FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 1, 1858

FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE.

CHAPTER VII.

Disclosing the trial which is made of men's hearts by the manner in which they perform the duties of religion.

The following observations will illustrate this topic and show the difference between saints and sinners, between those who perform their religious duties acceptably, and those who do not.

1. The designs and desires of men, when they attempt to discharge their religious duties, show what they are at heart. The designs and expectations of hypocrites, self-deceivers, and other unsanctified men, are ever low and contracted, adapted to answer their worldly ends, or merely to quiet their consciences; but those of God's people, on the contrary, are liberal and elevated, suited to glorify God and procure important blessings to themselves.

2. The objects which occupy men's hearts when they attempt to engage in the duties of religion, will lead to a discovery of their character. Those who are destitute of real holiness take little heed to their hearts, being comparatively indifferent whether they are wholly unaffected or employed upon earthly objects; but it is the earnest wish and endeavor of the saints to have their hearts fully occupied with divine things, to have their attention fixed, their affections elevated, and their motives pure.

3. The conscientiousness of men in the discharge of their private as well as public duties, must not be overlooked in estimating their characters. Unsanctified men may be driven by their consciences to the closet and the sanctuary, but they are not conscientious either in steadily repairing to them or in performing their appropriate duties; a thousand worldly motives may, indeed, influence them to affect religion in public, which will not allure them into retirement for the purposes of piety; but to a scrupulous attention to either public or private duties of religion, from such motives as the Gospel inculcates, they are utter strangers. The truly gracious soul, on the contrary, cannot long subsist without secret prayer. It is true, there is not always an equal freedom and delight, a like enlargement and comfort in this duty; but yet he cannot be without it. He finds the want of his secret in his public duties. If he has not met God in secret and had some communion with him in the morning, he sensibly perceives it in the deadness and unprofitableness of his heart and life all the day.

4. The spirituality of our duties is an important test of our sincerity. It is not enough that our employments and calling pertain to spiritual things, that our duties respect a holy God, or that we are conversant with holy things; but the frame of our heart must be spiritual. The most heavenly external duties will avail us nothing without a heavenly temper of soul. The end we aim at must be spiritual—the enjoyment of God and a growing conformity to him in holiness. There are times when God comes nigh to men in duty and sensibly fills their souls; when their minds are drawn away from earth and swallowed up in God and heavenly things. These are foretastes of glory which no man can describe to others as he himself feels them. Probably some real Christians are not conscious of joys to so high a degree; but they have no satisfaction in duties wherein there is no intercourse between God and their souls.

5. If we would know whether men are Christians or mere pretenders to religion, we must inquire whether they are assiduous and persevering in the practice of piety. They whose religion is false, may at times make a show of engagedness and zeal—when danger threatens, they may pray vehemently; when religion is popular, they may be amongst the foremost to countenance it; but let danger disappear and their praying will cease; let persecution arise, and they will leave those to endure it who love religion for its own sake; they attend to the forms of religion only when impelled by slavish fear, allured by deception, or incited by worldly interest. True religion, on the contrary, affords a permanent foundation in the saints, and furnishes powerful motives for assiduous constancy in the discharge of the various duties of piety. Whether dangers are apprehended or not, whether religion is popular or otherwise, whether their worldly interests are promoted or retarded by it, whether it procure favor or reproach, the saints will be holy still. They embraced religion for reasons which can be little affected by such things as these; they counted the cost

and are not disappointed; they have gained by religion what they can never lose; they still find in it sufficient to render the happiness it confers, and the exercise of the duties it enjoins, their highest privilege and glory; they love religion now, and choose "always to abound in the work of the Lord;" the ways of piety are to them ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace; and they joyfully anticipate the entrance for which they are preparing to the world above, where they will be free from the obstructions by which they are here surrounded, and where religion will fully and eternally employ all their powers.

6. The humility and self-denial of men's hearts when engaged in duty is closely connected with their true character. He who has Christian humility and self-denial will exercise it, especially when he approaches the presence of Almighty God. It will occasion in him the most reverential apprehensions of the Divine Majesty, the deepest self-abasement, and most hearty renunciation of all dependence on himself or his doings, and entire reliance on the blessed Mediator for acceptance.

7. Another consideration by which men's hearts may be tried is, whether in the discharge of duty they have communion with God. It is beyond contradiction that unsanctified men never have communion with God, they never have what in Scripture is so termed; and it is undeniable that the saints do realize what is meant by this phrase when they are engaged in the exercises of religion. This holy fellowship or communion is founded in real union to the Lord Jesus Christ; it is enjoyed by those who have been brought nigh to God by reconciliation, and who draw near to him in duty; and if it cannot be adequately described to others, its reality, its present effects, and its blessedness are known to the people of God.

8. Growth of grace in duties is another distinguishing mark of sincerity. All the duties in the world will never make the hypocrite more holy, humble, or heavenly, than he is. What was Judas the better for all the sermons, prayers, and discourses of Christ which he heard? But as the saints have real communion with God in duties, so they make improvements answerable thereto. In their converse with God in the ways of his appointment, they grow more humble and heavenly.

9. The assistance of the Holy Spirit in duties evinces true grace. No vital sanctifying influences fall upon carnal men in duty. The Spirit helps not their infirmities, nor makes intercession for them with groanings that cannot be uttered, as he does for the people of God.

Let it be observed, that if some of these remarks, like such considerations as respect the spirituality of saints and their growth in grace, are true of some in a higher degree than of others, yet their universal application is safe, and they are as definite as the case requires.

CHAPTER VIII.

Exhibiting the trials occasioned by sufferings on account of religion.

SECTION I.—We are come to the last class of trials which was proposed for consideration. Thousands embark on the profession of religion in a calm, who, when the winds rise and the sea rages, and they see a storm gathering which threatens destruction, unless their carnal goods are thrown overboard, and their worldly expectations abandoned, forget the destined port, and desire to be landed as soon as may be upon the shore whence they departed. Thousands rank themselves with the saints, who, when tribulation or persecution arise, turn back and shrink from duty.

But since every degree of suffering for religion's sake is not sufficient to cause a separation of the vile from the precious, I shall show what trials of this nature may be deemed sufficient; why such must necessarily discover who has false religion, and what advantages true holiness has to endure them.

SECTION II.—The following instances are selected as being sufficiently severe to separate the dross from the gold:

1. When the dearest interests of men, which have relation to this world, their lives, liberties, or fortunes, are put to imminent hazard on account of religion, few, except the genuine children of God, will maintain their steadfastness; and glory in the loss of all things else, rather than dishonor the name by which they are called, and incur the guilt of allowing anything to have competition in their regard with the glory of God and their own eternal interests. In cases like this, false hearts will show themselves.

2. When there remains no hope of deliverance from such trials, nor any visible encouragement that the scene will vary, then the hands of the false-hearted hang down and their hearts faint.

3. When an unsanctified man is subjected to sufferings alone, it is a thousand to one but he quits religion to serve himself. Good company may encourage the irresolute and false-hearted, but they will faint and fail if called to sustain the fight single-handed; they lack those inward and invisible supports which uphold the saints in such circumstances.

4. When powerful temptations are combined with sufferings, with the desertion of friends and the opposition of relatives, then hypocrites and self-deceivers will leave religion and heaven to be maintained and enjoyed by the saints.

SECTION III.—That these trials will distinguish true Christians from mere pretenders to religion may be easily made evident.

1. During such trials the predominant interest and attachment of men will be made manifest. No man can serve two masters whose injunctions clash with each other; he will in ordinary times secretly hold to the one and despise the other; and when his obedience and fidelity are put to the proof, he will openly show whom he serves. In these trials the two great interests of men, this world and heaven, the flesh and Christ, stand opposed; one must be adhered to, the other abandoned. Christ saith, "Be thou faithful unto death; he that loveth father or mother, wife or children, lands or inheritance, bodily ease, temporal safety, or life itself, more than me, is not worthy of me." The flesh saith, "Spare thyself; he that will grieve and break the hearts of these dear relatives, forsake these earthly accommodations, exchange ease for sufferings, and hazard life, is not worthy of them." Those, therefore, who love Christ supremely, will follow him wherever he leads, while the unholy will cleave to the world and the flesh.

When brought to suffer for the kingdom of heaven's sake, the saints derive their supports, not from any visible or sensible objects, which would be utterly insufficient, but from an invisible source, from their covenant God, their Saviour, their Sanctifier;

which method of preservation the saints only have, and therefore they only can live through such trials.

3. In such times men's notions and speculations about religion, their visionary hopes and self-comforting imaginations vanish away, and those only who are rooted and grounded in the truth will remain steadfast.

4. These trials reach the foundations of men's faith and hope, and will demolish such as are laid in the sand, while such only as are built upon the Rock of Ages will abide their vehemence and pressure.

SECTION IV.—I proceed to show the advantages of true holiness, when sufferings on account of religion are to be endured.

1. Holiness takes the throne in the hearts of God's people, and destroys the dominion of selfishness; supreme love to God predominates and renders those interests which have the supreme regard of sinners subordinate; and thus they love that for which they suffer, while their sufferings tend to subdue propensities and attachments to which they are opposed.

2. By true holiness the affections of the saints are placed on heavenly and divine objects, they become heirs to an eternal and glorious inheritance, and are disposed to look, not at things which are seen and temporal, but at those which are unseen and eternal; hence they esteem the sufferings and tribulations with which they meet in the way to heaven, as light and unworthy to be compared with the end they have in view.

3. By holiness man's will is brought into cordial subjection to the will of God; and in the exercise of Christian submission the saints can patiently endure whatever sufferings, trials, or privations are allotted to them.

4. Holiness has all good beings and all goodness on its side; it has the support of the Redeemer's intercession, the prayers of the saints, the assistances of the Holy Spirit, the promises of God's word; therefore, 'neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor peril, nor sword,' shall be able to separate the saints from the love of Christ.