John Owen · 7 of 157

Sermon I. Acts xvi. 9. · Part 3

(2.) Such as are disturbed in their optics, or have gotten false glasses, representing all things unto them in dubious colours. Which way soever they look, they can see nothing but errors, — errors of all sizes, sorts, sects, and sexes, — errors and heresies from the beginning to the end; which have deceived some men, not of the worst, and made them think that all before was nothing, in comparison of the present confusion. A great sign they felt it not, or were not troubled at it; as if men should come into a field, and seeing some red weeds and cockle among the corn, should instantly affirm there is no corn there, but all weeds, and that it were much better the hedges were down, and the whole field laid open to the boars of the forest: but the harvest will one day show the truth of these things. But that these apprehensions may not too much prevail, to the vilifying and extenuating of God’s mercy, in restoring to us the purity and liberty of the gospel, give me leave, in a few words, to set out the danger of that apostasy from which the good pleasure of God hath given us a deliverance. I shall instance only in a few things. Observe then, that, —

[1.] The darling errors of late years were all of them stones of the old Babel, closing and coupling with that tremendous fabric which the man of sin had erected to dethrone Jesus Christ, — came out of the belly of that Trojan horse, that fatal engine, which was framed to betray the city of God. They were popish errors, such as whereof that apostasy did consist which only is to be looked upon as the great adverse state of the kingdom of the Lord Christ. For a man to be disorderly in a civil state, yea, oftentimes through turbulency to break the peace, is nothing to an underhand combination with some formidable enemy for the utter subversion of it. Heedless and headless errors may breed disturbance enough, in scattered individuals, unto the people of God; but such as tend to a peace and association “cum ecclesia malignantium,” tending to a total subversion of the sacred state, are far more dangerous. Now, such were the innovations of the late hierarchists. In worship, their paintings, crossings, crucifixes, bowing, cringings, altars, tapers, wafers, organs, anthems, litany, rails, images, copes, vestments, — what were they but Roman varnish, an Italian dress for our devotion, to draw on conformity with that enemy of the Lord Jesus? In doctrine, the divinity of Episcopacy, auricular confession, free-will, predestination on faith, yea, works foreseen, “limbus patrum,” justification by works, falling from grace, authority of a church, which none knew what it was, canonical obedience, holiness of churches, and the like innumerable, — what were they but helps to Sancta Clara, to make all our articles of religion speak good Roman Catholic? How did their old father of Rome refresh his spirit, to see such chariots as those provided to bring England again unto him! This closing with Popery was the sting in the errors of those days, which cause pining, if not death, in the episcopal pot.

[2.] They were such as raked up the ashes of the ancient worthies, whose spirits God stirred up to reform his church, and rendered them contemptible before all, especially those of England, the most whereof died in giving their witness against the blind figment of the real presence, and that abominable blasphemy of the cursed mass. In especial, how did England, heretofore termed ass, turn ape to the pope, having set up a stage, and furnished it with all things necessary for an unbloody sacrifice, ready to set up the abomination of a desolation, and close with the god Maozim [מָעֻזִּים‎ Mauzzim, god of forces, Dan. xi. 38], who hath all their peculiar devotion at Rome?

[3.] They were in the management of men which had divers dangerous and pernicious qualifications: as, —

1st, A false repute of learning; I say, a false repute for the greater part, especially of the greatest. And yet, taking advantage of vulgar esteem, they bare out as though they had engrossed a monopoly of it, — though I presume the world was never deceived by more empty pretenders, especially in respect of any solid knowledge in divinity or antiquity; but yet their great preferments had got them a great repute of great deservings, — enough to blind the eyes of poor mortals adoring them at a distance, and to persuade them, that all was not only law, but gospel too, which they broached: and this rendered the infection dangerous.

2dly, A great hatred of godliness in the power thereof, or any thing beyond a form, in whomsoever it was found; yea, how many odious appellations were invented for bare profession, to render it contemptible! — especially in the exercise of their jurisdiction, thundering their censures against all appearance of zeal, and closing with all profane impieties; for were a man a drunkard, a swearer, a Sabbath-breaker, an unclean person, so he were no Puritan, and had money, — “patet atri janua ditis,” the Episcopal heaven was open for them all. Now, this was a dangerous and destructive qualification, which, I believe, is not professedly found in any party amongst us.

3dly, Which was worst of all, they had centred in their bosoms an unfathomable depth of power, civil and ecclesiastical, to stamp their apostatical errors with authority, — giving them not only the countenance of greatness, but the strength of power, violently urging obedience; and to me the sword of error never cuts dangerously but when it is managed with such a hand. This I am sure, that errors in such are not recoverable, without the utmost danger of the civil state.

Let now, I beseech you, these and the like things be considered, especially the strong combination that was throughout the papal world for the seducing of this poor nation (that I say nothing how this vial was poured out upon the very throne), and then let us all be ashamed and confounded in ourselves, that we should so undervalue and slight the free mercy of God in breaking such a snare, and setting the gospel at liberty in England. My intent was, having before asserted this restoration of Jerusalem to the good pleasure of God, to have stirred you up to thankfulness unto him, and self-humiliation in consideration of our great undeserving of such mercy; but, alas! as far as I can see, it will scarce pass for a mercy; and unless every man’s persuasion may be a Joseph’s sheaf, the goodness of God shall scarce be acknowledged. But yet let all the world know, and let the house of England know this day, that we lie unthankfully under as full a dispensation of mercy and grace as ever nation in the world enjoyed, and that without a lively acknowledgment thereof, with our own unworthiness of it, we shall one day know what it is (being taught with briers and thorns) to undervalue the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus. Good Lord! what would helpless Macedonians give for one enjoyment? O that Wales! O that Ireland! O that France! — where shall I stop? I would offend none, but give me leave to say, O that every, I had almost said, O that any, part of the world had such helps and means of grace as these parts of England have, which will scarce acknowledge any mercy in it! The Lord break the pride of our spirits before it break the staff of our bread and the help of our salvation. O that the bread of heaven and the blood of Christ might be accounted good nourishment, though every one hath not the sauce he desireth! I am persuaded that if every Absalom in the land, that would be a judge for the ending of our differences, were enthroned (he spoke the people’s good, though he intended his own power), the case would not be much better than it is. Well, the Lord make England, make this honourable audience, make us all, to know these three things:—

First, That we have received such a blessing, in setting at liberty the truths of the gospel, as is the crown of all other mercies, yea, without which they were not valuable, yea, were to be despised; for success without the gospel, is nothing but a prosperous conspiracy against Jesus Christ.

Secondly, That this mercy is of mercy; this love, of free love; and the grace that appeareth, of the eternal, hidden, free grace of God. He hath showed his love unto us because he loved us, and for no other reason in the world; this people being guilty of blood and murder of soul and body, adultery, and idolatry, and oppression, with a long catalogue of sins and iniquities.

Thirdly, That the height of rebellion against God is the despising of spiritual gospel mercies. Should Mordecai have trodden the robes under his feet that were brought him from the king, would it not have been severely revenged? Doth the King of heaven lay open the treasures of his wisdom, knowledge, and goodness for us, and we despise them? What shall I say? I had almost said, hell punishes no greater sin: the Lord lay it not to our charge! O that we might be solemnly humbled for it this day, before it be too late!

Use 3. To discover unto us the freedom of that effectual grace which is dispensed towards the elect, under and with the preaching of the word; for if the sending of the outward means be of free, undeserved love, surely the working of the Spirit under that dispensation for the saving of souls is no less free; for “who hath made us differ from others? and what have we that we have not received?” O that God should say unto us in our blood, Live; — that he should breathe upon us when we were as dry bones, dead in trespasses and sins! Let us remember, I beseech you, the frame of our hearts and the temper of our spirits, in the days wherein we knew not God and his goodness, but went on in a swift course of rebellion. Can none of you look back upon any particular days or nights, and say, Ah, Lord, that thou shouldst be so patient and so full of forbearance, as not to send me to hell at such an instant! But, O Lord, that thou shouldst go farther, and blot out mine iniquities, for thine own sake, “when I made thee serve with my sins! “— Lord, what shall I say it is? It is the free grace of my God! What expression transcendeth that, I know not.

Use 4. Of caution. England received the gospel of mere mercy; let it take heed lest it lose it by justice; — the placer of the candlestick can remove it. The truth is, it will not be removed unless it be abused; and woe to them from whom mercies are taken for being abused, — from whom the gospel is removed for being despised! It had been better for the husbandmen never to have had the vineyard, than to be slain for their ill using of it: there is nothing left to do them good who are forsaken for forsaking the gospel.

The glory of God was of late by many degrees departing from the temple in our land. That was gone to the threshold, yea, to the mount. If now at the return thereof, it find again cause to depart, it will not go by steps, but all at once. This island, or at least the greatest part thereof, as I formerly intimated, hath twice lost the gospel; — once, when the Saxons wrested it from the Britons, — when, if we may believe their own doleful, moaning historian, they were given over to all wickedness, oppression, and villainy of life; which doubtless was accompanied with contempt of the word; though for faith and persuasion we do not find that they were corrupted, and do find that they were tenacious enough of antique discipline, as appeared in their following oppositions to the Roman tyranny, as in Beda. Secondly, It was lost in regard of the purity and power thereof, by blind superstition and antichristian impiety, accompanied also with abominable lewdness, oppression, and all manner of sin, in the face of the sun; so that first profaneness working a despising of the gospel, then superstition ushering in profaneness, have in this land showed their power for the extirpation of the gospel. Oh, that we could remember the days of old, that we could “consider the goodness and severity of God; — on them which fell severity, but towards us goodness, if we continue in that goodness; for otherwise even we also shall be cut off!” Yet here we may observe, that though both these times there was a forsaking in the midst of the land, yet there was in it a tenth for to return “as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves;” so was the holy seed the substance thereof, Isa. vi. 13. As in the dereliction of the Jews, so of this nation, there was a remnant that quickly took root, and brought forth fruit, both in the one devastation and the other. Though the watcher and the holy one from heaven had called to cut down the tree of this nation, and to scatter its branches from flourishing before him; yet the stump and root was to be left in the earth with a band of iron, that it might spring again. Thus twice did the Lord come seeking fruit of this vine, doing little more than pruning and dressing it, although it brought forth wild grapes; but if he come the third time and find no fruit, the sentence will be, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?” Now, to prevent this, I shall not follow all those gospel-supplanting sins we find in holy writ, only I desire to cautionate you and us all in three things.

(1.) Take heed of pretending or holding out the gospel for a covert or shadow for other things. God will not have his gospel made a stalking-horse for carnal designs. Put not in that glorious name, where the thing itself is not clearly intended. If in any thing it be, let it have no compeer; if not, let it not be named. If that you aim at be just, it needs no varnish; if it be not, it is the worse for it. Gilded pills lose not their bitterness, and painted faces are thought to have no native beauty. All things in the world should serve the gospel; and if that be made to serve other things, God will quickly vindicate it into liberty.

From the beginning of these troubles, right honourable, you have held forth religion and the gospel, as whose preservation and restoration was principally in your aims; and I presume malice itself is not able to discover any insincerity in this. The fruits we behold proclaim to all the conformity of your words and hearts. Now, the God of heaven grant that the same mind be in you still, in every particular member of this honourable assembly, in the whole nation, especially in the magistracy and ministry of it; — that we be not like the boatmen, — look one way, and row another; — cry “Gospel,” and mean the other thing, — “Lord, Lord,” and advance our own ends; — that the Lord may not stir up the staff of his anger and the rod of his indignation against us, as a hypocritical people.

(2.) Take heed of resting upon and trusting to the privilege, however excellent and glorious, of the outward enjoyment of the gospel. When the Jews cried, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,” the time was at hand that they should be destroyed. Look only upon the grace that did bestow, and the mercy that doth continue it. God will have none of his blessings rob him of his glory; and if we rest at the cistern, he will stop at the fountain.

(3.) Let us all take heed of barrenness under it: “For the earth that drinks in the rain that cometh upon it, and beareth thorns and briers, is rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned,” Heb. vi. 7, 8. Now, what fruits doth it require? Even those reckoned, Gal. v. 22, 23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” O that we had not cause to grieve for a scarcity of these fruits, and the abundant plenty of those works of the flesh recounted, verses 19–21! O that that wisdom which is an eminent fruit of the gospel might flourish amongst us! — it is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated;” — that we might have less writing, and more praying! — less envy, and more charity! that all evil surmisings, which are works of the flesh, might have no toleration in our hearts, but be banished for nonconformity to the golden rule of love and peace! James iii. 17. But ἀπέχω. Come we now to the last proposition.

III. No men in the world want help like them that want the gospel; or, of all distresses, want of the gospel cries the loudest for relief.

Rachel wanted children, and she cries, “Give me children, or I die;” — but that was her impatience; she might have lived, and have had no children; yea, see the justice of God, — she dies so soon as ever she hath children. Hagar wants water for Ishmael, and she will go far from him, that she may not see him die; — a heavy distress; and yet if he had died, it had been but an early paying of that debt which in a few years was to be satisfied. But they that want the gospel may truly cry, Give us the gospel, or we die; and that not temporally with Ishmael, for want of water, but eternally in flames of fire.

A man may want liberty, and yet be happy, as Joseph was; a man may want peace, and yet be happy, as David was; a man may want children, and yet be blessed, as Job was; a man may want plenty, and yet be full of comfort, as Micaiah was; — but he that wants the gospel, wants every thing that should do him good. A throne without the gospel is but the devil’s dungeon. Wealth without the gospel is fuel for hell. Advancement without the gospel is but a going high to have the greater fall.

Abraham wanting a child, complains, “What will the Lord do for me, seeing I go childless, and this Eliezer of Damascus must be my heir?” Much more may a man without the means of grace complain, What shall be done unto me, seeing I go gospel-less; and all that I have is but a short inheritance for this lump of clay, my body?

When Elisha was minded to do something for the Shunammite who had so kindly entertained him, he asks her whether he should speak for her to the king or the captain of the host. She replies, she dwelt in the midst of her own people, she needeth not those things; but when he finds her to want a child, and tells her of that, she is almost transported. Ah! how many poor souls are there who need not our word to the king or the captain of the host; but yet being gospel-less, if you could tell them of that, would be even ravished with joy!

Think of Adam after his fall, before the promise, hiding himself from God, and you have a perfect portraiture of a poor creature without the gospel. Now this appeareth, —

1. From the description we have of the people that are in this state and condition — without the gospel. They are a people that sit in darkness, yea, in the region and shadow of death, Matt. iv. 16, 17; they are even darkness itself, John i. 5, — within the dominion and dreadful darkness of death. Darkness was one of Egypt’s plagues; but yet that was a darkness of the body, a darkness wherein men lived; — but this is a darkness of the soul, a darkness of death; for these men, though they live, yet are they dead. They are fully described, Eph. ii. 12, “Without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Christless men, and Godless men, and hopeless men, — and what greater distress in the world? Yea, they are called dogs, and unclean beasts. The wrath of God is upon them; they are the people of his curse and indignation. In the extreme north, one day and one night divide the year; but with a people without the gospel it is all night, — the Sun of righteousness shines not upon them; it is night whilst they are here, and they go to eternal night hereafter. What the men of China say concerning themselves and others, that they have two eyes, the men of Europe one, and all the world besides is blind, may be inverted too. The Jews had one eye, sufficient to guide them; they who enjoy the gospel have two eyes; but the men of China, with the rest of the nations that want it, are stark blind, and reserved for the chains of everlasting darkness.

2. By laying forth what the men that want the gospel do want with it.

(1.) They want Jesus Christ, for he is revealed only by the gospel. Austin refused to delight in Cicero’s “Hortensius,” because there was not in it the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is all, and in all; and where he is wanting there can be no good. Hunger cannot truly be satisfied without manna, the bread of life, which is Jesus Christ; — and what shall a hungry man do that hath no bread? Thirst cannot be quenched without that water or living spring, which is Jesus Christ; — and what shall a thirsty soul do without water? A captive, as we are all, cannot be delivered without redemption, which is Jesus Christ; — and what shall the prisoner do without his ransom? Fools, as we are all, cannot be instructed without wisdom, which is Jesus Christ; — without him we perish in our folly. All building without him is on the sand, which will surely fall. All working without him is in the fire, where it will be consumed. All riches without him have wings, and will away. “Mallem ruere cum Christo, quam regnare cum Cæsare,” said Luther. A dungeon with Christ, is a throne; and a throne without Christ, a hell. Nothing so ill, but Christ will compensate. The greatest evil in the world is sin, and the greatest sin was the first; and yet Gregory feared not to cry, “O felix culpa, quæ talem meruit redemptorem!” — “O happy fault, which found such a Redeemer!” All mercies without Christ are bitter; and every cup is sweet that is seasoned but with a drop of his blood; — he truly is “amor et deliciæ humani generis,” — the love and delight of the sons of men, — without whom they must perish eternally; “for there is no other name given unto them, whereby they may be saved, Acts iv. 12. He is the Way; men without him are Cains, wanderers, vagabonds:— he is the Truth; men without him are liars, like the devil, who was so of old:— he is the Life; without him men are dead, dead in trespasses and sins:— he is the Light; without him men are in darkness, and go they know not whither:— he is the Vine; those that are not grafted in him are withered branches, prepared for the fire:— he is the Rock; men not built on him are carried away with a flood:— he is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the author and the ender, the founder and the finisher of our salvation. He that hath not him, hath neither beginning of good, nor shall have end of misery. O blessed Jesus! how much better were it not to be, than to be without thee! — never to be born, than not to die in thee! A thousand bells come short of this, eternally to want Jesus Christ, as men do that want the gospel.

(2.) They want all holy communion with God, wherein the only happiness of the soul doth consist. He is the life, light, joy, and blessedness of the soul; — without him the soul in the body is but a dead soul in a living sepulchre. It is true, there be many that say, “Who will show us any good?” but unless the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us, we perish for evermore. “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord; and our heart is unquiet until it come to thee.” You who have tasted how gracious the Lord is, who have had any converse and communion with him in the issues and goings forth of his grace, those delights of his soul with the children of men, would you live — would not life itself, with a confluence of all earthly endearments, be a very hell — without him? Is it not the daily language of your hearts, “Whom have we in heaven but thee? and on earth there is nothing in comparison of thee?” The soul of man is of a vast, boundless comprehension; so that if all created good were centred into one enjoyment, and that bestowed upon one soul, because it must needs be finite and limited, as created, it would give no solid contentment to his affections, nor satisfaction to his desires. In the presence and fruition of God alone there is joy for evermore; at his right hand are rivers of pleasure, the well-springs of life and blessedness. Now, if to be without communion with God in this life, wherein the soul hath so many avocations from the contemplation of its own misery (for earthly things are nothing else), is so unsupportable a calamity; ah! what shall that poor soul do that must want him for eternity? — as all they must do who want the gospel.

(3.) They want all the ordinances of God, — the joy of our hearts and comfort of our souls. Oh! the sweetness of a Sabbath! the heavenly raptures of prayer! — oh! the glorious communion of saints, which such men are deprived of! If they knew the value of the hidden pearl, and these things were to be purchased, what would such poor souls not part with for them?

(4.) They will at last want heaven and salvation. They shall never come to the presence of God in glory, never inhabit a glorious mansion; — they shall never behold Jesus Christ, but when they shall call for rocks and mountains to tall upon them, to hide them from his presence; — they shall want light in utter darkness, want life under the second death, want refreshment in the midst of flames, want healing under gnawing of conscience, want grace continuing to blaspheme, want glory in full misery; — and, which is the sum of all this, they shall want an end of all this; for “their worm dieth not, neither is their fire quenched.”

3. Because being in all this want, they know not that they want any thing, and so never make out for any supply. Laodicea knew much; but yet because she knew not her wants, she had almost as good have known nothing. Gospel-less men know not that they are blind, and seek not for eye-salve; they know not that they are dead, and seek not for life. Whatever they call for, not knowing their wants, is but like a man’s crying for more weight to press him to death; and therefore, when the Lord comes to any with the gospel, he is “found of them that sought him not, and made manifest to them that asked not after him,” Rom. x. 20. This is a seal upon their misery, without God’s free mercy, like the stone laid upon the mouth of the cave by Joshua, to keep in the five kings, until they might be brought out to be hanged.” All that men do in the world is but seeking to supply their wants; — either their natural wants, that nature may be supplied; or their sinful wants, that their lusts may be satisfied; or their spiritual wants, that their souls may be saved. For the two first, men without the gospel lay out all their strength; but of the last there is amongst them a deep silence. Now this is all one as for men to cry out that their finger bleeds, whilst a sword is run through their hearts, and they perceive it not; — to desire a wart to be cured, whilst they have a plague-sore upon them. And hence perhaps it is that they are said to go to hell “like sheep,” Ps. xlix. 14, — very quietly, without dread, as a bird hasting to the snare, and not knowing that it is for his life, Prov. vii. 23, — and there lie down in utter disappointment and sorrow for evermore.

4. Because all mercies are bitter judgments to men that want the gospel; — all fuel for hell, — aggravations of condemnation; — all cold drink to a man in a fever, pleasant at the entrance, but increasing its torments in the close; — like the book in the Revelation, sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. When God shall come to require his bread and wine, his flax and oil, peace and prosperity, liberty and victories of gospel-less men, they will curse the day that ever they enjoyed them. So unspiritual are many men’s minds, and so unsavoury their judgments, that they reckon men’s happiness by their possessions, and suppose the catalogue of their titles to be a roll of their felicities, calling the proud happy, and advancing in our conceits “them that work wickedness,” Mal. iii. 15; but God will one day come in with another reckoning, and make them know that all things without Christ are but as ciphers without a figure, — of no value. In all their banquets, where Christ is not a guest, “their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the field of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter,” Deut. xxxii. 32, 33; — their palaces, where Christ is not, are but habitations of ziim and ochim, dragons and unclean beasts; — their prosperity is putting them into full pasture, that they may be fatted for the day of slaughter, the day of consumption decreed for all the bulls of Bashan. The gospel bringing Christ, is the salt that makes all other things savoury.