by Rev. J. C. Ryle
(Continued from Page 106)
II. Let us in the second place consider, Why Paul says, “Let us hold fast our profession.” The answer to this question is threefold, and demands the serious attention of all who hope that they are really sincere in their Christian profession.
(a) For one thing, OUR HEARTS are always weak and foolish, even after conversion. We may have passed from death to life, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds. We may see the value of our souls, as we once did not. We may have become new creatures; old things may have passed away, and all things may have become new. But believers must never forget that until they die they carry about with them a weak, foolish, and treacherous heart. The roots of all manner of evil are still within us, although cut down to the ground by the grace of the Holy Ghost. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, there are within us, at our very best, latent dislike of trouble, secret desire to please man and keep in with the world, carelessness about our private Bible-reading and our prayers, envy and jealousy of others, laziness about doing good, selfishness and desire to have our own way, forgetfulness of the wishes of others, and want of watchfulness over our own besetting sins. All these things are often lying hid within us, and below the surface of our hearts. The holiest saint may find to his cost some day that they are all there alive, and ready to show themselves. No wonder that our Lord said to the three apostles in the garden, “Watch ye, and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 19: 38). I have no doubt that St Paul had the heart in view, when he wrote those words, “Hold fast”. “Let us, therefore, hold fast our profession.”
(b) For another thing, the world is a source of immense danger to the Christian soul. From the day that we are converted, we are living in a most unhealthy atmosphere for religion. We live and move and have our being in the midst of a vast multitude of people who are utterly without vital Christianity. In every rank of life we meet with hundreds who, however moral and respectable, seem to care for nothing but such things as these, — What shall I eat? What shall I drink? What can I get? What can I spend? How shall I spend my time? What profit can I make? What amusement can I have? What pleasant company can I enjoy? — As for God, and Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and the Bible, and prayer, and repentance, and faith, and holy living, and doing good in the world, and death, and resurrection, and judgment, and heaven and hell, they are subjects which never appear to come across them except in sickness, or at a funeral. Now to live constantly in the midst of such people, as a Christian must do, is sure to be a great trial to him, and requires constant watchfulness to prevent his getting harm. We are incessantly tempted to give way about little things, and to make compromises and concessions. We naturally dislike giving offence to others, and having frictions and collisions with relatives, friends, and neighbours. We do not like to be laugh-
ed at and ridiculed by the majority, and to feel that we are always in a minority in every company into which we go. I fear that too many are laughed out of heaven and laughed into hell. It is a true saying of Solomon, “The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Prov. 29: 25). I once knew a brave sergeant of a cavalry regiment, who, after living to the age of fifty without any religion, became for the last few years of his life a decided Christian. He told me that when he first began to think about his soul and to pray, some months passed away before he dare tell his wife that he said his prayers; and that he used to creep upstairs without his boots at evening, that his wife might not hear him, and find out what he was doing!
The plain truth is that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5: 19), and it is vain to ignore the danger that the world causes to the believer’s soul. The spirit of the world and the tone of the world, and the tastes of the world, and the air of the world, and the breath of the world are continually about him every day that he lives, drawing him down and pulling him back. If he does not keep his faith in lively exercise, he is sure to catch infection, and take damage, like the travellers through the Campagna at Rome, who take the fever without being aware of it at the time. The most perilous and unsanitary gas is that which our bodily senses do not detect. We have reason to pray continually for an increase of that faith of which St John says, that it gives us the victory over the world (1 John 5: 4). Happy, indeed, is that Christian who can be in the world and yet not of the world, — who can do his duty in it, and yet not be conformed to it, — who can pass through it unmoved by its smiles or its frowns, its flattery or its enmity, its open opposition or its playful ridicule, its sweets or its bitters, its gold or its sword! When I think what the world is, and see what harm it has done, and is doing to souls, I do not wonder that St Paul says “Hold fast.” “Let us hold fast our profession.”
(c) For one thing more, the devil is a constant enemy to the Christian’s soul. That great, sleepless, and unwearied foe is always labouring to do us harm. It is his constant object to wound, hurt, vex, injure, or weaken, if he cannot kill and destroy. He is an unseen enemy who is always near us, “about our path, and about our bed,” and spying out all our ways, prepared to suit his temptations to the special weak points of every man. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. He has been studying one book for 6000 years, — the book of fallen human nature, — and he is a spirit of almost boundless subtlety and cunning, and of boundless malice. The best of saints has little idea how many vile suggestions in his heart come from the devil, and what a restless adversary stands at his right
hand.
This is he who tempted Eve at the beginning, and persuaded her that she might disobey God, eat the forbidden fruit and not die. — This is he who tempted David to number the people, and to cause the death of 70,000 of his subjects by pestilence in three days. — This is he who tried to tempt our Lord in the wilderness immediately after His baptism, and even quoted Scripture to gain his end. — This is he who opposed our Lord all throughout His three years’ ministry, sometimes by possessing the bodies of unhappy men and women in a most mysterious manner, and at last by putting it into the heart of one of His apostles to betray Him. — This is he who constantly opposed the apostles after our Lord’s ascension, and tried to stop the progress of the Gospel. — This is he of whom St Paul testifies that even “Satan is transformed into an angel of light,” and that false teachers are his agents. (2 Cor 11: 14).
Does any reader of this paper foolishly suppose that the devil is asleep, or dead, or less mischievous now than in old time? Nothing of the kind! He is still “walking about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” He is still “going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it” (1 Peter 5: 8; Job 1: 7). It is he who goes among heathen nations and persuades them to shed oceans of blood in the worship of idols, or murderous wars. — It is he who goes to and fro amongst fallen Churches, persuading them to throw aside the Bible, and satisfy people with formal worship or grovelling superstitions. — It is he who walks up and down in Protestant countries, and stirs up party spirit, and bitter political strife, setting class against class, and subjects against rulers, in order to distract men’s minds from better things. — It is he who is continually going to the ears of intellectual and highly educated men, persuading them that the old Bible is not true, and advising them to be content with Atheism, Theism, Agnosticism, Secularism, and a general contempt for the world to come. — It is he, above all, who persuades foolish people that there is no such person as a devil, and no future judgment after death, and no hell. In all this fearful list of things I firmly believe that the devil lies at the bottom, and is the true root, reason, and cause. Can we suppose for a moment that he will let true Christians go quietly to heaven, and not tempt them by the way? Away with the silly thought! We have need to pray against the devil, as well as against the world and the flesh. In the great trinity of enemies which the believer should daily remember, the devil perhaps is the greatest because he is the least seen. Nothing delights him so much (if, indeed, he can be delighted at all) as to injure a true Christian and make him bring discredit on his religion.
When I think of the devil, I do not wonder that St Paul said “Hold fast.” “Let us hold fast our profession.”
Now I suspect that some reader of this paper may be secretly thinking that I am an alarmist, and that there is no need of such watchfulness, carefulness, and “holding fast.” I ask such a person to turn with me to the Bible for a few moments, and to consider seriously what that blessed Book teaches.
I ask him to remember that Judas Iscariot and Demas both began well, and made a good profession. One was a chosen apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, a constant companion of our blessed Saviour for three years. He walked with Him, talked with Him, heard His teaching, saw His miracles, and up to the very night before our Lord was crucified was never thought a worse man than Peter, James and John. Yet this unhappy man at last let go his profession, betrayed his Master, came to a miserable end, and went to his own place. — The other man whom I named, Demas, was a chosen companion of the Apostle St Paul, and professed to be of like mind with that eminent man of God. There can be little doubt that for some years he journeyed with him, helped him, and took part in his evangelistic labours. But how did it all end? He gave up his profession, and the last Epistle St Paul wrote contains this melancholy record: “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Tim. 4: 10). We never hear of him again. To every one who thinks I have dwelt too much on the Christian’s dangers, I say this day, Remember Demas, remember Judas Iscariot, tighten your grasp, “hold fast your profession,” and beware. We may appear to men to be very good Christians for a season, and yet prove at last to be stony-ground hearers, and destitute of a wedding garment.
But this is not all. I ask every believer to remember that if he does not “hold fast,” he may pierce himself through with many sorrows, and bring great discredit on his character. We should never forget David’s awful fall in the matter of the wife of Uriah, and Peter’s thrice-repeated denial of his Master, and Cranmer’s temporary cowardice, of which he so bitterly repented at last. Are we greater and stronger than they? “Let us not be high-minded, but fear.” There is a godly fear which is of great use to the soul. It was the great Apostle of the Gentiles who wrote these words: “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest” after “I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9: 27).
Does any Christian reader of these pages desire much happiness in his religion, and much joy and peace in believing? Let him take an old minister’s advice this day, and “hold fast his profession”. Let him resolve
to be very thorough, very decided, very watchful, very careful about the state of his soul. The more boldly he shows his colours, and the more uncompromising and firm he is, the lighter will he find his heart, the more sensibly will he feel the sun shining on his face. None are so happy in God’s service as decided Christians. When John Rogers, the first martyr in Queen Mary’s time, was being led to Smithfield to be burned, the French Ambassador reported that he looked as bright and cheerful as if he were going to his wedding.
Does any Christian reader of these pages desire much usefulness to others in his religion? Let me assure him that none do so much good in the long run of life, and leave such a mark on their generation as those who “hold fast their profession” most tightly, and are most decided servants of Christ. Few men, perhaps, did more for the cause of the Protestant Reformation, and shook the power of Rome more completely in this country, than the two noble bishops who were burned back to back at one stake in Oxford, and would not let go their faith to save their lives. I need not say that I refer to Ridley and Latimer. The careless, thoughtless, irreligious world takes notice of such men, and is obliged to allow that there is something real and solid in their religion. The more light shines in our lives, the more good shall we do in the world. It is not for nothing that our Lord says, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5: 16).
Let us gather up all these things in our memories and never forget them. Let it be a settled principle in our minds that it is of immeasurable importance to our happiness and usefulness to “hold fast our profession,” and to be always on our guard. Let us dismiss from our minds the crude modern idea that a believer has only got to sit still, and “yield himself” to God. Let us rather maintain the language of Scripture, and strive to “mortify the deeds of our body,” to “crucify our flesh,” to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,” to wrestle, to fight, and live the soldier’s life. (Rom. 3: 13; Gal. 5: 24; 2 Cor. 6: 1; Eph. 6: 12; 1 Tim. 6: 12; 2 Tim. 2: 3). One might think that the account of the armour of God in the Epistle to the Ephesians ought to settle the question of our duty. But the plain truth is, men will persist in confounding two things that differ, — that is, justification and sanctification. In justification, the word to be addressed to man is, Believe, only believe. In sanctification, the word must be, Watch, pray and fight. What God has divided, let us not mingle and confuse. I can find no words to express my own deep sense of the immense importance of “holding fast our profession.”