John Newton
I wish you to believe that I would be no advocate for carelessness or formality. I hope my conscience bears me witness that, besides trusting in the letter of the Scripture, I likewise desire an increase of that inward and comforting sense of Divine things in which I believe you are happy. I wish not only to be a subject of the kingdom of Jesus, but likewise to have that kingdom powerfully set up in my heart, which consists of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Indeed, I do not see how these can be distinguished, or what ground I could have to think that I am a subject of His kingdom, unless I earnestly desired to have that kingdom in all its branches and blessings flourishing in my soul. I do not know that I live in the neglect of any means appointed by God for my growth in these blessings, or willingly allow myself to do what is inconsistent with them. I think my heart is habitually in pursuit of them and that there is seldom an hour in any day when lively communion with my God, in Christ, is not present to my view as the chief good.1
1The first part of a letter to a friend, taken with editing from Newton’s Works, vol 1.
To this purpose, through grace, I can venture to express myself to man. Yet, notwithstanding the diligence and care I would aim at, it is still true that, when I come before the Lord, I see myself a poor inconsistent creature, my strength is perfect weakness, and all I have is sin. I confess I am afraid of fixing the criterion of a work of grace too high, lest the mourners in Zion should be discouraged, because I find it is the will of God that such people should not be discouraged but comforted, and because it appears to me that the Scriptural marks relate rather to desires, if real, than to attainments, or at least to those attainments which those often possess who are kept very short of conscious comforts (Mt 5:3-9, Lk 18:12,13, 1 Pet 2:7).
The points between you and me seem chiefly the following: (1.) When may a person be properly denominated a believer? (2.) What are the proper evidences that necessarily accompany a lively, thriving frame of spirit? (3.) Will such a degree of faithfulness to light received, as is consistent with the remnant of a depraved nature in our present state, certainly and always preserve our souls from declensions and winter seasons? (4.) Is that gracious humility, which arises from a due sense of our own vileness and of the riches of Divine grace, ordinarily attainable without some mortifying experience of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of our own hearts? A few lines on each of these particulars, will, I think, take in the chief parts of your letter.
1. We differ somewhat about what constitutes a believer.
I own nothing has surprised me more, in the course of our friendly debate, than that you suppose a person should date his conversion and the beginning of his believing, from the time he receives the truths of the gospel with that clearness and power as to produce in him an abiding assurance. By the experience and observation of many years, I have been more and more persuaded that to represent assurance as of the essence of faith, does not agree with Scripture, which in many places either expressly asserts, or strongly intimates, the contrary (Jn 1:50, 20:29; Rom 10:9; 1 Jn 5:1).
Whoever is not a believer must be an unbeliever; there can be no middle ground. Either there are many believers who do not have assurance, or else there are many unbelievers who love the Lord Jesus, hate sin, are poor in spirit, and adorn the doctrine of the gospel by their temper and life. I do not doubt but those who now have assurance had, before they attained it, a something which wrought by love and overcame the world. I do not know any principle capable of these effects but faith, which is the seed of God, though at first it is like a grain of mustard seed; though it is faint, it is genuine, as the dawning light is of the same nature with the light that flows from the sun at noon. I allow that, while faith is weak, there may be little solid comfort, if that expression means abiding comfort. Faith gives safety and spiritual life; abiding peace and establishment may follow. But though an infant does not have the strength, activity and understanding which he will attain when he arrives to the age of manhood, he is as fully possessed of a principle of life while he is an infant as at any time afterwards.
Mbuma Mission Meeting
Rev D A Ross
After the absence of such meetings for three years due to the Covid pandemic, the return to normality was a great pleasure for the Mbuma Zending Committee as well as for the nearly 3000 people who came to Gorinchem, on 27 April 2022, for the Mbuma Mission Day. It was also a great pleasure for myself as I mingled with the people and addressed the large gathering.
The Chairman, Ds Van Voorden, pastor of the Gereformeerde Gemeente in Nederland in Leerdam, said in his introduction that he had feared that the absence of a Mission Day for three years may well have impacted on the number of those attending as well as the donations. He was overjoyed to see that this was not the case. Despite the long absence of the mission meetings, the enthusiasm of the people was unabated and seemed a token of the Lord’s approval for such work as promotes the welfare of those in need, especially when it contributes to the spiritual good of sinners.
The collection that day was €51 000 which did not include money from those who specifically sold off their merchandise for the Mbuma Mission. This was similar, I suppose, to those who sold their lands in the early days of the New Testament Church and laid the sum at the Apostles’ feet for the furtherance of mission work (Acts 4:34,35).
It is a remarkable providence, indeed one of many, in the life of our Church work in Africa, that financial and other forms of support from Holland have continued. The first Mbuma Zending Meeting was in 1964, and there was hearty support from friends in Holland before then. In view of this we have reason to keep reminding ourselves that, without this long history of support, we would not be in the position as a Church to maintain our mission in Africa. Moreover, there is a greater giving besides donations of money and other material benefits – people giving their working lives to serve in our Mission, including those parts which serve as handmaids to the gospel.
In reminding ourselves of the vast amount of work our Dutch friends engage in, we in no way forget the ongoing contributions of our own people in the homeland and from other parts of the world to support the Mission. Nor do we forget the greater value of their pleading at a throne of grace for the success of the gospel. It is ultimately the gospel that the Lord, by His Holy Spirit, makes effectual in saving lost sinners.
During my visit, one matter of many which greatly impressed me was the large number of children at the Mission meeting. It was a pleasing sight to see parents with their young children, some little ones in their arms and others in pushchairs. We could not but think of the blessing, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward” (Ps 127:3). The glorious end we desire is that many of these little ones will yet be among those that Psalm 22:30 speaks of: “A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” How awful to live in an age when abortionists promote the killing of little babies in the womb. On the other hand, how pleasant to see so many little ones affectionately cared for and brought to a place where the name of Christ is proclaimed! It reminded me of the little children on our Mission in Zimbabwe who are brought up under the good news of the gospel; many of them, we have reason to hope, will be followers of Christ Jesus.
Six speakers in turn addressed the large gathering from a passage of Scripture with the prime intention to promote the spread of the gospel and the other activities associated with the Mission. Five of the speakers were ministers of the gospel, and the other a schoolteacher, who spoke especially for the children.
I wish to emphasise the kindly reception I received from the Mbuma Zending Committee and many of the people, whom I have come to know over the years. The excellent interpreters not only translated my address but also translated from Dutch to English to enable me to follow the Bible-centred addresses of the other speakers.
The time came to disperse after my three days in Holland, during which I was shown much kindness by Mr J Voortman and his family in Rijssen, and our chauffeur, Mr B Koopman, did not spare himself over many miles of travel. Eventually arriving safely at Inverness airport, I was met by Rev N M Ross, who saw me away three days previously, and some hours later, I arrived home safely in Laide. Looking beyond all these caring friends, we have to look higher to the good Lord, from whom every good and perfect gift comes. Above all, we look to the Lord to use these endeavours, at the time of the Mbuma Zending meeting, for the furtherance of His Kingdom. May He graciously hear the petition, “Thy Kingdom come” (Mt 6:10).
Thomas Boston – His Life and Ministry1
2. The Ministry in Simprin
F R Daubney
Despite his reputation, Thomas Boston was a probationer for over two years before he got a call. These were the days when landowners, the heritors or patrons, had the final say in who should be called to a charge; if a minister did not preach what they wanted to hear, or was too strict for their liking, or would not bow to their requirements in other ways, they would not permit the call to proceed, whatever the congregation might want. In addition, some ministers, who felt rebuked by Boston because of his godliness and the uprightness of his life and character, would have used their influence against him. There were, apparently, seven parishes which, if left to make their own choice, would have given a call to Boston, but the people were thwarted.1
1The first part of this Theological Conference paper, last month, dealt with Boston’s young years and conversion, and also his university studies in preparation for the ministry.
During this period Boston was reading Matthew 4:19, where the Saviour says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”. He was very anxious to know how he might follow Christ and become a true fisher of men and so, for his own instruction, he wrote what he called a soliloquy on the art of man-fishing. It was addressed as if to his own soul. He himself called it just a scribble, and it was only published after his death. Since then it has been widely admired, and it is a source of astonishment that a 22-year-old probationer could produce a document showing such depth and insight. Once again, we should remember that Boston was a very exercised, praying man.
Although Boston was sometimes depressed by all the disappointments, there were other times when he was greatly encouraged. Often he would be told of blessings received under his preaching, and experienced Christians expressed their amazement that such a young man could open up their most hidden experiences. He was heartened by these tokens of encouragement and thanked God.
After many ups and downs and much agonising at the throne of grace, the Lord’s work of preparation was complete. The people of the parish of Simprin, just a few miles south-east of Duns, were of one mind with their heritor that Thomas Boston should be called to be their minister. And on Thursday, 21 September 1699, he was duly ordained and inducted to the charge. The parish of Simprin was small and the church building tiny. All that remains today is a gable end and broken-down walls which form an outline of the original shape, with a plaque commemorating the fact that it was once Boston’s church. The location is beautiful, between the slopes of the Lammermuir and Cheviot hills.
On his first Sabbath in Simprin, Boston preached from the text, “For they watch for your souls as they that must give account” (Heb 13:17). He was able to say, “This is my rest, here will I dwell. I found my heart well content with my lot, and the sense of God’s calling me to that work with the promise of His presence. O, it satisfies my soul, and my very heart blesseth Him for it. For really it is the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in my eyes.”
At first the manse in Simprin was uninhabitable and it was necessary for him to live with his father in Duns, which was six miles away. The travelling back and forth impeded his work, but he diligently did what he could. He visited every household in the parish and discovered a depth of ignorance which was greatly disappointing; the people were indifferent to everything spiritual and heavenly. He found 88 examinable people in the parish but only one household where family worship was observed. The Lord’s Supper had not been kept for several years. Little wonder that the new minister was deeply dejected for long periods.
Anyone who reads Boston’s Memoirs, which were written for his children and not for publication, must be impressed by his total reliance on the Lord. All his concerns and joys were acknowledged on his knees. He fasted frequently and made it a pattern of life for his family. None of his decisions, certainly those of consequence, were ever made without seeking guidance from above. Like Enoch and Noah, Thomas Boston walked with God.
He held a morning and an afternoon service every Sabbath and on Sabbath evening there was a meeting for the study of The Shorter Catechism. In the manse on Tuesday evening there was a gathering for worship, and on Thursday he held a prayer meeting in the church. There was also regular catechising throughout the parish. Following his marriage, the manse was thrown open for any of his congregation to join the family for worship each morning.
In 1697, before he was licensed, Boston met a Katherine Brown in Culross in Fife. He writes, “Whenever I saw her, a thought struck through my heart about her being my wife”. They saw nothing of each other for the next year but in the spring of 1698, Boston met Katherine again, and the acquaintance was renewed. In the August of that year, after much prayer, he proposed to her and they agreed to marry. Because of the delay in him finding a charge, and then the low stipend at Simprin, it was two years before they were married, in Culross in 1700. Five children were born to them in Simprin, two of whom died in infancy. Sadly, Katherine was incapacitated from time to time by a mental illness, but the two were devoted to one another throughout their marriage, and in later years Boston wrote a most touching description of his gracious wife.
In early May 1701, Boston’s father died, and this was an enormous blow to him. He had been very fond of his father and always remembered the sacrifices he had made to allow him to go to university.
Soon after John Boston’s death, Thomas and Katherine’s first child, also Katherine, was born. The child had a double hare lip and could not suck. By the end of the summer, however, the baby began to make progress and her parents felt able to leave her at home when they had to go to Clackmannanshire on business. While they were away, Mrs Boston had a dream in which she saw the child perfectly formed, “the natural defect being made up, and extraordinarily beautiful”. The couple hurried home to find that the baby had died and been buried. As far as they could tell, she had died at the very hour of the dream. I know that we should be very wary of placing importance on dreams, but this was recorded by Boston, and he clearly believed it to be significant.
Boston prepared his sermons meticulously throughout the week and endeavoured to keep the Saturday clear for heart preparation and rest. Early in his ministry he began preaching on the state of man’s soul, from before the Fall to his final condition in heaven or hell. These sermons were later published as the book, Human Nature in its Fourfold State.2 It was at this time that Boston began to write out his sermons in full – for his Sabbath preaching on such particular and vital matters. He did not want to say anything that he had not thought through properly beforehand. There were times when he still preached extemporaneously and freely, but he later regarded it as a kind dispensation of providence that he kept on writing out his sermons. We would possibly not have had the Fourfold State but for the providence of Boston being able to go back to his written sermons.
There were few books in the Simprin manse. The minister had little money to buy them and, when he did get a new book, he devoured it from cover to cover. There was one occasion when he was hurt to see a brother minister smile at his small collection of books. He came, however, to see a kind providence in this too; his lack of commentaries caused him to go on his knees, and he discovered that “a heavenly frame of mind is the best interpreter of Scripture”.
One day, in 1700, he was sitting in a house in Simprin when he saw two books on a shelf above the window. One of these was The Marrow of Modern Divinity by Edward Fisher. The man who owned them had been a soldier in England and brought them home with him. He happily lent both to his minister who, while not particularly keen on the second book, greatly relished the Marrow. This book consists largely of extracts from the writings of the Reformers and Puritans, and it addresses questions connected with the way a sinner finds access to God.
2 I will return later to the production of this book.
It takes the form of a discussion between four persons – a minister (called Evangelista), a legalist (Nomista), an antinomian (Antinomista), and a young, seeking Christian (Neophystus). The book covers the sovereignty of God in the covenant of grace, the free offer of the gospel, faith in Christ and sanctification by grace. Boston found it enlightening on a number of issues. In his early years at Simprin he had found himself “confused, indistinct and hampered in his proclamation to men of the free, open and universal liberty of access to God in Christ for salvation”. He also tells us that in 1698 he had heard George Mair, minister of Culross, speaking of being divorced from, and dead to, the law. These expressions did not then convey much meaning to Boston. In The Marrow of Modern Divinity he had these things opened up and explained to him, so that he saw more clearly God’s wondrous method of mercy.3
3 I will return to the Marrow and its far-reaching effects later.
The Lord’s cause in Simprin was completely transformed in the few years following Boston’s arrival. In less than seven years, every home in the parish held worship morning and evening, and the singing of psalms could be heard ringing out. Instead of the thorn, there had come up the fir tree; and instead of the briar, there had come up the myrtle tree. The communion seasons, which Boston had reinstated, became occasions of great gatherings, with many coming from neighbouring parishes; such were the success and fame of Boston’s preaching. His sermons were preached to his own heart before he preached them from the pulpit. He said once, “My soul went out in flames of love to the Advocate with the Father”.
Early in 1706 Boston received an unexpected call to be minister of the parish of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire. He wrote in his diary that his health was so broken that he looked more like someone about to be transported to another world rather than to another parish. He had become very fond of his flock in Simprin, and they of him, but he was determined to discover the will of God in the matter. He visited Ettrick and preached there, to find out more about the parish’s moral and religious situation. “The desolation in that parish,” he says, “ever since I saw it, hath great weight on me, and I am convinced I should have more opportunity to do service for God there than here; but success is the Lord’s.” The text, “He that believeth shall not make haste”, was helpful to him. After much prayer he felt moved to accept the call but decided to wait for the Synod’s decision and accept that as the indication of the Lord’s will. In March 1707 the Synod agreed to transfer him to Ettrick. The elders representing Simprin at the Synod wept at the thought of their beloved pastor being taken from them. And Boston confessed that his own eyes had trickled down with tears too.
On 1 May 1707 Thomas Boston was inducted as minister of Ettrick – the same day the union between Scotland and England took place. Thinking back to his time in Simprin, he said, “Thus I parted from a people whose hearts were knit to me, and mine to them, nothing but the sense of God’s command that took me there making me to part with them”.
Thomas Charles of Bala1
A Review Article by Roy Middleton
Non-Welsh speakers are already in some considerable debt to John Aaron for his translation into English of two classic Welsh works: John Morgan Jones and William Morgan’s two-volume The Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wales (Banner of Truth Trust, 2008) and Owen Thomas, The Atonement Controversy: Welsh Theological Literature and Debate 1707-1841 (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002). Particularly valuable is Aaron’s discerning 40-page introduction to the latter volume along with the biographical sketches of the participants in the debates. We are now further in his debt for writing this excellent biography of Thomas Charles (1755-1814), the leader of the second generation of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.1
1 Thomas Charles of Bala, by John Aaron, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hard-back, 406 pages, £15.50; available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
The standard biography of Charles, written in 1908 by D E Jenkins, is a massive three-volume work of almost 2000 pages, which, in Aaron’s words, “is a gold-mine of letters, documents and facts but is utterly unreadable as a biography. In all its pages there is not one discussion of Charles’s theological position” (p. xi). Iain Murray has noted, “Perhaps no man was the means of bringing more blessing to his native land than Thomas Charles, and yet no books on his life have been available for a long time”. John Aaron now has supplied this lack in a detailed modern biography.
Thomas Charles was born at Llanfihangel Abercywyn, Carmarthenshire on 14 October 1755. He was educated at a village school in Llanddowror before going on to the Dissenting academy at Carmarthen in 1769. During his time there he visited Llangeitho, Cardiganshire, and in January 1773 was converted as he listened to the preaching of Daniel Rowland. In 1775 he began his studies at Oxford University and attended Jesus College. During his college days he came into contact with several Evangelicals, among them John Newton and William Romaine. He was ordained deacon on June 14 1778, two weeks before leaving Oxford, and was appointed the curate of Sparkford, in Somerset, in September, having preached his first sermon at Llanfihangel Abercywyn on August 16. Whilst a curate in the Church of England he was eager to return to Wales and left Somerset on June 1783.
In August of that year he married Sally Jones, the daughter of a shop-keeper at Bala in north Wales, whom he had met during a visit to the town, with a fellow student, Simon Lloyd, in the summer of 1778. His courtship of Sally Jones was for him a trying affair as she did not seem to be as keen on the union as Charles. She was not prepared to leave Bala and could not see how it was possible for her to marry a clergyman. In the Jenkins biography each step of the courtship is gone into in considerable detail and even in Aaron’s a whole chapter of 37 pages is devoted to it.
Making Bala his home, he had very great difficulty in obtaining a living in the Church of England due to his Methodism. Methodism at that time was a term similar to “Evangelical” today and did not refer to a distinct denomination. Though the Methodists formed themselves into societies which held meetings at different times from those of the Church of England, they still viewed themselves as part of the Established Church. In January 1784 he was appointed curate of Llanymawddwy but was dismissed a few months later due to his support for the Methodists. This ended his career as a Church of England clergyman. Having aligned himself fully with the Methodist cause by joining one of their societies in July 1784, Charles went on to make Bala the centre of their activities in north Wales. His wife Sally owned a shop in Bala and was a keen businesswoman. She became the means of her husband’s financial support for the rest of his life.
It was from his base in Bala that Charles undertook an extensive itinerant ministry among the Methodist societies. He initiated the important innovation of allowing the societies to choose their own “leaders” (who would eventually be called “elders”) They had previously been centrally appointed by the Association meeting of the societies. It was from Bala that he was also active in the agencies that were to be such a blessing to Wales.
Deeply interested in Christian education, he established circulating schools similar to those of Griffith Jones 50 years earlier, and trained teachers to work in them. These schools were, in time, to develop into Sabbath schools, and thus to become central to the development of Calvinistic Methodism. Though not the founder of the Sabbath school movement in Wales, Charles more than anyone, through his firm leadership and gift for organization, secured a reliable foundation for it. Out of his educational activity grew his literary work, which ranged from catechisms for children (1789) to a four-volume Bible dictionary that provided the Methodist converts with the means to develop their understanding of the Christian faith. To unite the movement he began publishing a periodical in 1799 called The Spiritual Treasury. Among Charles’s English-language publications were A Short Evangelical Catechism (1801) and Welsh Methodism Vindicated (1802).
A shortage of Welsh Bibles at the end of the eighteenth century led Charles to investigate the possibility of providing a cheap Welsh edition of the Scriptures. It was as a result of this investigation, and his attendance at the meetings of the Religious Tract Society in London, that the British and Foreign Bible Society was established in 1804. According to tradition, it was the recounting by Charles of the visit to him by Mary Jones that produced such an electrifying effect on the Tract Society Committee and convinced them to establish a Bible society. One of its first achievements was to publish a new edition of the Welsh Bible, and Charles was charged with the responsibility of preparing the text and supervising the printing. Following the death of Daniel Rowlands and William Williams of Pantycelyn, and the expulsion of Nathaniel Rowland (Daniel Rowland’s son) for misconduct in 1807, Charles became the foremost Welsh Methodist leader. He was highly regarded by the Countess of Huntingdon and not only supplied her congregations but for the last 20 years of his life, with few exceptions, spent eight weeks each year supplying the Countess’s Spa Fields Chapel in London. He was also an active supporter of the fledgling London Missionary Society and was one of its directors.
In Welsh church history Charles is remembered for the part he took in the Methodist ordinations of 1811 and the severance of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism from the Anglican Church. He had long opposed this movement, and the Methodists of Caernarvonshire and Merioneth had supported him. But he gave way and was commissioned by the Association to draw up the form of ordination. The secession occurred when the Calvinistic Methodist movement ordained their own ministers, one of whom was John Elias. Thomas Charles was a key representative of the transitional period during which Welsh Methodism developed from a revival movement into a Dissenting denomination. He died on 5 October 1814 and was buried at Llanycil church near Bala. His wife died just a few weeks later on October 24.
John Aaron’s biography is highly recommended to our readers and is produced to the usual high quality that we have come to expect from the Banner of Truth Trust.
The Vine and the Branches1
J C Ryle
These verses, we must carefully remember, contain a parable. In interpreting it, we must not forget the great rule which applies to all Christ’s parables. The general lesson of each parable is the main thing to be noticed. The minor details must not be tortured, strained and pressed to an excess, in order to extract a meaning from them. The mistakes into which Christians have fallen, by neglecting this rule, are neither few nor small.1
1Taken, with editing, from Expository Thoughts on John, vol 3. Here are some of Ryle’s comments on John 15:1-6.
We are meant to learn firstly, from these verses, that the union between Christ and believers is very close. He is “the Vine”, and they are “the branches”. The union between the branch of a vine and the main stem is the closest that can be conceived. It is the whole secret of the branch’s life, strength, vigour, beauty and fertility. Separate from the parent stem, it has no life of its own. The sap and juice that flow from the stem are the origin and maintaining power of all its leaves, buds, blossoms and fruit. Cut off from the stem, it must soon wither and die.
The union between Christ and believers is just as close and just as real. In themselves believers have no life, or strength, or spiritual power. All that they have of vital religion comes from Christ. They are what they are, and feel what they feel, and do what they do, because they draw out of Jesus a continual supply of grace, help and ability. Joined to the Lord by faith, and united in mysterious union with Him by the Spirit, they stand and walk and continue and run the Christian race. But every jot of good about them is drawn from their spiritual Head, Jesus Christ.
The thought before us is both comforting and instructive. Believers have no cause to despair of their own salvation, and to think they will never reach heaven. Let them consider that they are not left to themselves and their own strength. Their root is Christ, and all that there is in the root is for the benefit of the branches. Because He lives, they shall live also. Worldly people have no cause to wonder at the continuance and perseverance of believers. Weak as they are in themselves, their Root is in heaven and never dies. “When I am weak,” said Paul, “then am I strong” (2 Cor 12:10).
We are meant to learn, secondly, from these verses, that there are false Christians as well as true ones. There are “branches in the vine” which appear to be joined to the parent stem and yet bear no fruit. There are men and women who appear to be members of Christ, and yet will prove finally to have had no vital union with Him.
There are myriads of professing Christians in every Church whose union with Christ is only outward and formal. Some of them are joined to Christ by baptism and Church membership. Some of them go even further than this and are regular communicants and loud talkers about religion. But they all lack the one thing needful. Notwithstanding services and sermons and sacrament, they have no grace in their hearts, no faith, no inward work of the Holy Spirit. They are not one with Christ, and Christ with them. Their union with Him is only nominal, not real. They have a name to live, but in the sight of God they are dead (Rev 3:1).
Christians of this stamp are aptly represented by branches in a vine which bear no fruit. Useless and unsightly, such branches are only fit to be cut off and burned. They draw nothing out of the parent stem and make no return for the place they occupy. Just so will it be at the last day with false professors of religion, nominal Christians. Their end, unless they repent, will be destruction. They will be separated from the company of true believers and cast out as withered, useless branches, into everlasting fire. They will find at last, whatever they thought in this world, that there is a worm that never dies and a fire that is not quenched.
We are meant to learn, thirdly, from these verses, that the fruits of the Spirit are the only satisfactory evidence of a man being a true Christian. The disciple that abides in Christ, like a branch abiding in the vine, will always bear fruit. He that would know what the word “fruit” means need not wait long for an answer. Repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, holiness of life and conduct, these are what the New Testament calls “fruit”. These are the distinguishing marks of the man who is a living branch of the true Vine. Where these things are lacking, it is vain to talk of possessing “dormant” grace and spiritual life. Where there is no fruit, there is no life. He that lacketh these things is “dead while [he] liveth” (1 Tim 5:6).
True grace, we must not forget, is never idle. It never slumbers and never sleeps. It is a vain notion to suppose that we are living members of Christ, if the example of Christ is not to be seen in our characters and lives. Fruit is the only satisfactory evidence of saving union between Christ and our souls. Where there is no fruit of the Spirit to be seen, there is no vital religion in the heart. The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus will always make Himself known in the daily conduct of those in whom He dwells. The Master Himself declares, “Every tree is known by his own fruit” (Lk 6:44).
We are meant, fourthly, to learn from these verses, that God will often increase the holiness of true Christians by His providential dealings with them. “Every branch”, it is written, “that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bear more fruit.” The meaning of this language is clear and plain. Just as the vine-dresser prunes and cuts back the branches of a fruitful vine, in order to make them more fruitful, so does God purify and sanctify believers by the circumstances of life in which He places them.
Trial, to speak plainly, is the instrument by which God the Father in heaven makes Christians more holy. By trial He calls out their passive graces and proves whether they can suffer His will as well as do it. By trial He weans them from the world, draws them to Christ, drives them to the Bible and prayer, shows them their own hearts, and makes them humble. This is the process by which He purges them and makes them more fruitful. The lives of the saints, in every age, are the best and truest comment on the text. We hardly find an eminent saint, either in the Old Testament or the New, who was not purified by suffering and was not, like His Master, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Is 53:3).
Let us learn to be patient in the days of darkness, if we know anything of vital union with Christ. Let us remember the doctrine of the passage before us and not murmur and complain because of trials. Our trials are not meant to do us harm, but good. God chastens us “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10). Fruit is the thing that our Master desires to see in us, and He will not spare the pruning knife if He sees we need it. In the last day we shall see that all was well done.
The Moral Law1
Thomas Watson
1. What is the difference between the moral law and the gospel?
(1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel that we worship Him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of Christ we may see God’s power, justice and holiness; in Him we see His mercy displayed.
(2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives no strength (as Pharaoh required brick, but gave no straw), but the gospel gives strength; it bestows faith on the elect; it sweetens the law; it makes us serve God with delight.
2. What use is the moral law to us?
It is a mirror to show us our sins, so that, seeing our perdition and misery, we may be forced to flee to Christ to satisfy for former guilt and to save from future wrath. “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Gal 3:24).
3. Is the moral law still in force to believers? Is it not abolished to them?
In some sense it is abolished to believers. (1) In respect of justification. They are not justified by their obedience to the moral law. Believers are to make great use of the moral law, but they must trust only to Christ’s righteousness for justification; as Noah’s dove made use of her wings to fly, but trusted to the ark for safety. If the moral law could justify, what need was there of Christ’s dying?1
1An extract, slightly edited, from Watson’s The Ten Commandments.
(2) The moral law is abolished to believers in respect of its curse. They are freed from its curse and condemnatory power. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal 3:13).