Part 7
3. It gives strength to do, to resist temptation, to bear trials and sufferings. It gives us power for good over our fellow-men to a greater extent than anything else. It cannot be imitated or feigned or assumed, any more than a cold body can appear hot. The power
emanates from the reality, not from the semblance. A painted flame gives no heat.
REMARKS
1. This walking with God is not inconsistent with activity in outward duties. It does not require monastic seclusion. 2. It is absolutely necessary in order to prevent outward duties and forms of activity in religious works degenerating into mere heartless formality or worldly business. A man may conduct missions as he would conduct a mercantile enterprise.
CII. Dying unto Sin, and Living unto
Righteousness
[September 10th, 1876.]
So far as we know, the redemption of man, i.e., delivering him from the guilt and power of sin—is the greatest work in the history of the universe—the greatest as a manifestation of the glory of God.
It is greatest also as to the difficulties to be surmounted. These difficulties were objective and subjective, i.e., those outside of man and subject of redemption, and those arising from the natural state of man.
The objective—From the justice of God—from his holiness—from his benevolence.
The subjective—i.e., the destruction of the evil principle and the control of the good principle.
The Bible teaches concerning this,
1. That it is a continuous process—not like justification.
2. It is a difficult process. It is a work—it is a conflict—a race—a dying —a long and painful process. A man in a fever or in consumption is often months and months in dying. So the believer is not months but years and years in dying to sin; i.e., in becoming free from its influence, as those in their graves are dead to the world.
3. This is our work. We must repent, and believe. It is we that must renounce the world, the flesh and the devil. No man wins a battle or a race without exertion, neither does he gain the victory over an enemy sitting still. He has his part to do in working out salvation, etc.
4. It is a supernatural work.
This means, a. That it is not a process of moral culture. b. It is a work for which the power and ability comes from above. c. It is a work carried on by supernatural means, as taught in Eph. 6.
5. It is by faith. We are sanctified by faith. How? a. By accepting Christ as reconciling us to God. b. By believing in the love of God. c. By deriving our strength from Him. d. By continually looking to Him.
6. It is an absolutely necessary work.
CIII. Living hope through the resurrection of Christ. 1 Pet. 1:3
[Sept. 16th, 1855.]
It is not easy to put ourselves in the place of the apostles. As Jews their knowledge of a future state was imperfect. Their conceptions of Christ's kingdom, earthly. Their hopes bounded very much to what was to be expected from the Messiah in this world. His death disappointed and confounded them, etc. His resurrection introduced a new era.
1. It proved the fact of a heavenly future state, and far more clearly than Scripture or reason had before revealed it.
2. It revealed the nature of that state, or of Christ's kingdom. It proved that it was not of this world. That it was not to consist of earthly advantages. It was future—in the unseen world. It was discovered to be an inheritance incorruptible, uudefiled, that faded not away, and one reserved in heaven.
3. It not only revealed the nature of that heavenly state, but it produced the hope of attaining it. It imparted the assurance that it was reserved in heaven for us.
It did this, a. Because it was a tangible, palpable proof of its existence.
b. Because it proved Christ to be the Son of God, and authenticated all his claims and all his teachings.
c. Because it was the public acknowledgment, on the part of God, that his mediatorial work was accepted; that his sacrifice was sufficient, and therefore that God was reconciled. Our debt was paid, our ransom was accepted. The price of the inheritance was paid.
The apostles could not doubt the fact of the resurrection, and therefore they could not doubt what the resurrection proved to be true.
1. They could not doubt the resurrection, because they had seen, felt, looked upon and handled the Son of God after he had risen from the dead. They had seen him repeatedly and under circumstances which forbade the idea of delusion.
2. Because he had himself foretold his resurrection, as they now came to see, or,
3. Because the resurrection explained what they before could not understand.
4. Because God bore continual testimony to the fact by the gift and influences of his Spirit; by signs and wonders and divers miracles, which they themselves were enabled to work.
The hope of heaven, therefore, founded on the resurrection, was a lively hope, ἐλπις ξωσα, a living hope. This means:
1. An animating vigorous, active hope; not a dull, lifeless, lethargic dubious expectation—such as was begot by reason, or even by the obscurer revelations of the Old Testament, and,
2. An abiding hope, as opposed to a fitful hope, interchanging with doubt and fear; and what the resurrection was to the apostles, it is to us.
1. The evidence in proof of its occurrence has not diminished, but rather increased. It is as certain to us as it was to them.
2. Secondly, what it proved to them it proves also to us.
3. And, therefore, the hope it begot in them, it should also beget in us.
The effect which this hope should produce is:
1. A patient endurance of all present trials; a contented, happy spirit.
2. An earnest desire and longing for the coming of Christ, when this salvation shall be revealed, and,
3. Heavenly-mindedness—negatively freedom from worldlymindedness—and positively a pure, elevated, spiritual frame, arising from the expectation of such an inheritance.
CIV. Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity; but the greatest of these is Charity. 1 Cor.
13: 12
[Jan. 26th, 1862.]
The design of this chapter is to show the superiority of graces to gifts; of what determines the inward character and assimilates it to that of God, to what merely elevates the powers of man. The apostle teaches that a man may have the highest intellectual abilities, the largest stores of knowledge, and the greatest amount of power, and yet be a reprobate. Therefore the knowledge of the truth; the ability to present and enforce it, will avail us nothing, without inward piety. As the Corinthians coveted those gifts which most attracted the admiration of men, as the gifts of tongues, and of miracles—so now we are apt to covet eloquence, intellectual ability and knowledge, things which in our day attract admiration, and secure popular favor. What Paul taught the Corinthians, he teaches us. He teaches us:
1. That all gifts, however great, valuable in themselves, without love are of no avail. They will not sanctify or save our souls.
2. That we should not seek ourselves, our own exaltation, nor covet gifts which tend to that result, but should seek the good of others and gifts by which we may edify one another.
The apostle classifies spiritual gifts on three different principles. 1. Their relation to our own inward character. He teaches that those which involve moral and religious excellence are immeasurably above those which imply intellectual superiority and power. 2. Those which are permanent are more important than those which are temporary. 3. Those which are useful, are, in that point of view, the greater.
In other words he divides them, 1. As to their effect on the character. Some have no effect in rendering men better, as the gifts of tongues, of miracles, and prophecy. Love, however, has in it all that is morally and spiritually good, as a man may have the former and yet be nothing without love.
2. As to their permanency. Some have relation to our present state alone, as tongues, miracles, prophecy (or knowledge), others as, faith, hope and charity, are permanent. Not only as lasting through all ages of the Church, while miraculous gifts were soon to cease, but as abiding forever.
3. As to their relative usefulness. Prophesying was better than speaking with tongues; and love is better than either faith or hope. The latter relate to ourselves; the former to others. As he that spake with tongues edified himself, while he that prophesied edified others, therefore says Paul, Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues; so in like manner love as tending to the good of others is greater than faith and hope, which are purely subjective and personal in their effects.
Three classes of gifts.
1. Those which do not determine the religious character, as distinguished from those which do. Tongues, prophecy, gifts of miracles belong to the former; love to the latter.
2. Those which pertain to the present state of things and those which are permanent.
3. Those which edify ourselves and those which edify others.
Judged by the first principle—love is immeasurably superior to intellectual gifts.
Judged by the second, the same result.
Judged by the third, love superior even to faith and hope.
The Corinthians sought those who exalted themselves. Paul teaches them, 1. That all intellectual gifts are worthless without love.
2. That they should not seek themselves, but the good of others.
Remember the historical character of the Books of Scripture. We must therefore place ourselves in the position of those to whom they were addressed to understand them. During the apostolic age spiritual gifts were abundant and various. They were not confined to Church officers. They became objects of emulous competition. Those intrinsically and the least important, the most desired.
Paul classifies on three principles.
1. Their inherent character.
2. Their permanence.
3. Their usefulness.
1st. Some not sanctifying. 2d. Some (often the same) not permanent. 3d. Some even of those permanent, not useful to others.
He teaches the Corinthians, 1. That they might possess all those gifts which imply simply knowledge and power, and be reprobate.
2. That they should regard not themselves but others, and therefore covet those gifts which would edify the Church.
CV. Unbelief (or doubts) in Believers.—
Matt. 6:30; Mark 6:6
[Dec. 18th, 1858.]
I. Its nature.
Unbelief is of course the opposite of faith. Faith is the conviction of the truth contained in the word of God founded on the testimony of the Holy Ghost. This faith may have reference either to the doctrines or to the promises of the word of God. If to the latter, it may refer either to the promises, or to our interest in them.
It is essentially a holy exercise. It supposes holiness, and it is itself holy.
Unbelief, its opposite, is either (as found in the renewed) a weakness of faith, or a faith, beset with doubts or alternating with them. It may have reference to the truths or to the promises of God. It is unholy. It is a fact in Christian experience that the believer has to contend with unbelief. He is often troubled with doubts, as to the truth of God's word, or of some of its doctrines, or of his interest in the promises.
II. As to the source of these doubts.
1. In general it is an evil heart. In the unrenewed this precludes faith, and as the Christian is imperfectly sanctified, the evil of his heart produces unbelief. If perfectly holy, we should have no doubts. This should be impressed upon us, that we may feel our guilt, and not cherish doubt as a manifestation of humility. The reason why holiness precludes doubt, or tends thereto, is 1. The evidence of the truth is abundant, and that it is addressed to the spiritual understanding. So that if that is unclouded, our apprehensions would be clear and our convictions strong and constant. This is the general source. The more specific causes of doubt are:
2. Looking for, demanding, and relying on wrong kinds of evidence.
Those who look for or demand "wisdom," i.e., proof addressed to the reason, instead of testimony, will always be in doubt. Some men do this from undue regard to their own ability. They lean on their own understanding, grapple with authors and arguments too strong for
them. With regard to the promises, doubt often arises from looking for wrong evidence of our interest in them. We have the idea that we are entitled to believe only if we feel aright. Right feeling comes from faith.
3. Grieving the Spirit. As all true faith is founded on the testimony of the Spirit, whatever tends to grieve the Spirit leads to a suspension or withdrawal of his witnessing to the truth, and to our spirits. Hence God is said to give the wicked up to believe a lie.
4. Sometimes these doubts, especially desponding ones, have their source in the physical temperament, or in the state of the body. This should be known both to the people, and to those who have the care of souls.
III. The effects of this unbelief.
1. It is in general to destroy the power of the truth. The truth becomes clouded, and cannot operate with full effect on the soul. Hence unbelief produces,
2. Sin. What arises from evil produces evil. It leads to separation and alienation from God, whose truth is his image, through which we have fellowship with him. Hence Paul says it leads to apostacy. No matter whether it have reference to the truths or to the promises of God, it alienates from him, prevents intercourse and thus spiritual death.
3. Of course it destroys peace of mind. Peace is the fruit of faith, whether that peace be the quiet of the mind which arises from freedom from conflicts with doubt and acquiescence in the truth, or whether it be that peace which passes all understanding, which flows from the assurance of the divine favor.
4. It necessarily weakens us for all duty, and dries up the sources of all spiritual consolation. Nothing more miserable than a sceptic unless it be the man whose understanding and conscience witness
for the truth which his heart rejects, or which he is unable to appropriate to himself.
IV. The cure of unbelief and doubts.
Much of the physician's skill in the care of his patients is evinced in telling them what not to do. So here the negative part of the prescription for the cure of unbelief is no less important.
1. Do not grieve the Spirit of God.
2. Do not rely on our own understanding for faith.
3. Do not grapple with sceptical books unnecessarily.
4. Do not take false views of the plan of salvation, overlooking the grace of the gospel.
On the other hand,—
1. Look to God for faith.
2. Live in communion with God, in the use of the means of grace.
3. Allow the truth to operate freely and fully, by frequent reading and meditation.
4. Be active in the service of God. Obeying produces believing.
CVI. Contentment. 1 Tim. 6:6
I. Its nature. It is the opposite of dissatisfaction. It is, therefore, a quiet acquiescence in the allotments of providence with regard to ourselves. Not self-sufficiency as αὐτάρκεια might seem to mean, nor self-satisfaction, nor listless unconcern, as to what we are, and what happens to us, but it has reference not to what we are, or what we
can do, but to what God does. It is quiet acquiescence in the share of good which he assigns us,
Whether this relates 1. To our wealth or outward estate. Some rich, some poor, some of every grade between, 2. or to our position in society. In point of fact there are grades. Some are above us, some below us. In other countries this relative position is determined by birth, and by the laws of the land. Here by fortuitous circumstances. Nothing more pitiable than discontentment with our social position. It leads to envy, subserviency, extravagance, contempt of the poor and all uncharitableness.
3. Or to personal advantages, of health, strength, mental endowments, or advantages of education.
4. Or to our success in life, the degree of honor, or usefulness, God may see fit to assign us.
II. The grounds of this state of mind. It is as a Christian grace one of the fruits of the Spirit. Nothing short of his power can so mortify our natural desire for enjoyment and pre-eminence, as to make us cheerfully to acquiesce in being poor, suffering, of little account and of little esteem.
This state of mind arises out of, 1. A deep and abiding sense of guilt, insignificance and pollution. If this conviction is strong, we shall never cease to feel, that any thing short of utter condemnation is a mercy.
2. Faith in the universal providence of God, the conviction that all things are ordered by his power and wisdom, that all circumstances are determined by his will.
3. The assurance of our reconciliation to God; that not only are our circumstances determined by his wisdom but by his love. If it were better for us to be richer, happier, more eminent or powerful, he
would make us so. It would be to act as children who cry for poison, to be craving after forms of good which God denies.
4. The conviction that not only our good, but God's glory, is most promoted by our lot being what it is.
5. A peculiarly Christian character is given to these considerations, when we remember that it is our own Lord and Saviour, who is the God of Providence, and who determines the bounds of our habitation.
6. The great ground of contentment is that God is our portion. The apostle remarks ευσέβεια with αυταρκεια because they are so intimately related. The one flows from the other. This complex state of mind, where ευσέβεια and αυταρκεια are combined, is the union of heaven and earth. As when the sky melts the horizon, or when the placid lake reflects a placid heavens. In looking on such a lake, we see the quiet of earth and the sublimity of heaven united. It is, therefore, a great gain. It is better than wealth or fame, a surer source of happiness, and a higher means of good.
CVII. Submission
[May 3d, 1857.]
I. What is submission?
In general it is acquiescence in the teaching, the will, or acts of another.
Submission to God is,
1. Acquiescence in his authority; a cordial recognition of his right to do what he will with us. It is an unresisting subjection to him and his authority, as manifested in all the dispensations of his providence, in his assigning us our position in the world, our talents, health, wealth,
means of happiness. It stands opposed, a. To discontentment. b. To envying or repining at the good of others. c. And still more, to open murmuring and rebelling against the will of God. So much as concerns ourselves.
Submission, however, moreover implies acquiescence in the providential dispensations and arrangements of God, with regard to the ordering all events in the world and in the church. We are disposed to be disturbed at the course which things take in the state or in the church, and it is our duty to do what we can to give them a right direction; but if they are guided into other courses than such as we would choose, we must submit to the will of God, without repining or despondency.
2. Submission includes the subjection not only of our will to the will of God, but of our reason to his instruction. That is, we must receive as true whatever he has revealed on the ground of his authority. We must be converted and become as little children. This is opposed, a. To ignoring the revelation of God. b. To refusing to receive what he has revealed because it clashes with our preconceived opinions. c. To the principle that we must understand whatever we are required to believe.
3. So far as concerns the method of salvation, submission is, not a willing to be damned for the glory of God, which is contradictory and impossible; nor is it a mere submission to his authority, but it is a submission to the method of salvation which he has revealed. This includes, 1. A rejecting of our own righteousness and submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God. 2. A cordial acquiescence in the teaching of his word as to our helplessness and dependence, and a willingness to be saved in the way which he has prescribed, and for his glory.
II. Grounds of this submission.
1. The infinite superiority of God. The fact that he is infinite in wisdom, power and goodness is reason enough why his will should be acquiesced in, why his teaching should be received, and why his plan of redemption should be received and acquiesced in, without debate or opposition.
2. Opposition of our will to God's, of our intellect to his, of our method of securing salvation to his, can only result in our destruction. If we oppose our will to his as to our external circumstances, how does that alter our condition? Will it give us health, wealth, or happiness? If we oppose our intellect to his, will that bring us to the knowledge of the truth? Has any system of philosophy ever stood the test of time? Or; if we insist on being saved in some other way than that revealed in the Bible, will our salvation be thereby secured? Do we obtain righteousness by refusing to submit to the righteousness of God? Do we gain grace by refusing to admit that God is a sovereign in the gift of his Spirit, by asserting our right to be converted, sanctified or saved?
3. Our whole happiness and well-being depends on our submitting ourselves to God. If we are in harmony with him, with his will and purposes, and allow him to execute his plan, and rejoice in the sovereignty of his will, then all things will work together for our good, and the end to which infinite wisdom and love conducts all things, will include our supreme and everlasting blessedness. If we submit our reason to his teaching we shall be preserved from all fatal and hurtful error, and guided more and more into the knowledge of the truth. And if we are willing to acquiesce in his plan of salvation, then it will take effect in our case.
CVIII. Parable of the Rich Man and
Lazarus
[April 22d, 1857.]
This parable presents the picture of a rich man arrayed in splendid garments, and faring sumptuously, and at his gate a poor man, nearly famished, and covered with sores. The one the object of respect, if not of envy, the other of commiseration and contempt. In a moment the scene changes. The poor man is seen in the bosom of Abraham, and the rich man in hell.
What was this meant to teach?
1. Not that the rich because rich go to hell, and that the poor because poor go to heaven. This would be to contradict the great principle of the Bible, that character and not external circumstances determine our destiny before God. It would contradict the facts recorded in Scripture, as many rich men, as Joseph and David, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, were the children of God—many poor men were wicked. It would no less contradict our daily experience. It would lead us to distrust all who are rich, and tempt the vicious poor to claim heaven as a compensation for their suffering in the present life.
2. Neither was the parable designed to teach us the danger of riches. It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But so it is for the poor. It is difficult to say which condition presents the greatest obstacles to salvation.
3. It is doubtful even whether it was designed to teach us the end to which an abuse of wealth inevitably leads. But it does teach:
1. That what is highly esteemed among men, is an abomination in the sight of God. It is intended to teach that God knows and judges the heart; that his estimate and judgment is not founded on appearances or on external circumstances, but on the inward state. And therefore, a. we should adopt the same rule, and not honor men for wealth and rank, but for their excellence. b. We should remember that the same rule of judgment will be applied to ourselves.
2. Another great lesson taught is, that God's providential blessings are not distributed according to the merit of their recipients. He
gives wealth, and rank, and honor, and privileges to those whom he means shall perish, and sends poverty and sorrow to those whom he means to save. We should not, therefore, envy the prosperous, or repine at afflictions.
3. A truth incidentally taught is, that the state of the soul is determined immediately after death. There is no sleep of the soul. No intermediate state between heaven and hell. No state either of probation, or of purification.
4. The condition of the soul after death is unalterable. There is an impassable gulf between heaven and hell.
5. That the sufferings of the lost are extreme and without mitigation. Even a drop of water was desired. The recompense or enjoyment of the righteous is also great beyond all present conception.
6. That repentance is necessary in order to escape final perdition.
7. That the want of evidence is not the reason why men do not repent and believe.
This includes two things, first, that no amount of external evidence can produce repentance. This proved, a. Because repentance involves a change of heart, which such evidence cannot effect. The only effect of such evidence is speculative conviction, but speculative conviction has no power over the affections. b. The example of the Israelites proves the same thing. c. So also does the example of those who saw the miracles of Christ. This should stop our mouths, as it shows that our impenitence and unbelief has a deeper foundation than the want of evidence.
The second thing included is that the Scriptures are the best adapted means to repentance, so that those who do not repent and lead a holy life under their influence, would resist all other means. Repentance implies, 1. A knowledge of sin. 2. Conviction of sin. 3. A turning from it with grief and hatred unto God.
Now the Scriptures are adapted, 1. To give us this knowledge, and to produce this conviction. 2. They are adapted to lead us to return to God, a. By the exhibition which they make of his character and love. b. By revealing to us the way of return through Jesus Christ. c. By presenting all the motives to repentance which can influence a rational being.
This parable should lead us to be content with our lot. We may be rich and perish, we may be poor and yet be saved. It was a small matter to Lazarus because he had suffered so much while on earth.
2. It should teach us that we are within a hairs-breadth of heaven or hell every moment, and therefore should live in fear and trembling, and that others are in the same predicament, and therefore we should endeavor to awaken them to a sense of their danger.
3. It should teach us that now is the day of salvation, and that as we have the means of salvation, if we perish, our blood will be on our own head.
CIX. Growth in Grace
[October 29th, 1854.]
I. Use of the word grace in the Scriptures.
1. An inward disposition.
2. Any favor, especially divine influence.
3. The inward effects of that influence, the Christian graces. These are gifts of the Holy Ghost. They are the fruits of a renewed heart, the abiding principle of spiritual life, which itself is grace, a gift.
II. What is the growth of grace?
It is another form of expressing the idea of the increase in the power of religion in the soul. It is an increase at once of the principle itself and of all its manifestations, e.g., Faith, Love, Submission, Patience, Meekness, Zeal, Diligence, etc.
With this is connected increase in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, i.e., of Christ as our Lord and our Saviour.
III. What is it to know Christ as our Lord?
Knowledge is speculative and experimental.
Both forms of knowledge must be united. The object of this knowledge is Christ, as Lord and as Saviour.
As Lord, it includes his divinity and his incarnation, as it is the Theanthropos whom we recognize as Lord.
Increase in this knowledge includes,
1. Clearer apprehension of his glory.
2. Of his exaltation and dominion.
3. Increase in the inward feelings belonging to the relation which we bear to him as Lord, who rules in us, reigns over us, and subdues all his and our enemies.
IV. What is it to know Christ as our Saviour? It includes, 1. Knowledge of what he does for us in this character. 2. Inward experience of his saving work on our own souls.
V. Means of growth in Grace. The necessary conditions of all growth are light, food and exercise.
1. Light and warmth. This is, so far as spiritual life is concerned, the favor of God, the assurance of it, the experience of it. We must bring our souls under the influence of the love of God. The more this is done the more life shall we have. It must be in the way the gospel prescribes. The assurance must be evangelical. If unfounded, it will promote only evil.
2. The food of the soul is truth.
a. This must be pure, i.e., scriptural.
b. It must be daily received.
c. It must be appropriated, and applied.
3. The exercise of grace. This includes, a. All acts of worship. b. All exercises of faith and love, etc. c. All outward duties performed in obedience to God and to promote his cause.
VI. Evidence of growth in grace, is
1. Not fervor of feeling. 2. Nor enjoyment. 3. But increase in, a. Our acquiescence in the truth. b. In our conformity to Christ. c. In our power to resist sin and to do and to bear the will of God.
CX. Growth in Grace
[October 2d, 1859.]
Growth is incident to life. In all its forms, life is progressive until its end, or perfection is attained. If there is no end to the power of expansion, there is no end to the growth. What is true of other forms of life is no less true of the divine life. The nature of growth, however, is different.
1. In plants and animals growth is a natural and involuntary process. It goes on without effort, and by a law of natural development. This is true also of the growth of the body in man. All that is necessary is that the proper conditions of nourishment, heat, light and air be present, then growth is not only involuntary but necessary.
2. In intellectual life this is only partially true. There is little growth in knowledge or intellectual power without conscious effort. It is true that men are so surrounded by the occasions and necessities of intellectual exercise that there is a necessary and almost unconscious increase from infancy to age. But beyond this limit, there must be effort in order to secure increase.
In the divine life, the case is different. It does not owe its existence or its continuance, and much less its increase, to any law of nature. It will not grow of itself, as does the plant or the animal. Therefore the exhortation, grow in grace. We cannot exhort a young animal to grow. This, therefore, is a preliminary truth, the conviction of which should be graven on our hearts, that our religion will perish, if let alone. It will wither and die, unless by the use of the appointed means, it is caused to grow.
II. The means of growth.
1. This growth cannot be secured by any arbitrary process; not by an act of the will; not by a mere desire; or by the use of unappointed means. It is a divine life as to its nature and origin, and so also in its support and increase. It can be sustained and increased only in the use of the means of God's appointment.
In order to growth, two things are necessary. 1. The increase of the vital force. 2. The necessary conditions for the exercise and development of that force. You may do what you please to a dead tree; you may spread around it the richest soil, plant it by rivers of water, and let in upon it the brightest light, and spread about it the purest atmosphere, yet it remains as dead as ever. So the most
appropriate and abundant supplies may be given to a diseased or dead being, without producing life, or securing growth. There is wanting the indispensable preliminary condition of vital force. It is so in the divine life. The most abundant supplies of light, the freest access to all that is adapted to its nourishment may be supplied, and there can be no growth without the inward principle. Now this inward principle is the Spirit of God, or Christ. This inward principle is communicated, and maintained, and increased in power only by the word, sacraments and prayer. We may do what we may. We may preach, exhort, go about doing good, all to no effect. These are like exercise which invigorates where there is inward life and strength, but exhausts if that principle be feeble and decaying.
2. But supposing the inward communications granted, then there is no less necessarily the constant exercise of that principle, i.e., the constant exercise of faith, love, meekness, humility and benevolence in promoting the spiritual welfare of others. This is another mistake. Growth in grace is not promoted by a life of seclusion and asceticism.
III. Evidence of growth. 1. Not fervor of feeling. The young have more of this than the old. 2. But increase of knowledge.
3. Increase of strength to do and to suffer.
4. Increase of firmness and fixedness and singleness of purpose.
CXI. Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
[March 3d, 1861.]
The great question when Christ was on earth was, to whom did the kingdom of heaven belong? Who were to enjoy its prerogatives and blessings? By the kingdom of heaven is meant the Messianic kingdom, that which Christ came to establish.
Its blessings were not of this world, nor temporal, as consisting in wealth, honor, or power; but justification, adoption, sanctification and eternal life. These were the μέλλοντα ἁγαθά (mellonta agatha) which Christ came to secure and to bestow. To whom did they belong? Who were to receive them?
1. Not the Jews as Jews. Not all the descendants of Abraham.
2. Not the rich and prosperous, the wise, the noble, as a class.
3. Not the poor as poor and because poor. Poverty is not the condition of membership in this kingdom. Its blessings are not bestowed as a recompense for the evils of poverty.
4. Not those who are voluntarily poor. The Romanists may so interpret the passage in favor of monastical vows.
5. Not those who, although rich in this world's goods, feel themselves to be poor. That is, those who buy and yet possess not. Not those who do not make riches their portion and trust.
But the poverty intended is a poverty as to the spirit. This of course is not to be understood as something derogatory. Poor-spirited is a term of reproach. It expresses the absence of manly virtue, of courage, strength of conviction and of will.
The poor in spirit are those who are conscious of their spiritual poverty. They stand opposed to those who falsely assume and assert that they are rich and know not that they are wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked.
Poorness in spirit includes therefore,
1. A sense of ignorance and a willingness to be taught. It stands opposed to pride of intellect and to confidence in the conclusions of our own understandings. Where this state of mind prevails, this intellectual blindness is the consequence. Those who profess
themselves to be wise become fools. It is only those who are sensible of their ignorance and of their insufficiency to discover truth and who are converted so as to be as little children, who have the Holy Ghost, who is the source of all true knowledge and one of the great blessings of the kingdom of God.
2. A sense of unworthiness, as opposed to a spirit of selfrighteousness. It is a consciousness of guilt and ill-desert in the sight of God which leads the soul to cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. So long as a man thinks that the law of God does not condemn him who cherishes the persuasion that he has never done anything worthy of death, so long is he left in his delusion. But when he is made sensible of the enormity of his guilt, and when he trembles at the wrath of God and renounces his own righteousness, then he receives the righteousness of Christ and becomes rich indeed.
3. A sense of pollution, as opposed to self-complacency or a disposition to admire our own excellence and to regard ourselves as attractive in the sight of others. To this is opposed a sense of vileness, which leads us to abhor ourselves and lay our mouths in the dust before God. To those who are thus poor in spirit, the Spirit comes and adorns them with all his heavenly grace.
4. A sense of helplessness. This is opposed to the conceit of our own power to change our hearts, to subdue sin, to secure holiness of heart and life. Those who have this conceit God leaves to their own resources, either to perish in their delusion or to convince themselves of their utter impotence, because then they are endued with power from on high.
So when they think they have power in themselves to accomplish any good work in the Church, God leaves them to try. It is only those who are poor in spirit whom He helps.
5. Poverty of spirit is a sense of wretchedness, i.e., of the utter incompetency of the world to fill the desires of the soul. Those who
think themselves rich because possessed of this world's sources of happiness, and desire nothing more, God leaves in their contentment. But those who are sensible of their poverty, who hunger and thirst after God, He fills with Himself.
CXII. Conscience
[September 22d, 1861.]
I. The facts of conscience.
1. We have a discernment of the difference between right and wrong.
2. We approve of the one, and we disapprove of the other, as of good and bad laws.
3. We condemn ourselves for what conscience disapproves in our states and acts.
4. We are impelled by conscience to do what is right, and deterred by it from what is wrong. Conscience therefore is not a simple faculty. It is a collective term for those exercises of our rational nature which concern moral good and evil. It includes cognition. It includes a judgment of approbation and disapprobation, which is a complex state of mind, including feeling as well as decision. And it is an impulse, as desire and affections are. It is not a mere decision as to truth.
II. Of this mysterious power, the obvious characteristics are,
1. That it is independent of the understanding and of the will. No man can force himself by a volition to approve of what he sees to be wrong. Nor can conscience be perverted by mere sophistry of the understanding. If a man honestly thinks a thing which is wrong to be right, his conscience will approve his doing it. But no man can argue
his conscience out of its convictions. Nor can it be silenced. It will be heard in spite of all we can do.
2. It is authoritative. It asserts the right to rule, to control our hearts and lives. And this authority we cannot deny. We may disregard it and rebel against it; but we must admit it to be legitimate.
3. It does not speak in its own name. The authority which it exercises is not its own. The vengeance which it threatens is not its own displeasure. It is the representative of God. It brings the soul before His bar.
4. It is avenging. It is made so by God. Remorse is a state produced by conscience. It includes self-condemnation, self-abhorrence, regret and apprehension of wrath. It can be opposed only by what satisfies justice.
III. Our duty in regard to conscience.
1. To enlighten it. It is not infallible in its judgments. It is in this respect on a par with reason, for it is in fact only a function of reason. We find men, therefore, differing widely as to what is right and wrong. Our thinking a thing right does not make it right. It is of the last importance to have an enlightened conscience, as opposed to a perverted conscience, to a scrupulous or a scared one.
2. To obey it. No man is better than his conscience. No man is as good. Although he is liable to error, yet he must obey his conscience in all cases in which its decisions are not contrary to a higher law.
3. Not only to obey it in particular cases, but to have a fixed and governing purpose to permit it to rule. That is, that we will not act from impulse, self-interest, from mere feeling or inclination, allowing ourselves to be determined by what is agreeable or disagreeable, and in small matters as well as great. He that is faithful in that which is least will be faithful in that which is much, etc.
The ground of this obligation to obey conscience is—
1. The authority of God in whose name it speaks. In resisting conscience we resist and disobey God. This is to be understood with the limitations above mentioned.
2. Respect for our own dignity as rational and moral beings. Selfdegradation and ruin are the consequence of disobedience and the habit of it.
3. The greatest happiness flows from an approving conscience, and the greatest misery from a wounded conscience.
CXIII. Conscientiousness
[December 5th, 1869.]
I. What it is. It is acting from a sense of right, as opposed to acting from considerations of expediency, or for self-indulgence.
II. There are three classes of men. 1. The conscientious, who always ask, what is right? 2. The mass of men, who do what is agreeable or what promotes their interests. 3. Those who on great matters are conscientious, but not in small matters.
III. Difficulty of being conscientious. 1. Because of the strong opposing principles within. 2. Because of the opposing influences from without; the influence of friends; of party; of example. 3. Because of the moral courage and firmness of character it requires.
IV. Your duty. 1. Be conscientious in your religious duties in the closet and in keeping the heart. 2. In your special duties of study recitation, etc. 3. In your ministerial duties, in preparing for the pulpit, in visiting the people, in care for the young. 4. In church courts.
V. Aids. 1. A fixed purpose. The power of the will is great. 2. Living near to God. 3. Habit. 4. Prayer.
VI. Advantages. 1. We are doing right. 2. It purifies the heart. 3. It gives power, because it secures influence and respect.
CXIV. Diseased Conscience
[December 19th, 1852.]
I. What is conscience?
There are certain phenomena of our moral nature of which all men are conscious. 1. The perception of moral distinctions. 2. A sense of moral obligation. 3. A feeling of approbation and disapprobation (entirely distinct from admiration and contempt) of the acts of others, or of self-approval and self-condemnation. Whether and how far these exercises belong to the cognitive faculties, and how far to the susceptibilities (reason and feeling), is hard and perhaps useless to determine. They are rational in so far as they suppose a rational nature and involve the exercise of reason. But every cognition when its object, moral or æsthetic, is not an act of the pure reason, but of a rational soul, involving feeling as well as knowledge. It is here, as in the perception of beauty, and even in our sensations, which are different in us from what they are in a brute. It is hard to distinguish these elements in our perceptions, affections and moral judgments.
II. The attributes of this moral sense or conscience. 1. It is universal. 2. It is innate. 3. It is representative. 4. It is independent. 5. It is authoritative. 6. It is indestructible.
III. Conditions of a healthy conscience.
1. Knowledge, which is light. Conscience needs this just as reason needs knowledge, or as taste needs correct principles. Some knowledge is original and intuitive, other is acquired.
2. Due susceptibility. Men differ much as to this point. It may be excessive or deficient, but for a healthful conscience is necessarily due susceptibility. So that moral distinctions do not concern light matters, or trifles give as much concern as serious matters. a. Before acting. b. In applying the rule to doubtful cases. c. In the subsequent state.
3. Strength to constrain obedience. Sickly sentimentality is very different from a sound healthful conscience.
III. Diseases of conscience.
1. Perversion. This is due either to wrong principles, or to prejudices and passion. The cure is to be found in knowledge, objective and subjective.
2. Obduracy. Cause, ignorance and crime; cure, a. Knowledge again. b. Regeneration and sanctification.
3. Scrupulosity, cause, either weakness of conviction or undue sensibility, not really moral, but a sensitiveness analogous to false shame, bashfulness, etc. Cure, growth in strength. "Be strong in faith."
4. Wounded conscience. The only cure is, a. The blood of Christ. b. Confession. c. Restitution. d. Reformation.
The immense importance of this subject. On it depend, 1. Our excellence. 2. Our happiness. 3. Our usefulness.
CXV. Spiritual-mindedness
[Dec. 10th, 1854.]
I. Its nature. 1. The word φρονεῖν (phronein) is used of all inward acts, thinking, willing and feeling. Let this mind be in you that was
also in Christ Jesus. Set your affections on things above. Minding the things of the flesh. So φρόνημα (phronema) is used either for state of mind, or for thought, feeling, or volition. To mind the things of the flesh, therefore, is to make them the object of thought, desire and pursuit. And the things of the flesh are those things which are adapted to our nature considered as corrupt. The things of the Spirit are those things which the Spirit reveals as the proper objects of thought, desire and pursuit. And to mind them is thus to make them the object of our meditation, desire and pursuit. And the φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός (phronema tes sarkos) is either the inward carnal disposition or the actual pursuit, desire and thought of which the flesh is the object. And so of the phrase φρόνημα το υ πνεὑματος (phronema tou pneumatos). Spiritual-mindedness, therefore, is that state of mind which manifests itself in making the things of the Spirit the great object of thought, desire and pursuit. The things of the Spirit are God, Christ, truth, holiness, the interests of Christ's kingdom and heaven.
To the spiritually-minded these objects are, 1. The great subjects of their thoughts. Their minds are occupied with them. They are in communion with them. They dwell upon them in meditation. They study them. They spontaneously think of them by the way, and in the watches of the night.
2. They are also the great objects of desire or affection. Their hearts are set upon them. They are the sources of their peculiar enjoyments.
3. They devote themselves to the enjoyment or promotion of these objects. This supposes, of course,
1. That these things appear to the spiritually-minded as true. They are not the objects of sight or knowledge, but of faith. But they are real and true in their apprehension.
2. That they are most lovely and excellent. The state of mind in question arises out of the perception of the glory of the things of the
Spirit, i.e., out of spiritual discernment.
3. That they are seen to be of infinite importance. The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
II. The effects of spiritual-mindedness. To be carnally-minded is death. It not only leads to death, but is death. That is, death consists in the degradation, the corruption, and the misery which are involved in this state of mind. To be spiritually-minded is life and peace. That is, the life and blessedness of the soul consist in the elevation, the holiness and happiness involved in being spirituallyminded.
The reason of this is that God is the true life of the soul, the source and object of life. The former state of mind is separation from him; the latter involves fellowship and communion. Sin is separation from God, and therefore death. Holiness is union with God, and therefore life. This death and life are here inchoate; hereafter they are to be complete.
III. Method of attaining spiritual-mindedness. 1. Reconciliation to God through Christ. This is the first condition of union. 2. Participation of the Holy Spirit as the gift of Christ. 3. Constant use of the means of grace and strenuous self-discipline, extending to the thoughts, feelings and outward life.
IV. Fruits. These are excellence, happiness and usefulness.
CXVI. To be carnally-minded is death; but
to be spiritually-minded is life and peace
[March 6th, 1865.]
The analogy between matter and mind is so great and obvious that terms expressive of the state and acts of the former are used to
express those of the latter. This is a principle on which all languages are constructed. To see, to perceive, to apprehend, all express bodily actions, but they also express acts of the mind. This is not arbitrary. When we see a thing, we know that it is and what it is. So when the mind knows that a thing is and what it is, it is said to see. The invisible things of God are said to be seen. This usage, of course, pervades the Scripture. Hence, as we might expect, the words, death and life, are transferred to the soul.
In relation to the body, death implies,
1. Entire ignorance or the want of power to perceive the things of sense. It neither sees, hears nor feels.
2. It is shut out from all enjoyment.
3. It decays and becomes offensive.
4. It is absolutely powerless. All this is included when we speak of the death of the soul.
1. It is ignorant of the things of God.
2. It is incapable of enjoying them.
3. It is corrupt and offensive.
4. It is perfectly helpless.
On the other hand, life is the opposite of all this. The life of the body supposes its capacity to apprehend the objects around it, to enjoy them, the absence of decay and the possession of activity, etc. The life of the soul in Scripture language includes.
1. Knowledge, or right apprehension of divine things.
2. The enjoyment of them.
3. Holiness or purity.
4. Activity and power in the sphere of the spirit.
What the apostle asserts is that the carnal mind is death in the sense stated, and the spiritual mind is life.
The carnal mind φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς (phronema tes sarkos) means that state of mind which is the effect of our apostacy or the product of our corrupt nature. In other words, our corrupt nature manifests itself,
1. In ignorance.
2. In alienation, hatred, want of capacity to enjoy the things of God.
3. In moral corruption, or the exercise of all unholy thoughts and feelings.
4. In utter inability to alter this state of things. Whereas the φρόνημα το υ πνέυματος, the state of mind produced by the Spirit, includes a. Knowledge. b. Love and happiness. c. Holiness. d. Activity and power.
1. This is the simple and comprehensive truth here taught. The first remark suggested by it is that men mistake in regarding punishment and reward too much as positive inflictions; that is, something imposed or given from without. The death of which the Bible speaks as the wages of sin is mainly a subjective state. No greater misery is possible or conceivable than that which would follow from a sinner being left to himself. His inward state includes all the elements of misery; just as Milton makes Satan say, "Myself am hell."
It is true that the circumstances of the righteous, their associates and their surroundings minister to their blessedness. So doubtless will it be with the impenitent in the opposite way.
2. The wicked, those who are carnally-minded, are lost. They are now in a state of perdition, not hopeless and final in this world, not left to themselves; but still they are in that state which, if not radically changed, will issue in eternal death. So, on the other hand, believers, the spiritual, are saved. They have eternal life. The Holy Spirit in them is a source of spiritual and eternal life.
3. The decision of which of these two classes we belong to is not determined by anything external, our being in or out of the Church, our professing this or that faith, our outward deportment, or the reputation we have in the world, but simply and solely by our inward state. If the things of the flesh, i.e., adapted to our sensuous, physical or corrupt nature; if, in short, the things seen and temporal, the things to be professed and enjoyed in this life are the things which engross our thoughts, fix our desires and fill our hearts, we are in a state of spiritual death, from which nothing but the power of Him who can raise the dead can deliver us. On the other hand, if the things of the Spirit—God, Christ, heaven, the kingdom of the Redeemer, the spiritual interests of men—engross our minds, then we are spiritually-minded. This is a matter on which it is vain to attempt to deceive ourselves. We cannot make death life.
4. From what is said above, will appear the duty both of the carnallyminded and of those who hope they have the Spirit.
CXVII. Spiritual Discernment. 1 Cor. 2:15
[April 8th, 1855.]
I. The epithet πνευματικός (pneumatikos), as applied to believers, is one of the most significant and comprehensive. It does not mean rational as opposed to sensual, but is applied to one under the influence of the Spirit. It is the indwelling of the Spirit that gives character to the believer. The Spirit has an illuminating power, so that new discernment is imparted to the soul. This does not arise
from light shed upon the object, but from the effect produced on the mind. Its faculty of vision is restored; its eyes are opened. Before, it was blind, not rationally, so as not to perceive truth in its logical relations, nor morally, so as to be insensible to moral distinctions, but spiritually, so that it cannot discern the things of the Spirit. The case of the Jews in their judgment concerning Christ is an example. They saw that he was a wise man. They understood his words. They saw he was just, benevolent and kind. But they had no such discernment of his character as enabled them to see the glory of God as it shone in him. The effect, therefore, produced in the mind is the ability to discern the things of the Spirit.
II. Hence, first, there is a coincidence of judgment between the believer and God. What God declares to be true the believer sees to be true.
He acquiesces in the judgment of God as to sin, the method of salvation, the person of Christ, the doctrines of grace, and the reality and importance of eternal things. So also in his judgments of men. Those whom God approves the believer approves.
This is the ground, 1. Of the unity of faith among believers. 2. Of the unity of fellowship; so that all Christians recognize each other. 3. It is the ground of the authority of the Church as a teacher, and of the only legitimate authority of tradition. 4. It is the ground or reason why schism is a sin.
Hence, secondly, there is not only this coincidence of judgment as to truth, but also of feeling. That is, the spiritual love what God loves; they hate what God hates. They love those whom God loves, and so far as their character is concerned, they hate those whom God hates. The friends of God are their friends. This is the ground of the unity of communion between Christians. It is the reason why they have a common experience, and why they love each other as brethren.
Hence, thirdly, there is a conformity in the life of the believer with the will of God. He does what is in accordance with the mind of the Spirit. This is the ground of the community of worship. They all walk by the same rule. They all worship the same God and Saviour.
Hence, fourthly, all believers are united so as to form one body, the temple of God and the bride of Christ. Because they are πνευματικός (pneumatikoi) they are united to Christ, conformed to his image, and rendered glorious and blessed. For the Spirit is not only the source of knowledge and holiness, but also of consolation and of glory.
If we are Christians, we are πνευματικός. We believe the truth. We agree with the Scripture and with our fellow Christians. We are united to them in love. We love the brethren. We shall be united to them forever in heaven.
CXVIII. Spiritual Consolation
[Feb. 17th, 1856.]
Man is a child of sorrow. Though possessed of numerous sources of enjoyment and much happiness, there is no man who has not to drink of the cup of sorrow. The sources of sorrow are numerous. 1. Bodily pain and infirmity. 2. Pressure of external circumstances, poverty, disappointment, loss of reputation, and of confidence of friends. 3. Bereavements. 4. Sin in others, more or less nearly connected with us. 5. Sin in ourselves. Its power and its effects on the conscience. Its effect on faith and hope, and therefore despondency and fear of reprobation or final condemnation. From all these sources, man is certain to be more or less affected.
There are three sources of consolation. 1. The world. 2. Satan, who comforts his children with false hopes, with unbelief, and with sinful pleasures, as the drunkard drowns his sorrows in the bowl.
3. The Holy Ghost. He is set forth in the Scriptures as the Comforter.
II. The Holy Ghost as Comforter. The word παράκλητος (paraclete) means indeed more than Comforter, but it includes that idea. It was when speaking of the sorrow of his disciples that Christ promised to send them the Holy Ghost.
1. The need of a divine comforter arises, first, from the insufficiency of man for himself. He has no adequate resource in himself of knowledge, holiness or happiness. He must go out of himself for all these forms of good. Secondly, from the insufficiency of the creature. The world can never give the good we need. The soul of man, formed for God, can only be holy or happy in communion with God.
2. The way in which the Holy Ghost acts as our Comforter is, therefore, first, by bringing us to God, as the overflowing source of all good. Christ has opened the way, but we have access only through or by the Holy Spirit. This is the first great work of the Spirit.
Secondly, it is by taking the things of Christ and showing them unto us. That is, by revealing to us the glory of the Son of God. He thus fills the soul with a new affection, causes it to overflow with such admiration and delight, in view of Christ, that all our sorrows are lost in that sea of joy. This is a matter of daily experience. A man has been sadly afflicted by the sense of evil, when the accession of a far greater good has caused him to forget his sorrow in his joy.
Thirdly, by revealing and applying the truth to the heart and conscience, and giving us faith to embrace and appropriate it. Thus the convinced sinner is consoled by a view of Christ as a sacrifice and priest, and by having faith given to embrace him. Thus the soul, harassed and discouraged by the power of sin, is comforted by the promise, "My grace is sufficient for thee." Thus those who are weighed down by outward afflictions are comforted by the Spirit enabling them to see that these afflictions will work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is often carried so far that the believer glories in infirmities. It can be made so great that the stake itself has no terror.
Fourthly, by giving the soul such views of heaven as to render all earthly things inconsiderable.
Fifthly, by shedding abroad the love of God in the heart, and testifying with our spirit that we are the children of God. Christ by his Spirit nourishes and cherishes, ἐκτρέφει κὰι θάλπει, (ektrephei kai thalpei) his people as a tender mother her infant, Eph. 5:29.
III. How to enjoy these consolations.
1. We must not seek consolation elsewhere. If we turn to the world, God will leave us to the world. It is only by looking to the Spirit, we can enjoy the consolations of the Spirit.
2. We must be careful not to grieve the Holy Ghost, by whom we are sealed unto the day of Redemption.
CXIX. The Spirit of Adoption.—Rom. 8:15
[February 10th, 1856.]
I. Meaning of the expression.
1. That Spirit which brings us into the relation of sons to God, that is, the Holy Ghost.
2. The spirit of adoption may mean a filial spirit, the spirit which sons have; that spirit which makes us feel toward God as children toward a father. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of adoption, for two reasons:1. Because he brings us into the relation of children to God. 2. Because he produces in us the feelings appropriate to that relation, a filial spirit.
II. What is that relation? or, What is it to be the children of God?
1. The general idea of sonship is participation of nature. In this sense Christ is, κατὲζοχήυ, the Son of God. In this sense Adam and all mankind are God's children. And in this sense, the regenerated, who are brought to be partakers of God's nature, are specially his children. They are renewed after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. Those partaking of God's nature are of course like God. This is the fundamental fact which conditions all the rest.
2. Objects of special favor. In this sense the Israelites were God's children. This is the consequence, or rather an adjunct of the former. Those whom God loves, and towards whom he acts as a Father, are his children.
3. Sonship is heirship. The one is included in the other. The sons of Abraham are the heirs of Abraham. The sons of God are the heirs of God.
III. The spirit of adoption as a filial spirit means that spirit or disposition towards God which is appropriate to this relation. 1. It is a spirit of reverential love, of admiration, of gratitude and delight. 2. A spirit of confidence, founded on this relation and on the assurance of God's love and care. 3. A spirit of zeal for his glory, jealousy for his honor, and desire to see that honor promoted. 4. A spirit of obedience and resignation. A willingness that his will and not our own should be done.
IV. The outward conduct becoming this relation to God and which is the effect of a filial spirit.
1. A life regulated by his commands and devoted to his service. A life of holiness.
2. A life elevated above the world, not immersed in its pleasures and not devoted to its possessions. A life which has its end and consummation in heaven.
3. A life of inward intercourse and fellowship with God.
4. A life of joy and cheerful anticipation of the time when we shall see him as he is; when shall occur the manifestation of the sons of God.
Paul compares in Galatians the condition of believers under the law to that of νήπιοι (nepioi) and that of believers now to that of ὑιοι (huioi). So we may compare our present state to that of νήπιοι. and the state of believers after the second coming of Christ to that of ὑιοι. Then and not before will it be known what it is to be the sons of God.
1. The great sin and folly of Antinomianism, which separates the external privilege from the internal character of the sons of God. No man is the son of God in the sense of being an heir who is not a son in the sense of participation of nature.
2. Our infinite obligation to Christ; for we are the sons of God only in him and by virtue of faith.
3. How are we to become the sons of God? This is answered by what precedes. It is by faith in the Son of God. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God. It is furthermore by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
CXX. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Rom. 8:14
[Oct. 18th, 1874.]
There are two classes of men in the world, the φυγικόι (psychicæ), and the πνευματικόι; the natural and the spiritual; those who are controlled by their own nature, and those who are controlled by the Spirit of God. The former are governed as to their thoughts,
opinions, feelings and outward life, by the principles of human nature in its present state. These principles are numerous and complete, some evil and some good. Reason, conscience, regard for their own interest, natural fear of God, are among the principles which control the inward and outward life of the majority of men, who are not openly and avowedly wicked. Such men never rise above the sphere of the natural. They look at the things which are temporal. They live for the present.
The spiritual are those in whom the Spirit of God dwells and reigns. The Bible teaches that God is immanent in the world, preserving and controlling all the physical causes, and the immediate author of all organic structure indicative of design. In like manner the Spirit of God is immanent in the souls of believers. He controls the operations of their minds and hearts as God controls the operations of nature. And as God does not violate natural laws, so neither does he violate the laws of our rational and moral constitution, nor does he disregard them. He does not say: Let it rain, let it snow, let there be a harvest; but he controls natural causes to produce those effects. So neither does he govern his people by blind impulses. He works in them to will and to do. In acting thus, he uses appropriate means.
1. He leads them into conformity with the mind of the Spirit, so that they receive and see to be true what the Spirit reveals to be true, to approve what the Spirit approves.
2. He controls their affections, so that they love what the Spirit sets forth as the proper objects of love, God, Christ. He leads them to set their affections on things above.
3. He leads them to endeavor to subdue all evil in their hearts, to be humble, long-suffering, benevolent, to live for others rather than for themselves.
Those led by the Spirit are conformed to the Spirit in their judgments and feelings; and to his will as to their mode of life.
Whether we are natural or spiritual is not a matter of profession or belief, but of fact. If led by the Spirit, we are the sons of God. If not so led, we are not sons of God.
If sons, then, 1. We have the nature of God; 2. We are the objects of his special care and love; 3. We are heirs of his kingdom.
CXXI. The liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free
[Feb. 23d, 1862.]
The nature of this liberty is determined by the nature of the bondage from which we are delivered.
I. It was a bondage to the law, to the obligations to fulfill all its precepts as a condition of salvation.
Secondly, to satisfy its penalty or the demands of justice for its violation. Thirdly, an inward spirit of bondage inseparable from this condition and relation.
II. It was a bondage to sin.—The power of sin as a law in our members.
1. This power exists. It is a real controlling influence which determines the character and conduct.
2. It cannot be broken or overthrown by any effort of our own. It is a real and fearful bondage.
3. It cannot be overthrown or destroyed by any human or any creature power. From this servitude Christ redeems us.
III. It was a bondage to Satan.
1. This subjection is real. Satan does rule over men. They are his captives. He controls them at will, so far as God permits.
2. They are unable to free themselves from his dominion. They are no match for him, and he has them at a disadvantage.
3. This dominion is the dominion of evil, and ends in eternal perdition. From this Christ has made us free by destroying the power of Satan by his own death.
IV. It is a bondage of their reason and conscience to human authority.
1. In fact what men are to believe and what they are to do, has always been determined either by the priesthood or by public opinion.
2. From this subjection men cannot deliver themselves.
3. It is a degrading and ruinous subjection. From this Christ has freed us, a. By destroying the grounds of that subjection which were the consciousness that we could know what we must believe and do in order to be saved. b. By substituting his own authority for all that which is illegitimate. He teaches us by his word and Spirit what we are to believe and do.
V. It is a bondage to human despotism. 1. There is no real liberty but where the gospel reigns.
2. The reign of the gospel secures civil and religious liberty, not only by restraining the power of rulers within legitimate bounds, but also by making the people act on the principle that they must obey God rather than man.