Consecration and Reliance on God's Help

In the full conviction that no efforts or purposes of our own will be available without divine assistance, we should make the consecration of ourselves to God in reliance upon divine strength; recognizing, on the one hand, our own entire weakness; and at the same time fully believing, on the other, in the willingness and readiness of God to aid, and deliver us in every time of temptation and trial.

A consecration, made without a distinct recognition of our own insufficiency, and without the expression and the reality of reliance on God alone as our only hope; would be wanting in the most essential element. It would necessarily fail of the divine blessing; and could not result in any good. "Lay it down to yourself as a most certain principle," says Dr. Doddridge, "that no attempt in religion is to be made in your own strength. If you forget this, and God purposes finally to save you, he will humble you with repeated disappointments, till he teach you better."

A consecration, thus deliberately made, including all our acts, powers, and possessions of body, mind, and estate, made without any reserve either in objects, time, or place; embracing trial and suffering as well as action, never to be modified, and never to be withdrawn, and which contemplates its fulfillment in divine and not in human strength, necessarily brings one into a new relationship with God, of the most intimate, interesting, and effective nature. It is not easy to see, how a soul, that is thus consecrated, can ever be deserted. Divinity is pledged in its behalf. And in all times of temptation and trial, when clouds and storms hang darkly and heavily around, there will always be a redeeming power, a light in the midst of shadows, the shining of the bow of promise.

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition 1844) Part 1, Chapter 4.

Giving Our All to God

The consecration of ourselves to God, including our bodies as well as our spirits, and our possessions as well as our persons, all we are and all we have, all we can do and all we can suffer, should be made without any reserve. There are many professors of religion, who are willing to give up something to the Lord; and perhaps it can be said, that there are many who are willing to give up MUCH; but the consecration, of which we are speaking, requires us to be truly willing to give up ALL. And not only to be WILLING to give up all, but to do it. It is true, that in our present state, some things are needful for us, and our heavenly Father assures us that he is not ignorant of it. But while, in compassion to our obvious wants, he bestows upon us those things, which are necessary to beings who must be fed, clothed, and sheltered, he requires us to hold these and all other gifts of a temporal nature, which we sometimes call our own, as bestowments imparted by himself for a special purpose, and to be retained and used in perfect subordination to the divine will. — And still more important and necessary is it, that all the exercises of the mind, that all powers and efforts of the intellect and all desires and purposes of the heart and will, should be laid sacredly upon the divine altar; in perfect simplicity of view; without any reservation, and without any regards, however secret and intimate, to the claims of self; inscribed, as it were, within and without, with holiness to the Lord; FROM God, OF God, and FOR God. — Consecration without reserve implies, that we are not only to give up our persons and powers to be employed as God wills, but also to endure or suffer as God wills; and it implies also that we are to give them up to be employed and to suffer, just in the time and place, and in all the precise circumstances, which are agreeable to God; without presuming to dictate to him in the smallest respects, and without any will or choice of our own.

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part 1, Chapter 4.

Consecration for All Time and Eternity

The consecration of ourselves to God must be made for ALL COMING TIME. It is true, that there may be specific consecrations of a modified character, restricted to particular objects and occasions, and limited also to definite periods. A person, for instance, may devote himself exclusively, for a limited time, to the one important object of erecting a place of public worship. And regarding him as giving to this one object all his powers of body and of mind, we may properly speak of him, in an imperfect or modified sense of the term, as CONSECRATED to this particular work. But it is quite obvious, that such instances of consecration are exceedingly different from the one under consideration; which is fundamental and universal in its character, and which would be inconsistent with itself, if it were applied to one ob­ject to the exclusion of others; which takes into view the very being and nature of the soul; which considers the principles of man's departure from God and also the principles involved in his restoration; which recognizes the full amount of God's immutable and infinite claims; and which, therefore, on the grounds of truth and rectitude, as well as of safety and of happiness, cannot be made for a less period than all time and eternity.

—edited from The Interior of Hidden Life (2nd edition 1844) Part 1, Chapter 4.

Delibrate Consecration

The consecration of ourselves to God, which is so inseparable from the progress and perfection of the divine life, should be made DELIBERATELY. — A consecration, made in this manner, viz. with calmness and deliberation, is due to our own characters, as rational and reflecting beings. As God has made us perceptive and rational, he desires and expects us, especially in important transactions, to act in accordance with the principles he has given us. It is not reasonable to suppose, that God would be pleased with a consecration, made thoughtlessly and by blind impulse, rather than by deliberate reflection. Man has deliberately rebelled and gone astray, and it is due to himself and his Maker, it is due to truth and to holiness, that he should deliberately and reflectingly submit and return; that his repentance of sin should be accompanied with a clear perception of his sinfulness; that his determination to do God's will should be attended with some suitable apprehensions of what He requires; and that his fixed purpose of future obedience should be sustained by the united strength of all appropriate considerations.

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part 1, Chapter 4.

Assurance and Consecration

ASSURANCE of faith, like all other forms of religious faith considered in distinction from natural faith, is the gift of God. No one has it without the divine blessing. But here, as in every other case of God's dealings, we see no other course but to take the position as almost a self-evident one, that there are reasons in the divine mind for every occurrence or fact and also for every modification of the divine conduct; and that God, in imparting the immense blessing of assurance of faith, does not, and cannot act accidentally. In other words, there is some antecedent fact, some preparatory condition, in connection with which this great blessing takes place. Not a meritorious condition, it is true; nothing which lays God under obligation; but still a preparatory antecedent or condition actually existing in the view of the Divine Mind, and as an indispensable part of the divine arrangement. And that condition, as the matter presents itself to our view, is CONSECRATION. Not a consecration in part, but in whole; a solemn and a permanent giving up of the whole being to God. If with any inferior degree of consecration there may be an inferior degree of faith, there cannot be a perfection or assurance of faith, without a consecration corresponding to it. It must, therefore, be a consecration, such as was described in the chapter on that subject, both of body and of spirit, both of persons and of possessions, ENTIRE, PERMANENT, and IRREVOCABLE.

— The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part1, Chapter 8.

The Nature of Assurance of Faith

In respect to the nature of assurance of faith, we may remark here, after an examination of various statements and illustrations on the subject, that it appears to consist essentially in two things; First, in a general but unwavering confidence in God's character, administration, and promises; and, secondly, in a confident belief of our personal acceptance with God through Christ. And accordingly it is not limited to the second particular, as some persons may be inclined to suppose; but the second element, viz. that of a particular or personal acceptance, which probably, in the popular view of it, is the striking or characteristic trait, has its basis in a prevailing or assured faith of a more general character.

— The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition, 1844) Part 1, Chapter 8.

Jehovah, Sov'reign of my Heart

Jehovah, sov'reign of my heart!
My joy by night and day!
From Thee, oh may I never part,
From Thee ne'er go astray.

Whene'er allurements round me stand,
And tempt me from my choice;
Oh, let me find thy gracious hand,
Oh, let me hear thy voice.

This vain and feeble heart, I know,
To worldly ways is prone;
But penitential tears shall show,
There's joy in Thee alone.

With God all darkness turns to day;
With Him all sorrows flee;
Thou art the true and living way,
And I will walk in Thee.

— American Cottage Life (1850).

Think Not That the Blest...

Think not that the blest, whom the Lord hath befriended,
Though scorned by the world, and though smitten with grief,
Will be left by the arm, that has once been extended,
To suffer and perish without its relief.

Oh, no! When the clouds of affliction and sorrow
Encircle their souls with the darkness of night,
Thy mercy, Oh God, like the sun of to-morrow,
Shall gleam on the shadows and turn them to light.

He leaves us awhile to the billow's commotion,
To see if our faith in the storm will remain;
But soon He looks out in his smiles, and the ocean
Is hushed from its threats, and is quiet again.

— American Cottage Life (1850).

Holiness Joins Us to God

It  is of the nature of holiness to unite with whatever is like itself. It flies on eagle's wings to meet its own image. Accordingly the soul, so long as it is stained with sin, has an affinity with what is sinful. But when it is purified from iniquity, it ascends boldly upward and rests, by the impulse of its own being, in the bosom of its God. The element of separation is taken away, and a union, strong, sincere, and lasting, necessarily takes place. "He, that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit." — 1 Cor. vi. 17.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXXV.

Try Again

The power of Satan is great. And it is his appropriate business continually to assault the saints of God. If then, in some unhappy and evil moment, (by thine own fault be it remembered,) he gains an advantage, lament over it deeply, but do not be discouraged. Remember, if the great enemy gets from thee thy  resolution, thy fixed purpose, he gets all. To be defeated is not wholly to be destroyed. But on the contrary, he, and he only, hath victory written upon his forehead, who, in the moment of severest overthrow, hath still the heart to say, "with the Lord helping me I WILL TRY AGAIN."

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXXIII.