The Nature and Universality of Spiritual Death 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
II. The magnificent and endearing relations which the great and blessed God sustains to us; and the many ways he has taken to make dutiful and grateful impressions upon our hearts.
What tender endearments are there contained in the relation of a FATHER! This he bears to us—he made us, and not we ourselves. Our bodies, indeed, are produced in a succession from Adam by natural generation—but who was it that began the series? It was the Almighty God, who formed the first man from the dust: it was he who first put the succession of causes in motion; and, therefore, he is the grand original cause, and the whole chain depends upon him! Who was it that first established the laws of generation, and still continues them in force? It is the all-creating parent of nature: and without him men would have been no more able to produce one another—than stones or clods of earth!
As to our souls, the principal part of our being—God is their immediate author, without the least concurrence of secondary causes. Hence he is called the Father of your spirits in a peculiar sense, Hebrews 12:9; and he assumes the endearing name of "the God of the spirits of all flesh." Numb. 16:22.
Now the name of a father is accustomed to carry some endearment and authority. Children, especially in their young and helpless years, are fond of their father; their little hearts beat with a thousand grateful passions towards him; they love to be dandled on his knees, and fondled in his arms; and they fly to him upon every appearance of danger. But if God is our father—where is his honor? Here, alas! the filial passions are senseless and immovable. It is but a little while ago, since we came from his creating hand—and yet we have forgotten him! It seems unnatural for his own offspring to inquire, "Where is God, my Maker?" They show no fondness for him, no affectionate veneration, and no humble confidence; their hearts are dead towards him, as though there were no such being, or no such near relation subsisting between them!
In childhood—a rattle or a straw, or any trifle, is more thought of, than their heavenly Father! In riper years—their vain pleasures and secular pursuits command more of their affections, than their divine original and only happiness. Compare your natural temper towards your heavenly Father, and towards your earthly parents—and how wide is the difference! Nature works strong in your hearts towards them—but towards God all the filial passions are dull and dead! And why? alas! the reason is, because you are dead in transgressions and sins.
But this relation of a Father is not the only relation our God sustains to you—he is your SUPREME KING, to whom you owe allegiance! He is your LAWGIVER, whose will is the rule of your conduct! And he is your JUDGE, who will call you to an account, and reward or punish you according to your works!
But how unnatural is it to men—to revere the most high God under these solemn characters! Where is there a king upon earth, however weak or tyrannical—but is more regarded by his subjects—than the King of heaven by the generality of men! Were ever such excellent LAWS despised and violated! Did ever criminals treat their judge with so much neglect and contempt! And are these souls alive to God—who thus treat him? No! Alas! "they are dead in transgressions and sins;" however lively they are towards other things—yet in this respect they are seized with a deadly stupor!
God is also our GUARDIAN and DELIVERER; and from how many dangers has he preserved us! From how many calamities has he delivered us! Dangers, distresses and deaths crowd upon us, and surround us in every age and every place! The air, the earth, the sea, and every element, are pregnant with numberless inlets of pain and death ready to seize and destroy us! Sickness and death swarm around us! Nay, they lie in ambush in our own constitution, and are perpetually undermining our lives—and yet our divine Guardian preserves us for months and years unhurt, untouched. Or if he allows the calamity to fall, or death to threaten—he flies to our deliverance; and how many salvations of this kind has he wrought for us! Salvations from accidents, from sicknesses, from pain, from sorrows, from death! Salvations from dangers seen and unseen! Salvations in infancy, in youth, and in maturer years! These things we cannot deny, without the most stupid ignorance, and an atheistic disbelief of divine Providence.
Now, such repeated, such long-continued, such unmerited favours as these—would not pass for nothing between man and man. We have hearts to feel such obligations; nay, the ten thousandth, the millionth part of such gracious care and goodness from men, would be gratefully received, and thankfully acknowledged. Indeed it is impossible we should receive even this small, this very small proportion of favours from men, in comparison of what we receive from God; and even when they are the instruments of our deliverance, God is the original Author.
But after all, is there a natural aptitude in the hearts of men to think of their gracious Guardian and Saviour? Does the principle of gratitude naturally lead them to love him, and to make thankful acknowledgements to him? Alas! no! They may indeed feel some transient, superficial workings of gratitude when under the fresh sense of some remarkable deliverance; but these impressions soon wear off—and they become as thoughtless and stupid as ever!
But let a mere man, like yourselves, save you from some great distress, you will always gratefully remember him, think of him often with pleasure, and take all opportunities of returning his kindness, especially if your deliverer was much your superior; and if you had forfeited his favour, provoked him, and incurred his displeasure: great favours from such an one would make impressions upon the most obdurate heart.
But though God is infinitely superior to us, and it is nothing to him what becomes of us, though we have rebelled against him, and deserve his vengeance—yet ten thousand deliverances from his hands have little or no effect upon the hearts of men! All these cannot bring them to think of him, or love him as much as they do a mere friend, or a common benefactor of their own species; and does such stupid ingratitude discover any spiritual life in them? No! They are dead in this respect, though they are all alive to those passions that terminate upon mere created objects.
Further, God is the Benefactor of mankind, not only in delivering them from dangers and calamities—but in bestowing unnumbered positive blessings upon them. Here I cannot pretend to be particular, for the list of blessings is endless; and it will be the happy employment of an eternity to recollect and enumerate them!
What an extensive and well-furnished WORLD has our God formed for our accommodation! For us he has enriched the sun with light and heat, and the earth with fruitfulness. The numerous species of every element—the plants, minerals, and beasts of the earth, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air—are all rendering their service to man! Some afford him food, and others work for him: the wind and seas, fire and water, stones and trees—all act together to be useful to him.
Our divine Benefactor crowns us with the blessings of liberty, of society, of friendship, and the most endearing relations. He preserves our health, gives us "rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and fills our hearts with food and gladness." In short, he gives us life, and breath, and all things richly to enjoy! Every day, every hour, every moment—has arrived to us richly freighted with blessings! Blessings have resided with us at home, and attended us abroad! Blessings presented themselves ready for our enjoyment as soon as we entered into the world: then God provided hands to receive us, knees to support us, breasts to suckle us, and parents to guard and nourish us! Blessings have grown up with us, and given such constant attendance, that they are become familiar to us, and are the inseparable companions of our lives. It is no new or novel thing to us—to see an illustrious sun rising to give us the day, to enjoy repose in the night, to rise refreshed and vigorous in the morning, to see our tables spread with plenty, the trees covered with fruit, the fields with grain and various forms of animals growing up for our support or service. These are such familiar blessings to us, that they too often seem things of course, or necessary appendages of our being.
What a crowd of blessings have crowned this present morning! You and yours are alive and well, you have not come hither ghastly and pining with hunger, or agonizing with pain. How many refreshing breaths of air have you drawn this morning! how many sprightly and regular pulses have beat through your frame! how many easy motions have you performed with hands, feet, eyes, tongues, and other members of your body! And are not all these favors from God? Yes, undoubtedly!
And thus has he gone on blessing you all your days, without any interruption at all in many of these particulars of kindness, and with but very little in the rest. As sinful and miserable as this world is—it is a treasury rich in blessings, a storehouse full of divine provisions, a dwelling well furnished for the accommodation of mortals—and all by the care, and at the expense of that gracious God who first made, and still preserves it what it is.
"Lord, why is it then that the inhabitants forget and neglect you, as though they were not at all obliged to you? Oh! why is it that they love your gifts—and yet disregard the Giver? Oh! why is it that they think less of you—than an earthly father or friend, or a human benefactor! Oh! why is it that there should be so little gratitude towards you, that of all benefactors, you should be the least acknowledged! Why is it that the benefactors of nations, and even of private people, in instances unworthy to be mentioned with those of your goodness, should be celebrated, and even adored—while you are neglected, your agency overlooked, and your goodness forgotten!
Oh! whence is this strange phenomenon, this unaccountable, unprecedented stupidity and ingratitude in reasonable creatures? Surely, if they had any life, any sensation in this respect, they would not be capable of such a conduct; but they are dead, dead to all the generous sensations of gratitude to God!
As a dead corpse feels no gratitude to those who perform the last friendly office and cover it with earth—so a dead soul stands unmoved under all the profusion of blessings which heaven pours upon it!
The blessings I have mentioned, which are confined to the present state, are great, and deserve our wonder and thanksgiving. Especially, considering that they are bestowed upon a race of rebellious, ungrateful creatures, who deserve the severest vengeance!
But there is a set of blessings yet unmentioned, of infinitely greater importance, in which all others are swallowed up, by the glory of which they are obscured; like the stars of night—by the rising sun. To some of our race—God has given crowns and kingdoms. For Israel Jehovah wrought the most astonishing miracles; seas and rivers opened to make way for them; rocks burst into springs of water to quench their thirst; the clouds poured down manna, and fed them with bread from heaven; their God delivered Daniel from the jaws of hungry lions, and his three companions from the burning fiery furnace. He has restored health to the sick, sight to the blind, and life to the dead. These blessings and deliverances have something majestic and striking in them; and had we been the subjects of them, we could not but have regarded them as great and singular.
But these are but trifles—in comparison of God's gift of his Son, and the blessings he has purchased! His Son, who is of greater value, and dearer to him than ten thousand worlds; his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased—him God has he given for us, given up to three-and-thirty years of the most mortifying abasement, and an incessant conflict with the severest trials; given up to death, and all the ignominy and agonies of crucifixion! Thus has God loved our world! And never was there such a display of love in heaven or on earth! You can no more find love equal to this among creatures, than you can find among them the infinite power that formed the universe out of nothing!
This will stand upon record to all eternity, as the unprecedented, unparalleled, inimitable love of God. And it appears the more illustrious, when we consider that this unspeakable gift was given to sinners, to rebels, to enemies, who were so far from deserving it, that, on the other hand, it is a miracle of mercy that they are not all groaning forever under the tremendous weight of his justice! Oh! that I could say something befitting this love; something that might do honor to it! But, alas! the language ofmortals was formed for lower subjects. This divine love passes all description and all knowledge.
Consider also what rich blessings Christ has purchased for His people; purchased not with such corruptible things such as silver and gold—but with His own precious blood! The price recommends and endears the blessings, though they are so great in themselves, as to need no such recommendation! What can be greater or more suitable blessings to people in our circumstances, than pardon for the guilty, redemption for slaves, righteousness and justification for the condemned, sanctification for the unholy,rest for the weary, comfort for mourners, the favour of God for rebels and exiles, strength for the impotent, protection for the helpless, and everlasting happiness for the heirs of hell! And, to sum up all, grace and glory, and every good thing, and all the unsearchable riches of Christ—for the wretched and miserable, the poor, the blind, and naked! These are blessings indeed, and, in comparison of them, all the riches of the world are impoverished, and vanish to nothing!
And all these blessings are published, offered freely, indiscriminately offered to you, to me, to the greatest sinner on earth, in the gospel! And we are allowed; 'allowed', did I say? we are invited with the utmost importunity, entreated with the most compassionate tenderness and condescension, and commanded by the highest authority, upon pain of eternal damnation, to accept the blessings presented to us!
And what reception does all this divine love meet with in our world? I tremble to think of it! It is plain that these things are proposed to a world dead in sin; for they are all still, all unmoved, all senseless under such a revelation of infinite grace! Mankind do not know what it is to be moved, melted, and transported with the love of a crucified Saviour—until divine grace visits their hearts, and forms them into new creatures. They feel no solicitude, nay, not so much as willingness to receive these blessings—until they become willing by almighty power. And you judge, my friends, whether they are not dead souls—who are armoured even against the love of God in Christ, that are not moved and melted by the agonies of his cross, who are careless about such inestimable blessings as these?
Has that soul any spiritual life in it, that can sit senseless under the cross of Jesus? that can forget him, neglect him, dishonour him, after all his love and all his sufferings? that feels a prevailing indifference and languor towards him? that loves him less than an earthly friend, and seeks him with less eagerness than gold and silver? Is not every generous passion, every principle ofgratitude quite extinct in such a soul? It may be alive to other objects—but towards Christ—it is dead! Alas! is not this the common case? Oh look around the world, and what do you see—but a general neglect of the blessed Jesus, and all the blessings of his gospel! How cold, how vexing, how reluctant, how averse—are the hearts of men towards him! How hard to persuade them to think of him and love him! Try to persuade men to give over their sins which grieve him, dishonour him, and were the cause of his agonizing death; try to engage them to devote themselves entirely to him, and live to his glory—and alas! you try in vain! Their hearts still continue as cold and as hard as a stone! Try to persuade them to murder or robbery, and you are more likely to prevail!
Suffer me, in my astonishment, to repeat this most melancholy truth again; the generality of mankind are habitually careless about the blessed Jesus; they will not seek him, nor give their hearts and affections to him—though they must perish forever by their neglect of him! Astonishing, and most lamentable, that ever such perverseness and stupidity should seize the soul of man!
Methinks I could here take up a lamentation over human nature, and fall on my knees with this prayer for my fellow men, "Almighty Father and Lord of life—quicken, oh quicken these dead souls!" Oh, Sirs, while we see death all around us, and feel it benumbing our own souls—who can help the most bitter wailing and lamentation? Who can restrain himself from crying to the great Author of life, for a powerful work of grace? While the valley of dry bones lies before me, while the carnage, the charnel-house of immortal souls strikes my sight all-around me far and wide—how can I forbear crying, Come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live!
But to turn from this digression, into which I was unavoidably hurried by the horror of the subject, I would observe farther, that kind usage and pleasing treatment may not always be best for such creatures as we are. Fatherly severities and chastisements, though not agreeable to us—yet may be necessary and conducive to our greatest good. Accordingly, God has tried the force ofchastisements to make impressions on our hearts. These indeed have been but few—in comparison of his more agreeable dispensations; yet recollect whether you have not frequently felt his rod. Have you not languished under sickness and pain, and been brought within a near view of the king of terrors? Have you not suffered the bereavement of friends and relations, and met with losses, adversity, and disappointments?
Others have felt still greater calamities in a closer succession, and with fewer mercies intermixed. These things, one would think, would immediately bring men to regard the hand that smites them, and make them sensible of their undutiful conduct, which has procured the correction! These afflictions are like the application of fire to one in a lethargy, to awaken him to life. But alas! under all these afflictions the stupor and insensibility still remain! Sinners groan by reason of their afflictions—but it is not natural for them to inquire, "Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?" It is not natural for them to repent of their undutiful conduct and amend; or if they are awakened to some little sense, while the painful rod of the Almighty is yet upon them, as soon as it is removed—they become as hardened and senseless as ever!
And is not a state of death a very proper representation of such sullen, incorrigible stupidity? Living souls have very tender sensations; one touch of their heavenly Father's hand makes deep impressions upon them; they tremble at his frown, they fall and weep at his feet, they confess their offences, and mourn over them! They fly to the arms of mercy to escape the impending blow! And thus would all do—were they not quite destitute of spiritual life.
I have materials sufficient for a discourse of some hours; but at present I must abruptly drop the subject: however, I cannot dismiss you without making a few PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS:
1. What a strange, affecting view does our subject give us of this assembly! I doubt not but I may accommodate the text tosome of you with this agreeable addition, "You has he quickened, though you once were dead in transgressions and sins." Though the vital pulse beats faint and irregular, and your spiritual life is but very low—yet, blessed be God, you are not entirely dead! You have some living sensations, some lively and vigorous exercises in religion.
On the other hand, I doubt not but some of you not only were—but still are—dead in transgressions and sins. It is not to be expected in our present world—that we shall see such a large company together, and all are living souls. Here then is the difference between you; some of you are spiritually alive—and some of you are spiritually dead! Here the living and the dead areblended together in the same assembly, on the same seat, and united in the nearest relations! Here sits one dead soul, there another, and there another—and a few living souls scattered here and there among them! Here is a dead parent—and a living child! Or, a dead child—and a living parent. Here life and death (oh, shocking!) are united in the bonds of marital love, and dwell under the same roof! Here is a dead servant—and a living master! And there a dead master (oh, terrible!) commands a living servant.
Should I trace the distinction beyond this assembly—and into the world, we shall find a family here and there that have a little life; perhaps one, perhaps two, reveal some vital evidences of spiritual life. But oh, what crowds of dead families! all dead together, and no endeavors used to bring one another to life! A death-like silence about eternal things; a deadly stupor and insensibility reign among them; they breathe out no desires and prayers after God, nor does the vital pulse of love beat in their hearts towards him! But, on the contrary, their souls are putrefying in sin, which is very emphatically called corruption by the sacred writers; they are overrun and devoured by their lusts, and worms devour and destroy the dead body.
Call to them—and they will not awake!
Thunder the terrors of the Lord in their ears—and they will not hear!
Offer them all the blessings of the gospel—and they will not stretch out the hand of faith to receive them!
Lay the Word of God, the bread of life, before them—and they have no appetite for it!
In short, the plain symptoms of death are upon them: the physical is alive—but alas! the spirit is dead towards God.
And what an affecting, melancholy view does this give of this assembly, and of the world in general! Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears-that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Weep not for the afflicted, weep not over ghastly corpses dissolving into their original dust—but oh! weep for dead souls! Should God now strike all those people physically dead in this assembly, whose souls are dead in transgressions and sins; should he lay them all as pale corpses before us, like Ananias and Sapphire at the apostles' feet—what numbers of you would never return from this house again—and what lamentations would there be among the surviving few!
One would lose a husband or a wife, another a son or a daughter, another a father or a mother! Alas! would not some whole families be swept off together, all blended in one dead heap! Such a sight as this would strike terror into the stoutest heart among you. But what is this, compared to a company of rational brings slain and dead in transgressions and sins! How deplorable and inexpressibly melancholy a sight this! Therefore,
2. Awake you who sleep, and arise from the dead—and Christ shall give you light! This call is directed to you, dead sinners; which is a sufficient warrant for me to exhort and persuade you. The principle of reason is still alive in you; you are also sensible of your own interest, and feel the workings of self-love. It is God alone who can quicken you—but he effects this by a power that does not exclude—but attends rational instructions and persuasions to your understanding. Therefore, though I am sure you will continue dead still, if left to yourselves—yet with some trembling hopes that God's divine power may accompany my feeble words, and impregnate them with life!
I call upon, I entreat, I charge you sinners to rouse yourselves out of your dead sleep, and seek to obtain spiritual life! Now, while my voice sounds in your ears; now, this moment, waft up this prayer, "Lord, pity a dead soul, a soul that has been dead for ten, twenty, thirty, forty years or more, and lain corrupting in sin—and say unto me, LIVE! From this moment, let me live unto you."
Let this prayer be still upon your hearts; keep your souls always in a supplicating posture, and who knows but that he who raised Lazarus from the grave—may give you a spiritual resurrection to a more important life!
But if you wilfully continue your carnal security—then expect in a little time to suffer the second death—which will be incurable! And then, though you will be still dead to God—yet you will be tremblingly alive all over to the sensation of pain and torture! Oh that I could gain but this one request of you, which your own interest so strongly enforces! But alas! it has been so often refused, that to expect to prevail is to hope against hope!
3. Let the children of God be sensible of their great happiness in being made spiritually alive. Life is a principle, a capacitynecessary for enjoyments of any kind. Without physical life—you would be as incapable of physical pleasures as a stone or a clod! And without spiritual life—you can no more enjoy the happiness of heaven than a beast or a devil! This therefore is a preparative, a previous qualification, and a sure pledge of everlasting life. How highly then are you distinguished, and what cause have you for gratitude and praise!
4. Let us all be sensible of this important truth: that it is entirely by grace that we are saved. This is the inference the apostle expressly makes from this doctrine: "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved!" And as soon as he has room, he resumes it again, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast!"
This, you see, is an inference that seemed of great importance to the apostle; and what can more naturally follow from thepremises? If we were once dead in sin, certainly it is owing to the freest grace that we have been quickened! Therefore, when we survey the wondrous change, let us cry, "By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10.
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies