All we have to do to stand right before the people, is to _be sound_
in heart, in the faith, in the life; true to the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ; honest and faithful in the whole matter; maintaining,
defending, advocating it, as the only divine and gracious system
for the salvation of a lost world; enforcing it on men for its own
sake, and for the sake of humanity. Our safety is not in a tribunal
of learned men, who are _censors_ for us, but in the _judgment of an
intelligent and enlightened brotherhood_. They render no hasty judgment
and make no uncertain decisions. They do not anathematize nor hate
any man. They do not pronounce on a man for a single utterance or an
inadvertence. But when a man becomes perverse, his general course and
bearing evincing alienation, and a disposition to be in the wrong—an
aversion to the good, the true and the faithful—they begin to lose
their interest in him. Every step he takes in the wrong direction
lessens the affection for him in the hearts of the people of God, till
he finds himself cut off, if not literally by the action of a church,
that which is equally as fatal, the general turning away from him, and
utter failure in any sense to support him.
May we all maintain soundness in the faith, in the gospel, integrity to
it, faithfulness to it in all things, soundness in character, purity
and holiness. May we strive to live nearer and still nearer to God.