It is a simple thing to have to say, but very few believe it
in these days. Most fancy that the men who can talk most neatly and
correctly about certain religious doctrines are good, and that those
who cannot are bad. That is no new notion. Some people thought so
in St. John's time; and what did he say of them? "Little children,
let no man deceive you; it is he that doeth righteousness who is
righteous, even as God is righteous." And again: "He who says, I
know God, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is
not in him." St. John was the apostle of love. He was always
preaching the love of God to men, and entreating men to love one
another. His own heart was overflowing with love. Yet when it came
to such a question as that; when it came to people's pretending to be
religious and orthodox, and yet neither obeying God nor loving their
neighbours, he could speak sternly and plainly enough. He does not
say: "My dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ from you, but I
am afraid you are mistaken;" he says: "You are liars, and there is
no truth in you."
Now this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They had got to
think, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a man's having
God's Spirit in him, was his agreeing with them in doctrine.
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