[1] He is not half a saint who is but a negative saint. The
forbearance of gross corruptions is the easiest and least
part of religion, and therefore will not speak any man in a
state of salvation. The tree that is barren and without
good fruit is for the fire, as well as the tree that brings
forth evil fruit.
For men to think to excuse themselves that they do no hurt,
wrong neither man, woman, or child, and are not, as the
Pharisee said, as the publicans, who generally were
oppressors, it but a vain, foolish thing. The idle servant
might have said, "Lord, I did no harm with my talent; I did
not lay it out in rioting and drunkenness, or any way to
Thy dishonour; I only hid it, and did not improve it,"--yet
this was enough to condemn him. Can we call ground good
ground for bearing no weeds, if it never bring forth good
corn? Or do we count that servant a good servant who doth
not wrong his master in the estate by purloining or wasting
it, if he live idle all day, and neglect the business his
master appoints him?--_Swinnock,_ 1673.
[2] A religion that does not take hold of the life that now is,
is like a cloud that does not rain. A cloud may roll in
grandeur, and be an object of admiration, but if it does
not rain, it is of little account so far as utility is
concerned. And a religion that consists in the observance
of magnificent ceremonies, but that does not touch the
duties of daily life, is a religion of show and of
sham.--_Beecher._
[3] To be godly is to be godlike. The full accord of all the
soul with His character, in whom, as their native home,
dwell "whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely," and the full conformity of the will to His
sovereign will, who is the life of our lives--this, and
nothing shallower, nothing narrower, is religion in its
perfection, and the measure in which we have attained to
this harmony with God is the measure in which we are
Christians. As two stringed instruments may be so tuned to
one keynote that if you strike the one, a faint ethereal
echo is heard from the other, which blends
undistinguishably with its parent sound; so drawing near to
God, and brought into unison with His mind and will, our
responsive spirits vibrate in accord with His, and give
forth tones, low and thin indeed, but still repeating the
mighty music of heaven.--_Maclaren._
[4] They are selfish--because they have no motive of action
beyond themselves. They individualise existence. The spider
weaves a web, and that is its world. It retires into its
corner for observation, and has no concern for any
surrounding objects, except as they may be caught upon its
net, and appropriated to its use. So they who live without
God reticulate life with selfishness. Nothing concerns them
except as it may be drawn into the mesh of scheming for
ministering to their own wants and wishes.--_Bellew._