[January 29th, 1868.]
What our Lord here asserts is: First, that if a man is in a right state of mind, he will know and believe the truth. Secondly, that those who are in a wrong state of mind reject the truth. This is saying that the cause of faith, or the reason why a man believes, is to be found in his right moral state, and that the cause of wrong belief and of infidelity, is a wrong moral state. This, reduced to one proposition, is saying that the faith of a man, so far as religious truth is concerned, depends on his moral state.
Proof that this is true.
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This declaration of our Lord is of itself a sufficient proof of the truth of the proposition. It is plain that the expressions, “If any man will do his will,” and “He that is of God,” amount to the same thing. The one means If any one sincerely desires to please God, and the other, If any man is godly, i.e., of the same mind as God, congenial with him. Faith in the truth of God, he says, certainly flows from this congeniality with God, and, on the other hand, unbelief is due to, and therefore is the evidence of a want of this congeniality with God. This is a direct affirmation of the truth of the above proposition.
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This, however, is proved by many other declarations of our Lord, and of the sacred writers generally. Christ says, “If God were your Father, ye would love me.” He uniformly refers the unbelief of the Jews, and their rejection of him, to their wickedness. It was because they were of their father the devil, that they rejected and hated him. The apostle John asserts that “He that knoweth God heareth us,” and that believers have the witness or evidence of the truth in themselves. The Holy Spirit, or an unction from the Holy One is given to all God’s people, whereby they know the truth. Paul says that the natural or unrenewed man, and because he is unrenewed, perceives not the things of the Spirit; whereas, the spiritual man, and because he is spiritual, perceives all things. He elsewhere says, “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” This is the constant doctrine of the Scriptures.
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It is also the doctrine of experience. The good uniformly believe the truth, the wicked disbelieve, or neglect it. You may trace the history of the Church, and you will uniformly find truth and piety united on the one hand, error and irreligion, on the other. The more serious the error, the more clear is the evidence of the sinfulness of those who adopt it. This is true of all the grades of error, from the lowest to the highest, from the denial of unessential doctrines, to atheism. You may travel over the world, and you will everywhere find the same thing to be true. The infidels of England, France and Germany are uniformly irreligious, and generally immoral. On the other hand you never find the evidence of godliness without finding with it the firm belief of all truth connected with religious experience. Experience, therefore, is in accord with the Scriptures. A man’s faith, so far as religious truth is concerned, depends upon the state of his heart.
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A fourth argument on this subject is from analogy. There are different kinds of truth. For the sake of distinction we may call some speculative, as addressed to the intellect, as the truths of mathematics, of science, and of history. Some are æsthetic, as addressed to the taste, or sense of the beautiful. There is a standard of beauty. Some things in nature, in art, and in literature give delight, others excite disgust. This is not arbitrary. Some are moral, and suppose a moral sense for their apprehension. Some are religious or spiritual, and suppose a religious or spiritual state of mind for their due apprehension. The evidence of any one of these classes of truths is suited to its nature. The evidence of speculative truths is addressed only to the understanding, and requires only intellectual ability to comprehend and receive them. They force assent. The evidence of æsthetic truth supposes cultivation and refinement. If a man denies the beauty of what the mass of educated and cultivated men pronounce beautiful, it is proof positive of his want of taste. The standard by which a man’s taste is legitimately judged, is that he delights in what is truly beautiful. So of moral truths.
A good man inevitably approves of what is morally right and good. If a man pronounce the Decalogue evil, or the sermon on the mount immoral, it is proof positive that he himself is immoral. If this is so, why should it not be true that the religious or godly man should receive religious truths, and the ungodly man reject them?
Inferences
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The folly of the opinion that a man is not responsible for his faith. This is transferring a maxim true in one sphere to another in which it is not true. Our character is determined by our faith, because our faith depends upon our character.
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Therefore we should be humbled on account of our unbelief; consider it an evidence of a dull and sluggish heart.
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We see the true way to increase the strength of our faith. We must grow in holiness.
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The consolation and security of believers. No speculative objections can subvert a faith founded on moral or religious evidence. Science can never disprove the Decalogue.
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