FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.—2 Pet. 1, 5-7.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.—2 Pet. 1, 5-7.
It is a very easy thing, my beloved, to be a Christian, and it is a very difficult thing to be a Christian. That may sound paradoxical and strange, but it is soberness and truth. It is very easy to be a Christian by name, but it is very difficult to be one in reality. It is an undeniable fact that there are people who call themselves after the Savior, and yet are a disgrace even to common decency; whilst others again keep slightly more within the bounds of morality, yet their tempers remain unsubdued, their tongues unbridled, they mind earthly things, and there is little or no difference between them and the people of the world. Even when they have connected themselves with the Church, and taken formal discipleship and membership upon themselves, this inconsistency appears. Some are great saints on great occasions, when there is a chance to shine in the esteem of men, but are glaringly deficient in private spheres and duties, and are very leaden and dull where no applause is forthcoming. Others can always be depended upon where it costs them nothing, but when burdens are to be borne, their interest lies somewhere else. Still others are generous enough with their means, but expect their dollars to answer in place of a pure life and to counterbalance a vast deal of self-indulgence and unsanctity. Another class are those who are full of zeal and energy, provided they are allowed to do everything their own way, and are not compelled to cooperate with certain other people whom they despise. And so there are multitudes of chaotic, one-sided, undeveloped, unsatisfactory professing Christians whose conduct is anything but consistent with their claims, and in little accord with Him whose name they would bear.
Now turn to the Scripture,—read the descriptions given in the holy writings of what constitutes a full-fledged Christian, and holding up the picture before your spiritual eyes, begin to compare the modern Christian with the Scriptural one, the real one with the nominal. For what is a Christian? A Christian is, first of all, a person who has been justified by faith in Christ;that is his real character and standing, and as long as he remains true in his faith and to his Savior, he remains a Christian. But this does not offset, but rather involves, that the faith by which we are justified and saved must be a live, an active and vigorous principle, which draws after it a train of noble virtues and good works; we must not only be Christians, but show it; we must not only have justifying grace, but also sanctifying grace, leading us forward in our Christian profession. We Christians must not be like mill-wheels which move indeed, but always stand in the same place, or like mill-horses which go round and round, but never get beyond the one narrow circle. Nay, we must advance in Christian holiness, go forward to the full measure of our stature as a Christian. This is the principal thought that the various Sundays of Trinity urge upon us, and again in harmony with which we find our text. These words point out to us:I. The additions we are to make to our faith;II. the manner in which we must make these additions. May God bless our meditations upon them!
The Apostle begins: "Add to your faith virtue." You will observe he does not want his readers to seek after faith,—that he supposes them to possess already,—he addresses them as believers, and calls upon them to add to their belief, as if he would say: You claim to have faith (it is a good thing to have), but you seem to forget that faith without works is dead, that Christianity is not only a spiritual religion, but a practical one. What does a foundation amount to if the superstructure be not reared? Nothing; it is a beginning without a progress. Just so with faith,—it isthechief requisite of Christian religion, and must not be a scheme of doctrine which lies asleep in the mind and never stimulates.
Abraham had faith, and he offered up Isaac. Moses had faith, and he esteemed the afflictions and hardships of the people of Israel greater rather than the treasures of Egypt. Abel and Noah had faith; it led the one to build, and the other to die the death of a martyr. And so you, claiming to have faith, "add to your faith virtue." This is the first addition mentioned. Virtue here does not signify goodness in general, but a particular quality; it means as much as fortitude, courage, bravery,—add to your faith courage. And the exhortation was indeed necessary in those days of the Apostle's writing. Heathenism and Judaism were making common cause to despise, persecute, and malignthe followers of the new religion. Many of the followers of Christ had to sacrifice home, country, family, and friends, and wander about as the offscouring of the earth. Temptations and distractions of the most dangerous kind were assailing them. And it could not be otherwise; if not rooted and grounded, firm, courageous, inflexible, they would surely make shipwreck. It is no less necessary this day. The world is not more a friend to religion and religionists now than it was then. It is not an easy thing to encounter adverse opinion, to incur the sneers and frowns of relatives and associates, or the scorn of persons in business and society. It is not a pleasant feeling to find yourself in a small and despised minority, and that minority ofttimes lacking in appreciation, sympathy, and cooperation. When you add to these the petty jealousies, misrepresentations, and stabs in the back, hypocrisies and ingratitude, one is prone to become discouraged, and to drop off in sullenness and despondency. What we need in such moments of weakness to support our flagging minds and faltering energies is virtue,—courage, moral and religious resolve to do and to dare, to show ourselves as men, and not as moral cowards and fretting babes. Fie on a Peter that denied his Master before the taunts of a maid, and shame on the disciples who forsook Him in the hour of emergency. How noble does there appear in comparison that Roman soldier at Pompeii who stood in his place when the avalanche of lava and fire was engulfing the city, where, over a thousand years afterwards, he was excavated with his sword drawn and still guarding the city gate. O for a stand to our profession and to God's Word till He shall say, "It is enough," for a little boldness, holy determination, courage, firmness to follow our convictions and to voice them, regardless of the reproach we may endure, or the losses we may sustain.
The second addition to our faith mentioned is "knowledge." A knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ, these people to whom St. Peter wrote indeed had. But there are such heights and depths, lengths and breadths in Christian knowledge that the greatest of saints can never get done learning it. The most knowing are like children on the seashore. Though they may gather the many precious pebbles and beautiful shells, the vast ocean of truth still lies unexplored before them, and we need all strive after a deeper and cleaner insight into the mysteries of God and of His grace.
A person once told me that some people know too much, and that their very wisdom in sacred things spoils their piety. This may be where the knowledge is merely a thing of the head and not affecting the heart, but it will be a sad day for Christianity if ever it comes to accept the maxim: "Ignorance is the mother of devotion." Another once told me that it was useless for him to go to church, for he knew it all. Mistaken man! I saw him on his deathbed and found his soul so destitute of true knowledge that he had not enough wherewith to die in peace.
Let us not be deceived! Never can we come to the strength and stature of men and women in Christ except we search and study the Scripture, listen attentively to the exposition of the Word. Even what is most familiar to us we need to have continually repeated in our ears, lest we forget it, or our piety will go out and die, just like a lamp that is not supplied with oil. For not only theoretical knowledge does the Apostle mean here, but, I take it, practical knowledge, that knowledge which we ordinarily call prudence, which is knowledge applied to action. And it is a quality which a Christian must seek to cultivate. A Christian ought to grow wiser as he grows older. A Christian is intent on studying his character and his ways. He seeks to make every day an improvement or correction of the former, deriving strength from his very weaknesses and firmness from his falls. A Christian distinguishes times, places, circumstances; he does not rashly offer his opinion, but discerns when to speak and when to keep silence. When he reproves, he does so with skill; when he gives, he does so with judgment. A Christian does not overrate his position and talents, nor does he underrate them; he is willing to approve things that are excellent, even if he is not the first to advance them, and is upright enough to speak against what is wrong, even if it might not be popular. But alas, what numbers there are of normal Christians whose temper, character, disposition marks no improvement; they are the same year in and year out, no better, no holier, no stronger in Christian life; their Christian experience and advancement is equal to naught. "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way," says Solomon, and the Apostle exhorts: "Add to your faith knowledge."
Thirdly, "Add to your faith temperance,"i. e., moderation. Keep your passions within due bounds and your desires regulated.
Having dwelt at length on this quality recently, we pass on to the next: "Add to your faith patience." Things are not always to our fancy and taste. The weather is not always fair and the roads agreeable. Men and things are liable to vex us, torment us, our circumstances and connections prove galling and exacting. Nothing is then more desirable than an antidote to strengthen and invigorate the soul than patience. It prepares you for every changing scene and every suffering hour. It sustains you under afflictions, and gives you that calmness and resignation which so much becomes the Christian. Nothing is more dishonoring and disnobling than to behold that disposition which must continually be pampered and stroked and rocked like a child, under the slightest provocation and disfavorableness will froth and foam. Amid life's ills practice patience. As the Holy Scripture expresses it: "Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing."
Of the remaining virtues mentioned we next have "godliness," meaning the fear and love of God as it is shown in our lives, pervading our actions and controlling our every deed. Here is the difference between morality and religion. An unbeliever, a non-Christian, may conduct himself just as civilly and respectably outwardly as a believer, as a Christian. Outwardly, I say, the difference between the two lies in this: the one does it from consideration, probably, of gain in society, or probably from a fear of avoiding the penitentiary, whereas the Christian is prompted in his conduct by motives and considerations toward his God. You cannot be godly without being moral; you can pose for moral, and still not be godly. Godliness consists in this, to bring God into every part of life, to make Him the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all we do; and it is only when we do that, and when we make His Word our rule and His glory our aim, that life is what it is intended to be, and answers the purpose for which the Creator has given it. To live without godliness is like an arrow without point and feather,—it will never hit the target.
Where there is godliness, it will be attended by the other two virtues mentioned, "brotherly kindness" and "charity." Where there is water, there it is wet; where there is a tree, there it is shady; where there are right sentiments toward God, there will also be right sentiments toward our fellow-Christians and fellow-men. It matters not how they may differ in age, theypossess the same powers of conscience, reason, and mentality; they are liable to the same afflictions, are members of the same family, travelers to the same heavenly grace; they need the same assistance and cheer, hence I am to exercise toward them brotherly kindness and charity. But the last is surely not in this case the least, for charity is the highest attainment in practical Christianity, the fulfilling of the Law, the bond of perfectness, and, need I add? the most difficult of all Christian virtues. This charity manifests itself in our conduct toward the brethren. It is the opposite of that hasty spirit and temper which is ever finding fault and breaking out in sudden and rash anger. It is that benignant spirit which does not reckon up the injuries received with a view of having satisfaction for them. It pities men's infirmities and moral failures, and makes ample allowances for them. Nor does it scramble for its own gratification in disregard of others' rights, dues, and comforts, but seeks to serve all men as it would serve itself. Nor does it lose heart and give up in disgust when all meets with discouragements and obstructions, ingratitude on the part of those for whom it labors and lives. It is willing to forgive and forget, to defend, and to put the best construction on everything. It is the highest and best test of Christian character, the most important, the most exalted, the most enduring of all virtues. We wonder that the Apostle mentions it last in the divine category of Christian graces, directing us to add to our faith.
Let us now proceed, secondly, to inquire how this is to be accomplished. The Apostle tells us in our text. It is by giving all diligence, and in order that we might do so, remember these things deserve your diligence, that diligence will secure them, that they cannot be secured without diligence. They deserve your diligence. It is pitiable to see how many thousands are employing their zeal, and wasting their strength and spending their money, talents, and time upon practically nothing. Examine the objects for which most men are striving, the aim for which they are living, and ask yourselves, Does it reward their toils and indemnify them for the sacrifices they make? But this cannot be said of spiritual blessings and virtues. These are in the sight of God of great price, and necessary to man in his true and real character. They enrich him, dignify him; they are his chief interest and his glory, making him a blessing to himself and to all around him. Or who can conceive a higher purpose andmodel of existence than a man or woman, pious, moral, courageous, wise, self-denying, gentle, kind and benevolent?
Secondly, diligence will secure them. In the career of worldly good, in the sea of life few obtain the prize, and the race is not always to the swiftest nor the battle to the strongest; wealth and good fortune do not always fall to the lot of men that strove after them, nor fame to those that covet it. Here the principle obtains: "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." "To the righteous there is a sure reward." And finally I stated, there is no attaining these virtues without diligence. Diligence is indispensable in whatever you undertake. You must labor "for the meat that perisheth." The bread upon your table—through what a succession of processes it must pass before it is ready for use. The same may be said of your clothing; in fact, of everything else. "On earth naught precious is obtained but what is painful too," and perhaps we would not value and esteem things if it were not so. And what is true of temporal gifts pertains to spiritual equally as well.
Awake, then, my dear fellow-Christian, be zealous, be progressive; it is the only way to prosper. Remember religion is not airy notions, sleepy wishes, feeble resolutions, and your strength is not to sit still. The learned are daily adding to their intellectual treasures, the rich are adding house to house and field to field, and none of them say: "It is enough." Will you as a Christian not add to your faith knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity? Reflect and apply, by the help of God. Amen.