removed from their understandings, by which “the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them.” {57a} May they not be left in wilful blindness, until that
terrible day, when the enemies of the Lord shall find, to their
everlasting confusion, that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them;
for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, _even His eternal power and Godhead_: so that they
are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened: professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools.” May
—“The gay, licentious, proud,
Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround,”
learn “how hardly shall they who have riches enter into the kingdom of
God!” {57b} For they too often forget they are God’s stewards, and
accountable for all they possess. The day will come when to all of them
will be addressed the command, “Give an account of thy stewardship;” and
how terrible will be their lot, should they, “having been unfaithful in
the unrighteous mammon,” lose “the true riches,”—treasure in heaven. Our
Lord himself has said, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he
will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” {58a} They,
therefore, who in their day of trial have forgotten that their rank or
affluence are so many talents, for which they are to give account to
their Master in heaven, must expect fearful retribution, unless, while
the day of grace remaineth, they obtain pardon and peace through their
long-neglected Lord. Let them now learn that the friendship of the
world—whose smile they have courted, whose honours they have coveted,
whose pleasures they have enjoyed—“is enmity with God.” “For all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.” {58b} May the avaricious and the sensual, whose
grovelling, sordid, and impure minds, have not a thought, a wish, beyond
this earth, where they would willingly live for ever; see their sin and
folly before it be too late. Let them hear the awful denunciations of
Scripture; and may that Scripture, through God’s grace, bring conviction
to their minds and repentance to their hearts. “Go to now, ye rich men,
weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches
are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is
cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you; and shall
eat your flesh as it were fire: ye have heaped treasure together for the
last day.” {59a} “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a
snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in
destruction and perdition.” {59b} “Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as
strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the
soul.” {59c} “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have
wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness,
lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable
idolatries.” {59d} “Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because
of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience.” {59e} May those who now rise up early, and late take
rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, that they may increase their
worldly store, receive grace “to lay up treasure in heaven,” not
“trusting in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us
richly all things to enjoy:” {60a} and may those who, placing few or no
restraints upon the appetites and passions of their animal nature,
ardently pursue impure, debasing, and guilty pleasures, have their souls
so sanctified, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that, “cleansed from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of God,” {60b} they may desire only “the joys unspeakable, and full of
glory, which are at God’s right hand for evermore.” And may the envious,
the censorious, and the malicious, who cherish in their hearts hostility
and malignity towards their fellows, acquire the spirit of Christian
charity! For “charity _suffereth long and is kind_; _charity envieth
not_; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave
itself unseemly; seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, _thinketh
no evil_; _rejoiceth not in iniquity_, _but rejoiceth in the truth_.”
There exist no passions in the human breast, which in every age have
excited so much scorn and reprobation amongst generous and noble spirits
as envy and malice: there is a meanness in them which renders them
contemptible; there is a malignity which makes them detestable: the
virtuous heathen, therefore, viewed them with contemptuous indignation;
but the Christian must mourn over such bitter fruits of an unchristian
temper; he must admonish those who foster them, that these sins of the
heart, as more difficult to be repented of, are more likely to exclude
from heaven than the failings which they gloat upon with secret pleasure,
and publish with malicious satisfaction. The sins of uncharitableness
cannot but be peculiarly odious in the sight of Him, whose religion
inculcates the purest and kindest spirit of brotherly love, and who has
made our forgiving our brother his trespasses, the ground of our asking
the forgiveness of our own. We are, therefore, strongly and repeatedly
warned in Scripture against anger, envy, hatred, revenge, and malice;
whilst the opposite virtues are urged upon us with equal force of
exhortation and tenderness of entreaty. “I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye
are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.” “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,
and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice,
and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,
even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.” {61} Let such,
therefore, remembering that their only hope of forgiveness consists in
their obtaining grace to overcome their uncharitable temper and habits,
hear also and obey the similar admonition of another apostle: “Wherefore,
laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and
all evil-speaking; as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby.” {62}
May all those who make a decided profession of religion, but whose heart
is not right before the Lord; the lukewarm, the self-righteous, and the
hypocritical; learn that God will never accept of a divided heart; that
He will never approve of a self-righteous spirit, and will never receive
the incense of feigned lips. Hypocrisy must be peculiarly offensive, as
it is peculiarly insulting, to the Majesty of an omniscient and
omnipresent God. That one of his creatures should dare to make His name
or service a cloak to cover his selfish and worldly views; should profess
a great reverence for Him, only to secure the applause, or procure the
assistance of men, is at once such a bold and impious fraud, as must
excite the displeasure, and call down the vengeance of an insulted and
offended Deity. What! shall the weak and miserable creature who has been
graciously allowed to approach his great Creator, and “tell out his wants
and unburden his sorrows to Him in prayer,”—shall he pervert to his base
ends this high and holy privilege, and “make long prayers, that he may be
seen of men!” Such a fearful profanation resembles that of Belshazzar,
when he used, at his unholy banquet, the sacred vessels taken from the
Temple at Jerusalem, and with them gave honour to his false gods. {63}
For the hypocrite, who worships in the sanctuary to advance his worldly
interest, is employing the holy ordinances of the Lord in the service of
Belial, who is his god.
It may be hoped that hypocrisy of this impious nature is rare; but
neither its criminality nor its extent are sufficiently regarded by men
in general. For what, in reality, are all who make merely an outward
profession of religion? they are all hypocrites: they do not attend
religious worship to offer their sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to
their Preserver and Benefactor; but they pretend to do so; and perhaps
might consider themselves unjustly stigmatised, if the real cause of
their being in the courts of the Lord’s house was stated to be, either
regard for reputation, to set an example, general custom, or the force of
habit. But if men go not to the house of prayer for worship—and those
who make merely an outward profession of religion cannot be sincere in
offering up any prayers—it remains that some other motive must have drawn
them there; and whatever that may be, as the real but not ostensible
motive, it stamps them as hypocrites. There also are, it may be feared,
other hypocrites, of a very different description, who lay claim to more
religion than they possess; and, in the cause of the Lord of Hosts,
profess more zeal for His honour than they feel. All such—more
especially if they assume a character of which they know themselves to be
totally unworthy, seeking to gratify their pride or advance their
interests; for then they are hypocrites of the worst description;—expose
themselves to the righteous displeasure of the Lord. May men, therefore,
learn, that the profession of religion, without regard to its principles,
will, sooner or later, bring down upon them swift and sudden destruction;
for “the prayer of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord,” when
“they take the law of God into their mouths, but hate to be reformed in
their hearts.” And whilst their principles must always correspond with
their profession, their practice must be in accordance with both. The
repentance of the hypocrite is extremely difficult: he has profaned, to
his own ungodly purposes, all the means of grace; and sometimes, so
perfect becomes the delusion of lengthened deception, he almost believes
himself really to be the character he has falsely assumed. Nothing but
Divine grace can rescue him from his alarming state; for he resembles one
who has himself poisoned the wholesome aliment intended for his
sustenance; still the Great Physician of souls is a sure refuge. May he,
through Him, obtain mercy and pardon, and escape having “his portion with
the hypocrites, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Amongst the Pharisees it appears, from the severe reproofs our blessed
Lord directed against them, that both an hypocritical and self-righteous
spirit prevailed to a great extent. Such will ever be the case where the
forms are substituted for the spirit of religion. It will then quickly
degenerate into a number of lifeless observances, and the shadow of the
religion will remain whilst the substance will be lost.
Self-righteousness, in this day, rests nearly upon the same foundation as
in the time of our Saviour. Amongst ourselves it is often built upon the
groundwork of regularity and strictness in religious observances, and of
belonging to a particular sect or party. It is often characterised by an
appearance of much self-complacency and spiritual pride; still it is at
the same time distinguished generally by a correct standard of morals, a
due regard for decorum, and a strict attention to religious duties.
Alas! every one must lament that the spirit is wanting which will give
acceptability to these services in the sight of God: for “thus saith the
high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell
in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit; to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the
heart of the contrite ones.” {66a} There exists not in the heart of man
a feeling more perfectly irreconcileable with his corrupt and fallen
nature, than spiritual pride. In the first place, “who maketh thee to
differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not
received it?” {66b} And in the second, “Who can tell how oft he
offendeth? O cleanse thou me from my secret faults! Keep thy servant
also from presumptuous sins, lest they get the dominion over me: so shall
I be undefiled, and innocent from the great offence.” {66c} One of the
first Christian virtues is humility; and he must be equally ignorant of
his own heart and of the spirit of the Gospel, who prides himself upon
his excellences, instead of lamenting his deficiencies. A deep
consciousness of personal unworthiness; a fearful sense of his little
progress in holiness, in comparison with the advantages which have been
afforded to him; a humble thankfulness that God has enabled him to
advance some way in his Christian calling; and an entire dependence on
his Saviour for grace, for strength, and guidance, for the time to come,
generally characterize those most favoured servants of the Lord who have
reached the highest attainments in piety, and best served their
generation. May the self-righteous receive grace “to learn of Him” who
was “meek and lowly of heart,” and then they will find present and
eternal “rest unto their souls.”
“How long halt ye between two opinions?” was the indignant enquiry
addressed to the Israelites by the Prophet Elijah: “If the Lord be God,
follow Him; if Baal, then follow him.” {67} In every age there have been
too many lukewarm in religion, to whom the same enquiry might be
addressed, for there has ever been the same disposition to make a
compromise between God and Mammon. They are unwilling to forfeit all
hope of the fair “inheritance of the saints in light;” they are afraid to
encounter the awful terrors of the blackness of darkness for ever; still
the world, with its seductive pleasured and engrossing cares, takes a
strong hold upon the heart, and is like a withering blight upon the
blossoms and fruit of genuine piety.
There is no vitality of religious principle, and no consistency of
religious conduct. They profess the Gospel, it is true; but they are
desirous to accommodate it to their own views and wishes, that it may not
interfere with their worldly advantage, not interrupt their present
enjoyments. But such a cold and calculating spirit, which appears ever
to ask, “How little can I do, and yet get to heaven?” has nothing in it
of the Gospel of Christ. Our blessed Lord employs, in the Revelations,
terms expressive of the most contemptuous rejection of the works of the
Church of Laodicea, because it was “lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot.”
{68a} The whole tenor of Scripture inculcates the duty of obedience to
“the first and great commandment”—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” {68b} And
they can know little of the glorious and blessed privileges of the
children of God by adoption and grace, who do not habitually look up to
Him as “a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus our Lord;” who do not cry
with humble but firm and confiding faith, “Abba, Father;” and who do not
obey, with willing and joyful readiness, the command, “My Son, give me
thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” There is a necessary
union between adoption and grace, between grace and holiness, between
holiness and love: “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God:” “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you:” “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace.” They, therefore, who do not manifest in their hearts and lives
those blessed proofs of the indwelling of the Spirit, renewed minds,
sanctified affections, and holy obedience, cannot be said to “walk after
the Spirit.” “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his:” he is “carnally minded;” and “to be carnally minded is death;”
“because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God.”
Oh, how does the faithful servant of the Lord mourn over the lukewarm in
religion, a class which may sometimes embrace those dearest to him on
earth—united to him by the closest ties of blood—by the sweetest bonds of
affection. He feels for them, for he remembers the time when he had “set
his affections on things of earth:” He estimates fully the difficulties
they have to surmount, for he knows how hard it is to “set the affections
on things above.” For this world invites us, through the medium of the
senses, with objects present, visible, and palpable; but it is only by
the power of abstraction, and through the medium of faith, we can even
contemplate the future invisible and unpalpable realities of a spiritual
world, whose rewards and joys are covered with a veil which revelation
has only raised so far as to show, that whilst their nature transcends
the power of human conception, their extent exceeds the limits of human
comprehension. He fears, therefore, lest, bewildered by the false glare
of earthly attractions, they may never be able to fix the steady eye of
faith upon what human “eye hath not seen, nor hath it entered into the
heart of men to conceive;” he fears lest, still impelled forward in the
broad way of destruction by semblances of happiness, as alluring but as
illusive as the mirage of the desert, they may never enter upon the
narrow and often thorny path of life, which leads to the Zion of our God.
How earnestly, therefore, does he entreat them not longer to linger in
the outward courts, but to enter at once into the temple of our faith;
not longer to starve themselves with “the beggarly elements of the Law,”
to which they secretly cling, but to refresh and invigorate their souls
with the “rich mercies” of the Gospel dispensation, which supplies every
want, and satisfies every desire, when fully understood, firmly believed,
thankfully received, and implicitly obeyed. For it is not generally that
they seek to escape the obligations to personal holiness, for they are
moral men: it is not that they wish to avoid the observances of religion,
for they are regular in their attendance on divine ordinances; but they
will not submit themselves to the sole guidance of that Holy Spirit which
can alone consecrate their prayers and sanctify their obedience. Their
case is stated by St. Paul in a few words: they have “the form without
the power of godliness;” and being destitute of its power, they enjoy not
its present consolations,—they will possess not its future rewards,
unless, by the transforming influence of divine grace, they are enabled
to give their, at present, divided hearts to God. A merely formal
profession of the Gospel never yet supplied comfort in the hour of
affliction—never cheered the sufferings of the bed of pain—never took
away the fear of death. It may be, that when the understanding is
blinded, or the heart hardened, exhausted nature sometimes willingly
seeks relief from present suffering in death; but such is an awful sign
of spiritual insensibility. When the conscience is fully awake, and the
mind, in full possession of its powers, is conscious of the rapid
approach of death; the Gospel of Christ alone has power to divest the
destroyer of his terrors by robbing him of his sting, and the grave of
its victory. Still it is only a heartfelt profession of the Gospel, in
which the approval of the understanding, and the desire of the heart,
accompany the utterance of the lips, from which issue no lifeless words,
but the earnest prayer for mercy and forgiveness for faith and hope, for
sanctification and submission; which, proving that grace is employed in
its blessed and holy work of the soul’s renewal, supports and comforts in
that awful hour, when the soul is preparing to meet its God and Saviour.
Oh that this consideration may have its due weight to rouse the lukewarm
from their state of apathy! Can they imagine that their languid and
lifeless services will be acceptable in the sight of that God, who is
Himself love, and whose motive, in offering them eternal life, is love?
Can they suppose their weak faith in the Saviour, their cold reception of
His inestimable blessings, will satisfy Him, who referred the ignominious
and painful death He endured to the greatness of His love,—“greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
{72} If, in the various relations of social life, the little services of
affection are valued infinitely higher than the more costly benefits
which spring only from a cold sense of duty:—if the willing obedience,
the watchful attention, and the tender offices of love are prized, beyond
all comparison, above the forced submission, the reluctant compliance,
and the unwilling attendance of fear:—can we think for a moment that He,
who has admitted us to all the privileges of sonship, and has allowed us
to approach Him in the endearing character of children, and cry, Abba,
Father, will regard favourably the services which spring from slavish
fear, and not from filial love? It might be thought that the
consideration of the infinite love of God towards man, and of the
precious benefits conferred upon us by the Saviour, would fill every soul
with gratitude and love: to think that weak, sinful, and guilty man,
should be elevated to so exalted a relation to God as that of son; to
remember that his title to his high dignity was purchased, by no less a
sacrifice than the atonement made by Him, who is the brightness of His
Father’s glory, and the express image of His person,—present to the mind
such an astounding, and yet transporting view, of “the length and
breadth, and depth and height,” of “the love of God, which passeth
knowledge,” that we are constrained to exclaim, “Such things are too
wonderful for me; I cannot attain unto them.” And yet, they affect not,
they influence not, that large class of men, the lukewarm in religion!
God now calls them by “His judgments, which are in the earth,” to “turn
unto Him with all their heart.” May they all receive grace, to obey the
call, and seek forgiveness at his hands; for there is impending over them
a most terrible curse—a curse which repentance only can avert. “If any
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” {73}
Let, then, all the several classes of men, who, as constituting the
leading divisions of those who believe not, or practise not, the truth as
it is in Christ Jesus our Lord—have been exhorted and warned “to flee
from the wrath to come,” be now earnestly intreated to imitate the
example of the Bereans of old, who “were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, _in that they received the Word with all readiness of
mind_, _and searched the Scriptures daily_, _whether those things were
so_.” {74a}
And may God accompany with his grace and blessing such study of the
Scriptures, that they who have heretofore neglected, perverted,
disobeyed, or rejected the Gospel, may, through “its marvellous light
become wise unto salvation!”