By REV. JOHN COLQUHOUN, D.D., Minister of the Gospel, Leith (1813).
(Continued from page 85.)
And if, after he has, for his disobedience, been chastened with outward affliction, he nevertheless turns again to the same offence, this will, if infinite mercy prevent it not, inevitably expose him to inward distress which is inexpressibly more dreadful and intolerable. Oh! when a man who hath believed through grace presumes to cast a propitious eye upon some easily besetting sin, and secretly to say, “Is it not a little one? and my soul shall live,” he is not aware how effectually he thereby robs his soul of holy comfort. If, after having complained to the Lord of his unbelief, pride, self-confidence, deadness, frowardness, censoriousness, and other evils, he still is ready, on almost every occasion, to gratify, if not to excuse and vindicate them, does he not hereby resemble the hypocrite? and is it not proper that he should for a season be deprived of the comfort of seeing that he is a sincere believer; and also that he should be left under the prevalance of perplexing fears that he has hitherto been, and at present is, but a hypocrite? I do not say that a man’s relapsing for a time again and again into the same transgression, proves him to be a hypocrite, for God hath nowhere promised such a degree of strength to His people, during their state of imperfection, as will set them beyond the possibility of relapsing for a season into the same offence (Prov. xxiv. 16), but I affirm that a true Christian’s doing so makes him appear very like a hypocrite, obscures his evidences of sincerity, renders his condition inexpressibly dreadful, and exposes him to a very severe chastisement. Believer, if this be thy present condition, O apply, and without delay plead this gracious promise, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely” (Hos. xiv. 4), and, in the faith of it, watch and strive with holy resolution, especially against “the sin which doth so easily beset thee.” Know that thy redeeming God hath made an unalterable, an eternal separation, between the love of sin and the joy of salvation. O endeavour diligently to become eminent, especially in that grace which is more immediately the opposite of thy constitutional sin. Wouldst thou wish to keep down doubts and fears and to keep up faith and comfort? Shun, O shun every occasion, and every appearance, especially of that sin (I Thess. v. 22). Be persuaded that the pleasure of overcoming even the most easily besetting sin is inconceivably greater than the pleasure of committing it.
From the foregoing particulars the disconsolate believer may plainly see that he has none to blame but himself for his loss of holy consolation. When he is bewailing his want of peaceful tranquillity or holy joy he must complain of none but himself. It is he himself that takes, and even forces away, his own comfort, for by his aggravated sins he hath rendered it necessary that the Lord should hide His face from him. Indeed, he never sins against God without sinning at the same time against his own soul. We read in the Scriptures that we must forgive our enemies but never in express terms that we must forgive our friends. The iniquities of God’s own people are the most provoking to Him, and though He hath forgiven them all, as to the guilt of eternal wrath, yet, as in the case of Moses, He may refuse to forgive some of them in respect of the guilt of paternal anger. The iniquity of others “is marked before Him,” but “the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond” (Jer. xvii. 1). The friends of Christ, then, must be ever on their guard against sin, especially against wilful sin. Sinning wilfully will assuredly weaken their hands and bring trouble into their consciences.
Does a good man forfeit his holy comfort by making his graces or performances or lively frames his ground of right to trust in Jesus for salvation? He should hence learn the need that he has to be daily exercising himself in mortifying the legal spirit which remains in him. It is this that prompts him to make his graces and duties his warrant to renew his actings of trust in the Saviour, and thereby to forfeit the comfort of his soul. Next to unbelief itself his legal temper is, perhaps, the worst enemy of his pure consolation. It is a secret and subtle foe that seems to intend him a kindness, whilst it is always putting upon him, upon seeking for some good qualifications in himself, on the ground of which he may trust that God loveth him and that Christ saveth him. Let him, therefore, if he would retain spiritual comfort, be diligent in mortifying his self-righteous spirit and know that the way to conquer and destroy it is by faith, to bring daily into his conscience a better hope from a better righteousness than that of the law. All the spiritual distress of the exercised Christian may be traced to a legal spirit in him. He seldom wants comfort, but by looking less or more to his own righteousness, instead of looking off to the consummate righteousness of Jesus Christ. Believer, it is not sufficient, in order to maintain spiritual comfort, that thou dost not rely on thy graces and performances for a title to eternal life. Thou must not presume to rely on them, for even so much as a right to trust in Christ: thou must not make them the smallest part of thy warrant to renew thy exercise of confidence in Him.
Again: Do believers lose their holy consolation by living upon their comfort rather than upon the holy Comforter Himself, and by loving the former as much as, or more than, the latter? They may hence perceive that it is sinful and very displeasing to the Lord to rely upon the comfort already given them or to love consolation in the streams more than, or even as much as, comfort in the fountain. He taketh away sensible comfort from them because they have loved it inordinately or loved it too much, and because He would teach them effectually the necessity of loving the adorable Comforter Himself more than all the sweet consolation which they have received from Him. They must not expect that “the God of all comfort” will suffer them to let their love run waste upon their pleasant feelings. He will elevate it all to Himself. Because He loveth them He will so chasten them as to teach them to love Himself supremely and to live upon Himself in the absence of sensible delights. He will teach them to love Him more for that boundless ocean which is in Himself than for the few drops which He hath shed upon them; more for His own infinite benignity than for the grace or comfort which He hath communicated to them. He will thereby, at the same time, show them how weak their love of Him is when they love Him chiefly for the comfort which they have received from Him, and how weak their faith is when they live upon the streams rather than upon the overflowing fountain of consolation.
Further: Do believers, by their aggravated offences, provoke the Lord at any time so to hide His face from them as to leave them in the dark respecting the truth of grace in their hearts? It follows that, though grace is always in the heart of a holy man, yet he is not always able to discern it there. His heart is always the seat of the principles and habits of grace, and yet he doth not continually enjoy the comfort of perceiving them. The figures of a sundial continue to be plainly marked upon it, and yet we cannot see by it what hour of the day it is unless the sun shine upon it. It is only when graces are in exercise and when the glorious Sun of Righteousness shineth upon them that they can be seen. Let not, then, any of the saints conclude that they never had, and that they now have not, a well-grounded assurance of their being in a state of grace, because doubts of the truth of grace in them do sometimes arise in their minds. Their assurance of personal interest in Christ is well grounded and true, though it is far from being perfect. Their graces themselves are imperfect, and therefore that assurance of sense which arises from the perception of them must be imperfect likewise. Such believers as resolve never to rejoice till they attain perfect assurance must resolve never to rejoice while they are in this world. They should consider that there are many degrees of real uncertainty below a perfect degree of it, and that they injure themselves much when they call their state of grace into question as often as they do not perceive clearly their habits of grace.
Once more: Is it only by sinning against the high and holy One that believers lose that comfort of communion with Him? They may hence discover what reason they have to abhor and with holy detestation to turn from all manner of sin. Their iniquity has not only pierced the incarnate Redeemer and grieved the Holy Spirit but it pierces themselves through with many sorrows. It is the worst enemy of their souls. It incessantly strives to rob them of their purest and sweetest joys. Let them therefore without ceasing strive against the motions and mortify the members of the body of sin that dwelleth in them. If they allow, even for a moment, sin to dwell at ease in them it will assuredly deprive them of their holy tranquillity.