“But we want something binding.” Look then, at the command accompanying
this oracle, or confession, or immediately following it, if you desire
something binding, or authoritative. We allude to the authoritative
utterance, “Hear Him.” God, who made the worlds—God, who rules
among the armies of heaven—who hurled angels down to hell for
disobedience—whose voice shook the earth. God, who holds the destinies
of all the nations in his hand, who “weighs the hills in a balance, and
handles the isles as a very little thing,” in connection with the
revelation of his Son, to all the nations of the earth, with all the
majesty of his authority, says, “HEAR HIM;” give him audience;
regard him; bow to him; follow him; be guided by him; honor and obey
him forever. How utterly futile and insignificant the attempt of puny
and erring mortals to add anything to the great oracle, or confession,
in which is concentrated the whole christian institution, and with
which is connected the authoritative words of the ineffable Jehovah,
“HEAR HIM.” If a man receives the revelation God makes of
his Son, or, rather, if he receives his Son, from the revelation he
has made of him, and bows in submission to him, in accordance with
the command to “Hear Him,” confesses with the mouth before men, what
he believes in the heart, that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” and
submits to the Divine test of loyalty, in the requirement to be buried
with his Lord in baptism, while that great formula is uttered over him,
“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit,” he gives the highest assurance in his power to give, that
he is changed in heart, that he loves God and will serve him, and is
bound by the strongest pledge, the highest and most solemn obligation
that ever did or ever can bind a human being, to love and serve God. To
add a thousand human ceremonies to this, would give no higher assurance
of the preparation of the heart, the designs and resolutions being
genuine, and bind the individual no more solemnly to be faithful to the
end. The confession that God requires, is the greatest confession that
man can make, and the making of it is the best evidence a man can give
that his heart is right. The first test of loyalty God has required
of the penitent confessor, is the strongest, highest, and most solemn
to which man can submit, and the submission to it, is the strongest
evidence of loyalty the person can give. The authority that requires
this submission, is the highest and most binding that can rest upon
a human being; and, if it does not govern, control and restrain the
person, no authority can.
If such a confession as this—one that takes in God and man, heaven
and earth, the Savior and his words, the whole revelation from God,
the sublime confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, made in a
proper manner, will not show that the heart is right. You need not add
any such catechisms or experiences as are common in these times. They
are all perfect nothingness compared with this great confession, which,
like the spider’s web, may catch flies and gnats, while the dangerous
wasp and hornet will pass through with ease. The safe ground, and the
only safe ground, is to follow the simple and infallible leadings of
the Spirit of God. Appeal to the sacred record, and examine his divine
and unerring procedure the day he came down from heaven and guided the
apostles into all truth. What did he require of men on that day, before
receiving them into the church? Follow him as he guided the apostles in
all the cases of conversion mentioned in the sacred record. What did he
require in all these cases? The same must be required now, and no more.
We must be led by the Spirit of God, in converting sinners, and not by
human creeds; we must be guided by the wisdom of God and not by the
wisdom of man; we must have confidence in the ways of God and show no
hankering after the ways of man. God will depart from all who turn away
from the simplicity of the apostolic practice, under the immediate
guidance of the Holy Spirit. No man is led by, or has the spirit, who
has not full confidence in requiring precisely the same of all who
enter the church required by the apostles, as by the Holy Spirit, who
guided them. He simply required the _confession with the mouth, of the
faith of the heart_.