Part 9
Observe 1. That joy is one of the essential conditions of spiritual health. Happiness is necessary to mental and bodily development. That joy is thus necessary, is proved (a.) Because it results from holiness, and is perfect in the perfect. (b.) Because it is commanded. (c.) Because it characterizes all the exercises of the pious. (d.) Because it is the atmosphere of heaven.
2. Hence joy should be cultivated and despondency striven against. The method of action is determined by the causes. The natural and physical causes must be dealt with according to their nature, the spiritual causes according to their nature.
CXL. Singleness of heart. Acts 2:46
[Feb. 28th, 1864.]
There is an analogy between the youth of man, the youth of the Christian, and the youth of the Church.
The state of youth is characterized by, 1. The predominance of animal spirit and of emotional life. 2. A tendency to be governed by the feelings rather than by the dictates of the judgment and of an enlightened conscience. 3. Hence by imprudence and extravagance, i.e., pushing things to extremes. 4. By joyousness and singleness of mind, i.e., having the attention and feelings engrossed with one object. These are the characteristics also of the young Christian. We see in every revival of religion, where these characteristics are brought into full play, this predominance of feeling, this disposition to be governed by emotion, this tendency to extremes, and this joyousness and absorption in the one great object which fills the hearts of young converts.
We see all these traits in the description of the early Church in the Acts. How are the Scriptures to be understood when they describe the experience and conduct of the early Christians? 1. It is a
description of genuine religious experience. 2. It is a description founded on facts. The early Christians did feel and act as they are described in the Acts of the Apostles. 3. This experience being actual is not ideal or normal. It was of course modified by their peculiar circumstances, and by their imperfections of knowledge, experience and feeling. Consequently it is not an authoritative example to us. That they continued to attend the temple, that they celebrated the eucharist daily in connection with an ordinary meal, that they had all things in common, may have been actual, and the effect of genuine religious feeling; but it does not follow that these things were right then, or obligatory now. They were youthful excesses, which experience and the teaching of the Spirit led them to modify. The life of the early Church was a youthful life, very different from the life of Paul, Peter and John. 1. As devoted so exclusively to devotional exercises. 2. As pressing religious duties, as the celebration of the eucharist, etc., into ordinary life, and thus inevitably leading to its becoming ultimately a formal service, and destroying its solemn religious character. 3. In continuing to attend the temple service. 4. In community of goods. This would have been right if other things had been in due proportion. But the benevolent feeling was far stronger than the disposition to moderation and diligence in business. So that it became ruinous, and would be ruinous now unless among perfect men. 5. In their joyful exultation and singleness of heart. What that means is perhaps something different from what the same English word means elsewhere. Here the Greek word is ἀφελότης, in Eph. 6:5, Col. 3:22, the word ἁπλότης. These words differ in signification, although they often agree in usage.
The trait of mind, or the feature in the religious life of these early Christians, which the word here used expresses, is probably that characteristic of youth above referred to, the smooth, uniform flow of life in one current, undisturbed by attention to any other object. These Christians were engrossed in one thing. They thought and cared nothing about anything but their own happiness and blessedness. While there is something beautiful in this, it is not what is meant elsewhere by singleness of heart, which is not a transient
state of feeling, but a permanent trait of character. Singleness is opposed both to duplicity, seeming one thing and being another, pretending to be what we are not, and also to diversion or distraction of mind arising from the conflict of different objects of desire, or different principles of action. Singleness of heart consists in having one object of pursuit and one principle of action. To servants it was commanded that they should look to Christ. To do his will should be their sole object, and desire to please him their controlling motive. It should not be partly the fear of punishment, partly the hope of reward, or partly a desire for their own advancement, but simply and solely to do the will of Christ.
This is a very high attainment. It is a possible attainment. It gives consistency, strength and peace.
CXLI. Beauty of Holiness
[October 31st, 1858.]
The words with which we are most familiar we find it most difficult to define. We all know what beauty is, or, rather, we are all familiar with that state of mind which the perception of beauty produces; but no one has yet succeeded in defining beauty itself. The theories of philosophers are numerous and unsatisfactory. The τὸ κάλον remains a mystery. It is enough to know, 1. That beauty is that attribute of an object which awakens a peculiar pleasure in the mind, which pleasure we are conscious is not a sensation, and not moral, i.e., not an approbation of the conscience, but æsthetical. This pleasure is a complacent delight in the object itself apart from its relation to us.
2. Therefore it is entirely unselfish. Beauty cannot be appropriated. It is a common good. The beauties of nature no one can monopolize, and no one would if he could. It is not the less to one man because enjoyed by millions.
3. Beauty is of different kinds. Of natural objects, as flowers, an animal, a landscape, the ocean when calm, the moon in a cloudless sky; of works of art, a building, a statue, a picture. In all these cases the pleasure is entirely independent of the perception of utility. Of the human countenance, a beautiful face of a child, of a youth, of a man, of a woman, and that woman a sister or mother, excites a pleasure altogether peculiar to itself. It is the beauty of an intelligent being, and therefore partakes of the nature of intellectual beauty. 4. There is a beauty which addresses itself to the understanding. That is, the objects of the intellect when perceived, excite a pleasure analogous to that produced by a beautiful sensible object; e.g., beauty of style, which is not mere rythm, but fitness, perspicuity, attributes which address themselves to the intelligence. So there is a beauty in a demonstration, in a logical argument; there is the eloquence of logic. 5. Moral beauty. This is distinct from moral approbation. The contemplation of a good deed, or of a moral character, of a high order, excites not only approbation, but also a peculiar kind of pleasure, a complacent delight. 6. So there is a higher beauty still, the beauty of Holiness. As there is a beauty which addresses itself to the eye and to the ear, another which addresses itself to the intellect, another to the moral nature, so there is another which addresses itself to the higher life implanted in regeneration. There is a beauty in Holiness; or Holiness is beautiful.
By holiness is meant, 1. Purity. 2. Opposition to all evil. 3. All positive moral excellence. This exists imperfectly in man, perfectly though limited in angels, perfectly and without limit in God. When it is said that holiness is beautiful, it is meant not merely that it is an object of approbation, or of respect, or of fear or veneration, but of complacent delight; that it gives a peculiar pleasure, and that of the highest kind, which from analogy is called beauty. This beauty is revealed most clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is represented as most beautiful. The Scriptures are filled with descriptions of the beauty of holiness as manifested in Jesus Christ. The Church is represented as ravished with his beauty.
How is this beauty to be obtained?
1. All beauty is a gift. It never can be bought. It is a peculiar form of the manifestation of God. The beauty of holiness in us is the manifestation of God in us. The Spirit of God in us is the Spirit of glory. Therefore, 1. We must have our sins washed away in the blood of Christ. 2. We must have the Spirit of Christ dwell in us. 3. We must converse with the refined and beautiful through the word, sacraments and prayer.
CXLII. The Nature and Evidences of
Union with Christ
[Oct. 22d, 1854.]
The scriptural expression to be in Christ, is one of frequent occurrence. It of course indicates a union with him, to which our salvation is attributed. The lowest interpretation of the phrase makes it express nothing more than a union in sentiment and feeling. The Scriptures teach,
I. As to the nature of this union.
1. That it is a federal or a covenant union, analogous to that between Adam and his posterity in the covenant of works. It constitutes Christ the head and representative of his people. (a.) So that he acts as their substitute in obedience and suffering. (b.) Hence his righteousness becomes theirs and constitutes the ground of their justification. (c.) This union is from eternity. We were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, and the union secures to those for whom Christ acts, the benefits of redemption. (d.) Though existing from eternity in the council of God, and securing the benefits of redemption, it is consummated in time by faith. So that the application of the ulterior benefits of redemption is not made until we believe.
Observe. This teaches us the nature and office of faith as connected with our purification.
2. The union with Christ is not only a federal one, but also spiritual, arising from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, by which we become partakers of the life of Christ. Hence, he is said to dwell in us, to live in us, and his life is said to secure our life. It is said to be analogous to that between the vine and its branches, the head and members of the same body. As the federal union is the ground of our justification and exaltation, so this vital union is the ground of sanctification.
II. The effects and evidences of union with Christ are, first, as to this life. 1. Peace of conscience. 2. Assurance of God's love. 3. Increase of grace. 4. Perseverance therein. These are all the fruits of our covenant relation to Christ.
The immediate effects and evidences of the participation of his life are, 1. Conformity to his image. 2. Love for his person. 3. Devotion to his service.
Secondly, as to the life which is to come, the fruits of union with Christ are, 1. Participation of his glory. 2. Participation of his dominion.
1. To be in Christ is the only thing we need desire. We may well count all things but loss in comparison with this. 2. The sense of obligation which should always attend the belief that we are in Christ. 3. The desire to act in accordance with the dignity and blessedness of our relationship to Christ.
CXLIII. The Excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus our Lord. Phil. 3:8
[October 11th, 1843.]
The analysis of our faculties into our cognitive powers, into our susceptibilities and will, thought, feeling and volition, may be important to the understanding and classification of the phenomena of our nature; but these faculties are neither independent nor distinct. The exercise of the one includes the exercise of the other. There is always an exercise of will in thought, and an exercise of feeling in cognition. The Bible uses language founded on the common consciousness of men, and not on the speculations of philosophy. In the Scriptures, knowledge is not mere intellectual apprehension. It includes that but more. It includes also the proper apprehension not only of the object, but of its qualities; and if those qualities be either esthetic or moral, it includes the due apprehension of them and the state of feeling which answers to them.
The knowledge of Christ, therefore, is not the apprehension of what he is, simply by the intellect, but also a due apprehension of his glory as a divine person arrayed in our nature, and involves not as its consequence merely, but as one of its elements, the corresponding feeling of adoration, delight, desire and complacency. It includes, therefore,
1. A knowledge of his person as God and man.
2. The knowledge of his work in the redemption of man.
3. The knowledge of his relation to us, and of the benefits which we derive from him, justification, sanctification, adoption and eternal life.
This knowledge is superlatively excellent, 1. Because he is himself the perfect object of knowledge. 2. Because eternal life, the hope of the soul, consists in that knowledge. Because the possession of it enlarges and enlightens the intellect, purifies the heart, and renders perfectly blessed. 3. Because without this knowledge we are not only ignorant of God, but ignorant of the way of salvation. We know not
how to be justified or sanctified. We of necessity, therefore, are left to seek and trust in other ineffectual methods of obtaining these blessings.
1. All religion is concluded or confined to one thing, to know Christ. To this we should concentrate all our attention and efforts. It is vain to seek the knowledge of God or his favor, to strive after either holiness or peace in any other way. 2. The only test of Christian character is to be found here. Men may be benevolent, in a certain sense pious, but they cannot be Christians unless they know Christ and find in that knowledge their spiritual life. Our experience must correspond with that of the Apostles and other believers recorded in the New Testament.
3. The only way to save men is not by preaching the doctrines of natural religion, nor by holding up law, nor by expounding the anthropological doctrines of the Bible. These things are important in their place, but they are subordinate to preaching Christ, that is, holding him up in his person, his work, and his relation to us as the great object of knowledge, and as such, the great object of love, the only ground of confidence and our only and all-sufficient portion. It is by being brought to the knowledge of Christ that men are to be converted and the world saved.
CXLIV. Ye are not your own: for ye are
bought with a price.—1 Cor. 6:19, 20
[Sept. 9th, 1855. Communion Sabbath.]
The Lord's Supper is a commemoration of redemption. Redemption is deliverance by purchase. The redeemed become the property of the Redeemer. "Ye are not your own: for ye are bought with a price."
I. The sense in which believers are not their own.
1. The right of property in us is not in ourselves, but in Christ. There is a sense in which a man may have a right of property in himself, so far as his fellow-men are concerned. His body is his own. His time, his talents are his and not others. He can employ them at his own discretion, and for his own advantage. This is precisely what the apostle denies of believers. They are not their own. They have no right to use their bodies, their time or talents for themselves, at their own discretion, and for their own advantage. They belong to Christ, in the sense in which a slave belongs to his master.
2. This right of property and the consequent right of control extends not merely to the body, but to the soul. It is the soul that has been bought. Therefore our souls are not our own. Our reason, our conscience, our hearts, our whole rational and immortal nature, belong to Christ. He determines what we are to think, what believe, what approve, what condemn, what love, and what hate. The πνεῦμα which is in US is not the πνεῦμα τῶν ʼανορωπῶν, but the πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ. This is what the apostle says in the connection.
3. This right of property, extending to both soul and body, brings with it the obligation to glorify God in our body and spirit which are his. We are God's in such a sense that the only legitimate end of our being is his glory. If our own we would live for ourselves, but life belongs to Christ. We must live for Christ. What the apostle teaches, is, 1. That the right of property in us is not in ourselves but in God. 2. That this right of property and of control extends to the soul as well as to the body. 3. That it involves the obligation of living for his glory.
II. The foundation of this peculiar relation is not creation, it is not preservation, but redemption. This redemption gives a rightful possession, because the price given was adequate. It was the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the eternal Son of God.
III. This right vests in Christ; not in God as God, but in God in Christ. He is the Redeemer, therefore he is the possessor. As God and Christ are one there is no collision here, nothing inconsistent with our
allegiance to God, in our subjection to Christ. This representation, however, pervades the Scriptures, and is essential to the healthful exercise of piety. Many Christians endeavor to live in their natural relation to God. Others regard Christ not as the direct object of the religious affections and allegiance, but only as opening the way for our returning to the service of God. This is to degrade Christ and to substitute nature for grace, reason for the gospel. The true doctrine of the Scriptures is that we belong to Christ, and therefore that the specific motive of obedience is love to Christ, and the specific object of pursuit is the glory of Christ, and the rule of action is the will of Christ. It is only in loving Christ that we love God, in glorifying Christ that we can glorify God, and in serving Christ that we can serve God.
IV. Are WE then redeemed?
Not if we regard ourselves as our own. Not if we use our bodies, our time and talents as belonging to ourselves. Not if we seek our own glory. Not if we act in obedience to our own will. We are redeemed from the devil and from hell, only if we recognize Christ as our owner; only if love to him constrains us to live to his glory, and make his will the rule of our conduct.
CXLV. Do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor.
10:31
[November 23d, 1856.]
I. The idea of God as set forth in the Westminster Catechism is unparalleled.
1. He is a Spirit, not the Spirit; not the universal Spirit of which we are the manifestations, not the ocean of which we are the drops, but a Spirit; one to whom we can present ourselves, and distinguish from ourselves, and to whom we can say: Our father. 2. In being a spirit he has all the attributes of a spirit, conscience, intelligence, will and
agency, a being of our own nature in this generic sense. He is not so separate from us by diversity as to have no sympathy with us, or so that we can have no congeniality with him. But then he is an infinite, eternal and immutable spirit. We are finite, limited on every hand as to the place we occupy, as to the powers we possess, as to the excellence we can attain, and as to the blessedness we can enjoy. God is infinite. There is no limit to his presence, to his intelligence and knowledge, to his divine goodness or to his power. He is eternal, without beginning, without end, without succession. And he is immutable in all his being and perfections. The sum of all finites is as nothing to the infinite. 1. The sum of finite being is as nothing to infinite being. 2. The sum of finite intelligence is as nothing to the infinite intelligence. 3. The sum of finite powers is as nothing to infinite power. 4. The sum of finite excellence is as nothing to infinite excellence. 5. The sum of finite blessedness is as nothing to the infinite blessedness of God. The whole universe, therefore, is as nothing to God. What then are we? We are so insignificant a part of this universe that were we blotted out of existence, none but an omniscient eye would miss us.
II. Now what the Scriptures teach, and what common sense teaches, is that the glory of this infinite Being is the only proper end of all things. For his glory they are and were created. They teach also that this is the only legitimate end to be contemplated in the acts of intelligent creatures. By the glory of God is meant his divine perfection, his essential and infinite excellence, which renders him the proper object of admiration and adoration. To act for the glory of God, is to act so that his glory should be manifested, brought into view, acknowledged and admired. The exhortation to do all things for the glory of God is, therefore, an exhortation,
1. To make that end the highest commanding end of our actions. That we should recognize it as the chief end, and determine to promote it. Some make (a.) Their own happiness their end. (b.) Others, their friends. (c.) Others, their country. (d.) Others, their kind, human beings as a whole. (e.) Others, all beings. These are all
false ends. The selection of either of them vitiates and destroys religion. It makes something besides regard to God the motive, and something besides God the end of action. That is, it substitutes something for religion, which is not religion. 2. The second thing included in this exhortation is, that the rule, and not only the end, of our actions is to be the glory of God. We are to so act that intelligent beings, men and angels, shall be led to glorify God. When anything comes to be decided, whether it should be done or left undone, the rule is not (a.) Whether it will be agreeable or disagreeable to ourselves. (b.) Whether it will be agreeable or otherwise to others, i.e., popular! (c.) Nor whether it will be expedient or inexpedient. (d.) But whether it will be for the glory of God or not, that is, whether it will tend to make men admire and worship God.
This is a rule which applies to everything, great and small. 1. To the choice of a profession. The question should be, how can I accomplish most in bringing men to glorify God? 2. In determining where we are to labor. 3. In deciding on the distribution and occupation of our time. 4. In determining our outward conduct towards others, our conformity to the world. 5. In deciding on the thoughts, feelings and purposes, the tempers and dispositions of mind, which we shall cherish. 6. In the way we bear reproach, inferiority, neglect, sickness, injuries, &c. In short, it is a simple, comprehensive, universal rule.
III. The reasons why we should adopt this rule are, 1. That the glory of God is the highest end. 2. That God himself has made it the end of creation, of providence, of redemption. 3. That the Lord Jesus Christ made it his end. 4. That all saints and angels do the same. 5. That it is essential to the order and happiness of the universe. What would result if, instead of making the sun the centre of our system, some little satellite should set up, or be set up as such? How would it preserve order or harmony? 6. The making any other end than God's glory our object, is the sum and essence of idolatry. It incurs all its guilt and all its evils. 7. It brings the whole life into perfect harmony, inward and outward. It promotes holiness, and happiness, and
usefulness. 8. It is the end which we must promote, either by our salvation, or perdition.
CXLVI. Glorying in the Cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Gal. 6:14
[Oct. 17th, 1852.]
1. What is glorying? 2. What is the cross of Christ? 3. What is the world? 4. What is being crucified to the world? 5. How is this to be effected?
I. Glorying.
1. To rejoice in anything as a source of good. 2. Especially as the source of honor. Men are said to glory—καυχάσθαι—in themselves, in the law, in the flesh, in man, in God, in afflictions, in other men's labors. ὑπέρ, ἐν, ἐπι, κατά, simple accusative.
II. The cross of Christ.
1. Not afflictions on account of Christ, as Luther says. 2. But Christ crucified, as in 1 Cor. 2:7, and 2:2. To glory in the cross is, 1. To rejoice in it, or in Christ crucified, as the only ground of salvation. 2. To make it the sole ground of confidence. 3. To look for honor to no other source. 4. To make it the sole instrument of success in preaching.
III. The world.
1. All things seen and temporal. 2. Mankind as distinguished from the Church.
IV. To be crucified unto the world.
1. Luther says: To condemn the world, as the world condemns me. The world judges me worthy of death, I judge the world worthy of death. 2. To die to, to renounce, to be indifferent to, and free from the power of the world. The world loses its power over me, and its attractions for me. It is implied that this separation is effectual and painful.
V. How is this done? By which? or by whom? Better the latter. Christ thus frees me from the world. 1. By delivering me from its condemnation. 2. By delivering me from its life, and putting his life in me. 3. By the revelation of love made in the cross, and the sense of obligation thus awakened. 4. By the connection of the cross with the revelation of eternal things.
CXLVII. The Love of Christ Constraineth
Us. 2 Cor. 5:14
[May 4th, 1850.]
(LAST CONFERENCE OF THE SESSION.)
Unity belongs to all the works of God. This is seen in our solar system, and in the universe. It is also seen in the constitution of man. Diversity is reduced to unity. So in character. No man becomes great or successful, who has not one object, and one constraining motive. So with the Christian. There is, and must be, something to give unity to the character as Christian. This is the love of Christ as the constraining motive, and the glory of Christ as the one object. It is this that gives simplicity, strength, and consistency to the Christian. It is the want of this that leaves him driven about by every wave and wind.
It is not enough to look forward to doing good, promoting knowledge, religion, and the happiness of men, and being governed by this and that motive. This leaves all vague, indefinite, and
changing. We must have one definite object, and one constraining motive. Both are here presented.
I. The love of Christ is the constraining influence. The "love of Christ" is his love to us. (a.) Because this is the common sense. (b.) Because it is that love which is illustrated by his dying for us. (c.) Because he is so often spoken of as loving us.
"Constraineth us." The word means to restrain, to have in one's power. This is the sense here. The love of Christ takes possession of us, of all our faculties, of our thoughts, affections and powers. It masters and controls us. How inconceivable the blessedness of those thus possessed. It elevates them; it fills them with courage, patience and power. If we have this we need naught else for our happiness or usefulness.
This love of Christ is 1. The love of Jesus, of God manifested in the flesh. It is of great importance to have God thus brought near to us. 2. It is not general benevolence, nor is it philanthropy. It is the love of a person to particular persons. "He loved me," said the apostle. There is as much difference between general benevolence and personal love as between the diffused rays of the sun and those rays concentrated in a focus. 3. This love is sovereign, not founded on our merit. He loved us when enemies, when ungodly, when lying in our blood. 4. It is infinitely great. It led to the eternal Son of God dying for us. 5. This love is unchanging. A woman may forget her infant, but Christ's love never fails. 6. This love is tender, considerate, sympathizing, ἐκτρέφειν (to bring up), και θαλπειν (to foster), its objects. Go out under the conviction that you are the objects of this love. Let it exert its full influence upon you.
Why has it this power? Because, 1. His death is our death. His love constrains us, because we are convinced that when he died we all died. And the effect of this persuasion that we are the objects of his love, makes us conscious that his death is ours. There are two senses in which this is true. His death avails for all the ends which our death
could have accomplished. It satisfies justice, frees from the penalty of the law, honors God, and promotes the good of the universe. Let a man feel this, and he will feel the effect of the love of Christ in dying for us. But, secondly, we died with Christ analogically. As he died to sin, so do we. We renounce it, become free from its power. This is the first reason of the power of the love of Christ, as dying for us, it secures our dying to sin.
2. The second is, that we live not for ourselves, but for him who died for us, and rose again. This, then, is the one object for which the Christian lives, (1.) Not for himself, not that he may be happy, not that he may promote the welfare of others, but,
(2.) That he may glorify Christ.
How is this to be done? 1. By making it the definite object of our lives. 2. By entire subjection to his will. 3. By adherence to his truth. 4. By devotion to his service, i.e., by striving to bring men to know, to love, to worship, and to obey Christ. So far as we accomplish this end, we accomplish all other good ends. Two things you should carry with you everywhere, and to the end of life.
1. That the conviction of the love of Christ, the sense of his love, its greatness and freeness, should fill you and govern you. 2. That the single object of life is thus to cause him to be glorified. Do this and you will be blessed, and a blessing, go where you will, and suffer what you may.
CXLVIII. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1
John 5:4
[February 15th, 1857.]
We are subjected to an inevitable conflict. It cannot be avoided by flight, by surrender, or by refusing to resist. It is a conflict, not for house and home, nor for liberty or security, but of life and death; not of the body, but of the soul; not temporal, but eternal. The enemy is sometimes designated as Satan and the powers of darkness, sometimes as the world, and sometimes as our own evil hearts, or ourselves. These all constitute one. They are different powers of the kingdom of darkness. Satan is the god of this world. The world is subject to him, and constitutes one large corps of his army; and the flesh, i.e., our fallen nature, is his ally.
I. What is meant by the world, and what is it to overcome the world? 1. The world is often a collective term for the things seen and temporal. 2. It is often a collective term for mankind. The question is, which is to govern the soul, God or the world? And this includes, (a.) Which is to govern, or to determine our convictions? We are under the strongest possible temptation to allow our convictions to be determined by the apparent, by nature, by what is visible, or by the authority of men. Our convictions, both as to what is true and as to what is right, are, in a multitude of cases, controlled by what we see, (we cannot believe in the invisible and eternal), or by the opinions of the community to which we belong. Our life is but a particle in the general life of the world. We are controlled by the latter in our judgments. Where is the man that rises superior to his age, or nation, or his Church? Or if he assert his independence, it is only the independence of himself as a creature, and that is only another form of subjection to the devil. (b.) The danger is still greater as regards our affections. The world, and God; the visible, and the invisible; the present, and the eternal. The former address our senses, our constitutional principles. They are ever present. They operate upon us without cessation. The consequence is, that with the vast majority of men the visible is everything. They have their hearts, their hopes, their fears, all directed to the present. They have all their sources of happiness here. Their life is absorbed in what is seen and temporal. (c.) It is obvious that what determines our convictions, and engrosses our affections, will control our actions. Our energies will be directed
to the objects which have this influence, and our whole outward life will have reference to them.
II. Now, the question is, what will enable us to overcome the world? What will enable us to emancipate ourselves from its control, and to live under the controlling influence of God and his word? What will enable us to have our intellect, affections, and outward life filled with the thoughts of God, and of divine things? to have our hearts filled with his love, our lives brought under his control, so as to be devoted to his service and regulated by his will?
1. Not any power in ourselves. As well might a single drop in the Niagara run upward, while the mighty stream is sweeping downward. 2. Not by seclusion from the world, and trying to get into a stream which runs in a contrary direction. This is impossible, for we cannot get out of the world. We are part and parcel of it. An eddy often forms in a stream, and sets backward; but it is only to be deflected in a different line, back into the mighty flood. 3. This cannot be done for us. The Church cannot save us. Neither its power nor its directions are of avail in this case. 4. The apostle tells us that faith is the victory. This includes two very different things. First, faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, is a new principle and power introduced into our nature. It is a divine, supernatural gift. It overcomes the world, (1). Because it brings eternal things to view. It removes the scales from our eyes, and enables us to see God, things unseen, heaven and hell; to see their truth, and their infinite importance. All other things are seen to be trifles in comparison. (2). Truth is not the only object of faith. It discerns the excellence of the things believed, and, therefore, fills the heart with love and longing. It displaces the world from the heart by introducing a new and infinitely higher affection.
Second. All this is true; but it is not the truth which the apostle meant to teach. The faith of which he speaks has Christ for its object. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ? What is it to believe that Jesus is the Christ? And how does that overcome the world?
To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe, (1.) That he is the eternal Son of God. (2.) That he is God manifest in our nature. (3.) That he is the Messiah. (4.) That all that the Scriptures predicted as the work of the Messiah has been, is and shall be accomplished in him. How does this overcome the world? (1.) Because it reconciles us to God and delivers us from the kingdom of Satan. It makes us feel that we are not of the world; that this is not our home, nor our inheritance. (2.) Because it secures for us the gift of the Holy Ghost as a new principle of life. 3. Because it supplies us with a new object of affection, which supersedes and absorbs all others. It becomes Christ for us to live. We care for nothing but Christ. He satisfies all our capacities and desires. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee."
CXLIX. "It pleased God to reveal his Son
in me."—Gal. 1:16
[April 19th, 1857.]
I. Meaning of the passage. 1. To reveal is to disclose, to bring into view what before was hidden, to make known. To reveal his Son, therefore, is to cause me to know his Son. This knowledge is not external acquaintance, such as many who persecuted and crucified Jesus possessed. Nor is it familiarity with the facts of history. Nor is it a speculative knowledge of all the truth revealed concerning Christ. But it is spiritual knowledge, such knowledge as implies just appreciation, and is attended with appropriate affections. The object of this knowledge is the Son of God, i.e., Paul was brought to know that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus was the historical person so called. That person was the Son of God, i.e., the second person of the Trinity, clothed in our nature. He is God manifest in the flesh. This is what Paul was brought to know. Before, he did not believe it. He was
blind to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As soon as he was brought to this knowledge, he was a new man. He was filled with adoring reverence, love and devotion to the Lord Jesus; to the Son of God who was in himself so gracious, and who for our salvation had assumed our nature, and suffered, and died upon the cross. The fact is that such was the nature of Paul's conversion; and such were its effects.
II. Such also must in all cases be the nature of genuine conversion. 1. Because the Scriptures expressly assert the fact, that the knowledge of God is essential to true religion. Religion consists in the knowledge of God, and in right affections and acts. Religion includes, therefore, three things. (a.) Spiritual cognition. (b.) Right feelings. (c.) Corresponding acts. From the nature of the case, there can be no religion without knowledge of God, who is its object. 2. Because there can be no knowledge of God, but through Christ. This the Bible teaches, because whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, etc. He is the way, and no man cometh unto the Father but by him. Because the glory of God is revealed in the person of Christ. Not to see it, recognize, and acknowledge it, is to refuse to acknowledge God as God. God as revealed in nature, in the Old Testament and in Christ, is the same God. It is absurd to pretend to believe in and admire the sun under a cloud, and refuse to do so when it is clear. And so it is to acknowledge our Father at a distance, and not when at hand. There can be, therefore, no true knowledge of God without the knowledge of the Son. 3. Because true religion includes in its Christian form the worship and love of Christ, and obedience to him. Take the reverse of these statements, and the truth becomes more familiar. The want of love, reverence and obedience towards Christ proves that a man is no Christian. Christian experience, however manifested, from the beginning consists in this worship, love and service of Christ. All the cultus, the prayers, the hymns of Christians are characterized by these things, and without them there is no Christianity. 4. Not only the experience of the Church as a whole proves this, but also the individual experience of every believer. To believe in Christ, to receive him as the Son of God, to say he is Lord,
to bow the knee to him, to kiss the Son, to take him to be our portion, are all forms under which conversion is described in the Bible, and under which it is exhibited in the experience of Christians. Satan blinds our minds, prevents our seeing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he loves us, that he died for us, that he is able and willing to save us. When we are brought to see all this, what is the consequence? It is not simply that we trust in Christ. Faith is not simply trust; but it is receiving Christ as our prophet, priest and king. How is this possible without the recognition of his divinity? It cannot be done.
This affords us, 1. A rule for deciding whether or not we are Christians. 2. A rule to direct our efforts in effecting the conversion of others. 3. A rule for deciding on doctrine and preaching. 4. A rule for guiding us how to preach.
CL. Humility
[Feb. 3d, 1856.]
I. Its nature.
All Christian graces are products of the truth. So humility is the state of mind which the truth concerning our character and relations ought to produce. It includes,
1. A sense of insignificance, because we are both absolutely and relatively insignificant. We are as nothing before God. We are as nothing in the universe. We are as nothing in the hierarchy of intelligences. We are as nothing in the millions of mankind. We are insignificant in capacity, in learning, in influence and power, compared to millions who have been before us, and to thousands who are now on the earth. Humility is not only the consciousness of this insignificance, but the recognition and acknowledgment of it, and acquiescence in it. Pride is the denial or forgetfulness of this fact,
an unwillingness to be thus of no account, the assertion of our own importance, and the claim to have it acknowledged by others.
2. This form of humility is connected with a sense of weakness. It stands opposed to pride as including self-confidence, and especially pride of intellect, either as consisting in Rationalism, or the refusal to submit to the teaching of God; or in a sense of superiority to others. No man can be a Christian without in this sense being humble. He must be converted and become as a little child in order to enter into the kingdom of God. This form of humility is the product of the truth, concerning the imbecility of the human understanding and of our own personal inferiority.
3. The third form of humility is connected with a consciousness of guilt. It stands opposed to self-righteousness. It is the effect of conviction of sin, which produces the consciousness that we are destitute of all merit in the sight of God. How essential this is, the Scriptures everywhere teach. The Pharisee and Publican are presented in contrast, the one offensive and the other acceptable in the sight of God. A moral man puffed up with a sense of his good desert, is more offensive than an immoral man bowed down with a sense of guilt. When we consider the number and aggravations of our sins, we are lost in wonder that we can be so infatuated as to arrogate merit to ourselves.
4. Nearly allied to this, is humility as a sense of pollution, the consciousness that we are vile, distasteful, offensive in the sight of all holy beings. Men are filled with complacency by the possession of qualifications which render them attractive in the sight of their fellow-men; and they are mortified and humbled by having the conviction forced upon them, that they are disagreeable, or even offensive. Now the truth is, that we are exceedingly vile in the sight of God. The Scriptures exhaust the resources of language and of metaphors, to set forth the truth in this matter so as to produce the proper impression on our minds. We are all described as unclean, as full of sores, as deformed, as blind, as naked. The heart is likened to a
cage of unclean beasts. The truth on this subject cannot be believed without producing self-loathing, which is a strong expression for humility. Such is this grace, subjectively considered. Men often think they are humble when their whole conduct proves the reverse.
1. They are disposed to assert their superiority.
2. They wish others to acknowledge it.
3. They resent as an injury all want of such acknowledgment.
4. And often they take pleasure in making others painfully conscious of their inferiority. These are very offensive traits of character.
II. The importance of this grace appears,
1. From its nature, as the want of it implies ignorance or disbelief of the truth concerning our true character. 2. From the frequent declarations of Scripture; that God resisteth the proud but showeth grace unto the humble; that those who exalt themselves shall be abased, and those who humble themselves shall be exalted; that the first shall be last, and the last first. 3. From its connection with the whole economy of redemption. God's plan of salvation is intended to humble man. We cannot acquiesce in that plan, or enjoy its benefits unless we are humble. Men must stoop to enter heaven. 4. From its influence on our fellow-men. As nothing is so offensive as pride, so nothing is so conciliating as humility. It disarms hostility, conciliates favor, gives facility of access and influence. Men resist even the truth from the proud, but yield to the persuasion of the humble. 5. From its influence on ourselves. Pride is raging as the wind. It is a troubled sea casting up mire and dirt. Humility is a calm and placid lake. The soul is never at rest except when it is in its right place, and acquiesces in its true relations. The humble are peaceful.
III. The cultivation of this grace.
1. Bring your mind under the operation of the truth. 2. Especially live in the presence of God. 3. Never act from the impulse of pride. 4. Humble yourself, by not seeking great things. 5. Seek the indwelling of the Spirit, and the aid of Christ.
CLI. Humility. 1 Pet. 5:5
[Oct. 31st, 1852.]
It is said that the heathen have no word for humble in the religious sense. It is not "humilis," nor "modestus," nor σώφρων, nor τᾶπεινός. In Hebrew, עָנָה means to suffer; עָנָו, suffering, and hence עָנִ־, poor, humble.
I. The Christian graces are inseparable. One cannot exist without the other. There cannot be faith without hope, or repentance without love, or love without meekness. This finds its analogy in physical life. Respiration, arterial action, digestion, cannot be conducted independently of one another. Though this is true, yet one grace may be more prominent than others.
II. The graces are in themselves distinct. That is, the state of mind which they express is not simple, but complex, various graces entering into its composition. Thus hope includes faith and desire and love; faith includes love, and love includes faith; repentance includes faith and love, etc.
III. Humility is not a separate grace. It is that state of mind which arises from a proper appreciation of the truth in regard to ourselves. 1. A due appreciation of our insignificance as creatures. In this sense it is opposed to self-importance, to self-reliance, to pride of intellect. 2. A due appreciation of ourselves as sinners, including a sense of guilt and of pollution. It is opposed, therefore, to self-righteousness and to self-complacency. 3. A due appreciation of our weakness.
Hence, a sense of inability for self-conversion, for sanctification, for usefulness.
IV. Manifestations.
1. A disposition to appreciate others, or not to despise those around us.
2. Not to seek after honor or praise.
3. Not to be impatient under contempt.
4. Not to refuse to associate with the lowly.
5. Not unwilling to be least, and to obey.
V. Benefits.
Without it there is no religion, no communion with God, no inward peace, no outward power.
VI. Means.
1. Comparison of ourselves with God and his law.
2. Contemplation of our guilt, of our pollution, and of our uselessness.
CLII. For we are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in
the flesh.—Phil. 3:3
In all ages and under all dispensations, the Mosaic, the Apostolic, and the Christian, there have been two antagonistic principles at
work, two classes among the professed people of God; the carnal and the spiritual; those who relied on externals, and those who relied on what is internal; those who make religion to consist in outward observances and relations, and those who make everything to depend on the state of the heart; an Israel according to the flesh (Ἰσραήλ κατὰ σάρκα), and an Israel according to the spirit (Ἰσραήλ κατὰ πνεῦμα). The great question between these two classes has ever been and is now, who are the circumcision? That is, who are the true people of God?
I. What is meant by saying, "we are the circumcision?" Circumcision in the Old Testament is presented in two different aspects. First, it was the symbol of regeneration, of inward purity of heart. And, secondly, it was the sign and seal of a covenant. It designated and sealed those who were the people of God. It distinguished them from other men, and assured them of their interest in the blessings of the covenant. The question, therefore, who are the circumcision? is tantamount to the question, who are the people of God in such a sense as to be his spiritual children, and the heirs of his kingdom? The Jews and Judaizers said they were. Paul said that he and his fellow-Christians were.
II. The characteristics of those who are the true people of God, or the true circumcision, as here given, are, 1. That they worship God in the spirit, or as the true reading is, οἱ πνεύματι θεοῦ λατρεύοντες. The sense is the same. Those who serve or worship God under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This includes two things. First, that the inward principle of worship or service is no mere principle of nature, whether fear, or natural reverence, or sentiment, but that love and devotion of which the Holy Spirit is the author. And, secondly, that the mode of worship or service is that which the Holy Spirit has enjoined. It is not a will-worship, not the assiduous performance of things uncommanded of God, whether in matters of worship or of life. This serving God, in the spirit, therefore, stands opposed—
(1.) To insincere, hypocritical service. (2.) To mere external, ceremonial or ritual service. (3.) To all such service as the unrenewed, those who are not πνευμάτικοι (spiritual), do or can render. Such was the worship of the Jews generally; such also was that of the Judaizers in Paul's day; and such characteristically is the worship of the ritualists of our day, whether Romanists or Anglicans, and also of all mere formalists, whether Papist or Protestant.
2. The second characteristic of the true circumcision, or people of God, is that they rejoice (καυχώμενοι) in Christ Jesus. That is, they glory in Christ Jesus. This includes (1) The recognition of him as to us the ground of confidence. (2) As the source of honor. (3) As the object of delight. He is that in whom we glory as all our salvation and all our desire. How opposite is this spirit to that of the Judaizers, who gloried in the law, in the theocracy, in their descent from Abraham. How different from the spirit of those who glory in the church as their refuge, as the source of their salvation; who boast that they are the children of God because the children of the church.
3. They have no confidence, i.e., they do not confide, in the flesh. "Flesh" includes two things. First, what is external, whether it be descent from Abraham, circumcision, external obedience to the law, or religious rites and ceremonies, or baptism and membership in the true Church. This is not an arbitrary extension of the meaning of the word. It is Paul's own interpretation, as given in the immediate context.
Secondly, "flesh stands opposed to the spirit." It means nature. To have no confidence in the flesh, therefore, means to have no confidence in ourselves, i.e., in our own righteousness, in anything in ourselves, not in our own strength. This also is included in Paul's amplification. Those who do not trust in the flesh, are those who renounce their own righteousness and embrace the righteousness of God, even the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ.
It is by these criteria we are to judge ourselves, and to determine the true form of religion, and of the church.
CLIII. Hope, the Helmet of Salvation.—1
Thess. 5:8
[Dec. 2d, 1866.]
Hope, subjectively considered, is the desire and expectation of future good. Christian hope is the desire and expectation, the joyful anticipation of the blessings promised in the gospel of Christ. These are summed up in the expression, "the glory of God," i.e., the glory of which God is the author. That glory includes, 1. The highest exaltation and perfection of our nature, which implies the restoration of the divine image to the soul. We shall be like God, conformed to the image of his Son. This likeness includes inward holiness of the soul, and the transformation of our bodies, so that they shall be like his glorious body. 2. Exaltation in the scale of being, arising from the enlargement of all our powers to do, and all our capacity to receive. 3. Dominion, or exaltation in dignity as well as in excellence and power. What and how great this is to be, we know not. Neither do we know in other matters what God has in reserve for those who love him. 4. The blessedness promised or hoped for includes not only these personal excellences and distinctions, but also the presence, vision and fruition of God, and specially of God in Christ.
For feeble and sinful worms of the dust to cherish such expectations would be the height of presumption and madness were it not for the foundation which we have for such a hope. That foundation is, 1. The promise of God. There is nothing in what has been said which God has not expressly promised in his word. 2. The infinite merit of the Son of God. These benefits are not bestowed capriciously, or without a just reason, as a rich man or king might lavish an estate upon a pauper. But the eternal Son of God has merited for his people this inheritance. He has purchased it for them. It is secured to them by a
covenant which cannot be broken. 3. The love of God is infinitely great and entirely gratuitous. Hence we infer, first, that there is no benefit which that love is not ready to confer; and, secondly, that the possession of these benefits, their ultimate fruition, does not depend upon us. If while we were enemies Christ died for us, how much more shall we be saved by his life. 4. The witness of God's Spirit with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Hope is the "helmet of salvation." 1. Because it protects the believer's most vital part from the assaults of his enemies. In the hand-to hand conflicts of old, the head was the worst exposed. Its protection was of the first importance. Hence the helmet was as necessary as the shield. No soldier could venture into battle without it. So with the Christian, the hope of salvation is necessary to prepare him for the battle on which he enters. (1.) It gives security. (2.) Therefore it gives confidence, courage and endurance. Hope gives security. (a.) From the assaults of Satan, against our faith, against our confidence in God; and from our proneness to neglect eternal things. (b.) It secures the soul from the attractions and the allurements of the world. (c.) From the corruptions of our own hearts.
In thus protecting him, it gives courage, cherfulness and constancy.
3. The helmet was not only a protection, but also an ornament. It was the most attractive part of the warrior's equipment. So is hope to the Christian. It adorns him and enables him to carry his head erect.
1. The duty of cherishing this hope, and not yielding to unreasonable despondency.
2. The duty of living as becomes those who have such a hope.
CLIV. Grace be with all them that love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Eph. 6:24
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. 1 Cor. 16:22.
[Date not given.]
Though so dissimilar, these passages teach the same truth, viz.: that love to the Lord Jesus Christ is the indispensable condition of salvation. The conditions of salvation are unalterable. They are the same at all times, and for all men. We can alter them neither for ourselves nor others.
I. Why is the love of Christ thus necessary? There must be some real necessity for it. It is not an arbitrary condition which might be altered at pleasure. It is an absolute necessity, and can no more be changed than God can change. Then why is it?
1. Because Christ is God. He is God in the clearest form of manifestation. It is impossible to love God as revealed in nature, or in the Old Testament, without loving Christ. That would be to love a person imperfectly known, and not love him when more clearly known. Christ, therefore, includes in himself the sum of divine perfections. All there is in God to command love, is in Christ.
2. Christ is God in our nature. He is thus invested with special attractions. (a.) Because possessed of another kind of excellence. (b.) Because brought into new and peculiar relation to us, a relation which he sustains to no other order of beings.
3. Because he has loved us and given himself for us. He has loved us enough to humble himself, to be found in fashion as a man, and to become obedient unto death, even the accursed death of the cross. To be insensible to such love and to such excellence combined, is indicative of the greatest moral degradation and depravity. God's standard of judgment is different from ours. Many who think well of themselves, and are admired by others, will be abhorred and rejected by God.
4. Because by his love and death he has delivered us from inconceivable degradation and misery, and opened the way for access to eternal life and glory.
5. Because we are shut up to the necessity of loving Christ or Satan. There are but two sovereigns, we must choose between them. Not choosing Christ, is choosing Satan. Here stands Christ, and there stands Satan. Which do you choose?
II. What is it to love Christ, and how can we tell whether we love him or not? These questions need not be separated. The answer to the one involves the answer to the other. The difficulty which attends this subject arises from the comprehensiveness of the word "love," and from the variety of its manifestations. We are said to love an infant, and to love God. Yet how different the states of mind expressed by the word! Analyze the love which you have for a father, and see how that sentiment manifests itself. 1. There is a feeling of reverence and complacency, which prevents you from ever treating him with neglect or indignity, and which makes his society agreeable to you. Love to Christ includes these sentiments; reverence for his person. He is an object of adoration to all who love him. Adoration is the expression of love. He is also the object of complacency. We delight in his excellence, and in his love, and are grateful for his benefits. And therefore intercourse with him is a pleasure, and not a burden; and in looking forward to heaven, our desire is to be with Christ, and to behold his glory. 2. Love to a father includes zeal for his honor. Any disrespect shown to him is painful to us, and anything which promotes his honor is a source of delight to us. We love those who love and honor him, and we avoid those who treat him with indignity. If we love Christ, we shall have analogous feelings towards him. We shall be zealous for his glory. Any neglect or irreverence shown the Saviour will wound our hearts. Any honor rendered him will give us delight. We will love those who love and honor him, and avoid those who neglect and abuse him. 3. The son who loves his father desires to please him, to do his will, obey his command, observe his counsel, always and in all places. So those who love
Christ, keep his commandments. This is the test of love; not emotion, not excited feeling, but obedience.
What say you? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? On this question depends eternity. Here, those who love and those who do not love form a distinct class, though intermingled. Hereafter they will be separated. Do you desire to love? That is love, if it only leads to a constant endeavor to do his will, and to associate with his people.
CLV. That Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith, &c. Eph. 3:17
[November 5th, 1865.]
The names and titles of Christ are used, 1. Sometimes for his office. 2. For his whole theanthropic person. 3. For his humanity. 4. For his divinity or the Logos. The sense in which any designation is to be taken depends upon the context and analogy of Scripture.
I. What is meant by Christ? It is,
1. Not here an official designation. 2. Not his humanity. 3. Not his theanthropic person, as the realistic mystics teach. 4. But the Logos, the second person of the Trinity. But the Scriptures say that God dwells where the Spirit of God is. So as the Holy Ghost bears the same relation to the Son as to the Father, and is therefore called the Spirit of the Son, or of Christ, to say that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us and that Christ dwells in us, means the same thing. God and the Son come and abide with the people of Christ, and make their abode with them.
II. What is meant by dwelling in us?
1. As God is everywhere, he is said to dwell where he specially and permanently manifests his presence. It is thus distinguished from the
general manifestation which he makes of himself in all his works and at all times; and from more transient exhibitions as at Sinai, in the plain of Mamre, and elsewhere.
This dwelling includes 1. Such a manifestation as leads to a sense of his presence; a feeling that he is near, which fills the soul with awe, reverence, peace and confidence. 2. A manifestation of his power. As his presence in nature is revealed by his efficiency, so his presence in the soul is evinced by his control over its thoughts, feelings and purposes. 3. Although the presence of the Father assumes the presence of the Son and Spirit, and the Father and Son are present in the Spirit, yet there is a difference between God dwelling in us and Christ dwelling in us. As we are conscious of standing in different relations to the several persons of the Trinity, so the indwelling of the one is distinguishable from that of the others. When Christ is said to dwell in us, it is God in the person of his Son, God in the peculiar relation which the Son bears to us, who is in us. It is the sense of the presence of Christ as our Redeemer, who loved us and gave himself for us, who is near us. And the effects produced in us are not merely those states of mind which have God for their object, but of which Christ, or God in Christ, is the object. 2. The control or efficiency exerted, is that exercised by Christ as our Prophet, Priest and King, not only out of us and in our behalf, but within us.
III. He dwells in our heart, i.e., the soul; not in the body as a temple, although that is true; not merely in the understanding, although that is true also; but in the whole soul, and especially in the heart as considered the seat of the affections, and of the life.
IV. He dwells in us by faith. This teaches, 1. That where faith is not, Christ is not. 2. That the state of mind expressed by faith is the essential condition of this indwelling of Christ. We must (a.) Believe the record which God has given of his Son, both as to his person and his work. (b.) We must appropriate, or receive him as our God, our Saviour and Redeemer. (c.) We must constantly exercise towards him the love, reverence, confidence and devotion which are the fruits
and manifestations of faith. It is to faith as to the eye of the soul, that he reveals himself; and it is through faith that he exerts that constant influence over us, which is intended and expressed by his dwelling in us.
1. We should reverence ourselves. The temple of God was holy. It could not be profaned with impunity. If we are the temple of Christ we should keep our hearts pure from all defilement of error, suspicion, or sin. 2. We should reverence our fellow Christians, from the highest to the lowest, as we reverence the temple of God. We should dread polluting their minds by error or evil. God will destroy those who defile his temple.
CLVI. The Communion of Saints
[November 8th, 1857.]
Men exist as individuals. These are united by common bonds. 1. Of brotherhood as men. 2. By rational relations. 3. By common descent, as in tribes or clans, e.g., the Jews. 4. By common blood as in families. But there is a communion of saints, that is, a community bound together as saints, and because they are saints. Here are two ideas. (1.) Saints. (2.) Communion.
I. Those who are thus united are saints.
It is evident from the nature of the union that it cannot arise from anything external. It is not subjection to the same ecclesiastical head, nor to the same governing body, nor to the same constitution, nor to the same creed speculatively adopted. The saints are not those outwardly consecrated, not mere professors, but those truly sanctified. The union which binds them together arises from their being born again, and being made truly the children of God. Hence the communion of saints is the communion of true believers.
II. Communion, κοινωνία, having things in common, from κοινωνέω, to have things in common. The communion of saints arises therefore from the fact, or consists in the fact that they have this in common. 1. They sustain a common relation to Christ. They all partake of him. They are members of his body, of his family, of his flock, of his kingdom. They all partake of the benefits of his redemption. They are all the objects of his love. The more intimate the union with Christ, the more intimate the communion of saints. The more conscious we are of our union with Christ, the more conscious we shall be of our communion with his people. As the union between Christ and his people is a vital one, more intimate than any other, so the bond which unites saints is the most intimate of all bonds. 2. They have the Holy Ghost in common. They are all partakers of the Holy Ghost. He dwells in all. They have a common participation of life. Hence (a.) They have a common faith. (b.) They have a common experience. The religious experience of one Christian is the same as that of all others. Hence sympathy and congeniality exist. (c.) They have common objects of affection and allegiance. They all love and serve the same Master, and are devoted to the same cause. (d.) They have a common destiny in this life, and in the life to come. 3. This communion expresses or manifests itself, (a.) In mutual affection. (b.) In the recognition of each other as Christians. (c.) In union, in worship and ordinances. (d.) In sympathy or fellow-feeling, so that if one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it. (e.) In community of goods, as far as is best in the present state of the world; that is, so far as it does not destroy the motive to individual exertion, and so far as is consistent with that accumulation of capital, and division of labor which are best suited to the present condition of men.
Consider,
1. The importance attached to the communion of saints in the Scriptures.
2. The lamentable defects of Christians in this respect, not only of churches but of individual Christians. They do not love each other as
they ought. They do not sympathize with and assist each other as they ought, but feel and act towards their fellow Christians very much as they do towards other men. 3. The Bible makes Christian communion essential. If we do not feel our union with believers, and sympathize with them, we are not united to Christ.
VII
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
AND DUTIES
CLVII. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the
world. Jas. 1:27
[January 20th, 1866.]
Two errors have extensively prevailed in the Church. 1. That all religion consists in the worship of God and fellowship with him. 2. That all religion consists in the discharge of our social duties. The one assumes that all our duties concern our relation to God; the other, that they all arise out of our relations to our fellow-men. The former has prevailed in the Romish Church. For although that church places a high value on alms-giving, and is distinguished for its eleemosynary institutions and orders, yet, First, its most distinguished saints have been separated from the world, have neglected all social duties. Second, because if a man receives the doctrines, obeys the authorities, and practices the rites of the church, he is safe, no matter what his moral conduct may be. The other extreme has prevailed more among latitudinarians in doctrine; men who make doctrine and the services of piety of little account; who say that a man's creed cannot be wrong, whose life is in the right, and resolve all virtue and religion into benevolence and its exercise.