We closed our last paper with these suggestive words, "_They forsook
all, and followed Him_"--words expressive, at once, of thorough
separation from the things of time and of nature, and of whole-hearted
consecration to Christ and His interests.
Both these we see in Simon Peter. There was a deep and blessed work
wrought in his soul at the lake of Gennesaret. He was given to see
himself, in the light of the divine presence, where alone self can be
really seen and judged. We have no reason to suppose that, viewed from
a human standpoint, Simon was worse than his neighbors. On the
contrary, it is more than probable, that so far as his outward life
was concerned, it was more blameless than that of many around him. He
was not, like the great apostle of the Gentiles, arrested at the very
height of a mad career of rebellion against Christ and His cause. He
is introduced to us, by the inspired historian, in the pursuit of his
quiet and honest calling as a fisherman.
But then Scripture expressly informs us that, "There is no difference,
for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. iii.).
And it repeats this statement, in chap. x. of the same epistle, basing
it upon another footing, "There is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon
Him."
Reader, see that you really understand this most important doctrine.
It is not that there are not broad lines of distinction, in a moral
and social point of view, between men. Most assuredly there are such.
There is, for example, a vast difference between the wretched drunkard
who comes home, or is carried home, night after night, worse than a
beast, to his poor broken-hearted wife and squalid, starving children,
and a sober, industrious man, who realizes his responsibility as a
husband and a father, and seeks to fulfil the duties attaching to such
relationships.
Now, we judge it would be a very great mistake indeed to ignore such a
distinction as this. We believe that God, in His moral government of
the world, recognizes it. Contrast, for a moment, the drunkard's home
with that of the sober man. Yea, contrast their whole career, their
social position, their course and character. Who can fail to recognize
the amazing difference between the two? There is a certain way of
presenting what is called, "The no-difference doctrine" which, to say
the least of it, is far from judicious. It does not allow the margin
which, as we believe, Scripture suggests, wherein to insert great
social and moral distinctions between men and men--distinctions which
only blindness itself can refuse to see. If we look at the present
government of God, we cannot but see that there is a very serious
difference indeed between one man and another. Men reap as they sow.
The drunken spendthrift reaps as he sows; and the sober, industrious,
honest man reaps as he sows. The enactments of God's moral government
are such as to render it impossible for men to escape, even in this
life, the consequences of their ways.
Nor is this all. Not only does God's present government take
cognizance of the conduct of men, causing them to reap, even here, the
due reward of their deeds but when Scripture opens to our view, as it
does in manifold places, the awful judgment to come, it speaks of
"books being opened." It tells us that men "shall be judged _every man
according to their works_." In short, we have close and accurate
discrimination, and not a promiscuous huddling of men and things.
And further, be it remembered, that the word of God speaks of degrees
of punishment. It speaks of "few stripes" and "many stripes." It uses
such words as "more tolerable" for one than another.
What mean such words, if there be not varied grounds of judgment,
varied characters of responsibility, varied measures of guilt, varied
degrees of punishment? Men may reason; but "the Judge of all the earth
will do right." It is of no possible use for people to argue and
discuss. Every man will be judged and punished according to his deeds.
This is the teaching of Holy Scripture; and it would be much better
and safer and wiser for men to submit to it than to reason against it,
for they may rest fully assured of it that the judgment-seat of Christ
will make very short work of their reasonings. Impenitent sinners will
be judged and punished according to their works: and, although men
may affect to believe that it is inconsistent with the idea of a God
of love that any of His creatures should be condemned to endure
eternal punishment in hell, still sin must be punished; and those who
reason against its punishment have only a one-sided view of God's
nature and character. They have invented a god of their own who will
connive at sin. But it will not do. The God of the Bible, _the God
whom we see at the cross_, the God of Christianity will, beyond all
question, execute judgment upon all who reject His Son; that judgment
will be according to every man's works; and the result of that
judgment will, inevitably, be "The lake that burneth with fire and
brimstone," forever and forever.
We deem it of the utmost importance to press on all whom it may
concern the line of truth on which we have been dwelling. It leaves
wholly untouched the real truth of the no-difference doctrine; but, at
the same time, it qualifies and adjusts the mode of presenting that
truth. It is always well to avoid an ultra one-sided way of stating
things. It damages truth and stumbles souls. It perplexes the anxious,
and gives a plea to the caviler. The full truth of God should always
be unfolded, and thus all will be right. Truth puts men and things in
their right places, and maintains a holy moral balance which is
absolutely priceless.
Is it then asserted that there is a difference? Not as regards the
question of righteousness before God. On this ground, there is not a
shadow of difference, for "all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God." Looked at in the light of that glory, all human
distinctions vanish. All are lost, guilty and condemned. From the very
lowest strata of society--its deepest dregs, up to the loftiest
heights of moral refinement, men are seen, in the light of the divine
glory, to be utterly and hopelessly lost. They all stand on one common
ground, are all involved in the one common ruin. And not only so, but
those who plume themselves on their morality, refinement, orthodoxy,
and religiousness, are further from the Kingdom of God than the vilest
of the sons and daughters of men, as our Lord said to the chief
priests and elders, "Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the
harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you" (Matt. xxi.).
This is very humbling to human pride and pretension. It is a doctrine
to which none will ever submit until they see themselves as Simon
Peter saw himself in the immediate presence of God. All who have ever
been there will fully understand those self-condemning words, "Depart
from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." These were accents flowing
from the depths of a truly penitent and contrite soul. There is what
we may venture to call a lovely inconsistency in them. Simon had no
such thought as that Jesus would depart from him. He had, we may feel
assured, an instinctive sense that that blessed One who had spoken
such words to him, and shown such grace, could not turn away from a
poor broken-hearted sinner. And he judged rightly. Jesus had not come
down from heaven to turn His back upon any one who needed Him. "He
came to seek and to save that which is lost." "This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners." "Him that cometh unto Me, I will _in no wise_
cast out." A Saviour-God had come down into this world, not, surely,
to turn away from a lost sinner, but to save him and bless him, and
make him a blessing. "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men."
Such was the grace that shone upon the soul of Simon Peter. It removed
his guilt, hushed his fears, and filled him with joy and peace in
believing. Thus it is in every case. Divine pardon follows human
confession--follows it with marvelous rapidity. "I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin." God delights to pardon. It is the joy of His
loving heart to cancel our guilt, and fill our souls with His own
blessed peace, and to make us the messengers of His grace to others.
Not that we are called in the same way, or to the same work, as our
apostle; but surely we are called to follow the Lord, and cleave to
Him, with purpose of heart. This is the blessed privilege and sacred
duty of every saved soul on the face of the earth; we are imperatively
called upon to break with the world, and follow Christ.
It is not a question of abandoning our proper calling in life, as in
Simon's case. Few indeed and far between are the cases in which such
a course of action is fitting. Many, alas! have assayed to do this,
and have entirely broken down, simply because they were not called of
God _to_ it, or sustained of God _in_ it. We are convinced that, as a
rule, it is better for every man to work with his hands or his brains
at some bread-winning calling, and preach and teach as well, if gifted
to do so. There are exceptions, no doubt, to the rule. There are some
who are so manifestly called, fitted, used, and sustained of God, that
there can be no possible mistake as to their course. Their hands are
so full of work, their every moment so engrossed with ministry in
speaking or writing, teaching publicly and from house to house, that
it would be a simple impossibility for them to take up what is termed
a secular calling--though we like not the phrase. All such have to go
on with God, looking only to Him, and He will infallibly maintain them
unto the end.
Still, admitting, as we are bound to do fully, the exceptions to the
rule, we are nevertheless convinced that, as a rule, it is better in
every way for men to be able to preach and teach without being
chargeable to any. It gives moral weight, and it furnishes a fine
testimony against the wretched hirelingism of Christendom so
demoralizing to souls, and so damaging, in every way, to the cause of
Christ.
But, Christian reader, we have to distinguish between abandoning our
lawful calling and breaking with the world. The former may be quite
wrong; the latter is our bounden duty. We are called to rise up, in
the spirit of the mind and in the firm purpose of the heart, out of
all merely worldly influences, to break every worldly link, and lay
aside every weight, in order to follow our blessed Lord and Master. We
are to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world, as He is
for us in the presence of God. When this is really the case with us,
it matters not whether we are sweeping a crossing or evangelizing a
continent. All is done to Him. This is the one grand point. If Christ
has His due place in our hearts, all will be right. If He has not,
nothing will be right. If there is any under current in the soul, any
secondary object, any worldly motive, any selfish aim or end, there
can be no progress. _We must make Christ and His cause our absorbing
object._