This is an animating consideration: we observe the effect naturally produced in the mind of man, even by the approbation of a fellow-creature, whom he regards as his superior; what holy satisfaction then, and complacency and delight, may we not derive from the persuasion, that our humble services are favourably viewed by the all-wise and almighty God, who recompenses every one according to his work: if God be pleased, whose displeasure shall we fear? If “God be for us, who shall be against us?” And O, that we may never forget, that it is one of the great purposes of the gospel, to render us, infirm and imperfect as we are, pleasing unto Him, through the merits and intercession of our Redeemer; by “walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.” { 262}
3. The apostle proceeds, in the text, to open and extend his view of evangelical righteousness. It consists not in that partial cultivation of spiritual affections, in that modified selection of particular duties, with which the christian world is so prone to be content: it obliges the believer to “be fruitful unto every good work.” This is a point, in which vast multitudes, in the christian church, lamentably and notoriously fail; in which many fail, who make a considerable profession of their zeal for religion; and comply, to a certain degree, with most of its obligations. There are some pleasures or pursuits, which, though they do not pretend to reconcile them with the law of God, they still perseveringly retain. Upon the whole, they professedly adopt the ordinances and requisitions of the gospel: but there are some more unpalatable than others; some to which they feel an unconquered repugnance: and these they leave out of their religious system altogether; to these they never so much as resolve to conform. And thus, they fail to manifest, (what is confessedly the most difficult, yet the most important of all christian attainments,) a surrender of the heart to God. Their own inclination, their own judgment, and not the divine will, is the rule and standard of their conduct; and no doubt, if they felt this strong reluctance to the duties which they do perform, these also would be equally neglected: in other words, no part of their obedience rests upon a true foundation: it proceeds not from a sincere belief in the truth and authority of God’s word. All the injunctions, all the precepts of the gospel are obligatory alike; all equally declarative of the divine will, and equally necessary to the spiritual renovation of man. And those injunctions and precepts, with which we are the least disposed to comply, do in fact require our peculiar attention and observance; because they point out to us the natural blemishes, which stand most in need of repair; because they shew where the greatest danger lies, of our being deficient in that complete change, of principle and affection and character, which the infallible word of truth has declared to be indispensable.