Chapter V: Part 5

The Apostle proceeds to say of his Ephesian converts, “but _ye_ have not so learned Christ”—“if so be, that ye have heard Him” (or rather, as the phrase may properly imply, _forasmuch_ as ye have heard Him) “and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus.” And what had they heard, as necessary to their salvation by His name, and what is the truth they had been taught?—“that ye put off, concerning the former conversation (the former life and conduct), the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts” (the worldly principles and the sinful habits above described, to which you were addicted before your conversion); and “be renewed (or made new) in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;” the change thus produced being so great and important as to be compared to a new creation; the inner man being totally different from what he was before. It is said, moreover, that the new man “is created _after God_ in righteousness;” this is fully explained by the same Apostle, in his Epistle to the Colossians, where he is treating on the same subject; he there speaks of the converts being renewed “after the image of Him who created them.” {211} At the creation of Adam, God is represented as saying, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” that is, in perfect innocence and purity. Thus was Adam formed, perfectly upright and holy: by disobedience his nature was changed; he became sinful and unholy; and this change was entailed upon all his posterity. The object, therefore, of the new creation is to restore in us, as far as we are now capable of it, that image of divine righteousness, which man lost by the fall. On considering, then, the holy nature of God, we are at once made acquainted with that change, in the natural man, which the gospel teaches and requires; we are brought to perceive and acknowledge that “true holiness,” which as Christians we are bound to desire and attain.

The same truth may be said to have been substantially revealed to the servants of God under the old dispensation: there is no express mention indeed of a new creation of the individual; but the prophets every where assert, what is similar in effect, that no wicked person, without hearty repentance and an entire change of character, must expect the divine favour. To this purpose is the language of Isaiah: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well.” {213a} The unclean and unrighteous cannot stand before God. “As I live, saith the Lord God, (by the mouth of Ezekiel) I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, house of Israel?” {213b} The prophet thereto plainly intimating, that notwithstanding all that goodness and long-suffering of the divine nature, which is expressed in a most compassionate invitation, and is confirmed even by the solemnity of an oath, yet if sinners did not “turn from their evil ways,” there was no remedy, but they must die. And the same prophet on another occasion, uses language very similar to that of the text; “I will put a _new_ spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh—that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” {214a} Agreeably to this, the same people are subsequently exhorted, to “cast away from them all the transgressions whereby they had transgressed, and to make them a new heart and a new spirit.” {214b} However therefore, the New Covenant doth exceed the Old, with regard to the clearness of its manifestations, and its fuller dispensations of grace, yet are there in both of them the same consistent terms of reconciliation and salvation for rebellious man; in both are injoined the same purity of spirit, and integrity of character; this is the plain, uniform, infallible intimation of both, that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” {214c}

That the people of old were but partially awake and alive to the great change required to be wrought in them, from sin to righteousness, from the love of evil to the love of good, from a “bondage unto the elements of the world” to the glorious liberty of the children of God, is too fully proved from the complaints of patriarchs and prophets and holy men of every determination. The sound of the gospel, thank God, has now gone forth into all lands, and brought “life and immortality to light;” it has awakened many nations, who lay fast bound in the slumbers of spiritual death; but whether it has vitally and savingly awakened a greater proportion of those, to whom the glad tidings have been revealed, is a matter of reasonable doubt. At least, if we compare what man is by nature, with what he may be and ought to be by divine grace, it must appear, from the life and conduct of the great majority in the christian world, that they have by no means attained that renovation of spirit and principle and character, which can entitle them to the appellation of new creatures.

Of how many may it be said, (and their own consciences will bear witness to the truth of the accusation,) that their thoughts are ordinarily flowing in much the same channel, their passions yielding to the same excitements, and their pursuits directed to the same end, as they would have been, had the pure doctrines and precepts of Christ never been promulgated. Vast numbers, in the visible Church of Christ, who profess some regard for religion, instead of raising their affections to the standard of the gospel, are seeking to _bring down_ the immoveable standard of the gospel to _them_: and greater numbers still, of reckless men, bestow not so much as a thought upon that spiritual change, which is absolutely essential to the christian character. For what is the religion of thousands amongst us?—merely, if I may so call it, that traditionary acquaintance with divine things, which is acquired in infancy; that outward assent to evangelical truths, which was handed down to them by their forefathers; a cold respect for the shadow, without any concern for the substance: they are content to observe the forms of religion, because they have been accustomed so to do, and their neighbours do the same; and to attend to what are called the decencies of life, because they would otherwise be disreputable; to crimes and to holiness strangers perhaps alike; satisfied to do no worse, than they see the multitudes around them doing; and resting their claim to God’s favour on a few moral pretensions, or even on the absence of scandalous immorality; probably looking for exemption from the penalties of the divine law, because their transgressions have never been such, as to expose them to the scourge of the law of man.

This, however deplorable, is a true description of no inconsiderable portion of our christian land; to none of _us_, we may hope, is the description strictly applicable; but it is too probable, that there are many amongst us, who partake more or less of the character here delineated; who practically regard the christian religion as a system to be accommodated to their dispositions and habits and pursuits of life, and not as demanding a total alteration in their views and tempers and motives of action. Though their thoughts are directed to objects, far above those of “the heathen who know not God” and though their morality, upon the whole, be of a higher order and a purer cast, yet are their affections willingly led captive by the ensnaring vanities and engrossing interests of this lower world: heaven is the object of their settled creed, but it is not the main purpose to which their endeavours are anxiously and daily directed; in balancing between this or that pursuit, their thoughts are intent only upon providing for “the meat that perisheth,” without any enquiry or concern, how they may best provide for “that which endureth unto eternal life.” {218} And the morality, on which they so complacently rest, has frequently no connexion whatever with the christian faith; referable rather to philosophy than the gospel, to “the praise of men than the praise of God.” Hence it follows, that their moral obedience is lamentably defective; extending only to the performance of those duties, which least oppose their inclination or their temporal advantage; while even such duties are but imperfectly discharged. Their self-government is wretchedly defective; the controul of their thoughts, the mastery over their passions, the command over their tongue, are attainments which they seldom bind it upon their conscience to acquire. And though they be turned from idols to worship the living and the true God, the fruit of their service, as well as the irregularity of it, affords but too clear a proof, that they “worship him not in spirit and in truth.” However improved, in their moral character, by their acquaintance with the christian religion, they cannot possibly have imbibed its spirit; nor have arrived at that happy change of the natural man, which can be denominated by a new creation. They are working out, or rather seeking to work out, their salvation on maxims of human expediency, and in accommodation to human interests; not with “fear and trembling,” lest they should lose the inestimable prize; they are not evincing, that it is “God that worketh in them both to will and to do.” {220}

I have thus enlarged, on the presents occasion, upon the enormous deficiencies of christian character, because it is of great importance for us to understand, what is not accordant with the principles of the gospel, as well as what is: it is of vital consequence, that we should be thoroughly aware of the insufficiency of that spirit and view, of those maxims and motives of those habits and observances, which pass current for religion in the world.

We cannot put on the new man, unless we put off the old; and we cannot put off the old, unless we thoroughly understand in what it consists. The work is too commonly supposed much easier and much less comprehensive, than it really is: many vicious habits may be corrected, without any essential or fundamental alteration of character. A man may become weary of the pursuits, disgusted with the follies, worn and sated with the profligacies of life; he may find his circumstances impoverished, his reputation impaired, his worldly interest obstructed: and such considerations as these may generate a purpose of moral reform. Or the sinner may feel himself oppressed with the increasing weight of years; infirmities are coming fast upon him; and his conscience, in many a whisper of fear, tells him that something should be done, some preparation made, for the world to which he is hastening, for the account which he will speedily be called to render. The idea of dying with those depravities, to which he has clinged through life, is awful and insupportable. The more flagrant of them are accordingly corrected; and the rest, which are less startling and disquieting, are undisturbedly retained. In all this there is no change of principle, no vital alteration: the old man continues; less hideous in features and outward appearance, but the very same in reality. With this partial renovation the mind is satisfied; the conscience is becalmed; the sinner dies.

Through the “deceivableness of unrighteousness,” through the wiles of Satan and the evil propensity of our own hearts, we are always in danger of being too easily content with our spiritual condition; we look too much to the outward and visible form, and too little within; to little to the habitual principle, the constraining motive, the cast of character: and it is in this, that the difference between the old and the new man, in the christian world essentially consists. Suffer me to point out again a few of the broad lines of distinction. The old man, whatever of religion he may profess, lives principally for himself and the world; he may think of religion, and speak of it, and pray for it with the lips, but it has no dwelling place in his heart, is not the business of his life. However observable, in many respects, his moral deportment may be, his character is seldom consistent. From some evil pursuits he abstains, in others he wilfully and constantly indulges; some evil passions are kept in creditable order, others are let loose; some duties he professedly performs, and others he professedly omits. And nothing is done with a true christian motive, or christian view; nothing from a sense of absolute and uncompromising obedience to the will of God. Nor is it surprising, that there should be such deficiencies and inconsistencies in his character; he has no principle or means, by which he can possibly walk uprightly with his God. He does not “believe with the heart unto righteousness;” he does not seek, nor desire, to “live in the spirit and walk in the spirit;” there is no life in his devotion, no sincerity in his prayer: he “asks not faithfully” for repentance and holiness, and they cannot be “effectually received.” He is not disposed to bring his understanding and heart into subjection to the divine will. He studies not that holy word, which ministers the principle of a divine life, and the spirit of obedience to the soul. He lives for earth and not for heaven. He is too proud to be taught the humiliating doctrines of revelation; too full of himself, to bow implicitly to his Redeemer. In a word, nature is his book and not the Bible; the world is his teacher and not the Spirit of God; earthly and not spiritual subjects are the delight of his heart; he walks not “by faith, but by sight.”

The new man is the reverse of all this; he humbles himself, as a sinner, at the foot of the cross, under a deep sense of his own guilt and the divine mercy; desirous only to be reconciled and saved; he constantly studies the mysteries God’s word, with a submissive understanding and an obedient heart; he rests his only hope on the merit of a Redeemer, whose promises and whose law he receives with all his mind and soul and strength; he prays “without ceasing” for the Holy Spirit, is directed by His teaching, supported by His power, and comforted by His heavenly illumination. Doubtless he must live _in_ the world, and _by_ the world, as well as other people; but he does not live _for_ the world; his heart is not there, his delight is not there; he is a redeemed pilgrim, journeying in a far country, returning to his Father’s house; and his heart is musing on the “many mansions” there, and full of the inspiring influential hope, that one of them is prepared for him.

Such holy principles are continually manifested by a determination of purpose, a decisiveness of character, a devoted spirit of uniform obedience to the revealed will of God. As the conscience bears witness, so does the life: “the tree is known by its fruit;” all evil affections are resolutely mortified, all sinful pleasures and pursuits utterly abandoned. The sincere Christian, the new man, has an earnest desire and care upon his soul, to be “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” {226a} For this blessing he daily prays; in this work he daily advances: “loving the Lord God with all his heart,” and “loving his neighbour as himself,” he is of all men the most inclined, as he is assuredly the most bound, to “live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.” {226b}

These remarks suggest the necessity of further admonition on this head. Many persons have been led to entertain enthusiastic notions on the subject of the new man, the new creation, the new birth. They have supposed it principally to consist in certain inward experiences or feelings, which they have been enabled to trace to some particular event or period: the Holy Spirit, as they believe, then beginning, for the first time, to work upon their understandings and hearts; and thus leaving an indelible impression, the seal of their redemption, the earnest of their certain acceptance with God. Far are we from denying, that such sudden conversions may and do take place: still farther from denying that, whether sudden or gradual, a change from the old to the new man is attributable to the aid of a divine energy and power. It is, properly speaking, a new creation; the imparting of a new nature: and cannot be effected without the hand of the original Creator: without the operation of that Spirit, which “moved upon the face of the waters,” which “breathed into the nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a living soul.” {227a} Our Liturgy has correctly and fully embodied the testimony of scripture, on this as on other points: we are taught to pray, that God will “_create_ in us new and contrite hearts.” This blessing must proceed from that Holy Spirit, who still in His ordinary dispensations, as formerly in His miraculous gifts, “divides unto every man severally as He will;” {227b} not as it were capriciously, but according to His own infinite wisdom and goodness, as He judges expedient to the case of each individual. But this divine grace is not communicated for the mere purpose of producing a glowing affection, a familiar experience, an enraptured view of spiritual things: nor can any inward feelings alone prove that such grace has been administered at all: the proof must be manifested, in the way pointed out by the text: the new man “is created, after God, in _righteousness and true holiness_.” A holy character and a righteous life are the proper and indispensable evidences of such a change; a faithful walking with God, a sober self-government, an upright dealing with all mankind.

I counsel you, my brethren, in the language of truth and the spirit of affection, to be content with no other evidence: equally far be you removed from that carnal profession of the gospel, which despises or neglects the mighty change required of every sincere believer; and from those fanciful notions of spiritual experience, which leave the heart and the character arrayed in the spotted garment of sin: both in the one case and the other, you will be “grieving the spirit,” and “quenching the spirit.” In your principles and life, as well as in your views and affections and desires, “let old things pass away, and all things become new;” {229a} “put off the old man with the deceitful lusts,” and thus let the new man be put on. “Abhor that which is evil: cleave to that which is good.” {229b} This is the method ordained of God, by which we are to “work out our salvation;” this our plain, this our necessary duty. Pray we fervently, strive we diligently, that we may be thus effectually turned from sin to holiness, “from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God.” {229c}

SERMON XIII. THE WEDDING GARMENT.

MATT. xxii. 2.

_The kingdom of heaven is like unto certain king which made a
marriage for his son_.

IT is my intention, in this discourse, to explain the several particulars of the parable before us; which may be regarded, in the _first_ place, as descriptive of the dispensation of the gospel to the people of Israel and the world at large; and, in the _second_ place, as instructing us in that peculiar fitness necessary to all, who shall be admitted to enjoy the privileges and happiness of the kingdom of God.

The state of the gospel, our Saviour informs us, may be compared to the conduct of a king at the marriage of his son; or rather, as the meaning is, at the marriage _feast_ which he gave on that occasion: the circumstances which might, in that case, be supposed to occur, aptly represent a variety of particulars belonging to the gospel dispensation.

Before, however, we enter upon the parable, it may be remarked, that spiritual blessings are frequently set forth in the holy scriptures, under allusions to feasting and refreshment. Thus Solomon of old: “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.” {231} And thus the prophet Isaiah, in describing the state of the gospel: “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” {232a} And thus our blessed Lord Himself: “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me, that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom.” {232b}

1. Let us now proceed with the parable: “He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding (feast); and they would not come.” This probably alludes to the first period of the promulgation of the gospel; under the preaching of John the Baptist and of the earliest disciples; the former endeavouring to prepare the hearts of men for the kingdom and coming of Christ; and the latter proclaiming His glorious arrival, preaching the truth of His gospel, and confirming the word by a display of miraculous power. But the Jews had been a carnal people, “holding the truth in unrighteousness;” and they refused to give ear to those holy instructions, which called upon them to “lay the axe to the root of all sin,” and to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” {233a} This it was that prevented them, not only from a cordial acceptance of the gospel, but even from a fair examination and inquiry; they would not listen to such doctrine; their heart was decided against it: to this it was owing, these carnal habits and views, that when their Messiah came, they were not ready to receive Him in the way which He required. Ready enough were they to admit Him in their own way; agreeably to their own notions and desires, as an earthly conqueror, as the dispenser of temporal blessings and rewards; but not as the abolisher of sin; not as a preacher of righteousness; not as a herald, announcing to them the necessity of holiness in this world, and the inheritance of glory in the world to come. Not all His amazing miracles, not all His fulfilment of their own prophecies, not all the power of His word, could convince their understandings; because they had “an evil heart of unbelief:” {233b} and therefore, notwithstanding His awful warnings, His earnest and affectionate invitations, “they would not come” unto Him, that they might find rest unto their souls.

Here we behold, as in a glass, the real ground of every rejection of the Saviour in every age; it is not because men deny His excellency, or His power, or His mercy, or the greatness of His kingdom: it is because they “love this present evil world,” and the “god of this world hath blinded their minds,” {234a} through the deceitfulness of sin. Even though eternal salvation is offered them, and they do not disbelieve it; still, awful to think! the Saviour is rejected for perishable interests and sensual indulgences. “He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand?” {234b} Men walk on in darkness because they love it; and they “love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” {234c}

2. But the Jews were not yet cast off, without further admonition and entreaty. “Again He sent forth other servants, saying, tell them who are bidden, behold I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage” feast. But “they made light of it,” and offered a variety of groundless excuses. This may chiefly refer to the fuller manifestation of the gospel, after the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord; for the parable, as we shall more clearly perceive in the sequel, is partly of a prophetic nature; and intended to represent to the Jews their persevering spirit of obstinacy, and the punishment which would ensue; that some of them at least, when the fulness of the time should come, might be struck with the force of this predictive representation, and be converted to the “truth as it is in Jesus.”

Every thing requisite for the sumptuous feast was liberally provided: in the days of the apostles, abundant indeed was the confirmation of the truth and doctrines of the gospel; bright the manifestation of heavenly glory, that was shed abroad upon it. Then were strikingly fulfilled the words of their prophet Joel; “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh—also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” {236} Accordingly the gifts of the Holy Ghost—were openly poured forth, and mighty were the deeds done and the words spoken by His servants, under the operation of His marvellous power: the old dispensation was fully brought to bear upon the new: it was shewn how the character of Jesus corresponded, in His birth and life and death and resurrection and ascension, as well as in His offices of Priest and Mediator and King, with various prophecies and types exhibited in the ancient scriptures. The benefits and blessings of the christian dispensation were more particularly and largely set forth: the feast was fully displayed before them, in all its rich and magnificent abundance. Many were then induced to enter into the guest chamber, and partake of the heavenly repast; but many more, the Jewish nation at large, made light of it, and went their way. And not only so: not only was the invitation unheeded and despised; but the remnant, that is, some who were not content with disobeying the call, “took his servants, and entreated them spitefully and slew them;” persecuted the disciples even unto death.

3. We now come to a part of the parable, which must of necessity receive a prophetic interpretation: “When the King heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city.” This plainly points out the Roman armies ravaging Judea, destroying Jerusalem, and putting the inhabitants to the sword; an event, which did not take place till many years after. Neither, in truth, is there mention made, in the gospel history, of the Jews having slain any of the disciples, whilst their Lord was with them. They were murderers of the Son of God, and of many of His apostles and disciples after Him; thus “filling up the measure of their iniquity,” and drawing down upon themselves, and their nation at large, the most tremendous visitation of divine wrath, ever inflicted in this world upon a rebellious people.

4. We are next carried forward to another period in the gospel dispensation; a period in which we ourselves are deeply and peculiarly interested; from which we date all the spiritual mercies and advantages, all “the means of grace and hopes of glory,” which have been vouchsafed to our souls. “Then saith the king to his servants, the wedding (the wedding feast) is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.” The Israelites who were honoured, as the people of God, with the first invitation and call to the gospel, shewed themselves unworthy of it, by their ungrateful and obstinate rejection. “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage” feast: go ye, as we may interpret the words of our Lord, go ye, My ministers and messengers, into the world at large, and carry My invitation to the Gentiles; to as many as ye shall find; and proclaim to them that My table is spread for all: since the people, who were first bidden, have “not heard when I spake, nor answered, when I called,” the “kingdom of heaven is now thrown open to all believers,” so that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved:” My kingdom shall no longer be confined to one peculiar race; the time is come, when the blessedness of it shall be diffused abroad as “the waters cover the sea:” I am ready to “make a covenant with all flesh”—a covenant of peace—of benefits and mercies, such as their “eyes have never seen, nor ears heard;” the universal banquet is spread; bid them all to come. “So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding (table) was furnished with guests:” for it was not unusual, we must observe, in those countries, for men of the highest rank and distinction to admit to their tables, on remarkable occasions, persons of the lowest condition.

And this part of the parable also was representative of a future period; for though Christ had received homage from some in the Gentile world, and had signified His favour to others as well as the Jews, it could not be said, that the blessings of His gospel were at that time distinctly offered to the world at large. By St. Peter, in the first instance, in the case of Cornelius, and afterwards more fully by St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, were the good tidings universally announced and spread. This accords with the invitation in the parable, where we find that no exceptions were to be made: the “servants gathered together all, both bad and good;” thus, to men of all characters and descriptions the gospel was indiscriminately preached: the best greatly needed it; and even to the worst the door of grace and repentance was opened.

Doubtless, there are vast differences in the characters of unregenerate men, of the very heathen “who know not God.” Some will use, more faithfully than others, the feebler light of natural religion; and thus arrive at a higher state of moral rectitude and respectability. But whatever comparative excellence any one may attain, in such a state, he is at best a polluted sinner: fallen from the favour and family of God; without the power to rise and return; the inheritor of sin and death, without the means of salvation. God must be reconciled, and the gate of mercy thrown open; or the sinner must perish. And it is for the offended God alone, to appoint the means of reconciliation; and proclaim the conditions of pardon and mercy. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is the only means of deliverance; by His incarnation and sacrifice has atonement been made for man; “there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved;” {242a} “other foundation can no man lay.” {242b} The moralist must lay aside his vain pretensions, and humble himself at the foot of the cross; must come to the Saviour and learn of Him; come and be “baptised for the remission of sins;” come, that his character may be essentially changed by the Spirit and the word of God; that he may have new desires, new affections, new principles, new prospects: and many of “the children of this world,” amiable in their disposition and reputable in their conduct, deceive themselves in this matter; perceive not their need of a Saviour, “trusting in themselves that they are righteous;” good in their own eyes, good in the estimation of their neighbours, they undervalue and neglect the gospel; and therefore still continue “dead in trespasses and sins.”

But the bad as well as the good were gathered together; not only to those, whose conduct had been honourable among men, and whose characters were fair; but to notorious delinquent, yea, even to the worst of sinners, the door of the guest-chamber is open; all are invited; all, if they will comply with the conditions and rules of the feast, shall be fed; publicans and sinners, extortioners and unjust, disobedient and reprobate, all are the objects of the Saviour’s mercy; “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The invitation is free and universal; none who rightly seek admission, shall be excluded. This exactly agrees with the language of the evangelical prophet: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat.” “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” {243a} “The fountain is opened for sin and for cleanness;” {243b} “wash you, make you clean;” laden as ye are with iniquity come but to your Saviour, in sincerity and truth, with a contrite and repentant heart; come, as He has invited you; look to the all-sufficiency of His sacrifice; believe in Him for justification and life; be ready to learn of His example and to receive His spirit and His law into your heart, and you shall be admitted to His holy banquet, and be made welcome at His table; you shall find comfort in the presence of your Lord, and in them “that sit at meat with you.”

5. We are now led to the last and most striking part of this parable: the king came in to see the guests; to see whether they conducted themselves worthily of his entertainment, and appeared in the dress which he had provided, for such as were unable to furnish themselves. And thus, with regard to the heavenly feast, the guests are strictly and constantly accountable for their behaviour. Our blessed Lord watches the demeanour of all who profess to accept His invitation in the gospel; observes, how every one, who is “admitted into the fellowship of His religion,” fulfils the conditions required of him. Nor is it the external demeanour alone, which engages His notice and inspection; He sees through the innermost windings of every heart, and will infallibly “judge righteous judgment.” No violation of His will, in thought, or word, or deed; no insincerity or deceitful appearance can possibly remain undetected.

“When the king came in—he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said unto him, friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?” The man could not pretend to offer an excuse: he knew the rules of the feast, and had wantonly neglected them; he was, like many other ungrateful people, regaling himself upon a benefactor’s bounty, but shewed him no respect or regard: being therefore self-condemned, “he was speechless.” Thus will it be with every negligent and disobedient Christian, when the Lord comes to make enquiry into his character: to justify himself, he will feel to be impossible; thoroughly has he known his Lord’s will, and full often has his conscience reproved him for not performing it: there will be nothing left for him, but unavailing sorrow and speechless remorse.

“Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot; and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Cast him, from the lighted chamber, to the darkness of the night without, where he shall bitterly regret the pleasures he has so foolishly lost. Sad emblem of that state, whose sadness can be known, here upon earth, only by emblematical representation, only by such figures as “outer darkness,” as the “worm that never dies,” and “the fire that never shall be quenched;” a darkness of mind, in the utter regions of despair, without a ray from heaven to cheer it; the worm of anguish preying upon the soul; and a fire burning, whether without or within, or both; raging yet not consuming. God grant, that we may hear only of this wretched state “by, the hearing of the ear;” that our eyes may never behold it; that none of us may be consigned to this abode of unredeemed and unredeemable misery: and, that we never may, let us “walk worthy of our vocation;” of the Lord of that heavenly feast, of which we are professing to partake. Put on, my brethren, the wedding garment of the gospel; put it on, or intrude not into the presence-chamber of your Lord; dread the doom of the hypocrite and the despiser; pretend not to partake of the heavenly feast, to expect any of the blessings of the gospel, unless ye consent and seek to be clothed with the raiment provided by your King; with all those christian graces and virtues, which He will enable you to obtain.

If indeed it depended upon ourselves, “miserable and poor and naked” as we are, to provide a suitable covering; if the sinner were required to produce, from his own store, the raiment of holiness and righteousness, and thus make himself acceptable to his Saviour and his God; then would he have much reason to urge for his unworthiness and deficiency: for he has no means of making any such provision; he has not “wherewith he shall come before the Lord:” his heart is corrupt; his character is unholy; and he has no power to change them. But the provision does not depend upon ourselves; what the Lord commands us to be clothed with, He has mercifully prepared: He gives His Holy Spirit, to change the heart and reform the character; to enable us to “put off the old man with the deceitful lusts, and to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” This spiritual clothing the Lord offers to all His followers; and woe be to those, who refuse or slight it: for this is a contempt of His divine mercy; a defiance of His authority and command: the expectation of His favour, on such terms, is adding insult to presumption. If we do make a profession of belonging to Him, let us not thus foolishly cast away our hope; let us not deceive ourselves by imagining, that we can possibly maintain a title to the privileges and blessings of the gospel, whilst we are living in the neglect of those ordinances and laws, which the Lord has graciously appointed as the means of our acceptance with Him. They who neglect the means, will assuredly lose the end; will be numbered among the despisers of their Saviour’s mercy.

And in order to keep alive in our minds that deep concern, which so momentous a subject demands, frequently let us be meditating upon that awful hour, when the King shall come in to visit and inspect His guests: His eye shall be upon every one, and every one’s eye upon Him; imagine yourself then in the guest-chamber without a wedding garment; ready and desirous to sink into the earth; but there will be nothing to cover your guilt and shame: though you have entered in with the other guests, and taken your station at the feast, you will be called out from among them, and everlastingly separated from the goodly company. A garment you would then, no doubt, most willingly accept; but it will be too late; it should have been accepted when offered; the season of grace will be past; the time for judgment will be come.

My brethren, you have professedly accepted the invitation of your Lord; you have entered into the guest-chamber; and if you be not already clothed with the spiritual apparel, provided by His grace and mercy, delay not an instant to apply for it: the King may come sooner than you expect; I pray that He come not, before you are ready to meet Him. And where is this garment to be found? Seek His Holy Spirit; search His Holy word: you will then not fail to find it, and He will dispose you to put it on. Repent and believe; love and obey: “cease to do evil, learn to do well;” thus “adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things.” And then you will finally be admitted to the heavenly feast; to the marriage supper of the Lamb; to the company of angels; in the courts of uncreated light—“for the glory of God doth lighten them, and the Lamb is the light thereof;” {251a} “In whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” {251b}

SERMON XIV. WALK WORTHY OF THE LORD, BE FRUITFUL, AND INCREASING.

COL. i. 10.

_That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing_, _being
fruitful in every good work_, _and increasing in the know ledge of
God_.

ONE of the great objects of St. Paul, in writing his epistles, appears to be considerably overlooked by the christian world at large: it was, to lead those churches and communities, in which the true foundation of Christianity had been laid, to build upon it a corresponding character and life. Certainly, a great portion of the epistles is occupied in the assertion and explanation of christian doctrine; and this, principally, with a view to remove certain errors and prejudices, which the members of some churches had entertained; and upon which they had requested the apostle’s decision. But well knowing how apt the human mind is to rest satisfied with speculative views and persuasions, he never omits to remind his converts, that much more was necessary than the profession of a true faith; that in vain would their opinions be rectified, unless their heart was also changed; that though they had “all faith and all knowledge,” it would “profit them nothing,” unless the graces and virtues of their holy religion were signally manifest in their lives.

There is scarcely an epistle, in which the apostle does not labour, with the most intense desire, with the most full and repeated and peremptory injunctions, to press upon them this momentous consideration: there is not, in the word of God, a more complete digest and code of christian duty, than in the writings of St. Paul; and yet they are, by many, almost exclusively regarded as an exposition of deep and mysterious doctrines; as if this were the sole end and purpose for which they were composed. Well would it have been for the christian world, if as much attention had been paid to the practical, as to the theoretical subjects in these divine oracles: we should not then have witnessed so many disputations, in which charity has been lost sight of, nor so much of the “form of godliness without the power;” so many religious terms and denominations, of which the ignorant have understood little but the name: we should have had less of sect, of party, of invidious distinctions of any kind; and more of vital religion amongst us. But it is now, as it ever was, with fallen and degenerate man; he is fonder of exhibiting the powers of his understanding, of exciting his feelings, and of displaying the pride of spiritual knowledge, than of reforming his principles and regulating his conduct: he has therefore directed his view to the mystery of the foundation, and overlooked the directions for raising and completing the superstructure.

Not that the various revelations of doctrine, in the writings of St. Paul, are by any means to be lightly regarded; nor that they do not demand the most reverential attention and profound enquiry: it is of high importance for us to attain a “right judgment in all things:” yet doubtless it would tend more to the edification of Christians in general, if they took greater heed to the rules and precepts of the divine law, to the evidence and fruit of their faith; and to all that neglect them, we would say, “these things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone.”

The passage of scripture, from which we are now discoursing, will exemplify these remarks. St. Paul, in the very opening of his epistle, assures the Colossians, that since the day he heard of their conversion, he did “not cease to pray for them and to desire that they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

1. “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord.” It is scarcely possible for the most cursory observer not to perceive, that the faith of the gospel cannot be truly embraced with indifference; that the christian name is not a mere honorary or professional title, independent of obligations and of consequences. As the Bible is rich in promises, so is it also clear and necessitating, in the conditions upon which those promises are made: as the Redeemer has freely offered unto us the benefits of His cross, so has He as plainly injoined upon us the indispensable duty of “taking up our own cross daily,” and “following the blessed steps of His most holy life;” as He has reconciled us unto the Father, and again adopted us into the blessed family above, so are we required, if we have any part or lot in this matter, to be-have as children, who have recovered the forfeited privileges of their glorious inheritance, and “have their conversation in heaven.” As we have been “bought at so great a price,” we must continue the subjects and the property of the “Lord that bought us.”

No man, whose nature, whose principles, whose affections, whose life, remain unchanged; no man, enthralled by the pleasures and devoted to the pursuits of a thoughtless and corrupt world, can justly consider himself as an actual partaker of the covenanted mercies of God. He may have been admitted by baptism into Christ’s visible church; he may hope to render, at some future day, his baptismal privilege available to salvation; but every page of God’s revealed word would forbid him to regard himself as an accepted “inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,” while his life is palpably at variance with the conditions upon which that inheritance is vouchsafed; while it is contradictory to the laws, and totally inconsistent with the blessings, which the Saviour has proclaimed to mankind. Every man must not only perceive from the gospel, but be assured by his own reason and conscience, that such divine mercies absolutely require and imply some degree of worthiness; some correspondence in his views, his temper, and his conduct.

Worthy indeed, in the fullest sense of the word, of such transcendent love and favour, of life and immortality, of everlasting honour in the presence of the pure and perfect Creator, the degenerate creature can never be; he has sinned; and “the wages of sin is death.” But there is a fitness, which the Christian, by divine help, must attain; a humility and contrition of heart; a sincere belief in God’s mercy through Christ; a grateful sense of God’s undeserved goodness; a desire of recovery from the ruin of his fallen nature; and withal, a true spirit of acquiescence in those means of grace, and that revealed law, ordained to bring the sinner to his Maker; and this conformity, in the character of man, is frequently represented in scripture by the name of _worthiness_: he becomes worthy in this respect, inasmuch as he fulfils the conditions of the gospel covenant, and is thereby rendered a fit object of God’s free mercy: without this character he would be unworthy, inasmuch as he would shew himself unmoved by the marvellous loving-kindness of his Saviour; would shew, that he had no real value for the blessings, which the gospel places within his reach; no regard for the revelation and ordinances of God. It is an observation as true as it is common, that the holy gospel designs not to save us _in_ our sins, but _from_ them; we must therefore be made willing and desirous and careful, to subdue the prevalence of sin, or we cannot attain unto salvation; and if the dominion of evil be subdued, there will grow up, in our hearts and lives, the manifold fruits of righteousness.

Such was the worthiness, which the apostle prayed and laboured to produce in the early disciples; and if, without this, we are hoping to be accepted of the Lord, “we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The meetness indeed, of which we are speaking, is not exclusively our own; it must “be wrought in us of God;” still it is to be sought by prayer, and improved with diligence: “We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” {260} yet God will not fail to supply us with the means, if we pray for them and use them faithfully.

To this statement I request your especial attention; because there are professing Christians, who take an improper view of this important matter. Conscious of their own unworthiness in point of _merit_, they are apt to overlook that worthy _fitness_, of heart and character and life, which is necessary for every sincere follower, of Christ. The proclamations of their own undeservings, and their Saviour’s free love, are sometimes so loud and frequent, as to lower in their minds the sense of moral and spiritual obligation, as to make them relax in their duly to God and man; as if they were privileged to offend, because they extolled the Saviour, and debased themselves. This is a vain and a fanatical spirit: Christ alone is worthy to save; but we must endeavour, by His sanctifying aid, in all things to be made more and more worthy of the exceeding “riches of His grace.”

2. And, in order to encourage us in the goodly work, the Almighty, whose happiness is infinite and incapable of increase, graciously represents Himself as _pleased_, even with our imperfect services: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” “Though the heavens are not pure in His sight,” yet does He condescend to “visit man” with His favour, and “to regard the son of man,” who serveth Him, with an approving eye: He is pleased, because it is the fruit of the sinner’s reconciliation, by the death and sufferings of His beloved Son: for His sake, even the feeble struggles of the Christian, in the way of duty, if they be resolute and determined, are an acceptable service; even the spark of goodness, if it glow with sincerity in the bosom, is honoured and rewarded.

This is an animating consideration: we observe the effect naturally produced in the mind of man, even by the approbation of a fellow-creature, whom he regards as his superior; what holy satisfaction then, and complacency and delight, may we not derive from the persuasion, that our humble services are favourably viewed by the all-wise and almighty God, who recompenses every one according to his work: if God be pleased, whose displeasure shall we fear? If “God be for us, who shall be against us?” And O, that we may never forget, that it is one of the great purposes of the gospel, to render us, infirm and imperfect as we are, pleasing unto Him, through the merits and intercession of our Redeemer; by “walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.” {262}