—we should bear with his dullness; if he sometimes disappoints our expectation—we should mourn over him, but not abandon him; if he turns a little out of his course—we should follow him in his wanderings, and not in anger give him up to stray farther and farther. We should conciliate him by our affection. We should guard him by our caution. We should help him by our experience. And especially should we bless him by our prayers. We should never cease our solicitude or our efforts until the day of small things has become a day of great ones, or has terminated in the rayless night of utter apostasy. This cannot be more than the nature of the case requires, for it is on behalf of a soul that must forever live in rapture—or in woe—and the man that would not spend a lengthened life, or travel around the circumference of the globe to save the soul of another, cannot yet have learned the value of his own soul.

3. There are many reasons why the day of small things ought not to be despised. It is not despised by those who best know its importance. It is not neglected or despised by the Eternal Father. How affectingly is this set forth in the beautiful parable of the prodigal son. I need not inform you whose grace and compassion are represented in that inimitable picture, under the character of the parent. When the youth had left the house which had so long sheltered him, did the father remain contented and careless at home? No! He went out to look for his wandering child.

When he saw the profligate coming at a distance, the spectacle of misery and destitution, did he return to wait his arrival in the house? No! He ran to meet him—and was the only one of the two that ran! When he beheld him covered with rags and wretchedness, did he determine before he embraced or received him to his favor to have all the rags of his disgrace stripped off, and have the youth put upon his probation? O, no! There and then as he found him, when filial feelings first returned to the bosom of the prodigal, and in the very beginning of his obedience—the father fell upon his neck, and kissed him. So truly and so tenderly does the God of love rejoice over the commencement of true piety.

It was but a day or two after Saul of Tarsus had been breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples, that the Lord exhibited him to heaven and earth at once, as a favorite of his heart, in that well-known language, "Behold he prays." The first groan of the genuine penitent is as pleasant in the ears of Jehovah as the music of the spheres, or the melodies of angels! And if he could not listen to both at the same time, he would command silence in heaven and hush the choirs above—that the cry for mercy might ascend and be heard.

Nor is the day of small things despised by Jesus Christ. To him the spirit of prophecy gave witness that he should "feed his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom." In his bosom, where he could not only hear, but feel every bleat they uttered; and have all the tenderness of his own heart excited by the anxious and fluttering pulsations of theirs. See him in the midst of his disciples. How feeble were their perceptions, how weak their faith, how worldly their expectations, how slow their growth. Yet how kindly did he bear with their dullness, and how gently did he chide their imperfections.

Whom did he ever reject that came to him in earnest, however recent were their convictions of his divine mission, or their impressions of their own sins? When the woman who had been a vile sinner knelt weeping at his feet, and the proud pharisee in the company scorned the sorrow of her bursting heart, the Savior of the world turning to her with all the mercy and dignity of his character, accepted her penitence, pardoned her sins, and sent her away both holy and happy. When the man who had been a robber was bleeding for his crimes by the side of Jesus on the cross, though his penitence probably never commenced until he was transfixed to the tree, when he turned his expiring eyes to the Savior and asked his mercy, was his prayer rejected?

Do the angels despise the day of small things? If they did, they would suspend the expressions of their delight until they beheld the redeemed sinner approaching the gates of the celestial city, in the perfection of his graces; instead however, of waiting for the termination of his career, they rejoice with unutterable joy at its commencement, and from that moment, become, with delight, the ministering spirits of the new-born heir of salvation. Nor does the mysterious, mighty enemy of God and man, look with contempt upon the beginnings of religion. The first tear of penitence, which drops from the sinner's eye, fills him with alarm, and sets in motion all his craft and power to resist the growing work of grace.

Another reason why we should not despise the beginnings of religion, is, that they lead on to great and glorious attainments. Thetraveler who has been journeying amidst the gloom of midnight, despises not the little luminous streak above the eastern hills, for he knows that it is the glimmering token of advancing day. The farmer who has sown the precious grain despises not the downy verdure which first appears just above the clods, for in that he sees the future harvest which is to repay his toil. Themother despises not the helpless babe to which she has given birth, for in that feeble and slumbering child, she knows there are the seeds of imagination, reason, will, and multiform affections—which shall grow with his growth, and strengthen with his strength, and which, by the fruits of their maturity, may bless and astonish the world.

So it is in true religion, little things advance to great ones! Baxter, and Owen, and Howe, and Doddridge were once babes in Christ—and so, indeed, were Paul, and Peter, and John. When the conversion of a sinner takes place, no mind but that which grasps eternity, can foresee the career of usefulness and holiness, which such a convert may have to run. In every case of real conversion, there will be a progress from a hardened sinner to a penitent; from a penitent to a believer; from a believer to a saint; from a saint to a seraph. He shall "add to his faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, Christian love."

That first dawn of spiritual knowledge in the understanding is the kindling of a holy luminary, which shall receive and reflect as a satellite, the splendor of the fountain light—infinite ages after the sun is quenched in darkness! That first tasting that the Lord is gracious, is the incipient operation of a capacity for bliss, which shall continue to receive ineffable delight, when all the sources of sensual gratification shall have perished forever. In the train of even 'weak grace', if it is real, shall follow all the more mature virtues of Christianity; all that the Father has prepared for them who love him; all that the Son has procured by the agonies of the cross; all the mercies of the covenant of redemption; all the riches of grace; all the exceeding and eternal weight of glory—in short, infinite and eternal blessings! Let not the commencement of true religion, therefore, be treated with neglect.

4. I shall now direct the subject to the attention of several distinct classes of people, to whom it seems peculiarly suitable. It utters a most impressive admonition to MINISTERS. To us, in a peculiar manner, is entrusted the care of souls. We labor for immortality. Our work outlives the world. The success which follows our exertions will appear before our eyes in the form of glorified spirits, through the flight of everlasting ages. What a motive to diligence! The object of our ambition should be the conversion of sinners. Everything short of this is, comparatively speaking, labor lost. When I say the conversion of sinners, I do not mean their first impressions merely; but a continued solicitude so to minister to their spiritual welfare, as that we may at last present them perfect before Christ Jesus.

True religion is considered, both by ministers and hearers, too much in the light of a state, which being attained to, the care and solicitude necessary to reach it, may, in some degree be remitted. There certainly cannot be too much concern for the production of first impressions—but ministerial concern seems too often to terminate here. There is not all that diligence which there should be, in nurturing these beginnings of piety. It appears to me that the 'preacher' is everything in the present age, and the 'pastor' is nothing. We shoot the arrow among the herd, but do not follow the stricken deer to the thicket, where he bleeds and languishes alone.

We are too apt to consider, that, after we have been the means of awakening our hearers, we have nothing more to do with them, until they come before us in the character of candidates for fellowship. Wesley adopted it as a maxim, never to preach in any place, which he was not prepared to follow up; and this was wise. Serious impressions never leave the soul as they find it. Like heated iron, the mind which receives them, if not bent while it is warm, becomes more hard when it is cold. The beginnings of religion in our hearers should therefore call forth all our solicitude and tenderness. Those who may have been recently awakened should be encouraged to visit us for private and personal discourse, should be received with the utmost affection, and dealt with in the most tender and patient manner. Let not that spiritual farmer wonder or complain that he gathers little fruit, who neglects to shelter and protect the buds and the blossoms.

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