[BBC List] The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion

[Mike Abendroth]

The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion 
by Samuel Davies 
(1723-1761) 
from: http://www.tracts.ukgo.com/davies_lukewarmness.doc

Revelation 3:15-16-I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I
would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither
cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

The soul of man is endowed with such active powers that it cannot be idle;
and, if we look round the world, we see it all alive and busy in some
pursuit or other. What vigorous action, what labor[1]
<http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>  and
toil, what hurry, noise, and commotion about the necessities of life, about
riches and honors! Here men are in earnest: here there is no dissimulation,
no indifference about the event. They sincerely desire and eagerly strive
for these transient delights, or vain embellishments of a mortal life. 
And may we infer farther, that creatures, thus formed for action, and thus
laborious and unwearied in these inferior pursuits, are proportionately
vigorous and in earnest in matters of infinitely greater importance? May we
conclude that they proportion their labor and activity to the nature of
things, and that they are most in earnest where they are most concerned? A
stranger to our world, that could conclude nothing concerning the conduct of
mankind but from the generous presumptions of his own charitable heart,
might persuade himself that this is the case. But one that has been but a
little while conversant with them, and taken the least notice of their
temper and practice with regard to that most interesting thing, Religion,
must know it is quite otherwise. For look around you, and what do you see?
Here and there indeed you may see a few unfashionable creatures, who act as
if they looked upon religion to be their most interesting concern; and who
seem determined, let others do as they will, to make sure of salvation,
whatever becomes of them in other respects; but as to the generality, they
are very indifferent about it. They will not indeed renounce all religion
entirely; they will make some little profession of the religion that happens
to be most fashionable and reputable in their country, and they will conform
to some of its institutions; but it is a matter of indifference with them,
and they are but little concerned about it; or in the language of my text,
they are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot. 
This threatening, "I will spew thee out of my mouth," has been long ago
executed with a dreadful severity upon the Laodicean church; and it is now
succeeded by a mongrel race of Pagans and Mahometans; and the name of Christ
is not heard among them. But, though this church has been demolished for so
many hundreds of years, that lukewarmness of spirit in religion which
brought this judgment upon them, still lives, and possesses the Christians
of our age; it may therefore be expedient for us to consider Christ's
friendly warning to them, that we may escape their doom. 
The epistles to the seven churches in Asia are introduced with this solemn
and striking preface, "I know thy works:" that is to say, your character is
drawn by one that thoroughly knows you; one who inspects all your conduct,
and takes notice of you when you take no notice of yourselves; one that
cannot be imposed upon by an empty profession and artifice, but searches the
heart and the reins. Oh that this truth were deeply impressed upon our
hearts, for surely we could not trifle and offend while sensible that we are
under the eye of our Judge! 
I know thy works, says he to the Laodicean church, that thou art neither
cold nor hot. This church was in a very bad condition, and Christ reproves
her with the gravest severity;*
<http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>  and yet
we do not find her charged with the practice or toleration of any gross
immoralities, as some of the other churches were. She is not censured for
indulging fornication among her members, or communicating with idolaters in
eating things sacrificed to idols, like some of the rest. She was free from
the infection of the Nicolaitans, which had spread among them. What then is
her charge? It is a subtle, latent wickedness, that has no shocking
appearance, that makes no gross blemish in the outward character of a
professor in the view of others, and may escape his own notice; it is, Thou
art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot: as if our Lord had said, Thou dost
not entirely renounce and openly disregard the Christian religion, and thou
dost not make it a serious business, and mind it as thy grand concern. Thou
hast a form of godliness, but deniest the power. All thy religion is a dull
languid thing, a mere indifference; thine heart is not in it; it is not
animated with the fervor of thy spirit. Thou hast neither the coldness of
the profligate sinner, nor the sacred fire and life of the true Christian;
but thou keepest a sort of medium between them. In some things thou
resemblest the one, in other things the other; as lukewarmness partakes of
the nature both of heat and cold. 
Now such a lukewarmness is an eternal solecism in religion; it is the most
absurd and inconsistent thing imaginable: more so than avowed impiety, or a
professed rejection of all religion: therefore, says Christ, I would thou
wert cold or hot" i.e., "You might be anything more consistently than what
you are. If you looked upon religion as a cheat, and openly rejected the
profession of it, it would not be strange that you should be careless about
it, and disregard it in practice. But to own it true, and make a profession
of it, and yet be lukewarm and indifferent about it, this is the most absurd
conduct that can be conceived; for, if it be true, it is certainly the most
important and interesting truth in all the world, and requires the utmost
exertion of all your powers." 
When Christ expresses his abhorrence of lukewarmness in the form of a wish,
I would thou wert cold or hot, we are not to suppose his meaning to be, that
coldness or fervor in religion is equally acceptable, or that coldness is at
all acceptable to him; for reason and revelation concur to assure us, that
the open rejection and avowed contempt of religion is an aggravated
wickedness, as well as a hypocritical profession. But our Lord's design is
to express, in the strongest manner possible, how odious and abominable
their lukewarmness was to him; as if he should say, "Your state is so bad,
that you cannot change for the worse; I would rather you were any thing than
what you are." You are ready to observe, that the lukewarm professor is in
reality wicked and corrupt at heart, a slave to sin, and an enemy to God, as
well as the avowed sinner; and therefore they are both hateful in the sight
of God, and both in a state of condemnation. But there are some aggravations
peculiar to the lukewarm professor that render him peculiarly odious; as, 1.
He adds the sin of a hypocritical profession to his other sins. The
wickedness of real irreligion, and the wickedness of falsely pretending to
be religious, meet and centre in him at once. 2. To all this he adds the
guilt of presumption, pride, and self-flattery, imagining he is in a safe
state and in favor with God; whereas he that makes no pretensions to
religion, has no such umbrage for this conceit and delusion. Thus the
miserable Laodiceans "thought themselves rich, and increased in goods, and
in need of nothing." 3. Hence it follows, that the lukewarm professor is in
the most dangerous condition, as he is not liable to conviction, nor so
likely to be brought to repentance. Thus publicans and harlots received the
gospel more readily than the self-righteous Pharisees. 4. The honor of God
and religion is more injured by the negligent, unconscientious behavior of
these Laodiceans, than by the vices of those who make no pretensions to
religion; with whom therefore its honor has no connection. On these accounts
you see lukewarmness is more aggravatedly sinful and dangerous than entire
coldness about religion. 
So then, says Christ, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of my mouth;" this is their doom; as if he should say,
"As lukewarm water is more disagreeable to the stomach than either cold or
hot, so you, of all others, are the most abominable to me. I am quite sick
of such professors, and I will cast them out of my church, and reject them
for ever." 
My present design is to expose the peculiar absurdity and wickedness of
lukewarmness or indifference in religion; a disease that has spread its
deadly contagion far and wide among us, and calls for a speedy cure. And let
me previously observe to you, that if I do not offer you sufficient
arguments to convince your own reason of the absurdity and wickedness of
such a temper, then you may still indulge it; but that if my arguments are
sufficient, then shake off your sloth, and be fervent in spirit; and if you
neglect your duty, be it at your peril. 
In illustrating this point I shall proceed upon this plain principle, That
religion is, of all things, the most important in itself, and the most
interesting to us. This we cannot deny, without openly pronouncing it an
imposture. If there be a God, as religion teaches us, he is the most
glorious, the most venerable, and the most lovely Being; and nothing can be
so important to us as his favor, and nothing so terrible as his displeasure.
If he be our Maker, our Benefactor, our Lawgiver and Judge, it must be our
greatest concern to serve him with all our might. If Jesus Christ be such a
Savior as our religion represents, and we profess to believe, he demands our
warmest love and most lively service. If eternity, if heaven and hell, and
the final judgment, are realities, they are certainly the most august, the
most awful, important, and interesting realities: and, in comparison of
them, the most weighty concerns of the present life are but trifles, dreams,
and shadows. If prayer and other religious exercises are our duty, certainly
they require all the vigour of our souls; and nothing can be more absurd or
incongruous than to perform them in a languid, spiritless manner, as if we
knew not what we were about. If there be any life within us, these are
proper objects to call it forth: if our souls are endowed with active
powers, here are objects that demand their utmost exertion. Here we can
never be so much in earnest as the case requires. Trifle about anything, but
oh do not trifle here! Be careless and indifferent about crowns and
kingdoms, about health, life, and all the world, but oh be not careless and
indifferent about such immense concerns as these! 
But to be more particular: let us take a view of a lukewarm temper in
various attitudes, or with respect to several objects, particularly toward
God-toward Jesus Christ-a future state of happiness or misery and in the
duties of religion; and in each of these views we cannot but be shocked at
so monstrous a temper, especially if we consider our difficulties and
dangers in a religious life, and the eagerness and activity of mankind in
inferior pursuits. 
1. Consider who and what God is. He is the original uncreated beauty, the
sum total of all natural and moral perfections, the origin of all the
excellencies that are scattered through this glorious universe; he is the
supreme good, and the only proper portion for our immortal spirits. He also
sustains the most majestic and endearing relations to us-our Father, our
Preserver and Benefactor, our Lawgiver and our Judge. And is such a Being to
be put off with heartless, lukewarm services? What can be more absurd or
impious than to dishonor supreme excellency and beauty with a languid love
and esteem; to trifle in the presence of the most venerable Majesty; to
treat the best of Beings with indifference; to be careless about our duty to
such a Father; to return such a Benefactor only insipid complimental
expressions of gratitude; to be dull and spiritless in obedience to such a
lawgiver; and to be indifferent about the favor or displeasure of such a
Judge! I appeal to heaven and earth, if this be not the most shocking
conduct imaginable. Does not your reason pronounce it horrid and most
daringly wicked? And yet thus is the great and blessed God treated by the
generality of mankind. It is most astonishing that he should bear with such
treatment so long, and that mankind themselves are not shocked at it: but
such the case really is. And are there not some lukewarm Laodiceans in this
assembly? Jesus knows your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; and it
is fit you should also know them. May you not be convinced upon a little
inquiry that your hearts are habitually indifferent toward God? You may
indeed entertain a speculative esteem or a good opinion of him, but are your
souls alive toward him? Do they burn with his love? and are you fervent in
spirit when you are serving him? Some of you, I hope, amid all your
infirmities, can give comfortable answers to these inquiries. But alas! how
few! But yet as to such of you as are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
you are the most abominable creatures upon earth to a holy God. Be zealous,
be warm, therefore, and repent. (ver. 19.) 
2. Is lukewarmness a proper temper toward Jesus Christ? Is this a suitable
return for that love which brought him down from his native paradise into
our wretched world? That love which kept his mind for thirty-three painful
and tedious years intent upon this one object, the salvation of sinners?
That love which rendered him cheerfully patient of the shame, the curse, the
tortures of crucifixion, and all the agonies of the most painful death? That
love which makes him the sinner's friend still in the courts of heaven,
where he appears as our prevailing Advocate and Intercessor? Blessed Jesus!
is lukewarmness a proper return to thee for all this kindness? No; methinks
devils cannot treat thee worse. My fellow-mortals, my fellow-sinners, you
who are the objects of all this love, can you put him off with languid
devotions and faint services? Then every grateful and generous passion is
extinct in your souls, and you are qualified to venture upon every form of
ingratitude and baseness. Oh was Christ indifferent about your salvation?
Was his love lukewarm toward you? No: your salvation was the object of his
most intense application night and day through the whole course of his life,
and it lay nearest his heart in the agonies of death. For this he had a
baptism to be baptized with, a baptism, an immersion in tears and blood; and
how am I straitened, says he, till it be accomplished! For this with desire,
he desired to eat his last passover, because it introduced the last scene of
his sufferings. His love! what shall I say of it? What language can describe
its strength and ardor? "His love was strong as death the coals thereof were
as coals of fire, which had a most vehement flame: many waters could not
quench it, nor the floods drown it." Song of Solomon 8:6-7. Never did a
tender mother love her sucking child with a love equal to his. Never was a
father more anxious to rescue an only son from the hands of a murderer, or
to pluck him out of the fire, than Jesus was to save perishing sinners. Now
to neglect him after all; to forget him; or to think of him with
indifference, as though he were a being of but little importance, and we but
little obliged to him, what is all this but the most unnatural, barbarous
ingratitude, and the most shocking wickedness? Do you not expect everlasting
happiness from him purchased at the expense of his blood? And can you hope
for such an immense blessing from him without feeling yourselves most
sensibly obliged to him? Can you hope he will do so much for you, and can
you be content to do nothing for him, or to go through his service with
lukewarmness and languor, as if you cared not how you hurried through it, or
how little you had to do with it? Can anything be more absurd or impious
than this? I doubt that Satan himself could display a worse attitude.[2]
<http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>  May not
Christ justly wish you were either cold or hot; wish you were anything
rather than thus lukewarm toward him under a profession of friendship? Alas!
my brethren, if this be your habitual temper, instead of being saved by him,
you may expect he will reject you with the most nauseating disgust and
abhorrence. But, 
3. Is lukewarmness and indifference a suitable temper with respect to a
future state of happiness or misery? Is it a suitable temper with respect to
a happiness far exceeding the utmost bounds of our present thoughts and
wishes; a happiness equal to the largest capacities of our souls in their
most improved and perfect state; a happiness beyond the grave, when all the
enjoyments of this transitory life have taken an eternal flight from us, and
leave us hungry and famishing for ever, if these be our only portion; a
happiness that will last as long as our immortal spirits, and never fade or
fly from us? Or are lukewarmness and indifference a suitable temper with
respect to a misery beyond expression, beyond conception dreadful; a misery
inflicted by a God of almighty power and inexorable justice upon a number of
obstinate, incorrigible rebels for numberless, willful and daring
provocations, inflicted on purpose to show his wrath and make his power
known; a misery proceeding from the united fury of divine indignation, of
turbulent passions, of a guilty conscience, of malicious tormenting devils;
a misery (who can bear up under the horror of the thought?) that shall last
as long as the eternal God shall live to inflict it; as long as sin shall
continue evil to deserve it; as long as an immortal spirit shall endure to
bear it; a misery that shall never be mitigated, never intermitted, never,
never, never see an end? And remember, that a state of happiness or misery
is not far remote from us, but near us, just before us; the next year, the
next hour, or the next moment, we may enter into it; is a state for which we
are now candidates, now upon trial; now our eternal all lies at stake; and
oh, sirs, does an inactive, careless posture become us in such a situation?
Is a state of such happiness, or such misery, is such a state just before
us, a matter of indifference to us? Oh can you be lukewarm about such
matters? Was ever such a prodigious stupidity seen under the canopy of
heaven, or even in the regions of hell, which abound with monstrous and
horrid dispositions? No; the hardiest ghost below cannot make light of these
things. Mortals! can you trifle about them? 
Well, trifle a little longer, and your trifling will be over, for ever. You
may be indifferent about the improving of your time; but time is not
indifferent whether to pass by or not: it is determined to continue its
rapid course, and hurry you into the ocean of eternity, though you should
continue sleeping and dreaming through all the passage. Therefore awake,
arise; exert yourselves before your doom be unchangeably fixed. If you have
any fire within you, here let it burn; if you have any active powers, here
let them be exerted; here or nowhere, and on no occasion. Be active, be in
earnest where you should be; or debase or sink yourselves into stocks and
stones, and escape the curse of being reasonable and active creatures. Let
the criminal, condemned to die to-morrow, be indifferent about a reprieve or
a pardon; let a drowning man be careless about catching at the only plank
that can save him: but oh do not you be careless and indifferent about
eternity, and such amazing realities as heaven and hell. If you disbelieve
these things you are infidels; if you believe these things, and yet are
unaffected with them, you are worse than infidels: you are a sort of
shocking singularities, and prodigies in nature. Not hell itself can find a
precedent of such a conduct. The devils believe, and tremble; you believe,
and trifle with things whose very name strikes solemnity and awe through
heaven and hell. But, 
4. Let us see how this lukewarm temper agrees with the duties of religion.
And as I cannot particularize them all, I shall only mention an instance or
two. View a lukewarm professor in prayer; he pays to an omniscient God the
compliment of a bended knee, as though he could impose upon him with such an
empty pretence. When he is addressing the Supreme Majesty of heaven and
earth, he hardly ever recollects in whose presence he is, or whom he is
speaking to, but seems as if he were worshipping without an object, or
pouring out empty words into the air: perhaps through the whole prayer he
had not so much as one solemn, affecting thought of that God whose name he
so often invoked. Here is a criminal petitioning for pardon so carelessly,
that he scarcely knows what he is about. Here is a needy, famishing beggar
pleading for such immense blessings as everlasting salvation, and all the
joys of heaven, so lukewarmly and thoughtlessly, as if he cared not whether
his requests were granted or not. Here is an obnoxious offender confessing
his sins with a heart untouched with sorrow: worshipping the living God with
a dead heart; making great requests, but he forgets them as soon as he rises
from his knees, and is not at all inquisitive what becomes of them, and
whether they were accepted or not. And can there be a more shocking,
impious, and daring conduct than this? To trifle in the royal presence would
not be such an audacious affront. For a criminal to catch flies, or sport
with a feather, when pleading with his judge for his pardon, would be but a
faint shadow of such religious trifling. What are such prayers but solemn
mockeries and disguised insults? And yet, is not this the usual method in
which many of you address the great God? The words proceed no further than
from your tongue: you do not pour them out from the bottom of your hearts;
they have no life or spirit in them, and you hardly ever reflect upon their
meaning. And when you have talked away to God in this manner, you will have
it to pass for a prayer. But surely such prayers must bring down a curse
upon you instead of a blessing: such sacrifices must be an abomination to
the Lord: Proverbs 15:8; and it is astonishing that he has not mingled your
blood with your sacrifices, and sent you from your knees to hell; from
thoughtless, unmeaning prayer, to real blasphemy and torture. 
The next instance I shall mention is with regard to the word of God. You own
it divine, you profess it the standard of your religion, and the most
excellent book in the world. Now, if this be the case, it is God that speaks
to you; it is God that sends you an epistle when you are reading or hearing
his word. How impious and provoking then must it be to neglect it, to let it
lie by you as an antiquated, useless book, or to read it in a careless,
superficial manner, and hear it with an inattentive, wandering mind? How
would you take it, if, when you spoke to your servant about his own
interest, he should turn away from you, and not regard you? Or if you should
write a letter to your son, and he should not so much as carefully read it,
or labor to understand it? And do not some of you treat the sacred oracles
in this manner? You make but little use of your Bible, but to teach your
children to read: or if you read or hear its contents yourselves, are you
not unaffected with them? One would think you would be all attention and
reverence to every word; you would drink it in, and thirst for it as newborn
babes for their mother's milk, you would feel its energy, and acquire the
character of that happy man to whom the God of heaven condescends to look;
you would tremble at his word. It reveals the only method of your salvation:
it contains the only charter of all your blessings. In short, you have the
nearest personal interest in it, and can you be unconcerned hearers of it? I
am sure your reason and conscience must condemn such stupidity and
indifference as incongruous, and outrageously wicked. 
And now let me remind you of the observation I made when entering upon this
subject, that if I should not offer sufficient matter of conviction, you
might go on in your lukewarmness; but if your own reason should be fully
convinced that such a temper is most wicked and unreasonable, then you might
indulge at your peril. What do you say now is the issue? Ye modern
Laodiceans, are you not yet struck with horror at the thought of that
insipid, formal, spiritless religion you have hitherto been contented with?
And do you not see the necessity of following the advice of Christ to the
Laodicean church, be zealous, be fervent for the future, and repent,
bitterly repent of what is past? To urge this the more, I have two
considerations in reserve, of no small weight. 
l. Consider the difficulties and dangers in your way. Oh, sirs, if you know
the difficulty of the work of your salvation, and the great danger of
miscarrying in it, you could not be so indifferent about it, nor could you
flatter yourselves such languid endeavours will ever succeed. It is a labor,
a striving, a race, a warfare; so it is called in the sacred writings: but
would there be any propriety in these expressions, if it were a course of
sloth and inactivity? Consider, you have strong lusts to be subdued, a hard
heart to be broken, a variety of graces, which you are entirely destitute
of, to be implanted and cherished, and that in an unnatural soil, where they
will not grow without careful cultivation, and that you have many
temptations to be encountered and resisted. In short, you must be made new
men, quite other creatures than you now are. And oh! can this work be
successfully performed while you make such faint and feeble efforts? Indeed
God is the Agent, and all your best endeavours can never effect the blessed
revolution without him. But his assistance is not to be expected in the
neglect, or careless use of means, nor is it intended to encourage idleness,
but activity and labor: and when he comes to work, he will soon inflame your
hearts, and put an end to your lukewarmness. Again, your dangers are also
great and numerous; you are in danger from presumption and from despondency;
from coldness, from lukewarmness, and from false fires and enthusiastic
heats; in danger from self-righteousness, and from open wickedness, from
your own corrupt hearts, from this ensnaring world, and from the temptations
of the devil: you are in great danger of sleeping on in security, without
ever being thoroughly awakened; or, if you should be awakened, you are in
danger of resting short of vital religion; and in either of these cases you
are undone for ever. In a word, dangers crowd thick around you on every
hand, from every quarter; dangers, into which thousands, millions of your
fellow-men have fallen, and never recovered. Indeed, all things considered,
it is very doubtful whether ever, you will be saved, who are now, lukewarm
and secure: I do not mean that your success is uncertain if you be brought
to use means with proper earnestness; but alas! it is awfully uncertain
whether ever you will be brought to use them in this manner. And, O sirs!
can you continue secure and inactive when you have such difficulties to
encounter with in a work of absolute necessity, and when you are surrounded
with so many and so great dangers? Alas! are you capable of such destructive
madness? Oh that you knew the true state of the case! Such a knowledge would
soon fire you with the greatest ardor, and make you all life and vigor in
this important work. 
2. Consider how earnest and active men are in other pursuits. Should we form
a judgment of the faculties of human nature by the conduct of the generality
in religion, we should be apt to conclude that men are mere snails, and that
they have no active powers belonging to them. But view them about other
affairs, and you find they are all life, fire, and hurry. What labor and
toil! what schemes and contrivances! what solicitude about success! what
fears of disappointment! hands, heads, hearts, all busy. And all this to
procure those enjoyments which at best they cannot long retain, and which
the next hour may tear from them. To acquire a name or a diadem, to obtain
riches or honors, what hardships are undergone! what dangers dared! what
rivers of blood shed! how many millions of lives have been lost! and how
many more endangered! In short the world is all alive, all in motion with
business. On sea and land, at home and abroad, you will find men eagerly
pursuing some temporal good. They grow grey-headed, and die in the attempt
without reaching their end; but this disappointment does not discourage the
survivors and successors; still they will continue, or renew the endeavour.
Now here men act like themselves; and they show they are alive, and endowed
with powers of great activity. And shall they be thus zealous and laborious
in the pursuit of earthly vanities, and quite indifferent and sluggish in
the infinitely more important concerns of eternity? What! solicitous about a
mortal body, but careless about an immortal soul! Eager in pursuit of joys
of a few years, but careless and remiss in seeking an immortality of perfect
happiness! Anxious to avoid poverty, shame, sickness, pain, and all the
evils, real or imaginary, of the present life; but indifferent about a whole
eternity of the most intolerable misery! Oh, the destructive folly, the
daring wickedness of such a conduct! My brethren, is religion the only
thing. which demands the utmost exertion of all your powers, and alas! is
that the only thing in which you will be dull and inactive? Is everlasting
happiness the only thing about which you will be remiss? Is eternal
punishment the only misery which you are indifferent whether you escape or
not? Is God the only good which you pursue with faint and lazy desires? How
preposterous! how absurd is this! You can love the world, you can love a
father, a child, or a friend; nay, you can love that abominable, hateful
thing, sin: these you can love with ardor, serve with pleasure, pursue with
eagerness, and with all your might; but the ever-blessed God, and the Lord
Jesus, your best friend, you put off with a lukewarm heart and spiritless
services. Oh inexpressibly monstrous! Lord, what is this that has befallen
thine own offspring, that they are so disaffected toward thee? Blessed
Jesus, what hast thou done that thou shouldst be treated thus? Oh sinners!
what will be the consequence of such a conduct? Will that God take you into
the bosom of his love? Will that Jesus save you by his blood, whom you make
so light of? No, you may go and seek a heaven where you can find it; for God
will give you none. Go, shift for yourselves, or look out for a Savior where
you will; Jesus will have nothing to do with you, except to take care to
inflict proper punishment upon you if you retain this lukewarm temper toward
him. Hence, by way of improvement, learn, 
1. The vanity and wickedness of a lukewarm religion. Though you should
profess the best religion that ever came from heaven, it will not save you;
nay, it will condemn you with peculiar aggravations if you are lukewarm in
it. This spirit of indifference diffused through it, turns it all into
deadly poison. Your religious duties are all abominable to God while the
vigour of your spirits is not exerted in them. Your prayers are insults, and
he will answer them as such by terrible things in righteousness. And do any
of you hope to be saved by such a religion? I tell you from the God of
truth, it will be so far from saving you, that it will certainly ruin you
for ever: continue as you are to the last, and you will be as certainly
damned to all eternity, as Judas, or Beelzebub, or any ghost in hell. But
alas! 
2. How common, how fashionable is this lukewarm religion! This is the
prevailing, epidemic sin of our age and country; and it is well if it has
not the same fatal effect upon us it had upon Laodicea; Laodicea lost its
liberty, its religion, and its all. Therefore let Virginia hear and fear,
and do no more so wickedly. We have thousands of Christians, such as they
are; as many Christians as white men; but alas! they are generally of the
Laodicean stamp; they are neither cold nor hot. But it is our first concern
to know how it is with ourselves; therefore let this inquiry go round this
congregation; are you not such lukewarm Christians? Is there any fire and
life in your devotions? Or are not all your active powers engrossed by other
pursuits? Impartially make the inquiry, for infinitely more depends upon it
than upon your temporal life. 
3. If you have hitherto been possessed with this Laodicean spirit, I beseech
you indulge it no longer. You have seen that it mars all your religion, and
will end in your eternal ruin: and I hope you are not so hardened as to be
proof against the energy of this consideration. Why halt you so long between
two opinions? I would you were cold or hot. Either make thorough work of
religion, or do not pretend to it. Why should you profess a religion which
is but an insipid indifference with you? Such a religion is good for
nothing. Therefore awake, arise, exert yourselves. Strive to enter in at the
strait gate; strive earnestly, or you are shut out for ever. Infuse heart
and spirit into your religion. Whatever your hand findeth to do, do it with
your might. Now, this moment, while my voice sounds in your ears, now begin
the vigorous enterprise. Now collect all the vigour of your souls and
breathe it out in such a prayer as this, "Lord, fire this heart with thy
love." Prayer is a proper introduction: for let me remind you of what I
should never forget, that God is the only Author of this sacred fire; it is
only he that can quicken you; therefore, ye poor careless creatures, fly to
him in an agony of importunity, and never desist, never grow weary till you
prevail. 
4. And lastly: Let the best of us lament our lukewarmness, and earnestly
seek more fervor of spirit. Some of you have a little life; you enjoy some
warm and vigorous moments; and oh! they are divinely sweet. But reflect how
soon your spirits flag, your devotion cools, and your zeal languishes. Think
of this, and be humble: think of this, and apply for more life. You know
where to apply. Christ is your life: therefore cry to him for the
communication of it. "Lord Jesus! a little more life, a little more vital
heat to a languishing soul." Take this method, and "you shall run and not be
weary; you shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31. 
|||||||||||| 
Footnote


* She was as loathsome to him as lukewarm water to the stomach and he
characterizes her as "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked." What condition can be more deplorable and dangerous? (Return to
text) <http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>  
|||||||||||| 
Appendix 
A catalogue of alterations to the text.


[1] <http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>  The
following alterations were made to the text for improved readability.  (I
beg indulgence of any readers who prefer the "-our" suffix). 
  
 	Original	 	Changed to...	
	ardour	...	ardor	
	endeavour	...	endeavor	
	epidemical	...	epidemic	
	fervour	...	fervor	
	honour	...	honor	
	indifferency	...	indifference	
	labour	...	labor	
	modish	...	fashionable	
	new-born	...	newborn	
	proportionably	...	proportionately	
	Saviour	...	Savior	
	towards	...	toward	
	vigour	...	vigor	
	vouchsafes	...	condescends	
	wilful	...	willful	
(Return to text)
<http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm> 

[2] <http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>
Original: "Methinks you may defy hell to show a worse temper." (Return to
text) <http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/Davies_Lukewarmness.htm>  


Charis,
 
Mike Abendroth
 
"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to
be contented with half truth when whole truth can be won.  Endow us with
courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns
to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth
are in jeopardy."
 - West Point Military Academy Cadet Prayer
 
www.bbcchurch.org
 

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