Plain Parochial Sermons, preached in the Parish Church of Bolton-le-Moors

by James Slade

The secret of the Lord means, that which cannot be known unless the Lord reveal it; and the phrase here implies, an intimate knowledge of the divine perfections, of the dealings and dispensations of God; a holy and vital communion with Him; an entire trust in His providential care and government; together with that peace, which always dwells in the bosom of a true, penitent, pious believer. All this, including, as it does, a full acquaintance with the doctrines and duties, the privileges and comforts of the life of faith, is called “the secret of the Lord,” because it is hidden from the natural man, and cannot possibly be comprehended or discovered without divine revelation.

Such knowledge and such blessings are not the growth of earth; they are not the produce of the human intellect or the human heart; they must come by spiritual communication, from the fountain of wisdom and truth. When man was driven from the bright abode of paradise, his understanding was darkened; losing the favour, he lost the image of his Maker, and thus became naturally estranged from those holy thoughts and affections, which constitute his chief happiness and glory. Nor is it possible for him to recover this spiritual frame of mind, these heavenly views, this holy and happy acquaintance with God, unless the hand, by which the image was originally stamped, repair the wretched ruin in which it now lies. Whoever would know the ways of God, must be taught of God; to all, who are not so taught, they are impenetrably secret. Thus spake the wisest of men; “The Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity; yea, every good path.” [331a] And thus the apostle, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him;” [331b] that is, man, in his natural state, of ignorance and rebellion against God, cannot form a notion of the value of heavenly blessings; of the enlarged views, the sublimed affections, the sustaining comforts and joys, attainable by an inheritance of the divine promises, both here and hereafter. But, as the apostle proceeds, “God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;” as we exercise our thoughts and judgment upon human matters, by the help of human reason, by the natural powers of the mind, so must we attain the knowledge of divine matters, by the aid of a divine spirit; by a holy illumination and guidance; not indeed by miraculous illapses, but still by the distinct and actual operation of heavenly grace, silently producing its effects upon the understanding and heart.

The pride of man, the disputer of this world, does not submit to this proposition and teaching; perhaps commonly regards them in the light of enthusiasm; he has no notion, that there are any secrets in religion, which his own skill and judgment are not sufficient to reveal; he disbelieves every thing, which he cannot comprehend or feel; and affects to throw a shade of discredit and contempt upon all those religious sentiments and affections, to which he is a stranger. There are not a few such persons in the christian world; who profess to believe all the doctrines of the Bible, and to know all that need or can be known, and yet never submit themselves to, scarcely can be said to pray for or desire, the aid and direction of Almighty God; who imagine, that their liberal education and their common sense entitle them to pass a full and adequate judgment upon all spiritual subjects; and to form a correct notion of all spiritual privileges and blessings.

This is a dangerous and fatal error; a most unfounded presumption; a gross ignorance of the very element and nature of evangelical truth: such persons only judge of the word of God, of the ordinances and benefits of religion, as they would judge of any mere human history; of any worldly occurrence or advantage: they take, what they are pleased to call, a rational view of Christianity; but the only view, which deserves the name of rational, is, not that which appeals to reason alone, but that which is according to truth; according to the acknowledged revelation of God’s sovereign will. Let us again hear the apostle: “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.—But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” [334] The merely rational man, therefore, is a carnal man; not indeed an absolute stranger to the word of grace, but unenlightened by it; he has no true taste for holy and divine things; it is altogether impossible for him to appreciate their merits, or to know any thing of their practical effects.

A familiar instance or two may serve to illustrate this truth. How can any man, who neglects the worship of God, pretend to decide upon its importance and utility? How can he presume to deny its comfortable and salutary influence upon the soul, its powerful efficacy upon the character and life? It is a matter of experience; of which he therefore is unqualified to judge.—He that is a stranger to the grace of God in his heart, may despise those, that regard it and live by it, as fanatical persons, who are deluded by visionary ideas and groundless assurances: but he is only judging others by himself; and it would be marvellous indeed, if he, who is avowedly living without the influence of divine grace, should bear witness to the benefit and happiness which it confers.—What can the intemperate man know of the blessings of temperance? Nothing: except by the want of them.—What can the covetous man know of the pleasures of benevolence and liberality?—the licentious of the excellence of purity, or the ignorant of the treasures of wisdom?—Because the sinner, when overtaken by sickness or affliction, declares that he derives no comfort from religion, are we therefore to conclude, that religion has no comforts at all? Could we think it probable, that the promises of the gospel would afford consolation to him, in an evil hour, when he had all along been an alien to their nature, when they had been unheeded or despised?

It is quite clear, that the benefits and blessings of our holy religion, that the knowledge of God’s word, the power of His Spirit, and the effects of His ordinances, must ever remain a secret to those, who have no intercourse with these things, and set their hearts against them. And whenever the Christian hears his conduct condemned, or his hopes undervalued, by such persons, he may treat them, not with proud disdain, but with a holy disregard: whatever their station in society may be, whatever their learning, whatever their reputation for judgment in worldly affairs, upon spiritual or scriptural matters their opinion is of no weight or worth.

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” The fear of the Lord, in this passage, as in many others of Holy writ, denotes the sum and substance of religion; it implies a sincere faith and trust in God, an awful sense of His majesty, an humble and anxious enquiry after the knowledge of His will, with a holy determination of obedience. And, in addressing these words to a christian congregation, we may understand them as implying that fear and service of God, which proceed from a vital belief in the whole of His revealed law, in the gospel of His ever blessed Son, our supreme Lawgiver and King; as implying moreover an entire concurrence in all the measures ordained for our salvation. The fear of God, though common to all believers under every divine dispensation, will vary in its operation and extent, according to the nature and fulness of their dispensation; it will lead them to believe and love and obey, according to their knowledge, to their opportunities and means of grace, and therefore the believer in the gospel shews the working of this holy principle in the full bearing of evangelical fruit.

All who so believe and live, shall have the secret of the Lord abundantly revealed; “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father; and I will love him and will manifest Myself unto him. The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things.” [338] The humble disciples of Christ are blest in all their researches after divine truth and knowledge: when they contemplate the perfections of the Godhead, their capacities are enlarged, their affections devoutly engaged, their hearts disposed to profit withal. A deep sense of the majesty and power of Jehovah leads them to reverence Him; a sense of His justice leads them to walk uprightly; of His omnipresence, to live holily; of His goodness, to serve Him with gratitude and love. Whilst the cold philosopher, whilst the worldly-minded and the sinner view these great subjects only with a theoretical eye, without any moral or religious improvement, the spiritual believer is powerfully moved and affected; and walks in the light of truth every day and hour.

In their devotional exercises, the faithful servants of the Lord are peculiarly blessed; are made sensible of His presence and His power. When they pour forth their prayers and praises at the throne of grace; when they thus hold a nearer communion with their reconciled God, a heavenly tranquillity and delight are spread over their souls; they know and feel their connexion with “the Father of spirits,” and they rise from their devotion with an humble confidence, that the tribute of their heart has been accepted; that their fervent supplications will be answered, in God’s appointed time and way, through the merits and intercession of a merciful Redeemer. To these inspiring hopes and persuasions the impenitent sinner is an utter stranger: if he prays at all, it is but the outward service of the lips; there can be nothing of the spiritual principle of devotion, and therefore nothing of its fruit.

Again: when the humble pious believer sits down to the study of the Bible, with a pure desire to discover and perform the holy will of God; to be nourished with the bread of life; and to draw, from the fountain of truth, the waters of eternal salvation; the grace of the Holy Spirit is with him, to remove the veil from his corrupt heart, and thus to open and enlarge his understanding: by this means he perceives “the wondrous things” of the divine law, and applies them for his own personal edification and comfort. The true import of the doctrines, there contained, is progressively unfolded to his view; and the full bearing, of every precept and rule of life, is pressed with increasing force and authority upon his heart. He admires and reverences the holy book; he loves all that it contains; his soul is rapt in the contemplation of the stupendous mystery of goodness and godliness; it elevates his prospects and affections above this lower world; he has “tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come;” [341] he beholds, with the eye of faith, his inheritance in the skies; and this his heavenly view brightens as he advances.