CHRISTIANS,
by: GEORGE WHITEFIELD — 1714-1770
"Ye are the
ISAIAH,
SPEAKING OF THE GLORY of gospel days, said, "Men have not heard nor
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he
hath prepared for him that waiteth for him."
Chap. 64:4. Could a world lying in the wicked one, be really convinced of this,
they would need no other motive to induce them to renounce themselves, take up
their cross, and follow Jesus Christ. And had believers this truth always
deeply impressed upon their souls, they could not but abstain from every evil,
be continually aspiring after every good; and in a word, use all diligence to
walk worthy of Him who hath called them to his kingdom and glory. If I mistake
not, that is the end purposed by the apostle Paul, in the words of the text,
"Ye are the temple of the living God." Words originally directed to
the
FIRST,
I shall endeavor to give you the meaning of these words, "Ye are the
temple of the living God." The expression undoubtedly is metaphorical, or
figurative: but under the metaphor, something real, and of infinite importance,
is to be understood. And there seems to be a manifest allusion, not only to
what we call temples or churches in general, but to the Jewish temple in
particular. I trust, that but few, if any here, need be informed, that the
preparations for this edifice were exceedingly grand, that it was modeled and
built by a divine order, and when completed was separated from common uses, and
dedicated to the service of the incomprehensible Jehovah, with the utmost
solemnity.
It is
thus that Christians are "the temple of the living God," of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost; they who once held a consultation to create, are all
equally concerned in making preparations for, and effectually bringing about
the redemption of man. The Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Holy Ghost
sanctifies all the elect people of God. Being loved from eternity, they are
effectually called in time, they are chosen out of the world, and not only by
an external formal dedication at baptism, or at the Lord's supper, but by a
free, voluntary, unconstrained oblation, they devote themselves, spirit, soul,
and body, to the entire service of Him, who hath loved and given himself for
them.
This
is true and undefiled religion before God our heavenly Father: This is the real
Christian's reasonable service, or, as some think the word imports, this is the
service required of us in the word of God. It implies no less than a total
renunciation of the world; in short, turns the Christian's whole life into one
continued sacrifice of love to God; so that, "whether he eats or drinks,
he does all to his glory." Not that I would hereby insinuate, that to be
Christians, or to keep to the words of our text, in order to be temples of the
living God, we must become hermits, or shut ourselves up in nunneries or cloysters; this be far from me! No. The religion, which
this bible in my hand prescribes, is a social religion, a religion equally
practicable by high and low, rich and poor, and which absolutely requires a due
discharge of all relative duties, in whatsoever state of life God shall be
pleased to place and continue us.
That
some, in all ages of the church, have literally separated themselves from the
world, and from a sincere desire to save their souls, and attain higher degrees
of Christian perfection, have wholly devoted themselves to solitude and retirement,
is what I make no doubt of. But then such a zeal is in
no wise according to knowledge; for private Christians, as well as ministers,
are said to be "the salt of the earth, and the lights of the world, and
are commanded to "let their light shine before men." But how can this
be done, if we shut ourselves up, and thereby entirely
exclude ourselves from all manner of conversation with the world? Or supposing
we could take the wings of the morning, and fly into the most distant and
desolate parts of the earth, what would this avail us, unless we could agree
with a wicked heart and wicked tempter not to pursue and molest us there?
So far
should we be from thus getting ease and comfort, that I believe we should on
the contrary soon find by our experience the truth of what a hermit himself
once told me, that a tree which stands by itself, is
most exposed and liable to the strongest blasts. When our Savior was to be
tempted by the devil, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. How
contrary this to their practice, who go into a wilderness to avoid temptation!
Surely such are unmindful of the petition put up for us by our blessed Lord,
"Father, I pray not that thou wouldst take them out of the world, but that
thou wouldst keep them from the evil." This then is to be a Christian
indeed; to be in the world, and yet not of it; to have our hands, according to
our respective stations in life, employed on earth, and our hearts at the same
time fixed on things above. Then, indeed, are we "temples of the living God,"
when with a humble boldness, we can say with a great and good soldier of Jesus
Christ, we are the same in the parlor, as we are in the closet; and can at
night throw off our cares, as we throw off our clothes; and being at peace with
the world, ourselves, and God, are indifferent whether we sleep or die.
Farther,
the Jewish temple was a house of prayer. "My house (says the Great God)
shall be called a house of prayer:" and implies that the hearts of true
believers are the seats of prayer. For this end was it built, and adorned with
such furniture. Solomon, in that admirable prayer which he put up to God at the
dedication of the temple, saith, "Hearken
therefore unto the supplication of thy servant, and of they people
Let no
one say that such a devotion is impracticable, or at least only practicable by
a few, and those such who have nothing to do with the common affairs of life;
for this is the common duty and privilege of all true Christians. "To pray
without ceasing," and "to rejoice in the Lord always," are
precepts equally obligatory on all that name the name
of Christ. And though it must be owned, that it is hard for persons that are
immersed in the world, to serve the Lord without distraction; and though we
must confess, that the lamp of devotion, even in the best of saints, sometimes
burns too dimly, yet those who are the temple of the living God, find prayer to
be their very element: And when those who make this objection, once come to
love prayer, as some unhappy men love swearing, they will find no more
difficulty in praying to, and praising God always, than these unhappy creatures
do in cursing and swearing always. What hath been advanced,
is far from being a state peculiar to persons wholly retired from the world.
My
brethren, the love of God is all in all. When once possessed of this, as we
certainly must be, if e are "the temple of the
loving God," meditation, prayer, praise, and other spiritual exercises,
become habitual and delightful. When once touched with this divine magnet, for
ever after the soul feels a divine attraction, and continually turns to its
center, God; and if diverted therefrom, by any sudden
or violent temptation, yet when that obstruction is removed, like as a needle
touched by a lodestone when your finger is taken away, turns to its rest, ins
center, its God, its All, again.
The
Jewish temple was also a place where the Great Jehovah was pleased in a more
immediate manner to reside. Hence, he is said to put and record his name there,
and to sit or dwell between the cherubim; and when Solomon first dedicated it,
we are told, "the house was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could
not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had
filled the house." And wherefore all this amazing
manifestation of the Divine Glory? Even for this, O man, to show thee
how the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,
would make believers hearts his living temple, and dwell and make his abode in
all those that tremble at his word.
To
this, the apostle more particularly alludes in the words immediately following
our text; for having called the Corinthians "the temple of the living
God," he adds, "as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and I will
walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Strange and string expressions these! But strange and strong as they are, must
be experienced by all who are indeed "the temple of the loving God."
For they are said, to be "chosen to be a holy habitation through the
Spirit; to dwell in God and God in them; to have the witness in themselves, and
to have God's Spirit witnessing with their spirits that they are the children
of God." Which expressions import no more or less, than that prayer of our
Lord which he put up for his church and people a little before his bitter
passion, "That they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one:" This glorious passage our
church adopts in her excellent communion office, and is so far from thinking
that this was only the privilege of apostles, that she asserts in the strongest
terms, that it is the privilege of every worthy communicant. For then (says
she) if we receive the sacrament worthily, we are one with Christ, and Christ
is one with us; we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us. And what is it, but that
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which we pray for in the beginning of that
office, and that fellowship of the Holy Ghost, which the minister, in the
conclusion of every day's public prayer, entreats the Lord to be with us all
evermore?
Brethren,
the time would fail me to mention all the scriptures, and the various branches
of our liturgy, articles, and homilies, that speak of this inestimable
blessing, the indwelling of the blessed Spirit, whereby we do indeed become,
"the temples of the living God." If you have eyes that see, or ears
that hear, you may view it almost in every page of the lively oracles, and
every part of those offices, which some of you daily use, and hear read to you, in the public worship of Almighty God. In
asserting therefore this doctrine, we do not vent the whimsies of a disordered
brain, and heated imagination; neither do we broach any new doctrines, or set
up the peculiar opinions of any particular sect or denomination of Christians
whatsoever; but we speak the words of truth and soberness, we show you the
right and good old way, even that, in which the articles of all the reformed
churches, and all sincere Christians of all parties, however differing in other
respects, do universally agree. We are now insisting upon a point, which may
properly be termed the Christian shibboleth, something which is the grand criterion
of our most holy religion; and on account of which, the holy Ignatius, one of
the first fathers of the church, was used to stile himself a bearer of God, and
the people to whom he wrote, bearers of God: For this, as it is recorded of
him, he was arraigned before Trajan, who imperiously
said, Where is this man, that says, he carries God about with him. With an humble boldness he answered, I am he, and then quoted the
passage in the text, "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people." Upon this, to cure him of his enthusiast, he was
condemned to be devoured by lions.
Blessed
be God! We are not in danger of being called before such persecuting Trajans now: under our present mild and happy
administration, the scourge of the tongue is all that they can legally lash us
with. But if permitted to go farther, we need not be ashamed of witnessing this
good confession. Suffering grace will be given for suffering times; and if,
like Ignatius, we are bearers of God, we also shall be enabled to say with him,
when led to the devouring lions, Now I begin to be a
disciple of Christ.
But it
is time for me,
SECONDLY,
To make some practical improvement of what has been
delivered. You have heard in what sense it is that real Christians are
"the temple of the living God." Shall I ask, Believe ye these things? I know and am persuaded that some of you do
indeed believe them, not because I have told you, but because you yourselves
have experienced the same.
I
congratulate you from my inmost soul. O that your hearts may be in tune this day to "magnify the Lord," and your
spirits prepared to "rejoice in God your Savior." Like the Virgin
Mary, you are highly favored, and from henceforth all the generations of God's
people shall call you blessed. You can call Christ, Lord, by the Holy Ghost,
and thereby have an internal, as well as external evidence of the divinity,
both of his person, and of his holy word. You can now prove that despised book,
emphatically called The Scriptures, doth contain the
perfect and acceptable will of God. You have found the second Adam to be a
quickening spirit; He hath raised you from death to life. And being thus
taught, and born of God, however unlearned in other respects, you can say,
"Is not this the Christ?" O ineffable blessing! Inconceivable
privilege! God's spirit witnesseth with your spirits,
that you are the children of God. When you think of this, are you not ready to
cry out with the beloved disciple, "What manner of love is this, that we
should be called the children of God!" I believe that holy man was in an
ecstasy when he wrote these words; and tho' he has
been in heaven so long, yet his ecstatic surprise is but now beginning, and
will be but as beginning through the ages of eternity. Thus shall it be with
all you likewise, whom the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth
eternity, hath made his living temples. For He hath sealed
you to the day of redemption, and hath given you the earnest of your future
inheritance. His eyes and heart shall therefore be upon you continually:
and in spite of all opposition from men or devils, the top-stone of this
spiritual building shall be brought forth, and you shall shout Grace, grace
unto it: your bodies shall be fashioned like unto the Redeemer's glorious body,
and your souls, in which (O infinite condescension!) He now
delights to dwell, shall be filled with all the fullness of God. You
shall then go no more out; you shall then no more need the light of the sun or
the light of the moon, for the Lord himself will be your temple, and the Lamb
in the midst thereof shall be your glory. Dearly beloved in the Lord, what say
you to these things? Do not your hearts burn within you whilst thinking of
these deep, but glorious truths of God. Whilst I am
musing, and speaking of them, methinks a fire kindles even in this cold, icy
heart of mine: O what shall we render unto the Lord for all these mercies?
Surely He hath done great things for us: How great is
his goodness, and his bounty! O the height, the depth, the length, and the
breadth of the love of God! Surely it passeth
knowledge. O for humility! And a soul-abasing, God-exalting sense of
these things! When the blessed virgin went into the hill country, to pay a
visit to her cousin Elizabeth, amazed at such a favor, she cried out,
"Whence is it that the mother of my Lord vouchsafes to come to me?"
And when the great Jehovah filled the temple with his glory, out of the
abundance of his heart, king Solomon burst forth into
this pathetic exclamation, "But will God in very deed dwell with men on
the earth?" With how much greater astonishment ought we to say, And will the Lord himself in very deed come to us? Will the
high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, dwell
in, and make our earthly hearts his living temples? My brethren, whence is
this? From any fitness in us foreseen? No, I know you disclaim such an
unbecoming thought. Was it then from the improvement of our own free-will? No,
I am persuaded you will not thus debase the riches of God's free grace. Are you
not all ready to say, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy free, thy
unmerited, thy sovereign, distinguishing love and mercy, O Lord, be all the glory.
It is this, and this alone, hath made the difference between us and others. We
have nothing but what is freely given us from above: if we love God, it is
because God first loved us. Let us look then unto the rock from whence we have
been hewn, and the hole of the pit from whence we have been digged.
And if there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, let us study and strive to
walk as becometh those who are made the temples of
the loving God, or, as the apostle elsewhere expresseth
himself, "a holy temple unto the Lord." What manner of persons ought
such to be in all holy conversation and godliness? How holily and how purely
should we live! As our apostle argues in another place, "For what
fellowship hath righteousness and unrighteousness? What communion hath light
with darkness? Or what concord hath Christ with Belial?" Shall those who
are temples of the living God, suffer themselves to be dens of thieves and
cages of unclean birds? Shall vain unchaste thoughts be suffered to dwell
within them? Much less shall any thing that is impure be conceived or acted by
them? Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? God forbid! We all know with what
distinguished ardor our blessed Redeemer purged an earthly temple; a zeal for
his father's house even eat him up: with what a holy
vehemence did he overturn the tables of the money-changers, and scourge the
buyers and sellers out before him! Why? They made his father's house a house of
merchandise: they had turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves.
O my
brethren, how often have you and I been guilty of this great evil? How often
have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,
insensibly stolen away our hearts from God? Once they were indeed houses of
prayer; faith, hope, love, peace, joy, and all the other fruits of the blessed
Spirit lodged within them; but now, O now, it may be, thieves and robbers. Hinc illa lachryma. Hence those
hidings of God's face, that dryness, and deadness, and barrenness of soul,
those wearisome nights and days, which many of us have felt from time to time,
and have been made to groan under. Hence those dolorous and
heart-breaking complaints, "O that I knew where I might find him! O
that it was with me as in days of old, when the candle of the Lord shone bright
upon my soul!" Hence those domestic trials, those personal losses and
disappointments: and to this perhaps some of us may add, hence all those public
rebukes with which we have been visited: they are all only as so many scourges
of small cords in the loving Redeemer's hands, to scourge the buyers and
sellers out of the temple of our hearts. O that we may know the rod and who
hath appointed it! He hath chastised us with whips: may we be wise, and by a
more close and circumspect walk prevent his chastising us in time to come with
scorpions! But who is sufficient for this thing? None but thou, O Lord, to whom
alone all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are
hidden! Cleanse thou therefore the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of
thy blessed Spirit, that henceforward we may more perfectly love thee and more
worthily magnify thy holy name!
But
are not some of you ready to object, and to fear, that the Lord hath forgotten
to be gracious, that he hath shut up his loving kindness in displeasure, and
that he will be no more entreated? Thus the psalmist once thought, when visited
for his backslidings with God's heave hand. But he acknowledged this to be his
infirmity; and whether you think of it or no, I tell you, this is your
infirmity. O ye dejected, desponding, distrustful souls, hear ye the word of
the Lord, and call to mind his wonderful declarations of old to his people.
"I, even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions:
for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with everlasting mercies will I
gather thee. Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yes she may, but the Lord
will not forget you, O ye of little faith. For as a father pitieth
his own children, so doth the Lord pity them that fear him. How shall I give
thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I make thee as Admah?
How shall I set thee as Zeboim?" And what is the
result of all these interrogations? "My repentings
are kindled together: I will not return to execute the fierceness of my anger
against Ephraim: For I am God, and not man." And is not the language of
all these endearing passages, like that of Joseph to his self-convicted,
troubled brethren? "Come near to me." O that it may be said of you,
as it is said of them, "And they came near unto him." Then should you
find by happy experience, that the Lord, the Lord God, merciful ad gracious, is
indeed slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth
him of the evil. Who knows but he may come down this day, this hour, nay this
moment, and suddenly revisit the temple of your hearts? Who knows but he may
revive his work in your precious souls, cause you to return to your first love,
help you to do your first works, and even exceed your hopes, and cause the
glory of this second visitation even to surpass that glory which filled your
hearts, in that happy, never to be forgotten day, in which he first vouchsafed
to make you his living temples? Even so, Father, let it seem good in thy sight!
But
the improvement of our subject must not end here. Hitherto I have been giving
bread to the children; and it is my meat and drink so to do: but must nothing
be said to those of you who are without? I mean to such who cannot yet say,
that they are "the temple of the living God." And O how great, put
you all together, may the number of you be: by far, in all probability, the
greatest part of this auditory. Say not I am uncharitable; the God of truth, hath said it, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it." Suffer me to speak plainly to you, my brethren; you have
heard what has been said upon the words of our text, and what must be wrought
in us, ere we can truly say that we are "the temple of the loving
God." Is it so with you? Are ye separated from the world and worldly
tempers? Are your hearts become houses of prayer? Doth the Spirit of God dwell
in your souls? And whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, as to the
habitual bent of your minds, do you do all to the glory of God? These are
short, but plain, and let me tell you very important questions. What answer can
you make to them? Say not, "Go thy way, and at a more convenient season I
will call for thee." I will not, I must not suffer you to put me off so; I
demand an answer in the name of the Lord of Hosts. What say ye? Methinks, I
hear you say, We have been dedicated to God in baptism, we go to church or
meeting, we say our prayers, repeat our creeds, or have subscribed the
articles, and the confession of faith; we are quite orthodox, and great friends
to the doctrines of grace; we do no body any harm, we are honest moral people,
we are church-members, we keep up family-prayer, and constantly go to the table
of the Lord." All these things are good in their places. But thus far, nay
much farther may you go, and yet be far from the
Awake
therefore, ye deceived formalists, awake; who, vainly puffed up with your model
of performances, boastingly cry out, "The temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord we are." Awake, ye outward-court worshippers:
ye are building on a sandy foundation: take heed lest you also go to hell by
the very door of heaven. Behold, and remember, I have told you before.
And as
for you who have done none of these things, who instead of making an outward
profession of religion, have as it were renounced your baptism, proclaim your
sin like Sodom, and willfully and daringly live a without God in the world; I
ask you, how can you think to escape, if you persist in neglecting such a great
salvation. Verily, I should utterly despair of your ever attaining the blessed
privilege of being temples of the living God, did I not hear of thousands, who
through the grace of God have been translated from a like state of darkness
into his marvelous light. Such, says the apostle Paul, writing to these very
Corinthians who were now God's living temples, (drunkards, whoremongers,
adulterers, and such like) "such were some of you. But ye are washed, but
ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God." O that the same blessed Spirit may this day vouchsafe
to come and pluck you also as brands out of the burning! Behold, I warn you to
flee from the wrath to come. Go home, and meditate on these things; and think
whether it is not infinitely better, even here, to be temples of the living
God, than to be bondslaves to every brutish lust, and
to be led captive by the devil at his will. The Lord Jesus can, and if you fly
to him for refuge, he will set your souls at liberty. He hath led captivity
captive, he hath ascended up on high, on purpose to receive this gift of the
blessed Spirit of God for men, "even for the rebellious," that he
might well in your hearts by faith here, and thereby prepare you to dwell with
Him and all the heavenly host in his kingdom
hereafter.
That
this may be the happy lot of you all, may God of his infinite mercy grant, for
the sake of his dear Son Christ Jesus our Lord; to whom with the father, and
the blessed Spirit, three persons, but one God, be ascribed all power, might,
majesty, and dominion, now and for evermore.
Amen! - And - Amen!