Part 5

First, then, faith embodies the entire trustful devotion to GOD, which, above any assent to what is proved, any following of what is seen or heard, magnifies the honour of GOD, and so sets forth His glory. It owns His truth, His providence, His love, and prompts to a free-will, spiritual, glorifying service of Him. Secondly, unless there are to be perpetual miracles, faith alone can be permanently and universally influential. If we are to be guided by sight, or hearing, or touching, then the revelations to one generation would have to be repeated to each following generation, and those of one country performed again in every other. Thus CHRIST would have had to continue on earth, to have visited every land, and been crucified and raised from the dead in every land, or to have gathered all nations into Judea to witness what was done; and this would have had to be repeated over and over again to our fathers, to us, to our children, or else some would have been without the necessary influence to serve, and love, and depend on Him. And more than this, since the sights we see and the sounds we hear, are soon over, and leave but a faint remembrance behind, we should be imperfectly influenced by them, when CHRIST ceased to speak; or when He passed into another place we should be without our object of worship, our instructor or hope. And even if these objections can be met, still the perpetuity of CHRIST’S visible presence, the beholding of His miracles, and hearing of His words, would necessarily put a stop to all worldly occupations; would make probation little more than a name; would constrain men by natural influences to a carnal or slavish adherence to Him, or would drive them into reckless rebellion, and instant and irrevocable condemnation.

But again, faith is more blessed because it has greater privileges—because it reveals more clearly, brings nearer, than any sense could do. If you only hear a loved one, do you not desire to see him? If you see him, are you not unblessed unless you embrace him? And then, is there not an influence, a way of communicating, that surpasses this—a purer, a more spiritual influence, one which brings you together, and keeps you together, and makes you one—love, which surpasses, which is independent of, or only uses as accessories, the bodily senses? We are too apt, brethren, to talk of seeing as believing; to count sense above feeling; to exalt what belongs to the body, above what belongs to the mind or spirit. Doubtless, the error arises from the way in which we speak of faith giving way to sight in heaven, as though the eyes of the body only, and not the mind and spirit, were to behold CHRIST then; as though mental and spiritual perception were not better than bodily; as though there were no assurance that faith is an abiding gift, and that, therefore, while in heaven there will be much to gratify the eye of the body, there will still be much more which faith alone can realise. My brethren, the greatest eternal blessedness will be vouchsafed to faith, and the greatest blessedness of this state belongs to faith, because it is the exercise of man’s noblest and best, and most reliable faculties, far superior in excellence, far more certain in ascertaining the truth, than ears, or eyes, or hands.

Once more, faith is blessed above seeing, because it grasps a set of truths, and enjoys a class of pleasures which are different from those of the senses, and which the senses cannot touch. GOD the Father invisible for ever, GOD the Holy Ghost, blowing like the wind where it listeth, so that you cannot see whence it cometh and whither it goes, ministering angels, spiritual influences, and consolations, and helps—what can ear, or eye, or hand know of these? But faith knows them, hears them, sees them, handles them, and joys in them. And this, brethren, exhibits the nature of faith’s blessedness; that to it is revealed the whole spiritual world; that the evidence which it needs, the object of its worship, its Saviour, its LORD, its hopes and fears, and encouragements and promises are never absent, and never missed, (but by its own dimness or voluntary blindness) whatever may become of the outward signs and boding presences. Picture to yourselves, brethren, the scene of that chamber where the raised CHRIST stood manifest, in the posture of blessing, before His adoring disciples. Imagine what Thomas had before felt, and what he now felt. Then hear CHRIST say—“The bliss of this moment might have been yours before, if you had sought to attain it by faith, and not by sight; and what you now see may be yours for ever, for in spirit I shall ever be with you, and by faith you may ever behold Me! Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”; and that blessing, brethren, was for us, if we will have it. If we believe, then we are thus blessed. If we are not blessed, we may be. O let us lay hold on this truth, let us cultivate faith, let us pray to GOD for an increase of it, and let us perpetually exercise it in beholding Him Who is ever with us, to pardon our faithless sins, to restore us to His company, to breathe upon us peace and blessing.

SERMON VI. FAULTLESSNESS BEFORE GOD. (INNOCENTS’ DAY.)

REVELATION, XIV., 5.

_They are without fault before the throne of_ GOD.

JOB declares that GOD puts no trust in His saints; that He charges His angels with folly; that in His sight the very heavens are not clean. This language is, of course, figurative, and not to be taken literally; but it well describes to us the transcendent holiness of GOD, and His utter abhorrence of all evil. In comparison of Him, heaven itself is not pure, and angels, endued with wisdom, swift and constant to obey, delighting in His will, even these are not perfect—fall far short of perfection before Him. Job would show us the distance between GOD and man. St. John, however, in the chapter of my text, would exhibit another truth, not contradictory, but rather supplementary to Job’s, namely, the nearness, through grace, of man to GOD. The Apostle is describing, for the comfort and encouragement of the tried and persecuted, a vision which he had seen of some of those who have passed away from this world, and, as a kind of first-fruits, are already with GOD and the Lamb; and he says, that “in their mouth is found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of GOD.”

“Without fault,” means here, without spot or blemish; not only free from actual transgression, but wholly untainted by corruption of sin—not wanting in anything that belongs to the perfect character of the approved of GOD.

That man in his natural state is altogether faulty, that even in his redeemed, and spiritualised, and sanctified state, while here on earth, he has still many faults, are truths so plainly taught, so proved to our reason and experience, that it would be idle to enforce them. How, then, can he ever stand faultless before the throne of GOD? Now some would answer, that for CHRIST’S sake GOD overlooks, that CHRIST, by His merits, hides man’s faults; and so that the redeemed in heaven are not really faultless, but that for CHRIST’S sake faultlessness is reckoned, imputed to them. This is what may be called the popular answer to our question. But, brethren, how utterly wrong it is seen to be, when we consider that, in order to exalt GOD’S mercy and His wisdom in contriving justification, it sacrifices His truth and His holiness. GOD cannot call the faulty faultless. He Who is Truth cannot enter with His Holy Son (Who is also Truth) into a plan of deceit, by which, to Himself, to them, to angels, to the whole universe, sin shall be presented as holiness. GOD may agree not to reckon with men for their sins, to forget the past, on certain conditions to deal with the faulty as if they were actually faultless; but He cannot—I say it advisedly, it is beyond the limits of His power, as regulated by His truth—He cannot call evil good. And, brethren, besides, even if it were possible that by some strange agreement with the Son, sinful man should be passed off as holy, still his sin, while it remained, hide it, disguise it, call it by what name you will, must separate from GOD. Charity might forbear to punish it, or to make mention of it. Charity might even gild it over; but Holiness deals not with the name, but with the reality; and holiness must shrink from sin and thrust it away. This ought to be the most readily perceived and admitted of all Scripture truths, that GOD cannot tolerate near iniquity; that—if I may venture reverently to use such words—even if GOD were willing to receive to Himself an unchanged sinner, the actual reception would be morally impossible; the same heaven could not contain holiness and sin! No, brethren, if the sinner is to enter heaven, it must be, not because his name is changed, but his nature; he must be actually without fault before GOD. We see this to have been the case with those described in the text: for it is expressly said, “In their mouth was found no guile.” Observe, it is not, GOD mercifully overlooked their guile for the sake of His dear Son, the Guileless One; He charitably called them guileless; but “in their mouth was found (the testimony of truth to the searching of holiness) no guile: yea, for they are altogether blameless, without spot or blemish.” It is an actual, not an imputed faultlessness that is thus described. Now, how is it to be attained by sinful men? And here comes in a second answer of popular theology. At or after death, CHRIST meets the departed, and by His resurrection-power quickens that which was dead, purifies that which was corrupt, spiritualises, sanctifies, and, as by a miracle, converts the sinner into a perfect saint. This is an answer only second in popularity to the one we have been considering. Those who urge it, believe that man is naturally depraved, that, under grace, he retains much, almost all, his old nature, that he is very faulty in deed, in will and affections. They know that he must be faultless to gain accession to heaven and dwell with GOD and the Lamb, and this faultlessness they hope for and pray for; but there is no effort to acquire it; there is no concern for the absence, the continued absence of it; it is regarded as altogether a thing of the future; the free and perfect gift—perfect at once—to the released soul and the raised body. Men who hold this view, are often better than their creed requires them to be. In love of GOD and devotion to Him, they strive to abandon sin and cultivate holiness; but they have no definite object in view of becoming faultless here, in order to be faultless in heaven. They seem to believe that they cannot get any nearer to faultlessness whatever they do, and that those who have made no efforts, ay, have even led ungodly lives, and, but for a few last sighs and ejaculations, would have died ungodly deaths, are just as qualified, just as fit in many cases, just as sure recipients of instantly converting and perfecting grace in the next world!

But if this is so, why have we such solemn warnings, to the effect that as the tree falls, so shall it lie? “He that is righteous, then, shall be righteous still. He that is filthy then, shall be filthy still.” Why is it that in the representations which we have of the Judgment, men are always dealt with according to what they were in life, “Inasmuch as ye did it,” “Inasmuch as ye did it not”? Why is the pound taken away from him that did not seek to increase it, and given to him who had gained ten pounds, and the commentary subjoined, “Unto every one which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him”? Why is the boaster of his privileges—“In Thy name have I cast out devils”—instantly dismissed with the words, “Depart from me, I never knew you”? Why are they reproved who called CHRIST LORD, LORD, but did not the things which He said? What did St. Peter mean when he exhorted “Save yourselves;” and Paul, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall;” and CHRIST Himself, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be;” “Blessed are they that do His commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city”? Surely all this, as with a voice from heaven, calls on us to put away the delusion, that mortal life is not a probation, that man has not a fitness to acquire in this life, in order that he may be faultless in heaven. The answer of truth, brethren, to the question, “How can man be faultless in heaven?” is, briefly, By praying, and striving, through the blessing of GOD, the grace of the Spirit of CHRIST, and his own self-denial, and diligence, and cultivated holiness, to become less and less faulty here. After all, he will never, on this side of the grave, be without spot or blemish, and perfect in holiness. Whatever CHRIST may do for him here, he will still have much to be purged away, much to be quickened, much to be glorified. But, be sure, there must be a seed-time here and a growing here, if there is to be a harvest hereafter. There must be a service, if there is to be a reward; we must be faithful in a little, before we are made rulers over much; there must be a fitness, a partial, a main fitness acquired here, or no admission there to the inheritance of the Saints in light. CHRIST’S work in us hereafter is not a transforming, but a completing, a finishing, a perfecting work. “To him that hath”—that is, that has made use of and improved what he hath—“to him more shall be given,” and he shall abound. He who has traced in his soul and life the outline of the features of the blessed JESUS, shall have the likeness filled up and finished by the Divine artist, and be wholly conformed to His image. He who has kept down the flesh, shall have the power of the flesh destroyed in him. He who has sought after holiness, shall be made perfect. A great change; much taken away, much added, but not a transformation. A great work, which can only be done then, and only by CHRIST; but which will fail to be done then if materials are not provided for it now; if the foundation has not been laid, and the walls have not been raised, and all made ready for the roof of GOD’S adding, and the capping of the tower of glory. Yes; this is the qualification, without which you cannot be received, but, having it, cannot be refused. Labour and pray to be faultless here, and CHRIST shall at the end perfect your faultlessness, and shall present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. But the text seems to speak not of those who had washed away defilements, had secured pardon of offences, had repaired faults and made up deficiencies, in short, had been sinners, but, under the operation of the spirit of CHRIST, were become saints; but of those who never had been faulty, spotted, or blemished “These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” Of course, there must have been the spot and blemish of original sin; but, apart from this—which CHRIST’S applied purifying power and all-sufficient merits would entirely remove—there seems to have been in the lives of these persons no actual sin, no omission of righteousness. Now, as there is no man that liveth and sinneth not, it has been conjectured that the vision here exhibits those who were taken away to GOD in their infancy, before they had the power or the will to do good or evil, and who, therefore, as far as actual deeds and feelings are concerned, not by work, or grace, or conviction, but absolutely and from the first were faultless: and probably the selection of the description as the Gospel for this day, the festival of the Holy Innocents, has gone far to confirm this conjecture. But, brethren, this surely is not the meaning, at least the full meaning, of the words. They describe freedom from defilement and following of the Lamb as things that might have been otherwise. They hold up for the example and encouragement of those who were tempted to lust, and to depart from following the living LORD, the praise and happiness of those who are without fault in these respects; and therefore they suggest to us, I think, as the most profitable and foremost thought, the blessedness, the superior blessedness of those who never have contracted sin, nor failed in holiness.

Men sometimes seem to fancy that the most glorious character in heaven, the object of GOD’S fondest love, will be the once deep-stained and wholly defiled, that have been washed in CHRIST’S blood till they are become whiter than snow, the reckless, and rebellious, and blaspheming, who have been subdued and converted; and that in comparison of these, the mainly regular righteous life will almost pass unnoticed. It is easy to account for the supposition. We read, without due consideration, of her that sinned much, and was forgiven much, and therefore loved much; of the returned prodigal rejoiced over more than the son who had remained at home; of the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance; of publicans and harlots going into the kingdom of heaven before priests and scribes. We forget that these things were said to men who were not really righteous, but self-sufficient; that they were an accommodation to their own kind of reasoning; that they were the justification of special works and feelings, and peculiar demonstrations. Surely we are not to understand by them anything more than that sinners were _at times_ more in CHRIST’S thoughts than saints; that on the recovery of one lost sheep, the joy over that one caused the rest for the moment to be put out of remembrance. Surely we are not to understand that GOD has less love for, and shows less favour to those who have uniformly served and honoured Him, than to those whose life has been one of contempt and rebellion, who have refused to accept Him till they had made trial of all else; that GOD’S power and glory are more magnified in the ultimate conversion of such a sinner, than in the steady control and improvement of a life-long saint; that in themselves the reformed drunkards and defiled are better than those who were always sober and pure; that their memories are more blissful, and their themes of praise more satisfactory; that they are even equal in favour, in bliss, in manifested honour to those who were undefiled and consistently obedient, whom Holy Scripture distinguishes on this very account, of whom it relates, that they sing a song which no other can learn, signifying that they have a peculiar privilege and a peculiar joy! Brethren, be sure it is not so. GOD is abundantly gracious to all who call upon Him, late as well as early. No one, whatever his past life, shall be refused who comes to Him through CHRIST. In his late righteousness all his former sins shall be forgiven and forgotten; they shall not once be mentioned unto him. He shall have too, the joy of the righteous, and shall dwell with GOD in heaven; but still He Who makes one star to differ from another in glory, Who bestows different measures of reward upon different capacities, and different attainments, has a special interest and a superior blessedness for those who have never been stained, who have always stayed in their father’s house, and have obeyed His will and loved His voice. In themselves they are dearer to Him, as more like JESUS; and for them, He has seats closer to the throne of CHRIST, and offices of honour near His person.

If this is so, if “faultlessness,” in the sense of never blotted, never imperfect, is the state that is most blessed, then, brethren, we might perhaps be tempted to envy the fate of those whom we commemorate to-day, who suffered so early for CHRIST’S sake, and as soon almost as they were born, were put to death. We might judge, too, that the little ones whom GOD so frequently takes away so soon after lending them, are summoned to a higher blessedness than we can ever know; and therefore that not only would it have been gain to die in infancy, but that it is positive loss to live to years of discretion and responsibility. Let us not err herein. We believe that the dear innocents, whose first consciousness is of bliss in heaven, whose reason begins to develop, and their will to exercise itself, only when sin is impossible, are not only unspeakably blessed, but that GOD specially loves them, and folds them to His bosom (as we did here), because of that innocence: no guile, no defilement—all simplicity and trust. Thankful then in their sober moments are all bereaved parents who are assured of their departed little ones’ eternal safety, and are spared the fears and anxieties, the heartrending realisation of self-will developed, and the world’s evil example followed, and the devil triumphant. The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; and, in that He has taken away, from the evil to come, Oh! blessed be the name of the LORD.

But, brethren, it is only because we fear for the future, that we thankfully accept such a present. Could we be sure that our little ones would remain faultless, that they would not abuse the world, nor fall into great error or misery, that they would grow in grace, and in the fear of the LORD, and at length surely attain to glory; then, not from selfishness, but for their sakes, we should covet length of days for them. And rightly, for there is a better faultlessness, and a correspondingly higher blessedness than that of infants, who were allowed no opportunity (and possessed no power) to contract fault: it is the faultlessness of those who shrink from the allowed opportunity, who restrain the possessed power, and overcome the persuading will, who pass through the fire without the smell of it being left on their garments, who make manifest by a life of self-denials, and resistances to temptations, and patience and perseverance in well-doing, their intelligent deliberate love of GOD, and hatred of evil. These are the tried, the eagerly accepted, the specially loved. These do the LORD’S work, and set forth the LORD’S glory. These shall indeed be welcomed with a “Well-done good and faithful servant,” for them shall be reserved the best seats on the right hand of GOD; and they shall joy in GOD, and GOD in them, with a peculiar joy, for they are likest unto CHRIST, Whose spotlessness was preserved among so many defilements, Who with heart, and mind, and life, consistently, unceasingly served GOD, and Who therefore is highly exalted, and has a name which is above all other names.

Oh it is no mean privilege, brethren, which you forego, when you leave the ranks of the faultless, when you shrink from duty, or yield to sinful pleasure, or contract any stain of ungodliness. Say not, “It is only for once.” It will surely be for more than once; but if it were not, still from being faultless that _once_ makes you blotted and blemished. Say not, “I can repent by and by, and GOD of His mercy will accept me, and I shall be myself again.” You may not live to repent. Sin may disincline, the Spirit provoked may leave you; but even if you do repent—though GOD will undoubtedly forgive, and in a sense restore you—remember, you can never be as you were before. You may be cleansed, but not as at first clean; admitted to heaven, but not to the band of the one hundred and forty-four thousand of undefiled; joined to the glorious choir of the redeemed, but not allowed, not able to sing the peculiar song of the faultless.