"Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord: walk as children of light: for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness and righteousness and truth." Eph. v. 8, 9.
[Note 1] WHILE Christianity reveals the pardon of sin and the promise
of eternal life through the mediation of Christ, it also professes to point
out means for the present improvement of our moral nature itself. This
improvement, we know, is referred in Scripture to the Holy Spirit, as a
first cause; and, as coming from Him, both the influence itself upon the
mind and the moral character formed under that influence are each in turn
called "the spirit." Thus, St. Paul speaks of the law of "the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus," [Rom. viii. 2.] and contrasts it with that character
and conduct which are sin and death. He speaks too of receiving "the spirit
of faith," [2 Cor. iv. 13.] or the temper of which faith is the essence;
and in the text, which is found in the Epistle for this Sunday, he refers
to the outward manifestation or fruit of the same spirit, "goodness, righteousness,
and truth." "Light" is another word, used as in the text—to express the
same moral change which the Gospel offers us; but this title is proper
to our Lord, who is the true Light of men. Christians are said to be "called
into His marvellous light," to "walk as children of light," to "abide in
the light," to "put on the armour of light." [1 Pet. ii. 9. 1 John i. 7;
ii 10. Rom. xiii. 12.] Another similar term is newness or renewal of mind.
Indeed, it is quite obvious that the phraseology of the New Testament is
grounded in such views of the immediate inward benefits to be conferred
upon the Church on the coming of Christ.
2. What, then, is meant by this language? language, which, if great
words stand for great ideas, and an Apostle does not aim at eloquent speech
rather than at the simple truth, must raise our expectations concerning
the fulness of the present benefits resulting to us in the present state
of things from Christianity. That it is not mere ordinary religious obedience,
such as the Holy Spirit may foster among the heathen; nor, on the other
hand, miraculous endowment of which St. Paul speaks, when he prays that
"the Father of glory" might give to the Ephesians "the spirit of wisdom
and revelation," "enlightened understanding," "knowledge of the riches
of the glory of the Saints' inheritance," [Eph. i. 17, 18.] this surely
is evident without formal proof, and least of all need be insisted on in
this place.
3. Nor, again, does the question find its answer in the view of certain
men of deeper piety than the mass of mankind,—of those, I mean, who, clearly
perceiving that Christian morality and devotion are something extraordinarily
excellent and divine, have sought to embody them in a strict outward separation
from the world, a ceremonial worship, severe austerities, and a fixed adjustment
of the claims of duty in all the varying minutiae of daily conduct; and
who, in consequence, have at length substituted dead forms for the "spirit"
which they desired to honour.
4. Nor further may we seek an explanation of the difficulty from such
men as consult their feelings and imaginations rather than the sure Word
of God, and place that spiritual obedience, which all confess to be the
very test of a Christian, in the indulgence of excited affections, in an
impetuous, unrefined zeal, or in the language of an artificial devotion.
For this view of spirituality, also, except in the case of minds peculiarly
constituted, ends in a formal religion.
5. Moreover, the aspect of the Christian world affords us no elucidation
of St. Paul's language concerning the great gift of grace. Far from concurring
with Scripture and interpreting it for us, doubtless the manners and habits
even of the most refined society are rather calculated to prejudice the
mind against any high views of religious and moral duty. And this has been
the case even from the Apostle's age, as may be inferred from his Epistle
to the Corinthians, who could hardly have understood their own titles,
as "sanctified in Christ," "called to be saints," [1 Cor. i. 2.] at the
time that they have among them, "debates, envyings, whisperings, swellings,
tumults, uncleanness, lasciviousness," [2 Cor. xii. 20, 21.] unrepented
of.
6. It is indeed by no means clear that Christianity has at any time
been of any great spiritual advantage to the world at large. The general
temper of mankind, taking man individually, is what it ever was, restless
and discontented, or sensual, or unbelieving. In barbarous times, indeed,
the influence of the Church was successful in effecting far greater social
order and external decency of conduct than are known in heathen countries;
and at all times it will abash and check excesses which conscience itself
condemns. But it has ever been a restraint on the world rather than a guide
to personal virtue and perfection on a large scale; its fruits are negative.
7. True it is, that in the more advanced periods of society a greater
innocence and probity of conduct and courtesy of manners will prevail;
but these, though they have sometimes been accounted illustrations of the
peculiar Christian character, have in fact no necessary connexion with
it. For why should they not be referred to that mere advancement of civilisation
and education of the intellect, which is surely competent to produce them?
Morals may be cultivated as a science; it furnishes a subject-matter on
which reason may exercise itself to any extent whatever, with little more
than the mere external assistance of conscience and Scripture. And, when
drawn out into system, such a moral teaching will attract general admiration
from its beauty and refinement; and from its evident expediency will be
adopted as a directory (so to say) of conduct, whenever it does not occasion
any great inconvenience, or interfere with any strong passion or urgent
interest. National love of virtue is no test of a sensitive and well-instructed
conscience,—of nothing beyond intellectual culture. History establishes
this: the Roman moralists write as admirably, as if they were moral men.
8. And, if this be the case, as I think it is, do we not compromise
the dignity of Christianity by anxiously referring unbelievers to the effects
of the Gospel of Jesus in the world at large, as if a sufficient proof
of its divine origin, when the same effects to all appearance are the result
of principles which do not "spring from the grace of Christ and the inspiration
of His Spirit"? For it is not too much to say, that, constituted as human
nature is, any very wide influence and hearty reception of given principles
among men argues in fact their earthly character,—"they are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." [1 John
iv. 5.] The true light of the world offends more men than it attracts;
and its divine origin is shown, not in its marked effects on the mass of
mankind, but in its surprising power of elevating the moral character where
it is received in spirit and in truth. Its scattered saints, in all ranks
of life, speak of it to the thoughtful inquirer: but to the world at large,
its remarkable continuance on the earth is its witness,—its pertinacity
of existence, confronting, as it has in turn, every variety of opinion,
and triumphing over them all. To the multitude it does not manifest itself
[Note 2];—not that it willingly is hid from them, but that the perverse
freedom of their will keeps them at a distance from it.
9. Besides, it must not be forgotten, that Christianity professes to
prepare us for the next life. It is nothing strange then, if principles,
which avowedly direct the science of morals to present beneficial results
in the community, should show to the greater advantage in their own selected
field of action. Exalted virtue cannot be fully appreciated, nay, is seldom
recognized on the public stage of life, because it addresses itself to
an unseen tribune. Its actual manifestations on this confused and shifting
scene are but partial; just as the most perfect form loses its outline
and its proportions, when cast in shadow on some irregular surface.
10. Let it be assumed, then, as not needing proof, that the freedom
of thought, enlightened equitableness, and amiableness, which are the offspring
of civilization, differ far more even than the piety of form or of emotion
from the Christian spirit, as being "not pleasant to God, forasmuch as
they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, yea, rather, 'doubtless,' having
the nature of sin."
11. How then, after all, must the gift be described, which Christianity
professes to bestow? I proceed, in answer to this question, to consider
what is said on the subject by Scripture itself, where alone we ought to
look for the answer. Not as if any new light could be thrown upon the subject,
or any statements made, which have not the assent of sober Christians generally,
but in order to illustrate and enforce an all-important truth; and, while
at every season of the year practical views of Christianity are befitting,
they are especially suggested and justified by the services of humiliation
in which we are at present [Note 3] engaged.
12. The difference, then, between the extraordinary Christian "spirit,"
and human faith and virtue, viewed apart from Christianity, is simply this:—that,
while the two are the same in nature, the former is immeasurably higher
than the other, more deeply rooted in the mind it inhabits, more consistent,
more vigorous, of more intense purity, of more sovereign authority, with
greater promise of victory—the choicest elements of our moral nature being
collected, fostered, matured into a determinate character by the gracious
influences of the Holy Ghost, differing from the virtue of heathens somewhat
in the way that the principle of life in a diseased and wasted frame differs
from that health, beauty, and strength of body, which is nevertheless subject
to disorder and decay.
13. That the spiritual and the virtuous mind are essentially the same,
is plain from the text as from other Scriptures: "The fruit of the Spirit
is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." Let us rather confine
our attention to the point of difference between them; viz. that the Christian
graces are far superior in rank and dignity to the moral virtues. The following
may serve as illustrations of this difference:—
14. (1.) Take at once our Lord's words, when enjoining the duty of love,
"If ye love them who love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans
the same?" Or St. Peter's, on the duty of patience! "What glory is it,
if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but
if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God." [Matt. v. 46. 1 Pet. ii. 20.]
15. This contrast between ordinary and transcendant virtue, the virtues
of nature and the virtues of Christianity, may be formally drawn out in
various branches of our duty. For instance; duties are often divided into
religious, relative, personal; the characteristic excellence in each of
those departments of virtue being respectively faith, benevolence and justice,
and temperance. Now in Christianity these three are respectively perfected
in hope, charity, and self-denial, which are the peculiar fruits of the
"spirit" as distinguished from ordinary virtue. This need not be proved
in detail; it is sufficient to refer to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans,
and his first to the Corinthians. These three cardinal graces of the Christian
character are enforced by our Saviour, when He bids us take no thought
for the morrow; do as we would be done by; and deny ourselves, take up
our cross, and follow Him [Matt. vi. 34; vii. 12; x. 38.].
16. Other virtues admit of a similar growth and contrast. Christian
patience is contrasted with what is ordinary patience in the passage from
St. Peter just cited. St. John speaks of the "love of God casting out fear;"
and whatever difficulty may lie in the interpretation of these words, they
are at least clear in marking the transcendant quality of the Christian
grace, compared with the ordinary virtue, as seen under former dispensations
of religion. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the inspired writer contrasts
the elementary objects of faith with those which are the enjoyment of a
perfect and true Christian; the doctrines which spring from the Atonement
being the latter, and the former such as the Being of a God, His Providence,
the Resurrection and eternal judgment.
17. (2.) In the next place, we may learn what is the peculiar gift of
the Spirit even without seeking in Scripture for any express contrast between
graces and virtues, by considering the Christian moral code as a whole,
and the general impression which it would make on minds which had been
instructed in nothing beyond the ordinary morality which nature teaches.
Such are the following passages—we are bid not to resist evil, but to turn
the cheek to the smiter; to forgive from our hearts our brother, though
he sin against us unto seventy times seven; to love and bless our enemies;
to love without dissimulation; to esteem others better than ourselves;
to bear one another's burdens; to condescend to men of low estate; to minister
to our brethren the more humbly, the higher our station is; to be like
little children in simplicity and humility. We are to guard against every
idle word, and to aim at great plainness of speech; to make prayer our
solace, and hymns and psalms our mirth; to be careless about the honours
and emoluments of the world; to maintain almost a voluntary poverty (at
least so far as renouncing all superfluous wealth may be called such);
to observe a purity severe as an utter abhorrence of uncleanness can make
it to be; willingly to part with hand or eye in the desire to be made like
to the pattern of the Son of God; and to think little of friends or country,
or the prospects of ordinary domestic happiness, for the kingdom of heaven's
sake [Note 4].
18. Now, in enumerating these maxims of Christian morality, I do not
attempt to delineate the character itself, which they are intended to form
as their result. Without pretending to interpret rules, which the religious
mind understands only in proportion to its progress in sanctification,
I may assume, what is enough for the present purpose, that they evidently
point out to some very exalted order of moral excellence as the characteristic
of a genuine Christian. Thus they are adequate to the explanation of the
Apostle's strong language about the Spirit of glory and God [Note 5] as
the present gift gained for us by our Saviour's intercession, which in
the text is evidently declared to be a moral gift, yet as evidently to
be something more than what is meant by ordinary faith and obedience.
19. (3.) And next, let us see what may be gained on the subject by examining
the lives of the Apostles, and of their genuine successors. Here their
labours and sufferings attract our attention first. Not that pain and privation
have any natural connexion with virtue; but because, when virtue is presupposed,
these conditions exert a powerful influence in developing and elevating
it. Considering St. Paul's ready and continued sacrifices of himself and
all that was his in the cause of the Gospel, could the texture of his religion
bear any resemblance to that weak and yielding principle which constitutes
the virtue of what we now consider the more conscientious part of mankind?
He and his brethren had a calm strength of mind, which marked them out,
more than any other temper, to be God's elect who could not be misled,
stern weapons of God, purged by affliction and toil to do His work on earth
and to persevere to the end.
20. And let us view such men as these, whom we rightly call Saints,
in the combination of graces which form their character, and we shall gain
a fresh insight into the nature of that sublime morality which the Spirit
enforces. St. Paul exhibits the union of zeal and gentleness; St. John,
of overflowing love with uncompromising strictness of principle. Firmness
and meekness is another combination of virtues, which is exemplified in
Moses, even under the first Covenant. To these we may add such as self-respect
and humility, the love and fear of God, and the use of the world without
the abuse of it. This necessity of being "sanctified wholly," in the Apostle's
language, is often forgotten. It is indeed comparatively easy to profess
one side only of moral excellence, as if faith were to be all in all, or
zeal, or amiableness; whereas in truth, religious obedience is a very intricate
problem, and the more so the farther we proceed in it. The moral growth
within us must be symmetrical, in order to be beautiful or lasting; hence
mature sanctity is seldom recognized by others, where it really exists,
never by the world at large. Ordinary spectators carry off one or other
impression of a good man, according to the accidental circumstances under
which they see him. Much more are the attributes and manifestations of
the Divine Mind beyond our understanding, and, appearing inconsistent,
are rightly called mysterious.
21. (4.) A last illustration of the special elevation of Christian holiness
is derived from the anxious exhortation made to us in Scripture to be diligent
in aiming at it. There is no difficulty in realizing in our own persons
the ordinary virtues of society; nay, it is the boast of some ethical systems
that they secure virtue, on the admission of a few simple and intelligible
principles, or that they make it depend on the knowledge of certain intellectual
truths. This is a shallow philosophy; but Christian perfection is as high
as the commands and warnings of Scripture are solemn: "Watch and pray;"
"many are called, few few chosen;" ''strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way;" "strive to enter in," "many shall seek," only; "a rich man shall
hardly enter;" "he that is able to receive it, let him receive it;" [Matt.
vii.; xix.; xxii.; xxvi. Luke xiii.] and others of a like character.
22. Such, then, is the present benefit which Christianity offers us;
not only a renewal of our moral nature after Adam's original likeness,
but a blending of all its powers and affections into the one perfect man,
"after the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Not that heathens
are absolutely precluded from this transformation from sin to righteousness;
nor as if we dare limit the actual progress made by individuals among them;
nor, further, as if it were not every one's duty to aim at perfection in
all things under any Dispensation; but neither the question of duty nor
that of God's dealings with heathen countries has come under consideration
here; but what it is that Christians have pledged to them from above on
their regeneration; what that great gift is of Christ's passion, of which
the Apostles speak in language so solemn and so triumphant, as at first
sight to raise a difficulty about its meaning.
28. Considering, then, the intense brightness and purity of that holiness
to which we are called, and on the other hand our ignorant and sensual
condition, as we are really found, our Church teaches us to put away from
ourselves the title of "Saint," and to attribute it to such especially
as "have laboured and not fainted;" [Rev. ii. 3.] those who, like the Apostles
and primitive martyrs, have fought a good fight, and finished their course,
and kept the faith.
24. Nor let it seem to any one, that, by so doing, the timid Christian
is debarred of his rights and discouraged; or, on the other hand, that
the indolent are countenanced in low views of duty by setting before them
what they may consider a double standard of virtue. For indolent minds
will content themselves with the performance of a meagre heartless obedience,
whether or not a higher excellence is also proposed to them. And as to
the sincere but anxious disciple of Christ, let it relieve his despondency
to reflect that on him as much as on the matured saint, have been bestowed
the titles of God's everlasting favour and the privileges of election.
God's will and purpose are pledged in his behalf; and the first fruits
of grace are vouchsafed to him, though his character be not yet brought
into the abiding image of Christ. While the distance from him of the prize
must excite in him an earnest desire of victory and a fear of failure,
there is no impassable barrier between him and it, to lead him to despair
of it. And there is a point in a Christian's progress at which his election
may be considered as secured; whether or not he can assure himself of this,
at least there may be times when he will "feel within him the working of
the spirit of Christ, mortifying the flesh, and drawing up his mind to
high and heavenly things." Thus St. Paul on one occasion says, "Not as
though I had attained;" yet, far from desponding, he adds, "I press towards
the mark for the prize." Again, at the close of his life, he says, "Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." [Phil. iii. 12-14. 2
Tim. iv. 8.]
25. The subject which has come before us naturally leads on to one or
two reflections, with which I shall conclude.
On the one hand, it suggests the question, Are there in this age saints
in the world, such as the Apostles were? And this at least brings us to
a practical reflection. For, if there are such any where, they ought to
exist in our own Church, or rather, since the Apostles were men of no higher
nature than ourselves, if there are not among us such as they were, no
reason can possibly be given for the deficiency, but the perverse love
of sin in those who are not such. There are Christians who do not enjoy
a knowledge of the pure truth; and others, who wander without the pale
of the divinely privileged Church of Christ; but we are enabled justly
to glory in our membership with the body which the Apostles founded, and
in which the Holy Spirit has especially dwelt ever since, and we are blessed
with the full light of Scripture, and possess the most formally correct
creed of any of the Churches. Yet, on the other hand, when we look at the
actual state of this Christian country, it does not seem as if men were
anxiously escaping the woe, which, first pronounced on an apostate Apostle,
assuredly hangs over them. They do not appear to recognize any distinction
between natural and spiritual excellence; they do not aim at rising above
the morality of unregenerate men, which, though commendable in heathen,
is not available for Christian salvation. And they are apt to view Christian
morality as a mere system, as one of the Evidences for Revealed Religion,
and as a mark of their superior knowledge in comparison with Jews and Pagans,
far more than as it enjoins on them a certain ethical character, which
they are commanded to make their own.
26. When, moreover, to the imperative duty, which lies upon us, of being
true Christians, and to the actual signs of carelessness and unbelief which
the Christian world exhibits, we add the extreme difficulty of turning
from sin to obedience, the prospect before us becomes still more threatening.
It is difficult even to form a notion of the utter dissimilarity between
the holiness to which we are called and the habits which we still imperceptibly
form for ourselves, if we leave the tendencies of our nature to take their
spontaneous course. What two things are more opposed to each other than
a mind revelling in the keen indulgence of its passions, and the same mind,
when oppressed with self-reproach and bodily suffering, and loathing the
sins in which it before exulted? Yet, great as this contrast is, remorse
does not more differ from profligate excess, than both of them differ from
a true religious habit of mind. As the pleasure of sinning is contrary
to remorse, so remorse is not repentance, and repentance is not reformation,
and reformation is not habitual virtue, and virtue is not the full gift
of the Spirit. How shall we limit the process of sanctification? But of
these its higher stages deliberate sinners are as ignorant, and as ignorant
of their ignorance, as of those "heavenly things," to which our Saviour
refers.
27. And lastly, when the shortness of our probation is added to the
serious thoughts already dwelt upon, who shall estimate the importance
of every day and hour of a Christian's life in its bearing on his eternal
destiny? Not that life is not long enough to ascertain each man's use of
his own gifts,—rather, our probation could not be materially longer, for
our nature is such, that, though life were ten times its present length,
yet our eternal prospects would, as it appears, still be decided by our
first start on its course. We cannot keep from forming habits of one kind
or another, each of our acts influences the rest, gives character to the
mind, narrows its free-will in the direction of good or evil, till it soon
converges in all its powers and principles to some fixed point in the unbounded
horizon before it. This at least is the general law of our moral nature;
and such fearful expression does it give to every event which befalls us,
and to every corresponding action of our will, and especially with such
appalling interest does it invest the probation of our early years, that
nothing but the knowledge of the Gospel announcements, and above all of
the gracious words and deeds of our Redeemer, is equal to the burden of
it. And these are intended to sustain the threatenings of the visible system
of things, which would overwhelm us except for the promise, as the hearing
of the promise on the other hand might puff us up with an unseeming presumption,
had we no experience of the terrors of Natural Religion.
28. The day, we know, will come, when every Christian will be judged,
not by what God has done for him, but by what he has done for himself:
when, of all the varied blessings of Redemption, in which he was clad here,
nothing will remain to him, but what he has incorporated in his own moral
nature, and made part of himself. And, since we cannot know what measure
of holiness will be then accepted in our own case, it is but left to us
to cast ourselves individually on God's mercy in faith, and to look steadily,
yet humbly, at the Atonement for sin which He has appointed; so that when
He comes to judge the world, He may remember us in His kingdom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
1. [This discourse was not published in former editions,
as having been written in haste on a sudden summons to preach.]
2. Vide John xiv. 21-23.
3. Lent.
4. Matt. v. 28, 37, 39, 44; vi. 25; xii. 36; xviii. 3,
8, 35; xix. 12, 29; xx. 27. Rom. xii. 9, 16. 1 Cor. vi. 18-20. Gal. vi.
2. James v. 13.
5. 1 Pet. iv. 14.
Copyright © 2000 by Bob Elder. All rights reserved.
Used with permission. See the Newman website:
http://www.newmanreader.org/index.html
