Sermons by Stephen Crisp
Quaker ministers, such as Stephen Crisp, served without pay and never spoke from a prepared text or notes. Many ministers were like Stephen Crisp, having no particular meeting to which they attended, but rather traveled from meeting to meeting to deliver their messages of encouragement, exhortation, and reproof. Steven Crisp is reputed to have visited almost every meeting in England and Scotland. These sermons were recorded in shorthand at three different meeting houses in London. The Quaker ministers only spoke under the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit of God. All sermons were unrehearsed and completely extemporaneous. Although George Fox methodically had several of his sermons recorded by a Friend, Quakers one hundred years later shunned records of sermons, believing they were only meant for a particular time and audience. For that reason, there are very few recorded sermons preserved. For a description of a early Quaker worship service, see Proper Worship.
From the anonymous transcriber with initials N. C. :
Though the transcriber of these sermons does out of modesty decline to print his name, he does assure the reader, that he has not in the least altered or imposed upon the preacher's sense, either in the taking or transcribing of the words. And he does further declare, that he neither is, nor ever was, one of the people called Quakers, but always of another persuasion. Yet being willing, according to the Apostle's rule, to try all things, he has sometimes been present at their meetings; and having the skill of short-writing, he has taken many of their sermons and prayers from the mouth of several of their preachers; and among others those of Stephen Crisp, deceased; which, upon review, appeared to him, as well as to eminent persons of another sect, to contain some many Gospel Truths, delivered with such plainness, zeal, and demonstration, and generally agreeable to the known doctrines of Christianity, that it is hoped the publishing of them may be useful to the world.
The Necessity of a Holy life and Conversation
A sermon of Stephen Crisp at St. Martin's-Le-Grand, March the 26th, 1687. Here Crisp explains to a Quaker assembly that too many of them had not progressed spiritually to the baptism of fire and death, with the resurrection of Christ within them following. He cries that they are too content with an outward expression of their belief, too content in going to church (meetings), too complacent with having heard the Voice of the Lord - thus still with doubt and fear regarding their ultimate destiny. He rather urges them to take up the pain and reproach of the cross of self-denial that leads to the everlasting peace and confidence of true righteousness and holiness.
Pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Heb 12:14
Oh how happy are they that have bread in their own houses! And that can draw water out of their own wells! These have a blessed glorious dwelling-place, these are the children for which their Father provides. All the divine treasures and the riches of heavenly things are laid up for them. Oh that all that all could see this blessed state, and were possessor of it! That their minds might not wander any more; that people might not be scattered in their thoughts; that when they meet together, they might have their expectations entirely from that God whom they profess to worship. Lord you have said that you will teach your people yourself. Here a cry goes up to the Lord, and their expectations through faith pitched upon God. They never meet in vain, but a well springs up, and the water of life comes to them, by which they meet with divine refreshments. For, you know, the promise that our Lord made to his disciples, He that drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst again. Why will one drinking serve? Because I have tasted of the living water that the Lord Christ gives me; will that serve? No, but instead of a taste, he gives me a substantial river; that is the reason why I shall thirst no more, it shall be in me a well of living water, springing up to everlasting life. Blessed are the witnesses of it. These are those that are satisfied concerning religion and doctrine; they are satisfied concerning worship; they are looking after no new things. When they meet together, they meet in the name of the Lord, and they have their eyes to him, who is a fountain, and they discern a brightness and a glory that is unspeakable.* The glory that is describable, that appears many times through interim experiences, will not satisfy them. There is something beyond that, which must satisfy; this will never do it: people will never be satisfied with hearing, nor never satisfied with seeing, till they come to hear and see what is unutterable, and then they are satisfied. Christ had preached many sermons in the hearing of his disciples, and there were a great many said, that there was never any man spoke like him, preached like him. Yet one of them that was nearest to him, and most acquainted and intimate with him, after some years meeting and hearing of his sermons, he cries out show us the Father, and it will satisfy us.
*Site Editor's Comment: Unspeakable and unutterable are not forbidden disclosures, but rather are incapable of description through words. Words cannot describe the dimension of God, for our vocabulary is limited to the experiences of earth's lower dimension.
My friends, this comes near to many of your states. Many of you have heard long, and have heard the spoken voice of the Lord, what could be uttered, what could be spoken forth, by the demonstration of the Holy Ghost, by them that have received of the Father. This you have heard long, and yet there are many of you, that if you come to a serious search, you will find a want; you will find still that you have not that satisfaction that puts you beyond doubt, beyond fear. There is something that stands in the way, that hinders your enjoyment of the unspeakable glory of the unspeakable living word; and this will never be removed, but by your innocent submitting to the work of the power of God in your own hearts, so that you may not only be believers, but come to be really baptized, [by fire with the baptism of death] and then all is out of doubt; for our Lord said, he that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He does not say, he may be saved, but, he shall be saved.
Woeful experience has told us in our days, that a great many have believed the truth, and yet they are never likely to be saved. They have made shipwreck of their faith; but if they had been baptized, if they would have endured the baptism, if they would have been buried with Christ in baptism, they should have been saved every one of them. And now there are a great many that remain in the belief of the truth, and yet they are not baptized. They are not dead, not buried, despite the fact that they have received like precious faith with us; that faith which is of the operation of God, and that is like precious in its nature to all that do receive it, and would work the same effect in all too, if it were not obstructed. But despite the fact that they have received faith towards the saving of their souls, yet their souls are captives; their souls are subject to lusts, and pleasures, and vanities, and unto empty and foolish things, and to passions and corruptions, after they have received faith.
For if you take one that is a believer of truth, that is overtaken with his lust, and passions, and corruptions, he will commonly own that he believes the contrary; he believes that these things should not be, that it ought to be otherwise. This is the sign of truth against untruth. If it should be otherwise, why is it thus then? Why does he finds a life to spring up in what is corruptible, that is always contrary to the life of God, and at enmity with it. What shall I do? I believe the truth. I know truth is an holy thing, it leads all that submits to it to an holy life; but there is this and that unholy thing, this and that corrupt thing that remains, what shall I do?
It is an evident demonstration that you lack the baptism of him in whom you believe. You have believed in Christ Jesus that comes after John, and was before him; and now having believed in him, you lack being baptized by him. For the lack of the baptism of fire, the pollution and corruption that had grown up in your nature in the time of your alienation still prevails upon you, contrary to your faith. There is no coming to obtain this baptism, but by sinking down into what will slay you, what will kill you. But there is such a shifting to save one's life, there are so many twistings and twinings of people to save their lives, that at last they lose them. But no one can ever find life that is eternal, but those who are willing to be given up to the dead, and submit to this baptism - that is, by the Holy Ghost and by fire. Only such come to life; they come to the resurrection. For you never knew any that died this death but that they rose again; it is as impossible for death to hold any one down that is buried in this baptism, as it was impossible to hold Christ down, when he was in the grave. The same power that brought again our Lord Christ from the dead, the same power it is that quickens us, while we remain in these mortal bodies, after we have sustained this death and crucifixion.
But who can believe this saying? For this is a hard saying, who can hear it? Is it not enough that I am a believer, which makes me a friend, and entitles me to a community among you, and as long as I hold the truth, and profess the truth, I am looked upon as one of your society? This is very true, this does entitle people unto the outward privileges of the church of Christ; but there is another inner court, that lies under the angel's reed, the measuring-reed, that is to be measured, the temple is measured, and every worshipper in the temple is measured; there was an outward court, that was for representing the church of God in general, from the particular; the outward court was not measured, that the gentiles might come in; the un-baptized people, who were never regenerated, might come as far as the outward court, but this did not entitle them to the privileges of the house of God, nor to any worship or sacrifice that was accepted upon God's altar.
Site Editor's Comment: All people who don't find holiness in this life "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" Notice he does not say destruction of life or torture forever, just forever from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. The heavenly worshipers in the temple are in the inner court, that has been measured, along with every worshipper in it, having been measured, (a finite number. These have been purified in their earthly life, crucified on the inward cross of self-denial, to have a circumcised heart and therefore be spiritual Jews. The who were not purified on earth, the uncircumcised in heart spiritual gentiles are in the outer court, without measure, (infinite). But, they must pass through the lake of fire (Hell) before arriving in the outer court. (See Is There Hope for All, for more detail). You either pass through the purifying, circumcising fire of baptism while on earth, or pass through the purifying lake of fire in the next life. And after they arrive in the outer court, they will have a forever regret they did not seize the opportunity of their life on earth to attain the rewards of purity, union, and the Kingdom of Heaven; those living in the temple are cell-to-cell joined with Christ, worshiping God and beholding the glory of God and his power, with all the undefined pleasures and privileges alluded to in the Bible.
It concerns you and me (my friends) to be serious about matters of this moment and importance, and not spend your days, and, as it were spoken by rote, under an airy profession, (though of truth itself), without considering what progress you have made, what benefit you have obtained, and whether you have come not only to the shadow of good things to come, but to the very substance of the heavenly things. For the comers to the outward worship could never with those sacrifices they offered be made perfect; the comers thereunto were not made perfect as to the things pertaining to the conscience, speaking there of the outward worship, Heb. 10:1. But coming to the heavenly things, whereof the other were but a shadow, they made people perfect, as to the conscience, and did bring them to salvation. The apostle alludes to this baptism, for he speaks in a figure of the eight persons that were saved in Noah's ark. Then he brings down the allegory to Christian baptism, not only the baptism of John, the forerunner of Christ, that preached of Christ, but to the Christian baptism itself. By the like figure whereof baptism now saves us, said the apostle, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience. What does he mean by baptism saving us? He means, the answer of a good conscience towards God, through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. So that Christian baptism did bring along with it the cleansing and putting away of all sin out of the conscience, that might bring them under doubts and scruples; and then there is an arising of Jesus, the Savior in the conscience, the mediator that brought them to answer for them in the sight of God. If people are conscious of sin and do restrain sin, this does not yet cleanse the conscience; for there still remains a conscience of sin. It is not restraining our sin that makes our atonement with God, or that expiates our guilt, or does away the guilt of the sins that we have committed. No, there must be a forsaking and an avoidance of sin by the virtue and power of the Spirit, by which we are enabled, not only to avoid sin, but are guided and directed to the mediator, whose blood alone reconciles us to God, and cleanses us from all sin. If I should never commit a sin for the rest of my life, this alone will not give me the answer of a good conscience in the sight of God. For there remains the guilt of sin committed in the days of unbelief, which is a bar and hindrance that none can approach the Holy God but in the atonement and salvation that comes by Jesus Christ. For all that believe and obey the gospel are accepted in Christ, and upon the account of Christ's precious blood, that cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness. Whom does it cleanse? Only those that forsake their sins, and by his power are brought to a holy life. They by the virtue of his power, and the cleansing of his blood, come to have their former sins removed from them, as far as the east is from the west.
But what is this to them that remain in their sins? What is this to them that are not baptized? For the dead that have not put off the old man, nor put on the new man, but have only put on the name and profession of Christ, and put on the outside of him, his garment, but have not put him on. They are not created again in Christ Jesus unto good works, that they might walk in them? No wonder there remains a conscience of sin in them, there is a bar that hinders them from the sight of the glory of God, and from real and true satisfaction, concerning their atonement and reconciliation with God, and this hinders them from the enjoyment of that peace that passes understanding. This is no surprise because they have not come to this baptism that brings the answer of a good conscience in the sight of God; they have not risen with Christ; how should they? for they are not buried with him, Rom 6:3. Know ye not that so many of us (said the apostle) as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into his death; therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life; here is a change figured out between them that had partaken of the spiritual baptism, and were come again to the participation of life in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and those that were not baptized.
So it is now with every one that comes to believe the truth, and make a profession of it. There is a way cast up, and there is a door opened for salvation; but the grand question that everyone ought to inquire about and put to themselves is: What progress they have made this way? Whether they are baptized yet or not? Whether they have put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man and the new man's deeds, which are righteousness and holiness? They that find that, though they are believers, they are short of this. They also find that their shortcoming is their hindrance, their shortcoming in not coming up to the pattern that has been shown to them. This is their hindrance, so that they do not enjoy the things spoken here of the being under this sense, and really sitting under this sense in a meeting. Even though there should be no man speaking to them outwardly, yet having come to this faith, and made partakers of this baptism, people would find in their own bosoms the hidden word of life ministering to their condition. They would have enough; there would not be a famine of the word unto them, nor would they need to be in expectation of going out to this or the other instrument. They would be satisfied when they are met together with the presence of the Lord, that the Lord is in the midst of them, ministering them the word of life, in his operating and working, speaking in a tongue that every one can understand , speaking with a kind of voice and language, that every one may understand his own state and condition. This is the way that God brought up people from the beginning, to the knowledge of heavenly things, and opening of the mysteries of salvation. We had it not from men, but from Jesus our Lord. He was our great minister; we waited upon him, and trusted in him, and he taught us himself. He has ministered to us at our silent and quiet waiting upon him those things that were convenient for us. We might well say, He gave us our food in due Season. He has not only given strong meat unto men, but has ministered of the sincere milk of his word unto babes, that lived in sincerity and self-denial, loving God above all things; and he taught and conducted us in our way, this way of simplicity, until our understandings came to be opened, until our souls came to be prepared to receive the mysteries of his kingdom.
In those days there were some that started up in knowledge, and that built their nests on high, and took flax and wool, and silver and gold, and decked themselves with them; but the Lord found them out, and brought them down, and took the crown from their head, and clothed them with dishonor. So God does from age to age, his judgment will begin at his own house. If you wish to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, then grow in humility and self-denial, and keep a constant watch upon your hearts. Examine your hearts, and commune with yourselves upon your beds, and be still. Take heed lest you sin against the Lord, and provoke him. There were some that provoked the Lord of old, and they committed two great evils. What are they? They have gone away and forsaken the fountain of living water; as much as to say, they do not have the dependence upon an invisible power, as they ought to have. For I am a living fountain, and it is by an invisible power that I am able to counsel and teach, direct, and purify and open their understanding; but they have forsaken me, that is one great evil; and the other is, they would not be without some small thing. They have forsaken the Lord, and they would have some small thing instead of God. They have dug to themselves broken cisterns, that will hold no water. And how many in this age have committed these two great evils?
My friends, examine yourselves; are there not many that have been guilty of these two great evils? They do not keep their close dependence, trust and reliance upon the invisible power of God, as they profess they ought to do, but are hurried away from it; some by the love of the world, some by lusts and pleasures, some by passions, and others by worldly interests, are drawn away from the power, to do and say what the power is against. Is not this a forsaking of the Lord, the living fountain? What do they do then? Are they not for this and that, and the other man? For hearing this and the other man's word, and digging to themselves broken cisterns? Have they not put their trust and confidence in going to meetings, in commending this and the other way? Have they not put their trust in their outward profession, when it ministers nothing to their souls, so that they secretly wither for all this? If you had all the men and angels that were ever sent of God, appointed to preach to you, that could not minister life to you, unless there is that faith that stands in the power of God. The faith that stands in any man's words, that will not overcome your lusts; but the faith that stands in the power purifies the heart, it will not suffer any unclean thing there. As for preaching, let a man preach against this and the other lust and corruption. There it will remain for all his preaching, unless men know God's power and life in which there is righteousness; for words and knowledge, and sight and speculation, will never give people victory over their sins.
Therefore you know, everyone who is settled must be settled where the foundation of religion is. It is not coming to meetings, and owning this and the other doctrine which is the foundation of our religion. God has revealed his power to every one of us. God has not given his Spirit to preachers and prophets only, for then there would be a famine of the word, as was in Israel, The priest's lips preserved knowledge. If you took away the priest, you took away their knowledge. The prophets had the word of God, and they only spoke the word of God. If the prophet was taken away, then the word of God was taken away. The Lord threatened to send a famine among them, they grieved and vexed, and killed and destroyed the priests and prophets; therefore said the Lord, I will send a famine among you, not of bread, but of the word, and they shall go from city to city, and inquire for the word of the Lord.
Thus it was in the Jewish church; if there was a prophet they would go 30, 40, or 100 miles to him that had the word of the Lord; They shall go from city to city to inquire for the word of the Lord. But blessed be God, we have come to another day; for now the word of the Lord is manifested in the hearts of all that believe. They know the word. I do not say all that believe do preach the word, or ought to preach, but the word preaches to them; they are not as broken cisterns that can hold no water. When they find the word and hear it, they speak it presently what is ministered to their own condition, that they tell to other people. When people come to the blessing of this dispensation that God's word reveals in their hearts, they then know what the significance of it is, they understand the doctrine of it; the doctrine preaches holiness to them, not that they should preach holiness and yet remain unholy; not that they should preach humility, and yet remain proud. It preaches holiness, humility and singleness of heart to a remnant, that like good scholars and disciples learn the lessons and doctrine of the word of God.
Now when you have learned them well, and are come to see the effect of the word, and bring forth the deeds and works which are the fruits of holiness, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, and with humility known and witnessed in Christ Jesus, and are not only meek in show, but meek and low in heart. When people come to be meek and lowly, and of a clear conscience, purged from all dead works to serve the living God; then if the Lord gives them a word of exhortation, of doctrine or counsel it is very welcome, and it has a savor through the blessing of God, and by it they come to be built up in their most holy faith. This word is brought forth in holiness and righteousness in their lives, and shows itself in a life of holiness. Then you will shine in your conduct with everyone, so that they may see you are such a man or woman as has been with Jesus, and learned of Jesus, and receives a word engrafted. When you receive the word into your heart, there is the engrafting of it. If it has not root there, then, said Christ, my word does not abide in you. If you feel something of this invisible word in your hearts, it brings you to a resolution to serve God, and to keep yourselves from sin, and to answer the profession which you make of God. This is the effect of the word of God, if it does abide in you. Does it abide? You shall know in a little while or tomorrow, so soon as a temptation comes to stir you up to Pride or Passion, to Fraud or Deceit, then you will see whether the word abide: If it abide, you sin not.
This is scripture, a certain foundation doctrine, that may be as safely preached as any doctrine. If the word abide in you, you sin not. What of that? Let the word go, and you will sin, whenever you are tempted to it. I write to you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one, you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. We shall see as soon as temptation meets with you, whether the word abides in you. If it abides, you will not sin, but resist the tempter. Set your foot upon the temptation, and go over it, and you will have the Dominion; and this will make you a free man or woman, and you will stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made you free. The apostle supposes them free, and that they have gotten dominion; then stand fast, said he, in the liberty with which Christ has made you free. It is a liberty not of lust and sin, but a liberty of the soul; the soul now is not at the devil's will and call.
For it is a shame to the doctrine of Christianity, that we profess things, and yet deny them in practice. We profess that there is a power in Christ to keep and preserve us out of sin, and we profess to believe that this power is communicated to them that do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for their preservation; that is, he will not withhold it from them. We profess these things in the face of the whole world; and yet when the devil calls one man to covetousness, and another to defraud his neighbor, and another to defile himself, he is drawn away by it. What hypocrisy is here, to profess this, and act the contrary? I do not wonder that they who profess they cannot live a day without sin, that they should fall; but they that profess to believe there is power enough in Christ, and that it is offered to them; for them to live in sin and yield to temptation, this is horrid wickedness. They that are of an upright single mind, would die before they would sin, knowing that God is Almighty and gracious, and willing to bestow his power and wisdom, and grace upon them that ask it; they would die rather than sin against God presumptuously: Let it cost me my Goods, my estate, my liberty, or my life, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? They love God above all; you never heard them complain that they wanted power, For the Lord is at their right hand, and they shall not be moved. They cannot fall; though they are tempted, they will not fall into temptation. They have power when they see the devil before them, to put him behind them; the nobility of their extract, of their new birth and regeneration puts such a temper and disposition into their souls, that they scorn to be at the devil's command, as if they were his children.
Oh! it is a noble and honorable thing to be a child of God, a very high dignity to be in such an honorable relation to God, and to have a right to the heavenly mansions, to sit down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I wish to God you were all ready for it, that you had the wedding garment on, that you might not be bound hand and foot, and cast into utter darkness. What is the reason that you do not sit down in this heavenly frame and temper, and draw the waters of salvation out of your own souls? Could the Lord do any thing more than he has done, and could his servants do any more than they have done for your help? Are their labors not demonstrations of it? We have been as epistles of Christ written in your consciences: We have been testifying that there is something lacking in too many: the lack of resigning up themselves to the baptism of the cross. People are willing to be counted friends; but friends of God are those that do whatsoever he commands them; that is the Christian lesson, not to say I will be a friend to you, and a friend to the Church, and to such a sort of people; but I will be a friend to God, and do whatsoever he commands me; whatever command God lays upon you, either to take up a cross, or to deny yourselves and follow him.
Learn this lesson, and you will be disciples indeed, and members of the Church too; not members of a Church privileged outwardly only, but members of a Church of the first-born, and you will have your names written in heaven. When one comes to have his name written in heaven, he comes to know his name, it is a white Stone, not a speckled one; they that have it, they know it, they are not ignorant of one another's names that are written in this book. They have a fellowship that nobody can declare. Their communion is in that bread and that Cup. This is a cup of blessing indeed, and this has blessed us, and will bless us. God will preserve a people in this fellowship. You that are at a distance now, you must come nearer to him. God will choose a people by whom his name shall be magnified. Because the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, we cannot but desire this for all, especially for the household of faith; we cannot but desire their perfection, their growing up in the grace of God, that they might come to be partakers of heaven. And in the next place, our love is to all people, everywhere. We would be happy that all were saved. They that despise us when we are speaking of heavenly things, speaking like a child, like a stammering child, speaking of the glorious excellencies of God, of the loving kindness of God, speaking of those things which God has spoken to our souls, they that despise these things, we would be glad that they might be saved. If they were partakers of these things, they would be glad as well as we, and they would be more really happy in respect to this world, for the time that they are to live here; they would live a happier life, even in this world, and they would have everlasting life in the world to come.
The Love of Christ constrains men thus to judge, that every one that has received like precious faith, ought to answer that grace and faith which God has ministered to them in an holy life and conduct, and every one who is a stranger to this thing, ought to be of an inquiring mind and an open heart to wait for the day when God will visit them with the same grace. When you give up yourselves to a daily Cross, as Christ's disciples, you will not be running after anyone to teach you to know the Lord, for you will all know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. I that have been but a little convinced, shall I know the Lord? You shall know the Lord, you that are dead in your sins and trespasses, you that have not known the blood of cleansing, you shall know the Lord to be your judge, and your lawgiver, to teach you how you must live, walk, and act; and is this not good knowledge? This is the way they depended on in old time. It is a notable expression, The Lord is our judge; there is the beginning, he began there. Judgment began at the house of God; those he brings into his house, he brings them under the discipline of his house. The Lord is our judge, he is our King and lawgiver, and he will save us. This same exercise of discipline under judgment brought to them the faith and experience of his being their lawgiver, and this brought them to a faith of the last sentence, we shall be saved; and the Lord answers such a people, that he will bring salvation to them, salvation shall be for walls and bulwarks. If only the people of this nation knew salvation was brought near to them, and that it was their bulwark, there would not be a crying up of this and the other rotten thing for a bulwark.
We talk of a bulwark as well as others; we have a bulwark, blessed be the God of heaven, made of better stuff than theirs. For it is the salvation of God which has kept us from the pollution of sin, and from a running into all excess and riot that others have run into. It has kept us from the evil, it has kept evils out of us, and we have found that certainly true, that all things work together for good, to them that love God, and fear God; that all the providences of God together, they have all wrought for our good; and this is the bulwark that we have trusted in, and it has served up till now, and it will serve us and our posterity to the end of the world. This is a bulwark that will never be stormed, that will never be thrown down nor laid waste. Though all the powers on earth, and all the rulers in this world should agree together, they shall not prevail against it. We have salvation for walls and bulwarks. If I am within these walls, salvation is round about me. If I have gotten into this eternal bulwark, I am safe from the devil and his instruments. Here is a bulwark to be relied upon.
Many wonder why we differ with them in some opinions. We have that confidence in this bulwark, that we desire not another. God will last and abide for ever, so will this bulwark. All the care that I take, and all the care that you should take, is to keep within these walls. Do not venture out. If you go out, the devil is watching, and seeking continually whom he may devour; he will catch stragglers. If people go out for profit, or for pleasure, or interest, the devil will catch them. What, even when such people talk of salvation for walls and bulwarks? The devil has got them in his snare, and they are caught in drunkenness, uncleanness and other sins. The reason is, they have gone out of their bulwark; they have ventured out of their walls, for the devil could never have fetched them out.
O take Heed, says the apostle, lest there spring up in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. As if he had said: You are Christians now, you are a people come to a good estate in Christ; but consider you have no strength to stand but in him, no power to keep yourselves but in him; Take heed at all times that there spring not up in you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. take heed lest there spring up in you such a thought as this: I may take this pleasure, and the other profit: Consider that you die and wither if you depart from the living God. Take heed of taking liberty above the fear of God. It is not our talk of salvation for walls and bulwarks that will do us good but our keeping within these walls.
I remember a notable saying of the apostle, which has a great emphasis in it, and a great deal of doctrine, he writes to the Church after they were become a people of professing Christians, Take heed lest you come to be beguiled by the serpent, as he beguiled Eve. He did not speak of Jezebel, a wicked woman; but he spoke of Eve, a good woman created after the image of God, in righteousness and holiness. They had come to a life of sanctification, to a life that was hidden from ages and generations. You must look to yourselves, and look upon yourselves as in the state of your mother Eve, a woman brought forth in righteousness and holiness, that might have stood in that primitive state, not withstanding all the subtlety of all the serpents in the world. But letting her ear listen to this old serpent, she was beguiled; there grew up a consultation in her reasoning part. It may be so as he said, I will try.
So I say to you that have come to a state of sanctification, and in some measure to know the cleansing power of God, and that you have not believed in it in vain, but it has effectually created some change and alteration in you, and is still carrying on the work of your salvation; many temptations will attend you, and many snares will be laid in your way, but God has preserved you to this day. I know the devil's wiles and temptations are manifold; they are suited to every one's inclinations, fitted to every opportunity, and to every occasion in this world. Men are tried every way by the tempter, to see which way he may ensnare them. He tries every way to ensnare and entangle the simple, that he may turn them to the right hand or to the left, that their souls may be destroyed and perish.
I cannot speak to you by a more emphatic word, by a more familiar exhortation than this: Take heed you be not beguiled as Eve was. Many will be tempted as she was; but I would not have you do as she did, and yield to the temptation. Take heed that you do not defile yourselves, but keep your Garments white. You that have been washed and cleansed, labor to keep yourselves unspotted from the world. This is pure religion and undefiled, what has enlightened many a nation, and shall enlighten many of those whose religion is to be undefiled, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world. I pray that God will increase the Number of them, so that the blessed work of sanctification, that has begun in this way, may be carried on to his praise, and the salvation of our souls, to the spreading forth of his glory, and the exalting of his name; that the strangers which are scattered and desolate, may be brought into his holy way, and walk in it; that we all, in a fellowship together, walking in that holy way, may through the eternal Spirit, offer praise and thanksgiving to God, who is worthy to receive glory and honor, power and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT
The following Sermon is stated to have been preached by Stephen Crisp, at Devonshire House meeting-house, on the 11th of 3rd Month, 1688.
WHEN God gave forth his law on Mount Sinai, which Israel was to hear and to obey, the first and great commandment was: You shall have no other gods before Me. Here is the sum and substance of all true religion that ever was upon the earth to this day; all the commandments, all the precepts, prophecies, and all the dealings of God with his people from that day to this, have been all contained in this short precept: You shall have no other gods before Me.
And as long as Israel stood in obedience to this command, their blessings were multiplied upon them, their good things were increased from day to day. The Lord was with them as long as they were willing to be his people. He appeared as their God, and as their defender; wrought their deliverances, fought all their battles for them, gave them dominion and strength, courage and wisdom; ministered out of his treasury all good things unto them; for the great care of God Almighty was with all his people. He had regard to them, and visited them at all times, to keep them from idolatry: I am, said He, a jealous God; take notice of Me to be so; I am jealous of my Name; if you will be mine, You shall have no gods but Me.
And all the precepts about offerings and sacrifices, and making atonement for sinners, and the divers services and worship, the various offices in the temple and sanctuary, they were all outward means appointed of God, to keep this outward church in an inward conformity to the command of God. This command was written on tables of stone, and these tables were laid up in the Ark of God, and all this pertained to the first covenant, and typed and figured out the dispensation of the new and everlasting covenant, that God would make with his people, not like unto the old: How not like it? Not like it in the outward shadows, the types and shadows of things; but He would bring forth the substance of all those shadows and types, and would alter the form and outward appearance of things: For, as God is unchangeable, so is his law unchangeable.
Moses said, the first and great commandment is: You shall have no other gods before Me. This was put into the stone tablets. Christ Jesus said: The first and great commandment is, You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, and with all your mind. Matt 22:27. This is put into the tablets of the heart. So here is a difference between the first commandment by Moses, and the first commandment by Christ. They both acknowledge the first and great command to be the subjecting of the creature to Him that made him, as his God, that he may serve only the Creator, and may love Him with his whole heart. The Jew could prove this by his stone tablets, and Christ proves this by the fleshly tablets of the heart; for there the creature is bound to love the Lord with his whole heart, and to serve Him only: Him only shall you serve.
Now here the Jews' law is brought over to the Christians, in the greatest point of religion that ever was preached. It shuts out all idolatry, all superstition, all variety of religions - all is shut out by this commandment; and the Christian that has the law written in his heart, according to the New Covenant, he can go as readily to his heart and read it, as ever the Jew could go to his stone tablet, and read the law there. You cannot deny that if there is a thing written and engraved in my heart, I can go as readily to it as I can go to any book or tablet, though I have the keeping of it; but the Jews had not the keeping of the law because generally it was laid up in the Ark of God.
Now friends, what lies upon my mind to speak to you at this time, and that out of the great love that I have to all your precious and immortal souls, as God has had love to mine, is, that you would all consider and weigh in the fear of the Lord, whose presence is among us, which of you, and how many of you, have come to the obedience of this commandment! I do not doubt that the most of you can say all the commandments; but a happy people are you if you can obey even one. I dare pronounce that soul, a blessed soul, that can perform this one commandment, that can or dare stand before his Maker and say:- O Lord! I love you with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my might; my love is withdrawn from all other things in comparison of you; there is nothing in this whole world has a place in my mind, but it is in subjection to the love of you.
Here is the first and great commandment the unchangeable law, the law that was good in Moses’ days, and good in Christ's days, and it holds good in our days; and indeed it is such a definitive law, that the breakers of it can neither be good Jews, nor good Christians. There is an absolute necessity that lies upon us, of abstracting and drawing away our minds and souls from all other gods, from all images, and other dependencies and trusts, which people are naturally liable to trust to; and to have their whole confidence set upon the Lord. But alas! With grief of heart I speak it, there are but very few that as yet have known the right giving forth of the law; and there are fewer that are subject to it. This law was not given forth at first without thunder and lightning, and a terrible noise, and the mountain smoking, (he that has an ear to hear, let him hear,) insomuch as Moses himself said, he feared greatly, and he quaked exceedingly because of the thunder of the Almighty, and of the mountain that smoked and burned with fire, so that Israel could not draw near.
Now I say, there are but a few today that have come to the knowledge of the giving forth of this law, that have certainly known those thunders, and that terrible work that the Lord of the whole earth [within a man] makes, when he comes to get up his law [into the heart of a man]; for a great many that have come near to it, and might have heard and received the words of the law of God, they have gone backward. They have done like the Jews of old; though they had suffered much, and gone through much, and had seen the wonders of the Lord, how he had led them and delivered them, yet when it came to this, that they must bear the voice of God, they said: We cannot bear it; we cannot endure it; we have devised for ourselves an easier way; for the voice of thunder and dreadful noises put them into terror, and quaking; and trembling, and great dread came upon them. But we have found an easier way, say they. What is that easier way? Go you, said they to Moses, and you hear you what the Lord says, and you come and tell us; you shall be a mediator between us; let God speak unto you, and you repeat the same to us, and we will hear you.
Thus the Jews, who had not come beyond the law of God written on tables of stone, would not come to receive it in their hearts, as the Christian must. So Moses received the law from the mouth of God. He was faithful as a servant in the house of God; and he ministered forth the law of God, his precepts; statutes and judgments, and testimonies. He wrote the Jews a book of laws for all of them to walk by, from the highest to the lowest; showing how they should act in criminal matters, and do justice between man and man; and what they should do in the worship of God; and what they should do towards the priest, whose lips should preserve knowledge for them. So he brought up a form of religion, but his work was according to the precepts of God; and he brought them into the form of national religion, and government, and national laws. So Moses and the priests ruled over them, and the priest offered sacrifice for them, and made atonement for them; and Moses inquired of the Lord, and asked counsel for them, and taught and instructed them.
What became of all this at test? When this was done, the priest made, atonement for sin, but he could not pluck away the guilt of one sin. After the priest had made his offering for sin, there remained the conscience of sin. Moses taught them the counsels of God and the commands of God, but he could not bind their hearts to the obedience of them; for he declared openly against them, that they were a rebellious and stiff-necked people, despite the fact that they had an outward law.
Indeed time would fail me to run through the manifold miscarriages of the church of the Jews, in respect of their idolatry, in respect of their contempt and rebellion, both to God and his servant Moses, who was to teach and to guide them. I say, the time would fail me to mention the manifold miscarriages that happened among this people, who had an outward law and religion without them, and an outward teacher without them.
Now, in the fullness of time it pleased God to send his Son Christ Jesus, to raise up a Prophet like unto Moses, in respect of faithfulness, though higher in respect of dignity. For Moses was faithful in all his house us a servant, but this man was faithful as a Son in his own house; in the house that He was heir to; that house in which He was a King, a Priest, a Prophet, and a Ruler. When the Lord signified, by the spirit of prophecy, the coming of the Just One, he signified to the people that his ministry should not be as that of Aaron. The people should not have their religion without them, and their laws and precepts without them, and their priests without them, and their worship and church without them; but that they should have it all within them. I will write my law in their hearts, I will put it into their inward parts; then they shall be my people, and I will be their God, and they shall not forsake me.
Your fathers broke my old covenant, but I will make a new covenant in the latter days; a new covenant, not like that your fathers broke. They broke the law without them; but I will write my law in their hearts. This Prophet who is like to Moses, he shall teach my people, he shall be a leader to them, and guide them in the way they are to go, and shall be a captain for them, to lead them to salvation; and it shall come to pass, in the day that I do this, if there be any that will not hear him, he shall be cut off from among the people. That is the judgment which comes upon the condemners of the Gospel, upon them that will not hear Christ Jesus; they shall be cut off from the people. From what people? From the people of God; they shall have no part of the privileges that are enjoyed through Christ; they shall be cut off from the benefits that others reap by their faith in Christ.
So that now we are to expect the operation and working of a ministry, that leads people to an inward religion, a heart-religion; where the heart is fixed entirely upon the true and living God, as the object of their dependence and trust, and they have no other. This is a strange word to flesh and blood. What! no other dependence but on the invisible God? Flesh and blood, and sensuality, can never come to this: this is a religion that has been hidden from ages and generations, and will be hidden from all ages that ever shall be in the world, where sensuality prevails. What! Will you have me to place my whole dependence for the comfort of my life here, and of the life that is to come, the other life—to have my dependence upon an Invisible God—that invisible power that made me, and created the world? How is it possible for me to sequester myself, and draw myself off from all visible objects? I must trust to this, and trust to that. Flesh and blood can never attain to this, with all the intelligence and reason it has. It can never separate itself from idols. They are little children, they are children-of another birth, born of another seed, that keep themselves from idols.
Friends, idolatry is a great deal more common, I find, than most are aware of. Am I commanded to love the Lord with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and might? What is left when the whole is taken away? If God has my whole heart, what have I to bestow upon the world? What love, what affection, what eagerness, what fervency can I bestow upon the world, or any object in the world, when my whole heart, and soul, and mind, is gone before, is gone toward the Lord?
This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, that is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Here it is that the law and the prophets, faith, creeds, prayer, religion, and worship, all that ever was in the world, all are comprehended in this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. So what need is there for us to be disputing about religion, about this tenet and the other tenet; this text, and the other text? For my part, I should only desire for you to understand this text; for if you do, I have no doubt about your going to heaven. Here is the sum, here is all at once, here is the quintessence of all religion, of all types, shadows, figures, ceremonies, and priesthood, and all that ever was or could be named and practiced in the world. All is brought to this: The heart given up to God—our love set upon Him.
What! is this sufficient? some will say; this will make you a good moral man; but what is this to the Christian religion? You might be led into error and become a heretic for all this.
How could this happen, that I should not be of a sound faith, but led into error and heresy for all this? When people let in error, and heresy, and unsoundness of faith, where do they let it in? Do they not let in the principles of error and heresy into their hearts? I believe this, and that, and the other error; it all comes into the heart, and has a seat in the heart. But how can we let it into the heart, when the heart is given up to God? Cannot I keep out error and heresy, if I give up my heart soul to Him? Cannot I trust Him with all?
This kind of talk of error and heresy, has come among men that have had the keeping of their own souls. They have taken their own souls into their own hands and have ordered their religion themselves, or have employed somebody to order it for them; and a great many of them have met together to make creeds and catechisms, and confessions, and orthodox doctrines that might certainly be professed and subscribed to. So afterwards some have come and found fault with them; and then they create a council to try them. Then these doctrines are cast off and are laid aside, and others are created to replace them. All these doctrines are what men have set up for themselves. They would not be under the government and prescription of God, as children under the government of a father; instead they will set up religions themselves, and say to the rest of the world: If you own anything contrary to our principles, you are a heretic, and being a heretic you are to be rooted out and cut off. Do not you read in the scriptures, that whoever hears not the prophet (who was recognized to some into the world) shall be cut off? What! Will you not hear Christ speak in the church? Will you not hear Christ speak? The church cannot speak without a head; if you will not hear the Church, you shall be cut off.
All their barbarous and inhuman cruelties, martyring and imprisoning people, comes from their creating faiths themselves; and of all things, nothing is more desperately wicked; and they did not know it. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Men do not know how proud and arrogant they themselves are, and yet they attempt to order the hearts, and minds, and consciences of others. Out of this has sprung all superstition- and idolatry, because men would not give up their hearts to God. You shall have no other gods but Me. This commandment is great in itself, strict in the terms: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. Their neighbors could not see with their eyes; therefore they would be destroying one another.
But, blessed be God, who is now bringing forth true Christianity, upon its old basis and foundation, on which it was placed at first; for Christianity has been jostled off from its first foundation. For instead of loving God with all their hearts, and loving their neighbors as themselves, they hated them. Now this is the day, O friends! The weight of it is great; this, I say, is the day in which God is bringing Christianity upon its old foundation.
I would not have you think that I am here judging our forefathers, who have fallen asleep; that therefore they are gone to perdition, because they saw not this day, and lived not to see that benefit of it which we enjoy. I am far from it. This was the thing that they believed and prayed to God for; they did not see this day outwardly, but they saw it by faith. When I was a child, I remember the people of God, when they met three or four together, they would rejoice in the hopes of what they foresaw. They gave thanks to God for the blessed days that He would bring forth, though they could not tell when. They did say and believe that God would scatter the fogs and mists, and bring forth a happy day, in which his people should have the gift of his Spirit. When they saw the impositions and persecutions of those times; that when they that did not conform and comply, they were cast into prisons, dungeons, and jails: Well, it will not always be that way, said they; there is a day corning in which the Lord will set his people free from all the yokes of oppression, and from the oppressors.
Indeed my soul did rejoice in hearing the prophetical sayings of those good men. I thought I might live to see that day. Blessed be God, who has preserved my life to this day, and to this hour, to enjoy what they prayed for! They prayed to God to scatter the mists and fogs, that they might no longer cloud and darken men's minds, and hinder them from enjoying God's teaching. Blessed be God! That we are now in the enjoyment of the prayers of the faithful, that left the world before we were in it. Now the day has come that they prayed for, and inquired after.
How strangely does the man talk, some will say, concerning the Christian religion! The Christian religion is all over England. Go to any meeting in London, except one, and they will tell you they are Christians. I wish to God they were; that is the worst I wish for them all. But why should we talk of the Christian religion, without the Christian life? Except we find Christian life among them, what good is the name and profession of it? And the Christian doctrine is wanting in many places too. There are many in this city urging this very command, of loving God with all their hearts, and their neighbors as themselves, as fervently as I can do, or anybody else; and yet they will tell you, in the next breath, that no man in London, or in the world, can do this. No man can possibly love God with all his heart; a man cannot be found that can perform such an act, as to love his neighbor as himself. Not every neighbor, but some one choice associate he may pick out, that he can love, and bear with his infirmities and affronts, and love him as himself. Love your neighbor, that is, everybody, that there may be a good-will for all people throughout the whole race of mankind. Peace on earth, good-will towards men. This is the fruit of the Gospel. Christian words will not make the Christian religion, there must be a Christian life; but where shall we find that, or seek it?
I know not, I have nothing to do to judge anybody; but there is One that judges, who lives the Christian life, and who does not? Who is this? I answer: The head of the Christian Church. Why, is He here? Yes, the Head of the Christian Church is here, and He speaks and gives sentence. If you have an ear, you may hear Him. If you will turn your mind inward, for He is an inward minister. Every one of you, if you will turn your minds inward, He will tell you whether you live a Christian life, and what kind of a life it is you live. If there is a drunkard here, let him ask whether his life is a Christian life. Will a man go away ignorant from this place, and have no answer? If there is a drunkard here, let him ask inwardly in his own bosom: Lord! is my life a Christian life? I dare affirm on God's behalf, he will hear an answer: No! my life is not a Christian life, but a shameful, beastly life, a brutish one.
Who told you that the Head of Christians, Christ Jesus, is present —Christ Jesus, is He present?— How did He get here? He ascended up into heaven such a day, say they, how could He be here? Let Him be ascended up into heaven, yet He is not so ascended into heaven as not to be here also. How should He fulfill his promise, if He is limited in presence to heaven or earth? How should He make good his promise, if, when two or three are met together in his Name, He is not in the midst of them. Here are now many more than two or three met together in the Name of Christ, and that hope for acceptance with God, through the Mediator, Christ Jesus. If you think that there are two or three met together in this place in the name of Christ, it follows that Christ is in the midst of them.
I do not know what you are experiencing and enjoying now. Some may possibly say, I do not find any such presence of Christ; I hear of the presence of Christ in the sacrament, and I have heard talk of the presence of Christ at a meeting; but I have been at many meetings, and I never found such a presence of Christ.
Can you read the scriptures? Yes, I can read the scriptures as well as you, but that cannot give me a sense of it; I do read the scriptures and believe it; but what signifies my reading the scriptures concerning the presence of Christ, if I have not a sense of it? I have been at many a meeting, but never had the sense of such a divine presence as you talk of - nor it may be at the sacrament either. What is the reason you have no sense of it? If you will accept my counsel, and turn your mind inward, and inquire whether the thing I speak of is true, whether there is such a voice as I speak of, that will tell you what your state is. If you will be true to yourself, you may know the divine presence, and you may hear Christ speak.
The soul has eyes, and ears; just as the body does. What eyes does the apostle mean when he says: The god of this world has blinded the eyes of them that believe not, for fear the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them? If the soul has eyes and ears, as well as the body, it can hear and see like the body. As the bodily eye can see visible things, so the eye of the soul can see things that are invisible, and heavenly. You can hear my voice outwardly, and you may hear the voice of Christ inwardly. I have known some that have been so afraid of hearing something bad about themselves, that they would not inquire. Some have been so guilty in their own consciences, that they have been afraid of hearing something bad, that they would not inquire about themselves. So it is inwardly; some have been so conscious that their life and conduct is not what it ought to be — that their life is a sinful life, that they do not dare bring it to question. It would certainly have been told them: Your life is not a Christian life, you must mend your life, before you can ever come to have peace with God. If this should be your portion and mine, that upon search we should find our condition bad, what harm is it?
I would put one question to you; be serious in considering of it. We are all children of wrath by nature, none of us differ about that, and that unless we are born again, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The question is, whether I am one of those or not? Suppose upon inquiry it is discovered to me that I am not, that is bad enough; this is hard, but not so hard as it is true. This is the thing which I would have you consider:— Is it not better to know that I am still in a natural state, than to go on and perish to eternity? As long as there is life, there is hope; as long as a man is upon the earth, and taking care for his soul, and inquiring about the state of his immortal soul. If his soul is not in a good condition, is it not better for him to know it, and to seek for a cure? For no greater infirmity and misfortune can be upon man, than to have some occult and hidden disease, that he cannot be made sensible of; for this wastes and spoils him, and he cannot be persuaded to look out for a remedy. So it is inwardly; if a man is ignorant of his condition, and goes on to his dying day and hour, and does not seek after a remedy, this man perishes without any doubt.
When you are in this inquiry, be content to be controlled; be willing to have the truth spoken, though it is against yourselves. I could give many examples of what I have spoken of. If a man is satisfied that his life is not a Christian life; I say, if the swearer or liar, if the proud person, or the effeminate, as soon as they come to be satisfied that their life is not a Christian life, that they now live, what can this man expect? What counsel should we give him, and what counsel should he take? I will continue in the way that I am in. What! after you know your life is not a Christian life? God forbid. Will you go on and perpetuate sin upon sin, and heap up wrath against the day of wrath? I am a sinner, my life is unchristian, I make account to live in sin, and die in sin. Is this good policy? Consider another text which our Lord spoke: If you die in your sins, where I go, you cannot come.
O Friends! lay these things to your hearts. What have I to do but to tell you that the love I have in my soul for you all, makes me desire in my heart that you may be saved? This is the will of God, that you might all be saved, and come to the knowledge of the Truth. Blessed are they that know the Truth; the Truth as it in Jesus. Truth in the inward parts, has a speaking voice; and if you hearken to it, it will tell you your state is not what it ought to be. Can you believe the Truth when he tells you so, that you state is bad, and that you are likely to go to eternal destruction, unless there is repentance and regeneration to prevent it? Can you believe this doctrine, when it sounds in your own heart? If you cannot believe it, unbelief will be your ruin.
The Spirit of Truth has come to convince the world of sin, because they do not believe in Christ; He tells them their condition, and they will not believe Him. The Spirit of Christ convinces men of sin, and they do not believe Him. The Spirit of Truth convinces you of your sin, but you do not believe Him. You love your pleasure and your profit, and you honor; then you do not love God with all your heart, and then you are not a Christian, but out of covenant with God. Are you sensible that your condition is bad; is it not best to get it changed? After we are convinced of our own sinful state, is it not our best course to seek to have it mended? Who shall mend, it? One person says— I have done all I can to mend my life, and I cannot mend it.
I had concluded so in my younger years; I had fasted, and prayed, and spent time in hearing, reading, and meditation, and did all in my own power, and all to mend my state; but I could not mend it. As I grew up in years, sin and corruption prevailed even more, and there was no help. I came so far as to believe there was no help, and that if God did not help me, I was undone to all eternity. I many times wished that I had never been born. I went to ministers and meetings, and to all sorts of separate people, and to all manner of ordinances, and to all manner of means, to mend this bad heart of mine, to see if I could obtain a power that would get me victory over my corruptions; but my arm was never so long as to reach to it; it was far out of my power and reach.
Many have sought to get this power of reforming their hearts and lives, to attain it by their own hands, by their own endeavors, that they could never do it. They could never better their condition, nor bring forth fruit worthy of amendment of life. I wish that every one would have come to that impasse, that they did not know which way to turn them, that they had at last come to their wits' end. They will come to it sooner or later—the sooner the better. I have done all I can, I can do no more. I am at my wits' end, and I do not know what to think concerning my eternal state, I do know what to judge of it. I strive against my lusts and corruptions, but, for all that, they prevail upon me. Temptations come before me, but I cannot conquer them. O! I am glad when people have come to that impasse; that they know not what to do, but despair of their own arms’ abilities, of their own strength, and their own wit, and despair of all other help in the world: I am glad of that.
But I am not preaching up despair of God's grace and mercy; for let me tell you, when men despair of their own doings, and of all outward means and helps, then they are fit objects for the mercy of God, and not till then. When the Lord looked, and saw that there was none to save and deliver, then His own arm brought salvation. God will not save until then. God will not reveal his power until men have finished with their own power. They will never trust God, while they think they can do something for themselves. All the forms of religion, of the several people of this nation, will do them little good without the power.
What is the meaning of that principle, to have such masses, and prayers, and performances? What is the meaning of it? Let us search to the bottom. They say we are sinners, when we pray to God for his blessing and for salvation by Christ. There is this at the bottom: they think these duties and performances will be very helpful to their state, helpful towards the knowledge of it. To speak plain English, these are their gods. If I speak of profane and wicked people, I would say their lusts are their gods; but when I speak of [so called] righteous people that are mere formalists, then I say their duties, as they call them, are their gods. When all is said and done in their duties, their duties have done nothing for them; and then they have no gods at all. Then they are godless; and if God does not help them, they are undone to all eternity.
When poor creatures are cast out, as it were, into the open field, to the loathing of their persons—When I passed by you, said the Lord, and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said unto you, live. When I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was a time of love, and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness; yes, I swore unto you, and entered into covenant with you, said the Lord God, and you became mine. What! Was it a time of love when I was such an object in my own eyes, that I thought I was the most miserable creature in the world, one that could not make a good prayer, nor dispute for religion, nor perform any duty; a poor creature cast out into the open field, to the loathing of my person, having lost all that I had gained. My name was not among the living; my days were passed over in sorrow; and I said:There is nothing but darkness, and death, and misery for me. I used all means, and tried, all things, saving only a living trust in God, a trust in God alone, and that flesh and blood cannot do. Flesh and blood cannot know Him, therefore flesh and blood cannot trust in Him. Alas! I said, I cannot trust in the Lord, I cannot cast my soul, and all my concerns, my fame and reputation in the world, I cannot cast all upon the care of the Almighty; I cannot know Him, nor trust in Him. How can I do it? Nobody can do it! They that know my Name, said the Lord, they will put their trust in Me. Never a truer word was spoken. But how does one know God, and trust in Him, says some one, I do not know.
When you come once to this impasse, to be at your wits' end, and not know which way to turn, nor to whom to run for help, or to ask counsel for your soul's welfare; when you are come to the end of all, and without hope, then God reveals himself by his son Jesus Christ. Christ, the Son of God, is known by our coming to Him; but none can come to Christ, except the Father which has sent Him, draws him. When you have done with your gods, and thrown away your idols to the bats and moles, then you will find the Lord, and you will cry out: O that God would have mercy upon me, and lift up the light of his countenance upon me! I am a poor miserable creature!
There are many that make such a whining and complaining, that they take a pride in their very complaints, their hypocrisy is so great. I have known some that have prided themselves in wording their condition, and expressing their miserable case before the Lord. But suppose you cannot speak at all, but find yourself miserable, you cannot express your condition. At such a time as this God was drawing your soul to Christ Jesus, the mediator of it. I have heard of a mediator, and that there is balm in Gilead for me, that there is a physician there, that there is one physician, even Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant. You have sinned against Him, and grieved Him, yet he stands with open arms for you, ready to receive you, and embrace you. Where does He stands? He stands at the door and knocks; it is a small matter, one would think, to let Him in: (Rev 3:20) Behold, I stand at the, door and knock, and if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me. Here is good news for a hungry soul, if there any such here. Christ the mediator, stands at the door and knocks. He will come in and sup with you, if you open to Him. Then we shall meet with the Lord's Supper. This is the Lord, I will wait for Him. He will bring his bread with Him, the Bread of Life, and the Wine of his kingdom; and the Lord's Supper will be celebrated without irrelevant distinctions and doctrinal arguing.
Now because we will not pervert the scripture, I would have you that understand books, read what commentators of this and former ages say upon this text; whether they do not give it as their opinions, that this knocking at the door, is Christ calling the soul by his grace; and that this door is the door of the heart, where Christ is calling the soul by his grace and Spirit, to let Him in by faith. This is their judgment and sense, and their sense is mine, and I believe the genuine sense of this text; that Christ would have people think He is near to them, and would have them open their hearts, and receive Him by faith; for to be a savior to them.
[Some say] No! that, says flesh and blood, I cannot accept. I cannot consent to have Him for my savior. I will not let Him in, for He is like Micaiah to Ahab, He never spoke good concerning me. For, if I have Him for my savior, I must part with my lusts and pleasures. If there is any other savior, I will try that, and not meddle with Him. He will spoil all our merriment and good friendships. He will tell me that every idle word that I shall speak, I must give an account for in the day of judgment. What! do you think that I can like such a savior? That I can live with such a one as will call me to an account for every word I speak? And that, if I speak one idle word, judgment will come upon me? No, I will try one and another, rather than accept Him upon such terms. I am one who is joined to such a church, and enjoy such and such ordinances, and such helps. I am in covenant with God and under the seals of that covenant; I am baptized, and do partake of the Lord's Supper, which is another seal of the covenant. I hope it will go well with me.
From the Voice of the Lord: "Those reluctant to look at their slavery say, 'Church me.'"
I will go one step further. Another said he must have a mediator: I will go to the Virgin Mary, and offer something to her, and pray to her. Says another, I will go to Saint James, and Saint John, and other Saints to intercede with God for me. They must have some mediator. This is the twisting and twining of the sons and daughters of men, to keep out Christ the great mediator, who came into the world for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. Alas! I have nothing left but my bare life and living in this world. I have nothing left me but some little desire I had to please God; and that he will never judge and condemn me for. But my false dealing, and buying and selling with deceit, He will judge this, and condemn me; and my discoursing of things without me; all my carnal friendship of the world, and my vain fashions; all this is corrupt and defiled; these He came on purpose to destroy. He came to destroy both the devil and his works.
What! can a man live in the world and never join with the devil? Never sin at all? Never do anything that the devil would have him to do? There is no perfection in this world; no living without sin here. Then I am sure there is no unity with Christ here; and if there is no unity with Christ, then there is none with God the Father. What will become of you now? What will all the pleaders for that opinion say now? There is something that stands between God and me, and I shall never have peace. And what is that? It is sin. I would have my sin taken away, else I had better never have been born. Can you remove sin out of your heart? I have tried, but I cannot do it. I have heard of Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant. He said, He came into the world, and that for this purpose He was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Now sin in my heart is the devil's work, I will see if He will destroy that for me, I will trust and rely upon Him, and see if his great power can destroy it in me.
Here people come rightly to believe in Him that God has sent, and to trust in Him; and He will take them in, and like a surgeon He will open their hearts, and let out their corruptions, though there has been ever so much rottenness; and He will heal them, and purify them, and pardon them, though they have been ever so wicked, if they come to Him. When your sins are set in order before you, then you cry out: O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Is it God that has thought about me, and waited to be gracious, and has put up with my sins so long? How wonderful is his patience towards me! All these things working in the soul, tend to beget a love to God, and fervent desires to be cleansed and purified from sin, and earnest prayer to the Lord, to make the holy fire to kindle, that would burn it up. The more the soul trusts in Christ, the more does this heavenly fire burn up our lusts; and then a man feels a great change in his mind. The things, said he, that I delighted in, are now grievous to me! I hope I shall never be found in those things again; my mind is now taken off them. Who took it off? Did you not strive before to take it off? I did, but I could not do it.
There are many, I believe, in this assembly before the Lord, that are my witnesses in this matter, that when they came to Christ the mediator, He changed their minds, and He untied the devil's fetters. They were tied to their sins and lusts; but He has unloosed them. They are ashamed of those things that they formerly took pleasure in. What fruit, said the Apostle, had you in those things, of which you are now ashamed? So I say: What pleasure have you in sporting, and gaming, and drinking, and company-keeping? What pleasure have you to think on your unrestrained conversations? What pleasure do you have in pride and vanity? What pleasure in wrath and bitterness of mind? And what pleasure in malice and envy? What pleasure have you in these things of which you are now ashamed? So far as you are convinced, you are ashamed to think of them. I am ashamed to think that the devil at such a time, by such a temptation, should prevail over me.
I wish to God you all would come to this; to be ashamed; that you might remember your past evil ways and actions, with sorrow and shame. There is a secret joy in this. Surely it is better to be ashamed than to continue in impudence. God has wrought this change at last; and who shall have the glory of it? God shall have the glory of it, for his own works will praise Him. What men do, many times they do for their own praise; but when they are at their wits' end, and know not what to do, they cast themselves upon their Maker, to see if He will have mercy upon them. If not, they must perish; then, for what He does, He gets the glory and the praise.
There are some here, that are bound to praise God while they have a day to live, for what He has done for them. They could never have loved God with all their hearts; but they would have continued strangers to God; and the devil would have led them captive at his will;—they would not have loved God with all their hearts, had not God first shed abroad his love upon their hearts, and constrained them to love Him. It is He that has first loved them, and wrought in them both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure. Whatever we are, we are by the grace of God. This grace is magnified in them that believe and obey the Gospel. My friends, we know there is so much peace and pleasure in the ways of God, so much soul-satisfaction in walking with God, and in loving Him with all our hearts, that I should be glad if every one of you were of the same mind, and had experience of it. We labor diligently for this purpose, and we would set before you these two things.
First, How we may come to know our miserable state by nature.
And, What a blessed and happy state they are in, that have been converted and changed; that have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
Consider your state by nature is evil; we hope that many of you believe the reports of the gospel, concerning the goodness of the Lord, his great love in sending his Son into the world, to seek and to save you that were lost; and that you believe in Him. And we are persuaded, that by the foolishness of preaching God will save some of you, that you may be his redeemed ones, and trust to no other savior. For there is not any name under heaven, but the name of Jesus, by which you can be saved. He only can take away the sins of the world; his Spirit, which he promised to send into the world when He was leaving it, searches the heart, and tries the reins. Now I dare proclaim that Holy Spirit, to be the Spirit of the God of heaven, that now sees what resolution you are of, and what you are now proposing to do; whether to continue in sin, or to return to God. This I can speak without blasphemy; it is God's Spirit that searches the heart, and knows your thoughts and purposes, and convinces you of your sin. God has sent his Son Christ Jesus into the world to enlighten you, that by his light you may see Him, and that by his grace you might receive Him, and that by his grace you might be saved.
To Him I commit you all, and these words that we have spoken in the evidence are a demonstration of the Spirit, according as He wrought in us. Amen.
The Kingdom of God Within - All Must Come to Witness its Establishment Within.
A sermon by Stephen Crisp at the Gracechurch Street meeting house on the 26th day of the 7th month 1691
YOU have read and heard much concerning the day of the Lord, as a great and notable day; many of you are now living witnesses that the great and notable day of the Lord is coming, in which the accomplishment of great and notable things, the mighty works of God, which have been prophesied of, may be lawfully expected. It is the work of every Christian to wait upon the Lord in the Light of this day, and to be acquainted with the works of the Lord, both inwardly and outwardly. For the day of the Lord is a day of power, and that power of God works wonderful things. If we were not kept in the Light of that day, the Lord might work great things, and we would not know it; we would be looked upon as careless and negligent witnesses of the works of the Lord, as those that do not regard them. If you would be faithful witnesses, you must have regard to the works of the Lord, and the operation of his hands. One who intends to be a faithful witness will take notice of what is said and done. You are called to be witnesses of the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his doings. You must stand where you may hear, and see, and understand what the Lord is about to do at this time.
In your testimony and witness bearing, the greatest thing we have to expect in this day of the Lord is that God will set up the Kingdom of his son Christ Jesus. To this all the prophets did bear witness in their time. Now it is our turn to bear witness of it by sensible and living experiences of the accomplishment of those things that they prophesied of, that the Lord will set up the Kingdom of Christ, and bring down and lay waste the kingdom of antichrist. This our savior taught his disciples to pray for, sixteen hundred years ago, that the Kingdom of God might come. All the true disciples of Christ ever since have prayed for the coming of this Kingdom, and many of them have seen the coming of it, and rejoiced; and others have died in the faith of it, and have been gathered into the Kingdom of Heaven.
But, my friends, what chiefly concerns us at this day, is to behold the Kingdom of Christ, the eternal Son of God, within us, to go forward and prosper; and the Kingdom of Antichrist suppressed and destroyed, and utterly laid waste; and this is wrought two ways, 1. Inwardly. 2. Outwardly.
First, Inwardly, There is a greater inclination in the minds of people, to look more at the operation of God's power in this great work outwardly, than to look at it inwardly, but unto that there must be a daily Cross taken up, and it is my business at this time to tell you in the name of the Lord, that your duty and mine is to turn our minds to the working of the power of God in ourselves, and to see that other Kingdom of the man of sin weakened and brought down within us. Then there is no fear but he will carry on his work outwardly, and we shall see as much of that work as belongs to our generation. But the great matter and chief concern of you and me is to see the Kingdom of God set up within us, which stands in holiness and righteousness. Our business is to walk until we see the righteousness of this Kingdom set up within us in our hearts and souls and to have a real change made.
We all know, and we must confess, that we have been subject to the man of sin, whatever we are now. We have seen the reign and government, the rage and tyranny of the wicked one that has led us into rebellion and disobedience to the Lord our maker. How do we like that government to be ruled by the devil, and to be led captive, and to be made to do his will, and to rebel against God that gave us our life, and our breath, and our being? How do we like that government of Satan? I hope none of us like it. It was so with me. Those under the tyrannical government of Satan have many cries and wishes in their souls that they were freed and delivered from it, and brought under the Government and obedience of Christ Jesus. The wish they were able to serve God as they ought to do, that they might be translated from the Kingdom of sin and Satan, into the Kingdom of the blessed and dearly beloved Son of God.
This has been the cry of some ever since they have known the world; and I am persuaded it is the cry of many at this day. I have good news to bring you; not that the day of your redemption draws near, but that it is come. The day of redemption is now come, and there are a great many blessing and glorifying the name of God that they are redeemed, and delivered from the bondage of corruption, and have more joy and delight in the service of God, that made them, than ever they had in the service of the God of this world.
But may not some say: How shall this great work be wrought; for it is a great work, and we truly think that nothing but an Almighty power can effect it? For there are many in this assembly who have been trying with no result, and done what they could in their own strength, to deliver their own souls from death, and yet they find themselves in bondage still; no, they have called in the help and assistance of those that they thought to be stronger than themselves, and all have failed, and they are yet weak and entangled, and they cannot find themselves at liberty to serve the Lord as they ought to do.
I am of this mind, that nothing but the almighty power of God can do it; and when you come to my experience, to know this as I have done, then I hope you will seek after that, and you will see good reason for it; and you will then come to this profession, If the Lord puts not forth his Almighty power, I must then perish, for there is no other power that can deliver me. When you come to know this, what must you do? Why, you must wait for the revelation of that power that will take you off from all trust and confidence that you have ever had in anything else. A man that has nothing to trust to but the almighty power, and mercy, and goodness of God, he puts his whole trust and confidence in them, or else he knows he must perish.
When a man or woman comes to this pass, that they have nothing to rely upon but the Lord, then they will meet together to wait upon the Lord. This was the first ground or motive of our setting up meetings; and I wish to God that this was the use that every one would make of them that come to them, then they would be justly and properly used according to the purpose of the institution of them at first. We should use them as poor, desolate, helpless people that are broken off from all their own confidence and trust, and have nothing to rely upon but the mercy and goodness of God. If he pleases to reveal his power among us, we know that he is able to save us; and we have met with the Revelation of God's power. When we have met together in simplicity of mind, the Lord was pleased to communicate his Spirit to us, and open a door for us, and discover and reveal to us that it was the day of his power. When we came to examine ourselves, whether we were willing in this day of God's power, (for the prophet gives us a note of distinction between the people of God, and other people; your people shall be willing in the day of your power, which is as much as to say, God discovers and reveals his power to them, such a people are willing to give themselves over to the government of it, when we found we were subject to it), we had joy in believing, before we attained the end of our hope. It was gladness to us that we found ourselves willing. I am persuaded that every one of you would be glad to find yourselves willing to part with what you cry out of.
What a cry is there of our bondage and corruption, and of our being led captive by our lusts? We may hear such a cry from one end of the kingdom to the other. People cry out of the bondage of corruption, and of their subjection to sin and Satan. I wish they were sincere. There is not that earnestness and reality in men and women that God looks for, and so nothing results. There is no redemption, and no deliverance, the Lord does not hear them, though they come into his presence, to offer up their prayers. I wish all of you to be sincere; I wish well to you all. And it would be hard to say that you do not wish well to yourselves. Here lies your welfare, that you find yourselves willing to be subject to the power that made you. You have been subject doubtless to the power that destroyed you; that power that never gave you life and breath, has been instrumental of your destruction. The power of the God of this world never did men good, but destroyed them, deceived them, and deprived them of their lives.
Now if there was but a willingness in every one of us, freely to give up ourselves to that power that created us to obey his will, I am sure there is never a man or woman among us shall long be without the knowledge of it. If I am but willing to be subject to the law of him that made me, it will not be long before he discover it to me, and reveals his power in me in the glory and excellence of it; that power which is more able to preserve me than all the power of men on Earth, or all the power of the devils in hell is able to destroy me. When the Lord shall discover and reveal his power in you, you will be willing to be subject to it.
But I think the sound and noise of flesh and blood grows loud here. [I think I hear some say] I would like to be subject to God, but I would not have him cross my interest [my will], and deprive me of that I love and thirst after. I would not have him embitter my carnal delights and pleasures, and undo me as to my reputation in the world.
You may see where this comes, that you would make a bargain, and draw a contract with the God of your lives about these things. This is a nonsensical thing because of all people in the world, you are a people that have had a veneration for the holy scriptures, the scriptures of truth, and have been acquainted with them so familiarly as with any book in the world; wherein you find articles drawn, long ago fixed and sealed. No new ones are to be drawn. If anyone will be my disciple, John or Thomas, James or Peter, or whoever he is, he must take up his daily cross, and deny himself, and follow me. Now here is a contract made, therefore turn aside from all kind of reasoning and consulting with flesh and blood.
If you will become spiritual, and partake of spiritual blessings and benefits, I would advise you to turn from all kind of reasonings that come from the pit of darkness, that has thus far deceived you, and will ruin you forever, if you hearken to them. For assure yourselves no man can make new gospel requirements. If any comes to preach a gospel with new requirements count him a deceiver. For there is no possibility of being a disciple of Christ, but by taking up a cross daily, and denying ourselves, and following him as our leader and guide. To him I must go, and go in no other way, speaking nothing, or doing nothing but what is holy and pure. He must conduct me in my walking, guide me in my way, and justify me in it. This is to be a true disciple of Christ.
As soon as he comes to adhere, and join to the power of God revealed in his soul, he sees the coming of the Kingdom of God; he sees it at a distance and says within himself, and makes this conclusion, I will follow my captain, I will become subject to the Kingdom of Christ. If I obey this divine principle of the grace of God, and the gospel of Christ, I shall be his disciple. I read in his blessed book that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the children of God. I am not to propose new requirements, but accept of the old requirements of the gospel of Christ. I see that the Kingdom of God is to be set up, and the Kingdom of the devil to be brought down in me. If I follow this divine principle, I should never follow the devil any more. If he would have me lie, I shall refuse, and say I cannot. If he would have me run into vain and corrupt communication [conversation] , and foolish jesting, that will be a bridle to me, that I cannot do it.
I speak now to persons that live under the Light of the gospel of Christ, and that are subdued by his grace. I would speak what all the logic in the world cannot overthrow, what the most cunning logician, with all his wit and quirks, cannot refute and prove erroneous. If a man is led by the Spirit of God, he cannot lie; this is a common cure for all men. If I am led by the Spirit of truth, and hearken to the Principle of truth in my own soul, this will cure and heal me of the wounds and maladies of my corrupt nature, and set me at liberty from my old master. I do not like his service.
I hope if any of you like the servitude and bondage of sin and Satan, you will desire liberty before you die. Why do you not desire it now? It may be you hope to enjoy a little liberty and reputation, and pleasure in sin for many years, for six or seven, nine or ten years, and then break off from it, and repent and turn to God. How do you know that you have ten days to live? It is of high concern to every one of us to wait for a discovery of gospel-liberty, and an ability and power in his soul, to enable him to break off from the servitude and bondage of sin and Satan, that he has so long lived under; and to wait upon God with patience for the setting his soul at liberty, and setting up the Kingdom of Christ within him, and pulling down the Kingdom of Satan. So that he may be brought into the Kingdom of Christ, that consists in peace and righteousness and Joy in the Holy Ghost. These are the things that follow one another; when righteousness is set up in me, I shall not be disturbed, I shall have peace; and if I have peace I shall have joy, and this joy is in the Holy Ghost the apostle said the Kingdom of God consists in these things.
Now that every one might be persuaded that God has given a measure of his grace to them, as well as to others, let them consider and say within themselves, God has not shut me out of the number of his people. He has knocked at the door of my heart, to bring me to repentance; he has waited upon me so long, surely he has a mind to save me. Would he call upon me, unless he intends I should repent and turn to him?
But where is the power? You will say knocking at the door of the heart, and checks of conscience, we understand them; but we understand not where the power is, to conform to the Will of God.
People will never understand it while they are in the Kingdom of Satan, and under the power of the prince of darkness. the apostle tells us that the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them. If men saw the beauty of the gospel, they would run after it, and embrace it; therefore the devil blinds their minds, that they should not see the beauty and amiableness of the gospel, and like the terms of it. He has the rule and government of the children of disobedience. So long as I live in subjection to that devilish, hellish power, which leads me forth into sin, I shall be a stranger to God's power that would enable me to break off from it.
You never read in scripture of any that ever came to be saved by the power of God, but that there was faith mixed with it, that came to join with that power of God. Our Savior said to the impotent man, Thy faith has made you whole; your faith joining with that power of God. We shall be made strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, and be able to withstand temptations.
As soon as the soul of man joins with the grace of God, he forsakes the service of his old master and governor. Sin shall no longer have dominion over him. Though he may meet with the same temptation, it shall not have the same power over him, but he will be enabled, by the grace of God to withstand it, and overcome it. If you ask such a man, how it is that he overcomes that temptation that formerly prevailed over him; he will tell you, I have now a helper; I am now joined to the grace of God in my soul, therefore I withstand temptations and have power over them. Thus the Kingdom of Christ comes to be set up in the soul, and this is what will fit and prepare us for the everlasting Kingdom of God: They that do wait upon God, shall see this work wrought inwardly in them, they know more by faith than they can see by sense.
I know and am certain, that the power the devil has in the world, shall be broken down, and righteousness shall be exalted, and justice and equity shall prevail in the nations. I shall not perhaps live to see it, but I may see it by faith. I have seen enough for my generation, and they that live in the next generation shall see it also. For the church of God is the same from one generation to another. Now unto us it is given to see the things that in former generations were prophesied of, God having (said the apostle) provided some better thing for us, that they without us, shall not be made perfect.
The church of God from one generation to another, has its measure and degree of service, and bears its proper testimony, and leaves the rest to succeeding generations. It concerns us in our generation to see a change made inwardly in our souls, and the Kingdom of Christ set up within us, and the kingdom of Satan brought down in ourselves. This does not concern my son or grandson only, but it concerns me, and when they grow up to mature age, in their time it will concern them. Therefore what is most profitable to us, is, that we have such a station, and stand in such a place in our time, where we may see the work of God carried on.
I have considered many a time, that there are many brave men and women in this age, that might have been eminent witnesses of God in this world, and borne their testimony to his truth, but their faith has been weak and ineffectual. They have discovered their unbelieving hearts and have joined with the common herd of the world because they thought such great things could never be done, that the kingdom of Satan could never be pulled down and destroyed, and the Kingdom of Christ set up within us. But I would hope better things for you, things that accompany salvation and that he that has begun a good work in you will carry it on to perfection; that living |