Follow us on Twitter | Report Error | + Larger Font | + Smaller Font | Print This Page
Phillip Doddridge
1702-1751
The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul
CHAPTER II.
THE
CARELESS SINNER AWAKENED.
1 and 2. It is too supposable a case that this Treatise may
come into such hands.—3 and 4. Since many, not grossly vicious, fail under that
character.—5 and 6. A more particular illustration of this case, with an appeal
to the reader, whether it be not his own.—7 to 9. Expostulation with such.—10 to
12. More particularly—From acknowledged principles relating to the Nature of
God, his universal presence, agency, and perfection.—13. From a view of personal
obligations to him.—14. From the danger Of this neglect, when considered in its
aspect on a future state.—15. An appeal to the conscience as already
convinced.—16. Transition to the subject of the next chapter. The meditation of
a sinner, who, having been long thoughtless, begins to be awakened.
1. Shamefully and fatally as religion is neglected in the
world, yet, blessed be God, it has some sincere disciples, children of wisdom,
by whom even in this foolish and degenerate age, it is justified; who having, by
Divine grace, been brought to the knowledge of God in Christ, have faithfully
devoted their hearts to him, and, by a natural consequence, are devoting their
lives to his service. Could I be sure this treatise would fall into no hands but
theirs, my work would be shorter, easier and more pleasant.
2. But among the thousands that neglect religion, it is more
than probable that some of my readers may be included; and I am so deeply
affected with their unhappy ease, that the temper of my heart, as well as the
proper method of my subject, leads me, in the first place, to address myself to
such: to apply to every one of them; and therefore to you, Oh reader, whoever
you are, who may come under the denomination of a careless sinner.
3. Be not, I beseech you angry at the name. The physicians of
souls must speak plainly, or they may murder those whom they should cure I would
make no harsh and unreasonable supposition. I would charge you with nothing more
than is absolutely necessary to convince you that you are the person to whom I
speak. I will not, therefore, imagine you to be a profane and abandoned
profligate. I will not suppose that you allow yourself to blaspheme God, to
dishonor his name by customary swearing, or grossly to violate his Sabbath, or
commonly to neglect the solemnities of his public worship; I will not imagine
that you have injured your neighbors, in their lives, their chastity, or their
possessions, either by violence or by fraud; or that you have scandalously
debased the rational nature of man, by that vile intemperance which transforms
us into the worst kind of brutes, or something beneath them.
4. In opposition to all this, I will suppose that you believe
the existence and providence of God, and the truth of Christianity as a
revelation from him: of which, if you have any doubt, I must desire that you
would immediately seek your satisfaction elsewhere. I say immediately; because
not to believe it, is in effect to disbelieve it; and will make your ruin
equally certain, though perhaps it may leave it less aggravated than if contempt
and opposition had been added to suspicion and neglect. But supposing you to be
a nominal Christian, and not a deist or a skeptic, I wilt also suppose your
conduct among men to be not only blameless, but amiable; and that they who know
you most intimately, must acknowledge that you are just and sober, humane and
courteous, compassionate and liberal; yet, with all this, you may lack that one
thing on which your eternal happiness depends.
5. I beseech you, reader, whoever you are, that you would now
look seriously into your own heart, and ask it this one plain question, Am I
truly religious? Is the love of God the governing principle of my life? Do I
walk under the sense of his presence? Do I converse with him from day to day, in
the exercise of prayer and praise? And am I, on the whole, making his service my
business and my delight, regarding him as my Master and my Father?
6. It is my present business only to address myself to the
person whose conscience answers in the negative. And I would address, with equal
plainness and equal freedom, to high and low, to rich and poor: to you, who, (as
the Scripture with a dreadful propriety expresses it) live without God in the
world; and while in words and forms you own God, deny him in your actions, and
behave yourselves in the main, (a few external ceremonies only excepted), just
as you would do if you believed and were sure there is no God. Unhappy creature,
whoever you are! your own heart condemns you immediately! and how much more that
God who is greater than your heart, and knoweth all things. He is in secret, as
well as in public; and words cannot express the delight with which his children
converse with him alone: but in secret you acknowledge him not: you neither pray
to him, nor praise him in your retirements. Accounts, correspondences studies,
may often bring you into your closet; but if nothing but devotion were to be
transacted there, it would be to you quite an unfrequented place. And thus you
go on from day to day in a continual forgetfulness of God, and are as
thoughtless about religion as if you had long since demonstrated to yourself
that it was a mere dream. If, indeed, you are sick, you will perhaps cry to God
for health in any extreme danger you will lift up your eyes and voice for
deliverance but as for the pardon of sin, and the other blessings of the gospel,
you are not at all inwardly solicitous about them; though you profess to believe
that the gospel is divine, and the blessings of it eternal. All your thoughts,
and all your hours are divided between the business and the amusements of life;
and if now and then an awful providence or a serious sermon or book awakens you,
it is but a few days, or it may be a few hours, and you are the same careless
creature you ever were before. On the whole, you act as if you were resolved to
put it to the venture, and at your own expense to make the experiment, whether
the consequences of neglecting religion be indeed as terrible as its ministers
and friends have represented. Their remonstrances do indeed sometimes force
themselves upon you, as (considering the age and country in which you live), it
is hardly possible entirely to avoid them; but you have, it may be, found out
the art of Isaiah’s people, hearing to hear, and not understand; and seeing to
see, and not perceive your heart is waxed gross, your eyes are closed, and your
ears heavy. Under the very ordinances of worship your thoughts are at the ends
of the earth. Every amusement of the imagination is welcome, if it may but lead
away your mind from so insipid and so disagreeable a subject as religion. And
probably the very last time you were in a worshipping assembly, you managed just
as you would have done if you had thought God knew nothing of your behavior, or
as if you did not think it worth one single care whether he were pleased or
displeased with it.
7. Alas! is it then come to this, with all your belief of
God, and providence and Scripture, that religion is not worth a thought? That it
is not worth one hour’s serious consideration and reflection, “what God and
Christ are, and what you yourselves are, and what you must hereafter be?” Where
then are your rational faculties? How are they employed, or rather how are they
stupefied and benumbed?
8. The certainty and importance of the things of which I
speak are so evident, from the principles which you yourselves grant, that one
might almost set a child or an idiot to reason upon them. And yet they are
neglected by those who are grown up to understanding; and perhaps some of them
to such refinement of understanding that they would think themselves greatly
injured if they were not to be reckoned among the politer and more learned part
of mankind.
9. But it is not your neglect, sirs, that can destroy the
being or importance of such things as these. It may indeed destroy you, but it
cannot in the least affect them. Permit me, therefore, having been myself
awakened, to come to each of you, and say, as the mariners did to Jonah while
asleep in the midst of a much less dangerous storm, What meanest thou, O
sleeper? Arise and call upon thy God. Do you doubt as to the reasonableness or
necessity of doing it? I will demand, and answer me; answer me to your own
conscience, as one that must, ere long, render another kind of account.
10. You own that there is a God, and well you may, for you
cannot open your eyes but you must see the evident proofs of his being, his
presence, and his agency. You behold him around you in every object. You feel
him within you, if I may so speak, in every vein and in every nerve. You see and
you feel not only that he hath formed you with an exquisite wisdom which no
mortal man could ever fully explain or comprehend, but that he is continually
near you, wherever you are, and however you are employed, by day or by night; in
him you live, and move, and have your being. Common sense will tell you that it
is not your own wisdom, and power, and attention that causes your heart to beat
and your blood to circulate; that draws in and sends out that breath of life,
that precarious breath of a most uncertain life, the is in your nostrils. These
things are done when you sleep, as well as in those waking moments when you
think not of the circulation of the blood, or of the necessity of breathing, or
so much as recollect that you have a heart or lungs. Now, what is this but the
hand of God, perpetually supporting and actuating those curious machines that he
has made?
11. Nor is this his care limited to you; but if you look all
around you, far as your view can reach, you see it extending itself on every
side: and, oh how much farther than you can trace it! Reflect on the light and
heat which the sun everywhere dispenses; on the air which surrounds all our
globe; on the right temperature on which the life of the whole human race
depends, and that of all the inferior creatures which dwell on the earth. Think
on the suitable and plentiful provisions made for man and beast; the grass, the
grain, the variety of fruits, and herbs, and flowers; everything that nourishes
us, everything that delights us, and say whether it does not speak plainly and
loudly that our Almighty Maker is near, and that he is careful of us, and kind
to us. And while all these things proclaim his goodness, do not they also
proclaim his power? For what power has anything comparable to that which
furnishes out those gifts of royal bounty; and which, unwearied and unchanged,
produces continually, from day to day, and from age to age, such astonishing and
magnificent effects over the face of the whole earth, and through all the
regions of heaven?
12. It is then evident that God is present, present with you
at this moment; even God your creator and preserver, God the creator and
preserver of the whole visible and invisible world. And is he not present as a
most observant and attentive being? He that formed the eye, shall not he see? He
that planted the ear, shall not he hear? He that teaches man knowledge, that
gives him his rational faculties, and pours in upon his opening mind all the
light it receives by them, shall not he know? He who sees all the necessities of
his creatures so seasonably to provide for them, shall be not see their actions
too; and seeing, shall he not judge them? Has he given us a sense and
discrimination of what is good and evil, of what is true and false, of what is
fair and deformed in temper and conduct; and has he himself no discernment of
these things? Trifle not with your conscience, which tells you at once that he
judges of it, and approves or condemns as it is decent or indecent, reasonable
or unreasonable; and that the judgment which he passes is of infinite importance
to all his creatures.
13. And now to apply all this to your own case; let me
seriously ask you, is it a decent and reasonable thing, that this great and
glorious Benefactor should be neglected by his rational creatures? by those that
are capable of attaining to some knowledge of him, and presenting to him some
homage? Is it decent and reasonable that he should be forgotten and neglected by
you? Are you alone, of all the works of his hands, forgotten or neglected by
him? Oh sinner, thoughtless as you are, you cannot dare to say that, or even to
think it. You need not go back to the helpless days of your infancy and
childhood to convince you of the contrary. You need not, in order to this,
recollect the remarkable deliverances which perhaps were wrought out for you
many years ago. The repose of the last night, the refreshment and comfort you
have received this day; yea, the mercies you are receiving this very moment bear
witness to him; and yet you regard him not ungrateful creature that you are!
Could you have treated any human benefactor thus? Could you have borne to
neglect a kind parent, or any generous friend, that had but for a few months
acted the part of a parent to you; to have taken no notice of him while in his
presence; to have returned him no thanks; to have had no contrivances to make
some little acknowledgment for all his goodness? Human nature, bad as it is, is
not fallen so low. Nay, the brutal nature is not so low as this. Surely every
domestic animal around you must shame such ingratitude. If you do but for a few
days take a little kind notice of a dog, and feed him with the refuse of your
table, he will wait upon you, and love to be near you; he will be eager to
follow you from place to place, and when, after a little absence you return
home, will try, by a thousand fond, transported motions, to tell you how much he
rejoices to see you again. Nay, brutes far less sagacious and apprehensive have
some sense of our kindness, and express it after their way: as the blessed God
condescends to observe, in this very view in which I mention it, The dull ox
knows his owner, and the stupid ass his master’s crib: what lamentable
degeneracy therefore is it, that you do not know, that you, who have been
numbered among God’s professed people, do not and will not consider your
numberless obligations to him.
14. Surely, if you have any ingenuousness of temper, you must
be ashamed and grieved in the review; but if you have not, give me leave farther
to expostulate with you on this head, by setting it in something of a different
light. Can you think yourself safe, while you are acting a part like this? Do
you not in your conscience believe, there will be a future judgment? Do you not
believe there is an invisible and eternal world? As professed Christians, we all
believe it; for it is no controverted point, but displayed in Scripture with so
clear an evidence, that, subtle and ingenious as men are in error, they have not
yet found out a way to evade it. And believing this, do you not see, that, while
you are thus wandering from God, destruction and misery are in your way? Will
this indolence and negligence of temper be any security to you? Will it guard
you from death? Will it excuse you from judgment? You might much more reasonably
expect that shutting your eyes would be a defense against the rage of a
devouring lion; or that looking another way should secure your body from being
pierced by a bullet or a sword. When God speaks of the extravagant folly of some
thoughtless creatures who would hearken to no admonition now he adds, in a very
awful manner, In the latter day they shall consider it perfectly. And is not
this applicable to you? Must you not sooner or later be brought to think of
these things, whether you wilt or not! And in the meantime do you not certainly
know that timely and serious reflection upon them is, through divine grace, the
only way to prevent your ruin!
15. Yes, sinner, I need not multiply words on a subject like
this. Your conscience is already inwardly convinced, though your pride maybe
unwilling to own it. And to prove it, let me ask you one question more: Would
you, upon any terms and considerations whatever, come to a resolution absolutely
to dismiss all farther thought of religion, and all care about it, from this day
and hour, and to abide the consequences of that neglect? I believe hardly any
man living would be bold enough to determine upon this. I believe most of my
readers would be ready to tremble at the thought of it.
16. But if it be necessary to take these things into
consideration at all, it is necessary to do it quickly; for life itself is not
so very long nor so certain, that a wise man should risk much upon its
continuance. And I hope to convince you when I have another hearing, that it is
necessary to do it immediately, and that next to the madness of resolving you
will not think of religion at all, is that of saying you will think of it
hereafter. In the meantime, pause on the hints which have been already given,
and they will prepare you to receive what is to be added on that head.
The Meditation of a Sinner who was once
thoughtless, but begins to be awakened.
“Awake,
oh my forgetful soul, awake from these wandering dreams. Turn thee from this
chase of vanity, and for a little while be persuaded, by all these
considerations, to look forward, and to look upward, at least for a few moments.
Sufficient are the hours and days given to the labors and amusements of life.
Grudge not a short allotment of minutes, to view thyself and thine own more
immediate concerns: to reflect who and what thou art, how it comes to pass that
thou art here, and what thou must quickly be!
“It is indeed as thou hast seen it now represented. Oh my
soul! Thou art the creature of God, formed and furnished by him, and lodged in a
body which he provided, and which he supports; a body in which he intends thee
only a transitory abode. Oh! think how soon this tabernacle must be dissolved,
and thou must return to God! And shall he, the one, infinite, eternal,
ever-blessed, and ever-glorious Being, shall he be least of all regarded by
thee? Wilt thou live and die with this character, saying, by every action of
every day, unto God, Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways?
The morning, the day, the evening, the night, every period of time has its
excuses for this neglect. But oh my soul, what will these excuses appear when
examined by his penetrating eye! They may delude me, but they cannot impose upon
him.
“Oh thou injured, neglected, provoked Benefactor! when I
think but for a moment or two of all thy greatness and of all thy goodness, I am
astonished at this insensibility which has prevailed in my heart, and even still
prevails; I blush and am confounded to lift up my face before thee. On the most
transient review, I see that I have played the fool, that I have erred
exceedingly. And yet this stupid heart of mine would make its having neglected
thee so long a reason for going on to neglect thee. I own it might justly be
expected, that, with regard to thee, every one of thy rational creatures should
be all duty and love; that each heart should be full of a sense of thy presence;
and that a care to please thee should swallow up every other care. Yet thou hast
not been in all my thoughts; and religion, the end and glory of my nature, has
been so strangely overlooked, that I have hardly ever seriously asked my own
heart what it is. I know, if matters rest here, I perish; yet I feel in my
perverse nature a secret indisposition to pursue these thoughts; a proneness, if
not entirely to dismiss them, yet to lay them aside for the present. My mind is
perplexed and divided; but I am sure, thou, who madest me, knowest what is best
for me. I therefore beseech thee that thou wilt, for thy name’s sake, lead me
and guide me. Let me not delay till it is for ever too late. Pluck me as a brand
out of the burning! Oh, break this fatal enchantment that holds down my
affection to objects which my judgment comparatively despises! and let me, at
length, come into so happy a state of mind that I may not be afraid to think of
thee and of myself, and may not be tempted to wish that thou hadst not made me,
or that thou couldst forever forget me; that it may not he my best hope, to
perish like the brutes.
“If what I shall farther read here be agreeable to truth and
reason, if it be calculated to promote my happiness, and is to be regarded as an
intimation of thy will and pleasure to me, O God, let me hear and obey! Let the
words of thy servant, when pleading thy cause, be like goads to pierce into my
mind! and let me rather feel, and smart, than die! Let them be as nails fastened
in a sure place: that whatever mysteries as yet unknown, or whatever
difficulties there be in religion, if it be necessary, I may not finally neglect
it; and that, if it be expedient to attend immediately to it, I may no longer
delay that attendance! And, oh let thy grace teach me the lesson I am so slow to
learn and conquer that strong opposition which I feel in my heart against the
very thought of it! Hear these broken cries, for the sake of thy Son, who has
taught and saved many a creature as untractable as I, and can out of stones
raise up children unto Abraham!” Amen.
© Copyright 2004-2012 Providence Baptist Ministries
http://www.pbministries.org. All rights reserved.