NEW VERNON, N. Y., March 15, 1842.
In our remarks on this chapter in our last number, we very briefly glanced at the lovely connection of gospel truth presented from the first to the twenty-first verse inclusive and being restricted for want of room, we closed that article with some remarks on the subject of special, definite, incomparable (with gold and silver) redemption of the church of God. We noticed that the redemption effected by him who was verily fore-ordained before the foundation of the world was exclusively for such as by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, &c.; and also the efficiency of that redemption in securing the end contemplated in the divine mind, viz.: That their faith and hope might be in God. So certainly and infallibly is this result connected with the redemption made by the blood of Christ, that to deny it in reference to any one of those for whom Christ died, is to count the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and to do despite to the spirit of grace. That precious faith, secured to them who by him do believe in God, being of God, is not a creature of the human mind, nor is it a child of education, nor can it be procured for gold or silver. Resulting to them who by him do believe in God, through the atonement of Jesus, and emanating immediately from God, it is and must be genuine in distinction from all kinds of spurious faith, such as devils and wicked men possess: it is that by which we know the worlds were made by the word of God; it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen; it lays hold of the promises, looks to Jesus within the vail, and by it, we enjoy peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. This precious faith renders its possessors invincible to all the opposing powers of earth and hell: “They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mt. Zion, that cannot be moved, but abideth forever.” It abideth now with hope and charity.
Another invaluable object which God had in view, and which he has effectually secured by this special redemption, is that our hope also should be in God. The happy recipients of this grace, thrice blessed subjects of this redemption, ~ have little else to hope in, while millions of those of earth, among whom they sojourn, cherish the most flattering, yet the most delusive hope, that by their own works, virtues, efforts, and contributions, they can not only save themselves from the perdition of ungodly men but others also, to almost any amount. How cordially can every child of grace respond to the language of the psalmist, ‘‘Who have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire beside thee.” The carnal workmonger hopes while on earth to prepare laurels to adorn his brow in heaven; to have souls for his hire which he hopes will be stars in his crown in the future: the day of his rejoicing. And as the untutored Indian imagines that “his faithful dog shall bear him company” into the paradise that he anticipates, so many professors of Christianity hope to meet, greet and enjoy earthly relatives, friends, and benefactors; to ye greeted also by those who shall recognize them as the instruments of their salvation and means of their felicity and glory. God’s children have no such hopes: their hope is in God, it embraces no object in heaven or earth but God. Their language is,
in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.” – Psa. xvii. 15.
From two other very important considerations, in addition to all those incentives already mentioned in the foregoing part of this chapter, the apostle urges home his exhortations to the scattered saints, viz.: “First, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit,” and “Being born again,” &c. As by him, they believe in God, so by the Spirit that dwells in them they obey the truth, and by that same Spirit, they do unfeignedly love the brethren, in all of which they purify their souls. As by him they believe the truth, and by the Spirit obeys the truth, their souls are purged from error, disobedience, delusion, and rebellion. This expression implies that their souls had been corrupted by believing and obeying that which was not the truth and that their present faith in God and obedience to the truth which results to them from the redemption of Jesus is a deliverance from all such corruption of doctrine and of practice. Independently of this purification of their souls, they were capable of loud professions of love to the brethren and to God, and perhaps to poor sinners too, as they denominate those who are less boisterous in their professions; but all their love is feigned, deceptive, hypocritical and false. Love to the brethren is an infallible evidence that those who possess it are really born of God; “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren;” therefore, no unregenerate person can possibly possess unfeigned love to the brethren; and as to their professions of love to God, the apostle John saith, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.” “If any man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar,” and consequently his love is feigned. A knowledge of God is eternal life, (John xvii. 3) and only those who possess eternal life can possibly love God, or those who are born of God unfeignedly. Being therefore of God, thus divinely qualified, the apostle presses his exhortation, See that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently. A purified soul and a pure heart are indispensable prerequisites to unfeigned love and fellowship with the household of faith; and such also possess these qualifications, which cannot be bought with corruptible things, as silver or gold, of all men, ought to love one another fervently and unfeignedly. To show that he did not look for nor expect this love from the unregenerate, he further alludes to the peculiar qualifications for this service, thus: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Our natural birth was of a corruptible seed, hence our bodies must see corruption, must die, and return to dust. If, therefore, we were born again, of the flesh, or of the will of man, the seed would still be corrupt, and its products corruptible, so that a thousand such births could not qualify. us to love God, his children, or his truth unfeignedly. The apostle, therefore, puts his most emphatic negative upon all such qualifications as can result from the flesh or from the will of man. Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, he says, and having before told us that faith was of God, and obedience to the truth and unfeigned love of the brethren was by and through the Spirit, he is, in this case, careful to let us know that our new birth is by the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever. As the natural seed by which we have our first birth is derived from Adam, so the spiritual or incorruptible seed, of which we are born again, is communicated to us from Christ. This communication is made by the word of God; not the bible, although the bible contains a record of truth from God; for if sinners were begotten to a lively hope through the bible, all who have Bibles would experience the same blessed change; neither is it by the preaching of what the bible declares, as that would involve the same intermediate instrumentality between God and the regenerated that intercepted the relationship between Sarah and Ishmael, which constituted him a son of the bond-woman. Besides if the ordinary preaching of the gospel could quicken and regenerate, it would produce the same effects under all similar circumstances, which we know is not the case. How then, it may be demanded, are the saints born again by the word of God? Hear the answer of our Lord himself, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. – John v. 25. By the word of God, through which the saints were quickened, we understand that word of his power spoken to them when arrested, as when he spoke from heaven to Saul, and demanded why he persecuted him, and as he speaks in all cases when he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. The word of God here intended is the same described Isa. lv. 10,11: For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. This word liveth and abideth forever. It emanates from a living source, partakes of the life of God, and living and abiding forever where God sends it, insures life: and immortality wherever it is sent; it cannot yield to corruption, for it liveth for ever and is immortal; it cannot be removed from the heart where God has placed it, for it abideth for ever. Hence John has said: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. – 1 John iii. 9.
Contrasted with the living, ever-abiding and incorruptible word of God, the apostle goes on to show throughout the balance of this chapter, that all flesh is as grass and all the goodness of man as the flower of the grass. All “flesh, whether Jew or Gentile, for all flesh, is born of the flesh, of corruptible seed; upon which the sentence of death is indelibly written, and which consequently cannot live and abide forever. And all the. the goodness of man, as health, vigor, intellect, youth, and beauty, together with every comely trait of human excellence that may adorn human nature, all his good works, benevolence, &c., all – all are corruptible, and like the flower of the grass, must wither, perish and die. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. What a consolation is this to all those who hear his voice and live! And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. It is not defined as the word which men preach to you; but the gospel preaches sets home, teaches and applies this word; for the gospel itself, not the preaching of it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth.
Editorial, 1842
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