The Christian Professor
John Angell James, 1837
PREFACE
The substance of most of the chapters of this volume, was delivered in a
course of sermons addressed to the church of which the Holy Spirit has made
me overseer. The seasons chosen for delivering them were those Sabbath
mornings on which the Lord's Supper was administered; and this time was
selected, because it may be supposed, that if ever the minds of Professing
Christians are more than usually softened to receive the impression of
practical truth, it is when the emblems of which they are about to partake,
stand uncovered before them, and as they silently point to the cross, say in
the ear of faith, "You are not your own, for you are bought with a price,
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
When I look into the New Testament, and read what a
Christian should be, and then look into the church of God, and see
what professing Christians are—I am painfully affected by
observing the dissimilarity; and in my jealousy for the honor of the
Christian Profession, have made this effort, perhaps a feeble one, certainly
an anxious one—to remove its blemishes, to restore its impaired beauty, and
thus raise its reputation.
What my opinion of the prevailing state of religion in
the present day is, will appear still more clearly in the following pages,
and especially in the chapter devoted to the consideration of this subject.
That evangelical piety is advancing and spreading over a wider surface, I
have not a doubt—but what it is gaining in breadth, it is losing, I
am afraid, in depth. Church politics, and their sad
accompaniments—party strife and animosity—carried on as it has been, with
such rage of competition, together with that worldly spirit to which an age
of growing selfishness and luxury usually gives rise—are exceedingly adverse
to a religion, of which the elements are faith, hope, love. The
church of Christ, at present, is sadly mixed up with both the spirit of the
world, and many of its customs; and the great body of professing Christians
are far less marked in their separation from the 'followers of pleasure',
and the 'worshipers of Mammon', than they ought to be. "You are dead, and
your life is hidden with Christ in God," is the description of a
religion too rarely to be seen in this day!
A few years ago, an attempt was made to call the
attention of the churches to the subject of a 'revival of piety'—and some
efforts, not wholly ineffectual, were made to rouse the slumbering people of
God, and induce them to seek for a more copious effusion of the Holy Spirit.
But the call to united and fervent prayer, soon subsided amidst the busy hum
of church business, the noise of party strife, and the strife of tongues.
Still, however, I believe, notwithstanding, that the cause of the Lord is
advancing upon the earth, and that the work of grace is begun in many
people, whose lot and whose grief it is, to be far more occupied with things
seen and temporal—than accords with their eternal happiness.
Some of the great masters of painting have manifested
their skill in drawing portraits of themselves. Conceive of one of those
noble pictures, fresh from the artist's pencil, presenting in the magic of
drawing and painting, an almost lifelike representation of the great
original. By some neglect, however, it is thrown aside, and in its unworthy
banishment, amidst the lumber of an attic, soon becomes covered with dust
and dirt, till its beauty is disfigured, and its transcendent excellence is
disguised. Still, in despite of these defilements, there is the likeness and
the workmanship of the immortal author, which, by a careful removal of the
incidental filth, again shine forth upon enraptured spectators, as a
glorious display of human genius.
Is it a profane or unworthy simile, to say that a
Christian in his present state of imperfection, is something like this? He
is the image of God, as delineated by God himself, but O, how covered with
the dust and impurities of his earthly condition! Still, however, beneath
that blemished exterior, there is the likeness and workmanship of the Great
God, and which, when purified from every defilement and disfigurement, He
will present in its restored state—to the admiring gaze of the universe!
I am anxious that as much as possible of the
imperfections of the Christian character, should now be displaced in
our earthly sojourn, and as much as may be, of its great excellence should
now be seen. For if we profess as Christians, to have the mind of
Christ, and to bear the image of God—how tremblingly anxious, how
prayerfully cautious, should we be, not by retaining anything in our
conduct, which is opposite to the Divine nature—to circulate a slander
against God himself.
There is an ineffable beauty in the Christian character,
as delineated by our Lord Jesus Christ in his personal ministry, and by his
holy apostles, and there lacks nothing but the tolerably fair copy of this
in the conduct of all who bear the Christian name, to silence, if not
convince, the spirit of infidelity. If the Christian church were composed
only of people whose characters were truly formed upon the model of the
Sermon upon the Mount, or the Apostle's description of love in 1 Corinthians
13, there would be no need of defenses of Christianity—men would see that
Christianity came from heaven, because there was nothing like it upon earth.
The gospel is its own witness, but then its
testimony is so often contradicted by its professed believers, so far as
their conduct goes, that its testimony is gotten rid of, because of the
alleged unbelief of its friends; for it is said, if they believed it the
reality of the gospel—they would act in greater conformity to its
requirements. When the Church of Christ, shall by its spirit and conduct,
bear the same testimony for the gospel, as the gospel does for itself; then
in the mouth of these two witnesses, shall the truth of Christianity be
established, beyond, I will not say the power of refutation, for that it is
already, but beyond the possibility of objection.
It is I think, extremely probable, that great injury is
done to the Christian character and profession, by an abuse of the commonly
admitted fact that there is no perfection upon earth. By the aid of
this humiliating concession, it is to be feared that many reconcile
themselves to far more and greater imperfections, than are in any case
compatible with consistency, and in some with sincerity. There is no
perfection here on earth. But is there no command to us to seek after it? Is
it not our duty to obtain it? The man who does not make perfection the
object of his desire and pursuit; who does not wish and endeavor to obtain
every kind of holy excellence, and in every possible degree—has reason to
doubt the reality of his religion. A Christian ought to be a character of
universal loveliness and holiness, in which no degree, not even the
smallest, of any kind of known imperfection, should be allowed to remain. It
should be with him as to holy character, as it is with people of much
neatness and nicety as to their dress, who are not only rendered
uncomfortable by great defilements, but who are uneasy till every
discernible speck of dust is removed, and the whole garment presents an
unsullied surface.
There is such a thing as moral neatness, which, in
addition to freedom from and abhorrence of greater sins, adds a
sensitiveness to lesser ones, and a studious effort after universal purity.
Perfection is our duty; perfection should be our wish, and perfection our
aim; by which I mean to say, that a Christian is not to allow himself to
practice any degree of any sin; and is to seek every possible degree of
every holy virtue. How different an view would the Christian Profession
present, if all who made it were to make perfection of character their aim,
and according to apostolic exhortation, were to "perfect holiness in the
fear of God." "You are to live blameless and pure lives, as children of
God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine
like stars in the universe" Philippians 2:15. "You are the light of the
world. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good
deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
It was not my intention in this work, to enter into the
consideration of private, experimental, or doctrinal religion; so much as
into its practical parts; and to contemplate the believer in relation to the
church and to the world, than in his individual capacity, or in his personal
devotional aspects.
I design this little volume as a sequel to "Christian
Fellowship—The Church Member's Guide," and as an amplification of some
topics touched upon incidentally in that work. It has been the destiny of
that book, to obtain for its author a notoriety which he certainly did not
contemplate in composing it.
Advantage has been taken, by one of the tricks of
controversy, of the admissions of abuses to which, like everything else that
is good, the principles of nonconformity have been subjected in the
practices of some of the churches, to turn these candid exposures, against
the whole system of voluntary churches. This is a hypocritical artifice, a
miserable sophism, a dangerous weapon—since no system in this world of
imperfection can stand before it; no, not even that set up by Apostles
themselves; for the same kind of evils which I have acknowledged are to be
found amongst its, are to be traced in all the primitive churches planted
and superintended by inspired men.
Perhaps the same deceptive means will be employed in
reference to this volume. If so, those who use them are quite welcome to
them. To guard, however, as much as possible against misconception, or
misrepresentation, I would affirm, once for all, that I think professors of
all denominations are much below their privileges, their principles,
and their obligations; and that I have not addressed the contents of these
chapters to my own flock, because I think they are behind others in
piety—but because I wish them to be above and beyond the average religion of
the day.
John Angell James,
Edgbaston, April 21, 1837.