Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 30, 1861
HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART.
By Finney
(Concluded)
24. Sometimes through strong attachments, and entanglements in love affairs, men will harden their hearts against God. Lovers are very apt to withstand the claims of God, unless the parties can mutually agree to become christians. Sometimes husbands and wives will each withstand the claims of God, because the other party is not a Christian. I have known cases repeatedly, where the wife would resist the claims of God, because her husband was not a christian; and the husband would resist the claims of God because his wife was not a christian. Indeed, in some instances, I have known them to affirm that they would rather go to hell with an unconverted companion, than to be saved without them.
A lady of decided standing in society once told me that she was not going to become a christian; that it would destroy all family happiness; and she would sooner go to hell with her unconverted husband than give up her sympathy with him in his impenitence and become a Christian.
Sometimes they fear persecution from the other party, or from friends, or from enemies; and will, therefore harden their hearts whenever the claims of God are presented.
25. Sometimes sinners harden their hearts through the insane assumption that Christians will triumph over them if they submit to the claims of God. I know a young lady who when pressed with the claims of God, after weighing the matter for a time, decided against these claims and hardened her heart, because she said that a certain christian lady who had talked often with her, and prayed much with her, would triumph over her if now she became a Christian.
"I will not submit," says she, "for mother so and so," naming her, "will shout, 'victory, victory through the blood of the Lamb;' I will not have Christians triumph over me, that at last I have submitted."
26. Sinners often harden their hearts because it does not suit their present convenience to repent and become Christians. They are determined to make no sacrifice, and to be at no pains to become Christians at present. They have some objections, therefore they treat the claims of God contemptuously, and intend to harden their hearts against him, until it is in all respects convenient for them to yield to his claims.
27. Sinners often harden their hearts through a spirit of presumption. As the Bible says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." This fully setting the heart is the same as hardening the heart. They think there is time enough; they presume that God will wait upon them; that they shall live long, or at any rate, shall not die speedily. They therefore resolve upon putting it off, presuming that there will be time enough before they die; and thus they trifle with the claims of God, commit the horrible sin of presumption, and often bring upon themselves swift destruction.
III. I will briefly consider the guilt involved in hardening the heart against God.
1. Observe that it is a voluntary act, and an act of direct resistance against God's most righteous claims. It is a direct refusal to obey and acknowledge duty to the blessed God; and is, therefore, as dishonest and wicked as possible. It is saying to God, "I know the claim is just, but I cannot pay it."
And then, to aggravate the guilt of this hardening of the heart, resort is had to reasons the most ridiculous, unreasonable and blasphemous. Just consider all the reasons to which I have alluded, for a man's hardening himself against the claims of God. In every case the reason assigned for resisting God's claims is but adding an insult to an injury. First to refuse to obey God, and then to assign such reasons for disobedience, is a direct and horrible insult to the blessed God.
2. It is a direct resistance to his earnest and honest offers of mercy. The sinner is not satisfied with refusing to obey God; he is not satisfied to trample on his authority and his law, and to harden himself against every commandment of God; he also directly resists and pours contempt upon his offers of mercy. And he not only resists the commands, but the importunities and entreaties of God.
God commands, expostulates, entreats, beseeches, urges by every moving consideration; pours his love and mercy as an ocean around him; but he hardens himself against them all, contemns alike justice and mercy. Present to him the commands and threatenings of God, and he hardens himself, and says he is not going to be moved by threatenings, he is not going to submit to authority. Present to him the compassion, the urgent mercy of God, and then he will cavil, that he does not deserve the punishment supposed in the offer of mercy; or, Christians have done something wrong. Thus he will resort to every miserable and provoking shift conceivable, to justify himself in rejecting mercy.
3. It is setting the worst possible example; and example is the highest moral influence that can be exerted. Actions speak more emphatically than words.
If a man resists the claims of God, he virtually invites all others, over whom he has influence, to resist these claims also. He need not say in words, "Come, let us resist the claims of God;" to persist in resisting them himself, is the loudest call on others to resist them of which he is capable. No thanks to the sinner if God has a virtuous subject in his kingdom. The man that hardens his heart against God, does the utmost he can to lead all others to do so.
IV. I will notice briefly the danger of hardening the heart against God.
1. It is dangerous, because it has thus far prevented your conversion.
2. It is dangerous, because, if you continue it, you will never be converted. The fact is, the course you are pursuing, sinner, is an insane war upon your own soul.
3. The same is true if you are a backslider; if you harden your heart and continue to do so, it will surely be fatal to you. There is no power in the universe that can save you, if you will persist in hardening your heart against God.
4. It is dangerous because you have already contracted the habit of hardening yourself; and it is of course more natural for you to do it now than it was at first. Indeed it has become highly probable, that with respect to many of you, you never will do otherwise than to continue to harden your heart till you find yourselves in hell.
5. You are in great danger of being given up of God. If you read the verses in connection with the text, you will see that this is the use the Apostle makes of the conduct of the Jews. They continued to harden their hearts against God, during their journey in the wilderness. They would murmur through unbelief, and strengthen themselves in their unreasonable prejudices and opposition. God bore with their manners for a long time; and finally brought them up to the borders of the promised land, and commanded them to go up and take possession. They had frequently hardened their hearts before; but now, doubtless they thought God had borne with them so long that they might tempt him once more. They sent up spies, and these came back and reported that they were unable to go up and possess the land. This produced a murmur and a hardening of heart throughout the whole camp of Israel. The time had arrived for God to make this generation an example. He swore in his wrath that they never should enter into his rest. He turned them back and wasted their carcasses in the wilderness.
Hear again, then, what he says, "He limited a certain day; as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart."
186Some of you have often hardened your hearts against the claims of the mercy of God. If you do it to-day again it may seal your doom. If you go from this house hardening your heart to-day, it may be the Lord will lift up his hand and swear that you shall never enter into his rest. I beseech you, therefore, I conjure you by the mercies of God, that to-day you hear his voice, and harden not your heart.
REMARKS.
1. In the light of this subject we can see why so many persons have little or no religious feeling. The fact is, their will is committed in the attitude of disobedience and self-seeking; consequently they divert their thoughts from all that class of truths that would make them feel.
2. Please remember that men are the authors of their own hardness of heart. Sinners often complain of their hardness of heart, as if it was not of their own creation. They speak of it as if it were not their own persistent act. In such cases, they mean by hardness of heart simply the apathy of their sensibility, their want of feeling. But this is only a result, a natural consequence of the hardness of their hearts. It is the stubbornness of their will, their wilfulness, that constitutes the hardness of their hearts: and, as we have seen, this want of feeling is a result. To be sure, they cannot feel while their will remains girded and braced in its opposition to God. Or, if they do feel, their feelings will be those of remorse and regret, and agony; the tender emotions cannot be brought into exercise while they harden themselves, and make their wills obstinate in resistance to God.
3. We see many persons trying to feel by making efforts to feel; trying to excite emotions of sorrow and love and gratitude, while the controversy is not yielded, so far as the attitude of their will is concerned. They have not submitted themselves to God, have not adjusted themselves in his will, have not yielded the controversy; and yet they are endeavoring to feel as if they had yielded the controversy. Their voluntary stubbornness remains, and they are vainly endeavoring to feel.
This, I fear is the case with many of you. You complain that you do not feel; you spend your time in trying to feel. You would feel sorrow for your sins, while you persist in holding fast to them. You would force the tender emotions towards God into exercise, while your will cruelly braces itself against him. In this you labor in vain, and spend your strength for nought.
4. By what innumerable shifts men harden their hearts and secure their own damnation. I might as well preach a month as an hour, in enumerating the innumerable ways in which men manage to harden their hearts against God. Men manifest a kind of infernal sagacity and cunning in resorting to every possible excuse that shall justify their stubbornness towards their heavenly Father. They make constant resistance to his claims and offers of mercy.
5. Sinners use their free agency even the whole strength of it, to resist their own salvation. This is the only reason why men are lost. Christ has died for all men, and offers salvation to all.
The fact that men have sinned, is no sufficient reason that they should be lost; but if they will harden their hearts against the claims and mercies of God, it is impossible for him to save them.
It is forever impossible in the nature of the case, that a man should be forced to submit to the claims of God. God cannot, by any possibility force him to heaven. Forced action is not moral action. Where force begins moral action ends.
No moral change, or change involving moral character, can possibly take place in man without his own free consent; and every change implies the power of resisting any possible amount of motive that can be presented. Let no man suppose that God will ever, or can, by any possibility, force his will in making him a Christian.
And now, sinner, I conjure you to remember, that if you persist in hardening your heart, you render your salvation impossible, even to God himself.
If you harden your heart as you have done, if you persist in this course but a little longer, your judgment which now of a long time lingereth not, and your damnation that slumbereth not, will overtake you. O, will you remember this? will you lay it to heart? will you be wise, and this day hear his voice, and no longer harden your heart?
6. How astonishing is the long-suffering of God? How many ways have you hardened your hearts against him! How many times have you betaken yourselves to the most absurd, unreasonable, provoking reasons for girding yourself and resisting the claims of God! And God's forbearance is still lengthened out, even to this long-suffering! Will it not suffice you thus far to have resisted the mercy and compassion of God? I beseech you, now let the controversy cease. Lay down your weapons; accept God's claims; humble yourselves under his mighty hand; lay down your sins, and accept the offer of eternal life.
But let me ask, if to-day you refuse to hear his voice, and again harden your heart, will you have any reason to complain if God gives you up to a reprobate mind, and lifts up his hand and swears that you shall never enter into his rest? Will you have any claim upon God, if now to-day, after so long a time, you harden your heart? Can you object if his Spirit is withdrawn, and the offer of mercy is made no more?
Take care what you do! Act in view of the solemn judgment! Remember what the text speaks to you, "To-day, after so long a time, saith the Holy Ghost, as it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart."-Finney.
OUR former article addressed "to the seeker after Christ," has called forth many kind and frank responses from various quarters. One of our correspondents writes to us out of the very blackness of darkness. He is completely nonplused as to what he should do, or how he should do it. Evidently an honest inquirer after elementary Christian truth, he proposes some very simple questions which he says he "does not find intelligently answered" by those from whom he seeks spiritual guidance. As he insists that "thousands of others" are as much in the dark as himself, we will try to reply to him and to them through the same column.
1. His first question is, "What is it to believe in Christ? As the devils are said to believe, how am I to believe differently from them?"
My friend, you want to know what faith is. It is simply taking God at his word. He offers you salvation on certain conditions. The specific condition is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." You have no right to dictate the terms to him; he has the right to dictate them to you, and your duty is to comply and obey. When the camp of Israel was in peril of death from the fatal bite of the fiery serpent, the command of God was to look at a brazen serpent on a pole which Moses set up in sight of all the people. That was a simple process surely—merely the looking toward an emblem of brass. The dying Israelite might sweep the horizon with his languid eye, and all to no purpose; but the moment that he fixed his eye on the serpent of brass and so obeyed God, he was cured. Now there was faith in its simplest simplicity. He took God at his word. He trusted what God said, and relied on it. The restoration of the bitten Jew was made to depend on trusting in God's appointed method of relief. And your soul's salvation will depend on your obedience to God's command to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."
You will perhaps understand faith in Christ somewhat better if you separate the idea into its three component parts. In the first place it implies knowledge. You know (from the teachings of the Bible) that such a being exists as Jesus Christ. In the second place it implies assent. You acknowledge with all the heart the truth of his atonement, and the sufficiency of it; and this you do in reliance on God's veracity. But knowledge is not enough—nor is assent enough. They are both matters of the understanding. You must also trust. This is the third element of faith, and so vital is it that there can be no saving faith without trust. While assent is somewhat a speculative thing, trust is a real and a practical work of the will and of the affections too. The will makes choice of Christ as a Saviour, and the affections cling to him. He is entirely and thoroughly relied on as having taught us how to live by his own spotless example, as having provided for us a complete salvation. To him you are to submit. To him you are to give up your heart; you are to love Christ more than you love your gold and your silver, more than you love your wife or child, more than you love your own life. Whatever Christ bids you do in his word, that you are to do cheerfully. No matter how severely it may tax your selfishness, or try your patience; no matter what loss of time, or fortune, or friends it may cost you. Obedience is the test of faith. If you are not willing to take up a cross and follow in the path which Christ and your conscience direct, you cannot claim to be a Christian. You are not a true believer. For while the devils in the pit know of Christ, and assent to the claims of his divine power and majesty, they do not trust in Christ, nor do they love him. Here is the answer to the second part of your question. The devils have a speculative faith in Christ, but their wills do not submit to him, and their affections do not cling to him; instead of that, their whole souls boil with hatred and malignity toward him.
And now, my good friend, I have tried to tell you, in the most transparent language of which I am possessed, just what it is to believe in Jesus Christ. Whenever you can honestly trust in Jesus, and in Jesus alone, for your salvation—whenever you can shun an attractive object simply because Jesus forbids you to touch it—whenever you can cheerfully do a disagreeable, painful duty, solely because Jesus commands the self-sacrifice—whenever your heart begins to love Christ, and to love all men around you as his children, and to love to draw men to Christ—then may you begin to hope that you are a Bible Christian. You will never reach that state until the Holy Spirit comes to help you; and you must pray most intensely for his powerful influences upon your heart. It is a stubborn, willful, wayward, selfish, wicked heart, that only a divine power can reform. But pray do not insult God by asking him to make you a better man, while you are lazily drifting along in the current of your own selfish lusts and desires, or else persistently holding to every bad practice you were ever inclined to. There is no such thing as faith without works. I have no confidence in the conversion of a tippler who occasionally seeks out his old haunts for his favorite glass. I have no confidence in the conversion of a passionate man if he is still willing to explode the wrathful oath, or to strike the revengeful blow. I have no confidence in the conversion of a miser if it does not unlock his purse, or of the slave-holder if it does not lead him at once to treat his slave as a man, and not as a chattel, and to apply at once to that slave the golden rule. I have no confidence in any "faith" that does not make its possessor a better man, a better neighbor, a better citizen, a better child of our heavenly Father. Even a man's cat and dog ought to be the better off for his being a Christian.
I am not surprised to hear you say that you do not understand the nature of faith. Its very simplicity troubled you. You could not realize that the great thing, and the one thing you were to do was simply to go to Jesus Christ, and to let him do the saving work for your soul. So in my187school-boy days in the country have I often seen a frightened sheep bewildering itself as to the right fashion of escaping from the pen, although the gate stood wide open. After many frantic dashings of its foolish head against bars and rails, it got the idea at last that it would be easier to pass out through an open gate than through a chestnut fence or a stone wall; and when it had found the right place it bounded off with high leaps, perfectly overjoyed with its emancipation.
'The way of salvation is perfectly plain to me now,' remarked a person once to her pastor. 'The darkness is all gone. Everything is clear to me now. I do not know how or why it is so. But you read a hymn the other night with these words:
'A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arms I fall;
Be thou my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus and my all.'
I saw then at once that I had nothing to do but to trust in Jesus. I sat all the evening just thinking of those lines. I did not hear your prayer nor your text, nor a word of your sermon. I thought of nothing but those lines then and ever since. I am so contented and happy. Why, sir, don't you think that the reason why we do not get out of our darkness sooner is that we don't believe?' From that evening onward that person had no difficulty with the way of salvation. She found out the right road when she trusted Christ to lead her into it; and having once entered upon it she found it a path of pleasantness and of peace. My friend, Christ says to you as he did to Jairus, ONLY BELIEVE. He will help you when you honestly begin. A hearty desire to perform what is right is generally followed by a luminous discernment of what is true. Try to do as you ought, and God will give you light to see as you ought. Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. Perhaps the greatest difficulty with you after all is not so much an ignorance of the way of salvation, as a refusal to walk in it. The theory of faith may continue to be a theological puzzle to you until you earnestly and prayerfully undertake to carry it into practice. Then you will discover that the right way of learning how a thing is done is to do it. May God give you strength equal to your day! He says, "Ye shall seek me and find me when ye search for me with all the heart."
TRUST IN GOD.
In a large, lonely house, situated in the south of England, there once lived a lady and her two maid-servants. They were far away from all human habitations, but they seemed to have no fear, but to have dwelt there peacefully and happily. It was the lady's custom, with her maids to go round the house every evening to see if all the windows and doors were properly secured. One night she had accompanied them as usual and ascertained that all was safe. They left her in the passage close to her room, and then went to their own, which was quite at the outside of the house. As the lady opened the door, she distinctly saw a man under the bed. What could she do? Her servants were far away, and could not hear her if she screamed for help, and even if they had come to her assistance, these three weak women were no match for a desperate house-breaker. How then did she act? Se put her trust in God. Quietly she closed the door, and locked it on the inside, which she was always in the habit of doing. She then leisurely brushed her hair, and putting on her dressing-gown, she took her Bible and sat down to read. She read aloud, and chose a chapter that had peculiar reference to God's watchfulness over us, and constant care of us by night and by day. When it was finished she knelt and prayed at great length, still uttering her words aloud, especially commending herself and servants to God's protection, dwelling upon their utter helplessness, and dependence upon him to preserve them from all danger. At last she rose from her knees, put out her candle,
and lay down in bed, but did not sleep. After a few minutes had elapsed she was conscious that the man was standing by her bedside. He begged of her not to be alarmed. "I came here to rob you, but after the words you have read and the prayers you have uttered, no power on earth could induce me to hurt you, or touch a thing in your house. But you must remain perfectly quiet and not attempt to interfere with me. I shall now give a signal to my companions which they will understand, and then we will go away and you may sleep in peace, for I give you my solemn word no one shall harm you, and not the smallest thing belonging to you shall be disturbed." He then went to the window, opened it, and whistled softly. Returning to the lady's side (who had not spoken or moved), he said, "Now I am going. Your prayer has been heard, and no disaster will befall you." He left the room, and soon all was quiet, and the lady fell asleep, still upheld by that calm and beautiful faith and trust. When the morning dawned, and she awoke, we may feel sure she poured out her thanksgiving and praises to him who had "defended" her "under his wing," and "kept" her "safe under his feathers," so that she was not "afraid of any terror by night." The man was true to his word, and not a thing in the house had been taken. Oh, shall we not hope that his heart was changed from that day forth, and that he forsook his course, and cried to that Saviour "who came to seek and to save that which is lost," and even on the cross did not reject the penitent thief. From this story let us learn to put our whole trust and confidence in God. The lady's courage was indeed wonderful, but the Lord was her defense upon her right hand, and "with him all things are possible."
ADDITIONAL.
We have received an extract from a letter fully corroborating the remarkable anecdote of the lady and the robber, in our October number, and adding some facts that enhance the wonder and mercy of her escape. We quote the words of the letter:—
"In the first place the robber told her that if she had given the slightest alarm or token of resistance, he had fully determined to murder her; so that it was God's good guidance that told her to take the course she took. Then before he went away, he said, 'I must have the book you read out of,' and carried off her Bible, willingly enough given you may be sure. This happened many years ago, and only comparatively recently did the lady hear any more of him. She was attending a religious meeting in Yorkshire, where, after several noted clergy and others had spoken, a man arose, saying he was employed as one of the book hawkers of the society, and told the story of the midnight adventure as a testimony of the wonderful power of the word of God. He concluded, 'I was that man.' The lady rose from her seat in the hall, and said quietly, 'It is all quite true, I was that lady,' and sat down again."—London Packet.
Secret Influences.
ADDIE M. entered the institute of S. in the fall of the year. She was a stranger to almost every one, with a coldness and reserve about her, that few could penetrate. Her mourning garb told of sorrow and affliction, but her proud spirit repelled all offers of sympathy. Ever prompt in recitations, her fellow pupils soon looked upon her with respect, and longed to know what had blighted her young life.
Weeks passed away, and an unwonted quietness and solemnity began to steal over that little group of school-girls. The Spirit of God was there, whispering words of warning and invitation to many hearts. Addie appeared somewhat softened, and to one who had become deeply interested in the sad and lonely girl, she spoke of a dear and idolized brother, who had been snatched from her embrace a few short months before. 'And how could she think of God as a God of love, when he had deprived her of her sweetest source of earthly comfort?'
But daily it became evident that her convictions were deepening, and that she had begun to feel she ought to love and serve the Lord. Her anxiety increased. She could not conceal it. Her studies were neglected, her appetite failed, and she seemed perfectly miserable.
Christians began to rejoice, for they thought the Lord's time had come, that the chain was about to be broken, and the captive brought out into the glorious light and "liberty of the sons of God." But not so.—Month after month passed away, and still she lingered without, though at times seemingly on the very threshold of the kingdom.
What could it be? What secret influences were there at work upon that hesitating heart? At length the friend before mentioned happening to hear her quote a stanza from Byron, was led to suspect she had discovered one reason why Addie had so long refused to listen to the Saviour's voice.
Being questioned, she acknowledged that Byron was her favorite author, her constant companion. His writings harmonized well with the morbid melancholy in which she had enshrouded herself, and poisoned every stream of healthful influence. She confessed that he bound her as it were with a magic spell, which she had not the resolution to break, though aware of her danger.
Added to this, perhaps a still worse influence had been thrown about her in her earliest youth. Years since had she listened to the doubts and reasoning of a professed infidel; and said she, "Whenever I think of being a Christian, those skeptical arguments will come with ten-fold force into my mind. I would give the world if I had never heard them."
O, those fearful influences! Well nigh did they seal her eternal doom! But in answer to earnest prayer, overcoming grace was given, and at length, delivered from the snares of Satan, she was led in humility to bow at the feet of Jesus.
But did she then cease to feel the sad effects of those evil influences? O no; ever did they continue to influence her christian character, and sometimes almost plunge her into the depths of despair.
Who can estimate the power of secret influences? Teachers, parents, be careful what works the children and youth committed to your care read, and to whose conversation they listen. Guard these points well, for influences may thus be set in motion that shall raise almost insurmountable obstacles to their conversion, or if they are at last saved, it may be "so as by fire."
Even should they be speedily brought into the folds of Christ, such influences may render their whole Christian course fluctuating and inconsistent, and daily they will be likely to bring dishonor on the cause they profess to love.—S. S. Times.
Give Me Drink.
MR. M'LEOD, an English writer, puts the following language in the mouths of those who visit the rum-seller's den:
"There's my money—give me drink! There's my clothing and food—give me drink! There's the clothing, food, and fire of my wife and children—give me drink! There's the education of family and the peace of the house—give me drink! There's the rent I robbed from the landlord, fees I have robbed from the schoolmaster, and innumerable articles I have robbed from the shopkeeper—give me drink! Pour me out drink, for more I will yet pay for it! There's my health of body and peace of mind, there's my character as a man, and my profession as a christian, I give up all—give me drink! More yet I have to give! There's my heavenly inheritance and the eternal friendship of the redeemed, there is all my hope of salvation! I give up my Saviour! I give up my God! I resign all! All that is great, good, and glorious in the universe, I resign forever, that I may get DRUNK."