June 14

He that is not with me is against me. - Matthew 12:30.

THERE is nothing which shows the real character of men more than their attractions and aversions. Who are the objects of our choice and preference? With whom do we most readily and pleasingly associate? There is an old adage just in point: “Tell me a man’s company, and I will tell you his character.” Congeniality is the inducement and the bond of union. To be against some persons would expose us to general indignation. Who would like to be opposed to a Thornton, a Howard, a Wilberforce, a Leighton, a Fenelon? But here we have “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.” What a picture of Christ have the four gospels given us.

After looking at this, we might ask, Is there any being in the world odious enough to be against him? He is possessed of all excellencies. All the excellencies found in creatures, separately and imperfectly, are found in him, combined and complete: all that was innocent in Adam when in Paradise; all that was tender in Joseph, meek in Moses, patient in Job, and all that was zealous in Paul; all that is good in the Spirits of just men made perfect; all that is wise in the innumerable company of angels; and even the aggregate would be no more than a drop to the ocean or a ray to the sun. To be against him is therefore to be against all truth, and righteousness, and peace; against the glory of God and the happiness of mankind. Nothing is more unreasonable, vile, and shameful, than to oppose a Benefactor and Friend who has laid us under peculiar obligation, upon whom we had no claim, and who has yet spared no expense, no pain, in order to serve us. “O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world,” what do we owe thee? To thee we owe the bread we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe.

If we are allowed to remain in the land of the living, it is owing to thy intercession on our behalf; if we have been redeemed, it is with thy precious blood; and if we have entertained a hope of a better world, thou hast altogether inspired it. The Saviour asks, and he has a right to ask, “For which of these good works do ye stone me? Is it because “he remembered us in our low estate?” because, for our sakes, “though he was rich, he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich?” Is it because “he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, and died that we might live, that any are against him?

Against Him? Be against the benefactor who plunged into the flood to save us from drowning! Be against him who generously paid our debt, and released us from the confinement of the dungeon, and restored us to the bosom of our family! Be against the father who has laboured to train us up and provide for us! Be against the mother who bare us, and at her bosom fed us! and we should be a thousand times less infamous than we should be if we are against him.

The Apostle Paul was not revengeful; he was the most compassionate man alive; and yet, when he came to reflect on the case, he made no scruple to say, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha!”