nurse, who may allow it to die? Oh! no; what we love, we will not wantonly throw away; what we esteem most precious, we will guard with the most anxious care. So, if Christians knew the value of their souls, if they estimated religion at its proper rate, they never would presume; but low thoughts of Christ, low thoughts of God, mean thoughts of our souls’ eternal state — these things tend to make us carelessly secure. Take heed, therefore, of low ideas of the gospel, lest you are overtaken by the evil one.
8. 4. But again, this presumption often springs from ignorance of what we are, and where we stand. Many Christians have not yet learned what they are. It is true, the first teaching of God is to show us our own state, but we do not know that thoroughly until many years after we have known Jesus Christ. The fountains of the great deep within our hearts are not broken up all at once; the corruption of our soul is not developed in an hour. “Son of man,” said the angel of Ezekiel, “I will show you the abominations of Israel.” He then took him in at one door, where he saw abominable things, and stood aghast. “Son of man, I will show you greater abominations than these”; then he takes him into another chamber, and Ezekiel says, “Surely I have now seen the worst.” “No,” says the angel, “I will show you greater things than these.” So, all our life long the Holy Spirit reveals to us the horrid abomination of our hearts. I know there are some here who do not think anything about it; they think they are good hearted creatures. Good hearts, have you? Good hearts! Jeremiah had a better heart than you, yet he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” No, the black lesson cannot be learned in a night. God alone knows the evil of the heart; and Young says, “God spares all eyes but his own that awful sight — the vision of a human heart.” If we could but see it, we should stand aghast. Well, it is ignorance of this that makes us presume. We say, “I have a good nature, I have a noble disposition; I have none of those hot and angry passions that some have; I can stand secure; I have not that dry, tindery heart that is on fire in a moment; my passions are weakened; my powers for evil are somewhat taken down, and I may stand safely.” Ah! you little know that when you talk like this, then you presume. Oh worm of the dust, you are not yet free from an evil nature, for sin and corruption remain in the heart even of the regenerate; and it is strangely true, though it appears a paradox, as Ralph Erskine said, that a Christian sometimes thinks himself
To good and evil bent
And both a devil and a saint.
There is such corruption in a Christian, that while he is a saint in his life, and justified through Christ, he seems a devil sometimes in imagination, and a demon in the wishes and corruptions of his soul. Take heed, Christian, you have need to be upon the watch tower; you have a heart of unbelief; therefore watch you both night and day.
9. 5. But to finish this delineation of a presumptuous man — Pride is the most pregnant cause of presumption. In all its various shapes it is the fountain of carnal security. Sometimes it is pride of talent. God has endowed a man with gifts; he is able to stand before the multitude, or to write for the many; he has a discerning mind, he has a judgment, and such like things. Then he says, “As for the ignorant, those who have no talent, they may fall; my brother ought to take care: but look at me. How am I wrapped in grandeur!” And thus in his self-complacency he thinks he stands. Ah! those are the men that fall. How many that flamed like comets in the sky of the religious world have rushed into space and been quenched in darkness! How many a man who has stood like a prophet before his fellows, and who would exclaim as he wrapped himself in his conceit, “I, only I am alive; I am the only prophet of God”; and yet that only prophet fell; his lamp was quenched, and his light put out in darkness. How many have boasted of their might and dignity, and have said, “I have built this mighty Babylon,” but then they thought they stood, and they fell at once. “Let him that thinks he stands,” with the proudest talents, “take heed lest he fall.”
10. Others have the pride of grace. That is a curious fact; but there is such a thing as being proud of grace. A man says, “I have great faith, I shall not fall; poor Little-Faith may, but I never shall.” “I have fervent love,” says another man, “I can stand, there is no danger of my going astray, as for my brother over there, he is so cold and slow, he will fall, I dare say.” Says another, “I have a most burning hope of heaven, and that hope will triumph; it will purge my soul from sense and sin, as Christ the Lord is pure. I am safe.” He who boasts of grace, has little grace to boast of. But there are some who do that, who think their graces will keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountain head, else the bed of the brook shall soon be dry, and you shall see the pebbles at the bottom. If a continuous stream of oil come not to the lamp, though it burn brightly today, it shall smoke tomorrow, and noxious will be the scent of it. Take heed that you neither glory in your talents nor in your graces.
11. Many are worse still; they think they shall not fall because of their privileges. “I take the sacrament, I have been baptized in an orthodox manner, as written in God’s word; I attend such and such a ministry; I am well fed; I am fat and flourishing in the courts of my God. If I were one of those starved creatures who hear a false gospel, possibly I might sin; but oh! our minister is the model of perfection; we are constantly fed and made fat; surely we shall stand.” Thus in the complacency of their privileges they run down others, exclaiming, “My mountain stands firm, I shall never be moved.” Take heed, presumption, take heed. Pride comes before a fall; and a haughty spirit is the usher of destruction. Take heed; watch your footsteps; for where pride creeps in, it is the worm at the root of the gourd, causing it to wither and die. “Let him that thinks he stands,” because of pride of talent, or grace, or privilege, “take heed lest he fall.”
12. I hope I have touched some here; I trust the lancet has been sharp; I have taken the scalpel, and I hope I have discovered something. Oh you presumptuous ones, I speak to you; and I shall do so while next I warn you of your danger.
13. II. I shall be more brief on the second point — THE DANGER. He who thinks he stands is in danger of a fall. The true Christian cannot possibly suffer a final fall but he is very much disposed to a foul fall. Though the Christian shall not stumble so as to destroy his life, he may break his limb. Though God has given his angels charge over him, to keep him in all his ways, yet there is no commission to keep him when he goes astray; and when he is astray he may thrust himself through with many sorrows.
14. 1. I must now try and give you the reason why a man who thinks he stands is more exposed to the danger of falling than any other. First, because such a man in the midst of temptation will be sure to be more or less careless. Make a man believe he is very strong, and what will he do? The fight is thickening around him; yet he has his sword in his scabbard. “Oh,” he says, “my arm is nimble and strong; I can draw it out and strike home.” So perhaps he lies down in the field, or slothfully sleeps in his tent; “for,” he says, “when I hear enemies approaching, such is my prowess and such my might, that I can mow them down by thousands. You sentinels watch the weak; go to the Ready-to-Halts and the Fearings, and arouse them. But I am a giant; and let me once get this old Toledo blade in my hand, it will cut through body and soul. Whenever I meet my enemies, I shall be more than conqueror.” The man is careless in battle. He lifts up his helmet, as it is said Goliath did, and then a stone pierces his forehead; he throws away his shield, and then an arrow penetrates his flesh; he will put his sword into his scabbard, then the enemy smites him, and he is ill prepared to resist. The man who thinks he is strong, is off his guard; he is not ready to parry the stroke of the evil one, and then the sword enters his soul.
15. 2. Again, the man who thinks he stands will not be careful to keep out of the way of temptation, but rather will run into it. I remember seeing a man who was going to a place of worldly amusement — he was a professor of religion — and I called to him, “What are you doing there, Elijah?” “Why do you ask me such a question as that?” said he. I said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?
