James 4 - The Biblical Illustrator

From whence come wars and fightings?

Wars and fighting--whence they proceed

I. THE QUESTION PROPOSED (James 4:1). We have no very particular information as to the nature of these contests, the parties by whom they were waged, or the matters to which they related. Able interpreters have connected them with the civil, political conflicts which agitated the Jewish people at this period of their history, and prepared the way for the memorable destruction which soon came on them at the hands of the victorious Romans. But it would appear, from what is added, that they were rather struggles about ordinary temporal affairs--about influence, reputation, position, and especially property, money, gains--what more than once the apostle calls “filthy lucre.” What they sought was prosperity of that earthly kind; and all striving to secure it they got into collision--they envied, jostled, assailed, injured one another. Alas! this state of things has not been confined to the early age, nor to Jewish converts. What wars and fightings still among the members of the Church! Oh, what controversies and contentions! What angry passions, bitter rivalries, furious contests among the professed disciples of the same Master, the adherents of that gospel which is all animated with love, and pregnant with peace!

II. THE ANSWER GIVEN.

1. The prevalence of lust. And what were these lusts? Just those which are most characteristic of human nature as fallen, and the working of which we see continually around us in the world. There was pride, a high, inordinate opinion of themselves, of their own merits and claims, leading them to aim at sell-exaltation, at authority, pre-eminence--envy, grudging at the prosperity of others, prompting efforts to pull them down and climb into their places--avarice, covetousness, the love of money, the desire to be rich, stirring up all kinds of evil passions, and giving rise to crooked designs and plots of every description. These and such like are always the true cause of our wars and fightings. No doubt the world allures, the devil tempts--no doubt there are many incitements and influences at work all around by which Christians are more or less affected. But what gives them their power? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” It is thronged with lusts, it is inflammable, and hence the spark falling on it is enough to wrap it in the flames of devouring passion. “Which war in your members.” These are the bodily organs, and also the mental faculties, especially the former. The lusts are attached to them, connected with them, as the instruments by which they work, through which they come into active and open manifestation. “Ye lust, and have not”--have not what you so strongly and irregularly desire. Hew often are those who give way to such covetous cravings doomed to bitter disappointment! What the parties had not in this instance were those worldly gains and other advantages on which their hearts were set, and for which they strained and struggled. We have now a farther step, and a terrible one, taken under the influence of this lust. “Ye kill, and desire to have.” Ye kill--that is, ye murder.” It is possible to kill in other ways than by dealing a fatal blow, giving the poisonous draught, or committing any deed by which a charge of murder could be substantiated. By envious rivalries and bitter animosities by false accusations and cruel persecutions--we may wound the spirit, weaken the strength, and shorten the days ofour fellow creatures. We may as truly take away the life as if we used some lethal weapon for the purpose. “And desire to have”--desire in an eager, even an envious manner, as the words signifies; for this was what dictated the murder spoken of, and, remaining after its perpetration, sought, through the medium of it, the coveted object or pleasure. “And cannot obtain.” No; not even after employing such dreadful means for the purpose. Ye get not the satisfaction ye craved and expected--often not so much as the thing in which ye looked for that satisfaction. How frequently does this happen! Under the influence of insatiable cravings, men silence the voice of conscience, set at nought the restraints of law, trample on honour, principle, life itself; and, after all, either miss what they dare and sacrifice so much for, or get it only to find that what they imagined would be sweet, is utterly insipid, if not intensely bitter. They lose their pains; their killing, while a crime, proves also a mistake.

2. The neglect or abuse of prayer. They sought not from God the blessings they were so anxious to obtain. Had they taken their requests to God a twofold result would have ensued. Their immoderate desires had been checked, abated--the bringing of them into contact with His holy presence must have had a rectifying influence. Then, so far as lawful, as for their own good and the Divine glory, their petition had been granted. Thus their wars and fightings would have been prevented, their evil tendencies would have been repressed, and the disastrous effects they produced have been prevented. But some might repel the charge and say, “We do ask.” The apostle anticipates such a defence, and so proceeds, “Ye ask and receive not.” How does that happen? Does it not contradict the explanation of the not having which had now been presented? Does it not run directly in opposition to the Lord’s express promise, “Ask, and ye shall receive”? No; for he adds, assigning the reason of the failure--“Because ye ask amiss,” badly, with evil intent. Ye do it in a spirit and for a purpose that are not good, but evil. It is not forbidden to seek temporal gains; but they did it not to apply them to proper objects, but to expend them in selfish, if not impure gratifications. Nothing is more common. Why, we may even plead for spiritual blessings in the same manner. We may supplicate wisdom, not to glorify God by it, but to exalt ourselves--not to benefit our brethren by it, but to make it conduce to our own pride and importance. We may ask pardon merely for the safety it involves, for the comfort it brings, from a regard to ease and enjoyment, and not to any higher and holier purpose. We may make grace the minister of sin, and value it for the release from restraint--the liberty to live as we please which it is supposed to confer. Of course, such prayers are not answered. They are an insult to the Majesty of heaven. They are a profanation of the Holiest. (John Adam.)

Serious reflections on war

I. This subject naturally leads us to reflect upon THE FALLEN, DEGENERATE STATE OF HUMAN NATURE. What is this world but a field of battle? What is the history of nations, from their first rise to the present day, but a tragical story of contests, struggles for dominion, encroachments upon the possessions of others?

II. This subject may naturally lead us to reflect upon THE JUST RESENTSIENTS OF GOD AGAINST THE SIN OF MAN. As innocent creatures, under the influence of universal benevolence, would not injure one another, or fly to war, so God would not suffer the calamities of war to fall upon them because they would not deserve it. But alas! mankind have revolted from God, and He employs them to avenge His quarrel and do the part of executioners upon one another.

III. The consideration of war, as proceeding from the lusts of men, may excite us to THE MOST ZEALOUS ENDEAVOURS, IN OUR RESPECTIVE CHARACTERS, TO PROMOTE A REFORMATION. Let our lives be a loud testimony against the wickedness of the times; and a living recommendation of despised religion.

IV. The consideration of war as proceeding from the lusts of men, may make us sensible of our NEED OF AN OUTPOURING OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, are mentioned by St. Paul as the fruit of the Spirit, because the Spirit alone is the author of them. And if these dispositions were predominant in the world, what a calm, pacific region would it be, undisturbed with the hurricanes of human passions.

V. The consideration of the present commotions among the kingdoms of the world may CARRY OUR THOUGHTS FORWARD to that happy period which our religion teaches us to hope for, when the kingdom of Christ, the Prince of Peace, shall be extended over the world, and His benign, pacific religion shall be propagated among all nations. Conclusion:

1. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.”

2. “Pray without ceasing.” (S. Davies, M. A.)

Contention in a community

1. Lust is the makebait in a community. Covetousness, pride, and ambition make men injurious and insolent.

(1) Covetousness maketh us to contend with those that have anything that we covet, as Ahab with Naboth.

(2) Pride is the cockatrice egg that discloseth the fiery flying serpent Proverbs 13:10).

(3) Ambition. Diotrephes’ loving the pre-eminence disturbed the Churches of Asia (3 John 1:10).

(4) Envy. Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen fell out (Genesis 13:7).

2. When evils abound in a place it is good to look after the rise and cause of them. Men engage in a heat, and do not know wherefore: usually lust is at the bottom; the sight of the cause will shame us.

3. Lust is a tyrant that warreth in the soul, and warreth against the soul.

(1) It warreth in the soul; it abuseth your affections, to carry on the rebellion against heaven (Galatians 5:17).

(2) It warreth against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). (T. Manton.)

Lusts the causes of strife

“Wars” and “fightings” are not to be understood literally. St. James is referring to private quarrels and law-suits, social rivalries and factions, and religious controversies. The subject-matter of these disputes and contentions is not indicated because that is not what is denounced. It is not for having differences about this or that, whether rights of property, or posts of honour, or ecclesiastical questions, that St. James rebukes them, but for the rancorous, greedy, and worldly spirit in which their disputes are conducted. Evidently the lust of possession is among the things which produce the contentions. Jewish appetite for wealth is at work among them. “Whence wars, and whence fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures which war in your members?” By a common transposition, St. James, in answering his own question, puts the pleasures which excite and gratify the lusts instead of the lusts themselves, in much the same way as we use “drink” for intemperance, and “gold” for avarice. These lusts for pleasures have their quarters or camp in the members of our body--i.e., in the sensual part of man’s nature. But they are there, not to rest, but to make war, to go after, and seize, and take for a prey that which has roused them from their quietude and set them in motion. There the picture, as drawn by St. James, ends. St. Paul carries it a stage farther (Romans 7:23). St. Paul does the 1 Peter 2:11). In the Phaedo of Plato

(66, 67) there is a beautiful passage which presents some striking coincidences with the words of St. James. “Wars, and factions, and fightings have no other source than the body and its lusts. For it is for the getting of wealth that all our wars arise, and we are compelled to get wealth because of our body, to whose service we are slaves; and in consequence we have no leisure for philosophy because of all these things. And the worst of all is that if we get any leisure from it, and turn to some question, in the midst of our inquiries the body is everywhere coming in, introducing turmoil and confusion, and bewildering us, so that by it we are prevented from seeing the truth. But, indeed, it has been proved to us that if we are ever to have pure knowledge of anything we must get rid of the body, and with the soul by itself must behold things by themselves. Then, it would seem, we shall obtain the wisdom which we desire, and of which we say that we are lovers; when we are dead, as the argument shows, but in this life not. For if it be impossible while we are in the body to have pure knowledge of anything, then of two things one--either knowledge is not to be obtained at all, or after we are dead; for then the soul will be by itself, apart from the body, but before that not. And in this life, it would seem, we shall make the nearest approach to knowledge if we have no communication or fellowship whatever with the body, beyond what necessity compels, and are not filled with its nature, but remain pure from its taint until God Himself shall set us free. And in this way shall we be pure, being delivered from the foolishness of the body, and shall be with other like souls, and shall know of ourselves all that is clear and cloudless, and that is perhaps all one with the truth.” Plato and St. James are entirely agreed in holding that wars and fightings are caused by the lusts that have their seat in the body, and that this condition of fightings without, and lusts within, is quite incompatible with the possession of heavenly wisdom. But there the agreement between them ceases. The conclusion which Plato arrives at is that the philosopher must, so far as is possible, neglect and excommunicate his body, as an intolerable source of corruption, yearning for the time when death shall set him free from the burden of waiting upon this obstacle between his soul and the truth. Plato has no idea that the body may be sanctified here and glorified hereafter; he regards it simply as a necessary evil, which may be minimised by watchfulness, but which can in no way be turned into a blessing. The blessing will come when the body is annihilated by death. St. James, on the contrary, exhorts us to cut ourselves off, not from the body, but from friendship with the world. Even in this life the wisdom that is from above is attainable, and where that has found a home factions and fightings cease. When the passions cease to war those who have hitherto been swayed by their passions will cease to war also. (A. Plummer, D. D.)

Warrior lusts

The word translated “lusts” is used to express the pleasure of the senses, and hence sometimes signifies strong desire for such gratification. In this picturesque sentence, these are represented as warriors spreading themselves through “the members,” seizing the body as the instrument for the accomplishing of their designs and the gaining of their ends. It is the desire for greater territories, larger incomes, more splendour, wider indulgence in physical pleasures, greater gratification of their pride and ambition, which lead kings to war. Every war has begun in sin. It is so in religious circles. The pride of opinion, the love of rule, the enjoyment of more renown for numbers and wealth and influence, have led sects and Churches into all the persecution and so-called religious wars which have disgraced the cause of truth, and discouraged the aspirations of the good, and increased the infidelity of the world. (C. F. Deems, D. D.)

War

But is there nothing to be said in favour of war? There is one thing often said of it--namely, that, in spite of its horror, and folly, and wickedness, it evokes courage, magnanimity, heroism, self-sacrifice. There has been much eloquence expended on this theme; but good Dr. Johnson said all that was necessary on the matter long ago. Boswell writes: “Dr. Johnson laughed at Lord Kames’s opinion that war was a good thing occasionally, as so much valour and virtue were exhibited in it. ‘A fire,’ said the Doctor, ‘might as well be considered a good thing. There are the bravery and address of the firemen in extinguishing it; there is much humanity exerted in saving the lives and properties of the poor sufferers. Yet, after all this, who can say that a fire is a good thing?’” But what is the Christian principle about war? For our religion, if it is good for anything, must be good for everything; it must have an authoritative word on this matter. Murder is not less murder because a man puts on a red coat to do it in; it is not less murder because a thousand go out to do it together. There are no earthly orders which may countermand the commandment of God. In the first two centuries of the Christian Church this was so well understood that Celsus, in his attack upon Christianity, says “that the State received no help in war from the Christians, and that, if all men were to follow their example, the sovereign would be deserted and the world would fall into the hands of the barbarians.” To which Origen answered as follows
“The question is--What would happen if the Romans should be persuaded to adopt the principles of the Christians?… This is my answer--We say that if two of us shall agree on earth as touching anything thatthey shall ask, it shall be done for them by the Father who is in heaven. What, then, are we to expect, if not only a very few should agree, as at present, but the whole empire of Rome? They would pray to the Word, who of old said to the Hebrews, when pursued by the Egyptians, ‘The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.’” What Origen and other great teachers said many Christians heeded, and there were men who refused to enter the army, although the penalty of their refusal was death. The Quaker-like sentiment and principle of the Church was changed when the Church was established and protected by Constantine, and from various causes, into which we need not enter, since the discussion would have a somewhat academic tinge, and we are concerned with a practical question. In the Middle Ages soldiering became more reputable than ever through the rise of the Mohammedan power and the institution of chivalry. And for all practical purposes Christendom is still unchristian so far as war is concerned. That is true in spite of all the understandings about the illegitimacy of certain materials and methods, in spite of all the hospital staff and the nurses, and the other efforts to palliate the horrors of sweeping and scientific murder. (J. A. Hamilton.)

Men’s love of stride

Lord Palmerston, in a short letter to Mr. Cobden, said, “Man is a fighting and quarrelling animal.” (Justin McCarthy.)

Peace

Peace among men is the consequence of peace in men. (Viedebandt.)

Desire

Desires increase with acquisition; every step a man advances brings something within his view which he did not see before, and which, as soon as he sees it he begins to want. Where necessity ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are we supplied with everything that nature can demand than we contrive artificial appetites. (Dr. Johnson,.)

Ye lust and have not

Disappointed lust

1. Lustings are astrally disappointed. God loveth to cross desires when they are inordinate; His hand is straitened when our desires are enlarged.

(1) Sometimes in mercy (Hosea 2:7). Prosperous and successful wickedness encourageth a man to go on in that way; some rubs are an advantage.

(2) Sometimes in judgment, that He may torment men by their own lusts; their desires prove their just torture. The blood heated by intemperance, and the heart enlarged by desire, are both of them sins that bring with them their own punishment, especially when they meet with disappointment. Learn, then, that when the heart is too much set upon anything, it is the ready way to miss it. When you forget to subject your desires to God’s will, you shall understand the sovereignty of it. Be not always troubled when you cannot have your will; you have cause to bless God. It is a mercy when carnal desires are disappointed; say as David (1 Samuel 25:32). It teacheth you what reflections to make upon yourselves in case of disappointment. When we miss any worldly thing that we have desired, say, Have not I lusted after this? Did not I covet it too earnestly? Absalom was the greater curse to David because he loved him too much. Inordinate longings make the affections miscarry.

2. Where there is covetousness there is usually strife, envy, and emulation. Ye lust; ye kill; ye emulate--these hang in a string. As there is a connection and a cognation between virtues and graces--they go hand in hand--so there is a link between sins--they seldom go alone. If a man be a drunkard, he will be a wanton; if he be covetous, he will be envious.

3. It is lust and covetousness that is most apt to trouble neighbourhoods and vicinities (Proverbs 15:27). Covetousness maketh men of such a harsh and sour disposition. Towards God it is idolatry; it robbeth Him of one of the flowers of His crown, the trust of the creature; and it is the bane of human societies. Why are men’s hearts besotted with that which is even the reproach and defamation of their natures?

4. Lust will put men not only upon dishonest endeavours, but unlawful means, to accomplish their ends, killing, and warring, and fighting, etc. Bad means will suit well enough with base ends; they resolve to have it; any means will serve the turn, so they may satisfy their thirst of gain (1 Timothy 6:9).

5. Do wicked men what they can, when God setteth against them their endeavours are frustrated (Psalms 33:10).

6. It is not good to engage in any undertaking without prayer. That no actions must be taken in hand but such as we can commend to God in prayer; such enterprises we must not engage in as we dare not communicate to God in our supplications (Isaiah 29:15). (T. Manton.)

Lusting and murder

If we remember the state of Jewish society, the bands of robber-outlaws, of whom Barabbas was a type, the “four thousand men who were murderers” of Acts 21:38, the bands of zealots and Sicarii who were prominent in the tumults that preceded the final war with Rome, it will not seem so startling that St. James should emphasise his warning by beginning with the words “Ye murder.” In such a state of society murder is often the first thing that a man thinks of as a means to gratify his desires, not, as with us, a last resource when other means have failed. (Dean Plumptre.)

Was the picture true?

There was, perhaps, a grim truth in the picture which St. James draws. It was after the deed was done that the murderers began to quarrel over the division of the spoil, and found themselves as unsatisfied as before, still not able to obtain that on which they had set their hearts, and so plunging into fresh quarrels, ending as they began, in bloodshed. (Dean Plumptre.)

Lusting, yet lacking

There is no sowing in a storm. (J. Trapp.)

Ye have not, because ye ask not

The causes of spiritual destitution

I. THE CAUSE IS SOMETIMES NON-ASKING. There are some blessings that God gives without asking--such as being, faculties, seasons, elements of nature, &c.; others that He gives only for asking--spiritual blessings.

1. What does prayer do?

(1) It effects no alteration in the plan of God.

(2) It cannot inform the Almighty of anything of which tie was before ignorant.

(3) It does not give a claim to the Divine favours.

2. But--

(1) It does fulfil a condition of Divine beneficence.

(2) It does bring the mind into vital contact with its Maker.

(3) It does deepen our sense of dependence upon God.

(4) It does fill the soul with the idea of mediation; for all prayer is “in the name of Christ.”

II. THE CAUSE IS SECRETARIES WRONG ASKING.

1. TO pray insincerely is to pray amiss.

2. Without earnestness.

3. Without faith.

4. Without surrendering our being to God. (D. Thomas.)

Ask and have

Man is a creature abounding in wants, and ever restless, and hence his heart is full of desires. Man is comparable to the sea anemone, with its multitude of tentacles which are always hunting in the water for food; or like certain plants which send out tendrils, seeking after the means of climbing. The poet says, “Man never is, but always to be, blest.” This fact appertains both to the worst and the best of men. In bad men desires corrupt into lusts: they long after that which is selfish, sensual, and consequently evil. In gracious men there are desires also. Their desires are after the best things-things pure and peaceable, laudable and elevating. They desire God’s glory, and hence their desires spring from higher motives than those which inflame the unrenewed mind. Such desires in Christian men are frequently very fervent and forcible; they ought always to be so; and those desires begotten of the Spirit of God stir the renewed nature, exciting and stimulating it, and making the man to groan and to be in anguish until he can attain that which God has taught him to long for. The lusting of the wicked and the holy desiring of the righteous have their own ways of seeking gratification. The lusting of the wicked develops itself in contention; it kills, and desires to have; it fights, and it wars; while, on the other hand, the desire of the righteous, when rightly guided, betakes itself to a far better course for achieving its purpose, for it expresses itself in prayer fervent and importunate. The godly man, when full of desire, asks and receives at the hand of God.

I. THE POVERTY OF LUSTING. “Ye lust, and have not.” Carnal lustings, however strong they may be, do not in many cases obtain that which they seek after. The man longs to be happy, but he is not; he pines to be great, but he grows meaner every day; he aspires after this and after that which he thinks will content him, but he is still unsatisfied; he is like the troubled sea which cannot rest. One way or another his life is disappointment; he labours as in the very fire, but the result is vanity and vexation of spirit. How can it be otherwise? If we sow the wind, must we not reap the whirlwind, and nothing else? Or, if peradventure the strong lustings of an active, talented, persevering man do give him what he seeks after, yet how soon he loses it. The pursuit is toilsome, but the possession is a dream. He sits down to eat, and lo! the feast is snatched away, the cup vanishes when it is at his lip. He wins to lose; he builds, and his sandy foundation slips from under his tower, and it lies in ruins. Or if such men have gifts and power enough to retain that which they have won, yet in another sense they have it not while they have it, for the pleasure which they looked for in it is not there. They pluck the apple, and it turns out to be one of those Dead Sea apples which crumble to ashes in the hand. The man is rich, but God takes away from him the power to enjoy his wealth. By his lustings and his warrings, the licentious man at last obtains the object of his cravings, and after a moment’s gratification, he loathes that which he so passionately lusted for. Thus may it be said of multitudes of the sons of men, “Ye lust, and have not.” Their poverty is set forth in a threefold manner--“Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain”; “Ye have not, because ye ask not”; “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” If the lusters fail, it is not because they did not set to work to gain their ends; for, according to their nature, they used the most practical means within their reach, and used them eagerly, too. Multitudes of men are living for themselves, competing here and warring there, fighting for their own]land with the utmost perseverance. They have little choice as to how they will do it. Conscience is not allowed to interfere in their transactions, but the old advice rings in their ears, “Get money; get money honestly if you can, but by any means get money.” No matter though body and soul be ruined, and others be deluged with misery, fight on, for there is no discharge in this war. If you are to win you must fight; and everything is fair in war. So they muster their forces, they struggle with their fellows, they make the battle of life hotter and hotter, they banish love, and brand tenderness as folly, and yet with all their schemes they obtain not the end of life in any true sense. Well saith James, “Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not.” When men who are greatly set upon their selfish purposes do not succeed, they may possibly hear that the reason of their non-success is “Because ye ask not.” Is, then, success to be achieved by asking? So the text seems to hint, and so the righteous find it. Why doth not this man of intense desires take to asking? The reason is, first, because it is unnatural to the natural man to pray; as well expect him to fly. God-reliance he does not understand; self-reliance is his word, hell is his god, and to his god he looks for success. He is so proud that he reckons himself to be his own providence; his own right hand and his active arm shall get to him the victory. Yet he obtains not. The whole history of mankind shows the failure of evil lustings to obtain their object. For a while the carnal man goes on fighting and warring; but by and by he changes his mind, for he is ill, or frightened. His purpose is the same, but if it cannot be achieved one way he will try another. If he must ask, well, he will ask; he will become religious, and do good to himself in that way. He finds that some religious people prosper in the world, and that even sincere Christians are by no means fools in business; and, therefore, he will try their plan. And now he comes under the third censure of our text. “Ye ask, and receive not.” What is the reason why the man who is the slave of his lusts obtains not his desire, even when he takes to asking? The reason is because his asking is a mere matter of form, his heart is not in his worship. This man’s prayer is asking amiss, because it is entirely for himself. He wants to prosper that he may enjoy himself; he wants to be great simply that he may be admired: his prayer begins and ends with self. Look at the indecency of such a prayer, even if it be sincere. When a man so prays he asks God to be his servant, and gratify his desires; nay, worse than that, he wants God to join him in the service of his lusts. He will gratify his lusts, and God shall come and help him to do it. Such prayer is blasphemous; but a large quantity is offered, and it must be one of the most God-provoking things that heaven ever beholds.

II. How CHRISTIAN CHURCHES MAY SUFFER SPIRITUAL POVERTY, SO that they, too, “desire to have, and cannot obtain.” Of course the Christian seeks higher things than the worldling, else were he not worthy of that name at all. At least professedly his object is to obtain the true riches, and to glorify God in spirit and in truth. Yes, but all Churches do not get what they desire. We have to complain, not here and there, but in many places, of Churches that are nearly asleep and are gradually declining. These Churches “have not,” for no truth is made prevalent through their zeal, no sin is smitten, no holiness promoted; nothing is done by which God is glorified. And what is the reason of it? First, even among professed Christians, there may be the pursuit of desirable things in a wrong method. “Ye fight and war, yet ye have not.” Have not Churches thought to prosper by competing with other Churches? Is it not the design of many to succeed by a finer building, better music, and a cleverer ministry than others? Is it not as much a matter of competition as a shop front and a dressed window are with drapers? Is this the way by which the Kingdom of God is to grow up among us? In some cases there is a measure of bitterness in the rivalry. I bring no railing accusation, and, therefore, say no more than this: God will never bless such means and such a spirit; those who give way to them will desire to have, but never obtain. Meanwhile, what is the reason why they do not have a blessing? The text says, “Because ye ask not”; I am afraid there are Churches which do not ask. Prayer in all forms is too much neglected. But some reply, “There are prayer-meetings, and we do ask for the blessing, and yet it comes not.” Is not the explanation to be found in the other part of the text, “Ye have not, because ye ask amiss”? He who prays without fervency does not pray at all. We cannot commune with God, who is a consuming fire, if there is no fire in our prayers. Many prayers fail of their errand because there is no faith in them. Prayers which are filled with doubt are requests for refusal.

III. THE WEALTH WHICH AWAITS THE USE OF THE RIGHT MEANS, namely, of asking rightly of God.

1. How very small, after all, is this demand which God makes of us. Ask! Why, it is the least thing He can possibly expect of us, and it is no more than we ordinarily require of those who need help from us. We expect a poor man to ask; and if he does not, we lay the blame of his lack upon himself. If God will give for the asking, and we remain poor, who is to blame? Surely there must be in our hearts a lurking enmity to Him; or else, instead of its being an unwelcome necessity, it would be regarded as a great delight.

2. However, whether we like it or not, remember, asking is the rule of the kingdom. “Ask, and ye shall receive.” It is a rule that never will be altered in anybody’s case. Why should it be? What reason can be pleaded why we should be exempted from prayer? What argument can there be why we should be deprived of the privilege and delivered from the necessity of supplication?

3. Moreover, it is clear to even the most shallow thinker that there are some things necessary for the Church of God which we cannot get otherwise than by prayer. You can buy all sorts of ecclesiastical furniture, you can purchase any kind of paint, brass, muslin, blue, scarlet, and fine linen, together with flutes, harps, sackbuts, psalteries, and all kinds of music--you can get these without prayer; in fact, it would be an impertinence to pray about such rubbish; but you cannot get the Holy Ghost without prayer. Neither can you get communion with God without prayer. He that will not pray cannot have communion with God. Yet more, there is no real spiritual communion of the Church with its own members when prayer is suspended. Prayer must be in action, or else those blessings which are vitally essentially to the success of the Church can never come to it. Prayer is the great door of spiritual blessing, and if you close it you shut out the favour.

4. Do you not think that this asking which God requires is a very great privilege? Suppose we were in our spiritual nature full of strong desires, and yet dumb as to the tongue of prayer, methinks it would be one of the direst afflictions that could possibly befall us; we should be terribly maimed and dismembered, and our agony would be overwhelming. Blessed be His name, the Lord ordains a way of utterance, and bids our hearts speak out to Him.

5. We must pray: it seems to me that it ought to be the first thing we ever think of doing when in need.

6. Alas! according to Scripture and observation, and, I grieve to add, according to experience, prayer is often the last thing. God is sought unto when we are driven into a corner and ready to perish. And what a mercy it is that He hears such laggard prayers, and delivers the suppliants out of their troubles.

7. Do you know what great things are to be had for the asking? Have you ever thought of it? Does it not stimulate you to pray fervently? All heaven lies before the grasp of the asking man; all the promises of God are rich and inexhaustible, and their fulfilment is to be had by prayer.

8. I will mention another proof that ought to make us pray, and that is, that if we ask, God will give to us much more than we ask. Abraham asked of God that Ishmael might live before him. He thought, “Surely, this is the promised seed: I cannot expect that Sarah will bear a child in her old age. God has promised me a seed, and surely it must be this child of Hagar. Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!” God granted him that, but He gave him Isaac as well, and all the blessings of the covenant. There is Jacob; he kneels down to pray, and asks the Lord to give him bread to eat and raiment to put on. But what did his God give him? When tie came back to Bethel he had two bands, thousands of sheep and camels, and much wealth. God had heard him and done exceeding abundantly above what he asked. “Well,” say you, “but is that true of New Testament prayers?” Yes, it is so with the New Testament pleaders, whether saints or sinners. They brought a man to Christ sick of the palsy, and asked Him to heal him; and He said, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” He had not asked that, had he? No; but God gives greater things than we ask for. Hear that poor, dying thief’s humble prayer: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” Jesus replies, “To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Petitionless prayers

Suppose that a man takes up his pen and a piece of parchment, and writes on the top of it, “To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty.: the humble petition of So-and-So”; but there he stops. He sits with the pen in his hand for half an hour, but does not add another word, then rises and goes his way. And he repeats this process day after day--beginning a hundred sheets of paper, but putting into them no express request; sometimes, perhaps, scratching down a few sentences which nobody can read, not even himself, but never plainly and deliberately setting down what it is that he desires. Can he wonder that his blank petition and scribbled parchments have no sensible effect on himself nor on any one besides? And has he any right to say, “I wonder what can be the matter. Other people get answers to their petitions, but I am not aware that the slightest notice has ever been taken of one of mine. I am not conscious of having got a single favour, or being a whir the better for all that I have written”? Could you expect it? When did you ever finish a petition? When did you ever despatch and forward one to the feet of Majesty? And so there are many persons who pass their days inditing blank petitions--or rather petitionless forms of prayer. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)

Propriety of prayer

A gentleman of fine social qualities, always ready to make liberal provision for the gratification of his children, a man of science, and a moralist of the strictest school, was sceptical in regard to prayer, thinking it superfluous to ask God for what nature had already furnished ready to hand. His eldest son became a disciple of Christ. The father, while recognising a happy change in the spirit and deportment of the youth, still harped upon his old objection to prayer, as unphilosophical and unnecessary. “I remember,” said the son, “that I once made free use of your pictures, specimens, and instruments for the entertainment of my friends. When you came home you said to me, ‘ All that I have belongs to my children, and I have provided it on purpose for them; still, I think it would be respectful always to ask your father before taking anything.’ And so,” added the son, “although God has provided everything for me, I think it is respectful to ask Him, and to thank Him for what I use.” The sceptic was silent; but he has since admitted that he has never been able to invent an answer to this simple, personal, sensible argument for prayer.

Ye ask amiss

Requisites of prayer

Prayer is the nearest approach that, in our present state, we can make to the Deity. To neglect or shun this duty is to shun all approaches to God.

I. ATTENTION AND FERVENCY are principally requisite to render our prayers acceptable to God and beneficial to ourselves. It is not the service of the lips, it is the homage of the mind which God regards. He sees and approves even the silent devotions of the heart.

II. PERSEVERANCE is another condition upon which depends the success of our prayers.

III. HUMILITY AND SUBMISSION to the Divine will are necessary conditions of our prayers.

1. Humility, because of His infinite greatness and majesty.

2. Submission to His all-wise will, because of our own ignorance.

IV. Our prayers to God ought to be accompanied with A TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in His goodness; a confidence that composes our fears, and sets us above all despondency.

V. INTEGRITY OF HEART, without which we have reason to apprehend that God will be as regardless of our supplications as we have been of His commandments. (G. Carr.)

Conditions of prayer

I. THE PROMISE GIVEN TO PRAYER IS CONDITIONAL, AND NOT ABSOLUTE, AS TOUCHING THE THING WHICH IS PRAYED FOR; and therefore we may fail in gaining an answer to prayer in consequence of praying for that which is wrong in itself, or which would be fraught with danger to its possessor. Prayer is not a power entrusted to us, like that of free will, which we may exert for good or evil, for weal or woe; it must be used for good, either present or ultimate. What we pray for, it must be consistent with the Divine perfections to grant. To pray to a Holy God for the fulfilment of some evil desire, and to suppose that He will grant our petition, is to degrade God in a way which He Himself has denounced--“Thou thoughtest wickedly, that I am even such a one as thyself,” and to make Him “serve with” us in our “sins.” Having seen what we may not pray for, consider what are legitimate subjects for petition. The good things which are given to us by God are either spiritual or temporal; under the former are included our salvation and perfection, and all the means which directly lead to and insure those results--e.g., pardon for sin, strength against temptation, final perseverance; under the latter, “all the blessings of this life.” We will take temporal goods first, and spiritual after, reversing the order of importance. Attached to every prayer for temporal things, then, there must be understood or expressed the clause “as may be most expedient for” us, until we know the will of God concerning the thing we are asking from Him. Spiritual goods differ from the former in two great respects. They must be sought primarily, and prayers for them need not be guarded by any implied or expressed condition.

II. THAT THE STATE OF THE PERSON WHO ASKS A BENEFIT IS A MATTER OF CONSEQUENCE may be learnt by analogy from the influence which it possesses with our fellow-men when prayers are addressed to them. We are much affected by the relation of the petitioner to us in granting a favour. To be in a state of grace, to have the privilege of the adopted child, then, is a ground of acceptance with God; whilst, on the other hand, if the heart is set on sin, and has no covenanted relation with God, however right the thing asked for may be, the prayer may be of no avail. Prayer unites the soul to God, but we cannot conceive of that union, unless there is some likeness between the terms of it, “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” St. Augustine illustrates this truth in the following manner: The fountain, he says, which ceaselessly pours forth its waters will not fill the vessel which has no mouth, or which is inverted, or which is held on one side. In the same way, God is the Fount of all goods, and desires to impart His gifts to all, but we fail to receive them, because our heart is closed against Him, or turned away from Him, or but half-converted towards Him. Whilst the heart is set on earthly possessions, or bent on sin, or has a lingering love for sinful pleasure, it is incapable of receiving and retaining the gifts of God; but to the heart that is whole with Him, He will give out of His fulness.

III. THERE ARE CERTAIN CONDITIONS WHICH OUGHT TO ACCOMPANY THE ACT OF PRAYING, IN ORDER TO ENSURE SUCCESS. Prayer is a momentous action, and must therefore be performed in a becoming manner; and a defect in this respect, though the thing prayed for be right, and the soul that prayed be in a state of grace, may hinder the accomplishment of its petitions.

1. The first of these conditions is faith. “If faith fails,” says St. Augustine, “prayer perishes.” It must be observed, that the faith which should accompany an act of prayer is of a special kind; it does not consist in the acknowledgment of the Unseen, or in the acceptance of revealed truth generally, but has direct reference to the promises of God which concern prayer. Yet it must not be supposed that, in order to pray acceptably, we must always feel quite certain of obtaining our requests; we must feel quite certain that, as far as God is concerned, He has the power to hear and answer prayer, and that He uses it as an instrument of His providence, but that in temporal things, at least, inasmuch as the bestowal of what we ask may not be expedient for us, therefore absolute certainty of gaining it may not be entertained.

2. Another disposition for praying aright, and one which touches so closely on the first as to render its separate treatment a difficulty, is to be found in the exercise of hope. We must not unduly dwell either upon the magnitude of the thing asked, or the unlikelihood of its bestowal, or our unworthiness to receive it, but rather turn to the merits of our Mediator, “in whom,” St. Paul says, “we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him”; and to the Fatherhood of God, as our Lord Himself, in the prayer which He has given us for a model, has directed--that this second disposition for praying acceptably may be elicited and sustained. But this confidence must be flanked by another virtue, to hinder it from excess.

3. Though it be true that “the prayer of the timid does not reach the heavens,” it is also to be remembered that the prayer of the presumptuous only reaches heaven to be beaten back to earth. Confidence must be held in check by lowliness.

4. There is one disposition more which is necessary, if we would secure the force of prayer--perseverance. God promises to answer prayer, but He does not bind Himself to answer it at the time we think best. There are reasons for delay, some doubtless inscrutable, but others which are in some degree within the reach of our comprehension. Delay may be occasioned by the fact that our dispositions need to be ripened before, according to the Divine Providence, an answer to prayer can be granted; or, again, another time may be better for us to receive the benefit for which we have besought God; or, again, some past sin may for a while suspend the Divine favours, or make them more difficult of attainment, as a needful discipline; or the delay may be for the purpose of heightening our sense of the benefit, when granted, and increasing our gratification in the enjoyment of it. Moreover, the struggle itself in perseveringly pressing upon God our petitions, is lucrative in several ways; it lays up store above, where patient faithfulness is not unrewarded; it has a sanctifying effect, for the inner life grows through the exercise of those virtues which prayer calls into operation. A third effect of persevering and finally successful petition is to be found in the witness it bears to the power of prayer--a witness to ourselves in the soul’s secret experience, and, if known, to others also--for, as in seeking anything from one another, it is not in that which is given at once that we find an evidence of the power of our solicitation, but in that which has been again and again refused, and at last is, as it were, almost extorted froth another; so when God grants our requests, after He has long refused to do so, we seem to conquer Him by our entreaties, and thereby the potency of prayer is conspicuously manifested. The conditions of prayer may be summed up in few words--if we turn from sin and seek God, if we turn from earth and seek heaven, if in prayer we exert all our spiritual energies, we shall be heard; and we shall be able from our own experience to bear witness to the power of prayer. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)

How prayer may be rendered unavailing

1. By grieving the Spirit through not feeling our need of His assistance.

2. By lack of reverence.

3. By praying with a fretful and complaining spirit.

4. By thinking more of self them of God.

5. By a want of definiteness.

6. By the absence of earnest desire.

7. By impenitence.

8. By unwillingness to have our prayer answered. We pray for the generous loving Spirit of Christ; then we remember a rival in business, or an enemy who has wronged us--and the spirit of prayer is gone.

9. By being in too great a hurry when we pray. “Fall on your knees, and grow there,” says one who has tested the worth of prayer.

10. By neglecting to maintain a state of prayer. The spirit of prayer, like a silvery stream, must run all through our daily life.

11. Through want of co-operation with God in bringing the answer to our own prayer. You pray for the conversion of sinners. Are you living before them in a way that they may have occasion to glorify God? What have you given for the conversion of the heathen? I once endeavoured to secure five hundred dollars from a man in Boston for the work among the heathen. He told me he would make it a subject of prayer. A few days afterwards I saw him, and he gave me one hundred dollars. Theft same man, a little later, built a residence for seventy-five thousand dollars, and furnished it for one-third as much more. You pray for your city’s welfare. How did you vote? (J. A. M. Chapman, D. D.)

Praying amiss

1. We pray amiss when our ends and aims are not right in prayer. The end is a main circumstance in every action, the purest offspring of the soul.

2. Our ends and aims are wrong in prayer when we ask blessings for the use and encouragement of our lusts. Men sin with reference to the aim of prayer several ways.

(1) When the end is grossly carnal and sinful. Some seek God for their sins, and would engage the Divine blessing upon a revengeful and carnal enterprise; as the thief kindleth his torch that he might steal by at the lamps of the altar.

(2) When men privily seek to gratify their lusts, men look upon God as some great power that must serve their carnal turns; as he came to Christ, “Master, speak to my brother to divide the inheritance” (Luke 12:13). We would have somewhat from God to give to lust; health and long life, that we may live pleasantly; wealth, that we may “fare deliciously every day”; estates, that we raise up our name and family; victory and success, to excuse ourselves from glorifying God by suffering, or to wreak our malice upon the enemies; Church deliverances, out of a spirit of wrath and revenge.

(3) When we pray for blessings with a selfish aim, and not with serious and actual designs of God’s glory, as when a man prayeth for spiritual blessings with a mere respect to his own ease and comfort, as for pardon, heaven, grace, faith, repentance, only that he may escape wrath. This is but a carnal respect to our own good and welfare. God would have us mind our own comfort, but not only. God’s glory is the pure spiritual aim.

3. Prayers framed out of a carnal intention are usually successless. God never undertook to satisfy fleshly desires. He will own no other voice in prayer but that of His own Spirit (Romans 8:27). (T. Manton.)

The missing prayer

Prayers miss--

1. Because they are too selfish.

(1) We set a high value on ourselves, and no dependence upon

God.

(2) Self seeking is the chief prompting principle.

(3) We lack regard for God’s glory and our own good.

(4) We feel not our own need.

2. Because they are too fretful and complaining. Not a grain of praise or thanksgiving.

3. Because they are too indefinite, vague, doubtful, and calculative.

4. Because they are too insincere, too much in a hurry, and irreverent.

5. Because they are too heartless.

(1) The source from which they rise is bad--the heart.

(2) The desire (the very soul of prayer) is worldly. No continuous thought of God.

(3) Soul earnestness is absent. All is cold, lifeless. (J. Harries.)

Prayer

Most Christians are alive to the duty of prayer, and believe most firmly in its power. Yet, in the experience of all, prayer is not prevalent, as it ought. Few but have reason sadly to confess: “We have asked but we have received not.” Where, then, lies the fault? Is it with God? No; God’s ear is never heavy that it cannot hear. His arm is never shortened that it cannot save. The fault lies with ourselves. It is because we have not asked aright that we have asked in vain.

I. THERE MAY BE SOMETHING “AMISS” IN THE SOURCE FROM WHENCE OUR PRAYERS COME. All true prayer must come from the heart. Its own emptiness and want must prompt the cry, else it will not “enter into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth.” Perhaps our hearts are toll, and there is no room for the blessing, which we profess to seek, to enter. Full of worldly desires, delights, and passions. In such a case, vain must our asking be--insulting to the God whom we address.

II. THERE MAY BE SOMETHING “AMISS” IN THE OBJECTS WHICH OUR PRAYERS SEEK. Perhaps we have no definite object in view whatever. We have not inquired as to our wants ere engaging in the exercise. Utter in God’s presence no “vague generalities,” which have been well termed “the death of prayer,” but plead before Him felt, individual want. But granting that we have a definite object in view, that object may be altogether of a selfish nature. It is something pleasing to ourselves we wish--self-honour, self-pleasure, self-gratification. So intently is our mind fixed upon some object on which our heart is set--so entirely are we wrapt up in the attainment of it--that we forget to ask ourselves whether the gratification of our desire may be conducive to our highest well-being, may be in accordance with the will of God.

III. THERE MAY BE SOMETHING “AMISS” IN THE SPIRIT BY WHICH OUR PRAYERS ARE PERVADED, What was said concerning the Israelites with reference to Cannaan may be said of our prayers with reference to the audience chamber of God: “They could not enter in because of unbelief.” In this--the absence of faith--we have the secret of the non-success of the greater number of our petitions. And our faith must be such as to bring us to the mercy-seat pleading again and yet again the self-same request. Our faith must not fail, if at first asking no answer comes, for we “ask amiss” if we ask not perseveringly. (W. R. Inglis.)

The causes of unsuccessful prayer

1. We ask amiss, and consequently without success, when we fail to feel the parental love of God. Your approaches to the mercy-seat have been visits of ceremony, rather than affection; your prayers have been elaborations of language, rather than bursts of strong desire. Cold reserve has taken the place of openhearted confidence; and you have often said only what you thought you ought to feel, instead of saying what you really felt, and asking for what you really wanted. You have treated God as a stranger. You have not confided to Him your secrets. You have not even told Him so much as you have told your father or mother. You have not trusted His mighty love.

2. We ask amiss if, in our prayers, we fail to realise the mediation of Christ. Though children, we are rebels; and there is no rebel so sinful as a rebel-child. We have forfeited the original rights of children, and can approach God no more directly, but only mediately. You close your prayers with the formula, “We ask all these things for Christ’s sake”; but in religion meaning is everything, and what do you mean? Do you truly renounce dependence on yourself, and rely alone on the worthiness of Jesus? Do you make His name your grand argument, and only hope? Does the fact of His mediation have to you the force of a reality? Do you put all your prayers into His censer, that they may be offered as His own?

3. We ask amiss when we ask for wrong things. The heart will ever give a bias to the judgment. What we know depends upon what we are. In our case the heart is wrong; the judgment, therefore, is likely to be wrong; and as a further consequence, we are likely to ask for wrong things. In us there is at once the inexperience of childhood, and the darkness of a perverted nature; and, naturally, the things we wish for are not always the things a loving Father could bestow. In this world of illusions, and from this heart of darkness, we often ask for a temptation, or for a sorrow, or for a curse, when, deceived by its wrong name or fascinating aspect, we think it would be a glorious boon. Where and what should we now have been if all our prayers had been answered? There can be no mistake in the judgment of the “only wise”; no unkindness in “love”; no unfaithfulness in Him whose name is “faithful and true.” What if your prayers had been heard? Agrippina implored the gods that she might live to see her infant Nero an emperor. Emperor he became, and from his imperial throne plotted that mother’s death.

4. We ask amiss, when our prayers are wanting in intensity. “A thing may be good in itself,” remarks a Puritan father, “yet not well done. A man may sin in doing a good thing, but not in doing well. When Cicero was asked which oration of Demosthenes he thought best, he said, ‘the longest.’ But if the question should be, which of prayers are the best, the answer then must be ‘the strongest.’ Therefore, let all young converts who are apt to think more than is meet of their own enlargements, endeavour to turn their length into strength, and remember the wide difference between the gift and the grace of prayer.”

5. We “ask amiss” if we are satisfied with devoting hurried and infrequent periods of time to the exercise of prayer. True, prayer consists not in telling off a long rosary of solemn words; and that length which is simply the result of formal routine, or verbal fluency, is to be condemned without reserve; but this does not render it the less important that we should have seasons, long and frequent as circumstances will allow, which shall be regarded as sacred to prayer; stated seasons, when, like the prophet in his cave, or the priest in the holiest place, the soul is to be alone with God, to speak and to be spoken to, to rise above the life of the senses, and thus to cultivate a sacred intimacy with Him who is invisible. Many a man, if he dared to give his thoughts expression, would say, “I have so much to do that I really have no time for prayer.” Luther thought differently when he said, “I have so much to do that I find I cannot get on without three hours a day of praying.” No time for prayer! But the scholar must have time to read his books, and the sailor to consult his compass. Every man must have time for his own vocation; and your vocation is prayer. As a man lives by his labour, a Christian lives by his faith, and prayer is but the act by which faith draws the spirit’s supplies of life from God, the Source.

6. You should also be reminded that the dominion of some particular sin may often rob your prayers of their efficacy.

7. “We ask amiss” when we ask for a blessing on some sinful deed, or on something which we do for a sinful end. A. Roman robber is said thus to have prayed to the goddess Laverna: “Fair Laverna, give me a prosperous robbery, a rich prey, and a secret escape. Let me become rich by fraud, and still be accounted religious” (Horace, Eph. I., Lib. 1:16, 60). The Pharisees, those Brahmins of ancient Israel, “devoured widows’ houses,” and yet, “for a pretence, made long prayers,” no doubt trying to believe that prayer sanctified their fraud, and had a virtue to secure its prosperity. Many a man, who wears a worthier name than they, will pray, when, if he had but courage to analyse his prayer, he would find that he is virtually asking God’s blessing on some sin. He will pray when he sets out on some enterprise which must prove a temptation to himself, or which tends to the injury of others; he will pray as he begins some act of strife or litigation; he will pray when he is about to engage in some commercial dishonesties, made “respectable” by custom, or disguised by some gentle name; and, while he cannot afford, or will not dare to consider the question of their Christian lawfulness, he prays that God may bless him in his deed; and the desire of his heart is that he may still be” counted religious.” But even though the thing we seek be intrinsically good, if our motive in seeking it be doubtful, our prayers will be unavailing. Not only must we know what we ask, but why we ask it. You may do right to ask for health; to ask for the powers of industrial efficiency; to ask for social influence; to ask God to “speed the plough” of worldly toil; for there is no evil inherent in the nature of these things; but if you ask simply with a view to purposes of pride or pleasure, God will be silent. (C. Stanford, D. D.)

Hindrances to the efficacy of social prayer

1. The comparatively small numbers who sustain it may help to account for the comparatively slight and partial results of social prayer. As every power must be stronger in its collective than in its separate existence, in its aggregate than in its individuality--and will have augmented force in the degree of its increasing accumulation--efficacious as is solitary prayer, social prayer has a heightened efficacy; and if “the prayer of one righteous man avail much,” the prayers of many avail more. When, therefore, we “forsake the assembling of ourselves together”--when we leave them to be sustained by a limited and variable attendance--what wonder is it if we find that in proportion as they lose in social force, they die in spiritual effect? There is yet another affecting consideration. When all the inhabitants of a certain district are summoned for the purpose of sending a petition to the legislature, but only a few respond; the inference is, that, whatever may be the feeling of a few individuals, the community itself is indifferent to that petition, and it is, therefore, set aside as a thing of utter insignificance. On the same principle, when a Church is summoned by its executive ministry to weekly meetings for prayer, and only a few members attend, is it not a fair inference that the Church itself is indifferent to those prayers? They may, indeed, be earnestly presented by individuals, but the whole society is not identified with their presentation; and if God dealt with us, as man deals with man, we could not feel surprised if such prayers of the Church were rather regarded as an assertion of its indifference, than an expression of its strong desire.

2. Want of agreement in spirit, on the part of those who meet to pray, may sometimes hinder the success of social prayer. If, while one prays aloud, the rest are prayerless; if, instead of pouring their desires along the channel of his language, they are the listless victims of unsettled and dispersive thought, before God there is no prayer meeting, but only one solitary prayer. Let every man, if possible, sign every petition--sign it with his individual mind--and make it his own, or else let all the non-consenting multitude separate, each man to “mourn apart,” and to offer his sacrifice in solitude.

3. Much of what frequently enters into the exercise of social prayer, is no prayer at all, and is therefore followed by no definite results. Shall the Church only be in earnest when in sorrow, and do we require persecution to teach us how to pray?

4. Another cause of ineffectiveness may be the frequent want of suitable gifts on the part of those who lead the devotion. When alone with God, the language of silence, or of confused, broken, almost silent speech, tell all that need to he told; but it is different in social prayer; there, the “gift of utterance” is required, and the prayer utterer, like the preacher, must; find fit words, and seek the gift no less than the grace of prayer. (C. Stanford, D. D.)

“Ye ask, and receive not”

The words are obviously written as in answer to an implied objection: “Not ask,” a man might say; “Come and listen to our prayers; no one can accuse us of neglecting our devotions.” Incredible as it might seem that men plundering and murdering, as the previous verses represent them, should have held such language, or been in any sense men who prayed, the history of Christendom presents but too many instances of like anomalies. Cornish wreckers going from church to their accursed work, Italian brigands propitiating their patron saint before attacking a company of travellers, slave-traders, such as John Newton once was, recording piously God’s blessing on their traffic of the year; these may serve to show how soon conscience may be seared, and its warning voice come to give but an uncertain sound. (Dean Plumptre.)

The Dead-prayer Office

What becomes of all the unanswered letters? Many of them find their way to the Deadletter Office. Some never reach the person for whom they are intended because the postage is not paid; some fail because they are directed to the wrong office; some cannot be sent because the address is illegible; and some because the matter enclosed is not such as may be sent by post. All these are examined at different offices, and finally they fall into the Dead-letter Office. Some of the reasons assigned why letters go to the Dead-letter Office will hold good of unanswered prayers. But no really valuable prayer with a heart’s me-sage in it ever fails of its destination or goes unanswered.

Wrong praying

Sometimes we ask for things which would be very hurtful to others, though they might be gain to us. A poor boy needed a sovereign to enter a mechanical institute, where he would have great advantages. He only heard of it a short while before the opening of the term, and he did not see how he could get the money in time. His father could not afford give it to him; he tried in vain to raise it. He was too proud to ask a friend for it; so he prayed God that he might somewhere find the sovereign he needed. He did not find it. Now, was there anything wrong in the prayer? At first sight it looks simple and harmless enough, doesn’t it? But think for a moment. Would not some one have to lose the sovereign before the lad could find it? That puts the matter in a very different light. This poor lad was asking God to take the money out of some one’s pocket and put it into his. But it surely is not fair to ask God to help us at the expense of other people. (J. Themore)

Little sins

We may be asking of God, and yet, at the same time, clinging to some one sin--perhaps some very small thing in itself, as we call it, but enough to interrupt the current between us and God. It does not take such a very large thing to interrupt the electric current. A whole train was stopped not long ago because some small insect had got where it ought not to have been. It stopped the electric current that turned a certain disc to show the engineer whether or not he was to go on. That little insect stopped the current and the whole thing went wrong; the engineer stopped the train, which was not necessary at all. So it does not take a very obviously visible sin to break the communication between God and us. (Theodore Monod.)

Thoughtful prayer

The father of Sir Philip Sidney enjoined upon his son, when he went to school, never to neglect “thoughtful prayer.” It was golden advice, and doubtless his faithful obedience to the precept helped to make Philip Sidney the peerless flower of knighthood and the stainless man that he was--a man for whom, for months after his death, every gentleman in England wore mourning. (Baxendale’s Anecdotes.)

Aimless praying

I think that most men, when they pray, are like an archer who shoots in the dark. Some one tells him that if he will strike the target placed in a certain hole, he shall have such a reward; and he lets fly his arrow into the hole, without being able to see the object which he wishes to hit, hoping that he may hit it and that the reward will be forthcoming. And we take our desires as arrows, and, without seeing any target, fire, and fire, and fire, till our quiver is empty, hoping that we may hit something, and that some benefit may revert to us many men pray, and pray, and pray, till they are tired of praying, without any perceptible result, and then say, “It is of no use; it is fantasy and folly.” Some men pray, not because they think they will hit anything, but because it makes them feel better. Very few men pray intelligently. (H. W. Beecher.)

Foolish prayers unanswered

One of AEsop’s fables tells how a herdsman who had lost a calf out of his grounds sent to seek it everywhere, but net finding it betook himself to prayer. “Great Jupiter,” said he, “if thou wilt show me the thief that has stolen my calf I will sacrifice a kid to thee.” The prayer was scarcely uttered when the thief stood before him--it was a lion. The poor herdsman was terrified, and his discovery drove him again to prayer. “I have not forgotten my vow, O Jupiter,” he said, “but now that thou hast shown me the thief, I will make the kid a bull if thou wilt take him away again.” The moral of the fable is that the fulfilment of our wishes might often prove our ruin. Our ignorance often betrays us into errors which would be fatal if our prayers were granted. It is in kindness to us that they are refused.

The friendship of the world is enmity with God

The friendship of the world enmity with God

I. WHAT WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD.

1. In what sense the word “world” is to be taken

(1) “The world” is often put to signify the wicked men of the world, whether unbelievers or believers, of evil and profligate lives (1 Corinthians 11:32).

(2) It is sometimes put to signify the vicious actions and customs of the Romans 12:2; James 1:27; Titus 2:12; 2 Peter 2:20).

(3) It is likewise used to signify the things of the world and the enjoyment of them, viz., the riches, honours, and pleasures of it, and, in one word, ever)thing belonging to it which men are apt to be pleased with Matthew 16:26; Galatians 6:14). It is this that is chiefly intended here.

2. What degree of friendship with the things of the world is here condemned.

(1) When we love them more than we do God, our Saviour, religion, and our souls, or indeed with any degree of nearness or equality to them.

(2) When we love them more (though vastly short of God, our Saviour, our souls, our religion, and the spiritual rewards of it, if such a thing could possibly be supposed) than they in themselves really deserve to be beloved, and for other ends and purposes than God has designed them for; when we love them as our own, as bringing mighty delights with them, as being certain, permanent, durable goods.

II. SOME MARKS OR SIGNS BY WHICH WE MAY CERTAINLY KNOW’ WHETHER WE ARE SUCH FRIENDS OF THE WORLD AS ST. JAMES CONDEMNS.

If, therefore, we find our thoughts and affections chiefly taken up with the things of this world; if the main bent of all our studies and endeavours tends this way; if for the sake of these things we attempt such difficulties, run such hazards, as we would not for the sake of anything else whatsoever, not even for God’s and our own soul’s sake, venture upon; if our hearts are rather set upon making ourselves or our children rich and great than wise and good; if we suffer ourselves to give way in the cause of God and religion, and let this man’s greatness and the other man’s wealth, this secular inconvenience and that consideration of worldly gain, keep us from doing our duty or frighten us from opposing wickedness--if this, or anything like this, be our case, there is no room left to dispute what principle we are governed by, but the world, which so plainly shows its authority over us, must have us.

III. FOR WHAT REASONS SUCH A FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD MUST NEEDS BE ENMITY WITH GOD.

1. You cannot but see how unreasonable, ill-proportioned, and unjust a love this is. It robs God; prefers the creature to the Creator, shadows to substances, &c. It reflects upon God’s honour and disparages His wisdom by perverting the designs of it.

2. You cannot but see how vastly it is below the nature and dignity of man, who was made and is fitted for much nobler enjoyments.

3. You cannot but see how directly contrary and repugnant this is to the very nature and design of the Christian religion; to the example of our blessed Saviour, who declared both in word and deed that He was not of the world; to our own constant professions of being subjects of a kingdom that is not of this world; to the great end of our Lord’s coming, which was to save us from this evil world, to chase us out of it, and to make us a peculiar people to Himself, that should not mind earthly things; to His most plain and frequent commands, &c.

4. You cannot but see how plainly this tends to wear away and utterly extirpate all sense and regard of God and religion out of our minds. (Wm. Dawes, D. D.)

Worldliness

1. Worldliness in Christians is spiritual adultery. It dissolves the spiritual marriage between God and the soul. To let the world share with God is an evil, but to prefer the world before God is an impiety.

2. Women have special need to take heed of worldly pleasures and lusts: “You adulterers and adulteresses.”

3. To seek the friendship of the world is the ready way to be God’s enemy. God and the world are contrary -” tie is all good, and the world lieth in wickedness; and they command contrary things. The world saith, “Slack no opportunity of gain and pleasure; if you will be so peevish as to stand nicely upon conscience, you will do nothing but draw trouble upon yourselves.” Now, God saith, “Deny yourself; take up your cross; renounce the world.” Well, now, you see the enmity between God and the world.

(1) Think of it seriously when you are about to mingle with earthly comforts and delights, and can neglect God for a little carnal conveniency and satisfaction; this is to be an enemy to God, and can I make good my part against Him? He is almighty, and can crush you (Ezekiel 22:14). And He is a terrible enemy “when He whetteth His glittering sword” Deuteronomy 32:41). Nay, if none of all this were to be feared, the very estrangement from God is punishment enough to itself.

(2) Learn how odious worldliness is; it is direct enmity to God, because it is carried on under sly pretences. Of all sins this seemeth most plausible. (T. Manton.)

The world or God

Man is a creature perpetually balancing himself between the impulses of hate and love. In the affections of the soul no man liveth to himself. We must go beyond ourselves for information, for inspiration, for enjoyment. Likes occasion dislikes, and between these two poles all mankind dwell. When desire is normal it centres in God, and the soul comes into harmony with the universe,. When we love the Creator supremely, we must receive delight from every part of the creation in the degree its Lord designed. The love of God is inclusive of the love of all that is good. Instead of narrowing, it expands infinitely our capacity of happiness. It awakens the dullest soul to a consciousness of the beautiful and the sublime in nature. It sanctions with the loftiest motives the pursuit of knowledge, it pronounces a blessing even on those lesser gifts which minister to the gratification of bodily appetite. All these contribute to his pleasure whose chief delight is in the Maker of all. Godliness has not only the promise of the world that now is, it has whatever is excellent in that world. Lovely as this earth may appear to the believer, his controlling impulse is not love of the world, but love of God. If, on the other hand, our desires turn away from the great Father, they must rest on something He has made. It may be a person, it may be wealth, art, pleasure, fame; in any case the result is the same. We have wrecked the universal order; we have assailed the symmetry and splendour of the cosmos. We have turned things upside down. We have put the less in the place of the greater. We have deified the material and dethroned the eternal. Such an affection is in its essence exclusive and intolerant. We may love God and enjoy all else, but the converse of the proposition is never true; the friendship of the world is enmity with God. We all must love; the only question is, Shall our affections ennoble, bless, glorify the soul? or shall they isolate, degrade, blast it for ever? Shall this world or shall the Almighty demand our highest regard? In our senses we can make but one response. Our real difficulty is with the perilous fascination that is an attribute of carnality. He who sets his heart on things temporal, who rests his chief happiness here, who feels he would give up everything rather than the pleasures of sense, loves the world and hates God. In particular, we ought not to put an extravagant estimate on things of the earth. The chief danger of living to a moral intelligence lies in unconsciously magnifying the importance of temporalities. We cannot see how we can get along without these imposing advantages. Health lies piled up around us. Success flits like a vision ahead. We easily come to believe that life devoid of these is not worth the living. It is always natural to exaggerate the worth of agencies that we have found efficient. It is too often taken for granted that with each stroke of fortune there is an increase of happiness, with each promotion in office an increment of comfort, with each addition to the income a further escape from care. There are millions who believe in all sincerity that if they can only get along in the world pleasure is assured, reputation will come as a matter of course, popularity will drop like ripe fruit, honour rise like a growing plant; even the service of God will be rendered easier and more effective. Whether such attain their purposes or not, their desires have overflowed the banks and threaten destruction. The world is toned out of all reason and justice. God is forgotten, even despised, in the comparison. We must guard against immoderate exertion to obtain worldly good. It is folly for one to shatter health to gather gold. It is miserable infatuation for one to destroy his mind to retain a place of endless perplexities. Above all, it is appalling unwisdom for one to fill his soul with remorse that he may cram his safe with securities. Whoever takes or would take success on such terms is as one giving dollars in exchange for pennies, as one trading off white, flashing, flawless diamonds for pebbles by the roadside. To what shall we compare his foolishness? Like the toys that amuse children for an hour and are then flung aside spoiled, broken, insipid, joyless, such are most of the ambitions of men. Too often we resemble those who should erect conservatories to raise one flower, or support great stables to speed a horse for a few seconds, or exhibit a prodigal hospitality to secure a single influential friend, or collect costly pictures to afford entertainment for an hour, or circumnavigate the earth to supply matter for a few conversations, or run for Congress to be noticed in the papers, or import extravagant dresses for a three-line description in a fashion journal. In the name of all that is rational, why this mighty labour for so mean a prize? Why this incessant, immense, incredible work that is done under the sun, which, though a man may labour to seek it out, he shall not be able? Beware of overrating the value of temporal good. There are some things money cannot buy. In all the shops of earth you will find no counter over which money may be exchanged for bodily health, or mental capacity, or peace of soul, or lost time, or neglected opportunities. After all the praise of all the ages, what can this dearly-prized gold buy but a bed to sleep in, a suit to wear, a plateful to eat? We are not to deplore unreasonably its loss. The world is rapidly slipping from us, or we are steadily, swiftly fading from it. No matter how much we have here, we cannot retain it long. Think of yourself, shorn of wealth, deprived of friends, failing in health, what would you have left? If we do not stand ever ready to sacrifice money for the relief of suffering, for the purposes of benevolence, we love it more than God. If, when bankruptcy comes, life sinks into sullenness, envy, bitterness, we loved luxury more than the Lord of all. If death alarms, if the only consolation is the throwing back a lingering, despairing look on pleasures for ever past; if the principal torment is the anticipation of a mysterious future, then, too, the friendship of the world has wrought the enmity of God. Never was friendship more injudicious, never was hostility more unjust. No man can exhibit greater folly than he who, to please and enjoy this fading earth, forgets, affronts, defies the Lord of heaven. The world is insufficient, unsubstantial, deceptive, evanescent. God is infinite, omnipotent, eternal, able to bestow on man fulness of knowledge and perfection of happiness, granting us in His light to see light, and bidding us draw with joy out of the wells of salvation. “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Every voice in the universe calls upon us to direct love aright. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and all the world we should have will be added. Make the contrary choice, and the only issue can be disaster, defeat, and the horror of a great darkness. Who will die for ever for the friendship of this poor world? (S. S. Roche.)

Worldly friendship enmity to God

I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN BEING A FRIEND OF THE WORLD. To be a friend of the world, we should be inclined to think, at first view, would be rather estimable than otherwise. Ought not every Christian to be a friend to his fellow-man? Should we not cultivate dispositions of love, benevolence, and kindness towards all? Yes. But to be a friend of the world, in the sense of the text, is totally different from this. It implies--

1. Love. If you love the world, you are, in the sight of God, the friends of the world. Sinners love those who, like themselves, are destitute of the grace of God in the heart.

2. Association. Friends consort together; they are frequently found in each other’s company; not merely because duty leads them these, or business calls them, but because inclination draws them towards one another.

3. Conformity. Friends conform to each other. There is a mutual forbearance with each other’s inclinations, rules, and customs.

4. Assimilation. Friends resemble each other in the selection of those things most likely to contribute to their comfort and happiness.

II. CONFIRM THE STATEMENT MADE IN THE TEXT: he is the enemy of God.

1. This is an awful fact; and in illustration of it, we remark, that such a man is--

(1) An enemy to the law of God. Nothing can more fully prove an individual to be an enemy, than his systematic attempts to set at nought those precepts and injunctions which he is aware that it is his duty as well as his privilege to obey (Rom 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Exodus 23:2).

(2) An enemy to the grace of God. He refuses to yield to the striving of the Holy Spirit, and strengthens the principles of depravity in his nature, and plunges still deeper into the abyss of sin and guilt.

(3) An enemy to the will of God. He is continually endeavouring to accomplish his own gratification in those things which the Judge of all the earth has prohibited.

(4) An enemy to the cause of God. By this is meant the work which Jehovah is carrying on throughout the world for the salvation of all mankind; the means which He has adopted, and the plans which He has set forth, for the rescue of immortal souls; thus bringing them from the galling yoke of Satan into the liberty and privileges of the gospel.

(5) An enemy to the people of God. It is gratifying to the wicked to throw obstacles in their path to the kingdom of heaven; and, if possible, to turn them altogether out of the way of salvation.

2. What is implied in being an enemy of God.

(1) The character is at once dishonourable and disgraceful. Such a person is at variance with all goodness, excellence, and truth; all that angels admire, extol, and love; all that excites joy, triumph, and endless gratitude in the breast of redeemed spirits, who “circle His throne rejoicing.”

(2) The enemy of God is guilty of the foulest ingratitude. Is not the Lord Jehovah our best friend, constantly loading us with benefits?

(3) The enemy of God is miserable. The deepest despair of the lost soul arises from being for ever excluded from God; and though the wicked experience not the anguish of the damned, it is because their probationary state is not yet terminated, and they are still in a world where mercy triumphs, and where vengeance is not speedily executed. (R. Treffry.)

The world’s friends, and the friends of God

The question sounds harsh on the ears, and wounds the feelings of many who hear it. And yet it comes from that same blessed One who tells us, “God so loved the world,” &c. It must be love, the perfect love in its free outflowing, the love which seeks and works out the whole good of its objects, Divine love itself, which appeals to our own conscience: “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” A question of this form must require an affirmative reply; and the next words supply it. But do our heart and conscience give that expected answer? First, what is this “world,” which a friend of God may not love? We are sure it cannot be simply the fair creation which Himself pronounced to be very good. And we are equally sure it cannot be simply the social relationships in which we stand. The bonds of family life, the ties of friendship, the claims of human society, springing from His fatherly love, are redeemed in Jesus Christ, are sanctified by His Spirit, and are constantly upheld by His Word and providence. If in any sense these human relationships come under the language of the text, it must be in some faulty and perverse reference in which we have learned to regard them. Now, this false view of things about us is noticed in the expressions used in this chapter. “The lusts that war in your members” “Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” And the strong, and, as we should say, the opprobious name used in this text, points to the same false view and false use of the objects and relationships by which we are surrounded. St. John, in his first Epistle, speaks in very similar language (1 John 2:15-16).

1. “The lust of the flesh”; when our ruling motive in the use of these things is to gratify the appetites and passions of the body, not to supply its necessities, not to keep it in health, and to fit it for its proper work. And not only bodily passions or desires. When we remember how the flesh is opposed to the spirit in the New Testament, we see that the word includes in it very much at least of the evil which St. Paul ascribes to the soul--the strong active desires of our nature so far as they are corrupt.

2. Again; the world in us is partly “the lust of the eye.” It may be asked why this one of the bodily senses is singled out for separate mention. And, if the answer is sought in our own self-questionings, the question is wisely asked, and will find its answer more and more constantly. For who can estimate the power of the eye to receive pure and healthy impressions of truth and love, of gentleness and meekness, of self-denying simplicity, and of heaven-born purity?

3. Once more; the world in us is partly “the pride of life”--the pride of this world’s existence, as the heart fastens upon outward show of visible and tangible objects, wealth, respect and homage from without, reputation, or whatever else it may be, as far as these exalt oneself above another, and consequently in some sense distinguish and separate men by these outward distinctions. This world-worship may assume an unselfish character. The process may be pushed forward for others, not for ourselves. But still it is a world which no friend of God may love, whether in himself or in another. So St. John’s description is realised not only within us, but without us, in the outward world itself. Are there not many objects around us, and many arrangements of things whose very purpose and almost only effect is to foster those sinful propensities; schemes carefully devised for this very end; some in a more refined manner; some more coarsely; the former only the falser for their apparent refinement; the latter repulsive at first sight or embrace, gradually habituating the body and the soul to the very coarseness of their vice? But view these arrangements and fashions of things in their most refined outward form; shed over them the lustre which the most refined art can supply; give them the outline of beauty, the harmony of colour and of sound, sweetness of melody, gracefulness and life of graceful movement, the charm of sympathy in pleasure, and the responsive enjoyment of friendship or of love. And is it to feed any one of these three, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life? Or, in St. James’s words, do you ask for them that you may consume them on your own desires? Then what have you done? You have taken fragments of God’s beautiful world, elements of His beautiful order; you have misshaped and miscombined them, though in forms beautifully false; you have expelled Him from the work of your own skill and taste; and you have made a world, the friendship of which is ruin to yourself and enmity with Him. But we must go a step further in testing the true and the forbidden use of human art. Let us take the case where the purpose is an intellectual gratification. When form and colour and sound are results of pure and simple intellectual taste, and occasions of pure and simple intellectual enjoyment, is this a world of which we may be friends? The question almost answers itself! If we make a world of art for ourselves, or a world of intelligent thought and speculation, or accept the creation of some other more accomplished than ourselves, is it really a new world? or is it truly and honestly a part of God’s world or God’s order? Where is His place in it? Is He acknowledged or expelled? Nay, is He, after all, the centre and life of that world? Do all its parts and all its subordinate order point directly and tend to Him? I do not ask if we are at every moment consciously realising His presence in it. But does it tend to bring us to Him, and to reveal Him to us? This right tendency may be more or less direct or indirect. But it must exist, it must be an essential element, in true intellectual exercise. But what of the more common enjoyment of natural beauty, enjoyment which is open even to uninstructed and uncultivated minds? Here, too, is the same distinction. Men speak of looking up from nature to nature’s God. It may be a true expression: it may be only a mask. The passive enjoyment of natural beauty is not looking up to God at all: it is personal gratification, perhaps of the body, perhaps of the soul. This passive enjoyment, when rightly used and controlled and directed, may be the first step of a real ascent from nature to nature’s God. But who and what is the God to whom we thus ascend? Is He infinite greatness, and skill immeasurable by us, acting in ways so various and so beautiful that we are lost in the contemplation? Is He untold goodness whose love to His creatures shine through every one of the natural beauties which we admire and love? And is this all? I fear our friendship of this world is enmity with God. The blind sense of immeasurable greatness leads only to idolatry, to worship of visible or invisible creatures, or of the thoughts of our own hearts. The blind sense of untold goodness takes away the thought of sin, the consciousness of warfare against God, and wraps us up in weak and godless sentiment. Our God in such case is at the very best some ancient Father of gods and men, or some Hindoo abstraction of the Supreme; or even, perhaps, the deification of some form of natural beauty, or some image of our own hearts. It may seem that we have dwelt too much on the negative side of this great Christian principle. But, surely, the direct positive principle has not been wanting. Our safety is this. “The Word of God abideth in us.” That Word of God is Jesus Christ Himself; Jesus Christ revealing Himself, revealing the Father, working by His Spirit. Enthrone Him in your heart. Present yourself to Him a Jiving sacrifice, body, soul, and spirit, and you are safe. For you will find Him everywhere, in the world without, in the world within. Friendship and love, art and science and nature, all will discover Him when once you have found Him in yourself, and will bind you to Him more and more closely. And He will shed upon them the pure and gentle light of His own love, which will save you from the false friendship of the world, will cheer you under all its disappointments and deceits, and lead you through this world to another world, where all objects of Jove and friendship are pure as tie is pure, and Himself is visibly enthroned above them all. (J. F. Fenn, M. A.)

Friendship with the world

I. THE WORLD, THE FRIENDSHIP OF WHICH IS COURTED BY TREACHEROUS AND LUKEWARM CHRISTIANS.

II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THAT UNSANCTIFIED FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD WHICH IS CONDEMNED IN THE TEXT MANIFESTS ITSELF. And here we must guard, both on the right hand and on the left. To keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” we are not to go out of the world. Let it be also understood that this friendship with the world is not to be avoided by surliness of manners; not by indifference to the good opinion of the world itself. We are to “please all men”; only we are to remember to do it “for their good to edification.” The culpable courting of the world’s friendship here condemned manifests itself--

1. In being unwilling to encounter reproach and difficulty for Christ’s sake.

2. In hiding our opinions, and suffering men to go on in error and spiritual danger, that we may keep up their society.

3. In preferring some interest, some honour, to adherence to conscience.

4. In such obsequiousness to the world’s maxims and principles as to lead to at least doubtful compliances,

III. THE AGGRAVATION OF THE CRIME CHARGED. Here these friendships with the world which betray Christ are marked by two opprobrious characters.

1. Spiritual adultery. This implies abnegation of God.

2. Enmity to God. The Bible becomes dull; prayer becomes irksome; and final apostasy is often the sad consequence of worldly compliances.

IV. THAT MOST EXCELLENT WAY WHICH THE APOSTLE’S DENUNCIATION SUGGESTS. He would have us decide. The benefits of decision are numerous and great.

1. It is ordinarily attended with less difficulty than a vacillating and hesitating habit.

2. It is a noble object to aspire to fidelity to God.

3. There is an interesting reciprocation. If we are God’s people, He is our God; and we have everything to expect from Him.

4. The real pleasure which decision opens are many and great. The conscience is at rest; we have unbounded confidence towards God; and the unclouded prospect of heaven is opened before us.

5. The comforting sense of acting according to our real circumstances as responsible dying men, men who are to be judged. (R. Watson.)

The contrariety betwixt the world and God

1. In the repugnancy of their natures. God is by His nature, pure, holy, undefiled, without contagion of sin, and without permission of any evil; but the world is altogether wicked, defiled with sin, full of all contagion, and deadly poison of iniquity.

2. As their natures are contrary, so are their precepts contrary. God commandeth mercy, liberality, pity, compassion; the world persuadeth cruelty, covetousness, hardness of heart, violence. God commandeth holiness to be fruitful in all good works, to His glory, and to increase therein to ripeness, and a full measure in Jesus Christ. But the world moveth us to filthy conversation, to defile ourselves with carnal lusts and all ungodliness.

3. As their precepts are contrary, so are the qualities of them which love the one and the other contrary. The lovers of God must be led by the Spirit of God, and bring forth the fruits thereof, as love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, but the servants and lovers of the world are possessed with cruelty, mercilessness, wrath. The lovers of God are pure, unrebukable, blameless before Him in love, serving Him in spirit and in truth, but the servants of the world are corrupt, deceitful from the womb, defiled with sin, flattering God with their mouth, and dissembling with Him in their double tongue.

4. Finally, the very love itself is in quality contrary. For the love of God is pure, chaste, holy, spiritual, but the love of the world is impure, unclean, profane, and sensual; wherefore no man can love God and the world. (R. Turnbull.)

The friendship of the world--enmity with God

Are we God’s people? Let us then realise the closeness and sacredness of our relation to Him. He will not allow any other being or object to share along with Him the throne of the heart, but resents every attempt and suggestion of the kind. And forget not that the world is a foreign and hostile power. Friendship with it is enmity with Him. The two are irreconcilable. Many try to please both, and fancy themselves successful. But they are grievously mistaken, for every step in its direction carries them so far away from Him, and all submission to the one is rebellion against the other. Let Christians beware of its influence, for it is stealthy and deceitful. The best defence and preservative is to have the heart filled to overflowing with the love of God--so shall the evil spirit not find the house empty, but full, and be unableto effect an entrance. Are some of you not God’s people? See how you may be admitted into His friendship; yea, how you may have Him, your Maker, as your husband. Surely it were a blessed thing to be thus united to one so great and gracious--one who can supply our every want, and deliver us from every evil--one who can be infinitely more to us than the nearest and dearest of earthly relatives, His grace alone can draw us into and fix us in this state of spiritual wedlock. And how are any made its subjects? It is only in the way of being abased, emptied of our own self-sufficiency, divested of all fancied merit, and laid at the feet of Jesus. (John Adam.)

Drawn to the world

A weeping-willow stood by the side of a pond, and, in the direction of that pond, it hung out its pensive-looking branches. An attempt was made to give a different direction to these branches. The attempt was useless: where the water lay, thither the boughs would turn. However, an expedient presented itself. A large pond was dug on the other side of the tree; and, as soon as the greater quantity of water was found there, the tree, of its own accord, bent its branches in that direction. What a clear illustration of the laws which govern the human heart! It turns to the water--the poisoned waters of sin perhaps, but the only streams with which it is acquainted. (New Cyclopaedia of Illustrations.)

Dark heavenward

When the moon shines brightest towards the earth, it is dark heavenward; and on the contrary, when it appears not, it is nearest the sun and clearest toward heaven. (Archbishop Leighton.)

The world

The world! the world! ‘tis all title page! there’s no contents. The world! it all depends on a foolish fancy! The world! it is all deceit and lies. The world! it is all vexation--in getting, in keeping, in losing it; and whether we get or lose, we are still dissatisfied. The world! a very little cross will destroy all its comforts. The world! ‘tis only a tedious repetition of the same things. The world! will yield us no support or consolation when we most want it, namely, in the horrors of a guilty mind, and in the approaching terrors of death. The world! is unsuited to the powers, infinite passions, and immortal capacities of a soul. The world! is fickle, variable, and unstable as the wind; ‘tis always fickle, always changeable, always unstable; there is no steadfastness in its honours, riches, pleasures; ‘tis all a lie, all a lie for ever. The world I it never satisfies; we ever wish for change, whether we are high or low, rich or poor; we are always wishing for some new variety to cheat the imagination; the witchcraft of polluted pleasure decays in a moment, and dies. The world I its pleasures are exceedingly limited, and under most painful restraints, attended with bitter remorse, and followed with a horrible dread of bad consequences; the pleasures of impurity are mixed up with cursed disgusts and self-loathings, and have most dreadful damps and twinges of mind when the momentary witchcraft of pleasure is gone for ever. (J. Ryland.)

The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy

The Spirit’s jealousy

St.

James probably meant to give the sense of Scripture, and not to quote the exact words. Scripture teaches us the truth that “the Spirit which dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,” or rather, “desireth enviously.”

I. The class of passages to which St. James seems to refer would include those in which God speaks of Himself as a “jealous” God, and impresses upon the minds of the Israelites the undivided nature of the worship He demanded from them. In such passages God is described as requiring the entire affections of His people. His feeling at the withdrawal of these affections from Him in any degree is spoken of as “jealousy.” The meaning of the text will then be, “Do you suppose that the Scriptures mean nothing when they speak of the Spirit of God dwelling in you as requiring absolute rule in your hearts, and longing eagerly after you, even to something like envy of any other influence which is gaining the mastery over your hearts?” The word here translated “lusteth” is rendered “long after,” where St. Paul says to the Philippians, “God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.”

II. This meaning of the text will be found, I think, to harmonise with the context. He asks, “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” and adds, “whosoever, therefore, will be”--lays himself out to be--“the friend of the world is the enemy of God.” You must choose between the two. “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” “Do you think that the Scriptures speak to no purpose when they tell you that God requires your heart in a way which can only be described by saying that His Spirit longeth after you with enviousness and jealousy?”

III. This same view of religion is, as you know, continully brought before us in Scripture. Our Lord tells us that “no man can serve two masters.” With a view to testing this singleness of heart in those who desire to be His followers He gave to different persons different commands. He desired one who wished to be with Him to go home to his own house. He called upon the young man who had great possessions to abandon them and follow Him. This unreserved surrender of self to Him was the “one thing needful.” Different courses of conduct would test the “willingness” of different persons according as their circumstances or dispositions were different; but in all His disciples the same readiness was necessary in the days when tie walked this earth. In all His disciples the same disposition is necessary now. The design of the gospel is not to set us free on the earth to do as we please; but to place us in our true position as adopted children of God--to turn the heart wholly to Him so that we should not merely have His law written for us as something outside us and hostile to us--as a set of rules for slaves and bondsmen--but written by His Holy Spirit in the fleshy tables of our hearts, as the directions to which our renewed affections would turn with delight.

IV. Nor indeed would any other view of the claims and operation of the Holy Spirit be at all consistent with what we observe of all ruling influences in our minds. We all have some predominant desire or tendency which brings into subjection our other desires and tendencies, and to which they yield. This ruling principle exerts an influence upon everything we do; our other tendencies, as it were, group themselves around it, receive its instructions, and do its bidding. Everything is viewed through it as a medium. You all know what this is. And if any one of you has taken the trouble to ascertain what is, in your own case, the ruling tendency of your mind, you will know that it is a jealous tendency--that it “lusteth or longeth after you enviously.”

V. Now if the love of God--a looking to the things not seen--if holiness be our character, we must expect the Holy Spirit to exert such an influence over us as we know other powers to exert over those upon whose characters we decide by our knowledge of their ruling disposition. We must expect the indwelling Spirit to desire no rivalry--to be satisfied with nothing short of “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” But what is wonderful is, that persons coming to Church and receiving the Bible--persons who are shocked at open wickedness, and who fancy themselves shocked at it because it is spoken against in God’s Word--what is wonderful, I say, is that such persons can pass over as idle words these assertions of the nature of the Spirit’s claim on their whole heart, in the practical recognition of which consists that “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” Of course a view of religion so fundamentally wrong as to ignore this high notion of the yearning and jealous love of God for those in whom He vouchsafes to dwell would necessarily taint and nullify every supposed religious act of him who, in spite of Scripture, resolved to entertain it. But it is in the particular act of prayer that St. James in the passage before us asserts its ruinous tendency. Let us, then, in conclusion, see how it operates to render prayer ineffectual, and to make what ought to be our solemn service an abomination unto the Lord. Prayer may be viewed in either of two ways.

1. It is a means by which God has appointed that we shall receive that continual supply of grace and strength which is essential to the support of our spiritual life. It is thus a source of benefit and blessing for present use. Besides this, the act of prayer is--

2. In itself a training for that higher and more enduring communion with Him which we hope one day to enjoy in His Kingdom. No man prays to any purpose except he prays with a sincere wish--a wish far beyond all other wishes--that God would make him better; that God would do this--do it from the moment the prayer is uttered--and do it evermore unto the end. This must be the sincere and heartfelt longing of every one who hopes to “receive anything of the Lord.” This is precisely what, from the nature of the case, the man who is “double-minded” cannot have. (J. C.Coghlan, D. D.)

The yearning of the Divine Spirit over us

The better MSS. give a different reading of the first words: “The Spirit which He planted [or made to dwell] in us.” If we adopt this reading, it makes it all but certain that what is predicated of the Spirit” must be good, and not evil. The Greek word for “lusteth’’ conveys commonly a higher meaning than the English, and is rendered elsewhere by longing after (Romans 1:11; Philippians 1:8; Philippians 2:26; 2 Corinthians 9:14), or “earnestly desiring” 2 Corinthians 5:2), or “greatly desiring” (2 Timothy 1:4). The verb has no object, but it is natural to supply “us.” Taking these data we get as the true meaning of the words: “The Spirit which He implanted yearns tenderly over us.” The words that remain, “to envy,” admit of being taken as with an adverbial force: in a manner tending to envy.” The fact that “envy” is elsewhere condemned as simply evil, makes its use here somewhat startling. But the thought implied is that the strongest human affection shows itself in a jealousy which is scarcely distinguishable from “envy.” We grudge the transfer to another of the affections which we claim as ours. We envy the happiness of that other. In that sense St. James says that the Spirit, implanted in us, yearns to make us wholly His, and is satisfied with no divided allegiance. The root-idea of the passage is identical with that of the jealousy of God over Israel as His bride Jeremiah 3:1-11; Ezekiel 16:1-63; Hosea 2:3), of His wrath when the bride proved faithless. (Dean Plumptre.)

But He giveth more grace

The greatness of the Divine gifts a source of Christian encouragement

I. HE GIVETH MORE GRACE THAN WE DESERVE. That may seem a self-evident proposition. It is like saying He giveth what is undeserved to the undeserving--grace that is entirely beyond and above deserving, above all human merit of every kind. Grace is grace. Ah, how apt are we to forget this. We are so accustomed to its gifts and mercies that we seem to ourselves to have established some kind of right to them. We are so brought up among the precious things of God’s kingdom that we never pause to think that these are the fruits of amazing surpassing love. We shall never grow in grace as we ought until we have better perceptions of its true quality. It is from first to last to the undeserving. All its gifts of unbounded goodness are the unmerited expression of Divine pity and love.

II. HE GIVETH MORE GRACE THAN WE DESIRE. For we do desire it; if we be gracious persons at all, it is one of the laws of our life. Just as the seed peeps upward from the soil to see the sun as it begins to live anew--just as rivers run to the ocean, as the sun hasteth to his going down, as ships speed on to their haven, as doves fly to their windows, as the exile sighs for his native land, as the weary pilgrim longs for his home, as each man seeks his own company--so the heaven-born soul riseth to things above; the things that she desires. Have you no desire? Ah! then you are not yet a new creature. If we have no spiritual desires we have no spiritual life. We are very apt to commit mistakes as to the strength of our desire for grace. We are very apt to mistake both ways, sometimes to think it is stronger than it is, and sometimes to think it is weaker than it is. We have some temporary vehemence of affection; we mistake that for a settled desire, but God does not. He knows exactly how much there is of thirst and longing in our souls for purity, light, and love, and all that we understand by grace. He knows whether we really do wish to have more of His presence in our life, and how much. We come asking to be received as hired servants in His great house, and He makes us sons. We stand knocking at the door of the temple, hoping to be admitted to the outer court, and He makes us priests. We stand by the palace of the great King, trembling and afraid to enter, and there is no more spirit in us; when, lo! we are carried by the power of His grace into the presence of the King. Thus He conquers us with lovingkindness. “He giveth more grace”--more than we desire.

III. HE GIVES US MORE GRACE THAN WE KNOW. We are here only amid beginnings. We have the best things only in seed and germ. The precious things of the Christian resemble the farmer’s seed-corn. He lays it aside; it seems but little, but it will make his fields green next spring, and yellow next harvest, and fill his garners with plenty. Now, so the Christian has everything here, but it is in seed. The seed is precious seed, however, and although he goes forth weeping, sometimes, to sow it, he will doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Much of our joy hereafter will be the joy of admiration, the joy of surprise. We shall say, with wonder, “Was I so rich and did not know it? Had I the germ of all this in store and yet thought of it so lightly? How could I despond, and weep and tremble as I did? But this tearful state of experience is now ended, and here I see, with adoring gratitude, that God was giving me more grace than even then I knew”

IV. HE GIVETH ALL GRACE--MORE GRACE THAN WE USE. All grace is for use, not for holding. It is likened by our blessed Lord Himself to talents, one, two, five; given to every man severally according to the man’s ability and according to the Master’s will. It is not for holding, but for casting, as we have said, like seed-corn into the field of life. There is not one of these talents of which the Master will not require an account, not one which we may hide in the ground. And yet is not this last what we are so apt to do? The evils of this course are manifest. First, we deprive ourselves of the blessedness of giving, and then we deprive others of the blessedness of receiving. But there is more evil than this, and worse. It is more than disuse of talents; it is disease, it is corruption; it is decay, destruction, death, coming by misuse. The gold and silver pieces which the miser hoards up will not, when produced years afterwards, be in the shining state they would have been by wear; and so when the talents committed to the Christian, which have been disused for a long lifetime, are brought out at last, they will not come out in the clear shining state in which they were; and the Master may then say, “Was this what I gave you these talents for? How is the fine gold become dim? I gave you pure knowledge that it might become still purer and wider, ever brightening towards perfect knowledge, and now it is all mingled with error, and the shadow of spiritual ignorance seems to have been deepening instead of passing away. I gave you clear conscience, and left it free, and you have dimmed and fettered it--fresh sympathies with all the ardour of heaven, and now you bring them back weakened and petrified. I gave you a bright eye, apt for the darting glance, and now it is dim as an old man’s vision. I gave you these talents to spend and use, and so increase; but this is only the rust of them, and it will eat a man’s flesh as it were fire.” We all have more grace than we use, but we ought to use it far more than we do. The only preparation for receiving grace is--what?--coming to receive grace. The only way in which we can be graciously better is by beginning to be better at once, and believing in God’s willingness to help us. God only requires on our parts more receptive hearts--the willing heart of love. “He giveth more grace” to such. Let us have grace then whereby may serve God. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

The gift of grace

I. THE GRACE OF GOD.

1. Grace denotes favour; that kind of favour, more especially, which flows from the mind of God into the heart of guilty man--all that we understand by “the riches of goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering”; all that awakens, informs, humbles, consoles, animates, and makes meet for “the inheritance of the saints in light.”

2. The importance of grace is unspeakable. Who but the partakers of grace can perform ode duty in a right manner?

3. Wide and glorious are the operations of Divine grace. It transforms rebels against God into loyal subjects, and the enemies of those around them into ardent friends. It shuts the gates of hell, it consecrates the whole course of life, and it insures, as well as promises, the bliss of immortality.

II. THE MANNER OF BESTOWING GRACE. “He giveth grace.”

1. Grace is indeed an absolute donation. Could we prefer a claim, we should receive, not a gift, but a debt.

2. In God is the fountain of grace, from which it emanates in every direction; and hence all that share the blessing ascribe it to Him alone, saying, “Of His grace have all we received.”

III. The grace of God in THE ABUNDANCE OF ITS COMMUNICATIONS; that is, an abundance which daily becomes larger and larger; “He giveth more grace.”

1. More is necessary. As the Christian advances in life, he has new duties to perform, new trials to bear, new temptations to encounter.

2. More is desired. It is the tendency of grace, as of everything in nature, to seek after its own increase.

3. More grace is provided. All our wants as Christians have been foreseen equally with those by which we can be affected as creatures.

Conclusion:

1. Why do so many remain destitute of grace? They are either careless and insensible of their need of it; or they are too proud to receive it.

2. Who, then, are made partakers of grace in its amplest communications Isaiah 66:2; 1 Peter 5:5)?

3. Why should we rest satisfied with the highest measures of grace already bestowed? We are not straitened in God, but in ourselves; we “have not, because we ask not.”

4. The time is at hand when grace will be dispensed no longer. (C. A.Jeary.)

Divine grace

The world gives a little that it may give no more; but Christ gives “that He may give.” He gives a little grace that He may give grace upon grace. He gives a little comfort that He may give fulness of joy. Souls that are rich in grace labour after greater measures of grace out of love to grace, and because of an excellency that they see in grace. Grace is a very sparkling jewel, and be who loves it and pursues after it for its own native beauty has much of it within him. (T. Brooks.)

The abundance of grace

The fountain of God’s grace is not as a little scanty spring in the desert, round which thirsty travellers meet to strive and struggle, muddying the waters with their feet, pushing one another away, lest those waters be drawn dry by others before they come to partake of them themselves; but a mighty, inexhaustible river, on the banks of which all may stand, and of which none may grudge, lest, if others drink largely and freely, there will not remain enough for themselves. (Abp. Trench.)

More and more

See the bounty of God--ever giving and ever ready to give more!

I. OBSERVE THE TEXT IN ITS CONNECTION.

1. It presents a contrast. “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy”; on God’s part this is met by, “but He giveth more grace.”

2. It suggests a note of admiration. What a wonder that when sin aboundeth, grace still more abounds!

3. It hints at a direction for spiritual conflict.

(1) We learn where to obtain the Weapons of our warfare: we must look to Him who gives grace.

(2) We learn the nature of those weapons: they are not legal, nor fanciful, nor ascetical, but gracious.

(3) We learn that lusting after evil must be met by the fulfilment of spiritual desires and obtaining more grace.

4. It encourages us in continuing the conflict.

5. It plainly indicates a victory. God will not give us up, but will more and more augment the force of grace, so that sin must and shall ultimately yield to its sanctifying dominion.

II. OBSERVE THE GENERAL TRUTH OF THE TEXT. God is ever on the giving hand.

1. He giveth new supplies of grace.

2. Larger supplies.

3. Higher orders.

4. He giveth more largely as the old nature works more powerfully. This should be--

(1) A truth of daily use for ourselves.

(2) A promise daily pleaded for others.

(3) A stimulus in the contemplation of higher or sterner duties, and an encouragement to enter on wider fields.

5. A solace under forebodings of deeper trouble in common life.

6. An assurance in prospect of the severe tests of sickness and death.

III. BRING IT HOME BY SPECIAL APPROPRIATION.

1. My spiritual poverty, then, is my own fault, for the Lord giveth more grace to all who believe for it.

2. My spiritual growth will be to His glory, for I can only grow because He gives more grace. Oh, to grow constantly!

3. What a good God I have to go to! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Continual grace

I have grace every day! every hour! When the rebel is brought, nine times a day, twenty times a day, for the space of forty years, by his prince’s grace, from under the axe, how fair and sweet are the multiplied pardons and reprievals of grace to him! In my case here are multitudes of multiplied redemptions! Here is plenteous redemption! I defile every hour, Christ washeth; I fall, grace raiseth me; i come this day, this morning, under the rebuke of justice, but grace pardoneth me; and so it is all along, till grace puts me into heaven. (Samuel Rutherford.)

Need of more grace

Were you to rest satisfied with any present attainments to which you have reached, it would be an abuse of encouragement. It would be an evidence that you know nothing of the power of Divine grace in reality, for--

“Whoever says, I want no more, Confesses he has none.”

Those who have seen their Lord, will always pray, “I beseech thee, show me Thy glory.” Those that have once tasted that the Lord is gracious, will always cry, “Evermore give us this bread to eat.” (William Jay.)

More grace wanted

When Lord North, during the American War, sent to the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Madeley (who had written on that unfortunate war, in a manner that had pleased the minister), to know what he wanted, he sent him word, that he wanted but one thing, which it was not in his lordship’s power to give him, and that was more grace.

God resisteth the proud

How God resisteth the proud

1. He resisteth them by punishing them for their pride against Him, as He did the builders of the turret of Babel.

2. Sometimes He resisteth the proud by hindering their purposes by some means unlocked for, as 2 Kings 19:9; Acts 4:21.

3. God resisteth the proud when He turneth their devices upon their own necks, and maketh them fall into the same mischiefs and snares which they have prepared for others (Esther 7:9).

4. God resisteth the proud by confounding their counsels, enterprises, and devices, as appeareth in proud Achitophel and others; as in the invincible navy of the proud Spaniards sent against little England, so confounded and in greatest part destroyed by the mighty hand of God.

5. God resisteth the proud by removing and taking away from them the things whereof they have been proud. Some are proud of riches, as he that said to his soul (Luke 12:20). Him God resisteth by removing him and his riches. Some are proud of beauty, whom God resisteth by sending sickness or other means to hinder and remove that from them. Some are proud of their wit; those He resisted by causing them to fall either by palsy or such like into doting folly. Some are proud of their strength, which languishing sickness abateth. Some are proud of their power, as Nebuchadnezzar, Senacherib, Antiochus, Pompey, Alexander, and the like, whom God resisteth, partly by taking away life, partly by removing their power, wherein they trusted from them.

6. God resisteth the proud when He turneth their ambition and vainglory into ignominy and shame. So God resisted Simon, the wicked sorcerer and deceiver.

7. God resisteth the proud in destroying their remembrance and cutting off their posterity from the earth for their pride and wickedness. Thereof the holy prophet David may be understood. The face of the Lord is against them which do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth.

8. God resisteth the proud by sending fear and terror into their hearts, whereof see Job 15:20-25; Job 18:7-10; 2 Kings 7:6; Psalms 76:5; Isaiah 10:33; Isaiah 19:16.

9. God resisteth the proud and wicked when He armeth one proud and wicked man against another, and causeth them to destroy one the other, as 2 Chronicles 20:22; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 20:2. (R. Turnbull.)

The cure of pride; or, the lesson of humility

I. Pride is a FOOLISH thing, and for this reason we ought to try to get rid of it. Kings and princes, and persons in high stations, are often proud of the positions they bold. If they obtain these places because they are wise and good, it is God who gives them the wisdom and the goodness they have. And if He has given these good things, then it is foolish to be proud of them, But if they get these places without being wise or good, then surely it is still more foolish to be proud of them. How many persons are proud on account of their wealth. But even this money is not theirs. It is God’s. Now suppose a merchant should give twenty pounds to one of his clerks, and send him out to buy certain things, with directions to come back as soon as he got through, and give an account of how the money had been spent. And suppose that clerk should feel proud of what his employer had entrusted to him, and should boast ablaut it to his friends. Would you not think that very foolish? Certainly. And yet, if we feel proud on account of the money we have, this is just what we are doing. Another thing that persons are proud of is their dress. This is the most foolish of all things to be proud of. Instead of feeling proud of our dress, we ought rather to be ashamed of it. Our clothing is the proof that we are sinful, fallen creatures. And then, if we but remember where our clothing came from, we shall see how foolish it is to be proud of it.

II. The second reason why we ought not to be proud is because it is UNPROFITABLE. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” We resist our enemies; and God resists the proud because He regards them as His enemies. Who would wish to be the enemy of God? Do you think it would pay to have God for an enemy? There is nothing in the world so profitable to us--nothing that is worth so much--nothing that pays so well as the grace of God. We read in another place that God “filleth the hungry with good things, but the rich He sends empty away.”

III. The third reason why we ought not to be proud is because it is DANGEROUS. We learn from the Bible that pride is a great sin; and nothing in the world is so dangerous as sin. And it is because pride is so sinful that we find such words as these in the Bible about it: “The Lord hateth a proud Proverbs 6:17); “The proud in heart are an abomination to the Proverbs 16:5). In Grecian story there is a fable about a man named Daedalus and his son Icarus, which shows the danger of pride. The fable says that Daedalus made wings for himself and his son, so that they might have the pleasure of flying. When the wings were finished, he fitted them on vein carefully with wax. Then they took their flight in the air from the island of Crete. Daedalus was humble-minded, and did not attempt to fly very high. He got on very well, passed safely over the sea, and reached the town of Cumae in Italy, near Naples, where he built a temple to one of the gods. Bat Icarus his son was a proud young man. He resolved to fly a great deal higher than his father. He went up nearer and nearer towards the sun, till the warmth of its beams melted the wax. Then his wings fell off, and down he fell, head over heels, into the sea. That part of the Mediterranean in which he fell was called the Acarian Sea. It is said to have been so named in memory of that proud young man. (R. Newton, D. D.)

God’s abhorrence and defiance of the proud

God abhors other sinners, but against the proud He professes open defiance and hostility. This was the sin that turned angels into devils. You may trace the story of pride from paradise to this day, Other sins are more hateful to man, because they bring disgrace and have more of baseness and turpitude in them, whereas pride seems to have a kind of bravery in it. But the Lord hates it, because it is a sin that sets itself most against Him. Other sins are against God’s laws, but pride is against God’s sovereignty. Pride does not only withdraw the heart from God, but lifts it up against God. Other sins are more patient of reproof, for conscience will frequently consent to the reproofs of God’s Word; but pride first blinds the mind, and then arms the affections--it lass the judgment asleep, and then awakens anger. (T. Manton.)

But giveth grace unto the humble

Humility a means of contentment

God gives grace to the humble. He holds them with complacency, often prospers their undertakings, and causes them to find various advantages in this temper of mind so agreeable to Him. Among these advantages contentment holds a foremost place.

I. The humble man is more CONTENTED WITH GOD, with His revelations, commands, ordinances, and dispensations, than he would and could be without the aid of this virtue. Humility prompts him to fall prostrate in the dust before the Most High and to adore Him as the All-wise and All-gracious, even there where he perceives naught but darkness around him.

II. The humble man is more CONTENTED WITH HIMSELF than he would and could be without the assistance of that virtue. Not that he imputes to his good qualities, his merits, a higher value than they properly profess, or satisfies himself with any, however low, degree of wisdom and virtue; but he is more contented with himself, inasmuch as he voluntarily submits to the limitations of his nature and his present state, little as it may be in itself and in comparison with what superior beings may be able to do and to enjoy.

III. For the same reason the humble man is more CONTENT WITH THE STATION HE OCCUPIES in the world and in society than he would and could be without the aid of his virtue. He knows that he everywhere finds opportunities and motives to unfold his mental powers, to be useful to his brethren, to exercise himself in obedience to God, and thus to render himself capable of higher occupations and dignities in a better world; and this ennobles and refines all that he does in his opinion, and induces him to do everything with care and conscientiousness.

IV. The humble man is far more CONTENTED WITH HIS FELLOW CREATURES than he would and could be without the aid of this virtue. The more modest the opinion he has of himself, of his talents, of his merits, the less does he expect any particular respect, reverence, or submission from others; the less does he imagine he has any right to it; the less does he insolently avail himself of any pre-eminence which he really has.

V. The humble man is more CONTENTED IN PROSPERITY AND IN AFFLUENCE than he would and could be without the aid of this virtue.

VI. The humble man is likewise more CONTENTED IN MISFORTUNES OR IN ADVERSITY than he would and could be without the aid of this virtue. He knows that as a man he is a frail creature, liable to innumerable accidents, that he has no real claim to an uninterrupted succession of prosperous days and favourable events, and that it is incompatible with the present condition of mankind; and the more sensibly he feels all this, the less is he surprised when such misfortunes actually befal him, if bad and good days alternately succeed in the course of his life. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

The humble are the fittest recipients of grace

Lumps of unrelenting guiltiness are as vessels closed up, and cannot receive grace; humility fitteth a man to receive it, and maketh a man to esteem it. The humble are vessels of a larger bore and size, fit to receive what grace giveth out. You may learn hence wily humble persons are most gracious, and gracious persons most humble. God delighteth to fill up such; they are vessels of a right bore. The valleys laugh with fatness when the hills are barren; and the laden boughs will bend their heads, &c. (T. Manton.)

Humility

It seems hard that the very grace said to be the most difficult to acquire should often make those who have won it of least account in the world. If it be so in this life, humility will only cry the louder from the grave. No force is ever lost. Sooner or later it will come upon us in all its power.

Humiliation

It is with us as with the reeds which grow by the riverside; when the waters overflow, the reed bows its head and bends down, and the flood passes over it without breaking it, after which it uplifts its head and stands erect in all its vigour, rejoicing in renewed life. So is it with us; we also must sometimes be bowed down to the earth and humbled, and then arise with renewed vigour and trust.

Submit yourselves therefore to God

Submitting ourselves to God

I. THE DUTY OF SUBMITTING OURSELVES TO GOD. This submission has its commencement and abiding root in the reception of Christ as a Saviour. The natural heart rebels against a gratuitous justification, against the renunciation of every personal claim, and the acceptance of a salvation for which we are wholly indebted to the mercy of God and the merit of Jesus. It cannot brook the humiliation of taking all as a free gift--of standing on what is not our own, but another’s, and of having nothing to boast of, nothing to glory in, but that despised object, the Cross. When we receive Him as the end of the law for righteousness, the old, proud, stubborn spirit yields, is dispossessed, and a new, meek, compliant one succeeds. The surrender thus made is not a temporary or an isolated thing; no, it is both permanent and productive--it abides and fructifies. It leads to a lasting and unlimited submission.

II. THE MANNER IN WHICH, OR THE STEPS BY WHICH, THIS SUBMITTING OF OURSELVES TO GOD IS EFFECTED.

1. We must withstand Satan. If we yield a single step, tie will instantly press his advantage. Instead of submission here, our constant watchword is to be resistance--uncompromising, unceasing, growing resistance. But in order to success, let us always remember two things, which are of the last importance in tats contest. We must encounter him in Divine strength. A heavenly panoply is provided for us, and no other can enable us to conquer. We must, above all, take the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. The Divine Word, firmly believed and wisely applied, is invincible.

2. We must approach God. Thus only can we be enabled to resist the devil. Not otherwise can we render submission and have it accepted. He will meet your advance, He will not keep aloof from you, whatever your past inconsistency, unfaithfulness--your going hack to the world, your covetous, adulterous solicitation of its friendship. Does this imply that it is not God but man himself who takes the initiative and the lead in the matter? Does he make the first advance? No; it is always and necessarily from God. He is ever the prime mover, not only preceding but actuating us; not only drawing nigh before us but prompting, causing our drawing nigh, whensoever anything of the kind really takes place. His grace brings us; His Spirit sweetly yet efficaciously disposes and enables us to approach. He must visit and quicken us before we turn our faces, or take a single step Zionward. But coming near to God implies certain feelings and exercises--a state of mind and heart suited to a proceeding so decisive andmomentous. There must be preparatory to it, or rather involved in it, the putting away of sin. Hence James couples with the call to draw nigh to Him the injunction, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” We are certainly not to interpret this in the sense that we can enter the holiest only after we have thus purged away our filthiness. In that case we should never approach God at all; for it is only by coming to Him that we can get the strength necessary for the purpose. We can sanctify ourselves by His grace alone--by it sought and obtained. But we are to draw nigh ever with sincere desires to be delivered from all sin; and not less with strenuous endeavours actually to forsake every evil way, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. There must also be godly sorrow for sin. The renunciation of it can be made only through unfeigned and profound contrition. We cannot put this evil thing away without grieving over it, feeling how bitter and dreadful it is, how dishonouring to God and destructive to ourselves. A great variety of expression is here employed to intimate that the repentance must be real, deep, thorough. “Be afflicted”--be distressed, be wretched. Let sin weigh heavily upon you, making you sad, miserable in spirit. “Mourn and weep.” Be not sullen. Keep not silence. Let not emotion be shut up, but allowed to flow forth in all its natural and proper channels. “Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness,” or humiliation. The term literally signifies the casting down of the eyes, which is indicative of dejection or shame. Having thus unfolded the steps by which they were to render submission, he returns to the point from which he started. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up” (verse 10). The one exhortation is substantially the same as the other. We are to abase ourselves, to cast away our pride, to Come down from our loftiness. We are to do it before God, in His presence. And what encouragement have we to comply with the call in the assurance, the promise by which it is accompanied? “And He shall lift you up.” He shall honour you here and hereafter, conferring on you, as His children, present grace and future glory--now the foretastes, then the full fruition of heavenly blessedness.(John Adam.)

The reason why many cannot find peace

We frequently meet with persons who tell us that they cannot find peace with God. They have been bidden to believe in the Lord Jesus, but they misunderstand the command, and, while they think the), are obeying it, they are really unbelievers; hence they miss the way of peace. They attempt to pray, but their petitions are not answered, and their supplications yield them no comfort whatever, for neither their faith nor their prayer is accepted of the Lord. Such persons are described by James in the third verse of this chapter. We cannot be content to see seekers in this wretchedness, and hence we endeavour to comfort them, instructing them again and again in the great gospel precept, “Believe and live”: yet as a rule they get no further, but linger in an unsatisfactory condition. We will go to the root of the matter, and set forth the reason for the lack of peace and salvation of which some complain.

I. First hearken to THE COMPREHENSIVE COMMAND. “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” According to the connection, the fighting spirit within many men shows that they have not submitted themselves to God; lusting, envy, strife, contention, jealousy, anger, all these things declare that the heart is not submissive, but remains violently self-willed and rebellious. Those who are still wrathful, proud, contentious, and selfish, are evidently unsubdued. A want of submission is no new or rare fault in mankind; ever since the fall it has been the root of all sin. Man wants to be his own law, and his own master. This is abominable, since we are not our own makers; for “it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves.” The Lord should have supremacy over us, for our existence depends on His will. The hemlock of sin grows in the furrows of opposition to God. When the Lord is pleased to turn the hearts of opposers to the obedience of the truth, it is an evident token of salvation; in fact, it is the dawn of salvation itself. To submit to God is to find rest. The rule of God is so beneficial that He ought readily to be obeyed. He never commands us to do that which, in the long run, can be injurious to us; nor does He forbid us anything which can be to our real advantage. All resistance against God must, from the necessity of the case, be futile. Common sense teaches that rebellion against Omnipotence is both insanity and blasphemy. And then let it always be known that submission to God is absolutely necessary to salvation. A man is not saved until he bows before the supreme majesty of God. Now, it is generally in this matter of submission that the stumbling-block lies in the way of souls when seeking peace with God. It keeps them unsaved, and as I have already said, necessarily so, because a man who is not submissive to God is not saved; he is not saved from rebellion, he is not saved from pride, he is still evidently an unsaved man, let him “think whatever he will of himself.

1. Now, in the saved man there is and must be a full and unconditional submission to the law of God. If you say in your heart, “He is too strict in marking sin, and too severe in punishing it,” what is this but condemning your Judge? If you say, “He calls me to account for idle words, and even for sins of ignorance, and this is hard,” what is this but to call your Lord unjust? Should the law be amended to suit your desires? Should its requirements be accommodated to ease your indolence?

2. And before a man can have peace with God he must submit himself to the sentence of the law. If your plea be “not guilty,” you will be committed for trial according to justice, but you cannot be forgiven by mercy. You are in a hopeless position; God Himself cannot meet you upon that ground, for He cannot admit that the law is unrighteous and its penalty too heavy.

3. A man must next submit himself to the plan of salvation by grace alone. If you come with anything like a claim the Lord will not touch the case at all, for you have no claim, and the pretence of one would be an insult to God. If you fancy you have demands upon God, go into the court of justice and plead them, but the sentence is certain to be against you, for by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified.

4. You must also submit yourselves to God’s way of saving you through an atoning sacrifice and by means of your personal faith in that sacrifice.

5. And then there must be full submission to God in the matter of giving up every sin. Either you must cast sin out of your heart or it will keep you out of heaven.

6. If we would be saved there must be submission to the Lord as to all His teachings; a very necessary point in this age, for a multitude of persons, who appear to be religious, judge the Scriptures instead of allowing the Scriptures to judge them.

7. And now I must ask another question of you who desire peace and cannot find it: have you submitted yourself to the providential arrangements of God? I know persons who have a quarrel with God. He took away a beloved object, and they not only thought Him unkind and cruel at the time, but they think so still. Like a child in a fit of the sulks, they cast an evil eye upon the great Father. They are not at peace, and never will be till they have owned the Lord’s supremacy, and ceased from their rebellious thoughts. If they were in a right state of heart they would thank the Lord for their sharp trials, and consent to His will, as being assuredly right. Yield yourselves unto God, and pray to be delivered from future rebellion. If you have submitted, do so yet more completely, for so shall you be known to be Christians when you submit yourselves unto God.

II. Now consider the other and FOLLOWING PRECEPTS. I think I am not suspicious without reason when I express a fear that the preaching which has lately been very common, and in some respects very useful, of “only believe and you shall be saved,” has sometimes been altogether mistaken by those who have heard it. Repentance is as essential to salvation as faith: indeed there is no faith without repentance except the faith which needs to be repented of. A dry-eyed faith will never see the kingdom of God. A holy loathing for sin always attends upon a childlike faith in the Sin-bearer. Where the root grace of faith is found other graces will grow from it. Now notice how the Spirit of God, after having bidden us submit, goes on to show what else is to be done. He calls for a brave resistance of the devil.

1. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The business of salvation is not all passive, the soul must be aroused to active warfare. I am not only to contend with sin, but with the spirit which foments and suggests sin. I am to resist the secret spirit of evil as well as its outward acts. “Oh,” saith one, “I cannot give up an inveterate habit.” Sir, you must give it up; you must resist the devil or perish. “But I have been so long in it,” cries the man. Yes, but if you truly trust Christ your first effort will be to fight against the evil habit. Ay, and if it is not a habit merely, nor an impulse, but if your danger lies in the existence of a cunning spirit who is armed at all points, and both strong and subtle, yet you must not yield, but resolve to resist to the death, cheered by the gracious promise that he will flee from you.

2. Next the apostle writes, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” lie who believes in Christ sincerely will be much in prayer; yet there are some who say, “We want to be saved,” but they neglect prayer.

3. The next precept is, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.” What! does the Word of God tell sinners to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts? Yes, it does. When a man comes to God and says, “I am willing and anxious to be saved, and I trust Christ to save me,” and yet he keeps his dirty, black hands exercised in filthy actions, doing what he knows is wrong, does he expect God to hear him? If you do the devil’s work with your hands, do not expect the Lord to fill them with His blessing.

4. Then it is added, “Purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” Can they do this? Assuredly not by themselves, but still in order to peace with God there must be so much purification of the heart that it shall no longer be double-minded. When you cease trying to serve two masters, and submit yourselves unto God, He will bless you, but not till then. I believe that this touches the centre of the mischief in many of those hearts which fail to reach peace; they have not given up sin, they are not whole-hearted after salvation.

5. Then the Lord bids us “be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.” I grieve to say that I have met with persons who say, “I cannot find peace, I cannot get salvation,” and talk very prettily in that way; but yet outside the door they are giggling one with another, as if it were matter of amusement. What right have you with laughter while sin is unforgiven, while God is angry with you? Nay, go to Him in fitter form and fashion, or He will refuse your prayers. Be serious, begin to think of death, and judgment, and wrath to come.

6. Then the Lord sums up His precepts by saying, “Humble yourselves in the sight of God.” There must be a deep and lowly prostration of the spirit before God. If your heart has never been broken, how can He bind it up? If it was never wounded, how can He heal it? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

On submission to God

I. THE DUTY REQUIRED. We are to submit ourselves unto God.

1. The first step in submission to God has respect to the truths of revelation. The cordial reception of these, however sublime or profound, however obscure or clear, lies at the foundation of all personal religion. It is no degradation of our reason to make it submissive to what God has spoken, although we may not be able fully to understand it in all its bearings. God only wise must know better than man, and therefore the scholar must bow, and not the Teacher.

2. But the submission particularly intended here, has respect to the discipline of God. Does any one ask for illustration? It was displayed by Aaron who held his peace when his two sons fell in death, judicially smitten down by the righteous decree of God. It was evinced by king Hezekiah, who, when the prophet announced the impending destruction of the monarch and his throne, replied to the terrible intelligence--“Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.” It was exhibited in the placid spirit of the sorrow-smitten David, when, amidst the cursings of Shimei who was a ringleader in the conspiracy of Absolom, he said to his faithful servant Abishai--“Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.” It was seen in the meek and placid spirit of Eli when rebuked for his remissness of parental authority, and the ephod was to be taken from his family, he exclaimed in words of exemplary resignation, “it is the Lord, let Him do as seemeth Him good.” It was apparent in the conduct of Job, when messenger after messenger brought him the dismal tidings of the destruction of his cattle, his servants, and his children, “he fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said--the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” And more than all, it is the spirit and temper of Him who said--“The cup which My father hath given

Me, shall I not drink it?” Such are instances of resignation. It is the filial submission of the will and the heart to a parent’s conduct. It is the enlightened and sanctified acquiescence of our inner nature with the dealings of God, under the conviction that all His ways are just and good, and that He has our welfare in view by every trial He sends us.

II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THE DUTY OF SUBMISSION IS COMMENDED AND REQUIRED.

1. The first is the universal disposal of a righteous and gracious providence. There is no truth clearer to the thoughtful mind than this, that nothing can be beyond the notice or the power of God; and yet there is no truth less practically received by a large part of mankind.

2. Submission is our duty--our reasonable duty, as sinful and dependent creatures. Can a child span with its little fingers the vast expanse of the heavens? Can a mortal hand grasp the globe in its palm? Just as easily can our finite minds take in the entire scheme of Him who is wonderful in counsel and mighty in working.

3. The third ground of submission is the great doctrine of redemption. The love of One who has loved us, suffered and died for us, snatched us from the verge of everlasting woe, placed us beneath the light of the loving-kindness and tender mercy of God, called us to seek and find, if we will, a crown of heavenly glory--may well constrain us to submit for a little while to a discipline which He judges necessary to train us for the inheritance He has procured for all the redeemed.

4. Another consideration on which this duty is founded is that repining is as fruitless as it is sinful. (H. Hunter.)

Humble submission to God

1. The thing enjoined is submission to God, proceeding from humility, than which nothing is or can be more acceptable unto Him, nothing more commendable among men. Men submit themselves unto God divers ways.

(1) In obediently and reverently yielding themselves to His Word and will, in hearing what He commandeth and carefully performing what He enjoineth.

(2) As by obeying His will men submit themselves unto God, so by yielding themselves to God’s pleasure, to do with them after His will, men likewise submit themselves unto Him.

(3) Neither thus only submit men themselves unto God, but also when they bear with patience the cross which the Lord layeth upon them, then submit men themselves to God.

2. The next thing in this first part of duty is the contrary: we must submit ourselves to God, but we must resist the devil also. Wherein we are taught whither all our strivings must tend, even to the withstanding of Satan, with whom we have continual war, and therefore ought we wholly to bend ourselves with all might against him.

(1) Now the devil is sundry ways resisted of men, first by faith in Jesus Christ, wherewith we are armed, stand fast without wavering, and thereby resist the assaults of Satan.

(2) As we resist him by faith, so also we resist him by prayer, when in our manifold temptations we fly by prayer unto God for succour against the devil--our ancient enemy.

(3) Moreover the saints resist the devil when they earnestly give themselves over to the study of virtue and practice of godliness, serving the Lord in righteousness and true holiness of life. Hereby all entry for Satan is shut up; hereby all holes of our hearts are stopped so that he cannot invade us.

(4) Satan is, besides this, resisted of the saints when they oppose the law and commandment, the will and the Word of God, to his suggestions and wicked temptations.

(5) To conclude, this our enemy is resisted by the aid of God’s Spirit, and by the presence of His power, whereby we subdue our enemies, therefore we are exhorted to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Therefore is the spirit of power, the spirit of might, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of strength, the spirit of fortitude, promised by Christ, that by the help thereof, not only our mortal enemies, but our ghostly adversaries, might be resisted by us.

(3) The precept and the contrary being thus set down, the third thing in the former part of duty is the reason of the contrary, why we should oppose ourselves unto Satan and set ourselves to resist him. Which reason is drawn from hope of victory: if we thus and by all means resist him then is he put to flight. Wherefore he may be compared to the crocodile who, as it is affirmed, fleeth away when a man turneth boldly unto him, but followeth very fiercely when he is not resisted. So Satan, that old dragon, that cruel crocodile, fleeth when he is resisted, but followeth us hardly when we give place unto him. (R. Turnbull.)

Unconditional surrender

This advice should not need much pressing. “Submit yourselves unto God”--is it not right upon the very face of it? Is it not wise? Does not conscience tell us that we ought to submit? Does not reason bear witness that it must be best to do so?” Submit yourselves unto God”--it is what angels do, what kings and prophets have done, what the best of men delight in--there is therefore no dishonour nor sorrow in so doing. All nature is submissive to His laws; suns and stars yield to His behests, we shall be but in harmony with the universe in willingly bowing to His sway. “Submit yourselves unto God”--you must do it whether you are willing to do so or not. Who can stand out against the Almighty?” Submit yourselves unto God” is a precept which to thoughtful men is a plain dictate of reason, and it needs few arguments to support it. Yet His commission and promise at our back, and with His love and inspiration in our souls. (James Stalker, D. D.)

Sent by God

Girolamo Savonarola was walking to Florence to become prior of a convent. When a few miles from the town he began to feel faint from want of food and rest, and sank wearily upon the ground. Then an unknown man appeared to the tired traveller, and walked with him. Savonarola believed it was a heavenly messenger, and took to his heart the stranger’s parting words, “Remember that thou dost that for which thou hast been sent by God,” and entered Florence ready to live in the midst of her unruly people, and work among them till his death. (“Three Great Lives,” Frances E. Cooke.)

To the strangers scattered.-

Persecution

1. Sundry of the Jews received our Saviour, and believed in Him, though the body of them did not. Those made a good progress in the cause of Christianity who were contented to undergo such dangers as might befall them in a strange land, only that they might keep faith and a good conscience.

2. The estate of the Church of God here on earth is under persecution. The world having power and wealth, is full of malice against the poor Church, so that were it not that God Almighty defends it, it could not endure. It is as a sheep among wolves, or a ship among the waves. Though God will exercise it to keep it front errors and corruptions, which it is subject to through much prosperity and peace; though it have need of some peace to gather itself, yet if it be long in peace it gathers mud as standing waters, rust as the ploughshare in the hedge, yea, settles itself on the lees, therefore God pours it out from vessel to vessel. The Church never shines so gloriously as either in or after persecution; then life, zeal, sincerity, heavenly-mindedness, and such like graces, appear in their true lustre. It follows-

(1) That as we are not to conclude for a company, because they have so much peace, that therefore they are beloved of God; so must not we against any because they be few in number and outwardly despised.

(2) That we are to prepare ourselves for persecution.

(3) That it is lawful to fly in time of persecution. (John Rogers.)

God’s people scattered

1. That God’s children may be driven from their native dwelling, God doth not always build them a house in their own hind.

2. That the Church of God is not tied to any one place, neither to Rome nor to Jerusalem.

3. That the godly are thin set. It is rare to find true godly men, they dwell here and there.

4. That the Church hath not always an external glory to commend it.

5. That there may be a great inward beauty under a despised condition. These dispersed ones are glorious creatures, sanctified in their spirits, and shall have an immortal inheritance.

6. That there may be excellent order in appearing confusion. One might think the husbandmen spoiled their corn when they scatter it abroad on the ground; and yet we know it is better so than when it is in the barn all on a heap. So is it with the godly. (N. Byfield.)

Genuine disciples of Christ

I. They are strangers in the world.

II. They are chosen of heaven.

1. To the sanctification of the Spirit.

2. To obedience.

3. To a consecration to Christ.

III. They are prayed for by the brethren.

1. For the favour of God.

2. For peace of soul. (Homilist.)

Elect.-

How may we know the election of others

Not with the judgment of certainty, because the heart of man is known to none but God, and a man may go far who yet may fall away; but with the judgment of charity, which hath degrees according to the fruits we see in them: if they only profess religion and be in the Church, we may hope, but it is a weak hope, where we see no fruits. Now when we see the fruits of faith, sanctification, and godliness in men, and that they show them not by fits, but constantly; not in some things, but in all; not in prosperity only, but in adversity, we may very boldly judge of them as the elect of God; and so does the apostle here, as appears by the next words, “Through sanctification of the Spirit.” (John Rogers.)

The elect

St. Peter here tells you what you are-for what purpose you are such, and to how great privilege you may reach. “Elect,” he says, “according to the foreknowledge of God.”

I. What does elect mean? The word is taken from the Old Testament, where it is applied not to one or two individuals, but to the Jewish nation. They were highly favoured, they were gathered from other nations; they had the law and the prophets and means which others had not. To the Christian Church it is now said, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” Again, the very title of this Epistle shows for whom it was meant. “Elect according to the fore knowledge of God.” For what is the title? The general-in Greek, the catholic-Epistle of St. Peter. Now what does this mean but that it is not for a small number of Christians, nor yet for the Church of a particular district, like some of St. Paul’s Epistles; but for the Church universal, all the members of which he calls “elect”? Again, observe the first verse: “To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,” etc. As to the greater part of the persons whom he addresses, St. Peter could have known nothing of their character or habits any more than we can tell how individuals are living in private in France or Ireland. How, then, could he pronounce upon their eternal salvation? But he means nothing of the sort. He knew that life was before them; that they had light, and knowledge, and grace, and opportunities not given to others; he knew that they had been gathered into the Christian fold, which was not the case with others. Upon all these grounds he calls them elect, and predestined to this before the foundation of the world. That which is true of the Church as a whole is true of its parts. Accordingly, St. Paul, addressing different parts of the Christian body, at different times, calls them in turn elect, chosen, called, saints, sanctified. He does not mean to say that all he calls saints were so in their practice, any more than those whom we call Christians are really such. But he means that they were designed by God to be truly saints upon earth and triumphing souls in heaven. Why, I would ask, do you send missions to the heathen if you have not something to enrich them with which they possess not? You are in the light: you are a chosen people. I say not as to the use of privileges, but as to their possession. A man may shut his eyes though the sun be beaming; a man may turn back from the brink of heaven. Nevertheless, the possession of such privileges proves you to be high in God’s favour-His chosen people, for an exalted purpose.

II. And now what does God, according to St. Peter, to His elect people? How does He assure them of their election, and enable them to make their calling and election sure? He gives them His Spirit in their hearts: “through sanctification,” it is said, “of the Spirit.” It is affirmed in the following words, “that God hath elected you unto obedience.” Surely to bear the fruits of the Spirit a man must have the Spirit. Therefore St. Paul writes, “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father,” etc. Let me mention two reasons why it is necessary to believe that Christians are sanctified, or receive the Spirit in their childhood.

1. The first is that our children are all expected to serve God, to renounce the devil, keep the Commandments, and believe the faith. But they are not able to do it without the Spirit.

2. When God takes away any of your children from you in their early years you have a confident belief that they are saved.

3. And this conducts me very naturally to the third point: supposing people to grow up, and to have passed the unconscious time of childhood, what is the immediate object of their sanctification? The text informs us, “Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” The apostle is thought to allude here to the covenant God made with Israel, which was confirmed by the sprinkling of blood. Another meaning is, that the Spirit hath been given to us in order that we might obey and so be pardoned; in either case the result is the same, that without obeying Christ none shall be saved. Let me address these who think they shall be saved without obedience. It cannot be denied that this is a fearfully large number. Every man who puts off repentance thinks he can be saved without obedience; for if he keep putting it off, when does he hope to obey? Again, are there not persons who arrive at the same deceit in another way? who are not careful to inquire whether they keep the commandments of Christ, but only whether they feel in a particular manner? (J. M. Chanter, M. A.)

The plan of salvation

I. Election in its source.

1. Election as an eternal act of the Divine mind is inaccessible to us; it is only in its effects that it comes within our mental cognisance.

2. This election is “according to the foreknowledge of God.” God is the only and whole cause of every man’s salvation.

3. The Supreme Being not only drew the plan, but continually emits a stream of energy to impel men into acquiescence with it. This energy is not physical but mental and spiritual, making man a willing co-worker with God in his own salvation.

II. Election in its means.

1. Election first shows itself in a man’s separation from the world which lieth in wickedness.

2. Election is indissolubly connected with holiness as the sphere in which it moves, the atmosphere in which it breathes.

3. The holiness of the believer is not a created finite thing, like that of the angel, but an active participation in the uncreated, infinite holiness of God in virtue of the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

III. Election is its end.

1. Election has for its object our obedience.

(1) The obedience of which faith is the substance, the obedience we render God when we believingly receive the truths of the gospel.

(2) The obedience which faith produces.

2. But notwithstanding all our efforts, aided even by Divine grace, bitter experience reminds us that we often stumble, and sometimes fall. Is there any provision for our manifold imperfections? Yes, there is the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”-to secure forgiveness for the sins we daily commit despite our aspirations after holiness, and to wash away the pollution cleaving to us, notwithstanding our endeavours after a higher Christian life. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)

How a man may know his election

If any man would know whether the sun shineth or not, let him go no further, but look upon the ground and the objects around him, to see the reflection of the sunbeams from thence, and not upon the body of the sun, which will but the more dazzle his sight. The pattern is known by the picture, the cause by the effect; let no man, then, soar aloft to know whether he be elected or not, but let him gather the knowledge of his election from the effectualness of his calling and sanctification of his life spent in obedience to the revealed will of Heaven. (J. Spencer.)

According to the foreknowledge of God.-

Lessons from the foreknowledge of God

1. To fear God and forsake sin, and not to dally with disobedience (Hebrews 4:13).

2. To trust upon God in all estates, seeing there is nothing but He knows and hath considered of it long since.

3. It should inflame us to piety, seeing no good can be done; but He will know it, though it be done never so secretly (Psalms 139:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9).

4. It should quicken us to the meditation and care of our assurance of our eternal salvation. God hath delighted Himself to foresee it from eternity, and shall not we foremeditate of our own glory?

5. Paul useth this as a reason why we should help and encourage Christians, and do all the good we can for them. For their names are in the book of life (Philippians 4:3, etc.).

6. When we are to choose men for any calling we should learn of God to know before, and those we see to be wicked we should never elect: custom, riches, friends, intreaty, kindred, etc., should never prevail with us.

7. It shows us how we should love one another. No time should wear out our affection; God is not wearied with love, though He set His affections upon us before the beginning of the world.

8. This doctrine of God’s eternal knowledge is terrible for wicked men. (N. Byfield.)

Through sanctification of the Spirit.-

Sanctification, and by whom wrought

Sanctification begins in regeneration and is carried on in two ways-by vivication and by mortification; that is, by giving life to that which is good, and by sending death to that which is evil in the man. Now this work, though we commonly speak of it as being the work of the Spirit, is quite as much the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification is a work in us, not a work for us. It is a work in us, and there are two agents: one is the worker who works this sanctification effectually-that is the Spirit; and the other agent, the efficacious means by which the Spirit works this sanctification, is Jesus Christ and His most precious blood. Suppose, to put it as plainly as we can, there is a garment which needs to be washed. Here is a person to wash it, and there is a bath in which it is to be washed-the person is the Holy Spirit, but the bath is the precious blood of Christ. It is strictly correct to speak of the person cleansing as being the sanctifier; it is quite as accurate to speak of that which is in the bath and which makes it clean as being the sanctifier too. To repeat my illustration: here is a garment which is black: a fuller, in order to make it white, uses nitre and soap, both the fuller and the soap are cleansers; so both the Holy Spirit and the atonement of Christ are sanctifiers. While the Spirit of God is said in Scripture to be the author of sanctification, yet there is a visible agent which must not be forgotten. “Sanctify them,” said Christ, “through Thy truth. Thy word is truth.” The Spirit of God brings to our minds the commands and precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. Do not say of such-an-such an error, “Oh, it is a mere matter of opinion.” If it be a mere matter of opinion today it will be a matter of practice tomorrow. As every grain of truth is a grain of diamond dust, prize it all. The agent, then, is the Spirit of God working through the truth. There is no being sanctified by the law; the Spirit does not use legal precepts to sanctify us; there is no purification by mere dictates of morality, the Spirit of God does not use them. The Spirit of God finds us lepers, and to make us clean He dips the hyssop of faith in the precious blood, and sprinkles it upon us and we are clean. There is a mysterious efficacy in the blood of Christ, not merely to make satisfaction for sin but to work the death of sin. Just as the Spirit only works through the truth, so the blood of Christ only works through faith. Our faith lays hold on the precious atonement of Christ. It sees Jesus suffering on the tree, and it says, “I vow revenge against the sins which nailed Him there”; and thus His precious blood works in us a detestation of all, and the Spirit through the truth, working by faith, applies the precious blood of sprinkling, and we are made clean, and are accepted in the Beloved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Justification and sanctification

Justification was never intended as a substitute for sanctification. (J. H. Evans.)

Sanctification necessary

Suppose you had a son-you forbad him to enter a place of contagion on pain of losing all you could leave him. He goes, and is seized with the infection. He is guilty, for he has transgressed your command; but he is also diseased. Do you not perceive that your forgiving him does not heal him? He wants not only the father’s pardon but the physician’s aid. In vain is he freed from the forfeiture of his estate,, if he be left under the force of the disorder. (W. Jay.)

The Spirit purifying the heart

Germs of disease may be constantly breeding in an infected house; but, so long as the disinfecting fluid is well sprinkled on the floors and pendent sheets, they are killed off as soon as they are formed. So sin, though present in the heart, may be choked off, so as to be almost unperceived, because the Holy Ghost is ever at work acting as a disinfectant; but, so soon as His grace is withdrawn, sin regains its old deadly sway, and breathes forth its pestilential poison. It is of the utmost importance, then, to keep in with the Holy Ghost. (F. B. Meyer.)

The Spirit counteracting the evil tendency in man

If you take a heavy book and hold it at arm’s length, the pull of the law of gravitation will soon draw it downwards; but if some friend will pour down that arm a constant stream of electricity the flow of the electric current will set you free from the effect of the downward pull. It will still be there, though you will have become almost unconscious of it. Thus it will be when we are filled by the Spirit of God; the downward tendency may be in us yet, but it will be more than counteracted by the habit of that new life, in which the power of the living Saviour is ever at work, through the grace of the Holy Ghost. (F. B. Meyer.)

Unto obedience.-

Obedience

When obedience to God is expressed by the simple absolute name of obedience, it teacheth us that to Him alone belongs unlimited obedience, all obedience by all creatures. It is the shame and misery of man that he hath departed from this obedience; but grace, renewing the hearts of believers, changeth their natures and so their names, and makes them “children of obedience.” This obedience consists in receiving Christ as our Redeemer, Lord, and King. There is an entire rendering up of the whole man to his obedience. “By obedience” sanctification is here intimated. It signifies then both habitual and active obedience, renovation of heart, and conformity to the Divine will. This obedience, though imperfect, is universal in three ways-in the subject, in the object, in the duration, the whole man is subjected to the whole law, and that constantly and perseveringly. The first universality is the cause of the other. Because it is not in the tongue alone or in the hand, but has its roots in the heart, therefore it doth not wither as the grass or flower lying on the surface of the earth, but it flourishes because rooted. And it embraces the whole law, because it arises from a reverence it has for the Lawgiver Himself; reverence, I say, but tempered with love. Hence it accounts no law nor command little or of small value which is from God, because He is great, and highly esteemed by the pious heart; no command hard, though contrary to the flesh, because all things are easy to love. That this three-fold perfection of obedience is not a picture drawn by fancy is evident in David (Psalms 119:1-176), where he subjects himself to the whole law; his feet (Psalms 119:105), his mouth (Psalms 119:13), his heart (Psalms 119:11), the whole tenour of his life (Psalms 119:24). He subjects himself to the whole law (Psalms 119:6), and he professes his constancy therein (1 Peter 1:1 and 33). (Abp. Leighton.)

Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.-

The sprinkled blood of Christ

1. There was blood in Christ; He took the true nature of His brethren that He might serve and satisfy God in the same nature that had offended.

2. This blood was shed. If you ask, who shed it? I answer, Judas by selling it; the priests by advising it; the people by consenting to it; Pilate by decreeing it; the soldiers by effecting it; Christ Himself by permitting it, and after presenting it to God (Hebrews 9:14), our sins, that chiefly caused it.

3. It is not enough that the blood of Christ be shed unless it be applied also, which the word “sprinkling” notes.

4. This effusion of blood was solemnly pre figured or foretold by the sacrifices of the law. For this word “sprinkled” is a metaphor borrowed from the legal sprinkling, which shows us two things.

(1) The great account that God and good men make of it in that it was so solemnly and anciently typed out.

(2) That the ceremonies of that Law are now abolished, seeing we have the true sprinkling of the blood.

5. That our estate in Christ is better now than our estate in Adam was. That Christ’s righteousness imputed to us is better then that righteousness was, inherent in Adam. Now for the world to come; heaven is better than paradise.

6. We can never discern our comfort in the blood of Christ till we be sanctified in spirit, and set upon the reducing of our lives unto the obedience of Christ. Justification and sanctification are inseparable. (N. Byfield.)

Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.-

A loving salutation

I. The characteristics of those addressed.

1. They are sojourners.

2. They have one common sympathy. Scattered in dwelling, but one in heart.

II. The blessedness of the redeemed.

1. Elected by the Father.

2. Salvation by Christ.

3. Sanctification by the Spirit.

III. The affectionate desire. He does not seek their restoration, nor their temporal welfare, nor their immunity from suffering or persecution, but grace and peace.

1. Grace is help. It is easy to bear trials and pains if strength is given.

2. Peace is tranquillity. It overshadows all our difficulties, and sheds a halo of light upon our course. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)

Multiplied grace and peace

What should we do that grace and peace might be multiplied?

1. Be sure his true grace, else it will never increase.

2. Thou must increase in meekness and humility (James 4:8; Psalms 36:6; Psalms 36:11).

3. If thou wouldst have thy grace and peace increase, thou must be constant in the use of all the ordinances of God. As thou measureth to God in the means, so will God measure to thee in the success: thou must be much in hearing.

4. Thou must not perplex thy heart with the cares of this life, but in all things go to God by prayer, and cast all thy care upon Him (Philippians 4:6-7).

5. Thou must be resolved upon it to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live righteously and religiously and soberly in this present world, else thou canst never meet with true peace.

This likewise may be comfortable to a poor Christian, and that two ways.

1. First, If he consider that grace is not given all at once but by degrees, and therefore he must not be discouraged, though he have many wants.

2. Secondly, If he consider the bountifulness of God to all that seek grace and peace, it may be had in abundance. (N. Byfield.)

Grace and peace, their true order

While this beautiful introductory salutation, “Grace unto you, and peace,” is a formula common to all the apostles, it is also an exact theological definition, rightly dividing the word of truth. The right thing is put fore most here. The living root lies in the ground below, and the fruit-bearing branches tower above it. It is grace first, and peace following it. When God and man meet it is pardon first, and then a mutual confidence. When He in the Mediator dispenses freely His favour, you in the Mediator draw near without dread. He manifests Himself a forgiving Father, and that very thing infuses into your heart the spirit of a trusting child. “May grace and peace be multiplied.” In the Old. Testament (Isaiah 48:18) there is a promise that His people’s peace “shall be like a river”-gaining affluents from either side as it flows, and at the last opening out into “a righteousness like the waves of the sea.” (W. Arnot.)

The beauty of grace

1. The connection, grace and peace. The way to have peace is to have grace; grace is the breeder of peace.

2. The order; first grace, then peace. Grace is the elder sister.

I. What is meant by grace? The infusion of a new and holy principle into the heart, whereby it is changed from what it was, and is made after God’s own heart.

II. The author or efficient of grace; namely, the Spirit of God, who is therefore called the Spirit of grace. The Spirit is the fountain from whence crystal streams of grace flow.

1. Universally; “the God of peace sanctify you wholly.” The Spirit of God infuseth grace into all the faculties of the soul; though grace be wrought but in part, yet in every part; in the understanding light, in the conscience tenderness, in the will consent, in the affections harmony; therefore grace is compared to leaven, because it swells itself in the whole soul, and makes the conversation to rise as high as heaven.

2. The Spirit of God works grace progressively, He carries it on from one degree to another.

III. Why is the work of holiness in the heart called grace?

1. Because it has a super-eminency above nature. It is of Divine extraction (James 3:17). By reason we live the life of men, by grace we live the life of God.

2. It is called grace because it is a work of free grace; every link in the golden chain of our salvation is wrought and enamelled with free grace.

IV. The cogency and necessity of grace. It is most needful, because it fits us for communion with God. Alexander being presented with a rich cabinet of king Darius, he reserved it to put Homer’s works in, as being of great value. The heart is a spiritual cabinet into which the jewel of grace should be put.

1. Grace hath a soul-quickening excellency in it: “the just shall live by faith.” Men void of grace are dead.

2. Grace hath a soul enriching excellency: “ye are enriched in all knowledge.” As the sun enricheth the world with its golden beams, so doth knowledge enrich the mind.

3. Grace hath a soul-adorning excellency (1 Peter 3:4-5). A soul decked with grace is as the dove covered with silver wings and golden feathers.

4. Grace hath a soul-cleansing excellency. Grace lays the soul a-whitening, it takes out the leopard spots, and turns the cypress into an azure beauty. Grace is of a celestial nature; though it doth not wholly remove sin, it doth subdue it; though it doth not keep sin out, it keeps it under; though sin in a gracious soul doth not die perfectly, yet it dies daily. Grace makes the heart a spiritual temple, which hath this inscription upon it, “Holiness to the Lord.”

5. Grace hath a soul-strengthening excellency, it enables a man to do that which exceeds the power of nature. Grace teacheth to mortify our sins, to love our enemies, to prefer the glory of Christ before our own lives.

6. Grace hath a soul-raising excellency; it is a Divine sparkle that ascends; when the heart is Divinely touched with the loadstone of the Spirit, it is drawn up to God. Grace raiseth a man above others; he lives in the altitudes, while others creep on the earth and are almost buried in it; a Christian by the wings of grace flies aloft; the saints “mount up as eagles.” A believer is a citizen of heaven.

7. Grace hath a perfuming excellency; it makes us a sweet odour to God. Hence grace is compared to those spices which are most fragrant (Song of Solomon 4:13).

8. Grace hath a soul-ennobling excellency; grace makes us vessels of honour, it sets us above princes and nobles. The saints are called kings and priests for their dignity, and jewels for their value.

9. Grace hath a soul-securing excellency, it brings safety along with it. Xerxes, the Persian, when he destroyed all the temples in Greece, caused the temple of Diana to be preserved for its beautiful structure; that soul which hath the beauty of holiness shining in it shall be preserved for the glory of the structure; God will not suffer His own temple to be destroyed.

10. Grace hath a heart-establishing excellency; “it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.” Before the infusion of grace, the heart is like a ship without a ballast; it wavers and tosseth, being ready to overturn. A gracious heart cleaves to God, and let whatever changes come, the soul is settled as a ship at anchor.

11. Grace hath a preparatory excellency in it; it prepares and fits for glory. First you cleanse the vessel, and then pour in wine. God doth first cleanse us by His grace, and then pour in the wine of glory; the silver link of grace draws the golden link of glory after it: indeed, grace differs little from glory; grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in the flower. In short, glory is nothing else but grace commencing and taking its degrees.

12. Grace hath an abiding excellency; temporal things are for a season, but grace hath eternity stamped upon it. Other riches take wings and fly from us; grace takes wings and flies with us to heaven. Let us try whether our grace be true; there is something looks like grace which is not. Chrysostom saith the devil hath a counterfeit chain to all the graces, and he would deceive us with it.

Lapidaries have ways to try their precious stones; let us try our grace by a Scripture touchstone: the painted Christian shall have a painted paradise.

1. The truth of grace is seen by a displacency and antipathy against sin: “I hate every false way.”

2. Grace is known by the growth of it, growth evidenceth life.

3. True grace will make us willing to suffer for Christ. Grace is like gold, it will abide the “fiery trial.”

Lessons:

1. If we would be enriched with this jewel of grace, let us take pains for it; we are bid to make a hue and cry after knowledge, and to search for it as a man that searcheth for a vein of gold. Our salvation cost Christ blood, it will cost us sweat.

2. Let us go to God for grace; He is called “the God of all grace.” We could lose grace of ourselves, but we cannot find it of ourselves.

3. If you would have grace, engage the prayers of others in your behalf. He is like to be rich who hath several stocks going; he is in the way of spiritual thriving who hath several stocks of prayer going for him. (T. Watson.)

The beginnings of grace small

Trace back any river to its source, and you will find its beginnings small. A little moisture oozing through the sand or dripping out of some unknown rock, a gentle gush from some far-away mountain’s foot, are the beginning of many a broad river, in whose waters tall merchantmen may anchor and gallant fleets may ride. For it widens and gets deeper till it mingles with the ocean. So is the beginning of a Christian’s or a nation’s grace. It is first a tiny stream, then it swells into a river, then a sea. There is life and progression towards an ultimate perfection when God finds the beginning of grace in any man. (J. J. Wray.)

Grace continually from God

As grace is at first from God, so it is continually from Him, and is maintained by Him, as much as light in the atmosphere is all day long from the sun, as well as at first dawning, or at sun rising. (J. Edwards.)

Multiplied grace

I have in my garden a tree that I have very carefully cultivated. It is not difficult for me to conceive that that tree may be perfect-that there is not a root nor a branch wanting; its foliage and fruitage are perfect; it is yielding fruit; but next summer I expect a little more than it has borne this year. The fruit may be no better than it was last year; it was perfect then, and is perfect now, but there is more of it, because, in the meantime, the tree has grown. So with your Christian experience. (Bp. Bowman.)

Of peace

I. What are the several species or kinds of peace?

1. There is an external peace, and that is-

(1) Economical, peace in a family.

(2) Political, peace in the State.

(3) Ecclesiastical, peace in the Church.

A spiritual peace, which is twofold-peace above us, or peace with God, and peace within us, or peace with conscience. This is superlative; other peace may be lasting, but this is everlasting.

II. Whence comes this peace? This peace hath the whole Trinity for its author.

1. God the Father is the “God of peace” (Philippians 4:9).

2. God the Son is the purchaser of peace (Colossians 1:20). Christ purchased our peace upon hard terms.

3. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit clears up the work of grace in the heart, from whence ariseth peace.

III. Whether may such as are destitute of grace have peace? No. Peace flows from sanctification, but they being unregenerate, have nothing to do with peace: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” They may have a truce, but no peace.

IV. What are the signs of a false peace?

1. A false peace hath much confidence in it, but this confidence is conceit.

2. False peace separates those things which God hath joined together: God joins holiness and peace, but he who hath a false peace separates these two. He lays claim to peace, but banisheth holiness.

3. False peace is not willing to be tried; a sign they are bad wares which will not endure the light; a sign a man hath stolen goods, when he will not have his house searched. A false peace cannot endure to be tried by the Word. The Word speaks of a humbling and refining work upon the soul before peace; false peace cannot endure to hear of this; the least trouble will shake this peace, it will end in despair.

V. How shall we know that ours is a true peace?

1. True peace flows from union with Christ. We must first be ingrafted into Christ, before we can receive peace from Him.

2. True peace flows from subjection to Christ; where Christ gives peace, there He sets up His government in the heart.

3. True peace is after trouble. Many say they have peace, but is this peace before a storm, or after it? True peace is after trouble.

VI. Whether have all sanctified persons this peace? They have a title to it; they have the ground of it; grace is the seed of peace, and it will in time turn to peace, as the blossoms of a tree to fruit, milk to cream.

VII. But why have not all believers the full enjoyment and possession of peace? Why is not this flower of peace fully ripe and blown?

1. Through the fury of temptation.

2. Through mistake and misapprehension about sin.

3. Through remissness in duty.

VIII. What shall we do to attain this blessed peace?

1. Ask it of God.

2. Make war with sin.

3. Go to Christ’s blood for peace.

4. Walk closely with God.

Walk very holily: God’s Spirit is first a refiner before a comforter. (T. Watson.)