Vital Godliness
Signs of the Times—May 15, 1854
That there is much
speculative religion in the world there can be no doubt, and that there may be
some that is not genuine among those who stand connected with the church of
Christ is greatly to be feared. Every true and legitimate son and daughter of
Zion, while in this earthly house of their pilgrimage, experience seasons when
it is with them a matter of the greatest importance to know whether they are not
of that character. It is not probable that hypocrites and mere nominal
professors of Christianity are troubled on the same ground, for he who designs
to deceive cannot feel that suspense and conflict which doubting Christians
always feel when the light and comfort of the divine presence are withdrawn from
their view. Much is said about vital godliness, and in order that we may know
whether we are in possession of it, it is important that we understand what is
meant by the terms. Vitality is life, and the word godliness in the scriptures
signifies that action which spiritual life in the children of God is calculated
to produce. Hence the terms are only properly applicable to those who are born
of God, and led by the Spirit to walk in the way of holiness, in whom is
developed the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance; and all these being
fruits of the Spirit are only found where spiritual life has been given. And as
they are produced by the Spirit, they invariably give evidence of vital union to
Christ, who is the life of His people. As the branch of a vine cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither can the people of God bring
forth fruits which are unto holiness, the end of which is eternal life, except
they abide in Christ, who is the true Vine, and of which the Father is the
Husbandman. For without Him, we can do nothing. The Apostle suggests to us that
persons may have a form of Godliness while they deny the power thereof, —but we
conclude that where the power of Godliness is possessed, there will certainly be
at least some of the form of Godliness manifested.
If what we have found to
be the fruits of the spirit developed constitutes the form or any part of that
form, does it not appear that men may possess a kind of love, joy, peace, and
even faith that does not proceed from the spirit as the result of spiritual life
implanted? Much that will pass currently for Christian love in the religious
world is denounced by the Apostles as being spurious. He admonished his brethren
that such loved not the Lord Jesus, but were enemies of the cross of Christ.
They may affect a deceptive counterfeit, and may use soft words and fair
speeches while they only flatter to beguile and allure to entrap. In evidence of
their love they may show astonishing zeal and what the world calls benevolence;
they may give their goods to feed the poor, their money to support missionaries,
and their bodies to be burnt, and still be destitute of anything but the mere
form of love. They may also cry, “Peace,” when God has not spoken peace, and
they may possess that complacency which the strange woman boasted of when she
had paid her vows, (see Prov. 7), and yet only a form. Their joy and faith and
all the imitations of Godliness that can possibly grow out of an unregenerated
heart are lifeless and formal and, as far as we can trace such characters by the
light of revelation, they invariably deny the power of vital godliness, and this
they do in a variety of ways. The principle way, however, is by denying that the
love, joy, peace, long-sufferings, goodness, gentleness, faith, etc., are truly
the fruits of the Spirit, the gift of God, but claiming that they are produced
by human power by the will and works of men. Their position is like this, “If
the branch will bear fruit of itself as a condition, it may then be admitted
into the Vine.” But all who know experimentally the power of Godliness will
acknowledge that the excellency of its power is of God, and not of the creature.
The power is in the vine and not in the branch, only as the branch abides in and
receives vigor and faithfulness from the living Vine. But there are times in
which the branches which really abide in the vine seem to be barren, the
branches are not always clothed with verdure, and abounding with clusters, but
branches vitally abiding in the true and living Vine shall assuredly bring forth
fruit in its appropriate season. The tree of life which John saw yielding its
fruit every month, and all they who receive life and vigor from Christ will, in
due time, present the Fruits of the Spirit.
Godliness, in the life and
conversation of the children of the Kingdom, derives all its vitality from Him
who is the Head of life and spirituality to His body, the church. All is dry,
formal and vain in our deportment that springs not from this union to Him. He
only hath immortality dwelling in the light, and therefore, from Him alone can
we receive it only as we abide in Him as the fruitful branch abideth in the true
vine, for the saints are members of Him, as the branches are members of the
vine. And from Him the Head, all the members of the body, the church, have
nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
The Apostle assures us that all are called in one hope of our calling-one Lord,
one faith, and one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all, and
through all, and in you all.
But our design, was not
only to define the terms, but to offer some remarks upon the subject of its
development in the faith and general deportment of those who know and
acknowledge its power. The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared
unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. A life of godliness
is necessarily a life of self-denial. No man can live godly in Christ Jesus
without suffering persecution, nor can we deport ourselves as becomes godliness
without denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, for these are the opposites of
all that adorn the Christian character. But whatever of opposition, persecution,
or self-denial may oppose the life and course of godliness, there is a power and
virtue in it that will out-live all opposition, and bear its humble possessors
above the din of warring elements and safely lodge them ultimately in that happy
state where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary shall enjoy
uninterrupted rest. If we, through grace abounding, possess the vital principle,
and possess those things which pertain to life and godliness, we shall know
experimentally that godliness with contentment is great gain, having the promise
of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Then may our enemies
exhaust all their stores of wrath upon us.
“We shall perceive their
noise no more,
Than we can hear a shaking leaf,
When rattling thunders round us roar.”
May the God of all
comfort, who has called us by His grace and given us everlasting consolation
through grace, enable us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
world, and at last take us up out of all our afflictions and tribulations and
cause us to bask in the fullness of the eternal fountain of life and godliness
in the world that is without end.
“O
glorious hour! O bless’d abode!
There to be near, and like my God,
And flesh and sin no more control,
The rising pleasures of my soul.”
