“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, in respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly, a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place (Take this high-priced and fashionable pew, where you can listen to the gospel in luxurious ease, and at the same time dazzle the eyes of those in neighboring pews with the latest fashions), but say to the poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under my foot-stool (or go up in the gallery), are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
Peter silences certain ones who complained of persecution, by saying, “If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye (that is nothing to complain of), but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men’s matters (if any one of you suffers in such a character, he deserves the lash).” In either case, there is nothing to justify your outcry.
He also denounces certain ones who have forsaken the right way and gone astray as “wells without water, clouds without rain that are carried of a tempest.” They “speak great swelling words of vanity, promising liberty while they are themselves the slaves of corruption.” And then he fastens the reproach of their apostasy upon them with what Falstaff would call a “most unsavory simile,”—“It is happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” Such are those who turn back to error from the paths of truth.
In much the same strain does Jude write to the same class: “These are spots in your feasts of charity; clouds without water, carried about of the winds; trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever!”
John wrote to the Laodiceans: “I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot; so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked!”
The Laodiceans needed the familiar prayer of Burns:
“O wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursel’s as ithers see us;
It would frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion!”
They needed a look into the glass of Lao, which revealed the blemishes of the soul, how fair soever the exterior.
Christ’s Use of Invective.