Sermons on Several Occasions
1. The following Sermons contain the substance of what I have been preaching for
between eight and nine years last past. [In the year 1747.] During that time I have frequently
spoken in public, on every subject in the ensuing collection; and I am not conscious, that
there is any one point of doctrine, on which I am accustomed to speak in public, which is
not here, incidentally, if not professedly, laid before every Christian reader. Every serious
man who peruses these, will therefore see, in the clearest manner, what these doctrines are
which I embrace and teach as the essentials of true religion.
2. But I am throughly sensible, these are not proposed in such a manner as some may
expect. Nothing here appears in an elaborate, elegant, or oratorical dress. If it had been my
desire or design to write thus, my leisure would not permit. But, in truth, I, at present, designed nothing less; for I now write, as I generally speak, ad populum, — to the bulk of
mankind, to those who neither relish nor understand the art of speaking; but who, notwithstanding, are competent judges of those truths which are necessary to present and future
happiness. I mention this, that curious readers may spare themselves the labour of seeking
for what they will not find.
3. I design plain truth for plain people: Therefore, of set purpose, I abstain from all nice
and philosophical speculations; from all perplexed and intricate reasonings; and, as far as
possible, from even the show of learning, unless in sometimes citing the original Scripture.
I labour to avoid all words which are not easy to be understood, all which are not used in
common life; and, in particular, those kinds of technical terms that so frequently occur in
Bodies of Divinity; those modes of speaking which men of reading are intimately acquainted
with, but which to common people are an unknown tongue. Yet I am not assured, that I do
not sometimes slide into them unawares: It is so extremely natural to imagine, that a word
which is familiar to ourselves is so to all the world.
4. Nay, my design is, in some sense, to forget all that ever I have read in my life. I mean
to speak, in the general, as if I had never read one author, ancient or modern (always excepting the inspired). I am persuaded, that, on the one hand, this may be a means of enabling
me more clearly to express the sentiments of my heart, while I simply follow the chain of
my own thoughts, without entangling myself with those of other men; and that, on the
other, I shall come with fewer weights upon my mind, with less of prejudice and prepossession, either to search for myself, or to deliver to others, the naked truths of the gospel.
5. To candid, reasonable men, I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost
thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an
arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God: Just hovering
over the great gulf; till, a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable
eternity! I want to know one thing, — the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy
shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: For this very end he came from
heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the
book of God! I have it: Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri. [A
man of one book.] Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: Only
God is here. In his presence I open, I read his book; for this end, to find the way to heaven.
Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? Does anything appear dark or intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of Lights: — “Lord, is it not thy word, ‘If any man
lack wisdom, let him ask of God?’ Thou ‘givest liberally, and upbraidest not.’ Thou hast
said, ‘If any be willing to do thy will, he shall know.’ I am willing to do, let me know, thy
will.” I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, “comparing spiritual
things with spiritual.” I meditate thereon with all the attention and earnestness of which
my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the
things of God; and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus
learn, that I teach.
6. I have accordingly set down in the following sermons what I find in the Bible concerning the way to heaven; with a view to distinguish this way of God from all those which are
the inventions of men. I have endeavoured to describe the true, the scriptural, experimental
religion, so as to omit nothing which is a real part thereof, and to add nothing thereto which
is not. And herein it is more especially my desire, First, to guard those who are just setting
their faces toward heaven, (and who, having little acquaintance with the things of God, are
the more liable to be turned out of the way,) from formality, from mere outside religion,
which has almost driven heart-religion out of the world; and, Secondly, to warn those who
know the religion of the heart, the faith which worketh by love, lest at any time they make
void the law through faith, and so fall back into the snare of the devil.
7. By the advice and at the request of some of my friends, I have prefixed to the other
sermons contained in this volume, three sermons of my own, and one of my Brother’s,
preached before the University of Oxford. My design required some discourses on those
heads; and I preferred these before any others, as being a stronger answer than any which
can be drawn up now, to those who have frequently asserted that we have changed our
doctrine of late, and do not preach now what we did some years ago. Any man of understanding may now judge for himself, when he has compared the latter with the former sermons.
8. But some may say, I have mistaken the way myself, although I take upon me to teach
it to others. It is probable many will think this, and it is very possible that I have. But I trust,
whereinsoever I have mistaken, my mind is open to conviction. I sincerely desire to be better
informed. I say to God and man, “What I know not, teach thou me!”
9. Are you persuaded you see more clearly than me? It is not unlikely that you may.
Then treat me as you would desire to be treated yourself upon a change of circumstances.
Point me out a better way than I have yet known. Show me it is so, by plain proof of Scripture.
And if I linger in the path I have been accustomed to tread, and am therefore unwilling to
leave it, labour with me a little; take me by the hand, and lead me as I am able to bear. But
be not displeased if I entreat you not to beat me down in order to quicken my pace: I can
go but feebly and slowly at best; then, I should not be able to go at all. May I not request of
you, further, not to give me hard names in order to bring me into the right way. Suppose I
were ever so much in the wrong, I doubt this would not set me right. Rather, it would make
me run so much the farther from you, and so get more and more out of the way.
10. Nay, perhaps, if you are angry, so shall I be too; and then there will be small hopes
of finding the truth. If once anger arise, Eute kapnos, (as Homer somewhere expresses it,)
this smoke will so dim the eyes of my soul, that I shall be able to see nothing clearly. For
God’s sake, if it be possible to avoid it, let us not provoke one another to wrath. Let us not
kindle in each other this fire of hell; much less blow it up into a flame. If we could discern
truth by that dreadful light, would it not be loss, rather than gain? For, how far is love, even
with many wrong opinions, to be preferred before truth itself without love! We may die
without the knowledge of many truths, and yet be carried into Abraham’s bosom. But, if
we die without love, what will knowledge avail? Just as much as it avails the devil and his
angels!
The God of love forbid we should ever make the trial! May he prepare us for the
knowledge of all truth, by filling our hearts with his love, and with all joy and peace in believing!
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