(Eighth Sunday after Trinity.)
Matthew vii. 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits.
People are apt to overlook, I think, the real meaning of these
words. They do so, because they part them from the words which go
just before them, about false prophets.
They consider that 'fruit' means only a man's conduct,--that a man
is known by his conduct. That professions are worth nothing, and
practice worth everything. That the good man, after all, is the man
who does right; and the bad man, the man who does wrong. Excellent
doctrine; and always needed. God grant that we may never forget it.
But the text surely does not quite mean that. 'Fruit' here does not
mean a man's own conduct, but the conduct of those whom he teaches.
For see,--our Lord is talking of prophets; that is preachers, who
set up to preach the Word of God, in the name of God. 'Beware,' he
says, 'of false prophets. By their fruits ye shall know them. By
what you gather from them,' he says. 'For do men gather grapes off
thorns, or figs off thistles?'
Now what is a preacher's fruit? Surely the fruit of his preaching;
and that is, not what he does himself, but what he makes you do.
His fruit is what you gather from him; and what you gather from him
is, not merely the notions and doctrines which he puts into your
head, but the way of life in which he makes you live. What he makes
you do, is the fruit which you get from him. Does he make you a
better man, or does he not? that is the question. That is the test
whether he is a false prophet, or a true one; whether he is
preaching to you the eternal truth of God, or man's inventions and
devil's lies.
Does he make you a better man? Not--Does he make you feel better?
but--Does he make you behave better? There is too much preaching in
the world which makes men _feel_ better--so much better, indeed,
that they go about like the Pharisee, thanking God that they are not
as other men, before they have any sound reason to believe that they
are _not_ as other men; because they live just such lives as other
men do, as far as respectability, and the fear of hurting their
custom or their character, allow them to do. They have their
prophets, their preachers who teach them; and by their fruits in
these men, the preachers may be known, by those who have eyes to
see, and hearts to understand.
Therefore beware of false prophets. There are too many of them in
the world now, as there were in our Lord's time; men who go about
with the name of God on their lips, and the Bible in their hands, in
sheep's clothing outwardly; but inwardly ravening wolves. In
sheep's clothing, truly, smooth and sanctimonious, meek, and sleek.
But wolves at heart; wolves in cunning and slyness, as you will
find, if you have to deal with them; wolves in fierceness and
cruelty, as you will find if you have to differ from them; wolves in
greediness and covetousness, and care of their own interest and
their own pockets. And wolves, too, in hardness of heart; in the
hard, dark, horrible, unjust doctrines, which they preach with a
smile upon their lips, not merely in sermons, but in books and
tracts innumerable, making out the Heavenly Father, the God whose
name is Love and Justice, to be even such a one as themselves.
Wolves, too, in their habit of hunting in packs, each keeping up his
courage by listening to the howl of his fellows. They may come in
the name of God. They may tell you that they preach the Gospel;
that no one but they preach the Gospel. But by their fruits ye
shall know them.
Will they make you better men? Is it not written, 'The disciple is
not above his master?' What will you learn from them, but to be
like them? And the more you take in their doctrines, the more like
them you will be; for is it not written, 'He that is perfect shall
be as his master.' Can they lead you to eternal life? Is it not
written, 'If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the
ditch?'
But by their fruits ye shall know them. By their fruits in the
world at large, if you have eyes to see it. By their fruits in your
own lives, if you give yourselves up to listen to their false
doctrines, for you will surely find, that, in the first place, they
will not make you honest men. They will not teach you to be just
and true in all your dealings. They will not teach you common
morality. No, my friends, it is most sad to see, how much preaching
and tract-writing there is in England now, which talks loud about
Protestant doctrine, and Gospel truths, while all the fruit of it
seems to be, to teach men to abuse the Pope, and to fancy that every
one is going to hell, who does not agree with their opinions; while
their own lives, their own conduct, their own morality, seems not
improved one whit by all this preaching. And yet men like such
preaching, and run to hear it. Of course they do; for it leaves
them to behave all the week as if there was no Law of God, if only
they will go on Sundays, and listen to what is called, I fear most
untruly, the Gospel of God; leaves them, on condition of belonging
to some particular party, and listening to some favourite preacher,
free to give way to their passions, their spite, their meanness; to
grind their servants, cheat their masters, trick their customers,
adulterate their goods, and behave in money-matters as if all was
fair in business, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ had nothing to do
with common honesty; and all the while,
Compound for sins they are inclined to.
By damning those they have no mind to.
My friends, these things ought not so to be. There is a Gospel of
God, which preaches full forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Christ,
to all who turn from their sins. But there is a Law of God,
likewise, which executes sure vengeance against all who do _not_
turn from their sins; be their professions as high, or their
doctrines as correct as they may. A law which is in the Gospel
itself, and says, by the mouth of the Apostle St. John, 'Little
children, let no man deceive you: he that _doeth_ righteousness is
righteous, even as God is righteous'--he--and not he who expects to
be saved by listening to some false preacher who teaches his
congregation how to go to heaven without having thought one heavenly
thought, or done one heavenly-deed.
Yes. There is an eternal law of God, which people are forgetting, I
often fear, more and more, in England just now. I sometimes dread,
lest we should be sinking into that hideous state of which the old
Hebrew prophet speaks--'The prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so:
and what will ye do in the end thereof?' What, indeed; if people
are to be taught more and more, that religion is a matter merely of
doctrines and fancies and feelings, and has nothing to do with
common morality, and common honesty, and common self-control and
improvement of character and conduct?
My friends, in these dangerous days, for dangerous they truly are--
like those of the Scribes and Pharisees of old; days in which
bigotry and hardness of heart, hypocrisy and lip-profession stalk
triumphant; days, in which men, like the Scribes and Pharisees of
old, boast of the Bible, worship the Bible, think they have eternal
life in the Bible, spend vast sums every year in spreading the
Bible; and yet will neither read the Bible honestly, nor obey its
plain commands--In such days as these, what prophet shall we fall
back upon? What preacher shall we trust?
We can at least trust our Bible. We can read it honestly, if only
there be in us the honest and good heart; we can obey its plain
commands, if only we hunger and thirst after righteousness, and
desire really to become good men. Read your Bibles for yourselves
with a single eye, and with a pure heart which longs to know God's
will because it longs to _do_ God's will; and you will need no false
prophets, under pretence of explaining it to you, to draw you away
from the Holy Catholic faith into which you were baptized.
But if you must have a commentary on the Bible; if you must have
some book to give you a general notion of what the Bible teaches
you, and what it expects of you; go to the prayer-book. Go to the
good old Catechism which you learnt at school. There, though not
from the popular preachers, you will learn that God is just and
true, loving and merciful, and no respecter of persons. There you
will learn, that Christ died not for a few elect, but for the sins
of the whole world. There you will learn that in baptism, by God's
free grace, and not by any experiences or feelings of your own, you
were made children of God, members of Christ, and inheritors of the
kingdom of heaven. There you will learn, that the elect whom the
Holy Spirit sanctifies, are not merely a favoured few, but _you_--
every baptized man, woman, and child. That the Holy Spirit is with
you, every one of you, to sanctify you, if you will open your hearts
to his gracious inspirations. And there you will learn what
sanctification really means. Not a few fancies and feelings about
which any man can deceive himself, and any man, also, deceive his
neighbours. No, that sanctification means being made holy,
righteous, virtuous, good. That sanctification means 'To love your
neighbour as yourself, and to do to all men as they should do unto
you--to love, honour, and succour your father and mother'--Shall I
go on? Or do you all know the plain old duty to your neighbours,
which stands in the Church Catechism. If you do, thank God that you
were taught it in your youth. Read it over and over again. Think
over it. Pray to God to give you grace to act upon it, and to shew
the fruit of it in your lives. And then, 'By its fruits you shall
know it.' By its fruits you shall know the virtue of the Catechism,
and of the great and good men, true prophets of God, who wrote that
Catechism. Yes. Cling to that Catechism, even if it convinces you
of many sins, and makes you sadly ashamed of yourselves again and
again; for, believe me, it will prove your best safeguard in
doctrine, your best teacher in practice, in these dangerous days--
days in which every man who believes that right is right, and wrong
is wrong, has need to pray with all his heart--'From all false
doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt
of thy word and commandments; good Lord, deliver us!'