INFIDELITY - ITS COURSE AND THE SAFEGUARDS OF FAITH
INFIDELITY - ITS COURSE AND THE SAFEGUARDS OF FAITH
No one was ever an infidel or atheist from birth, that is to say he was at first conscious that he was responsible to an unseen Supreme. There is no infidel nor atheist who to his own knowledge, at one time, was not an infidel; and if he is one now, he is what he once was not.
[p. 89] Man naturally has a conscience, that is, he acquired at the fall the knowledge of good and evil, and according as he becomes intelligent, the claim of the great Supreme, of God, must either be acknowledged and dreaded, or violently, (as by a volcano of the mind) refused and dared. To escape responsibility is the one great cause of infidelity. As the mind of man becomes active and informed, the pressure on his conscience increases, and he fears the more, as he is made more assured that he is responsible. He finds that the more he knows and extends his knowledge, the more accountable is he for his actions - for his whole life; and hence, in this, the incipient stage, he has recourse to every sort of amusement or engrossment, in order to stifle the questions which would arise. Some time or other the question will come up, and first he evades it by amusements. The birds of the air carry away every grain of the Word which may reach his soul; this is when there is little activity of mind, and when one is not scripturally educated.
The next stage is when the mind is active and the information enlarged. There is then less ability to evade the question; and there is a fear of the light, or the presentation of truth, because it is afflicting to the conscience, to be called on to settle the question. In this state there is an avoidance of everything which would stir the question, preferring to leave it entirely unsettled, and to go on without being subjected to the conflict which must ensue before the avowal of infidelity. In this case the conscience is not hardened, but as it were, kept in the dark, and when light does come, as it often does in such a case, there is always deep distress in reaching the great moral victory - namely, full conviction in the truth of God and His revelation. The oftener the truth has been turned away from and evaded, the greater the conflict at the end; but in this case there is a desire to find revelation true. This case generally ends in either religiousness, which satisfies the natural mind, or true conversion to God.
[p. 90] The third class is when there is a growing desire to be freed from all responsibility to God. Now this state arises from either an overweening vanity of mind, which is intolerant of anyone who has a right to control or claim submission, simply pride of mind in its worst form; either this I say, or from conduct which is utterly condemned by conscience, so that there is no relief but in absolute infidelity. Infidels must rank under either of these two classes. It is seldom an ignorant man is an infidel, and never, a truly conscientious man. It is knowledge suddenly acquired, giving an unexpected elevation, which for the most part emboldens a man to limit everything to his own mind, and deny the existence of God. Hence we find that it is the better educated of the artisan class who are oftenest infidel. They suddenly reach an elevation unexpected by themselves, and they become so vain in their imaginations, that while they must admit there are some circumstantially superior to them; they betray their folly in asserting that there is nothing higher than their own minds. Now if, in addition to this, they are reckless and dissolute, not only is their vanity gratified by declaring that there is no God, but it is an unspeakable relief to be freed from all the restraints of conscience, and this the more especially if they previously had been seriously under its control; so that infidelity springs from either the unbridled lust of the mind, or of the flesh. In one or other, man exalts himself audaciously above all that is called God, and makes man’s mind or will the sovereign arbiter of everything. There is no greater evidence of a weak mind, however brilliant it may be, than an inability truly to estimate one’s own powers. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good”, Psalm 14: 1.
The steps of infidelity are marked enough, and very sad. It is better and happier to observe and attend to the safeguards of faith.
[p. 91] There is properly but one safeguard; but this produces two distinct effects, which must be both preserved or continued, in order that faith may grow, and infidelity be repudiated.
The one unassailable safeguard is light. God is light - and that is light which doth make manifest. It is not the love of God which convicts, or which detects the need and condition of the soul before God, but the light. The light discloses the secrets of the heart, and how little in consonance with the claims of God are its motives and intentions. There is nothing so humiliating as the light, and hence nothing the natural man more shrinks from; “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God”. The disclosure that his inmost desires are not according to the holiness of God, rebukes him, he is found out, but he that loveth good, loveth that which exposes evil in him. “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did”, is the utterance of the heart of one conscious of being in the light. This is the virtue of the light that it makes manifest. Many a thing passes uncondemned when one is not in the light. It is “in thy light shall we see light”. The conscience is enlightened according as I am in the light, so that things which once did not distress or offend it, would now do so exceedingly, for God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. As we approach nearer to God we feel the effects of light, as Jacob in leaving Shalem for Bethel (see Genesis 35).
Now, light being the great safeguard to faith, the next thing to be considered is how light is acquired and increased. Christ is the light; the “light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”. A soul has not light until it has found Christ. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”. Every [p. 92] believer is a child of the light. Christ in all His ways here was the expression of God; and He that followeth Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You are protected from every kind of infidel notions by following Christ, and the one preserved fully, is the one earnestly following Him. Now the true follower is ever a student of the Word, for the Word is the unfolding of the mind of God, and by it the conscience is informed. “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward”, Psalm 19: 8 - 11. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”, Hebrews 4: 12.
Following the Lord and studying the Word ever ensures the acquisition and the increase of light.
Thus we have considered light in itself and how acquired and increased; it only remains to examine its effects, to which I have referred. There is a combined effect produced by the light; on the one hand, an humble mind; and on the other, a good conscience. Light only can produce this combined effect. Either might exist without the other, as merely the effect of either society or religious education. A man accustomed to men of great learning and parts has seldom an overweening idea of his own; and one educated religiously and carefully, might preserve a good conscience; though, like Saul of Tarsus, opposed to Christ, or the doctrine of grace. Light, divine light, is what alone discloses to a man how small he is in every way; and how morally below the principles and love which rule and determine all the [p. 93] ways of God, so that no one can be in the light, or near God, but he must feel like Job; and he was a man, speaking humanly, of unblemished integrity, yet when he sees God he is sensible both of his ignorance and of his unworthiness; he says, I “uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me... I abhor myself”, etc; and it is only thus that one learns most, and acquires most moral fitness, because then one is increasingly acquainted with God in all His greatness and reality, so that infidelity could no more intrude there, than darkness could into the full blaze of the sun.