Sincerity

By sincerity I mean a real, inward principle of religion, from which these outward actions flow. Indeed, if we do not have this, we do not have heathen honesty. We do not have even so much of it as will meet the demand of a heathen Epicurean poet. Even this poor wretch, in his sober intervals, is able to testify.

He testifies in an old Latin line. Good men avoid sin from the love of virtue. Wicked men avoid sin from a fear of punishment.

So if a man only abstains from doing evil in order to avoid punishment, the same pagan has another old Latin line. You shall not be hanged.

There, says the pagan, you have your reward. But even he will not allow such a harmless man as this to be so much as a good heathen. If, then, any man, from the same motive, that is, to avoid punishment, to avoid the loss of his friends, or his gain, or his reputation, should not only abstain from doing evil, but also do ever so much good, yes, and use all the means of grace, still we could not with any propriety say that this man is even almost a Christian. If he has no better principle in his heart, he is only a hypocrite altogether.

Sincerity, therefore, is necessarily implied in being almost a Christian. It is a real design to serve God, a hearty desire to do his will. It is necessarily implied that a man have a sincere aim of pleasing God in all things: in all his conversation, in all his actions, in all he does, and in all he leaves undone. If any man is almost a Christian, this design runs through the whole course of his life. This is the moving principle, both in his doing good, in his abstaining from evil, and in his using the ordinances of God.

But here it will probably be asked, is it possible that any man living should go so far as this, and nevertheless be only almost a Christian? What more than this can be implied in being a Christian altogether? I answer, first, that it is possible to go this far and yet be but almost a Christian. I learn this not only from the oracles of God, but also from the sure testimony of experience.

Brothers, great is my boldness toward you in this matter. Forgive me this wrong, if I declare my own folly upon the housetop, for your sake and the gospel's sake. Bear with me, then, and let me speak freely of myself, even as of another man. I am content to be abased, so that you may be exalted, and to be still more vile, for the glory of my Lord.

I did go this far for many years, as many of this place can testify. I used diligence to avoid all evil, and to have a conscience void of offense. I redeemed the time. I bought up every opportunity of doing all good to all men. I constantly and carefully used all the public means of grace, and all the private means of grace. I endeavored after a steady seriousness of behavior, at all times and in all places.

God is my record, before whom I stand, that I did all this in sincerity. I had a real design to serve God, a hearty desire to do his will in all things, to please him who had called me to fight the good fight, and to lay hold of eternal life. Yet my own conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost that all this time I was but almost a Christian.