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Chapter 5
But I am afraid in 99 cases out of 100, such evidences are not to be depended upon. I suspect that with rare exceptions men die just as they have lived. The only safe evidence that we are one with Christ and Christ in us is holy life.
They that live unto the Lord are generally the only people who die in the Lord. If we would die the death of the righteous, let us not rest in slothful desires only. Let us seek to live His life.
It is a true saying of Trails, that man's state is not, and his faith unsound, that find not his hopes of glory purifying his heart and life. D. We must be holy because this is the only proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. This is the point on which He has spoken most plainly in the 14th and 15th chapters of John.
If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If a man love me, he will keep my words.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 14 verses 15 and 21 and 23 and chapter 15 verse 14. Plainer words than these it would be difficult to find, and woe to those who neglect them.
Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul, who can think of all that Jesus suffered, and yet cling to those sins for which that suffering was undergone. It was sin that wove the crown of thorns. It was sin that pierced our Lord's hands and feet and side.
It was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross and to the grave. Cold must our hearts be, if we do not hate sin and labor to get rid of it, though we may have to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in doing it. E. We must be holy because this is the only sound evidence that we are true children of God.
Children in this world are generally like their parents. Some doubtless are more so and some less, but it is seldom indeed that you cannot trace a kind of family likeness. And it is much the same with the children of God.
The Lord Jesus says, If ye are Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. If God were your Father, ye would love me. John 8, verses 39 and 42 If men have no likeness to the Father in heaven, it is vain to talk of there being His sons.
If we know nothing of holiness, we may flatter ourselves as we please, but we have not got the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We are dead and must be brought to life again. We are lost and must be found.
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they, and they only, are the sons of God. Romans 8, verse 14 We must show by our lives the family we belong to. We must let men see by our good conversation that we are indeed the children of the Holy One, or our sonship is but an empty name.
Say not, says Gernal, that thou hast royal blood in thy veins, and art born of God, except thou canst prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy. F. We must be holy because this is the most likely way to do good to others. We cannot live to ourselves only in this world.
Our lives will always be doing either good or harm to those who see them. They are a silent sermon which all can read. It is sad indeed when they are a sermon for the devil's cause and not for God's.
I believe that far more is done for Christ's kingdom by the holy living of believers than we are all aware of. There is a reality about such living which makes men feel and obliges them to think. It carries a weight and influence with it which nothing else can give.
It makes religion beautiful and draws men to consider it like a lighthouse seen afar off. The day of judgment will prove that many besides husbands have been won without the word by a holy life. F. Peter 3.1 You may talk to persons about the doctrines of the Gospels, and few will listen, and still fewer understand.
But your life is an argument that none can escape. There is a meaning about holiness which not even the most unlearned can help taking in. They may not understand justification, but they can understand charity.
I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are aware of. Such men are among Satan's best allies. They pull down by their lives what ministers build with their lips.
They cause the chariot wheels of the Gospel to drive heavily. They supply the children of this world with a never-ending excuse for remaining as they are. I cannot see the use of so much religion, said any religious tradesman not long ago.
I observe that some of my customers are always talking about the Gospel and the faith and election and the blessed promises and so forth, and yet these very people think nothing of cheating me of pence and half-pence when they have an opportunity. Now if religious persons can do such things, I do not see what good there is in religion. I grieve to be obliged to write such things, but I fear that Christ's name is too often blasphemed because of the lives of Christians.
Let us take heed lest the blood of souls should be required at our hands. From the murder of souls by inconsistency and loose walking, good Lord, deliver us. Oh, for the sake of others, if for no other reason, let us strive to be holy.
G. We must be holy because our present comfort depends much upon it. We cannot be too often reminded of this. We are sadly apt to forget that there is a close connection between sin and sorrow, holiness and happiness, sanctification and consolation.
God has so wisely ordered it that our well-being and our well-doing are linked together. He has mercifully provided that even in this world it shall be man's interest to be holy. Our justification is not by works.
Our calling and election are not according to our works. But it is vain for anyone to suppose that he will have a lively sense of his justification or an assurance of his calling so long as he neglects good works or does not strive to live a holy life. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts. A believer may as soon expect to feel the sun's rays upon a dark and cloudy day as to feel strong consolation in Christ while he does not follow him fully. When the disciples forsook the Lord and fled, they escaped danger, but they were miserable and sad.
When shortly after they confessed him boldly before men, they were cast into prison and beaten, but we are told they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. O for our sakes, if there were no other reason, let us strive to be holy. He that follows Jesus most fully will always follow him most comfortably.
Lastly, we must be holy, because without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The Lord of heaven is a holy being.
The angels are holy creatures. Holiness is written on everything in heaven. The book of Revelation says expressly, I appeal solemnly to everyone who reads these pages.
How shall we ever be at home and happy in heaven if we die unholy? Death works no changes. The grave makes no alteration. Each will rise again with the same character in which he breathed his last.
Where will our place be if we are strangers to holiness now? Suppose for a moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you join yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures are not your pleasures. Their tastes are not your tastes.
Their character not your character. How could you possibly be happy if you had not been holy on earth? Now perhaps you love the company of the light and the careless, the worldly-minded and the covetous, the reveller and the pleasure-seeker, the ungodly and the profane. There will be none such in heaven.
Now perhaps you think the saints of God too strict and particular and serious. You rather avoid them. You have no delight in their society.
There will be no other company in heaven. Now perhaps you think praying and scripture reading and hymn singing dull and melancholy and stupid work, a thing to be tolerated now and then, but not enjoyed. You reckon the Sabbath a burden and a weariness.
You could not possibly spend more than a small part of it in worshipping God. But remember, heaven is a never-ending Sabbath. The inhabitants thereof rest not night or day saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, and singing the praise of the Lamb.
How could an unholy man find pleasure in occupations such as this? Think you that such an one would delight to meet David and Paul and John after a life spent in doing the very things they spoke against? Would he take sweet counsel with them and find that he and they had much in common? Think you above all that he would rejoice to meet Jesus, the crucified one face to face, after cleaving to the sins for which he died, after loving his enemies and despising his friends? Would he stand before Him with confidence and join in the cry, This is our God, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation? Isaiah 25.9 Think you not rather that the tongue of an unholy man would cleave to the roof of his mouth with shame, and his only desire would be to be cast out? He would feel a stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amidst Christ's holy flock, the voice of cherubim and seraphim, the song of angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven would be a language he could not understand. The very air would seem an air he could not breathe. I know not what others may think, but to me it does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man.
It cannot be otherwise. People may say in a vague way they hope to go to heaven, but they do not consider what they say. There must be a certain meekness for the inheritance of the saints in light.
Our hearts must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory, we must pass through the training school of grace. We must be heavenly minded and have heavenly tastes in the life that now is, or else we shall never find ourselves in heaven in the life to come.
And now, before I go any further, let me say a few words by way of application. For one thing, let me ask everyone who may read these pages, are you holy? Listen, I pray you, to the question I put to you this day. Do you know anything of the holiness of which I have been speaking? I do not ask whether you attend your church regularly, whether you have been baptized and received the Lord's Supper, whether you have the name of Christian.
I ask something more than all this. Are you holy or are you not? I do not ask whether you approve of holiness in others, whether you like to read the lives of holy people and to talk of holy things and to have on your table holy books, whether you mean to be holy and hope you will be holy someday. I ask something further.
Are you yourself holy this day or are you not? And why do I ask so straightly and press the question so strongly? I do it because the Scripture says, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is written, it is not my fancy, it is the Bible, not my private opinion. It is the word of God, not of man.
Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12, 14 Alas, what searching, sifting words are these? What thoughts came across my mind as I write them down? I look at the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at professing Christians and see the vast majority have nothing of Christianity but the name.
I turn to the Bible and I hear the Spirit saying, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Surely it is a text that ought to make us consider our ways and search our hearts. Surely it should rise within us solemn thoughts and send us to prayer.
You may try to put me off by saying you feel much and think much about these things, far more than many suppose. I answer, this is not the point. The poor lost souls in hell do as much as this.
The great question is not what you think and what you feel, but what you do. You may say, it was never meant that all Christians should be holy and that holiness, such as I have described, is only for great saints and people of uncommon gifts. I answer, I cannot see that in Scripture.
I read that every man who hath hope in Christ purifies himself. 1 John 3.3 Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. You may say, it is impossible to be so holy and to do our duty in this life at the same time.
The thing cannot be done. I answer, you are mistaken. It can be done.
With Christ on your side nothing is impossible. It has been done by many, David and Obadiah and Daniel and the servants of Nero's household are all examples that go to prove it. You may say, if I were so holy I would be unlike other people.
I answer, I know it well. It is just what you ought to be. Christ's true servants always were unlike the world around them, a separate nation, a peculiar people, and you must be so too if you would be saved.
You may say, at this rate very few will be saved. I answer, I know it. It is precisely what we are told in the Sermon on the Mount.
The Lord Jesus said so 1,900 years ago, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Matthew 7, 14 Few will be saved because few will take the trouble to seek salvation. Men will not deny themselves the pleasures of sin in their own way for a little season.
They turn their backs on an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Ye will not come unto me, says Jesus, that ye might have life. John 5, verse 40 You may say, these are hard sayings, the way is very narrow.
I answer, I know it. So says the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus said so 1,900 years ago.
He always said that men must take up the cross daily and that they must be ready to cut off hand or foot if they would be his disciples. It is in religion as it is in other things. There are no gains without pains.
That which costs nothing is worth nothing. Whatever we may think fit to say, we must be holy if we would see the Lord. Where is our Christianity if we are not? We must not merely have a Christian name and Christian knowledge.
We must have a Christian character also. We must be saints on earth if ever we mean to be saints in heaven. God has said it and he will not go back.
Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The Pope's calendar, says Jenkin, only makes saints of the dead, but Scripture requires sanctity in the living. Let not men deceive themselves, says Owen.
Sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be under the conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven, but whom he sanctifies on the earth. This living head will not admit of dead members.
Surely we need not wonder that Scripture says, Ye must be born again, John 3, 7. Surely it is clear as noonday that many professing Christians need a complete change, new hearts, new natures, if ever they are to be saved. Old things must pass away. They must become new creatures.
Without holiness no man, be he who he may, shall see the Lord. Number two. Let me for another thing speak a little to believers.
I ask you this question. Do you think you feel the importance of holiness as much as you should? I own, I fear the temper of the times about this subject. I doubt exceedingly whether it holds that place which it deserves in the thoughts and attention of some of the Lord's people.
I would humbly suggest that we are apt to overlook the doctrine of growth in grace and that we do not sufficiently consider how very far a person may go in a profession of religion and yet have no grace and be dead in God's sight after all. I believe that Judas Iscariot seemed very like the other apostles. When the Lord warned them that one would betray him no one said, Is it Judas? We had better think more about the churches of Sardis and Laodicea than we do.
I have no desire to make an idol of holiness. I do not wish to dethrone Christ and put holiness in his place. But I must candidly say I wish sanctification was more thought of in this day than it seems to be and I therefore take occasion to press the subject on all believers into whose hands these pages may fall.
I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things beyond question but one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified and all sanctified are justified.
What God has joined together let no man dare to put asunder. Tell me not of your justification unless you also have some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ's work for you unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you.
Think not that Christ and the Spirit can ever be divided. I doubt not that many believers know these things but I think it good for us to be put in remembrance of them. Let us prove that we know them by our lives.
Let us try to keep in view this text more continually. Follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. I must frankly say I wish there was not such an excessive sensitiveness on the subject of holiness as I sometimes perceive in the minds of believers.
A man might really think it was a dangerous subject to handle so cautiously is it touched. Yet surely when we have exalted Christ as the way the truth and the life we cannot earn speaking strongly about what should be the character of his people. Well, Paul says Rutherford the way that Christ down duties and sanctification is not the way of grace.
Believing and doing are blood friends. I would say it with all reverence but say it I must. I sometimes fear if Christ were now on earth there are not a few who would think his preaching legal and if Paul were writing his epistles there are those who would think he had better not write the latter part of most of them as he did.
But let us remember that the Lord Jesus did speak the sermon on the mount and that the epistle to the Ephesians contained six chapters and not four. I grieve to feel obliged to speak in this way but I am sure there is a cause. That great divine John Owen the dean of Christ church used to say more than two hundred years ago that there were people whose whole religion seemed to consist in going about complaining of their own corruptions and telling everyone that they could do nothing of themselves.
I am afraid that after two centuries the same thing might be said with truth of some of Christ professing people in this day. I know there are texts in scripture which warrant such complaints. I do not object to them when they come from men who walk in the steps of the apostle Paul and fight a good fight as he did against sin, the devil and the world.
But I never like such complaints when I see ground for suspecting, as I often do, that they are only a cloak to cover spiritual laziness and an excuse for spiritual sloth. If we say with Paul, O wretched man that I am, let us also be able to say with him, I press toward the mark. Let us not quote his example in one thing while we do not follow him in another.
Romans 7 verse 24 and Philippians 3 14 I do not set up myself to be better than other people, and if anyone asks, what are you that you write in this way, I answer, I am a very poor creature indeed. But I say that I cannot read the Bible without desiring to see many believers more spiritual, more holy, more single-eyed, more heavenly-minded, more whole-hearted than they are in the nineteenth century. I want to see among believers more of a pilgrim spirit, a more decided separation from the world, a conversation more evidently in heaven, a closer walk with God, and therefore I have written as I have.
Is it not true that we need a higher standard of personal holiness in this day? Where is our patience? Where is our zeal? Where is our love? Where are our works? Where is the power of religion to be seen as it was in times gone by? Where is that unmistakable tone which used to distinguish the saints of old and shape the world? Verily our silver has become dross, our wine mixed with water, and our salt has very little savor. We are all more than half asleep. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand.
Let us awake and sleep no more. Let us open our eyes more widely than we have done hitherto. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us.
Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Hebrews 12.1 2 Corinthians 7.1 Did Christ die, says Owen, and shall sin live? Was he crucified in the world, and shall our affections to the world be quick and lively? Or where is the spirit of him who by the cross of Christ was crucified to the world, and the world to him? 3. Let me in the last place offer a word of advice to all who desire to be holy. Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ.
You will do just nothing at all, and make no progress, till you feel your sin and weakness, and flee to him. He is the root and beginning of all holiness, and the way to be holy is to come to him by faith and be joined to him. Christ is not wisdom and righteousness only to his people, but sanctification also.
Men sometimes try to make themselves holy first of all, and sad work they make of it. They toil and labor, and turn over new leaves and make many changes, and yet like the woman with the issue of blood before she came to Christ, they feel nothing bettered, but rather worse. They run in vain and labor in vain, and little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end.
They are building up a wall of sand. Their work runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are bailing water out of a leaky vessel.
The leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of holiness can no man lay than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. Without Christ we can do nothing.
John 15, 5 It is a strong but true saying of trails. Wisdom out of Christ is damning folly. Righteousness out of Christ is guilt and condemnation.
Sanctification out of Christ is filth and sin. Redemption out of Christ is bondage and slavery. Do you want to attain holiness? Do you feel this day a real hearty desire to be holy? Would you be a partaker of the divine nature? Then go to Christ.
Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Linger not.
Think not to make yourself ready. Go and say to him in the words of that beautiful hymn, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I Nothing in Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I nothing in nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I nothing in nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I bring, my hand I nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I nothing in bring, He must fight the devil. That old enemy of mankind is not dead.
Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, he has been going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it, and striving to compass one great end, the ruin of man's soul. Never slumbering and never sleeping, he is always going about as a lion seeking whom he may devour. An unseen enemy he is always near us, about our path and about our bed, and spying on all our ways.
A murderer and a liar from the beginning, he labors night and day to cast us down to hell. Sometimes by leading into superstition, sometimes by suggesting infidelity, sometimes by one kind of tactics and sometimes by another, he is always carrying on a campaign against our souls. Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.
This mighty adversary must be daily resisted if we wish to be saved. But this kind goeth not out, but by watching and praying and fighting and putting on the whole armor of God. The strong man armed will never be kept out of our hearts without a daily battle.
Some men may think these statements too strong. You fancy that I am going too far and laying on the colors too thickly. You are secretly saying to yourself that men and women in England may surely get to heaven without all this trouble and warfare and fighting.
Listen to me for a few minutes and I will show you that I have something to say on God's behalf. Remember the maxim of the wisest general that ever lived in England? In time of war, it is the worst mistake to underrate your enemy and try to make a little war. This Christian warfare is no light matter.
Give me your attention and consider what I say. What saith the scripture? Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life.
Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the ruler of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. Labor for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life.
Think not that I came to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit you.
Like men, be strong. War a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. 1 Timothy 6.12 2 Timothy 2.3 Ephesians 6.11-13 Luke 13.24 John 6.27 Matthew 10.34 Luke 22.36 1 Corinthians 16.13 1 Timothy 1.18-19 Words such as these appear to me clear, plain, and unmistakable.
They all teach one and the same great lesson, if we are willing to receive it. That lesson is, that true Christianity is a struggle, a fight, and a warfare. He that pretends to condemn fighting and teaches that we ought to sit still and yield ourselves to God appears to me to misunderstand his Bible and to make a great mistake.
What says the baptismal service of the Church of England? No doubt that service is uninspired, and like every uninspired composition, it has its defects. But to the millions of people all over the globe who profess and call themselves English churchmen, its voice ought to speak with some weight. And what does it say? It tells us that over every new member who is admitted into the Church of England, the following words are used.
I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I sign this child with the sign of the cross in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Of course, we all know that in myriads of cases baptism is a mere form, and that parents bring their children to the font without faith or prayer or thought, and consequently receive no blessing.
The man who supposes that baptism in such cases acts mechanically, like a medicine, and that godly and ungodly, praying and prayerless parents all alike get the same benefit for their children, must be in a strange state of mind. But one thing, at any rate, is very certain. Every baptized churchman is, by his profession, a soldier of Jesus Christ, and is pledged to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil.
He that doubted had better take up his prayer book and read, mark, and learn its contents. The worst thing about many zealous churchmen is their total ignorance of what their own prayer book contains. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books.
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And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God.
For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions.
There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind.
As though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.