Page images
PDF
EPUB

generally speaking, they can exhibit as good evidence of a new heart, in a few months, as in a few years. And having exhibited this evidence, why should the convert to Christ delay the Christian profession? In such cases, delays are dangerous. They are so, on several accounts. One is that it is a

Christ before men; and like Zacharias and Elizabeth, to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. To delay the Christian profession, for an improper length of time, after a hope of salvation is obtained, is of evil tendency to those who practice this delay. They are very liable to sink into a state of des

the ground of their hope.

neglect of important duty. Scarcely any duty is urged more press-pondency, and to call in question ingly, than this. "He that confesseth me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. And he that denieth me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, who is in heaven." Would we be near the kingdom of God; especially, would we be members of this holy kingdom, we must exhibit the character of members. They that profess to believe in Christ, must be careful to maintain good works.

prec

When persons cherish, for a long time, a lively hope of salvation, in a season of great and powerful revival of religion; but defer a public profession to a more convenient season, or to an uncertain hereafter; the probability is, that they will sink in stupidity, or in despondency: and both of these are great and distressing evils; from which none but Almighty God is able to deliver.

vine grace are celebrated, not only on earth, but in heaven. The things of the spiritual kingdom of God, are things which the angels desire to look into." Saints and angels conspire to promote saints in particular are brought this holy kingdom: And all the near, and feel their obligation to enlist, if they have not yet enlisted, under the banners of Zion's king.

Again, to delay the Christian III. Another remark from the profession is dangerous, on account of its being the neglect of subject is, that to build up the precious privileges. What kingdom of God in this depraved ious privileges are lost, in the neg-world, is a very arduous work: lect of the ordinances of baptism, and it is a matter of wonder, and and the holy supper! In the Christ-admiration. The wonders of Diian baptism, the necessity of the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, is clearly exhibited; and in the sacramental supper, Jesus Christ is set forth crucified before our eyes. Is it possible to conceive of greater privileges than are forfeited and lost, by neglecting the ordinances of Christ? Christian fellowship, and brotherly love are in a measure lost, in delaying the Christian profession. Ought we not to Finally. Let those who are not consider Christian ordinances, far from the kingdom of heaven, and Christian fellowship, as priv- press on towards this holy and ileges too important to be neg-happy kingdom. Since God has lected? Ought not all hopeful established his holy kingdom in converts to Christ, if they would this fallen world; and has given inherit the kingdom of God, as the life of his dear Son, for the soon as they gain a lively hope in sins of men; and invited all to Christ, to enter into his service, come into his kingdom, and be with great alacrity; to Own blessed and happy forever: it fol

lows, that all are under pressing | dy;" and "Now is the accepted obligation to come into his king-time." "To-day, if ye will hear dom immediately. Every person his voice, harden not your hearts." who is capable of understanding To wait for a preparation of heart, the gospel, ought, without delay, is absurd; and it will never be to make the Christian profession, | realized. Press on, therefore, toand be united to the kingdom of wards the mark, for the prize. God. Are any unprepared? Let Take up satisfied with nothing them, without loss of time, be pre- short of a full standing in the fampared. It is highly criminal to ily of Christ, and in the household neglect the kingdom of God. The of faith. "Seek ye first the kingpreparation is as easy now, as it dom of God and the righteousness ever was, or will be. On this thereof; and all these necessary ground, therefore, there is no ex- things shall be added unto you. "All things are now reaA. B. C.

cuse.

[ocr errors]

QUESTION ANSWERED.

The following question having been copied from the Recorder and Telegraph into the Religious Intelligencer, elicited the reply which is appended.

66

66

whether religion should be supported by law or by voluntary contribution. This is unnecessary. But by whom shall ministers be supported? Obviously by those to whom they minister. Let him "Is it, or is it not a breach of that is taught in the word commuDivine rule, for a Christian brother nicate unto him that teacheth in all to withhold his proportion of ex-good things. (Gal. vi. 6.) Now pense for the support of the gospel this testimony is directly to the ministry?" purpose. For if a minister is to be In deciding this question, a pre-supported, it must be done by the vious one must be settled. Ought society over which he is settled. the ministers of the gospel to live If one member of the society is by the gospel? Now this is answer- bound to bear his proportion of the ed explicitly, by the apostle (I. burden, why not another? why not Cor. ix) "Do ye not know that all? If one is justified in withthey which minister about holy holding his proportion of the exthings live of the things of the tem- pense, why not another? why not ple? and they which wait at the all? Thus it is perfectly evident, altar are partakers with the altar? | if the Christian church is bound Even so hath the Lord ordained, to support the ministry, every that they which preach the gospel | Christian brother is under the same should five of the gospel." We obligation. would not now agitate the question

ON THE PRAYER OF FAITH. | We ought to pray with faith in God, that is, confidence in God. This is two-fold; confidence in his character, and confidence in his promises. Confidence in his character, as all-wise, all-powerful and

K.

infinitely good; as one who knows what is best, and will certainly do what is best. Confidence in his promises, that he will certainly do what he has said. This, I think, is the true Prayer of Faith. If we go to God in prayer, feeling a

want of confidence in his character | prayed aright, that we have any

as one who will certainly do what is best, or feeling a want of confidence in his promises, and doubting whether he will fulfil them, such unbelief will certainly be displeasing to him, and render our prayer an abomination.

If such faith in God is the faith necessary to prevailing prayer,then a belief that God will grant the very thing we ask for, is not the faith necessary, unless God has promised to bestow the very thing we ask for, and promised it unconditionally, too. God has promised the future conversion of the Jewish nation. When we pray for their conversion, therefore, confidence in the promises of God is the same as a belief that he will convert them. In this case, he has promised the very thing we ask for, and we know it before we ask, and the promise is not made to depend upon the condition, if we ask, but is an absolute promise. But when we wish to pray for the conversion of a particular individual, we can find no such promise to be the ground of our faith. God has not told us that he will convert that individual. He has, indeed, promised to hear and answer prayer, when it is made aright. That this promise binds him always to grant the very thing asked for, I have not yet seen satisfactorily proved. But even if he has promised to grant the very thing asked for, upon condition that we pray aright, we do not yet know whether we shall pray aright. As yet, therefore, we have no evidence that he will convert that individual; and to believe that he will, without evidence, is presumption. Before we try to pray, all the faith we can exercise is, that God will convert him if we pray aright. It is not till after we have made the attempt to pray for him, and find, on reflection, that we have

ground to believe that God will convert him. This belief, therefore, must come after the right prayer, is made, and not before; and consequently, cannot be the faith which makes the prayer right.

It is certainly a mistake, therefore, to suppose, that the faith which makes the prayer right, is, in common cases, a belief that God will grant the very thing we ask for. And I think I can see clearly how some of my pious friends have fallen into this mistake.They have had their attention directed to the case of some particular individual, who was yet in his sins. They have thought of his case till they have become very anxious for his salvation. With their hearts full of the subject, they have gone to the throne of grace, and poured out their souls in prayer to God. Their prayers were made with earnestness of desire, with humility, with penitence, with a supreme regard to the glory of God, and with confidence that God would do what was most for his glory, and a willingness that he should. Their earnestness of desire has led them also to converse with the individual, and to press divine truth upon his conscience. The faithful, affectionate, and earnest manner, in which this has been done, has made an impression upon his mind, and he has been awakened. Reflection upon their own prayers, in connexion with the scriptural encouragement to prayer, has given them some hope that he would be converted; and this hope has been increased by his apparent seriousness. With these increased hopes, they have prayed again, and conversed with him again; and the prospect of his conversion has increased to such a degree that they have begun to indulge an expectation that it would be accomplished. This expecta

every such prayer had been effectual, that would not prove that this belief made them so. They might have had all the requisites of acceptable and prevailing prayer, and might have prevailed, even though this belief had no influence whatever. I do think, however, that the promises of God to hear and answer prayer, furnish every needed encouragement to hope and expect the blessing which we ask, every encouragement which a tru

tion has given them still more encouragement to pray for him, and to be faithful to him; and at length, the result has been, that he is hopefully brought to submit to God and give him his heart. Afterwards, when they have reflected upon the subject, they have remembered that they prayed for the conversion of this individual, with a strong expectation that he would be converted; and on hearing the new theory stated, that the faith necessary to prevailing pray-ly pious heart can desire. I do er consists in such an expectation, they have been very easily led to think it confirmed by their own experience.

That God has made promises to hear and answer prayer, I have no doubt. But that these promises bind him always to give the very thing asked for, I am not convinced. I see not why God may not hear the prayer, and accept it, and answer it, not by giving the thing asked for, but something better in its stead. The prayer of Christ that the cup might pass from him, and of Paul, that the thorn in his flesh might be removed; and of Moses, that he might enter the land of Canaan, appear to have been answered in this way. And I believe every Christian, who will carefully examine his own experience, will find that he has made prayers for things which God has not granted, as nearly right, as for those things which he has granted. I should not dare, therefore, to condemn every prayer, as unacceptable to God, which did not procure the very blessing asked for, at the very time specified in the prayer. Indeed, I believe that Christians can be found, who have sometimes prayed for certain blessings, in the full expectation that they should obtain them, and yet have been disappointed. This belief did not make their prayers effectual. But if

not think it necessary that we should have, nor do I think the truly pious heart can, on the whole, desire to have a positive assurance, that every particular blessing he asks for will be certainly granted. All his holy desires terminate on the glory of God, and that he has a positive assurance will certainly be secured.

But I shall be asked, perhaps, how, according to my views of the subject, Christians have any reason to expect the very thing they ask for. To this enquiry, I answer, that the analogy of Divine Providence,an observation of God's usual method of dealing with his church, sometimes furnishes great reason to hope for the bestowment of a particular blessing, under particular circumstances. It has been observed, that God converts the young more frequently than the old, those who believe the truth more frequently than those who disbelieve it, those who have been dedicated to God in infancy more frequently than those who have not, those who have been religiously educated more frequently than those who have not, those who are in the habit of attending upon religious worship more frequently than those who are not, and so on. And particularly, it

has been observed, that God converts those individuals who are the subjects of special prayer and spe

cial exertion, more frequently than those who are not. Now, then, if Christians feel a disposition to make special prayer for the conversion of an individual, and to make special efforts to rouse his attention to the subject, the very existence of this disposition in them, affords some ground to hope that it will be put into action, and that God will convert him. And if he is, in other respects also, one of that class that God more frequently converts than he does others, there is still more ground to hope that God will convert him. But have they any ground to expect it, from the promises which God has made to hear and answer prayer? I answer, none, till the prayer is made. But when the prayer is made, just so far as they are conscious that they have prayed aright, and just so far as God has, by his promises, encouraged them to expect the very thing which is thus prayed for, just so far they have reason to expect this individual will be converted. And as they persevere in prayer, and have an increasing consciousness that they have continued to pray aright, they are warranted to indulge an increasing expectation of obtaining the blessing.

Perhaps I may be asked further, if there is, in the cases I have stated, so much reason to expect the blessing asked for; and if such an

expectation docs stimulate those who indulge it to greater diligence in prayer, and in the use of other means to do good, what hurt can it do for this new theory to prevail. even if it is not true? why is it not rather desirable that it should prevail? It would require another essay to give a full answer to this question; but I will briefly state some of the evils which result from it. 1. It is an error; and no error in matters of religion is harmless. No error is alone.

This error leads to a multitude of others. 2. It leads us to imagine we are divinely inspired; and thus, instead of taking the word of God for our guide, it leads us to take for a guide our own feelings and impressions, which are as variable and uncertain as the winds.. And this opens a door to every species of enthusiasm. S. It prevents steady and uniform exertion to promote the cause of God. If it encourages at one time, it discourages at another; and both alike without any just reason. There is a revival of religion-to-day we are much animated-our feelings are wrought up to a high pitch-we pray that the work may go on-and we fully believe that it will, because we feel that it will. To-morrow, our feelings are different-things do not go on as we expected and desired-we are discouraged, and cannot pray in faith; that is, we cannot find any evidence in our own feelings that the work will go on-and so we stop praying altogether. Such inconstancy is the natural consequence of embracing such views, and trusting to own feelings, instead of looking to the word and to the character of God. 4. It leads to false conversions. A sinner is awakened and asks Christians to pray for him-in doing so, they express their strong faith that he will be converted he trusts to their prayers and their faith, and begins to hope that he is safe--this hope removes his distress and fills him with joy; and he thinks he is converted, when probably he has not even had any genuine conviction of sin, and is at heart as much an enemy to God as he ever was. These are a few of the evils which have resulted from this new theory already, and which will be likely to abound, if it prevails.

Utica Christ. Repos.] ALPHA.

« PreviousContinue »