Anecdote 3 An Elias Sermon

John Elias was preaching at an open air meeting in Holyhead when some drunkards joined the throng, attempting to disrupt his sermon. This was John Elias' response -

"Are there drunkards here? I’m afraid there are: May I make an appeal to you? Will you just for today try to control yourselves? …What shall we do with them brothers? ...I feel a desire," he said, as he became more agitated, "to put them up for auction to anyone who will take them, so that they will never bother us any more." Then stretching forth his arm as though he were holding them in his hand, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Who’ll take them? Who’ll take them? Anglicans, will you take them? ‘Us!! In our baptism we profess to reject the devil and all his works. No, we will not take them.’"

Are there drunkards here? I’m afraid there are: May I make an appeal to you? Will you just for today try to control yourselves? …What shall we do with them brothers? ...I feel a desire," he said, as he became more agitated, "to put them up for auction to anyone who will take them, so that they will never bother us any more." Then stretching forth his arm as though he were holding them in his hand, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Who’ll take them? Who’ll take them? Anglicans, will you take them? ‘Us!! In our baptism we profess to reject the devil and all his works. No, we will not take them.’"

"Then a moment of silence followed. "Congregationalists, will you take them? ‘What? Us! Many years ago we left the Church of England because of its corruption. No! We will not take them.’" Silence again.

Then, with his arm stretched out, he shouted again, "Baptists, will you take them? ‘Us! We immerse all our people in water to show that only the clean are acceptable to us. No! We will not take them.’" Silence again. "Wesleyans, will you take them? ‘What Us! Good works are an issue of life with us; we do not wish to have them.’"

Then stretching his hand out as though he were holding them in it, and casting a glance over the crowd, he shouted at the very highest volume of his voice, "Who will take them? Who will take them? Who will take them?"

…He turned his face towards the left, and in a rather low voice, and yet distinct enough for the whole congregation to hear, he said, "I rather thought I heard the Devil at my elbow saying, Knock them down to me; I will take them.’" Then, he raised his eyes, and with a grave, extremely serious look on his face, he searched the congregation with his eyes and for about a quarter of a minute, he never said a word.

…and then [he] shouted with tremendous force until his voice echoed thought the town, "I was going to say, Satan, that you could have them: but…"

and he raised his eyes towards heaven, and with a victorious, yet tender voice, he cried, "I hear Jesus shouting, ‘I will take them; I will take them; to wash them of their filth, to sober them in their drunkenness; to purify them of all their uncleanness in my own blood.’"

See here for this

Sermon on Romans 5:19

In the same book of sermons mentioned in the previous post we find this

Rhufeiniaid V. 19 Felly trwy ufudd-dod un y gwneir llawer yn gyflawn.

Romans V. 19. So by the obedience of one many shall he made righteous.

I Will endeavour to show you, my dear friends, the substance of the truths I intended to have advanced from these words; but you must not expect talent or fluency from me in the English tongue.

There is not, nor can there he anything of such importance, to us lost and guilty sinners, as to he justified before God ; and there is no danger so great, as the danger of mistaking in this point. To he right or wrong in this, is to all of us of eternal consequence. The doctrine of Justification, my friends, is a vital doctrine, and to he right therein is of eternal moment ; and therefore, it is that the evil one is more active to deceive us in this point, than any other. But yet, we have no reason to despair, as it is our great privilege to have the positive testimony of God in his word, concerning this most important truth : and a valuable part of that testimony, is contained in our text :—" By the obedience of one many shall he made righteous." I have no time for much Introduction, and therefore, I shall proceed to the consideration of the doctrines contained in these words. In the words of the text, we find the following things, or shall make the following remarks from them.

I. By the words made righteous, we understand that we are not righteous by nature.—All men by nature are unrighteous, yea, even those many whom Christ redeemed, else whence the necessity for making them righteous. We are unrighteous in a three-fold sense ;—

1. As transgressors of God's covenant with Adam, in whom we were by representation.

2. We are unrighteous in principle.—We are trespassers from the womb, through possessing a principle of enmity towards God ; and therefore, unrighteous from the womb : for, what greater unrighteousness, than being enemies to the just God, or to be in arms against the fountain of all good.

3. We are unrighteous by our actions, for we are enemies in mind; and that is proved by our evil works and actions throughout our lives. " We have done that which we ought not to have done, and left undone that which we ought to have done, and therefore, there is no health in us; "and that is the character of every one by nature: that is, they are unrighteous, by being guilty of unrighteous actions:— yea, even the most moral and best educated, and however respectable and elevated may he his sphere in life, and however equitable in his dealings towards his neighbour, nevertheless is guilty of the greatest unrighteousness towards God, hy his daily forgetfulness of God, and of his duty to him, and disregard and neglect of his name and glory ;—there is no one righteous hy nature.

II. We cannot make ourselves righteous, or justify ourselves in the sight of God by anything we possibly can do or suffer. We cannot by our tears, our sufferings, or hy any works or scheme of our own, make ourselves righteous hefore the Judge of all the earth. Therefore we must either be made righteous by another, or otherwise remain unrighteous forever; and if we remain unrighteous, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, but must stand guilty and in our sins, before the Judgment seat of Christ, and for our sins suffer his wrath and the punishment for them for ever and ever.

III. We find by the text that there is One, that is, the Lord Christ, who in His infinite grace and mercy can make a guilty sinner righteous before his throne.—The declaration of these tidings is the Gospel; and the substance of that declaration is this: that God, although infinitely just, and the Judge of all the Earth, can make a guilty sinner righteous : he just and justify them that are of Jesus' faith.

IV. We see also in the text the way by which God, the righteous Judge, doth justify a guilty sinner, and that is "by the Obedience of One," by imputing to the believer the righteousness of that One.—That is the only way provided by God for our justification. One! a wonderful One indeed ! anid this One is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ; and He is such a One that there is none like Him. I now request your attention to three or four things from the text.

1. An Eminent Person, Named "One."—That One is no other than the eternal Son of God, united to human nature, horn of a woman in the fulness of time.

2. A Description Of The Perfect Obedience Of That One.—"So by the Obedience of One," &c.—It is very needful that the mind should he enlightened, as to the nature of Christ's obedience. Christ was by nature, or in his person, as the eternal and blessed God, above every Law, and above every Judge ; hut for our sakes he humbled himself, by becoming our surety or substitute, and in order that he might stand in our room and stead, he was made under the law, and then, and in that capacity, he obeyed perfectly in body and soul, in every thought, word, and deed, to every commandment of the holy law ; and after a life of holiness and perfect obedience to the law, and to his Father, he suffered a most painful and ignominious death, and made a most perfect and satisfactory sacrifice, for us and all our sins, without which there could he no salvation; hence we see the infinite value of the perfection of his obedience.

3. That Through This Obedience Many Shall Be Made Righteous.—Millions of sinners, in all ages and nations of the world, shall he savingly justified thereby. God will impute this obedience to all those who believe in Christ, and impute it to them as righteousness. He was made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, under its condemnation. He was made sin for them, that they might be made the righteousness of God through him.

4. A FEW WORDS OF EXHORTATION AND APPLICATION FROM SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT TRUTHS.—To the Serious enquirer: Dear Friends, are there any of you here tonight anxious to hear, and ready to ask with Job, how shall a man, especially such as I, he justified before God? I, a guilty and miserable sinner; I, who hare transgressed against all God's holy law and commandments, and therefore deserved his wrath and indignation for ever and ever? How shall I he justified before God ? To such I say,—- by believing in Christ.— It is through him and his obedience that you can he made righteous. He has made and worked out a complete and sufficient atonement and satisfaction, for you and all your sins; and also, a mantle of righteousness, that will for ever corer your nakedness, before the purity of the holy God. Believe, then, in Christ, and you shall be justified, and released from the power and dominion of sin, and consequently from the guilt and penalty thereof.

My dear hearers, beware of neglecting this only way to he made righteous; if you refuse to rest upon the obedience of Christ for your righteousness, you cannot be justified, for there is no other way; and then how shall you escape? In that event you must remain m your sins, and die in your sins, and stand in your sins in the Judgment to come, and remain in your sins to all eternity, enduring the wages of sin which is the eternal death,—oh! what an awful idea.

Therefore suffer me, dear friends and fellow-travellers to the eternity of spirits, to invite you to come,— to come now, — to come as you are,— to Jesus the only one, when you can he saved, and who is able and willing to save to the uttermost all them that come to God through him ; there is a full, free, ready, and complete salvation in him.

Sermon on Isaiah 4:6

In Elias's volume here one sermon summarises in English what eh then says in Welsh. A note informs us "Byddai Mr Elias weithiau pan y deuai i Liverpool, yn traddodi Sylwedd ei Bregeth yn Saesoneg, gan y hyddai lliaws o Saeson yn dyfod i wrandaw atno." (Mr Elias would sometimes when he came to Liverpool translate the substance of his sermon into English for the sake of the many English speakers who came to hear him - I think that's what it says).

Esaia IV. 6. A phabell sydd yn gysgod y dydd rhag gwres, ac yn noddfa ac yn ddiddos rhag tymmestl a rhag gwlaw.
Esaia IV. 6. And there shall he a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

This chapter contains evangelical promises, in ceremonial terms. "In that day (saith the prophet) shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall he excellent and beautiful, to them that escape of Israel." I shall briefly give a few words of explanation as I go on, upon some of the most difficult passages. By the "Branch of the Lord," we are to understand the Messiah; who, although he was but a dry root in the sight of the unconverted; yet, to the converted and penitent sinner, he is beautiful and glorious, yea, above every thing in beauty and comeliness. And by the "Fruit of the Earth,'' here, is meant either the Human Nature of the Messiah, or conrertsvto the Messiah; that is,sinners believing in Christ on earth, and united to him by faith. "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall he called holy, eren erery one, that is written among the liring in Jerusalem, shall he called holy." The Scriptures predict, that the Lord shall make his people glorious in holiness, in the latter days, to which these words evidently allude; and this title shews, not only the purification of the Jewish Church and nation ; hut also, the high degree of purity the church universal shall attain in the latter days. " When the Lord shall hare raked away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall hare purged the hlood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, hy the spirit of judgment, and hy the spirit of hurning." By " Zion" and " Jerusalem" here, is meant, the church of Christ; hut may strictly he thus distinguished,— By the " Daughter of Zion," the hranch of God's church militant that was in Judea; and hy " Jerusalem," the church generally throughout the world ; and hy the "filth of Zion," its impurity; and hy the "hlood of Jerusalem," the spirit of persecution that is in the church, from which it is to he cleansed before the great prosperity of the latter days. Wherehy we may infer, that if the church was cleaner from impurity, eren now, she would receive more of God's gracious presence.

Then follows the text,—"And there shall he a tabernacle, &tc." After the old tabernacle and temple shall he done away, Christ, the new Tabernacle, shall remain. The word " Tabernacle," is used here, principally, in allusion to the tabernacle of Israel in the wilderness. That tabernacle was a sign of God's special favour, and his presence amongst his people Israel, as well as for a temple for Divine worship; and an especial type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Tabernacle mentioned in the text. The words said hy St. John are also spoken of Him, as the prototype of the former tabernacle. John 1. 14 " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us;" or as it may he more properly rendered, "and tabernacled amongst us." The human nature of Christ is the true Tabernacle ; and is also a sign, and the best and greatest sign that ever was given of God's favour to mankind. And in this Tabernacle he dwelt amongst men. His name is Immanuel—God with us. A»d in this Tabernacle also, he offered for us, a full, perfect, and satisfactory sacrifice; and it is here that a guilty and lost sinner may meet his God in peace.

I have no talent to speak much in English, and therefore I must be brief, From these words I intend to speak on two things :—

I. On Christ As The True Tabernacle.

II. The Usefulness Of This Tabernacle, contained in three words,— a Shadow, Refuge, and a Covert.

"He shall he a shadow in the day from heat, and also a place of refuge, and a covert from tempest and from rain." I shall say few words on each of these, as they are descriptive of Christ.

1. A Shadow.—"And he shall he a shadow in the day from heat." Shepherds in the Oriental countries used to erect for themselves tents, to shadow them from the burning heat of the sun, and which are here alluded to, as typical of Christ, in his mediatorial character ; who is a shadow from the wrath, and fiery indignation of a just and offended God ; and also from the curse of a holy and broken law, and from guilt consequent thereon; and from the terrors of its threatenings against the transgressors of its just and holy commands:—"And he shall he a shadow."

2. A Refuge:—"And for a place of refuge." He is called a "Refuge," in allusion to the cities of refuge that were in Israel, which were prepared for the escape of the man that killed his neighbour unawares; where, in such an event, he was to run for his life, as there, and there only, would his life he spared; and therefore was called a refuge. And so we are warned to flee to Christ the spiritual Refuge. What! are we murderers ? Yes: every man, or sinner, is spiritually a murderer; and that in a two-fold sense.

1 He is a murderer of his own soul;—and

2 A murderer of God in intention (although he cannot perform); therefore every sinner needs a refuge — and Christ is that refuge. He is the only refuge—a place of safety—for a guilty sinner to fly unto for his life.

3. A Covert:— "And a covert from storm and from rain." And such is Christ spiritually,— a covert and a defender from the wrath to come. There awaits the unconverted a storm and rain indeed. There will he a storm of storms, such as the world hath not seen its equal; a storm to which every other storm is hut a calm, — a storm of wrath and fiery indignation from the presence of the Lord; and a rain of fire and brimstone: and there is no corert from this rain hut Christ; nor none other that can save you from the storm. But he can—" He is able to save to the uttermost." O! therefore, my friends, I entreat you, fly to him — for a shadow, refuge, and covert; for there is no salvation in none other.

Sermon on Lamentations 3:27

A sermon on bearing the yoke when young can be found here.
it is preceded by this introduction from Elias

TO THE READER.

Courteous Reader,

THE following Sermon was preached in the year 1812; but I had no intention at that time for it to be printed; nor had I endeavoured to set it forth in a proper method for publication. I was induced to preach on the text in Lam 3.27 by a heart-felt sorrow on account of the multitude of young people in Wales, who live according to their own sinful lusts, and under the dominion of Satan, rejecting the yoke of Christ, behaving themselves as if it were lawful for them to live ungodly while young, and to spend the days of their youth without being under the yoke and government of Christ; presuming that to live religiously for a few days under affliction, and in old age, will be sufficient. It grieved me to the heart to see the flower of men's time spent in the service of sin and Satan, and death seizing many of them without being under the yoke of Christ, and so thousands of them meet with the most dreadful disappointment. From these considerations, I endeavoured to shew them the miserable condition of those who were not under the yoke of Christ, with the preciousness and advantage of being under his yoke, and the special privilege of bearing it in the days of youth, &c. After some years had elapsed, some of my brethren informed me, that it had pleased the Lord to make use of the Sermon concerning the yoke, (imperfect as it was,) to be the means of bringing several young people to accept of Christ's yoke. They desired me to publish it: I opposed their intreaties for a long time; but at length, fearing I might sin in disobeying, I complied with their request. Having a few notes preserved on the text, and also a pretty full manuscript sent me from a young man who had wrote while I was preaching the Sermon, I endeavoured to recollect, so far as I was able, the things I had preached, and wrote them in the following manner, and suffered the Sermon to be printed. And although I know there is neither excellency nor perfection in the work, nevertheless, God, w ho is pleased to make use of weak means, may bless this poor Sermon for the good of some souls, and the glory of his own name; and if that shall be effected, I shall obtain all I desire, and shall be very willing to bear the blame of all my imperfections. That many may be brought under the yoke of Christ, and that those who are under it may be made submissive and thankful, is the prayer of

Your servant in the Gospel of Christ,

Llanfechell, July 10, 1818. JOHN ELIAS