[1] To us there seems a wide difference between the judge, with
the robes of office on his back, mind in his eye, and
dignity in his mien, and that poor, pale, haggard wretch at
the bar, who throws stealthy glances around, and hangs his
head with shame. Yet the difference that looks so great to
man may be very small in the eyes of God; and would look
small in ours if we knew the different upbringing and
history of both. The judge never knew what it was to want a
meal; the felon often went cold and hungry to bed. The one,
sprung of wise, kind, reputable, and perhaps pious parents,
was early trained to good, and launched, with all the
advantages of school and college, on an honourable and high
career; while the other, bred up a stranger to the
amenities of cultivated and Christian society, had no such
advantages. Born to misery, his struggles with misfortune
and evil began at the cradle. None ever took him by the
hand to lead him to church or school. A child of poverty,
and the offspring of abandoned parents, he was taught no
lessons but how to swear, and lie, and drink, and cheat,
and steal. The fact is, it is just as difficult for some to
be honest as it is easy for others. What merit has that
judge in his honesty? None. He has no temptation to be else
than honest. And so, I suspect, much of the morality of
that unblemished character and decent life in which many
trust, saying to some poor guilty thing, "Stand aside, I am
holier than thou," and pluming themselves on this, that
they have not sinned as others have done--is due, less to
their superior virtue, than to their more favourable
circumstances. Have they not sinned as others have done? I
reply, They have not been tempted as others have been. And
so the difference between many honest men and decent women
on the one hand, and those on the other hand on whom a
brand of infamy has been burned, and the key of a prison
turned, may be just the difference between the green branch
on the tree and the white ashes on the hearth. This is
bathed in the dews of night and fanned by the breath of
heaven, while that, once as green, has been thrust into the
burning fire--the one has been tried in a way that the
other has not.--_Guthrie._
[2] As every sin is a violation of the law, so every violation
of the law reflects upon the lawmaker. It is the same
offence to coin a penny and a piece; the same to
counterfeit the seal of a subpœna, as of a pardon. The
second table was writ by the hand of God as well as the
first, and the majesty of God, as He is the lawgiver, is
wounded in an adultery and a theft as well as in an
idolatry or a blasphemy.--_Donne,_ 1573-1631.
[3] Is there anything more terrible than a false confidence? It
is an awful thing to wake up and find that what we have
been trusting in is rotten. To embark gaily in a ship that
on mid-ocean proves to be worm-eaten, and leaky; for a man
who believed himself to be wealthy to receive tidings that
the failure of a bank has made him a beggar; for a sick man
rejoicing in the cessation of his pain to be told by his
physician that that is due only to the setting in of
mortification that precedes death;--what horrible
disappointments are these! But what poor and faint image
they furnish of the horror of that man who lives in a state
of delusion as to his spiritual condition, who dies in
peace, imagining falsely that he is Christ's, and who, when
he has traversed the valley of the shadow of death--when he
has reached that point from which there is no return, finds
that the doors of heaven are shut against him, discovers
that he is shrouded by thick darkness, and begins to feel
the fires of hell kindling upon him! Can you picture to
yourself his astonishment, his terror, his despair? Do not
tell me that such a case is not conceivable--Christ
declares that such cases are frequent (Matt. vii. 21-25).
[4] "Examine yourselves:" A metaphor from metal, that is
pierced through to see if it be gold within.
Self-examination is a spiritual inquisition set up in one's
soul: a man must search his heart for sin as one would
search a house for a traitor: or as Israel sought for
leaven to burn it.--_Watson,_ 1696.
This duty of examining and proving supposes that there is
some sure standard, which if we go by, we are sure not to
be deceived. Not that rule is the Word of God. But as in
matters of doctrine men have left the Scripture, the sure
rule, and taken up antiquity, universality, tradition, and
the like for their pride, and by this means have fallen
into the ditch; so in matters of godliness, when we should
try ourselves according to the characters and signs that
the Scripture deciphers, we take up principles in the
world, the applause of others, the conversation of most in
the world. And thus it is with us as men in an hospital,
because every one is either wounded or lame, or some way
diseases, therefore none are offensive to each
other.--_Burgess._
Men compare themselves with men, and readily with the
worst, and flatter themselves with that comparative
betterness. This is not the way to see spots, to look into
the muddy streams of profane men's lives; but look into the
clear fountain of the Word, and there we may both discern
and wash them; and consider the infinite holiness of God,
and this will humble us to the dust.--_Leighton,_ 1611-1684.
[5] Fruit-trees that bring forth the fairest and most beautiful
blossoms, leaves, and shoots, usually bring forth the
fewest and least fruits; because where nature is intent and
vigorously pressing to do one work, spending its strength
there, it is not at the same time weak about other works;
but distinct and several works of nature, in moderate and
remote degree, are all promoted at the same time. Generally
those persons who are excessive and most curious about the
forms of duties, have least of the power of godliness. The
Pharisees were extremely careful about the outside of God's
worship. So it was among us of late years; bowing at the
name of Jesus, the communion-table, surplice, common
prayer, &c.,--those and suchlike were pressed with all
eagerness and strictness. The body of religion was large
and monstrous, but without a soul: or, if any, it was lean
and feeble. These persons are like the Indian fig-tree that
Pliny speaks of, which had leaves as broad as targets, but
fruits no bigger than a bean. This is a foul fault among us
at this day: men stand more about the forms of worship than
about the power of it: they look so much after the way,
manner, and circumstances that they almost lose the
substance; things which are but as husks or shells to the
kernels, or as leaves in respect of fruits.--_Austen,_ 1656.
Many are set upon excess of ceremonies, because they are
defective in the vital parts, and should have no religion
if they had not this. All sober Christians are friends to
outward decency and order; but it is the empty
self-deceiver that is most for the unwarrantable inventions
of man, and useth the worship of God but as a masque or
puppet-show, where there are great doings with little life,
and to little purpose. The chastest woman will wash her
face; but it is the harlot, or wanton, or deformed, that
will paint it. The soberest and the comeliest will avoid a
nasty or ridiculous habit, which may make them seem
uncomely where they are not; but a curious dress and
excessive care doth signify a crooked or deformed body, or
a filthy skin, or, which is worst, an empty soul, that hath
need of such a covering. Consciousness of such greater want
doth cause them to seek these poor supplies. The gaudiness
of men's religion is not the best sign that it is sincere.
Simplicity is the ordinary attendant of sincerity. It hath
long been a proverb, "The more ceremony, the less
substance; and the more compliment, the more
craft."--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.