Have salt in yourselves....Mark ix. 50. SALT preserves our food from putrifying and makes it savoury to our palate. Job asks, "Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?"....Job vi. 6. What salt is to our food, that the doctrines of the grace of God and the grace of these doctrines are to our soul. Why could not our Lord have plainly told us so without using the symbol of salt? He loves to deliver himself in familiar images; they are best suited to our present state: natural things sensibly strike us and easily convey spiritual truths to the heart. Our tables are not furnished if salt be wanting: meat without salt is unsavoury. O then let every meal remind us of our Lord's words, "have salt in yourselves:" you have daily need to have your souls seasoned with the grace of God, and the words of Christ. 1st. These will preserve our hearts from receiving and being putrified by the seeds of false doctrine: hearts well seasoned with the salt of the covenant grace, will not receive the taint of human error; thus we shall be happy in the sense of truth and the experience of grace in our souls. 2d. We shall be profitable to others: if our own souls are well seasoned with the grace of Christ, we shall be savoury to others. O, how insipid is the talk of the lips if the seasoning of grace and the savour of love is not in the heart! Why are some professors so backward to speak of the things of God? Why do others speak of them in such a tasteless, unsavoury manner? Alas! their own hearts are not well salted and seasoned with grace. Notions float only in the head: they are delivered from the tongue: the heart is not impregnated with the salt and savour of them. O christian, be concerned for the glory of thy Saviour, for the comfort of thy own soul, and for the good of others, to have salt in thyself: live every day, pass away every hour under the seasoning, savoury truths of Jesus. 3d. Salt is obtained from the sea: study, strive and pray to obtain more and more of this precious salt from the ocean of God's everlasting love in Christ Jesus. 4th. "With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt."....Lev. ii. 13. O, never forget that it is the grace of Christ which makes both thy person and thy every offering acceptable to God; and it is this which spreads a savour through thy whole conversation: thou canst not be unsavoury while thou livest upon this truth, "God hath made me a sinner, accepted in his beloved Son.".... Eph. i. 6. Lord, make me know, and taste, and So shall my heart, my lip, my life, The savour of thy heav'nly love; [feel, Declare the seas'ning of thy grace: Unto my inmost soul reveal, A foretaste of thy joys above. So free my soul from legal strife, To walk with joy before thy face. M. Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren, that are in the world....1 Pet. v. 9. I HAD No sooner wrote this text, but was constrained to say, blessed be God for his holy scriptures. My poor mind has been often perplexed and distressed with sore attacks of satan; hence have been ready to call in question my state; have been almost brought to conclude, that if I was a member of Christ and a child of God, surely he would not suffer the enemy to his glory and my peace thus to tempt, buffet, and distress my soul: am persuaded this is not my case only: all the brethren of Christ are subject to the same perplexity, from the same cause. Satan gains an advantage over us, for want of knowing and considering what the apostle here lays down it is a fixed truth; all the brethren of the Lord Jesus are subject to the same trials and afflictions from satan, one as well as another: therefore we should not be surprised nor staggered by them. Instead of thinking it strange, or asking, why does the Lord suffer it so to be? Peter tells us how to act: satan will attack you all through this life: it is a warfare; therefore be on your guard; RESIST HIM; give back not an inch; give way not a moment; indulge not the least sin; resist his first motion of temptation; oppose his every artful device; stand against his every subtle wile, STEDFAST, undismayed at them, undaunted by them, however horrible and devilish: the more they are so, the more easily known from whom they come. IN THE FAITH, honor your Lord's heavenly truths; oppose them to satan's hellish lies; bring your Lord's precious promises against satan's vile suggestions; stand stedfast to, thus it is written; thus I believe; thus I will honor my Lord's word. Never, never let go that faithful saying, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save SINNERS." Glory in this; hold up this as your shield against all the fiery darts of the devil: with all his infernal injections he can make no worse of you than a SINNER; this you own; yea, and that you deserve hell and damnation too for your sins: but in the faith of Jesus you are a saved, justified, pardoned sinner: there is no condemnation against you, an adopted Son of God. Stand fast in this faith; abide stedfast by this truth; glory in your Lord for it; give him the glory of it; in the confidence of it "resist the devil, and he will flee from you."....James iv. 8. Brethren, it is our common lot, With satan to engage; Stand in the strength of Christ thy Think what a pow'rful Lord we've got, Stedfast in faith, he'll help afford: Christ's victory is thine. M. His name shall be called Counsellor....Isa. ix. 6. us. LITIGIOUS spirits are fond of law. Paul absolutely forbids the brethren of Christ going to law one with another.... 1 Cor. vi. Among other reasons, this is the greatest; they are concerned in a suit which will last their whole lives, and which requires all their time and attention. Though their cause has been tried again and again; though they have gained cause after cause; yet their adversary continues as litigious as ever: he is continually accusing them and preferring fresh bills of indictment against them: he sets the world upon us; he stirs up the flesh in us; he brings heinous charges against us; he is the accuser of the brethren before God and to our own con sciences night and day....Rev. xii. 10. Have you heard nothing from satan your adversary and accuser this day? If you have be not dejected: let him accuse, say, and do his worst; it is our unspeakable comfort, we have a wonderful counsellor; he pleads our cause before the throne of justice above; he pleads within us in the court of conscience: he counsels and advises us by his word and Spirit; his true and righteous pleadings for us shall prevail over, all satan's accusations against Would you wish your cause in better hands? Never attempt to take it out of his: continually consult him: leave all to him: for, consider, 1st. Jesus in the eternal council voluntarily, unsought and unasked, stood forth and engaged to be our counsellor; like a generous counsellor in a court, seeing the poverty of an arraigned prisoner; freely, without money or price, undertakes to plead his cause. O wonderful love! O kind compassion! 2d. He is a WONDERFUL counsellor for though law and justice condemn, yet he obtains an acquittal in court for all his clients. Most wonderful in his plea. Not our innocence, sincerity, goodness, &c. no; he owns our guilt and vileness; he pleads his own work for us; the blood he shed for our sins; his obedience unto the law for our justification; and his sufferings for our salvation. JUSTICE says I am satisfied, I forgive them. TRUTH records the sentence. MERCY declares, I will save them. 3d. O wonderful counsellor! It is sinners, none but sinners thou pleadest for: for this my soul loves thee: God be merciful to me a sinner! This is ever my plea. I take it up. Lord shew me from law and justice that thou art just, whilst thou justifies the ungodly. Desperate as my case is, may I ever flee to thee, and ever consult thee; "Thou hast the words of eternal life."....John vi. 68. Jesus is our God and Saviour, Trust him, he will not deceive us, Though we hardly deem of him; He will never, never leave us, Nor will let us quite leave him. Q Men ought always to pray and not to faint....Luke xviii. 1. THEN there can be no room for despair; for prayer exports wants and imports blessings: but our dear Lord knows there is in us all at times a backwardness to prayer; this he would remove: it arises from fainting, this he would prevent; therefore he opposes praying to fainting, for fainting prevents praying. Have you not found it so? When weary and faint in your mind, when your spirits are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought this is not a time for prayer: yea, but it is: pray ALWAYS. Now sigh out the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit: now, though in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your Father's ear: now cry to him who loveth you and careth for you with the love and care of the most tender and affectionate father. What makes us faint? Do troubles and afflictions? Here is a reviving cordial: "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."....Psalm l. 15. Does a body of sin and death? Here is a supporting promise: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, shall be saved."....Rom. x. 13. Do we faint because we have called and prayed again and again to the Lord against any besetting sin, prevailing temptation, rebellious lust, or evil temper, and yet the Lord has not given victory over it? Still, says the Lord, pray ALWAYS: persevere; be importunate; faint not; remember that blessed word, "my time is not yet come: but your time is always ready."....John vii. 6. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation."....Matt. xxvi. 41. Note the difference between being tempted and entering into temptation. We are assured in due time, we shall reap, if we faint not....Gal. vi. 9. Do we find the spirit willing, but the flesh weak? and because of our coldness, deadness, and langour in prayer, do we faint? You cannot pray to please yourself: you think your prayers are irksome to God; and therefore do you faint and are ready to give over praying? Look at David; he begins to pray in a very heartless, hopeless way. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever, &c. See how he concludes; he breaks out in full vigour of soul; "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me."....Psalm xiii. 6. Above all, look to Jesus, who ever lives to pray for you: look for his Spirit to help your infirmities....Rom. viii. 26. [you faint } Know I'm thy strength and righteous- Now abideth faith, hope and charity....1 Cor. xiii. 13. Leave the vain notions WHERE do these graces abide? In regenerate hearts. What is faith? A precious grace: the gift of God to miserable sinners. Lord give us the comfort of it to-night. Say some, faith is an assurance that my sins are pardoned; that Christ loved ME and gave himself for ME: indeed it is not. No one has faith without this assurance; if they have it not they are in a state of wrath, say some: this is false. This notion has blown up many with vain fancy, while it has distressed sincere souls without reason. Many who contend for this assurance of faith, believe a lie with it; for they say, those whom Christ hath so loved as to die for, and whose sins are now forgiven, may at last perish: such an assurance is not worth a straw this is not the faith of God's elect; for it gives the lie to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith: it contradicts his double oath, "VERILY VERILY, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life."....John vi. 47. of such; look into the word of God for the true nature of faith it is neither more nor less than a belief of God's word; giving credit to God for what he speaks therein; "believing on his Son Jesus Christ according to his commandment.".... 1 John iii. 23. Dost thou believe thus in thine heart? Then faith abides there. Consider, there is faith, and "the furtherance and joy of faith."....Phil. i. 25. If you have faith, though but as a grain of mustard-seed, you will SEE Christ is precious to you a miserable sinner; you will RECEIVE him as the most inestimable gift of God, to save you a lost sinner; you will go to him, as the one object of your hope, and the chief desire of your soul; you will RELY on his death, as the only atonement for your sins, and trust in his righteousness alone to justify you; you will LAY HOLD on him, as the only refuge for your guilty soul; you will LIVE UPON HIM, that you may find joy and peace in him, and grow up into him in all things; you will GLORY of, and in him alone, saying, "God forbid I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus."....Gal. vi. 14. Hence you will grow out of conceit with yourself, dead to sin, dead to your own righteousness, and dead to the world. This, this is the faith of the operation of God, which lives and abides in new-born souls: "In thus believing, we may be fully assured, God will fill us with all joy and peace.".... Rom. xv. 13. Father, I bless thee for the gift Let precious faith in Christ abide, M |