Sermons on Several Occasions/Volume I/Preface

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