Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

conjugal attentions, which ensure domestic harmony, are enjoined on all who are in the marriage state.*

3. In every situation of life we are to conduct ourselves with that unassuming deportment which constitutes Christian humility.†

4. We are dissuaded not only from fraud, violence, and all actions punishable by law, but also from an evil, which with impunity creates uneasiness in social life; that evil is a prying curiosity, busy intrusion and officious intermeddling in the concerns of others. ‡

5. The temporal means and spiritual gifts, which by the blessing of God are bestowed upon us, must be employed for the benefit of others, according to the ability with which we are furnished. §

6. We are to pay universally that degree of respect which every person may reasonably think due to him as suitable to his condition. For all our Christian brethren, we must entertain in our dispositions and exert in our practice kind regard. To magistrates who have authority from the supreme ruler of the state, to the supreme ruler himself, whatever may be his denomination, we are on religious principle to show deference and yield obedience, in proportion as each is placed in rank and invested with power. ||

You have now heard the moral instructions which pervade the writings of this distinguished apostle. The result should be most perfect conviction, that according to his understanding and his view of the Christian religion, we should each of us regulate our passions and direct our conduct in such a manner as may show we are indeed the disciples of Christ. In other words, we should in heart believe, in practice obey.

* See 1 St. Pet. iii. 1-7.

1 St. Pet. iv. 15. § 1 St. Pet. iv. 9, 10.

+ 1 St. Pet. v. 5.

|| 1 St. Pet. ii. 13-17.

Does this doctrine correspond with what was taught by Christ, our light, our guide, our lawgiver? The question is important, it should therefore be met, examined, and answered. For not only if St. Peter, but if even an angel from heaven should preach in contradiction to the purport of our Lord's discourses, he is not to be acknowledged as a true preacher of the Gospel.* What then does our Lord intimate on the necessity of practical obedience? For information on this essential point, let us refer to the Gospels; observing the occasions on which they were spoken, and then reciting in express terms the words of our Lord himself.

At an early period of his appointed ministry, our Lord pronounced that those should be blessed who would cultivate the spiritual graces, which were to be the signal marks of his religion. He then adverts to the character for purity and holiness, which his disciples would be bound to sustain in the world; since public attention would be fixed on them, as persons who by their actions were to exemplify the good effects of their having been called and instructed by Him in the knowledge of revealed truths. His admonition to them on this subject is forcible and clear, "Let your light so shine "before men that they may see your good works, and

66

glorify your Father which is in heaven."+ Having thence proceeded to interpretation of the Mosaic law, to prohibition of encouraging even vicious thoughts; to various precepts delivered with such energy and with such authority as became his divine nature; he cautions his disciples against the fatal error of thinking mere profession of his religion would constitute real Christians, and be acceptable in his sight; he declares thus: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall

[blocks in formation]

"enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth "the will of my Father which is in heaven."* This declaration should continually be remembered, for it comprises in a short compass the sum of a volume. The commencement implies the necessity and presupposes the existence of Christian faith; but condemns a faith which is only nominal. The sequel intimates that the faith which leads to sincere endeavours for the fulfilment of Divine law, is the Christian faith to which approbation will be given in the heavenly kingdom of our God and Lord.

That intermixture of good and bad men apparent in the world, that collection of Christians among whom some are such in reality, some in title only, are compared by our Lord to the growth of wheat and tares promiscuously blended in the same field. The seed profitable, and the tares unprofitable, do indeed spring up together; but mark the difference in the time of harvest; the wheat is carefully gathered into the barn; the tares are bound up and thrown into the fire. The parable in which we meet with this similitude receives from our Lord an interpretation so plain, that the inference to be drawn from it cannot be mistaken. "The

"field is the world, the good seed are the children of "the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the "wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the "devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are

66

66

gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the "end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth "his angels, and shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and "shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be

66

[ocr errors]

weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of "their Father."

66

Our Lord, in a parable, describes a father directing his two sons. * One of them was at first contumacious, but afterwards obeyed. The other professed immediate readiness to execute the command, but then disobeyed. At the conclusion of the parable, our Lord proposed to the chief priests this question, " Whether of them twain "did the will of his father?" There could be no possibility of returning an evasive answer; therefore, although it was to their own condemnation, yet they could not but confess the obedient son was the person who did that will. From which acknowledgment unavoidably resulted this inference; the son, who disobeyed, could not be called a dutiful son, for he had not done his father's will. The application of their open judgment and implied sentence to us Christians, may be made in these words; if after we have entered into the Gospel covenant, and solemnly engaged to observe its precepts to the utmost of our power, we knowingly and wilfully break our promises by leading an habitual life of sin, so long as we continue thus transgressing we cannot be pronounced disciples faithful to our Lord, and as such, humbly trust to be accepted by him with approbation speaking peace to our souls.

The justice and equity with which retribution shall he dispensed at the final judgment, demonstrate how erroneous must be a persuasion that actions of Christian goodness are unnecessary. What are the explicit declarations of our Lord? "of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his "angels, and then shall he reward every man according

They are these, "The Son

* St. Matt. xxi. 28-31.

"to his works."* "The hour is coming, in which all "that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come "forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrec"tion of life; and they that have done evil, unto the "resurrection of damnation."+ Thus, hopes of recompence for well doing are encouraged; and fears of punishment for evil doing are excited; it cannot then be immaterial to the result of our faith, whether we are earnest to be righteous, or whether we are abandoned to wickedness. In His wisdom and in His solicitude that all should repent, our Lord would not have sanctioned His doctrines by such opposite expectations, if in the end there should be no difference of Divine procedure, in approbation of right, in disapprobation of wrong conduct. There will be difference. Our Lord, who came to reveal the will of God, hath solemnly pronounced that discrimination shall be made between those who have, and those who have not laboured to do what they know is required of them; and the happiness or the misery which he foretells, will most assuredly be awarded to each of us; certainly with merciful compassion for our natural and unavoidable frailties, yet not without consideration of that degree, in which we have either exerted our utmost endeavours for the attainment of holiness, or in which we have obstinately and wilfully persisted in the commission of crime and sin.

It is recorded of the Beroans, that on the preaching of St. Paul they examined the Scriptures. Their object in so doing was to ascertain if his doctrines agreed with what they read in their sacred writings. We have imitated the Berceans in appealing to the Gospels. Our design was to learn, if the tenor of our

« EdellinenJatka »