Part 6
If however, the sacraments are seals on the part of God, then
receiving them implies a voluntary engagement on the part of the
Christian to devote himself to the service of Christ. The gospel is
represented under the form of a covenant. It is so called by Christ
himself. But a covenant implies mutual stipulations. God promises to
his people pardon and salvation; and in His strength, they promise
faith and obedience. The sacraments are the seals of this covenant.
And God, in their appointment, binds himself to the performance of
his promise; and by receiving them, his people bind themselves to
trust and serve him. This idea is included in the representation that
is given in Rom 6.3-4, where believers are said to have been buried
with Christ in baptism, that as he rose from the dead, they also
should walk in newness of life. It is also included in the very formula
of baptism; for to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, implies a voluntary dedication of ourselves to God as our
Father, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The same thing is taught in all the
passages in which participation in Christian ordinances is said to
include a profession of the gospel; for the gospel imposes duties as
well as promises blessings.
It is probably in this view of these ordinances that the name
sacraments was so generally applied to them. For as the oath by
which the soldier consecrated himself to the military service was
called a sacrament, so the ordinances in which the believer binds
himself to the service of Christ was appropriately designated by the
same term. The phrase sacramental host is therefore not inaptly
applied to the people of God, considered as a great multitude who
solemnly bound themselves by sacraments to live to His glory.
Baptism and the Lord's supper are ordinances of divine appointment
and perpetual obligation. They are designed to distinguish the
followers of Christ from the world; to exhibit the truths of the gospel;
to seal to believers the divine promises and to bring them into
covenant with God. As such, the interesting question arises, What
good do they do? What benefits are we authorized to expect from
them? The answer commonly given to this question by the great
body of evangelical Christians, is that the sacraments are efficacious
means of grace. They don't merely exhibit, but actually confer upon
those who worthily receive them, the benefits which they represent.
As they are divinely appointed to set forth Christ and his benefits,
and to assure the believer of his interest in them, they have even as
moral means, a powerful influence to confirm his faith, to excite his
gratitude and love, and to open the fountains both of penitence and
joy. But as the word of God has not only its own moral influence as
truth in the sanctification of the soul, but also when attended by the
demonstration of the Spirit, a divine and effectual power. So that the
sacraments have not only an influence due to the lively exhibition of
truth, but as means of God's appointment, and attended by his Spirit,
they become efficacious signs of grace, communicating what they
signify. Nothing less than this can satisfy the strong language of the
Scriptures on this subject, or the experience of God's people. When
the Christian, in the exercise of his faith, sees in the water of
baptism, the lively emblem of the purifying influence of the blood
and Spirit of Christ; and he sees in the bread and wine, the
memorials of the Savior's death; and he knows that they are
appointed to be a pledge of the salvation of all believers — then he
receives Christ in receiving the appointed symbols of His grace. He
receives anew the forgiveness of his sins; he enters into fellowship
with God; and his soul is filled with the Holy Ghost. Hence it is that
believers so often find their strength renewed, their faith confirmed,
their purposes invigorated, and their hearts filled with joy and love,
while attending on these ordinances.
As the efficacy of the sacraments is a subject of great practical
importance, it is necessary to examine more particularly what the
Scriptures teach on this subject. Baptism is called the washing of
regeneration; it is said to unite us to Christ, Gal 3.27 to make us
partakers of his death and life, Rom 6.4-5 to wash away our sins, Act
22.16 and to save the soul. 1Pet 3.21 The bread and wine in the Lord's
supper, are said to be the body and blood of Christ; to partake of
these emblems is said to secure union with Christ, and a
participation in the merits of his death. 1Cor 10.16-17
These and similar passages must be understood either with or
without limitation. If they are to be limited, the limitation must not
be arbitrarily imposed, but supplied by the Scriptures themselves.
We have no right to say that the sacraments confer these benefits in
every case in which no moral impediment is interposed, because no
such limitation is expressed in the passages themselves, nor is it
elsewhere taught in the Scriptures. The limitation which the
Scriptures impose on these passages is the necessity of faith. They
teach that the sacraments are thus efficacious, not to every recipient,
but to the believer; those who already have the grace which these
ordinances represent. If it is asked, How can they be said to confer
the grace which is already possessed? Let it be remembered that the
one who has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, needs the
application repeated often; who has received the Holy Spirit needs to
receive Him again; who has received Christ needs to receive him day
by day that he may live upon him.13 It is clear that the Scriptures
teach that the passages in question are to be understood with the
qualification just stated, because otherwise they would teach that
everyone who is baptized is a child of God, renewed by the Holy
Spirit, united to Christ, and made a partaker of the saving benefits of
his death.
But this cannot be true, first, because the Bible abundantly teaches
that those who are renewed and receive the Holy Spirit, have the
fruits of the spirit, love, gentleness, goodness, and faith. Where these
are not, the Spirit is not. But these fruits do not uniformly, or even
generally attend receiving the outward ordinance. We know that
although Simon Magus was baptized, he remained in the gall of
bitterness and bond of iniquity. Act 8.23 We know from Paul's epistles,
that many of the baptized Galatians and Corinthians were the
enemies of the cross of Christ. We know from our own daily
observation, that multitudes of those who are baptized and received
to the Lord's supper, do not differ in temper or life from the world
around them. God, therefore, in the actual administration of His
kingdom, contradicts that interpretation of his word which makes it
teach that the sacraments always confer the benefits which they
represent. It degrades the renewing of the heart and the gift of the
Holy Ghost, into things of no account, to represent them as the
portion of the unholy multitudes who, in every age and church, have
been admitted to baptism and the Lord's supper.
In the second place this interpretation is opposed to what the
Scriptures elsewhere teach about the nature of sacraments. The
opinion that such ordinances uniformly convey grace and introduce
the recipient into favor with God, was one of those false doctrines of
the Jews, which Paul so earnestly combatted: 'Great is the virtue of
circumcision, for no circumcised person enters hell.' This was the
confident and destructive persuasion of the formalists of that age. In
opposition to this doctrine, the apostle assured them that
circumcision would indeed profit them, if they kept the law. But if
they broke the law, their circumcision became uncircumcision. For
he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which
is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.
Rom 2.25-29 We have here a very explicit statement of the nature and
efficacy of a sacrament. It has no efficacy considered in itself; its
value depends on the presence or performance of the condition of the
covenant to which it is attached. If the Jews kept the law, their
circumcision secured to them all the blessings of the covenant under
which they lived. But if they broke the law, their circumcision was of
no avail. It was therefore not external circumcision that made a man
a Jew; but the circumcision of the heart, of which the external rite
was the sign.
In like manner, it is not external baptism that makes a man a
Christian, but the baptism of the Spirit, of which washing with water
is the appointed symbol. The two are not necessarily connected; and
where the latter is lacking, the former can be of no avail. And lest it
be supposed that we have no right to apply what is said about the
sacraments of the old dispensation, to those of the new, the very
same doctrine is taught in reference to the New Testament
sacraments. The apostle Peter says, We are saved by water; not
ordinary water, but by baptism; not mere external baptism, however,
but by the sincere turning of the heart to God; that is, by the inward
change of which baptism is the outward sign. 1Pet 3.21 This passage, in
its doctrinal import, is precisely parallel to that referring to
circumcision as just quoted. Neither rite, therefore, necessarily
conveyed the grace of which they were the signs; and no value is
ascribed to either, apart from the spiritual change which they are
appointed to represent.
In like manner, in reference to the Lord's supper, the apostle teaches
that the mere external act is so far from being necessarily connected
with receiving the benefits of Christ's death, that those who ate and
drank unworthily, ate and drank judgment to themselves. Nothing,
indeed, can be more opposed to the whole spirit of the religion of the
Bible, than the doctrine that external rites are necessarily connected
with spiritual blessings; that the favor of God is to be obtained by
mere unresisting submission to religious ceremonies. A man may be
baptized; or circumcised on the eighth day; he may belong to the
purest and most apostolic church; he may be blameless as to all the
external prescriptions of the Gospel — and he may still be destitute of
the grace of God and unprepared for His presence. It is not by works
of righteousness, much less by ceremonial observances, that we are
to be saved, but by the righteousness of Christ and the renewing of
the Holy Ghost. Tit 3.5 He is not a Christian who is one outwardly, nor
is baptism that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Christian
who is one inwardly, and the baptism which is unto salvation, is of
the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter.
In the third place, the sacraments are not designed to convey grace
to those who don't have it. This is plain, because the Scriptures
require those who are admitted to these ordinances, to make a
profession of their faith and repentance. When the apostles began to
preach, we are told that, Those who gladly received the word were
baptized. Act 2.41 When the eunuch desired to be baptized, Philip said
to him, If you believe with all your heart, you may. Act 8.37 Cornelius
did not receive the Holy Spirit in the first instance by baptism, but
when Peter had evidence that he had already received the Spirit, he
asked, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized,
who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Act 10.47 Paul was a
penitent believer before his baptism. And thus, in all other cases
when men were baptized, they professed to be Christians. They were
not made Christians by their admission to the sacraments; but their
Christian character or standing was thereby acknowledged. It has
accordingly been the custom in all ages, to require a profession of
faith on the part of those who are received to the sealing ordinances.
But faith is an exercise of a renewed heart; and if faith supposes
regeneration, and baptism supposes faith, then by the voice of the
church as well as Scripture, baptism also supposes the renovation of
the heart.
Finally, God bears his testimony against the doctrine which teaches
an inseparable connection between these ordinances and spiritual
blessings, by granting these blessings to those who have not received
any sacramental rite. Abraham was justified before he was
circumcised; Cornelius was a just man, and accepted by God, and a
recipient of the Holy Ghost, before he was baptized; the penitent
thief was assured of his admission into paradise, though he was
never born of water. If the Scriptures then require the evidence of
regeneration in those who would acceptably attend upon the
sacraments; if they teach that many who receive the outward sign do
not receive the inward grace; and on the other hand, that many
receive the inward grace, who have not received the outward sign,
then they also teach that these ordinances are not appointed to
convey (in the first instance) pardon and sanctification, but to be
signs and seals of these blessings to the penitent believer; and to
him, and him only are they efficacious means of grace.
It is therefore obvious that those passages in Scripture which refer
our salvation to baptism and the Lord's supper, cannot be
understood strictly according to the letter, and still be consistent
with the plain teaching of the Bible. At the same time, it must not be
supposed that they are to be perverted, or taken in any sense other
than their natural one; that is, in any sense other than that which the
universally received rules of interpretation justify and require. It is
agreeable to the common language of men, and the usage of
Scripture, that when any declaration or service is the appointed
means of professing our faith and obedience, making a declaration or
performing such a service is said to secure the blessings which are
promised to the faith that is thereby professed. It is said that
whoever confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is born of God;
and again, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is
said because confession implies faith; and no one supposes that an
insincere, careless, heartless confession will secure the salvation of
any man. Thus too we are said to be saved by calling on the Lord,
because invocation implies trust. In like manner we are said to be
saved by baptism, because baptism implies faith. If this faith is
lacking, baptism can do us no more good than a heartless confession.
There is no more difficulty in understanding why the Scriptures
should connect salvation with the use of the sacraments, than in
understanding why they should connect the same blessing with
invocation or confession. There is no difficulty in either case, if we
allow the Scriptures to explain themselves, and interpret them as we
explain all other writings.
Again, it is according to scriptural usage to ascribe to a sign the name
and attributes of the thing signified. Thus circumcision is called the
Covenant of God, because it was the sign of that covenant. Christ
called the cup the New Covenant; the wine he called his blood, and
the bread his body. Those who partake of the wine are therefore said
to receive his blood, and of course the benefits which it purchased.
It is also to be remembered that the sacraments are seals; and it is
common to attribute to any ceremony by which an engagement is
ratified, the efficacy which belongs not to the ceremony, but to the
engagement itself. The inauguration ceremony is said to induct a
man into the office, the right to which it merely declares and
confirms publicly. Even in the strict language of the law, a deed, with
its signature and seal, is said to convey a right of property, although
it is simply the evidence of the purpose of the original possessor. It is
that purpose which conveys the right; and if it can be shown that the
man who holds the deed was not the man intended by the grantor,
the deed would be regarded as worthless. If a man deeds an estate to
A, on the assumption that he is the son of B, if it were proved that A
was not the son of B, the deed would not convey a valid title to him.
But the blessings of the Gospel are declared to be intended for
penitent believers; the sacraments are the external means of
recognizing the conveyance of these blessings; to those who are really
what they profess to be, they do in fact convey and secure these
blessings; to others they confer no such benefits. When an unbeliever
receives these ordinances, he no more obtains a title to the blessings
which they represent, than a man obtains a title to an estate by
falsely assuming the name of the person for whom it is intended.
There is nothing, therefore, in the language of the Scriptures on this
subject, which is not perfectly consistent with the common
Protestant doctrine that the sacraments have no inherent efficacy of
their own, but become efficacious means of grace to those who
believe; the Holy Spirit thereby communicates to believers the
blessings which those ordinances significantly represent.
Section III. Obligation to attend upon the
Sacraments. Qualifications for the proper discharge of
the duty.
The obligation which rests upon all Christians to attend upon the
ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's supper, arises clearly from
what has been shown to be their nature and design. We have seen
that they are institutions appointed by Christ himself. He has
commanded all his followers to be baptized and to commemorate his
death in a prescribed manner. As obedience to Christ is necessary, so
is participating in these ordinances. However, as it is a necessity
arising out of a positive command, it is a qualified necessity, since
such commands are not binding in all circumstances. It is impossible
that a sinner should be saved without faith and repentance; but it is
not impossible that he should be saved without the sacraments. As
we are bound to keep the sabbath as part of our obedience to God,
and yet we may innocently labor on that day when necessity or mercy
requires it. So although we are bound to present ourselves at the
table of the Lord as an act of obedience, we may be innocently absent
whenever that absence is not the effect of a willful or disobedient
spirit. However, as the command of Christ on this subject is express,
the obligation which it imposes is of the strongest character.
In the second place, it has been shown that to confess Christ before
men is an indispensable duty, and that the sacraments are the
appointed means for making this confession. It therefore follows that
attendance on the sacraments is also an indispensable duty. When in
human governments the laws prescribe a particular mode in which
we are to acknowledge allegiance to our country, it is not competent
for us to neglect that mode; nor do we have a right to adopt a
different method of acknowledgment, or to allow our allegiance to be
inferred from our conduct. If we wish to be recognized as citizens, we
must in the prescribed form, acknowledge ourselves to be such. And
if Christ has prescribed a particular way in which he will be
acknowledged by his followers, then to intelligently and willfully
refuse to obey his command, is to renounce our allegiance to him,
and to forfeit the benefits of his kingdom.
Again, as the sacraments are the seals of the covenant of grace, to
reject these seals is to reject the covenant itself. It is not meant that
they are indispensable in such a sense that if a man performs the
conditions of the covenant, he will be excluded from its benefits for
lack of the seals. Among men, indeed, we often see that the lack of
the prescribed number of witnesses to a signature, the lack of a seal,
or even a clerical error in a document, is sufficient to set aside a
solemn engagement. Nothing of this kind can occur under the
government of God, where justice is never embarrassed by technical
formalities. The apostle expressly teaches that if the law is broken,
circumcision becomes uncircumcision; so on the other hand, if a
man keeps the law, his uncircumcision will be counted for
circumcision. It is admitted, therefore, that if a man has the faith,
repentance, and obedience required by the gospel, his salvation is
secure. But no man has a right to assume that he has this faith and
repentance, if he neglects to obey the commands of Christ. The
essential conditions of salvation have been the same under every
dispensation. If any man under the old economy, had the faith of
Abraham, then he was entitled to the blessings promised to
Abraham. Nevertheless, as circumcision was the appointed means of
expressing that faith, and of accepting the covenant of which it was
the condition, it was expressly declared that the uncircumcised man-
child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, shall be cut off
from his people; he has broken my covenant. Gen 17.14 Is it not equally
true that those who intelligibly and willfully neglect baptism and the
Lord's supper, break the covenant under which the church is now
placed? It will not do for us to say, if we have the substance, the form
is of little account. We all know that if an ancient Israelite had
repentance toward God, and faith in the promised Messiah, his sins
were forgiven; and yet unless he expressed his faith by bringing the
appointed sacrifice to the altar, he was not forgiven. God saw fit that
the mode of pardon should be thus exhibited and recognized. In like
manner, He now requires that the method of salvation should be
publicly acknowledged and set forth in the ordinances of baptism
and the Lord's supper. Therefore, we reject the covenant of God by
neglecting these ordinances, as really as the Israelites did who
rejected circumcision or the offering of sacrifices.
Another illustration of this subject may be borrowed from the
marriage contract. The essence of the covenant is the mutual consent
of parties. But in all civilized countries, some public manifestation of
that consent is essential to the validity of the engagement. Thus too,
the essence of our covenant with God is repentance and faith; but
baptism and the Lord's supper being the divinely appointed means of
signifying and ratifying the engagement, they can no more be
neglected than the public recognition of the marriage covenant.
It was a fatal perversion when the Jews imagined that circumcision
and sacrifices without faith and obedience, were effectual to
salvation; and it is no less a fatal delusion to imagine that baptism
and the Lord's supper, without those inward graces, can secure the
favor of God. But in avoiding one extreme, we must not run into the
opposite. Though the ancient sacrifices were an abomination to the
Lord without faith, the sacrifices were still necessary by divine
appointment; and although Christian ordinances are empty forms
without the grace which they represent, by divine appointment, they
too are obligatory and, in their place, essential.
No Christian, however, needs to be forced by the stress of authority
to yield obedience to the commands of Christ. It is enough for him
that it is the will of his Savior that the truths and blessings of the
Gospel should be exhibited and commemorated by the perpetual
observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper. Even
if he were unable to see any fitness in such observance, or even if
experience taught him nothing about its value, yet he would
cheerfully obey. Much more may he be expected to yield a ready
obedience, when he knows both from Scripture and experience, that
these ordinances are made the channels of divine blessings to the
believer; that they are means of grace and sources of the purest
spiritual enjoyments; that they bring him into communion with
Christ and unite him in holy fellowship with all his brethren. He
knows that to neglect these divine institutions is not only to violate a
command of God and to break his covenant, but also to refuse to be
fed at his table and to reject the provision which he has made for the
life of our souls.
If the sacraments are such important means of grace, and if
attendance upon them is a duty so plainly enjoined in the word of
God, then it is important to inquire what the proper qualifications
are for the acceptable discharge of this duty.
In considering this subject, we must not confound the qualifications
which the church has a right to demand of those who present
themselves as candidates for Christian communion, with those which
such candidates are bound to seek in themselves. The church cannot
judge the heart; she can only require a credible profession. It is her
duty to explain the nature of the gospel, with its promises and
commands, and to state clearly what the nature of the service is in
which those engage, who profess to embrace the offers of salvation.
She receives into communion those who, when thus instructed,
declare that they accept the offers of divine mercy, and purpose to
live in obedience to the divine commands — unless there is some
tangible evidence of the insincerity of their professions. This she
does, not because she judges them to be true Christians, but because
they possess the qualifications which alone she has a right to
demand.
No priest under the old dispensation ever ventured to debar a man
from the altar, because in his own mind, he might judge him to be
destitute of the faith and penitence implied in the act of presenting a
sacrifice. If the offeror had the external qualifications prescribed by
the law, he was admitted. It was left to Him who searches the heart,
to decide upon his spiritual state. Thus too, under the gospel
dispensation, we find the apostles baptizing and admitting to the
Lord's supper all who made the requisite profession, and against
whom no visible evidence of insincerity could be produced. Whatever
was considered a sufficient reason for excommunicating a church
member, was of course regarded as sufficient to exclude an applicant
for admission. It is of importance to remember that the church does
not profess to believe all those to be true Christians, whom she
admits to her communion. She cannot judge their inward sincerity;
to their own master they must stand or fall. Many are no doubt
confirmed in a false judgment of themselves, because they consider
their admission to the church to be an expression of the judgment of
their pastor, or brethren, that they are what they profess to be. It is
natural for them to think well of themselves, when they consider
experienced Christians as pronouncing a favorable judgment of their
spiritual state. But they should remember that it is not the
prerogative of the church to judge the heart; she must receive all who
have the external qualifications which the Scriptures require.
But though the church is obliged to confine her demands to a
credible profession of faith and repentance, it is the duty of those
who seek admission to her communion, to see that they have all the
qualifications which the nature of the service demands. These
qualifications may all be reduced to knowledge and piety.
If the Scriptures taught that the sacraments had an inherent efficacy
of their own; that the water of baptism had power to wash away sin,
and the bread and wine had a virtue to sustain spiritual life, then
indeed they might be administered to the ignorant, the insensible, or
the dying. But if we are taught that the efficacy of both the word and
the ordinances does not depend on them, nor on those who
administer them, but on the Holy Spirit, revealing and applying the
truth thereby exhibited, then it is plain that they must be understood
in order to be beneficial. It is one of the most important doctrines of
the Bible, that God sanctifies his people through the truth. But truth
is not truth to someone who does not understand it. If you repeat to
an ignorant man a mathematical formula, although it may contain a
proposition of the highest value, to him it is nothing. It
communicates no idea to his mind, and it can produce no effect upon
it. Or if you tell him that God has set forth his Son to be a
propitiation for our sins through faith in his blood, and he doesn't
understand the meaning of the words, it's as though he never heard
them. We therefore do not preach in an unknown tongue; nor do we
send Hebrew Bibles to the Hindus, or the Greek Scriptures to the
Hottentots. Unless the truth is understood, it is not present to the
mind, and cannot operate upon it.
In like manner, unless the sacraments are understood by those who
receive them, they are an unmeaning ceremony for them. They either
exhibit nothing, or they excite erroneous views and apprehensions.
We degrade the Scriptures into formulas of incantation, and the
sacraments into magical rites, if we suppose that a knowledge of
their meaning is unnecessary. God is a Spirit, and they who worship
him must worship him in spirit — intelligently as well as sincerely
and inwardly. It is therefore essential to a proper attendance on the
sacraments, that we know what they are designed to represent, what
benefits they confer, and what obligations they impose. When they
are thus understood — when the believer sees in them the clear
exhibition of the truths and promises of the gospel, and knows that
they were appointed to be the means of his confessing Christ before
men, and to ratify the gracious covenant of God with his soul —he
then really receives the spiritual blessings of which the sacraments
are the outward signs.
The knowledge requisite to a proper understanding of the
sacraments includes a knowledge of all the essential doctrines of the
Gospel. When a man is baptized in the name of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, unless these sacred names represent to
his mind some definite idea — unless he knows them to be the names
of the persons of the Godhead — he cannot know what he does in
submitting to be baptized. He does not acknowledge Jehovah; nor
does he receive Him as his covenant God, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.
Baptism is designed to signify and seal our union with Christ, and
our deliverance through him from the guilt and dominion of sin. So
unless we know ourselves to be sinners, and know that it is necessary
for us to be united to Christ, and by his blood and Spirit, to be
pardoned and renewed, the ordinance loses all its significance for us.
Thus a knowledge of the truth concerning God, sin, atonement, and
regeneration is essential to a proper participation in this ordinance.
And as the Lord's supper is intended to be a memorial of the death of
Christ, unless we know who he was, why he died, and what benefits
his death secures, we are incapable of profitably joining in this
service.
All the affections must have an appropriate object. If we love, we love
something; if we fear, we fear something; if we desire, we desire
something. There can be neither faith, nor love, nor penitence, nor
hope, nor gratitude, unless objects suited to these exercises are
present to the mind; and the nature of these exercises depends upon
the nature of the objects which call them forth. If they are excited by
the truth, they are right and good; the purity and strength of the
religious emotions will be in just proportion to the clearness with
which the truth is spiritually discerned. Knowledge is therefore
essential to religion.
We must not suppose, however, that knowledge and learning are
synonymous terms, or that all knowledge is derived from without,
through the medium of the understanding. Very far from it. A large
part of our knowledge is derived from our own consciousness or
inward experience. The same external revelation may be presented to
two equally intelligent men; if the one is made by the Spirit of God to
feel in accordance with the truth, and the other is destitute of such
feelings, the former will possess a knowledge of which the latter has
no conception. He will have an insight into the nature of the things
revealed, and into their truth and value, which is due entirely to what
passes within his own bosom. These men, although they may be
equal in learning, will differ greatly in knowledge. We accordingly
find that the ignorant among God's people, often have far more
knowledge of religious truth, than many learned men. They have
more correct views of its nature; and the words by which it is
expressed, excite in their minds far more definite conceptions of the
real objects of the religious affections. However, as God does not
reveal new truths, but sanctifies his people by his word, there must
be external instruction in order for this inward spiritual knowledge.
Hence ignorance of the truths revealed in the Scriptures, as it is
inconsistent with the existence of right religious feeling — or in other
words, with religion itself — so it is inconsistent with the proper
participation in those ordinances by which those truths are set forth
and confirmed.
The other qualifications for an acceptable participation in the
sacraments are naturally suggested by the view given of their nature.
As they are the appointed means for making a public profession of
religion, it is of course requisite that we should be and believe what
we profess. The substance of this profession is that we are Christians;
that we believe in Christ as the Redeemer of sinners; that we accept
the terms of salvation proposed in the Gospel, and purpose to live in
obedience to its commands. If we do not have this faith; if we do not
thus purpose to renounce our sins and live unto God, then we make a
false profession, and our service must be unacceptable to God.
Viewing the sacraments as seals of the covenant of grace, it is plain
that they require the qualifications just mentioned in those who
receive them. That covenant relates to deliverance from sin. In it,
God engages to grant us salvation; and we engage to accept his mercy
on the terms on which it is offered. If he promises to be our God, we
promise to be his people. But how can those who love sin and are
determined not to forsake it, enter into this solemn engagement with
God? How can those who have no sense of their need of pardon, no
desire for holiness, no sorrow for past transgressions, thus covenant
with God for forgiveness, sanctification, and eternal life?
With regard to the Lord's supper, we are taught that it was specially
designed to be a memorial of Christ's death. If we join in celebrating
his death, we profess to believe not only that he died, but that he was
all that he claimed to be; that his death secures the benefits which
the Scriptures attribute to it; and that we are bound to aid in keeping
this great event in perpetual remembrance. The proper discharge of
this duty requires that we should have a due sense of our obligations
to Christ for having loved us and given himself for us. It requires that
we should reverence and love him in some measure, in proportion to
his excellence and the value of the blessings which we receive from
him. It requires that we should be prepared to own him, who was
crucified and slain by wicked hands, as our Lord and Savior, and as
such to obey and trust him.
In whatever light, therefore, the sacraments are viewed — whether as
the means of publicly confessing Christ, or as signs and seals of
spiritual blessings, or as commemorative of the work of redemption
— no man can profitably or acceptably attend on them, without
adequate knowledge of their nature, without faith in the truths which
they represent and confirm, or without the penitence, gratitude, and
love which those truths, when really believed, necessarily produce.
Where this knowledge, faith, and love are found, there are the
requisite qualifications for acceptable attendance on the sacraments;
where they are lacking, such attendance must include false
professions and insincere promises.
We must not, however, suppose that the lack of these qualifications
frees us from the obligation to obey the command of Christ to be
baptized and to commemorate his death. We are certainly bound to
worship God though destitute of the reverence, faith, and love which
such worship requires; and the plea of unfitness for the service
cannot justify us in absenting ourselves from the ordinances which
Christ has appointed. If we fear to assume the responsibility of a
public profession of religion, we should remember that we make
such profession every time we join in the public worship of the
sanctuary. If we say we would offend God by approaching his table
without due preparation, let us remember that we offend him every
time we pray, or hear the gospel, without faith, penitence, and
obedience. It is in vain to attempt to introduce consistency into a half
religious life. If men will renounce all claim to be of the number of
God's people, and reject His service entirely, they may so far be
consistent. But they cannot choose one part of his service and reject
another; they cannot profess to be penitent and believing by joining
in the worship of God, and yet declare themselves impenitent and
unbelieving by absenting themselves from the sacraments. They do
not place themselves on neutral ground by such inconsistency. Their
only safe and proper course is to repent and believe. Then will they
be acceptable worshippers and acceptable communicants. If they
frequent the temple of God with a sincere desire to do his will, and
seek his favor, let them, in the same state of mind, obey all his
commands. If they come to the Lord's table to please Christ, to obey
his will, to express their gratitude for his death, let them come. As
their day is, so shall their strength be.
From the review of this whole subject, it is clear that the public
confession of Christ is an indispensable condition of discipleship;
that this confession must be made by attending on the ordinances
which he has appointed; that these ordinances are not only the signs
and seals of spiritual blessings, but they are made to the believer, by
the Holy Spirit, effectual means of grace; that attendance upon them
is therefore an indispensable duty, requiring no other qualifications
than those which are necessary for the acceptable worship of God;
and consequently that it is incumbent on all those who sincerely
desire to serve and honor Christ, and to partake of his salvation, to
receive the sacraments, in obedience to his will.
CHAPTER IX. HOLY LIVING.
Section I. The nature of true religion.
It is natural that those who have experienced the agitations which
frequently attend conversion, and have felt the peace which flows
from a hope of acceptance with God, to imagine that the conflict is
over; the victory won, and the work of religion accomplished. This
imagination is soon dissipated. Birth is not the whole of life; neither
is conversion the whole of religion. A young mother may, in the
fulness of her joy, forget for a moment that her vocation as a mother
has just begun; but when she looks upon her infant, so wonderful in
its organization and instinct with an immortal spirit, the sight of its
helplessness makes her feel how great a work she still has to do. An
hour's neglect might prove the ruin of her hopes. Thus the young
Christian, although at first disposed to think that his work is
finished, soon finds that the feeble principle of spiritual life needs to
be watched and nourished with ceaseless care. If abandoned at its
birth, it must perish as certainly and as speedily as an exposed
infant.
Another mistake on this subject is made by those who suppose that
religion is a fitful sort of life; an alternation of excitement and
insensibility. Those who labor under this delusion, are religious only
on certain occasions. They live contentedly for months in unconcern;
and then, if they can be moved to tenderness or joy, they're satisfied
with the prospect of another period of collapse. No form of life is
thus intermittent. Neither plants nor animals live this way. Men
don't, when healthy, pass from convulsions to fainting, and from
fainting to convulsions; nor does religion, when it's genuine, ever
assume this form. It indeed has its alternations, as there are periods
of health and sickness, of vigor and lassitude in the animal frame;
but so far as it deserves the name of religion, it is steady, active and
progressive; and not a series of spasms.
It is a still more common error to suppose that religion is rather an
external than an internal service. There are multitudes who consider
themselves religious because they attend religious services; who
suppose that regular attendance upon public worship and the
outward forms of religion is enough to entitle them to the character
of Christians.
The Scriptures teach us that religion is a new, spiritual life. Its
commencement is therefore called a new birth, a creation, a
spiritual resurrection. It's mysterious as to its principle or source.
No man can tell what life is. He sees its different forms in vegetables,
animals, and in the rational soul, but he cannot detect the secret
spring of these different kinds of activity. The nature of spiritual life
is no less inscrutable. The wind blows where it wishes; you hear the
sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from, nor where it
goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. A new kind of activity
manifests itself in the soul that is born of God; but where that activity
springs from, and how it is maintained, are among the secret things
of God. We cannot doubt, however, that there is some permanent
cause of those new exercises. We know that the life of the body does
not consist in the acts of seeing, hearing, tasting, etc.; nor does the
soul consist of thought and volition; neither does spiritual life consist
in the acts which manifest its existence. There is in regeneration a
change effected in the state of the soul, which accounts for its
perceptions, purposes, and feelings being different from what they
were before, and for their continuing so. The cause of this difference
is sometimes called a new heart, or grace, or the spirit, or the new
man, or the renewal of the inner man. All these terms are used to
designate the principle of spiritual life which manifests itself in the
fruits of holiness. It is called life because it is thus permanent, or
abiding. Those who for a time manifest a degree of ardor and activity
in relation to religion, and then lose all interest in the subject, are
like dead bodies on which electricity may for a while produce some of
the appearances of animation, but which soon become insensible to
all means of excitement. In such cases, there is no principle of life.
Where religion is genuine, it has its root in a new heart, and it is
therefore permanent.
Moreover, it's characteristic of the life of sentient and rational
creatures, to be spontaneous in its exercises. There are certain acts to
which it prompts, and in which it delights. It's not by constraint that
animals eat, or drink, or sport in the consciousness of strength; nor
is it by compulsion that men exercise their minds in the reception
and communication of ideas, and the reciprocation of feeling. To be
so isolated from their fellow-beings as to be prevented from giving
vent to the force of intellectual and social life, is the severest of all
condemnations. In like manner reverence, gratitude, love,
submission, are the spontaneous exercises of the renewed heart.
They are the free, unbidden, unconstrained effusions of the soul.
Religion which is reluctant, or forced, whether by fear or stress of
conscience, is spurious. Filial obedience, if rendered from a dread of
punishment, or from mere regard for appearances, is very different
from that which flows from respect and love. And unless the service
which we render to God flows unbidden from the heart, it's no
evidence that we're His children. The Bible represents the people of
God, as delighting in the things of God. His word, his ordinances, his
sanctuary, his presence are their chief joy. When a man is ill, he takes
little pleasure in the ordinary sources of enjoyment; and when the
Christian is in a declining state, he knows little of the joy which
belongs to religion. Still, whatever there is of spiritual life in any soul,
will manifest itself in spontaneous exercises of piety.
Again, life in all the forms in which we're acquainted with it, is
progressive; it's feeble at the beginning, and advances gradually to
maturity. It's this way in plants, in animals, and in the rational soul;
and it's also this way in spiritual life. There's a joy which attends the
beginning of a religious life, which very often declines; this is a fact
which may lead even the true Christian to think that religion itself is
declining in his heart. Such joy, however, is a very uncertain criterion
of the progress or decline of the spiritual life. The gambols of young
animals show an exuberance of joy which those that have reached
maturity no longer experience. But how imperfect is the organization
of these playful creatures; how small is their power of endurance;
how little is their serviceable strength in comparison with that of
those who don't know half their joys. It is not unnatural, therefore,
that young Christians should feel a glow of happiness from the
exercise of feelings — delightful from their novelty as well as from
their nature — which those more advanced may have ceased to
experience, in whom feeling has ripened into principle, and mere
joyful emotions settled into a peace which surpasses all
understanding. Though joy is not the proper criterion of progress in
the divine life, it is as essential to its progressive nature, as it is to the
life of the body to increase in stature as it advances from childhood
to maturity; or to that of the mind to gather strength in its progress
from infancy to manhood. A man with the mind of an infant is an
idiot; he is destitute of what belongs to a rational being. And a
Christian who makes no progress in holiness, must be essentially
defective. The surest evidence of such progress is an increase of
strength — strength of faith; strength of purpose; strength of
principle; strength to do right, to resist evil, and to endure suffering.
The people of God go from strength to strength, Psa 84.7 perfecting
holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2Cor 7.1
True religion, then, is not an external service; nor is it a mere
excitement of fear and sorrow, succeeded by peace and joy; nor is it a
fitful alternation of such exercises. It's a permanent principle of
action, spontaneous in its exercises, and progressive in its nature.
These attributes are essential to its genuineness, but they don't
constitute its whole character. It's a participation in the divine
nature, 2Pet 1.4 or the conformity of the soul to God. It's described as
putting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him; Col 3.10 or being renewed in the spirit of our mind, that we may
put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Eph 4.24 These two passages express the same truth. To
be renewed in knowledge, or rather, unto knowledge, means to be
renewed so as to know; and knowledge includes the perception,
recognition, and approval of what is true and good. This
comprehensive sense of the word is not unusual in the Scriptures;
and hence it is said that to know God and Jesus Christ is eternal life.
Joh 17.3 Such knowledge is the life of the soul; it is conformity to God
in the perception and approval of truth. No higher conception of
moral excellence can be formed than that which resolves it into the
harmony of the soul with God, in judgment and will. This is what, in
the parallel passage, the apostle calls righteousness and holiness of
truth (that is, founded upon, or arising from truth). Eph 4.24 The same
idea of sanctification is presented in Rom 12.2, when it is said, Be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove (or,
approve) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
This is true religion: to approve what God approves, to hate what He
hates, and to delight in what delights Him.
It's obvious from this representation, that the whole man is the
subject of this change. There are new perceptions, new purposes, and
new feelings. The mind becomes more and more enlightened, the
will more submissive to the rule of right, and the affections more
thoroughly purified. The apostle in his epistle to the Thessalonians
says, May the God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God, that
your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1The 5.23 The body is the subject
of sanctification in various ways. It is the temple of the Holy Ghost;
1Cor 6,19 and therefore it is holy as consecrated to the service of God,
and hallowed by the presence of God. Our bodies are also members
of Jesus Christ; and in virtue of this union, they partake of the
benefits of redemption, and hereafter they are to be fashioned like
his glorious body. Still further, the influence of the body on the soul
is so manifold for good or evil (and in our fallen state, so
predominantly for evil) that no small part of the work of
sanctification consists in counteracting that influence. Paul says of
himself, I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection; lest
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1Cor
9.27 And he declares it to be one of the conditions of life, that
believers should, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body.
Rom 8.13 The body, therefore, is sanctified not only by redeeming it
from the service of sin, and consecrating it to the service of God, but
also by restraining its power over the soul, making it temperate in its
demands and submissive to the will of the renewed man.
As the work of sanctification extends to all our faculties, so the image
of God, which sanctification is designed to impress upon the soul,
includes all moral excellence. The different graces — such as love,
faith, meekness, kindness, etc. — are but different manifestations of
one and the same principle of goodness. It's not that justice and
benevolence are the same sentiment or disposition, for they are
distinct; but the same principle which makes a man just, will make
him benevolent. Religion, or the principle of divine life, prompts to
all kinds of excellence; and in itself, it prompts as much to one as to
another — just as the principle of life in plants and animals, and in
the rational soul, leads to a harmonious development of the whole in
all its parts. The root increases as the branches enlarge; the body
grows as the several members increase in size; and judgment and
memory gain strength as the other powers of the mind increase in
vigor. Everything depends upon this harmonious progress. If the
arms retained their infantile proportions, while the rest of the body
advanced to maturity, deformity and helplessness would be the
result. Or if judgment and feeling gained their full force, while
memory and conscience remained as in infancy, the mind would be
completely deranged. The same law of symmetrical development is
impressed upon the life of the soul. If it exists at all, it manifests itself
in all the forms of goodness.
There may be some kinds of excellence, where others are absent. But
then such excellence doesn't have its source in the divine life; or in a
new heart — for in its very nature, that includes all moral excellence.
We feel it's a contradiction to say that someone is a "good" man, who
even though just, is unkind — because goodness includes both justice
and benevolence. It's no less a contradiction to say that a man is
"religious" who is not honest — because religion includes honesty as
well as piety. It's not simply intended that the word religion
comprehends and expresses all forms of moral excellence, but that
the thing meant by religion, or the new man, the principle of grace
or of divine life in the heart, includes within itself all kinds of
goodness. Reverence, love, submission, justice, benevolence, are but
different exercises of one and the same principle of holiness. There
can be no holiness without benevolence, none without reverence,
none without justice. Therefore, the man who is renewed in the spirit
of his mind after the image of God, is one who has that moral
excellence which expresses itself according to its different objects
and occasions, in all the various graces of the Spirit.
The Scriptures give especial prominence to the love of God as the
most comprehensive and important of all the manifestations of this
inward spiritual life. We are so constituted as to take delight in
objects that are suited to our nature; and the perception of qualities
that are adapted to our constitution in external objects, produces
satisfaction and desire. The soul rests in them as a good to be loved
for its own sake; and the higher these qualities, the purer and more
elevated are the affections which they excite. It is the effect of
regeneration to enable us to perceive and love the infinite and
absolute perfection of God, as comprehending all kinds of excellence,
and as suited to the highest powers and most enlarged capacities of
our nature. Therefore, as soon as the heart is renewed, it turns to
God, and rests in His excellence as the supreme object of satisfaction
and desire.
Love to God, however, is not mere satisfaction in moral excellence. It
is the love of a Personal Being, who stands in the most intimate
relations to ourselves, as the author of our existence, as our preserver
and ruler, as our father — who with conscious love, watches over us,
protects us, supplies all our wants, holds communion with us,
manifesting himself to us as He does not to the world. Feelings of
dependence, obligation, and relationship enter largely into that
comprehensive affection called the love of God. This affection is still
further modified by the apprehension of the infinite wisdom and
power of its object. These attributes are the proper object of
admiration; and when they are infinite in degree and united with
infinite goodness, they excite that wonder, admiration, reverence,
and satisfaction which constitute adoration, and which find their
adequate expression only in prostration and worship. There is no
attribute of religion more essential to its nature than this reverence
for God. Whenever heaven has been opened to the view of men, its
inhabitants have been seen with their faces veiled and bowing before
the throne of God. And all acceptable worship on earth, proceeds
from the humble and contrite, who tremble at His word.
The exercise of these feelings of reverence and love is either (so to
speak) casual, as the thoughts of God pass and repass through the
soul during the busy hours of the day; or it is more prolonged, when
the soul withdraws from the world, and sets itself in the presence of
God, to adore his excellence, to thank him for his goodness, and to
supplicate his blessing. The spirit of devotion which so pre-eminently
distinguished the Redeemer, dwells in all his people. They are all
devout; they all walk with God; they all feel him to be near and
rejoice in his presence; and they all have communion with him in
acts of private and public worship. There is no religion without this
intercourse of the soul with God, as there is no life without warmth
and motion in the body. And as the body rapidly decays when dead;
so the soul perishes when not in communion with God.
This love of God will manifest itself in submission and obedience.
The former is a humble acquiescence in the will of God, including the
perception and acknowledgment that the commands of God
concerning all things are right, and that his dispensations are all
wise, merciful, and just. Even when clouds and darkness are round
about him, religion forces upon us the conviction that justice and
judgment are the habitation of his throne. The renewed soul filled
with the assurance of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God,
resigns itself into his hands, saying Your will be done. When under
the influence of this spirit, the soul is free from the discontent and
misgivings which destroy the peace and aggravate the guilt of those
who have no such confidence that the judge of all the earth will do
right. Gen 18.25
Love to God must produce obedience, because it supposes a
conformity of the soul to God, in the perception and love of what is
true and right. And obedience is only the expression or outward
manifestation of this conformity; just as disobedience is the evidence
of a contrariety between our will and the will of God. Wherever there
is reconciliation to God, or the restoration of the divine image, there
must be conformity of heart and life to the will of God. It is a
contradiction to say that a man is like God, or is a partaker of His
nature, who does not love what God loves, and does not avoid what
He hates. Obedience is but love in action. It is but the voice, and
look, and carriage which affection assumes, of necessity. For the love
of God is not, as already said, mere love of excellence; it is the love of
a heavenly Father; and therefore it secures obedience, not only
because it supposes a congeniality of mind, if we may say so, between
the people of God and God himself; but also because it is His will
that we should be obedient; it's what is pleasing to him. And love is
no longer love if it doesn't lead to the purpose and endeavor to give
pleasure to its object. Whoever has my commandments and keeps
them, said our Savior, is the one who loves me. Obedience is not so
much the evidence of love, as it is love itself made visible, or
expressed. The habitual tenor of a man's life gives a more faithful
exhibition of his state of heart, than any occasional gush of feeling, or
any mere verbal professions. And where the tenor of the life is not in
conformity with the will of God, there the heart must be in
opposition to that will; and on the other hand, wherever there is love,
there must be obedience.
It would be out of analogy with the order of things as established by
God, if the exercises of the spiritual life were not attended by peace
and joy. Happiness is so intimately associated with these exercises
that the apostle says, To be spiritually minded is life and peace. Rom
8.6 Excellence and enjoyment are blended in inseparable union, so
that all right emotions and affections are pleasurable. And this
pleasure is in kind, if not in degree, proportionate to the dignity of
the powers from whose exercise they flow. The senses afford the
lowest kind of happiness; then, in an ascending scale, the social
affections; then the intellectual powers; then the moral emotions,
and then the religious affections. The kind of enjoyment which
attend these latter affections, is felt to be purer and more elevated,
more satisfying and better suited to our nature, than that which flows
from any other source. Hence the Scriptures ascribe to communion
with God, a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and a peace
which passes all understanding. Joy, therefore, is one of the fruits of
the Spirit; it is one of the accompaniments and evidences of spiritual
life; it is a healthful affusion;14 it is the oil of gladness which the
Spirit pours over the renewed soul, to invigorate its exercises,
brighten its visage, and make it active in the service and praise of
God.
The image of God, after which the soul is renewed, consists in moral
excellence. And as moral excellence means that state of mind which
causes a man to feel and act right under all circumstances, it is
impossible that those who have correct views and feelings in regard
to God, should not feel and act correctly in regard to their fellow
men. Those whom the Bible designates as good men, are benevolent
and just, no less than devout. The comprehensive statement of our
duty towards our fellow men, is found in the command, you shall
love your neighbor as yourself. The love here intended is that
disposition which leads us to regard our neighbor with respect and
kindness, and to seek to do him good. This love is long-suffering and
kind; it does not envy the happiness of others but rejoices in their
welfare. It is not proud, nor does it behave itself unseemly. It does
not seek its own. It doesn't rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the
truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. 1Cor 13.7
Without this love, all professions of piety, all gifts, all outward acts of
self-denial or charity, are worthless. It belongs essentially to the
Christian character. For as self-love belongs to our nature as men,
prompting us to the pursuit of our own happiness, so benevolence
belongs to the nature of the new man, prompting us to seek the
happiness of others. A new man means a good man, one who is like
God — holy, just, benevolent, and merciful.
This meek, kind, trustful temper, which religion never fails to
produce, is of course variously modified by the various characters of
individuals, and by the relations of life. It is no part of the teaching of
the Bible that we must regard all men with the same feelings. While
it inculcates benevolence towards all men, it makes provision for the
peculiar and closer relations in which men stand to each other as
members of one family, or one society. And the same principle of
religion which produces this general benevolence, secures the
exercise of all the affections which belong to the various relations of
life. It causes us to render obedience to whom obedience is due, fear
to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due. It makes men, in
their intercourse with their equals, to be respectful, considerate, and
amiable; and in their conduct to their inferiors, it makes them
condescending, just, and kind. 15
It cannot be too well considered that these social virtues are essential
to true religion. The people of God are those who are like God; but
God, as we have seen, is just, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in
goodness and truth. Therefore, those who are dishonest, unkind,
proud, revengeful, or deceitful, are not His people; they don't bear
the heavenly image, and have never been renewed in the spirit of
their minds. Let no man deceive himself with the hope that though a
bad parent, child, or neighbor, he may be a good Christian. A
Christian is like Christ.
Another form in which a renewed heart cannot fail to manifest itself,
is in self-denial. If any man will come after me, said the Savior, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. The necessity
of self-denial arises partly from the fact that the gratification of our
own wishes is often inconsistent with the good of others; and partly
from the fact that so many of our desires and passions are inordinate
or evil. The rule prescribed by the gospel is that we are not to please
ourselves, but everyone must please his neighbor, for his good unto
edification, even as Christ did not please himself; Rom 15.2-3 though he
was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that we, through his
poverty, might be rich. 2Cor 8.9 The daily intercourse of life furnishes
constant occasion for the exercise of this kind of self-denial. He who
has the same mind that was in Christ, instead of being selfish, is
ready to defer his own advantage to that of others, to give up his own
gratification, and even his own rights for the good of others. If meat
causes his brother to stumble, he will not eat meat while the world
lasts. 1Cor 8.13 To the Jews, he becomes as a Jew, that he may gain the
Jews. To the weak, he becomes as weak, that he may gain the weak.
1Cor 9.20, 22 He does not live for himself. His own interest is not the
main end of his pursuit. As a disinterested regard for the good of
others pre-eminently distinguished the Redeemer, it characterizes all
his followers; for God has predestinated them to be conformed to the
image of his Son. Rom 8.29
The call for self-denial arising from the corruption of our nature, is
even more frequent. In consequence of the fall, the senses have
attained an undue influence over the soul. They are incessant in their
demands, and they become more importunate the more they are
indulged. It is inconsistent with reason to yield ourselves to the
power of these lower principles of our nature — for reason itself
teaches us that if a man is governed by his body, he is the servant of a
slave. But if even a rational man feels bound to subject the body to
the mind, the religious man cannot be sensual. Those who are
Christians have mortified the flesh with its affections and lusts; they
keep their bodies in subjection. Gal 5.24
What belongs to the body is, in a certain sense, external; but the evil
dispositions of the heart are in more intimate connection with the
soul. Pride, vanity, envy, malice, the love of self are more formidable
foes than mere bodily appetites. They are stronger, more enduring,
and more capable of deceit. As these dispositions are deeply seated in
our nature, putting off the old man which is corrupt, or the
destruction of these unholy principles, is the most difficult of all
Christian duties, and renders the believer's life a perpetual conflict.
The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so
that he cannot do the things that he would. Gal 5.17 In this conflict,
however, the better principle is habitually, though not uniformly,
victorious; for the children of God don't walk after the flesh, but after
the spirit. Rom 8.1
It appears, then, even from this short survey, that true Christians are
renewed in the image of God so as to be holy; they love God; they rest
with satisfaction on His perfections; they acquiesce in his will; and
they rejoice in their relation to him as his creatures and children.
They are habitually devout, and have fellowship with the Father of
their spirits, and with Jesus Christ his Son. They are obedient
children, not fashioning themselves according to their former lusts,
but as He that called them is holy, so are they holy in all manner of
conduct. 1Pet 1.15 As they bear the image of a just and merciful God,
they are honest and benevolent towards their fellow men, not
seeking their own, but the good of others. And as this victory over
themselves, and this conformity to the image of God, cannot be
obtained without conflict and self-denial, they keep up a constant
opposition to the more subtle evils of the heart.
Some may be ready to say that if this is religion, then no man is
religious. It is certainly true that many are called, and few chosen.
Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there
are few who find it. We must take our idea of religion from the Bible,
and not from the lives of professors. It cannot be denied that the
Bible makes religion to consist in love to God and man. Nor can it be
questioned that the love of God will manifest itself in reverence,
devotion, and obedience, and the love of men in benevolence and
justice. And our own conscience tells us that no external forms, no
outward professions, no diligence in religious services, can entitle us
to the character of Christians, unless we are thus devout and
obedient towards God; thus just and benevolent towards our fellow
men; and thus pure and self-denying as regards ourselves. But while
it is certain that these traits are all essential to the Christian
character, it is not asserted that all Christians are alike. There is as
much diversity in their characters as Christians, as there is in their
bodily appearance, their mental powers, or their social dispositions.
But in the midst of this endless variety, all men have the same
features, the same mental faculties, and the same social affections.
So too, all Christians, however they may differ in the strength or
combination of the Christian graces, are all led by the Spirit, and all
produce the fruits of the Spirit.
Having given this brief outline of the nature of true religion, it is
proper to say a few words as to its necessity. It should be ever borne
in mind that the necessity of holiness is absolute. With regard to
other things, some, though desirable, are not essential; and others,
though essential under ordinary circumstances, are not universally
and absolutely necessary. But holiness is necessary in such a sense
that without it, salvation is impossible — because salvation
principally consists in this very transformation of the heart. Jesus is
a Savior because he saves his people from their sins. Therefore, those
who are not sanctified, are not saved. The doctrine that a man may
live in sin, and still be in a state of salvation, is as much a
contradiction, as to say that a man may be ill, when he's healthy. A
state of salvation is a state of holiness. The two things are