The Means of Safety for Young Men Away from Home

Such means there certainly are, if you will avail yourselves of them. Imminent as is the peril to which you are exposed, defence is at hand, and it will be your own fault if you are not preserved. Thousands have been kept amidst the severest temptations. In the beautiful, touching, and instructive history of Joseph, as recorded in the book of Genesis, a history which will never cease to be” admired as long as taste or piety shall remain in the world, we have a striking instance of moral preservation amidst great danger, well worthy your attention. How fierce and seductive was the assault upon his morals; it came from a quarter, and in a form, the most likely to corrupt a youthful mind: yet how promptly, firmly, and successfully was it resisted. True, his virtue subjected him for a while to much suffering, for, defeated in her criminal intentions, his seductress, under the combined influence of disappointment, shame, and remorse, wickedly revenged herself upon the virtue she could not subdue; blasted his reputation by calumny and false accusation, and caused him to be cast into prison. But Providence, ever watchful over the reputation and interests of pious men, overruled all for good, and made the prison of this illustrious Israelite the way to his elevation. But for Potiphar’s wife, Joseph had never been prime minister of Egypt; her guilt and its painful effects were rendered subservient to his advancement. Sooner or later virtue will bring its own reward. But what was the means of Joseph’s preservation from the snare? RELIGION. “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” was his noble reply. Here was the shield that covered his heart. True, he had a deep sense of the duty he owed to his employer, and on this ground expostulated with the tempter, “Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in this house than I: neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife.” This was faithful, just, generous, noble; but there needed something else, something still stronger to resist such a temptation: morality alone would not have done it, and he called in the aid of his piety.” How CAN I DO

THIS GREAT WICKEDNESS, AND SIN AGAINST God?”

Thus armed with religion, he fought with the tempter, and came off more than conqueror. Let every young man mark this, and see the power, the excellence, and benefit of piety, as a preservative against sin.

Amidst the snares to which you will be exposed, you will need something stronger and more trustworthy than those feeble defences on which some rely, and which in many instances are demolished by the first assault upon mere unaided virtue. You may leave your father’s house with fixed resolutions to shun what is evil, and practise - what is good; you may suppose that you have no taste for the vicious pleasures of profligate persons; you may cherish a tender regard for the feelings of your parents, sufficient, as you think, to preserve you from every thing that would grieve their hearts; you may have your eye on future respectability and wealth, and be inspired with an ambition that makes you dread whatever would interfere with these objects of desire; you may be already moral and upright, and thus be led to imagine that you are prepared to repel every attack upon your purity and integrity: but if destitute of real religion, you may soon be exposed to temptations which will either sweep away all these defences as with the violence of a flood, or insidiously undermine them with the slow but certain process of a siege. Religion, true religion, young man, is the only defence to be relied upon: morality may protect you, but piety will. What multitudes of instances could the history of the church of God furnish of youths passing unconquered, through the most corrupting scenes, by the aid of this Divine shield, taken from the armoury of revelation; this shield of faith. I could mention names known and loved among the pious, of your own and other countries, who in youth went unbefriended and unpatronized from the country to the me-THE MEANS OF SAFTET. Ill

tropolis, and who, by the fear of God, were not only preserved from evil, but were raised to wealth, to influence, and usefulness, by the aid of religion. There are two or three questions concerning true religion which may with great propriety be asked, and which have, or ought to have, great force in recommending it to all. Whom did it ever impoverish, except by martyrdom? Whom did it ever render miserable? Who ever, on a death bed, repented of having lived under its influence? On the contrary, how many millions has it blessed with wealth, with happiness in life, and comfort in death!

But what is religion? Give me your attention while I attempt to answer this question. It is the most momentous inquiry which can engage the intellect of man. Literature, science, politics, commerce, and the arts, are all important in their place and measure; and men give proof that they duly, or rather unduly estimate their importance, by the devoted manner in which they attend to them. To multitudes they are everything. Yet man is an immortal creature, and there is an eternity before him, and what direct relation have these things to immortality? or what influence do they exert on our everlasting destiny in another world? Nay, do they make us either virtuous or happy in this? Is there any necessary connexion between any one, or all of these things, with human felicity? They call out and employ the noble faculties of the mind: they raise man from savage to civilized society: they refine the taste: they embellish life: they decorate the stage on which the great drama of existence is carried on, and give interest to the performance: but do they reach the seat of man’s chief pleasures or pains — the heart? Do they cure its disorders, correct its tastes, mitigate its sorrows, or soften its weightiest cares? Do they comfort man amidst the wreck of his fortunes, the disappointment of his hopes, the loss of his friends, the malignity of his enemies, the pains of a sick chamber, the struggles of a dying bed, or the prospect of a coming judgment? No. .Religion is that, and that only, which can do this; and this it can do, and is continually doing. Disbelieve, then, the calumnies that ignorant men have circulated concerning it, who represent it as degrading our intellect, and destroying our happiness. On the contrary, a little reflection will convince you that it is the sublimest science, the noblest learning, the profoundest wisdom, the most consummate prudence, and most useful art. In its theory, it is called by way of eminence TRUTH; in its practice, WISDOM; in its essence, LOVE; in its effect, PEACE; and in its destiny, IMMORTALITY. It is sustained by abundant and unanswerable evidence; it has engaged the attention, and captivated the minds of men of the profoundest intellect: to speak only of our own country, I might mention Bacon, Milton, Newton, Locke, Addison, Johnson, and a host of others: and it is now preparing to subdue all nations to the obedience of faith. Is it not a subject, then, which demands and deserves attention?

The question, however, still returns, What is religion? To reply first in negatives: it is not merely being baptized in any particular church; it is not merely being educated in the profession of any particular creed; it is not merely being accustomed to observe any particular forms; it is not merely an attendance at any particular place of public worship; or to prefer any particular set of doctrines, however orthodox and scriptural: religion is all this, but it is a great deal more: it includes this, but it goes much further.

Perhaps you will understand more clearly and accurately what religion is, if you take a short view of the condition and circumstances of man, by whom it is to be practised. Every one who is born into our world, in consequence of his descent from Adam, since the fall, partakes of a nature to tally corrupt; by which I mean, that whatever general amiableness and loveliness of disposition there may be, and much there sometimes is, yet with out Divine grace, there is no right disposition, but a wrong one, toward God, and holiness. The Scriptures declare that “the carnal mind,” that is, the mind of every man in his unrenewed state, “is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” Rom. viii. 7. This is a description, not of any one man, but of human nature in its most generic sense.

All men, every man, till renewed by Divine grace, is in enmity against God. He is not merely indifferent to God, and alien from him, but inimical to him; he does not merely not love him, but he dislikes him. He dislikes his moral attributes of righteousness and holiness, and resists his authority as expressed in the law. So that in the heart of man there is not one good or holy feeling; but all its thoughts and emotions toward God and holiness, are evil, only evil, and that continually. There may, as I have said, be blended with this, many fine, and generous, and noble sentiments of patriotism, social kindness, honour, generosity, and philanthropy, but these affect not the disposition toward God, that still remains unmixed, unsubdued dislike. Many think this not true, because they take pleasure in thinking of God’s great kindness and indulgence; but mercy without holiness is not the character of God as delineated in the Scriptures, and many who speak with pleasure of an indulgent God, are displeased with a holy and a just one. Nor is it any abatement of the truth of my representation of human nature, that som-e who are not evangelically pious, take pleasure in tracing the wisdom and power of God in the works of creation; because it is the God of the Bible that is proposed as the object of our love, fear, and delight; and not merely the God of nature. It is God, as righteous, holy, true, and merciful, that is revealed to us, and whom we are to love; and not merely as wise, powerful, and beneficent. Human nature in its unchanged state, is opposed to holiness: it dislikes it even in the imperfect form in which it is seen in the saints, a plain proof that it is opposed to it in its source and model, which is God. Perhaps you think this arises from ignorance in man, and that he would love God more if he knew him better. Quite the contrary. The reason why men think they dislike him so little, is because they know him so little. If they knew him more, they would be still more opposed to him. If we dislike a quality, the more that quality prevails, or is known, the stronger must be our dislike to it. So it is with the sinner toward God; as he is opposed to his holiness, the more he knows it, the more he is opposed to it. Consequently it would be impossible for an unconverted man to be happy in heaven. There God reveals himself clearly, and gloriously, and for ever, as the holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; and must necessarily be an object of dread, terror, and dislike to an unholy mind, in proportion to the clearness of the manifestation. Such is the heart of man in his unconverted state.

Now look at his conduct. It is his duty to love God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his mind, and his neighbour as himself, Matt. xxii. 37 — 39: not only to love him in some measure, but supremely, practically, and constantly. To be without this love is a state of sin: such a life is a career of rebellion against the Divine authority, and contempt of the Divine excellence. This is the one great sin which comprehends most other sins. Dwell upon the other sins which stand connected with it; first, toward God him self, there is no gratitude for his mercies, no reverence for his authority, no habitual veneration for his character, no fear of his displeasure, no trust in his promises, no submission to his will, no devotedness to his service, no living to his glory, no pleasure in his ordinances, no prayer in the spirit of it, no communion with him, no walking with him, no delight in him. Instead of this, in many cases, profaning his name, dishonouring his institutes, despising his ordinances, and especially the great sin, the greatest of all sins in his sight, neglecting his salvation in Christ Jesus. To these sins add others committed against man, disobedience to parents, rebellion against the authority of masters, lying, malice, revenge, slander, envy, impure thoughts and feelings and acts, injustice, oppression, cruelty, swearing, cheating — but where shall I stop? Suffice it to say, that the exposition given by our Lord in his sermon on the Mount, of the strictness and spirituality of the law, by which an unchaste feeling is called adultery of the heart, and sinful anger murder, is such as to prove that each one of us is guilty in the sight of God of sins equally innumerable and inexcusable.

This representation, so affecting and so humbling, belongs to you, my reader, and is a description of your state and condition. And can you read it unmoved and unalarmed? Is there no thing to exciteipprehension and concern? What! bear in your breast a heart disloyal to God! disaffected to God! at enmity to God! Will you, dare you, can you go into life, pass through the world, and enter eternity, an enemy of God? Yet is it not so, that you love not God? does not your conscience assure you it is so? Can you help saying, “Oh! what a heart have I, that can love anything else, that can love trifles, that can love impurities, that can love sin; and cannot love God, the most desirable good! What a monster in the creation of God is this soul of mine! 0 my soul, thou hast in thee other valuable things: thou hast under standing, judgment, perhaps learning, considerable acquired endowments; but thou hast not the love of God in thee: I can do many other commendable or useful things, I can discourse plausibly, argue subtilly, manage affairs dexterously; but I cannot love God. 0 my soul, how great an essential dost thou want to all religion, to all duty, to all felicity! The one thing necessary thou wantest, thou hast everything but that which thou needest more than anything, more than all things; and what is to become of thee? Where art thou to have thine eternal abode? To what realms of horror, darkness, and wo, art thou going * What society can be fit for thee? No love of God! what but that of infernal spirits who are at the utmost distance from him, and on whom no beam of holy light shall shine to all eternity. Thou, 0 my soul, art self-abandoned to the blackness of darkness for ever. Thy doom is in thy breast, in thy own bosom; thy no love to God is thy own doom: this creates thee a present hell, and shows whither thou belongest! “*

You are now prepared to understand what true religion is, and to perceive that it includes the following things: —

Repentance toward God. This is frequently enjoined in the New Testament “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” Luke xiii. 3. “Repent — and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,” Acts iii. 19. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of,” 2 Cor. vii. 10. From this last passage it clearly appears what repentance means, and that sorrow is but a part of it, yea, only the operative cause of it. The word signifies, a change of mind with regard to sin: it is such a view of the evil of sin, in general, and of the number and aggravation of our own sins in particular, as leads us to confess them to God, without reserve or excuse, to hate, and to forsake them.

But repentance is not enough: this is but a part of religion, and is not all that is necessary to salvation; for without FAITH, have whatever we may, it is impossible to please God. God has not left man to perish in his sins. Mercy has visited our world, and brought salvation to man.” God so

* Howe’s Works, vol. ii. 499.

loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” When the jailer, expecting to perish, exclaimed, “What must I do to be saved?” the apostle replied, 11 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” We are “justified by faith;” we ’ purify our hearts by faith,” “we walk by faith.” Faith in general, means such a belief of the whole of God’s holy word, as leads us to observe and obey it. Faith in Christ, signifies such a belief in the testimony borne to him in the Scripture, as the Son of God, and Saviour of the world; as our Mediator between God and man; as our Prophet, Priest, and King; as our atoning sacrifice, and justifying righteousness, as leads us to quit all dependance upon our own works for pardon, acceptance with God, and salvation, and to rely exclusively, and with expectation of eternal life, upon his propitiation and intercession. Tfeis is one great part of religion, and an essential to salvation. Faith is the saving grace; it is not that for which we are saved, as the meritorious cause, but that by which we are saved, as the instrumental means. The first effect of true faith is peace, the second love, the third holiness.

With faith is connected an entire change of heart, conduct, and character. This is what our Lord calls, being “born again,” being “bora of water and the Spirit,” John iii.; and the inspired evangelist calls it, being “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God,” John i. 13. It is what the apostle calls, “putting off the old man which is corrupt with his deeds, and putting on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” It is what is meant when he also says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Cor. v. 7. It is that entire change of our moral nature, which is effected by the Spirit of God, through the word, received by faith; when the corrupt and fallen nature which we inherit from Adam, is taken away; and the holy and spiritual nature, which we receive from Christ is imparted. This is the new birth, such a change of our hearts, as gives a new direction to our thoughts, feelings, tastes, and pursuits; and this direction is toward God, holiness, and eternity; whereas formerly it was to ward sin and the present world. Now, the soul loves God with a supreme affection, and from this love springs a sincere desire to please him, and an endeavour to serve him with the obedience of affection, even as a son obeys the father whom he loves. Now he fears sin, hates it, and strives to avoid it, as that which God hates, and from which Christ died to redeem him. Now he has a tender conscience, and a jealousy over himself, lest he should offend God, and pollute his own soul. He watches and prays, lest he enter into temptation, and sanctification is his delight. Now he keeps holy the sabbath, reads the word of God, rejoices in the preaching of the cross, loves secret prayer, receives the supper of the Lord, joins the communion of saints, because these things are means of grace, and ordinances of God. Constrained by the love of Christ, he now seeks to be useful, and especially by diffusing that religion which he has found for himself. He gives up all his former sinful amusements, the theatre, the card party, the ball, the fashionable and dissipating visit, for they do not now suit his taste; his delight is in God and his service, to which these things are all contrary. He is independent of them, and happy without them.

Such is religion — a personal, experimental, and practical thing. It is a thing of the heart, and not merely outward forms; a living principle in the soul, influencing the mind, employing the affections, guiding the will, and directing as well as enlightening the conscience. It is a supreme not a subordinate matter; demanding and obtaining the throne of the soul, giving law to the whole character, and requiring the whole man and all his conduct to be in subordination. It is an habitual, not an occasional thing; it takes up its abode in the heart, and not only sometimes and at particular seasons visiting it. It is a universal, and not a partial thing; not confining itself to certain times, and places, and occasions, but forming an integral part of the character, and blending with every occupation. It is noble and lofty, not an abject, servile, and grovelling thing; it communes with God, with truth, with holiness, with heaven, with eternity, and infinity. It is a happy, and not a melancholy thing, giving a peace that passe th understanding, and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. And it is a durable, not a transient thing, passing with us through life, lying down with us on the pillow of death, rising with us at the last day, and dwelling in our souls in heaven as the very element of eternal life. Such is religion, the sublimest thing in our world, sent down to be our comforter and ministering angel on earth,

11 Our guide to everlasting life
Through all this gloomy vale.”

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