FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 10, 1858

FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE.

CHAPTER III.

Showing that holiness, or saving grace, is exceedingly valuable, and greatly enriches its possessor. Section I. We may easily satisfy ourselves from several considerations that the value of saving grace is not to be described or conceived. 1. If we consider it in respect to its cause, we shall find that it is a peculiar work or fruit of the divine Spirit; who on this account is called "the Spirit of grace," and "the Spirit of holiness." All the rules of morality, with all possible human diligence and effort, alone, can never produce one gracious act, or one holy exercise. Such, indeed, is the incomparable worth of efficacious grace, that all other gifts of the Spirit are represented in Scripture to be comparatively worthless. 2. The nature of saving grace implies its unspeakable value. It is that by which the saints are made to resemble God in moral beauty and goodness; that which renders them objects of the divine complacency, and fits them to glorify and enjoy their Creator and Redeemer forever. 3. The influence and fruits of saving grace in the souls of saints, proclaim its unspeakable worth. It elevates and ennobles, adorns and beautifies the soul; it raises the affections to heaven, employs them upon divine objects, and transforms the heart into the image of God; it preserves the saints from known and allowed iniquity; it establishes them in faith and peace on the Rock of Ages; it is the root of all the fruit which they bring forth unto God—of every gracious word in their lips, and every gracious work in their hands; be the matter of their good thoughts, their heavenly discourses, and holy prayers never so excellent, grace is the root and source of them. 4. Its exceeding value will appear if we consider its properties. The most expressive epithets are employed to describe it. It is unfailing and immortal; it is as "a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." You may outlive your friends, your estate, and whatever else you now possess, but if you have true holiness, it will endure as long as you exist. 5. Nor is its value less conspicuous in the design with which it is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, to purify us from all iniquity, to free us from imperfection, and to render us meet for the heavenly inheritance, for the service and enjoyment of God above. 6. The means adopted to procure the dispensation of grace to men, and those employed in producing and preserving holiness in the saints, are conclusive evidence of its infinite worth. The incarnation, the sufferings, and the intercession of Jesus Christ, were necessary to prepare the way; the special agency of the Holy Spirit is necessary to produce the effect. The ordinances and institutions of the gospel were first appointed, and have been continued, in order that holiness might be produced and preserved in the hearts of saints; nay, the ordinary dispensations of Providence are designed in some way to subserve this purpose. 7. The peculiar regard vouchsafed by the Most High God to every degree, every exercise, and every fruit of holiness in his people, demonstrates its unspeakable importance and worth: he who made the jewel best knows its value. 8. That holiness is most excellent and desirable, is shown by the hypocritical pretenses made to it all over the professing world. If it did not confer some singular advantage, why should men pant for the reputation of possessing it? But so it is that the devil himself conceals many of his lures and hooks of temptation with a show of grace; knowing, as he does, that sin has nothing beautiful or winning in itself by which to entice, he disguises it under a pretence of goodness. Let hypocrites and self-deceivers consider what they shall answer at last, when it is demanded, "If grace were evil, why did you so affect the reputation of it? if good, why did you content yourself with the empty name of it?" 9. In a word, the incomparable value of saving grace is manifested by the esteem which all good men have for it. Holiness is the sum of their prayers, the scope of their endeavors, the substance of their joys, the relief of their afflictions and sufferings; it constitutes their riches and their glory. Section II. Is saving grace thus valuable and precious? Beware, ye who possess it, lest your hearts should be elated with spiritual pride. You have need often to reflect on your former state of sin and condemnation, and on your present ill-desert and imperfection; to consider how and by whom you have been made to differ from them that perish; to ask what you have that you have not received; to feel your weakness, your dependence, and your obligations; and to remember that it is the nature of holiness to render men humble and lowly in heart and life. 2. Is holiness more excellent than gold? Well then may the poorest Christian be content with the allotments of Providence. Ye who are destitute of this world's goods, but rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised; ye who feel the rigors of temporal poverty, but who have treasures in heaven, think of your imperishable wealth, and neither thirst for an earthly portion nor murmur at temporary wants. Thousands, alas! who are penniless, and thousands who have worldly wealth, are without Christ and without hope. 3. If holiness is thus valuable, then those Christians who suffer it to decline, or who do not grow in grace, incur such loss as all this world's goods are not sufficient to repair. 4. If holiness is of such worth and importance, then the ordinances and institutions of religion, and all the means adapted to preserve and increase it, ought to be highly esteemed and diligently employed. 5. If saving grace be so excellent, it becomes saints to be peculiarly watchful and circumspect in times of degeneracy and temptation. We have read of Christians who resisted unto blood, striving against sin, who chose to part with their lives rather than relax in their piety: if we would endure unto the end, we must follow their example. We live in an age of deception and temptation. Many seeming Christians have fallen and lost all; and many real Christians have lost so much, that instead of again enjoying the comforts of piety in this world, they are likely to go to the grave repeating the lamentation of Job, "O that it were with me as in months past!" 6. Let me urge and entreat you to make it the great business of your life, the chief concern of every day, to grow in grace—to perfect holiness in the fear of God, and to do his will in all things. Cultivate every advantage of time and place; improve the society of God's people, and let your closet testify that your love of holiness is stronger than death.

CHAPTER IV.

That only is true holiness which will endure the tests appointed, or permitted for its discovery. Section I. It has pleased God to place all his people in this world in a state of trial; he first tries, then crowns them. James i, 2. No man can determine whether his graces are true or false until they are examined by something which, to them, shall be what fire is to gold. The Laodiceans imagined themselves to be rich in grace, but they proved to be wretchedly poor; wherefore Christ counsels them to buy of him gold tried in the fire—true holiness, which should endure the severest scrutiny. The Scriptures plainly recognize a trial of men's opinions, as well as of their graces; but of the former I shall have occasion to say little. Doubtless men may endanger and obstruct their salvation by unscriptural sentiments; yet if they have holiness of heart, notwithstanding some false opinions, "they shall be saved, though it be as by fire;" but if they are devoid of holiness, the most correct speculation will avail them nothing; they must perish, and perish without remedy. The trial of a man's graces, or religious affections, is all-important; as they are, so is his safety and happiness, and so his prospect for eternity. This trial may be considered in two respects: 1. As it is to be performed by ourselves. "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves;" scrutinize your hearts in the light of divine truth; ascertain and demonstrate whether your affections are holy. 2. As it is executed by Him "who searcheth the heart, and judgeth according to truth." With a view to both these kinds of trial, but especially the former, I propose in this treatise,— I. To show what tries the genuineness of Christian graces as fire tries gold. II. To exhibit the ends for which God appoints such trials of the holiness of his people in this world. III. To prove that such only is true holiness as will bear these trials. IV. To improve and apply the whole. Section II. Before I enter into particulars, it seems needful to observe that the subject to which we are approaching is full of difficulties. Without much cautious discrimination and solicitude with regard to the various and dissimilar capacities and attainments and circumstances of different Christians, one could hope to do little else but confuse and mislead. Nor is less care necessary in the application of tests or signs; they should be well examined and approved before we try ourselves or others by them. Signs or tests of character are by some distinguished as exclusive, inclusive and positive. Exclusive marks serve to shut out bold pretenders, by showing them that they are utterly devoid of a saving work of grace. They are commonly taken from some indispensable ordinary duty, as praying or hearing; which men may indeed perform, and yet have no degree of holiness; but the neglect of which demonstrates the total absence of any work of grace. Inclusive marks serve to discover the degree rather than the existence of holiness, and are intended for comfort rather than conviction. If we perceive them in ourselves, we shall find not only real but eminent piety; as they arise from the higher exercises of grace in confirmed and mature Christians. Between these there are marks or evidences called positive, which are always found in those, and those only, who have been converted. In the application of these, great care is requisite, since they relate as well to the feeblest as to the most advanced Christian. It is especially necessary to beware of representing the particular exercises and experience of those who are esteemed eminent in knowledge and grace, as a rule for those whose attainments are small. This practice is justly reprobated for its absurdity and injurious effects. These things being premised, I will now proceed to show what things in particular try the temper and state of our souls, "What tries the genuineness of Christian graces as fire tries gold." It is true that all the circumstances of our life, every event which has relation to us, may make some discovery of our hearts; but some limits must be prescribed to this treatise: I shall therefore show, in the following order, what trials are made of our graces by prosperity and adversity, by our inward corruptions, our active duties, and lastly by our sufferings on account of religion. Section III. Prosperity, worldly success, outward enjoyments, riches, honors, try men's hearts and reveal their thoughts. Some may fancy the fire of prosperity to be designed rather for comfort than for trial; rather to refresh than to search us; but scarcely anything more clearly demonstrates the falseness or soundness of religion; it is to grace what fire is to gold. Particularly, it occasions an exhibition of the self-flattery and delusion of those who have had a name to live while dead; and of the unequivocal evidences of religion in real saints. Among the proofs thus exhibited of dissimulation and deceit, are the following: 1. Prosperity occasions in some men a stupid forgetfulness of God and neglect of the duties of religion. They fall asleep in the lap of abundance, and dream not that there is a God to be served and a soul to be saved. Their carnal pleasures and enjoyments, and the care of their earthly affairs, leave no time for prayer, or for reflections concerning death and futurity. Like Herod, they are lifted up with conceits of their own greatness and importance; and like him, they mock the supremacy of Jehovah, or contemn his authority, instead of obeying his commands. They are so busied in serving and gratifying themselves, that usually they lose the faint appearance of piety which, in other circumstances, they might have exhibited. 2. Prosperity, meeting with one who is graceless, engrosses his thoughts and affections, and makes him wholly sensual. Earthly things have a tendency to transform men's hearts into their own similitude—to assimilate them to their nature; and upon those whose religion is mere pretence, they produce their full effect. Such in times of prosperity, when temptations are presented and the means of indulgence within reach, will abandon themselves to sensual gratifications, and show to the world the depravity of their hearts and dissoluteness of their character. It is true that prosperity may have a very unhappy influence on the minds of good men, but it can never produce in them such effects as have been mentioned; the allurements of forbidden objects and the enticements of sin will be counteracted by the principles, the habits, and feelings of genuine piety. Some indeed, confessedly destitute of true religion, and surrounded by all the facilities and incitements to sensuality which prosperity can confer, are yet, in their exterior deportment, strictly moderate and regular. Perhaps those men who in ordinary circumstances had made a false show of religion, are, when prosperity suddenly attends them, most likely to be carried by it down the stream of sensuality; but all who are affected in this way by prosperous circumstances, are evidently graceless. 3. Mere pretenders to religion, self-deceivers, and dissemblers, are apt, when prosperity surrounds them, not only to lose all concern for their own salvation, but to harden themselves against the judgments of God and the calamities and suffering which his people endure. Instances of this kind are but too common; and they designate characters which cannot be mistaken. Such are some of the ways in which prosperity operates upon those who have not true religion. Section IV. I proceed to show the influence of prosperity on the people of God. That the saints sometimes fall into temptation, cannot be denied; and doubtless the trial of prosperity often discovers in them the workings of sin; but its general influence upon God's children is such as to render their graces more conspicuous, and their uprightness more certain. 1. A real saint, when prosperity and abundance flow around him, will earnestly endeavor to suppress any workings of pride, and to preserve humility and lowliness in heart and life. I do not say that every child of God under prosperity will at all times feel and manifest the same degree of humility; but I am sure that there is that in every one of them, when thus tried, which will check and allay the risings of vanity and ambition. God's people have seen, and still see, too much of their own hearts, too much of this world and too much of the divine excellence and loveliness of heavenly objects to be easily elated or long satisfied with worldly prosperity; they consider the temptations and dangers accompanying it, as well as the obligations and responsibility which it occasions, and feel the motives thus furnished to humility and self-abasement. They consider themselves as stewards of God, to whose care much has been committed, and from whom, therefore, much will be required. 2. Prosperity excites the love and gratitude of the saints to God, the author of their mercies: while it inflames the sinner's lusts, it fills the good man's heart with benevolent and grateful affections. Not that these outward things are the primary reasons or motives of his love to God; far from it: he loves him when he takes them away, as well as when he bestows them; but God sanctifies prosperity to his people, makes it conducive to their spiritual welfare and subservient to their usefulness in the world. 3. The smiles of Providence usually render holy men increasingly watchful against sin. Thus they reflect: "Hath God favored and prospered us? then I am under the greater obligation to obey and please him." They cannot sin because grace hath abounded, as they would not dare to sin that grace might abound. 4. A child of God will not be satisfied with all the prosperity and outward comforts in the world as his portion. When Providence became more than ordinarily bountiful of temporal things to Luther, he became anxious, and earnestly protested against being put off with them. A lukewarm self-deceiver will eagerly take earthly things for his chief good: if his selfish projects are not frustrated, if he can make sure of the world, he will easily forget God, and leave heaven and hell at hazard. But the Lord is ever the portion of the saints; they have chosen him for their eternal inheritance, and no earthly thing can occupy his place in their affections.