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 BV 4920 .V48 1867 
 Nevin, Alfred, 1816-1890 
 Words of comfort for 
 doubting hearts 
 
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Words of Comfort 
 
 for 
 
 DOUBTING HEARTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED NEVIN, D.D. 
 
 Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it!— Gen. xv. 8. 
 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall 
 uench.— Matt. xii. 20. 
 
 For he that is not against us is on our part. — Mark ix. 40. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 Anson D. F. Randolph, 
 
 770 Broadway. 
 
 1867. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, 
 
 By Anson D. F. Randolph, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U. S. for 
 the Southern District of New York. 
 
 E. 0. JENKINS, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPE*, 
 20 NORTH WILLIAM ST., N. Y. 
 
" Two things may quiet any man's conscience under 
 the greatest guilt. 1. Is there not a sufficient sacrifice? 
 Is there not satisfaction and atonement in the blood of 
 Christ ? Is not this a sufficient sacrifice ? 2. Is it thine ? 
 This I know unbelief is apt to stagger at, bur do but lay 
 the hand of thy faith upon the head of the sacrifice, and 
 confess and forsake thy sins, and all that Christ hath done 
 shall be as effectual for thy good as if thou thyself hadst 
 suffered, yea, infinitely more." — Mather. 
 
 ••We cannot expect spiritual thoughts and affections 
 from truths which are but imperfectly uuderstood, or 
 doubtfully and feebly believed."— J". A. James. 
 
 ••Satan, in his temptations, strikes principally at the 
 faith of God's people, that being the grace which gives 
 most glory to God, aud in the exercise of which believers 
 have much peace, joy and comfort ; and it is also a shield 
 which keeps off and quenches his fiery darts, and there- 
 fore he endeavors all he can to weaken and destroy it, or 
 wrest it out of their hands."— Dr. Gill. 
 
 "When we look at our great High Priest in faith, we 
 may look at ourselves (bad as we are) without despair, at 
 our enemies (however many) without fear, at our trials 
 (however great) without repining, and at our duties (how- 
 ever difficult) without discouragement." — Cox. 
 
 "Sinners can do nothing but make wounds that Christ 
 may heal them, and make debts that He may pay them, 
 and make falls that He may raise them, and make deaths 
 that He may quicken them, and spin out and dig hells for 
 themselves that He may ransom them. Now I will bless 
 the Lord that ever there was such a thing as the free grace 
 of God, and a free ransom given for sold souls : only, 
 alas I guiltiness maketh me ashamed to apply to Christ, 
 
 (iii.) 
 
IV WORDS OF COMFORT. 
 
 and to think it pride in me to put out my unclean and 
 withered hand to such a Saviour ! But it is neither shame 
 nor pride for a drowning man to swim to a rock, nor for a 
 ship-broken soul to run himself ashore upon Christ." — 
 Eutherford. 
 
 " Cling to the Crucified : 
 His death is life to thee — 
 Life for eternity ! 
 His pains thy pardon seal ; 
 His stripes thy bruises heal, 
 His cross proclaims thy peace, 
 Bids every sorrow cease. 
 His blood is all to thee, 
 It purges thee from sin ; 
 It sets thy spirit free, 
 It keeps thy conscience clean, 
 Cling to the Crucified ! 
 
 " Cling to the Crucified : 
 His is a heart of love, 
 Full as the hearts above, 
 Its depths of sympathy 
 Are all awake for thee. 
 His countenance is light, 
 Even in the darkest night. 
 That love shall never change, 
 That light shall ne'er grow dim. 
 Change thou thy faithless heart 
 To find its all in Him. 
 Cling to the Crucified !" 
 
COMFOBTING WOttDS. 
 
 NO NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION 
 
 No one can occupy an intermediate 
 point between the friends and the ene- 
 mies of God. Every human being, in 
 the possession of a sound mind, is either 
 a saint or a sinner, either penitent or 
 impenitent, either a believer or an un- 
 believer. It is true that shades of char- 
 acter are so blended in the Church and 
 in the world, that it is difficult, if at all 
 possible, to determine precisely the line 
 of distinction between them j but it is 
 also and equally true, that every intelli- 
 gent being is marked by conformity to 
 the will of God, or the want of it. 
 
 This is necessarily so from the very 
 constitution of our nature. Man was 
 
4 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 not made to be neutral in regard to any- 
 thing, nor can he be. He was made to 
 feel, and feel he must and does in relation 
 to every object that attracts his atten- 
 tion or affects his interest. His heart, 
 like the pendulum in its oscillation, is 
 constantly moving from attachment to 
 aversion, from hope to fear, and from 
 approbation to condemnation, or in the 
 opposite direction. And what is true 
 of him in regard to matters of limited 
 and transient importance is, of course, 
 much more so in regard to religion. 
 Here the interests involved are tran- 
 scendency great. They are high as 
 heaven, deep as hell. Hence it is ut- 
 terly impossible for us to be brought, as 
 we all are, in contact with this system, 
 without taking a position either friendly 
 or hostile to it. It is to affect us so 
 deeply, so much and so long, that we are 
 forced to form an opinion touching it, 
 either favorable or adverse. This is 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 5 
 
 what Jesus meant in saying, " He tnat 
 is not with me is against me." So long 
 as men possess any moral character, 
 they must view themselves, and be re- 
 garded by others, as either for God or 
 against him. In the great contest 
 which enlists the feelings and the power 
 of three worlds, it is impossible that 
 there should be a neutral. One side or 
 the other will claim, and does claim, 
 every rational being in heaven and on 
 earth. 
 
 IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE A CHRISTIAN 
 WITHO UT KNO WING IT? 
 
 It is beyond question that there are 
 many persons who exhibit the fruits of 
 personal piety, and yet are not satisfied 
 that they are the children of God. Such 
 persons, though free from all doubts of 
 the divine origin of Christianity, and 
 thoroughly persuaded of the importance 
 
 * 
 
6 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 of an interest in the great salvation, 
 and walking unblamably in the com- 
 mandments of the Lord, yet are unable 
 to decide, to their own satisfaction, 
 whether they have found the " pearl of 
 great price." They are not sure that 
 they have been received into the house- 
 hold of faith. Sometimes they think 
 they belong to it ; then, again, they 
 think or fear they do not. They are 
 vexed and oppressed with doubts on 
 what, to them, is the weightiest 'of all 
 problems. From the depths of an aching 
 heart they are constrained to say : 
 
 " Tis a point I long to know, 
 
 Oft it gives me anxious thought, 
 Do I love the Lord, or no, 
 Am I his, or am I not V 
 
 They are afraid that they are only in- 
 formed, but not enlightened, only con- 
 vinced, not converted, only almost, not 
 altogether, Christians. Their solicitude 
 is deepened by their consciousness of the 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 7 
 
 deceitf alness of their hearts, as well as 
 by the revealed possibility that pre- 
 sumptions or persuasions may be cher- 
 ished which may outlive the pang* of 
 dying, and knock at the very gate of 
 heaven, only that their deluded victim 
 may be repulsed by the Master's word, 
 / never knew you. 
 
 Oh, how painful is such uncertainty ! 
 How many dark shadows does it cast 
 over the pathway of life ! And how 
 vain the attempt to remove it, by having 
 recourse to such unreasonable and unre- 
 liable sources of evidence as accidental 
 occurrences, visions, dreams, and sudden 
 impulses ! 
 
 Dear reader, assuming that you be- 
 long to the class of persons just described, 
 I undertake, with such strength as God 
 may impart, to assist you in settling to 
 your comfort, if not even to your joy, 
 the question which gives you so much 
 concern. I propose to defend, your 
 
8 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 faint, wavering hope of salvation against 
 the doubts and fears which assail it. 
 And in order that your mind may be 
 prepared to appreciate the evidence of 
 Christian character which shall be pre- 
 sented, I ask you, in advance, to ponder 
 carefully and prayerfully certain propo- 
 sitions which I shall state, and all of 
 which bear with more or less force and 
 directness on the momentous issues to 
 be decided. 
 
 THE TIME, PLACE, AND MODE OF RE 
 GEXERA TION NEED NOT BE KNO WN 
 
 A man may be a Christian without 
 being able to tell when, where, or how 
 he was born again. On these points 
 the experience of the true disciples of 
 Jesus is very different. Some can tell 
 the time of their conversion, giving day 
 and date, the hour, the providence, the 
 Dlace, the text, the preacher, and all the 
 
FOB DOUBTING HEARTS. 9 
 
 circumstances connected with it. They, 
 can show the word that penetrated their 
 soul, and in some truths of Scripture the 
 salve that healed the sore, the balm 
 that stanched the blood, and the band- 
 age that Christ's own hand wrapped on 
 the bleeding wound. It is not so, how- 
 ever, with all, or, perhaps, with most 
 Christians. 
 
 Wo turn our face to the east and our 
 back to the setting stars, to note the 
 very moment of the. birth of morning, 
 yet we cannot tell when and where the 
 first faint, cold, steel-gray gleam ap- 
 pears. Thus, too, if our eyes are fixed 
 upon the earth, both night and day, so 
 silently does the green blade come forth 
 from the bosom of the earth, and so grad- 
 ually does it show itself, that we could 
 not possibly determine the exact moment 
 when it appeared. Now, as it is with 
 morning's birth, so is it with many in 
 relation to their spiritual dawn ; both 
 
10 WORDS Ot COMFORT 
 
 are marked by faint and feeble streaks 
 of light, yet both shine more and more 
 unto the perfect day. And as the green 
 blade springs up silently and gradually 
 from the virgin soil, so, with noiseless 
 steps, divine mercy comes to the sinner's 
 heart to make way for the sinner's 
 Friend, and gently, oftentimes, the hand 
 of love removes our chains, and softly 
 does the dew of heaven steal into the 
 heart, to cause the seed of truth to ger- 
 minate and grow. . 
 
 Just, therefore, as the husbandman re- 
 fuses not to rejoice as he beholds the 
 growing corn, because he cannot tell the 
 time when it pierced the sod ; and as the 
 mariner refuses not to recognize the 
 grateful light which shines around him, 
 because he could not decide just when 
 night gave place to day ; so neither need 
 any one be perplexed because he cannot 
 tell the precise hour when the Omnipo- 
 tent finger of God's grace first touched 
 
FOR DOUB TING HEAR TS. \ \ 
 
 his heart— the first dew-drop of heav- 
 en's mercy distilled upon his spirit. 
 " The way of the Spirit of God," says 
 an old writer, " is always undiscernibie 
 to flesh and blood. The soul receives a 
 thing, and the man knows not how ; he 
 can (scarce possibly, not at all) tell 
 where, by whom, or which way it came 
 to him, it was brought, and with a most 
 blessed, gracious sleight-of-hand convey- 
 ed into his heart." 
 
 NO DECREE OF FAITH, IF IT IS TRUE 
 AND LIVING FAITH, IS TOO SMALL 
 FOR THE P URPOSE OF SALVA TION 
 
 Even the disciples who were in the 
 vessel with Jesus, during the storm on 
 the Sea of Galilee, possessed but little 
 faith. The ship-wrecked sailor, if he 
 has been cast upon a rock but a single 
 foot above the reach of the waves, is as 
 perfectly secure as if he were looking 
 
12 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 down from a thousand fathoms upon the 
 troubled waters. So, if by Divine grace 
 any soul has really found a resting-place 
 upon the Rock of Ages, God will not 
 despise the day of small things — the 
 disciple of little faith. 
 
 There is a difference among the Lord's 
 people. There are not only sheep, but 
 lambs. There are babes, and little 
 children, as well as young men, and 
 those of full age, who have their senses 
 exercised, by reason of use, to discern 
 both good and evil. The seed of the 
 Gospel, which has been made to take 
 root in the heart, brings forth unequally ; 
 in some, thirty, in some, sixty, and in 
 some, an hundred fold. This difference 
 should be well marked by weak believ- 
 ers. Such persons are constantly 
 tempted to an undervaluation of what 
 God has clone for them. Comparing 
 themselves with others who are more 
 advanced in the Divine life, they natu- 
 
FOR DOUBTING 77 R ARTS. 13 
 
 rally have a strong inclination to shrink 
 into nothing, and imagine that they have 
 no part or lot in the matter. But why 
 should such inclination be indulged ? 
 When wc look into the Bible, do we not 
 learn that the work of grace in the soul 
 is generally small, resembling the field 
 where the blade precedes the ear, — that 
 the Christian is a soldier, who at first is 
 a raw and awkward recruit, neither 
 marching well, nor easily and gracefully 
 using his arms, — that he is a scholar, 
 who, on entering the school, begins with 
 his rudiments, and, though he has many 
 things to learn, " cannot bear them 
 now " — and that the man whose faith is 
 but as a grain of mustard-seed, is inter- 
 ested in all the promises of the Gospel, 
 a child of God, and a joint-heir with 
 Christ of the heavenly inheritance? 
 With such a representation, therefore, 
 no man should despise his own measure 
 of piety, inconsiderable though it may 
 
14 WO R DS OF COM FOR 7 
 
 be in comparison with that of others. 
 Rather should he be thankful if he has 
 only light enough to see his darkness, 
 and feeling enough to be sensible of his 
 obduracy. 
 
 " Cold as I feel this heart of mine, 
 Yet, since I feel it so, 
 It yields some hope of life divine 
 Within, however low." 
 
 It is his duty to cherish the degree of 
 grace which he has received, and to seek 
 to have it increased by more fervent 
 prayer, more frequent and intimate com- 
 munion with Jesus, and, above all, by 
 conscientiously and consistently acting 
 according to that portion of light which 
 God has given him. The truth is, that 
 no surer method could be adopted by 
 any one to destroy within him every 
 evidence of piety, than making little 
 account of the measure of grace that has 
 been given to him, — no surer method, 
 either of shutting the ear and hand of 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTH. 15 
 
 God against him, than placing a low 
 estimate upon the blessings he has re- 
 ceived, and murmuring because he has 
 not received more. " To him that hath 
 shall be given." 
 
 THE INFL UENCE OF PHYSICAL CA USES 
 MUST BE CONSIDERED IN JUDGING- OF 
 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 
 
 We are ; ' fearfully and wonderfully 
 made." The mind and the body are 
 very nearly related, and are subject to 
 constant and powerful interaction. It is 
 almost impossible for one to be to any 
 considerable degree affected, without the 
 other being brought into sympathy with 
 it. It is unnecessary to adduce proof of 
 this proposition, as every one knows it 
 to be true from his own consciousness 
 and observation. When the friends of 
 Cowper requested him to prepare some 
 hymns for the Olney Collection, he re- 
 
1 6 WORDS OF OOMFO B T 
 
 plied, " How can you ask of me such a 
 service ? I seem to myself to be ban- 
 ished to a remoteness from God's pres- 
 ence, in comparison with which the dis- 
 tance from East to West, is vicinity; is 
 cohesion.' 7 There were other periods in 
 the history of this good man, to whom 
 the Church is indebted for that sweet 
 hymn, " Oh, for a closer walk with God," 
 and many others as richly fraught with 
 spirituality, when he seemed to be aban- 
 doned to the darkest gloom, if not to 
 actual despair, in respect to his religious 
 state. That this sad experience was 
 mainly, if not solely, ascribable to the 
 variableness of his health, no one, per- 
 haps, has ever doubted, who has made 
 himself acquainted with his profound 
 devotional tastes and habits, his exem- 
 plary life, and his delicate and peculiar 
 physical organization. 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 17 
 
 MODIFYING POWER OF TEMPERA- 
 MENT. 
 
 It is undeniable that temperament con- 
 siderably modifies piety. As water is 
 dependent, in some degree, for its color 
 and taste, on the nature of the soil over 
 which it flows, so personal religion takes 
 its complexion somewhat from the dispo- 
 sition of the individual in whose heart 
 it has found a place. "There is one 
 Spirit, but a diversity of operations." 
 Grace, though it corrects, does not erad- 
 icate nature. 
 
 It is true that "if any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature/' but he is 
 not a new creature in such a sense that 
 he has lost his personal identity. Chris- 
 tianity does not aim to re-construct its 
 subjects, but only to sanctify them. 
 Neither does it seek to bring them into 
 complete resemblance to one another. 
 Whilst it does produce a community of 
 
18 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 saints, one faith, one love, one hope, the 
 same humility and self-denial in all the 
 members of the Church, it does not pro- 
 pose to produce identity of thought, 
 temper of mind and inclination. The 
 man, therefore, who has experienced its 
 renovating power, is neither physically, 
 nor intellectually, nor socially changed. 
 The same tiling is true of his natural 
 temperament, whether it was before his 
 regeneration phlegmatic, sanguine, chol- 
 eric, or melancholic, it continues the 
 same. The only difference in his case 
 after the new birth, is, that a new and 
 powerful principle has been introduced 
 into his soul, which gives a new control 
 and direction to his nature, making him 
 to live under the mastery of new mo- 
 tives, and for new ends. In other 
 words, regeneration is not destroying 
 the metal, but the old stamp upon it, to 
 imprint a new one. It is not breaking 
 the candlestick, but putting a new light 
 
FOR DOVBTINQ HEARTS. 19 
 
 in it. It is a new stringing of the in- 
 strument, to make new harmony. For 
 example, " Divine grace did not give 
 John his warm affections, but it fixed 
 them on his beloved Master — sanctifying 
 his love. It did not inspire Nehemiah 
 with the love of country, but it made him 
 a holy patriot. It did not give Dorcas 
 a woman's heart, her tender sympathy 
 with suffering, but it associated charity 
 with piety, and made her a holy philan- 
 thropist. It did not give Paul his vehe- 
 mence and energy of character, his 
 genius, his resistless logic, and noble 
 oratory, but it consecrated them to the 
 cause of Christ; touching his lips with 
 
 a live coal from the altar, it made him 
 such a master of holy eloquence that he 
 swayed the multitude at his will, hum- 
 bled the pride of kings, and compelled 
 his very judges to tremble. It did not 
 give David a poet's fire and a poet's 
 lyre, but it strung his harp with chords 
 
20 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 from heaven, and tuned all its strings to 
 the service of religion and the high 
 praises of God." 
 
 Referring now more particularly to 
 difference of temperament, we point to 
 the Sisters of Bethany for an illustra- 
 tion. Martha, as the narrative shows, 
 was active, energetic, decided, but Mary 
 was quiet, pensive and meditative. These 
 traits of character were brought out 
 during the visit of Jesus, when the one 
 was reproved for being " careful and 
 troubled about many things," and the 
 other was commended for having "chosen 
 the good part." " Here were two per- 
 sons, born of the same parents, reared 
 under the same educational influences, 
 and yet widely variant in their disposi- 
 tions. That both were Christians, not- 
 withstanding the rebuke which one re- 
 ceived on account of the triumph of do- 
 mestic vanity at the time, admits not of 
 a doubt, yet their piety did not produce 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 21 
 
 an entire assimilation of their tastes and 
 habits. It shows itself by different 
 manifestations. The one was of a free, 
 bustling spirit, inclined to interest her 
 self in household affairs, and make her 
 presence felt in the sphere she occupied ; 
 the other was disposed to seclusion and 
 reflection, yet Divine grace was lodged 
 in the heart of each, and was preparing 
 both for heaven. 
 
 Just at this point it may be proper to 
 say, that the temperament of any one 
 has much to do with the form of his ex- 
 perience at his very introduction to the 
 life of faith. The Holy Spirit, the au- 
 thor of regeneration, moves on the soul, 
 not in any way set down and arranged, 
 so that man can follow and trace this 
 out, but absolutely independent of all 
 such set and appointed ways. He moveth 
 as He " listeth," or as it may please 
 Him. He is not tied to the preaching 
 of the Gospel, nor to the reading of the 
 
22 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 Bible, nor to the strange and wondrous 
 providences which befall man, nor to 
 ordinances, not even to Baptism or to 
 that of the Lord's Supper. Neither 
 does He confine himself to any particu- 
 lar type or formula of operation in 
 bringing sinners into a saving relation 
 to God. When Jesus approached 
 Matthew as he sat at the receipt of cus- 
 tom, and addressed to him these few. 
 and simple words, " Follow me," with- 
 out the hesitation of a moment, without 
 the reply of a word, the publican arose, 
 and leaving all in which he had been 
 a moment before immersed, instantly 
 obeyed the summons, and from that hour, 
 through good and ill, through toil and 
 labor, through persecution and priva- 
 tion, through contempt, reproach and in- 
 famy, he followed the Saviour of the 
 world. Wonderful illustration of the 
 truth of this declaration of our Lord, 
 " My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 2 3 
 
 them, and they follow me." When Lydia 
 sat by the river's side, among the hear- 
 ers of Paul, as he proclaimed the Gos- 
 pel, the Lord opened her heart to receive 
 the things that were spoken, as gently 
 as a rose-bud is unfolded by the rays of 
 the morning sun. The Philippian jailor 
 came to the incarcerated Apostles, 
 trembling, falling down before them, and 
 with most earnest emphasis asking, 
 ' ; Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" — 
 thus indicating that his soul was ex- 
 periencing a convulsion corresponding 
 with the earthquake that shook the 
 prison to its foundations — yet this was 
 God's plan of bringing him to believe 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ, that peace 
 might dawn upon his agitated spirit, and 
 an interest in the everlasting covenant 
 of mercy be secured. 
 
 Thus is it true that there is no uniform 
 method by which God brings sinners to 
 Himself. Some are instantly brought 
 
24 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 into a gracious state, others are kept 
 long seeking for the desired renovation. 
 Some are deeply exercised with sorrow, 
 and then with joy, others have compara- 
 tively little emotion. " Sometimes," says 
 Caryl, " truth enters in state, and it 
 may be said to make its passage visibly 
 into the heart of the man. The word 
 comes not as a company of thieves, but 
 as a band of soldiers, with weapons 
 drawn, and terrible shouts, tearing open 
 the soul and breaking open the iron gate 
 of the heart, locked and barred by un- 
 belief, to secure that cursed crew of lusts 
 garrisoned within it. The weapons of 
 our warfare (saith the apostle) are mighty 
 through God ; the Word is mighty, won- 
 derful in strength ; it comes upon the 
 soul as an armed man, to spoil it of 
 all sinful treasures ; yea, of the very life 
 of sin. Sometimes the Lord proclaimed 
 war, as by an herald of arms, against a 
 man, and openly prepared for his siege 
 
FOB DOUBTING HEABTS. 25 
 
 and battery. He surprises another, and 
 steals him into a happy captivity to Rim- 
 self." 
 
 It is, therefore, unwarranted and un- 
 wise, for any one to decide that he has 
 not passed from death to life, merely be- 
 cause he has not had the same degree of 
 conviction of sin and of spiritual strug- 
 gle which others have had in making 
 this great transition. Equally so is it 
 for any one to conclude that he has no 
 piety, because his character in its devel- 
 opments is not precisely identical with 
 that of others whom he regards as Chris- 
 tians. What inference must the loving 
 and retiring John have drawn concern- 
 ing his interest in the scheme of salva- 
 tion, if he had judged himself by com- 
 parison with the fiery and forward Peter ? 
 Or how could the bold Luther have re- 
 tained his hope of heaven, if he could 
 not believe any one to be a Christian, 
 unless he was like the gentle Melanc- 
 
26 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 thon ? Each individual should remem- 
 ber his own peculiarities of tempera- 
 ment and disposition, in judging of his ' 
 religion. One of the not least import- 
 ant of the peculiarities of many persons, 
 is a tendency to take gloomy views of 
 themselves. They look with a doubting 
 or distrustful eye on everything that per- 
 tains to them, and this feeling pervades 
 the sphere of their spiritual interests. 
 Nothing of a worldly kind which they 
 have is deemed as good as what their 
 neighbors have, and soon, and for the 
 same reason, their piety is regarded not 
 only as inferior, but also as unreal. They 
 write bitter things against themselves. 
 They go through life, seeing only the 
 dark side of the pillar-cloud, which leads 
 God's people through this wilderness to 
 the promised inheritance. And with 
 such a tendency, how strong, how fear- 
 ful the probability that they may dis- 
 honor God by questioning the good 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 27 
 
 work which He may have begun within 
 them ! 
 
 The fact is, no general law can be 
 laid down for the operation of God's 
 Spirit upon the feelings. It is, to carry 
 out the Saviour's own figure, like the 
 action of the wind upon different trees 
 and shrubs. The same breeze blows 
 upon the poplar, and it shivers and 
 trembles and turns its silvery leaves to 
 the light, looking as if some magic had 
 blanched its verdure. It blows upon 
 the elm, and it slowly and gracefully 
 swings its heavy tassels. Upon the 
 pine, and it sways majestically and sings 
 mournfully. Upon the rose, and it 
 shakes and showers its tinted leaves 
 upon the ground. The action of the 
 same wind is modified by the structure 
 of each different tree or plant. So con- 
 viction of sin will affect differently each 
 one of a dozen of men. Two men lose 
 each a child. The funerals are on the 
 same day. We go into the house of 
 
28 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 one, and find him standing over the 
 little coffin, trembling in every limb, his 
 sobs coming thick and fast, and calling 
 his child's name in tones of the bitterest 
 anguish. We repair to the other's 
 house. He sits calmly by his dead, not 
 a tear in his eye. He speaks to us in 
 his accustomed tone about his child. 
 He asks if our own little ones are well. 
 Now, will we go and tell our friends 
 that the latter is a man of no feeling, 
 and that he does not seem at all affected 
 by his loss ? Do we not, on the con- 
 trary, ascribe to him a grief as sincere 
 as his neighbor's? Do we not know 
 that the quiet, self-contained man is 
 often the keener sufferer of the two ? 
 
 So, dear reader, you are not to doubt 
 the reality of your repentance because 
 it is not precisely similar to that of your 
 friend or neighbor. He may have been 
 harassed, horrified, overwhelmed by the 
 view of his sinful state. He may fill 
 the nights with weeping and forget to 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 29 
 
 eat his bread. You, on the contrary, 
 may just as clearly have discerned your 
 relations to God, hated sin as intensely, 
 and longed as earnestly to escape from 
 it, yet with you it may have been rather 
 a matter of judgment than of feeling. 
 The same conviction manifests itself in 
 both, through your natural differences 
 of temperament and character, as the 
 same light shines through different 
 colored panes. It would be well for you 
 to remember that if your sense of sin- 
 fulness produced in you a degree of 
 emotion bordering on frenzy, and did 
 not bring you to Jesus, it would be spu- 
 rious repentance; and, on the contrary, 
 if your feelings were calm as a summer 
 sea, and yet brought you to the Cross 
 with confession and submission, nothing 
 more would be necessary. Jesus asks 
 nothing more. 
 
 ** All the fitness He requireth 
 Is to feel your need of Him." 
 
30 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 ASSURANCE IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO 
 SALVATION. 
 
 There are two kinds or forms of as- 
 surance. The one is called the assur- 
 ance of faith, the other, the assurance of 
 hope, and, sometimes, the full assurance 
 of hope. (rleb. vi. 2.) As faith unfolds 
 into hope, so the assurance or highest 
 measure of faith into the assurance or 
 highest measure of hope. They there- 
 fore often co-exist. 
 
 " The Assurance of Faith/ 5 says an. 
 eminent divine, " is the acme of unwaver- 
 ing and undoubting confidence that the 
 propositions of revealed truth are the 
 very truth of God, — a persuasion so 
 firm, as to be the basis and resting-place 
 of all Christian reliance. It is saving 
 faith carried to its height. It sees 
 Christ, and believes in him. The Assur- 
 ance of Hope is a settled, unshaken, 
 well-grounded, immovable persuasion, 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 31 
 
 and certainty, that ' I, as an individual, 
 have thus believed, that I am in Christ, 
 that God is my reconciled Father, that 
 I shall never come into condemnation, 
 and that my heaven is secure. The 
 former is an universal duty, the latter is 
 a gracious privilege. One is possessed 
 by every believer, the other is a sovereign 
 gift to a part of the flock. By one, I 
 believe that God is true, by the other, 
 that he is my God. By the one, I see 
 Christ to be an Almighty and a willing 
 Saviour, by the other I am assured that 
 He will save me in particular. By one. 
 I lean on Christ as my only and all-suffi- 
 cient supporter;- by the other, I am made 
 certain that I have actually done so, and 
 hope without wavering that I shall 
 eternally rejoice in him. One is opposed 
 to unbelief; the other, to despondency. 
 One connects with Christ, the other re- 
 veals the connection. They stand to 
 one another as the blossom to the iruit, 
 
32 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 or as the deed to the possession, or as 
 the sentence of acquittal to enlargement 
 from restraint. One may co-exist with 
 many fears, the other casteth out all 
 fear. ' The work of righteousness shall 
 be peace, and the effect of righteousness, 
 quietness and assurance forever. 7 
 
 "Is assurance of personal salvation 
 essential to saving faith? Some have 
 maintained the affirmative and have 
 taught that no man can be a regenerate 
 person without knowing himself to be 
 such. But the negative is clearly the 
 doctrine of Scripture. Bearing in mind 
 the distinction already suggested, be- 
 tween the Assurance of Faith and the 
 Assurance of Hope, it will readily be 
 perceived that one may have a justifying 
 faith without any necessary reference to 
 the question, whether he is himself re- 
 generate or not. And, inasmuch as any, 
 the least degree of faith, is justifying, as 
 unit.intr the son! to Christ, it will as 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 33 
 
 readily be perceived that faith may ap- 
 prehend Christ when as yet it falls far 
 short of that which produces assured 
 hope." 
 
 That assurance is eminently desirable, 
 requires no proof. It is impossible, in- 
 deed, to value too highly the privilege 
 of a conscious interest in the favor of 
 God, and no one who is not indifferent 
 to the highest happiness that can be en- 
 joyed on earth, will fail to seek after 
 this privilege. Still, it is true, that it is 
 not by assurance, but by faith, that we 
 are saved. " He that believeth shall be 
 saved." Assurance is a fruit of faith, 
 and as such it frequently does not grow 
 until the principle from which it springs 
 has been long and largely exercised. 
 We are aware that some maintain that 
 it is impossible for a man to believe 
 without knowing that he does so, but 
 this is not true. Faith does not neces- 
 sarily carry with it self-evidencing power, 
 
34 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 else why would the Apostle have said 
 to the Corinthians, " examine yourselves 
 whether ye be in the faith," and, " prove 
 your own selves ?" These injunctions 
 certainly at least imply, that faith does 
 not of itself prove its existence, and 
 that it may, as a principle, be lodged in 
 the heart when there is not a full realiz- 
 ation of its presence. 
 
 And who has not met with exemplifi- 
 cations of this truth ? Again and again 
 are those to be found whose lives furnish 
 a beautiful illustration of the obedience 
 of the Gospel, and yet they do not, nor 
 can they, be persuaded to regard them- 
 selves as Christians. How is this ? Here 
 are the external evidences, and shall we 
 doubt whether the Holy Spirit, the sound 
 whereof we hear in these outward mani- 
 festations of fidelity, has implanted the 
 vital power of godliness underneath or 
 back of them? Can grapes grow on 
 thorns, or figs on thistles? The only 
 
FOR DOUBTING- HEARTS. 35 
 
 conclusion it seems to us possible to 
 reach in these cases, is, that such persons 
 • really belong to the people of God, and 
 that this relation is not at all invalidated 
 by their want of assurance, inasmuch as 
 such want arises from their deep humil- 
 ity, their fear of thinking too favorably 
 of themselves, and the very high concep- 
 tion they have of what is involved in 
 being a child of God and an heir of the 
 kingdom of heaven. The last two of 
 these reasons, it is to be believed, oper- 
 ate frequently and potently to prevent 
 the enjoyment of Christian hope. Anx- 
 iety about any interest results from an 
 appreciation of its importance. Instead 
 of being true that it is easy to believe 
 what we wish, in proportion as we love 
 and value a thing we become the more 
 apprehensive, and require every kind of 
 proof and assurance concerning its 
 safety. This apprehensiveness, with 
 many who sit in judgment on their claims 
 
36 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 to everlasting life, shadows the faith 
 that otherwise might be clear and 
 strong. The great and good Chalmers* 
 said that he could without difficult} 7 have 
 persuaded himself of having a title to 
 heaven, if the inheritance was not so 
 vast, — utterly exceeding all his capacity 
 to comprehend it, and he also recorded 
 in his diary, that the passage of Scrip- 
 ture which most aptly represented his 
 habitual religious experience was this : — 
 " My heart breaketh for the longing it 
 continually hath unto thy judgments. " 
 
 We now come to the consideration of 
 some tests, which may, under God's 
 blessing, serve to show you, clear reader, 
 whether you have only a name to live, 
 and are dead, or are a genuine disciple 
 of Jesus, sprinkled with his blood, born 
 again by his Spirit, and moving on, 
 though it be by a way which you know 
 not, to the city whose walls shall never 
 crumble, whose melodies shall never be 
 
fur doubt is g hearts. 37 
 
 hushed, and whose lustres' shall never 
 grow dim. 
 
 AN ENCOURAGING SIGN. 
 
 Is it not true, as at the beginning we 
 have assumed, that you are earnestly 
 desirous of knowing whether you are a 
 Christian, and of becoming one, if you 
 are not ? If so, this very state of mind 
 furnishes a strong argument in your 
 favor. Anxiety on this subject is not 
 likely to exist in a heart with which 
 grace has had nothing to do. The time 
 was when you had but little concern in 
 regard to your spiritual condition and 
 prospects. Such is not your feeling 
 now, and this is a very encouraging in- 
 dication. It at least shows that in your 
 case the apathy of the carnal mind has 
 been broken up, and profound interest 
 has taken the place of cold indifference 
 toward the things invisible and ever- 
 lasting. 
 
3-8 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 Bis nop Hall remarked two centuries 
 and a half ago, " If God had not said, 
 ' Blessed are those that hunger/ I know 
 not what could keep weak Christians 
 from sinking in despair. Many times, 
 all I can do is, to complain that I want 
 Him and wish to recover Him." Does not 
 this language express your experience ? 
 Are you not prepared to say as did Job, — 
 'Oh that I knew where I might find Him?" 
 Do you not desire, above everything else, 
 to stand in the favor, friendship and fel- 
 lowship of God ? Is not this desire so in- 
 tense as to be aptly represented by the 
 sensations of hunger and thirst ? Do you 
 not mourn over your lack of conscious- 
 ness that God is your portion, and that 
 you are so very little like Him in heart 
 and life ? Then take the comfort which 
 the Saviour's words are adapted, and 
 were designed, to convey, — " Blessed are 
 they that do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, for they shall be filled. 77 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 39 
 
 When the Esquimaux, in this country, 
 first obtained the Gospel according to 
 Matthew, in their own language, we 
 are told, they perused the sacred treas- 
 ure with the greatest attention. One 
 day the Missionary found a poor lad 
 weeping bitterly. He inquired the cause 
 of his grief. The youth replied by 
 pointing to this verse in the Sermon 
 on the Mount, — " Blessed are the pure 
 in heart, for they shall see God"— 
 and then adding, " I am not pure, so I 
 can never see him." " But stop," said 
 the missionary, (placing his finger on the 
 fourth verse,) " read again, ' Blessed are 
 they that mourn, for they shall be com- 
 forted.' " 
 
 VIEWS OF SIN 
 
 Sin is the abominable thing which 
 God hates. It is antagonistic to his 
 character, law, government, plans, and 
 it crucified his only-begotten and well- 
 
40 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 beloved Son. Standing before God in 
 the relation of sinners, as all men do by 
 nature and practice, there is a constant 
 and fearful exposure on the part of every 
 one to His wrath, as the threatened pen- 
 alty for the ' ; transgression of the law." 
 Ordinarily, the sense of guilt which is 
 connected with this relation is vague 
 and feeble. But when the Holy Spirit 
 convinces a man of his condemned and 
 depraved condition, he sees, as he never 
 saw before, that sin is an evil and a bit- 
 ter thing. Is not this your experience ? 
 Can you not say, as did Paul, "I was 
 alive without the law, but when the 
 commandment came, sin revived, and I 
 died?" Have you not, in the discovery 
 which Divine illumination has given you 
 of the deccitfulncss and desperate wick- 
 edness of your heart, and of the purity 
 and righteousness of God's law, been led 
 to godly sorrow for your past ingrati- 
 tude, rebellion and unbelief, especially 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 41 
 
 under the light, goodness and mercy 
 which should have constrained you to 
 cherish a different spirit and pursue an 
 opposite course? And have you not 
 under a conviction of your ruined, 
 wretched and helpless estate, looked with 
 the eye of faith to Him who " is the end 
 of the law for righteousness to every one 
 that believeth ?" 
 
 What, then, is there to prevent you 
 having a good hope through grace ? Do 
 you answer, " I am conscious of so much 
 sin yet dwelling in me that I cannot 
 persuade myself I am a child of God?" 
 To this I reply that a growing sense of 
 inward corruption, instead of being evi- 
 dence that you are not in a gracious 
 state, is rather evidence that you are. 
 Suppose a man in a dungeon abounding 
 with noxious reptiles. While all is dark 
 there, he sees none of them. The light 
 seems to bring them and to multiply 
 them, but it really only discovers what 
 4* 
 
42 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 was there before. There are remains oi 
 evil in all the subjects of Divine grace. 
 None of them are free. " In many 
 things/' says James, " we offend all." 
 " My tears/' said Bishop Beveridge, " re- 
 quire to be washed in the blood of 
 Christ, and my repentance needs to be 
 repented of." 
 
 Those who could die for the Saviour 
 have used the most humbling; lans'uas'e 
 with regard to themselves. " Some- 
 times," said the pious Bradford, " 0, 
 my God, there seems to be no difference 
 between me and the wicked, my under- 
 standing seems as dark as theirs, and my 
 heart as hard as theirs." " Iniquities 
 prevail against me," was the complaint 
 of David. He did not say, iniquities pre- 
 vail with me, but against me. As to 
 many, they prevail with them. They 
 drink in iniquity as the ox drinketh in 
 water. They draw iniquity with cords 
 of vani'y. But a Christian is made 
 
FOR DOUBTING HE All is. 43 
 
 willing in the day of God's power, and 
 therefore can say, " To will is present 
 with me, but how to perform that which 
 is good, I find not. When I would do 
 good, evil is present with me." What 
 a difference is there between Ahab, who 
 is said to have sold himself to work 
 wickedness, and the poor slave in Africa, 
 who, kidnapped, and disposed of to de- 
 mon-traffickers in flesh and blood, though 
 he resists and weeps, still finds those 
 traffickers prevail against him ? So, 
 says Paul, I do not sell myself, but " I 
 am sold under sin." So, then, " it is no 
 more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth 
 in me. wretched man that I am ! 
 who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death?" What a representation is 
 this of the sin that dwelleth even in 
 God's dear people ! It is. says one, as is 
 commonly supposed, a reference to a 
 cruel usage sometimes practised by the 
 tyrants of antiquity, and which con- 
 
44 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 sisted in fastening a dead carcass to a 
 living man. Body was bound to body — ■ 
 hands to hands, face to face, lips to lips. 
 The living man conld not separate him- 
 self from his hated companion; it lay 
 down and rose up, and walked with him. 
 He could not breathe without inhaling 
 a kind of pestilence. Yet this represen- 
 tation, strong as it is, is not too strong 
 to be true. Sin still cleaves to Chris- 
 tians till they are translated to glory. 
 It is with them, when alone, and when 
 in company, in the work of the field, the 
 office, or the shop, and in the worship of 
 the closet or the sanctuary. It is at once 
 their burden and their grief. They have 
 a new nature, and as far as they arc 
 sanctified, there is as perfect a contra- 
 riety between them and sin, as between 
 darkness and light. Hence there is a 
 contest within them, the flesh lusteth 
 against the Spirit, and the Spirit against 
 the flesh, these being contrary the one 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 45 
 
 to the other. This very contest, how- 
 ever, is proof that the element of grace, 
 tilling them with abhorrence of sin, has 
 been lodged in their hearts. 
 
 It is, therefore, no evidence that a 
 man is not a Christian that inquities 
 prevail against him. An enemy may 
 make a temporary irruption into a coun- 
 try and do injury, but if he is soon ex- 
 pelled again, there is evidence that the 
 power invaded has superior force. So 
 if evil passions rise up in the heart, and 
 are resisted and suppressed, there is 
 proof that grace reigns. David, when 
 uttering the complaint we have referred 
 to a little before, could yet say in tri- 
 umph, — " As for our transgressions, thou 
 shalt purge them away." Paul, when 
 mourning, as we have seen, over his in- 
 dwelling corruption, could yet say, "I 
 thank God through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." So may the weakest believer, 
 if he will, under the deepest ^ense of his 
 
46 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 ill-desert, joy in God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, by whom he has now re- 
 ceived the atonement, and, with confi 
 dence and triumph, sing — 
 
 " Thy Spirit holds perpetual war 
 And wrestles and complains, 
 But views the happy moment near 
 That shall dissolve the chains." 
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 In order to be reconciled to God, it is 
 necessary that we be justified. What 
 is justification ? It is often confounded 
 with sanctification, but should not be. It 
 is not the making us righteous in person, 
 but in state. It stands opposed to con- 
 demnation. It is the absolving a man 
 from a charge, the acquitting him, when 
 accused, and pronouncing him righteous. 
 " Justification regards something done 
 for us; sanctification, something done in 
 us. The one is a relative, the other a 
 persona] change. The one is a change 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 47 
 
 in our state, the other iu our nature. 
 The one is perfect at once, the other is 
 gradual. The one is derived from the 
 obedience of the Saviour, the other from 
 His Spirit. The one gives us a title to 
 heaven, the other a meetness for it. 
 Thus are they distinct, though always 
 united." 
 
 That our justification as sinners before 
 God is free, is beyond question. " We 
 are justified freely by his grace, through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 
 whom God has set forth as a propitiation 
 for sin." Thus is it manifest that in 
 dealing with God for his favor, we are 
 not merchants, but suppliants. We can- 
 not buy, but must beg. We have no 
 merit to plead. As sinners, we have 
 forfeited all expectation from God, ex- 
 eopt a " fearful looking for of judgment 
 and fiery indignation." Hence if we 
 obtain salvation, it can only be as a gra- 
 tuity. This inestimable blessing can 
 
48 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 only be secured " by the faith of Christ." 
 (Gal. ii. 16.) It is not necessary to be 
 able to explain precisely how faith jus- 
 tifies the soul-. It should be enough for 
 us to know that it is a truth clearly re- 
 vealed. 
 
 Now, what is faith ? Is it a belief 
 that Christ died for me in particular? 
 I answer unhesitatingly, No. As previ- 
 ously remarked, the Bible teaches noth- 
 ing like thi^. Indeed the highest and 
 most seraphic form of faith may be so 
 abused in the great object, Jesus Christ, 
 as to lose all regard to self, or even its 
 own salvation. " Saving faith is not a 
 belief that I have saving faith, but a 
 belief in Christ, the Saviour, and a re- 
 ceiving of Him as offered in the Word, 
 a holding of the recorded offer to be 
 credible, and a setting to the seal that 
 God is true. The delightful inference, 
 that I am a saved soul, may be true, — 
 may follow logically from the truths be- 
 
FOB DOUB TING HE IB TS. 49 
 
 lieved, and my act of believing, — may, 
 therefore, in some sort, be involved in 
 the proposition, I believe, and yet it is 
 no part of that faith which is saving. 
 The Bible nowhere enjoins it as such. 
 It is a happy fruit of faith. But some 
 will ask, can so great a change take 
 .place without the subject being con- 
 scious of it? We answer, no. The 
 subject is conscious, but something more 
 is needed to assure him. He knows 
 there is a change, but is it the change ? 
 It is asked, can it be possible for a 
 prisoner to be loosed from such a bond 
 without knowing it ? We answer, Peter 
 was released by an angel from prison, 
 "and went out and followed him, and 
 wist not that it was true which was 
 done by the angel, but he thought he 
 saw a vision." So it may be with the 
 emancipated soul. 
 
 "Have you, then, dear reader, faith? 
 Jesus Christ—" the gift of God," came 
 
 5 
 
5 WO EDS OF COMFORT. 
 
 into the world to save sinners in a way 
 equally gracious and holy. Do you ac- 
 quiesce in a purpose which involves the 
 destruction of self and sin f Do you 
 believe the record, that " God hath given 
 unto us eternal life, and this life is in 
 His Son ?" Have you received Christ 
 as He is presented to us in the Word 
 and means of grace ? " Zaccheus made 
 haste, and came down, and received Him 
 joyfully." Did you ever give Him such 
 a welcome ? Have you received Him 
 wholly — as your Prophet, King, Priest 
 and Exemplar ? Have you given your- 
 self to Him ? I mean not your substance 
 only, or your time only, but yourself. 
 Can you remember such a surrender, — 
 an evening, perhaps, when, like Isaac in 
 the field, you said, " Lord, I am thine, 
 save me?' 7 or, the close of a Sabbath, 
 perhaps, when in your closet you read 
 and wept, and kneeled, and then rose 
 and wept and kneeled again, and said, 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 51 
 
 " 0, Lord, other lords besides Thee have 
 had dominion over me, henceforth by 
 Thee only will I make mention of Thy 
 Name ?" Do you supremely prize the 
 Saviour? He is precious to them that 
 believe, is He so to you ? Paul longed 
 to depart, to be with — James ? Isaiah ? 
 No, but to be with Jesus ? You have 
 some who are dear to you on earth, you 
 have more in heaven. Perhaps you have 
 a child, lovely here, but a cherub there. 
 Perhaps you have a mother there, whose 
 knees were the altar on which you laid 
 your little hands to pray. But, thinking 
 of Jesus, can you say, — " Whom have I 
 in heaven but Thee ? and there is none on 
 earth I desire besides Thee ?" If, then, 
 you have thus " received Christ/ 7 what 
 should prevent you claiming the privi- 
 lege of having become a child of God ? 
 " To as many as received Him, to them, 
 gave He power to become the sons of 
 God." 
 
52 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Without obedience, as lias well been 
 remarked, an orthodox creed, the clear 
 est knowledge, high confidence, much 
 talk of Divine things, great zeal for a 
 party, will all in vain be called in to 
 denominate any one a believer in Christ. 
 We must " walk in the truth." 
 
 Faith without works is as the body 
 without the soul, there is nothing vital 
 or operative in it. The Gospel is a 
 doctrine according to godliness, every 
 part of it has a practical tendency, and 
 we are required to obey it from the 
 heart. " Blessed are they that hear the 
 Word of God, and keep it" " If ye know 
 these things, happy are ye if ye do 
 them." " Ye are my friends," says 
 Christ, " if ye do whatsoever I command 
 you." Thus it appears, that though He 
 is the friend, He is also the law-giver. 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 53 
 
 We must not allow His goodness to 
 weaken our sense of His greatness. He 
 is the Prince as well as the Saviour. 
 He " commands " his friends, and noth- 
 ing less than obedience to his will is re- 
 quired of us. And our obedience must 
 be impartial, we must do i; whatsoever" 
 he commands us. Obedience may be 
 sincere without being perfect in the de- 
 gree, but it cannot be sincere without 
 being universal in the principle and 
 disposition. We should be able to 
 say with the Psalmist,—" I esteem all 
 Thy commandments concerning all 
 things to be right, and I hate every 
 false way." 
 
 Thus does it appear that the believer 
 must be characterized by good works. 
 We do not say such good works are 
 meritorious, for this is impossible, and 
 the very notion subverts the Gospel of 
 Christ. But still it is true, that though 
 faith can alone justify the soul, works 
 
54 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 can alone justify faith, and prove it to 
 be the operation of God. 
 
 Are you, then, dear reader, whilst re- 
 lying on the promises, also striving to 
 obey the precepts ? I ask not whether 
 your obedience is perfect, for the obedi- 
 ence of the holiest of men falls far short 
 of this, but I ask whether you are sin- 
 cerely and perseveringly endeavoring to 
 do you your duty as God indicates it, 
 and are grieved in view of your mani- 
 fold delinquencies and imperfections ? 
 There is a blemish in every duty, a defi- 
 ciency in every grace, a mixture in every 
 character ; it will not do, therefore, to 
 consider those only the people of God 
 who are free from infirmity ; nor should 
 you regard yourself as an " alien from 
 the commonwealth of Israel," because 
 you are conscious of numberless short- 
 comings and imperfections. 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 55 
 
 LOVE FOR CHRIST'S PEOPLE AND 
 
 CA USE. 
 
 "We know," says an Apostle, "that 
 we have passed from death unto life, be- 
 cause we love the brethren." Thus is 
 " brotherly-love," given as a prominent 
 mark of grace. 
 
 What is this love? Is it only an at- 
 tachment to those belonging to our own 
 denomination ? Evidently not. Un- 
 happily the Christian Church is divided 
 into sects and parties, and one of the 
 deplorable effects of this condition is, 
 the production of sectarian love and 
 zeal, while there is comparative indiffer- 
 ence to other divisions of the kingdom 
 of the Redeemer. It is too much for- 
 gotten that Jesus said, — " They that are 
 not against us, are for us." It is well, 
 and perhaps natural, to feel a deep in- 
 terest in our own denomination, but our 
 love must rise above and extend beyond 
 
56 WORDS OF COMFORT- 
 
 that. We must love all who bear the 
 image of the Redeemer — " all who lovo 
 our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." We 
 must love Christians, and love them in 
 spite of their differences and faults. 
 Without intending to disparage, in the 
 slightest degree, the importance which 
 attaches to an orthodox faith, we cannot 
 but regard it as painfully too true, in 
 these latter days, that 
 
 " With zeal we watch, 
 And weigh the doctrine, while the spirit 'scapes, 
 And in the carving of our cummin-seeds, 
 Our metaphysical hair-splittings, fail 
 To note the orbit of the star of love 
 Which never sets." 
 
 If we only love those who belong to 
 our particular branch of Zion, there is 
 so far evidence that our religion is tinc- 
 tured with unholy bigotry. It is more 
 party-spirit than Divine love. We mu.<t 
 extend our Christian affection to all 
 whom we have good reason to believe 
 
FOB DOUBTING HEARTS. 51 
 
 have become the children of God by the 
 regenerating influence of His Spirit, and 
 the exercise of saving faith in His Son. 
 God forbid that we should plead for ex- 
 cessive liberality in this direction. We 
 are far from undervaluing Divine truth. 
 It is a good thing that the heart be es- 
 tablished with grace. The candor which 
 regards all sentiments alike, and con- 
 siders no errors as destructive, is no vir- 
 tue. It is the offspring of ignorance, of 
 insensibility, and of cold indifference. 
 The blind do not perceive the difference 
 of colors. The dead never dispute. Ice, 
 as it congeals, aggregates all bodies 
 within its reach, however heterogeneous 
 their quality. Every virtue has certain 
 bounds, and when it exceeds them it be- 
 comes a vice, for the last step of a virtue, 
 and the first of a vice, are contiguous. 
 But surely it is no unwarrantable candor 
 to consider him a Christian, and to claim 
 for him Christian love, whom we see pro- 
 
58 WORDS OF C0MF0R1 
 
 fessing his faith in Christ, abhorring and 
 forsaking sin, hungering and thirsting 
 after righteousness, diligent in approach- 
 ing unto God, walking ;t in newness of 
 life," and manifesting spirituality of tem- 
 per, a disposition for devotion, benevo- 
 lence of spirit, and deadness to the 
 world. 
 
 As to the cause of religion, it, too, 
 must be loved. Our hearts must be 
 united to it. How may we know that 
 this is true of us ? Just as we know 
 our regard for a person or a thing. Our 
 attachment to anything manifests itself 
 by our loving to hear of it, thinking 
 much of it, speaking much of it, and de- 
 lighting to remember it. We show our 
 affection for an individual by extending 
 to him our sympathy, feeling his inter- 
 ests to be our own, weeping when he 
 weeps, and rejoicing when he rejoices. 
 The case is the same in regard to the 
 cause of Christ. If we love it, it will 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 59 
 
 be much in our thoughts, we will strive 
 to recommend it by our example, we will 
 endeavor to defend it when it is assailed, 
 we will pray, labor, and give for its suc- 
 cess, and exult in its prosperity. 
 
 A desire to see others saved, accom- 
 panied with corresponding effort, is 
 strong evidence of being in a gracious 
 state. It is recorded of that eminent 
 minister, the Rev. John Howe, that in 
 his latter days he greatly desired to at- 
 tain such a knowledge of Christ, and 
 feel such a sense of his love, as might 
 be a foretaste of the joys of heaven. 
 After his death, a paper was found in 
 his Bible recording how God had an- 
 swered his prayer. One morning (and 
 he noted the day) he awoke, his eyes 
 swimming with tears, overwhelmed with 
 a sense of God's goodness in shedding 
 down his grace, into the hearts of men. 
 He never could forget the joy of these 
 moments ; they made him long still more 
 
60 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 ardently for that heaven, which, from 
 his youth, he had planted to behold. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Guthrie, in a sermon on 
 the text, " The tree is known by its 
 fruit," after specifying certain other tests 
 of genuine piety, proceeds to say : — 
 " Again, when you see transgressors, is 
 it with indifference, or with somewhat 
 of the feelings of Him who said, I saw 
 transgressions and was grieved — rivers 
 of w r ater ran down mine eyes, because 
 they keep not thy law, Lord ? Again, 
 when you think of perishing souls, is 
 yours the spirit of Cain, or of Christ ? 
 Can you no more stand by with folded 
 hands to see sinners perishing than men 
 drowning ? Are you moved by such gene- 
 rous impulse as draws the hurrying 
 crowd to the pool where one is sinking, 
 and moves some brave man, at the jeop- 
 ardy of life, to leap in and pluck him 
 from the jaws of death ? There is no 
 better evidence that we have received 
 
FOB DOUB TING HE A RTS. 61 
 
 the nature as well as the name o f Christ, 
 than an anxious wish to save lost souls, 
 and a sympathy with the joy of angels 
 over everv sinner that is converted. 
 Lot me illustrate this by an example — a 
 picture drawn from life. 
 
 " Years ago, and in a parish which I 
 knew, there lived a woman notorious in 
 the neighborhood for profane swearing, 
 habits of drunkenness, and manners rude, 
 coarse, as well as irreligious. She 
 feared not God, neither regarded man, 
 and trained up her children for the devil. 
 One evening she happened to be within 
 ear-shot of a preacher, and as he was 
 emptying his quiver among the crowd, 
 an arrow from the" bow, drawn at a ven- 
 ture, was lodged in her heart. Remark- 
 able example of free, sovereign, subduing 
 grace ! She was converted. Her case, 
 as much as that of the thief on the cross, 
 of the jailor at Philippi, of Saul on his 
 way to Damascus, was one of instant 
 6 
 
62 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 conversion — day burst on her soul with- 
 out a dawn. She hastened home. She 
 found her family asleep, and saw in each 
 child a never-dying soul, that her own 
 hand had rocked into deeper, fatal slum- 
 bers. Seized with an intense desire to 
 have them saved, she could not delay 
 the matter till to-morrow, and so, rush- 
 ing on the sleepers as if the bed beneath 
 them had been in flames, she shook 
 them, woke them, crying, Arise, call upon 
 thy God ! And there, at the midnight 
 hour, with her children kneeling round 
 her, her eyes streaming with tears, her 
 voice trembling with emotion, did that 
 poor mother cry to God, that he would 
 have mercy also on them, and pluck 
 these brands from the burning. 
 
 " Such fruit grows not in any but re- 
 newed hearts. So to feel proves what 
 no profession can, that the same mind is 
 in us that was in Jesus Christ. Nor is 
 there room to doubt, that, if you bear 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 63 
 
 such saintly and heavenly fruit, you are 
 one with Him who, communicating the 
 influences of the Spirit to his people, as 
 the tree does its sap to the boughs, hath 
 said, I am the vine, ye are the branches. 
 Abide in me, and I in you." 
 
 How is it, then, dear reader, with you 
 in the two particulars just noticed ? Do 
 you not feel your heart warm towards 
 those whom you regard as partakers of 
 the grace of eternal life ? Do you not 
 find pleasure in associating with them ? 
 Are you not prompted, as far as you are 
 able, to bear their burdens ? And do 
 you not feel your heart rising toward 
 God, and count yourself happy in long- 
 ing and laboring for the extension of 
 his kingdom ? I ask not whether there 
 are variations in your experience touch- 
 ing these points, for such variations are 
 to be expected. I only inquire whether 
 God, who was once to you a dream, 
 sometimes a dream faint as the faintest 
 
64 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 vision of the night, which flits across the 
 mind and leaves no trace, sometimes a 
 dream of higher power and more defi- 
 nite form, but still at last a dream, u 
 not now the real, abiding object of your 
 supreme regard, and whether it is not 
 your highest aim to please him and en- 
 joy the light of his life-giving counte- 
 nance. And can these things be true of 
 one who is not a Christian ? 
 
 Tests might be multiplied. I might 
 tell how the Christian likes the Word 
 of Truth, as the child it's mothers breast 
 — likes the house of God, where the 
 spirit of life is wont to be given, and 
 life mingles with life, and warms and 
 blazes — likes the Sabbath, the foretaste, 
 the preparation of eternity, and likes 
 prayer, the strong arm of life, the key 
 of life, more abundant. But on these 
 points, so plain and familiar, I need not 
 enlarge, except to say that such a taste* 
 cannot exist in any one whose heart has 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 65 
 
 not been changed by the Spirit of God. 
 Most certainly the " carnal mind " has no 
 such affinities and attachments. 
 
 Yield not, then, to the doubts and 
 fears which may assail you. The sun 
 still shines, even when covered with 
 clouds, and you are not to question your 
 piety because misgivings eclipse or dark- 
 en your consciousness of an interest in 
 the favor of God. Neither are you to 
 regard your apprehensions concerning 
 your spiritual state as unbelief. They 
 are not so. We are, indeed, commanded 
 to " fear, lest a promise being left us of 
 entering into rest, any of us should 
 seem to come short of it." Fear of 
 failure is one method which God adopts 
 to secure the final and complete salva- 
 tion of his people. Be it yours to " hold 
 fast the profession of your faith without 
 wavering." The tender fruits which 
 now grow from the new nature which 
 you have received will gradually mature 
 6* 
 
66 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 and strengthen. Though now you can 
 but see men as trees walking, soon you 
 will be able to look with a firm and 
 steady gaze. Though now you tremble 
 under temptation, soon will you be able 
 to offer a firm resistance. Though now 
 your peace be but as the rill that gurgles 
 from the mountain rock, it is the promise 
 of God that hereafter it shall " flow at 
 a river." If, as we trust is the case, 
 you have committed your soul to Jesus ; 
 if, realizing your guilty and ruined con- 
 dition, you have cast yourself upon him 
 as your only hope and help, saying : 
 
 " Here, Lord, I give myself away, 
 Tis all that I can do ; " 
 
 this is all you need do, this is all He 
 asks you to do, and there is no good 
 reason why you should be dejected and 
 distressed. Your path, instead of lead- 
 ing you over high mountain summits, 
 may often lead you through dark and 
 
F OR DOUB TING HEARTS. 6 1 
 
 dreary valleys, yet it is the path which 
 God, who is too wise to err, too good to 
 be unkind, has chosen to conduct you to 
 heaven. Pursue that path and it will 
 brighten as you advance. " Then shall 
 ye know, if ye follow on to know the 
 Lord." Live near to Christ, relying 
 on his righteousness, and striving to 
 imitate his example. Look not so much 
 to your own heart as to Him who was 
 lifted up on the cross, that whosoever 
 believeth in him might not perish, but 
 have everlasting life. The bitten Israel- 
 ite was not healed by looking at and ex- 
 amining his wound, but by gazing upon 
 the brazen serpent elevated upon the 
 pole, neither is the Christian to expect 
 his sanctification to advance by looking 
 continually at his sins, but by keeping 
 the eye of faith steadily fixed on Him 
 who " died for our offences, and rose 
 again for our justification." 
 
 " We have already said," remarks the 
 
68 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 Rev. Dr. Vinet, " how necessary self-con- 
 sideration is, and we need not repeat, 
 but though it is impossible to contem- 
 plate our misery without being urged 
 towards Christ, or to contemplate Jesus 
 Christ without being recalled to a sense 
 of our misery ; this misery is not, how. 
 ever, the object of saving faith, and the 
 view of this misery cannot place in our 
 heart the elements of life and earnests 
 of salvation. It must even be confessed 
 that, though powerless to save, it is able 
 to destroy. It alternately discourages 
 and sours, it even does both at the same 
 time. It exhausts, and in barren regrets 
 enervates the soul which lives on joy 
 and hope, but dies of sadness, and the 
 only life which remains to it in this 
 death, is ill-humor, peevishness, mur- 
 muring and envy. 
 
 " Either Jesus Christ must be looked 
 at incessantly, or we must look inces- 
 santly at sin. The eye, at least, if it is 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 69 
 
 not blind, has no alternative, and if it 
 is certain that we shall not lose sight of 
 our misery by looking at Christ cruci- 
 fied, because this misery is, as it were, 
 engraved upon the cross, it is equally 
 certain that in looking at our misery, 
 we may lose sight of Jesus Christ, be- 
 cause the cross is not naturally engraved 
 on the image of our misery. An Apostle 
 was blamed for wishing to put his hands 
 into the wounds of his risen Master. We 
 all concur in blaming him, and ask, why 
 did he not rather put them into his own 
 wounds, the wounds of his soul? But 
 in another view, the example of Thomas 
 should furnish us with a rule, for it is 
 not into our own wounds, but into those 
 of Jesus, that we ought to put our hands, 
 and it is in this sense that we say to the 
 class of believers whom we have in view : 
 Look, yes look everywhere, look to the 
 depth of your misery, but look more to 
 Jesus Christ, at least never consent to 
 
70 WORDS OF COMFORT 
 
 see yourself and your sin, except through 
 the medium of Jesus Christ, and his 
 triumphant love." 
 
 Him on yonder cross I love, 
 Naught on earth I else count dear ; 
 
 May He mine forever prove, 
 Who is now bo inly near. 
 
 Here I stand ; whate'er may come, 
 
 Days of sunshine or of gloom, 
 
 From this word I will not move, 
 
 Him upon the cross I love ! 
 
 'Tis not hidden from my heart 
 What true love must often bring ; 
 
 Want and grief have sorest smart, 
 Care and scorn can sharply sting. 
 
 Nay, but if Thy will were such, 
 
 Bitterest death were not too much. 
 
 Dark though here my course may prove, 
 
 Him upon the cross I love I 
 
 Rather sorrows such as these, 
 
 Rather love's acutest pain, 
 Than without Him days of ease, 
 
 Riches false and honors vain. ' 
 Count me strange when I am true ; 
 What He hates I will not do * 
 
FOR DOUBTING HEARTS. 71 
 
 Sneers no more my heart can move, 
 Him upon the cross I love ! 
 
 Know ye whence my strength is drawn, 
 Fearless thus the fight to wage ? 
 
 Why my heart can laugh to scorn 
 Fleshly weakness, Satan's rage ? 
 
 'Tis, I know, the love of Christ ; 
 
 Mighty is that love unpriced. 
 
 What can grieve me, what can move ? 
 
 Him upon the cross I love ' 
 
 Once the eyes that now are dim 
 
 Shall discern the changeless love, 
 That hath led us home to Him, 
 
 That hath crown'd us far above. 
 Would to God that all below 
 What that love is now might know 
 And their hearts this word approve 
 Him upon the cross I love ! 
 
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