Christian Morality

I. Christian Morality, viz. Truth, Sincerity, &c.

Philip. 4: 8—Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, or grave, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

The First Part

Οσα εστιν αληθη, &c.

FAITH and practice make up the whole of our religion: A sacred compound, and divinely necessary to our happiness and our heaven! Nor does the blessed apostle in any of his writings ever dwell so entirely on one of them, as to forget the other. In this letter to the saints at Philippi, practice has the largest share. Through every chapter he scatters up and down particular directions for the conduct of those believers who dwelt among the gentiles; but he gives them two general rules, by which they were to walk. The first is in the beginning of his epistle; Philip. 1: 27. Let your conversation be as becomes the gospel. Act always agreeable to the temper and design of that gospel, which brings salvation by Jesus Christ, and then you will certainly practise every virtue of life; your carriage can never be amiss.

And toward the latter end of his letter he saith, Finally, brethren, before I take my leave of you, I would give another general rule to direct your practice: I would recommend holiness to you under another view, and describe it in such colours and characters, as will not only approve themselves to your fellow-christians, but even to the heathens among whom you live, that you may be, as he expresses it in chap. 2 ver. 15 that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in a wicked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; that they that have a mind to speak evil of christianity, and cast what reproaches they can upon the doctrine of the cross, may not be able to find any flaw in your conversation, or any ground to slander the doctrine which you profess.

The rule is this, whatsoever the light of nature, and the better sort of heathens, esteem true and honest, or decent, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report, let these things be your meditation, let these be your constant aim and design, let these be the business of your lives, and your perpetual practice: Think of these things, says the apostle, and think of them so as to perform them.

In a day wherein the professors of christianity, and of the glorious doctrines of the gospel, grow degenerate and loose in their lives, and fall sometimes into vices, which the better sort of the heathens have utterly condemned, I think it may not be amiss to stir you up together with myself to all holy watchfulness and caution.; that christianity in our profession and in our practice may appear and shine in its own bright raiment; that the doctrine of God our Saviour may be adorned in all things, and that it may look, as it is indeed in itself, a doctrine according to godliness.

Without any further preface, or division of the words, I shall take these several sentences in the text, as so many distinct characters of morality, or virtue, which the apostle recommends; and in discoursing of each of them, I shall follow nearly the same method; viz.

I. Shew the sense, latitude, and extent of the duty.—II. Make it appear, that these duties are required by the law of nature.—III. Discover what additional influence the gospel should have upon our consciences to the meditation and performance of such duties; and sometimes,—IV. I shall give directions toward the performance of them, and guard against the contrary sins.

Whatsoever things are true.—The first thing that the apostle mentions is this, whatsoever things are true, let these be our meditation, and our practice.

First, Let me shew the sense, latitude, and extent of this advice.

Truth in general lies in a conformity of one thing to some other which is made the standard or rule of it. So a picture is said to be true, when it is conformable to the face and figure of the person: So a copy of any writing is true, when it is conformable to the original. So a narrative or history is true, when it describes matters fairly as they were transacted, and tells the circumstances just as they are. And that is true doctrine which is conformable to the word of God, which is the rule and standard of divine truth.

But none of these agree to the design of my text. For the apostle here is describing moral characters, and the duties of a christian. Truth in this place is not so much to be considered as seated in the understanding, as it is in the will. It signifies here integrity and up rightness in opposition to hypocrisy, insincerity, or moral falsehood. And there are three things that make up the perfect character of truth or integrity:

1. That our words be conformable to our hearts.—2. That our deeds be conformable to our words.—3. That our whole carriage be conformable to itself, and consistent with itself at all times, and in all places.

1. The first thing wherein this virtue consists, is in the conformity of our words to our hearts. This is sometimes called veracity, sometimes sincerity; a necessary duty that belongs to every christian, and that in all the affairs of life. We must be sincere in all relations of matters of fact; in all the narratives or accounts we give of either persons or things, in all our discoveries of our esteem for other men, and in all our professions of love tad good-will to others. Whatsoever we speak, it ought to be agreeable to the sentiment of our souls.

Let us first consider what is that truth that is required in relating matters of fact, and narratives concerning things or persons. This is what Solomon mentions; Prov. 12: 17. He that speaketh truth, sheweth forth righteousness; but a false witness deceit. In the 15th Psalm, ver. 2 it is the character of one of those who shall inhabit the holy mountain of God, that he not only worketh righteousness, but he speaketh the truth in his heart. That which he thinks in his heart to be true, he clothes it in words, and thus delivers it out to his fellow-creatures. The apostle in Eph. 4: 25 makes mention of the same duty, and presses it upon those to whom he writes; Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour; for we all are members one of another: Members one of another, as we belong to the same original, as we are born of the same first parents, as we are made of one flesh and blood, as we are parts of the same civil society or nation, and especially as we that profess christianity are related to one another in nearer and diviner bonds, as we are members of the general church or body of Christ. Now it does not become those that are joined in so near a relation to lie and speak falsely, and deceive one another, no more than the members of the natural body should do injury to each other, whose single welfare lies much in the welfare of the whole body.

I grant it is possible for the best and wisest of men sometimes to be mistaken in their apprehensions of things, and they may happen to speak something that is false in the course of their conversation: for they may be deceived themselves, and not know the truth. But in matters which they have occasion to speak of, they ought to be as well informed of the truth of things as present circumstances will admit, and to say nothing to their neighbour but what they really believe themselves. When we speak a thing which we sincerely believe, and it happens not to be true, that is properly called a mistake, for we had no design to deceive the person we converse with. But when we speak the thing that is false, and we know it to be false, or do not believe it to be true, this is wilfully to deceive our neighbour; and is properly called by the odious name of lying.

It is granted also, that no person is always obliged to speak all that he knows, when he is giving an account of some particular affair or concern of life. There are several seasons, wherein it is a piece of prudence to be silent, and not to publish all the truth. We have a most remarkable instance of this in the prophet Jeremiah, when he had been admitted to the speech of Zedekiah the king, and had given him divine counsel, that he should submit himself to the Chaldeans, and save his life, and preserve the city from burning, and at the same time had intreated for himself, that he might not return to Jonathan’s house and the dungeon, lest he died there. A little after, the princes of Israel demanded of him what discourse he had with the king; he concealed his chief business from the princes, which was about submission to the Chaldeans, and told them that he presented his supplication to the king, that he would not cause him to return to Jonathan’s house, so the princes left off speaking with him, and the matter was not perceived; Jer. 38: 24, &c. There may be various occasions in life, wherein it is proper to keep ourselves upon the reserve. Silence is much commended by Solomon, who was made divinely wise; Prov. 29: 11. A fool uttereth all his mind; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward.

Yet it must be confessed too, that sometimes the concealment of part of the truth, when it is necessarily due to the hearer, in order to pass a right judgment of the whole, is almost as criminal as a lie: And herein consists the guilt of partial representations. But I cannot stay to discuss this point at large.

The great rule of veracity in general lies in being just and fair in our narratives and representations of things and in saying nothing but what we believe to be true. Whatsoever therefore we have to speak to our fellow-creatures, let us lay a charge upon our consciences perpetually, that we speak according to the sentiments of our hearts; and remember, that what disguises soever our tongues put on, God our Judge sees through them all.

And not only when we relate matters of fact, but when we express our sentiment of the characters of men, let us be just to truth. I confess, brotherly love generally requires us to put the most favourable colours on a blemished character, and say the softest things that the matter will bear; love covereth a multitude of faults and follies, and in this case silence often becomes us best. But when providence and duty requires us to speak, no pretences of love or charity are sufficient to excuse a falsehood.

Again, when we have a bright character upon our tongues, or when we are paying civilities to our neighbours or friends, let us take heed of being lavish beyond what truth will allow. The sins of complaisance may be connived at or applauded by men, and miscalled by the name of good breeding; but the eye and ear of God take a juster and more severe notice of the softest and smoothest falsehoods.

In all the discoveries of our esteem for other men, let us speak no more than we in our hearts believe. It is a character of a very vicious time, and a very degenerate and corrupt age, Ps. 12: 2. They speak every one with his neighbour, with flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak; but the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, for he hates them, ver. 3. They speak flattery with their tongue, while at the same time their throats are open sepulchres, and they, it may be, attempt to waste, devour, and destroy. This character of the basest of men you read in the 5th Psalm; and you find the same hateful practice among the Jews in their deepest degeneracy; Jer. 9: 5, 8. They will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth. One speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth wait for him. But this which was so abominable in a Jew, surely a christian ought to stand at the greatest distance from it at all times.

As in discovery of our esteem, so in the profession of our love and good-will to our neighbour, we must observe truth. When your heart is not with your neighbour, be not profuse of the language of friendship. Let love be without dissimulation; Rom. 12: 9. Let love be sincere to your fellow-creatures, and love to your fellow-christians be upright and cordial. Let not that affection appear in a flourish of fine words, if it be not warm in your soul. This is the first character of truth, that our words agree with our hearts.

II. The next instance of the truth required in my text, is, when our deeds are conformable to our words: And this is called faithfulness, as the former is called veracity or sincerity, Faithfulness or truth, in this sense, has respect to our vows, our promises, our resolutions, or our threatenings.

1. Vows are properly made to God alone: And when they are made, if the matter of them be lawful, they ought to be performed. "When thou vowest a vow, defer not to pay it. Better it is thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow, and not pay; Ec. 5: 4, 5.

2. Promises of things lawful made to our fellow-creatures, must also be fulfilled with religious care. As for things unlawful, they ought not to be promised. We bind ourselves to perform what we promise, and the law of God binds us as well as the laws of social life. In the 15th Psalm, ver. 4 it is another of the characters of him that shall inhabit the mountain of God, that he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not; that is, he makes a promise to his neighbour, and though it be much to his own disadvantage, yet he doth not alter the word that is gone out of his lips, nor make a forfeiture of his truth by breach of his promise.

We should remember, that when we bind ourselves by a promise to give any good thing to another, or to do any thing for the benefit of another, the right of the thing promised passes over from us to the person to whom the promise is made, as much as if we had given him a legal bond, with all the formalities of signing and sealing; we have no power to recal, or reverse it without his leave. Always except the promise be made with a condition expressed, or necessarily and evidently implied; then indeed, if the condition fail, the promise is void. But the lips of a christian, when they have once uttered an absolute promise, have laid a bond upon his soul; and he dares not break the law of his God, though the law of man should not bind him.

3. The case of threatenings is somewhat different. A promise makes over the right of some benefit to another who may justly claim it; but a threatening only shews what punishment shall be due to another for such a particular fault or offence. If a superior propose and publish a law, and therein threaten an inferior with some penalty, the superior is supposed to be at liberty, whether he will execute the threatening of his own law, or no: for the criminal will not claim it. Thence arises the power of a superior to pardon a fault.

But if over and above the proposal and publication of this law, a father, for instance, or a master, does solemnly foretel or declare that he will certainly execute the penalty upon the child or servant offending; I think he ought generally to esteem himself bound to fulfil such a declaration or threatening, if it were made in a prudent and lawful manner; unless the repentance of the offender, or some other change of circumstances, give him a just reason to change his mind and alter his purpose.

And in the fourth place, the case is much the same when we make a solemn resolution, and publicly declare it, that we will do such or such a thing in time to come. If this resolution be solemn and public, and be in all respects lawful, it should generally be performed; unless some other circumstances arise, which we did not foresee, or which escaped our present notice when the resolution was made: otherwise we justly expose ourselves to the censure of fickleness, inconstancy, rashness, and folly: And such a conduct seems to intrench upon truth. But this leads me to the third or last instance of truth.

III. Another part of the character of truth is, when our whole carriage is conformable to itself. When we are always of a piece with ourselves, and our conduct is still consistent with our own character and profession. This is called constancy.

Something of this might have been introduced indeed under the first or second particulars, when I shewed how our words should agree with our hearts, and our deeds with our words; for both these demand that our practice should correspond with our profession. But I choose to cast all that I have to say on this subject under the head of constancy to our professions and pretences, which implies a perpetual and persevering honesty of thoughts, words, and actions, and a regular consistency with ourselves. Now that I may throw this matter into the easiest method, I shall shew how this exercise of christian truth will appear in a good man at all times, in all conditions of life, in all places, and in all companies.

1. At all times a good man is the same: He ever maintains the same pious and religious design, and having set his face heavenward, he travels on in the sacred narrow path, and never wilfully turns aside to the right-hand or to the left: Or if at any time he makes a false step, he recovers it again with humility and shame, and repentance, and his feet return to the ways of holiness.

Here let it be observed, that a good man may change his practices in some lesser points of christianity, and alter his principles too in doctrines of less importance, and yet he is not to be charged with criminal inconstancy or falsehood: For he never renounces all improvement of knowledge, but is ever ready to receive further light, and to retract his former errors and mistakes: And indeed this is one glorious evidence of his being a constant friend to truth. But being well established in the necessary and fundamental points of faith and practice, he walks on regularly in his christian course without wavering, or wandering into forbidden paths, ever pursuing his last great end: And this is a constant christian, though his sentiments, in the latter part of his life, may differ in several points from the thoughts of his youth.

When the eye of the world smiles upon his profession, and the sun shines bright upon his party, or when the clouds arise, and the sharp winds of persecution blow, he is still the same steady christian, composed, quiet, undisturbed; not doubtful what he should do, but aiming at heaven, he marches on homewards, with the regular discharge of all his duties to his God on high: nor does he forget his obligations to his fellow-creatures on earth, though in twenty instances they may forget or refuse to fulfil their duty to him. His supreme obligations are to God his Maker, and to these he must be true and faithful.

How various were the trials that St. Paul met with from the Jews, and from the Greeks, from the Jewish christian, and the heathen converts? But how bright and blessed an uniformity ran like a golden thread through his whole life and ministry? Hear the holy man often in his writings declaring his own stedfast adherence to the gospel: Hear him appealing to his Ephesian disciples concerning his own conduct, and proving it to their consciences, that he had in some good measure acquitted himself according to this rule of christianity; Acts 20: 18. When the elders of Ephesus were come to him, Ye know, says he, that from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, and that was by the space of three years, as in ver. 31 serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears and temptations that befel me: And I was constantly testifying to the Jews and Greeks, faith and repentance, and shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God to you, coveting no man’s gold or apparel, &c. I have shewed you now, that for these three years together I have maintained the same holy conduct, that so you might follow my example, that ye might always act agreeable to yourselves, and be constant to your own virtuous and holy character.

But what an inconstant christian is he who changes his principles and practices, being blown about with the wind of prevailing party, and the humour of the times? Who seems active in the cause of religion, when religion is the fashion of the age;