III. The grace of gentleness is a queen with a train of virtues.—It ennobles our whole nature. An English nobleman could not be bound to keep the peace, for it was supposed that peace always kept him. So we should suppose that every professed Christian would have this grace; but if you should put your ear to the door of some Christian homes, it would be like listening to a volcano. If you did not behold a sulphurous flame bursting out, you might hear a continual grumbling. A man said to me once, “When I see Mr. So-and-so my passion is bigger than myself, and I long to make him feel it.” The Spirit of Christ leads us to pray for those who despitefully use us. Only as His temper prevails in us shall we be able to illustrate the beauty of Divine greatness.—Homiletic Monthly.
Constant Joy.—Father Taylor, the Boston sailor-preacher, when going out to make a call, said to his host on the doorstep, “Laugh till I get back.”
Ver. 24. Crucifying the Flesh.
I. What is meant by being Christ’s.—It is to accept of and have an interest in Christ in His prophetic, kingly, and sacerdotal offices. By His prophetic office we come to know His will; by His kingly office, ruling and governing us, we come to yield obedience to that will; and by His sacerdotal or priestly office we come to receive the fruit of that obedience in our justification.
II. What is meant by the flesh.—The whole entire body of sin and corruption; that inbred proneness in our nature to all evil, expressed by concupiscence. 1. It is called flesh because of its situation and place, which is principally in the flesh. 2. Because of its close, inseparable nearness to the soul. 3. Because of its dearness to us. Sin is our darling, our Delilah, the queen-regent of our affections; it fills all our thoughts, engrosses our desires, and challenges the service of all our actions. This reveals: (1) The deplorable state of fallen man. (2) The great difficulty of the duty of mortification. (3) The mean and sordid employment of every sinner—he serves the flesh.
III. What is imported by the crucifixion of the flesh.—1. The death of it. He that will crucify his sin must pursue it to the very death. 2. A violent death. Sin never dies of age. The conquest need be glorious, for it will be found by sharp experience that the combat will be dangerous. 3. A painful, bitter, and vexatious death. 4. A shameful and cursed death.
IV. The duty of crucifying the flesh.—1. A constant and pertinacious denying it in all its cravings for satisfaction. 2. Encounter it by actions of the opposite virtue.—Robert South.
Ver. 25. Life and Walk in the Spirit.—Life relates to what is inward, walk to what is outward.
I. To live in the Spirit.—1. The Spirit begins the life of God in the soul. 2. The Spirit gives new desires and changes all the motives of life. 3. The Spirit lives in us.
II. To walk in the Spirit.—1. The walk will follow from the life, for every kind of life is after its own kind and development. 2. Every outward manifestation will correspond to the inward principle of life and will be marked by love to God and love to man. 3. Reputation will correspond to character and conduct to life.