Page images
PDF
EPUB

DISCOURSE VII.

A FIGURATIVE VIEW OF THE STATE AND CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANS, WITH APPROPRIATE EXHORTATIONS.

1 PET. ii. 1-3.-Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

ON no subject is it of more importance that mankind should entertain correct views, than on the nature and extent of that inward change, that moral revolution, in which genuine personal Christianity originates, and which, according to the different aspects in which it is viewed, is termed effectual calling, conversion, repentance, or a change of mind, regeneration or the new birth. This, if anything, is a matter of fundamental, vital, practical importance. Error here cannot be innocent in either sense of the word. It can neither exist without fault, nor be held without danger. Mistakes on such a subject cannot be blameless, must be hazardous, may be fatal.

Yet on few points do even that part, that small part of mankind, who have made it in some small degree a subject of thought, err more seriously, and in opposite directions, than on this. By a large portion of men, very low, narrow views are entertained respecting the extent of the change, and the agency necessary in order to effect it. In their estimation, there is nothing radically wrong with human nature. Man has no doubt fallen into errors which need to be corrected; he has formed bad habits which require to be changed; but in order to effect such an alteration in human character and conduct, nothing more is necessary than to awaken into action the sleeping energies of his intellectual and moral nature, and direct them steadily towards the desired object; and education and self-discipline are held quite sufficient to answer this purpose.

On the other hand, not a few seem to think that the change is so entirely supernatural as to preclude the necessity and propriety of the employment of human agency as the means either of originating or advancing it. They seem to think, that it is so God's work, as that in no way is it, or can it be, man's work; that men have nothing to do in the matter, but to wait till God has made them new creatures, and that, after God has made them new creatures, they need give themselves no concern-God will look after his own work; and they, being quite sure of final salvation, have only to guard against unbelief, which, in their way of viewing it, means entertaining doubts with regard to the safety of their spiritual state, and the certainty of their ultimate happiness.

The passage of Scripture which I have just read, especially in connection with that which precedes it, cuts both these soul-ruining errors by the root. On the one hand, it teaches us plainly that the change is no superficial one. It is a new birth; there is a new moral nature produced, of which the ever-enduring, ever-living word of God is the seminal principle. It is a change produced by the Spirit; and the soul, the heart, the inner man, is the subject of this change. It is no such surface change as the progress of civilization, the authority of law, the influence of education, the force of self-discipline, can effect. It is a permanent, divinely effected change in the deepest springs of human action-the understanding, the conscience, and the affections.

But, on the other hand, it teaches us as plainly, that this change is effected through the knowledge and belief of the truth, in a manner quite consistent with man's rational, moral nature; with that freedom of choice which is essential to his being a responsible agent; that the change, though reaching every part of man's nature, is in no part of that nature complete or perfect; that though a new creature, he is but as a new-born babe, and needs to grow, and must use the appointed means of growth; that though he has " put on the new man," he needs more and more to "put off the old man, who is corrupt," and more and more to "put on the new man, who, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness;" that though he is made a "partaker of the divine nature, and has escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust," he must "give all diligence to add to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity," knowing that, "if these things be in him and abound, he is not barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;" and that "in doing these things," for doing which "the divine power has given to him all things that pertain to life and godliness," "he shall never fall, but so an entrance shall at last be ministered to him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 1

These are the views given us in the context, and confirmed by many other passages of Scripture, in reference to that great change by which a natural man becomes a spiritual man; and in perfect accordance with them we find the apostle exhorting those who had by the Spirit been born again, to get rid, with all possible speed, of all the characteristics of their unregenerate state, and to seek, with untiring eagerness, progress and perfection in all the characteristics of their new state; and, for this purpose, constantly to employ the means in their own nature calculated, and by divine statute appointed, to gain these ends; accompanying his exhortation with powerful motives, suited to the nature of the duties enjoined, and the character and circumstances of those to whom the exhortation is addressed.

minds;

To this exhortation it is my purpose at present to turn your and that it may have an appropriate effect on our understandings, consciences, and hearts, let us briefly consider, I. Who the persons are to whom the exhortation is addressed; II. What are the duties

[blocks in formation]

to which the exhortation urges; and, III. What are the motives by which the exhortation is enforced.

L-THE PERSONS TO WHOM THE EXHORTATION IS ADDRESSED.

§ 1.-General view of their state and character.

The persons to whom the exhortation was primarily addressed were the Christians, chiefly recently converted Jews, scattered abroad through the regions of Asia Minor. They were a part of the mystical Israel, the spiritual people of God. They are described in the preceding chapter as "elected," chosen, selected from the rest of their brethren and from the world lying under the wicked one, like ancient Israel, not on the ground of their being better than others, but on the ground of the divine fore-knowledge or appointment,-the gracious sovereign decree of God; and, unlike their forefathers, they were by their selection separated or sanctified, not by an external, but by a spiritual separation, from the unbelieving part of mankind; and the object of this spiritual separation, originating entirely in sovereign mercy, was not that, like their forefathers, they might obey the law of Moses, and, being sprinkled with the blood of the victims by which the first covenant was ratified, might enjoy the external privileges of that covenant, but that they might obey the truth, believe the gospel, and, being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ—that is, being personally interested in the saving results of his atoning sacrifice -they might enjoy the heavenly and spiritual blessings of the second covenant, of which the shedding of the blood of Christ, as an expiatory victim, was the effectual ratification. They were persons who through the resurrection of Christ-as the seal of the divine acceptance of his atoning sacrifice, and as one grand source of that evidence on which rests the faith which interests men personally in Christ and in his salvation-had been brought into the state, and formed to the character, of the children of God, secured of ultimate complete salvation as their inheritance, and blessed with a present living hope of that complete salvation. They were the sincere lovers of an unseen Saviour; they were devout worshippers of the Father. Their faith and their hope were in God, who had raised Christ Jesus from the dead, and given him glory. They had purified their souls in obeying the truth, so as to love the brethren unfeignedly; and the new relation into which they had been brought, both to God and to one another, by their regeneration, through the eternal Spirit and the ever-living word, was a permanent and indissoluble one.

Such are the statements respecting them in the former chapter; and in the passage before us, they are brought before our minds as, though regenerate, by no means perfect; really, but far from being completely, holy; having much to part with, and much to attain to, before reaching "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." They have need to "lay aside malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil-speakings." These words plainly imply, that the old man, though mortified, is not dead; that, though crucified, he has not

yet expired; that there still clings to them, as the fatal robe to the fabled hero, a corrupted nature. The putrifying dead body is still attached to the living man, which draws out the deep groan, "Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" There is still flesh as .well as spirit, though in them the Spirit not only struggles, but prevails; but in their flesh dwells nothing that is good; dwells all that is evil. Of course, they need constant vigilance and energetic effort to prevent the encroachments, and to effect the eradication, of this evil. principle.

§2.-Particular, figurative view of their state and character as "new-born babes."

But it is chiefly on the figurative representation in the passage, "new-born babes," that I wish to fix your attention. The ideas suggested by these words, respecting those whom they describe, are, I apprehend, principally these three: They have undergone, lately undergone, an important and very beneficial change; they are possessed of characters, of which some of the distinctive properties of infants are suitable emblems; and while they are not what they once were, they also are not what they shall be,-they are but "new-born babes;" they are far from being men in stature, and vigor, and understanding, and acquirement, and enjoyment.

(1.) They have undergone a great and salutary change of state. They have been brought out of a state of darkness, and pollution, and confinement, into a state of light, and purity, and glorious liberty. They are in a new, a better, a higher state of spiritual and moral being. New spiritual faculties have been developed. They are in a new world. The Jewish doctors were accustomed to call their proselytes little children. The change from Paganism to Judaism was great, and beneficial; but it was but an imperfect figure of the magnitude and blessedness of the change from nature to grace.

[ocr errors]

(2.) The term "new-born babes" seems intended to indicate character and disposition, as well as state and condition. To mark the distinctive character of his genuine disciples, our great Master states that they must become as "little children." When his disciples came to him, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a little child to him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." And on another occasion, when they brought young children to him that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them, Jesus, on seeing this, was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." 1 It has been common to find the points of analogy between Christians, especially young Christians-new converts, and little children, in comparative

66

1 Matt. xviii. 3; xix. 13, 14.

innocence and gentleness. But this I apprehend is to mistake our Lord's meaning. It is their conscious helplessness, their entire confiding dependence on others, their ready belief, as their faculties expand, of everything told them, till the falsehood of men teaches them distrust, that make infants fit emblems of the disciples of Christ. They "renounce themselves." They believe what he says to them, because he says it. They do what he bids them, because he bids them. They feel that they are entirely dependent on Him; and they are well pleased that it should be so. They confide in him, in his wisdom, in his power, in his grace, just as an affectionate child feels safe and happy in his father's house, or in his mother's arms, and takes no thought for himself, because he knows his father and mother will take thought for him; and never doubts either their affection for him, or their following out the dictates of that affection in protecting him from evil, and obtaining for him everything he needs.

As the reference here is to "new-born" infants, a leading idea intended to be conveyed to the mind seems to be, that, like new-born infants, the Christian has a kind of instinctive, unquenchable desire, after the suitable, spiritual aliment of his new nature. He loves the truth as it is in Jesus; he is restless when it is out of the view of the mind. The whole world without this cannot make him happy; and he never enjoys himself more, than when clearly apprehending the meaning and evidence of those "exceeding great and precious promises" by which his new nature is sustained; like the healthy infant on its mother's bosom, "he sucks, and is satisfied with these breasts of consolation: he milks out, and is delighted with the abundance of their glory."

(3.) There is yet another idea which we conceive the figurative appellation is calculated and intended to bring before our minds. Young Christians are very far from being what they are yet to be even on earth; and all Christians are very far from being what they will be in heaven.

The young convert is to grow in all Christian excellence-to "grow up in all things to him who is the head." Paul was a very different person when it was at first said of him, "Behold, he prayeth"-a poor helpless sinner falling into the arms of the Saviour,and when he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me; and not to me only, but to all that love his appearing."3 And Paul even then was but a child in comparison of what Paul is now; the "spirit of a just man made perfect" "with the Lord," and fully, so far as his capacities admit, conformed to his mind and will, "like him, seeing him as he is."

This view of the subject is so beautifully illustrated by that heav enly man Leighton, that I can make no apology for the length of the following quotation:-"The whole estate and course of the Chris

1 Isaiah lxvi. 11.

Acts ix. 11. Phil, iv. 13. 2 Tim. iv. 6-8.

2

Eph. iv. 15.

« PreviousContinue »