To imagine none can teach you but those who are themselves saved from sin, is a very great and dangerous mistake. Give not place to it for a moment. It would lead you into a thousand other mistakes, and that irrevocably. No: Dominion is not founded upon grace, as the madmen of the last age talked. Obey and regard them that are over you in the Lord, and do not think you know better than they. Know their place, and your own: always remembering, much love does not imply much light. The not observing this has led some into many mistakes, and into the appearance, at least of pride. O beware of the appearance, and the thing. Let there be in you that lowly mind, which was in Christ Jesus. And be ye likewise clothed with humility. Let it not only fill, but cover you all over. Let modesty and self-diffidence appear in all your words and actions. Let all you speak and do, shew that you are little, and base, and mean, and vile in your own eyes. As one instance of this, be always ready to own any fault you have been in. If you have at any time thought, spoke, or acted wrong, be not backward to acknowledge it. Never dream that this will hurt the cause of God; no, it will further it. Be therefore open and frank, when you are taxed with either to evade or disguise it. But let it appear just as it is, and you will thereby not hinder but adorn the Gospel. Be therefore any thing: do not seek Q. 33. What is the second advice which you would give them? A. Beware of that daughter of pride, enthusiasm ? O keep at the utmost distance from it: give no place to an heated imagination. Do not hastily ascribe things to God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions, visions, or revelations to be from God.. They may be from him. They may be from nature. They may be from the devil. Therefore "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God." Try all things by the written word, and let all bow down before it. You are in danger of enthusiasm every hour, if you depart ever so little from Scripture: ተ yea, or from the plain literal meaning of any text, taken in connexion with the context. And so you are, if you despise or lightly esteem reason, knowledge, or human learning every one of which is an excellent gift of God, and may serve the noblest purposes. : I advise you never to use the words wisdom, reason, or knowledge, by way of reproach. On the contrary, pray that you yourself may abound in them more and more. If you mean worldly wisdom, useless knowledge, false reasoning, say so; and throw away the chaff, but not the wheat. One general end of enthusiasm is, expecting the end without the means; the expecting knowledge, for instance, without searching the Scriptures, and consulting the children of God: the expecting spiritual strength without constant prayer, and steady watchfulness: the expecting any blessing without hearing the word of God at every opportunity. Some have been ignorant of this device of Satan. They have left off searching the Scriptures. They said, "God writes all the Scripture on my heart: therefore, I have no need to read it." Others thought, they had not so much need of hearing, and so grew slack in attending the morning preaching. O take warning, you who are concerned herein. You have listened to the voice of a stranger. Fly back to Christ, and keep in the good old way, which was once delivered to the saints: the way that even a heathen bore testimony of, "That the Christians rose early every day to sing hymns to Christ as God." The very desire of growing in grace, may sometimes be an inlet of enthusiasm. As it continually leads us to seek new grace, it may lead us unawares to seek something else new beside new degrees of love to God and man. So it has led some to seek and fancy they had received gifts of a new kind, after a new heart, as, 1. The loving God with all our mind. 2. With all our soul. 3. With all our strength. 4. Oneness with God. 5. Oneness with Christ. 6. Having our life hid with Christ in God. 7. Being dead with Christ, 8. Rising with him. 9. The sitting with him in heavenly places. 10. The being taken up into his throne. 11. The being in the New Jerusalem. 12. The seeing the tabernacle of God come down among men. 13. The being dead to all works. 14. The not being liable to death, pain, or grief, or temptation. One ground of many of these mistakes is, the taking every fresh strong application of any of these scriptures to the heart, to be a gift of a new kind: not knowing that several of these scriptures are not fulfilled yet; that most of the others are fulfilled when we are justified; the rest, the moment we are sanctified. It remains only, to experience them in higher degrees. This is all we have to expect. Another ground of these, and a thousand mistakes, is, the not considering deeply that Love is the highest gift of God, humble, gentle, patient Love: that all visions, revelations, manifestations whatever, are little things compared with love and that all the gifts above mentioned are either the same with, or infinitely inferior to it. : It were well you should be thoroughly sensible of this: the heaven of heavens is love. There is nothing higher in religion: there is, in effect, nothing else: if you look for any thing but more love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are getting out of the royal way. And when you are asking others, Have you received this or that blessing? if you mean any thing but more love, you mean wrong; you are leading them out of the way, and putting them upon a false scent. Settle it then in your heart, that from the moment God has saved you from all sin, you are to aim at nothing more, but more of that love described in the thirteenth of the Corinthians. You can go no higher than this, till you are carried into Abraham's bosom. I say yet again, beware of enthusiasm. Such is the imagining you have the gift of prophesying, or of discerning of spirits, which I do not believe one of you has; no, nor ever had yet. Beware of judging people to be either right or wrong, by your own feelings. This is no scriptural way of judging. O keep close to the law and the testimony! Q. 34. What is the third? A. Beware of Antinomianism, making void the law, or any part of it, through faith. Enthusiasm naturally leads to this: indeed they can scarce be separated. This may steal upon you in a thousand forms, so that you cannot be too watchful against it. Take heed of every thing, whether in principle or practice, which has any tendency thereto. Even that great truth, that Christ is the end of the law, may betray us into it, if we do not consider, that he has adopted every point of the moral law, and grafted it into the law of love. Beware of thinking, "Because I am filled with love, I need not have so much holiness: because I pray always, therefore I need no set time for private prayer: because I watch always, therefore I need no particular self-examination." Let us magnify the law, the whole written word, and make it honourable. Let this be our voice, "I prize thy commandments above gold or precious stones. O what love have I unto thy law. All the day long is my study in it!" Beware of Antinomian books; particularly of the works of Dr. Crisp, and Mr. Saltmarsh. They contain many excellent things; and this makes them the more dangerous. O be warned in time! Do not play with fire: do not put your hand on the hole of a cockatrice den! I entreat you, beware of Bigotry. Let not your love or beneficence be confined to Methodists (so called) only; much less to that very small part of them, who seemed to be renewed in love; or to those who believe your's and their report. O make not this your Shibboleth. Beware of stillness; ceasing in a wrong sense from your own works. To mention one instance out of many, You have received," says one, "a great blessing. But you began to talk of it, and to do this and that. So you lost it. You should have been still." Beware of self-indulgence; yea, and making a virtue of it, laughing at self-denial, and taking up the cross daily, at fasting or abstinence. Beware of censoriousness; thinking or calling them that any ways oppose you, whether in judgment or practice, blind, dead, fallen, or enemies to the work." Once more, beware of Solifidianism; crying nothing but "believe, believe:" and condemning those as ignorant or legal who speak in a more scriptural way. At certain seasons, indeed, it may be right to treat of nothing but repentance, or merely of faith, or altogether of holiness but in general our call is to declare the whole counsel of God, and to prophesy, according to the analogy of faith. The written word treats of the whole, and every particular branch of righteousness, descending to its minutest branches, as to be sober, courteous, diligent, patient, to honour all men. So likewise the Holy Spirit works the same in our hearts, not merely creating desires after holiness in general, but strongly inclining us to every particular grace, leading us to every individual part of whatsoever is lovely. And this with the greatest propriety: for as by works faith is made perfect, so the completing or destroying the work of faith, and enjoying the favour or suffering the displeasure of God, greatly depends on every single act of obedience or disobedience. Q. 35. What is the fourth? A. Beware of sins of omission: lose no opportunity of doing good in any kind. Be zealous of good works: willingly omit no work, either of piety or mercy. Do all the good you possibly can to the bodies and souls of men. Particularly, "thou shalt in any wise reprove thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." Be active. Give no place to indolence or sloth: give no occasion to say, "Ye are idle, ye are idle." Many will say so still; but let your whole spirit and behaviour refute their slander. Be always employed: lose no shred of time: gather up the fragments, that none be lost. And whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Be slow to speak, and wary in speaking. "In a multitude of words there wanteth not sin." Do not talk much: neither long at a time. Few can converse profitably for above an hour. Keep at the |