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THE BEST OF MEN BUT WEAK AND FRAIL
THAT persons instructed in divine truth should be anxious to instruct others is well: but to rush uncalled into the ostensible office of the ministry, is by no means expedient. By his life, as well as by his doctrine, must a minister instruct his people: and if, on the one hand, his reward will be glorious if he discharge his duties aright; his punishment will, on the other hand, be proportionably severe, if by word or deed he “cast a stumbling-block before others,” and “cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of.” Before a man therefore engage in this arduous calling, he should see his way clear: lest, by entering rashly upon it, he involve himself in the heavier condemnation. This is the hint given by St. James, in the verse before my text: and, to enforce it, he reminds us of our extreme frailty; since “in many things we all offend,” and have therefore abundant reason for caution in contracting, without necessity, such an augmented responsibility.
Let me, then, shew you,
I. What even good men have to mourn over, in their daily walk before God—
“There is no man that liveth, and sinneth not.” By reason of our extreme weakness, and the numberless obstacles which lie in our way, there is not any man who does not occasionally “make a trip,” and “offend,”
1. By a slip of his feet—
[No good man will, knowingly and deliberately, do that which is evil. “A man truly born of God cannot so commit bin.” He has a principle within him which will not suffer it. But, sometimes through ignorance and inadvertence, and sometimes through weakness and corruption, the very best of men may err: as it is said, “The righteous falleth seven times.” When James and John proposed to call fire from heaven, to consume a Samaritan village, it was doubtless from a mistaken idea, that the example of Elijah, who so vindicated the honour of Jehovah, was applicable to the occasion which then presented itself to them; and that such was a proper way of expressing their indignation against those who had refused to their Master the rights of hospitality. It was also from a mistaken love to his Divine Master that Peter dissuaded Jesus from subjecting himself to the sufferings which he had just predicted. But the principle, in both these instances, was really evil, though the Apostles themselves thought it to be good: and therefore they brought on themselves a just rebuke. In Peter’s requiring the Gentiles to submit to the Jewish law there was downright “dissimulation;” such as betrayed Bar nabas also into the very same fault. Here was weakness here was the sad effect of human corruption: and, accordingly it was reproved with a severity proportioned to the offence In Paul and Barnabas too, there was a blameworthy contention, issuing in their final separation. The error of Peter and Barnabas proceeded from an undue compliance; and that of Paul and Barnabas from an undue pertinacity, both in sentiment and determination. But, as such things have been in the Church, even amongst the Apostles themselves; so must they be expected to arise, whilst human nature is so weak, and so many difficulties beset our way — — —]
2. By a slip of his tongue—
[“If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” The fact is, that every corruption of the heart finds its first and readiest gratification through the tongue. If pride or vanity inflate the mind, it will discover itself, not only in the look and gesture, but through some appropriate language of the lips. If levity have put a man off his guard, it will betray itself by some unadvised expressions, some “jestings” (facetious terms of double import), which may excite a smile at the moment, but are quite offensive to God. Need I say how anger will vent itself, or how uncharitableness will indulge its malignant propensities? But so it is with every unhallowed feeling of the soul: and he is the most perfect man who puts the most complete restraint upon his tongue, and suffers it not to utter any thing which God will not approve.]
Whilst good men have so much occasion to mourn, let us consider,
II. What they have more especially to attend to, in order to counteract the evil of their hearts—
Amongst the many things which might be mentioned, I will recommend,
1. Humiliation—
[Who has not found, by sad experience, the truth of the Apostle’s assertion, that “in many things we all offend?” Who then has not reason to lie low both before God and man? If Paul complained of “the law in his members warring against the law of his mind,” much more may we; and with him cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?” Methinks, if Job abhorred himself, and the Prophet Isaiah complained, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,” a leper in the midst of a leprous population; no humiliation can be too deep for us. Let us walk softly then, every one of us, in the remembrance of our manifold infirmities; and abase ourselves before God, as “less than the least of all saints,” yea, “as the very chief of sinners.”]
2. Watchfulness—
[Never can we tell what an hour may bring forth; or what temptations may arise, to cause us to offend either in word or deed. We should therefore “make a covenant with our eyes,” as holy Job did; and “set a watch before the door of our lips,” as did the man after God’s own heart. We should mark the first risings of inclination, that they may not operate with undue force, and betray us into actual sin. We should mark with jealous care the motives and principles by which we are actuated; remembering, that by them will the quality of our actions be determined, and that by them we shall be judged in the last day. In a word, we must “keep our hearts with all diligence, knowing that out of them are the issues of life.”]
3. Dependence upon God—
[Here is our only security. If we trust in our own hearts, our folly will very soon appear. Satan can “assume the form of an angel of light,” and deceive us by specious appearances: and, if we would be preserved from his wiles, our prayer should continually be to God; “Hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not:” “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” Then, notwithstanding our weakness and frailty, we may hope to be “preserved blameless till the day of Christ.”
“Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, for ever and ever! Amen.”