Another reason why every man who wishes to be safe must be in earnest, and be violent is this, there are so many adversaries to oppose us, that if we are not violent we shall never be able to overcome them. Do you remember that beautiful parable in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress? “I saw also, that the Interpreter took him by the hand, and led him into a pleasant place, where a stately palace stood, beautiful to behold; at the sight of which Christian was greatly delighted. He saw also upon its top certain people walking, who were clothed all in gold. Then said Christian, ‘May we go in there?’ Then the Interpreter took him and led him up toward the door of the palace; and behold, at the door stood a great company of men, as desirous to go in, but dared not. There also sat a man near the door at a table with a book and his inkhorn before him, to record the name of him who should enter in it; he saw also that in the doorway stood many men in armour to guard it, being resolved to do to the men that would enter whatever hurt and mischief they could. Now was Christian somewhat amazed. At last, when every man fell back in fear of the armed men, Christian saw a man of a very stout countenance come up to the man that sat there to write, saying, ‘Record my name, sir’; which he did. Then he saw the man draw his sword, and put a helmet upon his head, and rush toward the door upon the armed men, who laid upon him with deadly force, but the man was not at all discouraged and started cutting and hacking most fiercely. So after he had received and given many wounds to those who attempted to keep him out, {Matthew 11:12 Acts 14:22} he cut his way through them all, and pressed forward into the palace; at which there was a pleasant voice heard from those who were within, even of those who walked upon the top of the palace, saying,
Come in, come in,
Eternal glory you shall win.
So he went in, and was clothed with such garments as they had.” And surely the dreamer saw the truth in his dream. It is even so. If we would win eternal glory we must fight.
Sure we must fight, if we would reign;
Increase our courage, Lord!
You have enemies within you, enemies without, enemies beneath, enemies on every side — the world, the flesh, and the devil; and if the Spirit of God has quickened you, he has made a soldier of you, and you can never sheathe your sword until you gain the victory. The man who wishes to be saved must be violent, because of the opposition he has to encounter.
13. But do you still condemn this man, and say that he is an enthusiast and a fanatic? Then God himself comes forth to vindicate his despised servant. Know that this is the sign, the mark of distinction between the true child of God and the bastard professor. The men who are not God’s children are a careless, stumbling, cold hearted race. But the men who are God’s in sincerity and truth, are burning as well as shining lights. They are as brilliant constellations in the firmament of heaven, burning stars of God. Of all things in the world, God hates most the man that is neither hot nor cold. Better to have no religion than have a little: better to be altogether without it, enemies to it, than to have just enough to make you respectable but not enough to make you earnest. What does God say concerning the religion of this day? “So then because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spue you out of my mouth.” Lukewarmness of all things God abhors, and yet of all things it is the predominant mark of the present day. The time of the Methodists, of Whitfield and Wesley, was a time indeed of fire and of divine violence and vigour. But we have gradually cooled down, now, into a delightful consistency, and though here and there, there is a little breaking out of the old desperado spirit of the Christian religion, yet for the most part the world has so mesmerized the church, that she is as nearly asleep as she can be; and much of her teaching, and much of the doings of her religious societies, is sheer sleep walking. It is not the wide awake earnestness of those who walk with their eyes open. They walk in their sleep; very nimbly they walk, too, and very nicely they “trim their way,” but very little is there of the life of God in anything they do, and very little of divine success attending their agencies, because they are not violent with regard to the matters of the kingdom of God.
14. III. Having thus endeavoured to screen the violent men from harsh criticism, I shall now invite you for a moment to reflect, that THE VIOLENT MAN IS ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL. Do you think you are going to be carried to heaven on a feather bed? Have you got a notion in your heads that the road to paradise is all a lawn, the grass smoothly mown, still waters and green pastures ever and immediately to cheer you? You have just got to clear your heads of that deceitful fantasy. The way to heaven is uphill and downhill; up hill with difficulty, downhill with trials. It is through fire and through water, through flood and through flame, by the lions and by the leopards. Through the very mouths of dragons is the path to paradise. But the man who finds it so, and who desperately resolves in the strength of God to tread that path — no, who does not resolve as if he could do nothing else but resolve, but who feels driven, as if with a hurricane behind him, to go into the right road, this man is never unsuccessful, never. Where God has given a violent anxiety for salvation he never disappoints it. No soul that has ever cried for it with a violent cry has been disappointed. From the beginning of creation until now there has never been raised to the throne of God a violent and earnest prayer which missed its answer. Go, soul, in the strong confidence that if you go earnestly you go successfully. God may sooner deny himself than deny the request of an earnest man. Our God may sooner cease to be “the Lord God, gracious and merciful,” than cease to bless the men who seek the gates of heaven, with the violence of faith and prayer. Oh, reflect, that all the saints above have been led by divine grace to wrestle hard as we do now with sins, and doubts, and fears. They had no smooth path to glory. They had to fight every inch the way with the point of the sword. So must you: and as surely as you are enabled to do so, so surely will you conquer. Only the violent are saved, and all the violent are saved. When God makes a man violent after salvation, that man cannot perish. The gates of heaven may sooner be unhinged than that man be robbed of the prize for which he has fought.
15. IV. And, now I have to close, for I find my voice fails me this morning, when I most need it. I have to close abruptly by endeavouring earnestly TO EXCITE EACH OF YOU TO A VIOLENCE AFTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. In this great crowd there are surely some of the class I am about to describe. There is one man here who says, “I do not know that I have done much wrong in my life: I am about as good as the next man. Do I not attend a place of worship regularly? I believe that I shall most certainly be saved. But I do not take much trouble about it, it never really disturbs me. I do not like” — says this man — “that intrusive land of religion that always seems to be thrusting itself in everyone’s way. I think it is quite right that people should go to their place of worship, but why take any further trouble? I just believe that I shall fare as other people fare: I am a steady unpretending sort of man, and I have no reason to doubt that I shall be saved.” Ah, friend, have you never seen the gate of heaven? It is obvious that you have never seen it, or else you would know better; for at the gate of heaven multitudes are struggling, the gates of heaven are thronged, and he who wishes to enter there must press, and elbow, and push, or he may go away certain that he can never enter. No! your easy religion will just bring you in too late. It may carry you nine miles out of ten; but what is the good of that to a man who must perish unless he is carried the whole way? It will go along way with you when you follow the counsels of a gospel ministry with outward propriety, but at the judgment bar of God it will utterly fail you, when you lack the inward witness of strong crying and supplications. No! an easy religion is the way to hell, for it is not the way to heaven. Let your soul alone, and you need not expect much good fruit to come of it, any more than a farmer who leaves his fields alone, needs to expect to reap a harvest. Your religion is vain and futile if that is all. “Ah” cries another “but I am in quite a different state. I am a sinner so vile, sir, that I know I never can be saved, therefore, what is the use? I never think about it now, except with blank despair. Have I not long rebelled against God; will he ever pardon me? No, no; do not exhort me to try. I may as well take my full swing of pleasure while I am here, for I feel I never shall enjoy the pleasures of heaven hereafter.” Stop friend, “The violent take it by force.” If the Lord has taught
