Godlessness

“ No wonder then if by thus grieving the Spirit, we lose the light of his countenance.
6. A third cause of our losing this, is the giving way to some kind of inward sin. For example: we know every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: and that, although this pride of heart should not appear in the outward conversation. Now how easily may a soul filled with peace and joy, fall into this snare of the devil? How natural is it for him to imagine, that he has more grace, more wisdom or strength than he really has? To think more highly of himself than he ought to think? ”

“ And it is a sure rule, that whatsoever heights of piety, union or familiarity, any man pretends to, it is of the devil, unless the greater also be the humility of the man.”
“I was moreover deeply convinced how possible, yea easy it is, for a person after having received great light, love, power, and joy, to fall notwithstanding, into a certain dulness of soul; and that holy desires, vehement thirstings after God, and the spirit of prayer, may be lessened, and lost. Truly we can keep nothing unless the Holy Ghost help our infirmities continually. ”

“ I know not justly, if it be a weakness or a sin to create these phantoms that we love, and to group them into a paradise—soul-created. But if it is a sin, it is a sweet and enchanting sin; and if it is a weakness, it is a strong and stirring weakness. ”

“ But the overflowings of sin within and without, the contempt of sacred institutions, the carelessness of soul, the pride of unbelief, the eagerness of sensual appetite, the ambition for worldly greatness, and the deep-rooted enmity of the carnal heart against God: these things are as “the fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought,” which distress his soul, as he journeys through “that great and terrible wilderness.”
Sometimes, like a solitary pilgrim, he weeps in secret places, and rivers of water run down his eyes, because men keep not the law of God. ”

“ I make no apology for this abrupt address, but assure you, that if you die in these awful sentiments of denying the Godhead, divinity and distinct personality of the Holy Spirit, your end will be awful indeed; to treat his sacred person with such awful contempt is shocking, and to teach others so to do adds to your crime.
That there is a Holy Spirit you pretend not to deny—but “What is it?” say you and your deluded followers; “O nothing but a mere breath, a point, a mere emanation, that’s all!” ”

“ For there is nothing in the world—the world
Of things existent, things substantial, real,
Spirit or matter—that as counterpart
Answers to these conceived resemblances,
These idols framed by your artificers,
Pretending to be images of gods;
Nothing, I mean, that can be called Divine.
Behind them there is something real indeed,
But evil, not good; no such reality
As that ye dream. Demons, not gods are they,
[494] Who, hid behind your idols, mask and mock.
Therefore we can but hate idolatry,
And flee it as one flees a pestilence. ”

“ How great guilt they lie under, who adhere to the pernicious superstitions and worship of idolatry, appears by the examples of the perdition of those whom they worship. Wherefore it is said of them by the Psalmist, 'All the gods of the Gentiles are devils, but the Lord made the heavens.' And again, 'they have eyes and do not see, they have ears and do not hear, they have noses and do not smell, they have hands and do not feel, they have feet and do not walk. ”

“ What a monster of ingratitude, then, is sin in a Christian!
Q. 15. How does the malice of sin appear from its effects on our souls in this life?
A. The effects which sin produces in our souls are many, and miserable indeed, showing to a demonstration the horrid malignancy of that fatal poison which causes them. To understand them properly, we must consider, (i.) That a soul in the state of grace is beautiful, like an angel, and a delightful object in the eyes of God and of His saints. ”

“ For, led by him, they would fain be so holy as to enter into the depths of the eternal Godhead, and to sound the secret abyss of the eternal sacred Manhood of the Lord. If thus they became blinded with pride, they bring themselves under the eternal curse. They would attain to a holiness which is reached by mocking at the written Word of God, which speaks to us of the Manhood of our Lord. ”

“ Sin is filthiness, and there are defilements of body and mind. There are sins of the flesh, that are committed with the body, and sins of the spirit, spiritual wickednesses; and we must cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of both, for God is to be glorified both with body and soul. 2. The living unto righteousness and holiness. If we hope God is our Father, we must endeavour to be partakers of his holiness, to be holy as he is holy, and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. ”

“ The poverty of our fallen nature, the depraved workings of flesh and blood, cannot destroy us, so long as the spirit of prayer works contrary to them, and longs for the light and spirit of heaven. Our natural evil loses its poison and death, and only becomes our holy cross, on which we happily die from ourselves and this world, into the kingdom of heaven.
Would you have done with error, scruple, and delusion? Consider the Deity to be the greatest love, the greatest meekness, the greatest sweetness, the eternal unchangeable will to be a good and blessing to every creature ”

“ O Lord my God, who hast created me after thine own image and similitude, grant me this grace, which Thou hast shown to be so great and so necessary for salvation, that I may conquer my wicked nature, which draweth me to sin and to perdition. For I feel in my flesh the law of sin, contradicting the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the obedience of sensuality in many things ”

“ What is more terrible than the eternal, irreparable fall and banishment of once lofty angelic nature that resulted when the devil robbed himself of the honor and glory enjoyed by the noble blessed spirits, and of the contemplation of eternal God, and brought upon himself everlasting and intolerable damnation by seeking to make himself equal with God, and through similar pride, led the human race to its awful fall? ”

“ Whatsoever is of nature’s putting on, Satan will come and plunder it, and leave the soul naked and open to the wrath of God. All that nature can do will never make up the least dram of grace that can mortify sin, or look Christ in the face one day.
3. Thou goest on hearing, praying, and receiving, yet miserable mayst thou be. Look about thee; didst thou ever see Christ to this day in distinction from all other excellencies and righteousness in the world, and all of them falling before the majesty of his love and grace! ”

“ His ideas of God, of himself, of sin, of salvation, of human life—all are far removed from ours and are peculiarly his own. He feels himself to be in the toils of an iron destiny which slowly grinds him to powder. His conception of God brings him no ray of comfort, or hope of release. His idea is that his sin and suffering of [pg 117] today are the inflictions, by some unknown power, for the sins of supposed former births. ”

“ This rational and immortal creature in the morning of his existence looked up into the clear sky with reverence, being impressed by the eternal power and godhead that are there, and when he had committed a sin he felt remorseful and guilty; but the very same person now sins recklessly and with flinty hardness of heart, casts sullen or scowling glances upward, and says: "There is no God." ”

“ But daily and hourly, in every step that you take, see to the spirit that is within you, whether it be heaven, or earth that guides you. And judge every thing to be sin and Satan, in which your earthly nature, has any share of life in you; nor think that any goodness is in you, but so far as it is an actual death to the pride, the vanity, the wrath, and selfish tempers of your fallen, earthly life. ”

“ Set a watch over it, lest thou be defiled with proud thoughts, words, or actions; with wrath, or other such works of the flesh, and of the devil. Sin opens the door to the devil, and shuts the heart against God.
III. Study continually to maintain the Christian liberty of thy soul, and [pg 138] do not suffer thyself to be enslaved, or brought into bondage, by any inordinate love of the creature, or of the things of this world, whose lord and master thou oughtest to be. Consider the value of thy soul, which certainly is of a more noble nature than this present perishing world. ”

“ Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Nothing can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you. ”

“ And it’s most perilously easy to fall into it. Stifling the voices inside you, filling the mind with so much earthy rubbish that God has no room to enter it, not giving the spirit its fair chance—that’s the sin against the Holy Ghost. ”

“ You would be more miserable living with a holy and just God, being aware of your filthiness, than you would living with the damned souls of hell. For when you realize how exposed your soul is before God in His glory, and realize the holiness of Jesus Christ, your soul will be filled with a flame of unquenchable fire. ”

“ We know not how unholy, how abominable, sin and the sinful nature are in God’s sight. We have lost the power of recognising the Holiness of God: heathen philosophy had not even the idea of using the word as expressive of the moral character of its gods. In losing the light of the glory of God, we have lost the power of knowing what sin is. ”

“ IF there were gods, how could I endure it to be no God! ”

“ That kind of adorning cannot spring from godliness, from either the love or fear of God, from a desire of conforming to his will, or from the mind which was in Christ Jesus. 2. It no way tends to increase godliness; it is not conducive to any holy temper. But 3. It manifestly tends to destroy several of the tempers most essential to godliness. It has no friendly influence on humility; whether we aim at pleasing others or ourselves hereby. Either in one case or the other, it will rather increase pride or vanity than lowliness of heart. ”

“ The human heart, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Where true godliness wanes false religions rush in to fill the void; and the intensity of zeal which false religions awaken measures the declension that has befallen true faith. ”

“ Especially, to think that you hope yourselves to live for ever like those holy spirits; and therefore sin doth ill beseem you.
Direct. VIII. Look but to the state and torment of the damned, and think well of the difference betwixt angels and devils, and you may know what sin is.—Angels are pure; devils are polluted: holiness and sin do make the difference. Sin dwells in hell, and holiness in heaven. Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like himself; as every holy motion is from Christ, to make you like himself. ”

“ Is not thy soul fallen short of the glory (the glorious image) of God? Look into thy breast. Art thou not a fallen spirit? Dost thou not know and feel, how very far thou art gone from original righteousness? Desperately full thou art of all evil, and naked of all good? Is there not in thee, an earthly, sensual, devilish mind? A mind that is enmity against God? ’Tis plain there is. For thou dost not love God. Thou dost not delight in him. He is not the desire of thy eyes, or the joy of thy heart. Thou lovest the creature more than the Creator. ”

“ The deadliest sin, I say, were the same supercilious consciousness of no sin; that is death; the heart so conscious is divorced from sincerity, humility, and fact,—is dead; it is ‘pure,’ as dead dry sand is pure. ”

“ Again I repeat, that though by nature depraved, prone to evil, full of sin, with hearts desperately wicked, God says to all who desire to enter the kingdom of heaven, to become heirs of eternal life, to be prepared to go and dwell with Him, to enjoy eternal happiness instead of eternal misery, ‘Be ye holy as I am holy.’ You will ask me, how can that be? ”

“ Such indifference is conclusive proof that the soul has departed from God; has grieved the Holy Spirit and lost the vital power of godliness. If you, reader, are conscious of this indifference, see in it an infallible sign of your backsliding. It declares you have departed from the fountain of living waters and are a wanderer from your God.
A third indication of declension in the Christian life is a devotion to the world. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." Covetousness is idolatry. ”

“ But see another effect of sin. “The earth moaneth.” That is a frequent note in Bible teaching. The forces of nature are mysteriously conditioned by the character of man. When man is degraded, nature is despoiled. The beauty of the garden is checked when man has lost his crown. “The whole creation groaneth in pain,” waiting for the manifestation of the children of God.
Sin spreads desolation everywhere. When I sin, I become the centre of demoralizing forces which influence the universe. ”

“ And yet no prayer that can be breathed to bless, no grateful and soul felt invocation, can snatch him from the common doom of earth-born flesh, or buy away one hour's anguish and prostration of body and spirit, before the triumphant infirmities of our miserable nature. ”

“ For what were our poor world the better of this holy God if He be content to sit aloof in the light and glory of heaven, leaving the web of human story to be woven by the blundering fingers of sinning, erring men on earth? ”

“ For all that variety of matters, through which we have passed, has been only a variety of proofs, that the spirit of divine love can have no place, in any fallen creature, till it wills and chooses to be dead to all sin in a patient, meek, humble resignation to the power and mercy of God. ”

“ He destroys in himself the spirit of true religion and isolates himself from those whose lives are made beautiful by sympathy. No one need hope for a spiritual Heaven while helping to make the earth a bloody Hell. ”