My Friends:
Before concluding this little book, I will attempt to make one thing plain to you, which often puzzles many minds. From the pulpit, and in many other ways, you are often urged to become religious. And this duty is spoken of in a great variety of ways, so that there is a perplexity and difficulty in knowing exactly what it is that you are urged to do. You are sometimes urged “to become religious,” to “become pious,” to “become Christians2;” at other times you are told, that you must “repent;” that you must “be converted;” must “submit to God;” must be “born again;” must have “a new heart;” must “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ;” must have “faith in Christ.” I have no doubt but that you sometimes feel, that you do not exactly understand what you are required to do, and that if any one would explain[229] the matter so that you knew exactly what to do, you should be willing to do it. Now this is what I am going to attempt, and I think I can make it clear by a simple illustration.
Suppose a long and lingering sickness should suddenly appear in the place where you live, and the nurses and physicians could find no cure for it. At length a man appears who claims, that all who will come to him and obey his prescriptions3, will be cured. Some say they believe in him, and some say they do not.—Some say they have faith in him, and some say they have not. Some come to him and get his directions, and obey them exactly; some do not even ask his advice; others ask for it, and when it is written out, lay it up in a drawer and never use it. Now, in this case, who are the persons who really believe in him, and really have faith in him? Surely it is not those who say they believe in him, it is only those who go to him, take his advice, and to the best of their understanding, obey it.
Now, suppose all who really obeyed his advice were healed, and then others who had neglected and despised him, should come to them, [230]and ask what they should do, to be cured of that sickness. A variety of answers would be given. It would be said, you must “turn and repent” of your past neglect—you must “submit” to this physician—you must “believe” in this physician—you must “have faith” in this physician.
All these directions mean the same thing, that is, you must come to the physician for his directions, and then you must obey them. Merely believing that his prescriptions are good, or going to get them, without obeying them, is “faith without works, which is dead, being alone.”
Now this illustrates4 exactly the state of things in this world. God has created us to be happy, and this is the great aim of all his dealings with us. But the only way for us to be happy is, to form that holy, benevolent5, self-denying character which Christ came to exhibit on earth. Such a character as this, none of us have, when we are born. On the contrary, we all form habits of living merely to seek our own selfish enjoyments6. Young children find it hard to practise any self-denial, even for [231]their own good, and we all find it hard to practise self-denial for the good of others. And yet, submission7 of the will to God, and self-denial in securing our own good, and in doing good to others, are habits that are indispensable to our present and eternal happiness.
Now, Jesus Christ came into the world to save it from that long, lingering disease, which will certainly end in eternal death, if not remedied before we leave this world. And he comes to creatures, who have long been living in entire neglect of his advice and requirements, and in his holy word, he teaches them how to be healed.
You now can understand that all the directions given, mean one and the same thing. We become Christians when we submit to Christ as our Lord, and set out to obey his commands. And the terms “to become pious” and “to become religious,” mean the same thing. We “repent” when we are sorry for past neglect, and show that we are sorry by our future obedience8. To be “converted” means to be “turned about,” and this is done when we cease to neglect the directions of Christ and [232]begin to obey them. To be “born again” means, to come into a new state of being, and this is true of us, when we cease to live for ourselves and begin to live for Christ. We “submit to God” when we take Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master, and submit our will in all things to his. When we are much engaged in any thing, we say we “give our whole heart to it,” and when we cease to give the feelings of our hearts to our own pleasures, and become most interested in pleasing Christ, then we have “a new heart,” that is, our chief interest is entirely9 changed. We were most interested in pleasing ourselves, but now we are most interested in doing the will of Christ. So we “believe in Christ,” and “have faith” in him, when we not only seek to know his will, but earnestly endeavor to do it.
So you perceive, my friends, there is no real confusion or difficulty in this matter. You can all of you begin, this very day, to be the followers10 of Jesus Christ, and thus to walk in that path, which secures true peace in this life, and eternal happiness beyond the grave. I hope, therefore, if you have not done it before, that [233]you will, this very day, take the Bible, which contains the directions of Christ, and go to your room and resolve to begin immediately to serve Christ, and pray to him to help you to persevere11. And then every day, go alone and read in this blessed book, and pray for help in trying to conform all your conduct to it. This is the way to begin to be a Christian1, and keeping on thus, and improving every day more and more, is the way “to grow in grace.”
But you will ask, perhaps, Can I convert myself? Is it not the Holy Spirit that changes the heart? To this I reply: No, you cannot convert yourselves, and it is the Spirit of God that changes the heart. All your determinations, and good resolutions, and continued efforts would be of no avail, without the help of God’s Spirit. But you have got one part to do, and the Bible teaches us thus, on this point: “Work out your own salvation12 with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do, of his own good pleasure.”
This then is our great encouragement to begin to do our part, and to keep on in our efforts to obey Christ. We are not left to our [234]own unaided efforts.—While we are working out our own salvation, God is working in us “to will and to do,” and this is our grand hope for success in our efforts. But perhaps you will think, that you must wait till you feel some great distress13 of mind, and have convictions of sin, and such other feelings as you do not find in your own mind. But, my friends, there is no need of waiting for any thing. Many persons begin to be Christians, without any such previous anxiety and distress. Begin, then, this very day to serve Christ by “denying all ungodliness.” If you are inclined to be careless, or to be fretful, or to be indolent, or to be heedless and forgetful, these are the points where you are to begin to “take up your cross” and follow after Christ. It costs us a good deal of self-denial, when we have careless habits, to cure them, or when we are irritable14 and fretful, to become meek15 and patient, or when we are indolent, to become industrious16, or when we are negligent17 and forgetful, to become thoughtful and attentive18. And it is in all such matters that Jesus Christ prescribes to us, “Deny [235]thyself daily, and take up thy cross and follow me.”
And we are very apt to undervalue our opportunities of doing good to others, and to forget that we can imitate Christ by “going about doing good.” The domestic who sets a good example to young children, and by words and acts helps to form their character aright, or who by her labours in the kitchen is contributing to the daily comfort of a household, and aiding the wife and mother to make a happy home to her husband, and to train up her children aright, she surely has a right to feel that she can imitate Christ by “going about doing good.”
Let us then, my friends, set about the duties of the lot our Saviour19 has appointed us, daily “looking unto him” as our pattern, our guide, and our Lord; daily praying to him for his help and protection, and then when he, who is Master of all the families of earth, shall appear, each of us shall hear his voice saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
The End
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1
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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3
prescriptions
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| 药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划 | |
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illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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5
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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6
enjoyments
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| 愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 )； 令人愉快的事物； 享有； 享受 | |
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7
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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8
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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9
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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10
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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11
persevere
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| v.坚持，坚忍，不屈不挠 | |
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12
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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13
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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14
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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15
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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16
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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17
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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18
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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19
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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