# A Beacon to the Society of Friends/Sermon VI

SERMON VI.
EXTRACT I.
Creaturely exertions. Stillness. Waiting.
"Not all the external means, and all external instruction, could give them [the disciples] an understanding of the way of it. This [the new birth] cannot be understood till the mind becomes quieted and settled, and divested of all its roving and running, all its creaturely exertions, all its willing and doing, and comes into that state that Jesus commended his disciples to come into. The soul must become willing to wait as he told them.' 'He told them that they must be still and submissive; that they must be nothing; that they must experience a time, when, in self abasement, they would be settled and confirmed in the belief, that they could do nothing at all, but merely to wait for that power by which, said he, I have done those miracles you have seen me do." p. 137.
"Creaturely exertions," creaturely activity, are not Scripture phrases; and the mischief is very great, that has been produced by using unscriptural terms, in speaking and writing on religious subjects, when the meaning of those terms is not clear and definite. Such phrases also as sinking down—centering down—digging deep—dwelling deep—turning inward, &c., the reader may have observed, but we hardly need say, they are not the language of Christ and his Apostles. The Apostle Peter exhorted Simon the sorcerer, even when he was in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity, to repent and pray, if perhaps the ​thought of his heart might be forgiven him; but did he caution him in doing this, to be much on his guard against creaturely exertion?
"He told them that they must be still."—Upon what occasion did the Lord Jesus tell his disciples, "that they must be still?" He often told them to believe, and to pray; but we recollect no one instance, in which he recommended the mystical quiet, which in these extracts is represented as of vital importance.
See under Ser. II. Ex. 7; Ser. V. Ex. 2; Ser. VII. Ex. 1 and 2; Ser. x. Ex. 1.
"They could do nothing but merely to wait."—It is a great fallacy to represent, that, unaided by the Holy Spirit, we have the ability, even to wait upon God, in the sense in which David uses the expression, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him."
EXTRACT II.
The authority of the Apostles. Spirit given to every rational creature.
"Oh! that we might look to ourselves, and examine ourselves rightly, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. For I hope we all believe the Apostle's testimony—not by any means because he has said it, but because we feel an evidence of it in ourselves. For there is a portion of the Spirit given to every rational creature under heaven, to profit withal, and it will do the work for us if we will only unite with it." p. 142.
"Not by any means because he has said it."—Is not the testimony of the Apostles really the testimony of ​the Holy Spirit? Where will the errors of that man end, who thinks that we are not required to believe, on the authority of the Apostles? Surely no Christian can entertain such a sentiment. Let us consider the fullness of the divine testimony, with regard to the commission and authority of the Apostles.
1st,—The Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Can we conceive a more plenary commission? What man was ever put on the same footing?
This important mass of evidence, it will be remembered, is wholly independent of the miracles which were wrought by the Apostles, and which, of themselves are irrefragable evidence of their divine commission. In speaking of a mass of evidence, we would observe, that generally each passage is brought forward as being of itself a distinct and full proof; and we would affectionately recommend some of our younger readers in particular, to test them as they go along. We believe this would be a valuable means of fixing some of the great and precious doctrines of the Gospel more permanently in their minds.
There is a portion of the Spirit given to every rational creature under heaven.”—This assertion appears to be made on the ground of the perversion of the passage, 1 Cor. xii. 7:—“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,” and is a humbling proof of the propensity to wrest the Scriptures, for the sake of establishing a favourite doctrine. Was it not to the church of God at Corinth— ​sanctified in Christ Jesus—called saints—enriched in every thing—in all utterance and all knowledge—behind in no gift—called unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom the Apostle was writing concerning spiritual gifts; and plainly in the seventh verse, refers to the proper use of the divers gifts conferred by the Spirit. And there is no more reason why we should suppose every man in the seventh verse means all mankind, than we should conclude all mankind are meant in the eleventh verse.—"All these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will;" an error which none appear to fall into.
"Every candid person, on attentively reading the whole chapter, can hardly fail to be convinced, that the purpose of the Apostle was, to urge the faithful exercise of the several gifts he describes; and to show that whoever was entrusted with any particular gift, and of whatever nature it might be, as all the gifts proceeded from the same Spirit, every man was to consider his gift, not as a private possession, of something for his own benefit, but as an endowment for the benefit of the church, that all might be profited; and that the church might be edified, [built up] whether by Apostles, prophets, teachers, or workers of miracles. And that no such doctrine was here intended, as that "a portion of the Spirit is given to every rational creature:" in contradiction of the express testimony of Christ, John, xiv. 17. "Whom the world cannot receive."
How necessary is it for us to regard the object of the writer, before we fix the meaning of the words which he uses: the adjectives all and every, seem especially to require the exercise of this caution. Take, as ​illustration, the following passages. Many more might be given.
EXTRACT III.
Belief and unbelief.
"And when we come to this principle, this gift of grace, this light, there is no necessity for us to be careful about what we will believe, and what we wont believe; because nothing can give us a true belief but this light. It will give every one of the children of men a belief sufficient to induce them to enter on the work of salvation aright. For as this is the medium, and the only one, by which God continues with his rational creatures; there is no other way by which he gives them an evidence of what is right and what is wrong. For he has set good and evil before us all; and left it for us to choose.—"Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Here as you come to this, you need not trouble yourselves, or recommend to your friends what they must believe, that they must believe this or that;—it is all nonsense, because a man cannot believe just what he wants to believe;—he cannot believe any thing but what the divine light gives him an evidence of, and this he must believe, and he cannot resist it. Here then we discover that belief is no virtue, and unbelief no crime—because why? It is an involuntary thing to man. But when the soul is willing to be instructed by the grace of God, it will be instructed, and when it is instructed, it will have an evidence of the truth, and it cannot resist it,—it is bound and forced to believe it; not from any compulsory measure, but from the clear force of the thing, because it is self evident; and when we have self evident certainty of any thing, though we had no belief about it before, this will be a saving knowledge." p. 146.
How fully in this extract is shown the root of the false doctrines, which it is our object to expose, in contrast with Scripture, viz., the pride of the deceived heart of man, setting itself above the wisdom of God. We now see the reason for the pains that were taken to undermine the Scriptures; until this was done, it was less likely that men would be persuaded to abandon their hope of salvation through Jesus Christ, as therein revealed. But after rejecting the authority of the revelation of the Spirit in Holy Scripture, the atonement made for sin by Jesus Christ is boldly denied; and transgressors against the righteous law of an infinitely pure and holy God, are invited to risk the safety of the never dying soul on the deistical notion furnished by Satan, from the perversion of Scriptural truth, (and therefore the more subtle and dangerous) that all men in the world, believers and unbelievers, are in possession of a principle, independent of the Gospel, sufficient for them to secure the favour of God, and eternal life!
The doctrine of the New Testament is,—
But with affecting consistency we are told, "we need not trouble ourselves what we must believe; or tell others they must believe this or that,—it is all nonsense:" in direct opposition to the express declaration of the Spirit of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
EXTRACT IV.
Quietude sometimes delusive.
"Is it possible that by our own exertions, we could bring ourselves into this quiet? No! by no ability of our own could we effect it. Then have we not reason to attribute to Almighty God this quietude and stillness; which I consider a very great mercy." p. 147.
How easy is it for man to delude himself, when he does not take the Scripture for his guide! What is meant by "this quiet?" Can the "peace of God" be experienced by any but the regenerate; and can they be "renewed in the spirit of their minds," who believe not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?