FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 29, 1858

FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE.

CHAPTER X.

Showing that only is true holiness which will bear the trials that God appoints.

Section I. Before I confirm this truth, I will endeavor to prevent some mistakes which a misapprehension of it might occasion.

1. We ought not to think, because we are to be in a state of trial through life, and know not how we shall appear after future trials, that therefore assurance of our gracious state is unattainable. Rather let him that has been sustained hitherto, trust in God for victory in the trials which are to come. So did the apostle: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that hath loved us." Here is an assured triumph before the combat. "When he hath tried me," says Job, "I shall come forth as gold." This confidence of the gracious soul is founded, not merely on experience gained in former trials, but upon faith in the promises of God. He "is faithful, and will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but with every temptation will make a way to escape." Add to all this, the constant, prevalent intercession of Christ in heaven for his people, and it will appear that the Christian need not deny himself the joy of assurance in view of anticipated trials.

2. Nor should it be imagined that any saint has so much holiness as to be able, if left to himself, to sustain these trials; though none will, by any means, be overcome by them. The most perfect creature, left to itself, will fall into ruin. This was exemplified in the angels that fell, and in Adam, though in a perfect state. Divine preservation is the prop which keeps the most holy from ruin. The best of men are but men at best. "Be strong in the Lord," says the apostle, "and in the power of his might."

Section II. I proceed to show, that such seeming graces as have never been tried, or will not bear trial, ought not to pass for genuine. They will neither comfort men now, nor fit them for heaven at last.

1. All is not gold that glitters. Great numbers of persons in the professing world are deceived and destroyed by trusting to mere apparent grace; they cannot determine that they have true holiness unless some trial be made of it, and if a trial be made which they cannot endure, the conclusion must be against them; hence they grope in uncertainty, and finally stumble where neither deliverance nor mitigation can reach them. Such was the miserable condition of the Laodiceans mentioned in the text; they imagined themselves rich, but were, in truth, poor and wretched; their fancied gold had never been tried in the fire. Reader, pass not over this topic without some serious reflection in regard to your own spiritual state.

2. The promises of salvation are made to such holiness, such religion, as will endure trial: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which God hath promised to them that love him."

Not to him who acts out in the morning with resolution and gallantry, but to him who holds out till the evening of life, does the promise apply, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Hence, if any who have sustained slight troubles shall afterward faint and fall under severe trials, all their labors and their hopes will prove vain.

3. Every man's character must be scrutinized at the final judgment; and if those who pretend to religion cannot endure the trials to which they are now exposed, how can they bear the investigation to which they will then be subjected? Surely, if we have not such holiness as will bear the severest tests to which it can be brought in this life, we can hardly hope it will sustain the ordeal of the last day. If we cannot bear these lighter trials; if a little prosperity, or a light stroke of adversity discover so much falseness, pride, and selfishness in the heart; if we cannot resist temptation, but yield ourselves servants to sin; if we can neither keep our hearts with God in duties, nor mourn for our wanderings from him; if a few scoffs from wicked tongues, or trials of persecution from the hands of men cause us to faint in the way, and turn back from following the Lord—what shall we do when He comes, "whose fan is in his hand, and who will thoroughly purge his floor," and who will "try every man's work, as by fire, of what sort it is?"

4. True holiness is willing to be tried. True saints greatly desire to know their condition and choose to be searched and proved; but false religion strives to avoid the touchstone, and shrinks from scrutiny. Saints wish to know the truth respecting themselves, whatever it may be, while those who prefer that their supposed grace should not be tried, are secretly conscious of its falseness and of their insincerity.

O professor, if thy heart be right, thou wilt wish to know the worst of thyself; and when thou hast made the deepest search, thou wilt still fear thou hast not been severe enough; nothing will give thee more content than when thou feelest the word dividing thy soul and spirit, thy joints and marrow; nothing so much comforts thee under affliction as the discovery it makes of thy heart. Thou wilt seem to feel with what affection those words fell from the prophet's lips: "Thou, O Lord, knowest me, thou hast seen me, and tried my heart toward thee." O what refreshing sweetness will stream through thy soul, when thou canst make the like appeal to God, and with like sincerity! And surely, with no such willingness to have your graces tried, you can have little evidence that they are genuine.

CHAPTER XI.

Containing various inferences from the subject, and persuasions to self-examination.

Section I. 1. God has appointed so many trials of our sincerity, let no man indulge the hope that his hypocrisy can long be concealed. Ah, there is no darkness nor shadow of death that can conceal the hypocrite. Oftentimes God discovers him by the trials he appoints in this world; but there will be a day when God will strip him naked before the great assembly of angels and men, and all shall gaze on him and say, "Lo! this is the man that made not God his hope. This is he that wore a garment of profession to deceive; but God has now stripped him out of it, and all men see what he is." Away then with hypocrisy! Be honest and hearty in religion; otherwise confusion of face shall be your recompense from the Lord.

2. In view of what has been said, be guarded against too much confidence of your good estate. Your period of trial has not expired; "you have not resisted unto blood striving against sin; be not high-minded, but fear."

3. If true holiness must be tried, even in this world, as gold is tried in the fire, then it greatly concerns all, at their setting out, to build upon the sure foundation, and to anticipate severe trials. If any have not done this, it behooves them to do it now. I warn you reader, to count the cost before you attempt to build; to the test you must come, and by truth you must be judged; if you hope to endure to the end, you must have the spirit of a martyr.

4. It may be observed in view of this subject that scandals and offences, in connection with religion, are unavoidable. "It must needs be that offences come; for all who are exposed to trials will not be able to bear them, some therefore will be offended; but the holy God will accomplish his ends, both in them that are saved and in them that perish.

On the whole, true saints have abundant reason to be encouraged; but hypocrites and self-deceivers may well be dismayed, for if they are not exposed in this life, they are sure to be hereafter.

Section II. If men must be tried as gold is tried in the fire, then it is of great importance that they should examine and prove themselves; and it cannot be unsuitable to urge this duty by some pressing considerations.

1. The difficulty of this work ought to excite you to undertake it in earnest. Who finds it not hard to persuade his heart to such a work as this? Nature declines it. Flesh and blood relish it not. It is no easy thing to bring a man and his own heart together. I fear there are many professors of religion who can spend day after day in hearing and talking of fruitless controversies, that never spend one day in determining whether they are the servants of God or of the world; whether they are on the way to heaven or hell. Yea, I doubt not many sinful hours are spent in prying into, reporting and censuring the failings of others, while not one hour is faithfully employed in judging their own hearts before the Lord. O, men had rather be about any work than this; there is no pleasure in it to the flesh!

And difficult as it is to bring our hearts to this work, it is still more difficult to bring the great question of our sincerity to a clear result and issue. O how many upright hearts have lifted up cries to heaven, and shed secret and undissimulated tears, and still are in the dark, perplexed and filled with fears as to the real state of their souls! Defer not the work, therefore, if you would attain well-founded peace, and avoid final shame and perdition.

2. The discovery of sincerity and holiness, after a faithful examination, will abundantly reward you for your pains. You will never regret that you have prayed and mourned, that you have trembled and feared, that you have searched and tried your own heart; nay, you will never repent of it, that God has tried you by sharp afflictions and deep sufferings, if your sincerity be but thereby made fully to appear. You may then go to the promises boldly, take Christ into the arms of your faith, and say, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his." O what blessedness as to the soul, when a man sees what he is, and what he has in Christ and the promises, and what he has to do!

3. The vast interest of your soul in this matter ought to awaken you to the utmost diligence in examining yourself. Your eternal happiness stands or falls with your sincerity. Bring your heart then to the trial; your thoughts cannot be occupied on a more momentous subject; a portion of your time cannot be employed to a better purpose; a business more worthy of your closest attention cannot be named.

4. Consider that it is to your highest advantage to be thoroughly tried, whatever the result must be. If you be found sincere, you are richly rewarded for all your labor. If you find the contrary, the discovery may be of unspeakable benefit to your soul. Your vain confidence being destroyed, you are open to the deep and effectual conviction of your sin and misery; and till you come to open your heart to this conviction, and give up your false refuges, there is no hope of you. Christ assured the hypocritical Pharisees, that publicans and harlots were in a fairer way for heaven than they, because conviction had easier access to their consciences. I may say of your groundless hope, as Christ to the officers who came to seize him: "If ye seek me, let these go their way." It is your happiness to have every false confidence stripped off, and your nakedness and poverty discovered, that you may thus be led to Christ and made rich in him.

5. Remember, that whether prepared or unprepared whether a saint or a sinner, you must ere long stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, and be approved or condemned. Therefore, examine and prove yourself now, and be willing that God should try you as he pleases in this world, that confusion and woe may not overwhelm you at last.