The Tender Anxieties 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
I have no business at present to determine, whether music, dancing, and feasting, are lawful in themselves. Granting them to be as lawful as you could wish, I am sure that, at such a time, and in the circumstances that generally attend them, they are utterly unlawful to every Christian, and have a natural tendency to banish all serious religion from among us. I am no enemy to the lawful pleasures of mankind, nor do I place genuine piety in morose, mopish, melancholy austerities. But after all, I must declare, that I have very little hopes of the success of the gospel among you—if I should have a congregation of dancing, frolicking, worldly professors! Alas! you are likely to dance and frolic yourselves into hell!
It is with great reluctance that I touch upon such a subject, though with a gentle hand; but duty commands, and I must obey! I wish the admonition may be so effectual, as to prevent all occasion to repeat it in time to come.
Thus I have delineated sundry dubious characters, and now I leave you to judge whether there are not many such among you. Examine yourselves thoroughly, that you may have the judgement of God in your favour; for by that you must stand or fall.
Some of you, perhaps, may think it strange that I have omitted so many characters that are frequent among us. I have said nothing of the profane sinner, the drunkard, the swearer, the immoral, the thief, or the knave. I have said nothing of the infidel and scoffer, who boast to disbelieve the religion of Jesus, and relapse into heathenism; and who openly make a mock of sacred things. I have said nothing of the careless creature, who lives in the general neglect of even the forms of religion! I have said nothing of the stupid, thoughtless creature, who lives like a brute, merely for the purposes of the present life! I have said nothing of such as these, because they do not come under the class of doubtful characters. I have no doubt at all about such as these! I am sure they are utterly destitute of all true religion, and must perish forever—if they continue in their present condition!
If you would know how I come to be sure as to them, I answer: Because I believe both my reason and my Bible; for both put the character and the doom of such beyond all doubt. Common sense is sufficient to convince me, that such are unholy, impenitent sinners; and I am sure, both from both reason and revelation, that an unholy, impenitent sinner, while such—can never enter the kingdom of heaven. Let such as harbour a wider charity for them, point out the grounds of it. Indeed there is one thing lamentably doubtful as to such: it is very doubtful whether ever their present condition will be changed for the better! The most promising period of life is over with them, and even in that period they continued impenitent under all the means of grace they enjoyed; and is it not more likely they will continue so in time to come? Oh! that they would take the alarm, and lay their danger to heart in time, that they may use proper means for their deliverance!
Nothing can turn the full evidence against them—into their favour; and nothing can render the doubtful case of the former class, clear and satisfactory, but the formation of Christ within them. This alone can put it beyond all doubt that they are Christians indeed, and prove their sure title to everlasting happiness. This shall be the subject of the remainder of this discourse.
Here you would ask me, I suppose, "What it is to have Christ formed within us?"
I have already told you briefly, that it signifies our being made conformable to him in heart and life, or having his holy image stamped upon our hearts. This is essential to the character of every true Christian. "Christ dwells in the heart of such by faith"; and "if any man has not the Spirit of Christ—he is none of his." Romans 8:9. "He who says he abides in him—ought himself also so to walk even as he walked," says John, 1 John 2:6. "Let this mind be in you," says Paul, "which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:5. "Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." Romans 8:29.
The temper of a Christian has such a resemblance to Christ's, that it was called Christ in embryo, spiritually formed within us. It is indeed infinitely short of the all-perfect original—but yet it is a prevailing temper, and habitually the governing principle of the soul. That filial temper towards God; that humble veneration and submission; that ardent devotion; that strict regard to all the duties of religion; that self-denial, humility, meekness, and patience; that heavenly-mindedness and noble superiority to the world; that sincere charity, benevolence, and mercy to mankind; that ardent zeal and diligence to do good; that temperance and sobriety which shone in the blessed Jesus with a divine, incomparable splendour—all these and the like graces and virtues shine, though with feebler rays, in all of his followers! They have their infirmities indeed, many and great infirmities—but not such as are inconsistent with the habitual pre-valency of this Christ-like disposition!
You may make whatever excuses you please—but this is an eternal truth—that unless you have a real resemblance to the holy Jesus—you are not his genuine disciples! Please examine critically into this point. Have you a right to take your name 'Christian' from Christ, by reason of your conformity to him?
Again, if Christ is formed in your hearts, he lives there. The heavenly embryo is not yet complete, not yet ripe for birth into the heavenly world—but it is quickened. I mean, those virtues and graces above mentioned are not dead, inactive principles within you—but they operate, they show themselves alive by action, they are the governing principles of your practice.
You are not like him in heart—unless you are like him in life too; and if your life is conformed to his, it will plainly distinguish you from the world, while it continues so wicked. If you are like to him—you will certainly be very unlike to the generality of mankind; and they will acknowledge the difference, and point you out, and hate you—as not belonging to them. They will stare at you as an odd, unfashionable stranger, and wonder that you do not copy their example. "If you were of the world," says Christ, "the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world—but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:19.
I hope you now know what it is—to have Christ formed within you. And in what heart among you—is the holy Christ conceived and growing? Where are the followers of Jesus? Surely they are not so like the men of the world—the followers of sin and Satan, as to be indistinguishable. Oh! how many impostors—does this inquiry reveal! How man false pretenders to Christianity, who are the very reverse of its great Founder! And as many of you as continue unlike him now in holiness—must continue unlike to him forever in happiness. All Christ's heavenly companions are Christ-like; they bear his image and superscription!
Before I dismiss this head, I must observe that the production of this divine infant, if I may so call it, in the heart—is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. It is not the growth of human nature—but a creation of divine power. It is the hand of God—which draws the lineaments of this image upon the heart, though he makes use of the gospel and a variety of means as his pencil.
But you would inquire farther, "In what manner does this divine agent work? Or—how is Christ formed in the hearts of his people?"
I answer, The heart of man has active sensations. Nothing can be done there—without its perceiving it. Much less can Christ is formed there, while it is wholly insensible of the powerful operation. There is indeed a great variety in the individual circumstances—but the substance of the work is the same in all true Christians. Therefore, if ever you have been the subjects of it, you have been sensible of the following particulars.
1. You have been made deeply sensible of your being entirely destitute of this divine image. Your hearts have appeared to you as a huge, shapeless mass of corruption, without one ingredient of true goodness, amidst all the flattering appearances of it! In view of this horrid discovery—your high conceit of yourselves was mortified, your airs of pride and self-importance lowered; and you saw yourselves utterly unfit for heaven, that region of purity; and ready to fall, as it were, by your own weight, into hell—that infernal sink of all the pollutions of the moral world!
This is the first step towards the formation of Christ in the soul. And have you ever gone thus far? If not—then you may be sure you have never gone farther.
2. You have hereupon set yourselves in earnest to the use of the means appointed for the renovation of your nature.Prayer, hearing the gospel, and other divine ordinances, were no more lifeless, customary formalities to you; but you exerted all the vigour of your souls in them. You also guarded against everything that tended to nourish your depraved disposition, and hinder the formation of Christ within you. Then you dared not play with temptation, nor venture within its reach!
This is the second step in the process. And have you ever gone thus far? If not—then you have never gone farther; and if you have never gone farther, you can never reach the kingdom of God in your present lost condition!
3. You have been made sensible of your own weakness; and the inefficacy of all the means you could use to produce the divine image upon your hearts; and that nothing but the divine hand could draw it there. When you first begun your endeavours, you had high hopes that you would do great things; but, after hard strivings and struggling's, after many prayers and tears, after much reading, hearing, and meditation—you found no good effect followed. Nay, the corruption of your hearts appeared more and more, and hence you concluded that you were growing worse and worse. Thus the blessed Spirit convinced you of your own weakness, and the necessity of his influence to work this divine change. He cleared away the rubbish of pride and self-righteousness from your hearts, in order to prepare them, as a clean canvas—to receive the image of Christ.
And have you ever been thus humbled and mortified? Have you ever been reduced into this wholesome self-despair? It is the humble heart alone, which is susceptive of the image of the meek and lowly Jesus. Pride can never receive its lineaments, nor can it be carved on an insensible stone!
4. Hereupon the Holy Spirit enlightened your minds to view the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ—and the method of salvation revealed in the gospel. The bright beams of the divine perfections shining in that way of salvation, the attractive beauties of holiness, and all the wonders of the gospel—struck your minds with delightful astonishment! And you now viewed them in a light unknown before. Hereupon you were enabled to cast your guilty, corrupt, helpless souls upon Jesus Christ—whom you saw to be a glorious, all-sufficient Saviour; and with all your hearts you embraced the way of salvation through his mediation!
The view of his glory proved informativeness! While you were contemplating the object-you received its likeness; the rays of glory beaming upon you, as it were, rendered your hearts transparent, and the beauties of holiness were stamped upon them! Thus Paul represents the matter, "We all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Thus your hearts retained the image of his glory, like the face of Moses after he had been conversing with God in the Mount. You contracted the temper of Jesus Christ, and imbibed his spirit! He was formed in your hearts, and began to live and act there. The life you lived in the flesh—you now lived by faith in the Son of God. Now your minds took a new turn, and your life a new cast; and the difference began to appear even to others in the world. Not knowing the divine original, they knew not whose image you bore. "Therefore the world knows us not," says John, "because it knew him not!" 1 John 3:1. This, however, they knew—that you no longer resembled them! Therefore they looked upon you as an odd sort of creature, whose tempers and manners were as different from theirs as if you were foreigners! You soon became as speckled birds among them, and they were weary of your society—and you of theirs.
Friends, have you ever been the subjects of divine operation? Has Christ ever been thus formed in your hearts? I stand in doubt of some of you, though blessed be God, there are others who give good grounds for a charitable hope concerning them—by their apparent likeness to Christ!
5. If Christ has ever been formed in you—it is your persevering endeavour to improve and perfect this divine image. You long and labour to be fully conformed to him, and, as it were, to catch his disposition, his manner, and spirit—in every thought, in every word, and in every action. As far as you are unlike to him—just so far you appear deformed and loathsome to yourselves. While you feel an unchristian spirit prevail within you, you seem as if you were possessed with the devil. And it is the labour of your life to subdue such a spirit, and to brighten and finish the features of the divine image within you, by repeated touches and re-touches.
By this short view, my friends, you may be assisted in determining whose image you bear: whether Christ's or Satan's, whether Christ's or the world's, whether Christ's or your own. And let me tell you, if you cannot determine this, you know not but you may be in hell the next hour! For none shall ever find admittance into heaven—who are not formed after the image of Christ. The glorious company upon Mount Zion are all followers of the Lamb! They are like him—for they see him as he is. A soul unlike to him would be a monster there: a native of hell—snuck into heaven; a wolf—among lambs; a devil—among angels. And can you hope for admission there, while you are unlike him?
The two grand apartments of the eternal world are under two opposite heads: the holy Jesus presides in the one—and the prince of devils, the prime offender and father of sin, in the other. Both apartments are settled with colonies from our world; and the inhabitants of both are like their respective heads. Therefore, if you resemble the Prince of Heaven—then with him you shall dwell forever; but if you resemble the tyrant of hell—then you must forever be his miserable vassals. Therefore push home the inquiry:Is Christ formed in my heart, or is he not?
If he is, then rejoice in it, as a sure pledge of the heavenly inheritance. None ever went to hell—who carried the image of Christ upon their hearts; but the heavenly regions are peopled with such. His image is the grand passport into that country, a passport that was never disputed; and, if you bear it, the celestial gates will be flung wide open for your reception, and your human and angelic brethren, who have the same temper, the same manner, the same spirit—will all hail your arrival, and shout your welcome; will own you as their kindred, from your visible resemblance to them; and you will immediately and naturally commence a familiarity with them, from the conformity of your dispositions. The Father of all will also own the dear image of his Son, and the blessed Jesus will acknowledge his own image, and confess the relation. Blessed moment—when you will arrive, when all the followers of the Lamb shall appear upon Mount Zion, in his full likeness, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing! Blessed moment—when no stranger of another disposition and another spirit shall mingle among them—but be all cast in the same mold, and all be clothed in uniform, with the beauties of holiness and the robes of salvation! Oh! my friends, must not your eager hearts spring forward to meet that day?
But amid all the joy which that transporting prospect affords, it must humble you to think, that though Christ is really formed in your hearts—it is but very imperfectly, as an unfinished embryo. His image as yet is but very faint; you still carry the traces of some infernal features about you. Let this consideration constrain you to put yourselves daily under the operation of the blessed Spirit, until he finishes the heavenly picture by repeated touches, and diligently attend upon all the means which he is pleased to use as his pencil. Guard against everything that may deform the divine draught, or delay its perfection. Go on in this way, and the glorious picture will daily catch more and more the likeness of the divine original, and soon come to complete perfection.
But I must speak a concluding word to such of you in whom Christ has never yet been formed. Please turn your eyes upon yourselves, and survey your own deformity! Do you not see the image of the devil upon you? Have you not forgotten God, and refused to love him, like a devil? Have you not loved and practised sin like a devil? Or have you not wallowed in sensual pleasures, and confined all your concern to the present life, like a beast, and thus made yourselves the most horrid monsters—half beast, half devil? And can you love yourselves while this is your character? Can you flatter yourselves that such as you can be admitted into heaven?
Since it is possible your deformed spirits may yet receive the image of Christ, will you not use all possible means for that purpose, while there is hope? This day begin the attempt, resolve and labour to become new men in this new year.
But alas! exhortation is but feeble breath, which vanishes into air between my lips and your ears; something is needed to give it force and efficacy. We have the gospel, we have preaching, we have all the means of salvation; but something is needed to give them life, to make them efficacious, and bear them home upon the hearts of sinners with that almighty energy which they have sometimes had. Something, alas! is needed for this purpose—and what is it? It is You, eternal Spirit. You, the Author of all godliness in the hearts of men: you, the only former of Christ within: you are absent, and without you neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters; they are all nothing together. Come, O life of souls, O spirit of the gospel, O quickener of ordinances, O assistant of poor ministers, O opener of their hearers' hearts! Come visit this congregation. Come today! Oh! come this moment! and Christ shall be formed in us, the hope and the pledge of glory!
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies