THE LIBRARY 
 OF THE 
 
 UHlVfB'ITY OF IlLIHniS 
 
 THE INVITATION OP THE CHURCH. 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED IN THE 
 
 CHAPEL OF YALE COLLEGE; 
 
 APRIL 4th, 1858, 
 
 I, 
 
 THEODORE D. WOOLSEY. 
 
 - ■+++ - 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 NEW HAYEN: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THOMAS II. PEASE. 
 
 T. J. STAFFORD, PRINTER. 
 
 1858. 
 

THE INVITATION OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 A 
 
 PREACHED IN THE 
 
 CHAPEL OF YALE COLLEGE, 
 
 APRIL 4th, 1858, 
 
 BY 
 
 THEODOEE D. WOOLSEY. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 NEW HAVEN: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THOMAS H. PEASE. 
 
 T. J. STAFFORD, PRINTER. 
 
 1858 . 
 

DISCOURSE. 
 
 NUMBERS, x. 29.* 
 
 AND MOSES SAID UNTO HOBAB, THE SON OF RAGUEL THE MIDIANITE, MOSES’ FATHER- 
 IN-LAW, WE ARE JOURNEYING UNTO THE PLACE OF WHICH THE LORD SAID, I WILL GIVE 
 IT YOU : COME THOU WITH US AND WE WILL DO THEE GOOD : FOR THE LORD HATH 
 SPOKEN GOOD CONCERNING ISRAEL. 
 
 These words of invitation, addressed by Moses to bis rela¬ 
 tive, can be used without doing violence to their spirit, as an 
 invitation of the Church to men in the world around them. 
 It is one of the treasures and the beauties of the Bible that 
 the old dispensation was fitted to prefigure and reflect the 
 new. Hence, although it has passed away and given place to 
 the more glorious economy of Christ, its facts and institutions 
 are still fresh and living, having Christian truth engrafted on 
 them. Thus Israel represents the Church ; the desert stands 
 for the pilgrimage of this life; the river of Jordan for the 
 stream of death; Mount Zion for the celestial city. In fact, 
 we can scarcely talk the language of religion, still less the 
 language of religious feeling, which shows itself in sacred 
 poetry, without having recourse to expressions borrowed from 
 the history of God’s ancient people. 
 
 Having thus a right to make such use of our text, we shall 
 regard it as equivalent in meaning to one of the closing pas¬ 
 sages of the Hew Testament,—“ the spirit and the bride say 
 come.” The bride, the Church, says come with us and we 
 will do thee good, whenever any of its members, in its spirit) 
 like Moses, invites his friends to partake of its blessings; when¬ 
 ever any of its ministers invites those who are out of its fold 
 to enter and taste of its security and its blessedness; above all, 
 when by its sacred symbols of a death which unites God’s scat- 
 
4 
 
 tered people in one, it calls on all to join themselves to Christ 
 and to the society which he has instituted among mankind. 
 
 Standing over these sacred symbols this day, I ask you in 
 the name of Christ’s people, as Moses asked Hobab, to go with 
 us. We are journeying through this world to a place which 
 God has promised to give us. Join us, for we will do you good; 
 for the Lord hath spoken good concerning his Israel. 
 
 In this invitation which the Church makes to those who 
 belong not to its society, it appeals, as Moses did, to many of 
 those who are connected with its members by various natural 
 ties. When the Christian commonwealth is gathered out of 
 the world, its citizens do not emigrate to some happy valley or 
 sequestered plain where a perfect polity can be established; 
 they do not pass away at once to the heavenly city, but stay, 
 as they were, amid all the relations and sympathies of this 
 earthly life. Loves and companionships touch their hearts as 
 before, only they desire a better portion for their friends, even 
 that which they have found themselves. Conceive of your¬ 
 selves, therefore, my friends, as surrounded with those who do 
 not, because they have found a better portion, lose their inter¬ 
 est in you ; who do not give up their regard for earthly friends 
 because they have found heavenly ones. It is characteristic of 
 Christianity, that when it reclaims one mind from a world of 
 sinners, it implants the desire in him to persuade others to 
 share the same joys and hopes. Andrew, Simon Peter’s broth¬ 
 er, first found his own brother Simon and said unto him, ‘ we 
 have found the Messias.’ Philip findeth Nathanael and saith 
 unto him, 6 we have found him of whom Moses in the law and 
 the prophets did write;’ and when Nathanael began to hesi¬ 
 tate, Philip saith, come and see. As soon as Saul of Tarsus 
 became a follower of Christ, straightway he preached Christ 
 in the synagogues—that he is the son of God. This type of 
 primeval Christianity must be found more or less in all who 
 receive the same truths and partake of the same spirit. Is it 
 strange then that your friends here around you—that your com¬ 
 panions, your classmates, should have the same desire for you, 
 should ask you to join them, should rejoice when you comply ? 
 Is not what you have seen here within these few days the in- 
 
5 
 
 evitable result of Christian feeling; and even should you de¬ 
 cline, would you not be forced in all honesty to say that they 
 felt and did what they ought, that if they were unsuccessful 
 and possibly unwise, they were at least friends to you ? 
 
 Thus the Church through all those ties of love and sympa¬ 
 thy which keep the world together, invites men to join its 
 brotherhood. Let us now consider, after the order of the text, 
 to what, and why it makes the invitation. 
 
 I. To what does it invite ? This is told in the words, we are 
 journeying unto the place of which the Lord said , I will give 
 it you: come thou with us. 
 
 Translated into the language of the ISTew Testament, these 
 words intend, first, that the followers of Christ are jour¬ 
 
 neying through this world without regarding it as their dwell¬ 
 ing place ; second , that there is a place beyond it, made known 
 to them by a divine promise, where they hope to arrive ; and 
 third, that no one can reach that place who does not join their 
 company. 
 
 First, they are merely travelers through this world. The con¬ 
 viction is not confined to the Church of God that there is noth¬ 
 ing earthly worth the soul’s best affections or highest pursuit, 
 but every thoughtful philosopher, every serious poet has par¬ 
 taken of the same feeling. But a marked difference between 
 them and Christians is that the latter are practical and definite, 
 while the former are filled with vain dreams, or proud con¬ 
 tempt of the world, or moody despair of anything better. An¬ 
 other marked difference lies in the moral and religious aim of 
 Christians. The world they view as a state of blindness and 
 sin ; themselves as having been under the bondage of sin: hav¬ 
 ing obtained a little illumination from Christ, the light of this 
 world, and longing for holiness, they pass through the world 
 as a place where all their capacities are weak; their liunger- 
 ings for righteousness ungratified ; their struggles wfith evil un¬ 
 successful ; their nature incapable of finding true rest. Through 
 such a world, beautiful to the eye but disappointing to the soul, 
 they are passengers. 
 
 My friends, it might seem bad policy to talk thus of the world 
 when we are asking you to set out with us on your journey to 
 
6 
 
 eternal life. But I ask you to weigh well your powers, your 
 aspiring hopes, your “ thoughts that travel through eternity,” 
 your boundless desires, the essential everlasting need of God’s 
 love, or of something equally great to satisfy your longings ; 
 weigh well these unchangeable facts, and decide for yourselves, 
 whether any thing or all things worldly can content you if they 
 are chosen as your portion. Stretch your scale and measure 
 endless life, and say whether an immortal being in the remote 
 cycles of his existence can be blessed without God for his in¬ 
 heritance. Eternity—God! There is some proportion between 
 the ideas. Eternity—the pleasures of this world ! there is none. 
 Share our views then of this world, of its solemnities, of its 
 grand issues ; and if the pilgrim spirit thus engendered is full 
 of seriousness, it shall be full also of sublimity; it shall be a 
 worthy lodger in your soul; it shall by and by grow into a 
 glorious j oy. 
 
 Again , when the Church of God says, we are journeying to 
 the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you, they de¬ 
 clare themselves to be hoping for, preparing for, hastening unto 
 heaven. In saying this 1 do not mean that they place heaven 
 vaguely before their eyes as a state of mere bliss. Oh, how 
 many have seen heaven thus through a haze or taken some¬ 
 thing else for it, and never reached the true city of God. 
 Heaven to Christ’s flock is something more, or else it would 
 be nothing. It is the manifestation-place of God and Christ, 
 the dwelling of the sanctified, the harbor of safety from sin ? 
 the climate and soil for the soul’s boundless growth, in all ex¬ 
 cellence. And therefore it is a place of rest and of bliss. Such 
 a place God has told them of. Such a place alone could induce 
 them to travel as pilgrims through this world. 
 
 And, further, when the Church says ‘ come with us,’ they 
 express the conviction that there is no attaining to salvation 
 but in their company, by the means which they employ. By 
 this, they do not mean that a person may not become a true 
 follower of Christ afar from ordinances and fellowship, alone, 
 as on the sick-bed, on the sea, or in the wilderness. Every 
 man in one act, must be alone, as far as his fellow-men are con¬ 
 cerned : in the great decisive act of cordial faith and conse- 
 
7 
 
 crating love, he must do all of himself, and no Christian nor 
 Church can do aught except help him in the preparatory steps. 
 If he shrinks hack from such a crisis himself, all the sympa¬ 
 thy and companionship in the world can do nothing for him. 
 What they mean, however, is this ; that as they are followers 
 of Christ, so every one who would go with them and attain to 
 everlasting life, like them must he a follower of Christ, and 
 must begin his journey by a personal act of reliance on, and 
 self-consecration to Christ. Without this, there is no oneness 
 of aim, no share in the same promises, nor common hopes, nor 
 true communion. If a person expects to attain to holiness of 
 life in any other way, he departs from the path of Christ’s 
 church, and either he or they ard utterly deluded. There is 
 no process of self-discipline or self-culture, no resoluteness of 
 will to live a good life, no philosophy, or religion, or benevo¬ 
 lence which, without this foundation, will not lead you at once 
 to a wide divergence from the path of Christians—which will 
 not alienate you from them and finally make you bitterly 
 hostile. 
 
 II. In the second place, why does the Church invite men to 
 join her ranks ? The answer is given in the words ‘ Come with 
 us, for w T e will do you good, for the Lord hath spoken good con¬ 
 cerning Israel.’ She invites in order that in sympathy with 
 her, and through the means to be found within her pale, men 
 may partake of those blessings which God has pledged to her 
 in the promises of his revelation. 
 
 The polity .of God’s ancient people was peculiarly free in 
 admitting new comers into its ranks, by what may be called its 
 law of naturalization. Take a passage from one of the proph¬ 
 ets, for an example. “ Also the sons of the stranger that join 
 themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of 
 the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sab¬ 
 bath from polluting it and taketh hold of my covenant, even 
 them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful 
 in my house of prayer : their burnt offerings and their sacri¬ 
 fices shall be accepted upon my altar ; for mine house shall be 
 called a house of prayer for all people.” The congregation of 
 Christ shows the same open-hearted desire that all should par- 
 
8 
 
 take of its blessings. It opens its doors for every stranger 
 who has become a friend, who has the same desires and aims 
 with those who already have believed in the promises of God. 
 And why should it not ? How could it do otherwise ? Since 
 its members are not such by birth nor by the will of man, but 
 by a new birth of God ; and each one already within its en¬ 
 closure has entered in the same way. It would be to deny its 
 nature and annihilate itself, if it looked to any other additions 
 than those of free self-moved, believing minds. 
 
 Let none suppose then that this willingness to have its num¬ 
 bers enlarged springs from a sectarian spirit. There is such a 
 spirit in the world, and even among true Christians ; but over¬ 
 ruling, at times quenching it, there is a spirit of broad Chris¬ 
 tian love which rejoices in the success of all bodies that are 
 loyal to Christ. He is a weak Christian, or none at all, who 
 cannot feel this. 
 
 Hor let it be thought that the Church in making its invita¬ 
 tion, £ come thou with us,’ is seeking for credit and eclat in the 
 world ; and on that account is willing to receive all who offer, 
 into its fellowship. The new members whom it seeks are 
 those, whether few or many, of whatever former character or 
 life, who by whatever process or experience of heart, slow or 
 quick, clear or ill-defined, have freely come to this simple 
 point of welcoming Christ as the Savior from sin and condem¬ 
 nation. It seeks for these or none. It would rejoice to see 
 highly endowed persons join its society, but rejects them if 
 they cannot be in harmony with its essential Christianity. It 
 wants no half Christians, knowing well that one such may do 
 more harm than two true disciples of Christ can do good, and 
 that an open enemy is better than a pretended or indifferent 
 friend. 
 
 Its motives then point not back to itself, but outward to the 
 good of those whom it invites to join its society. Let us pro¬ 
 ceed to consider some of the particulars in which that good 
 consists. 6 We will do thee good.’ 4 The Lord hath spoken 
 good concerning Israel.’ 
 
 1. In fellowship with the Church of Christ there is the best 
 opportunity of gaining a sure knowledge of divine truth. It is 
 
9 
 
 freely admitted that no age, sect, church, or person has had 
 truth free from admixture of error in his possession ; it is 
 granted that the best Christians must leave a multitude of 
 questions unanswered ; that very many passages of the divine 
 word are of doubtful meaning; and that the divisions of the 
 true church have differed greatly in opinion from one another. 
 It may be that this will continue to be the case until the end 
 of time. It may be, if there is to be an age of greater light, 
 purity, and union, as we confidently anticipate, that even then 
 no solution of many of the questions, which embarrass specu¬ 
 lative minds, will be discovered. And yet, notwithstanding 
 all this, we say that in fellowship with Christians there is a 
 fair prospect of being established in all essential truth, while 
 a mind which departs to a distance from that fellowship cannot 
 avoid darkness, doubt, and unbelief. 
 
 In weighing the good to be derived from intercourse with 
 Christians as a means of establishing yourselves in the truth, 
 consider that no one is sufficient to settle the system of truth 
 by his own unassisted powers; that the evidence of religion 
 does not suggest itself in the abstract form only, but also, and 
 much more, in the concrete; and that the Church has been 
 putting to the test the practical value of the truth since the 
 days of Christ. 
 
 (a.) Let no one think in his pride that he is able to judge 
 correctly of religion without aid from his fellow men, who 
 have thought deeply on the greatest of all subjects. Let no 
 one determine in his self-will that he will untie for himself, 
 unhelped, every knot before making his way to Christ. Such 
 thoughts are as foolish as they are dangerous. The philoso¬ 
 pher who, if it were possible so to do, should throw away 
 every rope of connection with other speculators, or with the 
 practical world, would sink in the floods of falsehood: the 
 webs he wove would be like the conceptions of children. JSTor 
 is it possible to come in entire isolation, with perfect independ¬ 
 ence, to the study of religious truth. A man imagines not what 
 old prejudices, what false assumptions, what oft-refuted explo¬ 
 ded errors cling to him, if he thinks alone, in spite of all his 
 carefulness. Many a person has carried in his mind for years 
 
 % 
 
10 
 
 wliat he thought an unanswerable objection to religion, which 
 a little converse with others has put to rest at once. 
 
 (b.) But again, religion to be judged of fairly needs to be look¬ 
 ed at in the concrete—in the life of religious men, as well as in 
 its forms of abstract statement. We test the principles of all 
 religions in this way, and convict them of falsehood when 
 they appear as corrupters, rather than as benefactors, of man¬ 
 kind. We ask concerning each, What is its mode of opera¬ 
 tion on human life ana character? Has it or has it not a 
 power to raise the soul which acts by it, above the dominion 
 of sin and earth ? Does it satisfy those spiritual hungerings, 
 which man’s nature has always carried within itself, and 
 which must, in the end, cause the rejection of a religion which 
 does not give them a lasting supply? Does it furnish food for 
 man’s intellect in any ratio to the capacities with which he is 
 endowed, or will he outgrow it, as he becomes advanced in 
 knowledge ? Does it quicken or deaden his conscience;— 
 having satisfied his longing for pardon, does he now commit 
 sin with greediness because salvation is easy, or live a holy 
 life because he partakes of the character of God his Savior ? 
 Does it enlarge a man’s affections or shrink them up ? Does it 
 rid him of fear, or leave him a prey to terrors at the awful 
 hour, when he is just going before the face of God ? 
 
 I invite you, my friends, to come into close intercourse with 
 the followers of Christ, and decide- whether the answers to 
 these questions will be favorable or not to the truth of the 
 Gospel. Select the best among your Christian friends, and 
 determine whether his virtues are in spite of his religion, or 
 the natural fruit of his religion ? Or go back to the Savior 
 from whom, as the germ, all truth, as we claim it to be, and all 
 goodness, have flowed down through the ages of the Church, 
 and then say whether all this can be a system of falsehood ? 
 Decide whether any other religion known to mankind can pro¬ 
 duce such results. 
 
 (< c .) I add, that the Christian Church has been testing the value 
 of the doctrines on which it is built ever since the days of 
 Christ. It has had a longer time to examine the effect of prin¬ 
 ciples on character than almost any philosophy or any intelli- 
 
 V 
 
11 
 
 gent religion besides ; it claims to have satisfied the wants of 
 man, and to have produced characters of consummate virtue. If 
 this claim had turned out to be false, Christianity, as it rested 
 on its native excellence for its defense, could not have survi¬ 
 ved the third century. If those men, like Justin Martyr and 
 many others of the early Church, who carried in themselves a 
 longing to be delivered from sin, and had tried philosophy 
 only to abandon it,—if they had found in the Gospel also no 
 power to sanctify, no suitableness to their wants, no quicken¬ 
 ing of their spiritual natures, and had given up this, too, in 
 despair, I am bold to say that Christ’s name long ago would 
 have dropped out of history, and the very Gospels have been 
 lost. 
 
 Enter, then, my friends, into communion with Christians 
 true to their profession, and they will place before you the 
 truth ;—they will give you the best evidence of the truth which 
 you can obtain, until by actual taste and experience you set to 
 your seal that God is true. 
 
 2. But, secondly, the Church will do you good by its assist¬ 
 ance in enabling you to overcome sin and to make progress in 
 godliness. This help it secures to those who share its society 
 in various ways,— one of which is that it affords you a shelter 
 among godly companions, against temptation. Great as the 
 plague of our evil hearts has been in itself, it has been 
 mightily strengthened by the suggestions of sinners. We may 
 remember a time perhaps, when an evil practice was caught, 
 like a pestilence, from some companion, or when an evil sug¬ 
 gestion acted on our principles like a poison. Thus, if we 
 come to Christ, we come, with weakened, unstrung characters : 
 “ we are made to possess the sins of our youth.” The princi¬ 
 pal struggle of the young Christian is with sins that have 
 grown rampant, or with bad habits of thought contracted in 
 the time of his folly. 
 
 In circumstances like these, how great is the blessing which 
 Christ has ready for us,—of a society where we may be safe 
 from a large part of our temptations ! We have their sympa¬ 
 thy. u There hath no temptation taken you,” saitli St. Paul, 
 “but such as is common to man.” They have fought on the 
 
12 
 
 same ground, they have stories to tell of wounds and victories, 
 they have encouragements for the desponding combatant. The 
 friends of our period of sin are generally glad when we run 
 with them to the same excess of riot, for they need our 
 countenance and support; but the friends who welcome us to 
 their Christian society, rejoice in our success,—have support 
 to give, and when we fall help us to rise. 
 
 Another good of this kind, to be secured by union with 
 Christ’s Church, is progress in Christian virtue. Christian 
 virtue is morality in the highest sense of the term, or love to 
 God and man dwelling in the heart, and expressing itself in all 
 right and useful actions. To secure this virtue there is a store¬ 
 house of motives drawn from the love of God in Christ, such 
 as exist and influence men nowhere else. These motives, 
 under the superintendence of a divine spirit, secure a high 
 standard of character, a multitude of bright examples, an 
 amount of joy and peace strangely great for this world. If 
 now, without some divine command, the members of this 
 society should separate and live each for himself without a 
 thought for his neighbor,—should live for instance an ascetic 
 life of solitary contemplation, they might be perhaps virtuous 
 and godly; but how much of the power of love, of friendship, 
 of example, of mutual support in manifold ways, would be 
 lost. The individual, for his perfection, must live in society ; 
 the Christian for his perfection, must live in the fellowship of 
 saints. 
 
 We invite you then, say the true followers of Christ, to enter 
 our society, because you shall not only be safe, but shall 
 abound also in facilities for your religious improvement. We 
 are, if sincere, the salt of the world; Tve are organized to 
 glorify our Father in Heaven. Help us in the work of Christ, 
 partake of our spirit of devotion to the service of God and the 
 welfare of man, come within the reach of all that which cheers 
 and purifies our communion ; thus, and thus only, can you at¬ 
 tain to true goodness. 
 
 III. I have time to turn for a moment only to the last con¬ 
 sideration by which the invitation of the text is enforced: “for 
 the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.” This brother- 
 
13 
 
 hood of Christians, which is journeying to a commanded 
 place—which has an organization able to do such great good to 
 those who join it, is also marching under great and pre 
 cious promises, as under so many joyful banners. The jour¬ 
 ney, the result, are not left to the spirit of the society, but God 
 hath spoken—hath promised good concerning the followers of 
 his Son. Look with me for a moment at three of the most 
 comprehensive of His promises, which contain and convey good 
 beyond calculation. He hath promised pardon. In the death 
 of his Son he proclaims the free remission of our sins, deliver¬ 
 ance from condemnation, a state of acceptance before Him, 
 and thus the foundation for a trustful and hopeful life. What 
 good can come to you without pardon ; and if you lie under 
 the curse of unforgiven sin, will not all blessings, all knowl¬ 
 edge be steeped in gall? He hath promised strength , the pres¬ 
 ent aid of the spirit of his Son—called the Spirit of promise— 
 in which is comprised rich and most manifold good;—light 
 for the ignorant, advance in holiness for the sinful, support for 
 the weak, comfort for the desponding, joy in affliction, hope in 
 fear, transmutation of all seeming evils into blessings. He 
 hath promised also success ; of which indeed the present spirit 
 is an earnest. This success in its completeness is salvation— 
 ultimate and everlasting deliverance from sin, joy in the favor 
 and work of God, rest in the spiritual body and spiritual 
 companionship of heaven. Are not these great and precious 
 promises indeed, worth the attempt to secure them, and are not 
 the members of Christ’s true Church, to whom they are 
 pledged, blessed indeed ? 
 
 And now, my friends, what answer will you return when in 
 the name of Christ’s disciples I ask you to join this fellowship, 
 which, all imperfect as it is, contains whatever is most good 
 and true within its pale, and has such glorious hopes for com¬ 
 ing time ? Some, I trust, are ready to say, we hope to partake 
 of the blessings of this society even as we believe that we have 
 joined the Lord in a private covenant never to be forgotten. 
 But another will say I have no interest in the principles or 
 relish for the employments of the Christian Church. I have 
 my plan of life which is inconsistent with its requirements, 
 
14 
 
 and which I cannot relinquish. Another still will say, safety 
 and virtue can he found in other paths. I mean to reach 
 heaven without help of Christian people, by a road of my own. 
 And another still will say, I mean to he a Christian before I die 
 and to have all the blessings which Christ has promised, to¬ 
 gether with all those which I can reap from a worldly life. 
 Well, my friends, if such is your settled purpose, we must 
 part; we cannot give up our Leader or our mode of life, or our 
 hopes. We are now together at a point in the road where 
 several paths diverge. God grant that after trying one of 
 them you may find us on our way again before night fall. But 
 while you are leaving us in purpose, and before the voices of 
 farewell and entreaty lose themselves in the distance, before 
 forests and floods intervene, we pray you to reflect that a man 
 cannot go to heaven when he will, or as he will; that perad- 
 venture you may find that God will not welcome you, or that 
 you cannot be happy in the Church in heaven, whose temper 
 and principles on earth you refused to adopt. 
 
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