The Useful Christian
The tendencies of piety are to do good. A good tree bringeth forth good fruit. The high aim of the true christian is to be useful. This is the tendency of his spirit, his affections, his desires, his hopes, his efforts, his whole renewed character. It is not that he may be a splendid man, nor even a happy man, but a useful man.
That man presses after a prize of very questionable lawfulness who aims at being a splendid christian, or even a happy christian; but he has no misgivings of conscience when he aims at being a useful christian. He will be very apt to be disappointed if he aims at any thing short of this, while in modesty and humbly aiming at this, he will rarely miss his mark.
To be a useful christian a man must be well instructed in the Oracles of God. It is vain to think of being usefully occupied in the exercise of christian affections, or the practice of christian duties, without a good understanding of christian truth. It is impossible otherwise to supply the motives to obedience, or inspire the mind with the principles of duty. Where religion would be enthroned in the heart and spread around her all her charniSj’she must act by the light of truth. And is it not indispensable to the christian character to be well established in the essential doctrines of the gospel? How can a man become conformed to the moral image of God, reconciled to his character, to his laws, to his designs, and to the salvation procured by his Son. if he is ignorant of these great and fundamental huths? How can his internal views and affections become essentially changed, if his understanding is shrouded in darkness 7 How can he have a spiritual discernment of spiritual things, if he has no intellectual discernment? On a memorable occasion when many of Christ’s professed followers went back and walked no more with him, Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away 1 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall ice go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the aSW of the living- God. What multitudes in different ages of the world have sacrificed their lives in testimony of the truth and importance of the essential doctrines of the gospel. Indeed I know not in what saving faith consists, unless it be in believing and loving these great and precious truths. The christian’s future and eternal hopes are founded upon God’s immutable truth. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. And if a true christian may be distinguished from a merely nominal professor by his believing and maintaining the essential doctrines of the gospel, much more may the useful christian be thus distinguished. I have ever regarded a man’s religious sentiments as a test of his usefulness. Nor have I ever been deceived in this impression. I see no way in which a very ignorant christian can be extensively useful. One reason why a multitude of christians accomplish so little in the cause of their divine Lord, is that’they are so wavering and unsettled in their religious views, and withal so ignorant. With these impressions, I have wondered not a little at the growing prejudice against creeds and confessions of faith. By nothing has the baneful influence of error been so generally counteracted, and the cause of truth so generally promoted, as by these judicious confessions. New England owes her orthodoxy, under God, to the Assembly’s Catechism ;■ and not until that excellent summary of doctrine fell into disuse, did her churches decline from the faith of their fathers. Old England too, owes its remaining orthodoxy to the thirty-nine articles. And, where will you find a formula which more clearly ascertains and defines the system of doctrines taught in the Holy Scriptures, than the Catechism and Confessions of Faith of the Presbyterian Church? Let it be a maxim with christians to have no views of truth but such as arc definite. It were unspeakably better to understand a few truths well, and to know them certainly, than to expatiate vaguely over the extended fields of Christian science. The certainty of knowledge is a very different thing from the extent of knowledge. Because you may have but a partial and imperfect view of divine truth, it does not follow that you must of necessity be in darkness and uncertainty in relation to those truths with which you are familiar. Though no man that ever lived, should perfectly know all that God has revealed, this would not prove that he does not know
many things with perfect definiteness and certainty. Though our natural eyesight is limited, so that we cannot see beyond a certain circle, nor all things at once in any circle, yet we can see one thing at a time, and that clearly. The same is true of the understanding.
Though we may have no knowledge about some truths, and though we cannot contemplate and compare many truths at once; yet we can contemplate one thing at a time, and compare a few things together, and hence come to a definite and certain knowledge of such things as we can discern and compare, and from one truth clearly discover another, and so make slow, but progressive advancement in knowledge. And thus it is that we shall see clearly, the harmony, connexion, and consistency of the great truths which the Gospel reveals. It is this definiteness of view which we affectionately and urgently recommend to you. One doctrine of the Bible consistently understood, will almost necessarily lead a devout and inquiring mind to perceive and appreciate the harmony and connexion which run through all the peculiar and essential doctrines of the Gospel. The christian who thoroughly understands one doctrine of the Gospel, will be very apt to understand another and another. Once let his views of divine truth be definite, and there is little danger but they will remain distinct and prominent. Clear and definite views of God’s truth, combined with ardent piety, go far to make a useful christian. The treasures which infinite wisdom has accumulated in the Bible abundantly enrich, and adorn and give practical utility to the Christian character. Aim at high, attainments in Christian knowledge. If you Cannot excel in every thing, excel in this. Labour, study, pray, to excel in this. To be burning and shining lights, you must feel the pre-eminent claims of religious truth. Every christian, in his place and proportion, is the instructor and guide of his fellow-men, to lead them to the day spring from on high, to illumine those who dwell in the darkness and shadow of death, and to show them the way of peace.
To be extensively useful, a christian must possess ardent and uniform jriety. His usefulness will, in a great measure, depend upon the power which the religion of the Gospel exerts upon his own soul. To this, more than any other cause, may be traced the secret power of such men as Baxter, Edwards, Brainerd, Payson and Howard. One reason why so many christians live to so little purpose is, that while they may perhaps be good men, they are obviously deficient in that ardent piety which has a transforming effect upon the heart and deportment. God and heaven are not the point of attraction towards which their minds and efforts are perpetually tending. I have known christians of splendid talents not half so useful as many of their humbler brethren; and who probably will not be found in the more illumined departments of the heavenly city. A christian cannot be useful without fervent piety. His life must be hid with Christ in God. A living, active faith receives from the fulness of the Saviour all spiritual graces. Without this he declines and backslides: he looses his sense of the divine presence, and his heart is left alone, weak, comfortless and wretched through manifold temptations. The channel of heavenly communication is obstructed — stopped — and the sanctifying, comforting influences of the Holy Spirit cease to flow into his soul. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. The christian, if he would be useful, must have habitual impressions of a present God. His mind must be familiar with things unseen. Their beauty and glory must shine upon him, not in a glimmering, nickering light, but in their steady splendour. He must have meat to eat which the world knows not of. He must have the image of God impressed on his heart, and be in a good measure conscious of the high feelings and aspirations which belongs to his heavenly birth. He must put himself under the training of the celestial Spirit; and his graces must grow and expand, and attain some such measure of stability as was developed in the experience of the great Apostle when he said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in one. Such a religion is not the mere creature of the imagination; nor is it the offspring of ignorance and enthusiasm; nor is it the result of mere occasional excitements, and momentary feelings; but of strong and stedfast principle. It has weight and influence. It does not vanish with the first causes of excitement and the first passion of zeal. The history of the human mind furnishes no stronger principle of action than such a religion; nor is there any thing that can awaken the soul of man to greater efforts, or greater submission. It prefers a thousand times to die faithful, rather to live unfaithful; to die with Christ, rather than live without him. The men of this world may not comprehend the principles and aims of such a religion; they do not know them, and cast them out as evil. Men of such a spirit find their peace where the men of the world find their perplexity; their joys where the children of this world find their sorrows. Joyful in hope, and patient in tribulation, they weep as though they wept not; they rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they use this world as not abusing it. Such a man may have his seasons of darkness, as well as his seasons of light; his moments of languor, as well as his days of strength; his periods of trembling, as well as triumph. The light of heaven may come in collision with the darkness of his own sinful heart; the divine life
may struggle with remaining death; and holiness and sin, in rapid and imperceptible succession may maintain their conflict within him; while amid all these alternations he does not forsake his Saviour. Piety is the christian’s great adornment and gives his character its lustre. The bare hopes of piety, and even its predominating graces, ought not to satisfy him. Her self-denying spirit, her heaven-aspiring affections, her exalted and humbling joys, her unreserved self-devotement, her increasing purity, her sweet sensibility and tenderness, her absording confidence in the cross, and her deep and restless solicitude for the best interests of men; these, under a wise direction, will not fail to make him a useful christian.
Another characteristic of a useful christian, is untiring diligence and energy of action. It was not by his talents merely, nor simply by his fervent piety, nor was it only by his enlarged views of the truth of God, but by his indefatigable diligence and action combined with these, that the Apostle Paul accomplished a greater amount of good, than was ever accomplished by any other man. The life of a useful christian is an eventful life. It is fruitful in benevolent results. His energy is not developed so much upon set occasions, or by studied efforts: his whole life is full of labours and events that are intimately connected with the best interests of men. There are pious men, who are called to contend with most inactive and sluggish habits, both of
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body and mind; and there are those who are never satisfied and happy unless they are in some way actively employed; and the difference in the aggregate of good accomplished by these two classes of men, will be found, in the course of years, to be immense, and almost incalculable. Let every man settle it in his mind, that all his indolent habits must be broken up, if he has the most distant hope of becoming a useful christian. If he is not willing to harness himself for labour, he had better never enter the field. All the springs of his life will run down without effort. His hope and courage will sink and die away, if he has no spirit of enterprize. He will soon become a burthen to himself, and a cumberer of the ground. A slothful christian is a contradiction, which it is very difficult to reconcile with the lowest standard of holiness. A man who is born for immortality — ruined by sin — redeemed by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ — promised a reward that outweighs all the material universe — and yet, murmur at hardship, and complain that he must labour for the cause of Christ! God expects better things of his people. The Church demands them. The age, the land which gave them birth, and nurtures them for scenes of toil and triumph such as the generations that are gone have never witnessed, expects better things of them, and things that accompany salvation to their own soul and to this dying world.
To be eminently useful christians must also be men of ‘prayer. Nothing has so powerful a tendency to suddue the unhallowed affections of the mind, and the grosser appetites and passions of the body; nothing will so certainly control and direct the thoughts, and elevate them above all that is base and grovelling, trifling and little, as frequent and intimate fellowship with God. The great secret of mortifying a worldly spirit is to cultivate a heavenly one. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.” Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed, by the renewing of your minds.” No where does the world appear so much like an empty shadow, and no where is its baleful influence so certainly counteracted, as in sweet communion with things unseen. Prayer furnishes the strongest stimulus, the most powerful incitement to self-denying duty and toil. And who has not observed that intelligent, earnest prayer improves all the powers and properties of the soul, and wakes the mind from her sluggishness and apathy to the exercise of the best and most ennobling affections? No where does that wonderful system of truth, that “mighty range of motive,*’ disclosed in the Bible, obtain its sure and certain dominion over the soul, if not in the frequency, seriousness, and joy of familiarity with God. Were the history of christian’s made known, I have no doubt that you might, trace the distinguished usefulness of the most distinguished men to their closets. If you will review your own history, I. think you will not fail to see that those periods of it have been most distinguished for usefulness, that have been most distinguished for prayer. The late Dr. Payson, in suggesting a few hints to a youthful brother in the ministry, among other most valuable remarks, has the following: “The disciples, we read, returned to Jesus, and told him all things; what they had done, and what they had taught. I think that if we would every evening come to our Master’s feet, and tell him where we have been; what we have done; and what where the motives by which we have been actuated; it would have a salutary effect upon our whole conduct. While reading over each day’s page of life, with the consciousness that he was reading it with us, we should detect many errors and defects which would otherwise pass unnoticed.” It is this familiarity with Jesus — they are these unaffected approaches to the throne of grace, through all the sins and duties, the mercies and trials of his course, that make the useful christian. I have seen christians of very reserved habits in their intercourse with men, who were eminently useful because they conversed with God. You will greatly abound in the duty of prayer, if you are ever eminently useful.
It is also indispensable to distinguished and permanent usefulness in a christian that he mortify an aspiring spirit. Do not contend for pre-eminence. If you are thrown among those who contend for it, retire from the conflict. Strive to do good, and if your motives are impeached, let your habitual deportment be your only defence of them. I say again, beware of an aspiring spirit. There is scarcely any thing that has a stronger tendency to neutralize and counteract the benevolent designs of good men, than a self-complacent, aspiring spirit. Beioare of it. Learn of him who was “meek and lowly in heart.” He “that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
A christian to be eminently useful, must also be distinguished for no small share of earnestness and zeal. On this point I feel afraid of leaving a wrong impression. Zeal, without judgment and discrimination, spoils a man for a christian. A man may possess exemplary piety, and distinguished talent, but without practical wisdom he cannot become useful. And yet discretion may degenerate into timidity; may even lead to a trimming and calculating servility. A character that is formed on the highest models of usefulness, must be distinguished for decision, energy, and zeal, as well as self-diffidence and discretion. There is no danger that zeal will be too ardent, so long as it is the expression of simple benevolence. Only be sure that your heart glows with the benevolence of the Gospel, and the flame cannot rise too high. True zeal will find its choicest aliment in cultivating the spirit of Jesus Christ. At a great remove from that false fervour and electric fire which has its origin in a selfish and ambitious mind, which hurries men on to act without consulting the sober dictates of their understanding, and which is distinguished for its subtility, turbulence, and fickleness, it takes its rise from the meek and gentle spirit of holy love. It is warmed and fanned into flame by every breath of heavenly affection. It is simple, because it has nothing to disguise. It is strong and steady, because it is deliberate and cautious. It is unwearied, because, like the heaven-born charity from which it flows, “it seeketh not its own.” And where shall we look for such a spirit, if not in christians? Where are there incentives to such a spirit, if not in the cross of Christ? Where did Paul find it, where did the primitive Christians find it, but in the love of Christ? What can support such a spirit, but those awful and touching realities, those weighty and tender truths which are exhibited with such irresistible energy and vividness, in that wonderful redemption which is the foundation of all your hopes? A light and cursory view of duty will not answer the purpose of your high calling. The mind must be roused to the importance of it; you must think intensely, and feel deeply; every power of body and mind must be awakened and invigorated in the service of the divine Master.
There is another topic on which I will make a few observations: and that is, the importance of exercising a kind and fraternal spirit. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity is not easily provoked. Charity thinketh no evil. Charity beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. O, if this spirit of kindness — this mutual forbearance — this patience of injury — this freedom from suspicion and jealousy — this spirit of fraternal love and confidence were more prominent in the character of christians, how would they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and recommend religion to the world! If I do not misinterpret, nor pervert the signs of the times, the day is near when there will be a peculiar demand for the cultivation of this spirit in the American churches. “If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar; for if he love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?” How often have Ave seen the usefulness of christians lamentably circumscribed through the want of a kind and affectionate spirit 1
There are those who need nothing but brotherly
THE USEFUL CHRISTIAN.
kindness to make them patterns of every thing that is praiseworthy. I know that the constitutional temperament of good men is various; but there is no apology for the man whose external light is on the wane, because the glow of kindness declines within. You live in such an evil world — a world where there are so many occurrences that are unavoidably painful — so many wrongs to be encountered and forgiven, and where there are such frequent requisitions for the exercise of a kind spirit, that if you do not take special pains to cultivate it, all the better feelings of your hearts will be suppressed, and the manly and generous spirit of a heaven-born religion will lose its glory in the envyings and suspicions of an earthly and selfish mind.
Would christians be useful, let them beware of an earthly mind. Let them cherish an habitual impression of the vanity and unsatisfying nature of all earthly things. Let them set their affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Nor is the providence of God in this respect at all at war with his word. God does not require christians to depreciate worldly good; to exclude themselves from human society; to immure themselves in cloisters, for the sake of mortifying an earthly, and nurturing a heavenly mind. It is altogether a mistaken view of their duty that has induced some persons to retire altogether from the world, and to renounce all the intercourse and activity of social life. The author of our nature has with wonderful wisdom adjusted the claims of eternity and time to the relations which his people sustain to both worlds. He does not require them to disregard the claims of earth. He does not require any such divulsion of our nature as necessarily sets the parts of it in perpetual warfare. The design of the gospel is to elevate and sanctify the whole man; to give the best and most benevolent direction to our entire existence; to raise up from the ruins of the apostacy a new creature; and to show its power, not in destroying man, but in regenerating him. Regenerated man is fitted for both worlds. A due regard to the engagements of time tdoes not interfere with the most direct, and quiet course toward heaven. The christian never appears more in the true glory of his renewed nature than when he carries his religion into the world, and lets his light shine on all the departments of active and secular duty, and there amid the dust, and noise, and conflicts of earth, pursues his way toward the skies. It is a much more difficult thing to carry religion into the world, than to keep at a distance from the
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conflict. Religion does not consist in living at distance from temptation, any more than in running needlessly into it; but rather in encountering and overcoming temptation when it plainly meets us in the path of duty. By becoming christians, we do not cease to be men. The world has its temptations, and the world is every where. It is in the recesses of the wilderness. It is in the solitude of the ocean. It is in the retirement of the closet. It is deep in our own hearts. We shall find the world wherever we find our own unhallowed passions — passions which no solitude extinguishes, and which often gather strength from seclusion. No man can run away from the world without running away from himself. The presumptuous christian will find the world following him into his retirement; while the subdued and chastened christian will find, amid all the complications and cares of business, a solitude in his own bosom, a little world of tranquillity within, a retreat more inaccessible than his closet, where, while his body is occupied in its ten thousand labours, his soul lives for God, and where amid all the confusions of earth, he possesses his mind in peace. There is such a thing as living in the world while in the deepest solitude; and there is such a thing as being in solitude in the midst of the world. What christians have to guard against is a xoorldly spirit. This will destroy their usefulness. If their treasure is on earth, their hearts will be there. If this world is their aim and object, they can accomplish little as christians. If they would be useful, their great end and aim must be things unseen. They must not forget their high calling. They must not forget why, nor for whom they were sent into the world, but every where so set their affections on things above, that they shall appear like pilgrims and strangers on the earth.
In concluding these remarks permit the writer in a word to say, that it becomes the people of God to aim to possess that uniformity of character which the gospel requires. It is worth much effort, watchfulness, and prayer, to guard against the more common faults and blemishes of christian character. It concerns good men to cultivate every grace and virtue, and to be adorned with all the beauties of holiness. The usefulness of a christian depends much on this uniformity of character. As “dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour, so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” Little things have more to do in the formation of a spotless moral character, than we are at once willing to believe. Especially beware of little deviations from sterling rectitude. “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is much; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much.” It is impossible for the man who neglects little things then to command respect, or to be extensively useful. It is this uniformity of character which conciliates confidence and veneration, and which everywhere bespeaks a benevolent and elevated mind. Such a christian will not live in vain. He may have his superiors in some particular traits of excellence, but in that happy assemblage of excellencies that go to form the useful christian, he is one of the lights of the world. Not merely will he find the light of truth and holiness kindled within his own bosom; but he will become the source of light to others. He will be like a city that is set on a hill. Men will see him, and see him from afar. And when he is removed from this lower sphere, while it will be seen that one of the lights of this world is extinguished, it will be gratefully confessed that it is removed only to shine on a wider and brighter orbit.