Page images
PDF
EPUB

votaries of paganism, and seals the eyes of the impenitent in every nation in deeper and more death-like slumber: "For the name of. God is blasphemed among the gentiles through you, as it is written."* The time is coming when the Lord Jesus will vindicate the honour of that name which wicked men have disgraced. It had been better for them not to have named the name of Christ, than, having named it, not to depart from all evil.

IV. Let me take occasion from these words to urge you to become Christians in reality and truth. The name without the reality will only augment your guilt and aggravate your doom; but the possession of genuine religion will add unspeakably to your happiness both here and hereafter. To be a partaker of Christ is to be at peace with God, -to have peace of conscience, to possess a beneficial interest in all things, and an assured hope of life everlasting. He came that you might have life, and more than life. He came to give rest to your souls, to afford you strong consolation under the sorrows of the world, support in the hour of death, and an entrance, when your mortal course is ended, into the glory to be revealed. He is ready to vanquish your spiritual enemies for you, to cleanse you from all your impurities, purge you from all your guilt, and make you "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." While the bare profession of Christianity will bestow neither profit nor delight, the possession of it in reality will be replete with both, and will afford the "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." It will deliver you from a thousand snares against which there is no other relief; emancipate you from the bondage of a multitude of degrading passions, and invest you with the "glorious liberty of the children of God." However lightly you may esteem it now, be assured that the moment is coming when to belong to Christ, to be in union with him, will be felt to be a greater happiness than to be master of the world. Every other honour will fade; every other distinction will pass away; every other enjoyment be exhausted; while the crown of righteousness which Christ will give to his sincere followers will shine with undecaying brightness through the ages of eternity. Let the young be persuaded it will add unspeakable grace to the charms of youth; temper its vivacity with wisdom, tincture its passions with innocence, and form it for a happy, useful, and honourable life. It will be an ornament to youth, a safe directory in the active pursuits of life, a staff and a consolation amid the decays and infirmities of age. To see you set out in the ways of Christ will afford the highest satisfaction to the church of God; the most exalted pleasure to your parents, who watch every movement of your mind with parental solicitude, ready to rejoice over you with transport when they can say of any of you, as it was said of Saul, "Behold, he prayeth."

V. We cannot but look back with regret to the period when the followers of Christ were known by no other name. Happy period, when, instead of being rent into a thousand parts, and split into innumerable divisions, the church of Christ was "one fold under one

[blocks in formation]

Shepherd!" The seamless coat of the Redeemer was of one entire piece from the top to the bottom. The world was divided into two grand parties-Christians and pagans. This happy state, we have no doubt, will occur again: ""The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”* In consequence of a more copious communication of the Spirit, some of our differences of opinion will be removed, and "the shepherds will see eye to eye," and others of them will be lost in the indulgence of Christian charity, in the noble oblivion of love.

In the mean time, if party names must subsist, let us carefully watch against a party spirit; let us direct our chief attention to what constitutes a Christian, and learn to prize most highly those great truths in which all good men are agreed. In a settled persuasion that what is disputed or obscure in the system of Christianity is, in that proportion, of little importance, compared to those fundamental truths which are inscribed on the page of revelation as with a sunbeam; whenever we see a Christian, let us esteem, let us love him; and though he be weak in faith, receive him, "not to doubtful disputation."

XXXVI.

ON LOVE OF THE BRETHREN, AS A CRITERION OF A STATE OF SALVATION.

1 JOHN iii. 14.—We know that we have passed from death unto life,

because we love the brethren.

As it is an inquiry of the highest moment whether we are in a state of acceptance with God or under condemnation, we ought carefully to attend to the marks and criterions by which these two opposite states are distinguished in the word of God. The Scripture abounds with pirections on this subject; so that if we remain in an habitual state of suspense and uncertainty, it is not to be ascribed to deficiency of light in the sacred oracles, but must be imputed, for the most part at least, to the want of strict and impartial inquiry. Too many professors of Christianity content themselves without attaining a satisfactory evidence of their real character in the sight of God; hoping all is well, without resting on sure and solid grounds: by which, if their religion is really vain, they incur the charge of presumption; and if it is genuine, deprive themselves of the richest source of comfort, as well as of motives to the most ardent gratitude. For how is it possible to praise God for a favour which we are not certain we have received? Or if a

* Isa. xi. 6, 8, 9.

feeble hope is entitled to devout acknowledgment, our praises must be faint and languid in proportion to the mixture of darkness and uncertainty which attends it. We are exhorted to give all diligence, that we may obtain the full assurance of hope: we should never read in the writings of this eminent apostle the rapturous exclamation, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God,"* had he been in that state of suspense respecting his prospects for eternity in which too many Christians allow themselves to remain.

With a view to assist the professors of the gospel in their attempts to ascertain their real condition, we request your serious attention while we endeavour to explain and illustrate the criterion of character the apostle suggests in the text: "Hereby we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."

Death and life are the two extremes set before us, spiritual death and spiritual life; for in this sense, it is obvious, the words must be understood. When the apostle speaks of our passing from death unto life, the phraseology necessarily implies that death is our natural state as sinners; and, consequently, that he who is perfectly conscious of his having experienced no change is under no necessity of inquiring further he infallibly abideth in death. "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." A transition from one state to another is supposed in every case where there is a well-founded hope of salvation; and the design of the apostle in the words before us is to suggest an infallible criterion of the reality of such a transition.

When he speaks of love to the brethren, we must understand him to mean love to real Christians, who are frequently, in the New Testament, distinguished by this appellation: "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." In reproving the Corinthians for their contentious spirit, St. Paul used this language: "Brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren."§ In this passage, it is manifest that the term brethren is equivalent to Christian, and that it is employed in contradistinction to unbelievers. When the apostle lays down love to real Christians as an infallible sign and token of a justified state, he cannot be supposed to include every sort of attachment which may be felt towards them, from whatever principles or on whatever occasion it arises. No doubt can be entertained that there are circumstances in which the genuine disciples of Christ may be objects of love, without its furnishing the least evidence of a religious character. Religion may have no sort of concern in it. Parents may love their children, children their parents, husbands their wives, and wives their husbands, whatever be the religious character of the party beloved, upon principles merely natural. The natural affections and desires, by which society is cemented, and

* 1 John iii. 1.

† 1 John iii. 14.

1 John iii. 16.

$1 Cor. vi. 6-8.

mankind are bound to each other, can afford, it is evident, no test or criterion of religious principle.

True Christians may possess certain qualities which, according to the principles of human nature, are calculated to command a portion of esteem and affection; such as prudence, generosity, kindness, and fidelity to which nothing but a brutish insensibility can render men entirely [indifferent.] There are certain social and moral virtues which are so useful to the world, and so attractive in themselves, as to be the natural objects of partiality; and these Christianity will improve, rather than impair. We may proceed a step further, and add, that a Christian may be even indebted to his religion for certain qualities which excite attachment, and yet that attachment shall afford no proof of the religious character of him who feels it: "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness."* This goodness, this genuine benevolence of Christian deportment, has its charms; and, on a variety of occasions, may excite esteem in persons who have no regard to the principle from whence it flows. "Demetrius had good report of all men, and of the truth itself." When St. Paul had been inculcating certain Christian graces, he adds, he that hath these things "is acceptable to God and approved of men."‡ If we find ourselves overpowered, as it were, and captivated by the display of Christian virtue, we are not hence entitled immediately to draw a favourable conclusion respecting our state, without looking deeper, and inquiring how we stand affected towards the principle whence these virtues emanated.

This leads us to observe, that it is the ground on which our attachment to a Christian is founded that can alone afford a favourable decision in this matter. Do we love the brethren as brethren, Christians as Christians, on account of the relation they bear to their heavenly Father, and on account of their union to Christ? In any specific case, when we feel warmly attached to a Christian, is it founded on this consideration, that he is a Christian, a follower of the holy and immaculate Lamb of God? If we can answer this question in the affirmative, St. John authorizes us in our deeming it an infallible evidence of our having passed from death unto life. It affords such an evidence in two ways:—

I. Negatively, it proves that we are not of the world.

II. Positively, it demonstrates that we are of God.

1. It proves that we are not of the world: for the world is entirely destitute of an attachment to the disciples of Christ, as such. At no period did the world appear favourably disposed to the disciples of Christ as such, or on account of their relation to this their divine Head. Our Lord repeatedly warned his followers to expect just the contrary: "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." "I have given them my word; and the world

* Eph. v. 9.
Matt. x. 22.

† 3 John 12.

John xv. 19.

Rom. xiv. 18.

hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."*

66

The course of events from that to the present time has verified the truth of the Saviour's declaration,-"They were hated of all men for his name's sake;" they were persecuted from city to city," and even the most eminent among them accounted as "the offscouring of all things." In every subsequent age, and in every country, the true disciples of Christ have encountered opposition, which has been almost invariably more or less violent in proportion to their attachment to the Saviour, to the purity of their faith, and the lustre of their piety. Look at the world at present; view it in this highly favoured nation, furnished as it is with wholesome laws, and restrained from open persecution do you perceive the world to evince a predilection for the serious and earnest followers of Christ? Is decided Christian piety, conspicuous in the character of any, a passport to distinction and favour? On the contrary, will a man be better received in worldly circles for being supposed to resemble Christ? No. We can be at no loss to answer these questions, or avoid perceiving that the world continues invariably consistent with itself in "loving its own,"§ and none but its own. If in any instance its affections stray beyond its own circle, if in any instance it extends its favourable regards to a real Christian, it is never on account of his being a Christian,-it is never, as St. John expresses it," for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in him."|| Since this is an unquestionable fact, that the world is thus unfavourably disposed towards serious Christians; if it be otherwise with us, it proves that we are "not of the world;"P or, in other words, that we have "passed from death unto life."

II. The love of the brethren, as such, affords a positive proof of our being of God.

This will appear in a clearer light if we consider the grounds on which love to Christians proceeds :

1. To love Christians, as such, is to love them on account of their relation to God and the Redeemer.

2. On account of their attachment to both.

3. On account of the resemblance which they bear to these divine Persons.

1. He who loves Christians as such is attached to them on account of their relation to God. The Supreme Being stands in a peculiar relation to Christians, as their God: He is their "covenant God and Father through Christ Jesus." They are, emphatically, a peculiar treasure to him above all the nations of the earth. They are his possessions, his inheritance, his people. In every age there have been a people in whom the blessed God claimed a peculiar interest, on whom he fixed his special love, and manifested himself unto them, as he does not to the world; a people who were "the temple of God,"** the seat of his special presence, among whom he walked and dwelt. Under the Christian dispensation true Christians compose this people. In

John xvii. 14.

|| 2 John 2.

† Matt. xxiii. 34.
John xv. 19.

+1 Cor. iv. 13.
* 1 Cor. iii. 16.

John xv. 19.

« PreviousContinue »