[It is not possible but that such persons must be objects of God's wrathful indignation. In fact, they are the very image of Satan himself: for what can be said worse of Satan than this, or what can characterize him more justly than this, that he has no love to God? It is not necessary that a man should have committed murder or adultery, to deserve the wrath of God. If he has no love to the Supreme Good, to Him whose perfections are infinite, to Him who every moment maintains him in existence; if he have no love to Him who gave his only dear Son to die for him, and offers his Holy Spirit to renew and sanctify him, and would gladly confer on him all the blessings both of grace and glory; his desert of Gods wrath is unquestionable. St. Paul says, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha:" and there is not a creature in the universe that will not assent to the same denunciation, in reference to the wretch that loves not God.] 3. Of utter incapacity for happiness, even if he were actually admitted into heaven [Suppose a man, destitute of love to God, were admitted into heaven; what happiness could he find there? Amidst all the heavenly hosts, there would not be so much as one with whom he could hold communion, or have one single feeling in sympathy. As for God, the God whom he hates, he could not bear the sight of him. The sinner would know, that it was in vain for him to assume any appearances of love; for that his heart could not but be known to God, and consequently he must be an object of God's utter abhorrence. For the employments of heaven, it is obvious he could have no taste: and he would solicit a dismission from the place, where every thing he saw and heard must, of necessity, generate in him the bitterest feelings of envy, malignity, and despair. To take his portion under rocks and mountains would be to him a deliverance from scenes to which he was utterly averse, and from vexations painful to him as hell itself.] Now, then, 1. Let every one of us institute an inquiry into this matter [St. Paul exhorted the Hebrews of old to "examine themselves, whether they were in the faith:" so now I would say, "Examine yourselves," whether there be in you any love to God. Do not take it for granted, without examination; and be careful, also, not to try yourselves by an inadequate test. Take the tests that have been before proposed; and see what is the habitual state of your minds in relation to them. To what purpose will it be to say, you love God; when the entire course of your feelings and habits declares the contrary? You cannot deceive God; nor can you prevail on him to give in your favour a judgment contrary to truth. Bring the matter to a trial. Be not content to leave it in suspense. Indeed, if you can be content to leave it in doubt whether you love God or not, you can have no clearer proof that you are altogether destitute of his love: for the smallest sense of love to him that could exist in your soul, would make you uneasy, till you had placed the existence of it beyond a doubt.] 2. Let us not be satisfied till we can appeal to God, and say, "Thou knowest that I do love thee" [Thus St. Peter was enabled to reply, in answer to the question thrice put to him by our blessed Lord: and we also should be able to make a similar appeal to the heart-searching God respecting our love to him. And why should we not? Of defects, every one of us must be conscious; yea, of such defects, that, if God were to enter into judgment with us according to them, we must perish. But of our desires after God, and our supreme delight in him, and our determination of heart, through grace, to please him, we may be conscious; and this consciousness may well abide in us, as a source of most exalted joy. I pray God that this joy may be ever yours, my beloved brethren; and that when we shall stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, God himself may bear testimony to us all, as having borne a distinguished place amongst his faithful, loving, and obedient servants.] f John xxi. 15-17. MDCXXXIII. FAITH INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE LOVE OF MAN'S APPLAUSE. John v. 44. How can ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? IT is certain that great care is requisite in interpreting the Holy Scriptures; lest, on the one hand, we explain away their meaning altogether; or, on the other hand, we take occasion, from the strength of some particular expressions, to maintain doctrines which they do not fairly establish. And the more unqualified any declarations are, the greater caution we should use in affixing to them their true import. The passage before us is of the deepest importance to every soul of man: but on the explanation of it. its force must entirely depend. Shall it be said, that no kind of faith will consist with our seeking honour from man, rather than from God? or, that the mere "receiving" of honour from man is incompatible with true faith? Either of these positions would be utterly false. Let us then proceed to the consideration of these words with that care which their importance demands; and may God, of his infinite mercy, guide me, whilst I endeavour to shew, I. What we are to understand by "believing" in Christ! It can never surely be meant, that we cannot receive the Scriptures as a revelation from God, or have a general view of the leading doctrines contained in them, whilst we are seeking honour from man: for the mere weighing of evidences, and determining according to evidence, are acts of the mind, which every man of sense, whatever be his feelings as to human applause, is capable of performing. Certainly much more than a bare assent must be comprehended in the faith here spoken of. It must import two things: 1. An acceptance of Christ, as he is set forth in the Holy Scriptures [The Scriptures speak of our "receiving the Lord Jesus Christ." We must receive him as the gift of God the Father to a sinful world; and must receive him, too, for all the ends and purposes for which he is given. If we embrace him not under all the relations, and for all the ends for which he is sent, we reject him, rather than acknowledge him; and put him away from us by unbelief, instead of receiving him into our hearts by faith. It is not optional with us to separate his offices, and to acknowledge him in those only which are agreeable to our own minds. Whatever "God has made him to us," that he is to be with our full consent; our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our complete redemption"."] 2. A surrender of ourselves to him, as his obedient followers [Without this we can never be acknowledged by him as his: "If any man will be my Disciple, let him deny himself, a John i. 12. Col. ii. 6. b 1 Cor. i. 30. and take up his cross daily, and follow me." And so unreserved must our surrender of ourselves to him be, that, if we be not ready even to lay down our lives for him, we shall be regarded by him in no other light than as aliens or traitors. A faith which does not operate in this manner, and to this extent, is no better than "the faith of devils:" it is "dead," and will leave the soul dead to all eternity. Such, then, is the faith of God's elect; and such the faith. of which our Lord speaks in the words before us; a faith that "works by love," and "purifies the heart," and "overcomes the world."] Having ascertained what is meant by faith, we proceed to shew, II. Who they are who are declared incapable of exercising it [The mere "receiving" of honour from man has no such effect: for the good man passes "through honour as well as dishonour, and through good report as well as evil report." It is the seeking of honour from man that is here spoken of; that is, the seeking of it, either independently of "the honour that cometh from God," or in preference to it. All desire of man's approbation is not wrong: a child may properly seek the approbation of his parent; a servant, of his master; a subject, of his prince. But to make man's approbation the main object of our pursuit, is to put man in the place of God: and this can never be pleasing to the Supreme Being; who is "a jealous God," and "will not give his glory to another." Nor is it necessary that what we do should be substantially and in itself evil, in order to provoke God to jealousy: our actions may be good in themselves; and yet, if they be done to please man, their character is altogether changed, and they become hateful in the sight of God. Almsgiving and prayer are good; but if either the one or the other be done in order to obtain applause from man, it is vitiated, and debased, and execrable: and fasting itself is odious, when proceeding from no better principle than this. It was this base desire of man's applause which chiefly characterized the Pharisees of old': and, whereever it prevails, it destroys all pretensions to uprightness before God, and all hope of ever being acknowledged by Christ, as his Disciples: as St. Paul says," If I yet pleased men, I could not be the servant of Jesus Christ"." In like manner we err, if we seek man's approbation, in preference to the honour that cometh of God. The two often c Jam. ii. 19, 20, 26. f Matt. xxiii. 5. d Isai. xlii. 8. e Matt. vi. 1-5, 16—18. g Gal. i. 10. stand in competition with each other; or rather, I should say, are always opposed to each other, where the higher duties of Christianity are concerned: for, of "the circumcision of the heart, which is in the Spirit and not in the letter," we are told, "its praise is not of men, but of God." Indeed the praise of God is frequently not to be obtained without incurring the deepest odium from men. But, when that is the case, there must be no hesitation on our part whom to obey, and whose honour to seek. Our reply to the whole universe must be, "Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." Neither parental authority, nor brotherly affection, must have any weight with us in opposition to God: for, if "we come to Christ, and hate not father and mother, and brother and sister, yea, and our own lives also," in comparison of him, "we cannot be his Disciples." But in these two respects the persons described in our text are essentially defective. In respect of moral virtue, as it is called, they may be exemplary enough; and it is even taken for granted that they are so, by their "receiving of honour from men," which may be supposed to be accorded to them on account of their virtues: but, inasmuch as they do not utterly despise man's approbation in comparison of God's, and even "glory in shame" itself for the Lord's sake, they are incapable of exercising a true and saving faith in the Lord Jesus. I say again, It is not the immoral man, of whom our Lord speaks, but of the man who, from any cause whatever, prefers the praise of man before the praise of God.] But why can they not exercise faith in Christ? Let us inquire, III. Whence their incapacity arises The disposition to prefer the applause of man, 1. Unfits them for discerning truth [External evidences, as I have before observed, they may judge of: but the real excellency of the Gospel is hid from their eyes. The glory of Christ, and the beauty of holiness, they cannot appreciate; because they possess not that spiritual discernment whereby alone they can be seen. There is a film over their eyes: "their eye is evil; and therefore their body and soul are full of darkness'." Sin and "Satan have altogether blinded them"." The sublimer truths, when offered to their view, produce only the effect which a flood of light does when poured upon a disordered patient in a dark chamber. "They hate the light, and will not come to it":" and h Rom. ii. 29. i Luke xiv. 26. m 2 Cor. iv. 4. k 1 Cor. ii. 14. |