Part 27

And what--to consider the second and larger part of our discourse--are some of the distinguishing traits of its members? By what are they to know each other and to be known of one another? Other societies have their pledges and badges. In some it is a secret sign known only to the initiated, the brethren of the craft; in others it is some peculiarity of speech or of dress, the cut of the cap or the hair. Now, it is remarkable that the Savior and His apostles prescribed no such external badge of membership, more remarkable because, perhaps, every society then, as now, could be known by such an outward badge. The Jew would be known everywhere by his broad phylacteries and the borders of his garments; the Roman soldier had some mark wrought with imperishable dye in the skin; the Greek introduced into the Eleusinian mysteries had some outward method of expressing that fact to the world. And nothing would have been easier than for the Savior to have appointed some such emblem for His followers. But in the sacred record there is not even a distant intimation of any such badge by which Christ's people or Christ's ministers are to be externally so distinguished. And yet, was there no badge, no mark of distinction? There was. What was it? Permit me, in answer, to quote a few passages. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love." "As touching brotherly love, ye have no need that I write you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another."

And the story of John the Apostle is well known. In his old age of 98 years he was carried to the Church, and when he was asked whether he had anything to say, he would feebly respond, "Children, love one another." Not by signs, peculiarity of dress, or password--by attachment for each other were Christ's followers to be distinguished the world over, in all ages. In His Church they were to feel that, regardless of wealth, learning, office, or other human distinctions, they were on a level, that they had common wants, had been redeemed by the same precious blood, were going to the same heaven, and were in every respect "brethren." And under this conviction of feeling they were to hold to each other, love each other. My dear hearers, did this love ever in the history of the Church form such a distinguishing badge? It did. The time was when the attachment of Christians for each other was such as to impress the world with the reality of their religion, and with the fact that they belonged to the family of the redeemed. "See," said the heathen in the early days of Christianity, "how these Christians love one another, and how ready they are to lay down their lives for each other." Is it so now? I answer for anything that you can tell, if persecutions were to arise, those scenes of ancient martyrdom story might be acted over again. But if there is not this love of which the Savior and His apostles speak as a distinguishing characteristic of His Church, let it be for all of us a matter of self-examination and reflection. I, as a servant of the Master, can only tell what He requires of His disciples.

Again, a second trait and duty required,--they are to be characterized by sympathy for those of its members who suffer. The members of the Church are indeed expected and required to have sympathy for all who are afflicted, but the idea is that they are sympathizing with each other in a peculiar manner. Christians are exposed to the same kind of afflictions as others. They are liable to sickness and bereavement and poverty like others, and, in addition, they have sources of sorrow peculiar to themselves,--internal conflicts and struggles, persecutions and trials on account of their religion; and in these, as well as in the occasions of joy, they are supposed to find cordial sympathy and interest among their brethren. That is the idea set forth in the text when it says: "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it."

Such is the formation of our body, the constitution of the nervous fibers and the tissues, that pain in one part affects the whole frame; that joy in one part diffuses itself over all. A pain in the heart, the side, or in one of the limbs does not confine itself there, leaving the rest of the body in a state fitted for its usual employments, but every part sympathizes with that which is affected. And so the pleasure which we receive from beauty of objects seen by the eye, or from the melody and harmony of music as perceived by the ear, is diffused over the whole frame, and we are filled with enjoyments. So is the Church which is the body of Christ. What affects one member is supposed to affect all. What gives pain to one gives pain to all. What honors one honors all. As an injury done to a nerve in the body, though so small as not to be traceable to an unpracticed eye, may be felt at the remotest extremities, so is the body of Christ. The dishonor done to the obscurest member should be felt by all; the honor done to that member should produce rejoicing. Without any officious intermeddling with the private concerns of individuals, there should be such an interest felt in the common welfare of the whole that each might depend on the sympathy of his brethren at all times and in all circumstances. Say not that "So it is not." The consideration now, the Savior's teaching, is that so it ought to be, and that every member of His Church should strive to make it so.

And one more duty must we mention, however briefly. It is this: As an essential to healthful congregational life there must be mutual admonition among the members. Here is the fundamental principle laid down by the Savior. "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." You are not to blazon his fault abroad, you are not to allow the suspicion that he has done you wrong to lie, and rankle, and fester in your own mind. You are not to allow it to make you cold and distant, and evasive and repulsive when you meet him, without his knowing the cause; you are not to send an anonymous letter or a message by any one. You are to go to him and see him by himself, and give him an opportunity of explanation, or confession. It is a painful duty, and it is not a duty that devolves on the pastor, but according to the rule laid down by the Savior, upon a brother, _i. e._, clearly every one who is a member of the Church. Beloved, the more I study congregational life and gather practical experience, the wiser does the Lord's rule appear to me in preserving the welfare of the Church. Let us all strive to conform to it. Let us openly and frankly treat each other like brethren. If you have been offended by a brother, or if you have offended a brother, here is the rule that guides you; if you see a congregational member wandering from the path of true religion, going astray from Church and godliness, fail not to do your duty by him, by an attempt to admonish and reclaim him.

We have set before us to-day what the Church is, and what the characteristics of its members are,--a peculiar love founded on their common hope of heaven, and their attachment to a common Savior, sympathy with each other in joy and sorrow, and a common interest and proper admonition when going astray. God grant that all of us may rightly understand and may strive to live up to these things, so that the Church may answer its high and holy purpose, the salvation of men's souls through faith in Christ, to whom in all matter be glory and honor forever. Amen.

ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law.--_Rom. 3, 28._

Whoever has read his Bible with attention must have observed that there are some passages which, at first view, appear hard to reconcile. Take, for instance, the passage before us. St. Paul here says "that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law," and to confirm his assertion produces the example of Abraham. "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." St. James in his letter, the second chapter, produces the same example, that of Abraham, and draws from it a conclusion directly contradictory. He says: "Ye see, then, that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." Can any two opinions be more opposite in appearance? And as may be expected, all manner of conjectures have been presented. I will not tire you with a tenth part of these interpretations. Only two shall I mention as a specimen. A writer of great eminence, recognizing the difficulty in its full strength, allows that it is not only hard, but impossible to reconcile the two apostles, and concludes that, since it is impossible to hold both their sentiments, we must abide by him who wrote the last. Accordingly, he gives up the doctrine of faith without works, supposing that St. Paul wrote with carelessness of expression, and that St. James wrote after him to clear up what Paul had obscurely or inaccurately expressed.

Again we would note that our great Reformer, Dr. Martin Luther, having felt the power of St. Paul's doctrine in his own soul, that he would have defied an angel from heaven to oppose it, when his adversaries pressed him with the passage from St. James, styled it an epistle of straw, because, in his opinion, it did not urge Christ sufficiently strong.

But what of an explanation of these apparently so contradictory passages?

Is there an explanation? Indeed, a simple and satisfactory one. God's truth never clashes. When St. Paul speaks of justification, he means the justification of our persons,--how we may be accepted by a just and holy God, that is, by faith, and by faith alone, not by works. When St. James in his letter speaks of justification, he speaks of the profession as believers, how a man proves, shows, that he has faith, and that he can only show that he has faith in one way, namely, by his works. St. James, in his epistle, is addressing such of his day as _said_ they had faith, though it had no influence upon their hearts and conduct. He shows that their hope is vain. He asks: "What doth it profit though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith save him?"--that is, can such an idle, empty faith save him? He quotes an example: "If a brother or sister be destitute, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?" Would such empty professions of charity prove a man to have charity? No more, does he argue, would a person's mere assertion that he has faith, unless it were followed by good works, justify his profession. A Christian's faith is proved to be what it ought to be by works, and not by mere empty profession of faith. And so the example of Abraham is pertinent in both cases. According to St. Paul, "Abraham believed," had faith in God, and God counted it unto him for righteousness, accepted him by faith, and being thus accepted, Abraham, already justified before God in person, showed that he had the true faith by the effects which it produced in his heart and life, and when God directed him to offer his son Isaac upon the altar, he obeyed. Thus, concludes the Apostle James, his obedience, his works, justified his faith, his profession as a believer. In a word, St. Paul speaks of the justification of our persons, and that is by faith, and by faith alone, and St. James speaks of the justification of our faith, and that is by works. Viewed thus, there is no discrepancy, no difficulty, and having taken up the subject, let us continue to consider these two statements, perfectly consistent with each other:--

_I. That there is no acceptance or justification for any of us with God but through Jesus Christ received by faith, and that in this concern of justification works of every kind are absolutely excluded._

_II. That where faith in Jesus Christ exists, it must show itself by works._

To begin with,--what is it for a man to be justified? When a person has been brought to trial for any offense and has been found guilty, he must make satisfaction for this offense. If he is able to make a sufficient satisfaction for his offense, either through his own ability or that of his friends, and the law accepts such an indemnification, the criminal departs from the trial justified. He is not, indeed, an innocent man, but he is so regarded by the law, and though guilty, he would be no more liable to prosecution and punishment for that offense than a person who had never committed it. Now this is the way in which we are justified before God. We are guilty beings; the sentence of eternal punishment is pronounced upon us; we have no ability of our own to make satisfaction to the court of the just Judge. But an almighty Friend has died to make satisfaction for us; God is ready to accept this satisfaction, and in consideration of it He releases us from the penalty of eternal death to restore us to His favor, in a word, to justify us, to treat us as innocent. A person who is found in Christ, having the infinite merits of his Savior to plead for his justification, is no longer liable to punishment.

But how do we secure this satisfaction of an almighty Savior? Again the text answers: By faith. Take, in illustration, the incident of Peter's walking on the sea. We have in our natural state nothing more substantial under our feet to keep us from sinking into everlasting destruction than Peter had from sinking into the watery deep, and it is only when we realize our situation as he did, when we feel our entire helplessness and destitution of hope as he did, when we cast the imploring look and hold out the same suppliant hand, confident that He is able and willing to save, that we exercise a Gospel faith, receive all that Christ has ever done or suffered in our behalf. Faith is the hand that lays hold on the Savior, and so justifies.

Again, "We are justified," is the Apostle's assertion, "without the deeds of the Law." In the first chapter of this epistle to the Romans, Paul labors to show that the Gentiles had sinned against the law of nature which was written in their hearts, and in the second and third chapters, that the Jews had equally transgressed their written Law, and then, having thus shown that all the world is guilty before God, he concludes: "Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified." In other words, that good works are of no account in our justification, they cannot set us right with God,--make us acceptable with Him, cannot gain His favor. That is the teaching of the Scripture and the doctrine of the Church. Declares the Fourth Article of the Augsburg Confession: "We teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own powers, deservings, or works, but are accounted righteous in grace only through the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ received by faith."

Nor is there a lesson which we learn more slowly. It is a task most difficult for us to give up the idea of merit in ourselves, to feel that we can do nothing, absolutely nothing, towards purchasing the favor of God. Talk with the sick and the dying upon the grounds of their hope, and they will often be found pleading that they have always endeavored to live good lives, and have never been guilty of any gross sins, showing by such language that they are clinging to their own good works, instead of trusting to the heaven-procuring righteousness of God. Converse with Christians, even some of our church-members, and they will often speak in such a way as to show that they are placing some merit in their good character or endeavors to serve God. With one foot they may indeed be standing on the rock of salvation, but the other is too often still in the miry clay of our own deservings. We must learn to rest wholly on Christ. We must pray God to break down every vain dependence, to look away, with loathing and disgust, from anything that we possess or can do, to receive a crucified Redeemer as our only hope. "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."

This is the first proposition, that there is no acceptance with God but through faith, and that in this concern works of every kind are absolutely excluded. But this proposition, simple and plain as it is, must not be perverted. It will not do, then, to say, It matters not what our lives are, just so we only have faith in Christ. When the Scriptures assert that we are justified by faith, they do not mean a faith which leaves us indifferent to our practice. The faith that saves a man is of the kind that has a prevailing and ennobling influence upon the hearts and lives of those who possess it. Because man cannot gain salvation by his own righteousness and works, he must beware of falling into the fatal and ruinous delusion that he can abolish righteousness and good works. God demands good character and good works from His people. The same apostle who declares in the epistle: "By faith we are justified," adds: "And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all." The Bible wants every Christian to be busy; his life should be filled with fruits of good. But these things must be put in their right place; and which is that? As an evidence of the faith within us. Faith saves us, but good character and good works prove that we have this saving faith. The truth of the matter is that to set little store on good works is an immoral and most pestilent heresy. The works by which we recommend religion and adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior; the works which spring from love to Christ and aim at the glory of God, the works by which a good man blesses society and leaves the world better than he has found it, are not worthless and "filthy rags," but they are the gracious and graceful ornament of a blood-bought soul, the fruits of God's Spirit within us, the clear and comfortable evidence of our being the children of God; and in this St. Paul and St. James agree. Whereas a faith that professes to believe in Christ, and denies Him in character and works, is not only unprofitable, but loathsome and offensive, a dead carcass.

God grant that we have all rightly understood that we place our sole and undivided dependence for salvation upon our blessed Redeemer, and that we evidence such faith in Him by the virtues of a holy character and the performance of godly acts. To God be all glory in Christ Jesus! Amen.

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it.--_Prov. 22, 6._

It has grown to be a custom to speak at this time a few words concerning our youth. No one, I trust, will dispute the wisdom, nor question the appropriateness of this. After months of relaxation and rest our little ones have returned to the walls and duties of school life. God grant His blessing that they may become intelligent citizens, worthy and useful members of the commonwealth. That is our pious wish and prayer, and for such wish we have reason abundant. Perhaps there has been no time when the matter of education and bringing up of our children has called for so much thought and concern as at the present. Statisticians tell us what startling conditions prevail in our country in respect to wrongdoing, that murders, unchastity, forgeries like a tidal wave are sweeping our land far above what it is in other countries, and that a large percentage of these crimes are being perpetuated by mere striplings of boys. By far the larger number of the inmates of our penal institutions--work-house and penitentiary--are young men. Our reform schools--Good Shepherd institutions and similar places--house boys and girls by the hundreds, causing one to heave a sigh of inexpressible sadness. Look over the docket of our Juvenile Court, and it convinces you beyond cavil that there is enough to justify its existence; and then we have said nothing about the stubbornness against parents and superiors, flippancy, and other sins of youth daily on the increase. And who is to blame? Said an honorable judge of this city lately: "I do say that there is a fearful amount of depravity among the children in the cities of this country, and I don't blame the children as much as those who put them into existence, the parents;" and continuing, he says: "We are prating entirely too much about the unreal and unsubstantial. After all, the real questions are the ones that affect the homes and the children in the homes, and because we have neglected them, we are reaping the ill results." The testimony of thousands of others could be quoted to the same effect. Sufficient reason, accordingly, why we should direct attention to this vital subject. God blessing His word spoken, let us regard the text which reads: "Train up a child in the way he should go," noticing that this is done, _I. By instruction_, _II. by example_, _III. by discipline_.