6. Do not expect that the evidence desired will all come immediately and at once. It will be most likely to come progressively, as the result of continued effort in obedience to the will of God.
7. Do not suppose that religion is a principle of such self-preserving energy, as that when once implanted in the soul it will continue to thrive and increase without effort. The plant of divine grace can no more thrive without care, and diligent and patient cultivation, than can those rare and valued plants, that demand the physical efforts and culture of man.
God will not sustain and bring to maturity the work of grace, without your own voluntary concurrence in the diligent use of means. He will not do it any more than he would cause the harvest to whiten in the field of the sluggard. Indulge, therefore, no such ideas of inability and dependence on God, as shall impair a full sense of perfect obligation to do whatever can be done in working out your own salvation. God never promises to assist any but those who make efforts to aid and advance themselves.
8. Entertain no such ideas of the sovereignty of God in the bestowment of his grace, as would awaken any doubt of his affording needful aid, where he sees sincere endeavours to grow in grace. If some christians are more eminent than others, it is simply because they make more efforts to be so, and God aids these efforts. So that all worldly minded and indifferent christians continue in this state, because they do not choose to make efforts to get out of it. Any person can be an eminent christian that chooses to be so. Christians are too apt to feel as if eminence in piety was a distinction made by the sovereignty of God, and to suppose that high attainments are not within the reach of all, and that languid and inefficient piety is the result of divine sovereignty rather than negligence and sloth. A more false or more pernicious opinion cannot easily be adopted by Christians. The truth is, that the road to eminence in gifts and graces, and the means of obtaining them, are open to all who seek them, and if any do not attain them; it is owing to their own sloth and inefficiency, and not to any deficiency on the part of God in blessing diligent efforts. It always pleases him to crown with success the hand of the diligent instead of the hand of the slothful, not only in temporal but in spiritual things. This thought cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of those who are just commencing the christian life. To them peculiarly, are such promises as these directed; “Ask, and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Every one that asketh receiveth,” &c.
Do not be afraid of indulging in feelings which may seem to be right, from the fear of deception. On the contrary, cherish such feelings and try to recall them often. Go forward and do your duty, and God will save you from deception while thus employed.
10. There is one caution which is peculiarly needful to those who have been greatly interested in the subject of religion, and that is, to take particular care of the health.
There is such a mysterious and intimate connection between the mind and body, that one cannot be wearied or suffer, without affecting the other. When the mind is fatigued and exhausted, it affects the body, and this again reacts on the mind.
Every person ought to be aware, that the more anxiously and intensely the mind is interested on any subject, the greater is the need of exercise, sleep and frequent relaxation. Attention to religion, does not demand that all lawful business be suspended, and forbids the neglect of all needful rest and exercise; but be very cautious here, lest you mistake negligence in religion, for a necessary attention to the health.
11. Do not expect to be made very happy by religion, unless you become eminent christians. A half way christian can neither enjoy the pleasures of the world nor the pleasures of religion; for his conscience will not let him seek the one, and he is too indolent to obtain the other. The christian may be the happiest man on earth, but he must be a faithful, active, and devoted christian. None are disappointed in finding religion a source of unfailing peace and joy, but those who refuse to drink deep of the wells of salvation; unless we except those who, from some derangement of the nervous system, or failure of health, do not enjoy the clear and undisturbed exercise of their faculties. A healthy mind in a healthy body, may always be made happy by religion.
12. Do not look at the practice and example of other christians, in forming the standard of piety at which you aim. The allowance of this thing, has probably had a more disastrous influence on the church and on the world, than all other causes that could be named. Generally, when persons commence a christian life, their consciences are susceptible and tender. They are strict and watchful in the performance of duty, and are pained even by a slight neglect. They have been wont to feel, that becoming religious implies a great change; that “old things must pass away and all things become new.” But when they begin to look around among their christian friends, and turn to them for aid, and those who have had experience and have made advances in christian life, they find that they seem to look upon duties and deficiencies in a very different manner. They seem to neglect many things which the young christian has felt to be very important; and to practice many things which he had supposed inconsistent with religion. Then commences the disastrous effect. The young christian begins to feel that he need not be more particular than those to whom he has ever looked up with deference and respect. He begins to imagine that he has been rather too strict and particular. He begins to take a retrograde course, and though his conscience and the bible often check and reprove, yet after a few inefficient struggles, he lowers his standard and walks as others do.